A Smarter Way To Train, Eat & Build Muscle This Year, From The Strongest MD We Know 

January is full of promises to eat less, do more cardio, and finally “get back on track.” But much of that advice overlooks what women actually need to build strength, protect their hormones, and support long-term health.

On the mindbodygreen podcast, board-certified OB-GYN and mindbodygreen scientific advisor Jaime Seeman, M.D., shares a more grounded, science-backed approach to fitness and nutrition. With advanced training in nutrition, exercise science, and integrative medicine, plus a seat on mindbodygreen’s Scientific Advisory Board, Seeman bridges clinical medicine with real life. 

If there’s one throughline in Seeman’s approach, it’s muscle. Muscle plays a central role in metabolic health, glucose regulation, bone density, and brain function—yet many women are still undertraining and underfueling.

“Most women are doing too much cardio and not enough resistance training,” Seeman says. The good news: the minimum effective dose is often more manageable than people think. Two well-designed, full-body resistance training sessions per week can deliver meaningful benefits, especially when workouts are efficient and challenging enough to fatigue the muscle.

Protein is just as critical. As women age, they experience anabolic resistance, meaning the body requires more protein (and sufficient leucine) to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. When Seeman works with women who feel stuck with energy, body composition, or metabolic health, protein intake is the first thing she evaluates.

Rather than grazing on small amounts all day, she emphasizes prioritizing a substantial protein intake at the first and last meals of the day. That first meal is especially important after an overnight fast or a morning workout, when the body is primed for repair and rebuilding.

Fasting is often treated as an all-or-nothing strategy, but Seeman views it as a flexible tool. Everyone fasts overnight—the real question is how fasting fits into your goals, lifestyle, and training demands.

Seeman has trained fasted for years and feels great doing so, but she’s quick to note that some people perform better with a small amount of pre-workout nutrition. She suggests that when carbohydrates are used before training, the amount can be modest, around 10 to 15 grams.

What matters most is how you break the fast. After training, the body is in a catabolic state and needs amino acids to shift into repair mode. Seeman recommends prioritizing roughly 30 to 50 grams of protein in that first meal, paired with carbohydrates. Muscle, after all, is the body’s most effective tissue for glucose disposal.

Seeman’s clinical experience highlights how dramatically women’s needs change across life stages.

In the 20s, estrogen supports muscle retention and bone mass, and overall resilience tends to be higher. Dietary flexibility is often greater, particularly for active women.

The 30s can be more complex. Pregnancy and breastfeeding place enormous physiological demands on the body, and nutrient depletion can take years to replete. Many women move quickly from one pregnancy to the next while sleeping less, training less, and prioritizing everyone else’s needs over their own. This is often when changes in energy, body composition, and metabolic health begin to surface.

Seeman encourages women planning a family to be strategic with nutrition before pregnancy and to plan intentionally for the postpartum period, recognizing where support, structure, and self-care are most likely to break down.

In the 40s and 50s, perimenopause introduces new variables. Declining estrogen affects sleep, stress resilience, metabolic flexibility, and brain energy. This is the phase where doubling down on resistance training, sleep consistency, and high-quality nutrition becomes non-negotiable.

“Creatine is very important across our entire lifespan,” Seeman explains.

Creatine plays a fundamental role in cellular energy production. It helps replenish ATP, the body’s primary energy currency, which supports muscle strength, power, and recovery, as well as brain energy and cognitive resilience.

That brain support becomes increasingly important as estrogen declines. Estrogen directly influences mitochondrial function, and lower estrogen levels are associated with reduced brain energy metabolism. Creatine helps buffer that energy gap, making it especially relevant in perimenopause and beyond.

Seeman also likes pairing creatine with taurine. Taurine supports cellular hydration, electrolyte balance, and nervous system function. Together, the two work synergistically to support muscle function, endurance, and recovery, while also benefiting the brain and cardiovascular system.

For Seeman, consistency matters more than timing. She recommends taking creatine daily—every single day—for both muscle and brain health, across every decade of life.

If you want this year to feel different, the answer likely isn’t more restriction or more cardio. It’s building muscle, eating enough protein, training with intention, and adapting your approach as your body changes.