Have you seen a pic of you lately and thought “what happened?”. Did you get out the summer clothes and find nothing felt right? I know you’re eating healthy and walk every day. And the belly fat is still there — and growing. What if I told you it has absolutely nothing to do with willpower?

You’ve heard all this before: eat clean, exercise more, reduce your stress levels.

Yup. Check. But the weight keeps finding you. I know! The same thing happens to me.

I am active. I teach yoga and meditate daily. I eat fresh from my own garden. Yadda yadda yadda. And then I think, what does it matter? I’m 63… a grama. Just be happy with who you are. Right?

But there is a voice inside of me that doesn’t like this giving up. A part of me that feels abandoned when I just let the scale creep up week after week. And clothes don’t fit. And I feel more and more out of my own body.

You start avoiding picture taking. Beach trips. Anything with a belt. You bravely declare that you are body positive but inside, not so much. You know you felt better 10 or 20 pounds ago.

But it is a bloody mystery what it would take to get there these days. You just don’t have the energy to sort it all out, right?

Simple Answers.

There are simple answers. I promise. I found them in mindful eating. At the end of this episode, I’ll share details on how you can get your free guide and start your own journey toward food freedom today.

But let’s dive Into this episode. I want to share
• what the fitness dudes totally miss for midlife women

• how pushing ourselves to be perfect = belly fat

• what to focus on instead of dieting & exercise

My approach is grounded in yoga therapy, mindfulness, and modern neuroscience—translated into real life for women in midlife.

🌿 You deserve understanding, not more rules.

Busting Myths around Weight Loss

#1. Should you exercise harder and longer? It isn’t going to help you shed that belly fat. It’ll probably equal a new injury and we have enough of that already, right?

I still believe these old myths. I notice the scale go up a couple pounds and the first thought is… gotta get serious! No more snacking! And tomorrow, I’m doubling my walk time. (Check out this previous podcast on cardio myths)

Even after YEARS of study and proving this in my own body (I lost 25 pounds in 2024 with Mindful Eating)… those old thoughts still haunt me. So you’re definitely not alone in this struggle. We’re all feeling it.

Here’s something that got my attention.

The total daily expenditure of energy (your calorie burn) is a good fundamental concept to understand when it comes to metabolism and weight management.

Basically it’s the total amount of energy your body burns in a day. It’s made up of four parts:

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – This is the energy your body needs just to keep you alive—breathing, circulating blood, and even thinking! It makes up the largest chunk of your TDEE. about 70%

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) – This includes all the little movements we don’t think about—fidgeting, walking to the kitchen, even talking with our hands! Which makes up about 15% of the total

Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) – This is the energy your body uses to digest and process food. Protein-rich foods actually burn more calories during digestion! This uses about 10% of TDEE

Exercise Activity (EA) – This is the energy burned during intentional movement, like workouts, yoga, or a dance class. 5% Just 5%! So it’s not just about the gym! In fact, NEAT can make a bigger impact than you think. Small daily movements add up over time, and understanding your TDEE helps you make smart choices for sustainable energy balance.

So all the diets we’ve been on that calculate our Basic Metabolic Rate plus the calories I’m burning in exercise are – well – pretty much bogus. Well maybe not completely bogus, but definitely incomplete. Most diet plans focus only on BMR and workouts, ignoring NEAT and the Thermic Effect of Food.

Which means, we’ve been missing two key pieces of the puzzle.

If you only focus on exercise, you’re overlooking the 10-15% of calories burned through daily movement. Plus, digestion itself burns calories—especially when you eat protein and fibre-rich foods. The problem is, most diet plans don’t factor in how your body uniquely uses energy.

Sustainable weight management isn’t just about burning calories in the gym—it’s about working with your metabolism all day long.

Myth #2

And this is why going for a run or a zumba class, while great exercise and hopefully lots of fun, doesn’t give you a free pass on calories for the rest of the day. It just doesn’t affect total burn that much.

So if you have been frustrated because you are tracking everything and pushing the calorie burn with extra cardio, but belly pudge won’t budge… now you know why!

Ditch the Smart Device Tracker

And a shout out to the rooftops that all that data on your smart device about calories burned is probably hurting your progress?!!! It can really distracting from mindfulness. Which, in a few minutes, we’ll talk about how essential that is for weight loss.

Eat less = Lose Weight?

Let’s myth bust some more around why calories in and calories out is not an effective model. Eat less and lose weight right? It’s just math. NOT! You’ve tried that so many times and where are we now?

1. The body is a super efficient machine. For most of our existence as humans, starvation was a reality. For the first few minutes of an activity, the body might kick in extra energy but very quickly, it adapts and minimizes energy expenditure. So this phenomenon is not reflected in calorie counters on your smart device.

2. Even if you did burn 500 calories on the treadmill, eating one store bought muffin blows that away.

3. All that time pushing yourself into more and more km or calorie burn means you get pressed for time in other areas. This creates stress. Which inhibits weight loss.

4. Long periods of steady state cardio exercise can actually reduce muscle mass. And losing muscle mass is not where we need to go. Because muscle is like a metabolic engine—it keeps your body burning energy efficiently. But as we hit midlife, things start to shift.

Midlife Metabolism Doesn’t Have to Slow Down

1. We naturally lose muscle mass—starting as early as our 30s. As women, we can lose up to 2% per year, and this loss speeds up in our 40s and 50s. Less muscle means a slower metabolism, which can lead to weight gain, less energy, and even a higher risk of injury.

2. Hormonal changes—declining estrogen, progesterone, and even testosterone can make it harder to maintain muscle and easier to store fat.

3. We often move less—life gets busy, stress increases, and we might not prioritize movement like we used to. Less movement = fewer calories burned daily.

And that’s why it feels like your metabolism is slowing down. It’s so discouraging when you try to do everything right. Are you sometimes tempted to just give up? And maybe you feel like you have thrown in the towel. That you’re too old to fight this any more.

Of course, that’s normal. So much of what we’re sold around healthy eating and weight loss is – if not just regurgitated programming from some dude’s sports workout – it’s not designed for a mature woman’s needs.

Here’s the good news

Honestly, it’s not that complicated.

It’s a combination of prioritizing muscle building in fitness, focusing on protein and fibre each meal and investing in meaningful self care that shifts the needle… NOT cutting out food groups, starving yourself or doing killer workouts!

This is why I recommend Mindful Eating. As I mentioned earlier, it really helped me tame menopausal weight gain. And, honestly, I had fun doing it. It is a total plan for not only attuning to what I really want and need to eat but also figuring out where I need authentic self care. All this supports my nervous system and builds my energy naturally. Without forcing, restricting or harsh rules. I do have a free guide that I can send you so you can get started today. Be sure to check the show notes for the link.

This is not about quick fixes—it’s about making small, sustainable shifts that work with your body.

Natural Metabolism Reset

Move More – Prioritize strength training and increase daily movement (NEAT) to preserve muscle and keep your metabolism active.

Fuel Smart – Eat protein and fibre at every meal to support muscle maintenance and boost the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). In Mindful Eating, planning your fuel is a big part of the protocol.

Recover Well – Stress management, quality sleep, and self-care all help regulate hormones that impact metabolism.

When you put these together, your body starts working for you instead of against you!

I still find myself a little panicky that I didn’t get my “k’s” in. And feeling guilty when I’m putting up my feet mid day. But I look at my scale with a big grin and know this is the secret sauce.

Bottom line:

Midlife weight gain is not a failure… you don’t lack willpower. Pushing or forcing yourself may work in the short term but will eventually wear you down. And it will be harder than ever to bring back balance. Try Mindful Eating. It’s natural, completely individualized and leads to so many other benefits.

I feel lighter hearted, more open to fun during the day. I feel like I’ve discovered a new best friend in myself. And my confidence is so much higher.

Get the Mindful Eating Guide

If anything here resonates, please share with a friend and subscribe so you don’t miss next episode. It’ll be another chance to sort through the noise out there and get some tools that you can really use.