Two to three high-intensity workouts a day were once the norm for Annie Walters. She became a self-described gym rat in the early aughts and, for years, would jump into her day with a morning spin class. The evening would finish with a Pilates or an athletic conditioning session. She’d rinse and repeat this routine five days a week.

When she hit 40, though, that time-tested practice suddenly fell flat. Vigorously exercising up to three hours a day, even while eating nutritious meals and getting good rest, suddenly wasn’t supporting her body in the same way it previously had. Low on energy and stamina, Walters recalls constantly feeling exhausted while trying to stick to her regimen.

After three years of battling her body, she decided to work with it. Now, 46-year-old Walters still moves every day — cycling, playing tennis, taking group fitness classes — just at a lower intensity. Recovery is a bit slower, too. But Walters says that she’s better conditioned today than she was in her hustling era. 

“It was just understanding how [to] listen to your body and adapt and be kind to yourself, in the sense that it's not a failure to not be able to do as much,” Walters, Equinox’s vice president of retail, shares.

She’s also adapting to perimenopause — and the associated symptoms like brain fog, sleep disturbances, hair and skin changes, and alcohol intolerance. Walters is taking supplements and going to bed earlier to promote deep rest, avoiding alcohol on weekdays, and finding the community, friends, and healthcare providers that will support her on this journey. After speaking with a friend who has benefited from hormone replacement therapy, Walters is also planning to have her hormone levels tested to determine the best course of action for her. 

“I want to find ways to make myself feel great,” Walters says of this life stage. “But I think it's honestly a little overwhelming.”

To push through any challenges she experiences, Walters takes a three-pronged approach: acknowledge, accept, and act. Just last year, Walters had a hysterectomy to treat endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, and cysts. Eliminating her period, which would knock her out for two weeks each month, has been a “game-changer,” she says. She no longer has to plan races, like a half-marathon or Ironman 70.3, around her cycle. Although she does experience the ups and downs of perimenopause, as she still has her ovaries, the procedure allowed her to “feel like myself again,” says Walters.

Scaling back her workouts may have given her a few extra hours of leisure each day, but championing her health, she says, gave her the freedom to simply exist in the world. “It is truly the greatest gift I've ever received.”

Written by Megan Falk