Why Macro & Micronutrients Matter More Than Calories for Body Composition and Wellbeing
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Written by Joanne Pagett, Performance & Menopause Coach
Joanne Pagett is a Women’s Wellness Strategist and Mentor who empowers women to navigate the emotional, physical, and mental transitions of midlife. She helps them rediscover their energy, identity, and joy, and partners with organisations to create supportive, wellbeing-focused environments for women in the workplace.
Let me guess. At some point in your life, you've stood in a supermarket aisle, squinting at the back of a cereal box, trying to work out whether 347 calories is good, bad, or entirely irrelevant, and feeling vaguely judged by the granola.
We've been taught for decades that calories are the holy grail of health: eat less, move more. Simple, right? Except, as most women over 40 have discovered, it really, really isn't. Especially when you factor in hormonal changes, perimenopause, stress, poor sleep, parenting, a demanding business/career, and the small matter of being a whole, complex human being.
The calorie obsession isn't just outdated; it's actively getting in the way of the results you want: better body composition, more energy, improved mood, sharper cognition, and a body that feels like yours again.
So let's talk about what matters: macronutrients and micronutrients, and why they're the real architects of how you look, feel, and function.
First, let's retire the calorie myth
A calorie is a unit of energy. That's all it is. It tells you nothing about the quality, function, or hormonal impact of the food you're eating.
200 calories of broccoli and 200 calories of a biscuit are not the same thing. One fuels your cells, supports your hormones, feeds your gut microbiome, and helps regulate your blood sugar. The other... well, it's a biscuit. It has its place, but it is not equivalent.
When food is reduced to a number, all the content is stripped away. We ignore the hormonal cascade triggered by different foods, the role of protein in preserving muscle as we age, and the critical micronutrient functions that lie quietly behind every single process in your body.
Counting calories without understanding nutrition is like managing a business by only looking at your bank balance, ignoring your cash flow, your team, your strategy, and your customers.
"Judging nutrients based on the calories they provide is way too simplistic. Different calorie sources can have vastly different effects on hunger, hormones, energy expenditure, and the brain regions that control food intake." – Healthline, 6 Reasons Why a Calorie Is Not a Calorie
Macronutrients: The big three that actually run the show
Macronutrients, protein, fats, and carbohydrates, are the primary building blocks of everything your body does. Let's give them the attention they deserve.
Protein: Your non-negotiable
If there is one macronutrient that women over 40 consistently under-eat, it's protein, and the consequences are significant.
From the mid-30s, loss of muscle mass begins and lessens, a process called sarcopenia, which accelerates through perimenopause and post-menopause as oestrogen declines.
Muscle is not just about aesthetics (though yes, it absolutely contributes to how you look and feel in your body). Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. More muscle means a higher resting metabolic rate, better blood sugar regulation, improved bone density, and greater resilience against injury and fatigue.
Protein is how you preserve and build muscle, and let’s not forget it also keeps you fuller for longer, supports neurotransmitter production (hello, serotonin and dopamine, the ones keeping your mood stable), and plays a central role in tissue repair, immune function, and hormone synthesis.
It’s recommended that you aim for at least 1.6-2g of protein per kilogram of body weight daily, or approx. 20g-30g of protein per meal. Example, if you weigh 65kg = 104kg @ 1.6kg protein. Yes, really, most women are eating half that.
Healthy fats: Stop running from them
If the 1990s taught us anything useful (debatable, frankly), it's that the low-fat diet trend was one of the greatest nutritional missteps of modern times. Dietary fat is not the enemy; it is, in fact, essential.
Fat is required for the production of steroid hormones, including oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. During perimenopause, when your hormonal landscape is already shifting, adequate healthy fat intake is not optional. It's foundational.
Omega-3 fatty acids (found in oily fish, walnuts, flaxseed) are particularly powerful: they reduce systemic inflammation, support brain function and mood, improve joint health, and have been shown to help manage some perimenopausal symptoms. Fat also enables your body to absorb fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, and K, which are, as you'll see in a moment, absolutely critical for your health.
Carbohydrates: Quality and timing are everything
Carbohydrates have a rough ride, and while there's nuance here, the truth is that not all carbs are created equal, and demonizing them as all the same is not the answer.
Complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potato, oats, quinoa, legumes, fruit, and vegetables, are rich in fibre, which feeds your gut microbiome (directly linked to hormone regulation, mood, and immune function), supports stable blood sugar, and provides sustained energy.
Simple, refined carbohydrates, white bread, white rice, pasta, breakfast cereals, biscuits, crackers, pastries, sweets, fizzy drinks, and fruit juice (yes, even the "healthy" ones). The rule of thumb: if it's white, packaged, or came in a box with a health claim on the front, it's probably refined. The more processing it's undergone, the faster it raises your blood sugar.
These types of carbs spike blood sugar rapidly, leading to energy crashes, increased cortisol, and, over time, greater fat storage, particularly around the abdomen. For women in perimenopause and beyond, blood sugar stability is not a nice-to-have. It's a game-changer.
Micronutrients: Small but ferociously mighty
While macronutrients provide the structure and energy, micronutrients, vitamins and minerals, are the conductors of the orchestra. Without them, nothing works properly. Here's the uncomfortable truth: many women are deficient in several key micronutrients, often without knowing it.
Vitamin D: The one most of us are missing
Vitamin D deficiency is rampant in the UK, and it's about far more than just bone health. Vitamin D plays a role in immune function, mood regulation (low levels are strongly linked to depression), muscle function, and cardiovascular health. During perimenopause, adequate Vitamin D is also critical for calcium absorption and protection of bone density. If you're not supplementing, especially in the UK from October to March, it’s wise to get your levels tested.
Magnesium: The quiet powerhouse
Magnesium is required for 300+ processes in your body to function properly. It supports sleep quality, stress regulation, muscle function, blood sugar control, and heart health. It also plays a role in oestrogen metabolism, and getting enough magnesium actively supports your hormonal balance. Signs of deficiency include poor sleep, muscle cramps, anxiety, fatigue, and brain fog. Sound familiar? For women in perimenopause, magnesium is often transformative.
B vitamins: Energy, mood, and brain function
The B vitamins, particularly B6, B9 (folate), and B12, are essential for energy production, neurotransmitter synthesis, and cognitive function. B12, found predominantly in animal products, is especially important for women following plant-based diets and for those in their 40s and beyond, as absorption can decrease with age. Deficiency in B12 can manifest as fatigue, memory issues, low mood, and nerve symptoms, all of which can be easily (and mistakenly) attributed solely to perimenopause.
Iron: More than just fatigue
Iron is critical for oxygen transport, energy metabolism, and cognitive function. Women with heavy periods, common in perimenopause, are particularly at risk of iron deficiency leading to anaemia. But even mild iron deficiency can cause significant fatigue, reduced exercise capacity, impaired concentration, and low mood. If you're training hard and feeling inexplicably exhausted, iron is worth checking.
Why I'm talking about this, and why it matters
I didn't come to this work through a textbook; I came to it through my own body.
I was a Menopause Champion in a corporate career that eventually led to my redundancy. I was in my early 50s, exhausted, and had spent years putting everyone else's needs, my employer's, my clients', my family's, above my own needs and physical foundation. I was doing all the "right" things by conventional wisdom: watching what I ate, keeping busy, pushing through.
But then, in my late 40s, I did something most people told me was mad. I started competitive bodybuilding.
Not because I wanted a trophy (though the trophies are nice). Because I needed to rebuild a relationship with my body, and that meant learning what it actually needed. Proper protein, real nutrition, strength training with intention and a plan. Understanding what was happening is what drove me. I had a hysterectomy in my 30s, so balancing hormones, HRT, and working with it, not against it.
What happened changed everything. My body composition shifted dramatically, and my energy returned. The brain fog started to clear, and my clarity returned. My mood stabilized, and I thought: why doesn't every woman over 40 know this?
That became the StrongHer FAB Method.
The StrongHer FAB Method lens: Nutrition as foundation
In my work with women in business and female founders over 40, I use the StrongHer FAB Method, Foundation, Alignment, and Breakthrough, as the framework through which we rebuild energy, performance, and confidence from the inside out.
Nutrition sits squarely in the Foundation pillar, and for good reason. You cannot build a high-performing business, a fulfilling life, or a body you feel proud of on a shaky foundation. Your foundation is built, meal by meal, with the micro- and macronutrients that fuel every biological process you depend on.
Alignment comes when you stop fighting your biology and start working with it. When you eat in ways that support hormones, training, and the nervous system, you stop struggling through the day and start performing with genuine energy and clarity.
And the Breakthrough? That's what happens when you finally feel like yourself again, or better yet, a version of yourself you hadn't imagined was still possible. Better body composition, stronger, sharper, and more resilient. Not in spite of being in your 40s or 50s, but because you finally gave your body what it actually needed.
What it looks like in practice
You don't need to become a nutritionist, but you do need to shift your lens. Here are the principles I work with:
Prioritize protein at every meal. Aim for 30-40g per meal. Eggs, Greek yogurt, chicken, fish, tofu, legumes, cottage cheese, lean red meat.
Eat the rainbow, literally. Different coloured vegetables and fruits provide different micronutrients and antioxidants. The more variety, the better.
Include healthy fats daily. Avocado, olive oil, oily fish, nuts, and seeds. Don't fear them.
Choose complex carbohydrates. Time them around activity where possible. Keep refined and processed carbohydrates as the exception, not the rule.
Consider targeted supplementation. At minimum: Vitamin D3 (with K2), magnesium glycinate, and omega-3.
Stop counting calories. Start asking: Does this meal serve my hormones, my muscles, my energy, and my gut?
What changes when you get this right
I want to be careful here because results are individual, and context matters. But in my work with women in business over 40, the patterns are consistent:
Body composition shifts, not from eating less, but from eating more of the right things. Muscle increases, fat distribution changes, and clothes fit differently.
Energy stabilizes, and the 3 pm crash becomes a choice, not an inevitability.
Sleep improves, particularly when magnesium, blood sugar regulation, and stress hormones are addressed together.
Mental clarity returns; brain fog is often nutritional, not irreversible.
Confidence rebuilds because there is something profoundly powerful about understanding your body and working with it.
One of the women I work with, a founder in her early 50s, told me three months in: "I feel like I've got my brain back. I didn't realise how long I'd been running on empty until I stopped."
The bottom line
You are not a simple calorific equation. You are a complex, dynamic, magnificent biological system, and you deserve a nutritional approach that reflects that.
The women I work with, business owners, founders, and executives, are often doing extraordinary things professionally while running on empty nutritionally. They've spent decades putting their energy into everything and everyone else. Shifting to a macro- and micronutrient-focused approach isn't just about body composition (though yes, that does change significantly). It's about reclaiming the energy, clarity, and physical strength that enable you to show up fully in your business, your relationships, and your own life.
Stop counting. Start nourishing. Your body has been waiting for this shift. And trust me, at 40, 50, and beyond, it is absolutely not too late.
Read more from Joanne Pagett
Joanne Pagett, Performance & Menopause Coach
Joanne Pagett is a Multi-Award-Winning Performance & Menopause Coach, ICF-certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, and founder of the StrongHer FAB Method. She works with women in business and female founders navigating perimenopause, helping them restore their optimal performance and sense of self without the drama. She also partners with organisations to build meaningful workplace menopause strategies ahead of incoming legislation. Joanne knows this territory because she has lived it. Based in Leicestershire, she shares her home with a Ragdoll, a Mainecoon, and a husband, in no particular order of chaos.
