156 | Doing More Cardio but Gaining Belly Fat After 40? Here’s Why

About this episode

Lara Frendjian discusses how excessive cardio can lead to belly fat gain after 40 due to hormonal changes and offers alternative exercise strategies.

If you feel like you’re working out more than ever but gaining belly fat after 40, you’re not imagining it — and the problem may not be your diet. It may be too much cardio. In this episode, Lara explains why doing more running, HIIT, spinning, or long workouts can actually slow your metabolism during perimenopause and menopause, leading to fatigue, stubborn belly fat, increased cortisol, and weight gain even when you’re eating healthy. Many women over 40 were taught that fat loss comes from burning more calories. But as hormones change, your body becomes more sensitive to stress, recovery takes longer, and too much cardio can push your body into fat-storage mode instead of fat-burning mode. You’ll learn how shifts in estrogen, progesterone, insulin sensitivity, and muscle mass affect metabolism after 40, and why strength training, recovery, and proper nutrition become more important than high-intensity workouts. This episode explains why workouts that worked in your 20s and 30s may stop working in perimenopause, and what to do instead if you want to lose weight, reduce belly fat, and improve energy without burning yourself out. In this episode: Why too much cardio can increase…

People in this episode

Host: Lara Frendjian

Topics covered

• cardio and belly fat
• metabolism after 40
• perimenopause
• hormonal changes
• exercise recommendations
• weight loss strategies

Keywords

• belly fat
• cardio
• metabolism
• perimenopause
• strength training
• hormones
• weight gain
• insulin resistance

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