Ep 13 - How Brooke Lost 28 Pounds by Learning to Nail Her Nutrition and Max Out Her Muscle

Couture Coaching Client Brooke is a busy mother of three.  Before working with Couture Coaching she was a "cardio queen" working very hard in the gym , doing 45 minutes a day of steady state cardio.   Regardless of her hard work, the weight started creeping on.  She knew what she was doing was not working and wanted to change her nutrition and exercise, but she had no idea what to do or where to turn.  A self-described rule follower, she just needed some structure, guidance, and a plan to follow.

Brooke started working with Couture Coaching  last summer.  We created a calibrated nutrition protocol for her and an exercise plan that swapped most of her cardio for resistance training.  She has a goal of losing 40 pounds and has lost 28 of those pounds and 12 inches off her waist and hips.   More impressive is that she has completely changed her blood markers in her short time working with us:  her cholesterol went from 218 to 157, her triglycerides went from 148 to 106, her LDL went 135 to 93.8, and her resting glucose went from 104 to 95.   She has made all of these changes while creating a lifestyle she loves.   

If you are frustrated with your weight and physique, take a moment to listen and be inspired by Brooke's journey.  She would tell you that if she can do it, anyone can do it!! 

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:08

Welcome to the Boost Your Metabolism After Age 30 Podcast. I'm Joe. And I'm Allison and we're your co hosts and the founders of Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching. We're on a quest to help women design lives they love and bodies they adore. We were fed up with the dieting industry and decided to create something different. We're starting a calories up revolution where women are nourished, their metabolisms are healed and their bodies and brains start working for them in the battle against weight loss. If you feel like your metabolism is wrecked, and you want to lose weight once and for all, you are in the right place. Hello, everyone, you just got Joe today, and today I am talking with one of our clients. Brooke is a mom of three children and a busy mom. And she came to us in June and started working with us in June. And I'm just going to cut to the chase and tell you what Brookes results have been. She has lost 28 pounds, she has lost 12 inches off her waist and hips, she has gained at least four pounds of muscle. And she has dramatically changed her blood markers since working with us. And so we're going to hear all about Lux transformation and all the things that she's learned since she has been on this journey. And so I'm very excited to interview our client, Brooke today. Brooke, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, your lifestyle, and then what was going on in your before story. So when I came to work with you all I had been doing kind of the same workout regimen, I would say for several years in between the birth and recovery of having three children. That's the season that I've been in for the last eight years, but working out six or seven days a week, 45 minutes or so at a time all steady state cardio for the most part for a while that sort of worked and kept things at bay. But I got to a point where I was definitely not happy. The results were not coming from the effort. And I really didn't have a nutrition plan. At one point between children. I think I tried intermittent fasting with some results. But I had no real thought about the nutrition and what foods were made of and how it was impacting my body. So really, I was just kind of at a place where I knew I needed to do something different. But I didn't know what and I was coming from a place of complete overwhelm, where there just wasn't time to research it on my own and, and try something on my own. So I was definitely attracted to the coaching aspect. And someone who could give me a plan and I could work the plan. Okay, so it sounds like you are maybe what we would call our typical cardio queen, doing lots of cardio every week, not a lot of intentional nutrition. And it sounds like for you that just the pounds kind of creeped on over the years. Definitely. And we hear a lot of people say that, well, I know exactly what to do. I just can't make myself do it. You're a little bit different. You didn't know really what to do. Right? And you weren't sure which way to turn or, or what to do with your nutrition, or what differently to do with your exercise. Exactly. Okay. And so then you just started to work with us in June, I assume, hoping to get some direction. In terms of nutrition and exercise. When we start working with clients. One of the first things that we do is we set a big impossible fitness goal. So what was your big impossible fitness goal? I guess it was July actually, when you started working with us. What were you thinking back then my big impossible goals to lose 40 pounds. And I knew that that was not going to be an achievable goal in the 12 week session that I had signed up for, but I wanted to just get started and see how it went and what I could learn from it. Yeah, now I'm in my third session with you guys and narrowing in on that target. Yeah, you absolutely are. Okay, so when we first started working with you, I'll just go over our protocol with you. We pulled back most of your cardio right and replaced it with resistance training. How many days a week did you start doing the resistance training for Okay, and then we gave you a very solid nutrition plan. We didn't tell you like what to eat in terms of you know, eat this for breakfast and this for lunch, but we gave you a calorie and macronutrient budget, right? Correct. Yes, that would probably be the hardest thing when I was getting started was just to figure out okay, what do I eat, and it did take take several weeks, probably longer for me to kind of get figured out what could fit in to hit the plan. And that's the one thing I will say is that for people who are like me, I'm familiar with macros to start with not really sure what's going on upstairs with the weight room. You can do it because I didn't know anything and my first 12 weeks I was probably you can ask my coach. I was terrible at hitting the numbers. I wasn't getting to the protein all the way up. I was making progress. But I was not hitting those numbers on target. But I still had great results. So for me that was super motivating to say, oh, gosh, if I did this well, where I didn't even hit these exact numbers, what could happen if I can really dial in sin, which is where I feel like I've finally gotten in cycle two and three? Yeah, and I was gonna ask you about that. I mean, do you think that someone who knows nothing about macros, or weightlifting could succeed at this program? 100%. That was me. Okay. You felt like you had enough support and education and that sort of thing along the way to make it work? Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think the great thing about the coaching program is the community that it creates, it's all about what you put into it. So if you take the time to invest and be a part of the group, you will get so much more out of it. For me when I was starting, I didn't really I wasn't an expert on anything. So I was just sort of taking in the content. But then, as you go along, if you get more confident, and you get, you get to know the other people, you start to share your own ideas or your own successes, or just even ask for help. And people come running to help you. I mean, everybody's in this together. And that's the cool thing about the group, I think, yeah, absolutely. It's a great community of supportive women. And we're all on the same journey. And either we've been on this journey before and have cracked the code, or we're just starting out, and everyone is there to support each other. Okay, and so with the nutrition, were you hungry? No, not really. So I did a reverse and being on those higher calories, and then starting my second cut in January, there was a week or two of adjustment, but it wasn't like starving, hunger, just an adjustment. And now it's my body's regulated and no, I don't ever really feel hungry. Okay. And so yeah, tell us about the results that you had your first 12 weeks doing everything, imperfectly. Exactly. Yeah. So the first one weeks, I lost about 15 pounds, and eight and a half inches between all the different measurements that we take. And yeah, I was feeling great. That was enough to jumpstart me and sell me on the idea that this would work and was sustainable. In those first 12 weeks, it was the summer, you know how summer school we had several trips. In the fall, I had a girls trip that kind of came up last minute. And so I was able to travel. I mean, I was super nervous about doing it. But I was able to travel plan ahead and stay on track and not derail my progress. I got the bands that you guys recommended. And I packed those in my suitcase, even though my coach said you don't have to worry about it while you're on vacation. I just wanted to I wanted to keep going felt good to move to anyway, just all of that worked well together. And I figured if I could do it in that timeframe, you know, there's always going to be a social occasion, there's always going to be something and there's never going to be a time where those things don't exist. So just figure out how to work it into your lifestyle. Yeah, I mean, we always say there's never going to be a 12 week period of time where you don't have a weekend to learn to manage those situations. But you did go on vacations and just managed to fit it all in. Okay, and then you signed up for a second 12 weeks with us. And I think this is where you said like the magic happened. And so tip typically, when someone has been dieting for 12 weeks, like Brooke was we don't like to keep them in a diet for very long. So we reversed her out of that dieting phase and started walking her calories back up again. And tell us what happened during this 12 weeks. So I was definitely able to use that extra food as fuel. I was lifting stronger and heavier. And I did continue to lose weight, which not not everybody does. But it was a great side benefit. And certainly all the flexibility and extra food was a great benefit. But yeah, I lost seven pounds during my reverse and another three inches and my body fat percentage went down 3% That's amazing. We often say like most people, I would say definitely most women rather than like losing five pounds of fat would look a lot better. And like their results a lot better if they put on five pounds of muscle. And that is actually ultimately going to help you know with the fat loss. But we really we put some shoulders on you during that second session. You look really amazing. And so all while increasing your food once you get your calories up to during your second 12 weeks. 1950 I think yeah, and that's a lot of food. If you're not, if you've never tracked before or you don't that doesn't have any relevance to you. That's that's a lot of food. I mean, you have to kind of work to eat that much food. Definitely. I mean, you can get there by drinking a bunch and eating a bunch of junk food, but you're just a little bit intentional. It takes some work to eat that much food. Okay, amazing. And so now you are in your third session with us and we're doing another dieting phase with you. And how's that gone? Good. And so that was sort of the incentive. for doing the reverse, right was that if you do this reverse, getting that last amount off for your big impossible goal will be easier for you because your body will be will be more willing to work with you. So invest in the reverse to make the cut easier. And so far, so good. I've lost seven pounds in the first seven weeks. And so now things are trending in the right direction. Okay, awesome. And then you kind of have had a secondary big impossible goal, which is to do a gymnastic move that your daughter can do, right? Forgotten which one is it a front handspring, or Well, I just sort of have said kind of a tumbling, pass it around, off back handspring around up back to So yeah, my daughter is nine and competitive gymnastics, which I did as a child. And so she is my many. And I mean, I haven't been in that realm since I was 14. So it's been a couple of decades, I certainly was in no shape to try to do any of that in July of 2021. But yes, when we did the next session, and you challenged us to look at our big impossible goal. And you know, was there anything different I added that to the mix, and I actually started an adult gymnastics class in January. So I go and do that once a week. I just had my class last night. So yeah, it's really fun. So I'm working towards it. Yeah, you must be loving that I danced as a as a teenager. So it to me nothing would be more fun than to which I'm sure I could I just need to do it. But right. And adult ballet or, or adult dance class. So it probably exists. I had no idea existed. But But yes, it's been a lot of fun. And I'm not the worst one in there. And there's even other women my age, which is awesome. So that's great. That must feel really good. Okay. The other thing that that happened recently is you went and got some blood work done. Tell us what the blood work showed. So it was comparing my annual blood work. And basically, it was comparing from December of 2020, which I would presume, would be very equal representative to where I would have been in June 2021, before starting the program, but my cholesterol and glucose went down significantly. So when I had my results in December of 2020, I was not outside the normal range that I would call a high end borderline of the high range. And my younger brother, who is not overweight, I had a heart attack four years ago this month. So for me being on the edge of normal wasn't a comfortable place to be. And so it wasn't enough for me to take action, right then when I got those results, but it had me thinking I need to do something different, I need to do something different. Anyway, I didn't have a way of measuring it in between, but just got the results last week. And my levels are all down significantly and in the normal range comfortably. So and I don't feel like I've made such drastic changes that it would more drastic change. So it tells you how much better could it be even just, you know, by continuing to get better at this program and fine tuning the nutrition and kind of optimizing things. So yeah, and I would say what a year ago, would you have known what to change in your nutrition to change the bloodwork? No. Okay. No, yeah, I do think nutrition is the missing piece. For a lot of people. It's like, you know, you need to make a change. But what do you even do? And I think you said things like new and other things that come floating across your screen, and it was still just overwhelming. Where do I even start? Exactly. Okay, wonderful. Well, I hope those results continue to improve, I'm sure they will. So a big part of our program. Yes, there is the nutrition and exercise piece and you get a one on one coach who you interact with every week and who changes things for you. And we'll answer your questions about various things about lifting or nutrition. But we the other thing that is a big piece of the program is mindset and lifestyle coaching. So tell us sort of how you experienced that what you learned you were a very good student, I work as an A plus student, don't go so far to say maybe teacher's pet, but I can relate on the same way. But tell us like what I guess what you were thinking beforehand that you would get from the lifestyle and mindset coaching. And then once you have come to learn or realized through that? Well, I will say admittedly, you know, I was like, Okay, I need the nutrition and the weightlifting because I don't want to do there. I don't really know if I need this mindset. But I'll just I mean, it's in here. So I'll just do it. I'll see what happens. So I didn't have a lot of expectations. I will just say coming out of it. I don't know, I feel like there's just like Jo statements that run through my head from bad things. Oh, good thing. Good thing. One that's more recent. For me. It has to do with my current situation, which is to be in a calorie deficit. I just keep saying it to myself. Don't fart around in your cache. You know, your body only gives you so many times of dieting and I wasn't a chronic diet or were luckily where I had to repair my metabolism. Okay. For a long time in order to be able to cut, so I got lucky that I was able to just cut to start with. And then I did the reverse and cutting again. But from everything I've learned from you all about, you know, the more times you diet, the less responsive your body is going to be. So don't wait like this is your opportunity, don't waste it. And so anyway, I've just told myself, don't fart around, be consistent, like get in and get it out done here in these 12 weeks. So that's been helpful. The social eating and drinking class that you did was great preparing for the holidays. And I guess for me, I mean, I certainly didn't have a problem with alcohol, but I definitely used it as a personal reward. So we explored that a lot through your class. And just kind of having that mindset shift, where you know, the reward is not the substance, whether it's food or alcohol, in my mind, the reward became the progress I was making. And so that it just became much less of a trigger for me, you know, before if I had an open bottle of wine in the house, like, why wouldn't I just have a glass on a Tuesday or Thursday? Not even because I'm stressed, but just because, well, it's gonna go bad if you don't drink it. For me. Now, that's like, it's not even a thing. So even remember being sitting in those classes, and other people saying that, but I was not in that place. And it didn't come fast. I mean, it took me I mean, I would say probably through the reverse before I finally kind of let go of it. And I certainly still enjoy socially with my friends. But I pick and choose the spots. And I remember you said, I'm not going to get the wording right. But something about if it didn't have control over you, how would your life be different? And my answer was, Well, I wouldn't hold back any carbs and fats, if I wasn't worried about trying to fit in alcohol. And certainly that place for me in this cut now, because I would much rather have the food and then trying to work in a glass of wine a day or something like that. So and I should also know that I'm cutting now on higher calories than I cut the first time. And I still can't imagine giving up more food. Yeah, a couple things about what you said, Yes, I think for a lot of people that come in, it's managing the social eating the social drinking, they are just convinced you know that that's going to veto them and sabotage them. So what we really work on through just the program and the mindset coaching is to teach you how to that you have a choice in this, you make these choices willingly and you learn how to fit what I call these luxury macros into your lifestyle, but in a way that they're not ruling or sabotaging you. But you get to pick when you have the wine, you get to pick when you have the treats and not that they control you and you have no control over the substances. So that is a big piece of it. Anyway, I'm glad that you feel like I always say we that we just want you to have agency over those items. So that's what we're hoping to teach you. And the other fun thing, when you get your nutrition in order, and you're eating adequately and you are really nourishing your body. Most people will tell us and this is certainly my experience, you don't crave those items as much your body is so nourished and is thriving with all of this food and inadequate nutrition that you don't really, you're not like desperate or like running on fumes when you hit the evening or you roll into those parties. So you do have more of a choice. Have you experienced that? I would agree. It's almost one of the things that you notice later, but you kind of like oh, wait, yeah, that really hasn't been a temptation lately. I wonder, you know, now. And now when you think back? That is probably why so now we definitely agree. Yeah. And that's it's nice to not have to worry about those things and just enjoy your life. Yes. Okay. So what is your best advice? You know, I think that anything really more than 10 pounds to lose, and to keep it off and to you know, to stay consistent on a program. I think that that is that's no small feat. So what is your best advice for someone who was sort of in your shoes, maybe wanting to lose 40 pounds, maybe more like doesn't know what to do? I would say, just go for it. Basically, at that point, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. For me, it was about taking time to invest in myself, as with a lot of people and mothers that spend a lot of time giving, giving giving of themselves for other people, I really didn't spend time investing in finding out what would be best for my health. And so by doing that, I can be a better mother, friend, wife, contributor to society, if I've got that in order. And so, you know, for me, I just, you know, go for it, let go of perfection, you're going to learn a lot of new skills, not going to be great at all of them from the beginning, but what they say in this program is progress over perfection. I'm proof of that. Okay. And then you've said something about I never considered like hiring a coach before or like having a coach help you in any area of your life. Not really. I mean, I do. I will say I did have a personal trainer, probably about a decade ago. It was Only weights, not nutrition. So it wasn't the full package. I guess. So yeah, at this point, I feel like hiring a coach has been, like, obviously life changing for me. And so now I'm recognizing other areas of my life that I could use coaching just because I don't have it figured out because you don't have to muddle through myself find the expert and let them guide me. Yeah, yeah, I think he said something like 2022 is going to be your year of coaches. Yeah, I agree. I mean, the most important thing is to get on the path. You don't have to have the how exactly figured out or understand how this is all going to work. If you get on the path, I say like the How will present itself, you just have to make the commitment to your health first and do something about it. Okay, what about your best advice for someone about how to make the we always say like, this is not a diet, it really is. And we have lifestyle in the name of our business because we really it this is about creating a new lifestyle for yourself that will help you grow old, gracefully, strong healthfully. So how what's your best advice for someone to you know, go from where you have like, you know, you're doing a bunch of cardio to learning to love the weights, learning to make the food work, all the stuff, I would say go all in, learn as much as you can from your peers, your coaches, others in this field of nutrition. And once people start around, you start to notice your results, you will be stopped constantly to be asked what you're doing, what your secret is. And all that's going to do is continue to fuel you to keep going and to share, you can never think about going back then to a different way. This is just a new way. And it's a very doable work with your life way I ate all the sweet things still, and so perfectly fits. So it's just about there's planning that's required. And you've got to take time to do that. But if you do a lot of good stuff, and even on a cut, yeah, two questions. What's your favorite part of kind of this new lifestyle? And is there anything you miss desperately? From your old lifestyle? Question, my favorite thing would be nothing's off limits, but there's no restrictions. There's no list of things that you can't put in your plan. So based on that, I don't have anything to miss from the old lifestyle. It's all in moderation and planned and just tweaked or optimized choices. So I will say one of the most shocking things for me, like just learning about the saws, like I had no idea how much fat and calories were in olive oil, and then how many places I used that without measuring and things that you thought were going to be healthy for you, including a salad. So just for the dressing. So there were just lots of education, things that are a little aha moments that are just conscious choices you can make or be aware of that do add up to a lot in the end. Yeah, I agree. It's really eye opening, you know, things that you thought were terrible or bad food aren't so bad. From a macro perspective, you can totally fit and then things that you perceived as a health food. You know, almonds are one thing. Yes. You can have them for sure. But you have to eat them with intention. They can be little fat bombs. And not worth it for me. I'd much rather Yeah, I agree. I don't find them satiating, or, you know, maybe with some chocolate thrown in. But anyway, you just learned so much. And the greatest thing though, is that you learn you are in control, you become totally empowered to manage this part of your life and to create, you know, results that you like, so amazing. Well, we can't wait to see how you continue progressing. I would say you hit like fitness model status. You're amazing. That's That's what I always look at. And I never had. But until I started looking weights, I didn't really have defined arms or shoulders. And I always wanted them. And so that's what I'm always looking at, and your shoulders and your arms look amazing. So thank you very much. I love seeing your progress pictures. Okay, so we usually end our podcast talking about food. Because I am very food motivated. I love cooking. I love throwing dinner parties. So tell us about the food. And you I think you and I are cut from the same cloth and tell us about how someone who's food motivated or a foodie can still have a very satisfying food life, following macros and some of the funnest recipes that you've made or discovered in this lifestyle. Sure. So again, macros were completely new to me. So I didn't even know what that was once you start searching that out on Instagram and you'll get a million suggestions. And I just started accepting them and following them and just trying to just try to keep up honestly there really I didn't. I mean, I took things here and there in that first 12 weeks, but there were so many overwhelming things going on. I couldn't really take in a whole bunch of new by the time I got to the reverse. I was like ready. So I got a couple of cookbooks over Christmas and I won one in the fall. So Lily's Intel's Lauren fit foodie. Those are my staples that I have their cookbooks and I pull them out when I meal plan for the week getting my favorites list together there. But I also am finding oh snap macros who I know, we just you guys did a podcast with her recently, she's got a bunch of great stuff. There's a woman mind in my macros that made these amazing protein crepes that I'm making for dinner tonight, and I'm so excited about. And so I mean, these are the things you get excited about is repeating those fun recipes, and my family is eating them all. So I mean, I'm not creating something different for me and for the rest of the family, and my daughter has a gluten sensitivity. So that's been part of our family's meal planning, you know, for several years now anyway, and all of this still works with that as well. So that's helpful. One thing I've been doing recently, because I found a couple of Lauren's recipes that I will do make the dinner in bulk, and then I'll use the leftovers are perfect for lunch throughout the week. The awesome thing is these loggers that you follow all their stuff is in my fitness pal already. So you don't even have to create the recipe, you can just quickly log it and know exactly what you know, if there's anything you're adding on you can you know add that separately, or you can change the recipe easily as well. So that's kind of what I've been doing. Yeah, it's kind of like a whole new world, isn't it? It is yeah, that you don't even know existed. And I just declared all of these other cookbooks we've had and haven't been using because I don't I'm not even going to use this. I'm just constantly going back to my macro friendly people. And And now, as I get better at it, I'm sure I'll be able to just tweak on my own. But you know, particularly in a cut I, I don't want to fart around. So I want it to be right and get the results. And when I have a little more luxury of extra calories in reverse. I might experiment more with my own recipes. So yeah, sounds good. Well, thank you, Brooke, this has been fun. And I'm sure you will inspire many people who might be in a similar situation. Maybe people who have never heard the word macro before putting a lot of time in on the elliptical or you know the treadmill and wondering what they could do differently. So thank you. And thank you for being an amazing client and so coachable. And like I said, we can't wait to see how you continue improving with your physique. So that's all we have for you guys today. Thanks so much. Bye, bye. That's what we've got for you today about how you can invest in your metabolism and start losing weight by eating more and exercising less. Trust us you aren't too old and it's never too late. If you want to learn more about this topic, head over to our Facebook group, Boost Your Metabolism After Age 30. You can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook at Couture Fitness Coaching. And if you want to work with us, join us for our next 12 weeks session.