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Habits and Hustle

Episode 533: Dr. Amy Shah: What Changes in Perimenopause and How Cortisol Drives Belly Fat After 40

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Entrepreneurship, Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Business

4.5818 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Midlife is not subtle. You’re disciplined, productive, training harder than ever, and still waking up at 4AM wired, gaining belly fat, and realizing the formula that used to work no longer does. In this Habits & Hustle episode, I’m joined by Dr. Amy Shah to break down why cortisol is the real driver behind stubborn weight gain and 3AM wakeups and how too much intensity can backfire after 40.  We also unpack her 30-30-3 Method and 4-3-2-1 Movement Framework so women can start a practical reset in just three days. Dr. Amy Shah is a Double Board-Certified MD, Nutritionist, and New York Times Best Selling Author. She trained in internal medicine and immunology and studied nutrition at Cornell University. Amy is the author of I’m So Effing Hungry and I’m So Effing Tired, with Hormone Havoc forthcoming. What’s Discussed (02:26) Morning sunlight and short movement to stabilize cortisol (04:07) Leaving 20% unscheduled to reduce stress load (11:57) 3-5AM wake-ups and cortisol spikes (13:02) Why intense workouts increase belly fat after 40 (18:10) The 4-3-2-1 workout framework for midlife women (28:28) Alcohol, sugar, sitting, and stress as aging drivers (44:48) Sleep as the most underrated anti-aging tool (49:52) Gut health as a foundation for hormone balance Thank you to our sponsors: Rho Nutrition: Try Rho Nutrition today and experience the difference of Liposomal Technology. Use code JEN20 for 20% OFF everything at https://rhonutrition.com/discount/jen20. Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit https://prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use the code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Therasage: Visit Therasage.com and use code JEN to get 15% off your order. Your skin deserves this level of care. Air Doctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code HUSTLE to get UP TO $300 off today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty — an $84 value, free! Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com and use code JEN for 35% off your first subscription.  Manna Vitality: Try it now by using the code Jennifer20 at mannavitality.com.   Amp fit If you’re ready to make consistency a habit without sacrificing your sanity, check out joinamp.com/jen.  Find more from Jen:  Website: https://jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Dr. Amy Shah: Website: https://amymdwellness.com Instagram: @dramyshah Facebook: @drconfidential Youtube: @dramyshah Tiktok: @dramyshah “Hormone Havoc” out February 24th: https://amymdwellness.com/pages/books

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. All right. Today, you guys, we have Dr. Amy Shaw, who is not just one-time certified, but you're a double-board certified, doctor. I'm really old. You're really? Oh, my God. Please. Did a lot of training. Well, you look really young, actually. How old are you? I'm 48.

0:22.0

You're 48?

0:22.9

Yes. My God, whatever you're doing in same age. Okay. Well, you look amazing too. No, but by the way, whatever you're doing, I want to know exactly what that is because whatever is working for you. Oh, thank you. What do you do? I mean? What do you mean?

0:35.8

What do you're like, like all the things, like all the things that we're going to talk about.

0:39.3

I do.

0:39.7

I mean, like, I'm...

0:41.0

Wait, I'm...

0:41.0

By the way, her new book is called hormone havoc. We're going to talk all about it. And we're starting off with what your daily routine is to look this young and fabulous. Okay, so sunlight every day.

0:52.8

You know, it's like so, even if it's a cloudy day,

0:56.2

I try to, at least in the beginning of the day, try to get some, usually some kind of movement, even if it's like 15 minutes. I think today I did like 15 minutes. Really? Because it was like, even that day when we ran into each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I literally had done 15 minutes because I knew that I had to get ready to go. And so when I saw you, I was like, oh, like, let's chat, but I had to go because I literally had only planned like a 20 minute workout. Right. So even that, even that 20 minute or that 50 minutes makes a major difference. Totally. If I can go for a walk, like I can't hear when I'm traveling

1:28.0

or whatever, but if I could go for a quick walk, you can get the sunlight in and like a little bit of movement in the morning. Yeah. In LA, you can typically, yeah, it's easier here. Although you're in Arizona, right? Yeah. So it's the same thing. Like good weather. I feel like also getting a slight bit of bumper to the day like in the morning. So I'll talk to you about that because we're going to talk about cortisol. But, like, I feel like my cortisol is always out of control. And so, like, in the morning, kind of doing something to calm myself for the day to come. So, like, a little bit of bumper. So it's not like I'm just jumping into the first thing

2:02.0

of my day. What do you mean by a bumper? What do you mean by a little bit of bumper? I learned,

2:06.8

do you know David Guilla? Yeah, I do. He was actually supposed to be on this podcast many times and

2:12.1

he had to reschedule. So David, if you're listening, honestly, like no more rescheduling.

2:18.2

It literally changed my life because he said, your best ideas never come when you're overwhelmed

2:23.6

and stressed out, right? Like, you need to give, there needs to be space in your day. He's like,

2:28.8

you need to keep like 20% of your day free. And I'm like, that's like a lot of hours. And he's like,

2:33.6

no, but it's like your

2:34.5

workout counts is a little bit of time. And like if you're going from thing to thing without a break, you're never going to be able to kind of get that, one, cortisol down so biologically, but two, like process what just happened. Or if you're having a great conversation, you can't go a little bit longer because you're like booked like back to back. It's so true. Yeah.

2:53.6

Right. And so if you're having a great conversation, you can't go a little bit longer because you're

2:50.9

like booked like back to back. It's so true. Yeah. Right. And so if we're working on our cortisol, we're working on anti-aging, like we have to put bumpers on our day a little bit. Even as like five minutes that you have extra in the morning to whatever. Like, I don't know, if you want to meditate, whatever, sunlight, gratitude.

3:08.9

You call it bumpers.

...

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