What happens when the life you imagined isn’t quite the life you end up living?

In Episode 006, we’re talking about babies, no babies, motherhood, fertility, and all the different paths life can take—including the ones we chose, the ones circumstance chose for us, and the ones we learned to love along the way.

Mandi shares how she went from happily building a career and traveling to dating with intention, becoming a stepmom, and eventually—at 39—finding out she was unexpectedly pregnant. We talk about miscarriage, fertility struggles, pregnancy hormones, PMDD, anxiety, gestational diabetes, and the pregnancy experience she describes as far more traumatic than the birth itself.

Katie shares how her relationship with the idea of motherhood changed through her first marriage, divorce, grief, and eventually a very different kind of life than the one she once pictured. She also talks about the season she spent helping her sister care for foster babies, becoming Fun Aunt Katie™, and finding plenty of places for that nurturing part of herself to land.

And Jess gets into what it means to build a full, meaningful life when marriage and biological motherhood haven’t been the center of the story—at least not yet. We talk about partnership, timing, chosen family, nurturing the people (and dogs and bunnies and bees 🌸🐝) around us, and the difference between waiting for your life to begin and actually living the one you have.

Basically: three women, three different paths, zero belief that there’s only one right way to make a meaningful life. 💜

Content Note

This episode includes brief discussion of miscarriage, infertility, pregnancy-related anxiety and panic, mental health, and fears around childbirth.

Chapters

00:00 🌪️ Welcome to the Chaos
00:30 🌸 Cycle Season Check-In
04:11 👶 Babies, No Babies, & the Lives We Imagined
09:46 🛤️ Choice, Circumstance, & Changing Your Mind
11:59 🌱 Mandi: Dating, Stepmomhood, & Finding Bryan
17:46 🤰 Mandi’s Road to Biological Motherhood
24:44 💜 Katie: Grief, Letting Go, & a Different Path
28:57 🌊 Jess: Partnership, Timing, & Trusting Her Path
30:27 🫶 Motherhood Beyond Biology
40:53 ✨ Different Paths, Full Lives
43:39 👶 Mandi’s Birth Story
49:27 🤏 Teeny Gripe, Tiny Delight
53:33 💜 Stay Curious. Stay Compassionate. Stay Loca.

💜 Dear Loca

Questions? Episode ideas? Something helpful—or hard—from your own experience? We want to hear it.

💌 DearLoca@livinglutealloca.com

💜 Find Us

🌐 Website: livinglutealloca.com
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: pod.link/6797364789
📸 Instagram: @LivingLutealLoca
▶️ YouTube: Living Luteal Loca

A Quick Note From Us

We love you, but we’re not your doctors. In this episode, we’re sharing our own experiences, perspectives, and understanding of topics including fertility, pregnancy, mental health, medications, and supplements—not giving individualized medical advice.

Living Luteal Loca is for education and entertainment and isn’t a substitute for individualized medical or mental health care. Please work with your own healthcare team for advice specific to you. STANDARD-EPISODE-REQUIREMENTS

🎵 Music: “Posy” — licensed through Soundstripe via Riverside. STANDARD-EPISODE-REQUIREMENTS

Stay curious. Stay compassionate. Stay Loca. 💜

#LivingLutealLoca #Motherhood #Fertility #Pregnancy #Infertility #PMDD #WomensHealth

What actually changes when you start a GLP-1?

In Part 2 of our GLP-1 conversation, Jess shares her experience starting Zepbound (tirzepatide) after years of navigating PCOS, insulin resistance, prediabetes, and recurrent precancerous endometrial changes — and why deciding to try medication was a lot more complicated than simply wanting to lose weight.

We talk about the surprisingly complicated process of accessing GLP-1 medications, what Jess has noticed since starting Zepbound, and how things like food noise, hunger, fullness, alcohol, carbonation, and cravings can feel different.

Then we get into the messier, more nuanced stuff: inflammation, blood sugar, stress, sleep, diet culture, restriction, hunger cues, protein, fiber, muscle loss, hair loss, and learning to listen to your body when its signals may not feel the way they used to.

We also talk about the tension between intentional weight loss and trying not to fall back into restrictive or disordered patterns — because changing your body and taking care of your body aren't always as psychologically simple as they sound.

And, naturally, an intelligent conversation about fiber and constipation eventually turns into a detailed discussion of the Bristol Stool Chart. Because apparently this is who we are. 💩😂

CHAPTERS
00:00 🌪️ Welcome to the Chaos
00:47 💉 Jess’s GLP-1 Journey
05:49 🩺 Choosing a GLP-1 & Navigating Access
09:07 ✨ What Jess Has Noticed So Far
19:08 🔥 Inflammation, Sugar, & Food Choices
25:52 🧠 Hunger Cues, Restriction, & Finding Balance
31:57 🤔 Concerns: Muscle Loss, Hair Loss, & Side Effects
39:07 💩 Poop, Constipation, & the Bristol Stool Chart
45:51 🤏 Teeny Gripe, Tiny Delight
47:48 💜 Stay Curious. Stay Compassionate. Stay Loca.

⚠️ CONTENT NOTE: This episode includes discussion of weight, weight loss, body image, dieting and restriction, disordered eating patterns, medication side effects, and other health-related topics. Please take care of yourself while listening and skip anything that isn’t helpful for you.

🩺 DISCLAIMER: Living Luteal Loca is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We’re sharing our own experiences and perspectives, and GLP-1 medications are not right for everyone. Talk with a qualified healthcare professional about your individual health and treatment options.

🎵 Music: “Posy” — licensed through Soundstripe via Riverside

💜 Stay curious. Stay compassionate. Stay loca.

Is taking a GLP-1 the “easy way out”? And what actually changes when you start one?

In Part 1 of our GLP-1 conversation, Katie gets candid about what led her to try semaglutide after years of living in a bigger body, navigating insulin resistance, and wrestling with the idea that she should be able to do this without medication.

We talk about weight without pretending the scale tells the whole story, the surprisingly big shift in “food noise,” and what it’s like to relearn your body’s hunger cues when they suddenly don’t sound the way they used to.

Then we put on our science hats (briefly-ish 😅) to break down semaglutide vs. tirzepatide, Ozempic vs. Wegovy, Mounjaro vs. Zepbound, GLP-1 and GIP receptors, insulin and glucagon, and why these medications can affect far more than just how full your stomach feels.

We also get into the complicated stuff: dopamine, reward, mental health, body image, and the disordered eating thoughts that can show up even when you’re trying to approach weight and health from a compassionate place.

And this is only Part 1. In Part 2, Jess shares her own GLP-1 experience, and we get into side effects, food and alcohol changes, nutrition, GI adventures, and—because this is Living Luteal Loca—eventually, poop. 💩

⚠️ CONTENT NOTE: This episode includes conversations about weight, weight loss, body size, food noise, disordered eating thoughts, and mental health. Please take care of yourself however you need to while listening.

00:00 🌪️ Welcome to the Chaos
02:33 🌙 Cycle Season Check-In
06:06 🥂 What’s in Your Chalice?
10:39 💉 Let’s Talk About GLP-1s
11:23 🤔 Why Katie Started a GLP-1
17:03 ⚖️ Is This the “Easy Way Out”?
22:00 🔇 Food Noise & New Hunger Cues
23:28 🧬 Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, & How GLP-1s Work
29:18 🧠 GLP-1s, Dopamine, & Disordered Eating

We love you, but we’re not your doctors. We’re sharing our own experiences with GLP-1 medications and our understanding of the information available to us—not giving individualized medical advice.

Living Luteal Loca is for education and entertainment and isn’t a substitute for individualized medical or mental health care. Please work with your own healthcare team for advice specific to you.

🎵 Music: “Posy” — licensed through Soundstripe via Riverside