New Year, Same You... And That’s Biology

Feeling flat while the world shouts about fresh starts? There's nothing wrong with you - your body is speaking. I open the new year on the podcast by naming the quiet heaviness so many women feel in their 40s, 50s and beyond, and I explain why “what’s the point?” is often a hormonal response rather than a lack of willpower. With oestrogen swings, lower progesterone, louder cortisol and a dip in dopamine, motivation can stall. The fix isn’t more hype. It’s creating safety so your physiology can support change.

I break down a peri and menopause-friendly approach to weight loss that doesn’t begin with guesswork about what to eat or gruelling workouts. Instead, I focus on stabilising blood sugar with regular meals, prioritising protein for mood and metabolism, choosing movement you love to do, and protecting sleep as a fat loss lever. This isn’t about perfection; it’s about reducing urgency so cortisol settles and consistency becomes possible. You don’t need to believe in a big goal today—you just need a plan that respects your hormones and your life.

I also talk about why support matters when stress is high and tolerance is low. Clear food lists, realistic portions, a hormone-aware strategy, and steady accountability can remove guesswork and rebuild trust with your body. You’re not starting from zero; you’re starting from experience. If you’re ready to feel steady again, tune in, take one small step, and let safety lead the way.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs relief from January pressure, and leave a quick review. Want personalised support? Book a Peri Weight Loss Assessment via the link below and let’s see if The Glow Protocol® is right for you.

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 Who This Helps
• 0:36 Naming The January Crash
• 2:20 It’s Not Mindset, It’s Biology
• 4:08 Why Resolutions Keep Failing
• 6:06 Start With Safety, Not Effort
• 8:10 What Starting Again Really Looks Like
• 10:12 Why Support Changes Everything
• 12:00 Encouragement, Next Steps, And CTA

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 autumn in your 40s, 50s, and beyond. The Ageless and Autumn Podcast is dedicated to helping women through perimetopause 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 happy new year. If you're listening to this episode in the first week of January, then happy new year to you, and I hope that you've had a relaxing break. Um, today's episode is for a very specific woman, and it's for you if in this first week of January, instead of feeling motivated or hopeful, you're feeling flat. Maybe you want to lose weight, maybe you want to get your hormones under control, but instead of excitement, instead of that new year energy, instead of those new year's resolutions, perhaps all you feel is exhaustion and being completely demotivated. You've told yourself every year, perhaps this is the year I'll finally get my weight under control, or this is the year I'm gonna exercise three times a week. This is the year that everything changes. And now here you are again thinking, what's the point? Nothing ever changes. Nothing I do works. If that thought has crossed your mind, if that's where you're sitting in this moment, then please stay with me. This episode is not here to push you, to fix you, to hype you up. Uh, because I've been where you are. Uh and this episode is here to help you understand why this feels so hard right now, and how to begin again in a way that actually works for your body, your hormones, and your life. So let's start by naming what January really feels like for many of us. January is sold to us as a clean slate. New year, new you, fresh starts, new goals, big energy. But for so many women in their 40s and 50s and beyond, January does not feel fresh at all. We've been here before. It feels heavy for some of us. You might be coming off a busy and emotional December, disrupted routines, poor sleep, more food and alcohol than you thought you would consume, family stress, and very little time for yourself. It's always about everyone else. And instead of feeling ready to start something fresh, start something new, your body feels inflamed, tired, unmotivated, flat, and resistant. Yet everywhere you look, you're being told now is the time, don't waste this moment, get back on track, new year, new you yet again. Because I'm sure you're gonna hear it and see it more than once. It's a real bugbear of mine if you can't tell. Uh, so when you can't muster the energy to get that, you know, let's do this kind of, you know, motion and momentum going, that shame creeps in. And I want to say this clearly: there is nothing wrong with you for feeling like this. This isn't a mindset problem. This isn't, you know, positive mind, um, positive thinking. This isn't laziness, this isn't a lack of discipline, this is biology. And I want to talk about why what's the point is a hormonal response. So let's talk about what's actually happening inside your body. During perimenopause, in particular, estrogen fluctuates unpredictably, progesterone declines, cortisol becomes more dominant, dopamine, which is your motivation and reward hormone, often drops. And this combination can create low drive, emotional flatness, a sense of hopelessness, difficulty imagining change, reduced resilience. And so when you think, what's the point? I can't be bothered, I don't even care anymore, that's not you giving up. That's your nervous system saying, I'm overwhelmed, I'm tired, I don't feel safe pushing anymore. And here's the most part, sorry, here's the part most women don't hear. Motivation does not come first in weight loss, in perimenopause. Physiology comes first. When hormones, blood sugar, sleep, and stress are supported, then motivation will return. And it can return quite quickly. Particularly this the biology, when it's driven by biology, that can return really quickly. So if you're waiting to feel inspired before you start, you might be waiting a long time, and that's not your fault. So, why do resolutions keep failing? Most new years resolutions fail not because we lack commitment, but because they're built on the wrong assumptions. They assume high energy, they assume stable hormones, they assume plenty of mental space, quick results, and lots of willpower. And that may have worked. You may have felt like that in your 20s and maybe even your 30s. But not a lot of these are relatable in Perry and post-menopause for some women. So when you set a resolution that requires strict eating, intense exercise, perfect consistency, and zero margin for error, your body eventually will push back. Not because it's sabotaging you, but because it's protecting you from burnout. Every failed resolution chips away at trust. You stop trusting yourself, you stop trusting your ability to make change, you stop believing change is even possible. And that's where the real pain can lie. Not in the weight, but in the loss of hope. Here's the thing: you don't need to believe that this will work. This is not a positive thinking situation. And this is really important to understand. If you're listening and thinking, I don't even believe weight loss is possible for me anymore, that's okay. I hear this all of the time when I'm speaking to women on their periweight loss assessments. They say, I have to be realistic about my weight loss goal. And I sit there thinking, I know what you can achieve. And it's way more than you think. But you don't have to believe that weight loss is possible because, you know, that's okay. You don't need that belief, you don't need confidence, you don't need excitement. What you need is a different starting point, one that doesn't ask you to overhaul your entire life and routine, to rely on motivation or to fight your body. Weight loss after 40 doesn't start with effort, it starts with safety. When your body feels safe, cortisol begins to settle, insulin becomes more responsive, that helps you burn fat, cravings soften, sleep improves, energy can return, often quite quickly. And from that place, change becomes possible again. And even if right now it doesn't feel that way. So, what does starting again actually look like in peri and postmenopause? Let me tell you what starting again really looks like. It's not dramatic, it's not extreme, it's not fast necessarily. Um, it looks like eating regularly, not skipping meals, not under-eating. That keeps your body in stress mode. Regular meals calm the nervous system and stabilize your blood sugar. Prioritizing protein. Protein supports muscle, blood sugar, mood, and metabolism, and it reduces that I don't care anymore feeling. Because we need protein to build our neurotransmitters, which are our brain chemicals. Gentle movement, walking, strength work, uh, mobility work, yoga, Pilates, not punishment, support, protecting your sleep. Sleep is one of the biggest drivers of fat loss in midlife and one of the most overlooked opportunities. Removing the urgency. Urgency raises cortisol and calm creates consistency. That's why I will only work with women for at least three months. You know, at least three months because it removes this urgency. You have time. And more most importantly, when you're looking at this, is not doing it alone because weight loss in midlife is not a solo sport. So let's talk about why support matters more now than ever. And you know, if you're finding it harder to do this on your own, if you're getting confused, you don't know what to do, you're reading all this stuff on the internet, you don't know what to believe, it doesn't mean that you're weaker than you're used to be, or that you're dumber or whatever. Uh, it means that your hormones are different, your stress load is probably higher, your margin, your tolerance is smaller, your body needs more support. And that's why working with support can be a game changer. And I get a lot of women that come to work with me inside the Globe Protocol. It's that's not because they're failing at what they're doing, but it's because they're done with the guesswork. They want that exact foods list, they want the exact portion sizes, they want someone like me who's been there, done that, got through to the other side, that can help. They want a clear plan, a hormone-aware nutritionist and nutrition plan, uh, mindset support, accountability, and reassurance that if they fall down, I'm there to help them get back up. They want to feel steady again, they want to trust their body again and want to believe change is possible gently. So if you're in this first week of January and you're feeling tired, you're feeling discouraged, you're quietly asking, what is the point of trying to make a change? It's just not going to work. It's never worked before. Then please hear this. You are not starting from zero. You are starting from experience. Your body is not resisting you, it's asking for a different approach. You don't need to solve whatever your weight loss goal might be, say it's 12 kilos. You don't need to solve that 12 kilos today. You don't need a perfect plan. You don't need to force yourself to feel motivated. You need compassion, you need structure, you need to take away the guesswork, you need hormone-aware support and someone in your corner. And if you're ready for that kind of support, I would love to work with you in the GLO protocol. I have appointments available to book in a periweight loss assessment to see if we're a good fit to work together so that I can talk to you about your specific situation. Because remember, this is a personalized plan, it's unique to you. So we need to talk about what is going on with you. What can this plan do for you? What can this your personalized protocol help you with? I don't want people in this program that aren't ready, that don't want to be here. Um, so booking the call is a great opportunity for us to chat and just see where you are at. And so I can meet you where you're at. So check it out. The link is in the show notes. But if today all you do is listen, that's enough. That's enough. So thank you for spending this time with me. If this episode resonated, please share it with a friend that might be feeling the same quiet heaviness this January. You are not behind. There's nothing wrong with you. You would, it is definitely not too late. You know, I'm working with people who are in their 70s. It is not too late. So until next time, take care. Be kind to yourself. And I will see you next week with some fresh new content. 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 plus 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 Perimetopause Park. I would love to connect with you.