Menopause, Weight Gain and Hormones with Fat Loss Expert Dr. Bill Campbell #828

Barbell Shrugged

Doug Larson

Health & Fitness, Fitness, Nutrition

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Dr. Bill Campbell returns to the show to discuss a major pivot in his research from building muscle and optimizing fat loss to understanding menopause and its effects on women's body composition. After watching his wife struggle through a severe perimenopause transition that resisted every traditional fat loss strategy, Campbell uncovered a massive blind spot in the scientific literature: almost no research exists on fit, resistance trained women going through menopause. His public comments sparked hundreds of messages from women describing the same struggles including unexplained weight gain, muscle loss, energy crashes, and sleep disruption highlighting how poorly understood this phase of life truly is.

Dr. Campbell breaks down what the best research does show. Menopause accelerates fat gain, shifts fat distribution toward the midsection, and produces measurable declines in muscle and bone mineral density. Many women experience weight loss resistance where standard diet and training approaches no longer produce results. He also digs into the nuance of hormone replacement therapy how progesterone and estrogen can dramatically improve sleep, anxiety, and energy, why estrogen appears anabolic for middle aged women, and why HRT's effect on body fat varies widely. Campbell clarifies the long standing confusion created by the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study, how its flawed interpretation suppressed HRT use for two decades, and why today's evidence supports earlier intervention under an evidence based physician.

The conversation closes with clear, practical guidance for women entering perimenopause. Maintain a consistent fitness lifestyle, lift weights to protect muscle and bone, prioritize sleep, get annual bloodwork and DEXA scans, and consider HRT early if medically appropriate.

Campbell emphasizes that lifestyle habits do not replace hormone therapy and hormone therapy does not replace lifestyle. Together they help women navigate the most dramatic physiological transition since puberty. Whether you're a coach, practitioner, or someone approaching this stage of life, this episode provides a much needed framework for understanding, preparing for, and managing menopause with strength and agency.

Links:

Anders Varner on Instagram

Doug Larson on Instagram

Coach Travis Mash on Instagram

Transcript

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0:00.0	Shrug family this week on Barbara L Shrug Dr. Bill Campbell is back on the podcast and he is
0:05.4	most known for getting people super, super shredded. Like he is a fat lost researcher, fat loss
0:12.5	researcher. His job, his whole like science background is on six packs, eight packs,
0:19.4	because he's so good at it. But today, he's got a very
0:23.2	personal story in how his research has shifted to focusing on menopausal women and how he is,
0:31.2	it started with his wife, and now he's doing tons of research in an area that, to be honest
0:36.2	to you, I don't know anything about. I'm not at that
0:38.5	phase yet. I'm not there. It's getting close maybe. Maybe we're knocking on the door. Maybe
0:44.6	menopause around the corner, but I'm not there yet, not in my household. But guess what? As soon as
0:51.2	the door opens into that window of time, oh, am I going back to this show to
0:56.0	listen and reading all of his research, probably just going to send someone in my house his way.
1:01.2	Hey, buddy, you got a new client, Dr. Campbell, come and help. This would be beneficial to everyone I
1:07.3	know, mostly me. But today we're talking a little bit about fat loss and menopause. And as always, make sure you get over to rapid health report.com. That's where Dan Garner, Dr. Andy Gopman, or do with a free lab, lifestyle performance analysis. You can access that at rapidhealthreport.com. Friends, let's get into the show. Welcome to Barbell, Struggle, Manor, Doug Larson, Dr. Bill Campbell, back on the show.
1:30.3	This may catch the people by surprise.
1:32.2	We're going to talk about menopause today.
1:33.9	There's a bit of a transition from all the abs you've gotten everybody over the last many years of your career.
1:41.1	I'd love to start off.
1:42.2	You're like known as the leader in the space on just looking super shredded. And now you're, uh, how did, how did the transition happen?
1:51.0	Well, it's, it's actually a, a good story, maybe a little, a little sad. So I'm still a fat loss researcher, still obsessed with how to build muscle, maintain muscle when
2:02.8	dieting. But let's talk about why this was interest or yeah, why the change in interest from
2:10.5	younger, mostly women to now middle-aged women. And I'll be honest, if this was five years ago, maybe even four years ago,
2:21.3	if you said, hey, you're going to wake up every day and want to read menopause, fitness,
	...

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