Two Seasons, One Body: What Pregnancy is Teaching Me About Midlife, Menopause, and Body Autonomy

[00:00:00] Emily Field: Welcome back to Macros Made Easy. I’m your host, Emily Field, registered dietician, personal trainer, and someone who has spent years helping women navigate food, fitness, and behavior change in a way that actually works in real life. And I just wanna start by saying that this podcast has always been about more than macros.

[00:00:18] Emily Field: It’s about learning how to take care of yourself in a body that changes in seasons that don’t always look the way that you expected. And in a culture that tends to oversimplify women’s health. We talk a lot here about midlife hormones, strength, nourishment, and the mindset shifts that actually support long-term health.

[00:00:37] Emily Field: Not quick fixes in today’s episode fits squarely into that theme, but in a more personal way than usual. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I recently shared that I’m pregnant when this episode airs. I’m solidly in my second trimester, but I’ve only just shared that news publicly and I wanna name something right away.

[00:00:59] Emily Field: I didn’t delay sharing because I think pregnancy interrupts my work, my expertise, or my identity because it doesn’t. I delayed because I’m human and because sometimes you hold your breath a little bit longer when something really deeply matters to you. Especially when you’re in what the medical system lovingly calls a geriatric pregnancy, which yes, I say jokingly.

[00:01:22] Emily Field: Mostly I just wanted some time. I wanted space and I wanted to be sure things were steady before opening that door publicly. And honestly, that choice alone is part of what sparked this episode. Because the more I’ve moved through pregnancy and the more I’ve reflected on the conversations I have every single day with midlife women, the more I’ve realized how much pregnancy and perimenopause actually have in common.

[00:01:46] Emily Field: At first glance, they seem like opposites. One is about becoming something new. The other is about transitioning out of a reproductive phase. But the experience, the emotional landscape, the way your body starts calling the shots, whether you’re ready or not. Shockingly similar. And one of the first overlaps showed up right away.

[00:02:08] Emily Field: For many women, perimenopause doesn’t arrive with a big announcement. It comes quietly, subtly. You start second guessing yourself. Is this stress? Is this aging? Is this just life? Am I imagining this? And then at some point it does become undeniable. Pregnancy for me, had a similar beginning. There was a stretch where I thought.

[00:02:29] Emily Field: Something feels different, but I don’t know if I trust it yet. Energy shifts, appetite changes, subtle cues that didn’t quite make sense on their own. And then one day your body makes it very clear this is happening whether you feel ready or not. And that moment, that realization that your body is moving into a new phase without asking for permission, is where this episode really begins.

[00:02:54] Emily Field: So I wanna be very clear about what today is not. This is not a pregnancy advice episode. This is not a, here’s what to eat when you’re pregnant episode, and it’s not a comparison meant to minimize the permanence or complexity of menopause. This is a reflection. And it’s a reflection on what it’s like to be a woman in a changing body.

[00:03:15] Emily Field: What it’s like when hormones get louder than rules. What it’s like when control gives way to listening, and what it’s like to learn again, that your body is not something to manage, but something to partner with. Today I wanna share what pregnancy is teaching me, not just as a dietician, not just as a coach, but as a woman.

[00:03:34] Emily Field: And how these lessons mirror what so many of you experience in perimenopause and menopause. We will talk about why hormonal transitions feel disorienting no matter the season, why restrictions stops working, when your body is changing, why nourishment, strength, and rest matter more than ever. And why both of these seasons ask us to uncouple our worth from what our bodies look like.

[00:03:58] Emily Field: This episode is about autonomy and trust and learning to stop fighting a body that is actually working very hard on your behalf. So if you’re in midlife and your body feels unfamiliar lately, this episode is for you. So let’s get into it. One of the things that has surprised me most during this season is just how familiar it feels.

[00:04:18] Emily Field: Not because pregnancy and menopause are the same, but because the forces acting on the body are so similar in both pregnancy and menopause, hormones take center stage in a way that is impossible to ignore. Energy becomes less predictable. Appetite changes in a way that doesn’t always make logical sense.

[00:04:38] Emily Field: Temperature regulation feels off. Mood can fluctuate without warning, and body composition begins to shift sometimes despite your best efforts to do everything right. What I keep coming back to both physically and professionally is this, you can be eating well, sleeping decently. Exercising consistently and managing stress as best you can and still feel like your body is doing something entirely on its own accord.

[00:05:03] Emily Field: When hormones are loud, they have their own agenda, and that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means your body is responding to a powerful internal transition. This is something I see constantly with midlife women. You’re doing the things that used to work. You’re checking the boxes, and yet suddenly the rules seem to change.

[00:05:22] Emily Field: Pregnancy has given me a renewed respect for how disorienting that can feel when effort no longer guarantees predictability and when control starts to loosen whether you’re ready for it or not. Another striking overlap is this sense that your body is no longer asking for permission. It’s leading. In pregnancy, hunger signals can spike quickly and demand attention.

[00:05:46] Emily Field: Sleep becomes non-negotiable in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. Food aversions and cravings can show up seemingly out of nowhere. Digestion shifts your body communicates its needs clearly and repeatedly, and ignoring them isn’t really an option. In menopause and perimenopause, the experience may look different, but the pattern is similar.

[00:06:07] Emily Field: Cravings can appear without warning. Sleep becomes more fragile. Weight can shift without a clear cause and effect. Explanation. Hunger patterns change sometimes dramatically, and many women find themselves thinking, why doesn’t my body respond the way it used to? What both seasons have in common is this fundamental truth.

[00:06:27] Emily Field: Your body is moving forward, whether your mind has caught up or not. And that’s where body autonomy starts to feel really complicated. When your body changes without asking, it’s easy to feel betrayed, frustrated, or disconnected. But there’s another invitation here, one that I’m actively learning to accept both pregnancy and menopause.

[00:06:47] Emily Field: Ask us to stop fighting our bodies and start partnering with them. They require a shift from control to collaboration, from overriding signals to listening more closely. This is not about giving up agency. It’s about redefining it. It’s about recognizing that autonomy doesn’t always mean forcing your body into submission.

[00:07:07] Emily Field: Sometimes it means trusting that your body knows where it’s going, even when the path feels unfamiliar. There’s something deeply humbling about realizing that your body is changing, not in a way that you can negotiate with and not in a way that you can opt out of. As my body has shifted during pregnancy, I’ve had to confront something I think many women quietly wrestle with in midlife.

[00:07:28] Emily Field: The realization that food and exercise can no longer be tools to control your body in the way that they once were. For much of my life and for many women I work with nutrition and movement, were framed around a very specific outcome. Managing weight, shaping the body, or keeping things from changing too much.

[00:07:48] Emily Field: Even when the intention was health, there was often an underlying aesthetic goal. Driving the choices, pregnancy removed that illusion almost immediately. Hunger becomes something you can’t ignore or override without consequences. Eating more is not optional. It’s necessary. Exercise stops being about intensity, calorie burn or personal records, and becomes about function, stability and support.

[00:08:13] Emily Field: Slowing down isn’t a failure. It’s part of doing this season well, and as uncomfortable as that can be, it has also been clarifying. For the first time in a very long time, I’ve had to ask very different questions, not how do I keep my body the same, but what does my body need in order to be strong, healthy, and resilient?

[00:08:33] Emily Field: Right now? That question changes everything. It shifts the purpose of food from control to nourishment. It shifts the purpose of movement from punishment to protection, and it shifts the role of mindset from discipline to trust. I’ve had to learn and relearn how to trust hunger instead of fearing it.

[00:08:53] Emily Field: I’ve had to eat more without attaching meaning to it. I’ve had to pull back on exercise intensity without interpreting that as weakness. I’ve had to slow down without labeling myself as lazy or less committed, and perhaps the hardest part has been watching my body change while actively choosing not to micromanage it.

[00:09:11] Emily Field: And this is exactly the work I coach midlife women through every day. Pregnancy is temporary. Menopause is not, but the emotional experience of moving through a body that no longer responds to control in the same way is strikingly similar, especially for women who have spent decades trying to manage, override, or out discipline their physiology.

[00:09:33] Emily Field: Both seasons force a reckoning. They ask you to decide whether your identity is rooted in how your body looks, or in how it functions. Whether food and exercise exists to keep you small or to keep you capable. Whether your worth is tied to aesthetics or to resilience in both pregnancy and menopause, the body demands a shift towards function.

[00:09:56] Emily Field: Strength becomes about support, not appearance. Nourishment becomes about adequacy, not restriction. Rest becomes strategic, not indulgent, and this is where true body autonomy begins. Not in controlling your body into submission, but into releasing the belief that your body owes you a certain look. In exchange for compliance, both seasons ask you to uncouple your identity from your appearance.

[00:10:22] Emily Field: They invite you to build a relationship with your body based on partnership rather than pressure and trust rather than fear. And while that shift can feel unsettling at first, it is also profoundly freeing. One of the biggest lessons pregnancy has reinforced for me is this. You cannot restrict your way through a hormonal transition, and I know that statement alone might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable because for many women, restriction has been the strategy for decades.

[00:10:52] Emily Field: When things feel out of control, the instinct is to often tighten the reins, eat a little less, be a little bit more disciplined, push a little harder. Pregnancy makes it very clear very quickly that this approach is not just ineffective, it’s unsafe. Restricting food, ignoring hunger, or trying to out discipline.

[00:11:11] Emily Field: A changing body simply doesn’t work when hormones are driving the bus. And while menopause is obviously different, the physiological principle is the same. Restriction doesn’t calm the system, it stresses it even more. It backfires by increasing fatigue, worsening sleep, and amplifying cravings, slowing down recovery, and often making body composition feel more unpredictable.

[00:11:35] Emily Field: I see this play out with clients all the time. You’re not eating much, you’re moving your body consistently, and yet nothing feels any better. Energy is low. Progress feels stalled, and the thought is, I must need to try harder. But what if the answer isn’t less? What if the answer in both pregnancy and menopause is more nourishment, not more control?

[00:11:58] Emily Field: Another major reframe that pregnancy has brought front and center for me is the role of strength training. In this season, strength is no longer about chasing personal records or improving toughness. It’s about protection. It’s about maintaining stability, supporting joints, preserving muscle, and building a body that can adapt to change.

[00:12:17] Emily Field: The goal is not perfection, it’s function, and that’s exactly the shift midlife women need to make as well. As estrogen declines, muscle becomes one of your most valuable assets. Not for aesthetics, but for metabolism, for bone health, balance injury prevention, and long-term independence. Strength training in midlife is not about shrinking your body or sculpting it into something new.

[00:12:41] Emily Field: It’s about preserving what you have and reinforcing it for the decades ahead. These seasons, pregnancy and menopause are not about pushing your body to its limits. They’re about becoming harder to kill, more resilient, better supported, and properly fueled. And perhaps the most profound lesson of all of this has been you have to take up space.

[00:13:03] Emily Field: Pregnancy demands more, more food, more rest, more boundaries, and more grace. There is no version of this season that works if you try to minimize yourself. You cannot pretend your needs are inconvenient. You cannot apologize for hunger, fatigue, or limits. Your body will not allow it, and midlife is no different.

[00:13:24] Emily Field: Menopause requires more protein to preserve muscle. More recovery between hard efforts, more emotional bandwidth to manage stress. More intentional care, and yet so many women feel guilty for needing these things. They wonder why what used to work no longer does. They feel frustrated that their body seems high maintenance now.

[00:13:46] Emily Field: But what if your body isn’t asking too much? What if it’s finally asking Honestly. Both pregnancy and menopause, confront women with a powerful truth. Shrinking yourself nutritionally, emotionally or physically is no longer an option. These seasons ask you to stop minimizing your needs. To stop negotiating with your hunger.

[00:14:08] Emily Field: Stop proving your worth through discipline, and to start honoring what your body actually requires to stay strong, healthy, and resilient. This isn’t about losing control, it’s about evolving it. And for many women, this is the first time food and exercise stop being tools to control their bodies and start becoming tools to support their life.

[00:14:30] Emily Field: Yeah, there’s a part of pregnancy and menopause that we don’t talk about enough, and that’s grief. Not grief in a catastrophic sense, but a quieter, more disoriented and kind of grief. The kind that comes from realizing that something familiar has changed and that there’s no going back to the way it was before.

[00:14:48] Emily Field: For me, some of the first changes were subtle, but emotionally loaded. I lost what resembled a waste. Fairly early on my body shape shifted before my brain had time to catch up. And then there was the fatigue, a level of tiredness I was not prepared for, not I need an earlier bedtime tired, but the kind of exhaustion that made it impossible to work a full day at the same pace I once did.

[00:15:11] Emily Field: Naps weren’t optional. They were required. And that reality forced a reckoning with my expectations about productivity, energy, and pace. This mirrors what so many women experience in midlife. Poor sleep becomes more common, not just occasional bad nights, but fragmented sleep. That affects recovery, mood and motivation.

[00:15:32] Emily Field: Muscle and joint soreness shows up more easily and lingers longer. Workouts that once felt energizing suddenly feel draining. And the body stops bouncing back the way that it once used to. Up until that point, I think I still held an image, maybe subconsciously, of what I thought pregnancy would look like for me.

[00:15:50] Emily Field: I imagine I’d be one of those fit pregnant people that would continue to train in a very visible way, adapting workouts, gradually, documenting strength and resilience well into late pregnancy, but that’s not how it unfolded at all. Around week 10, my most prominent symptom appeared. And that was swelling and carpal tunnel.

[00:16:10] Emily Field: And not mild discomfort. I’m talking significant swelling, numbness, nerve pain, and a complete loss of grip strength. My wrists stopped bending the way they used to. Very early on. My hands would go numb at night, and if I overdid it during the day, I definitely paid for it with hours of discomfort while trying to sleep, and suddenly everything was impacted.

[00:16:32] Emily Field: Holding dumbbells, doing pull-ups, Olympic lifts, pushups, handstands, anything that required wrist extension, grip, or hanging from a bar was no longer accessible to me. Not temporarily uncomfortable, but genuinely off the table. This is where the parallel to menopause becomes even clearer. Many women in perimenopause and menopause find that joints feel er, connective tissue feels less forgiving, and recovery takes longer, especially when sleep is disrupted.

[00:17:04] Emily Field: Exercises that once felt routine suddenly aggravate shoulders, hips, knees, or wrists, and pushing through often leads to more pain, more fatigue, and even worse sleep. The body isn’t being dramatic. It’s asking for different inputs. That’s when the push and pull really set in for me. I need to move my body to support circulation, manage swelling, and maintain a healthy pregnancy.

[00:17:28] Emily Field: But I can’t move my body in ways that trigger nighttime nerve pain and sleeplessness. I need strength, but not at the cost of recovery. I need consistency, but not intensity. This balancing act of staying active while respecting new limits is something I see midlife women wrestle with constantly. You want to feel strong and capable, but the old approach no longer matches the body that you’re in.

[00:17:54] Emily Field: Yes, I have found ways to adapt. I have modified workouts thoughtfully. My movement menu is a lot smaller now, so sled pushes, box step ups, lunges, rowing, biking deadlifts, kettlebell swings. These movements support me without aggravating symptoms. They allow me to stay active and strong within very clear boundaries.

[00:18:17] Emily Field: There was a period around weeks 12 to 14 where I had to grieve the pregnancy I thought I might have, and I had a real meltdown, not because anything was really wrong, but because my expectations did not match reality. I had to let go of an identity I had hadn’t even realized that I was holding onto the version of myself who stays capable in all the same ways, just with a few tweaks.

[00:18:41] Emily Field: And this is exactly what so many women experience as estrogen declines. The grief isn’t just about the symptoms, it’s about the loss of an old operating system, the frustration of needing more recovery. The realization that sleep quality now dictates workout quality. The discomfort of acknowledging that effort alone no longer guarantees the same outcome.

[00:19:05] Emily Field: Pregnancy is temporary for me. Menopause is not, but the emotional process, the grief, the disorientation, the identity shift is strikingly similar. Both seasons require letting go of old timelines. They ask you to stop measuring success by what you used to do and start responding to what your body needs.

[00:19:24] Emily Field: Now they demand flexibility instead of force and compassion instead of criticism. And while that shift can feel unsettling, it also creates space for a deeper, more sustainable relationship with your body. Because on the other side of that grief is growth, a version of strength that is less about proving something and more about preserving yourself.

[00:19:46] Emily Field: As I’ve moved through this season, I found myself returning again and again to some of the same core principles. I teach midlife women, not because pregnancy and menopause are the same, but because the body’s needs during hormonal transitions are remarkably similar. Right now I’m eating more carbohydrates then I might have at other points in my life, and that has been both necessary and supportive.

[00:20:09] Emily Field: Carbs are not just fuel for movement. They play a critical role in managing stress hormones, supporting sleep, and stabilizing energy. When hormones are shifting undereating, carbohydrates often shows up as more fatigue, poorer sleep, and higher overall stress. That’s true in pregnancy and it’s also true for many women in perimenopause and menopause.

[00:20:30] Emily Field: Protein has become even more important for me in this season as well, not in a rigid or obsessive way, but a a true non-negotiable foundation. Of course, protein supports muscle preservation, blood sugar, stability, recovery from exercise, and overall resilience. In pregnancy, it supports growth and tissue changes.

[00:20:48] Emily Field: In midlife, it becomes one of the most powerful tools we have to protect muscle metabolism and long-term strength as estrogen declines. But something I didn’t fully appreciate until I experienced it myself is how much protein also seems to support fluid balance through a lot of trial and error. I’ve noticed that when my protein intake is consistently low, swelling and nerve related symptoms are noticeably worse, and when I’m adequately fueled, especially with enough protein spread throughout the day, those symptoms feel a lot more manageable.

[00:21:20] Emily Field: And that made sense to me. Physiologically, protein plays a role in maintaining proper fluid balance in the body. And when your system is already under hormonal stress, small nutritional gaps can show up in very tangible ways. This has been one of those moments where lived experience has reinforced what I’ve long taught.

[00:21:38] Emily Field: In theory, nourishment isn’t just about muscle or metabolism. It’s about how your entire system functions under load, and this is a lesson that translates directly to midlife. Many women in perimenopause and menopause are undereating protein without realizing it, and then wondering why recovery feels harder, or joints feel ER or swelling is lingering, or energy is inconsistent.

[00:22:02] Emily Field: Protein isn’t a magic fix, but it’s a foundational support for a body navigating change. Movement has also taken on a very clear role for me. I’m prioritizing strength training within my limitations and walking, not because I’m chasing fitness milestones, but because both are incredibly supportive for circulation, muscle maintenance, stress regulation, and recovery.

[00:22:24] Emily Field: Strength training is about preservation. Performance and walking has become a way to move my body consistently without overstimulating my nervous system. These are the same priorities I come back to again and again with midlife women, especially when joints feel ache and recovery takes longer and sleep is disrupted.

[00:22:43] Emily Field: And speaking of sleep, it has moved to the top of the priority list. Pregnancy has made it. Abundantly clear that poor sleep affects everything. Hunger, mood, pain, perception, recovery and energy for movement. Midlife women know this story really well. Fragmented sleep is one of the most common complaints during perimenopause and menopause, and it directly impacts how well you recover from workouts and how much energy you have to show up for them.

[00:23:11] Emily Field: No nutrition or training strategy works well when sleep and stress are constantly undermining the system. This is where I want to gently bring up macro tracking, not as a requirement, but as a support tool in this season. Tracking macros isn’t about control or perfection. It’s about a little bit of structure.

[00:23:30] Emily Field: It helps ensure I’m eating enough, not just eating healthy. It helps me see patterns when energy dips or recovery feels off, and it gives me a framework that reduces decision fatigue when my body already has a lot going on. And that same structure can be incredibly helpful for midlife women. When hormones are changing, hunker cues can feel unreliable.

[00:23:52] Emily Field: Appetite can fluctuate, and energy needs can be harder to interpret structured nourishment. So knowing roughly how much protein you need, having consistent meals and building balanced plates creates stability in a season that can otherwise feel unpredictable. And flexibility is built into that structure.

[00:24:10] Emily Field: Rigid rules don’t work here. Adaptability does though. So if there’s one takeaway I want you to hear clearly, it’s this midlife. Women need many of the same things I need right now. More protein, more recovery, more respect for stress and sleep, more intentional nourishment, and far more flexibility than rigidity.

[00:24:31] Emily Field: These are not signs that your body is failing you. They’re signs that your body is asking for a higher level of care. If you’ve listened to my past episodes on perimenopause and menopause non-negotiables, you’ll recognize these themes. They’re not trends, they’re foundations, and they matter whether you’re navigating pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause, or simply a body that’s changing with time.

[00:24:53] Emily Field: As I reflect on everything we’ve talked about today, the message that keeps rising to the surface is this. Our bodies are always working for us, even when it feels like they’re working against us. Today we talked about what it’s like to move through a body that’s changing without asking for permission.

[00:25:10] Emily Field: We talked about how pregnancy and menopause, while very different, are both seasons where hormones get louder, energy becomes less predictable, and the old rules stop working. We talked about how restriction backfires during hormonal transitions and why more nourishment, not more discipline, is often what the body actually needs.

[00:25:29] Emily Field: We talked about the shift from aesthetics to function, how food and exercise can no longer be used as tools to control your body, but instead become tools to support it. We talked about the grief that comes with letting go of an old body, an old identity or an old set of expectations, and the growth that happens when you allow yourself to adapt instead of resist.

[00:25:51] Emily Field: I shared what this season has been like for me personally, the fatigue. I wasn’t prepared for, the physical limitations I didn’t expect, and the need to slow down, modify, and redefine what strength looks like right now. And we connected that experience to what so many midlife women face, muscle and joint soreness, disrupted sleep, slower recovery, and the frustration of needing more care than you used to.

[00:26:13] Emily Field: We also talked about the non-negotiables that matter most in these seasons. Adequate nourishment, enough protein strength training that protects rather than punishes, walking and recovery, stress management, and sleep. And we talked about how structure can actually reduce stress when hormones are in flux, and that’s where this all comes together.

[00:26:33] Emily Field: This episode isn’t really about pregnancy, and it isn’t really about menopause. It’s about womanhood. It’s about cycles, seasons, and transitions. It’s about learning to trust your body through the change instead of fighting it. This baby is one chapter of my story and not the whole story. And menopause is one chapter of yours, not a sentence, not an ending, not a failure.

[00:26:56] Emily Field: What works across all of these chapters is having a tool that adapts with you. That’s why a macros based approach can be so powerful in any season of life, not because it’s rigid or controlling, but because it offers clarity when things feel uncertain. Macros help you understand how much food your body needs.

[00:27:15] Emily Field: Supports muscle and energy and creates consistency without obsession. They give you a framework that flexes as your body hormones and priorities change. That’s exactly why I created macros may easy. It’s not a diet. It’s not something you follow perfectly forever. It’s a skill you learn, one that you can use in pregnancy and perimenopause.

[00:27:35] Emily Field: In menopause and beyond. Inside macros made easy. I teach you how to track macros in a stress-free way, a non obsessive way, how to build balanced meals without overthinking, and how to adjust your nutrition so it supports your life, not the other way around. So if you’ve been listening to this episode and thinking, I want less guesswork and more confidence, I want something that actually fits this season of my life, then macros made easy might be the next right step for you.

[00:28:02] Emily Field: You can learn more@emilyfieldrd.com slash macros made easy. As always, thank you for being here, for listening, and for trusting me with your time, wherever you are in your own season of change. I hope this episode helped you feel more grounded, more supported, and more confident that your body knows exactly what it’s doing.

[00:28:19] Emily Field: I’ll talk to you soon. Okay.