Menopause affects every woman differently, and the sooner you understand its unique impact on you, the better you can prepare for it! For some women, it may feel like a sudden earthquake, and for others, it could be a gradual build. BUT it never has to be a life sentence! Consider today's episode your guide to surviving menopause as I share with you the powerful things I'm doing to survive (and thrive!) through my journey. 

Keep in mind that the transition into menopause can start as early as your mid-30s, so it's better to get ahead of the symptoms before they start to disrupt your routine. Today, I cover everything from changing your mindset about menopause to tips on nutrition and tailoring your workout to the symptoms of menopause. So, if you're struggling with hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog, or energy issues, this episode is for you! 

Want FREE access to my brand new four-week strength training plan, Strength Without Stress? Head over to hollyperkins.com/review where you can upload a screenshot of your review and gain immediate access. This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197, so be sure to grab it now!

Topics Covered:

• My transition into menopause 
• Reframing your mindset around menopause 
• Tips for changing your habits 
• Why you need to show yourself kindness 
• Tailoring your fitness to menopause 
• How to find the right intensity in your workouts
• The importance of reducing alcohol intake 
• Taking bioidentical hormone replacement therapy

Resources Mentioned:

• Listen to the first 21 episodes of Holly Perkins Health Podcast HERE
• Check out Lift to Get Lean HERE 
• See the research on weight gain in women at midlife HERE
• See the research on alcohol, DNA methylation, and cancer HERE 
• See the research on the impact of estrogens and their receptors on immunity and inflammation during infection HERE 
• See the research on weight, shape, and body composition changes at menopause HERE

Follow Me: 

Find me on Instagram: @hollyperkins

Learn more on my website: hollyperkins.com

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/HollyPerkinsFitness/

Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.

Menopause is not for the faint of heart. For some of us, it can be an earthquake, and for others, it's a slow and gradual as summer into fall. If you've got underlying health issues related to inflammation, it gets even trickier. Here is what I am doing now to survive menopause and some things you may want to consider adopting if you too are in this crazy season of life. If you're struggling with hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog, or energy issues, this episode is for you, regardless of your age. If you feel like your body has gone rogue without your permission and is changing before your eyes, I've got some powerful things that could help. And if you're not sure if your symptoms are related to perimenopause or the menopausal transition, but you're experiencing an increase in body fat, or body weight, stay with me for this episode. In this episode, you'll learn the most powerful things I am doing to survive menopause so that you can feel my strategy. And these tips will help you even if you're younger than me or have already conquered menopause, you'll learn what I'm doing with my nutrition and workouts as well as supplement strategies and one major mental emotional shift that I'm making, I am proud to say that I am surviving this crazy time, and I've got some super inspiring information for you if you are struggling, I believe that menopause is a prompt that your body needs new habits to support the hormone shift that's happening. I don't believe that it's a death sentence. And the symptoms are not mandatory. If you're struggling, it's really important to know that it doesn't have to be this way. There are so many things that you can do to feel great and feel young, you deserve to feel awesome and enjoy your life, you may simply need to start taking new actions because the body that you have now is, well it's new, what you used to do may not work anymore as you age, it's not that your body is broken, or that it's just age, per se. It's that your previous practices are broken, and they're not working for you. You simply need new strategies.

So let's get into this incredible episode, so that I can share with you the powerful things that I am doing to survive menopause. But first storytime, I didn't know it at the time, my hormones really started shifting for me around the age of 44. It probably started sooner than that. But 44 was when I got walloped with the mysterious symptoms, and back then had no idea that it was linked to a decline in estrogen. All these years later, I now know that's what was happening. If you know my story, you know, it has been a rocky road for the past few years. Now that I'm on the other side of it, and healthy again, my doctors and I acknowledge that many of my struggles stemmed from an environmental trigger. So in my situation, it was toxic mold exposure from the apartment that I was living in, compounded by a decline in estrogen. I didn't know it at the time. But and this is big, estrogen is protective. And it's a powerful anti inflammatory. As your estrogen begins to decline, inflammation automatically increases. And this is why we see a drastic increase in diseases in women around and after menopause. Most of the time, those diseases are linked with silent inflammation. Now listen, if you are in your 30s, mid 30s, late 30s. And you feel like this word menopause is so far away from you. Listen up, because that was the mistake that I made. Let's take this term menopause off the table. Because really, it's not a singular event. It's a transition. And that transition research shows starts as early as your mid 30s. So if you're starting to face some mysterious health issues, which I'll get to in a moment, this could be the sign or the prompt, that your hormones are starting to shift and it's time to kind of sit up and listen and pay attention. This is super important to understand. So I hope you'll stay with me here. All of my personal health challenges are inflammation related. I know this I had been working With numerous doctors for the past handful of years, I've done a shocking amount of blood work. And we've realized that I was doing things at the time, that didn't help my body with the changing landscape, I had habits and behaviors that while they worked for me really well, up until the age of about 4445. The Changing Landscape meant that those habits, my lifestyle, habits, diet and exercise worked then, but because of inflammation, they were starting to cause problems. So lucky for you. My struggles are providing a new level of education. And now I'm hopefully able to help you with some of this information and the research to support it. So let's get into it.

So it's important to note that from time to time, I like to share a little insight into my own personal journey. That being said, the vast majority of content and information that I share with you here is based on research, it's based on my education is based on my degree in exercise, physiology and nutrition, all of my credentials, all of my certifications and my 30 years of working with people. So keep that in mind that I wanted today's episode to be a little personal. And like I said, I am going to be backing it up with research. So the first thing and probably the most powerful thing of all, that I am doing to survive this crazy time is to look at it not as my body breaking down, or age or losing my youth. I was looking at it that way. But things really started to change when I changed my mind. Instead, I'm looking at it as a prompt. To change how I'm treating my body. I often hear women talk about menopause with the tone of losing something or their body is failing them or that there isn't anything that can be done about it because of a cycle of life. And I hear this all the time from clients, women, anecdotally friends of mine, it's as if Woo, menopause is happening to me, and it is this sentence. And there's nothing I can do about it. But that's actually not true. If it were true, all women would suffer through these years. And yet, many women don't. Some women have strong symptoms, and some women, it's just a gentle breeze. My client, Marlene sailed through menopause without a single hot flash. And it wasn't necessarily because of her habits and her lifestyle choices. Some of it was just her body. But it really speaks to the fact that it's not written in stone, how you're going to go through this, and the symptoms that you have to confront. And while it is a life cycle, and a fact that you can't control, there are so many things that we can do about it, it's a fact your estrogen is going to decline to the point where your body stops producing it, that will happen. There's nothing you can do to produce more estrogen. All you can do is optimize all of your other hormones and body chemicals and biology in general. So that you reduce the symptoms that you're experiencing. Each one of us will experience different things. And yes, there is a common through line like hot flashes, trouble sleeping, digestive issues, mood swings, and things like that. What I'm seeing in my practice is that the women who are suffering the most are the ones who need the most drastic changes. I'm a great example of that. I really needed to change my habits.

I think for me, there was a bit of a spiritual context as well. The phrase that played in my mind and still does is the universe has shaken you to awaken you is what happened to me, although it was more like the universe had to wallop me in the face to get me to sit up straight, and take a good hard look at how I was living my life and my habits. My body needed something different, and that's why I had symptoms. When I assess other women who aren't suffering too badly. I have an internal checklist of habits and things that I'm running through. And most of the time the women who I notice aren't suffering too bad are the ones ones with habits that support this life stage. Symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, belly fat and sleep disturbances don't have to happen, even if they're happening for you. The wonderful thing here is to reframe how you're thinking about this life stage, and consider being open to adopting new habits, and see how you feel. This one has been huge for me. And while it might be maybe a little TMI, I think it's relevant. And I think it's important to know, I'm still menstruating, and therefore I'm not officially in menopause. And my symptoms keep getting better, I sleep great. If I keep an eye on my caffeine, that's super important for me. And I only have like minor shifts in body temperature, which really aren't a big deal, I would argue, they actually aren't even real hot flashes, I just got a little warm for a moment. And then sometimes I get a little cool. Which by the way, these things are also reflective of thyroid issues, which I do have more on that in a moment. Just two years ago, I had major symptoms. In fact, more like four years ago, I was having major symptoms, my symptoms are getting better. And yet, I am still technically Peri menopausal. I'll share more details in a moment. But for now, I just want you to consider looking at this life stage differently.

The second powerful thing I am doing to survive this season is showing myself and my body kindness. Wow, what a concept. Imagine that. If you're anything like me and the women that I work with, you're probably really tough on yourself. When I started looking at and really listening to the tone and the vibes that I was giving myself, I would say it was downright abusive. The more I look at it, the more I tend to have compassion for myself, because it was really downright mean. I have a tendency to be so mean to myself and at times to my body. I wish that I was alone in this. But since I'm in the business of coaching other women and really getting to hear their deep, darkest secrets, I know that this is very common for a lot of us. I'm curious if you can relate? Do you get mad at yourself or reprimand yourself for doing things that you think you shouldn't do? And I wonder, could you maybe be like I used to be where you know you're reprimanding yourself, but you're not really paying attention to the real tone and quality and depth of meanness in those either silent or verbal reprimands of yourself. Or if you don't like what you see in the mirror, do you have some kind of internal reaction that feels negative? For me, it was like, if I didn't like what I saw in the mirror. And let me just say that unless you have nice things to say about yourself, there's a really good chance that you're actually whispering or vibing, something critical, I invite you to really pay attention and listen to the things that you whisper to yourself or that you say about yourself or your body. Something I do with my private coaching clients is that I start off our coaching calls by giving the client time to tell me all about her wins. I asked her to tell tell me about the good stuff, the victories, the things that are working, the things that she's proud of, and the things that she wants to acknowledge about herself. And this is a really hard thing for some women to do. And some women can't even do it. I'll say, Hey, tell me all the things that are working. And she'll say, Well, I drank too much wine last week, but I didn't get my workouts in. Can you see what happened there? She couldn't even just celebrate the win. She had to detract from it by first starting off with a well I drank too much wine last week. And a lot of us do that. Do you do this? I really encourage you to kind of start to look at yourself talk because through these years of hormonal fluctuations, it's not going to serve you very well. So often my clients start off with self criticism, when what I was asking for were the wins Your body is listening. Your soul is listening. How on earth can you expect to feel good, and happy and joyful and energized. If you're talking to yourself like a mortal enemy, this has been a challenging practice for me. But I see huge shifts. When I do things like get out of the shower and say something nice about my body, or say something nice to my body. And if I'm not happy with where my body is, even, let's say objectively, all at least say something really nice about myself. And the things that I do respect about myself, I'll say loving unkind things to and about myself, rather than just saying, hey, my body weight or my body fat is higher than I want it to be right now, that is a fact. I don't love where my fitness is right now. That is a fact. But it's not a reflection of who I am as a human. And instead, I take a moment to say, Okay, this is where the body is right now. And at some point in the future, it's going to be in a better place. But you know what, I'm an awesome person. I'm kind, I'm thoughtful. I'm loving, I'm conscious. And I like a lot of things about myself.

I also check myself when I'm eating and exercising to make sure that I'm being my best friend, and I choose clothes that fit and that I feel good in that I look good in. I don't look at my skinny jeans now and get mad at myself because they don't fit. I know there's gonna be a time when the time is right, I'm gonna get back into them. Because that is where I like to be. That is when I feel invincible. And it's not about the skinny jeans. It's about. I'm about performance, I'm about physical performance. And this is why I teach what I do. I don't teach it from a perspective of there's something lacking or that I need to be better, it's really, I want to be optimally healthy. And I know that when my fitness level isn't where I where it needs to be. That is a reflection of my health. And I have some pairs of jeans that tend to reflect when I am really at ideal body composition, when I'm eating ideally. And when I'm exercising to the amount and degree that really serves my body, I know that I'll get myself back to my fighting body composition, and my favorite jeans will fit again. But I don't live in the clothes that hide my body or feel loose or only wear leggings because they're comfortable and not tight. I say nice things about where me and my body are right now, if that makes sense. And this is huge. So I so encourage you to try it or at least pay attention to how you are talking to yourself and about yourself. When you notice that your health or your body or your energy, your eating habits are not where you think they should be.

The third thing I'm doing is spending more of my exercise minutes each week on strength training, and doing only the minimum effective dose of steady state heart rate based cardio. This is something I talk about a lot around here. And it really does require some specificity and how we talk about it because it's important because it's all relative, right? So I am doing only two sessions each week that are true steady state cardio, where my heart rate is above 70%. Now I don't go much higher than about 75 to 80% of my theoretical maximum heart rate. I feel best when I keep it at about 70%. My top priority every week is three strength workouts religiously. And some weeks that's all I do other than walking, I do get outside and walk for 35 to 45 minutes every day, pretty much every single day. But I don't count that as fitness because I'm really just outside walking with a dog to get fresh air to be outside. It's so good for my mood. It's good for energy and recovery. But my heart rate doesn't really get up. So to me that's more akin to great things you can do for your health, your mood, your lifestyle. You can chalk that up to getting your steps in each day, but it's not really it doesn't really check the box for fitness. The fourth thing that I'm doing in this time expands on the above I've also reduced the length and intensity of my strength workouts. Now listen, this one may or may not apply for you. So it's really important to understand this concept of intensity.

If you read my book lift to get lean, I teach you that you've got to find the right intensity in your strength training workouts in order to actually improve your muscle and therefore improve your body composition, which is what it's all about. After 30 years of coaching women, I noticed that about 75% of women aren't actually working hard enough in their strength training to elicit a response. So let's talk about what it means to work hard enough. Because it's subjective. For each one of us. It's important that the last two reps of every set of every workout are hard. First, you've got to be following a professionally created strength training plan. And I mean, professionally created in that it was created by someone who is credentialed and truly actually is a bonafide expert in strength training programming for women. That plan is going to tell you how many reps how many sets how much rest, you have to follow a well designed program first, then you want to find your weight loads, where the last two reps of every single set are hard. Okay, so what does hard mean? Because it's objective, my version of hard might be very different than your version of hard, there are shades of hard. So another way to think of it is by using an RPE scale, you've probably heard me talk about this before, an RPE scale is called a rating of perceived exertion. And there's a high correlation to using the scale to your actual intensity. Now we could get super sciency and technical about the Borg RPE scale and what it means exactly, but what I found is that it's easier and it's faster to just think of it as a scale from one to 10. So on this imaginary scale from one to 10, one is where you are laying on your couch, almost falling asleep on a Sunday, and you are just blissful and peaceful and it couldn't get easier. And a 10 is if I made you go outside and sprint five miles right now it's the hardest thing you could possibly imagine. So on that scale from one to 10, during your strength workouts, but more specifically, during your repetitions during your sets, you want to be around a seven or an eight for each of those exercises in your workout. Every exercise, every rep at the end of that set, you should be achieving somewhere around a seven to an eight, total summation of effort. How hard is it in general? And it's really just sort of a knee jerk snap decision in terms of how hard does this does this feel. If it feels like a seven to an eight, you're in the right place you found the right weight load and that is the definition of hard that we're going for. And if you're part of the 25% like me, who tend to work too hard or push too hard, you will most likely need to ease up during your perimenopause menopausal transition ears, which by the way, like I said, can start in your mid to late 30s. For me, I've been working a bit lighter in the gym now, but still finding that edge. My definition of hard is closer to a seven where it used to be closer to an eight or maybe even a nine. You want to keep in mind that muscle soreness is inflammation. It's good inflammation, but you want to keep an eye on it. My intention right now is that I am not sore after my strength workouts. If I have too hard of a workout or if I go in with too much caffeine and I get sore the next day it wrecks me. My goal is that I want to feel like I worked out but soreness isn't really a big factor. The one to two days after my workout. I feel like I worked. My muscles definitely feel like they did something but I don't feel overtly sore. If you're finding that you're always sore or always tired this Want is super important for you ease up on your workouts, but still ensure that you're working hard enough. More specifically on the last two reps of every single set.

The next thing I'm doing number five is to reduce alcohol. Now, a little backstory for you, because I think it's really important, from about 2018 to 2019 through 2022, because of my health issues, I rarely drank alcohol, it affected my health so much, and I would feel so awful. So back then, literally, I would have one drink once a week on a Saturday night. And I knew that on Sundays, I was going to have to kind of nurse myself back from that because I wouldn't be feeling well. So historically, I've never been someone who drinks much alcohol. And in case you just happen to miss the memo, I happen to find Mr. Right last year and 2022. And so when Dave and I met, we just got married in June of this year 2023. And when we met, it was definitely a celebration, the past year has been a little more splurge, gee, for me, we've been having fun, we've been traveling, we like to have a cocktail, Dave drinks more than I do. And so we've been having fun. And over the past year, I've been drinking, definitely more alcohol than I usually do. And boy, it caught up with me and I was feeling awful. So I put my foot down and I said you know what I've got to cut back, I have reduced my alcohol to one drink only, maybe three times per week. Usually it's two times per week. But if I get a little crazy on Saturday night or Friday night, maybe I'll have one drink three different days each week, Max. Keep in mind, it's really important to note here though, especially if you've been in my community for a while, that I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm reducing my alcohol because I want to feel good. And because I want to keep my hormones balanced and I want to sleep well. I want my workouts to be good. I don't want my appetite to be affected the next day. It's important to know that research kind of undoubtedly suggests that alcohol is directly related to an increased incidence of cancer. There are many troubling studies that show this and some even overtly say that alcohol turns on the cancer gene. There have been several studies that show this. I've linked one I think actually maybe two of the studies below if you want to take a look at some of that research. And if you want to read up on the idea of DNA methylation, that is caused by the degradation of alcohol in your body. The problem isn't alcohol itself. It's how it breaks down in your body. There's another study that states that cancer formation, ie carcinogenesis is one of the most significant consequences attributed to alcohol consumption, and approximately 3.6% of all cancer related cases 5% 5.2% In men and 1.7% in women worldwide. As well as 3.5% of all cancer related deaths are related to chronic alcohol drinking, I've linked the study below. What's crazy, though, is the definition of chronic alcohol drinking chronic alcohol drinking a lot of people think means two to three drinks every single night. And the barometer is really low in terms of the definition of what it means to be a chronic drinker. If you drink every week, even if it's one drink a week or two drinks a week, that's technically considered chronic. When I learned that stat. It was sobering, pun intended. So don't be fooled. Alcohol is not a health food. And the truth is, I believe that we really shouldn't be drinking alcohol at all. At some point in my future, I will probably give it up all together. I believe there's going to come a day in the future probably not too far. Some people already do, where we look back on alcohol drinking, like we now look back at cigarettes in the 50s. If you remember, there was a time in the 50s when doctors promoted smoking as good for your brain. And if you are too young to not know that do a quick little Google search. It's scary. There were commercials that promoted smoking.

I'm also someone who is all about moderation and realistic habits. And the truth is if I want a cocktail from time to time, I make that choice in the moment if it's a phase of my life I form feeling pretty healthy, I will probably allow it if I really, really, really want it, and I'm okay with that. But like I said, there's probably going to come a time in the coming 18 months to maybe two years where I quit it all together, if not sooner. I'm just not there yet. And that's okay. So for now, I'm cutting back, because I noticed that my sleep gets impacted big time. And I wake up in the middle of the night with mild anxiety when I drink, and it definitely impacts my sleep, pay attention. If you're someone who does drink alcohol, take a look at your sleep habits. If you are someone who complains asleep issues, you got no business drinking alcohol.

Okay, and the last thing number six that I am doing to survive, and actually I would argue thrive during this life stage is that I am taking bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, and it has been a lifesaver for me. Disclaimer, I'm not an expert on this topic. I am not a doctor, I am not suggesting I am not recommending I am educated more than most other people by nature of my education and experience. And I do work with my clients who are working with their doctors to determine if this is the right choice for them. And if this is something that can be beneficial and helpful. I personally work with two different very incredible doctors and I feel really good about my protocol. And I noticed a huge, huge difference with it. Something we'll be talking about even more going forward is how as estrogen declines for you, inflammation automatically rises. This is a really important concept to understand this estrogen inflammation link, because inflammation is linked with nearly every life threatening disease. And inflammation is most likely why we see a drastic uptick in disease and women after menopause. Estrogen is anti inflammatory and protective. As it declines, which it will you lose your ability to manage the systemic inflammation that's already in your body. Because just like you can't avoid the decline and loss of estrogen. You can't avoid inflammation in your body. This is why we see annoying health concerns starting in your late 30s and early 40s. For me increased systemic inflammation caused digestive issues, which then caused depression and anxiety, thyroid dysfunction. Because oh by the way, estrogen is also super important for the thyroid. And therefore because of these things, I had debilitating exhaustion. For other women, they might see brain fog, skin issues, hair loss, allergies or symptoms like mine. Yes, there are common symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disturbances and mood issues. My intention here is not to promote BioIdentical Hormone Replacement theory, but simply to say that for me, it was the right decision, and it helped reduce my symptoms and improve my health. At this point, I have very few annoying symptoms. And when I do, it's always because of my habits. It's because of my diet, and I know exactly what I need to do. And as soon as I make those lifestyle changes, the symptoms are almost completely gone. I feel great. Each woman is different, and it might not be the right choice for everyone. When I work with clients where it is the right choice, we let the client's hormones specialists call the shots. And then I scan for ways to optimize our hormones and our health through coordinated diet and exercise strategies were most medical doctors fall short. If you're suffering and you suspect that hormone replacement therapy is an option for you, I really encourage you to talk to a medical professional and get a second opinion. Again, part of my intention with today's episode is just to share, like I said, the powerful things that I am doing through my own experience to survive this time.

And there you have it. The six powerful things that I am doing to survive menopause and I am surviving and I am thriving. And you can too. The point of this episode is to remind you that menopause doesn't have to be the brutal earthquake that it is for many women. There are some So many things that you can do to optimize your health and your biology so that you can lessen the symptoms. If you're suffering you can ping me or better yet, reach out to a hormone specialist. A word on this Not all doctors are truly experts in this area. Be sure to seek out someone who specializes in BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy. My doctor is a female GYN and they're non GYN specialized as well. Find an MD who is experienced, please. And if you've already survived menopause, I hope that you will share with us what helped you in the comments below. And stay tuned because at some point, I will be doing another episode on the powerful things you should be doing after menopause if that's more appropriate for you. Menopause is the door to an exciting new chapter and it really can be rewarding and joyful. You deserve to feel awesome and I promise that it's possible for you too. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If so, be sure to rate and leave a review so you can get free access to my four week strength without stress program. Just post a review wherever you'd like to listen, including my website and grab a screenshot before you post then upload that screenshot at Holly perkins.com forward slash review. And stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday next week. Stay strong my friend