If you’ve ever gone to your doctor because you can feel something is off, only to be told everything looks fine, this is the conversation you need to hear to know how to advocate for yourself.

Because lab reference ranges are built on population averages, which means they include a lot of people who aren't feeling great either. So, being told everything is "normal" when it's sitting at the high end of the range is very different from it being optimized.

And your hormones, thyroid, blood sugar, and nutrient levels can shift significantly in a matter of months during perimenopause. Waiting a full year to catch something that's been dragging you down for six months is too long. Regular labs give you a moving picture, not just a snapshot.

A standard panel barely scratches the surface. Here's what we recommend:

• Fasting insulin — not just blood sugar or A1C. Insulin resistance can show up years before glucose numbers move.
• Ferritin — not just hemoglobin. You can be iron-deficient with "normal" iron levels if ferritin is low.
• Vitamin D (25-OH) — most women in midlife are low, and it affects everything from mood to metabolism to immune function.
• Full thyroid panel — TSH, Free T3, Free T4, and thyroid antibodies (TPO and TgAb). A TSH alone misses a lot.
• Full cholesterol panel — not just total cholesterol, but LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and ideally LDL particle size (small, dense LDL is far more concerning than LDL number alone). This matters especially in perimenopause when estrogen decline directly impacts cardiovascular risk.
• hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) — a marker of inflammation that can signal cardiovascular risk and metabolic dysfunction long before other numbers shift.
• Homocysteine — linked to cardiovascular health and often overlooked.
• DHEA-S and testosterone — yes, women need testosterone, and yes, it tanks in perimenopause.
• Estradiol, progesterone, and FSH — especially if you're trying to understand where you are in the hormonal transition.
• Cortisol (fasting AM) — because chronic stress and adrenal function matter and affect everything else on this list.

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@eats_by_dre_nutrition

Some of the things we believed most confidently about fitness we’ve now completely changed our minds about. In this episode, we're getting honest about the fitness myths and half-truths we used to swear by and what we believe now after years of experience, research, and working with real women in midlife.

In this episode, we cover:

• The hard truth about weight loss. It’s simple, but not easy. And it is more challenging for some than it is for others, for a multitude of reasons that go beyond “not wanting it enough”
• Why lifting weights and walking, as great as they are, aren't the whole picture when it comes to true health and what else needs to be included
• How our thinking around what "healthy" looks like has completely evolved, and why health is no longer something we measure in the mirror
• Why more volume in your training doesn't equal more progress, and how we've shifted our approach to get better results with less

Loved this episode? Leave a review, share it with a friend in midlife, and follow along for more real talk on health, fitness, and feeling good in your body at every age.

Connect With Us:

@marcinevin

@eats_by_dre_nutrition

We've all had that moment where something we swore by for years stopped making sense. In this episode of Midlife Musings, we're getting honest about the nutrition beliefs we used to hold tight and have now changed our minds about.

And now that we’re older, wiser, have more time coaching clients, and have tried new things ourselves, we know that changing your mind isn't a weakness. Being able to do so reflects personal growth.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is admit what is no longer working and be willing to think differently.

In this episode, we cover:

• The nutrition rules we followed for years that we no longer believe in
• How our thinking around food tracking has evolved
• The truth about cutting out foods you love and why we stopped recommending it
• What we got wrong about protein amount and timing
• Specifically, how our relationship with food has shifted in perimenopause

Loved this episode? Leave a review, share it with a friend in midlife, and follow along for more real talk on health, fitness, and feeling good in your body at every age.

Connect With Us:

@marcinevin

@eats_by_dre_nutrition