Why Your Weight Loss Has Stalled in Your 40s (Women’s Biggest Questions Answered)

00:00You don't have to squat. There's plenty of other options that are, you don't have to squat. If you say, hey, my back bothers me. There are so many other options to get the same stimulus without putting that pressure on your back. So I could have died on impact. Just the fact that they're like, you're lucky that you've been in the best shape of your life. Like to me, I have that passion of train in the good seasons of your life. Train when you can, because you never know when you're going to need that muscle for something. Is walking on an incline more effective at burning fat than not on an incline? It depends on who you are.

00:44What's going on, everybody? Hey, you guys, welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show. And today, today's episode is going to be a really special one, but also a very, very fun one. Like I can just feel it. Even just like chatting with these ladies beforehand, we were having fun and laughing. So what we're going to be doing today is we are going to be diving into your questions, the listeners' questions. So over the last few days, I opened the floor on Instagram to the followers that follow us for you guys to ask any questions around health, around fitness, around your mental well-being, all of the above.

01:26And you guys delivered. And today, I'm not answering these alone. So you guys will be meeting or have already met. You've already met Andrew. You've already met Maggie. They are here with me. They're the incredible Warrior Bay brand leaders. And they are here to answer these questions. A woman you love, a woman you've already met on these episodes before. If you haven't yet, please make sure you listen to their episodes. But these guys are professionals. They are leading voices in the women's space, in midlife, in health and fitness. And what I admire the most about these women is these women live this work.

02:02They coach it. They embody it. And tonight, we're going to be breaking through and down your biggest questions, any obstacles that you may have in terms of the questions that you have. So again, if you guys haven't listened to the episodes after this one, go listen to the episodes. But with all that being said, what's up, guys? Hey, Maggie. Hey, Andrea. Hello. Hello. How's it going out? I know, right? I feel like I'm just like, it's like a virtual sit-down chat, but it's like we're on the couch hanging out right now or something like that.

02:34Like that's the vibe. I love it. We need to meet and hang out on couches more often, actually. Yes. Okay. So the first question that we've got, let's just dive right into it. The question that we got was, please share your workout program and diet. And hold on, actually, before I pass it to you, Maggie, I just need to, literally this question kind of frustrates me sometimes. I'm not going to lie. Like I'm just going to be point blank and honest. I need to put a disclaimer when we answer this question because like our workout programs are specifically unique to like what we specifically need and what we're focusing on.

03:14So like when we answer this, it isn't necessarily meaning that you need to go and follow this workout plan and this diet plan because it won't work for you. It's not specifically for you. So that's like the disclaimer I need to put. With that being said, I'm going to pass the floor to Maggie. What is your workout program and your diet program? I'm going to go right off your disclaimer because I feel a little sassy when people ask me this. Because, yeah, our situations are a little different than the average menopausal mom who is running around to soccer.

03:50Like we get paid to look a certain way. Like this is our job. So what we do, like and all three of us do something completely different from each other as well. We do what works for us. So, yeah, I can give someone exactly what I do. And I know the first thing someone's going to say is I don't have time for that. Like I'm not doing. Well, yeah, you don't get paid to do it. I wouldn't do it if I were you either. But if you if you want to optimize your health, like you need a coach.

04:21If you don't know, you need a coach. You need someone who's going. If your goal is to fit into your genes and feel as good as you can feel as a 52-year-old, your goals are going to be completely different than mine. I like to walk around. I want to be about a month out from a show. Someone said, hey, do you want to do a show in a month? Okay, let me dial in for about a month and do it. So I walk around much differently than and that's 10 years ago. I didn't care to be this fit, but now I do.

04:52So, yeah, I lift six days a week. Like I do I do cardio quite a bit. I I of course I I lift like a bodybuilder, though. Like I lift everything I do in the gym is to gain muscle. Everything I do and to remain lean. But muscle comes first. And it's the same with my diet. Muscle comes first. I eat to gain muscle and to keep muscle and to stay lean. So I can give you exactly word for word what I do, but that's not going to help you.

05:27It's going to help you just know for your body what it's going to take. You need to be in the gym. You need to be in there three, three to four days and you need to prioritize protein. And I know you're sick of hearing that because you want to know exactly what we do, but you really don't because you probably don't want to do it. And that's what do you do, though? I'm all that. I do. Yeah, I do. I do. I'll tell you exactly what I do. All right. So Monday's legs quad focused Tuesdays chest and trice Wednesdays back and vice Thursdays legs again.

06:06Glute gluten hamstrings Friday shoulders. And then I fit in core and sprints at least two, two to three times a week. I do a lot of sprint training. So sprint interval training. And then I always get in my steps. Like that's the basic. That's that's how I break it. And I lift heavy and I lift hard. I take about an hour, hour and 15 hour and a half. Sometimes I get chatting with people. So I stay. But if I go and dial in, yeah, I can get out there by an hour and 15 or something.

06:37Better be only chatting for that rest period. I know. I know. People need to leave me alone. You think the headphones help. They don't. I'll circle back to you when it comes to your macros. But I want to hear, Andrea, what do you have? What's your workout split look like? All right. So back seven years ago when I was just frustrated, burned out, I was a busy mom, still a busy mom. It's actually even busier now that my kids are in high school. I wanted to find a plan that I could look toned but maintainable and not consume more than I could give and make it not stressful.

07:11So my workout plan, I realized that what works for me is four days a week focused on strength. And I absolutely love cardio. And that's what I used to always do. So I'm like one day a week, and that's going to be my bonus workout. I'm going to do all the cardio I want in that workout. So that kind of made it fun. So if I felt overtrained, I could always just pop in my cardio workout. So the four strength days are two upper body and two lower body. And those were specific things, progressive overload, you know. And that's the same thing that, you know, bodybuilders do to gain muscle, right?

07:45Low reps, heavy lifts, follow the progression to gain the muscle. And then after five years, I'm like, wow, I've got the muscle size. And so now I tell people, especially on social media, I can be a little bit more flexible to maintain the mass I've built. Because I'm over half my body weight is muscle. So you know what I mean? But you've got to stick in there and build that muscle. So the four days a week strength one. And then after my helicopter crash, I had to adjust what that cardio was because I had loved running so much.

08:19So I had to pull that back and stick to swimming now and TRX. And with progressive nerve damage, even 10K steps a day is actually hurting my hips and my back. And I don't talk about that much. But swimming doesn't do that. And TRX doesn't do that. So to me, it almost makes me cry because it's like there is a window. If God closes the door on something you love in your fitness journey, there's a window to still stay fit. And to me, that's an incredible feeling that there's not just one way to be healthy and fit.

08:52Like you can find these other ways. You found what worked for you. You had to make a major adjustment and you found it. Absolutely. So you can go. You're a great example of that. Thank you. I sometimes I go through seasons of like, I'm just going to focus on swimming. And so I'll do that a couple months in the summer, but just for fun. But it's always that strength is that foundation because I know that's what's going to carry me through. But there is a way to look pretty toned. Not as toned as Maggie, but pretty toned.

09:23And it's still me. I'm going to be busy. Yeah. I think what's really cool, too, about the three of us is, you know, we're at different phases. Like Maggie's in her 50s. You're in her 40s. I'm in my 30s. I think it's really cool to also like pinpoint like our different styles of working out for what we specifically need. And that's cool because like, you know, it's exactly you found exactly what you needed. I'm really quick. I want to touch on before I close the loop on this question and share what my plan looks like. But Maggie, I want to jump back to you. And I just want you to talk about how many calories you're eating and what your protein intake is.

09:56We don't need to go into like protein, fast and carbs. Okay. And when I'm in maintenance, I don't I don't track really hard. And when you've been doing this for a long time, you kind of earn that freedom. So I've kind of earned that. But I still stay around like I know what my what my maintenance is. So I probably eat way more protein than the average Joe. I need to because I'm older than both of you, because our need for protein goes up as that's the only macronutrient that changes as you get older.

10:26So for me to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, I have to eat way more protein than I used to. So my minimum is usually about 150 grams of protein. Carbohydrates, I'm usually around 100 ish. It depends on what if I'm going on a big, huge hike. Like I take that into consideration. But mainly I stick around about 100 fats, like maybe 80 or 90. It really depends. Calories, 2000 ish.

10:57Yeah. Is where I am. And when I'm getting ready, when I'm like, okay, I need to I need to cut. I need to get a little poofy. You know, we go through. We're women, man. Our bodies just do this. But I have that control. And if I know I need to cut back, I've got to cut back 200, 300 calories. It's really like I will cut out my handful of nuts in the afternoon. Done. Yep. And I've cut back 200, 300 calories. So it's just nice to have that knowledge and have that freedom. Yeah. Love that. Andrew, what about you? So my macros are kind of I do a kind of a range.

11:30So I'll do about 40% fats and then about 30% protein and the rest carbohydrates, which typically is almost 30%. So it's almost like an even split. And I used to track more carefully at first because I really want to build that muscle. But then I'm getting that maintenance mode. And I don't freak out if the scale goes up. I stay within about five pounds. I found my sweet spot. Right. That's kind of the beautiful place to be is not realizing you have to be X amount of body fat forever. You have to be this on the scale forever.

12:02There's a range where you're going to look pretty good at a couple of different things. Right. If I gain more body fat, my butt looks better. So it's never like my face. My face always looks better if I have a little more fat. Yeah. And you notice that about yourself. And that's what's cool that you don't have to worry about the scale anymore because you can be like, hey, no, two extra pounds. My husband likes that fat. So that's a good point. You brought up, though. That is such a good point because, yeah, I love my body when I'm like around 12% fat, but I hate my face.

12:34Like I'm much more wrinkly when I'm at 12% body fat. So I there is there's pros and cons. There's a payoff to be really lean. Yeah. A hundred percent. I'm glad you brought that up. Just to close the loop, too, for the for the listeners, if you're wondering what my workout is like. First of all, I think it's really cool between the three of us that at the beginning of our journey as we were taking on and learning and trying to understand nutrition and gaining that knowledge. It's like we really focused on the tracking aspect and we really put in that work to on

13:06a daily basis of paying attention to this is exactly our protein, exactly our carbs, exactly our fats so that we can gain the freedom that we have now, which is not needing to. I don't track meticulously anymore. I'm more in that like earned intuitive eating. Right. There's that intuitive eating that gets thrown around the industry now. And it's like, I intuitively eat. But like, OK, do you really intuitively eat? Are you just quote unquote eating healthy? And it's just, you know, a small three meals a day. But we've we've earned that from doing that work.

13:37And I think that's really cool to highlight is because we put in the years of work where a lot of women are like, do I have the track for the rest of my life? No. But you've got to put in the work at the beginning of it so that you can earn where you are now. And right now I just coast to maintenance. Like I just make sure on a daily basis that I am hitting like 140 grams of protein. And then I let the rest kind of just fall where it needs to be, making sure that I'm getting the fats in because I know with me right now, fats are important as our hormones are changing. So that's my main focus. I'm probably hitting maybe like if I had to guess anywhere from 2000 to 2200 calories in

14:09a day. And I just, yeah, coast to maintenance. And then my workout plan right now, me personally, I'm trying to grow up these legs and make them a little bit thicker and make that booty even thicker, even though it's already thick to begin with. But I will do full body, but I'll mainly focus on I'll do it three days a week. I'll focus on lower body first. So I'll do maybe one or two exercises focusing on legs each day. Um, and then for me, that's just because I recover way better doing full body.

14:39Like I'll go in with the same intensity doing one or two exercises, um, a full, like, you know, full strength mode. And then I'll have that 24 hours until I hit them again. Um, so that recovery period is just a little bit better for me rather than having like a full blown leg day, which I've learned my lesson in the past. I just do not recover well. And then I'll hit my back. I'll hit shoulders and arms in upper body, but mainly I'll keep it to like shoulders and back. I rarely touch the biceps and triceps.

15:10I personally don't want them to get any bigger. So that in me, and then also like, I don't lift heavy, heavy weight in my upper body. Like I'm just trying, I don't want to get bigger. I'm just trying to like maintain that muscle. Um, but I'll, I'll push, I'll push that weight on the lower body for sure. Okay. Let's jump into the next question. And I think this one, Oh, a lot of women really want us to talk about because it was actually asked a couple of different ways. The question is, why am I gaining weight even though I'm eating clean and I'm working out?

15:42And like I said, I think this is a very like common scenario for women in their, even their thirties or forties and their fifties are eating quote unquote clean, but it doesn't actually mean they're eating enough and working out. Does it mean that I'm actually training with the right intention? So I'll pass it to one of you guys. If you want to answer and take it away. I have a lot of women, especially at my church asked me this. So they're eating clean. What does that actually mean? Um, and is it strategic for your hormones? So you can be eating clean, but accidentally eating too many calories, especially fats.

16:13It's very easy to go over 400 calories and something if you don't read the nutrition label. Um, so that's, what's nice about tracking is that you understand food and the value of food and macronutrients. You're like, Oh, okay. This is why eating clean and I'm still gaining weight. Or this is why I'm trying to be good eating clean. And you're being good is you're eating a hundred, like thousand calories a day. And that thousand calories is just boosting. I mean, it's dropping your hormone levels and just like sky, you know, sky plummeting

16:45everything. Right. So it's important to at least track and not just say clean eating clean. Cause that doesn't mean you're going to reach your goals or support your hormones doing it that way. I love that take on the eating clean aspect of it. Now I want to pass it to you, Maggie, in terms of like, well, if they're eating clean, they would think that they would lose the weight. Right. But why are they gaining weight even though they're eating clean? Sometimes that's there. I'm eating clean so I can eat as much as I want.

17:15Like that's literally what happens. That it happened three times. I had three different, one of them, I'm eating clean. What's happening to me? She thought eating clean was no protein. She was eating vegan. So she was eating no animal, which it's fine if you want to be a vegetarian or vegan, but you have to have the knowledge to do that and get in enough protein. So she was, her fat and carbohydrates were, her body had no idea what to do with what she

17:45was doing. So we had a little chit chat. Um, and then I just amazed at what people think eating clean is and, and the emphasis they put on it. Like, yeah, no one has defined that. And also sometimes we do have to have some processed foods. Sometimes that's the only way I can get my protein in is if I have protein powder and protein powder is a highly processed food. So this, we need to get over eating clean. You need to know what your macros, what your calories are made out of.

18:18Yeah. Drop the clean. Like, yeah. So many people judge you. They will judge you on whatever you're eating. You're having a tree of like some ice cream. You're like, that's not clean. I'm like, it doesn't have to be. Yeah. What does that even mean? Yeah. Like, I don't know. It's not morals there. It's just like to piggyback off of what you guys are saying. Like I hear the term eating clean. And then I ask, okay, like you did, Andrew. It's like, what does that actually mean to you? And then they start unpacking that. And it's like, okay, well, I'll wake up and I'll have oatmeal with chia seeds or something

18:54like that. Or I'll have toast with butter and an apple to go to head out the door. I'm like, and where's the protein? And then they'll get you on with the rest of the day. And they're like, okay. And I grab like a chicken salad for lunch. And then for dinner, I make whatever I need to make for the family. And I'm like, can you guys just guess how many calories that is? Because it's probably around a thousand, if not a little bit less or a little bit more. That's 12. Yes. And under 50 grams of protein. Yep. And under 50 grams of protein. Exactly. Like there is no way you're going to get soft.

19:26You're going to screw up your metabolism and you have no glucose tank at all. All those carbs you're eating are, they got nowhere to go. They're swimming around for your adipose tissue. They just want to go make more fat. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. That's what I was looking for. It's just getting stored like that. And then also it's, that's why they're gaining the weight because they're not eating, you know, collectively what we're saying, the right amount of food to fuel the things to happen for them to lose the weight.

19:57But also, why don't we unpack this? Because a lot of people get tripped up. When we say that you need to eat more food or the right types of food, they get scared because they're like, well, I'm just going to gain weight that way. Well, yeah, because they have gained weight eating 1200 calories. So of course they're going to think that. Well, it takes a lot of patience too, because it's not eat a thousand calories and the next day eat 2000. Like that's, that's setting yourself up for disaster, right? It has to be slow. It has to be patient. And that's, what's cool about a coach. They'll help you get there and they'll help you understand that.

20:29So, okay. Let's piggyback off of that. How do you set and adjust macros? There's a question that came in. So, cause I think I want to start with you on this, Andrea first, because I think that you're incredible at helping women understand the difference between numbers that are just like tracked and numbers that are actually strategically like set. So how would you break down that for someone? So tracking macros is a little bit tricky, but strategically that's taking into account your height, your weight, your goals.

21:01Do you have, you've been dieting for a long period of time. That's going to adjust what the macro should be because anyone can go and get that macro calculator online, type it in. They're going to shoot out some macros, but that doesn't mean that's going to work for your body or work for your goals. So you have to take in those key things into account and then realize that that's not the Bible now. Like your body's adjusting, your macros need to adjust too, especially if you're experiencing burnout or fatigue.

21:32That's when you're like, Hey, you need some more carbohydrates. That's why you're experiencing that. Or if you have some sort of hormonal fluctuation, probably need some more fats, or maybe you do need more carbohydrates. And just having that knowledge and understanding of like macros is helping my hormones. I'll have less perimenopause symptoms. If I do this, it seems simple, right? Eat more fat, right? And now my hormones feel better. Like, okay. You know? So that's the difference is just having that base knowledge.

22:05I think that's what's cool is like, we're kind of teaching that knowledge too. We're not just giving someone a set macros and like, here you go, figure it out after this. It's like, how do you do it for your whole life? You know, how do I do it for seven years? You have to be willing to adjust that, you know? So. Yeah. I love that. I love making it known why it's important that you're setting the macros in terms of like the protein, fats, and the carbs that you just talked to. And then I want to pass it to you, Maggie. Like you work with a ton of women that are under feeling themselves and or afraid of carbs. So when, what does that look like when you're trying to bring somebody into the macro world

22:39and you're like, Hey, I need you to eat like 150 grams of carbs. Like how do you help them adjust with that? 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

23:15their 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. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warrior babe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warrior babe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. The first thing I do is take, I make them track religiously for at least a week.

23:53I like two weeks and take an average, see what they're actually bringing in. I tell them don't diet, don't do anything different, which is hard when you're tracking because all of a sudden you start paying attention, but I want a baseline. So then I can see, see, okay, they're, they're basically, maybe they're four to maybe they're not that bad. Maybe they're 14, 1500. Like we can, that's a good starting place, but then I can take it then show them what, where this is falling. You know, look, look at your protein, look at your carbs, look at your fat.

24:24What's always amazing to me though, is we can keep them at the exact same calories because they, they'll freak out at first. I'll say, okay, let's, you've been at 1500 calories. Let's keep you at 1500 calories, but they're going to be made out of this. And without a doubt, within two days, I'm eating so much yet they're eating the exact same amount of calories. They just, the society is mind blowing. They can't believe it. Mind blowing. Yeah. It's crazy when you put it that way.

24:54Quick 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. I want to also piggyback to what you said, Andrew, at the beginning in terms of like closing the loop on the adjusting of the macros. I think it's important for women to understand that you don't just go from like 1200 calories

25:28to 1900 calories in one sitting, because that can be really scary for someone to be like, oh, well, I'm going to jump up this much food. Like I'm going to gain the weight. There's a strategic process to it. And that's why I think we can all agree. It's important that you work with a coach on this. You're not just trying to go in blind and following a macro calculator. And then, you know, three, six weeks into it, the macro start working. You're like left for a loophole and you don't know what to do next. That's why it's really important to hire somebody that knows what to, how to help you along the way. But with adjusting the macros, like you will slowly strategically add in anywhere from like

26:0050 to 150 calories, depending on how your body will take it. And I don't know about you guys, but it mainly comes from the carbs and the fats, because the protein number is already like kind of plugged in there that we're, that we're having them hit. And then watching the biofeedback of the body and how they're sleeping, their moods, improving their energy, like all of the things. And then depending on if their body's holding well, okay, then we're good to go for that next, you know, increase. And you strategically get up there in weeks, not one sitting.

26:31Right. And, you know, as I'm saying this, I want you guys to know that like macros aren't, they're not static. You know, even though I'm saying that there's a starting point and you could find a macro calculator and you could try and start it, but I'll tell you guys, you're going to be how confused at it. And it may not even be the right macros for you. But basically like it's all starting based on what your starting point is. The thing is with that, you need to adjust the macros as your body is responding to what I just said, the biofeedback, the strength, the hunger, the stress, like all the things. And there's something really cool that the three of us, you know, have worked on together.

27:05And it's our, it's a step-by-step program of the macro, it's called the macro method. And we can literally help you guys step-by-step with education to be able to understand what macros are and how to implement them into your, into your journey. And I, I firmly believe this is like the education that most women never got, but desperately needed. So we're linking that in the description below for you guys. Definitely check it out. Go get your hands on it. But anyway, I wanted to go to a funny question that we got.

27:38What brand, I don't know if you guys eat bagels, but you guys know that I have ate bagels for the last, you don't eat bagels. You do eat bagels or you don't eat bagels? I missed that. I don't. I said, you always eat bagels because I see them on your story. I have had a bagel. I think every single day for the last two years. I don't know if that's like eternally good for my body, but it's a carb that I need to get in my day. My blood work's been fine. So I don't know. Andrew, do you, do you have bagels?

28:08Do you eat bagels? I eat them once in a while. Okay. It just, it kind of depends. Like I'll get that craving for like, Ooh, like the bagel. And I like Dave, Dave's killer ones. I just look for whole wheat or like the less processed stuff, you know? So, I mean, that's really, I have my own breakfast that I'm like obsessed with and it's rye, it's rye toast and, you know, or that sourdough. Actually, that's a good question for us to answer. Yeah, the breakfast. The breakfast questions. Yeah. Really quick. That's the same brand that I love to use. And I just love how in detail these guys are with the Instagram stories.

28:41Like they pay attention to all of those little things. But I love the fact that I can say that you can fit Mac, you can fit a bagel. Into your macros. You can make it work. So on that note, anyway, what is your favorite breakfast, Andrea? My pretty much for the past seven years is always going to be eggs. I'll do two eggs and a cup of whites. So super easy to get a protein. And then I'll do peanut butter, cacao nibs, and like pumpkin seeds or coconut flakes, typically on sourdough bread or rye bread.

29:13And so that's like made in Wegmans over here. So it's really good, like for my gut health. Because usually I've noticed like the processed wheat breads, those are the ones that give me all the bloating. And I'm like, oh, I can't have bread. But I'm like, oh, yeah, I got to use the more natural stuff. You know, that's what it's about. Right. So just load all that on the bread, do top of my egg, and I'll eat that. And then on the weekends, I'll have like waffles. It's the ones. The Kodiak. Yeah, the Kodiak ones are so good.

29:43I'll have those. And I'll put cherries on it, like frozen cherries. I'll thaw. So that's my syrup is just cherries. And then the eggs again with peanut butter and the chocolate nibs. So I'm just a big... You guys and your morning carbs. Once you like it, you don't need to change. Oh, hey, Maggie, I just heard you there. Do you not have morning carbs? And tell us why. I'm not telling. Yes, please do. I'm not telling any of you. Why? Felicity here. Well, your first meal. You could just say your first meal is later.

30:15Listen to me. I really struggle with insulin resistance. Like I'm there. Like I very easily, my insulin gets out and my blood glucose gets out of control very easily. So I have to, especially in the morning, have to be very careful with carbohydrates. And it kind of throws me off for the day. And I didn't used to be this way. It's really been like the last five, six years. And if I start, if I think, oh, I'm going to start implementing a little more carbs, without a doubt, my A1C, it goes up.

30:48And I track. I wear a continuous glucose monitor. So I have to be careful of that. So I'm a little jealous. But I love that you're highlighting that. Because over the last five to six years, like what did you notice that maybe somebody that, you know, should pay attention to this? What did you notice symptomatically that got you to realize, oh, I'm pretty, I'm pretty like, you know. The first time I put on a continuous glucose monitor was the most eye-opening thing I ever did and explained so much of what I learned so much about my body.

31:20And I, and that's why I did it. Because my, yeah, my A1C was like up at, I was like 6.7, I think. Like I was pre-diabetic. And that's before I had lost all the weight. So I thought, oh, once I get the weight down, I'll be fine. And so I started, I just put them on occasionally, just kind of check in with myself. And even being this, this lean and this fit, I have to be super careful because it really wants to climb back up there very, very quickly. So I, I have to watch out for that.

31:52And even with the amount of muscle I have, I just think it's part of being older and my estrogen has dropped and I don't, my, your, you just don't have those receptors that you used to have. So I have to watch out. But if, if I time them right and, and, you know, eat them lunch, dinner, I usually sleep a little better. If I do, that's when, if I'm going to up my carbohydrates, it's usually paired great with protein and usually dinner. And it helps. And then thyroid wise too.

32:22I do a little bit better. So I just have to be strategic and just time them a little better. And morning is not a good time for mine. It kind of throws me off for the day. Understood though. Like I say less about that. Like, I love that you mentioned all of that because I think that's really important to, to learn and understand as you do get older, those things, things change things. You know, not, not a lot of women understand the internal changes that are happening. They're just dealing with the symptomatic side of them. Yeah. Yeah. And people always, when they see, they're like, you eat so much fat.

32:53Yeah. Because fat doesn't raise my insulin. So I actually do better and I metabolize fat much better than I do carbohydrates. So I get my extra calories with a little higher fat than most people probably do. And I feel better. My hormones are better. I prefer the fats. Like give me all the fats. Give me, give me, give me all the fats. I prefer that ever. It's crazy that I'm saying that though, because a couple of years ago, I'd be like, give me all the carbs. But now I'm giving you all the fats. I think being open to change, right? Maggie's listening to her body as she's aging.

33:24And that's what's, you know, you have to understand is like, it's a, it's a process, right? We have to be open to new, new things. Maybe right now I don't need, but maybe, maybe in the future I'll need to change. So that's important. Yeah. And, and especially when you have that, that data, it's so cool that we have these wearables now and they're not for everyone. If you don't understand what, what your blood sugar is doing, that's just going to stress you out. You need to, don't go through it on. If you have no idea how to read that data. Yeah. Because when I exercise, my, my glucose will spike to 170 without me eating any sugar.

34:00That's just what your body does. So, so many people panic. There's something wrong with me. No, that's your body doing what it's supposed to do. So don't go throw one on unless you know what you're doing or have a coach to help you through it. And you know, what's cool too, what we're like the overall message here right now is the ways that we first started working out, like. Like, and or how we first started eating. That's not how we eat or train now. Like, it is an evolution of a journey.

34:30Like, you just don't do the same workout plan and or the same, like, macro numbers forever. Like, you have to evolve. It has to evolve with you as you change and grow and get older. Absolutely. And that's why you have to stay in the know. You have to stay educated. And because new studies are coming out all the time as well. So there's new studies and your body's changing and you've got to put it together. This actually is a good segue into the next question that we got. And I love this one because I think we're going to be able to clear up some confusion that women have.

35:02And that is, the question was, is my metabolism actually slowing down or is that a myth? And so, because this is the thing, like, so many women automatically assume that this, like, their metabolism slowing down means that their body is shutting down. But that's not how the metabolism works. But I want you to start us off here because you explained this really well. Like, is it actually a myth or what is happening to our, is it slowing down? Like, what is going, what, what is, how can women understand that to what's happening to our metabolism as we get older?

35:37So studies actually show that your metabolism does not, it doesn't really budge from age, like, like 20 to, I think they said age 64. You actually start to see a little bit of change. I think that's what the studies show. So granted, your body is showing all the signs of a slowed metabolism, which isn't actually a slowed metabolism. It's a loss of muscle because age 35 on, you're losing about 1% unless you are intentional about keeping your muscle.

36:10So the less muscle you have, the less of a glucose sink you have to use that extra energy. That is what's happening. That's not your metabolism slowing down or your body's broken. You are simply losing muscle and bone mass. Bone is metabolically active tissue as well. So when you're losing bone and you're losing muscle, where is it going to go? Your visceral and subcutaneous fat and your liver.

36:40So fatty liver disease, all that fun stuff is because you're losing muscle and bone. It's not your body's broken. You got to, you've got to put on muscle. So everything you do should be muscle centric. Everything. I feel like I just need to do like a mic drop. Like if I had like a, like a full blown, like mic right now, just do a drop. And people, I hope you rewind that, listen to that over again, because that was a lot of knowledge packed into a two minute answer. Yeah.

37:10Sorry. Oh no, that was great. About the metabolism. That's great. I love that. People need to understand that. Andrew, did you think she missed anything or anything that you want to tack on there? No, that, that is right on point. I mean, muscle is our safety net as we age. It really is. The bone density, you know, got to get in some impact somehow to keep those bones strong. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've seen firsthand. I was literally just going to say, wait, me or, or Andrea? Andrea.

37:41Yeah. Yeah. Like for like firsthand, like her body, she, she may not have survived or come out as strong as she has from that accident without preloading her body with strong muscles and bone. Yeah. Isn't that what the doctor said to you from what you were wearing that day? Yeah. So I could have died on impact. Cause I had a lacerated spleen. So because I was wearing a leather coat, that kind of cushioned the impact just with that alone. But my knee, the tibia plateau completely shattered. Like it was just, it was horrifying to see it.

38:12Cause it was like potato chips. Like you didn't even see a bone anymore. So they had to use cadaver bone to rebuild it back. And just the fact that they're like, you're lucky that you've been in the best shape of your life. Like to me, I have that passion of train in the good seasons of your life. Train when you can, cause you never know when you're going to need that muscle for something. Like I didn't think that I was going to have to do that to recover like that for the last two years. This is the third year now. But yeah, if you are, if you're able to walk, if you're able to lift, like that is a blessing that you should take advantage of now.

38:48Oh, absolutely. Look at, look at cancer even. Well, for one, the more muscle you have, the more metabolically fit you have, you are, and the less likely you are to get cancer. But if you still happen to get cancer, your, your, uh, percentage of survivability goes up exponentially because you're just stronger. My 22 year old son was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma and he was in one, the best shape.

39:19He was strong. He was muscular. He stayed, he stayed just strong through all of his treatments. His body didn't break down. He didn't, he got back to normal, which I'm so blessed. I skipped all the sad parts, but he had a strong, resilient body because he always, he always, it was so important to him to keep muscle on his body as a 22 year old. So he, his body, it just takes, what's it called? Sorry. I can't think of the word right now, but just what it does to your bones, your muscle, just all of your tissue.

39:54And if you are metabolically fit and have muscle, your, your survivability just goes up. Yeah. I think it's like 50%. I love that. Like we've kind of got on this muscle centric, um, like to just like the, the answer, a really short, um, answer that you gave, like in terms of keeping your metabolism is slowing down. What happens is you're just losing muscle over time. And that's how we got on the muscle centric. Like I think from different, this is really cool from different perspectives, one with your son, one with your actual physical, um, you know, experience, Andrea.

40:27And then for me, my perspective is like, I worked in the emergency room. I saw women coming in and I took care of my grandmother when she was sick and had a stroke. And I was like, that woman never worked out a day in her life. And like seeing the effects of not having muscle in your body, not just to your metabolism, but to your physical strength. Like women coming in with, there were so many hip fractures on a daily basis. And then women coming in falling and breaking, you know, an arm or a leg. They're so fragile. And I could look at them. And like what Tony Robbins says, he's like, you can just look at somebody and you can know how they live their life.

41:01It's like, you know, these women don't work a day, work out a day in their life. So it's like just taking into consideration that answer plus the muscle, muscle centric, uh, Avenue that we just went. If you are listening right now and you don't, ladies, you don't work out. I think it's really important, uh, to focus on, you know, not just like, and I think you guys would agree, like not just going to like F45 and Orange Theory or like those things are good. Like they're, they're, they're okay. But it's like really honing in on strength training and like getting into the weight room, getting into the machine room, getting into the barbell room, um, and using that equipment to build muscle.

41:38Cause that's going to make you physically stronger, but also in turn, it's going to boost your metabolism. It's going to make it stronger. It's going to make it faster. And it's going to get the result that women want. Um, we haven't even touched on like what, what you need for stimulus, like how uncomfortable that, that needs to feel. Oh, right. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like the stress happen on your body. What does Dr. Vonda Wright said? She calls him the man be Pambi pink weights. Yeah. It's, it's not going to cut it like good for you. We're doing something fantastic, but you, you've got to force your body to adapt.

42:12Yeah. You can't just go like this. You guys, I know if you're not watching off some video, but like, I'm just doing like going through the motions. You can't just go through the motions in your workout. Like you actually have to like make ugly faces grunt. Like you have to sweat. You're having a conversation during your set or just like at the end, if you're not, if you don't feel a burn, then what's, what's actually happening? Like the burn doesn't count until you start feeling the burn. I think so many women don't realize what that feels like. And it's scary to them. They start getting to that point. They're like, Ooh, Ooh.

42:42Okay. Well, I'm sure there's two questions that kind of stem from that. Maybe we can like branch off. Cause I'm thinking about, okay, the women are either one, they're afraid to get into the gym. They're afraid to use the weights. They're afraid to step in the area where the men are. And then two, in turn, when you want them to lift heavy, like we want them to do, they're afraid to get injured. So how can we answer those two things? Maybe let's start with the confidence in the gym first. Just walk in there, ladies. Just get it done. Oh, so if you, I would speaking to a woman that's maybe always done group classes, I would say,

43:18grab one of your friends and just have fun in there. Try out all the machines, you know, cause the machines it's, it's hard to hurt yourself. Right. So try the machines, get familiar with how they're used or ask one of the trainers. Trainers always provide those free consultations because the trainers will show you the form. And once you have the form, you're going to have more confidence because you know what to do. You'll have a plan in there instead of walk around and like, nobody wants to be that girl fumbling with the machine. I still get embarrassed in new gyms when I have no idea how to work the machine.

43:49You know, like it never goes away actually. That's a new machine. You've got to learn new stuff. Yeah, exactly. Rip the bandaid off, man. Yeah. Don't do it. Yeah. Or like if they, cause the comp for me at the beginning, like I remember getting the plan from my coach and I, like, I just, at the end of the day, y'all just get a coach. Like you're saying, like, just get a coach. Like they're going to help you even if they're not there in the gym, having the plan. And then what I would do is I would read the plan because there's all an email form. I'd be like, I don't know what the, I don't know what this exercise is. I have no idea what this means.

44:21I go to YouTube and I would be like, I like, all right, let me see the demonstration of the exercise. And then in my brain, I'm like, okay, cool. I can go in the gym when I can do that. Like it just, that gave me the confidence to be like, oh, I know what I'm doing. I can go walk in the gym and I can do that exercise. Absolutely. May take time to get used to, but at least I'm. Figuring it out. And then once you're in there too, you realize no one's looking at you. They're all looking at themselves in the mirror. They don't care what you're doing. They're not even watching you. I used to wear a hat just to help.

44:51Like that would my, like that hat, I wish I still had it. I had it for a really long time, but it just was a blinder for me. Like I couldn't, even if people, like you thought people were looking at you, I'm like, I can't see anybody. So like, I'm just in my own space and it helped. Yeah. That's a great idea. Yeah. I don't watch anyone else. So I know they're not watching me. Yeah. Okay. What about the injury side of things? How can we help women? Like when we tell them we want them to squat and they're like, oh, I don't have a spotter. Or like, we want you to pick up, you know, the heavier weight. Oh, but I'm nervous. Like what would, what would you guys say to them?

45:22Perfect your form. Like form is key. And like for those who even have a coach, they're like, oh, I don't, I would never film myself. Filming myself at the beginning helped me realize how obvious it was that my form was off. Because in your head, you're like, oh, I can squat. And then you see yourself. You're like, this looks nothing like the video on YouTube or whatever, you know? Um, so that's just a simple way as the ones that you're not sure of. Just film yourself or yet again, like, you know, have someone like check your form in person to make sure.

45:55Because once you have the form down, it's harder. Or don't be afraid to drop weight. Like, yeah, be patient because you know how fast women try to like, okay, I got to lift heavy. I'm going to go up 20, 30 pounds every week. It's too fast. You got to be patient for that muscle growth. Right, Maggie? Like it takes a while. A long, long time. And then also you, you don't have to squat. There's plenty of other options that are, you don't have to squat. So that's another good reason to have a coach.

46:26If you say, hey, my back bothers me. There are so many other options to get the same stimulus without putting that pressure on your back. If you love squatting, go for it. That's great. Some people, their bodies handle it better. Some do not. And if you haven't lifted or you do have back problems, there are options. Yeah, I'm not supposed to deadlift anymore just with how my legs are different now. But there's other ways, right? So having that knowledge of how to correct it.

46:56I love that you guys brought that up. I'm Maggie and the squat thing. And Andrea, how you don't have to deadlift. I didn't use a barbell. I didn't go in the free weight barbells for the first like two years of my bodybuilding career. I use a Smith machine. And then the Smith machine. I use a Smith machine. Yeah. It helps to correct the form. Like it helps you to stay in the right formation rather than having that free weight where you could easily swivel with a barbell. And lose, you know, lose that good form. So glad you guys brought that up.

47:26Okay. Next question is actually a pretty good question. I'm curious. Maggie, I want you to take this one first because I believe that you'll break it down really well, especially for women who rely on walking on a treadmill for their cardio. But the question was, is walking on an incline more effective at burning fat than not on an incline? Depends on who you are. I love that answer. Yeah, there is so many layers.

47:57It's like, let me just figure out your story first. Like this, this is the huge cardio onion. There's so many layers. So, okay. You're a sedentary person. You have a desk job. You haven't moved forever. However, that just walking at a, at a little bit faster pace than your average walk down the mall, that's going to get you right where you need to be. If you are someone who is extra, extra fit and you need a little bit more stimulus, you're going to need a little bit of an incline.

48:34Part of this is knowing, being familiar with what happens to your body and what fuel sources you're burning based on what zone you're in. And we can talk about zone one, two, three, four, and five. Some people even use six. And you can do the math. It's like 220 minus your age. Yeah. I've seen zone six lately. Minus your age. We got to talk to Peter about that. You can do all that. The easiest way, the easiest way is just to do the talk test.

49:07Honestly, are you going to burn fat just doing a low steady state? Yeah. You're not using hardly any glucose at all. Your, your body's going to be able to use that harder to reach source, which is fat. So no, you don't need an incline. Some people do. So where are you at? Where are you able to talk? Is your heart rate too high? Is your neighbor next to you and you're huffing and puffing. You can't talk to her. You're burning glucose.

49:37You're not really burning fat. You're in that zone where your body needs extra. It needs quick fuel. And it's, you're burning sugar. And then if you're doing it for a long time and you're out of that, it's going to start to break down some muscle. So you want to stay in a fat zone, a fat burning zone for your body. And that's going to be different based on your cardiovascular fitness. Love that. There was a question, which I think is really important. Actually, I don't think that I really talked about this on the episodes before. And I would love the perspective of the three of us to come together to help this woman

50:08that asked it. But I'll share my perspective first on it before I pass it to you guys. Postpartum macros and losing baby weight while excessively breastfeeding. So people wanting to lose that baby weight while they are breastfeeding. And I've actually, which is pretty interesting that this question came up because I've been getting asked this from like some of my friends have just had babies and like what they do in this season and what they, you know, how should they diet? And my response is this is not the time for aggressive dieting.

50:42Like a lot of women think that they need to eat less, eat less, eat less. And this is like in my perspective and understanding of this, even though I've never had a baby, but I've coached a lot of people that have had babies. I'm sure you guys can absolutely, you've had your fair share of babies. So I'll pass it to you, but your, your body's healing. Your hormones are shifting. Like everything is at work and you're producing the milk. And I think that's the most important thing that requires the energy. It's the priority that you're feeling your body appropriately that can support both of the supply and your recovery. So it's like, I've always told women to pay attention to what they're eating and eat more.

51:16Now, when I say eat more, it's like you eat more of the right types of foods. But typically I tell women to add like 500 more calories on if they're tracking a page that's in, like adding on that many more calories because they are burning that many more calories while they're breastfeeding. We'll love you guys' input. So I'm going to pass it to you guys from, from your coaching experience with women and or your own experience, you know, having babies. Well, that, that baby, your body's going to prioritize, prioritize that baby's health. So it's going to take from your body what it needs to help that baby to grow.

51:50So if you're not giving your body enough, it will, it'll start taking your muscle. It'll start taking your, uh, bone and you will start, your teeth are going to start falling out. It's all kinds of fun. So you have got to. Oh yeah. Really? Oh God. You've got to. Yeah. And the building blocks, the building blocks of this tissue is amino acids. And where do amino acids come from?

52:23You're going to hear it again. You need to up your protein. Really? Nursing moms need to up their protein. That's the building blocks for this tissue. Yeah. Cause that baby's going to get what it needs. No matter what, like that, it's going to take the hydration that your body was built to make this baby grow. So give your body what it needs. So you can still thrive as you're nursing. Anything from you, Andrea? Well, I've had four kids. And from that experience, I wanted to breastfeed them as long as possible.

52:56And your body's going to tell you if you're not eating enough because your milk supply will drop. So that's most important is like, Hey, do you want to breastfeed? That's the best for your baby. And you want to do that. Wash your food, eat well. So you can do that and listen to your body during that time. And every single time I noticed a trend, it took about six months before your body was like, okay with like releasing that last 10 to 15 pounds every single time for me. So I just focused on strength training. I focused on listening to my body, you know, cause I had C-section.

53:28So you just walk. It's good. But just to add to that too, harsh, harsh workouts. Like you, I couldn't nurse after a harsh workout, the lactic acid, my babies would get sick. Very. So I would have to pump and dump because what your body releases, the different toxins that what that does to your body with really harsh workouts as well. So you have to be careful. Interesting. Is that for like, um, is that for like an extended period of time? Is that like, is that for the duration of the entire time?

54:00And people are probably different. It was really an issue with me. If, if I would go for like a hard, a hard run or sprint, just really a harsh workout or if my body was really sore. So you just need to be more gentle with your body when you're nursing. Interesting. Well, this is great. I'm taking notes from when I had babies. Yes. Just hope I don't lose my teeth. You're healthy. You'll be fine. Always going to start getting weird cavities and stuff though. No, I've had enough cavity. I can see them. I hate it. You can see my dark fillings.

54:32I have four or five now. Yeah. Oh, now, now they're, now the studies are showing like the hormone changes, how much that affects your teeth too. Sweet. I love that. Great. It's amazing. Yeah. This is the perfect question, um, for us to close on because I think it ties everything that we've talked about, um, kind of together. And it's also a misconception of, of what like women think that they don't need these and it drives me nuts. So the question is, do rest days matter more in your forties, fifties, as you get older?

55:05And I'm going to say the short answer is yes, but not for the reasons that most women think. I think personally, like rest days are not about doing less. They're about creating the recovery that your muscles and your nervous system actually needs so that your work, the workouts can work in my opinion. So it's like you go to the gym, you break down the muscle. And in that time outside of the gym, it's like you can do active rest days. You can do, it's not about just like, you know, not working out.

55:38You can go do a hike. You can do those things. We need less impact on your body during the recovery period because the recovery period is where your body grows. Like I always say, you build, you break it down in the gym, you build it post-workout. So Maggie, any additional comments you have to say to that one? No, I completely agree with that. And rest days are hard for me. Like they really are hard for me. Now that I'm in perimenopause, I see the difference. Like they matter even more because as soon as I start to shorten my rest days, like, oh,

56:09I need a rest day. Like my perimenopause symptoms are more. I'm like, okay, there was the horrible trade-off. Let me rest more in between this. Interesting. It really ran down. Like I feel, I'm like, oh, geez, I need like a good rest day. And sometimes I'll even have to, I'll have to move, just based on my recovery, I'll have to move rest days. Sometimes I'll stack two together. And then I just know, I just start performing worse in the gym. My recovery is horrible. I start to feel stressed out, overwhelmed.

56:41So that's completely hormonal. Maggie and I talked about ghrelin too. That's your hunger hormone. That's horribly affected if I'm overtraining. So yeah, if you want to stay lean, it's easier if you rest more. And for you, is your ghrelin, when you say it's over, do you get, do you experience more hunger? Do you experience it completely? Like you're not hungry at all. More hunger, more issue of like temptations. Just eat all the sugar and like never feel satisfied.

57:11And then I'm wired at night. I'm like, hold up. Yeah. And that kind of the opposite happens to me when I'm really pushing hard in the gym, my leptin goes up. So I don't, I'm not as hungry. And then I know I'm not eating enough to keep, to keep that muscle. That actually happened to me. I, I kind of did this challenge the last eight weeks and it was hard. It was really hard. And I was not, I'm like, I can't eat. I can't eat. And I thought I'm doing all this work in the gym and I'm not hungry enough to get in the

57:44protein. I need to actually benefit from these workouts. And I was shot. So I had, I had to back off a little bit because yeah, my body was not responding. Well, that's a quick point to bring up. Cause a lot of women say they're never, ever hungry. And by realizing that's a hormone that you can, you know, help support is important, you know? Yeah. And different exercises. So sometimes lifting will, will make you that leptin go up. So that's the tidy, not as hungry. And then, and then a lot of times cardio, if you're doing more cardio, that's when you're

58:14growing, you get a little more hungry because you're really burning through the blood sugar. And I know I grew up in the eighties where you just, you're just so terrified of gaining body fat sometimes that you're like, I have to work out more though. I have to keep going. Like let's ignore the hormones, but that's not true. And that's the beauty of understanding macros and nutrition is like, you can rest a little bit more, work out a little bit less and still be getting results even better. If this was 15 years ago, I would have been, yay, I'm not hungry. I'm going to drop some weight. And this time I was like, dang it.

58:47I should be building some major muscle right now with all this work I'm doing. So it was the opposite. I need to eat more. And it actually is so much better to be on that end of it and have that freedom. It's crazy to me. I noticed that when I don't eat enough the next day after lifting for a recovery day, because there's been some days where like, I'm like, shit, I didn't eat enough. I am so sore. Like it's unbearable. Like I'm like, oh my gosh, see, this is what happens. I didn't feel my body enough for me to heal my body, heal my muscles and grow my muscles.

59:19So now I'm just stuck in this. They're just waiting and like pulsating for food and they're not able to grow and recover. Oh my. Yep. That's a great point. Yeah. I'll feel really like bloated and inflamed. And that's, that's inflammation. It's not like I'm gaining body fat. And by understanding that as like, no, your body is literally showing you that it needs to slow down for a minute, you know? Yes. And yeah. Oh, well, ladies, this was so much fun. Thank you guys for, for being here.

59:50And I, this, everyone listening, this is going to wrap up our Q and a, and I hope that this episode answered the questions that you guys brought for us. And more importantly, gave you guys clarity on like, you know, what actually moves the needle along your fitness journey here. And once you guys understand like the things that we talked about, like the strategy or the implementation or like the action steps or like, you know, whatever, when it comes to your macros and your workouts, I hope like when you understand that you can start to change things and you can start to shift things and you can start to take action with things,

1:00:20um, in your everyday, you know, journey. And if you need more help, like we said multiple times, my coaches, I started my journey with a coach and like, you know, there's times when I was coaching and I still needed a coach. So, um, you know, if you guys are looking that you need a coach and you want to start 2026 strong, then check out warrior babe and see, uh, if we align and if we, if we, you know, if we could fit to work with us. But anyway, ladies, thank you so much. I love it when we can come together and we can just be real and have fun and, you know, just answer the questions away and be honest with everybody listening.

1:00:56Thanks so much. All right. Cool guys. Oh, there goes my phone. Bye everyone. Yeah. Have a good night. 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 and that 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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