February 25, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode, Jo dives into a topic that so many women can relate to—how to combat the "mom bod" and build your strongest, most resilient physique in your 40s and beyond. We believe that all bodies are beautiful and powerful, but if you're feeling like your strength, energy, and muscle tone aren't what they used to be, there are actionable steps you can take to feel and function at your best.
In this episode, we cover:
✅ How aging impacts muscle tone, metabolism, and body composition
✅ Why muscle loss affects longevity and overall health
✅ The five key strategies for building a strong, fit body:
00:12 Understanding the Mom Bod
01:07 Importance of Muscle and Strength
02:04 Five Key Strategies for a Stronger Physique
02:24 Strategy 1: Start Lifting Weights
04:12 Strategy 2: Eat More Protein
06:23 Strategy 3: Add Cardio to Your Routine
07:47 Strategy 4: Moderate Alcohol Consumption
08:58 Strategy 5: Fine-Tune Your Nutrition
11:58 Conclusion and Exciting Announcements
Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoyed it.
Grab our FREE fast food guide here.
Book a FREE strategy call here.
Reserve your spot with a Couture Coach: Buy a 1:1 coaching package
Sign up for our FREE newsletter here.
Follow us for more tips, tricks, and support in our private Facebook Group, Boost Your Metabolism After Age 30.
Follow us on Instagram @couture_fitness_coaching
Check at our website and blog.
Grab our free mini course - The REAL Reason you can't lose weight
Want to start boosting your metabolism today? Buy our $79 DIY, self-paced "Master Your Metabolism" course.
Want customized plan for boosting your metabolism? Learn more about our 1:1 coaching
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there.
And welcome back to the boostyour metabolism after age 30
podcast.
You've got Joe here today, yourhost.
And today we're going to diveinto a topic that I think so
many women can relate to.
And that is how to combat themom bod and build your best and
strongest physique in yourforties and beyond.
Now I want to get one thingstraight.
(00:21):
There's absolutely nothing wrongwith a mom bod.
At Couture Fitness, we believeall bodies are beautiful and
have done incredible things likecaring and nurturing life.
But if you are feeling like yourstrength, energy, and muscle
tone aren't what they used tobe, there are definitely some
steps you can take to feel yourbest.
(00:41):
As we age, our bodies naturallygo through changes and without
certain interventions, we startto lose muscle in key areas.
We start to lose our glutes, ourhamstrings, our quads, our
shoulders tend to round forward.
That can be also from justsitting at a desk all day, and
we tend to accumulate weightaround our midsection.
And I would say overall, we tendto lose muscle tone and
(01:04):
sometimes notice more celluliteas we age.
But here's why this isn't justabout aesthetics from a
functional standpoint, a loss ofmuscle and strength can
definitely impact your longevityand your quality of life.
So strong glutes and legs helpwith mobility, stability, and
balance.
Key factors in preventing fallsas we age falling and breaking a
(01:28):
Bone, like a hip, is one of theleading causes of mortality in
older adults and, being immobileand weak drastically reduces
quality of life.
Also things like having moremuscle on your body and
maintaining your muscle healthHelps with things like
preventing diabetes, which inturn prevents Alzheimer's.
So having a muscular body Havingstrength are definitely things
(01:54):
that we want to have Going intoour older years.
So let's talk today about whatwe can do to maintain strength,
confidence, and a body that notonly looks great but also
functions at its best.
So I've got five key strategiesfor you today to build a
stronger, healthier physique asyou age.
Okay, so these are the things Iwould suggest you prioritize if
(02:15):
you are looking to combat themombod and I'll explain each
strategy and then why Iprioritize certain things over
others.
So the number one thing I wouldsuggest you do to build a
stronger, healthy Your moretoned physique as you age is to
start lifting weights.
I would definitely do thisbefore you start a diet or
(02:35):
slashing calories.
So I think the number one thingthat.
is hard to understand is thatbuilding a great physique is
more about building muscle thansimply losing weight.
So that's why your first stepshould be to focus on growing
and shaping your body throughstrength training rather than
just slashing calories.
(02:56):
And so you're going to want tostart Having a structured,
consistent weightliftingroutine, that's really key.
And in that weightliftingroutine, you want to focus on
hitting all the major musclegroups, your glutes, legs,
hamstrings, back and shouldersweekly.
And by lifting weights in thisstructured and consistent way,
you'll build out your physique.
(03:17):
Increase your muscle definitionand really create a strong toned
looking body and then there arejust so many incredible side
benefits of building muscle.
You'll get stronger You'llincrease your bone density and
usually when you start buildingmore muscle and really putting
muscle on your frame that alsousually results in losing some
body fat as well.
(03:37):
Practically speaking, you wantto aim to start strength
training at least three to fourtimes per week to see the best
results.
I know a lot of people ask I doyoga or I do Pilates, is that,
does that count for strengthtraining?
So I am not hating on yoga orPilates or anything like that,
but really you're going to getthe most bang for your buck by
lifting weights.
(03:58):
It's going to put the tensionand stress on your muscles that
you need to actually build somereal muscles, so that's what I
would recommend.
Don't ditch your Pilates andyoga, but definitely you want to
start lifting weights two orthree times a week.
Okay, the second thing I wouldfocus on is eating more protein.
As we age, our protein needsactually increase yet many women
(04:20):
under eat it.
To start with, and then tend toeat less of it as we age.
Partly I think our appetite doeswane a little bit as we get
older but you definitely want tomake sure you're getting enough
protein.
So a good guideline is to aimfor about one gram of protein
per pound of your ideal bodyweight.
So that means if you want toweigh 140 pounds then you would
(04:42):
want to aim for 140 grams ofprotein.
Now, Most women, a lot of women,are eating somewhere in the
neighborhood of 40 to 50 gramsof protein a day if they're not
tracking or paying attention toit.
Going from 40 grams of protein aday to 140 grams of protein a
day is a pretty big jump.
So we, Always say, try to startwith hitting 100 grams of
(05:04):
protein a day.
And a simple way to hit thatgoal is to include at least 20
grams of protein in each meal.
So that's a serving of protein aserving of Greek yogurt a
chicken breast just four ouncesof of protein usually will get
you to 20 grams of protein, butyou want to include that in each
meal and snack and aim to eatfour to five times per day.
(05:26):
And that will get you close tothat a hundred grams of protein
a day, maybe even get you closerto 120 grams of protein a day.
But prioritizing protein willdefinitely help you build and
maintain lean muscle and is alsogoing to just keep you.
Feeling fuller for longer.
For a lot of people it also cutsout cravings for things like
sugar and alcohol and thosesorts of things.
(05:48):
I've had women, this is a tip Igive a lot of women who will ask
me like, Oh what should I do?
And I, with my, I eat so poorly,should I cut out sugar?
And I usually just say, start byadding.
I'm trying to eat at least 100grams of protein a day and I've
had women tell me like, Oh mygosh, I did that and just
started losing weight.
So I wouldn't be shocked just byif eating more protein, you also
(06:09):
start reducing your body fat,especially if you combine that
with lifting weights.
Okay, the third thing I wouldfocus on is once you've got,
you've started lifting weightstwo or three times a week,
you're eating 100 grams or moreof protein a day.
The third thing I would do isadd in just a bit of cardio to
your weekly exercise routine,but we don't want to overdo it.
(06:31):
So definitely lifting weights isthe foundation of exercise that
you want to build.
A bit of cardio is great foroverall health.
So I would just aim for 30 to 45minutes.
of moderate intensity cardio afew times per week Keeping your
heart rate in the 120 to 140beats per minute range.
Usually that's a good range forwomen.
(06:51):
So if you're doing nothing rightnow, maybe start with just one
30 minute session throughout theweek.
Or add 10 or 15 minutes ofcardio to each weight lifting
session.
And you'll, get that cardio in.
Cardio is helpful because itsupports our heart health.
It improves.
Our endurance and over time,it's just going to make you more
(07:11):
conditioned and can help youlift heavier in the gym.
So a little bit of cardio healthhelps you lift heavier weights.
A little bit of strength fromlifting weights is going to make
you better at cardio.
So here's the key.
We don't want you to gooverboard.
Too much cardio can actuallywork against muscle retention
and fat loss.
And also, we want to use cardiostrategically and really ramp it
(07:36):
up if we're in a very concertedfat loss phase.
But a little bit goes a longway, and so you definitely, just
for overall health, want to geta little bit of cardio in each
week.
Okay, the fourth thing I wouldsuggest you prioritize, again,
once you have your weightliftingroutine set, you're eating
enough protein, you're doing alittle bit of cardio, is to
(07:58):
moderate your alcoholconsumption.
So this one might not besomething that you want to hear,
but it's important.
And that is that our ability toprocess alcohol diminishes as we
age.
And so if you're drinking aglass or two of wine every
night, it could be contributingto stubborn body fat,
particularly around yourmidsection.
(08:20):
It tends to make celluliteaccumulate in a little bit
different way.
And so from an aestheticstandpoint, cutting out alcohol
or moderating it is definitelygoing to tighten you up.
But also alcohol from a healthperspective, alcohol is a known
carcinogen and can definitelynegatively impact sleep recovery
and hormone balance.
(08:41):
It is one of the leading.
causes of cancer.
Especially in women, just onedrink a week can definitely
increase your risk of havingbreast cancer.
It is definitely a luxury.
And so cutting back even just alittle can make a big difference
in how you look and feel andyour overall health.
Okay, my final tip is to again,after you've gotten the
(09:02):
weightlifting the protein, alittle bit of cardio, you're
moderating your alcohol, thefifth thing that you can do is
fine tune your nutrition.
So once these other basics arein place then you can really
look at your nutrition and startto fine tune that.
Ironically, nutrition plays thebiggest role in fat loss, but it
is the last thing I'd focus onwhen building sustainable
(09:24):
habits.
That sounds a little bitcounterintuitive, but
definitely, before diving intoany sort of calorie counting, or
big calorie deficit, would focuson lifting weights, eating
enough protein, moving more, andmoderating alcohol.
And once those habits are solid,you can start tracking your
intake and find what yourbaseline nutrition is.
(09:44):
And then I would say if you'reunder eating, like below 1600
calories a day, I'd work ongradually increasing that
caloric intake up to around 1800calories a day.
That's just going to give yourbody what it needs to build
muscle.
And then if you do want to dolike a concerted fat loss cycle,
you will have some caloricrunway to work from.
(10:07):
It's really hard to cut calorieswhen you're only eating 1600
calories and have it besustainable.
or anything that's going toproduce long term weight loss.
Now, if you're overeating or,I'm not even going to call this
overeating, but let's say you'reeating in the range of 25 to 100
calories just reducing thatcaloric intake by 300 to 500
(10:28):
calories per day can really alot of fat loss.
But the one thing I think it'simportant to remember is that
changing nutrition alone, isn'tgoing to build strength or
reshape your body or make youlook toned.
The real transformation comesfrom a combination of training,
nutrition and lifestyle habits.
In the bodybuilding world, wecall the period of time that
(10:50):
you're really focusing onlifting weights, getting almost
a surplus of nutrition, we callthat our improvement season.
And then you follow thatimprovement season by a real
short concerted period of, doinga calorie deficit and then you
get to reveal everything thatyou've built in your improvement
season.
(11:11):
It's always just usually best tostart with the improvement
season, which is again, liftingweights, eating enough protein,
getting good nutrition in yourbody to build muscle, and then
worrying about weight loss afterthat.
Those are the five things Iwould focus on if you really
want to Start reshaping yourbody combat, those things I
(11:32):
talked about earlier aboutlosing your glutes, losing your
quads, accumulating weight inyour midsection.
These are the things I wouldfocus on.
If you're looking to combat themom bod and build your best
physique your focus, again, thefocus needs to be on building
strength, building muscle, andbuilding sustainable habits that
keep you feeling amazing andlooking amazing for years to
(11:52):
come.
So start lifting, eating yourprotein.
moving your body and taking careof yourself.
And before I wrap up, I do havesomething exciting to share.
Coming this April, we've gotsomething special that will help
you spring clean your habits andagain build that strong healthy
body.
So stay tuned because you won'twant to miss.
That's what we have coming foryou in April.
(12:13):
So for today, thanks for tuninginto the podcast.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review, tell a friendabout it.
And until next time, stay strongand build those habits and keep
taking care of yourself.
One last thing I want to mentionis make sure you pick up our,
the current freebie we have out,which is a fast food nutrition
(12:35):
guide.
It will help you make smarterchoices at restaurants and make
sure you are, picking items thathave a good amount of protein in
them.
Okay.
That's all I have for today.
Thank you
Hey there.
And welcome back to the boostyour metabolism after age 30
podcast.
You've got Joe here today, yourhost.
And today we're going to diveinto a topic that I think so
many women can relate to.
And that is how to combat themom bod and build your best and
strongest physique in yourforties and beyond.
Now I want to get one thingstraight.
(00:21):
There's absolutely nothing wrongwith a mom bod.
At Couture Fitness, we believeall bodies are beautiful and
have done incredible things likecaring and nurturing life.
But if you are feeling like yourstrength, energy, and muscle
tone aren't what they used tobe, there are definitely some
steps you can take to feel yourbest.
(00:41):
As we age, our bodies naturallygo through changes and without
certain interventions, we startto lose muscle in key areas.
We start to lose our glutes, ourhamstrings, our quads, our
shoulders tend to round forward.
That can be also from justsitting at a desk all day, and
we tend to accumulate weightaround our midsection.
And I would say overall, we tendto lose muscle tone and
(01:04):
sometimes notice more celluliteas we age.
But here's why this isn't justabout aesthetics from a
functional standpoint, a loss ofmuscle and strength can
definitely impact your longevityand your quality of life.
So strong glutes and legs helpwith mobility, stability, and
balance.
Key factors in preventing fallsas we age falling and breaking a
(01:28):
Bone, like a hip, is one of theleading causes of mortality in
older adults and, being immobileand weak drastically reduces
quality of life.
Also things like having moremuscle on your body and
maintaining your muscle healthHelps with things like
preventing diabetes, which inturn prevents Alzheimer's.
So having a muscular body Havingstrength are definitely things
(01:54):
that we want to have Going intoour older years.
So let's talk today about whatwe can do to maintain strength,
confidence, and a body that notonly looks great but also
functions at its best.
So I've got five key strategiesfor you today to build a
stronger, healthier physique asyou age.
Okay, so these are the things Iwould suggest you prioritize if
(02:15):
you are looking to combat themombod and I'll explain each
strategy and then why Iprioritize certain things over
others.
So the number one thing I wouldsuggest you do to build a
stronger, healthy Your moretoned physique as you age is to
start lifting weights.
I would definitely do thisbefore you start a diet or
(02:35):
slashing calories.
So I think the number one thingthat.
is hard to understand is thatbuilding a great physique is
more about building muscle thansimply losing weight.
So that's why your first stepshould be to focus on growing
and shaping your body throughstrength training rather than
just slashing calories.
(02:56):
And so you're going to want tostart Having a structured,
consistent weightliftingroutine, that's really key.
And in that weightliftingroutine, you want to focus on
hitting all the major musclegroups, your glutes, legs,
hamstrings, back and shouldersweekly.
And by lifting weights in thisstructured and consistent way,
you'll build out your physique.
(03:17):
Increase your muscle definitionand really create a strong toned
looking body and then there arejust so many incredible side
benefits of building muscle.
You'll get stronger You'llincrease your bone density and
usually when you start buildingmore muscle and really putting
muscle on your frame that alsousually results in losing some
body fat as well.
(03:37):
Practically speaking, you wantto aim to start strength
training at least three to fourtimes per week to see the best
results.
I know a lot of people ask I doyoga or I do Pilates, is that,
does that count for strengthtraining?
So I am not hating on yoga orPilates or anything like that,
but really you're going to getthe most bang for your buck by
lifting weights.
(03:58):
It's going to put the tensionand stress on your muscles that
you need to actually build somereal muscles, so that's what I
would recommend.
Don't ditch your Pilates andyoga, but definitely you want to
start lifting weights two orthree times a week.
Okay, the second thing I wouldfocus on is eating more protein.
As we age, our protein needsactually increase yet many women
(04:20):
under eat it.
To start with, and then tend toeat less of it as we age.
Partly I think our appetite doeswane a little bit as we get
older but you definitely want tomake sure you're getting enough
protein.
So a good guideline is to aimfor about one gram of protein
per pound of your ideal bodyweight.
So that means if you want toweigh 140 pounds then you would
(04:42):
want to aim for 140 grams ofprotein.
Now, Most women, a lot of women,are eating somewhere in the
neighborhood of 40 to 50 gramsof protein a day if they're not
tracking or paying attention toit.
Going from 40 grams of protein aday to 140 grams of protein a
day is a pretty big jump.
So we, Always say, try to startwith hitting 100 grams of
(05:04):
protein a day.
And a simple way to hit thatgoal is to include at least 20
grams of protein in each meal.
So that's a serving of protein aserving of Greek yogurt a
chicken breast just four ouncesof of protein usually will get
you to 20 grams of protein, butyou want to include that in each
meal and snack and aim to eatfour to five times per day.
(05:26):
And that will get you close tothat a hundred grams of protein
a day, maybe even get you closerto 120 grams of protein a day.
But prioritizing protein willdefinitely help you build and
maintain lean muscle and is alsogoing to just keep you.
Feeling fuller for longer.
For a lot of people it also cutsout cravings for things like
sugar and alcohol and thosesorts of things.
(05:48):
I've had women, this is a tip Igive a lot of women who will ask
me like, Oh what should I do?
And I, with my, I eat so poorly,should I cut out sugar?
And I usually just say, start byadding.
I'm trying to eat at least 100grams of protein a day and I've
had women tell me like, Oh mygosh, I did that and just
started losing weight.
So I wouldn't be shocked just byif eating more protein, you also
(06:09):
start reducing your body fat,especially if you combine that
with lifting weights.
Okay, the third thing I wouldfocus on is once you've got,
you've started lifting weightstwo or three times a week,
you're eating 100 grams or moreof protein a day.
The third thing I would do isadd in just a bit of cardio to
your weekly exercise routine,but we don't want to overdo it.
(06:31):
So definitely lifting weights isthe foundation of exercise that
you want to build.
A bit of cardio is great foroverall health.
So I would just aim for 30 to 45minutes.
of moderate intensity cardio afew times per week Keeping your
heart rate in the 120 to 140beats per minute range.
Usually that's a good range forwomen.
(06:51):
So if you're doing nothing rightnow, maybe start with just one
30 minute session throughout theweek.
Or add 10 or 15 minutes ofcardio to each weight lifting
session.
And you'll, get that cardio in.
Cardio is helpful because itsupports our heart health.
It improves.
Our endurance and over time,it's just going to make you more
(07:11):
conditioned and can help youlift heavier in the gym.
So a little bit of cardio healthhelps you lift heavier weights.
A little bit of strength fromlifting weights is going to make
you better at cardio.
So here's the key.
We don't want you to gooverboard.
Too much cardio can actuallywork against muscle retention
and fat loss.
And also, we want to use cardiostrategically and really ramp it
(07:36):
up if we're in a very concertedfat loss phase.
But a little bit goes a longway, and so you definitely, just
for overall health, want to geta little bit of cardio in each
week.
Okay, the fourth thing I wouldsuggest you prioritize, again,
once you have your weightliftingroutine set, you're eating
enough protein, you're doing alittle bit of cardio, is to
(07:58):
moderate your alcoholconsumption.
So this one might not besomething that you want to hear,
but it's important.
And that is that our ability toprocess alcohol diminishes as we
age.
And so if you're drinking aglass or two of wine every
night, it could be contributingto stubborn body fat,
particularly around yourmidsection.
(08:20):
It tends to make celluliteaccumulate in a little bit
different way.
And so from an aestheticstandpoint, cutting out alcohol
or moderating it is definitelygoing to tighten you up.
But also alcohol from a healthperspective, alcohol is a known
carcinogen and can definitelynegatively impact sleep recovery
and hormone balance.
(08:41):
It is one of the leading.
causes of cancer.
Especially in women, just onedrink a week can definitely
increase your risk of havingbreast cancer.
It is definitely a luxury.
And so cutting back even just alittle can make a big difference
in how you look and feel andyour overall health.
Okay, my final tip is to again,after you've gotten the
(09:02):
weightlifting the protein, alittle bit of cardio, you're
moderating your alcohol, thefifth thing that you can do is
fine tune your nutrition.
So once these other basics arein place then you can really
look at your nutrition and startto fine tune that.
Ironically, nutrition plays thebiggest role in fat loss, but it
is the last thing I'd focus onwhen building sustainable
(09:24):
habits.
That sounds a little bitcounterintuitive, but
definitely, before diving intoany sort of calorie counting, or
big calorie deficit, would focuson lifting weights, eating
enough protein, moving more, andmoderating alcohol.
And once those habits are solid,you can start tracking your
intake and find what yourbaseline nutrition is.
(09:44):
And then I would say if you'reunder eating, like below 1600
calories a day, I'd work ongradually increasing that
caloric intake up to around 1800calories a day.
That's just going to give yourbody what it needs to build
muscle.
And then if you do want to dolike a concerted fat loss cycle,
you will have some caloricrunway to work from.
(10:07):
It's really hard to cut calorieswhen you're only eating 1600
calories and have it besustainable.
or anything that's going toproduce long term weight loss.
Now, if you're overeating or,I'm not even going to call this
overeating, but let's say you'reeating in the range of 25 to 100
calories just reducing thatcaloric intake by 300 to 500
(10:28):
calories per day can really alot of fat loss.
But the one thing I think it'simportant to remember is that
changing nutrition alone, isn'tgoing to build strength or
reshape your body or make youlook toned.
The real transformation comesfrom a combination of training,
nutrition and lifestyle habits.
In the bodybuilding world, wecall the period of time that
(10:50):
you're really focusing onlifting weights, getting almost
a surplus of nutrition, we callthat our improvement season.
And then you follow thatimprovement season by a real
short concerted period of, doinga calorie deficit and then you
get to reveal everything thatyou've built in your improvement
season.
(11:11):
It's always just usually best tostart with the improvement
season, which is again, liftingweights, eating enough protein,
getting good nutrition in yourbody to build muscle, and then
worrying about weight loss afterthat.
Those are the five things Iwould focus on if you really
want to Start reshaping yourbody combat, those things I
(11:32):
talked about earlier aboutlosing your glutes, losing your
quads, accumulating weight inyour midsection.
These are the things I wouldfocus on.
If you're looking to combat themom bod and build your best
physique your focus, again, thefocus needs to be on building
strength, building muscle, andbuilding sustainable habits that
keep you feeling amazing andlooking amazing for years to
(11:52):
come.
So start lifting, eating yourprotein.
moving your body and taking careof yourself.
And before I wrap up, I do havesomething exciting to share.
Coming this April, we've gotsomething special that will help
you spring clean your habits andagain build that strong healthy
body.
So stay tuned because you won'twant to miss.
That's what we have coming foryou in April.
(12:13):
So for today, thanks for tuninginto the podcast.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review, tell a friendabout it.
And until next time, stay strongand build those habits and keep
taking care of yourself.
One last thing I want to mentionis make sure you pick up our,
the current freebie we have out,which is a fast food nutrition
(12:35):
guide.
It will help you make smarterchoices at restaurants and make
sure you are, picking items thathave a good amount of protein in
them.
Okay.
That's all I have for today.
Thank you
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.