GLP-1 And Weight Loss For Women Over 40

We talk to women over 40 who feel blindsided by the scale and want a clear, no-shame look at GLP-1 medications and midlife weight changes. We break down what’s happening with hormones, blood sugar, stress, sleep, and muscle, then lay out why lifestyle medicine stays the foundation no matter what tool you choose. 

• why weight loss can feel harder after 40 due to hormones, stress, sleep, and muscle loss 
• how blood sugar shifts from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes over time 
• what GLP-1 is as a hormone and what GLP-1 receptor agonists do 
• who Ozempic and Wegovy are designed to help and why weight loss happens 
• the question to ask before starting medication: habits that support health long term 
• the lifestyle medicine basics: nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, community, accountability 
• why tracking beyond the scale matters, including body fat and muscle mass 
• how the Metabolic Reset Program is structured as a six-month roadmap with maintenance support 
• rebuilding trust with your body and getting your confidence back in midlife 

I’m going to invite you to learn more about the metabolic reset program. You all know amanicole.com. I want you to check that out.

Transcript

Scale Shock After 40

SPEAKER_02 0:00

If you're a woman over 40 and you found yourself staring at the scale, wondering how in the world did this happen? How did I get here? This conversation is for you. Oh, and if you've been curious about Ozimpic, Wagovi, Zetbound, or any of the other GLP1 medications, everybody seems to be talking about this episode, is definitely for you. Today we're going to have a real conversation. And now there's no judgment, no shame. Not trying to tell you what to do or not to do. This is just facts and options because my goal is not about telling you what the best route is or best decision to make. The bigger picture for me is just helping you to make sure that you have enough information to make an informed decision about your health. So hang out with me. Go ahead, grab your cup of water, iced tea, hibiscus tea, whatever you're drinking. Or if you're on that walk, you're getting ready to take the make the most out of two situations here in a health conversation while you're getting your healthy on. Go in for that walk with me up in your ear. Or just sit down next to me for the next few minutes or so. And let's talk about these GLP ones and a lifestyle medicine approach to weight loss. So why do women over 40 feel like our bodies are in a war against us? As if our bodies are in betrayal mode. We're gonna talk about that. You know, because so many women come into our office frustrated. And it is not because they are lazy, it is not because they don't care about their health, it is not because they done forgot how to be disciplined, they're just frustrated. Because the things that worked when they were in their 30s, it's not working anymore at 45, at 50, at 55. Hormones are changing, stress increases, sleep is inconsistent, muscle mash, y'all. We're losing our strength. And then let's talk about blood sugar. How many of you were surprised when your blood work came back pre-diabetes? What we used to call borderline. Or how many of you have had lab work after lab work after lab work over the years, say pre-diabetes, and then now, boom, here's the diagnosis. Type 2. Blood sugar becomes tougher to regulate when we're dealing with hormonal fluctuations. So just you know, at the end of the day, the body even stores fat differently. You see this in your midsection. That's why you're wondering, wait a minute, where did all of this come from? The six-pack is still there, it's just waiting for you to chisel away a little bit. But you know, that feeling alone can be quite discouraging, and many women are blaming themselves, and that is far from the rate of this conversation. We're not blaming ourselves because here's the truth our bodies still work, they're not broken, we're going through a natural change in life. So let's just focus on biology for a second here because the biology of our bodies have changed, and so with that change,

Why Midlife Weight Shifts

SPEAKER_02 3:45

that means our strategy needs to change too. There's so much hype around the GLP ones. I thought that at a at one point, even thinking about where we are with it now, that it would kind of fizzle out a little bit, but that is not the case because weight loss is no longer a buzzword. There's so many of us within that journey that the GLP1s, hey y'all, that conversation is strong. So let's just clear up a few things because GLP1 is not a drug, it's a hormone. Our body naturally produces GLP1. Now, when the hormone is acting the way it is supposed to, our bodies benefit because this hormone helps to regulate our appetite, it uh helps us to recognize fullness, right? So when we eat, if we're filling up, and if we're even satisfied after we eat, this same hormone affects blood sugar, it also affects digestion. Do you see everything here related to the gut and how we eat nutrition? Catch that, hold on to that point. The medications that everyone, you know, the hot topic today, the GLP1 receptor agonists, they mimic the hormone. And so for many people, it's effective, especially people with type 2 diabetes. So let's face it, when you think about the Osimpic and when you think about um like the the uh Wagovie, they are designed for people with type 2 diabetes with the goal of helping that person to improve their blood sugar and reduce the risk of uh heart disease, right? Because someone with type 2 diabetes has an increased risk for heart attacks and strokes. So those uh medications can work really well for a person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but they're also effective for weight loss. I found this study, Johns Hopkins did a study on GLP1s. They did uh actually 64 clinical trials, and I'm just going to give a summary on this. You can look this up and find it. It's an analysis based on 64 clinical trials revolving around the use of GLP1s. And so this trial actually involved tens of thousands of participants that were using the GLP1 medications. The researchers found that these medications produce meaningful weight loss across different ages, races, ethnicities, body sizes, and blood sugar levels. Women lost approximately 11% of their body weight on average compared to about 7% in men, and that is significant. But it's also important that we acknowledge that sometimes, you know, people think that when we're in wellness and when we have this holistic approach, that uh we want to dismiss medications, and that's not what this conversation is about. That's not what we're doing because these medications are helping people, um, they are. We know they come with risk. Read the risk, read up on, do as much reading and research as as you can. But I just wanted to be clear that they serve a purpose, and for some people, they are a help. But

GLP-1 Meds Explained Clearly

SPEAKER_02 7:48

see, here's the question nobody is asking. And this is the question that I wish more women asked. Okay, and the question is not, should I take a GLP one? That's not the question. The question is, what happens if I never learn the habits that support my health? I want to say that again. Because the real question is, what happens if I never learn the habits that support my health? Because medication can be one tool, but lifestyle is still the foundation. Y'all follow me on this one. You still have to eat, you still have to sleep, you still have to find a way to manage stress, you still have to move your body, you still have to care for your emotional health. No medication replaces those things, and that's where lifestyle medicine comes in. It's just, huh, yeah. I'm I'm telling you, so remember, this is a I'm just gonna continue to say non-judgmental, right? We just we know that weight weight loss is not a buzzword, literally for those of us who understand and recognize that when we are at a healthier weight as we define it, I'm not talking about a BMI, but a healthier weight as we define it, that sometimes these decisions surrounding weight loss medication might not be driven towards a long-term, uh

Lifestyle Medicine Foundations

SPEAKER_02 9:50

long-term sustainable weight loss. So let's talk about this a little bit because the lifestyle medicine, which is which is the holistic approach, right? The lifestyle medicine approach at Amani Nicole Wellness, we teach women something powerful. Your body already knows how to heal, right? It was designed to heal. You already know you get a scrape, you get a bruise, you get a cut. What happens over time? It's going to heal. Your body knows how to do that, it already produces hormones designed to regulate the hunger and the fullness. Our goal is to create an environment where your body can function better. And when so, how do you create this environment where the body functions better? Well, that means that there has to be a focus on nutrition, exercise, also known as movement. Y'all doing house chores is movement, and your garden is movement. Repotting your plants, plant mama is movement. You in a supermarket, grocery shopping, and your favorite songs come on. You better count those five minutes. All those old songs used to be at least five minutes. Some songs were five to seven minutes. Count that time. What about sleep? I say by show of hands. How many of you are in the seven plus hours at night sleep club?

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Can you hear the crickets? I heard the crickets. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

But sleep is a part of this. But this is not the episode for me to keep going on a tangent about sleep because you know your girl loves a good nap. Stress management. A foundational piece of our program is definitely the stress management, right? Um, stress impacts blood sugar, stress impacts weight, and that weight around the midsection is driven by stress, right? Cortisol. Um, when we talk about the lifestyle medicine approach, we have to include community. You're not in this alone. Part of this holistic approach is who else is around you supporting you. Second to that is the accountability. Who's going to continue to nudge you? And one of our secret weapons is definitely heat, y'all. I know when I say heat, the first thing you're thinking about are those hot flashes and those night sweats. But trust your girl on this one. Infrared sauna therapy is not a game. And it could possibly potentially help you with those hot flashes and those night sweats. But specifically sauna therapy. Aren't you carrying more than the extra weight, the physical weight? Carrying stress, exhaustion, inflammation, burnout creeping, and stress impacts

The Metabolic Reset Roadmap

SPEAKER_02 13:11

everything, including weight loss. That is why we created the metabolic reset program. So this program wasn't created just because you need another diet, you need somebody else telling you what to do. Uh, you are uh not going to go into this thing when it comes to food that you have to eat a certain way, this time, this hour, and you can not repeat this process long term. No. The metabolic reset program was designed to be a roadmap because guess what? You just want somebody to walk you through the steps and make this journey a clear, realistic one. You are done with the overwhelm. Now, and this is not somebody's 30-day program, 90-day program. Come on, how long did it take for you to get to this point? The point of frustration, or maybe even the point of defeat. At this point, you are looking for a roadmap, and in order for you to be able to see the results that you truly want and to be able to sustain them, this program has to be six months. This is a six-month roadmap with a built-in maintenance plan because once you achieve those goals in the first six months, you still need to have some of that accountability and some of that push. So, what comes along with this accountability, or actually, this roadmap, what does it look like? It includes one-on-one coaching, nutrition support, consistency that you build when you're showing up for yourself for those weekly sign-up therapy appointments, uh, checking your results, y'all. We're talking about a total body analysis because the total body analysis lets us know exactly where this weight is coming off. And we want that weight to come off of your body fat percentage. If you're just focusing on a number on a scale and you're unable to see other metrics like body fat percentage, water weight, muscle mass, then you're doing your weight loss journey a disservice. We can lose water weight, we can lose muscle mass, but is that really the most effective way to lose weight? So, with that total body analysis, you're able to go way beyond the scale and watch your habits lend itself to what I call the natural BBL, y'all. I'm telling you, what happens when you chisel away at fat naturally and build muscle in the process? Yes, the natural BBL, ladies. And for us over 40, we can achieve that. So we call it a reset because that's exactly what you need. You don't need punishment, you don't need to feel like in order for you to set things straight and get back to that body, you know you deserve that you have to go on some type of grind it out, no pain, no gain journey. That's not what this is. This is truly a reset a chance to reconnect with you. Because at this stage in life, you already know, and I know it, you've been doing so many things, it's still hard for you to embrace the less is more aspect of this new journey that it's easy to lose yourself. Motherhood is a great thing. Being in a relationship with someone who loves you back is a good thing. Uh, going to work is important to pay the bills, or managing or running that business is important. Um, you know, at the end of the day, we can easily get lost in our day-to-day. And there's no no one's fault for that. That's just as women, that's how we were built, right? We're the nurturers. But if you're in a space where you feel like, whoa, yeah, I kind of kind of lost myself here, trying to regain me and get me back, right? Because this is a different, this is a new phase, and it's time for you with this focus that you're adding to your plate. It's a good plate, literally. Hope it's the plate with half your plate and veggies. But this is a chance for you to rebuild trust with your body. Your body right now, today, is content with where you are. It's giving you signs, it's sending you cues that you have to do something, but honey, the body is lazy and it's okay with where you're at. If you're in the 200 pounds, trust me, it's not thinking about what would life look like if she dropped down to 175. Your body knows that requires work, and so this is where mind and body connects and gets on the same page so that you're able to reconnect and rebuild that trust, getting to where you know um you can be. Boost that confidence, girlfriend. Come on now. You got this, you've done this before, you've done harder things before. So, this is something that you know that you can do. So, what we've seen in the women that we serve, let me just first tell you the women in our program, they are not celebrities. They're not celebrities, they're teachers, nurses, caregivers, business owners, grandmothers, women who have spent years taking care of everyone else. And so when we constantly see this, when women begin improving their medication, when they begin increasing exercise, getting better sleep, committing to that weekly self-care appointment, naturally their confidence changes, their energy changes, their relationship with food changes, and yes, as a result of this, their bodies change too. But the biggest transformation is really that number on a scale, is how they feel. They stop feeling helpless, they stop feeling like their body is attacking them and their metabolism has decided to shut off. It is just the opposite. They start to feel empowered again. You know what's interesting about us as women, right? You know, we we do so much that in a sense, we don't really call it control, right? But how many of us have control issues for real? Just raise your hands. Come on, y'all. Be real. Uh, to a degree, the level of responsibility and the things that you have on your plate, no, it's not, I mean, it's obvious that there are a lot of controllables in our lives, there are a lot of things that we have to control. The interesting part of that, though, is when we look at our own personal journeys. How many of us feel in control of our health journey? Well, this is what it means to feel empowered again. It's not like we don't know how to be to maneuver some of that energy in everything else over to us to build and boost our confidence. For some of us, we just have not been able to put ourselves in a position of first in so long that we may struggle. Struggle with even doing that, even though it is a necessity. You know the cliche, you can't pour from an empty cup. We can't give what we really do not have. And the reality is when you step back and you're able to take care of you legitimately in a good way, you will have the ability to tackle all the responsibilities that are there. And most importantly, throughout the menopause journey, you'll also be able to identify some of those things that don't need you. So you can delegate or take it off the plate, scratch it off the list. Whew, said a lot. Hope you followed along with that. At the end of the day, we're talking about a program that literally is not about just the number on the scale, but this is about you being able to turn the page in this chapter and see it as more than a weight loss journey, but a healing process, an empowering process

Medication Plus Habits Decision

SPEAKER_02 23:06

that you can put on repeat. So is it medication or lifestyle? No, that this isn't this conversation, it's not about medication versus lifestyle, right? To each its own. It's not a competition. Um, there's no judgment to those who may choose medication because some women may benefit from it, others may choose a non-medication approach, um, like our approach. And then there's some that may decide to use both. At the end of the day, your health is just that. It's your health, it's personal. What matters is making the informed decisions and understanding that no matter what path you choose, healthy habits they're always going to be essential. They're at the top of the list. Uh, there are no substitutes for lifestyle change. It's not okay. So, but if you're listening and you're feeling discouraged, I mean, don't know your situation, but maybe it's just one of those things where you've tried before or energy is low, and now you're a caregiver, so just the time for yourself or to yourself is super limited, and you're just feeling a bit defeated.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Well, if you've been struggling with weight loss, if you've been hiding from pictures, and you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

They're trying not to be in a picture, have somebody else stand in front of you. If you've stopped buying clothes that you love, and if you've convinced your yourself that it's too late, then come on. Yeah, I turn the volume up on this. Number one, it's not too late, it is never too late. Your body is still responding, and this war is not between you and your body. That's not the point. It is not. This is you know, your health can improve, and we see this happen on a daily basis. Your health can improve. Um, you know what your blood work looks like, you know what your physician last said was the recommendation the last time you were there. You're familiar with all of that, and your health can improve. You can go back for that next uh set of lab work for that next follow-up. You can go back with your uh what is it? You know, chin up, shoulders up, empowered walking through because you already have an idea of how your blood work will look different because you've incorporated these lifestyle changes. So, this this is about mind over matter, y'all. Your energy can improve. And how do you feel when your energy is better? How do you feel when you wake up excited and energized versus waking up tired? When you wake up those mornings that you're energized, that energy is flowing. What are you doing? Everything you want to do, everything you thought you couldn't do because it seemed overwhelming at first, but your energy is on point. Your confidence can improve. We talked about that before, y'all. That when something feels defeated, it literally does not spark, but I can do this vibes. It is typically the opposite, where you are even defeated before you start, you haven't even given yourself a chance. Well, no, your confidence can improve because you're actually going to pay attention to some of those smaller things, some of those smaller wins that most people don't pay attention to, but it is those wins that'll take you through the journey. And then remembering that you don't have to do this alone. There's a tribe of women waiting to embrace you as you kick off this next chapter.

How To Join And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Well, let's close it out, y'all. I I've said a lot. Your girl Coach Nick has talked up quite a bit. Now, if you're ready for a non-medication approach to weight loss, if you're ready to learn how nutrition, movement, stress reduction, ifer synoutherapy, so you're definitely in the DMV for the metabolic reset program, right? You want to see how that accountability, all those things work together, then I'm going to invite you to learn more about the metabolic reset program. You all know amanicole.com. I want you to check that out. This six-month lifestyle experience is designed specifically for women over 40 who, you know, you're just ready to stop trying to do quick things. And you've told yourself that I want to try this without medication, and you are okay with the slow process, the slow start, a couple of pounds here or there on a week, you know, on a weekly basis. You're okay with that because you want to create lasting change. Well, I hope that you feel more informed at this point than you did before we first started this conversation. It's also my hope that you feel confident about your next step, whether it's with us or another program, or just you deciding to work on your health effective immediately. I hope that is something that came out of this conversation. Because you deserve to feel confident, and you deserve to be beautifully well. So until next time, beautiful, take care of you. You know how to get this done. Let's just go get this done. Take care of your health because your health and your wellness, your overall well being matters. I'll catch you in the next episode. As always, it's your girl, Coach Nick, with the beautifully well conversations. Remember, stay beautiful.