003- Midlife's Little Victories for Energy and Happiness

Have you ever found yourself grappling with the notorious midlife muffin top and wondering if there's a way to laugh in the face of fluctuating hormones? 

In this episode we:

• share a candid story of dietary guilt aboard a cruise ship that will have you nodding along—and asking yourself what flavor of muffin top you might be (we're voting chocolate chip cookie dough)!
•  pinpoint one manageable lifestyle change that could illuminate your path to better energy and motivation. 
• Toss aside the all-or-nothing outlook and instead, make small, sustainable tweaks to your routine. 

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Disclaimer:  I am not a medical doctor. The information and recommendations provided during our coaching sessions are intended to support your overall health and wellness and are not a substitute for professional medical diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician before making any changes to your medication, treatment plan, or if you have any concerns about your health. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 2:29

Hi everyone and welcome back. Today's episode is all about taking charge from the inside out, and today we're really talking about mindset. Perimenopause can be a real drag on your energy levels and you might find yourself struggling to get motivated, dodging invitations to go out. To get motivated, dodging invitations to go out, having trouble sleeping. On top of that, the scale seems to be tipping the wrong way, especially around your middle section, even if nothing in your diet has changed, and it's really enough to make anyone extremely frustrated. And it's really enough to make anyone extremely frustrated. But before we get too overwhelmed, let's just understand a little bit about what's happening behind the scenes. So during perimenopause and menopause this whole transition journey your estrogen levels start to fluctuate and then eventually just drop, and then eventually just drop. Now there is some research that does suggest that estrogen decline doesn't directly cause weight gain. However, it can play a role in, maybe, where that weight is being shifted to. So as we get older, we tend to move around less. This, combined with unchanging eating habits, can lead to weight gain and the transition journey of midlife could be shifting where that fat gets stored. So, hello, muffin tops, spare tire, buddha belly. Anyways, I'm going with muffin top, for right now I'm a chocolate chip cookie dough, a little plain Jane, with some spunky chunk and hints of sweetness. Yes, you heard that right. What flavor are you? All right, all right, that was fun, but let's start talking about taking control and focusing on what you can to start increasing your energy.

Speaker 1 4:37

So today, I want to empower you to take charge of the things that you can control, and let's focus on fine-tuning healthy habits that already work for you and maybe adding just one more. Just one more. So, number one, we need to ditch the all or nothing mindset. Forget about restrictive diets, the all or nothing mentality that sets us up for failure. Life is full of gray areas, don't we all know that? And so is healthy eating. So instead, let's identify some areas where you can make some small improvements. What feels doable, what can you consistently stick with? These are the changes that will make a big difference in the long run Consistency, consistency. This is where we stop for a second. We need to take a step back, and I want you to look at the bigger picture and think about where micro habit changes can start. Let's break it down. Think about today. If you're listening to this in the morning, think about yesterday. How did you start your morning? Did you wake up feeling rushed? Did you skip your breakfast? Okay, no-transcript. Did you fuel your body positively and did it set you up for success throughout the rest of the day and even success for tomorrow?

Speaker 1 6:38

In March, for spring break, we went on a family cruise. One evening I was sitting out on the balcony of our room and I heard a woman talking to someone on the other side of our balcony wall and, of course, when I heard her start talking, I was like stay very quiet, I'm not here, I'm not here. And I eventually went inside because I was like, yeah, I don't need to be listening to this. But I heard a woman talking to someone on the other side saying how disgusted she was with herself because she was doing so well with eating before the cruise and that she likely gained all of it back.

Speaker 1 7:18

Why, why, why, why, ladies, do we do this to ourselves? Can you feel that mindset? Could you feel her mindset? I mean, we've all been there one thing or another, right, but we can't even enjoy a vacation away without feeling guilty and stressed over something we need to be able to enjoy ourselves, within reason, of course, but we have to drop the all or nothing mindset. So my last question for you and I really want you to think about this and, if you decide what that one thing is, message me so I can connect and celebrate you on this decision. But what is one thing, just one thing, that you can do today that will make your tomorrow better? Tonight I'm skipping TV, I'm getting to bed a little bit earlier, probably about an hour earlier than normal, so I can wake up and get up with my alarm and do a 30 minute workout in my basement by myself in my quiet time before the rest of my family starts to get up and get ready for the day.