When I was first contacted by Kris Smith aka Mr. Menopause, I have to admit I was intrigued. He posed a question: how did a 35 year old male fitness trainer become focused on healthy menopause? I couldn’t wait to talk to him. I loved his story and what he is doing for Menopause Goddesses everywhere so I asked him to tell you his story in his own words. Here it is: enjoy!
Becoming Mr. Menopause
Hi I’m Kris Smith here, Personal Trainer, Bodybuilder, and Now… Mr. Menopause Here’s my story.
Why did I become a personal trainer?
Someone once told me I didn’t look like one! I wasn’t your typical Adonis with blond hair, blue eyes and washboard abs for the women to ooh and aah over. But, I didn’t let this keep me from going for what I believed was the career for me. No one was going to tell me what I could or couldn’t do. Within 90 days of being told I would never make it as a trainer, I got my certification from the International Sports Science Association. Attaining my first certification gave me the confidence I needed to jump head first into my new career and never look back.
I first became interested in exercise and nutrition when I was a child. I was born with a leg disability and it helped build my confidence, despite the negative news the doctors gave my mother and I about my condition. They believed that by the time I was 18 I would be in a wheelchair. Of course being in a wheel chair would have kept me from participating in any sports or physical activity that didn’t involve sitting in the chair. That was the first time I refused to listen to someone tell me I couldn’t do something and set out to prove them wrong. I started training my body way before I ever thought I would fall in love with helping other people change their body through health and fitness.
Once I was certified as a personal trainer, I discovered that I really enjoyed helping people learn about how they could change their body for the better just by exercising and changing their diets. After just over eleven years of helping men and women all over the world in countries like Ireland, London, Australia, and the U.S. lose weight, get motivated and inspired to reclaim their lives through living a healthier lifestyle.
On September 23rd of 2011, I came up with the idea of My Menopause Fix. The idea actually woke me up out of a dead sleep. So I wrote it down and dozed off again, thinking I’d look at it again in the morning. My subconscious must have been working overtime, because by the time I woke up, I had created and planned out a complete new business opportunity. I took that plan and decided that I would set up a special community where women going through menopause could come and get answers for all their questions surrounding this change. This new community would revolve around three areas of expertise exercise, nutrition, and stress reduction methods which I had invest thousands of hours researching and mastering in my private personal training and coaching practice.
Initially, I was only going to launch My Menopause Fix as an offline community for my existing clients, but decided to start the My Menopause Fix Blog in February 2012. The blog is primarily focused on the topics like menopause and weight gain, proper diet for relieving menopause symptoms, and how to reduce stress to control menopausal hormone changes. I wouldn’t consider myself a great writer, but I had a vision, and mission, and passion for helping women overtime a challenging time with peri-menopause and post menopause symptoms.
I interviewed and surveyed my existing coaching clients to get their take on my new blog and community. They told me all the challenges they faced as they were going through peri-menopause as it pertained to lifestyle, diet, exercise, and stress. After taking in the data I found out that 90% of my clients were women over 43 years old, having some type of peri-menopausal symptoms. They claimed my system was the reason they felt great and their symptoms had lessened or completely vanished. They also told me that they stayed with me because I listened to what they had to say, unlike some trainers, and didn’t try to fit them into a one-size-fits-all weight loss program.
This got me really excited and I thought that if this was working so well offline, maybe I could take it online to reach more women who might be experiencing the same problems. That’s when I decided to set up the My Menopause Fix blog. From there, I started the My Menopause Fix coaching program, which reached women all around the world. I was able to keep in contact with them by phone, Skype, and other forms of technology so that I could provide the support they needed.
Then I had an AHA moment!
I decided to create and host a summit called World Menopause Day Health and Wellness Summit on October 18, 2012. I interviewed six other health experts about menopause nutrition, exercise, and hormone balancing through lifestyle modifications. The summit was a success, we had over 160 people listen live and thousands have downloaded the audios over the past eight months. With the momentum of the summit I decided that I wanted to set a goal for myself. This goal was to assist 1 million women coast through the menopausal process using my tools, tips, and services via my blog and podcast.
I wanted to teach them how to accept how beautiful they are, to get more active daily, and to learn how to use their positive mental mindset to overcome any menopausal challenge that they might encounter. After coaching more than 17,000 hours of one-on-one in the trenches, hands on training, I’ve been able to study the trends and create a coaching system that I know can assist any woman who is willing to follow and trust the program.
Here is the first paradigm shift I ask new visitors to my blog, and listeners of my podcast. Borrow a little of my faith so that I can help them reset their body hormonally through proper exercise, nutrition, and stress lowering methods until they developed their own faith in the process. Next they must be willing to take immediate action on their goals. Lastly they must be willing to focus on the present, forget the past, and embrace the future. This mindset allows them to truly become immersed in the process of creating dynamic life changing results.
With the success of the blog I launched the My Menopause Fix Podcast early this year. I’ve also written an eBook, and I’m working on a physical book, called “Menopause Success Triangle: How to Live a Happy, Healthy Menopausal Life.” I believe that my system works because everyone has the capability and desire to change their body and transform their lives.
I BELIEVE in You!
Free 7 Day Menopause Diet Guide ebook for Menopause Goddess Readers ==> Instant Download
Stay Active, Stay Positive, and Embrace Your Beauty
Kris T. Smith, MPT, CNC
Author-The Menopause Success Triangle – A practical guide to living a healthy, happy menopause life.
Visit Kris at his site: My Menopause Fix.
