The Mel Robbins Podcast

How to Hack Your Hormones and Use Science to Lose Weight and Sleep Better | The Mel Robbins Podcast

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In this episode, double-board certified Dr. Amy Shah (@dr.confidentialwithdr.amys7371) is here to explain the science of #hormones, how they impact a woman's body, and more importantly, what you can do about it. If you’re tired of #PMS, bloating, mood swings, hot flashes, the belly "bread basket," or the brain fog of #menopause... Grab your pen and get ready to take notes. Dr. Amy, a medical doctor trained at Harvard, Cornell, and Columbia, is an immunologist and leading expert in women’s hormonal #health and #nutrition. She is here to explain it all in a way that you can understand and apply to your life. Today, Dr. Amy Shah reveals: - What hormones are and how they work. - What’s REALLY going on with hormones in a woman's body from her first period through menopause? - What hormone therapy is and why it doesn’t help you lose the weight of menopause - What 4 things do you need to help you naturally boost estrogen levels? - Why walking is better than your HIIT classes or running if you’re in menopause - The 3 simple changes you must make to get a better night’s sleep - How sleeping in a pitch dark room helps you lose weight - How to hack your 28-day cycle for better energy, confidence, and resilience I can’t wait for you to learn from Dr. Amy. You are going to feel so empowered! And please share this with all the women you care about in your life: your mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and girlfriends, because we all deserve to know what the heck is going on and how to feel better in our bodies. Xo, Mel PS: For all of our fabulous listeners who identify as male, do NOT stop listening. You have to live with us, so this will help you too. (And it will make you wonderful when you forward it to all the women in your life.) Plus, this research and advice on hacking hormones are just downright fascinating! In this episode: 00:00 Intro 02:27 Why the hell is going on with my body? 05:15 What happens in our bodies during PMS and menopause? 13:38 Best metaphor to help you understand what’s going on in your body. 15:29 How to optimize your health in every phase of hormone change. 18:15 When in your cycle you should train and eat like an athlete. 22:32 What is really happening with your hormones during pregnancy? 27:42 Where the heck did this muffin top come from? 34:04 The top 5 health questions for Dr. Shah and her answers. 37:04 Did you know that PMS is a mini-menopause? 40:50 Why sleeping in a cold, dark room will help you lose weight. 43:39 Top 3 tricks that regulate your cravings. 48:22 Why anxiety increases during PMS. 50:55 What you need to know about hormone replacement therapy. 1:05:23 Power nap or meditate at THIS time for best results. 1:09:12 Why it’s way past time we start talking about women’s health. — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostDr. Amy Shahguest

Jul 26, 20231h 15mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Science-backed strategies to master menopause, hormones, weight, sleep, mood

Mel Robbins and Dr. Amy Shah break down what actually happens to women’s hormones from puberty through pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, and why so many women feel confused, anxious, foggy, and out of control. They explain how estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone function like ‘sisters’ with different roles, and how their decline affects brain fog, anxiety, sleep problems, hot flashes, and stubborn weight gain around the middle. The conversation highlights how women were long excluded from medical research, leading to poor education and widespread misinformation about women’s health and hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Shah offers practical, science-based lifestyle strategies—around movement, food, sleep, and circadian rhythm—to “hack” hormones, reduce symptoms, support weight management, and feel better at every stage of life.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Menopause symptoms are driven by fluctuating and then falling hormones, not personal failure.

Perimenopause is like the end of a toothpaste tube—some months you get a big squirt of estrogen and progesterone, some months almost none—causing hot flashes, brain fog, mood swings, anxiety, and sleep disruption long before periods fully stop.

Fat gain around the middle and muscle loss are biologically expected but can be mitigated.

As ovarian estrogen drops, the body preferentially stores fat in the midsection because fat tissue can produce estrogen, and declining estrogen accelerates muscle loss—so you see a ‘belly band’ and flabbier arms unless you deliberately increase strength training and daily movement.

HRT is powerful for some symptoms but is not a magic weight-loss tool.

Hormone replacement can significantly reduce hot flashes, sleep disruption, vaginal dryness, and some anxiety, and may protect against heart disease when started near menopause—but it doesn’t automatically fix weight gain; you still need targeted lifestyle changes.

Daily movement ‘between workouts’ is as important as formal exercise for weight control.

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)—steps, walking, stairs, moving around—declines subtly as estrogen falls and fatigue rises, and this drop is a major hidden driver of midlife weight gain, so tracking steps and intentionally increasing baseline activity is crucial.

Sleep quality and circadian rhythm are central to hormone regulation and appetite control.

A cool, dark bedroom, a consistent bedtime routine, and morning sunlight help align circadian clocks, lower nighttime awakenings, and normalize hunger hormones, making it easier to manage cravings, weight, and mood during perimenopause and menopause.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Most women go through this time of life and they have no idea why their anxiety level has increased, why their energy has decreased, why they feel like there's a brain fog.

— Dr. Amy Shah

Women were excluded from all medical studies because our fluctuating hormones or the fact that we could be pregnant during a trial.

— Dr. Amy Shah

The fat that you accumulate in your middle produces estrogen.

— Dr. Amy Shah

Hormones are a chemical messenger. In my analogy of the highway, it's the car.

— Dr. Amy Shah

We live in a society that has a problem with women getting older.

— Dr. Amy Shah

Lack of research and education on women’s hormones and menopauseHow estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone change across a woman’s lifetimePerimenopause, menopause, and the causes of symptoms like hot flashes, brain fog, and anxietyWeight gain, muscle loss, and fat redistribution (especially around the middle)Role and limits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), including myths like pellets and ‘adrenal fatigue’Using circadian rhythm, sleep hygiene, and daily routines to regulate hormonesNutrition and exercise strategies for insulin resistance, cravings, and metabolic health in midlife

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