Hormonally Respectful Weight Loss

So at the beginning of the module, we talked about the nourished woman and the issues that women experience throughout our lifetime with being constantly pressured to look a certain way and all the things we end up doing throughout our teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s. Then everything comes to a crashing halt around perimenopause and menopause, and the things that worked in our 20s and 30s suddenly don't work anymore. Maybe you've been on a journey with your weight, struggled your whole life, and as you get to perimenopause and menopause, it gets even worse. Now you're tempted to try quick fixes—fad diets, cutting out food groups, carnivore, keto, supplements that promise fat loss—all the things we’re sold as women. At the beginning of the module, I talked about the importance of nourishment and the shift from fat loss and weight loss to nourishment first, and then we can discuss weight loss. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best. I don't want you to feel bad for wanting to lose weight or to look your best. Everyone wants to look and feel good and be confident in their bodies. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially if we’ve seen our bodies change after pregnancy or in perimenopause. What I want us to shift away from is the quick-fix mentality and the long-term negative effects those approaches have on our hormones and health. This is about playing the long game rather than chasing short-term results. We can absolutely get the body we love, feel great in it, and improve composition and energy in our 40s and 50s. I know because I’ve experienced it myself, and so have my clients. Let’s talk about calorie restriction and the impact of dieting on the thyroid and hormones, and also intermittent fasting. Many women resort to intermittent fasting when struggling with weight. They see results—weight loss, more energy, mental clarity—but in the long run, it can cause more damage and slow the metabolic rate. Fasting, especially in the mornings, is a stressor on the body. The body wants to be fueled. While our ancestors didn’t always have food, they wouldn’t have chosen to go without it unless for religious reasons. Day-to-day fasting as a lifestyle is a stressor that releases cortisol and adrenaline, which affect hormones and can downregulate thyroid function. It’s also been shown to reduce vitamin D levels significantly, which can then lead to issues like diabetes and immune dysfunction over time. The real reason intermittent fasting causes weight loss is because you’re eating less—creating a caloric deficit by cutting out an entire meal. But if that deficit continues for months or years, it becomes chronic undernourishment, which stresses the body. The body wants nourishment and safety. If caloric restriction is done for too long, it downregulates hormonal and immune function and reduces energy because you’re not matching output with input—you’re taking money out of the bank without putting any back in. It also impacts the ability to exercise or build muscle, which requires a caloric surplus. When most women say they want to be “toned,” what they really mean is they want to have muscle. To build muscle, you need to eat enough. Athletes eat a lot to match their output. If you’re constantly under-eating, you can’t build muscle—you might even break it down for fuel, which lowers metabolic rate further. Before intermittent fasting, you might maintain your weight at 2000 calories. After long-term fasting, your body may only maintain at 1700. When you return to normal eating, you gain weight because your metabolism has slowed. You’ve lost muscle, thyroid function has dropped, and estrogen-progesterone balance is off. That’s why some women end up eating only 1200 calories just to maintain—and that’s a miserable place to be. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good, but we must do it in a way that supports our hormones, thyroid, and metabolism. Most women have tried cutting food groups, carbs, or calories—but few have tried eating enough to truly fuel their lives, sleep, and workouts. If you’re struggling with weight, instead of jumping to another restrictive diet, eat at maintenance for a while. If you don’t know your maintenance calories, calculate your total daily energy expenditure based on your activity level, age, height, and desired weight. Eat around that number consistently. Meanwhile, build muscle with strength training (we’ll discuss more in the next module), manage stress, get enough sleep, and move regularly. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism—and the more food your body can handle without storing fat. Over time, you’ll likely see body composition changes: sleeping through the night, reduced sugar cravings, more stable moods, thicker hair, stronger nails, better digestion, libido, and energy. Then, if you still want to lose body fat, you can do a short, strategic fat-loss phase (about four to five months max) with a small caloric deficit—only once muscle is built and health is stable. As you go deeper into a deficit, you’ll notice less energy and potential symptom flare-ups (hair loss, mood swings, poor sleep). That’s your body saying, “I’m stressed—please stop.” Weight loss has to be intentional and strategic. We shouldn’t sacrifice long-term health for short-term goals. If you’re on this journey, I’m behind you. Let’s do it in a hormonally supportive and intentional way that protects long-term wellbeing. Hopefully that’s helpful. If this is your focus, commit to doing it right—maybe work with a coach or trainer who understands metabolic health. This is the end of our module on nutrition. It was a big one—thank you if you made it through! Recap: Focus on three balanced meals a day. Include snacks if needed (for example, between long meal gaps or before bed if sleep is poor). Front-load your day: have most of your calories at breakfast and lunch. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking. Make meals “logs on the fire”—balanced with protein, carbs, and healthy fats depending on your sources. Prioritize easy-to-digest, hormone-friendly foods (see resources). This front-loading blunts cortisol, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces afternoon and evening cravings for sugar or alcohol. In the resources, you’ll find meal ideas, snack options, and tracking tools to check if you’re getting enough carbohydrates and protein, and not overdoing fats. Let’s now move on to the practical action for this module.