Getting Stronger in Perimenopause: A Real Woman's Story

Laura: No matter what I tried, it did not work. My clothes size went up, my blood pressure went up, everything was getting off kilter and I couldn't figure it out. So I needed guidance, and that's what this program, WarriorBabe, really checked off all the boxes for me. I've lost the weight that I wanted to. I'm pretty close to my initial goal. I'm probably like three pounds off. My dress fit amazing. I felt great.

Nikkiey: What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys. Welcome back to another WarriorBabe interview. And I am very excited because I have Miss Laura here with us. Just a little bit of backstory with Laura before we get into her story. She spent years helping others stay strong as an occupational therapist, but internally, quietly, her own health and her own confidence were slipping. And perimenopause hit. Her body felt like it was betraying her, and nothing she tried really worked. But then, insert WarriorBabe, Laura discovered a sustainable way to get stronger, to be healthier, and to be more confident than ever. And today, she's here to tell her story. Welcome, Laura.

Laura: Thank you. I'm happy to be here. I'm honored to be here.

Nikkiey: Oh, I'm excited for you to share your story. And thank you for being here. Let's dive into what was your situation like before joining WarriorBabe? What were you struggling with, both physically and mentally, in your health and fitness bucket of your life?

Laura: Well, growing up, I was always very active. Never had any issues with my weight. Never had issues with my health. 20s, 30s, I was fine. It wasn't until my late 40s that I really hit a wall, as far as nothing worked anymore. I wasn't really into weightlifting or resistive training. I did a lot of cardio, and my cardio stopped working. I moved, and so my situation changed with my family and my environment and just my home life. It kind of put a wrench in things as far as how I worked out. My labs were off. My A1C went up. My clothes size went up. Blood pressure went up. Everything was getting off kilter, and I couldn't figure it out.

And then I went to the doctor, and I realized I was basically in perimenopause. So I tried to work out more. Walking, walking. I always did power walking, so that wasn't working. And so I started looking at other programs to try to deal with the weight gain and the health issues I was having. I got into a program where they would send me food that was pre-programmed, based on what kind of foods you chose, and they would send meals every month. I jump in with both feet whenever I try something. I put everything into it. So I got these meals, and after about three months, it was working, but I wasn't learning how to feed myself. They would give me the meals. They would tell me how to eat. So I was getting bits and pieces of how to eat correctly, but it wasn't teaching me how to prepare my own food and what portions I should eat and why I'm eating this food and why I'm not eating that food.

And I would try the intermittent fasting. And then I got tired of being starved. And so I kind of got used to things not working. I was tired of being hungry all the time. Because how I dealt with my weight gain, I would avoid breakfast. I was afraid if I ate breakfast, that would kick off my hunger cues all day long. If I started eating too early, then I'd just want to eat all day long. So I just kind of gave up on everything. I looked at some things online, and really nothing worked. So I was frustrated, because I had always been a slender, active person in my youth. And now it was getting really hard for me to do my job as an occupational therapist, because my body was not responding the same way that I was used to it responding. And nothing seemed to be working to help it get back to what it was before.

Nikkiey: Yeah, I hear you. I hear the frustrations. That can be very frustrating when you were very active growing up, and then you dive into doing cardio and you feel like that would give you the result that you were anticipating. And then you try these different programs that were giving you meals, but you weren't seeing the results that you wanted. And then skipping breakfast, because you had these thoughts of, if I do this, I'm just going to catapult the rest of my day in the wrong way. I can hear that being very frustrating. At what point did you realize that something had to change?

Laura: No matter what I tried, it did not work. As far as the intermittent fasting, I was tired of starving. I didn't lose any weight doing that, and I was just miserable. I was looking at the clock all morning, like, okay, when can I eat? With the meals, I was tired of eating pre-programmed meals. I didn't necessarily want to eat the foods, and some actually were not good at all. And so I just realized something else needs to change. I need to lose this weight. My health is going to start taking a toll. I don't want to keep gaining weight and feeling poorly all the time, hating the way I looked, hating the way I felt.

My balance was starting to be affected, and I'm very active in my job. I have to transfer patients and walk them, squat down. I get in all sorts of positions. I have to squeeze through areas. And I was getting to where I couldn't move. I wasn't as agile. And it scared me, actually. I was starting to have balance problems like my patients do. And I was supposedly young and in good health.

So that's when I started just listening and looking. And you popped up online. And at first, I didn't listen, because you're young. I thought, oh, this is for the young crowd. So I listened a little bit, and then I popped back off of your ad. And your ad came on again later. I thought, okay, well, let me just listen for a minute. And what you said really rang true with me. I realized you're not talking to the young crowd. You're talking to someone like me that needed to hear your message: that it was for people that cardio doesn't work for anymore. Exercise doesn't work anymore. Cutting calories doesn't work. Skipping meals doesn't work. Restrictive dieting doesn't work. And you were talking to the perimenopausal, menopausal woman that has all these hormonal changes, whose bodies feel like aliens now. It's like, whose body is this? It's not working for me anymore. And so I just stopped and listened to you. And that's when I signed up. That's what made the difference.

Nikkiey: Oh, I love to hear that. I'm happy that we became a pivotal change for you.

Laura: Absolutely.

Nikkiey: And in your journey. One thing that I heard there, backtracking before we dive into the WarriorBabe journey, was you mentioning work and how it was starting to affect your job. There's a lot of women that experience that. You being an occupational therapist, other women in certain jobs, teachers, doctors, lawyers, tech specialists, whatever you have, they experience multiple different symptoms that affect their confidence or affect their ability to do their job the right way. So you mentioned that your job became harder because of your strength and because of your balance. I'm just thinking from my health care days, I know that you're moving people, doing sit to stands, moving them to a chair or from Hoyers. You're constantly having to use those muscles.

Laura: Yeah.

Nikkiey: You're getting down in squat positions to grab the patients by their belts to transfer them over. How did that affect your confidence or your identity as a caregiver?

Laura: It scared me, because when I would get up from helping someone with their socks and shoes and start moving around, I would find myself losing my balance. It was just the most minute movement that would get me off, and I could feel it, and it was subtle. And that hit me hard, because I work with the elderly, and I always thought, I'm going to stay healthy. I'm going to stay active and fit, and I'm not going to have any of these issues. And then it hit me that I'm starting to have these issues. My body is not responding the same way. I can't just scoot around this wheelchair like I could. I can't transfer the patient without my arm fatiguing so much.

So it hit me really hard, because it scared me that I wasn't going to be able to work. I've done this for like 35 years. And my identity is with helping people, and I felt like I was becoming weaker. How can my patients trust me if I'm not in the best shape? How can they trust that I'm not going to let them drop? So that hit me hard. I think that was probably one of the pivotal things. I felt my balance getting off, and I didn't have the core strength.

Nikkiey: Wow. I love that answer. I think that brings a lot into perspective. One, it hit you hard in terms of being able to care for these individuals the right way, the way that they needed. But also, it's like a flash in front of your face: while you're caring for these individuals and seeing their health decline, you are now experiencing your own health decline. Like, oh man, I could end up like this individual that's in the chair right now, having an occupational therapist help me.

Laura: Exactly. I thought I was taking care of myself. I thought I was doing everything right. And then I realized I'm gaining weight. My body's not responding. My cholesterol is going up, my blood pressure, my A1C. I was watching all this creep up over the years, and I couldn't get a hold of it, and I wasn't controlling it. And it was scary that I could be going down the road where my patients are.

Nikkiey: Yeah. Very scary, I feel like.

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So, okay, let's dive into starting your WarriorBabe journey. You mentioned what initially drew you into the program. What made you say yes to starting? You're on the call with one of our team members, you're talking through all of your struggles, and we're talking about how we can help you. What made you say yes?

Laura: To be honest, my daughter's wedding initially kicked it off. I knew that her wedding was coming up. The representative that I spoke to said everything right. She said I was going to have a coach, which I really wanted. I needed someone to guide me. I knew how to care for the elderly population. I knew how to modify the exercises to their bodies and their illness and injury. I just didn't know how to make it work for me. I had never exercised and lifted. I knew I needed to lift weights. I knew the importance of resistive training on the muscles and the bones. I knew all of this. Everything she said made sense to me.

But what was so pivotal for me was the community and having a coach and someone helping me with my nutrition, my macros, teaching me how to eat and how to portion and how to exercise, and guiding me through. I mean, I know how to lift weights. I didn't know how to pull all the pieces together and make it work. I had all this knowledge. I just didn't know how to make it work for me. And what she said was that I'd have the coach helping me with nutrition, helping me with exercise, and I would have all this community support. And with what you had said on your ad, I was like, yes, I'm going to do this. Like I said before, when I do something, I jump in with both feet. What she said just clicked with me. And I knew it was either now or never, because nothing else was working. And I knew I needed someone to help and guide me. And I thought, this is perfect. I have a coach that I can communicate with. I can text her. She can talk to me. She can give me exercises. So it's not a lot of guesswork at first. I needed guidance, and that's what this program, WarriorBabe, really checked off all the boxes for me.

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.

Oh, I love that so much. Specifically, I love the part where you said you knew all of the things. You had the knowledge of strength training. But it's putting that into action, like the sets and the reps and what specific exercises target the muscles. You combined your knowledge with working with the coach. And what I love to say is you're on a two-way street working together to get to the end goal. You're working with the coach. That's your accountability partner right there.

Laura: Absolutely. Yes.

Nikkiey: And I want to put in a pin, too, because we were catching up before we hit record, and Laura had mentioned that she just had her daughter's wedding this past weekend. So hearing that being your initial why and your initial yes, I want to put a pin there and circle back when we get to your results and your journey now. It seems like a chapter was closed in your WarriorBabe journey, because that was your initial why. And I want to talk about that eventually. When you first joined, what were a few of your aha moments after joining?

Laura: I'm still not a huge fan of lifting weights, because I've done cardio for so many years. I did not step foot in the gym, ever. It intimidated me. I didn't have the confidence to go in there. But when I finally started lifting weights, I was like, oh, this feels so good. I'm actually getting cardio with lifting weights. No one ever told me this. And just the rush of it and how good I felt afterwards. It was more like, I can actually do this. And when I go in the gym, I'm not so intimidated. Still a little bit with some of the equipment. And it's still not the thing I look forward to. But I know how it makes me feel afterwards, and that drives me to keep going and keep doing it, to keep showing up for myself, because it makes such a difference. Nothing else has helped me lose weight or change my body composition like lifting weights. So really my aha moment was, oh my gosh, I should have been doing this all along.

Nikkiey: Well, I love that you were building your relationship with strength training and with weights in a positive direction. But you know what, I just have to validate that. It is intimidating walking into a gym and going into a weight room. Women are meant to be anywhere, but it's not a common ground where you find women. And never having strength trained before, and thinking about your form and all of it, it can be very intimidating. I know that you sharing that is going to resonate with a lot of babes, because some of them are very afraid to get in there. But at the end of the day, you know how you're going to feel. Now you did it. You've conquered that.

Laura: Yeah, absolutely. And you feel amazing afterwards.

Nikkiey: Amazing. Yes.

Laura: And I'm so proud of myself when I do it. I'm like, yeah, I finished that exercise routine, and I feel so good. I mean, I feel like a wet noodle. But what was interesting, and that's another thing I'm sure we'll touch on, is the team huddles and the VIP calls. I learned something every single time. Every single time, from a tidbit to a major aha moment. Like, oh my gosh, I knew that, but I didn't pull it in. I didn't think about it.

As far as exercise, you can work really hard. And if you eat the protein that you're supposed to eat as part of your macros, and you preload, I pre-log my food. So I make sure I get all my protein. And it's a lot. Sometimes it's a task to eat all my protein. But I do it, and it makes a difference when I lift weights. I'm not horribly sore the next day or 48 hours later, because I feel like I have the protein to help rebuild the muscle. So that was another one: I'm not as sore as I thought I would be, even though I push myself.

Nikkiey: Yeah. That's interesting to me. You're getting the needs of what your body demands. You're fueling your body the right way now.

Laura: The right way. Because I know I didn't eat the protein before. I know I didn't eat enough.

Nikkiey: Yeah. And that's a lot of women. A lot of women struggle with eating enough, or just being aware of protein. I mean, I didn't know what protein was when I first started my journey, or that I needed to have my body weight in it. So it's an awareness that you've entered into. And to piggyback off of how you brought up the team huddles and the topics, bringing in the education as to why we're asking you to do these things, why we want you to eat more protein, it lands a little bit more for you, as you're saying. And each time you go on these huddles, it's something new where you're like, oh, I was told this before, but now I know why.

Laura: Right. Yes. It makes sense. And the more you hear it, the more it kind of gels. Like, okay, yes, because I've done this and I tried it and it works. It makes such a difference.

Nikkiey: All right. So where are you at now in your WarriorBabe journey? How did you feel at your daughter's wedding? What results have you experienced so far? Let's talk about that now.

Laura: I've lost the weight that I wanted to. I'm pretty close to my initial goal. I'm probably like three pounds off. I know it's not all about the scale. But my dress fit amazing. I felt great. For the first time since I was a teenager, my arms were exposed. It was a one-shoulder dress, and my arms were exposed. Normally I never show my arms, because my arms were the one thing that I hid for years. Just the way genetics are, the way I gained weight and the way my arms looked, I just felt like a blob. And working out has really changed my body composition. It's changed my confidence and the way I feel about myself. And I know it's not just all physical. I felt strong. I felt able, and I felt strong, and I felt confident to wear the dress and just feel beautiful that day. I did. And I hadn't felt that in a long time.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's incredible. I love to hear that. And the confidence that comes from that. You came into this program saying that was your why, that was your yes initially. And now you just experienced it. You just lived it. You followed through. Like I like to say, you kept the promise that you made to yourself, and you're reaping the reward of feeling confident, feeling beautiful. And you're going to send us some pictures of you in your dress.

Laura: I will. Yeah, I will.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's awesome. So how do you feel now compared to when you started?

Laura: Oh my gosh, I feel like a different person. It's interesting, because I told you I'd never lifted weights or done any resistive training. Before I moved up to where I live now, when I was stressed, I would stop eating. So I could lose weight because I'd stop eating. And I know that throws off my metabolism. It threw everything off. But I actually weighed less then than what I weigh now. My clothes now are smaller than when I weighed 15 pounds lighter, if that makes sense.

Nikkiey: Yeah.

Laura: I'm actually wearing smaller clothes, because my body composition has changed so much. And I know I've achieved this goal, but I've promised myself this is a journey. I'm not stopping here. I still want to tone my body a little bit more. I've lost the weight and I'm building muscle, but I want to tone a little bit more and define my muscles a little bit more. I feel like I'm still in the beginning.

Nikkiey: Yeah. No, it's a great mindset to have. We're playing the long game right now, and you're still at the beginning of it. I love that. You also mentioned in the bio I was reading that you regained your balance and your agility and your strength. What part of that progress makes you the proudest?

Laura: I think because I feel like I've gained more control. It's very empowering to feel like you're not getting weaker and you're actually doing something for yourself. For a long time I felt, am I being selfish because I'm focusing so much on myself, trying to not feel like a blob and not feel like I'm getting weaker and becoming more like a geriatric patient? So getting my agility back and getting my balance back, I move around and I don't get tired. I mean, I do hit a lull in the afternoon, but I eat five times a day, so I keep myself from being hungry. And I watch other people that just hit that wall in the afternoon, and I'm thinking, I really feel good. I don't feel like I could curl up and go to sleep like I used to in the afternoons.

And having the ability to transfer my patients. One patient I had had neurological issues, and he tended to push back really hard when I stood him up. I realized from working out so much that my arms had gotten so strong that I was holding him up with my non-dominant arm. So I was getting a lot of isometric work, for a couple of minutes, just holding him. And I realized my arm was not shaking, and it wasn't fatiguing like it normally would. To me, that told me, you're on the right path and you're getting stronger. I felt like I was reversing the path that I was sliding down. I felt like I finally got a hold of my health.

And like I said, it was super empowering that I was doing something for myself, and yet it helps my patients. It benefited my family. My family sees such a huge difference in me. And for my kids, it's affected the way they eat, and their health has changed. So it just made me feel like I was on the right path, and I was doing something right for myself and for my family.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's beautiful. You did reverse it. You totally did reverse what you were experiencing. I just want to acknowledge that. As we brought up earlier, you were noticing the signs that you see on a daily basis with your patients. You see what they're struggling with. And you were aware that, hey, I'm starting to recognize these deficiencies within myself, or things that I'm struggling with. And so you advocated for yourself, and you took on a journey that totally did reverse that. So you should be really proud of that.

Laura: Yes, it's very exciting. I'm very proud of it. I appreciate you and the WarriorBabe program. I really do. And it's an honor to speak to you and let you know how much it's meant to me.

Nikkiey: Oh, you're going to make me cry, Laura. In a great way. That's beautiful. Thank you. I appreciate that. I do want to highlight what you just mentioned, watching your husband and your son eat healthier and get back into shape alongside you. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more?

Laura: Yes. The way my husband and I manage our food is that we do mass cooking. For a couple of Saturdays, we cook all our proteins and our sides. So we pre-prepare our meals and freeze them. We have like 150 meals that are frozen that we pull out. So I know exactly how much protein I'm getting and my two sides of half a cup of my carbs. And he eats the same meals. I can pull them out and pre-log, and my son eats this too. So the portions we eat are the portions that we were supposed to be eating all along: the four ounces of protein and then my two half-cup carbs on the side. When we prepare, it's like a mass production. So we know exactly what we're taking every day for lunch and for dinner. He's eating pretty much the same thing I'm eating.

And my son has special needs. He has lost probably 20 pounds just eating correctly, just eating right and eating the correct portions. And my husband, I think he's lost about 10 pounds so far. So it has made a huge difference in our health. It really has. And just the example of it. My husband is very proud. He sees that I have stuck with this and it's actually working and I'm getting my health back. So it's motivated him to start working out a little bit more again, too.

Nikkiey: Absolutely. Incredible. You're the catalyst for change, not just in your life, but in your family's life as well. So as we start to wrap up this interview together, is there anything that I maybe have missed asking you that you would want any listener to know right now?

Laura: Well, I liken this program to what we always say in our profession as occupational therapists: you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. And this program has taught me how to fish. It's brought all the pieces together for me. All this knowledge I had, I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't know how to make it work. And this is the one program that has actually made such a difference in my emotional health, in my mindset of how I see myself, my overall physical health, how I see my body and how my confidence has grown. It's helped my immediate family, my son's health and my husband's health.

And I'm so appreciative of the community support with WarriorBabe. It has made just the difference for me. No other program I was in had the community support, and I think that's really what cinched it. I have so much back and forth with my coach and then the team. I have an awesome team that we're in. Our team huddles are great. We give each other support through text and through the team huddle Zooms, and the VIP calls. I have gained so much information and so much knowledge. It's helped me on my journey to pull everything together in a concise way. And I know I can carry this through. It's not something that I just do temporarily, and then it's like, okay, now what do I do? I'm guided, and I can continue this journey, and I have the confidence to do it. So I would say to anyone that's on the fence, this is the one program that really, honestly worked, and it still works. You will not regret it.

Nikkiey: Wow, Laura. Thank you. That was beautiful. And I'm just grateful that you trusted in us from the beginning. I know that there was some skepticism in terms of age when you first saw me.

Laura: Yes.

Nikkiey: And you continued to do your research, and you continued listening to WarriorBabe, our videos and our methodology. And I'm just so happy that you trusted in us.

Laura: Thank you. It's been worth it. It's been beautiful.

Nikkiey: And to anybody that's listening to this, I just want you to know that Laura's story shows that transformation isn't just about weight loss or muscle. In her entire journey, as you just heard, she's reclaimed her confidence and her strength at her age. She's proof that it's never too late to learn how to feel, to learn how to lift, to learn how to live with intention. She took her life into her own grip and made a big change. You've reversed something you were experiencing. And if you're feeling like you're in a similar boat to where Laura once was, like your body's betraying you, you're unsure of certain things you're experiencing, just know that your body's trying to tell you something to pay attention to. And let Laura's journey be a reminder that you can change your story as well.

Laura: Absolutely.

Nikkiey: Laura, thank you for being here and sharing.

Laura: You're welcome. Thank you.

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. Thank you.