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For high-performing women who are exhausted by weight gain, hormonal chaos, and vanishing energy — this is your reset. I’m Dr. Ade Akindipe, a DNP, obesity + hormone specialist, and health coach.
On this show, we demystify metabolism, gut health, hormone balance, longevity, and the root-cause mindset behind lasting transformation.
Each episode digs into:
Why “eat less / move more” often fails women in midlife
Hidden hormonal blockers + how to balance them
The guts of your metabolism — how it changes, how to support it
Strategies that feel like you — sustainable, not rigid
Real stories, expert interviews, science you can use
If you’re ready to stop fighting your body and start living with more clarity, energy, and confidence — this is your space.
Resources / Links:
🎧 All episodes: https://www.theelevatedwomanproject.com/podcast
👉 Free Metabolic Reset Cheat Sheet: https://theelevatedwomanproject.com/episode-1-92625
👉 Book Your Roadmap Session Here: https://l.bttr.to/sXiAW
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Welcome to the Elevated Woman's Podcast, your guide to optimal health and confidence. I'm Dr. Ade Akindepe, family nurse practitioner and women's health coach. And I help women in midlife reset their bodies and reclaim their confidence. This is the place where real talk meets real solutions. No quick fixes, no fluff, just the tools, strategies and stories you need to break free from stubborn weight gain, balancing your hormones,
and stepping into the healthiest version of yourself. Whether you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or simply tired of feeling like your body is working against you, then you are in the right place. Let's get into it.
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Turning 40 hit me differently. For me, it was during the pandemic and life was already upside down as we know it. So I was working, raising a family, and pushing through my doctorate program in nursing and an MBA. So when the weight crept on and the brain fog set in and my joints started aching, I just chalked it up to stress.
It made perfect sense, right? But deep down, I knew that something was off. So that was my story. It was 2020, all of these changes were happening. The world was crazy. I was homeschooling kids. My husband was home full time. I was home part of the time working in a clinic, a busy clinic when there's COVID everywhere. And mind you, I live in Alaska, so this kind of hit us a little bit late.
But then it really set in when there was a shutdown. Everything in the world has shut down, except those of us that were in the healthcare setting where we had to show up, right? We had to, unfortunately, give people that diagnosis and let them know whether they tested positive for COVID or not. And my first reaction, again, like I said before, was it was just stress. And it wasn't until about a year later when these symptoms, which I thought
you know, the stress was starting to alleviate a little bit, even though I still had all these responsibilities, I thought this will get better. The stress is getting worse, less. I'm almost finished with school, but all those symptoms persisted. You know, I had 20, 20 vision and all of a sudden I had to squint to see up close what's happening. Recovery from the gym was taking a lot longer. All of these things kind of just hit me, but
subtly, but I didn't really connect the dots, not until I sought help. And I have to tell you, it really wasn't immediate. I went to one doctor who is an excellent doctor and this doctor prescribed a medication for blood pressure. I was having some cold pins and needles kinds of feelings in my toes and my fingers. And of course it mimicked a condition called Raynaud's disease, right?
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joint pains, aches, weight gain, brain fog, irritability, you name it, and the list kept growing. So I started to realize this wasn't just stress, Something was going on. wasn't until I saw a doctor who happened to be an OBGYN who said, you you might be going through perimenopause, a lot of your symptoms. Let's check your hormones. Let's see where you're at. And I have to say, you know, the providers I saw before that,
It's not that there was anything wrong with them. There was absolutely nothing wrong with their training. But unless you choose to learn about this, it really goes undiagnosed. It gets missed. So many women, unfortunately, fall through the cracks. And I was one of them turning 40 in 2020. So I sought out the right provider. I saw a nutritionist. And then that's when things start to change. And it wasn't immediately. This was gradually over time.
when I noticed my yo-yo weight loss and weight gain over the years was due to multiple things. It was due to how I handled stress. It was due to lack of sleep, poor sleep, stress, the way I ate foods I was sensitive to. I remember being in the ICU back in the day, grinding it for those 12 hour shifts and I would down this white chocolate mocha and I would feel miserable and fatigued hours after.
Coming to find that it was those crashes that I didn't realize that was happening, spiking my blood sugars, foods that I ate traditionally coming from a West African culture, unfortunately started to wreak havoc in my system. So until I started to connect the dots with the right providers, slowly I started to improve. And with all of that, shedding over 60 pounds, having more energy, having glowing skin, and having my libido back.
more energy and the list goes on was what sparked me to say, you know what, if I'm going through something like this, other women out there are going through the same thing. So that started my journey as a provider in obesity medicine, specifically for women that are navigating perimenopausal changes, menopause and beyond. And maybe even before perimenopause, even premenopausal women may have some issues there. So I became certified as an obesity medicine provider at hormone health.
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That was my story. And I said to myself, I do not want other women to suffer. And it's not just because of that. There are myriads of information out there, so many, and it's hard to decipher what's true and what's not. Everybody right now is a hormone specialist, whether you're a nutritionist or not, whether you went to school or not, whatever. Everybody has an opinion of what's right or wrong. So this is what sparked me to start this
Podcast because it's really important for my voice to be out there Speaking from my own experience as a women's health coach. That's what I do I coach women through these changes because it's it's one thing for you to know what to do and it's another thing for you to actually get into the mindset of thriving because sometimes for so long you've been told well, that's normal. That's just how it's going to be
But it doesn't have to be that way. You do not have to be miserable for the rest of your life. You do not have to suffer in silence or believe that only options are medications. I've seen many women that end up on medications that are not necessary or labeled with things like depression or fibromyalgia or just learn to cope. Midlife can be a reset. You can't start over. I'm a prime example of that.
I love it when my patients come in and say, you don't even look like you had children. Some of that could be genetics, but I have to tell you, it wasn't always like that. I chose to reframe, to shift that narrative from, this is what it looks like to be 40 and beyond. I decided I did not want to just decline. I want to thrive and I want other women just like me to do the same. So this podcast exists so that women don't get
Just get information. I want you to experience the coaching, things you can start to do in your own home, those mindset shifts that need to happen, and practical steps you can start to take to reclaim your health. So it's never too late to start, even if you're 300 pounds. Yes, I got to a point in my life when I was over 200 pounds, and for me, I'm 5'4". I'm not very tall.
(07:58.926)
but I've always yo-yo'd throughout, even in high school. So I knew that this was something that I was prone to being overweight if I didn't take charge. if you're 300 pounds and you're listening to this, or if you're overweight, you're listening to this and you've tried all of the things, I wanna let you know that it is possible for you to feel like yourself again. But I have to tell you one thing though.
You can't have change without making change. And I'm talking about lasting change. I don't mean dropping 80 pounds and then everything stops. I mean, old habits won't carry you to a new outcome. So I really hope that with this podcast, you understand what change looks like. Change doesn't have to be overnight.
Change doesn't have to be something that, you know, happens today in three months or nine months. This is something that can take days, weeks, months, even years to obtain, but it is possible. So the other thing I want you to understand is that let's use this term called scale reframe. I see many, many women and they'll come to me and they'll say, I want to lose X, Y, amount of pounds.
And what I love to do in the beginning of any assessment is to start with a body composition. I love the body composition scale because it gives me more numbers, more data about your health. This is especially important for women over 40. You can't just look at the number on the scale. I know that there's, you know, the BMI that kind of tells us how healthy we are, but I don't like that number. The body mass index, that can...
really skew things and how it doesn't really give us the full picture of how healthy you are. But what the body composition does is it breaks down what your muscle mass is, what your fat ratio is, your fat mass is, what your percent body fat is, what your visceral fat level is. Those numbers we'll dive into more. Don't worry in other episodes. It's really important to go beyond what the number on the scale is. And that's one of the mindset shift that needs to happen.
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if you are on a journey to losing weight. Okay. And then coaching starts with goals. Any single patient I work with always start this process with goals. What are your goals? And I don't mean I want to lose 30 pounds. What are your goals? What is your why? Because when progress slows down, this is what anchors you. This is what keeps you coming back to continuing on this
Journey and I say journey because it's not a marathon, right? This is something that's going to go with you for days and years to come I've lost over 60 pounds and My weaknesses include stress eating I still battle that today Worry can translate into going to the pantry at night to pick something to eat
stopping at McDonald's and parking in the parking lot and stuffing your face. All the things that we do, eating bags and bags of candy, right? At the end of the night, ice cream, whatever that looks like. It is a lifetime commitment to obtaining health. Then I want you to also pay attention to how you feel in your body, not just what your scale says, because you know,
Often women will come into the clinic and say, I haven't lost a pound in months. But then at the same, in the same breath, they'll tell me that my clothes fit better. I have more energy. I'm running up and down the stairs. So we'll talk a lot more, you know, in other episodes about how to really frame your mindset and stop focusing on the number on the scale. It, once you can do that, it,
really changes everything and removes that anxiety around being weighed in the clinic and not seeing that number move. Because after some time, especially when you're on the weight loss journey, your body starts to change. You might start to gain muscle. You might start to lose fat, but for some time, maybe your weight stays stagnant and then you start to shed fat and your body, maybe you'll start to see the weight loss on this scale. But I want you to pay attention to how you're feeling, how your clothes are feeling.
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fitting, your energy, your libido, your confidence. All of those things matter, not just the number on the scale. So I'm really excited about this episode. Not just this episode, I'm really excited about this podcast because it is my way of just bringing my experiences from personal and both clinical and personal, what I've seen in coaching my weight loss clients, my women.
who are navigating hormonal changes and then bringing a piece of that to you. So my takeaway message for you if you're listening today is that you are not broken. is still hope. I've been there. I'm not just saying this. Your body is giving you signals all the time. So listen to your body. Listen to your body. My midlife isn't an ending. It's the state of a more informed intentional way of living. So yes, there signals. There's some changes.
You know, maybe you might be losing your hormones. Yes, you are losing your hormones, but it doesn't mean life is over. It's just understanding what's happening on your body and how we can support you through those changes. And it's never too late to reset and reclaim your life. So I want you to know that, you know, this podcast really means a lot to me. If you have questions, please, please comment, send us messages. I have lots of cheat sheets that I put in the show notes.
for self starters like me that like to kind of jump on things. I don't like to waste time when I see something that works for me. I want to start right away. So there's cheat sheets. There are tools you can use to start getting yourself started with some of our free coaching materials. If you are ready for deep support just from what you've heard, definitely head on to our website at www.rejuvenatehealthak.com. Would love to get you started. If you're ready to start.
guessing and start thriving, check out those cheat sheets. They're tailored to you. Other than that, I am super excited. I'm really hoping to really inform, coach whatever coaching I can give you through these podcasts. That is the reason why I'm here. So please, if this with what you're hearing resonates with you, share it with your friend. I look forward to seeing you next time. Thank you for tuning in to the Elevated Women's Podcast.
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If today's episode spoke to you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with a friend who needs this conversation too. And if you're ready to stop guessing and start thriving today, I want you to head over to our website at www.rejuvenatehealthak.com to learn more about our Elevated Women VIP Coaching Program. That's where we take these conversations deeper and create a more personalized plan.
for you to address your hormones, your weight, and your energy levels and more. Also, be sure to check out the show notes. I've linked free tools and cheat sheets to help you get started right away. And also, for more daily tips and inspiration, please come hang out with me on Instagram at doctor.adey.akindepey.underscore.dmp. And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, Thriving Over 40 with Dr. Akindepey. Remember.
Midlife isn't a crisis. It's your power move. You deserve to thrive through midlife and beyond. Until next time, stay elevated.