Weight Loss For Men Over 50: The 5 Proven Foundations That Actually Work!

Looking for weight loss for men over 50? Your search is over; we've created a plan that works!

This article will outline our complete battle plan (eating, exercise, sleep, and motivation) for guys over 50 who are looking to lose weight and actually keep it off for life. This isn't just any plan. This plan will help you safely and effectively lose weight and keep it off!

It's far more extensive (and valuable) than those generic “Top 10 Weight Loss Tips” blogs you see all over the internet and social media!

Specifically, we'll cover the 5 key foundations of weight loss for men over 50:

• • Foundation 1: Finding your deep weight loss motivation and mindset.

• • Foundation 2: Resetting your sleep schedule for easier weight loss.

• • Foundation 3: Starting the simple Fit Father eating plan.

• • Foundation 4: The difference between daily activity vs exercise.

• • Starting the time-efficient Fit Father workouts.

Ready to dig in? Keep reading for everything you need to know about weight loss for men over 50!

Foundation 1: Successful Weight Loss ALWAYS Starts With the Proper Mindset First

I'm not going to sugarcoat this first foundational principle for you. Most guys over 50 who are trying to lose weight make one massive mistake.

And that mistake is that they try to focus on diets and workouts BEFORE establishing the proper mindset and motivation.

YES, the proper healthy diet and workout plan are extremely important for your weight loss. You've probably tried every type of diet out there, CICO, keto, vegan — you name it, you've done it, and that's why finding the right one is key.

But diet and exercise is the wrong place to start.

We need to first do some “inner work” on your mindset and motivation to ensure that you'll actually stay consistent with the best eating and exercise strategies you'll discover in this guide. As a man in your 50s looking to lose weight, I’m sure you’ve tried and failed at diets before. If so, you're not alone. I've been there, too.

The “secret” to your weight loss success and long-term consistency boils down to the clarity you have on your deep internal motivations to lose weight.

No diet or workout will ever help you if you can't stay consistent; consistency is rooted in your mindset and motivation.

Here at the Fit Father Project, we call the process of uncovering your deep motivation finding your ‘why power.'

Right now, I’m going to show you our 3 question process that will help you discover your deep motivation to lose weight.

Ask Yourself This Question 3 Times In A Row

The best way to fully understand WHY you want to lose weight is to ask yourself the following question:

“Why do I want to lose weight?”

This question is deceptively simple — yet it has a ton of value.

The first time you ask yourself this question, you may answer something like this:

Good start. Now, ask yourself WHY again.

OK. We're digging a little deeper now. Ask yourself WHY again.

Boom! Now we're getting to the good stuff.

In this example, we've finally found some of the deep emotions that will fuel weight loss success.

Now, we'll turn things around into a positive mission statement that will FUEL your weight loss success:

Quite frankly, digging deep like this into your true reasons for wanting to lose weight takes a ton of courage. It's one of the bravest things you can do. You come face to face with the fears and insecurities all of us guys have — regardless of our age and current weight.

Most guys over 50 simply don't take the time to really get clear on this deep “emotional work” before starting the diet. Neglecting this mindset component is a guaranteed path to failure. When you have alignment between deep emotion and the best weight loss eating and workout strategies, you will be on the surefire path to winning.

I want to challenge you to do this process RIGHT NOW. Ask yourself why at least 3 times and jot down your answers.

Watch this video and find YOUR why power!

Foundation 2: After the Proper Mindset, Ensure You're Getting a Minimum of 7 Hours of Sleep Per Night

Do you get that horrible, tired, grumpy feeling in the morning where all you want to do is reach for something strong and sugary to make you feel human again? If you do, you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from here.

The next stage in your weight loss for men over 50 plan is to look at how much sleep you're getting and how much you should be getting to help you effectively lose weight.

If you’re sleeping less than 7 hours per night, your body will be very resistant to losing weight.

That groggy feeling I just mentioned is mainly caused by an imbalance in some of the important hormones that dictate how your body operates.

Specifically, here's what happens to your body when you miss sleep:

• • Your body becomes very bad at “processing” carbs, leading to fat gain.

• • Your body's fat-burning and appetite-suppressing hormones (like leptin) decrease, making you feel hungry all the time.

• • Your body's hunger-stimulating hormone (ghrelin) increases, making you feel even hungrier.

• • Your body's stress hormone (cortisol) increases, making you feel on edge and more prone to store fat.

Proper sleep is an absolutely ESSENTIAL component of the proper weight loss for men over 50 plan.

If you're missing sleep, no amount of healthy dieting or exercise will help you lose weight over the long term. That's why we are adamant about covering the importance of sleep before discussing food and exercise (coming up next).

As you move through your 40s and into your 50s, you’re probably feeling that your energy levels are taking a bit of a dip too, so making sure you get more sleep will naturally help keep you more spritely and energetic. I’m sure you weren’t expecting to read about weight loss and be told to sleep more, but that’s how it is!

Seven hours of sleep each night — AT A MINIMUM — is necessary to keep your weight loss on track and your hormones in check.

Check out this episode of the Fit Father Project Podcast, where we talk about how to optimize your sleep!

Foundation 3: Instead of Another Quick Fix Diet, Change Your Eating Habits For the Long Term

That's why we are going to take a few minutes in this section to cover our Fit Father approach to simplifying healthy eating for weight loss. We call this the Perfect Plate method. It's basic but very effective, and here's everything you need to know about it.

• • Half of each plate should be vegetables, particularly lower-calorie non-starchy ones (remember, green is good).

• • One-fourth of each plate should be nutritious, protein-rich foods (turkey, chicken, lean beef, tuna).

• • One-fourth of each plate should be fiber-rich carbohydrates (sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa).

We suggest pre-planning, cooking, and storing your food for at least the next few days to make things easy. I find it easiest to cook on Sunday for Monday to Wednesday, then on Wednesday for Thursday to Sunday. For 3 adults, this takes me just 1 hour each time.

Store your food in glass containers instead of plastic.

Plastic ones have been proven to contain estrogen-like Xenohormones that can lower testosterone levels. As a man in your 50s, you need to do everything you can to increase, not decrease, testosterone!

Also, make proper hydration a part of your overall eating plan.

I'm sure you already know the importance of proper hydration, so I'll save you the lecture.

I'll just give you a few short pointers that I would encourage you to follow:

• • Drink 2-2.5 liters of water per day.

• • Drink your first 0.5 liters within 30 minutes of waking up.

• • Use an aluminum bottle for the same reason we recommend glass containers for your food.

• • Keep your bottle close by throughout the day to ensure regular hydration.

I cannot encourage you enough to make good nutrition a lifelong plan.

Always remember the FFP mantra: You can't out-exercise a bad diet!

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Foundation 4: Make 30 Minutes of Daily Activity Your First Exercise Target

Although the mantra I have just shared with you points out the high importance of having a great nutrition plan first and foremost, daily activity and formal exercise still feature as part of the structure for your weight loss for men over 50 plan.

We recommend starting with 30 minutes of daily activity.

This could be almost anything you would do in your daily life, like gardening, cleaning the car, or doing some DIY around the house. Doing something you enjoy that gets you moving and slightly out of breath is an excellent way to burn excess calories and shift belly fat while increasing your cardiovascular strength and keeping you fit and healthy.

You could also extend this a little to more full-on activities such as hiking, kayaking, or swimming. The key at this stage is to keep the activity reasonably low impact. As you get into your 50s, unfortunately, your metabolism starts to slow, and muscle loss occurs at a faster rate than in your 30s and 40s.

Daily activity is necessary to keep your metabolism raised and your muscle loss to a minimum.

It also helps with blood flow and joint mobility, both of which will help limit joint soreness and alleviate general aches and pains.

Once you are used to doing 30 minutes of daily activity or feel that you need to push yourself a bit harder, you can move on to formal exercise programs, which we’ll take a look at below.

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Foundation 5: Once You Have Mindset, Sleep, Eating, and Daily Activity in Place, Start Some Formal Workouts

Once you have decided that it’s time to move on to more formal exercise, you can follow a few types of plans to help achieve different things.

Low Impact, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT workouts are used to increase your metabolic rate and also your cardiovascular fitness. These workouts are great fun and can be done easily on any piece of cardio equipment. HIIT is done by going through a series of short, high-intensity bursts of effort followed by similar duration periods of rest or active rest.

For example, you could speed walk on a treadmill at 6-7 km/h with a gradient of 1% to start, then follow this cycle:

• 3-5 minute warm-up.
• 20 minutes alternating 1 minute at a 6% gradient and 1 minute at a 1% gradient.
• 5-minute cool down.
• All body, static stretches.

This HIIT bodyweight workout can be done at home with NO equipment!

Full-Body Strength Training

Strength training is perfect for increasing or maintaining lean mass and is helpful in two particular areas, namely bodily strength and increased weight loss. An increase in your overall strength and muscle mass will help your body to remain stable and will improve balance and proprioception, as well as being more metabolically active and therefore burning calories like a lit furnace.

You can do your strength training using either your body weight or weights. When training a guy like you, I would always start with body weight. The reason is that it works smaller stabilizer muscles within the body and conditions you to use weight without over-exerting yourself.

An all-body strength routine would include:

• Squats for legs
• Lunges for legs
• Press-ups for chest, shoulders, and triceps
• Pull-ups for back, shoulders, and biceps
• Bench dips for triceps

Check out this Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) workout — it combines the best strength training exercises into a quick circuit!

Flexibility and Mobility

As a man with half a century of wear and tear under his belt, you may be getting some aches and pains in your muscles and joints. If you are, you will find flexibility and mobility routines to be a godsend.

They are designed to stretch out your muscles to ease the aches and mobilize your joints to reduce any pain. As a basic suggestion, I would do static stretches and mobility exercises at the end of every activity or exercise session. Stretch each muscle, holding the stretches for 30 seconds each.

For mobility, mobilize every joint that hasn’t been done already. If you have been walking, mobilize your upper limbs by doing shoulder rolls or arm swings. If you have been kayaking, mobilize your lower limbs by doing high knee marching, heel flicks, and ankle circles.

Formal exercising such as this is the last stage you should undertake in a weight loss plan for men over 50; believe it or not, it is the least important. If you have a sound nutrition regime and are active for at least 30 minutes each day, losing and controlling your weight will be a breeze.

Here are 10 stretches that you should do EVERY DAY!

Summary: Taking Your Weight Loss For Men Over 50 Plan Forward

I know you are in this for the long game, and a sustainable plan is what you need. The information that you have read here is not a diet that will last you 6 weeks or a workout plan to get you 6-pack abs.

It’s a sensible, sustainable lifestyle plan that you can use from now on, to keep you healthy, energetic, fit, and strong for you and your family.

The essential points to remember for this plan are:

• • Ask yourself why you want to lose weight at least 3 times and jot it down.

• • Use your DEEP why to get your mindset right.

• • Sleep a minimum of 7 hours each night.

• • Use our Perfect Plate method in your healthy nutrition lifestyle.

• • Do 30 minutes of activity every day.

• • Use formal exercise sessions if and when necessary.

Stuart Carter, Dip. PT, Precision Nutrition 1
C.O.O., The Fit Father Project

Stuart gained his Diploma in Personal Training & Sports Medicine through Premier Global, back in 2001. In 2018, he completed his Level 1 Precision Nutrition qualification.

Throughout his career in Fitness, Stuart has trained hundreds of clients, worked in almost every position in the industry, and ran his own successful training studio.

After a hiatus away from the Fitness industry, working in Corporate Management and Finance, Stuart returned to what he loves… Fitness! This return led to a chance meeting with Dr. Balduzzi, and a place in the Fit Father Project team.

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*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on weight loss for men over 50.