Top Weight Loss Mistakes Made by Women Over 50

24. Counting Calories Does Not Mean You’re Healthy

Scientists believed that weight loss was directly related to mathematical equations: if you ate fewer calories, you would lose weight. However, this is not the case. What is really in control of weight gain or loss is your hormones. Also, because you’re much older, your hormones are at different levels than they used to be. It means that you can probably no longer eat the foods you used to and stay at a healthy weight. That can be highly distressing for those who are used to eating whatever meals they want.

Instead of starting a crash diet or eating fewer calories, you should focus on the quality of calories you’re getting instead. When you deprive the body of calories, the body enters a stress stage, forcing the body to create cortisol. Cortisol makes the body store more fat to deal with this stress. When you eat fewer calories, the body burns fewer calories because your metabolism is much slower. The focus should be on eating healthy, high-quality caloric foods instead of getting as few calories as possible.