Perimenopause? How to Lose Weight (without starving yourself)

Dr. Brighten: This episode is part one of a powerful two-part series, all about weight gain hormones, and what's really going on in your body during perimenopause. In this first part, we're focusing on what actually works for weight loss, talking nutrition, lifestyle supplements without hitting the diets like the extreme diets or punishing workouts, you won't find any.

You have to earn your food here or villainizing things like bananas. Okay. I'm gonna walk you through the hormonal shifts that are driving these stubborn fat, the cravings, the low energy, the I don't feel like working out. I'm not motivated, kind of vibes, and I'm gonna give you real strategies to start feeling like yourself again.

Now, I don't want you to miss part two because that's where we dive deep into hormone replacement therapy or HRT, and we're gonna talk about who it's for and how it can be a powerful tool in your midlife health journey. So whether [00:01:00] you start here or in part two, be sure to listen to both episodes for the full picture on perimenopause, weight loss, and thriving through the transition.

We split this episode into two parts, so it was originally recorded as one episode. However, as I was listening to it and we were going through the edits, I was like, ah, this. This hormone part feels a little bit separate. The HRT kind of talk. Now the reason why we split it into two parts, we, it was because that's what you asked for.

So quite frankly, I asked in the ask Dr. Brighton group on the Instagram channel, Hey, this is what the episode is like. Would you like me to make it one part? A longer episode or two parts shorter episode, and the vote unanimously was two parts. If you haven't yet joined the Ask Dr. Brighton group on Instagram, it's totally free.

The channel is a place where I share recipes and I get your feedback on podcast episodes. [00:02:00] And of course you can always leave me feedback in a review or a comment wherever you listen to this as well. We're gonna dive into the show. I would love to hear what you think. Uh, and with that said, I will see you in part two.

You're eating well, you're exercising, you're doing everything right, but your clothes, the scale, they just won't budge. If this sounds familiar, I want you to know you're not alone. And in fact, weight gain during perimenopause and the inability to lose weight isn't just common. It's something that many people struggle with, and there's a reason why

 On this episode of the Dr. Brighton Show, we are going to be breaking down what hormones are behind that sticky weight and the actual steps you can take to do something about it. All of this is gonna be science backed. It's the same thing that I use with my patients to get results.

So definitely prioritize this episode if perimenopause weight gain is something that you are concerned about. Now along with [00:03:00] today's episode, there is a download for you. It's a perimenopause weight loss plan, and it's not just about eat less, move more, it's actually getting into science-backed strategies specific for women in perimenopause that leverages your hormones to help you lose weight. That's gonna be within the show notes, you, you can grab that and put that into action.

Now, before we dive in, if you can subscribe this, like this, comment and share this, it helps me more than I can even say more than you even know, to get this information out there. I work very hard on bringing you these episodes and I depend on you to help me get this information out to everyone who needs it.

Now as we dive in, there are three things about perimenopause weight loss that I want you to know. So number one is your hormones are driving where you store fat and how you're building muscle, or not building muscle, which is sometimes the case in perimenopause.

Number two is perimenopause. [00:04:00] Weight gain is not just about calories,

and number three is extreme dieting. Extreme exercise can actually make the problem worse.

Now it's not lost on me that it has really been a lot of medicine's fault of why women thought that the best way to approach perimenopause weight loss and weight loss in general was just to eat less and move more. And listen, I'll acknowledge that thermodynamics is totally a thing, but the reality is, is that you can only not eat so much and move so much, uh, until your hormones really are going to protest. And there's very specific things going on with your hormones in perimenopause that we've gotta talk about.

Now if you missed my perimenopause episode, I'm gonna link it in the show notes so that you can get in on all of that talk. But I just wanna recap just in case you missed it. What is perimenopause? So perimenopause is the roughly seven to 10 years that we spend transitioning into menopause. Menopause is a one day event.

Yes, it's the anniversary of no [00:05:00] period, and after 12 consecutive months of that you are in menopause. And the next day you are postmenopausal. What is going on with perimenopause? You are not ovulating as frequently, or even if you do the corpus lium, the structure left behind and the ovaries that makes progesterone is not doing its job.

Basically, your ovaries are going into retirement and they've got one foot out the door and they just don't care. So in perimenopause, what we see initially, progesterone declines. Then we see estrogen declines. But before estrogen starts to taper off, we've got a roller coaster going on rocking harder than an AC CDC concert.

Your estrogen is up and down and up and down in someone months, up, up, up, up, up and down the neck for several, it can be wild, and estrogen is one of the key hormones that's driving where you store fat.

 But it's not just estrogen. No, of course it couldn't be. Right. Insulin is also at play, and in fact, as our [00:06:00] estrogen declines, we tend to accumulate visceral adiposity. So when we're younger, and estrogen's high butt, hips, thighs, that's where we pack in those fat cells and we're looking voluptuous and it's lame, but I gotta say it, as we age and we enter into perimenopause, 'cause I'm right there with you o estrogen.

Now declining leads to belly fat or visceral adiposity. So the lay person says belly fat, and some people get mad about it because technically it's visceral adiposity. But here's what I want you to know. It's fat packing around your organs where you absolutely do not want it, and it can decrease your sensitivity to insulin and increase your inflammation.

Those two things alone can make it difficult for you to lose weight. But wait, there's more. 'cause of course there is right cortisol. As we go into perimenopause, we find that we lean on the adrenal glands very heavily. They produce DHEA, which is great. We can make estrogen testosterone [00:07:00] out of it, but they also make cortisol.

And as progesterone dips out, as estrogen is leaving us, causing more brain fog, more memory issues, feeling more frazzled, more inflammation, we can see that not only cortisol rises, but we're more sensitive to stress and cortisol being the good survival hormone that it is says. Hold up. If we are in a famine, if we are under tremendous stress, we should store fat.

That's a really good idea. And in fact, this is one way where stress can actually contribute to you holding on to weight if not even gaining weight.

Now that's just about like body composition, but I also want you to recognize that is estrogen decline. So does serotonin. And when the body wants to get serotonin up, it's like, girl, you should eat some carbs. Girl, how is that loaf of bread looking? It's looking really fun right now. Let's get some sugar in.

So carb cravings, sugar cravings, really normal when estrogen is on the decline. That not so great for [00:08:00] your hormones? And listen. I am not about restriction, and in fact, it is that restricting calories fiercely that can trigger cortisol issues, that can lead to sticky weight, weight we don't want. But you know, cortisol can also cause us to have cravings.

So when we are under stress, we might crave more salt. We might crave more chocolate chocolate's. A good source of magnesium salt is because the adrenal glands also help regulate our blood pressure. So I want you to understand that your cravings are not because you're weak, your cravings are not, because you just don't have the willpower.

Your cravings could very well be something going on with your hormones.

Okay? So this explains why you might be gaining weight even if your habits haven't changed. That's a very common experience in perimenopause that you're, you're like, I'm still eating the same, I'm still exercising the same, and yet. My body is changing in a way that I don't necessarily like. And listen, I just wanna give a nod to the body [00:09:00] positivity crew.

I am all about love yourself, where you're at, and right now, but I'm also about, if a patient says to me, Hey, I'm concerned about my weight, that we listen to that. And if somebody does want to work on their body composition, that we support them in that. And I will say that absolutely visceral adiposity is associated with increased cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, all of these things that we're trying to dodge as we age.

So we can't just ignore it, but we can still love ourselves and be gentle with ourselves where we're at. So while you're being gentle with yourself, I am going to give you some tips to help you with the weight loss.

Number one is eat an anti-inflammatory diet. What does that mean? We're gonna get into it, but what I want you to understand is what I said before, estrogen's declining. It's a big regulator of the immune system, and as it starts to dip out, inflammation can rise and insulin resistance. So [00:10:00] when we're talking about eating an anti-inflammatory diet, we're talking about eating in a way that helps you optimize and balance your inflammation levels.

Inflammation's not all bad. I will link to Dr. Neva Habib. We did an entire episode talking about why inflammation isn't bad and what you can do about it, and some other tips for you. But what I want you to understand, we do need some inflammation, but we don't need it going wild while we're in perimenopause.

So what does eating an anti-inflammatory diet look like? If you're not taking notes yet, you might want to, but Hey, I got you. You can actually head to the show notes and I've got the low down there. Okay. Firstly, we wanna be eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, bringing in fiber rich foods as well.

I'm gonna talk a little bit more about fiber, but I want you to think about things like berries, leafy green vegetables, your cruciferous vegetables. I much prefer that women in perimenopause and menopause eat cooked cruciferous vegetables. They're already [00:11:00] hard to break down. Why they're so great for you is they've got these sulfur compounds in them, and those are so great for your liver being able to detox your hormones and other byproducts you make of your metabolism and things you come into contact with in the environment.

But they're hard to digest, and as estrogen declines, so does our microbiome. In fact, I should probably do an entire episode about that. If you want an episode about hormones and gut health through perimenopause, please let me know. I listened to all of your comments and your feedback, and in fact, it was your feedback that made it so I'm making this episode today.

Okay, so estrogen's going down, microbiome diversity is going down. Uh, IBS symptoms might be coming up. You're gassy, you're bloated. Dr. Brighton says, eat crus phos vegetables, and you're like, I hate her. So make sure that you're eating them cooked.

Now, we also wanna be bringing in more fiber rich foods. Now, there's a theme here that you'll, if you've read my books, you know this, I'm all about like, let's bring in food [00:12:00] rather than starting with what we should take away. But I said I was gonna talk about fiber. We wanna aim for 25 to 30, maybe 35 grams of fiber.

I want you to understand that fiber does have the ability to raise a protein called sex hormone binding globulin. That can grab onto estrogen, that can grab onto testosterone, it grabs onto sex hormones. We don't necessarily want that. So while some people will say, go higher, higher, higher with your fiber, we have to ask what's true for you.

So I say, aim for 25 to 30 grams. Maybe you do better with 35 grams. You're gonna have to experiment with that. If you're not eating fiber right now, you're like, I get like two, or three grams a day, friend, let's get you to five. Can you do five a day for seven days? And then after that, increase by five more grams.

So now that you're at 10 grams and work your way up to 25, that helps shift the gut and the microbiome to accommodate this diet. And for you not to go into overwhelm. Now, other sources of fiber that you wanna be bringing [00:13:00] in, we want to bring in lentils. Chia seeds, fresh ground, flax seeds. Uh, you can bring in cilium husk in small amounts.

You, you don't wanna go overboard with that. Your gut will not be happy. And you can also look again at berries, like raspberries can be a great source of fiber.

 There have been studies that show people who are consuming dietary fiber, so every day they're getting fiber coming in, have lower levels of visceral adiposity, so less belly fat going on. This is a really easy way to start to shift your body composition, and as you bring in the fiber and we have less visceral adiposity, we have less inflammation, less insulin resistance, but fiber is also helping you maintain healthy blood sugar.

Another thing that can help with maintaining healthy blood sugar is healthy fats. So we wanna bring healthy fats into the anti-inflammatory diet. 

Avocados, avocado,

oil, nuts and seeds, [00:14:00] grass fed butter, ghee. These are some of the fats you can start to incorporate. Don't forget that olive oil is pretty much always winning In the research you wanna find cold press olive oil,

and then look for wild caught fish to be in your diet. Weekly. 

Ideally two to three times a week. You want to be eating things like salmon, mackerel, sardines. There's great recipes out there, trust me on this and other fish that you can bring in like trout, tilapia. We want to be bringing in fish as a source of protein. We're gonna talk a little bit more about protein 'cause it's really, really important as well.

But I want you to understand that those fatty fish, they're gonna be a source of Omega-3 fatty acids. As it stands, the standard American diet, which is a diet of really ultra processed food, is very high in omega six fatty acids. They're not bad, okay? Omega sixes is a group is not bad. We need them, but we have a disproportionate amount when [00:15:00] we're eating more ultra processed food of omega six to Omega-3.

Like everything I talk about, it's about finding balance. So we are gonna wanna be shifting to whole foods, but we're also going to want to look at those Omega-3 fatty acids because they do have anti-inflammatory properties. They can help with our skin so we can have clear more beautiful skin. Uh, they're also going to help with insulin regulation as well.

And that anti-inflammatory effect is really great for our joints so that we can keep exercising.

Now also on the anti-inflammatory diet is lean protein. So bringing in things like chicken, we already talked about fish. Eggs are also a great source of protein. And if you're vegan or vegetarian, you may wanna be bringing in tofu, uh, and other forms of soy. I say opt for organic. I know somebody in the comments is gonna say, there's not enough information out there to say it's problematic, but the non-organic [00:16:00] produce can be sprayed with pesticides that are xenoestrogens and endocrine disruptors.

 We just wanna be conscious of that. Now, some people will say, well, like soy, that is going to also stimulate estrogen receptors. It's gonna be super problematic. It's gonna raise estrogen levels. It doesn't actually raise estrogen levels. It can affect the cells and how the DNA actually is producing proteins and doing its whole job.

That's a little bit, we're not gonna go that nerdy, but what I want you to understand is. A moderate amount of soy. So I'm not talking about like soy, chicken nuggets and toky and you know, ultra processed soy. I am also not talking about eating tofu at like every single meal, but having a moderate amount in your diet during perimenopause and menopause has been shown to be beneficial for your health.

So if you're like, I avoided it in my twenties because I struggled with estrogen issues, you may wanna flip the script on that in your mind 'cause it may actually be beneficial for you now.

 Something that not enough people are leveraging [00:17:00] is anti-inflammatory spices. So seasoning your food is not only so it's super pleasurable and it tastes good, and you have a great experience, we love that, but it is also a way that you can add more nutrition and anti-inflammatory properties. So, looking at your diet, is there ways that you can bring in turmeric?

Ginger and cinnamon is a really great one because that can actually help with your blood sugar. So often I'll say like if you have a smoothie, add a little cinnamon to it. Especially if you're not getting enough fiber and fat into your smoothies. If you've seen me on social media, and maybe I'll, maybe I'll try to remember to link this post where I talk about what goes into my smoothie and I put all these fibers in there.

I also put fish oil in there. Some people are like, you're disgusting. I'm like, I can't even taste it. Uh, but if you're not really bulking up a smoothie, adding a little bit of cinnamon can help adding a little bit of cinnamon to your coffee, in fact. Okay, so let me just say I am not anti coffee. I am not anti caffeine.

There's a lot of [00:18:00] really compelling research as it relates to our brain health, so I'm definitely not anti those things. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you. But something I do say is that it's not a good idea to start your day. With a cup of coffee or even a cup of green tea without having some food.

And that is because it can start the metabolic rollercoaster of what I call them beyond the pill, the metabolic mayhem of blood sugar dysregulation. So adding a cup of tablespoons of collagen and we're talking coffee here, adding some collagen, adding some full fat milk, uh, some organic milk if possible.

But if you can't access that full fat milk and then adding some cinnamon on top can be a nice way to support your blood sugar. And yes, if you drink green tea, you can add collagen as well. I wouldn't necessarily do cinnamon. That sounds yuck. But you do you.

Now comes the point of what do we avoid? Okay? We've gotta avoid refined sugars and refined carbohydrates as much as possible. Uh, as I [00:19:00] said in, is this normal? Like, I, I want you to have your cake and balance hormones too. I think that we did not come here just to look a certain way. I don't believe that our bodies were made just to be looked at.

They do tremendous things. That was really an epiphany to me, myself while I was birthing my second son, that I was like, my body is so incredible and I've been worrying. My entire life about what it looks like, but it was never made to be looked at. It was made to do incredible things, like it carries you through life.

Okay. I could go on a rant forever on how awesome your body is. It's awesome. Now, okay, so we, we set the part like, you've gotta have pleasure. You wanna have like a truffle and a decaf espresso after dinner. I am not judging you. But we cannot deny that if we are eating refined carbohydrates and refined sugar as we enter, especially our forties, that we're gonna find it in our belly fat, okay?

It's gonna start contributing to [00:20:00] the visceral adiposity. So the max amount is 25 grams of sugar. You've gotta read labels and you can't pass it. So we talked about the 25 grams of fiber as a minimum, but 30 really being ideal. No more than 25 grams of sugar coming in. And this has been shown in the research time and again to help when it comes to the metabolically unstable kind of fat.

So the fat that makes us at risk for a chronic disease. So again, I'm not saying you can never have a piece of cake or you can't eat like sushi. Like who doesn't love sushi? You're getting great fish and you're having some white rice. It's like not the end of the world, okay? That like you, you're just never gonna eat these things again.

But I want you to understand is that if you want to lose the weight, you do have to make sure that you're eating whole grains. If you eat grains at all, you certainly get your fiber in other ways [00:21:00] and that you are limiting the sugar. One cup of yogurt could have 16 grams of sugar and you are thinking you're doing this great job with the protein content in it and super lame 'cause they sabotage do.

So definitely read those labels and I am somebody that's like, listen, if I'm gonna have added sugar, I would much rather have like some chocolate than to waste it on the yogurt. Like really not my jam.

This one's gonna be controversial, but seed oils. Now when it comes to seed oils, there's a lot of debate out there and honestly, the research is muddy because the seed oil industry and the lobbyists have irrefutably been out there. Not only. Pushing on our legislators, but also the research as well. And we can't always tell who is funding research because as other research has shown, it can be buried through shell companies.

So it's really [00:22:00] tricky and there's a lot of people out there that are like. They're totally fine. But when I ask patients who are eating a diet that's rich in seed oils, which by the way tends to be a diet that is rich in ultra processed foods, they don't feel better. They feel better when they remove those things.

So here's the question they don't really have an answer to. Is it because they remove these seed oils from their diet altogether? Is it just the seed oils or is it the seed oils that they're consuming because it's coming by way of ultra processed foods When it comes to like Asian dishes, if they're putting sesame seed oil in there, I don't really worry about it.

I don't think it is going to help anybody's hormones or their weight loss to get really hyper fixated on like safeguarding every little bit. But you're definitely gonna do better in terms of nutrient density. If you're swapping out canola oil and you're bringing in things like.

Olive oil and cold water, fish as [00:23:00] your sources of fats coming in,

so canal oil, corn oil, so soybean oil. Those are the three that I really advise patients to avoid those as part of an anti-inflammatory diet. I not only see benefits with weight loss, I see benefits with people having brain fog with joint pain and with autoimmune conditions. So test it, see what's true for you.

Maybe the research will come out in a decade and say, we were absolutely wrong about this, and seed oils are totally fine. Or maybe it will say that yes, the lobbyist did have their hands in the research and it is not fine. Time will only tell. And between you and me, ARITA, I'm in my forties. I don't get a lot of time left on the planet, and it's not that hard to avoid these things the majority of the time, which I'm gonna talk a little more about anti-inflammatory diet, but just remember that 80 20 is a great rule to live by.

80% of the time you're rocking it. 20% of the time you are not sweating it. [00:24:00] Okay? So we don't have to be perfect with this.

Lastly, alcohol. It's gotta go. Um, you're gonna, you're gonna accumulate belly fat in your forties and beyond if you're drinking cocktails or wine or really any alcohol. It's also inflammatory. It also means your liver has to process that and deal with that first, and not everything else that's going on.

We also know that it's related to cancers, it's related to dementia. It's not doing us any favor. So if you are serious about weight loss, cut the alcohol. That doesn't mean you can't have a glass of champagne if you're a wedding or anything like that. It just means that you, you can't be drinking every single night or most days of the week and expect that you're gonna be able to lose weight.

It's also a significant source of calories.

Okay, I just downloaded a ton about diet. So if I give you one action tip, the one thing that I would say do this today to start improving your metabolic health and start losing weight, it would be get on the fiber train and start working your way to the [00:25:00] 25 grams of fiber every single day. Now, I told you I'm gonna talk more about protein in a bit, but I wanna teach you in chunks, and then I wanna give you actual insights of things that's like, okay, what's the one thing I can do to move the needle right now?

So before we talk about protein, we gotta talk about exercise, right? So we're starting with diet and exercise. 'cause these two things are absolutely foundational when it comes to weight loss. But don't worry, we're gonna talk a lot more about hormones. Okay? So when it comes to exercise, what is the best exercise?

Hands down strength training, you gotta hit it two to three days a week minimum. Some people are doing five days a week because they have a routine where like, maybe it's like biceps, triceps, shoulders, and the next day it's chest and back, and then the next day it's legs and then they alternate, uh, you know, in with like doing core and something else.

And then the next day it's legs again. So we have to be building muscle mass. When we get into our forties, we are [00:26:00] deleting muscle cells. I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna believe it. I hate it. And yet, this was my research when I was pursuing my master's in nutrition was on sarcopenic obesity. You see the Eminem guy?

The round one? Yeah. His body's round and his arms and legs are super skinny. And that's sarcopenic obesity. That is visceral adiposity. And then the loss of muscle mass on the extremities. So you have to start strength training absolute must. Where do you start? Honestly, listen, there's like a lot of like bros out there and people in the fitness industry and people talking about muscle loss, and they will say, start with weights.

Oh my gosh. You're probably gonna get injured if you just jump into weights not knowing what you're doing. Okay, so where do you actually start? Start with body weight. Consider Pilates. There's a lot of Pilates haters out there. I am not one of them. Why? Because Pilates is going to teach you how to engage your pelvic floor, [00:27:00] which is not just the pelvis.

Uh, it is your abdominal muscles, your deep abdominal muscles, and that is gonna keep your back safe. It's also going to keep you from developing urinary incontinence and other issues that can come along with we don't lift, right? So starting with body weight, starting with Pilates, and even incorporating yoga in, and maybe holding some of those poses, but using that more for stretching.

Now, I would encourage you, if you've never lifted a weight before, you've never picked up a barbell, a dumbbell, none of it. Go work with a personal trainer that can really help show you the techniques, but right now you can get on. YouTube, I mean, there's like so many places you can go and start doing body weight exercises.

If you're starting from zero, that is a great place to start. If you can find a Pilates studio or you can just go on the internet and find ways to engage the pelvic floor, that can really set you up for success. And maybe you do that for a couple of weeks and then you start low. There are people out there [00:28:00] that are like, oh, your puny little five pound dumbbells.

Like they, people gotta start somewhere. They gotta start somewhere. So maybe you start with five pounds and then maybe you find that you can do 12 reps and you're doing it for four sets. Okay? Like it is time to up that weight. So slow and steady wins the race.

If you get injured, you're not gonna be able to work out and you're gonna backslide. So we definitely want to support you where you're at. And I want to encourage you, number one, strength training.

Now, if I haven't convinced you yet, let me say three things about strength training that should convince you. So, number one, you're gonna have stronger bones, and that means less fractures, less risk of ending up with

a serious surgery or in a nursing home. We also wanna avoid that if we possibly can.

Muscle energetically is expensive to maintain. That's why when you're building muscle, you get so hungry it's gonna burn calories. So muscle is, is is very energetically greedy. And the last one is [00:29:00] building muscle will sensitize you to insulin and make it easier to lose fat.

So your actionable tip from this piece of the podcast is if you have not been working out two 20 minute sessions of body weight training, of course always check with your doctor. We wanna make sure that you are in good enough health to do that. But two times a week, 20 minutes body weight exercises, start there.

If you are like, I've already been strength training, I want you to see, can you increase your weight or can you possibly add an additional day to that? And of course, you always wanna use common sense and be careful out there because going hard and heavy when you're not ready for it is not the wise move.

You cannot build muscle just by exercising. You also have to eat to build muscle. So if you've not been keeping tabs on your protein, you definitely need to [00:30:00] do that. And as I said at the start of this podcast, there is going to be a guide for you. It's totally free. I want you to grab that because that's gonna help you dial in your protein.

There's gonna be recipes in there, there's gonna be meal plans, and I want you to go ahead head to the show notes and grab that

because what we're aiming for is about one to one and a half grams of protein per pound of your ideal weight. Ideal weight matters, and please be realistic about it because I don't know which magazine I could blame for this, but so many times I have patients who are like, well. When I was 16, this is how much I weighed.

That's my goal, friend. You are not 16. You're never gonna be 16. And at 16 you, even though we're like, you start your period, you're a woman. You don't actually have a woman's body yet. You, you don't actually have a fully, uh, matured body at that point. So I want you to understand that 16-year-old, [00:31:00] you shouldn't be the goal.

And if you got that in your head, because somebody in society influenced that, let me de influence that. That is not the goal. And in fact, I want you to think about less about the weight on the scale and more about the size of your clothes and how you wanna feel. Oh my gosh, my patients do so much better when they focus not on the scale.

So not even like the waist measurements, not even the pants size, but like how do I want to be functioning in this world? That is stellar motivation. I wanna be able to run up a flight of stairs without getting winded. I want to be able to pick up my kids or my grandkids and not feel like I'm like, you know, achy and hurting.

I wouldn't get off the couch without being like, Ugh, my dad used to do that all the time. I lift weights 'cause I literally have that fear of doing that. Okay, so protein one to one and a half grams per pound of [00:32:00] ideal body weight. That is the goal. We wanna prioritize things like grass fed beef. Pasture raised chicken, if it's organic, even better eggs.

Fish looking at the complete protein that only animal proteins can offer. Uh, if you're vegan or vegetarian, you gotta keep tabs on what is coming in. Your diet tends to be low in branch chain, amino acids, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. And those are super necessary for building muscle.

So you may even need to supplement with branch chain amino acids. 'cause the wah of perimenopause is that whole like eat beans and rice combination comes with a lot of carbs that actually can contribute more to visceral adiposity. So I'm not dogging you if that's the diet you wanna do, but I just want you to understand that you may need to supplement with branch chain amino acids and be very diligent at this stage of your life on how your protein is coming in.

Protein doesn't just happen unless we focus and make it happen.

 [00:33:00] Protein has the benefit of also stabilizing your blood sugar, your insulin, and your cortisol. Love that it will keep you filling full longer so that you are not, you know, tracking down snacks in the middle of the day and it's gonna help you build the muscle that is going to help you be sensitized to insulin, that's going to help you with your blood sugar.

That's going to help decrease visceral adiposity and help your cortisol levels as well. So what's the actionable tip from this section? The actionable tip is 20 to 30 grams of protein at your next meal. I want you, and I know that you might need more than 30, but I just want you to look at your next meal and try to strategize how can you hit 20 to 30 grams.

If you're struggling with that, please grab the freebie download that I have as part of this episode that you'll find in the show notes that can help you out. Just really strategize, like, how can I build a meal that really gives me the protein I need, but also the fiber I need? I.

Reduce cortisol to stop the [00:34:00] stressed induced fat storage. This strategy is a must. Okay, so in this section we gotta talk about your stress and what you're doing in your day to day. When we look at what the research says about women who are currently in perimenopause early menopause is that we know they're kind of sandwiched between two really stressful moments of life, caretaking for children and caretaking for parents.

And it is a very interesting phenomenon that when you're in that position of caretaking for both, your mood starts to decline. But your estrogen's declining, and that will make your mood decline and your progesterone's declining, and that will make you feel more anxious. And this is all really unfair.

Okay. I just wanna say it's really unfair, um, that your hormones, when you need the most to be your allies, they're like, we're dipping out. See you later. So recognize where you're at and I recommend taking like a stress inventory and being [00:35:00] really honest with yourself. So sitting down, get some mood lighting going, put on your candles.

Um, I was gonna say Kenny G, but that's super cringe to me. No, no diss if you like Kenny G, but that's like literally the elevator music of my childhood. Anyhow, I digress. Okay, set the mood. That's what I want you to do. I really hope I didn't insult anyone with that. Sometimes my brain just does weird things.

Anyhow, set the mood, sit down, get in a quiet space. I have a three-year-old, so I just kind of laugh in my head as I say that, but just try to find some space for you. And really just dump, don't even think about it. Don't even, you know, try to have a strategy around it. Just be like, stress, what is stressing me out?

And let it free flow. Couple things usually come out of this exercise. Number one is people are like, that's so dumb, why am I even stressing about that? Um, that's not that big of a deal, but yet it was something on my mind I was stressing about it. Okay, [00:36:00] so that's an easy one to remove. The other thing is seeing things that you are taking on unnecessarily.

Like you are shouldering that. Listen, I have two kids and a husband, um, two dogs and like running a company, all of that. And the way that my family try to borrow my brain, I literally say to my family, you cannot borrow my brain right now. And you cannot borrow my brain because I will take on remembering everything for them, project management for them, like you know, their calendar, all of that when they have tools and they have resources, and it doesn't have to be me.

And the most empowering thing I can do as a spouse and a mother is to make sure that they have the tools to really build that executive function for themselves and to be able to manage those things themselves. Also, sometimes we're taking on things like, oh, like I took on all this stuff for the PTA, or I took, you know, there's some stuff that we just feel like we can't trust to people.

And sometimes you have to ask like, so what? So what if it doesn't [00:37:00] happen perfectly? So what if it doesn't happen overall? So there's the, that's silly. Why was I even making that stress? But we all do it. There's the, I don't really need to take that on, so why don't we start removing it? And then there's the, these are big, heavy things.

Maybe I need counseling support with my mental health in some way. Maybe I need to, you know, strategize in another way to start taking things off my plate. Or maybe I just need to recognize that things are heavy right now and I need to take some me time. Uh, there is this thing we get told as women that self-care is selfish.

You're not gonna self-care your way out of all of this. By the way, I think, I think we've got like two ends of the spectrum. Self-care ispo selfish. Why are you doing it? Like blah, blah, blah. And then we've got like self-care. Just take a bubble bath that'll solve everything. And you're like. Man, if you only knew my stress.

So we do need to take time for ourselves. We do need to nourish ourselves. We do need to refill our cups. We have something left for other [00:38:00] people and we have to be honest with ourselves about stress. So taking inventory, that's one of the first things that I recommend. And then I also recommend that we start looking at how you can do that self-care, how you can reduce your stress.

You're not gonna be able to like remove the fact that like you are having an aging parent who's looking at going into a nursing home. You're not gonna be able to remove that fact. But how your nervous system processes it will dictate how your hormones will process it. And if your nervous system is fired up frazzled, you know it's in the sympathetic overdrive, right?

Which is fight. Flight, fawn or freeze. So you're gonna like literally fight somebody. You're gonna run away from somebody. You're gonna fawn, you're gonna be like tend and befriend or freeze. You're just not gonna do anything. You're just gonna like lay in bed and let it, let it simmer. And none of that is very healthy. So here's the thing, if you are in that state, you are gonna crank cortisol. If you're gonna [00:39:00] crank cortisol, you're gonna see blood sugar dysregulation. And what are you gonna see? You're gonna see weight gain or weight that just won't come off. really simple things that you can do.

I'm gonna link to the episode on vagal nerve stimulation, which is like humming and massage and all kinds of things. That's like a really easy reset to do. There's also deep breathing exercises that we go through in that episode, so I'm gonna share that with you. Deep breathing, absolutely, absolutely is going to help.

When we emphasize a longer exhale than inhale, we encourage the parasympathetic to take over, which is the rest and digest it deposes the sympathetic. You can't have both going on at the same time, so start pushing the breath. You may wanna set an alarm, breathe every hour. You may want to wake up and breathe, and then at lunchtime, you're doing your deep breathing, and then at bedtime, you're doing your deep breathing.

Whatever it looks like for you that works for you, just embrace that. Yes, meditation is going to help, but meditation doesn't always mean sitting there in silence, like a zen monk and being like, oh.[00:40:00] 

Perimenopause weight loss - Front: oh,

Dr. Brighten: It can look like that, that's great. But you can also do walking meditation. You can do a seated meditation, a lying meditation.

You can do three minutes of meditation. You can do 30 minutes of meditation, like whatever works for you that you can really carve out time for to be present in your body. That also leads into mindfulness practices. So you can actually go walking and instead of being on your phone or listening to something, you might be listening to me right now.

Selfishly, I'm like, don't turn me off, friend. But paying attention, like I feel the breeze on my skin. I see the leaves, the color of the leaves. Uh, what do you smell? What do you feel like, uh, you know your feet? Are they on a hard surface? Are they on an uneven surface? Where do you have tension in your body right now?

Like being very present and very aware of your environment instead of always putting your body on autopilot is a great way to start to dissipate stress.

If you're someone who works out in the [00:41:00] evening, I want you to opt for strength training over intense cardio HIIT workouts, high intensity interval training. They are great for challenging your cardiovascular system, but if you're already under a lot of stress, maybe you need like three to four minutes of hi instead of seven to 10 minutes of hit.

You might just need to dial it back a bit. There's lots of types of good stress out there. They only become bad stress when our system is overwhelmed and we don't listen to our body and we push ourself through it. So again, if you're a night exerciser and you're having trouble sleeping, definitely want to encourage you do strength train in the evening.

Undeniably something that can absolutely help with stress and is gonna help your sleep too if you're a candidate for it Is oral micronized progesterone, not progestin like you find in the birth control pills and not topical progesterone. You need to take it orally. 

 When you take oral micronized progesterone, about 100 to 200 milligrams at night, it gets metabolized into allopregnanolone, [00:42:00] which then interacts with the GABA system in your brain. Dr. Carrie Jones and I talked about this in an entire episode, just all about GABA alone, so I will link to that if you're interested in learning more.

But what you really need to know is calm, chill, sleeping through the night. Progesterone can definitely help with that. If you're still cycling, we're gonna take it typically after when we think ovulation would be roughly in the luteal phase, or sometimes it's seven to 14 days before your period. If you're not cycling, you can be on progesterone.

Some doctors say, well, if you don't have a uterus, you don't need progesterone. My brain begs to differ and in fact, um, I have an upcoming episode, make sure you're subscribed where I'm gonna be talking all about A DHD and what happens with our hormones in perimenopause and when I talk about progesterone and that it's gonna be pretty eye-opening on how important it is.

So that is one way we can get you better sleep and we can also reduce your stress levels because if we do not [00:43:00] have progesterone, we don't have the brake system in our brain and it is pedaled to the metal panic.

So we definitely have to get you sleeping as part of perimenopause weight loss. And some of the tips I've already given you can help people who exercise, they sleep better. People who are balancing their blood sugar with what they eat, they sleep better. People who take progesterone, definitely sleep better, but maybe you're not ready for progesterone.

So if you're not ready for progesterone, you're like, I'm not ready to go HRT, I'm not interested in HRT or just like, I don't think I'm quite at that age yet. Then here's a few things that also can help. So number one is L-theanine. Typically we're dosing that at a hundred to 200 milligrams. The other thing is passion flower. That can be another one that's a hundred to 200 milligrams that you're taking nightly. I really like those as part of a combo supplement. We actually make this in the adrenal column from Dr. Brighton Essentials. You've probably seen me taking this on social media [00:44:00] 'cause I. I always take it before flights because it literally is like if I start having flight anxiety, which is usually 'cause like adults who can't just line up and like follow directions and the chaos that happens, it stresses me out.

So, um, I take the adrenal calm, I'll take like three caps before I get on a flight. I also take it before bed. So the l tanning and the passion flower is helping with the GABA system. That GABA system keeps you really calm, but it also keeps you asleep through the night. It also has phosphatidyl searing in it.

That's another thing I recommend for people, 50 to a hundred, uh, milligrams. That helps with dampening cortisol, as does things like ashwagandha or holy basil. So I'll put a coupon code that you can use for the adrenal Calm Dr. Brighton Essentials supplement. So you're welcome to use that, or you can use the guidance I just gave you to find a supplement that's in your area.

Maybe you're like, I just gotta go and get it right now. You don't have to use my supplements. I bring them up because people are always like, [00:45:00] I wish you would share more about your supplements. So I'm sharing that with you, but I also like to provide dosages and guidance for you to understand what other alternatives are out there.

And it's always, you wanna consult your doctor, especially if you're on a medication or you have a medical condition to know what's right for you.

Now I'm gonna talk a little bit more about HRT, but I want to continue on talking about supplements because there's a lot of information out there about supplements that can help with perimenopause, weight loss, and I wanna talk you through. Just a handful of them and how they can help. So number one is Omega-3 fatty acids.

As I talked about previously with Diet Omega-3, fatty acids are anti-inflammatory. When we enter into perimenopause and estrogen declines, what we find is that we can have inflammation not just in our joints, but also in our muscles. And with estrogen going down and, your dopamine following, you're like, I'm not motivated.

There is no reward. And it [00:46:00] freaking hurts. It hurts. Why do we wanna do it? So Omega-3 fatty acids, they can't help with insulin, they can't help with inflammation. You're not gonna take Omega-3 fatty acids though, and then just be like, oh, all my weight just came off. I mean, if that happens, please let me know about it.

But that's not generally how it happens. This is more about supporting your body and as always, supplements are in addition to nutrition and lifestyle.

Probiotics, definitely something that we want to consider in perimenopause because as the estrogen declines, so does microbial diversity. Here comes the gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea. I can no longer tolerate foods. Um, so you can't eat that diet that you want to eat. But we also know that certain strains, like lactobacillus hypnosis can help with visceral adiposity.

So with that belly fat, again, I'm like, let's just lie. I just wanna be like, I'm gonna stop saying this over and over. I just wanna be crystal clear. You're not gonna take one supplement. I don't care what anyone says out there. You're not gonna take one supplement, and that is gonna change [00:47:00] everything. Okay?

You have to be working on the diet and lifestyle. Now that I've said that, I'll, I'll just keep going. I don't mean to be annoying.

So Rhodiola is an adaptogenic curve we haven't talked about yet. Uh, it's been research. They've done research on people taking tests. They've done it on athletes. What they find. It helps with mental and physical endurance. It also can help with the stress response. So that we have energy throughout the day without feeling jittery, but also our energy isn't like crashing and dipping out.

Typically, we're dosing that at one to 200 milligrams. And if you have a history of bipolar disease, we don't like to go above 200 milligrams. Um, and you wanna talk with your doctor first because there are some people that can have adverse outcomes if they're using that.

Green tea extract. Sometimes you'll see doses around a hundred milligrams to 500 milligrams. This can be helpful with our insulin. It helps with our metabolic health, not because it's caffeinated. So in our products, there's no caffeine. [00:48:00] We, we have them remove the caffeine from the green tea extract, but there has been research showing it does have fa favorable changes.

So it does support what we're already doing to help with our body composition.

Branched chain amino acids. We already talked about five to 10 grams is typically what we're looking at. And when it comes to creatine, it's about the same as well. So, um, it's usually, so sometimes people will do 10 grams as a starting dose to like really load up. You can just start with five and maintain with five ongoing.

So the branch chain amino acids to help to stimulate the muscle cell growth, the creatine that helps with energy production and helps you have more stamina for your next workout. It also can be really great for brain health. It's something that I've personally used for my A DHD for years because I found that like I can focus and my brain doesn't fatigue so easily and I can write books and do all the things that I do.

So I definitely love that. But if you're working out and you're like, I [00:49:00] just want something to support that so I get better results. Branch chain amino acids and creatine are two really good ones to look at.

Now two we haven't talked about yet is chromium and myo acetol. 

So with chromium that helps with blood sugar sensitivity. You'll see dosages anywhere from 200 micrograms to a thousand micrograms. With chromium, we don't, uh, we don't necessarily wanna start at really high doses with it. So I would say looking at more moderate dose to help support your blood sugar and my own acetol.

And about 2000 milligrams a day can also help with supporting your blood sugar. A lot of women with PCOS will use it to help with their insulin sensitivity, to help with their weight loss, to help with a quality, but it has this other bonus that it helps you sleep, and we love that because we know that poor quality sleep is associated with poor body composition.

That is just to say the type of body composition that can lead [00:50:00] you to having more metabolic issues and cardiovascular issues.

Thank you so much for joining the conversation. If you could like, subscribe or leave a review, it helps me so much in getting this information out to everyone who needs it.