A member brought up a really good point about classifying food items and macronutrient food groups. Thank you @Elizabeth Wong!!! Test your knowledge with these "tricky" classifications: 1. What macronutrient (protein, carb, fat) is milk? Hint: this is a trick question 2. Name a carbohydrate sparse veggie? A more carbohydrate rich veggie? Being able to quickly classify foods and eyeball portions reduces decision fatigue. When your nutrition system runs on autopilot, you feel better, look better, and have more time and energy for the rest of your life.

When we’re building new habits, the first lever we pull is measurement. The brain changes through feedback. Measuring something creates awareness, and awareness is what allows patterns to shift. This isn’t about perfection or pressure—it’s just data. Are you choosing to measure anything? It doesn’t have to be scale weight or body measurements. It could be something like morning energy when you wake up. You don’t need to share it here—just keep a record for yourself. If you want more ideas for behavior-based habit building and what to measure, drop a comment below.

Growing up, fitness for me meant a certain look. Thin. Toned. Strength wasn’t the goal. External approval was. In my late teens, immaturity mixed with a need for control turned into an eating disorder. In my twenties, when I found weight lifting, I built muscle quickly and took the “manly” comments as criticism. Instead of feeling proud, I learned to make my strength smaller so I wouldn’t draw attention. I lost out on a lot of joy that way. After kids, I came back to lifting purely for aesthetics. I got leaner. Stronger. I hit what many people call the goal. Around 20 percent body fat, perkier glutes, visible abs. And I was still unsettled. That’s when I realized the stress I was carrying was a learned pattern. Years of overthinking and trying to control outcomes had been grinding me down. Perimenopause, shifting hormones, and poor sleep made it impossible to ignore that something deeper was off. Many women tie their sense of worth to performance. They believe they have to earn rest, confidence, or self improvement by doing more for others first. That belief is what keeps them stuck in cycles of starting and stopping. When I started working on nervous system regulation, learning how to move between stress and recovery more intentionally (therapy, introspection, meditation/prayer, etc), things began to change. My lower back pain eased. My sleep slowly improved. Eating well and exercising stopped feeling like chores and started feeling like a privilege. Weight loss, strength, and feeling better in your body are solid goals. Goals that last when the stress patterns underneath are addressed. Just like we clean our homes, offices, and cars, it can help to clear out outdated stress responses and beliefs too. What are you in a season of cleaning right now? Let me know if this resonates!💪🏽❤️

I’ve never been a great sleeper, even as a kid. Part personality, part wiring. About eight years ago, I weaned myself off prescription sleep medications. Then perimenopause, along with my enjoyment of wine, added another layer of complexity to my sleep quality. Recently, I was talking with @Zona Lord and @Michele Hunt (Michele- Nicola also takes Magnesium Threonate in her sleep stack) about sleep and HRT, which prompted me to revisit some educational content- an interview with Mary Claire Haver and brain and performance specialist Louise Nicola. I am noticing women in their 70s who are not only under-muscled but also experiencing signs of dementia. This is sad. I would like to believe this is mostly preventable. Using NotebookLM, I created an infographic summary for you all. I double checked the accuracy. AI error Note: “BONF,” it should be BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). I had to dig back into my pharmacy school biology brain for that one. Curious if any of this feels relevant to you right now. Let me know.

The answer isn’t motivation. It's habits. Every new habit starts as an effortful skill. We learn it. We practice it. We repeat it. Over time, that conscious effort becomes automatic...just like driving. Habits turn into systems. Systems run on autopilot. Autopilot protects our energy and attention. One simple framework: Trigger → Behavior → Reward 👉 What’s one small trigger + behavior you’ll implement this week? Drop it below and we'll hold each other accountable.