The Women's Health Method

What we do before menopause can have a huge impact on how we experience the transition through menopause.

It’s not because we can prevent every symptom or control exactly what will happen we can’t.

But the foundations we build beforehand matter more than we realise.

💪 Building and maintaining muscle
🏋️‍♀️ Strength training
🥗 Eating enough protein and nourishing your body
🦴 Supporting bone health
❤️ Looking after cardiovascular health
😴 Prioritising sleep and recovery
🧠 Building a healthy relationship with food, exercise and your body

Menopause isn’t something we need to fear or “fix”.

It’s a physiological transition and the goal isn’t to fight against it, but to enter it with a body that has been well supported.

You don’t have to wait until symptoms appear to start caring for your future health.

What you do now does matter and that’s a big part of what we focus on at WHM.

If you’re a coach working with someone who want to lose weight, there are some things I don’t think personally we should ever say.

Not because weight loss is inherently bad, but because the way we talk about it matters.

You can support someone’s goal without making them feel ashamed, scared of food, or like their body is the problem.

Because sustainable change isn’t just about what someone eats or how much they weigh. It’s also about their relationship with food, their body, their thoughts, behaviours and the reality of their life.

You can want to lose weight and still deserve to feel good about yourself along the way.

Your menstrual cycle can absolutely influence how you feel but it shouldn’t become a rulebook for how you train.

The goal isn’t to perfectly “cycle sync.” It’s to learn how to auto regulate.

Auto regulation is simply adjusting your training based on how you feel that day. Your energy, recovery, pain, sleep, stress, motivation, and performance all matter - not just what phase of your cycle you’re in.

Some days that might mean pushing harder than planned. Other days it might mean reducing the weight, cutting a few sets, or choosing a walk instead. Neither is a step backwards.

The women who make the most progress aren’t the ones who follow a rigid plan perfectly or stop challenging themselves because cycle advice says they should.

They’re the ones who learn when to push, when to pull back, and how to adapt while still showing up consistently over the long term.

That’s what auto regulation looks like.

One thing I find interesting about rest is that many of us don’t actually struggle with doing it… we struggle with how it feels.

The guilt.
The discomfort.
The feeling we should be doing something else.

Which makes me wonder how many of us learned that our worth sits in productivity, achievement or staying useful.

So if slowing down feels hard, it may not be because you lack discipline or are “bad” at resting but because rest and self-care can bring up beliefs we’ve absorbed over time.

The theory behind this post comes from Compassion Focused Therapy and emotional regulation systems (Gilbert, 2014).

And just to be transparent, this is something I’ve had to work on myself too and still do. It’s not always easy to switch off or access that “soothe” state when you’re used to operating in drive.

So if you notice your soothe system feels underactive… what could you do this week to support it, even if that feels hard to do? 🫶🏼

There’s been a lot of conversation around the renaming of PCOS to PMOS, and I think it highlights something bigger than terminology.

For years, women have been given overly simplified explanations for something that is far more complex in reality and then left trying to “fix” it through restriction, control, or generic advice that doesn’t reflect what’s actually happening in their body.

What matters here isn’t just the name change, it’s the shift in thinking.

Because for women, this changes the question.

Instead of “what do I cut out?”
it becomes “what actually supports my body long term?”

And often, the basics are what make the biggest difference:
– consistent meals (not chaotic restriction)
– protein + fibre for energy and appetite
– movement that supports strength and metabolic health
– sleep and stress support
– and stepping out of the all or nothing cycle that keeps most women stuck

Even with better understanding, many people still try to manage their body from a place of punishment and that’s usually where things break down.

The real shift is learning how to apply the information in a way that’s sustainable, not stressful.

Because that’s what actually changes things long term.

People often come to me thinking they just need a training plan, calories, macros, or a meal plan.

And to be honest, I used to coach that way too.

But I realised pretty quickly… that wasn’t what created lasting change for the women who were still struggling.

Because for most women, it’s not just about what they’re eating, it’s about their relationship with food.

That’s why inside my coaching and the women’s health method app, we don’t just hand over a plan and hope it sticks.

Yes you’ll have structure, training, and guidance.
But you’ll also learn how to understand your behaviours and create change that actually lasts.

Because the plan isn’t the problem.
It’s having the support to actually apply it in a way that works for you.

I’ve worked with women for over a decade, and one pattern keeps showing up:
knowing what to do but not doing it.

At the Women’s Health Method, we don’t just give you more information.

We help you understand what’s actually keeping you stuck, so you can have the tools and support to move forward and follow through.

If this feels like you, here’s something to take away:

👉🏻Start by noticing what you feel in those “stuck” moments.
More often than not, you’re in a threat state - overwhelmed, stressed, tired, or anxious.
And in that state, your brain isn’t making calm, intentional decisions… it’s looking for relief.

That’s when autopilot kicks in and you fall back into familiar coping strategies.

Instead of trying to “be better” in that moment:
pause -> feel it - > get curious about it.

That pause might not seem like much but it is.
It helps you recognise what’s happening and creates space for choice, rather than reaction.

And that’s the start of difference between knowing what to do… and actually doing it.

Discipline is one of those words that gets used a lot, but rarely explained.

It’s often treated as if more of it is always the answer.

And don’t get me wrong challenge is important. Doing hard things can build confidence, resilience and a sense of capability.

But there’s a difference between pushing yourself because you value your health… and pushing yourself because you feel like you need to control your body or make up for something.

From the outside these behaviours can look identical.

Early workouts.
Sticking to a plan.
Doing hard things.

But internally they’re very different.

One builds trust with yourself and your body.

The other slowly leads to burnout, guilt and the all-or-nothing cycle.

The goal isn’t less discipline.

It’s discipline that comes from self respect rather than self-punishment.

If you’re ready for an approach that comes from support and care not punishment or restriction. Our next 6week group training program kicks off next week!

Link in bio 🫶🏼💪🏼

Body ideals will always change.

What matters more is the role our body plays in how we evaluate ourselves.

If weight, shape, or appearance becomes one of the main ways we judge our worth, confidence or success, it creates a moving target. No matter what the current body trend is, the pressure tends to remain.

Improving body image isn’t about chasing the “right” look or pretending appearance doesn’t matter.

It’s about reducing how much your body determines how you feel about yourself.

Because when that shifts, the cycle that has repeated for generations starts to lose its grip.

You might notice yourself relating to a lot of fat loss content online;

-The discipline.
-The control.
-The aesthetics.

And it makes sense why it resonates.

When you’re frustrated with your body, it’s easy to believe the answer is simply to try harder.

->To be stricter.
->More consistent.
->More disciplined.

But for many women I work with, discipline was never the issue.

They had already spent years pushing themselves, controlling food, trying to follow the rules and starting again every time they felt like they’d “fallen off”.

So when they keep consuming content that reinforces more pressure, more control and more rigidity, it keeps them stuck in the same loop.

Sometimes the content that speaks to your frustration isn’t the content that actually supports the change you need.

And the shift isn’t always about trying harder.

Often it’s about approaching your health from a completely different place.

DM “HEALTH” if you’re ready for a more effective approach today!