287. How Chronic Stress Could Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Progress With Molly McNamee

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right—eating well, working out, staying busy—but still can’t seem to lose weight or feel your best, stress could be the hidden culprit. In this powerful episode, we sit down with fitness coach and founder of MFit Workouts, Molly McNamee, to uncover how chronic stress silently sabotages your health, metabolism, and weight loss efforts—especially for women already experiencing hormonal and lifestyle changes.

Molly opens up about her own battle with anxiety and weight fluctuations, and how she discovered that managing stress was the missing link. We dive into the different types of stress, how it physically manifests in the body, and why traditional workouts might be making things worse—not better.

You’ll learn how stress affects everything from your digestion to your food choices, and why balancing strength training with rest and recovery is essential for long-term results. If you’ve been stuck in a cycle of burnout, bloating, or stalled progress, this episode offers a fresh, science-backed perspective—and small, doable changes that can truly shift your health.

Listen now to discover how calming your nervous system could be the key to finally feeling and looking your best.

Resources From The Guest

>> Molly's Website
>> Molly's Instagram
>> Molly's Facebook
>> Molly's LinkedIn

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Resources From This Episode

>> Insulin Resistance Diet Blueprint - https://www.zivli.com/blueprint?el=podcast

>> Free Low Insulin Food Guide - https://www.zivli.com/ultimatefoodguide?el=podcast

>> Join the Zivli Program Waitlist - https://www.zivli.com/join?el=podcast

>> Test Your Insulin at Home - https://www.zivli.com/testing?el=podcast

Have a question? Email us at: support@zivli.com

Transcript

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (00:01)
Okay. Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the reshape your health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Morgan Nolte. And today we're going to talk about a really important topic, especially if you're struggling with blood sugar issues or weight loss plateaus. It is a commonly overlooked area when it comes to health and wellness, and that is chronic stress. My guest today is Molly McNamee and she is an online fitness coach and the founder of fit workouts.

She specializes in exercise for nervous system regulation and anxiety and believes that the secret to looking your best lies in managing your stress. And her mission is to help people use exercise to calm stress so the body can actually feel safe letting go of excess fat. Molly, thank you so much for coming on the show and welcome.

Molly McNamee (00:50)
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you today.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (00:54)
Yeah, well, let's just get started. What is your story? mean, I think this is kind of a unique niche to be focused on exercise for stress management. So how did you get into this realm?

Molly McNamee (01:04)
Yeah, so I've been working in the fitness industry for well over a decade now, but I didn't always specialize in this. So it was actually probably about six years ago that I reached a rock bottom place with my own health, both my mental health and my physical health. So at that time, my anxiety was out of control. I've always had high functioning anxiety, but this was to another extreme. I was having panic attacks every single day. Some days I would even have

three or four panic attacks in one day. So it was very extreme and very upsetting. I was also dealing with a lot of bloating and insomnia and I was getting sick all of the time around that stretch of time. And then just the cherry on top of all of that was that my weight was completely unpredictable. So I could gain 20 pounds in a month without changing anything about my exercise or my diet routine.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (01:35)
my gosh.

Molly McNamee (01:59)
And that was particularly confusing to me, because like I said, I was an educated coach. I was exercising a lot. I was eating super healthy. So it didn't make sense to me why I was having such a tough time just maintaining my weight. So all of those problems are happening. And like I said, I reached a rock bottom point. And that's when I discovered that the reason I was experiencing all of that was that my nervous system was dysregulated and my hormones were a mess because of that. And then once I

realized that I kind of went into detective Molly mode and I was like, okay, well, why did this happen? How do I prevent it from happening again? How to reverse it? And I was able to heal my body. And now I'm sharing this method with the world and this niche with the world because I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through. And it's unfortunate that my story is really not that unique. A lot of people experience those things to some degree.

And it is quite popular now to talk about stress and to talk about hormones, which I love, but I think there is still quite a bit of confusion there where people know that stress is bad if they're feeling really stressed in their life, but then they're equally still confused why they're not losing weight, why they feel so bad. And stress is just such a huge part of that conversation. So it was through my own experience that I kind of focused on that niche because

I realized how much of a problem it was for me and for those around me.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (03:22)
Yeah, thanks. That's an interesting story. And did you go the traditional medicine route? I'm kind of curious because often when people experience anxiety attacks, they go to their physician. They're like, I'm having really bad anxiety. The physician wants to prescribe a medication. Did you ever take any like anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications or how did you navigate that path? Did you even like go to the doctor or were you just kind of like, I'm going to fix myself here?

Molly McNamee (03:48)
So I did go to the doctor and I did a bunch of Googling. So I know how frustrating it is to like be that person who's like trying to go through every outlet and not finding answers. My doctor did suggest potentially sleeping medications or anxiety medications, but I don't love taking medication. Like I wanted to heal it in a natural way. So I didn't take that approach, but also I wasn't really getting answers for why like this was happening, which was my main.

question because I was like this shouldn't just be happening out of nowhere and for some reference around that time I was in my mid-20s so I also wasn't thinking like hormones initially I was like this shouldn't be affecting me hormones shouldn't be affecting me in that way so I was just kind of lost and unfortunately I think I just kind of like pushed through I was like okay maybe this is just a phase I'm going through let me just push through and see if it ends on its own

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (04:19)
Yeah.

Right.

Molly McNamee (04:42)
But then it didn't. So then obviously other solutions had to happen. So I did speak to doctors. I wasn't finding the why answer that I wanted. And I didn't just want to medicate for the heck of it. So I did become kind of my own detective in that way.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (05:00)
Did you

do any hormone testing or like saliva or Dutch testing on cortisol levels? Or did you mainly go like by symptoms on, okay, I think this is my problem. These are the solutions that I'm gonna try. I'm just kind of curious what that detective work led you to.

Molly McNamee (05:15)
Yeah, so I did not do any hormone testing. Again, mid-20s hormones didn't even pop into my mind. So my solution was actually kind of unique in that I literally suffered a concussion. So I was injured and I was forced to change my lifestyle and change my exercise routine. And in making those changes, my body started to feel different. My anxiety started to shift it. And that's when there was kind of like a aha moment of

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (05:35)
future.

Molly McNamee (05:45)
there's a connection here. So then that's kind of what fueled my research of, well, what was I doing that was causing this stuff to be bad? What could have been happening in my body? So it was kind of putting a lot of puzzle pieces together after I started unintentionally healing myself. So I don't ever love being like, yeah, I kind of fell into finding the solution by accident, but now I'm like happy that accident happened so that I can now.

share what I have learned with the world. But yeah, there was never any real start of an intention except for I'm injured, now I'm healing myself, and now what has changed?

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (06:25)
I'm kind of curious too, as you were doing all of that inner work, what were the identifiers that you found? Like, okay, I'm in my mid-twenties, I should be thriving. What are the things that I'm doing that are actually making me sick and throwing my hormones out?

Molly McNamee (06:39)
Yeah, so for me, it was very lifestyle driven. So I was exercising a lot. So I was teaching group fitness classes and personal training and working out myself. So I was exercising for multiple hours in a day at quite an extreme. So that for one kind of already was stressing out my body. also

was restricting my eating, especially when I was having trouble with my weight, I was eating less and less because I was like, well, this doesn't make sense. So let me just start restricting my calories some. And that was stressing out my body. And then also just the nature of my work was very go, go, go. I am a business owner. Like I run my own business. So I was kind of working from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. sort of nonstop. Like I was very driven on let's build something here.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (07:20)
Mm-hmm.

Molly McNamee (07:32)
And that was in like a very extreme lifestyle that was stressing out my body and then, you know, creating stress within my nervous system, which then trickled down to my hormones. So it was very lifestyle driven and it was, I do kind of blame my exercise and diet routine for making it even worse.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (07:54)
Were you sleeping poorly or just like not enough if you were working like from 5am to 10pm?

Molly McNamee (08:00)
Yeah, so I was struggling with a bit of insomnia. So I would feel tired all day long, but then struggle to fall asleep. But then, yeah, in total, I was probably really only sleeping like five hours a night, which is obviously not a lot, but I was surviving. And I was like, I'm getting through it. So it must be enough for me, which is, think, a thought that a lot of people have where they're like, well, I'm...

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (08:03)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Molly McNamee (08:26)
surviving, I'm getting through it, so this must be enough sleep for me or this lifestyle must be okay enough. But then obviously you can start to experience those little symptoms that then start to nag at you and then become worse and worse. But my sleep was horrible.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (08:42)
The anxiety attacks are really interesting too. you, were they triggered by caffeine or worrisome thoughts or like what kind of triggered the multiple anxiety attacks today? Cause that is pretty extreme.

Molly McNamee (08:54)
Yeah, so that was what was confusing to me. I wasn't living a particularly anxiety inducing life. Like I said, I've always had anxiety. So I was already kind of starting off at a point where anxiety exists in my body, but it would just be, I could be relaxing on a couch and suddenly my heart would start to race and I would feel like really tingly all over, the symptoms of a panic attack, but my mind wasn't panicking. So that was.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (08:59)
Good.

Right.

Molly McNamee (09:20)
very confusing. That's why I was so baffled by my anxiety at that time, because I was like, I don't feel particularly anxious mentally, but my body is clearly going through something. So it was completely like a physical anxiety attack and not, not any mental distress. Honestly, it was just my body being like, we're panicked. Let us have our moment. But

Yeah, and they would just come on randomly. It wasn't fueled by caffeine, because I wasn't drinking caffeine. It makes my anxiety worse, so I don't consume caffeine. So it was just at random times. I looked for patterns. I could not find patterns. And that's where now looking back, it's so clear to me where something was clearly going on physically for me that was triggering that panic.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (09:53)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (10:09)
but I was obviously just looking for signs of what's happening in my life, what people may be causing this. Like I was looking for patterns and they weren't there. And I think that that is something a lot of people do when they're like, okay, what's causing this anxiety? And if you're not seeing those answers, that's when it can be helpful to look inward of, okay, if it's not something happening in my environment, what's going on in my body? And I unfortunately never made that connection until I was forced to make that connection.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (10:14)
Right.

Molly McNamee (10:37)
But was very strange.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (10:39)
I bet. And I think that's a good segue into the different types of stress. So you kind of mentioned external stress, internal stress, and I like to say stress is stress on the body. Your body can't really tell what kind of stress you're experiencing. So what are the different types of stress that you talk about with your clients?

Molly McNamee (10:55)
Yeah, well, circling back to what you just said, it's fascinating how no matter what the stress is, your body reacts the same. So even if it's like you need to slam on your brakes because you're about to hit a car or you're going through a divorce or you have a new job or if you've created this whole imaginary scenario in your head, like stress is, that stress is gonna react the same in your body. So.

The conversations that I have with my clients revolve a lot around that external and that internal stress. And I think a lot of people are very familiar with the external stress of like situations and thoughts and like things happening in their life. But that internal stress is where things can be kind of complicated because you don't see them. things that can cause that stress and anxiety in your body are things like an infection you don't know about, or if you have an injury or even just tight muscles.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (11:29)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (11:49)
Obviously, if you've had some sort of surgery that is stress to your body, hormonal imbalances, things like that can create stress in your body and you're not seeing them. So you're not thinking, okay, my life is stressful and that's why I'm having these symptoms of chronic stress. You may just, your body may be going through something. That actually happened to me once I had a yeast overgrowth in my gut that I wasn't aware of and my anxiety kind of up like,

ticked up at that time and I was like, okay, what's going on? And this was after, you know, this craziness that I went through six years ago. This was like a couple of years ago. was like, okay, now I'm recognizing, I'm feeling more anxious. Nothing's happening around me. What's going on in my body? And I did some gut testing and found that out. So there are many ways that you can be stressed without you seeing it. Also things like the products that you're using or the air quality of the town you live in, those types of things can start to build stress in your body.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (12:47)
Yeah, like I'm thinking

like it's at a cellular level, right? So like mold and toxins, like we talked about environmental metabolic stress, so like a high sugar, inflammatory diet, a lot of alcohol, like all that stuff. I'm pregnant right now, so I can very much speak to like the hormonal shifts causing stress in the body. Goodness, and how that affects sleep. So I think let's kind of talk about next, you really focus on chronic stress.

But we know that not all stress is a bad thing. Sometimes it can be kind of a productive stress. So how can we tell if it's, you know, let's start with acute and chronic. Like, so how would you describe or classify someone as like, yes, you're dealing with a chronic stress or this is just a short-term acute stress and it's not something that you really need to worry about.

Molly McNamee (13:37)
Yeah, so there

are, there's obviously good stress in your life. Like we all feel that kind of adrenaline spike or those like butterflies in our stomach before we give a performance and that can help you perform better. So that type of stress is good. Obviously you want your stress response system like working as it should if you're in a truly stressful situation. Like if you're about to be in a car accident, you want your body to respond the way it is supposed to. So I think that we all kind of

demonize stress as being like a totally bad thing. And we also demonize cortisol, the stress hormone as a bad thing. But some of that is necessary in your body. But how I would start to differentiate if someone has reached a chronically stressed out state is if one, they're just like feeling completely overwhelmed. Like if you feel like stress is kind of taken over your body, like it can be quite obvious like that where you're like, okay, yeah.

I'm feeling consumed by stress and I can't escape it. That's a very obvious way to figure out that you are chronically stressed. But there are also like hidden symptoms that you may be experiencing that could reveal that chronic stress is happening. And I talk a lot about symptoms with my clients. So when I first meet someone, we sit down and I just kind of ask, what's going on in your life? What has gone on like in the past few years? What are your goals? Like I really try to get a good picture of what's happening in their life.

And there are a few key things that they may be saying to me that may reveal that they are experiencing some chronic stress. So one of those may be if they're getting sick really frequently. So if they feel like their immune system is not supporting them at all and either they're like that one friend that's always catching a cold no matter what they do or even if you're getting things like chronic UTIs or if you're a teacher and you're always getting pink eye like.

things like that reveal that you have a weak immune system. And if someone's telling me that, that kind of is one alarm bell in my head where I'm like, okay, they may be stressed and not know it. Also, if you're feeling really jittery and jumpy, it was really funny. I was watching a YouTube video just a couple of weeks ago where it was a chef and someone walked in while she was cooking and she like got really scared. And she was like, I'm so jumpy lately and I don't know why. And I wanted to comment like.

you might have a dysregulated nervous system and be dealing with some chronic stress, but there were like millions of you. She wasn't gonna see that, so I didn't. But jumpiness and just being really sensitive, like if your skin is breaking out more, if you're kind of losing your hair, if you're bruising really easily, if your body's feeling really sensitive, that's an indication that there may be chronic stress going on. So I would say the main difference between that acute stress and that chronic stress is when

if stress is starting to affect the way you live and you operate and you feel. We all have our own tolerance levels for stress and some people can tolerate a bit more. Some people think they can tolerate more when they really can't, but some people can tolerate more than others. But I always identify in my clients if they're chronically stressed, if I'm seeing that now it's kind of breaking apart how they live and operate and feel. That's when I'm revealing that stress is now.

a problem that needs to be solved.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (16:58)
Yeah, and I think kind of when we say stress, we're not always just talking about the mental emotional stress. It could be that your gut microbiome is stressed or that a certain organ system is stressed and that's manifesting as these symptoms. A couple more I would add would be like weight loss resistance. So, you know, I work with insulin resistance all the time and elevated cortisol levels can contribute to that.

belly fat. So if people have like very stubborn belly fat, sometimes that can be a sign and then elevated blood sugar levels. It is so interesting. One of our members shared a continuous glucose monitor picture where she was in a, like a speech program, not like a public speaking program. She was learning how to give better speeches and she was giving her a speech and she fasted all morning. The speech was around 9 a.m. and you can just see the blood sugar was

90s, 90s, all the way up to like the 170s. And then like right after the speech was done, it came back down. So she hadn't eaten anything. It was literally the stress causing a blood sugar spike. So sometimes blood sugar issues. And then the other one that I would say are behavioral symptoms. So somebody who like struggles to follow through, somebody who knows what to do, but they're not doing it. Somebody who

chronically neglects their health because of another thing. I think sometimes that's like an underlying stress of like feeling like you have to be everything to everyone and meet all the needs and wants of other people. So it's almost like a stress that they put on themselves to put the wants and needs and perceived wants and needs of other people above their own health, causing them to stress out. And then the last one are just like.

Molly McNamee (18:43)
Yeah.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (18:47)
stressful thoughts, you know, like the negative thoughts literally create stress in the body. Kind of like you said, you can make up a whole scenario. So I just wanted to flesh out like all of the possible, hmm, I'm wondering if I'm dealing with chronic stress, issues. I think that's a huge one. If you will have sleep issues that could be a sign that they're dealing with some chronic stress.

Molly McNamee (18:56)
Yeah.

Also things like irregular periods, stuff like that

can indicate a lot. If your food choices feel like they've shifted, that can indicate a stress going on. There are so many things. I want to highlight a couple of things that you said, because our bodies are so complex, so many things are connected. So it's interesting what you said about the blood sugar, because it is any time cortisol is being released in your body, your

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (19:33)
Thank you.

Molly McNamee (19:38)
blood sugar is also rising, like those two things are so connected and you normally don't think about it, but it's like, if you are chronically stressed, that can lead to insulin resistance. It could lead to diabetes. it's, so many things are connected in that way. But yeah, like pick one body part and that could be affected by stress basically.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (20:00)
Yeah, I

know one issue like one example from my own life where it was a very sneaky stress was caffeine. And I can kind of walk through how I identified that in myself. I didn't like you. didn't do any like hormone testing or anything. I could just tell I was having regular mid cycle spotting. So for people that don't know what that is, it's like you have your period and then a couple of weeks later you're getting some spotting or brown and you're like, what the heck? This isn't

how my period is supposed to go. So I started looking it up and it was like, you know, symptoms of altered progesterone. And I'm like, well, of course, cortisol and progesterone are, you know, heavily influenced by each other. And I thought I'm not doing anything that's really stressful. But what I realized was the coffee that I was drinking was stressing my adrenals and causing some cortisol and progesterone dysregulation and the mid cycle spotting. And it took me

a long time to give up the caffeinated coffee. Like we're talking a few months before I really was able to successfully do it. And then weeks after that, before I felt like my energy had stabilized and then the spotting stopped and my sleep got so much better. So I would really encourage people to recognize even a habitual thing, a habit of some sort that you think is benign.

could be causing some chronic stress on your body. Like for me, it was my regular coffee habit. I could justify, there's health benefits to coffee. And it's like, well, your body is not the same as everybody else's body. And caffeine doesn't sit well with your system, especially at the level that you're having it. don't be afraid to just, as Molly and I have exhibited, like be your own health detective.

Molly McNamee (21:39)
You

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (21:51)
and experiment and don't be afraid of like what you're giving up because you're gaining so much more when you get a handle on this stress. So I'm going to share that story too.

Molly McNamee (21:57)
Yeah.

And

that's, thank you for sharing that story. And I also think that makes a good point of also, there could be something you have done for years and a long time for most of your life. And now suddenly it's just not meshing well with your body. So I think it's also important to like have that acceptance of your body is going to shift over time. What your body needs is going to shift over time. So we are all like habitual creatures, but just like being able to

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (22:10)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Molly McNamee (22:28)
recognize if one habit should start to be broken. And I think something that's really helpful for everyone to do is to keep, I call it like a little vibe check journal, where every day just like keep track of some key symptoms you may be experiencing. And if you notice like, I slept really good last night, like maybe note what did you do the day before that could have influenced it? Like, as you said, like be your own detective, but like a way to actually do that is to gather the data.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (22:55)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (22:55)
And if you're

writing down a list of symptoms you've been experiencing, and that could even be like, check in with how often you're going to the bathroom, like check in with how, like how your energy is, what your mood is, if you're having headaches, like check in with things that even seem kind of insignificant and keep track of those things. And if you keep track of those things for a while and you're looking at it you're like, I don't really know what all of this means, then that's when you could like talk to a health coach or talk to a doctor and be like, I've gathered all this data.

I just don't know what it means and they may be able to make sense of it. But I think it's so valuable to keep track of how you're feeling because it can get really confusing. Because obviously we're talking about like all of this stuff can indicate that you have a stress issue. And that can seem kind of daunting. But if you just keep track of how you're feeling, may be able to. Yeah, because we're all different. Like there are so many symptoms that you could look out for.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (23:26)
Okay.

and your symptoms, yeah.

Molly McNamee (23:53)
On my website, I have a huge symptom checklist for high cortisol and there's like tons of symptoms. And it's like, yeah, looking at this can be like, wow, overwhelming. But if you're checking all the boxes, then it kind of helps you reveal what's going on.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (24:06)
Yes,

there's a new company, I can't remember what they're called. They wanted me to try their saliva. I think it's an insulin and a cortisol test and maybe melatonin. And I'm like hesitant to do it because I'm pregnant. And so I think I'm going to wait until after the baby is born just to kind of get an interesting baseline. But I think it's also helpful to understand the role that stress and all of the various causes of that, including sleep deprivation.

how that plays into your weight management. Because once I understood that, I really gave myself a lot more grace. I have two other kids. So in the postpartum period, I recognized that there is only so much that I am able to do here. And my children will get up in the middle of the night and they will need me and that will impact my sleep and that will impact my ability to get my pre-baby body back like I want to.

and I'm okay with that. And I'm okay that it's gonna take longer. Like this is as good as it's gonna get during this season of life. And as my children sleep better and my hormones regulate again, because I'm sleeping better, the weight will come off. No matter, like I don't have to, like you were doing, know, restrict my diet anymore, exercise anymore. It's just like, I can live this healthy, balanced lifestyle and give myself grace that this too shall pass.

Molly McNamee (25:25)
Yeah, no, and

having that mindset is so good and so important because yeah, we can get down on ourselves and think, okay, I'm not doing enough and then doing too much can then make your problems worse. Cause there are a lot of ways that stress can impact your body's ability to lose weight. Like I can go over a few of them if you want. Okay, so for one, when your body is stressed, you're storing more body fat. That is just what...

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (25:33)
I

Yeah, I definitely do. Yep.

Molly McNamee (25:52)
happens and that's because your body's trying to keep you safe because it perceives stress as there's a threat nearby. And if you're in a true like fight or flight situation, you want your body to not just suddenly lose body fat, you want your body to try and conserve energy and keep you safe. So that's what it's doing. So you're going to be storing more body fat. Also, in an attempt to conserve more energy, your metabolism is going to slow down. So you're not going to burn as many calories through just existing when your body is

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (25:56)
Mm-hmm.

Molly McNamee (26:21)
stressed out. And then also if cortisol is high in your body, that can start to decrease your muscle mass. And the combination of those three things is like horrible for someone who is actively trying to lose weight because you're storing more fat, you're not building muscle, you're losing muscle, and you're not burning as many calories. So those three things right there, very frustrating. But then stress can also influence your food. So for one, it can influence your food choices, you're going to be wanting to reach for

sugary fatty foods more often. You also may find yourself stress eating, like thinking you're hungry when you're not and eating more literally. But then stress also affects your digestion. So you may, when your body is stressed, it starts to like prioritize certain systems in your body. And since digestion, doesn't see as being like a very important vital system.

it starts to like say, don't need all of that digestion stuff going on. So you're not gonna be digesting food properly, which can lead to you feeling bloated or you absorbing nutrients in like strange ways. And that's gonna affect how you look and how you feel. Like even if nothing else is going on, but you're just bloated every single day and you're actively trying to lose weight, that can be very demoralizing where you're like, okay, I...

I'm so puffy, I can't even tell if I'm losing weight. So why am I even trying? And then obviously we've talked about sleep, stress impacts sleep. And then if you're not sleeping, that can start to mess with your hunger hormones. And also you're just feeling tired. So then it's hard to motivate yourself to do anything to try.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (28:00)
I

know we teach the Zivli habit hierarchy inside of our program and the first few habits deal with stress and sleep because if you don't have your and we we deal we do deal more with like the mental and emotional aspect of stress not so much the other types of stresses that we've been talking about but you know as a starting point getting a handle on your mental emotional stress

Molly McNamee (28:08)
Mm-hmm.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (28:29)
working on your mindset, working on your sleep, that really sets up a good foundation to build other habits on. So I wanted to also share my experience of like bloating after a half marathon. So I did a half marathon in May, and I think that there's a lot of women, especially who like were runners, and then they kind of returned to that lifestyle in midlife. And they're like, I'm not losing weight. Like this is not working for me.

What is your answer back? Like why does some intense cardio sometimes lead to that bloating sensation and not, it becomes very clear that weight loss, fat loss is much more complicated than just calories in, calories out.

Molly McNamee (29:13)
Yeah, so there's a lot of things I wanna say to that. For one, some bloating after a workout is normal. And I think that some people are scared of that, but it is normal. It's when it becomes extreme, when like that can reveal problems. And like that kind of touches on what we said before, like how can you identify if there's a problem? If there's severe bloating happening, that's not just like a little bit every now and then, that can reveal a problem.

But the reason as you start to approach midlife and you're like, why isn't this cardio working for me anymore? Why aren't I losing weight? Has to do with honestly muscle mass and how your hormones are shifting and you start to lose muscle mass as you age. So that's why it then becomes very important to then train your muscles and do some type of strength training. And also anytime I say strength training, I think a lot of people then think, okay, I need to go to the gym.

and lift the heaviest weights I possibly can, but it doesn't have to be like that. There's a lot of ways you can do strength training. Just training your muscles in some way is really important in midlife. But I think that a lot of us believe like, I'm not losing weight. I need to burn some calories through cardio. It's like calories in, calories out. But if there are hormonal imbalances present, and especially if like your stress hormones are imbalanced, that no longer applies to you. That is no longer something that...

matters to your body. Now there are major nuances that you need to be paying attention to and stress is a main one. I love that you have like a hierarchy within your program because I think that's a great way to look at things where it's like, okay, I need to start with this so that it then can positively influence these other things. But specifically, yes, if you're a woman in midlife and you're like, this cardio isn't working for me anymore, that's your body telling you.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (30:42)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (31:02)
I need to have a more balanced workout routine. I need to be training my muscles more because this cardio could be stressing you out some. And specifically with cardio, and I work with a lot of people who have hormonal imbalances and a lot of people who also have anxiety to some degree. High intensity cardio, whether it be running for long stretches of time or something that's shorter but just really high energy, like HIIT workouts or running sprints or like...

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (31:27)
like hip workouts.

Molly McNamee (31:30)
think of something where you're like pushing yourself to an extreme for like 30 seconds, resting for a bit and then repeating for as long as you possibly can or, you know, until you die. Workouts like that became really popular because they have this after burn effect. Some people call it where you're continuing to burn calories after you finish your workout. So people are like, this is amazing. I only need to work out for 20 minutes and I'm gonna burn all of these calories and burn all of this fat.

But something we don't think about is if you're continuing to burn calories after the workout finishes, that means your nervous system is also stressed long after the workout finishes. And that can then lead to some bloating. It can lead to some anxiety and it can lead to cortisol starting to dominate your body because you're telling your body to stay stressed for longer than it needs to, which isn't.

what your body needs to be told, especially if you already have some hormones shifting, which is happening for definitely women in midlife.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (32:35)
Yeah. And I think about like the toxin accumulation too. It's not like, like as we age, we just naturally have more exposure to toxins and plastics and stuff. That's hard to get out of your body. So it's almost like you have to compensate where you can to reduce your stress and choosing different forms of exercise can help. I wanted to ask you about the afterburn because we know that lifting weights can, like your muscles can be undergoing repair for 24 to 48 hours after a weightlifting session.

So does that cause an equivalent amount of metabolic stress as a HIIT workout or how do you reconcile like the need to strength train for your muscles and at the same time that reality that yes, that will have an afterburn effect. I'm just kind of struggling in my mind. How do you reconcile that?

Molly McNamee (33:24)
Yeah, so there are a few things that I encourage people to do with their workout routine that can kind of prevent stress from dominating their body. You are correct, where strength training also stresses out your body. I would say to a lesser degree than something that is like overly spiking your heart rate, something that is super intense. So that's where I really encourage like

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (33:45)
super intense.

Molly McNamee (33:51)
Don't be afraid of moderate intensity workouts. A lot of people think that if they're gonna work out, they need to be pushing themselves to their max. So they either need to be lifting as heavy as they can or running as fast as they can or just pushing as hard as possible or it's not worth it. But that's actually not the correct solution if you are trying to train to lower your stress and keep your hormones feeling balanced.

Focus on that moderate intensity. Don't try to push yourself to your absolute max. But some things that can help support you as you are training is one, keeping your schedule balanced. So allowing for rest days. I always encourage people to take at least one, but definitely two rest days a week if you're experiencing active hormonal imbalances. Give your body time to chill. And those rest days don't have to be you doing nothing.

Like you can go for an easy walk. can do some light stretching. You just don't want to feel like you're straining your muscles or feeling any sort of type of cardio. So including rest in your schedule is really important. I also encourage everyone to like pause after your workout, like allow for a cool down, allow for your heart rate to come down, allow for your parasympathetic nervous system to activate so you can calm down and get back into your day. So.

I've taught a lot of yoga in my life and there's one concept that I pull into every single one of my workouts and that is a Shavasana at the end. So lie down on your back, close your eyes and just breathe after every workout you do so that you can bring your body back to some calm before you hop back into your day. Because one big problem that I see people making or a big mistake that I see people making is

after their workout, they just hop right into another stressful thing and they just like don't stop in their day. Yeah, we all are. We've all done that. I've done that. We're all guilty. So I'm not blaming anyone. But what that does is it just keeps your sympathetic nervous system activated all day long. So what I really encourage

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (35:42)
Yeah, I'm guilty of that.

Molly McNamee (35:59)
the people that I work with to do is to find pockets in your day where you can activate that parasympathetic nervous system and help your body feel calm, even if it's just for a minute or two. So that can be really helpful surrounding your workout. So give yourself time to warm up. Like don't try to instantly push. Don't always push. Like allow for low to moderate intensity workouts to be in your schedule. And then always give yourself that time at the end of the workout to...

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (36:09)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (36:29)
pause and relax. And those things can be really helpful for making sure stress then doesn't overwhelm your body. Your workouts aren't making your problems worse. But allowing for rest and then I would say the final thing is limiting how long your workouts are. We really don't need to be exercising for 60 minutes. We can do 30 minute workouts and that's enough. So limiting your exposure to that stress, limiting how intense that

stressor is, those two things can be extremely helpful, especially if you are, if you know, like I have some hormonal imbalances right now and I need to do something about it. You don't want to make your problems worse. It's still beneficial to exercise and cardio is still beneficial. Like all of these things are still good. It's just finding the right balance of things and allowing for rest and recovery. Super important. And it's something that is very overlooked because

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (37:09)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (37:25)
Unfortunately, most fitness programs like encourage you to push because that's flashy and that sells. So then I'm always like, I'm the fitness coach who's telling you to do less. Like it feels crazy and I know it sounds crazy, but just dialing it back and being kinder to your body can be so helpful so that that stress doesn't run things.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (37:29)
Yes. Yes.

I think too, like you've mentioned, like rest and restore and part of restoring is fueling. A lot of people get into fasting, I think when they are reversing insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar, losing weight. And I like to remind them, okay, if you go for a walk or if you do yoga, it's okay to continue to fast after that because there wasn't a huge hormonal, you know, the cortisol came down with those workouts.

Molly McNamee (37:51)
So cute.

Yes.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (38:11)
you're

not necessarily building muscle with those workouts, but if you're strength training, doing high intensity interval training, that kind of stuff, you need a dose of protein ASAP after that workout to refuel those muscles and kind of, like you said, with the Shavastin pose, like you're shifting into the parasympathetic state. Well, eating does the same thing. And so refueling your body helps shift you into the parasympathetic state out of that sympathetic fight or flight, high cortisol state. so that was one kind of thing I thought of. And then the other thing is.

We also don't just want the only activity that we have to be that 30 minute and you know that, but like I love my walking treadmills. I have a standing desk. I've done more sitting today. I've had this is my fourth podcast interview today and I've done more sitting today than like weeks and weeks and weeks. I love my walking pad under my treadmill because I'll walk like four miles a day. Just going at two miles an hour. Just being active. My blood sugar loves it. So that's another little recommendation. Um, air squats. I don't know if you've

Molly McNamee (39:11)
Mm-hmm.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (39:11)
Dr. Mark Hyman posted an Instagram post. have not like looked at the study or anything like that. But what he said on Instagram, cause everything's true on Instagram, it was like doing 10 air squats every 45 minutes was more effective at blood sugar, like bringing you down your blood sugar, keeping it stable than one 30 minute walk a day. So breaking up that activity even into just 10 squats, you know, every hour, every 45 minutes.

every little bit of movement helps and it doesn't always have to be like you said, this intense thing. think of, have you heard of the ripped in 30 DVD by Jillian Michaels? I love those workouts, but they are designed, like she designed the program to have four weeks and I think you're supposed to do them every day. don't, yeah, every day. And they're like a high intensity interval training workout. They kick your butt, they kick my butt every day. And I'm like, this is crazy.

Molly McNamee (39:49)
yes.

Yeah, it's like maybe mix

that in once or twice a week, not every single day. But that's like, as I was saying, where most fitness programs like it's flashy to be like, do this every day. I remember when like, exactly, it is a great name. And I'm sure it sells so much. That's why Jillian Michaels is so popular, but that's not sustainable. And that's not an appropriate approach for a body that is stressed. Like it may work for some people, but if you have chronic stress in your body, if you have hormonal imbalances,

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (40:10)
It was good.

You'll get ripped in 30. It's a great name, you know.

Molly McNamee (40:38)
then it could be fueling the problem for you. But I love that you mentioned like daily activity as well, because that is such an important thing that is very overlooked where you want to be active all day long. And one way that I also like to encourage people to do that is to do posture checks. any time, yes, do posture checks anytime your phone goes off or like if you have this clock that makes a noise in your house, fix your posture.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (40:55)
I just did one, yeah.

Molly McNamee (41:04)
when that clock chimes or when someone calls for you, like if you have kids, whenever they're yelling for mom, like fix your posture, just find times where like if the nature of your job is like, listen, I can't get up and do squats every hour. If you're like, that's unrealistic for my life. It is more realistic to probably start with just fixing your posture once an hour, like find something that works for you. But spreading out that activity throughout your day is such an important thing. And also going along with that.

spreading apart your self-care and relaxation throughout the day is also important too, because a lot of people will have the same approach with that, where they'll think, I'm gonna do 30 minutes of meditation in the morning, or I'm gonna journal every night, or they pick one time where they're gonna take care of themselves, and then otherwise the rest of the day they're not. So finding times in your day where you can do deep breathing before each meal, or before each Zoom call you're doing, if you're recording podcasts.

Like find times where you can spread apart that self care and that relaxation too. That's just as important as like you need to move all day. You also need to find times to relax all day. Like spread it out, spread out the love.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (42:13)
Yeah, it's a balance. I

was a good student today because I did, I took what I called a cat nap. So I sat and I laid down for, I set a timer for five to seven minutes because there's not a lot of time between the interviews today. So I used what I had and I set a timer on my phone, five to seven minutes. I laid in the sun, let it like hit my face. I curled up like a little cat and I took my little cat nap and I focused on breathing and it helps.

a lot. And one thing I know about myself, I've shared this in another episode I recorded today is when I overeat, there's a direct correlation between not resting and being distracted and busy all day long. And, you know, for me, overeating usually happens at night. But if I can have pockets of rest throughout my day, I'm training my brain that, Hey, you can rest without food.

And hey, eating is not the only time that you get to slow down. Like you can slow down without food. So practicing that nervous system regulation, whether it's a few deep breaths, a posture check, I really like just like laying down for five minutes, undistracted by my phone, TV off, just breathing. All of those things will really help regulate the nervous system and like in my situation, reduce the likelihood that I'll emotionally or overeat at night because I'm giving myself

permission to rest without digesting, know, activate the parasympathetic nerve system in a way that doesn't involve food. So I'm really working on that. And I did a good job today. So that's my win today.

Molly McNamee (43:42)
you.

Yes.

That's amazing. So proud of you for that. And that's something that I encourage my community to do as well. It's like, just focus on the one really small thing. And initially you can be like, this is insignificant. But as you just pointed out, like you giving yourself just little pockets to rest, then influences your food, which then influences probably your sleep and how you feel and everything. So the little things are often overlooked.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (44:06)
Yeah, everything.

Molly McNamee (44:13)
What we think of when we're joining a health and fitness program is just the two big pillars of what am I eating and how am I exercising, but it's those little things that you're doing all throughout the day that are going to be the most powerful and are going to determine how successful you are with those bigger things.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (44:31)
Yeah, it's true.

I think like, just giving like, it's almost countercultural, right? Because we are so ingrained to be productive, be busy, like, check social media, what's the latest thing, check your email, how many people have the opportunity to take a little five minute break, but instead they check their email, or they check their phone or whatever. So I think being mindful of our habits and our rhythm of life is

Molly McNamee (44:51)
Mm-hmm.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (44:59)
crucial and the more mindful we can be to build in pockets of rest throughout the day, the more successful just like you said, all of those other habits are going to be easier because your brain is in a calmer state. It's crazy. I'm not perfect at this guy's like yesterday was not a great example of this for me, but I'm doing better today, which is all I can do.

Molly McNamee (45:12)
Yes.

Yeah, and I think that that's like an important thing to say, like nobody's perfect. Like all of these things, sure, it's easier said than done. But I also think a lot of people, like we are busy, right? So it can be like, I don't have time to do what you're talking about. But we all have time to just like close your eyes for 30 seconds. Like making that time can then make you more productive. I just had a conversation literally this week.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (45:37)
Yes.

Molly McNamee (45:46)
with someone about your nervous system as it relates to business. And it really is like, if you're taking just little moments to stretch in your day or to breathe or to fix your posture or to close your eyes, and it can take a minute, it can take 30 seconds, just giving yourself that little time can then make you better at your job, or better at being a parent or better at whatever you're trying to do. So a lot of times we think adding something like that to our schedule is making us more busy, but it may in turn make you.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (46:03)
Amen.

Molly McNamee (46:14)
less busy and like give you more time back by just giving yourself a few minutes to break.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (46:19)
Yeah, and it kind of like just recharges your energy levels. You you get to kind of restore yourself. I think the biggest takeaway that I had from this interview that I hadn't really thought about before is just like exercise where we don't want it to be a 30 minute pocket throughout the day and then just sit on your tush the rest of the day. We also don't want that mindset work to be a 30 minute, 20 minute, 15 minute pocket in the morning and then go about the rest of your day and not really be mindful about resting and connecting.

you know, with God or whoever, and pausing and allowing yourself that space in the day. So I loved that analogy, just comparison that you gave. Thanks for doing that.

Molly McNamee (47:00)
good, I'm so glad that resonated with you. And like, I know that for some that can seem like overwhelming. I'm supposed to do this all day, like not so much, but again, it can just be 30 seconds of like a little confidence. You can also fix your posture while writing an email. Let's be honest, it doesn't have to be an extra thing. So I always encourage people to get creative with what your self care looks like. And if introducing a habit into your day today is seeming overwhelming, how can you simplify it? Cause I guarantee there is a way to simplify it. If you're like,

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (47:07)
I know.

Yeah, start where you're at.

Yes.

Molly McNamee (47:30)
I love that you're getting outside and like letting the sun hit your face and resting for like five minutes. But if you're like, don't have five minutes, I can't do that. How can you simplify that? Like, what can that look like? And I guarantee there is a way to simplify it. So just make it work for you.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (47:45)
Yeah,

instead of that default, like, well, I can't do that or I don't have time for that or that wouldn't work for me asking how well, how could I make a little bit of time for that? How could I make that strategy work for me? So I think flipping that to a how question is always super helpful. So Molly, thank you for this interview. Thank you for the great reminders today about the importance of our stress management, both the mental, emotional, physical.

Molly McNamee (47:55)
Mm-hmm.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (48:10)
all of the stress. Thank you. I'm sure somebody needed the reminder today to chill on their workouts a little bit. And other people might've needed a reminder to continue that mindset work throughout the day or to be more active throughout the day. So I'm sure that anybody listening this far has gotten something, at least one thing from this episode. Can you let people know where they can learn more about you?

Molly McNamee (48:29)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, first, thank you for having me on. This has been so fun. And I do hope a lot of people found benefit from this. And if you did hear this conversation and you're relating to a lot of the things that we're saying, but you're looking for even more solutions, a really good next step is I've written an ebook that I want to give your listeners for free. That's all about mastering your stress hormones. So it's going to help you learn like really how to identify if cortisol is dominating your body, what tests maybe you should take.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (48:32)
Yeah.

Molly McNamee (48:57)
more habits that you can start to build and specifics about how to adjust your exercise routine to support your stress hormones better. So if you want like a good next step from this conversation and some practical tips, you can get that on my website, which is just my name, mollymachnemy.com forward slash cortisol, but I'm also all over the internet. So if anyone wants to connect with me on Instagram, and if you just need someone as a part of your support system, like

Feel free to send me a message, like let's chat. I know how lonely it can be when you are dealing with all of this stuff. So if you just need someone to chat to and to lean on, like I can be that for you. So yeah, you can find me on my Instagram, which is my business name, mfit.workouts.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (49:40)
Thank you so much for your time, Molly.

Molly McNamee (49:42)
Thank you. This was so fun.

Morgan Nolte, PT, DPT (49:45)
Okay, we'll cut it off. That was great. Thank you, thank you. Let's stop the recording. Yeah. What do you have going on the rest of day?

Molly McNamee (49:47)
Yay! That was really fun.