Live Like a Girl with Dr. Mindy Pelz

If you’re eating less, exercising more, and fasting harder but still struggling to lose weight after 40, Dr. Mindy wants you to approach fat loss differently. This solo episode of Live Like a Girl is a special compilation of two of Dr. Mindy’s teachings on fat burning and metabolic health after 40.
In the first half, she breaks down why fat loss can become more challenging as estrogen changes and shares five strategies for training your body to become more metabolically flexible, from strength training and walking to fasting, protein pacing, and sleep.
Then she turns to dietary fat and explains why the type of fat you eat matters. She walks through visceral fat, omega fatty acids, and five foods she uses to support a healthier metabolic environment. 
The common thread throughout both conversations: fat loss after 40 requires a strategy that works with your changing metabolism.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn
Why fat loss can become harder after 40
How estrogen influences metabolism and body-fat distribution
What protein pacing means and how Mindy uses it
Why walking is an underrated metabolic tool
The difference between visceral and subcutaneous fat
Why Mindy pays attention to the types of dietary fats she eats
Five foods she recommends adding to a fat-loss strategy
Resources Mentioned:
Fresh Pressed Olive Oil
MCT Oil
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep362

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Laila Ali spent years training to win. As an undefeated professional boxer, her body was her career. She knew exactly how to train harder, eat less, and make weight when she needed to. Then perimenopause changed the rules.

In this episode of Live Like a Girl, Laila joins Dr. Mindy for an honest conversation about what happened when her old strategies stopped working, why she eventually stopped trying to outwork her hormones, and how fasting helped her build a completely different relationship with her body.

They talk about long fasts, exercising while fasting, food noise, refeeding, sugar cravings, body image, the scale, stress, and what it means to train for health instead of performance.
Laila also shares how she talks to her teenage daughter about fasting, why she refuses to make healthy eating feel like punishment, and the lesson she learned from becoming a boxer against Muhammad Ali’s wishes: sometimes the most important thing you can do is listen to the spark inside you.

In this episode, you'll learn:
Why Laila stopped trying to outwork her hormones
How fasting changed her relationship with food and control
What she learned from doing longer fasts
How she exercises during a fast
Why refeeding matters after an extended fast
How she thinks about weight, muscle, and body image now
Why stress can derail even strong health routines
How she talks to her daughter about fasting
Why she no longer counts macros
What Muhammad Ali taught her about following your own path
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Resources & Supplements Mentioned
A Spark of Greatness by Laila Ali
Laila's Organic Spice Blends
Zero Fasting App
Fast Like a Girl
Qualia Creatine+ (use code MINDY for 15% off)
Infrared Sauna
Red Light Therapy
Electrolytes 
Bone Broth (use code MINDY10 for 10% off)
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More on Laila Ali
A Spark of Greatness by Laila Ali
Laila's Organic Spice Blends
Food for Life by Laila Ali
Website: lailaali.com
Instagram: @thereallailaali
Facebook: @LailaAli
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep361

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Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter for tools and research on fasting, hormones, and metabolic health
Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Healing your nervous system does not always feel peaceful at first.
In this solo episode of Live Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy explains why fatigue, crying, irritability, digestive changes, and even discomfort with stillness can sometimes show up as your nervous system begins moving out of a chronically activated state.
She breaks down the relationship between heart rate variability, vagal tone, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and why learning to move more easily between stress and recovery may be one of the most important skills you can build for your health.
Resources Mentioned
FREE Nervous System Questionnaire
Qualia Magnesium
Reset Academy
Find a Fast Like a Girl Coach

In this episode you'll learn:
Why increased fatigue may appear when your body finally begins resting
Why crying and irritability can surface during nervous system healing
How your digestion reflects your nervous system state
Why stillness can feel unsafe when your body is accustomed to constant activation
How 4-7-8 breathing can support the parasympathetic nervous system
Why nature can be one of the simplest nervous system tools
How magnesium and sleep routines may help
Why humming, gargling, and chanting can support vagal tone
When getting support from a practitioner or community may be helpful

For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep360

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

I’ve been teaching fasting for years, but this conversation with Dr. Jason Fung made me rethink a few things.

Dr. Fung joins me to share how his thinking has evolved since publishing The Obesity Code, including what newer research suggests about longer fasts and why modified fasting may be more useful than many people realize.
We talk about whether a strict water-only fast is always necessary, how fasting aids such as bone broth, avocado, or olives may help someone continue longer, and why using a little support during a fast is not automatically “cheating.”
Dr. Fung also breaks down the three types of hunger and explains why food noise is not always a sign that your body needs fuel. Sometimes hunger is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. And sometimes it is simply a pattern your brain has learned from your environment.
This conversation reminded me that fasting does not have to be rigid to be effective. The goal is not to win at fasting. The goal is to use it in a way that supports your metabolic health and still works in your real life.
In this episode you'll learn:
How Dr. Fung’s thinking has evolved since writing The Obesity Code
Why the calorie-focused model of weight loss leaves out hormones
What the body decides to do with the calories you eat
The difference between water-only fasting and modified fasting
Why modified fasting may be easier to sustain
Whether eating during a fasting window automatically eliminates the benefits
Dr. Fung’s perspective on GLP-1 medications
How to approach the first meal after a fast
Dr. Fung’s three foundational rules for metabolic health
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Resources Mentioned:
Bone Broth - Use code MINDY10 for 10% off
Organic Olive Oil
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More on Dr. Jason Fung
Dr. Jason Fung is a physician, researcher, and bestselling author known for his work on fasting, insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic health. He is the author of The Obesity Code, The Complete Guide to Fasting, The Diabetes Code, The Cancer Code, and The Hunger Code. He is also a co-founder of The Fasting Method, an online community that provides education, coaching, and support on fasting and metabolic health.
The Hunger Code
Website: doctorjasonfung.com
YouTube: @drjasonfung
Instagram: @drjasonfung
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep359
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Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

For decades, women have been taught to lose weight by eating less, doing more cardio, and watching the number on the scale.
But losing weight is not always the same as becoming healthier.
In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down a recent meta-analysis showing that adults between 60 and 75 years old were able to lose body fat, gain lean muscle, improve blood pressure, and build functional strength through resistance training.
She also challenges five of the most persistent weight-loss myths women have been taught, including the idea that cardio is the best way to burn fat, hunger is a willpower problem, and the scale is the most important measure of progress.
You’ll learn how protein, resistance training, sleep, blood-sugar tracking, and progressive challenge can help you improve body composition without sacrificing your muscle or metabolic health.
Weight loss is not a character test. It is a strategy, and most women were simply given the wrong one.
Resources Mentioned
Continuous Glucose Monitor
Ketone Monitor
Fast Like a Girl
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep358

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.