A podcast designed to help women better navigate common health, wellness, and work challenges they face in daily living and to help women explore becoming a better advocate for themselves in all things in life using a blend of evidence based research and personal experience. Your host, IFBB Pro Sarah Fechter, is the founder of SFHQ Hybrid Gym and the SF Coaching Method - an evidence based, individualized coaching company that places an emphasis on periodized training and nutrition protocols, lab interpretations, lifestyle and mindset. The SF Coaching Method prides itself on taking a comprehensive, whole body approach to one's personal health & fitness goals. Sarah has more than 2 decades of experience in the health and fitness industry as a women's health and nutrition coach. Her programs both online and in person help women and aspiring health professionals improve and deliver results. A popular online coach, mentor, and educator, she consistently offers simple, strategic methods for body and health transformations. Her workshops, coaching, and specialization protocols have served and delivered results for more than 10,000k women worldwide. She has been a leading force for women and many others in Michigan and has been recognized for her undeniable success in the health and fitness industry. Sarah is a certified nutritionist and functional womens health coach, who holds a Bachelor's degree from Saginaw Valley State University and has continued her education over the last two decades through elite private mentorships and functional health courses. If you're here, welcome to the community! We share the goal of learning all things pertaining to health, nutrition, women, workplace and wellness.You will find that many of our episodes integrate concepts and case studies on performance and physique optimization, along with workplace/entrepreneurship wisdom, and of course a few good laughs.
Today I'm going to pull my chair up close to yours. The way you would connect with a friend who came over to you, knowing that she's going to stay there for a while. Because I want to tell you something true about myself and I have a feeling that by the end, you're going to find it true about you, too. Let me tell you what that math was. My mom was 46 years old when she died, I was 19. In a few days, I will turn 46 myself. And then I keep going. I have another birthday and another one after that. I become older than my mother ever got to be. I walk right past her and she stays exactly where she was. Forty six. Forever. There is something strange about outliving the person who gave you your life. In my memory, she never ages. She is permanently the age I am about to be. And I'm the one who keeps moving. Carrying her forward into the years she never got to see for herself. It's the strangest, most tender math there is. You just feel your way through it one day at a time. I've been carrying this loss for a long time now, and I've carried it from a lot of different chairs and years. Time Stamps: (1:50) Walking Past My Mother (4:18) Let Me Describe To You My Mom (10:27) Questions I'd Ask My Mom Today (15:15) Why I Share This With You ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
It's late. The house is finally quiet and a woman I'm coaching is typing me a message for her check in. I can tell she's been sitting with it for a while because of how honest it is. She tells me she knows diet is the foundation. She knows I need to see what she's eating to be able to coach her well. And then she tells me the truth. Tracking feels like a daunting task. She doesn't plan her meals. She doesn't know what she's going to eat until it's time to eat. And then it depends on what's in the house. Her mornings have been busy and full, like most of us, so she's been grabbing a Chobani yogurt for breakfast because it's the fastest way to get her thirty grams of protein in. And then she writes the line that made me create this entire episode. She wrote, "I'm not really sure what I'm looking for you to say. I just wanted to be transparent." Well, I want to answer her out loud right here on this episode because there are thousands of women listening who would have typed that exact same message tonight, checking in with me if they trusted themselves enough to be that honest. Time Stamps: (0:50) Recent Client Check-In (4:08) Most Common Sentence I Hear (6:40) Average Time on Social Media (10:03) The Real Exception To Tracking (11:50) The Result of Eyeballing Food (14:12) Building Earned Balance (16:18) Setting Goals Now ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
The phone rings on a Tuesday afternoon. It's the nurse from your doctor's office and she's using her gentle voice and she says, "we've got your labs back and your cholesterol is high" and something happens in your chest. Heat rises up the back of your neck. You're already picturing your arteries. You're already picturing your mother or your father, or the uncle who had a heart attack at sixty one. And by the time you hang up the phone, you have already decided you are going to fix this. You're going to stop eating butter. Matter of fact, you're going to buy the margarine with the little heart on the label. You're going to give up red meat and you're going to cut out egg yolks. You are going to be afraid of food. Starting tonight, I want to stop you right there, right at the kitchen counter before you throw anything away. Because here is what I want to say to that phone call. High cholesterol. Good. Now, can we please ask why it's elevated? We'll explore this question together in this episode. Time Stamps: (0:45) We Have Your Labs Back On Your Cholesterol (3:25) What Is Cholesterol? (6:14) The SWAN Study (7:48) HDL Cholesterol (9:45) Thought Experiment With You (11:25) Simplifying The Science (14:00) What I Won't Give You Today (19:45) Why I Tell You This Story ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
We're going to get intimate today and who I typically speak to will be a little different today. I have coached women from the floor of my own life. I have presented on stages, sat across from hundreds of clients in person and online, and have shown up as the strong one, the leader, the one with all the answers. Even on the very mornings I felt like a shell of the driven, ambitious, sure of herself woman I knew I was. I've lifted other people up while I was the one on the ground. And if you are a mom listening today, you already know exactly what that is. You can relate because you do a version of it every single day. You show up. You are present for your kids, your partner, your work. While underneath it all you feel like there is almost nothing left of you. Let me tell you about why I can sit in this right beside you. Twenty six years working with women's health and their bodies. Ten years competing as an IFBB pro. And right now, at almost forty six years old, I am walking through perimenopause myself with nearly four years of hormone support behind me. So nothing I say today comes from a textbook or from some far off shore I have never stood on. I want this episode to be a resource for the partner who loves their significant other unconditionally but is navigating the ups and downs of perimenopause with them and isn't sure what to do. I will tell you what me and my husband have gone through when it comes to this and remind you that it isn't selfish for her to take care of herself and what that looks like. Time Stamps: (1:45) Mom Guilt (3:50) When It's Too Late (10:52) Why Communication Is Key (23:50) The Slimfast Era (26:20) It Is Not Selfish To Take Care Of Yourself ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Right now, someone in your life is on a GLP one. Maybe it's you. Maybe it's half of your group text and everyone keeps asking the same question should I take it. I want you to hear me because there is a more important question underneath that one and it's one that actually decides what happens to your body. You can take the GLP one. The real question is whether you can hold the result. I've spent twenty six years in the health and nutrition industry, and I sit at the head seat of the SF coaching method. I'm on every inquiry call we take. I read every single application that comes through the doors. We have coached hundreds of women since these medications arrived, and I need to be honest with you about what that gives me because it shapes everything I'm about to say. The research on these drugs is real, and we're going to get into that today. The studies are good, but there is something we do not have yet and no one does. We do not have a long term picture. Nobody can tell you what the woman who started one of these medications at thirty eight is going to look like at seventy eight years old. What will her bones look like? What will her muscle look like? What will her metabolism look like after decades of the medication? Those studies have not been written because the time has not passed. In this episode we're diving into the full picture when it comes to GLP-1 use so you can be properly informed. Time Stamps: (0:48) Should You Take The GLP-1? (1:42) Lack of Longitudinal Studies (5:12) The Fat Loss Era's I've Experienced (8:28) Why The Food Noise Is Loud (10:00) Starting With Muscle (11:47) Hair Loss (16:40) What Applying Means For You ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
What if we stopped asking how much do I weigh and started asking how well am I aging? Sit with that question for a moment. Before we go any further, I want to tell you why I do this work. My mom died at the age of forty six forty six, and several years later I sat with my dad through his own cancer diagnosis. Those two experiences rewrote how I think about health, what matters, what doesn't matter, and what we still have the power to influence while there is time. Twenty six years into this industry, I am not interested in giving a woman another diet, another challenge, another meal plan. I am interested in helping you build a body and a life that will continue to show up for you for as many years as you are given. That is what longevity actually means, not Silicon Valley's billionaires trying to live to be one hundred and twenty years old, not a cabinet full of peptides and supplements. Whether you can get off the floor at the age of seventy five, whether you can travel and explore the world at age eighty, whether the body you are building right now is going to support the woman you become. This episode is for you if have been chasing the scale for fifteen years and you are exhausted by it, if you have tried three, four, five programs that promised you everything and delivered almost nothing. If you are bloated, tired, your energy is gone, your sleep is broken, and you cannot figure out why your body stopped responding the way it used to. If you are sick of being your own coach in a sea of contradictory information from people who have not earned the right to give it. This episode is for you. Time Stamps: (0:54) Why I Do This Work (1:58) Who This Episode Is For (5:50) The Role of Muscle (10:20) What's Left Out Of The Longevity Conversation (18:20) Improvements I See In Women (20:25) Working With The SF Coaching Method ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today's conversation is going to feel a little different than some of our recent episodes. We've spent a lot of time talking about hormones, perimenopause, menopause, metabolism, inflammation, histamine, nervous system regulation. And we'll go right back to all of that. But today I want to talk about something sitting heavy on my heart. And this might be one of the more personal episodes I've recently recorded. It might even feel a little unhinged at moments. And I'm okay with that, because after a series of conversations I've had recently, I can't not talk about this. And over the last few months, I've noticed an uptick in a pattern I've watched throughout my entire career. And after more than two decades coaching women through fat loss, metabolic health hormones, and disease prevention, there's one theme that keeps surfacing. Lately it's showing up more. I've talked with women in their thirties who don't feel at home in their own bodies after having kids. Women entering perimenopause, watching their sleep, mood, and energy change in ways they don't understand. Women in menopause who have spent years caretaking for everyone else and are now wondering what happened to the version of themselves they used to know and many have already seen doctors. Many have ordered every lab panel the internet has to offer. Many have spent years researching and trying to figure it out alone. What grabs my attention isn't that they're struggling, it's that so many of them are apologizing for wanting help. They're apologizing for wanting guidance, for wanting to feel better. That's the problem. Somewhere along the way, asking for help started requiring justification. We'll dive into my honest thoughts about this and why I believe you need to stop apologizing for wanting help. Time Stamps: (2:00) Apologizing For Wanting Help (3:34) What I've Been Seeing (7:02) Lack of Awareness and Misunderstanding of Support (9:10) Money and The Investment (12:40) "You Should Already Know How To Do This" (18:20) Support vs Defensiveness (19:45) The Future Versions of Ourselves ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
This is part two of our conversation on the Pepcid and Allegra trend that has exploded across social media, particularly among women navigating Pmdd, histamine intolerance, mast cell activation syndrome, hormonal fluctuations in perimenopause. If you missed last week's episode, I highly encourage you to pause here and go back to episode one thirty first, because today's conversation builds directly on that foundation. Last week, we unpacked the relationship between histamine and estrogen, the connection between Pmdd and perimenopause, my personal experience with histamine issues throughout my lifetime, and some fascinating research suggesting Pepcid may be doing much more than simply blocking histamine. Today, we're picking up exactly where we left off. At the end of part one, I said something that I think is incredibly important. Medications including Pepcid and Allegra, come with trade offs. There are benefits. There are risks. For some women, the benefit may absolutely outweigh the risk, and that doesn't mean the risk disappears. And that's what we're unpacking today. This isn't about creating fear around medications. And this isn't about convincing anyone to stop taking something they think may be helping. This is about understanding the entire picture so you can make informed decisions with greater confidence and self-awareness. Time Stamps: (0:45) Last Week's Episode (2:40) What Works vs What It Costs (6:50) What Happens After Digestion (13:17) Risk Vs Benefit (18:50) Becoming A Student Of Your Physiology ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today we're diving into part one of a two part series conversation that has absolutely exploded across social media, comment sections, and private messages. The Pepcid and Allegra conversation. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe this is something new. Unveiled today. If you've been anywhere online lately, you've probably seen women talking about Pepcid and Allegra for Pmdd. Some women are reporting dramatic improvements in mood, anxiety, irritability, rage, overwhelm, breast tenderness, bloating, headaches, and a variety of symptoms that seem to intensify around their cycle. And I'm glad this conversation is happening. Pmdd. Perimenopause and histamine drive the spotlight here for a moment, because the majority of women are struggling or will struggle with these in their lifetime, whether they know it or not. For far too long, many women thought their symptoms were simply stress, allergies, aging, anxiety, part of being a woman, or something they should learn to live with. What concerns me isn't that women are talking about Pepcid and Allegra. What concerns me is that most of the information being shared is only a small piece of a much larger physiological picture, as you can imagine. And if you're someone who has already purchased these medications, started the protocol, or you're considering trying it after hearing somebody rave about it online in a thirty second Tik Tok, I want you to stay with me through this entire episode because context matters as always. Today we're going to talk about Pmdd, perimenopause, histamine mast cell activation syndrome, often called MCAs. We're going to talk about vagus nerve and neuroinflammation. We're going to talk about estrogen and why so many women are experiencing symptoms that they never connect back to hormones. And most importantly, we're going to talk about why Pepcid may be helping some women and why the explanation being circulated online is often incomplete. Time Stamps: (1:10) The Pepcid + Allegra Trend (2:20) What We'll Cover (9:15) Histamine Is Not The Enemy (13:47) What The Research Is Showing (17:00) Vagal Nerve Stimulation (18:45) Where Symptoms Develop (22:25) Perimenopause and HRT (31:20) Please Share This Episode ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today we are diving into a conversation that has very little to do with food, wine, scrolling, shopping, or any of these habits people typically think they're struggling with. This episode is really about the moment underneath the habit, the moment right before you reach for the thing. And after twenty five years of coaching women through fat loss phases, hormone challenges, perimenopause, emotional eating patterns, stress, lifestyle change, rebuilding, health, confidence and structure. I can tell you that one of the biggest things I continue to observe is that most people are trying to change behaviors without understanding what those behaviors are actually doing for them emotionally. This is a deeper conversation. Women will come to us wanting to lose weight, regulate blood sugar, improve their labs and digestion. They want more energy. They want to decrease the symptoms they're experiencing, and they always want to improve their body composition. I mean, who doesn't? They want to feel more confident. They want to get stronger and become more consistent. And yes, all of those things absolutely matter inside coaching. We care deeply about those outcomes. But sitting underneath many of those conversations is another pattern entirely. the constant need to escape discomfort as quickly as possible. And once you start seeing that pattern, you begin to realize that this is not always about willpower and discipline. It's not always about nutrition, knowledge or the next trending thing. It's not always about finding the perfect system or the perfect supplement or the perfect meal plan. Sometimes the real issue is that the nervous system has become deeply conditioned to avoid uncomfortable feelings immediately and that's exactly what we're discussing in today's episode. Time Stamps: (0:52) The Moment Underneath The Habit (5:13) The No Shame Zone (10:00) Atomic Habits and Sticky Habits (13:55) Feeling Uncomfortable (22:15) The Female Conditioned Nervous System (25:02) Where Your Freedom Exists (32:00) What Emotions Are You Avoiding? ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
If I asked you right now what your goal is with your body, I already know what most of you would answer. You'd say you want to build some muscle. You'd want to be a little bit leaner. You say you want to feel tighter, more toned, stronger, more defined. I want to feel good in my clothes. You'd say you want a body to reflect the work you feel like you're putting in. And here's where this conversation today is going to take us because what you say you want and how you're training are often not aligned. And I'm not just talking about beginners here. I'm talking about women who already go to the gym. They're consistent women who have been consistent for years, women who have routines, who feel experienced, who feel like they know what they're doing, and still their body hasn't changed in the way they expected or desire. And that's not because they're not trying. I mean, they're ahead of the majority of the world. They're showing up and they're making the effort, but the signal they're giving their body isn't strong enough, clear enough, or progressive enough to require change. And that's the part that often gets missed. There is a difference between working out and training. Working out is completing something. Training is creating a demand. Today, we'll breakdown the 5 inputs you need to focus on to go from amateur to pro with your training, nutrition, sleep, and recovery. Time Stamps: (1:30) The 5 Inputs (4:23) Inputs Are Information (7:10) #1: Meal Structure (12:12) #2: Protein Distribution (16:57) #3: Training Signal (22:13) #4: Sleep and Recovery (25:20) #5: Weekly Consistency (31:40) Thinking About Your Investments (33:05) Recapping ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today's episode is a little different because there is breaking news in the women's health world, and I think this is one of the more important shifts we've seen in a long time when it comes to how we understand female physiology. As of May 12th 2026, PCOS, which stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, has officially been renamed PMOS or Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. And before anybody rolls their eyes and thinks, okay, okay, so they changed the name. I want you to stay with me for a minute here, because this matters then what most people realize. This came from a massive international consensus published in The Lancet involving researchers, clinicians, advocacy groups, and over twenty two thousand voices globally over the course of about fourteen years. And the reason this matters is because the old name PCOS centered the conversation almost entirely around the ovaries, when clinically, the condition has always been much bigger than that. For years, women have been told you don't have cysts, your ultrasound looks normal, your labs are fine, and meanwhile they are struggling with a plethora of symptoms like fat loss, resistance, irregular cycles, acne, hair thinning, blood sugar dysregulation, fatigue, fertility issues, mood shifts, sleep disruption inflammations, and symptoms that clearly extended far beyond reproductive health alone. And what I appreciate about this shift is that the biology did not suddenly change overnight. The language finally caught up with the physiology because many women diagnosed with PCOS never had visible ovarian cysts in the first place, and many women with ovarian cysts never had PCOS. Which tells us something very important. The ovaries were never the entire story, and I've spoken of this on previous podcasts. This new terminology, polyendocrine, metabolic ovarian syndrome, reflects something we've been discussing for years inside the SF coaching method, which is that women's health is deeply interconnected. Think hormones, metabolism, stress, physiology, sleep. These do not function in isolation. Everything speaks to everything. These systems work together and this shift toward PMOS finally acknowledges the crosstalk between the endocrine system, metabolism, reproductive function, inflammation, nervous system regulation, and overall physiological health. So today I want to break down what changed and why it matters. Time Stamps: (0:40) Breaking News In Women's Health (3:45) Why PCOS Was Confusing (6:45) The Shift To PMOS (12:25) Names Influence Clinical Focus (20:10) Previous Women's Health Shift I Previously Covered (24:10) The Systems Lens ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today's episode is coming the day after Mother's Day, and I want to use that timing intentionally because many women just spent a weekend pouring into everyone else coordinating plans, showing up, hosting, texting, calling, making sure everyone around them felt loved, seen, included, celebrated, fed, remembered, and taken care of. And listen, I love that. I love women who care deeply. I love women who lead their families well, and women who show up with a full heart. But today, I want to bring that same level of ownership back to you, because after twenty five plus years of coaching women from beginners who have never touched weights before, to athletes to women who have been training for decades, to high level physique athletes, busy moms, business owners, executives, and women who are already doing a lot right. I can tell you something with full confidence. I have never met one woman who has all five of these inputs fully dialed in. Not one. And I don't say that as criticism. I say that because this is where so much opportunity exists. In this episode, we'll discuss those opportunities and I'll give you real life examples you will probably see yourself in as well. Time Stamps: (4:32) Going Deeper With Progressive Overload (12:05) Muscle Requires Fuel (13:15) Division 1 Athlete Example (14:01) 40 Year Old Woman Example (14:41) The High Achiever Example ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
I want you to think about someone in the early phase of coaching, or even someone further along, who needs a reframe and a new perspective in how they're looking at their coaching process. They're asking good questions. They're excited. They're paying attention. They're engaged in what they're doing. And when I hear certain questions around fat loss, I can quickly tell where the disconnect is. The question itself gives insight into how fat loss is being understood, and that understanding drives the decisions and the emotions that follow. It shapes whether you're making choices that move you forward into a stronger, more informed version of yourself, or whether you're stepping back into recognizable patterns that keep you repeating the same old cycle. So today, I want to walk you through some of the most common fat loss questions that came directly from a recent Zoom we hosted inside the SF coaching method for both new and current clients. And more importantly, I want to show you how much those questions actually reveal. Because when you start looking at fat loss through the right lens, everything about your expectations, your timeline, and your decisions begin to shift. Time Stamps: (0:42) The Early Stages of Coaching (5:40) Our Added Layer of Support (7:02) Why Isn't The Scale Moving Yet? (11:54) A More Capable System (16:10) Finding Maintenance Calories (18:35) Interpretation ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
For the month of April, I've been unpacking real client case studies inside the SF coaching method. And today I want to give you a slightly different lens. Yes, we mostly work with women, but we do coach men as well. And this one is worth sharing because you're going to hear parts of yourself inside the story, even if the demographic looks different on paper. This client is a high level CEO type A, the one leading the room making decisions, carrying the responsibility for a large team, and operating at a pace that doesn't leave much margin. Early mornings, long days, constant output, and a schedule that can very easily take over if you allow it. He reached out about six months before becoming a dad for the first time. This was the decision to step into the next chapter of his life with intention before things compounded. He's building a family, leading a business. He's responsible for people at work and now at home, and he wanted his health to reflect that level of leadership, not just visually, aesthetically, although that's a part of it. He wanted to understand how to fuel his body in a way that matched the demands of his life. He wanted consistency. He wanted to feel strong, energized, and in control of something that had been pushed to the side for a very long time as he was building his business, he had a very real vision of the kind of dad he wanted to be present, strong, engaged, healthy and confident in his own skin. We'll breakdown his struggles and successes working together and I hope you hear yourself in his story. Time Stamps: (0:52) Type A CEO Case Study (3:01) Starting With Data (5:50) Nothing to Cut From (10:30) The Building Routines Phase (14:23) Life Isn't A Straight Line (17:38) The Recomposition and Metabolic Result (19:00) Everything Requires Energy (28:26) Ownership Through Investing In Coaching (30:30) Please Share This Episode ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today I want to talk about the point where most women quit. Not in the beginning when motivation is high and we're stacking quick wins and definitely not later on when results are much easier to see. I'm talking about the messy middle, the point where the scale stops moving. Your frustration starts building, and the brain immediately wants to assume something must be wrong with the game plan. This is the moment where a woman starts questioning everything, including her coach. She's hitting her numbers, tracking her macros. She's training consistently, going for walks, focusing on recovery, doing her cardio. She is consistent and instead of seeing the scale reward her effort, she feels like she's doing all of this work for nothing. That is the fork in the road, because this is where most women begin to panic and negatively start speaking about their process. They write stories in their brain. This is where she wants to cut calories even lower. Add more cardio. Question her coach. Take control of the steering wheel and rewrite the coach's plan. This is where more pressure gets piled on to a system that was already stressed to begin with. And inside the SF Coaching Method, this is also the exact point where our coaches do not panic. This is where we educate, we manage expectations, and we keep building the foundation instead of reacting emotionally to a temporary stall. So today I want to give you an inside look at one of those moments a real client, a real plateau, and a real coaching decision that most people and many coaches often get wrong. Time Stamps: (1:24) When Women Start Questioning Everything (2:40) Client Case Study (4:30) The Result (19:15) Weight Gain Being Part Of The Process (21:05) Dieting vs Coaching ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
We're sticking with the theme of client case studies for the entire month of April, I'll be providing an inside look at a variety of real client case studies inside the SF Coaching Method. In today's episode is one I've been really looking forward to recording, because we're going to unpack a real client case study that sits at the intersection of PCOS, perimenopause, fat loss, and hormone health. And before I even get into her story, I want to zoom out for a second here because one of the biggest problems women are facing right now isn't just symptoms, it's where the nuance gets lost. There's a massive amount of information online about hormones, PCOS, perimenopause, insulin, and of course, fat loss. And a lot of it is either oversimplified, taken out of context, or just not applicable to real life. So what that does is it creates a constant feeling of, am I doing this right? Should I be doing more? Why isn't this working for me? And what I want to do in this episode is give you a clearer lens in a better understanding of what's happening. We're going to talk through what's happening physiologically in PCOS and perimenopause, why fat loss can feel more complex in this phase. How metabolism, stress and hormones are all interacting. And I'll walk you through the real case study of how this played out over the course of about nine months with my current client. Time Stamps: (0:57) Client Case Study I'm Excited To Dive Into (2:35) Defining Perimenopause (7:18) Insulin (9:49) Energy and Stress (14:18) My Client's Background and Lifestyle (17:02) TPO Antibodies (21:27) Changes In Months 3 and 4 (28:36) The SF Coaching Method ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
Today I'm walking you through a real case study from a client inside the SF coaching method. This client didn't call me because Fat loss stopped working for her. She came back because she was scared. She was waking up fifteen to twenty times per night, drinking three gallons of water a day and still couldn't quench her thirst. Doctors told her what she was imagining and the symptoms she was experiencing were all in her head. Just because her lab values fell within the normal Western range. So this is where coaching changes your experience. This is no longer a fat loss or a transformation conversation. This becomes a systems root cause conversation. A conversation of advocacy. And today I'm going to walk you through this case. How I'm thinking about it, what stands out and what this teaches us about fat loss shortcuts. Time Stamps: (1:45) Who This Episode Is For (3:38) Beth's Case Study (6:40) Retatrutide, Weight Loss, and Weight Regain (11:05) How I Look At This Case As A Functional Health Coach (16:45) GLP-1's, Peptides, and Fat Loss Tools (24:28) Rebuilding Predictability (30:30) The SF Coaching Method ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
This is part two of a conversation I started last week that, quite honestly, I felt compelled to have because if you've been paying attention to culture lately, you've probably noticed something happening again. Bodies are getting smaller, celebrity frames are shrinking, and the language around women's bodies is starting to sound a lot like it did in the late nineties and early two thousand. The skinny era is back, and I'll be honest with you, it pisses me off. Not because women are losing weight, but because we are watching the same cycle repeat itself without the education that women actually deserve about what these trends can do to their bodies over time. In last week's episode, we started unpacking the physiology behind chronic under fueling. We talked about energy availability, metabolic adaptation, thyroid downregulation, and stress physiology. In other words, what actually starts happening inside the body when calorie intake drops too low for too long? If you haven't listened to that episode yet, I highly recommend going back and starting there because it lays the foundation for everything we're going to talk about today, because today we're going to keep going. We're going to move deeper into what chronic under-eating can do to the female body. And we're starting with something that almost no mainstream dieting conversation talks about the menstrual cycle specifically and female hormone signaling. Because when energy availability, aka calories, stays too low, the body doesn't just slow metabolism, it begins adjusting reproductive physiology as well. And that's where the conversation gets really important for women. Time Stamps: (0:40) Part 2 Of Our Conversation (2:55) The Menstrual Cycle (6:24) Muscle Mass Considerations (15:30) Energy Balance and Availability (21:48) Micronutrient Considerations (34:18) The Cultural Pendulum ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
In today's episode, I'm interrupting our recent conversations around perimenopause, midlife, and hormones to talk about something that has been building in the culture for a while now. This topic is controversial, but it's also harming women of all ages, and someone needs to say something about it because what we are all watching unfold right now around women's bodies, beauty standards and the cultural obsession with getting smaller again is absolutely not a conversation about health and full transparency. It pisses me off for women. So today and the following episode, we're going to talk about the physiology of chronic under-eating in the modern skinny era because we deserve better than what's going on right now. Time Stamps: (1:14) The Physiology of Chronic Under-Eating (4:30) The Sophistication of The Female Body (8:55) The GLP-1 Era (12:48) #1 Reason Women Are Under-Fueled (18:55) Metabolic Adaptation (28:30) The Body's Stress Response System (33:10) The Skinny Aesthetic Trend ---------- Apply for SF Coaching Method https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/sfhq-cc Complimentary Health Content https://sarahfechter.ac-page.com/Health_Wellness_Community ---------- Follow Me On Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahfechter.ifbbpro/ Check Out My Website - https://www.sarahfechter.com ---------- This Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, other professional health care services, or any professional practice of any kind. Any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk and Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual use of, reference to, reliance on, or inability to use, this Podcast or the information presented in this Podcast. All contents and design for this Podcast are owned by Sarah Fechter Fitness LLC. Always consult your professional team before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.
