eWe wake up thinking: Today I’ll do better. Protein shakes. Salads. Chicken. We ignore hunger because, well… we just ate a few hours ago. And somehow, we can’t fathom how much food is “enough” before it turns into “too much.” We grade our days based on whether we’ve been “good” with our nutrition.
It’s no wonder we keep asking, do crash diets work to try and move this darn scale?
What I Hear from Clients All the Time About Crash Diets
I can’t tell you how often I hear that phrase: “I do pretty well with my nutrition.” As if I’d asked whether they had good manners when they were five.
And I don’t say that sarcastically. I mean it honestly. Because for so many women, nutrition has become about being “good.” Don’t be too loud. Avoid becoming so ambitious. Stay small. Stay in control.
So food becomes a tool to prove we’re good enough. A daily checklist of whether we’ve been disciplined. Perfect.
And the irony? It pulls us further away from what actually matters:
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Are you actually hungry?
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Could you be thirsty?
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Or are you simply feeling stressed?
So much of what I work on with clients isn’t about tracking calories or restricting carbs. It’s about helping them step back and see food as nourishment. As an absolute. Not something to earn or justify.
And if you’re reading this shaking your head, thinking “I don’t get it”, I can’t explain it logically. Because even as a nutrition coach, personal trainer, and former college athlete, I still have days where I mentally review what I ate like there’s an invisible grade being handed out.
And that brings us to the question you probably searched to find this blog: Do crash diets work? Not really; and especially not for women in their 40s.
Why Crash Diets Feel Tempting
Crash diets feel like control. They promise quick results. Cut carbs. Skip breakfast. Eat only between noon and 6 PM. It all feels productive. Like you’re doing something.
But what if you’re chasing the wrong thing? What if all that control is actually working against your body?
Why Crash Diets Fail (Especially in Midlife)
Let’s get clear on what I mean by crash diets:
Intermittent Fasting (IF)
This diet involves restricting your eating to a specific window of time each day (often 16:8, meaning 16 hours fasting and 8 hours eating). While it may simplify meal timing, for many women in their 40s, it simply turns into skipping breakfast. The problem? Skipping early meals elevates cortisol and keeps your body in a prolonged stress state, impairing metabolism and hormonal balance.
Low-Carb or No-Carb Diets
These diets drastically reduce or eliminate carbohydrates in an attempt to force the body to burn fat for fuel (often called ketosis). While this may lead to short-term weight loss, it often backfires in midlife. Carbs are essential for thyroid function, energy production, and hormone regulation—all of which are already fluctuating during perimenopause.
Extreme Calorie Restriction / One Meal A Day (OMAD)
OMAD limits intake to a single meal, creating extreme calorie deficits. While this may seem efficient, it signals your body to conserve energy and hold onto fat. Your body perceives this as a survival threat, slowing metabolism, increasing fatigue, and breaking down muscle.
Why These Strategies Backfire in Your 40s:
- Underfueling + Stress: These diets deprive your body of consistent energy, triggering a chronic stress response.
- Hormonal Shifts: In perimenopause, your estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate, and cortisol becomes more dominant. Underfueling amplifies this imbalance, increasing fat storage (especially around the midsection), disrupting sleep, and draining energy.
- Muscle Loss: Instead of burning fat, your body breaks down muscle for fuel, especially when protein and carbohydrates are lacking.
- Metabolic Slowdown: Chronic under-eating suppresses your metabolism over time, making weight maintenance harder, not easier.
The result? You feel tired, heavy, frustrated, and stuck.
What worked at 25? It doesn’t work now. And utlimately, pushing harder will only leave you feeling more burned out.
For more ways to support your hormones without extreme diets, check out my blog on how to balance hormones naturally.
What to Do Instead: Fuel, Don’t Restrict
Your body isn’t a broken machine that needs punishment to improve. It’s a high-performance system that needs the right fuel to function.
Think of it this way: You wouldn’t put the cheapest gas in a luxury vehicle and expect it to run smoothly. So why are you treating your body like a beat-up car you’re trying to fix?
You can begin by fueling it like the high-performance machine it is.
Start with the basics:
- Build consistent, balanced meals.
- Stop treating protein, carbs, and healthy fats like negotiable extras. They’re essential.
- Prioritize meals that help you focus, build strength, and feel good.
If you’re not sure where to start, try these 4 simple strategies I use with clients:
- Aim for 30 grams of fiber each day. Fruits with skins, vegetables, and whole grains support digestion, hormone balance, and blood sugar stability.
- Get 30 grams of protein within an hour of waking. Start your day with a protein shake, eggs, or Greek yogurt to help regulate hunger hormones and preserve muscle.
- Don’t go more than 4–5 hours without eating. Balanced meals throughout the day stabilize energy, mood, and metabolism.
- Include healthy fats with every meal. Olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds aren’t optional. They support hormones and satiety.
Most importantly? Shift from punishing your body to supporting it. Food isn’t a reward. It’s the foundation of your strength.
The truth is, simple habits work but we tend to overcomplicate nutrition and obsess over the wrong things. This Substack explains why we ignore the basics and chase the complicated solutions that don’t serve us.
My Own Story: Food as Reward
I’ve had my own complicated history with food.
When I was a college runner, food was something I earned. I still remember a morning when practice got cancelled due to bad weather. My first thought wasn’t “Yay, rest day!” It was: “But how do I eat breakfast now?”
I’d wired myself into believing that eating came only after working out.
Even now, as a coach and trainer, I sometimes catch myself slipping back into that mindset. Because for so many women, food becomes a way to prove we’re doing life right. Controlled. Disciplined. “Good.”
That’s why I’m passionate about this work. Because fueling your body isn’t failure. It’s self-respect.
Ultimately, you deserve to feel strong, nourished, and supported by the choices you make every day.
Ready to Reset Your Inner Athlete?
If you’re tired of feeling stuck and ready to start working with your body, not against it, join me for my upcoming 90-minute live workshop: Reset Your Inner Athlete.
You’ll learn how to:
- Fuel for energy and strength (without tracking every bite).
- Train smarter for the body you have now.
- Break old patterns of restriction and burnout.
