You Aren’t Crazy. Menopause Causes Aches, Joint Pain, and Impacts Your Musculoskeletal Health with Dr. Vonda Wright
Show Snapshot:
Nope, you aren’t imagining it! Menopause causes musculoskeletal symptoms in a whopping 80% of people. When estrogen walks out the door, many women suffer from joint pain, pins and needles, muscle pain, and biggies like osteoporosis and arthralgia, which is total body and joint pain. On this week’s show, top sports doc, orthopedic surgeon, and women’s health expert Dr. Vonda Wright breaks down the science on protecting bone health—think fracture protection and more—and shares ideas for building lean muscle mass at any age. We talk HRT, weight training, smart diet, and lifestyle choices, plus your biological versus chronological age. Bonus! Vonda shares a sneak peek at her newest book and gives us the BTS on how she trained for her first Spartan Woman’s race.
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Quotable:
80% of us will experience musculoskeletal symptoms of menopause. And 25% of us will be devastated by them. They include things like arthralgia, which is total body and joint pain.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty 0:03
Welcome to a certain age a show for women are unafraid to age out loud. I have recorded more than 150 episodes of a certain age. And here's the amazing thing. I learned something on every show, every show. But one thing that is truly stuck with me that I do every day multiple times without fail, I stand on one leg to brush my teeth. And I do that to improve my balance and strengthen the muscles that support balance. And I learned this effective easy button exercise for my guest today. Dr. Vonda right. beauties. I am so delighted to welcome Vonda back to the show. We are getting the download on active aging, mobility and longevity from a total pro. She is a double boarded orthopedic surgeon, and elite sports doc, author, speaker and innovator who specializes in optimizing personal and professional performance at every age. You may have seen her on the Today Show, listen to her podcast, read one of her five books. Maybe you're one of the hundreds of 1000s of people who follow her on Instagram, or perhaps you're just meeting her today, any which way stick around because we're getting into all the things building lean muscle mass and mid life, how menopause impacts our musculoskeletal system, active aging, how culture of us aging and aging women in particular plus vonda's latest book. Welcome Vonda.
Dr. Vonda Wright 1:29
I am so thrilled to be back with you. And congratulations that almost three years of podcasts
Katie Fogarty 1:35
It's incredible. And you were one of my early guests. I'm not kidding, I am alternating my legs every morning and every night I actually do it. Also when I'm making my coffee. It's just a simple hack that I've really pulled into my routine, I think of you when I do it. So I obviously think and it's said to you, it's so much fun to have you back. And you know, we first connected in 2020, which is it's astonishing. You know what was going on in the world then. So much has changed. And one of the things that change really has been this explosion of interest and midlife health and menopause, menopause products and services. And not to mention just sort of the buzz around menopause. In media and pop culture. It's finally on the radar where it firmly belongs. You know, thanks to a lot of celebrities like Oprah and Naomi Watts Drew Barrymore are talking about their own journeys, investing in menopause startups. We know from recording 150 shows and for all my listeners that menopause impacts all of our body systems, it's not just hot flashes. And I would love to explore with you the impact of menopause and aging, you know, on our muscular skeletal system.
Dr. Vonda Wright 2:49
You know, and I love the opportunity you're giving me to talk about this because I'm raising my hand here in my office to join the 51% of all the population that will have ovaries that have done their job and are just retired and, and with that, all the things that we commonly talk about that you just mentioned, but something that people are not aware of, is that 80% of us will experience musculoskeletal symptoms of menopause. And 25% of us will be devastated by them. And so those include things like arthralgia, which is total body and joint pain. And then many, many women will go to the doctor and they'll get all kinds of tests and there will be nothing structurally wrong and so they leave the doctor's office still in pain a little deflated, saying things to me and other people like I am falling apart and it What am I just crazy and so, so a big message that I love saying nearly every day is number one, you are not falling apart. Number two, you are not crazy, this musculoskeletal symptoms of menopause are real. We need a ton more science but it includes not only arthralgia or total body total joint aching, but it's the loss of our bone density rapidly. I mean, I can't say that fast enough rapidly when estrogen walks out the door which leads us susceptible to fracture and, and low bone density and us in Frank, osteoporosis is actually silent until you break something and then it's screaming at you and it's all you can do is just think about it while you heal because it's so painful. So there's there's pain, there's bones, there's loss of lean muscle mass, we will lose. It's called technically it's called sarcopenia. But after age 50 we can potentially lose 2% of our lean muscle mass a year if we don't do anything about it. So that's why you hear me talking about it a lot it a lot. You hear people like Stacey Sims talking about. We have to eat enough protein we have to eat enough calories and we have to get out there and move Some waits around to rebuild our muscle, which is critical for metabolism for brain health and for not falling down and breaking something terrible, but something that is perhaps most prevalent, and yet not thought to be related to menopause that totally is, is the rapid increase in arthritis, which is for those of you that are fortunate enough not to have it arthritis is wearing down of the smoother than ice cap, if you will, on the end of our bone literally, for those physics ladies out there, the coefficient of friction on on cartilage is is less friction than I so you can imagine how smooth that is. So that rapid the structure of that cartilage will rapidly become less because just like every other organ system in our body, the musculoskeletal system, bones, tendon, ligament cartilage, have estrogen, alpha and beta receptors. And when estrogen is no longer available to sit in those receptors on every tissue, particularly cartilage, all the downstream goodness, that happens when estrogen receptors are full, doesn't happen and our cartilage starts to degrade. And so before 50 men have more arthritis, after 50, women rapidly get more arthritis. So I know I've gone on and on but all these things are little known in the menopause world and so I'm there screaming from the top of my lungs, you're not crazy, you're not falling apart, it's your estrogen.
Katie Fogarty 6:42
I first of all, thank you so much for saying you're not crazy, because that's something that everyone who's listening to this needs to know. And, uh, you know, oftentimes you can walk into certain doctor's offices, not yours, of course, and not feel heard. So, you know, whatever people's symptoms are, whether it be bladder leakage, or pain, painful sex or pain in your joints, you know, work with a doctor who gets it. And we are so fortunate today to have somebody with us who does get it. So I love that you began with you're not crazy, because that's, that's the that's the most important starting point. So now, that now that estrogen, you know, is walking out the door, because it's inevitable. It happens for women at different ages and stages, but it does all happen if you are born with ovaries when estrogen leaves are there way, is there a way of bringing it back to help our joints? Is it something that is this systemic estrogen? Can it be, you know, applied in other ways? Or if we're not using estrogen, what are some other solutions that we might pursue?
Dr. Vonda Wright 7:45
So that is another great way for me to just go on and on. So you're so kind but you know what, it is not just one thing, you know, we are when a person comes to me with shoulder pain and can't move their shoulder and, and I and I diagnosed them with the musculoskeletal, you have a frozen shoulder. I'm not just interested in their shoulder. And so the solutions to the musculoskeletal symptoms of menopause are just not one thing. So if you don't mind, I'm going to go down I'd really help doing let's do them all. So number one, every woman needs to come to the crossroads of deciding is estrogen for them hormone replacement therapy. I have no judgment for any woman who decides it is not but there are so many arguments why it is beneficial for women not to mention dementia, cardiovascular disease, but musculoskeletal health and prevention of the muscle loss and the bone. So if you need to know more people, Katie's Katie show is a great way to find it. But also I want you to read the book that changed my life literally. And I tell Tara, Carol, Tavis and Adrian blooming this all the time, it's estrogen matters. I wish I owned royalties on this book, because everybody I talked to about this, I'm writing it down for them to buy it. If you need to know the real data and get to the bottom, read estrogen matters. I listened to it on Audible that I bought the book then I underlined it. So number one, number two, I suggest you spend time on the menopause.org site. It is the website of the North American menopause society, because here's the deal people. If your kid had a problem, you would be searching high and low for the answers you would leave no stone unturned. You would not take no for an answer. You'd be calling up your girlfriend's your doctors, your girlfriend's doctors, you would not stop but for so many women. We just stop and I want you to to pursue this like you know you're on a hunt number one. So that's good information, decide whether hormone replay A Smith therapy is for you or not, I have made the decision that for me, I am on estradiol and I am because I have my uterus, I take progesterone. And that's been remarkable Vonda I
Katie Fogarty 10:11
want to I want to hop in for a minute to and ask you a little bit about the type of systemic estrogen but we're heading into a quick break. And when we come back, we're gonna pick up this thought and then also talk about number three. Vonda, we're back from the break, we headed into it, you were sharing your own experience with HRT, I want to just sort of chime in for our listeners as well to say I'm using vaginal estrogen and I'm using a systemic estrogen that's applied by a patch. Does it matter if you're taking like oral estrogen or can you do transdermal estrogen that through patches and will this have the same impact is one better than the other,
Speaker 1 10:46
you know, it there are not enough studies comparing transdermal to oral how for the for the musculoskeletal system. However, like all the other menopause symptoms, estrogen is dosed by symptom relief, not by blood levels, so, so I recommend to my patients, transdermal. That is because oral estrogen which comes from the mares, pregnant, mares urine passes through the liver, when you ingest it, and has a first pack for I'm making air quotes, pass effect, which has the can have a side effect for some women of increasing blood clot and some more systemic things. But thankfully, transdermal patches which come in a variety of dosage, and are easy to manipulate up and down, because of that, do not have first pass effect, and therefore do not cause increase clot risk.
Katie Fogarty 11:46
That's great. And I would say they're very easy to use as well. And I did wind up having to switch doses and, you know, finally landed on one that really works for me. And, you know, the hardest thing about this is remembering to put it on. I mean, because it's that easy. It's
Speaker 1 12:02
you know, super simple. I have to feel my belly to make sure I put it back.
Katie Fogarty 12:08
I'm with you. I'm like, where's that thing? So but good to know that transdermal estrogen can help with these these symptoms. So you talked about one HR t if that's something that people want.
Speaker 1 12:18
That's number one. Number two, that also helps with the inflammation. Do you know it estrogen is an anti inflammatory substance. And so when it walks out the door, we become more inflamed. Guess what? The second evil inflammatory substance? Is it sugar? Hey, my gosh, Katie.
Katie Fogarty 12:40
I was I was saying it like nervously because I'm like, am I gonna have to stop eating my chocolate peanut butter ice cream? Because well, you
Speaker 1 12:46
know, we all make choices, right? Yes. Yeah. And so I say to my patients, well, you know what your pain is your pain. If you want it, you have it, but if you don't want it, stop eating sugar. Okay, so, so, added sugar, white sugar, simple carbs, greatly increased the inflammation in our body. And so I'm not anti carb, I workout a lot. I need carbs. But what I need is fibrous carbs, and so does everybody listening. So that means that we do not drink orange juice. We eat the oranges. We do not drink apple juice, we eat the apples if you're good. For instance, Pruett is always a big bugaboo for people. So that's number two, get rid of this HRT decision, get rid of the sugar. Number three, we must build lean muscle mass, we must at this age, there is great literature to show that we need to put down the mamby pamby pink weights that we lift four sets of 15 and pick up heavier weights. Now, when I say lift heavy weights, people always write me back and say, Well, what's heavy? Well, the good news is it's personal. So for instance, I'm going to give you my example, I can, I can do a biceps curl with 15 pounds all day today and all day tomorrow without stopping because that's just not heavy for me anymore. But 25 pounds, I can only do three to five times and I'm making funny noises and my face is getting red right?
Katie Fogarty 14:13
Steam is coming out of your ears. So
Speaker 1 14:16
heavy is putting is individual but you want to lift what you can lift only three to five times for about four sets because that is what's going to stimulate the laying down of new lean muscle. It's going to stimulate the the division of a miracle stem cell in your muscle called a satellite cell, which is one of the you know honestly it's remarkably it's one of the cells stem cells I studied in my lab at University of Pittsburgh, and we thought it was AMAZING then but now we know it's amazing for for longevity actually an aging well. So we've got HRT, we've got get rid of sugar we've got make and maintain our lean muscle mass. And then number four It is really true if we, if we don't use if we don't move, we'll rust out. So I want women to move every day push away from the table, leave your dishes on the table, go for a 45 minute walk, it doesn't have to be all out gutting it so that it's you dread it. It's literally your body is designed to move. That's why we have our largest muscle mass below our belly button. So we just need to move every day and those four things. And you're thinking, Oh, how am I going to fit it all in? Well, you deserve it, you're worth this time investment. Those things go a long way in helping deal with the musculoskeletal symptoms of menopause.
Katie Fogarty 15:44
Right? And you know, and you know, I think time is always an issue for for modern women, right there's there's so many demands on our time. But it is probably a lot easier to spend the time preventing these things and managing them once they you know, once age, you know when decrepitude or pain, and all of those things set in because when I have people in my life, you know, my father right now is dealing with like a rotor, he had surgery for his rotator cuff, that's a very, he's got like very long, multiple weeks recovery in front of him. So if you're not managing your health now, you will be having to make time for it later. And so I feel like this is important, but what you what you outline feels very doable. I mean, people can make their personal choice about HRT, super easy. If you if you're, if you're Yes, very easy to do sugar, you know, that's a little bit harder for people, you know, people have to make their own choices. But this building of the lean muscle mass, I love how you shared that when you're lifting your personal, heaviest maximum weight, you only need a few slow reps to to stimulate that that satellite cell and get that muscle building. And moving every day is you know, fun. You could do it with your partner, you could do it with your kids you could do with a girlfriend, you know, I think you know a walking coffee date in the morning is like the new happy hour you can write you know, you can find ways to include fitness into your life.
Speaker 1 17:09
Well, I'm going to add one more. Yes, yes, you're going to tell me next time I see you. I'm coming to New York. So so maybe you'll tell me then that I'm going to add please, if you can, I want you to jump up and down in a standing position 20 times because I need you to stimulate your bones with a little impact. And it only takes 20 jumps a day. So I'm not you don't have to run up 20 staircases literally jump in one place. And if that hurts your knees, if you can't do it trampolines work. That's how NASA rebuilds bone and muscle in its astronauts. And then if you're really in pain, and you can't do it, do it in a pool. But that 20 little jumps a day maybe you're standing on one leg you do you do your teeth for a minute and then right next 20 times you're like okay, Vonda
Katie Fogarty 17:55
my life, my husband's gonna be like this bathroom morning bathroom routine is really insane as I'm like jumping up and down on my one leg. But to record yourself, I'm going to this is gonna become a real, this will be a real bond, you're gonna watch all of your chips and action it'd be I'm gonna have to invest in some better looking pajamas. But this is coming people you're gonna see it. So I'd love it. But you make it seem very easy. You know, submit some of these sometimes we think fitness is hard, you know that we need to be in a gym with very expensive equipment. But this notion of just sort of jumping up and down for 20 times that you know, in your own home is something that we can all incorporate. When you first run the show Vonda, you shared a statistic that absolutely blew me away, I looked at my notes again, to prepare for this that you said 70% of aging is really determined by choices only 30% by genetics. Sometimes I think we think we're just dealt a hand that we're stuck with. you've outlined some choices we can make to build, you know, lean healthy muscle mass and keep our bones healthy, you just share this very simple tip. What are some other choices that we can make in terms of lifestyle and exercise that help us build these lean healthy muscles?
Speaker 1 19:06
Well, you know, something that I do nearly religiously now. And I you know, and I'm gonna have an age where my little children are a little older and they don't need me constantly. My 16 year old would say she never needs me. She's that independent. Right? So Thank God I've done my job. She's very independent, but I protect my sleep. Katie. So you know, I'm a I was a surgical resident i at the time when there was no workout or restriction. So I know for a fact that I can slog through 136 hours a week. I don't recommend it. Because not only will that impact my longevity, but it impacts everything. So imagine if you're skimping on your sleep, you're getting one more thing done, you go, you know, you're just going to you're just going to be the responsible worker and you stay up till 2am You're up at seven to do whatever. You're not going to have the energy To take care of yourself not only is not sleeping, not taking care of yourself, you're not going to have the energy to do these walking these weightlifting later in the day. So I protect my sleep religiously. So and I work with my menopausal body, right? So I started waking up around 327 I don't know what it is about that time in the morning, but my brain right there with you. It's the same time when he's seven. So the last week or so, you know, I'll try to go back to sleep. But the last week or so I'm like, okay, all right. You want to be up working? I'm a morning person. Anyway, I get up at 327 I am getting so much work done in the still of the night in my house, because no one else in the right mind is up, right? I get two or three hours of work done. But then Katie, it does not mean that I stay up until 10 or 11 when everybody else is going to bed. I honor my commitment to sleep. I'm in bed by eight, right? So honor your sleep, you cannot rejuvenate without it. It's that important. And you know what if your body's doing what mine is, is three 327 is when I erupt from some kind of REM or something's happening. I just get
Katie Fogarty 21:14
up. Yeah, I think I've had sleep experts who are who are on the show, too, that that say this sort of this notion of eight hours of sleep and sleeping during certain times, you know, doesn't doesn't work for everybody and that there's different sort of sleep cycles that people have as long as you're getting yourself into the bed to get you know, the the sleep that you need. And I love that you shared for again, we talked about this busy, busy, modern world that we live in where everyone's constantly hustling. really prioritizing rest is something that feels so you know, it's it's challenging, but it's something that we need to do and we and we need to make time for that. Vaughn, I want to ask you something. You know, I've been seeing a lot of stuff, a lot of buzz around biological versus chronicle age, you know, we you are an expert in active aging. We know that aging is a natural, inevitable part of being human. This show is pro aging, right? Aging is living, we're not afraid of living. But there's a lot of buzz around the biological versus chronological age, the age that you have in yours versus your cellular age. Because even though we're pro aging, we're also pro health. We want to extend our lifespan. We want to take tat steps to make sure that we are free of aging related diseases. Where do you land on this notion of biological versus chronological age? Is it accurate? Is it is the buzz Correct?
Speaker 1 22:36
Well, I love the concept of it. Because if we start with chronologic age, I sometimes post with my finger wagging at people don't tell me who I'm supposed to be at 57? I'll tell you because, to me, I don't really know in the modern area what that many birthday candles means. What I know it means to me because I work at it is that I can I can still travel I can do anything I want. I'm not limited physically. Thank God, right. So chronal chronologically, is just on my driver's license, biologically, can be measured can be a feeling right? When people says Oh, I feel 36 Blah, blah, blah. Or someone says, oh, you act so useful. That's one way to think about biological age. You're not defined by birthday candles that can break that can burn down the kitchen. But I know but there are several research backed ways the science is not perfect, but you've got this way to measure biological age called glycans age, it's actually a company and what they measure is your total inflammation against what they perceive is as as chronologic. Age. So are you less inflamed than an old person or young or or more inflamed someone your age and because inflammation is one of the primary drivers of aging. So there's that or there's something called the Horvath clock, but so there are lots of tools out there that will tell you oh Vonda, you're chronologically 57. But you are biologically 40. And that makes us feel really good. So the science is plus minus but it is a way to take into account. Are you functioning like a younger person, but the fact is, maybe I'm functioning at 40? You know, they're my biological age is saying 40 Maybe I am modern biological 57. Who knows? There's no definitions, right? So chronologically is the date on your birth certificate, biologically is the how your cells are inflamed. How many stem cells you have your telomere length, a variety of factors. But I want to introduce another idea to you please, which is the rate of aging Ooh, are you aging faster or slower? And so there there's one measure of that which So you want your rate of aging to be slower, not faster. So for instance, you may be
Katie Fogarty 25:07
weighted rate of aging compared to what Vonda to just like the general population or for your to, to, to
Speaker 1 25:13
a baseline hundreds of 1000s of baseline people are you faster, slower, and it gets down to a real cellular level and the people that do it, but if you send your blood to them, they will say, Oh, you are aging slower than everybody else. So the way it's just interesting to play with is, okay, chronologically, choose a number. I'm 57, it's on my birth certificate. Biologically, I'm doing great. I'm doing all the lifestyle stuff, my cells are healthy, my telomeres are long, you're 40. But what is your rate of aging? Are you re aging? Slower? Because you've got this steady habit of healthy lifestyle? Or are you aging faster? Because you've taken up smoking, you've stopped exercising, you've let the stress overwhelm you? And now you're aging faster? Do you see what I mean? So there's actually three things to think about. But here's I know, it's very, it's very,
Katie Fogarty 26:10
it's absolutely fascinating. And, you know, it's sort of also at you know, I mean, one of the sort of the bedrock of this question is like, what is age anyhow? Like, and how do we look at it, like, you know, to have, like biological, you know, youth is that I mean, I guess it yes, we don't want to be encountering, you know, age related diseases and things that occur later in life. But it's still kind of puts being useful as a as an sort of an optimal state, which isn't, you know, you and I are about that. And we, I don't know about that either, right? Which is why I want to ask you, you shared something on your Instagram that I loved, it caught my eye, it was this whole notion of Aging Gracefully, which you know, on its surface sounds like, that's positive, you know, we want to be graceful. What's wrong with Aging Gracefully, but it really, you know, at the very core is something that is less. You know, it's something that's a little bit corrosive about this notion, and I'd love for you to share with our listeners, you know, what you shared on your Instagram posts, what is your take on this notion of Aging Gracefully?
Speaker 1 27:16
Well, I interpret and that was spurred by something popped up on my social media, or maybe somebody directed at me like, What are you telling all these women to do this stuff or let them age gracefully? And maybe that's what it was, it got me a little riled up. I don't know what that means. Aging Gracefully, because let me tell you about my use, right? Why? Uh, my response was to what does it even mean to age gracefully? Because I was never graceful. In my youth. I was adventurous. I took risks. I did things I wasn't supposed to do. I went back to medical school at 28. I had a I had a marriage that wasn't successful. And I learned to love again and took the risk on that. I when I remarried, I, I was gifted five stepchildren, who I helped to raise I mean, all of those things. And then I had a baby at 40. How about that, right? All of those things. In my you're aging
Katie Fogarty 28:13
like a badass Vonda. Graceful, honestly,
Speaker 1 28:17
why? Why would I suddenly sit back and say, oh, now I'm going to be now I want to be graceful. Somebody I never was. So you know what, for me? And maybe this is you, I think I know you well enough to know that I don't like to be told what to do. And I don't I don't tell me what I can and can't do at a certain age. I'll show you that at 56. I entered my first Spartan Stadium race. And I didn't know that I could or could not get over a 30 foot wall. Or that I couldn't or could not climb a rope. I just knew I was going to show up. And there's nothing graceful about, you know, heave hoeing over a wall and carrying a bucket of cement. But I want to do it, I want to do it.
Katie Fogarty 29:07
It's that notion of just you know, you think I can't watch me watch me do the things you think I can't. So this is such a great segue. Tell me about the Spartan women races. I have watched a little bit of your clips online. And I've also seen you since we first connected three years ago, and we've we've gotten to have like meals together in New York, which has been such a treat. I have seen you lifting all of these weights. So tell us a little bit about you know how you got started for anyone who's sitting here thinking, I want to lift heavy things I want to be in you know, build the lean muscle as mass. I'm ready to be a badass, you know, how did you get started? What do you recommend?
Speaker 1 29:45
Um, so first, deciding how you want to live right? There's a concept of healthspan versus lifespan. The average lifespan in this country for women is between 81 and 84. If you live in Japan, it's 85. But the health span, that time of life, when you are not going to the doctor three days a week for your relative for all of your diseases that you carry is only 60 kt. Wow. So the question is, what do you want to do in those 20 years, and frankly, I got to live to 97. So that I so that I can bug the heck out of my 16 year old until she's my age, right. So how do I get there, it doesn't happen overnight. So in the original books that I wrote guide to thrive, which I love, and I've given away on my social media, people can still download the PDF, and fitness after 40 It really was all body weight, it was taking you from couch to 5k. Usually, it's a great way to start. So when I decided that I needed to lose my 30 pounds of menopause weight because I had a closet full of adorable clothes that I was going to have to size up on and I didn't want to and I couldn't afford to right. And I didn't like the fat that was in places I'd never had it. What I did was make this decision to do the things that I told you guys about before I started on HRT, I eliminated sugar. And when I wanted to go to the gym, I had not lifted heavy. Since I was in high school, I did lift heavy in high school and I was intimidated. So I got a strength conditioning coach, not a personal trainer who was going to hand me a mamby pamby pink weight, but I said to him, Listen, this is my goal. Here's the research. Here's what Stacey Sims says we should do. And so we started powerlifting. And I started powerlifting, meaning squats and deadlifts and bench press and pull ups with really just you know, embarrassingly light weights, then every week,
Katie Fogarty 31:53
I'm in Christmas, you might, you might be a bit embarrassed, but this is like amazing, you know, it was hard and you got going and you started so
Speaker 1 32:00
but you know what the key is, Katie, it's consistency, it's showing up for yourself every day. So I make appointments like 5pm, my staff is still here working, I've got my gym clothes on going out too, because I've committed to lifting or doing my zone too, every day at five. So I'll finish the work when I'm done. But I am committed. And that's the consistency that works. So if you're going to do one thing, you're gonna just start you're going to let go the sugar spoon, you're going to take a walk after dinner, and you're going to find a way to start lifting heavy, that's a great way to start but that's how I did just a little at a time. But you know, over the I didn't lose weight rapidly, just about a pound or a half a pound a week. So it's not rapid, but I've gained so much muscle and I and it's not about losing pounds on the scale. But the leanness that comes from building muscle, because it increases your metabolic rate. Just because your basal metabolic rate it takes more calories a day to to support muscle than fat. I mean, it's miraculous. And you know what the other thing it did Katie is it gave me the confidence to continue in my badass serie.
Katie Fogarty 33:21
I see that I see that on your Instagram, I've watched your sort of transformation and just sort of your embracing of all these other types of fitness activities that you're doing. I love that you share that you just start start small. It's an old expression, you know how to eat an elephant, right? You know, one bite One bite at a time, right? Like if you're gonna get that elephant eaten, you got to just want you know, it's one step. That's how we climb on Everest one step one foot in front of the other. And I honestly think and this is a good reminder for me, sometimes we forget that we you know, it's the slow and steady that wins the race because we get really excited about wanting change and we don't often put in the small incremental baby steps that make things make things happen fonder, we're nearing the end of our time but before we switch gears and head into our speed round I want to hear about your latest book because I've read fitness after 40 And I know you have several others I would love for you to share with our listeners what's coming.
Unknown Speaker 34:21
Thank you so much. So
Speaker 1 34:24
yes, you have fitness after 40 and the book that followed that was called guide to thrive which is really a strategic plan for your health but it was written 10 years ago, and therefore I'm giving it away as a PDF on my on my Instagram so go get it if you want it, it's free now, but it was all based on body weight functional on the ground and that is still an amazing way to get started. But the sequel to that which is called strong and courageous. The we are not victims approach to guide to thrive in I'm in midlife, menopause and mobility talks about my new approach. Now. All the things we talked about today, my nutritionist and I are making 30 anti inflammatory recipes which I'm going to cook for you and releases videos just to accompany the book. But it really is a how to, to do modern midlife and menopause. And I just I found by writing books over the years that sometimes we just need a day by day plan, there's too much information. We're a little overwhelmed. There's a lot of science, people are writing science books all over the place. But my books are really like having a conversation. Here's what you do today. Here's what you do tomorrow, I'm going to hug you along the way. And I called it strong and courageous. Because I firmly believe that we have lived long enough. We've had enough experiences, we have figured stuff out, that we should not be shirking into the future, but pivoting to face it boldly strong and courageous. And it's an attitude really and mindset that undergirds this whole approach.
Katie Fogarty 36:11
Yeah, it's such a it's such a beautiful approach. And do you feel that getting to midlife is what has given you this, this sort of new mindset? Could you have written this book? I know you wrote a version of it 10 years ago, but what you're bringing to the table now what way has your own aging journey impacted that the sort of the spirit and the lens that you're bringing to this particular book,
Speaker 1 36:34
you know, sometimes I say that when I was 40, right before I had my daughter, I was in the best shape of my life I was the lowest body fat I was the leanest I was the strongest I was you know I could all the things my brain was amazing. But this is my best self because I've gotten myself nearly back to that physical shape. But what the the knowing myself the confidence, the I have figured out the last 17 years, nothing can replace the wisdom that comes with experience and the price of experience girlfriends is aging. And it can be amazing.
Katie Fogarty 37:18
I love it. This is exactly why you're back on the show Vonda and not only are you an encyclopedia of knowledge about active agent I mean Vaughn has done fascinating research on master athletes you know, she's an incredibly well renowned orthopedic surgeon and she's an incredible author. But you're here because I really admire and connect to your just the spirit that you bring to this this time of our lives. And I'm so so happy the podcast has connected us. But we are moving into our speed round and we're gonna just end with this is kind of like a high energy one to two word answers. So we can, you know, share a little bit more of you before we have to say goodbye.
Unknown Speaker 38:02
I feel like I'm in a race now.
Katie Fogarty 38:04
Well, you're good at that, right? This is like this is gonna be a lot easier than jumping over a 30 foot foot wall. I can guarantee that okay, your favorite weight in the gym? I like deadlifts, deadlifts. Okay, favorite weight or exercise tool to use at home? Oh,
Speaker 1 38:25
uh, you know, the only thing that I use at home is my staircase, like 100 times because I can't remember to nice. We all
Katie Fogarty 38:33
know the most of us. I mean, maybe we all don't but most of us have staircases. So that's, that's a great easy, cheap free. My mom lives on the 19th floor of an apartment building in New York City by the way, and when the weather's bad like she you know, up and down those stairs so we can we can work out anywhere. Or this muscle building. Grocery is always in my grocery cart.
Unknown Speaker 38:56
Oh, chicken breasts. Nice.
Katie Fogarty 38:59
This food is an underrated muscle building superhero.
Speaker 1 39:06
Well, it's not romantic, but I do drink protein powder shakes.
Katie Fogarty 39:13
All right, that works that works. Consider adding this supplement or vitamin to your diet for bone health.
Speaker 1 39:20
Oh, magnesium every night nice magnesium glycinate Yep.
Katie Fogarty 39:25
Love it. Favorite exercise or activity for stress busting.
Speaker 1 39:31
You know what? After a good warm up sprinting is great for spread stress busting and everybody's sprint is different. Ooh, right. Yeah, my sprint looks like a crawl but it's my sprint.
Katie Fogarty 39:45
Favorite lifestyle hacker activity for relaxation and calm.
Speaker 1 39:54
Don't hate me Katie. I just like to curl up in the corner of the A giant couch we have and I just cover myself a little pillow. So curling up in the corner of a giant couch.
Katie Fogarty 40:05
I mean, why would I? Yeah, that sounds delightful.
Speaker 1 40:10
But you notice like oh, she's helped deadlifting and then I go home and we have to like
Katie Fogarty 40:15
it's the yin and the yang. You know, I sometimes I mean, I literally sometimes lay down and like a patch of sunlight coming through the window. Like oh my god hat you know, for like five minutes just to reset. It's like feels amazing.
Speaker 1 40:29
You know what Dave's gonna Dave's gonna Please edit this. But I have not learned to curl up in the corner of my couch until like I took a seven months sabbatical during COVID. Nice. I did not work for seven months.
Katie Fogarty 40:41
That's important too. I never knew how you know what we just talked about the importance of rest. I think I'm going to do a show on rest. This is a great idea. Like I need to find an expert on rasp because there really is that that is such an underrated tool. Women don't practice it enough and modern life makes it hard. So that's thank you for that wonderful idea. I love it. You mentioned a name earlier of somebody whose fitness routines that you admire. Could you share that name again? And also is there another fitness or workout role model we should have on our radar?
Speaker 1 41:13
You know I love the science of Dr. Stacey Sims she is not making it up she is Reese doing the original research herself and cataloging other people's research on the smart way for midlife women to work out.
Katie Fogarty 41:28
Phenomenal. Okay, finally, your one word answer to complete this sentence as I age I feel amazing. I love it. I feel amazing to Vonda. Thank you so much before we say goodbye, how can our listeners find you your books and all of your inspiring content?
Speaker 1 41:46
So your listeners should go to Instagram and find me at my name at Dr. Vonda Right. Dr. Vonda right and then if you go to my links there's all kinds of other resources including my website which is also Dr. Vonda right. And blogs. It's all there. Plus if you Google me I'm around but the books are there but doctor Dr. Vonda right.
Katie Fogarty 42:11
Fabulous. I'm putting all of that into the shownotes this was such a treat. This wraps a certain age a show for women or aging without apology. Did you learn something on this week's show? Do you feel more inspired smarter motivated? If the answer is yes, yes, I have new tools for thriving in midlife. I would love it. If you could take five minutes to write an apple podcast review. These reviews really matter and they help other women find the show. Special thanks to Michael Mann, Simi composed and produced our theme music. See you next time and until then age boldly beauties.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai