What does getting healthy actually look like when you’re a woman approaching 50?Is it about losing weight? Going to the gym? Eating more protein? Taking a GLP-1? Or is the real challenge changing your relationship with your body, food, and the idea of what being healthy is supposed to look like?In this episode of Small Talk: Work Play Build, we speak with Monika Manchanda, food writer and culinary professional, about her very personal journey into fitness and better health.Monika talks openly about starting small after years of not working out, learning to feel comfortable in the gym in a larger body, navigating changing health needs as she approaches 50, and why loving your body and wanting to improve your health don't have to be contradictory ideas.We also get into one of the biggest health conversations right now: GLP-1 medications.What do they actually mean for a health journey? Are they a shortcut? What role do strength training, protein and fibre play alongside medication? And how do you make sense of wildly conflicting health advice online?Plus, Monika answers a question many Indian vegetarians struggle with: how do you get enough protein without completely overhauling your diet?Chapters00:00 Loving Yourself, Getting Healthier01:41 Monika Manchanda’s Health Journey11:04 Starting Fitness From Scratch12:13 Being a Bigger Woman in the Gym15:39 The Truth About GLP-1s24:41 Body Positivity vs Better Health25:24 Women’s Health After 4038:09 Health Influencers and Bad Advice45:41 Can Sharing Your Journey Help Others?1:02:09 How Vegetarians Get Enough Protein1:15:49 Social Media, Hobbies and Work1:16:42 Getting Older and Getting HealthierOne of the ideas that runs through this entire conversation is simple: health isn’t a 30-day transformation or a shortcut. It’s a relationship with your body that keeps evolving.And sometimes, the most important thing you can do is stop waiting to become the “right kind of person” before you start taking care of yourself.Small Talk: Work | Play | Build is a podcast for curious people figuring out careers, work, passions and everything in between.#WomensHealth #Fitness #HealthJourney #Nutrition #Protein #GLP1 #Perimenopause #StrengthTraining #WomenOver40 #FutureOfWork #CareerGrowth #SmallTalkPodcast---------------------If this one landed, here's the one thing we'll ever ask: rate Small Talk on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Five seconds. It's the only signal that decides who else gets to hear us. Stay close🎧 Listen everywhere · https://www.pod.link/1531495902📺 YouTube · https://www.youtube.com/@smalltalkpod_wpb📷 Instagram · https://www.instagram.com/smalltalkpod_wpb🌐 https://www.smalltalkpod.com📩 Write to us: smalltalkpod.wpb@gmail.com📅 New episodes every fortnightSmall Talk: Work, Play, Build is a fortnightly podcast about careers, leadership, and the things we make outside our day jobs. Hosted by Subha Chandrasekaran (https://www.linkedin.com/in/subhachandrasekaran/) (executive coach, founder of RainKraft) and Hasita Krishna (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasita/) (brand strategist, co-founder of Motley Crew). Seven seasons in, still about what it means to live a life that feels true — at work and outside it.© 2026 RainKraft Creative Solutions (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.