Reinventing Your Midlife Body: Staying Healthy, Inspired, and Empowered at Any Age

What if  you learned to love your midlife body, appreciate it and accept it instead of complaining about it?

Wouldn't you feel totally empowered?

In this episode, I share my journey of reclaiming my midlife body and how we can all stay healthy and inspired despite the challenges that come with aging.

I discuss my favorite podcasts that motivate me to work hard on my health and fitness, including Gruff Talk with Barbara Hannah Grufferman, GYSB Talks (Get Your Sexy Back) with Carla Palmer, and The Mel Robbins Podcast.

These podcasts offer powerful information, inspiration, and mindset shifts specifically for midlife women, helping us appreciate and love our bodies as they change.

Join me as I delve into these resources and encourage you to take actionable steps towards reinventing your midlife body, embracing a "do it scared" attitude, and shining your light in the world.

You are too amazing to let changes in midlife life hamper you from being your best self!

Don't miss this episode full of valuable insights and inspiration for living your best life at any age!

Mentioned in this episode:

• Reinvention (Again!) at 70: How Curiosity, Community, and a Sense of Play Keep Opening New Doors with Randye Kaye
• Running to Reinvent: Newbie Runner at 55, Global Marathoner at 71 with Mary Newell

Please Share What You Loved

Your feedback means everything to me! If you enjoyed this episode please rate and review on Apple Podcasts,  Podchaser, Castbox or leave a comment at reinventionrebels.com

Please spread the word! Let's encourage more women to unapologetically embrace their Inner Reinvention Rebel and boldly pursue their wildest dreams.

Midlife women ready to reinvent themselves start with being curious about what's possible. Download my free audio, 5 Questions to Spark Your Curiosity & Inspire Your Reinvention Rebel Journey to get started today. 

Transcript

0:00:01
Your midlife body can be as fierce and fabulous as you want it to be. Yes, you and me too. But like anything good, it comes with effort and intention. Plus, a whole lot of information and inspiration to get you going in the right direction. And dare I say, to help you appreciate and love your midlife body right where it is. Because I want to have a long healthy life that enables me to reinvent myself as many times as I like.

0:00:38
Today, on the reinvention rebels podcast,I'm sharing my three favorite podcasts that I listen to regularly that motivate me to work hard on improving my health and fitness so that I can be amazing at sixty seventy, eighty, and beyond. Lean in and listen to where I draw my inspiration to keep things healthy as I age. And I hope it inspires you to do the same. Welcome to reinvention rebels. Stories of brave and unapologetic women fifty to ninety years young who have boldly reimagined life on their own terms to find new purpose and possibilities. I'm your host, Windy Battles. Ready for a dose of inspiration, Let's get to it. 

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of The Reinvention Rebels Podcast. If you are a first time listener, welcome aboard. I am so glad you're here. This is the place to come for information and inspiration. About how we can reinvent ourselves no matter your age or stage. I focus on women between fifty and ninety and their amazing reinvention stories. But the truth of the matter is that this information is applicable to all of us no matter where you are in your life, no matter how old you are. We all have the ability to reinvent ourselves if we choose to do so. Reinvention Rebels is a top 2% globally rated podcast with amazing listeners like you who are serious about getting on to creating the most amazing life.

Like my guest last week, Randye Kaye, did you have a chance to listen to our episode together? Did you hear her inspiring story? Have you heard what she's doing at seventy? She is just getting started. If you heard the episode, you heard her say that I'm only seventy. Who knows what I could get up to in the next thirty years. And that is the essence and spirit of a reinvention rebel. They see possibility. They see opportunities. They're willing to be curious, try new things, see where it leads, and shift course if necessary. So this is all about how we can empower you to either get started or continue on your reinvention civil duty.

0:03:18
Today, we're talking about how we can reclaim our midlife bodies and feel inspired to be healthy in the midst of changes in our bodies and it is totally possible. Now, I get it. It's perimenopause or menopause hot flashes, night sweats, Mood changes, all those things. I have been there and sometimes I still am. And I have to tell you I've spent way too much time in my head, mourning how my body used to be. Remember when I was in my twenties and my thirties, yada yada yada yada, you get the idea. I've done all kinds of mental gymnastics about my changing body. Yet, this is the body that I have and this body is pretty amazing even though it's different.

0:04:04
And yes, there is this narrative about how our bodies are when we get to mid life and beyond. There's often a limiting narrative about that. But on the other side of the coin, there is also a narrative about how in midlife And as we're older, we can be strong and fit. We can feel really good in our bodies. We can even feel great in our bodies. And we can transform them in powerful ways if we are so inspired. Yes, it's true. We lose muscle mass as our hormone slowdown that begins in midlife, but it's also true that we can stay strong, that we can still build muscle, and we can help protect ourselves from many, many diseases. If we're willing to invest the time and energy to do that, and yes, it is work to not only be healthy but to be thriving in the best way possible. So impossible, not at all. Something that we can figure out absolutely I am so up for that journey and I hope you are too. And I thought it'd be fun for me to share a little bit about what in spires me in my mid life journey with my body. And in fact, there are three podcasts that I listen to regularly that truly motivate and inspire me to do a little more, to be proactive, to think about how certain things are affecting me when I do them. And I'm gonna talk about that today.

0:05:31
But I wanna begin by telling you a little bit about my journey with my body and fitness and weight. So growing up, I have to tell you I was like a clumsy kid. I was not athletically oriented. I have all kinds of stories about how I had to repeat beginners one dance because I wasn't good at it. I wanted so baffling to be on the dance team in high school and I didn't make that and I just don't come from an especially, well, at all, an athletically inclined family. So growing up, I never was that confident about playing sports or, you know, even being super fit. But in my twenties, I started exercising more. And in my thirties and forties, I really got into strength training, weight lift, getting into really good shape and in my fifties, I still exercise regularly, not to maybe the same extent. And of course, I can see the changes. I can see a little added weight around the middle. I can see the loss of muscle mass that happens as your hormone slow down. It's all natural. But the question is, what can I do to be in optimal shape given that midlife is here? And there are a whole bunch of things that we can do.

0:06:43
I take these three podcasts because I love them so much. I love them for different reasons, and it has to do with three key things. Powerful information that is informing my thinking. Number one, inspiration to keep me going in the direction I wanna go. And three, this idea of a mindset shift. We can shift our mindset to more positive optimal thinking that can help us as we navigate mid So my three podcasts that I love. And I'll mention, I mean, I listen to a lot of my guests, and there are so many others, of course, that I don't have time to mention today. Well, these are three that really stand out for me as especially helpful as I navigate midlife. Alright.

0:07:38
So let's start with number one, this idea of midlife information. We know how to be healthy when we're younger. We know should we should eat you know, a healthy diet. What's true?throat life. Right? We should eat a healthy diet. I often eat a diet that's very related to the Mediterranean diet. So more lean protein, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, etcetera. I've been a health coach. You know, most of us know what to do and what to eat. Doing it, of course, is another story, but we are smart people and we know what to do. But do you know I'm midlife that our nutritional needs change? What we're doing that's super healthy is we're younger, needs to be tweaked a bit, and that is why I love this podcast called the gruff Talk podcast.

0:08:20
With Barbara Hanna Grefferman. And the reason why I came across this podcast is because of my friend Mary Newell. Many of you heard her story. A couple of seasons go in season three. Mary started running. At fifty five after spending most of her life not being very athletic and overweight. She found a passion for running. She's now seventy two. And has run-in marathons all around the world and says she's in the best shape of her life at seventy two, which is the most amazing cool thing. She is so strong. She is so fierce in her body and so empowered. Anyway, after Mary ran the last New York marathon, she was on Barbara's podcast because they're both runners and they were talking about the experience of it. And that's how I first heard of Graft Talk and I started listening and got hooked. It is fantastic.

0:09:17
Barbara has written several different books she is an expert in health and nutrition. But what I really love about this podcast is that it's specifically targeted for midlife women. A lot of the focus is about health and nutrition for our midlife changing bodies and things that we need to do, things that we need to be eating. So for example, she's had all kinds of different experts that have talked about supplementation during midlife. What to eat at midlife? And really this idea that she talked about was several different guests about how in midlife because we are experiencing muscle loss and we want to maintain as much of our muscle mass as we can. That we need to eat protein. Well, we all know that. Right? We all know that protein is one of the key things to building our muscle, but one of the key things in midlife is eating protein, not just waiting until dinner and eating this really protein packed meal, but that we want to start getting protein in in the morning. So when we eat breakfast, which could be in many different ways. It could be in a vegetarian way. It could be with lean meat. I mean, there's so many different ways to do it. That's part of the puzzle for each of us to figure out. But just this notion that we should be eating more certain things, you know, in middle aged that there are certain supplements that are really important as we age. She had a great episode about knees and knee health because I've got some creaky arthritic knee sometimes and it was eye opening. So this is a fantastic podcast if you are interested in midlife issues and how we can really flourish and beat our best.

0:10:56
Again, it's called Groftop with Barbara Hanna. Gruffman. I highly recommend it. Plus, she's very she's really an engaging host. I really like it. She's got this warm personality. It's so easy to listen to her and she again has really great information and great guests that have I've I've learned so much that I'm already applying. That's that notion of in middle age we need information for our changing bodies that's going to be important. Alright. So That's that's podcast number one that I highly recommend.

0:11:28
The second podcast is about inspiration. We all need inspiration. And, you know, there are tons of inspiring podcasts that I listen to. There is none left out in Mission Mall today, but I'm talking about one specific a quick one today that I love. And again, it's interesting how we find people, I guess, at just the right time when we need them because My friend, Delia, who you'll meet in an upcoming episode.

0:11:52
Is this amazing reinvention rebel at fifty five? We recently interviewed her, and I can't wait to share her story and she ended up appearing on this podcast called GYSB, GYSB Talk, and it GYSB is get your sexy back. And who can't love that. Right? And the host is Carla Palmer who I have to tell you just feels like a girlfriend. It feels like I have I don't know, Carla. But it feels like I've known her for a long time.

0:12:20
I love her approach. I love her story. I love how she lost fifty five pounds really got onto this idea of changing her life through health and fitness and just Shares really interesting stories. She talks a lot about herself and her journey in midlife and what she's doing. But it's something that's so relatable to me. And I think that's one of the keys is I get inspired by people I can relate too, even if I don't know them. But listening to them and having this shared connection, feeling like if we've lived, if I lived in LA too, that we give you friends, that kind of thing. So she's got some really great episodes both about her own journey, so solo episodes, but also some really interesting guest episodes and different experts on there, including people just like you and me, like my friend, Delia, telling her story about her fitness journey. So that's one that falls into that inspiration category. We need midlife information, like Graft Talk. We need midlife inspiration. Like get your sexy back.

0:13:24
And then the third podcast that I'm a big fan of falls into the category of mindset shift. You know, midlife is a complicated time. It kinda seems like it shouldn't be as complicated, but if you've got kids, they grow up, they leave, they are out on their own, and perhaps you're doing more of what you wanna do because you're less busy with them. But the reality is it's a time when we often have many different demands. It could be still from our kids. It could be from our aging parents. It could be from work or relationships. You name it. It could be anything. Each of us has our own mid life story. But it ends up being a time that is much more complex than I expected. And that's okay. It's just trying to figure it out. And I'm the kind of person I can get all up in my head, worried about things, going over things, instead of just leaning in and trying to shift my mindset. So my favorite podcast, which is not about midlife per se, but I'm applying it in that way. So my favorite podcast.

0:14:27
About mindset shifts is the Mel Robbins podcast. Some of you, I'm sure, are already listening to Mel Robbins, and you know that she is an amazing human being. Some of you may never have heard of her before, but she's written all kinds of bestselling books. Recently started this podcast, and I love it. I love it. And the reason why I love it is again, mal is that friend in my head. She's fifty four, but she is so relatable. She lays it all out on the table. She talks about everything. She talks about her own fits and starts and stumbles along the way and her epiphanies and all the times that are really hard. She is Now your average, like, person that's really well known who just packages it all up nicely. This is getting into all the ins and outs of her life as well as hearing from all kinds of experts. So this great episode recently on health with Dr. Mark Hyman who I love who I remember from when I was in nutrition school. He's a specialist in functional health. So that was a great episode.

0:15:34
Again, really great information about how we can take care of our bodies as we age, but there's all kinds of episodes that in spire me. And honestly, they get me thinking they get me thinking about midlife and what I can do with intention. How I can shift my mindset? How can I get into a space of possibility? And I'm generally in there. Not always. It is so incredibly helpful. And what you says is that she wants people to apply all the information she shares to their own life. And that's what I love about it. It's information that you can boil down and figure out how can I use this information to help me grow? So if you have a growth mindset and you're open to these ideas, you will love this podcast. All about shifting our mind, opening our minds, seeing new possibilities.

0:16:24
The most recent episode I listened to was about how we can go about having difficult conversations with people in our lives. So easy for me to be like, maybe not today. Maybe tomorrow or next year. Next week or next year. Right? But what if we faced it? What if we had some tools to help us? What if we felt empowered? That's what this is about.

0:16:44
So information midlife information, I love niece, gruff talk, Barbara Hanna, gruffman, midlife, in separation with my sister friend, Carla Palmer, who is inspiring. There's the front in my head and just has this joyful spirit that I totally connect with plus my women of color podcasters, I always want to be talking about the women that do this that I love. She's one of them. And then mindset shift. That's Noah Robbins. That's her podcast. It is fabulous. Not necessarily focused on midlife, but it's information you can apply at any point in your life that is powerful and impactful. So those are my three go to podcasts that I listen to regularly. I know that mills comes out on Monday and Thursday. I know when farmers comes out, etcetera. So I just have them in my queue they come up in in the morning as of those days, I start listening.

0:17:43
So my question for you is, what is inspiring you? What information that you can go to in addition to these resources that can help you reinvent your midlife body in whatever that means for you. Right? It means something different for each of us. I would love you to try on this idea that we can reinvent our bodies and love our bodies. Yes, our bodies are changing. Yes, they're different than they were. But so what? They're still amazing and we can still lean into that. And even if they're not perfect because seriously who has a perfect body, even if they're not what we want them to be, we can move in that direction. And these are resources that can help you. I bet you've got some of your own too. I'd love for you to weigh in, shoot me a quick email, tell me what you think, but I wanna leave you with this idea. That anything is possible at any age.

0:18:35
If you've not listened to Mary's episode, I've linked to it in the show notes, Mary Newell, and her amazing fitness journey. Starting at fifty five, going strong at seventy two. It's a reminder that we can have any kind of body we want. If we're willing to put in the time and effort because we know it's not just gonna come naturally. Right? We gotta work at it. But in my mind, it is so worth it. So what will you do in the next week to think about your midlife body? What will you do to appreciate where you are. And what will you do to take a step in the direction that you want to go? I'm linking to all these fantastic podcasts in the show notes. For easy access. And I cannot wait to see you back here.

0:19:21
Next week for another episode of the read and mentionable's podcast I will mention that this idea of reinventing our midlife bodies is sometimes about doing it scared. It's scary to jump off and try something new and you're not sure how it's gonna work out. But when we're open and we're curious, anything is possible. So if you're thinking, I want to create that. Dude, scared. Dude anyway mindset, I have to tell you that I'm linking in the show notes, my juke scared cheat sheet that you can download and start asking yourself some questions. But how you can kinda get in that mode. So if you're thinking, I wanna reinvent my men life body too, this is a great point of departure to get you thinking about it. So you'll see all the details. In the show notes. Until next time. Keep shining your light. The world needs you. And, oh, that you have to offer.

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