Fannying Around

Episode 8- Fannying Around with Melissa and Steve

Today we’re fannying around with Melissa and Steve Wall. Melissa is a Team GB powerlifter, strength coach and all-round force of nature. Steve spent 42 years serving in the Army and somehow found himself becoming not only Melissa’s biggest supporter, but her coach, teammate and partner through menopause too. What starts as a conversation about hormones quickly becomes something much bigger. We talk about what menopause really looks like inside a relationship. The mood changes, the confusion, the exhaustion, the identity shifts and the moments where both people can end up wondering what on earth is happening. Steve speaks honestly about watching the woman he loved change and not understanding why. Melissa talks about navigating perimenopause while training, working, competing and trying to hold everything together. There are conversations about strength, ageing, HRT, lifting weights, protecting your energy and why getting older doesn’t have to mean becoming less. Mostly though, this is about doing it together. Because menopause might happen to one person, but it affects relationships, families and everyone around us. Also featured: Tesco trolley incidents, "fanny magnets", Army life and why every woman deserves a Steve. Right then. Let’s fanny around with Melissa and Steve Fanny Around with us! We'd love to hear your story [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595346/fan_mail/new]

Episode 7 - Fannying Around with Marina

Midlife, Anorexia and Learning to Listen to Your Body This week on Fannying Around, we are joined by Marina, a 50-year-old mum and businesswoman living in Jávea, Spain. Marina's story explores body image, hormones, burnout, nourishment and what it really means to reconnect with yourself. Marina speaks openly about growing up around restriction, developing anorexia as a teenager, using alcohol to cope, becoming a mother, and the long journey back to feeling safe and comfortable in her own body. The conversation moves through perimenopause, exhaustion, brain fog, stress, weight changes, fasting culture, nutrition, alcohol, hormone health and the moment Marina realised her body wasn’t failing her at all… it was trying to protect her. Katy also explains why so many women feel disconnected from their bodies in midlife, how hormone changes affect everything from cortisol to energy levels, and why listening to your body might be the most important thing we’re never taught to do. This episode is honest, emotional, funny in places, and full of the kinds of conversations women rarely have out loud. Topics include: • Perimenopause and hormone changes • Anorexia and body image • Alcohol and coping mechanisms • Brain fog and burnout • Nutrition and fasting culture • Motherhood and identity • Learning to trust your body again Fanny Around with us! We'd love to hear your story [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595346/fan_mail/new]

Episode 6- Fannying Around with Jodie

Jodie is 41, works in a secondary school with teenagers… and is tired. Not just end-of-the-week tired. Not just “I need an early night” tired. The kind of tired that’s been quietly building for years. After heavy periods from her teens, 20 years on the pill, a difficult experience with the copper coil, and managing an underactive thyroid, Jodie has always just got on with it. Because that’s what we do, isn’t it? But recently something shifted. The overwhelm felt bigger. The anxiety crept in. Things that used to feel manageable suddenly… weren’t. So she asked the question so many women find themselves asking in their 40s: Is this just life… or is this perimenopause? In this episode, we talk about what happens when you’ve spent years adapting to how you feel, and then something changes. We get into “normal” blood tests that don’t tell the full story, starting HRT without really knowing what to expect, and that strange in-between phase where you don’t quite feel like yourself… but can’t quite explain why. We also talk about being happily single, making peace with not having children, and what it actually looks like to start putting yourself first. This one will resonate with so many of you. Episode 6. Out now. 🎧 Fanny Around with us! We'd love to hear your story [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595346/fan_mail/new]

Episode 5 - Fannying Around with Micheal

Michael is an American author now living in Alicante, who left the US during the first Trump administration with her young daughter, built a new life in Spain, and is now figuring out empty nest life while writing books in the mountains surrounded by dogs, which, if we’re honest, sounds pretty bloody perfect. But before that came years of awful periods, relentless bleeding, a brutal struggle to get proper healthcare in the US, and eventually a hysterectomy that felt less like a choice and more like the only way out. We talk about what it means to try and get help in a system that makes women fight for every answer, the huge contrast between having agency in some parts of your life and absolutely none in others, and how hormones, healthcare, motherhood and politics can all collide in one woman’s story. We also get into Michael becoming a mum through donor conception, the very practical business of choosing sperm from what is essentially a catalogue, and why she knew she wanted a child even if she did not particularly want a man. Honestly, this episode has got everything. Periods. Politics. Hysterectomies. Empty nesting. Spain. Dogs...Lots of dogs! 😍 🐶 And underneath all of that, a really powerful conversation about choice, bodily autonomy, and what happens when women are forced to become their own best advocate. Right then. Let’s fanny around with Michael. Fanny Around with us! We'd love to hear your story [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595346/fan_mail/new]

Episode 4- Fannying Around with Katie

Is It Perimenopause… or Do I Just Hate Everyone? In this episode of Fannying Around, we chat with Katie — global events boss, mum of three, and a woman juggling a big career, teenagers, school runs and the creeping suspicion that something hormonal might be going on. Katie is almost 42 and loving life… most of the time. But like many women entering perimenopause, she’s started noticing some strange shifts. One minute everything feels overwhelming and everyone is annoying. The next minute she’s fine again. Sound familiar? We talk about the slow creep of perimenopause symptoms, mood swings, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and why so many women don’t recognise what’s happening until they’re already deep in it. Katie shares how she’s approaching midlife with a positive mindset, from taking small “micro moments” for herself (sometimes hiding in the car for five minutes of peace) to learning how to say no without guilt. Along the way we also discuss: *  Why perimenopause often starts earlier than we think  *  How symptoms can creep in quietly  *  Why women are often misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression  *  The importance of understanding your hormones  *  Practical ways to look after your body and mind during midlife  This is an honest, funny and reassuring conversation about navigating perimenopause while still living a very full life. Because menopause isn’t the end of anything — it’s just another chapter. And sometimes… yes… it might explain why everyone is suddenly so annoying! 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Fanny Around with us! We'd love to hear your story [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595346/fan_mail/new]