Your Health Is Built in the Boring Weeks

If you’ve spent more than five minutes online at any point this year, you’ve been getting yelled at.

Not literally (although some reels are basically digital air horns), but energetically. The diet industry is screaming. The menopause industry is screaming. And the algorithm is happily passing around the megaphone while you’re just sitting there thinking: I’d settle for sleeping through the night and not wanting to cry because someone chewed too loudly.

And it’s not just a January problem.

It ramps up before Valentine’s Day: love your body, but also fix it.

Then Easter: cleanse and reset.
Then spring holidays: get back on track.
Then it’s “summer ready” season, where the volume goes from annoying to unhinged.

That’s when the real nonsense comes out. The miracle promises. The “one weird trick.” The before-and-after photos with lighting that deserves its own Oscar. The supplements that allegedly melt fat while you sit still and remain emotionally attached to bread.

I recently saw a fellow coach share that he’d been approached to promote a “transformation” program that turned out to be AI-generated videos of people supposedly losing massive amounts of weight just in a few months. Not real results. Just a computer-generated “look how easy this is” fantasy designed to sell some bargain-bin supplement with bold claims and questionable ingredients.

Confidence is not a qualification. A ring light can build an audience fast. What it can’t build is competence.

That’s where we’re at.

Look, if it sounds too good to be true, with promises that you’ll lose a lot of weight, effortlessly, without changing anything except taking this magic thing, it probably is. And even when it’s not outright fake, it’s still usually built on the same tired formula: hype, pressure, failure, shame, repeat.

Because a lot of this “wellness” marketing doesn’t just sell a product. It sells a story about you. And that story usually sounds like:

• You’re behind

• You’re doing it wrong

• You’re missing a critical piece of information

• Everyone else has it figured out

• Buy this and you’ll finally be OK

And when you don’t become “OK” in 14 days, it quietly shifts the blame back onto you. You didn’t stick with it. You weren’t disciplined enough. You “fell off the wagon”.

Spoiler: there is no wagon. There’s just you, living your real life.

The menopause marketplace is loud because you’re valuable.

Here’s the thing no one says out loud: women over 40 are an incredibly profitable target.

You care about your health. You’re often carrying a lot - work, family, ageing parents, mental load - and you don’t have time for nonsense. So when someone promises a shortcut, it’s tempting. Of course it is.

But the menopause and diet industries have a dirty little business model:

1. Make you feel inadequate or confused

2. Offer a solution that’s overly rigid or overly simplistic

3. Watch you struggle to sustain it in real life

4. Sell you the next solution when you feel like you’ve failed

That cycle doesn’t create health. It creates dependence on their products and programmes.

And it’s even worse because the advice is so conflicting.

Eat low fat. No, eat high fat.
Cut carbs. No, carbs are fine.
Lift heavy. No, don’t stress your cortisol.
Fast. No, fasting is dangerous.
Take these supplements. Actually no, take those ones.
Do this protocol. No, do that protocol.
Balance your hormones.

Fix your gut. Heal your metabolism. Reset your mitochondria. Realign your chakras.

At some point it’s less about health and more like a weird wellness version of speed dating, and everyone insists they’re The One.

It’s no wonder so many women feel overwhelmed, stuck, and like they can’t trust themselves anymore.

Real health is simple, but it isn’t always easy.

If I could tattoo one sentence on the inside of your forehead, it might be this:

True health is built in the boring weeks.

Not the perfect weeks. Not the holiday weeks. Not the “I’m doing a reset” weeks.

The boring weeks. The normal ones. The ones where you still have meetings, laundry, family logistics, that annoying email, and a nervous system that’s a little too enthusiastic.

Healthspan - the years you can live feeling strong, capable, energised, clear-headed, and steady - is not created by a two-week programme.

It’s created by micro-choices, repeated over time.

And before your inner Type A starts sweating, hear me out here: micro-choices are not about doing more. They’re about doing what matters, more often than not.

Because women already have enough on their plates. We don’t need to add:

• tracking calories or macros like it’s a second job

• weighing food like you’re training for the Olympics of restriction

• eliminating entire food groups (and joy)

• doing complicated workouts you don’t have time for

• feeling shame when you can’t keep it up

If a plan requires you to behave like someone you’re not, it is not a plan. It’s a compliance test. And it’s not the kind of life any of us are here to live.

When we work with women through perimenopause and menopause, the goal isn’t perfection. It’s about creating stability.

Because when your foundations are stable, symptoms tend to feel less like a roller coaster and more like a manageable cruise.

Here are the “boring week” habits that matter most. You’ll notice that none of them are sexy. And that’s the whole point.

1) Food is support, not punishment

Most women don’t need a stricter diet. They need a steadier one.

That usually means:

• enough protein most days

• plenty of fibre

• meals that actually satisfy you

• less ultra-processed “snack math”

• and not treating hunger like a personal failure

And yes, you can still enjoy food. In fact, if your plan doesn’t include enjoyment, it won’t last.

In different cultures, food is many different things. Connection. Celebration. Comfort. Tradition. Life.

You don’t need to choose between health and joy. You need a way to do both.

2) Movement as a daily vote for your future self

I’m going to say this gently but clearly: you don’t need a complicated routine.

You need something you’ll actually do.

Strength training is magic for midlife - not for shrinking yourself - but for building strength, supporting bones, protecting metabolism, and feeling powerful in your body.

And it doesn’t have to be perfect. Ten minutes counts. Two sessions a week counts. A walk counts. Mobility counts.

Your body keeps score of what you do repeatedly, not what you do occasionally in a burst of guilt.

3) Sleep as a non-negotiable foundation

Sleep is not a luxury. It’s your base layer.

When sleep is off, everything else gets harder: cravings, mood, stress tolerance, focus, energy, motivation, even pain.

You don’t need a fancy sleep routine. You need a few consistent anchors:

• a realistic bedtime window

• a downshift cue (breathing, stretching, reading)

• less screen chaos right before bed

• and self-compassion when it isn’t perfect

4) Stress management that doesn’t require a retreat in Bali

If stress were solved by people telling you to “just relax”, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

The goal isn’t to eliminate stress. The goal is to complete/close the stress cycle and give your nervous system regular moments of safety.

Tiny things count:

• a short walk outside

• 60 seconds of longer exhales

• stretching while the kettle boils

• laughter

• music

• saying no without writing a thesis to justify it

5) Joy, connection, meaning

This is the part the diet industry never talks about because it can’t be packaged neatly.

Your nervous system cares about joy.

So do your hormones. So does your appetite regulation. So does your resilience.

Joy is not a reward for losing weight. Joy is part of being healthy, happy, and well. Pursue people, activities, and places that bring you joy - often.

6) Your environment is either helping you or draining you

I won’t go off on a tangent here, but I am going to say it: what’s around you matters.

Your home environment. Your work environment. Your social environment. The people who refill your energy versus the people who deplete you.

Also, what you put on your body matters too. Skin is not a decorative wrapper. It’s an organ. But that’s a blog for another day.

The point is this: health isn’t just what you eat and how you move. It’s the whole context you live in.

Confession: even health coaches have “days”

Let me be honest. There are days when I crave things I know don’t love me back. There are days when I don’t want to work out. There are days when the sofa looks like the most committed relationship I want to have.

The difference is not that I’m more disciplined than you - it’s that I understand the “why”.

Most days, I remember why I prioritise protein and movement and sleep. I remember how much better I feel when I do. I remember that my future self deserves support.

And if I don’t do it? No guilt. No shame. No dramatic spiral.

I acknowledge it, accept it, and then I step back in with the next healthy thing.

That’s the whole game.

All-or-nothing thinking keeps women stuck. All-or-something thinking sets women free.

The Bottom Line: you don’t need more pressure, you need a new relationship with yourself

At this stage of life, the most powerful shift is not a new meal plan or workout plan.

It’s your identity.

Each time you take one of those small steps or make one of those micro-choices, you become the woman who:

• trusts herself

• supports herself

• makes steady choices without drama

• comes back to the basics without shame

• and builds health in the boring weeks

Because that woman doesn’t get taken out by an imperfect day.

She doesn’t live on or off a wagon.

She lives a life.

A simple challenge for the next 7 days

Pick three “boring week” habits and do them more days than not.

That’s it. Not all of them. Not perfectly.

Three.

Here are some options:

• Protein at breakfast

• One veg at lunch and dinner

• Ten minutes of strength twice this week

• A 20-minute walk after dinner

• A consistent bedtime window

• One 60-second breathing reset per day

• One boundary you actually hold

And if you want support doing this in a way that fits your life and your menopause reality, that’s literally what we do.

Because you were never meant to white-knuckle your way through midlife.

You were meant to live it. Strong, steady, and fully you.

I’d love to know: what’s your hardest “boring week” habit right now, food, movement, sleep, stress, or boundaries?

And by the way, if you're interested in getting some FREE support for learning how to implement this for yourself, check out our online summit, happening February 11-13. With over 20 expert guest speakers, you can choose the sessions that resonate with you and get the support you need!

Register here: https://motherofallmenopausesummits.com/