Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Ruby Williams, Senior Certified TNM Coach, shares her story of growing up in Sonoma, California in a family of winemakers, followed by her 19-year career in the wine industry, where her food addiction grew and her drinking progressed, eventually leading to alcohol abuse after bariatric surgery. Ruby and I explore her path to eventual freedom from both alcohol and food and discuss the role of mindset work, meditation, and gratitude in her recovery.

Ruby now works with women who began to abuse alcohol after bariatric surgery and struggle with alcohol-related weight gain. She is a single mother of an adult son and lives an hour north of San Francisco with her dog and chickens, where she practices meditation and yoga. 

More about Ruby: https://www.freedomrenegadecoaching.com/
Ruby’s free Superpower Guide: https://www.freedomrenegadecoaching.com/the-superpowerguide-pipeline

Questioning your drinking? Start here...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In the Season 2 closer, Sarah and I revisit our favourite guests and episodes from the last year, and what we’ve learned from hosting Bite-Sized Balance and from each other. I provide my favourite definition of the “meaning of life”, and we consider how it jives with our own approach to midlife. Sarah shares two recent moments of self-discovery and her decision to explore coach training, and I provide an update on my impending empty nest situation. We consider the patriarchal social norms around self-care for women and how those aren’t serving us, along with the problem with women’s overuse of the words “I’m fine" (us included.)

Join Sarah and me for a spirited, fun conversation with an important undercurrent: it’s totally OK to start focussing on you again as you move into your midlife.

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In this short podcast episode, I provide listeners with an update on my commitment to “creating a life I don’t feel the need to escape from” before my transition to empty nester this fall, including my re-discovery of my love of writing. I share a piece called “Taking Care of Me” that will resonate with busy, worn-out women everywhere, where I explore what it really means to take care of yourself and the magic that’s available to you when you finally accept that you’re in the driver’s seat of your own life.

Don’t skip this one – it’s short and sweet but it also might be just thing you need to hear to take back some control over your one wild and precious life!

Does your life look great on paper, but it still feels like something’s missing? Grab your free Blueprint for Change Workbook here: www.wendymccallum.com/blueprint

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Sarah shares the story of a friend’s recent frustrating experience with her care provider when she asked for support with her post-pandemic exhaustion.

Sarah and I discuss what was so disappointing about her friend's doctor’s response, and what women really need right now, as we emerge from a period of intense stress and caregiving, more burnt out and exhausted than ever.

We need a safe place to land, a chance to rest and connect in a meaningful way after years of distancing and self-isolation.

As always, this is a fun and relaxed conversation between two friends sure to confirm that you’re not alone in it all and get you thinking. Join us!

FREE 5-Day Rewind Alcohol Challenge: www.wendymccallum.com/challenge

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

 Sarah and I provide an update as to what’s changed for us in the last six months or so in our transition post-menopause. The discussion includes how the hormonal and other treatments have worked out for us, how our menopausal symptoms have shifted and improved, and what we’ve learned about ourselves and what we need (and want!) more of as we begin the second half of our lives. As always, this is a candid, relaxed conversation between friends with a few belly laughs inserted for good measure.

Join us!

Grab our free perimenopause/menopause checklist, here: www.wendymccallum.com/perichecklist

FREE 5 Day Alcohol Challenge: www.wendymccallum.com/challenge

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Following up on Episode 49: “This Is 50”, I provide listeners with an update on my commitment to “trying all the things” and to “filling up my joy bucket” to help smooth the transition to empty nester that is coming soon. 

I share the story of how I re-discovered my love of writing (which I discussed in last week's podcast with author Ann Dowsett Johnston, who is also my writing coach), and I read a piece (*gulp, this was the scariest thing I've done in a while!) that I hope will resonate with many of the busy women who listen to this podcast, about what we miss out on when we rush through life with the goal of always achieving, and don’t slow down enough to get present for the ordinary, in-between days (where all the joy lives.)

Does your life look great on paper, but it still feels like something’s missing? Grab your free Blueprint for Change Workbook here: ...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Dr. Jenn Salib-Huber and I discuss why most January resolutions fail and how women can make change in a way that supports both their mental and physical health without starting another diet. 

We also discuss the destructive willpower-based diet cycle and how to get out of it for good. Dr. Jenn explains how we can empower ourselves when it comes to making lasting, resonant change around our relationship with food, including letting go of all or nothing thinking. I talk about my decision to ditch the scale four years ago and all the freedom that has come with that.

There is still time to join my free 5-Day Rewind Alcohol Challenge: www.wendymccallum.com/challenge (you'll get access to the replay's for any days you've missed by registering!)

More about Dr. Jenn Salib-Huber’s Challenge: www.intuitivenutrition.ca

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Sarah and I discuss the key things women need to know to advocate effectively for themselves and navigate our complex health care system in midlife, particularly with respect to their perimenopause and menopausal symptoms. Sarah explains why women often require a team of caregivers instead of one doctor, your rights as a patient, the difference between conventional pharmaceutical BHRT and compounded hormones, and what to do if you’re questioning the advice you’ve been given. I share my experience building my own team and navigating the health care system since dropping into full menopause very suddenly in 2020. There are so many great tips in this episode – don’t skip this one!

Grab Wendy and Sarah’s free peri/menopause checklist, here: www.wendymccallum.com/perichecklist

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Inspired by a song called “I’ve Got No More Fuc#$ to Give” that I stumbled across on YouTube,  Sarah and I share how our feeling of having “no more fuc#$ to give” has shown up in our personal and work lives, and how common a headspace this seems to be for all women in midlife.

We discuss why this is happening, from a social, emotional, and hormonal perspective, and what to do about it if you’re feeling guilty about caring less. We also consider whether this midlife phenomenon isn’t really more a “shifting of fuc#$” as opposed to “having less fuc#$”, and how that shifting might benefit you as well as the other people in your life, including your children. Are you the adult you want your kids to become?

Join Sarah and me for a spirited, fun conversation with an important undercurrent: it’s totally OK to start focussing on you again as you move into your...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below. 

On my 50^th birthday, I reflect on my life to date, my fears about hitting 50, and the surprising (and refreshing!) reality that came with the actual day. I share my goals for this decade including my commitment to having “fun for fun’s sake” and “filling up my joy bucket” to help me in the transition to empty nester that is coming soon.

“This is 50” will be a regular installment of the podcast going forward – sometimes featuring a 50-something guest with a story to share around her 50s to date, sometimes an update on my 50^th year, and sometimes a conversation with the always-popular Bite-Sized Balance co-host, Dr. Sarah Baillie.

Free resources here: www.wendymccallum.com/learnwithwendy