Stronger at 67 After Years of Under-Eating w/ WarriorBabe Michelle

00:00What initially drew you in to the program? I felt like I was getting weaker. I could feel my muscles atrophying and going away. I was scared, depressed. Were there any like early wins that you experienced after joining? The strength has come on so fast. I was losing my muscles. I'm getting those back. I lost weight, but I'm eating more. It's just incredible.

00:30What's going on, everybody? Hey, so today I've got another WarriorBabe here with us, WarriorBabe Michelle. And at 67 years old, Michelle thought that her strength and her energy were slipping away for good. She was an athlete before. She was a gymnast, a track star, a cheerleader. And then she suddenly found herself struggling to lift a bag of dog food. Her gut issues, they were starting to flare up. Her body just felt weak. And she started to wonder if this was just a part of getting older, if this was a part of aging.

01:03And then she found WarriorBabe. And now Michelle is stronger than ever. She's eating more than she has in years and completely transforming how she views food, how she views strength, and how she views her aging. So today she's here to chat about her story, and I'm really excited to dive into it with her. Michelle, welcome. Thank you. Yeah. So we were just talking about, too, about dogs. Because, you know, you have three Dobermans, and I have a Doberman, and we were resonating on that. So you had a hard time lifting your dog food. Can you tell us about what your journey was like before you found WarriorBabe with your health and fitness?

01:37Sure. So, like you mentioned, I've always been an athlete, very, very active. We have jet skis, stand-up jet skis, not the kind you sit down. And I still do it in the ocean and in lakes. And I've always been very active snow skiing. And all of a sudden, the past couple years, I started going, am I just turning into a little old lady? Because I felt like I was getting weaker, and I could feel my muscles just atrophying and going away.

02:10And I thought, okay, maybe it's either aging, and I'm on this slow and steady spiral, but the speed of that spiral is really picking up every month. Or maybe it's what I'm not eating or what I am eating. And I was on whole food plant-based for about four years. And I thought, maybe I'm not getting enough protein. So I went to the lab and asked for a chem panel, and my protein was on the low side, but not below normal, but getting pretty low.

02:42And I thought, maybe I need more protein. But in the meantime, like you said, I was having trouble lifting my dog food bag, which is a 47-pound bag. I'm at the store struggling to get this bag into the car. And this guy walks over and says, do you need help? And I was like, yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you. And I thought, this never happened to me before. I've never had to ask for help for lifting anything. But now I can lift my 70-pound dog. Hey, how about that?

03:1370-pound dog, right? Oh, yeah. It was the weakness and a lot of gut issues. And just not feeling it. When I first started the whole food, I felt great. And then over the years, it was like, no, this isn't so great. And then menopause, like you said, I'm 67. I kind of ignored menopause because it didn't have a lot of symptoms. But especially, I was one of those baby boomers who was afraid of hormone replacement therapy because I had heard about the study. But just like six months ago, found out that the whole study was flawed.

03:46And I thought, oh, my gosh, I should have probably been taking something all this time. So after Maggie's talk on Tuesday, I'm going to get my hormone level checked for sure. Oh, wonderful. Good. Yeah. I'm glad that that encouraged you to get those checked because that's important. So with those challenges that you did face, how did that make you feel either both like, one, you felt weak, but how did that make you feel emotionally, mentally? I was scared, depressed, but mostly scared because as a nurse taking care of often the elderly

04:22for many years, I thought I'm becoming one of them. I am going to be the frail little old lady. And I already have osteoporosis. So I was really afraid that I would start to hunch over and walk funny. I was starting to have joint pain all over. And I thought it's happening and I'm only 67. I didn't think this would happen until like late 80s or 90s maybe. And I thought I was really afraid that I've got to do something because I don't want to be that little old lady who breaks a bone, has a hip fracture, you know, needs a walker

04:57or a cane. And my husband is 10 years younger than me. So I got to keep it up. Yeah, you do, girl. I got to keep it up. So it was fear mostly that I didn't want him to have to be taking care of me as a little old lady. And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it eye opening being a nurse? And you see, you see, you said you were a nurse who we were catching up beforehand before 47 years. Yeah. So you've seen, you know, what, what, how, you know, not taking care of yourself or you're

05:32just getting older, what that can look like and osteoporosis. And I'm sure you've seen hip fractures and women, you know, fall, the fall, the amount of falls coming in. And, um, and you've had probably some patients that were like that. Did you, did you ever feel discouraged or doubt that you could regain your strength back? You know, now that you mentioned it, I, I just didn't think that I couldn't. I didn't even think that way. I just thought I've got to do something.

06:03I've got to get better because what I'm feeling isn't good. And I'm not going to keep going down that road. I got to find a new path and find it fast because this doesn't feel good at all. It was, it was just really scary that I was on the wrong road. For sure. You mentioned too, um, feeling afraid to eat because of, of bloating and gut discomfort. What kind of toll did that take on your mindset as well? And like your daily life? I probably can't even tell you the number of times I told my husband, I wish we didn't

06:37have to eat. Really? I wish we could survive without food because I would eat and it would go down fine and I wouldn't have heartburn or any immediate symptoms. But a few hours later, bloated and just feeling really gassy and distended and uncomfortable to the point where it's like, I wish I wouldn't have eaten that. And I couldn't pinpoint it to one particular type of food. I kept going, I think it might be dairy. I think it might be, you know, uh, the, the higher fat.

07:08I think it might be, and nothing, there was no correlation between it. It was just discomfort. And then my bowels were all over the place before I did the whole food. It was like, I wouldn't have bowel movement for days. And then, yeah, three days sometimes. Now when I went on the whole food, it was a lot better, but then everything started like slowing down again while I was on the whole food. And I thought, I haven't done anything different with my diet, but it's my body. My body isn't responding anymore.

07:38When I first made the big change to a whole food plant-based, I saw improvement. But over time, then it started going down again. And I kept going, okay, something's not working right in this system. Right. Um, yeah. So I just, I knew that I needed a new path because it wasn't working. And I just wished I didn't even have to eat food sometimes. And I was afraid to eat food because I knew it would be miserable. Yeah. I wasn't eating food. Carrie said I was like at, I think between 800 and 900, barely a thousand calories a day

08:13when she did my little preliminary thing. And now I'm at 1800 calories a day. And I can tell it to our ears. I know. That's the music too. I can't wait to talk about that part of your journey. Okay. So you were eating 800, 900 calories, but you didn't know that until you joined, right? Because that was actually brought the awareness to it. Right. On top of that, what did your, what type of like exercise? I know you were an athlete and you did a bunch of more so maybe like cardio-based activity. Was there ever like strength training involved?

08:44No. There was way back when I was in track. Um, but, uh, and probably about 10, 15 years ago, I was doing a little bit of weights in my house, but nothing legitimate and no structured regular routine. I get on the treadmill or the elliptical and I always, steps has never been a problem. I, I don't sit very much at all just because that, you know, as a nurse, you never sit down. So I still, even though I'm retired now, I never sit down.

09:17Um, so steps has never been a problem, but not a good regimented regime where I'm doing a workout like I am now. Sure. Wow. I can't. Okay. So we'll dive into that because I'm very curious about where you're at now. But before we do that, was there ever a point is a two, two part question. Was there ever a point where you're like, okay, enough, like I'm ready to take control again. First question. Second question with that, whatever, or what you were feeling emotionally in the time where you're like, I need to get on, get back on track.

09:47How did you discover warrior babe? And like what initially drew you in to the program? 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, warrior babe is here for you at warrior B. We've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle and understand

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10:52It was, it was, uh, yes, I, I needed to make a change and I knew I needed to do something because the, the protein level in my blood wasn't as bad as I kind of wanted it to be. So I could just explain it away with my whole food plant basic. Oh, I just need more protein and I'll be fine again. No, it, it was low, but not that bad. So I thought, okay, that's not the answer. Um, and, uh, I was on Facebook and your ad popped up.

11:24It was you and you were talking about menopause and how macros are important. I'm like, I'm a nurse and she's a nurse and I don't even know what macro they're. How come I don't know what macros are? And then you started to explain, I listened to the whole thing and I put down the phone. I told my husband, I want to do this. And he's like, what's this? And I explained it to him and, and I could tell it was kind of like, oh gosh, here's another. Cause I've tried a bunch of different things. And I said, no, this really makes sense to me. And she's talking about for older women after menopause.

11:56And I ignored my menopause and probably really should not have. Cause now this far into the game, I probably really need a lot of hormone replacement that I've ignored. So I really want to try this. And he goes, okay, let's do it. And I'm just so blessed and so happy and so glad that I did. It's incredible. Yeah. It's been a great, great transformation already. That's awesome. To piggyback off of what you said or really ask this question, you were listening to someone that's 35, right?

12:33Why did you trust me when it came to me talking about menopause and, and that warrior babe was going to be able to help you? I'm always curious what, you know, the, the older ladies have to say about me, a 35 year old, a younger woman talking about menopause. I haven't been to it. Right, right, right. I think the first thing was, okay, fellow nurse, I know your mind and where you go scientifically probably, and that you probably did your research. And then when I heard your journey about how you were skinny fat and you went to the gym and you did the whole competition thing and were like winning every show and, and then said, but I can't sustain this.

13:17Hmm. Hmm. I can't keep doing this. Oh, by the way, I'm a dove chocolate girl too. Yes. I really are similar in many ways. I know. I know. I know. And so hearing that whole thing. And then I thought, I know she did her research because I know nurses always want the scientific. Why? How does that happen? You know, the whole Krebs cycle thing. Why do that? Why does this affect that? And that affects this and this affects that. So I knew you did that. So it really, that got me to pay attention.

13:49And then when you started talking about how it affects people in menopause, I went, gosh, I wish I would have known this when I was 35 before menopause. So I could have prepared for this journey and been in the journey when I hit menopause. That would have been amazing. Now I'm backtracking, trying to get back there to where I should have been. So I think it was mainly that, that I knew you did your research. It made perfect sense to me when you started, you actually started talking about metabolism and muscle breakdown and muscle growth and how to build muscle and what you need.

14:24And I went, oh, she's done the research for me. I'm going. Yeah. Love that. I love that. Well, thank you for trusting in me and in us. And I'm excited to talk about your transformation. But in the first couple of weeks that you joined Warrior Bay, were there any like early wins that you experienced after joining? Well, immediately my gut started feeling better. And I think it was just a few weeks in, I was like, is it just me or do I already feel stronger? No, I do.

14:54I mean, I have a little bit of arthritis in my thumb, but I had trouble opening a bottle, a water bottle. But it wasn't just my thumb. It was my whole grip strength. Now it's like, no problem. So I know, I know that doesn't sound like much, but opening a jar or a bottle. You're like. And a lot of people resonate with you saying that. But a lot of women have arthritis that are younger age. Listen to this podcast. Listen to bogus or listen to these, these success stories on the website.

15:29And they're going to be like, oh, no, that makes total sense. Yeah. Now it's no problem. I always ask my husband, oh, can the bottle for me? And now it's like, here, let me get that for you. Initially, initially, too. Was there any more that you noticed? Any aha moments? I felt my skin started looking better. Yeah. Yes. That protein. Yeah. Yeah. My skin started looking better. And at 67, I'm getting the little wrinkle flabbly. That's getting less. The little wrinkle.

15:59I have to look like you when I'm 67. You look great. That's okay. No, it's the skin improved. The gut improved. My strength improved. And then the first, into the first few weeks when I saw the picture, I was like, that really is working. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. Yeah. So how did you feel when Carrie was like, okay, you're eating 800, 900 calories. I need you to eat more food.

16:30What was your initial thought process when you're, I need to eat, you need to eat more food? Honestly, I was okay with it because, I mean, I was a little afraid because in the past, eating more, I thought, made me gain weight all the time, but it was the wrong food. But because I listened to, and I started listening to all your podcasts right away, starting with number one, three years ago. Wow. Yeah. And I still have a lot more to go. But when I started listening and you explained so much about it, I thought, okay, I'm going

17:04to have to increase, you know, the different macros. And I understand now it makes sense. So I wasn't, I was nervous about it a little bit, but I also trusted enough because I had done my research too and listened to some of those podcasts about metabolism. And my husband and I had just got the Good Energy book that talks about the mitochondria and metabolism and the needs of the body and all that. So it kind of, I went, wow, this kind of goes hand in hand with what Dr. Casey Means was

17:36saying in her book too, because we were very interested in that. So it all kind of made sense. And I went, I'm going to trust the process. I'm going to do whatever they tell me to do to a T and I'm going to try this. And it's working. 200%. It's working. And my energy level, I've never had an energy problem. Okay. I'm always a get up and go kind of person. Oh, you need that. Okay. Let's go. Let's go. I told Carrie, I go, can you have 200%? Because I feel like that's what I, it's amazing.

18:07I feel that 200% 67. Great. Fantastic. It's like circles around people have my age, you know, I, yeah, yeah. It's fantastic. Two cups of coffee in the morning and that's it. No other caffeine the rest of the day. And yeah, just amazing. No, no problem with energy at all. And I never sit down. When I sit down, it's usually 730 or eight o'clock at night to either read a book or watch

18:39a documentary or something. And then, you know, that's it. That's when I sit. Otherwise, oh, I'm sitting now. Okay. Okay. 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 since you joined Warrior Babe, where are you now in your journey?

19:12Like what's your, what are some of the biggest things you've accomplished that you're really proud of? Well, like I said, my strength, I'll, I'll start a workout and usually it feels great when I start the workout, but every now and then I'll start a workout going, oh, this 15 pounds is really heavy. And next thing I know, it's like, no, I can do six more. Oh my gosh, maybe I need 20 pounds. And then I start doing 20. And it's like so exciting to see that what, you know, started off as five or 10 pounds.

19:45Now it's like 15 is not a problem. Gosh, I think I can even do 20. Yes, I can. Oh my God. It, the strength has come on so fast. I was losing my muscles. I'm getting those back. Um, it seems like they're building very fast and I've, you know, lost weight, but I'm eating more. It's just incredible. Losing 10 pounds. I'm only four 11. I'm four foot 11 and I've lost 10 pounds.

20:17And my husband, when he saw one of my last pictures, he goes, shouldn't you be wearing the exact same bathing suit? I said, the bottoms are falling off. I can't wear those bottoms hardly. I did it for my last picture, but I can't swim in them or they'll come off if I swim. Wow. How does that feel? It's fantastic. And I find myself creating exercises in everything I do. Like I have a French press where you're supposed to push down slowly on the thing that presses

20:48the coffee and instead of just going and pressing slowly, I lift my elbow and make sure I'm using my tricep as I'm doing it. Or if I'm, if I'm reading the Bible, instead of sitting down, I'll stand up and do, you know, leg presses or, or lunges or something while I'm standing here reading. Or, um, I mean, I'm, I'm instead of just getting in the pool to cool off because we're in Arizona, I put on a belt and I do tethered swimming. So I stay in place and just swim in place for four or five minutes.

21:22Wow. So I'm turning everything into an exercise without even thinking about it. I just go, let me make this count with what I'm doing right now. And it becomes exercise at the same time. That's inspiration to me. I'm like, I sit down and I read my Bible. Maybe I should get up and do some squats while I'm reading it. I do. I just stand here and just kind of says I'm reading and I can still pay attention, you know, but yeah, that's awesome. I love that. Or I do this and I do little presses off my desk.

21:54Look at you. That's awesome. How's it feel to be eating 1800 calories? Oh my gosh. It's like, oh my gosh, I have to eat some more. What am I going to add? I think I'll have peanut butter with chocolate chips on a rice cake. Okay. That sounds good. Isn't that incredible? Like, okay, first of all, that sounds amazing. Right. And did you think before Warrior Babe that you could eat that and you could still reach your goals? Never, never. I thought I'd probably be 150 pounds by now if I ate that much.

22:26I just, it's incredible that just eating the right food in the right proportions, your body's like, hey Ben, you finally got it. Finally. You're feeding me what I need. That's what my body is telling me. Thank you. You've stopped eating the crap. Oh, and I stopped drinking wine. I was drinking wine every single night. I think because I was depressed. And it's a plant. It's a whole food plant-based. That works. Right.

22:56It's grapes. Yeah. It's grapes. Yeah. But I stopped doing that a year ago completely. And yeah. So not drinking alcohol has not been a problem at all. And that, that has helped too. I think with everything, but to be able to eat that. How is that? Non-draining calories is incredible. Right. 1800 calories is 67. Not many people can say that at that age. Right. Um, I was going to say, how, how did you notice by stopping drinking the wine? How did your sleep?

23:26Oh, way better. Cause I would, we have a bed that records our sleep and tells you score in the morning. And. Oh, you have this like number? Yeah. Yeah. So it tells you if you've moved a whole lot while you're sleeping and all that. And I would be constantly, you know, I'd sleep really good. Move, move, move, move, sleep. Move, move, move, move, sleep. Move, move, move. Just constantly have this movement. And, uh, I wasn't getting good scores. And now I'm in the nineties and I've got just total grief.

23:58Green, good sleep. Um, my sleep is so much better. And I'm sure it was the blood sugar spikes from the wine that was keeping me awake before. And, but, and I know that, but I don't have to have a glass of wine to relax. No, you don't just, you know, change your mindset and love the habit. In fact, we bought three of these. Yes. To our kids. Oh, love that. Love making new habits. You know, and it's working and my husband's doing it.

24:30And he's, he's kind of, he's like, do they have warrior bros or for guys, warrior guys? And I said, no, but he's adopted. He's eating what I'm eating. And he's adopted a lot of what I'm doing. And, um, he read the atomic habits as well. And he's doing all he's, I need a new habit stacked onto this habit so that I remember to do that. And so we're both kind of doing the program and he's lost some weight. And he's starting to, he's always been very active as well.

25:01But now he's talking about maybe I should start lifting tittle. I'm like, yeah, I think probably should. I love it. So it's great to have that support. And I think he's going to be on this same journey as me. I love that. That was going to be my next question for you is how is this lifestyle that you've embarked on and impacted your husband? Because I saw that you said that your husband told you that your waist and your butt felt like an 18 year old. Did you just say that out loud? Was I not supposed to?

25:32Okay. That's okay. Yeah. That's incredible. How did you feel hearing that? I know. I forgot about that until he said it. I think I need to blush. Full heat over your body right now. I better open a window. That's such a compliment. You know. Yeah. It was. It made me feel really good. He's very supportive. And like I said, I try not to make a big deal out of things like, wait, I have to measure that.

26:06I have to weigh it. Wait, don't put that on my plate. You know, or something like that. I try not to make a big deal. I go in a restaurant. I just order basic. Like, I'll have a salmon, you know, piece of salmon with some sautéed vegetables. And I don't freak out about the quantity. I just kind of guess. And then you get so good at it that you can kind of look at it and go, that's a little more than four ounces. I'm going to say that's six. And I did that. We go to Rocky Point, Mexico, four times a year for off-road racing. And we were at a restaurant.

26:38And my girlfriend was with us as well. And I didn't want to make a big deal about what am I going to eat and how am I going to weigh all this and bring out a scale. So I just did that. I said, well, that's probably about, she asked me, she goes, how are you going to do your fish? And I go, I'm going to count it as six ounces. That's probably a little bit more. And came back from vacation, no change in weight. Everything was good, you know, and it wasn't a big deal. I don't let it stress me out. Just do the best you can. I, you need to say that louder for the women in the back.

27:10A lot of women stress out over vacations and when they're on. But it's the mentality that when they start a program, they have to be perfect. They have to be consistent. They have to be, well, they have to be perfect. Consistent is what we want everyone to be because that doesn't need you to be perfect. It just needs to show up consistently. But people, you know, women just like get nervous or like, and then they, they feel like, cause there's an old mindset that comes into a new program where it's like, oh, well then if I'm on vacation, then I'm just going to be able to do whatever.

27:40But I love that you just took it like, okay, I'm just going to do my best to at least track what I'm eating so that there's some type of awareness with my food diary. And then if it doesn't happen perfect, but at least I'm accountable for what I'm eating here in the day and you don't go off for it. Maybe we'll have like a treat here and there, but you came back and you were like, oh, didn't gain anything. Yeah. Same. Yeah. I just tried to be smart when I was ordering. Don't order something that would be like a casserole that has 50 different ingredients that you

28:12have no idea of the macros in it. Just do the easy stuff like, you know, sauteed vegetables and brown rice and some salmon and don't get the sauce on it or put the sauce on the side and just taste it. And it really isn't hard if you just, you know, don't put so much pressure on yourself to gram by gram in those kinds of instances. You know, at home, yeah, I'm the gram by gram girl, but I'm not, you know, in certain situations

28:42like that, I don't want to make people feel like it's, you know, a pain in the butt. You take so much time to be able to eat and that kind of stuff. So yeah, I just have courage. Yeah. You want to encourage people about the lifestyle and not make them write a different way about it. Right. Right. There's going to be a question that I had for you that just popped in now. It's popping out. Oh, okay. So you went from 800, 900 calories up to 1800 calories. I'm sure that was a part of the retrain process that Carrie put you through.

29:14What does that feel? How does it feel like to keep increasing food, but you lost weight? Like how did that, was that like, I mean, growing up, like thinking that you had to eat less to look a certain way, to be skinny. And then you hear us being like, no, you got to eat more. And then you actually reap the rewards of eating more and losing weight. Like, does that just like totally. It's mind blowing. I, when, probably her about a month and a half ago when she, she kept like, okay, we're going to increase your calories. I'm like, but, but I feel good at this weight right now.

29:49And thinking if you increase, I'm going to increase. And, um, even though I know that muscle weighs more than fat, but, um, it's still, I was a little nervous. And I said, I'm going to trust you. Whatever you say to do, I'm going to do it. But yikes. And I did it. And it's like, no, I'm still losing weight. Okay. And, um, this last time, the last meeting that I had with her, she goes, do you want a cheat day? I'd like, she goes, yeah, just a day where you can just eat whatever you want.

30:24And then I'm like, uh, no, let's just keep, you can increase me whenever you want. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. And I, and I said, it's not as much that I'm afraid of it as I don't even feel like I need it. I'm so satiated with what I've got and with having so many choices in front of me, even whole food plant based is very, even though it's, there's still a lot of choices in that it's still restrictive. Cause I was eating no dairy, no meat, no fish, nothing like that at all.

30:54So that was pretty restrictive. I feel like, and now I'm not, I'm eating, you know, meat and fish and chicken and eggs and all that. But I feel like I have no restrictions, even though I weigh and I'm following the macros and I'm tracking and getting as close as I can. If I want a piece of dough chocolate, I throw it in there early on so that I can account for it and, and make sure that I don't go over on my carbs or fats or anything later on in

31:25the day. So I, I feel like there's freedom in food now, even though I'm increasing my calories, I am free to eat whatever I want. As long as I stay within, you know, the lines on the road and it's easy. That's the best thing that I've ever heard a warrior babe say is food freedom. Um, yeah. And you can eat whatever you can, you can eat whatever you want, as long as it's in the confines. It's a smart choice. It's like, you know, the 80, 90 or the 80, 20 rule that we say, it's like, you can eat

31:58a whole foods majority of the time and then allow yourself to have the double chocolate, allow yourself to have the, the sweet things if you want them. Sometimes you don't feel like you need to because you're so satiated, but, um, that's, I think that's a really important thing to note is the food freedom that you've gained from, from your journey. Right. Right. It's incredible. I love it. I, right now I can't imagine not being in the program. I, I, cause I, I got the year and then I did two more and, um, now I'm thinking, but

32:35what happened in three years? I don't want to be on my own. I don't want to have this help all the time. So we'll see how that goes. We're not going anywhere. Right. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. Warrior bros too. I know we, we've, since honestly, since like two years, like five years ago, it's been eight years now that we're using around, but two or three years in people were like, you got to make a warrior, bro. You got to make a warrior, bro. We're, we're staying in our lane.

33:06We like, we like the, the warrior baby and just helping, helping women. Right. So there's one more, there's a question I had about your mindset now. And you mentioned like, you can't imagine not being in the program. Um, what's your mindset now compared to before, like, especially around food, especially around like aging, especially around strength training. Like how has, you know, you beforehand and to now what's the biggest mindset shift? I think that, you know, you've experienced.

33:38Uh, I think I'm not afraid of any more. Like I said, I have food freedom versus food fear. I truly feared if I ate the wrong thing, which I didn't know what was wrong because everything I tried seemed to be wrong. Eventually, if it wasn't my gut, it was my weight. And if it wasn't my weight, it was just overall feeling. And so I had fear of food and now I have total freedom with food and I'm not afraid when Carrie says that we're going to up your calories.

34:10It, I, it, it's just, like I said, it's just such a relief. Yeah. To be able to eat what I am as much as, not as much as I want, but, you know, to just follow those macros and feel as good as I'm feeling now. It's just, it's just mind blowing that, that it's working so well. And love that. Yeah. What's it like working with a coach? Oh, she's been great. It, when, when, uh, I had my first interview and I feel so bad because they're, they're

34:44great people on your team. I think it was Melanie. I can't remember who first asked me questions to help me decide the coach. And, um, I've always been into natural things and, and, uh, like I said, the whole food plant base and things like that. And when she sent me Carrie's bio, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like totally up. She's into the naturopath stuff and nature. And, you know, it was just incredible.

35:15It was like, we were meant to be. She's a perfect, perfect match. And she's such a good cheerleader. She's such a good cheerleader. She's like, oh my gosh, Michelle, look at your pictures. Holy shit. What are you doing? You're amazing. Keep it up. You have a gem of a coach, a gem of a coach. He's fantastic. Well, tell anybody, you're not going to want her. She'll be too busy. It's recorded now, Michelle.

35:46What do you want to read? Oh, true. No, I think Carrie's getting pretty maxed out. You know, she's got her roster full. So nobody, nobody will be, unless, you know, somebody leaves the program. But yeah, you have a gem of a coach. She lives in the jungle and eats fruit. I know. She travels all over the place. She's like Adam and Eve. You know, she just picks her fruit from the tree and eats. Hopefully she doesn't eat the wrong one. I got to tell her not to. One time we were on a call, a team huddle, and I grabbed my lotion, which is ours right

36:22here. It's shea butter. And I was putting it on. And she said something that, you know, I don't put anything even on my body that I wouldn't put in my body. And I, can you eat shea butter? Yes. Yes. Okay. Practice. I love that. I love that you found a coach. One thing that we really take into account is who you work with. I mean, that's a big part of your experience, your journey. And, you know, a lot of the worry babes, when I do these interviews with them, every one

36:55of them is pretty much like, I don't know what you guys do on the back end, how you match us up, but you match just me up perfectly. Like that just makes my heart so happy to hear that you enjoy working with your coach. Do you feel like we did a good job with, with matching you up? Because that's, that matters. That's huge reason of your success in the program is who you work with. But so I have one last question for someone that may be. Listening to this right now, listening to your story, watching your story, maybe in the

37:25same spot that you were in, what would you want them to know? Trust, trust the process, trust your coach, trust the entire program. You guys know what you're doing. It's apparent that you did your research, you did your study, and that everybody's body needs certain amount of macros in order to fully feed correctly.

37:57And the system works. It's, it's just, I, I, right now I find it infallible. It's perfect. Perfect. I mean, for me, it's been perfect for this body to go the direction that I wanted it to go. With strength, with weight, with feeling, with skin, with everything overall. It's just, trust it. It works. Amazing. Don't be afraid. Go for it. Do it. Do it.

38:29Do it. Yeah, we're going strong. Yeah, look at their muscles, too. For people that are watching this on, well, people that are listening on audio, Michelle's muscles got good. Flex that muscle for us. Let me see it. Look at that. That's incredible. It looks so good. You did that. You did that. Both of us. Both of us. Yes. Teamwork. Teamwork. Teamwork. And Carrie, too, as well. But everyone that's listening, let Michelle's story inspire you. Her story proves that strength doesn't fade with age.

39:02It grows with the trust, with the belief, with the knowledge, with the consistency. And 67 years old, she's always been going, going, going, like she said, but she's not slowing down anytime soon. She's getting stronger. She's eating more. She's living fully again. She's proof that it's never too late to feel powerful, to feel confident, and to be proud of the woman that you see in the mirror. So ladies, if Michelle's story resonated with you, let it be inspiration. Check out Warrior Babe. Go to warriorbeap.com. We're here to help you. Michelle, thank you for sharing your story.

39:34I know it's going to make a positive impact for anybody listening. Appreciate you. Thanks for the opportunity. Appreciate it. Thanks for everything you're doing. Thank you. 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 to show grow, but it might just be the nudge someone else needs to kickstart their transformation. Thank you so, so, so much for your support.

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