The Mom Flow with Erin Sousa

When did we get so friggin’ serious?

This week, I’m sharing four things I’m working on: consistency with my health, less phone time, betting on myself, and making room for actual fun. Plus, your first listener voicemails about motherhood and raising kids with a healthy perspective on money, the hair treatment I’m obsessed with, and why I almost talked myself out of a much-needed night out with Roberto. Consider this your reminder to get out of your own way and enjoy your life.

Leave me a voicemail with your question or general comments and YOU could be on The Mom Flow! https://rss.com/podcasts/the-mom-flow-with-erin-sousa/voicemail/

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

After seeing a TikTok about the guilt of having only one child, I knew I had thoughts. A LOT of thoughts.

I'm opening up about our journey to becoming parents, including years of infertility, IVF, multiple miscarriages, and the emotional roller coaster that eventually brought us Lola.

But I'm also sharing something I don't think we talk about enough: what happens when you love being a mom, love your life with one child, and STILL wonder whether you were meant to have another?I'm also opening up about our remaining frozen embryos, a dream that stirred up some unexpected feelings, and why sometimes the right decision can still come with a little grief.

It's a vulnerable one, and I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. 💗

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

The Sister Hotline is OPEN! ☎️🍷 My sister Karly joins me for a late-night recording from my car, and we're getting into our VERY different parenting styles. From screen time and sugar to consent, video games and childhood memories, nothing is off-limits. Then we're answering your listener dilemmas about family drama, adult friendships, finding purpose and complicated sibling relationships. Two sisters, lots of opinions, and zero edits!

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

Follow Karly on Instagram @influencemediaco.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

This week is a good old-fashioned catch-up episode. I’m sharing an update on my health journey - HRT, GLP-1s, supplements and what’s actually starting to feel different - plus a very real conversation about grief, eight months after losing my mom, and why taking care of myself has become one of the ways I honour her.

We also lighten things up with Thanksgiving hosting, why I refuse to make the turkey 😂 and, of course, this week’s recommendations.

RECOMMENDATIONS ✨

👚 The grown-up “going out top” - cashmere, under $60 and SO good.

🧪 KidzLabs science kits - a major win if your kid loves building, experimenting and figuring out how things work.

Grab a coffee, pour a glass of wine or throw me on in the car - this one feels like catching up with a friend.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

This week’s recommendations:

✨ Audit your internet, cable, phone + streaming bills - those sneaky increases add up!

🤎 My Steve Madden brown suede clogs - the perfect comfy-chic fall slip-on.

This week, I’m looking back at who I was at 35 versus who I am at 45 - and wow, a LOT can happen in a decade.

I’m talking about losing the need to be invited to everything, being more intentional about friendships, caring less about external validation, trusting that things will work out, and realizing that confidence doesn’t mean loving everything about yourself all the time.

Plus, the biggest lesson I’ve learned: life is happening right now - not after the next goal, milestone or season.

And to finish, I’m sharing the little luxuries that make a BIG difference in my everyday life - from great coffee and bougie candles to good salt, pillows and the perfect couch. 🤍

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Are we actually improving our lives… or have we just been convinced that nothing we’re doing is ever quite good enough?

This week, I’m getting into optimization culture and why I’m officially questioning our obsession with constantly becoming a “better” version of ourselves. The perfect morning routine, better body, better skin, better parenting, more money, more productivity, more stuff - there’s always something else being sold to us as the missing piece between who we are and who we should be. And I’m tired. 😂

I’m also talking about a tough week of disappointment, what I’ve learned about believing people’s actions over their intentions, keeping my circle small without letting bad experiences harden me, and why I’m trying to get better at letting people show me who they are and moving accordingly.

Plus, we’re talking about the tiny moments of actual rest I apparently have NONE of 😅, what European culture gets right about slowing down, my issue with the fall-decor-overconsumption industrial complex, why we need more IRL time with our girlfriends, and of course, what I’m watching right now.

And before all of that: a couple of current recommendations:

Aerie shirt I just purchased

The audiobook I've been obsessed with

This one is a proper bestie catch-up. Let’s get into it.

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

This week, we’re going ALL the way into the GLP-1 conversation.

Part one: Dr. Allana Polo on HRT, Hormones & Why “Normal” Labs Aren’t the Whole Story

Dr. Allana Polo is back for Part Two, and we’re talking Mounjaro, Ozempic, weight loss, food noise, insulin resistance, side effects, long-term use - and the shame and stigma that still surrounds these medications.

I’m also getting personal about my own decision to start Mounjaro, why I chose to talk about it publicly, and the flood of messages I received from women who are taking GLP-1s in secret because they’re embarrassed or afraid of being judged.

Dr. Polo helps us separate some of the facts from the noise, while we get into the much bigger conversation around weight, willpower, women’s bodies and why using medication as part of your health plan shouldn’t be treated like taking the “easy way out.”

If you have questions about GLP-1s - or opinions about the people taking them - this is one you’ll want to hear.

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

Follow Dr. Polo on Instagram @dr.allanapolo.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Resources mentioned:

The Hunger Code by Dr. Allana Polo (an amazing resource to get started with because arming yourself with the right information in this process is invaluable)

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

If you’ve ever gone to the doctor knowing something feels OFF, only to be told your labs are “normal”… this episode is for you.

This week I’m joined by my own Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Allana Polo, and when I tell you I have been WAITING to have this conversation - we get into so much of what women in their 40s are currently trying to figure out about their bodies.

We’re talking perimenopause, HRT, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, thyroid, iron, B12, vitamin D, gut health and why symptoms like exhaustion, brain fog, rage, poor sleep, hair loss and generally feeling like garbage don’t necessarily have one obvious cause.

And we use ME as a bit of a case study.

I went into this process convinced I knew what was happening with my hormones (thank you, internet 😅), only to discover that the bigger picture was much more complicated. Dr. Polo walks through what we found in my testing, what we’re working on now and why treating the person - not simply chasing a lab number or assuming every symptom is perimenopause - matters. I hope this helps you see yourself in what I'm dealing with.

We also get into what a naturopathic doctor actually does, why your doctor may not be able to order every test you ask for, whether hormone testing in perimenopause is actually useful, when HRT makes sense, and how to advocate for yourself when you KNOW you don’t feel like yourself.

My biggest takeaway from this conversation? Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, foggy or just generally unwell does not automatically have to become your new normal as you get older. And you also don’t need to overhaul your entire life tomorrow.

Start asking questions, get curious about what’s happening in your body and take it one step at a time.

This is Part One of my conversation with Dr. Polo - and Part Two is an entire deep dive into GLP-1s, Mounjaro, weight, stigma and the MASSIVE amount of misinformation surrounding them.

Trust me, you’re going to want both.

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

Follow Dr. Polo on Instagram @dr.allanapolo.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Resources mentioned:

The Hunger Code by Dr. Allana Polo (an amazing resource to get started with because arming yourself with the right information in this process is invaluable)

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

I almost took a couple weeks off from the podcast to finish off the summer… and then I realized I apparently can't quit you!

This week, I’m checking in as summer starts winding down - what actually made this season feel so good, why I’m weirdly not ready for it to end, the summer camp lineup, Lola heading into grade one (!!), and what we’re doing for one last hurrah before September hits.

Here is my current edit - all the things I'm loving right now!

Then we get into the opinions. I’m sharing why Emma Grede’s It Starts With Yourself is hitting SO hard for me right now - from the way women soften their language and undercut themselves, to money, negotiation, ambition, the “soft life,” and why I think we need to get much more comfortable talking about what we earn and asking for what we’re worth.

And finally… we need to discuss House of Stassi. As a longtime Stassi fan, I have THOUGHTS. We’re getting into the new show, breaking the fourth wall (yes, we get it, it's "unique"!), the difference between being unapologetic and being self-aware, what happens when everyone around you seems afraid to upset you, and whether seeing more of someone on reality TV can completely change how you perceive them.

Plus: the increasingly unhinged way people interact with creators and reality stars online, why everyone seems to think content needs to be personally tailored to their worldview, and where on earth basic internet decorum went.

Basically: summer feelings, women + ambition, money, internet culture and a Stassi Schroeder dissertation. Exactly where we needed to go this week.

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

For the past six months, I haven’t felt like myself. The exhaustion, brain fog, irritability, terrible sleep and feeling like my body was working against me finally pushed me to stop guessing and start looking for answers.

This week, I’m taking you inside my health deep dive: the testing I did, what it cost, what my results revealed (spoiler: woah), and what I’m doing next. We’re talking hormones, perimenopause, Hashimotos, insulin resistance, inflammation, HRT, supplements, and why I’m starting a GLP-1.

I also get into the stigma surrounding GLP-1s and why women still feel like they need to quietly confess they’re taking them. Why have we attached morality to how someone manages their health or weight? I have thoughts.

But this journey has also brought up something much deeper: losing my mom and realizing how profoundly that loss has changed the way I think about taking care of my own health.

This isn’t a perfect before-and-after story. I’m sharing it while I’m IN it, the answers, the overwhelm, the changes I’m making, and my hope that I can finally start feeling like myself again.

My Naturopathic Doctor: Dr. Allana Polo

Her book: The Hunger Code

As always, if this episode resonates with you, please share it with a friend who might need to hear it, leave a rating or review, or send me a DM with your thoughts.

Follow me on Instagram @erincsousa and subscribe to my Substack.

See you next week!

xx, Erin

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!