Fat Loss, Hormones and Metabolism Advice for Women Over 40

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals and feel insanely confident. The only way we can do that is if you rate, review and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

Wow. I can hardly believe it, but we are here. Episode 200 of The WarriorBabe Show with your host, your girl, Nikkiey Stott. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong and feel insanely confident.

My friends, we have hit a huge milestone. I just want to take a moment to express some sincere gratitude and say a huge thank you to all of you amazing listeners for being with me on this journey. Whether you've been here since day one, January 9th of 2023, when this podcast went live, or you just hopped on board in one of the later or recent episodes, no matter where you came into this journey with me, this podcast wouldn't be what it is without your support. To date, you guys, I'm reading the stat live here. That's huge. That's huge.

To celebrate the 200th episode, we're going to look back at some of the most incredible insights and powerful moments from Season 2's guest interviews. We've had some awesome leading experts in the fitness industry come on in Season 2, and they were dropping knowledge bombs about everything from mindset shifts to metabolism to fitness breakthroughs and more. So buckle up for this highlight episode of the best advice, inspiring moments and a few amazing insights along the way. And again, thank you so much. This podcast wouldn't be what it is without you amazing people on this journey with me. Appreciate y'all. Let's dive into the episode.

Nikkiey: Lindsay is not just a fitness coach. She is a storyteller of personal transformation, and I'm super excited to have her on the show today. From the competitive fitness that you did, which I can't wait to hear about, to overcoming your own health challenges and your journey into understanding hormones and gut health, it's inspiring, transformative and informative. Today she's going to share her highlights with us and her balanced approach to health and wellness. Lindsay, welcome to the show.

Lindsay: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here, Nikkiey. A lot of my story was built on insecurity and being afraid to take the next step. I really wanted to get certified as a coach or a trainer, but I was really insecure with how I looked. I felt like I did not look the part of what a trainer is, quote, supposed to look like. Nowadays I feel like people go more for the healthy approach, but I'm talking 2004 or 2005, when I thought you needed to be lean and ripped all the time in order to call yourself a fitness trainer.

So I decided to go for it. I did end up getting a job at a gym for a little bit just to get more in-person experience connecting with people, knowing how to motivate them, knowing how to push them, that kind of thing. I feel like a lot of that experience really comes from being with people in person. Then you can translate that to online, but oftentimes you can't just start online. Do you know what I mean?

Nikkiey: Totally. A hundred percent. I agree. You need to have the personal experience, in my personal opinion, so that you know how to work with those clients in a totally different arena when it comes to the online space.

Lindsay: Yeah. And once you know how to do it, it's super easy to adapt to online, but I feel like it's hard, or at least harder, to just jump in online if you've never done it in person. Not saying you can't do it.

Nikkiey: Welcome, Dr. Cabral. I'm super excited for you to be here. It's a pleasure to have you on the show.

Dr. Cabral: Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here. The first half of the book, The Rain Barrel Effect, is how we get sick and why. It's important to know why you got sick in the first place, or even just why you feel lower energy, lower mood, lower ambition, lower drive, lower libido, all the lowers. Why do you feel that way? Because it doesn't happen just because of age.

I got sick at 17 years old, and it took until 27 to get well, because I didn't have the information we have today. Now I'm in my mid-40s, and I have way more energy and feel way better than I did even as a teenager before I got sick. So why is that? As a teenager, I still had allergies, digestive issues, food sensitivities, heavy metals. I had all these issues I didn't know about. So we figure out what the things are that are keeping us from becoming well, and we can find those with at-home lab testing as well.

The second half of the book is how to get well. That's the DESTRESS protocol we use in my practice. It's diet, exercise, stress reduction, toxin removal, rest and sleep protocols. It's emotional balance. It's scientifically backed supplement protocols. And it's a success mindset.

If we look at stress, emotional balance and mindset, that's three out of the eight dedicated to essentially reducing stress and balancing overall healthy emotion in our life. That's because it's so important. Stress alone can weaken your immune system, increase stress hormones like cortisol, lower progesterone, especially in women, lower testosterone in men, and lower thyroid in both men and women. Plus, it can cause gut-based issues and slow digestion, which can potentially lead to SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, with ileocecal valve dysfunction, all these different things. And it all comes from stress.

There's actually a name for it: the neuroendoimmune system, or function. The nervous system, that stress on the body, that fight or flight, can cause a disruption in hormones, which is the endocrine system, the endo, which then affects our immune system and can lead to autoimmune or other factors. So it's pretty profound. And conventional medicine will never talk about stress being implicated in real dis-ease in the body.

Nikkiey: Today she's here to share her journey, drop some wisdom on staying fit and mentally strong, and chat about making a real impact. So I'm super excited.

Guest: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Nikkiey: What changes or developments do you hope to see in the mental health space in the coming years?

Guest: The goal is to have fewer people suffering, lower the suicide rates, make people feel safe about having the conversation about going to someone when they don't feel well, and make people more joyful in life, happier. That's really it. Think about it: one person is happier and more joyful, and then they have that effect on another person and another person. Literally, our mental health can spread across the world, because we are energy. When there are people with energy you're not vibing with and it's negative, it spreads on to other people. So it's really a goal of, number one, saving lives, bringing more joy into the world, and making the world a happier, healthier place.

Nikkiey: Philippa is a master of movement, blending physiotherapy with Pilates and yoga to help women feel their best. She's also the brain behind Precision, where she's all about empowering through exercise. And with over 30 years in the game, right, Philippa?

Philippa: 30 years. Yeah, I'm afraid so.

Nikkiey: Well, she's got some incredible insights to share. Welcome to the show, Philippa. I'm excited that you're here.

Philippa: Thank you, Nikkiey. I'm really excited to be here with you and your listeners today. For people who want to venture into moving more when maybe they haven't done it before, I think Pilates can be a really great entry point, because we can learn how the body feels when it moves and the different movement directions. At the heart of all of that is core activation, the stability that comes from having the core switched on with every movement we make. And we move at a relatively slow, measured pace in the first instance, so you're not throwing yourself about in a crazy fashion. You're much less likely to hurt yourself doing this.

What I say to people, and maybe I shouldn't, is that these skills I teach you, you can take into every other part of your life. Whether it's a sport you play, another hobby, the gym, or just being out and about with family cycling, walking, hiking, gardening, whatever it is, these skills give you the ability to really connect with what your body feels like and how it should feel when it's doing it properly. You know what I mean?

Nikkiey: Today we have a special guest in the house, virtually speaking: Olivia Eve, the host of the super popular podcast For You From Eve. With over 200 episodes and a whopping 3 million listeners, that's so cool, Olivia. Olivia's podcast is all about self-love, self-growth and living your best life. She's been crushing it in Spotify's top education charts, helping women everywhere navigate their self-development journey in a totally down-to-earth way. So everyone listening, get comfy, and let's dive into some real talk with the one and only Olivia Eve. What's up, girl? I'm so stoked you're here.

Olivia: Thank you so much for having me. We just recorded together for my show, so we've already gotten comfortable with each other. We're in the convo now, and I'm so excited to record for you.

I did this series called Evemas, where every day for the month of December, two years ago, I was uploading an episode. This was during finals season. I was absolutely miserable, sleeping at four or 5am. It was rough, but it was so worth it, because that was around the same time I started trending. I was like, wow, this is insane, the work I put in is actually doing something.

The beginning is the hardest part, because you don't see any results. So you're like, why am I doing this? Why am I working hard? Why am I posting and putting in all these hours if nothing comes from it? And then one day you have that moment.

I remember the first time I saw I was on the charts. I told my sister, I need to start taking this podcasting thing seriously. I'd been doing it for six, seven months, maybe a year at this point, and nothing had come from it. So I said, let me book a photo shoot in the city to actually create cover art for myself. The photo shoot was me and my sister in a studio we rented in New York, literally just the two of us taking pictures on an iPhone. It was nothing serious. As soon as we were done, and I'd made this mark of, I'm going to actually do this now and go all in, I looked at my phone and saw I was trending number one in UK top education podcasts. I was freaking out. I couldn't believe that the day I decided to go all in, all the work I'd been putting in paid off.

I think when you see results, you get so motivated. So just be consistent, and know that if you're doing it right and you're doing it for the right reasons, you will see results at the end of it.

Nikkiey: Today we are super excited to have a special guest on. Her name is Louise Digby.

Louise: Thank you so much for having me. And you did get my surname correct. What I typically find is that women between 35 and 55, perimenopausal and menopausal, need some carbs to fuel their thyroid and their hypothalamus. Otherwise, your metabolism is going to slow down, and it can have a very stressful impact on your body and actually inhibit your weight loss and your wellbeing.

I think everyone has a different range where they feel best, so I'm not a fan of saying you need this many carbohydrates per day. It varies based on where you are in your menstrual cycle, how much exercise you do and the type of exercise you're doing. So again, it's very individual, but I'm very much about finding the amount that is enough for you without it being so much that you're causing your blood sugar to race high and low.

Nikkiey: Thank you so much for being here, and everybody listening, please join me in welcoming Autumn to the show.

Autumn: Thank you, Nikkiey. Such a pleasure to be here. We love what you're doing and are really excited about this podcast, so thank you for having me.

Nikkiey: You mentioned earlier that what you were experiencing personally was gut issues, and that it translated to the mental. That's like our second brain down there, the gut.

Autumn: Yeah, they actually call it that. It's your entire nervous system. It is our second brain, and it's connected by the vagus nerve. They used to think messages primarily went from the brain to the gut, but now we know just as many, if not more, messages come directly from the gut to the brain. Our gut is also where our serotonin is created, and some of our dopamine. And it houses 80% of our immune system.

When that immune system is out of whack, or we're eating foods that create inflammation, that immune activation and inflammation can go to the brain and negatively impact brain function. So this is a two-way street of communication all the time. I sincerely believe that if I had understood this connection and been able to address my gut issues as a youngster, my parents would have had a much easier time with me.

Nikkiey: I'm excited to have Jess on here to dive in and explore her journey and her insights. Jess, welcome to the show.

Jess: Thank you so much for having me, Nikkiey. I love your podcast. I'm excited to be here. You know what? A lot of women feel awesome during their period week. In fact, I usually say that after day two, you can feel amazing if your hormones are in the right place. It can be a really good time to do some sprints. Not long, long runs, but sprints. I like to go on a treadmill and run for 30 seconds, then walk for 30 seconds, run for 30 seconds, and just do that for 10 minutes. That can help release some of that inflammation and release endorphins, which can actually help offset some of the discomfort and cramping.

You can also strength train. If you're listening to your body and you're feeling a little more fatigued, just go a little lighter on the weights or don't do progressive overload that week. You can meet yourself where you're at. You don't have to stop strength training. I think it's important to strength train all month long, and I'm a huge fan of it.

The first few days, you might want to listen to your body. I have a great cycle, but on the first day, when I'm bleeding, I don't feel like working out. So I like to go for a nice long walk.

Nikkiey: Yeah.

Jess: Same for you? Yeah. And then I usually feel like, oh my God, I'm ready to go by day two. I feel totally ready to rip.

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.

Everybody listening and tuning in, get ready for an eye-opening conversation that just might change the way you view this essential mineral. Dr. Carolyn Dean, welcome to the show.

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.

Carolyn: Thank you, Nikkiey. I'm really happy to be here, because as I see it, and as I've said to you, you're the macro girl, I'm the micro girl, and I think we should get together. Any magnesium will have a positive effect, so I'll recommend any magnesium, not one over the other, except mine, of course, which is fully absorbed.

I've got over 100,000 customers, and I think they approach me because I'm a medical doctor and a naturopath. They come with the most horrendous stories of illnesses and being on 10 to 20 drugs, and they really want to know what to do with their health. To slowly build up magnesium and then watch as they're able to diminish their drug intake is just incredible.

Nikkiey: Welcome, Risa, to this journey. I'm excited to understand your insights and your knowledge, and for you to pour into our community here. Welcome to the podcast.

Risa: Thank you so much, Nikkiey. It's great to be here. We get carbs from fiber. So if we stick to protein, fat and fiber, and we talked about the protein, there are animal proteins and there are also plant-based proteins: beans, nuts, seeds. Again, I'm very customized to the person. If they've got SIBO, say they have chronic bloating, I wouldn't recommend eating all those beans, because they have a lot of lectins and it's going to be very difficult for them to digest.

Then there's fat. These are good fats, the good oils: avocado oil, coconut oil and olive oil. Olives are great. Coconut is great. Avocado is great. Eggs are great. Those are really good fats. And your vegetables are your fiber. Those are your plants, and all those plants have carbohydrates. All of them do. Every food has carbohydrate with the exception of animal protein and liquid fats. Oils don't have any carbs. So you're getting enough carbs there.

Now, if you need more carbs, let's say you're a premier athlete or you're running 10 miles three times a week, I would say throw in some sweet potatoes or yams, for sure. If you don't want to lose weight, then absolutely, you need some carbohydrates. If you're burning them, or if you're building muscle, we need to have some carbohydrates. If you want to lose weight, then we've got storage. If we have carbs in storage, you're just going to pull from the storage unit. You don't need to eat carbs.

Nikkiey: Welcome to our WarriorBabe interview with our veteran WarriorBabe, Lisa. Lisa has been a WarriorBabe for about nine months now, right?

Lisa: I've just been on so many of my own journeys, from one fad diet to the next. The next year, something new comes out, and I'm like, oh, that's why that wasn't working, because I was eating this. Then it was, oh, I'm not eating that. It was always eat this, don't eat that, do this, don't do that. Intermittent fasting and keto, all these magic things. And I'm like, if it's the magic thing, why do people keep going off of it? Why do they keep restarting it? And I was like, why can't I ever stick with anything? It was because I missed carbs. That's what sidetracked me.

So I followed you for about a year, and I just watched what you would say. So many times, bells would go off. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes, that's exactly how I'm thinking. How does she know how I'm thinking? I trusted you before I knew you. I reached out to you several times, and you responded directly to me. So I was like, okay, she's real, and I can do this.

Nikkiey: Let's dive into some amazing insights with Morgan. Welcome to the show.

Morgan: Thanks, Nikkiey. I'm excited to be here. When that happens and you spike your insulin, that puts you in fat storage mode. High levels of insulin will drive fat storage, and low levels of insulin will facilitate fat burning. That's not to say calories don't matter. Low-insulin calories are still calories, and if your goal is to lose body fat, you will have to be in an energy deficit. But from my experience in coaching and my personal experience, that's going to be easier to do on a lower-insulin diet. Low insulin doesn't necessarily mean low carb if you're doing a ton of exercise, but usually it does.

Insulin resistance does contribute to obesity, but it's not always accompanied by obesity. There are some really interesting statistics out there on TOFI: thin on the outside, fat on the inside. I think this is another benefit of insulin testing. If your physician is just looking at your waist circumference or your body weight, you may be in the normal range. You may look thin on the outside but actually have fat around your organs on the inside. When we test for insulin, we can catch that more effectively than if we're just looking at body weight or waist circumference. The same goes for metabolically healthy obesity.

Nikkiey: So Lisa, welcome to the show.

Lisa: Hello. How are you? It's really an honor to be here with you today. My story before WarriorBabe was that I struggled with weight loss my whole life. I was never super heavy, but I was also never where I wanted to be. I always struggled with 15 to 20 extra pounds. And I tried everything, going back as far as I can remember, definitely late teens, early twenties. Every single fad diet that came along.

I know we talked about this a long time ago, but if it was the grapefruit diet, I was doing the grapefruit diet. If it was the elimination diet, don't eat this, don't eat that, I did everything. Every time a diet came along, it had so much hype to it, and it was like, this is it, this is the magic one. I'm a really determined person, and when I put my mind to something, I'm going to do it. So I'd always go in and lose the weight, and then I'd go off of it, because it's not attainable. The cabbage diet, you're too young for the cabbage diet, but some women out there remember the cabbage diet. You can only be on that for so long.

So I just went from diet to diet to diet, and nothing ever worked. I didn't realize at the time how destructive what I was doing was, not only mentally, but physically, to my body. I did this throughout my 20s, my 30s, my 40s, up until I was just turning 50.

Then I saw you on Instagram. This was WarriorBabe before it was WarriorBabe. It was you, and you resonated with me. You were younger than me, but what you said made perfect sense to me: talking about macros, talking about signs that your body was unhealthy, symptoms, so many factors. I was like, this makes so much sense, because I've always worked out and I've always eaten correctly, but I knew nothing about macros. I didn't know how to put that together. I had always eaten within calories. So I thought, you know what, I'm going to reach out. I reached out, you reached right back, and we just hit it off. And I was like, this is my person.

Nikkiey: Please join me in welcoming Jenna. Jenna, welcome to the show.

Jenna: Thank you so much, Nikkiey. What an honor it is to be here with you and with the WarriorBabe community. I love, love, love this community. So thanks for having me on.

Nikkiey: You are a WarriorBabe through and through. Of course, you're so welcome. So stoked for you to share all the things you're going to share and the value you're going to bring to this episode today.

Jenna: When I saw it and started doing a little research, I was very skeptical, because I had tried everything, just like many women listening right now. I tried keto, restrictive dieting, everything under the sun except macros. I'd never heard of tracking your macros before. I thought that was something only people who are in the gym all the time did, the bodybuilders. I didn't know regular people like me were supposed to track.

So I was very skeptical, because I had literally tried everything. But I said, all right, I'm just going to go for it, give it a shot and see what happens. In fact, when the person called me to start everything up, I missed their phone call. It was a bit of a rough start, because you're so busy. But I think God knew I needed this. I knew I needed this. And it was just one day, one step at a time, and I somehow started to get the hang of it.

Nikkiey: Everybody listening, please join me in welcoming Carrie, who is here to share her journey, her challenges and her successes, all decked out in WarriorBabe gear, and the nails. Showing the nails, Carrie.

Carrie: Yeah. Gotta be on brand.

Nikkiey: Gotta be on brand. Welcome to the show, Carrie.

Carrie: Thank you so much. My name is Carrie Craft. I am 52, and I'll be 53 on October 3rd. Gifts accepted and welcome. I'm from Topeka, Kansas.

Nikkiey: Wow. Okay, so we've got a Kansas babe in the house. Let's go.

Carrie: That's right. It was a breakthrough with WarriorBabe. I don't know if it's the daily systems I've put in place every morning, taking the time I need to get everything ready for the day with scripture reading and prayer, getting my water, taking an early walk, eating my meals and knowing exactly what I'm doing with my meals throughout the day, but it never crossed my mind. Because food is for energy and life. It's not to tamp down any feelings. So it never crossed my mind to eat my feelings.

Nikkiey: That is huge. Huge.

Nikkiey: Today joining us are Michal and Merav. You guys.

Guest: Yes. Don't tell them you've been practicing for the last five minutes to pronounce our names.

Nikkiey: Oh, my secret's out. Yes, that's very true. I'm really excited to have these ladies on. They are the co-founders of Lumen, and I'm sure, as I just said that, so many of you have heard of this brand in the space. They are experts in metabolic health.

Michal: The Lumen journey is 12 years. But we started to explore a lot about women's metabolism in the last two years. It was to enable everyone, especially women, to have the ability to measure their metabolism in the palm of their hands, in order to better understand how their metabolism is changing, make smarter decisions, and overcome and manage symptoms such as weight gain.

Merav: Nikkiey, I think we first need to understand that there's a very strong correlation, or connection, around metabolic flexibility. That's the body's ability to rely on fats to produce energy and to easily shift into carb burning following, for example, a meal containing carbohydrate. Once you understand that, metabolic flexibility relates to different chronic diseases, such as, like Michal mentioned, obesity and insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disease. It even plays a crucial role in inflammation and actually determines our lifespan and longevity.

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