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We’ve spent years encouraging women to talk more openly about menopause — and thankfully, that conversation has changed enormously.

But awareness was never supposed to be the end goal.

For our 100th episode of Empower Your Menopause, and with World Menopause Day just around the corner, we’re taking stock of how far we’ve come, where women are still being let down, and what we think the menopause conversation needs to focus on next.

We talk about the gap between simply having a menopause policy and creating genuinely supportive workplaces, why more information doesn’t always mean better information, and why women still too often feel they have to downplay what they’re experiencing.

But most importantly, we look beyond menopause itself.

Because menopause isn’t the finish line. Women may spend decades of their lives postmenopause, and the conversation needs to be about much more than getting through symptoms. It’s about protecting strength, health, confidence, independence and the ability to keep doing the things that make life worth living.

So this episode is really about the next chapter: moving from awareness to meaningful support, and from simply managing menopause to thinking about how we want to live for the decades that follow.

And, seeing as it’s Episode 100, we also allow ourselves a small celebration — including our third consecutive Menopause Coaching Company of the Year award.

Menopause is a transition, not the finish line.

If you enjoy the episode, please like, subscribe or follow Empower Your Menopause wherever you listen or watch. It helps more women find the podcast — and makes sure you don’t miss the next hundred.

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Metallic taste. Ringing ears. Burning tongue. Frozen shoulder. Dry eyes. Feeling as though insects are crawling over your skin.

Seriously… is there anything that isn’t a menopause symptom?

In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, we head down the stranger side of the menopause rabbit hole and look at some of the more unexpected things women report experiencing during perimenopause and beyond.

We explore everything from formication and tinnitus to shoulder problems, dry eyes and digestive changes — looking at where there may be a hormonal connection, where the evidence is less clear, and why something happening during menopause doesn’t automatically mean menopause caused it.

Because there’s a balance to strike.

Women deserve to have unusual symptoms taken seriously. But we also don’t want to blame absolutely everything that happens after 40 on hormones and potentially miss something else that deserves attention.

Menopause isn’t a disease. But that doesn’t mean women should simply put up with feeling rubbish either.

If the gut and digestive side of this episode struck a chord, you can find out more about our Gut Reset Course here:

👉 https://gutresetcourse.com/

And if you’d prefer support built completely around you — your health, your goals and what’s actually getting in the way — you can find out more about our new 1:1 coaching here:

👉 https://coaching.fabulousbeyond40.com/

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It sounds as though the answer should be simple. After all, we can test blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid function and all sorts of other things — so surely there must be a test that tells you whether you’re in perimenopause or menopause.

Unfortunately, bodies don’t work quite that neatly.

In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, we look at what menopause tests actually measure, why hormone levels such as FSH can be difficult to interpret during perimenopause, and why a single result doesn’t always tell you what you think it does.

We also talk about when testing can be useful, why symptoms and patterns often matter just as much as numbers, and why not everything that starts happening to you in your 40s or 50s should automatically be blamed on menopause.

And importantly, we look at how to have a better conversation with your healthcare provider — including what to track beforehand, what questions to ask, and how to advocate for yourself without feeling as though you need to turn up with a self-diagnosis and a 47-page colour-coded dossier.

The big takeaway?

You don’t need a test result to give you permission to take changes in your body seriously.

If you’re struggling to make sense of what’s going on in midlife, or you know something needs to change but you’re not sure where to start, you can book a free 45-minute strategy call with us.

👉 https://freecall.fabulousbeyond40.com/

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Looking after yourself in midlife can start to feel like yet another job.

There’s work, family, ageing parents, menopause, changing bodies and the endless life admin… and then on top of that you’re somehow supposed to research nutrition, plan meals, exercise, track everything and make all the “right” choices.

No wonder it can feel overwhelming.

In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, coaches Juli and James are asking a simple question:

What if you don’t need to try harder? What if you just need to make things simpler?

We talk about why so many women feel they should be able to figure everything out on their own, why getting support doesn’t mean handing over control, and how having someone help you cut through the noise can make a huge difference.

Sometimes you don’t need another diet, another rule or another thing to think about.

You just need to know what actually matters, what you can ignore, and what the next useful step is.

And that’s exactly what we’ve built into our new weight-loss programme Four Weeks Lighter.

You’ll get practical nutrition guidance, daily accountability, weekly coaching and both of us in your corner throughout.

No calorie counting. No weighing every morsel. No diet nonsense.

It’s normally £129, but until midnight on Friday September 18 you can join for £99.

Prep starts over the weekend and we officially begin Monday.

👉 Join us here: https://lighter.fabulousbeyond40.com/

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If you’ve been trying to lose weight for years, chances are you already know quite a lot about how to do it.

You know vegetables are good for you. You know protein matters. You know movement helps. You’ve probably tried your fair share of diets too.

So if information was all you needed, wouldn’t you have cracked it by now?

In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, we explore the gap between knowing what to do and actually being able to do it consistently when real life gets involved.

We look at why constantly searching for the next diet, restriction or missing piece of information may actually make things harder, why plans designed for your “perfect” week tend to fall apart when you’re tired, stressed or busy, and how good accountability can help you turn intention into action without judgement, guilt or starting again every Monday.

Because maybe you don’t need to overhaul your entire life.

Maybe you need to make the next useful choice a little easier.

And if you’re thinking, “This is me — I know what to do, I just can’t seem to keep doing it,” that’s exactly why we created our new programme Four Weeks Lighter.

Over four weeks, we’ll help you put what you already know into practice with structure, close coaching and the kind of accountability that works in real life.

We’re also offering one woman a completely free place through our Four Weeks Lighter scholarship.

👉 Join the waitlist and apply for the scholarship here: https://lighter.fabulousbeyond40.com/

You already know how to lose weight. Now let’s help you actually do it.

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You know what to do. Eat better. Move more. Get to bed on time. Plan ahead.

So why can actually doing it consistently feel so bloody difficult?

In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, we explore the gap between knowing what to do and being able to make it work in real life — especially when work, family, poor sleep, stress, social occasions and the occasional “I simply cannot be arsed” moment get in the way.

We also take a closer look at what good accountability really means. Not being watched, judged or told off for going off-plan, but having enough structure, support and perspective to work out what happened, what got in the way and what your next useful step should be. Because the real value of accountability isn’t making sure you never wobble — it’s helping you know what to do when you do.

Four Weeks Lighter

And if accountability is exactly what you’ve been missing, our new Four Weeks Lighter programme has been designed around it. You’ll work closely with both of us to help you lose your first six pounds in four weeks using our Real Life Food Method — without weighing every morsel or turning food into a maths equation.

We’re also offering one free scholarship place ahead of launch. Fancy joining us for free? See the link below

👉 Join the waitlist here: https://lighter.fabulousbeyond40.com/

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What if some of the health choices you think you’re making freely have actually been nudged along long before you make them?

In this episode, we explore how advertising, repetition, convenience, habits, stress, social norms and the environment around us can influence everything from food cravings to exercise — often without us consciously noticing. And it all starts with Juli’s unexpected holiday obsession with Haribo…

Rather than blaming every less-than-perfect choice on a lack of willpower, we look at what happens when we get curious about the chain of events that led to it. Because the best place to change a behaviour is often much earlier than the moment you find yourself standing in front of the fridge, opening the wine or abandoning the workout.

We introduce our Break the Chain exercise: a simple coaching tool for working backwards through a recurring behaviour, spotting the triggers and patterns that precede it, and finding the easiest link in the chain to change.

Book a free call with us

If there’s a behaviour you keep repeating and you’d like our help figuring out what’s really driving it, book a free 45-minute call with us and we’ll take you through the Break the Chain exercise together.

See https://freecall.fabulousbeyond40.com/

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In this episode of Empower Your Menopause, James and Juli are joined by Sharon Lemoine, an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner and founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State.

Sharon brings years of clinical experience to a conversation many women over 40 will recognise immediately: what happens when you know something has changed, but you’re not getting the time, context or clarity you need to understand what’s going on.

We talk about why midlife health is rarely about one isolated issue, and why better conversations matter when changes in energy, sleep, weight, mood, appetite, confidence, stress tolerance and hormones all start jostling for attention like badly behaved toddlers in a supermarket.

This episode explores what more joined-up assessment can look like, why women are so often told their experience is “just ageing,” and what needs to be considered before jumping straight to diet advice, hormone therapy, weight-loss medication or another quick-fix solution.

You’ll hear us discuss:

• Why the standard short appointment often falls short for women in midlife
• What a proper hormone and health conversation should include
• How menopause-related changes can overlap with sleep, stress, blood sugar, thyroid, gut health and lifestyle factors
• Why weight gain after 40 deserves better assessment than “eat less and move more”
• How women can advocate for clearer answers without needing to become their own unpaid medical research department

This is a conversation about helping women understand what may be happening in their body, ask better questions, and make informed decisions with more confidence and less confusion.

Connect with Sharon Lemoine:

Website: https://gigharbormedicalspa.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SharonLemoine-ARNP

Find out more about Fabulous Beyond 40:

Website: https://fabulousbeyond40.com/