This conversation has gotten ridiculous

One of my clients came to me completely convinced cortisol was responsible for her weight gain. 

And I understood why

She was under a lot of stress. She wasn't sleeping particularly well. Most of the 30+ pounds she'd gained had settled around her midsection. She was in her 40s. If you spend any amount of time consuming women's health content online, the diagnosis practically writes itself: 

Cortisol belly.

So she'd already started trying to fix it

She was taking supplements for stress. She'd changed the way she exercised because she'd heard intense workouts could spike cortisol. She was trying to regulate her nervous system. She was paying attention to when she drank coffee

Meanwhile, there were some much less exciting things happening that weren't getting nearly as much attention.

Her movement had dropped significantly since taking on a more demanding role at work. She was drinking a couple of glasses of wine several nights a week. Dinner was often her biggest meal because she barely had time to eat during the day. Her sleep had deteriorated. She'd lost muscle. And somewhere along the way, the portions that used to maintain her weight were no longer producing the same result

Cortisol was absolutely part of the conversation

But I think the “cortisol belly” conversation has gotten ridiculous. 

I've been in this industry for 28yrs and over the past 2 years have spent more time working in hormones and weight loss, and I would never tell you stress doesn't matter. It does. Dysregulated stress can affect sleep, appetite, cravings, recovery, blood sugar regulation, exercise tolerance and the behaviors that influence your weight. 

But cortisol has become the explanation for almost everything

Tired? Cortisol. 

Can't lose weight? Cortisol. 

Wake up at 3 AM? Cortisol.

Belly fat? Definitely cortisol

And once you've been given that explanation, it's very easy to start looking for increasingly complicated ways to “fix your cortisol” while overlooking the things that are contributing to the problem every single day. 

For this particular client, we didn't need to make cortisol the villain.

We needed to look at her entire metabolic environment

Her hormones. Her food intake. Her muscle mass. Her movement. Her sleep. Her stress load. Her recovery. Her stage of life. And importantly, how all of those things were interacting.

That's how I think women's weight loss should be approached, especially in your 40s and 50s

Your hormones matter enormously. 

They just don't get to explain everything

If you've gained 30+ pounds and feel like you've collected five different explanations for why your body has changed, this is exactly the kind of problem I help women untangle.

Click here to book a call with me and we'll talk through what's actually going on