#133: How I Quit Cardio and Got Super Fit Over 53
Ready For Love with Hilary Silver - Cloud10
Hilary Silver shares her transformative journey to optimal health and fitness after turning 53, revealing seven mindset-based habits that re
Key takeaways
- Shifting from self-discipline to self-devotion creates sustainable motivation and better results.
- Listening to your body's needs—rather than forcing workouts—leads to more enjoyable and effective movement.
Main topics
- Mindset shift in health and fitness
- Self-trust over social media gurus
Notable quotes
I'm not fighting myself anymore. And that higher vibe state of being just pays off.
Conclusion
Hilary Silver's journey proves that true fitness after 50 comes not from
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) I just turned 54 years old and I'm in the best shape of my life. I've never looked or felt better and the habits that got me to this point might surprise you because it's not what all the gurus and experts say to do, like working out harder, having a stricter regimen, or counting calories, macros, or steps. In fact, I've done no counting at all. A couple years ago, I did a similar episode where I talked about how I quit hardcore workouts and got in better shape than ever. And now, two years later, I've discovered even more, so I'm back with an updated version and a few new habits that I did not include the first time. Today, I'm sharing the seven habits that I started doing that completely changed my life and got me looking and feeling my best after 50. Habits that will completely transform the way that you approach exercise, eating, and feeling good every day, and that you can start practicing right now. Hi, it's Hillary. Welcome to the Ready for Love podcast. Speaker 1 (0:59) Welcome back, friends. And if you're new here, I'm Hillary Silver, former psychotherapist turned master coach and founder of Ready for Love. I'm here to help you look, feel, and be your very best self, live life on your own terms, and get everything you want. If that sounds good, subscribe on your podcast app and to the YouTube channel so you never miss an episode. And it really does help me grow the show. So thanks in advance for your support. Let me start by just saying I am not a personal trainer or a fitness expert or a doctor. I am an expert in psychology and mindset and relationships. But being our best self and being in our best shape ever is not just about how we look. It's about how we are being in our lives and who we are being. People are always shocked when I tell them how old I am, and they're always asking me what I do to be in such great shape and what are my secrets. That's why we're having this conversation today. And I do think that it's kind of funny because I'm five foot one. I never thought in a million years that I would ever be any kind of example or model. But yet, it does make sense because working out has always been a big part of my life. So here we are. I've gone through a lot of phases and have experimented with so many approaches to how I work out and what I eat. I've pretty much tried it all. Orange Theory for years, sprint triathlons, half marathons, running four days a week, doing hardcore HIIT workouts, weight training, Tracy Anderson workouts, power sculpt yoga, and eating keto, paleo, intermittent fasting. Yeah, I've tried it all. But once I turned 50, I discovered I was doing something that was actually hindering me instead of helping me. Instead of feeling energized by my workouts, I was feeling depleted by them. The exertion was backfiring and I felt like all my hard work wasn't working anymore to get me the results that I wanted. It was taking me longer to recover. It was increasingly hard on my body. It just didn't feel good to be doing all that I was doing anymore. So I decided to regroup and in that process, I started listening to myself. like really tuning in to hear my inner dialogue. And here's what I realized. I was not being good to myself at all. I've always pushed myself as hard as I can doing the intense workouts and really just being competitive with myself. I wasn't competing with anyone else necessarily, but I just always wanted to push myself as far as I could go. But what I realized was all the pushing was coming from a place and fueled from a place of proving, of needing to prove. something. Prove I was fit. Prove I can do it and prove I'm able. I wasn't really proving it to anyone else because no one else really cares what I'm doing. I was proving to myself more than anything. And that is just so super shitty. What I was thinking to myself about myself and what I was doing to myself. It certainly didn't feel like self-care and it definitely was not self-loving. I wasn't treating myself like someone I actually care about at all. Despite the outward appearance of it and from the working out and the commitment to health and fitness and how I looked, it didn't feel like self-love at all. It was punitive and conditional. So I took a step back and I asked myself, why the hell do I need to prove anything to anyone, least of all myself? And the answer was simple. I don't. So I decided to cut the shit and change my entire approach. And once I did that, everything got so much better. Not only the results, but how I was feeling every single day. It was like cutting the ties, dropping the rope of a power struggle inside of myself. No more tug of war inside of myself. So then what followed was a total complete shift. My approach to self-care, my health and wellness changed in its entirety. And so what I'm sharing today are habits that aren't specific to what I eat and how I work out. It's bigger than that. It includes that, but it's more than that because to look and feel your best is bigger than that. It's not just what you're doing. It's who you are being. So here are the seven habits that I am doing as part of my new approach that actually changed everything for me. Habit number one, I always have my own back. So first of all, I am not being mean to myself. It was a conscious decision to have an entirely different approach, starting with how I talk to myself and think about myself. I cleaned up my self-talk and I stopped needing to prove anything, not to anyone else and especially not to myself. This is the mindset shift underneath every other habit on this list. I went from self-discipline to self-devotion, not just with my workouts, but with everything. Self-discipline is about rigidity and conditional and it's hardcore and punishing. Self-devotion is about love, loyalty, and concern and care for myself. And that shows up in the choices that I make, in how I treat myself, and in how I talk to myself. So instead of being so hard on myself, I became my own biggest advocate, my own number one fan. And I make myself a priority. I treat myself and talk to myself like someone I actually care about. Like I'm on my own side no matter what. Rather than being perpetually at war with myself, being at the taskmaster, cracking the whip, and forcing myself to do things I don't want to do or that aren't feeling good for me. And what is left is a flow state. It all feels so much easier, less stressful. It's just having a sense of faith and trust and less of a need to control and chase after a certain state of being or fitness. Less forcing and more flowing. And in that shift, I've gotten in better shape, which may seem ironic, but I'm not fighting myself anymore. And that higher vibe state of being just pays off. Second within this shift is self-trust. I don't listen to all the so-called gurus telling me what to do and how to do it, following all these arbitrary rules that change from day to day because people are literally making this stuff up for attention. At least that's what I think. I once heard a woman say somewhere that women over 50 should be able to do 11 push-ups. Really, 11. Why not 10? Why not 15? Show me the science of 11. I just don't believe it. There is so much bullshit out there. It is so hard today with social media because anyone who's good at all at getting attention is suddenly considered an expert. So we get so wrapped up in the rules that every health influencer is peddling, we actually forget that most of them and most of the time have made this all up because they're trying to sell you something. So having my own back means that I trust myself over today's newest social media darlings made up rule every single time. And lastly, within this first shift, I make myself a priority and I make my needs a priority every single day. And I'll tell you exactly how I do that throughout the rest of these habits. But the point is, no matter what, I've