Why Eating Less Isn't Working for Women Over 40

Shannon: Oh my gosh, if I eat more, I'm going to blow up like a hot air balloon. That's when I realized, okay, I need help. You guys worked with my age. And so to me, that was so much better than just seeing perfect people. It was like, oh wow, these are real people, just like me. I trusted in the process, but my goodness, how good I felt so quickly. It was incredible.

Nikkiey: All right, Shannon, can you tell us what your situation was like before you joined WarriorBabe? Where were you at with your health and your fitness?

Shannon: So I was working out seven days a week. No joke, no rest days, right? High cardio, real high intensity, weight resistance, hardly eating anything, which is so opposite of what I now know. But in that moment, I was barely at like 900 calories, a thousand calories, and I was getting fluffier by the second. I was super disciplined and in it, but nothing was happening with any results.

Nikkiey: And you mentioned the years of yo-yo dieting and the years of feeling overwhelmed, and geez, seven days a week. I can't imagine what that was doing to your body at the time while under-eating at the same time. How was your energy during this? Do you remember what it felt like to be doing all these things, but feeling like you weren't truly getting anywhere with your results? How did that make you feel, confidence-wise, energy-wise?

Shannon: Energy was horrible. I was tired. I was cranky. I was hungry. I was so frustrated because, you know, week after week of do, do, do, and then you go to put on your clothes and they're not fitting. I was just going in the absolute opposite direction. So my confidence was taking such an incredible hit. It was a horrible hamster wheel to be on because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to change it. I didn't know what I was doing wrong, and I was really angry with my body. I was really mad. Like, why aren't you producing what I want? So it was rough. It was very rough.

Nikkiey: Yeah. That's totally valid. You know, so many women go through that and experience that when they think they're doing all the things, but then they're left in the dust trying to figure out, what am I doing wrong, or why isn't this working? Interesting. So were there moments that you truly questioned if real, lasting, sustainable change was even possible for you?

Shannon: Yes. There were moments where I just threw up my hands and wanted to give up. I'm not going to lie. Of course, there were some times I was like, screw it, it's not working. Nothing's working no matter how hard I work out. But I had this mindset of punishment. I don't know if that's the right word, but when my body didn't produce what I wanted, I would almost eat even less. Do you see what I'm saying? Because I'm 48 going on 49. I grew up in the era of the less you eat, the more you work out. Right. So it was ingrained. It was almost hardwired in my brain: eat less, work out more. So I would then be harder on my body. And again, it was a horrible cycle to be in, but we don't know what we don't know. And I kind of just hit a wall, you know, of just being unsure of what to do.

Nikkiey: Yeah, that's totally valid. I hear a lot of women saying that in their journeys when they're starting out. It's a really good way of putting it, right? You're punishing your body because you think that you're doing all the right things, because of what you're being told is the right thing to do. But when you're not seeing the results, you feel like you need to go harder and you need to do more and you need to do seven days a week. I mean, I'm still stuck on that. Were you doing strength training at that point? Or were you doing cardio, basically? What programs were you following at that time?

Shannon: I was following Beachbody.

Nikkiey: Okay.

Shannon: And so it was the video programs where they called it a rest day on day seven. It was not a rest day. Do you know what I'm saying? There was no rest.

Nikkiey: It was lighter.

Shannon: Yeah, it was lighter, but it was still super intensive, like P90X or LIIFT4 or Insanity. That's so intense. And then when I was in my mind about doing more, I would do two of them a day. So it was definitely hard.

Nikkiey: And experiences like that, you know, being inside of WarriorBabe and listening to the women that are in your small group. You know, Shannon is even one of the team members of our squad, which is really freaking cool. How many years have you been on the squad now?

Shannon: Almost four. Almost four years.

Nikkiey: That's amazing. And you hear it every single day from the women that you speak to, and you want to help them know that there's a better way, because you've been in it. It meant seven days a week, two times a day at one point, with the punishment-esque mindset toward your body. And then I'm curious. At that point, you said you were under-eating. Can you walk me and the listeners through what that means to you? What did under-eating look like to you?

Shannon: So under-eating looked like chicken breast for my whole day, and broccoli. That would be my dinner, a tiny chicken breast and broccoli. And then I would have half a grapefruit in the morning, maybe a protein shake.

Nikkiey: Wow. Wow.

Shannon: I just hardly ate. And then it got to the point where I didn't have an appetite anymore. So I could do it because my appetite was gone. I could go to three o'clock in the afternoon and not eat a thing.

Nikkiey: Because your metabolism basically adapted to that low intake, which then in turn made it really hard for you to see the results that you wanted, no matter how hard you were working. Your body was just trying to keep you safe. It was like, I'm living in survival mode right now. And you don't know what you don't know, as you mentioned earlier.

Shannon: Exactly.

Nikkiey: You don't know what you don't know. And especially from the generation in which you grew up, which was eat less, move more, that just seemed natural and real to you. You mentioned earlier that you saw a video. What made you take the first step and say, hey, I'm going to do this and I'm going to sign up for it?

Shannon: Well, I did one search on a diet.

Nikkiey: Okay.

Shannon: I just did one search and my feed blew up with all of these ads and programs, but yours specifically stuck out. A, you have the shoulders I've always wanted my entire life. That's why I was working out seven days a week. So when I saw you, I was like, oh my gosh. And then I clicked on it and I listened and I was like, I'm doing everything wrong. Just listening to what you were saying, I resonated with everything. I didn't click on it and go in right away. I thought I could do it myself, in perfect honesty.

Nikkiey: Right. I mean, that's okay.

Shannon: So, maybe I need to eat more. Maybe. I was so uncertain about it. So uncertain that I was scared to eat more. I was to the point where I couldn't follow the direction you were giving in your video, you know, to eat more, because I was so scared. Oh my gosh, if I eat more, I'm going to blow up like a hot air balloon. That's when I realized, okay, I need help. And so that's what prompted me to say, okay, you can't do this on your own. Something's broken and you need to fix it.

Nikkiey: Oh, I love that you realized that you couldn't do it on your own. Because there are a lot of women out there who listen to the podcast and think, I can take this advice, I can go implement it. But then they see that they're in the same position four weeks later, because they're trying to do it on their own and they haven't increased their calories, or they haven't peeled back on their workouts, because they feel like that works for them. But it really is just keeping them stuck where they are. So I'm glad that you took that leap. You said you needed help, but was there something that resonated with you the most? What made WarriorBabe feel worth taking a chance on when so many other things hadn't worked before?

Shannon: So it was the approach of being real. You guys worked with my age. And so to me, that was so much better than just seeing perfect people. Everything resonated with me because it was like, oh wow, these are real people, just like me, and they're doing it. And oh my goodness, what you were saying was real. It wasn't BS. It was real things that you were bringing up, and it was literally talking to me. So you resonated with me way better than any of the other scripted commercials or programs that I had looked into.

Nikkiey: Yeah. A hundred percent. Well, one, I love to hear that. And two, with all the AI-generated things that are coming out now, I'm glad that we seem more human and more relatable to you than the other things that are out there. What were the first two weeks to a month, a month and a half like once you joined WarriorBabe? How was it getting integrated into the systems and meeting your coach and starting off with your program?

Shannon: It was so exciting. I was more excited than anything else to just dive into it. It was actually a lot easier than I expected. When I went into it, I was thinking I'm adding so much to my plate. I'm going to have to do this. I'm going to have to block my calendar. I'm going to have to do a lot more, but I was ready for it. But surprisingly, my coach took stuff off my plate and it freed me up. It was a gift of time. I went from seven days a week to three to four days a week, and now I'm at four days a week currently. She has worked with me on my mindset.

Nikkiey: Oh my God. Well, talk about that. What did it feel like for you going from seven days to four days?

Shannon: Oh, it was rough. It was so rough. I asked a lot of questions and she had to explain the why to me, which I so appreciate. She was so good at saying, this is why you can't do it this way, because you're actually stalling yourself out. You want progress. You can't keep doing seven days, and this is why. The whys were gold to me, gold, because then it just made more sense to me. And then I welcomed the rest days. She had to gradually get me there. It took about a couple of weeks for me to not feel guilty. She gave me my blueprint, like, here, you've got this, and let's make it work with your life. And so it was actually so much easier than I anticipated. With previous trainers, you just feel like there's so much more you have to do now. And that was not the case. It was actually the opposite. So it was a wonderful transition. And then by a month in, I was on point. I wanted to be in the top 10%. So I was like, let's go. I'm doing this.

Nikkiey: Wow. I love that. It's very relieving to hear you say that, and how it made you feel. You thought it would be so much more, but it actually was less. Even peeling back the time you put into your workouts, it became less, and you got more time back on your plate. A lot of women don't even want to sign up when they're extremely busy, because they feel like what you said, that it's just adding things to their responsibilities to follow through on. But I love your perspective that it actually was way less. What I heard you say was that the exhaustion of the guesswork and the mind chatter around food lessened, because you were being told what you needed to do. You didn't have to guess anymore.

Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me.

How was your transition from eating a chicken breast, a grapefruit and a protein shake a day to having someone tell you that you need to eat more? Let's talk about that.

Shannon: Oh, Nikkiey, it was rough. The awesome part about it was, I had this immense fear. How am I ever going to eat that much? She didn't throw me to the wolves. She gradually increased my food, and my appetite came back, and then I wanted the food, and then I had more energy, and then I could lift heavier. And then I didn't have a problem doing my steps. It just started to all feel better. My gut started to feel better. It was incredible. I had really forgotten what hunger was like. I was scared of it because I was used to starving. Right. I was used to that kind of hunger. This was a different hunger. This was, oh, you're hungry, go eat. You can eat because you have it to eat. You've got to eat. It was a whole different system. It was foreign to me. I was scared. I shared my fear with her, though, of blowing up like a hot air balloon, because I was so scared.

Nikkiey: That's so valid, though. So valid to have that fear. More food, for a generation that grew up being told you need to eat less, and now here you need to eat more after so many years. That's so valid. It makes your brain go into fright mode.

Shannon: One thousand percent.

Nikkiey: A hundred percent.

Shannon: Yeah. And it really is, again, a hardwired belief system that was actually in my own way of doing anything. So she, again, explained the whys, right? Like, this is how your metabolism works. This is how your body's going to work. You want these results and this is how we're going to get you there. But we've got to retrain. We've got to get you burning again before any results are going to happen. I trusted in the process, and I was so open about my fears or worries. But my goodness, how good I felt so quickly. It was incredible. It was absolutely incredible how much better I felt. She didn't have to keep explaining the whys for very long. I was walking around like, whoo, this is nice. I get to eat. I get to eat with my family. I don't have to cook separate meals. It was human. That's the best word I can use. I was human. I wasn't a robot. I wasn't a rabbit. I actually got to sit down and eat dinner with my family without having a diet target on my forehead. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Nikkiey: I love the way that you just explained that. I think that's really powerful. A diet target on my forehead. And that you can actually eat the same food that your family is eating. You can make the same food for your family. You don't have to make their dinner and then make your dinner. I think that's so powerful to highlight. And I love that you mentioned that, because earlier you were talking about how you didn't feel hungry. You lost that touch with your body. And now you know what it feels like to be hungry. You have that hunger cue. You're aware of it. You have body awareness back again. That is incredible.

What I want to touch on is that obviously a big part of this is the relationship you have with your coach. You mentioned that she helped you with pulling back, gaining more time and not having to overtrain, and then having the confidence around food to be okay eating more. You mentioned that your coach has become your lifeline. What role has she played in this journey for you, to make you feel this comfortable and confident along the way?

Shannon: Oh, wow. That is an amazing question. I don't really know the right words to put to it. But I've referred to her as my lifeline. I've said I have an umbilical cord to her now. She is just absolutely amazing with the support and non-judgment. When I ask, or say I'm having a moment of, is this normal? Is my body doing this because I'm in perimenopause? What is happening? She explains it in such a good, loving, caring, motivating way. I think that's the best way to say it. So she makes me feel super confident that we're going to keep going. Like, just look at what's happening. And she calls out things that I don't notice. She's very good at that. So that gives me more momentum to keep pushing through. Do you know what I'm saying? She's been monumental in teaching me, helping me work with my life, giving me grace when I needed it. And I'm getting rid of the all-or-nothing mindset that I came to WarriorBabe with. That's been life changing, because now that all-or-nothing is not so overpowering in all areas of my life. Not just my body, not just my fitness, but decision making and parenting and all of it.

Nikkiey: Oh, I just got the chills.

Shannon: Yeah.

Nikkiey: Because if you can take control of your awareness of eating better and training better, smarter, not harder, then having that grasp on that bucket of your life has totally trickled into other areas of your life, so they flow with more ease and peace, rather than trying to shove, what is that saying, a square peg into a round circle.

Shannon: A round hole.

Nikkiey: Yeah. The all-or-nothing mindset, for sure, which I know a lot of women are totally resonating with as they listen to this. Piggybacking off of that, how does it feel now to have peace with your body after years of battling it?

Shannon: It is, honest to goodness, life changing, because I'm not mad all the time. When you're struggling and you're trying so hard to get a certain result, and you're blaming your body for not producing, you're mad. I mean, that's just the first emotion I can think of that I felt a lot. I was mad when my clothes didn't fit. I was mad when I looked in the mirror. I was mad when I took a picture, because I was like, dang, what do I have to do? And so I was mad at my body a lot. Now I love my body. I have a whole different appreciation, because it sure is producing exactly what I want when I give it what it needs. I wasn't doing that before.

Nikkiey: Yeah. Mic drop.

Shannon: It will produce it. It will do everything you want it to.

Nikkiey: Yeah. What I hear when you say that is that you're way more compassionate with yourself, rather than being angry and thinking that your body is broken, when really it's not broken. It's just that you weren't nourishing it or feeding it or training it in the way that it needed. And that's just because you don't know what you don't know. I love what you said earlier: we don't know what we don't know. It's so valid.

And for everyone that's listening, Shannon's transformation, as you've heard through this whole interview, has been more than just physical. Yes, when you look at the before and after, there's an incredible transformation, but it's also been in her mindset. And when the mindset has rewritten her story and her narrative, it's here to stay. You built a lifestyle that works with your body, not against it. You have food freedom now and you have unwavering confidence. You're rewriting the narrative for yourself, which is really cool to see through this interview, chatting with you and then seeing your results as well. You're proving that when you have the right tools and the right support, there's no limit to what you can achieve, which is really cool. So thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for being here and spending time with me. It's always a blast being in your presence. You have the best energy ever. So thank you for being here, and I appreciate you.

Shannon: Oh, thank you so much for having me.

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, so much for your support.