March is Women's History Month — a good time to name something that's been true for a long time: women's health has historically been under-researched, under-discussed, and under-served. The conversation around perimenopause and menopause is finally getting louder. But louder doesn't always mean clearer. A lot of what's out there right now is noise — fear-based, product-driven, and more interested in your anxiety than your actual wellbeing. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 covers training.
Head of SP Nutrition Coach Molly Vollmer recently sat down with EC Synkowski of OptimizeMe Nutrition — creator of the #800gChallenge® and host of The Consistency Project podcast — to talk through what the research tells us about nutrition during perimenopause and menopause. Our own SP team member Kim McIntyre, who has been actively navigating this season for several years, joined to connect the science to real life.
What follows is our attempt to quiet some of that noise — and offer clarity and guidance worth acting on.
🔑 Watch or listen to the full conversation on YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
First, a word on the noise
The wellness industry is a two-trillion-dollar space, and perimenopause and menopause have become a profitable corner of it. That means there are a lot of people right now with financial incentives to convince you that you need new supplements, a new eating protocol specifically designed for your hormones, or a completely different approach to everything you've been doing.
Some of it comes wrapped in language that sounds scientific. Some of it preys on something very real — the disorientation and frustration of a body that feels unfamiliar, even broken. The symptoms are real. The confusion is real. The fear-mongering is what's optional, and it's not helping you.
Does your metabolism actually slow down?
This one gets repeated so often it's basically assumed to be true. Here's what the research says.
A study of over 6,000 people tracked metabolism across different life stages. What they found: metabolism stays consistent for men and women from ages 20 to 60, based on muscle mass. If menopause were directly responsible for metabolic slowdown, you'd expect to see women's numbers drop in their mid-40s to 50s. They don't. Women track with men right through age 60.
Metabolism does begin to decline after 60 — but gradually, not as a cliff.
So what's happening for most women in their 40s and 50s? Life has shifted — and not always in the ways people assume. For some, it's the demands: careers at full stride, aging parents, symptoms that disrupt sleep and drain energy. For others, it's a deliberate rebalancing — less interest in spending hours in the gym when an hour (or less) of focused training plus a walk, a book, and time with friends feels more like the life you want. Both are real and both affect output.
When overall training volume or intensity changes — for whatever reason — caloric need often follows, and muscle mass can be harder to maintain.
As EC explained:"Even though your metabolism hasn't slowed, you might not be burning the same calories through exercise. And you might not be able to maintain the same muscle mass because consistency has become harder."
Fat loss is still entirely possible in this season. The principles work the same way they always have — they may just require more attention and more consistency than they did before.
What's the deal with fat distribution?
One of the most common frustrations:I didn't used to carry weight here.
Here's what's happening. The hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause change where fat gets stored, not whether it gets stored. With declining estrogen, fat distribution patterns shift toward the midsection — where men typically store it. So if you've historically carried weight in your hips and thighs and now you're seeing it at your waist, that shift is real and it's hormonal.
But as EC pointed out: "It's still happening because calories coming in are higher than what you're burning. The hormone flux is now putting it in a different spot — which adds to the disconcerting feeling of the whole thing."
The location is new. The reason isn't. Managing energy balance is still the lever to pull.
Do you need to eat differently?
The short answer: not in the way most of the internet suggests.
What may need to change is the amount — not the approach. If you're training with less volume and intensity than you used to, your caloric need may be lower. That means the same principles of quality food, adequate protein, and not overeating your calories apply, but with less margin than you had before.
"The principles are still there," EC said."We want to have a good number of high-quality foods in the diet. We want to make sure we have enough protein for our goals, and then don't overeat our calories."
What this means practically: if you used to operate at an 80/20 consistency ratio and it worked, you may find you need to be closer to 90/10 or 95/5. Not because the rules changed — because the numbers got tighter.
On protein (and why more isn't always the answer)
Protein recommendations have gotten loud. One gram per pound of bodyweight gets thrown around as a baseline, sometimes more. EC's recommendation is different — and she's direct about why.
Her number: 0.7 grams per pound of current bodyweight. For most women, that's somewhere between 100 and 120 grams per day. And she's clear that this is theupper end of what peer-reviewed research consistently supports — for men and women, across age ranges, including 40s, 50s, and above 60.
"That is what the research supports. That is what the research supports for men and women. That is what the research supports across multiple age ranges, including through 40s and 50s, including above 60. And I would tell you that that is the upper end of what the research supports."
The amount of peer-reviewed research on one gram per pound, by comparison, is thin. Studies showing muscle gain in post-menopausal women have done so at 0.5 grams per pound.
Why this matters practically: overshooting protein is its own form of restriction. A 30-gram swing between 0.7 and 1 gram per pound — eaten as actual food across the day — adds at least 250 to 300 calories to your diet. Those are calories you're spending on chicken breast that could have been spent on something you actually wanted to eat. More protein past a certain point doesn't do additional work. It just narrows your flexibility.
"Let's hit what we need," EC said. "Let's hit what maybe the upper end of evidence-based information supports, and then not overspend there such that I can have some food that I actually enjoy in my diet."
For plant-forward eaters: You can absolutely hit your targets. Tofu, tempeh, edamame (dried edamame is especially good), soy milk, seitan, and rice, pea, or bean-based protein powders are all solid options. The key is mixing sources throughout the day rather than relying on one.
Sometimes the first step isn't your nutrition
Before changing your macros, before auditing your protein — EC made this point clearly and it deserves its own space.
If your symptoms are severe enough to significantly affect your quality of life, particularly your sleep, that's where to start. See your OB/GYN or family doctor. Talk about what you're experiencing.
"If you can get something to help with the symptoms, you are going to be able to mentally tackle the diet and lifestyle changes."
Making sustainable changes to your diet is genuinely harder when you're not sleeping, navigating brain fog, or running on anxiety.
Sleep is also worth auditing for the basics: alcohol and caffeine both affect sleep quality, and both are worth looking at honestly if sleep is an issue.
Stacking blocks, not fixing everything at once
Kim shared her own approach – it’s one path, notthe path. She describes it as stacking blocks: building each layer only after the one beneath it was stable.
Her order: sleep first, because nothing else was manageable without it. Then HRT, which created enough mental space to move forward. Then movement — reorienting her relationship with training, which included working through injury. Then nutrition, when she finally had the capacity to be meticulous and honest about it.
"That's not the order for everybody. But it has been several years worth of building those blocks and not trying to do everything all at once — and not assuming that it's my nutrition or it's my training. Those things had to get built first on the foundation of getting my (newly) poor sleep under control."
If you're starting from a place of disrupted sleep and high symptom load, jumping straight to meticulous calorie tracking isn't the move. The foundation has to be there for the next layer to stick.
Your starting points
1. If sleep is a significant issue: Talk to your doctor before anything else. You can't consistently execute a plan when you're not resting. While you're at it, look honestly at alcohol and caffeine.
2. Track protein and fiber for at least a week — and be sure to include at least a day or two that didn't go perfectly. This is all the information you need. The goal is just to see it clearly, not to judge it. Are you hitting around 0.7g of protein per pound of bodyweight? Are you getting fruits and vegetables at most meals? (A great goal for fiber is 14g/1000 calories) These two things together make a real difference in how you feel.
3. Get honest about calories without hyperfixating on one thing. Kim's experience with meticulous tracking was that seeing the full picture — not just protein, not just one good day — was what made the difference.
You're not broken
The symptoms are real, the frustration is valid, and the fundamentals haven't changed. You don't need a different nutritional rulebook. What you need is patience, honesty about where you are right now, and the willingness to build one block at a time.
This is also where the More Than Nothing mindset matters most. It's easy in this season to feel like if everything isn't working, nothing is. Like addressing sleep issues alone (even before you touch nutrition or training) somehow isn't "enough" or meaningful progress.
Nothing about this season is all or nothing. The blocks stack whether you can see it yet or not. Small, unglamorous steps that don't feel like "the answer" are often the most essential in building — or rebuilding — the foundation.
→ Continue to Part 2: Training & Movement
Resources
- EC Synkowski / OptimizeMe Nutrition —optimizemenutrition.com |OptimizeMeNutrition | The Consistency Project podcast |Episode on menopause
- Dr. Lara Briden —The Hormone Repair Manual
- Dr. Jen Gunter —Instagram @drjengunter |The Menopause Manifesto
- SP Menoparkers Group —Facebook Group
Questions? Reach us at nutrition@streetparking.com
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