How is this different from the nutritionist, trainer or program I already did?
Most of what you tried gave you one piece. A nutritionist handled your food. A trainer handled your workouts. A program handed you a plan. Forty Forward puts nutrition, strength training and coaching into one plan, built for your body in perimenopause and adjusted every week by one coach, a woman over 40 who has lived it.
Three pieces.
One plan.
And one person watching how they fit together.
Was my nutritionist or trainer doing it wrong?
Probably not.
A lot of the women we talk to have worked with good people. A nutritionist who knew her stuff. A trainer who showed up for every session. A group program that got them moving again.
Some of it even worked for a while.
Here's the thing.
Each of them was looking after one piece of you. The food, or the workouts, or the plan on paper.
And in perimenopause, those pieces stop working well on their own.
Why do food, training and coaching need to be one plan?
Because in this season of life, they lean on each other.
Here's a week a lot of women describe to us. The nutritionist has her eating less. The trainer adds another class. Each plan makes sense by itself.
Put them together and she's running on empty.
In our experience, that combination tends to leave women hungrier, more tired and still stuck.
Here's how the pieces depend on each other:
- Food fuels the training. When you're under-eating, workouts tend to drain you instead of building you.
- Training gives food a job. Protein and strength training together are how you hold on to muscle and build more. Chris puts it simply: "Muscle is metabolism."
- Recovery holds both up. Sleep, stress and rest days shape how your body responds to everything else.
- Someone has to see all three. When three different people each own one piece, nobody notices when they're pulling against each other.
Most women come to us wanting to lose weight. What they actually want to lose is fat.
And losing fat while keeping your muscle takes your food and your training pulling in the same direction.
If you've had three experts tell you three different things, you're not making it up. Here's who to believe when the advice keeps conflicting.
What does "built for perimenopause" actually mean?
A lot of the women we talk to tell us a version of the same story.
They were handed a generic plan, the kind of thing they could have found online. Or a workout that would have suited a 25-year-old in great shape.
Your body in your 40s needs a plan written for the body you have right now.
Here's what that looks like in our 8-week 35+ Metabolic Reset:
- A gentle reset to start. The first 14 days are lower carb and higher protein, with a short break from alcohol, dairy, gluten and processed sugar. Then foods come back.
- Enough food, no math. Real food, built around your schedule and the meals you enjoy. No calorie counting, no food scales, no macro tracking.
- Strength first. Follow-along workouts at home, about 50 minutes, five a week: three strength, two conditioning, and one of those is optional. They build week to week. Chris calls resistance training "the foundation and heartbeat" of everything we do.
- Minimal gear. A set of dumbbells, a Swiss ball and some fabric bands.
The full method lives on our coaching page.
Who changes the plan when your body or your week does?
This is the part most women have never had.
A lot of the women we talk to say their last plan worked for a while, then just stopped. Usually, nobody changed it when their body changed.
With us, one coach sees the whole picture.
- She's lived it. Your coach is a PN-certified coach and a woman over 40 who has done the Reset herself. She knows the hard weeks because she's had them.
- She checks in every week. She looks at your food, your workouts, your energy and what your week actually looked like.
- She adjusts everything together. A stall gets looked at from every angle, so the answer isn't automatically less food or more workouts.
- She's there between check-ins. A question on a Tuesday doesn't have to wait until next week.
We don't hand you a PDF and disappear.
Will some of it sound familiar?
Honestly? Yes.
Protein. Strength training. Sleep. You've heard all of it, right?
The hard part is fitting those pieces together for your body, in your real week, and changing them when life shifts.
That's the part we do with you.
I know this one personally. When I finally admitted I couldn't do it on my own, I hired the best coach I could find. That was Chris. He taught me how to fuel my body, how to train and how to recover.
All three. Together.
We've helped 1,000+ women lose 10 to 20 lbs of fat in 8 weeks.
And plenty of them came to us after a nutritionist, a trainer and a program or two of their own.
If you've tried everything and you're wondering why this time would be any different, start with will coaching work for me if I've tried everything. It covers our guarantee, too.
And if you're weighing whether one-on-one coaching is worth it, that's here: is one-on-one coaching worth it.
Chris and I on what changes after 40
Chris and I sat down to talk about how women's bodies change across the decades, the misconceptions about weight training, and how we adapt both training and nutrition to the hormonal changes of menopause.
Ready for one plan that fits together?
You've given a lot of good people a fair shot.
This time, the food, the training and the coaching are all working for you, at the same time.
Start with the short video on our homepage at fortyfwd.com. It walks through why your body stopped responding after 40 and the method we use to change that.
If it sounds like you, apply for a call with Chris.
He reads every application himself. On the call, he'll look at what you've already tried, the nutritionist, the trainer, the programs, and tell you straight whether this program is the right fit. If it is, he walks you through the investment then, once you both know it's a fit.
Three pieces.
One plan.
Built for the woman you are now.
Frequently asked questions
Is Forty Forward a nutritionist or a personal trainer?
Both pieces, in one plan. You get a personalized nutrition plan and a progressive strength program, with a dedicated coach who adjusts both every week.
How is Forty Forward different from a weight loss app or group program?
An app or group program gives everyone the same plan. Ours is built for one woman in perimenopause, and a real coach changes it as your body and your week change.
Why did my last plan work for a while and then stop?
In our experience, it's usually because nobody adjusted it when your body changed. In perimenopause, food, training and recovery tend to need to change together.
Who will actually coach me?
A dedicated PN-certified coach, a woman over 40 who has done the Reset herself, with weekly check-ins and direct access in between. Elle and Chris lead the follow-along workouts.
Do I need a gym or to count calories?
No. The workouts are at home with a set of dumbbells, a Swiss ball and fabric bands, and there's no calorie counting, no food scales and no macro tracking.