Transcript of What I've Had Done to Look 10 Years Younger at 52

If you're meeting me for the first time, what you might not know is that people are shocked when they hear I'm 52. They see my workout video clips and my photos, and they want to know, how do you have that body and how do you have those abs? What is your secret to looking so young, what are you doing? Well, I'm not a personal trainer or a fitness influencer or anything like that. I'm just little old me, all 5'1 inches of me. But I do take very good care of myself, including working out every day. However, today, I'm not talking about that. I'm going to be getting super personal with you, and I'm sharing all the cosmetic and esthetic procedures and enhancements that I've done to look as young and fit as I do at 52. So I'm an open book with the people in my life, but this is my first time speaking publicly about any of this. And while it feels super vulnerable to just put it all out there, I want to be clear, I'm not ashamed of any of it. I'm proud of the I take care of myself, and I decided to share it with you because I want you to feel empowered to do whatever makes you feel happy and amazing in your skin, too.

So let's get into it. Hi, it's Hillary. Welcome to the Hillary Silver podcast. Thanks for tuning into the conversation today. If you haven't already, it would mean so much to me if you'd take a minute to just click that five-star rating on your podcast app, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss one of my episodes. And if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider sharing it with a friend, because if you like it, they will probably like it, too. So before we get into it, I want to share some really important and powerful mindsets and perspectives about our physical appearance and aging, because after all, psychology and our relationship with ourselves is my area of expertise and what I'm known for. Then I promise I'm going to tell you all the things. So first, I am not anti-aging at all. I love aging. I love every single year that I get wiser, more confident, and more relaxed and comfortable in my own skin. I trust myself completely, and honestly, I just don't give a fuck anymore about so many things, which It's just very liberating. I'm able to just focus on what really matters and leave all the rest.

I'm just very unbothered. It's a sense of peace and freedom that I would not trade for anything. So love that you get older. Love every little bit about it what it means about who you are on the inside. You can embrace aging and still want to look your very best. The two are not mutually exclusive. Embracing aging doesn't mean that we have to be okay with wrinkles or gray if we don't want to. It's not resisting aging to want to look and feel our best. My message today and always is not about being anti-aging. It's pro being my absolute best in all ways. Second, caring what we look like at any age is not vain or shallow. Our physical appearance is an expression of who we are. It is just as important as any other facet of our being like having a rich spiritual life or taking care of our mental and emotional well-being. I want to look as good as I feel. I want my externals to reflect how I feel on the inside. For me personally, I feel vibrant and youthful and exuberant and energetic and sure of myself and powerful, all these things.

I feel like my physical self is an accurate representation and expression of that. That also includes my style and how I dress and other parts of my lifestyle as well. So what about you? How would you describe yourself? And does your physical appearance reflect who you are on the inside? If not, have fun fixing that because it is fun. Third, every woman has to do whatever she needs to do or wants to do to be happy with the way she looks and to feel amazing in her own skin. And what is right for one woman is not right for another. I love how gray hair looks on some women. They wear it so well, and I can only hope that I look that good if and when I decide to go gray. It's just not for me right now. Some women feel beautiful going all-natural and don't do any esthetics or enhancements or treatments or anything like that. And good for them. That is how they choose to embrace their aging. But here's the important thing, the catch. Whatever you choose, be congruent with it. Meaning if you envy someone else's skin or wrinkle-free appearance, don't live with the envy.

Just go get it for yourself. If you choose not to get Botox or fillers or any other type of enhancement, then don't be jealous of those who do. Be genuinely okay with your choices. Next, whatever you do or don't do, it's your decision, and do it or don't do it for you. Meaning, you don't have to ask permission or consider what anyone else might think, whether it's your partner, your friends, or anyone else. It's your choice and yours alone because you are doing this to make you happy or not doing it to make you happy. Ultimately, this is self I've had clients run it by me if they should get boobs. My response is literally, You don't need my permission. If you want boobs, go get yourself some boobs. As long as you're doing it for you, and it will make you feel even more fabulous than you already do. If you want it, go get it. A couple more points that I want to make, and then I'm telling all. Whatever you do or don't do, make that choice with love. A lot of people think that getting plastic surgery surgery or cosmetic procedures are for people who don't love themselves and that they're seeking some external solution that will make themselves feel better on the inside, that if they just look prettier or had this thing done or that thing done, they'll just finally be able to love and accept themselves.

And while I'm sure there is some of that happening, it's my experience, personally and professionally, that the opposite is actually true. Everything that I've done is because I do love myself, not because I don't. Let me say that again. All the things I've done have been done because I love myself, not because I don't. Lastly, and very importantly, all the things that I do now and have done along the way are enhancements. It all complements what I do for myself already, and I do a lot for myself. I prioritize myself, I'm committed and devoted to myself, I make time for myself. That means working out every day and eating well, and I just value my health and my well-being in all ways. I take very good care of myself. So all the things that I've done, I consider add-ons to help me along in the ways that I just can't do for myself. So this is the message that I want you to take away. Love yourself as you are. Take care of yourself as you deserve to be cared for, and then indulge in all the little goodies and extras that help you look and feel your best if that's what you want for yourself.

All right, let's get into the real talk about all the things that I've done and why I'm not ashamed of it. If you're listening to this episode on a podcast app, you won't be able to see the photos that I'm sharing. So hop on over to YouTube whenever you get a chance, but I will do my best to describe the total transformation that I've gone through. Okay, so I got pregnant with my first baby when I was 33, and at the time, I was super fit and in great shape. I thought I was going to be this little pregnant lady with a sweet little baby bump, but no, I had the biggest baby and the biggest belly there ever was. Warning, this photo I'm about to share may potentially shock you, so prepare yourself. Here it goes. In this photo, I'm eight months pregnant with still another four weeks to go. I know almost all women are probably pretty uncomfortable at this point, so I know I'm not special in that regard, but I am a tiny person, and my baby had nowhere to go but out. I have a tiny little torso, and I was enormous.

There was nothing cute about it at all. All in all, I gained 60 pounds. If you haven't had a baby, then these numbers that I'm about to share may not mean anything to you. But my son was over nine and a half pounds. He was 21 inches long and in the 99th percentile for head circumference. So thank goodness for C-sections is all I can say. So you know when you're in a photo and it's just not a good one of you, you look terrible and it's not flattering at all. And so you just quickly delete it and you're glad no one else will ever see it and you just put it out of your mind? Well, that is what this next photo is. It's exactly that for me, except I didn't get rid of it, and I'm going to share it with you right now. This is me two days after my C-section, right after we got home from the hospital. Yes, I only stayed two days in the hospital like a dumb ass. Don't Don't ask me what I was thinking. Look at this giant baby who actually looks more than three months old.

I feel sorry for both of us. My poor baby, that baby inside of me, and he was so, so smushed. There was nowhere for him to go, no room in there for him at all. It actually took him more than a week to not look so smushed. His face. Sharing this photo feels so hard. It's hard for me to look at it. I still just have so many feelings all at once when I look at it. Yes, I'm bloated from all the gas and the fluids that they pumped me up with for my C-section and going into delivery. But honestly, I look at it and I don't even recognize myself at all. How is that even me? I didn't delete this because I just feel like it's evidence for what I've gone through, what I went through. After all the swelling went down and I lost most of the weight, which took a long time, it became clear to me that I would never really be the same ever again. I think most My abdomen aren't exactly the same after having babies. But this was serious trauma to my little body. My abdomen was completely shredded, like shredded.

I had three hernias down my midline, including a big umbilical hernia, and then a diastasis recti, which if you don't know what that is, you can look it up. The fascia holding my abdominal wall together was torn, and so my belly just hung slack. My insides didn't really have a container holding them in, and I still looked six months pregnant, even a year after he was born. I hated the way I looked. My body did not reflect a woman who takes care of herself at all, who works out and eats well. I couldn't wear the clothes that I wanted to wear. I just hated the way I looked all the time. I didn't feel comfortable or confident or sexy at all. I'd be having sex with my husband, and I'd be completely distracted by my own body. I would be watching my boobs jiggle around like, Whose boobs are these anyway? They're not mine. Looking in the mirror was like an out-of-body experience. It just wasn't me. If you've ever been in a situation like this, you know it sucks to not look like yourself. All that time, while I was in those early baby years, sleep-deprived, dealing with the steep learning curve on how to be a mom and adjusting to our new life, and loving my babies, I was also really, really struggling, grieving the changes in my body and how I looked and how I felt.

I actually physically couldn't move around the way I wanted to either. My lower back was killing me all the time from not having a core. And I had been an athletic and an athlete, and I couldn't even play the sports the way I wanted to. I actually quit playing some of the sports that I had been playing. We're supposed to accept the changes in our bodies as natural and normal, and you're not supposed to care what you look like on the outside. All that matters is what's on the inside because you have this beautiful, healthy baby, and you should be grateful, right? But honestly, that is just such a bunch of bullshit for so many of us, and that's okay. It's okay to care what you look like on the outside, too. After doing physical therapy for months to try to fix my abdominal issue, I just knew that I was going to have to have reconstruction. So my kids are three years apart. I really had to wait until I was done having babies to have that done. So that is just a long time. It felt like an eternity to that way. Maybe some of you can relate to what I'm talking about.

For me, my reconstruction was having the fascia and the hernias all sewn back together, which is an abdominal plastic. I also had a breast lift. I wanted to put my boobs back where they belong, back up where they were before. Implants were not for me. They are for many women, but they weren't for me. It literally felt like I was putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. Three surgeries and $40,000 later I have to tell you, it was completely worth it. The pain and the inconvenience of all of that, and it was the best money I've ever spent, worth every penny. I got myself back in every way, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, too. I got to be myself again. I missed myself. Here's the thing. My abs look the way they do now because I was willing to invest in myself and fix the injuries. It's because of how I live and the choices that I make every single day. In fact, I'm fitter, healthier, and look better now than I did before babies because I know actually how to take better care of myself than I ever did in my 20s and my 30s.

Now let's talk about the non-surgical stuff that I do to maintain my appearance. Yes, you probably figured this out. I get Botox, I do it on my forehead and in between my brows. This prevents lines. It softens and smooths the existing lines and just gives me a refreshed, lifted look. I personally go very light, though, because I want to look like myself. I want to look natural and to be able to be expressive in my face. I also use tiny bits of Botox very strategically in places that will prevent the lines that I don't want to get. So shout out to my friend Katherine, who does all of this for me. And I'm sharing this with you because you want to have somebody who can do what she does for me, which is she's an expert and a genius and a magician. She really knows the facial anatomy and knows exactly where to inject. So if you're going to do Botox or if you're already doing it, I do suggest you don't just go to your run-of-the-mill MedSpa. Go to somebody who's actually a technician and really knows facial anatomy. As for fillers, in general, I don't need them and I don't do them.

Not because I'm opposed, but because I've always had a full face. I've had a full round cheeks. When I was younger, I always hated my full round face. But now, I do believe part of the reason that I look so youthful is because of that fullness. So I actually welcome the lines that I've started to get on my face because with my round face before, I never really had lines. I didn't have character. So I don't do the fillers. The exception to that is lip filler. I tried it a few years ago to even out my smile because my lips aren't symmetrical, but I haven't done it since then. What actually changed my face in the best possible way was doing Invisalign. So many adults don't consider getting braces because we had them as teens. But our teeth move a lot. And because it's almost like a blind spot. We don't even consider it. But so many adults actually have terrible teeth. I had an underbite my entire life. So during COVID, I decided to do something about it, and it's been life-changing. Again, the best money I've ever spent and worth the entire pain in the ass of it all.

As for skincare, I invest in good quality skincare products that are animal cruelty free. I have a big bias here, so I'm going to share it. I'm not going to hold back. Please, if you saw how the animals were treated, it would be something you would not be able to unsee. There are so many amazing products on the market that don't test on animals. Please just pick one of those products. I switch my products out all the time, and I do share with my email list, people who get my favorite product. So make sure you're subscribed because I do, again, share all of my favorite things with my email list and my newsletter. I just started doing lasers and microneedling treatments in the last year. Everyone says it's great, but when I do it, it just feels like nothing is happening. So I do it because the science says that it's great prevention. But for me, personally, the jury is still out on that just to be totally transparent. But here's the bottom line. That's everything. I've shared it all. You can do all the cosmetic enhancements available today. But the real secret to looking and feeling your absolute best as we age is all about how you feel about yourself, how you value yourself, and treat yourself, and talk to yourself, and prioritize yourself, and express yourself, and carry yourself through the world.

It's not so much what you're doing that matters as who you are when you're doing it. It's who you are being. I hope this episode inspires you and empowers you to do whatever it is that you want to do or feel like you would like to do to just help you look and feel your very best. It's about you. It's all about you, and that's a good thing. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.