Intermittent fasting isn't just a one-size-fits-all approach; it works differently for women compared to men, and that's one of the key takeaways from our chat today. We dive into the nuances of how factors like hormones, stress, and lifestyle play a significant role in weight management, especially for women over 40. It's not merely about the number on the scale, but rather how your body composition can shift, leaving you looking and feeling different even if the scale doesn't budge. Consistency is the name of the game—it beats intensity any day, and we explore how making this a lifestyle rather than a sprint can lead to sustainable results. So, if you've been feeling like giving up too soon, remember: sometimes the real magic happens when you least expect it, and we're here to cheer you on for the long haul! Navigating the world of health and wellness can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack, especially for women over 40. Our recent discussion unpacks the realities of intermittent fasting, addressing a common misconception: that it works the same for everyone. While men may experience rapid results, the complexities of a woman's body — with its unique hormonal fluctuations and metabolic changes — often mean a different path to success. We emphasize that consistency is key; it's not about punishing workouts or extreme diets, but rather about adopting sustainable lifestyle changes. As we dive into the nitty-gritty of body composition, we highlight that weight isn't the sole indicator of progress. The scale can lie—five pounds of fat versus five pounds of muscle can look drastically different. So, we suggest focusing on how clothes fit and how one feels, which can be far more empowering than just a number. This episode is a heartfelt reminder that health is a marathon, not a sprint, and that real change takes time and patience, especially in midlife. The conversation takes a playful turn as we engage in a game debunking various myths around fitness and nutrition. For instance, the idea that aging means carbs automatically turn into fat is swiftly dismissed. Instead, we advocate for a balanced view of carbohydrates, recognizing their vital role in energy and muscle building. Moreover, we tackle the myth that one must work harder as they age; rather, we argue for smarter training techniques that prioritize muscle maintenance and overall wellness. The episode is peppered with practical advice, such as ensuring adequate protein intake in midlife to mitigate muscle loss, and we stress the importance of listening to one's body—after all, everyone's journey is unique. Together, we explore how to sustain motivation and instill accountability, reminding listeners that community support is invaluable. In this episode, we also take a closer look at cortisol and its impact on our bodies, especially during times of stress. Understanding how stress hormones interact with our fitness routines can help listeners navigate their health journeys more effectively. We emphasize the importance of stretching, warm-ups, and mobility work to prevent injuries — because let's face it, nobody wants to be sidelined by a preventable issue. By the end of our chat, the core message resonates: it's not about perfection, but about finding what works for you and sticking with it. As we encourage our listeners to embrace their unique paths, we remind them that true health is about feeling good in your skin, not just looking good. So grab a friend, stay accountable, and let's make health a lifestyle choice that lasts.

Takeaways:

1. Intermittent fasting produces similar results for women and men, but hormonal differences require tailored approaches.
2. The number on the scale doesn't always reflect progress; body composition changes can be significant despite weight staying the same.
3. A consistent approach to fitness and nutrition, especially for women over 40, yields better long-term results than short bursts of intensity.
4. It's crucial to remember that health and fitness are lifelong journeys—there's no finish line, just a lifestyle to embrace.
5. As we age, prioritizing protein intake becomes essential for muscle maintenance and overall health; it's not just about calories.
6. Finding enjoyable and sustainable habits is key; accountability can make all the difference in sticking with your health goals.

Intermittent fasting works the same for women as it does for men.

I'm not against intermittent fasting for women, but men see amazing results with it.

If the scale isn't moving, your program isn't working.

Five pounds of fat can look like this, and five pounds of muscle can look like this. You could weigh the same, and you could look completely different.

Consistency beats intensity for women over 40.

So many people give up before the real magic happens. This is a marathon. We are in it for the long haul.

So instead of putting a deadline on, you know, losing weight, you know, look at this as your new lifestyle.

Okay, Sarah, welcome back. We are playing a little fun game. If you are up for it, love to.

This game, which I'm sure you will pass with flying colors, is called that's a myth or that's method.

So basically, I will read a prompt to you, and you let me know if you think it's a myth, which we should not believe, or if it's method, and you think if it's done correctly, we should definitely implement this tool into our life.

So.

So are you ready?

Sure.

Okay. The first one is, if you're gaining weight in midlife, you're probably just eating too much. Is that a myth or is that method?

Myth. There's so much that goes into why you might be gaining weight. I never think that it's just one thing. It could be.

It could be that you're eating too much, but it could also be that your blood sugar is dysregulated or your cortisol is too high or your hormones are going crazy or you're not moving enough or there's so many things that go into it. I would never just say that it's that one thing.

Okay. And we should always get our hormones checked by the doctor, too, right?

Yeah. And you can go by symptoms, too. There's, you know, there's. There's a lot to how you are personally feeling, but it does help also to get blood work.

Oh, what about for that menopause belly? You know, that we. The. The belly that comes. I feel like for everybody, 90% of the people out there, how do we get rid of that belly?

Yeah. So nutrition is going to be number one. You're going to want to focus on your proteins, fats, and carbs. Getting.

Getting the right amount of each of those. And then. And then workouts would be second. You want to build muscle and do short hit and.

And then do some walking and really work on your cortisol, because, believe it or not, cortisol can also cause you to store belly fat. Oof.

We do not like that. So those are some good tips. Okay, the next one. Carbs, after 40 years old, automatically turn into fat.

Myth. Oh, my gosh. We need carbs. We need carbs for thyroid support. We need them for energy building muscle.

Especially if you are working out, you need probably more carbs than if you're not working out. But that doesn't mean you need to go and eat a bunch of donuts. But when I think of carbs, I think of sweet potatoes.

Potatoes, rice, oatmeal, fruit, veggies. Those things are super healthy for us. And, yes, you have to pay attention to the amounts, but carbs are not the enemy.

Good point. You need to work out harder as you age to stay lean.

Oh. Myth. I think it's the opposite. I think we have to really care for our bodies, and I think we have to work smarter rather than harder.

So doing the right exercise, you know, it doesn't have to take a lot of time. It doesn't have to be this really hard class where you're just depleting yourself, because that's only going to backfire.

Intermittent fasting works the same for women as it does for men.

Ooh. Myth. I'm not against intermittent fasting for women, but men see amazing results with it.

I mean, I have men, men or husbands of my clients who they will start fasting, and they just, like, drop weight like it's nothing. So.

But we have very complicated bodies as you, and there's a lot going on with us, whether it's hormone fluctuations or stress on our body or, you know, not sleeping well. Thyroid issue. These are all things that we have to take into consideration when we're talking about fasting.

Okay, good point. If the scale isn't moving, your program isn't working.

Myth for sure. If you think about it, 5 pounds of fat can look like this, and 5 pounds of muscle can look like this.

So you could weigh the same and you could look completely different. You could fit into your clothes differently. You could look different, feel different.

So I always like to go by pictures and how you look and how you're fitting in clothes and even more importantly, how you're feeling. Yes.

Oh, my gosh. That's so key. Because if you don't feel good, it doesn't matter how you look.

You know, it's like you have to actually feel good to really make it count, you know? So, okay, the next one. Strength training is optional if you walk a lot.

Myth. Because you need muscle. Muscle is your, what they call, organ of longevity.

If you want to be able to get up off of the toilet when you're older, if you want to be able to fight diseases that might come along, you need to have muscle on your body. And I really think it's a non negotiable as we age.

Plus, it helps you burn fat easier. Right. I mean, it's, it's got a lot of great uses.

Yeah.

So eating too little can actually stall fat loss in midlife.

Method. Yes, I do believe that because it can put a, a real stressor on your body.

If your body's not getting the nutrients that it needs, you're not getting enough protein, you're not getting enough fiber, you're not getting micronutrients that really, really help you, your whole body, to work in the way that it's meant to work. And then it can also be a stressor on your. Another stressor that can cause that cortisol, that blood sugar to be dysregulated.

So there's really a fine line. And even, you know, when it comes to fat loss, you, you don't want to be eating too much, but you certainly don't want to be eating too little.

Mm, absolutely. And, oh, I forgot to ask you this. Like, with cortisol, if it's spiking, does that cause inflammation in your body?

Okay, so cortisol isn't all bad. We do need cortisol. It's what wakes us up in the morning. It gives you that drive. It has, it has a purpose in our body.

It's just, we don't want it to be chronically elevated because when that happens, it can, it can really mess with your blood sugar, which in turn can make you store fat.

Oh, yeah, that's a good point.

So with cortisol, you want, you start like this in the morning, so it kind of goes in a bell curve and it's on its way up in the morning as you're waking up, it gets you up, it kind of peaks, and then it should be going back down as you get ready to go to sleep.

Okay. And that's when the melatonin then kicks in for nighttime. Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. Perimenopause changes how your body responds to stress, even from workouts.

Method. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And that's why we're all so different when it comes to these things.

And you have to really pay attention to how, you know, it's affecting your body. Not everybody can do, you know, even the, the clients that I have and I I'll prescribe, you know, I'll say two hiit workouts a week.

And not everybody can even do. Everybody is unique in how they can handle the stressors. You know, we want to be. We want to be preventing injury, too.

So we don't want, you know, we want to make sure we're doing that mobility, stretching, really warming up before workouts because our bodies have changed and we're more prone to injury.

And it can be too much of a stressor if you're doing, you know, if you're doing too much, if you're going overboard and even doing what you were doing in your 30s.

You know, I'm so glad you're bringing up stretching, too, because I think it's important, like you're saying, to stretch before and after your workout. You have to do both.

Yes. Yeah, it's so important because we're so much more prone to those joints and ligaments that we want to be careful.

So 100% protein matters more in midlife than it did in your 30s.

I say method, I say yes because it's harder to build muscle the older that you get. So we don't have the estrogen that we had in our 20s and 30s to help us build that muscle. And so we need protein in order to build muscle.

And it's also going to keep you full and keep you from snacking and a whole bunch of other great things that it does for us. But really, with that muscle building and helps with the blood sugar, too, that can become an issue.

The insulin resistance, that can become an issue, too.

I think you bring up an important point too, with estrogen and muscle building, because they do go hand in hand. Estrogen is helpful for building muscle.

Yes. And if we're not actively building muscle, we're losing it. You're losing 5 to 8% every decade after it's like 35. So we want to be actively building.

It and with the GLPs, too, because I know a lot of people are taking the GLP1s. It's important to continually build muscle while you're taking those. Right.

Even more important for those people who are on GLP1s because they are losing so much weight that when you lose weight, you do lose muscle, too. So you want to. And if you're losing a lot of weight, you're going to lose a lot of muscle if you're not actively trying to build it.

And you do that through strength training and eating enough protein.

Consistency beats intensity for women over 40.

Method 100%. Yeah. I think you know, you don't. You don't have to be perfect.

You don't have to go all out and kill yourself in your workouts or go super low carb, no calorie, you know, restrictive, hardcore. You don't have to be hardcore. You just have to. You just have to be consistent. And that's. That is really what works.

Yeah, you just have to be consistent in showing up. So if you can squeeze in, what, 10 minutes here even, you know, however long, just to, like, do it repetitively. Because that builds the momentum.

Exactly. Yes. And then the more you show up and the more you do it, the more you crave it.

It becomes something that same with, you know, whether it's workouts or nutrition or anything, you know, the more you do it, the more it just becomes part of who you are instead of. Instead of, like, this thing you have to do. So. And that's. That's. So many people give up before the real magic happens.

They go, you know, three, four weeks, and they're like, oh, I don't see anything happening. And. And sometimes it does take longer than that, especially at this age, you know, and depending on what you have going on.

But you can't look at your health and fitness as something that you're just doing, you know, like a rate, like a race. It's not a race to. There's no finish line. This is a marathon. We are in it for the long haul.

So instead of putting a deadline on, you know, losing weight, you know, look at this as. As your new lifestyle. Yeah.

What do you say? Because it is a long game, like you're saying, because so many people are making their New Year's resolutions right now.

You know, they're, like, signing up for classes. You know, they're doing, like, the home delivery, meal plans. They're trying all these things, but a lot of them will fall off by next month.

You know, like. So what do you say to people like that that want to make the change but maybe might not stick with it?

Well, it needs to be something you can sustain. Right. So it doesn't mean that whatever you're doing, you have to do forever. But how can you work it into your life?

Like, how can you make this work so that it doesn't feel like work, it doesn't feel restrictive, or, you know, the, like, something that you like, something that you enjoy, that you can come to enjoy after doing it for a little while, that it just kind of fits into what you do, because if you can't enjoy it and you can't you know, make it fit. You'll never stay consistent. So I. I love a New Year's resolution or a getting started. It's. There's excitement around it.

Anything that, you know, gets you kind of motivated to start. But motivation goes away, willpower goes away. That's why you have to put the habits in place and so that you can.

You can really fall back on those when you're not feeling motivated, you know, to do it as the weeks go on.

Yeah. And it's always good to have, like, a workout buddy or, like a nutrition buddy. Right. A friend that might be going along.

With you to do it, or accountability, you know, any type of accountability. I have a lot of clients who will come back to me because they're like, I thought I could do this on my own, and I just kept quitting on myself.

But if you have that accountability, you're less likely to quit on somebody else. It's easy to quit on yourself, but when somebody, you know, you got to answer to somebody else. It's, you know, that can keep you going to 100%.

100%. So if a client wants to book with you, is it just as simple as going to your website and. And going through there?

Yeah, they can go to Sarah Preston Healthy Living or the best way. I love to chat with you before you would sign up, so sending me a DM on Instagram is usually the best way.

Oh, great. At Sarah Preston.

Sarah Preston Healthy Living.

Sarah Preston Healthy Living.

Yes, guys. Sarah no H. Sarah no H. You.

Like it just with Sarah with the a at the end? Yes, yes, guys, definitely check Sarah out because she's amazing. She has great tips.

And please don't forget to rate, subscribe, and comment on your favorite podcast app so we can join together. We can get more women in this community and just be there for one another. It's amazing. So power in numbers.

Absolutely. Especially at this age. We need to stick together.

Yes, 100%. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. You are so amazing.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.