Why Eating Less Was Holding Her Back w/ WarriorBabe Shannon

00:00Oh 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, like just like me. I trusted in the process, but my goodness, how good I felt so quickly. It was incredible. All right, Shannon, can you tell us what your situation was like before you joined WarriorBabe? Like where were you at with your health and your fitness?

00:35So 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 really barely at like 900 calories, a thousand calories, and I was getting fluffier by the second. So that was really, I was super disciplined and in it, but nothing was happening with any results.

01:07And you mentioned doing like with the years of yo-yo dieting and the years of feeling like 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 like doing all these things, but it felt like you weren't truly getting anywhere with your results? Like how that make you feel confidence wise, energy wise? 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.

01:45Like 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 why 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. Yeah. That's totally valid, man. You know, so many women go through that and experience that when they think they're doing all the things, but then it's just, they're left in the dust of trying to figure out what am I doing wrong or why isn't this working?

02:19Interesting. So were there moments that you like truly questioned if real lasting, like sustainable, like change was even possible for you? Yes. There were moments where I just threw up my hands and, 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. Like 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 like stop eating less.

02:49Do you see what I'm saying? Like thinking, because I 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 like 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 unsure of what to do. Yeah, that's totally valid. Like I hear a lot of women saying 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.

03:32But 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. Like, was that was that a mix of like, did you were you doing strength training at that point? Or were you doing like cardio basic? What programs were you following at that time? I was following Beachbody. Okay. 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? Like there was no rest.

04:02It was lighter. It was lighter. Yeah, it was lighter, but it was super still intensive, like P90X or lift for or insanity. That's show intense. And then when I was in my mind about do more, I would do two of them a day. So it was definitely something that it was hard. And experiences of which, you know, being inside of Warrior Babe 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. She's been here for how many years now? Have you been on the squad?

04:42Almost four, almost four years. That's amazing. And you hear it every single day from the women that you speak to wanting to help them know that there's a better way because you and you've been in it and it means seven days a week, two times at one point with the punishment esque mindset around to your body. And then I'm curious, like, okay, at that point, you said you were under eating. Can you just like walk me through and listeners through like, what does that mean to you? What did under eating look like to you? So under eating looked like chicken breast for my whole day and broccoli. And that would be my dinner, a tiny chicken breast and broccoli. And then I would have a half a grapefruit in the morning, maybe a protein shake.

05:25Wow. Wow. Just, 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. Didn't eat a thing. Because your metabolism basically adapted to that low intake and which then in turn was 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, man. It was just like, I'm living in survival mode right now. Like, and what you don't know, you don't know, as you mentioned earlier.

05:55Exactly. You know, you don't know, you don't know. And especially from the generation of which you grew up, which was eat less, move more, that just seemed like it was all natural and real to you. You mentioned earlier that you saw a video, like what made you take the first step in like being like, hey, I'm going to do this and I'm going to sign up for it. Well, I did one search on a diet. Okay. 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.

06:37Like, and then I clicked on it and I listened and I was like, I'm doing everything wrong. But just listening to what you were saying, I resonated with everything. I didn't click on it and, and go in right away. I thought I could do it myself. Like perfect honesty. Right. I mean, that's okay. 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 what the direction you were giving in your video, you know, like 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 kind of prompted me to say, okay, you can't do this on your own. You do need something's broken.

07:27And you need to fix it. Oh, I love that you realize that you couldn't do it on your own. Cause there's a lot of women out there that are like, oh, okay, I'm taking this advice. So many people listen to the podcast and they're like, 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 getting them and keeping them stuck from where they are. So I'm glad that you took that leap. What finally, I mean, you were like, I need help, but was there something that resonated with you the most? Like what made warrior babe feel like taking a chance when so many other things hadn't worked before?

08:06So 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. Like just like me and they're doing it. And oh my goodness. Like what you were saying was real. It wasn't BS. It was real things that you were bringing up. That was like 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. Yeah. A hundred percent.

08:43Well, I'd love to hear that one. And two, like now with all the AI generated things that are coming out and like, probably like, I'm glad that we seem more human esque to you, more relatable as well than the other things that are out there. What was the first two weeks to like month to month and a half? Once you joined warrior babe, like how was it getting integrated into the systems and working with meeting your coach and like starting off with your, with your program? So 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. Like I'm adding more. I'm going to have to do this. I'm going to have to block my calendar. I'm going to have to, you know, 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.

09:40I 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 with my mindset. Like, Oh my God. Well, talk about that. Talk about that. Like, what did that feel like for you going from seven days to four days? Oh, it was rough. It was so rough. I asked a lot of questions and she's, she had to like explain the why to me, which I so appreciate. She was so good at 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.

10:18The why's 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 like my blueprint of 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 that in previous trainers, or 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.

10:52So it was a wonderful transition. And then by a month in, I mean, I was, I was on point. I wanted to be the top 10%. So I was like, let's go. I'm doing this. Wow. I love that. It's very relieving to hear you say that and how it made you feel that you thought it would be so much more, but it actually was less. And even peeling back, you know, the time of which you implemented into your, to your workouts became less, you got more time on your plate, which a lot of women think like this is going to make like people don't even want to sign up when they're extremely busy because they feel like what you're saying, it's just added things to your responsibility or to, or to follow through on.

11:32But you're, I love your perspective of like, it actually was way less, especially like what I heard you say was the exhaustion of the guesswork and the mind chatter around food and how that lessened because you were just 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.

12:02Your 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 to grapefruit to protein shake a day to having someone tell you, you need to eat more. Let's talk about that. Oh, Nikki, it was rough. So 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.

12:51And then I didn't have a problem doing my steps like it just started to all feel better. My gut started to feel better. It was incredible. Like I forgot really like hunger. I was scared of it because I was used to starving. Right. Like I was used to like hunger. This was a different hunger. This was a, oh, you're hungry. Go eat. You can eat because you have it to eat. Like you've got to eat. It was, it's just a whole different, it was a whole different system. It was foreign to me. I was scared.

13:21I shared my fear with her though of blowing up like a hot air balloon because I was so scared. That's so valid though. So valid to have that fear. More food to a generation of where you grew up in that you would need to eat less and here you need to eat more after so many years can make your brain. That's so valid. It makes your brain go into fright mode. One thousand percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. Like, and it really is, again, it's a hardwired belief system that is actually was in my own way of doing anything.

13:54So she, again, explain the why's, right? Like, well, 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, but I was so open about my fears or worries. But my goodness, how good I felt so quickly. It was incredible. Was absolutely incredible. How much better I felt. She didn't have to keep explaining the why's for very long.

14:25I was walking around in a, 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, like, a diet target on my forehead. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. 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.

14:57You can make the same food for your family. You don't have to, you know, make their dinner and then make your dinner. I think that's so powerful to highlight on. And I love that you mentioned because earlier you were talking about how you didn't feel hungry. Like, you lost that touch with your body. And then with this, you know what it feels like to be hungry now. You have that hunger cue. You're aware of it. You know you have body awareness back again. That is incredible. What I want to touch on is obviously this is a big encompass of the relationship you have with your coach.

15:35And you mentioned that, like, she helped you with pulling back and gaining more time and not having to overtrain. And then having the confidence around the food to be okay to eat more food. You mentioned that your coach is, like, your life has become your lifeline. What role has she played in this journey, like, for you, like, to make you feel this comfortable and confident along the way? Oh, wow. That is an amazing question. I don't really know the right word to put into it. But I've referenced her as my lifeline.

16:07I've referenced her as I have an umbilical cord to her now. Um, and that, like, she is just absolutely amazing with the support, non-judgment. When I ask or say I'm having a moment of, like, you know, is this normal? Is this, like, is my body doing this because I'm in perimenopause? Like, what is happening? She explains it in such a good, loving, caring, motivating way.

16:38I think that's the best way. So she makes me feel super confident in that we're going to keep going. Like, just look at what's happening. And she calls out things that I don't notice. So she's very good at that. So that gives me more momentum to keep pushing through. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, it's just 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 worry babe with.

17:08That'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. Oh, I just got the chills. Yeah. Because if you can take control of what you have with your, you know, awareness of eating better and training, you know, better, smarter, not harder. With you having that like rope or grasp on that aspect of or that bucket of your life, how it's totally trickled into other areas of your life to more flow with like ease and peace rather than like, let me try and shove.

17:51What is that saying? A square peg into a round circle. A round hole. Yeah. The all or nothing mindset for sure, which I know a lot of women are just like totally resonating with you on by listening to this. Like piggybacking off of that. How does it feel now to have like peace with your body after years of battling it? It is honest to goodness, life changing because I'm not mad all the time. So when you're struggling and you're trying so hard to get a certain result and you're blaming it on your body for not producing.

18:28And so you're mad. I mean, that's just the first emotion that I can think of that I felt a lot where 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, like, what do I have to do? And so I was mad at my body a lot. Now I love, 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.

18:59Yeah. Mic drop. It will produce it. It will do everything you want it to. Yeah. What I hear when you say that is you're way more compassionate with yourself rather than being angry with thinking that your body is broken when really it's not broken. It's just that you were under, you weren't nourishing it or feeding it or training it in the way that it needed it to be. And that it's just because we didn't know what you don't. I love what you said earlier. It's like, we don't know what we don't know. Like, it's so valid. And for everyone that's listening, you know, Shannon's transformation, obviously through this whole interview, it's been more than just physical.

19:35Like, yeah, you have an incredible, like when you look at the before and after, like there's incredible transformation, but also it's been in her mindset. And knowing that when the mindset has rewritten her story and her narrative, it's here to stay. Like she's, you, you build a lifestyle that works with your body, not against it. And you have food freedom now and you have unwavering confidence. You're rewriting the narrative for yourself, which is really cool to see, you know, amongst this interview and chatting with you and then seeing your results as well.

20:06You're proving that through, you have like the right tools, you have the right support. And that really, like 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. And it's always a blast being in your presence. You have the best energy ever. So, but yeah, thank you for being here and I appreciate you. Oh, thank you so much for having me. 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.

20:37Drop 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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