My friend, I'm here to tell you that as you age, there is absolutely no need to fear the decline of your vitality or your quality of life. The secret? Healthy habits! Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with my student, Jennifer Taylor, a remarkable 69-year-old woman who completely turned her life around after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Through simple changes to her diet and a newfound love for exercise, she's now thriving at almost 70, full of energy and strength!  

If you've been feeling tired and unmotivated as you age, Jennifer's story is guaranteed to inspire! She shares all the adjustments she made to her protein and carb intake, advice for maintaining your muscle mass as you get older, and how she's full of energy all day long without needing to nap. I promise you – you don't have to live out your later years feeling terrible, and this episode is all the proof you’ll ever need! 

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 turned to my practice after her diagnosis 
• How Jennifer is strength training in her 60s
• The most impactful actions, behaviors, and habits in Jennifer’s change
• The truth about caffeine in your diet and how to maintain energy without it 
• Tips for adopting new habits into your existing routine 
• Advice for balancing carbs with protein and Jennifer’s favorite proteins 
• What to eat before your strength training workout 

Resources Mentioned:

• Listen to the first 29 episodes of Holly Perkins Health Podcast HERE
• Check out MyFitnessPal 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.

Most women who worry about the decline that comes with aging make the mistake of thinking there's nothing they can do to restore their vitality. And therefore, they feel stuck and fatigue and end up fearful of their years ahead. And that is no way to live. But the women who are thriving in their 50s and 60s adapted and adopted new habits, resulting in a new lease on life. If you feel like you're trying your best to be healthy, but find yourself always tired and slowly declining, keep listening, because this woman's story will blow you away.

Hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of the Holly Perkins health podcast. If you're new around here, welcome. I'm Holly and after 30 years in practice, I've learned that your eating habits dictate your reality. And many women are taking action to eat right in order to feel good, stay young and improve their body composition. And yet, many are still struggling. If you believe that you're following good advice, but are struggling with fatigue, and you worry about how you're going to keep up with life in the years ahead. Today's interview is exactly what you need. Today, I'm interviewing the very inspiring Jennifer Taylor as part of a series that I'm unofficially calling the struggle. And in it, you'll hear how some women got out of their struggle, and actually started thriving. And you'll hear exactly how they did it. Because here's the thing, if you're struggling in any way, I promise, there's a reason and there is a way out. You don't have to live out your years feeling terrible, and I've got the proof and the inspo you need. If you enjoy this episode, please let me know. Simply rate and review wherever you're listening. If you grab a screenshot while you're at it, you can get free access to my four week program strength without stress. Just upload a screenshot of your review at Holly perkins.com forward slash review. Enjoy the episode.

Jennifer, I am so excited to talk with you today and hear more about your experience and just kind of how far you've come so far in our time together. Just to kind of cue up the focus of this interview. And this series is to take a look at what it was you were struggling with. Before we had the opportunity to work together. I really want to hear what bothered you each day. What were the struggles you were having. You got to the point where you said you know what, I'm going to do something about this. I'm going to reach out to Holly and I'm ready to make change. So if you would just start I would love to share a little bit about you tell me a bit where you're from where do you live, you know, just a little bit about you and then we'll jump in.

I'm so glad to be here and to be speaking with you today. I live in the mountains in North Carolina. I love it here. It's kind of out in the boonies. It's beautiful every day every season. I love to be outdoors. It's a happy place to be. But I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas. I have been in the Health Education and fitness and wellness industry for over 50 years. So I've seen a lot of changes in the industry, things are constantly changing. One of the things I loved about you and your work is that you are very cutting edge you you have done so much research, personnel research on yourself and also with your clients and keeping up with all the latest stuff. Because as you know when we get out of college, you have to keep up constantly with the dynamics of the business. And you are exceptional at that and I just love it about my health. I was diagnosed about 10 years ago with hypothyroidism. I found that the heart this the story of hypothyroidism isn't necessarily true for everyone because I did not lose any hair and I did not gain any weight. By the time I got around the blood work. I had lost 15 pounds. I was super skinny. I had no energy, extreme fatigue. He was terrible, I could barely get out of bed to, you know, do the chores that I need to do around here and to take care of my, my work my clients and teach my classes, it was a nightmare. And I was having free went injuries, it seemed like I'd have one injury, and it would get better and go will kind of go away and then I'd get another one somewhere else. And then that would get there and it would go away. And like, it was like my body was just trying to signal me to change something big time, okay. And girl along with all of that I was so discouraged and I felt so much sorrow and even I want to say Shang because I was working with people every day and talking to them about how your life can be long and joyful and full of vigor and vitality and happiness. And yet, in my private life, in my real personal life, I was very discouraged. It's not like I didn't try, I went to two different functional medicine specialists. And they, one of them was a gentleman that I was dating at the time. And he said, and I've been a vegetarian for decades. He said, Well, you really need to eat meat, and you need to be eating wild me, venison, bison, that kind of stuff. I'm sure if you've been a vegetarian for decades, it's very hard for you to make that decision that you want to start eating meat. And I was so disappointed in my health, that I started eating meat two or three times a week. And it didn't seem to do me any good. And no, it didn't seem to make my body feel more energetic or my workout felt stronger. Anything like that. I tried Lion's Mane mushroom to get rid of the brain fog. I tried turmeric to get rid of the pain with muck from my injuries. I tried so many things. And yet every night I needed like, I'm Kid you not maybe 11 or 12 hours of sleep every single night. And I was sleeping in the afternoon girl, I had to have a nap. Every afternoon after I ate lunch, I had to lay my head down, I had to close my eyes, it was like my body was falling me down into the bed, you've got to rest right now and take a nap. Then I had to set the alarm. And at four o'clock, I have a class that I teach every day at four o'clock, I had to set the alarm so that I can get up and get dressed and go teach my Pilates or yoga or my interval training classes. I finally got thinking, all right, you're almost 70. And this is the way it's going to be. It was just not the way I wanted the rest of my life to go.

Yeah, I do. And I can still relate, you know, a handful of years back, you may not know this part of my story, but something very similar, a mysterious illness set in and I was completely debilitated, exhausted and dysfunctional in so many ways. And the first thing you think is this is how the rest of my life is going to be in it's absolutely terrifying, especially when you've got the background that we have. We are educated, we are health professionals, we should know how to do it, we should be the ones who aren't struggling, certainly with fatigue, even at a minimum. And so I personally remember those days, which were just not that long ago where I was just like, What am I going to do for the next 30 or 40 years if I don't get out of this? So I personally relate so much to your story. And I know there are a lot of women that do thyroid dysfunction is a piece of it. And there are other aspects to it. So thank you for sharing that. You know, one question I have before we continue is as you were kind of navigating these symptoms, did you ever get the confirmation that thyroid dysfunction was part of it? Or do you feel like there are some other things that you have done to help you feel better outside of let's say thyroid medication or any kind of of traditional favourite protocol before I met you or after, before you and I started working together,

I tried so many things on the you know, if someone that I respected gave me a, an idea, okay, maybe you should try red light therapy or you should try this or you should try that. I tried so many things and I couldn't figure it out. And when I was diagnosed, you know, when my my PA finally got, you know, did my blood work? And she said, Oh, my Lord, she said, your thyroid is just gone and your adrenals are shot. And no wonder you don't have any energy. And it's no wonder you don't feel good. Normal. Yeah, get up and go. Yeah, nobody helped me like you do? Know.

Let's get into that. So like that beat before you joined the body composition project, right. And now to everyone listening. This is not a commercial for any of my programs at all. Regardless of how you're struggling right now. You can get out of it. There is a path, there is a solution. And you can feel better. So Jennifer, take us back. We started about two months ago, two months in a day, if you will, okay. Or three months ago, what was the breaking point when you said I'm going to apply for Holly's program or I am going to join this program? What was that kind of final straw that made you go I'm doing this,

I wish I could remember the name of the of the program that I was watching on the internet. But I'm sorry that I can't. I was watching everything that I could have time to watch on longevity and thyroid issues and stuff. I was watching like a five day seminar. And it was all these different medical doctors and chiropractors and people talking about longevity and how you want to live your life to make your to make your life long and happy and vital. So I was watching it, and you happened to be one of the presenters on this seminar. And I loved your energy, I loved your content, you spoke about health struggles that you had had and how you had, you know, work to overcome them and your difficulties. And your and I loved the fact that you were not 20 years old, because you know somebody that age, they're young and beautiful and bright and full of life, but they do not have the life experiences that somebody in their 50s or 60s or 70s, or 80s is going to have. So I was very impressed with your content. I love the fact that you had been through some struggles yourself with your valve that you were sounded like you were very innovative, and I really loved it. So then I went to your podcasts. I mean, I went to your website, and I watched you some more and more and more. And I thought, look at all this free content. This woman is really about helping people. She is really about making the world better. And I want to make it clear right this minute, you know, and I know I probably I might not supposed to be saying this. You made it very clear to me that you did not want this to be the holly Perkins infomercial.

That's got a great ring to it. I like it. The holly Perkins infomercial.

Maybe we should totally. But it was you know, it was you said you know, I'm here to give information to people, you know, maybe give them some hope or give them some thoughts of Oh, try this. Maybe I could try that maybe this might help me on and on. So I just wanted to make that very, very clear that if I say good things about Holly Holly's probably cringing because I don't want to talking about that. But this is why I picked you. Plus, I don't believe there. I don't believe in accidents. I think when you have a serendipitous moment where you find something that really clicks inside of you and clicks for you that I'm going to follow that chain you are that that that that road it and see where it takes you. So when I saw your wonderful content, and I saw, you know something about your philosophy and everything more and more, I thought, Okay, this could be the magic, this could be the thing that I really need, I am so tired of feeling pooped out and discouraged, and I want you know, I, I need physically and emotionally, to get to a better place, if I'm going to enjoy the rest of my life. And perhaps this would be the way my road.

Thank you for that. And I really do appreciate the very kind words that you're sharing. And just as Jennifer said, like, I really, the point isn't to make this how fabulous Holly is, it's to help other women see that there is a solution, and there is a way and so, Jennifer, I think I want to kind of adjust our sequencing of what we said we were going to talk about today. And instead right now, I feel like this is a really awesome segue. Let's cut to today. And tell me what the other side of that struggle feels like and where you are. Because then we can go into what were the actionable things that you did. I think that where you are today, and the things that you have told me thus far, is profound, and massively life transforming. And I want anyone listening to this to hear like the complete opposite of where you are today. So what's changed for you? How is life better for you? How do you feel today, as a result of the changes that you made, just

to reiterate that we're on like two and a half months into this program, but I have a giant energy shoe. I don't even feel like the same person that I felt like when I started this program, I bounce out of bed in the morning like a kangaroo. I'm so excited about you know, the day and the the challenges and the joys that are coming with that day, I have no feeling of, oh, maybe something insurmountable might happen today. And I'll be too tired to finish it or I won't be able to make it or whatever. That is completely gone. I feel like I don't have any like midday tiredness, I don't feel like I need to take a nap in the afternoon. And I'm not sleeping 10 or 12 hours a night anymore. I'm sleeping a good solid eight or nine hours, but I'm not sleeping my life away. I guess the best thing I can say is that I've got my vitality band, I've got my my mojo back, I feel like I've dropped off 30 years. On this, I want to say I want to feel like this program is the fountain of youth. If you are struggling with getting older and thinking that you are just feeling like crap, that is a lie. I think what people are afraid of when they get older, when they're getting older is they're not so much afraid of aging. They're afraid of that long, slow decline, what we used to call when I was in college, have the long slow decline at the end of your life. I don't think you know, you know, I don't think people are afraid of dying. I don't think it's the fear of death. It's that fear of losing your independence. I can't see myself sitting in a rocking chair doing needlepoint all day, I just can't see myself. I've always been really active physically. You know, I've been a very physically active person my whole life and to think that you can't do you might not be able to do or you know the things that you really have treasured and loved and enjoyed your whole life long. It's very discouraging. I agree. It's

like being alive but not being able to live. And you know, what comes to mind for me is that quote, and I am not even going to attempt to cite who quoted it, but it was most men are buried at 75 but they die at 25. Right, whatever that quote is. And I think there's something to be said and I say men because that is the direct quote. We should change it to people but yeah, it's the idea of like having to be alive and not being able to live is terrifying, especially for those of us who are Appreciate being active and living our life, whether it's physical activity or activity with your family, or your loved ones, or social life, or your work, or your mission, or your passionate causes, whatever it may be, is terrifying to me. And sounds like you were very much on the same page. And I want to underscore here, tell me again, Jennifer, are you currently 69? Is that right? 69.

And about, let's see, 12 days, all the 61 amazing.

And I say that because you are clearly not the picture of what a lot of younger people would think 69 looks like, right? Like you are not 27. And yet you are in many ways, living a full and robust life as if you were and that's remarkable. It really is. How would you say outside of just sort of like your day to day energy and verve and zest for life? Have you seen a change in your workouts or the results from your workouts, anything like that? Oh,

my goodness, well, I was getting to a point where I didn't have the energy to work. You know, I can do like maybe once a week, I can do a dance fitness class, I love my dance fitness classes. I love just about any class that I'm not teaching not that I don't love to teach. But when you don't have to be the teacher, it's a it's a nice break for you when you're, you know, teaching a lot. And I love my dance fitness classes. But I might have gone to those once a week. And the strength training, which I adore, I love to lift weights, I'm one of those freaky people, you just, I love to go to the gym, I love to lift weights, I love to get sore, I love to do all that stuff. I hardly had the energy, I had the energy to teach my own classes to teach classes to other people. But I did not have that reserve to do very much for myself anymore. And now oh my goodness, I'm doing strength training three times a week and hard, fun, wonderful strength training, your program is so much fun. It's very exciting for me, you know, if you're gonna lift weights, you got to challenge yourself. And I love to do that. So I have the strength and the vitality and the energy and the drive, the passion, the desire to work out and feel amazing and go up on my way. It's every single week. So my workouts have completely changed.

That's amazing. That's so huge. I'm so glad that was something we hadn't talked about explicitly, right is your experience of your workouts and all of that that's huge, because, especially again, for a fitness professional to then not be able to do your own workouts is ironic and tragic. Same time. Thank you, especially for someone like you who does love it, right? Like some people begrudgingly do their strength training, because I've drilled it into their heads and they do it and they do it because they like the results. But you and I actually like the process of it too. And when you can't have your process, it's just heartbreaking. So so let's get to the good stuff. Tell us about what were in your experience, the actions, the behaviors, the habits, that you change the things that you did, that you feel were the most impactful to get you to this other side to take you from zero to hero, if you will, you know, I know there's different aspects of the program, and I've guided you with certain tasks, if you will. And I'm curious what you would say are the things that were the most relevant and impactful to get you to where you are. I'm here to talk

about caffeine, smoke about diet. I'm going to talk about major changes. I'm a bit of a caffeine freak on love black coffee, and I love to drink, you know, three strong cups of coffee every morning. I was doing Oh, intermittent fasting because all the longevity experts tell you that you should be doing intermittent fasting and that it's really good for longevity. So I was drinking three strong cups of coffee every morning and I wasn't having lunch until maybe one or two o'clock in the afternoon. Then I would have lunch and I would pass out on the bed I'd be so crash. Totally such a common

pattern is It's just like crack out on caffeine because of course, as you said, the intermittent fasting experts and longevity specialists all say, thirst until noon. But you can drink lots of black coffee, you can drink lots of caffeine, it's even better because it frees up the fatty acids, right? Yeah. Oh, but nobody's talking about what happens on the other side of it, which is the most horrible crash ever. And

when you said to me, this was before I even signed up for your program, you said, Okay, I'd sleep for three days, if I didn't, you know, if I drink coffee all morning, and I didn't eat a one or two o'clock in the afternoon, I would Yeah. And so you said, I have a little tip for you just, you might want to try you were very diplomatic. She said, you might want to try, you know, within an hour of rising in the morning, I get up very early in the morning and start feeding my chickens and doing my thing here at my house. Within an hour of rising, you know, you can have a protein shake, or you can have, you know, you don't have to prepare a big meal or anything. Try this and just see if it makes a difference in your life. Within three days, I was not needing a nap in the afternoon anymore. Yeah, it affected me that quickly. That's powerful. That was huge for me. And so and then I started learning from you. Never a carb without a protein, never a protein without a car, which nobody tells you then hello, even though the experts that I've gone to see and nobody tells you, you need to eat in the morning, and you need to eat every three to four hours. And you need to eat 50% carbs, 25% protein, 25% fat, that's how you need to eat, and you need to be consistent. Now, in the beginning, I will say because I was eating also far too low in calories, and I was not eating enough food to really sustain my lifestyle. I had to just force myself to eat. But if you have that issue, and it's a problem for you, it goes away, it gets better. After five or six weeks, you start getting appropriate hunger at appropriate times, and you start eating appropriately. And your body wants to do that. But in the beginning, you know, you may have to force feed yourself a little bit, which is what I had to do.

Yeah, if I remember, like I remember even before you enrolled in the body composition project, I remember we had a phone call. And I gave you that suggestion. And if I'm remembering correctly, I think you started by just adding the smallest little bit of protein and carbs in the morning. Yes. And right away, you were like, Oh my gosh, this has changed my life. And we hadn't even started the program yet.

You are absolutely correct that and while you have a very good memory, because I know you've talked to a lot of people, that's exactly what happened. You were adamant that it was going to help me You said Mark my words, pay attention, this is going to help you and you told me you know, try to have a little bit of protein and a little bit of carb and it doesn't have to be a whole ton it can be 200 calories or but it you need to be consistent and do it every day and do it soon after you get out of bed in the morning. It was amazing. And this whole thing about the protein in the carbs and the fat when I used to do when I was crashing in the afternoon or you know, in the evening or whenever I would eat like a banana. Okay. And I thought, okay, that's gonna perk me up and make me you know, that's gonna give me energy for the next three hours or no, it does. No,

especially when you're so far gone at four in the afternoon, right? It's like, yes, the majority of your day is over and you have not fed the machine and the metaphor of a Ferrari I think is so perfect for you because you are a Ferrari probably should be the next title of my next book. But you are and so can you imagine owning a you know $300,000 Or a million dollar Ferrari and not putting gas and oil in it or pumping up the tires and then setting it to perform for 10 hours before you give it a banana? Right? It doesn't make any sense at all. So once you had that early Aha, and you started eating some protein and some carbs in the morning, you saw your energy go up. What happened after that? Because again, if I'm remembering correctly, it gave you the inspiration, the motivation and the confidence to maybe take the next step and improve your diet further. So beyond that, how have you changed your diet?

Number one, I have to say one thing that that your you that your folks out there listening might really appreciate to hear, you gave me an analogy, that Ha, I think is really helpful. And you said, Okay, you're building your log cabin. And the logs are your protein. And you have these beautiful logs for your log cabin. But who's going to build the log cabin, the working crew that you hire, to come and put the logs together and build the beautiful log cabin. So the working crew are the carbs. And if you don't do the carbs, and the protein, you're not going to build your your cabin is not going to get built. And that helped me so much. And it has helped a number of my clients and a number of my friends. When I tell them that story. I told my sister that story last Sunday when I was on the phone with her. So that has been really important to me and helpful to me to remember, and I've been oh gosh, I'm on that match Fitness Pal thing, trying every day valiantly to do the 5025 25 and, you know, ratios. And when I do I feel I know that my my workouts are probably stronger, I don't know my feet, my I feel like a tiger I just absolutely feel wonderful. So I know that it's really working for me and my ailments are going away. My left shoulder is really, really healing beautifully. And I think is you know, there again, where my body is just starting to really to nap after being downtrodden for so long. So, you know, I had challenges with technology, I'm a dinosaur with it, but I've gotten better with that, you know, getting getting I got you know, I got the My Fitness Pal thing going and I'm feeling better about learning all that. And I'm proud of myself that I got into that and started learning.

You know, I think even that's like super noteworthy too, though, because a lot of people come into a program of this caliber, and they think, Oh, I have to do all the things. I have to follow Holly's programming exactly to a tee. And I think what I'm hearing from you is you really didn't, you adopted some new practices slowly in stages, you didn't walk in on day one, and follow all of my suggestions. At the get go. It was like, you know, you've been easing into the technology of it, you eased into using My Fitness Pal and simply started by eating protein and carbs without getting super precise, yes, or super mathematical about it. And so it just blows my mind that you've had such good results. And you really haven't even yet completed all the elements of the program, if you will write for most

people the pace thing that you go through because you have a ton of material that you put into this program. The pacing is probably just right for most people, they love the you know that, you know the fast action of do this and learn that and get this quick and get this done and do this and that. But I'm I'm a little bit slower on the uptake chip and some people. Yeah,

but I mean, that's really incredible, right that you say that? And you're aware of that. And yet you still have had life changing results.

Oh, I could not be happier with the information that I am digesting and assimilating. And with the presentations. It's so professional. It's so beautifully done. Frankly, I'm proud of myself, because I jumped on this wagon, and I saw it was like a lifeline. Okay, there's the lifeline. I'm going to grab that lifeline right now. And I did you know when you have an niggling voice or a little niggle on your shoulder that's going hey, this is a good idea. You really ought to do this. And you don't pay any attention to it. You're usually really sorry that you didn't, and, um, could not be happier with the results that I've already got. And I know I'm far from being perfect with this program. I know I'm far from doing it the exact correct way, you know, you're talking now about weighing your food and how much more accurate that's going to be and all that and girl, I will probably never weigh my food, I'll probably never do

that, how amazing is that? Because you're like, why would I even bother? I'm getting such great results. And I agree with you. I always say to my clients, it's like, you don't have to do anything. Let's start with a couple of things. Because it's not like, I'm going to say you have to weigh your food. Why would I say that if you're already getting great results. And now if you said to me, Holly, I'm happy, but I want more results, or I want to put on more muscle or I want even more energy than I might say, let's look for the things that are going to further optimize what you're doing. But in many ways, it feels like this has just been a slow and natural progression so that you can adopt these new behaviors as true habits. So we don't need to overload you with weighing your food. It's all working. I'm curious, have you changed in any significant way? The actual foods that you're eating? Or have you simply changed how you're eating your familiar foods? Does that make sense? Or have you started adding or subtracting things,

I've always been a pretty darn healthy eater, I know that you know, the nutrition that you get is shouldn't be you know, I eat primarily organic food I, I raised my own chickens. So I can you know, and I have my own eggs, and they are pets, but I love them dearly. But I certainly do eat their eggs. I eat a lot of whole grains. And probably I eat a lot more carbs than I did prior to this program. And I love quinoa and I love brown rice, and I love millet, and I love all that stuff. But I was just I kept hearing, okay, if you're fatigued, you need to push the protein, you need to eat more protein, protein, protein protein. Yeah, and now I've you know, I'm eating a whole Giga ton of carbohydrates. And people would think, Oh, she must be gaining a lot of weight. If she's eating all those carbohydrates. I've gained a pound and a half in the last two and a half months. And as as you know, for my body composition, your scan, yep, your body comes down my scan, that my body fat is, you know, it's in a very good place that don't need to lose body fat. So if I gained a pound and a half of body fat, which I very seriously doubt with the workouts that I'm doing from you, that would be fine, if that happened to me. But I'm guessing that a whole lot of that pound and a half is muscle mass that I have gained.

Yep, exactly. I would bet that and it's wonderful.

I love carbohydrates. It always kind of irritated me to think okay, in order to be stronger and physically more muscular, you're gonna have to eat a lot more protein. That's the story everybody tells you. I

know, I know, I can't tell you we're in the protein era. And problem with it is there are so many messages of eat more protein, eat more protein, eat more protein, and without an actual quantity check on it because it really is the balance like sure, you might need more protein but that doesn't mean you need to eat 200 grams of protein a day. If you weigh 150 pounds or 145 pounds and so more is relative, right? And it really has to be in conjunction with carbohydrates. There are three macronutrients and there are only three macronutrients that provide calories that mother nature or you know the divine source has created for human has said we need all three. So why can we load up on protein and neglect? Yes, carbohydrates, but protein and fat are okay, no human needs all three of them. And for the most part, we need them almost in balance we need we technically need more carbs than protein by a small percentage about 10% More in relation to the amount of protein we're eating. But what we're seeing with everybody is this ketogenic, low carb all Ultra Low Carb protein fat protein fat protein fat in the neglect of but wait a second carbs are the working crew as you said it's the power house it's what's going to help those proteins go to work and put your logs in place instead of being strewn all over the field right to build the house. So I'm curious what are the sources of protein that you like to eat and that you've chosen for your day to day?

Well, I love beans, eggs I love tofu. I was a vegetarian for 30 years so are you in a blood type?

I am I knew it. See you are a classic a blood type I see this all the time people who naturally on their own biologically have a predisposition for lighter proteins and a vegetarian lifestyle if they're not choosing into it for ethical reasons moral reasons, mental psychological reasons knowledge right if they're choosing into it biologically they're almost always a blood types. You're such a classic A that way. Okay, so tofu eggwhites beans, what else?

I eat dairy. I eat yogurt. I eat cottage cheese, and it's like eat quinoa. All kinds of beans, all kinds of peas. You know, I love to combine like quinoa and chickpeas or millet and tofu or you know, I'm not a big sweet eater. So I don't I don't crave sweets a lot. I have trouble sometimes getting down the protein shakes in the morning be the vegan protein shakes, because they're always sweet. So I can almost never Yeah, get away from that. And that's another way I do I do a protein shake almost every day. And sometimes if I'm kind of cheating, I'll do it twice a day. I am doing fish like twice a week. You got me hooked on. Halibut I love halibut. It's the best. I like it a lot better than salmon. Good. Hey,

let's before we wrap up, I want to talk about something we haven't talked about, which is muscle soreness.

I like to as you call it crush in the gym, you know or at home, if I'm working out. I'm like to push until I'm shaking. You know, that's the way I like to work out. But I had to contact you a few days ago and tell you can I like say workout on Monday, skip Tuesday, Wednesday, and work out on Thursday. Because I'm staying so sore for so long. between workouts and I'm afraid to work out when I'm that sore because I'm like get an injury and yada yada. And you said oh, I absolutely agree. And I said okay.

What I agreed, wait, let me clarify. I agree that I don't think it's a good idea. If someone is super sore, let's say your lower body is super sore. I think it's counterproductive to go work your lower body. Again, if you're feeling a lot of soreness, you don't work that same body area. And that was ultimately Jennifer's question Is she was like I'm so sore. And I don't feel that I should be working those muscle groups again. So can I do fewer workouts with more days in between? Go ahead and continue? And I was

asking you okay, I'm taking this this this and this? Supplements, supplements? Yeah, what you know, what? Is there any other supplement that I can take? And, and you said, Okay, let's revisit this a little bit. What are you eating prior to your workout? When are you eating? How many calories are you eating before your workout? And so when I told you, okay, I'm having two hard boiled eggs and a banana. Or I'm having a vegan protein shake. It was like no, that's not enough to have before. A serious strength training workout. And if you will eat 600 to 1000 calories during the day before you work out. If it's a morning workout, then eat 600 calories before the workout. If it's an afternoon workout, eat 1000 calories before the afternoon workout. It will greatly change or it should or it might greatly change how sore you're getting. And so you said rather than add another supplement to your to your recipe of life. Why not try this and see if it works and I'll be darned. I did it one day A only one day and the very next day, I was marginally sore scale of one to 10, maybe one or a two. And if I hadn't done a very difficult workout, I'm not going to bother to do a workout if it's not difficult try. And so I, I only did your formula of 600 calories one day, and worked out. And the very next day I checked my inner getting out of bed, I checked my body, I stretched around a little bit. And it was like, wow, this is so doable. Yeah.

And to recap on that I, of course, I'm not surprised. And I'm so happy to get that up to date. So and just kind of fill in the blanks a little bit and clarify. So people understand because I don't want people to think, oh, I need 1000 calories before workout. So what Jennifer was doing as she was getting up early in the morning, and getting in maybe two or 300 calories before a workout, which was later in the morning. And so the way that we looked at it is she was only getting in I think, Jennifer correct me if I'm wrong here she was getting in like three or 400 calories, but she had been up for six hours before her workout, or sometimes her workout would be in the afternoon, say four o'clock in the afternoon, as she mentioned, but she was only getting like 600 calories by four o'clock in the afternoon. At that point, you're up for 10 or 12 hours, and you've only had 600 calories. So it's really about front loading the calories. Yes, but also looking at what time of day, are you working out? How many hours has your body been in need of fuel before the workout. And so a benchmark that I often use for people is kind of regardless where you're working out trying to get at least 1000 calories in before noon most days. Because that's half of your day, it should be half of your calories or ish, right. And so it's personalized, and I definitely adjusted this for Jennifer, but our kind of experiment was for her to get in 600 calories if she was going to do a late morning workout and she had been already been up for six hours, or at least 1000 calories by noon or lunch if she was going to be doing a later day workout afternoon. Is that right? Jennifer? That's

absolutely right. And what this proves as well, is that so many people nowadays are doing this thing of here's the cookie cutter, this is what everybody does this, this is what every person does. This is what, and this is a very precisely modified program for each and every person that is, you know, my issues coming into this program, you know, are completely different from anybody else's issue. And is so important. Please don't just go out there and listen to any cookie cutter program or anybody who's telling you want to do which. I'm guilty. Hello, me, I've done it. Where if we're gonna get you need more protein, you better eat more protein will eating more protein did not help me. Intermittent fasting did not help me. Okay. i And I needed help desperately. And so if you have a mentor or you have somebody who is going to give you programming that matches you, your body, your stage in life, what you are after, what do you need? What are you looking for, then that's the advice that you want to listen to?

Yeah, the thing is, in some ways, I've often said, we're more alike than we realize us women. Because we're very different from men very different from men. We're more alike than we realize. But we're still very unique and your needs, your physiology and your habits are so different from mine. And while I put a lot of science and years and intention into my programming, it still has to be tweaked because you coming in are different than how Michelle comes in is different than how Suzy comes in. And it's those adjustments or tweaks to the programming and the habits are what are really going to optimize for you specifically. Right and I think your story just so so underscores that

I certainly found what I needed, and it's been a great journey. And if five years from now, I might need something different I might need some new things, I might need to tweak some things and make them different. But I'm on cloud nine. Yeah, it's

a whole new world for you. And we're only a third of the way through for people listening. We're two months into a six month program. Can you imagine where she's going to be? In four more months? It's amazing.

I can see muscle definition that I have not seen in 10 years on my body. That's awesome.

I'm so pleased. I'm so happy. I'm so proud of you. It's just been such a joy to work with you. And thank you for sharing your story. I have one last question that I'm so curious about. So being a fellow caffeine, a Holic abuser, have you cut down on your coffee or not at all?

I have to tell you the truth. And that is no,

I figured that was the answer. I was hoping for honestly. Right? No, right guys, listen, like she came to me as a self professed caffeine Holic. And I didn't say cut back on your coffee. And I think that would have been the logical advice. Because you were basically getting up cracking out, running around busy all day long working out doing all the things just on the high of the caffeine. And I think a doctor or a functional nutritionist, or somebody would have said, cut back on the caffeine and I didn't I let you have your caffeine. And so I was hoping that you would say no, I think that's wonderful. You get to have your caffeine, you get to have your cake and eat it too. You get to have your coffee and drink it too. Right. So that's huge. So happy for you.

I just figure oh, gosh, if I'm going to be so diligent in all these other aspects, you know, I can still cheat and have those three cups of black French Roast every morning. Yes,

yeah. And it's not cheating. You know, that's the thing. It's like, it can work for people, everyone's caffeine metabolism and tolerance is different. And it can be problematic, right? Because we did also talk about the consideration of if you're over caffeinated, before a workout, people don't realize caffeine is an analgesic, it reduces your perception of pain. And so if you're cracking out on a ton of caffeine, and you go crush it in the gym, and your pain perception is low, you could be overworking out I'm thrilled to find out that's not the case for you. Because we were going to experiment with that as well. For you, it was just you needed more food, more fuel, more calories, and you still get to have your caffeine so enjoy it. It's not cheating.

Well, thank you. I love my caffeine. And I figure on mitigating it by eating and you know, being good in the morning and trying to Yes, you will up the body. But I'm very honest in saying I gave it about a 10th of a second thought maybe.

Like, no, I'd rather buy more supplements back on my coffee. And you know how wonderful we never even had to have that conversation. Yes, there are supplements, you can add in for muscle soreness. And I withheld that from Jennifer. I was like, I'm not even going to tell you what they are yet because you'll just go by them. If we need to add them in we will but let's see if we can work around it save you some money. And so many people are just adding things in to fix problems these days, when it really could just be we need to remove something else or add an entirely seemingly unrelated thing to fix the ailment, right, whatever you're seeking a supplement for. So like supplements upon supplements is not the way to go. They really should only be supplementing for what you can't fix through other actions and habits and lifestyle modifications. So I'm so proud that you know we were able to do this and I'm thrilled and I am so happy you get to have your coffee because sister I getcha

Thank you. Well, I you know one coffee bean to another it's yeah, when you love the taste of it. You love the smell of it. You love the ritual of making the coffee. You'd love that. You know, I love every aspect of coffee. I used to drink coffee when I worked in an office. I drink coffee all day long. So I think I feel like I'm a real good girl. Three.

Yeah, exactly down to three. Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing your story. I know that there is a woman sitting there right now listening to this so inspired and hopefully is my wish to feel a bit empowered to take some new actions because you really can change your experience in life. And as I always say, you really can create the body that you need to keep up with this life that we love. So Jennifer, thank you so much.

Well, many, many, many thanks to you and all blessings.

So before you ask, the body composition project will open up again in September now there is a waitlist, but I'm working hard to increase my resources so that we don't sell out again. If you want to learn more to see if the program is a good fit for you simply add your name to the waitlist at Holly perkins.com forward slash body waitlist, all one word. And if you're ready to work on your diet so that you can improve energy, reduce hunger and eliminate cravings. Be sure to sign up for my next three day learn to eat workshop. It's free, and it's a great way to discover how you can tweak your existing diet without restriction or eliminating food groups. Let me know you're interested by adding your name to the list at Holly perkins.com forward slash workshop. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for another brand new episode on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong my friend