Can Eating More Help You Lose Fat and Build Muscle Over 40?

Danielle: I've been little my whole life. I could eat whatever I wanted, not work out, and I just stayed little. After all of that, everything changed. My body changed. My hormones changed. I got hypothyroidism from the aneurysm rupturing, and it just shifted my body. I got up to like 168 pounds, I think was my highest. And I looked in the mirror like, this can't be life. I felt terrible. I looked terrible. And all that coincides, right? You feel how you look. I was at work scrolling through Facebook, and I saw your video for WarriorBabe, and I listened to the whole thing from start to finish. And I was like, man, I just got to do it.

I'm 138, 139. My scale doesn't really change right now. Being on 2,400 calories, that's crazy.

Nikkiey: Pause to what you just said. You haven't been in the cut yet.

Danielle: No.

Nikkiey: You've got these results by being in a maintenance and a build.

Danielle: Yes.

Nikkiey: What's going on, everybody? So today I've got another WarriorBabe here with us, and I'm really excited for this call because we were just chatting beforehand, and y'all, her shoulder caps are crazy. She'll tell you about what was the inspo behind that. But today I have Danielle here.

Before finding WarriorBabe, Danielle reached a breaking point. She was frustrated. She was fasting. She was working out. She was doing everything that she thought she was supposed to do, and nothing was changing. The scale wouldn't move. Her motivation was fading. She was starting to give up. But then she made a decision that changed everything. She made a decision to choose herself. And today you're going to hear her story throughout this interview, but she's now eating over 2,400 calories, building muscle. Her before and after is incredible. And she's letting WarriorBabe transform not just her body, but also her mind and her life. So Danielle, welcome.

Danielle: Thank you.

Nikkiey: So let's first talk about those shoulder caps really quick, because I'm still on that. Your before and after is awesome, and that was the main thing that popped out to me when I saw it. You were just sharing with me right before we hit record. What have you been doing for the last couple of years that inspired you to get those caps?

Danielle: So I have been in the gym for years prior to WarriorBabe, and obviously we all scroll through videos on Instagram and Facebook, and there's all these workout videos. And one day I ran across your video, and it was from August 12, 2023. I wrote it down. And your shoulders were, ugh. It was like, man, I want to look like that. So I started using your video to do my shoulders, and I never got these results, because obviously I wasn't counting my macros. But you were the inspiration to my shoulders.

Nikkiey: That's awesome. The reason I wanted to add that at the beginning is because there's so many women that are like, Nikkiey, I want to get your arms, or I want to get Maggie's arms. And you saw it and you were like, I'm inspired by it, I'm going to do it. And then you found the missing links along the way, and that's what I want to talk about today. So bring us back to before WarriorBabe. What were you struggling with physically, mentally? Where were you at before you found us? What was going on in your world?

Danielle: So before I met up with WarriorBabe, I had joined the gym in December of 2022, I think it was. And I had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2018. I quit smoking. It's been almost six years ago. And I just blew up. I've been little my whole life. I could eat whatever I wanted, not work out, and I just stayed little. And after all of that, everything changed. My body changed. My hormones changed. I got hypothyroidism from the aneurysm rupturing, and it just shifted my body. I got up to 168 pounds, I think, was my highest. And I looked in the mirror like, this can't be life. I felt terrible. I looked terrible. And all that coincides, right? You feel how you look. You look how you feel. It is what it is.

So I tried not eating carbs. I tried carb loading one day and not eating carbs for a couple days. I tried fasting. I thought, well, if I fast till noon every day, then I can eat what I want from noon to 6 p.m. and then go back to fasting. And I used to go to the doctor and say, I just don't understand, I'm doing everything. But it's not like I'm counting my macros. I literally used to say that. And who knew? You knew.

Nikkiey: That's funny.

Danielle: Apparently, that was the missing link. And I was at work scrolling through Facebook, and I saw your video for WarriorBabe, and I listened to the whole thing from start to finish. And I was like, man. And I sat on it for a couple days, and I went back to the video. And then, you know, once your algorithm is there, you see it all the time, right? So I was like, I just got to do it. I just got to do it. And it's literally the best decision I've ever made in my life.

Nikkiey: That's awesome, Danielle. So you had curiosities around macronutrients beforehand. It seemed like you were searching, asking the doctor. You were very curious about finding the information. What was your understanding of it when you were searching for it? Did you know what it could do? Where were you at with it then?

Danielle: I don't think I had a real understanding of it. I just knew people did it and it was important. My algorithm was all workout videos and watching people cook different meals and just seeing these different lifestyles. But for me personally, I was like, oh, I just don't think I could do this. That's too much. And then I started looking into it a little bit. Like, okay, it's not that difficult. It just takes time. You have to have time to put into it. So when I joined WarriorBabe, I had a little bit of understanding. It wasn't like I was taking off from zero. So I think that helped.

Nikkiey: That's awesome. Let's talk about where you were, because obviously we know how much you're eating now, which is crazy, girl. That's awesome. Do you know roughly how much you were eating before you found WarriorBabe? When you were fasting and doing all these different things, where do you think your intake was on a daily basis?

Danielle: I started tracking before I actually started with my trainer. I haven't looked at those days in forever. I was eating a lot of fat. My fat content was so high. For a month before I actually started with my trainer, I think it was, or maybe it was two weeks, I don't know, that was a while ago. They have you start tracking your macros before you start the program. And you really get an understanding of how bad you're eating and you don't realize it. The lack of protein and the amount of fat I was eating was not good.

But in my head, I thought, oh, if I'm not eating from 6 o'clock at night till noon the next day, or 8 o'clock at night till noon the next day, I'm fine. I can eat whatever I want. So I'd get chicken tenders and fries for lunch at the cafeteria. Just bad, bad choices.

Nikkiey: Okay, cool. Well, I love that you were curious. You were searching for it, you were learning about it, you dabbled in it before you found WarriorBabe. Going back to all the things that you were trying, like fasting and cutting out carbs or carb cycling, you were very adamant about getting the result that you wanted and you were trying different measures. That's what I'm gathering here. With all the work that you were putting in with the things you were trying, how did you feel when you weren't getting the outcome you wanted?

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Danielle: Burnt out. Like, what's the point? Why am I doing this? It's just not going to happen. It's not meant for me. And I didn't stop going to the gym, but I barely went for a while, like some months. And then I started putting the weight back on. And it was like, oh, this has to change. This is not where I want to be.

Nikkiey: So what resonated with you in the videos that you were seeing with WarriorBabe?

Danielle: I think a lot of it had to do with age, because you get so many people chirping in your ear. You need to do this. You need to try this. You need to try that. And you've nailed it. Women in menopause, perimenopause, postmenopause, whatever. Just women in general. Our bodies are different. We require different things. And all these trainers, all these people out here trying to tell us what we should do, what we shouldn't do, they just are not gearing it for women. They're trying to gear it for everybody. And not everybody's the same.

Nikkiey: So that was what stuck out to you the most?

Danielle: Yeah. It's for women. It's, hey, this is for me, for women my age. You see the before and afters and you're like, these people are me.

Nikkiey: Going through similar things that you are. Listening to their stories was resonating with you. Okay. So the day that you signed up with WarriorBabe, you made a statement. You said, I chose me the day that I signed up. Why is that statement so meaningful to you?

Danielle: I wrote this down. If I do it for myself, I stand a better chance of success. Because if I do it for other people, there's always going to be one person that makes me feel like I failed.

Nikkiey: Unpack that a little bit more.

Danielle: I'm the person that's going to meet my goals. I'm the person that says, this is my next goal. This is what I want to do. When I meet that goal, successful. If I'm like, well, he wants me or she wants me to do this, as soon as I get to that goal, it's not going to be enough. There's going to be something else they need. I was in a narcissistic relationship for 23 years. And every time I hit a goal for him, it was, no, I don't care about that anymore, I want this. So once you choose you and you do it for you, you meet your goals, and then you make a new goal.

Nikkiey: That is very powerful, the way you just said that. And I hope that a lot of women either repeat that or write it down or rewind it and listen to it again, because it'll land differently each time you listen to it. Because in those situations, what I hear is that sometimes we seek outward validation from people, right? Like, okay, this person's encouraging me to do it. But you feel like you have to prove yourself through the process. Whereas when you do it for yourself and you make the commitment for yourself, you're the one that's choosing to do it for you. And that is so much more rewarding when you get to the goal that you wanted to get to. So that's really amazing, Danielle. You're really amazing.

I think one of the coolest parts that I know about your story is you found enough mental clarity to begin therapy for the first time. Can you tell us about that? Because I think it's really cool. You hear me talk about it all the time: WarriorBabe is so much more than just your macros and your workouts. Those are really important tools to understand, because they will give you skill sets for the rest of your life. But WarriorBabe is also very mindset focused and driven. So I think that's really cool that that was an incredible part of your story.

Nikkiey: Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me.

Nikkiey: And I would love it if you could tell us more about it.

Danielle: Absolutely. So I didn't realize the impact that eating right was going to have on me. Through the stuff that I've listened to and paid attention to, our brain is starving for protein. Starving for protein. I was not giving my brain that protein, and so many people do not. And when you start giving your brain that protein, it sounds so simple. I feel stupid talking about it because I'm like, this is so simple. But it's not, right? Once I was really a couple months, a few months, into the program, I think my brain just cleaned up, unfogged itself. And I started processing trauma that I've had for 50 years. And I was like, you know what? I'm ready to process this. And I don't just process it like I'm throwing it away. I'm processing it, getting through it and throwing it away.

And honestly, I have told so many people this, and whether they choose to believe me or not is up to them. I preach to my kids: start getting your kids protein. Start making sure you're getting your protein. The benefits are beyond the body. It absolutely goes to the mind. So I've been in therapy for months now. Body, mind, soul. My energy field has completely shifted.

Nikkiey: Dude, that's so cool. You can see it, you can feel it too. I know we're talking through a computer, but you can see the glow that you show. And I think that's a really freaking cool thing that you've done for yourself. But it all started with the food. It all starts with the food. With eating more food, you're finally nourishing your body. You're finally giving it what it wants and needs. And look, it's not only shifted for you physically, but, like you said, mentally and soul as well. That's really cool.

And I encourage you listening: it's not just working out and tracking my macros. It's important to understand the food that you're putting into your body, because once you start doing that, it's like lining up the transformation for other things to keep continuing to happen. So, yes, that's really cool.

Okay. When you joined WarriorBabe, did you have any fears about joining the program? When you were on the call with the team, were there any hesitations or thoughts coming up before you said yes, I'm fully in?

Danielle: Yeah. I think there's always the fear of failure. So it's like, man, if I invest in this and I invest in myself like this, what if I fail? What if it doesn't change things? But I think just the sheer fact that I had that mindset, it was like, I'm not going to fail. This isn't going to fail me. And then I figured out quickly that consistency is the key. Period.

Nikkiey: Were there some aha moments that you had at the beginning of your journey?

Danielle: No, I think it was just when things got easier. It got easier to meal prep every week. It got easier to stock my fridge with the things I know I can and will eat during the day if I'm not working. I think it just got easier. So being consistent got easier.

Nikkiey: So let's talk about those first couple of weeks, because you said a lot of things got easier. What felt hard at the beginning?

Danielle: So I am a travel MRI tech. I am on the road constantly. It's funny, if you go through my succession of pictures over the last 11 months, rarely do I have the same background. I'm at a lot of different places. So I had to learn to pick a day, cook all my food, and then I just have to worry about eating and working out for the week. Once I got a rhythm with my lifestyle, it got a lot easier. You just have to get over the frustration in the first two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, and tell yourself, I can do this. I can do this. Period.

Nikkiey: Period. A lot of people really struggle with that. That would send people off the deep end, what you just said. Like, I can't follow through with this program because I travel so much for work, or I just don't have enough time to cook my food. And you're just squashing those excuses right there. I think it also comes down to the way that you were committed coming into the program. You were like, I'm going to do this for me. I choose me. And when you do that, there's a different type of mental shift that happens as well. You're going to figure out the obstacles that come your way rather than allowing the obstacles to get in your way, right? You came up with a plan to make sure your food was ready to go so that you were set for the rest of the week.

And I think that's really admirable for women that are listening to this, because it all just comes down to planning, right? That saying: fail to plan, plan to fail. You set yourself up for success by spearheading the obstacles. You didn't allow them to become obstacles. You were like, okay, this thing's going to come my way. Okay, cool, I've got to work this. I've got to plan ahead.

Let's talk about the macros, because you were trying to understand them when you first started your journey. Were they hard when you came into WarriorBabe? What was your relationship around the macros, getting them to where you are now?

Danielle: My hardest part was the fat.

Nikkiey: Bringing it back down?

Danielle: Yes. I'm the type of person that has a huge bowl of ice cream every night. So it was like, okay, I can't have a huge bowl of ice cream every night. What am I going to have instead? So I found fudge bars. They have one gram of fat, 19 grams of carbs, right? So you just learn to figure out, okay, I can't have this, but I can have this. If I want this, I can have it. I just have to give up this.

Nikkiey: Or you still had ice cream. It's the alternative to it. It's like, okay, cool, I can't have Breyers or Ben and Jerry's or something like that. Girl, from my own heart. But you just find the alternative. You can still have it. What's the alternative to it? It's still a fudge bar. I think I know which fudge bar you're talking about. Those are so good. The organic ones from Costco?

Danielle: Yes.

Nikkiey: They're so good. Highly recommend them. Let's talk about some of the changes that you've experienced in your transformation. Let's talk physical first. Where were you when you started and where are you now?

Danielle: When you say physical, I'm anywhere from 138 to 139. My scale doesn't really change right now. Being on 2,400 calories, that's crazy. I think we thought my maintenance back when we started was about 1,800 calories. And that's when I was losing. I did lose some weight fast. And then we went into a build. I think I'm at the end of my build because I've been in my build forever.

Nikkiey: So I'm curious now, because we're talking about builds and stuff like that. Did you start in a retrain? Did you work up to 1,800 calories?

Danielle: Yeah, but it didn't take long.

Nikkiey: Did you work up your food?

Danielle: I don't even know if I was in a retrain for a month. And then we went to maintenance. I was in maintenance for a long time. And then a few months ago, we went to the build. I've not had a cut yet.

Nikkiey: So you lost weight while you were in maintenance.

Danielle: Yeah.

Nikkiey: Okay. Hold on. Pause to what you just said. You haven't been in a cut yet.

Danielle: No.

Nikkiey: So you've got these results by being in maintenance and a build.

Danielle: Yes. And when I started the program, I was on testosterone daily because my testosterone went so low a couple years ago. And I'm off testosterone.

Nikkiey: That's amazing.

Danielle: Just by food.

Nikkiey: I need everyone to hear that, because a lot of women want to go into the program and they want to lose the weight. But they think in order to do it, they have to go through a cut and they have to be in a calorie deficit. Your story is the complete opposite. You worked yourself up to more food and you still lost the weight. And you built the muscle, because there's no doubt from your before and after how much muscle you put on.

Danielle: Oh, I'm so proud of my arms. I'm so proud of my arms.

Nikkiey: Yeah, girl. You should be. And also your oblique lines. I saw your pictures.

Danielle: I still need a cut for that, because I do still have fat there. I don't want people to think otherwise.

Nikkiey: But you did that with maintenance and building, right?

Danielle: Yes.

Nikkiey: So can you imagine when you do your first cut? You're about to reveal all that hard work that you put in. And I want to applaud you for doing it the right way, because you have the foundations built up so that when you do go into a cut, your body isn't going to freak out and try to hold on to everything. You've laid the foundations right by getting up to 2,400 calories and your body actually maintaining it and enjoying it. So it's super exciting for when you do finally go into a cut.

For people listening, it doesn't have to be that way. Danielle, with you and all the other WarriorBabes that I've done these success stories with, my biggest, most favorite testimony or story to hear is when they've got the results by eating more food and really healing their metabolism and their mind. I still think it's so cool that once you started giving your body more protein, your mind cleared that fog, like you said, and it opened up a whole other avenue of transformation for you on the mental and emotional side of things as well.

So what are a few of the achievements that you're most proud of? If you could list three of them.

Danielle: My proudest is that I got in therapy. That would be number one. Number two would be that I'm not worried about numbers on the scale. My trainer will tell you, I tell her, hey, I want to work this body part. I want to look like this here, and I want to look like that there. So that's what we work on, and when she gives me the workouts, I follow them, and those parts look like they're supposed to. The third, I guess, would be that I follow my macros. That's just become a lifestyle. I can't imagine not counting my macros now.

Nikkiey: Right? Isn't that crazy?

Danielle: Yeah.

Nikkiey: You'll get to a point when you've learned so much, though. You're still within your first year, which we talked about a little bit before. She's coming up on her first year in July and thinking about joining for her second. Once you get to year four or year five, Danielle, I'll tell you this, you'll be like, okay, dude, I know this like the back of my hand. And you will. Once I get to a point where I'm eating over 2,500 calories in a day, it's a struggle to get that much in without tracking, so you may have to track then. But once you understand more and have that grasp of it longer, you'll be able to pull yourself away from the tracking and still be able to hit the goals, which is really cool. That's like level three of macro tracking, you know?

Danielle: That's a goal, but not yet.

Nikkiey: Sure. Not yet. I love that, because you still have a little bit of learning. And once you get to that level, it's more of a trust factor with yourself rather than the logistical tracking and putting it in and weighing it out. It's more of a trust factor.

Okay. How has it changed your life outside of fitness, other than therapy?

Danielle: More confidence. In fact, my daughter does Pilates classes, and yesterday she sent me a Snapchat of her sitting in the car with her workout gear. She's like, oh, when you forget a T-shirt and you have to go into the store. And I was like, oh, no. You walk in there like you own that place.

Nikkiey: Amen.

Danielle: And people are going to look at you like, ooh, what's in her cart? I need to eat like she's eating.

Nikkiey: Yep. That's awesome.

Danielle: So I don't care if I get out of the gym and have to run into Publix. I literally walk around that store like, yep, they're looking in my cart like, what is she eating?

Nikkiey: Yes. I love that. That confidence is huge. And that could encourage somebody to walk up to you and be like, oh, man, you look awesome. What are you doing? Plug for WarriorBabe, but also, this is the food that's in my cart, right?

Danielle: Right.

Nikkiey: So you also have five grandchildren, right?

Danielle: Five. Yeah, five grandchildren.

Nikkiey: So what does it mean to have the energy to keep up with them whenever you see them? How is the energy?

Danielle: Oh, I'm excited. It's just going to get better as they grow. My oldest is five and the youngest are nine months. But my oldest started running track. They have youth track. But mind you, her mom was a track star. Both of my kids were very athletic. So I just can't wait to see my grandkids be athletic, and I can be out there with them, right?

Nikkiey: Yes. That's amazing. And you can inspire them. Like, grandma is fit and in shape, and she's keeping up with me.

Danielle: Yes. I can go jump on the trampoline with them if I want.

Nikkiey: That's so fun. What a fun age range, too.

Danielle: Yes. They're great.

Nikkiey: So as we wrap up, a couple more questions that I have for you. If you never found WarriorBabe, where do you think you would be right now?

Danielle: The same place I was at back then. Probably heavier, to be honest with you. I'd probably be almost at the starting weight from before I started working out. I think I would have been so burnt out and just so tired of not seeing results that I would have given up.

Nikkiey: And if somebody is listening to this right now in that same position, where they're frustrated and they've been doing everything, similar to where you were before you found us, what would you want that person to know?

Danielle: To invest in yourself. Stop the outside noise. Stop listening to everybody around you and listen to you and choose you.

Nikkiey: Choose you, girls. That said, that's the biggest positive thing that you could do for yourself. In this world where people are like, well, I'm a mom, I had to put other people before me. How can you put others before you? You have to fill up your own cup first, right?

Danielle: Yes. Maggie posted a great video yesterday where she said that everybody doesn't understand. I've got to work out. Well, you can put that off to have this meeting. I have a training session. She says instead, start making a training session a priority in your life.

Nikkiey: A hundred percent. I think it is so important. Is there anything, Danielle, that I missed from your story that you would want people to know here in this interview?

Danielle: If I can do it, anybody can do it. I'm a people pleaser. I've done everything for everybody else my whole life. And for me to finally choose me was huge. So if I can choose me, you can choose you. Period.

Nikkiey: Period. I think that's great. I think your story is proof that the greatest transformation begins the moment that you decide to choose you and to invest in yourself. That's the biggest takeaway that I'm taking away from this call with you. And what started as a goal to just lose weight became so much bigger for you. It became a journey of healing. It became a journey of confidence. It became a journey about finally loving the woman that you see in the mirror. And how can you not love those arms, girl? You look great.

Danielle: Thank you.

Nikkiey: And seeing the hard work that you've done physically, but also emotionally and spiritually as well, that's a full-rounded transformation from WarriorBabe. The work that you've put in isn't just a physical result, and you're not tied to the outcome of a weight. You're tied to becoming a completely different person than you were before you joined WarriorBabe, which is that identity shift and changing what your outlook is as a success metric, essentially.

Danielle: Yes.

Nikkiey: I think that's super cool. Your journey is very inspiring, and I hope people that have listened to this feel very inspired too. And if there's anybody who's on the fence or wondering if this is the right time to choose yourself, let Danielle's story remind you that today is a pretty great place to start. Check out WarriorBabe at WarriorBabe.com and apply to work with one-on-one coaching. Danielle, thank you for your story, thank you for your time, and thank you for pouring into the people that are listening to this interview right now.

Danielle: Thank you.

Nikkiey: Hey, really quick, before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all the difference, helping more women discover the tools they need to transform their fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much. Thank you.