Understanding Weight Gain, Fasting, and Women’s Health: Your Guide to Lasting Change
Get the facts on weight gain, fasting, and women’s health. See how to lose belly fat fast with habits that work for you.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Shari Smith
9/5/202511 min read
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If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and wondered why your body decides to hang on to belly fat, or struggled to find a weight loss method that’s sustainable and actually works, you’re not alone.
Dr. Mindy Pelz, a trailblazer in women’s health, brings refreshing clarity to these questions by blending science, lived experience, and actionable advice for anyone wanting to get healthy.
Whether you’re curious about the fastest way to lose belly fat or just want to build better habits, here’s what you need to know.
The Fastest Way To Lose Belly Fat (THIS Is The Best Kept Weight Loss Secret) | Dr. Mindy Pelz
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Why Your Body Gains Weight: The Truth About Belly Fat
If your body could talk, it would tell you it’s only trying to keep you safe. When you overfeed it or flood it with hormones and chemicals, it stores the excess around your belly first—not as punishment, but as protection.
This isn’t a character flaw or a lack of willpower. It’s your biology acting as a loyal guard dog for your most important organs.
Belly Fat as a Safety Net
Think of your belly as a storage locker for things your body can’t use right now.
Whenever you have too much glucose, out-of-balance hormones, or toxins in your system, your body moves them out of active circulation and stores them in belly fat.
This keeps excess away from your heart, liver, and other organs that you can’t live without.
Main Causes of Extra Belly Fat:
Excess glucose (from sugar and refined carbs)
Hormonal imbalance (especially from stress or poor sleep)
Toxins from processed foods, plastics, and even some skincare
The Stress Factor: Cortisol’s Role in Weight Gain
Cortisol is your stress hormone. It peaks during tough moments—a legacy from when your ancestors needed to sprint from tigers. Chemical stress now comes from deadlines, arguments, or even doomscrolling.
When cortisol is high, your body increases belly fat to prepare for "danger." Modern life rarely allows for the kind of break that melts cortisol, so it quietly drives fat storage even if you’re eating healthy.
Easy Ways to Lower Cortisol:
Get up and walk when stressed
Take breaks outdoors
Connect with positive people
Move after tense meetings or difficult emails
Key tip: The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t just sit in it. Movement is the fastest cortisol reducer you have.
Toxins: Hidden Drivers for Weight Gain
Obesogens—chemicals that encourage your body to make and hold on to fat—hide everywhere: plastic-wrapped snacks, beauty products with a mile-long ingredient list, and food additives.
These toxins aren’t just making you crave more. They can actually reprogram your stem cells, increasing fat storage, especially around the belly.
Even kids these days are developing more fat cells because of these chemicals.
Practical Steps to Reduce Toxic Load:
Swap packaged foods for whole foods from farmers markets
Learn to read ingredient labels—if it’s hard to pronounce, skip it
Avoid artificial flavorings and preservatives
Choose natural skincare as much as possible
Why Shaming Yourself Doesn’t Work
Blame and shame do nothing against a food system designed to hijack your cravings and biology.
You haven’t failed—your environment is working against you.
The solution is to change your chemistry, not to double down on willpower alone.
Fasting Mistakes and How to Optimize Your Fast
Fasting is everywhere right now, but many people make a major mistake: they do the exact same fast every day and expect different results.
Your body is too smart for that—it adapts and, if you never switch it up, may even slow down your metabolism.
The Biggest Fasting Mistake
Doing identical fasts on repeat doesn’t work. Your body is literally built to thrive on change. Feast-famine cycling—different fasting lengths and meal times—mirrors how humans evolved. Remember, hunter-gatherers weren’t pulling out a clock to break their fast every day at the same time.
How to Structure Fasting Windows:
Weekdays: Skip breakfast, start eating at noon, end by 7 pm (to match family dinner)
Weekends: Shift the window earlier for brunches, farmers markets, or special events
Cycles: If you menstruate, match fasting patterns to your hormonal cycle (see below for details)
Women’s Hormones and Fasting: Sync with Your Cycle
If you’re cycling, align your fasting practice. In the first half of your cycle, your body can handle longer fasting and lower carbs; in the second half, give yourself more carbs and gentle breaks.
This approach, detailed in Dr. Pelz’s book Fast Like a Girl, helps avoid burnout and supports healthy hormones.
Fasting + Workouts: Make It Work for You
For muscle and strength, eat a small protein-rich meal before and after training
If you train early, try a smoothie or shake before; recover with another meal post-workout
For cardio days or lighter activity, fasting may actually help burn stored fat more efficiently
How to Start Fasting, Step-by-Step
Push breakfast back by one hour each day (don’t force a radical change)
Allow black coffee if needed, but skip sugar-rich creamers
Stay with each new window for a few days before extending further
Work up to a 13 to 15-hour daily fast (finish eating by 6 or 7 pm, break fast at 8 or 9 am)
Who Should Avoid Fasting?
Anyone pregnant or nursing
Those with a history of eating disorders (work with a professional)
Certain cancer patients (get advice)
Diabetics: only with doctor supervision
Blood Sugar vs Calories: What Really Matters?
You’ve probably heard, “Calories in, calories out.”
The truth is, most people can’t accurately track what they eat or burn.
The real game-changer is learning to manage your blood sugar.
Why Counting Calories Doesn’t Work
Tracking is almost impossible for most people day after day
People underestimate intake and overestimate energy use
It quickly becomes exhausting, then unsustainable
Blood Sugar: The Metric That Matters
Modern tools like continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) show how foods spike your blood sugar, mood, and hunger. Even without a CGM, you can look for energy crashes 1 to 2 hours after meals—these signal your blood sugar isn’t stable.
Smart meal planning: Add more protein, fat, and fiber to meals to keep blood sugar steady. If you want your body to burn fat (especially belly fat), focus on blood sugar recovery, not just calorie reduction.
Target: Aim for your blood sugar to return to pre-meal levels within 90 minutes after eating. If it takes longer, you may have some insulin resistance.
Fastest Way to Lose Belly Fat: Optimize Your Eating Window
Research shows the fastest way to lose belly fat is to eat within an 8-hour window and fast for 16 hours. Even with less-than-ideal foods, the metabolic benefits of a compressed eating window are significant.
Reprogramming Taste Buds: Eat For Your Microbes, Not Just Your Cravings
Your gut is full of microbes—tiny bacteria and fungi—whose goal is survival.
They send signals to your brain all day long, steering your cravings for sugar, carbs, or even junk food.
How Your Microbiome Controls Food Choices
Craving pizza every Friday night? That tug isn’t just in your head. Gut microbes learn to “ask for” foods you feed them most often. Processed foods and chemicals only reinforce the strongest (and often least healthy) cravings.
Breaking the Cycle: Build Microbiome Diversity
The solution is not brute self-control, but starving out less healthy microbes with fasting and introducing a wider variety of foods.
Daily Practical Steps:
Eat a variety of plants—swap out iceberg lettuce for mixed greens and herbs
Include plenty of fiber to feed good microbes
Take breaks from constant snacking with strategic fasting windows
Therapeutic fasting, even on an every-other-day basis, can start to shift food cravings and metabolic health by changing the bacteria in your gut.
Key tip: Go for real, chemical-free foods as much as possible. Nature doesn’t addict you—the food industry does.
Why It Matters
Gut microbes influence more than cravings. They manage much of your immune system as well as neurotransmitters that help regulate mood and metabolism.
The fastest way to lose belly fat is often about fixing your inner ecosystem, not just cutting calories.
Protein: The Hero Macronutrient for Women's Health
If you want to change your body, begin with protein. Protein does much more than build muscle—it's the main supplier of amino acids that make up your hormones and neurotransmitters.
Why Protein Should Be the Foundation
Every meal should start with a quality protein source. You don’t have to buy into one-size-fits-all advice, but you do need to pay attention to your own needs and tolerance.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
General rule: 1 gram per pound of body weight
High-level athletes may want up to 2 grams per pound
Most important: include a source of protein at every meal and snack
Dr. Mindy Pelz tested higher protein on herself during heavy training and found it just added more fat, not more muscle.
She did best focusing on protein at every meal, not going overboard. Find your “Goldilocks” zone by experimenting.
For busy women (or anyone pressed for time):
Prioritize clean, hormone- and antibiotic-free proteins
Don’t worry about exact counts—just make sure every meal includes a visible source of protein
Build your plate: Protein first, followed by colorful fiber-rich veggies, then healthy fats
What Happens If You Cut Fat or Go Low-Calorie?
Low-fat, low-calorie products often conceal obesogens that increase your cravings and disrupt hormones, which can keep you stuck.
Protein and Exercise
On strength training days: eat some protein before and after your workout
On cardio or yoga days: fasting is fine and can enhance fat burning
Fat: Which Types Help You and Which Harm?
Not all dietary fat is the same.
Some fats are “toxic” and trigger inflammation and fat storage, while others actually support your metabolism, brain, and hormones.
Your body stores unhealthy fats like canola or vegetable oil in your belly fat because it doesn’t know how to process them.
In contrast, natural fats like olive oil or avocado oil nourish your cells, curb appetite, and stabilize blood sugar.
Toxic vs. Healthy Fats
Toxic Fats
Canola oil
Cottonseed oil
Corn oil
Soybean oil
Partially hydrogenated, vegetable oils
Highly processed sunflower, safflower oils
Healthy Fats
Olive oil
Avocado oil
MCT oil
Walnut, sesame oils
Grass-fed butter
Timing Your Fats
Add extra healthy fat to meals when you expect long gaps before your next opportunity to eat (like breakfast before a busy afternoon)
Sprinkle olive oil over salads or veggies to keep you satisfied for hours
Avoid Late-Night Eating
Melatonin production at night means your body is naturally more insulin resistant. Eating late, especially fatty or sugary foods, leads to more stubborn fat gain.
Optimizing Women’s Hormones Through Food and Lifestyle
Women’s bodies aren’t small versions of men’s. Your biochemistry is tuned to a complex rhythm. Understanding how food and habits shape your hormones is the key to feeling your best and unlocking the fastest way to lose belly fat—for the long haul.
Food as Hormonal Medicine: The "Key 24" Nutrients
Dr. Pelz discovered that you need 24 nutrients every day to make your hormones work—nine are amino acids, and omega-3 fatty acids top the list. Prioritizing a range of whole foods, especially protein and healthy fats, guarantees your hormonal engine keeps running.
Cycle-Based Fasting and Eating
Front half of menstrual cycle: Lower carb, focus on protein and fiber to support estrogen.
Back half (week before period): Higher carb, add more root veggies and healthy starches to help progesterone production (this is why you crave chocolate before your cycle).
During perimenopause and menopause, as estrogen drops, women become more insulin resistant.
Mix periods of low-carb eating (ketobiotic days) with “hormone feasting” days to keep metabolism responsive and avoid plateaus.
Top Lifestyle Changes from Dr. Pelz:
Fasting with variation (not rigid routines)
Changing up foods frequently
Feeding gut microbes with fiber-rich fruits and veggies
Regular detox for house and body (reduce chemicals, plastics)
Building more rest and recovery into your schedule; learning to say "no"
Busting Myths: Body Size and Health
Instagram models or “magazine” bodies aren’t your goalposts. Estrogen naturally gives you more padding—that’s not just normal, it’s healthy.
Sacrificing calories to look ultra-thin often leads to losing your period, unstable mood, or thyroid issues.
If you’re eating less than 1,200 calories a day, increase your intake to support your thyroid, hormones, and healthy fat loss.
Practical Tips & Empowering Mindset for Sustainable Health
You don’t need endless motivation—you need momentum.
The easiest way to build it?
Start with a simple fasting routine, watch how your cravings change, and tweak until your body feels energized after meals.
Listen to Your Body’s Signals
Feeling sleepy after eating means your meal spiked blood sugar—adjust next time
Hunger every 2 to 3 hours means you need a better balance of protein, fat, fiber
No longer feeling controlled by sugar is a sign your new habits are working
Empowerment Through Knowledge
Take charge by learning to read labels, asking your doctor real questions, and making small upgrades to what you already buy. Health pros should be coaches, not just prescribers.
Affordable Health Hacks
Fasting is free and works for everyone, even on a tight schedule and budget
Swap fast food for home-cooked meals—even one or two natural ingredient swaps make a difference
If you can’t afford organic every time, pick one or two target foods (like leafy greens or eggs) to buy organic and make small upgrades when possible
Accept Your Unique Body
Normal female bodies carry some extra fat—it’s built-in hormone insurance.
The fastest way to lose belly fat isn’t about looking like a social media influencer; it’s about balancing hormones, reducing stress, and making peace with your own rhythms.
If you’ve lost your period or regularly undereat, increase calories and focus on protein and variety.
Stop tying your self-worth to a dress size.
Interview Highlights and Fast Five Key Takeaways
Dr. Mindy Pelz shared these five wisdom bombs to carry with you:
Best Health Advice: Don’t eat in the dark—limit eating to daylight hours for healthy hormone rhythms.
Worst Health Advice: Low-fat, low-calorie processed foods will help you lose weight (these are often packed with appetite-spiking chemicals called obesogens).
Her Purpose: To help women reconnect with their bodies and learn to love living in them.
Why Empowering Women’s Health Matters: “When women heal, the world heals.” Women set the standard for family and community health.
World Health Law: Eat real food—natural, chemical-free, unpackaged as much as possible.
Next Steps: Your Roadmap to Lasting Health
Move after stress. Walk it out, especially during tough moments.
Eat real, unpackaged food. Shop local, focus on what you can pronounce.
Try a flexible fasting window. Start small, and listen to your body’s response.
Prioritize protein. Begin every meal with a protein source and build from there.
Ditch food shame. Blame chemicals, not your willpower, and start learning about what goes in your food.
Feed your gut. Experiment with a wider variety of plant foods and fibers.
Measure progress by energy, cravings, and mood—not just the scale.
Embrace your natural body rhythm. Your goal is energy, health, and well-being.
No matter your age, life stage, or current health, you can start right where you are.
If you’re looking for the fastest way to lose belly fat, the real journey starts with understanding how your body works, and respecting what it’s been trying to do for you all along.
Remember, empowerment comes from knowledge and small, consistent action—not perfection. Start with one step today, and let momentum do the rest.
Ready for a deeper dive? Order Dr. Mindy Pelz’s Eat Like a Girl and follow her on social media for ongoing tips and support. Want more science-backed longevity tips? Check out interviews with experts like Dr. Peter Attia for advice on long-term health and energy.
