Did You Make Good Choices for Your Body? Life Lessons Pt. 2

Send me a message

Can the choices we made in the past really shape our health in the future? Join me, Bill Monty, as I navigate the complex journey of aging with a bad hip, weight gain, and challenges from my bouts with COVID. Through heartfelt reflections and vivid stories from the past, I highlight the lasting impacts of youthful habits on our aging bodies. From my trials with diets like Atkins and Weight Watchers to the limits imposed by my bad hip, I urge listeners in their 40s and 50s to think critically about how their current lifestyles could influence their later years. Together, let's share our strategies and experiences, fostering a community of support and insight.

On a lighter note, I open up about the vibrant role you play in the podcasting universe. Your dedication helps introduce "Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older" and "Tales from South Florida" to new listeners, and I'm immensely grateful for it. Sharing these episodes is more than just a hobby; it's a passion project fueled by the joy of connecting and exchanging valuable wisdom. Special shout-out to my listener in New York. I appreciate you taking the time to write me.

Remember to carry kindness and safety with you until we meet again.
Don't forget, LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE.

Support the show

Remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, SUBSCRIBE.

Have a question or comment? Leave a Message:
https://www.speakpipe.com/GuideforGettingOlder

You or your idea might be on the next episode!

Join us on Bluesky, the new social media home for Tales From South Florida and Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older: https://bsky.app/profile/podcasterbill.bsky.social

Email us at [e-mail].

Visit our website: Home (monty73162.wixsite.com)

You can also listen to us and find other resources for Baby Boomers at BabyBoomer.org: Ultimate Boomer Community, News, Podcasts & More!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting
Older.
I'm your host, bill Monty.
In this episode we're going tocontinue with the series of life
lessons you know, those lessonsthat are taught to you as you
age.
And a reminder this podcast isnot about being old, it's about
getting older, which issomething all of us are doing

(00:22):
every single day.
If you're not getting older,check your pulse.
We'll be back in just onemoment, but for right now, cue
the music.
Welcome to Bill Monty's Guidefor Getting Older.
I saw something recently onsocial media that said I don't

(00:47):
mind getting older.
It's the side effects that arekilling me.
I can relate.
One of the things that you'veheard me talk about before is
slowing down is one of the hardpills you have to swallow as you
age.
So this is kind of for some ofour younger listeners here, and
by younger I just mean you mighteven be in your 40s still, or
your 50s, but the life lessonwe're going to talk about today

(01:12):
is your body keeps score.
The effects of our lifestylechoices are not always immediate
, but we eventually learn thatour body remembers everything.
We realize the importance oftaking care of ourselves now for
better health, but thisknowledge often motivates us to
make healthier choices in ourdaily lives.

(01:33):
Yeah, as we get older, that'swhen I started realizing I
should be taking better care ofmyself.
Unfortunately, this is not thelesson that I knew or the
knowledge that I had when I wasyounger.
And look, I grew up in the 70s,so there were a lot of things
that I did from a recreationalpoint of view, shall we say that

(01:57):
probably were not the mosthealthy for my body, for even my
brain, my mind.
It was the time.
I'm not going to make excusesand I'm not going to apologize
to anybody for it, but it's justthe way it was.
Back then, not everybody did it, but me and my friends, and the
attitude that I had was we'regoing to party, we're going to

(02:18):
have a good time.
Now come the 80s, that startedchanging.
I became a performer.
I was actively performing,dancing, a lot of high-energy
exercise, if you will, becausemy body had to be in shape.
I used to jog a lot.
My knees will now tell youmaybe that wasn't the greatest
idea, or maybe I didn't have theright shoes, or whatever.

(02:39):
I was never one to invest inproper jogging shoes, and all
that If I had sneakers, you knowthat was good enough for me,
but as I started aging, someproblems started creeping up.
One of them is one of theeffects that I had from COVID is
I seemed to and maybe it'scoincidence, you know, it might

(03:03):
just very well be that COVIDcame along at the same time that
my body started changing.
My metabolism started slowing,but I find it impossible now to
lose weight and very easy togain weight.
I can watch a commercial abouta hamburger and gain weight
watching it.
Oddly enough, though, if Iwatch a commercial about losing

(03:25):
weight, nothing happenswhatsoever, and yes, that's an
extreme example, but I will tellyou that the weight gain came
on right after I had COVID.
Now, I got COVID right when itfirst started March of 2020.
I've had it a couple timessince then.
I am a victim of long COVID, soI still have the effects of it

(03:46):
in some ways the fatigue, theissues with brain fog.
Every now and then they seem tocome back For no reason
whatsoever.
These cause issues and problems, but I now can't do the
exercise that's required To helpme lose the weight that I need
to lose.
So I have issues with some or Ihad issues with, like high

(04:08):
cholesterol, blood pressure.
Taking pills has helped that.
But my doctor and I both agreethat if I could lose weight I
wouldn't have to take the pills,and maybe if I could lose
weight I would find exercise alittle bit easier to do.
And maybe if I could loseweight I would find exercise a
little bit easier to do.
My problem is that I have a badright hip and it makes it very

(04:29):
difficult for me to walk.
I walk with a cane now, sorunning or doing anything, even
knee bends of any kind,something like that is
impossible.
I'm not very steady on my feetthese days.
So if you have been experiencingany of this, I hope that you
will maybe drop me a line Let meknow how you're dealing with it
.
Are you experiencing the samethings?

(04:50):
Even for those of you whoreally took care of your bodies
as you were getting older, asyou were aging, you know, are
you experiencing the same thingsnow?
What has worked for you?
Now, before you tell me aboutketo and Atkins and Weight
Watchers, I've tried them all.
So, yes, and I know if I ate1500 calories a day then I would

(05:12):
lose weight.
That's what they say.
But I will tell you, I didAtkins back around 1995.
It was very successful.
I lost about 20 pounds in spaceof maybe four to six weeks.
I tried it again recently and,because I no longer eat as much
meat as I used to, it didn'twork as well.
Weight Watchers changes, itseems, about every year.

(05:35):
They come out with somethingnew.
You couldn't eat this before,but now you can.
I don't really have confidence.
They know what they're doing,but I did it.
I paid for it.
I did the whole six months withWeight Watchers and gained 10
pounds and I stuck to the plan.
I did what I was supposed to do.
So these are some of the issuesthat I have had.
I wish I had stayed in bettershape from when I was younger

(06:00):
and I know now, as I've talkedabout in the past on this show,
that I may not have the time nowto get back in shape.
So of course, I'm like everyother American.
If I could just take a pill ora shot in my stomach or
something, I wish I could dothat, but I can't, because in
this country we've decided tomake it impossible for people to
afford medicines that couldactually help them.

(06:23):
Yes, we have Wigovi and we haveOzempic, we have all these
things.
But who can afford it?
I am on Medicare, and Medicaredoesn't pay for it because you
have to be diabetic, because themedicine was developed to help
diabetics.
So, even though it's beenrecognized that it does help
people lose weight, medicarewon't do anything with it for

(06:45):
that.
So if you are younger, if youare doing the wild things, if
you're not taking care, you aredoing the wild things if you're
not taking care of yourself theway you should and by that I
mean going to the dentist andgoing for annual checkups, doing
all that sort of thing do it.
Take care of your body.
You don't get a second one.
And in my time, we grew upbelieving that medicine would be

(07:06):
able to cure most everything,unless it was extreme and I'm
talking no cancer or ALS ormuscular dystrophy or something
like that.
But if problems came along justbecause you were older,
medicine would be able to takecare of it.
Now I don't know if that wasjust a lie that we believed and
now we know the truth or if itdid used to be that way.

(07:28):
But now, because, in my opinion, medicine is controlled by big
pharma and doctors are no longerin control of their own
practices the way they used tobe.
That medicine is not able to dowhat it used to be able to, it
can do miracles.
Absolutely it can performmiracles.
I know people that haveperformed miracles for, but

(07:49):
there's a lot that it stillcan't do.
So don't rely on the governmentor the medical community to be
able to cure you when, right now, you can do something which is
eat right, watch your weight,get the exercise.
I know I sound like all thoseboring commercials that people
used to tell me the same thingto do.
The life lesson here that I havelearned as I got older was I

(08:11):
should have listened.
I thought I knew everything.
How odd I didn't, and I stilldon't.
This is all about getting older.
That's why I call it a guidefor getting older.
I learn new things every singleday, things that I thought I
knew and that I had my mindseton.
I've now found that I canchange that mindset to do what

(08:34):
needs to be done.
So don't get so set in yourways, too, that you can't latch
on to a new idea or a newperspective or a new way of
thinking.
Okay, so that is our lesson fortoday.
We'll be continuing this series.
The next time up we're going tobe talking about empathy and
what life teaches you about that.

(08:54):
I would like to take just amoment to reach out to all of
you who have reached out to me.
I got a very nice note afterthe last episode from someone
from New York I don't know ifyou're a man or a woman, there
was no name with it, but justthanking me for starting the
series up again.
As I mentioned last episode, Ihad taken a short break around
June for June, july and August,as I was concentrating on my

(09:19):
other podcast, tales from SouthFlorida, and this person wrote
just to let me know how great itwas, and I really appreciate
that.
So if you scroll down, whateverapp you're listening through,
you will find a text bill, amessage or text, a message link,
and you can just send it.
You don't have to go on throughyour phone.
It's not going to charge youanything.
If you're on a laptop, you cando it.

(09:40):
However you're listening, youcan do it, and I would
appreciate you just giving meyour thoughts on on the show,
how you heard about it and whatyou're going through as you are
getting older and again, I'm nottalking about what you're going
through as you are old, but asyou are getting older, so, even
if you're in your 30s or 40s or50s or 60s, what are the

(10:02):
thoughts that you're having?
What are you doing to take careof yourself, what are the
problems that you're runninginto and what are the solutions
that you're finding?
I really do appreciate that.
My friends, please remember tohit the like and comment and
share and subscribe withwhatever app you're listening on
.
All of this helps me to keepthe podcast going and I love

(10:25):
hearing from you and I love yourfeedback Until next time.
This is Bill Monte saying besafe and be kind.
Friends, those of you wholistened all the way to the end
of this episode, that means somuch to me how nice it is to

(10:47):
have you listen all the way.
You know in the podcastingworld, the way that they send
episodes out to new people.
If you listen all the waythrough, then they're going to
recommend the podcast to otherpeople because they're going to
say, hey, people are stickingwith this from start to finish
and they're not bailing afterthe first two minutes or five
minutes or whatever it might be.
So it really means a lot to methat you're listening as I wrap

(11:11):
up the show and I just wanted tosay thank you once again.
Thank you for that.
I hope you'll tell your friends,your co-workers, your family
about Bill Monty's guide forgetting older and if you want to
throw in Tales from SouthFlorida, because that's my other
podcast, these are my hobbies.
I'm not making any money doingthis, but I have information

(11:33):
that I think is important toshare, and one of the things
that as I get older is you wantthings to do, you want to be
able to keep your mind active.
So for me, it's Wordle.
I got it in three today, people, and it's my podcast.
So thank you once again.
Really enjoyed talking with youand I hope you're enjoying the

(11:56):
program too.
As I said previously, untilnext time, be safe and be kind.