Planning my life at 90. Seriously.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to be doing when I’m 90.

And 80. And 70.

I’m 43.5, currently spending about 95% of my time on the couch with a neck that’s causing all kinds of problems, so naturally I’ve started planning my next 50 years. 😆

Seriously, though, this whole experience has me reevaluating what I want the rest of my life to look like. I'm getting much more specific about it, too.

I’ve always wanted to live a REALLY long time. 100+ would be great. Heck, I’ll take 120 if I may.

Now I’m thinking about what I actually want to be ABLE to do during those years. Then working backward to figure out what I can do today to give myself the best shot at that.

For example, at 90, I’d love to be traveling. Walking around unfamiliar cities, carrying my own luggage, getting down on the floor to play with great-grandchildren (maybe / hopefully!), and getting myself back up.

I’d love to still be learning, reading, having interesting conversations, remembering people’s names, and retaining enough quick wit to give my family a hard time.

I’d also like to be able to use the bathroom independently, thankyouverymuch.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how many individual capabilities go into the life I want.

Take travel.

If I want to be traveling at 85, I probably want to be able to walk several miles, navigate uneven sidewalks, climb stairs, lift a suitcase overhead, tolerate long days on my feet, and recover well enough to do it again the next day.

That’s a pretty big physical wish list!

Now backtrack.

What would I need to be capable of at 75 to have a reasonable shot at that? At 65? At 55?

What can I be building at 43?

Okie dokie ... now my strength training, cardiovascular fitness, balance, mobility, bone density, and metabolic health have very specific jobs outside of society's dumb obsession with how small we are or whatever.

I love that.

There’s also a LOT of room for individuality here.

Maybe you want to be gardening at 80. Growing your own vegetables, hauling bags of soil, squatting down to pull weeds and talk to the worms, getting up off the ground without having to call for backup.

Maybe you want to keep playing tennis. Or dancing. Or hiking. Or getting on the floor with your grandkids and letting them climb all over you. Happily living out your assigned nomination of Lava Monster at the playground.

Maybe you want to be able to live independently, maintain your home, and carry your own groceries.

Think about the physical and cognitive demands of those things. A lot of what we consider ordinary activities actually requires a really impressive collection of abilities. Strength. Power. Balance. Coordination. Endurance. Mobility. Memory. Executive function.

The physical capacity you have at 60 can influence how much you have left to work with at 80.

We tend to lose muscle, strength, power, and aerobic capacity as we age. The rate varies enormously, and many of those changes are modifiable.

Sooooo this means building more capacity earlier gives us more to work with later.

I think about this in terms of having a reserve.

If climbing a flight of stairs requires 90% of your physical capacity, it’s going to feel like a major undertaking. If it requires 15%, you’ve got plenty left in the tank.

This is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about building muscle and maintaining metabolic health NOW, rather than waiting until we’re older to start thinking about it. Whatever age your NOW is. 

Of course, there’s also the small matter of life having its own ideas. (Hi. Hello. Currently living that one.)

Five+ weeks ago, I was strength training, biking, walking daily, and working on some ambitious mobility goals.

Today, washing my hair is an event I have to plan around.

I’m dealing with significant neurological weakness in my left arm and hand, and there’s still a possibility that I’ll need spinal surgery. Discussed that here though things are different by the day so that update might be outdated when you read it.

I have every intention of doing everything within my control to recover as much function as possible. I’m throwing a LOT at this, from established rehabilitation strategies to some emerging science I’m exploring. (Talked about that here if you like short stories made long)

Still, this experience has already changed the way I think about physical independence.

There are so many little things I used to do without giving them a second thought. Reaching overhead. Carrying something with my left arm. Sitting at my desk. Going for a walk. Using my hand fully.

I miss them.

It’s also made me think about how much I want to protect my ability to do the things I LOVE as I get older.

I want to do the trapeze again. Snowboard more. Lifting (reasonably) heavy things regularly. Move my body in all kinds of ways that feel athletic and fun or adventurous.

I’d love to be doing some version of those things decades from now too!

So, I’ve been asking myself some pretty specific questions lately.

What kind of strength do I want to have at 70?

What kind of cardiovascular capacity would support the life I want at 80?

What can I do now to preserve my cognitive health at 90?

How do I build a body that’s resilient enough to recover from setbacks, knowing that setbacks are part of the deal?

And what do I want my actual DAYS to look like?

That’s the part I want you to think about, too.

Picture yourself at 80. Walk me through a day in your life. Where do you live? What are you doing? Who are you spending time with? Are you traveling? Gardening? Chasing grandkids around? Still playing whatever sport you love?

Get hyper-specific. Down to the things you’d probably take for granted today.

Now think about what you’d need physically, mentally, and metabolically to live that day.

Work backward a decade. Then another.

What could you start doing NOW that would make that future more likely?

Maybe it’s finally committing to resistance training. Getting your blood sugar under better control. Building your aerobic fitness little by little. Eating enough protein. Working on your balance. Prioritizing sleep.

Maybe it’s developing more interests, friendships, and a sense of purpose that you want to carry into those later decades, too.

I’m thinking about all of it.

I have a very long list of things I still want to learn, experience, create, and do. Some of them require a pretty capable body. Others require a sharp brain. But yeah ... most require both.

AND ...  I’d really like to be the 90-year-old who’s still making plans for what she’s going to do at 100.

Preferably with all my original marbles.



Stay wild + well,

Tara



P.S. November waitlist for The Metabolic Edge is open and if you're interested in being in a club with women who are as cool as you while we all work on our health, strength, hormones, lab work, and LIFE together, you really need to join us! 

Are you healthy ... or just constantly trying to be healthy?

I've been thinking about something lately. Actually... scratch that. I've been thinking about this for years, but I don't think I really had the words for it until recently.

I was talking to a client this week and she said, "I want to spend less time doing health... and more time just being healthy."

And I knew exactlyyy what she meant. I think there are a lot of women (you?) walking around who are downright exhausted from trying to take care of themselves.

They're doing a lot of things right! They're walking, lifting weights, trying to hit their protein. They're reading fiber on the nutrition labels, drinking their water, taking their supplements. They're listening to podcasts about hormones while they're making dinner.

But somehow... at some point ... taking care of themselves started feeling like another job. And not, like, a side hustle either. A full time gig!

What's WILD is that we've all just accepted that this is normal.


Whaaaaaaat?! No wonder everyone is walking around so frustrated and burnt out.

A friend says, "Ugh, I was so bad this weekend." And everyone knows exactly what she means. She ate the dessert. Or maybe skipped her workouts. She had a few drinks. She "fell off." Then Monday comes around and it's time to start over again.

"New week, new plan!" New attempt to finally become the person who has it all together. Right?

Except... what if this whole thing is a little backwards?

Most women know a lot of the "right" things to do. They've heard that protein matters by now. They know strength training matters (thank goodness!). They know sleep is huge and vegetables are probably a good idea.

The problem is that when they weren't looking, health became the thing they're chasing as the destination instead of the thing that supports everything else.

And that changes the whole kit and kaboodle!

Look, I have NO interest in my entire life revolving around being healthy.

I love health. (Clearly.)

I have spent an embarrassing amount of time in school, reading research papers, looking at labs, learning about hormones, and going down rabbit holes that most people would consider a cry for help.

But I don't want health to be my hobby. Noooo. I already have enough hobbies I want!

I want to learn a lot more Spanish. I want paddleboarding and snowboarding to appear on my calendar more often than blue moons. I want to read books that have absolutely nothing to do with mitochondria (ok fine, and some that do).

I want to wander through bookstores and hit every aisle except the nutrition section.

I want to take random classes just because why not. Pottery? Dance? Food preservation and canning? Outdoor survival skills? Buddhism? Stoicism? Maybe guitar (or I'll just keep being self taught ... which means I know like 1 chord so far).

I want to be the old lady who gardens, knows at least 3-7 birds by their songs, maybe returns to triathlons at age 80 or something, and has a million stories because she actually went out and lived a life.

That's what I want health for. It's a conduit.



A lot of people are stuck because they start with a goal like: "I want to lose 15 pounds." or "I want to tone up." or "I want to get my body back."

And those goals are fine. Really and truly! There's nothing wrong with wanting to feel good and confident and sexy in your body. But I always want my clients to ask a deeper question. Why? Why do you actually want that? And then whatever your answer is... ask why again.

Keep going. Five times.

"I want to lose 15 pounds."

Why?

"Because I don't feel comfortable in my clothes."

Why does that matter?

"Because I don't feel like myself anymore."

Why?

"Because I don't feel confident."

Why?

"Because I feel like I've been putting myself last for years and I am no longer more than a cameo actor inside my own life."

Whoa! Suddenly we're not talking about 15 pounds anymore. We're talking about feeling like yourself again. We're talking about confidence. Reinvention. Energy. Freeeeeeedom. Re-enchantment. Feeling capable. And, feeling like the woman who says yes to things instead of wondering if she's too tired, too uncomfortable, or too 'out of shape' for XYZ.

Isn't that the thing most women are actually chasing??

Not a scale number or a "perfect body". Not a life where they never eat a cookie again.

(Please. I would like to personally unsubscribe from any version of health that includes never eating a cookie.)

They're chasing a life where their body feels like home. 

Which brings me to a question I love asking people...

What if you never had to work out again? What if you never had to eat another vegetable? What if you never had to prioritize protein? What if you never had to go for another walk?

You don't. Nobody is forcing you. You're a whole adult at your big age. You can absolutely choose not to do those things. So why do you? Why do you keep coming back to them?

At some point, those things stop feeling like rules or obligations or To Dos and just become part of who you are.

You don't brush your teeth every night because you're forcing yourself to be a "tooth-brushing person." You do it because that's just what you do. And you don't get to Friday night and go, "I was SO good this week b/c I didn't miss any tooth-brushing sessions so I will celebrate by skipping brushing my teeth this weekend and by Monday morning, I'll have to start over."

Hmm.


The healthiest people I know don't love every workout (or even most). They don't always choose the salad with protein. Or wake up every morning more excited to eat green beans than you.

They're normal humans! (Well, maybe not fully normal. Fully normal people scare me. I have a theory that everyone is weird and if I can't see your weird it means you are hiding it and that's even more concerning to me.)


But I digress ....

The healthiest people I know decided something about themselves ... they are someone who takes care of themselves.


Period.

They're not trying to earn worth. They don't hate their body. They're not terrified of aging. They don't feel forced to do a bazillion healthy habits that compete with the rest of their life.

They value themselves enough to show up. For some, it even feels like an act of rebellion to live in a society and at a time where being unhealthy is SO easy and status quo, returning to "nature" in the way of caring for our human condition is BOLD.

That is such a different energy! 

So if your health journey feels exhausting right now...

If it feels like another thing on your never-ending list...

Maybe the question should be, "How can I make this so much more a part of my life that I don't have to think about it all the time?"

Your healthiest years shouldn't be spent obsessing over being healthy. Right? They should be spent using that health. Taking trips. Trying new things. Playing The Floor is Lava with your kids or grandkids. Taking a ridiculous dance class with your best friend because you can ... where everyone else knew the routine ahead of time except you two and it was just as embarrassing but 10x more fun than you would've imagined. (True story from a few months ago).

Your healthiest years should be laughing until your face hurts. Health should make your world b i g g e r.



So yes, our bodies do thrive when we care for them with exercise, sleep, nutrition, stress resilience strategies, beautiful connections, sunshine. But what would it be like to become someone who weaves those things in because it's just who you are, not because it's another chore? 

Every year we get (chronologically) older. Apparently that part is happening whether we like it or not. Haha! But ... what if every year was actually an opportunity to level up?

To become wiser. Oh yeah! Kinder. More confident. More boundaried. (We LOVE a confident, boundaried, peaceful woman, don't we??) More playful. Endlessly curious.

More YOU.

You don't want to spend the next 20 years trying to "fix" yourself so you can finally start living then.

You want to use these health gains as the launchpad!

Things like a stronger body, better labs, the energy of a yellow lab pup is the starting line for every single goal you have right now. Your hobbies, social life, volunteer and community work, career, side hustle, biggest travel experience you're manifesting right now, and favorite people's core memories of you all start with you being VIBRANT ... and you know it.

And this is what we talk about inside The Metabolic Edge.

Yes, we talk about the practical stuff: fat loss, building muscle, workouts, meals, hormones, understanding your lab work, and all the physiology nerdiness that makes my brain oh-so-happy. But the bigger goal is helping you become the kind of person who takes those health wins and spirals UP.

It's about feeling better in your body so you can feel more alive inside your life.

The doors to The Metabolic Edge will be opening again in a couple of weeks. If you've been reading these newsletters and thinking, "Oh hell yeah...this is exactly what I need," hop on the waitlist so you can be the first to know when enrollment opens.

Your coolest years are still ahead .... and they told me to tell you to think about BEING health. It feels a lot different than doing or performing health. Try it!



Stay wild + well,
Tara