More than a hot flash - Midlife unfiltered

About More than a hot flash - Midlife unfiltered

More Than a Hot Flash – Midlife Unfiltered Midlife isn’t the end—it’s the perfect time for your next glow-up. I’m Stephanie Thibodeau, a weight loss and confidence coach, published author, and speaker helping women over 40 lose weight without restrictive diets, build body confidence, and create a life they love. Each week, I pull back the curtain on the real conversations about midlife—because we are so much more than our hot flashes. We’ll talk about food freedom, ditching diet culture, finding energy again, aging with confidence, and living unapologetically. Expect a mix of practical strategies, mindset shifts, and unfiltered truths—plus a few laughs—so you can feel amazing in your body and your life, no matter your age. Whether you want to lose the weight for good, reclaim your sparkle, or simply feel like you again, this podcast is your permission slip to do midlife your way. Because your best years? They’re happening right now.

Publisher

Stephanie Thibodeau

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

12 Aug 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

61 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Your body is not the enemy

   Your body is not the enemy💕 What if you could want to change your body without hating the body you have right now? That’s what I’m talking about in this episode of More Than a Hot Flash – Midlife Unfiltered. For so many of us, our relationship with our bodies has been a constant battle. We criticize ourselves, compare ourselves, start another diet, promise ourselves we’ll “do better” on Monday, and convince ourselves that once our body changes, THEN we’ll feel confident, happy, sexy, or free. But what if we’ve had it backwards? I believe you can love and respect the body you have today and still want to make changes. You can want to lose weight, get stronger, have more energy, sleep better, or simply feel better in your body without making yourself the enemy. In this episode, I’m getting really honest about body image, midlife, self-criticism, and what it means to stop fighting yourself. I even share a recent experience from a photo shoot that reminded me just how differently we can see ourselves when we're looking through the lens of old beliefs and body criticism. We’re also talking about the connection between our bodies, our nervous systems, and the habits we've carried for years. Sometimes food, perfectionism, people-pleasing, staying busy, or trying to control everything aren't character flaws. They're coping strategies we've learned along the way. And instead of asking, “What is wrong with me?”, what if we started asking, “What is this habit doing for me?” That one question can change the entire conversation. In this episode, we talk about: Why your body is not the enemy—and why wanting change doesn't mean you hate yourself. Why you don't have to choose between body acceptance and wanting to feel different. How self-criticism and perfectionism can keep you stuck. Why your nervous system matters when you're trying to change old habits. Why you don't have to wait for a future body to start living your life. What body compassion actually looks like when you don't love everything about your body. Why progress is about so much more than the number on the scale. How midlife can change what matters to you—and make you less willing to put yourself last. Why sometimes the pants don't fit because the pants are the problem, not your body. What it means to stop abandoning yourself while you're working on becoming the woman you want to be. A few things I want you to think about after listening: Where are you waiting for a future version of your body before you give yourself permission to live? What would change if you replaced criticism with curiosity? What is one habit you've been judging yourself for that might actually be trying to meet a need? And what if, instead of waiting until Monday to “start over,” you simply made the next supportive choice? You don't have to hate yourself into health. You don't have to punish yourself into confidence. And you don't have to become a completely different woman to be worthy of loving the woman you are right now. You get to want more for yourself without believing you are not enough today. That's the real glow-up. It's not becoming someone else. It's learning how to stand beside yourself instead of constantly fighting against yourself. Give yourself Permission to THRIVE with my free Permission Slip (https://prodigious-originator-6062.kit.com/9f9835a3aa). You can start creating the life you love right now while you change the body you have💕

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The Woman Beneath the Expectations

   For most of our lives, there’s always somebody who needs something from us. Our kids. Our partners. Our parents. Our jobs. Our friends. Our clients. And somewhere along the way, we can become really good at knowing who everyone else needs us to be… while losing touch with who we actually are. Because maybe one of the biggest parts of midlife isn’t just realizing that you’re changing. Maybe it’s realizing that you don’t want to keep being everything to everyone anymore. If you listened to my episode, The Midlife Identity Shift No One Warned You About, this conversation takes that idea one step further. What happens when you start asking: Who am I when nobody needs anything from me? For years, I was the person who said yes. And looking back, I can see that I wasn't just doing too much. I had become someone who believed being useful was part of being valuable. That realization has changed the way I look at my time, my boundaries, and my identity. Because sometimes we're not actually afraid to say no. We're afraid of what someone might think about us when we do. What if they think I'm selfish? What if they're disappointed? What if they don't understand? What if they say, “You've changed”? Here's the thing: Maybe I have changed. And maybe that's not a bad thing. Midlife has given me a much clearer understanding of what I want my life to feel like. I don't want to fill every minute just because I can. I don't want to explain every decision. I don't want to automatically say yes because I feel obligated. I want to ask myself what matters to me now. What do I want more of? What do I want less of? What am I curious about? What have I been putting off because someone else might not understand? And perhaps most importantly: What would I choose if I wasn't making the decision based on who everyone else needed me to be? This doesn't mean abandoning the people you love. It doesn't mean becoming selfish or stopping caring about other people's feelings. It means learning that you can care about someone else's feelings without making their feelings responsible for your decisions. You can love people and still have boundaries. You can show up for others and still show up for yourself. You can be generous without constantly overextending yourself. And you can become a different version of yourself without apologizing for it. In this episode, we're talking about: The roles we collect throughout our lives and what happens when those roles change How being needed can become part of our identity Why saying no can feel like we're disappointing people The fear of being seen as selfish when we start prioritizing ourselves Why you don't have to explain every decision you make What it means to be the keeper of your own peace How to start figuring out what YOU actually want Why becoming yourself doesn't mean abandoning everyone else How one small choice can begin rebuilding self-trust. Click here to get ➡️ Your Permission Slip (https://prodigious-originator-6062.kit.com/9f9835a3aa) I give myself permission to be a woman who is more than what she does for everyone else. ✨Try something new. ✨Choose yourself in one small way. Because every time you make a choice that honors who you are now, you're collecting evidence that you can trust yourself. Who would I be—and what would I choose—if I stopped making decisions based on who everyone else needs me to be?💕

3. 

   6 Oct 2026

   When life gets hard, old patterns get LOUD

   Stress, Boundaries & the Midlife Pattern of “I’ve Got This” Have you ever had one of those seasons where everything feels like A LOT? Your to-do list is a mile long. Your brain is running 47 tabs at once. Somebody needs something from you, something breaks, plans change—and suddenly even the little things feel like emergencies. And your immediate response is: “I’ve got this.” Except…do you? In this episode of More Than a Hot Flash – Midlife Unfiltered, I’m talking about what happens when stress brings our old patterns right back to the surface. Because here’s the thing I’ve been learning: personal growth doesn’t mean you never get overwhelmed again. It doesn’t mean you never get triggered, never lose your patience, or suddenly become the woman who has everything figured out. Sometimes growth simply means you recognize the pattern sooner. You pause. You get curious. And instead of automatically doing what you’ve always done, you choose a different response. I share some of my own experience with grief, overwhelm, family responsibilities, work, and that deeply ingrained habit of thinking, “I should be able to handle this myself.” We’re also talking about why asking for help can be so uncomfortable for women who have spent years being the capable one—and why sometimes asking for help is actually the growth moment. I’ll share a few simple things that have helped me when my brain is overloaded, including getting everything OUT of my head and onto paper, separating what is truly urgent from what just feels urgent, and breaking big, chaotic situations into smaller, manageable steps. And, of course, we’re bringing it back to my A.I.M. Method: Alignment: What does the woman I’m becoming need from me right now? Intention: What is the next right step? Momentum: Did that step actually help? If not, what can I adjust? Because sometimes the answer isn't to push harder. Sometimes the answer is to slow down, ask for help, change the plan, or admit that you don't have to carry everything by yourself. In This Episode, We Talk About: Why stress can bring old beliefs, wounds, and patterns back to the surface—even when you've done a LOT of personal growth. Why midlife women can get stuck in the “I’ve got this” pattern. How grief and loss can make overwhelm and asking for help even harder. Why a long to-do list can sometimes calm your brain instead of making things worse. How to separate what is actually urgent from what simply feels urgent. Why an overwhelmed brain isn't always the best place to make big decisions. The difference between being capable and believing you have to do everything yourself. Why asking for help isn't weakness—and why one person saying “no” doesn't mean you don't deserve support. How breaking big problems into smaller steps can help you create capacity. Why personal growth isn't about having fewer problems; it's about responding to them differently. How the A.I.M. Method can help you make clearer decisions when life feels chaotic. Why your next level may require a new relationship with yourself—not a harder push to do more. I would love to hear from you! Send me an email Stephanie@essentialsoulcoaching.com (mailto:Stephanie@essentialsoulcoaching.com) or find me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/essential_soul_coach/) and tell me what you have noticed. I would love to support you and cheer you on ✨💕

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Contact More than a hot flash - Midlife unfiltered

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.