Ep. #380: How Rachel Lost 15 Pounds and 6% Body Fat in Just 90 Days

Mike: This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I’m not big on promoting stuff that I don’t personally use and believe in, so instead I’m just going to quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my one on one coaching service. So the long story short here is this is the personal coaching service that I wish I had when I started in the gym many years ago.

Every diet and training program that we create for clients is 100 percent custom. We provide daily workout logs and do weekly accountability calls. Our clients get priority email service and discounts on supplements and the list goes on and on. Furthermore, my team and I have also worked with hundreds of people of all ages, circumstances, and needs and goals.

So no matter how tricky you might think your situation is, I promise you we can figure out how to get you results. If I have piqued your interest and you want to learn more, then head on over to www. muscleforlife. com forward slash coaching and schedule your free consultation call. I’ll tell you, there’s usually a wait list and new slots fill up very quickly.

So if you’re interested at all, don’t go schedule your call now. Alrighty. That is enough shameless plugging for now. At least let’s get to the show. Hey, Rachel, thanks for taking the time to come on the podcast. 

Rachel: Oh, thanks for having me. 

Mike: Yeah, sure. So as the idea with these, I do one of these interviews a month and I just like to talk to people who have either gone through my coaching service or just read one of my books and applied the principles and share their experience.

Success stories, because one, of course, it helps get the word out about my stuff, but also to people. And I know just hearing from a lot of people, they find these interviews inspiring and motivating because it’s just cool to hear somebody else who did well in a way that You or somebody listening also wants to do well.

So let’s start with a, maybe just a quick before and after snapshot. I guess we could probably start with just some numbers, body composition, stuff that will immediately register in people’s minds. And just to be clear to everybody listening. So Rachel went through my coaching service and you did three months, Rachel, or is it?

Rachel: Yeah, I did three months. What? 

Mike: Okay, good. So it’s three months. And what does the before and after look like? I guess we could talk some numbers and then maybe also just how things are qualitatively, like quality of life. And then I think we should rewind to, I’m curious to hear, how did you even find out about.

Me and what were you doing before and how is it going? And so forth. 

Rachel: Yeah, absolutely. Basically, I guess before a quick snapshot of before I was around 160 pounds. I’m six foot flat. I wouldn’t say that it’s like a lot of weight on me, but I’ve very unevenly proportion. So like a lot of women, I had a lot of weight in my hips and my thighs, very small upper body.

So I had a very large pear shape. I had no upper. body strength at all. I can barely do a pushup. It was pretty sad, actually. And then, quick snapshot to afterwards. I was down 15 pounds of fat and I had gained about two inches on both of my biceps, which was a pretty big deal. Because I, when I flexed before I had no muscle and then now I have a pretty significant bicep, which was pretty big.

Really great for me and I was able to do two or three push ups without any help or just non stop Which was a really big goal for me just because I have zero strength at all It was really great to be able to lose 15 pounds of fat and able to see that Weight melt off of my hips because I’d always been super self conscious about it.

And to be able to see a little bit of what my body could look like was really exciting. 

Mike: Yeah. And this is obviously just a preview of things to come, right? Because this is three months that you’re talking about. 

Rachel: I actually finished a program in November. So I’ve actually lost 10 more pounds following the program that I was following.

I actually started off with no abs. I now have a Four defined abs 

Mike: like me, but genetically I can’t have anything else. That’s what I got. Yeah. Awesome. 

Rachel: Hey, twins. But yeah, I have four abs and I’m doing a lot of things I never thought I could do. 

Mike: How many pushups now? 

Rachel: I haven’t actually counted.

I’m actually doing pushups with my feet elevated now. So that’s a huge deal for me. And I can do about one or two of those with my feet elevated on a chair and I haven’t actually done. Account of how many pushups, but I’d say I could probably do maybe like 15 nonstop, which is really great.

Really great for me. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s great. And I’m looking at your numbers here before and after the coaching. So on your dumbbell bench press, where are you at now? 

Rachel: Maybe about 50 pounds. 

Mike: Wow. Cause I have here, you started at 15 for eight. That’s when you, where you started. 

Rachel: Yeah. I was very light. I just kept adding weight.

I didn’t want to be scared of it. I was always super scared of adding weight because it would hurt. And I was like, just push through it. Cause you’re going to see results. And now I’m at 50 and going higher. Every week or I’m trying to, 

Mike: that’s great. Were you concerned about getting bulky when you were first starting, especially if you were going to significantly increase your strength?

Rachel: Yeah, I was a little concerned about it mostly because I didn’t really understand. I didn’t understand anything about. building muscle and I had no knowledge on it. So I just thought, if I work out, I’m going to become like super bulky and, I’m going to look very masculine and I already have really broad shoulders for a woman.

So I was really concerned that it was going to make me look even more masculine than I already did. But the more I kept going, the more I noticed that it actually carved out my body really well and really nicely and gave me more feminine features. So that was really surprising. 

Mike: Yeah. That’s just for women listening.

One of the things to consider is of course, if you were to take wherever you’re at now, whatever your body fat percentage is, and if you just added muscle, things are going to look bigger. That’s of course what happens. But if you’re adding muscle and you’re also stripping away fat and bringing that down to the level that you want it to be at, and that changes some women like to be leaner than others.

Really. But if when you bring your body fat levels down to where you want them to be, yes, you look quote unquote, certain areas of your body might look quote unquote bigger than they would if you’re at that body fat percentage with no muscle, but that’s the difference of looking just thin and way fish without.

Curves or muscle definition and looking athletic. And if you are focusing on training, the right areas of your body, you like, let’s say it’s your lower body. Let’s say it’s your butt. Let’s say it’s your legs, but in a way that adds lines and adds definition, as opposed to just adding. Quote unquote size.

And something else just to consider is that women start with a lot less muscle. It’s not actually that they can’t gain muscle as well as men. They can gain muscle fairly well, almost as, as well as men can. However, women start with so much less muscle than men. It requires quite a bit of muscle gain to ever get to the realm where you starting or where you’re starting to look masculine.

It just takes many years. It takes a lot of work. And quite frankly, a lot of women actually don’t even have the genetics for it. So if you were to maintain a body fat percentage that you’re happy with, it would take a lot of work to ever get to a point where you’re like, wow, I’m actually too jacked now.

And many women could never even get there. It doesn’t matter how hard they tried. They would have to put on a lot more body fat, which is. Not what women generally want to do. So I’m assuming that’s at least in line with what you’ve experienced so far. 

Rachel: Oh yeah, definitely. Putting on body fat was one of my biggest concerns.

I think I always associated like working out with, if you put on muscle, you had to put on fat again. Cause I, I honestly had no idea what was going on. I didn’t really understand how like the muscular system worked and, anything like that. It was really nice to have that fat melt off because I think if I would not have been practicing a proper diet, I think I would have gotten a lot bigger 

Mike: and that’s what happens to many women when they will, they’ll get into any sort of exercise, whether it’s just cardio or resistance training or a mix of both, if they’re not also following a starvation diet, which in many Cases they are, but if they’re not, if they’re just eating by feel and just eating intuitively, what naturally happens is, okay, so you start training your body and that’s great for your body and it has health benefits, but it also increases the energy demands in the body.

And so your body has a complex system for regulating appetite and it tells you essentially what it’s saying. It’s sending signals saying, Hey, give me more food. I need more food. Your body does not want to be in an energy deficit because it thinks What that is mild starvation. So what will happen. And I know just from hearing from a lot of women is if they’re not, like you said, if they’re just going, okay, I’m just going to eat quote unquote clean, and I’m not going to restrict myself and I’m not going to blatantly overeat.

What inevitably happens is either don’t lose fat. So they’re adding muscle, but not losing fat, which isn’t creating the look in the mirror is not very encouraging. Or they overshoot it a bit because all of us, if we just eat based on feel, or if we don’t consciously try to control our calorie intake, all of us are, most of us are going to err on the side of overeating, not undereating.

That’s just biology. So anyways, I’m just throwing out commentary for women listening that things that I’ve come across that it’s good to understand like, oh, okay that, That’s why that’s an issue. And that’s why I’d say it seems to be more of an issue in women. I haven’t looked into the research on emotional eating, but based on my experience, it seems to be more of an issue with women than men and particularly around menstruation.

And so there are other factors that can make it even harder for women to just. Intuitively mildly starve themselves. Basically, it’s like it’s either an all in over the top where you fucking know you’re starving yourself. You’re eating, three tiny meals a day or you’re eating right around your maintenance level and you tend to go over.

So I’m assuming, and this is probably a good segue into what were you doing before? What had you tried before and how is that working? 

Rachel: Yeah, so I’ve actually struggled with diet my whole life. I say that lightly because I am only 24, so really, my diet only became an issue when I was around 18. But I personally struggled with emotional eating because I was diagnosed with endometriosis, so around my period, I would I had stronger symptoms than most people, so I was just going into, chocolate and bags of chips, and like you said, I was either all in or starving myself on my diet, or I was eating way too much.

There was no steady, healthy diet. Really my whole life just because I didn’t really know what I was doing was bad for me because you know You see so many different points of information like oh if you eat less your body will Naturally burn off the fat or don’t eat too little and it was really confusing I tried a lot of fad diets, but recently more recently and 22 I noticed I started packing on a little more weight in my hips.

So I started going really in depth into, these big fad diets. And I actually started doing fasting. So I was fasting for up to two days and then I would eat and I was miserable. It was honestly one of the worst periods of my life because I love to eat and I’m not a happy person when I’m hungry.

Like most people, hangry is a real thing. And I was just really unhappy. My eating habits were really bad. 

Mike: So two days, like 48 hours, just a real fast. 

Rachel: Yeah, real fast, I would drink water and green tea. If I got really irritable, I would try and sip on something that had a little sugar in it, like orange juice.

But it was really unhealthy and, my skin started to deteriorate. Everyone would be like, What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? And I’d be like, No, I’m totally fine. Other people started to notice how unhealthy I was becoming and, I thought I was doing the right thing. thing because I had read, they have so much information online when you don’t really know what’s what you should be doing.

You just assume that could be right. And that could be like the magic ticket into, losing that weight. So I was really uneducated and I probably continued that for a while. Until I started eating again and I started eating less and then I noticed I started to gain more weight. So it was just really confusing.

And that pretty much continued until I started the program. Actually until my fiance started the program first and then I was Oh, okay. 

Mike: So that’s how you found. 

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah. He actually, he was a huge fan of the podcasts and we listened to them on the way to work. And I was like, wow this makes a lot of sense.

All this stuff I’m hearing and. Then he signed up for the program and he had amazing results. And so then I did it and I also had amazing results. 

Mike: Oh, that’s great. And so now tell me, I’m curious on the diet in particular. So how was that aspect of the problem? Cause it was probably a pretty big shift.

Rachel: Yeah, it was. Fortunately, my coach Echo, she was, Awesome. I was able to talk to her about all of my struggles and everything with eating and she was so willing to make it to where it wasn’t super difficult, but the worst part of it was the first week was just changing into that schedule. Because I went from such a unscheduled eating habit, I’m the type of person where if I’m not hungry, I’m not going to eat, whether it’s dinner time or lunchtime.

And sometimes I would just not eat for a whole day because I just wouldn’t be hungry. So that was a little hard going into that and having a scheduled meal and a snack. And the first day I noticed I was super hungry. I thought I was going to, Suffer through the whole three months because I was so hungry and then slowly my body got used to it.

It was definitely a shock to my system because I wasn’t used to eating all of these foods and I wasn’t used to eating as much as I was. 

Mike: Yeah. That’s pretty common. I’ll experience that. I wouldn’t say I get super hungry, but I get more hungry. I generally am not hungry. I get more of a feeling of just like lower energy or I would like to eat food, but I don’t get hunger pangs per se.

However, I’ll notice it. If I’m switching from being in a deficit, if I’m cutting and then I’m going back to maintaining just eating more food, we’ll kick that in where that’s really, that’s the only time where I actually I’m like, wow, I feel hungry. It’s not overwhelming, but I feel it in my, it’s a visceral feeling.

You know what I mean? So I know what that’s like. Fortunately though, it goes away. And then you are able to. Lose fat and gain muscle and do it without having to suffer, right? 

Rachel: That was one of the biggest things I was scared about as I really thought that I was going to be, you know having to starve myself to lose all this weight and I learned very quickly that It’s not as nearly as intimidating as it sounds.

I stayed full and I noticed really quickly how I wasn’t bloated anymore and I wasn’t uncomfortable. I started noticing the differences in my body and I started noticing when I would lose fat and Echo told me not to focus on the scale which is something that was really hard for me because I always assumed that The number is how you succeed, the number on that scale.

And she explained to me, Hey, you’re going to be gaining muscle. That really doesn’t have anything to do with your fat loss because you could gain a pound of muscle and lose a pound of fat, but you’ll still be at the same weight. And that helped a lot. 

Mike: Yeah. That’s a point that I always make and my coaches, we always make with women is just giving them those, that expectation upfront of weight is it’s a metric.

It’s something we’re going to pay attention to, but more importantly, we want to pay attention to what we see in the mirror. We want to pay attention to waist measurement because yes, you are going to gain muscle. Also the muscles that you have, the muscle that you have is going to be holding more water and more carbohydrate and thus more weight.

So let’s not get too caught up in weight and let’s make sure we’re looking at the bigger picture. Also especially during period time of the month, weight is even less it’s just weight means is less valuable to women because women are also more prone to just water retention in general, which is, it’s unfortunate because out in the mainstream, just gen fit world, women are constantly.

Instructed basically to live and die by the scale. But anyway, what was your meal plan like in terms of foods and how did that compare to how you’re eating previously? I’m just curious. 

Rachel: Yeah, so I really hate sweet potatoes. So I made it a point to make sure that she knew I hated sweet potatoes. But yeah, she made a meal plan and I had.

I’m trying to think I had a pretty basic breakfast eggs and then I had a protein shake for snack and I had broccoli and chicken for lunch. I believe it was from your cookbooks. I don’t remember which one, but it was really good. 

Mike: Nice. Like a stir fry. 

Rachel: Yeah, it was the stir fry. It was exactly that one.

That’s really good. 

Mike: I love stir fries. I eat every night. I’m. Always messing around with stir fry recipes these days. It’s just such an easy, delicious way to eat a bunch of vegetables. That’s why I like it. 

Rachel: Yeah, and I hate vegetables. So that was a really great way to make me eat some green stuff. We love those cookbooks.

We use them all the time. 

Mike: Sorry, another tip just interjected. An easy way to get spinach in particular, because if you We want to micromanage your diet. I would say it’d be smart to get a couple servings of leafy greens in per day. And spinach is a great choice is if you’re making a protein smoothie of any kind, you can just throw spinach into it and you won’t really taste any difference.

And especially if you’re just putting, let’s say a serving of spinach in with, maybe it could be some strawberries, a banana and some. Protein powder, ice, and even water. That’s an easy way to get some leafy greens in. 

Rachel: Yeah. I went from not even eating any vegetables to eating a ton of vegetables now. And spinach was really something I really hated with a passion.

And now I finish, just raw. I really love it. So another great part about this program in my experience was it made me crave better food for my body. Cause I really felt bad when I didn’t eat good food, which was Really great for me because I didn’t feel bad before when I ate that food. I just, I felt bad, but I didn’t notice because I felt like that all the time.

Mike: And by feeling bad, you mean physically, right? You’re not. Yeah. Or do not. Or do you mean, because sometimes people feel bad almost like in a moral sense Oh I’m committing a transgression against my body by eating this food. And then there’s feeling bad. No, I feel like I’m going to fucking pass out.

I feel bad. 

Rachel: Yeah, I think it was both. I was definitely feel guilty when I would eat, something bad for me. And, there was always this voice in the back of my head going, Do you really want to eat this right now? Is that something you really want to eat? And I would always do it and then the guilt afterwards would be Terrible, but I would also physically feel bad, I was always tired, my knees would hurt, just like all these physical feelings, I had shortness of breath and I couldn’t ever understand why I was always so tired and so laggy and, and then it really came down to, it was just what I was eating and what I was putting into my body that wasn’t, healthy at all. And it was just like a mixture of both. And when I started doing the meal plan, both of those feelings quickly went away, which was great. Cause I felt good about what I was eating and what I was putting into my body. And then I had a lot of energy the next day. I didn’t wake up, with puffy eyes or anything.

And I didn’t realize how much energy I could have, which is scary because I am 24. So it makes me wonder. How much energy I could have had if I started this earlier, but it is what it is and now I have an amazing amount of energy and I’m just running around doing a lot of stuff. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s awesome.

And obviously you reached that point and you’re definitely there where there is no going back. Unless there were, I don’t know, maybe some catastrophic. The circumstance could ever, but at least you reached that moment psychologically where there is no going back. You’re like no, this is what I’m doing now.

It’s a very firm decision that is not going to change because you have a bad day or because your girlfriends are inviting you out to eat a bunch of bad food and drink a bunch of alcohol. And maybe even do that. And you’re like, ah, whatever it’s one day, but that’s not going to derail you. You know what I mean?

Where you’re like, you experienced a change in your identity. Almost like I am now the type of person that eats. And that exercises and that makes sure I get enough sleep and so forth. 

Rachel: Yeah, definitely. It’s pretty crazy because you, I always assumed that it was just so hard and so demanding to be physically fit.

And I would always, I don’t have the time to do that. I don’t have the energy, which I really didn’t, but. And it just turns out it’s just really not that hard to take care of yourself. And you’re completely right, going out to dinner with my friends. It’s really difficult now because I just don’t, I don’t have the desire to eat the way I used to.

I’m just always Hey, I’ll totally go out with you, but I’m probably not going to indulge. So just don’t take any offense to it because it definitely changed who I was because I’m not willing to risk feeling terrible. Because of eating, that great big old hamburger, 85 chicken nuggets.

Not that I used to, but it’s just a reference, but yeah it’s completely changed who I am. And it’s really a change for the better because I’m excited to see what I can do because of that change. And, it’s, it wasn’t a huge lifestyle change. Like I thought it would be, it wasn’t as hard.

It didn’t take. A lot of time. It was just super quick and easy and it’s really benefited me a lot and it will continue to benefit me for a really long time. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s awesome. And my personal experience is that a lot of things that people don’t. Want to do that. They should do tend to go the same way that once you get going, you realize that it’s actually not that hard.

And you quickly acclimate to whatever it is that you’re doing. That becomes your new normal. And there’s even, I think I wrote about this in the motivation book that I wrote. Yeah, pretty sure it’s in there, but if a simple little trick is, let’s say you have a task that you’re supposed to do that.

You really are not wanting to do make a deal with yourself that you’ll just do it for 10 minutes. And then if after 10 minutes, you are hating every second of it and you want to stop, you’ll stop and nine times out of 10 after 10 minutes, you’re getting into the flow of it and you have no problem continuing.

I think that’s a micro example that applies in the macro as well that once you really start getting into something, especially something like this, that is so positive and involves you. Taking more responsibility for yourself, right? That’s what we’re talking about. And for your health, that once you get going, you realize one, it’s actually not that hard.

And two it’s actually pretty enjoyable. And the benefits so far outweigh The downsides, which, yeah, sure. There are some days I’m sure that you’ve experienced this. Some days you don’t really feel like going to the gym. You still do it, but there’s a little bit of resistance there. Or maybe you’re doing a workout and you’re like, ah, this workout sucks and you just keep going though.

But that’s not the norm. Once you get into the right routine, 

Rachel: yeah, definitely. 

Mike: 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 Muscle4Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle4Life, and Facebook at Muscle4Life Fitness. So let’s talk about the, let’s talk about the exercise side of things. What were you doing previously?

And, 

Or maybe it’s nothing. 

Rachel: Yeah. It was, the gym was always like super intimidating for me. 

Mike: Why? Okay. 

Rachel: I don’t know. I guess I was always one of those people that would I watched, the YouTube videos and see the videos of someone doing something wrong and it would end up on YouTube and some of them were really funny.

Yeah, the failed videos. Yeah, and I wouldn’t say I was ever that extreme. But, it did make me a little self conscious because I did not know what I was doing. I didn’t want people to look at me and go, Wow, she surely doesn’t know what she’s doing, does she? Oh, what is she doing in here? It was one of my own insecurities that I dealt with.

And not only that, but, dealing with me also being a young woman, I was a little intimidated just because I’m, in the past, I have had people come up to me in the gym, a little uncomfortable. That was another reason, but I got over that pretty quickly because I realized that, some experiences mean that everybody behaves that way just because a few people behave that way.

And that was one of the biggest things. And I know that other women have that hesitation, but I learned very quickly that people aren’t in the gym to, Look at me and make fun of me there in the gym to do better for themselves. So I did get in the gym. 

Mike: Yep. And let’s face it, most of the guys who would even, let’s just say younger guys, most of them spend a lot more time staring at themselves in the mirror than even looking at any of the women.

They’re way more into themselves. 

Rachel: That’s so true. Yeah. It’s such a good point. I learned very quickly. Quickly. That it’s very easy to look at yourself when you’re making gains. Cause I ended up doing the same thing after a while. I would, see myself in the mirror and be like, Oh Hey there a little bicep, and I would, flex in the mirror.

And I realized that it was just a misconception of a lot of people. So I didn’t actually go to the gym. I had a little gym set up here to avoid all of that. It wasn’t great. I had a few dumbbells and that was about it. And I would run a lot, do a lot of cardio, and I wouldn’t really get anywhere.

I wasn’t doing anything for my body. 

Mike: So exercise, though, it’s interesting that you were doing a fair amount of running previously, but you were not feeling good. And because when you were talking about your diet and how you’re feeling, I was thinking that one of something that a listener might be thinking is you also, if you went from being sedentary and doing extreme fasting and eating bad food, to, To something more sensible with your diet and exercising.

Yeah, it’s not surprising. You feel a lot better because exercise alone is just so powerful, but you were exercising previously, you weren’t doing resistance training, but you were exercising. 

Rachel: Yeah. And I also, I have a very strenuous job as well. I’m moving around at my job. I’m very active. A lot of the feeling was mainly coming from just eating badly.

Yeah, that was a big thing. Just a lot of diet. 

Mike: Were you a little bit concerned initially? So you’re doing a lot of cardio, no resistance training. Now you’re flipping it, right? I’m assuming you spent most of your time doing resistance training and maybe some cardio as needed. 

Rachel: We actually started doing cardio three days a week, just so I could lose some of that extra fat, but I was doing a lot of resistance training.

She asked me what goals I was looking for. And since my upper body was really lacking, I really wanted to build up my shoulders. So my key points were my shoulders, my thighs. And my arms, I do have arthritis. So I wanted to build up the muscles around my joints where I hurt the most. So that would help. We went right into it and it was pretty crazy because I was super sore and I’d never felt that kind of muscle soreness before.

And it was a little hard for me to get used to, but I eventually started loving it because I was like, wow, this is awesome. Amazing. I’m so glad I’m sore, which is really weird because, when I used to get sore, it was just, it was the worst. It was like, Oh my gosh, I can’t move. Don’t talk to me.

It was just very dramatic. And now it’s I’m sore. I had a really good workout, but yeah, I focused on my shoulders and. She pushed me right into it, which was great because I didn’t feel like I was being coddled or cradled. It was just like, we’re going to do this. This is what you wanted. This is what you signed up for.

So we’re going to give you the results you want. It worked out really great for me because I was, doing incline bench and flat bench. And then I would go into squats and deadlifts, which I had never done a deadlift before. That was really awesome. And then the bicep curls and just so many things I’d never done before.

It was really awesome. Cause it just opened my hole. World up to this exercising and started to feel great and I started to look great. So the exercise that was a really positive experience for me. 

Mike: Yeah, I bet. And how are your joints doing? 

Rachel: Great. Actually, I used to have knee pain almost every night, and before I started working out I actually was taking fortify and that helped a lot with the pain over time But then once I started working out and exercising, I’ve had knee pain since September which was really awesome because it used to be debilitating.

When I would have knee pain, it would be so bad. I would become nauseous and I would become flush. 

Mike: Holy shit. 

Rachel: Yeah. If anybody does have arthritis, they understand like the kind of pain that I’m talking about. It’s just, it’s indescribable. It’s really awesome not to feel that anymore because I’m a lot stronger and I’ve built up those muscles.

And since I am moving my joints around, it helps me a lot. And. My, my arthritis wasn’t bad. So I feel like this has become a little bit of a preventative from it becoming worse, just working out and moving those joints and keeping them healthy. That’s been really awesome because it used to be terrible for me.

And now I’m just, I’m able to squat and bend over and do all these other things that used to be really hard. And, I’m. I can do like cartwheels and backflips and like I used to be able to when I was younger with no problem. No, no pain and really great for that. 

Mike: That’s awesome. There’s so many cool facets of this.

It’s really a huge change in just the last five, six months, I guess is from when it really started, right? 

Rachel: Yeah. I would say it started January, 2018 when my fiance started it, because I had to start eating a lot better when he was doing his program, because I was cooking every meal for him.

I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be a part of his success story. And so I was cooking every meal. So when I would just eat whatever he was eating not in the same amounts, cause he was eating a lot more than I was, but and that’s when it started. And then when I started the program, it just kicked me full speed into it.

That’s when I started seeing the most results when I did it myself, because I was getting the one on one help. And yeah it’s been a really big change, but it’s been a really positive change, and I’m a lot happier. As a person and I’m more willing to take opportunities because of this, because, this was a big step for me because I’ve always been the person who’s I don’t know, I’ll think about it.

And since I just did this has opened me up to saying, you succeeded with this and that was an open door and you took it. I’m starting to say yes to a lot more because of this program. It’s done a lot of things for me personally. 

Mike: Yeah, that’s super cool. And it’s a good, metaphor analogy of other things that you might want to do.

Like you have the basic fundamentals and you learn them and you’re good at them and you work at them every single day and good things happen. That’s, it’s like the 20 percent that produces 80. Percent of the results that are even potentially available, right? 

Rachel: Yeah, definitely. 

Mike: So what are your goals now?

Where do you go from here? 

Rachel: I’m still working on losing fat around my hips and my thighs. I’ve come to discover that is very stubborn. Doesn’t want to go away. But my goal right now is just to, I deadlift like 150 pounds. That’s my goal right now. I’m at Maybe 115. So that’s my goal for that, for my legs.

That’s my big goal right now, which is it’s relatively small in the grand scheme of things, but I found what works for me if I set smaller goals, because then I go a lot further, I guess for my body, I just want to, I want to shed a little more weight, but I’m starting to I’m starting to get a little sculpted and I’d really like to have a six pack because I think I feel two more abs down there.

I’m not exactly sure if I do have them or not, but I’m hoping that I can see those soon, but overall I’m really happy with where I am, but I’m going to continue to move further just because it’s become almost like an addiction to work out because I feel so good when I do it. And it’s just, it’s a very positive thing in my life.

Yeah, that’s really my goal just to keep pushing and keep going. 

Mike: That’s great. And something to consider on the six pack point is in most women, because obviously the amount of development in your core muscles are going to play a role in that, especially like the rectus abdominis, the ab muscles in the front in many women to have a full blown six pack in the way that kind of guys have, it usually requires Getting very lean.

I would say a level of body fat percentage. You could do it just to do it, but you might find it’s hard to maintain. My version of that is, so I’ve cut down to, maybe 6 or 7 percent body fat for photo shoots where it’s not just six pack the skin on your abs. You can’t even pinch anything anymore.

You know what I mean? And yeah, it looks cool. And But maintaining it was a bitch maintaining it. My workouts were always a bit worse than they were. If I just were, maybe two or 3%, if my body fat percentage 3 percent higher, I was, so that was me exercising. I would say I find about six hours a week, maybe a little bit more actually closer to seven.

Cause I was in the gym five days a week for about an hour lifting. Then I was doing. Three, I want to say 30 minute, hit cardio sessions to stay at that level of body fat. And I also felt like I never was able to eat as much food as my body wanted, even though I wasn’t in a deficit, like my weight was steady, my measurements.

We’re steady. That truly was maintenance, but it felt like I was in a deficit. Always energy levels, a bit lower sex drive, a bit lower. So just throwing that out there. Something to think with that. When you get there, you might be like, all right, this is cool. And you’ll take a bunch of pictures, but you might find that after a few weeks of it, you’re over it where you’re like, eh, I’d rather my quality of life is worth more than having the exact six pack that I’m going to be It looks so cool in pictures.

Like you might go, you know what? The four pack is actually pretty good. And I like my life outside of looking at pictures when I have the four pack. 

Rachel: Yeah, definitely. I’m totally happy with where I am right now. The six pack is like a little dream, 

Mike: yeah, no, you should totally do it.

I’m just giving you a heads up. The guy version of that is what I just described. It’s not just the six pack. It’s, it’s being super shredded and being, Instagram shredded. I’ll put it that way. 

Rachel: That was a lot of my expectations for a while was like, being like the Instagram models and the perfect body.

And then I, one day I was like, I wonder how much editing goes into some of those pictures. 

Mike: That’s, I was gonna say you’re actually already there. Just take your pictures and then just turn them over to the editor and you’re done. 

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah. So my little four pack is it’s Instagram worthy.

I think. 

Mike: All right. This was great, Rachel. Thanks again for taking the time. I appreciate it. 

Rachel: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it. 

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.

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