Ep. #299: Success Story: How Esther Lost 13 Pounds & 12% Body Fat In Just 90 Days

Esther: I don’t have to worry about not being able to keep up or just not being able to do just some fun activities on vacation or just like when you’re going out with your friends and stuff because I’ve got this physical confidence now.

Mike: Guten tag, mein freund. Herr Matthews here. For muscle for life and legion athletics back with another episode of the muscle for life podcast. And this time around, I interview Esther who recently completed my 90 day coaching service and dropped 13 pounds in that time as well as 12 percent body fat while also gaining a ton of strength.

So when she started the program, she was Struggling to deadlift the bar and now she’s approaching her body weight for reps, which is pretty cool. Now, of course as with everything nothing ever goes exactly as planned And learning to adjust and adapt to conditions is a very important part of the fitness game Which is something esther learned firsthand while she was getting coached She ran into a number of roadblocks along the way that Most of us can relate to, including issues with balancing work and her workouts, getting her meal planning just right and dealing with hunger and cravings, dietary temptations, peer pressure, and more.

And in this chat, Esther shares what Specifically helped her navigate these barriers skillfully and prevent them from derailing her progress. If you like to hear motivational stories about how people have used my work to change their bodies and lives, and if you want to pick up a few tips that might help you in your personal journey, then this episode is for you.

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Hey Esther, thanks for coming on the show to share your story. 

Esther: Not a problem. Happy to be here. 

Mike: Great. So let’s just as usual with these interviews, let’s start at the beginning. If you can just share with me and everybody listening, where were you a fitness wise before you found your way to me and my work?

What did you try? What had you tried previously? What was working? What wasn’t working? What were you frustrated with? And so forth. 

Esther: Yeah. So before I found this, found your program I was not exercising at all at very poor diet. I was eating Panda Express and McDonald’s probably four times a week, which is really bad.

And I think I tried other exercise programs before, but fell off them just because there was not a whole lot of accountability. And while some of the ones in the past did get me Going to the gym as a habit, they set some good foundations for forming that habit. One of the biggest things that was missing was the diet portion.

So pretty soon I fell off of that because I didn’t see any results and life got in the way, work got busy, and then I just stopped going to the gym, period. 

Mike: And what kind of dietary protocols had you tried previously? 

Esther: Not much. I’ve always been, Pretty thin in general. I would be what you would describe as skinny fat.

So I never really tried dieting before. I just ate whatever I wanted and generally, I didn’t really try to look at protein. Or try to look at how much carbs I was eating, et cetera. So I really had no diet before. 

Mike: Okay. And did you, so when you found me, was that your first introduction to anything methodical in terms of dining or had you tried something previously?

Maybe it’s a low carb or something that you found in a magazine or had come across somewhere. 

Esther: So your program was the first time I’ve ever tried methodical dieting. Before that, it was mostly just, I hadn’t really tried anything in magazines except for just trying to cut down on the amount of food I was eating, but I was not being conscious of cutting down carbs or eating more protein.

Mike: I see. And what led you to, Go looking for solutions, like what problem or problems are you trying to solve? 

Esther: So by that time, I noticed that I gained about 15 percent of my body weight previously, and I just thought to myself one day that I couldn’t let this go on anymore. And I was the heaviest I’d ever been.

I was just. really low energy and just very tired and lethargic all the time. And I was also going through a period of personal growth too. So I had actually gotten your book previously. I had gotten it maybe several months before I even looked at your coaching program because I was already thinking about dieting and exercise.

And I read several chapters of your book. I thought it was really great, but being as busy as I am, I was not able to, I didn’t feel like I had time to really put together a comprehensive plan. So I went to your website and just to see if there were any other services that you offered that could. Take that front loading off of me and see if there was a service I could pay for that did all that for me.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. And that of course was the coaching service. So tell me about that. How did that cause what do you do for work? Why are you so busy? 

Esther: So I work in tech and as tech moves very quickly. So it’s a very fast paced environment. It’s highly demanding and very high stress.

Oftentimes I would find myself working 10 to 12 hours a day. Once you do that it’s just, you have very little energy for anything else. And also because of the high stress, you oftentimes just end up having a pretty poor diet because all you’re wanting to do is just make yourself feel good by eating comfort foods all the time.

Mike: Yeah, no, I understand. And so let’s start with where you were at when you found. The coaching service and now where you’re at in terms of bottom line results how has your body changed not just in the mirror and on the scale, but also in the gym? I’m sure that I don’t have the exact numbers here on your lifts.

I just have your weight and your body fat percentage, but I’m sure you are significantly stronger now than when you started. 

Esther: Yeah, for sure. Aside from just visual changes, I’ve definitely leaned down a lot. Like I said before, I used to be the body type that I had was just skinny fat. I was thin, my clothes on and everything.

People just thought I was thin, but I was not very lean. I was not very strong. I think when I started off on this program and I’m a very petite person, I was about 113 pounds after the program. At the end of the program, I weighed in about 97. 6 pounds. That was my average. So that’s a huge change for me.

And even though that seems very low in weight all my life, I’ve always hovered around the high nineties, low one hundreds range. 

Mike: How tall are you? 

Esther: I’m five foot one. 

Mike: Okay. So yes, that makes sense. So for people listening, that is a But to put a perspective of body fat percentage, I have here that you started around 34 percent and you ended around 26, which looks about right looking at your pictures.

And so that’s something that just people listening should keep in mind when you hear body weights for girls or guys, what sounds very low or what sounds in some cases very high. It really depends on how tall the person is and also. Weight can vary mysteriously. If it could keep, I don’t know if it’s bone density or like my weight has always been significantly lower than most people get think even I remember I went to, I think it was like universal studios, where you have the person guesses your weight.

And if they’re off by more than five pounds, you win a prize or something. And at that time I was really lean. I was probably like one 88 or one 87 and she gets two Oh five. So weight can also fluctuate quite a bit for whatever reason. But anyways, I just wanted to interject there because some people this might be like, Oh, not 90 something pounds that has to be unhealthy.

No, not at all. My wife is probably five foot three or five foot four and her ideal weight, which she likes to be at is around a hundred pounds. And like you’re saying, She looks thin, but fit. She’s not, it’s not an eating disorder, 

Esther: right? Exactly. And, I’d always been told my whole life that I was too thin, I was too thin, et cetera.

So I never felt like I needed to exercise or needed to lean out or lose any fat because that was just the narrative that I’d gotten my whole life when I started dieting program or fitness. Fitness program. People gave me weird looks like, Oh my God, you don’t need to exercise. But no, that’s not the case at all.

I think that How did you do that? 

Mike: Did that bother you at all? Because I know just working with a lot of people emailing and with a lot of people that especially women in particular seem to be more sensitive to peer pressure and to the effects of peer pressure. 

Esther: It did bother me a little bit at times that I knew what I was doing was the right thing.

And that just because someone is a certain weight or that they look thin, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re Fit or healthy. 

That was one of the things I learned. 

Mike: And also, just to say, I know again, working with people, sometimes you don’t know, unfortunately where people’s criticisms or critiques, or maybe they’re saying admonitions or advice is really coming from.

Sometimes it’s coming from jealousy. Sometimes it’s coming from Shame like they themselves have tried to get into shape and failed and it actually bothers them to see other people. It sounds bad, but hey, human nature has bad sides to it. What can we say? 

Esther: Exactly. I think a lot of the times people who have negative responses to you wanting to get healthier, get fit, look better, they’re just projecting their own sense of dissatisfaction.

Oftentimes I think onto other people, I think in those cases, if there are women Are getting those responses who’ve always been naturally low weight. I would always tell them look girl. It’s good to start lifting It’s good to start getting in shape. You might be thin and stuff, but don’t let other people’s negative comments or just Backhanded compliments like telling you how skinny you already are stand in the way stand in the way of that.

Mike: Yeah, very true Hey quickly before we carry on if you are liking my podcast Would you please help spread the word about it Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. If you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it.

It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say, Thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Tell us about the diet side of things first. So previously, did you play sports growing up?

Because a lot of people that I’ve spoken with that, They did where they ate whatever they wanted. They were very physically active when they were younger and then less physically active, especially after they get out of college and start working and don’t realize, obviously just don’t understand even starting with energy balance that like previously you burned a lot of calories and now not so much.

Esther: Yeah. So I never grew up playing sports as a kid. I was very much an indoor kid. My parents, studying all the time and my parents put me through music lessons. So I didn’t participate in any sports. But one of the things that growing up in my parents household, they, we never had snacks anywhere.

So there was no habit of eating chips or junk food or anything like that. As far as diet was concerned, when I was living in my parents house before going to college, It was eat three meals a day. It was breakfast, lunch, dinner. It was actually a very well balanced type of diet. We didn’t have a lot of soda in the house or, too many sweets or anything like that.

So I would say that my diet as a kid was, yeah, it was pretty good. Now that I think back to it, even for not being really active and not participating in any sports. So I would say that the diet probably helped keep the weight down. And also. Part of, I would always think that part of this is genetic too, your metabolism and luckily we don’t have anyone in my family who’s too overweight or anything.

There’s some members of my family who are a little bit on the heavier side, but in general I think it’s because of our diet or the habits around our diet that living with my parents was actually generally quite healthy for me. Growing up. 

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. I was just curious just because that’s very common obviously is to be active and then not so much and not to bring the food intake down with the activity.

Esther: Yeah, exactly. And then of course, getting to college, you have your freshman 15. If you have a side job or whatever it is, you, you start buying everything, all the junk food that your parents never let you have. 

And even then there were periods of time going through college and after college.

Was that a thing 

Mike: for you where you were like, wow, this this shit’s pretty good actually. 

Esther: Yeah, it is. I’m like, oh my God, I can have Cheetos. Or I can have a donut. I’ll just eat whatever I want, especially since I had a meal plan in the first year of college. You just go into the cafe, you swipe your card and you go to town.

So that was, that was really easy to do, especially after starting to work as well. Now you’ve got some income, you can also go out to eat whenever you want. Going out to eat was never a thing in my parents house. Even now, they don’t, they hardly ever go out to eat. But after I started working, I felt like I had no time to cook.

And also, my friends and I are all working now, so we’ve got a little bit of more disposable income to just go out and eat and drink all the time. That sparked a pretty significant change in my diet. As far as what I had access to. 

Mike: Yeah, absolutely. And so you went from that to then now let’s talk about on the coaching experience.

How was that? How did things change? And I’m also curious to hear how you made it work just given what you’ve told me about your lifestyle. And I understand that. I work a lot and I would say I Probably deal with stress, maybe better than most people. I never really got into like food was never an outlet for me for whatever reason, but I understand if nothing else, I understand the time crunch of it.

Esther: Yeah, for sure. So as far as the dieting is concerned, after I started the program first of all, what I told my coach was that. I needed something that could be customized to my eating environment. 

Mike: And that’s actually something that’s really worth emphasizing for people listening is just actually have a have a new book that’s coming out this summer.

And one of the, it’s going to be a bonus chapter is going to be specifically on this point on the importance of environment. There’s quite a bit of research on it that for example, simply having, we could say, junk foods, snack foods, stuff that is high calorie, low satiety. Low nutrition foods, just having those foods around dramatically increases.

If you’re like most people, it’s going to dramatically increase your average daily caloric intake, having foods visible versus not visible has been shown to significantly affect how much people eat even proximity. So foods that are close. So environment is a huge thing. If you’re. If you, it’s not that you can’t and your story is obviously showing that you can absolutely thrive being surrounded by maybe being in an environment that’s challenging, but you have to be aware of it.

If you’re not aware of it. And if you just go with your default decisions, chances are you’re going to really struggle if you’re surrounded by Food a lot, 

Esther: right? Yeah. And that was the biggest challenge for me was one that access after I left college and I had disposable income access to pretty much all the restaurants around.

I live in a big city and to the food environment at my workplace as well. And one of the reasons I chose your program too, is because most other programs I saw were the ones I did in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Did not have a dieting portion to it. Sure. There was a lot of there was a couple of ones.

There were just smaller programs that were just starting out the very least. They did not focus on dieting as much. There was a lot of focus on building habits and maybe I just found the wrong ones, but there was a lot of focus on building good habits for going to the gym. So that was one good thing that I got out of it.

Yeah. But they did not put as much emphasis on the dieting portion. I 

Mike: mean that’s the problem with a lot of personal trainers. They in some cases, I see at the gym I go to, there are a few of the trainers there seem pretty knowledgeable actually, as far as training goes, they have their clients doing sensible things.

It seems like the programming is good and effective, but there’s no mention of diet whatsoever. At all, and I’ve been in this gym for a while now and I’ve gotten to know everybody and I see the same clients and they look exactly the same, mostly because the diet is very loose. It’s just like a few guidelines.

Try to eat some protein and just eat clean or something, 

Esther: yeah, and that’s exactly what I was exactly one of those people. I had a personal trainer for a while. They would show me a bunch of exercises. Okay. I would try and do them during the week, but there was nothing methodical about building muscle.

There was nothing methodical, definitely nothing methodical about dieting. I found out very quickly that personal trainers did not work for me. So I stopped that real quick. And then I tried an online program. That happened to just mostly focused on the exercise portion, not too much on the diet. But what that program did give me was some foundation on how to build habits for going to the gym.

For example, just removing the barriers to Getting up, putting on your workout clothes and going, so things like, okay, if it’s going to be tough for you to get up in the morning and go to the gym, why don’t you put your running shoes or your gym clothes right by the door so that you have no excuse not to pick them up on the way out?

So just little things like that, that I felt from at least that previous program started building some good foundational habits. 

Mike: What are the things helped in that regard? 

Esther: I would say just in terms of willpower, I know you had a chapter on that. Just. Removing what would block you from going excuses that you would make for yourself.

And one of the things that also was helpful about that too, was there was you had also had a coach was not definitely not as in depth as the coaching program that you have now, but there was at least some accountability. And there was a Facebook group in a community where people would encourage each other share what they did at the gym every day, et cetera.

So I would say that those things were helpful. But the thing that was most helpful, I would say about your program was the weekly accountability and the weekly check ins with the coach. 

Mike: And how did that help you? 

Esther: It just made sure I didn’t slack off. I would feel so embarrassed going on my weekly call with my coach if I didn’t.

did not commit to my three days a week or my five days a week if I did a really poor job on my diet. So I think it was mostly just, having that accountability, knowing that I had access to someone who could answer all my questions, no matter how basic or how dumb I thought they were. That was definitely really helpful.

And also, I just didn’t want to disappoint my coach. 

Mike: Yeah, sure. Sure. Makes sense. And then along the way, as you started to see more results I’m guessing that helped with intrinsic motivation. 

Esther: It definitely did. I would say in the beginning it was really tough. 

Mike: Why? What was hard about it in the beginning?

And how did you feel in the beginning? Like, how did you go into it feeling? I’m curious versus, and then how did you come out of it? 

Esther: I was really excited because basically I just quit all my McDonald’s and Panda Express cold turkey and I took the diet plan. I went out that weekend. And I bought everything I needed, and that took a long time, but I was really committed to putting my all into this.

So I did that, and the first week was actually really tough, because here I was eating whatever the hell I wanted. For a couple of years now, and here I am just having eggs and oatmeal for breakfast and I’m just sitting here Oh, I can’t have my bacon. I can’t have my sausage, but that’s fine.

And I would say the reason the first week was so tough was because that was also the first week I had started exercising a really long time or doing any meaningful physical activity that actually made me break a sweat or actually made me work. And I did the program, I. Where I worked out at the in the evenings and then I had dinner afterwards dinner was really tough too, because I’m used to eating a large amount of food, I would say, but then I was on the cutting.

I was in the cutting phase for this program starting out. So that was really tough. And I think the funniest thing was that. When I went shopping, I was mostly just estimating the ounces of meat that I was supposed to have for each meal, eyeballing it in the package, going by, oh, this package of turkey ham says it’s, there’s six ounces in here or eight ounces, and just trying to divide the weights of the food that way when I got home.

Turns out I was actually under eating. I was not eating as much as I was being prescribed on my meal plan because I was just miscalculating the amount of food I was eating. Eventually, my food weight scale came that I ordered on Amazon the next week. And when I finally weighed how much I was supposed to be eating, I realized, Oh my God, I was eating like Half the carbs I was supposed to be eating.

No wonder it was so hard. 

Mike: Oh wow, yeah, that’ll make it hard. 

Esther: I would say to people, get that food weight scale because if you were going to do this, you got to do this right. 

Mike: Yeah, and then of course in time you can, you get used to things and then you can more effectively eyeball. 

Esther: Yeah, now I’m a lot better at eyeballing, but that was.

Not until after I had two or three months to train myself as to what amounts of food equals what weights or what calories. 

Mike: Yeah, it makes sense. So that was the diet side of things. Then once you got your carbs fixed, I’m sure it was a lot easier. 

Esther: It was, it became easier. I didn’t go to sleep hungry like I did the first week.

So that was great. I was so happy. Happy that I was eating the right amount of potatoes and the great thing about the meal plan is that I could Enjoy my food without worrying That as long as I followed the prescribed meal plan the right amounts of food I could eat happily without worrying that I was ruining My diet or I was undoing all this hard exercise.

I just did. 

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s a huge benefit of following a meal plan. That’s why I recommend it for most people that want to lose weight and particularly start there. Sure. You can lose weight without counting calories or tracking, and you can follow some guidelines. I’d say it’s easier if you are very physically active, obviously, just because you have a lot of.

You have a lot of room for your deficit, but a big benefit of following a meal plan is one, you do get to choose the foods that you eat. So you’re not being restricted in any way, only in portions. You can’t eat as much of everything you might want to eat, but you can eat the foods you want to eat. You just have to work out the portions.

And then you also are guaranteed results. That’s I think just as big of a, if not more, the benefit of meal planning is exactly what you just said. You eat your meals and great, this is exactly what I should be eating. And I don’t have, I can just enjoy this and I don’t have to second guess myself.

Esther: Yeah, that was definitely one of the big pluses of the program. And another one was that if I got tired of a meal plan, I could ask my coach to change it or to work something else in. For my meal plan, I actually stuck with that for the first one I had for maybe two or two and a half months. And yeah, that was literally me just eating the same thing for two or two and a half months straight, minus my cheat, one cheat meal every week.

And then when I finally asked my coach to change it, she said, I thought you would never change this. I was wondering if you were getting tired of 

Mike: this. You’re like me. I just don’t care if I’m cutting. In general, I don’t really, it’s just not that important to me to have a variety of food, maybe because I genuinely enjoy I’m going to eat the same dinner tonight as I ate it last night.

And I’m looking forward to it because I genuinely enjoy it. I guess I don’t burn out easily on food, but especially when I’m cutting, because it’s just who cares? I know it tastes fine. And I’m eating this for the reason of it’s more for body composition than eating. Pure just hedonic enjoyment, 

Esther: right?

Exactly. I feel the same way. I felt the same way about my diet plan as well as I didn’t really care so much. I was more interested in just getting the results I wanted and I was willing to sacrifice. Yeah, it was like what you said, the food is not bad. It’s great. I was so excited every time I finished my workout, like the idea that I could eat my dinner after my workout was, got me really motivated.

So that was always something I looked forward at the end of the day was just finishing my workout and just getting to enjoy this healthy meal that my coach put together for me. It tasted fine and I didn’t feel like I was really craving other things because I think a lot of time food is habit, right?

One of the things I discovered that, and I think you talk about this in your book is that if you’re used to just. Eating poorly or eating foods that give you that dopamine spike every time and that’s what you’re after Then yeah, of course, you’re gonna be craving those foods all the time But if you start getting onto a meal plan or something that keeps you on a strict diet I think your mind is just going to crave those bad things less Just because I think eating is also a state of mind if you’re used to eating things that are healthier and you can wean yourself off of craving those types of really fatty foods, I think a diet is not that difficult to follow.

Mike: Yeah. There’s also I talk about this phenomenon in this new book of mine that’s coming out and there’s a bit of research from different fields that I weave together. And the long story short is the easiest way to change anything Subjective change. What we’re used to doing or what we like doing, what we crave is to simply have changed the objective.

Just change our actions because in the end we mold the subjective to fit the objective. And the more we do something and the more we come to like it, no matter how difficult or foreign it might feel. feel it first. All you have to do is just keep doing it and gradually you will come to like it more.

And this has been demonstrated in a number of different ways with things ranging from not just behaviors, but to just random symbols, sounds, visual stimuli. It’s just a psychological quirk of humans that we just want to keep doing whatever it is that we’re doing. So you have that initial transition period can be difficult, but if you stick it through and this also obviously aligns with habit research where the average person takes about, it takes about 66 days to establish a new habit.

Some people do it faster. Some people need more time, but that’s what you’re experiencing to some degree is. Cause that’s a pretty dramatic change from your diet to, what it was to what it is. I’m sure it’s something similar now, but that’s a pretty dramatic change. So I don’t know if you were surprised.

It just depends. I don’t know your history and know you as a person, it sounds like you’re generally a pretty disciplined person and you don’t necessarily have, I doubt you struggled much with self discipline or self control, but. It’s still a big change. 

Esther: Yeah. There are definitely times where I did struggle and like I said I stress ate a lot, but I think it’s one of those things where at least for me, when I put my mind to it, I was able to just give my all even now I’m on the continuation program because I love this so much just trying to, I will say, I still have trouble keeping up sometimes or just making sure that I am as disciplined as I was.

While I was on the transformation program, but that’s just life. Isn’t it? You have times where you’re just, if you’re on vacation, for example, I was on vacation, I wasn’t working out so much and on vacation, you’re just eating whatever especially you go to a new place, you want to try all the local foods.

So I think you’re always going to have these ups and downs, but I think the more important part is just knowing that you have the tools now to bounce back from it. I came back from vacation. Okay, great. I can hit the gym again. I’ve got this meal plan, my cutting plan again, that I can go back to and just get myself back on track.

So I think one of the important things I learned from your program too, was just to, if you don’t hit your target weights or if you slip up one day and don’t beat yourself up over it, just, let it be and just do better the next day. Like you said, it’s a lifestyle, so it’ll be hard to be as disciplined as I was when I was on the Transformation Program.

But I think one of the best things that came out of being on your program was that it gave me the tools to really continue on my own. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s a huge part of the program. So what I wanted, even when we were architecting it in the beginning, I didn’t want to make people dependent on us. I wanted people to not just be told what to do, but understand why.

So if they want to go off on their own, when they’re done, they feel like they have the tools. And if they want to continue, that’s great as well. Or if a lot of people, what they’ll do is they’ll do what you did. And then if they don’t continue right away, they’ll go off on their own for a bit and then they’ll come back maybe even at six months later and say, Hey, so here’s where I’m at now.

This is what I would like to do. Can you help? So that’s cool. That’s exactly what I want to see with the service. So let’s talk about the exercise portion. So you were working out after work, it sounds like, and how many days per week did you run into any obstacles? Did it, did you go into it thinking it was going to be one way and then you had to change tack through it or?

Esther: Yeah. So the exercise portion, I, a few years ago I did start a habit for about a month and a half or two about going to the gym. So going into the exercise, I knew personally what I had to do to make sure I was motivated every day, make sure Oh, okay. I had my gym clothes all prepared, so all I had to do was just like put them on.

I have no excuse not to go. And for the exercise portion, yes, I did workout after work just because I’m more of a night person than a morning person. I don’t think I could have gotten up at 5am, done my workout, and then go to work. Although I am reconsidering that now. But when I started the transformation program, I just made sure that I carved out time for it.

Yes, work was incredibly busy, but everyone has 24 hours in a day. It just depends on how you want to use it. I did the five day program because I we first started on the three day program. We’re three days split, but I told my coach, I don’t think this is going to work for me because it’s going to put me in the gym for two weeks.

A little bit longer for three days. And I just didn’t have that time, especially if I was getting off of work at like 7 PM or sometimes at 8 PM, it was just a little bit difficult. So we did a five day split instead. So I would spend a little less time each day, but. I thought it was a great way to just build a habit of going five days a week.

So that worked really well. And starting at the beginning, I wasn’t familiar with the exercises either. I didn’t know how to do a deadlift properly. So yes, I would have to spend more time on each exercise to make sure that I was learning it correctly. Watch the videos over and over again in between sets.

So yeah, it does take a time commitment. And I think people going on the program need to realize that you really have to dedicate yourself. You have to purposely carve out time. By the time you get used to the exercises and you’re on a flow, yeah, sure, you could probably finish your day’s workout in about 45 minutes to an hour.

Depending on how many exercises you have for that particular day. But I was carving out two hours of time a day to really focus on this. And it’s going to be different for every person, but I just, one of the things I wanted to point out was the time commitment for the exercises. 

Mike: Yeah. And that’s, that’s like starting, you start anything and at first it’s awkward and you It takes more time to some of the movements while they’re not complicated, they are technical, take a deadlift, take a squat, overhead press, and especially as you are going to be progressing to heavier weights, it’s smart to take that time and make sure that everything feels good and.

Watch yourself on video from a few different angles. And then eventually you get that kinesthetic awareness and you would never even need to ask somebody if your form is good or not, just because now what you’re feeling, how that looks externally, but it’s smart to put in the time initially to get there.

Esther: Yeah, for sure. And when I tell people about this program cause. People around me have been seeing the results and I tell them, look, it does take a time commitment, a lot of time commitment at the beginning, but it’s so worth it. Because like you said, we’re, when you’re progressing to heavier weights, if you’re not doing things correctly, you could hurt yourself.

You hurt yourself. And also if you’re not doing it correctly, I just felt okay, if I don’t put in the time to do this right. I can put all the effort I want, but I’m not going to get the results that I want. I think that part was really important. And just touching on where I was and where I am now.

So I say I was about 112, 113 pounds when I started. I could barely lift a 20 pound. barbell for a deadlift. That got me tired. And yeah, it was, I’m a very small person. I had very small, like muscles or, whatever, however it is you describe it. I was, I’m just not, I would just not a strong person.

But I will say where I am now, just two days ago when I did my first day this week, I am about 98 pounds, 99 pounds. And I, Was lifting deadlifting 70 pounds now. So that’s 

Mike: great. 

Esther: Yeah. Big increase. 

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. You’re getting to the first milestone is deadlifting your body weight. So you’re close. 

Esther: Yeah.

I’m finally starting to get a little bit closer. I’m inching my way there. 

Mike: That’s great. And so what if people I’m sure people have noticed you said they, but you can tell just looking at your pictures, people have noticed and have people been surprised at what you’re, at what you’re doing? Cause it’s not very, That’s not what people would expect to hear oh, yeah, and they probably also might see that you’re eating foods that, oh, but you’re eating carbs and you have some sugar and you’re weightlifting.

What isn’t that for guys? What are you doing? 

Esther: Yeah, it’s the response hasn’t surprising. For example, when I eat with my co workers, my lunch happens to be a salad, so they’re not eating, seeing me eating a whole lot of carbs. Some of the comments I’ve gotten were just around how disciplined I was, making sure that I was eating my salad every single day, like my coach told me to.

And and also lifting. I’m a huge believer in lifting now. We definitely spend a little bit time just getting rid of the myths around women and lifting about how lifting is going to make women bulk up. And, they don’t want to bulk up, but oh my goodness, lifting is amazing. And I don’t think I want to, there’s been no other exercise that has been so convincing.

To me, and the results are phenomenal 

Mike: house out just specifically for people listening. Speak to the women listening who are like a lot of the people listening are on the same page, but there may be people that are coming across all this newly and are skeptical. 

Esther: Yeah. So I’m a very petite person.

I’ve always been this way and I love. how petite I am. So one of the things that was always I went back and forth on was just this fear of bulking up. Some people love that look. And I think that’s great. But I’m one of those people that does not like a very bulky look. So I knew I wanted to lose weight.

So I was going to do whatever my coach told me to do. But in the time that I’ve Gone from trying to lift a 20 pound barbell to lifting 70 now, I haven’t bulked up. My arms have toned out. They don’t look thin and skinny, like that really thin, skinny weak look. They’re thin, and they’re lean, and they look strong.

I’ve gotten comments from my girlfriends Oh my god, Esther, look at those guns. But they’re not guns a bodybuilder’s guns. They’re guns I’ve just got, my muscles look really defined, but not in a certain way. Yeah, 

Mike: good muscle definition. It’s 

Esther: just good muscle definition. So 

Mike: You can see now, Oh, there’s muscle.

Yeah, 

Esther: you can see it. It’s not just like the skinny arm. There’s muscle on that arm. And as far as visuals go to some of the things that people saying, I can one, I can fit into clothes that I thought I would never be able to fit in to again. I’ve gone to a few weddings recently.

I was able to like, I was really happy just shopping again, because I could fit into all these things that I wanted to wear. So that was a lot of fun. But yeah, I think just like compliments on, my family has always known that I’ve been pretty thin. So that period of time when I was gaining a lot of weight, they definitely noticed.

And then when I started exercising, being on this program, they also noticed like the weight that I’ve dropped too, and like how much stronger I look. So I think in terms of that, I don’t, There are no downsides. Ladies to lifting. I feel very proud to oftentimes be the only female in my gym who is in the weight section with the guys.

Mike: Was that intimidating at first? Because I know for some women it is 

Esther: a little bit. Just because, here I am, I’m struggling with this like 10 pound weight and, these guys are lifting like 40 pounds an arm or something. I’m here like struggling with my little 10 pound weights, that’s where you just have to start.

And I think it is a little bit intimidating, but I have to feel that If you keep that up, you go every day, you’re consistent. All you’re going to do is get respect from other people who are there. Women maybe are not people who are seen as weightlifters. And but if you can be there and hang with the guys and be as consistent as they are and as dedicated, I think if anything they’re just going to respect you 

Mike: for sure.

And that is the absolute reality. There’s, I would say I’ve never even seen it. Otherwise I would say, Oh, if it were any other way, then yeah, that would just be a random outlier dickhead, but I’ve never even seen the random outlier dickhead. It’s always, even the dickheads are like that where they’ll notice, especially so if women are consistent and working hard.

Even the dickheads will notice that and be like, wow, she’s and then on top of that, making progress part of that’s the game. So you inherently respect that’s why they’re there as well, 

Esther: right? Because everyone knows how hard it is, especially guys, to get those games.

So if you see a woman there. I think that’s a little bit different and I just hope that it inspires other women to start lifting too. If you see one girl there, maybe another girl coming by and be like, Oh, okay. Maybe this is not so strange after all. Maybe they’ll start lifting.

So I think, I think it just sets a good example because oftentimes I see girls taking just like doing mat exercises which is, which are great and doing cardio, I think, which is really important too. But I think it also depends on each person’s goals, but I would hope that there would be more women lifting in the gym, especially if they see other women lifting too.

Mike: For sure. And see other women that look the way that they want to look. You look the way that most women want to look so that you don’t look bulky. You don’t look, they would not think weightlifter. They would just think like athletic or toned or, define good muscle definition. So that is also, you’re setting the example.

Esther: Yeah, I hope so. I think. That’d be great. If I could get one other girl to start lifting with me, I think that’d be awesome. 

Mike: Recruit one of your friends. 

Esther: Yeah. I have been telling my friends like I think lifting is great and everything. Hopefully they will come join me one day. 

Mike: Yeah. Yeah.

It’s also, it’s worth noting the difference between exercise and training, right? So you see a lot of people men and women exercising, which is great. There are health benefits to it. Physical health, mental health, like yes, doing anything, moving your body is good. And so I’m happy to see people doing anything, but.

The difference between that and training is more systematic. It revolves around progression and it’s more difficult and it’s more structured, but that’s what it takes to really change your body composition. Exercise doesn’t necessarily change your body composition very much. It doesn’t necessarily deliver the results that most people want.

Now if somebody’s I just want to be healthy, I don’t really care. Whether I have much muscle definition or not, and I just don’t want to be overweight and then that’s great. You have a lot of options, but if you are saying, I want that, plus I want to have a certain look, whether it’s guys or girls that requires training and that’s the difference between what you’re doing and what most people in the gym are doing is just exercise, even though what they want really requires training.

Esther: Yeah. And I think, speaking to what you want, I, one of the things I love about this program is that. One of the first questions that is sent to us in the questionnaire is just to send your coaches pictures of what you want to look like, what you’re targeting, so that your coach can have an idea of how, what kind of look you’re trying to achieve and customize a plan to help you get there.

Mike: Yeah. And that’s a hugely important part. Let’s face it, the visuals, at least half of the reason why I’ll say it myself, I don’t, I actually don’t think I’m a very vain person. Maybe I just have low self awareness, but I don’t think I’m very vain, but it’s still half of the reason why I still do it is because I want to look a certain way.

That’s just the reality, 

Esther: right? Same. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. And it’s something that you talk about your book too, because. Yeah. We’re always told that, Oh no, vanity is bad or whatever. Or, there are people in my life who I know they want to look good because I can tell by the way they dress, et cetera.

But there seems to be some sort of conflict in between wanting to look good. To look good, but not wanting people to think that you’re trying to look good. I’m not sure if that’s a great way of explaining it, but I think it’s healthy to admit that. 

Mike: Yeah. We’re almost like they’re there. They would be ashamed to say that they want to look good.

Esther: Yeah, exactly. So I’m not ashamed to say that I do want to look good. And that’s why I started doing this program. It’s not just to be healthy. I want, at the time that I started, I was also planning to get back into the dating pool a few months later. So that was, there was that motivation. I wanted to start dating again and yeah, I want it to look good.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. 

Mike: Yeah, absolutely. And getting fit, I think is the easiest way for anyone to immediately look better. It’s the simplest way. It’s not just about losing weight per se, but getting fit, like improving your body composition is probably the easiest way to increase overall attractiveness.

Esther: Yeah, so I would say that this program has done so much for me. I really love it. 

Mike: How has it impacted other areas of your life like this? So previously I’m assuming the stress levels in your work haven’t gone down and previously you turned to food. How has that changed? 

Esther: I think one I am tired at the end of the day, but it’s a different kind of tired.

It’s not a lethargic couch potato type of tired. It’s a legitimate I’ve worked hard at my job all day and I went to the gym and I worked hard there and it’s a satisfying type of tired. And then on the weekends where, I could just sleep in a little bit, I have a little bit more, I just have a lot more energy.

I think I’m not, Winded when I climb up a couple of flights of stairs, cause that used to happen very often. I can go hiking. I can do some of these physical activities. When I went on vacation that I didn’t really do before just because I didn’t have confidence that I could physically handle it.

But now that I’m, I’ve gone through this program and I’m still working out, I feel a lot more physically confident in myself. I don’t have to worry about. Not being able to keep up or just not being able to do just some fun activities on vacation or just like when you’re going out with your friends and stuff, because I’ve got this physical confidence now.

Mike: That’s great. And that’s something that I think one of those, you could say hidden benefits of fitness or things that people don’t realize how far reaching those effects can be. It’s not just, you’re just happier with what in the mirror when you wake up and then the rest of your life is the same.

It’s very common that the ripple effects, people are surprised at how different things are even if it’s just three months down the line from when they started. 

Esther: Exactly. And I think it just, it changes your life in so many ways. Like the ripple effects are they go far and wide, even just like driving to a store and looking for a parking space.

I’m a lot more willing. To park further and not spend as much time circling around in a parking lot. Just park further and just walk to the store. So just little things like that. I think at least for me, it’s made a bit of a difference. Yeah, 

Mike: that’s great. And, ironically, those little habits like, like that, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

So that’s like a non exercise activity. Thermogenesis NEAT, N E A T is the acronym. And that can be pretty significant though. Research shows that. It can vary as much as hundreds of calories a day, just because of people that have little habits like that versus circling for 30 minutes, so you don’t have to walk an extra four minutes.

In terms of calories, ironically, those little things can add up. 

Esther: Yeah. I’m a lot more willing to do physical activity and no physical activity, like such as walking to the store is going to be as strenuous as what I do on a regular. Days workout. So that totally works for me. 

Mike: That’s great.

That’s all I had for you. Is there anything else that you want to share with everybody listening? 

Esther: I just want to say that I think that this was a great program. It’s really changed my lifestyle for the better. Everyone who around me, who goes to the gym or exercises or asked me what I do, I always recommend this program to them because especially if it’s someone that I know that is not fit, someone who’s not fit already someone who’s fit already, they probably already know what they’re doing.

I’m not going to be like, Oh my God, you should definitely do this program. But there are plenty of people around, I think around in all our lives who are not. As fit who want to get fit and just don’t quite know how to get there, or they’ve been going for to the gym for a long time, and they just haven’t been seeing results.

Like you said, when I was working out maybe three or four years ago, there were some people I was seeing in my gym. I took a several year hiatus. I went back when I started on this program and they’re still there and they look exactly the same. So I just want to tell people that if you’re considering this program it’s definitely worth giving a shot.

I know I wasn’t disappointed. 

Mike: Awesome. That’s great. Thanks for taking the time, Esther. I really appreciate it. And Oh, one last question. So where do you go from here? What’s your plan now? 

Esther: So my plan is just to continue with my continuation program with my coach, Jill. She’s amazing. Until I get to.

The point where I really achieve that target look that I want. And then from there, I guess we’ll see if I want to stay on the, 

Mike: What’s that what are you going for? 

Esther: Very lean, very fit. I’m still working on my abs. My abs have still yet to come in. So 

Mike: definitely, 

Esther: That’s 

Mike: been explained, right?

So it’s like you have, it looks like looking at your pictures, you’re now at the point body fat percentage wise, where you’ll start seeing them. And I would say once you get down to about 20 percent or so, and if you get a little bit under that, then you’ll really see what you’re working with in terms of development, but just know that some people have more.

Core development naturally than others. And some people do need to work quite a bit on their core muscles to get the look that they want. And it can be the amount of work. You’ll get there, you’ll just do it, but it can feel a bit disproportionate in terms of it’s like calves, my calves, the amount of work I’ve done.

Put into my calves, make no sense for where they’re at. And that’s just reality. So it’s there’s definitely a genetic component there, but mostly it’s getting down to the right body fat percentage and then just putting in minimally, let’s say a good three to six months of like consistent work into them outside of your compound lifting.

And for most people, that’s where they’re happy. Some people want even more development. That’s fine. But. It’s it’ll come. 

Esther: Yeah. Thanks for the introduction. I think so too. It’s just going to take time. I know where my body now I’m holding stubborn fat. It’s just keeping at it to reach that target look.

And once I get there, I guess we’ll see what happens then. But I still have. A goal right now in mind that I’m working towards. So yeah, I’m happy to continue with the program. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s great. From there. It’s if you have the look you want, then maintenance is a bit of a different game because you obviously can eat more food.

You also have more leeway in terms of exercise if, cause you want to continue strictly just weightlifting, you can do that. If you want to do a bit of weightlifting and a bit of other things, just, Because you enjoy them. You can do that as well. Like I would say when you get to that place where you’re like, I’m really happy with how I look, you now that’s the real payoff, I guess you could say for all the hard work and the discipline of getting there is you have at least the option to be a lot more flexible with your diet and your training because it becomes more at that point, it becomes more about energy balance.

And just macronutrient balance it’s in, in the exercise side of things, yeah, do some resistance training to maintain the body that you have. But if that’s all you wanted to do, you could maintain the body that you have on one or two workouts a week. Not that you only need to, or should just work out one or two, once or twice a week, but that’s what you’re working toward is more freedom if you want it.

And if you’re like me, I did, I weightlifting. So I just. Still do the same thing, but that’s me. Yeah. I just want to say thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. I know people will always find, I get a lot of good feedback from these episodes. People really like to hear other people’s journeys in the specifics of what did they have to overcome and yours, your story was great.

So thank you for taking the time to share it. 

Esther: No problem. Happy to Mike. 

Mike: And if you dear listener want to learn more about my coaching service and how we might be able to help you reach your health and fitness goals faster, just head over to muscle for life. com slash coaching muscle F O R life. com slash.

Coaching and you can learn all about it and schedule a free consultation call where my director of coaching, Matthew, we’ll get on the phone with you and talk about where you’ve been, where you want to go and how we might be able to help you get there faster and more enjoyably, which counts for something again, muscle for life.

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