Can You Lose Fat by Eating More at 60? Ya'el's Story

Ya'el: I'd go to the gym and I'd eat what I thought was really well, but it turns out that I was really under-eating. And then the cycle just kept going over and over, and I'd hurt myself. And I'd start out with a two-pound weight or body weight. And I was like, I'm so tired of this.

Nikkiey: How long were you doing this over and over again before you found WarriorBabe?

Ya'el: Well, let's see, I'm 60. So I'd say 40 years.

Nikkiey: What are some of the goals that you've accomplished so far with WarriorBabe?

Ya'el: Like everyone else, I wanted to look good, right? One of the things I can say is that I haven't worn shorts for 25 years, and all summer I've only worn shorts. As we age, this is the way to age gracefully, to have more muscle. When I first signed on for WarriorBabe, I'm like, one year, I'm never going to do more than one year.

Nikkiey: And what year are we on now?

Ya'el: I have three more months of my second year, and I'm definitely signing on for my third year.

Nikkiey: Hey, everyone. What's going on? Today I've got another WarriorBabe here with us, and I got a little teaser from her before even hitting record, so I think we're going to have a really good conversation today.

For most of her life, Ya'el believed that food was something to be afraid of. She had years of body dysmorphia, trauma and under-eating, which left her stuck in the same cycle. I'm sure so many of you ladies listening or watching can already feel that resonate with you. Train hard, get injured, stop, start over. Or losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. Whatever your story is, I'm sure Ya'el is going to resonate with you today. She thought she was joining WarriorBabe to build muscle and learn nutrition, but she also discovered something she never expected, and we're going to dive into that today.

So, Ya'el, welcome.

Ya'el: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.

Nikkiey: Like I said, you gave the teaser before we even hit record, so I'm excited to have this conversation with you. Let's go back to before WarriorBabe. What were you struggling with physically, emotionally, mentally? Where were you at then?

Ya'el: I was in a giant Groundhog Day, over and over, for decades. Well over 20 years. I started working out when I was in college, so I thought, okay, I know what I'm doing. I'd go to the gym, but I'm also hyperflexible and have all these other things going on. So I'd go to the gym and start working out. I had pretty good form. I'd learn this and learn that. And then invariably, after six to nine weeks, I would injure myself. Never in the gym, but some other way. My back would just go out in some weird way. You take the wrong step and you're like, whoa. And so I'd have to stop.

On top of that, I'm hypoglycemic. So I had gotten what I thought was a pretty good rhythm of how to eat: regular intervals, three to five meals, et cetera. But all of that was framed within an eating disorder. I thought, okay, I've got this. I'm under control. I've done my 12-step programs and I've done this and that. But I was completely under-eating. I wasn't eating any carbs. I was eating protein, vegetables and a lot of fat. This was way before I even knew about keto or anything like that. I just said, okay, bread is just like sugar. It's the enemy. It doesn't make me feel good, right? Carbohydrates, sugar, I'm not going to eat any of that stuff.

I think the eating disorder framed it all. And a big, big part of it was body dysmorphia. I'm five foot three. I'd look in the mirror and I swear to God, I'd see somebody 100 pounds heavier than I was. And I would be genuinely shocked. And then shocked that I was shocked, because I was like, how does this happen? How is this so weird?

So all of these things combined, and I'd just Groundhog Day. I'd get in shape. I'd be like, okay, I'm going back to the gym, which means I'm getting back on my eating plan. And I would binge, a lot more often before WarriorBabe, because I'd say, what the hell? I can't work out now, so I might as well eat that pint of ice cream. Who cares? So then I'd gain another 10 pounds. Then I'd go back to the gym and lose the 10 pounds. But I'd lose it by applying a very strong, stubborn form of perfectionism that said, you're going to do it this way. I'd kind of flagellate myself, and I'd go to the gym, and I'd eat what I thought was really well, but it turns out I was really under-eating. And then the cycle just kept going over and over, and I'd hurt myself, and I'd start out with a two-pound weight or body weight. And I was like, I'm so tired of this. Or my back would go out and I couldn't move for a month or two at a time. So it was a real problem.

Nikkiey: I feel like you just listed off many different things that a lot of women have struggled with, all in one category. What was that time frame? How long were you doing this over and over again before you found WarriorBabe?

Ya'el: Well, let's see. I'm 60. So I'd say 40 years.

Nikkiey: Holy moly.

Ya'el: My entire life it's been this way.

Nikkiey: Wow. Okay. Also, a really quick question from what you were saying there. Are you hypoglycemic, as in diagnosed with low blood sugar?

Ya'el: Yes.

Nikkiey: Okay, got you. So you were just making it worse by not having any type of carbs. You probably felt like you were crashing and burning all day long.

Ya'el: Actually, I was diagnosed when I was 18 or 20, but I had no eating under control at all. I was just eating the same way. I was eating macaroni and cheese and pizza, lots of white flour foods, right? I didn't know. It wasn't until my late 20s, early 30s, that I started reading about health and nutrition. I started going, oh, all this white stuff I'm eating. I need to actually eat colorful things. I started teaching myself how to cook. But I found that I felt energetically better if I didn't have a lot of carbs and just ate protein and vegetables.

But then what invariably would happen, and I didn't know why, I didn't know I was doing this to myself, is I think that's when I started binging. I'd start binging on carbs, every month and a half, two months. It was like a Groundhog Day within the Groundhog Day. The eating would go out of control, and then you force yourself to work out more. But then you're feeling like, well, I don't feel like working out more.

Nikkiey: You said it so well. I'm hearing a Groundhog Day within a Groundhog Day within a Groundhog Day, in multiple different buckets. From nutrition to working out, to the mental side, to the body dysmorphia, which I love the way you explained, by the way. I think a lot of women resonate with looking in the mirror and seeing an extra hundred pounds. And you're shocked within the shock, because how are you here, and what are you experiencing? Can you talk a little more about how these struggles affected you on the mental side of things?

Ya'el: Yeah. I felt bad most of the time. I felt really bad about myself. I couldn't see the truth about myself. My self-esteem was pretty low, and my self-confidence. It's interesting, because I've always been high-functioning, high-level. I was a marketing executive. I'm actually a trauma and addictions therapist. I operate at a very high level in the world. I'm a published author, blah, blah, blah. I could do all these things, right?

Nikkiey: Girl boss over here. I love it.

Ya'el: So many of us are working at these high levels, but inside there are all these shitty voices saying, you're not good enough. You want too much. You are too much. You're not enough. All the female stories that we're acculturated to, and they get really, really loud. Sometimes I could get really down in the dumps, and then eventually you just pick yourself up again and do it again. But it was always there as background noise, and without even knowing it, it was influencing me on a daily level.

Nikkiey: Wow. You said that so well. With the body dysmorphia, as you were struggling through that, was there anything that led you down that road, that you felt was being heightened even more when you were working on your body composition? Does that make sense? Was there a certain experience that you felt come up while you were working on your body, that you could pinpoint where it was coming from?

Ya'el: Oh yeah. You're talking about when I started WarriorBabe, right?

Nikkiey: Well, I'm also talking about this: I know you were bullied as a child, so I'm talking about that.

Ya'el: Oh. Well, yeah. I grew up in a family of obese folks, and I was very overweight myself. Starting when I was about 10, I was not five feet tall and I was about 130 pounds. And kids are cruel, right? This was before all the big bullying happening in schools now. I'm so grateful there wasn't any social media when I was a kid, because that really would have made it so much worse. But the kids in the neighborhood would gang up when I got off the bus. They'd all form a line behind me, throw rocks at me and call me moose. It was awful. And then I'd go home, and bless my mother, but she was 300 pounds. So what was she going to offer me?

So what would I do? I would sit down and eat the whole box of Ding Dongs. Because you know what sugar does, right? It physiologically numbs you. What I did for most of my life was numb myself to it, so I didn't have to feel it, even though it was all there. So that's what I did.

Nikkiey: Thank you for sharing that. I think it goes to show that certain situations when we're younger continue to shape the way we view ourselves, even as we get older. Things that happened at a young age continued to affect your body image as you continued on your journey. I appreciate you sharing that, because I'm sure a lot of women hold on to experiences like these and have that internal battle going on as they're trying to make a change for themselves, both externally and internally.

Ya'el: Absolutely.

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 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.

This leads into my next question. What led you to realize that something needed to change? What made you think, okay, I've got to get a grip on this?

Ya'el: Well, I've always been a seeker my whole life. Starting when I was about 15 or 16, I started exercising, but I was constantly being thwarted by my body, and I'll tell you why. When I was around 10 years old, and it's weird how kids change, right? By the end of the school year, the kids had decided, and they didn't even remember doing it, to start inviting me to play kickball with them. And I was like, really? Of course I wanted to belong so badly. But I wasn't athletic as a kid, and I was born with my feet splaying out, and I didn't know it.

So the kids brought me in. It's summertime. I kick the ball and I run, but I don't realize I'm kicking my heels. There was a hole at the end, my foot twisted and I broke the side of my foot. I had a cast for a little while when I was around 10.

Fast forward to 16. I've since taught myself to walk with my feet straight, but back then I still didn't know. I'm like, why do I kick my ankles all the time? So I said, I'm going to start jogging. And guess what happened? My foot twisted and went in a hole.

Nikkiey: Oh no.

Ya'el: And that started my lower back stuff, because my SI joint got wonked out. I started seeing chiropractors and blah, blah, blah. When I got to college, I had sciatica. Thank God there was this one-credit exercise class, and they said, if you strengthen your stomach... I'm like, oh, is that how this works? So I started doing lots of sit-ups, my sciatica went away, and I started lifting weights. And I'm like, oh, I like this. Even though I was still in the Groundhog Day of the overeating and the under-eating. I didn't know anything about that when I was 19 or 20 years old, and I was massively binging at that point.

Over the years I kept being physical. I kept going up and down, in and out: tennis, martial arts, hiking, biking, loving being in my body. And then all of a sudden something would happen. My knee would go out and I'd have to take six months off because I couldn't walk. I only found out later that it's because I'm hypermobile. Yoga is the worst thing for me, because they're like, look how bendy you are. And I'd hurt myself without knowing it, because I wasn't stretching the right things.

So fast forward. It wasn't until my forties. I had a boyfriend who went into a 12-step program for smoking, and he said, would you come with me to a meeting? I said, sure. I'd never been to a 12-step, never heard of it. I was listening to these people in the meeting and thought, oh my God, if you just took out tobacco and put in sugar or food or eating, that's me. So I went into Overeaters Anonymous and learned that it's not about overeating. It's about all these other things. I would go in and say, hi, I'm an over- and under-eater and a compulsive thinker. That's what I said.

That program was really the start for me. I saw this chart of the pancreas when you eat too much sugar, and I said, oh, everybody in my family has diabetes. I'm on the road to hell right now. I've got to do something. Even then it hadn't stopped, but that was a big part of my journey. And it's gotten ever better from there, until I got to WarriorBabe, when I realized I was still fooling myself. Not in the same ways, but I was fooling myself that I was actually eating enough.

Nikkiey: Oh, interesting. So you were fooling yourself that you were eating enough when you were in that program, but then when you got to WarriorBabe, you weren't eating enough.

Ya'el: Oh no.

Nikkiey: Okay. Before we even get into that journey, what caught your attention with WarriorBabe?

Ya'el: You, on TikTok.

Nikkiey: That's awesome. Do you remember what I was saying that made you think, interesting, I want to learn more?

Ya'el: It was one of those times you're caught in your TikTok, the two-hour web where it sucks you in. I was watching video after video, and Big Brother's always listening, so I'm sure it was exercise and eating and stuff like that. And you appeared. I don't remember exactly what it was, because it was several years ago now. But I was at this place of, I can't keep working out and hurting myself. I'm doing this all alone. I've had trainers on and off over the years, but nobody who really got it. They weren't a woman, and I was now in my fifties. And you showed up and I said, oh, this is a program made for me.

You were probably saying things like, are you a woman who's in perimenopause or post-menopause? I happened to go through menopause very early in life, but I was a post-menopausal woman. And I thought, oh, a program for me. That sounds great. I love containers, right? We all need containers. I thought, wow, people who could actually... maybe I don't have to get hurt all the time. Can I get out of the Groundhog Day? That was my huge yearning, to get out of the Groundhog Day.

Nikkiey: Wow. So you felt like those answers were being spoken to you when you were seeing the videos. Did you have any fear about joining WarriorBabe? Did you have fears about getting hurt? What was on your mind?

Ya'el: It wasn't about working out. It was mostly, nobody's going to tell me what to eat. It's an eating disorder, right? Nobody's going to tell me how to eat, what to eat, what to measure. Do I really want to do this? Do I really want somebody to tell me? Is that what I want? And I realized that tape, those voices, are very clever. They shift and morph and change. It's the same voice, but it gets a little softer, a little gentler, a little harsher. So you don't really know you're being run by the same itty bitty shitty committee voices.

Nikkiey: That's a great way of putting it.

Ya'el: I was not in an optimal place in my life. I was in an unstable relationship with somebody, and I was in the middle of a Groundhog Day. But I was just like, I'm just going to sign up. I talked to the person and then I just signed up.

Nikkiey: So you quieted them in the moment, that annoying itty bitty committee, whatever you just called it, which I love. And you bit the bullet and went right for it. Was it more of an internal gut feeling? Like, I know this is right for me, and regardless of the voices I'm hearing, I feel like this is going to guide me on the right path?

Ya'el: Yes. And I felt the breadth and diversity of the program. It's hard to have a really big organization like this that's so out there in public media while still retaining authenticity as human beings. And you and the people working for and representing WarriorBabe are able to hold both of those. There's this huge level of competence. I felt like I was in competent hands, but I also felt like I was with real people. And then the photos, right? There are women of every age and body type, because being in shape isn't actually always related to what our bodies look like. Just seeing that everybody was represented, I felt like I could be a part of that and say, okay, I can belong here.

Nikkiey: Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with the body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, WarriorBabe is here for you. We've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results, and results that last. Don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com/apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com/apply. All right, let's get back to the show.

Well, thank you for that compliment. That really means a lot. That's why we show up every single day: to be real and authentic, keep the integrity of our program and help you guys feel that same way from the outside in. And then being a part of a community, that's the cool part. You're with other women who are in this with you. You get to have conversations with women who are struggling, you've seen people succeeding, and you get to be a part of that. I think that's really cool.

What I love about how you started your journey is that you mentioned struggling with a perfectionist mentality. Yet when you started WarriorBabe, you came in just focusing on one thing. Do you want to talk about that?

Ya'el: I don't remember exactly which one thing you're talking about.

Nikkiey: You were focusing on hitting your protein and completing three workouts. You didn't go all in. You kept it simple at first.

Ya'el: Thank you for that extra information. Now I remember. Absolutely. I was super overwhelmed when I came into the program. I was like, there are a million videos. Wait, there's a video on Tuesdays, but there's also this backlog of videos, and there are new things. And then MyFitnessPal and all those different things. And I was like, okay, I need to not think I need to be perfect at this, or even good at this, right now. It's obviously going to take a little time. So what can I focus on?

I knew I wanted to hit my protein. When my coach first told me how much protein to eat, I'm like, are you out of your mind? How does somebody eat that much protein? And that's like half of what I eat now, which is hilarious. So I said, okay, I'm just going to focus on the protein and getting to the gym.

In hindsight, I can say it was probably just another aspect of the voice of the eating disorder. I was resistant to doing it. I was resistant to trusting. So I said, well, what can I do? You signed up for the program. What can you do? So yes, I focused on eating protein, which went really, really well, and going to the gym. But it wasn't until six or eight months later that I realized I was just doing my thing again, under the guise of WarriorBabe. Saying, oh yeah, I'm doing WarriorBabe, but really saying, I know better than you and I'm still going to do it my way. And it turns out I wasn't eating enough. I just did the same thing. I was resistant without knowing it.

Nikkiey: Oh, interesting. Wait, hold on a second. Let me unpack that with you. So you came into WarriorBabe and you were a little overwhelmed. A lot of women say that coming in, right? There are a lot of different avenues to get caught up to speed. You're meeting with your coach, you're going through everything, you're getting your program, your macros, all the things. Before you derailed and did your own thing, did you do a retraining? Did you retrain your metabolism, or did they just set you up with macro numbers?

Ya'el: It was a bit of a rough beginning for me. Like I said, in my personal life there was so much instability that it was hard for me to ground into the program. And I was coming into the program having just had my lower back go out. So we were starting very tenderly with me in the gym, because we wanted to see what I could do and make sure I didn't reactivate the back. I want to say it's really less of an injury than an activation, right? This chronic sacral SI joint thing in the lower back.

Then I was put on a plan of macros, and I struggled along for about four to six weeks. I was traveling a lot, and every time I went out of town, I lost my rhythm. And then I had a three-month trip planned to New Zealand. I still wasn't hooked into the program enough, so when I got to New Zealand, I was like, I can't do this. For about three weeks I just went silent. Then I realized, let me reach out and ask, is there anything you can help me with? Your team was so gracious to me. I said, can I just stop the clock and start again in February when I get back?

It was the best thing for me, because when February last year hit and I got Mo as my coach, I knew exactly what to do. I was like, bam, I'm doing it. And Mo put me into a retraining. And I'm going to circle back to the body dysmorphia and everything else, because I was like, you want me to eat carbohydrates? How many carbohydrates?

I think this is a consistent quality among the coaches: there's a lot of love and there's a lot of tough love. Which is what we're here for, right? At one point she looked me right in the eye on Zoom and said, are you going to trust me or not? Are you going to trust the program or not? And I was like, gulp. She was like a warrior woman, right? It was sort of, you know, or get off the pot.

It was in that moment, around February of 2025, that I said, I surrender to this. I'm not going to listen to this voice. I'm going to trust this. And I gained weight. Because when we really looked at what I was eating, I think I was eating 1,100 calories a day. And I'd been doing that for at least a decade. Because I was like, look, my hypoglycemia is so under control because I'm eating like a chicken each day, and that's what I'm doing. And look at my eating disorder. I'm in such good recovery.

Nikkiey: This is getting into you being like, look, I'm doing it right. I'm doing it my way. I'm enjoying hearing this story.

Ya'el: It drove deep inside of me, and I was like, oh wow, I have been fooling myself for so many years. And that was all part of the Groundhog Day, right? So being able to have somebody on my side who understood... She named it before I did. She said, you're doing this, this and this. And I was like, no. Oh. Hmm. It's hard to look truth in the face, right? And change what the truth is.

But once I did that, and it was in that moment, I was like, oh, I've been lying to myself for a long time, and I'm going to trust the program. And it was the best decision ever.

Nikkiey: Wow. I have goosebumps right now. One, because I love your honesty. Not a lot of people can pinpoint where they were tripping up, because you were caught in your own trip. You were caught in your own Groundhog Day. You were allowing the same cycle to keep happening. Even when you inserted a new pattern, you were bringing the old patterns into it, even though the new pattern was meant to change you. Your word was resisting. You were resisting the new pattern with old patterns beating up against it, until it took Mo.

I'd love to hear how it feels for you to have a coach in your corner. But the way we talk about it in coaches meetings is that the coaches have the authority to lean into you guys, because we've seen this. We've worked with so many women who are up against similar things in some way or another. They lean in with that tough love because we see the other side of it. You're in it right now, in your own experience, but we've seen patterns and behaviors and habits break and mold into the new, which is where we're trying to get you. Sometimes we just have to be there on the Zoom call and call it for what it is. That's what Mo did with you.

Ya'el: That's right.

Nikkiey: Before I ask about Coach Mo, how much are you eating now compared with when you first started?

Ya'el: Improbably, I am up to 1,950 calories a day, and I'm the smallest I've ever been in my life and the strongest I've ever been in my life.

Nikkiey: Isn't that crazy?

Ya'el: I know. And here's something even crazier. I lost a pound or two. My coach Mo went on to bigger things, and now I'm with another phenomenal coach, Coach Kesa. And going from my whole life story to saying, oh, I think I might have lost a little weight, both of us went, oh, that's not good.

Nikkiey: Oh my gosh.

Ya'el: And I'm like, wow, I eat bread. I eat... and none of it is, oh gosh, all the stigma. I'm going to wait for you to ask me those questions, but there are so many things I can tell you about what's happening now.

Nikkiey: I'm definitely going to get there, and one of them is your relationship with food, knowing your story with the eating disorder. I'm still sitting in the results. That's one of my favorite things I hear from WarriorBabes: I was eating 1,100 calories, now I'm up to 1,900-something, and I've lost weight along the way. And you've gained muscle, right?

Ya'el: Oh, totally.

Nikkiey: When you started eating carbs, what did that feel like?

Ya'el: Oh, that was early on, and I love this. I got to talk to my coach every single day. I was starting back out with Mo, last February or March, and almost every three days I'm like, I don't mean to contradict you, but are you sure this is okay? It's not feeling okay. And she'd be like, you're fine. Keep going. And I'm like, okay. Then three days later: so, is this okay? I can eat carbs? Really? And she's like, you're okay. Keep going. Okay.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. I'm very grateful to have this conversation with you, and I'm thinking about all the other WarriorBabes who are probably going to listen to this, because that is exactly how the majority of them are. We hear it from the coaches every day. Some are trying to think they know everything and are telling the coach so. And you finally met that road where, as we say, trust us now, believe us later. You trusted the program. And that's so common. Babes are like, are you sure? Oh my gosh, I'm so scared to increase my food intake. I'm gaining weight. This isn't working.

So what was the aha moment, after Mo leaned in and said, just trust me? Was it when you started seeing the results that it clicked, like, okay, wow, I surrendered and now it's working?

Ya'el: Well, I had been curious about the different phases. There's the retrain, there's maintain, there's the cut, there's the build. Everybody in my cohort was in various stages. And of course, what does every woman want to do when she comes in? She wants to do a cut, right? And she said, you don't eat enough calories to go into a cut. You have to at least be at 1,400 or 1,500 calories a day. And again I was horrified. I'm like, what?

So I went into that trust place. I did gain some weight. I didn't gain 30 pounds, but I gained enough that my jeans were tight on me. And I was like, I'm just going to buy a bigger pair of jeans. I'm not going to care about this. Then after February, March, April, May, somewhere around June, I said, what do you think? And she's like, okay, we're going to do a cut, but only six weeks. That's it. Because you don't actually have weight to lose.

First of all, when we first started, Mo said, oh, you have a thin, athletic body type. And I was like, are you looking at the same person? There's the body dysmorphia coming into play again. I didn't get it at all. And then the same thing: she's like, six weeks. So I was like, all right.

I don't want people to misunderstand that it's about the cut, because I know everybody wants to do the cut. I don't think the cut is for everybody, and it's not necessary to achieve your goals. I want to be really clear about that. I've learned that.

But what happened for me during the cut was that I had to meal prep and meal plan to the letter, or it wasn't going to work. Like I said, I love containers, and I love time containers. Six weeks, I can do anything for six weeks. So I'm just going to do exactly what I'm told.

Nikkiey: Wow. That's a shocker.

Ya'el: I'm going to do exactly what I'm told for six weeks, and I'm going to add to it. I'm not going to have any sugar, not even honey. I want to see what happens. So I went on AI and said, here are all the foods I like to eat, here's the protein powder I like, here are the macros I need, here are the calories I need. I want five meals. Go. It gave me a shopping list, and I actually became a better cook. On Sundays it was like a mad scientist experiment in my kitchen, with things being cooked here and there. And I knew exactly what I was going to eat every meal, every day.

One of the biggest things I thought would be horrible was that I'd get bored. Oh God, I'm eating that again. That didn't happen for me. In fact, maybe about three quarters of the way through, I had some epiphanies. And this is really the cornerstone of what WarriorBabe has done for me: the consistency and predictability of my meals.

I have a very strong trauma background, so feeling safe in my body is tied into all of this, as it is for most of us, right? And for the first time I felt safe in my body. I realized my whole life I'd been fighting her. I'd been fighting hunger cues. I'd been fighting: this is what I'm going to do, I want to look like that person in that magazine, all the acculturated stuff, all my familial stuff.

What started in February was Mo saying, I want you to eat these calories. I just didn't know it, but by feeding my body consistently and enough calories, my body started trusting me. She's the one who said, your body doesn't trust you. That turned my whole world around. What do you mean my body doesn't trust me? And I realized the truth of that.

When I went on the cut, it got even more pronounced, and I felt liberated in a way I've never felt. A sense of freedom around food that I never had. Especially during the cut, when I went a little lower. I didn't go that much lower, but having that consistency and predictability really made me feel safe. And for the first time I saw myself in a photo and said, I'm kind of a tiny person. Whoa. I saw myself for the first time. Even when I went off the cut, that continued. It's not a hundred percent, ever, but I'd say 90 percent of that body dysmorphia just went away.

The other thing that went away is sugar cravings. After those six weeks I didn't want any sugar. I just wanted a really well-cooked sweet potato that tastes like candy, things like that.

And by the way, I was constantly still being injured. On the first day of my cut, when you want to do extra cardio and everything else, this huge Nalgene bottle of water that was on my cabinet, which usually is never there, fell right on the top of my foot. It nearly broke my foot. I couldn't walk. In the past, I would have said, okay, I'm done, and gone back into my Groundhog cycle. But instead we just pivoted, pivoted, pivoted. Well, what can you do? What can you do? So I rode my bike with a sandal whose straps weren't around the heel, so I could keep putting pressure on my foot. Or I went cycling instead, or took my shoe off while I was cycling on the extra cycle.

So this has progressed, but I invariably hurt myself in some way or another. The thing is, my back, knock on wood... I've also been seeing a chiropractor consistently since last year, and my back is stronger than ever. I did RDLs a little too heavy and was like, oops, tweaked that a little bit. But it didn't set me back for months. It was just, okay, we're not going to do the RDLs. We'll do this other thing. We live these dynamic lives, in these dynamic bodies, and everything's changing. Then I injured my hand in January, so I couldn't hold a dumbbell or ropes. I couldn't dig in and do heavy weights or anything like that. So I was forced at every turn to not be perfectionistic, to let go of any goals and to go slow. And going slow was not something I did a lot of.

Nikkiey: You know another word you can add to consistency and predictability?

Ya'el: What's that?

Nikkiey: Adaptability. You adapted every single time you got injured, to keep going, to figure out, like you said, okay, what can I do? I really love that you brought up consistency and predictability, because that is a very legitimate solution for someone whose body doesn't trust them. For the yo-yo, for the body dysmorphia talk in your mind, for the eating disorder, for not eating carbs, for everything you were talking about at the beginning, what you struggled with for 40 years. You finally gave your body that consistency and predictability, outside of the emotions you were feeling, like, I'm going to get bored eating the same thing.

That's a lot of the objections we hear from women. I don't want to eat the same thing, or I don't want to weigh my food. The emotions get tied to the outcome you're striving for, which is making your body feel safe again. So many women have gone through a journey like yours, maybe in a different way but similar. When you give your body that consistency, and it knows what it's going to get on a daily basis, instead of the inconsistency of, when am I going to eat again, when is my body going to get food again, which is what a lot of women struggle with before they get the answers they need, you're teaching it to trust. The human is giving me food. And at the same time, your body is always alarming you first. So I love that you found ways to listen to your hunger cues and learn what they meant, and found ways to trust it again. And I think it's really cool that you adapted along the way.

Ya'el: Yeah. People have asked me, why are you in this program and what do you do? I was telling somebody about the program and said, oh yeah, I pretty much talk to my coach every day. And they're like, what do you talk about? I said, oh, you have no idea.

Nikkiey: I love that, and I want to highlight it, because so many people feel like they're being a burden to their coach, or asking too many questions, or they don't bring up the conversation part of it. But it's a two-way street. I love that you talk to your coach every day and tell her what's up, because that's why you've been so successful on your journey.

Ya'el: And I had to ask her, too. I needed reassurance. Are you sure? Are you sure? And she reassured me. And so I said, okay.

Nikkiey: Because it's not just about getting your macro numbers, and eat more protein, and let's talk about eating carbs and eating more food. There's a true emotional component that comes with it.

Ya'el: Oh yeah.

Nikkiey: Okay. I want to ask about everything you're experiencing now and all the changes, outside of what you just said, which is a huge thing to be proud of. But let's also talk physically. What are some of the goals you've accomplished so far with WarriorBabe?

Ya'el: Like everyone else, I wanted to look good, right? One of the things I can say is that I haven't worn shorts that exposed my legs for 25 years. And all summer I've only worn shorts, and that's felt really comfortable for me.

It's fun to be stronger. I was at an event where we were picnicking, and I was carrying the cooler with ice and stuff up the stairs, plus another heavy bag with plates in it. It was heavy, and I was nearing the top of the stairs, and this man said, oh, would you like some help? And I said, no, thank you, I lift weights. And he said, I can tell. And I was like, that's fun.

So having the strength, and as we age, this is the way to age gracefully, to have more muscle. If I'm walking and there's a wire and I trip, I land in a squat. I've been working out most of my life, but this is the difference now. And now that my hand is healed... having to be adaptable means it's been slow and steady. There have been plenty of times when I've thought, I don't look like that woman, or I'm not getting the definition I want here. But it's been good for me, a little against my will. It's been the best thing for me to go slow and steady.

When I first signed on for WarriorBabe, I'm like, one year, I'm never going to do more than one year.

Nikkiey: What year are we on now?

Ya'el: I have three more months of my second year, and I'm definitely signing on for my third year. If you had asked me even last year, I'd have said, oh my God, no. I can go away and travel now. I know what four ounces of rice looks like. And that's cool. I still weigh my food periodically. I still weigh my food at home, just because I like to know.

The other thing is, I'm in the gym and I'm like, oh wow, I can see definition in my arm. And it's just fun. Don't get attached to it, right? Like it, but don't get attached to it in a way that's dysfunctional. But it feels good at 60.

Nikkiey: Wow, you're 60.

Ya'el: Yep, I am. And that feels good. Thank you, I appreciate that. Zoom does wonders for the wrinkles. If we could just talk on Zoom... no. But I jumped on my bike yesterday, and normally I'd be struggling on this one uphill. I stood up and pedaled up the entire hill. I'm like, well, dang, I guess my lower body stuff is doing pretty good.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Ya'el: So for me it's always been, how do I stay fit for life? How do I make sure that if I fall, my bones are stronger because I have more muscle? And most of the time, you're limber, you're in your body. I'm a dancer as well. I just want to be able to be active until the very end. I'm in that last stage, and the last stage could be 30 more years, so it's not that last. But I just want to keep doing that. When I first started strength training at 25, I thought, bingo, this is the key to growing old gracefully.

Now that my hand is healed, I told Kesa my secret goal. I said, I've never been able to do a pull-up. I want to do one, but I'd love to do 10. And she's like, okay, then we're doing it. So we're actively working toward that, and I really love having that as a goal.

Nikkiey: I love that. I can't wait. Can you do one yet? Are we at one yet?

Ya'el: No.

Nikkiey: Okay. That's a great goal to work toward.

Ya'el: On the assisted machine I'm now at 45, and I could go to 40, but they don't have it. So we're just going to keep working on it. I started cracking up, because I tried it on 30 and I hung there and tried to move and started laughing.

Nikkiey: I love that you find humor in it too. That's great. And slow and steady is good for you, like you said. I love that you said it's against your own will, but sometimes that's how it's meant to be, right?

Ya'el: Totally.

Nikkiey: What else have you experienced since you joined? Are we missing anything?

Ya'el: If I could tell people things, it's to not get too attached to what your macros look like at the end of the day, in terms of whether they're at zero. Use it as an anti-perfectionistic practice, and know there's much more here than just eating a certain way or working out. And it takes a lot longer than you think. When you talk about retraining, it hasn't been my body so much as my mind. I'd say the first year has been all about my mind, and then about being adaptable, because you're always going to hurt something or another. That doesn't mean you have to stop, and I've made huge gains despite that.

And now she's like, okay, let's go. I'm doing heavy weights, six to eight reps, heavier. I'm like, did I just put 50 pounds over my head? That's insane. I never would have thought that. I'm just getting stronger and stronger. So it's the real deal, this program. I would not have known what was in store for me. So thank you for getting me out of Groundhog Day, because I'm actually in new territory now for the first time after decades. I'm in a completely new place.

Nikkiey: There have been multiple times in this interview when I've held back tears. I'm proud of you for going all in, but also proud of you for being so open to recognizing your patterns and shifting out of them. Yes, you're part of the program, but you're also the one doing the work. You're the one recognizing your patterns, and recognizing that they served you for a long time, so it's understandable why they would stick. But you've also been open-minded and open-hearted, willing to accept new ways and actually lean into them. Now you're on the other side, and it's because of you doing the work as well. So you should be proud of yourself for that.

Ya'el: Thank you.

Nikkiey: You touched on this a little already, but for any woman listening who is in the position you were in before you found WarriorBabe, the Groundhog Day, yo-yoing back and forth for 40 years, what would you want her to hear now?

Ya'el: Trust that you joined this program for a reason, that there was a wise voice in you that said, do this. And know that the old voices are going to come up against that. And you can, not can, you 100 percent need to involve your coach in that process, so that together you're not alone anymore doing this. Your coach is going to help you move through some of those obstacles. Trust your voice, and then trust the program. It's not an overnight fix, and it shouldn't be, because that's not how long-term change comes. But there is another side, and you will get to it.

Nikkiey: That's beautiful. And to anybody listening who heard yourself in Ya'el's story, take this away from this conversation: the greatest transformations aren't just measured by the scale or by the mirror. Ya'el has had a much deeper transformation: finding peace with food, finding trust in herself and her body again, and feeling safe in her own body. If you've been chasing change but still don't feel free, and maybe you can hear your story in Ya'el's, let her story be a reminder that healing and strength can grow together. You can find that inside this program if you've been on the fence about joining. You can always go to warriorbabe.com to check out everything, including our coaches and the application to apply. Overall, I hope you found some release and peace in the story you heard today. Thank you for being here and sharing your story with others.

Ya'el: My privilege. 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 a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all the difference in 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.