EP 68: What Actually Works for Fat Loss and Body Composition Over 40

0:00Shauna:Hello, welcome back to Becoming Her, Fit or Better and Stronger Over 40. I'm your hosting coach Shauna. I'm 46, a wife, a boy, mom, and a fitness and nutrition coach helping women over 40 become their best. What if I told you in six weeks, you could feel completely new inside your body, see inches change from your waist, and have a brand new confidence to know that you can change your body despite your age. In today's episode, you're going to hear exactly how to do that and a real life story of a transformation that one of my clients made inside my last six week challenge. Now I know six weeks is not where you're going to have your ultimate transformation.

0:33Shauna:However, inside these challenges, I am teaching you the tools and the habits and the foundational pieces that you need to make your true transformations. And I talk to so many women every single day who feel like they are stuck, like the old things that they used to lean on are no longer working. And that's true. The old methods that we used to rely on, just cutting calories and sweating more, are not going to service at this stage of life. but leaning into things like protein, strength training, daily walking, and allowing recovery are really going to push the needle forward when it comes to looking and feeling our best.

1:08Shauna:So today you are going to hear from Steph. You're going to hear her transformation story and how the program has helped her in her journey.

1:14Participant from fitness challenge:So grab your favorite drink and let's get right into it.

1:17Shauna:Hi, Steph. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's so generous of you to spend some time and share your story. So thank you for being here.

1:24Participant from fitness challenge:Thank you for having me. Of course. really happy.

1:27Shauna:Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it so much. So for all those who are listening and are watching and don't know your backstory, I know that you were following for a little bit of time listening to podcasts, but what made you decide to join the challenge? You know, what were you doing beforehand that maybe just wasn't working for you and you wanted something different?

1:49Participant from fitness challenge:it yeah so I I was really um more into cycling uh for a long time uh I did a lot of cycling um but then I don't know we moved house and it was uh getting a little bit more steep here and I yeah if you if you don't like do it day in and day out you you lose your couldn't like your um And you're not getting better at it. And it's really time consuming. And then I heard a lot about like strength training. And I started doing it on my own a little bit. I even had a coach. But she was really young. So she was in the 20s. And she had some good tips. But in the end, when I stopped after four or five months, I was more insecure than before.

2:41Participant from fitness challenge:And luckily, I found you. on Instagram and I watched your recordings or your tips and everything. I started listening to your podcast and that really helped a lot. And I started to train towards a plan and that already shifted a lot. It really showed results, which was great. So end of last year, I started like priming myself for a deficit phase early this year. And I actually I bought the Fit and Fierce program. And I wanted to do that when I saw the start of this this year. But then I saw, oh, there's a new program, and that will be a live program. So I gave it a go. And I just signed up for it.

3:31Participant from fitness challenge:And yeah, I, I'm truly, I'm so happy that I joined it. It's, it's changed so much for me.

3:40Shauna:That's amazing. I love that. And, you know, it makes me so happy, because I think there are a lot of us who, you know, maybe we're active, you know, for our better part of our 20s and our 30s. But then, as hormone shifts, and things are changing, we're noticing that maybe the things that were serving us before no longer are helping us. And so we're in this place of wanting to feel better, maybe even putting in the effort, but just not seeing the results that we want to. And that's exactly what it sounds like you were doing. You know, you were, it wasn't that you had lack of effort. It was just that the things that you were trying weren't necessarily giving you back the thing, you know, the outcomes that you wanted.

4:16Yeah, that's true.

4:17Participant from fitness challenge:Yeah, absolutely.

4:19Shauna:So what would you say, you know, once you were inside the challenge and you were, you know, implementing the workouts and utilizing some of the tools to help you with your nutrition and your mindset what was the what were some big changes you know based on what what the program was teaching you versus like where you were what were some of the things that were big shifts for

4:37Participant from fitness challenge:you um I think the community itself was a big shift um but the the main thing for me was actually your tips inside the the training program so i've learned so much about tempo um controlling um the sets and and really focusing on it instead i need i know i mean i um i've listened a lot to what you said before but i think that like seeing it in that challenge and and having the community and being able to ask you questions and you were always so quick in answering things. That was really a change for me. Also, I'm training from home, so I don't have like a massive amount of weights. So it was really crucial for me to also understand what I could do to still progress without adding weight.

5:40Participant from fitness challenge:and and that yeah that was a game changer for me like all of the things when to breathe how to breathe the tempo control like this is this is really a game changer for me yeah and you know

5:54Shauna:and I think it's a lot of conditioning like what we were used to as far as like what a good workout meant you know a good workout before like in the 90s with like p90x or insanity it meant that you are constantly moving and constantly trying to keep your heart rate up, burn as many calories as possible. But when we're talking about changing our body composition, which is really the most effective way to be fit and feel your best over 40, the workouts look different. They're still challenging. However, they are challenging in a different way. And so having to unlearn some of that and then apply those new concepts can be hard.

6:28Participant from fitness challenge:Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. But it's so helpful. I mean, having somebody next to you doing the same every time when you feel down and you're like, today, I'm not going to the gym, then you think about the community and all the ladies that are doing that with you. And then you just show up. And that was another change for me, because I always train on my own or sometimes with my husband. But it's like, I'm not going to a gym. I have a gym here. So I'm on my own. I need to like, yeah, be there and show up for me. And it was different if you have the community in the background, you think about, oh, maybe it was stressful at the beginning because, you know, you have six weeks, you have seven days.

7:21Participant from fitness challenge:every day has a little goal and it tells you what to do and obviously not not all the times you can you can stick to the full plan as it is but shifting days was not an issue um and and and still although you had seven days planned out for yourself and and yeah you need to do steps or you this today it's it's lower body or upper body or whatever um yeah it was um it was stressful but it was good as well i i don't know if that makes sense but it's just that's how it felt to me um because i'm i'm very organized and i am a process person my job is around processes um but when it comes to myself it feels different like I don't trust the process but that's what you always say like trust the process and and listen to to signs not only the scale if you want to lose weight but um like other signs that you see that you feel how your power is and and that was one of the things as well like when I think in week three everybody was saying oh I feel so much more power And actually in that week, I felt I felt really weak.

8:42Participant from fitness challenge:And but that was just OK, because not everybody is feeling the same. And it might have been just a hormonal shift in that week for me. But then the week after I was feeling strong. And so that that's the learning curve. And it helped me a lot. And I really appreciate all the women that did that, the challenge.

9:05Shauna:Yeah, the community aspect, I think, is really helpful. You know, obviously, most of the women are around the same age. We're going through the same things. And, you know, to have the support of people who understand the challenges that you're going through, it makes it a lot easier. You know, we're stronger together. And, you know, if someone was having a hard time and they needed to be lifted up, like the community was right there to do it. You know, obviously, I'm always happy to do it. But I there is a huge community of women who are just as willing and excited to do it, too, which makes it, you know, makes it nice because you're a part of something bigger than just you, like you said, it keeps you accountable and it gives you that drive to be like, listen, I have to show up.

9:44Shauna:I have others who are showing up and I'm going to show up with them. So that's, that's amazing. On the nutrition side, because I know training was obviously a little bit different. What was different on the nutrition side that maybe you didn't do years ago or before the program?

9:59Participant from fitness challenge:I did try to do a bit more meal prepping, but I wasn't very successful, to be honest. I mean, I do eat like all the time, the same breakfast. I prepare that. But then I've got like two or three things that I mix during the week. And then the weekends are typically a little bit different so there was not a lot of change in terms of the nutrition because I always focus on protein first anyway I learned still learned a lot about like protein is really protecting the muscle whereas like if you are in a deficit like this deficit determines if you're losing fat or not. And so that was good for me to learn that as well.

10:51Participant from fitness challenge:But no, I'm, I didn't feel I didn't change a lot in terms of the nutrition, to be honest.

10:57Shauna:Well, that's good, though. You know, it was good that you already had some of those tools in place to support your your journey, along with it. And I know, I know you had sent me some photos of your before and after. And I think you were surprised, which, which is why I tell women to take photos. And initially, you know, when you're at those beginning stages, it can be uncomfortable. No one's excited to take a photo when they're not feeling their best. But I'm sure at the end of six weeks where you had that opportunity to compare week one to week six, you were probably happy that you did have that image because when we're seeing ourselves every day, it's very hard for us to notice those micro changes.

11:31Shauna:But what did you notice, you know, from one, one, that first picture to week six?

11:38Participant from fitness challenge:um so I think I mean I'm normal weight so it's really hard to like see a big change but but still I felt like my my belly was a bit flat more flat and um and then like my back really I'm really love my back so um the muscle there like they were showing up yeah and the my posture was different as well. Yeah. So that was, if you compare the two, I mean, you can, you see little changes in the body composition and, um, but the posture was, was really different as well.

12:20Shauna:Which is huge. You know, that's, that's definitely a sign of body composition improvements, but then it also speaks to the confidence that you probably had at the end of that time, which is, which is amazing because that's what we want. And it goes to show that, you know, we sometimes think that we have to reach this ultimate goal to tap into that confidence. And that's not always the case when you start to show up and you love yourself the hard way and you commit to some of these habits, that confidence starts to show up way before, like you, I mean, you've made amazing progress. I know you probably still have goals, but that confidence is already there, which, which makes it kind of an addictive process.

12:56Shauna:You want to continue to, to pour into yourself because you know what the outcome will be.

13:00Participant from fitness challenge:absolutely and to be honest I always when I when I read about challenges six weeks eight weeks I felt like those before and after pictures they're just fake I could not believe it really I could not believe that this is true especially if you are not overweighted and you're like a person you probably just want to lose the last few kilos while we talk about kilos or and pounds. And it was just amazing. I mean, it wasn't a lot on the scale, but it was still different. And I now believe that you can change a lot in six weeks.

13:45Shauna:Yeah. And even as like a coach, I understand. And I, and I've said to, you know, the community before in the challenge, you probably remember me saying this, that this six weeks is not going to be your ultimate transformation. However, it does set the tone for habits. Like you build the foundation of habits that are going to take you anywhere you want to go. But that said, it is kind of remarkable to see some of the transformations that people are able to make in that six-week time. But the nice thing about these challenges is like once you have them, you can rerun them, you can rerun the programs and continue making progress, continue getting stronger.

14:20Shauna:And then you have those tools you have the know-how you have the the mindset of of what it takes to to continue making progress and and and reach the ultimate goals that you have absolutely and now I immediately

14:34Participant from fitness challenge:went away and and I'm still on the uh on the same training program I shifted a couple of things because I also learned which um which workouts I I like or I like a favor um or which are the ones that I really didn't like. And so I, I changed it a little bit, but still on the, like doing the same exercises and yeah, I want to keep going.

15:03Shauna:Amazing. Yeah. I can't wait to hear some updates on how you, how you're doing. Well, looking back now, what would you say is your biggest takeaway, the biggest thing that you were able to transform and, you know, that could be a physical thing, a mindset thing, or you know, just how you're going to approach your fitness journey from here on forward.

15:21Participant from fitness challenge:um yeah i think i already touched base on that the the biggest thing is really that the before and after pictures are true and that um you can change in six weeks and i i did i do not feel that fluffy if you know what i mean so it's it's even though it was just six weeks and i didn't change dramatically i didn't yeah it was not a dramatic change because i was working towards a um a set program but like just all of those tips helped me to really focus on it and that was the shift um so yeah and mentally I'm feeling much better and and stronger as well so that's amazing I think that were the the main two takeaways yeah that's great because now you now you have

16:13Shauna:the confidence to know that something is possible and I think that's that's that's very important And too, I think a lot of us reach a point and we hear this too. We're conditioned to believe that age can be a limitation or, you know, different things as we get older, our limitations as to like how we look or how we feel, but, you know, leaning into the right habits can absolutely open up a world where you are healthier than ever, stronger than ever, more confident than ever. So I appreciate you trusting something different, leaning into something different. And I can't wait to hear just updates and see how you're doing and how your progress is going.

16:49Shauna:But thank you so much for joining me today, Steph, and sharing your story. I know there's a lot of women who need to hear that change is possible after 40. So I think you're going to inspire a lot of people.

17:01Participant from fitness challenge:Well, thanks a lot for having me. I'm really feeling honored. Thank you for that. Awesome. Of course.

17:07Shauna:I want to thank Steph again for sharing her time and her story with us today. I know that so many women out there need to know and need to hear that it's possible to change after 40. So if that is you, if you are a woman who is feeling like you're doing all these things and you're not seeing the progress that you want to, it's time to lean into something different. Leaning into health and leaning into strength. Transform my body like nothing else did. And when you do that and you're surrounded by other women who understand the struggle and maybe even the fears that you have, it makes the process that much easier.

17:38Shauna:so I will leave information in the show notes as to how you can join my membership or the brand new challenge that just started last Monday it's not too late to join us but I hope today's episode gave you some hope and some inspiration and some confirmation to know that changing your body over 40 is possible thank you so much for joining me today if you did find the episode helpful I'd be so thankful if you left a rating or a review until next week keep getting stronger and I'll see you in the next episode