It’s Not You, It’s Your Bacteria: The Truth About Weight Struggles

2 weeks until the Signature Weight Loss Program kicks off! 🏁
Check it out at www.21DaySignature.com — doors are closing soon!

May 11- 31

Whats new for 2025

Content Library - over 50 pieces of pre recorded content, full access for 6 months

New topics for 2025

1. How to read your own blood work
2. Mitochondria - how it impacts your energy and body composition
3. Bacteria and your "fat memory"

MAY 11 - 31 - full details

 

MIDLIFE MAYHEM - available on all podcast platforms, click the link to find the one you use

 

🎙️ Today's Episode: The Gut-Weight Connection — How Your Bacteria Control Your Fat Storage (and How to Rewire Them)

Hey everyone, welcome back to Midlife Mayhem! I'm Joanne, and today, we're diving into something that could completely change the way you think about weight loss.

👉 It's your gut microbiome.
👉 And more specifically — how the balance of bacteria living inside you can either keep you lean or lock you into fat storage, no matter how disciplined you are with your diet.

We all know weight loss isn’t just about calories.
One of the biggest missing pieces for most people is gut health — and it’s critical.

Inside your intestines, there are trillions of bacteria working all the time. And these bacteria fall into two important groups:

• Some bacteria promote fat storage

• Some bacteria promote fat burning

In people who are overweight, there's often a dominance of bacteria like Firmicutes (FIRM-ih-cue-tees), which are incredibly good at extracting more calories from the food you eat and storing that energy as body fat.

In leaner individuals, there's usually a higher presence of bacteria like Bacteroidetes (back-tear-ROY-deh-tees), which support better energy usage, lower inflammation, and easier fat loss.

👉 Simply put:

• More Firmicutes = more fat storage.

• More Bacteroidetes = better fat burning.

This is not a theory.
In a landmark study (PLOS Genetics 2016, Zhernakova et al.), researchers could predict who would gain or lose weight just based on gut bacteria — even before the participants started changing their diet.

It wasn't calories.
It wasn't cardio.
It was the internal environment that mattered most.

How does the gut become a fat-storing machine?

When you eat a highly processed diet — low in fiber, low in real foods —
you feed the wrong bacteria and starve the good ones.

Over time, this environment programs you to:

• Crave more junk

• Absorb more calories from food

• Store more fat

• Struggle with low energy, inflammation, and even insulin resistance

And even if you start “dieting,” if the gut is still dominated by the fat-storing bacteria, results are slower, harder, and often temporary.

Here's the great news:
👉 Your gut environment can change — and it can change fast.

You can tip the balance back toward fat-burning bacteria with simple strategies like:
✅ Eating more prebiotic fibers (FOS, inulin, green banana resistant starch)
✅ Eating a greater diversity of plant foods
✅ Reducing processed food and sugar intake
✅ Staying consistent long enough for the microbiome to reset -THE KEY!

You are literally training your gut bacteria — like a garden.
Feed the good, starve the bad, and they will multiply or disappear accordingly.

But what if you don’t like high-fiber foods right now?

Let me reassure you — food preferences change very quickly with exposure.

Think about coffee.
First time you tasted it? Probably hated it.
First sip of wine? Probably wanted to spit it out.
First bite of dark chocolate? Probably thought it was awful.

And yet today, many of us love these things — because exposure changes preferences.

You didn’t need to choke down coffee for two years to start liking it.
You just needed small, repeated exposures — and your brain adapted.

Healthy foods are no different.

Quick story about Kevin:
When I met my husband, Kevin, he didn’t eat vegetables.
He certainly didn’t eat fish.
For years he said, "I don’t like fish, I don’t like fish."

Then one day he tried salmon — and it wasn’t bad.
He had it again.
Now?
He eats salmon every single day without hesitation.

It didn’t take years — it took a few exposures.

The same thing can happen for you — or for your kids — even if healthy food feels unappealing at first.

You’re not broken.
You just need to trust the process.

Why gut health is EVERYTHING for lasting fat loss:

If you don't rebuild your gut microbiome, you're fighting an uphill battle — no matter how good your diet looks on paper.

You can’t supplement your way out of a damaged gut.
You can’t macro-count your way out of inflammation and dysfunction.

You have to change the environment inside you — permanently.

When you fix the gut:

• Cravings get easier

• Fat storage slows down

• Energy improves

• Your metabolism becomes your ally, not your enemy

This is exactly what we're tackling in the 21-Day Signature Program.

This updated 2025 version includes:
🔥 Gut health protocols to shift your microbiome toward fat burning
🔥 Mitochondrial health training (so you know why you're tired and how to fix it)
🔥 Blood work interpretation for body composition (so you can finally read your labs and optimize them)

You’ll get 7 live coaching calls, over 50 pieces of recorded content, and full access to a brand new private content platform.

✅ Check it all out at www.21DaySignature.com.

We start May 11 — and it’s going to be incredible!

Final Thoughts:

👉 Your gut bacteria are not your destiny.
👉 Your cravings are not your destiny.
👉 Your metabolism is not broken beyond repair.

You can change all of it — faster than you think —
when you understand how to rebuild the foundation inside you.

Thanks for tuning in today —
I'll see you next time on Midlife Mayhem! 🎙️

 

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