By Debra Atkinson
4.5
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The podcast currently has 855 episodes available.
What you don’t know about GPL-1 drugs may hurt you, or your opportunity to improve your health. Misconceptions could limit your ability to make an informed decision about whether they’re right for you.
Whether you’re someone considering these medications for your own health or a fitness professional trying to better understand how they fit into the broader health landscape, this episode will offer valuable insights on what you don’t know about GPL-1. We’re not having a persuasive argument here. Instead, we want to provide a balanced and nuanced discussion, offering you the information needed to make a well-rounded decision.
We are opening up the conversation again with a physician who's been using GLP-1 for a long time. She’s sharing what she’s seen and experienced and if you’re a health and fitness professional, stay tuned as we have something special for you too.
My Guest:
Dr. Tami Meraglia MD is a leader in Functional Medicine specializing in Hormones, Weight Loss and non-surgical facial rejuvenation. She is the best selling author of The Hormone Secret, published by Simon and Schuster, has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox, ABC, NBC and many podcasts and summits as a health expert. She lectures nationally and internationally and is the Medical Director of BioThrive Life that offers personalized medical programs in person in Seattle and virtually across the USA.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Dr. Tami:
https://www.biothrivelife.com/
On Social:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Flipping 50 believes each woman is unique.
That said, we favor fed exercise over fasted exercise when it is intense. That is, high intensity interval training, or strength training with the intent of preserving lean muscle mass and avoiding frailty or fragility occur within the eating window and ideally bookended by protein consumption if for muscle or bone mass.
We do acknowledge that exercise may “feel hard” when exercise is performed fasted giving the perception of “working hard.”
However, we suggest based on research and 4 decades of primary observation, women actually exercise harder related to their capacity for exercise when fueled. That is, they will go faster if being timed, go further within a timed test, lift more weight or perform more reps to muscular fatigue.
Fasted Exercise Pros and Cons During PerimenopauseA 27% muscle loss has been reported between early and late stage perimenopause. This is most likely due to multifactors: insomnia disrupting anabolic hormones and together with other signs and symptoms of menopause interfering with desire to workout, as well as a drop in estrogen, testosterone and growth hormone levels, and an increase in cortisol levels.
This is an important consideration when looking at fat loss vs lean muscle gain and priorities. Mitigating potential loss of muscle is a critical factor in aging well and overall metabolic health.
What Science Says
Some studies (review of literature) suggest that before prolonged exercise, fueling provides more benefit but before short exercise, results are inconclusive. A 2013 study on sumo wrestlers eating a ultra high calorie, 50% fat diet burned more fat after exercise done fasted. However, we’ve got to consider…. How like you are that? Extremely high calorie and 50% fat? In almost the same time frame, college women were fed vs fasted in exercise and showed no difference. Their diets probably reflected at least a little closer to yours and their hormone profiles also at least slightly more like you.
The problem is, few studies about fasting and exercise exist on midlife or postmenopausal women.
Women who are at risk for accelerated muscle and strength losses.
In studies for the last 10 years, fasted vs fed with the same hypocaloric diet there was no difference in increased fat loss due to fasted vs fed.
I hear comments from women who believe they are burning fat for fuel when they’ve fat-adapted, however, without measuring this, we don’t know it to be true. The crossover is only visible when you’re measuring in a lab. It would mean that at the same speed and intensity previously (watts) you were burning fat vs carbs for fuel. We can see that in clinical lab testing during progressive exercise testing using stages. Your cardiovascular fitness level may also improve meaning for the same speed your heart rate isn’t as elevated. That’s another way to hypothesize you’re burning more fat for fuel at higher levels.
I want to remind you that at a certain point we all cross over. If you’re “working hard” in high intensity interval training you are NOT burning fat during. You’re burning a lower percent of fat for fuel during. Because you’re burning calories - that is your energy expenditure is higher - you are still burning more fat.
Your goal is not to burn a high percent of fat for fuel during.. Or you’re doing that best at rest.
The data is not there to support higher fat burning during HIIT fasted. It’s not there to support higher fat burning after HIIT if fasted.
What seems most important is a hypocaloric diet, performing optimal exercise intensity for energy expenditure. And resistance training improves post workout FFA circulation most compared to HIIT.
To support anabolic response to strength training, especially for women when more prone to anabolic resistance, fed exercise makes the most sense.
Fasted Exercise Pros and Cons with Obese Women
For women who can’t seem to lose fat weight, and are in good adrenal health, after employing a foundation of high protein, 3 meals no snacks, fasting at least 12 hours overnight, extending the fast and testing can help shake a plateau.
The approach needs to be unique to individual needs and goals to lose fat weight and gain lean muscle mass. It may need to be addressed step by step to first improve metabolic health (blood lipids, blood pressure, insulin, glucose), with close observations on skeletal muscle to determine success.
For other women though, recomposition is best addressed by focus on gaining lean muscle mass and not slowing progress. We do know strength can be gained during fasting, at least in the beginning. Muscle mass doesn’t improve during fasted exercise.
Again, important to remember, the research featuring women in menopause and post, with anabolic resistance is minimal. Anabolic resistance is the resistance to gaining lean muscle mass. Basically, the older we get the more you have to work for it.
So, if you focus on losing fat, you may also lose lean muscle if you’re doing it by fasting. Like many things including exercise, the solution may be cycling fasting duration with alternating periods of time (weeks/months) with primary focus on muscle gains vs fat loss.
But the one constant should be monitoring your personal results. Is your lean muscle mass going up or down? Is your body fat going up or down? Is your gut health/digestion/elimination improving?
To Unpack Your Personal Fasted Exercise Pros and Cons, PrioritizePrioritize goals:
Longevity (autophagy)
Avoidance of frailty, fragility
Improvement of balance and stability
Increase in bone density
Gut health
Emotional eating/relationship with food
Consuming inadequate fuel can make women store more fat. It may depend on whether you are in perimenopause vs postmenopause. According to Stacy Sims, it’s the hypothalamus related to the kisspeptin hormone. Thyroid hormone gets down-regulated within a short period of a few days.
You feel like you’re exercising “hard.” But you’re not necessarily exercising to your capacity. You’re simply struggling. It’s not the same as a quality intensity workout.
If you’re more athletic, you want to do more endurance or more peak performance, the more you have low calories while taxing your system.
Increasing protein without changing anything, even without exercise, body fat loss will be facilitated within 3 months.
For women who struggle with dieting or a history restrictive eating or binge-purging, using a time restricted eating window can be complicated by the desire to also restrict calories. The low fuel intake means low micronutrient intake. Frequent testing would be extremely beneficial for women who also ideally will monitor their skeletal muscle mass, body fat percent and blood glucose levels on a daily/weekly basis.
For extremely active women, fasted exercise reflects poorer performance:
Resources:
Smart Scales:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/flipping50/list/GFTU3QXMJ07G?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_aipsfflipping50_7CD0CBB5VP0Q08ZGZ7JF
Dr. Mindy Pelz:
https://www.youtube.com/@DrMindyPelz
5 Day Flip:
https://www.flippingfifty.com/5-day-challenge-new/
References:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Intermittent fasting can be very sexy. But does it help or sabotage emotional eating? Some emotional eating experts we’ve hosted have strong feelings about intermittent fasting and those who have emotional eating anchoring their relationship with food have a strong aversion to it.
In this episode we tap into, if intermittent fasting, how, and how not to potentially.
My Guest:
Laurie Lewis, Wellness Coach, shares how to maintain exceptional self-care while dealing with life's complicated and fast-paced circumstances.
By using Intermittent Fasting, Laurie encourages the chance to break free from diet models, connect with the body’s inner intelligence and experience improvements in every aspect of life.
With an eating window every day for seven years, now at 61 years old, Laurie’s biological age (at the cellular level) of 40 years old. From her menopausal struggles to vibrant health serves as an inspiration, embodying the potential for profound change through Intermittent Fasting.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Laurie:
On Social:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Resources:
My post menopause workout has been working. Let me say that first. I’m lean, as lean as I comfortably want to be, and my muscle remains high, I’m not losing it. If anything, I’ve gained more in the last 2 years as I bumped intensity and recovery in my routine. By that, I mean more volume in my workouts but also more recovery time between sessions. It’s about being smart with rest as much as it is with pushing through the actual workouts.
Recovery time between strength sessions by the way isn’t just a lazy couch potato time. It's an active recovery. I’m doing sprint intervals, agility drills, mobility work, and lots of walking or hiking. These kinds of activities help me stay conditioned, keep my metabolism going, and ensure that my body remains strong.
But in doing it, I’ve also had the opportunity to see my readiness score soar. Meaning, I’m ready for a high quality workout. I'm primed for high-quality sessions. That readiness translates into better results over time.
Some accidental discoveries have made me question if I was assuming what worked for me was the BEST for me.
So here I am, using the last 90 days of 2024 to testing and experimenting and sharing it all with you.
Questions We Answer In this Episode:
I’ll update you on my progress via social media - most often in short stories on Instagram. For a longer video, I’ll summarize it on the podcast. So if you prefer audio you have it and if you want to see a little more demonstration of exercises to help illustrate the video, you’ll have it in the YouTube video which will be short. And we’ll do a cheat sheet for you.
My Post Menopause Workout: Total Body
Walking or 10 minutes of brief interval walk/run
Walking lunges, lunge matrix, spyders, light core engagement
3 sets each wall sit and single leg Squat
5 sets of leg press in a monster/drop set
5 super sets of chest,
5 sets bent over row with a dynamic balance exercise
5 sets of triceps
3 sets of biceps
4 sets of lat pull downs
5 sets of ham curls
3 sets of limited ROM leg extensions
Total of 38 sets
Notes:
First, it ties me to the gym. which I’m not a huge fan of. I love my flexible schedule and need it.
So for the first two weeks here’s how I did the FLIP. In baby steps.
I took a gradual approach, starting with one total body workout, similar to the plan I’ve outlined. After that, I introduced one upper body-only workout and one lower body-only workout each week. This change bumped up my total workout time by about 1.5 hours per week, which allowed me to add more sets and volume to each session. Each of the upper and lower body workouts required additional time because to ensure I was doing enough sets for each muscle group, I had to expand the time spent on both.
So here’s what each day looked like.
My Post Menopause Workout: Split Routine
Leg Day looked like this: (not including warm up because that stayed relatively the same)
6 sets Leg press monster
5 sets hamstring curls
5 sets limited ROM leg extension
5 sets Side lunges
5 sets single leg squats
3 sets of seated calf raises
5 sets hip thrusts
Total of 34 sets
Upper Body Day looked like this:
2 sets of Chest Fly and push up
5 sets Chest Press superset with
5 sets Bent Over row
5 sets Lat pulldown with
5 sets biceps curls
5 sets of triceps supersets (a super set)
4 sets shoulder exercises (a super set)
3 sets Cable row alternate with
3 sets 1 minute hang
Total of 37 sets
During Month Two, I will switch things up considerably.
Instead of one total body day and a mix of upper and lower, I’ll be doing two leg days and two upper body days each week. I can tell you right now that this will be hard. This shift is going to be tough, and I already know it. The challenge won’t just be physical—it’s also about finding the time and energy. I have a busy schedule, so the commitment to consistently hit these sessions will be a challenge.
Balancing workouts with work and personal life is tricky. Being tied to having to go to the gym or even just getting a workout at home is hard. Since I work at home, I try to get out unless I’m shooting videos or tight on time.
The other challenge is timing. My days start early and sometimes can stretch into the evening, go late and I don’t do high intensity work late in the day. But, if you’re someone who prefers evening workouts or if that’s the only time you have, go for it! Make your schedule work for you. The only thing to keep in mind is that evening workouts can shoot your adrenaline up, which might make falling asleep a little bit harder.
Resources:
Discovery Call: https://www.flippingfifty.com/wellness-coaching-for-life/
Ultimate Assessment: https://www.flippingfifty.com/store/coaching-programs/private-coaching-90-min/
Other Episodes You Might Like:.
5 Menopause Workout Tips from Recent Exercise Studies: https://www.flippingfifty.com/menopause-workout-tips/
Your Perimenopause Workout vs Your Post Menopause Workout: https://www.flippingfifty.com/post-menopause-workout/
What They Don’t Teach Women About Strength Training and should: https://www.flippingfifty.com/teach-women-about-strength-training/
If you or someone in your family deals with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or you’re simply in midlife dealing with changing hormones, this episode and the book we’re discussing, Heal your gut, save your brain, will be one you don’t want to miss.
My Guest:
Dr. Partha Nandi, M.D., F.A.C.P is the creator and host of the internationally syndicated medical lifestyle television show, Ask Dr. Nandi. He is the Chief Health Editor at WXYZ ABC Detroit, a practicing physician, renowned international speaker, appearing at TEDx, medical conferences like Digestive Disease Week and keynotes for organizations such as Medtronic, Phathom Pharmaceuticals, and Eli Lilly.
Dr. Nandi partners with global health organizations, including the Ministry of Health in Jamaica and India and WHO. He give inspiring talks to international conferences and symposia, meeting global health leaders.
His mission, “To Be Your Own Health Hero,” incourages individuals to take control of their health. His latest book, “Heal Your Gut, Save Your Brain”, explores the connection between gut and brain health.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Dr. Nandi:
https://www.AskDrNandi.com
On Social:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AskDrNandi/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askdrnandi/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@askdrnandi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askdrnandi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/askdrnandi
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Your Brain Better | A No Negative Side-Effects Method:
https://www.flippingfifty.com/your-better-brain/
Get and Keep Your Brain Fit, Healthy, and Strong:
https://www.flippingfifty.com/leaky-brain/
Lose Weight, Gain Energy and Eliminate Pain with a Gut Cleanse: Dr Vincent M. Pedre:
https://www.flippingfifty.com/lose-weight-gain-energy-and-eliminate-pain-with-a-gut-cleanse-dr-vincent-m-pedre/
Events or Affiliate partnership we're promoting in this episode:
Resources:
https://www.healyourgutsaveyourbrain.com/
Here are three strength training workouts designed specifically for women in menopause. These focus on maintaining muscle mass, boosting bone density, and supporting hormone balance. Each workout should be done 2–3 times a week, allowing at least one rest day between sessions.
Workout 1: Full Body Strength (45 min)
Warm-up (5-7 minutes):
Main workout:
Cool down: (5 minutes of stretching)
Workout 2: Upper Body Strength (40 min)
Warm-up (5-7 minutes):
Main workout:
Cool down: (5 minutes of stretching)
Workout 3: Lower Body & Core Focus (45 min)
Warm-up (5-7 minutes):
Main workout:
Cool down: (5 minutes of stretching)
Notes from Chat Gpt for 3 Menopause Strength Workouts
“These workouts are designed to help women in menopause maintain lean muscle, improve bone health, and boost metabolism. Encourage the women to lift heavier weights as they feel stronger while maintaining proper form. Always leave room for rest and recovery to support hormone balance.”
For menopause metabolism, a total body workout is generally better. Here's why:
Split routines can be effective too, but total body sessions may offer more metabolic bang for your buck during menopause.
Resources:
Other Episodes You Might Like:.
How’s better sex in menopause sound? For many it sounds like a distant and foreign trip.
Sex is one of the most popular topics on the show. Many women tell me their partners are glad they’re attending. Sex is such a hot topic (see what I did there?) that low libido was a topic answered one of the first three episodes of the Flipping 50 TV show.
Did you know there are two types of desire? And did you know that sex never has to stop?
My Guest:
Dr. Kelly Casperson is a urologist, public speaker, sex educator, and top international podcaster
whose mission is empowering women to live their best lives. Dr. Kelly identified the need for
better resources and developed a sex education class for women that covers topics like sexual
health, intimacy, mind work, and the science of desire. She combines education, humor, and
candor in her podcast "You Are Not Broken" where she dismantles the myths women have
learned and normalizes healthy, enjoyable sex worth desiring, in addition to essential education
on midlife health and hormones.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Dr. Kelly:
https://www.kellycaspersonmd.com
On Social:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Resources:
The Doctor is in the house and she’s an over 50 fitness athlete. She’s juggled all the balls you may have from a caregiver and midlife crisis like me. But she’s returned to her prior passion for fitness competitions. Or has she? I’ll ask that question - is it the competition or the training or the being on top of your game?
This over 50 fitness athlete is prepping not just for a November competition but serving patients and clients and hosting a summit. How does she fit it in?
This is a perfect episode to share with you just before the holidays. We cover quite a bit of tips and tricks for dealing with getting fit and sticking to your own goals during the holidays while still enjoying them.
My Guest:
Dr. Venus, The Fit Foodie M.D., is a board-certified Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation physician trained at Yale, Univ. of Miami, and UC-Irvine. With a thriving California medical practice, she's been a national-level fitness athlete and respected trainer serving clients from single moms to pro athletes, and even an action film star. A repeat guest on "The Doctors" TV series, Dr. Venus has also appeared on NBC's "Today" and "American Gladiators," and contributed to outlets like iHerb.com and Oxygen Magazine.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Dr. Venus for Fitness Mastery Summit (Nov. 7-10, 2024)
https://www.flippingfifty.com/fitnessmastery
On Social:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/doctorvenus
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/docvenus/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@drvenusoncall
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctorvenus
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Resources:
In this episode with returning guest and fan fave, Cynthia Thurlow we discuss updates on intermittent fasting. If you’re craving a behind the scenes, more than science-geek relay of the power of autophagy episode you shall have it.
I’m looking forward to sharing this one with you.
My Guest:
Cynthia Thurlow is a globally recognized expert in nutrition & intermittent fasting, highly sought after speaker, and the CEO and founder of Everyday Wellness Project. She’s been a nurse practitioner for 20+ years, is a 2x TEDx speaker: her 2nd talk on intermittent fasting has been viewed over 7 million times. She has been featured on ABC, FOX5, KTLA, CW and in Medium and Entrepreneur. Cynthia was recently listed in Yahoo Finance as one of the “21 founders changing the way we do business.” She’s also the host of Everyday Wellness Podcast, which was listed as “20 podcasts that will help you grow in 2020” by Entrepreneur magazine, and in Business Insider “21 podcasts to expand your mind in 2021.”
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Connect with Cynthia:
On Social:
Facebook:
Instagram:
YouTube:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Resources:
My Guest:
Emily Sadri is a Board Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Midwife, and the founder of Aurelia Health, a modern telemedicine practice for women over 35. Aurelia Health provides comprehensive hormone replacement therapy and weight loss support with long visits and un-rushed care.
Emily is passionate about making complex hormonal topics accessible and believes that great health starts with happy hormones and a balanced stress response.
Questions We Answer in This Episode:
Few women were optimizing hormones early in perimenopause a decade ago. But the health outlook for those that do stands to be significantly better than for those women who experience drops then boost it again.
Are you doing HRT in perimenopause? Or Did you?
Connect with Emily and The Perimenopause Revolution Summit
On Social:
Instagram:
Facebook:
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Resources:
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