How to Make Weight Loss EASY After Menopause

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Shop Quaker's Good Source of Fiber products at a store near you. Did you know that most people gain weight at one of 3 times in their life? One, early college years. Number 2, when you start having kids in your— for many people in their 30s. And when you're going through menopause, perimenopause, or men, sort of that time of midlife crisis.

And every health condition imaginable, autoimmune disease, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, is tied to weight gain. And so you don't want to be lean and fit just for vanity's sake. You also want to do it so So you can have a long, healthy, productive life. And also for your self-confidence, it's important.

And whether you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, or beyond, your body and metabolism changes as you age. And if you've noticed stubborn body fat, slower energy, and weight gain sort of piling up even though your habits haven't changed, you're not alone. This can happen in certain life stages.

And today I'm going to walk you through and uncover why weight gain happens at different stages of life and the hidden role your hormone and metabolism play and what you can do about it at any age.

I'll also share with you the science-backed strategies, everything from protein and strength training to supplements that actually work, to smart fasting and natural ways to help your hormones work for you in weight loss, not against you. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. You tell yourself no one wants your college-era band tees, but on Depop, people are searching for exactly what you've got.

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Now, I want to walk you through these phases of weight gain and what happens hormonally. But I also want to start off mentioning here that menopause in particular and perimenopause tend to be more dramatic for women. And for men, they go through a hormonal transition called andropause.

And this is where testosterone levels slowly decline, often leading to more belly fat, reduced muscle mass, lower energy, and even mood changes. And studies show that men typically gain about 10 to 25 pounds in midlife, especially if they're sedentary, eating poorly, and drink alcohol regularly.

And both men and women need to pay close attention to how hormones, stress, and lifestyle shift in their midlife if they want to stay healthy and strong. And I want to walk you through the decades of what happens in each decade of life to your metabolism. Now, in your 20s, your metabolism is at its peak, but weight gain comes from this lifestyle.

And here are the big Drinking more alcohol, staying up later at night. You're maybe out on your own now for the first time in college, eating processed foods, less meals at home. Building healthy habits now sets the foundation for these later decades in life. Now listen, we've all heard this term, right? The freshman 15.

So many girls, especially, go off to college, get less active, less home-cooked meals, more alcohol, more staying up late, more stress. From school and they'll gain that weight, right? Pizza and beer is what I remember in college, what people used to say of why, why women, especially in their 20s, were putting on weight. And again, this happens, right? And so it's extra carbs, extra alcohol.

And so the key in your 20s is to adopt healthy lifestyle practices and do things in moderation. Yeah, you may stay up later sometimes, but also get back into a healthy sleep groove. Maybe you are at that point where you're 21, And you have alcohol, hey, have one glass. Don't drink more. Don't overdo it. Don't binge. I think in your 20s, those are some key things.

If that's the case, your metabolism will stay strong. Also, here's another thing I found. A lot of people, both men and women, played high school sports. They get into their 20s, into college, and so they're less active. They're not playing sports as much. They're not in the weight room as much. Adopting those healthy habits. Workout routines. In your 30s, here's what happens.

Muscle mass starts to decline slightly, and careers, kids, and stress make consistent exercise harder. And I would say of all those things, the stress is the biggest thing I see for people in their 30s. You've got kids, stress, it's just busyness. You are busy every moment of the day. So your body gets into a fight or flight state. Cortisol starts to creep up.

And this is also why I see so many women who start to have issues with hypothyroidism. In their 30s. Men start to get prediabetes in their 30s because cortisol goes up. And you know what else goes up with it? Insulin. And when insulin goes up, that throws off estrogen and testosterone and your thyroid hormones, causing those issues.

So in your 30s, the most important thing you can do in order to lose weight— and I'm serious about this— is learn to say no more. Only say yes to the most important things in life, and then have more margin in your life to where you can exercise, you can play with the kids, you can just rest sometimes and have nothing scheduled on a Saturday or a Sunday.

And so I really think stress is the single biggest factor when you get into your 30s of what you need to start really focusing on if you want to lose weight. Now let's talk about your 40s. This is when hormone changes begin, especially so for so many women entering perimenopause, and for men, the gradual testosterone decline, belly fat accumulating. And those harder-to-lose areas.

This is also when your muscle mass starts to go down. I would say in your 40s, staying active is very important. And I would say this is also where supplementing to fill in your gaps— for men, consider taking more herbs, Panax ginseng, ashwagandha, making sure you're getting vitamin D, making sure you're getting magnesium.

For women, make sure you get enough iron, make sure you're getting enough Omega-3s and vitamin D as well. And then taking herbs like Vitex and black cohosh, those are keys as well. Because what happens in your 40s is you start to have— feel a lot of these deficiencies because in your 30s you went so hard. Okay, stress was high, activity was high, you had maybe some burnout.

And so in your 40s, you just start feeling the accumulation of that. So this is where focusing on your diet and supplements, really cleaning and following a diet that's personalized for you, can really be a big game changer. And then In your 50s, this is when these hormonal shifts really accelerate. This is where your metabolism slows significantly and lifestyle choices matter more than ever.

This is where in your 50s you really want to focus on increasing your protein consumption, weight training, and quality sleep is key as well. Protein, weight training, sleep are some things to really focus on in your 50s to balance your hormones.

Now, in this episode, I'm going to continue to break even more specifics and details of how you can lose weight, lose it healthy and fast, 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. But the biggest demographic of people I see gain the most weight statistically are women that are going through perimenopause and menopause. In fact, between 50 to 70% of women gain weight during perimenopause and menopause.

Most women begin to notice changes in their 40s and 50s, starting during perimenopause, which can vary between 7 to 10 years for many women. The average age to begin perimenopause is around 47, but some women start experiencing perimenopause as early as their mid-to-late 30s.

The average woman gains around 6 to 8 pounds during the menopausal transition, depending on lifestyle, genetics, and hormonal factors. Let me say, hey, 8 pounds, that might not seem like that much, but it makes a very, very big difference. Oh, yeah. In your hormonal health. Menopause weight gain is due to declining estrogen and progesterone plus reduced muscle mass. Okay.

So when estrogen and progesterone decline, muscle mass declines. Now your metabolism slows. And so now you're going to gain weight. And so those are some areas that if you are perimenopausal, menopausal, or coming up on that, whether you're 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond, you really need to focus on balancing out. And by the way, more women are gaining weight today than in the past.

Menopause has certain weight-promoting effects, but it's not the only reason for this midlife weight gain. In the general U.S. population, adults gain about 1 to 2 pounds on average per year. And more than 46% of women in the U.S. aged 40 to 60 are considered obese. But it wasn't always this way throughout history, suggesting it's not just about hormones.

In the early 1960s, roughly Only 13% of people were considered obese. This number has more than tripled in the last 60 years alone. Reasons that many women gain weight in midlife include, number one, again, we talked about this, hormonal shifts. And the same goes for men, testosterone declining. But the sharp decline in estrogen during menopause alters how your body stores fat.

And lower estrogen levels increase abdominal fat or visceral fat around your organs. This increases your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. It also slows your metabolic rate. Rate, meaning your body burns fewer calories at rest.

So maybe you're eating the exact same amount of food you've always eaten, and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, over the last 5 years or so I've gained 10 pounds. How did that happen? Your metabolism slowed, your metabolic rate's slower.

Now the other thing that happens is when estrogen and progesterone decline, this disrupts your hunger hormones that also cause you to feel full, like leptin and ghrelin, making cravings harder to manage. And progesterone I want to mention also drops, which can lead to water retention, mood swings, sleep problems, which also indirectly contribute to weight gain.

We know poor sleep causes you to gain weight and cause you to have cravings. Again, water retention. I've had a lot of women also see bags under their eyes or dark circles right now. That's sleep, also water retention. But you notice your puffiness and holding water that's related to progesterone.

And so what this means for you is that in your mid to late 50s through your 60s, you might have a 6 to 8% drop in calorie-burning capacity and burn about 200 fewer calories per day than you did in your 30s. So the reality is, if you have 200 extra calories per day that your body starts storing as fat, you're going to gain an extra— over a few-year period— an extra 5 to 10 pounds.

Now, here's the other thing that starts to happen, too, for a lot of people. A poor diet and high alcohol intake. Diets high in sugar and refined carbs. And by the way, I see this in so many parents. It's like, hey, maybe when they were single or even had younger kids, they held But then your kids get to elementary school and junior high and high school and you're on the go so much.

You're going from soccer practice and here and here. You live a fast-paced life and so you turn to fast food and you turn to quick and easy snacks. Now, the reality is an apple and an orange and celery and almond butter is just as fast and easy, but for some reason it just feels easier to DoorDash or pick up quick all these snacks and have them on hand. They don't go bad. They last a long time.

And so sometimes you end up eating what your kids ate. That happens as well. So a diet high in sugar and refined carbohydrates, what does that do? Well, it increases inflammation, insulin resistance. These are 2 key drivers of this midlife weight gain. And also, did you know that alcohol consumption in midlife can also contribute to weight gain, especially when it exceeds several drinks per week?

I'll give you an example of this. I recently talked to a woman, had a patient, And I asked her about how she was drinking. By the way, this is one of many, many, many. And she said, yeah, I have about a glass of wine every night. And then on the weekends, maybe 2 glasses on the weekends. Guys, that's a lot of alcohol. One glass every night and several glasses on the weekends.

Now listen, if you're in Europe and you're retired and you're active all day and walking, you have zero stress in your life, You may actually get away with that much alcohol. I'm not saying that's even ideal or the healthiest thing. It's not. But your body might get away with it because stress is so low. Your liver can function so highly.

You're walking 10+ miles a day, so you might get away with it. But in the Western world, in the United States, when you are living in a high-stress environment and you're drinking every single day, your body will start to have something called fatty liver disease, and that will also cause something called insulin resistance and make you very, very sick. By the way, alcohol has calories.

Not only the carbohydrate calories, but alcohol does turn into extra calories in your body. Every drink contains about 100 to even more than 200 calories, especially a lot of the drinks today. So just know this. That's another big one. And listen, it is not healthy to drink every single day.

Now listen, if you have one glass of red wine or two over the weekend or something like that, or one or two nights a week, for most people, you'll get away with that just fine. But every single day drinking alcohol is a major burden to your liver. It's extra calories and will cause you to gain weight, as well.

Studies show the risk of obesity is 70% higher among those who drink the most compared to the least. Excessive alcohol consumption— and that's really more than 5 drinks per week— is also the 3rd leading cause of premature death in the United States behind smoking and obesity. Did you hear that? More than 5 drinks per week. Okay. Third leading cause of premature death in the United States.

So we know alcohol is very, very hard on the body when it's done every day or even every other day. And again, the studies show, hey, if it's 1 or 2 days a week, you have 1 glass, that's not going to be that harmful. But where it's a habit and part of your everyday diet, it's not healthy. And the other thing, as I mentioned, is part of it is your lifestyle.

The European lifestyle is so much more stress-free compared to the lifestyle in the United States, and throwing alcohol on top of it just causes you to gain more and more and more weight. Again, think about that— 70% higher risk of obesity amongst those who drink the most.

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If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. Okay, the number 4 reason why waking is so common in your midlife is high stress levels. Cortisol, a stress hormone, often starts to rise during this time, especially if you're juggling— think about all that. Like, I'm thinking about what my parents dealt with in their midlife, okay?

They had to deal with 3 kids. So, they're dealing with kids. That's a lot in and of itself. A full-time career. Both my parents worked full-time. Aging parents. And then volunteering in all kinds of different things. And then emotional stress. All of these things adding up of caring not only for yourself, but kids, parents, a full-time career. All of those things leads to— Burnout.

Chronically high cortisol. This is linked to increased belly fat, sugar cravings, blood sugar instability, and a higher risk of obesity and insulin resistance. And this is why I said this earlier. This is so key. Learn to say no more. If you're a people pleaser, this is going to be the hardest thing for you. But learn to say no more. Say no to the good and only say yes to the great.

I'll share this for me in my life. Like Chelsea and I are very conscious of, like, we cannot spend time with everybody. We cannot say yes to everything. And so we look at our calendars and also say, okay, what does our best life look like? What does it look long-term, 25 years from now? What does our best life look like for this year in this season of life right now?

And for us, I think we're very conscious of eternity, of glorifying God with our lives. And so first and foremost, we're thinking about how do we store up treasures in heaven and how do we raise up kids that are Christlike? And how do we How do we become more like Christ ourselves and love God, love people, make earth a heavenly place? How do we do that?

Okay, so that's the lens of which we see life through and saying, okay, so what do we need to say yes and no to? Well, okay, number one, we need to spend time together as a couple. Okay. Weekly date nights, couple date nights, just getting one-on-one time with Chelsea and I growing spiritually together. So, okay, let's block out some of that time. Next, it's our kids.

Well, what do we want my daughter Arwen— she's 5— what do we want her to be great at? Well, we think she's gifted at swimming. We think gymnastics is really good for her right now, learning body awareness. We actually just put her in jiu-jitsu. Those are the 3 things we're going to do 3 days a week or 4 days a week and we're going to invest in those.

And then, hey, we want to do a lot of family meals together. We're going to do a Saturday brunch or breakfast. Every Saturday, gather as a family. We're going to go to church together on Sundays. And so we really plan out what are the family vacations. We really focus on Family first in that way, God and family.

And then it's, okay, who are the people in our life we feel like God has called us to spend time with by iron sharpens iron with? Okay, let's spend some time with those people. And then what are some things we can say yes to? And then we just need to say no to literally every other thing. Everything else we need to say no to. And that's really hard.

And I think for some of us, you just, we kind of let life just kind of guide us where it guides us. And we just say yes to kind of everything that comes across our plate until our schedule is literally so full. Here's what I see in most people. Your schedule is literally slam-packed from the moment you wake up in the morning till the moment you go to bed.

And every night it just feels like you're crashing. And then even on the weekends, you're filling it up with something. And then you go on vacation and you think, okay, I'm going to have a vacation. I'm going to come back less tired. Did you know a recent study came out that just said that It takes the average person, nearly 3— like adult— 3 days to recover from a family vacation.

So you think you're going to come back rested from your family vacation, and instead the early part of the work week you are absolutely exhausted. And then we wonder why we're gaining weight in our midlife and cortisol levels are so high. And then now we have hypothyroidism or low testosterone and hormone imbalance. This is a major driving factor. And cortisol levels often rise during menopause.

Especially in women with risk factors like these specific things: sleep disturbances, emotional stress, financial trouble. This is big for men and women, right? Finances are starting to get crunched. Any sort of abuse or unhealthy relationships, high alcohol intake, and existing health issues. That's another one that happens I see with so many people.

You're in your 40s or 50s, all of a sudden you have a health problem come on. Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Lyme disease, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, chronic pain. You hurt your back and now you've got this medical condition that's impacting every single thing you do.

Do you know that these medical conditions often, like even back pain, has been shown to keep your body in a fight or flight response because your body's like, okay, you've got this injured area, I've got to constantly protect it. That keeps cortisol high as well. So all of these things start to pile up. On the body.

And studies show that women with higher levels of cortisol usually have larger waist circumferences according to the medical studies as well. So you gain weight and of course then your hips and your midsection start to grow.

Now here's another big one and part of it is due to— and let me just say this, I think the root of some of these issues is the stress and the saying yes to everything and not having enough margin and downtime and prioritizing in your life. Scheduling things you love to do to build peace. I bring this up Yeah. I bring this up very, very consistently because I think it's such a big deal.

Like, as a father, for me, seeing my daughters, I want them to work hard, but I also love seeing them play hard. I love seeing them giggle and laugh and run and just love their life. Think about your Heavenly Father in heaven who looks down and loves you more than I even love my girls. He loves you unconditionally. Do you think he wants to see you stressed out Miserable, hurting all the time?

No, because that would break my heart for my girls and it would break his heart for you. And we want to live in alignment with— God wants you to have the best life possible and will help you align that sort of life. But you need to learn to say no to life and yes to him, or no to all of these extra things. And a lot of times we say yes to everything because we try— because we have a God complex.

It's pride. We feel like, well, I can make a difference there. I can do this. We need to learn to say, No more. And yes to only those things that really matter. And you need to schedule time for fun and recovery. Number 5, not enough exercise. Only about 17% of midlife women meet physical activity guidelines, which, by the way, are not even that high.

And this contributes to the challenge of maintaining a healthy weight. Many menopausal women don't exercise consistently and have low muscle mass, which naturally declines as you age. And this reduces a woman's metabolic engine. Did you know the more muscle you have, The higher your metabolism is, the more calories you burn.

So this is why I always tell women, listen, do cardio 1 or 2 days a week, but really your biggest focus should be weight training. If you have a choice between weight training and cardio, choose weight training every single time.

Now, if you have 3 days a week to total and work out, maybe do 2 days of weights and 1 day of cardio, or you start with weights and that last 10 to 15 minutes you do cardio. That's ideal for most men and women both. And a lot of women's statistics starting in their 40s, lose up to 5% of total muscle mass each decade, especially without consistent exercise.

That's like half a pound of muscle a year. That's a lot of muscle that your body's losing. And so weight training becomes so beneficial there. And then here's another big one, lack of sleep. Inadequate sleep disrupts appetite hormones such as ghrelin, so you feel hungrier.

Have you ever noticed that if you kind of got only 4 hours of sleep at night, or you were driving, or something happened where you got very little sleep, and you were so hungry that next morning? Morning or day. That's because it was like your body said, okay, I'm switching off your hunger hormones and you're hungrier. It will cause you to gain more weight.

And sleep disruption is another one of those things that can happen during perimenopause and menopause and andropause for men. So when you're in your midlife, when your hormones start to change, well, that impacts melatonin, which is also a hormone, which is what allows you to sleep at night and get in that deep state of sleep.

And so what happens then when you get less sleep, your chance of weight gain goes up dramatically. In fact, one study found That menopausal women who slept fewer than 5 hours a night had a 32% increased risk of major weight gain. Not a little weight, major weight gain with getting less sleep.

Another study found that adults who slept for just 5.5 hours a night compared to 8.5 hours were 31% less active and significantly more sedentary and therefore more obese. And one other important thing to note is this body fat that starts to accumulate in midlife is known as visceral fat.

It's fat that is around your abdomen, and it's metabolically active and releases inflammatory cytokines, which means it's going to cause systemic inflammation throughout your entire body. This is also why you might notice is that not only did you gain 5 pounds or 10 pounds, but you hurt. You feel lethargic. You just feel sort of like your joints don't feel good.

You're, uh, you feel sluggish all the time. And then again, you might notice conditions popping up like Prediabetes or type 2 diabetes or other major hot flashes or just weakness and lack of motivation, all those— lack of libido, all those things add up.

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Here's number 1: increase your protein intake. Protein preserves muscle mass and revs up your metabolism. It also helps you stay fuller for longer and boost thermogenesis, your body's ability to, to burn fat.

And according to medical studies, As you age, and especially get into your 50s, your protein intake should actually increase and your total calories should go down a little bit, about 10% as well. You want to aim for about 30 grams of protein per meal at least. And what I would say, like, I'll share for myself what I try and do.

I'm 44 and I've got a dad who's 75, and what we try and do— so we will try and eat 4 times a day. One meal is mostly just protein and it's around when we work out. So I will eat breakfast. And I will get maybe about 40 grams of protein. Okay. And then I will work out and then I will get about 40 grams of protein about 2 hours later.

And then about 2 hours after that, I'll eat lunch, get 40 grams of protein, about 40 grams of protein for dinner. So I will get around 160 grams of protein per day. That's what I personally try and get, which is just about probably 0.9% for my body weight in terms of— so you want to eat between Probably 0.7 and 1 total grams of protein per pound of body weight. So this is for pounds.

So that's about what you want to do. But really aim for about that 30— and even women— 30 grams of protein per meal. That might be 1 big scoop of protein powder or 1.5 scoops and even some collagen on top of it. And then a chicken breast. So a full serving of protein per meal. And then 1 extra a day, especially those days that you work out. That's sort of ideal for most people.

You want to emphasize proteins like wild-caught fish like salmon, pastured eggs, bone broth, organic chicken, grass-fed beef. A randomized trial found that postmenopausal women consuming a higher protein hypocaloric diet, so high protein, moderate to lower calorie, preserved about 45% more lean muscle tissue compared to lower protein diets. So 45%, that is huge. 45% More protein preserved. Wow.

Via a high protein diet. There was another study that saw that women who consumed just literally 0.54, so just a little bit more than half their body weight in grams of protein daily. So this would be about like, let's say you weighed 150 pounds. Okay. The women that weighed 150 pounds or let's say 145 pounds and they consumed 25 grams of protein 3 times a day. Okay.

They did that over 6 months and those women lost 10% of their body weight. So that's like 14 pounds over a 6-month period of time with 40% of the lean muscle preserved while maintaining physical performance. So overall, they're saying that's one of the best weight loss strategies you could ever have. That's why this is number 1. Consume more protein, more protein, more protein, more protein. Okay.

More protein. That is one of the greatest ways you can lose weight, build muscle, and boost your metabolism. Number 2, focus on whole foods. Diets like the Mediterranean diet, the Biblio diet, which is a biblical diet, or Whole30. Doing diets where you're eating a lot of real food, this is a key to losing weight.

If you're following a biblical diet, you're eating a lot of grass-fed beef, you're doing pomegranates and figs and extra virgin olive oil, maybe a little sourdough bread, some nuts and seeds. You know, that sort of diet. Fish. Or a Mediterranean diet, very similar. Fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, olive oil, nuts.

Those sort of diets eating a lot of meat, fruits, and vegetables, and then sprinkling in some other things like olive oil, those are the diets where people lose the most weight. Now, there are certain diets like carnivore and ketogenic and others that work for a period of time. Those are not good long-term diets for weight loss.

Are diets that are good in the short term for medical conditions, but overall they are not good long-term diets for weight loss. If you want to lose weight the right way and feel great, follow a biblical diet like the Biblio Diet. Follow a Mediterranean diet. Those are the diets that are most effective. Number 3, add in strength training and at the end of it cardio.

Muscle is your metabolism's best friend. The best thing you can do is eat more protein and part of that protein, have a whole food-based diet. Lots of meat, fruits, and vegetables. And then do regular strength training. And if you can as well, do a little bit of cardio as well.

One study found women who stayed physically active daily were nearly 50% less likely to report bothersome hot flashes in studies compared to those who actively declined. So listen, exercise even balances your hormones. Less hot flashes, 50% less. That's significant. And so here is a very, very basic way this could look like, okay? At the bare minimum of what you should be doing.

Let's say you're going to work out 3 days a week. Weight train for 2 days a week. One day, do an intense cardio session. On the other days, just try and walk, or you can fit it in, get on a bicycle and cycle some. It might look like this. You're going in and doing 45 minutes of weights, and then you're ending with 10-15 minutes of cardio. So, you go in 1 hour, 3 days a week.

And one day, you do a longer cardio session. And then the other days, again, you try and walk an hour a day, 7,000 steps, something like that. You try and walk hills. Maybe you put on a weight vest and walk or something. But generally, you just walk. Walk more. Maybe one day a week you get on a bike and spin around and go around the neighborhood. But that's all it takes.

It doesn't take you going in an hour or 2 hours every single day being a gym buff. A few days a week can make such a big difference. Listen, if you don't know how to work out properly, I'd encourage you to go get a trainer one day a week. Sometimes after that, maybe you can just see them once a month or you're good to go after that.

But there are benefits of getting started with a trainer for them to show you a proper program. But the reality is this. All of us should be walking at least 30 to 40 minutes every single day. Number 4 way to lose weight and lose fast is this: cut back on sugar and alcohol. Reducing both of these helps balance blood sugar, reduce bloating, and support hormonal health.

Alcohol impairs liver detox, and that's essential for estrogen clearance. Stick to no more than several drinks per week. Like I said, more than 5 is where we see people really, really fall off the deep And get incredibly— again, increases the risk of death dramatically. So again, if it's 1 or 2 glasses a week, um, you're probably going to be fine, okay?

But more than that, it's making you sick, okay? Sugar spikes insulin, making fat loss harder. So cut out the extra desserts, the snacks, the sweetened dairy, and the Frappuccinos from Starbucks, and any sugary drinks. Let me show you one thing I've had some patients do and what I'll do myself if I'm really craving something sweet. I'll have a few squares of dark chocolate. That works for me.

Here's another one. I'll put some coconut milk in with a scoop of chocolate protein powder and chocolate collagen powder, and I'll make myself— and maybe put in a pinch of dark chocolate or cinnamon, and I will drink that like a shake, like a protein shake. And that really satisfies my sweet tooth. And then that's extra protein that's going to help your metabolism.

So if you've got a little bit of a sweet tooth, a little dark chocolate, Chocolate or a protein smoothie. And you could do— coconut milk would be the best because you're less likely to burn it as fat compared to other fats, or just water. But water or coconut milk with chocolate protein powders or vanilla protein powders, uh, that's a great way to lose weight and satisfy your sweet tooth.

Now, for some people, intermittent fasting works. I found this more men than women. You may consider doing some fasting. If so, I would say listen to your body and see what works for you. For a lot of people, I think just, just really, uh, eating within 10-hour window, you eat a later breakfast around 8 or 9, you eat lunch around noon or 1, and an early dinner around 5, that can be great.

Or if you're going to do just 2 meals, just do lunch and dinner. You skip breakfast. Maybe you just do your— Now let me say, if you are going to intermittent fast, this isn't technically intermittent fasting, but I think this works for some. One option is just do protein in your tea or coffee for breakfast and then eat lunch. I don't like for people to typically skip their protein.

For the most part. Okay, you can narrow your window— your eating window and do a type of intermittent fasting where you're only eating for 10 hours and then you're fasting for 14. That can work. But then still try and get 30, 40 grams of protein in the morning, and that works for a lot of people as well.

You know, one study in the Journal of Midlife Health showed that time-restricted eating reduced body fat, blood pressure, and oxidative stress, all key concerns for postmenopausal women. But again, you have to do it that very specific way that I just shared with you. The CDC now estimates that 1 in every 3 adults has prediabetes.

The signs are there long before a diagnosis, things like constant fatigue, stubborn belly fat, sugar cravings, brain fog, frequent urination, and increased thirst. And these are all symptoms of insulin resistance, the root cause behind most cases of prediabetes. And the good news is, cases of type 2 diabetes. Now, here's the good news.

This condition is completely reversible with the right diet, lifestyle, and healing herbs. And if you or someone you love is struggling with blood sugar issues, head over to draxdiabetesclass.com to watch a free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms. That's draxdiabetesclass.com. To take back control of your health today.

Now, a few other ways you can support weight loss in all phases of life. By the way, everything I shared with you, this is very effective for menopause, very effective for andropause, or when men are losing testosterone. But these tips are also effective in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 90s, and beyond.

One other thing that some people miss when it comes to weight loss is the importance of supporting Supporting your hormone detoxification. The liver and the gut are responsible for processing and eliminating excess estrogen and hormone metabolites and for the conversion of your T4 thyroid hormone to your T3 hormone, the most active, impactful hormone when it comes to your thyroid health.

And when these pathways are sluggish, your symptoms get worse. Here's some things Things that help. Do a lot of steamed vegetables. Again, steamed, not raw, steamed. Steamed green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach. Steamed cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, arugula. Bok choy is amazing. Dandelion tea and milk thistle tea are also great for liver support.

I do a lot of milk— I do a lot of dandelion tea myself for this. And then magnesium and methylated B vitamins. Okay. Vitamins also aid liver detoxification. So all of those together. But again, really the key here is do a lot of steamed vegetables, okay? You could dip them in hummus, a little sea salt and olive oil. Um, those are great for your body there in detoxification.

And then the supplements— some of the best supplements are for reducing stress. I really like ashwagandha and rhodiola for cortisol balance. For blood Berberine is my absolute favorite. Also adding a lot of cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon, or pumpkin pie spice, which has both cinnamon and ginger. That's amazing for your blood sugar.

In fact, one thing you could do in the morning is you could just have for breakfast 40 grams of protein, 1 big scoop, like 20 to 30 grams of a, let's say, an organic plant protein, another 20 grams of a bone broth or collagen or some sort of collagen-based protein, and then add in 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. That's amazing. That is amazing for your blood sugar. Amazing.

Okay, you could do that in the mornings there as well. And then for some of you, if you were trying to put on more muscle, creatine would be great. Creatine, 1 gram to 5 grams daily, along especially those days you're working out. The last factor I want to talk about with weight loss is the power of mindset and your spiritual health.

Studies show that women with positive attitudes towards menopause experience fewer symptoms Less depression and greater quality of life. So less symptoms, less hot flashes, less weight gain. So if you view menopause as a time in your life where you're growing in wisdom, you're moving into a new stage of life where you're mentoring and leading more and helping grow up heroes, you're the guide now.

That allows you to have a healthier metabolism and gain less weight. Think about that, just a more positive mindset. So when you're aging, men, as you're aging, women, as you're aging and going through your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, have that attitude. And by the way, this is less common in the Western world.

If you go to the Eastern world, areas like Japan, somebody aging, there's a level of respect and honor to those people. Think about this. Japan has 95,000 centenarians. There is greater honor and respect in those cultures compared to the Western world, in Europe, in the United States, in Australia, in these areas of the world. There's less respect and honor. Honor as we age.

You should view yourself and others as you're aging with more respect, more honor, and knowing that that mind frame as well, that menopause is not a negative thing. This is a blessing in terms of you stepping into a time of life where you now get to impart your wisdom and impact others in a more powerful way. Now listen, it's not fun aging. More aches, more pains.

Again, challenging hormonal issues. But there's a Bible verse that comes to mind. God uses all things for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purposes. So God will use it for good.

Your challenges, what you're going through, I believe that these hormonal changes maybe allow you to have a greater sense of calmness and being able to maybe pass on certain knowledge and things like that to a younger generation. So I would think about it like that as well.

And same thing, listen, if you're in your 20s or 30s and you see If you see somebody who's in their 50s, 60s, and they're working out, bravo! I mean, I am always, when I'm at the gym working out, or I see somebody who's in their 70s— like, my dad's 75, still water skis 3 days a week and weight trains 2 to 3 days a week. Like, my dad's 75 and super fit.

Mark Sisson, a friend of mine, he's 71, started Primal Kitchen. He was on here. He lives now in Franklin, Tennessee. I saw him at the gym 2 weeks ago. And I was like, man, Mark, I'm so impressed. You are incredibly fit. Fit and he's still running, playing Ultimate Frisbee. But I honor that and love that they are in the gym, they're working out, they're active, they're playing with their grandkids.

That's amazing. It's amazing. So when you see that and you're in your teens or 20s or 30s, honor that and tell them. Tell those people, encourage them of what an inspiration they are to you. But we want to change that sort of mindset as we age. And I'll also say this, one of the greatest ways to reduce the stress Yes.

And have a more positive mindset is to spend more time with God, more time reading your Bible, more time listening to Christian music, more time going to church, more time doing things with a sense of purpose and connecting with the divine, lower stress. And also, it's not just about this life, it's about eternity.

So I know we're talking about weight loss here, but there is a level of why would you want to lose weight? Because you want to live your best life possible. We all want to get to the end of our life and say we ran a good race, we had the biggest impact we could possibly have.

And so prioritizing spiritual practices like prayer, gratitude, meditation, attending religious services, serving others is so impactful for our hormones, for weight loss, but even more than that, having our most impactful life possible. And know this, you can lose You can lose weight at any stage of life, especially if you follow the advice I just shared. You can lose weight and lose it fast.

Listen, I remember my mom when she had cancer. We weren't even trying to have her lose weight and she lost 18 pounds in 30 days. And I've had patients who have lost— I had one guy who lost 180 pounds, many who have lost over 100 pounds. So just know if you're struggling with, let's say, a 20-pound weight gain, you need to to lose that 20 pounds.

A lot of times it's your hormones kind of working against you. But if you make those flips and switches that I walk you through, I think you'll be shocked at just how fast and how— and in, in, in a really healthy manner, you can lose a lot of weight. And not only, not only will you lose the weight, you'll have more confidence, you'll have more energy.

Whatever disease or medications you're on, you'll likely be able to reverse those conditions, get off the medications. I mean, you will feel younger, you'll look younger, you'll be like a different person. And you can do that with a few of those simple steps.

I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show, where every week I'm diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal and live your best life physically, mentally, and spiritually. Make sure to subscribe, like, and share.

And by the way, I've had some of my episodes shadowbanned because we've been talking about a lot of things regarding how to heal from things like cancer. We've talked about the truth of the dangers of medications, and I've even been very outspoken about people like RFK Jr. and a number of other people.

So make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single thing, because some of the videos might not be showing up in your feed because we're talking about things that are transforming your life but also can be somewhat controversial. So don't forget to subscribe. It's also the number one thing you can do to support the show. Also like and share.

There are so many people out there who are trying to lose weight doing these fad diets that don't work. They're getting sicker versus if they know the truth of, hey, more protein. More detoxifying estrogen with a few of these types of foods and supplements, those things help. Thanks for watching. I'll see you on the next episode.