Welcome back to Women’s Corner, our new video series on LPC exclusively for women’s health topics and female-specific issues (but of course you dudes are more than welcome to chime in too!). If you have questions for the show submit to admin@lifepostcollective.com.
On this episode Tawnee and Sam get real with our own body image struggles (including recent incidences!), how we overcome those dark moments and keep a positive mindset, and tips to find happiness and peace with your body as it changes for the better. Also we answer two LPC member questions from females asking about weight issues, HA recovery and more. Also, be sure to watch and listen to Ep. 1 here if you haven’t yet!
Show notes:
- Update on Sam – she’s slowly seeing signs of her body’s hormones recovering while still training for Ironman (two bleeds since starting with Tawnee after 4 years no period!!!!). A lot of her progress relates to food and energy balance (didn’t have to quit training).
- Apps for logging your cycles and BBT – we like Kindara and also MyFloTracker is very in depth.
- Update on Tawnee – her recent struggle with trying to conceive, weight gain and getting comfortable with the new her vs. old her. Read her blog on TTC and continual changes/transformation she’s making.
- 3:30 The “syndrome” of a Type A female athlete – we are quick to tackle our goals but sometimes it’s still hard to deal with the new you, body image, and finding peace with the present.
- 4:00 Learning how to cope, deal and find peace with yourself!
- 4:20 Tawnee on her “struggles” at Ragnar relay and the unexpected negativity that entered her mind
- 6:00 Sam’s story or racing, having negative thoughts and overcoming (and getting a bleed!)
- 8:40 Learn to shift mindset to focus on the positive, not the negatives and be happy with the reality of a healthy female body!
- 9:25 you can’t always just flip a switch and be a new person; we all have setbacks. Look for ways to find your happiness.
- 11:00 As you’re healing and learning new ways, don’t hold it in; let it out! Talk about you raw emotions and feelings, and the struggles your go through. Talk to people—family, friends or on a public platform (blog, etc.)
- 12:45 Don’t let yourself get self-absorbed with being perfect! Once you “get over yourself” you open yourself up to a whole new amazing world out there and also free up mental space to achieve better things!
- 13:45 open yourself up to being vulnerable!
- 14:00 on the tomboy mindset but learning to embrace womanhood
- 17:00 Do nice things for yourself!
- 19:00 outdoor sports/activities to feel empowered but not
- 19:35 On going outside your comfort zone (it doesn’t mean you have to be all about no pain no gain)
- 20:30 letting go of comparisons to find freedom and self-love in the now!
- 21:30 Turning negativity into positivity opens doors & how Sam works to shift her mindset be “writing your own story” – narrate it with self talk!
- 23:30 LISTENER QUESTIONS!!!
- 24:00-25:00
- BMI 22-23 fertile zone
- BMI under 20 not safe; 21 is also risky
- BMI over 25 “overweight” (but not always)
- Average BMI for HA recovery is around 22.5-23
- Quit weighing yourself! Don’t focus on a number on the scale—we can’t say for sure what your ideal weight and set point is! You’ll be happier ignoring weight.
- 28:15 Cycle lengths and figuring out where your ovulation is occurring and how long luteal phases are
- 29:20 how a relatively minor thing can be a huge stress for some of us (e.g. counting calories!) so may be best to avoid it all together
- 34:00 finding your set point for a healthy body. Weight gain often needed in beginning to set the right tone in body; once you balance out and cycles normal you may drop a little weight.
- 35:00 what not to track (weight on the scale, food, calories, etc)
- 36:00 what TO track—BBT and other things in the fertility awareness method
- 38:25 The danger of weight race calculators and thinking you need to fit into the “perfect” mold (weight and body type) to be an endurance athlete
- 39:00 Be wary of general advice on podcasts and the internet; not all applies to you!
- 40:00 Finding food freedom and loving it!
- 41:00 what to do to find out more about current hormonal status, i.e. DUTCH and blood tests
- 44:00 don’t worry, you didn’t ruin your metabolism and in fact when you eat more you can/will increase metabolism (compared to a slowed metabolism when in starvation mode)
- 44:45 last question on bioidentical hormones for HA recovery
- 46:30 checking for early onset of menopause—what hormones to look at here
- 48:30 Using hormone creams and warnings against creams—risk of getting it on others, and how creams can build up in fat tissue and sporadically release in an unnatural way
- 49:30 Liposomal/oral bioidentical hormones are likely a better way to go
- 50:00 knkowing if you need progesterone and/or estrogen
- 51:00 And prescription hormones – prometrium, endometrium
- 51:30 Other supplements for help with HA and hormonal balance:
- Vitex angus-cactus aka Chaste tree berry extract (brand rec: Vitanica)
- L-carnitine
- 55:00 If there are typical HA patterns present, work on lifestyle, diet, etc., BEFORE taking supplements.