Looking for Advice from Guys over 40

Great job so far. I am 48 and once hit 220 on the scale so I know exactly where you are coming from.

Just a couple thoughts... You are doing great with the diet so no real need to change it. Just be aware that carbs are not bad in general. Cutting them can be a way to reduce calories, but it is the calories that is causing the change (not the lack of carbs). And meal timing has no impact either. I often eat ice cream just before I go to bed. Again, if you can sustain it, keep at it. Just don't make changes that you can't live with for the rest of your life.

For exercise, try many different things and see what you like. I like to run. I tolerate lifting (because I like to run competitively). I also do yoga and walk a lot. Try all of these and many others until you find something you enjoy.

Good luck.

Would give same advice to a 40+ as I did to my children - try everything!
The exercise you enjoy is the one you will stick to. What exercise and/or sport have you enjoyed in the past?

Optimal IMHO for health is a mixture of cardio and strength/resistance work but how you mix it up is very personal. I love lifting and love cycling outdoors so do a lot of both, it's not a chore for me.

There are plenty of days when enjoyment isn't enough though and you need an added spur to make you train. For me that's performance goals. It poured with rain today which is enough to stop me enjoying an outdoor ride, having a big event coming up was enough motivation to get me into the gym and train on an indoor bike (dull but effective).
In the back of my mind is the health aspect too, like you my parents didn't have long or healthy retirements. I want as many good years as possible and exercise is a big part of that.

Time-wise a well structured lifting routine centred on the big compound lifts is incredibly time efficient in terms of the benefits you get for a small time investment.

My peak weight was 221, the day after my 53rd birthday. I tried exercising more, just not eating when I wasn't hungry, lifting weights, walking. The weight went down, and bounced off the top of healthy BMI, and went back up, and down, and bounced off the top of healthy BMI, etc.

At age 55, I got serious and reluctantly admitted I needed to track what I ate. That was the key thing. Looking at the cost in calories, carbs, fat, and protein and thinking about how satisfied I was or wasn't changed how I ate. It didn't change overnight, but over the course of a year the cumulative effect was pretty dramatic. Things I learned:

I need protein to be satisfied. The program I was using said I needed 11% of my calories from protein. 20% is more like it for satiety.

Low fat is not a way to diet, it's a consequence of controlling calories and eating for satiety. I ended up with a moderately low fat diet by watching what I ate and eating to feel satisfied within calorie limits. There were days when I would add an ounce of almonds to what I ate because I needed to get some minimum amount of fat.

When I got close to my initial goal weight, I decided to see whether I could turn myself into a runner. My first goal, starting the August that before I turned 56 in December, was to be able to run the 3.5 mile Corporate Challenge the following May without taking any walking breaks. I went out to do some walk 1 minute, run 3 minutes intervals and found that I could only run for 1 minute before I had to slow to a walk. But I persevered. Long story short, I fell in love with running. I ran a 5K, and a 10K. I ran the Corporate Challenge the following May. I worked up to running half marathons, then peer pressure got me to run a marathon. The result of that was a moral obligation to run Boston.

I don't particularly love strength training, but I do enough of it to support my running habit. I don't think the strength training I do particularly builds large ab muscles, but I can see my abs because I have body fat like a marathon runner. From that peak of 221, I've got down to where my weight trends sideways in the 160-165 range. It's been that way for 5 years now.

Advice: Track everything you eat. The mere practice of tracking will teach you what foods are not worth putting in your mouth because they give you too many calories for the amount of pleasure you get.

Start something in the way of exercise this week. Stick with it long enough to become reasonably competent and determine whether it's something you love doing. If it's not something you could fall in love with, try a different form of exercise. Life is too short to be exercising just because you want to burn calories and look toned. Of course, I would tell you that running is wonderful; but not everyone finds this to be the case. If running is not your thing, look for something else.

I'll send you a friend request! Turning 44 tomorrow and in better shape than I was at 20. The past six months have been great for me!

If you want to start engaging in a body transformation that is "toned", you'll want to add muscle. A few hours in the gym lifting weights each week is recommended (and also will help you continue to burn fat).

You don't have to be a gymrat / meathead to get great results! I'm 47 and I usually do 3 different strength training days per week, one day devoted to "pull" motions (triceps, back), one to legs, and one to "push" motions (chest, biceps, shoulders), working abs in each day as well. I find that this split doesn't lead to injuries or overtraining. Of course there are countless exercise regiments that will give you great results, that is just how I train. I also do cardio 2-3 days per week on top of that (running, cycling, elliptical, punching bag, etc.)

I would also consider adding more protein to your diet (you didn't reference it so I'm not sure what your protein intake is). I shoot for 40% of my diet, but usually hit in the low 30s.

A good strength program for the over-40 crowd is New Rules of Lifting for Life. It addresses mobility and multi-planar coordination better than typical programs. I would avoid Youtube, except for form tutorials. That "abs after 40" sounds scammy. Having visible abs simply comes down to fat loss, and fat loss can't be targeted.

From a health perspective, frequent, low-intensity movement should take priority, with lifting heavy being secondary. I work from home and set a timer to remind me to run a few blocks every 2 hours. It takes like 5 minutes, and then i'm back to work..