Menopause, Melanin & Aging Like A Queen

Send us Fan MailLast night I hosted eleven women I love at my house — food, laughter, connection, the whole thing. It was, by every measure, a beautiful night. We just never got around to dancing.And somehow that's the one thing I fixated on. I went to bed anxious. Woke up anxious. Spinning on whether everyone actually had a good time, or was just being polite.In this episode, I'm getting honest about where that feeling actually came from — and it wasn't the dancing. It was the first time I'd hosted my close friends since my husband moved out over a year ago, and some part of me had quietly set an impossible bar for myself. We're talking about the difference between the plan you write in your head and the outcome you actually wanted, why control shows up hardest during the seasons we're rebuilding, and why community isn't optional in midlife — it's protective.If you've ever done something good and still gone to bed feeling like you failed, this one's for you.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailRhode Island just made history — it's the first U.S. state to legally require workplace accommodations for menopause. No pamphlet in the break room, no vague "be supportive" suggestion. An actual legal requirement. And it made me ask the question I know a lot of you have been asking too: should Canada be next?In this episode I break down exactly what the Rhode Island law says, what's happening (and not happening) here in Canada, and the numbers that honestly stopped me in my tracks — including that roughly 1 in 10 Canadian women leave their jobs entirely because of unmanaged menopause symptoms. I also get personal about the clients I've worked with who spent months, sometimes years, calling it "burnout" before anyone ever said the word menopause out loud. Because here's the thing — both can be true at once. You can be burnt out AND navigating one of the biggest hormonal transitions of your life. Nobody ever taught us to tell the difference.In this episode:What Rhode Island's new menopause law actually requiresWhy Canada has no equivalent legislation — yetThe real cost: $3.5 billion a year, 540,000 lost workdays, and why two-thirds of women won't even tell their supervisor what's going onThe client stories that made this episode personal for meWhy menopause and burnout can show up almost identically — and why that mattersWhat real workplace support could actually look likeMy honest take on whether Canada should follow suitThis one is personal, practical, and political. If you've ever wondered whether what you're feeling is "just stress" — this episode might change how you see it.Should Canada follow Rhode Island's lead? I want to know what you think.Listen now and head to samcoretrainer.com to work with me.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailI'm 55, and almost a year and a half ago, my husband moved out. What followed wasn't something I expected — new anxiety, heart palpitations, a racing mind I couldn't quiet. I've never been a worrier. Now I am. And I'm not telling you this for sympathy. This is a truth-telling episode, not a woe-is-me one.In this episode, I get honest about what this season has actually looked like for me — the anxiety, the monkey brain, the mental load of running a business, showing up for clients, and holding it together for my girls and my dogs. I break down what's actually happening in our brains during menopause: estrogen receptors live throughout our bodies, including our brains, and the research connecting estrogen decline to anxiety, depression, and even Alzheimer's risk is real. What you're feeling isn't weakness — it's biology.I also talk about the low motivation nobody sees (yes, I look happy and full of energy — and it takes more work to get there than it used to), the invisible mental load women and caregivers carry, and why we're so bad at asking for help. Then I share the real, non-negotiable tools keeping me grounded: movement, meditation, sleep boundaries, limiting social media, and community.My mental health is the most important thing in my life right now. And I've decided — I get to write the ending to my own story.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailWhen is the last time you went dancing? Not swaying in your living room — really dancing. Out somewhere. In your body. Not thinking about how you look.If that question made you pause, this episode is for you.Sam Montpetit-Huynh is talking about the summer body myth — decades of diet culture that taught women their bodies needed to be smaller, thinner, and more acceptable before they were worthy of being seen. The 30-day challenges. The before-and-after photos. The summers spent hiding in the back of group photos, skipping the pool, saying no to things that were supposed to be fun.And then she's talking about something that stopped her cold — a stat shared at a fitness industry panel that less than 18% of Canadians participate in regular structured physical activity. Not because the information isn't out there. But because as an industry we have been so busy chasing trends that we forgot to help people with the basics.Move your body. Build your strength. Ask for help. Be accountable to someone. Decide — for real — that you are worth prioritizing.This episode also includes a pitch for Sam's 6 Week Midlife Glow Up, opening July 7th — a program built for women in perimenopause and menopause who are done sitting out their own summers.This one is honest, a little angry in the best way, and completely necessary.In this episode:Why women in their 40s and 50s are watching life from the sidelines — and what's really behind itThe summer body myth and who actually benefits from itThe fitness industry stat that should make all of us stop and reconsiderThe three decisions that change everythingWhat the 6 Week Midlife Glow Up is, who it's for, and how to joinResources mentioned:6 Week Midlife Glow Up — cart opens July 6th, one week onlyEmail [email protected] with "Glow Up" in the subject line for detailsFree community: Strong Women Over 40 on FacebookThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailGuess what?I never had a single hot flash. Not one night sweat in over two years of perimenopause.What I had instead: hives the size of a deck of cards from a single mosquito bite, sneezing attacks out of nowhere, and ears that itched so badly at 3am I used to dream about taking a razor blade to them. That's not in any of the ads.In this episode, I'm breaking down the symptoms nobody warns you about — the ones that don't make it into the marketing because they're not "photogenic" and there's no before-and-after photo for them.We get into:The real top symptoms of perimenopause — new research from Flo Health and Mayo Clinic, surveying over 17,000 women, found that exhaustion, fatigue, irritability, sleep problems, and low mood topped the list. Hot flashes didn't even crack the top five.My two-year histamine spiral — the hives, the sneezing, the ears, and why your hormones are actually behind it.Brain fog and your career — why losing your words mid-sentence is funny on a walk with a friend and a career risk in a boardroom. One in ten Canadian women leave their jobs over unmanaged menopause symptoms.The rage — what's hormonal (hello, dropping progesterone) and what's just the justified fury of being dismissed by your own doctor.My own thyroid plot twist — happening in real time, and what it's teaching me about how our hormones are always aging, all at once.What we actually need — doctors trained in menopause, HRT covered everywhere the way it just became covered in BC, and care that represents every one of us.If you've ever felt exhausted, foggy, or furious and wondered if it was "really" menopause because you weren't sweating through your sheets — this episode is your answer. You're not too sensitive, too dramatic, or too young. You know your body.Listen now, and if this one hits home, send it to a woman who needs to hear she isn't crazy.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailThis isn't your average menopause content — and Sam wants you to know that right up front. Recorded on Juneteenth, this episode steps away from strength training and hormone talk to go somewhere more personal: what George Floyd's murder on May 25th, 2020 cracked open in Sam, and everything she's learned — and is still learning — since.Sam walks through the real history of Juneteenth, including the two-and-a-half-year gap between the Emancipation Proclamation and the day freedom actually reached Galveston, Texas — and why that gap matters far beyond 1865. She unpacks systemic racism and white supremacy in plain language, shares Canada's own Emancipation Day, and gets honest about something she rarely says out loud: how unlearning her own history at 50+ has left her feeling fragile, like a schoolgirl hearing things for the first time, ego and all.She also connects this directly to her coaching work — naming the white lens that most menopause research and messaging is built through, and why closing that gap is part of her mission.This episode comes with an honest invitation: if it makes you uncomfortable, Sam understands if you need to step away. But if you're willing to sit in the discomfort and learn alongside her, she'd love for you to stay.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailTwo weeks ago I got a callback after my mammogram. I hung up the phone and cried.In this episode, I'm sharing what those two weeks between my first appointment and my follow-up were really like — the fear, the sleepless nights, and the moment I made a conscious decision to choose peace over panic even when my mind wanted to go somewhere dark.I also take you back 15 years to the first time I found a lump and catastrophized my way through an entire night convinced my life was over. Spoiler: it was nothing then too. But the pattern? That part is worth talking about.Because here's what I know for sure: we pour everything into everyone else and our own health ends up at the bottom of the list. This episode is a reminder — and a gentle push — to book the appointment, make the call, and show up for yourself the way you show up for everyone else.You have so much life ahead of you. Let's make sure we're here for it.In this episode:What a mammogram callback actually feels like and why callbacks are more common than you thinkHow I moved through two weeks of fear without letting it take overThe early detection stat a surgeon shared with me 25 years ago that I've never forgottenWhy midlife is actually the season we start coming into our own — and why that makes showing up for our health more important than everThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailOne hundred episodes. And for this one, Sam did something she has never done before — she invited her firstborn daughter, Rio, to sit across from the microphone and tell the truth.Rio is almost 25 years old. She grew up with one of Canada's leading fitness coaches and menopause specialists for a mother. She heard the podcast recordings from the other room. She watched Sam pivot her entire career to perimenopause and menopause six years ago. She has been a quiet witness to all of it — the clients, the webinars, the events, the community Sam has built from the ground up.And in all that time, Sam had never actually sat down and asked her what it was like.This episode does exactly that.Sam and Rio get honest — about what it felt like to grow up in a household where bodies, health, and fitness were always part of the conversation. About whether having a personal trainer for a mother created pressure, noise, or struggle around body image and food. About how Rio's relationship with her own body has evolved from her teenage years to now. About what she has absorbed — almost by osmosis — from years of living alongside this work. And about what she actually thinks and feels when it comes to menopause, aging, and her own health future.The conversation goes places Sam did not fully anticipate. It gets emotional. It gets honest in the way that only a mother and daughter can be with each other when the microphone is on and there is nowhere to hide.This episode is also a milestone in another way. To celebrate 100 episodes, Sam is introducing new music, officially launching a guest interview format, and announcing that video is coming soon to the podcast. Episode 100 marks not just a number — but the beginning of a new chapter for Menopause, Melanin and Aging Like a Queen.IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL HEAR:What it was actually like growing up with a fitness coach and menopause specialist for a motherWhether Rio ever felt pressured around working out, eating, or her body — and how that shaped herRio's honest reflection on body image struggles and how her relationship with her body has changed approaching 25What Rio thinks about menopause — having overheard years of podcasts, webinars, and eventsWhether the next generation feels afraid of aging and menopause — or more prepared than we wereWhat Rio wants women in Sam's community to know about growing up on the inside of this workSam's reflection on what it means to be doing this work — not just for the women already in menopause, but for the daughters coming up behind themA major milestone announcement — new music, guest interviews, and video coming soonWHY THIS EPISODE MATTERSOur mothers did not talk to us about menopause. Not in any real, honest, prepared way. We walked into perimenopause armed with silence and a vague warning about hot flashes — and we have spent the last several years figuring it out, often alone, often in communities like this one.Sam's mission has always been to change that. To make menopause, aging, and body autonomy more accessible, less terrifying, and less isolating for the generation coming up behind us. This episode is proof of what that mission looks like when it starts at home.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailHave you ever tried on something you loved — and felt crushed when it no longer fit? This week, Sam gets personal after a client reached out needing to be "talked off the ledge" — all because a dress she bought last year no longer fits her body.But here's the thing: this woman is doing everything right. She strength trains. She sleeps well. She eats well. And yet, in one year, her body changed — and she couldn't figure out why.In this episode, Sam unpacks what's really going on beneath the surface — and spoiler: it has a lot to do with the one thing most of us dismiss as just part of life. Stress.Sam also gets vulnerable about her own experience being at the heaviest weight of her life, what she did (and didn't do) about it, and why she refused to let restriction be the answer.In this episode, Sam covers:Why your body can change even when your habits are solid — and what's actually driving itThe real impact of chronic stress on weight, hormones, and fat storage in menopausal womenWhy restriction is not the answer — especially for women in midlifeWhat it means to truly respect and work with your body instead of against itThe mindset shift that changes everything: clothes are meant to fit you — not the other way aroundWhy having a coach in your corner is about so much more than programming and nutritionThis episode is for you if: You're in menopause or perimenopause, doing the work, and still feeling like your body is betraying you. You are not broken. You are not failing. And Sam has got you.Ready to have someone in your corner? Book a call with Sam HEREThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Sam dives deep into the number one complaint she hears from menopausal women — sleep. This is not a "go to bed earlier" conversation. We're talking about what is actually happening inside your body while you sleep, why menopause makes sleep a completely different challenge, the real health risks of chronic under-sleeping (including a cancer connection that will stop you in your tracks), and a real client story with results that happened in just one night.If you have ever said "I'll sleep when I'm dead" — this episode is for you.In this episode we cover:What your body is actually doing while you sleep — HGH, memory consolidation, fat metabolism, immune function and energy restorationWhy menopause is physically stressful on the body even when you don't feel stressedThe role of progesterone and GABA receptors in sleep — and why losing progesterone in menopause destroys sleep qualityThe link between chronic sleep deprivation and cancer riskArianna Huffington's wake-up call — and what it taught the world about hustle cultureThe three small changes one client made that improved her sleep score by 10% in one nightWhat Yoga Nidra is and why it's one of the most powerful tools for menopausal womenWhy alcohol, food, movement and stress management all play a role in sleep qualityThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailYou know that feeling when everything is finally clicking? The work is landing, the opportunities are flowing, and for the first time in a long time you think — okay, this is it. And then something hits you sideways and your brain goes straight to: I knew it was too good to be true.Yeah. That happened to me.In this episode, I'm getting personal about a really good stretch, professionally — six new clients, a major brand pitch, a feature on Chatelaine Magazine's podcast, and a sold-out Panama retreat in seventy-two hours — and the moment a piece of unexpected news sent me straight into panic, self-doubt, and full-on fix-it mode before I even had the full picture.I'm also sharing a story from one of my clients that mirrors the exact same cycle — because this isn't just a business lesson. It's a pattern that so many of us live in without even realizing it. The go-go-go and collapse. The spiral. The shame. The "what is wrong with me?"And then — the light bulb.In this episode we talk about:Why our brains go straight to worst-case scenario (and why that's not a character flaw)The fix-it reflex — and what it's actually costing youWhy rest is productive even when it feels like falling behindWhat the universe is really doing when it throws you a curveballHow to break the cycle — and what it looks like to actually trust the processThis one is personal, honest, and one I think a lot of you are going to hear yourselves in. Whether you're navigating perimenopause, building something new, or just trying to find your footing in a season that feels bigger than you expected — this episode is for you.Join my FREE Facebook Group - Strong Women Over 40Book a FREE Chat with Sam.Thank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailHave you ever felt like your body was betraying you and had no idea why? Like you were doing everything right and still waking up exhausted, snapping at people you love, lying awake at 2am wondering if something was seriously wrong with you?You are not going crazy. But nobody told you that — and that is exactly the problem.In this episode, Sam shares the real, unfiltered stories of two women in her coaching community whose journeys will likely feel very familiar. One is a Caribbean woman who grew up in a home where bodies and symptoms were simply never discussed — who spent years suffering in silence inside a house full of people who loved her, with no language for what she was experiencing. The other is a single mom, a nurse, a woman of colour in her mid-forties who has been failed by the healthcare system she works in every day — and whose mother never even talked to her about her period, let alone menopause.Their backgrounds are different. Their stories are different. But the thread running through both of them is the same one Sam sees over and over again: women who were taught — directly or through silence — that suffering is part of the deal. That you push through. That you handle it. That your needs come last.Sam breaks down what the first 12 weeks of real change actually look like — including an honest conversation about progesterone, why it matters for sleep, and why sleep is the foundation that everything else gets built on. She also talks about why so many women quit right before the pieces start falling into place, the unrealistic timelines we put on our own health, and why Western culture's obsession with individual willpower is keeping women isolated and stuck.This episode is personal, political, and necessary — because you deserve support that actually sees you. Not a quick fix. Not a deadline. Just the right foundation, built one small thing at a time.Join the walking community - Walk With Sam On Instagram using #greenwalk and #stressless.Join the Whatsapp Group HEREThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.

Send us Fan MailTwo weeks ago, Sam went for a walk. And something shifted.In this deeply personal episode, Sam Montpetit-Huynh shares what has been happening since she returned to the green trails of Taylor Creek Park — the clarity, the big ideas, the sense of being reborn after one of the harshest winters in recent memory. She also opens up about navigating life just over a year after separating from her husband of thirty years, and how walking alongside the creek has allowed her to process, heal, and find peace in motion.This episode is also an announcement: Walk With Sam — a free, twice-weekly walking community for women 40+ — is officially launching May 1st at Taylor Creek Park in Toronto's East End.Sam breaks down the science behind why this works: forest bathing, cortisol reduction, nervous system regulation, and the very specific reasons why moving your body outdoors is medicine for women in perimenopause and menopause. She also covers the full-body benefits — bone density, heart health, muscle preservation, mood — and gives you a practical warm-up and stretch routine to protect your body before and after every walk.And then she gets real about what this community is actually for. Not weight loss. Not transformation photos. But women who are done feeling alone, gaslit, and unsupported in this season of life — women who want to move, breathe, heal, and build something together. Women who are aligned in their values. Women who believe they are not finished — not even close.In this episode: The story behind Walk With Sam · Forest bathing and your nervous system · Why water heals · Bone density, heart health, and the case for walking in menopause · How to get fitted for the right shoes · Warm-up and stretch guide · Taylor Creek Park location and logistics · A vision for what women walking together can buildJoin the community:  Walk With Sam starts: May 1st · Fridays 2PM · Sundays 10AM · Taylor Creek Park, TorontoThank you for listening and I would like to remind you that Walk with Sam - Walking Group - is available for anyone to join, ANYWHERE!Click HERE to join the free Whatsapp community!Thank you for listening.