Get Lean By Eating More (of the right things)
How do you lose fat?
The answer isn't starving yourself by sieving cabbage water through your teeth, crying.
You've got to eat proper food! Active and older women are generally not eating enough protein and eating too many carbs late in the day. (Note I didn't say "stop eating carbs".)
Estrogen has an anabolic effect on the body meaning it encourages the body to make muscle tissue. As you get older and the estrogen starts to drop you should counter that effect by incorporating more protein in your diet. Eat protein at every meal.
Starchy carbs gives your body the energy needed to move. If you're not eating them you won't have any energy. Plus, come 8pm the thumb twiddling starts and you're riffling through the snack drawer - because you've not eaten enough in the day and now you’re eating sugary shit followed by a cheese and crackers chaser.
Carbs are essential for everyday life and health. They’re used for:
energy during exercise
fuel your brain and central nervous system
they help you to burn fat (A Level Biology on the Krebs cycle here)
help preserve your muscle tissue as the body will use carbs in preference to protein (ie it won’t break your own muscles down to use for energy) for fuel
glycogen (stored carbs in the muscles and liver) is limited
However, women become more sensitive to carbs as they get older. This means greater issues digesting them plus insulin resistance outside your exercise increases. You still need carbs but think about timing them earlier in the day (say with your breakfast and lunch) and less in the evenings. Your body is primed for and wants carbs during waking hours when you’re busy either tootling about or exercising. Not so much towards bedtime. The quality of them is key - you want proper starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic.
What about high fat/low carb diets?
A low carb diet doesn’t really fool your body. Yes, you’ll burn fat because the body will know there’s not many carbs about and it’ll use the fat instead. BUT it will then store more fat because it’s been here before! Research shows no real performance benefits and, in women, very low carb eating elevates cortisol (stress hormone) which increases catabolism (breaking down muscle tissue) and stunting protein synthesis to make new tissue.