The Rule That Retired When You Turned 40

A couple of weeks ago I promised we'd get into why "just eat less, move more" stopped working. Then my birthday landed in the middle. Thank you for the kind messages on that one, truly. Now let's actually get into it.

My Peri Journey

I don't like arm day. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's my least favorite workout of the week. And I've come so far with my generically challenged arms 🤣, but there are still days where my brain is on total overload the whole time going "I hate arm day, I hate arm day, I hate arm day."

Recently, that voice was LOUD.

You know what I do when that voice gets loud?

I have a name for her, you probably heard the name before. Evila. And Evila and I have an ongoing conversation. When Evila starts screaming about how much she hates arm day, I have a reactive affirmation ready: "I know I don't like arm day. It doesn't matter. My longevity does."

That word, longevity, is why I show up. Not because I love the burn. Not because I want to look a certain way. But because I know what muscle does for a woman in her 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. It protects your bones. It stabilizes your blood sugar. It gives you the energy you need to keep doing everything you love doing.

And in peri, your body is fighting to hold onto it.

Which is exactly why the old rules don't work anymore.

The Biology Bit - Dr. Flora's Notes:

Picture it. You've been eating the same way, moving the same way, doing everything the same way you always did. And the scale is going up. Or your body composition is shifting. Or your clothes fit differently even though nothing changed.

Here's what's happening. In perimenopause, declining estrogen makes it harder for your body to hold onto muscle and easier to store fat, especially around the middle.

At the same time, your insulin sensitivity drops, meaning the same carbs that used to fuel you now spike your blood sugar and get stored differently. Cardio alone won't fix this.

Cutting calories alone will make it worse because it eats into the muscle you're already fighting to keep.

That is not you failing. That is a body operating on completely new rules.

This Week's Reset

One small thing I want you to do this week:

Add ONE strength-focused workout to your week. Not more cardio. Not fewer calories. One session with weights.

The habit: Pick a day this week, block 30 minutes on your calendar, and do a full-body strength workout. Squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, whatever version of those you can do safely.

Heavy enough that the last two reps feel hard. You don't need a gym. You need dumbbells, bodyweight, or resistance bands, and a willingness to feel a little awkward the first time.

This is the single most important thing you can do for your peri body composition, your bone density, and your future self.

And when the voice in your head starts complaining? Give her a name. Then answer her back.

Hit reply and tell me the name of YOUR inner critic. Mine's Evila. Clients have named theirs Bertha, Big B, Demona, Cruella, Ursula. I want to hear yours.

Ready to Get Yourself Back?

If you took the Perimenopause Pattern Assessment in the last few weeks and you're sitting with your results wondering what to actually DO about them, that's exactly what my Peri Clarity Call is for.

30 focused minutes. We look at your pattern together. I tell you what I'm seeing. And you leave the call knowing what to work on first, instead of trying to fix all of it at once.

Book your Peri Clarity Call HERE

P.S. Next week I want to get into something I'm living in personally right now. What happens when peri and a hard season collide. And why hard hits harder than it used to.