How Tighter Together Supports Women Over 35

Aging is a gift, but it can be accompanied by physical changes that can feel frustrating, confusing, and even disheartening—especially when what used to “work” for your body suddenly doesn’t anymore. But here’s the good news: with a few intentional tweaks to your nutrition, training, and recovery, this phase of life can be one of strength, resilience, and vitality. We have streamlined it into one cohesive program that is fun, balanced and wildly effective.

To get the inside scoop, we sat down with Madeline Custer (Head Trainer), Brandon Moss, DPT (Physical Therapist), and Courtney Rushing, MS (Nutritionist). Here’s what they had to say, and how theTighter Together Challenge can help.

Why Strength Training Matters More Than Ever

As estrogen levels decline during perimenopause, women naturally lose muscle mass and bone density—two critical pillars of long-term health. These changes can also trigger mood fluctuations, make weight management harder, and increase the risk of injury or osteoporosis.

But there’s one incredibly effective intervention that helps combat all of the above: strength training.

The Impact of Estrogen Loss

Estrogen plays a major role in maintaining:

• Muscle mass
• Bone density
• Metabolic health
• Mood regulation

With the onset of perimenopause, estrogen production fluctuates and eventually declines, making these systems more vulnerable. Here’s what the research shows:

• Muscle Loss: Women lose up to 3-8% of muscle mass per decade after age 30, and that rate increases during perimenopause (Janssen et al., 2000).
• Bone Density Decline: Up to 20% of bone density can be lost in the 5-7 years after menopause, raising the risk of osteoporosis (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2020).

How Strength Training Helps:

Strength or resistance training involves working your muscles against external resistance, i.e. weights, resistance bands, or body weight. It delivers a wide range of benefits, especially during perimenopause:

• Preserves and Builds Muscle Mass
  Regular strength training stimulates muscle protein synthesis, helping to counteract age-related muscle loss.
• Boosts Bone Density
  Resistance training applies mechanical stress to bones, which activates bone-forming cells and strengthens skeletal structure.
• Enhances Metabolic Health and Aids Weight Management
  Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning more muscle = a higher resting metabolic rate (BMR). This is essential as metabolism naturally slows in midlife.
• Improves Mood and Mental Health
  Strength training has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and irritability—common challenges during perimenopause.
• Supports Balance and Reduces Injury Risk
  It improves coordination, joint stability, and balance, all of which become increasingly important as bone density decreases.

How Tighter Together is designed to help:

• Hypertrophy Sessions build muscle mass with intentional exercise selection and make Progressive Overload easy to apply with strategies whether you’re at home or in a gym 
• Athletic Performance (aka making sure the muscle moves well) days focus on power– one of the first skills we start to lose in aging, functional movements that enhance daily activities and coordination with core strength to keep you injury-free. 
• Incorporate flexibility and core work to support joint health and posture
• Sprint Interval Training- (doesn’t have to be running and in appropriate doses!) has exciting research behind it’s cognitive and metabolic benefits. 

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New to this challenge!

Whether you’re just getting started or getting back into a routine, the Moves App makes it easy to build strength and feel confident doing it.

How Tighter Together Supports Nutritionally:

The Tighter Together Challenge gives multiple nutrition strategies to support preferences without sacrificing progress or long-term health. You receive both a custom macro count provided by Registered Dietician and also a plate-building guide if portion-based eating is a better fit. 

Fat Loss or Maintenance?  

The beauty of Tighter Together is you get BOTH options customized to you so if you opt for one now, you can enter into the other phase when it fits your needs. Most custom macro counts run over $200, but yours is built right into the challenge at no extra cost. Women often enter perimenopause feeling like their bodies are working against them. Deciding between fat loss and maintenance during perimenopause depends on your symptoms, stress load, current calorie intake, nutrition habits, and sleep quality.

If you’re tired, sleeping poorly, or stressed out…

Focus on maintenance. A calorie deficit will only add more stress and inflammation. Instead, support your metabolism with:

• High-protein meals
• Heavy lifting
• Daily walking
• Solid sleep and recovery

If you’re feeling good and sleeping well…

A gentle fat loss phase (about 10-15% below your maintenance intake) can be effective, as long as it’s paired with adequate protein, smart training, and hormone-supportive habits.

If you feel like you hear all the noise and don’t know where to start?

Tighter Together gives an amazing framework based on science, not emotions, for approaching nutrition. Tracking your calories for a few days is a good place to start—not changing anything, just observing. You might be surprised! Odds are, if your intake consistently falls below 1,800 calories, you're living in a chronic, unintentional calorie deficit. And here's the truth: if you've been in that low-intake for months (or even years), your body is not thriving—it's adapting, conserving, and often holding onto fat, especially around the midsection, leaving you feeling as if you’re spinning your wheels. 

Sadly, a majority of women in this phase of life are still living by habits and myths born in the ‘80s and ‘90s, like:

• Eating “light” or skipping meals to save calories
• Avoiding fat or carbs entirely
• Believing 1,200 calories is the golden number 
• Thinking cardio is the only way to lose weight 

Your body in perimenopause needs nourishment, not punishment! 

It needs stable blood sugar, muscle-preserving meals, sleep, and recovery. Not stress, starvation, and overexercising.

Nutrition Strategies for Thriving During Perimenopause made Easy with Tighter Together 

1. Eat Within 30 Minutes of Waking

Cortisol naturally peaks in the morning. Skipping food, drinking caffeine, and heading into a fasted workout only amplifies stress. Eating early helps:

• Regulate cortisol
• Stabilize blood sugar
• Reduce cravings
• Improve mood and metabolism

Please, avoid fasted training!

2. Prioritize 30g of Protein at Every Meal using the Tighter Together Recipe Guide 

Estrogen plays a role in building muscle. As it declines, you need more protein to stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS). That means 30g+ per meal, especially at breakfast. This is made so easy with the 40+ recipes within Tighter Together 

Target: 1-1.2g of protein per pound of your ideal body weight.

This supports lean mass, reduces cravings, and boosts thermogenesis (i.e., your calorie burn at rest).

3. Aim for 25g+ of Fiber per Day

Not all recipes or meals have this important focus, but you will find balanced meals and fiber-rich options as a high priority in the Tighter Together provided recipe guide. Hormonal shifts during perimenopause can impact digestion, blood sugar regulation, and gut health. Fiber helps:

• Keep digestion regular
• Support estrogen detox
• Improve satiety and blood sugar
• Lower LDL (bad) cholesterol

Focus on whole food sources of fiber—vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, seeds—not supplements. A diverse fiber intake helps support a healthy gut microbiome, which plays a role in inflammation, metabolism, and mood regulation during this life stage.

Every Stage is Better with Community 

Once you join, gather some friends, sisters, pickleballers, etc! We are no longer viewing exercise as purely a way to change our body’s aesthetically– this is investing in the way we age and the quality of our lives– there is nothing better than encouraging others to do it with us! 

Testimonial from Moves Member, Amy:
“I started my real fitness journey in 2019–2020, after quite a few years of being a runner. Life had been hard — I’d gone through a divorce, lost a lot of weight, and then found my happy again… but with that happiness came some weight gain too! I knew I needed to do something different — something sustainable that would make me feel strong inside and out.
Finding Madeline changed everything for me. She taught me the proper way to eat and fuel my body, with a real focus on prioritizing protein. I learned how to train intentionally — how to plan specific days for different muscle groups, and how to trust the process instead of burning myself out with endless cardio. I learned that I didn’t need to do so much running — I just needed to walk more, lift heavier, and take care of my body.
The gym has truly become my therapy. It’s the place I go every day to find my peace, clear my mind, and remind myself that I can trust myself again. With turning 50 on July 1st, taking care of my mind and body has become more important than ever. I’ve leaned into progressive overload, learned to fuel myself properly, and finally understood that my results come from consistency and balance — not punishment or restriction.
My life is busy — I have a beautiful family with three children, two amazing stepkids, and the most supportive hubby I could ever ask for. I work full time, and choosing to make my health and wellness a priority has been the best investment I could have made — for myself and the people I love. I’m stronger, more confident, and more at peace than I’ve ever been.
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Here’s to strong beginnings — and stronger futures.”

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Join us! This challenge was made for you.

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