What should you eat for breakfast to feel like you're 30 at 50?

To lose weight after 50 years, you don’t even need to completely give up your favorite sweets and baked goods. For you - recommendations from Margarita Koroleva and Elena Malysheva on how to permanently get rid of extra pounds.

Author: Kristina Lobanovskaya, doctor, practicing nutritionist Article updated: 04/07/2021

The need to lose excess weight in women over 50 is dictated not only by the desire to look young and attractive, but also by the desire to improve their health. At this age, every extra kilogram increases the likelihood of developing diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it is important to take care of yourself and adhere to a special nutritional system that will help not only get rid of fat ballast, but also strengthen the body. The task is complicated by the fact that women's metabolism slows down sharply at this stage of life, making it incredibly difficult to lose accumulated fat.

The desire to lose weight after 50 years is also a banal concern for health. The older a person is, the more dangerous fat deposits are for him. Joints suffer, limbs swell, blood pressure rises, and blood sugar levels rise. You can get rid of all this if you normalize your weight and lose the kilograms accumulated over many years.

How to lose weight at 50 years old

The primary task is to tune in to proper nutrition, a healthy lifestyle and realize that this is not some temporary promotion for a period of 2, 4, 10 weeks. This should become the rule of life - an active lifestyle, proper nutrition and regular visits to the doctor. Only with this approach to her health will a woman get rid of excess weight and prevent it from returning.

It is during this period of age that hormonal changes in the female body often occur—menopause. This leads to an unstable emotional background, irritability, apathy, and increased fatigue. Changes in hormonal levels lead to a deterioration in metabolism, which provokes weight gain. There is no reason to panic - if you get down to business wisely, then at any age you can get rid of extra pounds and look perfect.

Another difficulty is that with age, the skin loses its elasticity, so after losing weight it is difficult to get yourself in order - it seems that the skin is hanging and this makes it look very unpresentable. This is another reason to lose weight gradually, so as not to provoke the appearance of unsightly folds.

Diet rules after 50

1. The weight comes off slowly and reluctantly - you will have to put in much more effort than in your youth.
2. The diet should be aimed at slow but steady weight loss.
3. Low-calorie diets that involve fasting and monotonous food are prohibited.
4. It is necessary to take vitamins, micro- and macroelements, and monitor the balance of BJUs in food. Carbohydrates should be 30-35%, proteins - 15-20%.
5. It is important to regularly engage in light fitness, Pilates or a daily walk in the fresh air.
6. You will have to work on your way of thinking, get rid of negative emotions and focus on the result - a positive emotional background will speed up weight loss.
7. The main enemy of a figure is overeating. Eat slowly to feel full earlier.
8. It is important to control blood sugar levels, body temperature, and pressure. If there are sudden changes in these indicators, be sure to consult a doctor.
9. The most comfortable and safe weight loss after 50 is no more than 0.5-1 kg per week. This is a long process that involves careful and persistent work on yourself.
10. Sometimes you can treat yourself to your favorite foods, even if they fall into the forbidden category. For example, a banana and a couple of slices of chocolate are an excellent remedy for depression and fatigue.

Prohibited Products

The choice of products for weight loss is dictated not so much by diet as by the principles of healthy eating. During your recovery (and preferably for life), you will have to give up fast food, smoked meats, and salty foods. The latter attract fluid, which leads to the formation of edema and, accordingly, to even more weight. Carbonated drinks, strong and sweet alcohol are prohibited. You will have to forget about spicy food, which whets the appetite and causes “hot flashes” in a woman during menopause. It is very important to permanently remove baked goods, sweets and confectionery from your diet - they are rich in fast carbohydrates, which are instantly digested and easily settle on the sides. You will have to limit the amount of meat (pork, beef, lamb) - it turns out to be too heavy for digestion, creating a load on the liver, pancreas and the entire gastrointestinal tract.

Features of diet preparation

1. The basis of nutrition is plant foods. Every day you need to eat vegetables, fruits, herbs - they should be 50-60% in the diet.
2. Particular attention is paid to the balance of vitamins B, A, E, PP and polyunsaturated fatty acids in food - it is necessary to choose food rich in these elements.
3. It is important to eat fractionally - often and in small portions. In this case, a lot of energy is spent on digestion, and the size of the stomach decreases.
4. Avoid drinking tea or any drinks after meals. It is advisable to drink 30-40 minutes after eating.
5. The main sources of protein are seafood, lean fish, rabbit, poultry (chicken, turkey) and veal.
6. The serving size should not exceed 250-300 grams.

Sports component

In women after 50, physical activity drops sharply. This is primarily due to age-related changes. And here very often ladies find themselves in a vicious circle: by not playing sports due to their health status, they get better, which leads to even bigger problems. Therefore, you cannot refuse physical activity. You just need to choose it in such a way that it is beneficial for the body and does not lead to unnecessary stress. To do this, you should consult a doctor and contact a competent trainer who will draw up an individual training program taking into account your age and health status.

For physical exercise, preference is given to walking, moderate exercise, Pilates and yoga. If you have never done it before, you should approach cardio exercises very carefully only after a full examination and consultation with a doctor.

Omelette

Omelette provides a feeling of fullness and speeds up metabolism . After heat treatment, eggs lose some of their beneficial properties, but even after it, vitamins B and D and trace elements - copper, iron, fluorine, chlorine, iodine and sulfur - remain. This vitamin and mineral complex is able to ensure timely transmission of impulses to nerve endings, helps maintain flexibility and elasticity of joints, and has a beneficial effect on the activity of the gastrointestinal tract.

Unfortunately, like everything fried in oil, it contains carcinogenic substances and can increase cholesterol levels in the blood.

Menu

Everyone’s health and contraindications are different - it’s optimal if a diet plan for weight loss is developed by a nutritionist, assessing your health, the functioning of your internal organs, and chronic diseases. However, once you understand the principles of healthy eating and know the characteristics of your body, you can independently create a comfortable menu for yourself from food prepared at home. But this does not cancel regular visits to specialists to monitor your condition.

For 7 days

If you are not planning to radically change your lifestyle, but want to get in shape before a holiday or vacation, then this diet menu for women over 50 will help you lose 2-3 extra pounds in a week. Provided that you increase your physical activity and do not neglect walking in the fresh air.

Monday:

• oatmeal and green tea, apples;
• vegetable soup and salad, tea;
• low-fat yogurt;
• potatoes and vinaigrette;
• low-fat kefir, apple.

Tuesday:

• a portion of cottage cheese, tea, pears or apples;
• piece of fish, grilled vegetables;
• fruit mix;
• omelette, citrus;
• yogurt.

Wednesday:

• rice porridge with milk, juice, grapes;
• chicken cutlets, creamy cabbage soup;
• curdled milk;
• zucchini pancakes, cucumbers and tomatoes;
• green tea.

Thursday:

• oatmeal with berries, coffee with milk, cheesecakes;
• a portion of chicken breast, lettuce with cucumbers;
• tomato juice;
• potatoes with fish balls;
• apple.

Friday:

• cottage cheese and raisin casserole, tea, 2 eggs;
• mackerel, grilled vegetables;
• fermented baked milk;
• buckwheat porridge, seafood salad;
• banana.

Saturday:

• seaweed salad with carrots, several nuts, orange and compote;
• chicken soup, a piece of cheese;
• tea with honey;
• portion of grilled beef, steamed vegetables;
• juice from vegetables.

Sunday:

• beet-garlic salad, tea, plums;
• potatoes with green peas, steamed hake;
• Apple juice;
• fish soup and stewed vegetables;
• kefir.

For a month

When planning to reconsider your attitude towards healthy eating and completely change your diet, take a step towards a healthy lifestyle. In this case, it is recommended to follow the diet for a long time, if possible, throughout your life. You can create a menu yourself, guided by the principles of nutrition for women over 50. We offer different meal options that you can combine at your discretion, trying to make your diet varied and healthy.

Breakfast

1. Oatmeal in water with dried fruits or milk and honey.
2. Low-fat cottage cheese with berries and sour cream.
3. Scrambled eggs and cheese sandwich.
4. Fruit slices with sour cream.
5. Cottage cheese casserole.
6. Buckwheat porridge with berries.

Lunches

1. Buckwheat porridge with vegetables.
2. Vegetable soup and a piece of bread.
3. Corn porridge with chicken breast.
4. Boiled potatoes with cucumbers and tomatoes.
5. Grilled fish with vegetables.
6. Vegetarian cabbage rolls.

Afternoons

1. A glass of fruit or vegetable juice.
2. Kefir or fermented baked milk.
3. Low-fat yogurt.
4. Fruit of choice: apple, pear or orange.

Dinners

1. Boiled fish and vegetable salad.
2. 1 potato and baked vegetables.
3. Vegetable stew.
4. Rice with vinaigrette.
5. Roasted cauliflower and tomatoes.
6. Buckwheat porridge and chicken cutlet.

If you stick to this menu for quite a long time, then small indulgences are allowed in the form of an additional piece of bread, fruit or a serving of vegetables. A glass of dry red wine is allowed no more than once a week.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are necessary for every person. It is advisable to consume them in the first half of the day. Porridge contains a large amount of carbohydrates. Such food is not only digested without problems, but is also perfectly absorbed by the body.

Advice!

Give preference to more than just oatmeal for breakfast. Take a closer look at rice, buckwheat and corn. They are more filling.

It is advisable to cook porridge in water. The taste of the dish can be changed every day. It all depends on what a person adds to the porridge. These can be vegetables, fruits, berries. Oatmeal can be topped with delicious natural sugar-free syrup.

Quitting the diet

It is very important to maintain self-control when leaving the diet for women after 50. There is no need to joyfully pounce on the foods in which you have limited yourself. It is ideal if your approach to preparing a diet remains unchanged: healthy and not too high-calorie dishes will be a priority. Try to follow all aspects of PP after losing weight, then you won’t have to lose weight anymore - your figure will remain toned without much effort. To get out of the diet, gradually increase portion sizes until the average daily calorie content of foods is 1.5-1.6 thousand kilocalories.

Squirrels

Proteins are the building blocks of our body. They must be consumed daily in order to always feel good and stay in shape. The main thing is to correctly calculate the daily protein intake.

For a complete breakfast, try to eat foods that are rich in proteins. These include:

• eggs;
• legumes (eg beans);
• cheese;
• yogurt;
• cottage cheese;
• bird;
• fish.

All these products can certainly be consumed in the first half of the day. As for food of animal origin, it should not be fatty. Only in this case can it be called useful.

Reviews and results of losing weight

Anna, 52 years old

For my 50th birthday, I gave myself a holiday in a sanatorium, where I met my love. We decided to get married, but first I decided to get myself in order and lose 10 extra pounds. It took me 3 whole months, but now I look better, and I’ve been a happy wife for a year now. I lost weight without any special diets - I simply adhered to the principles of proper nutrition: I excluded bread, pastries, and all sorts of my favorite smoked foods and sweets. At first it was very difficult, but now I’ve gotten used to it and quite calmly walk past the stalls with pizzas and pies. I go in for sports, feel great and enjoy the new perspectives that life gives me!! Girls, lose weight and be happy! At 50, life is just beginning!

Marina, 54 years old

Over the course of my life, I have tried to lose weight more or less successfully several times, but the weight comes back and apparently this is my karma. But at 50, I retired and decided to radically change my life. Today my weight is 65 kg with a height of 168 - in 2 years of active weight loss I lost 18 kg!!! Now I am in ideal shape for myself, in which I feel energetic and confident. I lost weight with the help of Elena Malysheva’s program - I bought sets of ready-made meals, and then cooked them myself according to the recommendations. Now I’m so used to eating right that even when visiting, I only eat healthy and low-calorie dishes. And I look better than I did at 40, when I was tired of life and sickly fat.

Drinking (lazy)

Almost every weight loss program requires compliance with the drinking regime. One of the diet options after 50 is also based on the consumption of large amounts of pure still water. The peculiarity of the method is that you need to drink water not after eating, but 30-40 minutes before it.

The daily drinking diet menu should include vegetables and fruits, herbs, mushrooms, lean meat (turkey, chicken, rabbit), fish, low-fat fermented milk products (cottage cheese, hard cheese, fermented baked milk, yogurt, yogurt), vegetable fats, cereals, bran and whole grain bread, chicken and quail eggs.

Option 1:

Option 2:

The effective functioning of the drinking diet is due to a small trick: water drunk before eating fills the stomach, and even with a brutal feeling of hunger, you will not be able to eat more than you should.

Reviews from doctors and specialists (with video)

Anton Ovsyannikov, nutritionist

When women over 50 come to me, I prescribe them a full examination to identify all hidden pathologies of the body. The diet for women over 50 is prescribed taking into account the state of health - this factor cannot be neglected, otherwise losing weight will result in the development of chronic diseases. Mindlessly losing weight at this age by choosing any diet you like is categorically not recommended. Particularly dangerous is sudden weight loss associated with fasting and a critical reduction in calorie intake. You need to lose excess weight gradually, combining a diet with light physical activity. At the same time, I recommend taking multivitamin complexes, which help get rid of accumulated kilograms without stress and decreased immunity. There is not and cannot be a universal recipe for losing weight after 50 years. Therefore, dear women, contact specialists so that later, for the rest of your life, you do not have to correct the consequences of your desire to be slim.

In what cases is drug therapy prohibited?

To lose weight during menopause and normalize your overall health, you need to buy special medications prescribed by your doctor. Not in all cases it is possible to carry out such therapy. The main contraindications to hormone therapy include:

• autoimmune disease;
• diabetes;
• cardiovascular disease;
• oncological pathology;
• endometriosis;
• neoplasm in the uterus - tumor, cancer;
• bleeding from the uterus;
• kidney diseases.