50% off Strength programs

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

free nutrition masterclass

Fuel Your Strength 382 - Making Strength Gains in Your Late 40s w Allison Fitzpatrick

Making Strength Gains in Your 40s w/ Allison Fitzpatrick

The idea of gaining strength in your 40s and beyond can seem daunting. But with the right tools, nutrition, and support, it is much easier than you might think. Often we think we know best when it comes to how we can achieve our goals, but in reality, it takes an outside perspective to help you reach a level of health and happiness that you never thought possible.

Click play to listen right on this page, no app is needed:

Or, listen on your favorite app: iTunes (Apple Podcasts) | Spotify | Stitcher

Want a free week of strength workouts? Click here to get started!

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Make Strength Gains in Your 40’s, You Should:

  1. Find a coach or program that works to help you get clear and support your fitness goals
  2. Stop using the scale as the only monitor of your progress and health
  3. Fuel yourself properly for your activity level and pay attention to what is on your plate

From Novice to Top-Notch with Allison Fitzpatrick

Allison Fitzpatrick found strength training in her late 30s and is now a 10+ year veteran in the world of fitness. Coming to strength training as a non-athletic person, Allison had her fair share of skepticism and fear. After completing my Strength Nutrition Unlocked Program, Allison is here to give a first-hand account of what it is like to go through the program and the amazing gains she has made on the other side.

Trusting the Process

By the time Allison hit her 30s, she knew that she wanted to get stronger but didn’t want her body to change. Like many of us, she struggled with the tug-of-war mentality between the things we can’t control about getting older. She started to feel out of control of her body and was dealing with a toxic relationship with the scale. 

Finally, she was ready to try something new. Allison entered the world of Strength Training through Crossfit. What surprised her the most was how she started feeling happy in the gym. However, the real progress came when Allison realized she not only needed to change the way she trained but also the way she fueled herself.

Take Control of How You Age

Strength Nutrition Unlocked is all about embracing your ability to make a change. While we cannot control getting older, we can control how we treat our bodies, fuel our bodies, and think about our bodies. You are not a spreadsheet, and your body is not a calculator. It takes a personalized and nuanced understanding of your body needs to see the results you are searching for.

Allison is keeping it real with a first-hand account of what it is like to be a student in Strength Nutrition Unlocked, embracing her highs and lows, and why nutrition was the key to making strides in strength as a woman in her late 40s.

Are you ready to make a change when it comes to how you train and fuel your body? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.

In This Episode

  • The one thing that hooked Allison when it came to lifting weights and getting stronger (9:33)
  • How underfueling played a role in Allison joining Strength Nutrition Unlocked (16:30)
  • Key nutrition changes that can have a huge impact on your outcome goals (30:27)
  • Addressing our conversations and relationships with the number on the scale (34:51)
  • Why fueling yourself properly and adjusting your mindset can help you reach PR’s you never thought possible (51:02)

Quotes

“It’s like this crazy adrenaline rush. You have more power than you think you have. It was amazing to see that my body was capable of doing things I never knew possible.” (10:03)

“For me, the biggest changes were increasing my protein and increasing my carbs and just overall food intake. And just being more mindful of what is actually on my plate.” (32:24)

“I was making my feelings about myself and how I felt about myself contingent on this number on the scale… It really did become a toxic relationship.” (36:30)

“I can’t control that I get older and older. I can’t control perimenopause. I can’t control that my body is going to change. There are all these things that are out of my control. But I can control what I put into my body, how I fuel my body, how I move my body, and how I think about my body.” (39:27)

“I know I wanted to be happier. I know I wanted to feel better. I know I wanted all of these feelings, and I thought that losing weight was going to give me those feelings. And it wasn’t that. As soon as I started to feel that increase in weight and eat more and feel better and notice that I am actually fueling my body for what I am doing, and fueling my body for strength and for health and for longevity and all of that, that’s what is making me happy and making me feel good.” (48:56)

Featured on the Show

Apply for Strength Nutrition Unlocked Program

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

Podcast production & marketing support by the team at Counterweight Creative

Support the Podcast

Get 20% off Legion Supplements with code STEPH

Get your first month of Whoop free ($30 off)

Save 10% off GORUCK with code FUELYOURSTRENGTH

Follow Steph on Instagram

Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

Related Episodes

FYS 381: 6 Reasons to Hire a Nutrition Coach

FYS 378: Powerlifting and Recovery Tips for the 40+ Athlete with Laura Phelps

FYS 375: Strength Training Changes for Peri-Menopause and Post-Menopause with Dr. Stacy Sims

FYS 350: Are You Eating Enough? Low Energy Availability in Sport

Transcript: Making Strength Gains in Your Late 40s w/ Allison Fitzpatrick

Steph Gaudreau
Would you like to be stronger than you were 10 years ago? Chances are if you’re listening to this podcast, I’m assuming the answer is yes. And yet, when you’re in your 40s, or beyond the idea of gaining strength can seem a little bit daunting. Is it even possible for you to get stronger? What is it going to take? How do you need to train? What are the nutrition strategies that you’re going to need? While today’s guest on the podcast is sharing her personal story, how at age 47, she is making huge gains in her strength, muscle mass, and confidence.

On this episode, I’m sitting down with Strength Nutrition Unlocked student, Allison Fitzpatrick, and she’s sharing her story, of how as a nonathletic, younger person, she found strength training in her late 30s. She had some great progress at first, and then really hit some stumbling blocks. She came to strength nutrition a lot, we helped her get clear about what she needed to change. And lo and behold, she has been PR in her face off and really improving her fitness.

So if you’re somebody who wants to get fitter, and you’re in your 40s, this is the episode for you. Now before we dive in, of course, if you just want to get right to it and check out Strength Nutrition Unlocked. This is my program for women 40 and beyond, who want to learn how to fuel train, and really build strength. So you feel like you have control over these elements of your life. You’re improving your fitness, you’re building muscle, you feel stronger and more powerful and more confident, then we want you in this program, you can check out more and submit your application at StephGaudreau.com/apply.

All right, let’s roll right into this student case profile with Alison Fitzpatrick. If you’re an athletic 40, something woman who loves lifting weights, challenging yourself, and doing hard shit, the fuel your strength podcast is for you. You’ll learn how to eat, train, and recover smarter. So you build strength and muscle, have more energy, and perform better in and out of the gym. I’m strength nutrition strategist and weightlifting coach Steph Gaudreau. The Fuel Your Strength podcast dives into evidence-based strategies for nutrition training and recovery.

And why once you’re approaching your 40s and beyond, you need to do things a little differently than you did in your 20s. We’re here to challenge the limiting industry narratives about what women can and should do in training and beyond. If that sounds good, hit subscribe on your favorite podcast app. And let’s go. Hey, Alison, thanks for being here with me.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Thank you so much for having me.

Steph Gaudreau
I’m so glad that you’re here. We’re chuckling because we just started this podcast. This is like podcast reality y’all. Okay, you think we’re in this like, super high-tech studio doing the thing? No, I just started writing the podcast episode and Siri decided she was going to pipe into the conversation. So we had to start this again. So here we are.

I’m so glad we didn’t get that far into it before you decided to pop in. Anyway, I’m just really glad you’re here with me today. Because it’s always such a pleasure to sit down and talk with students who have gone through Strength Nutrition Unlocked. But to really hear about it from your perspective, like, what was this? Like for you? What were some of the things you felt like you were struggling with? beforehand? What did you experience during what you feel like change for you?

And, you know, we’ve traded some messages back and forth. And I’ve really gotten a chance to kind of understand, yes, what has happened and changed for you on the surface level. But what’s happened below that beneath the surface? And I think that that’s, it was so beautiful to hear the things you shared, I was like, Can we have this conversation and record and you’re like “sure”.

So I’m super grateful. But before we kind of dive into it, you know, just give us a little bit of background like who are you? What do you do? Give us a little bit of background about maybe your family life. How long have you been training for and maybe we’ll kind of use that as some jumping-off points for conversation.

Getting Started in CrossFit

Allison Fitzpatrick
Absolutely, absolutely. So my name is Allison. I am a mom of two I have a daughter. She’s 18. She’s gonna be a sophomore in college and I have a son who is 17. He will be a senior in high school. So I have another one off to college soon. My husband is my college sweetheart and we have been married for, it’s gonna be 23 years next month.

So yeah, amazing. Amazing. We’ve been together for 28 years we dated all through college. I am a manifestation mentor and I also help people eat cleaner, and live healthier. And so I have an online health and wellness business as well and I have been training CrossFit for 10 years now. And it was something that was completely new to me, I was one of those women that said, I will never lift weights.

And the minute I tried my first class, it was like, I was hooked. I was hooked. I couldn’t believe the one thing I have learned in life is every time I say, I will never do something, I end up doing it every single time. So yeah, that’s a little bit about me.

Steph Gaudreau
Can you tell us a little bit more about like, okay, so if you said, I’m never going to do CrossFit, and then you end up doing it? And you’re kind of like hooked, how did you actually wind up at that first class? What were the circumstances around it? Because I’ve always been really curious, what brings someone into that kind of a new situation for the first time because sometimes there are lessons to learn just from that? So how did you actually say, alright, fine? I’m going to try a class, even though you were so opposed to lifting weights prior to that.

How to Build Strength with CrossFit

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah, it’s kind of a funny story. So I was actually teaching Pilates at the time, I taught Pilates for seven years before I started CrossFit. And it was something that I had decided to get into. I used to be in the financial world years and years ago. And then, after my son was born, I became a stay-at-home mom, and I was doing little things here and there. And I got hooked on Pilates and decided to get certified. And I taught, I didn’t actually go to CrossFit. For me, I actually brought my son to CrossFit, there was a CrossFit gym that had just opened, it’s called CrossFit free.

And I had a friend telling me about it. And she’s like, Oh, they have a kid’s class. And at the time, I felt like my son could really use this in first grade, by the way, but just self-confidence, you know, just getting out there and doing something different. And you know, I figured it’d be something that he would enjoy. So we actually started my son in the kid’s class, when he was in first grade. He still does CrossFit today, by the way, and he’s almost 18.

And so I used to go twice a week, I would go and I would sit there. And the owner, Brandon there he would every week I was there, I would just kind of sit on a box. And I would be like this, like watching, like watching other people. And I’m like, it looks kind of cool. Like, oh, looks kind of fun. But I don’t do that. And every week, you’d be like, when you’re going to come to try class, and I’m like, I don’t do that thing. You will never catch me doing any of what you do. And he kept going and going and being persistent.

And finally four months later, I just actually passed my like, 10-year anniversary at the gym. And four months later, I said to my husband, I was like, Alright, I’m like, he won’t stop bothering me. So let’s try a class like, come with me. Let’s do it. And he’s like, okay, and we did one class and never looked back. A year later, I quit teaching Pilates and loved being a student in the gym, versus an instructor in the gym. I love teaching. I love sharing, I love all that stuff. But when it came to that I was like, I just want to be a student. And yeah, I have loved it ever since.

Strength Training for Women Over 40

Steph Gaudreau
That’s great. I’d love the fact that it’s just you’ve just passed the 10-year mark. Because I think this is going to be an interesting part of the story when we start talking about like, what is sort of changed for you. And I don’t want to get there quite yet, because I’m so curious now to hear a little bit more about this first experience. And I see this a lot when I coach little kids Jiu Jitsu, they’re between four and six. And a lot of times, you know, their parents will call or their guardians and caretakers, they’ll comments. I’m like, when are you going to try? And they’re like, No, I can’t. I can’t, it’s not for me.

So I’m curious. Like when you said, Alright, fine, as I give him I will try this class. It being something that you know, strength training, resistance training that you were kind of opposed to before you said like, I’ll never do that. Can you talk about maybe like, or can you remember? Was there? Like, was it a feeling was it like, like, what was the thing that made you say, okay, like, I really liked this? Can you describe it? Can you put your finger on it?

Allison Fitzpatrick
Absolutely. Because I still feel like that today, like that initial feeling hasn’t changed. It’s like this. It’s like this crazy adrenaline rush. Like, you have more power than you think you have. Like it was amazing to see that my body was capable of doing things that I never knew possible. And it was just I remember being tired. I remember being exhausted. I remember being sore. Like, I think we did Tabata squats that day, and like I couldn’t walk for like a week.

And we did Turkish get-ups I know for like, the first day and I was like, What is this? What are we doing? And it was just also different. And I think I think I was ready for a change but wasn’t ready to admit that I was ready for change. And so being kind of nudged pushed into trying a class, it was like, almost that, like, push that I needed to be like, okay, like, this is, this is something that could be really amazing for me. And, yeah, it was just this feeling of like, holy shit, like, I can do hard things.

And I still feel like that today, because I feel like that never changes. You know, it’s, you’re always challenging yourself, you’re always trying to do something different. You’re always trying new things. You’re always trying to lift heavier weights, you’re always trying a new movement. And it’s like, even, it’s even more amazing, I think, as I’ve gotten older because I’ve also become wiser, like with this as well, of like, what my body is capable of and what I can do, and like how I can progress.

I Don’t Want to Get Bulky

Steph Gaudreau
Hmm. I love that. I think it’s so powerful when you’re when you can put it in words, you know, what was it that really captured your interest, your, your, your attention, your passion? What made it different? Because it sounds like, you know, exercise or movement of some kind was something you were doing before. Looking back. Can you pinpoint at all like, what was the resistance that you had to lift weights or think like, I’ll never do that? Does anything ring a bell for you there when you’re like, Oh, this is why I thought as it would never be something that I would do?

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah, absolutely. It was all about my body. I didn’t want to get bulky. I remember specifically when I finally said yes to joining I remember going up to there were two owners at the time. There’s one owner now. But I remember going up to both of them and saying look, I will come here, I will become a member, I will come to class. But if my ass gets huge, I’m out of here.

I like specifically remember saying that I was like I didn’t want to get bulky I didn’t want to I had that mentality of like, I didn’t really look like a man I didn’t want to, you know, I didn’t want my body to change yet. There was like this other piece of me saying, but you could be so strong. So I definitely had that like tug of war. You know, in my mind I don’t want my body to change yet. I want to do something new and I want to be stronger. And How amazing would it be if I could do what she’s doing?

You know, and so it was, that was really the resistance. Like I just I was also never athletic, I was not an athletic person at all. I did dance when I was younger, I cheered when I was younger. Although cheerleading back in the 90s is very different. Today, it is nothing the same at all. But I wasn’t like I didn’t play sports. I you know, I went to the gym a little bit like my husband and I would go to the gym.

Like before we drop the kids off at daycare when they were really, really little or before we had kids, we would go to the gym, but I didn’t know what I was doing. Like I was on an elliptical I was running on a treadmill like I would grab dumbbells and you know, do some things. But it wasn’t anything specific. So I didn’t, I was worried about not being able to do it. what was gonna happen to my body and just like, it was all the things, right? It was like all these scary thoughts going through my mind, like what’s going to happen if I do this but I want to do it.

Women Should Learn Weightlifting

Steph Gaudreau
Yeah. I appreciate hearing that because I think it’s it’s gonna resonate with so many people who have similar experiences. I also, though, eventually switched over to playing sports because my mom gave us an ultimatum. But I started off doing dance with my sister. And then we were both in dance and soccer. And mom said you have to choose because, you know, she had two other little kids and so it’s getting hard to manage with four kids. And so she said you’ve got to choose dance or soccer and I said soccer and my sister said dancer, she was probably like, that’s not how I wanted this to go.

She’s the same she did let us make the choice. And so that was cool. But yeah, I think you know a lot of people either don’t have experience in playing sports or they just don’t think that they’re athletic. They didn’t have exposure to you know, a lot of clients tell me Well My brother used to lift weights in the garage with my dad or my uncle or, you know, my brother or my cousin was on the football team and they got to lift weights in the weight room. But we didn’t really get to lift weights in the weight room at school.

And so there’s this really interesting element where I feel like we kind of grew up in that generation still, where strength training wasn’t something that a lot of women were doing. So I really appreciate hearing your story in terms of like, the things that you were, you know, maybe the misconceptions that you had, which are extremely common. Some of the fears that you had, because I think those things still persist for a lot of people.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah. And I would say they did for me, even up until just a few months ago. Which we’ll get into, I’m sure.

Fitness Mindset

Steph Gaudreau
Yeah, we will definitely talk about that. Okay, so fast forward, and escort a little bit. So you’ve been doing CrossFit, you know, pretty, it sounds like consistently pretty faithfully for almost a decade. You know, I went back, and I was like, looking through your DMS and the things we were talking about with each other. And I was like, so you know, we started talking about stuff a little bit back and forth way before you actually joined Strength Nutrition Unlocked.

And so I’m kind of curious, like, what was your mindset leading up to? Or your, what were your frustrations leading up to the point at which you were like, Okay, I’m going to do this, like, what was going on with you with training or what was going on with you in with food or the rest of your life that was sort of like you were like, ooh, something is not quite where I want it to be like, take us back to that period of time.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah. So I would say, it really goes back almost three years. I turned 45 and there were a couple of things that happened. First of all, I lost my period for like, a year. And I thought I was in menopause. Totally thought I was in menopause, and ended up getting blood tests and doing all that and my OBGYN was like, You are not in menopause. He’s like, You are not but what I can tell you is… and I remember, there was some medical term, I don’t remember what the medical term was that he told me but I was like, what does that mean? And he’s like, basically, your bloodwork is showing that you are likely overtraining and undereating.

And I was like, No, I’m not. That doesn’t always mean that you’re eating the right things, especially when you’re doing CrossFit five days a week, and you know, doing all this other stuff. But it just again, like wasn’t, it just wasn’t clicking like, because I always thought like, No, my plates are always full. Like, it’s I’m not, I wasn’t under eating on purpose. Let’s put it that way. Like, I didn’t know that I was undereating, I wasn’t one of those people, that would be like, I need to stay skinny. So I have to be at 1200 calories, or, you know, I’m eating like a bird or whatever, it was never like that like my plate was always full.

So in my mind, I’m seeing a full plate. And I’m saying, I don’t understand why people aren’t telling me I’m not eating enough like I’m eating all day long. never really felt deprived of food or anything like that. But never really paid attention to like, what was on my plate. And I would also skip lunch a lot. And you know, or if I had it, it was just a salad with no protein. And so clean food, but not the right food. Let’s put it that way.

So we worked together and you know, did some things I got my period back, which was great. And then I kept seeing your post about strength nutrition. And I was like, and I’m and I’m one of those people that’s like, especially because I’m into health like I’m very, I’m curious, like, I’m like, I want to learn this. I want to learn it. But I also know I need to eat more food. And I’m also the person that has actually said to people like, who have wanted to lose weight. Well, maybe you’re not eating enough. Because I know that that can.

And again, like I’m saying this to people, but it’s not clicking with me at all. We don’t always practice what we preach, I guess. Right? That just happens. So I saw your post about it. I got curious. I think I saw you posted about it a while back and didn’t reach out and then I know I had reached out to I think in December about it. Because I was like alright like I need to start eating more food. I know this. Like, if I want to be healthy. I want it I know I need to eat more food.

I Want to be Stronger

And I was curious about just strength nutrition in general because I wanted to be stronger. I was at this point where I was like, I don’t understand I work five days a week I do this post-class work three days a week like I’m not feeling stronger. In addition to that, the big thing for me was over the past couple of years. I noticed my body changing. You know I’m in perimenopause, I might not be in menopause but my perimenopause body started changing.

And I started to feel out of control, like what was happening to my body, and I ended up having a very toxic relationship with the scale. And I would say for a year or more, I was getting on the scale every single day. And, you know, when you are in your mid to late 40s, like, things start to happen. And I would get on the scale, and I would be up three pounds and then down a pound and then up four pounds, and then down five pounds, like there was such like this fluctuation in my weight.

And it was like, driving me crazy. I’m like, What is wrong with me? What am I doing wrong? Like, I don’t understand, I eat well, I exercise like, why, like, where are my muscles going? Oh, everything is changing. It was like it was just so so frustrating. So I think I got to the point where I was like, All right, like, it’s always gone back to food for me. Like, anytime there’s been an issue for me, it’s like, alright, what am I putting into my body? Like, is this one of the reasons why, you know, I’m feeling this way?

And so I talked to you in December, I was going to join, then I got sick. Hello, COVID. And I had zero appetites. And I’m like, I can’t even think about food right now. So it kind of went by the wayside. And then two months later, I was like, okay, like, I’m ready to do this. But to be honest, being 100% honest here. When I joined in the back of my mind, I was like, I want to lose weight. And I specifically remember you saying, this is not a weight loss if you’re here to lose weight. And I was like, oh, no, she’s not gonna like me, because this is what I’m here for. And that changed so we’ll talk about that.

But yeah, I was finally ready to just, I was ready for a change. I was ready to try something new. And you know, I’ve been following you for like 12 years, I’ve been following you for a really long time. And so it’s, I was like, it’s time. Let’s try this, I want to learn and I started to get curious about macros, like am I eating the right things? It was one of those things again, that, you know, never say never. And then yeah, and then I was like, finally like, let’s, let’s do it.

Increasing Strength with Weight Lifting

Steph Gaudreau
Let’s take the plunge. Okay, so I’m gonna recap a couple of things, seen a new Cross for 10 years, faithfully, like five times a week post extra strength work, like, definitely putting in the work. There’s no question there. What were your strength levels doing at that point? Like, did you have the beginning where like, everybody gets that kind of like novice gains? And like, every time you work out, you’re hitting a PR, you’re like, This is awesome.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah.

Steph Gaudreau
And then like what had started to happen, you said your period went missing for a while, and you had to figure out was this is this like menopause? Or, you know, is it hypothalamic amenorrhea? Or like, what is happening here? So what was going on in the gym as well?

Allison Fitzpatrick
So yeah, so when I first started, I felt like I had zero muscle. And, I mean, the gains were amazing. Like, I increased my strength pretty quickly. In the beginning. I was 37 when I started CrossFit. And I would do competitions. And I loved that. And it was so much fun. My husband and I would do couples competitions like we just loved it. I loved everything about it. And then you know, as time went on, I didn’t notice as many PRs not as many gains, I would get tired with workouts as I felt like, I felt like my gas tank wasn’t you know, as great.

And I was like, Okay, so, you know, say it’s started 10 years ago, so probably like seven years ago, ish. I mean, seven years later, so like three years ago, I was like, Okay, I want to increase my strength, I want to do more. So that’s when I started to do like post-classwork. And so my trainer started just programming three days a week, like just specific post-class work that like we normally wouldn’t do in class. And, you know, it was great, and I loved it. And I saw a little bit of increase in my strength, but not that much. And that’s when my period disappeared.

And so then I was just kind of tired and drained and not really outside of the gym because I mean, I do take really, really good care of myself. It’s not that they didn’t have energy, but I felt like my workouts like, I went back I got frustrated. There were so many times that I wanted to quit and then I would go back and I would say, All right, I’m just gonna, I’m just going to do lightweight so I can make it through the workout. You know, and I just want to move through the workout so I’m not going to lift heavy.

And so there was a good period of time where I went in there and I was like, I’m not even going to bother to try to be I’m not going to bother to try to do heavier weight. Like, if I want to keep coming here, which, honestly, like the gym is like a second family to me now like to even think about leaving was like, I can’t do that. But I need to find a way to be happy here.

And so for me it was I’m just going to not lift heavy weight. And everything I do is going to be light. And I did that for a while. And that only lasted a little bit before I started to get frustrated again that like I wasn’t increasing my weight. So yeah, it was just this like, then all of a sudden it was this. Okay, like, I need to do something about this.

Steph Gaudreau
Yeah

Allison Fitzpatrick
Something’s off, what is it? So I just started today? Like, what is it going to be? That’s going to help me change?

Why Do I Have Menstrual Irregularities?

Steph Gaudreau
Yeah, for sure. And then here are a couple of important things in there. First, I want to, like, emphasize this strongly to anyone listening to this podcast, who suspects like, you know, either there are some menstrual irregularities happening. It’s like menstrual cycles completely, like vanished. And, you know, like, it’s tough when you’re kind of in this mid-40s. To beyond like, it could be perimenopause. But I think you know, go get checked out, go talk to your doctor, because you could still be in that sort of hypothalamic amenorrhea, or an ambulatory state because you’ve pushed your energy intake too low compared to your activity level, we call that low energy availability.

And menstrual irregularity is often a very key sign of that. So again, like it’s not something a lot of people talk about, or it’s not widely discussed, but it is such a common, I guess, we could call it a symptom. So if you suspect that you are like you’ve lost your cycle, and that’s abnormal for you, like, definitely go talk to your doctor. And I’m so glad that she did that. And he got on the road to re recuperating in that way.

Because sometimes people will come in, or they’ll talk to me and say, oh, like, should I join now? And I’m like, actually, no, because he really needs to do some specific things like work on nourishing your body probably taper down on, you know, intensity in terms of your workouts, like, sometimes stop working out completely other than really gentle stuff. So that’s really where if you’re at that point, go talk to your doctor. So super glad that you did that.

And, and then to hear like, Okay, well, you know, things start to slowly improve. But what I hear a lot too from, from folks, and this is kind of the community that I work within, much like yourself is we’re eating well, we’re putting like nutritious foods on our plates for most of the most of our choices and things like that. But it still can come down to things like the volume that we’re eating, and as you said, you’ve sort of like accidentally, we’re doing this, and I hear that so so much, we kind of have a term for it.

Now in the program, we call like, the like the black hole of lunch, because for a lot of people, there’s just this, like, the whole day gets sucked in, and you’re like, oh my gosh, I haven’t eaten at all in the middle part of the day. And so there are a lot of commonalities. I think amongst you and a lot of other students, a lot of the people out there in the community where you’re like, I’m not purposely trying to do this, it just sort of it’s happening. And even though I’m well-intentioned with a lot of the choices I’m making, actually talked about this on another podcast, and I think the title is kind of boring, it didn’t make sense.

So in hindsight, like a lot of people listen to that show, but it was all about, like, we make these lower energy food swaps, thinking we’re doing, you know, like, we’re doing a good job, we’re like switching this out for that and this out for that. But we ended up with like, super high fiber, which again, fiber, really important you need it will end up like with a ton of fiber and volume, but not as much actual caloric intake, right?

So if sometimes making those fine tuning adjustments, and a lot of the things that you mentioned in your story are very common, like feeling like your, your strength levels are really struggling, like you’re putting in the effort, things aren’t clicking, muscles kind of like falling off your body at this point, especially once we’re in our 40s. And that’s concerning, in and of itself for a bunch of reasons. But, you know, just to kind of make you feel better, hopefully, like you’re not alone in those things.

And, you know, you mentioned earlier, you know, despite like we talk about these things with clients or with our communities, because you’re kind of in a similar field, it’s like, we just sometimes have a hard time seeing our own situation objectively, or where we could make those improvements. And when you don’t grow up in an athletic background, it feels like it’s even harder sometimes because that probably wasn’t a part of the conversation. You know, for you, so I appreciate your honesty and sharing all those things.

And I also appreciate hearing your skepticism because I feel like or you know, the things that you’re coming in hoping would change and I hear that a lot, too. It’s like, well, I want these things, but like, these other things are still on my mind as well. So, okay, so you had a lot of really amazing progress you had, like some really cool transformations happen. Let’s talk maybe a little bit about the nutrition part of it. And like, what did you change? Specifically? Like, what do you feel really helped you? And then what were some of the outcomes that you were seeing?

You Should Be Eating Carbs and Protein

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah, so that was, I mean, everything with the food was really scary for me, because it was, you know, once we started really going through the numbers, and that’s what I really loved about the program because I’ve never done that before. And it’s funny because I feel like a lot of people come into the program, and they’re like, I have tracked macros, like forever, and I can’t do it anymore.

And I was like, the opposite where I’m like, I have never tracked macros before. I have no idea what I’m doing. I have no idea how much I need or what I’m supposed to be eating. And so that for me, like figuring out the numbers, like I was like, yes, let’s do this, like, this is what’s exciting for me. Then I got the numbers, and I was like, you will get to eat what

Steph Gaudreau
You’re like, I’m leaving. This is not that I’m not okay with this conversation that we had. And you had to unpack it.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah, I remember being like you want me to eat how many carbs? Like I don’t, it was really scary for me. So, I mean, I basically had to increase my calorie intake by about 500 calories a day. And, you know, increase my protein, you know, a ton, probably tripled what I was eating before. A big increase in my carbs. So that part was scary for me. But I was like, okay, Alison, like you’re here. Let’s do it. Like, let’s just see what happens. Let’s just see what happens. Trust the process, right?

But I had that thought in my head of like, oh, my gosh, am I gonna? Am I gonna gain weight? Like, what’s gonna happen? I’m eating all this extra food, like, I don’t understand, like, how is this possible? So I remember us having that conversation about the food. So for me, the biggest changes were increasing my protein, increasing my carbs, and just overall food intake. And just being more mindful of like, what is actually on my plate, not skipping lunch, I don’t ever skip lunch anymore.

I’m not skipping meals, and then actually, like, actually sitting, which is so crazy, but just actually sitting and eating my meals, because I would say, every single meal except for dinner, I was just standing at the counter multitasking and eating at the same time, you know, trying to get stuff done. But I would say, my biggest change for me was the increase in protein and the increase in carbs.

How Does Diet Culture Affect You?

Steph Gaudreau
I remember, we had some of those conversations, because I was part of the program, y’all. You know, if you’re, if you haven’t had a chance to talk with me about it or heard more about it, we sit down, and we have coaching calls where we like, unpack all this stuff, because it sounds you know, the way a lot of people approach their nutrition is like, I’m gonna get this app, and it’s going to tell me exactly what to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And then, you know, there’s no room for real customization, there’s no room for discussion because some of this stuff is quite nuanced, you know, we figure out what is kind of a ballpark range of energy intake that you need based on your activity level, right? And then it’s sort of in the fine-tuning. And it’s like, if, you know, if you’re pretty substantial away from that amount, and we’ve got to, you know, increase you in these ways. These are the ways that we’ve seen work the best for most people, but we still have to take into account things like your schedule, when you train, what foods do you like. What foods do you not like?

And that’s really where the discussion comes in, along with, like, you know, your very candidly talk about and I think it’s really important is some of the fears that you had some of the ways that we’re approaching this differently than we would, you know, what the rest of the world seems to want to talk about, which is just like, let’s eat as little as possible and like, exercise our faces off and, and that’s what kind of got you into that position in the first place.

So it is in those, those calls where we really get into things like I remember we talked about diet culture, and like, where diet culture comes from, and how it impacts us, subconsciously, or consciously and, you know, the scale and all of these things. And do you want to talk a little bit more about that conversation that we had about? Because we talked about it a few times, I feel like we had one main conversation about the scale and how did you feel in that chat that we had? Were you like this, flipping the bird under the table, or was it because you want to know why it was like it was this?

Allison Fitzpatrick
It was this crazy aha moment for me. I remember was like the aha moment like, I was like, she just said exactly what I needed to hear. And it was like you, you almost opened my mind to like, what was actually happening in my life and in my body and what has been happening over the past couple of years. And I remember, I don’t remember exactly what you said, word for word.

But, you know, we kind of talked about specifically in that call, you know, how much I weighed when I first started CrossFit. And then like, throughout the years, I gained more weight, like, I also gained muscle, but like, I was up 15 pounds. And then I was like, okay, like, I learned to be okay with the fact that I was up 15 pounds from when I started CrossFit. And then all of a sudden, the past, you know, three years, like five years, whatever, I’m up another 10 pounds.

And it’s like, what is happening, if I could only go back to the 10 pounds less, even though it’s 15 pounds more than when I started, I would feel better. Like, I was almost, I was almost making or I wouldn’t wasn’t almost I was making my feelings about myself and how I felt about myself contingent on this number on the scale. And it was like, that’s why I was on there every single day like ‘am i less?’ like it really did become a toxic relationship with the scale. And I remember us talking through that and kind of going through the numbers.

But then we also say, like, my whole life, I mean, especially in the past, like 13 years after I had health issues, and you know, I have cancer in my family and my dad died of cancer when I was 12. Like I always had health on the mind. And you know, in the back of my mind, I’ve always said to myself, like, I want to be my healthiest self, like what can I do to make myself the healthiest I can be and like long-term health and sustainable health, like not diet, but like, what can I do that sustainable that will keep me healthy for the rest of my life.

And so I’ve changed the way I eat, I exercise like I do all of this stuff. I preach this stuff. You know, I talk about this stuff with my clients like long-term health. And the one thing you said to me when you were like, Hey, listen, like and it was like, that’s, I think that’s why you’re saying like that because you were so straightforward with me, which is what I needed.

I Don’t Want to be a Frail 90 Year Old

And you were like house and you’re like, think about it, like you are way healthier the way that you are now than you were 25 pounds last like thinking about as I’m growing older like you were like, you don’t want to be this 90 year old, frail, like a woman who has no muscle No, like, you know, no anything. And I was like, shit. Like, she’s right. Like this whole time. This whole time.

Like, I remember getting off the phone and thinking to myself, like, this whole time I have been basically like manifesting and building this body that I wanted but didn’t really know that I wanted. You know, like, I was building this body to be healthier as I get older. And like, that was kind of like the click and the aha moment like what am I doing? Why am I so obsessed with the scale? What does it matter that I’m this number?

Meanwhile, I look at other women in the gym, who are younger or older, whatever. And I’m like, they’re so beautiful. Like, they look so beautiful. They’re so strong. And I know that they’re 20, 30 pounds heavier than me. So why couldn’t I? You know, why did I have that issue with myself? And it was really this like, I don’t know, like, just letting go of the control of like, we’re looking at, like, what I can control and what I can’t control, like, I can’t control that I get older and older. I can’t control perimenopause, I can’t control that my body is going to change. Like, there are all these things that are out of my control.

I can control what I put into my body, how I feel my body, how I move my body, and how I think about my body. And it was like, I had to like love where I was at, in order to like, let that go. Like and just like let all that go. And again, it’s like I think about it. I’m like I talk about this stuff all the time. Like what’s Why aren’t I doing this for myself, but I had to just like really sit back and be like, you’re freaking amazing. What are you talking about?

Like and just talk to me like I would talk to my daughter, you know, and not be so hard on myself and just really Be like, this is what you’ve wanted. There’s nothing wrong with where you’re at you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re building your body to be a healthy body as you get older, like, I want to be 80 years old and lifting weights. And I’m probably not going to be doing that 25 pounds less than I am now. So, yeah, it was just this aha moment that I’ve been preparing myself for health the entire time. But I just couldn’t see it.

Stop Weighing Yourself

Steph Gaudreau
Oh, yeah. I remember that conversation, because it was sort of like, well, what do you want to do? You know, and it was sort of one of those, you know, I have my own. Like, if I could just like, wave the magic wand, or, you know, put everything in a pill and just give it to everybody, right, it would be like, I wish to bestow on you like the perspective that like the scale is not everything.

And like, for a lot of people, they’re better off with less of a connection to the scale, because it does get in the way of all sorts of things, not for every single person on the planet. And so a lot of times people will point out to me, like, Wait, it’s just like a neutral data point for me. And I’m, like, less, like, I’m so happy that that’s you. But that’s not a lot of people.

You know, I would say the vast majority, or a strong majority of people don’t have that relationship with what the scale weight says, right? And there are so many reasons for that. But I think we had that conversation. And it was sort of like, well, you’ve got choices, you can, you can stop weighing yourself 100%, you can taper off, you don’t have to go through your scale in the trash. Like, you could just put it away in another room or in a cabinet or something. And so you have options.

And I walked away from that causing you to like, I wonder what she’s gonna pick. And, and then when you came back very, very soon after that call, I was really impressed with like, you know, there’s the word decide, has origins in word parts. And it basically means to cut off. It’s like, I’ve caught this and I’ve made the decision.

And it was sort of like you decided, and it didn’t happen on that call, like, you could tell you’re processing and I was like, I’m really curious what, what the outcome of this is going to be. And then you went away and came back and shared some of the things that you decided and I was like, okay, like this is, this is really amazing. You know, that you had that? It sounded, it seemed like a coming together of a lot of different things for you.

I Hid My Scale

Allison Fitzpatrick
Yeah. The next day, I think it was the next day or the day after, I don’t remember. But I was in the bathroom. My husband and I were both in the bathroom. And our scale is like, right there. And, you know, he goes on it all the time as well. But you know, guys late is just so much different than our weight. I don’t think that was helping me either. And I looked at him and I was like, Okay, I’m like, I need to do something and I need you to take that thing and take it away.

He’s like, What am I like, take it and take it away. He’s like, Well, where do I want to put it? I’m like, I don’t know, I just don’t want it in this room. Like, it needs to be gone. I’m like, if you want it, that’s fine. I just don’t want it on my site, we’ll put it in the gym, put it on your side of the closet. I’m like, I’m done. Like, I don’t want to look at it anymore. I’m done. He’s like, okay, and took it. And like, I never looked back after that. I think in the last four months, I think I’ve weighed myself twice.

Steph Gaudreau
And that’s how does that feel?

Allison Fitzpatrick
It’s, you know, it’s like, I get on and I’m like, why am I even doing this? The couple of times that I’ve done it. But it’s actually been pretty amazing to see because the number hasn’t changed. But my strength is gone crazy mad. And I 100% see changes in my body but my number hasn’t changed.

Steph Gaudreau
Let’s talk about these things. So I love it. I love it. You know, I think that that, again, for you to say like, this is just what I would like I don’t want to have this around. And to kind of say just put it away. Like I think that’s an amazing self-advocacy to that sometimes we feel like, we don’t have the permission to give ourselves or we’re like waiting for that to come from someone else. But it’s incredible. Like, the sometimes I feel like for you it’s like a lightness I’ve noticed in you like, you know, it’s like room for other things, I guess.

And I think that’s so powerful. And of course, you know, it kind of became like a running joke at some point that you would kind of be like IVR this today and I was Alright what else we got for us this week. But but it was so awesome to see that you’re also seeing those increases in strength. Did you notice some changes in your body and things like that? So let’s talk about what are some of the cool things that, aside from the scale, you had as a transformation, like what did you notice?

What Non-Scale Transformations Did You Notice?

Allison Fitzpatrick
My strength just went crazy. I mean, it was pretty cool. We started a squat cycle right when I started this program just happened to do that. And squatting. I would say, that’s my number one favorite. I love squatting. And we did like, five weeks of 10s. And then we did multiple weeks of fives, and now we’re on threes right now. And every single week, I went up and weighed, like, even if it was just a few pounds every single week, I went up in weight. And I think I ended up getting up to like 180, something for 10 or something like that. Now we’re at the threes right now. And just a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t squat last week, actually. But just a couple of weeks ago, I did 200 For three reps. And 204 is my one rep max lot anymore.

I almost fell over like I almost died. I was like how in the world did I just do 200? I never thought I would be doing anything in the two hundred for multiple reps ever in my life. And it wasn’t. I wasn’t struggling that much. So it was pretty amazing. And so I’ve PRT in my squats, I PRT, and power cleans IPR. I got 145 for one a couple of weeks ago. And that was amazing. And then I did I think 140 For three reps. And it’s just like, I have just felt so strong.

Like even in my workouts like doing pull-ups, I can do like big sets of pull-ups and workouts which I could never do before, or big sets of toes to bar, or even just the other day on Monday, we did handstand push-ups, which I love. And I’ve always been fairly good at them. But I was like busting them out like crazy the other day, and I was like, I just feel really good. I did notice when the strength first started, like increasing that I felt like my gas tank and my workouts were decreasing a little bit. But now I feel like that’s starting to kind of catch up as well.

You know, I do have times of the month like right before my period like where it’s funny, like my strength I feel like never goes IPR right through every part of my cycle that never changed. And I definitely used to be one of those people that was like, Oh, well, if I shouldn’t lift heavy during this time. And my trainer, Brandon would always be like, that’s not true. You can lift heavy, like, but I do notice that my endurance, you know, is a little bit less during that time.

And so he’s really good. Like, when he’s programming my post-workout stuff, I’ll always say like, two days out from my period, like, just give me like, give me stuff but like nothing crazy, is gonna, like completely wear me out. And he’s really good about doing that. But I have just noticed this massive increase in my strength. And because of that, like it’s made me realize, like, that’s what I wanted all along. Like it wasn’t, that’s, here’s the thing. It’s like, I know, I wanted to be happier. I know, I wanted to feel better. Like I know, I wanted all of these feelings.

And I thought that losing weight was going to give me those feelings. And it wasn’t that like, as soon as I started to feel that increase in weight and like, eat more and feel better. And notice like I am actually feeling my body for what I am doing and feeling my body for strength and feeling my body for health and for longevity and all of that. I was like, that’s what’s making me happy. That’s what’s making me feel good.

So I’m like, Hmm, sometimes the universe knows better than us. Like, we think we want something. And you know, we know exactly what we need. But it’s really the feeling that we want. And it’s not always what we think is going to get us there. It’s going to give us those feelings. So I just feel like going to the gym is really exciting again, like I felt like I lost that excitement for a while. Because I just didn’t feel good going there. And like now it’s exciting to go like It’s like what am I going to lift today?

Weight Training for Women Over 40

Steph Gaudreau
Yeah, I think that’s incredible. A better 10 years in and you know, now you have it don’t you know to me it’s like your dedication like your consistency is aside from maybe the time you’re really going through that really low period and trying to get some baseline back. But it strikes me that you’re the type of person who’s had that desire that consistency all along but really it’s like all the pieces are starting to kind of click into place now.

And and so when we have the energy when we are proud really fueled and we can, you know, push to those slightly heavier sets, we continue to progressively overload our workouts. That’s one of the biggest reasons why a lot of the women that I work with a lot of my students or I see in the community aren’t seeing the increases in strength or the muscle that they want is because they’re not able to like progress, the weights enough, their recoveries not there.

You know, so all the things we talked about, but it’s like now it’s starting to put those pieces together and being adequately fueled, is such a huge part of that. And so it’s really cool to hear that you’re 10 years in if you’re not a novice anymore, and yet know, you know, here you are seeing a lot of improvements in your strength. And when he said on the call that type of like my one rep max is 204. I was like, not anymore.

Allison Fitzpatrick
I’m like, Oh, what is it gonna be? Of course, in the back of my head, I’m like, I’m going on vacation. I’m not gonna be at the gym, like what’s gonna happen, but that’s fine. You’re good. But I am, I am really excited. It’s funny because I’ve always tracked like, ever since I started CrossFit. I’ve always been kind of tracking by my lifts. And every time I’ve gone back to a PR, it was 2016. I’m like, I don’t know. 2016 was my year when I was like, the last time I PRT anything for five years. Yeah. 2016 Wow. And then I just went through this like, phase of just like, what is happening? Yeah, you know, and it was so many different things. So for sure.

What Are You Doing Differently?

Steph Gaudreau
And then you told me a story about your, your hairdresser. Was that your hairdresser who you sat down in? And was like, What have you been doing differently? Can you remember? Was it your daughter or your daughter’s coach? There are so many of like, they saw you and they were like, What are you doing?

Allison Fitzpatrick
And yeah, they’re I mean, there’s been so many people that have there have been so many people that have asked like even somebody at the gym, the other day was like, you are crushing your weights, and I’m like, I’m eating more. Like I’m eating more food. And people have definitely noticed a change in me, like they’ve noticed a change in my body, just changing my attitude change in, like what I’m doing at the gym, I think it’s just, I’m just a happier person, you know, if like, we know, good food is a good mood.

And like I’ve always, I’ve kind of always known that like I noticed big shifts in my mood. And when I changed the way eight years ago, but then this is just even like taking it to that to that next level. But yeah, a lot of people have noticed, like, have definitely noticed the changes. For sure.

Steph Gaudreau
That’s awesome. Yeah. And you mentioned mood. I mean, one of the kinds of earlier signs of low energy availability, which you touched on earlier is mood disturbance. Right. And so often, we think, Oh, I mean, and of course, of course, of course, like are so many other factors that can play into the mood and mental health, of course. But one of the kinds of telltale signs of being in that low energy availability state is is mood disruption, and even RED S, which is kind of the syndrome, where we’ve then progressed into like, more global symptoms, you know, psychological mental health challenges can come up with in a lot of people as well.

So, you know, I think sometimes we’re quick to dismiss those as just like the stresses of life. And of course, again, of course, like so many things happening and personal stress and things like that, but also can be a huge sign too. So yeah, if you had somebody who was sort of coming up to you in the gym is like, well, what are you doing? Like, what would you tell that person? You said, you’re eating more, but like, what would you say to somebody who’s like, you know, maybe in your shoes, like the position that you are in this, like, you know, I’m just really struggling in this in this way. Like, I just don’t know what to do next. What would you tell them?

Be Open to Change

Allison Fitzpatrick
I would tell them to come to see you and enjoy your program. Go to Steph’s program! I think a lot of people and especially women are afraid of change and afraid of trying new things and doing something different. And so, you know, I think my biggest words of advice to anyone is just to be open and just to be open to change, like be open to trying new things. And just know that changes aren’t going to be made overnight. Like it takes time.

I remember you even telling me and you know, my coach at the gym has always told me like, I remember when I told him like what I was doing. And I was like she’s crazy. Look at how much food she eats. He’s like, you can do this. And he’s like, you can even increase your protein a little bit more if you want to. And so I remember I talked to you about that as well. And you’re like, Yeah, you can increase it even more than what the numbers were. And, you know, both of you were like, alright, like, just trust the process and he was like, Alright, now that you know that you’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks.

He’s like, now I want you to do this for the next three months. Don’t stop, don’t stop what you’re doing. And so it really is all about just trusting the process and knowing like, changes aren’t going to be made overnight, you have to be patient with yourself, you have to give yourself grace, you have to love yourself where you’re at, like, I really, truly feel that if you don’t love yourself where you’re at, it’s going to be so much harder to make those shifts and make those changes.

You know, and I, and that’s where I was at, for the longest time, it was like I didn’t, I didn’t love where I was at, I didn’t love myself where I was that, like, I didn’t love my body where it was at. I didn’t love that I was getting older. You know, all of a sudden, you even though like, I don’t know, I don’t feel 47. But then you start to notice these shifts and changes and you’re like, oh shit, I am getting older, you know? You know, and just knowing like, if you want to make a change like you have the power to do that.

There is stuff that is in your control. And it’s just a matter of like finding someone who can help you. Like there’s, you know, and so I always say people are like, oh, you know, well, you eat so healthy, and you do all the stuff on like mentors need mentors, like, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not perfect. I don’t know everything. Like, it’s, I never claimed that I know everything like we I need help, too. And so, you know, anytime there’s something out of my zone of genius, it’s like who can help me and help me make that change and just be open to what they have to say. And just give it a try.

The Body is Not a Spreadsheet

Steph Gaudreau
I love that. That’s great advice, great life advice. Really anything. But you’re so right. I mean, I think there’s this interesting difference between, you know, kind of having that moment where you say to yourself, like, Okay, enough is enough, like I need to make a change. There’s a difference between that and like, talking crap to yourself and putting yourself down, right. And that can be really difficult to shift. But I think like you said, practicing some of the things you say to yourself, you know, really kind of being honest about what needs to change what’s in your control, what’s not in your control.

These are all really great, just little nuggets of advice for anybody who wants to move forward. And I just so appreciate you being here. And being really open and honest. I really appreciate your candor. And I know, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to have this chat is because I know there were times were like, What is she? What is she having me do? Like? She told me what, I just do the same things I was doing and like I get different results. But you tell me how to be stronger without having to make any changes. I know, I know.

But you were such a good sport like you really came to the cause you took full advantage of, of coming on of the community of encouraging other people and of showing up and asking questions. And I think that those are the students who get the best results are the ones who are like, hey, I need help with, with this, I need help understanding this day, like, why is this thing this way? And how can I make it work for me that’s really where the magic happens. Because I always say this, your you are not a spreadsheet, your body is not a calculator, you know, you’re a living, breathing person. And when we get in there, and we start to tinker with things and like shift things in this direction or that direction. And then you go out into your life and apply it is really where all the magic happens.

Allison Fitzpatrick
So yeah, the community was absolutely amazing. I love it. It’s everybody’s so wonderful and supportive. And I think it’s like, really with anything, it’s like at the gym do like that’s one of the reasons why I’m always going back. It’s the community and the support and people cheering you on and lifting you up. And when you can find that, like, that’s where you have success.

Steph Gaudreau
100%. Thank you so much for sitting down and having this chat with me and I so appreciate you. I’m looking forward to hearing how your strength continues to, you know, to continue to grow, and all of the things that you’re learning and then you know, able to pass these experiences on in just the perspective that you’ve had to your clients, to your family to the people in your gym. I think it’s so powerful.

Allison Fitzpatrick
Thank you so much for having me.

Steph Gaudreau
Thank you for being here. That is a wrap on this episode with strength nutrition unlocked student Alison Fitzpatrick. I really love this conversation number one because Allison kept it super real. She talked about her struggles and what she tried for coming into Strength Nutrition Unlocked. She talked about the things she was excited and even skeptical about and how even going through the program, her focus really solidified and crystallized and she’s been making such incredible strides in her strength as a woman in her late 40s.

The thing is that Allison is not alone. There are many people in Strength Nutrition Unlocked going through similar stories and experiencing increases in their strength. They’re building muscle where before they were struggling, feeling like daily life is getting easier they feel like a badass because of course, that’s one of the amazing benefits of strength training, and doing it in a supportive environment with expert coaching and a community. So if you want more information on that, you can go ahead to StephGaudreau.com/apply.

Find out about the program. And of course, while you’re there, check out the show notes for this episode, where we just lay everything out, including a full transcript if that’s helpful, one last call to action. Make sure you hit subscribe on your podcast app. And please tell a friend, a training partner, a loved one, or your coach about this podcast, share your favorite episode and spread the word it really does help to get the podcast into the ears of listeners who really need to hear this content. Your shares means so much. Thank you so much for doing that. And stay tuned for next week’s episode we’ll be back with another fantastic episode for you about fueling your strength. Until then, stay strong.


Share this post

Steph Gaudreau

Hi, I'm Steph Gaudreau (CISSN, NASM-CPT)!

Nutrition and fitness coach for women, Lord of the Rings nerd, and depending on who you ask, crazy cat lady. My mission is to help you fuel for more: bigger muscles, strength, energy, and possibilities. We’ll do it with my signature blend of science, strategy…and a little bit of sass.

DYNAMIC DUMBBELLS Program

Build muscle, strength & power AND take all the guesswork out of your workout with this 3x weekly written-for-you dumbbell strength program.

FREE WORKOUT PROGRAM

Strength Nutrition Unlocked

For athletic women 40+ who want to get stronger, build muscle, boost energy, and perform better. Implement evidence-backed strategies to fuel, train, and recover smarter with the support & accountability you need.

free workout program