The Missing Key to Losing Stubborn Fat at Any Age: Understanding Insulin, Metabolism, and Lasting Health

What if the reason you’re struggling to lose weight isn’t how much you’re eating or how hard you’re exercising, but something happening inside your body?

For many women, especially during menopause, the familiar strategies that once worked for maintaining a healthy weight suddenly stop delivering results. Despite eating well, exercising consistently, and making healthy choices, stubborn body fat continues to accumulate.

Believe Big founder and podcast host Ivelisse Page knows that frustration firsthand.

In this episode of the Believe Big Podcast, Ivelisse welcomes Candi Frazier, board-certified functional nutritionist, medical professional nutrition educator, and founder of Primal Bod, to explore the relationship between insulin, metabolism, muscle preservation, and sustainable weight loss.

Together, they discuss why traditional dieting approaches can leave people feeling stuck, the importance of understanding individual metabolic needs, and how everyday lifestyle choices may influence overall health.

When Everything You’ve Tried Stops Working

Four years after experiencing surgical menopause, Ivelisse found herself facing an unfamiliar challenge: gaining weight despite doing everything she had always done to stay healthy. She had always been strong and active, but suddenly her body wasn’t responding the same way. She tried the strategies that had worked in the past. She exercised harder. She focused on natural approaches and worked with her integrative practitioner to address her insulin levels and A1C.

Still, the weight continued to increase. After discussing her frustration with her practitioner, Ivelisse learned about Primal Bod, a program developed by Candi Frazier that focuses on understanding insulin and metabolic health. Initially hesitant about the investment and wondering how the program differed from other weight-loss approaches, Ivelisse decided to try it. After completing 12 weeks of coaching, she experienced changes she hadn’t thought possible in her mid-50s.

She lost 20 pounds, noticed stubborn fat disappearing from her midsection, regained strength and muscle, and reached a weight she hadn’t seen since her late 20s and early 30s. But for Ivelisse, the most meaningful change went beyond the number on the scale.

“Reaching my goal was far more than losing the 20 pounds. It was feeling like myself again.” — Ivelisse Page

Why Candi Frazier Believes Insulin Is the Missing Piece

According to Candi, one of the biggest reasons people struggle with stubborn fat is that they don’t fully understand insulin’s role in their bodies. Insulin helps regulate blood sugar and plays an important role in how the body stores and uses energy. Candi describes insulin as the conductor of the body’s hormonal symphony, explaining that her approach centers on helping individuals understand how insulin interacts with their metabolism. She believes this becomes especially important as women age and experience hormonal changes.

During menopause, declining estrogen levels and changes in insulin sensitivity can make managing weight and maintaining muscle more challenging. For women who have already tried keto, carnivore diets, calorie restriction, or intense exercise without lasting success, Candi encourages looking beyond individual food choices to understand the body’s metabolic responses. Her philosophy focuses on learning how the body works rather than continually fighting against it.

The Three Steps of the Primal Bod Approach

Candi explains that Primal Bod is designed to be more than a traditional weight-loss program. Its goal is to help people improve their health while learning how to maintain their results. The structured approach includes three phases.

Step 1: Stabilize Blood Sugar

During the first two weeks, the focus is on stabilizing blood glucose and helping the body transition from relying primarily on glucose toward using both glucose and fat for energy. Candi emphasizes that making changes gradually is important. Rather than immediately implementing severe restrictions or prolonged fasting, she teaches participants to make adjustments that support metabolic balance.

Step 2: Understand Fat Burning and Insulin Timing

The second phase, called Burn, focuses on understanding how insulin, eating windows, and daily movement work together. Candi discusses insulin’s relationship with circadian rhythms and why the timing of meals and activity matters within her approach. This phase also introduces the concept of finding an individualized metabolic “sweet spot” rather than assuming that more restriction will always produce better results.

Step 3: Build a Lifestyle That Supports Long-Term Health

The final phase brings the different pieces together. Participants learn about sex hormones, different metabolic types, nutritional deficiencies, and ways to support their overall health. For Candi, the goal isn’t simply to reach a target weight. It’s to understand the body’s needs well enough to maintain healthier habits and continue feeling strong as the years pass.

Can Too Much Ketosis Work Against Your Goals?

One of Ivelisse’s biggest discoveries during the program involved ketone monitoring. She had previously explored ketogenic approaches, but through Primal Bod, she began learning more about how Candi interprets ketone levels in relation to metabolic health. Candi discusses the potential problems she associates with excessive dietary restriction, prolonged fasting, and losing muscle while trying to lose body fat.

She emphasizes the importance of adequate nutrition and maintaining muscle throughout the weight-loss process. Ivelisse shares that her own ketone readings were initially much higher than expected. Under the program’s guidance, she made individualized dietary adjustments, including incorporating small amounts of honey and berries. Within approximately a week, she noticed her readings had adjusted.

This experience reinforced something Ivelisse frequently emphasizes through Believe Big: health care should be individualized rather than standardized.

The conversation also explores the difference between nutritional ketosis and the medically serious condition of diabetic ketoacidosis, as well as the use of therapeutic ketosis under medical supervision.

Why Protein, Movement, and Meal Timing Matter

Food is only one part of the conversation.

Ivelisse explains that she had previously focused on eating protein without fully understanding how the amount she consumed at each meal related to her weight and size. She also realized that pushing herself through intense workouts wasn’t necessarily helping her achieve the results she wanted.

Candi’s approach encourages participants to examine their protein intake, eating windows, movement, and recovery together. Walking is one of the activities Ivelisse highlights from her experience, particularly during the early stages of the program. Candi also encourages people to consider their daily routines through the lens of circadian rhythms. She discusses eating breakfast, the timing of intermittent fasting, and the relationship between morning activity and insulin.

Her larger message is that sustainable health involves understanding how daily habits work together, rather than focusing exclusively on calories or exercise intensity.

Beyond Dieting: Returning to a More Natural Lifestyle

What does Candi mean when she encourages people to live the way their bodies were designed to live? She asks listeners to consider how different modern life is from the daily routines of our ancestors.

Rather than spending most of the day indoors surrounded by artificial lighting and modern conveniences, earlier generations naturally incorporated movement, outdoor exposure, and changing patterns of food availability into everyday life.

Candi encourages participants to think about how they can incorporate elements of those patterns into their modern routines. The conversation also touches on sleep, electromagnetic field exposure, heat therapy, cold therapy, and other environmental factors discussed in the Primal Bod curriculum.

For Ivelisse, sleep became another meaningful improvement.

Before the program, seven hours of sleep felt like a good night. After making changes, she began experiencing nights of eight to nine hours of rest. She describes the difference as another important part of feeling healthier and more energized. And as she points out, it’s rarely about one single change. It’s about the different pieces of a healthy lifestyle working together.

What Happens After the Weight Comes Off?

Although weight loss is often what initially motivates people to seek help, Candi says some of the most meaningful changes her clients describe have little to do with the scale. She shares stories of women reporting improvements in sleep, energy, confidence, skin, hair, and overall well-being.

She also explains that Primal Bod offers an ongoing membership called Primal Babes for women who have completed the initial program and want to continue working on body composition, muscle development, and healthy lifestyle habits. Candi emphasizes that the program is not intended as a quick fix. Rather, it provides a structured educational approach to understanding the body.

For Ivelisse, who is now participating in the ongoing membership, the transformation has been deeply personal. At 56, she feels stronger and more confident and is looking forward to celebrating her son’s upcoming wedding with renewed energy. Her experience reminds listeners that improving health can be about much more than changing appearance. It’s also about feeling capable, rested, and comfortable in your own body.

Is It Too Late to Make a Change?

Candi shares that women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and even 80s have participated in her program. Her message is that age doesn’t have to be the reason someone gives up on improving their health. Whether someone is navigating menopause, struggling with stubborn weight, or simply looking for ways to feel stronger and more energized, she encourages learning how the body works and making sustainable changes.

And while the conversation focuses largely on women’s health, Primal Bod also offers a program for men, with access to its educational curriculum and coaching support by email. For Ivelisse, the greatest takeaway is the value of understanding her own body and finding an approach that works for her individual needs.

“Your care should not be standardized. It should be individualized.” — Ivelisse Page

Listen to the Full Conversation

Want to hear more about insulin, metabolic health, ketosis, muscle preservation, and Candi Frazier’s approach to sustainable weight loss?

Listen to this episode of the Believe Big Podcast as Ivelisse shares her personal transformation and asks the questions so many women have about their changing bodies.

Listen to Episode 121: The Missing Key to Losing Stubborn Fat at Any Age

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1892370/episodes/20044796

Suggested Resources

• 10% off Primal Bod – code: IVELISSEPAGE
• Primal Bod Clothing Shop
• Learn more about Primal Bod weight loss
• Primal Bod testimonials

Candi also shares information about the Primal Bod program. During the episode, Ivelisse mentions a 10% discount using the code Ivelisse Page.

This episode features the personal experiences and perspectives of the guest and host. Their discussion is educational and does not replace individualized medical advice, particularly for people managing cancer, diabetes, or other medical conditions.