A common type of exercise was making me GAIN weight after 50 – and almost every woman I know is making the same mistake FAYE JAMES

For most of my adult life, my weight was something I barely thought about.

I hovered around 58kg (128lbs or 9st) through my 30s and 40s without dieting, tracking or micromanaging my body.

I cooked healthy meals, moved regularly and trusted that my body would or less look after itself. That sense of ease lasted – until it didn’t.

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From my late 40s onwards, the changes were subtle at first. There was a little weight gain that I blamed on stress or a busy patch.

Then clothes felt snug, but not alarmingly so. I was still eating well, still exercising, still doing everything I had always done.

But by the time I turned 51, I was really starting to feel uncomfortable. I decided to bite the bullet and finally step on the scales.

I was shocked to learn I was almost 70kg (154lbs or 11st), and a DEXA scan – an X‑ray test used to measure body composition – showed that it was mostly body fat.

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What made it so confronting was not vanity, but confusion. I am a nutritionist. It’s my job to understand food and metabolism. I was not living on takeaways or skipping workouts.

Faye James (pictured at age 51) hovered around 58kg (128lbs or 9st) in her 30s and 40s, then gained weight in her early 50s despite not changing her diet or exercise routine

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And yet my body felt unfamiliar, sluggish and increasingly resistant to my usual efforts. Instead of spiralling into self-criticism, I chose to approach it the only way I knew how: with curiosity and structure rather than punishment.

The first and most important shift was accepting that my body was no longer playing by the same rules it had at 35.

Declining oestrogen changes how we process carbohydrates, how sensitive we are to insulin, and where we store fat.

Muscle mass begins to decline unless we actively work to preserve it, and sleep and stress hormones become far influential than they once were.

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Once I stopped trying to force my body to behave like it had a decade earlier, everything became clearer to me. The solution was not about doing ; it was about doing things differently.

For the first six months, I followed a clear, structured approach. Not because I believe in rigid dieting forever, but because structure helps when your body feels unpredictable.

I set my calorie intake at about 1,400 calories a day. That number is not a universal prescription, but for my height, activity level and metabolic state, it created a gentle calorie deficit without triggering hunger or stress.

important than the calorie target were the macros, or macronutrients – the term given for the three main nutrients your body needs: protein, carbohydrates and fats.

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Faye replaced long cardio sessions with weight training workouts – and began to lose weight

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She focused on protein and fibre, and prioritised sleep

I aimed for 120g of protein a day, evenly spread across meals. I made sure I hit at least 25g of fibre. Carbohydrates sat around 90g, enough to support training and sleep, while fats landed at roughly 80g, mostly from olive oil, nuts, seeds and oily fish.

This was not about perfection; it was about consistency, and each meal had a job to do.

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Personally, the biggest surprise was how quickly hunger disappeared once I got my protein and fibre levels right.

Every meal was anchored by a solid protein source: eggs and yoghurt at breakfast; fish, chicken or legumes at lunch; and a Mediterranean-style dinner built around vegetables, olive oil and another protein source, usually similar to lunch.

Fibre came naturally from vegetables, legumes, whole grains and seeds.

Together, protein and fibre stabilised my blood sugar so effectively that cravings simply faded into the background. I was no longer thinking about food all day or negotiating snacks with myself. Eating became calm and predictable again, which was something I had not realised I had lost.

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The framework sat within a Mediterranean-style way of eating – think lots of vegetables, olive oil as my primary source of fat, fish several times a week, legumes, herbs and spices. I ate very little ultra-processed food, not because it was forbidden, but because it stopped appealing once my body felt properly fuelled.

Meals were satisfying, social and enjoyable. Nothing felt like diet food, and that mattered than any macro target.

Exercise was the next thing to change.

Like many women, I had relied on cardio for years – cycling, running and HIIT sessions. In midlife, that approach stopped working. I was gaining weight steadily, and often felt hungry and depleted after exercising.

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I replaced most of it with strength training, committing to at least three proper resistance sessions each week. The goal was not calorie burn, but muscle building.

Muscle is metabolically active tissue, and as I built strength by lifting weights, my metabolism skyrocketed. My shape changed. My strength increased. I felt capable again, not just lighter.

What I had underestimated was how much stress was quietly sabotaging my efforts.

Midlife is often a perfect storm of competing demands: work, family, ageing parents and disrupted sleep. Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, and cortisol encourages fat storage while increasing appetite.

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I stopped treating stress management as optional. I walked outdoors, reduced late-night screen time, learned to say no often and stopped pushing through exhaustion. As my stress levels settled, weight loss became noticeably easier.

Sleep became a cornerstone of my routine, too, rather than an afterthought.

I created a simple but firm wind-down routine with a warm magnesium bath, no screen time before bed and a soothing hot chocolate containing magnesium to help regulate melatonin production and promote relaxation; zinc to regulate sleep patterns and melatonin; plus L-theanine and L-tryptophan to soothe anxiety.

I made sure I’d finished my last meal at least three hours before bed, and my first meal came around 12 hours later. This gentle overnight fast improved digestion, insulin sensitivity and sleep quality without feeling restrictive.

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I went to bed at roughly the same time most nights and woke feeling rested rather than groggy. I tracked all my sleep on my OURA ring, which advised I was an early morning chronotype, so my ideal bedtime is 8.30pm, so I adjusted my lifestyle to suit.

Better sleep translated into better appetite regulation, better workouts and better decisions during the day.

Within six months, the excess weight was gone, but importantly, my body felt strong, lean and resilient.

At 52, I am in better shape than I was a decade ago, with less body fat and higher lean muscle mass – and not because I push harder, but because I finally work with my physiology instead of against it.

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The reason this approach stuck is simple: I was never hungry and I never felt deprived. The high-protein, high-fibre foundation made adherence effortless. Once my metabolism recalibrated and my muscle mass improved, I no longer needed to track so closely.

What I want women to know

Midlife weight gain is not a personal failure. It is a biological shift that demands a different response.

Eating less and doing is rarely the answer after 50.

Instead, what worked for me was eating better, lifting weights instead of doing endless cardio, sleeping properly and managing stress.

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At 52, I feel energised and completely at home in myself again. That, far than a number on the scale, is what being in the best shape of my life really means.

Faye James is a Sydney-based accredited nutritionist and the author of The Perimenopause Plan, The Menopause Diet and The Long Life Plan.

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