Menopause Movement Myths and What Actually Helps with Dr. Maria Luque

If you're feeling confused by all the menopause fitness advice, this episode will clear that up for you!

I am so glad to welcome Dr. Maria Luque back to The Midlife Feast. Maria is a menopause fitness expert with a literal PhD in this space, and she is one of the very few people I trust to cut through the noise in the increasingly crowded menopause fitness world. And there is a lot of noise. Self-proclaimed experts, clickbait advice, "you must lift heavy four times a week or your bones will crumble" fear-mongering. No wonder so many of the women I work with feel paralyzed before they even start.

In this conversation, we get into:

• Why the fitness space has become a swamp of misinformation, and how to spot it
• The Sally story (a composite of so many women I talk to) and why feeling behind is keeping you stuck
• Why capacity, not willpower, is the real conversation, and why "we all have the same 24 hours" makes both of us want to punch a wall
• Movement snacks, lowering the bar, and Maria's even better idea of throwing the bar away
• Why functional goals (lifting your dog, getting up off the toilet at 80, playing with grandkids) are far more sustainable than weight-loss goals
• How to celebrate the small wins so you actually want to keep going
• The missing ingredient in midlife, and it might not be what you think

This is the conversation I wish every woman in perimenopause and menopause could hear before another fitness influencer convinces her she is failing at something that was never designed for her in the first place.

If clients come to me because they are out of capacity, not out of knowledge, this episode is the same conversation in fitness form. You already know enough. You just need permission to trust yourself.

About Dr. Maria Luque: Dr. Maria Luque is a menopause fitness expert, health science professor, US Air Force veteran, and mother. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences focused on quality of life in menopause, and her work brings a weight-neutral, evidence-based perspective to the often confusing world of fitness in midlife. Her new book, New Moves inMenopause  is out now - https://newmovesinmenopause.com

You can also find her on Instagram @drmarialuque.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Feaster Community (where our Joyful Movement Coordinator Christine Chessman shares no-pressure movement support): www..menopausenutritionist.ca/themidlifefeastcommunity

Related Episodes You'll Love:

• #25: Redefining Strength with Dr Maria Luque
• #59: Menopause, Movement and Body Image with Dr Maria Luque
• #69 How to Un-Diet Your Relationship with Movement in Midlife with Christine Chessman

Order Maria's book here: 

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now!  Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Looking for more about midlife,  menopause nutrition, and intuitive eating? Click here to grab one of my free guides and learn what I've got "on the menu" including my 1:1 and group programs. https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/links

Transcript

Welcome And The Fitness Noise

Dr Maria Luque 0:00

We don't need to lift heavy. We don't need to have a certain prescription. We just need to do some sort of resistance training. Bands count, body weights count. You want to do dumbbells, barbells, all of this counts.

Jenn Salib Huber 0:12

Welcome to the Midlife Feast, the podcast that helps you make sense of your body, your health, and menopause in the messy middle of midlife. I'm Dr. Jen Salib Huber, intuitive eating dietitian, a naturopathic doctor, and author of Eat to Thrive During Menopause. Around here, we don't see midlife and menopause as problems to solve, but as invitations to live with more freedom, trust, and joy. Each week you'll hear real conversations and practical strategies to help you feel like yourself again. Eat without guilt, and turn midlife from a season of survival into a season of thriving. I'm so glad you're here. Let's dig in. Misinformation about menopause is one thing. But when it gets mixed in with misinformation about fitness and nutrition and how we should move and what is best, it just gets really messier than maybe it already is. And I hear a lot from women who are trying to find a way to enjoy movement, maybe for the first time, or maybe to enjoy it again after a period of being away. And then they start searching and they get so confused because there are experts everywhere telling them what's best, what they have to do, what doesn't count, and what they shouldn't do. And so they end up just kind of feeling paralyzed. My guest today is Dr. Maria Luque. You may recognize her because she's been on the podcast two other times, and I'll link those conversations in the show notes. But she's one of those lovely people in the menopause fitness world who is fighting the good fight. And she wants everyone to feel empowered, to be able to filter through all of the noise that's out there and at the end of the day, reap the benefits of movement. And we're not just talking about your clothing size. So if you've been confused about what you should and shouldn't do, and maybe have thrown in the towel more than once, you will definitely love this conversation. Hello and welcome back to the podcast for a third time, which I think there might be only one or two other people who uh who hold that status.

Dr Maria Luque 2:26

Yay! It's all I've ever wanted in my life. I'm so excited and honored that you would want me back uh three times. So I'm just excited.

Jenn Salib Huber 2:36

Oh, thank you. Well, you know, in this midlife menopause fitness space, you know, well, in the nutrition space, the kitchen has been getting very full over the last few years. There's many, many cooks and sous chefs and prep cooks, and everybody wants a piece of that pie, I guess, just to extend the analogy as far as I possibly can. Um, but you know, in the fitness space, it felt like it had a slower kind of ramp up, but now it really feels like the fitness space is as saturated and not necessarily in a good way as the nutrition space, with so many people giving advice, calling themselves experts. And that leads to one of the big problems, I think, anyway, is that it creates so much confusion. And so I'm hearing from women all the time, what should I be doing? I saw this person say that I have to do this exercise. I have to lift heavy four times a week and hit my one rep max, and I have to, and it's just overcomplicating it, right? Am I wrong?

Why Confusion Keeps You Buying

Dr Maria Luque 3:39

Not at all, not at all, not at all. Although I feel like the space, the fitness space has been very crowded for a really long time. Yeah. Um, just different. I think this is it's a different iteration, especially in the menopause space, because I think what we're seeing is a lot of self-proclaimed something experts because they're coming up with some fancy names that are roll clickbaity. And that's really, I think it's part of AI coming in and giving people ideas of what a fancy name could be in expertise, you know. Um, so it sounds really legit. And that I think that's where the problem is. People sound legit and they may look what a fitness expert should look like, which you know covers another area of problematic because people tend to see, oh, they look buff, whatever that means, and therefore they must know what they're talking about, versus someone that might not look what the idealized fitness body looks like. And that's always been a problem, you know, that that kind of stuff. So I think we see a lot more of that, and that is a problem because women are, I get the same thing as you do. Women are thoroughly confused. Must I do XYZ? And uh yesterday I was told that this is, but now, you know, I can't do zone two cardio, but then I'm supposed to do zone two cardio, but um, you know, it's it's that it's the constant keeping you on your toes in the worst way possible. And it's designed to be that way. And so once I think when we realize that that is the design of it to keep us that confused and that frustrated, because then we're more prone to buying something. So you're just like, okay, well, I'll just do this.

Jenn Salib Huber 5:18

Not thinking about money at the problem, right? And so it's like we we get the impression that if we just throw money at this problem, it's gonna be fixed, but it really just adds to the problem because it's more information, not always correct information, and it's not always actionable. Like it's not always something that people can do, maybe because of their level of current fitness, maybe because of their life, maybe because of the equipment they have or don't have or what they have access to. There's there's just not a one-size fits-all solution, right?

Dr Maria Luque 5:49

Not at all. And which is why women are always feeling like they're failing at something, because we've been told constantly that uh somehow showing up all the time, and then the consistency part of it all. When we're bringing those two things, I think that it's it's really at the core of a lot of that negative feeling and frustration when it comes to exercise. We're failing at being able to stick to something that wasn't designed for us. And those two together create this um perfect storm of of just paralyzation, I dare to say. Because women then are like, well, I can't, I'm I don't have the willpower. Consistency and willpower, love, those are two the big buzzwords that we love to throw out there. You don't have enough consistency and you don't have enough willpower. Because if you really wanted to do it, you could.

Jenn Salib Huber 6:40

We all have the same 24 hours. I can't believe we were just about to say the same quote. I love that. So yeah, the quote that we all have the same 24 hours makes me want to punch a wall. It really makes me want to punch a wall because I can't imagine anything less motivating than making someone feel like they're not using their time wisely, right? Because it is so contextual to what else is happening in your life. It is capacity that matters, not what somebody else is doing with the same amount of time. So I would love to give you a little fictionalized story. Let's call it a case study. So I, you know, I meet with a lot of people, I have the pleasure and the honor of hearing a lot of women's stories. And I've noticed over the years that there's kind of a story that starts like this. So this person has been, let's call her, I don't know, Sally. Let's say Sally. Sally started dieting when she was 12. She got into fitness when she went to university. She was doing all the step classes and she joined her gym, and like her 20s were relatively okay. And then she got married and she had kids, and then things started to just get lifey, right? Life got lifey. She couldn't go to the gym anymore. She was busy, but maybe not as active as she had once been in an intentional way. But, you know, things were okay-ish, but then they she hits midlife and perimenopause lands, and you know, shit hits the fan, as it were. And now she's feeling scared because her body is changing. But not only that, she's hearing from everyone: her doctor, her best friend, you know, the internet, that she needs to be thinking about her muscles and her bones, and she needs to lift heavy, and she now feels 20 years behind the whole resistance strength training bandwagon. And so she now feels like she has to make up for lost time, but she doesn't know where to start. And so I can't tell you the number of versions of Sally that I hear where they'll say, like, oh, I started this online class, but I hurt myself on the third class. So I had to stop and step back. Or I went to a gym that was boot camp for menopause, and it didn't meet them where they were at. There was no kind of personalization. Or maybe they have some kind of injury that really prevents them from maybe lifting heavy weights at all in any capacity. And so now they just feel stuck. And that kind of stuck in the messy middle, that paralyzed feeling of I've fallen behind and I can never catch up. Um, you know, it just, and whether that's food or movement, it I that version of that story, I feel like the urgency around it is really the problem. And so I would love to hear kind of your take on Sally's story and if you have a similar Sally in your life.

Dr Maria Luque 9:32

Yeah, we have lots of Sally's. I think it's it's the predominant version of midlife. Because we are, and again, this is the noise. The reason why women are having these feelings is because we are conditioned to believe that we are not able to make these decisions on our own. Um, and so at first, we're it's a it's conditioned. We're conditioned. This isn't the first time that we've been told that our opinion or our uh knowledge is as valuable as anybody else's. Um, and that is, I think, at the crux of the problem because women don't feel empowered. I know that's a big buzzword, but I think it describes it well, to trust themselves. Because by now we are in our 40s, 50s, 60s, whatever. We know a lot. Like we know a lot. We've already done a lot of trends, we've already been on a lot of wagons and that we should not have gotten on to, but we went on there. And I think now is the time that when I talk to women um that are in this situation, I I make them stop. Like, what if we stopped right now to take a breath and take account? Let's take inventory of what we know, um, what we don't know, and may have to learn. Um, but have a plan, like make a plan on what these this first step looks like. Because more than often all of this rush happens because we're we're feeling almost pressured to take a step. I need to, I just gotta, I gotta start resistance training tomorrow because otherwise I will fall apart. Osteoporosis will happen overnight. Um, I will break break a hip, and and and this is compounded by family history too. What if you have a parent who's broken a hip or who's then that becomes bigger? What if you have family history of dementia? Now we have all of this this chatter that you must take HRT to prevent it. It's all this stuff that's out there. Um if we were to put on headphones that kind of silence it all and take a breath, um that's scary though. It's scary, and that's why most women don't do it because kind of going in that deprivation chamber almost. I did this a while ago. I went into a float deprivation chamber, and it was something else because you had there's no sensation, and so I feel that's what's scary. It's the what if I stop? Maybe you you get that, I'm sure you get that as well. Women are afraid to stop because then what if it all falls apart?

Jenn Salib Huber 12:22

What if it all falls apart?

unknown 12:24

Yeah.

Dr Maria Luque 12:24

If I don't I need to keep going, I got kids, I got life, I got this, I could um if I stop, how do I get this train to get back on track? What if that track isn't the track you needed to be on to begin with? That's the question to ask. That's a big question that most women aren't ready to ask. Um, and and you know, we all just need to, I think taking that inventory is that's it. Like if you take just a little bit of time, yeah, that doesn't cost you anything. That's the other thing. It doesn't cost you $500 for a program that wasn't designed for you. It doesn't requires you to have a little courage to have these conversations with yourself or in a group or in a you know community. Yeah.

The “Sally” Story And Urgency

Jenn Salib Huber 13:10

So you mentioned something earlier about, you know, zone two and lifting heavy and all those things. I'd like to dig dig into maybe kind of some of the, I don't want to say that they're all myths because there's always a little bit of truth in in all of them, but what do you feel are some of the messages, mainstream messages in the menopause movement fitness world that are contributing to this effect of women feeling like they're failing at exercise or that they can't do it right? What would be some of the big ones?

Dr Maria Luque 13:43

Well, I think the biggest one is that there is one way that is the right way. That's the biggest one because that always leads whatever the new thing is that is right, because it changes. Any beauty standard, these advices change. It always says it's the this is the exercise de jour, and this one is the one we hate. We cannot not not do. So that is that is number one, that there is one way to do it right. Um the reality is that all movement is good. Science shows over and over and over again if we just move, we're gonna be better off. Um, but there's no, I don't think there are any studies that show that if you did CrossFit your entire life, you're gonna be better off. Only that's the only exercise that will count. Um, it doesn't. And there's no, I don't think there's anything that shows that you have to stick to one thing that doesn't exist. I don't have to think about it.

Jenn Salib Huber 14:41

So find something that you like, find something that is accessible, that you can be persistent with instead of consistent, right? That you can continue to do even when life gets lifey, maybe at a different pace, maybe different lengths of time. Um, and also I think it has to be something that you enjoy. Like I really think that this, if this is something that we're gonna be doing forever, and you know, I do believe that human bodies are meant to move. I think that's part of what we need. Um, but I don't think it has to be CrossFit, but I really think it has to be something we enjoy that's fun.

Dr Maria Luque 15:18

100%. If it doesn't, you will not be sustainable if you don't actually enjoy doing it. And that's the part that comes with that same discipline part. You just need to be more disciplined to do it. Uh, because the word itself describes that you should be able to do this every single day, which doesn't take into account that, first of all, you don't want to do it. You don't, you also will not make time for something that you don't want to do. You will make time if it's something that's really, really powerful for you. Just like women, I hear from women that you know took a community class somewhere in a some kind of a dance class, and they will not miss that class. They just won't. It is a priority, and it is because they love it, not because they get the most cardio exercise, and which they do, but they have fun doing it, they have a community doing it. So having these motivators, and again, this is also where it comes into account of finding out what motivates you. Take a little time. This is that inventory. Take a little time. What would what would make you want to go work out, not work out, move uh in any way possible because all of it counts. And when we take away the restriction, just like with nutrition, do we we want to look at the fitness of movement plate and look that we have maybe a sprinkle of all of it if we can, but it doesn't have to be rigid. We do resistance training is incredibly important. We do, do, do need to do something that challenges our muscles, not from a looks perspective, because you wanna, but it does change how you look as well. Um, but from a functionality perspective, you want to be able to move your body, you want your heart to be healthy, we do need some cardio in there, in whatever shape, form that comes in, and we want to have some flexibility and mobility in there because these three things are important. Can all these three things be in one? 100%, but most of the time it's a sprinkle here or there, which is why I'm a big fan, and we've talked about this before of movement snacks. So consider that a sprinkle that you sprinkle in here, sprinkle in there, and it becomes much more doable and sustainable to do all of it, because we don't have to do an hour of each.

Jenn Salib Huber 17:37

That's the other all or nothing thinking, right? That somehow just got programmed into us that we either have to do it 100% or not at all. And so if we don't feel like we have time to do the full workout, we won't do any of it. When in fact, doing five minutes of it still counts, right? Like if you literally only have five minutes to do something, it still counts. And it helps to make it easier to do next time. I always talk about lowering the bar and about how sometimes we really need to prove to our brain that not only does that lower bar count, but that every time we practice lowering the bar, it actually gets easier to raise the bar. So, like it's if I can easily get out for five minutes, then going out for 10 minutes becomes even easier. But if I wait until I feel like I have the motivation for 10 minutes, I'll have lost all the opportunities for those five minutes to count, right?

Dr Maria Luque 18:32

Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. I also take it another step forward and I'll say, why do we not throw away the bar? And then so we don't have to lower and raise it. Because it just it's if what if we take every day on its own merit? Having a plan is great, but taking, especially where we are in midlife now, if we took every day on as its own entity and saying, taking account, starting the day, taking account where we are from a physical mental perspective, because it changes. We know it can change from one day to the next of how able we are doing things. If we didn't sleep last night, you're not going to probably get up and do that workout that you really were planning to and maybe looking forward to. But if you don't have it in you, so if we take away an expectation, um, then it becomes a lot easier to just do and to just be. You know what I think obviously we know nutrition and exercise go really hand in hand from a mindset perspective. We uh have very unlike when we how we work with our clients. When you're talking about intuitive eating and you tell people, well, you just have to listen to your body. We do the same thing in the fitness world, right? And this is one of those big um advice things that people throw out there. Just listen to your body. And women are thoroughly confused of what that is, but we expect them then to know. It's just like, what do you do not know how to listen to your body? What's wrong with you? And there comes another layer of failure, and what is it? Um and so these two things, how how do you do it in nutrition? It's the same way you would do it in an exercise of reconnecting. Yeah. What does the where's the cue? What does it mean? Um, and getting to learn how to do that.

Jenn Salib Huber 20:25

A bit of a devil's advocate because I often will when I'm trying to talk about this idea of lowering the bar, and I actually love getting rid of the bar, but people say, Yeah, I'd be fine with doing five minutes, but I have so little time that I would just want it to count. So if I don't have 20 minutes, then I'm not gonna do it because of the belief that five minutes doesn't count. So that's like a mindset issue. And I would love to hear how you talk to your clients about that, because I'm sure that you get that too.

Movement Snacks And Ditching All-Or-Nothing

Dr Maria Luque 20:53

Yes. Um, I think we have to work on on telling them that science is very pretty clear that it's cumulative. It is all of it um counts in a whatever. If we look at a 24-hour period or whatever period you want to look at, it isn't that you did an hour in between two and three o'clock. It's you did an hour in the whole day. Do we have more benefit from a longer period of cardio for your heart? And yes. But again, this is when you can do it. But if you can't do it, though, those five minutes, we know that they count. They count. And that is really a let's make it count. And I think um one um not trick, but like a piece of advice that I always say, what if we celebrated all of that? What if you if you did those five minutes that you didn't do yesterday? Celebrate it. I know it sounds silly, and for most people, it does like what why would I celebrate five minutes? It's because that yesterday you didn't do it, and today that you did. So that is a celebration. Woohoo. Um, this is why I started doing bingo cards of of But having, you know, having um, I don't know, I like, you know, how fun is it to have that bingo market to go did it or whatever your version of it is. But it's a you can look a physical representation sometimes can help say, I did all of that. That's why, you know, some people do the I want to do a hundred squats in the week, and they have lines and they write down, I did 10 today and 10, whatever. And then at the end, you see that accomplishment. So adding uh some sort of celebration or accomplishment to every single little, even a lunch that you weren't able to do or you didn't do yesterday to the bathroom. Boom! Yeah, that's something you did, and it becomes easier, as you said. It just becomes easier to be like, oh wow, okay, that's great. I love it.

Jenn Salib Huber 22:48

We um I often will encourage people to use a habit tracker, but only just the check mark and to give themselves credit for showing up. That is what we're celebrating, that you showed up, not that you did it for one minute or that you did it for 10 or whatever. And yeah, I think that celebrating, no matter how small, the effort, you know, and noticing how that makes you feel. Right? Like, doesn't it feel better and doesn't it build more self-efficacy and positive emotions towards yourself if you celebrate the little things than if you punish yourself for not doing anything or something, you know? Um, but it it it's a hard sell. So I hope that anybody who's listening now hears that Maria agrees with me that it all counts.

Dr Maria Luque 23:36

It does. And you know, and again, this kind of goes back to to figuring out what it is that motivates you too, because we are all so different. Um, someone might be motivated by a colorful bingo card, someone might be motivated by a spreadsheet because then they can pull a some kind of a chart, and because that's what they need to see. Some people might like something else. Figure out what would make it, you know, if you need an app, use the app. If you need something, figure out what it is that you would want to have as a representation of you doing it. Could it be an accountability partner? And I hate the word accountability partner, but I don't know. I don't know what we would call it. A buddy that um you can text or and say, did it, because it feels good because you have this drive to want to share it with someone else or feel like you have to share it with someone else. There's nothing negative with needing accountability. If that is your motivator, then that is your motivator because eventually it'll it'll I think eventually it becomes in the beginning. We need these what is it? And then it becomes a ha habit. I mean for sure.

Jenn Salib Huber 24:46

I talk about like we need to figure out our why all the time. And if you don't have an internal or intrinsic reason to want to do something, then it's very hard to maintain long term. Extrinsic things like bingo cards and star charts and those kinds of things, they can be great in the short term. So they're they can be a really valuable tool. But if you have not figured your shit out and your why by the time that bingo card has run out or the star chart, it's gonna lose its novelty and you're gonna be like, eh, I did that, right? But if you're like, oh, I did that and I'm feeling stronger, I it's easier for me to go up and down the stairs. I have more energy, I'm sleeping better, my mood is better. Then you've got a why to keep going, even if you're not getting a sticker. And so, you know, the accountability I think can be really helpful, especially in the beginning when you're trying something new, as long as it doesn't become the punishment of like, oh, I didn't do it and I feel so down on myself. You know, I think that is so much of the getting back to like what's failing women in the fitness world. It's this all or nothing, you've got to be perfect, you've got to do it this way. Otherwise, what's the point? You know?

Dr Maria Luque 26:02

No, I was gonna say, and also it's because we've also the messaging is always that it doesn't have to feel good. Like exercises and something that necessarily has discomfort, that no pain, no gain has just been rewarded. And we're using other language now to describe that you don't necessarily have to like it. It's just gonna be effective, though. Right? It's one doesn't have to do the other. If you want results, then you should push yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone, which uh it may be a little out of the comfort zone is fine, but not repeatedly doing something that you don't like to do. So that messaging is is still super toxic. Yeah, for sure.

Jenn Salib Huber 26:45

So I'd love to talk a little bit about the strength training myths because we hear a lot of you've got to go to the gym, you've got to lift really heavy, and nothing else counts.

Dr Maria Luque 26:57

Yeah, now and we have, I love that actually, you know, recently ACSM came out with their new guidelines, which is um really encouraging because we need to see more of this where the science is pretty clear that it doesn't. We don't need to lift heavy, we don't need to have a certain prescription, we just need to do some sort of resistance training. Bands count, body weights count. You want to do dumbbells, barbells, all of this counts and it it becomes a very individual part. Another great part is that rest is being acknowledged. We need to have those rest periods as well. But from a resistance training perspective, it is a free-for-all. You you can do it in any shape, way, or form that you want that will make you want to do it. And it doesn't have to be a certain amount of repetitions either. It's higher repetitions uh works, lower repetition works. It is what again, what will motivate you to do it. Can one develop into the other for sure? And I've seen that a lot where I see women, I don't know, they're intimidated by the heavy lifting, but then they start with a higher count, lower rep uh weight, and then they feel this feels kind of good. Like I want to be stronger. They want to see that weight increase. And not to say that you're gonna turn into a power lifter, but it is very encouraging to know that you can do it in any range, in any form, as long as you are uh progressing on the weight and that you are um uh um challenging your muscles. That's another thing because we don't want to want to do a hundred repetitions because that's not enough stimulus for your muscle. But within any range, I love that that came out.

Strength Training Myths And What Counts

Jenn Salib Huber 28:45

I do too. And you know, I think that it was really reassuring on the practitioner side of things that we really can, and and I don't do fitness training, obviously, but you know, in the in the broad spectrum of people who work with women in midlife, that there's so much flexibility to meet people where they're at. And not just where they're at fitness-wise, but in life. What's their capacity? What do they have access to? What do they want? What do they find fun, interesting? Um, you know, I have built up like a home gym over the years in my very little, you know, relatively small Dutch little space where I am. And I've been been able to just kind of continue to build the resistance. And so I think that people think that the gym is the only option to build strength. And that is definitely not the case. I love the videos that you show in your garage and using your daughter as a weight. And if you have children, you can you can use them too. Um, but you know, I think that this really helps to broaden the scope of how we make fitness goals because fitness, much like nutrition, is playing the long game of health, right? This isn't something that we're gonna cash in that return on the investment in a week or two. We'll notice improvements along the way in how we feel, but really what we're looking for here, at least I am anyway, is I want to be able to get up off the toilet when I'm 80. And, you know, so I'm not gonna see the return on that for a while. So, how do you help women kind of, or what advice do you have for someone who maybe has only ever made goals around a 12-week body shred and to, you know, to fit into a certain clothing size. And then they just stop. They do the thing and then they stop. And and now they're maybe trying to learn that new relationship.

Dr Maria Luque 30:31

Yes, I I think um all of these are great. I I love this. The number one question that you had earlier, I always go back to the why that isn't set a goal that is not dependent on body size. So a weight goal. We can have the weight goal, but that I want at least two other goals on top of that that you need to think about. And that reframes how women are showing up. Just by setting a goal that isn't related to weight loss, um, it does change because now we're talking about I want to be able to play with my daughter. I want to be lift, be able to lift her. Or my puppy that is constantly growing. I don't know how heavy she will get, but I want to be able to lift her in the car when she's old. I want to be able to continue gardening forever and lift my own garden soil. Like these um life goals that are functional in life um change how we think. And then it becomes an I I am actually not I don't discourage people from joining a gym, but if you have never, if you are, if you are um hesitant to join a big gym, um I always encourage people to just start where you are and don't buy a bunch of equipment. Let's start with body weight and start where you are here, and then your your equipment grows with you. Like you said, most women that I've worked with over the years started with nothing, and now they have a nice little setup in their office or in their, they made a little room and some nook somewhere in the house, and that becomes their thing. But it is a one dumbbell, they bought one set of dumbbells, then they bought another set, and that is also very encouraging. So, starting with squats, if you have not done any squats, how about we get to a point where you can do a certain amount without being uncomfortable? The same with, you know, doing some kind of a desk push-up or something. So these kinds of things that you um are not able to do, and then we move on, and and being comfortable with saying that the progress is small because the goals are in the future, long in the future, hopefully, where they really pay out, uh, where we are independently living. And I know that I'm not about you need all those 20-year-old goals, 20, 20-year goals in the future. Um, but how do we start tomorrow? If I if you were ready to start tomorrow with what you have, what does that look like? And that clears the plate a little bit. It's the same as if you were to say, I'm not gonna buy groceries and I'm gonna do, I'm gonna make a meal with whatever's in my fridge in my pantry. Yeah. And you get you get creative. The same with exercise. If you had don't have access to anything, how do I make a workout with nothing?

Jenn Salib Huber 33:20

Yeah. And I think that that's the thing too. Like workouts can be, you know, really can be anything. Um they can involve equipment, but they don't have to involve equipment. And I think gardening and yard work is one at this time of year where we're recording this in the spring that a lot of people are reminded just how much of a workout that can be. And it's fun and they enjoy it. And then if, but if they connect the dots between like movement isn't going to a gym, movement is moving your body in ways that you enjoy as often as you can, it becomes so much more accessible. There's no one right way to move.

Dr Maria Luque 33:55

Yeah, and and it helps. So if you are a dancer and you want to dance until you're a hundred years old, um, you continue dancing, but you might consider then what will give me the strength or the stamina or whatever it is to continue dancing. Um, I've had clients that come to me in their uh in their 80s and say, I want to continue playing golf, but I know that I need some additional something to do it. So we design programs around them being able to play golf until they're no longer here. So that goal, what what what do you want resistance training to help you achieve in your life? Not necessarily just for your body, but for what you want to continue doing. And that that reframing uh most of the time really does the trick.

Jenn Salib Huber 34:44

So speaking of moves, you have a new move that is coming out soon. So um, why don't you tell us about it?

New Book New Moves And Closing

Dr Maria Luque 34:54

Yes, I have uh a book coming out. Actually, it's it's hot off the presses. It's being shipped to me right now, and I'm very excited to share it. Uh, it is a book called New Moves and Menopause. It is a fearless guide to stay stronger, healthier, and saner in midlife. And the way I always describe this book is, and why I wrote it is all of the things we talked about today. It is, I want women to find themselves and then create a map. And we are going to do an actual, actual map in this book for the next short-term, long-term, forever terms in movement and reconnecting with your body. So it is an adventure. I'm guiding women on an adventure to take inventory, to figure out who they were, who they are, and what they want to take from the past into the future, into the present. And we're going to cut out things, we're going to glue things. It's a very tactile approach. You had uh you were kind enough to read it. Uh, so from a perspective of the reader, I'm sure you can say something. Um, but I want women to have fun. This book is all about having fun with yourself, taking that time that I was talking about earlier of sitting down and saying, okay, who am I and what do I want? From a body image perspective, from an um exercise perspective. And then you are gracious enough to give some nutrition advice as well. So you'll find that in the book as well.

Jenn Salib Huber 36:33

Uh yes, and I had the honor and pleasure of reading it. And it really, I think, is going to be, you know, it's going to be a great book. It is a great book, and it's a much needed resource. And so for anybody, especially who's looking for a weight neutral, body-positive book about fitness, those are hard to find. And you do such a great job of incorporating all of that. But most importantly, I think your your personality comes through in the book, which is always great because as I was reading it, I could just picture your voice. And now that people have listened to this podcast, they know what your voice sounds like. So um, congratulations. Uh, I can't wait for it to be in people's hands.

Dr Maria Luque 37:14

Me too. And I can't wait to see people's maps. So I really, if you're hopefully you're buying the book and you are creating a map, I know you can't visualize it, but you will be creating a map, map. Um, I want to see everyone's maps. Hopefully, we can get lots of maps out there. That is so fun.

Jenn Salib Huber 37:34

Um, so before we part, and we're gonna have links uh in the show notes to all the things, but before we part, what do you think is the missing ingredient in midlife?

Dr Maria Luque 37:44

You you as like the person, like you know, like ourselves. That's what's missing. It's that ingredient because we are, like you said, always outsourcing expertise, and I want women to put the expert hat on themselves and say, Yes, I've graduated, that's cool, and I'm here. Um, trust yourself.

Jenn Salib Huber 38:07

Amazing. Thank you so much for joining me.

Dr Maria Luque 38:10

Thank you for having me.

Jenn Salib Huber 38:14

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Midlife Feast. If you're ready to take the next step towards thriving in midlife, head to menopausenutritionist.ca to learn more about my one-to-one and group coaching programs, free resources, and where to get your copy of Eat to Thrive during menopause. And if you've loved today's conversation and found it helpful, please share it with a friend who needs to hear this and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps so many more people just like you find their way to food freedom and midlife confidence. Until next time, remember, midlife is not the end of the story, it's the feast. Let's savor it together.