Maximizing Hormones, Physique & Running Through Perimenopause

Most often, the key to better hormones, deeper sleep, a badass body composition, and stronger running isn't doing more, but learning how to slow down and streamline a targeted, more strategic approach - especially in midlife.

In Part 2 of their adrenal, stress, and cortisol regulation masterclass, Louise Valentine, a multi award-winning women's functional health practitioner, scientist, and exercise physiologist, and Jen share practical ways to manage daily stress, support an optimal daily hormonal rhythm, maximize recovery and fitness results during perimenopause.

From demanding workouts and busy family schedules to emotional stress and poor eating habits...

Often, the reason we're exhausted, struggling to recover, fat loss resistant, seeing rapid hormone decline, or noticing frustrating changes in our body isn't just "inevitable" perimenopause, but rather it's the stress our body is carrying every day and how it impacts our daily hormonal rhythm.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts, welcomes back Jen for part one of a mini masterclass on adrenal, stress and cortisol regulation, and how everyday habits affect active women over 35. Louise explains the body's stress response, the three stages of HPA axis dy...

What if the health strategies you are learning for yourself could also help your husband feel better, sleep better, and stay stronger as he ages?

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health and fitness practitioners, explains why many of the foundational habits she teaches women can also support men. She covers protein and amino acids, hydration, vitamin D, omega-3s, creatine, magnesium, blood sugar balance, and better supplement choices. She also explains why dosage matters and why taking more supplements does not necessarily lead to better results.

Louise shares ho...

Generic protein advice can sound simple, but for ambitious active women and runners in perimenopause, it misses what our female body actually needs.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, challenges the recommendation of eating 100 grams of protein per day and explains why protein needs should reflect our unique body weight, training volume, recovery demands, hormonal shifts, and body composition goals. She discusses how active women, especially runners and endurance athletes, often require more protein to support muscle, hormones, stress resilience, injury prevention, and recovery.

Louise also breaks...

“Normal” and basic blood work does not tell us the whole story.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a multi-award-winning women's integrative health practitioner and exercise physiologist, shares why understanding which biomarkers to track and what they mean can be especially important for runners, active women, and their families. Using her daughter’s first blood draw as an example, Louise explains how she teaches her children to see health data as empowering, useful information rather than something to fear.

She discusses the difference between standard and optimal lab ranges, cutting-edge female-specific lab ranges, why tracking trends over t...

What happens when the treatment offered to quiet your symptoms also quiets the hormonal signals you are trying to understand and working hard to support?

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a leading functional health and fitness expert for perimenopausal active women and recreational runners, shares why she decided not to use birth control as a way to manage perimenopause symptoms. As an example of things to consider, she walks through her complicated health history, including periods of underfueling, overtraining, gut issues, hormone challenges, and the difficulty of navigating fragmented women’s healthcare.

Louise explains why sh...

Waiting until life gets easier may be the very thing keeping you stuck. In this short episode, Louise Valentine shares a simple reminder for women navigating perimenopause, changing hormones, fitness struggles, and the pressures of midlife: there is no perfect time. There is only a decision.

Louise, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners, explains how she sees women delay getting support even when their symptoms, lab trends, or daily energy suggest something needs attention. She shares why understanding the full picture, health history, stress, nutrition, training, hormones, and lifestyle, can help create a more per...

As our hormones and female physiology change, running a bit less and more strategic is essential to feel stronger, healthier, and even faster.

Louise Valentine, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, sits down with Jen to look back on their four-month training cycle and share what happened when they reduced running mileage, focused more on the Breaking Through Wellness female-specific strength training and fitness methods, and stopped forcing their bodies to keep up with demanding race goals.

One of their biggest lessons was once again learning to recognize a bioindividual “stress tipping po...

At Breaking Through Wellness, taking more strategic care of yourself also means making more room for joy-filled experiences with the people you love. In fact, it may be the most important factor in thriving through perimenopause with optimal health, hormones, fitness, and holistic happiness!

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a leading functional women's health, exercise physiologist, and female-specific fitness expert, shares a personal look at how health, changing hormones, fitness, relationships, and stress all intersect during perimenopause. After noticing how demanding this season of life has become for herself and her clients, she realized that reconnecting with...

Feeling better in perimenopause has less to do with doing more and more to do with finally giving your female body what it needs.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts for ambitious active women who love to run, sits down with Stacey, a health education specialist and longtime runner, to share her journey from restrictive dieting, excessive fasting, poor sleep, headaches, injuries, and frustrating hormonal symptoms to a much simpler approach to health and performance. Stacey explains how learning when and how to fuel with her female ph...

Perimenopause changes how your body responds to training, nutrition, caffeine, sleep, recovery, and many supplements, making it feel like the things you always did to support your health and fitness are no longer working. And those shifts can begin as early as your 30s.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a leading women's integrative health and fitness expert for perimenopausal active women and female runners, shares real-life conversations with women who were doing many things “right” but still dealing with injuries, poor sleep, anxiety, cravings, body composition changes, and frustrating fitness setbacks.

She explains why creatine qual...

Your daughter may forget what you served for dinner, but she may remember how you talked about your body.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, explores the fine line between pursuing fat loss, physique goals, and endurance performance while raising children who are watching and listening. 

Drawing from her own childhood health and body composition struggles, work with professional athletes, and experience as a mother of young athletes, she explains why joy, strength, and long-term health should matter more than pressure, appearance, or performance alo...

Most often, the habits slowing your progress as your hormones and female physiology change are not the big ones, but the small choices you repeat every week.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts, shares simple nutrition and lifestyle shifts that help women feel their best, mitigate symptoms, support body composition, and run stronger through perimenopause. She explains why progress does not require extreme diets, complicated macros, or traditional high volume or complicated training plans. Instead, strategic and very simple boundaries around foods like cheese, takeout lattes, alcohol, re...

Your body is not failing you. It may simply be asking for a different kind of support.

In this episode, Louise Valentine, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, and Jen continue their conversation on hormonal shifts during ovulation and the luteal phase. They explain why female runners may experience temporary weight gain, bloating, constipation, pelvic discomfort, hot flashes, disrupted sleep, lower HRV, mood changes, and harder workouts during certain parts of the menstrual cycle.

Listeners will learn why hydration, electrolytes, carbohydrates, recovery, and smart training adjustments can make a meaningful difference. Rather...

What if your cravings, mood swings, bloating, and difficult workouts are not signs that you are losing control, but signals that your body needs different support?

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts, sits down with Jen to explain how hormonal surges around ovulation and the luteal phase can affect female runners during perimenopause. They discuss why tracking your cycle can help you recognize patterns in your energy, appetite, mood, recovery, and performance instead of blaming yourself when symptoms appear.

Louise explains that women may burn mo...

Your body is not broken. However, some methods you've relied on in the past may be mismatched for this season of life. In this episode, Louise Valentine, a multi-award-winning women's integrative health practitioner and exercise physiologist, talks to midlife female runners who feel like their energy, hormones, body composition, sleep, and performance are changing faster than they expected.

Louise explains why perimenopause makes stress harder for the female body to handle and why more miles, harder workouts, or quick fixes do not solve the real problem or address root causes of what's changing in our body. Instead...

Our biggest breakthroughs in maximizing our perimenopause health, fitness and body composition success do not come with doing more. Rather, it's when we can cut through misleading and unnecessarily complicated noise to simply understand how to work with our changing hormones and female body's needs.

In this episode, Louise, named one of the world's leading experts for perimenopausal active women and runners, and Jen share the heart behind the new BTW Podcast Insiders Membership. They discuss why a curated community of like-minded female runners, trusted female-specific science, and simple, focused strategies matter so much for active women...

What if the workout habit you thought was helping your body is actually making perimenopause harder? In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading exercise physiologists and women's integrative health practitioners, gives a clear, honest breakdown of why fasted training may not be the best fit for active women, especially runners navigating changing hormones, stress, cravings, sleep issues, and body composition goals.

Louise explains how morning workouts, low fuel, caffeine nuances, and high cortisol can stack up quickly for ambitious women who are already juggling a lot. She shares why a small amount of pr...

Sometimes your biggest race win is not the time on the clock. It is realizing your body is still capable of surprising you. In this episode, Louise Valentine, leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, welcomes Jen back to unpack her unexpected victory at the Cleveland Half Marathon, a race run in brutal heat, humidity, and direct sun. 

What started as a “just have fun” race turned into a powerful lesson in hormone-supportive training, smarter recovery, strategic fueling and trusting a less-is-more running approach.

Louise and Jen share how Breaking Through Wellness's strategic strength train...

Your body often tells the truth before your mind is ready to admit it. In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, shares a deeply personal look at what happens when major life stress collides with fitness, hormones, running, and midlife health. Through her own experience with devastating family news, interrupted sleep, inflammation, gut changes, low energy, and emotional overload, Louise explains why pushing harder is not always the answer, especially during perimenopause.

Listeners will learn how to recognize when the body is...

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading perimenopause experts, continues part three of her Ultimate Perimenopause Masterclass for ambitious active women and female runners. She explains why exercise recovery, strategic adjustments in strength training, running, nutrition, and environmental exposure matter even more as hormones shift. 

Louise shares why women over 35 need smarter fueling, more intentional lifting, better recovery, and less “run yourself into the ground” thinking to protect muscle, bone density, hormones, and long-term health.

She also talks about the importance of strength training for longevity, injury prevention, body composition, and staying...

You were never meant to lose strength, energy, muscle, and confidence just because your hormones started changing!  In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, breaks down how perimenopause can affect fat storage, protein absorption, blood sugar, recovery, running performance, and injury risk. She challenges the outdated belief that women are destined to lose muscle, see our body composition, health, fitness, and bones decline with age. She explains why the right tools, fueling strategy, strength work, and hormone-supportive nutrition can change the outcome - and h...

Your body is not failing you. However, it is likely asking you to change the way you fuel, train, and live to support it as your hormones change.

In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, a multi award-winning women's integrative health practitioner, exercise physiologist and performance scientist, gives an honest, fiery overview of what active women and runners need to understand about perimenopause, hormone shifts, cortisol, belly bloat, energy crashes, sleep issues, gut health, and stubborn body composition changes. 

She explains why many women feel frustrated when the usual a...

What happens when the goal you once wanted starts costing you the life, energy, long-term health or body composition results you actually want?

In this relatable episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading exercise physiologists, health, and performance scientists, welcomes Jen back for a conversation about midlife fitness, perimenopause, running goals, family stress, and learning when to pivot. They share how training for the Cleveland half marathon became harder than expected, not because they were doing anything “wrong,” but because life, hormones, recovery, and stress started to collide.

Louise and Jen talk about the import...

Great News: Your strongest, most fit, capable, lean, and healthy body isn't behind you - It's just getting started!

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading women's integrative health, fitness and performance experts, breaks down whether women can truly return to peak fitness in midlife, especially through perimenopause and menopause. Her answer is yes, but it simply requires redefining what “peak” means relative to working with your changing female physiology. Instead of chasing old PRs or forcing the same training methods from your 20s and 30s, Louise encourages women to build a body that i...

Not every viral menopause tip deserves a place in your body. In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading perimenopause experts, gets honest about hormone replacement therapy, menopause hormone therapy, and the confusing advice active women are hearing online.

Louise explains why HRT and MHT should not be treated as a one-size-fits-all solution, especially for women in their 40s who still have powerful ways to support their hormones naturally. 

She challenges - with solid science to back it up - popular trends like weighted ves...

In mid-life, unlocking the next level of your health, fitness, or performance is not about doing more, but doing the right things that work with your changing female body - and with consistency.

In this episode, Louise, a one of the world's leading women's integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, shares four simple reminders for women in perimenopause who want to feel strong, energized, and in control again. She talks about how easy it is to feel overwhelmed when your body starts changing, especially if you are someone who is driven, active, and used to pushing through.<...

What if fueling your best health, hormones, physique, and fitness in perimenopause didn't have to be confusing, complicated, or suck? Answer: It doesn't have to!

In this episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading women's integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, and her client Jen talk about why dinner can feel like the breaking point for so many women, especially busy, active moms and runners trying to stay lean, energized, and healthy. 

They break down how simple, yet strategically balanced meals can support better hormones, stable happy blood sugar, eliminate cravings, improve sleep, and pro...

Feeling confused about how and what to eat for dinner to best support your female body's ability to mitigate perimenopause symptoms and maximize your health, hormones, and fitness in mid-life?

In this episode, Louise, one of the world's leading exercise physiologists, nutrition, and women's health experts, and her co-host Jen tackle one of the biggest struggles for active women in perimenopause: how to make dinner work for your changing body, your goals, and your family. They share practical ways to build optimal meals that are simple, filling, and realistic, without feeling like you need a separate kitchen...

Brain fog, fatigue, and frustrating symptoms of perimenopause are not signs that your body is failing, but instead are signals that it needs a different kind of support. Today, learn the what, why, and how to mitigate common symptoms!

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, gets deeply personal and shares why this work matters so much to her, both professionally and personally. She opens up about painful experiences, the fight to be taken seriously as a female leader in top health and performance spaces, and how th...

What if the real answer is not more supplements, but a better understanding of what your female body actually needs?

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading women's integrative health, fitness, and performance experts, challenges the idea that women in perimenopause need a growing list of pills, powders, and quick fixes just to feel normal again. 

She explains why so many active women are stuck in a reactive cycle with supplements, medications, and restrictive strategies, when the deeper issue is often a lack of female-specific education around hormones, stress, fueling, training, and...

If you're like the ladies of Breaking Through Wellness - wow, do we love our high-quality sleep so we can keep feeling, looking, and running our best!  

Most serious wellness and fitness-minded women already know the importance of high quality sleep and we do our best to protect it. But - then the time changes.  

Are you too shocked at the impacts it can have on your training and energy? One night's poor sleep can catch up with us in our training not the next day, but even days later!  And in Louise's sleep specific res...

What if the most powerful thing you could do for your health today is simply pause and slow down to notice how strong, capable, and resilient you are?

In this short guided daily practice, listeners are invited to step out of the constant momentum of daily life and reconnect with their bodies through a simple pause practice. Many of us move through stressful days on autopilot, pushing forward without noticing how tension and mental noise build up. This episode offers a practical way to interrupt that cycle.

Through mindful breathing, slowing down movement, and tuning...

This simple and effective upgrade to your health, hormones and performance only takes two minutes a day!

In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, explores a hidden challenge many active women face during perimenopause: chronic stress, elevated cortisol and blood sugar. 

For driven women who love running, training hard, and pushing themselves, the constant “go, go, go” mindset can quietly disrupt hormones, insulin sensitivity, recovery, and long-term health. Louise explains how intense training, under-fueling, caffeine, and daily life stress can compound, leaving many women feeling exhaust...

What if perimenopause could actually become one of the strongest, healthiest seasons of your life? In this episode, Louise, one of the world's leading women's integrative health practitioners, performance scientists, and exercise physiologists, sits down with Jen to share a transformation story that challenges everything many women believe about aging, hormones, body recomposition, running, and performance!

Jen highlights how simple, consistent strategies like whole-food nutrition, strategic strength training, and fueling that works with our unique changing hormones and female physiology can lead to meaningful changes in body composition, energy, confidence, and biomarkers without relying heavily on medications...

Perimenopause does not have to be the beginning of decline, but can instead be the start of your strongest chapter! 

In this inspiring success story, Louise, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, sits down with Jen, an everyday runner and mom who transformed her health, hormones, and body composition after years of frustration. Jen shares how anxiety, overtraining, fasting, and misinformation left her injured and stuck, despite doing everything she thought was “right.” The turning point came when she learned to fuel her body to build beautiful hormones and mitigate symptoms, apply specific targeted stren...

Most symptoms we're dealing with as active women and runners aren’t random at all, but are instead clues our body is trying to give us.

In this episode, Louise, a multi-award-winning women's integrative health practitioner, shares three powerful lessons from her own health journey and client experiences that every woman should know, especially during perimenopause. 

She explains how hormone shifts can impact everything from medical testing accuracy to inflammation, fat loss resistance, stress sensitivity, and even unexpected symptoms like canker sores. One key insight is the importance of timing medical screenings, such as breast MRI...

Often, the reason we feel tired, stuck, or frustrated in our training, fitness, and health as active women and runners has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with under-fueling relative to our female body's energy and support needs.

In this powerful conversation, host Louise Valentine, one of the world's leading exercise physiologists and women's integrative health practitioners specializing in active women and recreational runners, sits down with Dr. Megan Hellner to unpack how active women, especially runners over 35, unknowingly fall into Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) and disordered eating patterns. They explain why...

Unfortunately, many of the ways we've been taught to train, eat, and “push through” as females who love to feel, look, and run our best are working against our best health, hormones, and longevity in vibrant active living.

In this episode, Louise speaks directly to driven, active women who want to feel strong, lean, energized, and confident through perimenopause and beyond. 

As a multi award-winning women's integrative health practitioner, top trainer, and exercise physiologist she explains why many traditional fitness, running, and nutrition approaches, including fasting, intentional or unintentional underfueling, traditional best practice dietetic recommendations, and h...

What if the symptoms you have been told are “just part of hormonal changes and perimenopause” are actually a misdiagnosed medical condition that's progressively getting worse without being properly addressed?

In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, sits down with Dr. Ryan Armstrong to break down fibroids, chronic pain, and vascular issues in a way that finally makes sense. Together, they explore why heavy bleeding, chronic fatigue, knee pain, plantar fasciitis, and leg cramping are so common in active women...