In this follow-up episode of Perimenopause the Podcast, Jamie Gallagher moves beyond the "why" behind menopause weight gain and inflammation and focuses on the "how."

After explaining the science behind hormonal changes, inflammation, belly fat, insulin resistance, and metabolic slowdown in the previous episode, Jamie now shares practical strategies women can use to interrupt the cycle and regain control of their health.

This episode explores resistance training, high-protein nutrition, the Mediterranean diet, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), GLP-1 medications, and why traditional approaches to weight loss often stop working during perimenopause and menopause.

If you've been doing all the "right things" but still struggling with weight gain, inflammation, low energy, or changes in body composition, this episode offers a science-based roadmap for navigating this transition.

00:00 – Welcome back and recap of the previous episode
00:45 – Why understanding the "how" matters
01:15 – Pillar One: Rebuilding your metabolic engine
01:45 – Why endless cardio isn't the answer anymore
02:00 – Resistance training and reducing inflammation
02:30 – HIIT workouts and visceral fat reduction
03:00 – Why protein becomes more important during menopause
03:30 – Protein recommendations explained
03:45 – The Mediterranean diet and obesity prevention
04:15 – Alcohol's impact on belly fat and metabolism
04:45 – Pillar Two: Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT)
05:15 – How estrogen influences fat distribution
05:45 – Hormone therapy and inflammation reduction
06:15 – What happens when hormone therapy stops
06:30 – Pillar Three: GLP-1 medications explained
07:00 – Semaglutide, tirzepatide, and women's health
07:30 – Why women often respond differently than men
07:45 – Protecting muscle while losing weight
08:00 – The importance of strength training during GLP-1 use
08:15 – Building a complete weight-loss strategy
08:30 – The role of nutritionists, trainers, and clinicians
08:45 – Changing your strategy instead of blaming yourself
09:00 – Final thoughts and encouragement

In this episode of Perimenopause the Podcast, Jamie Gallagher tackles one of the most frustrating and misunderstood challenges women face during perimenopause and menopause: weight gain and inflammation that seem to appear out of nowhere.

If you've found yourself eating the same foods, exercising the same way, and still noticing stubborn belly fat, increased inflammation, joint aches, brain fog, or changes in your metabolism, you're not imagining it—and you're not alone.

Jamie breaks down the science behind hormonal changes, estrogen decline, FSH spikes, insulin resistance, visceral fat accumulation, muscle loss, and chronic inflammation. Most importantly, she explains why this transition is not a failure of willpower or discipline, but a biological shift happening inside the body.

This episode is packed with practical insights and validation for women who have been blaming themselves for changes that are often driven by hormones, metabolism, and immune system changes beyond their control.

00:00 – Introduction to today's Ask Us Anything episode
00:45 – The frustration of midlife weight gain and inflammation
01:20 – Why this isn't a willpower problem
01:45 – The connection between inflammation and weight gain
02:00 – Estrogen's role in metabolism and immune health
02:30 – The body's "internal thermostat" explained
03:00 – Why women feel puffy and inflamed during perimenopause
03:15 – Understanding follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
03:45 – How FSH contributes to belly fat accumulation
04:15 – Why weight gain often begins before menopause
04:30 – The vicious cycle of visceral fat and inflammation
05:00 – How belly fat acts like its own endocrine organ
05:20 – Insulin resistance and blood sugar changes
06:00 – Why normal labs don't always tell the full story
06:30 – Muscle loss and metabolic slowdown
07:00 – Sleep disruption, cortisol, and cravings
07:30 – Why you're not lazy, broken, or failing
08:00 – The power of resistance training and muscle building
08:20 – Why lifting weights helps fight inflammation
08:40 – Changing your strategy, not blaming yourself
08:55 – Preview of next episode: practical solutions

In this Ask Us Anything episode of Perimenopause the Podcast, Jamie Gallagher answers a heartfelt question from Tammy, a woman struggling to feel like herself after a total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes).

One and a half years after surgery, Tammy describes feeling like her hormones and body are "a wreck." Jamie explains the difference between natural menopause and surgical menopause, the health impacts of ovary removal, and why many women continue to struggle when the right hormone therapy has not been explored.

This conversation covers estrogen therapy, long-term health risks, surgical menopause recovery, and practical ways women in rural communities can access menopause specialists through telehealth and professional networks.

If you've experienced ovary removal, hysterectomy, surgical menopause, or persistent hormone symptoms, this episode offers education, validation, and hope.

00:00 – Welcome to Ask Us Anything
00:30 – Tammy's question: "My hormones are a wreck"
01:15 – What is a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy?
01:50 – Why the reason for ovary removal matters
02:30 – Understanding surgical menopause
03:00 – Long-term health effects of ovary removal
03:45 – Heart health, bone health, brain health, and libido
04:15 – Why estrogen therapy matters
04:45 – The hormone Tammy didn't mention
05:00 – Why you don't have to accept feeling miserable
05:20 – Finding menopause specialists through telehealth
05:40 – How to use Menopause.org to find care
05:55 – Why it's not too late to feel better
06:15 – Final encouragement and closing thoughts

In Part 2 of the Meet the Founder series on Peri & Pause, Jamie is joined by her husband and co-founder, Stu, to discuss his background in international business and a 26-year military career, his transition into civilian life, and how mission, purpose, and service shape his leadership. They explore what Stu saw in Peri & Pause early on, the parallels between military mission-focus and building a menopause care company, and the persistent midlife women’s health care gap he witnessed through his mother’s experience and Jamie’s own perimenopause. Stu describes how perimenopause can strain relationships when symptoms are misunderstood, emphasizes addressing root causes rather than just symptoms, and encourages partners to show patience, seek help, and support women through care that can improve families, work, and overall quality of life.

00:00 Meet Stu Intro

01:33 Military Roots

03:17 Leaving Service

04:47 Vision For Peri Pause

06:10 Mission Parallels

07:47 Care Gap Reality

09:32 Partner Perspective

13:40 Mom And Family Impact

17:39 Advice For Partners

18:31 Thick Skin and Support

18:55 Men Asking for Help

20:39 Building Together Talk

22:51 Napkin to Launch

23:58 Balancing Risk and Caution

26:17 Mission Bigger Than Us

28:06 Scaling the Impact

30:11 Gratitude and Outro

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This podcast exists to normalize, explain, and elevate the midlife healthcare conversation—so women feel informed, believed, and empowered to demand better care for their bodies and lives.

Visit https://periandpause.com for more info

Kristen wraps the nurse practitioner series and launches the founder series with Peri & Pause founder Jamie Gallagher, who shares what drew her into nursing, her critical care background, and why she became a nurse practitioner and later earned her DNP. Jamie explains how time limits, metrics, and fragmented, symptom-by-symptom care pushed her to rethink how midlife women are treated, especially after her own perimenopause experience revealed a major healthcare gap. She describes Peri & Pause’s model as relationship-driven, evidence-based whole-woman care through the perimenopause/menopause lens, including proactive prevention, collaboration with other clinicians, and referrals when needed. Jamie discusses misinformation and clinician shaming around hormones, the need for better clinician education, core values like integrity and humility, and her vision for continued growth to meet ongoing demand.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

01:09 Jamie Nursing Origins

02:47 Becoming Nurse Practitioner

04:46 Healthcare System Friction

08:27 Perimenopause Wake Up Call

11:13 Seeing the Bigger Pattern

13:11 Biggest Care Gap

14:20 Founding Peri and Pause

18:25 Building Patient First Practice

19:21 Whole Woman Care Approach

20:20 Coordinated Care Promise

20:46 Preventive Deep Dives

21:56 Proactive Treatment Mindset

22:19 Patient Wins That Matter

23:12 Word of Mouth Growth

24:12 Building a Mission Business

25:41 Imposter Syndrome and Connection

26:57 Misinformation and Clinician Shame

30:00 Why Education Still Lags

31:13 Values Purpose and The Future

36:45 Closing Thoughts and Wrap Up

In this Meet the Nurse Practitioner episode of Per and Pause, nurse practitioner Jaime Davis shares how her background in primary care and labor and delivery shaped her patient-centered approach and her focus on midlife women’s care. She discusses how perimenopause is often missed because symptoms can look like stress or anxiety, and highlights early signs such as brain fog, insomnia, word-finding difficulty, and menstrual changes influenced by hormone fluctuations like declining progesterone. Jaime recounts her own experience of years of severe pain after a traumatic C-section that was initially dismissed, later diagnosed as subcutaneous endometriosis and resolved with a short surgery, underscoring the importance of trusting your body and finding providers who listen. She explains her commitment to connecting symptoms, tailoring plans to patient goals, and helping women feel heard, supported, and empowered.

00:00 Meet Jaime Davis

00:54 Labor and Delivery Lessons

02:24 Path to Midlife Care

03:50 Why Perimenopause Gets Missed

06:47 Dismissed Pain Story

11:08 Finding the Real Cause

13:29 What Listening Really Means

15:27 Beyond Rigid Guidelines

16:56 Early Perimenopause Clues

17:06 Brain Fog Sleep Anxiety

19:46 Symptoms Are Connected

21:29 Menopause Education Gaps

23:45 Care After Dismissal

25:10 The Peri Pause Experience

26:15 Closing Thanks Farewell

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This podcast exists to normalize, explain, and elevate the midlife healthcare conversation—so women feel informed, believed, and empowered to demand better care for their bodies and lives.

Visit https://periandpause.com for more info

On Peri and Pause the podcast, host interviews women’s health nurse practitioner Amanda Maingi, who shares why she chose women’s health, her education at Georgetown, and how menopause and perimenopause received limited focus in training despite women spending a third of life in this stage. Amanda describes noticing gaps while working in a fast-paced traditional GYN clinic, where time constraints and protocol-driven care could miss the “whole woman” experience. She contrasts younger patients’ typically more straightforward visits with the complexity of midlife, highlighting under-research, life stressors, and chronic conditions. Common perimenopause symptoms often mislabeled as anxiety or depression include sleep disruption, heart palpitations, brain fog, irritability, overwhelm, and feeling out of control. The episode emphasizes validation, individualized high-touch care beyond algorithms, and addresses misconceptions that hormone therapy is inherently dangerous, stressing risk-benefit tailoring and comprehensive evaluation.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:53 Why Womens Health

02:17 Academic Journey Highlights

04:09 Menopause Education Gap

05:24 Clinic Reality and Missing Care

08:57 Midlife vs Younger Patients

13:14 Symptoms Mistaken for Anxiety

17:43 Beyond Protocols Individual Care

19:34 Patch And Pill Problem

21:21 Telehealth Versus High Touch

22:56 Layered Whole Woman Care

26:03 Validation First Visit

28:42 Hormone Therapy Myths

30:07 New Patient Expectations

31:53 Outro And Sign Off

32:23 Recording The Closing Script

34:16 Final Takeaway Message

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This podcast exists to normalize, explain, and elevate the midlife healthcare conversation—so women feel informed, believed, and empowered to demand better care for their bodies and lives.

Visit https://periandpause.com for more info