5 science-backed truths every woman over 35 needs to hear - straight from the world's top obesity researchers

Picture this: the Fairmont hotel in Montréal, five days of wall-to-wall science, and a room full of the most brilliant minds in obesity research from across Canada, the United States, and around the world. No influencers. No supplement companies promising miracles. Just researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals presenting what the evidence actually says.

That was the Canadian Obesity Summit 2026 - and I was there for every session, every conversation, and every moment that made me want to grab my phone and text every single one of my clients immediately.

I came home with 32 accredited continuing education hours, a notebook full of insights, and one overwhelming thought:

So I am going to do what I always do: translate the science into plain language, hand it directly to you, and let you decide what to do with it.

Here are the five things that stopped me in my tracks.

I am not exaggerating. When the topic of calorie restriction as a standalone strategy came up, the response from the researchers presenting on the physiology and behaviour of weight management was... let's say, underwhelming enthusiasm for the concept.

Here is what the science presented at the summit confirms: the human body is not a simple math equation. Hunger hormones, metabolic adaptation, brain reward pathways, and the nervous system all interact in ways that make 'just eat less' not only ineffective for most women - but potentially harmful to how they feel about themselves when it inevitably doesn't work.

Researchers Simon Bacon, Eric Doucet, and Ashley Power presented an entire session dismantling this narrative. The physiology of weight regulation is complex. The behaviour change required to support it is even more complex. And pretending otherwise is doing women a profound disservice.

This is precisely why my work as a naturopath, nutrition and mindset coach has never been about counting calories. The Hollywood Body Method, my bestselling book, is built entirely on the principle that lasting change requires working with your body's biology, including re-wiring the brain. The summit confirmed every page of it.

One of the most jaw-dropping sessions I attended was on the neurobiology of obesity, specifically, how excess weight physically changes the brain's reward and appetite-regulation systems.

Researchers Stephanie Fulton, Raed Hawa, and David Macklin presented findings showing that the cravings, the emotional eating, the feeling that your appetite has a life of its own, these are not character flaws. They are measurable neurological changes.

Your brain, when inflammation is high and hormones are dysregulated, actively generates signals that drive overeating. Willpower cannot override neuroscience. No amount of discipline beats a brain that has been chemically rewired to seek comfort through food.

This is the foundation of the behavioral change work I do with every client. Understanding that your brain has been working against you, through no fault of your own, is often the most liberating thing a woman hears in our first conversation.

GLP-1 medications, AKA “peptides”, semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), and liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda) are everywhere right now.

Every magazine, every talk show, every conversation at the school pickup line. And the research on their effectiveness for weight reduction is real. And there will be more of them.

But here is what the summit made clear, in session after session:

Dr. Arya Sharma and other leading voices at the summit were unambiguous: pharmacotherapy is one tool in a comprehensive approach. It is not the approach.

This is something I speak about openly with every client who asks me about peptides. They have a place. But that place is inside a program that addresses the root causes, not instead of one.

This one caused a stir in the room. And I have been sharing it with everyone since I got home.

The research presented at the summit confirmed that Omega-3 fatty acids have a meaningful, measurable impact on inflammation, fat metabolism, and metabolic health, but only at a therapeutic dose. The threshold supported by the research?

The average standard fish oil capsule contains approximately 300 milligrams of EPA + DHA combined. That means most women supplementing with a typical fish oil product are getting roughly one-tenth of what the research actually supports.

Before you add anything else to your supplement routine, flip the bottle over. Look at the EPA and DHA content specifically - not the total fish oil weight. That number tells you what your body is actually receiving.

Here is the part of the weight loss conversation that nobody wants to have. Getting results is not the hardest part. Keeping them is.

Multiple sessions at the summit addressed this directly. The research is sobering: without a structured maintenance phase following any weight management program, the majority of lost weight is regained from six months to two years. Not because the person failed. Because the program ended too soon.

The session on managing expectations in comprehensive obesity care, presented by Tara Clelland Jones and Michael Vallis, put it beautifully: the gap between what women hope for and what they are actually prepared for is where the damage happens. Shame fills that gap. And shame drives the next cycle of starting over.

This is why The Hollywood Body Method is built around lasting behavioral change, not temporary restriction. And it is why every client I work with leaves not just with results, but with the knowledge and tools to maintain them for life.

One of the sessions that moved me most was devoted entirely to women's health across the lifespan, the hormonal shifts of perimenopause, the lasting metabolic effects of pregnancy and postpartum, the specific physiological changes that happen after 35 that make every standard weight loss approach feel completely useless.

Because it is. Standard approaches were not designed for your body at this stage of life. They were designed for men whose hormones are in a completely different place.

Your body is running on a different system. And it needs a strategy that was actually written for that system.

That is the work I do. As a naturopath, nutrition and mindset coach, and the author of The Hollywood Body Method, every tool I use with my clients is designed specifically for the woman whose body has changed, and who deserves an approach that has changed with it.

If what you read here resonated, if you recognized yourself in any of these findings, I would love to talk.

Book a complimentary call with me. We will look at exactly what your body needs right now, the root causes behind the weight that won't shift, the fatigue, the skin changes, the hormonal chaos, and I will tell you honestly which program will help you transform from the inside out.

No generic advice, I promise.