Perfect Health Habits. Still Not Losing Weight After 40. Meet Your Gut. Part 1.

WHY I GOT MY GUT TESTED

Well wait...I feel like we should get to know each other a little before I spill my guts (I.  Can't.  Even....PUN INTENDED!). 

Hi, I'm Kim, RN and Certified Women's Health Coach, and if you don't know...I am pretty solid at all the healthy things. Whole foods. Steps. Water. Strength training. Sleep. Stress management. I'm even working on my hormones now...I love alllll things health and love that I can control how I feel.  There are so many things in life that are out of our control, but soooooo much of our health is totally controllable!!  Love that power!

Ok, so now that we intimately know each other, I had gone to a hormone doctor to get a pulse on my hormones because I was feeling a little fatigue, nothing major, but I am NEVER usually tired, so this was new.  And I also felt like my body could not tolerate stress.  Now, I would not say I am a particularly stressed woman.  I do operate at a million miles a minute...or at least I used to, but yet somehow, I still almost FELT physical stress, with no real reason to be stressed...so THAT is why I went to the doc.

She found that my hormones were not really all that bad, but I had a methylation issue, meaning it's harder to clear out toxins and process certain nutrients efficiently, which affects everything from hormones to energy to inflammation.  I ended up getting genetic testing that showed I DO have one of the variants of the MTHFR gene.

So after treating that and still not seeing resolution of my fatigue and mood and bloating...she questioned my gut health, which I always thought was rock solid.

Now, before I share my results (which are FREAKING SHOCKING)...it is important to understand gut health for a  sec...because it is DEFINITELY one of the most underrated pieces of the whole health puzzle...especially for women over 40.

YOUR GUT IS KIND OF RUNNING THE WHOLE SHOW

Here are the deets on your gut:

It is where you produce 90% of your serotonin, your mood and happiness hormone. IMAGINE. Food literally controls your happiness.

It is where you absorb the nutrients that build your hormones (yup, you read that right...food builds your hormones).

It is where 70% of your immune system lives.

It is where inflammation starts...or does not.

And it is directly connected to your brain through the vagus nerve, meaning what happens in your gut affects your anxiety, your sleep, your mood, and your cognitive function in real time.

For women over 40 specifically, your gut health directly impacts your estrogen clearance, your cortisol regulation, your belly fat, your energy, and your ability to actually absorb the supplements you are taking.  Talk about having POWER...sheesh!

A compromised gut does not just cause bloating and digestive discomfort.

It is a whole ripple effect.

WHY IS MY GUT JUST NOW A PROBLEM?

This is the question I kept asking myself.

My gut has been great for 45 years. Like a really solid trustworthy gut. But over the last year or so I started noticing bloating I had never experienced before. And I kept thinking... why NOW when, if anything, I am as healthy as I have ever been?

Here is your answer.

Perimenopause.

Estrogen directly influences your gut microbiome. It supports microbial diversity, gut lining integrity, and the balance of beneficial versus harmful bacteria. As estrogen declines in perimenopause your gut literally loses one of its primary protective hormones.

This is why gut issues, bloating, digestive changes, new food sensitivities, inflammation, are so common in perimenopause and almost nobody connects them to hormones.

Did your brain just explode? Because mine did. 

AND THEN THERE IS STRESS.

Chronic stress depletes your gut. 

Cortisol directly damages the gut lining over time. It reduces microbial diversity. It suppresses the beneficial bacteria that produce GABA and serotonin. And it promotes the growth of more opportunistic bacteria.

The sneaky part? Some of us do not even realize how much stress our bodies are under because we get so used to it. It just feels like life.  In my free private podcast (get it here!)...episode 6, I talk about how most of us women become immune to our own stress, so just because we may not FEEL stressed, does not mean we are not stressed. Add that to the natural increase in cortisol as we age and I can just about guarantee most of us are walking around with elevated cortisol.

And if you want to know where YOUR stress gaps are...Episode 7 of my free private podcast Maybe It's Not Your Calories walks you through a real life audit so you can finally see exactly where your missing pieces are.

HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO TAKE AWAY FROM ALL OF THIS:

Yes your gut is SUPER important to your health. Like I cannot stress this enough.

But please do not immediately jump to a gut test looking for your magic fix.

Because there is no magic fix. I repeat...THERE IS NO MAGIC FIX.

The gut test told me WHAT to work on. But my healthy habits are what actually make the work possible.

All the food recommendations in the world do not matter if you are still stressed out of your mind, sleeping terribly, skipping workouts, and not hitting your protein and fiber with real food.

A gut test without the foundation is just expensive information with nowhere to land.

Get the habits down first. Then work on your gut if you need to.

Healthy habits alone will fix A TON. I promise you that.

COMING IN PART 2:

My actual gut test results. And trust me, you are going to want to be there for that one. My friend's jaw was on the floor. 

WANT THE FULL PICTURE?

If any of this resonated, the fatigue, the bloating, the belly fat that will not budge no matter how clean you eat — you are in the right place.

My free private podcast Maybe It's Not Your Calories: The Fat Loss Truth for Women Over 40 goes deep on everything we touched on today — the mindset piece, how nutrition controls your hormones, and how to shift your body out of survival mode so it finally feels safe enough to let go.

8 episodes. Completely free. Delivered straight to your inbox.

LISTEN TO MAYBE IT'S NOT YOUR CALORIES HERE

And if you are ready to stop just knowing what to do and actually start doing it, implementing the changes, building the habits, and having someone in your corner when you just want to quit...that is exactly what we do inside Coach In My Back Pocket.

LEARN MORE ABOUT COACH IN MY BACK POCKET HERE

Your gut results tell you what. Your habits make it possible. And having someone in your corner makes it actually stick. That is the whole thing.

Keep It Movin,
Kim 💪