EP 75: 5 Things I Stopped Doing to Lose Fat & Build Muscle After 40

0:00Welcome back to Becoming Her, Fitter, Better, and Stronger Over 40. I'm your host and coach, Shauna. I'm 46, a wife, a boy mom, and a fitness and nutrition coach, helping women over 40 become their best. If you are a woman over 40 and you are struggling on your journey, you're struggling to see results, you're doing all the things, but nothing is changing, this episode is for you because that was me for a long time. It wasn't that I had lack of effort, but for the effort that I was putting in, I was not seeing the results that I wanted. And I didn't start seeing real results until I stopped doing the things that I thought were actually helping me, but in fact were sabotaging my progress.

0:39I was eating less. I was working out more. Yet I just felt stuck. And it wasn't until I let go of these things that everything changed. So today I'm going to break down the five things that I had to give up to build the best body of my life. The first thing I had to give up was thinking like a dieter. And instead, I started to think like an athlete. And this was a big one because I lived in that dieting mindset for years. How little can I eat? How fast can I lose the weight? How can I get smaller? What I didn't realize at that time is that that mindset was exactly what was keeping me stuck in the body that I didn't want.

1:19When you're always trying to get smaller and shrink, you're never really spending time building up your body. You're not helping your metabolism. And eventually it actually backfires and makes everything harder. Here is what I've learned, kind of by accident. When I was pregnant and nursing my son at age 39, I stopped dieting. My focus at that point was to have a healthy baby. I had a hard time conceiving and my sole focus at that time was just my body's health and then his health. And during that time, I started researching more about health and longevity because I was an older mom and now I had this little boy who I loved and I wanted to be around for for as long as possible.

1:57So my goal was to learn how to stay strong and healthy for the decades ahead. And everything I read kept pointing back to one thing, muscle. Muscle is what supports your metabolism. It's what gives your body shape. It's what allows you to look toned, prevents injury and illness. And it's what keeps you strong as you age. So I had to shift my mindset completely from shrinking to building, from dieting to fueling, from being reactive to being intentional. And that's when I started to think like an athlete. And here's exactly what that looks like. Athletes don't just show up and wing it. They train with attention.

2:34They have a plan. They track their progress. They focus on performance. They focus on getting stronger. They focus on improving over time. And they don't skip meals. They fuel themselves so that they can perform and recover optimally. And they don't expect results overnight because they understand that the results are built through repetition and consistency. And the best part about this mindset shift is that when you start training like an athlete, focusing on getting stronger, the aesthetics come easier because now you're building muscle. You're supporting your metabolism and you're shaping your body.

3:07This mindset shift was incredible for me. So I encourage you to do the same. Start thinking like an athlete and it's going to empower you and create results like you never imagined. The second thing that I had to give up was training fasted and I started to train fueled instead. And again, this ties right into that athlete mindset because I used to think fasted workouts were better for fat loss, which they are not. The timing of your calories is not going to impact fat loss. It's more about total calorie intake. But having calories around your training is really gonna support your performance and your recovery.

3:39And what I found when I was training without food was that I was underperforming. And when you underperform with your workouts, you're not creating the stimulus needed to build muscle. And if you're not building muscle, you're not supporting your metabolism you're making fat loss harder over time and you're not building that toned look toned really just means you have more muscle and less body fat your workouts are going to be where you build your body and your nutrition supports that process so when you go in fueled you can lift heavier you can push harder and you can create a better stimulus and that's what's going to lead to change now if you train early just keep it simple something easy to digest, a protein shake, rice cake, something quick.

4:18And to make this easy for you, I've created a free guide called Fueling for Performance with simple meal ideas for pre and post workout. I'll link it below and check it out because it's one of those things that can immediately improve your results. Now, the third thing that I had to give up was chasing skinny. Instead, I started to chase strong. I spent so many years trying to be smaller. I wanted smaller everything, especially my legs. My thighs have always been something that I've touched. It's just how my body's built. And I remember being super aware of it, especially in school, and I used to really hate it.

4:49But I found that even when I got smaller, I never really felt confident and my shape never really changed. The scale would go up and down, but my body would more or less look the same. And I still felt soft, not defined. But now I understand why. And that's because I didn't have any muscle and I wasn't doing anything to protect it or to build it. There's no shape or no structure. And again, going back to that athlete mindset and knowing what muscle could do for my overall health, I started to lift with intention, tracking my reps, focusing on getting stronger, using one program and applying progressive overload.

5:21And that's when I saw real change with my body, not just being smaller, but a different body composition, better shape, more definition, better confidence. I could eat and maintain fat loss. I had more energy, more drive, more focus. And I felt so much better than when I was chasing small. Just remember that you cannot create a defined and toned body without muscle. So lean into getting stronger, not just smaller. You're going to look your best, but more importantly, you're going to have a healthy body and a metabolism for the years to come. Fourth thing that I had to give up was quitting on hard days.

5:52And instead, I started to learn from my mistakes. Before that, when things weren't perfect, when I missed a workout, when I went over with calories, I had a bad day mentally, it turned into a spiral. But I now understand that hard days are just a part of the process. And more than that, they are necessary because every time you push through when it's hard, you build resilience, you build discipline, you start to trust yourself more, and you prove to yourself that you can follow through. Not to mention, you acquire wisdom when you make mistakes that you can then apply to your journey. And that's what creates long-term results.

6:27Having success on your fitness journey has nothing to do with not making mistakes. And it has everything to do with how you react when you make a mistake. So reflect, learn, apply the wisdom, and then get right back in the game because you have goals to get after. Now the fifth and last thing that I changed, and this is the biggest one, is that I had to stop working out because I hated my body. And I started to work out to celebrate what my body could do. I used to train from this place of punishment, you know, trying to fix myself. And that kept me in this cycle of never feeling like I was enough.

7:00But after having my son, things shifted. One thing that I realized is that he would learn what self-love looked like by watching me. So I had to show him what that looked like. I also had a new appreciation for my body after watching it grow and birth this perfect little baby boy. You know, your body is your permanent home and it works hard day in and day out to keep you alive. I realized that my body wasn't the problem. My mindset was. I had to change that and start to honor my vessel. Now I train to take care of this home, to feel strong and to feel energized and to show up for myself. And that changed everything about how I approached my journey and how I felt about it.

7:39And the truth is this, you are never going to hate yourself into a version that you love. But this whole fitness journey is a tough one. You have to love yourself in the hard ways, and it's not always going to be easy, but it'll be a lot easier when you are your own hype girl, when you hold yourself accountable, but do it in a supportive way. No punishing yourself, no coming at this because you feel less than. Come at this because you want more for yourself, and you know that you're capable of more. When your drive to improve yourself comes from a place of wanting to take care of yourself versus you hating who you are, there's just gonna be a different energy around it and one that's gonna cultivate a better relationship with yourself.

8:19And that's what this really is about, becoming your best inside and out. So start to look at it from a different lens. Work out because you love your body and you wanna take care of it. And I promise it's gonna create a better relationship with yourself, with your body, and create an easier journey. And that wraps up the five things that I gave up to build my best body over 40. I hope you found it helpful. And don't forget to grab the Fueling for Performance guide. And if you need more help on your fitness journey, I'll also leave all the information on my Strong by Shauna membership or my one-on-one coaching.

8:48Thank you so much for joining me in today's episode. I really, truly hope you found it helpful. If you did, I'd be so thankful if you left a rating or a review. And if you have show ideas, you can always DM me on Instagram. I always love to hear from you. And until next week, keep getting stronger and I'll see you in the next episode.