Christine Hart Kress DNP, PLLC

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Christine Hart Kress DNP, PLLC

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01/08/2026

If midlife weight gain were just about “calories in, calories out” you’d already have it handled.
Weight gain in perimenopause and menopause is biology, not discipline. But thankfully, biology has solutions.

When someone tells you to “just eat less and move more”, what they’re revealing is a lack of understanding of midlife physiology. The math problem they were taught stops working when hormones change, and dieting harder often makes things worse!

Your weight gain isn’t due to laziness or willpower, your body is responding exactly how midlife biology tells it to. Falling estrogen leads to increased insulin resistance, poor sleep causing cortisol spikes, muscle loss slows metabolism, and thyroid conversion gets sluggish. These things need to be addressed before weight loss makes sense.

What helps is of course hormones as needed, but also prioritizing sleep, eating whole, balanced meals, strength training, assessing nutrients, and breaking the chronic restriction cycles. Real menopause care is about your whole being, not outdated, hard and fast rules.
What’s one piece of advice you tried that has changed your midlife experience for the better?

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth for Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

01/07/2026

If this were true, every single women with fully functioning ovaries would have vitamin deficiencies…

The claim that hormone therapy or MHT ‘depletes vitamins and minerals’ is flat out false - at least without a lot of missing context. Remember, healthcare is so nuanced, so claiming this as an absolute is so harmful! This video is simply misleading and causes further confusion around women’s health.

Low vitamin and mineral levels are incredibly common in midlife women, even before hormone therapy enters the picture. Many menopause symptoms are actually driven by nutrient deficiencies, but labs often aren’t checked prior to prescribing hormones, so the blame gets placed on the wrong things.

To explain the nuance - oral estrogen is processed through the liver (first-pass metabolism), which can slightly alter how certain nutrients are metabolized. That’s not depletion, it’s a change in metabolism. Transdermal estrogen (patches, gels, sprays) bypasses the liver entirely and has minimal impact on nutrient levels.
Menopause itself increases nutrient needs. Poor sleep, insulin resistance, inflammation, and stress drain nutrients far more aggressively than hormone therapy ever will. In fact, when hormones are optimized, many women see better sleep, improved magnesium status, steadier blood sugar, and stronger mineral retention.

Assess nutrients BEFORE blaming hormone therapy - we need context. And definitely don’t take supplements without doing lab work to figure out what you really need, or don’t.

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth for Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

01/03/2026

Estrogen is a non-negotiable for bone health in midlife. And if you’re still on compounded Bi-Est thinking your bones are protected, you are very mistaken.

Compounded hormone therapy like Bi-Est (80/20 and 50/50) became popular when access to menopause care was limited. That’s no longer the case. We now have FDA-approved estradiol, insurance coverage, and trained menopause specialists. So there’s no excuse to still be on Bi-Est.

Bi-Est kind of sucks. Here’s the issue: Bi-Est may help hot flashes, but bones don’t care about symptom relief… they care about estradiol. Osteoporosis risk rises in midlife because estradiol declines, and Bi-Est doesn’t deliver enough estradiol to slow bone loss. Estriol helps v-lvar tissues. It does nothing for your bones.

Your bones ONLY respond to estradiol levels that actually rise - so when the dose isn’t enough, your bones simply do not care and will continue to deteriorate. If bone protection matters to you (it should), this is your sign - use your insurance, get the estrogen.

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth for Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

12/31/2025

Have you ever heard that red wine is good for your hormones?
It’s a popular take, but it’s not quite correct - let me explain!

Based on studies and research, wine and beer have been linked to having different affects on menopause, its timing, and symptoms.

However, across multiple studies, higher alcohol consumption worsened menopause quality of life. Vasomotor, sleep, and mood - regardless of the alcohol type. It’s important to note that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant - slowing down brain function, which in turn, slows down every other bodily system. It’s very much (technically) a toxin and a poison.

Now, please know that by no means am I shaming. BUT - I do want to dispel the myth that alcohol helps with menopause and its symptoms. The ‘help’ you experience is very temporary, and the lasting affect can often make things worse. Most of us report absolutely trashed sleep after a glass of wine (your wearable with attest). Only hormones that your body can recognize (MHT) will bring true relief from the chaos that is menopause.

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth in Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

12/24/2025

This Christmas feels like a pause before new beginnings.

As the year comes to a close, I’m reflecting with deep gratitude, especially for the progress we’ve made in menopause care. This year brought meaningful wins, including FDA approval of Addyi for postmenopausal women and the removal of the Estrogen black box warning. Quiet milestones, but powerful ones. The kind that change conversations and lives!

We learned more this year. We trained more clinicians. We brought perimenopause and menopause out of the margins and into the light. Giving this season of life the center stage it deserves is long-game work, and work worth doing.

My hope this Christmas is that what we’re building now makes things easier for our children and grandchildren. That no one grows up not knowing what perimenopause is. That women are believed, supported, and cared for without having to fight so hard.

And for those of you carrying invisible wounds, or spending your Christmas without someone you love…I see you. You are not alone in this season. As you celebrate, I hope you slow down and soak in time with the people you love. Hold them close. Rest. Let yourself be present.

Thank you for being part of this community. You give me purpose, meaning, and a career I’ve learned to love all over again. Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with peace, health, and hope. 🤍🎄

✨Xo Christine
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth for Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

12/22/2025

If you’re on hormones but still wide awake at 2am cursing under your breath, I get it.

Midlife sleep can be tough, no reason for me to tell you about it, you know 😂 But when was the last time you checked in on your bedtime routine + sleep hygiene?? Progesterone is amazing for sleep, but so is melatonin - and without the right habits, your brain and melatonin don’t communicate.

Are you getting enough sunlight during the day to keep your circadian rhythm on track? Do the screens go away and lights dim when bedtime approaches? Are you sleeping in silence and darkness? And I’m not saying this is a cure-all for a tough time sleeping, menopause is chaos and your entire body feels it. But regardless, it’s not a bad idea to practice good sleep habits.

Do you have a favorite step in your bedtime routine?? I enjoy the brief silence in my house before I’m unconscious for the next 7-8 hours.

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner & Certified Menopause Practitioner
Telehealth for Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Florida

12/20/2025

I caved! How cute is this idea?! And I didn’t even have to leave my couch for a photoshoot 😂

Make sure you check out Heather’s post for the prompt to make your own version 🤍

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Centreville, VA
20120-20122

Website

http://www.chartkressdnp.com/

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