Low Carb After 40: Why the Weight Always Comes Back

Low-carb diets work fast, and that speed is exactly why the weight comes back. If you're over 40 and thinking about cutting carbs to lose weight, or you're a few weeks in and watching the number drop, this episode explains what those first weeks are really doing.

A conversation with my mammogram technician made me finally record this one. She's starting a low-carb diet because a friend lost weight on one, and I know exactly how that story ends, because I lived it. Through my 20s and into my 30s, low carb was my emergency button, and every diet round finished the same way. In this episode, I walk through why the first drop feels so convincing, the costs you can feel while the diet lasts, the most important piece of information for long-term weight loss that low carb never teaches you, and what finally made my 20-pound loss stay off for 10 years with carbs on my plate every single meal.

Resources Mentioned:

💪🏼 The Strong Core Method: my 4-week at-home core program for women over 40, built for every level, even if you've never worked out a day in your life. 12 guided workouts per level with video demos, 20 minutes, 3 times a week, to build a stronger, more defined midsection.

📝 Grab the FREE Fat Loss Formula Workbook to calculate your exact calorie deficit and maintenance numbers.

🎯 Take the FREE 'What's My Metabolism Type' Quiz to identify your unique metabolism type and get a personalized plan to manage your weight confidently.

💌 Stay connected: join my BTB Newsletter for weekly insights.

🎧 Listen Next: Why Diets Fail After 40: The 60% Rule That Finally Works 

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👋🏻 ABOUT ME:

I'm Andrea, a double-certified NASM Nutrition and Fitness Coach and founder of Behind the Body. For 20 years, I under-ate, avoided weights, and lived on cardio chasing skinny, and none of it gave me a body I was proud of. In my mid-30s, I changed my approach: more protein, real strength training, and a plan that fit my life. I lost 20 pounds, and 10 years later, at 45, I'm still maintaining it through perimenopause. I help women over 40 simplify their approach, build real strength, and get results that last. Every week, I cover the science, the strategy, and the honest truth about fat loss and maintenance for women over 40.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER:

This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health routine. Results vary. Andrea is a NASM-certified Nutrition and Fitness Coach, not a doctor or registered dietitian.

Transcript

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I'm Andrea and welcome to Behind the Body. If you're over 40 and trying to lose fat, build muscle, or take better care of your health, you're in the right place. Every week we'll tackle the questions women over 40 are asking about nutrition, fitness, metabolism, and aging, helping you spend less time doing what doesn't move the needle and more time focusing on what does without the extremes or the all or nothing mindset. Cutting carbs is one of the fastest ways to gain your weight back. You've probably heard the opposite, that it's the fastest way to lose weight. And honestly, both are true. The reason low carb diets drop weight so fast is the exact same reason the weight comes back. And it's why I think low carb is one of the worst weight loss strategies. So if you're thinking about going low carb or you're a few weeks in and you're loving the weight loss you're seeing, here's why those first few weeks feel so convincing, why the results don't last, and the one thing that makes your weight loss last while carbs stay on your plate. The reason that I'm even making this episode is that I keep having these same conversations. Friends, women I meet, they all tell me they're going low carb because someone they know lost a bunch of weight that way, or they did the diet before and it quote unquote worked. At my last mammogram, the sweetest technician, she was maybe in her late 60s, asked me how I stay in shape. And literally before I could even answer, she was so excited to tell me that she's starting a low carb diet because her friend and her friend's husband had just lost a bunch of weight on one. And every time I hear it, it drives me crazy because I know the diet will never work long term. So here's why the first few weeks of this diet feel like proof that it works. When you cut carbs, you're not just skipping bread and pasta, you're removing an entire category of food from your plate and with it, several hundred calories a day without having to track or count anything. That's the reason low carb works. There's only one way to lose weight. Your body has to use more calories than you give it. Low carb diets get you there without even having to say the word calories. You follow one rule with nothing to learn, and you eat less by default. That first drop in weight is dramatic for a second reason, too. Your body stores carbs with water. So when you eliminate carbs, the stored water leaves your body within a few days. And what you weigh can fall several pounds in that first week. It feels like proof that carbs were the problem, but the big part of that early drop is mostly water. I did this myself, by the way, through my 20s and my mid-30s. Anytime I got desperate to drop weight fast, low carb was a diet that I reached for because it was the one diet I didn't have to think about. The carbs went first every time. That was a diet. And every single time it ended the same way with me regaining all the weight back because I love carbs. Who doesn't? And it's really hard to keep a diet without them. It took me until my mid-30s to learn the missing piece. And that's when my yo-yo dieting finally stopped once and for all. So, yes, the number drops fast at the start, but you likely still have no idea how many calories your body uses in a day or how many calories you should be eating to keep the weight coming off. And that missing piece is exactly why the diet unravels and the weight comes back. So let's talk about why this diet is unsustainable. Think about a week in your life: dinners with your family, likely with family members who are not on a low-carb diet with you, a work lunch, your daughter's birthday, a vacation, a random Tuesday when the fastest food in the house is a sandwich or picking up something on the way home from work. Like our whole food culture is built on carbs. So unless you hate carbs, a diet that bans them isn't something you can logically sustain for life. And while the diet lasts, there are costs of a low-carb diet that you can physically feel. Your energy drops, or you might get brain fog because carbs are your body's preferred fuel source. And then when you cut out carbs, you also cut out a lot of fiber, since carbs are where most of it comes from. So your gut health and digestion take a hit. And if your protein happens to slip while you're cutting out carbs, some of the weight that you lose can be muscle, which in turn slows down your metabolism and your weight loss. And after 40, muscle is just one thing we cannot afford to lose. Then the day eventually comes when carbs return back into your diet. Maybe during a stressful day or a night out at dinner. Several pounds on you in a few days. And it feels like you've regained the weight back so quickly, even though it's just water going back into storage. But that can feel deflating and it can feel unmotivating. And because you never learned how many calories your body needs to lose or maintain weight, you drift right back to eating above that number without even knowing you're doing it. This is the problem that's built into this low-carb diet method from day one, which brings us to the last part. The one thing low-carb diets skip, and it's the part that matters more than anything. The most sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off is to learn how many calories your body needs. That's your maintenance number, and it's the single most useful piece of information in a weight loss journey. Once you have it, the strategy gets so simple. You eat a little below that number consistently and you lose weight while your favorite foods stay in rotation. The trade-off of this approach is that it takes more thought up front than just no carbs. You'll spend a week or two learning what's in your meals, how many calories are actually in that sandwich, and what an actual portion looks like. That's the investment in yourself, in your long-term weight maintenance. But it's a short learning curve for a number that you'll keep for life. And unlike banning carbs, it works literally everywhere with any foods, restaurants, birthdays, travels, vacations. You don't have to even be perfect with it. A diet that has 60% consistency and compliance, sustained over months, beats an unsustainable low-carb diet every single day. This is how I lost 20 pounds in my mid to late 30s and how I've kept it off now for 10 years through perimenopause and eating carbs literally every single day. I know to many women, this approach sounds like counting calories forever, but it's not. It's learning your body's maintenance number once, building your normal meals around it, and checking back in when your life changes. That's literally it. And if you want help finding your maintenance number, my free fat loss formula workbook walks you through it step by step: your calories, your protein target, even your calorie deficit for your body, and not just a generic number off the internet. I'll post a link to that free workbook in the show notes below. So here's what I want you to take from this. A diet that only works while you avoid the foods you love comes with an expiration date. Every single time, when you learn your maintenance calorie number for your specific body, you can lose weight inside the life you already have. And the life you already have is the only place you'll ever be able to sustain the weight loss. So if you want your maintenance number, if you want that piece that makes weight loss last, grab that free fat loss formula workbook below. Again, it runs your numbers for you, your maintenance calories, your protein target, your calorie deficit for your body. And it's linked below in the show notes. If this was helpful for you and you finally see why the low-carb diet weight keeps coming back, follow the show so that the next episode already lands in your library. And if you have 10 extra seconds, I would love if you could leave a rating for the podcast. It's the single biggest thing that helps other women over 40 like us find this. And if you want more on all things diet, nutrition, fitness, lifestyle, and basically everything that goes into losing weight after 40, come and join the Behind the Body newsletter. Every week I will send you something straight to your inbox to help you keep making progress. You can sign up for free at behind the body.com forward slash newsletter. And next Monday, I'm covering how you can lose weight without exercise. And yes, it's true. I'll see you there. Thank you so much for tuning in, my friend, and I can't wait to chat with you next week.