HSOS #1: The Two Most Important Midlife Health Habits

 In this episode of Her Season of Strength, Kim Duffy breaks down the two biggest midlife health game changers: protein and strength training. She shares how both transformed her life in her 40s, despite being a dietitian for over 30 years, and how these habits can boost metabolism, energy, and confidence for women navigating perimenopause and beyond. This is a practical, powerful starting point for anyone ready to age with more strength and less frustration. 

Let’s talk. 

Welcome to Her Season of Strength—where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy—registered dietitian, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman when it comes to aging like you mean it. 

This show isn’t about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles. It’s about building real strength—physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I’ll share straight-talking nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies, and conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin once again. 

Menopause is not an ending, it is only the beginning. This is your season of strength. 

 In this episode, here are the 7 key takeaways: 

1. Protein and strength training are the two biggest game changers for women over 40 to improve how they feel, move, and age.

2. After 40, women naturally lose muscle mass, which slows metabolism and increases body fat—especially without intentional action.

3. Protein is non-negotiable because it supports muscle, metabolism, blood sugar balance, hormone health, and bone strength.

4. A “protein-first” mindset helps build balanced meals that reduce cravings, improve energy, and support hormone function.

5. Strength training is essential to preserve muscle, protect bones, and boost functional strength and confidence.

6. Start simple: 2–3 full-body sessions per week, using bodyweight, bands, or dumbbells—no gym required.

7. Progress over perfection is the goal—tiny daily shifts in protein and movement can lead to powerful long-term transformation.

Links & resources for this episode:

Fit After 50 Plus Program: 8-Week Nutrition Coaching & Fitness Program for women 50+.

Free cheat sheet: "20 Tips to Crushing Menopause

Join my free weekly newsletter list and get a new high protein recipe sent to your inbox every Thursday.

Find me on social media: Instagram I Facebook I Tiktok

Transcript

 Hi there, and welcome to her season of Strength, where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy, registered dietician, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman. When it comes to aging like you mean it, this show isn't about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles.

It's about building real strength, physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I'll share straight talking, nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies. And conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin. Once again, menopause isn't an ending. It's only the beginning. This is your season of strength.

Hello and welcome to the very first episode of the Her Season of Strength podcast. I'm so happy you're here and I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day. While you're walking the dog or you're picking weeds to spend a little time with me, I've been debating on what would be the most powerful bit of information I could share with you all on this first episode, and I went back to what has had the most impact for me as well as my clients who are all women over age 40.

And decided to focus on the two biggest midlife game changers, which make the fastest, most noticeable impact on how we feel, how we move, and how we age. And those two things are. Protein intake and strength training. So I have to admit, I didn't start seriously strength training or really being intentional about protein intake until I was in my forties.

And I've been a dietician for over 30 years. So yes I did know the importance, but. Not to sound Dr. Too dramatic, but it changed everything. Not in just my body but how I show up and feel in my life. Don't get me wrong, ladies, I have always been a thicker girl and I love my curves.

I have thighs and a butt, and that's okay. Rather than hating on these parts of myself, I now see muscle and strength there, and I have never felt more powerful. I also fully admit I have a sweet tooth. If there is ice cream in the house, I will eat it before I ramped up my protein intake. The sweet cravings were definitely worse, and I struggled to be mindful in the evenings especially.

Especially, you're sitting there watching tv, all you think about is, oh, I just need a little bit of a treat. So let's start with protein. So why does it matter? Let's break it down. So after age 40, especially during and after perimenopause, we start to lose about 1% of our muscle mass every year.

That's up to eight to 10% each decade if we're not doing anything to maintain it. So that means it's gonna affect our metabolism. Which is gonna slow, it's gonna decrease our strength, and we're gonna see an increase in body fat, which is the complaint that I frequently hear from women, is they suddenly see an increase in body fat, especially around their midsection.

So here's three reasons. Protein needs to become an absolute non-negotiable in your day. First of all, it's gonna help to protect your muscle, and in that it protects your metabolism and helps you to age with strength and independence. Okay? It a big piece of hormone support. Is blood sugar stability.

So when our blood sugars are more stable, meaning that we have less highs and lows or spikes and drops, we're gonna see that we have less hanger, right? So when we get overly hungry and we feel just. Absolutely irritable. We're gonna have fewer crashes, which is gonna mean that we're gonna have more of that long-term and steady energy, which is key.

It's de it also definitely affects our cravings. So when our blood sugar is stable. We're not gonna have those cravings in that search for something that's sweet, right? To pick us up and give us more energy. We're gonna have more of that long-term energy. And lastly, it's gonna help, like I said, with that hormone support and our bone.

So protein is made up of amino acids, which our body uses to build enzymes. It helps it, it uses to build neurotransmitters, which are those happy brain chemicals. And it even supports our bone strength. So what are some easy ways to add in more protein? So here's some three easy places to start. First, I want you to have a protein first mindset.

So when you're building a meal, I want you to always start with that protein piece. So what is protein? Protein is gonna be our meat, our fish, our eggs, or dairy products. It's also gonna be thing our plant-based products like beans and legumes, like tofu, black beans, lentils, chickpeas. It's also gonna, we're also gonna find some little bit in our nuts and seeds.

Okay? All those things are gonna help us to add protein there. So we start with that Protein. I love it when you always add on some vegetables, right? Because that fiber is also a key component when it comes to. Blood sugar regulation and blood sugar balance as, as well as our gut health. It's so important.

It is key to keeping our our guts. Strong and healthy, which can also affect our mental health. Okay. And then lastly, we're gonna add in those whole grains or those carbohydrates, that's gonna be, our potatoes, our breads, our pasta, our rice. We're gonna try to add in those that are high in fiber, which are gonna be those whole grains.

And then lastly, we'll add in our fats, which are gonna be. Take up a much smaller piece of that, but that's gonna be, that's gonna be your oils, like your olive oil or avocado oil. It's gonna be your nuts and seeds. It's gonna be your dressings or your sauces. That's where your most of your fat's gonna be coming from.

And then. Sometimes it can be as small as starting with a breakfast reset. So looking at, each of your meals where, maybe you start with breakfast, maybe instead of your cereal or your toast, you have a Greek yogurt bowl. You add on some berries, you add on maybe a tablespoon of nuts or seeds, or you maybe you do a protein smoothie.

I love to make my. My morning smoothie with my power greens, I typically add in some whey protein powder, collagen powder, some frozen berries like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries add in a little bit of chia and flax seeds, a little avocado or some almond milk and you're good to go with a nice hearty breakfast smoothie.

Also, you can make eggs or, maybe an egg and add in some egg whites for some extra protein to make a nice scramble with some veggies or or even make  breakfast muffins. Or you throw in some eggs and veggies, maybe a little meat and cheese, super easy ways to beef up the protein in your breakfast.

And then, and lastly, upgrade your snacks. So instead of choosing those chips to the crackers, think things like tuna packs or maybe edamame maybe beef sticks or even cottage cheese with some fruit. Those are easy ways to add in just a little bit of more protein. I also for anybody looking for some new high protein meal and snack ideas, I have a free seven day high protein meal plan that you can grab at www.strengthinnutrition.com.

And I will throw the link to that in the show notes. So I like to tell my clients that protein is your best friend in perimenopause. You don't need to become a bodybuilder, but you do need to actually feed your body what it's craving. And it's not carbs and sugar, it's actually protein and fiber. And you will be truly amazed once you beef up those two things, how the cravings for those other foods can decrease.

So the second midlife game changer is of course, strength training. And it's seriously a non-negotiable because we all want to feel capable. But after 40, unless you are actually being intentional with strength or resistance training, we will see that your strength and your bone density or your bone strength start to decrease.

So what the heck is strength training? So basically. That is anything that provides some resistance to those muscles, it challenges them. And ultimately it's breaking down, putting little tiny micro tears in those muscles. And as those muscles heal, if we give them adequate protein or adequate amino acids to heal, they will become stronger in that adaptation after the fact.

Okay, the key is that we want to challenge those muscles so we can use things like dumbbells or barbells or kettlebells or even our own body weight or bands to provide that resistance to those muscles and fatigue them, and then ultimately they're gonna get stronger. Okay, so three reasons why lifting matters so much more than ever, especially for my women.

Over 40. Is that more muscle? Equals a higher metabolism. So muscle burns, more calories at rest than fat does. So with age, we're naturally going to see an increase in our body fat, and so that's why we can start to see a decrease in how many calories we're burning at rest. In other words, our metabolism.

So by maintaining that muscle or building more muscle, we're gonna see that our body is just more efficient. It's actually burning more calories in a resting state. Secondly, strength training is gonna help us to prevent that bone loss or stop the bone loss. In some cases we can actually see we build bone, but it is much harder to do as we get older.

Typically, we are building bone up until age 30 and then we will hit a maintenance period and once we hit menopause, we will start to see that decrease quite rapidly. So that's where strength training is so important to protect against that bone loss because we can see more osteopenia and osteoporosis and, ultimately that can mean that we are breaking bones easier, breaking that hip with a fall, most commonly you'll see the hip breaks, which can really set a person back.

And then lastly, strength training is an absolute confidence booster. There's something deeply powerful about knowing that you can lift, carry, push, pull, whatever life throws at you. Not to mention just, even if you're not seeing changes on the scale, because we do know that, that muscle is going to take up less space than that same weight of fat, right?

So we can see that we lose some inches. We may not see that on the scale, but that's why it's so important to focus more on, on other factors of success or results as compared to just the scale by itself. But. It can be so powerful when you start to see things, our tone or, and you can start to see that you can do things easier.

You can run up the stairs without getting winded. You can lift up your grandchildren without your back hurting. So many other ways to show and help to build that confidence with strength training. I wanna say is you don't need to join a gym. You don't need to spend loads of money on a gym membership monthly, or spend lots of time, each day strength training or doing squats.

Here's how you can keep it simple. So two to three times a week. That's an amazing goal to start with, right? And if you are just starting out, you're gonna wanna aim for full body sessions. You don't really need, you don't have to do, upper body push and pull or lower body start simple because the more simple we can make this, the more likely that you're gonna continue with it.

Okay. And then start with things like body weight. You can do pushups, you can do sit-ups, you can do, tricep presses, just off of your couch or the bench. You can use bands, which might be the next step, or even light dumbbells. Doesn't have to be extreme. We don't need to jump right into the Smith machine or barbell work.

Next, keep your workout short so they don't need to be 90 minutes long. Even if you can give 20 to 30 minutes. Focus on quality, not on quantity. So good range of motion, meaning, they're, that you're able to do that full movement with good form, meaning that you're not gonna increase risk of injury.

Okay, so just keep them short. My goodness, there's loads of exercises on the internet that you can start with or on YouTube or, I have some great core workouts on my site. That's another free videos for even starting with the. That base, that foundation of our core, of our abdominals to help keep our body strong, help with balance.

And then lastly, we are gonna, I recommend you track your strength. So whether you're, adding additional repetitions, you're adding weight, you're improving your form. These are all factors in showing that you are seeing progress, you are seeing results. The biggest way that we can actually build strength is something called progressive overload.

So what that means is that we are continually challenging, challenging those muscles and you are causing them to become fatigued, right? By doing maybe a few more reps than you did last time. Maybe you're increasing the weight from what you did last time. Maybe you're able to do more sets of all those exercises.

Or maybe you add on, you were doing two days a week and you do three days a week. All of these are ways that we can use that progressive overload to continue to challenge your body. And through that, we are gonna see strength gain. We're gonna see those results. Okay. So if you're, continually doing the same thing over, you're never challenging yourself.

You might not see the same results as when you are. So one, one of my favorite things is hearing clients say that, I squatted down to pick up my grandbaby, and I could never do that before, or I had to sit with them on my lap, or I was able to move furniture without asking for help.

These are all forms of functional strength. And what that means is just they they, the strength training's actually helping you to do just your everyday activities easier. You have more endurance, you have more strength. And that, that's why we do this. This isn't about becoming, like I said, becoming a bodybuilder or this isn't about, wanting to get swollen or, get these giant muscles.

It is about aging. With strength, it's about preventing injuries. It's about increasing our balance so that we are, at less risk of falling. It's about our quality of life. It's about enjoying aging and being independent for as long as possible. That's why we do this. If you're overwhelmed, you don't know where to begin, you just start here.

I want you to try to eat a little more protein this week. Okay. Try to add it in with each of your meals. Do a little more than what you were doing before, and then try to, add in some strength training. Or if you're already doing strength training, try to add in a little progressive overload.

Try to, continue to challenge those muscles, continue to fatigue those muscles to help build that strength. That's it. These two simple changes are gonna give you more return on your energy investment than any trendy detox or diet, or 10 step morning routine. So you know, if you're over 40, your body's changing.

We know it, right? We know things are changing. You deserve to support it and not punish it. It and not feel upset about it, and not get frustrated about it. Protein and strength training. They aren't about looking a certain way. They're about feeling strong, feeling stable, and feeling more in control of your body.

So if this episode hit home, please, I would greatly appreciate it if you would send it to a friend who needs to hear it. If you want a free cheat sheet on seven days worth of high protein meals. Just send me the word plan on Instagram. I'll send it your way. Otherwise, I'm gonna throw the link in the show notes and you can grab it there.

And just remember, this is all about progress over perfection, right? If you are doing one tiny little thing that's better than you were doing yesterday, that is progress. And remember that, this is for the long term. We are not, this is not a short term quick fix. We are looking to age better over the long haul.

We wanna be, in our eighties, still able to run around and care for ourselves and mow the lawn and do all the things that we wanna do. Maybe that's travel for you, or maybe that's just spending time with your family or being independent, living in your own house. This is the long term.

This is the long haul. So stop looking at things like, I need to lose 20 pounds over the next month. Look at it as, what if I was down 20 pounds over the next year? Wouldn't that be amazing? And you know what? It's gonna take less changes for you to do and less restriction and less deprivation for you to make these small changes, but be consistent with them.

So just try to keep putting one foot in front of the other, trying to be just a tiny little bit better than you or yesterday. And that is progress. And remember to focus on the progress without the perfection because we are in this for the long haul. This is your season of strength. Have a great day and don't forget to hit follow and share this with a friend.

Talk to you next time.