A woman told me she couldn't focus on her fitness right now because she had to fix her hormones first. That one sentence is exactly what is keeping so many high-achieving women stuck, and I need to talk about it.
Social media is teaching a whole generation of women to pathologize the things that just are. Every ache, every off day, every hard week needs a label. Deregulation. Inflammation. Hormonal imbalance. Gut dysbiosis. And because there is a label, in the back of your mind it feels like progress. But naming something and fixing it are not the same thing, and the more labels you collect, the farther you drift from the boring, foundational work that actually moves the needle.
I am a perimenopausal woman and I am not minimizing what hormonal fluctuation does to you. The bloat is real. The brain fog is real. The tiredness is real. What I am telling you is that you have far more control than social media wants you to believe. You cannot wave a wand and fix your hormones, but you can control whether you exercise, how you eat, and whether you actually sit down and rest. That is where your power lives.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Why giving every ache and off day a clinical label quietly removes your agency instead of giving you answers
- The perimenopause message online that convinces you you're broken when you're working exactly the way you should
- Why "I need to fix my hormones first" is the sentence keeping so many women stuck
- How exercise, nutrition, sleep, and rest are the real foundation your hormones sit on
- The member who blamed her "deregulated nervous system" when she simply hadn't rested
- Why the algorithm rewards "my cortisol is elevated" over an honest conversation with yourself
- The naturopath who ran endless tests and prescribed a supplement that was basically tapioca starch
- The one question to ask yourself before you buy another supplement or run another panel
If you take one thing from this episode, let it be this. You are not broken. Your body is often doing exactly what it should, given the habits underneath it. Before you run another panel or add another supplement, ask yourself whether the foundation is actually there. That honest answer is where real change starts.
Ever wish you had a fit and straightforward BFF with over 15 years of experience to help you filter through all the information regarding fitness, nutrition, and life? That's exactly what you'll get when you listen to the Unfiltered Fit Life Podcast.
Join Former Bikini Olympia Champion, mom of 2, and fitness coach Nathalia Melo each week as she shares fitness, nutrition, and life tips to help busy working moms simplify their fitness journey so they can learn easy and simple strategies on how to lose weight and feel sexy AF.
After helping over 5000 busy working moms, Nathalia has found the blueprint to fitness, nutrition, and life success, which she will be sharing in this podcast: actionable tips that will help busy working moms be more present at work and at home.
This show is for you if you realize that nothing good comes from your comfort zone and are ready to challenge yourself to achieve great things. Follow Unfiltered Fit Life wherever you are listening to join us each week for a splash of sass, humor, and a whole lotta truth.
Podcast Transcript
Why "Fixing Your Hormones First" Is Keeping You Stuck
THE LABEL TRAP
Social media is teaching a whole generation of high-achieving women to pathologize the ordinary things that just are. Every ache, every off day, every hard week needs a name, so we reach for deregulation, inflammation, hormonal imbalance, and gut dysbiosis. Because there is a label, it feels like progress, but giving something a label does not fix anything. It quietly takes power out of your hands and hands it to a diagnosis, convincing you that something is fundamentally broken about you when there isn't.
WOULD YOU TELL A 12-YEAR-OLD SHE'S BROKEN?
My daughter is about to turn nine, and I cannot imagine telling a 12-year-old that something is fundamentally wrong with her because she got her period. It sounds absurd, and yet that is exactly how we talk about hormonal fluctuation during perimenopause. This is a season that simply is. I love that we are talking about it more so we can manage symptoms, but the way it gets portrayed online makes us treat a normal season as proof that we are defective.
"I NEED TO FIX MY HORMONES FIRST"
A follower once told me she wasn't focusing on her fitness because her hormones were out of whack and she needed to fix them first. That thinking treats every part of your body as a standalone problem, as if exercise and nutrition have no impact on your hormones, which is emphatically untrue. You cannot wave a wand and fix your hormones. It is a slow process, and a lot of it is genuinely out of your control, which is exactly why the things you can control matter so much.
THE SYMPTOMS ARE MULTIFACTORIAL
Brain fog, tiredness, and hot flashes are not one-dimensional problems you solve one at a time. Exercise helps brain fog and tiredness, and more muscle gives you more energy. If you stop moving and start gaining weight, your hot flashes get worse because that extra fat around your midsection retains heat. Whether your hormone panel comes back fine or not, the advice is the same: exercise and eat in a way you can sustain. The foundation is universal.
WHEN THE ALGORITHM SELLS YOU BUZZWORDS
One of our members told me her nervous system felt deregulated and pinned it on her hormones, but her check-ins told a different story: back-to-back weekends, no rest, and a demanding work stretch. That is not always a hormonal problem, sometimes it is a "you haven't sat your ass down" problem. The algorithm rewards unnecessary specificity because "my cortisol is elevated" creates clicks while "I overcommitted and I'm tired" does not. If you're not testing anything, how do you actually know your cortisol is high or that you're more inflamed?
NAMING IT ISN'T FIXING IT
Naming something feels like understanding it, but it isn't the same as solving it. Once a feeling has a clinical name, it starts to feel like something happening to you, a condition your body is doing at you rather than something you have any say in. That is the part that costs you, because it removes your agency and your ability to be honest with yourself. Change cannot happen without honesty.
THE NATUROPATH WHO SOLD HER STARCH
I once worked with a woman whose business had shut down during COVID, then faced a natural disaster near her home while she raised small kids with a husband who traveled for work. I would have been shocked if she weren't stressed, yet her naturopath ran endless tests, told her carbs were destroying her gut, and prescribed a laundry list of supplements that were basically tapioca starch you can buy at the grocery store. Nobody asked whether she was eating consistently or resting at all. She didn't need another protocol stacked on the last one, she needed someone to tell her the truth and simplify the basics so she could stay consistent.
YOU CAN'T OPTIMIZE A FOUNDATION YOU HAVEN'T BUILT
Cycle syncing your training, chasing another hormone panel, adding one more gut protocol, none of it undoes a lack of foundational work. It is like finessing the trim and picking the master bathroom color when you don't have walls or a foundation yet. High achievers love to optimize, but if you optimize a pile of shit, it is still a pile of shit. The foundation is exercise, nutrition, sleep, and rest, and no supplement rescues you from skipping it.
THE QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF
I am not against learning more or the fancier tools, but only after the boring, repetitive work is actually in place. So look at all the data and buzzwords you're collecting and ask yourself what you are truly trying to optimize and whether the foundation is really there. You have far more control than social media is making you believe, and the solution is simpler than you've been told. You are not broken, you are right where you should be given the habits you haven't yet changed.
