No More Cookie-Cutter Fixes: A Personalized Approach to Menopause Health & Weight Loss

Are you tired of wasting time and money on diets, supplements, or advice that never seem to work? In this episode of The Joyful Menopause Podcast, we’ll explore why one-size-fits-all solutions fail women in perimenopause and menopause, and what to do instead.

You’ll learn:

 ✨ Why calorie counting, strict macros, and generic supplements don’t address the real issues
✨ How estrogen affects weight loss and why your midlife metabolism needs a new approach
✨ The role of micronutrients in brain fog, fatigue, and thyroid health
✨ Why sleep and stress matter just as much as food (and how menopause insomnia and perimenopause sleep problems hold you back)
✨ How environmental toxins and blood sugar regulation play a hidden role in your symptoms

I’ll also share Maureen’s powerful story: after years of exhaustion, constipation, and weight struggles, she finally found answers through a personalized plan - and experienced better sleep, renewed energy, weight loss, and freedom from bloating.

👉 Stop spinning your wheels on cookie-cutter solutions. Your body deserves a plan as unique as you are.

🎧 Listen now and subscribe to The Joyful Menopause Podcast for more science-backed, compassionate guidance on thriving in midlife.

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you to feel your best during perimenopause and menopause:

1. Want more science-backed health tips? Click here to sign up for my free weekly newsletter for practical advice on navigating menopause with confidence:

2. Click here to get the free guide: 5 Natural Ways To Reduce Menopause Symptoms.

2. For more information about Lynda and how she supports women on their health journey, click here to learn more.

3. Interested in seeing if nutrition coaching with Lynda is right for you? Click here to book a free discovery call with Lynda.

Transcript

0:00

Hello there and welcome back to the Joyful Menopause Podcast. Today we are diving into a topic that so many women need to hear why there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution when it comes to your health. Maybe you've tried calorie counting, maybe you've been handed a meal plan or told you just need to track your macros, or maybe you've been given a supplement or medication and told this will solve everything. If you've ever felt frustrated because those things didn't work for you, you are not alone, and it is not your fault. In fact, one of my clients, Maureen, had been down that road. She tried everything she could think of to lose weight during perimenopause, but nothing worked until we discovered what her body really needed. I'll share her story a little later because it perfectly illustrates why personalization matters. So let's get started. Menopause doesn't have to feel like you are living in someone else's body. Your host, Lynda Enright, has spent the last 25 years helping women to thrive in midlife. Here you'll find science-based practical advice that you can start using today to get real results for your health. Welcome to Joyful Menopause. Let's start with what I call the health shortcuts we've all been told to follow. Number one, calorie counting the old eat less. Move more advice. Makes it sound like your body's just a math problem, but your body isn't a calculator. It's a complex system that's influenced by your hormones, by stress, by sleep, and so many things. During perimenopause and menopause, your metabolism starts to change because estrogen and progesterone are shifting, which affects how your body stores fat, how your body uses energy. And that means the good old 1200 calorie diet may leave you feeling depleted, cranky, irritable, and still not losing weight because the problem isn't just calories, it's hormonal balance, nutrient needs, and blood sugar regulation. Second thing is macros or strict meal plans too. So counting grams of carbs, protein, and fat. They might bring some, some short term structure, but like calorie counting, it isn't the only answer. I do pay attention to these things. I look at calories, I look at macros because they are important to help to build some foundation, but there's so much more to it, and there isn't just a one size fits all for everyone. For either of these things either. So we pay attention to macros for blood sugar regulation to help you feel full and satisfied. But macros alone is again, not a one size fits all solution, especially in midlife. Why is that? One problem with it is it often ignores what works for you, your food preferences, possibly food sensitivities, and even just the demands of your current lifestyle, and then the demands of this time in life as well. Your needs in your forties, your fifties are not the same as what was needed in your twenties. So these things need to change throughout our life. In perimenopause and menopause, your nutrient needs change. Your nervous system requires more stability, strict plans, rigidity do not leave room for any of that flexibility. How about supplements? We've seen all the ads. Take this pill for energy. This is going to balance your hormones overnight. The problem is without testing and evaluating what you need specifically, you might be missing nutrients that particularly matter for your body. So magnesium deficiency, for example, can worsen things like brain fog and sleep problems. But if you're just taking some generic multivitamin or taking one of these supplements that maybe your friend takes or you heard a commercial about, you might not be getting enough of it. First of all, you might be not getting the right amount for you. Might not be the right form, that's absorbable. Supplements need to be targeted, not just guesswork. We're not shooting darts at the wall. We're trying to figure out what your body needs personally. Medications, there's no question. Medications can be super helpful. Even lifesaving, of course. Thyroid medication, for example, so many women need to be on that. Not everybody we can supplement to, to support that as well. But the problem also arises when medication is looked at as the only solution. It's the, we have to take this, you gotta take this pill, you gotta take it forever. Normal lab numbers don't always mean you're that you're thriving. So if the root causes like nutrient deficiencies, like chronic stress or inflammation, if we ignore those things, then women are left feeling exhausted and not heard. Medications can absolutely be part of the solution, but they're not the whole story and they come with side effects too. Of course, we all know that you've seen the commercials. I'm sure. Medications can also impact your nutrient needs. So again, why we need a tailored approach to supplementation, because even if you're taking a medication that you need for some reason, is that making some nutrient deficiencies possibly happening? Is it impacting your appetite? Is it creating muscle loss? All factors we have to consider when looking at a tailored approach. Here's the frustrating part for so many women. You've wasted years, maybe thousands of dollars cycling through these one size fits all fixes. You try a new diet plan or some trendy supplement or something again, your friend told you to do, you might buy into the latest program and find yourself, you know, just back where you started, tired, frustrated, struggling still for answers. And the problem again is if these solutions are sort of a blanket solution for all people, all women, even all menopausal women, we don't know if that's exactly what is designed best for you. So if you've tried something and it hasn't worked, set aside the blame and the shame that goes along with that, it has just not been the right solution for you. That is the key. So what is the alternative? The alternative is the power of personalization. So that is what can change everything. Every woman I work with is unique. Of course. We're all absolutely unique. You have your own health history, genetics, lifestyle, stressors, goals, family history. That means your nutrition and wellness plan has to be individualized as well. So here are some of the things that I do to personalize it with my clients. I start first with evaluating nutrient intake with micronutrient testing. Most approaches stop at calories, carbs, protein, and fat. But your body needs far more than macros, those carbs, protein, and fat. It needs the right micros, the micronutrients to power, metabolism, energy and hormone balance. So micronutrients, they're the vitamins and minerals. Think of your need for vitamins and minerals, sort of like charging your phone battery. You can have all the best stuff on it. The best apps, the great settings are all in place, but without a charge, nothing works. These vitamins and minerals are micronutrients are the charge your body relies on for energy, for repair, and without them a lot of key things that are happening just don't work. Healthy functioning metabolism does not work well if you do not have the right nutrients. Deficiencies in things like magnesium, vitamin D, b vitamins, so important. Zinc, all these things can leave you exhausted. Brain fog, anxiety, struggling with thyroid function. We need these nutrients for all these things to function. During menopause shifts in estrogen change how your body uses and stores nutrients, which is why understanding what you need is key for both energy, for weight loss. Again, balancing these hormones. Micronutrient testing takes the guesswork out. It shows us exactly where your body is lacking support so we can target nutrition and supplementation if that's the right way to go in a way that's very specific to you. Another thing that I look at that so many people don't consider when we're talking about nutrition is your sleep and your stress. You could be eating amazing, have this perfect, healthy diet, but if your body is in a constant state of stress or you're lying awake at 2:00 AM with menopause insomnia, your body isn't going to heal. Sleep is when your nervous system resets itself, your brain clears out the toxins, your hormones recalibrate. Without getting adequate sleep blood sugar control doesn't work so well, so we can have these ups and downs in blood sugars. Your cravings can increase, your anxiety can then go through the roof. So addressing perimenopause sleep problems, menopause insomnia, and chronic stress is crucial, a non-negotiable to get lasting results. Then one really overlooked issue I I've experienced in life also is insulin resistant. If your body struggles to manage blood sugar, it can lead to weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, all the things that we talk about all the time with perimenopause and menopause. And unfortunately, it can even lead to more severe things happening down the road. So it's important that we get this under control. It doesn't always matter how carefully you count those calories if your blood sugar's out of balance. Your body isn't going to respond the way you want to. The food that you're eating, even if. You know, you're doing everything sort of right. You're eating nourishing foods. If your blood sugar is not working right, you're still going to struggle. So that's why we wanna focus on balanced meals, movement, stress management, sleep. Again, it's central to everything that I do with my clients. Another thing that you don't hear a whole lot about is toxins. Your everyday exposures to plastics and pesticides, fragrances, cleaning products. A number of these things can act like hormone disruptors in your body. These toxins, these hormone disruptors, potentially can interfere with estrogen function, thyroid function. They can worsen your hot flashes at night. They can contribute to inflammation. So by reducing exposure and supporting your body's detoxification pathways through nutrition, hydration, movement, we can create an environment where your hormones can function more smoothly. Okay. So there's a number of things that I focus on really personally with my clients, and this isn't even a complete list, but these are some of the personal factors that are crucial to help you achieve your best health. So see how different that looks from just count calories or just take this supplement. But what does this actually look like when you put it into practice with a real person? So I want to tell you about my client, Maureen. So when Maureen first came to me, she was totally exhausted. She told me she'd done everything she could think of to lose weight during menopause. Nothing was working. She was already taking thyroid medication, but because her labs were normal, her doctor wouldn't even talk to her about how she was feeling. Even though she was having clear symptoms of thyroid dysfunction. Like so many women, she was Googling trying to figure it out. Her latest attempt, she went gluten-free. She thought maybe that was going to be the solution. It helped a little bit, but she still wasn't getting results. She was in perimenopause. She hadn't exercise in months, not because she didn't want to. She used to be in a good exercise routine. She just literally did not have the energy to do it. She also had constipation, constant bloating of course, that goes along with that. We dug deeper. I looked at all her lab data. I discovered that her body was inflamed. Her blood sugar wasn't being regulated well. And then we did micronutrient testing, and we learned a lot about how the nutrients that support thyroid health weren't adequate for her. They weren't at their optimal levels. So instead of starting another diet trend or supplement, we created a plan, a dietary plan and supplement regimen that was very specific to her. We focused on anti-inflammatory eating. We supported her thyroid with the right nutrition. We calmed her nervous system so her body could finally rest and repair. What happened? Her sleep got better. She got her energy back. She lost weight. She wasn't bloated anymore. So for Maureen, it wasn't about about like trying harder, restricting more, you know, taking out gluten, all the things that we hear about all the time. It was about uncovering what her personal unique needs were and giving her body the right support. So why am I telling you all this? Because personalization is the missing link. Your body isn't broken. You just need something that fits you, that's right for your body at this time in your life. When we take the time to look at your nutrients, your stress, your sleep, your environment, your thyroid, your blood sugar, we can start to uncover the real reasons that you don't feel your best. And sometimes it's a lot of different reasons. It's not just one thing. We have to deal with all of the things. So that's how we can get beyond these bandaid solutions that are just slap this thing on it. We can finally help with issues like perimenopause sleep problems like brain fog, like stubborn weight, especially abdominal weight. So instead of spinning your wheels over and over with another sort of one size fits all plan, imagine what it would feel like to have a plan that's built specifically for you. So let's wrap up today's episode. Remember, there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to your health. Personalization is where the real transformation can happen. So think about this. How much time, energy, money have you already spent trying to make cookie cutter solutions work for you? How much further ahead could you be if you had an approach that was truly tailored to your body? Just like Maureen, she wasted years trying different diets, medications, quick fixes. Once she had something that worked for her body that was personalized to her, everything started to work. Her energy came back. She finally started sleeping. The weight came off and the bloating disappeared. If this sounds great to you, if this resonated with you, these sound like the symptoms that you're experiencing, and you're ready to stop wasting resources on a one size fits all solution and start discovering what your body really needs. I'd love to invite you to schedule a free consultation. During the consultation, we start to unpack the root causes of what you're experiencing and explore how a customized nutrition and lifestyle plan could support you. Think of it as your opportunity to finally understand what your body needs and take the first step toward real lasting results. So thanks for being here today for taking time out of your busy schedule to hear a little bit about nutrition and some of the things that can work on a long-term basis during these years of midlife. Remember, your body deserves a plan that is as unique as you are. So until next time, take care and be well.