04/12/2026
Just when many of us were finally finding solid ground with our bodies — after years of dieting, starting over, and exhausting ourselves trying to shrink — the culture shifted again.
For women in their 40s and 50s, the timing couldn't feel more cruel. Because perimenopause and menopause are already changing our bodies in ways that seemingly show up overnight. Some of us have been working on body peace for years. Others are still trying to get back to the weight on their wedding day, their pre-baby body, the size they were at 28.
And just when this decade of life felt like permission to finally relax — the goalposts moved again.
I want to hold two things at once here, because I think both are true.
First: whatever your relationship with your body right now — whether you've found peace or you're still in the thick of the struggle — you are not behind and you are not failing. The difficulty is not a personal flaw. It is the result of decades of living in a culture that has never stopped telling women that their bodies are problems to be solved.
Second: the hyperfocus on body size that diet culture demands of us is not a pursuit of health. It is a drain. On our energy, our time, our mental space, and our power — at exactly the life stage when we have the most to offer the world around us.
Women in midlife are often at peak influence — in their careers, their communities, their families. The world genuinely needs what you have to give.
And you cannot give it fully when your best energy is going toward negotiating with your body, counting, tracking, and starting over.
There is a more lasting kind of peace available. Not pretending it doesn't hurt when the culture shifts. Not abandoning your health. Just a way of caring for your body — your digestion, your bones, your energy, your metabolism — that doesn't require body size to be the measure of all of it.
This is some of the most meaningful work I do — and it matters just as much in midlife as it ever did.
If this resonates, I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or send me a message. ❤️