THE PERIOD WHISPERER PODCAST - Perimenopause, Menopause, Cortisol, Weight Loss, Hormone Balancing, Insomnia, Hot Flashes, Night Sweats, Libido, Your Guide To Thriving In MidLife

Why does your libido disappear in perimenopause, even when you still love your partner and miss feeling connected?
In this episode, I sit down with psychologist, sex therapist, University of Florida professor, and bestselling author Dr. Laurie Mintz to talk honestly about low libido, responsive desire, orgasms, and sexual health after 40.
Many women feel ashamed when they no longer think about sex, look forward to it, or respond the way they once did. They may worry that they are broken, failing their relationship, or destined to lose this part of themselves forever. But desire is more complex than simply feeling spontaneously “in the mood.”
Dr. Laurie explains the difference between spontaneous and responsive desire, why stress and the mental load can change how desire begins, and why responsive desire is never the same as duty sex. It does not mean forcing yourself, pushing through pain, or performing for a partner. It describes allowing desire to grow from connection, touch, safety, and pleasure that you genuinely want.
We also unpack the orgasm gap and why intercourse alone is not the most reliable route to orgasm for most women. Dr. Laurie explains the importance of clitoral stimulation, how blood flow and nerve sensitivity may change with age, and why self-pleasure and vibrators can be valuable tools in perimenopause and menopause.
If psychological and relational strategies are not enough, women still have options. We discuss Addyi, Vyleesi, and off-label topical testosterone, along with when to consult a qualified sexual medicine physician. These are not universal libido boosters, and low desire may also relate to pain, medications, hormones, stress, exhaustion, relationship dynamics, or sex that is not pleasurable.
No woman owes anyone sex. But if you miss your desire, pleasure, confidence, or connection, you deserve better information than “this is just aging.”
In This Episode
00:00 What happened to my libido?
02:29 How losing her own sex drive changed Dr. Laurie’s career
06:16 What women mean when they say they have no libido
07:39 Spontaneous versus responsive desire
10:21 Hormones, testosterone, and the mental load
12:06 Why desire changes in long-term relationships
14:03 Reconnecting with pleasure without creating another obligation
17:19 Why “I don’t want sex” can mean 100 different things
18:50 When to consider medical or hormonal support
21:50 Sexual satisfaction and quality of life
22:55 The orgasm gap and the importance of clitoral stimulation
26:16 What every woman deserves to know about her anatomy
28:05 Vibrators during perimenopause and menopause
30:26 Blood flow, nerve sensitivity, SSRIs, and orgasm changes
38:14 Scheduling intimacy without making it feel like duty
41:07 Dr. Laurie’s books for desire and orgasm
42:52 Self-pleasure and reconnecting with your body
44:45 Psychological versus physical sexual concerns
47:11 Teaching the next generation that sex should be pleasurable
Connect with Dr. Laurie Mintz
Instagram: @drlauriemintz
Books: Becoming Cliterate and A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex
Resources: https://mymojo.com
Connect with Bria
Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com
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What is the best workout routine for perimenopause if you want to build muscle without feeling exhausted, sore, or burned out?
In this solo episode, I’m sharing exactly how I train at almost 45 after learning that more exercise does not always produce better results. For years, I completed intense workouts six days a week. That approach helped until my sleep, energy, recovery, hormones, and body composition began changing in my late 30s.
I initially assumed I needed to work out harder. What I eventually realized was that my body no longer had the capacity to adapt to everything I was asking it to do. Exercise is a valuable stressor, but your body still needs enough energy, protein, sleep, metabolic support, and recovery to turn that training stimulus into muscle.
I walk through my current weekly workout split, including daily walking, four strength-training sessions, dedicated mobility and yoga, warmups, cooldowns, and at least one full recovery day. My rhythm is simple: strength, strength, recover, strength, strength, recover.
You’ll also learn why I no longer train completely fasted, how I fuel before and after workouts, why I use deload weeks around my cycle, and how I am experimenting with blood flow restriction training to create a muscular stimulus with lighter loads.
This is not a workout schedule every woman should copy. Your ideal perimenopause exercise plan depends on your symptoms, recovery capacity, stage of perimenopause, hormone status, nutrition, sleep, stress, and whether your body is already carrying health debt.
If your old workouts stopped working, the answer may not be another intense program. The better question is: What does my body currently have the capacity to recover from?
In This Episode
00:00 How my workouts changed in perimenopause
01:39 Why the hardest workout is not always the most productive
02:12 When pushing harder stopped producing results
04:09 Why you cannot outtrain health debt
05:54 Exercise creates a stimulus, but recovery builds muscle
07:23 Why I temporarily stopped intense workouts
08:32 Fitness as an investment when your body is already in debt
10:12 Learning to train smarter, not harder
10:54 My daily walking routine and step goal
13:31 My current seven-day workout split
13:44 Monday and Tuesday strength training
14:06 Warmups, cooldowns, mobility, and workout length
15:24 Wednesday recovery with yoga and mobility
15:50 Thursday and Friday strength training
16:13 Weekend rest and Yin yoga
16:45 Strength, strength, recover
17:13 Progressive overload and the smallest effective dose
18:08 How I fuel before and after workouts
19:12 Why building muscle and eating less can conflict
20:05 How I became leaner and more muscular while exercising less
20:48 My experiment with blood flow restriction training
22:25 Adjusting training around the menstrual cycle
23:19 What a deload week looks like
24:18 Training for the next 30 years
25:51 Signs your body may not be recovering
27:24 Why your workout plan must match your current body
28:23 When walking, eating, sleeping, and recovering should come first
30:01 The muscle-building lesson I want every woman to remember
Take the Next Step
If conflicting midlife fitness advice has left you wondering whether you should lift heavier, do more cardio, try HIIT, or pull back and recover, take my free Perimenopause and Health Debt Quiz.
It will help you begin identifying your current stage of perimenopause and whether health debt may be affecting your workouts, energy, recovery, and results.
Use the link in the episode description to take the quiz.
Connect with Bria
Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com

What do you do when you work in wellness, understand nutrition, train five days a week, and still wake up exhausted, anxious, bloated, and unable to get the results you expect?
In this episode, I sit down with my former client Jess Rezac, a health-conscious woman who was already doing “all the right things” but still knew something was off.
Jess opens up about the symptoms she had learned to live with, the testing that changed the direction of our work, and what happened when she stopped guessing and began following a strategy built around her body.
We also discuss her experiences with functional lab testing, personalized protocols, peptides, and tirzepatide, including why two approaches produced very different results for her.
This is an honest client conversation about what it can look like when the workouts, clean eating, and wellness knowledge are not enough to explain why you still feel stuck.
In This Episode
00:00 Introduction and why I invited Jess to share her story
01:22 Jess’s life, wellness background, and stress level
02:50 Poor sleep, anxiety, exhaustion, bloating, and stomach pain
04:19 Why Jess assumed her symptoms were hormonal
04:59 Working out five days a week and already eating well
05:35 Tracking macros and weighing food for 18 months
06:32 The foundational changes we made before testing
08:30 The DUTCH test, GI-MAP, and thyroid panel
09:05 Why the GI-MAP changed the direction of our investigation
10:01 When sex hormones were not the primary concern
11:21 How Jess feels after following her personalized protocol
12:25 Committing to a six-month process
13:15 Why having real information made the work easier
15:16 Exploring peptides after addressing the foundations
15:45 Jess’s experience with tesamorelin and ipamorelin
17:34 Why she was initially hesitant to consider tirzepatide
18:04 The changes Jess noticed during the first several weeks
19:20 Why I believe foundational work and timing matter
20:46 Returning to strength training and lifting heavier
21:50 What women should understand before considering peptides
22:31 Jess’s advice for women who know something feels wrong
23:30 How much testing moved the needle for her
24:29 How feeling better affected her marriage, parenting, and work
26:42 Jess’s daily health habits
28:46 Her protein-rich breakfast and four-to-five-hour satisfaction
31:04 Final thoughts
Connect with Bria
Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com
Are you doing all the things but still struggling with stubborn weight, exhaustion, poor sleep, or symptoms no one has connected?
Inside Midlife Mojo, I help women understand the foundations of midlife health and learn when their symptoms may deserve a deeper conversation. You’ll find practical education around hormones, metabolism, nutrition, strength training, digestion, lab testing, HRT, peptides, sleep, and recovery, plus a community of women navigating these changes with you.
Your membership includes:
💛 The 90-Day Hormone Revival
💛 Midlife weight-loss and metabolism education
💛 Nutrition guidance, recipes, and meal-planning support
💛 Strength-training plans for women over 40
💛 Lab-testing education
💛 HRT and peptide resources
💛 Guided meditations and nervous system support
💛 Live coaching, Q&A sessions, and community support
You do not need to keep guessing or work harder without understanding what your body may need.
Start your 7-day free trial here:
https://bit.ly/midlifemojonow

Why is it so difficult to lose weight during perimenopause, even when you eat well and exercise regularly?
In this episode of The Period Whisperer Podcast, I explain health debt, my framework for understanding why stubborn weight and other midlife symptoms may persist even when you are doing all the “right” things.
Using personal finance as an analogy, I explain why something considered “healthy” may still be the wrong investment for your body right now. Strength training, fasting, supplements, peptides, HRT, cold plunges, and biohacks may have value. But adding more is not always the smartest first step when you are exhausted, sleeping poorly, or unable to recover.
You’ll learn:
• Why perimenopause weight loss may require more than eating less and exercising more
• How poor sleep and chronic stress affect appetite, energy, and recovery
• Why overtraining may make a depleted body feel worse
• When HRT, peptides, supplements, or biohacks may not be the first investment
• How nutrition, restorative movement, and recovery support your health
• Why consistency matters more than perfection
If you are over 40 and struggling with stubborn weight, exhaustion, poor sleep, digestive symptoms, or workouts that have stopped producing results, this episode may help you understand what your body needs before you push harder.
In This Episode
00:00 Why perimenopause can make your body feel different
00:33 Living “paycheck to paycheck” with your energy
01:35 What health debt means
02:18 Moving from health debt to health wealth
03:35 When a “healthy” choice is the wrong investment
04:49 The $50,000 credit-card analogy
05:56 Mistake one: investing while your health account is overdrawn
07:00 Why intense workouts may stop producing results
08:26 Peptides, fasting, supplements, wearables, and biohacks
09:26 Foundations before GLP-1 medications
10:43 Mistake two: addressing the wrong health debt first
11:20 Why not every midlife symptom is hormonal
13:00 Why the body may conserve resources
14:08 What makes weight loss harder for your body
14:52 Using symptoms to guide deeper investigation
16:30 Mistake three: cutting expenses without increasing energy income
17:37 How eating less and exercising more can overdraw your account
18:30 Food, restorative movement, pleasure, and joy as energy income
20:27 Mistake four: ignoring compounding health debt
21:00 Why I recommend walking, stretching, and yoga
22:04 What ignoring symptoms looked like in my life
23:00 Mistake five: expecting perfection instead of integrity
24:10 Why rest and enjoyment do not erase progress
25:02 Keeping the next promise instead of waiting until Monday
26:26 Shortening the distance between slipping and showing up again
26:47 A health debt audit for women in midlife
28:20 Finding the mistake costing your body the most
29:00 Where health debt may be showing up for you
Connect with Bria
Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com
Inside Midlife Mojo, you’ll find practical guidance on hormones, metabolism, nutrition, strength training, digestion, lab testing, HRT, peptides, sleep, and recovery, plus a community of women navigating midlife with you.
Membership includes the 90-Day Hormone Revival, nutrition support, strength-training plans, lab-testing education, guided meditations, live coaching, Q&A sessions, and community support.
Start your 7-day free trial:
https://bit.ly/midlifemojonow

When was the last time you felt truly vibrant, not simply “fine”?
For many high-achieving women, “fine” means sleeping poorly, waking up exhausted, dragging themselves through workouts, losing interest in intimacy, and continuing to take care of everyone else without stopping long enough to ask what they need.
In this episode, I sit down with Maraya Brown CNM, MSN, Yale and functional medicine-trained women’s health expert, founder of The Women’s Vibrancy Code, and host of The Women’s Vibrancy Code podcast.
Together, we explore why ambitious women can become so connected to productivity and achievement that rest begins to feel uncomfortable. We discuss perimenopause burnout, nervous system regulation, loneliness, receiving support, and why optimizing your hormones is only the beginning of feeling like yourself again.
You deserve more than getting through midlife feeling “fine.” You deserve to feel connected, supported, energized, and fully present in your life.
In This Episode
00:00 When was the last time you felt truly vibrant?
02:24 How Maraya’s work with women has evolved
05:50 What vibrancy actually means in midlife
06:20 Why “fine” has become the standard for so many women
09:24 Why high-achieving women struggle to rest
10:50 Who are you when you are not achieving or producing?
12:50 The dull-knife analogy and the productivity of rest
13:41 How feeling unsafe can affect our ability to think clearly
17:02 Rest, hydration, nutrition, breathwork, and time in nature
19:17 Why no protocol can replace the ability to rest and digest
20:24 It is not only what we do, but who we are while doing it
22:17 What a truly vibrant woman in midlife looks and feels like
24:14 The women’s experiences that still happen behind closed doors
25:26 Shame, loneliness, and why women isolate when they feel like they are failing
27:12 Learning how to receive meaningful support
31:02 Small practices for returning to yourself
35:20 When a personalized health protocol becomes another stressful checklist
36:12 Moving out of comparison and into possibility
38:21 Maraya’s most important takeaway for women
42:38 Where to connect with Maraya
Connect with Maraya Brown
Instagram: @marayabrown
Website: https://marayabrown.com
Connect with Bria
Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com
Ready for more than simply feeling “fine” in midlife?
Inside Midlife Mojo, you’ll find comprehensive guidance, practical tools, and a community of women who understand what it is like to navigate changing hormones, stubborn weight, exhaustion, brain fog, relationships, and the emotional shifts of perimenopause and menopause.
Your membership includes:
💛 The 90-Day Hormone Revival
💛 Midlife weight-loss and metabolism education
💛 Hormone, nutrition, sleep, and strength-training courses
💛 Lab-testing, HRT, and peptide education
💛 Guided meditations and nervous system support
💛 Live coaching and Q&A sessions
💛 A community of women learning how to feel stronger, healthier, and more connected through midlife
You do not have to figure this season out alone.
Start your 7-day free trial here:
https://bit.ly/midlifemojonow