There is a lot of information out there about weight loss for menopausal women, and some of it is straight-up wrong. To help you separate fact from fiction, on this week’s episode of the Get Your GOAL podcast, we’re debunking twelve of the biggest weight loss myths, plus of course I’ll share the real facts so you can lose all the weight you want and keep it off forever.
Hello, hello my overachiever, overthinking GOALfriend, and welcome to the podcast. Before we get into it, I want to share a funny story: a couple of weeks ago, when I originally came up with the idea for this podcast episode, I had titled it The Five Biggest Weight Loss MYTHS, Debunked.
And I had sort of wondered in the back of my mind if I’d be able to come up with five myths. For some reason, that sounded like a lot. Mostly because I wasn’t really thinking about it, if I’m being honest. But as soon as I sat down to write it up, myths just came pouring out of my keyboard like a waterfall. In fact, there are SO MANY weight loss myths that I had to cut it down to just these twelve.
I have so much sympathy for how hard it can be to navigate through the endless amounts of junk information on the internet, so let’s start with a couple of basic facts about weight loss that can help you quickly spot other myths that I don’t mention here today on the podcast (because there are a LOT of them out there).
First and foremost, weight loss isn’t just a body thing.
Your body and your brain are always always always working together, so any weight loss advice that doesn’t address your mindset isn’t giving you the complete answer.
Second, and this is almost the same point, but in a broader context, weight loss is never about one thing.
Which means that any advice that purports that weight loss is driven by one singular factor – like eating during a specific window of time, or eliminating a specific type of food, or exercising in a specific way – is incomplete.
The simple science behind weight loss is that it’s driven by three things, in this exact order: 1, believing that you can, 2, eating in a slight caloric deficit over time, and 3, lovingly supporting your menopausal metabolism.
So now that you know the facts, let’s get to the Twelve Biggest Weight Loss MYTHS, so we can debunk those suckers!
Weight Loss MYTH Number One, Weight loss is a matter of calories in, calories out
This myth is close to the truth, in that yes, you do need to be in a slight caloric deficit over time. In fact, that’s the only scientifically proven way to lose weight. There are two big problems with this myth, though. First is that it implies that “calories out” is a good thing (and we’ll get to why that’s a myth in the very next item). Second, is that it doesn’t take any of your mindset or metabolic support activities into account, and they’re a lot more important than you might realize.
Let me take this example to the extreme, so you can see what I’m talking about. Let’s say your body needs around 1800 calories to maintain your weight. The “calories in, calories out” folks would tell you to cut your intake of calories by 250 and exercise enough to burn 250 calories. And up to this point, I totally agree!
A slight deficit of your intake, plus a moderate 20-25 minute workout is exactly what I recommend in The 5-0 Method.
But let’s say that the soundtrack running through your head all day sounds like, “I’m never going to be able to get this weight off, I don’t even know why I’m trying. This is dumb. I’m eating too much, I’m not exercising enough, I’m definitely going to gain weight. I’ve never had success on a program like this.” etc.
Those stressed out thoughts are dripping a constant stream of cortisol into your body. Cortisol is the so-called “stress hormone” that – if it stays in your system for too long – is responsible for belly fat, muscle wasting, and eventually, insulin resistance.
Add to that, let’s say you don’t really like drinking water. In fact, you actually don’t drink any. At all. Ever. (I told you this example would be extreme.) Every single cell in your body needs water to function, and you know which body system is a big water user? Your digestive system! When you don’t have enough water to digest your food, everything slows down. You get bloated and feel fatigued and – as a result of spending more time in your digestive tract – more of your food gets stored as fat than it would if it were moving through you regularly.
Oh, and since we’re going to extremes for this example, let’s say you don’t really have a bedtime schedule, either. Sometimes you stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning, even though you have to be at work at 8 o’clock sharp Monday through Friday. Well, not only is your body not repairing your muscles from your workouts, but it's not resetting your mood or regulating your hunger signals. Oh yeah, and it’s also dumping even more cortisol into your system to try and keep you awake during the day!
So here you are, watching your “calories in, calories out,” and not only are you not losing weight, but you are bloated, you are fatigued, you are hungry ALL the time, and you are gaining belly fat and losing muscle tone. It’s literally the opposite of the results you wanted, because the weight loss myth of “calories in, calories out” is way too simplistic.
Paying attention to your mindset and your metabolic support activities in addition to your slight caloric deficit is the path to gentle, permanent weight loss.
And by the way, before I move on to Myth number two, if you’ve been listening to this example like, “Oh, shit, she’s talking about me!” here’s my professional advice: stop counting calories and stop exercising (not for forever, just for right now), and focus all of your attention on journaling, drinking water, and getting your sleep rhythm cleaned up. When you get the excess cortisol out of your system and your digestion is functional and regular, then you’ll be ready to lose weight in a slight caloric deficit.
Okay, so moving on…
Weight Loss MYTH Number Two, Burning calories is the same as burning fat
There’s a nugget of truth in here, because sometimes when you’re burning calories, those calories have come from fat. But not always. Your beautiful, complex body has a variety of storage systems, so that it always has access to the energy it needs to run all of your billions of processes.
When you take calories in, some of the energy goes into your bloodstream, where your body can use it right away. Some of the energy gets stored in your muscles as glycogen, where it is still pretty easy to access, but not as easily as blood sugar. And some of the energy you’ve taken in gets stored as fat, which your body treats as a prized resource and uses sparingly.
You can think of your blood sugar, your glycogen stores, and your stored fat as – in this order – cash you literally have in your hand, your checking account, and your savings account. Like, yeah, they’re all pretty accessible, but you’re going to use the money you have available for different reasons at different times.
That’s your body burning calories. Yes, sometimes it’s burning fat, but definitely not always.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Three, Exercise helps you lose weight because it burns fat
Your body might choose to burn fat while you’re exercising, and it also might not. The truth of it is, you’re not in control at all of which energy source (blood sugar, glycogen stores, or fat storage) your body taps into for which activity.
You’re just as likely to be burning fat in your sleep as you are to be burning it while you workout. And in some conditions (like we talked about in the first weight loss myth), you might even gain belly fat because of your exercise efforts.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Four, If you just eat healthy foods, you’ll lose weight
Please don’t ever misunderstand my advice on this point – I’m not suggesting that you *should* eat unhealthy foods, or that it’s somehow better for you to eat unhealthy foods. What I am saying, and the science is 100% clear here, is that healthy foods have calories, too, and if you are eating too much (or too little – we’ll get to that in Myth number ten), you will not lose weight.
There is quite literally no such thing as a food or food group or food type that makes you gain or lose weight. Your weight is always dependent on the quantity, the number of calories, that you eat. And your mindset, and metabolic support, of course.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Five, Eating less and moving more is the way to lose weight
This myth isn’t always wrong, but it’s wrong often enough that I really wanted to bring it to your attention today. For some people, this simple formula can be a good way to ease into weight loss. For many, many others – including so many of my overachieving, ambitious over 50 friends who were used to living a very active lifestyle before menopause – this myth spells disaster.
My biggest quibble with it is that it’s non-specific, and there is absolutely a point of diminishing returns on eating less and moving more. Part of the menopause and aging process includes your body becoming less efficient than it used to be, which means that it can’t handle extremes of eating and exercise the way it used to.
Being in too large of a caloric deficit or exercising too much can actually slow down your metabolism, trigger the stress response of gaining belly fat, increase your risk of muscle wasting, have you feeling tired all the time, and disrupt your sleep and your moods.
You are far better served to aim for a specific amount of food and a specific amount of exercise than to just willy-nilly try to do “less” or “more.”
MYTH Number Six, Getting in shape and losing weight are the same thing
You might be surprised to hear it, but you can lose weight without exercising at all. And, in fact, focusing on getting in shape can derail your weight loss progress, because they’re different goals.
Does this mean you shouldn’t exercise while you’re losing weight? No, of course not. It just means you don’t have to. And there are a variety of reasons why exercising might not be appropriate for you right now, while you’re losing weight.
For example, if you’re currently injured and doing physical therapy, that’s the only exercise you should be doing. If you’ve recently had surgery or are recovering from illness, working out might do you more harm than good. If you haven’t been exercising regularly, trying to jump into a daily routine won’t be sustainable. And if your metabolism is fatigued from overexercise and/or undereating, taking a break from working out could be the best way to restore your balance.
Freeing yourself from the unreasonable expectations of trying to “get in shape” while you’re losing weight can really help you focus and get your goal.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Seven, You have to be hungry to lose weight
Being hungry sometimes isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s great news that your body is sending you hunger signals and that your brain is receiving them (for many women, this communication system has been disrupted through years of ignoring hunger sensations or from the reduced metabolic activity that comes from undereating and/or overexercising).
Where this myth needs to be debunked, though, is in the notion that you need to be hungry all the time, from eating so little that it will somehow “force” your body into losing weight.
Undereating like this is especially problematic for menopausal women, who are at greater risk of metabolic disruption from extremes.
The real truth is that eating in a slight caloric deficit over time won’t produce excessive hunger, but it will result in weight loss. You’ll be hungry at mealtimes, when it’s appropriate to be hungry, but otherwise you’ll be free to simply live your life.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Eight, Hunger makes it hard to lose weight
Hunger gets such a bad rap from diet culture, but I swear it’s a helpful sensation. Hunger is a message from your body that holds really important information for you about the quantity and quality of your food and the timing of your meals.
Rather than trying to ignore it or resist it or avoid it or just hate it because you think it makes weight loss difficult, you can embrace the feeling of hunger and start troubleshooting from a place of curiosity.
Being a little bit hungry at mealtimes is expected, being a lot hungry at all hours of the day means it’s time to adjust something in your routine.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Nine, If you’re eating the right number of calories, your weight will only go down
I don’t think very many people actually believe this myth, but I’m pretty sure every single woman I’ve ever worked with has *wished* this one was true! It would be so, so lovely if weight loss was just a straight linear path from your current weight down to your goal weight.
Alas, your miraculous, complex body is performing billions (with a “b”) of processes every minute of every day, and very few of them are concerned with your weight. All of them do some version of taking in a form of energy, producing whatever it is they’re supposed to produce, and then expelling a form of waste.
Which means that at any given moment, your body is fluctuating in weight based on all of those processes. You are best served to consider your daily weigh ins as information that will show you a downward trend over time.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Ten, You only gain weight from eating too much
Overeating is a common reason for weight gain, but it’s definitely not the only one. For menopausal women especially, undereating and overexercising can create a gain of belly fat. Sleep disruption, dehydration, and emotional stress can also produce weight gain.
When you notice the scale going up, jumping directly to the conclusion that you’re eating too much and slashing your calories even further can be disastrous to your metabolism.
If you take nothing else away from this episode, please hear this: neither weight gain nor weight loss happen solely because of your eating habits. You are a complex organism, and your weight is reliant on several inputs, not just one.
Weight Loss MYTH Number Eleven, Menopause makes weight loss harder
This myth is pretty close to true, but it needs some finessing of the language for it to be more accurate. Menopause makes weight loss different. And there’s a very good chance that your brain perceives different to be harder.
The mechanism for losing weight – believing that you can, eating in a slight caloric deficit over time, and supporting your metabolism – is the same for every human at every age. The difference between now and when you were younger is that you used to believe you could lose weight, you used to be able to go to extremes with your eating and exercising, and your body wasn’t as particular about metabolic support.
Even though these changes aren’t enormous, and you’re every bit as capable of losing weight as you’ve ever been in your life, your brain has trouble accepting change. And this is literally the entire reason I created my weight loss guide for women over 50, and my weight loss life coaching membership, the Get Your GOAL group.
It’s not that your body can’t or won’t lose weight, it’s that you need to get your brain onboard. And I love to help you with that.
We finally made it!
Weight Loss MYTH Number Twelve, Intermittent fasting is the best way to lose weight after 50
Intermittent fasting has been really popular for a few years now, and I absolutely understand the appeal. I mean, you just skip breakfast and lose weight? Sign me up.
Except don’t, because I love breakfast. You know what, though? I also love intermittent fasting, and yes, I do it. ::ahem:: And so do you. It’s called not eating while you’re asleep (or at least in bed). Everybody fasts intermittently.
Which means that it’s definitely not the best way for everybody to lose weight, otherwise we’d all be at our goal. Really quick, though, before you think I’m knocking intermittent fasting, let me tell you that it’s been scientifically proven to help with your HEALTH, so just like eating healthy foods and exercising appropriately, it’s good for you.
But it doesn’t automatically make you lose weight, unless you A.) believe you can, B.) eat in a slight caloric deficit over time, and C.) lovingly support your menopausal metabolism. So, if you’re doing those three things in a 6-, 8-, 10-, or 12-hour window? Yes, it is definitely the best way to lose weight after 50.
My friend, this was so much fun debunking myths today, and I hope it opened your eyes to just how often we all get inundated with half-truths, outdated information, and incomplete advice. Here on the Get Your GOAL podcast, I’m always aiming to offer you the whole brain-body truth about weight loss after menopause. Thanks for listening – I’ll talk to you again soon!
