Part 3: Feeling Tired, Stressed & Gaining Weight? Here’s Why

How Stress Wrecks Your Metabolism in Midlife (And What to Do About It)
In this episode of The Menopause Method, we’re diving into how stress secretly sabotages your metabolism, hormones, and fat loss after 45.

If you’ve been feeling tired no matter how much you sleep, craving sugar all day, or holding onto belly fat even when eating healthy—stress could be the missing link.

I’ll break down:
✔ How chronic stress raises cortisol and triggers fat storage in menopause
✔ The sneaky signs of stress overload (bloating, sleep issues, cravings, and more)
✔ Why stress messes with your blood sugar and metabolism—making weight loss harder
✔ Science-backed strategies to lower stress, reset hormones, and support metabolism

Your body isn’t broken—it’s responding to stress. Learn how to work with it, not against it, so you can feel strong, energized, and in control again.

Tune in now to take back your metabolism in midlife!

Free Home Gym Guide: https://www.camoyler.com/gym-equipment-guide

Free Menopause Sleep Guide: https://www.camoyler.com/pl/2148586038

Get the Menopause Mini Workouts: https://www.camoyler.com/meno-minis.

Key Takeaways: 

• Stress is a physiological response that affects metabolism.
• Chronic stress can lead to weight gain, especially around the belly.
• High cortisol levels disrupt digestion and hormone balance.
• Women in midlife often experience hidden signs of stress.
• Dieting harder and exercising more can worsen stress-related weight gain.
• Strength training can help reduce cortisol levels.
• Walking after meals aids digestion and lowers blood sugar.
• Prioritizing protein and fiber helps manage cravings and gut health.
• Self-care is essential for reducing stress and improving health.
• Identifying stress triggers is crucial for managing overall well-being.

Timestamps:

00:00 Understanding Stress and Its Impact on Health
01:23 The Physiological Response to Stress
06:22 Chronic Stress and Hormonal Imbalances
09:15 Strategies to Manage Stress and Reset Metabolism

Transcript

0:00

Bet you've heard that stress is bad for your health. But do you actually know what that looks like and feels like inside of your body? Because stress is not just the feeling of being overwhelmed. It's actually a physiological response that impacts your metabolism, Fat storage, digestion, hormone, energy level, all the things. Welcome back to the menopause method. This is part three of a three part series, learning more about your metabolism in midlife. Because, honestly, there's nothing more frustrating than checking all the boxes and doing all the right things, and your metabolism is still not responding the way it used to. So if you've ever felt wired and tired, puffy and inflamed, or like your body is stuck in survival mode, this episode is for you. We're gonna break down on this episode, the sneaky way that stress shows up in midlife that most women honestly ignore, including myself. Why chronic stress stress actually makes fat loss much harder even if you're eating well and working out. You're also going to learn how stress impacts your hormones, your gut, and your metabolism. Plus, of course, simple science based strategies to lower your stress and actually reset your metabolism. So let's get going. So what exactly is stress and how does it affect your body? See, stress isn't just mental overwhelm. If you went to high school in the eighties or nineties, you probably thought that having a huge to do list and juggling all the things and going and going, it was a badge of honor. But I'm here to tell you that in midlife, that is not a badge of honor. It is actually not sustainable. Stress isn't just mental overwhelm. It's actually a physical response that triggers this cascade of hormones. Your body does not know the difference between work stress, food stress, poor sleep, over exercising, under exercising, a fight with your spouse. It perceives all of those things as a stress, as a threat. So how does that affect your metabolism? When your stress is high, body prioritizes survival over fat loss. See, we're hardwired that way to keep reproduction high and to keep us alive. Even though it's 2025 and those, like, are not the issues that we're dealing with. Because chronic stress leads to chronic high cortisol, which is a fat storage hormone, especially around your belly. So high stress also slows your digestion, which disrupts your blood sugar and lowers your thyroid function. All of those things affect your metabolism. So here's an example for you. Maybe you've noticed you used to be able to power through, like, a really busy week, but now you crash at 3PM. Or you wake up exhausted even though you've had a full night sleep. Your weight is creeping up even though your eating habits really haven't changed. I experienced all of these symptoms in my late forties. No amount of coffee would keep me awake, and I noticed the scales creeping up even though I was still working out and still eating the same. Women who experience chronic stress have higher cortisol levels, which means increased belly fat even when their diet is healthy. So we're gonna actually look for five hidden signs of stress at this stage of life. The first one is chronic fatigue. You're feeling exhausted no matter how much you sleep, and you need caffeine and sugar to get through the day. That was me in my late forties. Like, there was a Starbucks that just opened down the street, and I thought, I'm just gonna drink coffee all day. Boy, did that backfire. Also, if you are noticing you're waking up at 3AM wired and restless, those are signs of chronic fatigue. Next one is increased belly fat. Even without overeating, that's so important. In episode one, we talked about our how our metabolism is part calculator, calories in calories out. But last week, we talked about part two, the barometer feeling the stress. So you can be undereating and actually gain weight in midlife. Cortisol causes fat storage around your midsection. You gain weight in your belly, not really your hips and your thighs. I know when I hit menopause, my weight gain totally went to my belly. In fact, I say my belly is a barometer for my stress. When my belly feels bloated and blah, that's a time to dial in my self care and really take extra care of myself. Dieting harder and working out more actually makes the situation worse, which you go back to episode one, because we're more than a calorie calculator. If we were only a calorie calculator, dieting harder and exercising more would work. But, you know, because you're listening to this episode, it doesn't work. Number three, digestive issues, bloating, constipation, loose stools. All of that is caused by stress. Stress affects your digestion. It either slows it down to constipation or it speeds it up to diarrhea. Have you ever noticed feeling bloated after meals even though when you're eating healthy? Or this, I've seen a lot of. You have new food sensitivities that show up like dairy or gluten or sugar now make you feel awful. Number four, sugar and card crepes. High cortisol causes blood sugar swings where you're really high and then you have that horrible crash. That leads to actually more cravings. So if it's 3PM and you're in the closet looking for something crunchy or salty in a bag or a box, that's probably a sign that your blood sugar is not regulated. Maybe you've noticed this, feeling hangry if you've waited too long, not and you haven't eaten. Eating carbs makes you feel better temporarily, but then you have that energy crash, and then you're back in the kitchen looking for something to get some more energy. Number five, poor sleep and feeling wired and tired. At the end of my forties, I knew exactly what wired and tired felt. Maybe you can't fall asleep or maybe you wake up multiple times in the night. Maybe you feel anxious at night even though nothing's wrong. And you feel you wake up feeling unrested no matter how many hours you slept. So, what does this have to do with cortisol and fat storage? Let's break down how chronic stress actually disrupts your hormone and your metabolism, which means the cortisol is high and the fat storage is also high. Okay. So, if you ever wondered, like, what's the deal with midlife belly fat? Your body actually holds on the fat in your belly to protect you against a famine. Higher stress means higher insulin resistance, which means more belly fat. Isn't that crazy? There's no famine in 2025, but your body's still hardwired to think that there is. Your thyroid function slows down. In fact, hypothyroid was my first official diagnosis at the end of my forties. So what happens is chronic stress lowers these two things, T three and T three four, which are thyroid hormones, making your metabolism sluggish. So maybe you're checking all the boxes, you're still eating well and you're still moving, but maybe you're noticing cold, dry skin, extra hair loss, no energy. All of those are typical signs of your thyroid. This leads to low energy, slow digestion and very difficult to lose weight. The other thing that happens in midlife is the estrogen and progesterone imbalance. So cortisol steals resources from progesterone leading to a regular cycles, mood swings, and poor sleep. When we are entering, like, perimenopause into menopause, if you're not ovulating, you're not making progesterone. And when you have low progesterone, you're going to notice more anxiety, worse PMS, and really you're gonna notice some strips. And you're gonna notice some sleep struggles. In fact, many women in perimenopause do really well with supplementing with bioidentical progesterone before they reach over into postmenopause. It's very helpful for a lot of women. The other thing that this hormone shift changes is your gut health because stress actually kills the good bacteria inside of your belly. It leads to bloating, constipation, inflammation, all of that. In fact, 95% of your serotonin, which is your feel good happy hormone, is actually made in the gut. And that disrupts the balance when you are in chronic stress. Real life example, maybe you used to handle stress well, but now it wrecks your sleep and you get a stomachache. Or maybe you feel bloated. Your belly feels bloated even after healthy meals, and you feel more anxious than normal. Even when nothing major has changed. I've heard that from a lot of women, anxiety. In fact, here's a stat for you. Women under chronic stress have a forty eight percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which includes insulin resistance and insulin is a storage hormone, as well as belly fat and high blood pressure. So, how in the world do we lower our stress actually reset our metabolism? Because this is possible and I believe this is possible for you. Number one, if you know me, this is not a surprise. Strength training instead of excessive cardio. Strength training. In fact, lifting weights actually reduces your cortisol and improves your insulin sensitivity. Let me explain. The more muscles you have, the more places you have to store blood sugar. So if you take a walk after eating, you are contracting your muscles. The contraction of those muscles actually helps lower your blood sugar naturally without insulin. So think of it this way, the more muscle you have, the more places you have to store your blood sugar. So not only are you improving your, like, confidence in the world and how you move through life, you're actually going to improve your health markers and be become and become more insulin sensitive, which is a good thing. Here's the thing. If you're doing too much cardio, that might be too much cortisol for your system, and cortisol is also a storage hormone. Number two, walking after meals. I just mentioned this a minute ago. This naturally lowers your blood sugar without the insulin spikes. It's amazing. It helps clear the stress hormones from the body, and it's a really nice way to help with your digestion. If you've eaten too much and you feel really bloated and blah, the best thing you can do is go put your shoes on and get outside. Now, you may wanna do that by yourself. That might be the best way to help your digestion and get rid of stress, walk by yourself, or call a friend or grab your husband's hand and get out there and walk. Number three, prioritizing protein and fiber. Okay. Number three, I'm gonna sound like a broken record. Prioritize your protein and your fiber. When you do that, it actually balances your blood sugar and prevents those cortisol cravings for salty sweet stuff. It helps it helps promote your gut health reducing bloating and inflammation. In fact, I mentioned this on a previous episode, practicing food order is the easiest way to lower your blood sugar naturally. So first, you will get your plate and you eat the thing that has fiber, a a k a your vegetables, your leafy green stuff. Eat the fiber first. It actually causes a mesh in your digestive system that allows the food to go to your bloodstream slower. So it slows the blood sugar spikes. Second, eat your fat and protein. And then finally, eat your carby carbs. Number four, manage stress like it's your job. We probably, if you're like me, probably believe that self care was selfish. Kinda maybe grew up with that idea that taking care of yourself was lavish and extra. Well, let me tell you something. On this side of menopause, I call it the midlife awakening. It is your duty to find things that take the burden off of your body to reduce your stress. If you need to, go lock yourself in your bedroom and read a book, whatever it is, or go on a walk by yourself. It's okay to say no to other people and say yes to yourself. I learned the hard way that when you do that, you actually have more energy and more patience for the people in your life. So take care of yourself first. There's so many ways to do this, and there's no right or wrong way. There's breath work, meditation, anything that will calm the nervous system down. And also, maybe it's setting boundaries and saying no to overwhelm. And here's the thing, when you start saying no to other people, you're gonna feel guilty. But just remember, every time you say no to something else, you're voting for yourself. You're voting for your health. You're voting for ultimately your your metabolism. So getting sunlight first thing in the morning also helps regulate your cortisol. Did you know your cortisol naturally rises in the morning about thirty minutes after waking at its highest level? And then as the day goes on, it drops to its lowest level right before bed. So anytime we're raising our cortisol before bed, we're going to disrupt our sleep. Because the thing about it is cortisol and melatonin work in a seesaw. So when cortisol is high in the morning, melatonin is low. Melatonin is your sleep hormone. The opposite is true at the end of the day, when melatonin is high, cortisol is low. So it's like one or the other. If you're doing something at the end of the day to spike your cortisol, it's gonna make melatonin like not wanna come out and help you sleep. Just think about that. Speaking of sleep, optimizing your sleep takes a little bit of guess and check, but it is totally doable. In the show notes, I'll link a free sleep guide. In 2020, I figured out how to sleep after years of not sleeping, and I put all my best tips together for you for free. So make sure you download that. Some of the things that help, no screens about an hour before bed will help lower your cortisol. You may have heard that before, but has anyone ever told you why? See, blue light actually wakes up our brain and it raises our cortisol just like morning light. Right? So blue light from our screens, from our phone, from our TV actually wakes our brain up when we're actually trying to wind things down. So blue blocker lights is an option if that will also help. I love magnesium and protein. Things like that will ensure that you have good sweet sleep quality. And then consistent bedtime and morning routines. I know that's so boring. The older I get, the more I know. As soon as it gets dark, I'm ready for bed, and then I naturally wake up. So I have my sleep cycle synced to the sunrise and the sunset, and that's a really good thing. Okay. So what are the main takeaways from this episode? Your nervous system, hormones, metabolism, all of these things are interconnected. You can't out diet or out exercise, chronic stress, poor sleep, and your hormone imbalances. So what do you do next? The best step is to identify your biggest stress trigger and just start working on it. Be really curious about how can I take this burden, the stress away from my body? And then another thing that's really helpful is realizing that the stress is harming your health. It is slowing down your metabolism and it is preventing you from reaching your weight loss goals. If you think about it that way, maybe it'll be like, oh, I do matter. I am gonna take care of myself better. I am gonna figure out what is stressing my body out and how can I relieve my body from that stress? Focusing on movement, protein, gut health, stress reduction, all of those things matter. If you need help getting started with your strength training journey or maybe you're returning, you gotta check out the menopause minis. These are ten minute workouts that are changing the way women are exercising. You gotta check them out. They're also linked below. When you get like in this panic mode and your metabolism isn't responding, going to the extremes is not helpful. So avoid the extreme dieting and the extreme cardio. They only make the stress on your body worse. Yeah. Maybe they worked when you were younger, when you were 20 and 30, but at this stage of the game, it usually backfires. If this episode hit home for you, make sure to like, follow, and share this with a friend who needs to hear this information. And if you're nodding along thinking, yep, this is me, please send me a message on Instagram at hey mama underscore cam. I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway from the show. Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next week.