IS YOUR WORKOUT CAUSING WEIGHT GAIN?

If you’ve ever thought, “I’m working out harder than ever, but my body just isn’t responding,” you’re not alone. And you’re not imagining it. When inflammation is high, exercise becomes a double-edged sword. The right kind of movement can help heal, but the wrong kind, or just too much, can make everything worse.

Women in midlife have been taught that exercise is the fix for everything. Gaining weight? Work out more. Tired? Push through. Stressed? Go for a run. But here’s what’s really happening under the surface when inflammation is running the show. Your body is already in a state of internal stress. Cortisol is elevated. Recovery is slower. Joints are stiffer. And when you add high-intensity training or long-duration cardio to the mix without the right foundation, you end up triggering a cortisol cascade, inflaming the body even further.

This is one of the biggest reasons why so many women hit a wall in menopause. The workouts they used to love, or at least tolerate, suddenly stop working. They feel puffy afterwards, not leaner. They’re sore for days. They can’t sleep. They’re wired but tired, and frustrated that they’re “doing everything right” and not getting results. The truth is, their body is trying to protect them. And it’s doing that by resisting more stress.

Inflammation makes the body hold on to fat, especially around the midsection, and it breaks down muscle tissue more easily. That means your metabolism slows, your shape changes, and your strength fades, all while you’re showing up and sweating. If you’re not also eating to support recovery, sleeping enough, and hydrating well, exercise becomes another stressor your body has to recover from, and it simply doesn’t have the resources.

This is not about quitting movement. It’s about redefining what movement looks like during this season of life. The goal isn’t to burn calories. The goal is to build muscle, reduce stress, and move lymph, the fluid that helps detoxify the body and carry away inflammatory waste. You don’t need to crush yourself in the gym. You need to support your body in healing.

Strength training is one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inflammation. It helps regulate blood sugar, reduce visceral fat, improve insulin sensitivity, and build lean muscle that keeps your metabolism humming. But you have to do it smart. That means focusing on progressive overload, good form, adequate rest, and enough protein to actually support what you’re trying to build. More isn’t better, better is better.

Walking is another underrated anti-inflammatory movement. It regulates cortisol, improves mood, helps digestion, and gets your lymphatic system going, all without taxing your joints or nervous system. When inflammation is high, walking and strength are your best friends. HIIT and long runs? Maybe not so much, at least not until you’ve restored some balance.

Inflammation also messes with recovery. You might feel sore longer than you used to. That’s not a sign of a good workout, it’s a sign that your body doesn’t have what it needs to repair. Without enough protein, minerals, hydration, and sleep, you don’t get stronger, you just get depleted. And when depletion meets inflammation, results stall and symptoms spike.

Women often blame themselves when this happens. They think they’re doing something wrong, or worse, that their body is just broken. But what’s actually broken is the strategy. You can’t train like your 25-year-old self when your 45-year-old hormones are screaming for relief. You have to listen to the signals. If you’re exhausted after every workout, if your sleep is worse not better, if your belly feels more inflamed after you train, that’s information. Listen. Your body isn’t fighting you. It’s asking for a new approach.

And the good news is, when you get that approach right, things shift fast. Strength comes back. Energy increases. Sleep improves. Weight starts to move. All because you stopped forcing and started supporting. That’s the whole point of training in midlife, to support your hormones, not spike them. To calm the cortisol and inflammation, not feed it.

Strong is the new sexy, but strong also means strategic. It means knowing when to push and when to pull back. It means honoring recovery as much as the workout itself. And it means remembering that your workouts should leave you feeling better, not broken.

Your body still wants to be strong, lean, energetic, and powerful. But it needs the right inputs to get there. When inflammation is low, everything works better. And when you move with purpose not punishment, you get to see just how resilient your body really is.

Watch my free video to learn how to reduce inflammation and use food and movement to finally get results again, without burning yourself out.