June 18, 2025 • 27 mins
Andrea discusses why tried and true workout and nutrition routines may suddenly stop working, especially for women in perimenopause and beyond. She explains how hormonal changes like declining estrogen impact muscle, metabolism, and insulin sensitivity, and offers clear strategies to adapt. From progressive overload and protein intake to helpful supplements and stress management, Andrea shares actionable tools to help listeners feel strong, supported, and confident as they age.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
So let me ask you a question.
Do you ever feel like theworkouts that used to work just
aren't working anymore?
Or like you're being prettyconsistent, you're eating kind
of the same, you're doing thesame workouts, and all of a
sudden you're gaining weight andyou can't figure out what's
going on?
That's what we're going to talkabout today, but I'm going to
talk about it in the aspect ofperimenopause and what is going
(00:22):
on because there is a realreason why all of a sudden your
workouts and your nutritionalintake routine seems to not be
not working out of the blue.
And I'm going to break it downtoday and make it really easy
for you to understand and giveyou some ideas of what to do
about it.
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(01:48):
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My name's Andrea Allen, and I ama mother of four girls under
seven, a wifey to a mountainman, a personal trainer, and a
nutrition coach.
I love all things women's healthand fitness, but let's face it,
the fitness industry iscomplicated and it's not built
for the everyday I'm happyyou're here and I hope you stay
(02:25):
a while.
Now, as I mentioned, thisepisode is really going to focus
on people who are 35 plus andwho continue to age.
If we're in our 20s, thisinformation is definitely not as
pertinent to you.
But if you are in your mid-30sand up, this episode is
(02:47):
definitely for you.
So what is happening typicallywhen you do have a current
workout routine, you've beenpretty consistent, maybe your
exercise is the same and yournutritional intake, and all of a
sudden you seem to have lessmuscle, you seem to be putting
on fat, and all of these thingsare happening and you can't
figure out why.
If you are starting to gothrough perimenopause and as we
get older, there's a real reasonfor this.
(03:09):
So the first one is you'redeclining estrogen.
So estrogen plays a really vitalrole in maintaining muscle and
supporting the process in whichthe body builds and repairs
muscle.
It is literally kind of like thequeen bee for females in helping
us build and repair muscle.
Estrogen also helps by reducinginflammation, which otherwise
(03:30):
impairs muscle building.
It also helps reduce theoxidative stress we have, and it
enhances your muscle repair andregeneration in general.
So as we shift intoperimenopause and we start to
get older into our mid-30s and40s and 50s and beyond, what's
happening is our estrogen startsto decline.
(03:51):
And estrogen is even tricky atfirst, especially if you're in
perimenopause, because sometimesit's really high and then
sometimes it's really lowbecause we know our periods
start to become spottyeventually.
But a lot of those symptomsstart And as that estrogen
starts to decline, it alsoincreases muscle breakdown.
Now, I'm sure you're thinking,but Andrea, you've told us
(04:11):
before that when we work out,our muscles are supposed to
break down so they can rebuild,and that's how we build muscle.
Yes, that is true, but this isnot the same process.
These are not the same pathwayswhen I say that when estrogen
declines, that muscle starts tobreak down.
So during resistance training orintense exercise, especially in
the eccentric phase, movement.
(04:33):
So that's literally like thelengthening of the muscle.
So imagine a bicep curl.
When your arm is going down inthe bicep curl really, really
slowly and your body's trying todo it slow, that's the eccentric
motion.
When this happens, there's tinymicro tears in your muscle
fibers, and that is your musclebreaking down and food helps us
repair those, and that's alleffective and useful.
(04:55):
This is known asexercise-induced muscle damage.
So this is good.
Literally, it triggers anadaptive response where our
muscles break down, then theyrebuild with food and they come
back stronger and better andoften bigger, which is great.
The muscle breakdown I'm talkingabout with estrogen decline is
different.
Estrogen, as I mentioned, doeshave that vital role where it is
(05:16):
a protective effect on musclemass, on insulin sensitivity,
and on protein synthesis.
So when it decreases, itbasically makes those processes
decrease and that protectivelayer, for lack of a So it
becomes harder to keep on thatmuscle mass and it becomes
(05:37):
harder to have proteinsynthesis.
So that is why that breakdownincreases because estrogen,
which let's call it thebodyguard for it, you know, the
helper is less available andless there.
So those processes are not asfunctional.
So that is the difference when Isay that when estrogen
decreases, that your body startsbreaking down muscle.
(05:58):
And that is not in the good way.
Now, not only does your bodystart breaking down muscle, as I
mentioned, low estrogen actuallyreduces our anabolic signaling.
Our anabolic signaling isbasically the building signaling
for our muscles to rebuild.
So this makes it harder for usto maintain muscle with our
current workout routines, letalone build new muscle,
(06:21):
especially if we are not liftingreally heavy weights and
challenging ourselves and if wedon't have the proper nutrition.
So what's happening is all ofthese pieces work together.
There's less estrogen.
All of a sudden, we are breakingdown muscle easier.
All of a sudden, we're having aharder time building muscle
because those signals arebasically not as sensitive.
And there is less proteinsynthesis, which is our body's
(06:45):
ability to take the protein weeat and build the muscle.
All of this causes anabolicresistance.
And anabolic resistance is yourbody being less responsive to
all of these signals and to yourprotein protein intake and to
resistance exercise in general.
So it's kind of like yourmuscles are hard of hearing.
Like you're telling them, hey, Iworked you.
(07:06):
Now rebuild, do your job.
And they're like, wait, what?
What'd you say?
I'm sorry.
I went to lunch.
I don't know what's going on.
That's basically what yourmuscles are doing.
They're just not as sensitive,not as in tune with the process.
So circling back, this is whyyou are working out hard.
This is why you're doing thesame thing you've always done
for years, and it's alwaysworked.
(07:27):
And all of a sudden, your bodyis no longer responding.
This makes it harder, as Imentioned, to build new muscle.
It makes it harder to maintainlean mass, and it makes it
harder to recover.
It's like a triple whammy on ourability to have muscle.
The second thing that estrogenhelps regulate is our insulin
sensitivity.
(07:47):
So as we shift intoperimenopause, when we start to
get older, we reduce estrogen,which also may lead to a higher
insulin resistance.
If you have higher insulinresistance, it lowers the
muscle's ability to absorb theamino acids efficiently.
Remember, when we eat protein,protein has amino acids in them.
(08:07):
That is part of what makes themcomplete proteins and our body
needs them as building blocks.
So when we we have a higherresistance to insulin, your body
is also not as sensitive toabsorb those amino acids.
And if it's not absorbing them,then again, it's gonna have a
harder time building andmaintaining muscle.
I know this is gettingdiscouraging, but please bear
(08:29):
with me.
I promise we're gonna turn acorner.
The last thing I wanna point outis with this decline in our
hormones, especially as we startto get older and go through
perimenopause and just age, thegrowth hormone, also starts to
decline with age and with thatestrogen loss.
So that is the hormone that isessentially helpful for tissue
(08:49):
repair and tissue growth and fatmetabolism.
So I know this all sounds reallycrappy.
You feel like I just dealt you amassive blow.
So you're telling me, Andrea,that my workouts aren't as
effective, my food's not aseffective, and everything is
starting to slowly not payattention.
Nothing's as sensitive.
I am telling you that, but...
I am not telling you that thatmeans you're going to be stuck.
(09:11):
It just means you've got toshift as you start to age.
that you can no longer do thesame thing you did at 20 years
old, at even 30 years old, whenyou are 35, 40, 45, 50 plus,
that those things are no longergonna work because of all of
these true hormonal factors thatare happening in your body and
(09:32):
are naturally and normallyhappening for everyone as they
shift into perimenopause andthen eventually they go to
menopause.
So what are we gonna do aboutit?
Don't worry, I got your backbecause I'm in this world with
you.
I just turned 40 this year And Iam diving deep into this area
because I really want tounderstand it.
I had my own hormone imbalances.
I'm in Dr.
(09:53):
Stacey Sims' course right now.
I'm taking another course.
I'm making sure all my coachesgo through courses so that we
can support in hormones better.
But when it comes to thissituation, as I mentioned, you
can't keep doing the same thing.
So what do we do?
So first of all, we need tofocus on progressive overload.
You cannot continue to use thesame 10 pounds to do the same 15
(10:14):
reps over and over again andthink you can maintain that
muscle anymore as you age.
You will no longer to be able todo that.
Not only because of the reasonsI said about the hormones, but
also once we hit our mid-30s, westart to slowly lose muscle
naturally each year.
It's called sarcopenia, and itincreases rapidly as we go into
our 50s.
So doing the same thing over andover again isn't beneficial
(10:37):
because it puts us actually on adownward slope going the wrong
way, and we need to be going up.
So you have to add progressiveoverload.
Progressive overload is not justchanging up your workouts or
adding random things.
It is following a clear-cutprogram that is slowly
increasing challenge throughweights.
(10:58):
So you have to increase yourweights for a cycle period.
Typically, they can cycle at twoweeks.
They can cycle at four weeks.
But there should be a cycle ofwhere you're repeating something
and then you're increasing theweights.
You can do it through reps androunds.
So maybe you're adding an extraround.
You're keeping the same weight,but you're doing more rounds.
You can do it through changingthe rest times.
(11:18):
So maybe you're not resting aslong or maybe you're resting
longer, but you're pushing aheavier weight.
You can do it through time undertension.
So I do this often in my appbecause I know a lot of people
don't have heavier weights whereI change the speed at which they
are doing the exercise.
eccentric and the concentricmotion.
So that's the lengthening of themuscle and the contracting of
(11:40):
the muscle.
So let's talk about a bicepcurl.
You can do three counts down,four counts down, one count
down, and then you do the samething going up.
So you can offset those numbersdrastically and create tempo or
time under tension, which isalso going to create
progression.
you can do it through pyramidworkouts where you're changing
(12:00):
the reps or drop sets where youare kind of going to failure.
You're using one weight andyou're going to failure and then
you're lowering the weight.
So there's a lot of differentways to do it, but you can't
randomly do it.
You have to have a program thatknows what they're doing.
They do a workout program andthen they cycle through and they
tell you how they're changingthe program.
So for example, in my strengthand sculpt program, we change it
(12:24):
with the reps and the rest mostof the time.
So in the first month, the repsare a In the second month, we
shift to a medium rep range.
And in the last month, I'mtrying to use a lower rep range.
But I want you to push yourweights heavier as the reps go
down.
You can also do it where theworkouts are exactly the same,
which is like my Strength andSculpt 2.0.
(12:45):
The workouts are the same fourweeks and four weeks, but the
goal is to get them to increasethe weight.
So I say, you've already donethis workout.
You've tracked the workoutweight you use.
Now I need you to increase that.
Those are all ways we addprogressive overload.
But the whole point is you haveto progressively challenge the
muscle to get it to break downand you can't do the same thing
(13:08):
because we're already on thatdownward slope where things
aren't working as well.
So we have to really pushthrough and challenge to keep
that muscle and even push moreto be able to build it.
So you have to have progressiveoverload.
The second piece to thatprogressive overload, obviously
it helps you maintain and buildmuscle.
And the more muscle that youhave, it also helps regulate
(13:28):
your insulin levels and yourblood sugar.
So as we shift intoperimenopause and start getting
older, your insulin sensitivity,as I mentioned, decreases, but
the more muscle you have, ithelps keep it a little bit more
balanced.
So it's like a tool you have inyour toolkit if you have more
muscle to kind of keep thatinsulin a little more balanced
(13:49):
compared to if you didn't have alot of muscle.
The second tool in your toolkitto make workouts more effective
for you is you have to eatenough protein and you have to
monitor your protein intake.
The amount of protein that youate 5 or 10 years ago was
probably enough.
Your body was super sensitiveand it responded really quickly.
But since this process hasstarted, that protein is less
(14:12):
efficient, which means you haveto be serious about getting your
protein in because protein iswhat builds muscle.
You need that protein synthesisto keep muscle, which is going
to keep your metabolismstronger.
I highly suggest one gram ofprotein per pound of body
weight.
I know the guidelines are lowerthan that, but those guidelines
are typically for sedentarypeople or people who are just
(14:34):
trying to maintain at a youngerage or aren't trying to build
muscle.
So if you're trying to get overthis hump of perimenopause or
you're trying to add muscle, youneed more protein to fuel that
process.
So that's why I suggest one gramper pound of body weight.
The second piece to that proteinintake is, I know I talked a
couple weeks ago about calorierestriction and how if you are
(14:55):
living your life in a calorierestriction long term, it
affects your hormones.
Not only that, but if you'redoing that for long term as
you're older, you'reaccelerating your muscle loss.
You're making it so much worse.
I know you think you're tryingto lose fat that way, but you're
breaking down your muscle evenfaster and that muscle is
precious as you get older.
(15:16):
So if you're training hard andyou're not eating enough on a
regular basis and you're aging,you will start to lose more
muscle and it won't make senseto you because you're not
realizing that you need more tomaintain that muscle as you age.
So you do want to make sureyou're eating enough.
We know calorie deficits can bevery effective for fat loss in
short-term windows, but that'snot where you live your life.
(15:39):
The next tool in your toolbox isyou can add some high quality
supplements that are going tohelp support your muscle
maintenance and your musclegrowth and repair.
So as I mentioned, we donaturally lose muscle once we
get in our mid 30s and itaccelerates as we get into our
50s.
So we do want to try to offsetthat the best we can with food
(16:00):
and with workouts.
But a really great toolsupplement to take, and I'm
going to list a few.
But the first one I'm going tolist is creatine.
It is a game changer.
I have an episode earlier thisyear.
That episode breaks downcreatine, breaks down all of the
facts, all of the myths,everything you need to know.
And it even talks about creatineas you start to age and go into
(16:21):
perimenopause and menopause.
Creatine is effective for prettymuch anyone at any age.
It helps increase ATP in themuscles.
So that's basically energy inthe muscles.
So that makes you be able towork out hard because you have
literally more ATP, more energyin the muscle.
It helps with muscle recoveryand it helps with gains.
(16:41):
And the best thing aboutcreatine is that it actually
also helps support brain health.
Like who doesn't need a littlebit of brain support?
I know I do.
I definitely need some brainsupport.
So it's super beneficial.
In a meta-analysis, it showedthat older adults who supplement
with creatine during strengthtraining gain more lean mass and
strength than those who didtrain without it.
(17:03):
So there are a lot of studiesthat show this.
I know in that episode, I linkedprobably five or studies that
explain this as well so go backand listen to that episode if
you're at all leery aboutcreatine it's just back earlier
this year For creatine, I taketwo different brands.
I have two bottles of it justfor a change up.
I use Just Ingredients creatine.
(17:23):
It has no fillers in it.
It's been triple lab tested.
I love her company.
I drink a lot of her protein.
I take her Adrenal Complex, alot of different things they
have.
I get 10% off.
I will add that link in the shownotes.
It's Andrea DFH.
So that's an option.
And I also have a bottle ofKion's creatine, which I've
recently been taking as well.
Both of those are plain.
(17:43):
They don't have flavors.
So you can just mix them intoany and they're just really easy
to be added in.
The thing you do need to knowabout creatine though is it does
cause people to bloat at first.
I go over this in detail in thatepisode.
In fact, I will link thatepisode in the show notes so you
don't have to search back forit.
So just look in the show notesand I'll link it.
It can cause you to bloat atfirst because it pulls water
(18:04):
into the cells.
But typically after a couple ofdays or a couple of weeks, that
subsides because the muscles arefully saturated with the
creatine.
Some people don't notice thatbloat.
Some people Don't overthink it.
It happened to me too.
Even the very first time I tookit out, I was like, what is
(18:30):
happening?
And then I was like, oh yeah, itpulls water in the cells.
So don't overthink that.
The next supplement I'm going tosuggest is an essential amino
acid.
So this is, for short, peoplecall it an EAA.
I've also talked about this onebefore.
It plays a critical role inpreserving and building muscle
mass, especially as we aretrying to combat these
(18:51):
age-related muscle losssituations because it helps
stimulate protein synthesis.
And not only does it helpstimulate that synthesis, which
is building that muscle, it alsohelps preserve muscle tissue
when you are working out or evenin situations where you're
injured or you have an illnessor limited movement because it
helps protect that muscle frombeing broken down.
(19:13):
Now, here's a caveat to thisone.
This is a supplement I've takenfor a really, really long time.
As I mentioned, an EAA just isthe nine essential amino acids
that your body doesn't make.
You have to eat them to be ableto ingest them, and they are
part of the building blocks ofprotein synthesis.
If you are eating enoughprotein, you don't need an EAA
(19:34):
supplement because a completeprotein has EAAs in it.
But if you are someone who has aweak protein intake and you
don't feel like you hit yourprotein numbers, then I would
suggest this supplement.
So again, you got to remembersupplements are supporting
roles.
They're not main players.
They're not foundational, butthey help us.
(19:56):
So if you have enough protein,you don't have to have an EAA.
But if you at all feel like yourprotein intake is weak, then I
highly suggest an EAA.
I definitely take one justbecause not every day, my
protein's not always alwaysperfect.
So I drink an EAA.
I drink Keon.
I will add that link in the shownotes.
I've had this supplement for areally long time and I switched
(20:18):
to this brand probably about ayear and a half ago.
I love their brand because it'shigh quality.
I had the CEO on the podcastmaybe last year to kind of talk
about protein and how aminoswere beneficial.
And I will add that link in theshow notes.
They give me 20% off.
But I also don't want you tofeel like you have to have what
I'm having.
If you have a brand you love, gofor it.
(20:39):
Go for it.
There's lots of good brands outthere.
These are just brands I love andI ask for discounts because I
love them, but there are a lotof good brands.
So don't be fooled into justonly one good brand.
These are just brands I love.
And if you have one you love, byall means do it.
And it can be very beneficial.
Both of those supplements formuscle.
The last supplements I'm goingto suggest possibly thinking
about, and this is going todepend, magnesium is a really
(21:01):
important one because it helpswith muscle contraction and
recovery.
Vitamin D can be helpful,especially if you're low on
vitamin D because it helpssupport bone health.
And then also just omega-3 fattyacids.
They can be really helpfulbecause they help reduce
inflammation and may enhancemuscle function and repair.
Those ones are a little bitdifferent, but just to kind of
(21:22):
bring those up that they can bevery helpful.
Okay, so you know you got to addmuscle, progressive overload.
You got to eat enough protein.
You have some supplement ideas.
The next thing I'm going to tellyou that is going to help
protect your muscle and get yougoing is stress management.
And I know you're like, oh,Andrea, I have so much stress.
I know.
I know because I have so muchstress.
So I feel you.
(21:43):
We can walk hand in hand on thisone because this is a hard one
for me.
And this is something I haveworked incredibly hard over the
last year on.
And I can be honest and tellyou, I have a long way to go.
I've got to improve a lot.
But just like I'm telling you,I'm soaking in this information
as I'm in some of these coursesthat cortisol can further
(22:03):
increase the breakdown of musclewhen it is unmanaged.
Cortisol literally breaks downmuscle protein into the aminos
and makes them not as effective.
So remember, we're like tryingto add supplements and we're
trying to eat enough food to getthe aminos and now it's doing
the opposite job.
It's like you're pouring waterinto the cup and it's dumping it
out.
So you don't want them fightingeach other.
Not only that, but cortisol alsoIt also raises your blood sugar.
(22:26):
It helps fuel vital organs.
So basically it breaks downthose amino acids to fuel the
vital organs because it thinksit's under stress because
cortisol is the threat hormone.
So it thinks it's under threatand it starts to break stuff
down.
Cortisol also is really trickybecause it's not like a one-time
breakdown.
It can literally consistentlybreak down your muscle if you
(22:51):
are not managing stress.
So if you are stressed all day,it can just slowly, consistently
break things down.
It is literally that slopemoving backwards.
Now, I've been very honest onthe podcast.
I've told you guys my own issueswith hormones.
I have a thyroid problem.
I also have some issues withcortisol.
I'm working like a maniac to tryto improve my cortisol all.
(23:11):
But I can be honest and Iactually need to, I need to add
a picture on Instagram.
I have lost muscle in thisbattle with my hormones because
I know my cortisol is breakingdown some muscle and I know with
thyroid, there's some otherissues there that are hindering
my abilities with my metabolism.
So I want you to know that Iknow this is hard, but we can
(23:35):
work on it.
So I am working on winding downin the evening.
I'm working on coping skillswith breathing.
I'm working on more downtimebecause a lot of times during my
downtime, I'm just thinking ofnew ideas or what I want to work
on next.
And I'm trying to avoid thatwhere I literally have downtime.
I'm working on time away from myphone.
I'm working on groundingexercises where I go outside and
(23:59):
I pay attention to the soundsand the smells and everything
around me and what my Feet arefeeling and all of those things.
I'm gonna link a previousepisode I did on ideas I'm
working on to help reduce stressand kind of to improve circadian
rhythm and so many other things.
But this is a really big piecethat you've gotta get under
control, especially as we age.
(24:21):
The last one I'm gonna point outis sleep.
And the worst thing about sleepis sleep and stress go hand in
hand.
When your stress is bad, yoursleep is bad.
When your stress is managed,your sleep is better.
And again, this is something Iknow from experience.
If you are someone who wakes upconsistently between like 2 and
4 a.m., typically around 3 a.m.,it means your stress is really
high because your circadianrhythm, the way that it works is
(24:45):
your cortisol wakes you up inthe morning.
Cortisol has a good purpose aswell until it runs rampant.
But your cortisol wakes you up.
And if your stress is alreadyhigh when it starts to rise in
the middle of the night to wakeyou up at, let's say, 6 or 7
a.m.
or maybe 8 a.m., whatever youwake up, if your cortisol is
already high and it starts torise, then all of a sudden
you're awake at 3 a.m.
And you're not supposed to beawake at 3 a.m., but that is a
(25:07):
sign that your cortisol could betoo high.
So it does play a vital role.
We've got those really do gohand in hand.
We've got to work on both ofthem.
But not only that, but yourmuscles repair when you are
sleeping.
So if you have poor sleep,you're going to inhibit the
muscle building process.
So you have to have enough sleepas you age.
(25:28):
Now, obviously, there are otheroptions with HRT, with messing
with your estrogen intake, withmessing with your progesterone
intake.
I will have an expert on to talkabout some of those things
because they are very effective.
But I definitely want to havesomeone else speaking on those
as I go through some of thesecourses.
So I will work on gettingsomeone to speak on those.
(25:48):
And it's important to be awareof that.
And You can see a doctor to talkto about HRT if you're in this
situation and you're havingtough symptoms.
But I wanted to share ways todaythat we could do it, anybody,
whether you have lots of moneyor no money, whether you have
lots of time or no time, justideas that we could change that
are habits and things that wecan control.
(26:08):
So I hope the ideas I gave youtoday are incredibly helpful.
I want you to know that I knowthis journey is hard.
As I mentioned, I've struggledwith pieces of it myself.
I work on it.
And I think anyone who acts likethey have their life all
together and all the pieces inplace perfectly.
They're lying.
They're lying to you.
They're lying to you becauseeverybody struggles with things.
(26:30):
That's normal.
That is normal.
But the best thing is we haveeach other.
We can learn, we can grow, andwe can get ideas from each
other.
So I love that.
I'm going to do a post this weekin my stories.
So keep your eyes open in thestories.
And I'm going to ask what waysyou try to manage your sleep and
you try to improve your stressmanagement.
And I'm going to collect all ofthose answers.
(26:51):
And then I'm going to make alittle PDF out of it for
everybody.
So this week, when this episodeairs Wednesday to Wednesday.
Keep your eyes on my story soyou can add to that.
And then we'll make that PDF andI'll share that as well because
we all can benefit from thesethings because we want our
workouts to be effective.
We want our food to be effectiveand we want to feel good in our
body and we want to maintain ourmuscle and keep a strong
(27:12):
metabolism.
All right.
That's it for today.
As always, you are doing so muchbetter than you think you are.
I know things are hardsometimes.
I know it's hard to watchyourself sometimes get old.
There's definitely some beautyin it.
Don't get me wrong.
There's some things that I'mlike, I love getting older.
And there's some things that Idon't.
And that's okay.
That is the beauty of beingproud of where you are and
(27:32):
continuing to move forward.
So you really are doing betterthan you think you are.
We'll chat next week.
So let me ask you a question.
Do you ever feel like theworkouts that used to work just
aren't working anymore?
Or like you're being prettyconsistent, you're eating kind
of the same, you're doing thesame workouts, and all of a
sudden you're gaining weight andyou can't figure out what's
going on?
That's what we're going to talkabout today, but I'm going to
talk about it in the aspect ofperimenopause and what is going
(00:22):
on because there is a realreason why all of a sudden your
workouts and your nutritionalintake routine seems to not be
not working out of the blue.
And I'm going to break it downtoday and make it really easy
for you to understand and giveyou some ideas of what to do
about it.
With the warmer weather, it isdefinitely a great time of year
to take your workouts outside.
(00:44):
But typically, when you takeyour workouts outside, you don't
want to be blinded while you'redoing it.
This is why I suggest a qualitypair of Gooder sunglasses.
They're lightweight andcomfortable, 100% polarized.
They don't slip.
They don't bounce.
And they're super stylish.
Plus, they have a one-yearwarranty and 30-day free return.
They have so many differentstyles.
(01:05):
You're definitely not going tobe disappointed.
You're going to find one thatyou like.
There's no out about it.
My husband orders from thembecause his style is very
different than my style, and Ifinally gave in and ordered my
two 12-year-old daughters.
Well, they're not quite 12 yet.
They're 11.
But my two 11-year-olddaughters' sunglasses because
they're only$25 a pair, sothey're not even overpriced, yet
the quality is still awesome.
(01:26):
And not only are they great forworkouts, you can literally take
them from working out to thepool up to the nightlife because
they work for everything.
So if you want a new pair ofsunnies, Gooder is giving the
Make Fit Simple listeners freeshipping.
So you can go to Goodr, that'sG-O-O-D-R dot com slash simple
and use the code simple for freeshipping.
(01:48):
Again, that's G-O-O-D-R dot comslash simple for free shipping.
My name's Andrea Allen, and I ama mother of four girls under
seven, a wifey to a mountainman, a personal trainer, and a
nutrition coach.
I love all things women's healthand fitness, but let's face it,
the fitness industry iscomplicated and it's not built
for the everyday I'm happyyou're here and I hope you stay
(02:25):
a while.
Now, as I mentioned, thisepisode is really going to focus
on people who are 35 plus andwho continue to age.
If we're in our 20s, thisinformation is definitely not as
pertinent to you.
But if you are in your mid-30sand up, this episode is
(02:47):
definitely for you.
So what is happening typicallywhen you do have a current
workout routine, you've beenpretty consistent, maybe your
exercise is the same and yournutritional intake, and all of a
sudden you seem to have lessmuscle, you seem to be putting
on fat, and all of these thingsare happening and you can't
figure out why.
If you are starting to gothrough perimenopause and as we
get older, there's a real reasonfor this.
(03:09):
So the first one is you'redeclining estrogen.
So estrogen plays a really vitalrole in maintaining muscle and
supporting the process in whichthe body builds and repairs
muscle.
It is literally kind of like thequeen bee for females in helping
us build and repair muscle.
Estrogen also helps by reducinginflammation, which otherwise
(03:30):
impairs muscle building.
It also helps reduce theoxidative stress we have, and it
enhances your muscle repair andregeneration in general.
So as we shift intoperimenopause and we start to
get older into our mid-30s and40s and 50s and beyond, what's
happening is our estrogen startsto decline.
(03:51):
And estrogen is even tricky atfirst, especially if you're in
perimenopause, because sometimesit's really high and then
sometimes it's really lowbecause we know our periods
start to become spottyeventually.
But a lot of those symptomsstart And as that estrogen
starts to decline, it alsoincreases muscle breakdown.
Now, I'm sure you're thinking,but Andrea, you've told us
(04:11):
before that when we work out,our muscles are supposed to
break down so they can rebuild,and that's how we build muscle.
Yes, that is true, but this isnot the same process.
These are not the same pathwayswhen I say that when estrogen
declines, that muscle starts tobreak down.
So during resistance training orintense exercise, especially in
the eccentric phase, movement.
(04:33):
So that's literally like thelengthening of the muscle.
So imagine a bicep curl.
When your arm is going down inthe bicep curl really, really
slowly and your body's trying todo it slow, that's the eccentric
motion.
When this happens, there's tinymicro tears in your muscle
fibers, and that is your musclebreaking down and food helps us
repair those, and that's alleffective and useful.
(04:55):
This is known asexercise-induced muscle damage.
So this is good.
Literally, it triggers anadaptive response where our
muscles break down, then theyrebuild with food and they come
back stronger and better andoften bigger, which is great.
The muscle breakdown I'm talkingabout with estrogen decline is
different.
Estrogen, as I mentioned, doeshave that vital role where it is
(05:16):
a protective effect on musclemass, on insulin sensitivity,
and on protein synthesis.
So when it decreases, itbasically makes those processes
decrease and that protectivelayer, for lack of a So it
becomes harder to keep on thatmuscle mass and it becomes
(05:37):
harder to have proteinsynthesis.
So that is why that breakdownincreases because estrogen,
which let's call it thebodyguard for it, you know, the
helper is less available andless there.
So those processes are not asfunctional.
So that is the difference when Isay that when estrogen
decreases, that your body startsbreaking down muscle.
(05:58):
And that is not in the good way.
Now, not only does your bodystart breaking down muscle, as I
mentioned, low estrogen actuallyreduces our anabolic signaling.
Our anabolic signaling isbasically the building signaling
for our muscles to rebuild.
So this makes it harder for usto maintain muscle with our
current workout routines, letalone build new muscle,
(06:21):
especially if we are not liftingreally heavy weights and
challenging ourselves and if wedon't have the proper nutrition.
So what's happening is all ofthese pieces work together.
There's less estrogen.
All of a sudden, we are breakingdown muscle easier.
All of a sudden, we're having aharder time building muscle
because those signals arebasically not as sensitive.
And there is less proteinsynthesis, which is our body's
(06:45):
ability to take the protein weeat and build the muscle.
All of this causes anabolicresistance.
And anabolic resistance is yourbody being less responsive to
all of these signals and to yourprotein protein intake and to
resistance exercise in general.
So it's kind of like yourmuscles are hard of hearing.
Like you're telling them, hey, Iworked you.
(07:06):
Now rebuild, do your job.
And they're like, wait, what?
What'd you say?
I'm sorry.
I went to lunch.
I don't know what's going on.
That's basically what yourmuscles are doing.
They're just not as sensitive,not as in tune with the process.
So circling back, this is whyyou are working out hard.
This is why you're doing thesame thing you've always done
for years, and it's alwaysworked.
(07:27):
And all of a sudden, your bodyis no longer responding.
This makes it harder, as Imentioned, to build new muscle.
It makes it harder to maintainlean mass, and it makes it
harder to recover.
It's like a triple whammy on ourability to have muscle.
The second thing that estrogenhelps regulate is our insulin
sensitivity.
(07:47):
So as we shift intoperimenopause, when we start to
get older, we reduce estrogen,which also may lead to a higher
insulin resistance.
If you have higher insulinresistance, it lowers the
muscle's ability to absorb theamino acids efficiently.
Remember, when we eat protein,protein has amino acids in them.
(08:07):
That is part of what makes themcomplete proteins and our body
needs them as building blocks.
So when we we have a higherresistance to insulin, your body
is also not as sensitive toabsorb those amino acids.
And if it's not absorbing them,then again, it's gonna have a
harder time building andmaintaining muscle.
I know this is gettingdiscouraging, but please bear
(08:29):
with me.
I promise we're gonna turn acorner.
The last thing I wanna point outis with this decline in our
hormones, especially as we startto get older and go through
perimenopause and just age, thegrowth hormone, also starts to
decline with age and with thatestrogen loss.
So that is the hormone that isessentially helpful for tissue
(08:49):
repair and tissue growth and fatmetabolism.
So I know this all sounds reallycrappy.
You feel like I just dealt you amassive blow.
So you're telling me, Andrea,that my workouts aren't as
effective, my food's not aseffective, and everything is
starting to slowly not payattention.
Nothing's as sensitive.
I am telling you that, but...
I am not telling you that thatmeans you're going to be stuck.
(09:11):
It just means you've got toshift as you start to age.
that you can no longer do thesame thing you did at 20 years
old, at even 30 years old, whenyou are 35, 40, 45, 50 plus,
that those things are no longergonna work because of all of
these true hormonal factors thatare happening in your body and
(09:32):
are naturally and normallyhappening for everyone as they
shift into perimenopause andthen eventually they go to
menopause.
So what are we gonna do aboutit?
Don't worry, I got your backbecause I'm in this world with
you.
I just turned 40 this year And Iam diving deep into this area
because I really want tounderstand it.
I had my own hormone imbalances.
I'm in Dr.
(09:53):
Stacey Sims' course right now.
I'm taking another course.
I'm making sure all my coachesgo through courses so that we
can support in hormones better.
But when it comes to thissituation, as I mentioned, you
can't keep doing the same thing.
So what do we do?
So first of all, we need tofocus on progressive overload.
You cannot continue to use thesame 10 pounds to do the same 15
(10:14):
reps over and over again andthink you can maintain that
muscle anymore as you age.
You will no longer to be able todo that.
Not only because of the reasonsI said about the hormones, but
also once we hit our mid-30s, westart to slowly lose muscle
naturally each year.
It's called sarcopenia, and itincreases rapidly as we go into
our 50s.
So doing the same thing over andover again isn't beneficial
(10:37):
because it puts us actually on adownward slope going the wrong
way, and we need to be going up.
So you have to add progressiveoverload.
Progressive overload is not justchanging up your workouts or
adding random things.
It is following a clear-cutprogram that is slowly
increasing challenge throughweights.
(10:58):
So you have to increase yourweights for a cycle period.
Typically, they can cycle at twoweeks.
They can cycle at four weeks.
But there should be a cycle ofwhere you're repeating something
and then you're increasing theweights.
You can do it through reps androunds.
So maybe you're adding an extraround.
You're keeping the same weight,but you're doing more rounds.
You can do it through changingthe rest times.
(11:18):
So maybe you're not resting aslong or maybe you're resting
longer, but you're pushing aheavier weight.
You can do it through time undertension.
So I do this often in my appbecause I know a lot of people
don't have heavier weights whereI change the speed at which they
are doing the exercise.
eccentric and the concentricmotion.
So that's the lengthening of themuscle and the contracting of
(11:40):
the muscle.
So let's talk about a bicepcurl.
You can do three counts down,four counts down, one count
down, and then you do the samething going up.
So you can offset those numbersdrastically and create tempo or
time under tension, which isalso going to create
progression.
you can do it through pyramidworkouts where you're changing
(12:00):
the reps or drop sets where youare kind of going to failure.
You're using one weight andyou're going to failure and then
you're lowering the weight.
So there's a lot of differentways to do it, but you can't
randomly do it.
You have to have a program thatknows what they're doing.
They do a workout program andthen they cycle through and they
tell you how they're changingthe program.
So for example, in my strengthand sculpt program, we change it
(12:24):
with the reps and the rest mostof the time.
So in the first month, the repsare a In the second month, we
shift to a medium rep range.
And in the last month, I'mtrying to use a lower rep range.
But I want you to push yourweights heavier as the reps go
down.
You can also do it where theworkouts are exactly the same,
which is like my Strength andSculpt 2.0.
(12:45):
The workouts are the same fourweeks and four weeks, but the
goal is to get them to increasethe weight.
So I say, you've already donethis workout.
You've tracked the workoutweight you use.
Now I need you to increase that.
Those are all ways we addprogressive overload.
But the whole point is you haveto progressively challenge the
muscle to get it to break downand you can't do the same thing
(13:08):
because we're already on thatdownward slope where things
aren't working as well.
So we have to really pushthrough and challenge to keep
that muscle and even push moreto be able to build it.
So you have to have progressiveoverload.
The second piece to thatprogressive overload, obviously
it helps you maintain and buildmuscle.
And the more muscle that youhave, it also helps regulate
(13:28):
your insulin levels and yourblood sugar.
So as we shift intoperimenopause and start getting
older, your insulin sensitivity,as I mentioned, decreases, but
the more muscle you have, ithelps keep it a little bit more
balanced.
So it's like a tool you have inyour toolkit if you have more
muscle to kind of keep thatinsulin a little more balanced
(13:49):
compared to if you didn't have alot of muscle.
The second tool in your toolkitto make workouts more effective
for you is you have to eatenough protein and you have to
monitor your protein intake.
The amount of protein that youate 5 or 10 years ago was
probably enough.
Your body was super sensitiveand it responded really quickly.
But since this process hasstarted, that protein is less
(14:12):
efficient, which means you haveto be serious about getting your
protein in because protein iswhat builds muscle.
You need that protein synthesisto keep muscle, which is going
to keep your metabolismstronger.
I highly suggest one gram ofprotein per pound of body
weight.
I know the guidelines are lowerthan that, but those guidelines
are typically for sedentarypeople or people who are just
(14:34):
trying to maintain at a youngerage or aren't trying to build
muscle.
So if you're trying to get overthis hump of perimenopause or
you're trying to add muscle, youneed more protein to fuel that
process.
So that's why I suggest one gramper pound of body weight.
The second piece to that proteinintake is, I know I talked a
couple weeks ago about calorierestriction and how if you are
(14:55):
living your life in a calorierestriction long term, it
affects your hormones.
Not only that, but if you'redoing that for long term as
you're older, you'reaccelerating your muscle loss.
You're making it so much worse.
I know you think you're tryingto lose fat that way, but you're
breaking down your muscle evenfaster and that muscle is
precious as you get older.
(15:16):
So if you're training hard andyou're not eating enough on a
regular basis and you're aging,you will start to lose more
muscle and it won't make senseto you because you're not
realizing that you need more tomaintain that muscle as you age.
So you do want to make sureyou're eating enough.
We know calorie deficits can bevery effective for fat loss in
short-term windows, but that'snot where you live your life.
(15:39):
The next tool in your toolbox isyou can add some high quality
supplements that are going tohelp support your muscle
maintenance and your musclegrowth and repair.
So as I mentioned, we donaturally lose muscle once we
get in our mid 30s and itaccelerates as we get into our
50s.
So we do want to try to offsetthat the best we can with food
(16:00):
and with workouts.
But a really great toolsupplement to take, and I'm
going to list a few.
But the first one I'm going tolist is creatine.
It is a game changer.
I have an episode earlier thisyear.
That episode breaks downcreatine, breaks down all of the
facts, all of the myths,everything you need to know.
And it even talks about creatineas you start to age and go into
(16:21):
perimenopause and menopause.
Creatine is effective for prettymuch anyone at any age.
It helps increase ATP in themuscles.
So that's basically energy inthe muscles.
So that makes you be able towork out hard because you have
literally more ATP, more energyin the muscle.
It helps with muscle recoveryand it helps with gains.
(16:41):
And the best thing aboutcreatine is that it actually
also helps support brain health.
Like who doesn't need a littlebit of brain support?
I know I do.
I definitely need some brainsupport.
So it's super beneficial.
In a meta-analysis, it showedthat older adults who supplement
with creatine during strengthtraining gain more lean mass and
strength than those who didtrain without it.
(17:03):
So there are a lot of studiesthat show this.
I know in that episode, I linkedprobably five or studies that
explain this as well so go backand listen to that episode if
you're at all leery aboutcreatine it's just back earlier
this year For creatine, I taketwo different brands.
I have two bottles of it justfor a change up.
I use Just Ingredients creatine.
(17:23):
It has no fillers in it.
It's been triple lab tested.
I love her company.
I drink a lot of her protein.
I take her Adrenal Complex, alot of different things they
have.
I get 10% off.
I will add that link in the shownotes.
It's Andrea DFH.
So that's an option.
And I also have a bottle ofKion's creatine, which I've
recently been taking as well.
Both of those are plain.
(17:43):
They don't have flavors.
So you can just mix them intoany and they're just really easy
to be added in.
The thing you do need to knowabout creatine though is it does
cause people to bloat at first.
I go over this in detail in thatepisode.
In fact, I will link thatepisode in the show notes so you
don't have to search back forit.
So just look in the show notesand I'll link it.
It can cause you to bloat atfirst because it pulls water
(18:04):
into the cells.
But typically after a couple ofdays or a couple of weeks, that
subsides because the muscles arefully saturated with the
creatine.
Some people don't notice thatbloat.
Some people Don't overthink it.
It happened to me too.
Even the very first time I tookit out, I was like, what is
(18:30):
happening?
And then I was like, oh yeah, itpulls water in the cells.
So don't overthink that.
The next supplement I'm going tosuggest is an essential amino
acid.
So this is, for short, peoplecall it an EAA.
I've also talked about this onebefore.
It plays a critical role inpreserving and building muscle
mass, especially as we aretrying to combat these
(18:51):
age-related muscle losssituations because it helps
stimulate protein synthesis.
And not only does it helpstimulate that synthesis, which
is building that muscle, it alsohelps preserve muscle tissue
when you are working out or evenin situations where you're
injured or you have an illnessor limited movement because it
helps protect that muscle frombeing broken down.
(19:13):
Now, here's a caveat to thisone.
This is a supplement I've takenfor a really, really long time.
As I mentioned, an EAA just isthe nine essential amino acids
that your body doesn't make.
You have to eat them to be ableto ingest them, and they are
part of the building blocks ofprotein synthesis.
If you are eating enoughprotein, you don't need an EAA
(19:34):
supplement because a completeprotein has EAAs in it.
But if you are someone who has aweak protein intake and you
don't feel like you hit yourprotein numbers, then I would
suggest this supplement.
So again, you got to remembersupplements are supporting
roles.
They're not main players.
They're not foundational, butthey help us.
(19:56):
So if you have enough protein,you don't have to have an EAA.
But if you at all feel like yourprotein intake is weak, then I
highly suggest an EAA.
I definitely take one justbecause not every day, my
protein's not always alwaysperfect.
So I drink an EAA.
I drink Keon.
I will add that link in the shownotes.
I've had this supplement for areally long time and I switched
(20:18):
to this brand probably about ayear and a half ago.
I love their brand because it'shigh quality.
I had the CEO on the podcastmaybe last year to kind of talk
about protein and how aminoswere beneficial.
And I will add that link in theshow notes.
They give me 20% off.
But I also don't want you tofeel like you have to have what
I'm having.
If you have a brand you love, gofor it.
(20:39):
Go for it.
There's lots of good brands outthere.
These are just brands I love andI ask for discounts because I
love them, but there are a lotof good brands.
So don't be fooled into justonly one good brand.
These are just brands I love.
And if you have one you love, byall means do it.
And it can be very beneficial.
Both of those supplements formuscle.
The last supplements I'm goingto suggest possibly thinking
about, and this is going todepend, magnesium is a really
(21:01):
important one because it helpswith muscle contraction and
recovery.
Vitamin D can be helpful,especially if you're low on
vitamin D because it helpssupport bone health.
And then also just omega-3 fattyacids.
They can be really helpfulbecause they help reduce
inflammation and may enhancemuscle function and repair.
Those ones are a little bitdifferent, but just to kind of
(21:22):
bring those up that they can bevery helpful.
Okay, so you know you got to addmuscle, progressive overload.
You got to eat enough protein.
You have some supplement ideas.
The next thing I'm going to tellyou that is going to help
protect your muscle and get yougoing is stress management.
And I know you're like, oh,Andrea, I have so much stress.
I know.
I know because I have so muchstress.
So I feel you.
(21:43):
We can walk hand in hand on thisone because this is a hard one
for me.
And this is something I haveworked incredibly hard over the
last year on.
And I can be honest and tellyou, I have a long way to go.
I've got to improve a lot.
But just like I'm telling you,I'm soaking in this information
as I'm in some of these coursesthat cortisol can further
(22:03):
increase the breakdown of musclewhen it is unmanaged.
Cortisol literally breaks downmuscle protein into the aminos
and makes them not as effective.
So remember, we're like tryingto add supplements and we're
trying to eat enough food to getthe aminos and now it's doing
the opposite job.
It's like you're pouring waterinto the cup and it's dumping it
out.
So you don't want them fightingeach other.
Not only that, but cortisol alsoIt also raises your blood sugar.
(22:26):
It helps fuel vital organs.
So basically it breaks downthose amino acids to fuel the
vital organs because it thinksit's under stress because
cortisol is the threat hormone.
So it thinks it's under threatand it starts to break stuff
down.
Cortisol also is really trickybecause it's not like a one-time
breakdown.
It can literally consistentlybreak down your muscle if you
(22:51):
are not managing stress.
So if you are stressed all day,it can just slowly, consistently
break things down.
It is literally that slopemoving backwards.
Now, I've been very honest onthe podcast.
I've told you guys my own issueswith hormones.
I have a thyroid problem.
I also have some issues withcortisol.
I'm working like a maniac to tryto improve my cortisol all.
(23:11):
But I can be honest and Iactually need to, I need to add
a picture on Instagram.
I have lost muscle in thisbattle with my hormones because
I know my cortisol is breakingdown some muscle and I know with
thyroid, there's some otherissues there that are hindering
my abilities with my metabolism.
So I want you to know that Iknow this is hard, but we can
(23:35):
work on it.
So I am working on winding downin the evening.
I'm working on coping skillswith breathing.
I'm working on more downtimebecause a lot of times during my
downtime, I'm just thinking ofnew ideas or what I want to work
on next.
And I'm trying to avoid thatwhere I literally have downtime.
I'm working on time away from myphone.
I'm working on groundingexercises where I go outside and
(23:59):
I pay attention to the soundsand the smells and everything
around me and what my Feet arefeeling and all of those things.
I'm gonna link a previousepisode I did on ideas I'm
working on to help reduce stressand kind of to improve circadian
rhythm and so many other things.
But this is a really big piecethat you've gotta get under
control, especially as we age.
(24:21):
The last one I'm gonna point outis sleep.
And the worst thing about sleepis sleep and stress go hand in
hand.
When your stress is bad, yoursleep is bad.
When your stress is managed,your sleep is better.
And again, this is something Iknow from experience.
If you are someone who wakes upconsistently between like 2 and
4 a.m., typically around 3 a.m.,it means your stress is really
high because your circadianrhythm, the way that it works is
(24:45):
your cortisol wakes you up inthe morning.
Cortisol has a good purpose aswell until it runs rampant.
But your cortisol wakes you up.
And if your stress is alreadyhigh when it starts to rise in
the middle of the night to wakeyou up at, let's say, 6 or 7
a.m.
or maybe 8 a.m., whatever youwake up, if your cortisol is
already high and it starts torise, then all of a sudden
you're awake at 3 a.m.
And you're not supposed to beawake at 3 a.m., but that is a
(25:07):
sign that your cortisol could betoo high.
So it does play a vital role.
We've got those really do gohand in hand.
We've got to work on both ofthem.
But not only that, but yourmuscles repair when you are
sleeping.
So if you have poor sleep,you're going to inhibit the
muscle building process.
So you have to have enough sleepas you age.
(25:28):
Now, obviously, there are otheroptions with HRT, with messing
with your estrogen intake, withmessing with your progesterone
intake.
I will have an expert on to talkabout some of those things
because they are very effective.
But I definitely want to havesomeone else speaking on those
as I go through some of thesecourses.
So I will work on gettingsomeone to speak on those.
(25:48):
And it's important to be awareof that.
And You can see a doctor to talkto about HRT if you're in this
situation and you're havingtough symptoms.
But I wanted to share ways todaythat we could do it, anybody,
whether you have lots of moneyor no money, whether you have
lots of time or no time, justideas that we could change that
are habits and things that wecan control.
(26:08):
So I hope the ideas I gave youtoday are incredibly helpful.
I want you to know that I knowthis journey is hard.
As I mentioned, I've struggledwith pieces of it myself.
I work on it.
And I think anyone who acts likethey have their life all
together and all the pieces inplace perfectly.
They're lying.
They're lying to you.
They're lying to you becauseeverybody struggles with things.
(26:30):
That's normal.
That is normal.
But the best thing is we haveeach other.
We can learn, we can grow, andwe can get ideas from each
other.
So I love that.
I'm going to do a post this weekin my stories.
So keep your eyes open in thestories.
And I'm going to ask what waysyou try to manage your sleep and
you try to improve your stressmanagement.
And I'm going to collect all ofthose answers.
(26:51):
And then I'm going to make alittle PDF out of it for
everybody.
So this week, when this episodeairs Wednesday to Wednesday.
Keep your eyes on my story soyou can add to that.
And then we'll make that PDF andI'll share that as well because
we all can benefit from thesethings because we want our
workouts to be effective.
We want our food to be effectiveand we want to feel good in our
body and we want to maintain ourmuscle and keep a strong
(27:12):
metabolism.
All right.
That's it for today.
As always, you are doing so muchbetter than you think you are.
I know things are hardsometimes.
I know it's hard to watchyourself sometimes get old.
There's definitely some beautyin it.
Don't get me wrong.
There's some things that I'mlike, I love getting older.
And there's some things that Idon't.
And that's okay.
That is the beauty of beingproud of where you are and
(27:32):
continuing to move forward.
So you really are doing betterthan you think you are.
We'll chat next week.
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