Can You Lose Menopause Weight and Build Muscle at 58?

Nikkiey: You mentioned you went into menopause a little bit early. What did that feel like, watching your body change after menopause?

Bryn: It just got harder. The weight came on a lot faster, and I wasn't sleeping as well.

Nikkiey: What are some of the big wins that you're really proud of?

Bryn: Well, I lost over 25 pounds and gained a lot of muscle. I just feel good. I feel confident. I haven't worn a size six since I was in high school. So people are like, "You're petite." And I'm like, "Did you know that?" Well, no. I did.

Nikkiey: So did you think it was possible to gain muscle and have these types of results at your age?

Bryn: No, I would never have guessed that I could do this.

Nikkiey: What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys. I have another WarriorBabe here with us, WarriorBabe Bryn. Before finding WarriorBabe, Bryn was stuck in the same cycle I think every woman has been stuck in: dieting, losing weight, gaining it back, never finding anything she could really actually stick to. Then menopause changed her body and she needed a different approach. And now, post-WarriorBabe, which we'll get into, the whole journey of Bryn in this interview today, she's feeling leaner. She's feeling stronger. She's eating more than ever, which is my favorite testimony. And she's finally enjoying both the gym and the foods that she eats. So today she's here with us and she's going to share her story. Bryn, welcome.

Bryn: Hello. Thanks for having me.

Nikkiey: So let's go back to where you were before you found WarriorBabe. Can you take us back to that? What were you struggling with the most prior to finding us?

Bryn: I've always been pretty active, trying different stuff. I never really enjoyed the gym or lifting. So I walked, I did half marathons. But I never really felt fit. I was doing those things and had fairly good endurance. I'd hit the treadmill. But I just never really felt fit and didn't look fit. And then I'd do diets and I had no idea what food to eat. So I just went up and down. I'd do a diet for a while, and then I'd get off it and slowly go back up. It takes time. But I just ended up in this cycle, up and down, up and down. I was really just looking for something that could help me, especially since I hit menopause fairly early. And I just had no idea what I was even supposed to be eating. It seemed like everything out there was very general, aimed at younger people, and not at where I was in my life.

Nikkiey: You mentioned that you weren't much of a gym person, which is interesting. What was your relationship with it? Was it that you were just doing running and a lot of cardio and things like that? What did that look like before?

Bryn: I grew up doing gymnastics and I loved being active. But to me, the gym was just boring. I didn't really know what to do. I didn't see the benefits of it. And it was intimidating just going to the gym and not really knowing. Pre-COVID, I tried for a while where I'd go in and had kind of a trainer helping me. So I did start learning how to do some exercises, how to do them right, that kind of thing. But I just never really found much joy or interest. It was always a chore. And it's easy to put off chores.

Nikkiey: Yeah, absolutely. If you're not motivated to do something, if it feels boring, you're definitely not going to take a liking to it and actually do it. You also mentioned that your weight constantly yo-yoed. You would lose the weight, and you would gain the weight, from the diets you were trying, depending on whatever program you were following at the time. How did that feel? You mentioned that you were active, but you weren't getting the results that you wanted to see. How did that make you feel internally?

Bryn: It was frustrating, and just a lack of confidence. Not feeling good in your skin. It's hard to find clothes. It's just tough. And I had four kids. So from 28 through my 30s, I either had little kids or was pregnant, and trying to find time for yourself is hard when you have a bunch of kids around.

Nikkiey: So you're basically trying to do your best, is what I'm hearing. You're trying to stay active. You're putting the work in. You were looking for information, but you weren't finding information that was going to give you what you wanted. And then you would try programs, and it just felt like more of the same. So it felt mundane. You weren't excited to do it because you weren't really reaping the rewards that you thought you would. Then put kids into the picture, and you kind of put yourself last. You're putting them first.

Bryn: Oh, yeah. Trying to find the time felt like a lot.

Nikkiey: Okay. You mentioned you went into menopause a little bit early. What did that feel like, watching your body change after menopause?

Bryn: It just got harder. The weight came on a lot faster. I wasn't sleeping as well. I didn't have hot flashes and some of the really hard things that people do have. But just not getting enough sleep, waking up all the time, and you have the mood swings but you don't really know why, because I used to associate them with a monthly thing, and now that's not really happening anymore. I just didn't know. There was so little information and advice out there at that time to help you understand. And you'd go and ask the doctor questions and you'd get, "Oh, it's just menopause." Well, that's not a very good answer to me.

Nikkiey: I literally just recorded an episode an hour ago about the five conversations that you should have with your doctor and the tests that you should do. You're literally preaching the reason why I hit record on that episode, because you get doctors who say, "Oh yeah, it's just a part of you getting older." But even what you just said: why do I have hot flashes, when I could connect it and correlate it back to my period, but my period isn't happening anymore? So why are these things happening? You enter this world where things are changing, but you don't know why, and you have these questions but they're not getting answered. And it's very confusing.

Bryn: Yeah.

Nikkiey: You're part of WarriorBabe now. But before I get into how you found us, you mentioned that you were searching for a way to eat without dieting. Why was that important to you?

Bryn: Because to me, dieting was what I would always do to lose weight. And I wanted to find a way to eat and just be consistent instead of going up and down in my weight. I wanted to not diet. I wanted to find a healthy eating pattern, what I should be eating. Honestly, before WarriorBabe, I had never even heard of macros. To me it was just, "I shouldn't eat bread. I can't eat bread. I'm going to give up bread, because that's what's making me fat." I honestly had no idea how all of the different nutrients worked with the body. And I've tried one where you have points and you eat them. But gosh, I could eat all my points with a candy bar. It just wasn't it. I just felt like there's got to be a better way. That was kind of my search: there's got to be a better way to do this, where I can eat the things I want to eat and be consistent. It's exhausting always going up and down in your weight and having to think, "Okay, what should I try now? Maybe I'll train for a half marathon. Maybe that'll help." It's like I had to either increase my exercise or stop eating to get to where I wanted to be. And I just felt there had to be something else out there.

Nikkiey: And dot, dot, dot, enter WarriorBabe. So how did you hear about us? How did you find us? What came across?

Bryn: I found you on the internet. I was really searching for different programs related to people who are in menopause, combined with the exercise. During COVID, I tried a program that worked pretty well, but I wasn't getting the nutrition. So I wanted something that encompassed all of it. And I do very well when I have accountability, but you can't always find a friend and be consistent with your accountability. So I was really looking for something that encompassed everything: nutrition, fitness, overall health.

Nikkiey: I love that. How long have you been with us?

Bryn: I think this next August will be two years. So I think coming up on two years.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. Okay, so going back to the beginning of you joining WarriorBabe, did you have any fears about joining the program?

Bryn: No, I was more excited just to find something that would work for me. And right from the beginning, even with the blood test that was done, there was something pointed out with my thyroid, which I later took to my doctor. And even then they were like, "It's not really that big a deal." And I'm like, "But it went from this number..." And then we had it tested again later and it went up. And I'm like, that seems like a small number, but it increased a lot. To me, it feels like there's something there.

Nikkiey: So kudos to you for advocating for yourself there. Kudos to you for saying something ain't normal. If this number is this and this number is this, something's different.

Bryn: Yeah.

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: So were there any aha moments that you experienced after joining?

Bryn: Trying to figure out the macros and just realizing that I can eat carbs. In the beginning of my journey, since I'm not a big fan of cooking, there were a lot more processed foods and stuff like that that I was eating. And she's like, "All right, your fiber is really low and your salt is really high." So I started seeing all the nutrients, realizing that all of those things play a part. Oh wait, I really need to eat more fiber and I need to reduce my salt. Which helped me start eating cleaner. I guess my biggest aha moment is that eating cleaner and more natural whole foods is way healthier.

Nikkiey: I love that. And it sounds like your coach is Hannah, right? Is it Hannah B?

Bryn: Yes.

Nikkiey: Oh, my girl. I love her. You know, I coached her mom. Does she ever tell you that?

Bryn: Yeah. I think she got on with her meetings or something at one point.

Nikkiey: Oh, so cool. So Hannah's played a huge role in your journey. What does it look like having that accountability and encouragement? What does that mean to you?

Bryn: Oh, it's just been great to have. She's really good at picking out the thing that I need to be working on, and going, "Well, what about this?" I'm not very good with feelings and thinking about why you eat a certain food. I'm not big into that emotional thing. I know why I eat the food. So every week it's, "What's your focus?" Oh God, that was my focus this week. But she's really helped me refine what I'm looking for, and guided me in a nice way, with little nudges. She didn't come right out and say, "You've got to quit eating all that processed food." She was like, "Well, you need to find something that has this or that," and gave suggestions and stuff. She's just a wealth of knowledge. So it's been great to have her help guide me and pull out those little things where I'm like, "Okay, I guess I have to deal with that."

Nikkiey: I love that. I think that's such an important part of anybody's journey, to have that person in your corner who's able to give you that type of encouragement and support. And of course, it's not your profession to be in this space, so bringing that awareness to the way that you're eating is extremely helpful. It was an eye-opener for you: oh, fiber and sodium, I never really learned to eat that way. So that's really cool. And I love that you mentioned that you can eat carbs now. So I'm curious to hear, are you eating bread now?

Bryn: Oh, yeah. I love leg days, in fact, because I have higher carbs on leg days. I think I'm up to over 2,000 calories, and carbs are like 240 on non-leg days. So it's nice.

Nikkiey: Oh man. I need to make leg days.

Bryn: My afternoon sandwich gets two pieces of bread versus one on the non-leg days.

Nikkiey: That's awesome.

Bryn: In fact, it actually was hard for a while to add the carbs as we were increasing them. Like, oh my gosh, what carbs can I eat now? I needed to come up with some other carbs to eat.

Nikkiey: Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with 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. At WarriorBabe, 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. Look, 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.

Nikkiey: You mentioned that you didn't know what macros were before you found us. So what was your journey like starting out, learning how to incorporate and track them?

Bryn: Well, the program helped a lot, for sure. I think in the beginning, just keeping it simple and trying to eat the same stuff for a while was what I needed to do to figure out the macros.

Nikkiey: Everybody hear that? Everybody just heard what Bryn said, right? The way that I've seen most women be successful is to not be overly consumed with tons of different recipes, and just keep it silly, stupid, simple at the beginning, because it's something new that you're learning. And the more complicated you make it, the harder you're going to be on yourself, and that's maybe the reason why you can't be successful with it. So I love that you mentioned you just ate the same things. And I hear you. I'm not a cook myself. I keep the things I eat daily to maybe five ingredients or less. That's just me. But until you've gotten that level of confidence in yourself with tracking, which may take two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, before you start changing up what you're eating, or changing up and alternating your lunches, or doing that with your dinners, having the same breakfast and snacks throughout the day is definitely what's recommended at the beginning of someone's journey. So I love that you said that.

Bryn: And then you broaden it. Once you've got your one set plan, if you have other ones, you're like, "Oh, I can incorporate these two together," because I don't have time for that. So as you go along, it gets easier. I still like to keep it simple.

Nikkiey: Yes, I hear you. Okay, so let's talk about some of the changes that you've experienced since joining. What have you noticed? What are some of the big wins that you're really proud of?

Bryn: Well, I lost over 25 pounds and gained a lot of muscle, which people are really noticing recently. I don't know why all of a sudden people are really noticing, but it's kind of fun. I feel good. I feel confident. I haven't worn a size six since I was in high school. So people are like, "You're petite." And I'm like, "Did you know that?" Well, no. I did. I felt kind of fluffy. So it feels really good. And for a while, I lost probably about 15, and then I just got stuck for a while. It was kind of like, okay, I've plateaued. And I honestly don't know what changed in there. But Hannah just kept saying, "Trust the process. Just keep trusting the process." And then all of a sudden, boom, it went down. I lost another 10 and started getting all these muscles.

Nikkiey: That right there is what I want to highlight, what you just said, because there will be the 15 pounds or the 10 pounds or the five pounds that you see that you lose. In your case, you lost the 15. Then you didn't change anything. You kept doing essentially the same thing, maybe some tweaks here and there, and you just had to allow time for your body. In personal training, we call it a whoosh. You experienced a whoosh, where you broke through by not changing anything. You just needed time for your body to create its own changes, without changing a lot of things. What I'm trying to say is, if people experience that and they don't have a coach in their corner, they will go and try to change five things. And then you have five variables, and you don't know which one actually caused the change, when you don't need to. Sometimes you just need to let time pass, and your body will be able to create the change for you. So I love that.

And I love that you mentioned that you're a size six now. So you went from a size 8 or 10 to a size six by eating more food. So can we also talk about that? You're eating over 2,000 calories. You said 240 carbs on a low day. How? Was that something you expected, to lose weight that way? Talk about that.

Bryn: Not at all. Not at all. It's funny, because my fiancé works out too, and he's like, "You're up to what carbs now?" I enjoy eating. I always knew that was part of the problem, but I just didn't know what to eat. And I think it's been nice gaining the muscle and being able to continue. I think I'm still heading up a little bit, where I feel like we haven't quite hit maintenance. My maintenance was maybe 1,700 calories the last time. And we've been trying to do a little bulk, but my body just keeps eating up these carbs, and the bulk isn't happening.

Nikkiey: Well, we're not really doing a bulk. You're pushing your maintenance threshold right there. You're pushing the level of what your body can consume. And that's because of the muscle that you're building. You're increasing your resting metabolic rate by adding more muscle to your frame. So that's how you can eat more food. Isn't that cool?

Bryn: It is. It's awesome. It's pretty wild.

Nikkiey: You're a girl after my own heart. You mentioned that sugar used to have a hold on you, but now it's kind of like you can take it or leave it. How freeing is that to feel?

Bryn: Oh, it's just crazy. Oh yeah, I loved sugar. I was 100 percent addicted to sugar. And now when I have something, after a bite, it's like, yeah, I'm good. I don't really need any more than that. Before, if something was really good, I'd eat a piece of cake, maybe the whole thing. Now I'm like, okay, I can just have a couple of bites and be good. It's almost too much. The sugar is kind of crazy now when I have it. It's like, oh, this is a little bit too much for me. I don't need any more than that. So it's nice not to have that. I have the control. It no longer has control over me. It definitely did before.

Nikkiey: Isn't that pretty cool? Hormonally, and also psychologically, the chemicals in our body and our brain change as you start to eat more of the right types of foods. You don't really find that stuff as the go-to, or the addiction, the want and desire to have it, because you're giving your body what it needs. So when you do have it, it's like, okay, cool, a couple of bites, I'm good, don't need more. Really cool. And I also wanted to say, your transformation was shared on one of our all-hands meetings that we do for the company. It's truly incredible how much your body has changed, and how drastically it's changed, which is really cool. I mean, you've got some muscles, girl.

Bryn: Yeah. It's kind of a little embarrassing sometimes now, because it just feels weird. I'm 58 this week, and they're like, "Are you getting ready for a show?" And I'm like, "No, I'm just doing my thing."

Nikkiey: That's amazing. When's your birthday?

Bryn: Sunday.

Nikkiey: Oh, happy early birthday. So did you think it was possible to gain muscle and have these types of results at your age?

Bryn: No, I would never have guessed that I could do this. So it's exciting. One of my goals was always to stay fit and be able to do stuff with my kids. My four kids are all adults now, and I still want to be able to go and do physical things and stuff. And now I'm going to be a grandma. So I'm excited about being able to stay healthy and do stuff with the grandkids, and not be that grandma they're pushing around in a wheelchair.

Nikkiey: Yeah, girl. That's amazing. That's awesome. And congrats on being a grandma too. I love that you're thinking proactively about your health, and long-term about it. I think about the caretaker burden when you get older, people having to push you around. You don't have to do that. You want to take care of yourself now, so your family doesn't have to feel that. And you get to keep up with them. You get to do activities. You get to run around with them. You get to pick up the grandkids. That's how every woman should be approaching her later years, thinking from that lens. So I hope that women feel encouraged by listening to you say that. One of the last questions, coming up to the end of our interview: if you had never found WarriorBabe, where do you think you would be today?

Bryn: Oh, probably in that same cycle, trying to find the next diet that might work and what exercise program. And I have to say, I do like the gym now. I actually really enjoy the gym. I can tell when my six weeks or whatever is getting up, because it's like, yeah, you need to switch it up. I'm not as excited. Hannah's figured out that I need to switch it up every six weeks. So she has made the gym fun and made me feel confident too, going there, because I go to a gym that's a bunch of muscle-head guys. So it was scary at first. And now I'm like, yeah, it's fine. They don't bother me.

Nikkiey: Love that. Talk about the confidence you've gained, too. So for anybody that's watching this, someone who has maybe been in your shoes, just tired of dieting, tired of starting over, tired of losing and gaining the same weight, what would you want them to know?

Bryn: It actually is not that hard, if you really trust the process. And a lot of it is the food. So maybe you don't get to exercise, but I think the food part has been the biggest thing for me, because I've found a lot of things that I can eat and really enjoy. And now I'm eating more all the time. It's scary in the beginning, first trying to figure out the macros and stuff like that. But keeping it simple and just really trusting the process and doing it, it'll change your life.

Nikkiey: I love that. It's not that hard, and it'll change your life. Bryn, thank you. Your story reminds everyone listening that real transformation doesn't come from another diet. It comes from building the habits you've built along the way that you're able to actually sustain. You've stopped chasing the next diet or the next quick fix, and you learned how to properly fuel your body. You learned and understand macros, and you learned that you can have carbohydrates. But most importantly, I feel like what enabled you to do that is not only having the coach in your corner telling you the things and encouraging you, but also learning the education behind everything. I think that's really important, because it's going to carry you through your journey moving forward. And hopefully everyone's encouraged by that. You're proactive about it. You were seeking answers. You were looking for answers. You didn't give up on yourself, and you didn't accept the narrative of, "Oh, well, I'm getting older, my doctor's just telling me this." You were like, "No, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep figuring it out." And here you are. You figured it out, and you've got the tools and the resources now.

So if anybody is listening to this right now and you find yourself in Bryn's story, I would just encourage you to check out WarriorBabe at warriorbabe.com. Check it out and apply. Work with one of our coaches, and they'll get you on the same path that Bryn has been on. But most importantly, you've got to be willing to do the work. Bryn is a prime example. She's done the work. So you've got to do the work, right? Bryn, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story. I appreciate you. Keep up the great work.

Bryn: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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.