The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

210. Real Life Update: My Year With Perimenopause, Health Struggles & Fitness Pivots

• Kristy Castillo

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If you’ve been listening to the podcast regularly or following me on social media, you know this year has been quite a roller coaster for me health-wise. I’ve been way more consistent with my macros lately, and I’m easing into a build season this fall, but to be real with you…it’s been a STRUGGLE.


From crazy perimenopause symptoms to blood pressure issues and feeling like my body just isn’t responding the way it used to, I’ve had to figure it out, out one step at a time.


I’ve made necessary adjustments to my nutrition, supplements, and workouts. Ultimately, I really needed simplicity, intentionality, and to listen to my body in this not-so-straightforward season. 


Whether you’re navigating perimenopause, health challenges, or another hard time in life, it’s okay to pivot. It’s okay to give yourself grace when you need it, but…it’s also okay to give yourself some tough love when you’re sliding into excuses (I’ve had to do this a LOT recently)!


You’re not alone in this, and I promise - you CAN still build a body and life you love!


Episode recap:

  • A real-life update on where I’m at with my health, macros & fitness
  • My perimenopause journey so far + common symptoms women experience
  • My experience working w/ an online health platform + health challenges I faced at the start of 2025
  • The specific + frustrating symptoms I struggled with over the past year
  • Key changes I made in my health routine + supplements that have been most impactful
  • How I simplified my nutrition, cut back on alcohol & adjusted my workouts
  • Why finding simplicity AND listening to my body has been a game-changer
  • Why you need to channel your “inner Kristy”


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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Unfuck Your Fitness podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey guys, what's up? I am so excited to be talking to you on today's episode because it's just gonna be a little chit-chat session, a little an episode to get you caught up on where I am physically and with perimenopause and my blood pressure and just my body. And I just want to be really open and honest about that. I've been getting a lot of questions about it lately. So I'm excited to dive in. But since we've been doing the macro series for the last five weeks, we wrapped up last week with a QA and loved the macro series. I got some really great messages from you guys saying just thanking me for talking about macros in the way that I talked about them and making them really applicable. I got one message saying thank you for making macros less of a barrier to entry, like feeling like they're not so scary and overwhelming, maybe. So I really thought that was awesome. But yeah, I loved being able to do that in real time and answer questions along the way. And I know you'll have more questions and I'll have more answers. And I can, like I said, in the previous episode, I can always talk more about that, of course, and I can always answer questions. But I thought it was really nice just to be able to do that and also to be able to get the feedback from you in real time was awesome. But like I said, I've got to be honest, I am so excited to just get on here and chit chat with you again. And not that macros aren't real, they are real and they are real life. But I think just being able to get on here and kind of shoot the shit and talk about things that are really, really going on and just give an update is really helpful too. So I got a message a little while back. I posted on my story, I have the photo here in front of me. And I put something in a story talking about how I'm going to stay at maintenance and change some body composition of my own before going into a build, that I've been paying attention to my macros really well right now. And just I've been spending a lot of time being more consistent with myself and making sure that my foundation is so strong. And I, let's see, this will be released the beginning of this will be released um, yeah, in October. So I usually in October, I am into a build. Like I am in build season, not deep in the depths of build season, but I'm I'm already there. I'm already kind of working my way into a surplus and mentally ready to go because I've been gearing up. Like I've been telling you guys as far as the phases, like get ready and anticipate and plan it out. But this year has been so different for me in terms of my health and my macros and my workouts, just like literally everything has been so weird with my body that I've had to kind of relearn it. And so, anyway, I was posting, I posted a story saying kind of how I'm spending more time with this. And it's it's been a challenge this year to look at my body differently, treat my body differently, and approach things differently. And so I received a message that I thought was super sweet. And it was in, it was a reply to my story. I'm just gonna read it to you. She says, I really appreciate you sharing your struggle with, quote, this year's body versus quote, last year's body. Obviously, health comes first, followed by aesthetics, but it's psychologically difficult to accept that we aren't where we are previously, were previously. I've faced the same issue this year and was feeling really down about it, but your podcasts and posts have been really helpful in adjusting my mindset on the issue. Thank you. So I chatted with her back and forth a little bit and just having her say, like noticing that I was talking about this year's body versus last year's body or versus my body in my 30s, I really just took notice of that and thought this is something that we need to talk about. So that message, along with another message that I got asking me about peri-menopause, how I'm doing, if I'm on HRT, what that looks like, you know, kind of just a little rundown of everybody knows if you're watching my stories on Instagram, that I I'm kind of sharing updates and things weekly now. So I think it's just more in fresh in people's minds as far as like what I'm doing and people want to know. So it's been a while with the macro series since I've kind of dove into that. So I just kind of want to give a little rundown of this year because I am feeling better physically, not perfect, nowhere near perfect. I don't know if I ever will, but I'm feeling better. And I think some of it is yes, I am feeling better, but sometimes I wonder if I've just adjusted to it. And it just that kind of sounds like it is what it is. Now I'm just gonna maybe feel kind of like shit all the time. And I say that like, I wish I was joking, but also it'll get better, right? I'm I'm sure that it will. But perimenopause is is just really, really hard, along with the blood pressure and heart rate issues that I've had and a lot of different things. And so I've just I've adjusted and I want to be honest with you all about what that has looked like because I think that is something that is lacking in this space. And I want to make sure that we talk about it. So, not only is it something that's lacking in this space, and I want to talk about it, but it's something that I feel like is lacking just in general. Like I didn't realize that perimenopause was going to knock me down as hard as it has. I didn't realize all these symptoms that come along with it. So I'm definitely gonna get into that a little bit and, you know, just be honest with how it's been for me and what I'm doing to get past it, get through it. I don't know. And it's been really hard, and I want to be honest about that too. But that's kind of the basis for this episode is just to recap this year in a form of trying to figure out who I am. I always tell you guys, you have to set the foundation, you have to pivot, you have to slow down, you have to be in tune with your body. And, you know, I tell you all these things, and this is just me doing it. And yeah, it's taken from at least January, if not a little bit before that, through now, what, through September, for me to really get on here and talk about what I've done because I felt so uh not just like not secure in in what I was doing. Like, what the hell am I doing? So it's taken me a long time, but it's been kind of a long road. So I want to definitely talk about just kind of, I guess like the last year, honestly, a little bit more than a year, and what that's kind of looked like. So I knew that my body was changing. I knew it was the summer of last year that I went to my primary care doctor for my yearly physical, not my gynecologist, just a yearly physical on blood testing, things like this. And so I was in there and everything, you know, is is fine as usual. But I was talking to her, like, I think I'm in perimetopause. I feel like a crazy person. And I'm telling her some symptoms. And she said to me that she thinks that I'm too young and there's no way that I could be experiencing, not that I couldn't be experiencing the symptoms, but that I'm that it couldn't be perimetopause, basically. And she recommended some over-the-counter medication that might work and kind of sent me on my way. And I remember getting in the car and feeling like, am I crazy? Because I feel like I'm losing my mind. I feel like I don't know who I am. Like I feel so far off base physically, which is making me feel off base mentally. And now my doctor is saying that I'm crazy, basically. Like that's there's no way that I could be in perimenopause or going through perimenopause. So then, like, what is the other explanation for this then? Because it was kind of unreal. So I remember going home and just feeling super frustrated. And I came across a reel on Instagram, and it was by Sheilen Johnson. And she shared a reel of because she was kind of going through the same thing, menopause, and just she's been really good the last year, at least the last year, about sharing her struggles and I kind of like the symptoms, things like that. So I'm gonna actually read you the symptoms because she kind of threw all these symptoms up on a reel. And I read through these, or I think she read them off and was like, if you know, if you're suffering with a few of these, if not all of them, it's it's perimenopause. And so I'm gonna read them off to you. When I first heard her read these, I started crying. I was in my bathroom. I don't remember if I was washing my face or putting on some makeup or brushing my teeth. I don't know what I was doing, but I was standing at my bathroom sink and I just remember I was sobbing because I thought that is me. And someone just told me that it's not happening to me. So buckle up here because it's a lot. So some of the neuroendocrine symptoms of perimetopause are changes in mood, irritability, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, decreased libido. I could have checked every single one of those things off. Physical symptoms of perimenopause, night sweats, hot flashes, irregular periods, uh breast tenderness, headaches, weight gain, bloating, digestive problems, joint pain, muscle tension, decreased muscle strength, dizziness, uh changes in taste, burning mouth sensations, heart palpitations, body odor, hair loss, brittle nails, itchy skin, tinnitus, bleeding gums, tingling extremities, electric shocks. Like, what the fuck? And then vaginal symptoms can be vaginal dryness or urinary urgency frequency of having to go. So that is insane. And I was so I remember being so frustrated, like, why didn't anyone tell me that these are the symptoms that I'm going to go through? Because as a woman, I'm going to go through this. So why wasn't why didn't someone warn me? But that's that can be a completely different episode. I've talked to so many friends where we're just like, why didn't someone tell me this was going to happen? Like, I could have seriously checked off almost every single one of those boxes. That is a lot to be struggling with all at once. And then to have someone say, No, you're too young to be experiencing any of those things. But I am experiencing those things. So what is the culprit? I don't know. I just felt insane. So anyway, I heard this podcast or this real, and she was talking about it, and she named off those symptoms. And I seriously thought, I have almost every single one of those. And I started crying because I finally felt like this is what I have. I'm not crazy, but I need to fight for myself to figure this out. So that was summer of last year that I went to the doctor by one year ago, September of last year, I had reached out to a company called Buy Wynona. Well, it's the company is called Wynona. Their website is Buy Wynona, B Y Nona.com. I have a code and not a code like I don't work with them, but I just have a code that they give everyone, I think. So if you are interested, please reach out. I will give you an honest review of my whole experience with that and a little code for you. But I reached out because it was an online company and I had heard different things about going in person, which I still would really like to do, but my gynecologist had quit. And so all the things, it was just kind of one of those times, you know? So I reached out to uh Winona, got set up with them. There is a doctor there online. You can chat with at any time. You kind of fill out your symptoms and what's going on and explain, and they put you on medication. You can keep in contact with this doctor. She replies to me within 24 hours every single time I ask a question. And so that's really, really nice. So I was put on progesterone and estrogen capsules and DHEA. I no longer am taking DHEA. I think I'm going to get back on it, but that was what I was prescribed at first. I kept, you know, I was keeping in contact with my doctor saying this is improvements that I'm seeing. This is something I'm not seeing any improvement with. So she increased my DHEA, and I still didn't see any improvement with the things that it was said to improve. So I stopped taking it. So currently I'm on progesterone and estrogen. I haven't taken DHEA in probably six months, I'm not sure. But that is what I'm on. And I will say that it did help, not extremely. I'm not one of those people that saw results overnight and felt better overnight. Not at all, but I will say that it did help. So it's been a year since I've been on that. Well, that was in September. So the beginning of this year, let me kind of just give a little rundown, then I'll kind of talk about what I did to combat these things. But I definitely want to just give an overview and be completely honest with you. So the beginning of this year, I was very, very sick. It started right after Christmas. I remember thinking that I had COVID. I did not take a test, but I'm pretty, pretty damn sure I had COVID because I've had it three other times. And so I know what it's like. But I had COVID. I think I had COVID, whatever. I felt like sick, totally, totally terrible, awful. And I had that, it was a few weeks. And then after that, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with influenza A. And then a few weeks after that, I went to the doctor and had pneumonia. So that was a, it was about three months of just terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible sickness, fatigue, something was going on, something wasn't right, all the things. It was during those visits, as well as a visit to my dentist in somewhere probably January, February, that I, you know, when you go to the doctor, and now when you go to the dentist, they take your blood pressure. And every single time they would say your blood pressure, especially at the doctor appointments when I went in for influence A and pneumonia, just I went to urgent care every time. And they would take my blood pressure and they would say, Your blood pressure is so high. Is your blood pressure always high? And I've never had any doctor say to me that my blood pressure rating was high. It's always been normal up until this time. And I'm, you know, I said, no, I've never had, I don't even know what high blood pressure is. Like I don't know what the numbers are because I've always just, it's always been fine and normal. So I didn't have to worry about it. And so, you know, they're like, that's fine. You're just really, really sick. It's probably because of that. Just kind of keep an eye on it. So the next time I went back to urgent care, it was the same way. And I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm sick, but I'm not like super stressed. Like I'm not, yes, I'm sick, but I don't feel like it should be affecting my blood pressure as far as this appointment. And so finally she said, you should really get that looked at. Once you get to feeling better and you figure out what's wrong with you right now and you you're healthy again, you should go to the doctor and get that looked at. Then I went to the dentist. I remember feeling kind of shitty. I had just was kind of getting over the pneumonia at this point. So I go to the dentist. Again, my blood pressure ran red high. She asked me the same thing. Have you ever, you know, you as far as our records, you don't have history of high blood pressure, but have you ever had high blood pressure? And then I, that's when I thought, what the hell is going on? I'm not stressed about being at the dentist. I love going to the dentist. I feel fine, you know, I'm not someone who gets super anxious about things like that. So that was when it said into me that, like, okay, it's not just me being sick at the doctor's office. This is a this is something's going on. I finally did go see my primary doctor again. I kept track of my blood pressure. I bought a blood pressure cuff, took it at home, like twice a day or something, whatever, had at random blood pressure readings for her for as many days as she asked for, went in and sure enough, she was very, very worried. I ended up having a lot of tests done on my heart. They all came back fine, but it was not fun. It was not fun. So I am currently on blood pressure medication to keep my blood pressure down. And I'm also on a diuretic for to help with that as well. So I just want to be honest that I am, I was struggling with that. That's what I'm on now. So basically, besides the perimetopause symptoms and stuff like that, which I think, you know, I will just it has been a struggle. The blood pressure thing started the beginning of this year and really didn't get under control until summer, you know, maybe early, early summer. So it was a good five months of me just struggling, just feeling so sick. I mean, high blood. I can't even explain the way that I felt when my blood pressure would get so high. I would, there was a couple friends I could call and just, I mean, it was just so scary. I would just lay on the floor and cry. I felt like I was so dizzy. Oh, it was just terrible. The room was spinning. I felt like I was gonna throw up. Like it was just so, so awful. And once I started getting that under control, it felt better. But in those times when I was so, so sick, I could not really work out. I could not hit my macros. I could not, you know, do any of that stuff. And so I spent a lot of this year, the first half we'll say, of this year, really diving into okay, I no longer, yes, I care about my physique, but you know, when the focus comes off of being so physical and on to kind of like the message that I got on Instagram said, now it becomes about health first. I have got to get my blood pressure under control. I have got to stop feeling like this. I have got to be healthy. I have to take better care of myself. What can I cut out? What can I add? What can I do? Can I slow down? I just really had to stop and listen to my body for those six months to figure out what my body needs because when you're that sick, it's your body screaming at you like something isn't right. So that was really, really hard. But what I want to kind of talk about is that I really, really took the time to stop. And yes, I would go for walks. And yes, I would still go into my garage gym and lift what I could with the time that I had or the energy that I had. But there were a lot of times where I didn't do much. And I watched my body that was already changing due to perimenopause. And as we get older, we gain fat faster and we lose muscle faster. So our body composition, if we are not very aggressively combating that, our body composition will change. So even if I was doing the exact same things that I was before, you know, as I'm aging, my body's going to change through perimenopause, through aging, things like that. And so I was already starting to see changes in my body for the negative. Not that it was a terrible change in my body, but I was like, wow, these workouts used to work. I used to be able to build muscle with these. And now, like, I'm having to lift heavier and it's just, it's not working the same. So I already noticed that. And then along with having to take a lot of rest days and just struggle with energy and feeling like shit, I watched my body change and I was losing muscle. I was feeling flabby. I was feeling more bloated. I was just, it was not fun. But I couldn't do anything about it because I didn't have the energy. I was, my heart rate was out of control. I could like see my heart beating through my chest as I was working out sometimes because my heart rate was so fast. And so my first mission was myself. So if you are in that position now, my first suggestion is for you to stop. Slow down, stop, give yourself some grace, take very good inventory of how you feel, sit with that. You're gonna have to slow down. Your body is making you slow down. And the faster you do that, the faster you'll be able to recoup and start again. Let's fast forward a little bit then to, you know, once I started feeling better, I thought, okay, I have I have to not drink so many energy drinks. I have to change up some supplements and just see what's really important. You know, what, yes, I'm still gonna put processed food in my body. Yes, I'm still gonna have chemical, you know, none of that is ever gonna be something I don't think, not as of right now, anyway, that I want to just get rid of, but less caffeine, less processed things, less processed foods. So I did get off some of the supplements that I was taking, not because they were bad or anything, but just because they weren't necessary. I actually stopped all supplements for a very short period of time. Doctor recommended, and then I thought, I'm not gonna do that anymore. I need to take creatine. I need to take my keon aminos, my EAAs, and I started taking this product called D Bloat by ProMix. All of these links will be in the show notes, by the way, so you don't have to go search for them. But I found the product called D-Bloat and I really, really, really liked it. And those are the three supplements that I'm taking right now. And I do also take a collagen by the same company, the ProMix Company. I wouldn't say that's absolutely necessary, but I did add that back in just because I felt like it was something that I wanted to take. So I'm taking their beauty collagen. But creatine and EAAs are so, so good for you. They really help me to, because, like I said, we are losing muscle faster. This really helps me to build muscle faster, keep the muscle, retain the muscle, lift heavier, all of those types of things. So it really helps me with my muscle, which in turn helps me to lose the fat as well. The de-bloat product, I have tried so many products that are kind of claim to take away the inflammation and de-bloat you, obviously. And they're just kind of, I don't know, a lot of that stuff I just don't buy into because I'm thinking, well, what's in it? Like this can't be, this can't be good. I don't know. I just I don't understand. Something about this product and this company, I thought, I think this is something that I want to try. And so as soon as I tried the de-bloat, seriously, probably three days later, I felt so much less bloated. I felt clearer, I felt lighter. I I just felt a difference in my body. And I've really not been bloated since. And I've been taking that for, I don't know, five months, something. I take it every single morning. I actually take my creatine, my EAAs, my de bloat. And if I'm taking a little bit of pre-workout, like half of a scoop of pre-workout that day, I will add that. But I add all those together with some water and ice and I shake it up in a shaker cup and I sip on it while I'm getting ready for my workout. So that is what I've been taking, but I did stop taking everything else, basically, and thought I'll add them in if I need to, but right now, this is baseline of what I want to take. I don't need to take anything else and let's just start there and see how my body reacts, responds. And she did fine. The body did fine with that. I also swapped out some different foods. So I started using overnight oats, which just the company oats overnight are the ones that I use, so I don't have to make them myself because I'm lazy when it comes to the kitchen and I like to do things very simple. But I started using oats overnight and I make one of those a day. They're very, it's clean product, clean ingredients. Like it's I'm not a big clean eater kind of a person. But when I was taking inventory of what I am putting inside of my body does matter, I want to make sure that these ingredients matter if it's something I'm having every single day. So I've been using overnight oats from that company, and I think those are great. It's 20 grams of protein, and it's something that's just easy, quick, fills me up, and it's it's basic. I needed things that I could have every single day that were basic. I also started using stars and honey protein bars. I started eating those instead of just, you know, your basic protein bar, I guess, sold at the store. These are really, really good. The quality is great, the ingredients are great, the company is great. They're really, really good. And I've really liked those. So after eating a protein bar, I no longer feel bloated. I no longer feel like shit. I still drink my Shamrock Farms protein shakes or my core life protein shakes on occasion. I've also been having the Chobani yogurt drinks, and then every day I would have a salad. And then every day at night, while I was kind of doing this experiment on myself, that's what I would have throughout the day. And then I would have salmon and a sweet potato for dinner. And I would have my Chobani yogurt in the evening. That's what I would have every single day for food. I didn't try to hit my macros. Those are pretty good macros, and they're they're good foods, and it's that was fine. My goal was to eat something every single day that was so, so simple, kind of less processed, right? And see how my body responded just to just to clean things up, not to be perfect, not to make every single meal from scratch and check every single ingredient, just to clean things up and see if that helped. And it did. Another thing I did was to stop drinking alcohol. No matter how I spun it, I felt like shit after I drank. It just was like, this is not serving me. When you kind of hit rock bottom health-wise, you start to look at things differently. And I'm just like, these drinks are not serving me. Like it's super fun. And yes, I will drink on special occasions. We went out for our anniversary in May, and I did have actually at order day a mock tail there, and he asked why. He kind of was like, Do you not drink or do you just choosing not to today? Because he wanted to bring us a glass of champagne to celebrate our anniversary. And I said, Yeah, that was fine. So I had the glass of champagne. It was free. But that was uh something that was like a big event, obviously our anniversary that I would have usually celebrated with a drink by choice. And I got a mocktail and thought, I don't need to have a drink to enjoy this occasion. I don't need to have a drink just because it's the weekend or because we're having a fire or because friends are over. Like I can just have a mocktail or whatever. So I've been kind of playing around with that as well, because no matter how it's just, I'm feeling like as I'm getting older, and no matter how healthy you are, once you go through something that really challenges you physically, you'll do anything to figure out how to feel better. And that was something that I discovered. So I definitely am not going to be drinking very often at all. If anybody asks, I'm just kind of not drinking anymore. I'll have some mocktails and I'm I'm a pretty good time soaper. So I think it's fine. But it's really just a personal choice. And I feel really good about it, you know, along with any time you drink alcohol, your body has to prioritize getting rid of the alcohol because it's a toxin before it can focus again on muscle gain or weight loss. So basically, when you're drinking alcohol, it blocks your progress, period. Can you break progress while drinking? Absolutely. I I've drank alcohol for years and I've looked pretty damn good and I've felt pretty damn good. But this has really just kind of showed me that I need to pivot and figure out what's going to work for my body. So those are a couple of the physical things that I did. Number one, slowing down. Number two, just taking inventory of what I'm eating, what I'm drinking, what I'm putting in my body, because that's going to affect the output of my body. And so I took that inventory and then I chose better options. And then another thing that I did was just the physical aspect of working out movement. So over the summer, I did decide I wanted to start running again very, very freely. And I talked about this earlier in the summer when I was starting that. I talked a little bit about what that looked like. And basically, I just bought some running shoes with my daughter. We were going to start running. And I just decided on my walks, I was, I didn't have a goal or anything to do any races or anything like that. I didn't feel like my body or my mind could commit to anything like that. So basically, while out on a walk trying to get my 10,000 steps, if I felt like running, I would run. And I actually really, really liked it. And so I started incorporating sprint training, which is really, really, really fucking good for you. And so I started loving that, loving how my body was affected by that and how it was responding to that, incorporated that into Fit Club for my clients. They love it. And it just felt like it was such a good sign of me listening to my body. If on a day when I went to go for a sprint, if my body was like, nope, not today, then I stopped. And if it felt like we could run faster and do great, then I kept going. So very, very much just listening to my body, but I incorporated that strength or sprint training over, you know, I obviously I'm still getting my 10K steps, but while I'm out, if I felt like sprinting, because it's so good for you cardiovascularly and just helping to helping to burn fat, helping to sculpt your body, helping to build muscle. My legs were so freaking strong. And I really didn't do any leg days. I really just had sprinted up until this point. And so that was a true tell sign of obviously running that fat, those fast twitch muscle fibers. It worked really well. So the sprint training was great. I won't be able to sprint now that it's going to be winter here in a couple months. I will either just be running in short bursts on my walking pad, which goes up to 6.2. So I can run on it, not sprint, but jog, but that's okay. Or just even doing some jumping jacks, running in place, um burping, whatever, just getting your heart rate up for, you know, 10 seconds and then resting for 30 and then 10 seconds sprint and then resting for 30, whatever. Just skip out getting that heart rate up. That was one thing that really, really helped. Another thing that really, really helped was you have got to be so intentional with your workouts. And I had a really solid talk with myself and decided I was not being really intentional with them. Yes, I was showing up. Yes, I was doing the damn thing. Yes, I always will. We know that about myself. But I wasn't being intentional. My workouts were not built for my current season of life and my current goals. So I needed a new strategy. And so what I've been doing is exactly what my fit clubbers are doing. But we had to change things to be more intentional. So going from five workouts. A week to four and lifting very, very heavy, very solid when I can. Of course, not every day is heavy, but incorporating progressive overload. I'm actually now going into every two weeks, I'll be progressively overloading. And I personally am going to stick with the same workouts. So the month of September was a certain four days of full body workouts. They did really, really well for my body. So I'm going to continue to do those workouts for the next few weeks just because mentally I don't need a change. I don't need a shift. Fit club, I like to like keep it fun and exciting. And I have that all mapped out for them. And yeah, sometimes I'll plug and play those workouts for sure. But my brain right now wants something so simple. I want the same staple foods. I want the same routine as far as getting up and walking 20, 30 minutes on my walking pad, walking 20, 30 minutes at night if I need to cap off my 10K steps. I just want to know exactly what workout I'm doing, exactly what day I'm doing it, exactly what I lifted two weeks ago. So I could bump that up this week. I want it to be so fucking simple. And that has really, really helped me. So I had to realign my workouts and make it so that I am intentional. I cannot stress the intentional part enough. A lot of what I see women saying, you know, wait till you hit your 40s, your butt's downhill from there. Your body will never look the same. That's true if you're not intentionally eating for your body, if you're not intentionally moving your body in a way that's going to build you muscle and sculpt your body. You have to be intentional. You have to be aggressive with yourself on the days that you can be and eat the food to hit your macros and get your ass in the gym to work out. And I was talking to my husband about this yesterday. But this is something that I will say to myself, and I'm I give myself grace. Okay. I'm a Gemini. So there's kind of two sides here, but but we all need to do this. So I need you to uh gather your Gemini Christie self some of these days. Okay. I give myself grace when it's needed. And I also make myself be, I talk to myself aggressively when it's needed. So I was talking to my husband about um how I said something a while ago on a podcast, and I actually had it taken out by my podcast manager. And I was talking about macros. And I'm like, if you are hungry, that's your body saying, bitch, you need some food. And he was like, you should have left that in there. And I was like, okay, I'll incorporate that on this episode, kind of talking about perimetopause in my body. So I want to bring that up here before this will be the last thing I talk about. I have been very, very good with myself about if I need rest, I take rest. If I need to work out, I have to sometimes look at myself and say, bitch, get your ass to the gym. You need to work out. Bitch, hit your macros. And maybe it is what it is. Okay. That's just sometimes how I have to talk to myself is like I'm making excuses or I don't want to lift so heavy. The other day I was working out and I didn't want to set up my bar for hip thrusts. So I didn't. And then the next day I thought, oh my God, what is your problem? Like you're not gonna grow glutes if you don't set up that bar for hip thrusts. I also was doing a chest press the other day, bench press. And it's oh, like those two are like my least favorite to set up and do. They're just so boring and so heavy and hard. But I did two of my three sets of my chest press and I thought I could just stop. Like, I don't want to do another set. And I thought, bitch, lay down and press these things out. It's gonna take you 30 seconds. Like, what is the problem? So I'm gonna need you to get into your Christie mindset here and talk to yourself like that if you need to. It's okay to be aggressive and say, hey, we have shit to do. We have some goals. This is what you're gonna have to do now. And it's not easy for me to change up workouts, for me to not work out sometimes, for me to take a walk. Actually, today I was supposed to work out and my body is so sore and I'm like, I'm just gonna go for a walk. I'm gonna get some extra work done. I'll lift tomorrow. It's just listening to your body. But if you have to work out, if that's a rest day and you're supposed to work out, get up and work out. Like, don't let yourself be too kind to yourself to where you give up and can kind of cut ourselves too much slack. I found that was something that I was doing too. I thought, well, I'm just giving myself grace. I'm sick, I'm not feeling good, I'm recovering, I'm having heart issues. And then I thought, you're fine. You slept eight hours last night, you feel good, you hit your macros. Get your ass home to the gym. Like, stop it. So that's the last thing I will talk about is just channel your inner Christie there and channel your inner Christie, your inner badass, and do what you need to do, but back off your intensity while you're actually sick. Focus on your new body, your new goals, who are you now? And then focus on what you need to do to become different. How do you need to approach things better going forward so that these things won't happen again? I realize that my body now in my 40s, I'm 44. I realize that my body is not like it was when I was 40 or when I was 34. It's different. And I need to treat it differently. I need to respect it differently, I need to feed it differently. And that's okay. But I had to take a step back to be able to do that. So I hope this was helpful. Uh there's not a lot of tangible things there, but I mean, there can't be because it's different for everyone. But I think the structure is the same to just slow down, pay attention to your body, what is it going through and what does it need? And then figure out those processed foods, look at supplements, look at your drinks, look at your medications. What are you taking? Because input equals output. And then make sure your input is good, your what you're eating, consuming, drinking, and then make sure your output is good. What are you doing for movement? Are you doing some sprint training? Are you doing moving those fast switch muscle fibers? Are you getting in the right kind of workouts? Or are you just going to the gym and winging it? Because that's not going to work anymore. And then channel your inner Christie and get to work. But I hope this was a good and um helpful, I guess, just a little recap of where I'm at. And if you have any questions per usual about any of this stuff, please reach out. I'm happy to share my honest thoughts about everything. It's it'll be messy, it'll be raw. No BS. We're unfucking everything over here. So, you know, I'm I'm a work in progress, but I'll definitely share what I know and what I love. So I'll talk to you guys next week.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review, and of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episode. So much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy CastilloFit. I will see you next time.