Age is a number. Strength is a choice.

Plain and simple.

You can’t change your age. You can’t reverse that number.

But at ANY time, you can change your lifestyle habits to feel and move your best.

Whether we want to admit and OWN this responsibility…well that’s another question.

Sorry some tough love but it is true even if I ruffled your feathers.

I can tell you that this isn’t personal opinion either or based on a single “elite” individual.
I’ve seen clients starting their fitness journeys at 50, 63, 74 and older….more times than I can count.

It’s NEVER too late to start.

But the longer you wait to move forward, the more you put off even ONE. SMALL. CHANGE…

The harder you make it on yourself.

And the more you’re going to feel your age working against you.

Because how old we feel has very little to do with that actual number.
It has more to do with our lifestyle CHOICES.

Ignore aches and pains?

They’ll add up.

Ignore poopy dieting practices?

They’ll add up.

Control what you can control…and you’ll be amazed at how confident, strong and FABULOUS you feel till your final day on this planet.

Getting older doesn’t have to mean feeling old.

And while I believe that, yes, our body does change with age as do our needs and potentially goals, we can feel freaking FANTABULOUS at any and every age if we choose to put in the WORK.

Here are 7 tips to help you lose fat as you build muscle so you can feel strong at ANY and EVERY age…

#1: Stop saying “some day.”

Honestly the most common reason we don’t see results is we fail to take action.

We don’t ever actually start making changes.

How many of us are guilty of getting super excited, buying another program…then never actually using the program?!

Far too many of us!

But if nothing changes nothing changes.

And the longer we wait, often the further we slide from our goals and the more bad habits we have to undo.

So if “some day” is going to be the right day…why not make “some day” TODAY?!

#2: Stop restricting. Focus on nutrition by addition!

Eat less. Cut out the foods you love.

This is how many of us have dieted in the past for fat loss.

No wonder we hate making changes to our nutrition.

No wonder we lose weight to only regain it when we run out of willpower!

This approach to dietary changes is miserable!

It’s also why we feel like getting older means metabolic slow down and gaining weight if we even look at a cookie.

So we need to change our approach and focus on eating more to fuel our activity level and support our lean amazing muscle mass.

Even if we want to lose fat, we can’t cut our calories super low.

Often as we get older, we need to focus on eating more.

If you’re thinking, “But I’m not hungry!”

If you want to lose fat and gain muscle, you may have to embrace the process of retraining your body to eat more.

Because often we’ve trained our body to function off of less through previous dieting practices while also seeing a natural decline in our appetite with age.

But if we don’t eat to fuel, we risk losing more muscle, which is already harder to build and retain as we get older,

not to mention we may see fat creep on as we try to starve ourselves to lose!

That’s why we want to focus on nutrition by addition for body recomp over cutting things out.

Focus on adding in more nutrient dense foods, like fruits and vegetables.

Focus on increasing your protein to support the strength gains you’re working hard to achieve in the gym.

But focus on what you can first ADD IN to make changes.

#3: Embrace the 80/20 rule.

We sabotage our own success by forcing some “ideal” on ourselves that isn’t realistic for our lifestyle or needs.

We force clean eating standards that make us feel guilty for including a slice of pizza.

Or a handful of candy.

We force restrictions on ourselves that just simply aren’t sustainable.

And while not every habit change we make will feel easy, we can’t just be relying on willpower.

We don’t have to be perfect to see progress.

By embracing giving ourselves a bit more grace we can actually create consistency so results can build.

Instead of shooting for 100% perfection, and making ourselves feel guilty for being human, we should focus on the 80/20 rule.

Own that 20% of the time, life is going to get in the way and that isn’t a bad thing!

By giving ourselves that little bit of grace, we ultimately create better consistency not only over the weeks, but months and years.

And that is what adds up.

Because losing fat as you build lean muscle is a slow process. You can’t out diet or out exercise time.

And too often we strive for this perfection we can’t maintain only to find ourselves implementing…well…not even 10% of what we should for more than a few weeks.

When, if we had expected less, we probably would have seen far more habits built and results begin to snowball.

So while not plan for some deviation to start?

Focus on those whole natural foods 80% of the time with working in the things you love.

Focus on pushing in your workouts and creating a schedule that fits your lifestyle while accepting the occasional missed session or session where you’re just not feeling it that day and need to modify.

Create that 80/20 balance so you aren’t constantly starting over and blaming your age for things getting harder and harder!

#4: Let go of what used to work.

What worked for you a decade ago, may not work for you now.

Your body, your lifestyle, your needs are all different.

And your workout routine and diet need to evolve.

So the more you constantly compare to what used to work… To what you used to be able to do…The less you’re meeting your body where it is at now.

So stop saying, “I used to get away with..” because that may be part of why you’re even struggling now!

And ultimately, results happen by us meeting ourselves where we are at NOW to create a clear path forward.

Don’t search for some ideal. Don’t cling to dieting and training practices from your past.

Track what you’re CURRENTLY DOING and what you CURRENTLY NEED and build off of that.

If you’re just starting back to training, modify so you’re craving more over feeling so sore you can’t get consistent.

If you’re eating a ton of carbs, don’t tell yourself to cut out all carbs.

Maybe just tweak the types of carbs your consuming at one meal.

Our body and mind don’t like change and the more habits are STACKED and built off of what we are currently doing, the easier the changes are and the more results snowball.

So focus on where you are now. Not where you used to be or what used to work.

#5: Train that mind-body connection.

You know those complicated coordination or agility moves you want to avoid?

The awkward unilateral or balance moves you want to skip?

Don’t.

Those moves are so key to staying functional fit and strong till your final day on this planet.

And many of those moves that test our mind-body connection are also essential for us seeing better body recomp faster.

Because the longer we’ve trained for, and often the older we get the longer we’ve been working out, the more we’ve adapted to be able to handle in our training.

It’s why we’ve gotten stronger and can run further and cycle faster.

That means we need to find new ways to challenge ourselves.

While adding more weights or heavier loads is a key component, it’s not the only way to create progression.

We also need to focus on what we feel working and include those awkward, unstable, even complicated moves.

By focusing on what we feel working with moves that make us feel awkward, we improve our ability to recruit muscles quickly to the correct extents in the correct order.

And this is what helps us get stronger and move more efficiently. It’s what helps us even keep our reaction times quicker for every day life.

So don’t shy away from those forms of training that make you uncomfortable! They may just be the key to seeing better body recomp as you get older!

#6: Own the changes.

Your body doesn’t have the same hormonal environment that it once did.

Your lifestyle and time and energy commitments may not be the same as they once were.

So?

Stop using these changes as an excuse.

Instead address them.

Our hormonal environment isn’t as optimal for fat loss or muscle growth.

And often those quick fix previous dieting and training practices we used to see results in the past have now created issues and adaptations we have to address.

Own what’s going on now and account for it.

You can do this by increasing your protein intake since you are less able to utilize protein as efficiently and we are also at greater risk for losing muscle as we get older.

But not only do you want to increase your daily protein intake, you may want to increase portions at each meal as more protein in one sitting can be key to creating that same muscle building response.

And you may also find that with getting older, your recovery has slowed.

Instead of letting this sabotage how hard you can train,

change up your workout split to allow you to keep training hard but give areas the rest they need.

Stop skipping your warm up routine to get in that prehab work which pays off for recovery.

Or adjust your nutrition and focus on increasing your water intake while addressing nutrient gaps, like not getting enough magnesium.

Control what we can control and address the changes over just writing yourself off because of them!

#7: Take things back to basics.

It’s easy when it feels like nothing is working to seek out MORE to add onto what we’re doing.

Doing more makes us feel in control.

The idea of something new that is magical excites us.

But no matter our age, we are NEVER beyond those basics.

And so often in adding in more when nothing is working, we’ve overcomplicated things and made a mess of the basic systems we need.

So if you’re struggling to see results, go back to basics.

Strip back all the fluff and return to just those fundamentals.

Focus on a simple lifting routine.

Focus on tracking your macros and focusing on protein.

Then off of these basics, tweak and adjust.

But sometimes we need to strip everything away and simplify to get rid of the extra work we’re putting in that is actually just making us spin our wheels.

Step back to move forward.

Just remember, you have so much within your power to adjust and control to feel your most fabulous at any and every age.

Don’t let that number define you!

Build your leanest, strongest body at any and every age…And if you’re looking for that personalized program to help, check out my 1:1 Coaching!

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