Divas That Care Network

Stronger Not Smaller

• Divas That Care Network • Season 15 • Episode 57

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Come and listen to our Host, Tina Spoletini, as she chats with today's guest, Sharleen Cheung, for our “End of Year, Beginning of Me” Podcast Series.
A powerfully themed mini-series helping women close the year with clarity and step into the next one with grounded self-love and vision.

Sharleen Cheung is a Certified Macro Nutrition Coach specializing in perimenopause health and sustainable fat loss. She’s the coach women over 35 turn to when they’re done with diet culture and done being told to just “try harder” during perimenopause. After leaving the corporate grind, she set out to call out the nonsense, bring the science, and help women build real strength and real results without the toxic shortcuts. Her work blends personalized nutrition, strength training, and deep-dive functional testing to uncover the root of stubborn symptoms no one else seems to take seriously. Backed by a powerhouse team of functional practitioners, she’s on a mission to make sure women stop settling for confusion and finally get answers that change everything.

We share why perimenopause isn’t a sentence to “push through” and how eating enough, building muscle, and using functional testing can calm symptoms and restore energy. Sharleen Cheung brings a no-nonsense plan to ditch diet culture and create sustainable fat loss without burnout.

• letting go of perfection and the “shoulds”
• defining the next version of you with vision work
• biggest myths about perimenopause and what actually helps
• under eating, cortisol, and why cardio stops working
• strength training as the midlife multiplier
• functional testing for metabolic, GI, and hormones
• personalized protocols and supplement support
• tracking for awareness, not shame
• protein targets, macro guardrails, and balanced meals
• scale as data, not a verdict
• flexible holiday choices without guilt

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SPEAKER_00:

It's Divas The Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jaunt of inspiration.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to Confidence in Bloom, the podcast that reminds you that confidence isn't about becoming someone new. It's about coming home to yourself. I'm your host, Tina Spellettini, and this season we're embracing the theme End of Year, Beginning of Me. A time to pause, reflect, and let go of what no longer serves you. Together we'll explore real stories and soulful insights to help you quiet that itty bitty shitty committee, release the shoulds that weigh you down, and step into the new year grounded in self-love, clarity, and confidence. Today's conversation is with Charlene Chiang. Charlene is a certified macronutrition coach specializing in perimenopause health and sustainable fat loss. She's the coach women over 35 turn to when they're done with diet culture and done being told to just try harder during perimenopause. After leaving the corporate blind, she set out to call out the nonsense, bring the science, and help women build real strength and real results without the toxic shortcuts. Her work lends personalized nutrition, strength training, and deep dive functional testing to uncover the root of stubborn symptoms no one else seems to take seriously. Backed by a powerhouse team of functional practitioners, she's on a mission to make sure women stop settling for confusion and finally get answers that change everything. Okay, welcome, Char. Thank you. I'm so excited because I know you're gonna just give us like all this juicy, juicy information today. So let's start with. So um, as 2025 is coming to a close, what are you the most proud of for releasing, redefining, or finally saying no to in your own life or health?

SPEAKER_01:

This is a big one. I love this question because I find like I'm a burnt out IT project manager, turned macronutrition coach. And so this year, I think I finally released the idea that I had to do everything the right way and to be successful, right? You were so conditioned to do certain things the right way, and you know, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And so I've just finally come to terms like, hey, you know what? I'm new, kind of in newer to this entrepreneurial ship world, and I'm learning a lot. So I stopped trying to fit into this wellness industry mold and really just doubled down on what actually works for women in real life. And I also redefined what balance looks like for me as a coach because I'm a mom, I'm an entrepreneur. So instead of always chasing that perfection, I built systems and boundaries that support my energy so I can show up stronger for the women I serve. Because I have that IT background, I'm really all about systems to make my job a lot easier. So even incorporating AI where I can and just really setting that up so that this year was just like learning a lot of it, and next year just kind of releasing that it has to, it doesn't always have to be perfect because I am a bit of a perfectionist, and that one's hard to release as well.

SPEAKER_02:

It is, but also okay, so you there's like a few things that you say said there that I loved. So the first thing is the perfectionism, like it depends, like we all define perfection as different, right? Like it's all different to every single person. So what you find perfect may not work for me, right? And so you know, redefining perfectionism is really what you're saying, right? Because I mean, yes, I want things perfect, but that doesn't mean it has to be perfect the way it was when I was working in IT. Exactly. Right. And then I love how you said, you know, working in IT, you're a systems person. So this is one thing that I teach my kids all the time, you know, or tell my kids, whatever you do today, you may think, like you may look at it and go, I'm never gonna do anything with this again. But the reality is 20 years down the road, right, you're starting to do things that you learned because you learned what you learned today. Yes. Yeah right, like customer service. Like there's so many people that say, Oh, I'm terrible. I don't like customer service, I don't want to work in customer, but we're doing customer service every single day with ourselves, with our partners, with our kids, with our neighbors, like that. It's a relationship-building um strength that we all need to build, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly. I love that. I and I I love systems, and so like I like to be organized and you know, know that this is gonna happen because this I'm gonna do it this way. And so I love the whole systems idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, yeah, and I do have ADHD. So without certain systems, I find it triggers my ADHD. Like for me, everything has a place, and if it's not in its place, then I go a little cray cray.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, and and it's there's a bit of a domino effect, don't you find that like okay, so this now is out of place, but you always seem to let everything else around you go. Yes, yeah, I see that with my daughter, right? She can keep things in order, but as soon as she lets one thing slide, everything slides. Yes, right, and then she's a chaotic mess. Yeah, right. It's so true. Yeah, it's so true. Yeah, and I'm sure I mean I don't know a whole lot about ADHD. Like I kind of refuse to admit that she is ADHD. I think that it's just her, you know, her her type, right? Because I know I can I know that she's capable. She just, you know, like like everyone in the world, we're so relaxed.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's that self-discipline that I think that she doesn't have. So women often carry a lot of shoulds. Yeah. Uh, which ones do you let have you let go of personally? And which ones do you see like your clients finally dropping after they work with you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So for me personally, you know, getting into this space of entrepreneurship, like I'm an introvert, and a lot of people that meet me, they're like, I don't see you as an introvert, but getting on social media and and you have to, you know, as an entrepreneur, that's how people get to know me is through social media. That's how they get to trust me. So I really had to let go of the shoulds that women and even myself need to stay small or quiet or agreeable when talking about their bodies, right? I stopped entertaining the idea that I should like tone down my voice or soften the truth to make it more palatable. I'm now like, I'm just gonna say like it is because people need to hear the truth. So I'm done with the belief that you have to overwork also to earn success. Because that's how I kind of got into my burnout in IT corporate project management, is just like the more hours you work, the more successful you were, and the more money you earn. But I kind of released that as well. So this past year really taught me to kind of trust my authority, trust the science, and trust women to handle the truth about their own health as well. So the women that I work with, you know, they kind of like my kind of no nonsense BS sort of coaching that I bring to them because quite often that's the message that they need to hear, right?

SPEAKER_02:

And we're all tired of the BS, right? How many times do we go to a doctor and say, you know, this is my issue? Oh, it's just part of aging, like get used to it. No, it's why? Why does it have to be that way? Don't bullshit with me, right? If you don't know, tell me. I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_01:

It's okay. And and you know, I do have clients that'll ask me certain questions, and if I don't know, I'll say, I don't know, but I'm gonna find out for you, and then I'll go do the research and come back with you know the knowledge that they that they were looking for. But yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that, and that's what's gonna bring clients to you, right? Is that that no BS, you know, but I will find out the truth. Or is at least maybe not the you know, you don't know that you can find out everything they want to know, right? But you can at least find out why it's happening to them. Yes, exactly, exactly. Yep, yep. Oh, that's awesome. I love that. What does stepping into the next version of you look like for women in perimenopause? And how are you stepping into 2026 differently?

SPEAKER_01:

So I'll talk about me first. So I'm stepping and I like the timing of this podcast because we're nearing the end of the this year, right? So for myself, I'm really stepping into this new year with a sharper mission. For a while, I was like, you know, who am I helping? Who am I serving? But I'm 100% clear on who I'm helping based on my own journey. So it's people who have struggled just like me, and I'm doing this with a lot less hesitation. I'm confident in what I do, and I need to show that with the world and share that with the world. I always say, like, be the lighthouse, not the tugboat, right? I love that. The next version of me is gonna lead with clarity, stronger boundaries, and a bigger platform to advocate for women's health. For so for long, I was like, oh, should I say this? And I don't really give a shit. And I don't know if it's like you know, when you hit perimetopause, you don't give two shits anymore. That's kind of where I'm at. Because if if sharing my own struggles and my journey with people are gonna bring light to somebody else's journey who was struggling, then I know that I'm doing the right thing. Absolutely. I'm looking forward to bringing just more fire, more simplicity, and just more solutions for women who are tired of feeling dismissed because that's what that's how I was. So this year, this current year, my word was expansion. And I did that successfully by growing my team. Um, so I have a team of functional practitioners, and I also work with a local prescribing pharmacist here in Edmonton. Um, but she can prescribe within Alberta. So um that's been amazing. And I did that successfully um by also building systems and leveraging AI uh where possible so that next year I can have a bigger impact, right? And making sure women stop suffering through perimenopause alone.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that. And I can feel in your energy and in your voice that you are determined and you're gonna get it done.

SPEAKER_01:

100%. 100% love that. I've been doing I've been doing a lot of work in uh human design more recently. I don't know if you're familiar with human human design.

SPEAKER_02:

A little bit, a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's how you know our energy or how we should show up in the world based on our energies. And it is like when I tapped into it, it was like somebody was reading like who I am at the core, and I'm like, I need to learn more about this. So it's it's quite interesting. And that's it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's so isn't it? It's so cool. I know it's off topic, but it's so cool how like a piece of paper seems to know more about myself than I do, right? I remember the first time my husband answered a question for me. I think we were married just a you know a year or two, and I remember thinking, how the hell does he know me better than I know myself? Right. But it's funny how I mean the human design is more, it's more about your like your blueprint that from before you were here. But it's so like it's so um, I don't know what the word is. It's kind of it's fascinating how you know you were your purpose was made before you were, kind of.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right? Yeah, yeah. And it's so like I used to, I I call it the woo-woo stuff, and I was so like at a point in my life, so not really against the woo-woo, but thought it was like woo-woo. But the more I've been on my own personal development journey, the more in tune I am with the woo-woo. And it's just it's just so transformative. And so I bring that into my coaching as well. And so, you know, we just had a human design reader come into our community yesterday to share that with my community because I just for me, it's had such a profound effect and I know it can for others as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. I love that. I love that. So I don't know that you answered the question. What does like, you know, the the stepping into the next version of you look like your for your clients?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So the very, very first thing I get them to do with any client that works with me is to define who you are and what does that look like in a year from now. Not like, oh, I just want to lose or release like 25 pounds or whatever. Like that's that's a byproduct. But when you when you close your eyes and you think of you think about in a year from now, how do you want to live? What kind of energy do you want to capture in yourself and get 100% clarity on that? The second one is to have belief that you can do it. So many women don't believe they can they can do it because of old conditioning, generational patterns, whatever it is. So it's breaking through those limiting beliefs. So I think the biggest thing for women in perimenopause is to understand you don't have to just um survive through this phase that you can actually get support so that you can feel like yourself again. I was on a journey with with my own perimenopause journey that started back when I was 39 years old. I'm 47 now, and it started with recurring yeast infections for one full year. It was the worst year ever. And um that was started the kind of the shift for me. And then it then it came the crime scene periods, uh, depression where I was um, I was told I was clinically depressed, they wanted to put me on antidepressants, uh, anxiety out of nowhere where I was like going like batshit crazy, brain fog was crazy. So I and this just seemed like it was building on top of each other. And I knew something was wrong. Like I just knew because this wasn't my typical self, but yet anytime I went to the doctor, they'd say everything was normal. And it wasn't until I started working with my functional practitioners when we did some saliva hormone testing that it was showing I was full-blown perimenopause. So I think for women in this phase two is just understanding themselves, how do they want to feel, and then working towards that goal. It's it doesn't happen overnight. And I think your health journey, it's it's never ending. We're gonna always be working on our health no matter what. Oh, yeah, lifelong journey.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think being like, I want to use the word open-minded, but I think there's more to it than being open-minded. I think being prepared for what could come next. Yes, right. Like I had a lady, I don't remember who it was, but she was 57. So she's three years older than me. And she said, once you hit 20 or 55, the pains and aches change. Right. And I was like, that's only three years. You're we're only three years different. Like I know three years ago the little pains and aches that I have today I didn't have then. Like I get that. Yeah, but I and I'm but I'm also thinking, like, we need to be prepared for, you know, when we're in our 70s, right? Like, like our parents, and you know, like they, I mean, the pains and aches that they have. I know that there's a lot that they could have done at the time, you know, like when they were our age to avoid that, but they didn't. They didn't know how to or that they could, right? So we we also need to be prepared for that, right? Because we don't know, we don't know that you know what we do today is gonna help us or hinder us in the future.

SPEAKER_01:

And I always like to think of it as like it's compounding interest. So the little actions that you take today are gonna compound each other further and further down the road. So my my lifelong vision is I and it's so everyone's like, what do you mean? But I want to die young, but as old as possible. I mean, I want to feel young, but in my 80s, you know? So the things that I do today are gonna set me up for that long-term vision of myself.

SPEAKER_02:

Right now, I I I understand that because I have said that all my life too. Like I want to live to be a thousand, right? But I want to feel like I'm 20, right? So I mean, that's impossible. I'm 55, I don't feel 20, right? Like, I mean, sometimes, I mean, there are days where I'm like, shit, I feel pretty good today, right? Do I feel 20? Probably not, but I feel good, right? And I think that's the gist of it, right? Like we want to feel good in our old age. But do we want to die feeling good? I don't think so. Right? Like, I don't think so because then we're like, you know, it's kind of like, you know, when you hear these young people are dying. Oh, anybody was so young, right? But the reality is if you feel young, you're not ready to die. That's true, right? Right? Not does that mean I want to feel old? Absolutely not, right? But when I'm ready to go, I want to feel ready to go. True, yes, right. So we can, I guess we can look at it either way, either way, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I just want to I want to be able to do the things in my 80s, and maybe I won't be doing box jumps in my 80s, but I still want to feel good, I guess. Yes, to be able to still do the things that I enjoy, like golfing.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly, yeah, exactly. Yeah, you still want to be doing all the fun things. So I was I heard on the radio that um oh what's Mick Jagger. He's I think 82 and he still exercises six days a week and he does all kinds of exercise, weightlifting, boxing, he does ballet, like he does all different kinds, right? Like, but he feels good. Yeah, to me, that's inspiring. Yeah, it's really inspiring to me. Yeah, I'm like, no wonder that guy can strut his stuff. He works at it, right? Like he's not like he's not like you know, oh, I'm in my 80s now. I need to like sit back and make life easy. He wants, he wants to be here.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's the thing. A lot of women are totally like during perimenopause, they're like, oh, this is just part of a natural aging, just slow down your life. No, bullshit. I'm gonna keep going, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Because that's what's gonna kill us, right? That's what's going to kill us is if we slow down. I love that. Yeah, see that, yeah. I think it's just a matter of how we're gonna define our old age, right? Yeah, I love that. So I I know we kind of touched on this, but tell me what are the like the biggest lies women are told about perimenopause? I know like the whole I did the whole antidepressant thing, right? I they had me on these stupid pills for I think nine years, and I regret ever even going to the doctor because of that, right? So tell me like like tell me what the lies are so that our listeners know, and then I want you to maybe, you know, tell us a little bit about like what the truth will like what the truth really is, what it actually is to help them feel better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I think one of the biggest lies, and this comes from my own truth, it comes from a lot of the women that I work with, is that this is perimenopause just something they just have to push through. And this is even coming from female doctors, right? So women are constantly told that their symptoms are normal, it's inevitable, something that they should just tough out. And but the truth is our bodies are changing, but you're not powerless. So, what actually works is understanding how your hormones are impacting those changes, and that's where that my team of functional practitioners are amazing at linking your symptoms to your different hormone levels. This is a big one eating enough to support your mentabolism. 95% of the women I work with are under eating. They think that they're eating enough because they keep gaining the weight. But here's what actually happens if you're under eating, and then all of a sudden you're hit with the hormone changes through perimenopause, this is what I call the perfect hormone hormonal shitstorm. You're gonna collide. So If you're under-ating, your symptoms of perimenopause are going to be tenfold. You're going to feel it so much more. So the foundation for women should always start with your nutrition first. Look at your nutrition. How can we support your nutrition so that your metabolism is optimized? Another one is lifting weights to build muscle. I was doing everything wrong. I and I was going to spin classes, I was doing the group fitness classes, like the HIT classes, everything that was high cardio. I had to shift that because as we age and go through these changes, our cortisol levels are going to naturally rise because of the lower levels of estrogen and progesterone. So when you add cardio onto that, that also increases your cortisol. So the way that you work out has to shift. So I went from all my cardio-based workouts, which I actually hate cardio anyways, but I would do it because that's what I thought I had to do. And I shifted to lifting weights. Now you can make significant like I'm not at the gym six days a week. I go three to four times a week and that's it. I was going five to six times a week before with all the cardio. So shifting how we look at exercise during this phase is going to also be key. And getting real data through functional testing so that you know exactly what your body needs. So when women finally get the right information instead of like fear-based messaging, everything's really starts to shift for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. Well, you just made my day, you know, knowing that I don't have to do cardio, like I am so happy. Yeah. Right. Not that I'm I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm gonna go to the gym now and I'm gonna, you know, lift weights for two hours, that I'm not gonna do that. But at least knowing that I don't have to do cardio. I mean, walking, I don't know that cardio is considered like walking is considered cardio. I think walking is just good for us.

SPEAKER_01:

It is good for us. I mean, it can be a form of cardio if you're doing uh like an incline on a treadmill or something to get your heart rate up there. It is it is good. I mean, you should still include some form of cardio, but it doesn't have to be the the main focus, right? Right. And it doesn't have to be like a hit class, like you said. No, yeah, no, no, it could be like uh five, 10 minute jog, run, just something to get your your heart rate up there.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, right. Well, I love that. And that was one of my questions, right? Because I and I know that there's lots of women, not my age, but in their 40s, so closer to your age, where they're they're still doing the, you know, the the calorie reduction and they're really like forcing themselves to go to the gym and then they're coming home and they're feeling more like crap than they were before they got there, and still dealing with life because they still have teenagers at home and they're gaining the weight and really down on themselves. So you just sort of like you know, you you spread that all out and say, stop doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. And I have told so many clients this because and and it's and again, this is where I come with the no BS kind of attitude where I have clients that are continually going to the gym, gym, gym, gym, gym, and then they're neglecting their nutrition. I said, Stop going to the gym. I said, you need to stop this. I would rather you take that time that you're spending at the gym and prioritize it your nutrition and then go to the gym. So foundational to everything that we do. Everything.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I mean, the the reality is the nutrition should be, you know, maybe not top of the list for everybody, but we should be focusing more on nutrition, especially today when we have all this junk food, right? We should be spending more of our energy into planning better meals. Yep. Yeah. So you talk a lot about functional testing. I mean, I know that we can have a conversation alone just on this functional testing, but I want to know like the basics for now. Um, how does it change like the gain that for us women who are struggling so much with stubborn symptoms or you know, the unexplained fatigue mainly? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh when I was working with my medical doctor, like I was, you know, I had pretty much every symptom you could think of with perimetopause. And we would do testing and everything would come back normal. I'm like, well, this I'm I don't feel normal. Like this something else is going on. And every time I would ask her, is this perimetapause? she'd look at my chart and be like, no, you're too young. I don't think it is. You know, so functional testing. So there's different types of functional testing. What we focus on is your metabolic, your GI, so your gastrointestinal, and then lastly your hormone. We always start with metabolic because each system feeds into each other. So if you're neglecting your metabolic and GI and you just jump right to hormone, you're missing a big piece of the puzzle. So metabolically, we have to make sure that you're sound so that any, you know, anything that you are doing, we have to make sure that your body's even capable of, you know, the work that you are doing. Otherwise, you're gonna have some really expensive pee. That's what we say, is any supplements that you're taking, you're probably just peeing right out. So functional testing really takes the guesswork out of our midlife health and our stubborn symptoms. So women will come to me, they're exhausted, they continue gaining weight, they have inflammation, maybe, brain fog is a big one, and they think it's normal or they think it's just perimenopause. What testing often reveals is deeper issues, like maybe there's some thyroid dysfunction that was not ever covered with your medical doctor, cortisol imbalance, we see this quite often. So this causes your exhaustion, right? Um, gut problems or nutrient deficiencies. So once you know the root cause, you stop throwing these random solutions at the wall. And that's why in my perimenopause program, um, this is kind of what we test for initially, and we and we personalize everything to that person because everyone is different. Data gives you that clarity, and guessing kind of keeps you stuck.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, that's cool. So when you say that you take these results and you create like a personalized program for each person, what does that look like? Are we talking like you're gonna tell me what to eat, what exercises to do, what I can do for not necessarily relaxation, but something that's gonna keep my mind sort of, you know, not stressed.

SPEAKER_01:

So I come in from a perspective or from the lens from your nutrition lifestyle choices, could be strength training. Um, my functional practitioners are gonna come up with a supplement protocol to support your body. So these are these are not a forever protocol, it's just to support your body because your body is struggling at some capacity. We need to support it to get it back to its homeostasis. Our body should be able to just run normally, but our environments, the toxins that we're uh that are around in products, just in our environment, whatever, all that has an impact on our bodies. So understanding where that root dysfunction is, we can build a personalized protocol for you. And it's with the functional practitioner, it's it's supplement-based.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so I have a question for you that I'm not sure you have an answer for, but I have heard, and I don't know if it's true or not, but in Japan, there's no such thing as perimenopause. Like, first of all, you don't have to say it's true or not, because that I don't, you know, that's not really the important part. But if it is true, why what what's the difference between North America and Japan?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I don't know about that one, but I'm going, I something is clicking for me that when I was in my certification, there was a study on Japan, and I just can't remember the details, but I'm gonna write this down because I wanted I want to know more about it. Um I and I can't for myself, I can't um say the the the answer right now. What's coming to mind though is they they have a completely different lifestyle than than we do.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and I think and that's kind of I think where I was going, right? Like we eat a lot of okay, now when I say we, I don't mean you and me. I mean general like in our society, we eat a lot of junk food, right? We are always at the Tim Hortons drive-thru. You cannot go buy a Tim Hortons and there's not a lineup in the drive-thru, right? McDonald's is very similar. And if we're eating this stuff, now I know it's not always the same cars, and I'm not gonna say that we are all doing it every single day, but we're doing it to some degree, right? We're bringing home stuff that we are not making ourselves. I mean, that's just the way our society is. But it makes me wonder, you know, if if in Japan they're not doing that and we're doing it here, that's a big indication of why we are so out of whack.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna do some more research on that. I have traveled in Japan, fortunately, like gratefully, I've I've spent six weeks there, and just going there and eating their foods and just experiencing their different lifestyle, it's completely different than here in North America. We have so much convenience, right? Like so much processed foods, convenience foods, we're neglecting what our bodies actually are craving, are whole foods.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, right. Exactly, exactly. And even even whole foods, they're telling us, are not really the whole foods that our body wants. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, we're we're looking at but whole foods is a is a fantastic place to start, especially if you're conditioned to having a lot of processed foods and like the convenience foods of fast foods. Once you start transitioning, and I don't ever tell my clients to go here to here, it's it's like a food evolution journey, right? Oh, yeah. Eat out a lot, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you you got to stop eating out forever. It's like pick one or two meals that you want to eat out or whatever that looks like for you, and then plan the rest around whole foods, but pay attention to how your body feels from a 1800-calorie McDonald's meal versus an 1800-calorie or like per day. Like I can eat, I can fill my macros because I'm uh my uh certification is based on macronutrition, which is protein, carbs, and fats. I can feel my day by eating fast food all day, or I can have home-cooked meals. And sometimes I'll do this with myself just to remind myself why my body craves this. Like I just feel much better, but it doesn't mean I have to like demonize these foods because honestly, some days I don't, I'm maybe not as planned or prepared. I'm gonna be going to McDonald's, or I'm gonna be I love the junior bacon cheeseburgers at Wendy's, you know. So there are times and I and I never demonize it because there are some some instances where I'm just not as planned and I'm have to go through the drive-thru.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And and the thing is, let's face it, some of those foods taste kind of good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, they're they're marketed to taste good, right?

SPEAKER_02:

So I mean you need to enjoy that sometimes, you just can't make it your everyday menu, right? Exactly, yeah. Yeah, so now having gone through Perigon menopause myself, so I'm not I don't think that I'm actually in menopause yet or I haven't reached that, but I think I'm pretty close because like I said, I'm 54. I'm you know, the time's coming. Yeah, um, I know myself I felt broken, and I know broken is a bad word, but I did. I felt like I was broken in many different places. So tell me what's really behind that feeling, and what is the the first step for women to like get back their control?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so thanks for sharing that, Tina, because I felt broken too. Like I I went through this journey for nine months seeing different, I saw six or seven different specialists, and they all told me, nope, you're normal. I think you just need to be on antidepressant. And don't get me wrong, SSRIs, which are like a form of antidepressant, they're I'm not trying to say that they're bad, they have their place, but for me, it just didn't feel right. Like I really go with my intuition and my gut feeling, and I just knew that that wasn't right. So I get you when you say that you felt broken and dismissed. So women, they feel broken because they've been dismissed for years. For me, it was a long nine months, and by the end of it, like I they literally made me feel like I was going batshit crazy and I had early on send of Alzheimer's. Like that's how bad it was. So we're told that our symptoms are in my head, or they just need to try harder, eat less, uh, be more disciplined. Like my doctor, she's like, Well, now you have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, you should really check your nutrition. I'm like, she didn't know I was a nutrition coach, but I just like grin and beared it. I'm like, okay, I'll look at my nutrition. I knew it had nothing to do with that because I have a good handle on my nutrition, right? None of that is true. Your hormones are shifting. Quite often, women at this stage, their stress load is high. We have maybe teenage kids, maybe some of us, if we if we had kids that are younger, they're leaving, so we have this empty nest feeling. Um, your metabolism needs support, not punishment. So taking control really starts with understanding what's happening in your body, learning how to fuel it properly, strength training to continue to build that resilience and getting answers through proper testing, right? So when women finally learn how their body works, the kind of that shame disappears. Because for so long, it's like, well, what like maybe it is all me, right? And I was blaming myself.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's when when you get the test and you understand how your body works, that's kind of how you bring that power back to yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And I it's like empowerment, right? Like once you get control of it, right? Like, you know, taking a vitamin might not be the answer, but there's other supplements out there that will get you like feel at least feeling like you have the strength to get through it. And that alone is empowering.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't tell you the amount of clients that we've had where they've had their, you know, they do their test and then we book the consultation. The great thing is like when you go to your doctor, you have like 10 minutes. I remember when I went to my doctor, I went in with like a checklist like this. And she's like, Well, I can only talk about one or two of your symptoms. I'm like, Are you kidding me? So the good that when we meet with our functional practitioners to review your results, we're there for at least an hour going through everything because we want you to leave, like, oh, now this makes sense.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and there's so many, like, yeah, I might have a question for you, but when you answer it, I might have another question and another question on top of that. So that's I need the time. Yeah. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, you're right. They only give you like, you know, 10 or 15 minutes, and then they they'll tell you to leave. Yep, pretty much whether you have your question. Yeah, that's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. I there's so much to be said about our healthcare system to begin with, you know. But when it comes to, and the thing is, our problem we're talking perimenopause today, but the reality is there's so many different things people are going to the doctors for.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02:

And if you don't have the support that you need to find the answers, those problems just multiply. They don't get, they don't go away. You can't brush them under the carpet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I just I just want to say this because I know it sounds like I'm I'm what's the word? I can't lose the word, like coming down really hard on the medical system. It's not really a fault of the medical system. They were never taught this to begin with. With what all the past studies were done on men, right until more recently, there's more studies on women. So there is just this gap that currently exists in our healthcare system, right? And part of what I do and my practitioners is we're trying to bridge that gap.

SPEAKER_02:

And you're focusing on one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, and it is getting better, yeah, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. I I mean I say that the system because I think it's the system that's not working, it's not the doctors. The doctors are only doing what they can do with what they know.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree there. Um, but our system does need help. That's our system, like here in Alberta. I don't know the rest of the world, right? Because I'm only worried about our own, but you know there's so much more that we can learn. I mean, you're doing an awesome job of sharing to the world what you know, right? If we all do that, you know, it takes a load off the doctors as well, right? And and that is maybe something that the healthcare system can take into effect, right? Like, you know, our doctors might not be able to help you, but our coaches can, yes, right? I mean, there's no, I don't think that there's anything wrong with that.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I don't. I don't, yeah, because we're all capable of learning. We are, we are, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It just I think here in Canada, especially, not so much in the US, because I've got clients all over, but in Canada, though, we're so accustomed to free health care, right? Yeah, I do view it more as like sick care because they really don't look at the root cause of why are you experiencing these symptoms, right? I'm just gonna give you something to mask kind of the root cause, right?

SPEAKER_02:

That's very true.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, that might be okay, but what we really do is we take a deep dive into who you are, you know, your health history, and really look at the root cause of why you're feeling the way you are. And you sometimes you have to pay for that, or most of the pay for that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But we're used to paying for everything else. Why can't we pay for our health? Right? Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I would say like you can't put a price say on your health, like yeah, because without my health, the money's no good to me.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, right? I always say health buy anything else, yeah. Health is your wealth, right? Yeah, exactly. So tell me what does sustainable fat loss actually look like when you're not wrecking your hormones or hustling yourself into burnout.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so this is kind of our talking about earlier the perfect hormonal shit storm where if you're under eating and then you come in with these perimenopause changes as well. So for sustainable fat loss during perimenopause, it's a build it's about building a healthier metabolism, not shrinking your calories to nothing. So many, because that's that's the old diet culture. Like I'm 47, so you we kind of grew up in the same sort of era, um, in that it was like work out more, eat less, right? Yeah. We need protein, we need muscle, consistent meals, and a nervous system that isn't constantly in this kind of survival mode. So if you're if I would say if your fat loss strategy leaves you exhausted, irritable, and reliant on willpower or strict meal plans, it's not sustainable and it's not good for your hormones. Um, the goal is really to release fat in a way that makes you feel stronger, more stable, um, not depleted. A lot of the programs that I did in the past left me felt depleted because they they didn't have enough calories to support myself. Or a lot of these strict meal plans are very cookie cookie cutters. So, Tina, if if we joined a like a meal plan challenge, they'd give you the same meal plan as me. We're called two completely different people. Exactly. And we burn, yeah, we burn differently, differently, yeah. You know, and and that's the entire approach inside my empowered macronutrition program is building plans specific to you, your lifestyle, what you can, what, what your your body needs at this point.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, right. So it it is possible then because I mean, not that I doubt you, I I don't doubt you in any way, but you know, like you said, we grew up in that era where you know we it was ingrained in every single cell of our body that we need to eat a certain way to lose weight. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I I on I seriously, until I learned more about this, like when I transitioned out of IT corporate and into macronutrition, I was still in the mind frame that I only needed to eat 1200 calories. And that was not enough. That's not that's not even enough for a toddler. So there's two numbers that I always say people should should know is one is your basal metabolic rate. That's the base amount of numb, not base amount of calories that your body needs just to get through the day. That doesn't include any activity or anything, that's just digestion, sleep, or whatever. So my BMR is like 1368 or close to 1400. So I was undereating my basic calorie needs. So what happens over time, your metabolism is going to adapt to this because it's like, oh my gosh, Char's not feeding me. So I need to conserve all those calories for her basic functions, for like sleeping, digesting. Um, and then what this starts to happen is then there then I'd have days where I ate a little bit more. Well, now, because my metabolism has adapted, it thinks I'm eating now in a surplus, but in theory I'm not. And it's gonna store those calories as fat on my body because it thinks I only feed it 1200 calories, right? Because that's what it's that's what it was I trained to do. So your metabolism is a direct mirror of your actions. So 95% of the women I work with are under eating. In some cases, we have increased their caloric intake up to seven to 800 calories, and guess what starts to happen? They start releasing the fat. But there's a lot of mindset work because we're so conditioned to like, oh my gosh, if I eat more, I'm gonna gain weight because that's what we think. But you need to regain that trust with your body. And I'm not saying you go from 1200 to eating 2200 calories a day. You slowly get there because you have to regain that trust. So we just slowly add like each week, and and every client is is different because every client is gonna experience different mindset blocks. Some are like they're just like laying back and like, Shar, I trust you, I'm gonna go with the process, and we get them there right away. Others are like, I don't know, Shar, like you want me to eat this amount of food, it doesn't feel right. I'm like, I do like and I and I and then I say to them, like, what evidence do you have that you're actually gonna gain the fat? And they're like, none. I'm like, good, keep going. Right, yeah, it's so magical. Like, I have so many client testimonials where we've increased their caloric intake and they've lost the weight or lost the fat. It's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my gosh, I want that. I've been looking for that miracle, you know, all my life. And you know, when I I did the Dr. Bernstein diet, yeah uh back when I was in my 30s. And oh my god, I regret that for like since day one, right? Like, I mean, at the time it worked, right? I lost so much weight so quickly, right? And I felt I really did feel great. Everybody always like, you know, they kind of argue with me, like, how could you have felt great? You weren't eating. I did feel good until I didn't. Yes, right. And then it was like my blood pressure went out of whack, and you know, 800 calories. I mean, I had I I think the twins were two or three at the time. They were eating more than I was, yes, right? And I when I looked at that, when it finally hit me, I was like, what am I doing? Yes, right, like crazy, like absolutely crazy. But Tina, we all do that. I've been there too. I know, I know I've we've all done that because we're do we're we believe, like you said, eat less, move more. Yeah, right. And and I don't, I've never liked exercise. So for me, it was perfect. Yeah, I can live off 800 calories if that means I don't have to go to the gym and work out, yes, right? So until I couldn't, and then it was like, now what? Right? Exactly. So to get my body back was it was crazy. I mean, I put the weight back on, but feeling like shit was like that was, you know, how are you feeling today? Oh, today's a darker shit than it was yesterday, right? Like right, but that's what we do to ourselves. Why? Like, you know, and then of course you learn how to love yourself because you're like, you know what? This is ridiculous. I am doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yeah, and we get it, we get our energy from our food. So if you're not eating enough, it's just conserving that energy for your main function. So as soon as you start to eat what your body needs, so many women are like, oh my gosh, I have all this energy I never thought I had. I'm like, Yes, because food is our energy, but we've been so conditioned to demonize food or carbs are bad, or you know, like just all these things that we have about it. And I really clear out that bullshit with with all of my clients, and it's still like I still want my clients to have fun with life, so it's not so I had a client like her guilty pleasure was wagon wheels. Wow, you know, you know, it's like chocolate, and she was so scared to eat them. I said, You know what? I want you to go out and buy yourself two boxes of wagon wheels, and I want you to enjoy one every single day. And she did. She's like, Oh my gosh, she's like, You changed the way I view food. I'm like, there's nothing wrong with a wagon wheel, it's just some carbs and fats, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like, yes, I mean, if you pulled it apart, yeah, it's not good stuff, right? No, we know that, but if you if it's a pleasure for you, why would you take that away?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, because as soon as you take it away, you're gonna probably binge on it at one point in your life. But if you allow yourself to be like, give yourself the permission, like, hey, I can have this whenever I want, it really shifts things in your mind.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's so true. And I and I you we all have done this, you know. Oh, it's Christmas time, and now, you know, all the goodies are gonna be out, I'm gonna be overeating, and so what, right? Like, this is the way I see it, right? I think Christmas time is a time of celebration, right? You're with your family, you're enjoying their company, you're enjoying the foods that you grew up with. Like, enjoy them now. Okay, you don't want to like eat for two weeks straight, going to bed feeling like a balloon. No, you don't want to do that, but your body will stop you. Like your body's gonna say, you've had enough, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, Tina, I find it so fascinating, you know, where I'm having conversations with women who want to work with me, and they're like, Well, maybe I'll just wait until the new year because Christmas is coming. I'm like, Christmas is not the whole month of December. Yes, we probably have maybe maybe seven, five to seven, maybe eight, you know, functions that we need to go to. What about the rest of the 20 days? And and of those seven or eight functions that you go to, pick maybe three or four where you're just like not gonna give two shits and you go and enjoy yourself. But on the other functions, you're more intentional with your food choices, yeah. So like the you know, we love to host, right? So then maybe I opt for more of the veggies and and the protein choice choices, and then I, you know, fill up with maybe some of the sweets, but on other events, I'm a free-for-all, right? Right, see how you feel, and it and it really removes this kind of restriction, exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm learning a lot about like intuitive eating, and sometimes we're eating things because it's there, yeah, not because we want it. So listen to your body, like you, you know, okay, fine, you might not see it for another year, but so what? If you don't want it, you don't want it, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I used to have that with mini eggs, so I know freaking Cadbury mini eggs, it can't be the Hershey eggs, it has to be Cadbury. Cadbury, yeah. Every Easter, I would buy a big, like Costco size bag of mini eggs, and I would just binge on them. And then I said to myself, I'm like, Shar, you can literally buy mini eggs all year round at Dollarama. They sell them. Why do I have to feel like they're only available at Easter?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, right, exactly. And don't you find that you the more you eat them, by the time you're done that bag, you're like, oh my god, I don't want to look at another mini egg for a year. Yeah, you're totally been there, done that. Yeah, and then the next then when they come out again in this in the spring, you're like, oh, goody, goody, right? And you start the cycle all over again. Go to Dolorama in July, have a little bag and be done with it. Yeah, exactly, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I hear you. I hear it. It's just so funny when you when you actually pay attention to the stories that you tell yourselves, and like most of them is just it's belief systems, which I say is BS, right? So it was a belief system that I had that I could only get mini eggs at Easter.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yes, you're because there was a time where that was the case, yes, yeah, right. But we didn't have to be Costco sized bags all the time. I know now Costco brings in these oversized bags and we overindulge. Just you only need a handful.

SPEAKER_01:

You do, you do to satisfy the craving. You just need that little handful. So I stopped buying the oversized bags and I just buy the mini bags from Dollarama or wherever, and that satisfies that's enough, yeah. You might keep one in your purse and in your car.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I do, yeah, just for that. If I need something sweet, yeah, and I those those are perfect for that kind of craving. So we kind of talked about diet culture. Um, and and I think most women in our age group have come to the realization that you know it's it's a it's a culture that we don't need, right? It doesn't serve us. What do you wish that more women could understand about food like programs, right? I know that your program is not really um focused on weight loss necessarily, it's more about balancing the the body, like you said, homeostasis. But what do you wish women really understood more?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so 100% of the clients I work with come to me for weight for weight loss. Wow. They do. They want to work with me because they want to release the weight. And I always say release the weight, because if you lose the weight, what happens when you go lose something?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you're looking for it, right? And it's gonna come find you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's gonna come find you. So we always say release the weight. You you so even though 100% of the women come to me for weight loss, I always get them to that's not what we're focusing on. Like I know that's what you want, but what's more important is the habits, the standards, and the lifestyle that we need. And this is a byproduct of what you're doing. Yeah, so but diet culture, here's the thing it's built on deprivation, shame, quick fixes. Like we want Amazon Prime results, you know, and and we've all been there. I heard you say it, like you were doing the Barenstein diet, you got quick results, but then they don't last. I've done so many fad diets that I got quick results, but then it doesn't last. Yeah, so none of that aligns with midlife like midlife female physiology. So that needs we need nourishment, we need strength. Diet culture teaches women to shrink. Midlife requires women to build, right? Build muscle, build energy, build this resilience. So diet culture also ignores hormones completely, which is why women, when women hit 40 and suddenly nothing starts working anymore, because they have that old mentality. So women in midlife need a smarter approach that respects their biology, not outdated rules they were taught in their 20s. So my program does, we do focus on on weight release, um, but that as a byproduct. I'm more about setting this up as a lifestyle for you and teaching you. And we go from like, I do get all my clients to track their food because it brings so much awareness. I don't get you to track for shame or to for judgment, it brings awareness because once you have that awareness of your current eating habits, then we know where we need to tweak it to get you to your goal of weight loss.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And and I mean it brings shame because of the diet culture that we're all used to. Right. When you look back and say, okay, what did I eat today? Why do I feel bloated? And you see, well, look at that. I had a chocolate bar after breakfast, and then I had coffee with my friend and I had a donut, right? Like when you look at that, you feel ashamed, but not because you've done wrong. Like you feel it's wrong at the moment, but it's that's not wrong. It's just that you look at that and you go, Well, that's what I need to be aware of, right? It's that combination of all that sugar along with the stuff that you know I was supposed to be eating or replacing what I should have been eating. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

My guilt, yeah. So my guilty pleasure, I love cinnamon buns and coffee and bailey's. Like I absolutely enjoy that. Oh, but now I know I'm gonna crave that all day. I know, but I will still enjoy that, but now I'll pair like a protein with it.

SPEAKER_02:

So then it's more balanced because it's okay. So I've okay, I'm gonna cut you off there for a second. I have been told this before. Pair a protein now. Yes, I'm sorry, but I have a problem with that. Okay, if I'm gonna sit and have a cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun, right? And there was something else that you said with that. How do I pair a protein with that? Because a protein to me is like a piece of meat, a piece of cheese. Like that doesn't go with a cinnamon bun and a coffee.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, so for me, I will have a side, I'll either have like maybe a fair life shake or some sort of shake, or uh quite often I have plain Greek yogurt and I mix protein powder in there. So it's like a little side of yogurt with my because it's still kind of breakfasty food, my yogurt. And sometimes I'll put berries in there for the fiber. I still enjoy my cinnamon bun now, guilt-free, and my coffee and bailey's if it's Christmas time.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Okay, so I for always forget the shake part because I'm not really a shake person. I don't like to drink my calories. I prefer either. Yeah. But I do have like now that you say that, I do have like a chocolate shake that I, you know, I'd like to keep them on hand just in case. You know, my son had a problem with eating breakfast. And so I thought, well, maybe if he drinks a protein shake, that'll help him get an appetite, right? And so I kind of always have them around, but I never thought about that. So I could have like, you know, throw in a powder into my coffee, even if it's unflavored. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so you can even be a good idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you can even, yeah, a lot of people drink protein coffees as well.

SPEAKER_02:

So are they filling? Like, will that make your coffee more heavy to make you more full faster?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, protein, protein will make you more satiated, yeah. So it's yeah, not necessarily the coffee, but it's the protein.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So my daughter's been staying with us, and so she eats a big breakfast. Like she has cottage cheese, two poached eggs, a piece of toast with ham. And so one day she goes, Mom, you want me to make you breakfast? I'm like, sure, right? Who's not gonna take that up? Right. So I oh my gosh, two or three days in a row, I was like, Oh my god, my stomach can't handle this. And I love to eat eat, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Like, but you're probably your body's just not used to eating that amount of food at first thing in the morning, probably.

SPEAKER_02:

No, especially all that protein, because protein, like it keeps you hungry or it keeps you full longer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02:

So I was finding like, oh my gosh, my stomach feels so heavy, which is not a bad thing, right? But I I can't function when I feel heavy.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So you have to build that up. Your body has to learn to enjoy breakfast again. Because so many of the women I work with, they have still have coffee for breakfast. So they're not waking up hungry, they're not hungry. So, but as soon as you start feeding yourself in the morning, then your body's like, Oh my gosh, she's actually feeding me. You're gonna have more energy, and maybe you just start off small. Because I've had this with clients where she all she had was coffee for breakfast and she struggled eating breakfast. So we started smaller and then we built up, and now she wakes up and she's like, Oh my gosh, I'm hungry.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, but I've always had breakfast. I'm I like breakfast. Um, there was a time where I was trying to do intermittent fasting, and so I was having more of a brunch, which I could do the bigger breakfast, but that was at 10:30 in the morning. It wasn't at 7:38, right? So now I can't do it. I'm like, I'm done, right? Yeah, okay. So I have one more question. Um uh so the beginning of me is our theme. So, what I would like to know is what is one powerful shift that our listeners can make this week to feel stronger, clearer, and more in control of their health.

SPEAKER_01:

So honestly, I would say track two or three days of your food to see where your current eating habits are. Are you fueling yourself? Because I still am of the belief that nutrition is foundational. Right. And and I channel, and I know there's a lot of resistance with like, I don't want to track my food all the time. Well, you don't, and in my program, I teach you how you go from tracking to intuitive eating, right? So you shouldn't have to track. But my I think understanding your current eating habits gives you a starting point of where you need to start. Wow, I love that.

SPEAKER_02:

I was not expecting that. I truly wasn't, I don't know what I was expecting, but that was not it. So I'm I'm one of those ladies that I don't like to track my food. And but I also think that a lot of that has to do with like the shame and the judgment that we were saying, right? Because when I look back and I see that I was, you know, walking through the pantry and stealing a cookie, I don't want to see that, right? Because the reality is if it touches your your lips in any way, it is considered eaten, right? No matter what it is. Yeah, right. Now, I also know that you know, standing or walking while eating is not good for our digestive system because our body is not in digestive mode, it's in fight or flight, right? This is why they say sit down and eat, right? Because your body's relaxed and it'll absorb the nutrition. That's right. So I I know that, but yet I still catch myself doing it. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does still happen. And it makes me so mad when I catch myself because I'm like, you know better.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but that's a that's the whole part of this journey, is just bringing awareness. And that's why I say, like, as a starting point, start track your food. And I use I use macros first. You can use my fitness palette, whatever you're you're familiar with. If you're not familiar with anyone, then I would choose macros first. It's just a um more of a user-friendly kind of interface for you. Um, and it I mean the food tracking apps make it so easy for you to track your food now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, because you can just take a picture of it and source it out.

SPEAKER_01:

Some of them you can take a picture. You do have to check some of the ingredients, maybe are a little bit off, but it's pretty, it's it's decent.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. And if you're only doing it for this purpose so that you can keep track of what you're eating, it doesn't really matter what the calories are. Am I right? That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

At the beginning, no, just just get awareness. See where your protein's landing for the day, see where your carbs are landing for the day, see where your fats are landing for the day.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. And so uh I we're I just want to ask you a quick question. I know that that was my last question, but when you're tracking your macros and your like your fat, your carbs, and your protein, they're not equal, am I right? Like I know that we need to have more fat and more protein and carbs are less. Is that right? Uh no, well, it depends. It depends on who you are. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So so um protein is generally calculated at 0.8 grams per pound. Now, most women are eating under 0.5 grams per pound. So if you go, if you go, but no more than 160 grams a day for a woman, because there's no scientific evidence or research shows that eating more than 160 grams a day is beneficial for women.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So, but if you go, if you go away now, our listeners go away now and they track their food and say they should be eating, say, 120 grams a day, and they're only eating maybe 60 grams. Please do yourself a favor and don't try to get to 120 off the bat. Like I'm type A and I would try to get 120 off the bat, and I'll be like, oh my god, it feels like I'm I'm at uh K-Day's eating a big turkey leg.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so you're gonna feel heavy and constipated.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, because your body needs to adjust. So start at where you're at, and for the first week, add 10 grams. The second week, you know, add another 20. This is where a coach can really help you because a lot of women they'll just you know get their macros or calculated for them, and then they don't really know where to start, and they'll try and hit where they should be, and they feel unsuccessful because they struggle and they're like, Oh my god, I can't do it. Macros is so hard. Well, it's so hard because you're not being taught the right way to reach those. And so, what another rule of thumb I like to do is when you know what your macros. Targets are take that number and divide by four, meaning everyone should be eating three meals and then your snacks. And this is kind of your goalpost of creating balanced meals throughout the day. So I have goalposts for every meal. So every meal, you know, for protein, I'm aiming between 30 to 40 grams of protein at each meal. You know, in a fat loss phase, it's about the same for carbs and a little bit less for fat. It's about, I think, 15 to 20 grams per fat. With if I'm in maintenance, those numbers kind of bump up. But having those goalposts really help you develop those balanced meals throughout the day so that you're regulating your blood sugars as well, because that's really important in perimenopause. And and so then protein you calculate first. Fats, that really depends on the person. So if they have any autoimmune conditions, um, like hypothyroidism, um, Hashimoto's, um, what's another one? Or perimen and perimenopause, we need higher fat diets. So then I would start at 35% of your total caloric intake should be fats, and then the rest goes to carbs.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Wow. Okay, so there's actually quite a big formula there. I thought it was a little bit more simpler than that, but that sounds, I mean, it doesn't sound difficult, but it there's a lot of like um calculations involved. There is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Considerations, right? Health history, autoimmune conditions, your phase of life, all of that takes takes into consideration.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. So another reason why we should be calling you. Yeah. Right? Let you do the hard work. You just tell me what to eat and how much of it to eat, and yeah, and I'll do the rest. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And in the program, like I teach, I teach because in my program, I want you to feel so empowered that I mean, I love all my clients, and I've had some that work with me for like two or three years, but my whole goal is like you know enough that you can go out and do this on your own so that you never have to go go do another diet or feel like you're doing another diet. This becomes a lifestyle for you, yeah. Right. So I teach you how to calculate your own, how what to look for, why the scale fluctuates, because we can get really triggered up on the scale too. I know we're we're continuing on, but there's so much I could talk to. I can talk about this all day. I know I feel like I don't want to hit the you know the stop button here because I don't but yeah, the scale is a big trigger. But when you link the scale fluctuations to choices in your day, you kind of release it releases that emotion, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And it's because it's just numbers, right? It's just numbers, just data. It's data, it's data, data, data. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so, so much. I know I'm gonna have you back. I mean to be honest with you. We're gonna do this again. Yeah, we're gonna not talk about the same things, we're gonna talk about you know, the more detailed stuff, but we are gonna do this again because I think you have so much to share, and there's so many of us that need to hear what you have to share.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. It was awesome. Me too.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much for tuning in to Confidence in Bloom. I hope today's conversation reminded you that you're not alone on this journey. And that your confidence grows every time you tell that itty bitty shitty committee to hush. If you're ready to take this even deeper, I'd love to invite you to the Bloom Room, a nurturing community where women come together to release self-doubt, reconnect with themselves, and bloom into the truest version of who they're meant to be. Until next time, remember, confidence isn't something you find, it's something that blooms from within.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divas that care.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.