At some point, “I guess I’m just getting older” starts sneaking into the explanation for everything. The exhaustion. The soreness. The changing body. The thing you used to be able to lift without thinking twice. And sometimes, without realizing it, respecting the fact that our bodies are changing turns into quietly lowering our expectations for what they can still do. Dr. Carol Wilder knows that story from both sides of the exam table. She spent decades as a Sports Medicine physician and former Division I athlete, bike commuting two hours a day and assuming that when she felt worse, the answer was to exercise more. Then perimenopause arrived and even the doctor found herself wondering, “What the F is going on?” What happened next changed not only how Carol cared for her own body, but how she thinks about aging, strength, muscle, and agency. This isn’t about dragging our 25-year-old bodies out of storage. It’s about deciding what we want our bodies to help us DO with the decades still ahead of us. Because aging is inevitable. Frailty isn’t. FERAL SNACKS “When you get your energy back, you get your agency back." “Aging is inevitable, right? But aging with frailty is not inevitable.” IN THIS EPISODE What happened when a Sports Medicine physician hit perimenopause and couldn’t exercise her way out of feeling like crap Why doing more and eating less can become exactly the wrong midlife equation The difference between accepting that your body is changing and quietly deciding it can’t do hard things anymore Why Carol wants women thinking about muscle, protein, strength, bones, and metabolic health before frailty enters the chat What changes when exercise stops being a project to make your body smaller The suitcase-over-your-head test: training for the ordinary physical freedoms we don’t want to lose Why understanding what’s happening inside your body can return some of the agency that midlife stole What an 84-year-old Jane Fonda reminded Carol about longevity that has nothing to do with protein or lifting weights ABOUT DR. CAROL WILDER Dr. Carol Wilder is a board-certified Sports Medicine physician, health coach, former NCAA Division I swimmer, and lifelong outdoor adventurer who is on a mission to prove that women don't have to accept getting weaker, slower, or softer after 40. With more than 30 years of experience in sports medicine and her own firsthand journey through the upheavals of perimenopause, Dr. Carol helps active women ditch the “it’s just aging” mindset. Using evidence-based strategies for strength training, nutrition, recovery, and mindset, she empowers women to build muscle, lose body fat, boost energy, and embrace midlife with strength, confidence, and purpose. When she’s not caring for patients or coaching clients, you’ll probably find her mountain biking a rocky trail, chasing fresh powder on her snowboard, or planning her next travel adventure from her home in beautiful Bend, Oregon. Website: drcarolcoaching.comFacebook & Instagram: @wildersportsdocEmail: drcarol@drcarolcoaching.com ABOUT THE FERAL ERA The Feral Era for Women Over 40 with Kirsten Bombdiggity is a weekly live show for successful women who are tired of feeling invisible in their own daggum lives. Because mindset is useless if our nervous systems are fried. Live every Wednesday at 1pm ET, Kirsten sits down with one featured guest for a fast, fun, ferociously unfiltered conversation about people-pleasing, burnout, masking, imposter syndrome, aging bodies, ambition, relationships, identity shifts, and launching our individual comeback tours. If this episode made you reconsider something you’ve been filing under “welp, I’m old now,” subscribe and follow the show. And send this one to the friend you still plan to be getting into trouble with at 80. You’re gonna need those muscles.