The royals‘ go-to nutritionist and Princess Beatrice‘s ‘dear friend’ Gabriela Peacock has revealed the age at which women put on the most weight in a new interview.
Gabriela, 45, who welcomed her fourth child in January, told The Telegraph that, in her experience, women around the age of 45 are most susceptible to weight gain – but not for the reason people think.
The culprit, according to Gabriela, isn’t a slower metabolic rate but rather poor food choices as their lives get busier.
‘They are mainly putting on weight because of their diet getting worse,’ the celebrity nutritionist, who counts Jodie Kidd and Dame Joan Collins among her staunchest advocates, explained.
‘That slower metabolic explanation we hear a lot? That doesn’t happen until you’re significantly older,’ the Czech-born former model added.
Studies point to the tipping point for women’s metabolism being at 60-plus, not 40-plus as previously thought.
While admitting the temptation to ‘slip down the comfortable approach’ is greater in your 40s, Gabriela suggested women in their mid-40s ‘don’t tend to prioritise ourselves’ while getting busier with work and family.
Coupled with a poor diet, Gabriela also counted vitamin deficiencies, blood sugar imbalances, and muscle loss amid factors that contribute to mid-life weight gain for women.
The royals ‘ go-to nutritionist and Princess Beatrice ‘s ‘dear friend’ Gabriela Peacock has revealed the age at which women put on the most weight in a new intervie
Gabriela, 45, who welcomed her fourth child in January, said that women around the age of 45 are most susceptible to weight gain – but not for the reason people think
According to Gabriela, good quality muscle is crucial for ‘your body in order to regulate your metabolism’ – or the process by which food and drink is converted into energy to fuel all the processes in our body.
In their 40s, she continued, women ‘also get a bit more comfortable doing less’ which results in their metabolic rate slowing down.
The society nutritionist added that the ‘typical middle age pattern of a belly’ is, most often, the result of blood sugar imbalances due to not eating enough protein, loading up on carbohydrates on an empty stomach, and leaving long gaps between your meals.
Building better eating habits by making small adjustments to their food choices can go a long way for women looking to drop a size or two, Gabriela continued.
She recommends eating more protein at every meal – including breakfast – because it is essential for building muscle and supports the maintenance and recovery functions of our body.
Instead of grabbing a pain au raisin with your morning coffee, Gabriela suggests incorporating foods like eggs, yoghurt, nut butters, and smoked salmon.
She usually begins her day with a protein shake before eating two pieces of gluten-free toast with marmite, fried eggs, and a slice of avocado.
When planning lunch, she advises your plate should feature a healthy mix of lean meats, eggs, beans, pulses, nuts, and seeds, and ‘not just burgers and sausages’.
The culprit, according to Gabriela, isn’t a slower metabolic rate but rather poor food choices as their lives get busier
Dinner, on the other hand, should be relatively lighter, with Gabriela’s clients typically eating some sort of protein – like fish or chicken – with good quality carbohydrates like vegetable ‘particularly if weight management is your goal’.
Her other top tips for weight loss in your 40s is lifting weights a few times a week, and supplementing your diet with multivitamins – adding the most common deficiencies she sees are of B vitamins like B12 as well as Magnesium.
Finally, Gabriella usually tells her clients to stock up on healthier snacks to keep their blood sugar levels balanced throughout the day – adding most people begin to feel peckish after lunch and, therefore, end up eating more at dinner.
Some of her go-to snacks include dips like hummus with crudites and crackers, protein shakes, two spoons with nut butter with apples or pears, and nuts and seeds.
In an interview with FEMAIL, Gabriela previously spilled her secrets for losing up to 9lbs (or four kilos) in two weeks – from fasting every other day to not eating fruit on an empty stomach.
While noting the benefits of intermittent fasting for weight loss, Gabriela offered two plans – the 4:3 and 16:8 – in her 2021 book 2 Weeks to Feeling Great.
On the 4:3 diet, women eat 500 calories three days a week and men eat 600. On three other ‘mindful days’ people reduce their normal calories intake by 20 per cent, and follow her ‘GP principles’ while one day a week is a ‘magic day’ with no rules.
The other plan – 16:8 – is a more traditional intermittent fasting plan – where people fast 16 hours a day (including sleep) and eat over eight hours.
Last December, Gabriela told MailOnline how she had been supporting her ‘dear friend’ Princess Beatrice through her second pregnancy while she was expecting her son Felix at the same time
‘What I would say is, I would always recommend for the clients, look at my two plans, and just see which ones fits best for your lifestyle,’ she said.
‘They’re both equally great they’re both based on intermittent fasting, but one will work better for you than other.’
She also advised focusing on the proportions of what’s on yout plate – rather than obsessing over portion sizes.
‘Roughly, I’d recommend one quarter of your plate should be a good portion of protein – an animal source such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or a plant source such as beans soya bean chickpeas, lentils pulses,’ she said.
Last December, Gabriela told MailOnline how she had been supporting her ‘dear friend’ Princess Beatrice through her second pregnancy while she was expecting her son Felix at the same time.
‘It’s been truly wonderful to share this journey with someone so close,’ Gabriela says, speaking exclusively to MailOnline. ‘Going through pregnancy alongside a dear friend like Bea has been incredibly comforting, especially as we navigate similar experiences.
The pair are godmothers to each other’s daughters, and they recently both relocated to the Cotswolds, enabling them to spend more time together.
Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, welcomed their second child, daughter Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, on January 22, 2025.
Athena is 11th in line to the throne, right behind her three-year-old sister Sienna.
Gabriela, who is Sienna’s godmother, added that she and Beatrice are ‘aways chatting about different tips and tricks for health and wellness, and it’s such a joy to have someone who shares those same interests so deeply’.