How Eating More Helped Beth Lose Fat at 61

Beth: I needed a community. And just by looking at your program, WarriorBabe, and then others, there was something different. It was all about the women and women empowering women.

Nikkiey: And do you feel like you made the right decision for yourself?

Beth: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So now I have to sell it to my husband type thing. And so I did a pros and cons list. I have it right here.

Nikkiey: Oh, no way.

Beth: Here are the pros and here are the cons. There's one con. There's one con, but I turned it into a positive.

Nikkiey: Hey, everyone. So today I'm really excited for this story with WarriorBabe Beth. For years, Beth put everyone first: her career, her children, her responsibilities. But after retiring, she found herself at a crossroad. She wanted more than just to stay active. She wanted to transform. She wanted to see what her body was capable of and to step fully into that next chapter of her life. And since joining WarriorBabe, she's not only lost weight, but she's built strength. I mean, you guys can see if you're watching this through video, her arms look incredible.

But she's also found purpose. She's found confidence. And she's found a renewed passion for fitness and nutrition. And now she's thriving and she's proving that it's never too late to reinvent yourself. We both hope that her story today helps just one of you listening to it. So we're going to dive into it. Welcome, Beth.

Beth: Thank you, Nikkiey. Glad to be here.

Nikkiey: For the listeners, can you just share a little bit about you, high level? Where are you from, what do you do for work, and how old are you?

Beth: My name is Beth. I'm married and I have three children, two of my own and one stepson. I have a son and a daughter. And they're all adult grown children, 28, 29 and 30. So it's a fun time of their lives just to sit back and watch them grow. I'm outside of the Chicago area, so enjoying this blistery cold, rain, sleet, whatever you want to call it.

For work, while I am retired, as Nikkiey mentioned, I retired last July. As my children so eloquently said, "Mom, you'll never last." So sure enough, five months into it, I said, you know what, I really need to do something. And I always said I would work in the back room, like the stockroom, do retail somewhere where I can get credit, or make money and spend it right there. And so I started working with Athleta after being very persistent. They were hiring me for seasonal, and they said, well, we're just looking for seasonal right now.

So I must have passed the test, because they hired me as a core team member now. So I'm working now. I work both in the back, back of house as they call it, and then on the floor too. And I love it. I love it because it's the women coming in looking for that outfit that's going to inspire them. It's the lay-your-outfit-out-the-night-before, so you're getting inspired to get up and go work out. So that's part of it. It's my passion that I'm evolving over time here in the short period of time since I've started.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's so cool. It's so cool how you've gone on your fitness journey and now you're working with Athleta, and you're able to inspire women that come through the doors every single day. I think that's pretty awesome. I know that you had mentioned in the form that I was reading, you were going to ask yourself, if things didn't check the boxes during your retirement, why am I doing this?

Beth: Right, right. So, my three pillars. People would ask me what I was going to do when I retired. I was like, I didn't know I had to have a plan. I knew I had to have a financial plan, but anything else? So I said it had to check one of the boxes: family, fitness or fun. And if it didn't check any of those boxes, it was just like, why am I doing this? And family includes all my friends, all my communities and stuff like that that I reach out to.

Nikkiey: That's so cool. And you spent 40 years in corporate. What did you do during your corporate years?

Beth: I was in market research. It started way back in the day when we had telephone interviewing and pen and paper, all the way to the end. I ended my career with a nutrition ingredient company. They were based out of London, but I was working here out of my home in Chicago. It was worldwide. So I've always been in some sort of healthcare or nutrition-type company, and I also worked for Abbott Nutrition. So I had many colleagues that were dietitians, and I knew all about nutrition. Did I put it into play as I should? Probably not so much, and we can talk a little bit about that.

But yeah, it's been a very rewarding career, but it was time to say, okay, I'm done making those big decisions and whatnot, and I want to take time for myself and do something for myself now.

Nikkiey: Well, let's go into that story. What was your situation like before WarriorBabe?

Beth: Well, I love my workout classes, and so I would take maybe five different types of classes at a local gym, doing yoga, full body strength. So it was whatever kind of got me out of the house and connected me with a community. But I turned 60 in December, so just about a year ago, in January, I was going to yoga class, and I bent over to grab my shoe, put my shoe on, and I got a little tweak in my back. And I went, okay, well, I'm going to yoga, so I'll go stretch it out, right? I get to class, everything's okay, but then we were doing something that just irritated it even more.

As the hours went on later that day, and then the next day, it got so bad that I couldn't sit down, and once I sat down, I couldn't get up off the couch, as an example. So my daughter and my husband had to heave me up to stand up, and then I had a really hard time walking. And I'm going, is this what 60 is all about? Something's wrong here. So I got the medications, of course, and all that stuff got better, but I started then from scratch in my fitness classes, where I wasn't lifting any weight. I was doing all body weight and kind of going through the motions. I went to a physical therapist who got me the back strength and the exercises. And then I just said, okay, let's just take it easy. Let's just go through this. And everything seemed fine.

Then later in the year, in July, that's when I retired, and I was like, okay, I'm going to travel. We had a lot of family activities, so we did some traveling. And then when that was over, I was just like, okay, now what do I do? I'm missing that sense of community. So I started to look online at various things, just to say, what's out there? And after seeing a few videos on Instagram... I had totally shut down on social media starting in 2020, and then slowly went back, but I was always on Instagram. And I was like, oh, well, here's something. It's something for me to do for myself. What is this? And it was you, Nikkiey. It was WarriorBabe. And I'm like, okay, let me look into this.

So as background, as a market researcher, I was like, I need to do some research here and see what's going on. I was listening to all the videos, the testimonials, read a lot. And I'm like, there's something here.

Nikkiey: That's super cool. I love that you, being so skilled with that background, had that trust in our program at that time to say, hey, there's something here. There are two things that I want to unpack with the story that you just shared. One being when your back went out on you, because a lot of women are like, oh, this is just 60, or this is just what life is like post-menopause, or now I have to accept that my health is going to go downhill as I continue to get older. Dealing with that point of your life with your back going out, what struggles were you feeling, both physically and mentally?

Beth: I was like, I can't give up my fitness or working out, because that's kind of what I had. That was my release for a long, stressful day or something like that. So what do I do? Where does this leave me? And that's where I felt like I just had to take things into my own hands slowly, not try to push myself to get back into anything. But I'm not going to give up.

One thing that did happen, though: about two weeks ago I was doing my workout, and it's been a year since my back went out. Lauren and I talk about this a lot as far as lifting and being able to do some of the exercises. Is it putting more pressure on my back versus being able to do stuff with my legs and my arms? And we work through that regularly. How do I lift heavy? How do I do the progressive overload without injuring or re-injuring myself? Well, I was having a great workout, it was my last set, and I was doing cable pull-throughs. I went down to bend over to grab the cable, and all of a sudden I felt something across the bottom of my back, and I sat down right away. Luckily I was close enough to the ground. And I'm like, oh no, this was my worst fear. Here we go again.

And lo and behold, I recovered. I said, okay, I'm not going to do heat, because that's the first thing I did last time. I did only heat because it felt warm and comfortable. I understand it's probably the worst thing I could have done. I did ice right away, for about 48 to 72 hours. And I was talking to Lauren about it, what else I should do. But I'm fine. And so I took that time to reflect on why the recovery was so fast. And I said, number one, my nutrition is totally different than it's ever been. And then I just listened to your podcast again about recovery, episode 202 or 205. I do believe my nutrition is a lot better, but I also had a different mindset about it. Back in the day, it was just like, what do I do? I'm kind of lost. Now it's like, I know what to do. Let's go do it.

Nikkiey: That's very powerful, to have that education, knowledge, understanding and awareness of the situation. Now, you mentioned earlier you've been in the field of nutrition and dietetics, that space, yet you weren't someone that really applied what you may have been surrounded by. So can you help us understand where your nutrition was at before? Because there are definitely women not eating enough and not getting enough protein. What was your story like with nutrition beforehand?

Beth: That was me. For whatever reason, it was just lower calorie. I had my routine in the morning, whether I was going into work or sitting behind the desk here. I probably was doing intermittent fasting before it was a real thing, because I'm not a morning person. I don't eat breakfast. And I'm not a coffee drinker, so I would get my energy drink, I would have my water, and then at lunchtime I would have soup or maybe yogurt or something like that. And then I would have a regular dinner. My children were saying, "Mom, you need to eat more." I was like, no, I'm fine. This is good.

But growing up in the nutrition area, we had brands like Zone Perfect and EAS. So the Zone diet from way back in the day, the 40/30/30. I knew it, but I never applied it. And when I got my macros when I first started, I was putting everything in MyFitnessPal, and I went, oh, here we are, 40/30/30. I'm finally doing it. Just a couple of years later.

Nikkiey: I'm curious, why didn't you apply it back then?

Beth: You know what, as far as tracking, I tracked, but not on an app. We didn't have apps back then. We didn't have phones back then.

Nikkiey: Right, right.

Beth: I did Weight Watchers, and that's a whole other story. I think getting me to count calories was probably enough. I said, I'm not going to count fat grams and carbohydrates and protein. Keep it simple. No matter what part of my life, I'm all about keeping it simple. And that's probably what it was. If I can count the number of calories, I'm good. And so I just kept it low.

But little did I know, when I said, you know what, I'm not going to be drinking milk anymore, I really don't need milk, don't need cheese, that's just extra calories... Well, I believe that the lower calcium that was missing in my diet didn't pay off really well for me. I have osteopenia now. I'm hoping to be able to reverse that, so we'll see. Early markers show that there's some positive movement. But that's the test they do once every two years, so I'm excited to see how that improves. But yeah, it was the low calorie, not enough protein.

Nikkiey: And you mentioned that you did Weight Watchers too, and you probably were doing intermittent fasting before intermittent fasting came out. Were there any other diets or things that you did growing up?

Beth: In college there was a Dolly Parton diet.

Nikkiey: Oh, what did that consist of?

Beth: One day you would eat bananas. Another day you would eat brown rice. I don't know. It was seven days of just really weird stuff.

Nikkiey: Oh my goodness.

Beth: And there was the Cambridge diet. That was powders, and you even had a soup that was a powder, and then you mixed stuff. We were really creative when we were in college. We were smart.

Nikkiey: Sounds like it. Okay, so another bucket that I wanted to navigate down with you before we dive into you taking the leap with WarriorBabe: you mentioned in the form that you felt guilty about prioritizing yourself. How did that affect your confidence in your own personal self-care before? Because you had kids, you had work, family responsibilities. There's someone struggling with that too, like, I can't put myself first, I don't have the time of day. So how did that affect you?

Beth: I worked out really, really early in the morning before they got up. Typically when they were young, it was the home gym, which consisted of a treadmill and a couple of weights. I spent their waking hours with them, getting them to their activities and all that. And you know what? I love being a mom. The time that I ever really felt guilty was when I did a couple of sprint-distance triathlons. It was the training for that. When I was training, I felt guilty that I wasn't with them. And when I was with them, I felt guilty that I wasn't training. So it was that balance. What's the balance?

Bless their hearts, they were like, "Come on, Mom, you go for your run and I'll ride the bike." And we would go to the pool, I remember, and they'd go, "Can you carry our towels, though?" But they were very supportive. So it was more self-imposed guilt.

Nikkiey: Sure, sure. Okay, so let's navigate towards you. What made you take the leap into WarriorBabe?

Beth: I needed a community. It was missing the community. Through work, while we were online, primarily remote, my team was all over the world, it was still kind of face to face, even though we were on Teams meetings. But that went away. And I'm like, I need something more. And just by looking at your program, WarriorBabe, and then others, there was something different. It was all about the women and women empowering women. It was not only fitness, but it was nutrition. It felt very different to me when I was reading things.

I did compare it to other programs. I interviewed with others too. And I'm like, okay, number one, they didn't show up on time for the call. Am I important to you or not? And it was other things too. It was more like high-pressure sales. And I was like, I don't need that. I'm kind of a pushover when it comes to that stuff, but I need to make sure I'm making the right decision for myself.

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And do you feel like you made the right decision for yourself?

Beth: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. When I did the homework, I was like, okay, so now I have to sell it to my husband type thing. And so I did a pros and cons list. Here, I have it right here.

Nikkiey: Oh, no way.

Beth: Here are the pros and here are the cons. There's one con. There's one con, but I turned it into a positive.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's amazing.

Beth: It was the more holistic approach. It was something I was looking for.

Nikkiey: Do you mind really quick noting what those pros were?

Beth: Sure, sure. So it was a holistic approach: nutrition, fitness and mindset. It's individualized and customized. The hormone panel analysis, that was something that my daughter had been talking about. And I was like, yeah, I don't know about hormones and stuff like that, but what's all this? She was doing it prior, and I'm like, okay, this is probably something I need to look into. I've long gone through menopause and everything, so whenever anyone talks about menopause, I'm like, that's not for me. However, I do learn more stuff from it, and I still have hot flashes. I feel like I just deal with it. But it was very intriguing, because I think I need to know more about this and learn more about it.

And then the goal is, hopefully, if it's at all medically possible, to reverse my osteopenia. I loved it because it was coached by women for women, 40 plus. And I was going to be assigned a personal coach. There was weekly interaction with that at minimum. There was a sense of community: the biweekly meetings, the weekly community calls. And it felt very exclusive to me, to women who wanted to take it to the next level. And I said, I think that's what I need. I need a challenge. I could go to classes and I could try to figure out nutrition, but I needed to take it to the next level. I needed someone to help me with that.

The ongoing education was huge. I talked to the advisor about that too. And then I started to see all your podcasts, and the number of hours of podcasts that I've logged.

Nikkiey: Yay.

Beth: And I said, it's an investment in my future, whether it's health or fitness and then potentially a career. I've dabbled in nutrition and I've dabbled in fitness, but I haven't made it a career. Now at 60, do I want a whole new career? I don't know. Maybe.

Nikkiey: I love that mindset, though. If you're not waking up every day feeling fulfilled, you might as well go look and see what will fulfill you, whether it is a whole new career, which is super cool.

Beth: Right, right. Then you want to know the con that I turned into a positive? It's a huge investment. But I'm worth it.

Nikkiey: That is a great way to turn it into a positive.

Beth: And that's what it came down to. It's time for me to do something for myself. The kids are gone. They're well on their own. They're fine. But I need to find something to do for me and keep me busy.

Nikkiey: 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.

So what were your thoughts as you started your journey with WarriorBabe, from talking to the enrollment advisor, then talking to your client success manager or the customer service rep that brought you to your coach, and then going into your nutrition and workouts? What were your thoughts during that first period of time?

Beth: It was interesting because it was definitely a two-way street. Nothing was being told to me that I have to do this. Well, I'll save that for Lauren, my coach. But up front, with the advisor, I don't know who interviewed more, whether she asked me more questions or I asked her more questions.

Nikkiey: I can see that.

Beth: She was saying, we want to make sure you're a good fit for us. And I really appreciated that. I don't know if all people think that, but I was like, okay, yeah, and I want to make sure you're a good fit for me. We talked about so many things, and a lot of it was the education. But I also asked questions like, I have this coach, how often am I going to see my coach, and all that stuff. I would say I was somewhat skeptical still, as far as what am I getting into? But she answered all my questions. And so I was like, okay, great.

Then when I was getting set up with the coach, I did go through all the coaches, and I had a whole list. Well, here's another one. Well, here's another one. And I think that was the biggest thing. In the industry you have personal trainers and you have registered dietitians. You have very few in the mainstream that are doing both. And I was like, this is the golden ticket, reading through all their bios. And then there are those that focus on perimenopause, premenopause and all that, or the elderly, whatever. There are certain specialties. I had a hard time picking. And she gave a couple of names to me too, and we came to an agreement as far as who we thought would be best.

Then Lauren came on board and I met Lauren. And that was the time where I'm like, okay, I'm done vetting this. I need to now sit back and listen to what Lauren has to say and what she's going to have me do. For me, it's just, tell me what to do and I'm going to do it. And the rest is history, a short history. It's been only six months now, but I tell her, this is just so much fun. I'm just having so much fun.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. I love to hear that you're having fun, speaking to what you said earlier about the buckets: family, fitness and fun. Fun is getting fulfilled right now, which is super cool. I saw you doubled your nutrition. Were you nervous about that? What were your thoughts there?

Beth: I wasn't, because I knew I needed to do it. I started to lose weight then too, and I'm like, okay, I didn't expect this. But I don't think I got nervous until this last time, when she increased me to 2,100 calories plus, 2,173 or something. I was logging a meal and I'm like, gosh, I'm kind of low on protein. What am I going to get? And then I get a message from Lauren saying, we're going to raise your macros. And I'm like, no, no, no, you've got to go back to the drawing board.

But I'm at, where am I at here, 163 grams of protein. I was like, that's crazy. And I'm still losing. I'm not losing rapidly. I'm kind of just waffling around. So it's been about 10 pounds total since starting.

Nikkiey: You look relatively fit. Were you overweight beforehand, or was it more that you just had five or 10 pounds to lose?

Beth: It was, if I could just lose these last 10 pounds type thing. But it was probably the whole skinny fat that you talk about. It was definitely not in the right area. So I can tell from the standpoint of losing the fat. And that was a huge learning for me, really understanding the difference between weight loss and fat loss and how clear that distinction is. I just had a conversation with my husband the other day. I was like, the industry, and me coming from that industry, needs to be more specific. Is it weight loss? Because people don't need to lose weight, because they're going to lose their muscle. And I think that's what gets us women in trouble, losing weight. No, we don't want to lose weight. We want to lose the fat.

Nikkiey: Yeah. A lot of people are so hung up on the scale and what the number says, and then they get discouraged if it goes up, or they get happy if it goes down. We have a lot of women who come to WarriorBabe like, oh, I just want to lose the next five to 10 pounds. And they don't see the value of what we can offer them, because they're like, I can do it, it's just five or 10 pounds. But I think it's really cool hearing your story, realizing you wanted to go to the next level and you saw the opportunity with us to get there. Because you have the mindset of, hey, just tell me what to do and I'm going to do it. And along the way you recognized the difference between the two. Even though you lost 10 pounds, you decreased the body fat, which probably made your muscles look more defined. Whereas if someone doesn't understand that, they're going to focus on seeing the scale go down and down and down, and it's going to be a detriment to their results, because they're going to lose muscle along the way.

So eating 163 grams of protein is the reason why those muscles are popping out. How are your carbs now?

Beth: We're at 218.

Nikkiey: This is music to my ears, being 61 years old and eating 2,100 calories and having 218 grams of carbs. Looking back, maybe 10 years ago at 50 years old, did you think this was possible?

Beth: For me, I wanted to do it, but it was always, I wonder if I could ever look like that. Whether looking at athletes or dancers. My daughter's a professional dancer, so I've seen a lot of dancers, and the human body is a beautiful work of art. What can we do with that? It was more of a curiosity. I wonder if I can get there. Did I think I could do it? I don't know, because I guess I never really tried. But now I'm really intentionally trying to do it. And then we'll see.

I had mentioned to you that my interest in weightlifting started way back when I was living in Columbus, Ohio, where they had the Arnold. I had to do little events, because I missed competing. I grew up in sports and competition. So I was like, well, if I could just do a 5K. But I hated running. Still, it was something I could work for and it kept me active. Well, the Arnold had what they call the pump and run, where for women, you lift a certain percentage of your body weight. You can lift it up to 30 reps, and then you get time taken off your final run. And I said, well, the only way I'm going to get a good run time is if I can lift weights. But then I was actually kind of starving myself to get my body weight down and then trying to lift. And that was a terrible mixture. It didn't do any good. I don't know why I got off on that tangent, but it's having certain things in my head going, oh, I can do it this way. No, just help me here.

Nikkiey: You're not alone in that, because a lot of women grew up with the marketing back in the eighties, in that timeframe, and Weight Watchers and the things that you grew up trying to understand. It's no fault of yours. I've talked to so many women about this. That's what was ingrained in your mind: I need to eat less and then go do tons of exercise, and this is what's going to get me to succeed. So you're not alone in that respect at all.

Beth: With regard to Weight Watchers, I gamed that system. I had 21 points, and on weigh-in days... where we had our meetings was in a strip mall, and there happened to be a Dairy Queen in that strip mall. So I wouldn't eat all day, I'd weigh in, and then I'd get my 21 points in a Blizzard.

Nikkiey: Talk about gamification.

Beth: There you go. And that's the thing. I could hit a number. At that time it was points. They tried to make it easy. And then you had other check boxes: make sure you got your water, and I can't remember what the other ones were. Sure, I can hit that. Or if you gave me a calorie count, I could hit the calorie count. But how much protein is in there? What do the macros look like? I don't know what my macros were prior to actually tracking them, and I'm sure they were way off. I know they were way off. I know my protein was almost nonexistent unless I had a protein shake or a protein bar.

Nikkiey: Which aren't the greatest either.

Beth: Nope. You've probably heard that many times on the podcast. And I was there, working for companies that made them.

Nikkiey: That's crazy. Well, it's pretty cool to see your education and awareness now from what you've done in six short months. I know you had some understanding before, but applying it and putting it into action is what's really been the game changer for you. You mentioned the weight, but I don't think we talked about the inches lost. How many inches have you lost?

Beth: Five total. One around my waist, three in my hips and then one in my thighs. The interesting thing, though, is I think the muscles on the outside of your stomach...

Nikkiey: Oh, the obliques.

Beth: Obliques. I think my obliques are getting bigger, because I think I went up a half an inch or whatever. I don't know if that's possible. As long as I'm building my core that keeps me strong and away from injury.

Nikkiey: Absolutely. That's what will help with any back injuries that you've had and prevent them in the future. What were some other top achievements that you've had?

Beth: Like I said, I wish I knew the number of episodes or hours of your podcast that I've listened to. I miss the warm weather, because I would go on my walks and listen to a podcast. I didn't go in any order. It was just, what's the topic that seems intriguing to me. I think just the education and what I've learned. At 60-plus years of age, I'm still learning and I love it.

And then mindset. We are now, as a team, reading and listening to Joe Dispenza's book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. And then your coach, Candace, she's great. I think I fell asleep during it, but I listened to the recording, not the live session she did with the team. It's the whole mindset and meditation and taking it to the next level for me. What more can I be doing or should I be doing for myself and for those around me? And how do I apply this?

And then it's branching out and getting that job in retail, in fitness apparel. It's going outside of what I would typically do, but having the tools to do so. Talk about building your confidence. What are the things that you're telling yourself? What are the positive things you're telling yourself? Are you telling yourself negative things? How do you get over that? So it's the whole community, the calls and all that stuff. The wins I've gotten are the education and the variety. I don't think I've ever gone through a podcast or a meeting and said, well, this isn't for me. Because when they talk about menopause, I went through it and I struggled through it, but I didn't really pay attention to it. I just kind of went, okay, this is life, go on. And I still get frustrated with the hot flashes that come and go every once in a while. But it's, what else can I do to take control of me and my future? At the end of the day, it's how can I grow old gracefully?

Nikkiey: That's beautiful. And I love that you're peeling back the onion now at this next level, understanding how you operate and how your brain works, and you guys diving into Joe Dispenza, into thoughts, feelings, behaviors and actions. That's a huge thing to dive into, and to even be open to wanting to dive into, because that can unleash how you go about the next 40, maybe 50 years of your life. You still have so much more time.

One thing that I was super inspired by that I would love for you to share here: you took your why to the next level. If you feel comfortable, what was your overall goal, and why was that your goal? I know you've heard on the podcast, people come and they're like, I just want to lose weight, I want to lose five or 10 pounds. Cool, but why? Because once we have the why, you're going to show up way differently, as you have for the last six months, because you've had energy from that why to pull you every single day. So what was your why?

Beth: There were a couple of things. There was the why, or what's your vision board. I'm so terrible with creative stuff like that. And I had it on my to-do list forever. I'm pointing to my calendar, my to-do list that changes every week, and it's one of my non-negotiables. Work on my why. And that vision board. I finally told my coach, and she wasn't asking for it, I was telling her I'm going to do it, but I'm not going to cut all this out. So I said, coming from where I came from in corporate America, I'm just going to write it down on paper and do it as my plan.

Then in one of your tools, there was a series of questions that helped me further peel back the why. And in market research, and I love that you do this, there are a lot of similarities to my career. We call it the five whys. You ask why five times to really get into why someone needs to be doing or wants to be doing something. So I said, I can do this. I've done it my whole career. Sit down and do it.

My overall goal, I said, is to have a beautiful physique like I've admired in strong athletes and dancers, be a specimen of health, and pursue a new career in fitness and nutrition focusing on women's health at any age, because it's so underrepresented. Why? Because I just want to see if I'm able to transform my body. Why do I want to achieve this goal? I always wanted to do this, but I've always had other priorities. And why is it important? I mentioned I have osteopenia, and I hope I can reverse that bone loss. And I've obviously seen friends and family grow old. My mom's 94, she'll be 95 this year. So how do I grow old gracefully, without, knock on wood, anything coming in its way? And I was determined to do it.

At the time I was reflecting back on my back going out. And I love the firepower, my why, the firepower. So it's to quench my curiosity to transform my body and see what's possible through strength training and proper nutrition in order to live that long, happy life. I wanted to share my passion with others and pursue a career in this, and showcase the transformation while advocating for women's health. So it's getting down to, if I can do it, anyone can do it. And how can I help? That's how you find your passion. And I think a lot of it was learning about hormones and hormone balance and all that stuff. We don't know about that. We don't talk a lot about that, and so many other issues. How can we help others? And I think this community is women empowering women, and we're all there cheering each other on. It's a godsend.

Nikkiey: Oh, that means so much to hear those words. I think your why is super inspiring and very empowering. And even just being here and doing this interview with me, as we were talking about earlier, this is the opportunity for one person to hear your words and your message and your story and be positively impacted. And now with your new career, every woman that walks through the door, you get to inspire. You're doing God's work right now. It's pretty cool to hear your story and how you've been in the field, even in corporate, and then you went on this journey yourself, and now you're inspiring others. You're a leader in it, and even just words in an exchange can really inspire someone. So I think what you're doing is super cool, Beth, and you should be really proud of all of the accomplishments that you've made.

Beth: Thank you. And kudos to you and your team. Talk about the right time and the right place. It was exactly that for me. I was so ready to do something, and it was perfect for me.

Nikkiey: That's awesome. For somebody that is listening right now who's unsure about taking the next step, or maybe they're feeling skeptical like you shared you were earlier, what would you tell them about how WarriorBabe could impact their life?

Beth: Do the research. You have so much more now on the site. Still be that skeptic, but listen to the people. Listen to the women that are talking about where they've come from. And I think something will click. Is this the time? Is this the place? Is this for me?

And we haven't talked about this, but another thing, coming from corporate, is trusting the process. What do you really mean by that? I love that podcast, because it can be so, we used to call it fluffy, the marketing term. Trust the process. What's this going to get us? But it's understanding that you have the experts there to support you all along the way, and you have the community to be there and lift you up. And you can lift others up too. If you're looking for a sense of community, people that are doing this, you're not on your own, but the plan that you're receiving is totally customized. It is yours. It's individualized just for you. A lot of it is taking that next step, and sometimes it's a scary step. But you don't know until you do it. And then it's getting in and jumping in with both feet.

Nikkiey: As you did. You jumped in with both feet and said, give me what I need to do and I'm going to do it. That's the beauty. That's why we also vet people at the beginning: are you a good fit for us, and are we a good fit for you? Because if you come into the program and you're not doing the work, who's that on? But you came in and you did the work.

What would you say to someone who feels like it's too late to start something new, whether it be fitness or nutrition or even a new passion?

Beth: I don't think there needs to be a timeline on anything. For me, I've always been curious about things and didn't want to be stagnant. I wanted to continue to learn, even at 60. The whole you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Oh yeah, you can. And being open to learning more and knowing more. So I don't think it's ever too late. Just do it. I hate to use a famous tagline, but it's here. It's all laid out. It's easy for me. It's easy and it's fun.

I understand the women in the community that are still working and have younger children, and that time. I understand. I've been there. But it is just carving out that little piece. Is there something else that I don't need to be doing? Or could I do it at the same time? If I have a Netflix series I'm watching, can I walk while I'm watching it? Can I ride my bike while I'm watching? It's carving the time out for yourself. There's no better time than the present to start.

Nikkiey: Absolutely. And you shared within your story today the proof that transformation doesn't have an expiration date. I'm excited for what's to come. You've had some amazing accomplishments in six months, but I love that you're so open-minded to learning what the next level looks like for you, and that's diving into learning more about how your mind operates, stepping into more of the personal evolution and growth, knowing there's always something to keep learning. You should be so proud of that mindset. I know that's really hard to come by for a lot of women. And overall you should be entirely proud of your entire journey so far.

I want to say thank you for trusting in us and trusting in WarriorBabe when the ad popped up and you did your research and it felt different. I'm happy that we came across as real, and that this is going to help you get to where you envisioned yourself being. You're well on your way. You still have a whole other half of a year to go. And what you're accomplishing in a year takes some people five, 10, 15 years to accomplish. So thank you so much for trusting in WarriorBabe.

And for anybody that's listening right now, just know that Beth stepped into a new phase of life and a commitment to herself, and it's completely changed the way that she moves and eats. Now she's stronger, not just physically, but also mentally. And if you're wondering if you can do the same, you 100% can. The answer is yes. Check out warriorbabe.com and take that first step today. Beth, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story. I know it's going to positively impact at least one person listening.

Beth: Great. Thank you so much, Nikkiey.

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.