Effects of Fasting on Fat Loss and Health During Menopause

Is Fasting Helping Your Menopause Belly Fat… or Making You More Exhausted?

Have you tried intermittent fasting only to find yourself more tired, more irritable, and waking up at 3 a.m., wondering what went wrong?

You're not alone.

In today's episode, we're diving into one of the most talked-about topics in the health world: fasting and time-restricted eating for women in midlife.

While fasting can be a powerful tool for improving insulin sensitivity, reducing visceral belly fat, and supporting metabolic health, it isn't the right next step for every woman.

For some women, fasting creates more energy, better blood sugar control, and improved metabolic flexibility.

For others, it becomes one more stressor on a body that's already exhausted, undernourished, and overwhelmed.

In this episode, we'll explore:

✅ Why metabolism changes during perimenopause and menopause

✅ The role insulin plays in belly fat and weight gain

✅ Why eating every 2–3 hours may not be helping your metabolism

✅ What metabolic flexibility actually means

✅ The difference between healthy fasting and stress fasting

✅ Who may benefit from fasting—and who should approach it carefully

✅ The surprising connection between fasting, cortisol, sleep, and cravings

✅ Why protein, sleep, and blood sugar balance often matter more than fasting

✅ A simple Fasting Readiness Check to help determine if your body is ready

Most importantly, you'll learn why your body isn't broken—and why understanding your physiology is far more powerful than trying harder.

Key Takeaway

The goal is not to become the world's best faster.

The goal is to have more energy, sleep through the night, reduce inflammation, support your hormones, and feel like yourself again.

Sometimes your body needs a smaller eating window.

Sometimes it needs a calmer nervous system.

The key is learning which woman you are. 

Mentioned in This Episode

•  Insulin Resistance 
•  Metabolic Flexibility 
•  Time-Restricted Eating 
•  Intermittent Fasting 
•  Cortisol and Stress 
•  Blood Sugar Regulation 
•  Protein and Midlife Metabolism 
•  Perimenopause and Menopause Health 

Midlife Metabolism Clarity Call

If you're tired of guessing and wondering why you don't feel like yourself anymore, let's talk.

During a Midlife Metabolism Clarity Call, we'll identify what's most likely driving your symptoms and uncover at least one practical step you can take to start feeling better.

Whether you're struggling with:

•  Belly weight gain 
•  Exhaustion 
•  Brain fog 
•  Cravings 
•  Poor sleep 
•  Hormonal changes 

We'll help you begin connecting the dots.

Connect with Peggy

Peggy Moore, RN, MSN, FMACP
 Functional Medicine Practitioner & Midlife Metabolism Coach

Helping women over 40 uncover the root causes of fatigue, hormone imbalance, weight gain, and metabolic dysfunction so they can reclaim their energy, confidence, and health.

If You Enjoyed This Episode

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.

Because no woman should have to navigate midlife feeling exhausted, confused, or alone. 💛

Remember: Your body isn't broken. It's speaking. And when we learn to listen, healing becomes possible.

 If you found this episode helpful, follow the podcast and share it with a friend who may need it. 

Check us out on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@peggymoorehealthandwellness

Website: www.moorefunctionalhealthandwellness.com

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Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-moore-5b295247

Schedule a Midlife Metabolism Clarity Call 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, what if I told you the reason fasting works for your friend might be the exact reason it's making you more exhausted? Because here's what nobody talks about. For some reason, fasting can improve insulin sensitivity, reduce fellowy fat, and stabilize blood sugar. But for other women, if we can become one more stressor on the body that's already running on fields. So, how do you know which women you are? Well, that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. By the end of this episode, you'll know the difference between healthy fasting and stress fasting. And you'll know where to start without wrecking your own energy. Welcome back to Discover Your Personal Power, Hormones, Metabolism, and Midlife. My name is Peggy Moore, and I'm a registered nurse and functional medicine practitioner, and you're a translator for what your body is trying to tell you in midlife. And as always, I do the research so you don't have to. Today we're diving into the one of the most talked-about topics in health right now. And that's intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating. Should you do it? Does it work? Will it help with menopausal belly fat? Or could it just be making things worse? The answer is a little more nuanced than social media would have you believed. By the end of today's episode, you'll have a much better understanding of whether fasting is a useful tool for your body, your hormones, and your season of life. First, let's talk about why midlife metabolism changes. Quite often, I find myself standing in the kitchen at about eight o'clock at night. Dinner's over, the dishes are done. I'm not physically hungry, but there I am opening the cabinets, looking for something sweet. Maybe a handful of chocolate chips, some nuts, maybe a cookie, maybe just one more little something before I sleep. And then I stand there thinking, seriously, uh, you understand health, you understand blood sugar. What do you really want? What does your body really need? Maybe you've had the same conversation with yourself. Maybe you've looked down at your plate and thought, I barely eat, I walk every day, I'm trying so hard. Why is this so difficult? What I've come to learn is it's not about willpower. It's not about a character flaw, and it's not because I suddenly forgot everything I know about health. My body was trying to tell me something. And honestly, for a while, I thought fasting might be the answer. I thought maybe I just needed more discipline. Maybe I needed to eat less. Maybe I needed a longer fasting window. So I tried pushing harder. And you know what happened? I actually got more tired. I became more irritable. I started waking up in the middle of the night. My workouts felt harder. And at that moment, everything kind of shifted for me. And I finally realized my body didn't need more restriction. It actually needed more support. That single realization changed how I look at fasting, metabolism, and midlife health. And it may change how you look at your body too. Because here's what happens during menopause and perimenopause. The dance begins to change. I love talking about the body and health as a dance. Your hormones are the dancers, your metabolism is the music, your gut is the dance floor, and stress. Stress is the person who keeps running over and changing the song every 30 minutes. And that's what midlife can feel like off day. The choreography changes, estrogen begins to decline, progesterone begins to decline, sleep becomes less predictable, muscle mass decreases, and recovery takes longer. And blood sugar becomes less forgiving. And suddenly the things that worked in our 20s and 30s don't seem to work anymore. And it's not because our body is broken, but it's because our physiology has changed. And this is why I tell women all the time: midlife isn't a willpower problem. Midlife women have some of the strongest work ethics and best willpower that I've ever seen. It's a physiology problem. And understanding that actually can change everything. So let's talk about the thing that frustrates so many women in midlife, and that's the weight gain, especially around the middle. I get it. Because most women assume they're gaining weight because they're eating too much. But what if that's not the whole story? What if one of the biggest drivers is actually insulin? Insulin is one of the most important hormones in the body. Its job is to move sugar from the bloodstream into the cells where it can be used for energy. But insulin has another job. It tells the body where to store that energy. Or should we burn that energy? And here's the part that makes me stop in my tracks when I first learned about it. You can be eating healthy foods, walking every day, working hard at doing everything that you've been told to do, and still have insulin that's elevated most of the day, simply maybe because you're eating too frequently. And that realization was a huge, oh my gosh, moment for me. Because suddenly it wasn't about eating less and it wasn't about starving myself, and it wasn't about trying harder. It was simply about giving my body enough time between meals to actually use that energy efficiently. I grew up during the era when we were told to eat every couple hours because it would keep our metabolism going. Maybe you've heard that advice too. The thinking was that frequent meals and snacks would keep your body burning calories all day long. But what researchers have learned over the years is a little more complicated than that. Every time we eat, especially foods that raise the blood sugar, our body releases insulin to help move that glucose into the cells for energy. And the problem is when we're constantly eating and snacking from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed, insulin doesn't get a break. We're constantly asking the body to process more incoming fuel before it has a chance to really use what it already has. And so over time, some people can become less responsive to insulin. The body has to produce more and more and more of it to do the same job. And that's what we call insulin resistance. Now, this doesn't mean snacking is automatically bad, but it does help explain why researchers have become more interested in giving the body longer breaks between eating and why time-restricted eating has gained so much attention in the health space. And honestly, this realization hit me hard because I started thinking about all the women I talked to who blame themselves, women who think they lack discipline, women who think they are somehow failing, and who beat themselves up because they're trying so hard. When reality, many of them are dealing with all the changing hormones, poor sleep, elevated stress, and a blood sugar issue that they maybe didn't even know existed. Because your body's not fighting against you. It may be simply responding to the conditions that it's been given. And that's a completely different conversation. And it's also one of the reasons fasting has become so popular. A decade ago, intermittent fasting exploded. Everywhere you looked, people were talking about skipping breakfast, eating within an eight-hour window, autophagy, fat burning, and metabolic flexibility. And some people saw incredible results. They were losing weight, their blood sugar was improving, they'd have more energy. And naturally, everyone wanted to know what's the secret? What's the magic? Well, researchers began noticing when people compressed their eating window, several things tend to happen. First, they snacked less, they actually ate less often, their insulin levels had more opportunity to calm down, and their blood sugar became more stable, and their bodies became better at switching between burning sugar and burning stored fat. That's what we call metabolic flexibility. Think of it like a hybrid vehicle. A healthy metabolism can easily switch between fuel sources. Many women in midlife lose some of that flexibility, and fasting may help to restore it. But, and this is the important part: not everyone responds the same way. Maybe you've tried fasting and you feel amazing. Or maybe you've skipped breakfast, drank coffee until noon, and snapped at everyone by two o'clock in the afternoon and ended up that night eating crackers over the sink. That doesn't mean that you failed fasting. It means your body may not be ready for that yet. Or your body just needs different support. A client I talked to and worked with came to me convinced that she had no willpower. She was skipping breakfast, she lived on coffee, she tried to eat perfectly. And every evening she found herself standing in front of that kitchen sink, in front of the cabinets and the refrigerator, just like I had found myself eating whatever she could find. She felt guilty and ashamed. She was frustrated. She thought she was failing. But when she dug deeper, we discovered something important. She wasn't failing. Her blood sugar was crashing and her cortisol was elevated. Her body was desperately trying to create energy. And that changed the story. And that's why understanding whether your body is ready for fasting matters so much. This is what the science actually shows. Because whenever something becomes popular in health, it tends to get exaggerated. People start making claims that sound almost magical. And if you've listened to me for any length of time, you know how I approach health. I want to know what the evidence says, and more importantly, how it applies to real women in real life. So what does the science show? Fasting may help to lower insulin. That matters because insulin is one of the key hormones involved in fat storage and blood sugar balance. And when insulin remains elevated all day, it becomes much harder for the body to access that stored fat for energy. Second, fasting may help reduce visceral belly fat. This isn't just the fat you can pinch around your waist. This is deeper fat that surrounds your organs, the type most closely linked to insulin resistance, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic dysfunction. When researchers see it in visceral fat, they pay attention. This is important. And third, fasting may help improve inflammation and brain health. And that matters because so many midlife women tell me, I feel like I've lost my brain. The brain fog is real, the word-finding problems, walking into a room and forgetting why you're there, looking at someone you've known for years and temporarily forgetting their name. Often that isn't you falling apart. It's just biology and it's just hormones. But it's also blood sugar and it can be inflammation. And so we've learned that fasting isn't a miracle cure. Absolutely not. But it does tell us some of the benefits that go beyond the number on the steel. And here's the part that I think is most important. The women who tend to do best with fasting are the women who are eating enough protein, enough fiber, strength training, prioritizing sleep, managing their stress, and not using fasting as a punishment. Because the goal isn't simply to fast longer, the goal is to feel better. Now, here's the part of the conversation that doesn't get enough attention. Not every woman should fast. And I'm going to say that again. Not every woman should fast. In fact, here's what's probably going to lose the fasting extremists. Some people don't need a smaller eating window. They need a calmer nervous system. Because sometimes the body needs support before it needs another challenge. If you're waking up exhausted every day, living on caffeine, crashing at three every afternoon, waking up at two or three in the morning and feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and depleted, a 16-hour fast may not be in your best interest. Your body may already be waving a white flag. And I see this all the time. Women hear about fasting and they jump straight into a 16 or 18-hour fasting window. And within a few days, they're exhausted, irritable, craving sugar, and sleeping even worse. Then they assume that they failed. But they didn't fail, their body was communicating. Remember, fasting is actually a stressor. Now, stress isn't always bad. Exercise is a stressor, strength training is a stressor, and even healthy growth requires some stress. But if your stress bucket is already overflowing, adding more may not help solve the problems. It's important to remember that sometimes the most healing thing you can do is nourish your body consistently instead of restricting it further. And that's why when I work with women, I never start with fasting. I start with foundations. If you've worked with me, you already know this, but I don't believe in punishment. I don't believe in earning your food. And I certainly don't believe in suffering your way to health. My approach is simple. We create safety first because a body that feels safe responds very differently than a body that feels threatened. And honestly, this is the biggest change that helped me stabilize my energy and those afternoon crashes and cravings and sleep through the night. And the first step is stabilizing that blood sugar, protein, fiber, and healthy fats, hydration and balanced meals. A morning meal with three to four hours, an afternoon meal, three to four hours, an evening meal, hopefully three to four hours before you go to bed. This is stable energy throughout the day that your body says, Oh, I'm going to get fed, so I don't have to store energy away like a bear for the winter. I know I'm going to get fed on a consistent basis. My body's getting the protein that it needs, the fiber that it needs, healthy fats to help me absorb essential nutrients. And my body has the time in that three to four hour window to take that glucose, put it where it needs to go, use it for energy, and we don't have to worry about saving it up because we know we're going to get that energy again in just a few hours. But our insulin and our glucose has the time to do its job. The second step is sleep because poor sleep raises hunger hormones. Think about it when you don't get a good night's sleep. You wake up kind of cranky and kind of hungry. It increases cravings and it impacts that insulin sensitivity. It increases cravings and it impacts insulin sensitivity. The third step is stress regulation, not eliminating stress. We can't do that. That's not realistic. That's impossible. But helping our nervous system feel supported. Breathing, walking, sunlight, connection, rest. Then and only then do we begin building metabolic flexibility. And that is where a gentle overnight fast can become useful. Not because we're trying to punish the body, but because we're helping the body become more efficient. A 12-hour fasting window is very realistic, not eating after six at night and then eating breakfast sometime after six in the morning. That's 12 hours of allowing your body time to rest and reset for the next day. It doesn't stress your body out. It allows your body time to heal. And then starting in the morning with that protein, that fiber, and that healthy fat to get your body ready for the day. I had another client that came to me recently and was like, I'm barely eating. I and she listed off all the things that she'd had for the day, of course. Um, but I'm still gaining weight. And honestly, she was so frustrated because she felt like she was doing all the things that she had always been told to do: calories in, calories out, cut the calories, exercise more. But when we started to look closer, we discovered that she was barely eating enough protein, and her blood sugar was swinging all over the place. Her cortisol was elevated, and she was underfueling all day, and then she was craving everything in the evening, and then trying to white knuckle her way through. So we didn't start with fasting. We started with nourishment, protein to fiber, and healthy fats, better sleep, a little more movement, a little less stress, and something interesting happened. Her cravings in the afternoon disappeared when she found that she had a balanced meal for lunch. Her energy improved, her weight actually began to decrease because we didn't force her body, we supported it, and that was a very different strategy. And in my experience, it's a much more sustainable one. Before we wrap things up, let me give you a quick fasting readiness check. You might be ready to experience with a gentle fasting window if you're sleeping well, you're eating enough protein, your energy is stable throughout the day, and you're not constantly hungry. And you're not relying on caffeine to get through the morning and the afternoon. On the other hand, fasting may not be your best next step. If you're waking up two to three times in the morning, exhausted most days, feeling shaky when you don't eat, skipping meals unintentionally, dealing with intense cravings and running on stress and caffeine. If that's you, let's focus on support first and revisit those longer fasting windows later. Now, if you're listening today and wondering whether fasting might be right for you, I want to leave you with one simple question. Does my body need more support or more restriction? Because those are not the same thing. For some women, a gentle 12 to 14 hour overnight fast can be a wonderful tool. But for others, the better first step would be improving sleep, increasing that protein and fiber, maintaining stress, and stabilizing that blood sugar. Remember, the goal is not to become a better faster. The goal is to feel better, to have more energy, to sleep through the night, to be able to think clearly, to reduce inflammation, and to support your hormone. And most importantly, to feel like yourself again. If there's one thing that you take away from today's episode, it's this. Your body is not fighting against you, although it often feels like that. I get it. It's just adapting. The cravings, the belly weight, the fatigue, the brain fog, the 3 a.m. wakeups. They're signals, they're messages. Your body's communicating. And when we learn to listen to those messages, everything begins to change. Remember, we started with one simple question. Why does fasting make one woman feel energized while leaving another feeling exhausted? And the answer isn't that one woman is more disciplined than the other. The answer is they're starting from different places. We all start from a different place. Some of us need a smaller eating window. Others need a calmer nervous system and more systematic regular meals throughout the day with protein, fiber, and healthy fat. The key is learning which woman you are. Because midlife isn't the beginning of the end. It's an invitation to understand your body in a completely new way. And that understanding, that's where your power lives. Thank you for spending time with me today. If you found this episode helpful, please like it and share it with a friend. And if you're ready to understand what's happening beneath the surface of your symptoms, I invite you to book a midlife metabolism clarity call. Together we can explore what's driving your symptoms and identify at least one practical step that you can take to start feeling like yourself again. Until next time, remember, your body isn't broken. It's communicating. And the better we learn to listen to it, the better we learn to heal. Take care of yourself and have a great week. You deserve it. I'll see you next time. This is Paking More with Metabolism, Hormones, and Midlife. See you next week.