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52. Fat Loss Over 40 — The Truth and the Tools Episode 2: Sleep, Stress, Hormones — How to Control What You Can

• Adam Kelley • Episode 52

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Want the scale to reflect real progress—not lost muscle and a slower metabolism? We break down the three levers that decide whether your calorie deficit burns fat or strength: sleep, stress, and hormones. This is part two of our Fat Loss Over 40 series, and it’s packed with clear actions you can use today to change your results this week.

We start with sleep, the most underrated fat loss tool. You’ll hear how short nights elevate cortisol, distort hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin, and push you toward decisions that wreck consistency. More importantly, we explain why insufficient sleep drives the body to lose muscle instead of fat and how a simple 30-minute bump in sleep time can shift cravings, training quality, and body composition. Then we pivot to stress—the silent sabotager that doesn’t magically add fat but does nudge skipped workouts, ultra-processed snacks, and worse sleep. We share fast, realistic strategies: 5 to 10 minute walks, 4-7-8 breathing, low-friction journaling, and faith-based grounding to steady your day.

Finally, we tackle hormones you can influence at any age. For women navigating perimenopause and men facing gradual testosterone decline, the right inputs matter. We outline a strength-first approach to preserve lean mass, protein-forward meals with fiber and healthy fats to stabilize appetite and support hormone balance, and why limiting alcohol and avoiding crash diets protects thyroid, recovery, and long-term results. The throughline is simple: you’re not broken—you just need better levers.

Take the 1% challenge: pick sleep, stress, or nutrition and improve one small thing this week. If you’re ready for a plan designed for your season of life, subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.


📚 References for Show Notes:

  • Spiegel, K., et al. (2004). Sleep curtailment in healthy young men is associated with decreased leptin levels, elevated ghrelin levels, and increased hunger and appetite. Annals of Internal Medicine.


  • Nedeltcheva, A. V., et al. (2010). Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity. Annals of Internal Medicine.


  • Chrousos, G. P. (2009). Stress and disorders of the stress system. Nature Reviews Endocrinology.


  • Hirshkowitz, M., et al. (2015). National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations. Sleep Health.


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SPEAKER_00:

One study found that when people were in a calorie deficit but only slept 5.5 hours a night, they lost 55% less fat and 60% more lean tissue, aka muscle tissue, compared to those who slept 8.5 hours. All right. Study from 2010. That's pretty substantial, guys. Like they lost 55% less fat, but also lost 60% more muscle. So again, a double negative. So just think about that. All right. Poor sleep means that you lose more muscle, you lose less fat, your metabolism slows down because muscle is what keeps calorie burn higher. It is your metabolism driver. Your long-term health declines even if the scale is moving. Okay, so just because you're losing weight, if your sleep is off, you're probably losing the thing that's going to keep you healthy.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Live Transformed, the podcast from Transformed Health Initiative, where evidence-based truth meets real life transformation. Lead yourself, integrate health, value what matters, engage in the process. This is how you live transformed. And now, here's your host, Adam Kelly.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Live Transform podcast. I am your host, Coach Adam Kelly, and this is episode two in our Fat Loss Over 40 series. So before I start digging into this episode, in case you're confused and not sure what's happening and who is this, this voice sounds familiar, but I don't know this name. We used to be the Win on Purpose podcast, and we have recently rebranded. You can go check out episode 50 where I break down why we rebranded, what the movement is, what Live Transform means, because it's not just a phrase, but it's also an ethos that we operate out of. Uh Live is an acronym. So you want to hear about what it is, what it means, why we feel like this is literally going to change the world. And you know, you can hear some of my own testimony intertwine into that episode where I break down how the Live Transform ethos was birthed through my own experience and through the experience of my clients, and how now we're presenting this to the world so we can encourage everyone to truly take control of their health, take control of their life, and live in the body that they want to live in and feel as good as possible. Okay, so check out that episode if you aren't sure or you didn't hear it. But, anyways, now, like I said, we are in part two or episode two of this new fat loss over 40 series. So last time we laid the foundation by talking about what actually changes in your 40s and what doesn't, okay. So we busted some myths and also gave some truths. Today we're digging into the hidden drivers of fat loss that most people overlook, which would be sleep, stress, and hormones. Now, these can feel like things that are outside of your control, right? Like it feels like we are a victim to just aging and there's nothing we can do about it. And while you can't flip a switch and start the natural changes that or stop the natural changes that come with age, you have a far more influence than you think. Okay, you have more control than you may think that you do, all right? So by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly which levers you can pull and how to make them work in real life, okay? So here we go. Um, let me there we go. Having a little trouble reading my own notes here. So uh that's the beauty of not using pen and paper, like I'm so familiar with, and using the computer because I can just click and zoom in because again, my middle-aged eyes are not what they used to be. So, this first thing we're gonna talk about sleep, all right? The hidden lever for fat loss. So, sleep isn't just rest, it's repair. Okay, there's lots of things that's happening. Your body is super duper active while you're sleeping, okay? And it might be the most underrated fat loss tool that you have. And here's why it matters. Poor sleep raises cortisol, okay, your main stress hormone. Chronically elevated cortisol, like short-term cortisol spikes, is totally normal. It's part of what gets us moving, gives us energy, keeps us aware, things like that. But chronically elevated cortisol doesn't directly cause fat gain, but it does promote fat storage around the midsection and makes it harder to stay consistent. Okay. Sleep loss disrupts ghrelin and leptin. Those are the hormones that regulate hunger and fullness. So less sleep equals more hunger, less satisfaction after meals. Okay. And that's um, this is based on a study from 2004 that will be in the show notes that if you want to look at and review yourself, then sleep deprivation wrecks decision making. So you're much more likely to skip workouts, hit the drive-thru, or just say, I forget it by the afternoon. Okay. Trust me, I've lived in this place many, many days in my time. But here's the piece that most people don't realize when you're chronically sleep deprived, your body doesn't just lose less fat, it actually loses more muscle. Okay, big time double negative. One study found that when people were in a calorie deficit but only slept 5.5 hours a night, they lost 55% less fat and 60% more lean tissue, aka muscle tissue, compared to those who slept 8.5 hours. All right, study from 2010. That's pretty substantial, guys. Like they lost 55% less fat, but also lost 60% more muscle. So again, a double negative. So just think about that. All right, poor sleep means that you lose more muscle, you lose less fat, your metabolism slows down because muscle is what keeps calorie burn higher. It is your metabolism driver. Your long-term health declines even if the scale is moving. Okay, so just because you're losing weight, if your sleep is off, you're probably losing the thing that's going to keep you healthy. So it's not just about being tired. Poor sleep literally rewires your body to burn the wrong tissue or a lack of sleep, poor sleep. It makes fat loss harder and makes you less healthy in the process. So I want you to imagine this scenario, okay? Two people eat the same calories and follow the same exercise plan, right? Person A gets seven to eight hours of sleep per night on average, you know, hit or give or take a little bit, depending on life. Person B gets about five hours consistently. On the surface, they're both in a calorie deficit, but person A is burning mostly fat while protecting muscle tissue, while person B is burning muscle, feeling hungrier, or and or slowing their metabolism. Same inputs, completely different outcomes, all because of sleep, guys. It is that serious. So here are some practical steps to help improve your sleep. All right. Aim for seven, eight hours per night. That's the first thing to do, okay? Even adding 30 minutes makes a measurable difference in cravings, energy, and fat loss outcomes. So if you are at five hours, trying to shoot to seven or eight hours probably isn't gonna be practical because your life isn't structured for that yet. You haven't developed that habit yet of earlier bedtime, or you know, not getting up as early, whichever one it has to fall on. So just going up to six hours from five and a half hours, or from six hours to six and a half hours, that can have a pretty substantial impact that you will feel quickly. So um stick to a consistent sleep-wake cycle. Okay, your Carcadian rhythm thrives on rhythm. All right. So this is a big one that we don't realize. If you're going to sleep, you know, at six o'clock, and then sometimes you're going to sleep at nine o'clock, and then sometimes you're going to sleep at midnight, and sometimes two in the morning. And same thing with getting up, you know, you're sometimes you're waking up at five in the morning to go work out, but then sometimes you hit snooze and skip your workout because you're too tired, so you don't get up till seven. And on the weekends, you're sleeping in till 11, 12, 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Even if you're getting more sleep, you're not going to feel like you are because, again, our body's desire rhythm, system, okay, organization, structure. Another thing you can do is limit screens before bed. So blue light suppresses melatonin, melatonin release. Basically, that's one of the hormones that tells our body it's time to wind down and go night night. But when we're getting those blue light exposure, not just from screens, but also a lot of the lights in our houses that are super bright, they mimic daylight. That will actually hamper our ability to produce melatonin, which throws us out of our sleep cycle and makes it super hard not only to fall asleep, but to stay asleep. Uh, something else you can do is keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. Okay. Lights are keep our brain stimulated even when we're sleeping. If you're too warm, our bodies have to drop body temperature while we're sleeping to get into deep sleep levels. So if you're sweating, uh, if it's stuffy, if you're just hot, then you're probably not getting deep quality sleep. And then obviously, noise is disruptive and you know, will keep you up or wake you up. Look, I know what it feels like to be frustrated with your health, trust me. To feel like you're doing everything right, but nothing seems to be sticking. That's why our coaching isn't about perfection. It's about building a system that works even when life gets messy. At Transform Health Initiative, we help busy adults rebuild their health, rewire their habits, and redefine their identity without shame, without overwhelm, and without starting over every Monday. If you're tired of trying to do it all on your own, we're here when you're ready. All right, back to the episode. So here's the reframe I want you to focus on. Sleep isn't wasted time. A lot of people feel like, oh, I'll sleep when I'm dead because I don't have time. No, sleeping will make you more efficient at everything. And it's one of the most productive parts of your fat loss journey because it preserves muscle, accelerates fat loss, and keeps your metabolism strong. So literally, sleep is the key to winning, okay? This next part we're gonna look at is stress, the silent sabotager, okay? So let's talk about stress. Stress often gets blamed like it magically makes you gain weight. That's not quite the full story, okay? But here is the truth stress doesn't directly add fat. What it does is change your behavior. When you're stressed, you're way more likely to skip workouts, to crave sugar and comfort foods, ultra-processed foods, and to get worse sleep. Those behaviors can compound over weeks and months. That's how stress sabotages fat loss, okay? So some practical strategies to help manage your stress. You can implement these starting today. Movement breaks. So five to ten minute walks, lower cortisol, and clear your head, okay? And so many other health benefits as well. Just literally a five-minute walk per day if you're sedentary, can extend, can add literal years to your life, guys. That's how powerful daily movement is. Uh, things like breath work, okay. Try box breathing for four, seven, eight. In less than two minutes, you can calm your nervous system, okay? Taking slow, deep breaths, holding them in, breathing it out slowly, that can really help you to de-stress without actually changing anything. Um, things like journaling and gratitude practice have been shown to be very beneficial for stress regulation. You know, they've been proven to lower perceived stress and improve resilience. Okay. And it's a good way to kind of get on track and face yourself and hold yourself accountable. And then also, one of, you know, the one of the definitely the biggest for me personally is faith-based practices or prayer. So spiritual grounding has been shown to buffer the effects of stress and improve emotional health. And if you're a spiritual spiritual person, if you're a believer, then we know that there's a peace that comes from our Heavenly Father, from our Messiah, that this world cannot offer. Okay, that's personal anecdotal evidence based on my life and so many believers that I know. But whatever your belief is, whatever your system is, that can really make a big difference on stress levels. So you don't need an hour of yoga every day or an hour of stretching every day. You need simple anchors that reduce the pressure valve. Stress management isn't fluff, it's a fat loss strategy, literally. And then the last one we're going to look at is hormones, the variables that you can influence. Okay, so now let's talk about these hormones. So, yes, hormone shifts in your 40s are real, okay? Hormonal shifts in your 40s are real. For women, especially for women, this is typically who sees it the most. Perimenopause can bring irregular cycles, estrogen fluctuations, hot flashes, sleep disruption, and so many other things, mood disruptions. For men, testosterone gradually declines about 1% per year, especially if they're not, you know, doing the lifestyle things that they should be doing to promote healthy hormone balance. And then things like growth hormone and IgF-1 also dip over time, making it harder to not only build muscle, but maintain muscle. And this can show up as slower recovery from workouts. So you can't train multiple days back to back like you used to, or you have to take more rest days than you used to take in between sessions. More fat storage around the midsection, okay? It's just typically what tends to come with aging if we're not being proactive with our lifestyle. And then also mood swings and energy dips, okay? Stress definitely relates to that. Hormones relate to that, they relate to your mood, your energy, all of that. But here's the key, guys: you're not powerless in this, okay? Hormones don't operate in a vacuum, they respond to life's to lifestyle inputs, right? So it's not just all about hormones, like a lot of people make it to be like you're just a victim to your hormones, and you got to buy their product or their supplement or their book to learn how to fix it. A lot of it has to do with your lifestyle. So here's what you can do, okay? Some practical things when it comes to hormone balance. Strength training regularly. This is the most powerful signal to preserve lean mass and regulate insulin. Okay. Everybody should be strength training, especially if you're over 40. Eat protein at every meal. Protein supports muscle and helps regulate appetite. Okay. It tends to be more satiating, it appears. Um, there's a higher thermal effect of food from protein, basically, how many calories your body burns metabolizing something. Um basically, protein, I can't remember the percentages off the top of my head, but protein appears to be to have a higher thermal effect versus carbs. And then fats basically have zero thermal effect. So, like zero to five percent thermal effect, I believe. Carbs, I believe, is like five to ten percent thermal effect, and protein, if I remember correctly, it's like around 20 to 25 percent thermal effect. Don't quote me on that, but somewhere in that ballpark, so you can see there's a drastic difference, or at least, you know, a subtle difference, nonetheless, between how many calories your body burns from digesting protein versus how much it burns from carbs and especially from fats. Okay, so that's that's super important there. Prioritize fiber and healthy fats, all right. Fiber supports digestion and hormone balance. It's also been shown to help prevent against a host of different cancers. Um, it helps to regulate blood sugar levels, it helps to lower cholesterol naturally. So many different things fiber does for our body, feeds the good bacteria in our DI in our GI tract. And also healthy fats help support hormone production. So, regardless of how you're eating, no one should be cutting out all their. I don't believe anybody should be cutting out any macronutrient, carbs, protein, or fats, but a lot of people think that fats are just not that important. But no, you need them for your hormone balance. Okay, so you want adequate healthy fats coming in your diet. Another thing you can do is limit alcohol consumption. So alcohol disrupts sleep, recovery, and testosterone and wrecks all other kinds of habit or havoc in your body because it is a toxin. And so limiting that in pretty much all cases is going to be beneficial. Now, for those that are like, hey, I really like having a glass of glass of wine in the evening, it helps me de-stress. If that actually helps you de-stress, that can be a health benefit. But outside of that, there's really no health benefits, and that still isn't even questionable if it's actually helping you relax because it does disrupt sleep, even if you don't realize it. And also avoid crash diets, okay? Aggressive dieting tanks thought tanks thyroid hormones and reproductive hormones, making fat loss harder long term. So super aggressive things, um, being overzealous, cutting too many calories, uh, increasing your physical activity too high, you know, trying to cut out whole food groups, um, fasting, things like that. A lot of times they just end up having people either binge eating, going the opposite direction, or just really making fat loss even harder overall. So the mindset shift is simple, guys. You're not fighting your body, you're partnering with it. Okay, you are on the same team. Support your physiology with the right inputs, and your hormones will support your goals. Okay, again, teamwork makes the dream work. So here is the bottom line. You can't control everything, but you can control more than you think that you can. When you improve your sleep, you regulate hunger, you protect your muscle, and you keep your metabolism strong. When you manage stress, you protect your habits and reduce the behaviors that sabotage fat loss. And when you eat well and train smart, your hormones respond accordingly. So here is your challenge for this week. Okay, I like to give you guys a weekly challenge with each episode, something that you can apply, a little bit of homework just to make you better. It's for your own good. Do it or don't do it, it's up to you. But I want you to pick one of these three areas, either sleep, stress, or nutrition, and improve it by just one percent. Okay, that's it. Just one percent, nothing crazy. Maybe it's going to bed 30 minutes earlier, you know. You don't have to watch five episodes. Get away with four episodes, give yourself some time to wind down, then go to sleep. Maybe it's adding a 10-minute walk to your day, you know, first thing in the morning, lunchtime, after dinner, wherever you can fit some walks in. Maybe it's swapping a drink for water at dinner, or swapping a caloric drink for a non-caloric drink, at least, you know, that's um non-nutritive sweetened, um, diet sodas, you know, unsweetened tea, things like that, um, probably will have better outcomes for you. So those 1% wins, they compound on each other, okay? They may and they make transformation inevitable. If you major, if you major in the majors, okay, you master the majors, then transformation is just a byproduct of it, no matter what your age is. And of course, if you're tired of guessing and you want a clear, proven blueprint designed for your season of life, for your genetics, for your health, for your physiology, and for your lifestyle. That's why we built Transform Health Initiative. When you're ready, we will help you live transformed. Go to our website, Transform Health Coach.com, to find out how you can get in touch with one of our coaches. We would love to reach out with you, talk with you, have you come in or meet with you virtually and just discuss how we can potentially help you and give you any advice and anything like that that we can. But until next time, or until then, do something good for yourself, something good for your health, something good for those that you care about. And whatever you do, make sure you live transformed. All right. We will see you next time.