After the age of 40, most women’s hormones are crazy once again-just like as if you were a teenager all over! Weight loss can be increasingly difficult after your 40th birthday, and a pound lost today just may be a pound gained tomorrow. There is hope to lose weight and keep it off.

In order to lose one pound of weight, you must either eat 3500 less calories than usual or burn off 3500 more calories than usual.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at what it takes to lose one pound:

Shaving off 500 calories a day will result in only one pound lost a week, four pounds a month, and forty-eight pounds a year. This can be excruciatingly slow for some women, and when you are not experiencing noticeable results quickly, you just may begin to lose faith and go back to your old eating habits. However, if you eat 500 less calories a day and burn off 500 calories a day through exercise, you will see a doubling in your weight loss. Therefore, you will lose 2-2.5 pounds a week, 8-10 pounds a month, and 96-120 pounds a year. This is the kind of weight loss that is inspiring, that will keep you motivated in the new eating and lifestyle habits.

Implementing change:

You can achieve this weight loss through various small and large changes. First of all, do not depend on the usual low-fat, low-carb diets. While these diets are extremely popular right now and these may have worked when you were younger, this diet most likely will not provide the long term weight loss you desire. The key in this weight loss procedure is to remember to not only eat 500 less calories, but also to burn off 500 more calories through activity. Yes, this may mean going back to calorie-counting, but only for a few weeks until you begin to instinctively choose the lower calorie options available. You might start with a switch from red meats, such as beef, to lower calorie chicken turkey, and fish, or even try a non-meat option such as tofu. Instead of a large bowl of ice cream, try a smaller bowl of naturally made low fat frozen yogurt. Instead of soda, opt for sweet tea or water sweetened with lemon.

To exercise off the 500 calories a day, you do not have to run for hours or bike for miles. You can, instead, try yoga or Pilates. Both will slim and tone your body, make you more limber, and overall give you a better feeling of youth and energy. You can also try water aerobics, which are not as hard of the joints as traditional exercises. Exercising with a friend will also help to keep you motivated. You cannot use excuses as easily with a dedicated friend as you can with yourself. Exercising for just 20-30 minutes a day is all it takes to burn off those extra calories and give you back the body you love.

All of these tips require determination and self-discipline, but as with all things in life, if you want it, you have to work for it. Losing weight the old fashioned way, without the use of diet pills or even diets, will help keep the weight off for much longer, and keep you in a youthful, slim body.