I’m 41 years old and more in-tune and focused than ever. Entering middle-age was a huge wake-up call for me. As many of us figure out parenthood, we also face the challenges presented by our own aging parents. This was absolutely true for me, and I wanted to prove to myself, and my family that life wasn’t over – in fact it was just the beginning of a new chapter. To thrive during this life stage, I recognized I needed to develop routines to take the guess work out of getting and staying healthy. These five strategies have worked for me and I have a feeling they’ll work for you too. While they’re super simple, I get that they’re not super easy. But trust me. You’re better than easy. and are 100 percent worth the challenge.
“Location has energy and time has memory.”
– Jay Shetty
Strategy #1. Develop a Workout Routine
Those who know me best know that I’ve never been one to stick to a routine. While I strive for consistent high-performance, I’ve historically been a go-with-the flow type of girl, which meant that I worked out at 6am at times and others at 10pm. But I’ve found that doing something at the same time and place develops a certain brain cognition, helping to make that behavior easier and feel more natural – especially when more and more is added to your plate. One of my favorite wellness figures, Jay Shetty, says that “location has energy and time has memory”.
It doesn’t mean that you need to work out in the same place and time every single day, but if you can develop regularity and consistency around where and when, it really helps. For me, I try my best to workout first thing in the morning. On weekdays, I wake up, take a few sips of hot water with lemon, and hit the yoga mat. On weekends, when I have more time, I hop on the Peloton bike for a 20-30 minute cycling class. Having a workout routine helps eliminate one more thing to think about during your already busy day / week. It increases predictability and perhaps most importantly, it helps to create a habit. Once you’ve formed a habit, it becomes part of who you are, and that’s powerful. See this post for how I stay fit in 15 minutes or less a day.
Strategy #2. Diet and Nutrition – Specifically Protein Consumption.
We have all heard and read so much about a proper diet. The problem is, there are so many competing theories it’s hard to pin down what and who’s right. Ultimately, each body is different, and we all must listen to our own bodies. But what I’ve distilled as most salient amongst health and nutritionist experts is that good nutrition boils down to two main things: minimize consumption of processed foods and maximize protein consumption, but not just any protein. The quality of protein we consume is also incredibly important.
The importance of Protein.
I know this sounds obvious but protein contains the building blocks required build your muscles and bones. In addition, protein consumption is so important is because our body can’t produce it unlike other macro-nutrients, such as carbohydrates and fat. Moreover, it helps boost your energy, balance blood sugar, improves mental clarity, impacts sleep, decreases inflammation, improves body composition and reduces cravings.
Appropriate Protein Quantity
Most women are more than 100 pounds, which means that most of us should be consuming at least 100 grams of protein per day. For context, 6 ounces of salmon contains approximately 30 grams of protein and 1/2 cup of tempeh contains about 15 grams. Before you get too excited about that 11 grams of protein per serving in your collagen like I did, note that while collagen contains amino acids supporting bone and joint health, it lacks the essential amino acids found in food sources like eggs and meat that your body requires to produce protein. As a result, collagen does not help improve muscle mass (see strategy #3 for more on muscle).
You are probably not consuming enough protein. I wasn’t either and am still working on consuming enough protein. See here for some unprocessed protein sources.
Strategy #3. Incorporate Weight or Resistance Training.
Your skeletal muscle is the largest organ in your body. Muscle mass, even amongst women, and even if you’re not a body builder is important for everyone. This becomes increasingly important as we age. According to the Office on Women’s Health, beginning at age 30, women lose 3-5% of muscle mass per decade. The only way to combat this is by incorporating strength and resistance training into our routines AND consuming enough quality protein (see strategy #2 above). As Dr. Gabrielle Lyon says, we don’t have an obesity epidemic in this country, we have a mid-life muscle crisis. Listen to her TED talk here. Studies have long shown the benefits of weight training. In 2012, the National Institute of Health published an article entitled “Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health” and described its medicinal benefits which include but are not limited to:
- increasing metabolism
- decreasing fat
- improving cardiovascular health
- increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL, aka, good cholesterol) and decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL, aka bad choletsterol)
- increasing bone density
Strategy #4. Incorporate intermittent fasting into your routine.
I was going through one of those periods when my diet felt directionless. It wasn’t terrible, but it definitely wasn’t great. I felt that I was consuming enough macronutrients, but treating myself way too much. Eating far too many almond croissants and foods that contribute to inflammation, poor gut health, and frankly lower levels of energy. A day of indulgence for my birthday turned into a week that turned into a month. My pants started feeling tighter, my energy levels weren’t what I wanted them to be and my skin certainly wasn’t appreciating my diet. I couldn’t be my best because I wasn’t feeling my best. It was time to get a bit regimented, so I started intermittent fasting regularly.
It was hard in the beginning, no doubt. But it truthfully didn’t take long before I started noticing benefits. For the first week, I started with 12 hours, mostly to instill the discipline of ending the consumption of food in the late evenings. I don’t know about you, but historically (I say historically because I’ve genuinely become more of a morning person), I’ve been a night owl, which means that I’ll snack to stay up later. And my late night snacks did not include Greek yogurt and chia seeds, but something super processed like chips, which totally goes against my desire to consume less processed foods to begin with! I’d eat from 8am to 8pm and adjusted to cater to my schedule. If my last meal ended at 8:30pm, I wouldn’t start eating until 8:30 the next morning. For the first week of intermittent fasting, I found myself thinking about food a lot in the evening after putting my little one down. But after developing just a wee bit of discipline, it wasn’t that hard. We’ve all been through harder. I reined in the late-night mindless stacking and then increased my fasting hours from 12 – 16. I’m not typically hungry in the morning to begin with, so I didn’t find waiting until noon to start eating too challenging.
Intermittent Fasting Benefits
Unlike other habits, I experienced the benefits of intermittent fasting pretty quickly, including the following:
- increased mental clarity and focus. Apparently this is attributed to increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is a protein that’s important for the survival and plasticity of neurons. Neuroplasticity is critical for learning, brain development, memory formation – you know, the things that make us human. I love that increased BDNF is a potential biproduct of intermittent fasting, but the mental clarity and focus is one of my favorite benefits. Being focused to efficiently complete whatever you set out to do is one of the most empowering feelings.
- stable energy levels. I’ve noticed sustained energy levels, particularly in the morning. It feels like the increased mental clarity fuels my energy levels. After getting into a flow, it’s much easier to sustain whatever you’re moving towards, whether that be a project you’re working on, your to-do list or just completing your day with ease.
- appetite regulation. I found myself more in tune with my body’s hunger and fullness queues. Also, after fasting for 16 hours, your stomach is in a contracted state, so you naturally feel full with potentially less food than you’d otherwise be consuming. While appetite regulation is great for losing weight, the bigger win for me was simply being more in touch with my body – what it needs and doesn’t.
- weight loss. That month of indulgence resulted in increased body mass that I did not enjoy. My clothes felt too tight, I had less energy, and just felt incredibly . . . blah. I try not to focus so much on what a scale tells me, but it’s all interconnected. As I said before, when you’re not feeling your best, you can’t be your best. And to me that’s what it’s all about: doing what’s in your control to help yourself feel your best so you can show up as your best self for yourself and your community.
Intermittent Fasting for Women
Women must be mindful of fasting according to our 28-30 day hormone cycles as documented by Dr. Mindy Pelz. Generally, we should be fasting during the first 20 days of our cycle, we’re producing estrogen and testosterone. Around day 20, roughly the week before our periods, we produce progesterone. In fact, this is the only time we produce progesterone, which is what causes the uterine lining to shed for egg fertilization. Progesterone also produce a calming neurotransmitter which helps the body rest and reduces anxiety. When we fast, we don’t produce enough of this hormone and common side effects include hair loss, anxiety, and irregular periods like spotting. To avoid this simply, do not fast the week before your period. Listen to her interview with Mel Robbins here. I found it to be incredibly informative.
Strategy #5. Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself, and Keep Showing Up.
Everything I’ve listed above are guidelines that have worked for me and many others I’ve spoken to. It’s important to structure a routine that works best for you. If you’re motivated by sweets, reward yourself after you’ve attained a goal – whether that be a single day of fasting, or a week of meeting your workout goals.
Treat yourself!
I’d recommend treating yourself to something that has redeeming qualities, like dark chocolate, but do you. As you can see on my Indulgent page, I believe that life’s too short to live without celebration and indulgence. But celebrate in moderation and in way that doesn’t make you feel like crap the next day, week, month. Do I workout, intermittent fast, and consume unprocessed, protein rich foods for every meal, every single day? No. But when I fall off the rails for too long, I lose the associated benefits of mental clarity, being in tune with my body and begin to feel directionless. And feeling directionless is not conducive to showing up to be the boss that I want to be. This will happen, but it’s okay. Forgive yourself and bring yourself back, one meal, one workout, one fasting period at a time. Keep showing up for you, because no one else can do that for you. You got this!
Want ideas on how to stay fit 15 minutes or less? Click here.
