Introduction: Stay Well Coaching focuses on joint-friendly personal training for better mobility, stability, strength and balance merged with whole nutrition, restoration and mind-body wellness
Through the years I have recognized that optimal wellness requires balance, a mixture of movement, sound nutrition, restful sleep and mental health. My own journey has been long and arduous. As a mature woman with PCOS in the post-menopausal phase I know first-hand that physical and mental stress, lack of quality sleep and poor nutrition lead to a host of health issues and chronic conditions.
In my twenties I was a cardio nut and ate pretty much anything I wanted with little weight gain. As I approached thirty I was feeling out of shape and flabby when I discovered strength training. With the help of a trainer and high levels of testosterone and DHEA (youth hormone) brought on by PCOS I saw significant changes in my body composition and lean muscle mass. I reaped the benefits of a stronger, athletic body that improved my golf game and allowed me to become one of the few female sail trimmers racing on Lake George NY and beyond. With the encouragement of a trainer I pursued my certification to become a personal trainer myself. I felt like I was finally doing something that brought me joy and didn't feel like work. Personal Training was a part-time endeavor as I pursued a full-time career in marketing communications.
Fast forward several years when I turned 38 I experienced a negative trifecta:
1. I changed careers leaving my full-time job and entered a new business partnership with a less than scrupulous business partner
2. I experienced a few debilitating injuries from sporting activities
3. I suffered the worst loss of my life when my mother died unexpectedly at 66 years old
The massive amount of emotional and physical stress took a toll on my health. At the time I had no idea my symptoms were exasperated by entering peri-menopause. As a proactive participant in my own health I was discouraged by the lack of answers and support from the medical community as I expressed my concerns with the negative turn my health had taken. Little did I know my menopausal journey had just begun, and continued for more than a decade.
As I wallowed through my marketing career and regretted never wanting children I was feeling overwhelmed, stressed out and unfulfilled. I was training clients in my spare time but not focusing on self care. I longed to have a career that focused on purposeful work while enabling me to have the freedom and the time to practice self love. This is exactly why I decided to leave my marketing career behind and pursue a health coach certification. With a healthy habit focus I was able to help my clients to take a more holistic approach to their health while minding my own.
I reached post-menopause at 48 having no periods for a full year. I was thrilled to come off of birth control, after all I was on the same pill that I was prescribed at 16 to control the heavy bleeding and cysts on my ovaries as a result of PCOS. I imagined I was through the worst of it, but waning estrogen had other plans for me. Enter joint pain, brain fog, insomnia and fatigue to name a few of the symptoms I started experiencing.
Most recently I became certified as a Menopause Health and Fitness Specialist to better understand the role of estrogen and other hormones through menopause. I am now able to help women in their 40’s and beyond manage the changes and challenges that come from the peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopausal stages.
My own journey coupled with watching important women in my life ignore their health with dire consequences has led me to focus on women who desire to live a healthier lifestyle and age gracefully.
