Apparently My Body Needs Maintenance Now

Apparently, turning 40 comes with a whole new to-do list—and most of it involves doctors, screenings, and trying to remember how much protein we’re supposed to eat. This week, we’re unraveling the health stuff no one really warned us about: mammograms, colonoscopies, heart health, GLP-1s, muscle, and everything else we’re suddenly supposed to be paying attention to. We’re not doctors—we’re just two women trying to keep up with the maintenance schedule.

The Weekly Unravel is a podcast about motherhood, midlife, perimenopause, and everything in between. Join friends Heather and Sarah as they navigate life’s twists and turns with tea, humor, honesty, and absolutely no expertise.

Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and connect with us on Instagram @theweeklyunravelpodcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the weekly unravel, where we talk about life, motherhood, and midlife out loud with tea and humor and zero expertise. Hello. Hi Sarah. How's it going? Yeah, so good. How are you? It's so good to see you. I know we actually haven't recorded in over three weeks, which feels very strange. So I'm very happy to be back here. Yeah. So with uh school being out and summer starting, and then like there were sick kids and things got in the way, and we're back. We're making it work in the summer. Doing it. So how are you? I'm okay. Highs in love. Highs in looks of the last couple weeks. Okay, so we had 4th of July. Right. And we didn't have plans for 4th of July, which I was actually really excited about because we have so many plans for everything else. So we're kind of looking forward to a quiet day. And my parents came over, we just did a little barbecue. Easy breezy. And then they left. And I should have left it at that. But you know, the overachiever in me just wants to be the mom that makes the most magic possible. So I decide, hey, let's drive up to the beach, you know, 15-minute ride, and we'll watch the fireworks. And it'll be reasonably. Doesn't that sound wonderful having this like fun and exciting mom? And um, one of my kids was like, I don't want to. You know, I don't want to. I'm like, no, we're doing it. I'm making the magic. So we go, we drive, we get there, and we can see storm clouds like rolling in, but the magic will not be stopped, right? So we we get out onto the beach and there's fireworks and they're beautiful. And I'm taking pictures of my husband and the boys and the fireworks behind them, and it's great. And then my husband says, All right, that's gonna be the last one because we gotta go. And I'm like, You are so dramatic. Party poop, you're lame, everything's fine. Why are you such a stick in the mud? And within like half a second, a squall comes in and starts just ripping sand. Like we were in a sandstorm.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

We're in an absolute sandstorm. And like it's right, like blowing in the kids' faces because they're down. So we we're kind of getting them and like covering their heads and dragging them to the car. We get in the car, start driving home, and all along the way, there's like down trees. Like 80 mile-an-hour windstorm decides to show up. So we're like kind of driving around. Like at one point, there was no way to get around it. My husband just got out of the car and starts like moving like the tree, like dragging it out of the road. And now my son is his the one who didn't want to go. His hysterical crying. He's mom, daddy's gonna get struck by lightning. What's in my daddy? I'm like, your dad is fine, everything's fine. And we get home, and there is cover. I like I'm still scooping sand out of my ears. Like, it was just it was in everywhere, in everything. My one kid was just kind of like, all right, I'm gonna bad. Like that was terrible. But my other little guy was just like traumatized and hysterical. So it was like, I thought we were gonna have like the this beautiful magic. Yeah, so the lesson is just stop. Just don't try. He lowered lower expectations, all that. So that was um, I mean, it was not a horrible thing, but it was it was intense. It was an intense experience. My good thing, so I have a a really good friend who recently is is moving. She's moving um out of state, and I had given her daughter what used to be my Barbie Magic mansion. It was like this giant thing. Um, so before they left, she gave it back to me. Uh, and I'm like, oh no, you didn't say what this thing. But I have to tell you, I just feel very inspired by the Barbie house. I want to like renovate it. And I I can't tell you why I want to do this. I don't really know myself, but I I'm feeling like my creative side waking up a little bit that like I haven't felt in like a really long time. That's good. And it just coincided with this like dollhouse arriving, and now I can't just have this giant dollhouse project. Yeah, so now it's my project. So I've been looking up like miniature dollhouse stuff, and so it's frivolous, but it's fun. And now it's giving you something. Yeah, and and again, any jump start to get back to using creativity and creating art that I'm I'm excited about. So I like it. Excited to play with my dollhouse. Right, yeah, yeah. I like it. So like honor the little girl in me. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. It's also yeah, like your inner child is coming out to play. Yeah, and like I miss her. She's like been really repressed. So I'm excited for her to get her dollhouse back and do some stuff. I get that.

unknown 4:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

How about you, Hatha? What's going on? Um, it's been a couple weeks. Kids out of school before camp started. We've had a few trips. So, one thing that's been really good, the trips were good, and it's so much easier traveling with them now that they're a little bit older. And I feel like it took a lot of moments to really appreciate that. Like, we're not we're not traveling with a booster seat anymore. So one of them was a plane ride. So we don't have a booster seat. We're not packing it, putting it in the car and packing the suitcase. That whole little dance we did every time we got somewhere. Um, they each have their own roller backpacks, so they're all their stuff is in there. I'm like, my backpack is so much lighter because I'm not carrying their iPads and their snacks and their, you know, it's like they've got all of their stuff and they're old enough to like want to have their own and roll it and be responsible for it mostly. So, like the ease of some of those things is so nice. Like, I feel like those little bits of I have my a little more independence for me, they have more independence, but we're all kind of enjoying the process a little bit more because it's not as frustrating. So that that's that was really nice. Plus, the trips were really great. Um, we saw a family on two different trips, and we had a great time, the kids had a great time. It was just nice, you know, to get out of like the normal routine and and be somewhere else for a bit. For sure. It was that was really nice. Um, and now they're in camp and I'm happy about that too. Yeah. So so that's good. What's been challenging? The time when between because they actually had three weeks between can't school and camp. It's just regardless of all those good things, that is all still there. And it's hard because we're so out of our normal routine, and I really appreciate routine as I am getting older. I want to eat the food in my kitchen, I want to work out when I work out, I want to get in my bed with my pillow and my stuff, you know. I just like the comforts of home and the routine of daily life, that's just for me. And then like the kids actually having a schedule is so nice. So when they're off of a schedule, it's like there's so much more managing of like your screen time and your eating, and why are we not having sugar for breakfast? Because we don't do that. And you know, like making lunch and not it's just a whole different thing when the kids are off and like managing all that because they're a little out of whack and their sleep schedule is out of whack, yeah. Their emotions during the day, and there's just so much more to manage. Yeah. So I feel like like we did really good stuff in there, and I feel like good memories were made, and I had some really nice moments, and I feel good about that. And it was like, okay, yay, they start camp in a week and a half. Okay, yes, they start camping five days. So, like I need their routine. So now that we're in the routine, I'm trying to like find my rhythm a little again. Yeah. You know, take some deep breaths and like find my own space.

unknown 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

So yeah, work in progress on that. Yeah. I feel like even the first three days I went to camp, I would like couldn't take a deep breath. I'm like, why am I still? I don't I like couldn't settle in. Right. Cause you probably just needed a minute just to like yeah, re restore. Yeah. So like even those first three days, I still felt like I was with them all the time or like in go all the time. So yeah, but I feel like I'm easing in. Now that it's Friday of the first week, I'm easing in. I'm easing in. And I've got five more weeks of camp. So that is great. Yeah. So I'll take that. It's great. So let's talk about our topic today. We're a different topic today, Heather. Oh boy, today's a fun one. Okay. So we are talking about um all the health things we need to be aware of and that we've been thrown into after the age of 40. So it's like the age when going to see different doctors becomes a part-time job. It's just like part of what we have to do now. Yeah, it's our social circuit. Yeah, like regularly scheduled appointments. Um, so we're gonna talk about things like your primary care, your gynecologist, your dermatologist, your gastro, your cardiologist. Uh, what else do we have? Oh, you gotta get your mammo, your colonoscopy, you have to reduce your stress, eat the protein, all the things. Eat the protein, yeah. So we're gonna talk about all of that. Okay. First, let's talk about the tea we're drinking today to go along with this topic. What tea is supporting us on our healthy journey? Trimeric. It's so good for us. So we're going to drink this today during our um talk. Okay. And this tea is so good for anti-inflammation. Let's get rid of inflammation. It's got antioxidants in it. I think it's probably good for stress, but I don't know. I don't know if it says that or not. But it's really all about the anti-inflammation because apparently inflammation is something we really have to think about more and more and more as we get older. Yep. So I don't love the taste of it that much. Sure. But I know it's good for me. So it's like taking medicine. So it's like a medicinal tea, is what we're doing today because the topic is medical stuff. Yeah, and health isn't supposed to be fun or delicious. So that's what we're doing. Yeah. Okay. So today we're gonna start with talking about boobs. Yay! Okay, so have you had a mammogram? I have had a mammogram. Okay. Um, I was a little late. I think I was 42 when I got my first one. Um, it so I I'm kind of chasty and people freaked me out because they kept telling me, oh, those boobs. Like, you're definitely gonna have to go for a sonogram. Like, it's definitely gonna but here's the thing, guys. Muscle is dense, fat is not. So my boobs were fine. Thank you very much. And so did you go one time, they didn't call you back. Anything one time didn't call me back. All good. They squish you a little bit. Was it comfortable? No. Was it terrible? No, it was fine. Uh, one thing I will share that I was not aware of. Um, I use a regular deodorant. I've tried in the past to use natural deodorants. I terrible, like my armpits just turn into giant scars. Um, so I do use a regular, like jet whatever, but it has aluminum in it. And I didn't realize, but you can't wear that. You can't have deodorant on for a mammogram. So that was my lesson learned. But other than that, did they make you wipe it off your name? They did, yeah. Yeah, well, if they had made me wipe it off, it would have been better. But like she's started doing it, like she's like, oh, and I'm like, oh god, like, yeah. So that was awkward. Okay. But otherwise, and let me tell you, tell me about mine. So um, I think before I went, I was probably 42-ish also. Um, so still breastfeeding at 40.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Um, imagine. Oh, no, we're they tell you like you need six months of dried everything out before you can go. Um, so I think I was told by my gynecologist. If they tell you, if they like call you back because they want you to come back in and look at something, don't freak out. This happens to most people or so many people, whatever she said, on your first time gone. So I was like, okay, bruh. So I go and then I get the call. They want me to come back. And I was like, okay, I was told this is gonna happen. I'm not gonna freak out. But of course, it's not a call you want to get. So I definitely had a little bit of like, I'm uncomfortable. I go back, everything's fine. Okay, great. This is just what happens. So the next year I went back for my yearly, or probably it was more like a year and a half, because I tend to do that. Um I don't know if it was that time. It was either that time or the year after. Um, no, I think it was it was that, it was the second time that I again I had a call back. I'm like, uh, okay, is there anything you can do just like check them more thoroughly the first time so you don't have to do the callback every time? Like, I don't need this every time. Freaking great. And then maybe it was the third time going where they said they that the tech said she or the doctor who was in there said they found something that they weren't sure about. And I was like, great. What does that mean? Yeah, what does that mean? They said, Well, um at that point, I think they had done maybe they started doing ultrasounds for me also by that point, because clearly I keep getting called back. So I think at that point there was like every time I get a mammogram and an ultrasound. I just do damn damn both of it every time. So on the ultrasound, they saw something that they were unsure about. And the doctor said, So we could we have a choice. We could just wait six months, you come back, we'll see what it looks like, or we could just get a biopsy because I'm not sure about this. And just get that out of the way now and find out. She said, you know, and then she said, like, if it were my sister I was talking to, I would recommend just getting the biopsy. So so now I'm like, I don't want to think about this for the next six months. Okay, I'm getting a boob biopsy. Great. So now I'm getting a breast biopsy, which is really, really, really not an enjoyable experience. So I'm gonna tell you about it. Oh my gosh. Okay. So for a breast biopsy, you they basically um like stick a long needle into your boob and do whatever they have to do and check it out and and whatever. But the needle in the boob part is is is the problem here. It's terrible. Okay, so the worst part is there were two things. It was COVID-ish times, I think. So this is so gross. And I think about this often. So I was in there with this doctor, supposed to be the best doctor doing it. He had him on the mask because we have everyone's masked, and he tried like hairs all over the outside of your mouth. It was disgusting. I mean, like beards are drunking anyway. And everything's supposed to be so sterile in here, and you have hairs all over the outside of your mask. Do you not know that? The nurses obviously know that. Has no one told you? Are they scared to tell you? All this is going through my head. I know. Why do you let the hairs all is this mask the same one you've been wearing for five days? Are you not replacing your mask? What is happening? Because I'm just looking at him while he's doing the thing. What's the problem with the mouth? It was gross, it was so gross. So that is a big memory of disgusting. Even if COVID didn't exist, just the image of that is so disgusting. It was so gross. So that's my memory, basically. That and being totally uncomfortable and freaked out in that room because it's just weird to have your, you know, they numb you and whatever. We've had a lot of things done with my private areas with all the IVF and the utility, all the shit. I'm used to that. Yeah. I've never had a needle in my boob before. So anyway, my boobs are fine, came back normal. And after that, I started getting a little bit pissed off. I was like, I need to stop getting called in for boobs that are fine. Like I got annoyed. So I actually took a two two years. I'm I'm not recommending anybody do this. I'm just telling you my experience. Yeah, for sure. Don't do this. But I was, I was, they wanted me to come back in six months. I'm like, I'm not coming back anytime soon. Like, I've been traumatized. I keep getting called back. My boobs are fine. I'm not doing this. So I didn't go back for two years. Okay. Don't do that. But that's what I did. Right. Like, I'm not, I'm, I'm over this. Like, I need a break from being scared of things in my boobs. Of course. So anyway, then I started going back for regular ones with the mammo and the ultrasound, and everything's been fine and haven't had any other things. And no more hairy face beard boss. Anyway, so that's my mammogram experience. So I am the one that just keeps getting called back and things checked out, even though my boobs are fine. Yeah, because muscle is dense and you're muscly. I don't know that that's it, but there's something going on that they really just want to see what's going on. I think they just like your boobs. Maybe that's it. Maybe I just have really nice boobs. They just like let's see them. Yeah. And the nurse is like, we should bring her back in because she has really nice boobs. That was perky. All right, let's talk about colonoscopies. I know you have not had the experience. I have not had the experience yet. So you ready? Let me know what I have experienced. Look forward to. So this is this is how it works. You ready? So I think now they suggest it over 45. It used to be 50. Right. Um, so basically, what you do is you drink the most disgusting drink you may ever have in your entire life. You drink this up and makes you just shit everything out for the next however many hours. You have to get everything out of your system. And I'm just giving you the facts first. And then you go in the next day when it's your appointment time, and they put you to sleep, and they stick a tube up your butt, and they check things out and whatever. Yeah. So I did this whole thing. The absolute worst part is the drink. Okay. Yeah. The absolute worst part is the drink. Because when you're in the bathroom, you just have to schedule that time. Like I mom's just going to be in the bathroom for the next few hours, in and out. You're not going anywhere. You're not eating anything, so you can't eat that day, just liquids. So you're just going to be home pooping, which is like, whatever. Okay. Yeah. Um, the drink is so disgusting. I almost threw up. I'm sure maybe other people can tolerate it better than I did. That I was so nauseated drinking this. It was rough to get it down. Right. It's just, I don't know what's in it. It's just disgusting. Like, is it worse than like when you do like the glucose test when you're pregnant? Yes. Yes, it is worse. Because the glucose test is just a super sugary drink. Yeah. It's like syrupy and sugary. This is not, this is like salty and just disgusting. You had me at salty. I know. So I will say though, this is kind of funny. And my friend is probably going to listen to this podcast. I think she'll know it's her. So before I got my colonoscopy, a friend was telling me how she had just gotten hers. And I was like pushing it off, whenever it sounds awful. I don't want to do it. She's like, you know what? It was actually kind of nice because I felt the thinnest and slimmest I'd ever I felt so good. Everything was out of my system. I was so cleaned out. Everything was just like starting fresh. It's like getting a colonic. Exactly. She was like, I felt so good for that day. And I was like, okay, that doesn't sound that bad. She didn't mention how bad the drink girls. I'm like, okay, that doesn't sound that terrible. Then just go to sleep for the colonoscopy. So she kind of gave me a little push to do it because she did it sound not that terrible. And there was like a slight silver lining. Anyway, so she kind of pushed me to, you know, I was like, okay, I'll do it. So I'm glad I got it out of the way and everything was fine in my colon. So, you know, then I got to move on. So that's okay. I I'm so I'm getting a vision now because I, you know, I'm gonna be 45 next summer. So can we just like get a hotel suite together? And like you can do schedule yours. And like that would be tele bathroom. Thankfully, I have 10 years before I have to do it again. Oh man, you have to do it. I got to do it again. That's good. Oh, that's good. If they find stuff, then you do it. Then you have to do it more frequently. But thankfully, mine was all clear. So I got 10 years. I'm not going near that thing for a while. But I will support you. Yeah. I'll be here while you drink the thing if you'd like my support. Yeah, I feel like I would like to just like book myself a hotel for the night. Like so I can just shit alone. Like, honestly, yeah, watch TV or like embarrassment. Yeah. Pause it, go to the bathroom. Come back, watch TV, pause it, go to the bathroom. Yeah.

unknown 18:32

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Okay, so next thing we're gonna talk about is um our hearts. Oh cardiologists. Sure. Yeah. So the cardiologist thing. Um, I didn't really give much thought to this, but I did know that heart disease is like the number one killer for women. I've heard that stat, but I didn't really think much about it. And then um I got some recent blood work. My cholesterol's always been a not always, but it's been a little bit high lately, like not a lot. But I found they also found some markers for genetic predisposition to heart disease because it runs in my family, and I have these markers. Okay. So then I started freaking out a little bit, and I was like, oh God, that really scares the crap out of me because heart stuff just scares me. Because normally it's like you have a heart attack and it's done. There's not like a lead up, it's not like an illness that lasts a while. You know, it's like that happens a lot. Someone has a heart attack, so it started freaking me out. Um, so I did go to the cardiologist to just get like a workup, and I did an ultrasound for my heart. They did um this other scan to check to see if there's calcium buildup, and I had none. Everything was good. So basically, you know, their advice to me is because I have genetic risks to just keep my cholesterol as low as possible, so which is annoying because it's like they're it as the cardiologist said, he's like, you know, someone will walk in here, they're 400 pounds, and their cholesterol is better than yours. Like they could be eating McDonald's while they're in my office and their cholesterol is still better than yours. It's just, you know, you roll the dice. It's like you just happen to have a genetic risk factor, and that's just what it is. I'm like, well, that sucks. And that's not fair, but okay. So I just have to keep it really low to balance out the genetic stuff. Right. Um, and I just I have to say, so that nobody thinks you're like fat shimming. Like, what I need to make so clear is like Heather is just a very health conscious and mindful person. Like I think about it. Are you a super healthy eater, you have a super consistent exercise routine, like you take amazing care of yourself and you dedicate a lot of time and thought into that. Yeah. So it's frustrating that despite all your best efforts, yes, that the role of the genetic dice. Well, the issue that is that is my point. It's very much the point that it's just you roll the dice and whatever, and very aware of health stuff. Um, and I don't think the doctor was trying to get that to me, but it's just like no, no, no. The point is like, yeah, this extreme example could have a better cholesterol than you. Yeah, yeah. And that just sucks. It's very what he says. But so I was interested in this and found some interesting statistics. There are about 44% of women are living with some kind of heart disease. I think it's that was maybe after the age of 50. I'm like, what? Is that accurate? Wild. Yeah. So there must be like different levels, obviously, too. But that's a huge amount. And um, where was the other number? It was like a certain amount of people that had high cholesterol. It was a similar thing. It was like almost 50% of women over a certain age have high cholesterol. Wow. I was like, what? So yeah. It's like that's horrifying. That is hard. Yeah, the heart stuff kind of freaks me out. So anyway, take care of your heart, get all the numbers checked, get your cholesterol checked. That's my little PSA. Yeah. Just be on top of it because it's that's just a scary one. It is. It's not like a slow moving thing. I mean, it now well, or it is, but you don't know it until framed. And that's what's scary. Yeah. And I think what's good now is a lot of health insurances, if you're fortunate enough to have health insurance, you know, um do cover nutritionalists. And I think that's yes, probably an underutilized resource that that now you check your health plans, you might have it. Um okay, so I wanna hand something over to you. Okay. Which is um Um GLPs. GLPs. Know all about this. Yeah. Tell us about it. Okay. So this is my current health journey. So my whole life, I was very, very slim. Um through my 20s, I was a complete gym rat, fit as a fiddle, doing yoga, all this stuff. Um, and then, you know, as I have previously shared with you guys, I went through the experience I went through with pregnancy and losing my child, and it kind of uh fell apart a little bit after that, and I started gaining weight. And then the older I got, the harder it became to take that weight off until it reached a point where I was hundred pounds heavier than I had been 14 years before. That's a lot. That's a lot. I mean let's be clear. Did I start out too thin? Yes. Yeah. Was my starting point a little low? Yes, absolutely. Was my ending point too high? Oh my gosh, yes. Um, so after trying diets, trying exercise, crying my eyes out, um, it I spoke to my doctor, and I but like you said, you can be in a state of unhealth but still be healthy. You know, like my cholesterol was good, my blood pressure was good, I didn't have these risks. But I I said to my doctor, I said, listen, I carry weed around my stomach. It's the same way my mom carries it. My mom is now attacked to diabetic. I can't, I don't want to go there. Like I don't I don't want to do this. So um she prescribes Zet Bound. I've been on it since December, and so far I've lost 55 pounds. So much. I so much. I feel I feel like myself. Yeah, that's my big question. It's like, how do you love? You look amazing. Yeah, but how do you feel? I feel good. Like I feel energy-wise, and also just not carrying around that weight because yeah, the weight actually puts so much pressure on your joints and all the other like it affects how you walk around in the world. So, and I also do have autoimmune disease. I have psoriasis, it doesn't express a lot on my skin, and I find like if I manage stress and manage diet, it really doesn't come out. But I but I have it, um, and I can flare, but the um GLP1s also reduce inflammation. So, whatever markers that inflammatory autoimmune disease cause in the body, like they do more like for psoriasis, it's doing more internally than you're seeing on on the skin, right? So I think that having that has also kind of helped me. Um now, side effect-wise, it has up until the last like my doctor's slowly been increasing my dose, so now I'm on 7.5. And I've started to feel this one effect that they call like I'm gonna pronounce this word wrong, I'm sure, ah, hedonia, like loss of pleasure, like loss of oh yeah. So I've been like a little like joy in life. Yeah, but not like not like I'm sad or depressed, but just like I'm kind of like, hmm, like I just a baseline of like a little flat, a little flattened. Yeah, but I I feel like that'll go away. I haven't really had anything else bad. It's I know people have talked about like constipation and I feel good otherwise. I I feel really good, and it feels like I said, good in my body. Feels good to be able to move my body. Um my son and I did a mud run together. You did? Yes, and we had done it a couple years back, so I did it in a much different body. Oh, that's so cool. And it felt so different doing it now, like being able like there was one thing where you jump from like a mud mountain to a mud mountain with a big mud pit in between. And the last time I did it, I right in the pit. This time I whizzed right over and I didn't get wet at all, which I later regretted because it was really hot out. Um, and um this might be I I'm really committed to doing this podcast and just sharing everything. Um, you know, as we age ladies and we get a little, you know, uh iffy when we laugh or cough or jump. I was oh yeah, yeah, seeing coming out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that has alleviated. Oh wow. A lot. So I you guess that's like weight pressure, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um, so that's been a wonderful, a wonderful thing to have alleviated. So it's overall good. I highly recommend it. Now, you can just let that be the overall, like you can't just let that be the only thing you do, obviously. Um, when my kids were in school, I was doing the gym. I can't wait till they go back so I can get back. Because right now I would call myself skinny fat, you know, like I've lost the weight, but I'm a little soft. Um, so I just tone up because I know that that's really important as we eat. That's the next thing we're gonna tell. Oh my god, all right, just walk up, sister. We're leading it in. Okay, so basically, we need to eat protein things all the time. So after 40, our bodies are just like, okay, muscle, I guess I don't need you anymore. Bye. And our muscles just start going away. Like we just lose muscle mass, which is so unfair and so annoying. Um, so uh we can just put these together. So there's the fact that we lose muscle as we get older is unfair and annoying, and leads to why everyone's talking about protein right now and why talking about women have to be lifting weights. And it's just it's it's for that. I mean, there are other benefits to lifting weights as as well, but in terms of the muscle thing, like the muscle is so important for our bones, for our metabolism, for our hormone, for so many things. Right. Um, and we just are losing it. So we have to actually work to get it back. And it's annoying and it's frustrating because it's just more work for us to do for the getting older, you know. So if we don't eat enough protein, we can't build the muscle. Right. And if you're not lifting weights or doing some kind of resistance something, you are not going to build the muscle. So we have to be both eating enough protein and lifting heavy things so that we can put this muscle on our body because we need it as we get older, otherwise, it's all just going away. Great. It sucks. It's well, I I spend a stupid amount of time thinking about how much protein something has and if I'm getting enough protein in a day. Right. You know, because I'm very committed to like work out a lot, getting strong muscles and all the things. It's just annoying and unfair, but but but it's like a thing we can't ignore after a certain age. I it sucks. So I I'm kind of for the muscle-y, like I kind of want to focus on like joyful movement, like moving in life and doing things because going to a gym does not appeal to me. And I'm not super consistent about things, nor am I good at consistency. Yeah. So trying to find things that I can do. You have to find something fun. Gardening, like be out there doing, yeah. Like then I'll I'll engage with it and do it. Otherwise, I'll like go to a gym, feel awkward, I know, and leave in like 10 minutes like, well, I don't I know. If it's if you can find something you love doing, it's definitely the best way. Like doing handstands, right? Makes me so happy. It mostly just built my upper body, not my lower body. So then I do like weight stuff for my lower body. That's good. For upper body, I'm like, I'm not doing any of that stuff. I'm just gonna do my handstands. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it makes me happy at the same time. Yeah. Um, I have annoying to have to think about this stuff. But it's it's like you get to a point where it's either you either do this or you don't, and it becomes very clear right as you get older and if you remain active and healthy and strong and all that, and or if you start deteriorating. Right. And I see that with people that I work with because I mostly work with women over the age of 55, 60. Okay. And it's either it's it's like you make a choice. You either work on building your strength and your balance and all of these things, or you don't, and it just keeps going whatever direction it's gonna go. Whichever lane you took, right? It just keeps going that way. So it's gonna keep getting worse and worse and worse, or you can get stronger as you get older. Right. You know, there are people who I teach that are 70 something years old that are stronger than they were 10 years ago. And it's inspiring and it's amazing. So, but it's annoying because it just takes a lot of work and it's just more we have to do so much when we get older just to maintain the health we had 20 years ago. Right. And like that's what's so annoying. So we didn't have to work for it 20 years ago, but now it's so much work, so many appointments, all of these things. Right. Yeah, I feel like I don't necessarily want to live forever. Like, I'm I'm okay with like not being super old, but like I wanna, what are this? It's not the years in your life, but the life in your years, like yeah, I definitely don't want to be crumbling and and suffering. So yeah. So there's probably more that we can talk about, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give one story and then we'll do like some Facebook responses. Yeah, let's share some good ones. But first, my story is this. So we're gonna talk about shingles for a moment. Oh. Because when you think of shingles, I mean, I always thought like, oh, old people thing. Yeah. Right? Yeah, I think about the commercials for old people. So um a couple months ago, I started getting this pain in my leg that felt like sciatica. So if anyone's ever had sciatica pain, it it sucks, goes down the leg, it's very nervy. Um, and I thought, well, this is strange because like I'm a body movement person. I know how to take care of my body. I normally, if I get any twinges in my leg, I know how to release it and work it. You know, it was it was weird. So it was a I was a little embarrassed too about this pain I was having. I was like, I don't want to tell my husband how much this actually hurts. Um, and I didn't like tell other people too much because I was like, this feels weird, but it hurts so much that there were times I was walking around and I had to stop walking and go sit on the bed because I was in so much pain. Ooh. I was like, okay, just gonna keep stretching and doing the things and whatever.

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Yeah.

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So maybe a week and a half later, it was getting better, still there, but much better. I started seeing these little um these little like marks on my foot, like a little rash. And I was like, that's strange. The same foot of the one leg it was going down. So I go to Google trying to figure this out. And I did have the thought of shingles. I'm like, shingles, I know shows up in a rash, but that doesn't make any sense. And it seemed unlikely, but I found like that could actually be what it is because shingles apparently can show up. I just used to hear about it on your back or your torso or whatever. I didn't know much about it, but it could show up this way. So then I did some more digging, and then I think for the first day I was like, that's that's not it. It doesn't make any sense. And then another little rash showed up on my side. I'm like, damn it, this has gotta be it. This is a different. I've I have skin stuff, so I tend to get rashes if stuff's going on with me. This was totally different. So I found some studies that show that sciatic can can show up as a sorry, that shingles can show up as a sciatica-like feeling and then present rashes on the leg or the foot. So it happened. Did I ever tell you this before this? I don't know. Okay, so then so I go to the doctor, yeah, and I go with all of my studies in my phone, you know. Yeah. I go and the nurse, I tell the nurse, I'm like, I think I have shingles. This is what's going on. She's like, that's strange. I've never seen it present that way. I said, I held up my phone, I'm like, here are some studies. I'm like going in with dad, and she's like, Yeah, that does look like the kind of rash that would be a shingles rash. Wow. Anyway, so I had shingles and it showed up in this totally bizarre way. So also once I knew that it was shingles, I was I felt free to tell people, I'm in so much pain. I was trying to downplay because I thought it was sciatica. And I felt embarrassed. Like as a movement person, I'm like, can't get myself out of pain. But then I was like, oh my god, it hurts so much. Frage the nerve pain, my skin hurt, and it was crazy. Anyway, they gave me some antivirals and it went away. So little PSA. Apparently, shingles can show up in all kinds of places on your body. So if you're having some nerve stuff in weird areas, it might be shingles, it might be shingles, and you don't have to get it when you're 70 because I'm in my 40s. Wow. So yeah, I think it was 48, but not happy. So um, yeah, so that's my little shingles PSA. All right. I love it. This is so much fun. Our bodies are so much fun. Okay, so let's let's go find out what some of our Facebook responses were. We got some good. So one of the questions, it was like a two-part question. What did you start thinking about more after 40? And what um like a way that you started taking care of yourself that you hadn't before or something like that. So people said they started getting bone density scans, which is another similar thing. Yeah. And that's another reason for the weightlifting and all the resistance training and the protein, because building the muscle helps you build, keep your bones. Um, people talked about getting the full hormone panel, which we've keep going into episode episodes that we will keep going into. Um, people said their gastro problems got worse when they got older. They had to be more mindful of how they're eating, which is another thing we should get into in another episode because like I just can't eat the way that I used to. Oh, no. No. So that's like a whole thing. Full body scan, cancer screenings at a dermatologist. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I only had one full body screening. Have you done that? I know, but as an Irish German girl, I probably should. Yeah. Like quite often. My husband has. Yeah. Just like check your whole body, and you know, like that's an important one too. And a lot of people talked about weight training, all of that was a big answer working out, weight training, um, and also just stop giving a shit what people think about you. Yeah, a lot of people gave that mental health kind of answer. Because that's a huge part of stress that we've probably all had in our lives. So giving less of a shit about what people think about you. It's amazing. And when we talk about inflammation, you know, cortisol plays a huge part in the stress hormone, plays a huge part. So yeah, stop stop caring about people and it'll be so much healthier. Yeah. So thank you for listening. Basically, eat protein, lift weights, get your boob squished, schedule, schedule your colonoscopy, check your heart, take vitamin D. Ooh, we didn't get into that. Oh, right. Take vitamin D, yeah, and try not to get shingles. Yeah. Good luck out there. See you next week soon.