I’m someone who loves to give and especially if it’s for the right reasons. So here’s my gift to you: Every two weeks I’ll propose a winner 🏆 on who participated the most in the community. I’ll send a screen shot of the top winner and as the community grows there will be 2 -3 a d more able to win at the same time. My goal is to have everyone function as one , grow and learn together. Sometimes the best way to bring people together is by giving incentives haha. I’m open to gift ideas 💡, challenges and talks so feel free to be yourself and grow with the community ❤️

What did someone actually teach you about menopause before you started experiencing it? Not what TikTok taught you afterward. Not what you Googled once symptoms started. What were you actually taught beforehand? Hot flashes? Was that basically it? I want to know because the more I research menopause, the more I’m realizing how much of the conversation happens after women are already experiencing changes.

This week’s question is a good one because it connects directly to what we’re building with “What Is My Body Trying to Tell Me?” Question “Why am I starving before my period? Does my body actually need more food, or am I just craving things?” First: the science in plain English What: There is credible evidence that food intake can increase during the luteal phase—the portion of the cycle after ovulation and before the next period. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis in Nutrition Reviews analyzed 15 datasets involving 330 women. Average energy intake was about 168 calories/day higher during the luteal phase than the follicular phase. Why: Estrogen and progesterone fluctuate considerably across the cycle and may influence appetite, energy expenditure, food reward and other systems involved in energy balance. But the research does not support reducing this to something like “progesterone makes you hungry.” Think of appetite more like a mixing board than an on/off switch. Hormones are one slider. Sleep is another. Training is another. Stress, calorie restriction, food composition and individual biology are others. So what: If hunger consistently increases before a period, that experience may be physiologically meaningful rather than simply a failure of discipline. But—and this is important—the meta-analysis included a relatively small and narrow population: participants were 18–45, generally BMI 18.5–25, without disordered eating, and the researchers identified methodological inconsistencies between studies. So 168 calories isn’t a prescription. It is a group average. Your increase could be larger, smaller or nonexistent. What now: Instead of automatically fighting increased hunger, collect evidence. For 2–3 cycles, track: cycle timing + hunger + sleep + stress + training + symptoms Then ask: “Does my hunger actually rise repeatedly during the same part of my cycle—or does it track more closely with sleep, training or stress?” That’s much more useful than assuming every woman needs a predetermined “luteal-phase diet.”

If your cycle, sleep, mood, energy, hot flashes, brain fog, or other symptoms have started changing, this tracker is designed to help you spot patterns instead of relying on memory. This 30-day tracker is informed by Mayo Clinic guidance on what women may want to track during perimenopause and menopause, including: • Period and bleeding changes • Hot flashes + night sweats • Sleep disruption • Mood changes • Brain fog • Fatigue and energy • Vaginal + urinary symptoms • What makes symptoms better or worse • How symptoms are affecting everyday life It also includes a cycle history section, symptom dashboard, and an appointment-prep page so you can organize what you’ve noticed before talking with your healthcare provider. This is not a diagnostic tool. It’s a way to collect better evidence about your own body and make those healthcare conversations more useful. Download it below, save your own copy, and start tracking. 🖤

This week’s GOATGETheR lane: Perimenopause — before we even get to menopause After PCOS and endometriosis, I’d make this week about perimenopause specifically, rather than combining it with menopause immediately. There is enough here for its own week, and the strongest angle connects directly to what women are already telling us: “Something is happening to me, but I’m being told everything is normal.” Teach yourself first: What → Why → So What → What Now WHAT: Perimenopause is the transition leading up to menopause. Menopause itself is reached after 12 months without menstruation, assuming another cause isn’t responsible. During the transition, ovarian hormone production becomes increasingly variable rather than simply declining in a neat straight line. WHY: That variability helps explain why women can experience changing periods, hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, mood symptoms and other changes while a single hormone measurement may not neatly explain what they are experiencing. SO WHAT: A woman can make the mistake of thinking, “My bloodwork was normal, therefore this can’t be perimenopause.” That’s not how major clinical guidance approaches routine diagnosis. NICE guidance does not recommend routinely using biochemical/hormonal testing to identify perimenopause or menopause in otherwise healthy women aged 45+ when the clinical picture is clear. WHAT NOW: This is exactly where symptom and menstrual-pattern tracking becomes useful. Not because a tracker diagnoses anything, but because “I haven’t felt right lately” is much harder to investigate than “I’ve had 14 night-sweat episodes this month, my cycles changed from 28–30 days to 19–45 days, and I’m waking three nights per week.” That’s the education opportunity behind the tracker we just built. MONDAY— Research Monday The Perimenopause Myth: “My Hormones Were Normal, So It Can’t Be Perimenopause.” Here’s something I think more women should know: Perimenopause isn’t necessarily something you can capture with one hormone test.