HaleyEven though you’ve reached the midway point of life, there are still plenty of new habits you can embrace to optimize life in your 40s.
Before I turned 40 a few years ago, I began reflecting on life as I reached this new age milestone that officially signaled the halfway point in life. Something shifted as I as hit this notable middle age mark that allowed me to not only see forward with more clarity, but behind as well. (I even wrote about it in a post entitled 6 Healthy Habits for Women in their Forties.)
As I continue to climb the forties ladder, I’ve noticed that every year as my birthday approaches, I become introspective and reflective, wondering how to make the most of the life that I have.
I consider ways that I can improve when it comes to my health, mindset, stewardship, impact, attention, creativity and more. And in doing so, I realize what areas of my life need change, what areas need fertilizer and what areas need to be pruned.
As I’ve aged, I’ve come to realize that every new idea or habit that I create means that another idea or habit must cease to exist if I am to make room. I would have never admitted this when I was younger, thinking I can do it all–all at the same time. And there are days that still get the best of me thinking I can balance everything at once. But the reality of another birthday, especially past the halfway point in life, means that I have to admit that my time is fixed, and doesn’t expand with my whims or new ideas.
All that to say that these 9 habits for your 40s are ones that have made the top of my list for 2025, realizing that some habits take a lot of effort, but that’s because they are worth it. And other habits, as you’ll read about soon, are hard to break, but worth breaking in the end as wisdom increases.
Eat More Protein
Most research points to perimenopause as beginning for women in their mid-forties. And as I’m encroaching on that timeline rapidly, this topic has been on my mind lately as I’m trying to learn everything I can.
Perimenopause is defined as the 10 years leading up to menopause, and often begins in your early to mid forties, but can begin sooner or later. During perimenopause, your estrogen is on a roller coaster as your body transitions to full menopause and this ride can last for years. Classic perimenopause symptoms include fluctuations in your cycle, hot flashes, sleep problems, moodiness and many more.
The reality that this phase of my life could last for 10 years makes me realize I want to do everything in my power to keep my body, mind and confidence strong and healthy.
If you’ve listened to any podcasts on the subject, you’ve heard the powerful effects of protein for women in perimenopause. Huberman Labs has two informative podcasts on perimenopause from interviews with Dr. Stacy Sims and Dr. Mary Claire Haver. There are also a couple other good episodes pertaining to protein, muscle mass and resistance training interviewing Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and Dr. Layne Norton.
The basic consensus I’ve gathered after researching is that we need at least 1 gram of protein per ideal pound of body weight. So personally, I’m aiming for at least 130 grams of protein each day.
Last year was a roller coaster for me. I hurt my back randomly after doing a warm-up in the gym and was out of commission for a month. Then, last fall, I battled walking pneumonia, which put me out of commission for 6 weeks.
But over the summer–in between those two episodes–I prioritized my protein intake and felt amazing. I knew it was something that I had to really focus on for 2025 to feel my best.
I spent the month of January recording my protein intake because I’m not great at guessing how much protein is in a piece of meat. Now that I understand more from tracking, I can honestly say that hitting 130 grams of protein a day hasn’t been hard.
Types of Protein I Eat
My husband cooks us eggs and bacon every morning for breakfast, so I usually get 25 g of protein first thing in the morning. Depending on when I work out, I’ll blend a scoop of this protein powder with a little milk or my favorite way to eat it lately is to stir it into plain Greek yogurt with a touch of granola. It’s amazing and honestly more like a delicious treat.
I know opinions are mixed, but I’m not a fan of plant-based protein. For me, I only count my protein when it originates from animals and that’s why I choose whey protein, because it’s a complete source of protein. Honestly, I think natural protein through animals is the best option for protein intake, but I don’t always get enough that way.
Besides adding in up to 1 scoop of protein powder a day, I’ve been on a salad kick the past month. I make my salads with a minimum of 5 oz. of chicken for my lunches, which is at least 44 g of protein. The priority is not the salad, but the chicken; the salad is just the vehicle for making the chicken more interesting. Let’s face it, eating a couple pieces of plain chicken is just boring.
Dinner is a toss up, but we could have anything from burgers to tacos to pork tenderloin to salmon. Whatever we have, I simply make sure I’m getting 35g of protein or more at dinner.
Though getting enough protein has been easy, I’m still figuring out how many carbs my body needs to function optimally. Some days I’ll try more and some less. But for now, the jury is still out on the optimal amount to feel and perform my best.
Increase Strength and Lift Heavier Weight
At the end of 2024, I took on my 12 year old for a mom vs son competition. It was a humbling experience for sure, and was just another reminder that it was important to rebuild my strength after my roller coaster year of training.
One of the main reasons I’m prioritizing protein is because I’m working hard this year to build muscle in my 40s (defying the odds) and rebuilding lost strength from last year. For that to happen, it takes a combination of more protein and more weight lifting.
To kick off 2025, I’ve strength trained 3 days a week followed by short conditioning and also supplemented with recovery work such as walking with a weighted vest or hiking most of my off-gym days.
My husband owned CrossFit gyms for nearly 10 years when we lived outside Atlanta, so he creates our programming each week and I’m determined to be consistent so that I can see strength gains. So far so good for 2025 as I’ve been able to increase my weights each week during periodization.
Here’s our programming (just a doc in Google Drive) in case it inspires you. My husband updates it each Sunday for the coming week.
Besides increased protein and consistent resistance training, I’ve started taking 5mg of creatine daily. Creatine is a huge topic in and of itself, but from my research, it’s a huge benefit for women 40+ as we lose muscle mass.
Read the Bible
It sounds so simple, but one thing that is so important (for women especially), is for us to feel comfortable reading the Bible for ourselves–not relying on a Bible study or a Bible teacher or a pastor to feed us the Word. We need to read it for ourselves. And there’s no better time to start than now. I honestly didn’t dive in by myself consistently until my mid thirties. (Here’s my story.)
As I know so well from my own life, anyone can read the Bible consistently, it’s just about redefining priorities and creating a routine that works for you.
There are a million ways to approach reading the Bible, but the key is to read the Word yourself without the crutch of another voice in your head.
- This will be my third time reading the whole Bible chronologically in a year (I tend to do it every other year and it’s amazing how I notice different things each time).
- Last year, I spent a month reading through Revelation one chapter a day, studying and trying to understand it better.
- Last fall, I verse mapped my way through Philippians.
- With my monthly group of Bible study gals, we’re going through Matthew one chapter at a time.
However you choose to do it, the key is to find a way and a routine to read the Bible for yourself.
Be the Rising Tide
Once you reach the halfway point of life, through trial and error, you begin to realize that everything doesn’t need to revolve around you. Instead of focusing only on the goals ahead of you and your desires, middle age is the perfect opportunity to focus on the people around you.
You begin to realize that the important parts of legacy aren’t money or property, but the impact you have on others.
This is why your forties is the prime time of life to begin giving back to your community or acting on your causes and convictions. It’s the time when you realize you’re just a small spoke in the wheel of life, but you can still play a useful part.
Every community offers multiple avenues for service. Start by considering the needs of your community. Is it rural? Is it inner-city? Is it poor? Is it affluent? Is there a drug problem? Is there an unemployment problem? Is there a broken families problem?
Once you identify the needs of your community, you will find the pathway to service through local non-profits, churches, community-based groups, businesses, healthcare providers and educational institutions that are rallying to meet these needs and effect change.
But how can you help? You can give of your time, you can offer your skills, you can donate your money or property or resources, you can provide connections for others to collaborate…and so much more.
But the gist that your forties is the perfect time to be the rising tide. Just as “a rising tide lifts all boats,” investing in others and bringing them up with you creates a ripple effect that can impact broader communities.
Locally, I’m involved with a mentor program that pairs caring community-minded adults with public school students who simply need someone to talk with each week. The hope is that these mentors provide stability, encouragement, role modeling and active listening for these students year after year as they age and mature. Then, once these students are adults, we hope that they pour back into their communities as well.
Wear Your Colors
The concept of color analysis based on skin, eye and hair color was completely foreign to me a couple months ago. But after a bit of curious investigation, it absolutely makes sense and I *think* I know my color analysis (without paying hundreds for a consultant or buying an app). The biggest shocker for me–and the reason I’m bringing it up–is because I shockingly realized one of my wardrobe staple colors (black), is absolutely not a color that looks good on me. I love wearing black and I guess I mostly look at myself from the neck down when wearing it, because when I tried on black after reading about my true palette of autumn, it was clear that black made me look older and washed out. Oops!
And though I know youth is fading quickly now that I’m in my forties, I still think it’s important to look and feel my best based on the resources I have at my disposal.
So in an attempt to embrace my colors, I’ve divided the clothes in my closet in half. One half includes colors within my palette and the other half includes colors outside it. I’m attempting to only wear the clothes that are in my color wheel and see how it goes. I’ve already (randomly and surprisingly) received compliments from friends about how certain colors look good on me. Who knew?! But it’s enough to keep me going in that direction.
I’m also trying not to buy any clothes that are outside my color palette, except that concept will have to wait a year until I buy clothes again…more on that below.
Make a Budget and Stick to It
As boring as this sounds, budgeting is important no matter which tax bracket you fall into. I’m realizing that your 40s is when you are in the thick of raising kids and thinking about all those upcoming expenses such as braces, cars, college and weddings. And at the same time, you realize you’re not that far off from retirement age.
There are a lot of great apps out there, but if you bank with USAA like we do, unfortunately no budgeting apps work because of a connection problem with USAA. So I’ve been forced to resort to a spreadsheet that I update manually, but the good news is it’s very hands-on and I have to look back at every choice I make as far as spending goes.
If you can’t tell from most of my tips, I’m a huge fan of discipline???
Remove Temptation
I took budgeting a step farther when I made a couple specific goals for myself this year: delete the Amazon app from my phone and vow not to buy a single item of clothing for myself this year. They both sound a bit ambitious, right?
I realized having the Amazon app at my fingertips meant I ordered items quickly once I realized I needed something. Only half the time, I didn’t actually need something, I just thought I did because I didn’t take the time to think things through. Maybe I made an impulse buy or was roped into retail therapy and instant gratification.
By removing the Amazon app, it’s not that I won’t make purchases from Amazon, but now I’ve built in a delay of sorts. I have to wait until I can access a laptop, which gives me more time to decide if it’s truly a need or a want, and using the laptop gives me a better chance of price shopping. And also, most of us are learning that Amazon isn’t always the cheapest or fastest when it comes to shopping.
To take things a step further, I also figured out a way to pull an annual report of my Amazon spending since 2008! (instructions here) The hour it took me to pull up 16 years’ worth of purchases was worth it. It further cemented my plan to remove the Amazon app from my phone.
Circling back to my clothing ban, I decided not to buy any clothes for myself this year so that I lean farther into contentedness. I honestly have what I need and I want to not only remember but embrace that mindset.
No, I don’t have a “capsule wardrobe” or anything trendy like that. But I have enough and have come to realize that people honestly don’t realize or remember what you wear that often. So far, I’ve been sticking to wearing the colors within my palette and realize only using half my closet is still plenty for my purposes.
Honestly, I’m not a trendy person so hopefully this approach will also help me to focus on buying classic staples next year when I do decide to purchase any clothing.
Work with What You’ve Got
Out of all the goals I’m prioritizing this year, this one may be the hardest for me from a consistency standpoint. But the basic overarching idea is: Be content with what you have.
Practically, this means to live below your means by using what’s in your closet, in your house, in your freezer, in your pantry. It’s about resisting the urge to go buy what you want when you want it. It’s about realizing your contentedness doesn’t come from things, not even healthy or good things (guilty!).
One of my favorite memory verses is Hebrews 12:1-2a, which says:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith.”
Though buying or owning things isn’t a sin, for some of us, the process of acquiring can steal too much of our attention and become a hinderance. And for me, using what I have means leaning more into contentedness and less into self absorption. And I hope that with that comes humility, which isn’t thinking less of oneself, but simply thinking of oneself less.
This idea comes full circle when my mind isn’t as occupied about what I want but instead focused on serving others and determining what they need.
Try Something New
The past several years, especially as I was approaching 40, I realized the power of learning something new. Not only does it make life fun and exciting at times, it also triggers your brain and keeps your cognitive skills sharp.
My husband and I have tried tons of new things over the years, such as hydroponic gardening, beekeeping, brewing kombucha, backyard chickens, the Paleo Diet, the Carnivore Diet, pickleball, running an Airbnb on our property, leading a Bible study, writing a memoir, etc.
We are constantly trying new things or concepts just for the fun of it. Sometimes, we fail. Sometimes, we succeed. And many times, we simply move on to the next thing.
Based on the nostalgia of playing drums at his high school prom, my husband has taken up learning drums. Thankfully, we have a place for him practice outside of our house.
After failing at beekeeping (thank you hungry bear) and backyard chickens (thank you hungry racoons), I’m determined to keep my tiny homesteading dreams alive. So I’ve moved on to learning to make sourdough bread and other recipes from my sourdough discard. I’ve got a long way to go, but it’s exciting to learn and explore and create. And of course I feel better feeding it to my kids since I control the ingredients.
Some of my favorite activities that could spur some new ideas for you include working out, playing pickleball, summer softball, mountain biking, hiking, ping pong and sprints around the track.
Take Care of Your Body
In younger years, it was fairly easy to bounce back from too much of things (like sugar) or too little of things (like sleep). Nowadays, everything I do seems to affect my body more.
Once or twice a year, I realize I’m drinking too much coffee or it begins to disagree with my body, so I cut it out for a while to reset.
I’ve always prioritized exercise, but besides being in the gym, I realize how mentally liberating it is to be active outside doing an activity such as hiking or walking.
Besides working out, other ideas for taking care of yourself include cutting back on alcohol, caffeine or screen time, prioritizing sleep, mouth taping (for you snorers), caring for your skin, creating home-cooked meals, managing stress and spending more time outside.
There’s Still Time
Just because you’ve hit the midway point of life doesn’t mean your best years are behind you. There’s still time to embrace new habits and create new healthy routines to help you optimize your body and mindset as you age.
Have you created any new habits in your 40s? I’d love to hear about them!
