How She Lost 100 Pounds in Perimenopause and is Building Muscle Over 40 | Ep 319 - Wits & Weights | Fat Loss, Nutrition, & Strength Training for Lifters

Episode Transcript
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Philip Pape (00:02):
If you're over 40 and you've been told that
hormonal changes mean you cannotbuild muscle anymore, or that
muscle gain automatically meanspiling on body fat, this episode
is for you.
Today I'm talking with myclient, cynthia, who's not only
lost over 100 pounds, but is nowsuccessfully building lean
muscle during perimenopause.

(00:22):
You'll discover the exactapproach she's using to avoid
excessive fat gain whileincreasing muscle mass, why most
people are misinformed by theindustry about hormones and
muscle building, and how tostructure your training and
nutrition to maximize yourbody's natural muscle building
ability at any age.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a

(00:54):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday I'm really excited to
introduce you to one of myPhysique University students,
cynthia.
Cynthia has achieved remarkablelike incredible results over
her fitness journey, both beforeand as she's worked with us
Over that time, losing over 100pounds, and now she's focused on

(01:17):
building quality muscle duringperimenopause, and she's taking
some of our systems andstrategies and applying them to
overcome the challenges that alot of women face as they
experience hormonal changes, andI wanted you guys to hear from
her the process she's following,the things that have been
moving the needle for her, andthen how you can apply some of
these lessons to your ownjourney, no matter what age or

(01:38):
stage you're in, because it'snever too late, it doesn't
matter how old you are.
You can make this happen for foryourself.
So we're going to spend sometime diving into cynthia's
current goal as well andproviding some live, real-time
coaching there.
There's been no preparation, uh, between us on that, so it's
going to be totally seat of thepants here, um, with her goal to
add muscle while minimizing fatgain in a transition period.

(01:59):
So, cynthia, thank you so muchfor agreeing to do this and chat
with me today.

Cynthia (02:02):
Thank you for having me here.
It's it's an honor to be here.

to be honest, oh, I appreciate it.
It's an honor to have met youand to work with you, um, and
learn about your, your journey,but also see how much you, um
how do I say this Like in thecommunity.
Every time you checked in andevery time you spoke up, it was
like a positive, can do attitude.
It's like, no matter what thechallenge is, I'm going to find

(02:27):
a way.
You just strike me as the typeof person to do that.
And look, you lost over ahundred pounds.
Most of that was on your own,before we ever met.
I'll just be totally honestabout that.
And now you're tackling musclebuilding during perimenopause,
which is, like many womenbelieve, it's not possible,
right?
So what made you decide topursue muscle gain at this stage

(02:47):
instead of continuing to focuson weight loss?

Cynthia (02:50):
Well, I noticed that people who actually build muscle
especially because I startedoff at 249 pounds that's the
farthest that I've ever recordedand I noticed that if I wanted
to make this long term like aforever thing, I had to build
muscle, especially for theelasticity of my skin, so I

(03:12):
didn't have that like hangingskin, loose skin, and so I
figured that building muscle wasthe best option.
And then when I found out thatbuilding muscle actually helps
you burn more calories not by alot, but it's something I'm like
well, let's build the musclethen, and that really encouraged
me.
And now, entering menopause orperimenopause, actually I

(03:37):
realized the importance ofbuilding that muscle.
And it's not just to look goodor feel uh yeah, it's just
honestly to to build strongbones, strong skeletal muscle
and everything and just be ableto last longer and not injure
myself as easily, um, as I growolder.

Yeah, no.
So you mentioned a few reallypowerful things there.
One is the skin elasticity.
That's a.
That's a cool insight becausepeople don't think about that.
But when you have a littleextra weight, you, you know,
either have some stretch marksor extra skin or loose skin,
especially the more overweightyou may have been, and people
think like none of that's goingto go away.
How, how has that improved fromyour journey?

(04:18):
It?

Cynthia (04:18):
has improved a lot, uh, surprisingly, um, and I do
consume a lot of collagen alongwith my protein, um, but it's
not.
At one point it was a littlecreepy, but it has.
Now that I'm seeing the resultsand building the muscle with it
, it doesn't look as as bad asit once, and it's.

(04:39):
It's not absolutely perfect and, to be honest, I don't ever
plan to have surgery on itbecause I'm just not that kind
of person.
I don't do medicine, to behonest, other than just the
supplements and you know,vitamin D and all that collagen
protein.
But it has improved drasticallyby a lot.

So that's great.
Yeah, you know that's greatbecause Cause people, people
want to know right, Like justthat you don't necessarily have
to do surgery.
Obviously, it depends on how,what level of extreme you want
for, and you know if you're ifyou were 400 pounds, it might be
a different story, who knows?
Um, the other thing youmentioned is the idea that it
burns more calories and more fatjust having the muscle, and so

(05:21):
why not make what I'm readingbetween the lines, why not make
fat loss easier by focusing onthat part of it?

Cynthia (05:27):
Yep.

Yeah, so yeah, I don't know if you want to
comment on that.

Cynthia (05:31):
Yeah, definitely For me .
When I found out that at thattime, when I started lifting
weights, um, I started off withthe adjustable dumbbells and I
at that time, probably three orfour years ago, I had found out
that you can burn about, uh,four to five pounds um once you
gain that muscle and I'm like,okay, well, if it helps me burn

(05:52):
more and you know you work um,not as hard, to be honest, work
smarter, not harder, kind of athing.
Um, I decided to do that.

So I think, uh, building muscle is the best
choice for me personally yeah,no, for for sure, and I mean
there's there's pretty much noreason not to right like that.
That's one of so many benefits.
And the other one you mentioned, perimenopause, right, which
obviously any woman listeningknows what it is, but maybe for
those who don't right, it's likethe time when your hormones
start to shift toward menopause,which could take take 10, 15

(06:24):
years, some women.
It starts as early as theirmid-30s.
But I just saw an Instagramreel posted today by actually it
was a post by Lauren ColensoSemple.
She was on the show from Massand she's been posting these
claim versus science and theclaim is that perimenopause
hormones are going to causemuscle loss, or more muscle loss

(06:45):
than not being in perimenopause, and the reality is that's not
really true.
What causes it is you're nottraining, yeah, and you, like,
are doing the opposite, right?

Cynthia (06:56):
Yeah, yeah, and I'm one of those that I've always liked
to prove people wrong Not, notin a snobbish way, but I'm like,
okay, you say I can't, like,let me just show you there is a
better way.
You know, yeah, and that's onething.
I have heard a couple of yourpodcasts with, uh, like the most
recent one, the Holly Baxterone, and then also the Nikki

(07:17):
Sims, the Adam Badger and youwere talking about perimenopause
during that time and just beingable to build muscle during,
like, because one of the thingsthat I would hear often is
you're not going to be able tobuild muscle and you're going to
like all the gaslighting, justthe lies that doctors promote,

(07:38):
and I'm like is there even hopefor me?
I just started building, youknow, my body just recently, and
then when I heard your, yourcourses and also you talking to
Holly and Nikki and Adam, I'mlike there is hope.
You just have to do the work.
You just have to lift theweights, eat enough protein, get

(07:58):
enough rest.
Basically, it's the same thingthat I'm doing right now.

And yeah sorry, I'm not trying to cut you off.

Cynthia (08:08):
But yeah, that encouraged me, so yeah, yeah, no
, again.

you're just saying things people need to hear,
because it makes me sad to thinkthat there's women that are
told they literally cannot buildmuscle, like that's really
shameful, that any and I betit's by a doctor who themselves
doesn't lift weights orsomething you know probably, but
it's, it's that it's so.
It's even worse than sayingyou're going to lose a bunch of
muscle because of the hormones.
It's saying not only that youcan't do anything about it and

(08:33):
we want to empower people likethat.
Ultimately, what you're sayingis I want to prove you wrong
because I have the power.
It's on me to do it, and youcan either see that as oh geez,
now I have to do this work or Iget to do this, like I get to
train and build muscle.

Cynthia (08:47):
Right, so that's awesome, yeah.

Yeah, I know there wasn't a question there.
I'm sorry.
I like to talk, so I want to.
I want to rewind the clock justa little bit, so so folks
understand the context here.
You lost all that.
You lost a bunch of weight too,because people are always
looking for weight loss andreally we're going to focus more
on building and growth and howthat helps fat loss.
But the a hundred pounds, like,what approach got you through
that?

(09:09):
And I know you tried things inthe past and I, if I recall
correctly, didn't you loseweight in the past several times
and then gain it back orsomething, and then right, and
now you did it successfully.
So what was successful thistime?

Cynthia (09:20):
Well, um, definitely implementing the weightlifting
and eating more protein.
Protein does satisfy you, whichis at first.
When I started, I'm like itdoesn't.
It doesn't satisfy you.

But it was because I was so addicted to carbs and
other bad nutrients that it wasalmost kind of going into a
withdrawal of carbs for mebecause I chose the poor foods a
withdrawal of carbs, like forme, because I chose the poor
foods and I was so hold on thatwhen you say carbs, you mean
like processed foods that havecarbs and fat and sugar yeah,
yeah, I just want to be clearfor the not apples no, not

(09:55):
apples okay yeah, so like the,the doritos, the takis kind of a
thing, and so it's like eatingprocessed, very processed foods
and but when I startedimplementing the protein because
when I started the my weightloss journey, I did start
tracking, but I wasn't trackingmacros, I was just tracking

(10:17):
calories and then I startedlearning about macros.

Cynthia (10:22):
And when I started learning about macros I realized
I was under eating, way undereating protein.
When I changed that and Istarted eating more protein,
probably like in six months, mybody started changing and quick,
and that was like the fastestI've ever seen it change and
shift.
And yeah, just eating enoughprotein, enough fats, enough

(10:46):
carbs, like personally, I lovebeing balanced.
I think they are all good andbeneficial for the body, um, but
it's not just uh.
For me it's not just trackingthe calories, it's all of it.

That's, that's huge .
What you just said is it wasn'tabout the calorie deficit, even
though the end result is acalorie deficit.
It was what you were eating,the composition, what you're
eating, eating things thatnourished you.
And it's funny you said protein.
You're like, oh, they tell youit's satisfying.
It's not Obviously when you'recoming from a world of like the
dopamine hit of carbs and sugar.
It's like having a sweet toothand then someone says, well, go

(11:22):
eat an apple.
And you're like, yeah, that'snot the same as a Snickers and
you kind of have to desensitizeand there's a transition period.
But then there's also thefullness piece of being
satisfied, where it sounds likeyou didn't focus on cutting
stuff, you focus on adding inthe right things and then it
resulted in more volume, moresatisfaction and then lower
calories.
You weren't trying tonecessarily, but it resulted in

(11:43):
that.
Is that a fair assessment?

Cynthia (11:45):
Yes, yeah, okay.

Okay, which is great, because a lot of people I
taught you do talk aboutcalories a lot and I do talk
about calorie deficits, um, butI I also talk about doing in
conjunction with these things.
So what now I'm curious aboutwhen you join physique
university?
I feel like there's two typesof folks that join us, um, on
hand, you have folks who arekind of new to all this.
Maybe they listen to thepodcast and they're just trying

(12:07):
to figure it out, and they jumpin a little frustrated.
They're like things haven'tworked.
I'm looking for guidance andhelp, and so we give them that,
like step by step, and thesupport You're in the other camp
of.
You've leveled up your education.
You've tried things already.
You've gotten to a point that'sa little more advanced and I
love I love both groups ofpeople honestly, because they
both, like, thrill me in their,the level of knowledge that they

(12:29):
can get to from that point.
So I think of you as a moreadvanced person, but you still
probably had some things youdidn't know and that you learned
, and I'm curious about whatthose might have been.

Cynthia (12:39):
Yeah, for sure, one of the biggest things that I
learned was, um, not having todiet for a full year, because
before I thought I had to be ona deficit for a long period of
time to lose the weight and gainmuscle.
So basically I was kind ofstarving myself, but not really.
You know, it's just I didn'thave to put myself through

(12:59):
through that deficit and justknowing that you could be on a
deficit for three to four monthsand that's enough, and then go
on maintenance and then go on abulk for the rest of the year
and then start again next year.
You know, um, that definitelyhelped.
And another thing was, um, justeating.
I love eating apples, so justeating different kinds of apples

(13:24):
and getting the different kindsof benefits, that's one thing
that I learned from fromPhysique University.
And, and then just measurements.
It's another one, like before, Inever, when I would measure my
biceps, like I would never, Iwould always measure it with my
arm down, and then you, you know, talk about, you know, just

(13:44):
make sure you flex, and I'm like, well, then I'm, I have a
bigger bicep, of course, if I dothat.
But a lot of the things thatyou were teaching in the courses
is a lot of things that I hadlearned, and so when I had found
out about you through the macrofactor app, a lot of people

(14:07):
were, you know, vouching for you, saying that you're a good
coach, and I'm like, okay, well,I have to check this guy out
and see what he has to teach,and so it was pretty legit to me
.

I'm like, I'm sold, this is good information yeah,
and I appreciate you putting asales pitch on for me, even
though I sometimes getuncomfortable and folks
listening are like, oh no, thisis Philip, turning this into a
sales pitch.
But what I think is importantis just understanding whether
you work with me or not workwith me or you seek out
information that there arethings to learn.

(14:37):
There are always things tolearn.
We should always be seeking outthe information, and that if
you're struggling in any way, um, there's probably an easier, a
more efficient way, and thatthat's kind of where the
curiosity piece comes in.
So you mentioned number one,periodization.
Right, you didn't say the word,but that's effectively.
What you're talking about iswhere and this is one of the
first things I learned as acoach and we talk about is, um,

(14:58):
aligning your dieting and yourand some people don't even like
the word dieting but your mildfat loss, calorie deficits and
your muscle building phases andmaintenance with the year, with
the seasons, with how you feeland your stress and your
lifestyle, like just whatevermakes sense, and knowing that
you can ebb and flow betweenthem and that if you diet too
hard, too long, it has anegative impact on your

(15:18):
long-term results.
Right, it keeps you stagnant.
You mentioned the apples.
It's funny because I actuallystole that idea from one of my
guests oh my gosh, and I can'teven remember now.
This is terrible, but he wastalking about gut health and the
diversity of compounds andlectins in apples.
And if we have different typesof skins, you get different food
for your bacteria, differentstrains of your bacteria, and

(15:40):
then you have a more diverse gutmicrobiome and we know the gut
is like the second brain andconnected to everything.
And then the measurements.
It's so funny you say thatbecause the little things like
oh, you should flex your bicepare just the kind.
Cynthia, I get questions byemail every day with these
little things like, uh, macrofactors telling me 0.7 grams per
pound of my protein.
But I read it's supposed to beone and I'm like, okay, here we

(16:00):
go again.
Like it's one of those thingspeople have heard stuff through
the grape vine and let's justhelp them out anyway.
Um, okay, so let's talk aboutsome of the some of the other
mindset shifts that I think areimportant for people to get into
that you mentioned to me before.
One thing was, um, cuttingversus maintenance and bulking,
which we just touched on alittle bit.
But since you're going to enter, or you have entered, muscle

(16:23):
building phase, did you have anylike fear about gaining weight?
Was there uncertainty, anythinglike that?
Since you were so good atdieting, was it kind of scary to
you or were you prettyconfident going into it?

Cynthia (16:35):
Well, with the muscle building, that was easy, but
with the increase in caloriesthat was scary.

Okay, okay.
So that you mean okay.
So you mean the lifting weightsto build muscle is easy.
Everybody loves that.
It's the eating.

Cynthia (16:48):
More weight was hard, yeah it's like I don't know,
especially coming from 250pounds, you know, rounding um,
I'm like I don't know if I wantto go back there.
There.
It's that kind of thing likewhat, if I gain a lot of fat and
because I was, this is honestlymy first real bulk Um, I've

(17:08):
never tried it before.
It was just normally umdeficits and maintenance.
Um, I was, I was afraid ofincreasing the calories and
gaining weight.

Um, but yeah, Well, okay, so I think you started
out.
You don't mind me sharing somenumbers.
Right, you started at, I think,one 38 in February, which is
two months ago, your goals, one50 by July, which for a lot of
women hearing that level ofweight, that is scary to some.
I imagine it's 12 pounds.
It's totally normal in my mind,cause I've worked with people
that are bulked and like menwill typically gain 15 to 25

(17:42):
pounds and women will gain like10 to 15, unless they're very
afraid to put on weight, andthen it's like, okay, we'll dial
it back, go really lean and dolike five or 10 pounds, just to
kind of put your feet in thewater.
Um, how has the process beengoing physically and emotionally
so far?

Cynthia (17:58):
It's actually been good .
To be honest, when I firststarted, cause when you first
gave me the recommendations andeverything, I'm like I don't
know if I want to do this 150?
, are you sure?
But then when I started it, Ihaven't really.
I don't feel swollen, I don'tfeel pudgy and I have been

(18:20):
seeing results, especially in myarms, my shoulders.
I feel like I've been gainingmore muscle and, um, I'm
actually liking what I'm seeing.
Um, that's great, did you?

have you been tracking your measurements like
Navy body fat percentage orusing the physique tracker?

Cynthia (18:37):
Yeah, yes, I have.

What has it shown?

Cynthia (18:40):
Um, it from February.
Well, I'll start it sinceJanuary, because I started like
I'm like I'm going to startJanuary.
Since January until now so far,I've gained about I don't know
if it's fast enough, but aboutfour pounds of muscle and not
too much fat.
That's incredible.

Yeah, that's incredible, that's great.

Cynthia (19:00):
Oh, I'm actually liking the results.

Yeah, I think actually actually.
No, now that I have I do haveyour I should have looked at my
notes.
I think you said like fivepounds of lean mass and three
pounds of body fat, somethinglike that, something like that
yeah you do the math.
Five out of eight is right,exactly where we would expect
someone to be.
Like two-thirds, you know, 50to 75 percent, that is good.
If you're gaining less than 50muscle and more fat, um, that's

(19:26):
a little bit less effective.
But look, any muscles, muscle.
You can cut off the fat.

Cynthia (19:30):
So yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
With some of the fat.
It's like I still put on myjeans when I was smaller, a
little smaller before the bulk.
I'm like they feel loose still.
So I'm I'm.
It looks good on my clothes, myclothes look good on me, so I'm
not disappointed.

Good and you can definitely lean into that.
We talk about like thenon-scale victories and stuff.
I know some women, and men too,are concerned about um, gaining
the fat gaining part and howthat's going to affect them and
like having to deal with thatfor a time, and I think you
mentioned, when we werepreparing for this, how it
messes with your head, like as awoman.
You were saying specifically,can you just talk more about

(20:08):
that, like how you workedthrough it if you had to, or
advice for others.

Cynthia (20:13):
Um well, it does mess with your head.
I don't know how to explain it.
It's just for me, because of mypast history, my only concern
was going back to being obeseand in a way, I've trained my
mind to just like.

(20:34):
I would envision myself diggingmy heels on the ground and
being like I'm going to keeppushing through it and I'm not
going anywhere, like I'm notgoing back to old Cynthia.
This is new Cynthia and this isgoing to be a forever thing.
And so it's just determining,making that determination and
even with the weight loss when Ifirst started it about four

(20:57):
years ago, is this there comes aperiod where you have enough.
You're like I'm done, I quit,like I don't want to look like
this, I don't want to feel likethis.
And I even did a like a visionboard and I put images of myself
when I was heavy, but I alsoput images of people that I
wanted to look like muscular,and I would just look at that

(21:19):
vision board and just encouragemyself through that and I'm like
that will be my reality.
And I would often tell myselfthat is going to be my reality
and just just trucking throughand trying to make it happen.
And I mean because people canalways make excuses and I was
tired of the excuses.
I'm like I can say this youknow, I have five kids, I have

(21:42):
to homeschool, I have to cleanhouse, I have to go shopping and
you know I have to be a wife.
But when it comes to yourhealth and you're getting older,
it's like it's better to behealthy.
I also had like issues withhives.
Sometimes I would get hives inmy body and certain um blotches
on my skin.

(22:02):
I'm like I don't, I don't likethis.
I don't like having feeling thelove handles.
I don't like you know, and justcalling things out for what
they really are, you know andbeing like I don't want this,
this has to go now.
what am to do?
And at first it was tedious.
I remember when I first starteddoing a back lunge I'm like, oh

(22:24):
boy, I'm bad, I can't even do aback lunge.
This is embarrassing, but I'mlike it's better than nothing.
It's better than nothing.
And I kept encouraging myselflike, start small, but start
somewhere.
And probably it took about fouror five months to see real
results not as quickly, but ittook.
It took some time.

(22:45):
It's just being patient anddoing the right thing and just
not quitting.

You, you, you just said, like every key point that
I wish people understood aboutthis, like patience to change.
You have to change, you have toaccept some discomfort.
It's going to take time, likethe first week, month, three
months might not show you allthe results you want, but it's
going to chip away at it.
And then you just said, likelook, I wasn't taking it anymore

(23:12):
Like I have.
I have this identity inside meand now I want to physically
manifest that identity, likethat's what I'm getting from you
.
And you're right, no excuses.
You've got a busy life, you'vegot a family to take care of.
We were talking about thatbefore.
We recorded just how much isgoing on.
And, like you know, you'relooking forward to summer.
You're, you're honest withyourself, right, you're looking
forward to kind of a little morerelaxing season of the year
before you go after it again.

(23:33):
Um, so potentially that'sreally good for muscle building
too, is the low stress, sothat's really good.
Let's dig into your currentgoal a little bit, because I'd
love to tease out anyrefinements or optimization or
anything, just to make sureyou're on the best track you can
be.
You're trying to build musclewith minimal body fat during
perimenopause Impossible, right?

Cynthia (23:53):
You're doing it.

Are there any specific challenges you're
facing right now that you wantto talk about?

Cynthia (23:59):
Well, I guess I'm still learning about perimenopause,
and so I want to know if thereare certain foods or supplements
, I guess, to prevent wakingLike well, besides muscle, I

(24:23):
guess, what are common hormonalshifts that I can expect during
this time, and what can I doabout it?
To you know, prevent it, to getahead of it in a way?

Yeah, yeah.
So it's really good timing too,because one of my private
clients sent me a message today.
She went to the doctor and gothormone, some hormone
replacement therapy going onright Progesterone, estrogen,
testosterone, dhea those are thebig ones.
Sometimes people need thyroidmeds.
My general philosophy on thisagain, I'm not a woman, but

(24:50):
worked with a lot and talked toa lot of professionals on this
is obviously your number onesupplement is strength training,
like that's my answer, that'syour number one.
Big time, big time.
Because again, this clientcalled me and she's like the
doctor was surprised at how farbetter my numbers were than she
would expect for someone of herage.
Okay, everybody cringes whenthey hear that, right, cause

(25:12):
it's like come on, um, and thedoctor's like, keep doing what
you're doing.
And she's like, how's your food?
She's like, well, I eat a lotof carbs and I eat pretty
balanced.
And she's like, well, yourblood sugar is perfect too.
So keep doing what you're doing.
And she's.
And yet she still needs a littlebit of hormone therapy for, um,
testosterone and progesteroneand estrogen.
Progesterone and estrogendecline, right, um, testosterone

(25:35):
declines as well.
The funny thing abouttestosterone, cynthia, is, like
you know, women have like one.
What is it?
110th or 120th the amount ofmen, but it's still the largest
amount of hormone in your body,you know, compared to all the
like.
A lot of women don't realizethat, and so guess what
stimulates it the most?
Strength training, likestrength training, stimulates

(25:57):
testosterone and IGF-1.
And then you can't do anythingabout the decline of your
hormones in perimenopause, intomenopause it's being a woman.
What I do understand, though,is that the lifestyle things
that you're doing and anyonelistening can incorporate with
lifting and just eating tonourish your body and not
dieting all the time.
That mitigates a significantportion of, let's say, symptoms

(26:20):
from the hormones.
Having said that, I'm a big fanof hormone replacement therapy
if you need it.
So working with not necessarilya GP, usually it's like a
hormone specialist, sometimesfunctional doctors even though I
have a little skepticism offunctional medicine in general,
I think the hormone area of itthey probably are a little bit
ahead of some of theconventional medicine.

(26:42):
It depends where you get yourpanels checked.
It's not just blood work.
You get urine metabolites,maybe saliva, like all the stuff
.
You know the free, the floatingversions of the hormones, and
not just the bound versions ofthe hormones, all of that right,
um, sex, binding sex.
You know what I'm trying to say.
Shgb, I can't think of it rightnow.
Globulin, right, get all thatchecked and just be sure that

(27:06):
you're doing the lifestyle andthen whatever's left gets
treated.
So that's kind of like my biganswer to all that.
As far as foods and everything,I think that's kind of I don't
think there's really an answer.
I don't think there are hormonesupporting foods.
I don't think there arehormone-supporting foods.
I think eating enough fiber,protein and balance is the
answer.

Cynthia (27:25):
Does that answer the question?
Yeah, so basically yeah,because that's the same thing
that I've been hearing from youand from some podcasts that I
heard from you Just keeping itthe same and just don't believe
the lie of there's no hope foryou.

Yeah, and I would encourage, like, if you're
interested, uh, cynthia,definitely check out.
Be careful, cause there are alot of hormone podcasts and not
all of them are like legit orfully evidence-based.
Um, karen Martell she's been onthe show a couple of times.
Um, and I've been on hers.
Hers, all her hormone stuff isreally sound Like she brings on
a ton of experts, talks about itall the time.

(28:02):
I, you know her nutrition andtraining stuff is not always
aligned, but that's fine, youknow she, she has her approach,
but her hormone stuff is great.
So if you can find a few peopleand there's other folks I've
had on who really know theirstuff, like a lot more than I do
with about hormone therapyDefinitely listen to a bunch of
people and like make critical,you know, use critical thinking

(28:23):
and apply it for yourself and dothe research.

Cynthia (28:24):
But yeah, yeah for sure , cause I'm I'm one of those
with a more natural approach.
The more natural the better,and especially my husband being
in the medical field.
There's just a lot of sideeffects to to medicine and I'm
like I I, if I could do it morenaturally, then that's the way

(28:45):
to go.
But if, if not possible, we'llsee, we'll see, you know, I
think you could do it vastlynaturally.

Um, if you have the way you're doing, it is setting
yourself yourself up for thebest outcome period.
Um, if anything, you're in agood position to maybe get some
of the at least get your panelschecked, like, if you haven't
yet get it checked, just so youknow.
Like I get my testosteronechecked, I just want to know,
I'm like, if it drops at somepoint despite doing everything,
and there's a medical solution,at least I know that option's

(29:15):
available, right, if I want todo it.
What's the other thing aboutsupplements is I think you know
my philosophy on this, but justfor folks listening, be very
careful with all the supplementrecommendations out there.
I think there's a core smallset of supplements that most
people should consider.
We've got multivitamins topotentially fill in some gaps in
your nutrition, but if you eata lot of whole foods, you should

(29:37):
be covered there.
Magnesium is really good.
Um, most people are deficientin magnesium.
I know you take it right.

Cynthia (29:43):
I take it every day.
I love it yeah.

It's great.
And then, um, you know creatine, absolutely, I think everybody
from like two years old to 98,you know like everybody should
take creatine, especially nowthat we're discovering cognitive
benefits and like zerodownsides, unless you're a tiny
fraction of people who getallergic to it.
Okay, sorry, or you just don'trespond to it.
And even if you don't respondto it, you might want to take it

(30:05):
for the cognitive benefits,right, oh?
cool yeah Um fish oil if youdon't need enough fatty fish.
You know for the Omega threes,we know there's health
protective benefits for foroxidative stress and things like
that for your um inflammatoryprocess.
And again, inflammation isanother trigger words, india.
Because, like, if you'retraining and eating properly and

(30:26):
being active like you're,you're giving yourself a pro
inflammatory, counterinflammatory environment, right,
like a low inflammationenvironment.
Uh, what else did I forgetanything?
Is there anything else you take?

Cynthia (30:38):
Um, well, definitely the vitamin D, but I get that
from the sun, so I always one ofthe things that also helped me,
besides the steps, getting alot of steps done Um, after
every meal, I walk for 15minutes, like right after, just
to just to get myself active,and um, most days I like being

(30:58):
outdoors at least for 30 minutes.
Um, just to get that vitamin Dfrom the sun and fresh air.
I feel like there's healingproperties and just getting sun
and fresh air and it's justrelaxing.

I agree I have a sheen of sweat right now because
Connecticut has been like 45degrees one day, 70 degrees the
next, 40 degrees.
So I'm like I'm like hot andcold, but I just went out for a
walk, the next 40 degrees.
So I'm like I'm like hot andcold, but I just went out for a
walk and I got in here and I'mlike it's gonna be nice and cool
in the house.
No, the sun's kind of anyway.
Um, vitamin, but vitamin D is agood one.
Some people do need to stillsupplement if they don't have
enough of their super pale, likeus.

(31:31):
Um, okay, so so that'ssupplements.
What about?
Is there any aspect of?
Is there any aspect you feelneeds more refinement?
Or you're like experimentingwith and not quite sure yet with
, like the muscle building orthe training or anything like
that?

Cynthia (31:46):
I guess, because right now I'm training mostly three
days a week and I don't know ifI should increase it to four or
five.
I guess one of the things thatI've been learning, especially
from your podcast with Adam, itwas patience, having patience

(32:06):
Because I didn't realize,because I remember in the past
people would say that if womenlift weights they're going to
bulk and be like She-Hulk, andobviously it's not true.
Building muscle for women.
I don't know how it is for men,but for myself I'm like this
ain't so easy and I would liketo get bigger shoulders.

(32:27):
I just I like the biggershoulders.
Personally, I wouldn't beashamed of that.

Okay, awesome, awesome.
So I hear a couple questions Iwant to answer.
I'm going to go backward andstart with the shoulders because
, um, a friend of mine just sentme a link to a real I think it
was actually Dr Mike Israel.
He's got some really funnystuff out there, but he was
doing um, wasn't him doing it?
I think?
No, no, no, it wasn't him.
It was actually Alex Hormozy,who's like a marketing expert,

(32:54):
he's also jacked and he like gothis start in the gym industry
and he was showing lat raises.
Do you do lat raises?
Yeah, okay, so you probably dothem the traditional way, where
it's like pour the cup and bringit above your shoulders.

Cynthia (33:08):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Is that how you normally do it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for the mostpart, yeah.

Yeah, and the theory being that's like full
range of motion.
But think about thebiomechanics.
The lengthened portion isactually at the bottom, not at
the top.
The top is actually you'recontracting, you know.
It's the shortened version.
The length is actually kind ofin the middle to the bottom and
you notice we usually just kindof fly through that position and
we go up to the top.
Well, he said look what if youoverload, you know, go really

(33:36):
heavy right when you can barelyget them past like 45 degrees
and just go to failure and seeif it doesn't completely build
your outside lateral caps hereon your shoulders.
And I'm like I I had therotator cuff surgery, so like I
can't even do lat raises withouta little bit of pain.
So I kind of do other stuffinstead, like front raises and
pressing and other.

(33:56):
But I'm going to try those andyou might want to try them the
shoulders are a thing for youand just throw them in, like at
the end and, due to failure,three or four sets of really
really, really heavy but onlylike half range.
Now people are listening to me,like the bros are listening
like, oh, my God, you can't dothat.
You're supposed to come all theway up.
That's not proper form.
Depends on the purpose.
If you're literally just tryingto hit this small outside part

(34:18):
and you can overload it in apartial and that partial is the
lengthened see what happens, tryit out.

Cynthia (34:23):
Yeah, I did.
I heard Jeff Knipred talk aboutthat lengthened partials and
that piqued my curiosity.
I'm like, oh, so you don't haveto do full range of motion.

Then I'm like, okay , yeah, and the jury's out on
like, should you do it onlylength and partials?
I think the consensus is is youknow, do full range of motion
and then some length andpartials.
The benefit of the length andpartials is depending on the
advantage of the biomechanics ofthe lift.
You can overload it and hit itharder, right, and that that's
the advantage.
It's, it's you know, right.

(34:55):
It's kind of like when you do aclose grip bench press, people
are like, well is well, is thatfor the shoulders or the chest?
It's like, yes, it's actuallyfor both, and if you think about
it, you're overloading thetriceps quite a bit because
you're helping it with the chest.
So there's a part of the motionthat's getting really, really
hit with a high load and there'ssome magic in that, okay, so,
going backward into the othertwo things you mentioned, you

(35:16):
mentioned um.
To the other two things youmentioned, you mentioned um
three days a week.
And then there was one otherthing you mentioned I wanted to
make sure not to forget.
You said three days a week andyou said um, patients or
something bulking oh, thebulking piece.
Yeah, yeah, I've talked that todeath in this podcast.
Look, I have trouble buildingmuscle.
Any woman listening, don'tworry about it.
I think she Hulk's pretty sexyanyway.
But listen, between completelythin like rail thin supermodel

(35:41):
and she Hulk, it's all beautiful.
Build the muscle is my take onit.

Cynthia (35:47):
Let's be healthy and strong.

Yes, Be a healthy, strong human and you will be
beautiful inside and out.
All right, Um so three days aweek.
So here's my question to you is, um, what is your goal right
now?
Not just building muscle, but Imean you said you wanted to
specialize on your shoulders.
Is there anything else you'refocused on?

Cynthia (36:05):
Uh, I definitely the quads and the glutes.

Why am I not surprised?
Um, okay, so in that case, andyour three day a week, is it
full body or is it like pushpull?
Yeah?
They're all full body they'reall full body, okay, yeah, all
right, and are you doingprimarily the same movements all
three days?
Are you rotating?

Cynthia (36:26):
no, rotating, it's a different um.
I actually got a workoutprogram from marcus philly okay,
yeah sure yeah, and so hechanges it fairly frequently and
my husband is the one that gotit.
I'm like, well, you paid for it, I'll just I'll just use that,
hey it never hurts to try thingsout.

I'm all for that.
Does it?
Does it at least um repeat someof the same exercises for at
least a few weeks, so you canprogress, yeah?

Cynthia (36:52):
Yeah, so he normally gives it like for six increments
, but throughout the weeks, likethere's conventional deadlifts
and bench presses and you knowdifferent things, yeah.

Okay, are you trying to push your numbers and
build like a peak of strengthand get super strong on on the
lifts you know for function, forbone density, for ego, whatever
.
Or are you trying to just likebuild your physique Both?

Cynthia (37:18):
Both, because I actually I mean, I have been
pushing myself and doing liftingheavier.
There are days that I just Idon't feel as strong, so I do
lower the weight a little bit,but then there are other days
you can't do that.

You can't do that, I'm just kidding.
No, no, that's good.
Listen to your body, okay.
So here's my thought is ingeneral.
I'm just I'm throwing out abunch of generalities, cynthia,
you're going to have to try ityourself.
In general, once you get pastthat novice stage, which I think
you are, um, a four or evenfive day split can be more
effective, usually because youcan get more frequency and more

(37:54):
sets, like it's just more volume.
Um, unless you're doing liketwo and a half hour sessions on
the full body days I suspectthey're not that long Then four
days of like an hour of trainingmaybe up to an hour and a half,
depending on what you have timefor can be potentially more
effective, just because you'regetting a little more volume.
We know that 10 to 20 sets perweek is like the sweet spot,
pushing toward the upper rangeif you really want to be optimal

(38:17):
.
So like if you're only getting10 or eight, then you're kind of
right on that hairy edge oflike you could push it more and
get more results.
I never want you to go to sofar that you can't recover or
it's not sustainable for you.
But because you're eating andin a surplus, you've got the
resources, you've got thecalories.
So a four day split instead ofdoing three day full body where

(38:38):
you did upper, lower, upper,lower.
And if you're trying to buildglutes and quads, I don't think
you need to do like three lowerbody days and one upper.
You don't have to like bias itthat much.
Two and two is good.
You can obviously do a five-dayprogram and then have an extra
leg day, but as long as you'rehitting it hard in the two lower
days with squats and with withsquats and um, extensions and

(39:00):
curls and you know variations ondeadlifts and all that just the
classic stuff you should beable to build your glutes and
quads.
Now I have a lot of great ideasfor quad development that
people don't think about, um,and one that I haven't even done
myself but I'm sharing from mycoach, andy Baker.
He mentioned it once on thepodcast.
Is the Cambridge bar squat.
You go to a gym or is that athome?

(39:21):
Home, okay, so you probablydon't have that.
Okay, then in that case, do youhave a safety bar squat or just
a traditional barbell?

Cynthia (39:29):
Um a safety bar.
Yeah, Okay.

So, with a safety bar, what you could do?
Do you have a way to raise yourheels Like um wed?
I do have a wedge yeah you havea wedge, okay, so do that while
wearing squat shoes, becausethat'll raise your heel even
more.
And put it a little bit narrowstance and just do safety bar
squats.
They're effectively going to belike a front squat, because

(39:52):
you're going to have to bereally upright to to stay
balanced and that is going toslam your quads like nothing
it's.
It's almost like doing a sissysquat, but in a more controlled,
loaded way, gotcha, so that'sone.
It's kind of like a plat squat,but on steroids.
Um, so that's one thought.
And then for, and then glutes.
I mean you know what for glutesyou could do cable pull

(40:13):
throughs, you could do rate, hipbridges and glute raises and
hip.
You know all that stuff, right?
Um, I mean, basically squatsare your number one friend for
that as well, and deadlifts too,uh, to be honest.
But you could do like, um, youknow lateral stuff, you know
split squats and step ups andlunges, whatever you like to, to
kind of bring in the glutes andthe hammies together as a

(40:34):
system and then really load theglutes that way.
Um, where am I going with allof this is the four days and
then making sure you'respecializing in the specific
muscle groups you want, whilejust hitting the main lifts.
The main lifts once or twiceand then all the other stuff for
bodybuilding should be good.
Yeah, yeah, okay, as far as anactual program, I mean, that's,
we're not gonna, I'm not goingto give you that here, but we

(40:55):
could talk.

Cynthia (40:56):
Yeah, oh, awesome and normally um here.
But we can talk yeah, oh,awesome and normally um.
What is the normal rate for meto gain muscle, let's say
monthly, or for women in general, like what's, what's what's
considered normal to 20 pounds amonth?

20 pounds a month Just kidding.
You know how much you'd have toeat.
Okay, so I generally say one totwo pounds a month for women.
That's like super generalballpark.
I generally say one to twopounds a month for women.
That's like super generalballpark.
Um, you weigh one 40, aroundone 40, one 43 right now, and I
just did the math for somebodyelse today for a lean gain at

(41:30):
0.2% and that was like a pound amonth.
So double that is 0.4%.
That's two pounds a month.
That's pretty good Cause thenover a six month period you
would gain like 12 pounds, whichis what you're trying to do.
Yeah, yeah, perfect.

Cynthia (41:40):
That's what you're doing.
Yes, yeah.

Okay, we were just confirming.

Cynthia (41:43):
All right, good yeah, is that funny how we get.

I do this math all day.
It's like plate math in the gym, you just know it's.
You know one 35, one 85 to 25,right, yeah, okay.
So we talked training, um, wetalked body composition and and
fear of gaining recovery.
Pretty good, now anything, anysymptoms from perimenopause or
anything like that affecting youno, not really recovery has

(42:09):
been really good.

Cynthia (42:10):
um, no issues there.
There are times that I am sorebut not too bad, Like within a
day or so it's pretty good Fromyour lifting.

Yeah from lifting In specific muscle groups or
just in general.
It could be anywhere.

Cynthia (42:24):
Like mostly the triceps .
The triceps get sore a loteasier.

They cramp up a little bit, or what.

Cynthia (42:29):
Yeah, they do.
Where you're like trying tolift something and it's like ah
yeah, that happens a lot to my,my, my calves, my calf muscles,
oh yeah.
And that's one thing my husbandnoticed this week.
He's like, oh, you're buildingcalf muscles, I see them now.
I'm like, good, and you'redoing like calf raises, yeah.

Standing seated.

Cynthia (42:49):
Standing.
Is it with your?

safety bar, or how do you do those With safety bar?
Or how do you do those with, uh, just uh, with dumbbells.
Okay, with dumbbells, becausethe calves, if it's working for
you, great and and again you'reyou're not that heavy body
weight.
So, like a heavier person, likeand I'm not that heavy, but
like bigger guys, usually haveto load up the calves a lot to
get them to respond, which would, since you have a squat, safety
, safety, squat bar, you couldget in front of your power rack,

(43:13):
get a calf block, you a block,a little low block of some kind,
like uh no, yeah, actually I do, yeah, yes.
Or even a box.
Even a box, as long as you'resafe about it and you basically
just you put one arm on the rackand just get up on the blocks
and cause, the safety bar has ayoke, you don't really have to
hold it, you know, it kind ofjust sits there and then you

(43:34):
could really load it up, like Icould probably calf raise, you
know three something or foursomething.
You could probably get up tothe two hundreds pretty quickly,
cause they're, you know, thecalves are pretty strong when
you're just it's like thislittle, almost like an isometric
, and then, um, really gettingthe squeeze and then coming down
very deep, uh, with the heightof your heel, so you have enough

(43:55):
height, um, to bring the heeldown.
You know what I'm saying yeah,yeah.
Yeah, you know is is supereffective.
Also, donkey, calf raises aregreat.
That was Arnold made thosefamous and you could um rig up
this whole thing with likespotter arms and stuff.
That's a lot more complicatedto do that.
Anyway, where I was going withthat is um calves can definitely

(44:15):
cramp when you do the platwedge, uh squat, it might like
you might cramp up just gettingin that position.

Cynthia (44:24):
Yeah.

Yeah, but you'll adapt, like you work through it
and you work through thesoreness and you adapt and then
you won't cramp as much yeah.

Cynthia (44:31):
Yeah, I remember when it would happen.
I'm like I'm taking magnesium.
Shouldn't magnesium be helpingwith that?

Electrolytes, hydration, I mean some of these.
You just cramp because you justworked out of your muscles and
you worked hard it's okay, it'sokay, okay.
And then what about food interms of?
I know you're good on macros,you understand all that, but
timing energy in your workouts?
I know you talk about on macros, like you understand all that,

(44:59):
but like timing energy in yourworkouts?
Um, I know you talk abouteating dates and protein.
I love dates.
Um, yeah, dates are good.

Cynthia (45:04):
Dates are yummy.
You ever had bacon wrap dates?
No, okay, okay.

Next time you host a party, Okay, you just get
strips of bacon and the big youknow seeded dates.
That's probably how you buythem, like the major dates that
have no seeds in them, and youjust wrap like I think a whole
strip of bacon is what you want,or maybe a half, maybe a half
strip of bacon, just wrap it,put a toothpick in and roast it.
And you can Google liketemperature and time, and it's

(45:27):
so good because the bacon getscrispy, the dates get soft, warm
and gooey.

Cynthia (45:32):
It's just so good.
That's one thing I was tellingmy husband.
I'm like these dates.
They taste like caramel to me.

I love it, Good Cause it's like they're
caramelized.
It's like they're caramelizedjust naturally, Like that's how
they taste right.

Cynthia (45:43):
Yeah, and it does.
Um, I know we've talked aboutthis before pre-workouts and so
I finally bought.
Well, my husband bought theLegion, one Legion.

Pulse.
Did he use my link?
I'm just kidding.

Cynthia (45:59):
No, sorry, I'm just kidding.

I think my link gives me like points or
something.
It doesn't even give me money,so I'm like I hardly ever tell
people that.

Cynthia (46:06):
I completely forgot about it.
To be honest, I'm just kidding,my husband bought it.
Sorry, but I'm still iffy aboutit because I know that when you
recommended bananas, I'm like Icould eat bananas but I'm not
much into it.
And then someone hadrecommended dates.

(46:26):
I'm like, oh, I love dates andI tried the pre-workout Legion
Pulse recently and I I feel likeI was crashing, still like I
was.
I was yawning the one with uhcaffeine no, the non-stimulant
okay, yeah, it's stem free and II wasn't impressed with it.

(46:47):
So I'm like, this morning Itook my normal, just the coffee
protein.
I do a coffee protein, um, withelectrolytes as well, chocolate
electrolyte, uh, and thecreatine powder and touring.
But when I eat the dates, umand the magnesium, I feel
energized.
I'm like I think for me, uh,the food pre-workout works

(47:11):
better for me versus the powders.

What are you doing?
Doing the powder without foodor protein?
Yes, oh, okay, yeah, that'sgoing to cause.
Yeah, even with.
Yeah, I don't see.
Yeah, you definitely want to,because you were basically
fasted then at that point.
Okay, yeah, yeah, and I'm notsaying that the pre-workout
would work well for you, evenwhen you did it with food.

(47:35):
The way I do it personally is Ihave my banana and then I have
whey protein and then I have thepre-workout and then, I go work
out like 10 minutes later, um,the banana and the protein, like
half an hour 45 minutes before,and then the pre-workout like
15 minutes before, um.
But some people don't respondor some people have side effects
because there's betaine,there's beta alanine, there's

(47:56):
L-citrulline and there's oneother thing, um plus the one
that has caffeine.
That's I like that one cause.
That's I'm not drinking coffeethat early, I drink coffee later
.
If you did it with the foodfirst, I'd be interested to know
if there's a difference.

Cynthia (48:09):
Yeah, I'll try that tomorrow, cause I was planning
on doing that tomorrow.
I'm like I'm going to try itwith my food, basically, and see
how that works.

I mean pre -workout , it's just a tiny boost
potentially from the effects ofthe compounds that are in there.
I mean they have been studiedin the evidence to like help
with with your oxygen, nitrogenoxygen and also, um, just giving
you some a boost in performance.
Use some a boost in performance, uh, when you're in the gym so
that you get like an extra rep.
You know it's not like it'slike creatine, it's not like a

(48:42):
huge game changer, um, so it'sreally take it or leave it.
Cynthia, honestly, you know, aslong as you're progressing,
you're good, um, all right.
So let's see you're.
You're headed toward, like theone 50 pound mark, which I know
sounded psychologically likeWhoa, um, it's funny you say
that Cause just today inphysique university I posted a
lean gain plan for someone who'sweighs 144, but it's her first

(49:04):
lean gain, so she's afraid ofgaining too much.
So I said let's go up to 149.
I did that on purpose becauseof the psychology.
I didn't want to say one 50,you know what I mean.
What, what are, um, what arelike the most meaningful things
that you're tracking now, justso the audience understands.
Like how do you know you'remaking progress?

Cynthia (49:33):
And tracking my macros, calories, but the measurements
really does encourage, becauseit helps me see how much lean
mass I have and how much fatmass.
And that's another thing that Ihad learned from you that there
was a difference with the type,because when it said lean mass
I always thought it was muscle.

(49:54):
Right, right, a lot of peoplethink that I disregarded the
bones, the organs, liquid.
I'm like, yes, I gained fivepounds of muscle and then the
next week, wait what happened tomy muscle.
But yeah, just tracking, thatwas very informational, and just
doing the same, I'm one ofthose that, I'm just a creature

(50:18):
of habit, unfortunately.

That gets you the result.
That does it, like you said itearlier, taking the baby steps,
and you also said, like, justdoing something, like that was a
good statement, becauseconsistency is just doing
something.
Yeah, like, keep doing it,you're going to get there right.

Cynthia (50:34):
Yes, so it's just being consistent with my meals and
just showing up and even if youdon't feel like it, and, of
course, listen to your body,because there's times like I've
talked to you about it One timeI was not feeling good and I
took a break.
I'm like my body saying rest.
So I'm going to rest and I'llmake up the workout week somehow
.
I'll figure it out.
But I'm going to rest and I'llmake up the workout week somehow

(50:56):
.
I'll figure it out, but I'mgoing to do it.

Just like the kids need the summer off and they
come back mentally strongersometimes, you need the rest.
It's going back to the leanmass thing.
I think that's an interestingone, right?
Because I don't want to leavethat in the listener's mind,
like, what are they talkingabout?
And also you, I want to makesure we clarify Um, yeah, it is
everything except fat, right, soit's your muscle, your bone,

(51:19):
your organs, your water.
At the same time, when you lookat the change in your lean mass,
your, your organs aren't goingto change.
They might change a tiny bit,but they're not going to change.
Your bone's not going to changein terms of, like, the mass.
Um, so what's left?
Well, what's left is muscle andwater and fluid, glycogen, all
that.
And then you can say, okay,well then, at least we ruled out

(51:40):
the bones and the organs forthe change.
And so people then are like,well, how much of it is fluid?
Because you could get overlyexuberant.
Like you said, I gained fivepounds, so therefore, it's all
muscle, and it only might bethree pounds of muscle and two
pounds of fluid.
And what we usually see happenright, as you're done with the
bulk, you start to cut and allof a sudden you have fast weight

(52:01):
loss at the beginning.
Cause that's the fluid comingright back off.
And when you just start doingthe numbers and measure your
body fat percentage trend andyou use that times your weight,
it gives you your you know fatversus lean mass.
You'll find that your lean massall of a sudden drops fast,
right.
And so when you gained fivepounds, when you go back into
your cut it might drop twopounds and what's left kind of

(52:24):
gives you an indication of howmuch muscle you gained.

Cynthia (52:26):
Gotcha Okay, that's kind of where I'm going with all
that.

All right, and it almost doesn't matter Like do
you feel good, are you strong?
Do you look good?
Do you like yourself in themirror?
Like, at the end of the day,that's what we're going for
right, not all the numbers, eventhough they're fun.
Um, okay, all right, so isthere?
Is there any other thing thatyou need help with?
We'll start there.
That's it.
That's my question.

Cynthia (52:50):
Um, well, I need a million dollars, and I'm kidding
.
Well, you do that by gettingstrong and fit and then going
after your dreams.
Yes, no, it's just the patiencepart of it and just building
the muscle and just beingconsistent.
One of the things that I dofeel encouraged by you is the

(53:13):
fact that I can still gainmuscle and lose fat even during
perimenopause, and that's onething that I really enjoyed
learning from you, because youdo hear outside sources saying
it's not possible, and toactually hear someone say no, it
is possible For me, it's like abreath of fresh air, you know,

(53:34):
or however you say, it.

Yeah, no, that's perfect, beautifully said, and I
hope people listening, womenlistening or men supporting
women all take to heart what youjust said.
It's possible.
We see it, you did it, you'redoing it.
Many, many other people aredoing it and we get that excuse
off your plate or that doubt offyour plate.
Then you could go after it.
So you could go after it.
So that's great advice to leaveit with everyone listening.

(53:57):
And if you're listening andyou're inspired by Cynthia's
story, I'm sure she couldconnect to you, maybe in our
Facebook group.
Maybe it would be a good placeto check Cynthia out, because I
don't want to share all herpersonal information.
But if you guys want tobasically follow the same
approach, we've got all that inPhysique University.
This is the only pitch I'mgoing to give you today.
That is where we have thecourses that Cynthia mentioned

(54:21):
and the step-by-step system, thetracking, the strategies, and
she mentioned a few times likeshe reached out, and that's what
you do in there.
You just post or you say, hey,philip, I got an issue, what do
I do?
And I'm going to chime in withinlike, same day, probably I'm
going to come in and say here,same day, probably I'm going to
come in and say here's the plan,I'll send you a video, I'll do
something and then everybodyelse in the community learns
from that.
So if, like, if, you jump inand you're brand new and you
want to know about training, youcould search training and you

(54:42):
could see all the discussionabout training.
Um, and so you want to go towhat's on weightscom slash
physique to learn more aboutthat or click the link in the
show notes.
But, cynthia, thank you so muchfor doing this, for joining my
sales pitch today, for doingthis coaching session together.
We actually did this becauseyou won our first challenge.
I forgot to mention that it wasa walking step challenge and

(55:04):
Cynthia was, like, supercommitted to increasing her step
count and being engaged and thecommunity voted her the winner
and we said let's do a coachingsession for everyone to kind of
celebrate this.
So thank you very much fordoing this.

Cynthia (55:17):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you for having me andthank you for everyone who voted
for me as well.
It was awesome.

And they're all going to hear this.
I know they are.
So all right listener.
Thanks for tuning in to Witsand Weights and hearing
Cynthia's story.
I hope everybody was inspiredand takes heart in the ability
to do whatever you want to dofor your muscle, for your body,

(55:43):
even in perimenopause, no matterif you're a man or woman of any
age.
Go after it.

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How She Lost 100 Pounds in Perimenopause and is Building Muscle Over 40 | Ep 319

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How She Lost 100 Pounds in Perimenopause and is Building Muscle Over 40 | Ep 319