Exclusive | How to get a flat tummy over 40 trainer says your belly fat will melt if you follow these rules
A flat tummy after 40 is possible — and 57-year-old trainer Jill Brown would know.Brown, a certified master health fitness and nutrition coach, says losing weight and even getting abs won’t look the same as it did in your 20s, but if you focus less on “fancy crunches” and more on her number one priority, you’ll be on your way to seeing results.Brown acknowledged that it’s absolutely harder to slim down in mid-life — and it’s necessary to keep body changes in mind with your diet and fitness goals.“First thing we need to realize is that we lose muscle with age.Sarcopenia [age-related muscle loss] happens to men and women starting around 30-ish,” she told The Post.
“As we lose muscle, our metabolisms slow down.So if we’re eating approximately the same amount of calories in our 40s as we did in our 20s and 30s, or exercising less, we’ll be slowing putting on weight.”And even if your weight gain used to go to your thighs and butt, as you get older, more will settle in the middle.“Once estrogen levels start dropping in perimenopuase for women, the playing field gets leveled, and we all start to store more fat around the belly,” Brown said.
“Add chronic stress to the mix, and long term elevated cortisol will cause more fat to store around the belly.”“There’s an old saying in my field that goes, ‘Muscles are made in the gym and abs (or flat abs) are made in the kitchen,'” Brown said.Ever heard that fat loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise? Brown says there’s no scientific study to back up this ratio, but “pretty much all professionals in the fitness and nutrition worlds agree on this.”“In order to get a flat stomach after 40, nutrition should be the number one priority.
All the planks and fancy crunches in the world won’t burn a noticeable amount of fat off the belly,” she explained.“But when you have a nutrition plan that prioritizes high quality protein with strategies to help you achieve a calorie deficit, you wil...