Fit but Not Healthy: The Wake-Up Call That Changed How We Age | Heather Watkins | Ep. 472

About this episode

What happens when someone who has spent her entire life studying health and fitness discovers that looking healthy doesn't necessarily mean being healthy? At 48, Heather Watkins was a fitness and nutrition professional who exercised consistently, maintained a healthy weight, didn't smoke or drink, and had built her career around helping others live healthier lives. Then, one morning, a phone call from an employee about her grandmother having a possible heart attack became an unexpected realization: Heather was having a heart attack herself. Heather survived a widowmaker heart attack—and the experience fundamentally changed the way she understood health. In this episode of The Aging Well Podcast, Dr. Jeff Armstrong talks with Heather about the warning signs she overlooked, the limitations of using appearance and fitness as proxies for health, and the lessons she learned about cardiovascular health, stress, recovery, sleep, metabolic health, and longevity. Heather also shares why she believes women over 40 need to move beyond an exclusive focus on weight loss and begin thinking about the body they want to carry into the next 30 years of life. Learn more at https:/