Testosterone, not GLP-1s, is what finally let Chalene Johnson lose body fat and build real muscle after 40, and she's laying out exactly how in this episode.

Chalene explains why her total testosterone always looked normal on paper while she still felt exhausted and stuck in the gym, until a clinician finally tested her free testosterone and SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) and found the real problem. In her words, total testosterone is the money in the bank, free testosterone is the cash in your pocket, and SHBG is the bank teller deciding how much you actually get to spend. She also gets into why she skipped the growth peptides everyone's talking about (tesamorelin, ipamorelin, CJC-1295) and switched from monthly testosterone injections to a daily cream instead.

She talks candidly about the mold exposure that wrecked her hormones, caregiving through her father-in-law's Alzheimer's, and why she stopped weighing herself and started tracking body fat with an InBody scale instead.

Topics discussed: testosterone for women, free testosterone, total testosterone, SHBG, hormone replacement therapy, perimenopause, GLP-1, tesamorelin, ipamorelin, CJC-1295, HGH, IGF-1, progressive overload, body composition, InBody scale, DEXA scan, mold toxicity, testosterone cream

Midi Health testosterone for women: https://chalene.com/test

Midi Health hormone and menopause care: https://chalene.com/midi

 

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🚨Questions Chalene Wants Your Thoughts on:

• Have you ever gotten a "normal" lab result but still felt off? I'd love to hear how you advocated for yourself, or wish you had.
• What's one rule around eating, fasting, or exercise you finally gave yourself permission to break? 
• When it comes to strength training, are you tracking your weights and reps, or just guessing you worked hard?

 

Related Links:

• Chalene's Favorites! OneSkin OS-01 Body lotion and Suncreen 👉https://chalene.com/lotion use Code Chalene at Checkout
• InBody Scale 👉https://go.shopmy.us/p-73936967
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• Camp Be More 2027 Registration is now OPEN!! 👉 CAMP

 

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Chapters
00:00:00 Why GLP-1s cause muscle loss
00:06:50 Starting hormone replacement therapy in perimenopause
00:11:37 Overtraining, inflammation, and stalled progress
00:13:28 Protein-first eating over intermittent fasting rules
00:18:05 Progressive overload and choosing the right weights
00:20:15 SPF, OneSkin, and skin advice from a beauty influencer
00:29:59 Mold exposure and hormone disruption
00:32:39 Peptides, SHBG, and switching to a testosterone cream