Maneuvering Menopause with Shelly Burns

You can control a lot of symptoms with fitness, nutrition, mindset, and self care. Are you going to cure menopause? No, we're all going to go through it, but you can feel better while going through menopause.  –Shelly Burns

On this episode of the PlanSimple Podcast, I’m so excited to talk with Shelly Burns, a chiropractor and 20-year veteran of the fitness and health industry, about something we don’t talk about enough—menopause and perimenopause. It’s really important for us to understand what’s going on with our bodies and to learn how to navigate this time in our lives. 

Shelly shares her own story of gaining weight, having increased anxiety, and having a doctor who didn’t help her. She found a new doctor and did some bloodwork and learned that her hormone levels were super low. Her doctor recommended a low dose of HRT, which made a huge difference in her daily life, from her relationship to her work and even not feeling like she was having a nervous breakdown. She had no idea what she was going through was perimenopause.

Once she knew, she made changes to her workout and nutrition. She adjusted her mindset and worked on self-care. Twelve weeks later, she had lost the weight she gained and people noticed not just that but how she was showing up. They wanted what she had, so she created a blueprint to help people change. Because the first step is knowing what you are going through, and the second is accepting that you have to change your approach to your body. 

We talk about: 

• Working with people (doctors, trainers, other wellness providers) who understand perimenopause
• Shifting workout focus to mobility and weights and ow weight gain in menopause can cause a spiral of other problems
• Changing how you eat (different thing work for different people, but it’s probably different from what you’ve done) 
• Working on mindset and not giving up
• Acupuncture and massage as tools to support you through menopause
• What we don’t know and how important it is to talk about and have a community of women during this transition

BIO

Shelly Burns is a 20-year veteran in the Health and Fitness industry. She wants to help empower women with her experience, personal coaching, training style,and advice on how to maneuver perimenopause and menopause. Her stories and struggle during this difficult time has led to the creation of The FIT Menopause Blueprint™. 

Over the past few years, Shelly has helped 100's of women get their desired results in weight loss, energy level improvement, hormone balancing & sleep quality improvement with her online program.

She is very passionate about helping women with their journey physically, mentally and emotionally.

LINKS

• Maneuvering Menopause Summit
• https://drshellyburns.com/
• https://www.menopause.org/

Doable Changes from this episode:

• NOTICE WHAT’S HAPPENING. It’s easy to brush off symptoms of menopause on COVID or stress or life being too busy. It doesn’t help that we may have healthcare providers who dismiss what we are going through. Start by getting really clear on what you notice in your body. Pay attention to things like weight, energy levels, hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, discomfort, changes in your cycle. It can be hard to remember accurately, so try tracking for a month (or more).
• TRY ACUPUNCTURE. We talked about acupuncture as one specific tool to help alleviate symptoms and help you feel better. If you have never tried it, give it a try. Shelly and I both find it makes a world of difference. Like acupuncture, massage can be supportive in this transition. Or simply give yourself more self-care. If you’re currently not including self-care in your days, start with 20 minutes. It can make a world of difference.
• CHANGE YOUR MOVEMENT. More or harder isn’t necessarily the answer when it comes to movement or working out. Shelly has most perimenopausal clients work on mobility and weights. Working with a trainer who is experienced with perimenopause and menopause can help you make changes that reflect what your body needs in this time in your life.