158 | Supplements to Help with Weight Loss

Can supplements really help you shed those stubborn midlife pounds? Tune in to this episode of Moving Through Midlife, where we unpack the truth about weight loss supplements and why they should only support—not replace—a balanced diet and regular exercise. I explain how starting your day with a protein-packed breakfast can kickstart your metabolism and how collagen can rejuvenate your skin, joints, and hair. However, the focus remains on how consistent, healthy habits are the cornerstone of real success, rather than relying on a magic pill.

We also explore the critical role of muscle mass in boosting your metabolism and regulating blood sugar levels, essential for effective weight management in midlife. I offer practical supplement recommendations like creatine and collagen to support your journey, emphasizing a holistic approach to health. Don't forget to join our Moving Through Midlife community on Facebook for more insights and support. Remember, it's all about keeping active and fostering sustainable, healthy habits for a graceful transition through midlife.

Here is the Article about Creatine: Creatine 101: What Is It and What Does It Do? (healthline.com)

Chapters

• 0:00 Supplements for Weight Loss in Midlife
• 17:50 Building Muscle for Better Metabolism

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today I am going to discuss some supplements that we can use to help us with weight loss in midlife. This tends to be one of the biggest questions I get from people that are just talking to me. They find out that I'm a personal trainer and nutrition coach and they say, okay, this is what I'm doing, and they'll give me a slew of what they're doing. These three, four, five things I'm doing Is there one thing that I can do? Is there something I could take to help me with weight loss? So that's what I'm talking about today is what supplements you can take for weight loss. Let's begin.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Welcome to Moving Through Midlife. I am your host, courtney, a personal trainer and movement specialist who wants to help you move through midlife with more grace. Each week, we will discuss ways we can show up better for ourselves and our children without the burnout. We will focus on overall health through habit stacking to help increase energy, provide movement snacks to help you move more throughout the day, while also moving your body more, and learn from professionals on moving through midlife with ease so that you can feel confident with aging. Gracefully, grab your earbuds and join me on a leisurely walk while we discuss moving through midlife.

Speaker 1: 1:42

Now, if you know me, you know that something's not right with this title. Okay, so here's the thing I promise you this is not clickbait. We will discuss some supplements that you can take, but I want to define what a supplement is Something that completes or makes an addition, something that completes or makes an addition? So for me, if you're asking me for a supplement, what I'm going to say back to you is what are you doing right now for weight loss? Then you can come through and tell me what you're doing and then remember what is a supplement. A supplement is that something that completes or makes an addition. So for many, you are going to need to add something in, and for most people it is exercise, move more or eat healthier. Those are your supplements. And, like I said, I promise you I'm not clickbaiting you. I am going to provide you some information.

Speaker 1: 2:59

But if you're not starting there, it doesn't matter what you do or what you take. That does not override working out, exercising and eating healthier. There is not a magic pill. I mean there is. So we're led to believe right now. Yes, you can do certain things if you go see a doctor and you can take certain things, but it is at a cost. It is at a cost. You will lose muscle, you will have side effects, and that is where I'm not going to get into the discussion about it here, because that is something that you would then want. Not going to get into the discussion about it here, because that is something that you would then want to speak to your medical provider, based on your specific situation. Okay, so that is not.

Speaker 1: 4:05

I don't can take that is going to override the importance of eating your macronutrients and your micronutrients. So your protein, fat, fiber I like to say fiber, not carbohydrates, because when we think carbohydrates we think white bread, rice, and when we think fiber, we think fruits and vegetables. So eating your macronutrients and then your micronutrients are going to be again, they are your fruits and vegetables, varying it up, so you're getting different micronutrients in and then also your spices and your herbs, which bring other micronutrients into your diet and your exercise. So if you're looking for that magic sauce, it really is getting back to the basics and I would encourage you to not look at this like you have to do it all. If you can start with one thing today and work on that for a while until it gets to become a habit. That's where you should start and you get to choose. You get to choose. If that is, you know, I want to take the nutrition aspect or I want to take the fitness aspect, the exercise aspect, movement you get to like both, right. They like to either do the exercise and their diet is garbage, or they can handle eating the healthy, but then they don't want to move. Okay, so that is first and foremost. If you want to think about a supplement, what are you currently doing in your life and what can you add to it? Now to start talking about things that we can do to supplement our diet? Because that's what. When we think of supplements, we automatically go to dietary supplements. So let's discuss. So let's discuss.

Speaker 1: 6:25

The first thing that I would recommend is some sort of protein powder. The reason I do this is because most women are not getting enough protein in their diet, and I wouldn't even worry about anything other than your breakfast. If you can get protein in at breakfast, you are setting yourself up for a better day. The one that I prefer is a whey protein, but I understand, not everybody can handle whey proteins. I like ProDelicious because it has very little ingredients. I'm not an affiliate for them any longer. They took away their affiliate program, from what I can tell, but I still believe in the product. I will still recommend the product because I like it that much. The one I like is the strawberry, if you need to know, and that is because it has whey protein. It has freeze-dried strawberries and stevia Three ingredients. I do not notice a stevia aftertaste, so just note that as well. So just note that as well. That will help you get more protein in.

Speaker 1: 7:49

The other supplement I recommend you take is a collagen supplement. I've talked about this last week in I believe it was 156, four things you can do to support aging and midlife. The reason I recommend collagen collagen is a protein. It can help with the health of the skin, the joints and the hair and it's very easily. You can take it very easily. You can put it in like your coffee or tea. You can put it in a smoothie. Mine that I currently have adds 10 grams to whatever I add it to of protein, so there is an additional layer of protein for your protein needs.

Speaker 1: 8:34

As we get older, our collagen production slows, so it is an opportunity to start adding collagen in. Start adding collagen in. You can choose to eat collagen naturally when you are eating like chicken skin, fish skin, things like that or like a beef broth Any kind of bone broth is going to help you get more collagen in. A lot of the collagen that we eat, unfortunately, has become stripped due to the supposed health benefits. We take off the skin. We no longer have chicken on the bone. You know like we've depleted all the nutrients from that chicken breast. So and yes, it does come with fat as well but when we pull all that off, we're losing some of these supplements, these ingredients that we would naturally get in our diet. So we are now supplementing. So if you want to do it more naturally, start looking at fish skin, chicken skin, bone broth, things where you're eating more of the ligaments, chicken wings, all of those things where you're eating more of the ligaments. You know, chicken wings, all of those things where you're starting to eat more of the meat.

Speaker 1: 9:52

For those of you who may not eat fish and beef and things like that, there are ways that you can get collagen because you're not going to probably want to take those supplements. So first understand that collagen is produced from amino acids, so you will want to ensure that you're eating enough protein. So beans and if you eat eggs, eating eggs and, for those of you who also eat fish, making sure you're getting plenty of those, because that's going to help with production of collagen naturally in the body the things that you can do to stave off the degradation of the collagen. So you know, we do create collagen based on the amino acids that we're eating, and then certain foods will not allow for turnover of collagen production, so it degrades collagen is what I'm trying to say, and so that's going to be like excessive drinking. So alcohol decreases the collagen production. Sugar and ultra-processed foods contribute to a process called glycation, which reduces collagen turnover. Excessive sun exposure also degrades collagen production, and then, if there's any smokers, that would also as well. You also need to make sure that you're eating plenty of vitamin C rich foods, because they will also support healthy collagen production as it helps with the collagen synthesis. So if you're eating your beans and your eggs and things like that, you also want to have vitamin C with it. So citrus, things like that will help with the collagen synthesis. And then eating lots of greens that's going to help decrease inflammation. The more inflammation you have in the body, the more collagen degradation that occurs. So you know it's going back to always going back to eating more fruits and vegetables in your diet. They're going to help.

Speaker 1: 12:18

In addition to finding ways to add protein and, like a protein powder, the collagen, if you choose to use collagen and then the other one, the other supplement that I highly recommend is creatine. Creatine helps your muscles produce energy during lifting and exercise. Creatine is a substance found naturally in our muscle cells and it helps our muscles produce energy during lifting and high intensity exercises. When you take creatine, it helps your body produce ATP, and ATP is this. It provides your body the energy to keep going. So perform better exercise, whether it be strength or intensity. Decide that. If you decide you want to purchase creatine, I would recommend creatine monohydrate. It is very inexpensive and there are hundreds of studies on this, so it is a safe product.

Speaker 1: 13:33

There is a research study back in 2019 on creatine and the effectiveness of it on aging muscle and bone and the focus on fall prevention and inflammation. This research talks about sarcopenia and how, as we get older, we deal with a reduction of bone mass and bone strength, which increases our risks of falls and fractures, and it shared the information that, with or without resistance training, if you are adding a creatine supplement into your diet, and it found that it increases aging muscle in the upper and lower body even without the resistance training. It also states that in some people they found that it affected the activation of cells involved in both bone formation and resorption, so they had a decrease of bone density. Now, it was not in all participants, but it was in some, so that was an interesting bit of information as well. And then it also stated that it provided anti-inflammatory effects during times of elevated metabolic stress, such as intense aerobic exercise, which is great, because for those of you that enjoy those classes, you know your cycle classes, your orange theory, your more high intensity boot camp style classes these are going.

Speaker 1: 15:21

If you take creatine, it can help reduce that inflammation that occurs. So we know that inflammation is a natural response to exercise. The problem is is, when we're doing all these different things that are increasing inflammation, that it then starts to have an effect on our overall cortisol levels. So by taking creatine, it reduces the inflammation that occurs when doing these types of exercises. So a big shout out to creatine. I definitely think that this will help.

Speaker 1: 16:01

And how does this all so? How does the protein powder, the collagen and the creatine help with weight loss? Well, protein and collagen. If we do both of those together the protein powder and the collagen they both have protein. When you add protein into your diet, as long as you're not adding and both of these don't have fat or sugars in them, so they are just the protein. So therefore, you are not getting any added fats or carbohydrates, you are just getting the protein. That is going to help with satiety, so you will feel fuller longer If you start out your day with more protein. That's going to keep you fuller longer. It's going to help your blood sugar stay more stable, so you're not going to be on that roller coaster ride of trying to eat all kinds of sweets because you're craving sweets now because your blood sugar is unstable unstable. This will help with that.

Speaker 1: 17:12

The creatine is going to help you two things. It's going to help you get a better workout when you lift weights, because you're going to feel stronger and you might be able to go harder when you're doing your higher intensity workouts. Think about what I usually recommend. I don't recommend doing a lot of those classes, but if you're going to do those or sprint drills, doing a couple of times a week is okay One to two times a week, depending on where you are in the phase of your cycle and that will help with the recovery and a decrease of inflammation.

Speaker 1: 17:50

The more muscle that we have on our body, the better our metabolism is. It also helps with blood sugar levels as well, because muscle pulls glucose from the blood. So therefore, you're not going to be dealing with as much glucose from the blood. So therefore you're, you know, not going to be dealing with as much glucose in the blood, which increases the insulin. Insulin is always that midsection weight gain. So those are the things that I recommend.

Speaker 1: 18:22

See, I told you this was not clickbait, I was going to get there. I got there. I gave you three supplements that you can start adding into your diet to help to help you with weight loss or to help you work on leveling yourself out. I don't always think of things as weight loss I don't think we should always think about it that way, but more about maintenance helping us live healthier right now, stay where we're at, try not to gain weight unless that is a goal of yours but to really kind of stay level and work on our overall health. So those are the three supplements I recommend and I hope you enjoyed.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Feel free to head over to Moving Through Midlife on Facebook, where we will keep this conversation going you can share. I know there's been questions already about what type of creatine people use and what type of collagen people use, so feel free to come over there if you have any questions or want to learn more about that. And then always make sure to keep moving. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found something to take away to help you practice healthier habits, move more or handle the midlife and aging with grace. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review to help us reach more moms just like you. Head to movingthroughmidlifecom to join the free community or learn how you can move more and feel better in your daily life.