Why exercise feels harder at certain stages of life

There are phases of life where exercise feels easy and automatic.

And there are phases where it suddenly feels… hard.

That can happen after having a baby.

When you’re raising a busy family.

When work is relentless.

During illness or recovery.

Or when your body shifts in ways you didn’t expect.

For me, it showed up in midlife.

There was a time when exercise felt effortless.

I was a proper gym-bunny.

Structured workouts. High intensity. Pushing hard.

I didn’t overthink it. I just did the thing.

Then menopause arrived.

My weight crept up (then climbed).

My energy dipped.

My mood shifted.

And the exercise routine I’d always relied on quietly disappeared.

What made it harder wasn’t just my body changing - it was my mindset.

I kept trying to go back to younger-me’s workouts.

Same intensity. Same expectations. Same “just push through” approach.

And it never stuck.

What finally changed things for me was accepting this: different seasons of life need different approaches.

Not weaker.

Not lazy.

Not less committed.

Just more realistic.

Here’s what worked when I stopped fighting my body and started working with it:

• Less punishing workouts

• Consistency over intensity

• Mobility became non-negotiable

• Routines that fit real life

A plan that fits my actual energy and capacity.

Exercise doesn’t need to look the same at every stage of life.

It just needs to meet you where you are. If you want support that actually fits real life, I’m an online wellness coach and I help you build sustainable habits around food, movement, energy and mindset through my 1:1 online coaching.