Losing Weight at 50 Without Giving Up Carbs

Jennifer: One of the worst points of all of that for me was when my son actually said, "Mom, you're doing it all wrong." He was tracking his macros and focused on protein, and he was like, "You have to be eating carbs. The cardio is not enough for you." And so I'm like, here's my teenage son telling me I'm not doing it right.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Nikkiey: Hey, everyone. What's going on? Today I have another WarriorBabe here with us, Jennifer. Before WarriorBabe, she was experiencing a season of burnout. She was mentally drained. She was physically depleted. And she was stuck in an all too common cycle of what women experience: cycle dieting, under-eating, poor sleep and endless cardio, all of the things. After years of feeling like she was doing everything right, nothing was working. But then she found WarriorBabe. With the guidance of her amazing coach, she's learned to eat more. She's learned to sleep better. She finally feels strong in her own body again. And now she's not only transforming on the outside, she's also learning how to truly love herself from the inside out, which is really cool. I'm super excited for her to share her story today here with us. Welcome, Jen.

Jennifer: Thank you so much. It's so awesome to be here.

Nikkiey: Love that. Okay, so I know where you're from because we just had this conversation, but I would love for the listeners to know where you're from, how old you are, and what you do for work.

Jennifer: Okay, awesome. Thank you. I am calling in from Carolina Beach, North Carolina, right outside of Wilmington. I've been here not quite a year. I am 50, almost 51. Last year was a pivotal point: hitting 50, moving, and a career transition. I just finished 23 years with the federal government at the Department of State, and I am now a full-time life and leadership coach.

Nikkiey: Hey, let's go. Wow, rock star. I love that story. Super cool. Okay, so let's talk about what your situation was like before you found WarriorBabe.

Jennifer: Well, I did work for the federal government, and I was a leader there. I pulled long hours, running meeting to meeting to meeting. So my meals were kind of on the go, and I was on one low carb diet after another in my journey. I was averaging probably four to five hours of sleep a night, a lot of stress and anxiety, just the mind constantly going. I'm a single mom, and my son was in high school for the last few years. He's now at college. So just a lot of balls to keep moving. And when I hit the gym or when I was outside, it was like, just run, try to walk, jog, do whatever, hit the cardio. That worked more in my 30s, maybe early 40s, but it hadn't worked in a long time.

Nikkiey: Yeah. How much do you think you were eating on a daily basis?

Jennifer: Well, at one point I was on a journey that was averaging 1,100 calories a day.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Jennifer: Yeah. So you would think I should have been super skinny, right?

Nikkiey: What were the results of that?

Jennifer: Well, I did lose weight. I did not have muscle. And the other side of that is that when I no longer did that program, of course, I did go back up in the weight. That was just not sustainable, and it was not getting at any of the root issues going on. I was focused on what to try to do on the outside when in fact all of this really needed to be rewired on the inside.

Nikkiey: Right. Isn't that crazy? Because it's not tangible. You can't feel the inside. So you just have to learn these strategies, which is pretty cool, how you are learning them right now. When I was reading your little info for this interview, you mentioned you had a hysterectomy.

Jennifer: I did.

Nikkiey: And that you were feeling exhausted and disheartened after that hysterectomy. Can you walk us through how that impacted your routine and your energy?

Jennifer: Yeah. So in fact, last year, again being a pivotal year, right before I turned 50 and moved, I did have a hysterectomy. I had some ovarian cysts that were coming up, and one had ruptured, and it was pretty painful. Luckily all good, but I was like, just take it all. Let's be done. I thought I had been through the worst of the premenopausal symptoms. I had gone through the night sweats and everything, and that had faded. And then I had the hysterectomy, and all of that returned in kind of a worse way. So in addition to healing, I was feeling like, I now have these symptoms again. I'm not feeling right. I'm certainly not doing the cardio that I had been doing prior, and I'm just not feeling good about myself.

Nikkiey: Wow. That's got to be hard at that time, and I can understand where the disheartening feeling would come from. You mentioned right before I asked you that question that you were doing low carb diets and they weren't cutting it, and you were doing cardio and all those things. What was the most frustrating part about putting all of that work in, thinking you were going to get the results you wanted, but not getting them?

Jennifer: I think one of the worst points of all of that for me was when my son actually said, "Mom, you're doing it all wrong." He was tracking his macros and focused on protein, and he was like, "You have to be eating carbs. The cardio is not enough for you." And so I'm like, here's my teenage son telling me I'm not doing it right.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Jennifer: Yeah. So it was really cool to witness him on his journey and know that there was another way out there. And it must have just been the universe bringing this all together, because it was right around then that I found WarriorBabe. And I'm like, well, what is that? Because I want to feel strong, and feeling strong to me is not a number on the scale. It is how I feel inside my body.

Nikkiey: Yeah. Spot on. Before we dive into you finding WarriorBabe, what were some beliefs or habits you had to unlearn in order to start to see the progress that you've seen?

Jennifer: What I had to unlearn is the fact that I do need to eat, and that I needed more protein in particular, as well as the right amount of carbs and fats. Oh my goodness. That's a whole other belief system, like low fat, no fat. So, what do you mean I need fats? We're talking roughly 49 years of unlearning.

Nikkiey: Well, right.

Jennifer: But that's the lifespan here. The other key point is, I joke that I was running on empty for so long, and I did not realize how critical sleep is to our body's reset, to managing our food intake, to managing our strength, our mental clarity. I just didn't give myself the space. I didn't prioritize that. And I think about how, if I could go back to my younger self and say, "Here's what sleep can do," I would have advocated differently for myself.

Nikkiey: Wow. That's a huge, profound realization right there, and a shift of perspective through the new Jen's lens. There are a lot of women who struggle with getting only four hours of sleep, like you mentioned, and a lot of women say, "I can't change that. I can't get more than four hours of sleep." What would you tell that woman now, with the new Jen's perspective, so you could advocate for the woman listening right now? How did you shift from getting four hours of sleep? How many hours are you getting now?

Jennifer: I get at least seven.

Nikkiey: At least seven. Okay. In between, I'm sure there was a period of, "I don't know if I can do this, it's hard." How did you navigate through that, so that someone listening might be able to navigate it too?

Jennifer: I had to put a nighttime routine together that included boundaries for me. Are there sacrifices? Yes. I don't mindlessly scroll on social media or sit there and watch TV. Instead, I'll go to bed and read a book for just a little bit, but I know when I need to be lights out. Does it impact relationships? Yes, it does. So you have to be intentional about where you're going to spend your time. My son is older, and I get that. But I would still say that going back, as the me with a littler one at home, it was still doable. I took on this feeling of responsibility: I need to manage everything in the house, I need to show up at work in a certain way. And I think a lot of what we as women do is hold on to that control. We know how we want things. We think it has to be perfect, and we have some people-pleasing tendencies. So when we stop and question all of those beliefs, we see that we can ask for help. It doesn't need to be perfect. And people pleasing really can't happen if we don't fill ourselves up first.

Nikkiey: I want everybody to rewind the last two or three minutes of you sharing that profound realization. It's very powerful, and hopefully a lot of people can resonate with and take away what you just said, because it's very true. You have to sacrifice some things. You have to set some boundaries in place, and you have to make sure you're filling your cup up first so that you can feel your best and move forward with what you want to achieve for yourself. That's really cool. I love that.

Jennifer: Yeah. I think the piece I had missed in my earlier experiments, we'll call them, with the lifestyle is just how much of this is mindset work.

Nikkiey: Totally.

Jennifer: When we say that we want a healthier lifestyle, that we want to be more toned, we want to be strong, we want to feel good in our clothes, then I think it's really about what actions we need to take to get those results. And then we have to have the mindset of how we're going to think about this and how we're going to feel when we need to make those sacrifices. So we have to be really committed and intentional.

Nikkiey: Yeah, 1,000%. Okay, so we talked about the sleep scenario. What was the hardest part about letting go and understanding that you had to eat more food? Let's talk about that.

Jennifer: Yeah. That was hard. I was like, I'm not hungry. I don't want to eat. My coach, Alison, is amazing. Just a shout-out to her, she totally rocks. We talked about some smaller meals and keeping it simple. I do not like to cook, so what are my go-tos that are manageable for me? Adding in the probiotic was a big help for me as well. So it was just looking at what habits I'm forming so that I hit these numbers. Because in the beginning, I was not hitting that protein. And I'm like, oh wow, I need some protein powder, and it's eight o'clock at night and I don't want that. So how can I avoid that eight o'clock rush of "I'm short"? Better planning throughout the day has really been key for me, and I'm sure for many. It's a new lifestyle, so we have to experiment with what works and with the timing of when we're going to eat those meals, so that we're not crunching it in before we're ready to go to bed.

Nikkiey: Yes. Love that advice. Okay, so let's talk about when you found WarriorBabe. How did you find WarriorBabe?

Jennifer: I was online. I think I saw your ad on Instagram, and I was like, she looks cool. This is awesome. Then I started listening to some podcasts. And I think what really resonated for me is that I have traveled a fair bit on this program, and it's hard to account for your food when you're eating out, and to figure out how you're getting those workouts in and where you're staying. I know you have several podcasts about that, and that was such a game changer for me. This came up early in my journey with WarriorBabe: this is a lifestyle, and it needs to be real. It's one thing if I'm eating perfectly at home, but if I can't replicate that day to day elsewhere, it doesn't do anything for me.

Nikkiey: Yeah.

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. Don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com/apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com/apply. All right, let's get back to the show.

Nikkiey: A thousand percent. So what resonated with you in terms of making the final decision and taking the leap?

Jennifer: I wanted to feel strong, and I wanted to undo. I just knew that where I was was not a good place. I wanted to feel good about myself, and I wasn't feeling good about myself at all. So I wanted to know that no matter the number on the scale, I know how to eat right and hit the right numbers, and I know how to do the right exercises in the gym, which is so key at this stage in life. I didn't want weak bones. And I think I was just at the point where I was feeling like something new has to happen right now.

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. Don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com/apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com/apply. All right, let's get back to the show.

Nikkiey: Okay, first of all, I have a question. Were you stumped on the price? How did you feel about the price?

Jennifer: Yeah, it was pretty scary for me. I knew I'd be changing careers at some point during this program, and I'm like, how am I going to make this happen? It really was taking a bit of a leap of faith.

Nikkiey: Did we fulfill our promises?

Jennifer: Yes.

Nikkiey: Love that. Okay, let's talk about when you first joined and started working with your coach. What was that journey like at the beginning?

Jennifer: Oh, I felt like I had a true partner right beside me. I'm a coach of a different sort, so I know what it's like to walk beside clients, and Alison was just so accessible, right there making adjustments. Even now, through the weekly check-ins, there's a constant: okay, what's really going on? Do we need to tweak? The support Alison has given me through some physical injuries, through travel, just all of it. I would never think that she's via an app or a text.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. Did we do a good job assigning you to a great coach?

Jennifer: Oh, yes.

Nikkiey: That's awesome. I love that feedback. A lot of people say, "I don't know how you guys do it, but you work magic behind the scenes." So I love that. How did you start out? Did you start out in retrain? Did you start out in fat loss? What was your phase like at the beginning?

Jennifer: Retrain. I spent a fair bit of time there. Again, years of needing to undo some things. And I won't lie, there are moments in the course of this journey where it starts to feel frustrating. Alison and I would have those conversations. I'd be like, okay, I'm ready to see a change on the scale or see the inches or something. I think we all have that. That's just a natural thing. And she's like, "Trust me." Because we had the relationship, the foundation, I knew she saw me, I knew she heard me, and I did trust her. So it's like, okay, I have to give my body the time to heal and undo all the other bad habits in order to take the step forward. I've now been in fat loss for just a couple of weeks. I had more crazy stuff happen. And I will say, it's the slow changes you start to see that give you the hope. What I realized is I don't want that overnight change, because that's not the sustainable change.

Nikkiey: Love that. I love that narrative shift in your mind. How long were you in retrain for?

Jennifer: I honestly don't remember. I know we went up in the macros for four or five months, I think.

Nikkiey: Okay.

Jennifer: At least.

Nikkiey: Love that. I love hearing the timeline, because it really puts it into perspective for someone who's listening. The person I'm interviewing says five months, or someone says nine months, or someone says, "I was in there for my whole first year, and now I'm starting my second year and going into fat loss."

Jennifer: Yeah. And in fact, I want to go back. I know I stayed stable for a little bit, so this was an up, stable, up, stable process. So I actually think I'm closer to eight or nine months.

Nikkiey: I love that. That really puts it into perspective, like you were mentioning, when you want to see things fast and you want to see results. You have to put in at least five to nine months of doing this retrain to fix the internal things so that you can start to see the external rewards from it.

Jennifer: Yeah. And I'm equating this to 49 years, or even a good 25 years as an adult, of not doing the right things here.

Nikkiey: Sure, 1,000%. Were you doing strength training before this at all?

Jennifer: A little bit. I had a coach in a gym, and when I look at what I was doing with that coach in the gym versus what I do now, I'm exceeding everything I did before with an in-person trainer.

Nikkiey: How has this type of strength training, and the way we like to program our methodology, made you feel differently about your body and what it's capable of?

Jennifer: Well, I like to go into the gym now. When I'm doing arms, I'm like, damn, I've got some arms going on now.

Nikkiey: I love that.

Jennifer: I've never seen that definition there. So I like feeling proud and seeing the number of what I'm lifting.

Nikkiey: I love that for you.

Jennifer: I have a little competition with myself. I'm like, I know it said three reps at this, and that's what I did last week, so we're going up. Depending, right? There are some weeks or days when I'm tired, and then I just know to deload a little bit, do it and take care of myself, not in a way that's push, push, push. And when I'm feeling strong, then I know I can push, push, push.

Nikkiey: Sure. I love that. Keep challenging yourself like that. It's going to continue to get you stronger. You mentioned that you now love your body, even before hitting your biggest transformation. How powerful has that been for you?

Jennifer: Super powerful. For all the ladies out there who have some curves, and maybe the hips and thighs that are super hard to get rid of, I do have that running in my family, and for the longest time that's just been such a sore subject for me. And now I'm like, wow, my legs are pretty strong. They're capable of so much. So I just feel differently when I look in the mirror. It doesn't mean that they're tiny or any of that. It just means what a gift I have, in that they can push so much weight. They can do the lunges. And I think about where I want to be 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, and it's the work I'm doing right now that will get me there.

Nikkiey: Oh, I love that. That's great. So what are some of your biggest achievements since joining WarriorBabe? Where are you at now with your progress, your transformation and the things you've experienced?

Jennifer: I think first and foremost is the mindset win. That is really key. I don't ever want to see another low carb diet.

Nikkiey: Wait, you love carbs?

Jennifer: I am learning to like certain carbs. When you're on a low carb diet, they say don't eat fruits because of all the natural sugar. Like, really? And now I'm just like, I get to have my fruit.

Nikkiey: So you're good. I'm happy to hear that. That's rewiring.

Jennifer: Right. So that's been pretty key. The sleep, again, I cannot say that one enough. And what is really sticking for me is all of the exercises. I love the variations, and again, that challenge of where I'm going. So when I'm seeing the measurements start to change and the scale start to shift in a way that feels sustainable, that's huge for me. Like I said, I used to travel, and it would be nothing to come home from a trip up five pounds or maybe more. And now my body has adjusted to the point where I don't come home with that same increase.

Nikkiey: Wow.

Jennifer: And I think once we learn how to eat, if we revert and eat things that we don't normally eat now, I don't feel good. I don't want that same food.

Nikkiey: What does that stability feel like for you, in your body and your mind?

Jennifer: It feels so healthy. I wake up with a clearer head. I don't have that mental fog. So it just makes me wonder about all the processed foods and things that are out there. How do they contribute to poor sleep, and then waking up with that mental fog? It's just the choices we make in what we're eating. And I'm not saying I don't eat processed food or eat out. I do. It's just a question of what am I ordering, what quantities am I ordering, and how often. So now when I look at what I'm eating, I think about how I want to wake up the next morning, and that is such a driver in some of my choices.

Nikkiey: Oh, I love that so much. I think that's a really profound thing to ask yourself. How do I want to feel when I wake up tomorrow morning? I'm going to take that and think about it in my own life. Thank you.

Jennifer: That's hilarious.

Nikkiey: So going back to the progress you're seeing, what are you able to do now that you couldn't do before, either emotionally or physically?

Jennifer: Well, definitely the numbers in the gym, what I'm lifting. I couldn't have done that sustainably. When I look at where I'm pushing, I know I can still do more, and that's awesome because that's my challenge. And building the cardio into this fat loss phase is awesome for me, because I do love cardio. I've been in programs before where it's like, don't exert too much, because we have you on such low calories. And now I get to do the things I love doing in a way that is healthy. Alison and I just had this conversation, and I told her what I was really doing with some of the cardio, and she's like, "Okay, then I'm bumping that, because you're already there." So whatever you give me, I'm going to try to push a little bit more.

Nikkiey: That's awesome.

Jennifer: So yeah, it's that accountability.

Nikkiey: Yep. And that's amazing that you get that with a coach, the ability to have that support. You were just talking about the other programs you've tried. What is different about WarriorBabe compared to those programs?

Jennifer: This is real life. It's not requiring me to go purchase food from somebody else. I have control over what I'm eating, and I get to see what works and what doesn't within the macros that are set out for me. And I get real-time feedback, like try these recipes or look here. I don't want to be in a program where somebody is saying buy our food or do this. That's not real to me.

Nikkiey: Love that. And you actually get to eat more food.

Jennifer: Exactly.

Nikkiey: Who would have thought that eating more food could actually make your body work the way it's supposed to work? From everything we've learned growing up, especially for the older demographic, with the marketing and Jenny Craig and all the things like that, you're told to eat less, eat less. So you really have to rewire that narrative. It sounds counterintuitive to say eat more when you've learned for so long that eating less would get the results. But no, eating more, you get to the results that you want to see.

Jennifer: It is so true. And as we do this long enough, when we're traveling or somewhere without a food scale, I can look at something and guess pretty close how many ounces there are.

Nikkiey: See, I love that point right there, because this is what this journey is all about. You come in, you're learning what macros are, you're learning how to track them and implement them on a daily basis, but you don't have to track them for the rest of your life, because you develop these skill sets that you're gaining right now. You can look at something and gauge how many carbs, how much protein or how much fat is in it. How does that feel for you?

Jennifer: It feels so empowering. Like I have control over my body. I can look at something and say, yeah, that's going to be good.

Nikkiey: Food freedom. Isn't that incredible?

Jennifer: It is. It is freeing. And it's so funny, too. Something came up on MyFitnessPal. I had a little message that said something to the effect of, "Your future self is asking if you've tracked your food today." And I was like, no way. Seriously.

Nikkiey: Oh, wow. That gives me the chills.

Jennifer: Right. I'm like, well, my future self already knows what I'm eating.

Nikkiey: Wow. That's pretty cool. Because it's not who you are right now. It's who you're working to become.

Jennifer: Exactly.

Nikkiey: Oh, that's good. That's a cool feature, MyFitnessPal.

Jennifer: I know, right?

Nikkiey: Okay, so is there anything about your journey that I haven't asked that you would want to share while we're still here?

Jennifer: I think there's one point that I love about this program, and it's around the community. I've been in other programs where there were a lot of calls and whatnot. What I love about the way this community is set up is that depending on where you are in your journey, you can pop onto a call or not. I'm a big person for going back and listening to calls and podcasts. I'm probably not as much on the community side for the live calls, but that's just my personality. And yet I know that when I am on the community calls, there's awesome stuff there. There's great information. So I think each person can figure out what support is good for them. There are so many resources, places where they can engage, or they can go back and listen. The information out there is just amazing.

Nikkiey: Thank you. I love hearing about the community through your lens and your perspective. That's a really cool takeaway. For someone who may be listening to this right now who's feeling stuck or unsure about what to do next in their journey, what would you say to them about WarriorBabe?

Jennifer: I would say first, your coach is the best resource you have. And working from that point, I think the mindset work is probably the very next thing, because so much of what we need to do is retrain our operating system and counter the negative thoughts that may come up when progress takes a little longer. And I say "progress" in quotes, because it's happening through the rewiring. So I think giving that space and grace to ourselves is really the foundation before any of the physical changes start.

Nikkiey: I love that so much. Thank you. I love that you use the words rewiring and retraining. You're not just retraining your metabolism, like you do once you get into the program, you're also retraining and rewiring your mindset, which is a huge aspect of the journey. If your mindset's not on board with you, it can make the journey that much harder to get where you want to be. Well, Jen, thank you for sharing your story with us. Thank you for being here and being open, and for making it known to women who may be struggling like you were that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Your transformation isn't just about the weight you lose. It's about the peace. It's about the strength. It's about the compassion, the support and the self-love that you gain along the way. And your journey, being that you turned 50, or 51 now, right?

Jennifer: Almost 51.

Nikkiey: Almost 51. Happy early birthday.

Jennifer: Thank you. I call this my halftime show.

Nikkiey: So way to put on a great show here. Oh, I love that so much. It's true. Your journey proves it's never too late to feel good again, and to be comfortable and confident in your own skin. I'm excited to see how far you go with this.

Jennifer: I appreciate that. I am too. Thank you so much. What a great community.

Nikkiey: Oh, thank you. Thank you for being a part of it.

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 of the difference in 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.