Latest / Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40 / 5 Ways to Reverse Menopause Belly Fat (New Science) | Ep 365

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5 Ways to Reverse Menopause Belly Fat (New Science) | Ep 365 · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:01
  Philip Pape: You've been told that belly fat gain during midlife is just part of aging, that it's inevitable that your metabolism is shot and there's nothing you can do about it.
• 0:09
  Philip Pape: But what if I told you that's not the whole story?
• 0:12
  Philip Pape: Recent research found that menopause belly isn't just about getting older.
• 0:16
  Philip Pape: It's a specific hormonal reshaping of where your body stores fat, one that begins years before menopause and accelerates during the transition.
• 0:25
  Philip Pape: But the same research reveals the exact timing windows when intervention works best, plus some insights about why some women don't experience this shift at all.
• 0:34
  Philip Pape: Today we'll break down the science behind what's really happening to your body during menopause and the specific strategies that can not only prevent but actually reverse central fat gain.
• 1:00
  Philip Pape: Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency.
• 1:03
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we're gonna break down recent research that changes everything we thought we knew about menopause and fat gain the frustrating shift from storing fat in your hips and thighs to your belly, your abdomen.
• 1:18
  Philip Pape: This is not random, it is not just aging and it's definitely not inevitable.
• 1:23
  Philip Pape: This episode is gonna arm you with science-based strategies to take control of your body composition during the menopause transition, no matter where you are in the process, whether you are in your 20s and it hasn't come, if you're in perimenopause, if you're close to menopause or you're past.
• 1:40
  Philip Pape: It doesn't matter the how today is going to work for you, either to prevent or reverse what we talk about, but it's important to understand the why.
• 1:50
  Philip Pape: So let's start doing that, and before I do, I want to share something that Kate sent me.
• 1:55
  Philip Pape: Kate is one of our students in Wits and Weights Physique University and she said I just want to give a shout out to Philip Pape at Wits and Weights.
• 2:02
  Philip Pape: I've been listening to his podcast for about a year now and they're great, thoughtful, straightforward and useful information related to strength training and nutrition.
• 2:09
  Philip Pape: In a world filled with conflicting advice, philip really cuts through all of it.
• 2:14
  Philip Pape: I actually liked the info so much that I joined Physique University and have been in it for several months.
• 2:20
  Philip Pape: Since then, I've learned more about structuring my own workout programs, become way more consistent with my exercise and have let go of a lot of baggage about how I eat.
• 2:30
  Philip Pape: I'm still on my health and fitness journey, but I really appreciate the tools Philip has given me to keep going, and I love that, because that is what we're about on this show, we're cutting through the noise, we're giving you practical tools that work and then, if you choose, to get the accelerator of support and community, we have that for you as well.
• 2:50
  Philip Pape: And related to that, we had a workshop last week and I want to mention this because it's relevant today.
• 2:54
  Philip Pape: We had a 90 day body recomp workshop and, just like Kate was talking about, with tools and community and all that, we talked about how to build muscle and lose fat at the same time, and why I'm mentioning that now is that when it comes to menopause belly, when it comes to women in peri and post menopause, I understand that there are fears with gaining fat by building muscle and fears with restricting and dieting and binging and all those issues when going in a calorie deficit.
• 3:21
  Philip Pape: So there is a middle ground that you can accomplish and you can do it very effectively.
• 3:24
  Philip Pape: We held a workshop on this.
• 3:26
  Philip Pape: The workshop is done, but the replay is available, as are all the bonuses, and the bonuses include a complete, mapped out 90 day plan for body recomp, a free custom nutrition plan, training programs whether you work out three, four or five days a week at a gym at home doesn't matter your level everything you need.
• 3:43
  Philip Pape: If you go to livewitsandweightscom or click in the show notes, you can grab all of that the replay and all the bonuses and get the support in Physique University, get your entire first month included all of that for $27.
• 3:57
  Philip Pape: So if you're interested, livewitsandweightscom and those principles that we taught in that workshop apply perfectly to what we are discussing today, and so let's do that.
• 4:07
  Philip Pape: Let me start with what might be the most important finding in menopause research in years, and it's about four years old now, 2021.
• 4:15
  Philip Pape: Dr Greil Greendale and her team followed 308 women for 12 years as part of the often talked about SWAN study, and I think this study is referenced with a lot of the Ozempic research as well.
• 4:27
  Philip Pape: It's the study of women's health across the nation, and they didn't just track weight, they also tracked body composition.
• 4:33
  Philip Pape: I believe they use research grade, consistently performed DEXA scans, which is very common in research, to see where fat was being stored, and what they found was, I'll say, remarkable on one hand, but probably not surprising to a lot of you out there.
• 4:47
  Philip Pape: A lot of you women, whether you're in past or not yet in menopause, you're aware of this, and that is the dreaded menopause belly.
• 4:55
  Philip Pape: It isn't just women are getting older and gaining weight everywhere and thus have menopause.
• 4:59
  Philip Pape: Belly.
• 4:59
  Philip Pape: It is a specific, measurable shift in how your body stores fat, in your fat distribution.
• 5:05
  Philip Pape: Before menopause, women are storing fat primarily in what researchers call the gynoid pattern, that is, hips, thighs, butt Think pear-shaped.
• 5:16
  Philip Pape: And then during the menopause transition, fat storage shifts rather dramatically to the android pattern that is abdomen and upper body think apple shape.
• 5:28
  Philip Pape: So go from gynoid, which is pear shape, to android, which is apple shape, and the numbers are really mind-blowing because the change pre and post menopause is vastly different.
• 5:41
  Philip Pape: Visceral fat that is, the dangerous fat around your organs, that that is representing this belly fat we're all concerned about.
• 5:47
  Philip Pape: It increased before menopause but only in small amounts.
• 5:51
  Philip Pape: Then, during the transition, it accelerated to 6.2% a year.
• 5:55
  Philip Pape: That's a lot, that's a huge change, a little bit of an increase to a massive increase every year.
• 6:00
  Philip Pape: And then android fat showed a dramatic change where pre-menopause it increased by 1.2% a year.
• 6:03
  Philip Pape: And then android fat showed a dramatic change where premenopause had increased by 1.2% a year, during the transition by 5.5% a year.
• 6:11
  Philip Pape: And this isn't just about appearance, even though that might be the source of the frustration.
• 6:18
  Philip Pape: Visceral fat right, the belly fat around the organs is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, systemic inflammation.
• 6:27
  Philip Pape: So we're talking about a fundamental change in health risk, and I love that improving your physique can also improve your health.
• 6:35
  Philip Pape: There's nothing wrong with that.
• 6:37
  Philip Pape: In fact, to me, that's very efficient.
• 6:40
  Philip Pape: Everything we talk about on the show will effectively hit all the check marks of longevity, health, strength, physique fitness, function and, yes, how you look.
• 6:52
  Philip Pape: It's beautiful, it works together.
• 6:53
  Philip Pape: So let's talk more about that transition and when this starts, because there's confusion there.
• 6:59
  Philip Pape: Most women think menopause belly begins when menopause begins, which is technically when your periods have stopped for about a year, and the research shows that the fat redistribution begins earlier than that, actually three years before your final menstrual period, which is about two years before the start of menopause.
• 7:17
  Philip Pape: Let's say so.
• 7:19
  Philip Pape: Let's just call it three years, right?
• 7:21
  Philip Pape: So if you're in perimenopause right now, which is generally in your forties, for some women it's early, as early as their late thirties, the phase when your cycles become irregular but you haven't stopped completely, or when the hormones are starting to decline this process has already begun.
• 7:35
  Philip Pape: It's begun right, and I know it's begun because I talk to women every day and there's students in our physique university who are in their forties.
• 7:43
  Philip Pape: You know they're not really that close to menopause yet, and yet they're seeing some of the challenges Some are, some aren't right Like.
• 7:50
  Philip Pape: It's very individual and this, this understanding about timing, is really important because it opens up a larger window of intervention that most women don't know exist, where, by the time you realize what's happening, you know you've already gone through the most effective prevention period.
• 8:06
  Philip Pape: I'll call it.
• 8:07
  Philip Pape: That will make it easier when you get to that point.
• 8:09
  Philip Pape: Having said that, now is the best time to start.
• 8:12
  Philip Pape: When you're listening to my podcast, when we talk about fitness and training and nutrition, you can't get in a time machine and go back in time, and why would you wait to improve your health?
• 8:21
  Philip Pape: So now is always the best time.
• 8:22
  Philip Pape: So it almost doesn't matter that you have this intervention window, but if you're 25 right now, or you're 35 or 40 or whatever, now's the best time to start anyway, and just know that it's going to benefit you tremendously down the road.
• 8:38
  Philip Pape: So we fast forward to menopause.
• 8:39
  Philip Pape: Post-menopause, what happens?
• 8:41
  Philip Pape: Well, the acceleration that happened during the transition actually slows down.
• 8:44
  Philip Pape: So the menopause transition itself is a vast pool of accelerating fat gain and fat redistribution, and that's why it's so tough for so many women, right, I get it Like the research is telling us this is what is happening.
• 8:58
  Philip Pape: The visceral fat will continue to rise even after menopause, but it slows down to about one and a half percent a year.
• 9:04
  Philip Pape: Android fat slows to about one percent.
• 9:07
  Philip Pape: Gynoid fat, which is the protective fat in your hips and thighs Also, that actually might begin to decline.
• 9:13
  Philip Pape: So that's not great either, right?
• 9:15
  Philip Pape: Your protective fat declines about one percent a year.
• 9:17
  Philip Pape: So you're watching your body transform from a protective fat storage distribution to a risky fat storage if you don't do something about it, and if you haven't and you're already menopause, fear not, you can reverse it.
• 9:31
  Philip Pape: We're going to get into that.
• 9:33
  Philip Pape: So let's talk about the biological mechanisms here, because understanding the why helps us develop the how.
• 9:39
  Philip Pape: And the main drivers here are Well, there's several drivers.
• 9:44
  Philip Pape: The first couple are hormone-related.
• 9:45
  Philip Pape: So estrogen that is the biggest driver of all.
• 9:48
  Philip Pape: Estrogen declined during menopause because estrogen has a protective effect on fat storage and preferentially directs fat to subcutaneous sites on your body, under the skin rather than around your organs.
• 10:03
  Philip Pape: And when estrogen drops, you lose that protective mechanism.
• 10:07
  Philip Pape: But estrogen is not the only player here.
• 10:09
  Philip Pape: We also have FSH, follicle stimulating hormone that goes up during menopause, and research shows that this is independently associated with central adiposity right Belly fat gain as its own factor.
• 10:21
  Philip Pape: Your body is getting hit with both issues from estrogen dropping, fsh increasing.
• 10:28
  Philip Pape: Then we have the mitochondrial component.
• 10:29
  Philip Pape: You know, mitochondria is like the power plants of your cells.
• 10:32
  Philip Pape: Well, estrogen helps maintain the efficiency of mitochondria and because it declines, your mitochondrial function declines as well, which then affects your metabolic rate.
• 10:40
  Philip Pape: It reduces your metabolism and it makes fat storage more likely.
• 10:44
  Philip Pape: And then we have inflammation, the big boogeyman of inflammation.
• 10:47
  Philip Pape: But in this case we're actually talking about inflammatory markers like IL-6 and TNF-alpha.
• 10:53
  Philip Pape: These are cytokines that are released by visceral fat.
• 11:00
  Philip Pape: Visceral fat is metabolically active, so it increases your inflammation, and then this creates a feedback loop where that fat storage promotes more inflammation, which then promotes more fat storage.
• 11:07
  Philip Pape: And then we understand why there are so many challenges at this time of life.
• 11:12
  Philip Pape: By the way, I did a whole episode on inflammation not long ago, talking about the biggest factors which have to do with lifestyle and how inflammation is misunderstood.
• 11:21
  Philip Pape: But there is true inflammation going on at the cellular level that can be caused by lifestyle factors that we're also going to talk about today anyway.
• 11:29
  Philip Pape: And then, finally, we have muscle loss.
• 11:32
  Philip Pape: Muscle loss accelerates during menopause, something we hit on a lot on this show.
• 11:37
  Philip Pape: Sarcopenia is what it's called.
• 11:38
  Philip Pape: Sarcopenia further reduces your metabolic rate as well and then creates an environment where fat gain becomes increasingly likely.
• 11:47
  Philip Pape: Hey, this is Philip, and before we continue, I want to talk about cookware.
• 11:51
  Philip Pape: We all love to make our own food.
• 11:52
  Philip Pape: I love nonstick pans.
• 11:54
  Philip Pape: The problem is I've avoided them for years because when they get scratched, when they get heated, they can release microplastics, pfas small particles that can accumulate over time in the body, and some studies have shown them to be linked to health issues.
• 12:07
  Philip Pape: If you're optimizing your nutrition and making lots of food for you and your family at home, it doesn't make sense to compromise that with questionable cookware.
• 12:16
  Philip Pape: So that's why I was interested when Chef's Foundry, who is sponsoring this episode, showed me their ceramic cookware.
• 12:22
  Philip Pape: It's called the P600 and uses Swiss-engineered ceramic coating which has no Teflon, no PFAS, no plastic components.
• 12:30
  Philip Pape: It is nonstick, it works on all stovetops, it goes straight into the oven All the things you need if you're trying to cook a lot of your meals at home.
• 12:39
  Philip Pape: Right now you can get the P600 at 50% off by going to witsandweightscom slash chefsfoundry.
• 12:45
  Philip Pape: You'll also get a bunch of accessories with that.
• 12:48
  Philip Pape: There's a whole page that explains what you'll get for that discounted 50% off.
• 12:52
  Philip Pape: Go to witsandweightscom slash chefs foundry or click the link in the show notes.
• 12:57
  Philip Pape: All right, let's get back to the show Now.
• 12:59
  Philip Pape: Before we continue, I do want to mention that there are big individual differences when it comes to menopause and fat redistribution.
• 13:08
  Philip Pape: So don't assume that you're going to be right in the middle of the population, because there are a lot of genetic differences, for example ethnic differences.
• 13:15
  Philip Pape: You know white and black women have similar patterns of central fat gain, but for example, japanese women in the study had no increase in visceral or android fat.
• 13:24
  Philip Pape: Instead, their gynoid fat decreased.
• 13:26
  Philip Pape: So there could be genetics, cultural factors, dietary patterns that also influence fat redistribution, and these are kind of confounding the research.
• 13:34
  Philip Pape: So it's very difficult to tease all these things apart, and you know Japanese populations have very unique lifestyle factors and there could be something there that's genetics.
• 13:43
  Philip Pape: Then there's also the timing that we've been talking about, where the researchers could predict fat distribution changes based on proximity to the final menstrual period with very high accuracy, and so this suggests the process itself is more controlled and predictable than we might have thought before.
• 14:05
  Philip Pape: And then the last thing I want to mention here is the research is probably explaining why some women seem to have no issues, they kind of sail through menopause, minimal body composition changes.
• 14:16
  Philip Pape: They're like what are you people talking about?
• 14:18
  Philip Pape: It's fine.
• 14:19
  Philip Pape: And others are struggling massively, like significantly right.
• 14:22
  Philip Pape: And it's not just genetics, it's definitely not willpower.
• 14:25
  Philip Pape: There are measurable biological processes at work that potentially are the differences between some of these women, and a lot of it has to do with lifestyle and things that they did earlier in their life.
• 14:35
  Philip Pape: So again, not that we can go in a time machine, we can't.
• 14:40
  Philip Pape: So if we have this understanding, what can you do about this right now to either prevent, if you're young enough, or reverse menopause, belly fat?
• 14:49
  Philip Pape: So let's start with nutrition.
• 14:51
  Philip Pape: Your approach has to be, I'll say, strategic and not necessarily aggressive, right?
• 14:57
  Philip Pape: Let's not be impatient and say, okay, I'm going to lop off the belly fat.
• 15:00
  Philip Pape: How do I do it, philip, let's do it.
• 15:01
  Philip Pape: I like your excitement, but we have to be strategic, right?
• 15:05
  Philip Pape: Severe calorie restriction, for example, is not strategic.
• 15:08
  Philip Pape: It can actually do make things worse.
• 15:11
  Philip Pape: It can accelerate your muscle loss, it can worsen the decline in your metabolism.
• 15:14
  Philip Pape: So that's the first thing I mentioned is if you're trying to lose fat in general and you know you need a calorie deficit to do it.
• 15:22
  Philip Pape: This is where, for menopausal women, or if you're trying to, you know, if you're in perimenopause going, getting close to the transition very reasonable deficits are a good way to go right.
• 15:31
  Philip Pape: We're talking probably less than 500 calorie deficits, and this is where flexible eating then becomes your best friend, because you don't have to eliminate food groups, you don't have to follow restrictive meal plans.
• 15:41
  Philip Pape: That is not what we're about.
• 15:42
  Philip Pape: You track your calories, you're tracking your macros and micros and your fiber and you hit your targets.
• 15:47
  Philip Pape: You hit your protein targets, you hit your fiber targets.
• 15:50
  Philip Pape: You fill the rest of the foods with things that you enjoy that are mostly whole foods, but not always and make it sustainable so that you can go out and have fun with the ladies on Saturday night.
• 16:02
  Philip Pape: Right, have fun at the birthday party, eat your cake, it doesn't matter.
• 16:07
  Philip Pape: We want a sustainable, long-term approach that prevents the all or nothing mentality that I see derailing so many women.
• 16:14
  Philip Pape: Protein becomes really critical for women for everybody, but women especially because of the need to protect that lean mass during weight loss or even just during this transition, and to maintain your metabolism, and the protein can come from a lot of places.
• 16:29
  Philip Pape: Right, I get a lot of questions about well, I don't eat this, so how do I get my protein?
• 16:34
  Philip Pape: I'm like there's a lot of foods with protein yes, meat products, animal products, chicken, dairy, lean meats, seafood.
• 16:41
  Philip Pape: There's soy-based products for plant eaters.
• 16:43
  Philip Pape: There's protein powder.
• 16:45
  Philip Pape: There's a million ways to get your protein during this transition, and I would focus on whole foods most of the time, but don't stress about it.
• 16:57
  Philip Pape: I like an 80-20 approach, aiming for nutrient-dense choices 80% of the time, maybe 90% of the time, depending on how many calories you have to play with, leaving room for foods you enjoy.
• 17:06
  Philip Pape: And that's really it.
• 17:07
  Philip Pape: Now I've done other episodes that go way into all the nutrition science, into macros, all of that stuff.
• 17:13
  Philip Pape: We covered all that on the workshop and exactly how to calculate that stuff.
• 17:17
  Philip Pape: So, again, go to livewitsandweightscom if you want to grab the replay and the guide and all that good stuff is going to help you out.
• 17:23
  Philip Pape: But when it comes to nutrition, having a reasonable deficit or not even being in a deficit and going for body recomp and making sure to prioritize protein and fiber and flexibility are going to go a long way.
• 17:35
  Philip Pape: So that's nutrition Training.
• 17:37
  Philip Pape: You guys know resistance training is non-negotiable.
• 17:40
  Philip Pape: If you don't know that, I'm telling you it now.
• 17:42
  Philip Pape: This is your most effective tool to prevent sarcopenia and to maintain your metabolic rate.
• 17:50
  Philip Pape: And, ultimately, building muscle is the thing that's going to help you lose fat and lose that belly.
• 17:54
  Philip Pape: It just is.
• 17:54
  Philip Pape: I'm not talking about doing ab work, although that can be a tiny, marginally bit helpful right in helping those muscles pop and creating more definition.
• 18:02
  Philip Pape: I'm talking about building muscle in general and how fit it makes you and how much a fat burner it makes you, so that the losing fat piece is easy.
• 18:10
  Philip Pape: It also shifts the distribution of your fat.
• 18:13
  Philip Pape: It also helps reduce fat going to your belly.
• 18:16
  Philip Pape: So, focusing on progressive overload using compound movements, squats, deadlifts, pressing rows, all of those things Training sufficiently with challenging weights, with enough frequency.
• 18:26
  Philip Pape: And then cardio let's stop doing all the excessive cardio.
• 18:31
  Philip Pape: The F45s, the Peloton, the CrossFit style cardio Walking should be the foundation.
• 18:36
  Philip Pape: You know, 8,000 to 10,000 steps is perfectly reasonable.
• 18:38
  Philip Pape: More than that is fine.
• 18:39
  Philip Pape: It's low stress, it's sustainable, it's excellent for health and fat loss.
• 18:43
  Philip Pape: Another hack I have for you is move throughout the day.
• 18:46
  Philip Pape: Don't sit around for longer than half an hour at any one time.
• 18:49
  Philip Pape: Get up every half hour and walk for two minutes.
• 18:51
  Philip Pape: I did a whole episode on how tremendously that increases your muscle protein synthesis, your insulin sensitivity, reduces your visceral fat storage, et cetera, et cetera.
• 18:59
  Philip Pape: It's tremendously beneficial.
• 19:01
  Philip Pape: So if you are being sedentary, even though you lift weights, even though you walk occasionally or even get enough steps, but you're being sedentary the rest of the day, not being sedentary can be tremendously beneficial for your belly fat, believe it or not.
• 19:12
  Philip Pape: And then any other cardio should be very, very strategic.
• 19:16
  Philip Pape: I'm a big fan of anabolic sprinting once or twice a week and that's it.
• 19:20
  Philip Pape: That's it.
• 19:21
  Philip Pape: I have a lot of resources on this.
• 19:22
  Philip Pape: I'm not going to go into great detail, but the point is you can lose fat.
• 19:25
  Philip Pape: You can lose belly fat.
• 19:26
  Philip Pape: You can build muscle with very little.
• 19:28
  Philip Pape: What we think of as traditional cardio Basically a lot of walking, not being sedentary, and then maybe some sprinting or fun cardio here and there.
• 19:35
  Philip Pape: Not being sedentary, and then maybe some sprinting or fun cardio here and there.
• 19:37
  Philip Pape: A lot of the fat distribution is going to be controlled through your diet, maintaining a healthy weight and body fat.
• 19:45
  Philip Pape: Do not fall into the trap of thinking you need to just exercise more, eat less.
• 19:47
  Philip Pape: Exercise more, eat less.
• 19:47
  Philip Pape: Has that worked for you in the past?
• 19:48
  Philip Pape: That's all I'm going to say.
• 19:49
  Philip Pape: Has that worked for you?
• 19:51
  Philip Pape: And I mean the recent past?
• 19:52
  Philip Pape: Right, I don't have to talk about all the negatives from excessive cardio, but it's going to make you more stressed and that's going to interfere with recovery and stress.
• 20:01
  Philip Pape: Stress is one of the biggest causes of visceral fat storage.
• 20:04
  Philip Pape: And that brings me to lifestyle factors, right?
• 20:08
  Philip Pape: Sleep quality.
• 20:09
  Philip Pape: Honestly, if I had to put something at the very top besides lifting weights, it'd be sleep quality.
• 20:13
  Philip Pape: Not just the amount of sleep, but sleep quality, consistent bedtimes and wake times.
• 20:16
  Philip Pape: Lifting weights, it would be sleep quality.
• 20:17
  Philip Pape: Not just the amount of sleep, but sleep quality.
• 20:18
  Philip Pape: Consistent bedtimes and waketimes, good pre-bed rituals, not having blue lights too close to bed, because poor sleep, for sure we know, worsens fat around the organs, it worsens belly fat.
• 20:29
  Philip Pape: When they've compared two groups, one that was sleep deprived versus one that had enough sleep, the sleep deprived group gained a lot more belly fat period.
• 20:36
  Philip Pape: So, even if you're doing all the other things, if sleep is really bad and if you have a stressful job, a stressful life, stressful finances, stressful whatever, if you can work on getting those things out of your life improving those things right.
• 20:47
  Philip Pape: I saw a post by somebody in another group I'm in.
• 20:49
  Philip Pape: He said he has a three-hour round-trip commute and 10 hour work days.
• 20:53
  Philip Pape: So so I can only train two days, and the response was well you, you basically need to find another job Like that's the best thing you could do right now.
• 21:01
  Philip Pape: Don't, don't worry about when to train.
• 21:02
  Philip Pape: That's the 1%.
• 21:04
  Philip Pape: The 99% is this job is killing you.
• 21:07
  Philip Pape: So think about the things you can control.
• 21:09
  Philip Pape: Stretch management is tied into that, right.
• 21:11
  Philip Pape: Chronic, chronically elevated cortisol is going to directly promote abdominal fat storage period.
• 21:18
  Philip Pape: Now, when we talk about supplementation, the only thing I'm going to mention today for that is creatine.
• 21:21
  Philip Pape: I think there's a benefit to trying creatine, seeing if you respond to it from a training perspective, but also for the potential cognitive benefits, especially during menopause.
• 21:29
  Philip Pape: Now, there are other things people might recommend during menopause, like, hey, are you taking magnesium?
• 21:33
  Philip Pape: Do you have enough fish oil?
• 21:34
  Philip Pape: Do you have any deficiencies you need to address?
• 21:38
  Philip Pape: For some women, adaptogens are helpful, like ashwagandha, right, but those are all very specific and very personalized, and, again, they're the 1%.
• 21:45
  Philip Pape: I think creatine, though, can be very helpful, and high dose creatine I think I might do a whole episode about it Could also help cognitive function and relate to these things as well.
• 21:54
  Philip Pape: And then hormone replacement therapy.
• 21:56
  Philip Pape: We got to mention it, hrt, bioidentical hormone replacement.
• 21:59
  Philip Pape: It wasn't included in the SWAN study, but that is, of course, a big variable for some women.
• 22:04
  Philip Pape: If you are deficient in your certain types of hormones and you've done all the other lifestyle factors, this is something you got to consult with your healthcare provider on, but that could be a game changer, whether it's thyroid, progesterone, estrogen, whatever.
• 22:18
  Philip Pape: So I kind of mentioned before this.
• 22:20
  Philip Pape: This isn't just about vanity or fitting into clothes, even though the menopause belly phenomenon starts from that for many of you.
• 22:27
  Philip Pape: This is a fundamental shift in your health risk as well.
• 22:30
  Philip Pape: I think it's important to glom onto that and understand that visceral fat accumulation increases heart disease, diabetes risk, mortality.
• 22:38
  Philip Pape: All of that Understanding the mechanisms and timing that we've talked about today.
• 22:42
  Philip Pape: It empowers you, it gives you the power.
• 22:44
  Philip Pape: You don't have to accept an inevitable decline.
• 22:46
  Philip Pape: It's really about strategically intervening as soon as you can.
• 22:52
  Philip Pape: Research shows us that fat redistribution can absolutely be slowed, stopped and reversed with targeted approaches, and that is proper training, proper nutrition that is not restrictive, that is more nourishing and fueling you, building muscle, moving, walking, not having too much stress and getting good sleep.
• 23:11
  Philip Pape: It's all of guess what the pillars that we should be doing anyway, and that is actually quite empowering, because that means pretty much everybody listening to this podcast.
• 23:20
  Philip Pape: If you can do those things, those strategies, and stick to them consistently, you're going to have massively improved results over the general population and even over where you would have been a year from now.
• 23:30
  Philip Pape: So you've got to start now.
• 23:31
  Philip Pape: You've got to start as early as you can which by definition is now and then be consistent and focus on those fundamentals that drive the biggest changes and not getting lost in the little optimization details or supplements or detox cleanses or any of that nonsense in the fitness industry.
• 23:47
  Philip Pape: And we can help you.
• 23:48
  Philip Pape: We can help you do that if you just listen and apply the information in this podcast.
• 23:52
  Philip Pape: Or the one factor that increases commitment and achievement by 50% is having accountability.
• 23:59
  Philip Pape: Join us in Physique University.
• 24:01
  Philip Pape: One of the best ways to do that is go grab our body recomp workshop and bonuses that we did by going to livewitsandweightscom, because that'll get you right into a method and step-by-step process that you can start to apply to do exactly what we're talking about today and focus on the thing that you might be missing right now, and I'm excited for you.
• 24:23
  Philip Pape: I'm excited about this research.
• 24:24
  Philip Pape: I'm excited that we are learning that the conversation around menopause and belly fat and everything has shifted.
• 24:31
  Philip Pape: I think for decades, women have been told that weight gain and body shape changes are just part of aging.
• 24:36
  Philip Pape: They're just hormones.
• 24:37
  Philip Pape: They're just what happens.
• 24:38
  Philip Pape: Deal with it, accept it, focus on other things, and the research itself shows us this is wrong.
• 24:44
  Philip Pape: The menopause transition does create specific, measurable changes in fat storage that we can predict, we can prevent, we can reverse.
• 24:51
  Philip Pape: And cultural factors, dietary patterns, genetics, lifestyle they all affect this, and one of the things you have the most control over is your lifestyle and your nutrition.
• 25:02
  Philip Pape: So every woman listening has agency in this process.
• 25:05
  Philip Pape: You are not at the mercy of hormones.
• 25:07
  Philip Pape: You are not destined for a decline in your metabolism.
• 25:09
  Philip Pape: You have tools, you have the timing, you have the science to guide your decisions.
• 25:15
  Philip Pape: So, just to recap, what does work to prevent and reverse menopause?
• 25:18
  Philip Pape: Belly Strategic nutrition focused on having enough energy, fuel, protein, fiber, with lots of flexibility and not doing anything too extreme.
• 25:26
  Philip Pape: Consistent resistance training to preserve and build muscle mass, lifestyle factors that optimize your hormones.
• 25:32
  Philip Pape: And inflammation, like getting a sufficient quality sleep, eliminating stressors from your life, reducing your perceived stress and being active in general right, going for those walks, not being sedentary throughout the day the women who take control of their body composition that way during this transition.
• 25:49
  Philip Pape: They don't just look better, they do, by the way, they look great, but they don't just look better.
• 25:53
  Philip Pape: They are altering their health trajectory for the future.
• 25:58
  Philip Pape: All right, if you're a new listener dealing with these exact challenges, here's what I want you to do right now.
• 26:01
  Philip Pape: I want you to open up your podcast app, scroll down to the review section if you're using Apple, and tell us your story.
• 26:07
  Philip Pape: How did you find this show?
• 26:08
  Philip Pape: What has been your biggest struggle with body composition during this phase of life?
• 26:12
  Philip Pape: Give us a five-star review that tells us what you're struggling with or how the show has helped you, and that's going to help other women discover these strategies that actually work and I personally read every single one.
• 26:24
  Philip Pape: I love to give shout outs on the show, please.
• 26:26
  Philip Pape: I'd be so grateful if you leave a five-star review today.
• 26:29
  Philip Pape: Until next time, keep using your wits lifting those weights, and remember that menopause isn't the end of your physique goals.
• 26:35
  Philip Pape: It's the beginning of a new chapter where you get to rewrite the rules.
• 26:40
  Philip Pape: This is Philip Pape and you've been listening to Wits and Weights.