Juggling perimenopause, family, and weight loss goals can feel overwhelming, especially when it seems like you’ve tried every diet under the sun and nothing sticks.

In the previous episode, we talked about the nuts and bolts of nutrition and fitness strategy—the "what" of losing weight.

Today, we are digging into the "how," and it has nothing to do with your gym membership.

I’m taking you off the "DIY" treadmill and putting you on my therapist’s couch (metaphorically, of course!). As a certified mindset coach (and a former therapist!), I know that your brain, thoughts, and feelings are the primary drivers of your success or failure. If you feel resentful about cooking separate meals or hopeless because the scale won't budge, those feelings are exactly why you shut down and quit.

In this episode, I’m sharing the exact 5-step framework I use with my private coaching clients in The Method. We’ll talk about why your "primal brain" is wired to keep you safe and predictable (which usually means keeping you stuck and overweight) and how to rewire those neural pathways so healthy habits become your new default.

Grab a notebook and a pen, friend. This is a high-level coaching session designed to help you stop hiding and start healing.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

📌 Why "safe and predictable" thinking is the biggest obstacle to your transformation.

📌 How to identify the specific feelings (like inadequacy and resentment) that are sabotaging your progress.

📌 The 5-step goal-setting framework that puts your mindset at the forefront.

📌 How to redefine failure, and what it looks like

Links Mentioned and Ways To Connect

🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social
🥑 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
🧠 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Willpower or Motivation

When it comes to midlife weight loss, you probably think you need "more discipline" or "more willpower". Not true!

What is true is that your strategy isn't built for a busy, midlife mom in perimenopause. Most of us try to DIY our way through nutrition, diets, and workouts.

But when it seems like you've tried everything, but nothing is working to help you improve your health, or to lose weight, what are you supposed to do?

I’ve lost 65 pounds in my late 40s, and I can say this with 100% certainty: you don't need a fancy gym membership or a lifestyle overhaul that takes hours of weekend meal prep, in order to lose weight.

You need a hormone-informed, realistic strategy that fits into your actual life—the one with the meetings, the kids’ sports schedules, and the "invisible load" you're already carrying.

Today is Part 1 of a two-part series. We are digging into the tactical side: the exact fitness and nutrition shifts that support your body when estrogen is on the decline. We’re keeping it simple, straight-forward, and effective.


What you’ll learn in this episode:

📌 The Cortisol Conumdrum: Why your favorite HIIT or intense cardio class might actually be increasing inflammation and stalling your weight loss.

📌 The Home Advantage: Why I recommend starting your weightlifting journey in your living room (plus the 5 sets of dumbbells you actually need).

📌 Your Winning Breakfast: Why changing this one meal first provides the "biggest bang for your buck" in regulating blood sugar and killing cravings.

📌 Time Blocking Success: How to schedule your health so it doesn’t get pushed to the back burner by 3 p.m.

💫 Be sure to follow The Family Fork on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss next week's episode! Part 2: 5-Step Framework for Success.

Links Mentioned and Ways To Connect:

💪 Start working out at home TODAY with my favorite library of programs
🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social
🥑 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
🧠 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Willpower or Motivation

Feel like you're already "behind" in the New Year before it’s even gotten off the ground? This episode is for you!

Happy New Year, my friend! If you’re listening and feeling less "reinvigorated and refreshed" and more like "exhausted midlife mom just trying to survive," I want you to take a deep breath. You are exactly where you need to be.

In this episode, I’m scrapping the "how-to" to give us both what we actually need: a real-talk pep talk. I’m sharing how the messages you hear in January can lead you to feeling like a failure, when it comes to your midlife health and wellness.

I'm breaking down the toxic myths that tell you you're "behind" if you didn't start on January 1st. I’ll explain why your body doesn't have an expiration date for health. and how your brain’s "freeze response" is actually what’s stopping you (hint: it's not your lack of willpower!)

We’re moving away from the "all or nothing" mentality and leaning into the "bare minimum" so you can actually start living a vibrant, anti-inflammatory life in the middle of your messy, beautiful, chaotic reality.

Inside this episode:

📌 Why January 1st is arbitrary, and how you can focus on your health anytime

📌 Borrowing from your professional side, let's stop firing yourself from your own wellness goals.

📌 How to identify the "when" stories that give you permission to procrastinate.

📌 The biological reason your nervous system sees big goals as a threat (and how to lower the stakes).


Links Mentioned and Ways To Connect:

🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social
🥑 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
🧠 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Willpower or Motivation

At the beginning of a new year, you probably feel that familiar nudge. You know the one: the "New Year, New Me" excitement where you buy the fancy apps, the matching yoga pants, and print out a meal plan so organized it belongs in a museum.

But let’s be real—by Valentine’s Day, those yoga pants are being dressed up for "casual office wear", and your motivation has completely evaporated.

I see you, and I get it. You are a smart, driven, high-achieving woman managing a career and a massive "invisible load" at home. But let's get honest about why your health resolutions have failed in the past. (Spoiler alert: It’s not because you lack willpower or discipline.)

The problem is a flawed strategy that doesn't account for the reality of who you are as a professional and busy mom in perimenopause or menopause.

In this episode I break down the six traps that keep midlife moms stuck in a cycle of frustration and self-blame. We’re moving past the "all-or-nothing" mentality, and taking advantage of my secret weapon: the Bare Minimum Plan. We talk about how to stop punishing yourself for holiday cookies and cocktails, and how to start rewiring your brain so healthy habits actually feel effortless.


In this episode:

✅ The Tool Trap: Why downloading fitness and nutrition apps won’t balance your hormones.

✅ The Planning Lie: How to tell if your color-coded Google Calendar is acutally your way of procrastinating.

✅ The Bare Minimum Plan: How to stay on track even when life goes off the rails.

✅ Rewiring Your Brain: Why a mindset framework is the missing link in every diet you’ve ever tried.

✅ Data vs. Drama: How to look at post-holiday weight gain without the guilt, shame, or punishment.

Links Mentioned and Ways To Connect:

The Perimenopause Weight Loss Method

🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social
🥑 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
🧠 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Willpower or Motivation

Want to know the truth about my "healthiest year ever"? It didn't look anything like I had planned.

Maybe your health and wellness goals went off the rails this year, too?

You are definitely not alone. I started this year with a physique coach, ready to get into the best shape of my life for my 50th year. But life decided to hand me a cancer diagnosis, multiple surgeries, and the loss of my dad instead.

In this episode of The Family Fork, I’m giving you a raw, unfiltered look at what my year really looked like. I’m not going to tell you I nailed my nutrition every day (spoiler: I definitely didn't). Instead, we’re digging into the reality of survival mode. I’m sharing the three areas where I actually surprised myself with success, and the three shortcomings that taught me the hardest lessons.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

📌 Slow Down vs Stop: Why taking a "pit stop" isn't quitting, and how cancer diagnosis forced me to understand what rest actually means.

📌 Movement for Mental Health: How walking to the mailbox became my biggest physical win of the year.

📌 Clean Eating with a Side of Sabatoge: A candid look at this year's struggle with sugar (hello, Hershey's Kisses 🙄) and how it impacts gut health and inflammation.

📌 Aaaahh, Stress Management: Why I bought myself a watercolor set and how 45-minutes of creating can lower your cortisol.

Whether you’re navigating a health issues, perimenopause, or just the overwhelming invisible load of midlife, this episode is your permission slip to stop trying to be perfect, and to start finding grace.


Links Mentioned and Ways to Connect:

🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social
🥑 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
🧠 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Willpower or Motivation

If you're ready to finally ditch the diets, for something more sustainable (and that gives better results!), listen up!

When I tell women I lost 65 pounds in my late 40s, their first question is always "How?" And while I could list the diet swaps and workouts, that's not the full story, is it? We both know that when life hits the fan—solo parenting for six weeks, caring for a sick parent, recovering from surgery—the "basics" are the first thing to go. If weight loss were just a simple nutrition plan, you’d have already reached your goal!

The truth is, my lasting success came from going far beyond the basics. It wasn't just about the food and movement.

It was about the profound identity shift and the tools I developed to stay on track when things got hard. It’s what allowed me to stick with my health journey through a hysterectomy, breast cancer, and all the day-to-day chaos that comes with midlife motherhood.

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain to share the five most impactful things I did to not only lose 65 pounds, but to keep it off for good. These are the non-negotiable strategies that will help you pull through when life inevitably goes off the rails.

In This Episode:

✅ The ONLY Thing You Need for Long-Term Success: It isn't your meal plan, but learning to be brutally consistent (and hear how I finally taught myself to do it).


✅ The Sneaky Thing Sabatoging Your Efforts: The "bites, licks, and tastes" (BLTs) you're conveniently forgetting to track, and how this simple act of self-honesty can change your results.

✅ Why Your Feelings Are Derailing Your Weight Loss: You MUST recognize your feelings—like resentment or frustration—because they directly drive your results. I’ll explain how this works and how I used a simple framework to stop that cycle.

✅ Stop Looking for the “Quick Fix”: Why those fat burners, peptides, or latest fad diets are actually keeping you stuck, and why consistency over time is the only sustainable path.


Let's ditch the frustration and embrace a new way of approaching your health. I promise, weight loss is possible for you in midlife, but you're going to have to make a few mindset shifts!

Links Mentioned and Ways to Connect:
🥑 Component Cooking for Busy Moms: Check out The Supper Club meal plan membership to see how I cook just 3 nights a week!
📌 Ready to apply the consistency framework to your life? Learn how to do that here!
🙋‍♀️ Work with Me
⭐️ Connect on Social

You likely know by now that anti-inflammatory nutrition in midlife is a non-negotiable. But let's be honest, we all get tripped up when it comes to traveling!

Whether you're heading off for a family vacation, a holiday visit, or a packed work trip, it can feel impossible to stick to your healthy eating habits when you’re away from your own kitchen.

And I hear you thinking, "Ashley, why bother? I'm supposed to be having fun!"

But when you're off your regular schedule, moving less, and forgetting to drink water (you know you do!), your body gets seriously inflamed and puffy. This leads to exhaustion, headaches, and just plain feeling lousy. That is no way to enjoy a vacation, and it’s certainly no way to be on your A-game for a work trip!

In this episode, I'm walking you through the simple, actionable steps you can take to stick with your anti-inflammatory nutrition, even while traveling. This system works whether you're staying at a five-star hotel, an Airbnb, or crashing at your sister's house.

A little bit of pre-planning will save you so much time and energy, allowing you to be your most vibrant, present self for your family and friends. And spoiler alert: you're going to have to make a mindset shift and advocate for what you need!

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✅ The 3 Items I Never Travel Without: I’ll share my absolute favorite travel essentials, including a lightweight water bottle and the one food that instantly boosts energy and kicks cravings.

✅ My Anti-Inflammatory Snack List: Discover how to make your own healthy trail mix for the airport, other snacks that travel well, plus the single-serve dark chocolate that cures your late-night cravings (bye, Milky Ways!)

✅ Your Destination Grocery List: The exact list of packable, anti-inflammatory items you need to order to your hotel or Airbnb to fuel your body with zero stress.

✅ The Mindset Shift to Unlock Success: Why your fear of being a "bother" to your family is holding you back, and how to advocate for your health so you can be your most energetic, best self. (Hint: Nobody is thinking about your food as much as you are!)


Links Mentioned and ways to connect:

📌 Get the extra anti-inflammatory travel guides inside the Supper Club
📌 Tap here to work with me
📌 Mindset Frameworks to stop relying on motivation
📌 Connect on social

Raise your hand if you've tried everything in perimenopause to lose weight, but nothing works? You’re tracking your steps, eating salads, maybe even choking down dry chicken and broccoli for dinner. Believe me, I get it! I've been there, and I hear this same frustration from busy, midlife moms every single day.

As we creep into perimenopause and beyond, losing weight becomes a whole new ballgame...it is harder, but not impossible!

While you think you’ve tried every single thing, the truth is that your brain can be sneaky! It can actually blind you to simple, available solutions you haven't even given a fair shot.

In this episode, I’m giving you a much-needed kick-in-the-pants with a Pop Quiz! I’ve identified 10 major reasons that are likely stopping your weight loss, even when you think you’re doing everything perfectly.

We’re turning that frustration into data, my friend, because once you know the why, you can finally figure out the HOW. We're diving into the nutrition, the workouts, and the most crucial part: the mindset shifts you need to make healthy habits effortless. Grab a pen and paper, keep score as you listen, and don't forget to grab the printable quiz (link below!) so you can truly own your results.

What You'll Learn:

⭐️ Wrong Plan, Wrong Results: Why your go-to meal plans and recipes from the internet are actually promoting inflammation and making the scale creep up, not down .

⭐️ Planning Is Procrastination: How collecting endless recipes and meal plans is just your brain's sneaky way of avoiding the real work (and what to do instead!) .

⭐️ The Hard-to-Swallow Pill: Why "following your meal plan" Monday through Friday is derailing your efforts the rest of the week.

⭐️ The Biggest Miss: Why having the "right" meal plan isn't enough, and why understanding your mindset is the true secret weapon to lifelong weight loss .

Links mentioned and ways to connect:

📌 FREE Quiz: Why You Can't Lose Weight in Perimenopause
📌 Free 21-Day Anti-Inflammatory Meal Plan
📌 Work with Me
📌 How I Cook Just 3 Nights/Week
📌 Mindset Framework to Stop Relying On Motivation
📌 Connect on Social