#252. This Is Why Exercise Isn’t Working After 40 (And What To Do Instead)

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If you're here, you're probably ready to shift your health, your mindset, your entire life, and it all starts with tuning into what your body really needs right now. So here's the question: you're working out more than ever, but your body's not responding. In fact, it feels like it's working against you. Sound familiar? Especially if you're over 40, the usual formula of just cutting it isn't working anymore, and there's a reason for that. So today we're going to dive into why exercise alone might actually be holding you back. What's really going on in your body? How do hormones come into play? And could your workouts be creating more stress than strength? Let's talk about the hidden factors that no one's really addressing— chronic stress, cortisol spikes, sleep, gut health, blood sugar— and how they all connect to that stubborn fat that won't move no matter how hard you train. This episode is your permission To stop pushing harder and start working smarter. So let's get into it. You're working out harder than ever, but the scale won't budge and your belly just keeps growing. Sound familiar? If you're over 40 and exercise isn't giving you the results like it used to, there's a deeper reason why. And today we're breaking it down. Why is exercise not effective for weight loss after 40? I would argue it's not effective for weight loss in general. Exercise is about strength and flexibility. If you want to lose weight and maintain an amazing body weight and be fit and toned, you have to focus on what you're putting in your mouth. You have to change what and how and when you are eating. That is where the weight loss piece comes in. You can push yourself all day long to burn calories, get those calories on the treadmill up to 200, up to 300— it's not going to matter because you're going to make more cortisol while you're pushing for that more calorie burn, and that is going to create more And more fat deposition around your belly. I'm just going to be really honest with you right now. I have a lot of patients who are super fit. They go to the gym 5 days a week. They lift all the weights. They run on the treadmill. They do their 30 minutes of cardio. They do the spin bike, but they're still carrying this thick layer of fat over their beautiful strong muscles, and they're frustrated. Why can't I lose weight? And I promise you, exercise is not for weight loss. You need to focus Focus on your diet. That is the game changer. So when I see these patients and we start working with them and they do the Fast to Faith 40-day program, we start regulating their nervous system, calming down their cortisol production, and get them off that exercise hamster wheel. That weight just starts to melt off. It's so beautiful because they're already strong and fit, and so they just look toned and so beautiful. But you have to really tackle the food. That is What is keeping you stuck? Let's talk about the hidden factors that are sabotaging your weight loss when you're exercising. Number 1, exercising the wrong time of day. So here's the deal. We have a natural 24-hour cortisol production pattern. In the morning, within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up, we have an increase in cortisol. It's called the cortisol awakening response. Then it naturally starts to decline throughout the day until it goes really low at bedtime. Then you start making melatonin so you can go to sleep. And if you mess with that cortisol production pattern, you are going to mess with your weight. So if you're exercising after work, I applaud you for your effort. It's amazing that you are so motivated and diligent to get out there and do it, but it might be working against you because your cortisol is supposed to come down during the evening. And if you go to the gym and work out, You're going to pump out cortisol when you shouldn't be. Not only could it affect your sleep in the long run because it might interfere with your melatonin production, but it is causing inflammation and confusing your body when it comes to your cortisol production. So I would highly recommend start working out in the morning. Take that nice cortisol awakening response that your body already does in the morning and use that as your body's natural energy to go work out. If you have to get 30 or 40 minutes earlier in the morning, it will be worth it because the weight will start to melt away. So it's really important that you work out when your body wants you to work out. Okay, the other reason why your efforts might be sabotaged and you might not be losing weight despite all that awesome exercise is your alcohol intake. I know, I don't want to be the bad guy. Don't shoot the messenger, but I promise you Women especially are not created to drink alcohol. Our body needs to metabolize our estrogen and take care of our hormones, and alcohol interferes with that. Alcohol does multiple things. It kills off our good microbiome in our gut, and that can lead to digestive issues, which leads to hormone imbalances. It also creates inflammation that goes throughout our body and causes weight loss resistance. Then we can develop food sensitivities that lead to further weight loss resistance, but it also interferes with cortisol and DHEA, which is our healing reparative hormone that counteracts cortisol. So it's really important to get your alcohol in check. And we already know that it causes you to intake excess calories that you don't need, but it's way more than the calories. It is about inflammation and destruction that it creates in the body because after all, alcohol is a poison. So if you are stuck and you really just want to drop that excess weight that's hiding your beautifully toned muscles, consider giving up the alcohol. It will be a game changer. If you've been treating your body like a machine, it's time to shift your mindset because God designed you for more than just hustle. If you're ready to stop overexercising and start transforming from the inside out, I created a simple movement and hormone reset guide just for you. So click the link in the description to download it and start breakthrough. So when you read the Bible, there is so much scripture that actually supports a way more holistic, grace-filled approach to moving your body and living your life than we are doing. We need to get back to how God has called us to be, our original download. And if you read scripture and study Jesus's life in particular, you will see that Jesus walked A lot. He walked so many miles that it would boggle our mind. It would be like doing a 50-miler. He went from town to town, and I'm talking big mountains, rough terrain. It was not an easy walk. And here we are complaining that we can't get out for 20 minutes a day to walk and regulate our blood sugar. But here's the truth. Our body was created to move. God created our body to move. We have this neuromusculoskeletal system that is vital to what's going on inside of our body. So as a DO, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, I was trained that the neuromusculoskeletal system is connected to everything else. We have a brain which extends down through our spine called our spinal cord, and all the nerves come out, and they don't just innervate our muscles Meaning tell them what to do, but they innervate our organs. They tell our organs what to do. And so if you're not moving your spine and your ribs and your legs and your arms and your rib cage and your chest and all of the pieces, those nerves are going to be pinched. Those nerves are going to get stuck signals and they're not going to get to your organs. Your organs are therefore not going to function properly. What that looks like— that could be constipation, or it could be diarrhea, because your bowels are not getting the right signal from the brain because the nerve is pinched somewhere. A lot of times people get weird pains throughout their body and they wonder why, and it's because their spine isn't in alignment and their neuromusculoskeletal system isn't moving fluidly like it's supposed to. So we need to move it on a regular basis, and we need to hydrate it. Our joints have fluid inside them. Our fascia, which is like the covering that goes from head to toe covering all of our muscles, it needs to be hydrated because it is a tissue that slides back and forth. It contracts and relaxes over the muscles from head to toe, and it needs that hydration to actually function. We are way more complicated than the medical system wants us to think. It's really imperative that you understand the connection between our physical body outside our— I like to call it our shell, our house, our temple— the bones, the muscles, the nerves, and then our internal self, all of our organs, everything going on in there. And our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Our spirit lives in here, and so does the Holy Spirit if you've been saved by Jesus. So it's imperative that you have all these working together so that the signals can be sent from your brain through your nerves. So often we're not moving our body, and those feelings are getting stuck, those thoughts, all the things trying to travel through your body, they We get stuck in places and that causes pain and dysfunction. We are called to live differently. So what I like to do is, how did Jesus live? He walked a lot. So I try to walk as much as I can. When I go somewhere, I park at the back of the parking lot and I walk all the way to the building. I don't look for the spot up front. Leave that for an old lady who can't do that. You can walk. You should walk. Take the stairs. Find little things that you can do throughout the day to Move your body. Don't buy your vegetables already chopped up. Get back to chopping your own vegetables. Do those things that help you move your body. And the other thing that Jesus did was he rested. He went and he rested and he prayed on a regular basis. Anytime that he needed guidance, he was feeling stressed, he had something big that he needed to handle, he would say to his disciples, I'll be back. And he would go off and he would rest and he would pray and talk to his Father about the plan. We need to do that. We need to get back to that. I've gotten to the point where I start every morning in that posture of, let me sit down, let me read Scripture, let me not be caught up in my emails and my text messages and all the craziness. And that means I wake up before everybody else. I add an extra half hour onto my morning so that I can read Scripture. I can talk to my Father and I can start my day in a rested state. I hand over all the baggage that I'm carrying, and I usually take it back by the end of the day, so I gotta hand it over again. Here are my problems, God. You deal with it. You tell me your will, not mine. You tell me what you want me to do. And that sets me up for such a smoother day. It's just Easier. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. My yoke is light. It is easy. So walk with him. Hand him your burdens. That will help the nerves in your body send the signals to your organs, and those emotions and those feelings will not be stuck. You will not be so inflamed, so dysfunctional, in so much pain. I promise you, there is so much truth to this. I invite you to give it a try. Just try it for 1 week. Still feeling stuck in your weight loss journey? Click here to watch my video on the main reasons you're gaining belly fat after 40 and what to do about it. You don't want to miss this one.