I hear some version of this from women all the time.
“I haven’t really changed what I’m doing, but my body has changed.”
Recently, I was talking with a woman who described exactly that. She was eating relatively well, exercising and trying to take care of herself, yet she felt like her body had suddenly stopped cooperating. Her weight was shifting, particularly around her middle. She wasn’t sleeping as well. Her energy wasn’t what it used to be. Recovery seemed harder, and despite doing many of the same things she had done for years, they simply weren’t producing the same results.
And then she said something I hear so often: “I guess this is just what happens when we get older.”
But is it?
Our bodies absolutely change as we age. But that doesn’t mean we should simply accept feeling tired, uncomfortable in our bodies or unlike ourselves as an inevitable part of getting older.
Sometimes, we need to understand what has changed so we can change how we support ourselves.
The Same Strategy May Not Work Forever
Think about how many women have spent decades being told that maintaining their weight and health comes down to eating less and exercising more.
So when their body begins changing in their 40s and 50s, what do they do?
Often, they eat even less and exercise even more.
But midlife is a time when maintaining muscle becomes increasingly important. Recovery may take longer. Sleep can become more challenging. Stress can feel different. Our nutritional needs matter. And yes, our changing hormones begin playing a role, too.
The answer isn’t necessarily to push harder. It may be to become more intentional about what we’re asking our bodies to do—and what we’re giving them in return.
Start Looking Beyond the Scale
This ties directly into what I wrote about recently: working hard is only part of the equation.
Strength training matters, but so does adequate protein and nutrition. Movement matters, but so does recovery. What we eat matters, but so do sleep and stress.
And while the number on the scale tends to get most of our attention, it doesn’t tell us how much muscle we’re carrying, how strong we are, how well we’re sleeping, how much energy we have or how our metabolic health is changing.
Maybe our focus in midlife needs to expand beyond simply trying to weigh less.
Are we maintaining muscle? Are we getting stronger? Are we nourishing ourselves enough? Are we sleeping well? Are we recovering? Are we paying attention to changes in energy, mood, digestion and how we feel in our bodies?
Those things matter, too.
This Is Where I Work With So Many Women
Many of the women I work with come to me somewhere in this story. They may initially reach out because of stubborn weight changes, fatigue, poor sleep, digestive issues, brain fog or simply because they don’t feel like themselves anymore.
Sometimes they’ve tried another diet, added more exercise or accumulated a cabinet full of supplements. Sometimes they’ve been told everything looks “normal.”
What I want women to understand is that these changes deserve more than a shrug and, “Well, you’re getting older.”
My approach is to look at the whole person—health history, nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, stress, digestion, metabolic health and, when appropriate, functional lab testing—to begin connecting the pieces.
Because getting older doesn’t mean we stop asking questions about our health.
Our Bodies Change. So Can Our Approach.
I know my body isn’t exactly the same body I had at 30 or 40. I can’t expect it to be.
But rather than fighting that reality, I’m learning to work with it.
Maybe the question isn’t, “Why can’t I get my old body back?”
Maybe a better question is, “What does my body need from me now?”
And for many women, part of answering that question means understanding something we were never taught very much about: what actually happens to our hormones as we move through midlife.
That’s where we’ll go next.
Your Partner in Health,
Reg
