Stop Midlife Belly Fat: The New Science on Protein & Perimenopause (Dr. Hannah Cabre Recap)
Optimal Protein Podcast with Vanessa Spina
Vanessa Spina
4.5 • 758 Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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In today's Friday solo episode, I'm recapping one of my favorite conversations on women's health, metabolism, and body composition with Dr. Hannah Cabré — postdoctoral researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Fellow of the Year 2025.
We break down why perimenopause accelerates protein turnover and muscle protein breakdown, how this drives midlife fat gain and muscle loss, and exactly how to use protein, resistance training, creatine, omega-3s, and smart diet patterns to stay strong, lean, and metabolically resilient in your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
If you've ever felt like your body "suddenly changed" in midlife — even though nothing else did — this episode will help you understand what's really happening and what you can do about it.
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How perimenopause and estrogen decline change metabolism and increase protein needs
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Why muscle loss and fat gain accelerate — and how higher protein (1.2–1.6 g/kg/day) offsets it
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How to structure meals with 25–30 g protein to support muscle and body recomposition
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Why activity drops in midlife and how resistance training + steps prevent fat gain
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The truth about cycle syncing and what research actually shows
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The best diet pattern for postmenopausal metabolic and cardiovascular health
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How nitrates, creatine, and omega-3s support energy, mood, blood flow, and inflammation
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The key micronutrients women need most
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How to manage fatigue with sleep, hydration, electrolytes, and recovery nutrition
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How to create a sustainable calorie deficit without losing muscle
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🎙 The content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and not nutritional or medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making major dietary or lifestyle changes.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the optimal protein podcast. I'm Vanessa Spina. |
| 0:04.8 | Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the optimal protein podcast. I'm your host, Vanessa, and I am so excited for today's episode. |
| 0:12.4 | Today, we are breaking down the top highlights and takeaways from my interview with Dr. Hannah Cabray. |
| 0:19.8 | If you caught Monday's episode, think of today as a way to revisit all of the top |
| 0:26.5 | takeaways and insights and as well as discuss how we can actually implement these |
| 0:32.8 | scientific findings into our lives today. |
| 0:35.5 | So Dr. Cabray is a rising star in women's physiology, metabolism, |
| 0:40.3 | and nutrition science. Her research focuses on how hormones, protein, aging, inflammation, |
| 0:48.4 | and exercise influence body composition throughout the female lifespan, from reproductive years to perimenopause all the |
| 0:56.8 | way through postmenopause. She gave us one of the clearest explanations that I've ever heard |
| 1:03.0 | of why women's protein needs change. Why perimenopause accelerates protein turnover and protein |
| 1:10.1 | oxidation, which means our protein |
| 1:12.5 | intakes may need to be higher than they currently are. And exactly how to adjust diet, |
| 1:18.8 | training, and supplementation to preserve muscle as much as possible, lose as much body fat as desired, |
| 1:26.0 | and maintain optimal metabolic health. She also shared with us |
| 1:30.3 | which diet the scientific literature shows is the best suited for women in our more mature years |
| 1:37.3 | when we are postmenopause, which I found fascinating. So today I'm going to walk you through the |
| 1:42.8 | top takeaways so you can immediately |
| 1:45.4 | apply the science to your own fat loss and body recomposition goals. I can't wait to get into |
| 1:51.2 | today's episode and we are going to jump right in after this quick break. It's Black Friday |
| 1:57.2 | savings season and this is a big one. Now you all know how much I love by optimizers. |
| 2:03.3 | Their products are truly science-based and lab tested from my favorite magnesium breakthrough |
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