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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 Akindipay, family nurse practitioner and women's health coach. I help women in midlife reset their bodies and reclaim their confidence. So 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 your healthiest self yet. Whether you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or simply just tired of feeling like your body's working against you, then you're in the right place. Let's get into it.
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Okay, ladies, let's dive into this very important topic, why dieting doesn't work anymore, especially during midlife. Okay, so let's start with this story. You are scrolling on Instagram, you see someone who's dropped 30 pounds on keto, or maybe lost all her belly fat on intermittent fasting. And you're sitting there thinking, well, if it can happen for them, then I'll just do the same thing that they're doing. I just need to try harder.
It'll work for me too, right? So pause. If you have the same thinking, you and Alon says, we've all been there because most of what's sold to us as discipline is just deprivation wrapped in pretty packaging. I see this all the time when my clients come into the clinic and they're talking about they've tried this diet, that diet, they tried. And sometimes it's not that it doesn't work. It will work for a little bit.
and then they're right back to square one. And it's like over and over and over again, we're jumping on another wagon when it comes to weight or we're reading books about weight loss. And you know, it's that yo-yo cycle of dieting, exercise, dieting, and then we stop and then we're right back to it again. And all it's doing is wrecking our metabolism, okay? I've been there.
I've done it, I've done the low carb, I've done the low cal, know, two days a week, five days a week in the gym. And the thing about this every single time is that you lose weight, sometimes very quickly, and then you gain it back faster and even more. And a lot of the times what you're actually losing is either water weight or you're losing muscle, okay? And when I used to do this,
my body would get so exhausted because I wasn't eating enough calories. I was exercising too much. I was probably tired. I was probably depleting my body of all the nutrients that it actually needed. I probably wasn't sleeping well because I was probably very hungry. So initially you lose the weight and sometimes maybe you'll plateau. Your body just says, you know what, you are too stressed out. We're not losing any more weight. And this is where we give
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And then we go back to what we used to do. Like, well, I guess that's not working anymore or you're just tired and you go back to what you were doing. So it's not that these clients are not disciplined, but they're stuck, right? They're scrolling through social media, comparing themselves to someone else's method, wondering why it's not working for them. And the truth is what worked for her might actually wreck you. Okay. So let's get into why this happens to.
us as women, especially as you start to get older, right? So around 35 years old, muscle mass declines. And I tell my clients in clinic all the time, your muscles are equivalent to your metabolism. The more muscle you have on you, the better your metabolism is. So around 35, imagine what starts to happen when there's a lot of hormone shifts. You are potentially
much more busier, you're potentially not sleeping as much. Maybe you are a woman with children, you're married and you've got a career, and you've got a lot of things that are taking a piece of you basically, right? So by the time you get into your forties and your mid forties and beyond, muscle mass continues to decline even more. So if you are the type of person where you just kind of ate on the go,
maybe for breakfast you were just someone that would thrive on coffee, for example. I told my story when I worked in the ICU as an ICU nurse, my breakfast was my coffee. I worked in the intensive care, I worked in acute care. So it's like, you are just grabbing the first thing that you can put in your mouth, maybe something is in the break room and you grab it and that's what your body feels on until it crashes again. So imagine if you continue to do this over time.
What's gonna happen? It's going to catch up to you. Your body is smart. You it's like, could do that when you were in your 20s and maybe you get 30s. as this starts to get, you you start to get older, you start to lose muscle mass. Why do we start to lose muscle mass? Your hormones. So we women, and it's kind of unfair, right? But our hormone decline is not very gradual. It's like, it can really hit you. And if you're not paying attention to it, you can...
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You you start to wonder what's happening. Why is it so hard for me to lose weight right now? Especially around my belly. Women will say I have so much belly fat. It's because we start to lose estrogen. We have estrogen receptors all over our body. Estrogen is one of our hormones that your ovaries make, progesterone and testosterone. These are hormones that our bodies, that helps a lot of different functions, hair, skin, nails, metabolism.
So as you start to lose your estrogen, you actually start to lose muscle. I know. So this is the time where you really need to pay attention to what is happening with your body. So if you start to lose estrogen, you are more inclined to gaining more fat, less muscle, you have more fat that can cause more inflammation. So I try to describe it to my patients as
you're losing estrogen, belly fat goes up, belly fat, basically, I don't mean just your tummy, it's just everything that around your organs, for example. So when you start to lose your estrogen, you start to gain belly fat, it's equivalent to your insulin start to creep up. So when you have rising levels of insulin that's produced from your pancreas,
It also means your body is having trouble processing sugars. So normally when you eat, your blood sugars rise a little bit, but then your body compensates, know, delivers some to the muscles and stores the rest, gives your cells the energy it needs, but it probably doesn't need all of that, right? So it'll store the rest of it in the muscles. But if you have too much blood sugar, it starts to store it wherever it can find as fat. Okay. So if this cycle continues,
Right? Inflammation goes up, blood sugar keeps creeping up. Your pancreas really says, you know what? I don't know what else to do. I'm trying the best I can. I'm spitting out all this insulin, but your blood sugars are just rising and rising and rising. And that's where it starts to become pre-diabetes. Your blood sugars goes up and then it becomes diabetes, type two diabetes and so on. So what we want to do during midlife as we start to have these shifts in our hormones,
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is learn to cope. And I tell women all the time, it doesn't mean that this has to be your story. You just need to know what will work for your body. And that's where I come in as a coach because every woman is not the same. You can be on intermittent fasting and it works great for you. And it actually is a great thing to do intermittent fasting, but it's just how you do it with your environment, your lifestyle.
Everything is different from you and the next person next to you, even your best friend, even your sister. So you can't look at someone on social media and say, well, it worked for them, so it has to work for me. Uh-uh, it just doesn't work that way. So in my coaching, what I tell women is, OK, let's uncover some of the things that might be happening. We already know what's given is that you are probably over 35, over 40. You're probably in hormonal decline. We know that's a fact.
But what are some things in your life? So that's where the first step of the elevated woman comes in. Let's discover, right? We need to discover some things in your life that might be adding fuel to the fire. How can we make it so that what's happening in your body isn't aggravated? Is it that you're stressed out? Okay, one of the most common things that keeps the fat on for women is stress. We are...
wonderful women doing all kinds of things in the community. We're serving our community. We have children. We're married. We are hard workers. We are in the homes. We are very good at multitasking. We are very good. mean, sometimes I'll tell, I'll say write down everything you do from the minute you wake up till evening. And there's so many different things that we're doing. So unless you figure out how to lower stress,
Because what stress does is increases your stress hormone, also known as cortisol. Cortisol is notorious for women because it helps store more belly fat. So not only are your hormones declining, you're also stressed out. You're not gonna lose weight if you're stressed. If you're stressed, you're not sleeping, it's hard. So what else are we discovering? What are you eating?
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And this can be very tough, especially if you grew up in a household where you just basically ate what was on the table. So this is what you eat. If you have a big plate of food, you must eat that plate of food. You cannot waste it because listen, you know, maybe you grew up in a home that didn't have much, you, and this is all cultural, right? This is what you have available. You must eat that. cannot waste that meal. If it's something that's learned, how can we change that so that you know how to eat for your body, especially in
in midlife? Are you used to eating large amounts of meals? How large is the plate? What's on your plate? Right? So those are the discoveries. What triggers you to eat? Is it, do you eat because you're stressed? Do you just not know what to eat? Are you a bored eater? For me, the biggest thing was stress. When I stress, I eat. when I say I eat, I ate anything. Anything I can get my hands on, sugar,
going into the pantry, especially late at night. I would go and I would just stuff my face. When I was in school getting my DNP and my MBA, yes, I was doing that at the same time. See what I mean by stress and homeschooling kids during the pandemic. So there was a lot going on, but the way I coped was stress, even before that time, even when I was younger, that was what I coped, used. So it's also psychological, right? So if you don't deal with all of these different factors,
even if you lose weight, it'll only come back, right? So we talked about estrogen. Estrogen supports gut diversity. So as it drops, your gut diversity drops. So what is gut diversity? That just means there are some really cool bacteria that live in your gut that actually keep your gut healthy. So when that lowers, it allows the bad bacteria to grow. So we call it bacteria overgrowth. And you know, it starts wreaking havoc. It causes inflammation.
The things that's supposed to stay in your gut don't stay in your gut. They actually go into your body, through the little holes in your lining of your gut and start to wreak havoc and you're causing immune issues, thyroid issues, brain fog, all sorts of things. That's beyond the scope of this podcast. So we don't want too much inflammation. A little bit of inflammation is good because sometimes that's the body's way of dealing with a bad thing trying to get in, but you don't want too much of it.
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Constantly chronic inflammation is horrible for the body, right? So it impacts your digestion. It impacts how you eliminate, right? You're supposed to have bowel movements every day. So if you're stressed out, you're eating the wrong foods, you're not eliminating all the toxins from your body. Imagine what happens, right? Progesterone is also something calms your nervous system and your gut. So when it declines, your gut also kind of the bloating and the constipation and again, the toxin buildup.
So a sluggish gut also equals a sluggish metabolism. And the other thing is, I talk about this sometimes in my patients, the gut and the brain talk to each other. We call it the gut-brain axis, right? So 90 % of serotonin is made in your gut, okay? So if your gut is inflamed or out of balance, your mood, your focus and your motivation go down. So women will say they just feel irritable.
especially after eating certain foods, right? This is why women in perimenopause often feel anxious, foggy, depressed, even when their labs are normal, right? So again, I say all of this to say that you are not broken. Your body is just tired of being starved and overworked, doing all of the things.
going on the next thing, the next phase, the new craze, even these new medications that are coming out, know, the Ozempix and the Monjaro's, they're great, but they are not the solution. We need to deal with the root cause of the weight gain. Okay? So you don't need to shrink yourself. You need to support yourself through this transition in midlife. So here's where we flip the script, okay? Stop asking how little can you eat.
start asking, how can I feel my body? How can you fuel your body to feel my best? So one thing I noticed when I flipped that script, when I first started this journey of losing weight and improving my body composition, I didn't really fully get it at that time either. I wanted to just outwork out everything. Stay in the gym, workout, workout, workout, and you're tired, you're too lean.
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you just actually look sicker than when you were overweight. You know what I mean? It's like that imbalance. You just overdo it in your body. It's gonna show. So fueling my body means eating to nourish my body. What does that look like? Okay, so here are the newer rules that we live by right now. Protein. Protein is what's going to help you keep full.
Protein is what's going to help you build muscle, which is what you need for your metabolism. So, and again, I don't want to say you have to have breakfast, you have to have lunch and dinner. Some people are just not great breakfast eaters. Breakfast is essentially breaking the fast, right? So if you're not eating at seven o'clock in the morning or eight or nine, that's okay. Break the fast when you feel like you need to eat as long as you're not like just starving yourself.
But when you do break the fast, it's important to incorporate healthy proteins, healthy proteins into your diet. Now in the show notes, there's gonna be a really good source that you can try out. Again, you these are ideas. Everybody has what goes with their palate. Some people like eggs, some people not. They are just ideas. So in the show notes, you're gonna have links to cheat sheets to get you started.
So if you can incorporate proteins earlier, proteins and fibers earlier in your meals during the day when you're active, when you're doing things, then it helps versus loading it up in the evenings, right? Again, this is for most people. If you want more personalized ideas, definitely reach out to me for a 60-minute clarity call for you personally. It's free. We can sit down one on one to see what works for you.
But for general, if you're fueling your body 30 grams of protein with every meal, if you're getting at least 80 to 100 grams of protein per day, you're doing pretty good, okay? And then adding one to two cups of colorful plants. So this was a little bit of a challenge for me, okay? I didn't grow up eating a whole lot of vegetables. So I really needed to start slowly.
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So one of the things I did that was very helpful was I would make a goal and say, I'm going to incorporate one new vegetable this week. And then I started to notice, wow, I really like how that tastes. I like this vegetable. And that's how you just discover different foods and different colors. And the more colorful those vegetables are, the better, okay? It just means that they have a lot more vitamins and nutrients in them and a lot of fiber too.
Incorporating healthy fats is also important. Nuts and seeds and avocado. Have a new love for avocado. Some avocado toast I used to think was disgusting, making it, you know, you can get creative with it, but of course being very careful not to make it too salty or adding other thing that's going to, you know, kill it for you, but you can get creative with meals, right? Stop skipping meals. I say especially breakfast for most people.
Because when you skip meals, especially if you're gonna be very, very busy and you're not nourishing your, you're not fueling your body with the right nutrients, that's when you tend to eat more, especially at the end of the day. Women will just say, I get to the end of the day, I'm home and I crash and I'm exhausted, but I need to eat. That's why, because you're not fueling your body. Okay, if you wanna do intermittent fasting, absolutely you can do that.
But I tell women, you need to make sure that you're timing it appropriately. If you have a busy week, you've got deadlines and meetings and all kinds of things going on, that's probably not a good time to do the intermittent fasting. Remember, stress doesn't like, your body likes to keep you safe, okay? So if you are fasting while stressed, what's gonna happen is you're probably not gonna lose any weight. Because your body wants to make sure that you can run away, I always say run away from a tiger, right?
timing it appropriately, even the time of your cycle too, if you're still cycling, all of those things makes a difference. When your body's stressed, if you're sick, you really probably shouldn't be doing that, okay? The other thing is strength training. So this is super important. know, back in those days, I think back in the 90s, I remember in the early 2000s, I would sit in my living room and I would, in my parents' living room back then, and I would basically power through all of these workouts and they were all very heavy cardio.
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I forget the name of this African American man, very muscular, did a lot of karate. I cannot remember. If anybody remembers this, please comment. I can't remember that I would spend, it was like nonstop. And I remember feeling super exhausted after those workouts, but they worked. I lost it, but then I was also in my twenties. But hey ladies, you can't do that right now. With everything else that's going on, you just can't. What you should do is focus on strength training.
Strength training is good for so many reasons. It helps you build muscle. Okay, so if you're trying to lose fat, you need to strength train. Strength training two to three times a to protect your muscle. We just talked about how you're losing muscle as you get older. So incorporating two to three times a week of strength training will help build muscle, help rev up your metabolism and help you burn fat.
So women will say, well, I've gained some weight. And I'm like, yeah, you're going to gain some weight initially, but your body is restructuring. You'll start to notice your clothes are fitting better. You have more energy. I have more clarity. I actually feel more relaxed. I feel less stressed when I do the strength training. I sleep better. So that is a non-negotiable. And it doesn't mean that you have to lift super heavy. Even using your body weights. How do I incorporate that? Start small.
You know, using your body weights, if you don't have access to the gym, this is something you can completely do from home. I started my journey doing YouTube videos and I would literally, I have snippets of it, I think on social media. I would literally sit, it was like five a.m. in the morning and I would get in front of my TV, put in a YouTube video and I would do a quick few minutes of body weight exercise so you don't have to have weights to even do it. You start there and continue.
Maybe doing 10 minutes per day or 10 minutes twice a week. Start what feels right for you. Hydration is next. So hydration is non-negotiable. So if you fueled or you ran on coffee, kind of like, know, that what's that slogan for Dunkin Donuts? America runs on Dunkin. So here you have to hydrate all day.
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All day you have to be drinking lots of water. Lots of water is also going to help your metabolism. So if you're not a water drinker, what you can do, because I know some people it's just, I don't know what it is. mean, again, get creative. I started incorporating fruits, if it's not something that you like, know, maybe adding flavor water, anything that's going to help you develop that habit. So for me, cutting up lemons and lime.
I just love the colors. So just putting it in water was really helpful for me. So it made me want to drink more sleep. All right, ladies, I cannot say this enough. You need sleep. Your life depends on it. If you are not sleeping well and you have all of these things that you need to do, it's almost impossible for you to lose weight. You need to be getting at least seven hours of sleep per night. And I don't mean tossing and turning at night. I mean quality.
deep sleep. So if you're not sleeping, it could be due to hormone imbalance. So that's where we need to figure out, you need to be on hormone replacement therapy, which is absolutely great, maybe because we lose progesterone, which progesterone is that calming hormone that helps us sleep at night, right? So you might be need to be on that. Or is it lifestyle? Do we need to shut down earlier in the day? If you scroll on social media and you have that light, the white light,
that just makes your brain or you can't shut your brain off, there are things that you can do to promote some kind of a ritual that your body automatically knows it's going to bed. So that by this certain time, you need to go to bed. And listen, ladies, I know you've got all kinds of things. There's kids, there's, if you don't set that boundary for yourself, it's never going to happen. You're going to have to create a way for you. And it's not gonna be perfect.
every single day. There are times that it's not gonna work no matter what you do and that's okay. But most times you should be getting enough sleep. Your body really needs it to recover, to build muscle, to repair all of the above, okay? So what worked at 25 won't work now and it's not supposed to, okay? You don't need another diet. You may need a roadmap specifically for you and I'm happy to help you out with that. Like I said, I've got some cheat sheets that you can try.
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But you know, in our 60 minute clarity call, if you want to be clear about what your body truly needs, then schedule a 60 minute, it's free clarity call. Let's get on the call together. I can coach you through some things that might be able to help you better than what you are doing now. So you need a plan that designed for this season of life. One that fuels your muscles, nourishes your gut and calms your nervous system. We can't be stressed sis, you just can't.
You can't do that because when your body feels safe and supported, your metabolism will finally stop fighting you and start working with you. That was my story and I know it will work for you too. So I want you to do this. After this, download your free Power Plate formula in the show notes, the same meal building framework I give to my VIP coaching clients inside the elevated women's method.
try to start incorporating this method. And if you're ready to stop dieting and start thriving, you are more than welcome to apply for the Elevated Women VIP Coaching Experience. You won't regret it. Women work one-on-one with me through a few months, and we start to build your personalized blueprint together. It's great when women start to just, the lights go on. It's like that aha moment. Wow, I didn't realize this was my story for so long.
So if you are ready for that, definitely go ahead and book that appointment. They're all in the show notes, though the website is there as well. Thank you so much for joining me. If this resonated with you, of course, please don't forget to share. If you want something specific that you want to learn about, definitely comment or send us an email at info at rejuvenate health aka dot com. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you for tuning in to the Elevated Women's Podcast. If today's episode resonates with 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, head over to our website. It's listed in the show notes to learn more about our elevated women's coaching program. That's where we take these conversations deeper and create a more personalized plan for your hormones, your weight, energy, and more. Check out our show notes. I've linked free tools.
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and cheat sheets to help you get started right away. For more daily tips and inspiration, come hang out with me on Instagram at The Elevated Woman Coach. And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, Thriving Over 40 with Dr. Akim DiPay. Until next time, stay elevated.