What if Perimenopause could be a catalyst - instead of a cataclysm?
Perimenopause caught me off-guard
At 48, I started gaining weight on my belly and arms despite eating healthy, running 3x a week and doing Yoga most days.
My joints ached, I kept waking up wired at 3am, my hair started falling out, and I had brain fog so severe I forgot people’s names mid-sentence!
I went down a research rabbit hole - books, podcasts, even research papers to understand why nothing I was doing seemed to work anymore.
I started lifting heavy, doing HIIT, upping my protein, eating less carbs, fasting for 16 hours…. and many other things the experts recommend.
It worked - until ‘life’ derailed my progress!
Stress from juggling parenting, business, study and a mum with declining health - turned into too much wine and Netflix on the weekends.
Sore muscles and exhaustion made it hard to stay consistent with training.
Feelings of failure killed my motivation.
I was stuck in a loop.
At first, I chased more knowledge
At the time I was a Yoga teacher, so I figured I could learn the science for myself, figure out why my strength, nutrition and fitness programming felt unsustainable, and help other women with what I learned.
I enrolled in a Sport Coaching degree at the University of Canterbury.
Over summer school I did some psychology papers - something inside me ‘clicked’.
Not because I wanted to be a clinical psychologist - as an ex-nurse I wasn’t returning to the health system anytime soon.
I was inspired by positive psychology, health psychology, social psychology, and the science and practice of wellbeing.
I realised I could find more joy, ease and fulfilment in my life and relationships - and help other women do the same.
I switched majors.
“Strength and conditioning taught me what I needed to do to feel strong, vital and confident again, but it was psychology that helped me face the deeper issues that were keeping me stuck starting over”
I used perimenopause as a catalyst for positive change
I identified the patterns that were keeping me stuck:
I had poor boundaries - abandoning my values, needs and limits felt safer than risking conflict or rejection.
I had an all-or-nothing approach to nutrition and fitness - when I couldn’t execute the perfect week I felt like a failure.
I never made sleep a priority - making recovery and adaptation to my training slow and compromising my wellbeing.
I used food and alcohol to soothe my emotions - I hadn’t yet learned to deal with life’s challenges adaptively.
When I resolved my patterns, I suddenly had the capacity I needed to align with my health and wellbeing goals.
Wine became less of a crutch.
My relationships became more reciprocal.
I free’d up time and energy.
I focused on steady progress over perfectionism.
I stopped starting over.
And when I started coaching other women - I discovered most had similar patterns.
I realised there wasn’t much point in teaching women how to nail their macros and progress their strength training when they had no capacity to implement anything new.
I had to support my clients to create capacity first.
That’s the deeper work I do now, and if this resonates, it’s the work we'll do together.
“Working with Sarah felt like a guided journey where I was always supported. It provided the accountability I needed but also the light bulb moments as to why I was not reaching my goals. She is empathetic while also challenging when needed. She has a wealth of knowledge that helped me make better decisions, improve my sleep and digestion and know what exercises work for me to achieve results”.
Jenny
CREDENTIALS
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CREDENTIALS *
Certified Health and Wellbeing Coach
Lifestyle Medicine Certified
BSc - Psychology major, Strength & Conditioning minor (in process - 3 papers away from completion)
