Consistency Over Knowledge: What My Own Weight Loss Journey in Perimenopause Taught Me

By Dr. Cynthia Libert, Functional Medicine Physician | Caring for the Body, Center for Functional Medicine

This post is adapted from the Re-Think Aging podcast. You can listen to the full episode here: E25: Adam Gilbert — Why Sustainable Weight Loss Is About Accountability Not Willpower

This conversation is deeply personal for me. We are going to talk about weight loss, but not from the perspective of shame or hustle culture or quick fixes. We are going to talk about doing it the hard way, the way that ensures we actually keep the weight off in the long term.

My guest is Adam Gilbert, founder of My Body Tutor, one of the world's leading accountability based coaching programs for sustainable weight loss. This episode is especially meaningful to me because over the last year I personally lost 17 pounds working with one of Adam's coaches.

A Humbling Journey

Despite my knowledge, and doing all the right things, eating whole foods, exercising regularly, strength training, prioritizing my sleep, I still found myself struggling in my late 40s with weight gain. I have been an athlete all my life. I maintained great physical activity, running five to ten miles a week, doing strength training, eating a clean whole foods diet, and paying attention to sleep and stress. And yet by 49, I had put on almost 20 pounds during this perimenopausal period, and I was frustrated with myself for not being able to put into practice all the things I knew.

I did consult a functional medicine physician myself about the weight gain. She brushed it off with a joke about the "menopot," the pot belly of menopause, and told me I probably wouldn't lose weight unless I got a different job, had less stress, or slept more. That was discouraging. And I know so many women are experiencing the same thing, which is why I pushed through the discomfort to share this story. A lot of people feel ashamed even talking about it, because we know what to do: eat better, eat less, exercise more. Yet so many people, even smart people who know all the right things, still struggle.

Why Consistency Is So Hard

I asked Adam why consistency is such a challenge, even for people who feel deeply motivated. He explained there are three reasons.

First, the diets and exercise programs we try to follow are often not sustainable to begin with. As Adam put it, "what you're attempting to follow has to be sustainable. It has to be realistic. It has to be based on the realities of your life."

Second, there is what Adam calls MPH: mindset, psychology, and habits, and ultimately our relationship with food. Things like emotional eating, stress eating, and mindless eating. When you actually change your relationship with food, it takes willpower out of the equation.

Third is accountability. Without it, Adam said, "it's too easy to make excuses. It's too easy to rationalize to ourselves." He believes the combination of a realistic plan, a changed mindset, and daily accountability is what makes success inevitable.

Adam's founding thesis, going back to when he started My Body Tutor in 2007, is this: "A lack of knowledge isn't the real issue. For the most part, we know what's good for us. We know what's not good for us. The real issue is consistent action."

Small, Subtle Shifts

What struck me most in my own coaching experience was how subtle the changes were. My coach was not telling me what to eat. She was watching what I logged and making small suggestions, maybe skip the butter and just have jam, maybe dial back the avocado or nuts a little, maybe cut back on liquid calories like protein shakes and green juices, since those are not as satiating as I thought. It was not a formula. It was daily accountability and weekly feedback that shifted things over time.

The Broccoli Test

Adam shared something he calls the broccoli test, and it became one of the most meaningful tools in my own journey. The idea is simple: before you eat, ask yourself, am I hungry, or am I eating to change the way I feel? As Adam explained it, "if you wouldn't eat vegetables, then you're not actually hungry for food. You're hungry for something else."

This connects to a habit I had of snacking after dinner, usually a banana or popcorn, something I assumed was about hunger or low energy. My coach asked me a simple but powerful question: what are you trying to solve for? That question opened up real self-awareness. Often the honest answer was that I needed to step away from work, sit with my husband, or take a walk. I was not hungry. I was soothing myself with a familiar habit.

Now, when I open the refrigerator looking for a chocolate bar, I ask myself: would I eat some broccoli right now? That question has become part of my decision making.

Why This Matters for Brain Health and Longevity

I wanted to bring this conversation to Re-Think Aging because excess body fat, especially visceral fat around our organs, can speed our biologic aging process and make us more likely to face the degenerative diseases of aging, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. This is central to the work we do here, helping people maximize their healthspan and flourish in life.

Rapid Fire: Adam's Takeaways

Most underrated habit for successful weight loss: Pause before you eat and ask yourself, am I hungry or am I eating to change the way I feel?

Why do people regain weight? First, we stop doing what made us successful. If the way you lose weight is unsustainable, the weight loss will be unsustainable too. Second, most people never change their mindset, psychology, and habits. They just change the food they are eating, and that will not hold for the long term.

Adam's own habits for healthy aging: Weightlifting, daily walks, playing with his kids, prioritizing whole natural foods, and balance. As he put it, "we want to be fit and happy, not fit and miserable."

If you are interested in working with Adam and his coaching team, he has created an affiliate link for our Re-Think Aging community offering fifty dollars off your first month. You can find that link with the episode.

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