Welcome to Episode 75!

In epsiode 75, I interview fertility health coach, Samantha Kellgren, about exercise for fertility and the importance of eating enough and maintaining adequate body fat to balance your cycle, maintain healthy hormones, and support a pregnancy. We also talk a lot about Samantha’s personal experience with hypothalamic amenorrhea and her journey of recovery that involved significant changes to her exercise and nutrition routines. In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why overdoing it on exercise and keeping body fat too low is so detrimental to fertility

• Some of the red flags that might indicate a problem with your food or fitness habits

• How you can find support to make changes in these areas to support your fertility

• What type and amount of exercise is actually recommended for optimal fertility

• What it was like for Samantha to make these changes and successfully overcome HA and have a beautiful healthy baby

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Links to Samantha’s Work

Website: https://simplywellcoaching.com/

Social Media: Instagram

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Show Notes:

3:20        Samantha’s background and how she got started in health coaching with a fertility focus

5:25        Her personal fertility journey and struggle with hypothalamic amenorrhea

11:05     Some of the changes she had to make to get her fertility back on track

17:55     The impact of low body weight/fat, undereating, and over-exercising on hormones and fertility

25:30     How the achievement aspect of exercise can keep us from listening to our bodies in key ways

27:15     The importance of mind-body healing when it comes to undereating or pushing too hard with fitness

30:05     Red flags that your food and fitness habits may be hurting your chances of getting pregnant

36:35     How and where you can get support if you need to make changes in these areas

41:55     What it was like for Samantha to shift her fitness routines and how she came to terms with it

45:45     What types of exercise are best for fertility and how much is OK

49:40     Tips for changing goals and mindset around exercise

54:50     Why culturally ingrained beliefs about exercise can be so damaging and put us on the wrong path

56:45     What it was like for Samantha to intentionally gain weight to support fertility

60:30     How fertility was the catalyst for changes that were ultimately needed to just be healthy overall

62:45     Trying to focus on nutrient-density alongside weight gain, especially when fertility is the goal

65:10     More about Samantha’s practice and social media

67:05     Samantha’s top piece of advice for women struggling with their fertility