The Truth About Women’s Metabolism, Muscle & Fat Loss at Every Age | Abbie Smith-Ryan, PhD

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:00)
Has anyone ever told you, you lift like a girl? Probably not, but that doesn't stop people from saying, you should lift a certain way because you're a woman. But is that actually true, or is that just another myth, holding women back from reaching their full potential? Today, we're diving deep into the science of women's metabolism, strength, and longevity with one of the top researchers in exercise physiology and nutrition. Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan will break down the real differences between men and women when it comes to training, whether cycle-based workouts actually matter, and the biggest mistakes women make when it comes to fitness and health.

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (0:41)
The data was showing us that between the late 30s and into 40s, there's this pretty big change in body composition, and both physical and mental health. So we're really trying to understand some of the things that are happening in that space.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:58)
So, if you've ever wondered whether you should be training differently or eating differently or more protein, if your hormones really are to blame, then this episode is for you. Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan, welcome to the show.

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (1:17)
Thanks so much for having me.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:19)
And on a Sunday no less, so thank you for all your time.

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (1:23)
Yeah, I can't believe we made it happen, so appreciate the time.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:26)
Yes, and hopefully not the last time we make it happen. That would be great. One of the reasons why I really wanted you to come on is because you have spent a lot of time and energy in the body composition, in the exercise phys space, and there are a lot of controversies. And I don't even think that controversies is the right word, but there's a lot of information floating around. And at the end of the day, people want to have a better body composition, and they want to perform better. I don't even want to say prevent injury, but they want to perform better. And that's really what led me to some of your work. So thank you.

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (2:03)
Yeah, I always thought body comp was kind of boring, but it's so important, so.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:08)
You are currently at UNC. And tell me a little bit about your background as to how you ended up where you are, and really what your lab is focusing on now.

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (2:20)
Yeah, so I've been at UNC for 14 years, and currently I serve as the Associate Chair for Research, and I direct the Applied Physiology Lab. And really my background is as an exercise physiologist, so that's where my training is. But during my doctoral work, also really paired it with sport nutrition. And then coming to a place like UNC really translated that more into, I wouldn't say clinical populations, but overweight, obesity, and cancer, osteoarthritis, to really take that physiology and apply it to help people feel better.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:54)
And what are some of the things that you're working on now?

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (2:59)
So where that lasts about five or six years, a lot of my work has translated mostly into perimenopause. And that's not because I'm of the age of perimenopause, but really because the data was showing us that between kind of late 30s and into 40s, there's this pretty big change in body composition and both physical and mental health. And so we're really trying to understand some of the things that are happening in that space and trying to understand and help those women.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:29)
Would you say that women have been somewhat left out of research in terms of studying them?

**Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan** (3:36)
Yeah, it's funny. When we look at the literature, there's actually a lot of old research on things like red S and menstrual cycle dysfunction. So they haven't been left out in that space. But very much from a scarcity mindset of like not enough of fuel and the side effects. And then when we start to look at female only studies and or women characterizing where they're actually at in their life stage, there's very little research there.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (4:04)
And is it because that is just really challenging? Because the female cycle or even lack of, you know, it's easy to say, for example, that someone is, okay, you were 45 years old. I know that that individual is 45 years old. It's much more difficult to say, this woman's LH is this, all 45 year old women have a hormone profile of this. We're no longer comparing apples to apples, right?