Kate Rowe-Ham on her journey to Own her Menopause and how you can too

Join me today as I chat to women’s health coach Kate Rowe-Ham about her journey to founding the Owning Your Menopause app.    Kate started out offering free workouts on Instagram to time-pressed parents after struggling to find the time to work out following the birth of her third child. The build up of (what she now knows were perimenopause) symptoms - serious joint pain, night sweats, panic attacks and palpitations - left her feeling desperate. Unable to get a clear diagnosis from her own GP, she was forced to seek private medical advice to get her perimenopause diagnosis and on to HRT.    This led her to pivot her business and to the development of the Owning Your Menopause app, which offers daily workouts, plus advice from experts in nutrition, sleep, breathwork, and access to specialist GP advice. We talk about how critical strength training is for this midlife transition (and beyond) for preventing osteoporosis, improving cardiovascular health, strengthening our joints, and reversing the decline in muscle mass that begins after we turn 30 (increasing muscle mass in turn elevates our resting metabolic rate). We also discuss the importance of rest, and adopting a sustainable approach to exercise - plus how to start when you really don’t feel like you can do anything at all, if symptoms are all-consuming. As busy parents we both know how challenging it can be to fit in a daily workout - the Owning Your Menopause app helps make that less of a chore with encouragement from like-minded members who are all there cheering one another on - and offering empathy on bad days…   You can find Kate at https://www.instagram.com/katerh_fitness and Owning Your Menopause at https://owningyourmenopauseapp.com/gym/Owning-Your-Menopause/    Don't forget to follow us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ or find out more/listen to past episodes/subscribe to the newsletter at https://middlingalong.com   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts to share the love! You can also find me at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer coaching and workplace training.