Real Food Stories
The question of "what to eat" can feel endlessly confusing, especially when we contend with our own deeply ingrained beliefs and stories around food. Blame social media, the headline news, and let's not get started on family influences. Passed down from generations of women and men to their daughters, it's no wonder women are so baffled about how to stay healthy the older we get.
As a nutritionist and healthy eating chef, combined with her own personal and professional experience, Heather Carey has been connected to years of stories related to diets, weight loss, food fads, staying healthy, cooking well, and eating well. Beliefs around food start the day we try our first vegetables as babies and get solidified through our families, cultures, and messages we receive throughout our lifetime.
We have the power to call out our food beliefs so we can finally make peace with what we eat and get on with enjoying the real food and lives we deserve. Listen in to find out how to have your own happy ending to your real food story. Connect with Heather at heather@heathercarey.com or visit her website at www.heathercarey.com or www.greenpalettekitchen.com
Real Food Stories
130. This is How You Really Lose Weight in Midlife
Ever feel like your body betrayed you somewhere in your 40s or 50s? Like you're doing everything "right" but the weight keeps creeping on? You're not alone—and contrary to what you might have heard, it's not your hormones causing the problem.
The reality of midlife weight management is both simpler and more complex than most wellness influencers would have you believe. While menopause itself doesn't cause weight gain, the perfect storm of muscle loss, decreased activity, disrupted sleep, and chronic stress creates conditions where gaining weight becomes easier and losing it feels nearly impossible.
Between social media's endless parade of miracle solutions—from weighted vests to microdosed medications—and the frustrating experience of watching strategies that worked in your younger years fail now, it's no wonder many women feel defeated before they even start. But what if regaining control was actually within reach?
In this deeply practical episode, I break down the science of midlife metabolism and the five key levers that actually move the needle: protein intake, muscle preservation, daily movement, stress management, and balanced eating.
I share my own September reset plan after a summer of relaxation and indulgence, offering specific strategies anyone can implement immediately.
The most powerful revelation might be what doesn't work: restrictive diets that backfire, weight loss medications with temporary results, and perhaps most importantly, the self-criticism that sabotages our efforts before they begin.
As I remind listeners, "Beating yourself up has never once burned a calorie."
Ready to transform your relationship with your midlife body? This episode offers the roadmap—no miracle pills, no punishment, just evidence-based strategies and the compassion needed to make them stick. Because midlife doesn't mean giving up on feeling strong, energetic, and comfortable in your own skin.
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Hi everybody and welcome back to the Real Food Stories podcast. So we are in September now and for so many of us, myself included, september means getting back on track. There's always January with our New Year's resolutions, but September is very meaningful, I think, to many of us midlife women. When we were a little younger, we had kids going and getting back on the school buses and it just meant like you know what that time is over and we're on to something new and getting back on track. So I know for myself now I mean, my kids are flown and grown, but I had a great summer. I saw a lot of friends and family. A great summer. I saw a lot of friends and family, and with that comes a lot of eating some really amazing food. Right, we gather with food and I certainly did that. And also with that comes the good possibility of gaining a few pounds. Now in midlife, it seems so much easier to gain weight and, at the same time, so much harder to lose it. But it's not impossible and it's definitely doable. So I want to talk to you today about this and tell you what I am going to be doing right now to get myself back on track this fall.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get real for a moment. If you are in your 40s or 50s and you are a woman, you have probably felt the frustration. You eat the same food, or so you claim. You exercise exactly the same, or so you claim, and yet the weight creeps on. The same, or so you claim, and yet the weight creeps on. Or you feel like why can't I just have a vacation where I don't feel like I have totally blown it, because I went out to dinner a few times? It feels unfair. It feels like our bodies are so sensitive to food and eating and exercising and they're just failing us. And the world of wellness doesn't make it any easier. All I see on social media these days is the promise of a pill, the miracle of weighted vests, which I talked about last week on the podcast. Tune into that if you want to get the real deal on weighted vests. And the other thing I'm seeing is the life-changing, quote-unquote magic of microdosing, a GLP-1, which is Ozempic or Regovi, which then in turn, promises easy weight loss.
Speaker 1:Now, when I start to see random women with no credentials except for the fact that they have lost weight with some supplement, and when I start to see them offering a discount code to buy that said supplement, my alarm bells start ringing. We midlife women are in trouble and we don't need any more snake oil salesmen trying to sell us something that's never going to work and then just aggravate us even more. Here's the thing we are absolutely drowning in information. I'll be honest with you, I even get overwhelmed. I go on Instagram or on Facebook just to check things out, just to see what's going on, you know, and it is just absolutely overwhelming to me.
Speaker 1:Sometimes and this is my career I have to stop, take a breath and remind myself I've been successful at losing weight in the past. My clients have been successful at losing weight in the past. My clients have been successful at losing weight. And here's the truth, and this might be a hard truth for some of you proponents of the quote I just look at food and gain weight now that I'm in menopause movement. But say it with me, ok, say this with me Menopause does not cause weight gain.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to say that again Menopause does not cause weight gain. The evidence and research do not point this way. So if menopause is not to blame because a lot of women I hear blaming menopause I went into menopause and I gained five pounds without even doing anything. I eat clean, I still exercise, nothing's changed and I still gain 10 pounds. The fact is, the evidence and research just don't point in that direction. So what causes weight gain? A surplus of calories? Do being inactive does? Do you know why people lose weight on Ozempic? Because they are eating less calories, period. It's calories in, calories out. That's the real story and it's actually empowering because it means we still have some control over our bodies. Our bodies are not controlling us, we are in control and it means we can do something. So before you start arguing with me and say oh, no, no, no, heather, you are wrong, some midlife influencer on TikTok told me it's my hormones. Or my hormones aren't balanced, or my hormones are making me gain weight.
Speaker 1:Let's have a review of what's really going on in midlife. Okay, first of all, there are over 30 hormones in our bodies that literally keep us alive, but for some reason, most people think that we only have three hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. And for the sake of this podcast today, let's just stick with those three. Okay, hormones change. There's no denying that In midlife, our estrogen drops, our progesterone shifts and our testosterone dips and, by the way, in case you don't know, women make testosterone as well and we need it for our health. That's a whole other story, maybe for a different podcast, but I include testosterone because that is part of our female hormones. Because that is part of our female hormones Now.
Speaker 1:I want to focus on estrogen right now, because for women, estrogen is our master hormone. It affects everything in our bodies, from head to toe, and when our estrogen starts to dip, which is what happens in menopause, all sorts of things start to happen in a woman's body. Today, we are just going to focus on weight and weight loss. So estrogen shifts the places where our body tends to store fat. You might start to notice less around your hips and thighs and a little more settling around your belly. This is because of your lack of estrogen. It's not because of you gaining weight, right, you might even weigh the same amount. You just notice suddenly that a lot of your weight is in your belly. I mean, I weigh almost the same as I did when I lost weight many, many years ago. Yet when I look in the mirror, my body doesn't look like my 40-year-old self.
Speaker 1:So even with taking hormones, things just shift, because hormones are a great thing and I am a big proponent of hormone therapy but they're not everything. They're not a miracle. There is not a lot we can do about this body shift, but there are some things. Now, taking hormones definitely helps. Some women have just genetics on their side Good for you. And then there is the rest of us. Some women struggle a little bit more, some a little bit less, but I'm going to talk about some things that we can do today to just help alleviate that menno belly that we claim that we have, or just that weight shift.
Speaker 1:So, again, this does not mean that your estrogen loss is making you gain weight. It might be shifting your body weight around, it might give you the appearance of gaining weight, but it does not cause you to gain weight. So let's clear that again, just because you have gone into menopause or you are in perimenopause, yes, your hormones are doing wacky things. Yes, they are fluctuating, they're not settled, but that doesn't mean that they are causing you to gain weight. But that doesn't mean that they are causing you to gain weight. Okay, so here is another thing that we really need to take into account when we start to think that we're just looking at food and we gain five pounds. And we have no idea how it happened. And you know, where did that weight just appear? Out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:We really need to consider our muscle mass. We and I mean all of us, men, women, all of us naturally start to lose muscle mass as we get older. And here's the kicker Muscle is our most metabolically active tissue. It helps us burn calories even when we're just sitting still, even when we're sleeping at night. So when we lose muscle which we all do as we get older, we start to lose a certain percentage of our muscle. Our metabolism gets a little slower. So this is why it's so incredibly important to maintain our muscle. I cannot stress this enough our muscle. I cannot stress this enough.
Speaker 1:If you don't lift weights, if all you are doing is taking your dog for a walk, get lifting weights. Walking your dog is great. I love my dog, sawyer, but lifting weights is absolutely where it's at. So join a class, join a gym, buy some weights for home and not those wimpy two-pound weights. The heaviest you can lift, the better. The more muscle you have, the better your metabolism will be, and the better your metabolism is, the more calories you will be burning. This is an easy fix Start slow. Also, do not go from no weights to lifting 20 pounds. Just start slow, ease in.
Speaker 1:But this is something that's almost not negotiable, I think, if you want to really consider how to lose weight when you are in midlife. Now, the fundamental truth the energy equation of calories in and calories out has not changed. You can ask other diet gurus and wellness people and balancing hormones and all the other nonsense that's out on the internet. This is set in stone. It's calories in, calories out. I have been saying this for years, I have been saying it on this podcast, and that's what we have to consider.
Speaker 1:But let's consider a few other reasons why we might be gaining weight in midlife. As women, we know it's not our hormones, right. We know we lose muscle as we get older and that that muscle is our. In addition to maybe losing muscle is the combination of biology and lifestyle. Okay. So we have to also consider what's happening in our lives.
Speaker 1:We are busy, right. We women are super busy. We are doing lots and lots of things and helping kids and helping our elderly parents, and working and careers and all the things. We are under a lot of stress, most of us. We have disrupted sleep, and the fact that many of us just don't move as much as we used to all counts. We're working at desks, we're commuting, we're caregiving for kids and our aging parents. Sleep and stress have very subtle and profound effects on our metabolism. Add all of that up together and suddenly it feels like the odds are totally stacked against us. The reality is then, when you get older, your body requires less calories because we are burning less calories, because we have less muscle, more stress and terrible sleep.
Speaker 1:If you are eating exactly the same as you claim you are, that you've been eating the same clean eating for 10 years, yet you don't address your muscle mass, your stress and your sleep, I guarantee that if you are like many, many women, you will gain weight seemingly without even trying, and this equation can start to feel really hard and really defeating and very, very confusing, because you're not taking all these other things in consideration and you're just doing exactly what you've always been doing. But here's the thing I want you to remember Harder is not impossible. Yes, your body has shifted. Yes, you may have to approach things differently than you did in your 20s or 30s, but that doesn't mean you can't lose weight or feel stronger. It just means the strategy has to evolve with you and, honestly, that's good news because you still are in control. But the fact is so many women feel really, really out of control. I talk to women all the time who just literally feel like they are gaining weight for no reason, Like it's like just happening overnight in their sleep, and it's so easy to then get lured in by the promise of a diet or a weight loss drug. Right, and there's plenty of that going around on the internet and in social media.
Speaker 1:So first let's talk about the detriments of diets, because when you are desperate, I understand it, you might reach out and try anything that you can get your hands on to lose weight. Now you've probably been on more than one diet in your lifetime, maybe dozens. I used to be on dozens when I was younger. Keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, juice cleanses they all promise quick results and sure they can work for a little while, because diets are just calorie reduction in disguise. They usually are extremely low in calories, which is always impossible to maintain for the long haul. And here's the problem Restrictive diets almost always backfire on you 90% of the time.
Speaker 1:So when you slash your calories and it's way too low. Your metabolism just goes into shock. Okay, it slows down too to protect you. It doesn't want you to starve, even though you're probably technically not starving, but your brain thinks you're starving. You end up burning fewer calories just going about your day and on top of that, your cravings then end up going in overdrive because your body is literally fighting to get you back into balance. So what happens? You lose a little weight. You can't keep up with the restriction and the weight comes back, sometimes with a little extra. So if you feel like you are eating clean because you are intermittent fasting or you're on the Galveston diet or whatever diet or thing of the moment, just pause and think again about that.
Speaker 1:Diets do not promote weight loss in the long run and they really only mess with your metabolism. All right, I want to circle back to the drugs of the moment, because this is huge and I just see more and more people going on these drugs. That's promoting microdosing of GLP-1s. I mean, this stuff pops up in my feed all the time, probably because I've clicked on one or two things just to investigate and now I'm just inundated all the time with this stuff. So let me explain what these drugs do. These medications mimic a natural hormone in your body that reduces appetite, that slows down digestion and that lowers blood sugar, and so, yes, people do lose weight on them, often pretty quickly, because they are just not eating as much. Okay, this helps to regulate your appetite. And when your appetite is regulated and you're just not feeling that hungry, what are you going to do? You're reducing your calories, but here's what you don't hear in the glossy Instagram posts.
Speaker 1:A lot of that weight loss comes at the cost of muscle and not just fat. So when we're losing weight, we don't want to lose our muscle. Right? We know now what our muscle does that boosts our metabolism. We want to focus on fat loss, not on muscle loss. So muscle is exactly what we don't want to lose in midlife. Now, when you are going on some kind of a drastic diet and your body thinks it's starving, one of the things it grabs to lose weight is muscle, is your lean muscle. We don't want to do that, so it's sort of a dance we need to play we don't want to eat too few calories and we don't want to eat too few calories and we don't want to eat too many calories.
Speaker 1:All right, I mentioned microdosing before. I'm assuming that people have seen this. If you haven't, I mean you can go Google it if you want to. Microdosing or taking oral versions of a GLP-1. Now let me be clear here. These simply do not work the same way. If you are going to go on a GLP-1, please, I am begging you, go talk to your doctor about it. Do not get something through some online pharmacy or with some wellness influencer or someone of you know that ilk like please, do not do that.
Speaker 1:These medications were first of all engineered to be injected at very specific doses. Okay, they only work through injection. So if you see something that's an oral medication for GLP-1, that's a red flag right there. Microdosing I don't even know what that is. I mean, when people start in studies, when they start microdosing GLP-1s or spacing out their doses, they start to gain weight back. So please do not waste your time and money. So cutting them down into tiny doses or taking them pill form is not a shortcut. It's just not effective.
Speaker 1:I'm not putting down these medications. If you are a candidate, if you have a lot of weight to lose and you've just been in struggle, I am all for using these medications. Just know what you are getting into, though, because here's the truth bomb that I want to also mention. When you stop taking these drugs, your appetite usually resets back to the start and all the weight that you lost it almost always comes back to. I have heard of people going off of these medications and not gaining weight back, but you have to then really make sure that you are doing things as you were when you were on the medication. So unless you're ready to commit to these medications long term and deal with any side effects that might come up and the cost, you haven't really solved the problem of weight loss long term weight loss. You've just pressed the pause button.
Speaker 1:So I've again heard a lot of variety about these medications. I have talked to people who have had a lot of success with them. I have had clients who have had who have gotten on them and lost weight. I also know a lot of people who have not had success on weight loss medications, who haven't lost any weight, or maybe they've lost a couple pounds, but not like it really hasn't affected appetite or made any big changes, and I also know people who have gone off of the medication and started gaining weight back. So when you're frustrated, I know that these medications can feel like a lifesaver, but I believe that there is a better, long-term fix, and that would be to learn how to eat well and lose weight without a drug.
Speaker 1:Now, this takes commitment right. There's no doubt about it. You have to commit to yourself in order to lose weight, even if you take the drug or not, all right. So if diets don't work long term and drugs aren't the magic solution, what actually does work for weight loss in midlife? Let's get into the real levers that we can actually pull at this time to get things moving and to move the needle, not just for weight, but for your energy, your strength and your long-term health. Right, because it's not just all about vanity. I mean, there's nothing wrong with losing weight because you want to look good in a dress or a bathing suit Nothing wrong with that at all but we also want to consider, I think, the long-term health implications of being at a good weight. I think those are the things in the long run that keep you motivated and committed, all right.
Speaker 1:So let's start with protein and muscle. I talked about this last week also on my podcast, and we've certainly heard about eating enough protein for women, right? Those hundred elusive grams of protein that we need to eat. So there's a good reason behind this. Protein is the number one nutrient women in midlife are not getting enough of. Most of us are used to having a little yogurt in the morning and maybe a salad at lunch, with some chicken or fish fish at dinner. But here's the deal Our bodies need a lot more protein now than they did in our 20s or 30s, because protein is what protects and builds muscle, and muscle now, we know, is your metabolism's best friend. If you want to burn more calories at rest, you need muscle on your body. So that means every meal should have protein front and center. So that means every meal should have protein front and center. Eggs, fish, greek yogurt, chicken, beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh those are just the start.
Speaker 1:I love mixing up my animal proteins with my vegetarian proteins, because animal proteins are a great source of just complete proteins, and vegan proteins are multifaceted. They come with so many other things. They can come with fiber, with calcium, with vitamin D, so it's always good to have a balance of these two. And if you're not strength training yet, this is your invitation to start. Okay, strength training two or three times a week is, hands down, like I have said, the best tool we have in midlife to keep your weight stable. It's not about getting bulky. Believe me, I go to the gym three times a week and lift weights. If it like was going to make me bulky, it would have by now. It's really hard for women to bulk up. So it's not about getting bulky. If this is one of your fears. This is about protecting your metabolism and protecting your bones and boosting your confidence.
Speaker 1:Okay, next up, I want to talk about daily movement, and I don't just mean workouts. I mean, yes, exercise is important, but what really adds up is the movement you do outside of the gym Walking your dog, gardening, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, cleaning your house, standing up to stretch during work all those little things what we call NEAT that's the acronym for non-exercise activity actually burn a surprising number of calories over the day. So if you've ever wondered why you used to stay slim without even trying, it's often because you were moving more, without even realizing it. We don't move a lot. For the most part, on average, we sit a lot. So don't underestimate those everyday actions and steps that you're doing. Get outside and go take a walk. Go take two walks. Go do one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Go walk your dog. Your dog would love it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to dive a little deeper into sleep and stress and why these two can affect weight, especially in midlife. Now, sleep and stress, I mean we used to be able to get away with a lot when we were younger. I mean you could go like burn all naders and everything and like not have it even affect you. But we have to address these because they really do count. Now, I know they're not as like flashy as a new diet or a trendy supplement, but they're just as important as anything else.
Speaker 1:Now, poor sleep doesn't just make you tired. It messes with your hunger hormones. To name the first, most important thing when you don't sleep well, ghrelin, which is your hunger hormone, goes up and leptin, which is the hormone that makes you feel full, goes down. That means you feel hungrier. You start craving carbs and sugar. You feel less satisfied when you eat. Now let's talk about stress. This adds another layer. Chronic stress keeps your cortisol levels high, and cortisol encourages your body to store fat right in the belly. That's why stress management and consistent sleep are routines that are not just nice to haves. They are essential to have and they are one of your most important weight loss tools.
Speaker 1:All right, and finally, I want to talk about balanced eating. I've talked about the word balance incessantly on this podcast, but I think sometimes we all need to hear it again. This doesn't mean following strict rules or cutting out entire food groups. You know that. I'm not about that in any way, shape or form. It means building a plate that supports your hormones and your energy and your health. Take a minute and just visualize this plate. Okay, just visualize a plate. On it. You want protein, fiber-rich carbs, like veggies, like any kind of vegetables, dark leafy greens, whole grains, healthy fats like olive oil or avocado, and a lot of color from your fruits and vegetables. That's your hormone-friendly plate. That's it. It's not so flashy and not full of bells and whistles.
Speaker 1:And while we're here, let's call out two sneaky saboteurs okay, that I think sometimes get a hall pass, and those are sugar and alcohol. Now, they don't just add empty calories, they mess with your blood sugar, they totally wreck your sleep and they absolutely monkey with your metabolism. So, cutting back on sugar we all know a lot about sugar. We all know that sugar is not great for us, but what about alcohol? Reducing alcohol intake or cutting it out entirely can be the game changer to losing weight, okay, and can make huge differences. Now here's the good news. With all these levers I'm telling you to pull with sugar and alcohol and stress and sleep and balance and everything. None of these levers are about punishing yourself, none. They're about supporting your body and your brain. Okay, protein and muscle movement, sleep and stress, balanced, nourishing meals. These are the things that actually work, and they're all things that you can start today, right now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's, I think, one of the most important and most overlooked part of losing weight in midlife, and that is our mindset, and this is where real change happens. Now, we've probably all heard about the word mindset, and we have to have a good mindset or positive mindset, or, or you know all versions of that, but the fact is, is that it's true? Okay, now let me just acknowledge let's backtrack for a second and acknowledge the overwhelm here with being a woman in midlife and trying to figure out our bodies and just making peace with our bodies, because there's so much noise out there. I keep saying this, but it's true, there is so much noise out on the internet and social media. There's one person telling you to fast until noon, another is swearing by keto, someone else is telling you to take shots of apple cider vinegar, and then you've got Instagram reels in your feed convincing you that a pill or injection is the solution. And it's no wonder we freeze right. We literally go numb. I mean, I'll be honest, I get overwhelmed sometimes too, and this is my career. I've said this before, but I just it's sometimes just shocks me and I can feel myself getting like caught up. I'm staring at women who are like so in shape and so good and they're injecting, they're microdosing GLP-1s and that was the game changer for them, and they, you know how could they have lived without them? And it's kind of a form of brainwashing. So I have to remind myself, along with you, to take a step back and remember the basics. That's why awareness is so important.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the simplest ways to build awareness is through tracking, and I don't mean obsessing over every calorie or weighing your food down to the gram, but tracking can be as easy as jotting down what you eat in a notebook, snapping a quick photo of your meals or using an app for a week just to get a reality check. Because here's the truth. Most of us eat more than we think we do. Okay, most of us eat more than we think we do. This is based in studies and science. I can't tell you how many times clients come back to me after a week of tracking and say, wow, I had no idea how many bites licks tastes I was actually having in a day. All that stuff adds up A bite of peanut butter oh, just a scoop of peanut butter, you know. A tablespoon here, a handful of snacks there. This stuff adds up. Okay, these are the calories that awareness alone can create change.
Speaker 1:The second piece is thinking about goals and not just any goals, goals you can actually control. Now here's what I mean. You can't control whether the scale moves three pounds this week, right. You can't control whether it's going to rain or the sun's going to come out, but you can control whether you strength train twice this week. You can't guarantee that your belly fat will shrink in a month, but you can set the goal of getting 100 grams of protein in a day. Set the goal of getting 100 grams of protein in a day. These kind of goals are empowering, because they're in your hands and they build momentum. And if the thought of 100 grams of protein in a day just seems daunting, then let's start at 75. You can do that, okay, this gives you control. And then there's the compassion piece. Okay, I have talked about this for years, because this is the thing that moved the needle for me in my weight loss journey and my journey to quit alcohol.
Speaker 1:Now let me be very clear. Beating yourself up has never, ever once, burned a calorie. Guilt doesn't shrink your waistline. Shame doesn't make you stronger. In fact, the opposite happens. The more we criticize ourselves, the more likely we are to say forget it, I blew it, I might as well keep eating. This isn't working for me, I can't do it. What works instead is curiosity. I want you to ask yourself what might have triggered that craving? Why did I reach for the chips after dinner? What worked really well for me today? Curiosity is neutral, and curiosity leads to learning. Okay, it leads to something of awareness, without judging yourself.
Speaker 1:Okay, no one's perfect here. We all make mistakes. I just told you before that I had a pretty decadent summer. I was eating, you know, way above my calories. It's all right, I knew what I was doing. I was aware I had awareness around it. Curiosity leads to learning. Shame shuts the door on it. There's no place for shame when we are trying to lose weight and take care of our bodies. Okay, and here's what I've seen again and again, both in my own life and in my clients. Every lasting success story pairs smart strategies with a mindset shift. It's never just one or the other. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be consistent and you have to be kind to yourself along the way. We are going to trip and fall. Okay, we're going to get back up. If this was your daughter or a good friend or someone who was just really trying, would you shame them? No, would we shame ourselves A lot. Yes, women are good at that, but this is not about shaming ourselves here. Okay, this is not how it works. Okay, let's bring this all together. What does it actually look like when we put these pieces into practice? I'll tell you what it looks like for me right now, because I've made the decision that this fall, I'm getting back on track right alongside you, decision that this fall, I'm getting back on track right alongside you.
Speaker 1:Like I said, my summer was incredibly busy. I was traveling, I was entertaining a ton. I was up in Maine, we were traveling back and forth. We just had lots of friends and, honestly, I ate a lot of food I wouldn't normally eat in my real life. My workouts slipped too. I was hiking a lot up there. Hiking in Maine is the best. They have the most beautiful, challenging hikes and so I was doing a lot of movement and walking and that was incredible. But strength training, that definitely took a hit because I don't have a gym up there and I have my own weights. I brought them up with me. But honestly, I need a class or I need like a gym for that. I need something to like be scheduled in my calendar to go to. It just motivates me more. That's just me. That doesn't have to be you. You could do weightlifting at home. That's totally fine. But you know what, overall out of this for my whole summer I was, I'm just thinking that's life. I had a great summer, I had a really good summer, and it happens and I'm going to get myself back on track. So this fall I'm all in.
Speaker 1:I've started tracking my calories again, not obsessively, but just enough to build awareness. It's even so, easy for me to get off track with portions. So if you're not tracking, even every once in a while, you can absolutely overeat and not even realize it. It's so easy to just start overeating bigger portions. It's so easy just to have a dessert or a friend who brings like something, and you're just going to take a bite, you're just going to have a little piece, you're just going to all that adds up. So tracking your food gives you information and it's very black and white. Don't tell me you eat clean or you barely eat, without also telling me you tracked your calories. I don't want to hear it. Okay, if you're telling me I have no idea why I'm gaining weight, I eat clean, I eat so healthy and somehow I've gained weight that it's just not true. Okay, this is not how weight gain works. Okay, you have to be overeating calories.
Speaker 1:Weight loss is a numbers game. First and foremost, do yourself a favor and get an app like Lose it or MyFitnessPal and track your food. It's almost ridiculously easy. Don't be lazy about this. It will take the confusion out of wondering if you are eating too much or too little.
Speaker 1:I'm also really making sure that I hit my protein goals at each meal, because I know how much better I feel when I do. I'm not a big snacker, so I'd rather use my calories for actual meals that keep me satisfied and energized. Now, why this focus on protein? Again, let me remind you, because protein is the fuel for your muscles. Your muscles are made up of protein. You need to replenish them all day long. Protein also takes longer to digest than simple carbs like sugar or processed snacks. Okay, back to what I'm going to be doing this fall.
Speaker 1:I've also committed to daily movement. Now, I do a lot of daily movement anyway, but I'm just making this like on my list of commitments for myself this fall to do at least one walk or one hike a day with my dog, which I do. Okay, my dog actually gets probably like two walks a day. If it's not just me, it's then my husband and I'm doing this every single day. Am I obsessing, though, about 10,000 steps? No, I'm not. Am I wearing a weighted vest when I walk? No, or maybe sometimes, if I feel like it, just to add some extra weight. But my walk usually gets me about 10,000 steps and I know from the research and I talked about this in the podcast last week that a weighted vest is fine to use, but it's not going to make or break my weight loss. Strength training that's what's going to make or break my weight loss, and I'm back at the gym three times a week and, like I said before, I learned something this summer from going up to Maine being up there so often is that I have no class up there, right, and I like having a class to go to. It helps keep me accountable and it just makes exercising more fun for me. So next summer, when I'm up there, I'm going to have to figure out how to integrate this and make it work, but that's for another time.
Speaker 1:My next thing I want to really focus on this fall is my sleep. This is a huge one for me because, honestly, my sleep hasn't been great lately. I was all over the map this summer, but I'm working on consistency and now that it's getting darker earlier, that, for some reason for me, just gets me into sleep mode a little earlier. So I'm going to definitely be consistent with my sleep and get into bed every night no later than 10 pm. I'm also doing a deep dive into stress what it means for me right now, how it shows up in my life and how I can manage it better. Because here's the truth, for me at least, life is feeling short lately. You know it's I'm not old, but I'm not super young anymore and I want my years to count and I don't want to wear stress like a badge of honor anymore. So I'm looking at a lot of ways that stress impacts my life, which in turn impacts my metabolism and my weight and not to mention my joy. So that's a big one for me this fall.
Speaker 1:And maybe the most important piece of all, I'm being kind and forgiving to myself through the process. I've set a weight loss goal. I don't have a lot of weight to lose, but a long time ago I made a promise to myself that when I start to see a certain number and I'm not going to tell the number right now, but I have a number on the scale that kind of says to me if I'm getting up to that number, it's time to start getting back on track. And I've started to see that number and I am getting back on track because it means that I'm out of my comfort zone of my weight. Okay. So I'm honoring that and I'm just simply getting back on track with all the kindness and compassion in the world, because I know that my body feels better at a certain weight. I feel stronger, lighter, I feel more energized when I'm there and I'm committed to it, not with guilt, not with punishment, but with consistency, compassion and a plan.
Speaker 1:So here's my action plan, sort of summed up, that I'm following and you can follow it right along with me if you want. Step one I am incorporating 20 to 30 grams of protein at every meal. Step two I'm going to be strength training two to three times per week. Training two to three times per week, hopefully. Three I am moving daily, however I can right, but it definitely is a minimum one long walk a day with my dog.
Speaker 1:I am absolutely prioritizing sleep and stress and, one of the most important, I'm keeping it simple. I'm tracking, I'm setting goals I can control and I'm being kind to myself, and that's it. It's not glamorous, right? This is not glamorous. This is not some like crazy diet out on the internet. It's not flashy and it's kind of boring, actually, and it doesn't cost me anything in supplements and crazy diets. But I'll tell you something it's effective. This is the formula that works in midlife and this is the formula I am definitely committing to right now. Now, of course, I'm also going to be eating a ton of greens and other vegetables and fruits and whole grains and healthy fats. Those all count in the pursuit of losing weight and health. My energy benefits, not to mention my health. So that's a definite priority and that's something I haven't really included in today, but that's I almost feel like that's like a given, especially for me who's a culinary nutritionist.
Speaker 1:All right, so I'll keep you on top of my progress and I would love to hear from you about your progress. How are you feeling about weight loss in midlife? Are you ready to get back on track? Leave me a comment in the show notes. I would love to hear from you. So if you're listening and nodding along or this is resonating for you and maybe even feeling that same overwhelm that might be coming up for you now it's September and you're feeling that I got to get back on track, feeling just know that you are not alone. This journey is not about perfection. It's about progress. It's about showing up for yourself with small, consistent actions that add up over time. Now, midlife doesn't take away your ability to lose weight or feel strong. It just asks you to approach it differently, with more intention, more compassion and a little more strategy. So I'm in this with you, step by step, and I know that we can do this together. I can't wait to hear about your journey and I will keep you posted on mine. Have a great day, everybody.