Santa Isn’t Counting Macros And Neither Should You

December can feel like a pressure cooker: end-of-year exhaustion, disrupted routines, family dynamics, more alcohol, and less sleep. Add perimenopause or postmenopause, and cravings spike while motivation vanishes. In today's episode I share a calmer path that doesn’t demand perfection or push you into another punishing reset. Instead, I reframe December as stabilisation: keep blood sugar steady with protein-first meals, protect sleep with consistent bed and wake times, reduce alcohol, and choose daily walks over punishment workouts. The goal isn’t losing weight through the holidays; it’s arriving in January steady, nourished, and ready.

I dig into why weight loss after 40 starts with safety, not discipline. When the body feels safe, cortisol drops, insulin improves, sleep deepens, and cravings soften. That shift makes consistent habits possible again. You’ll hear clear, real-world strategies to reduce all or nothing thinking, meet emotional needs without shame, and build routines that hold when life is full. I also speak to why “I’ll start in January” can work when December is kind and structured, not chaotic and guilt-ridden.

If your usual tricks no longer work, you’re not broken—your body is working under new rules. I explain how tailored support can uncover blockers like iron deficiency, thyroid issues, or insulin resistance, and why structure, accountability, and hormone-aware nutrition avoids the eat-less, move-more trap. 

Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause or menopause?

It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).

I’m here to help with my proven method.

Here's how I can support you -

1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book your call here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@the.perimenopause.path

3. Join the waitlist for my innovative NEW 8 week group program, In Your Skin™️, for women in perimenopause and post-menopause who want effective solutions to manage skin changes at this time of life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 0:50 Naming The Real Struggle
• 3:20 Perimenopause Changes The Rules
• 3:56 The Christmas Pressure Cooker
• 6:16 Reframing December As Stabilisation
• 8:12 Safety Before Fat Loss
• 9:56 Why January Can Work
• 12:06 Practical Stabilisation Strategies

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and Autumn Podcast. I'm an age-defying naturopath and clinical nutritionist and I'm here to bust myths around women's health and ageing so that you can be ageless and awesome in your 40s, 50s, and beyond. The Ageless and Awesome Podcast is dedicated to helping women through perimenopause and menopause with great health, a positive mindset, and outrageous confidence. Hit subscribe or follow now and let's get started. Hello, gorgeous one, and welcome to this week's episode of the Ageless and Awesome Podcast. I'm your host, Susie Garden, Perimenopause naturopath, weight loss nutritionist, and fellow perimenopause survivor. And today's uh episode is a little different. This one's for you if you're listening right now in the lead up to Christmas, thinking I want to lose weight, but honestly, it just feels impossible. Maybe you want to lose five kilos, maybe it's 10, maybe it's 30 kilos. Maybe your clothes feel tighter, maybe your energy is gone, your hormones are out of whack. Maybe you're tired of thinking about food, your body, your hormones, and starting again. And here we are, just before Christmas. And if that's you, I want you to know this episode is not here to fix you, to rush you, to motivate you into action. Um, it's here to help you exhale. So if weight loss feels insurmountable right now, please stay with me. Please listen today because there's nothing wrong with you, and this is not the end of your story. So, firstly, let's just name the reality. Let me speak directly for a moment. You're not lazy, you're not weak, you're not failing, you're tired, you're hormonally shifting, you're carrying years, maybe even decades, of responsibility, emotional load, stress, and your body is asking for something different now. When women in their 40s and 50s come to me and say, I want to lose, let's say, 12 kilos, but I can't even imagine how. What I hear underneath is exhaustion, grief for the body they used to have, fear that it's too late, and shame for not being able to just do it. And I want to be very clear here: uh perimenopause changes how everything feels. And menopause can sometimes be the continuation of that. Your resilience is different, your motivation is different. It might be in the toilet right now. Stress tolerance is different. Your ability to manage stress can change dramatically in peri. Your sleep is different, your blood sugar is different, and your nervous system is different. So, of course, weight loss feels harder. And it's not because you're doing something wrong, it's because your body is operating under a completely new set of rules. So, let's talk about why Christmas can make this feel even harder. December is not just about food, it's about end of year exhaustion, family dynamics, emotional triggers, disrupted routines, more alcohol a lot of the time, less sleep, and a whole lot of pressure to hold it together, particularly if you're the linchpin of the family. And for women in perimenopause and postmenopause, this can be the perfect storm. And this is why right now, maybe your cravings feel louder. Maybe your willpower feels lower, your energy might feel just non-existent. And the idea of doing something again to help this problem feels overwhelming. And yet there's also this voice saying, I should be doing something, I can't just give up. I don't want to gain more weight, I don't want to spend next year the same as this year. So you're stuck between pushing when you're exhausted and stopping and feeling scared. That tug of war is incredibly draining. And I want to say something that might surprise you. December may not be the right time for you to lose weight. That's not failure, that's wisdom. And here's the reframe I give my clients every year. December for many people is not for fat loss, it's for stabilization. Stabilization means not gaining momentum, not spiraling, not swinging between restriction and indulgence, not punishing yourself, not panicking. It means keeping your blood sugar steady, protecting your sleep, supporting your nervous system, eating regularly, moving daily, staying connected to yourself. Because here's the truth: you cannot force fat loss from a stressed, exhausted body. And every time you try and push through that exhaustion, your body pushes back harder. Weight loss after 40 doesn't start with discipline, it starts with safety. When your body feels safe, your cortisol will settle, your insulin improves, cravings soften, sleep deepens, motivation returns. But you know, safety cannot be rushed. And now I just want to address kind of why I'll start in January doesn't have to be a bad thing. We've been taught to hate the phrase, I'll start in January, or this is my new year's resolution, or whatever, because it can sound a bit trite, it can sound a bit like, oh yeah, here we go again. This is what I did last year, this is what I did the year before, and nothing, none of that worked. But the problem isn't January, the problem is what we do in December. If December is chaos, guilt, and self-criticism, then January feels punishing. But if December is steady, kind, supportive, nourishing, grounded, then January can feel calm. It can feel clear, clear, it can feel possible. And that's what I want for you. I don't want you dragging yourself into January feeling heavier, inflamed, ashamed, depleted, and desperate. I want you walking into January thinking, I'm tired, but I'm okay. I didn't make things worse. I'm ready to get started. I'm ready for support. So let me tell you what actually helps at this point. Not in theory, but in real life. Stop under eating. Skipping meals and being good, so to speak, makes everything worse in peri and post-menaphors. Eat regularly, start with protein, and eat enough. This alone should reduce your cravings and emotional eating. Prioritize sleep over perfection. So sleep loss drives weight gain faster than food does in many people. So you want earlier nights, stick to your routines if you can, get up the same time in the morning, even if you're on holidays. The research tells us that sleep is way better in people that have the same getting up time, same bedtime, as much as you can. Trying to sleep in to make up for that lost sleep doesn't set you up for a good night's sleep the following night. So you want earlier nights, you want less alcohol, you want more rest, and your hormones will thank you. Walk or maintain the kind of exercise you've been doing. Don't punish yourself. Walking, I really like because it's achievable for most people. Even short walks are helpful. They start building routine. Walking lowers cholesterol, it supports blood sugar, calms the nervous system. You know, this is not the season for punishment workouts. You should always enjoy to a certain extent. I know sometimes you may not necessarily enjoy it while you're doing it, but certainly afterwards you should feel a level of satisfaction and have that adrenaline rush and that those um endorphins flowing through your body, which do make you feel good. And another tip I have is drop the all or nothing thinking. You don't need perfect days, you just need okay days strung together. One meal will never ruin your progress, but stopping and just trashing your body with every meal, that does. That's that will ruin your progress. Um, be kind to emotional eating. So if food is comforting right now, ask yourself, what am I actually needing? Really? Sometimes it's rest or boundary, saying no. Sometimes it's connection, sometimes it's hormones. Shame only fuels this cycle. Really try to understand what am I actually needing right now? And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, I know what I should do, but I can't seem to do it on my own anymore, or the things I normally do aren't working anymore, this makes sense. You know, weight loss in peri and post-menopause is way better when it's not a solo sport. Not because you're not capable, but because your body's more complex. Your life is fuller, your nervous system is more sensitive, and your margin is smaller. And that's exactly why women do join the GLOBE Protocol, especially around this time of year. Not because they're ready to diet, but because they want structure. They want to know exactly what to eat and how much of it. Um, they want reassurance, they want accountability. They want someone who understands their hormones, is not just going to tell them to eat less and exercise more. They want to stop guessing, they want to feel supported and they want a path forward that doesn't feel brutal. And that's what I provide. So if weight loss feels impossible right now, please hear me when I say this. You don't need to solve 12 kilos, 30 kilos, or even five kilos today. You don't need to be perfect this month. You don't need to punish your body. You need steadiness, nourishment, compassion, and support. And if you feel like, yep, that's what I need, I would love to help you inside the GLOW protocol. It's my signature program for women in peri and post-menopause who want sustainable weight loss, hormone balance, and peace. Peace with food and their bodies. The clinic is closed during Christmas and the new year weeks, but I'm taking bookings for January, early January. If you're thinking you may want to start in February when the holidays are over, get yourself ready to go in January because this process takes a little bit to get you set up. We start with uh the peri weight loss assessment where I find out a little bit about you, you find out a little bit more about me. We go through what might be the best way forward for what your goals are, and we go from there. We then do your initial consultation, which is a full health assessment. I guess you'd get some blood testing done, maybe other testing sometimes, depending on what's going on in your body. Because, you know, we want to make sure that we're not setting you up for failure. We want to I want to set you up for success. So if there's potential blockers to weight loss, I'm gonna uncover them for you. And then a bit of paperwork and get your nutrition, your personalized nutrition plan generated, presented to you, and then you are good to go whenever you're ready. So book in your peri weight loss assessment for early January and let's make 2026 your year where you meet your goals. Enjoy yourself over this festive season. Be kind to yourself, and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Thanks so much for joining me on the Ageless and Awesome podcast. If you would like this episode, please make sure you click the little pots button if you're on Apple Podcasts, or the follow button if you're on Spotify so that you get each new episode delivered to you every single week. If you feel like writing me a five-star review, you would absolutely make my day. If you found this episode resonated with you, head over to my Instagram and DM me at the Perry Metapolis Park. I would love to connect with you.