What do posting bikini photos at 56 and becoming a doctor have in common? They can all be “inspirations,” says Dr. Jen Ashton, an ob-gyn, obesity medicine specialist and nutritionist and former GMA3 chief medical correspondent. When Ashton started posting photos of her progress on Instagram, many women told her that was how she looked. “The word is gold, because that’s why I became a doctor,” she explains.
Her photos don’t hide what it’s like to grow older as a woman, but they also illustrate the power of spending six months focusing on getting stronger and healthier. Getting into arguably the best shape of her life doesn’t mean Ashton lost weight — she actually gained six pounds. But Ashton now likes what she sees in the mirror and feels stronger than ever. “This goes against our common mindset,” she said.
After Ashton stepped down from her role as chief medical correspondent and GMA3 co-host in June 2024, she began what she called an “experiment” to age better and become healthier and stronger. She then created a roadmap for other women to tackle their own fitness and nutrition challenges. “The challenge can fail,” she said. “Your experiments can’t fail because the goal is to learn; you always learn something.” She continues to educate women on health through her newsletter and wellness brand Ajenda (which you can read about on Yahoo now) and offers her wellness experimentation plan to help put her advice into practice.
This seemed like a major career turning point for Ashton, but it was a natural next step for her. She has spent her entire career helping people, especially women, live healthier lives. Now, she goes live directly to share her expertise in medical and science communications work, as well as her own experience of getting healthier in her 50s.
How did she get here
“My television career has been nothing short of miraculous,” Ashton said. “I never planned or tried to have a career like this – it really just happened and developed, but I’m proud to say that I’ve reached the pinnacle of what I can be in my role.”
Ashton wanted to be a doctor and help people improve their health, so she worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist for six years. Ashton told Columbia College Today that the opportunity to work in television came unexpectedly after industry friends suggested she would excel in front of the camera. What started as a weekend guest appearance on Fox evolved into a three-year run as the network’s first on-air female medical contributor. She then moved to CBS News and eventually ABC, where she served as chief medical reporter and co-anchor Pandemic: What you need to know. “Early on, I really put my bets in the sand and said to our producers and the network, ‘We have to be honest about what we know,'” Ashton said. “Science isn’t black and white; it’s more nuanced than that, and I love providing that nuance to people.”
As a network television reporter, Ashton has used her skills to explain everything from pandemics to foodborne illnesses and wildfire smoke to millions of American viewers. She discovered she had a gift for communication and learned a lot by covering so many different health issues. But after 18 years of reporting as widely as possible, Ashton was hungry for attention. “I just want to talk about the qualifications I’ve earned,” she said. “When I stepped down from the role, it was almost entirely because I felt I had more work to do.”
She decided to focus all her attention on Ajenda, publishing articles to cut through the noise surrounding issues related to women’s health, obesity and nutrition. “It just so happens that these are really the biggest topics in the country right now,” Ashton said.
turning point
While scaling Ajenda, Ashton began his own personal wellness journey. “Even though I went to the gym five days a week, I wasn’t healthy,” she explains. “I know, because I’ll be dancing at a party and I’ll be out of breath. Or I’ll look in the mirror and see an image of someone I call ‘skinny fat.'”
Ashton called in an expert to help her develop a fitness plan to see if combining her own nutrition expertise could restore her tone and stamina. With the help of personal trainer Corey Rowe, her experiment was a huge success. And, in response to her social media posts documenting the process, “tens of thousands of women have literally asked me to share what I did with them,” Ashton said. So she and Rowe created a health “experiment” that included a fitness regimen, meal plans, Q&A with Ashton himself, video content and a community forum. It helped its members get moving, and it also helped Ashton do something she couldn’t do on network television: interact directly with the women in the audience.
Ashton on the ‘In and Out’ of Aging Better
Out: One-size-fits-all health advice
One of the reasons Ashton is eager to reach people is that she’s tired of social media — and even mainstream media — portraying health too broadly. She’s frustrated by “influencers who are really taking advantage of people’s interest or need or desperation to improve health, and they’re, in my opinion, disingenuous from a science communication perspective by suggesting there’s only one way to do something,” Ashton said. That’s why she sees her approach as an experiment. She shared what worked for her (very, very well), but stressed that everyone needs to test it for themselves and change accordingly. “See how you feel. Make these observations. What did you learn? What do you want to leave behind? To me, that’s the best option,” Ashton said.
Yu: Stay curious
As Ashton points out, it’s common for women to hit a plateau in weight and health in their 40s or 50s, due in large part to the hormonal changes of menopause. It’s easy to get bogged down, especially without guidance on how to do things differently — something Ashton has experienced himself. “If you don’t have the curiosity and openness” to try new things, “you can’t make a difference in your health,” she says.
Out: an all-or-nothing theory of health
Carnivore diet. weightlifting. Only plant-based. Aerobics only. If you consume health and wellness content, you’ve probably heard of one, if not all, of these single-program practices that are touted as solving problems ranging from weight gain to menopause to back pain, with research supporting the benefits of each approach. “It’s really cherry-picking your data points to serve your message,” she said, “and I’m fundamentally opposed to this ‘all-or-nothing’ mentality.” She’s particularly annoyed by advice that says women only need to lift weights and should never do certain types of aerobic exercise. “First, women got the message that all they needed to do was do Zone 2 cardio, and now there are other, louder voices saying, ‘No, you need to do HIIT cardio,'” Ashton explains. “Guess what? You need both. But the middle gray area isn’t going to get the clicks and the attention, and I just think that lifestyle has to go.”
In: Aging Vibrantly
Ashton doesn’t care about the word “longevity,” because it’s not just a matter of how long we’ve been on Earth, she said. Instead, she wants to see and promote a greater focus on vitality and an end to ageism. “I think we’re starting to see that 60 is the new 40 and 70 is the new 50, and I think that’s great,” she said. It’s not just about people looking younger than their actual age, it’s about living like them and extending their healthspan. To achieve that goal, more needs to be done to prevent diseases that affect women as they age, she said, noting that heart disease doesn’t just affect men. She also suspects that using GLP-1 drugs for maintenance and prevention (rather than just weight loss) may become an important part of the women’s health equation.
Out: Addicted to Smartphones
“It’s not anything earth-shattering, but I think the entire planet — and certainly our country — are now seeing that life on screens, life with technology, is not only not ideal, but it’s destructive in so many ways,” Ashton said. Between teenage angst, technology bottlenecks, and dwindling attention spans, she’s tired of living a smartphone-dependent life. The good news is Ashton believes change is coming. “I think we’re starting to get back to real-life experiences and analogies,” she said.