Lifting Heavy Things Is Essential For Your Midlife Metabolism

The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin Dunston

Don't miss out on the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, where we delve into the importance of lifting weights for boosting your midlife metabolism. Our featured guest, Ashley Fillmore, is a leading expert in sustainable weight-loss who helps women balance their hormones, heal their metabolism, and achieve body composition changes that last a lifetime.
Ashley Fillmore is the Founder and President of Metabolic Fix™, a premium online coaching company that has helped thousands of women unlock the secret to better health and wellness. She is driven by her passion for helping women discover the life of health, happiness, and self-love they deserve.
In this episode you will learn:

• the importance of incorporating heavy lifting into your fitness routine for a robust midlife metabolism
• the science behind the benefits of weightlifting
• the transformative power of lifting heavy things and how you can effectively shape and transform your body, especially during the midlife stage.

Join us on The Hormone Prescription Podcast today and learn how to unlock the secret to a boosted midlife metabolism with Ashley Fillmore!

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Everything you've ever wanted is sitting on the other side of beer. Ashley Fillmore. Stay tuned and I'll tell you how to do this thing that you haven't wanted to do for your health that you must do to make midlife marvelous.

Speaker 2 (00:19):

So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself Again. As an OB G Y N I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:12):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today as we're going to talk about facing a fear that many women have that really is essential for them to do this thing, to make midlife marvelous, to make their metabolism marvelous, to get the health, the brilliant health that you desire and deserve. Yeah, I gotta do this thing. And so many of you are afraid of it or you're avoiding it and not doing it, and you don't know that there's some fear under there, but a lot of times there is. So we're gonna talk about it today. My guest today is really a ninja at this. I mean, she's had her own health challenges that she's gonna share with you and she's found some really cool paths over the mountain that she's gonna guide you through and help you understand.

Speaker 1 (02:09):

So I'm excited to dive into it with Ashley and to get you some information. She's gonna talk about your bravery. How do you get to the other side of fear and why your dreams might not be working? And that might be helpful to know because you have your dreams for a reason. They're meant to guide you to where you're supposed to be. So if you're not doing all the things like I like to say, we're gonna talk about all the things, but mostly this one thing that you're not doing, that you keep saying you're gonna do that's stopping you from experiencing the brilliant health that you deserve. So I'll tell you a little bit about Ashley and then we'll get started. She is a leading expert in sustainable weight loss and she helps women heal their metabolism, balance their hormones, and achieve body composition changes that lasts a lifetime.

Speaker 1 (02:58):

Woohoo. She is the founder and president of Metabolic Fix, a premium online coaching company that has helped thousands of women finally break free from chronic dieting for good and achieve long-term sustainable results using the metabolic fix method. She has a deep commitment to helping women better their lives and she strives to inspire others to embrace a life of health, happiness, and self-love. You deserve that self-love that we all deserve. She's a renowned keynote speaker, she's been on many podcasts. She has her own podcast, cheers to your success, and she has a Bachelor of Science and Exercise and nutrition and is a certified PT professional nutrition coach and health educator. Welcome Ashley to the Hormone Prescription. Hi.

Speaker 3 (03:44):

Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to talk with you today.

Speaker 1 (03:48):

Yes. I think this is such an important topic. Why lifting everything is essential to your midlife metabolism. We women just don't get the weight lifting aspect and requirements of our health, especially as we age. And I find so many women don't lift enough weight, not heavy enough, or they don't do it at all. They're very focused on aerobics. So what helped you zero in on the fact that this is essential for us as we age?

Speaker 3 (04:19):

Yeah, so I think it started back when I started my career and when I was going through school and studying hormones, metabolism and sustainable weight loss. One thing that popped up all the time throughout my research and my certifications was the importance of weight training and its impact on your metabolism as you age. So most of the women that I've helped from day one in my career, I would say, are in their forties, fifties, sixties. And a lot of the women wanna lose weight. They've done a lot of crash dieting, they've done a lot of cardio based exercises cuz that was really popular in the eighties, nineties, even seventies when they were growing up. And you know, they need different because what they're currently doing isn't working and not serving them well anymore. And so when I was studying the impact that weight training has on your metabolism, the research is really shocking.

Speaker 3 (05:12):

And honestly for me it was just a no-brainer to say, okay, as women we need to become more comfortable in the gym. We have a space here. Your gym could be in a physical gym or even at home, but we need to become more comfortable with weight training. It's not just for men and it's not gonna make us bulky because that's the number one thing I hear from women is I don't wanna look like a man. We don't have the hormonal profile as you know, to look like a man. Even if we wanted to look like a man, we couldn't do it unless we were taking some extra hormones to help us look that way. And so really it started there in just recognizing the importance of building muscle mass and then backing it up from there and saying, okay, what do you have to do to build muscle mass? Does cardio help you build muscle mass? Does that 90 minute aerobics class build muscle mass? What's really gonna add more muscle mass on your frame? And what can you do to maintain the muscle mass that you have? When I started researching that, it connected all the dots. Weight training was the answer.

Speaker 1 (06:21):

Yeah, it's so key. And I mean we, we start as women losing muscle mass at the age of 30 if we don't lose any, do anything to prevent it, like weight training, hormone balancing, all the things. But weights are really essential. And you know, a lot of women I think don't realize that they're resting metabolic rate, meaning the rate at which they burn calories when they're just sit sitting there looking beautiful and doing nothing else really goes down when they, you start losing muscle mass and, and this is that 3% weight gain that we start with at age 30 if we don't do anything to counteract it. So this is really essential. So if you're listening and you're not using resistance or weight training as a part of your program, you want to listen up and, and you're right, absolutely right Ashley, about we don't have the testosterone to sustain the amount of muscle mass that males have. We just don't have it. So unless you're taking high doses or doping with testosterone, you're not going to bulk up. So you're not gonna look like some of these women who are professional weight trainers and have these huge muscles. You're just gonna get definition. So where is important for someone? Where do they start? Say they're, they've never worked with weights, they've never listed lifted weights. Yeah. How do they even get started with that?

Speaker 3 (07:40):

Yeah, and I think that it can be really overwhelming and it can be really intimidating. I've had so many women come to me and say, I'm, I'm terrified to go into the gym. I am so terrified. There's, you know, college kids, boys, you know, men, everyone's, you know, grunting and groaning and sweating on everything . I don't feel like I have a place here, but I'm like, no, you have a place here. And sometimes when we look back, at least I'm thinking back to when I was in college doing my internship, a part of my internship was working at a local health training studio. And when I even went to the gyms, there was a women's only section, which meant as a woman you could go to this designated area in the gym and use your machines and they had five pound dumbbells and eight pound dumbbells.

Speaker 3 (08:28):

It may be 10 pounds, but it stopped there and it kind of made you feel like as a woman that's where you belonged. You weren't really welcomed or supposed to be out in the big gym with the guys and it can be intimidating as a beginner. And so I think that's simple as best. And honestly I would say number one is getting some professional help. Truly it is really worth the investment because you can go on Instagram or even Google it these days and sure, are you gonna be able to find a workout? Definitely we can find a workout within a couple of seconds. Doesn't mean that this workout's effective or where you should be starting. Absolutely not. And so I think it's important to, if you can have someone assist you and guide you if you're a beginner, the basics work. Well, compound movements, you don't need to do workout for hours a day, even 20 or 30 minutes.

Speaker 3 (09:23):

There's research that shows the benefits in doing that. And then the secret is consistency. You have to consistently put in the work and be willing to progressively over time increase your weight in the gym, which is what we refer to as progressive overload. So not necessarily every week or every day go up on the weights you're lifting, but progressively over the course of several weeks and months, you should be able to say, okay, as I reflect back on my program, maybe you start off with five or 10 pounds, but over the course of maybe three, six weeks, 12 weeks, you go up to 10, 15, maybe even 20 pounds or more. I think that, you know, being, getting comfortable with lifting heavy weight and realizing heavy is relative to the individual. But keeping in mind as a beginner, you don't have to use fancy equipment, you don't need fancy machines, you actually don't even need a gym membership. You can simply buy some weights at home and follow a great program in the comfort of your home or going to a gym. But having a professional guide you, unless you are a certified personal trainer and know how to program effectively, can really be a game changer for that beginner getting started.

Speaker 1 (10:41):

Yeah, I think that's such important information. I will say I have trained with weights in a variety of scenarios throughout my life and the best results I ever got one of was actually when I worked with the best personal trainer I've ever worked with. And she knew exactly what you needed for optimum weight and different muscle groups and for functional capacity, right? So I was trying to increase certain muscle groups in my body cuz I was having back problems when I was so obese and she was just amazing. And I've done it myself too, where I've had weights at home and even I still was left with those questions. Am I doing the right exercises? Am I using the right weights? So where would someone start, say they want to buy some weights and do it at home, and maybe this is something you go through in your programs and help guide people on, but if you could just give them a ballpark idea so they can see it in their minds of how easy this could be, where would they even start if they were gonna do this at home?

Speaker 3 (11:43):

Yeah, no, that's a great question and, and you're right. One of the things I'll offer at the end of our show is even a trial to my rise workout program, which really does lay this out nicely for someone getting home or getting started and maybe wanting to work out at home or wanting to work out even in the gym. But if you're listening in and you're thinking, okay, I really want to get started, what do I need to buy today and what should I be doing? I would say if you're gonna work out at home and not join a gym membership, a bench, preferably an adjustable bench. So you can do incline dumbbell presses or flats, step ups, there's a lot of different things we can utilize that bench for, depending on your mobility and your flexibility. Certain movements like squats could be difficult to do free standing, so squatting to a bench can be very helpful to ensure that you're getting the proper range of motion so you can, that adjustable bench is perfect.

Speaker 3 (12:39):

I would say depending on your strength level. One of the things I mentioned earlier on was that strength is very much so relative to the individual. So for example, you may feel like 15 or 20 pounds is heavy or, and I may think it's super light, but it just depends on our strength levels, how long we've been lifting weights, how much muscle mass we have. And so for you getting started, I would say get a range of weights, you don't need a ton. I would say get some light dumbbells for higher repetitions and working more isolated muscle groups. So maybe five pounds, maybe two and a half pounds, eight pounds, 10 pounds. But then I would also suggest investing in some heavier dumbbells. So you can do lower reps at a heavier weight, meaning maybe you're only gonna do five to eight reps, so that five or 10 pound set of dumbbells isn't gonna work anymore.

Speaker 3 (13:33):

You're gonna need maybe 15, 20 plus pounds. So I think just having a variety of weights, maybe two lighter sets, two heavier sets, or one of each light and heavy. And I'm a big fan of bands as well. I do a lot of mini bands. We utilize them a lot for glute activation, which is something women struggle with, especially if you have a very sedentary job and you're not activating your glutes a lot, which you're not activating them when you're like in a, in a chair all day long. So we do a lot of band work as well. So you can typically google like mini band glute bands and there will be a variety of options that pop up. Those are very handy. You can add a lot of tension on your glutes and even for your lower back strength. And then if you can also maybe think about a stability ball.

Speaker 3 (14:23):

So you could do some core exercises as well as some leg exercises when you're like lying on laying on a floor, there's certain exercises you could do with that stability ball. So that would be the equipment a bench adjustable dump bes heavy and light mini bands for the glutes. And if you can't afford it, a stability ball, that would be enough to get started. Sure, you can go on and invest in more advanced equipment for your home gym, but I think build start there, show yourself that you can do it consistently and then think about making a larger investment down the road if you wanna get a squat rack, barbells and things like that. And then for your workouts, I think starting off really basic, generally speaking, you wanna focus primarily on compound movements. And so compound movements would be your squats, lunges, pullups, pushups, bent over rows. And some of these terms may not even, you know, just if you haven't lifted weights, it may be hard to even know what I'm talking about. Bench pressing, those are compound movements. You're activating multiple muscle groups and you're gonna burn more calories by doing that and help rev up your metabolism. And so focusing the bulk of your training plan on that, and even a basic template of three by 10 to just get started with anywhere between, I would say six to 10 exercises is very effective for a beginner.

Speaker 1 (15:57):

Awesome. Well that's like a comprehensive how to get started guy. Thank you Ashley, that was amazing. And I'm wondering if you can, because I know a lot of women are still are so hesitant to get started with this, can you share some stories of some women who have you've worked with in your program who maybe they were hesitant to and what their journey was like through starting with resistance training?

Speaker 3 (16:25):

Yeah, I would love to, and if you're okay with it, I would love to share a little bit of my story and then I'll go into sharing. I have a couple of clients in mind that I would love to just briefly touch on. But I will say that I used to be very afraid. Interestingly, although my education and background is in personal training, nutrition coaching, specializing in sustainable weight loss. When I was, started my career literally right out of college, I was very young and didn't have a lot of experience at that time. You know, I was afraid to be honest. So truly lifting weights, I leaned more into cardio and I thought that that was the secret and I thought more was better. And so I would, I signed up for a gym membership, not at for personal training, but for myself. And I started taking, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the less mills classes, but I took body pump step aerobics, spin class, and I would spend three to four hours a day in the gym burning calories because I thought that was the secret to building the body that I wanted what ended up happening.

Speaker 3 (17:32):

And combine that with crash dieting and eating about 1200 calories a day as a 20 year old, let's just say that's a perfect formula for disaster . So I thought that was all I needed to do to lose body fat. I was putting in a ton of effort in the gym doing exclusively cardio based workouts to burn calories. I was eating in a big caloric deficit, but I realized instead of gaining muscle mass and looking strong and healthy, I ended up honestly looking the opposite of that in my opinion. I had friends and family members and even clients say, wow, you know, are you okay ? You know, no, like you're no nothing personal, but you just, you look like you're getting a little too, just frail to me was the term that they lose not so much strong or healthy. And so I hit a dead end road.

Speaker 3 (18:26):

My hormones were in a really bad place. I lost my cycle. I felt really bad. I didn't feel good, I had horrible energy and I was spending so much of my day in the gym. I started to question, can I sustain this? I'm gonna be working full-time, I wanna have a family, I'm gonna have a household to maintain. There's no way. And so when I hit my dead end road, I had to stop doing everything that I was doing, including the cardio for hours, the undereating. And that's when I said, okay, I need to lean into what I know and what I'm literally, you know, learning through my own training and education. And that's when I started to walk at a steady low st, no, no steady state cardio, just at a leisure pace is what I would call it. Mm-Hmm. several days a week.

Speaker 3 (19:16):

And I started weight training three times per week and I took away all of the hit all of the extras and I went to basic functional strength training. And that's what I leaned into three times per week. I periodized my strength training programs to ensure that my body was going to change and I was gonna work my muscles in all of the necessary ways. So endurance training, hypertrophy training, which is muscle building and strength training. And I really leaned into progressive overload. My body started to transform and slowly but surely my hormones started to rebalance, my cycles returned, my energy came back. And instead of looking like the skinny slash, as my clients would even say at times frail version of myself mm-hmm. , I started to have more muscle mass on my frame. I started to physically be able to see my strength correlate over into other things.

Speaker 3 (20:17):

Like, wow, well now I can lift more weights here, I could pick up seven grocery bags or 10 at one time even. And it was a really amazing experience. And so I really leaned into that and since then I've been now lifting weights for over a decade. And it's been amazing. I mean, it's helped me stay strong through my pregnancies, it's helped me stay, stay strong postpartum. And it's just for me now, it's the number one thing I lean into weight training and walking. Those two things are the, in my opinion, you can do the ex, you can do cardio once you have that foundation built. And similar stories from my clients, I will say a lot of women come to me with more of the cardio mindset where they need to do cardio to burn body fat. And again, I personally have nothing against cardio.

Speaker 3 (21:07):

When you are utilizing it correctly and you have a strong foundation built for strength training, if you are a woman perimenopause or menopause, in my opinion, weight training needs to be a part of your program. You cannot only be doing cardio and expect to sustain your muscle tissue. And as you even mentioned, when your muscle tissue decreases, your metabolic rate also decreases. So you start to see why it becomes so easy to gain weight. And so my client's very similar. Cardio was all that they did. Dieting, excessive, you know, just chronically dieting all the time. And for them, I will say the biggest thing that they realized is that, wow, this is a lot easier than I realized. I'm actually falling in love with weight training and the feeling that I get from doing it. I'm strong, I'm capable. I also have a place here and wow, I wanted to lose inches off my waist.

Speaker 3 (22:10):

Here's how I do it. I wanted my glutes to look rounder and nicer. This is the secret to doing that. And so you start to see that as well. And so I would say for them, their competence, their body composition transforms. I'll see clients lose anywhere from 10 to 20 inches within a course of even three to 12 months depending on that client and the health of their metabolism when we got started. But could you imagine 20, and it sounds like you've had an amazing transformation yourself, but 20 inches off of your frame, that is significant fat loss.

Speaker 1 (22:48):

It is. I've even noticed in times where maybe I don't have access and I don't take the time to do weights for a while, and then I enter them back into my program, all of a sudden within a couple weeks, my clothes are all too big. And it really does get your musculature up and running where it just starts contracting around your frame and giving you more shape even for the same weight. Maybe you don't lose weight. So I just wanna say amen to everything you just said. You've got to have the resistance training. It's so key and really it's, it's what gives you that shape that you are looking for for your clothes. It's not always that you need to lose fat, you need to shape what you've already got,

Speaker 3 (23:34):

Right? That's right. You can and you can. And that's where you can focus on body recomposition. Not so much losing scale weight, it's more about maybe maintaining your current weight and just working on your muscle to body fat ratio. So bumping up that muscle mass, decreasing that body fat slowly. Mm-Hmm. , you can do that only by consistently strength training and eating enough for your body. But just like with weight training, it should be customized to some level to fit your goals and where you are and your nutrition should do the same. And when you put those two together, even if you're in your forties and fifties, actually I have a client that's gonna be 77 in December, she's been with me my whole career almost. And I will say she's still getting stronger. Still getting stronger. She's doing 17 body weight pull-ups. It's

Speaker 1 (24:29):

Amazing. Wow. That is amazing. At that age 17 body weight pull-ups. Whoa, shout out. That's amazing. .

Speaker 3 (24:37):

Yes.

Speaker 1 (24:38):

Can we, that's amazing. Can we also talk about body fat percentage? Because body composition is something that I love to use with people. I love the scales that give that information. And actually a little story about that. So after I lost the hundred pounds and had this transformation, I got, so I was so zealous about working out and weights and exercise and I said, oh, I wanna lower my body fat to 10%. So I was working with this trainer at the time and he looked at me like I was crazy and he said, I might have to kill you to get your body fat to 10%. And I didn't really understand, even though I had had, I had two sisters who did bikini competitions and they would go through their whole eating program and weight program before their competitions. And I watched them and it looked a little extreme, but I thought, oh, I can do that.

Speaker 1 (25:32):

And so I said that to him, he's like, that might just, I might have to kill you to do that. And then he explained to me what I was gonna have to do and I promptly decided, no, I don't want 10% body fat . Yeah. I don't wanna do. And I was sharing this in my hormone bliss challenge last week with the women in it as an example of your why has to be strong enough to get the outcome and to do the things that you're gonna need to do to get the outcome that you want. And, and I'm gonna use this to segue into talking about something else that I know we both are passionate about, which is dreams. But can you talk about what is an appropriate body fat percentage for a woman at 40 and above? And what should be we be aiming for? You know, we talk about weight loss, but really it's not weight loss because we could be losing muscle mass, it's fat loss that we want. So what should we be shooting for?

Speaker 3 (26:27):

Yeah. So you're right, 10% body fat. I'm happy you had a great trainer because that was really great advice. It would be, it's not impossible. A lot of times when you see maybe like your sisters when they were doing the bikini competitions or the body builders as women, a lot of them will even be under 10% body fat. But as you know with hormones, it is very, very difficult even eating in a deficit and working out six, seven days a week to get your body fat that low. And for us, it has a lot to do with our sex hormones, your estrogen levels. And generally when we start to lose body fat to that level, which is something I did, which was also why I lost my cycle. Mm-Hmm. is it's really hard for your body to, if you don't have enough fat storage to produce those sex hormones that we need your estrogen, your progesterone.

Speaker 3 (27:17):

And so for me, when my fat storage went down, it's really interesting. On my hormonal testing, it very much so showed my estrogen levels were way below normal ranges. Mm-Hmm. and other hormones were also very depleted. So for women it's difficult for us to get our body fat that low. There's a lot of, I would say almost like with the B M I charts, I would say that body fat sets differently on everyone's frame. So for exa, for example, you know, if you're five eight and you have 25% body fat and let's say you're within a healthy range, it may look a lot different than someone that's five four and you know, with a SMUD smaller frame. So I think the thing that I like to say when it comes to body fat percentages is there's always gonna be some wiggle room. I would say as a female, even in the teens is pretty difficult to get, especially if you're perimenopausal or menopausal.

Speaker 3 (28:12):

If you're thinking about, Hey, I just wanna get down to 15% body fat or 18% body fat, that's very much so in the athletic range, right? I would say a lot of my clients in their forties and fifties, and I've worked with hundreds of women over the last 17 plus years I've been doing this, most of them are at their healthiest when their body fat is within the 20% range, varying from mid to low twenties, which again, more people probably vary more to mid twenties, a little, you know, 24, 20 5%, that's where they're seeing their bodies start to change. When they get to the lower twenties, that's when they're seeing a lot of definition sculpted shoulders, AB muscles start to come out. I would say teens, you're getting into more, you know, athletic performance based body composition. And then as you probably know below that, you're getting into competition, stage it or you know, stage ready as they like to call it.

Speaker 3 (29:11):

And I don't think it's necessary for women to be that low in body fat percentage. I honestly think having some body fat's healthy, your hormones need it. I think that as a woman, you look nice with personally. Now everybody's opinion's different, but there's nothing wrong with a healthy amount of body fat. I know I worked really hard to get my body fat back up because I didn't like the way that I felt when it was that low. Mm-Hmm. . So for me, I would say, you know, when I'm coaching my clients, that's something that I look at and we pay attention to. They also, some of them will utilize scales. I wanna share something with you though, and this goes back to something you mentioned right before. Mm-Hmm. . So before I moved my company online, I worked as an in-person nutritionist and personal trainer at a health studio.

Speaker 3 (29:56):

So we only worked one-on-one with clients. We weren't like a big commercial gym where you could come and go as you please. There were group fitness classes. This was only appointment based. It was myself and the owner of the gym. And then he even built out a team a little bit larger as his business grew. And so we would do body fat analysis with caliper's on our clients. So as you know, there's room for error with all of these mm-hmm. forms to measure your body F. But if you have one person measuring you consistently utilizing the same CalPERS under the same circumstances and they've been measuring you for a while, you can really count that as accurate data to truly gauge a range. Now always keep in mind there's room for error with even the scales. You have to just keep that in mind, depending on your hydration and the time of day and all of that.

Speaker 3 (30:48):

I would have clients that I've been working with for let's say five or six years, measuring them every week or every other week at times, they would go through phases where they would miss a lot of workouts, they wouldn't eat correctly and they would come in, their scale weight would be up or the same and their body fat percentage would not be any lower. And then when we looked at their muscle ratio, muscle mass ratio, it wasn't any lower. And so, you know, sometimes when people would lean into the measurements, we would see different all kinds of data. At times we would see people's weight lower, but their body fat percentage higher. So that would really get the client, they would say, oh, well why is my weight lower? But my body fat percentage in muscle math, my body fat percentage is not lower and my muscle ratio is still not in a great place. And a lot of that turns to the type of training you're doing and the way that you're eating. And the point that I wanna make is that a low number on the scale doesn't always mean that you're losing body fat and building muscle mass,

Speaker 1 (31:52):

Right?

Speaker 3 (31:53):

Weighing the same or even gaining a little bit of weight when you're lifting weights consistently and dialing in your nutrition doesn't always mean that you're gaining body fat. And a lot of women think that it's like, oh, the scale's up a pound or two mm, I've gained a bunch of weight. And I'm like, no, no, no, hold on. Let's really assess the data. Doesn't mean that you've gained body fat just because the weight is up a pound or two.

Speaker 1 (32:18):

Yes. Wow. This is all such important information and I'm so happy to really have you on the show and dive into this topic because it's super important. And I will say it hands down, is one of the top five things that women miss over 40 in balancing their hormones, boosting their metabolism is a weight training y'all. So do it. Just do it right. Like Nike says, just do it. Just get started. Do it and perfectly do it today, do it and get started. As always, I love, I love a good quote. And Ashley, you shared some great ones. So I wanna dive into something else that's super important, which is talking about how do you achieve anything in your life a dream. So, well, why might you wanna have resistance training or weights in your program, in your health program? Because you want brilliant health, right?

Speaker 1 (33:15):

Because you wanna feel amazing at 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 beyond. You wanna live a long life, you wanna feel great, you wanna have great sex, you wanna look great, you wanna function great, you wanna be healthy, you don't wanna be bogged down by disease. So those are dreams because the only reason we have time on this planet is because we have a body. And when this body expires, which I, I consider your first home, your time is done and then you get that date on the second side, half other half of your tombstone, right? You get a beginning date, a dash and an end date. So it's all about dreams. What is the dream for your life? And that's why I was talking to my women in my challenge about their why. It's not what you want, it's why you want it, that will help you get there. And so you share this, dreams don't work unless you do. And I absolutely love that. Is that something that you say regularly and what does it mean to you?

Speaker 3 (34:10):

Yes, I say that all the time because it's a reminder. It also is a great reminder to help you take radical responsibility. And it gives you the power to know that you are in control of your life and the choices you make today can make a positive impact on your life or a negative impact on your life. And I noticed some that can make you feel scared or afraid to even go there. But truly for me it was very empowering to say, wow, if I want this, I have to do the work. There's no one else in my life, not my husband, not my children, not my friends that can do this for me, but I have to be the one to want it. And if I want it, I can make this happen. And truly believing that is a part of this. And I think this goes back to the confidence you have within yourself and being able to do hard things and walk into the gym or invest in help or start a new program or literally break down every thought that you had about how you should reach your goals, how you should heal your hormones and go into something new to say, you know what?

Speaker 3 (35:26):

Those things aren't working. I'm going to do what I need to do so I can reach my goal. Because dreams don't work unless you do. And it comes down to you being the one to take the action. And I learned that very early in my life. And it serves me not only in my professional career but personally just as a woman. Because like you said, even being an expert in leading programs and helping women, we have to also feel great to be able to show up like this and tell other women what to do and how to do it. And so I always remind myself, hey, you need to make sure that you're taking care of yourself. So whatever dreams and goals you have, identifying them, that's just the start. The next part is mapping out a plan. You don't have to have it all figured out, but you just need to know the next thing, the next step. That's it. What's the next thing you're gonna do today after listening to this podcast? What's one thing you can do after this show ends to help get you one step closer to your dream and goal?

Speaker 1 (36:31):

One thing, right? Every journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. But what's stopping most of us gets to this other quote, you shared fear, right?

Speaker 3 (36:42):

Yeah. Everything you've ever wanted is setting on the other side of fear. What if it doesn't work? What if? What if I fail myself again? What if right? There's with fear, there's always that. What if big bolded letters that's stopping us in our tracks, but like you said, we get one opportunity, one life, one chance, one body. Sometimes you have to go before you're ready cuz if you're waiting for the fear to go away, it may never go away.

Speaker 1 (37:13):

Yeah. So how do you, so we're afraid we're gonna lose time, money, it's not gonna work. We're gonna gonna be able to do it. What if I do it wrong? Like we have a million fears and so we sit there and we do nothing and we have this dream and the years go on and our health deteriorates. I call it circling the drain. That's how I felt, right? Every day I would get up, it would be something different. And I'm like, oh my gosh, if I'm this bad now in my forties, where am I gonna be in another 10 years, another 20 years? How have you navigated fear in your life and with your clients? How do you suggest that people start to navigate around fear or work with it so that they can work on their dreams and actually achieve what they want in their life?

Speaker 3 (37:56):

Yes, I do. I talk about this a lot with my clients. I talk about this a lot on my podcast. And the biggest thing I would say is that there's also nothing wrong with doing a little bit of homework. I'm never telling clients or people to just literally jump blindfolded and not have any idea. I think we all should do a little bit of homework. You know, being in this space, I will say that not every coach is the same. Not every profe per you know, professional, you think, oh well, you know, a nutrition coach, coach, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, no, not everyone is the same. I think it's worth your time listening in. One of the number one fears is what if this doesn't work? What if the person doesn't know what they're doing? Do your homework. I'm always a big fan of, go to my website, check out testimonials, ask me questions, let's hop on a call.

Speaker 3 (38:46):

Let's talk if we need to, let me help you work through some of your concerns. And then that gives you more information, which can also help you overcome fear information and real facts. Not just stewing on the fears and you don't really know, is that a fact or is that an emotion? And so for me, one of the things I tell ladies is, please do your homework before you maybe make that big investment or do that scary coaching program. Make sure that you feel comfortable with the person you're investing with. But even taking it back a step, you know, fear is good. It's not a bad thing, it's our mm-hmm , our bo our minds wanting to protect us, right? And we all have our own reasons for being fearful or scared of things. But I will say that it doesn't serve us though. We have to learn.

Speaker 3 (39:39):

It serves us in a sense of, hey, be aware of the fear. Do your homework. You know, maybe don't, don't be afraid to ask questions, but don't let it stall you out. Especially when it comes to reaching your goals and your dreams. And I'll say, you know, when I was 15 years old, my mom suddenly passed away and I was on my own. I didn't have a dad, I didn't have a family. So for me, facing fear was something I had to face head on. I had no other opportunity or choice. It was either you go ahead, you take responsibility, you know the next step and that's it. And then you'll figure the rest out as you go. Or you could stay here and do nothing. But when you are going through your life, so if you're listening in, weighing those options out, what if you stay here?

Speaker 3 (40:27):

What does that mean for you? That means your health isn't gonna get any better. That means your quality of life isn't gonna get better. Like you said, if you're already in your forties and you're feeling that type of way, what does that mean for your fifties and your sixties or even six months from now? What does that impact have on your, your professional life, your intimacy with your partner, your, your relationship with your children? What's the cost of all of that? So literally when fear hits you think about those things. And then on the other side of fear, what if you take action? What's gonna happen then? So weigh out the pros and the cons. Every time in my life, the pros have always outweighed the if I stay here scenarios. And so for me and my clients, that's one of the things I've always leaned into is that's how you get over those fears is you lay it out and you work through that. And I would say most people listening in would say that taking that chance is worth it compared to staying where they are. When they truly walk through that, well what if I stay here? What does this mean for my health? What does this mean for my intimacy? What does this mean with my co for my professional life? What's gonna happen? It's not just gonna magically get better on its own, I'm gonna have to do things differently.

Speaker 1 (41:48):

So true, your health does not magically get better on its own. It doesn't magically get better cuz you take a medication to suppress a symptom, it gets better when you look at the underlying causes and address them, which is what we're talking about. I love this other quote that you shared. You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. And if you're hearing those words, that's you were talking about. And we'll close out with that if you wanna talk a little bit about that, Ashley, and then I'm gonna have you share all the wonderful places that everyone can find you and interact with you. But yeah, I love that you're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you

Speaker 3 (42:29):

Think. Yeah, and that's something that I as just kind of leading into what I finished talking about, that's something that I had to remind myself at a very young age. And I allowed that to stick with me through all of the phases of life that I went through, through, you know, starting my own company, healing my own body and metabolism, starting a family, moving to a new state. All of the adventures in life that we go through. And I think that's really true. And when you're listening into this, even if things didn't work for you before, it doesn't mean that you're broken. It doesn't mean that things can't work for you. Now think about my client that's 77 years old almost, and in the gym and working out lifting weights four days a week and doing 17 pull-ups and you know, lifting heavy dumbbells for herself and barbell dead lifts and all of the things.

Speaker 3 (43:19):

You have to believe in yourself and you have to know that you can do this, you can do this. And I think your story is also a great testimony to say, Hey, in my forties, this is when I literally transformed my life and my health. And so just don't give up that hope. It's never too late to start. You can start now. I don't care if you're 50, 60 or whatever age you may be, you can get started now and you know, just, you've gotta believe that you can do this. And that's what I love about the that quote.

Speaker 1 (43:51):

Yes, believe, go lift heavy things, make your dreams happen and believe. Thank you so much, Ashley, for joining us today and sharing your very, actually, very powerful story, your journey, what you offer for women, your dedication to women's health. Ashley has some an e cookbook she's going to offer to you for free and a meal plan and a free trial of her program. So tell everyone about all the freebies you have for them. We'll have all the links in the show notes and then where they can connect with you online and find all your things.

Speaker 3 (44:24):

Yeah. So one of the things I would love to gift your audience with is I have a great e cookbook and meal plan. It's not customized to the individual because I do believe we all need some level of customization when it comes to amounts of food we consume and what we consume on a daily basis. But if you're looking for a great template of what does it look like to eat for strength training, metabolic health, and just really wanting and even weight loss, what is, what is a sample week or meal plan look like and what types of foods can you eat and lose weight? This is a really great resource for you. It's an e cookbook. You'll download it immediately, you'll get access to it immediately and you can have it forever. It's a free gift, tons of recipes, all gluten-free recipes, all healthy protein-based, lots of different options.

Speaker 3 (45:14):

I'm a mom, so they are also kid-friendly and easy to make because I don't have a lot of time to be in the kitchen right now. And then the Trial to the Rise program. So RI the Rise program is my workout membership, and with this program, you get access to my workout app within my workout app. Every four weeks you get a brand new program. All of the things I highlighted throughout our podcast, periodized strength training, progressive overload that's taking place within this program. Also, exercise demos are right there, so you don't have to, as I was listing out all of the names, I was getting a little worried about that person that maybe is thinking, I have no idea what she's talking about. A squat, a deadlift, a bench press. Well, my app will give you real-time demos, 10 seconds or less. You look at everything on your phone, there's no confusion. The workouts are compatible for at home or the gym. It's something that I love. I actually created this really affordable program for women that wanted to get in the gym or work out at home, have a plan that was affordable and not have to think about or worry about their workouts, but know that a professional with real experience is taken care of so your audience can have a free trial to that as well.

Speaker 1 (46:31):

Nice. Thank you so much for all those valuable resources. I hope if you're listening, you will take advantage of what Ashley is offering and get started. Go lift heavy things, make midlife marvelous, boost your metabolism and get your first house, your body in order so that it can serve you with the brilliant health that you deserve. Thank you so much for being here today and sharing all this valuable information. Ashley,

Speaker 3 (47:00):

Thank you so much for having me on your show,

Speaker 1 (47:03):

And thank you for listening to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kien. Hopefully you've learned something today that you can take action on and put in place in your life to start moving towards the brilliant health that you deserve. I thank you for joining us, and I will see you again for another episode next week. Until then, peace, love, and hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible

Speaker 2 (47:28):

Vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

► Get Ashley Fillmore's freebies:

FREE E-Cookbook & Meal Plan - click here

FREE 30-Day Trial to her workout program RISE - click here

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