The FIT LIKE KRYS Podcast

When You Don't Feel Like Yourself: Navigating Perimenopause/Menopause (Part 1)

• Krys

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In this highly requested episode of the Fit Like Krys Podcast, Krys dives into a topic many listeners have been eager to explore—menopause and perimenopause. Whether you're currently navigating these changes or just preparing for the future, this konversation is filled with essential insights, actionable advice, and empowering encouragement.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Krys focuses on acknowledging and accepting this transition, advocating for yourself, and implementing foundational habits to manage symptoms effectively. She shares her koaching perspective on addressing physical, emotional, and mental changes, offering guidance on exercise, diet, stress management, and more.

Don't miss Part 2, coming out on January 22nd, where Krys will continue this important discussion with even more tools and strategies to support your wellness journey during this phase of life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • The importance of acknowledging and accepting the transition of menopause and perimenopause.
  • Why self-advocacy is critical and how to effectively prepare for doctor visits.
  • Top resources for education, including Instagram accounts, books, and websites.
  • The role of exercise and hydration in managing symptoms.
  • How to approach supplements through informed decisions and lab work.
  • The significance of stress management and how to tailor it to your lifestyle.
  • Why boundaries and intentional relationships are vital during this life phase.

Mentioned Resources:

Connect with Krys:

Tune in next time for Part 2 on January 22nd, where Krys will share additional tools, tips, and strategies for thriving during menopause and perimenopause.

Krys [0:00 - 20:44]: Foreign. Welcome back to the Fit Like Chris podcast. Oh, man. This episode has been requested for since I started doing a podcast. Anytime I ask you guys what you want to hear about next, this is in the top three suggestions. If you are a woman from the age of 30 and up, this is going to apply to you even if you're not at that age. This is good. Preface. What's the word I'm looking for? This is good pre information because ladies and ladies, we are talking about menopause and I am also going to include perimenopause as a part of a conversation because that is a hot topic going on. I think the two most common topics I hear about as a trainer or I'm asked about as a trainer are protein and perimenopause. So we are going to talk about the latter today and I'm going to give you my advice from a trainer who and a coach who has trained and coached women to and through and still that are dealing with side effects of menopause. I have heard so many stories. I have heard all of the symptoms and then some. And I've even experienced some myself. I am 40 years old, thank God. And we're gonna get into really how to begin to address menopause because similar to fitness and healthy eating and losing weight, meditating, a yoga practice, like all of these things take effort and you kind of have to, you have to carve out time in your day and in your life to make a difference in these areas. So this is, this is no different. This is something that you shouldn't really expect things to like, figure themselves out because that will be really hard. And I, I love that it's becoming more of a conversation, you know, in social media and among, you know, celebrities. And there's just more conversation about it because it is something that every woman goes through and the symptoms vary and it can be really frustrating when you have no idea about any of it. So that's what I wanted to talk a little bit about today and kind of get you started on starting, get you started on taking care of yourself during this transition. And that's what it is. And that's the first thing I want to talk about is that it is a transition and the biggest battle that you are going to face is previous you versus who, who you are now, your body before and after and during. And it's that transition that you have to not only acknowledge but accept. And so if you are really 35 and up, there is no too young after that age, really, you are in the you are in the conversation of you could be in perimenopause or experiencing symptoms of that or menopause. So you, you know, don't count yourself out, especially if you have some of the symptoms, which I'm going to talk about a little bit about. But the first is kind of. And really, I don't want to get too specific because there are so many. But the first thing I'll say is it acknowledging and accepting when you just feel different. Like, if you feel different than you ever have before, right? Like, if you feel your mood is really different. And I'm not talking about mood swings, you know, like, I'm not talking about, like, up and down. And I think everybody sort of has an element of that depending on your surroundings. I'm talking about in general, you just don't feel like yourself. You feel easily like you're. You're more negative than you. Like, it doesn't even have to be more negative. It could literally be any change that doesn't feel like you. That's the best way I could put it is that you just don't feel like yourself. And that's why this is a really hard thing to diagnose. And I was thinking about speaking about this, and I'm like, looking for experts, and I'm like, you know what? My. The, the few diseases that I have were obviously confirmed by medical professionals, but I only was diagnosed because I advocated for myself. And so this is the first thing that, that comes with that transition and acknowledging and accepting. And this goes far beyond menopause and perimenopause. If something feels off in your body, which includes your mind, you have to be an advocate for yourself. You cannot wait for someone to validate you. Like, you can't wait for someone to say, oh, yeah, this is why this is happening. And you can't wait for that because, you know, your body the best. And if something feels off, it probably is. You're not a hypochondriac. You're not, you know, worrying for no reason. You're not like. Because that's a lot of things that people. People will keep things to themselves because they're afraid of, you know, complaining or, you know, making a big deal out of something. And that's something that I want to just say right away. If something feels off, go, go get it checked out. And I will talk about ways to do that as well. Google has often been the place where people will say, like, stay off of Google. Right? Because it's not. I'm sort of the Opposite, because I was able to locate some symptoms that led me to literally diagnose myself. Like, I went and listen, this is not in all cases. But I'm just saying, like, we are such. We know so much more about our bodies than anybody. And of course there's tests and medical professionals that can confirm and diagnose. But if something feels off in your body, you can start with Google and you could just. And, and it's not to scare you, it's to educate you. So then you can probably think about, okay, then your next step is to set up a appointment with your primary care. And so the reason I. I suggest the Google thing actually is so that you can have questions, because sometimes when you're experiencing a symptom, like, I don't feel like myself. That's like, when you say that to your primary care physician, it doesn't give them a lot of information. So if you start to look things up, you can kind of yes and no, like, do I have this? Do I not have this? And kind of answer them honestly to yourself. So that when you go to your doctor, it's kind of like being on a game show. Like, when you're on the game show, you forget 90% of what you know. And then when you get home, you're like, oh, my God. It's the same thing. When you go to a doctor, there's like this sort of pressure, you know, especially nowadays. They're in and out. You're in in five minutes. So have questions. Be. Educate yourself a little bit so that you can ask questions and make even suggestions like, do you think that this could be something that I'm dealing with, whether it's perimenopause, menopause, or maybe, you know, you come up with something else, like, it doesn't hurt to ask. And I'd rather someone laugh at me, honestly, and think I'm ridiculous, than for me to have a misdiagnosis or a missed diagnosis and for something more serious to happen. So this is all about preventative. And with perimenopause and menopause, really, if you're not feeling like yourself, which I think is the first sign, if you're not in perimenopause, if you're not feeling like yourself in any way, start to explore what that could mean. And this goes into the second point, which is education. There is so much education out there. I actually wrote down three of my favorites. There are lots of books and podcasts and things you can listen to. One of my favorite Instagram accounts is Called Stripes Beauty. This is ran by actress Naomi Watts. And it's more than perimenopause menopause. It's just health wellness for women in general. But I love that account. Also a website, menopause.org, which will give you a ton of other resources. So that's just like a good hub to lead you into other places. And then for books, there are so many. But I like the perimenopause power because again, before your body starts literally physically doing things where you know you're in menopause, there's a lot of things that start happening before. So this is a good book to start to be like, oh, I thought that. Because a lot of times women will say, I thought that was like just me. And no, it's not just you. It happens to all women. So I think that that book is a good one to give you that information so you can kind of educate yourself about what your body is going to go through. Number three, and before I go into the rest of these, like, I get a lot of worry around this, right? And a lot of when do I. Should I start, you know, hormone replacement therapy? And before you start making major changes to your body and to your taking medicine and to all this stuff, before you start doing that, you have to ask yourself if you're doing some of these basic things that can help you manage most of it before you get to hrt, hormone replacement therapy, which a lot of women will inevitably do. But if you want to avoid it and. Or before you even get there, there's a lot of basic things that you can do that you gotta be honest with yourself. And if you're dealing with not feeling like yourself and you're feeling way more tired than you should, and you're feeling, you know, severe mood swings that are just more than the, you know, normal human being off here and there. If you're feeling like you don't feel like doing anything, you don't care about anything, like you don't have a purpose, like that these are symptoms of perimenopause. So I think again, educating yourself, you know, accepting that you're going through a transition, that your mind and body are changing. Number one, two, educating yourself. Online seminars, classes, books, the resources that I mentioned, educate yourself so that you are not dependent on any professional to tell you what's wrong with you. Okay? Like, educate yourself so that you can have a conversation instead of just being a recipient of information. Number three, exercise. Like, if you're not regularly moving and exercising, you are going to experience. And again, all. Everything I'm saying is from the perspective of a coach who has coached thousands of women, many of which who have gone through or are going through perimenopause or menopause. So things that I know have helped them. Right. And that I. And that I know have helped me. So exercise is. You ha. You. You must be physically active, even if that means 10 or 15 minutes, which is why I have workouts on my program called Quick Fires. And there's. You don't have to do crazy, intense workout. You can do a quick fire recovery class where you're moving your body in a really gentle way. That counts. That is exercise. It doesn't have to be like, you don't have to feel like you're about to faint. That can be exercise, too. But there are just so many different ways. I'm gonna. The next one. Number four, it's dual. It's diet and hydration. You know, water so important it could be its own, but it's really included in your regular diet, too. And what I mean by diet is just intentional. And this goes with education. Look up foods that could be helping, inflammation in your body that could be helping. And look up foods that worsen it, right? Like, look up foods. Literally, like, best foods to eat to reduce symptoms of menopause. You know, there's so many other things that'll come up, and there are so many people that'll be like, that's not. Not even possible. Again, educate yourself. Find information out there, and don't just use one resource. Find resources that are, you know, supportive of each other. Like, what is that called? Like, reinforced resources. So that if you read something somewhere, find something that could also reinforce it so that it's not just like an isolated piece of information. Reinforced resources are what you're looking for. More than two or more reputable people, websites, podcasts, saying the same thing is what I would define as a reinforced resource. And in terms of hydration, that really kind of depends. I recommend to people half their body weight in ounces of water. Let's say you weigh 150. And you. And you struggle drinking even 20 ounces of water. You might not want to make your goal 75 right away, but that's what you're aiming for. So maybe your goal starts out, you know, you pick whatever bottle you like drinking out of. Let's say it's a, you know, 24 ounce. Or you have the. You got a new Stanley for Christmas. You know, like, whatever that is. Maybe your. Your goal is to finish One, and then maybe your goal is to finish two, and so on and so forth until you get to that minimum required, which again, I recommend half your body weight in ounces of water. Supplements. Supplements also tie back to education. Don't start a supplement with no information. Get labs done. You pay a hundred bucks and go to lab corps. You know, your, your primary care, like, you could get generic labs done to check your hormones, to check your, you know, depending on your insurance, it's not that much. You could get, you could get a full, you know, full workup of just all sort of baseline stuff that can tell you whether or not you should consider taking a supplement. And then if you do get information back that says maybe you should take a supplement, then there comes the education out of, you know, if I'm, if I'm taking a vitamin D supplement, there are so many. How do you know which one to choose? Don't even think about that yet. First get the labs drawn, then go from there. In addition to educating yourself, blood work is also really important because it helps to tell the whole picture rather than, again, you just feeling a little off going to your GYN or primary care physician telling them that, and they're like, oh, no, maybe not yet. Maybe try this, maybe try that. If you educate yourself, come up with some questions. If you have lab work done and you go to your doctor, you're gonna so much more out of that than if you just kind of wait around for something to change because you're in denial that your body is changing or you're just a recipient of information from a medical professional that doesn't know the whole story because you haven't told them. I'm going to stop saying numbers because I forget what number I'm on. But stress management, this one is, this one is so big because we hear this term stress management. And this is for every person listening. Regardless of what you're going through in your body, stress will kill you. Stress leads to disease. These are facts. This is not an opinion. Stress is what breaks your body down. So naturally, stress will make symptoms. Stress is getting stressed more easily, is a symptom, first of all, of perimenopause and menopause. And stress will make your symptoms even, you know, even more so. How do you manage stress, is the question, because it's not enough to be like, oh, I need to be less stressed. That's not a plan. How do you reduce your stress? First of all, really simply just think about things that you feel at ease doing. Because stress management looks different for Everyone, meditation might make you more stressed. Like, sitting still might make you more stressed. So again, don't look, don't listen to someone who's like, this is the way you manage stress. And then you do it and it doesn't work, and so you don't try it anymore. Think about the things in your life that you do that make you feel at ease. For me, like, it's being with certain people. Like, being with certain people put me at ease. Being with other people increase my stress. So it really, you have to know. And sometimes at this stage of life, you have to tell certain people, like, I am not myself these days, and I just need to take a step back from this relationship. Mom, sister, bro, you know, like, who. If. If there are people in your life that aggravate you and you're going through this kind of this huge change in your body and in your life, to have that conversation, really challenging, but is going to be really beneficial for your life. So consider the times in your life where you feel at ease, the people in your life where you feel at ease around, and try to do more of that and then vice versa. On the other side, situations that cause you a high amount of stress or people that cause you a high amount of stress, try to limit that. If you can't limit it. Like, let's say your high amount of stress is your job or your high amount of stress is your partner. That requires conversations that include boundaries. That, again, is really scary. But if it's a relationship or a situation that you're not getting out of anytime soon and that you don't necessarily want to get out of, you're just having a harder time sort of dealing with the level of stress that it brings. It's on you to have that conversation of where you are and how you can show up at your job in the relationship. And I guarantee you that that conversation, if you're having it in a calm, you know, scheduled way, it's not just like an outburst. The other side is going to be receptive. I mean, at best, at worst, I mean, maybe they won't. And then you. You have more information and maybe you need to get out of that job or relationship, but hopefully they're receptive and there can be some changes made that will help you in that area of your life.