Sustained weight loss doesn’t come from just one place, but rather a combination of lifestyle changes. We asked three nutrition, fitness and mindset experts for their top ways to tackle weight loss — for good!
Words: Pauline Cox, Kate Rowe-Ham, Suzy Reading. Images: Shutterstock.
Pauline says…
Pauline Cox is a functional nutritionist, author and founder of keto delicatessen Sow & Arrow (sowandarrow.com) near Bristol. Her latest book is Hungry Woman: Eating for Good Health, Happiness + Hormones. Follow her at instagram.com/paulinejcox.
If there is one thing I wish I could tell every woman who is navigating weight loss, it’s this: the calorie-counting approach that has dominated for decades was never designed with female biology in mind.
Women’s metabolism is unique and intrinsically linked to our fluctuating hormones across our cycles, through perimenopause and beyond, and these shifts fundamentally shape the way we store and burn fuel. So, when it comes to sustainable weight management, we need to stop thinking about restriction and instead start thinking about support.
Balance blood sugar
Blood sugar balance is the single most impactful change most women can make. When blood sugar spikes and crashes throughout the day, it drives hunger, cravings, fatigue and, crucially, increased fat storage, particularly around the middle. The fix doesn’t require anything radical. Prioritise protein and healthy fats at every meal.
Become conscious of healthy carbohydrate choices such as fruit, roots (carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot and vegetables grown underground) and beans. These small shifts blunt glucose spikes and keep energy steady, reducing the insulin surges that signal your body to store fat rather than burn it.
Focus on wholefoods
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) now account for over half the average UK diet, and their impact on appetite regulation is profound. These foods are engineered to override our natural satiety signals, making it incredibly difficult to eat in tune with genuine hunger. Shifting toward whole, nutrient-dense foods, quality proteins, colourful vegetables, nuts, seeds, olive oil and oily fish naturally recalibrates appetite.
You don’t need to weigh portions or track macros obsessively. When you eat real food, your body becomes remarkably good at telling you when it’s had enough. Eat mindfully, not mechanically Digestion begins in the brain: when we eat in a distracted or stressed state, we impair digestive function, particularly the gastric juices needed for breaking down our foods, and we miss the subtle signals that tell us we’re satisfied.
Even just making the time to take a few slow breaths before you sit down to a meal, chewing things properly, and simply being present with your food can really transform your relationship with eating.
Give your body a window of rest
Our bodies weren’t designed to graze from dawn until midnight. Time-restricted eating means condensing your meals into a defined window, typically around 10-12 hours. This gives your metabolism the overnight rest it needs to shift into fat-burning mode and carry out essential cellular repair. For women, I always recommend a gentle approach. A 12-hour eating window is a wonderful starting point, say 8am to 8pm. There’s no need to push into extreme fasting territory, which can actually backfire for women by increasing cortisol and disrupting hormonal balance.
The bigger picture
Sustainable weight loss isn’t about willpower or punishment. It’s about working with your biology, nourishing your body with real food, respecting your hunger signals, balancing your blood sugar and giving your metabolism the breathing space it needs. When you get these foundations right, the body finds its natural equilibrium – and that’s where lasting change happens.
Kate says…
Kate Rowe-Ham is a PT specialising in helping midlife women get strong and feel good. She’s the founder of app Owning Your Menopause (owningyourmenopause.com) and is a patron of the Menopause Mandate. Follow her at instagram.com/katerh_fitness.
When it comes to weight loss, many women still default to more cardio and less food. But this approach often backfires – especially during midlife and menopause. In fact, strength training and understanding the role muscle and bone health play is vital to both fat loss and your long-term wellbeing. From our 30s, we begin to lose muscle mass.
This process accelerates during menopause due to declining oestrogen levels. Less muscle doesn’t just mean feeling weaker – it also means a slower metabolism. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, which means the more you have, the more energy your body uses at rest. In other words, building muscle helps your body work smarter, not harder.
Benefits of building more muscle
Strength training is one of the most effective ways to rebuild and protect that muscle. Lifting weights, using resistance bands or even bodyweight exercises send a powerful signal to your body to hold on to lean tissue. This is crucial during weight loss, as without strength training you’re just as likely to lose muscle as you are fat, and that’s the last thing you want.
The benefits of strength training don’t stop there: as oestrogen declines, women become more susceptible to reduced bone density, increasing the risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Strength training places healthy stress on the bones, which stimulates them to become stronger and more resilient. So, lifting weights isn’t just about looking toned; it’s about protecting your future independence and reducing fracture risk later in life.
Empowerment over punishment
There is also a powerful link between strength training and body composition. Many women focus solely on the number on the scales, but this doesn’t tell the full story. Building muscle can change the shape and function of your body, even if your weight doesn’t dramatically drop. You may feel firmer, stronger and more confident – and those are often far more meaningful markers of progress in your health journey.
Perhaps most importantly, strength training shifts the mindset away from punishment and towards empowerment. Instead of exercising to shrink your body, you start training to support it, making it more capable, more resilient and better equipped to handle the demands of daily life. Two to four strength sessions a week, alongside regular movement like walking, are enough to see meaningful changes.
The key is consistency, not perfection. Ultimately, sustainable weight loss in midlife isn’t about doing more – it’s about doing what matters. And building strength, protecting muscle and supporting bone health should be right at the top of that list.
Suzy says…
Suzy Reading is a chartered psychologist and author of How to Be Selfish. She specialises in helping you get on your own side so that you can take the nourishing action you need to show up as you aspire to. Visit instagram.com/suzyreading.
If you’re diligent in your movement and nutritional choices, getting your mind on side might be the missing ingredient in creating your desired physical change. Building your mindfulness skills can help you to make more supportive food choices and get more bang for your buck when it comes to the impact of your workouts.
Be present with your meals
My first tip is to focus on mindful eating. Notice and act on your feelings of hunger without letting yourself get to the point of being “hangry” – where it is much harder to make sound choices! The act of slowing down your eating and reducing distractions such as screens allows you to be more present and responsive to signals of fullness, helping you avoid overeating.
Similarly, try to recognise any emotional eating. Becoming more connected with your emotions will help you to identify when you are driven to eat for comfort, while awareness of cravings gives you an opportunity to find alternative ways to soothe and support yourself. Pick up a copy of my book How to Be Selfish for a toolkit of somatic practices that provide comfort without self-sabotage.
The power of the mind
Did you know, you can lose weight just by thinking about it? Let me introduce you to the “housekeeper study”. For years, I’ve been talking about the value of “incidental” exercise – all movement, not just exercise, counts when it comes to the health benefits of movement. That means vacuuming, active play with your kids or getting your hands dirty in the garden can all be just as effective as a gym workout.
This study takes the message one step further, showing you how to fine-tune the potency of everyday movement. It tracked the progress of housekeepers who spent their entire working day engaged in the physical activity of cleaning hotel rooms. One group of housekeepers were informed of the benefits of exercise and given information about the physical effects of their specific work tasks – for example, that just 15 minutes of vacuuming can burn 50 calories.
The other group of housekeepers were given the same information about the benefits of exercise but weren’t informed that their work tasks constituted exercise. After just four weeks of knowing their job was an effective form of exercise, the first group lost an average of two pounds, lowered their blood pressure by 10 points and reduced their body fat, all without any change to their diet or additional exercise.
This change was created just by being mindful of their movement and its positive effects. In contrast, the comparison group stayed in the same shape they were in at the beginning. These results clearly demonstrate the remarkable power of the mind. So, the next time you decide to take the stairs, connect with the fact that you are whittling down your thighs. As you move, look for ways that you can accelerate potential changes to your body just by harnessing the power of your mind.
