Complete guide to reducing inflammation in the body at 40

If phrases like trying diets, fasting and exercising ring a bell… and you still don’t lose a single kilo —or you weigh even more the next morning than the night before— stay.
It happened to me too. And it worried me a lot.
So much so that when I finally understood what was happening to me and what I could do to change it, I felt the need to share it.

This post is exactly that: an honest explanation of why in your 40s you can gain weight even if “you’re doing everything right” and of what has truly helped me to reduce inflammation in my body and start losing weight.

This post is for you if this resonates:

There comes a moment —usually from the 40s on— when you do everything you’re supposed to do… and still the body doesn’t respond.

You exercise, move, try high-protein diets, reduce portions, start the day with hot water with lemon, ginger, even a bit of pepper. You try fasting. You go hours without eating. And nothing.

The weight doesn’t go down. Sometimes you even weigh more after exercising and fasting.

And no, it’s not an isolated feeling. It’s something I’ve talked about many times with friends: it’s almost a classic at this age.

For a long time I thought the solution was to tighten up more. Eat less. Restrict more. Be stricter.
Until I understood something key: I wasn’t gaining fat, I was inflamed.

What happens and what you should do to stop the weight increase

I think it’s important to say it clearly: extreme diets and fasting didn’t work for me. Neither prolonged intermittent fasting, nor training fasted continuously, nor stringing together days of heavy restriction.
On the contrary: more than once, after a “perfect” day, when I stepped on the scale the next day I was the same… or even heavier!

That’s not lack of willpower. It’s a body that, from a certain age, responds to stress by retaining. It’s key to understand that you’re suffering from inflammation in the body. The body is in constant alert and retains instead of releasing.

When I changed the focus and started an anti-inflammatory diet, the body responded quickly: ¡in five days I lost three kilos! Not from starving. Not from doing anything extreme. Simply because the body stopped being in defense mode.

This brings into play something that’s little talked about when weight is discussed: cortisol.

Cortisol is the stress hormone. And in your 40s, between work, family, responsibilities and constant self-demand, we usually have it higher than we think.

When the body lives in stress:

• It retains fluids
• It becomes inflamed
• It makes weight loss difficult
• It goes into “defense mode”

That’s why sleeping better, having a good dinner and not living permanently in restriction are part of the deflammation process, even if they’re not always directly linked to weight.

In my case, improving rest has been as important as changing what I ate (and having a lighter, better dinner has helped me sleep better).

The shift in focus: first reduce inflammation, then everything else will come.

The anti-inflammatory diet that works

The turning point was stopping thinking in terms of a “diet to lose weight” and starting to think about how to calm the body.

The idea is really simple: eat more easily digestible foods, more gentle cooking methods, avoid raw and fatty products and have more hot dishes.

For a while go back to basics:

• Cooked vegetables
• Boiled or steamed foods
• Simple dishes
• Hot food

Nothing sophisticated - just food the body can process without effort.

Yes to carbs! (yes, to potato... boiled)

Yes, I’ve gone back to eating potato (and no, it hasn’t made me gain weight). It’s vital that you do it; you’ll see how good it is for the body.

Potato is often on the blacklist of many diets from the 40s on.
And yet, boiled potato is a great ally to reduce inflammation.

The same goes for pumpkin or carrot.Carbs yes, but:

• Well cooked
• In reasonable amounts
• As part of a balanced plate

These gentle carbs not only haven’t made me gain weight, but have helped to:

• Calm digestion
• Reduce inflammation
• Lower sweet cravings

If you’re like I was —you’re over 40, you exercise, you’ve tried cardio, fasting and it still doesn’t work— I truly encourage you to try returning to boiled potato and an anti-inflammatory diet. You’ll notice the change in three to five days. In my case, three kilos less, simply by releasing inflammation.

Then the time will come for a maintenance diet adapted to this age. But first, calm.

How I eat now: a real day example

No rigid rules. No weighing foods. No obsession.

Breakfast

• 2 or 3 egg omelet with sautéed vegetables (zucchini, spinach, eggplant…)
• A coffee or infusion.

It’s a breakfast that fills me, lets me go until midday without hunger and doesn’t bloat.

Lunch

Prepare the plates at lunch with 3 key elements:

1. A simple protein: chicken or white fish, always cooked gently (in a pan or steamed).
2. Side of boiled potato or white rice
3. And some well-cooked vegetables: pumpkin, carrot, zucchini.

Simple, classic dishes.

Snack (if needed)

• A natural yogurt,
• Or a piece of well-tolerated fruit

If I’m quite hungry, I add applesauce or fruit to the yogurt.

Dinner

Dinner, at this stage, for me is key to be calming and easy to digest. So the ideal dinner is made up of two parts:

1. A smooth cream (soup)
2. Fish (hake, monkfish, fresh cod, sole… light and easy to digest) or a French omelet.

Here vegetable creams play a fundamental role.

Some that work especially well at night:

• Pumpkin soup
• Zucchini soup
• Carrot soup
• Leek soup

Important: when you cook vegetable soups, always add a little potato. It’s comforting and filling, and it gives a lot of calm at night. You’ll see it helps relax the body so that, after rest, you wake up feeling lighter.

Cook the soups well and enjoy the vegetables well cooked, blended and served hot. They are dishes that don’t inflame, comfort and help the body slow down at the end of the day.

One or two days a week I also include oily fish, like salmon, in moderate portions, always accompanied by cooked vegetables or a smooth soup.

At night I avoid:

• Salads and raw foods
• Mixing too many foods
• Heavy dinners

The idea isn’t to have a tiny dinner, but to have a dinner that allows the body to rest.

Eating very early: I still do it, but with an important nuance: I eat very early, around 6 or 6:30 pm, and it works well for me. In my case, dinner serves as a snack-dinner. That said, by dining so early I’ve learned something important: before going to sleep it’s advisable to have something small, like a natural yogurt. Not to fill up, but so the body doesn’t go into alert mode during the night.

Sleeping with a completely empty stomach can raise cortisol and worsen rest.

Sleeping well is also part of reducing inflammation.

Questions I asked myself (in case they help you)

Am I sure I should add carbs?

Yes, absolutely. Always boiled, and if you let the potato rest 24 hours in the fridge its structure changes and it suits you even better.

Also, you’ve already tried avoiding them and it didn’t help, right? Going back to potato and sweet potato was one of the hardest things for me, after reading about so many other recipes for your 40s and thinking it would make me gain weight, and it has saved my life (it fills me up and sits super well with my stomach). Try it, trust me, and you’ll see.

Do I have to stop exercising?

No. But you should change the approach.

How many strength days per week?
Ideally: 2 or 3 days. Strength training helps regulate hormones, protects muscle and improves metabolism.

Cardio every day?
It’s not necessary. Too much cardio can increase stress if the body is already saturated.

Exercise in the morning: should you eat beforehand?

It depends.

• Light exercise: you can do it without eating
• Strength or high intensity: better to eat something small before or right after

What if I train in the afternoon?
Eat something light beforehand if many hours have passed and then have a simple dinner.

Does fasting work in your 40s?

For some people yes.
For others, it increases stress and worsens inflammation. You have to listen to yourself.

Is this hard to follow day to day?

No. Actually, one of the things that has helped me the most is organizing a bit on the weekend.

On Sundays I usually:

• Prepare one or two vegetable soups (pumpkin, zucchini, leek, carrot…)
• Store them in the fridge to have them ready for weeknight dinners

Coming home tired and knowing I have a soup ready avoids improvising poorly and makes it much easier to stay calm at night.

Every two days I boil potatoes and keep them in the fridge, so I always have a side ready and rested potato digests better (it’s more anti-inflammatory).

Is this forever?

No. It’s an anti-inflammatory phase.

The idea is to:

• Calm the body
• Reduce inflammation and retention
• Feel light again

Afterward comes a maintenance diet, balanced and adapted to this stage.

How long should you do it?

In my case, changes were noticeable in a few days.
Within three to five days the body already began to release fluid. Keep it for about 3 weeks to settle this deflammation and habits.

Then you can gradually reintroduce foods little by little.

What small habits have helped me reduce inflammation?

There are details that seem minor but add up a lot day to day:

Choose fruit well

Not all fruit agrees equally. In this phase I’ve felt better with:

• Apple
• Pear
• Ripe banana
• Blueberries
• Cooked fruit or compote

Cooked fruit digests better and prevents fermentations.

Compote with yogurt

A natural yogurt with a bit of apple or pear compote is a very useful resource:

• For a snack
• Before bed if hunger appears
• To calm the digestive system

Reduce coffee

I haven’t given up coffee, but I have reduced it:

• Fewer coffees per day
• Avoid it late
• Prioritize having it after meals

Too much coffee can increase cortisol and inflammation.

Classic foods that are now OFF LIMITS

Despite the recommendation to eat cooked lentils and chickpeas, put them aside for now because they’re very healthy, yes, but also fermentable and, in an inflammatory phase, may not sit well. Put them aside while the body “calms down”.

Not even avocado! For now, avoid very fatty foods.

Also avoid cheeses and cold cuts, and raw vegetables (no lettuce, tomatoes... and other raw foods that are harder to digest).

I avoid cauliflower and broccoli because they personally inflame me. The same with asparagus. Consider whether you should avoid them too.

And of course, no touching bread and products made with refined flours.

If there’s hunger or anxiety, have an infusion.

Many times it’s not real hunger, but a need for calm.
A hot infusion (chamomile, fennel, mild ginger…) helps to:

• Relax the body
• Improve digestion
• Avoid snacking unnecessarily

These small gestures, sustained over time, help as much as big changes.

To conclude

If you’re in your forties and you try everything to lose weight but don’t succeed, you may simply be asking too much of your body when what it needs is care.

Sometimes moving forward isn’t doing more, but doing it more gently. This is what I’ve realized after countless trials, and I feel great now.

If you’ve tried everything, I encourage you to try what I’ve told you... After all, what do you have to lose? It worked for me.

And no, you’re not alone. There are many of us 🤍