Another truly uplifting catch-up with one of the ladies, Rachel who appeared on the show a month ago. She was struggling with perimenopause and had made several changes to her life, including changing jobs and giving up exercise, but she was still struggling with low energy and feeling like the joy had gone out of her life. She felt that diet was the missing piece of the jigsaw, but felt too overwhelmed to change her habits.

I loved this episode because the main focus was about making time to do things that brought Emma pleasure in her life. When I asked her what she did for herself, she realised she did nothing. Yet she worked hard at her job and spent most evenings ferrying her kids around. We need a reward for the work we put in. Often we turn to food to do this, and I suspected this was the reason she was turning to biscuits and chocolate during the day, even though she ate a healthy diet and didn't suffer from hunger or cravings.

Rachel couldn't get a grip on her diet. She knew toast for breakfast and meal deals for lunch weren't ideal, but she couldn't break the cycle. The natural response to this is feeling guilty, being angry with yourself for being lazy/useless/disorganised, and with that comes a lot of negative self-talk that can take over your brain and direct a lot of anger and frustration towards yourself.

This follow-up session with Allison is a really special episode. When we first spoke a few weeks ago I told her she was practically starving herself. I gave her some advice on what to change to see some improvements, but what I didn't know at the time was that Allison has MS. I only found out a few weeks later when I checked in on her and she told me she was in the middle of a relapse or a MS Hug.

In this short but sweet episode, Anna takes me through an impressive list of changes she's experienced after making really simple changes. Better sleep, less hungry, fewer cravings, more energy, not hangry any more, less brain fog and half a stone lighter in just over a month.

The changes she made were easy to work into her busy lifestyle and she still ate the same meals as her family, something that was really important to her.

The secret is to start prioritising your own health and well-being, which Anna completely embraced. Tune in and listen to what she did and how it worked for her.

If you can't seem to make time for yourself, then listen to this truly uplifting episode with Bev, who told me she felt 200% better after making some tiny changes to her lifestyle after our first call a couple of months ago.

Listen to this show and I guarantee you'll be inspired to make changes to your own life too.

A month ago Sybil appeared on the show. She was struggling to lose weight following diets that she'd relied on for years. She also wanted to start exercising, but just didn't have the time.

What her dilemma boiled down to was how do you get past feeling stuck, so you can start making progress?

In this episode, Gabrielle speaks to Sybil, a 52-year-old mother juggling 3 jobs, a dog and a chronic back condition. She suffers from low energy and brain fog and wants to get rid of her menopausal belly, and, knowing that strength training is important at this age, she wants to start training. But, she explains that even though she feels like she knows what she should be doing, she just can't make it happen.

Anna juggles full-time work with being a mum to two hungry boys. Eating together as a family is really important to her, but the meals that keep her husband and kids full of energy aren't working for her. She is steadily gaining weight but doesn't want to cook separate meals for herself. For one, she doesn't have time, but more importantly, she doesn't want the kids exposed to dieting or restriction.

In this episode, Gabrielle speaks to Allison, a 50-year-old mother of teenagers who said that she felt lost. She suffers from health issues that cause fatigue and battles constant hunger. It didn't matter what she ate, she still had an empty feeling she hated but couldn't fill. She candidly explains what she eats in a day and is surprised when Gabrielle tells her she's starving herself.

This is the first of a new series of live coaching sessions where I help women over 40 overcome the challenges they face in sticking to their diet and exercise routines. We're faced with tons of advice about what we should or shouldn't be doing, but the reality is that we struggle to put it into practice. This series will help women identify the blockers that are holding them back and unlock the small changes that will help them get the results that are eluding them.

Bev was one of the first volunteers to sign up for this. After losing 5 stone and falling in love with exercise, a couple of special holidays, Covid and then menopause, all conspired to throw her off track.

We all know we should eat healthier and get more exercise, but I think the real question that needs answering is how. How do we find the motivation to do these things when we are stressed and have so much to do? In this week's episode I ask Shiela Docker for her take on this question. Sheila is a Health & Wellness Coach who also works with T2 Diabetic Patients through the NHS.

She overhauled her lifestyle in her mid-40s after suffering from chronic health issues for most of her adult life. We discuss what motivates her and get her thoughts on progress not perfection and whether there's room in a healthy diet for treats and enjoyment, and how we navigate the fine line between accepting our bodies as they are now and becoming the best version of ourselves.

When I gave up alcohol, I worried I wouldn't enjoy going out anymore, or that it might even change my relationship with my partner. Thinking about this was too overwhelming, so I just focused on one day at a time. But these are valid worries which could discourage women who are falling out of love with alcohol from trying. But when I met up with Life Coach, Sam Parkinson recently, she had an entirely different perspective to share, how giving up drinking is a gateway into a more adventurous and fulfilling life.

Middle age is a time when we crave change, but our fears can hold us back. Both Sam and I have found that since we've stopped drinking our lives have taken a different turn, making us feel stronger, more confident and even sexier.

In this episode, Sam shares her experiences and explains how important it is to replace the highs you thought you were getting from alcohol, with real highs that have the power to change how you feel about yourself.

We all want to feel better and be healthier, but the reality is that many of us simply don't have the time, energy or headspace to change. So the big question is, how do we overcome the overwhelm? In the second episode of Thrive After 40 I am joined by Jane Fox, a solution-focused hypnotherapist. Together we discuss the different types of thoughts and thinking patterns that keep us stuck in our heads and how to take back ownership of our minds so we can clear out the clutter and free up the mental energy to take on new things, or just allow ourselves to feel more relaxed. If you've been trying to make changes to your lifestyle but have struggled with overwhelm, you'll learn simple yet highly effective techniques that you can put into practice straight away.

At some point our lives will change. We’ll want a change of career, or to retire or go part-time, and our kids will leave home, or at least wont need us 24/7. I wanted to be able to make the most of this opportunity and this meant taking care of my my physical health and finding freedom from the things that held me back; an unhealthy relationship with food, being unhappy with my body and fear of change. Thrive after 40 is the journey we take to get ourselves in great physical and mental shape so we can fully embrace the second half of our lives