If I Were Over 50 & 30 Lbs Overweight, This Is Exactly What I'd Do

If you are over 50 and carrying about 30 pounds that will not move, I really want you to sit with this, hear this before anything else: you are not doing anything wrong. You know, almost every person I sit down with in this position is trying harder right now than at any other point in their life. They're eating less than they were at 35, they're walking more than they walked at 40. They're saying no at dinner to certain foods, and the scale just sits there, or it creeps up. Then someone tells them to eat less, move more, and they think, I already am, I'm doing everything, what else is left? So today I want to answer this the way that I would answer it for myself if I were over 50. If I have 30 pounds of excess fat to release, this is exactly what I would do. There's no fads, no gimmicks, nothing that wrecks my metabolism on the way down. Now, I'm Dr. Ashley Lucas. I'm a PhD nutritionist, a registered dietitian. I'm the owner and founder of PhD Weight Loss, where to date we have helped over 13,000 people collectively drop more than 480,000 pounds nationwide. All right, so let's start with the reframe. You guys, your body at 55 is not a broken version of your body at 25. I want you to think of it like the protected version. It has been through a lot. It has a little bit of baggage. It's been through decades of dieting, stress, poor sleep, hormonal changes, and it adapted to all of it exactly as designed. Now, this adaptation is not failure. It is intelligence. You could even think of it like it's overadapted. Now, here is what has shifted. First, muscle. For a lot of us, like the vast majority of us, starting around 30, we actually begin losing lean muscle, and it speeds up each decade if nothing is done about it. And most of us don't do much about it. Muscle— you've probably heard this before, and everyone's talking about muscle these days— muscle is the largest place your body has to put the glucose you eat. Now, with less of it, left with less muscle, insulin comes up to clear that glucose, and elevated insulin flips the switch from fat burning to fat storage. Same food, different body, different outcome. Second thing is hormones. As estrogen and testosterone decline, the body changes in both men and women where it prefers to store fat. Now what happens is that the preference of fat storage happens to move to the middle of your body, right in the belly area. That's why the weight suddenly lands on the belly in your— for some people, 40s and 50s— when it never used to go there. Your fat distribution changed, not your willpower, not your discipline. Third thing is stress and sleep. Cortisol out of rhythm keeps the body in I want you to think of it like this protective conservation mode. And a body in this type of mode does not release stored fuel, and that's what fat is, right? Fat is stored fuel on your body. Instead, it holds it around the middle, in the belly, because that is the fastest fuel to reach in an emergency. Your body is not sabotaging you. It is actually holding a reserve for what it believes is coming. Fourth thing is your gut. Now, GLP-1, this is the hormone that everybody is talking about right now because of the medications. It's not made in your brain. This hormone is secreted in your gut, in your lower intestines, in your colon. It is the signal that tells your brain you have had enough food. Now, after decades of processed food, chronically restricting yourself, rounds of dieting that starve the good bacteria along with everything else, that signal gets quiet. So you can eat a perfectly adequate meal and still not feel satisfied by it. I hope that this makes it clear that this is not a willpower problem either. It's a signaling problem. Now, none of this closes the door on you. It means the old tool of eating less and moving more, which by the way, when we take the medications, we're simply eating less, is now precisely the wrong tool. Just eating less and moving more and thinking about calories in and calories out, that's the wrong tool. So what I want to talk to you today is about what the right tools are for you. Step 1: I would set my protein target and I would hit it before anything else. And this is easier said than done. Every day is difficult for me to hit my protein target and it takes effort. Now, for someone with fat to drop, I would target about 0.8 grams of protein per ideal weight. So what this means is that if you weigh 190 pounds and your optimal healthy weight where you don't have any of that belly fat left, that visceral fat left, let's say your healthy weight is 160 pounds, that means you're going to take 0.8, multiply it times 160, that should be around 128 or so. So that means you're going to consume around 128 grams a day, every day, ideally from high-quality whole food animal protein. So you guys, that means eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, fish, seafood, full-fat, maybe low-fat dairy. I don't like fat-free dairy. Protein does 3 things at once. Number 1, it keeps you full without spiking your blood sugar. Number 2, it protects lean muscle you still have, which is the entire ballgame after 50. And 3, it is the most metabolically expensive food you can digest. That's a good thing. Now, if you are over 50 and you're undereating protein, you are not losing weight slowly, you are losing muscle, and you're likely calling it weight loss. Okay, next thing is you want to make sure you bolus it. By bolus, I mean you get a specific dose of protein. So for example, maybe again, it depends on your gender and your body size and, and a lot of components. I'm just giving you here generalized guidelines. Let's say for most people that means around 35 to 55 grams. That's a bolus, right? Rather than just grazing and dripping protein at like 5 to 10 grams, one beef stick here, another beef stick in an hour or something like that, you really want to get a lump amount of it around 35 to 55 grams at the first meal of the day, whatever time that is, and another lump sum at dinner because that last bolus, I'm calling it, supports muscle repair overnight while you sleep. You can spread the rest across lunch and an afternoon snack. So breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, with first meal and last meal of the day getting the most protein. Step 2, I change where my carbohydrate comes from. Now notice I didn't say completely eliminate. I said change the source. And it is important to understand what your unique carbohydrate tolerance level is. This is our bread and butter and what we do at PhD Weight Loss. But in general, lower glycemic, higher fiber carbs are going to be your best bang for your buck. So it would be cauliflower rice instead of rice. It would be zucchini noodles instead of pasta. It'd be leafy greens, broccoli, bell peppers, mushrooms. If I wanted a starch, I would pick butternut squash. I'd pick sweet potato because at least these types of starch arrive packaged with fiber, which is also important. I'd also drop added sugar as close to zero as I could get, and this includes fruit juice. Now here's the trick that I like to give my clients at PhD Weight Loss. Total carbohydrates on the label divided by 4 is roughly the teaspoons of sugar in it. So if you've got a quote-unquote healthy smoothie from a tropical smoothie or wherever you go, a local smoothie place even, and they sweeten it with dates, but let's say there's 40 grams of carbohydrate in it. Take 40 grams, divide it by 4. That tells you there are 10 teaspoons of sugar in it. With almost no protein to slow it down. I'd also not drink my carbohydrate. I look at juice like melted candy. I know it's got some vitamins and minerals in it, but if you are struggling with belly fat, juice is not going to be your friend. If you are eating steel-cut oats with yogurt, blueberries, and orange juice for breakfast, or you're having skim milk with cornflakes and a banana and some juice, even if it's fresh-squeezed orange juice, it is not serving your body. Also, I look at regular processed cow's milk, like skim milk that you get at any grocery store, I look at that as being built for like a growing calf, like a growing baby cow. And actually, a growing baby cow gets the whole milk, so they, they get the fat. When we drink skim milk, it's just sugar, and we do not need that, and that is not meant for a 55-year-old person releasing fat. Another thing, Is that beer? I'm dropping all of this at you. I hope that it's not too much. Let me know in the comments if it's just too much. But beer, I look at beer as liquid bread. So if the fat is sitting on your belly area specifically, beer is not going to be your best friend. We can talk about alcohol in another video. You can drink and still lose weight. You know, the deal is, and I don't look ever at calories, I just look at how food and drink is impacting your metabolism. And one thing about alcohol is that alcohol slows down the liver's ability to burn fat, and that's where fat burn really happens. So you can't— I don't want you to think that I'm telling you to take out all these foods, but there are specific foods where you can now understand, and I hope that you understand, it's not just about calories, it's about what the calories do inside your body. Now, I know that this is a lot to digest, no pun intended. So if you feel like you have tried everything and it hasn't seemed to work, I hope that this opens up your field to understanding why it's so difficult, especially when your body is different than it was 20 years ago and the old rules just do not apply anymore. So if you are over 50, you have tried everything, and you want someone to look at your specific body, your history, your metabolism, and build the plan for you, that is exactly why PhD Weight Loss exists. Just head to myphdweightloss.com or click the link in the description, and one of our nutritionists will learn about you. They will help build you a specific customized meal plan telling you exactly what, when, how much to eat. You know, most of our men drop about 3 pounds per week, most of our women about 2, without crazy exercise, without medications, without counting a single calorie. Step 3: I'd put the mid-afternoon snack back in. I think it's really important for most people. Now, this is one that folks do fight me on, and it's one that quietly changes their evenings. I suggest getting in a mid-afternoon snack around 3 to 4 o'clock. I would eat full-fat plain Greek yogurt with some berries, maybe some Zen Basil or chia seeds mixed in. I might do some bone broth with collagen, and I might add a dash of MCT oil in there. I might do a couple of hard-boiled eggs with salt or some egg salad in romaine lettuce leaves, and I'd add some sliced pickles. I like the brand Bubbies because they're fermented, so I get to support my gut health. If you white-knuckle from lunch to dinner, you do not arrive at dinner hungry, you arrive ravenous. I always tell my clients that you never want to enter into dinner thinking that you could eat a cow, right? A ravenous body cannot make a good decision. Especially after a day where you are so tired. Willpower is not a finite reserve. We only have so much before we just like get complete decision fatigue. Let's say you just eat a ton of protein at dinner because you're so hungry. There is a certain amount of protein where your body can't even use it all appropriately and it starts storing it as fat. So it is not the answer to just try to Load up and get everything in one meal. And I've found that for a lot of clients, this is where evening grazing starts, is skipping that afternoon snack. The snack is not a cheat. I want you to think of the snack as insurance so that your evening is successful. Step number 4, I'd walk and I'd lift something heavy. And here is where I will save you a lot of frustration. 85 to 95% of fat loss comes from what you put in your mouth, not the gym. You can even ask trainers this. They help train people for their livelihood, and they still will tell you that you've got to focus on what you're doing in the kitchen. Now, I'm not telling you to be sedentary. I look at movement as one of the best wellness tools we have. But if you think you're gonna go ahead and get on the elliptical machine and burn the belly off, you need to think again. Too much exercise also reads to the body as one more stressor, and remember that a stressed body holds on to fat. Now, At PhD, we ask our clients to walk 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, every day. That is the main focus. And then I would add strength training next, because after 50, remember that lifting is not about burning calories, it's about keeping the muscle that keeps your metabolism awake. Now, if you just have this affinity for the elliptical machine and you just love it, then I'm not going to tell you that you have to get off of it. Oh yeah, I am actually telling you that you have to get off of it. Now, if you have an affinity for the elliptical machine and you just love looking at your tracker or whatever it might be showing that you're burning calories, I'm gonna ask for you to take a pause the next time you want to go on the elliptical machine, take a deep breath, and go over and lift weights instead. Sometimes it's important— I wouldn't say sometimes, I'd say always— it's important for us to break our nature. And if your nature is to go do cardio, go run, get on the bike and just bike for miles— I used to be there, I totally understand— you need to switch it up and do something different. And I'm asking you to get off of that machine or to stop pounding the pavement and pick something heavy up instead. Step number 5: I would treat sleep and stress just like food. It's just as important. When a client comes in and tells me that they're doing everything right and the scale still will not move for them, I look at the food record first. When the food is right on point, you guys, I will ask two questions. So if you feel like your food is right on point— and sometimes that can be very tricky because it might look like it's on point to you, but it really isn't. So something to, to consider there. But if you're like, I know it's right on point for me, then I would ask these two questions: how are you sleeping and how is your stress? 99% of the time, these clients are in a high stress state and no longer recognize it, or they're not sleeping. And usually those two things go in tandem. You can't outeat a nervous system that believes it's under threat. And Here is the piece that not many people talk about, that real safety is not control. Real safety is a body that trusts you, right? Where you have developed a relationship that it knows you're going to give it what it needs and listen to it. This could be like brief recovery windows if you're an avid exerciser. Remember, break your nature. This could be balanced meals if you have a tendency to skip meals, eat one meal a day, not eat breakfast. It could be moderate training rather than punishing training. It could be real sleep. It could be taking a break in the day and doing something that you just love. You know, that is right there, those small things. That's how the body starts believing you. Now, if you're doing the work and you want additional support at the metabolic level, this is where supplementation can help. I created the Belly Fat Reset Bundle for exactly this type of person. Over 50, doing the right things, and just watching the belly area refuse to budge. In this Belly Fat Reset bundle, it pairs GlucoCut Plus, which supports blood sugar stability, appetite regulation, and lean muscle preservation, with my other supplement called GLP-1 Gut Longevity Plus, which supports the gut microbiome and your body's own natural GLP-1 signaling. Together You guys, they cover both of the two systems driving stubborn belly fat. They are amazing. It supports daily glucose control and gut signaling, and you can find it at DrAshleyLucas.com. It's linked in the description as well, and you want to make sure that you use code ASHLEY10 for 10% off your first purchase or 20% off your first subscription order with free shipping. I would not drop to 1,200 calories. That's how you lose muscle. You lower your metabolic output. You set yourself up to regain everything the moment you eat like a normal human being again, and it's really, really frustrating. I would not count calories at all. If you have a tracker, I get rid of the tracker. I have no idea how many calories my clients eat. 1,000 calories from a banana and 1,000 calories from eggs are not the same physiological event inside your body. One, is going to spike glucose and spike insulin. It's going to drop you into a low, and it's going to have you in the pantry an hour later. The other one, the eggs, keep your hormones steady, keep your hunger quiet. You're going to find that you can go throughout the day, and you ultimately will end up very likely eating less calories when you eat all those eggs. And oh my gosh, the eggs have protein and fat in it. So someone in a diet would think, oh my gosh, I'm going to eat fat-free bananas and popcorn instead of the eggs, which has saturated fat and protein in it. No, no, you're going to go for the eggs over the bananas, over the popcorn. And you know what? I personally, I would not go straight to the medication. You know, I think that for the right specific person, in the right amount, for a specific period of time, that a GLP-1 can be a legitimate precision tool. But it is a tool. It is not the transformation. If your metabolism underneath has not been repaired. Hunger is going to come back the moment you stop unless you are on this drug forever, which does not sound— does not sound good to me. You know, our whole approach is building people off medication, not onto it. I personally want my body doing the work itself because that is what lasts, and I think that self-sufficiency and being empowered to create change that lasts when we're not dependent on anything outside of us is really the key. Since protein is doing most of the heavy lifting in everything I just walked you through, I have a video where I break down exactly what happens when you make high-quality protein the foundation of every single meal for 30 days. It is right up here, and it is linked in the description too. So subscribe to this channel to make sure that you don't miss the next one. Remember, you got to step up to make the change. Lead with your heart, train your mind, and listen to what your body already knows.