How a 60-Year-Old Woman Built Muscle and Lost Fat

Nikkiey: This WarriorBabe completely transformed her body in a matter of two and a half years by adding more muscle and decreasing body fat. And the craziest part is, she's 60 years old. Over the next few minutes, I want to take you on a journey of how she did it and explain all of the things that happened to get her to where she is today. There were no special circumstances or enhancements of any kind, just pure hard work, consistency, and being patient with the process. All things anybody has the ability to do. So let's dive into it and find out just what it takes to build muscle at any age.

Once Cheryl found me and WarriorBabe, she first started her journey in a building phase, where we had planned to bulk up, build more muscle, and increase her caloric intake. So for the next nine months, we increased her up to 3,300 calories per day, which was a huge increase from what she had been eating before. It took time for her to adjust to these new numbers, which is normal, but it definitely paid off.

Those 3,300 calories consisted of 150 grams of protein, 485 grams of carbs, and 85 grams of fat. She was working out five days per week with minimal cardio activity. After a few months of sticking with this, she ended up gaining 20 pounds, some of that being muscle mass and some fat, but all of it making a huge difference in the way that her overall body looked. Now, gaining 20 pounds can be hard to grasp, and it isn't always that drastic of an increase while building, but Cheryl had a goal of building more muscle and knew that gaining some weight was a part of the process.

Eating more food is crucial when trying to build muscle for several reasons. First and most important, building muscle requires a caloric surplus, meaning that you need to consume more calories than your body needs for basic functions and daily activities. This surplus of calories provides the extra energy and repair that your body and muscles need in order to grow.

Next up, protein is a vital macronutrient for muscle building. When you exercise, particularly through weight training and resistance training, which is all Cheryl did, your muscles experience small tears or damage, so consuming sufficient protein through your daily nutrition ensures that your body has the necessary building blocks for muscle tissue repair and growth.

Also, intense workouts like strength training demand a significant amount of energy, so eating enough food, particularly carbohydrates and protein, and that's why Cheryl was eating 485 grams of carbohydrates daily, provides the fuel necessary to perform those workouts optimally, allowing you to lift heavier weights, perform more repetitions, and challenge your muscles. And having the right food intake ensures the availability of essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, which support overall health and, most importantly, optimize muscle growth.

And lastly, on why eating more food is crucial when you're in the building phase, is optimizing your recovery and your adaptations for your muscle. They are so important when it comes to muscle building. During that recovery phase, your muscles need to repair and become stronger. So having the right food intake during this phase supplies the nutrients required for optimal recovery, ensuring and enabling your body to adapt and build muscle effectively.

After her first building phase, she went into her first fat loss phase. This is when all of her hard work started to show as she slowly began to lose a total of 20 pounds in seven months. But it was so much more than just weight loss. It was a complete body transformation. Following a proper nutrition protocol for her fat loss phase, the lowest her calories went to was 1,900 calories. And that consisted of 150 grams of protein, 225 grams of carbohydrates, and 50 grams of fat. And during this, she was able to successfully hold on to the muscle mass she built while decreasing the body fat around that muscle. From that happening, she saw huge changes in how her muscles were growing and developing and how much leaner and stronger they were becoming. Not to mention, she only worked out five days a week and had three to four cardio days at max 30 minutes.

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Cheryl wanted more, though. More muscle, that is. So from there, we went into her second building phase, where she worked to put on more muscle mass while staying relatively lean this time, as opposed to her first building phase. In five months, she only gained eight pounds, some of that being muscle mass. The highest her calories got here was 2,800, which consisted of 150 grams of protein, 400 grams of carbs, and 70 grams of fat daily, and she was working out five days a week, again with minimal cardio activity during this building phase.

Now, here, we are almost two years into her journey, and this is where the best results happened. Following her second build, we moved into her second fat loss phase. Now, it's important to note, building more muscle and eating more food can have significant benefits for your metabolism when transitioning into a fat loss phase. Muscle tissue is metabolically active, meaning it requires more energy, more calories, to maintain compared to fat tissue. So by building more muscle, you increase your body's overall metabolic rate, even at rest. This increased metabolic rate, often referred to as your basal metabolic rate or your BMR, results in more calories burned throughout the day, which can support fat loss.

So when you transition into a fat loss phase, it's common to reduce your caloric intake to create a calorie deficit. However, if you have more muscle mass, your body will continue to burn more calories even when consuming fewer calories. This is because muscle tissue requires more energy for maintenance compared to fat tissue.

Cheryl had already spent time in two building phases and focused two years on strength training to build more muscle, not to mention her insane consistency, and this set her second fat loss phase up for major success. In four short months, Cheryl lost 15 pounds, putting her at her lowest weight of 134 pounds, but most importantly, the leanest, most defined and toned she has ever been. She looked freaking incredible and was just such an inspiration to so many, at this point now being 59 years old. The lowest her calories got here was 1,800. That consisted of 150 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbohydrates, and 48 grams of fat, and she was working out five days a week with only three to four days of cardio. So overall, again to note, building more muscle and eating more food with a strategic framework can benefit your metabolism during a fat loss phase.

Now, we've since moved through a third building phase, and she's currently in her third fat loss phase, where she's sitting at the same weight she started with me at three years ago, 142 pounds, but looks drastically different. That goes to show why the scale doesn't reflect your full story, especially when you want to achieve the outcome of having more muscle and less body fat. Muscle is denser and more compact than fat. Therefore, a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat does.

For example, Cheryl A, at the start of her journey, and Cheryl B, now, both weigh 144-ish pounds, but Cheryl B has a higher percentage of muscle and a lower percentage of body fat. This contributes to a leaner and more toned appearance, while Cheryl A had a higher body fat percentage and a lower percentage of muscle mass, resulting in a softer or less defined physique. It's important to note that body weight and your scale alone do not provide a comprehensive understanding of your body composition. Do not let that number on your scale define you and your journey. It's so much more than just that number. It's about how strong and how confident you feel in your own skin because of all the hard work that you've put into yourself. And Cheryl is a true testament to that.

Cheryl, to this day, is still crushing her journey. However, I want to highlight that two and a half years is how long it took Cheryl to achieve the incredible results she did after completing her second fat loss phase.

It is often recommended to go through multiple building and fat loss phases to achieve the desired look of having more muscle and less body fat, for several reasons. First, muscle building and fat loss are distinct processes that require different approaches. Building muscle typically requires that caloric surplus, as we talked about with Cheryl, and a focus on strength training to stimulate muscle growth. Fat loss, on the other hand, involves a caloric deficit and a combination of cardiovascular exercise and proper nutrition to promote fat burning. Attempting to simultaneously build muscle and lose fat can be challenging, since these goals have conflicting requirements. By alternating between phases, you can optimize your efforts and focus on each goal individually.

Second, going through building and fat loss phases allows for strategic progression. During the building phase, as mentioned in Cheryl's story, you can focus on gaining muscle mass and strength. With a caloric surplus and proper training, you can maximize muscle growth, leading to an increase in lean muscle mass. This phase helps lay the foundation for a more defined and toned physique. Once you have built a solid muscle base, transitioning to a fat loss phase becomes way more effective. By reducing your caloric intake and incorporating cardio, you can create a caloric deficit that promotes fat loss. As showcased with Cheryl, since she had already built muscle during the previous build phase, there is a higher likelihood of preserving that muscle mass while shedding excess body fat during the fat loss phase. This approach helps reveal the muscular definition and shape built underneath the fat.

Also, going through multiple phases allows for a more sustainable and balanced approach. Rapid weight loss or extreme caloric restriction could have negative impacts on your metabolism, your energy levels, and your overall well-being. By incorporating building phases in between fat loss phases, you give your body a chance to recover, to build strength, and to maintain a healthy metabolic rate. This balanced approach helps prevent muscle loss, supports long-term progress, and reduces the risk of yo-yo dieting in the future.

And finally, the desired look of having more muscle and less body fat is often achieved through a gradual transformation. It takes time and patience to build muscle and reduce body fat while maintaining overall health. Going through multiple phases allows you to fine-tune your physique, adjust your training and nutrition strategies, and make gradual improvements over time. This approach is way more sustainable, realistic, and conducive to long-term success.

So, to wrap it all up, going through multiple building and fat loss phases is recommended to achieve the desired look of having more muscle and less body fat. By alternating between phases, you can optimize your efforts, focus on each goal individually, strategically progress, maintain a balanced approach, and gradually transform your physique, just like Cheryl did, from 57 years old to now 60 years old.

If you're inspired by Cheryl's story and want to make changes with your body and do it the right way, then I highly recommend checking out WarriorBabe programs and getting one-on-one coaching today. Wherever you are in your journey, our coaches are here to help you along the process. Click the link found below this video. Remember to like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll see you guys next time.

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