EP 39: Beyond Weight Loss: The 40+ Women's Blueprint to Body Transformation

0:00Hello and welcome to Becoming Her, Fit Le Fair ,ェera, and Youping Her, Co. It's time to bust some myths and give you the real no-nonsense truth about what it takes to look and feel your absolute best in this season of life. So grab a notebook, grab a coffee, get comfy, and let's dive right in. So let's start with a big question, which is how do we lose body fat? What actually allows us to lose body fat? And it is simple science, but it's often overcomplicated by the industry. Fat loss or fat gain is driven by one thing and one thing only, which is energy balance. So to lose body fat, you have to take in less than your spend.

1:04This is called a calorie deficit, and this is what leads to fat loss. If you are taking in more calories than you are burning, you're in a surplus, and that's when you're going to gain body fat. To lose fat, a calorie deficit is the only way. Now you might be thinking, okay, what about keto? What about low carb? What about intermittent fasting? What about all those labeled diets? Why do those work? The secret is those work because they put you into a calorie deficit. Keto cuts out a whole food group, so that likely will put you into a calorie deficit. Intermittent fasting restricts your eating window, so you have less time to consume calories, likely putting you into a calorie deficit.

1:43They all lead you to a same place, which is a calorie deficit, and that's why you start to lose body fat. The problem is that these approaches are very restrictive, they're very rigid, and they're hard to maintain long-term, not for everyone, but for a good majority of us. So when you want to quote-unquote go back to eating normal, you're going to rebound and you often end up right back where you started or even worse off. Raise your hand if that's been you because I know it's been me. I've gone through one of these fad diets or fasted or dropped carbs and then when I tried to veer away from that, the weight would come piling back, sometimes even more than I had lost.

2:20And I would feel like a failure, feel like it was me. But this is what led me to what I do now and why I'm a huge advocate for it, which is tracking calories, because it's a more flexible and sustainable approach. Yes, it requires a little bit of a learning curve. But I'm telling you, once you understand how to track your calories and your protein, you are going to have a very flexible and sustainable approach when it comes to fat loss, but most importantly, maintaining that fat loss. And in today's world where we have smartphones and all of these different apps, when we're talking about tracking our food, it is so easy.

2:53And I'm telling you, we're on our phones anyway. Learn the skillset of how to track your food, start saving meals, scan your meals. Even if it's not perfect, you're going to have a better idea of where your calories are so that you can make some adjustments and get going in the right direction. But a calorie deficit is the only way that we will lose body fat. So learning how to manage your calories, just like learning how to manage your finances is just going to put you in the driver's seat when it comes to losing body fat and maintaining that body fat loss long term. So now that you know the method and what it really takes to lose body fat, which is managing calories, let's talk about how to fill in those calories.

3:31What kind of foods do we eat? And I want to throw the idea of quote unquote, good or bad foods, You're going to have foods that are more calorie dense and some that are just not. A cookie obviously is going to have a lot of calories, not a lot of nutrients. And a big bowl of leafy greens is going to be packed full of volume and nutrients. But there's no reason that we can't necessarily have a world where the two co-exist. You can especially create this balance when you know your calories and when you know your numbers. And that's when you get to budget your numbers and fit in those things that you enjoy, but still make progress.

4:06But aside from just creating a balanced lifestyle with food, I want to add a critical layer to this discussion. I want you to think of nutrition in three tiers all working together. And this is going to simplify it in your brain. Calories are going to determine your body weight. Macronutrients, especially protein, are going to determine your body composition, a.k.a. how much lean muscle tissue you have versus fat. And then micronutrients are going to help to determine your overall health and your energy. So let's back that up a little bit. So calories, like we said, are going to be driving what your body weighs.

4:40If you're in a deficit, you're going to be losing. If you're in a surplus, you're going to be gaining. And if you're at maintenance, you're going to be maintaining your weight. This is what's going to dictate whether that number on the scale is going up, going down, or staying the same, total calories. Now, macronutrients, especially protein, are going to help determine your body composition. This is where we get into the nitty gritty of what your body is made of. The way you structure your protein is going to help signal to your body to either build or maintain muscle, which is key to having that lean toned body that we want.

5:13And also for overall long-term health and longevity. Muscle is key. You want to have enough protein, period. Thirdly, we have micronutrients. This is going to determine your overall health and energy. So this is where you're going to get your vitamins and your minerals and your fiber. These are going to help your energy and help you feel vibrant. and if you're sluggish, these are what are going to help you feel more energetic and vibrant or when you're not getting enough, why you might feel sluggish and tired. So while it's okay to make room for both fun foods and quote unquote healthy foods, your goal is to make sure that the majority of your calories are coming from foods that are going to love you back, foods that are going to fuel your body and help you feel your best.

5:56I like to practice what I call the 80-20 % rule. So 80 % of the time I'm having foods that are nutrient dense, things that have either grown or walked on the earth. So think of all of the things that are on the perimeter of the grocery store. So fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, some dairy sources, things like that. Those should make up the majority of your diet. And then 20 % of the time you sprinkle in the things that you like, those fun foods. That's how you create a plan that's sustainable, but also make sure that you're getting the foods that you need to feel and look your best. Now, the foods that you want to avoid are the ones that don't love you back, the ones that make you feel sluggish, bloated, or just don't agree with you.

6:37But in general, you can definitely create a balanced lifestyle when you are tracking your calories, prioritizing protein, and then using that 80-20 % rule. However, when you're in a fat loss phase, this is when you're going to have to be a little bit more diligent with your choices and you might not have as much flexibility. You might have to make macro-friendly versions of some of those foods that you enjoy. But again, this is temporary. Fat loss phases are not meant to be a lifestyle. They're meant to be a short-term phase to help you get fat loss. And then you go back to maintenance where you can have that flexible approach.

7:11So we talked about calories. We talked about how to eat for your calories. Now let's talk about two critical components when we're talking about overall health for women, especially in the 40 plus genre. And that is protein and fiber. We already touched on protein, but we're going to talk about it a little bit more because it's that important. So protein is critical. It's the building block of muscle and your muscle is your metabolic powerhouse. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Protein also helps you feel fuller for longer, which is a massive win if you are in a calorie deficit.

7:45And for most women, you want to aim for about a gram per pound of your goal body weight. That's a great starting point. Tracking your calories and your protein intake is often all you need to get fantastic results. You don't have to track all three macronutrients. Several studies have been able to show that when you protein and calories are accounted for, results are the same. So keep your life simple, track your calories, get enough protein, and you're going to be good. Next up, we have fiber. So women over 40 can struggle with things like digestion, cravings, and fiber is going to be your best friend here.

8:16It's going to help with satiety. It's going to help with your gut health, and it's going to help things just kind of move along smoothly. Try to make it a goal to get to 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day, which if you're practicing that 80, 20 % rule where you're having 80 % of your foods coming from whole food choices, you're likely going to hit that goal pretty easily. So think things like sweet potatoes, oats, berries, leafy greens, apples, popcorn, things of that nature. But incorporating a variety of those whole foods will provide a lot more nutrients, minerals, and of course, fiber, all of which are going to help us look and feel our best.

8:54The other thing I really want to quickly mention is that when you have more protein, when you have more fiber, when you have more whole foods, you burn more calories. So all of these things have a higher thermic effect of food, which means they just burn more calories to digest. So not only are they going to help you build lean muscle, help you with your digestion, help you with your energy levels, help you feel better and look better, but they're also going to help your metabolism. So all of these things are important to understand when we're talking about creating a nutrition plan that's going to be supportive of our goals and just making us feel and look our best.

9:33And what I will say is this, like, of course, if we are used to having highly processed foods, you know, initially our palate isn't going to think, you know, sweet potatoes and lean beef or Greek yogurt. These things are not going to be exciting to you. But what I will say is over time, little by little, you can recreate meals that are almost mimic some of those things that you do love and enjoy. And your palate does evolve. It does change. And not to mention, you're going to start to feel better. You're going to start to look better. And you're going to want to crave those foods that are loving you back.

10:08So trust the process and understand that these foods are not necessarily, you know, you don't have to think about them as good or bad, but you do want to think about what are the foods that I can have that are really going to help me look and feel my best. Yes, you can have room for the other stuff too, but primarily fuel yourself so that you are thriving. So now that we've gone through the key components of nutrition, let's talk about the most critical part of transforming your body over 40, which is strength training. As we age, we face a natural loss of muscle tissue, which is called sarcopenia.

10:43So starting around age 30, we can lose about three to 5 % of our muscle mass per decade if we're not actively working to prevent it. This is why strength training is so critical. It's a game changer for your entire body. This is also why I think a lot of women run into an issue with feeling like their body has changed at age 40 because prior to that, we were probably not prioritizing protein, probably not prioritizing strength training. And now we couple that with chronic dieting and loss of muscle tissue from age. And it's a perfect storm for a metabolic crash where things are just slowed down because we've lost lean muscle tissue.

11:23We've been chronically dieting for years. So it just creates this perfect storm for us to gain fat very easily and then making it very hard for us to lose. The best way for us to combat that is muscle. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be, which means you will burn more calories at rest. This is a huge win for maintaining a lean physique. But beyond that, strength training dramatically improves your metabolic health and your insulin resistance. So when you build muscle, you create more places in your body to store glucose, which helps regulate your blood sugar, and it helps your cells be more responsive to insulin.

12:04This is a powerful tool for preventing and or managing different metabolic conditions like type 2 diabetes. So what does an optimal strength training program look like. It's not just about holding dumbbells. It's about implementing a concept called progressive overload. So this means you're consistently striving to get stronger over time. You can do this by adding a little bit of weight, adding another rep, slowing down your tempo of your exercises and improving your form. The key is to continue to challenge your muscles so that they have a reason to grow and adapt. Another crucial factor with training is that you're using a weight that's challenging for you.

12:42This means you're bringing yourself close to failure with the reps that are prescribed. Your last two to three reps should feel hard. They should slow down naturally and they should genuinely feel like it's a struggle to complete them. That is where the magic happens. That is the optimal way to stimulate muscle growth tissue, which is the best way to stay lean, strong and healthy over 40. So strength training should be top priority, no matter what phase of nutrition you're in. It's the foundation that's going to keep you lean, healthy, and strong for the years to come. So now we covered strength training, which is the number one focus.

13:19But let's also talk about movement in regards to cardio and steps. A lot of people get hung up on the idea that they have to reach 10 ,000 steps, but that's not for everyone. What you want to focus on is simply being active. So hitting a goal of like 7 ,000 to 8 ,000 steps is considered highly active and comes with a ton of health benefits, especially for your heart. But the best thing you can do is start with where you are. Meet yourself where you're at. If you're currently only getting 3 ,000 to 4 ,000 steps a day, don't feel like you have to jump to 10 ,000 overnight or 8 ,000. Instead, try to add 1 ,000 steps per week over time.

13:59This is sustainable and it's a realistic way for you to build that habit and then reach that goal of being more active Maybe getting yourself to seven to eight thousand steps But if you try to do that big jump all at once it might not work out setting a smaller goal Just helps you have that win and having that feeling of winning just helps to create that momentum Now when it comes to other forms of cardio like zone two cardio It's also fantastic for overall heart health and improving your body's ability to use fat for fuel However, it's not something that you want to be doing too much of all of the time because your body adapts.

14:34It's better to use this as a strategic tool in your toolbox. Think of a step goal and your zone two cardio as leverage. You want to use them for the right job at the right times. So increasing your steps to 10 ,000 a day or adding a couple of targeted zone two cardio sessions are best used when you're in a calorie deficit, when you need to increase that deficit without taking away more food. Then when you move into maintenance, you can phase out of them, dial that back a little bit. This ensures that your body doesn't fully adapt to that higher level activity so that you use them again when you need to in another fat loss phase and they are effective in the future.

15:13Okay, we covered nutrition, we covered strength training, we covered movement. So how do we now put this all into practice? We do it by phasing our nutrition to complement our lifestyle and our goals. So there are several different phases that you may or may not use to ultimately get that true body transformation. And what I want to emphasize here is that getting your best body does not just include weight loss. Let me say that again. Getting your best body does not just include weight loss. It's going to include a combination of gaining lean muscle tissue, then losing body fat, and maybe repeating that cycle a few times before you are at your specific goal.

15:53And that's going to look different for everyone. There is no right or wrong. It's really your preference. But just focusing on solely fat loss is not going to create that toned body that you want to. That's why you have to kind of go through these phases, be patient, be consistent, understand that it's long term that we have to commit to. It's not this quick fix that we're used to. Those quick fixes don't work. You would not be listening to this podcast if they did. So we just have to get our heads in the long game here and just understand that it's going to take time, but it's going to be worth it.

16:24So I'm going to walk through these phases. Again, sometimes you may need to meet one of these phases or not, but it's important to have an understanding of them all. So the first phase here is what I like to call your priming or your reset phase. This is for the person who has been on chronic diets, who is just been on these yo-yo diets, eating low calories, doing cardio, and now is in her phase. And no matter what, unable to see the scale budge, even if she's eating like 1500 calories or less, then you would want to start with this phase. This is where you slowly increase your calories to a healthy maintenance point.

16:59And it does a few things to really help. It helps to upregulate your metabolism and really gets your hormones into a much better place, including your hunger hormones. It allows you to get a little bit more muscle tissue on your body, which is only going to help your metabolism for the long term. And it also helps you to get to a healthy level of calories before you start your deficit and helps you to understand what that looks and feels like. This is a critical phase for that person who has been a chronic dieter and who is just maintaining at a very low calorie point. The only way that you can lose body fat if your maintenance level is like 1600 is to drop below that.

17:38And that's not a good place to be. It's not sustainable and you'll likely fail. So spending some time where you are helping to upregulate your metabolism, get your body into a better place is only going to help you long term when it comes to losing fat with a sustainable approach. In this phase, you'll spend anywhere from four to eight weeks where you are just slowly but steadily increasing calories, about 100 calories every week to two weeks to try and get yourself up to a more sustainable calorie point of maintenance level calories. And as far as how high to go with your calories, I would say a safe bet is to take your current body weight and multiply the bet by 13 or 14.

18:16That should give you a baseline idea of where your calories should be. If you're well below that, then it's a really good sign that you should be reverse dieting. You're going to add those calories in week by week, slowly get your way up to that maintenance level of calories. You may see some fluctuations with the scale, which is natural if you're having more food volume, but you should stay within two to four pounds of your body weight. If you're exceeding that, then potentially just pause and take another week before you increase calories, or maybe you have reached that max maintenance level of calories for now.

18:49Once you're there, that's when you can then transition into the next phase, which is our fat loss phase or a calorie deficit. So once you've primed your body, then you transition into this phase. This is where you'll implement a moderate calorie deficit anywhere from 300 to 500 calories to low, whatever your maintenance point was. Again, this is another reason why you would want to start with a priming phase because you want to know where your numbers are. You want to know where your body is more or less maintaining. Once you have that information, it's a lot easier to then implement a deficit.

19:19So a moderate deficit is key because it allows you to lose fat sustainably without feeling completely deprived. The other thing is you want to set a time frame for this. So anywhere between 8 to 16 weeks, you can certainly go longer if you want to, but this is a good container to work within. After about 16 weeks, adherence and fatigue can start to really set in. You'll want to reevaluate and see where you are. If you feel good and you want to continue, that's fine. But if you're feeling a little fatigued, your energy is kind of low and your cravings are coming up, it might be a good time to press pause on fat loss.

19:50So some of the challenges you might face are things like hunger or cravings, but this is where those two superheroes that we talked about before, which are protein and fiber, will come in. So you want to fill your plate with lots of protein, lots of high volume, low calorie foods, so things like veggies, fruits. Potatoes are also a great food to have when you're on a diet. You can have a lot of volume of potatoes and they fill you up quite a bit and making sure you're getting that 25 to 35 grams of fiber. If you do that, you're hitting your protein, you're hitting your fiber. It's going to really help keep you satiated so that hunger doesn't overtake you.

20:23During this phase two, it's also non-negotiable that you maintain your strength training and protein intake. This helps to send a signal to your body to hold on to that hard earned muscle. So it pulls the energy it needs from your fat stores instead. If you come to a plateau in your fat loss phase, and this is not, by the way, one week of no progress. A true plateau is when you've had two to three weeks with no changes, and that's only after you've been 95 to 100 % adherent with your training and nutrition. So before you do anything, make sure you've been adherent first. If you truly hit a plateau, you can make a small adjustment by decreasing your calories by another 80 to 100 calories, or adding in a little bit more activity by adding another thousand steps, or adding a targeted 30-minute cardio session.

21:11But only add those if you really feel like you have reached that true plateau. I always like to say do the most with the least. So make sure your calories are on point first because you don't want to take calories away unless you actually have to. So at the end of your calorie deficit, when you've hit your goals, now what, what, what do we do after that? That is where phase three, which is reverse dieting comes in. And this is a really important phase and it's more or less a bridge that helps you get from your deficit back to maintenance so that you can maintain your results at a higher calorie intake.

21:45You're going to take your new lower body weight and multiply that by 13 to 14 to get kind of an idea of where your maintenance calories should be. Then you're slowly going to add in about 100 calories per week, monitoring your weight and seeing how you feel until you get to that point. Then you're going to add in about 100 calories per week, monitoring your weight and seeing how you feel once you reach that maintenance level of calories. And congratulations, that's when you're in phase four, which is maintenance. And that is the long game phase. This is a phase where we should be in the majority of time.

22:18And it's a beautiful and often overlooked part of the journey. I like to call it the real transformation phase. This is where you'll spend most of your time. And it's in these maintenance phases where you'll get to practice the habits that will keep your results for life. You'll eat at your new higher calorie intake, which will help you restore your metabolism and your hormones. You'll be able to get into the gym and have more energy, putting on more muscle mass onto your body, only improving your body composition. You'll have more flexibility for social situations, and you'll be able to trust your body.

22:52You're no longer hyper-focused about getting small. You're just living and maintaining and feeling amazing in your new body. And maintenance is where magic happens. I love maintenance phases. It's when you can have more flexibility with food. And having that little extra energy is really going to drive better results with your gains in the gym. And that is when you're going to have an even better fat loss phase in the future if that is something that you desire. And the best part is that you can cycle through these phases to achieve that total body transformation that you want. For your maintenance phase, you should stay there for as minimum of as long as your fat loss phase was, or I would say three to six months if your goal is to put on more muscle tissue.

23:35I've done these phases several times myself, and each time my results get better and better because I get more proficient. I know what to expect. I know how to execute it. And that's what helps to create that long lasting change that we're all looking for. Now, finally, let's talk about planning these phases in a smart way. Please don't try to be in a fat loss phase all year round. It's not sustainable. It's not realistic. And it's going to lead to burnout. Instead, try to plan your phases to complement the seasons of your life. So maybe during a busy season like summer, like holidays, spend that time in maintenance.

24:09That's when you have more flexibility with calories. It's going to allow you to practice that being moderate or it's going to allow you to practice that moderation, but also just maintain where you're at. Then as things calm down, you can transition into a fat loss phase and then work towards your goals of having less body fat. This is how you work smarter and not harder. And this brings me to my final and most important point. But at this age, we are not just focused on weight loss. What we really want to focus on is body composition, meaning less body fat and more muscle tissue. This isn't just about looking your best, looking sculpted, looking toned.