Can Your Body Change When the Scale Barely Moves?

Robin: I have stomach issues as well that Kristen's been able to help me with. Whatever's happening with me, like right now I have a pinched nerve in my back. So it's having that one person that's there to really guide me for everything that I think is the big difference it's made for me.

Nikkiey: What's going on, everybody? Today we have WarriorBabe Robin here with us, and she's here to tell her story. Prior to joining WarriorBabe, she spent most of her life active and in shape, and it wasn't until about one year where everything changed for her. After having three surgeries, including an aggressive procedure that put her body into chaos, she didn't even recognize herself. And no matter what she tried, nothing worked. She was working with a nutritionist that had her eating like 1,100 calories, and still her body wouldn't change. So naturally, she felt frustrated and ready to give up, but she found WarriorBabe. And now she's eating more than ever. She's lifting heavier than ever, and seeing things she thought were gone for good. And the best part, she's finally feeling confident in her skin again. So Robin, welcome, and thank you for being here to share your story.

Robin: Thank you, Nikkiey. I'm glad to be here.

Nikkiey: Awesome. So for the people that are listening in on this right now, can you give a little bit of background on where you're from, how old you are, and what you do for work?

Robin: Sure. Born and raised in New Jersey. I'm a snowbird now, so we're part-time in Florida. I have grown children, 29 and 26. I myself am turning 62 in a couple months. And I currently work for a medical device company for implants, and I'm their tech product owner in IT for their ERP systems.

Nikkiey: Oh, okay. Very nice. Where in Florida?

Robin: We have a house in the Keys.

Nikkiey: Beautiful.

Robin: Just about a year ago. Yeah, we love it.

Nikkiey: Beautiful. When I grow up, I want to be like you. I want to have a house in Florida too. Okay, so let's go back to before WarriorBabe. What was your situation like before you found us, your health and fitness?

Robin: Right before I found you, I was probably at my lowest, worst point ever. Felt horrible, looked horrible. Like you said, I had had three surgeries in a row, the most aggressive one a tumor on my ovaries, where they removed my ovaries and my fallopian tubes, which left me with no hormones whatsoever. So I had to start hormone replacement therapy at the same time, which took probably about a year and a half to get correct. But in that time, my body just changed so much. I didn't recognize myself, didn't know what to do. I had always worked out at least five days a week, and I just couldn't find the right fit for me. Like you said, I tried a nutritionist who had me doing the weights, but eating, I think it was about 1,120-something calories a day. I saw a little progress, but basically nothing really worked. I had tried one of those programs, I won't say the name on here, where you take their packets and you pour water and you make food with it.

Nikkiey: Oh, wow.

Robin: And I lost a lot of weight, but it's not sustainable. As soon as I stopped, my whole body just went back. So I realized that I really needed to make some kind of a drastic change. I knew what I was looking for, I just didn't know where to find it. I was looking for somebody to guide me in both phases, in eating and in my workouts. And I did a lot of Googling. That's how I found WarriorBabe, honestly.

Nikkiey: Oh, wow. Well, I'm so happy you found us. Taking a step back before we dive into that ad and what resonated with you and your start at WarriorBabe, you mentioned having those three surgeries in one year. Wow.

Robin: It was a bad year.

Nikkiey: Wow. And then the one that sent you into chaos with the tumor. Jeez. How did that impact your body and your mindset?

Robin: It was devastating. Like I said, my body became just unrecognizable. I hid myself in my clothes. I'm not a person who ever wore tight clothes, I'm more bohemian style, so I could hide it well. But when I took off my clothes at night to change, I could see how my body was just so different, and even my face. Everything was off, everything was wrong. It really affected me mentally, seeing myself like that, because I had never been like that. I didn't really want to go out much, honestly. I was kind of in a depressed state, and the hormones going up and down with the hormone replacement doesn't help either. That sends you and your body into all kinds of chaos. I think it took three times to get that right. The first time they tried it, I was a 59-year-old getting my period every day, which is not fun. So like I said, it took about a year and a half to get the levels of the different estrogen and progesterone correct once they removed my ovaries.

Nikkiey: Holy moly. Wow. I'm there in that story with you right now. I can feel the devastation and how you were feeling at that point. Going back to the point you made about the nutritionist and the 1,100 calories, was this at the same time or after?

Robin: It was after the surgery, after I was released from the cancer center. I didn't have cancer, but the cancer center treated me. After I was released from the cancer center and started on the hormone replacement, I needed something, so I looked for a nutritionist. I think one of my doctors recommended this person to me, and I started working with her around the same time, which would have been the summer to the end of 2023, because I joined WarriorBabe right at the end of December 2023.

Nikkiey: What was the moment that made you realize this isn't working anymore, I need to try something different?

Robin: I was frustrated because I was not seeing the results. I didn't know the nutrition part like I know now. I didn't know that 1,100 calories was not enough to sustain my body. But I really knew I needed a good coach and a workout plan, something I could do, because I work long hours and I work remotely, so something I could do from my home. So I was looking for something that really incorporated that, and I was actually looking probably more on the workout side. I thought I knew the nutrition side. Obviously I didn't, but I thought I did. So I was really looking for that coaching on the workout side.

Nikkiey: Yeah, I hear you. I feel like there are so many women that come into WarriorBabe, or they're looking for a program, and they think that they're eating healthy or they think they're doing it right. You're trusting the person that's giving you the plan or the program to follow. So you feel like if you're being guided by a professional, you should know what you're doing. I'm just curious, do you remember how much protein you were eating beforehand?

Robin: Oh gosh, I honestly don't, but it was nothing near what I'm eating now. I know that. Not even close.

Nikkiey: Wow. And looking back at this, before we dive into the start of WarriorBabe, did you ever think there was a part of you that had lost all hope?

Robin: Oh, 100%. I was at that point. I was 60, and I just thought, okay, this is the way my life's going. I've hit that 6-0 mark and we're going downhill. I'd seen it happen to a lot of my friends. I have some friends that are older than me, and I had seen the same type of problems, maybe not as drastic as mine because of the surgeries, but as they got older, putting on that weight. It's almost like you spread. I can't even describe it, as you get older. And I thought, okay, maybe this is it for me, 55 years or so, and maybe this is where I'm going.

Nikkiey: I hear women say they're in the doom years, or this is just the way of life now, this transition into post-menopause or even back in menopause. It's just what they have to accept. I've heard, I feel like a stranger in my body.

Robin: It really is. It really is, and it sucks, 100%. I went through menopause early. I actually went through menopause when I was 49.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Robin: Yeah. So I had been struggling even before the whole tumor thing happened, struggling with my body adjusting, my hair, my skin, everything about me adjusting. I talked to many doctors and tried different supplements and this and that, and nothing really worked, honestly.

Nikkiey: Wow.

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. 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. 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: Let's talk about how you found WarriorBabe. You said you found us through an ad?

Robin: I was Googling. I just kept Googling, and then I would look, and then I would go, no, I can't do it. And then I would go back to it, and no, I can't do it.

Nikkiey: Why? What were you thinking?

Robin: I don't know. I knew I needed to hit the button, but then I would... I think it's also my personality. I have to research and really think about things before I actually commit. At the end of 2023, my oldest, my daughter, lives in California. She was in an accident and had to have back surgery, so I flew out to California and I was living with her for a while, November and December of 2023. Not only was all this happening, but because I was taking care of her and I was working and doing all this, my eating went to hell. Literally whatever we could grab in the market that was soothing, like ice cream and garbage, we ate. By the time I got home from California, I was like, okay. That's when I hit the button. I had been looking at it while I was in California living with her, but when I got home I went, okay, I'm done. I'm going to do it. And that's when I did it. Whatever I clicked, I went to join.

Nikkiey: Was there anything in particular that stood out to you the most?

Robin: I think it was the combination of having one coach able to guide me through both workouts and nutrition at the same time. That was something I was really looking for. And a lot of the ads that I saw, and you talking, were talking a lot about post-menopausal women, and that your life's not over after menopause. You can get your body back after menopause. So I was like, okay, you were kind of speaking to me, speaking my language at the time.

Nikkiey: Oh, beautiful. I'm happy to hear that. Curious question: seeing a 35-year-old in an ad talking about menopause, how did that make you feel?

Robin: It didn't bother me, honestly. Because not only were you talking, but the women that you were showing were women like me. And the women on my team, as I call it, Kristen's clients, we're all in the same place, so we can really connect with each other and talk each other through things, which is really nice. So even though, yes, you're a younger woman talking about it, the people that you were representing were like me, looked like me.

Nikkiey: Love that. Okay, so when you first started WarriorBabe, what were your thoughts? How long has it been that you've been a WarriorBabe?

Robin: I really started the program in January, January 2023. So it's been almost 14 months now. You can ask Kristen, the first thing I said to her, I told her she was crazy when she told me how much I was going to eat, and I said, no.

Nikkiey: Wait, I did read that in your form. I was like, I can't wait to get to that.

Robin: Probably for the first six months of the program, every time she changed something, I told her she was crazy.

Nikkiey: Did you do it, though? Did you follow through?

Robin: Oh, yeah. She told me to trust the process, and I trusted the process, but I kept telling her, I can't eat more and lose what I want to lose. For me, it was a huge mind shift between losing weight, what the scale said, and what my body was telling me. Because honestly, scale-wise, in 14 months it's only been about four or five pounds, but I have an entirely different body. I'm so proud to show my friends and my husband my before and after pictures, and they're like, oh my God, you must have lost 20, 30 pounds. I said, that's only like four pounds on the scale, but my body is entirely different. So I don't even care what the scale says anymore, because that's not it. My muscles are what is doing it. I'm sure if I didn't have the muscles, it would have been a lot more weight loss or whatever, but yeah.

Nikkiey: What kind of narratives and stories were broken by only having lost four pounds but your body looking drastically different?

Robin: I was always so focused on... my generation, we grew up focused on the scale. There was no such thing as really working out to gain muscle. We were cardio queens. That's what we did. When I was working out in my 20s and 30s, I used to run. I could run for hours. That was my thing. So I was always focused on that number on the scale. And now I don't care about the number on the scale. Sometimes, and I've told Kristen this, on the days that I'm supposed to check in, if I know I'm not feeling great, I won't get on the scale, when I know maybe I'm bloated or something is bothering me or whatever. I get on the scale when I feel good. Otherwise I don't want to get on the scale. And I really just look at my photos. I think if anything, maybe I've missed one week of taking photos in the 14 months.

Nikkiey: I love that. I love the mind shift that you had around that.

Robin: Yeah. And when Kristen asked me, okay, what are your goals for year two? I'm like, I really want to get toned. I want bigger muscles. I want to be toned. I'd love a six-pack. I don't know if that's possible with all the surgeries I've had, but that's my goal for this year. Because I've gotten my body back, right? So now my goal is to take it to the next step this year.

Nikkiey: I love that. And I love that you recognize now that your pictures will tell the full story, and that scale isn't going to tell you much.

Robin: Nope.

Nikkiey: It's you versus gravity on that scale. Hey, while you're listening, if you're getting value from this episode, take a moment to tap that review button or share this podcast with a friend. It's a small gesture that goes a long way in helping more women find their way to feeling stronger and more confident in their skin. I appreciate you so much for taking the time to support this show. Let's unpack the food aspect of it.

Robin: Oh my God.

Nikkiey: So yeah, bring me down that path when she told you to eat more.

Robin: That's so crazy, because for years and years I used MyFitnessPal before starting WarriorBabe, probably for a good seven or eight years before that. So I was used to tracking my food, but I was always on that 1,200 calorie... you know how you always hear you should be at 1,200 calories or less, whatever it is. I didn't really look at my macros. I was focused on the calories. And then of course it's like, you have to eat more, we have to get you up, your body's not functioning, your metabolism's not working. And I'm like, you're going to make me eat more food and all this protein? How am I going to eat all this food? And then within the first three months of her gradually pushing my numbers up, the calories and my macros, I'm like, oh my God, I see a difference in my body. How is this even possible? The workouts at this point were more about getting my body back in shape. I wasn't into the heavier lifting like I am now. And I was like, how is this happening? I'm eating more and my body's changing. And even when we went into my first cut, my calories were still increasing, because I hadn't gotten to that maintenance point yet. And I remember saying again, how is this a cut if you're still increasing? How is this working? But it all worked, and now I trust her completely. I think I just came out of another cut. She's like, okay, we're going back up. We're going to get you back up, we're going to stay there for eight weeks, and then we'll go back into another cut. I'm like, go ahead.

Nikkiey: So this whole methodology around bringing it up, then going into a cut, giving your body a break, coming up and then going back into a cut, is this all new to you?

Robin: Oh, yeah. Never done anything like that before. And when I think about it now, when I'm in maintenance, I think I'm close to 1,600 calories. I have to go back and look, but it's up there. If you had told me a year, a year and a half ago, I'm going to have you eating 1,600 calories, I wouldn't have joined. No, that can't possibly work. But my maintenance for my body is somewhere around 1,600 calories, and it works.

Nikkiey: A 62-year-old eating 1,600 calories... not many 62-year-olds are. You're 61, you're going to be 62 in a couple months. Not many women can say that. What do you feel made WarriorBabe different from other approaches that you've tried?

Robin: I think it's the combination of having one person that can really coach you through all aspects of it. I have stomach issues as well that Kristen's been able to help me with. Whatever's happening with me, like right now I have a pinched nerve in my back, so we're adjusting things, because I can't walk as much until I can get this resolved. So it's having that one person that's there to really guide me for everything that I think is the big difference it's made for me. Before, you could have a nutritionist over here, you could go to the gym or work out with a coach over here, but they're not that one person looking at you as a whole.

Nikkiey: Yeah. I like to say that our coaches are nutritionists, they're personal trainers, they're also like life coaches in a way.

Robin: They are, 100%. Yes.

Nikkiey: So let's talk about some of the accomplishments that you've had. Even though we've talked about a few already, what do you feel are your top three or four achievements since joining?

Robin: I feel proud. I like the way I look. I feel confident in how I look and how I feel. My clothes are not so big anymore. This is going to sound weird, and I'm going to say it, and I think I put it in writing: my husband and I, our sex life has done a 180. In our 60s, we're like we're in our 20s.

Nikkiey: Yes, I love that. I was celebrating you so hard.

Robin: That's 100% from working out. I noticed it with him before this. He went back to the gym a number of years ago, right after COVID. He's always worked out. He was a football player, he's worked out his entire life. I saw a change in him when he started working out too, and now the two of us are just like little kids again, which, we're empty nesters, so it's fine. That's been a huge change for the two of us, to reconnect like that at this point in our lives. We've been together for 37 years.

Nikkiey: Wow, that's amazing. What are some of the other things that you feel you're able to do now that you couldn't do before, physically or mentally?

Robin: Oh, physically I am so much stronger. Just confident doing things around the house, and not worrying about... my aches and pains have gone away. Those aches and pains you get maybe because your muscles aren't strong enough, so things are compensating. I used to have a lot of knee pain and different things. I don't have those anymore. That's all gone. My body feels good. It feels strong. I don't worry about hurting myself, things like that.

Nikkiey: That's beautiful. You mentioned a couple minutes ago different sizes in clothes. Even though you've only lost four pounds, your body looks drastically different. Have you dropped sizes too?

Robin: I've dropped bra sizes. I said to Kristen one day, I don't know what's going on, but my underwear is too tight. And she goes, oh my God, you have your booty back. And I'm like, yes, it's back. So that went up a little bit. But my pant sizes are smaller, my shirt sizes are smaller. I got all new bathing suits for Florida. And the clothes I'm buying show more of me than just a big old sweatshirt.

Nikkiey: Oh, how does that make you feel?

Robin: Great. Really great.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. You shared the relationship that you have with your husband now. How about any other relationships in your life? Have they been transformed?

Robin: Well, I have a very good friend who was going through a rough time as well. She and I sat down and she said, what are you doing? What's going on? I told her about the program and I showed her the before and after pictures. This was maybe seven or eight months ago, and she got excited and she joined as well. So being able to help my friends, not coaching them, but showing them that at our age maybe there's a different way to do things than just starving yourself and hoping that's going to make a change.

Nikkiey: Love that. I always say I'm one person, but you guys are one to many, and you can share and spread the word. So thank you for bringing her into the ecosystem. How's she doing? Is she seeing the change she wants to see?

Robin: Yeah, she's doing good. She does a lot of traveling because she's retired, so it's been on and off for her, but she's very happy with it.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. I hate to even ask this question, but it popped in my head. If you had never made a change, where do you think you'd be today?

Robin: I don't know. Still depressed, I guess. Definitely wouldn't be as happy as I am today, 100%. I don't know if it would have gotten worse or what kind of path I would have gone down. You know what I probably would have done, and would have regretted? I probably would have gone on Ozempic or one of those drugs. Because I did think about it before I joined.

Nikkiey: You did?

Robin: I did. It definitely crossed my mind.

Nikkiey: Wow. Thank God the WarriorBabe ad was put in front of you before you did that. Well, thanks for sharing that. It's not always super comfortable to talk about those things. They have such an interesting story right now in the fitness space.

Robin: Yeah, because you don't have to get fit, you can just get really skinny.

Nikkiey: I know. You're not fit.

Robin: And I always ask the question, is it sustainable? It's not, because I know people who, as soon as they go off it, it's right back. They're ravenous.

Nikkiey: It boggles my mind this stuff is still in the fitness industry. I'm like, when is the narrative going to shift?

Robin: I don't think it's ever going to shift, because it's just more...

Nikkiey: The easy fix.

Robin: Exactly. There's going to be one every decade or something like that.

Nikkiey: Okay. Before I get into how you would have conversations with anyone that's your age and what you would tell them, is there anything else along your journey that you want to share that I didn't ask, about where you're at now?

Robin: I also think part of the program is having that group of women right along with my coach. We have our group chats, we support each other, we lift each other up when somebody's having a bad day or a bad time. I think that's really great too, because if it was just me in my house, not having that group of women, just having Kristen, who I do talk to a lot... I think that kind of builds you up. We cheer each other's successes. If you don't have people around you who are in the same mindset, who you can do something like this with, having that group of women is important.

Nikkiey: That's nice. It's like a good fellowship of women that you can communicate and converse with. So, what we talked about earlier: there are women that are 55, 60, even 65, and they think, man, it's not even possible. I can't turn my body around, I can't turn my health around. What would you say to someone that is in that space right now, and how could WarriorBabe have an impact on their life?

Robin: I was probably at my lowest point ever, I think. And it's little steps. On one of the community calls, you said something that really resonated with me, and I'm trying to remember exactly what the words were. It's something like, you don't have to be perfect, you have to be consistent. That really resonated with me. When you start, it's hard. It's hard to start and to get on track and to get your workouts in. I remember the first couple months that I did legs, I couldn't even hold a weight when I did a squat, and it hurt to squat without a weight. And now I'm holding like 30 pounds and I'm squatting. So it sneaks up on you gradually, but you can do it. You might not notice the change along the way because it's so gradual, and one day you're going to turn around and look and see how far you've come, not only in what you can do with your exercises but how you look and how you feel. I remember telling my husband, if I ever start bitching and complaining again, oh, my shoulder hurts, my knee hurts, my back hurts, tell me to go work out, because it made everything go away. So it's daunting, and it's not going to happen overnight, but you get there by being consistent.

Nikkiey: Amen to that. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be consistent. You've got to show up. One last question: what would you say to someone that is afraid to eat more because they think they're going to gain weight?

Robin: It's a fallacy. It's a total fallacy. Like I said, for probably a good 20 years I did that 1,200-calorie thing. It's wrong. You're not going to gain weight. And I'm not eating a huge amount of food. I'm eating the right amount, the right foods. I'm not stuffed eating 1,600 calories a day. I don't feel gluttonous. I have a good breakfast, a good lunch, a good dinner, and a couple good snacks throughout the day, and that's it. It's a mindset, especially for my generation, who was brought up with the scale, with the 1,200 calories, not knowing what a macro was. It's just a shift in mindset, but you have to shift your mindset.

Nikkiey: Love that. Doesn't protein make a world of difference?

Robin: It does. I just did it last night: I bought chicken breasts, chicken tenders, whatever, and I cooked them all up, cooked up my veggies, and they're in the fridge for when I need to grab and go. And because I work a lot, Kristen helped me find a great meal prep service.

Nikkiey: Nice.

Robin: Really nice, delicious meals. I get like six a week and keep them in my fridge, so on those nights when I'm really tired and just need to grab something good, I don't have to worry about it or think about it. That's really helped too, just keeping the right things in the house.

Nikkiey: Love that. That made me think of one more question. I haven't asked this yet in an interview, and I should add it: what's your favorite meal that you make?

Robin: My favorite meal, oddly enough, is now breakfast, which was probably my least favorite meal. I don't even remember what I used to eat for breakfast. But I make these egg white bites.

Nikkiey: Oh, nice.

Robin: I think they're a dupe of Starbucks. I found the recipe, and it's just egg whites, cottage cheese, a little Monterey Jack cheese, seasoning and spinach. You mix it all in a blender and bake it in a little muffin tin. I have that and oatmeal in the morning, and that gets me going. It's my favorite meal.

Nikkiey: I love that. Well, thank you, Robin, for being here and for sharing. That was a beautiful interview, and I appreciate you being very open and sharing where you're at now. What a difference it is to see where you're at. And to anyone that's listening, Robin's journey proves that sometimes the biggest transformations we can make don't just come from how we look. They come from how we feel. She went from frustration, being devastated and down, to being in strength and confidence, simply by trusting the process. So if any of you are listening to this and you feel like you're stuck in a cycle of doing more and eating less and not seeing the results that you want, there is another way. If you were inspired by Robin's story, take that first step today. Check out warriorbabe.com and know that it's totally possible for you too. Robin, thank you so much for being here and for sharing your story. Appreciate you.

Robin: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Nikkiey: Real quick, if this episode resonated with you or gave you the push that you needed, I'd love for you to pay it forward. Drop a quick rating and review, share the podcast with someone who might need it, and help me keep spreading the word. Your feedback not only helps the show grow, but it might just be the nudge someone else needs to kickstart their transformation. Thank you so, so much for your support.