How do you overcome the disappointment and frustration at not seeing any benefits from exercising, so that you do not feel less tired, you do not feel better in any way mentally or physically, you do not lose any weight etc. Basically failing to achieve what you had hoped or anything else and just carrying on as a habit even if it feels pointless.

I’d never had an issue with keeping weight or seeing muscle tone when sticking to a workout routine until I started approaching perimenopause. Then, nothing that had always worked seemed to make a difference, and it was extremely discouraging. I started looking online to see if others had this issue and discovered it is fairly common. So I changed my mindset and habits. I added taking vitamins (multivitamins with iron, B vitamins that include B1) to my daily routine. I make sure to drink green tea and water every day (and squeeze fresh lemon and lime into at least one glass of water—you can add a little stevia if it’s too sour). I decided that being strong is more important than looking model-fit like when I was 20 or even 35. I use a 7-minute exercise app to make sure I fit in at least a short bit of exercise each day that targets different areas of my body. I add a variety of other exercise (whether exercise bike, walking, swimming, or rowing machine) to round it out most days. And mostly, I started giving myself grace to just be, and to be patient. Slowly, the gains have started to show in my body as well as my body. The satisfaction and sense of fulfillment from sticking to my goals even when I didn’t see immediate results are what got me through that initial frustration. Knowing I can stick to the goals I choose even when there’s no quick gratification is a powerful feeling. Measuring successes by staying true to my daily goals instead of a certain shift in my body or energy level enabled me to keep going until I started seeing those effects I’d been working towards, even though it took longer than I’d hoped.

Because I know that the benefits will come along. Just need persistence. And I feel better, with a sense of accomplishment when I do exercises. There are small victories.