Episode 104 - We Have Lost the Plot — And How to Find Your Way Back to YOUR Body This Summer

Episode 104 - We Have Lost the Plot — And How to Find Your Way Back to YOUR Body This Summer

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] When is the last time you went dancing? Not swaying in your living room — really dancing. Out somewhere. In your body. Not thinking about how you look. If that question made you pause, this episode is for you. Sam Montpetit-Huynh is talking about the summer body myth — decades of diet culture that taught women their bodies needed to be smaller, thinner, and more acceptable before they were worthy of being seen. The 30-day challenges. The before-and-after photos. The summers spent hiding in the back of group photos, skipping the pool, saying no to things that were supposed to be fun. And then she's talking about something that stopped her cold — a stat shared at a fitness industry panel that less than 18% of Canadians participate in regular structured physical activity. Not because the information isn't out there. But because as an industry we have been so busy chasing trends that we forgot to help people with the basics. Move your body. Build your strength. Ask for help. Be accountable to someone. Decide — for real — that you are worth prioritizing. This episode also includes a pitch for Sam's 6 Week Midlife Glow Up, opening July 7th — a program built for women in perimenopause and menopause who are done sitting out their own summers. This one is honest, a little angry in the best way, and completely necessary. In this episode: * Why women in their 40s and 50s are watching life from the sidelines — and what's really behind it * The summer body myth and who actually benefits from it * The fitness industry stat that should make all of us stop and reconsider * The three decisions that change everything * What the 6 Week Midlife Glow Up is, who it's for, and how to join Resources mentioned: * 6 Week Midlife Glow Up — cart opens July 6th, one week only * Email sam@samcoretrainer.com [sam@samcoretrainer.com] with "Glow Up" in the subject line for details * Free community: Strong Women Over 40 on Facebook Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE! Click HERE [https://chat.whatsapp.com/LxclEmzbWwf7kmh1rplJGw?mode=gi_t] to join the free Whatsapp community! Thank you for listening.

Episode 103 - The Menopause Symptom No One Warns You About.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] Guess what? I never had a single hot flash. Not one night sweat in over two years of perimenopause. What I had instead: hives the size of a deck of cards from a single mosquito bite, sneezing attacks out of nowhere, and ears that itched so badly at 3am I used to dream about taking a razor blade to them. That's not in any of the ads. In this episode, I'm breaking down the symptoms nobody warns you about — the ones that don't make it into the marketing because they're not "photogenic" and there's no before-and-after photo for them. We get into: * The real top symptoms of perimenopause — new research from Flo Health and Mayo Clinic, surveying over 17,000 women, found that exhaustion, fatigue, irritability, sleep problems, and low mood topped the list. Hot flashes didn't even crack the top five. * My two-year histamine spiral — the hives, the sneezing, the ears, and why your hormones are actually behind it. * Brain fog and your career — why losing your words mid-sentence is funny on a walk with a friend and a career risk in a boardroom. One in ten Canadian women leave their jobs over unmanaged menopause symptoms. * The rage — what's hormonal (hello, dropping progesterone) and what's just the justified fury of being dismissed by your own doctor. * My own thyroid plot twist — happening in real time, and what it's teaching me about how our hormones are always aging, all at once. * What we actually need — doctors trained in menopause, HRT covered everywhere the way it just became covered in BC, and care that represents every one of us. If you've ever felt exhausted, foggy, or furious and wondered if it was "really" menopause because you weren't sweating through your sheets — this episode is your answer. You're not too sensitive, too dramatic, or too young. You know your body. Listen now, and if this one hits home, send it to a woman who needs to hear she isn't crazy. Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE! Click HERE [https://chat.whatsapp.com/LxclEmzbWwf7kmh1rplJGw?mode=gi_t] to join the free Whatsapp community! Thank you for listening.

Episode 102 - Juneteenth & Connecting To Who I Really AM

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] This isn't your average menopause content — and Sam wants you to know that right up front. Recorded on Juneteenth, this episode steps away from strength training and hormone talk to go somewhere more personal: what George Floyd's murder on May 25th, 2020 cracked open in Sam, and everything she's learned — and is still learning — since. Sam walks through the real history of Juneteenth, including the two-and-a-half-year gap between the Emancipation Proclamation and the day freedom actually reached Galveston, Texas — and why that gap matters far beyond 1865. She unpacks systemic racism and white supremacy in plain language, shares Canada's own Emancipation Day, and gets honest about something she rarely says out loud: how unlearning her own history at 50+ has left her feeling fragile, like a schoolgirl hearing things for the first time, ego and all. She also connects this directly to her coaching work — naming the white lens that most menopause research and messaging is built through, and why closing that gap is part of her mission. This episode comes with an honest invitation: if it makes you uncomfortable, Sam understands if you need to step away. But if you're willing to sit in the discomfort and learn alongside her, she'd love for you to stay. Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE! Click HERE [https://chat.whatsapp.com/LxclEmzbWwf7kmh1rplJGw?mode=gi_t] to join the free Whatsapp community! Thank you for listening.

Episode 101 - The Call Back — My Breast Cancer Scare and What It Taught Me

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] Two weeks ago I got a callback after my mammogram. I hung up the phone and cried. In this episode, I'm sharing what those two weeks between my first appointment and my follow-up were really like — the fear, the sleepless nights, and the moment I made a conscious decision to choose peace over panic even when my mind wanted to go somewhere dark. I also take you back 15 years to the first time I found a lump and catastrophized my way through an entire night convinced my life was over. Spoiler: it was nothing then too. But the pattern? That part is worth talking about. Because here's what I know for sure: we pour everything into everyone else and our own health ends up at the bottom of the list. This episode is a reminder — and a gentle push — to book the appointment, make the call, and show up for yourself the way you show up for everyone else. You have so much life ahead of you. Let's make sure we're here for it. In this episode: * What a mammogram callback actually feels like and why callbacks are more common than you think * How I moved through two weeks of fear without letting it take over * The early detection stat a surgeon shared with me 25 years ago that I've never forgotten * Why midlife is actually the season we start coming into our own — and why that makes showing up for our health more important than ever Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE! Click HERE [https://chat.whatsapp.com/LxclEmzbWwf7kmh1rplJGw?mode=gi_t] to join the free Whatsapp community! Thank you for listening.

Episode 100 🎉 - My Daughter Has Something to Say

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] One hundred episodes. And for this one, Sam did something she has never done before — she invited her firstborn daughter, Rio, to sit across from the microphone and tell the truth. Rio is almost 25 years old. She grew up with one of Canada's leading fitness coaches and menopause specialists for a mother. She heard the podcast recordings from the other room. She watched Sam pivot her entire career to perimenopause and menopause six years ago. She has been a quiet witness to all of it — the clients, the webinars, the events, the community Sam has built from the ground up. And in all that time, Sam had never actually sat down and asked her what it was like. This episode does exactly that. Sam and Rio get honest — about what it felt like to grow up in a household where bodies, health, and fitness were always part of the conversation. About whether having a personal trainer for a mother created pressure, noise, or struggle around body image and food. About how Rio's relationship with her own body has evolved from her teenage years to now. About what she has absorbed — almost by osmosis — from years of living alongside this work. And about what she actually thinks and feels when it comes to menopause, aging, and her own health future. The conversation goes places Sam did not fully anticipate. It gets emotional. It gets honest in the way that only a mother and daughter can be with each other when the microphone is on and there is nowhere to hide. This episode is also a milestone in another way. To celebrate 100 episodes, Sam is introducing new music, officially launching a guest interview format, and announcing that video is coming soon to the podcast. Episode 100 marks not just a number — but the beginning of a new chapter for Menopause, Melanin and Aging Like a Queen. IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL HEAR: * What it was actually like growing up with a fitness coach and menopause specialist for a mother * Whether Rio ever felt pressured around working out, eating, or her body — and how that shaped her * Rio's honest reflection on body image struggles and how her relationship with her body has changed approaching 25 * What Rio thinks about menopause — having overheard years of podcasts, webinars, and events * Whether the next generation feels afraid of aging and menopause — or more prepared than we were * What Rio wants women in Sam's community to know about growing up on the inside of this work * Sam's reflection on what it means to be doing this work — not just for the women already in menopause, but for the daughters coming up behind them * A major milestone announcement — new music, guest interviews, and video coming soon WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS Our mothers did not talk to us about menopause. Not in any real, honest, prepared way. We walked into perimenopause armed with silence and a vague warning about hot flashes — and we have spent the last several years figuring it out, often alone, often in communities like this one. Sam's mission has always been to change that. To make menopause, aging, and body autonomy more accessible, less terrifying, and less isolating for the generation coming up behind us. This episode is proof of what that mission looks like when it starts at home. Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE! Click HERE [https://chat.whatsapp.com/LxclEmzbWwf7kmh1rplJGw?mode=gi_t] to join the free Whatsapp community! Thank you for listening.