Cori Lefkowith, Author at Redefining Strength Page 2 of 158

Why Weight Training Is Important For Results

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 26, 2025 | podcast

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Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. You are strong. Now, act like it. Lee asked about doing this title for our talk today, and I’m super excited to be joined by her, but she asked about doing this title and I’m like, heck yes. Let’s talk about muscle strength training, all those different things because we are so much stronger often than we give ourselves credit for, and I want to talk about with her all the things that go into that. So Leigh, thank you so much for joining me. Joining me today, let’s dive into why it can be so hard as women sometimes to own our own strength and all the different things that being strong really entails.

Leigh (00:47):
So I’m super excited to do this topic with you. It’s something I’m super passionate about. So yeah, so it can be a real challenge for women to kind of jump into strength training. It’s just a little bit of changing norms around how society views a woman who lifts weight. For example, I am a product of the early two thousands, so that was when I was in high school, which is low rise jeans. Everybody was doing cardio. And I feel like my generation and older, it’s almost like that cardio culture has been sort of imposed on us as women. So it’s this idea that a woman should be eating the least amount of calories doing cardio bootcamp classes, anything possible to just decrease the amount of space that she takes up because the goal is to be as small and petite as possible. And so really recognizing why it is so difficult to maybe step off the treadmill and go into that male dominated gym, gym where it’s mostly guys there.

(01:57):
It can be really hard. The treadmill may be all we’ve ever really known, the treadmill’s safe, but honestly, weightlifting has really recently become a really widely socially acceptable thing for women to do. And so there’s a lot of popularity in social media, lots of popular sports. Women are becoming more active in sports, and there’s also a lot of traction in the research area around women and women’s health. So I think that that’s a big driver. So women are starting to really understand the importance of strength training and why they need to do it. And so when you know better, you do better. So yeah, it’s a big thing around getting away from cardio and the treadmill, but when we understand the importance of it, I think that’s why we’re starting to see that shift.

Cori (02:49):
And the more we start to value it, we start to push into this uncomfortable territory, the more we’re inspiring other generations to do it as well. I know for me, a big part of what really brought me into weights was I saw my mom growing up lifting weights at a time that wasn’t popular to do so. My mom played tennis, she was very active. She actually went to college and played field hockey. She played these sports at a time where it wasn’t really the popular thing to do, so there weren’t even fully sometimes full female teams for them. And so for me, really exploring this avenue and all that it means to be strong for us, there isn’t one definition of strength, but that empowerment that we can even feel from lifting heavy proving what our body can accomplish, it’s honestly why I called the company redefining strength because for me, I found so much empowerment through the gym, through lifting through feeling stronger because it is conquering something you couldn’t overcome before or thought you might not be able to overcome, even if it’s the discomfort of stepping into that weight room. I think you touch on something super key. We stay in our comfort zone, which is partly that the treadmill might make us feel like we won’t look silly doing those things. We feel comfortable with the form, right? There’s risk involved in lifting weights, but also we fear that judgment or we fear letting go of something we’ve done in the past to reach an aesthetic goal, not realizing that there might be something better. Can we talk a little bit about maybe how to embrace the discomfort of stepping into that weight room?

Leigh (04:21):
Yeah, definitely. And I love that you had such an amazing example from your mom, and I think that’s really important too, thinking what sort of example are we setting for the younger generation? There’s always going to be that next generation coming up, but yeah, so kind of just recognizing that inner strength that we already have. So again, when I first came up with this title for the discussion that we’re having, I was like, this might be a little bit harsh, but I don’t think so. I think it’s something that we really need to recognize that we are already strong, we just have to act like it. So as a female, I completely understand that it is a challenge and it is hard to break that routine, like you were saying, it’s something that we’ve always done. It’s hard to step away from something that maybe worked for us in the past when we were younger, but it’s that imposter syndrome or that feeling that we don’t actually be long and it’s just a matter of time before somebody is like they find us out.

(05:23):
And so really through my own personal and professional experience, I’ve been really fortunate to work with a lot of women. So as a physical therapist, I’ve gotten to work with a lot of strong females in a variety of just awful situations. I always say you’re probably not meeting your physical therapist on your best day, not always, but you’re usually not going to PT for the fun of it. And here at Redefining Strength, getting to work with women through so many of life’s challenges, big and small, and oftentimes here working with women as a personal trainer, I actually get to work with women for much longer. And really what that does is it kind of shines a light on all that women that we overcome day to day life is really hard and it can have some really, really hard moments, but I’ve seen time and time again that women are so resilient and so strong. There’s a lot that’s expected of us as a woman in society, physically and mentally. And I think sometimes we just don’t recognize how strong we are. We balance careers. We have kids, we’re caregivers, we go to school, we have relationships, we take care of a household, and we do the physically demanding jobs that our male counterparts also do.

(06:45):
If we’re a nurse, we’re lifting patients up, or if we have older parents, we’re taking care of this. So the list is literally endless. I could go on and on and on about all the hard things we do, but we’re also expected to do these things and we never expected to skip a beat, even though we may be on our periods where we’re literally growing a human in our bodies, we’re pregnant or our hormones are shifting and we’re still expected to just show up the same way time and time again. And we do that and that is incredibly strong of us, and we’re very critical too. We just don’t recognize our strength. So something that we can do is kind of just reflect on that and realize when we have that self-doubt or when we’re afraid to go and try a new workout plan or something, kind of recognize that you felt that way in the past.

(07:39):
You felt that self-doubt before, and then you did the hard thing, so you felt the feeling and the fear and you did it anyway. So recognizing that you’re entirely capable is very helpful and can be very empowering and just recognizing how strong you are, even physically and mentally, physically, you’re entirely capable because you’ve probably already done 16 hard things that day before you went to go do your workout, or you’ve probably picked up something that was way heavier than the dumbbells sitting there. So yeah, I think it’s a little bit of recognizing our own inner strength, like taking a look at taking a stock of our life and all the hard things we accomplish and how we felt fear, but we still did it. So it’s

Cori (08:32):
Truly that ownership, ownership of all that we are flaws, good parts, everything. And recognizing how we overcame the hard in the past because so often we don’t see that hard is hard. And yes, how you handle the heart of some other area of your life might be different than how you embrace the heart of going in and working out and lifting heavy. But that ability to overcome that ability to push yourself into this discomfort is something you’ve learned. And the more you reflect on those other hard situations, the more you can see the mindsets that went into it, how you shaped the environment, how you got yourself to embrace those things. So it is using that reflection on all the other hard things you’ve done to build the confidence, get in the mindset, and then go conquer. As you know, I love the phrase act as if. How does that really play a part in embracing who we are, taking ownership, stepping into that weight room and then making changes there?

Leigh (09:28):
So just acting as if just by gaining that reflection and that understanding of like, oh, okay, I’ve done this hard thing before. It can really translate to taking up space in the gym. You do belong there. You can lift weights. You’ve done many, many hard things before in the past, mentally and physically. And so it’s a direct translation because how you carry yourself and how you approach the gym is the same thing as approaching a difficult situation with your family or your friends or with your job. So even though it is a workout and exercise, it really can translate very easily from just your day-to-day strength and just how you’ve recognized that

Cori (10:21):
With all this. Someone might be like, okay, I think I’m strong enough. I could step into the weight room, but I’m not sure I want to. I love my runs. Cardio’s always worked for me to maintain my weight, even though maybe now with menopause or different hormonal shifts, I’m seeing some weight gain around my middle. Why should I care about stepping into the weight room building muscle building strength? I don’t want to get bulky. We have these discussions often. So I’d love to really touch on how you answer those questions and address the importance of lifting weights or strength training in general, which sometimes means using different equipment or even progressing body weight.

Leigh (11:00):
Yeah, so the fear of getting bulky is a huge thing for women, but it’s definitely not the norm to get that bulky. And I think starting to really pay attention to the benefits that go beyond the aesthetics with weightlifting and with building muscle, especially as we shift into perimenopause and menopause, it becomes super important. So when we start thinking about what happens to our bodies as we age, it just really shines a light on the importance of building muscle. So starting in our thirties, we begin to lose lean body mass at a rate of about 1% a year. So that’s just normal aging. We just start to lose some muscle mass. So as that muscle mass decreases strength and power, so you suddenly realize like, oh man, I can’t jump up onto that curve like I did. I might’ve done in the past. Your balance decreases, so you’re not quite as confident in doing single leg stance, standing on one leg, putting on your pants.

(12:09):
You’re like, oh man, my balance isn’t great. So less muscle mass also means you’re going to expend less energy. So the body requires just less calories to function. And as we all know, life changes across our lifespan. So in our thirties, forties and fifties, life does not look the same as when it did when we were in our teens and twenties, when we were in our twenties. We could work all the time because we didn’t have jobs and we didn’t have families. So that takes away time from our ability to go and exercise. And so all of this kind of compounds and we also have some pretty significant metabolic changes, especially in women that occur in midlife, and that’s intensified by our hormone decline. And that really leads to that unfavorable body composition where you have less muscle mass and you have excessive visceral fat.

(13:02):
So that leads to a myriad of health problems. So you have increased inflammation, which is going to increase your cardiometabolic disease. So things like stroke, heart disease, diabetes, all that risk increases. And even if you step on the scale and you don’t see the scale weight changing, there are still body composition changes happening. So you’re losing muscle and you’re gaining more fat. So these are just those normal things that happen as we age. And if we start to think about the importance of strength training and how can we counteract that, I think it’s actually very encouraging to think of the power that just strength training and building muscle can have on our entire wellbeing. So if we want to get into it, I can kind of break down a little bit of just sort of the basics of the physiology behind lifting weights. I think having that knowledge is very helpful.

(14:07):
So the key with weightlifting is really selecting a weight that is going to be challenging enough to your muscles. So that’s key. And so when you lift heavy weights, this action is going to put microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. And these micro injuries trigger a biological process that initiates repair of those micro tears. And so this creates newer, stronger muscle fibers that replace those damaged ones, and that results in muscle growth over time. So that’s muscle hypertrophy. You’re getting bigger fibers. And so the backbone of strength training is this principle called stress and adaptation. So really what that means is when you lift weights, you’re subjecting your muscles to a form of stress and your body naturally will react to that stress and heal the damage. So that’s going to fortify your muscles, make them stronger and more resistant to the same level of stress.

(15:13):
And this is going to lead to muscle growth and increased strength. So same thing is when you just do mentally hard things, you become more resilient. When you put your muscles and you make them do really hard things, they get stronger and more resilient. So it’s a direct correlation there. And so I don’t know if you can think back to when you first started lifting weights very early on, you get a significant gain in your strength when you just first start lifting weights, and that’s something called neuromuscular adaptation. So really what that is is your nervous system becomes more efficient. It activates motor units. A motor unit is a muscle fiber, and the motor unit just controls all the muscle fiber. So your nervous system gets more efficient at activating motor units. So you kind of notice, oh, I can lift heavier, I can lift more weights pretty early on. And that’s important because that helps you build the strength as you go along. So lifting heavy, it does all that physiological stuff. It also triggers a hormone response where your body releases testosterone and hormone growth, human growth hormone, and that is a key for muscle repair.

(16:30):
So that’s kind of like the science behind building muscle. And so you can kind of see if I put my body under the appropriate stress or I challenge my muscles, I’m challenging myself too by going into the bro gym, I become more resilient and I become stronger over time.

Cori (16:50):
And off of that really hitting on how to build muscles, circling even back to getting bulky. A lot of this is about fueling as well, because if we’re not giving our body adequate fuel to repair and rebuild, we’re not going to build back muscles. So unless you’re giving yourself a ton of extra fuel, it’s very hard as a female to get bulky. It’s not that we can’t, but you have to be very strategic in how you build. And you also have to have specific builds and then work muscles to specific extent. So there’s a lot of strategy that goes into building muscle. And the longer you’ve be training, the harder it actually gets. So if you’re like, gosh, I’ve been training for a really long time and I’m struggling to build muscle, yes, it gets harder. You’ve adapted to more, but you have to focus on that fueling.

(17:28):
And I bring this up too because a lot of times due to the way we’ve dieted in the past, our cardio trends and cardio reliance, I’ll say we’ve created metabolic adaptations, which when we then start to fuel properly dialing in our macros, even though we might have weight we want to lose, we can often see ourselves gaining muscle first because we’re finally fueling to create that progression and allow our muscles to build back. So you can see the scale increase even when you want to lose weight before it then goes down because you’re building that lean muscle because your body is finally able to, which will ultimately help your metabolism. But if you’ve wondered like, Hey, I’m going for weight loss and I’m eating more and I’m trying to trust the process and I feel like I’m building muscle, but I haven’t lost the fat yet, so now I feel like I have a little fluff over my muscle.

(18:11):
That’s partly why. But then recognizing too, when we’re talking about creating that progression in the gym, that means repeating things. And I bring this up because I think I’ve seen, and I want to get your take on this too, Lee, but I’ve seen a big trend in the industry to completely no progression. So I’m not the strict, you have to do something for 12 weeks. I think that there could be a lot of ways to create progression, but if we don’t ever repeat the same workout, if we’re constantly randomly stringing things together, we can never really drive muscle growth because we never have that clear progression of did I do a harder variation? Did I add one more rep? Did I progress the movement by becoming more efficient at doing it with a better mind body connection? So can you talk a little bit about how you design your workouts, both picking weights, but also in terms of progression and repeating workouts and your take on that?

Leigh (18:59):
Yeah, so I mean it does take time and doing the same thing. I mean, if we think about how our body moves, we do kind of like we can squat, we can hinge, we can push, we can press, and that’s just like our muscles moving our bones and we’re putting weight and we’re stressing our muscles. And so having that repeatability and that progression, because we just talked about neuromuscular adaptation in the beginning, you’re actually not building a ton of strength and muscle. You’re just training your nervous system. So you have to train your nervous system, you have to get used to those movements, and then you can progressively add weight. So it is important to train muscle fibers in a similar way for a period of time so that you can slowly add that weight so that you do more micro tears, more repair, and then you can change your workouts a little bit where you’re doing a press in a slightly different variation to hit slightly different muscle fibers, but then you stay there for a little bit of time and you progress the weights because really, I mean there’s no way around it.

(20:10):
The physiology of how to build muscles is these micro tears and repair over time, progressively getting stronger, getting more resilient. It’s not doing chaotic workouts all the time, but it can be boring in the beginning and it can feel repetitive. And I think once you start to see the results and you start to see, oh, putting on I’m adding more weights, you have all these little micro goals that happen in your workouts of like, oh, well my back squat, I did this. Let see if I can do that. So starts to become fun in itself, but really what I like to do for programming workouts is get those main important lifts, those compound movements, the back squat, the deadlift, things like that. And then you can change up the accessory movements so that you start to hit those muscle fibers in different ways, but you’re still doing that. Let’s stay here for a little while. Let’s push the weights over time. Let’s learn the movement and get better over time. So it’s really that adaptation, stress and adaptation is the key for building muscle.

Cori (21:25):
And let’s talk about light versus heavy weights too, because pushing that progression means going heavier, so to speak. And I sort of use the air quotes around that because there’s always the question, do I do higher reps, lighter weights or lower reps, heavier weights? And I never like to think of the higher reps as lighter weights because if it challenges you, it changes you. But why is it so important that we go heavier? And I know you really touched on this, but I just want to highlight it again because it’s not that the weight won’t match the rep range and it will by nature be lighter if you’re doing more reps. And that can be good still in pushing progression. But it’s key that you have that challenge for specific reasons, right? Just going light won’t do anything if you’re really comfortable with it.

Leigh (22:08):
Yes. So this is a question I get asked a lot and I feel like it’s a reasonable question to ask, especially when you’re new to working out is you just don’t know what weights to pick up. And so to dress like the lightweight high rep, so there is a time and a place for doing high repetition lighter weights, but it’s not necessarily going to get you stronger, bigger muscles. It’s not necessarily going to be the only thing that works. And so the lightweight high rep has essentially been debunked by current research as how to do a lot of strength building and muscle hypertrophy because choosing very lightweights something that’s not challenging to your muscles, it fails to create the metabolic and hormonal environment that’s needed to build muscle. So if you pick up super lightweights, you are just simply not putting enough mechanical tension for bone density.

(23:07):
So when you lift weights, you put stress on your muscles, but you inadvertently also strengthen your bones, which is super important, especially for females as we age to reduce our risk of getting osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures. So if you pick up lightweights, you’re really not driving that pathway. And then you also minimally will recruit type two muscle fibers, and that is really important for strength maintenance. You also don’t stimulate that release of testosterone or growth hormone. So those hormones are really essential for repair. You just are not creating that environment and then by picking up lightweights, you really have a significantly less impact on your insulin sensitivity. So just touching back on all the benefits of muscle, the more muscle mass you have, the more insulin sensitive you are. So basically your muscle mass becomes like a metabolic buffer, so to speak. So your muscle is much better at taking up blood glucose, which stabilizes blood sugar levels, reduces your risk of type two diabetes.

(24:18):
So if you’re not lifting heavy, you’re not reaping that benefit and you just really don’t never really build the muscle. So you never really see that shift in that metabolic rate improvement. So the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body needs. So that’s why you start to see like, oh my gosh, I’m eating so much more food than I ever ate before, but my body’s changing. How is that possible? Well, you’re building muscle, you’re fueling that muscle. Your body doesn’t really create muscle from recycling other things in your body just doesn’t work the way you have to eat the food to make the muscle happen. So yeah, that’s just kind of shines a light on why picking up that two pound dumbbell again and again and again, you’re not getting those results well because of all those things. It’s just not happening.

Cori (25:11):
I love that you hit on again and again and again because a weight might be light compared to the rest of the Dumbo rack, but challenge us for the reps, the move, the whatever, and we have to meet ourselves where we’re at. But if you can do that weight and you have your rep range of eight to 12 reps, if you can do that weight for 12 reps, one, two or all four sets, let’s just say that you have that next week, you got to go up. I even like to have clients if they’re experienced with lifts, if they’ve done it for the first set and the rep range is eight to 12, hey, go up for the next one, go up until you hit eight or even air the more advanced you are on hitting six reps having to pause for a second to complete the eight, then stay there.

(25:52):
That’s called double progression where we’re increasing the reps we’re doing with weights and also increasing the weight with reps. So you want to think that you have those two things to play with. If you can do the top end of the rep range, you don’t want to just stay there because it feels kind of hard. You want to be like, okay, how can I work down to the bottom of that rep range and then earn more reps with that weight before I then progress again? Because if we’re not pushing ourselves something, feeling hard doesn’t mean it actually is driving us forward. And I can tell you the more I focus on a muscle building phase, the more uncomfortable sometimes I am and the more I’m like, I got to do this today. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that, but that’s definitely my response because it has to challenge you to create that change. And I think that’s the key thing we don’t often hit on and using that diversity of rep range even to our advantage. Correct?

Leigh (26:43):
Yeah. So it is hard. It should feel hard if it’s always feeling easy, it’s not creating that stimulus. And so yeah, the rep ranges and the prescribed reps are there for a reason. One thing that I do really like to implement and talk about is the use of the rate of perceived exertion or reps in reserve. I find that that really helps, especially people who are just sort of starting out and really questioning what’s hard, what do you meet? What’s hard? Finding that use of RPE rate of perceived exertion helps you be more subjective and take some ownership over your weight selection. So subjective, meaning it’s arising from oneself. And so thinking about using RPE as a subjective scale to measure intensity of exercise or effort, so you can really gauge how you feel during a lift or a workout by using RPE, it takes into account factors like breathing, heart rate, muscle fatigue, RPE.

(27:57):
So it typically ranges from zero to 10. So zero is rest and 10 is your max effort. I like to use RPE too with individuals because they can understand their intensity of their workouts and they can also adapt their training intensity based on how the individual is feeling that day. So it takes into account like recovery or stress, things like that. So it helps with autoregulation so that you’re able to be adaptable, reduces risk of injury too, so you’re not just pushing to failure all the time. And so then think about RPE and then you also layer in that reps in reserve. So that is a method used in strength training to kind of gauge intensity based off of how many reps you could leave. So thinking that reps in how many reps left in the tank before your form breaks down. So always key is good form with a lift.

(28:58):
And so if you think about that zero to 10 scale, if something were written like 10 reps at RPE of eight, you would think, okay, well I am going to give pretty heavy effort when I get to that 10 reps, I have two reps left in the tank. That’s a pretty heavy effort. That should feel pretty hard when you get to that eight rep, but you could still do two more repetitions. So you’re formed didn’t quite break down. Then once you start training a little bit more down, you’re talking about further down in that rep range to the six, it starts to get pretty spicy doing six reps at rp, that’s hard effort, but changes based off that rep range. So you would pick lighter weights for 10 repetitions at RPE eight as opposed to six repetitions at RPE eight because you obviously are doing less reps, so you can do heavier weights and have it meet that RPE. So I really like RPE reps and reserve to help people figure out what’s hard, what’s challenging, and that changes over time too. So the longer you train that RPE eight, RPE becomes a different weight for you as you get stronger.

Cori (30:18):
And as you even mentioned, it can be different things on different days. And I want to highlight that because we don’t often give ourselves credit that not every workout is going to be pushing progression by adding weight, going and doing another rep because we might not have slept well. There might be other hormonal factors like if you are in a little bit of a calorie deficit, your expectations have to potentially shift or if you’ve even changed progression and changed the order of moves, which I do want to touch on. And then I have one other final question for you too, but if you change the order, and this is why having that weekly schedule you repeat for a while is so key, especially if you are working to track those numbers. But if you do your back squat on Monday and all of a sudden in the next workout progression it’s on Thursday, you might find you aren’t able to keep the same numbers whether you’ve changed rep ranges or just because of the other moves before it.

(31:05):
And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just always remembering too that what is Max’s effort, what is really pushing that movement can depend too on all the other things around it. Now, off of this one final question for you, Lee, and I have to bring this up because I know it’s a topic that comes up often and I have my opinions on it and I want to hear yours, but soreness. So anytime we’re talking about building muscle, people expect to feel sore. If they don’t feel sore, I didn’t work hard enough. Can you talk about soreness in your opinion and what it really means and all that jazz?

Leigh (31:39):
Yeah, so soreness. So delayed onset muscle soreness, DOMS oftentimes will happen when you do something for the first time. When you’re very early on with working out and you are doing all kinds of new movements, new lifts, you’re probably going to be pretty sore When you change your workouts up and you just do a movement that you haven’t done, you’ll also feel sore. It’ll probably be to a less degree than when you first started working out. However, you do not have to be sore in order to know you had a good workout. In fact, the longer you train and the more muscle you have, the less often you’re going to feel that soreness. So you shouldn’t always be chasing soreness. That’s not the goal of a workout. It’s not always the goal to just beat yourself down with a workout and get the most sort the next day.

(32:37):
It’s inevitable to happen every now and then. It happens less frequently the more trained you are, but anytime you change something, you change the order, you change the rep ranges, especially working at a lot of higher rep ranges. If fueling is off, if you are not properly fueling or if you’re in a cut, something like that, you’ll have more muscle soreness. However, I am a big proponent of we’re not chasing soreness the next day. That’s not always the goal. And so oftentimes people feel like, well, I’m not sore at all. I didn’t get a good workout in. That’s not true. You have to kind of consider all the other factors around the workout to qualify that as a good training session.

Cori (33:20):
Couldn’t agree more. And I come from the no pain, no gain background attitude, and I like being sore as much as the next person. There’s something oddly satisfying at times about it, but if you’re constantly getting sore, it means you’re probably mixing things up too much. It means you’re probably jumping potentially weights or reps too quickly. It means you’re not fueling correctly, recovering correctly. If you’re doing that prehab process that should help with that. So soreness is often actually an indicator that something else is off. It can also be an indicator that we’re potentially doing too much volume or frequency for a muscle loading it really a ton under stretch, which can then lead to more muscle tissue damage and potentially some of that muscle soreness as well. So it’s really assessing is the soreness just, Hey, I switched things up and I pushed really hard this one time and then I’m adapting to it, or is something else off? Now off of that, any closing thoughts for someone being like, okay, I’m sold. I’m going to go build muscle, I’m going to embrace strength training. I’m going to act as if any thoughts for them, Lee?

Leigh (34:17):
Yeah. Yeah. So this is something I get super hyped about is helping a woman understand the importance of strength training and why you can’t just do cardio forever. It’s also really exciting because I kind of can see the future and I’m like, okay, I know you’re going to make some really awesome gains here soon. But honestly, just to kind of wrap things up, I think it’s just taking that moment to reflect on your life as a woman and just thinking about all of the incredibly hard things that you do mentally, physically, how you felt afraid. Probably during those times you felt the fear, but you did it anyway. That’s the same thing, this shrink training, it is not beyond your capabilities, it’s just something new and you just haven’t jumped in and done it. So realizing all the health benefits, health, realizing how this can improve your life, make things easier for you in terms of eating food and fueling and having these body changes, sleeping better, having perimenopause and menopause symptoms reduce. There’s so many benefits. So yeah, it’s my favorite thing to help women realize like, wait a minute, I’m strong. I can go pick up a really heavy weight and I can lift it.

Cori (35:33):
Health benefits, aesthetic benefits, mental benefits. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen so much confidence built through what I’ve been able to overcome in the gym and picking up that heavier weight. So can’t say enough about it. Couldn’t agree more. Leigh, thank you so much for joining me today. Guys, have a great rest of your week.

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

7 Things I Wish I Knew About Eating More Protein

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 22, 2025 | Blog, Diet

Changing your portions is hard. You can’t just eat meals the way you’ve always eaten. That does require some planning ahead to start.

And protein isn’t often the thing we just have lying around or want to snack on.

That’s why these 7 tips can help you start to adjust your macros, increase your protein and all while meeting yourself where you are at to still include meals and foods you enjoy!

Because the more foreign a change feels to start, the more resistant to repeating it we’ll be.

That’s why tip number 1 and where I like to start with increasing protein is simply to add an ounce of the current protein I’m eating.

If I want BBQ chicken and fries for dinner? Instead of feeling like I can’t have a meal I love, I add an extra ounce of chicken.

Small changes made this way lower our resistance to the change in general. And they add up.

Too often we do these massive overhauls over seeing the tweaks we can make.

So at your next meal, take your current protein and add an ounce.

Doing this to multiple meals in a day may surprise you by how much it adds up.

From there, you may find it easier to make bigger changes and even find new recipes that increase your protein intake!

But increasing protein doesn’t mean having to cut out dishes you enjoy!

Small changes to other ingredients in your meals can also help you boost protein.

That’s why tip #2 is to Protein-ify those carbs!

Swap your normal pasta for edamame or lentil pasta. Swap quinoa for rice. Try even buckwheat noodles.

You’ll be amazed by how many options there are to sneak in protein to other components of your dish to boost your amino acid intake, while even getting in other micronutrients.

And you can find swaps that allow you to still enjoy recipes you love, and that your family won’t mind even, while hitting your macros.

Even swapping your normal bread for something like an Ezekiel Bread made from sprouted whole grains and legumes can boost your protein as well as your fiber (win win in my opinion).

And again, you can still enjoy the meal you love to create lasting changes.

You can also sneak in those extra grams while boosting your micros and the flavor of your meals with tip #3…

Use protein sprinkles and seasonings.

No I’m not talking about some fake processed protein powder seasoning…I’m talking about things like nutritional yeast, parmesan cheese and even hemp, flax and chia seeds.

These things are easy to throw in so many dishes and use in different ways. And while small protein increases, they add up.

And they often pack in more micronutrients while adding flavor and diversity to our diet. All of which only help us create lasting changes while improving our health and results.

Nutritional yeast can be great to season your main protein source and add a cheesy flavor while being plant-based.

Parmesan cheese adds that cheesy flavor while adding that bit of salt as well.

And chia, flax and hemp seeds are great to add to smoothies or even salads for a nutty flavor and amazing fiber and healthy fat boost too.

Don’t ignore the value that those grams can have.

And then don’t write off dairy either.

If you’re lactose intolerant, this tip may not be your go-to, but you may also be surprised by how many lactose-free options there now are for you too!

So yes, tip #4 is to boost your protein by using dairy!

Things like too good cottage cheese not only come in lactose-free options, but they pack a protein punch while also helping us keep our gut healthy with probiotics.

Cottage cheese and even things like greek yogurt can be used in both savor dips or dishes but also sweet treats.
The options to use these dairy products, and even have individual serving packs to grab and go, make them a great way to easily bump your protein, especially for snacks.

I know personally I love making dips with them for veggies to snack on or even a sweet cheesecake type dip for fruit.

But use dairy to your advantage as it can often be easily combined with other protein sources as well to increase your intake without boredom!

Which brings me to tip #5: Double up that protein at meals.

By doubling up, I’m not saying to double your current source of protein at a meal and eat 8 ounces instead of 4.

That’s what creates protein fatigue and us hating having to increase our protein.

What I mean by doubling up is focusing on two different protein sources at a meal.

Like take adding in dairy to a dish. Combine that cottage cheese with hardboiled eggs and mustard for a high protein egg salad you can eat with pita chips or as a sandwich.

Or if you’re making an omelet? Add shrimp AND steak.

That even helps you get more protein with 3 different types so you don’t feel like you’re just chowing down on the same boring thing!

Think about ways you can split the amount you need between multiple protein sources to avoid that protein fatigue and allow you to add ounces more easily.

You may be surprised by how hard it felt to eat 4 ounces of the same protein but how easy it is to get 6 ounces at a time when you only have to eat 3 of each!

And then embrace the different forms of protein and cuts of meat you have available to you.

Have you ever felt like every time you try to increase your protein your fat goes up to?

This is where looking at the opportunity in different cuts of meat can help!

Chicken breast vs chicken thigh has very different macros. Even the type of ground chicken you can get can vary.

Ground beef can be everything from 80% lean to 96% lean.

This is opportunity! You can still include proteins you like whether you vary the cut fully or even combine two different options.

Knowing that different proteins have different ratios of fat to protein, you could combine a fattier cut of steak or chicken with shrimp to overall balance out fat.

Or you may swap your usual ground beef for a lower fat option at times.

The key is you can find different cuts that work for you. Even with seafood.

Want more fat and love fish? Try salmon. But want to lower your fat? Try cod.

See the options in different types of similar proteins by learning more about the different cuts to use that to your advantage.

And that last but not least, tip #7: Eat it early!

I don’t know about you, but I love my dessert. And I’m sorry, ounces of chicken doesn’t count.

I make sure I’ve planned in my favorite carb and fat heavy treat to the end of my day and gotten my protein in early.

What really helps with this too is getting a bigger portion at breakfast or lunch.

Whether it’s starting my day with a greek yogurt parfait and even a coffee protein shake or omelet, I’m getting 30-40 grams in that first meal.

The more you plan to get in more protein earlier, the less behind you feel and the more flexibility you give yourself later.

This allows you to easily include meals you truly want and enjoy, especially if they’re meals with the family that may be out at restaurants or more carb and fat heavy.

This allows you more wiggle room and less stress when you aren’t fully in control of what you’re eating later in the day!

Planning ahead gives us the power to create that lifestyle balance while also reaching our goals.

So don’t leave yourself a chunk of plain protein to have to eat at the end of the day.

Plan it in first!

And use all 7 of these tips to meet yourself where you are at and make sustainable changes that allow you to increase your protein, adjust your portions and reach your goals!

Dial in your diet to match your workouts and build your leanest, strongest body ever with my Metabolic Shred…

–> LEARN MORE

How To Maintain Weight Loss (10 Tips For Long Term Success)

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 19, 2025 | podcast

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Change Requires CHANGE

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Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear, you lost the weight, you feel amazing. The question is now what? Often we get really good at the weight loss phase of things and then all of a sudden we start to self-sabotage. Let those habits slide. Think about not tracking things that we’ve been tracking. We let a miss workout slip in. All of a sudden we find ourself back at square one, all our old habits back in place and having regain the weight and potentially even more. And then we again find another program. We go back on a diet, we get really good at that dieting down. The question is how do we maintain our results? And this is a difficult thing because what you do to lose the weight is not what you do to maintain it, but you can’t go back to old habits or you’ll get an old result, which is exactly what we want to avoid.

(00:58):
So I want to give you 10 tips to help you maintain those results, and it’s really key when we think about maintenance, to not think about we’re creating one lifestyle in one form forever. Because I do think when we think maintaining, it’s like, oh, so I just do the same thing forever. Well, no, nothing in your lifestyle is ever standing still. So going into the 10 tips, number one, expect fluctuations. Your scale is going to still fluctuate if you’re using your scale as a measurement tool, even your body measurements, if you’re doing that or progress pictures, they’re going to fluctuate. Your body is a living organism. You drink water, you’re going to gain weight. You might see a little bloat with certain foods. You might see more or less definition based on if you’re retaining water or you had a hard workout. Yes, if you had a hard workout and you really worked your triceps, they might not be as defined the next day because there might be muscle tissue damage, so expect fluctuations.

(01:49):
That’s why you have to watch trends over time and it’s why you almost have to set boundaries or bumpers on your bowling alley lane, right? You’re trying to always bowl a strike. Give yourself those bumpers to keep you in line. So give yourself the top end of a range and a bottom end of a range to allow yourself to watch those deviations but not panic at each and every one. And especially when coming out of that deficit, you want to do it slowly to transition into maintenance, and I say transition because you do have to retrain your body to eat more, but as you’re transitioning your calories up potentially from a fat loss phase, your muscles are going to store glycogen and water weight and especially the more muscle you have, the more storage capacity you have, but you’re going to see the weight creep up a little bit because you’re simply not depleted of everything.

(02:32):
So you’re going to have to expect that as you’re transitioning to maintenance, you’re going to see the scale go up a little bit and then you’ll find that balance, and that’s where taking measurements and progress pictures can also come in really handy and doing it very slowly and still tracking through this process, which I can’t highlight enough, is really key because you can see yourself doing the healthy habits that you know will lead to results and then you’ll adjust your macros and the longer you maintain your results, the easier it gets. The exact same thing that made it hard to lose. The fact that your body does not want to change from its setpoint is what makes it easier and easier over time to maintain your new result because your body adapts to fueling in that way to training in that way, and maintaining that weight has that balance and functioning at that balance.

(03:13):
So embrace the fluctuations as your first transitioning to maintenance and starting to maintain, and even over the course of the year, you’re going to be more or less focused on this, which I’ll touch on more a little bit in a bit. But next, don’t restrict the fun stuff as you go to maintaining your goal is to still keep potentially tracking, still keep in that workout routine, but start to add in more of those things that strike that lifestyle balance. Because if we don’t start to loosen the reign strategically, we’ll end up loosening them anyway and we won’t be in control of how we have, and then we’ll start to see that backslide where it’s like, oh, well this doesn’t matter or that doesn’t matter, and all of a sudden it really does matter because we’ve regained all the weight and we’ve lost all the healthy habits that we really worked hard to ingrain the environment that we worked worked hard to create and the mindsets that we worked hard to have.

(03:57):
So you want to loosen the rain strategically. If you’re still tracking, let’s just say you’re doing 40, 30, 30 as your macro ratio. Work in a few foods that you know aren’t as healthy or aren’t as clean. Try to work in a new restaurant or say, Hey, I am actually strategically going to go to a protein minimum and a calorie cap and now work in some of the foods and see that balance, but work in some fun things so that you can start to see how maintaining can be that lifestyle balance. The sooner you can do that, even as you’re maybe at the end of your weight loss phase, the better. Of course when you’re trying to push that new level of leanness, there is some precision involved and that might not be the time to play around with it, so it depends on your goal, but in transitioning, you can’t just stay depleted.

(04:36):
You can’t just stay restrictive. You’ve got to find that balance. And so finding ways to work things in is super key. Little by little overthinking, it has to be perfection or not because that’s where we get into dieting down, losing the result, dieting down, losing the result when we think restriction or perfection. So work in those fun things, work in a cocktail, work in dinners out, include those things, but you have to loosen the reins and that’s where you also have to embrace those little fluctuations from salt or water weight being gained when you go out. Then number three, use mini cycles. So this is what I was sort of touching on before. You’ve got to embrace over the course of the year that you’re going to be more or less dedicated to different things, and maintaining doesn’t mean maintaining one weight the entire time.

(05:16):
You have to even set different goals. I’ll set a muscle building phase where I know I might get a little fluffy, but I’m going to add muscle or I’ll set a fat loss phase where I want to look extra great for this vacation, so I’ll do a little mini cut, but set those little mini cycles because they also give you a focus to keep wanting to move forward, but while allowing you to shift those habits to meet where you’re at during the holidays, say, Hey, during the holidays I want a better lifestyle balance. This is not the time I’m going to drive for fat loss. I’m going to maybe even embrace just maintaining my result right now with including more fun foods. But think about mini cycles based on the time of year and the schedule that you have, the mindsets that you have, the things you want to do, and then set goals that compliment.

(05:54):
Don’t set your mini cut fat loss phase during Christmas. If you really like Christmas cookies say, Hey, I’m going to do this in January after maybe enjoying a few cookies extra, but I’ll set actually a muscle building phase to even set myself up better for that fat loss phase. Now, this is an excuse to just forget all the healthy habits that you have, but it’s managing your expectations to be in line with what you also need, which ultimately creates a better maintenance for me. For the longest time I wouldn’t track during the holidays and I realized that was actually sabotaging me, even though I could get away with it during the summer because I was using the excuse, oh, I don’t need to track. I did it for this period and didn’t track and was fine to really eat whatever I wanted and not do any of the things that I should.

(06:33):
So now during the holidays I do track with just minimums that I hit to keep me in line, and that ended up turning into more intensive tracking, which actually felt really good while still working in a balance. So things will shift, but recognize even the excuses you’re making and how you can create that balance to maintain within a range while allowing yourself some flexibility. Then number four, chase performance goals. You need to have a focus. If we don’t have direction, we’re driving around aimlessly and that’s often where we end up lost or potentially just going back to where we started, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re going to go home. And so that’s where we see ourselves regaining the weight. So set performance goals. That might mean lifting more in the gym. It might mean testing out a new workout program. It might even mean saying, Hey, how can I get away with doing 15 minutes and see if I can maintain my results so it doesn’t just have to directly be lifting more or doing a race, even though those can be great options.

(07:23):
It can even be how can I meet myself where I’m at seeing performance improvements or maintaining my results with testing out this new thing where I have an end date and I think that’s the key point. I have a focus. I have an end date. I’m going to commit and test and be consistent and track my progress in this area towards that, where I’ll even go on a slight deviation from the performance goals and say, maybe it’s that you’re working in new recipes or new meals out, and that’s your focus of how you can create that balance, but you need that outside goal. And I do like performance goals because I think it puts the emphasis on doing the healthy habits that still fuel us and also even really in building muscle, which preserves our metabolic health as well, and it can be really fun to see what you can conquer and overcome.

(08:02):
Then number five, track strategically, especially when you’re first coming out of the fat loss phase, I would tell you please try to track just as intensively as you did, and I know we can be a little burned out if we’ve been dieting for longer on all the healthy habits that we’ve been doing because even things we know we should do or weren’t. That bad effort at some point becomes greater just because we mentally fatigue or our life has shifted, but track strategically and really be intensive about it being like, Hey, now I can work in more fun things, but I’m going to log everything. Or if you’re like, Hey, I really need this balance and the effort has become a little too much, how can I go to more minimalist ratios maybe or bump calories or do different things that allow you to still measure because what you measure you can manage, but it gives you that tracking and that data but in a way that allows you to keep going with it.

(08:47):
So assess your mindsets at the end when you are transitioning to maintenance, but give yourself that data. Something we so often don’t do, and that’s why we think eating more or changing our habits resulted in us regaining the weight when it’s really not that. It’s really that we weren’t tracking anything and we didn’t realize how much everything went off. So track strategically and then as you maintain for longer, you may take time where you don’t track, but then maybe you do log a few things to get some new meal prep in line and really reassess your portions if you feel like you’re gained a little bit weight that you don’t want to gain or you track really intensively for a mini cut or you track even intensively for a muscle building phase because you want to be very strategic. So it’s allowing that tracking to evolve and how you do it to meet yourself where you’re at, but knowing that that is a tool that you should always return to just to keep yourself in line with those little bumpers that you’ve set for yourself.

(09:32):
Number six, motivational fade. You’re not always going to be motivated. Own it when you feel the effort of the habits you’re doing becoming greater than they feel worth, really assess what’s shifted in your life and how you can meet yourself where you’re at because too often we don’t go to doing the minimum to keep moving forward and maintenance is still moving forward. We don’t do the minimum to keep something in there. Instead we just say, oh, well I deserve this, and that’s where the self-sabotage creeps in and we don’t track anything versus seeing even just tracking calories as still being something that keeps the boundaries on it. So make sure that you recognize motivation will fade and meet yourself where you’re at, especially during maintenance. We got to set even that clear direction because we don’t have direction. We get even more unmotivated often. Then number seven, embrace your minimums.

(10:13):
I’ve been talking about this one a lot, but it’s so key. Finding the least amount you can do in order to maintain your results at times is really important. I know there are certain times a year where I’m really busy. I’m like, okay, I’m going to do three days a week and I’m going to design for this and I’m going to just track my protein and make sure I’m not going over my calories. I’m not going to worry about food quality at all, which might sound horrible, but I know that’s the minimum I need to do to maintain, and ultimately often when I do that and give myself grace and permission before that time even comes to start doing that, I want to do more because I feel successful. I don’t feel restricted, I don’t feel pushed into something. I don’t feel like the effort isn’t worth it.

(10:50):
So often proactively even backing off or recognizing that you can back off allows us to do more because we don’t feel so pressured or pushed or overwhelmed by the idea of trying to maintain something. So recognize what can be minimums for you to keep you moving forward even during those toughest of tough times as a good thing and the more you embrace it as a good thing versus, oh, I’m not being perfect, the more you’re going to do them and the more you’re actually going to do more, which ultimately will lead to better results. Number eight, don’t diet on holidays or vacations. So you know what I will tell people sometimes when they’re on a fall loss phase, Hey, you got to find this balance if you want results at X speed, I’ll be very honest about that. If you want results yesterday and you’re going on vacation, that might look very different than what you do when you’re on vacation and maintenance because you get more flexibility the more you’re at that set point and they could choose a different balance if they want to go a little bit slower, but it’s owning our decisions and choices with that and then recognizing that especially in maintenance, that’s not necessarily the time to restrict.

(11:46):
I mean, if you want to set your fat loss goal over the holidays, great, that’s you, do you? But remember that you’re also sticking to all these healthy habits so that you can have more times where you go on vacation and you just enjoy. Maybe you have different boundaries that you set for yourself or you enjoy the holidays, and this isn’t an excuse to enjoy every day because we could make the excuse that every day is legendary, but then no day is legendary. So just recognize that you do do these other healthy habits to have times where you might not do what you should, and that’s a okay, that’s the whole point of consistency long-term. Then always have a day after plan, so the more you’re maintaining, the more you’re going to find that you do have that weekend day where you do something or that holiday or that vacation.

(12:27):
The key isn’t restricting on those days, and I would even argue during a fat loss phase, the key isn’t restricting on those days or not having the occasional day. You don’t do what you should. It’s always the day after because if you really think about it, even if you give yourself 65 days a year, there’s 300 some odd other days that often we aren’t optimizing to see results. We come back from vacation, we don’t have stuff in the refrigerator, we don’t have meal prep, and all of a sudden that day that we came back becomes the day after and becomes the next week we’re starting. So we really want to make sure that whatever happens if we have a day off plan, we have that day after plan because that gets us right back in line and often makes that other day not only really enjoyable, but keeps us moving forward towards our goals.

(13:09):
So have that day after plan and know that as you’re trying to learn what works for you, you might hit on some things that don’t feel guilty. Just assess, Hey, why didn’t this work for me to get me back on track? Or what do I need to get back on track? That might mean doing a mini cut around vacations. It might mean not doing it and doing the exact opposite and going to minimum so you don’t feel restricted, but it’s assessing what you need to get back to doing the habits that will ultimately move you forward. Because the more time we have off of them, the more we fall back into an old pattern that we probably don’t want. One day is just a deviation, but 2, 3, 4 becomes that pattern becomes a slipping back into old habits and routines. Last thing, tip number 10, keep it fresh.

(13:49):
You get bored with doing the same thing and I actually like doing the same meal prep for a very set amount of time, and all of a sudden it’ll be like one day I wake up and I’m like, all right, I’m sick of this. I don’t want to do this anymore even though I did it for the last few months. Right? So fresh can mean a lot of different things. It doesn’t mean you have to include diversity every single day, but don’t be afraid to evolve things even as you’re maintaining. Shift your macro ratios, even if you’re seeing results on one, just to give yourself different meal prep type stuff. Try different meal prep companies. Try different recipes. Try different ways of planning, try different workouts even if something’s working, it’s not bad over time to adjust to just test because we do kind of like shiny and new.

(14:27):
We’re always hoping for a magic pill or quicker fix, so don’t be afraid to keep things fresh as you’re maintaining. Again, the worst thing we can do for ourselves is think that with maintaining, we’re doing one thing for the rest of our life because we’re not. Your body, your lifestyle, your needs, your goals are going to shift even as you’re maintaining and you might want to gain a little muscle, you might want to lose a little fat, you might want to train for this race. You might have the schedule that makes it not as easy to train in the way that you were adjust and adapt, and the more you do that, the better you’re going to see your results really be maintained longterm. Remember, it’s not a set it and forget a thing. Life is constantly about improving and growing. Give yourself the opportunity to really maintain your results through constantly meeting yourself where you’re at.

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

Unlock More Pushups With 3 Tips

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 15, 2025 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Push Ups

Push-ups aren’t just hard. They’re deceptively hard.

Because what looks like a simple bodyweight upper body move…Is actually a moving plank.

It’s why mastering the full push up isn’t just about upper body strength – it’s about creating full body tension.

It’s a mind-body connection challenge!

So if push-ups have felt frustrating, painful, or even impossible —

I want to walk you through exactly how to build up to that strong, picture perfect push up from your toes with not only the best modification to use but 3 key form cues.

These tips will help you build up to multiple reps in a row without dropping to your knees, compromising form or guessing at what’s actually working.

So what’s the best way to modify the push up to regress to progress?

Stop dropping to your knees…Use an incline!

That’s right. The best modification isn’t off your knees.

It isn’t partial reps. It isn’t powering through fugly reps hoping they get better as you get stronger…

It’s using an incline that meets you where you are at – whether that’s off a wall, counter, bench or barbell in a rig.

An incline works best because you’re not changing the movement – it’s still that full plank off your toes.

You’re just adjusting the resistance.

An incline allows you to scale the difficulty without changing the form.

This allows you to learn to set up in that full plank position and create tension through your core in the right way as you build up strength.

You learn to drive back through your heels.

You learn to flex your quads and use that posterior pelvic tilt, or tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs, to brace your core.

You learn to maintain this core engagement as you have to power the press using your chest shoulders and triceps with proper scapular control.

You learn the form you’ll need even as you lower the incline closer to the floor.

And this is what makes this modification better than the knee push up, where you only learn to engage down to your knees.

Everything moving together is what makes the push up hard and a mind-body connection challenge over just a strength one.

The incline allows you to slowly master that control.

And as you get stronger, you lower that incline.

The wall becomes a countertop. The countertop becomes a bench or the edge of a couch. The bench becomes the floor.

You’re building strength with real push-ups and you can make sure your form is solid before you lower down further.

But with using the incline you have to be conscious to not just add more reps at the incline you’re doing.

Instead lower it if you can do more than 5.

Because too often when we do modified moves, we just make ourselves better at the modification by adding more reps.

While this builds strength endurance, it can also keep us stuck just getting stronger at the modification.

So if you can do 5 reps, lower the incline just a bit!

Better to even do 1 rep at a harder variation and have to rest to do more than 5 in a row at an easier one if you want to master that first full one off the ground!

And as you progress that incline, you need to focus not just on making your push ups look pretty, mimicking proper from – you’ve got to actually make sure you feel the correct muscles working.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 key push up cues to help you focus on having the most powerful and efficient movement possible.

Too often we forget that strength isn’t just brute force but about efficiency. Can we use the correct muscles to the correct extents at the correct times…

Here are 3 cues to make sure you do exactly that…

Cue #1: Drive through your heels.

Even though the push up is an upper body move – your lower body can’t be disengaged.

Driving back through your heels to flex your feet creates that tension all the way up your legs and through your core.

It actually reduces the pressure on your upper body to press, making your body move efficiently move as one unit.

Remember, you’re not just pressing. You’re planking.

This cue is so powerful to focus on as the tension it creates fixes a ton of common form problems.

Struggle with your hips sagging? Worming up from the floor? Butt too high in the air?

All of that starts to clean up when you drive back through your heels.

Cue #2: Grip the ground.

Have you ever really noticed what you’re hands are doing during a push up?

Too often we don’t pay attention to the pressure we’re applying down into the ground.

But your hands aren’t just passive in this movement – they’re your foundation.

You want to push that ground away to properly press and that starts with spreading your fingers wide to grip the ground with your entire hand.

This simple change and focus does two major things:

It protects your shoulders and elbows by allowing you to better engage your back and helps you avoid that elbow flare that can lead to more strain.
It activates your chest for a more efficient press and less overuse of smaller muscle groups.

A little bonus cue to create a more powerful press and better engage your pecs is to imagine trying to drag your hands together on the floor as you push up.

This focus on adducting without moving also helps you avoid rocking out on your hands which further protects your wrists and elbows while working your chest more.

So if you’ve ever struggled with elbow, neck or shoulder pain as you do more push up work, this cue is a game-changer.

And Cue #3: Engage your back.

Yes — your back.

Proper back engagement leads to proper shoulder blade movement, which in turn supports and protects your shoulders.

So your backs…It matters more than you think.

Here’s what proper scapular movement looks like in a push up so you can better use your chest, shoulders and triceps without overloading your neck shoulders or elbows…

As you lower down, engage your upper back to pull your shoulder blades toward your spine, retracting them.

As you press back up, push the ground away, pulling your shoulder blades apart or protracting them.

You’re not trying to lock them in place. You’re guiding them through the movement.

No pinching, no shrugging, no leading jutting your head forward.

Just your back engaged to stabilize your shoulders as your shoulder blades move.

This cue alone can make you feel like your upper body instantly got stronger!

And combining all three cues and the incline modification? Well that’s magic.

Here’s your cue checklist next time you do a push up.

Set up off an incline you can control and drive back through your heels to feel tension through your entire core. Grip the ground or bench or bar as you unshrug your shoulders engaging your back.

As you lower feel your shoulder blades come together.

As you push the ground away (yup that tension through your hands) and drive back through your heels, feel your shoulder blades come back apart.

And then repeat.

Test out a lower incline.

If you can only control the lower down, stop at the bottom and reset and know that’s where you max out for now.

Remember sometimes even a single rep done well at a lower incline can be better than more reps done with a higher one.

It’s not just about doing more. It’s about making our practice more perfect.

Quality reps lead to improvements. We don’t want to ingrain bad habits.

Regress to progress and use that incline as a way to build up.

So stop grinding through sloppy reps. Start training with intention.

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Hack Your Hormones To Lose Weight

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 12, 2025 | podcast

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Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. Are you blaming your age? Are you blaming your hormones? Well, guess what? Michelle and I are going to bust those excuses today. Okay, got to be a little weird. Have a little fun. But seriously, I know it can feel like our hormones have just been thrown out of whack and we’re seeing weight gain and all these different symptoms that we don’t know how to navigate, and we think, what can I do about this? Am I just doomed? But you’re not, and there’s so much we can control in our diet to help us see fabulous results at any and every age. So thank you, Michelle, for joining me today. I know this is a topic that you are especially passionate about as well, so I’m excited to jump in with you.

Michelle (00:45):
Yeah, thanks for having me. I always love talking about women’s hormones. Health, we

Cori (00:50):
Hear a lot of excuses, right? We hear, oh, well, I’m middle aged. I’m just doomed to gain weight. Oh, well, menopause means the Meno pot. I have to accept it. What do you say to that?

Michelle (01:02):
I say throw it all our way because it’s just like you said, it’s an excuse. There’s some things that we tend to just accept as the new norm when we don’t have to. And truthfully, it’s easier to accept it as the norm versus actually changing to actually confront it and make it so it’s not your normal. And that’s really what I want to bust through is you can take your power back from this, but it does require some work on your end. And we don’t like getting uncomfortable and it’s sometimes it’s going to make you a little

Cori (01:32):
Uncomfortable and it’s a thing of your body has changed, therefore other things in your lifestyle need to change. And it’s where we see that disconnect. And I actually had a comment just today on Facebook about this of, but I haven’t changed my diet. I haven’t changed my workouts. Why am I gaining weight? And that’s actually the problem. Our body, our needs, our goals. Heck, sometimes even without hormonal shifts, our lifestyle has changed. And if other things don’t evolve, including our diet and our workouts, we’re going to have a system that’s not matching where we’re at right now, and then we’re not going to see the results and progress forward that we really want.

Michelle (02:10):
I love that. And that’s honestly something I see that comment all the time is I’m not changing anything. So why is this happening to me? And a hundred percent it’s because life isn’t stagnant no matter how much we try. You can’t stop your body from aging. It’s going to happen. So if you can’t stay stagnant in that moment, your diet can’t stay stagnant. Your exercise state can’t stay stagnant. You have to adjust and work with your body and stop trying to work against it.

Cori (02:40):
But one size doesn’t fit all when we’re making changes, and I think a lot of times we hear about the recommendations for a specific age, for a specific time of life, and so we jump right to doing those things and then it doesn’t fully fit and then we feel even more broken. So because of that, I’d love for you to really dive into what’s changing in our body at different times and what hormone fluctuations we might be seeing so that we can understand the impact and then determine what the right course of action is for us because our activity level, our lifestyle, are going to impact things, and it’s not just the hormones that completely dictate everything. So what’s going on that we might have to navigate so we can dive into then how to navigate it?

Michelle (03:17):
Absolutely. So the first things first, and this one, I want to say it almost is in charge of everything else. It’s the domino effect. It starts here and then other hormones become affected. Your lifestyle needs to change, and it really comes to estrogen. I know you probably aren’t surprised that we’re talk about this because you hear about it so much when you are hitting perimenopause. Menopause age is estrogen does decline. That’s natural. No matter what you do, you cannot stop that clock. Your estrogen levels are going to change. However, what this is actually affecting within your body is it is going to affect how you actually metabolize food. It’s going to affect your muscle mass, how your capability of actually being able to gain muscle, and again, this isn’t another excuse that I’m handing you where it’s like, oh yeah, this is a harder time in your life where it’s going to be harder to put on muscle.

(04:12):
No, it’s just different. You just have to make sure you’re providing your body with the right nutrients. We’re doing the right workouts to combat that. Estrogen is a little bit lower and it is going to affect that muscle mass. Those are going to be the key things first. And I’ll be honest, so often I see people just be like, oh, estrogen’s low. I need to do X, Y, Z. Like you were saying, I have to get on the HRT. That’s going to be the number one thing. And that’s not bad. It’s an option. It’s something that you can pursue. But something that I really, if this is the only thing you walk away from, this is what I hope it is, is no matter what you are doing, even if you get some hormone testing done, no matter what that test is, you have to continue to reevaluate and you can’t fall victim to a rigid result.

(05:01):
And I say this because if you are actively trying to improve your diet, trying to improve your workout, putting on that muscle, that is going to affect those results in a positive way. So we want to make sure that we aren’t getting stuck in, oh, well this is what my test said a year ago or six months ago. If you are actively trying to improve, those levels are going to change. I just had a client who has had RMR testing done to see what it was, and within the program, she actually found that because she’s regularly testing, she found that it increased by 200 calories. And she’s like, what happened? It went up. And I was like, well, yeah, because you are putting on muscle, you’re improving your metabolism, you’re doing all these things, and so you are going to see some changes at a hormonal level as well.

Cori (05:55):
And I want to equate this. I think when we’re talking about these things, we want to understand what’s going on, not to place blame, but to allow us to make accurate adjustments. And I want to use this example because I don’t think we often think of it this way. We do. We just say, well, I have to write myself off because of this. But estrogen levels changing means that other things in our diet and our workouts need to evolve so that we can still put on muscle because it is still possible. Yet going back to the muscle building thing, we don’t really hear people just blaming, oh, well, I’m an experienced exerciser, so I can’t put on muscle as easily, so I’m just doomed to be stuck, never putting on muscle. But actually the more advanced you are, the longer you’ve been training, the harder it does become to build muscle because you’ve adapted to more training stimulus.

(06:36):
Yet we rarely actually just blame that and write ourselves off. We say, oh no, I can push harder. I can do these other things. We almost see it as more incentive to do more. And so I would say when you do all these different things, it’s owning the reality to address it, to move forward because knowing that it is harder to building muscle, that you actually are potentially using protein 40% less efficiently as you get older, even you just increase protein knowing that as an advanced exerciser that you’ve adapted to more training stimulus, you find new training stimuli to use to help you improve your results. It’s owning your reality and even understanding that what once was could shift, and that means that you have to continually adjust and adapt even more. But it’s all opportunity. It’s not placing blame and writing yourself off.

Michelle (07:24):
Yes, and that is so key because it is so important that we are making those little adjustments. You are your unique self and you are going to be the one that’s going to help drive that forward. And you can’t. I feel like the biggest disservice we can do is just allow ourselves to be placed in a box.

Cori (07:44):
And with seeing these hormonal shifts, we can think, oh, well, my metabolism is now more sluggish. I need to eat less. But we wouldn’t generally recommend that. And as you even brought up with your client, when she learned to fuel properly could build more muscle, she increased her metabolic health and her caloric demands actually went up. So it is a weird thing of we think dieting means deficit means eating less, but that could backfire during this phase where we see these hormonal changes.

Michelle (08:13):
And that is often because, and I’m going to say the science is still there, calories in versus calories out. Yes. But the problem is there’s so much nuance to that. So even this client that still is having great results, we’re increasing calories, she’s doing that and she still is technically in a deficit. We just have in our mind that again, we have that rigidity issue where it’s like, oh, well I was losing last time. I was losing weight in my twenties. I ate this many calories, so I need to go back to that. And you’re not taking into account, but you’re also putting on muscle mass. Do you still have the same muscle mass as you did in your twenties? Have you improved it a lot? I see a lot of women in our program improving that muscle mass and they have more muscle than they have in their forties and fifties than they even did in their twenties,

Cori (09:01):
And that’s despite it’s supposedly getting harder to do so, but it’s owning your reality. And with that, we’re seeing estrogen levels decreased. What can we do or what other dominoes might we need to address that might be hit by that falling over? And then what can we do from a nutritional standpoint to help ourselves own where we’re at to move forward?

Michelle (09:22):
Yeah, so when estrogen kind of goes it, like I said, it kind of dictates the balance of a lot of other ones. So it’s one of the things that your body is kind of like, oh, well, it’s a feedback loop. So when that starts to dip, we’re going to start to see other hormones also dip a little bit as well. And then in some cases even have some higher levels. So this is where progesterone, testosterone, yes, women, we have testosterone as well, and it’s something that we want to make sure that we’re staying in balance, but it all kind of comes back to what’s happening with our estrogen levels. So some things to keep in mind, and I’m going to start very basic and then we’re going to get into a little bit more nuance, but one is going to be protein. We highly recommend that you are hitting at least 30% of your calories coming from protein.

(10:12):
And the reason being is that is really where research actually shows the benefits start. That’s not to say 30% is the cap, but if you are looking at trying to make sure that we’re seeing some of these improvements, you’re able to put on more muscle mass and make sure that we are improving strength metabolism and even insulin sensitivity, which guess what? Estrogen actually affects your insulin sensitivity, which is often why we do put on a little bit more weight if we’re changing our diet because we have issues with some carbs. I’m not demonizing carbs. We just have to adjust. So it’s something that we want to make sure that we are actually consuming more of is going to be that protein and specifically dividing it throughout the day. One of the things that I see often is, I call it back loading, where you wait until the very end of your day and then all of a sudden you’re trying to get all your grams of protein in before you go to bed. And the reason is is we do want to make sure that we are balancing some blood sugar throughout the day. Protein’s really going to help that. It’s going to help with satiate, satiety said that word wrong, satiety and going to help even some cravings throughout the day. So that’s really where we want to make sure that we’re spreading that out.

Cori (11:23):
We also don’t utilize it as efficiently and we need more of it to stimulate the same muscle protein synthesis response. So by spreading it out and even getting larger portions of 40 grams in a sitting 30 grams in a sitting, we’re going to see a better response to that, especially around our training. But I bring this up too because a lot of times you’ll hear, oh, 20 to 30 grams is all you can use, guys. These are done on supplement studies first off, and also that’s what goes to muscle protein synthesis alone, and protein isn’t just involved in building muscle. It is important for so many other processes, which I can let Michelle touch on. But on top of that, we have to recognize that our goals really dictate what we need. 30% is sort of that magical starting point where you can really see great results, whether you’re building muscle or trying to lose fat, but especially in a deficit, you need a little bit more protein because you not only will help improve the thermic effect to burn more calories so that you’re seeing better fat loss results, but also protect your lean muscle because you’ll always have those amino acids readily available to repair the muscle tissue and you’re deficient technically in enough calories to really do so as efficiently.

(12:30):
So you need that extra protein versus in a muscle guine phase, yeah, you might be closer to that 30% where you were at 40% for the fat loss phase, right? Different goals will dictate different amounts, but it’s understanding when it’s even important to increase further for other reasons outside of just that muscle building. Protein is oddly a really good weight loss tool because it is so filling because it does protect that lean muscle and because it puts us at less risk for putting on fat. They’ve done studies where carbs have been higher, fat has been higher, but ultimately what really leads to the best results is always protein being higher. But Michelle, I do want to touch on the other benefits of protein because we so often just hear about only consuming this much and we forget that that’s just the amount that goes to muscle protein synthesis, and especially as we’re going through menopause, it is important to get protein for so many other things.

Michelle (13:19):
And you kind of touched on it a little bit, but one is people when they hear protein and they tend to think animal products, there’s other plant-based options as well, but they still are only looking at the product as just protein. They’re not realizing what comes within the package. And oftentimes that is going to be the micronutrients. There’s vitamins, there’s minerals, there’s things that are in there that we tend to need that we gloss over. But one of the big things too is when you are looking at what women respond best to, and we’ve kind of touched upon it, I’m going to talk about fat in a little bit, but you are looking at making adjustments to mainly your carbohydrates, probably going to see a little bit of adjustments within your carbs. And when we do that, you can’t just take away, you got to fill that gap with something that’s going to be where we look at protein.

(14:08):
And one of the big things, we talk about the amino acids for the muscle mass and making sure that we’re protecting that lean muscle mass when you’re in a caloric deficit. But one of the things that we kind of, I feel like gets glossed over is let’s talk about metabolism when you are getting adequate amounts of amino acids and specifically even making sure that you’re getting enough calories in general, but if you’re making sure that you’re getting those amino acids, getting those vitamins and minerals, those pathways that we tend to turn off, I always say it’s like having light switches. We can flip on or off. When you aren’t providing your body with adequate amounts and with adequate amounts specifically in a caloric deficit because we’re trying to lose weight, your body will start turning off those light switches. So there’s no such thing as a broken metabolism.

(14:58):
It’s often that you’re not providing your body with enough of those micronutrients and amino acids that your body’s able to actually perform all those pathways because we put things in a hierarchy of needs. Your body just trying to keep you alive, running your organs efficiently is going to be top priority. When those switches get turned on, you’re going to find, oh, you’re, and I know we’ve talked about this before and it seems so small, but it’s such a big thing, you’re going to actually find your cellular turnover increase. Your skin itself is going to have some improvements in it. You’re going to find your hair growing, your nails growing. I’ve had clients that were like, I wasn’t sure about this. And all of a sudden I realized I haven’t shaved in two years and I needed to start shaving because my body, she goes, I just thought that my body stopped producing hair on my legs. Turns out, nope, your body had turned off that switch because you weren’t providing it with enough quality nutrients. So that’s something important to keep in mind and why we want to make sure that we’re giving our body not just adequate, because truthfully, if you look at the RDA, that’s just for to stay alive, to keep things running. We want optimal nutrition. And to do that, we are going to be increasing, most likely you’re going to need to increase your protein

Cori (16:16):
And optimal as our body changes. And that means potentially having even more than prior, even though often we think protein bodybuilders, we think the bros in the gym, nope. The older we get as we go through menopause as females, we need extra protein. It only helps us. Now I do want to tangent a little bit into the carb discussion and touch on fiber. And before I let you go into that, this is where I want to circle back to what I mentioned at the beginning of understanding why we’re making certain recommendations is really key because there’s always nuance or the but situation to them because you’ve already alluded to the fact that we might see a little bit more insulin resistance creeping in when we’re getting a little bit older as we’re going through menopause. However, just demonizing carbs can sometimes be what’s holding us back because we hear in menopause, reduce your carbs, but then we have someone super active come in who’s an endurance athlete and that backfires massively. So understanding why the recommendations are being made to also understand why they might not fit you is super important. But Michelle, let’s go into a little bit adjusting your carb intake, why fiber is so key.

Michelle (17:26):
So oftentimes we’re usually low. In general, we are low in fiber, and the reason why we really want to put an emphasis specifically when we are in perimenopause menopause age is because fiber does actually help bind and eliminate excess estrogen. Now I know you’re probably like, wait, you just told me that estrogen is dropping, so why do I want to put an emphasis on this? And this is where it’s key to know is estrogen doesn’t just disappear. It still exists in circulation, it’s still there, it’s still in your body even in menopause, and your body’s still going to produce some small amounts usually from adrenal glands and even from fat tissue. That’s actually why we kind of get the menopause is because that’s kind of our body’s a little bit of a, I don’t want to say defense mechanism, but basically a little bit of a defense mechanism because we start to produce more estrogen there.

(18:19):
Or of course you could be getting it from HRT if that’s a route that you’ve chosen. And the goal isn’t to with fiber, it’s not to eliminate estrogen, it’s to make sure that we are properly metabolizing and clearing any excess or unbalanced estrogen metabolites. So what can happen is even if you have low estrogen, if your body isn’t actually metabolizing that correctly or even utilizing it in the correct way, we want to make sure that we’re providing the body with a way to eliminate what is going to potentially cause us to have issues. So you can still be low estrogen and be considered estrogen dominant about that balance of estrogen to even progesterone within your body. So this is really where fiber is key. And I know, yes, we talk about fiber not just for satiety, we talk about fiber. If you’ve heard of GLP, fiber can actually help produce more GMPs within the body so you can actually have that kind of going for you as well.

(19:21):
And we do, one of the big things too that I’m going to touch on briefly is fiber feeds the gut bacteria. We’ve talked a lot and you probably have heard a lot about the gut microbiome. There’s been a huge emphasis on it. And if you’re not providing your body with fiber to make sure the good gut bacteria is getting fed, you are actually going to have an imbalance within your gut and be having issues with digestion and all that fun stuff. So that is just a few reasons why fiber is so key at this stage. It’s really to make sure that we are helping our body actually be able to find a balance even with estrogen

Cori (20:04):
And fiber is magical for our health and a lot of times that’s what we even think about fiber for gut health, overall health, but it really is essential for faster fat loss too. And that’s the sexy component that we don’t think about. So we don’t prioritize it, which I know sounds weird, but let’s face it, a lot of times when we start making dietary changes, it is for aesthetic reasons and that’s not a bad thing, but these can also pay off our health, but we have to own how much fiber is involved in that fat loss process and really important. And part of that too is even the balance of blood sugars, which we really need to focus on even more as we see these hormonal shifts.

Michelle (20:40):
And I’m going to still saying from one of our coaches that you can eat your carbs naked but don’t eat a naked carb. So again, we’re not demonizing carbs. Carbs are needed carbs often, or you’re choosing a different one. Oftentimes you’re going to have that fiber package be part of it, but we do want to make sure that we are doing that so that our body is also not having these huge spice and drops with insulin itself. So it’s natural to have rises and dips with our blood sugar. We want that, but we don’t want to have these huge spikes and these huge drops. We would like to keep it more steady throughout the day.

Cori (21:19):
And with talking about fiber and protein, there’s another component that I know is very near and dear to your heart, hydration. How important is adjusting our hydration? Which we know the answer very important, but can you talk a little bit about the importance of hydration and not only how it helps with that hormonal balance with everything in terms of fat loss because it’s very important for fat loss as well, even though for some reason this very simple habit is very hard for a lot of us, myself included at times, but I feel like one of your favorite subjects, Michelle.

Michelle (21:50):
It is my favorite subject because it’s one of the cheaper, one of the easier way it wants to do. And no one, I’ll be honest, hardly anyone that I coach or chat with as probably is coming to me drinking enough. And I always say, it wouldn’t be a chat with me if I didn’t say something about water. So it’s going to impact your thermo regulation, how your body’s actually able to break down and digest foods. It is a huge part of your hunger cues. Oftentimes as we age, our thirst signals go down and we actually misinterpret hunger cues for when we’re thirsty. The other reason is you mentioned is fat loss the role it has in fat loss. So for your body to go through the process of lipolysis of actually breaking down those fat cells, it has to start with lipolysis where the water is required to actually start that process of breaking it down.

(22:45):
If you are not providing your body not with enough water, now again, I’m staying away from adequate, we’re talking optimal water, optimal hydration levels, your body isn’t going to prioritize that process, so we want to make sure that you are getting enough water. So we probably always have heard the saying of drink six to eight glasses of water a day or half your body weight in ounces. That is typically just making sure you have adequate water. We’re looking at optimal. I tend to recommend that we are looking more at 70% of your body weight and ounces of water. And the reason is one, because we are doing optimal protein levels. And when you do that, that means your carbohydrates are naturally going to typically be decreased and carbs hold onto water. So you’re going to be a little bit more inclined to be slightly more dehydrated because of, but we also want to make sure that we are providing the body with more water because as estrogen declines, estrogen also circulates the body and kind of acts like a sponge.

(23:55):
So I’ve had some women that were like, I had zero menopause symptoms except I had to start taking eye drops or my knees are starting to hurt, and typically that’s a sign that their hydration level is off. So this is really where it’s key. And we’re going to talk about muscle too. Yes, you have to have proper hydration levels to even make sure that the transient system of getting nutrients to the right spots is well armed and that’s going to require water. So drink your water. If you are sitting there right now and you don’t have a water bottle near you, I want you to be that person that is always walking around with water in your hand. And I am going to talk just a little bit too, because it’s not just about that hydration, but it’s also about making sure that you’re properly hydrated, not just water alone. Most of us will benefit if we add at least an electrolyte throughout our day.

Cori (24:51):
Hydration truly is key and all these components are these fundamentals. If you focus on them and emphasize them, you’re going to see such a better balance and faster results towards your goals, whether it is muscle building or fat loss or that elusive body recomposition we’ve been told can’t happen losing fat as we gain muscle, which it can. You have to prioritize one goal a little bit over the other, but that process can happen. When we go back to these basics and other symptoms, we see skin health is a big issue or concern. Drier skin, crepey skin, right? Focusing on protein, focusing on water, wanting that fat loss and to address bloating and different digestive issues a lot of times. So a little bit more focused on water and fiber can be really key. There’s so many different ways all these things combine to make us feel our most fabulous.

(25:37):
And I love that you brought up muscle and water too because a lot of times when we’re trying to build muscle, we see the scale sort of jump initially where we’ve increased calories potentially. And with that we’re storing carbs, but we’re storing water rate and this is needed. It’s why with creatine when someone goes on it, it does bring water into the muscle that helps with the anabolic process. Now, with all these, there’s one final component that I know is so important. Fats, fats don’t make us fat and they’re often super essential during menopause. And before I let you jump into that, Michelle, I do want to bring up too, guys, when we’re talking about hormonal balance, what we’re really talking about is optimizing for your current hormone levels. And I only say that because I think we have this idea that we’re bringing up or we’re bringing down and we’re doing that and not that we aren’t sometimes changing the levels of different things with how we’re fueling, but a lot of it is about optimizing our diet and our workout to work with our hormone levels and address what we need to see the improvements that we need.

(26:34):
But Michelle, I want you to dive into fats and even your commentary on that.

Michelle (26:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you’ve shared that because I think it’s important to when you’re going, and I’m going to just put this plug in right now, when you’re making these dietary changes, it’s going to feel a little hard, a little bit weird at first. You are going to have potentially even some dietary distress where it doesn’t feel quite as well. And I’m saying that just because your body is working on learning how to break it down, working on developing the good bacteria, so it’s better to break down. So when you’re doing these changes, don’t just try it for a day or a week and be like, well, that doesn’t work. I’m out. We do want to make sure that we’re at least giving this at least a solid month and actually comparing what our energy levels are at what we’re dealing with and kind of addressing from there.

(27:21):
So off of that, going into fat. So one of the biggest things when it comes to hormone levels changing is oftentimes we kind deal with a level of inflammation that’s going to occur. Oftentimes you’ll hear menopause is being the slow simmer state. And one of the big things with that is, yes, we’re going to be able to eat high anti-inflammatory foods, so making sure that we’re having omega threes is going to help with that. But one thing that I don’t think is emphasized enough as to why we are focusing a little bit more on fat is because when you eat dietary fat, it does help with hormone production and it helps it in a more like what you have said is finding that optimal level for you so that your body can actually produce things accurately. So one thing that does happen is because estrogen is heart protective is we often find cholesterol levels jump when we hit menopause.

(28:20):
And this can sometimes cause people to overcorrect where they’re like, oh, I got to avoid fat, I got to avoid cholesterol, I got to avoid all this stuff so that my cholesterol level is good. Your sex hormones are actually produced by cholesterol, so it’s still something that your body requires. I’ve seen some people take it way too low and we’ve had and have kind of worsened their response and their symptoms because their cholesterol was too low. So we’re really, the recommended level is really about 300 milligrams of cholesterol. Then that’s really just to make sure that we are being able to actually create and produce those hormone levels. So we’re really looking at those healthy dietary fats, omega threes, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats. So we’re looking at the olive oils, the nuts, the seeds, the fatty fish. That’s really what we want to make sure that we are focusing on so we can maintain optimal hormone production. And I’m going to say that optimal level changes with age. So this isn’t us trying to get to the same level that we were in our thirties or twenties. This is us making sure that our production is where it needs to be at the phase we’re in.

Cori (29:33):
And it’s also remembering that fats have benefit in terms of our nutrient absorption from other foods. I think we forget about that and we start to just see foods or macros in only one way or is only one benefit. And we’re like, well, then I’m getting enough because I’m doing X. And if we’re eating a lot of vegetables, making sure that we’re getting fats with them and healthy fats. Not only are we getting the healthy fats alone that really help, but they’re making other things more valuable. Everything really is so interconnected and I don’t bring that up to make you feel like you have to do everything at once, but also to recognize where maybe one area is lacking and that could be impacting the benefit you are seeing from something else else if you feel like another change isn’t fully paying off.

Michelle (30:19):
And I think that’s huge too because I mean, I think we know that bone health is important. We talk about bone health, we talk about getting in that calcium, but if you’re not eating enough fat, you’re not getting enough, your body is not able to absorb as much vitamin K and vitamin D. And those two vitamins also decline our ability to absorb and produce, sorry, not produce. Our ability to absorb does decline when we age. And so we want to make sure that we’re getting adequate fat because that is what’s required to actually be able to absorb those. And you need vitamin K. I know you probably pieced it together, but you do need vitamin K and vitamin D along with calcium to actually be able to improve your bone health and bone density.

Cori (31:02):
So we’ve touched on fats, we’ve touched on hydration, we’ve touched on fiber, we’ve touched on protein and the importance of all these things and adding them in to some extent. And we really do like that nutrition by addition, focusing on controlling what we can control in a positive direction to feel really full and fueled. Now I do want to touch on two things that we might want to reconsider our intake of. And I bring this up as a person who consumes both probably wants to consume both for the rest of her life, but also wants to understand the impact of everything I do so that I can weigh the cost and reward. Because for me, one of these things, well, I’ll give a little hint. Alcohol, I’m a craft cocktail girl, but there are phases of the year where I’m driving towards a specific goal and I might not include it knowing it is detrimental to that goal. And then in another time of year I’m like, this fits this balance. So choosing to include or not include with understanding the cost and reward of these things is really key, but also understanding the changing impact they might have. So Michelle, two things we might want to at least understand more of the cost of when we’re seeing our hormone levels change.

Michelle (32:12):
So that’s going to be caffeine and alcohol. And this is really, and again, I like that you’re saying this, it’s the balance, right? There’s going to be times where you are going to be like, yeah, this is worth it to me, and that’s completely fine, but it is just owning that choice. So when it comes to alcohol in particular, oftentimes we just kind of change in how we’re able to metabolize it and hormones do affect that. So you probably have heard like, oh, if you drink alcohol, it can slow your body’s ability to build muscle or loose fat. At the end of the day, alcohol is something that your body is going to prioritize to get out and remove from your body and how we’ve talked about your body has a hierarchy of needs and a focus that is one that it will focus and prioritize. I’m not saying that you can’t drink alcohol and lose fat and gain muscle, but I am going to tell you, your body is going to prioritize the removal of that from your body first and foremost. So if you’re someone that’s drinking a lot and very consistently and not seeing results, it may be something that you want to start removing and seeing if that is actually going to help you move forward faster. Now, oh, go

Cori (33:29):
Ahead. Oh no, I was just going to say sometimes we don’t understand how much things are linked. And if you think about menopause being the low simmer state, the slow simmer state where you see that chronic inflammation and then you’re adding in another inflammatory thing on top of the fact that it might make you feel like you’re sleeping well, but trust me, it is not improving the quality of your sleep. And if you’re feeling tired the next day reaching for that caffeine, which we’ll talk about shortly, not feeling energized, you’re creating this bad cycle and you might not realize that it’s linked to this one thing. And maybe just by cutting it out most nights and having it only on the Friday night, that fixes enough for you. It’s not that you have to do one straight elimination or maybe if you are like, I want fat loss and I want it yesterday, you do cut it out for a little bit knowing you’ll add it back in during your maintenance phase. But it is really looking at what are the struggles that you’re having and if you’re controlling a lot of good things, where might there be something that you don’t realize the impact of because of how your body has evolved.

Michelle (34:30):
I love that you touched on sleep. Yes. I so often will hear I end my evening with a glass of wine because that’s what helps relax me. That’s what helps me go to sleep. So the problem though is oftentimes alcohol, it can help relax you and can help you fall asleep. The problem is it actually affects your deep rem. Now when we are in menopause, that is something that actually is a little bit harder for us to have is good quality deep rem. So it’s something like you said to be aware of. If you are being like, oh, I just need this to be able to sleep, you may not realize that you’re putting yourself in a negative feedback where you are using that glass of wine to relax you to fall asleep, but you’re not getting good quality sleep. And so you are relying on the caffeine and the extra coffee at the end of your day to get through your workday. And then you’re building yourself up to meet to a state where now you have had this caffeine and now you need to relax yourself again so you can get on this negative circle and need to jump ship. And this is just way that we can kind of make sure that we are doing that is play around with it and see what that level is for you, see what that balance is for you, what’s worth it.

Cori (35:47):
But it’s also recognizing that what used to work might not now work and that it’s going to not feel good in the process of getting off this spiral, so to speak. You’re going to feel low energy, you’re going to feel a little cranky. That doesn’t mean it’s not working. It means that it probably is something you need even more. Now jumping into caffeine, and I want to start this off by saying I have in the past for fat loss phases, done coffee black in the morning before my workout. There’s a lot of now pushback against that with cortisol levels and different things like that. And my answer is always, that’s what worked for me in that phase to have the energy I needed to find the balance I needed just for the routine that I needed and wanted and how I like to break up my macros.

(36:26):
However, I would not necessarily recommend that for a lot of different clients or for a client in menopause. And I think it’s understanding that that doesn’t mean it was wrong. And honestly, I don’t do it as often now for a lot of my fat loss phases or I definitely don’t do it during a muscle building phase, but it’s understanding the nuance to things and how we can meet ourselves where we’re at to find something sustainable for our lifestyle. But I do want to talk about caffeine because I think it is both beneficial for fat burning but can also be detrimental with the hormonal shifts.

Michelle (36:57):
Yes, and that’s key too, is caffeine. Unlike other things, there are benefits to certain levels. So starting your day or even before if you work out in the morning and you’re using that black coffee as kind of a little bit of a pre-workout, isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Where we can get into trouble is if you are someone that has high stress levels, you’re seeing the me, you’re seeing the Meno pot, you’ve done some testing, your cortisols super high. That is something if you are starting your day with caffeine alone and you’re not eating, this is in combination with food, you aren’t allowing that cortisol level to kind of come back down. So what happens is our body’s natural rhythm, and I know this is kind of exact and everyone’s a little bit different, but they find that we tend to have spikes in our cortisol usually between six to eight in the morning.

(37:50):
So if you’re someone that is drinking caffeine and you are working out and you’re not consuming any calories or any protein in the morning, even after that workout, you’re setting yourself up where you are getting higher and higher levels of cortisol and you’re not allowing your body the things that actually requires to bring it back down. So that’s where people can kind of get in trouble with caffeine specifically in the morning. Now what I see is when we are having it later in the day is when we are hitting, and this is where it even goes back to hydration and electrolytes. So oftentimes I’ll find people feeling fatigued and when they’re feeling fatigued, they’re feeling tired, they’re like, oh, I need that extra cup of coffee or maybe an energy drink to get through the workday or to get through whatever their day has that it’s thrown at them.

(38:42):
Now the problem with that is, is it does take our body a while to actually metabolize caffeine. Women’s sleep is so affected by our hormone levels when we’re going through the shift of hormones that it can negatively affect again, that deep rem. So that’s really what we’re protecting, and it can take up to six hours to actually be able to metabolize and remove caffeine. So even if you had that cup of coffee or that extra energy drink and that afternoon to get through the day, if you’re hoping to go to bed at eight, nine o’clock to try and get a full, I know that’s early for some people, but if you’re trying to get to bed at a decent time and get good quality sleep, your body may still be trying to process that. And what I’m leaning back with the electrolytes is oftentimes if you’re hitting that fatigue in the day, it can also be a sign of dehydration. And so I often recommend if you are someone that has been reliant on a caffeine drink midday or afternoon, I have seen so many clients have so much better results by replacing that or kind of reducing the caffeine with an electrolyte drink.

Cori (39:54):
It’s understanding the nuance and everything, and again, assessing what am I struggling with and what am I doing both positive and negative? And if the positives aren’t paying off, what might I need to eliminate? And I like going to the positives first because sometimes if we do a little bit more of those, we can find our balance as well. But adjusting simply the timing of your caffeine if you really enjoy your cup of coffee, could be enough. Maybe even if you do like it in the morning and you like it on an empty stomach, then maybe you shifted a few hours later after waking up even. I’m not recommending this for everybody, but there’s so much opportunity in seeing the options when you understand why with cortisol levels being higher at that time, or even if you do enjoy coffee before your workout and you really just, it’s part of your routine, maybe mentally you feel like it gives you that little push.

(40:40):
Hey, I now do shakes. They’re protein, coffee drinks, right? Or you can make your own protein coffee shake or you have protein in a little overnight oats, not protein, coffee in overnight oats, but you can make little tweaks to routines where it doesn’t feel like you’re having to completely do something different or throw out things you enjoy. It’s just understanding why these might be important, or even owning, Hey, this is a non-negotiable. What else can I adjust? Hey, I really like my coffee first thing in the morning, but I can give up the cup of coffee later at night. Or, Hey, I like my coffee early in the morning and I have wine at night, so maybe I’ll only try one because this other one’s more non-negotiable, right? It’s all about that balance. We’re not recommending everybody do everything all at once. And so with that closing thoughts, what you would have someone start with Michelle, how you would approach these different changes to meet ourselves where we’re at?

Michelle (41:31):
Yeah, so you mentioned this couple of times, but I’m going to repeat it, is this isn’t about restriction, it’s about rebuilding. It’s about working with your body, not against your body or trying just to force yourself into a box that you don’t have to force yourself in. So really when it comes to this, I know this probably isn’t going to come as a surprise if you were only to start with one or two things. My two things, and I know Corey’s going to reverse the orders, but my two things is water and protein. If that’s the bare minimum that we can do, and we’re looking at those changes, that’s going to be where I would say, let’s put the effort there. But if you are someone that has done, has gotten a little bit more information of where your body is right now, you can also tackle, you don’t have to, you can still see results with those two things, but if you want to be more pointed at whatever your results are, maybe you found that your C-reactive protein is super high indicating that you have high levels of inflammation, and for you, you want to focus on those fats to make sure that we are taking away some of those inflammatory triggers with the olive oils and kind of focusing on that you can.

(42:44):
But that would be kind of my main suggestion is I would say start with the basics. Start with the water, start with the protein, go from there and build.

Cori (42:52):
It’s addressing the lowest hanging fruit while understanding that sometimes the lowest hanging fruit are actually the hardest changes to make. And if we try and force those, like say, cutting out caffeine or cutting out alcohol, we ultimately sabotage ourselves. So just because it technically is the easiest to reach and pick doesn’t mean it’s actually the easiest to do, which I guess the analogy kind of dies there, but just really think about what will have a big impact, but might also feel so silly, simple. You could start it today because that’s going to lead to you wanting to do more to seeing those results snowball because you’ll be able to build off of it. So just because something seems like it would have a big impact or be in theory, easy to do because it’s just cutting out X doesn’t always mean it is easy because you have that mental resistance, you feel that restriction. It doesn’t feel like a choice. So really address not only the importance to you, to your health, but also what’s a change that seems really doable. Michelle, any other thoughts?

Michelle (43:54):
No, honestly, I would just say, like you said, I’m just going to reiterate, just start with whatever the lowest hanging fruit for you is not what someone else is going to say. I know I said water and protein, but really what it is going to be that you can work into your lifestyle.

Cori (44:10):
Well, this was fabulous. A lot of great tips, guys. I hope it really helped you see the opportunity in making changes to evolve your diet, to meet your body where it is at right now, and not use hormones or age as an excuse, stop blaming them, address them instead. Have a fabulous day and a great rest of your week.

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

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