Help Us Keep Faded to Fabulous Going + The Truth About Weight Loss Plateaus

Ever feel like you’re doing everything “right” — eating less, staying active, maybe even taking a GLP-1 — and suddenly the scale just… stops?

Before you blame yourself, there may be something else going on: metabolic adaptation.

In this episode of Faded to Fabulous, Vicki and Kim break down what happens when your body adjusts to weight loss, why plateaus are a normal physiological response, and why the answer may NOT be to eat even less.

For women who grew up surrounded by diet culture and the idea that 1,200 calories was somehow the gold standard, this can be a major mindset shift.

We’re talking about:

• What metabolic adaptation actually means
• Why weight loss can slow or plateau over time
• How GLP-1 medications fit into the conversation
• Why chronically undereating can work against you
• The importance of resistance and strength training in midlife
• Why your workouts need to evolve as you get stronger
• Protein, muscle preservation, and lean body mass
• Why your body needs enough energy — even when weight loss is the goal
• Using body composition and other data to look beyond the number on the scale
• Letting go of the “I must be doing something wrong” mentality
• Shifting the goal from skinny to strong

And yes, we also talk about the emotional side of all of this — because wanting to feel strong and healthy AND wanting your pants to fit again can both be true.

Most importantly, a plateau isn’t proof that you’ve failed. Your body is responding to change, and understanding why can help you decide what comes next without immediately falling back into restriction.

We also share an update about the Faded to Fabulous Community Campaign and why we’re asking our community to help us continue creating honest, evidence-informed conversations for women navigating midlife.

If this episode makes you think of a friend, send it her way. And keep sending us your questions and episode ideas — we’re listening.

🎧 Faded to Fabulous
Real conversations about menopause, midlife, health, nutrition, hormones, and becoming stronger — not smaller.

Topics: Metabolic adaptation | Weight-loss plateau | GLP-1 medications | Menopause | Midlife weight loss | Strength training | Resistance training | Protein | Muscle loss | Lean body mass | Diet culture | Women’s health

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

I think we grew up in such a diet culture that there's this sense that if it isn't working, it's the person's fault. And in fact, it's actually never.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

It never is a good question.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hi friends, and welcome to Faded to Fabulous, the podcast for women in midlife to come and be seen, heard, supported, and seriously empowered. We are Vicki Kirby, nurse practitioner and menopause specialist, and I'm Kim Lovely, registered dietitian and certified life coach. Together, we have over 50 years of combined experience caring for women, and we're here to help you navigate life with confidence and compassion. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like, follow, and share. And if you're able, consider contributing to our community campaign. You'll find the link in the show notes and on our website. Our goal is simple to help you feel stronger, healthier, and more vibrant. So you don't just get through midlife, you thrive in it. Welcome to Faded Fabulous. Hello, ladies. Hi ladies. Welcome to Faded Fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

We get real today. Kim and I were just trying to decide if there's some like Mercury and retrograde thing happening because we were both just kind of acknowledging we were having an off morning and feeling a little bit grumpy. Um, I had a what I would call a menopause morning, very much. So I woke up with all the time in the world, walked with my neighbor. So so much time to get ready until you look and go, Yeah, I don't have a lot of time to get ready. And that's when you go to curl your hair and realize that your curling iron's broken. Mm-hmm. So you have to get out your ancient old one and the, you know, the wheel of it is too small. So I look like, you know, Shirley Temple, which is fine. We're we're rolling with it. But literally in this process, now I'm starting to get a little sweaty, which you know means also I have to stand in front of the fan because I'm now sweating off any makeup I put on. Um, you know, reapplying deodorant. I get my bathrobe caught on the door of you know how when you're already mad, three times. I said some seriously bad words. I was like, oh no. And so then I realized, because of course, one of the things we're gonna be talking about in an episode today is the nervous system. And I'm like, okay, you are not doing yourself any favors here, girl. You're not gonna get there any faster, and you're just gonna be a lunatic. So I sat down, I took five minutes, I did some breathing, pet the dog, like, did all the things. I'm like, okay, I got this. Then I went downstairs. I'm like, all right, now I have to take my propanolol, which is a beta blocker. Do you know why I have to take that? Yeah, menopause gave me um anxiety about public speaking, which I never had before. Um, I'm like gonna take my propanolol. And do you know what I did? I took progesterone. Yep. So if I fall asleep in the taping of this podcast, you know why. So that was my morning. That was my very menopause morning. It can only go up from here, but at least we're here. We're happy.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

How about you? Oh, well, mine was kind of the same. I went to my class this morning, which I love. I was late getting there because I was trying to clean up a chat GPT mess that I made yesterday. So I was leaving and I was dropping F bombs, and my son actually goes, What is wrong with you? And I'm like, just walk away from the crazy. Did he tell you calm down? No, I think it just my kids have always been a little bit frightened when mom says, for F's sake. Like, right? When I say that out loud in the kitchen, they're like, and it's like five o'clock in the morning. I'm like, what has happened to you this early that you need to be dropping F-bombs? So, anyways, I come home and I'm getting ready, I'm doing my thing, and I have it in my head that we are starting at 10 today, and I'm like, Can all be you're not gonna be late? So I make my smoothie, I'm heading down to my car, I've got my water bottle, my protein coffee, which I was supposed to have finished an hour before, but I didn't, and my smoothie. And it's a beautiful smoothie, but it's this color. Oh my god. Right white pants and a pink shirt. White pants and a pink shirt. And my husband looks at me, he goes, Yeah, good luck with that. So you just now.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah. So yeah. It's all up from here. At least we're here. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

We're doing a podcast. I think I just put it on my head. You do a few. And then I have super fuzzy hair. Megan, who never makes any compliments about or criticisms of anybody, goes, Do you have a brush? And I'm like, No, I have fingers.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

So try to try to. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna go freshen up my lipstick. She goes, Do you have a brush? That was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

So I have fuzzy hair.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Yes. Like my best effort. I look like Shirley Temple. We're fine. Um, hopefully, people are just listening and not watching this one. Um, so today uh is exciting because uh we're gonna be talking about metabolic adaptation, which I think is something that Kim gets asked about quite a bit and has a great deal of knowledge about. So I think it's important. But first, Kim is gonna talk about our community campaign.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yes. So about five months ago, we started talking about how are we going to seek out funding for the podcast? Because we are self-funded and we enjoy doing it, but the costs are creeping and we feel committed to not advertising inappropriately or or products that may pigeonhole us in the future and then not end up being totally helpful. So so we felt strongly about really trying to get sources of funding from people who appreciate the work that we're doing. So it's sort of heartfelt. So we decided to initiate a community campaign. So what that looks like is for the next month, we are going to ask people who are appreciating our content, have some expendable resource to contribute to our campaign. The objective is to raise enough funds to pay for half of the cost of the podcast, half the yearly cost. So we're looking to raise $6,000. Um, having never done this before, we don't know if that's an uh an under-ask or an over-ask or a perfect ask. We're just gonna have to trust the universe who usually comes through with us that we're making the right decision. So at the end of this podcast, there excuse me, now I have to. Oh, get that burp. Yeah, I get it. Don't cut that out. Chugging, chugging my chugging my smoothie now. We burp, right? Um so at the end of the podcast, there will be a link and it will take you to the platform we're using, which is called Give Butter. Got a funny name, right? I yeah, I think it means bread and butter. I think that's sort of where it comes from. So um, it is a platform used for nonprofits in general to make donations. And we would so appreciate anything, any amount ensures that our content gets to women um who need it anywhere, anytime, and is really content coming from us, not influenced by uh commercial ventures. So, yeah, add, please add to.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Uh so I'm gonna say that I think you know, we've talked about like old beliefs and things like that. I'm uncomfortable when it comes to discussions around money or ask, and I think that's like an old programming thing. Realistically, when we started this, like to go back, we did it because we had so, you know, we were, I I love what we do in our office every day, meeting one-on-one, making a difference in someone's life, helping them support them, educate them. And we wanted so desperately to make sure that the information was available to more women outside of the walls of our office. And so we poured so much blood, sweat, tears, love into, you know, creating the program that we did and then into the podcast. And I will tell you that I I've said it's really rewarding. It's probably one of the most rewarding things I've done. And I really appreciate when somebody says, Oh, I listen, you know, I listened to your podcast, and I really that episode really spoke to me because I think what we're trying to do is keep it real. Um, sift through, because there's so much information on the internet, sift through so much stuff that isn't necessarily meaningful. Keep it real, Kim just burped. I mean, real. And and I I think that's what draws people to us. So it it is tough to ask, but realistically, we can't keep self-funding and we do need some support. So if it is meaningful to you in any way and you have the availability and the funds, it would be very much appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, I love yeah. I should have gotten you to lead off. That was great.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

No, that was great. You know, funny thing, the reach of the podcast. We are reaching six different countries now, which is very cool, right? Yeah, we reach six different countries. Can we go to those? Yeah, seriously, let's take the take it on the road, right? Um, but also what I think is interesting is the guests that we have had on are now being recognized, right? In the community, like, oh my gosh, I saw you on that podcast. When I got to yoga last night, one of the reasons I went is that my husband has started taking himself to yoga, which is fan flippantastic, right? Like it's a little journey. Yeah, it's a journey. And when I got there, he was all settled into his mat, and Shelly Rand, who was one of our guests, was talking to Michael. And she said, I walked in and I said, Oh, are you Mr. Kim?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, love it.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

So I'm like, there you go, honey, you're famous. Yes. That's cute. Okay. So we are going to, you're going to get a podcast from us weekly during our campaign. And then at the end of the campaign, we have something extraordinarily to tell you about, which is kind of like a little gift to all of our listeners. Okay. Um, so yeah, without further ado.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, let's dive in. Yeah. Kim, can you kind of give a definition of what is metabolic adaptation and why we're talking about it, why we're seeing it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

So I want to give a little bit of history. A number of years ago, I went to a workshop on um weight loss. And it was done by a team from UC Davis, University of California, Davis. And they have a large uh weight loss program, but it's attached to the university, and they attach research and research dollars to that program. So it's pretty cool. At the time, it was sort of the cutting-edge place where things were happening. So they introduced this sort of concept of metabolic adaptation to me, and I started taking it very seriously. So, what it actually means is when the body is um not getting the amount of energy that it requires on a regular basis, there are several physical, physiological responses that happen. And if you think about it, the reason was to keep us humans alive. If there was no bottom and we just kept losing weight, we would die. Right? So if you think about the hunter-gatherer, had to go long periods of time without access to food. So the body had to have a way of managing that time between lack of access to food. So when a person loses weight, either through uh, you know, calorie restriction or a weight loss medication or even an illness, the body will respond. Both two ways, two things happen. Number one, the smaller body that weighs less requires less energy or less calories. In addition to that, we experience something called metabolic adaptation. So that is a cross the board, all of the systems that require energy start becoming more efficient. So they require less energy. Okay. Yeah. So the amount of energy that we burn, exercising, uh, digesting food, twiddling our hands, which is called neat, sleeping, all of those little areas get a little bit more efficient and require a little bit less energy. So what we see in our practice is women, for example, who might be on a GLP1 and are doing well, right? They're, you know, six months in, they've had consistent slow weight loss, all the things we want to see. And then all of a sudden the weight loss stops. And people panic and they think that they have done something wrong. And the the knee-jerk reaction is to eat less. Right. And what we have to tell them is that is actually going to make it worse, right? Because the body is then going to perceive, oh my goodness, this problem was even worse than we thought. And we're going to have to lower our energy needs in order to match what she is now feeding us, right? So rather than thinking about those plateaus as being problems that we need to solve by under-eating, we have to sort of think about it like my body is telling me something that it needs to sort of uh adjust itself in order to keep me alive, right? So, you know, it's it's first of all thinking about it differently, and second of all, understanding that it is a necessary thing. If it didn't happen, we would die. Right. So the, you know, in reality, if you were someone who was 220 pounds and now you're 175, the calories you needed at 275 to lose weight, sorry, 220, to lose weight, maybe maintenance to your body at 175. Okay. Does that make sense? Yes. That makes sense. So it's, you know, it's a sort of interesting concept that I thought a lot about. Um, and now it's coming full center. Especially especially because there are with the GLP.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

We're seeing it all the time. But we saw that I mean, we saw this before too, right? Anyway, with the chronic women in our generations that are undereating um 1200 calories. Correct. Right. And so it's so women have a really hard time if they're not GLP. And you say, listen, you actually need to eat more. Yeah. They're like, what? And you know, it's it's it blows their mind. But I'm like, listen, your body thinks you're heading into a cave for the winter and it's starving. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um, so most importantly, we do have things we can do. So I'm jumping to your question. I'll let you ask your question. Oh, by the way, um, I'm hoping that I have this great little chart, so I'm gonna give this to you electronically and hope that Megan can put this little graph on it. I don't know if that would be helpful or not, but you know, for those that like a picture.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Um so what can are listen, either not on or on a GLP, what can women do?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Okay, number one people yeah, exact number one is rethink the bad side to a plateau. Okay, right? Like the first thing is to think about it, like I've done nothing wrong, my body has responded exactly the way it is supposed to do, right? So that's number one. And number two is resistance training, and we talk about this all the time. Absolutely. It is not optional. So if you are not consistently resistance training, if you are not increasing the effort that you're putting in, like the amount of weight you're lifting, or if you're doing body weight, if you're doing push-ups as part of your resistance training, if you're doing them on your knees, then do them full out. Like you need to step up on the physical demands of the body. It may be that you need to add a workout. Maybe those three workouts a week is not enough for you. Maybe you need to do four, right? So that part becomes really, really, really important. We know that when we strength train, we increase the energy burn of the body for 24 hours. It's called an afterburn. It's what doesn't happen during cardiovascular. When we do cardiovascular exercise, the burn that we experience during the increased effort stops as soon as we return to baseline cardiovascularly. Strength training, on the other hand, gives you a boost of metabolism for 24 hours. So it is super important to really dial in and get real with yourself. You know, some people have been doing the same workout for two years and wonder why. You know what? You need to step it up. As the muscles get stronger, they're going to get more efficient at the work that we ask them to do. So we need to kind of keep them from getting efficient and we need to make them work harder. And that might mean, for some people, that might mean seeking out a coach or, you know, a personal trainer or, you know, really dialing in. Are they expecting enough of their human form? The other thing is to absolutely ensure that they are getting at least 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of healthy body weight. Okay. So if we're not getting enough protein, we will not hang on to our lean body mass, which is both muscle and bone. Likewise, we cannot undereat. If we underat, number one, we already talked about it, we'll have a further decline in our energy needs. And in addition to that, we won't spare the protein. Right. If we don't eat enough calories, and you know I hate the word calories, I like the word energy better. If we don't eat enough energy, our body will use protein as a source of energy. And we don't want to do that. We want our protein used. And to your point, we see women who have been chronically dieting, who are, you know, living in a body size that they're not terribly pleased with, which I think is some coaching around that, um, are not eating enough, and then you know, ask somebody like me, like, what do I do to lose weight? And I'm like, Honestly, uh, you can't eat less. You're just gonna make things ten times worse.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

So we have to look at where else we can shift, yeah. Yeah. And I think that's why I, you know, I mean, I I really was uncomfortable with adding GLPs to the office for a long time. And now that we are, I it we can say they're being done with integrity. Like there isn't anybody getting a prescription who isn't meeting with a dietitian, getting body composition done, who's committed and already in a strength training program. I mean, because otherwise you're just setting people up for failure kind of down the road.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

And we're checking on them with numbers as well. Like we're, you know, having them do their in-body scan on a regular basis so we can measure lean body mass. We I ask for the weight numbers every time in a visit, and some women don't particularly like to weigh themselves. So I kind of have to coach around that and kind of say, you know, I know you don't like standing on the scale, and I totally get it. The scale's a bitch, right? I get it. But it's one of the markers that we have to ensure that your weight loss is not going to do harm to your 70-year-old self. So standing on the scale is for me, for Vicky, for Caroline, to make sure that we're doing our job well and ensuring that your weight loss is safe and appropriate. So, yeah, so sometimes it it involves a little bit of coaching around that, right? I you know, the scale, right? So I don't have one that people can see in my office. I do have one, but it's hidden. Oh, you do? That's good. I do. Because imagine like the first thing you see walking into the office to see cam is a scale. I'll be like, bye. Yeah, no, it I have one and it's hidden, and I'll use it on occasion, oftentimes with kids.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

And if an adult, you know, wanted to use mine, then I do, but I I doubt I don't have it visible.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

I had patients through the years who got on a scale backwards. Yeah. I'm like, that's not an important number. If it's gonna take up too much space in your brain, you don't need to, you know. But yeah, let's let's, you know, we have to have some data to make sure that what we're doing for you is is safe. We do. Yeah, and it's and it's a it's a tough, I mean, emotion comes into this so much, right? Like there's such a we have so many deep-rooted thoughts around food and body size, but the messaging we always have to have is strong, right? We're not looking, we're looking for strong, not skinny. Correct. We're looking for strong, not frail. Um, but at the same time, it also is reasonable to say, like I say to women all the time, I want you to be in a strong body and you know, be healthy. And I understand that your pants don't fit, and that's really frustrating, and that takes up a lot of rum in your brain. So two things can be true. Absolutely. You can want to be really strong and healthy, and you can want to fit back into your pants. Like that's a you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

And you know, I think we grew up in such a diet culture that there's this sense that if it isn't working, it's the person's fault. And in fact, a lot of shame around it. It never is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

So thank you for talking about that. I think it's really important we gotta ask something.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I've been thinking about it lately, so I really wanted to bring it back, and I wanted to sort of like loop it back to that. It's a concept we've had for quite a while, but we just really need to bring it out again. So all right, thank you, ladies. Yes, so follow the link at the end of the show notes. So hopefully I'm saying that right, um, to um support us if you're able. Share the podcast with your friends. Um yes, thank you. Please keep us yeah, keep us going. Yeah, and let it let us know what else. Oh, and by the way, uh to Kathy, thank you so much for the excellent comment you made the other day. We have plugged in two of the three suggestions that you have.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

In fact, we just were already on the agenda, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yes, but yeah, we're gonna talk about bone health and hair health. Keep on giving us suggestions because we will put them into our content. Bye, ladies. Hi, ladies. Thank you for listening. Reminder of the community campaign. If you can, please help support keeping the show free for women everywhere. Thank you for your support and thank you for listening.