Jesse Stokes Coaching

However you choose to acknowledge and celebrate this time of the year, I’m almost certain you’re going to find yourself around any number of quick, easy, and delicious goodies.

Be mindful in your choices, eat with purpose and intention, enjoy and savor your foods, but also don’t let some deluded “health and fitness professional” on social media tell you that you need to earn or burn that chocolate or handful of candy with more exercise or crazy dietary restriction.

If you struggle with controlling yourself around these kinds of foods, here are a couple of things to consider when you find yourself in the situation:

Have you eaten other food today? Are you nourishing yourself to the best of your abilities with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or are you just uncontrollably hungry because you’ve not eaten enough food?

Is it enjoyment, or is there another feeling or emotion that you need to sit with and process first?

Some people respond to stress by eating more and without awareness, and some people simply eat when they’re bored. Take a moment to check in with yourself and feel what’s really going on.

If you struggle with your portion control, try taking your serving out of the bag, box, or bowl, putting the remainder out of sight, and walking away to slowly and mindfully enjoy it.

By taking your portion and simply walking away to enjoy it somewhere else, you’re putting a few extra steps between this helping and the next, which gives you more chances to stop and consider what you’re doing before you eat more than you want to.

I hope this helps!

Happy Easter! ❤️

Can you lose fat during menopause?

Yes, you absolutely can.

And it doesn’t require crash diets, fasting, excessive exercise, or expensive (often useless) “hormone hacks.” But it does require:

• Compassionate awareness of what’s changed.
• Prioritizing high-impact behaviors i.e., behaviors that will actually move the needle and
help you make progress.
• Long-term consistency over short-term intensity.

Before changing anything, take a kind, curious look at your behaviors and patterns. Consider:

• What and how much you’re eating
• How much exercise you’re getting
• How much you’re moving in general
• Your energy and stress levels
• How well and how much sleep you’re getting
• Your alcohol intake

I would encourage you to track your behaviors for a few days or weeks to gather data. The goal isn’t to track forever. It’s information gathering and learning.

But remember, weight loss isn’t the only marker of health.

Whether you do or don’t want to lose weight or fat—it’s valid.

Your goals are yours—and you don’t need to justify them.

Your self-worth isn’t dictated by body size or shape.

And you can improve strength, energy, and health biomarkers (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose) without weight changes.

The bottom line: fat loss is possible—but it is certainly not required.

If you do want to pursue fat loss during the transition through menopause:

• Start with kindness, not criticism.
• Focus on what’s sustainable, not extreme.
• Track progress with multiple markers (not just your weight).

Your body is adapting, and so can you.

And the good news? There’s a lot you can do to adapt with it.

And I hope this video is simple enough to show you what actually helps.

P.S.

There is one caveat to mention about the calorie balance equation…

It is possible to stay the same weight, but experience what’s called body recomposition (i.e. your total weight stays the same, but the amount of muscle or fat you have changes).

When this happens, you’re still likely eating a maintenance level of calories — but you could be slowly losing fat.

You can monitor your progress by weighing yourself, taking waist measurements, watching clothing fit, or taking photos.

If you’re trying to lose weight and you’re frustrated by how fast it is (or isn’t) going, this one’s for you.

And there’s one more thing you need to know about this whole weight loss journey..

You’re never going to be “done”.

It’s not like house or yardwork, where you spend an hour doing the thing, finishing the thing, and then moving on from the thing.

Losing weight is a side effect of what you’re doing, not the job itself.

So what is the job?

Building a different lifestyle.

New routines.

Better habits.

Healthier outcomes.

Because you don’t lose 15 pounds and then go back to doing exactly what you were doing before.

That’s called crash dieting and it has significant repercussions.

You’re never “done”.

The routines and habits you create and shape while on your weight loss journey become more than just something you do.

They become who you are.

Whether you’re trying to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds, it’s about deciding who you want to be and gradually becoming that person with small but consistent actions repeated every single day.

And the sooner you embrace this the more success, and more importantly, the more satisfaction and happiness you’ll find along the way.

I hope this perspective helps you this week 💜