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Hey team, welcome back and welcome to week 10. This week we're going to be looking at something that affects every single woman who's completing this program. Whether you're 28 or 58, it's something that explains a lot of the frustration, the confusion, and the moments where you feel like you've done everything right and your body is working against you. Because this week we're going to be talking all about the beautiful and magnificent female body and how our hormones actually work. How they affect your fat loss, your training, your hunger, your mood, and your results. And most importantly, why none of the challenges that come with being a woman are signs that there's something wrong with you. And this is one of my favourite episodes in the whole program because I think once you understand what you're working with, you have more compassion for your body, and when we have more compassion for ourselves and we can support ourselves better to achieve our goals. So for our health track this week, we're talking about hormones and female fat loss. We're going to look at perimenopause, menopause, and why you simply cannot compare your results to your husband's or your male colleagues because your body is operating under a completely different biological framework. So let's start with our metabolism, for example. And this is where women get the shorter end of the stick compared to men when it comes to fat loss. And that has absolutely nothing to do with a woman's discipline compared to a man. It has everything to do with a woman's hormones. And the hormones that allow women to become pregnant and carry a baby are also the hormones that are responsible for ensuring that we have enough energy available throughout that pregnancy. So a woman's body is estimated to require in excess of around 50,000 calories across that pregnancy period, the gestational period. Your biology, a woman's biology, is primed, therefore, to hold on to body fat, particularly around the hips and the thighs, because it's a survival mechanism. It's so that we can ensure we have enough energy to be able to carry the pregnancy to full term. So our body is primed to hold body fat in ways that a man's body is not. It's not a design flaw, it's a beautiful and brilliant, purposeful design. It's our physiology. The implication of this, however, is that during a fat loss phase, a woman's body will work hard to conserve energy. It does that by driving our appetite up and by resisting weight loss, particularly when the body fat levels are falling below a certain threshold. So your body is essentially asking the question, is it safe to be this lean? And if the answer is no, then it really pushes back. And I definitely know this firsthand, because when I competed in my bodybuilding show, my body fat dropped below 16%. Once it got to that point, I think I had to get down to 12% body fat, which is extraordinarily low and very uncomfortable and definitely not sustainable. But once I dropped below the 16% mark, that's when I lost my menstrual cycle. And I lost it for six months. It wasn't until my body regained a healthy amount of body fat that it came back. And that was my body just simply protecting itself. It was doing exactly what it was designed to do. It wasn't a failure, it was just biology. And this is something worth thinking about and sitting with because when you're tempted to compare yourself to the men in your life who are able to lose two kilos a week without putting in much effort, it it really isn't fair to do that to yourself. Because men typically carry much more lean muscle mass and therefore they also have a faster resting metabolic rate, which means they can burn calories much more quickly. This is also why it's important to build as much muscle as you can because the more you have, the higher your metabol metabolism will be, and the better you're able to burn through energy and from the food you eat. But just to go back to the comparison of a woman's physiology versus a man's physiology, when you were if you were to compare the calories burnt or the calories obtained from a meal out, if a husband and wife were to go out and eat exactly the same meal for dinner, it would take a woman roughly one-third more time and effort to burn off the same energy, to burn off the same meal. So we really can't compare our results to our partners for that reason alone. Now let's go a little deeper into what's happening during our menstrual cycle because when you understand this, it really does change the way that you train, the way that you eat, and how you feel about your body across the month, and perhaps even the permission you give yourself at certain times of the month. So a woman's hormonal profile changes dramatically roughly across the 28 days of her cycle. And these changes aren't random, they are purposeful and they're measured and they're controlled by our hormones. So when you understand them, you can actually work with your body rather than being blindsided by it. And if you've never taken the time to study it before, it's definitely worth having a look at the visual in your lesson content for the week, in your health track lesson, you'll see the complete menstrual cycle diagram. And this will show you all the different hormonal fluctuations across the follicular phase, the ovulation phase, and the luteal phase. So, having a look at that, you'll see that the follicular phase runs roughly from day one to day 14. This is the two weeks that are leading up to ovulation. At this stage, estrogen is rising, and most women find that their mood is pretty stable, and often motivation is a little higher at this time. Training feels pretty good, and you might even be getting some PBs in the gym. Sticking with your eating often feels easier at this stage as well. So this is a great time to push your training intensity if you're feeling up for it. Then ovulation starts to happen from around day 13 or day 14, and that's when we see a little peak in testosterone as well. At this time as well, energy is often at its highest, and women are feeling the strongest in their gym sessions because of that little spike in testosterone. They've got a generally a greater sense of determination and drive around this time as well. Following that, we have the luteal phase that runs from roughly day 13 to day 28, roughly. And so this is the two weeks after the ovulation. This is when we start to see progesterone rising, and it's when the PMS symptoms can start to occur for some women. Often appetite really starts to increase here as well. And some women, I know for myself personally, genuinely need an extra one to two hundred, even up to three hundred calories per day. And that's really not a weakness, and it's not poor discipline. I always know when I'm feeling extra hungry, I just look at where I'm at in my cycle and it just makes sense. Um, and so it's a real physiological signal, and it's worth honoring that. Uh, and it can um be, you know, just simply addressed by including some extra fruit or a slightly larger meal, you know, making your protein serve bigger that day, making your carb serve bigger, just allowing yourself to eat a little bit more to your fullness and satiety needs during that two weeks leading up to your period. And I would say, especially in those few days before. It's really important to also know that weight can fluctuate upward in this second half of the luteal phase. And so this is when we're retaining water and there's changes in the glycogen stores in our body as well. So it's important to know that if the weight is trending up around this time, it's not fat gain, that it's a normal hormonal response that resolves within a few days after your period begins. So if the scale does go up a week before your period, please don't panic. Just note it and understand it and move on. Next, I want to chat a little about perimenopause and menopause because this is where I think the most important and most underdiscussed conversation in women's health lives. We just, you know, are starting to see so much more on social media now, which is fabulous and it's really empowering for so many women, and I'm excited to share this with you because I think there's real hope in this knowledge that we're learning about our bodies, and it it sets us all up to be more equipped and more empowered to be able to create long-lasting health and to have strong functional bodies that get us through our retirement. And it's actually quite exciting because I see this future of fit, healthy, functional nanas who are feeling confident, able to look after their grandchildchildren, but also have these wonderful lives for themselves with these strong functional bodies. These strong, beautiful bodies that they've invested in during their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, and that they're finally reaping the rewards of now. So peramenopause refers to the years leading up to menopause when estrogen levels begin to fluctuate and gradually decline. And it can start as early as the late 30s. Now, when it comes to menopause, the average age for menopause is around 51. And remembering that menopause is that day in your life where you've been without a period for 12 consecutive months. So it really is only one day in your life. So that that occurs around 51, but it can occur much earlier when a woman has been without her period for 12 months. So, really, when we're talking about perimenopause, we're talking about any time from the late 30s right through to the time at which you have stopped having your period for 12 months, which is effectively when you start menopause. So during that 38 to say 50 year years of age, while you're still menstruating, you're going through the perimenopause phase. And this phase can include all sorts of challenges like hot flashes, night sweats, disrupted sleep, mood changes, brain fog, joint pain, changes in fat distribution with more accumulating around the midsection, as well as reduced muscle mass, lower bone density, and changes in your insulin sensitivity. So it's quite a lot going on. And research actually shows us that there's around 70% of women who experience musculoskeletal symptoms during this transition. And we see it a lot in the gym, particularly shoulder concerns, very, very common for women going through perimenopause. And that's because the estrogen uh receptors just aren't getting the estrogen that they need within the joints of our body, and that's causing there to be inflammation in ways that we wouldn't have had previously. So it it really is quite common to see these sorts of things, and if you are experiencing those um changes, then know that you're not alone. And around 25% of people who have these musculoskeletal symptoms find them quite disabling. So, yeah, do reach out to your GP and speak about options for support. And while you know it is important to get shoulders and joints looked at, sometimes it is simple as starting. HRT can really have tremendous benefits with helping to increase those estrogen levels just enough to take to reduce some of that inflammation and to get the body responding better. And that's because as estrogen is declining, the body is effectively losing one of its most protective agents for both bone and muscle. So as that oestrogen declines, women have been scientifically shown to lose around 0.6% of muscle per year after menopause. And that's a direct result of that drop in estrogen. At the same time, your bone mineral density is also declining by around ten percent across the perimenopause transition. That is huge. And this uh combination of loss of muscle and bone density accelerates the sarcopenia process that we talked about in week two, where your muscle is becoming it it your muscle tissue is breaking down. And that is the first stage of aging. And it's exactly why strength training is not optional for women at this stage in life. It really is and should be considered protective medicine. The good news is that this is genuinely good news, is that strength training is the most evidence-based intervention available for counteracting these changes. So we know that resistance training has been shown to preserve and build bone density. It's been shown to maintain your lean muscle mass and improve insulin sensitivity, reducing the severity of hot flushes, it can support your mood and cognitive function and significantly reduce the risk of a fracture and disability later in life. So just know that the classes that you're showing up for at Legacy are doing more for you long term than most people will ever understand, and that every session that you're showing up for is an investment into the woman you're going to be at 60, 70, and beyond. I should also say that hormone replacement therapy is another option that's worth discussing with your GP. If symptoms are significantly affecting your quality of life, I would highly recommend chatting to your GP because it can alleviate symptoms and it has been shown to support bone health during this transition. And if it's not right for you, that's fine. There, you know, there are plenty of lifestyle things that you can do, like we've spoken about your diet, your training. Um, and it definitely isn't the right decision for everyone. Uh so do make sure you do what's best for you, but have an informed conversation with your doctor rather than suffering in silence. Because you deserve, we all deserve, a plan that works to support us during this stage of life, and there is so much that can be done. So do speak up. Now, on to our mindset track for this week, and this week I want to discuss something that's important because a lot of us will struggle with this from time to time, and it's binge traps. So everything that we've just covered about hormones still matters here too, because when estrogen and progesterone are shifting, whether that is across your monthly cycle or the bigger transition of perimenopause, cravings do intensify, and emotional regulation gets harder because of those hormonal changes. So the pull toward food as comfort does become stronger. And that's not a coincidence, like we've spoken about, it's biology, and most of us at some point have used food as a comfort during these times. Sometimes it's used as a reward, sometimes an escape. Sometimes we use food as a way to manage difficult emotions that just feel too big and too uncomfortable to sit with. I know for myself personally, I suffered a lot from binge eating after my bodybuilding show, and that was purely the result of being undernourished and basically starving for too long. So my body wasn't getting what it needed for too long, and uh there was this physiological hunger and this psychological hunger that I could not escape. And that is part of what happens when we go through severe calorie restrictions, so these restrictive diets, and perhaps you've had a history of restrictive diets, and the food noise can be very loud as a result. So it's very important to know that binge eating is something that's part of our physiology, but it is also part of our psychology sometimes, and you know, to have compassion for ourselves because what often we tend to do is we surround those moments with a lot of shame and a lot of guilt, and we we vow that we're going to do better and start again on Monday, and it what happens is that we then uh over-compensate and we pull back and over-restrict, which then leads to more desire to binge because we've been under-nourishing. It becomes quite a challenging cycle. So make sure you check out this week's mindset track lesson in the app, because it's really about understanding why that cycle happens and how you can break it. And it's not through more discipline or being harder on yourself. It really is through more awareness and self-compassion. So overeating typically comes down to one of the following four reasons, and it's often a combination of some of these. Now, the first reason we overeat is often due to emotional discomfort, and this is us when we use food to soothe stress, boredom, loneliness, or anxiety. The second reason we sometimes overeat is because of desire and reward. So our brains are wired to seek pleasure and processed foods specifically are engineered to trigger that reward system. So the third reason is we have these physical cravings. Like I mentioned before, my body was really in need of a lot of energy quickly. So the cravings were super, super high, and that was my body just wanting to get back to a healthy body weight. So if you've been undereating and not getting enough protein or not getting enough nutrition, you're going to be getting these physical cravings that are driven by blood sugar fluctuations, mineral and vitamin imbalances, hormonal changes, and perhaps even just habituated patterns from that eat and restrict cycle. And the fourth reason we sometimes overeat or binge is simply hunger. And that's like I mentioned before, we're just not eating enough of that nutrient-dense food that we mentioned earlier. So we might not be having quite enough vegetables to really fill our stomach and stretch those stomach receptors, and that leaves a signal in our body that's telling us to eat, eat, eat. So none of these things are character flaws. They are all completely understandable. They're natural human responses that can be addressed with the right strategies. So the most important mindset tool I want to leave you with this week is what we call the no big deal approach, or it's to have food amnesia, to just simply let it go and move on. So when and if you eat something outside of your plan, perhaps you had a binge, or perhaps you have an unplanned snack, or perhaps that fillet of fish did end up getting to you like it gets to me occasionally. Um know that it's something that doesn't deserve a lot of attention. Make it the no big deal response. Instead of reacting to it, just shrug your shoulders, no big deal, and move on. No shame, no punishment, no vow to restrict anything tomorrow or to start again on Monday. Just a calm, compassionate response and a return to your next meal as planned. Because ultimately it's how you respond to a slip that matters far more than having a little slip itself. So the no big deal approach keeps the incident small and shame tends to make it bigger. And as we all know, shame is never a great way to build a sustainable habit. So your mindset track this week goes a bit deeper into this. So please do read it. And if binge eating is significantly affecting your quality of life, do speak up to your coach and perhaps even have a look at the Butterfly Foundation, butterfly.org.au because that's Australia's national support for eating disorders and body image concerns, and they have a lot of great content. And finally, for our action track this week. This week, our action is about creating comfort, intentional, conscious comfort for ourselves, comfort without food at the center. So your action track lesson has a list of comfort creating activities for you to choose from. Things like a hot bath, a slow walk, buying yourself some flowers, reading a great book, or listening to music that you love, or maybe spending time with people that you love. So today, or sorry, this week, I want you to choose two or three that genuinely resonate with you and make a plan to do them for yourself this week. Whether that's buying yourself a nice bunch of flowers, treating yourself to a massage, or just something small, like giving yourself some space to just do nothing, read a good book and just know that it's in these moments when perhaps you would have in the past got yourself to a point of burnout or fatigue or stress, and you would have normally reached something comforting to eat. Instead, you're actually learning how to nurture yourself and fill your cup in a different way. And as you do this for yourself in those moments when you would normally reach for comfort food, if you try to substitute food with something else, just notice what happens. Notice whether the urge might just pass and notice how you feel afterwards compared to how you would feel if you had of reached for that cookie in the jar or for that lock of chocolate. And it's not about deprivation, but it is about expanding your toolkit so you know how to feel good in ways that aren't just dependent on food. And that way, food is one of the many sources of pleasure in our life rather than the primary one. So choose your comforts, choose them intentionally, notice the difference, and that is your week. So well done, team. We've made it to the end of week 10's podcast. Now, this is your final stretch, and what you have built, the knowledge, the habits, the understanding of your body, this does not disappear when the program ends. Just remember that all of this is going to come with you, and all of this you will use to further compound and further achieve more results moving forward. And remember that you and your beautiful female body is remarkable. It's complex, yes, it's challenging, absolutely, but it's also remarkable, and we are all blessed. Keep building, and I'll see you in the next lesson.