Podcast Episode – 5 Reasons Menopause Slows Your Metabolism (That Aren’t Muscle Loss) (Part 2 of 3)
This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on midlife metabolism. Last episode we covered a study showing standard calorie formulas overestimate perimenopausal resting energy expenditure by an average of 215 calories a day, and that muscle loss only explains 1% to 2% of that gap.
So this week: if it’s not muscle, what is it?In this episode:
- Why estrogen receptors living inside your mitochondria change how efficiently your body turns food into energy
- How insulin resistance in perimenopause reroutes glucose toward fat storage, independent of age or weight
- Why your hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) can leave you hungrier while burning fewer calories
- Why fat oxidation, your body’s ability to actually use stored fat for fuel, becomes less efficient
- How the cortisol and sleep feedback loop compounds everything else on this list
- One practical thing you can do about each of the five
Up next in this series: does any of this mean the fight is unwinnable? (Spoiler: no.)Grab my free Midlife Metabolic Reset guide (mentioned in this episode) at healthyhermidlife.comRead the full blog post on this topic at healthyhermidlife.com
Check out the referenced podcast episode on sleep and cognitive behavioral therapy here.
