What if “leveling up” has nothing to do with doing more, pushing harder, or chasing the next goal? In this honest 2025 wrap-up episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts, reflects on a year that changed her in ways she never expected. While the outside markers of success were there, running strong, looking more fit, exponential business growth and endless client wins, the real transformation happened internally. She opens up about the unexpected ways b...

Unfortunately, we live in a world where valuing a lifestyle that protects our best health, fitness, and vibrant athletic performance often makes other people uncomfortable. Let's talk about how to navigate this frustrating scenario! In this episode, Louise, as one of the world’s leading integrative health and fitness practitioners, speaks honestly about a topic many ambitious active women quietly struggle with: fit shaming. As women move through perimenopause and menopause, prioritizing nutri...

One of the hardest parts of perimenopause isn’t always the symptoms themselves, but trying to explain them to the people you love the most. In this episode, Louise, a leading expert for perimenopausal active women and runners, gets real about what it looks like to communicate with your spouse when your body is changing faster than you can keep up with. From mood swings, the new odd impacts of stress, and sleep struggles to nutrition shifts and new more refined fueling needs, perimenopause imp...

Ever feel like your body is shifting faster than you can keep up with? This episode is a breath of clarity for every ambitious female runner navigating the wild pivots of perimenopause while still wanting to feel strong, confident, and in control. Louise, a multi-award-winning women's integrative health practitioner, performance scientist, and exercise physiologist specializing in empowering female runners to navigate the impacts of changing hormones on their health and performance, opens up ...

What if chasing a race-day PR quietly pushed your body back into amenorrhea? In this episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts, shares a raw, real story of how one hard 5K and a busy stage of life almost cost her cycle again, even after 22 years of working to optimize her hormones. She explains what amenorrhea is, how it connects to RED-S, the former “female athlete triad,” and why so many active women are still under-fueling without realizing it. You...

What really happens to running in perimenopause, when hormones change, recovery slows, and the old training playbook stops working? In this episode, Louise, a leading expert in helping active women who love to run thrive through perimenopause, sits down with Molly, a lifelong runner, professional chef, wellness coach, nutrition professional, busy mom, and Breaking Through Wellness Badass! Molly opens up about rebuilding her speed, strength, and confidence, proving that this stage of lif...

Thriving through perimenopause does not have to be about losing our best health, hormones, fitness, and running, but instead, it can be about learning and leveling up to unlock our fierce female body's potential! In this episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading perimenopause experts for women who love to run, pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to look, feel, and run your best through this transformative stage of life. She speaks candidly about the loneliness that often co...

Ever wonder why your “clean” meals sometimes make you feel bloated, puffy, or downright awful? In this fierce, honest episode, Louise, as one of the world’s leading health, fitness, and performance experts, breaks down how even the healthiest habits can backfire during perimenopause. She shares raw, real-life examples of how stress, impacts of changing hormones, and food timing collide and what to do when your once-perfect routine suddenly stops working. From alcohol pairings and carb choices...

As hormones change age 35 and beyond, true strength isn’t just about lifting heavier, but finding balance between a variety of strength training strategies, power, dialed in female-specific nutrient timing and your most confident vibrantly well glow... that's resilient enough to shine through life's up and downs! In this empowering episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading experts in women's health, fitness, and running, challenges the all-or-nothing mindset that dominates women’s fit...

What if midlife wasn’t the end of your best runs, vibrant health, and unstoppable performance, but it was the start of something even stronger? In this inspiring episode, host Louise Valentine, one of the world's leading experts for perimenopausal avidly active women and runners, reminds every woman that it’s never too late to pivot, reset, and build your own dream happy place. Louise opens up about her journey of “retiring” at 40 after a remarkable career, not to stop working, but to serve f...

After years of running, we know that our strongest race day performance starts before we even lace up our shoes and hit the start-line. Now, it's time to discuss nuances as our hormones change age 35 and beyond and how to optimize race day outcomes! Ready to thrive? Hell yes you are! In this energizing episode, Louise shares the excitement of taper week leading up to the first Breaking Through Wellness retreat and half marathon in the Finger Lakes of beautiful New York. With real stories of w...

As hard as it is for us to hear, the “grind harder” and "bigger, faster, stronger" mindsets that once got us results are now holding us back. In this powerful episode, world-leading perimenopause women's health, fitness and performance expert Louise Valentine breaks down why women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, especially runners and Type A high-achievers, need to rethink how they train, fuel, and recover. She introduces the idea that “the threshold has changed”. Our bodies, hormones, how ...

Lady runners and endurance athletes, don't let anyone ever tell you we can't lower our cholesterol, balance our hormones, and boost our running performance without extreme diets, endless supplements or prescriptions. Most of the time, there is a (much) better way and it's time we learn some specifics, nuances, and targeted female-specific strategies to try! In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading health,...

Fact: The narrative we’ve been told about perimenopause, that it means slowing down, feeling like crap, gaining fat, and losing our strong, fit, and athletic edge... is not our truth at Breaking Through Wellness! In this inspiring episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, host Louise Valentine sits down with Katie Lowe, a teacher, dedicated runner, and race director, who has transformed her holistic health, energy, physique, and performance during perimenopa...

Often, the very thing we love, running and endurance training, is silently adding counterproductive stress to our body. While not a sole causative factor in adverse health outcomes, recent research findings have scientists, practitioners, recreational endurance athletes, and runners pausing across the world! In this episode of Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause, Louise, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners, exercise physiologist, and fitnes...

What if some the very things you swore you’d never do are the ones that bring you the most growth in your health and performance as your hormones change age 35 and beyond? In this episode, Louise Valentine, leading exercise physiologist and women’s integrative health expert for everyday female runners, gets real about the unexpected shifts that happen in perimenopause, changes that affect not only your body, but also your mindset, relationships, and how you fuel, live, and train. Louise share...

What if some of the foods and workouts you’ve been relying on are actually making perimenopause harder? In this episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading health, fitness and performance experts for everyday female runners, gets real about the connection between dopamine seeking, food choices, and protecting your mental health as hormones change. You’ll hear why waiting for low hormone labs to tell you that you're in perimenopause is too late, and why learning to listen to your body’s early ...

What if the biggest key to thriving through perimenopause wasn’t another supplement, stricter diet, or grueling workout, but something totally different than pushing your body to new extreme? In this empowering episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading health experts for avidly active high-achieving women and everyday female runners, pulls back the curtain on the real challenges women face in their late 30s, 40s, and beyond when hormones start shifting. She shares why so many active, driven...

What if the key to thriving age 35 and beyond as an active female isn’t a complicated routine, but something as simple as a deeper understanding of the nuances of protein? In this episode, host Louise, one of the world’s leading experts for perimenopausal active women and runners, sits down with Liz Plosser, former editor-in-chief of Women’s Health magazine, to talk about real, science-backed strategies for women seeking simple and effective ways to optimize health, hormones, and performance ...

Ever been told to cut out dairy, red meat, or alcohol, only to wonder if that advice really makes sense for you? In this episode, Louise, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners, breaks down the science, the myths, and the personal experiences that shaped her approach to these three hot-topic foods. You’ll learn why high-quality dairy can be a powerhouse for staying strong, building muscle, optimizing gut health, lowering inflammation, and maximizing injury prevention; how...