The Mel Robbins Podcast
The Body Reset: How Women Should Eat & Exercise for Health, Fat Loss, & Energy
Thu, 27 Mar 2025
Today's episode is a MUST listen. You will learn the surprising science of women’s exercise and nutrition, the mistakes you’re making, and the simple changes that lead to better health and longevity. For way too long, fitness and nutrition have been based on research done almost exclusively on men, and the women who have been following those strategies are left wondering why the fitness and nutrition guidelines don’t work for their bodies. That changes today. In this firecracker of an episode, Mel sits down with Dr. Stacy Sims, a world-renowned exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist, to break down exactly how you, as a woman, should be eating, training, and recovering for your hormones, metabolism, and overall health.Dr. Sims reveals why traditional fitness advice is failing women. She talks about how intermittent fasting drains your energy and why your workouts leave you exhausted instead of strong. She explains why fasted workouts, calorie restriction, and extreme cardio can actually make it harder to lose weight and what you should be doing instead to build muscle, burn fat, and feel amazing at every stage of life.Ever wonder why men seem to drop weight faster than you? Or why your workouts feel great one week and awful the next? There’s a reason for that. Dr. Sims will tell you, it’s all in your hormones.Inside this episode, you’ll learn:-Why women should NEVER train like men (and what to do instead)-The #1 mistake you’re making in the gym—and how to fix it-The truth about fasted workouts (spoiler: they might be wrecking your metabolism)-Why eating too little could be making you gain fat—not lose it-How to work with your cycle for better energy, results, and recovery-What every woman needs to know about perimenopause and menopause trainingIf you’ve ever felt like your diet and workout plan isn’t working, this episode will change the way you approach fitness and nutrition forever.For more resources, click here for the podcast episode page. If you liked this episode, your next listen should be: Look, Feel, & Stay Young Forever: #1 Orthopedic Surgeon’s Proven ProtocolConnect with Mel: Get Mel’s #1 bestselling book, The Let Them TheoryWatch the episodes on YouTubeFollow Mel on Instagram The Mel Robbins Podcast InstagramMel's TikTok Sign up for Mel’s personal letter Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes ad-freeDisclaimer
Chapter 1: Why has traditional fitness advice been wrong for women?
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. Okay, I have a confession. I just learned, I'm almost embarrassed to tell you this, that for the last 40 years of my life, I've been exercising all wrong. And I bet you or someone that you love have too.
And I just want to break this down because the conversation that I just had with the expert that you're about to meet, who is on the faculty at Stanford, has a PhD, 107 peer-reviewed research studies, she is going to break down all of the mistakes that women are making when it comes to nutrition and exercise. I mean, this is going to blow your mind.
After learning everything that she's about to share with you based on all of her research, I, as a woman, I feel like I've been gaslit by bro science and the male fitness industry, for real. Like literally all of the things that I've been doing that work for guys don't work for women. And you need to understand this.
I mean, this is one of the most life-changing conversations I have had since I started this podcast over two years ago. Starting tomorrow, I am a different person because I understand why my husband can do certain things, and next thing you know, he looks great. I do him? Nope. And have you ever heard that saying, abs are made in the kitchen? That's not true if you're a woman.
So if you're wondering why all the cardio in the world isn't working, why the nonstop yoga and HIIT classes are just not hitting, it's because you're exercising like a dude. It's time that you wake up and realize, like our expert says, women are not small men. Women have fundamentally different biology. In fact, even our muscular structure is different.
And so she is gonna take you and me down the list of all the things that we have been told to do that are actually backfiring. That cold plunge, you and I are doing it wrong. The reps you're doing with all those weights, doing them wrong. Intermittent fasting, probably not for you. And if you, like me, have worked out on an empty stomach, you're never gonna do that again.
You're about to learn how to get better results in less time and less effort. Working with your female body, not against it. It's time for you and me and every single woman in your life to start exercising like a woman needs to. Hey, it's your friend Mel. Welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. I am absolutely thrilled that you're here. I feel so excited about what we're talking about today.
It is going to be liberating. It's such an honor to spend time with you, to be together with you, but especially when we're going to have a conversation that is going to light you on fire and make you feel both mad and empowered. Let's freaking go. And if you're a new listener, I want to take a moment and just welcome you. Welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast family.
And boy, have you picked a winner of a conversation to listen to. Because you made the time to listen to this particular episode, here's what I already know about you. You're the type of person who values your health. You want the facts. You want the science. You want results. And that's what you deserve. And if someone sent this to you, That's really cool.
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Chapter 2: What is the impact of following male-centric exercise routines for women?
Yep, exactly. And it comes really to the brain, right? So when we start looking at first thing you get up, and our responses are different, where women's brains will start going, okay, where's the food to come in to help bring my stress hormones down and get me started for the day? And men, by the nature of being XY, their brain's like, yeah, okay, I'm going to supply some
amino acids and some blood sugar and let's get on with the day. Then we'll find some food. That's fine. But women's brain, specifically what we call the hypothalamus, that is really sensitive to blood sugar and food coming in. So if you get up and you start your exercise without any food, the hypothalamus is like, wait a second.
This is a stress to the body that I need to really try to figure out. But if I don't have food to counter the fuel that the muscles are needing from a contraction, I need to find a way to supply that fuel. So it goes into a little bit of a tizzy. And one of the first things that starts to get broken down is your muscle mass, because muscle is a pretty active tissue.
And the hypothalamus is like, well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to supply the food that this muscle needs. if I don't have any food coming in. So it's a very small amount of food that a woman needs first thing in the morning to then go be successful in her training. And it's even if you're going for a walk, a lot of women will get up and go for a walk on the auspice.
Are you with me? Like, are you in my house with me? Maybe. Stacey, I'm sitting here thinking to myself, I think a lifetime of messaging about like thin is preferable. Yeah. and that I want to maximize calories burned. So I'm going to get up and I'm going to have a cup of coffee because I'm tired and I'm going to wire myself.
And then I, you know, back in the day would be going for a run or going to some sort of like fitness class. You know, I'm old enough to have been doing step aerobics and everything else. Right there with you.
Let's go. And
I've just carried that over. And I also then tell myself a story that I'm going to get a cramp or I'm going to like want to throw up in my mouth if I'm doing something too much and I've had too much to eat. And so this is a completely different change. Yeah.
And it's one that's going to be really super beneficial.
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Chapter 3: Why should women avoid fasted workouts?
If we're strength training, then yeah, we're taking care of our bone and our muscle. But it's creating signals to the brain to increase its ability to be really active. plastic. So it's like, yeah, okay, I need to have a new pathway. Let's develop that pathway. And so it's always changing. It's like Sudoku, right?
You're mentally working on that, but strength training does the same thing, but it also improves overall metabolism. So now your brain is very flexible and it's like, okay, well, I need glucose, but then I can use lactate. So when you start doing all of these things, it reduces your chances of developing cognitive issues.
So for women, I'm always like, yeah, strength training is great because we're building all these things. We're changing our body composition. But for the long term, we want to have a good body and a good mind.
So if we're doing these things and creating more pathways and developing existing pathways and making the brain very responsive and able to be flexible, then we're going to have a really good sound mind growing. when we're all doing Zimmer frame races when we're 100. What are Zimmer frame races? You know, those frames that old women have to use or old men. I've never seen those.
I don't know what you're talking about. In the nursing homes, you haven't seen those silver walkers?
Oh, yes. I thought there was a game you were talking about.
No, no.
I have a feeling you're not going to be using a walker. I have a feeling you're going to be the one teaching us all how to lift weights when we're 90 years old in the nursing home together.
Well, no, I'll be using a Zimmer frame. I'll be doing the races with everyone else because I can't say that my joints are all that great.
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