Episode 105 - Menopause and My Mental Health (Anxiety, Mental Load, and What Actually Helps)

Episode 105 - Menopause and My Mental Health (Anxiety, Mental Load, and What Actually Helps)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378925/fan_mail/new] I'm 55, and almost a year and a half ago, my husband moved out. What followed wasn't something I expected — new anxiety, heart palpitations, a racing mind I couldn't quiet. I've never been a worrier. Now I am. And I'm not telling you this for sympathy. This is a truth-telling episode, not a woe-is-me one. In this episode, I get honest about what this season has actually looked like for me — the anxiety, the monkey brain, the mental load of running a business, showing up for clients, and holding it together for my girls and my dogs. I break down what's actually happening in our brains during menopause: estrogen receptors live throughout our bodies, including our brains, and the research connecting estrogen decline to anxiety, depression, and even Alzheimer's risk is real. What you're feeling isn't weakness — it's biology. I also talk about the low motivation nobody sees (yes, I look happy and full of energy — and it takes more work to get there than it used to), the invisible mental load women and caregivers carry, and why we're so bad at asking for help. Then I share the real, non-negotiable tools keeping me grounded: movement, meditation, sleep boundaries, limiting social media, and community. My mental health is the most important thing in my life right now. And I've decided — I get to write the ending to my own story. 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 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.