Stronger After 40: Redefining Middle Age through Strength Training, Supplementation & Science-Based Self-Care with Meaghan Dobinson 💪

What if your 40s were the decade you became stronger, leaner and more confident than ever?

In this episode, I sit down with fitness instructor Meaghan Dobinson to talk about why strength training is one of the most powerful tools for women over 40.

We explore:

• Why cardio alone isn’t enough as we age
• The role of muscle in metabolism and longevity
• How strength training impacts skin health and appearance
• Nutrition foundations for building and maintaining muscle
• The truth about supplements for women 40+
• How to build confidence in the gym (even if you’re starting later in life)

This conversation is about moving beyond shrinking yourself — and stepping into strength, vitality and long-term health.

Have a listen to our chat, or watch the full video on YouTube here.

Thanks for tuning in today to The Can I Get a Refill? Podcast, and be sure to jump on my website (below) to download a free 33 page eBook on 7 Steps to Protect Your Energy & Fill Up Your Cup. 

You cannot pour from an empty cup, so I’ve designed a guide to help you take care of yourself, in order to uplevel your life. Download it today and make yourself a priority in 2026!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this episode is being recorded and pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Jumping in here to talk directly to my Sydney friends about one of my absolute favourite cafes, Pilgrims Crenolla. Now located in their gorgeous new location opposite South Crenolla Park, with expanded indoor and outdoor seating, including pet-friendly tables out front, and delicious food, juice, and coffee. The menu is full of wholesome, veggio-friendly eats that feel both nostalgic and nourishing. Expect brecki wraps, vibrant salads, smoothies, fresh juices, and some of the best plant-based sandwiches going. I strongly recommend the corn fritters and the chai shake, which is definitely big enough for two. Check them out on Insta and be sure to visit when you're next in Cornella. Welcome to Can I Get a Refill? A podcast for ambitious women who are tired of pouring from an empty cup, but still want to grow, evolve, and build a life they're proud of. Through a mix of comforting solo episodes and inspiring conversations with industry professionals, authors, wellness experts, and entrepreneurs, we talk about what it really looks like to refill your cup while up leveling your life. Topics include mental, emotional and physical wellness, or moral health, manifestation, career and finance, boundaries, self-trust, and redefining success on your own terms. Hosted by me, Steph Bruno Newton, each weekly episode is designed to motivate, ground, and empower you to take care of your needs and go after the life you actually want. Pour yourself a cup, take a breath, and let's refill it together. If you've ever wondered whether it's too late to build strength, change your body, or feel more confident in your skin, this episode will completely reframe that belief. Today I'm joined by fitness instructor, health and well-being coach Megan Dobinson, as we discuss why strength training becomes even more powerful as we age. Not just for muscle tone, but for longevity, metabolism, hormone balance, and even the health and appearance of your skin. This is a grounded, empowering conversation about redefining what fitness looks like in your 40s and beyond. And why getting stronger might be the best thing you can do for how you look and how you feel. Thanks for tuning in today to the Can I Get a Refill Podcast. As always, be sure to jump on my website www.canagetarefill podcast.com to AU, linked in the show notes to download your free 33-page ebook on seven steps to protect your energy and fill up your cup. As I always say, you cannot pour from an empty cup, so I've designed a guide to help you take care of yourself in order to up level your life. Download it today and make yourself a priority in 2026. Okay, let's jump in. Hello, my cup fillers, and welcome back to the Can and Get a Refill Podcast. As just promised, we're in for a treat today, as we're joined by special guest Megan Dobinson. Megan, welcome to the podcast. Ah, thank you for having me, Steve. I'm so grateful to have you here. You look very beautiful for those watching on YouTube for a Sunday morning, and I appreciate your flexibility recording on a Sunday, which I really, really do. So it's so good to have your company.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Taking the time. Thanks so much, Stev.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

And I'm really excited for this, Megan, because as I was just saying, I'm 42. I we're nearing 43 as this airs. And I think my demographic is similar in age to me as well. So this is a really great topic to talk about. So let's just jump straight in and talk about. Just tell us a little bit about your journey and what led you into the fitness industry.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

So I, as a young, as a young girl, I was sort of I had some problems with walking and the way my bones formed and that sort of thing. So in my teenage years, I got into strength training. And then after I had my daughter in my early 20s, I got into Pilates to sort of just just get everything back on track. And I I just I loved it so much that I took it on as my vocation. And I think And correct me if I'm wrong, but it probably wasn't that common back then, Pilates, was it? It was starting to rise when it came to fitness and stuff, but I think that it was quite specialized for people that really wanted to take their posture seriously and you know, strength and all that sort of thing. So it really highlights just the importance of good posture, strength training, and just being able to use your body properly. No, I'm never in pain, and everything became a lot easier, but it's it's quite it doesn't look hard, but it's it is actually very, very useful.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Yeah, and I'm an ex-dancer, and nearly every ex-dancer I know went into Pilates because it's such a sort of similar technique, but yeah, it it looks when you watch the class from afar, it looks nice, and when you're doing it, it is so hard.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Oh, yeah, definitely. But it's I think that it's something that it's just good for all of life. So if you do weight training, if you do running, if you do, you know, dancing, anything like that. Like I think that Pilates is sort of like the foundation of balance and and just overall strength. I do think that it's super important. And I I'll I'll I'd never stop doing it. It's definitely a stable for the rest of my life, but along with training, yeah. So yeah, getting into that. And then I um I just loved it so much. And then going forward, I sort of like adding nutrition, you know, and I take a great interest in supplementation and stuff as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Yeah, yeah, it's important. And like you said, uh, you know, as we're getting into 40s, it's not just the aesthetic, it's definitely how you feel. And I'm talking to friends now that are like, oh, I I hurt my knee the other day, friends are talking about joints, and like we feel and look too young to be talking about that, but we're not. Like that stuff matters, and you know, and when you have young kids like myself, especially, and you're running around after them, you need to be at your fittest. So all of this, looking at it from you know, that longevity and that how you feel perspective is so important, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

I if if I could turn back time and I could say to my friends, like I've always done it, but I would do more training and more strength training and eat more protein, because it's actually from from about 29.30, particularly for women, we really start to lose our muscle mass. And then after 40, it rapidly reduces. So without muscle mass, if we take a fall or all sorts of things, but bad posture, all these sorts of things lead to chronic ailments like that you sort of can't reverse going forward. It becomes a lot more difficult to reverse them. So I think that I like I can't stress enough how important it is to do strength training, have a high protein diet, and and yeah, and Pilates.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Yeah, and it is, and we know that now from the information. But when I was in my teens and my 20s, it was girls do cardio, guys do strength. Uh, fat is the devil. So I would eat a Greek salad and a bread roll for my lunch. Um how if I did that now, I'd be starved in 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Like I mean, and we'd waste away, right? You know what I mean? Like in like not in a good way, like at all.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

You know, there is a good way. But you want it, yeah, you you sort of. No, it was almost like frailty was praised, and now strength is just so praised. Oh, absolutely. As we're recording this, the the winter Olympics are coming to a close. It'll it'll air later on. But there, I don't know if you've watched any of it. There's this figure scandal. I'm now down the rabbit hole of this girl, Alyssa Lu, and I'm obsessed with her. She's a Chinese heritage, I think, but US representative, and she quit when she was young because she was told to lose weight. And she's got this most gorgeous, strong, and I'm a big quad girl, and she's got these big, beautiful quads, and she quit and she wanted, she came back to the sport on her own terms, not being told what to do. And she's just won gold, and she is like, I've got goosebumps, like the whole internet's obsessed with her because when she did something from a place of joy for like for herself, instead of being told to fit into this mold and be thin, she won gold. And I'm just like, it's just like the representation for women at the moment. Like, I'm so in love with her. But yeah, the things you can do for yourself when you um just focus on yourself and not listen to others and aesthetic yet.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

I feel I mean, and I encourage that as well for like for women to take it into their own hands. I think that it's a very like, even from people that I know, it's a really hard thing to start because it's overwhelming, right? Like, and a lot of you know, it's it and I think that you're right. Our our age demographic never really praised strength training. And Pilates can polite can look intimidating if you right, but we all start strength in itself, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Like jumping on a treadmill, you feel like I can figure it out. Once when you first start doing strength, the equipment could be intimidating. Once you've got it, you've got it. But it is it is intimidating. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

But I do think that when if you make space and you tell yourself that you deserve it, right? Like I think that a lot of women don't feel, I don't know, maybe like from what I hear, that it's almost like it's such a big step to go and do something like that for themselves, especially as you said in our age demographic, like children are young and it's you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

But I think Do you mean like as in terms of giving yourself permission to do something for yourself? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that this comes up a lot with my guests, you know, it's that sort of there's two twofold advocating for yourself or allowing yourself, you know, time for yourself to fill up your own cup, which was the whole premise of this podcast. So yeah, it's funny how many women relate to that. I'm sure men do too. I'm just not chatting with them as much on this show. I just think it's from my witnessing, it's more of a women's thing. All right, can you talk us through what happens to our bodies, particularly muscle mass and bone density over 40? And how can we redefine middle age through strength, supplementation, and science-based self-care?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Bone density and muscle mass after the age of 30. And this is why I encourage anyone, especially women, because it it's slightly more rapid in women, our our muscle mass starts declining at 1% per year after 30. It it's it's it you can't you can't change it. So the and when we don't have muscle mass, our bone density deteriorates also, which then leads to obviously ill health, a greater risk of injury, and you know, having to go on medications, which then in turn leads to other problems, right? So and you know, 30's not old, right? So you want to get ahead of that before that starts to happen. And I'd say that bad posture and and it leads to you know, bad confidence, like you know, low lowering confidence, 30, 40, even 50, you won't, you won't feel it. But 55, like a lot of people start to need to take medications for their bone density and all these sorts of things. So high protein, and when I say high protein, high protein is like 120 grams of protein per day, and that's a lot. And it like I speak to people and they're like, that's just too much. And it's like that's what's required. You know what I mean? Because muscle is just straight protein, and if you're burning it without even doing anything after 30, replenishing it takes a lot. So that's 120 grams of protein for a woman.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

And it sounds like a lot, but that's if you're wandering around aimlessly. But if you're planning out your snacks and meals for the day, it's definitely achievable, isn't it? Without feeling too full. Yeah, 100%. And just being diligent about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

From my experience, like I've had I had a thyroid issue, and when I started to take my protein intake seriously, which was probably five years ago, it just reversed it. So um, yeah, because it led to because thyroids related to iron. And you know, they put you on medication, etc. etc. And I was like, I just I don't I'm not really into that. So I just stopped doing that. The with a more protein-rich diet, it just reversed on its own. And then also strength training, it it's it's well, you need to load up your bones with with weight. And I know that it's a really intimidating thing to do, but even if you're just at home, like doing a plank for 40 seconds, right? And you just do some squats, like because you're not gonna go and pick up a weight if you've never done it or you've got little kids at home. So, as well as that, there's just so much coming out about supplementation, especially for women, because I do feel as though supplementation has always been really sort of driven towards the male market. And it like creatine is so important for women for their cognition, as well as for muscle mass and and longevity. There's new studies coming out saying that it's it's actually essential for women to have a minimum of five gram grams of creatine per day, whether or not whether or not you're working out. But definitely for recovery and all these sorts of things, creatine you can't go past, as uh obviously as well as um as well as protein.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

So those two things wasn't talked about a lot years ago for women, was it? And all of a sudden in the last year or two, huge.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Well, even like I feel that protein was always like for women, like a real no-go, like you're gonna bulk up. And it's like you're we're not like we we we're supposed to have muscle, and I think that even women that go out and they eat a salad or whatever, the more the more muscle that you have, the more fat that you burn as well. So there's there's nothing wrong with doing any of it, there's nothing wrong with doing weights, there's nothing wrong with eating protein. It's always gonna be beneficial, and I think that you know, creatine is something that I just think you can't go past. I mean, there's obviously magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, you know, these ones as well that that I think they're essential for every woman, also. But creatine, particularly after 40, is something that that it's it's a it's a no-brainer. Right, interesting. There's definitely new science coming out around supplementation, around. I'm sure that you've probably heard of peptides and stuff like that. And pep peptides are something that are signals the body to create things that the body creates normally, like collagen, glucogen, or all these things that as we age, or we've you know eaten too much sugar, or we've not moved our body enough, these uh signals just they don't the body doesn't send out enough signals to like to create these hormones or to create you know collagen or whatnot. So peptides just assist the body in doing that.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Right. So the peptides are assisting the body in what it's naturally meant to do, which would slow down after time due to age and environmental things.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Age, environment, yeah. Yeah, okay. Stress, particularly, is another thing.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

So um obviously ruins everything.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Being the mind hormones, yeah. So stress is just like the most it's it's the it's the most difficult thing, right? Like, and you can't say, oh, just don't stress, especially if you've got little kids, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:24

It's no, and that's what I'm finding. I'm reading a book on breath work at the moment, and stress isn't it's been painted as the devil, but it's part of life. It's more about learning to adapt to it, isn't it? And like how because you can't, it's like I'm controlling personality by nature, and it's like you can't control every set of external circumstances, but what I can control is how my body or my nervous system reacts to it. So that's what I'm working on at the moment. Because you just in this day and age, especially with online, you know, everything coming at you all the time, you can't stop stresses being part of your life.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I think that you that there's actually there's sort of a there's a space for cortisol, which is what the best, right? That it's it's it's we need it because otherwise, like it wouldn't be there. There's something in our brain where stressing about something is not it's not gonna make it any better.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

That's right, yeah. You know, so you just live through it. I always say when it's like you're stressing about something impending, I go, you're just living through it twice because you're stressing about it beforehand and then you're going through it again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Yeah, yeah. So peptides and things like that actually, there's some great peptides that assist with with that exactly. So being able to manage stress because it's it's just a natural reaction to you know to a lot of stimulus and a lot to do and that sort of thing. So um, yeah, so peptides.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

It might be a dumb question. Is this the same as collagen peptides? Is that the same thing?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

So, okay, so there's all different kinds of peptides and and some things that are labeled as peptides that are not, they're actually just supplementation um to replenish other things that the body um body lacks as time goes on that you can replenish. So NAD and glutathione, which are amazing supplements, but they're not peptides. But then there's like collagen peptides are a lot of people drink it, which going through the gut, some of them work really well, but collagen peptides is something that um that works best if it's if it's taken subcutaneously or if you can get it in like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So that's that's is that what you do for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 17:36

I do, yeah. So like you can take like so you'll see like hair replenish and your skin replenish and those sorts of things. So they're also known as copper peptides. I'm sure you've probably heard of it. Yes, but you can apply it to the skin. Um, or some people do it, you know, in those like ivy league drips and stuff like that. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Um I used to do things like that all the time before I had a child mingle, and I used to spend every cent on myself.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Now I'm not sure. It's definitely an indulgence. It's definitely an indulgence.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

But there's certainly other ways you can find things to add things into your diet. Do you take NAD? I see those things coming up.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I take NAD. NAD is like so that that as well is something that can be taken subcutaneously. It's amazing in an IV drip. NAD, and it has to be taken in conjunction with NMN, is extremely anti-aging, right? So when you were saying we were saying um redefining middle age, I think that there's definitely a huge uh uh shift in particularly our generation, like millennials, where like in my opinion, we're going away from sort of a lot of injectables and constant skincare and constant this and that, and we're going into more of an age of um anti-aging from within, so sort of biohacking and age reversal. The most anti-aging thing that anyone can do is is strength training, and then aside from that, you know, protein and and like but this but supplements such as peptides, they change your biochemistry at a cellular level. So you'll see like that. Um, I know people that are that that start taking peptides and they'll like within two or three weeks, particularly in their 50s and 60s, they'll look five or ten years younger within like no time at all. You know what I mean? So their sleep is greatly improved.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

I love a good supplement, Megan. And I have this whole list on my notes at my phone of things I'm going to take, but I'm currently trying for baby number two, and it hasn't happened yet. And I there's certain things that you have to pause, and I'm like, can I just hurry up so I can do self-care? No, like I know it sounds like you know, like I'm focusing on the wrong thing, but self-care and looking after myself is very important too. And a lot of that's on pause, not just when you're pregnant, but also when you're trying to be pregnant. So I'm like, absolutely. I can't wait to take care of myself again. I feel like I'm in a bit of limbo.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

So, what do you do now in this at this time? Do you do your Pilates and all that sort of stuff?

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Oh, I'm doing all the stuff, but in terms of supplementation, I'm still doing all my same training, but I've dialed back any sort of hit and high intensity just because I think my hormones are a bit out of whack. And now that I'm chasing after a little person, I can definitely feel that my stress is higher than when I was trying for the first trial because I'm like on guard. Like before we jumped on to record, he climbed this chair onto this table, banged his hair. I was in in the bathroom getting ready, and my husband turned his head to help me with my microphone, and his mouth's bleeding because he smacked his head on the table. So, like it's people don't understand it's constant stress. Like you're on guard like a cat 24 seconds. What's it do?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Boys. I have a girl and she was very good. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

He's such a boy. I had him, my mom on FaceTime once, and she's like, Oh, you and your brother were never like that. Like he just climbs everything in the house. Like he's very, much like my husband's family, very active, very boyish. So it's like survival mode.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Oh, I admire you going for number two, but it'll be so beautiful to have to oh pray for a girl for me.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

All right.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

I hope that's nice.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Look, we've touched on strength training, but just tell me how often should we be strength training each week to enhance cellular health and reverse biological aging?

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Look, this sounds like a lot, but I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say four times for half an hour. I'm gonna say four times. Um, like, and I know that that's really, really overwhelming to especially for someone in your position, right? Which is very common, young children at uh women our age that also do some kind of work and all these sorts of things. But I would recommend just doing it at home. Just do something at home.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

I was just gonna say, Megan, I've had to pivot. I have white bells and some dumbbells in my house and bandwork. And I I've had to pivot. I was in the gym sitting. Days a week, and now I'm lucky to go once a week. No joke. Actually, my beautiful water ocean front gym is closing in a few weeks, and I was like, good, this is the catalyst I need to find one with a crash because I'm not giving back to myself, and that would just be a great way for my kid to be like entertained and me to get proper workouts in again.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Especially like for women post-children. Our children um take a lot of the a lot of the stuff from from our body that we need, and strength training naturally rebuilds it, like it needs it, right? Because we're bone loading and all those sorts of things. Like children will deplete a lot of your calcium, a lot of your zinc, and all these sorts of things that, yeah, supplementation is it's not enough though, right? Like strength training is essential and absolutely four four times a week. And even if you just go online, there's like small little workouts that anyone can just free stuff on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah, there's this US trainer, um Sydney Cummings, that I use through my pregnancy because I stopped going to the gym as much. And it's great, like you can roll out your mat if you can only fit in 30 minutes. Great. Like it's it's done. There's no travel to and from the gym. You you make you. You have to you have to pivot, don't you? It's not like when you're absolutely and even if you your child, like take him up. I did when he was a baby. I used to squat with him. Jumping in with another message for my Sydney friends. If you're a pizza lover, you absolutely need to head out to Crenella and visit my friends at Queen Margarita of Savoy for traditional Neapolitan pizza and other Italian classic dishes. With my Sicilian background, you know that I've travelled to Italy many times over the years. I've eaten pizza all over Italy, including in Naples, and I swear to everyone I meet that Queen Margarita is still my absolute fave. I like simple classic flavours, so I highly recommend the traditional margarita and the three cheese pizza. Abby loves the prosciutto and the pork and fennel. I also have a soft spot for the truffle orangini. Check them out at Surf Road Cranella and the link in my show notes. You definitely will not be disappointed. Um, as more people complain that GLP ones, I think that's what we call them, such as Ozempic, are making them look old. What are some other ways we can achieve similar results without losing tone?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Okay, so with Ozempic, I there's a place for a Zempic, right? I do a lot of like research. I I've tried it myself just to see why, like what happens. And the effects are profound. And so, um, but yeah, the the loose skin and the sagging and stuff like that. For for any woman, that's not what you want, right? So you're not making just because it's rapid weight loss, it is, it is rapid weight loss. So it and so yeah, the skin just the skin stretches, so like you know, stretch skin just loses its elasticity, and so what strength training uh when you're on GLP ones is it's absolutely essential. And I I've taken I took it once and it was sort of like because it suppresses your appetite, you don't have the energy to strength train. People take GLP ones and they're like, I'm gonna suppress my appetite and lose heaps of weight. It's not really for that, like the weight, and it's the same with like reditrutide, which is another one that's going to be approved fairly shortly, which is in my opinion, it's better. It's a GLP3. If you're not doing the things to support a healthy lifestyle, not just losing heaps of weight, it's it's gonna work against you. You still need to lose heaps of protein. You can't just go, oh, I'm not gonna eat. Soon as you come off it, because you don't want to stay on these things forever, right? You kind of want to keep it.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Is that what they're meant to be? I don't know a lot about them. Are they meant to be interim until you you get your weight to a healthy place and then you're meant to carry it through through healthy diet and lifestyle?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, like I think that if you trick your body into like not being hungry, because it quite it sort of gets used to it, and then when you do come off it, because these things are expensive to suppress your appetite is unusual. So like either cycle it or kickstart it and come off it. But if you don't do the things that are really important to kind of like live a healthy lifestyle anyway, you're not gonna get the desired results. So, yes, I see a lot of people that kind of lose heaps and heaps of weight, then obviously they they you know their skin stretch, they look older. So, weight training is absolutely essential when you're taking to your P1s more than anyone else. While you're losing weight, you're not just losing fat, you're losing muscle. Muscle is required to burn fat. So if you're taking to your P1s and you think, oh yeah, great, I've lost whatever five kilos, 15 kilos, whatever you're trying to do, but you've not done weight training, you've just you've actually taken a big step backwards when you do come off it. And and if you stay on it and you don't do the things that you're supposed to do, you're just gonna deteriorate more and more and more. It's not a one-stop shop to sort of just go, oh yeah, I'm just gonna take that and I'll look great.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

There's no miracle fixed to anything, is there? You still gotta No.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

And as time goes on, it becomes more and more difficult to stay, to stay looking good and feeling good and all that sort of stuff. So GLP ones are great, but you do have to do the things that assist, that assist the way that it works.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Yeah, you can only trick your body for a certain amount of time and then it needs the natural.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Coming off it is is challenging as well. So people don't like they'll sort of start to up their dose, you know. What they should be doing is probably just staying where they are, starting to look at their diet, starting to look at their exercise regime, and then over time actually start to like take it down. Well, it's good.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

I know someone who went on and had like a support person guiding them through it. And I thought that's that's really helpful. That's that's what you would need, otherwise, you wouldn't know what to do. And I get why people do it. Like it's such a confidence thing. Like we're so judged by our appearance, and and and sometimes the longer you're out of shape, the harder it is to get back into it. Like, for instance, I this is seems unrelated, but I used to work with like a job network where people were off work for so long. I had to get them into work for the doll programs. They were off work for so long, they lost their confidence to get back into work. So even just doing like one day here working at Vinny's, it got them their confidence back for going out and having a regular schedule and talking to people. So a lot of them ended up getting work after that because they felt their confidence get back up. So I get why people would go on the something like Ozempic just to just to feel good about themselves. And then they probably want to keep going with taking care of themselves because they're, you know, it's almost like a fresh start. Let's start back from the beginning again.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

For sure. Like, and I just and that's why I think it is really good. But I again, like, I think it needs to be something that it's used as a tool, not as a quick fix. Yeah, so yeah, and um those particular peptides, they can have side effects that are kind of undesirable, like you get like nausea, which you know is difficult to manage when you're being social and those sorts of things. So it's it's something that is yeah, that is so good for kickstarting something. But I would say as well that even just for a mental health thing, there's a great sense of achievement when you can do something and then go, oh, look, I can stay in this space without sort of relying on relying on something else, yeah. Yeah, yes, support to talk to somebody about how you're feeling because a lot of people, as well, they can't manage the food noise in their head, especially if they work a lot. Yes. Or they've got a hard heavy family, you know, heavy family and work schedule. They just eat to stay awake, right? Which I get, you know.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Food noise, I've never heard that term before. That's that's a real thing. That's definitely been something that I've struggled with for a long, long time. Yeah. I mean, I grew up as a dancer with very thin girls, like it's just I was in diet culture from age 10. Like it's something I don't wish on anybody. That's why I hope none of my children want to get into dancing, but I'm sure it's improved a lot since then. But yeah, it's not good. We should be focusing on fitness, not on the aesthetic, that's for sure. What are some everyday habits that are making us look older than we should?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I think that most people are dehydrated and underslept. Those two things. And do you know what else as well? Like it our diet is huge. It's absolutely huge. You know, women at our age and we've got young children and we're doing work and all these sorts of things, a lot of people just grab whatever's there, or worse, they won't eat at all, you know, and then they'll go and have a salad and a bread roll or something like that. Those things age you like so, so much. But the the best thing is that as soon as you stop doing that and you and I know that time is such a such a big constraint for for everybody, I would say that again, taking the time to just weight train at all through at any time of the day, and even just prepping something, like even if you have cans of tuna, a few boiled eggs, fruit is amazing. So anything that's more like that's not just you know, protein bars or any like the things that are empty. Oh, agree on whole foods. Whole foods, yeah. Um, another thing that I think is uh very aging and and can easily be sort of uh avoided is that people's posture, because a lot of a lot of us work at home. I see that when people have good posture, they instantly look happier and they actually look younger.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Well, surely posture has gotten worse from computers and phones because we're all curved over like this. Because do you know what's funny? I worked in retail when I was young and never had any neck issues, used to wear heavy necklaces. Then when I went into office work and could never wear a necklace again because I would just get like stooped shoulder. I wear like a back brace thing that pulls my shoulders back as I work. So surely all of the technology has made our postures worse.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

And it causes headaches. Yeah, it's like very like taking the time to stretch if you're working at the computer all day, like just taking a stick, raising it above your head, you know, whatever, hanging off the door frame, all these sorts of things like is super, super important. And I even find like I don't work on the computer much, but there are times where I might have to do like three or four hours a day on the computer for whatever reason. And even after that, everything, it's it's actually your body sits into it. And it's hard to sort of go, I'm gonna go against that and go and open up my shoulders and open up my chest and stand up straight. It's easier to just sort of sit there and keep going and keep typing and sort of slump into it. So if it's your work every day, it takes effort, but the but the rewards are just they're so they're there. It's and I think Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

And and I break at least every hour to go for a little walk, but especially I do stretches and sort of like those somatic um sort of movement things. And I used to see that as a chore, and now I'm dying to do it because I know that straight away I feel good, like I've had an adrenaline rush or something. Like just that moving that stagnant energy through the body. I reckon the two best things I've implemented in my life in the last year are sunlight on my face. As soon as it streams in from my balcony, I run out. If my son's up, I grab my son, I'm like, quick, we're gonna go get sun. And we stand up there, just like face the sun. And then doing just movement constantly, especially when I first wake up, just to like get every all the fluid like moving around. That has changed my mood and my energy drastically.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Well, just mentioning that, even sunlight, the first sunlight in the morning, which I uh like I'm a huge believer in. I'm I'm up before sunlight because I'm a personal trainer. But the thing is, is that that actually readjusts your circadian rhythm, yeah, so your sleep is better, which would be super important for you at this point in time. And for your son too, so you can get some get some sleep as well. Exactly. And it all depends on his sleep. That's it. So sleep, obviously, good quality sleep is super anti-aging too. So, you know, just those sorts of things, making sure you're getting sunlight. I mean, I think it's a no-brainer as well that drinking alcohol is um I was gonna ask your take on caffeine and alcohol.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

I'm hearing just more and more, especially uh alcohol people reducing. Like there's so many, even vloggers I watch that used to drink like me. I drank a lot through my 20s and 30s because that was just what everyone did when you were out. And now I I haven't had a drink. The Lady Gargoy concert was the only time I've had a drink in about the last one to two years. I'm just not interested. I just don't I feel dehydrated, even if I have my hydrolyte. I don't know. I just I would rather feel really good. But then my lifestyle is different. If I was out and single, I'd probably still be drinking because that's I feel like it's a social thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yeah, I like for me, I just feel it in my body, and it's just you can feel straight away that it's like, oh, like it shouldn't be there, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 35:03

So um, I do know why I stopped first, mental health. I feel it was making me anxious, which is really odd because it used to do the opposite, and I I would feel anxious, like not after the first drink, but after the second drink. And I was like, nah, I just don't want to do it anymore. Yeah, oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

And it is it's it's very aging, like alcohol is super aging, it's hard on the liver, and you know, I think that that that's another thing that after 30, liver really it's it becomes slow, right? Everything slows down.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

So she's in retirement, she's she's living in a retirement village after 30. Yeah, and it dehydrates you, right? Like, doesn't caffeine do the same thing?

SPEAKER_00 35:44

There are good things with caffeine, but what happens is is that when people are super tired or they've got to really concentrate at work, they won't have one, they'll have five coffees a day. And then they're wired. That's a lot, yeah. That and that that is super dehydrating. That's an overload of the liver, also. So that yes, that becomes aging and it does interrupt your sleep too. So, like, oh not for everybody, but like Yeah, everyone's different, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:09

My dad's from Sicily and he has like an espresso after dinner and then lays down on the pillow and snores. I'm like, oh my god, like a heart racing. Yeah, there's just no way. No way, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

Yeah, but but that's the thing. Like, some people can just process it. I know I've got girlfriends as well that just they can have coffee at 4 p.m. and and they're fine, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Everyone's different. Yeah, but everything comes back to listening to your body. This is what I'm always talking about. And I feel like my body's different to so many people. But whenever I tune in and listen to my body, everything goes well. It's when I go against what I know doesn't suit me, then I sort of regret it.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And even like at 40 now, like we'll we touched on kid classes, right? If I do something that doesn't, there's just certain things that just don't agree with me anymore. And I think that probably more than other things, I'd say that probably exercise is something where I can feel, I can feel myself getting older where I go trying to impact stuff, or yeah, it just doesn't work for me anymore, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Like, I don't think I'll ever do a burpee ever again. I think I've said goodbye and broken up to burpees for good. I just it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good. Whereas now I'll do like I used to do like interval sprints and that felt good. Now that feels horrible. Now slow long distance running feels amazing. I'm loving that.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

So it's just listening to my body, it changes all the time, and I've got to ask her what she needs, and then when I follow through, the results and even like, yeah, and even sort of afterwards, and I think that you know, I know a lot of women who that they they they do drink and then they sort of, you know, I can't move weight, or I've, you know, I don't my mental health's not not amazing. Yeah, they kind of like know that it's not working for them. So but these is the it's the same sort of thing as like as a lot of people that say I feel really sluggish and it, but I you know, I I can't be bothered to take a walk or whatever. Yeah, your body sort of does tell you, right? Like this is what you need to do, yeah, or need to do.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

And do you know what doesn't work for me being really black and white or saying I will never drink again? That that's the worst thing. So I've sort of just said I've been sober curious the last few years, but I'm all about I'll change if I need to. Like if I do want a drink, I can't. It's when I do that really, yeah, black and white of yes or no, then it's sort of like years ago, I used to diet so hard and then have like a full binge day, like once a fortnight. I'd never do, I never feel like that anymore because I just allow myself to have things as I go now. So that works better for me.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

My best physique is when I focus on eating enough protein. And outside of that, I kind of eat what I want. I I don't and I don't, I don't go, oh, I've starved, so now I crave chocolate or now I crave pizza. Everything's significantly more balanced, right?

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Yes. I said this to you off air that when I'm in Italy eating carbs and pasta, I I literally look my best, but I think it's because I'm just in the moment enjoying life. Stress is low, I'm in the present moment. Like all that stuff matters. And of course, long walks. Long walks are the best. Like I couldn't live without long walks. I at the moment, because they're doing construction in my building, I'm walking my son two hours a day so he can nap. But it's it's my reward to myself because he's asleep and I'm like, oh, I can relax and listen to a podcast and yeah, love a good long walk. You you is your spot on. It's definitely listening to yourself and treating yourself with that love and compassion. It every area of life comes back to that. I I think it's more about um, I was I'm doing an episode, a solo episode on sort of tapping into the feminine energy, and that's part of it, you know, like just yeah, not punishing yourself. We're trying to live these masculine energy or these male-driven lives with a female body, and it it doesn't work that way at all.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

And also just I think that you know, our body is a gift, and I think that you know, treating it well and listening to it and and also a big there's a big component of mindfulness when you do things, right? So, like for me, like yes, I used to drink, you know, in my 20s and 30s when I go out. Well, I'm not in my 20s because I have my daughter was so young, but in my 30s, definitely. And there's been times when like I'll be like, I'm just gonna have wine, and like I don't even think about it, it's just what I did. Yeah, and so I think that there's a lot of like I I went through a big journey of like everything that I did. It was like, am I in my body? Am I present now? Like, and when I'm drinking wine, am I enjoying this wine? Do I need this? And that was a big catalyst for me to go, this is actually mindless, it's not mindful. And it's the same as running on empty salads, all of that is quite mindless, um, a mindless connection to yourself. And I think that when you're mindful, you can have a lot more control of what you do or don't do.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

Oh, I've had a real light bulb moment with you saying that. That is so much of our day-to-day lives is mindlessness. Like you're just doing what you've always done or what other people are doing. And when you stop and when you are mindful, or after you've had a meditation or just time by yourself and you check in, yeah, it you're like, that actually isn't working for me. And then you can pivot. Mindfulness is so crucial, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Absolutely. Whether it's your fitness journey or if it's something starting a business, as you'd know, starting your podcast. I think that um, and I'm and I'm guilty of it a lot, but there'll be times where you just mindlessly do things that take away from what you're wanting to achieve. It's when you come present, you can it's really easy to identify what you do and don't want, and it's really easy to identify what you should and shouldn't do at any moment. It's just really, it's just really taking the time to stay in that space as much as you can.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

Yes, very, very well said, and that that's the whole point of this podcast is tapping in and listening to the self all the time. Yeah. Okay, well, it sounds like you're very good at taking care of your needs and take, you know, filling up your cup. So, what's something you'll be doing in the next week to fill up your cup?

SPEAKER_00 42:11

More mindfulness. Now we've just been speaking about that, but that is something I've been working on probably over the last oh since the beginning of the year is just really being able to be present in the moment so that um I can get the most out of life. Being a PT and a Pilates instructor, I think that it's not even it's not just about aesthetics. It's actually it's it's all or even just physical health. I mean, for me, it's a lot of like mental health as well, and and you know, being able to just like calm down and and understand like what's what's good for me, what I appreciate, rather than beating myself up about what I could do or how I could be, being grateful for what I am doing. Because I think that for me, when I'm proud of something, I want to do more of it. You know, so being able to just be present and really enjoy what I'm doing and be happy with you know, with progress and also like you know, and and encouraging others to do that too.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

Yeah, progress over perfection. I love that so much. And I think as it's gonna get more and more, you know, online and AI and just overwhelming society, I think this mindfulness is is real and being in the present moment is what's gonna save us as humanity. So I think that's really good advice.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Yeah, well, I mean, I'm sure on your podcast you see a lot of a lot of these pieces come together, and you've I mean, I think that mental, physical, and spiritual health all all go hand in hand. They do.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

And every chat, I take away something for myself that's up leveled my life, but it's it's so true. They do everything goes in hand in hand. And what I love about everyone I speak to is that like there's all different advice, but a lot of it comes back to free stuff that's available to us all the time. So being out in sunlight, getting in nature, being present. You can do that now on any budget. So that's what I love about it. Like, and and a lot of the stuff I might talk about. might be repetitive but I think that's good. I think it's good to remind ourselves hey check in it's time to it's time to go touch grass.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

It's a lot of stress right so we forget to be mindful and it's a it's a really strong point to be reminded of all the time you know so I think I no I I I appreciate I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to go over that with you so thank you.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Oh I've enjoyed our chat so much thank you so much for your time today and for everything so lovely to meet you and I look forward to um to seeing seeing the final edit.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Oh thanks so much and everyone please do something in the next week to fill up your cup thank you again for being here today. I hope that this episode brought some value to you. I look forward to your company in the next episode and please connect with me on socials to keep this love fest going. Feel free to DM me with any questions at all and if you enjoyed this episode please consider sharing it with a loved one or in your Insta stories.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

And if you're feeling super generous a review on Apple Podcasts would be greatly appreciated. I'll catch you in the next episode