Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Last Diet Podcast 🎙️
The Last Diet Podcast is for people who want to rebuild a strong, athletic body that supports their life — not consumes it.
We talk training, nutrition, structure, and identity for people in their 30s–50s who’ve been fit before and want a clear, sustainable way to perform well again in work, family, and life.
No extremes. No gimmicks. Just standards, structure, and long-term performance.
Welcome to the Last Diet podcast, the last podcast you'll ever need to create the last diet you ever need. I'm your host, Mike Finnegan. Let's dive in. Alright, team. We're back with another episode.
Speaker 1:And as promised, we have a special guest on the other end of the podcast today. So for those of you that have listened to the podcast for a while you will know Martina. So Martina has worked with me and she is actually living out in Bahrain at the moment. She's a teacher, she's also a coach. So just wanted to get Martina in today and just have conversation around just fitness in terms of like everything outside of weight loss.
Speaker 1:So Martina, before we actually get started with the topic, maybe just for people who don't know, just a quick introduction and we can lock in.
Speaker 2:Perfect, Mike. Thanks again for having me on this evening. It's always amazing to come on to your podcasts. So as Mike said, my name is Martina. I'm from Limerick originally in Ireland, but I moved to Bahrain seven years ago.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I teach at the moment in one of the senior schools here, but I'm also a coach PT. And, yeah, mainly working with ladies just for weight loss, fat loss, specialism, but just overall holistic wellness and fitness in general.
Speaker 1:Love it. Love it. Love it. And I think that's where the conversation is going to kind of take us, Martina, because I guess we, as coaches, we always always specialize in the fat loss, weight loss because it is the biggest issue people have a lot of times. And obviously, there's so many people out there that need that help.
Speaker 1:But me and you obviously had a lot of conversations around this in terms of how this can be so much more for people than just the weight loss and how sometimes focusing on the weight loss as your predominant goal is actually the thing that stops people from getting their best out of fitness. So what we're gonna talk about today, guys, is like how you can start to move away from weight loss as your main goal. Now, for those that are already turned this off and say, Well, weight loss is my main goal and I want that more than anything. It doesn't mean you won't get weight loss. It just means that you're not focusing on that as the only thing.
Speaker 1:Because when you actually start to focus on other things, a lot of the times, I would say most of the time, you're going to get into a really good, healthy fish shape anyway. So with that being said, Martina, what do you feel has been the reason most people have such a poor relationship with weight loss? And why do you think it's important to maybe focus on other things as well as that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So definitely, Mike. I mean, it's it's always a hot topic or whatever, you know, but people, I suppose, have developed a poor relationship, I think, because there's so much information out there. I think there's a lot of information overload for people. And there's always different ideas thrown out and the latest kind of, you know, trend and the latest sort of, I suppose, hot topic with regards to fat loss and weight loss or whatever.
Speaker 2:And people just get a little bit overwhelmed, I think, by everything. And then it's confusion. And then it's, I suppose panic, and they're not sure really what direction to go in and whatnot, you know. So I think that's probably the main reason as well. And what did the second part of that, Mike?
Speaker 2:Sorry, you'd asked me about the initial
Speaker 1:Just important. Just importance of having other goals that are attached to your fitness journey as opposed to just being about a number on skills.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that's the norm, I guess. It's normal to feel that like that initially. It's like that visual, you want to lose some weight, you want to look a little bit better. But obviously, it's about having more than that, like, because what will happen when you'll get to the point where you've reached your weight loss goal, you know, you need to have something else there in your life that's going to fulfill you and to carry you forward.
Speaker 2:So I guess usually when we start and have worked with clients in the past, Mike, that we discovered that initially weight loss is what they want. But it develops into a whole other story like it develops into maybe they've taken up a new hobby, they've learned a new skill, and they slowly but surely kind of shift their focus away from the weight loss, which is happening concurrently and at the same time, but it doesn't become the main sort of the main focus in a sense, know, it's still happening naturally. And it's still happening like concurrently at the same time. But people start to shift and realize, oh, I have more energy, or I can maybe run a five ks now, or I've learned a new skill or, you know, I feel more confident in applying for a promotion at work. So people get a holistic outcome and a holistic, I suppose, reward to what initially started as one factor now has turned into a whole sort of complete thing as opposed to one single variable.
Speaker 2:And I think that's what makes it important that we just don't focus on the weight loss because you will come to a point where you'll reach your goal. So what happens next? So it's good that you have other factors, I suppose growing in your mind so that you can work and nurture those as well when you've actually reached the weight loss success. Know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. I totally agree. I totally agree. There's so many other elements to this.
Speaker 1:Now I I know you said there when you reach your weight loss goal, but I actually feel for a lot of people, they don't reach their weight loss goal because when weight loss is everything and coming back to what maybe causes a prorated weight, I feel like, as you said, there's so much out there now in terms of overwhelm and overload. But also, most people have been brought up in the Weight Watchers and Slimming Clubs and the operation transformation, all the things that have been so fixated on weight. I feel like women especially have been affected by this, but even men, where it's very, very much like how much weight we lost, how quickly we lost that weight. And they often attach their identity to that. And then it's a case of, well, I need to lose this weight to feel happy or feel enough.
Speaker 1:And then where this becomes very toxic is when people start their fitness journey. There's nothing wrong, by the way. There's nothing wrong by being motivated by weight loss and wanting to start because you're maybe feeling not great in yourself and you want to lose weight. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But the key point I'm trying to make really with this is that if weight loss is the only thing you're focusing on and the number of scales is everything, it's like, as you said, it's like what happens after you get there.
Speaker 1:And most people don't even get there because when you're focusing only on that, it becomes so toxic that people don't actually keep it up. And no matter how well I've seen this many times actually, no matter how well someone actually is doing or no matter how good they're feeling or how, you know, like the new habits have actually helped all others in their life, This burial of the scales has stalled or gone up or hiked, and it's almost like throwing the baby out of the water. It's like, well, if the scales isn't gone down, what's the point of doing this? There's such a toxic relationship with that. So something I'd actually like to delve into as well, Martina, like, why do you think people hold themselves back from maybe leaning into other goals such as because I know you work obviously females primarily and we often see this.
Speaker 1:I know you have maybe friends as well that maybe that like a female that might be even a bit older and it's just like almost afraid to lean into other things that they could do and are capable of doing. And I see this in men as well, you know, it's like where if they don't see themselves as an athlete or they don't see themselves as a fit person, they avoid goals. You talked there about one of your clients trying to do a five ks. Why do you think people are maybe avoiding it?
Speaker 2:I suppose I was just jotting down there, as you were saying it, Mike. I think the two main reasons that I've experienced with the first one that you've kind of touched on it there is fear of failure. So a lot of people that I've come across with as well are kind of so programmed into having to succeed all the time that if they don't, they feel like they've been a failure. So sometimes people are scared to take on something new because what if I what if it doesn't work out? What if I don't succeed?
Speaker 2:What if I can't run the five ks? What if I have to stop? And there's all these kind of, I suppose, thoughts that go into the mind that talk them out of the situation before they've even got to the start line. So fear of failure is a huge, huge one. And the second one is stepping out of the comfort zone.
Speaker 2:A lot of people are very comfortable and cozy in their current situation. And they don't want to step out of the comfort zone because of again, the fear of failure, and it's unfamiliar territory. So they've got so used to and it's like habitual. Like I had a conversation with somebody recently about literally to say kind of a little bit off, but about an area and all this kind of construction work that was going on. And I said, God, does it not annoy you?
Speaker 2:And they said, I don't even see it now. It's habitual. Like it's just kind of molded into their surroundings in a sense. So it's the same with this. It's like a fear of stepping out of the comfort zone that they're so conditioned and happy and just and sometimes it's okay to stay in there.
Speaker 2:You don't have to always like you know push yourself out of it. But that's where the growth is. And I think we've talked about that a lot before as well. That just taking that small little step just to try something new can just excel into a huge amount of growth then moving forward. And for me, that's the two main reasons I've seen with people very, very fearful of like, what if I fail, you know, Martina?
Speaker 2:What if it doesn't work out? What if I what if x, y, and z happens? And I read a book on it before. It's it's I can't think of the exact name on it, Mike, where you've sort of talked yourself out of it before you've even signed up for it. You know?
Speaker 2:And a lot of people do that. And then it's like, I won't do it now before they've even tried, like, you know? So, yeah, for me, that's that's that's what I'm seeing a lot. You know?
Speaker 1:I agree with you. Yeah. It's it's it's like they're thinking too far ahead before they've even taken the the first step to to doing it. So what you said there that I wanna pull back on is the like you said, the habitual thing of of it's all they have known, they've got so used to this. And I think that ties a lot into identity as well.
Speaker 1:It's like if you don't see yourself as a fit person, then how can you become a runner? Do know if you see yourself as maybe you're a bit older? It's like, well, how can you do, you know, a high rocks or do weights? So it's like we attach our identity to things that, again, maybe society has told us, well, you can't do that. You're you can't do that because you're a woman or you can't do that because you're man or you can't do that because you're too old.
Speaker 1:You can't do that because you're, you know, whatever. And then we we tend to then just accept that as a norm and it's a self fulfilling prophecy. And as you said, as well as that, then it's like when there's a fear of fear of doing something, tend to avoid. So it's like taking that first step can be really scary. But this is where I think there's an awful lot of power in fitness for people because beyond the weight loss, right, when you start to actually embrace all the fitness gives you, you can actually throw yourself in the different things that you actually might enjoy.
Speaker 1:So I actually had a client before and she was really, really, really struggling with her weight. It was affecting her life so, so much to the point where, like, she she couldn't even function. She was so anxious and she couldn't go out and do things. And we worked so much on weight loss. It's like, oh, you got to eat this, you got to do this.
Speaker 1:And it was all focused on weight loss, weight loss, weight loss. But she struggled. She struggled so much. Like, no matter how much she wanted it, she just couldn't stay consistent. And she had such a poor relationship with it that she just kept sabotaging herself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was actually only when she found exercise and running specifically that she fell in love with the process. And she joined a running club, and she met new people and she started doing Couch five ks, but then she actually started doing runs. And it became so much more about how she could function and belonging to a group and belonging to a sport or such, running a sport, that all the other stuff just sorted itself out. She lost the weight. She became now what she would say is like she became a runner, right?
Speaker 1:But she also became like a fit and healthy person that is looking after herself. So she's no longer this person who is chasing weight loss, a yo yo dater. She became someone who is now fit and healthy. But she had to do it differently. She had to throw herself into other things and actually started enjoying things before she actually came to that.
Speaker 1:And for most people, like any time people, especially people that are just trying to lose weight, it's like, well, what's the best exercise for fat loss? And then throw them something to think that they absolutely hate because they they think that's going to that's going to be the thing that they need to do. It's like they hate it so much that they start resenting it and they attach it into the failure that they're actually going through. So, yeah, it's an interesting one. I feel for a lot of people, could see a lot of value in maybe, outside of weight loss, just not parting it, but it being maybe a secondary or tertiary goal and actually focusing on fitness and actually trying to fall in love with fitness instead of it being just about weight loss.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Mike. Yeah. Yeah. Because as you said, sometimes when you shift the pressure off of that initial, you know, I suppose thinking around fat loss and weight loss, and as you said, then it just can naturally and organically happen then when you start to move the goalpost a little bit. You know, it's like us in the running community or whatever, a lot of people get very taken with pace and the time and etc, etc.
Speaker 2:But sometimes like, and it's something I've worked on a lot in the last few months is because I get very nervous before different races and events, because it was kind of like that a time kind of thing in your head. But when I shifted it to like the enjoyment, the community that being able to do it, oh, look at the surroundings, look at the lovely weather, look at the scenery, look at the people you're meeting, that then you enjoy the race so much. And then you got to the end and you were like, oh, geez, I'm after getting a great time or whatever, because the shift and the pressure, you know, moved to one side, so that the focus was on the surroundings, on the enjoyment, on your ability to be able to do it, on like, I'm going to digress the fitness, don't I get to do this? It sounds cliche with the different statements. But when you change that, because it's something I worked on a lot.
Speaker 2:And now it's like, you come to the end and an organic moment where you see, oh, actually, I'm after knocking a couple of seconds off. And it even relies when you stop looking at the watch, and you stop sort of making the clock being the focus. And it's the same with the scales. Like when you take the scales away, and you start, as you said, maybe picking up a hobby, going for walks, just putting that enjoyment. And it's funny, because isn't it, we know from stress related, it's the irony of being so focused on the scales, the stress levels will elevate, we know that stalls the whole process, and then the cycle just goes around and around.
Speaker 2:So when you kind of move away that, I suppose stress factor, then things can happen naturally, like, you know, and move in the right direction for you holistically then, like, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But it's it's also counterintuitive. Like like you said Yeah. When you focus less on the performance, you perform better. When you focus too much on the times and everything, you actually Yeah.
Speaker 1:You get in your head, you perform less. Like you said, that's the exact same thing when it comes to weight loss. Now, I would say, right, for some people, like me and you, for example, Martijn, let's just say we wanted to lose some body fat and go through our phase and focusing on that specifically, it's not a big deal because we're not our relationship with it isn't really, really toxic. So I would say this is for people really that really struggle with weight loss. It's for people that like they've tried it so many times, but they can't see it on top of it.
Speaker 1:Like anyone that comes into my programme now, I'm always focusing on, as you said, the enjoyment element, but also building the habits, right? Because for them, it has to become part of who they are. It has to become part of their identity. And outside of the weight loss, and I often say this to people, it's like, if you aren't getting weight loss right now, what are the benefits of doing this for you? If you aren't targeting weight loss.
Speaker 1:And so often, they can read off so many things, but my energy is so much better. I'm actually so much happier at home. I'm a better role model. The kids are actually doing the things I'm doing now as well. It gets me out of the house.
Speaker 1:I'm starting to meet new people. I'm far better at work because I'm just in a better zone in terms of productivity. So you can read off all the things. You just have to realise, okay, well, this doesn't have to be a torturous, punish myself journey. I can actually implement this stuff and create a lifestyle around it.
Speaker 1:And it be so much beneficial. But then again, the irony of all that is when you do that, you will end up at a healthy weight and you will end up fitter. Even if you aren't tracking weight, if you're not tracking your calories and all that stuff, you would end up there anyway. So it's, like I said, it's counterintuitive, but that's where most people should put more of their energy into
Speaker 2:that identity
Speaker 1:shift and wanting this to be a part of their life because then you stop resenting the journey and you actually start embracing it because it's given you so much value.
Speaker 2:As you said, Mike, there, I think the keyword in that is like lifestyle. Because like we've seen so many people and we still see it like where they go through phases of like extreme restriction, you know, and then it lasts a short time because it's hard like and you know, I suppose it is easier for us. We've been through the processes like, you know, both of us have done, we've tried everything, done everything. We know over years like what works, you know, and what needs to be done. But as you said, when people are struggling, and they get into that phase of like restriction and removing foods and things like that as well, that makes the journey impossible.
Speaker 2:That's where the challenges and the difficulties come in. But when, as you said, people realize that it can just be a lifestyle, and it can be an organic and a natural process. And it doesn't have to be as difficult. Of course, the work has to be done in a sense to achieve it. But it doesn't have to be that extreme.
Speaker 1:It's hard to explain sometimes, but it's like you have to separate the two things, really, because let's just say, okay, there's principles of weight loss, okay? We can tell people, right, you got to eat in a calorie deficit, you have to be burning more calories than you are consuming. And then to do this, we have to eat certain types of foods. We have to eat a certain amount of food. We have to do so much exercise and movement.
Speaker 1:And people are like, okay, I can do that. I can do all that. Right? And they fall into this. I'm gonna go on a plan now to do this.
Speaker 1:So give me a plan to help with fat loss. And that's fine. Like, learning about that stuff is absolutely fine. But we have to separate that then from lifestyle changes because, yes, they are tied together to some extent, but if you don't improve your habits, so if you're not learning how to actually naturally move more, if you're not learning how to enjoy exercise and fit into your busy schedule, if you're not learning how to eat better quality foods because you just want to energise yourself and actually feel healthy, if you're not learning all them things outside of just wanting to lose weight, then even if you go through the process of fat loss, we go on a plan, we lose weight because you know the principles. Okay.
Speaker 1:I can eat that food for a while. Okay. I can do that many steps for a while. I can do that exercise as well. But even if you get your weight loss goal, which most people don't because they just fall off, you then have no stability because you haven't created habits, lifestyle, as you said.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Habits that actually last the test of time. And that's where people go on these cycles of yo yoing. It's like they lose weight, but then they put it back on because they haven't built any stability. So this is where, like, the habit change and the identity shift becomes so important because you have to become that person, that person who exercises for longevity, that person who eats for health, the person who moves every day because they want it to know for their heads, for fresh air.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You have to become that person. And if you don't, you're just going to keep falling back into the same cycle of putting on the way to get anyway. But the beauty of it is if you I guarantee for most people this podcast, right? If you don't think about fat loss at all and you just focus on the habits and the healthy lifestyle change that we just talked about there, you're going to see results and you're going to continue to see results. You're going to get into healthy weight range if you don't even think about weight.
Speaker 1:But it has to be the priority because otherwise, as I said, you're just going to on the cycle forever.
Speaker 2:Well, that's it. Yeah, yeah, like there has to be like, as I said, I always see it as like, you know, the chains like the links in the chain, like are all these different things that are in the life like and something has to come into that chain to break it in a sense whether that means like as you said, getting into a good routine for bedtime, focusing on a bit more nutritious meals like so like, I always describe it as like a chain that's interconnected, like in all the different links that are on it or all the different factors or whatever that could potentially be holding you back. So what can we do to sort of break bit by bit? If we try to break the chain at one go, we're not going to get there, you'll need like some kind of a machine or whatever. But if you can break one piece off at a time, so if you can, like, as you said, get to bed earlier, if you can drink more water, if you can add more protein, and we know that like from the habit stacking.
Speaker 2:So if you can remove one of those links piece by piece, eventually the chain will break like but if you're trying to yank the whole thing in one go, it's a nightmare. That's, as you said, that's where people then get fed up, they lose the momentum, it's hard, it's impossible. And then it's just kind of forgotten about again until the cycle, you know, starts over and over. So I think, like what we're seeing there, Mike, is like, small, consistent steps with patients is definitely a key ingredient in this journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. That's great. As you know, I love that analogy. You visually actually see it in your head. Just coming back finally, Martijn, to what we said at the start, how sometimes having other goals can help.
Speaker 1:I often get this with clients, and actually I had a client last week who said that she was really struggling to just create some consistent with all her habits. Right? And she basically said to herself, look, all I'm going do this week is I'm just going to get into the gym and do a session. Right? Because she said, when I do that, it tends to have a knock on impact on other things.
Speaker 1:And I thought it was a really good way of looking at it because sometimes we overthink everything. It's like, I need to get my water and I need to get my steps and I need to do everything. But what will happen naturally for a lot of people is if you do one thing well, then everything else seems to have a knock on effect anyway. And bringing this back to a bigger picture, what I said at the start around if you actually move away from the weight loss as your main goal, maybe the main goal could be, I want to run a 10 k. Your main goal might be, I want to do a high rocks.
Speaker 1:Your main goal might be, I want to do a triathlon. Some something just a big endeavor. Right? And I know sometimes that sounds like so far away from where people are at, but it's something like that that could change everything for you. Because before you know it, let's just say you decide, okay, I'm gonna do a higher accommodation at the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Right? So you can just have a year. Before you know it, everything you do then is aligned to that goal as opposed to just a weight loss. So like, oh, yeah, I need to I need to eat better because I I need to recover from my sessions. I need to I need to exercise now if I want to be fit enough to do the higher ups at the end of the year.
Speaker 1:I need to get to sleep because I want I want to make sure I feel like motivated and energized throughout the week. I need to hydrate myself because I need to perform at my best. And before you know what, you have attached all your habits that you're doing daily, this ripple effect, to something bigger that you're moving towards. And we love goals. Like humans, we love goals.
Speaker 1:We love getting better. We love growth. And as you said at the start, Martina, it's it's actually the fear of failure that stops us at the time. But you don't need to know how to do a HIROCS or you don't need to be fit enough to do a HIROCS right now. You just need to take the first step.
Speaker 1:So, you know, whether that be like joining a class or starting to even just walk more and just get fitter that way and maybe get into imaging. So it's like it's just the first step that takes you towards that. But having that anchor goal of something bigger that excites you, scares you, that can have a huge impact in terms of everything else and actually can get you into fitness beyond just wanting to lose weight.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And I'll give you an example of it from my side at the minute. I've been saying it for the last few weeks. I want to get more cycling in, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm doing a duathlon in three weeks time here, it's held over Remedan.
Speaker 2:So they're on in the nighttime, which is different. And it's kind of nice, you know, after the fast breaks. So it's on in like three or four weeks. So that's my goal, Mike, in a sense to like, get my backside up on the bike now this weekend, know, because I haven't been on the bike, I'd say in about four or five months, you know. And I mean, it's short, it's like five ks run, I think it's 10 or 20 ks bike rider, you know, so you still need a bit of practice.
Speaker 2:But for me, I booked the tickets like two weeks ago, I said this is going to be my goal to get out on the bike and get a little bit of practice in. And I mean, I'm not looking for anything like insane out of it, but it's just a motivator for me and a drive and an anchor in a sense to say, okay, I have this event. It's nice weather out on the bike. And it's something that's driving me to want to get out now and do a little bit of cycling because this event is on in two or three weeks time. And as I said, it's just about not like, not suffering on the night, but also having a bit of practice in the legs and whatever as well, like, you know, so sometimes you kind of have to like, bite the bullet with these things as well.
Speaker 2:And just say, like, I'll book the ticket, like people book holidays, you know, people book a holiday, and, you know, they'll buy the clothes, they'll get an outfit, they'll get their tan or their hair. So they'll do all these other things that feed into that holiday as well. So if we think about it, like, as you said, the same with that, if we pick a goal, and then we kind of bring the other factors in that feed into it, it's the same process. It's just a different objective. That's all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like, it's a good way to think about it, like people will book a holiday last minute flight or wherever. And you might think, you'll sort out the clothes, you'll sort out whatever you need, you'll sort out the time off. So it's just the same, like as you said, if you can anchor yourself to something that gives you a bit of focus and a bit of drive, then you're more inclined to actually start doing things that will help you to make that journey a little bit easier, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It's amazing how our brain works. We are all driven to achieve and the goals that I just sent. The pride like, you stop being the person that is trying to lose weight and is on this cycle, because that's who you're identifying at the moment for most people, it's like, I'm a yo yo diet or I'm a yo yo fitness person, it's like, I'm on off, tens all the time. You stop identifying with that person and you could start identifying as something something bigger than that, just find find your find your purpose with this.
Speaker 1:It just it has such a knock on effect. Just before we finish this, Martina, I I wanted to end a little bit a little bit more. You used the word holistically a lot throughout this And podcast, beyond just setting goals and achieving a do it line, try it line, whatever it might be, I also want to just touch a little bit on longevity with this and how fitness in itself is so, so important to our quality of life long term, our health long term, and how we overlook it so often because we're trying to aesthetically look better. So most people's fitness journeys are actually they're taking away from their life. It's making them worse.
Speaker 1:It's actually making them less healthy. I often think about even, we talked a little bit about this. We won't go too much into this now, Martin. Maybe next session, we talked a little bit about medication, the weight loss medications that people are taking and the dangers of just losing weight without any resistance training, for example, and how that turns into muscle loss, sarcopenia and bone loss, bone density loss. So it's like the effect that then has on our quality of life long term as we get older and we start to get injured more, we start to get more frail.
Speaker 1:It's like there's so much more to this. Just to kind of finish this out, how do you look at that in terms of aging? How do you look at that in terms of this fitness journey becoming more about health and quality of life and longevity than it does just about the weight loss?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And like for both men and women, it's essential. Like if you think of, I suppose, older generations like fallen easily. I suppose if you think of maybe parents or grandparents that might have said to you, oh, I kind of fell and it was a helpless fall or whatever. I suppose preventing all of that comes from the now, let's say, you kind of rewind back to now like in your 30s and your 40s.
Speaker 2:And it's never too late. Like I have a sister that took up weight training in 60s. And she completely reduced osteopenia diagnosis, you know. But the thing is, like, it's never too late to start. But it's also about what you build now stabilizes for your future and longevity.
Speaker 2:So like things like being able to sit in a chair and get up out of it with ease, being able to carry your groceries, being able to, you know, reach in the shelf and grab something without hurting yourself. Know, being able to pick something up off the ground without hurting yourself. So especially for women, men, it's important as well. But women, as you know, Mike, like their estrogen depletes bit by bit as we go through the years, like starting in your mid 30s. And you need estrogen for bone preservation, and for muscle mass.
Speaker 2:So especially ladies that are listening, like that might be in perimenopause or heading towards menopause, estrogen keeps dropping and dropping and dropping. So there's nothing we can do about estrogen in a sense leaving your body like but we can ensure we protect our bodies and we start to armor it with strength. And like whether that is, as I said, going out for your walks and your running or your strength work is really a key component that will preserve the longevity that will make sure you don't end up kind of with a broken bone later in life or a twisted ankle. And the thing is like, if you take a 16 year old and they twist their ankle, or you take, let's say, I'm 45, 46 now and I twist my ankle, I'll we both recover, Mike, but I will probably have a bit more damage to my ankle because I'm older than the 16 year old. So to make sure that if I do happen to twist my ankle, I want to make sure that I'm not going to have long term damage, I'm not going to have osteoarthritis, osteopenia, or I'm not going to be frail, as you said there earlier in later life.
Speaker 2:Like, I see women there that are like in their 60s, 70s doing triathlons. And that's like, inspiring me to think like, wow, these women are amazing. Again, there's like a media culture that like, you know, when you get to a certain age that we have to sit down and wheel you into a little chair in front of a TV or whatever. And I always question that. And I always say like, there's no need for that to happen, you know.
Speaker 2:We can continue to strengthen ourselves. And we don't have to be inside in a gym for hours and end five days a week. But doing a little bit now can add super longevity to your life and to just preserve your bones, especially for women. You know, men the same, but women 100%. You know, it's so, so important.
Speaker 2:I could scream it from the rooftop now about strength training. It's really, really important. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. 100%. And as you say there, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy when you it comes back to identity again. It's like when you believe something's going to happen like that as you get older, you naturally want to get weaker and smaller and more frail. You let it happen.
Speaker 1:And it's like there's so many examples of people that are doing incredible things as they get older. But it's like it's up to us to do that because we have to take the decision to actually look after ourselves long term. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And intervene. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1:absolutely. And like I said, it's not it's not crazy things. It's actually it's very, very simple things. It's like you often get this with older people as well. People will be coaxing all people saying, oh, you shouldn't be doing that.
Speaker 1:I know it's your age. It's like,
Speaker 2:yeah, it's
Speaker 1:the problem. Like, it's like when you When we stop doing things, it doesn't matter what age we are, when we stop doing things, we regress. Our body regresses. So if we stop moving right now, we lose muscle. Like you see, people with broken hands, when they're in a cast, they lose muscle because your body doesn't need the muscle, so it starts using it.
Speaker 1:So we regress in everything we do. Say any fitness, if you don't train a fitness, you regress on it. So it doesn't matter where age you are. It's just that age becomes the kind of, I suppose, the excuse that we often use to stop doing these things. And like
Speaker 2:it does.
Speaker 1:Yeah. As you said, Martine, this this ties a lot into injuries and like osteoporosis and sackaphenia and all these things. We haven't even touched on like diseases, you know, cancers and all the things that go with stress related illnesses for obesity and all that as well. So there's so much more that goes into that. But we won't go with that today.
Speaker 1:I think we've touched on other things. The main point we want to make today is that we can create a lifestyle and a bigger goals than just weight loss. And oftentimes when you do that, it benefits so many other things as well. So don't limit yourself, right? You're a lot more capable than you think you are.
Speaker 1:No matter no matter where you are right now, whether you're overweight, whether you're older, whatever, you have the capacity to do so many amazing things, but it it does take you tipping over comfort zone and taking that first step to do that. So, guys, we're gonna close this out. Martina, just before we go, maybe let people listeners know that don't know you, where they can find you on social media just so if they want to find a place they can do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my Instagram handle is hercoachingevolution. You will find me there. And yeah, there's some nice stuff around women's health and focus as well and things like that. And yeah, as I said, feel free to give a follow or anything like that as well.
Speaker 2:It's always great to have that support.
Speaker 1:Yeah, please do. If you if you found this very, very useful to Martin, it's a lot of a lot of great stuff and it comes from a very like obviously knowledgeable place, but also from going through herself as well. So she's she's living it. And I think that's an important factor with this, you know, to be able to actually notice stuff is one thing, but actually to do the the things day in, day out is another thing. So definitely go give her a follow-up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, guys, hopefully you enjoyed the podcast. As always, I have a fantastic week and we'll chat soon. Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the last diet podcast. If you want to inquire about how you can join the last diet lifestyle and find out more about our coaching, then the show notes below has a link to coaching inquiries. Just fill that out, and we'll be in contact as soon as possible.
Speaker 1:See you in the next one.