Have you been working hard in the gym but not seeing the results you want? Do you feel like your energy, mood, and hunger levels are all over the place? Well, this episode is just for you! Today, I'm excited to introduce you to the amazing Jennifer Been. Jennifer and I have been working together for over five years, and she recently had a breakthrough that completely transformed her body! This simple diet tweak has made a massive difference in her emotions, hormone balance, blood sugar, strength training, and more. 

In this episode, you'll learn the specific macronutrient strategy Jennifer used to transform her body at 51 and tips and tricks for implementing it into your routine so you can start getting visible results today! After years of research and trying different approaches with my clients, I've found this method really works. With so many options out there, this truly is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your body composition. If you're ready to feel incredible, press play now! 

Want FREE access to my brand new four-week strength training plan, Strength Without Stress? Head over to hollyperkins.com/review where you can upload a screenshot of your review and gain immediate access. This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197, so be sure to grab it now!

Topics Covered:

• Why Jennifer stopped running 
• How hormone related health differs for every woman 
• Eating according to macronutrient distribution and your goals
• The importance of balancing your macronutrients per meal 
• Why we don’t believe in snacks
• The biggest changes in Jennifer noticed in her body when she made the shift
• Jennifer’s blood sugar regulation in relation to her strength training and diet
• Tips and tools to start eating balanced (and realistic!) meals
• Jennifer’s morning routine 

Resources Mentioned:

• Listen to the first 30 episodes of Holly Perkins Health Podcast HERE
• Listen to Episode 24: How to Transform Your Body at 50 HERE
• See the Pictorial of Jennifer's journey HERE

Follow Me: 

Find me on Instagram: @hollyperkins

Learn more on my website: hollyperkins.com

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/HollyPerkinsFitness/

Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.

Eating so that your blood glucose is stable is hands down. One of the best ways to improve your health, regulate energy and hunger and burn more body fat even while you're listening to this episode. The best way to immediately regulate blood glucose is by balancing your macronutrients and eating regularly. If you're eager to get visible results from your diet and exercise efforts, and actually see some progress now, keep listening. Hello, and welcome to Episode 31, I cannot believe we are this many episodes in it has been such a joy to be here and do this with you. I am in my converted barn office studio in Pennsylvania, and it's a rainy day. So you may hear some background noise. I hope it's not too distracting. But I am so excited about this episode.

After 30 years of practice, I feel like at this point, I've seen it all. And after all of this time, there is a reason why I teach the exact things that I do. I feel like I have learned so many different approaches. I've seen so many different theories and philosophies and overall approaches to helping people improve their body. After so many years of research and trial and error and applying different methodologies and practices with my clients I have ultimately landed on this works and the principles that I teach come from what I know to be effective to be true, and to be the easiest and the best ways to improve your body. I'll show you exactly how to create the body that you need to keep up with the life that you love through very specific protocols that I know produce results. And around here, we eat according to macronutrient distribution. Why? Because it's powerful. It's immediate. It works. And it's rooted in the science of human biology. Your body is designed by nature, to have a near balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat each day, the three macronutrients

So today I'm chatting with one of the coaches in my community coach, Jennifer Been, she and I have been working together for about five to six years. And just this year, she had a major epiphany that shocked her and delighted me. If you're struggling to see results of all of your efforts, hard efforts, not so hard efforts, any effort that you're putting in if you're not seeing the results you want to see, it may be that this one simple adjustment could make all of the difference for you. That has certainly been my experience as a coach. And it's what Jennifer speaks about today. If you're working out and training, but feel like your body isn't showing it, stay with me. Or if you're looking for the magic pill, the Holy Grail, the top secret strategy used by those in the know, then this episode is so for you. In this episode, you'll learn the one thing Jennifer tweaked in her diet that made all the difference. You'll learn the specific macronutrient strategy that she used to transform her body at 51. And you'll learn specific strategies for stealing her ideas so that you too can get visible results. Now, after all these years in practice, I know this, the way that your body looks, has a lot to do with your diet and the way that your body performs in terms of athleticism, strength, endurance, that reflects your workouts. It's absolutely essential that you are exercising and conditioning your body to withstand the demands of your life and the future ahead of you. And if you want to look as good as you feel, you've got to address your nutrition. It's powerful, and it's a whole lot easier than you think. So stay with me and let's get into the episode

I am so excited to do this with you, I want to introduce Jennifer Been. And what I really envisioned for these episodes is an opportunity to just really examine the struggle, I feel like it's so natural for women to just have something we're struggling with, we're either in struggle larger or lesser to some degree. And it's something that unites us more than anything, it's so important to kind of stop and recognize what is your current struggle at this time? And what are you going to do about it? So the reason why I wanted to interview Jennifer, she and I have known each other for a number of years, every year that I get to know her, there's a different aspect of her own practices, her own body transformation, her own fitness journey, that are so relevant, and it's been so fun to watch it and to watch her progress through this transformation. She's the type of person where there's never, you know, a huge problematic struggle in her life. And for some of us, that does happen. She's not that person. But inevitably, she's like me in the sense that she forever wants to be a bit better to upgrade and really maximize this life that we're in. We are aligned and our thinking that part of that comes back to how we live our life from the perspective of our health, our habits, our body goals, our body practices. And she always just has so many interesting aspects to it. But before we get into it, Jennifer, would you just kind of share with our listener, a little bit about yourself? Where are you? What are you about, what do you do just give us a little bit of context about your life, your fitness journey and where you are today.

So I am a 51 year old mom, grandmother and business owner, I have a number of commercial properties in the downtown area where I live in Texas. And I own and operate a gym inside one of those properties. So I work with women on fitness, their strength training and nutrition. And my own personal fitness journey really started in about 2008. I at that time had teenage children and I became a runner, mostly out of self preservation because I needed something for my own mental health at that time. It's tough raising kids. And I was a runner for about 11 years before I actually met Holly and began my strength training journey. And now at 51, I am stronger and more fit than I've ever been in my entire life, and

not running. And not running,

No more running.

I think that's so interesting. So I did an interview like this with Jennifer Meade, whom you know, and she had a similar story. I was also a runner for so many years in my early 20s, I coached a lot of runners, nothing against running, if you're a runner and you love it high five, I think Jennifer and I both get it, I miss my days of running. And as a runner, and as a coach. As the years have continued, I've really realized a lot of problems come from running. And so if you are a runner, and you are dealing with some kind of chronic issue at all, whether it's aches and pains, or metabolic or body composition related, it's so good to reengineer and pull back and take a look at that. Because I can't tell you how many women I have in my life in my practice where they were avid runners, and the running was causing a lot of the problems. And they were able to experience life away from running and it's just so much better. So I just always think it's interesting when you share that part of your story to really note that like, you really have transformed your body, your fitness your practices. And part of that was you stopped running. So I'm curious because I don't know if we've actually ever talked about this, what the piece of the puzzle was that you would no longer consider yourself a runner, like Why'd you stop running?

So I actually ended up with a longitudinal fracture in my tibia, that just sort of absolutely out of nowhere. And it was actually just about six months after I began my strength training journey. So I had a doctor's appointment with like my annual exam in November of that year, and my gynecologist recommended that I get a bone density scan, a little bit of backstory, I had a complete hysterectomy at the age of 27, which does have a tendency to affect your bone density. So long story short, I found out that I had osteoporosis and osteopenia, and my doctor said the best thing you can do for yourself is to get really, really strong and continue your strength training. So that was kind of the end of running for me, I thought, you know, if strength training is where I need to focus my time and effort for longevity purposes, then that's exactly what I wanted to do.

Interesting. So it really was pretty much an abrupt decision, I don't think I realized that I think I kind of assumed that it was always a systematic removal of the stimulus that was causing you an issue, right. But I didn't realize that it was that stark of decision where it's just like, you changed your focus, and your training practices. And that just happened to me No more running.

I mean, with the type of fracture that I had. It's just always kind of an ache and pain, you know, when I do try to run that ankle area is just not the same. So yeah, not worried that at this point for me, yeah. And

so I think it's also relevant to note here for the rest of the conversation, you took hormone replacement therapy for a period of years after the hysterectomy. Right? Take us back, just kind of review that because I think when women if they take the time to see your level of fitness and or what you've done with your body and or just hear your story, I think a question often is does HRT factor in for you? Could you just share that with us?

Sure. So I took HRT on and off for about 10 years, directly after my hysterectomy, and that was in 2000. So you know, we're talking more than 20 years ago. So I really couldn't tell a difference one way or the other. To be honest, I didn't have a lot of symptoms, I just didn't feel like it made a lot of difference. So you know, doctors changed my doctor retired, you go through these different things that affect your own personal health journey. And since it really wasn't helping in my mind, I stopped taking it. So then fast forward a few more years, I got a different gynecologist. She said, You know, I really feel like you should be taking just the lowest dose gave me all of the pamphlets, all of the information about what HRT could help with. And so I said, Okay, fine, we'll do it. So I did that until I was 45. At that point, she said, The recommendations are at this point, if you want to stop taking it, you're good. You don't need to take it anymore. So I chose not to again, I didn't feel like it made a difference one way or the other, because I didn't have a lot of the symptoms that are typically associated with menopause. Yeah,

interesting. And just to note, Jennifer and I both as coaches, we don't have a position on HRT. So this is not in any way. A comment on HRT, this is really just a common question that comes up a lot. In my practice, I happen to be in favor of HRT for women who need it. So just FYI, on that we're not taking a position here. We're just kind of going over her personal journey. So were you taking just estradiol during those five years from like, 40 to 45? Yes, progesterone also, or just estradiol?

Honestly, I don't actually know. It was just a patch. And that was what it was. Okay.

And did you when you stopped at about 45? Did you notice any change in how you felt or any new or different symptoms when you stopped? None at all? Wow. So interesting. So interesting, that really, honestly, I am going to take this opportunity to make a statement, which is, and that's a beautiful example of how hormone related health and symptoms are so unique to every single woman. And there isn't one way to sail through hormone changes. Now I know it's very different for you because yours was a complete hysterectomy, ovaries as well, correct? That's correct. Yeah. So I mean, that obviously, impacts the picture. But you know, something I talk about now more and more when I'm talking with women who are let's say 40s and 50s. Around the perimenopausal menopausal transition, is it's like everybody experiences different symptoms. And there are some women that just sail through menopause.

Now I know for you, it's, you know, it's not menopause, you are in essence in menopause in your 20s. But still, some women even after having a hysterectomy, around those years, when menopause would happen, women sometimes do have a bit of a transition. Ultimately, that's not even really what we're here to talk about. But I just thought that it was a note that inevitably, somebody is going to email me and ask me about so I wanted to make sure that we touched upon that. But as I shared with you, what was the struggle you had? And what did you do to address it? And where are you now? So the reason I wanted to interview Jennifer is because very recently, just maybe in the past month or so, she shared with me some real improvements in her own body composition journey that came as a result of a diet change that she made. And so she and I've been working together and I was on the receiving end of oh my gosh, this diet change really made a huge difference for me. I wasn't in the conversation with her when there was a struggle, per se. But it was a bit of a, an illumination for her when she made this change that it was like, Oh, my goodness, this was powerful. Jennifer, if you would just share, you know, let's go back maybe to say, like last year, what would you say at the time was the inspiration for you to make this diet change? Because I don't recall there being a struggle. But what was it that you were like, you know, I want this, so I'm gonna change that. Okay, I'm

gonna go back a little bit further. So when I first began tracking macros, it was in 2012, and I was training for my first full marathon. And, you know, I felt like, if I can run 26 miles, then every ounce of fat I have should just fall off on the ground behind me. And unfortunately, we all know, it doesn't work like that. So I began researching, trying to figure out what the piece of the puzzle was that I was missing. And I learned about tracking macros. And so I've been tracking macros since 2012. And a couple of years ago, I worked alongside Holly in the nutrition project. And I remember her mentioning something about balancing your macros per meal, not just balancing your macros by the end of the day. And I, of course, thought, Well, I've been tracking macros forever, that doesn't really matter. And it's not going to make that much difference. And so to be honest, I didn't put any of that into practice. At that time. In December of 2023, I decided that I wanted to try to really impact my body composition. So I hired a different type of strength training coach than what I have done in the past. And in conversation with this new coach, one of the things that they taught was balancing your macros per meal. And of course, I'm like, Well, I've heard this before, will it really make a difference, and in my mind, I didn't believe that it would. But I'm a good student, and I follow directions. So I started balancing my macros per meal and my body composition without changing the number of calories that I was eating per day. Initially, my body composition within a six week period was drastically different. And during that six weeks time, I actually increased my calories. But even initially, my body began to change so quickly, that it was honestly like magic. And I was, of course, very surprised, because again, I thought, I've been doing this for a long time, it's really not gonna make a difference. But for me, it was just enough of a difference, to really make a change in my body, even though I've been doing this for a long time.

It's crazy. And you know, part of me wants to go, wow, right? Isn't that incredible? And the other part of me is like, I've been always been saying that, right. But I think to hear you have that experience is so big, because you are quite experienced because you are skilled, because you are in the fitness industry. It's like, this is one of those examples, where, in many ways, it was the only thing you changed. In a lot of ways everything else was pretty much the same, right? Like maybe your strength training protocol, or programming changed. And we'll talk about protein in a moment. But for the most part, if we pull back, her habits were in essence the same it wasn't like she started doing a ton of cardio or stopped doing cardio. It was like the one big thing that you changed. Let's pull back a moment. So macros is shorthand, if you will, for macronutrients and everything that you eat that comes from nature that has calories, only has three macronutrients, there are only three macronutrients that Mother Earth created, that our Creator decided the human body needs, and that's protein, fat and carbohydrates. And most people are like, Oh, sure, I know protein, fat and carbohydrates. Most people never stop to really, really take a look at the fact that those are the three macronutrients they are the only three macronutrients that exist, and they are the three that your body needs in combination. And I think it's really quite profound to be like Mother Nature made us to need and require all three of these macronutrients.

So eating according to Macros means that you strategically choose the foods you're going to eat each day based on how much protein fat and carbohydrates each has. So that at the end of the day you arrive at At a certain distribution of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. So if you're not paying attention really to the distribution of your calories, how much protein, how much fat and how many carbohydrates you're eating each day, you're eating for other reasons, whether it's the foods you like the foods you prefer, maybe you're following a low carb diet, or a keto diet or a no sugar or gluten free, you have some other philosophy, right or construct at play. That's governing, why you eat what you eat. So eating according to Macros means you, you reengineer, all of that, and you say, Okay, I am going to eat a certain percentage of my daily calories coming from protein, a certain percentage coming from fat, a certain percentage coming from carbohydrates. And in the fitness and nutrition industries, coaches like us, really geek out on okay, what's that perfect distribution? What is that ideal macronutrient distribution that is the holy grail, right? That is perfect for everyone. And some coaches will tell you there isn't a perfect macronutrient distribution. I'm not one of those coaches, I actually believe there is a perfect distribution.

Because again, Mother Nature designed us to get all three almost equally. So if you really look at the research and where I've landed after 30 years of coaching people and looking at the research and trying so many different approaches, I've really landed in the window of pretty much all humans need somewhere between 40 and 50% of their daily calories coming from carbohydrates, provided you don't have any extenuating circumstance, you don't have a disease, you don't have a metabolic disorder, you are relatively normal, relatively healthy, and don't have something that really warrants a change or a deviation from that structure. So when we teach eating according to Macros, and this is what Jennifer touched upon a moment ago, this is something that I put into practice with my clients, it's a piece of what I teach inside of the nutrition project.

The first place that I like to start people is if you're new to this, just start by ending your day, at a certain macronutrient distribution. As I said, somewhere between 40 and 50% carbohydrates 40 to 50% of your daily calories, your total calories coming from carbohydrates by the end of the day, that's a great easy way to start to kind of see where you are to start to feel some of the benefits that you'll get from eating this way. And then if for when you're ready to get more results get more scientific and more precise, and therefore, really dial in your physiology and your metabolism. The edge then is starting to balance your macronutrients at every single meal instead of just at the end of the day. And this was that big change that Jennifer made. And that's what we're here to talk about today. Because you just like she said, she's educated, she's credentialed. She's been in the fitness industry for a long time, she has been active her entire life, she is a more advanced user, if you will, of this methodology. And only here in the past year, not even right, like six months really was when you had this experience that you were like, Oh my gosh, it's completely different when you're balancing your macronutrients per meal, instead of just by the end of the day, which is huge. So that is the thing that got you out of your struggle, if you will. And you know, I know we said you weren't exactly in struggle, you were doing very well. You wanted to uplevel your physiology, improve your body composition even more and just get even better results than you were getting outside of that. Were you having any issues at all? Like Were you having any digestive issues? Where was your hunger? Where were your food cravings? Were there any other complaints, if you will, that maybe you didn't even know about at the time, but have now been resolved since you made this change? Honestly, no, I

didn't. There wasn't anything. I'm very busy. I start my day at about 4:30am And I don't stop going until about 9pm. So I'm not a person who has a lot of cravings. I honestly the more rigid I am with my meal times in my meal planning, the better I am about making sure that I get all the nutrients in that I need. So it was really a matter for me. Have not ending up banking all my calories all day long and having a huge meal at night because I still needed to get them in, it really was a matter of now my blood glucose levels are more level throughout the day, the thing I noticed the most was that I didn't have a crash around four o'clock, you know, I didn't get really tired, I didn't get really hungry, I was just more stable throughout the day, my energy levels were better throughout the day, and I finished the day strong. Yeah, that

might be a subtle difference for you, because you were already finely tuned, if you will. But that's the biggest thing I see with my clients is, if you feel like you are up and down all day long, whether it's energy or mood, or hunger, or brain clarity, or fog, or food cravings, that's usually an indication that your blood sugar is off. And so the fact that here we have an example of someone who was already pretty well dialed in, but then making this one small tweak, really had such an impact even more so on your energy and stability, if you will. So your afternoon, let's call it if you have a little bit of an energy crash in the afternoon. Was that substantial for you in the past? Or was it just sort of like, you know, you'd have to pick yourself up and kind of get going again and drink some water? Or were you having any kind of significant crashes in the afternoon.

It was pretty significant. I mean, I would get tired, I would say sort of brain fog. You know, if I was in the middle of something, it was just difficult to finish it. But I didn't understand at the time that it was related back to my nutrition. I just thought I mean, I'm busy. And I've been working all day. And you know, this is just kind of what happens. But then in retrospect, of course, when I changed that, and I was really balancing every meal. It was like a ha, that's not happening

anymore. Interesting. When it was happening, when you would have those crashes in the afternoon. What would you do to get through it at the time?

Um, eat whatever junk was available? Interesting. You

would turn to food? Yes, yeah, I

knew I was hungry, and that I needed something. But I wasn't prepared with a well balanced meal for that time period.

Interesting. You were in response, you were reacting to the symptom instead of getting ahead of it. Yes. That's amazing. That's so interesting. I don't think I knew that about you. That's what we do. When we have a crash. And we feel it, we've got the symptoms, and we're aware of it. What do most people do we turn to food. And I think that's just a biological reaction. Because the reason you're having symptoms is because your blood sugar is bottoming out. And everything in humans survival instinct knows that when your blood sugar bottoms out, you got to find food. And that's exactly what you did you would seek food, would you feel overtly hungry? Or was it more you were just having symptoms that led you to food, I was actually really

hungry. And I think the biggest difference is that I used to view that as a snack like that was my snack time. And so when I was balancing macros per meal, now I have five meals per day. Yeah, so that four o'clock in the afternoon could be a piece of chicken, and some veggies and some potatoes so that I had solid sources of protein and carbohydrates. And then I was also getting into micronutrients.

Exactly. So it becomes a mini meal, really, instead of just a snack. You know, the more I coach people and the more I hear stories like this, the more I don't believe in snacks. I know for me, snacks do not work, they do nothing for me, if it's under 200 calories. It does nothing. And so I know for my body, it's always been so much more productive to think of those as many meals. And it almost sounds like maybe that's the same for you.

Yes, absolutely. I have five meals a day, and they are solid meals, every one of them.

Exactly. It's five mini meals, you're eating five times a day, rather than thinking of it as a meal or a snack. So now that we kind of hear where you were, talk to us a little bit also about where you are now and talk a little more in depth about the AHA you had when you first started to see the benefits from making this change bouncing your macronutrients every meal, what was it you first started to notice in detail? Like what were the biggest things I know you mentioned your body composition is different or energy is different. But if we were to able to kind of make it a little bit more quantifiable, what was the big aha for you and what did it look like? Really

the change in body fat so I'm a small person, I don't have a lot of body fat. I don't have any sort of weight loss goals. My goal is to add muscle to my frame and to build bone density because I know those things are going to help me age well. So when I begin balancing my macros per meal, the first thing I noticed was that I could see all of the muscle that I'm working so hard to build in the gym, my body fat, even though I don't have a lot of body fat, my body fat started to come down pretty quickly. And I think maybe a lot of it was just so mentally and emotionally encouraging. Because all of my muscle just started to show. And that motivated me even more to continue eating well, and to continue working very hard in the gym. Because that is my goal for longevity. Yeah,

there's also something to be said for taking action and wanting it to produce a result in a very obvious and tangible way. Right. I think that's just part of our nature, like, is there anything more frustrating to be like, taking all the actions that you were taking all these years, right, like, no one would say you weren't taking action. You know, even as you said, going back into your 20s, when you were a runner, it's like you have always been dedicated to improving your health, your physical abilities, your body composition, but to then make this one small change. And all of a sudden, it accelerates things very quickly, is a huge, but it's also so gratifying, it's like, oh, that's the key. That's the thing that really unlocked so much faster progress.

Absolutely. And I would be worth probably what you would consider in my running days, skinny fat, I just did not have the muscle mass. And I wasn't tracking macros, I wasn't eating enough protein, like the classic things that we see with women, was exactly what I was doing. So once I learned how to eat properly, how to strength train properly, like that was kind of the beginning of my transformation from a runner into a strength training. And then now I learn, okay, if I balance macros per meal, my body composition is going to be even better. So regardless of whether a woman has weight loss goals, or she is simply trying to be the best that she can be in terms of strength, so that she ages Well, this is where it's at.

Yeah, you know, I said recently, somewhere. There's a reason why I teach this after 30 years in practice, and degrees and certifications, there are so many different ways to eat. There's so many different methodologies, and ideologies and eating plans, etc. But like, I've tried them all I've done looked at the research on all of them. And there's a reason why I teach this. And often people ask me, What, why what is it about this biological impact in terms of why is it the best? And we could certainly go down that path. But ultimately, the shorter answer is, it works. It really works with the least amount of pain, the least amount of restriction, and in the most realistic way for the rest of your life. That's like the most productive way to eat. And I think that's what I'm I'm really hearing from you where it's like it's sustainable for you, but

also effective. Absolutely. And I think the pushback that we get from women is that it's difficult, it takes too much time. But you know, we all basically eat about the same 12 to 14 meals, I didn't change the foods that I was eating themselves, like that did not change. The only thing that changed was the quantity and the way that I organized those meals. So for example, if I was eating chicken, and rice and broccoli and some kind of yummy sauce on that, the only thing that changed was the quantities and the ratios to make it fit into the numbers I needed it to fit into for a particular meal. Yeah,

that's what I always say it's like take your favorite unfamiliar foods, and just eat them differently, and you'll get different results. And I think that's partially why it's such an easy to adopt way of eating because, you know, Jennifer didn't go from being vegan to being carnivore or never eating fish to always eating fish, you can eat what you want, even if it's a pop tart. Now, I don't think any health professional would encourage that you eat a pop tart. But on some level, if you like corn versus potatoes or chicken versus turkey or no red meat, whatever it may be, you can choose the foods that you prefer the familiar foods and just organize them differently. And that's all it takes. Ultimately, I think the biggest question I get asked Why does this approach work? So well? And as I've pored through the research, as I work on my next book, where I keep coming back to is, it's the sweet spot for blood sugar regulation. So talk to us, if you will. I know we didn't plan to talk about this, but let's talk about it for a moment about your recent experience using a continuous glucose monitor. And what are you seeing around blood sugar regulation? Can you speak to that? What's your perspective now that you've actually got some real tangible, blood level proof of what's going on with your blood sugar?

Sure. So about two months ago, I had just some extensive lab work done routine lab work to see where all my numbers are. And my doctor said, you know, your blood glucose is a little bit higher than what I would like it's not, you know, any kind of crazy range or anything, but it's a little bit higher than what I would like, are you interested in trying a blood glucose monitor being the geek that I am? I'm like, Absolutely, let's try it and see what we see. So it's been really interesting. What I have found is that because I don't know what the data looked like before, because when I got the monitor, I was already doing macros per meal. But I have been able to understand better when I have a certain feeling like for example, when I have been doing some heavy squats, my blood glucose drops, even though I have eaten my pre workout and done all of the things that I normally do. So for me, it's become an issue of okay, during a heavy leg day, I also need some intro workout nutrition. So I've learned that and then it's funny the things that I've found that spiked my blood sugar, so a couple of times, it's gone up over 200. The time period that it stays up there is very short, which is good. But Chinese food is the thing that has spiked at the most. So yes, weird.

Do you think that's because of sugar in the sauce? Well, there's

not a lot of sauce on what I had, because it was like a chicken fried rice. So even, you know, an orange chicken or something that you would expect to have a lot of sugar in it. But it was a packaged product, it was not something I made fresh myself. Yeah, that was kind of surprising. Interesting,

because the change in glucose from heavy squats is a whole other conversation, right? And what I didn't say this to you yet, but what I would offer is that might have more to do with your workout than your nutrition. Because I did struggle with that in my early 40s, when I was getting into like a five by five protocol with squats, deadlifts, bench press. And I noticed that if I was down around six or eight reps and doing heavy squats, I would have a radical shift in my hormones. And it's not related to nutrition. So when you are to the skill level, that you are able to sustain truly heavy weight loads, where you're maxing out at six or eight reps. And, Jennifer, I don't know where you are. We'll talk about that in a moment. But, you know, if your weight load is heavy enough that you're at six or eight reps, that's the territory where you have an instantaneous in the moment, hormonal reaction to the workout, which is actually what we're going for. It's what we want from the workout. And some women can have, let's call it a symptomatic reaction to that hormone shift from the super heavyweight load. So that might be us taking a look at the real nuances of your heavy lifting, right, whether it's rest phases, breathing techniques, weekly volume, things like that, and exactly like what your rep ranges are your total number of sets, all of those aspects. But tell me, talk to me about what a day or a session of heavy squats looks like, how many sets and how many reps, how much rest are you doing? So I'm just curious if that's a piece of it.

So on the particular day that I was talking about that it kind of bottomed out, it was at the end of a training cycle. So it would have been week, week four or five, I can't remember. And that particular workout would have been three sets of eight, and I was about 125 pounds was the load and I'm weighing about 125. So it was about a bodyweight squat for three sets of eight. Okay,

interesting. And where did those sets fall in the actual workout that day, the beginning of the workout, the end of the workout? How fatigued were you going into those?

That was actually my first exercise after a good warm up. Okay,

so I'm gonna be very curious. Are you still using the glucose monitor? Or was it for a short period of time?

I actually have about a week and a half left. Okay,

I'll be curious at the end to see what kind of observations you have. Are you noticing anything else that impacts your blood sugar like if you eat a balanced macronutrient meal, is there much of a glucose response?

Only for a few minutes. It's interesting. And

how quickly after eating, is it two hours later? Or is it immediately immediate? Okay, so talk to us a little bit more about some, we'll say, okay, the change you made was to start balancing your macronutrients per meal, get that checkmark when you endeavored to do that, and when you actually started doing it, what are some of the action items or ways that you made that happen? How did your habits change in terms of preparing your food? Or shopping? Or what are you eating to make this more doable? What's an example of some of your meals? Maybe? Because I think there's someone listening who would say, Okay, I want to do that. But where do I start, or what are a couple of tips or tools or shortcuts to make it more realistic for every single meal. So

because I've been doing this so long, I am a master at meal prep, I meal prep every single weekend. And at this point, most of what I meal prep is kind of the same, you know, I don't have a lot of deviation. But I make a variety of foods so that I'm not eating the same thing every day. I love food. And I'm not interested in eating the exact same thing every day for every meal. So an example of what my meal prep would look like on the weekend. Usually, my husband cooks our protein for us. So that's so nice, because I don't have to take care of all of that, as an example. On the weekend, he might cook some pork chops, hamburger patties, and then maybe I will put some chicken breast in the Instant Pot just to make something really quick. So I would have three good protein sources. And then I would make rice, sweet potatoes, maybe some quinoa, and also some white potatoes that would just be roasted that I could use throughout the week. And then I'll cook up some vegetables. Usually I'll do if I'm making like broccoli or Brussels sprouts, I'll cook those fresh at the time of the meal because the doesn't take long to potatoes and they just taste better fresh. So maybe I would do a grilled pork chop. And then I make a salad that is really yummy with sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, kale, and then kind of a sweet dressing. So that's an easy meal. Like I've got my carbs, I've got my protein, and I've got some fat through the dressing.

Are you making your dressing? Are you buying it? No, it

actually comes in one of those salad kits.

Yep. And what is one of your favorite meals?

Well, that's actually one of my favorite meals. And it is my husband's favorite meal. I'm actually a fan of breakfast, so I will make breakfast burritos. And that's usually my post workout meal. I tried to get that in within about 30 minutes after my training. And that would have an egg, some egg whites, some dice potatoes, some green chili. If I have enough room for fat, I would add some bacon to it. If not, I would leave that out. And then I wrap it all up in a really yummy tortilla that is actually made locally at one of our bakeries and eat that with some salsa. Is it flour or corn tortilla flour? Because that's just the best for me.

Agree. Okay, so then one last question. Since that's your post workout meal mid morning, what is your earliest morning routine looking like because I know you're not going into your workouts MD because that's a golden rule around here. Talk to us a little bit about what your your morning routine looks like around food and your workout before that burrito.

So I get up at 4am and I am at the gym at five because I lead classes and I get my workout in either at 530 or at 730. It just depends on what's going on at my gym. So I eat at about 4:30am and that is for me at this point, a couple of protein waffles that I make, which has egg whites, Kodiak mix water, collagen, some collagen protein powder in it. So I have that every morning with some fresh berries, a little bit of peanut butter and some honey so that I have some good quick carbs for my workout. And if I'm working out at 530 In addition to that in my pre workout, I have usually an English muffin and an egg. So my pre workout is about almost 500 calories because I have enough calories to support that right now not everybody would have that many calories to spend totally

or prefer it and some people don't. So if you're listening and you're like, Oh, I can't eat breakfast. This is really just to plant the seed maybe. And some of us are early day eaters like I can do a 600 Calorie breakfast easy and I'm not fall and I always feel best when I do that. That's not for everybody. So just for clarity wake up before I know you have coffee for 30 You're doing the waffle with the fruit, the honey, the English muffin, that whole thing is all at 430. Yes. Okay. And then it's like an hour and a half or two hours before your workout, no food in between? Well,

it depends. Like, if I eat all of that, then my workout is going to be at 530. If I'm teaching a class, and I'm not going to get to work out until about seven, then I'll save the egg in English muffin, and have that at about 630. And then I'll do my workout at seven.

Okay, same, that's exactly how I do it. That's like a perfect, perfect structure. And so 430 meal and seven 637 o'clock AM meal. Are those both macronutrient balanced now? That

is all part of my pre workout and it is balanced? Yes. Wow.

Yeah, that's amazing. That's huge. And it really does make a difference. Did you start noticing a difference in the quality of your workout? Because you balanced those pre workout meals,

I actually noticed a difference when I started eating more calories for my pre workout rather than balancing them, right. Because previously, my pre workout was just a couple of the waffle squares and a little bit of honey. Yeah. And it just wasn't enough calories for the workouts I was doing. And I didn't realize it. Yep. So

one last thing, as we're talking about this, when you the big shift being you started balancing your macros per meal, any change in as you said, your calories didn't change, yet, you got leaner, I really want to emphasize that. So no change in calories, which we are of the philosophy or I should say the fact of physics in this 3d world that we live in, calories do matter. And if you want to release body fat, you've got to be in a calorie deficit of some degree. So you were able to improve your body composition without changing your calories without reducing calories. Was there a change in your protein?

Hmm, actually, no, my protein did end up going up, but not until my calories got increased. So initially, when I started balancing macros per meal, my protein was about the same. But it was distributed better throughout the day, rather than trying to get a whole bunch of it in at night, because I had missed out earlier in the day.

Yeah, exactly. That's what a lot of people do. It's like, oh, boy, it's nine o'clock, and I didn't hit my goal for protein. So let's do a protein shake, you're getting it balanced throughout the day, day out, that's amazing, but not not a drastic change in the actual calculation of protein or grams of protein. I don't teach trying to hit a specific number of grams of protein per day. I'm a proponent of hitting your percentages of macronutrients, because your protein will pretty much always fall into that. And so that's pretty much how it netted out for you. Correct? Yes, amazing. Well, thank you so much for sharing this, I just think it's so powerful. And I'll be honest, because of you sharing this now, I have adopted a rule around here, if you will, that I want to be more vocal about driving that in balance your macronutrients at every single meal. And the only reason why I haven't, quote unquote, enforced it in my programs, is because it is an added layer of scheduling and complexity, if you will, and people are newer to the conversation often are already having a hard enough time to get on board with the approach sometimes to then require people to do it at every meal almost feels more complicated. But it's so much more effective. And it's really just yet another habit or skill you have to build, it's all the same. And at the end of the day, I think it makes it easier because you know what you got to do every three to four hours. And it's consistent every three to four hours. So thank you for reminding me of that. And I'm glad that we took the opportunity to share this with people because it is a nuanced piece of this conversation in the fitness and nutrition industry. That's pretty powerful. So thank you for sharing your story. Is there anything else you want to add that maybe there's a woman listening? Who is inspired? Who wants to do this, but maybe needs that final nudge? Is there any kind of wisdom that you would share from your experience?

I think that I would speak mostly to the woman who would say, I've done everything. I've been in this game for a really long time. Either I can't lose the last 10 pounds that I want to lose or my body still doesn't look the way that I want it to look. And I would say you've not done everything you could do. Because if you haven't tried this, it can be the very thing that puts you over the top. Yes.

And might I underscore you're hearing this from a woman who is 51? Yes, with babies with grand baby or babies two grandbabies are one to two grand babies and no uterus or ovaries. and no HRT let that sink in people. And when you see photos of her, whatever that may look like, you'll say, Wow, because she really is in so many ways. The example I want to set for people, so that you can see if you're feeling discouraged. Or if you are in your 40s or 50s, maybe even 60s and you feel like life stage or hormones or uterus function could be impacting where your body composition is, she is just such an example of what's possible if you choose into it. And so much can be done with your biology based on the habits and the actions that you're taking. And I think Jennifer exemplifies that beautifully. So thank you for sharing your story.

Thank you.

Incredible, right? I hope you found something useful in this episode. If so, do share, add a comment or review wherever you're listening right now. And after you post that review, grab a screenshot, come over to Holly perkins.com forward slash review. And if you share that with me, you're going to get immediate access to my amazing four week strength without stress, strength training plan. Listen, you may be tempted to think that you have no control over your body or you simply may not realize how much influence you do have. I see this so often women come to me so frustrated because they feel like they have tried everything and nothing works. And I think it's the normal to feel like you don't have dominion over your body. But after working with 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of women, I can promise you, if you want to feel better or look better, it's absolutely possible. All it takes is the right strategy, some consistency and sometime. Have a great week and stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong my friend