For women over 40 who are doing the work and not seeing it pay off
What actually works for a woman's body after 40, from a doctor and exercise physiologist who lost 30 pounds herself at 44, in perimenopause, and has helped her patients lose more than 1,000 pounds.
AlignFit opens soon. Individual results vary.
Where this started
I was training for triathlons and eating plenty of protein. I'm a doctor, and I still couldn't make the weight move. So I went back to what I know best: how a woman's body actually works in perimenopause, down to which genes stress and inflammation were switching on.
Once I worked with my body instead of against it, I lost 30 pounds. Three years later, it's still off.
Then my family asked what I'd done, so I helped them. Then my patients. In about two and a half years, my patients have lost more than 1,000 pounds collectively.
AlignFit is how I share what I learned with more women than I could ever see in my practice.
Read what I did: exactly how I lost 30 pounds →
My results are not typical, and individual results vary.
Who this is for
You eat reasonably well. You move. You've read the books and tried the things. Roughly twenty pounds settled in anyway. You don't need more effort. You need the right information for this decade, and a plan built on it.
Cholesterol creeping. Blood sugar edging up. Maybe the word prediabetic, and a pamphlet. You'd rather change how you live than start a medication. That's a choice with real evidence behind it, and I'll show you what the work looks like.
You want to keep riding, hiking, and keeping up with your kids. You want a body that holds up for the second half of your life and the work you're called to. That's exactly what we build here.
Why start here
If you're carrying extra weight, it's often the change that moves the most. Not because of how it looks, but because of what it's doing.
Fat tissue makes its own estrogen, and after menopause it becomes your body's main source. More fat means more of a form of estrogen linked to higher breast cancer risk after menopause.
Early in the transition, women carrying more weight tend to have more hot flashes. In a randomized trial, women who lost weight saw their hot flashes become less bothersome.
The extra 20 pounds show up everywhere. Losing them is often the single change that moves the most.
Anyone can lose weight. The question after 40 is whether you lose fat or muscle. That's what the rest of the method is for.
The method
Your hormones changed, and your genes respond to how you eat, move, sleep and handle stress. The plan should be built for that body, not the one you had at 25.
Your protein number, not a guess. Meals, not grazing. Starchy carbs used like a condiment, and plenty of fiber. Fewer meals, not less food.
Nutrition decides how much you lose. Resistance training decides what you lose. This is how more of what you lose comes off as fat, and more of the muscle that runs your metabolism stays.
Not more cardio, the right dose: steady zone 2 work plus short intervals, fitted around your lifting so your hours go where they return the most.
These switch genes toward storing fat. They were my hidden blockers, and they're often the missing piece when a woman is doing everything else right.
And through all of it, clarity: what the research actually supports, where it runs out, and how to tell the difference when the next trend hits your feed.
Why I can help
My training sits where four fields meet: women's hormones and menopause medicine, personal training, exercise leadership, and health promotion. Most women get one of those at a time. I bring them together.
I came to menopause medicine through exercise physiology. It changed what I see.
Most doctors are trained to treat perimenopause as a hormone problem with hormone solutions. Most trainers are trained to treat a woman of forty-seven like a woman of twenty-seven with less time. I've stood in both rooms. And the thing that falls between them is muscle.
The muscle a woman loses in this transition is the same muscle that runs her metabolism, steadies her blood sugar, protects her bone, and decides whether a fall at seventy-five is a bruise or a hospital admission. That isn't a side conversation to menopause care. Most days it's the main one.
It just doesn't have a specialty. So it belongs to nobody — and women get handed hormones by one professional and burpees by another.
That gap is what I work on.
The membership · Opening soon
One private community with the education, the training and the people doing this with you. When the doors open: a 7-day trial, then $47 a month. Cancel any time.
AlignFit and my medical practice are the only places with direct access to me. The group is where I answer general questions and join you for live Q&As. Anything specific to your own health belongs in my practice.
Your guide
Naturopathic Doctor · ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist
I want every woman over 40 to have what I had to go find for myself: a clear picture of how her body works now, and a plan built on it.
I created AlignFit because women who are driven with passion don't have the time or desire to allow noise into their life.
As a naturopathic doctor for 8 years, exercise physiologist, former competitive mountain bike racer and XTERRA triathlete, I have spent my adult years searching for the truth about which fitness programs work, how our bodies get sick, how they heal, and how we can optimize our physiology. I certainly don't have all the answers. What I have is experience worth sharing: what has worked in my own body, and for the many patients I have guided.
Although my highest degree is as a Naturopathic Doctor from Bastyr University, prior to that, I earned my B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science and M.A. in Sport and Exercise Leadership.
My vision for AlignFit is that it is a space where the good, the true, and the beautiful are celebrated, and we are so focused on our own purpose in a place of calm and flow, that we can't even hear the noise.
Questions
Soon. Join the waitlist and you'll hear first when the doors open. Membership will start with a 7-day trial, then $47 a month, and you can cancel any time.
No. The education starts at first principles, and the programming is built to meet you where you are — whether you haven't trained in years or you've been consistent and want it to finally make sense.
Yes. Excess weight is a genuine health risk and it doesn't feel good to carry — if losing it is the right goal for you, the education and programming here are built to guide you toward it in a way that holds. What you won't find is the scale treated as the only number that matters, or a program that pretends a smaller body and a healthy one are automatically the same thing.
We are all searching for truth, and my belief is that Jesus is the ultimate source of truth. As such, I know that I don't have all the answers. For me, this group is one of my life's purposes, and it is a reflection of my faith and what Jesus has done for me.
This group is open to all faith or non-faith backgrounds. I just ask that you are open to hearing the raw stories about God's work in our lives that will inevitably come up here.
Everything here is designed around the physiology and the season of life of women 40+. Younger members are welcome and will still learn a great deal, but the programming, the education, and the conversation are built for that decade forward.
No, and no — and it matters that you know the difference. My role in AlignFit is to guide and lead the community: the teaching, the programming, the direction we go together. It is health and fitness education for a group, not individual medical care, and joining does not create a doctor–patient relationship. One-on-one care is a separate thing entirely and lives in my medical practice at Avra Health. Those are the two places to find me: the AlignFit group for teaching and general questions, and my practice for individual care.
Please also talk with your own doctor before starting a new exercise or nutrition program, especially if you have an existing condition or take medication.
On Skool — one private space that holds the videos, the programming, the challenges, and the discussion together. You can join from your phone or your laptop, and you can leave or cancel at any time.
AlignFit opens soon
If you're over 40, doing the work, and ready for a clear plan, a stronger body and fat loss that protects more of your muscle, join the waitlist. You'll hear first when the doors open.
When the doors open: a 7-day trial, then $47/month. Cancel any time.
Not ready yet? Start with what I did or take the free quiz. Already a member? Go to the group.