Midlife weight gain, hormone shifts & burnout? Discover how to balance metabolism, mindset & faith without white-knuckling your way through life.

🌿 Full Description:

If you've hit 40 and suddenly feel like everything's changed—your body, sleep, mood, energy, and weight—you're not alone. In this Saddle Up segment of Doing Life Different, Lesa Koski shares her personal, honest journey through hormone changes, breast cancer, metabolic confusion, and how she’s learning to stop white-knuckling life and start loving her body again.

From fasting to functional medicine, cortisol to clean protein, Lesa covers it all—with grace, wisdom, and a whole lot of humor. This solo episode offers actionable midlife health advice and real-life encouragement for women navigating perimenopause, menopause, and metabolic mayhem.

🎧 Your body isn’t broken. It’s talking to you.

Let’s learn how to listen—with compassion, curiosity, and Christ at the center.

⏱️ Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction: Midlife metabolism & the moment things changed

(02:43) Breast cancer, food freedom & healing after trauma

(05:10) Why your old habits stop working in your 40s and 50s

(08:32) Fasting fatigue: Why long fasts might hurt your hormones

(12:14) Joy, movement & midlife weight loss without punishment

(16:40) Alcohol, estrogen, and breast cancer awareness

(20:28) Protein overload? Why 100g isn’t always the answer

(23:03) Sleep, cortisol & the power of rest as hormone therapy

(26:15) Lesa’s 7 Steps to Metabolic Balance (without HRT)

(30:41) Final encouragement: You’re not failing, you’re evolving

🔑 Key Takeaways:

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• Nourish, don’t punish. Eat to feel good—not to atone.
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• Sleep is hormonal therapy. Prioritize bedtime like medicine.
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• Stress sabotages results. Joy is part of the prescription.
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• Fast with wisdom. Fasting works—but not for everyone, every time.
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• Protein matters—but so does peace. More isn’t always better.
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👤 Guest Bio:

Lesa Koski is a mediator, life coach, podcast host, and breast cancer survivor helping women over 40 navigate midlife with faith, mindset, and grace. Host of Doing Life Different, she empowers listeners to transform hardship into healing through God’s guidance and real-life tools.

🔗 Resource Links:

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• 💌 Sign up for Lesa’s newsletter lesakoski.com
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• 📲 Follow Lesa on Instagram: @livebetterwithlesa
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• 🎧 Listen to the main episode with Marie Simpson (Functional Medicine Expert):
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🔍 Tags/Keywords:

midlife metabolism, perimenopause, menopause, hormone balance, metabolic health, fasting for women, weight loss over 40, functional medicine, breast cancer survivor, clean protein, midlife wellness, cortisol and stress, women’s health podcast, doing life different, lesa koski, christian women health, mindset and hormones

Welcome listeners.

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I am so happy you're here today.

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And today we are talking about

that moment, that horrible,

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awful moment in our lives.

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Maybe we're perimenopause, maybe

we're getting into menopause, and

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we go, why am I a little bit heavier

than I was and why do all the things

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I used to do not work anymore?

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So, as you know, this is just the

quick saddle up segment to the

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main episode that aired Tuesday.

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Go back and listen.

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We talk about hormones and hormone

replacement therapies, and I

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mean, yes, let's face it, that

is part of what happens to us.

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But I wanna delve in a little bit

deeper into this metabolic health issue.

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Because I have walked the journey.

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I still don't have it all figured out.

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I wanna help you learn

what I've learned so far.

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And it's funny because when I went through

my little, uh, you know, stage one breast

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cancer journey, which was so hard and

so, so much growth came from it, I ended

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on the other side and I was so, um.

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Confident and just, uh, felt

better in my body and wasn't so

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consumed by things like my weight.

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I was just kind of eating to be healthy

and feel good, and I wanna hang onto

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that because of the person I am.

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I can continue to kind of white knuckle

it and try to get all the information.

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I mean, are you simply exhausted?

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Like I am trying to figure out what

everybody is telling you you should

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and shouldn't eat, and if you should

fast or not fast and have meat,

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don't have meat, my head is spinning

again because I, I just wanna be

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healthy, mainly wanna feel good, wanna

fuel my body and I wanna know how.

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And so, you know, my journey.

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Was kind of, it's been a little bit of

a rollercoaster because I do remember

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like probably in my forties just being

like, what the heck just happened?

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I think I probably gained 15 pounds

and had no idea why I was run.

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I was a runner.

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I wasn't a lifter, so I

was running the same and.

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I think the thing that kind of saddens

me is that I was so consumed by it

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and just didn't, didn't love my body.

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So I think that's the main thing.

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Let's just love these little bodies.

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Even if they're like five pounds

heavier, 10, 20, 50, whatever

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it is, let's just love 'em up.

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For all that they're doing for us.

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I mean, God created us and

he adores every piece of us.

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And that being said, they are our

temples and we want to treat them well.

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And I do know the leaner I am

the better my blood pressure.

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I have had blood pressure issues since I

was 18 years old when I am really lean.

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My blood pressure gets

a little bit better.

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I still need to be medicated, but

it's not scary like, oh, we're

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gonna send you to the ER because

of this reading when you came in.

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I mean, it is a little bit goofy that way,

but, so I do wanna stay as lean as I can.

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So I'm in my forties and I'm like,

I'm a marathon runner, right?

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I just kept running and I kept starving.

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I think I was like drinking slim

fast and like nothing budge it.

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Then I think we had an event.

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A tragedy, actually, I think it was

when my mother-in-law passed away and

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I just, you, you kinda let go, right?

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You just let go of it and relaxed.

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And we went on a vacation and it was

like, it all dropped off and I was

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happy and we were, you know, moving

to a new home and I was really, it was

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probably the happiest I had ever been.

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And you wanna know

what's really bi bizarre?

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I was probably thinner than I ever was.

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I can't really pinpoint why looking.

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I didn't have all these rules, you know?

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I wasn't gluten-free, I wasn't dairy free.

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I think I, I think I need a scone

sometimes with coffee in the morning,

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and I just was enjoying life.

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Wow.

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Isn't that a huge lesson?

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Because honest to God, I'm

not really doing that right

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now, and I wanna get back.

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To doing that a little bit

more within some parameters.

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So I'm journeying through life and

COVID hits, and I see this friend

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who just wallop dropped like a

bajillion pounds, not a bajillion,

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but she lost a lot of weight.

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And I joined this coaching

plan and it was based on like.

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Kinda like Mindy Pell's,

like metabolic fitness.

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And we watched our, you know,

insulin numbers and their ketones

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and I mean, it was kind of good.

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And all these women around me were

losing weight and I like maybe gained a

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little, I did not lose any, any weight.

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I stayed the same.

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Um, and what I realized is

they were all about fasting.

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Okay.

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I think fasting has a place in our lives.

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However, me being the

person that I was thought.

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Okay, the longer the better, and I was

doing probably a 48 hour fast every week.

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Well, when you're going through

a menopause or perimenopause or a

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stressful time, that's additional stress

on your body that's gonna mess with

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your cortisol and your hormones and.

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So putting that additional

stress probably made me hold onto

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weight, which is why I never lost.

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Then the big cancer scare, you know,

over a year ago came in and I just kind

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of dropped everything, and I am not

gonna lie, I just kind of was silent.

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I was resting, I was silent.

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I was like quiet and not really sad,

but just I just needed to be alone.

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I don't think all my friends love that.

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I was just kind of, I was just resting.

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I didn't wanna listen to a podcast

about health, but I did connect with

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Marie Simpson, who, because she's

a prayer warrior friend of mine

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and she's into functional medicine,

and I did connect with her as I

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was going through this journey, and

she talked to me about, you know.

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You really do want to eat healthy

when you're going through cancer

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treatment because it's gonna help

the treatment work better and

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it's gonna help you feel better.

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And I am cured and I felt

good throughout everything.

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So that was true for me.

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And that doesn't mean, I mean, I didn't

maybe have the regimen that everyone

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does, so it doesn't mean that it's gonna

be perfect, but you can feel better

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than most people if you do your best.

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And here's the thing.

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I say that and then I go, I, I just think

about that person who's doing their best

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and is suffering, and that can happen too.

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So let's not beat ourselves up, but let's

just do everything we can to be healthy.

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So, so I learned that through

that journey and I sat quietly

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and I kind of came out of it.

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And I okay guys, like we

know what to eat, right?

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Like, try not to eat from a box too much.

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We know sugar's not great,

so I stay away from that.

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I had a big lesson to learn about alcohol.

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Um, I mean, I think you can drop a lot

of weight just by stopping that I've.

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Found out that it causes breast cancer,

um, by messing with that estrogen.

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I, I mean, I'm just a little bit hurt that

I didn't know that before, but I don't

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know if I even would've stopped then.

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And I will have an occasional

glass of wine, but it's very

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different than what it used to be.

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So, so I started to kinda.

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Tap my toe in the water

again of being healthy.

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And I kept hearing about proteins on this

big like protein 'cause I've been lifting

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a lot more because of the medications that

I'm on can cause you to lose bone density.

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I wanna do everything I can to

keep my muscles and bone strong,

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so I'm doing a lot more lifting.

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Which is awesome.

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And then I'm hearing you need protein,

you've gotta eat this protein.

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Whoa, a hundred grams of protein.

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Do you know how hard that was has been

for me and I think I like maybe gained

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a little bit of weight and I'm so full

and sick and I feel like today I don't

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wanna have, I don't wanna look at a

piece of meat and so, so I was trying

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to like white knuckle it through that.

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Then, you know, time is going

on and I'm talking to Marie

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and she did talk to me about.

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Fasting and she's a believer in the

intermittent fasting, which is, uh,

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you have an eating window and you

don't like eat well into the night,

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which I think drinking wine and eating

peanuts or whatever can drag out for me.

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It could.

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So like just having a stop time and then

just maybe eating a little bit later

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in the day, like maybe 10 30 or so.

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So I was doing that.

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However, I'm wondering if maybe I need a

little protein before those hard workouts.

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'cause I'm going into

those in a fasted state.

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That's one new thing I'm gonna do.

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I'm gonna have a little protein

in the morning in my coffee or

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in a drink before I work out.

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And I'm not going to count

it as breaking the fast.

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'cause I was so like white knuckled,

like, don't break that fast.

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I do believe your body needs a

little time to rest, to digest food.

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That's probably very, very true.

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Um, but here's the deal.

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This is what I'm learning is.

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We're all unique.

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We all need different things and

we want to live our lives with joy.

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And when I talked about those times

when my metabolism was working the

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best or the times when I was the most.

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I just remember we had just moved

into this new home that was in

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a quiet neighborhood and it had

a pool, and I had my babies, you

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know, my, I had some in high school.

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I had a little one.

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And, um, it was the happiest time

of my life and I wasn't working.

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And then, um, when life got busy

again, when I started, you know,

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jumping more into my career, which

I don't think is a bad thing.

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Let's put it in perspective.

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Let's, let's have the joy.

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And that's where, that's

where we need to be.

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I, I think that might be the most

important thing in all of this.

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This, there are all these tips.

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Yes.

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Eat healthy, get protein,

get your veggies.

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You need that fiber to

clean out your cells.

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So don't like, I mean, I don't know.

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Do what you need to do for

your body and what feels good.

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And maybe like some days I feel

like eating hamburgers all day and

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the next day I want to eat salads.

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I just think do your

best to get real food.

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Throw a vegetable in once in a while.

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Maybe give your body some time to rest,

but I'm telling you, I really sleep well

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when I have a protein before I go to bed.

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That's what I've learned about

me and I'm sticking to it.

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So now I'm not like super

lean and muscular yet, and

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I might just be maintaining.

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But, um, I'll let you know, I will let you

know how that, getting a little bit more

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protein, maybe expanding that window of

eating a little bit more to get that in.

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I'll let you know how that goes.

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So, um, but I do, I do believe

that metabolic fitness is kind of

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the key to a lot of things, and

it's intertwined with how you eat.

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It's intertwined with exercise.

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Stress.

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So don't forget about the, the

happiness piece because I think

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so many times we focus on all the

other things we can do and we don't

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go, oh, what would make me happy?

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A group workout class,

um, walking with a friend.

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Stay focused on those if you can.

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Okay.

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So.

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I have, um, seven things that I just want

to share with you that have helped me

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in my metabolic journey because I can't

take hormones and sometimes getting that

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hormone replacement therapy can help you.

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I can't do that.

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So this is what has helped me nourish.

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Don't punish.

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And it's amazing.

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Like I have started eating a little

sourdough bread because it tastes so

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good to me and I pour olive oil over it.

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And, um.

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I say a little prayer, you know, thank you

God for this food that nourishes my body.

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I'm trying to remember to say that

with every little thing I eat and not

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to be, so, you know, if I'm with my

grandkids and I get an ice cream cone, I.

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I'm gonna just glory, be glory in that.

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And um, so most of the time I'm doing

my best, but I'm not going to punish

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myself or like have to get a big workout.

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I remember doing that before,

like, oh, I ate all that.

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I ate some ice cream.

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I better go for a run.

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Um, another thing that

I've learned is sleep.

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Is hormone therapy, so don't

forget that and just do your best.

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Don't worry about it again, like right.

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I could white knuckle it through that.

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What I've started doing, and this

is my, um, another tip that I have

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is getting up at first light and

letting my eye see the light, and it's

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supposed to help you sleep better.

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I've been taking a sauna before I go

to bed and my sleep is doing better.

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I try to get to bed at

the same time every night.

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It's not gonna happen.

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Every night.

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Sometimes we have to help someone.

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Sometimes we have a new puppy and

we're not gonna sleep for a while.

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But it truly is one of the most

important things because if you think

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about it, when you are tired, you

don't feel joyful, which is important.

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You kind of feel like eating junkie

and you just, I mean, so sleep is.

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Is really important for those

reasons, for your head piece of

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this, but also your hormones.

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It does affect, and I am not a doctor

or a scientist, so I can't go into

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details, but I have heard, tell from

all the experts that I listen to and

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Marie, that it does affect your hormones.

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And then, um, movement over madness.

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And I can get, I can jump into this again

too, you guys, when I was going through

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my treatment, I walked and I did lifting

at home and kind of heavy lifting as

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much as I could do after the surgery.

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And then I, I walked and now I can get

into like, oh, go harder, go longer.

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No.

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Nuh, that's putting more

stress on our bodies.

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I'm learning.

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I love to run.

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Probably best for me to

just do it once a week.

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You don't need that high intensity

cardio training all the time.

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I am learning that you need heavy lifting.

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Two to three times a week.

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I was trying to do that and I love to

do group classes just 'cause it's fun

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and it's a way to connect with people.

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So I also truly believe

in tracking your own body.

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Look at the clues.

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Like I did wear, not to go berserko, but

I did wear a monitor so that I could check

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what's my glucose doing after this meal.

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I think I wore it for about a week

so I could just really get an.

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Candy and I felt really good about it

and I don't wear it anymore and I don't

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check my ketones all the time, but I

do think like there's some really good

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blood tests that you can get and that's

where you're gonna wanna connect with

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someone like Marie or your physician

to see like what your vitamin D level

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is, because vitamin D is another thing

that can affect your weight loss.

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I did not know that.

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And what.

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The experts are saying to do is if you

can get out in that morning sunlight, um,

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that is going to increase your vitamin D.

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And I'm in the tundra, so there are.

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Months where I can try to get out, but I'm

taking my Vitamin D supplement as well.

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I've, I've kind of watched that

and then, um, I have learned

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to say no to stress wine.

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So my wine drinking is very different.

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Uh, it used to be, oh, because

people told you it was good for you.

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So I'd have like a really stressful

day and then I'd have a glass of

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wine when I was making dinner,

and then maybe with dinner.

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Um.

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When you drink that wine, as I said

before, it will increase your estrogen.

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It actually makes you

more anxious the next day.

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So it's not really helping your anxiety,

even though you feel like it is.

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And I've switched to sleepy

time tea at night, and, um.

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It's just been the

greatest thing in my life.

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And that doesn't mean when I'm at a

beautiful winery or I'm out with a

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good friend that I don't sometimes

have a glass, but it's very different.

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It is.

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I am not using it to cope with something.

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So just, and like I said

too, don't beat yourself up.

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Don't beat yourself up.

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But these are just things to be aware of.

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And so I think, okay.

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I think I did go through the seven.

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I maybe went a little out of or

order, but this is what I'm just

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gonna recap it for you really quick.

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Nourish, don't punish.

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Sleep is hormone therapy

movement over madness.

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Track your clues with the

glucose monitor blood test.

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Um, say no to stress wine.

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First morning light, it helps you

sleep and it gets to your vitamin D

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and protein or protein in the morning

before you do a heavy lifting workout.

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So, um, you know, one other thing

that I want to leave you with that,

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Marie, it was like one of my favorite

quotes of hers and she's always

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saying that she is on a mission.

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She's amazing.

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Our bodies can heal and they

were created for purpose.

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It isn't about settling, it's

about believing in what's possible.

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So God gave us signals, not punishment.

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So he's giving us clues,

but he is not punishing us.

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So.

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If you are in your forties or your

fifties and you are confused by

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your body, I totally get it because

so am I, and I don't have it all

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figured out, but I hope that.

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All this information that I have shared

is going to help you, like it's helped me.

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Um, I'm not all the way there yet.

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I'm not perfect, you know, but I

am learning and getting better, and

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feeling better, and living better.

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Every day.

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So please subscribe to this

podcast, write a review.

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Follow me at Live Better

with Lisa on Instagram.

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Sign up for my newsletter.

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I am here for you.

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I mean, send me an email if you are

curious about something, because that's

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what this is all about, because midlife

is not our crisis, it's our comeback.

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Thanks so much for being here.