Listener Q&A: birth control and a stalled fat loss plan

0:14Ashleigh: So if you're just joining us- Welcome to Muscle Science for Women. It's heated already. We were, coming to verbal blows offline, and so we decided to record. But really, actually, it started because we were talking about our various,… maladies, our illnesses, and things- Ailments… wrong with us. And we're "Hey, I wonder if, if the listeners wanna hear about all the things that are wrong with us" And I was saying, I was confiding in you, my friend- about how I am feeling oddly bloated. And, I don't normally get gut health issues. I'm very regular.

0:47my gut, my gut works pretty good most of the time. And I'm confused because I'm like, "Why am I bloated?" I'm not gassy, my digestion is fine. Everything's wor- It's just I feel bloated, and it's a very uncomfortable feeling. And you responded with, "Have you eaten a salad?" Because- Yes… that would do it. But that would ruin your gut because you never eat salads. And I said- I

1:11Rachel: mean… You said, "F you"- Yeah… is what you

1:16Ashleigh: said. Yeah. I, I did actually say F you because I do eat salads. I don't know how much more I have to, yell this from the rooftops. Okay. Listen, I have cultivated, I have cultivated a personality whereby people know that I don't love vegetables. That's fair. I take ownership of that. However, I do eat vegetables, and I do eat salads-… thank you very much. So that is not- Okay… what's happening. But to be fair, I also was saying, what are some of the things that could be causing this? And I have not eaten anything out of the ordinary in the last, week or two.

1:48Rachel: Okay. That's where I was going with it because I was gonna say, you never eat salads. If you ate a salad, then that would be out of the ordinary. And if we go back to our fiber- You're wrong… episode, but if we go back to the fiber episode that we recorded, if listened to that, listen to it, we talk about how introducing- more fiber could cause issues. Anyways. She's

2:05Ashleigh: being so mean to me,

2:07Rachel: you guys. Have you,

2:07Ashleigh: I want you guys to just hear this and acknowledge it right now, how mean she's

2:10Rachel: being. I'm not being mean. Yeah, you are. Okay. Whatever.

2:14Ashleigh: Anyway-

2:14Rachel: I'm sorry. Okay, wait, wait. Rewind. I'm sorry I'm being mean. I'm trying to work on, communication. Not

2:20Ashleigh: being mean? Okay. Great.

2:22Rachel: Do you think I'm mean?

2:23Ashleigh: No. I, well, yes. Okay. Right now, you're being mean because you are not hearing me when I'm telling you-… we need to go to group therapy. We n- you and I need to go to couples therapy. We

2:30Rachel: need to go to group- Because

2:31Ashleigh: I am telling you that I do, in fact, eat salads, and you are negating my lived experience by saying, "No, you don't eat salads."

2:40Rachel: Okay.

2:40Ashleigh: Well, maybe we should ask- And a single tear-… the listeners… is rolling down

2:43Rachel: my-

2:43Ashleigh: What do I eat? If I eat a salad? You need to ask the people who live in my house, and they would say, like, "Yeah, she doesn't really eat that many salads." But I do eat enough. I mean- So here's what I think happened, and this is what I think might actually be happening with my gut, is I think I may have picked up a small bug from one of my various children that I have, and I think it's just like- Various? How many

3:03Rachel: children do you have? Yeah.

3:05Ashleigh: I, at least two. Maybe

3:06Rachel: you're pregnant again. yeah.

3:08Ashleigh: That's why you're, you're bloated. Yay. Guys- Anyways… if I'm pregnant again-… the, the fire and brimstone, the message that I will be sending to you if I'm… No, we're not even gonna go there because- Sorry… let's just please cross your fingers and send your thoughts and prayers that I'm not pregnant again. But anyway, I think I just picked up something from one of the kids. And, like anybody with kids will know, obviously you get sick all the time from them, but also that it sort of, it can manifest differently, but it's just been a really weird unpleasant thing. And going back even to the fiber episode, I, knock on wood, I generally am very fortunate that I don't have gut health issues, and when I was pregnant and I was bloated a lot, I was like, "People who deal with this on a daily basis, I have so much compassion for you," because it is so miserable, especially when there's no relief, like there's nothing you can really do to f- it's just such a miserable thing.

3:57And then, I know I'm all over the place, but when I was trying to figure out, "Okay, what's going on here?" This is probably a similar feeling for a lot of women in their 40s. Every time I get a new symptom, something wrong with me, I'm like, "Well, is this the first perimenopause symptom?" And actually bloating and digestive issues is another of the myriad symptoms that perimenopausal women get because, again, hormonal fluctuations make your digestion slow and it messes you up. and it's just funny that again, this is where my head's going, I'm like, "Well, there's another thing." I mean, it's not- Like this far-… bad

4:28Rachel: that you're thinking about that…

4:30Ashleigh: I guess. I guess so. And I mean, who knows? Maybe that is it, but I- I'll keep you posted because it is pretty miserable. I'm drinking some ginger tea right now. I'm trying to stay hydrated. That's good. I'm trying to g- eat s- get some ginger into my body. We'll see if that helps. It's supposed to. We'll see. Stay tuned. Why don't you tell me about what's wrong with you now? Do you want me to

4:49Rachel: send you my symptom tracker sheet so you can start- No… tracking legitimately? Okay, cool. No. Cool, cool, cool, cool. No. Cool. Cool, cool. No,

4:55Ashleigh: I don't. Okay, cool… but how are you sickness wise? You feeling… You, you, you weren't feeling too hot?

5:00Rachel: I mean, can you s- can you hear me? I'm a little still congested. Little, yeah. I'm on, I think I'm on day seven actually. I don't really know because I had my football tournament last weekend and obviously that was tremendous amount of- movement and no sleep and just all the things. So I was, high on adrenal- adrenaline, and then right when I got home, I woke up the next day and I was dead. So it's been, seven days, and usually a cold lasts seven to 10 days, so I'm hoping that I'm almost do- I feel a lot better. we… I actually couldn't record with you last week, I think. Mm-hmm. If, if you listened to last week's episode, you probably, s- mentioned something that the reason I wasn't there is 'cause I literally had no voice. Yeah. And that's pretty hard to record a podcast when you have no voice. So- Yeah… thanks for taking one for the team. Appreciate that. but yeah, I'm feeling a little bit better-ish. the gym has been not great the last few days. We've talked about, I tried to go back- Mm-hmm… to the gym a few days ago. so I've been doing my yin yoga classes, which has been good. I'm also having these weird… Okay, so did I tell you that I, I mean, I'll talk about this 'cause I've talked about it, but I

6:11c- I titrated off my antidepressant. Did I tell you that?

6:15Ashleigh: Mm-hmm.

6:16Rachel: So I've been off it completely. Like I was tri- titrating down beginning of September, feel stable. And as we mentioned, if you didn't hear that episode, I kinda talked about it, all the things, from the personal standpoint. But I'm like, okay, I feel like it did its job, did what it needed to do. felt a lot more stable in September. I'm like, okay, I don't, I want to come off of them. and so I started titrating down, and then I've been off for three weeks. But I'm getting these, what people call them, brain zaps. Have you ever heard of that? It's a symptom or it's, it's like a textbook symptom of, SS- SSRI withdrawals, right? Like with everything, there's gonna be pros and cons. and so I've get, been getting these brain zaps that are like, I don't know how to explain it other than brain zap, where you just kinda feel like lightheaded and it sticks around for, a few minutes. But those have been really bad the past week, and it lines up with exactly what they say, after three weeks, 'cause the medicine's in your system, and then starts to completely go away. So that's been annoying. but other than that, we're here, and-… it's sunny, and I'm moving to San Diego in three weeks, so-

7:24Ashleigh: That's a big deal.

7:25Rachel: Here we are.

7:25Ashleigh: That's very exciting. yeah, I mean, keep us posted. And again, thank you for, sharing that stuff. I think we gotta say here too that like what you're doing is your own decision, and you're working on it with a team of healthcare professionals. Mm-hmm. No one, none of this is medical advice or recommendations for any of you listening. Yeah. can I, Just

7:46Rachel: sharing my experience.

7:47Ashleigh: Yeah. Can I, Recently… can we keep going with ailments? 'Cause I've got another one. Yeah. And it's new, and it's a huge bummer. And this one, this one is a real ego hit for me, because it's just completely out of the blue, and it's just such a cliche you're 40 now kind of ailment, and I hate it. I'm really mad about it. I'm trying, like I'm hoping it's not like a serious thing. But for the first time in my life, for the last couple of weeks My knee hurts.

8:17Rachel: I was like, "What?"

8:17Ashleigh: And I've never, I've never had, again, I- I've had this sh- bum shoulder for a while. You know about that. I have aches- Yeah and pains. Like, I'm not impervious, but like I have never once had an issue with knees. And I used to be, again, I used to lift very heavy. I ran marathons. I was a power lifter. I did CrossFit. Never a knee problem. And all of a sudden, the last couple of weeks, and I think, and again, you're, you can help with your expertise here, I think it may be related, because it wasn't one discreet thing, I tripped weird and it was hurt. Mm-hmm.

8:50I think it's related to boxing because of the like torquing action of like the side to side. You know? It's not like straight back and forth. There's like a twisting action with my hips. Yep. And then that's following with the knees. It's only seems to be affecting one, one knee, but to be fair, it's the back. It's the one that moves more. But it's interesting, 'cause it doesn't hurt like when I'm in boxing. It doesn't even hurt when I'm like doing leg day, but like a day- Mm… two days later, and it's sort of like the tendons behind my knee, very- Hmm… feel just very like, tender and hurts to kind of like straighten a little bit. And I'm like, "Okay, so then what do I do? Do I-

9:30Rachel: Yeah…

9:31Ashleigh: stop boxing for a couple months? Do I… What do I do?" I'm asking you. I mean, if- What do

9:36Rachel: I do?

9:37Ashleigh: Help.

9:38Rachel: I'm retired from athletic training, but what I would say for all of my clients is if it's been lingering for a while and- You know, what, a while? Like, how m- how long? Like, a few weeks?

9:51Ashleigh: The thing is, it's, it's probab- like, I've been feeling it on and off for a couple weeks, and it'll be, like, inflamed for, like- Yeah… 24 hours, and then it's gone, and then it'll be gone for a few days, and then maybe, a couple days after another boxing… Like, it's just, it's come and going.

10:06Rachel: I would, I would recommend having someone who knows exactly what to look for to check it out- Yeah… because you're just- Yeah… gonna be going back and f- I- it's like, you know, we could figure out, we could Google it, we could AI it, w- whatever, whatever, and or continue to ignore it, and then three months later it's still there, versus we could have just had somebody check it out and give us, given us, like, "Okay, this is exactly what you should be doing right now." Yeah. And in three months it's gone in terms of pain- Yeah… versus, you know? So. Yeah. Or I could just send you a peptide that might help with it. I'm just kidding.

10:38Ashleigh: Okay, T- TBD on that. but you make a good point. You make a good point about, like… 'Cause my initial reaction is like, okay, this isn't that bad and it's going away, and maybe it's just my body getting used to it, and I'll leave it alone for a bit. But, like, probably that's what I did to my shoulder, and that's why I'm literally still having pain five years later and I have to go get an MRI now because, there's definitely something seriously wrong with it. So maybe I should, like- Yeah… deal, get a professional and deal with this knee thing before it's a thing. so that's kind of a good point. Yeah. I should do that.

11:06Rachel: I just always say, like, if it's been lingering for over three to four weeks, then, and it's not getting better and it's getting worse, then just be smart, right? Like, what's our tagline? Don't do stupid shit. Yeah. Don't do stupid shit, and go see someone who actually knows what they can look at. And there's probably a very easy fix, just based off of what you're s- saying- Mm-hmm in terms of treatment slash some potential exercises that would be able to sh- pinpoint some of the areas that need to be strengthened around your knee with- Yeah… the new, the new movement that you're doing with boxing, so.

11:37Ashleigh: Yeah.

11:38Rachel: Anyways. Yeah, but

11:39Ashleigh: don't- It's annoying… don't do stupid shit. Don't do stupid shit. That's our advice for other people. That's not… We don't listen to our own advice. Come on. I mean,

11:46Rachel: yeah.

11:46Ashleigh: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

11:48Rachel: You're

11:48Ashleigh: right. What are we-

11:48Rachel: k-… talking about today? Like, what's

11:50Ashleigh: our- We're answering some questions. Okay. We're answering some questions. Oh, cool. But I wanted to also, and people who are listening who don't love our small talk, you can skip. It's, you know- No, don't skip… there's no, you… But you… It, there's no mandatory, you don't have to be here if you don't want to. You don't have to- They've already been here get mad about it. For 15 minutes. You can just skip. Whatever, okay? I'm just saying, you've got free will, okay? But before we answer the questions, I wanted to read, just a nice email from somebody, because people who take the time to email- Mm… and send us nice feedback. And, and this person also has sent, another email with, suggestions and recommendations, really putting in thought into how we can make this podcast better. And I s- we so appreciate that. So, I just wanted to- Yeah… just wanted to share a nice, Email from Joe, and Joe says, "Sorry I procrastinated writing this for multiple weeks. I just wanted to say how great the past few episodes have been. I really identify with the emotional eating episodes, especially the aspect of it being connected to boredom or the blues. It's something I think I struggled with as a kid, and at certain times, like sitting in

12:49my own thoughts or being bored, the temptation returns. as one comedian puts it, eat until you don't feel anything anymore." This is so relatable, right? Yeah. Like, this person is telling a story that we all have, lived. "You guys continue to be an inspiration, being high performers that have done all the stuff and know all the stuff, but share about real-life stuff, too, and how you manage it. It's like an encouraging I'm still in the fight, you stay in the fight, too. You guys continue to inspire me and everybody else to push on, too. Just wanted to say thanks. You guys look great, are great." Oh, thanks.

13:18"And I always enjoy the intro combos and whatever topics you guys cover." Well, I mean, that was a perfect email from start to finish. Like- Yeah… telling us we're great, telling us we look

13:28Rachel: great. You love our

13:29Ashleigh: small talk. Thanks. What el- what else do we need to hear?

13:32Rachel: Should we just, sign off? I, I think we're good.

13:34Ashleigh: Yeah. That's it. I'm done. K, bye. Thanks, Joe. No, I really, really appreciate that. Thank you so much. And anybody, again, you don't have to send us- That was great… emails that nice, but if you wanna send us any emails or any suggestions or thoughts or feedback on topics we've talked about, topics you want us to talk about, we've got some good stuff coming up. Mm-hmm… we've kinda, we're getting a little organized here with our editorial calendar, but, we're open. We're open to new editions. Editor business. Yeah. We've got, we've got big things coming- Muscle science… in 2027, guys. Yeah. So-… get ready for it. Yeah. But in the meantime-

14:05Rachel: Like, actually-… we're always coming like I feel like we've been saying that since we started Muscle Science for Women, like years ago. Well- But, like Actually bigger- That's not true. Don't, don't… no, no, no. We've made, we've made a lot of great things. I'm just saying we're now- Yes… stepping up into, like, the next,

14:22Ashleigh: Yes…

14:23Rachel: tier of business.

14:26Ashleigh: Yes. Yep. I would agree with that, but yes. Like, we have a team. We, you know, I don't wanna say… Yeah, we're not empty promises. We have been providing, but now instead of, trying to do everything on our own, we're getting some help. Yeah. And it's not just my daughter writing all the email, That was funny… personal, all the comment, comments. That was funny. The responses. Get on my social media if you don't know what we're talking about. yeah. Mm. We've got a team. We got big things coming 2027. Super pumped. But what I was getting at was we're open to thoughts and suggestions, and we wanna hear from you guys, so please go onto our, our website, musclescienceforwomen.com. We've got a contact form there. We love to hear from you. You can email us at musclescienceforwomen@gmail.com. That's number four. You can talk to us on social media. follow us on YouTube. All the links are in the show notes. All the things.

15:12Just get on it. Get on it. we appreciate you.

15:15Rachel: Yeah.

15:15Ashleigh: All right.

15:17Rachel: What are we answering today?

15:20Ashleigh: Well, let's, let's take a look. Oh, we got another nice comment from Rebecca. "Bravo on episodes 142 and 144. So relatable." I think those were probably the emotional ones. We were both, like, just freaking out about life. so- Isn't that what we do

15:34Rachel: every episode?

15:35Ashleigh: I mean- Is it just me? Yeah. Well, you know- Just kidding… there's, there's a little bit of, a little bit of macros, a little bit of muscles, a little bit of freaking out about life. That's what we do. this person, Maddie, is saying, "I've heard that oral contraceptives limit your ability to build muscle. If, is this true, and if so, is there any way that women can still maximize muscle-building while taking these?"

15:55Rachel: The blanket statement of taking oral contraceptive equals can't build muscle, I don't think that that- Mm-hmm… is very accurate, because there's so many, there's so many… Everybody's so individual, right? There's so many different pieces to that. But yeah, I mean, it definitely could be, but it's gonna come back to, like, all the other general things that we always say to pay attention to- Mm-hmm… when you're trying to optimize muscle-building. sorry, what were you gonna say?

16:25Ashleigh: Yeah, so I mean, again, we can, we can point to some r- real research on this, but the general findings seem to be, once again, and this is such a disappointing answer for a lot of people, but it really is, like, the thing we say 'cause it's true a lot of the time with these, like, I've heard that kind of, storylines, is that there is research that potentially points to something, but the research, they're small research studies. The- Mm-hmm findings are, you know, very, very little, you know, uh, such to be, like, insubstantial potentially. Like, there really is not strong evidence, and that's not to say that maybe it, it doesn't exist, that it just maybe the research hasn't been done yet. but there, to s- from what I can tell from the research, there isn't strong research that it significantly impacts the majority of women who take oral contraceptives. So that part I think is po- potentially, you know, like, a self-defeating thing, where if you're on the contraceptives- Mm-hmm… and you're like, "Oh, this is gonna be so much harder the, for me," for some people maybe, but it may be not, probably not, and probably not as big as maybe you fear.

17:29and like, I… You know, again, this is completely anecdotal, but, like, I was on, birth control when I was competitive bodybuilding, and I was the fittest I've ever been and- Yeah you know, whatever. but I would say the, the answer to this, without being your doctor or your coach or whatever, is that if you are on contraceptives and that's what your plan is and what works for you and the choice that you're making, so that choice is taken out of the equation. It's not like, "Oh, well, if I got off them, I, it would probably be easier." It's like that's off the table because- Yeah… you're choosing to be on them. So if you're on them, what do you do? And what you do is the same advice we would give anybody which is- Mm-hmm… do the things that help you build muscle, which is progressive overload, appropriately challenging training, recovering properly, and eating enough.

18:19Rachel: Mm-hmm.

18:19Ashleigh: Right? So it's kind of just like if you feel like something about your lifestyle that you can't change is potentially impacting your ability to, you know, grow muscle in the ideal way that you'd like to, all you have to do, all you can do is double down on the stuff that you can change, right? Which is- Mm-hmm… all of those other big factors, right?

18:41Rachel: Yeah, 100%. And then I would just also, like… and this is just me, you know- Just based off of, like, my, you know, history with oral contri- contraceptives, which has been, it's been years, but back in college, like, take, take agency and, like, why… Like, if you're using that for birth control itself, yes, okay, got it. But if someone just said, "Hey, go on this birth control to, you know, fix your cycle," or something like that, like, make sure that you're diving a little bit deeper into that because I know people who have been told to, or women that have been told to go on birth control t- for reasons that they could probably fix or change with other solutions. So it's just like- Mm-hmm… understanding also like why you're using it. and then j- exactly what you said, like doubling down on all the things that are going… Like the, the non-sexy things that we always talk about, and, you know, making sure that you are tr- also tracking your symptoms, right? Like don't be like- Mm-hmm Ashleigh and deny my symptom tracker. Just kidding. Thumbs up. Like writing, writing things down because that, that's- Again, it's like I can't remember what I did two days ago. A lot of people can't remember these, like how they felt.

19:54So write it down and you'll start to see trends too, and you might start to see things starting to, you know, over the, the next few months, you'll be able to kinda pinpoint and be a, a detective in that too. So yeah. Yeah. Take control of that side of things as much as you can.

20:13Ashleigh: Yep. just one more after the fact caveat. We are not telling you anything you should or should not do regarding- Yes… contraceptives. That's up to you. Yes. That's up to you guys and gals. 100% And before we, before we do, there's a little bit of a case study question that I want us to do. but before we do that, our sponsor is True Nutrition, and we love them- Mm-hmm… and they're great. And I have recently had a couple one-on-one clients come to me and tell me that they have done the True Nutrition, like they've ordered True Nutrition because of our, talking about it on the podcast. And they went in and did the thing. So th- this company, if anybody who hasn't heard before, this company, they make customized protein powder where you can go in and customize the type of protein as the base, the flavor, the flavor intensity, all these add-ons like collagen and probiotics and anything you can think of.

20:58But there's an option on the website where you can go and fill out a questionnaire that talks about your lifestyle and your goals, and it will offer up a suggested blend for you. And one of my most recent clients did that, and she was like, "This is so cool 'cause like again, I wanna, save money- Mm-hmm and have everything in the same package, but I didn't have to do the work. I was just like, 'Hey, this is what I'm about.' Yeah. "This is what I like." And it gave her the suggested sorta blend and she went with it. So she, like just got it like a couple days ago, and I'm like, "Tell me what you think and if you like it." And she's like, "I also bought a Ninja CREAMi so I can make ice cream." Right. And I'm like, why are these people not paying us? Like the amount of people-… no joke, who have bought Ninja CREAMis because we talk about it endlessly on the podcast, it's ridiculous. It's such- I know… a travesty that they're not giving us money. That's all I gotta say. I

21:51Rachel: know. I- It's

21:53Ashleigh: ridiculous.

21:53Rachel: Yeah. I, I- Did you-… couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more.

21:56Ashleigh: Did you do your, your next order? We got another order of our own.

21:59Rachel: I haven't done it. Okay. I've been so… I have it in my queue of things to do. Okay. Okay. I've just been like- The last week- Yeah… has been miserable.

22:09Ashleigh: So. I know. You've been sick. I-… I put through another order. I got three different blends. When they come, I will tell all of you guys in minute detail about what's in them. I got some new flavors. One thing I will say, I took your advice and I upped the flavor intensity. Yeah. So instead of going, like, regular, I went, like, super intense. So we'll see what that- Yeah… but now that goes. I'm

22:30Rachel: curious-

22:31Ashleigh: Yeah… what it goes. and also, they want us to tell you guys that they ship… Not only they ship to Canada now, which is important obviously for me, but they ship to 150 countries. They're just shipping everywhere now. Wow. So wherever you're listening from, they will ship to you, and I think that this stuff is worth it. So the website is truenutrition.com/muscle, and our code is muscle, and you will get a discount, on your first order of your own custom blend. And like I said, you gotta call it something cool. So when you do your own custom blend- Mm-hmm… call it something cool and tell me what you called it. Like, have fun. Use your free will. Don't just call it chocolate protein mix. Like, get fun with it. Okay. Okay? That's my one request.

23:18Please do it for me. Do it. Okay. Do it or I'm gonna cry. True Nutrition truenutrition.com/muscle, code muscle. Save you money. Support the show. We love you. Goodbye. Okay Now on to case study. Are you ready?

23:32Rachel: Ready.

23:33Ashleigh: Okay. I'm gonna read it 'cause I like to read it, and because I kinda want you to give your initial feedback.

23:38Rachel: Okay.

23:38Ashleigh: So this is- Let me get my

23:39Rachel: brain to start working.

23:41Ashleigh: Get your brain, drink some water. Okay. Jenny says, "Hi ladies, love the podcast. You helped me lose 12 pounds for my wedding back in 23- 2020. '23. There it is. That's the year. You helped me lose 12 pounds. That's nice. Great. she says- Okay… "I'm trying to lose the same 12 pounds again three years later with the same plan, and this time it just won't come off as easily. I started tracking calories back in June in a mild deficit." And she's saying what the calories are. 5 to 10K steps a day. She's 27.

24:11She's 5'2". She's a small person. "Then in August, I kept the same amount of calories, but my steps increased drastically, 15 to 25K steps a day. I work out 30 minutes, progressive overload between four to six times a week. I've been doing this consistently since June. I'm getting around 100 grams of protein. I get around 40 to 50 ounces of water. I took one week off from tracking in July and August." she's saying she's keeping track of measurements and weight. She said, "I lost an inch around my shoulders and an inch around my waist, but that's it." So she's saying, "What am I doing wrong?" and then she sent, like, another e- extra thing, probably more context on food. yeah, so she's just telling us the calories. But basically- Mm… she's saying, "I, I did all of this stuff a couple years ago. I lost 12 pounds. The weight's back. I'm doing all the same stuff again. It's not working. What's up?"

25:03Rachel: Mm-hmm.

25:04Ashleigh: Thoughts.

25:04Rachel: So, I mean, w- what I would do as her, if I was her coach, is I would literally go through the checklist, like the audit, which we had a whole episode on. So I'm gonna- We

25:20Ashleigh: should put that in the show notes.

25:21Rachel: I'm gonna put that, we'll put that in the show notes and refer you back if you haven't listened to that episode, because it will take you step by step on how to go through the audit if you're at a stall, or if you're feeling like, "Okay, I'm doing all the things. Why isn't this… Like, why aren't things moving?" and make sure that, that you go through that step by step. What, well, I, I wanna read this again. Do you wanna give any of your thoughts while I'm just looking at the numbers here?

25:50Ashleigh: I mean, I don't really ha- I think my thought would be literally the same thing as you, is that there's always, barring any, blood work w- internal issue, right? Mm-hmm. That we, that we wouldn't be privy to or that she would have to get, go to a doctor to get kind of more information if there's something sort of under the hood happening. and she's young, so you know, it wouldn't necessarily, we don't immediately go to hormonal issues like we would with somebody older. It probably, there, there must be something else that ch- that we're missing- Mm-hmm… right? And like the audit, I think that was such a helpful episode because not only is it useful just from a practical strategic standpoint, but also it really does… Like for somebody like me who might complain 'cause I feel like I'm doing everything, and then I look at the audit and I get to like literally step one, I'm like, "Oh, I'm not actually doing this." You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Then like this person sh- ma- I'm sure she's working very hard and I'm sure she's meticulous, but there could be something so simple that's being missed that could make up for it. And again, like we've talked about, s- she's small. She's very, she's a very small person.

26:51Yeah. Petite, yeah. And so, yeah, petite. And so it, it makes everything harder, it really does, when you're trying to lose body fat- Mm-hmm because you just have so much less wiggle room I think in terms of like calorie manipulation.

27:03Rachel: yeah.

27:03Ashleigh: You know? It's tough. Yeah.

27:04Rachel: No, 100%. So I was… I just read, this back again. So a few things that stand out to me. O- o- one overall is like, again, we can't… She said she's lost an inch off of a few areas since June. I mean, that's not nothing, right? Right. An inch is, is a, is a good amount, especially for someone who… We have to think about this relatively. For someone who doesn't have potentially a lot to lose, that is a significant amount. Also, the weight versus the body composition is completely different as well, especially for someone who is already lean trying to get leaner. so taking all of that into account. The other thing that stood out to me, she said, "I work out 30 minutes a session progressive overload between four to six times a week."

27:47So I, I'm wondering, like for that I would d- I would personally want to dig into more of like what is four to six times a week look like, what are those 30-minute sessions? because, generally, like I don't recommend most people, unless you're advanced, ch- lifting more than four times a week. so like what does that actually look like in terms of that side of things? Because is your body composition… You know, are we setting you up for success in terms of building m- holding onto muscle while you're losing body fat as well?

28:18so that's one thing that I would pay attention to or that I would wanna dig deeper into.

28:24Ashleigh: What about you? Yeah. That's a good point. Mm-hmm. And then, I just saw this thing on Instagram that was like, "Your ideal body probably weighs more than you want it to." And so this woman- Mm… who weighed a certain amount a- and looked the way she wanted to three years ago, if she's been lifting progressively for years, it's likely you've put on a couple few plus pounds of muscle in those years. Yeah. So maybe, your ideal look just isn't gonna weigh the same as it did three years ago. I know for a fact that, you know, my a- what I look good at weight has fluctuated over the last decade- Or so, right? Mm-hmm. So that might be another thing, and that's something I was literally just talking about with a client too, that like… And we've talked about this so much on the podcast, that the weight on the scale is, it's information, it's potentially useful, blah blah blah. But like, having that be sort of the main barometer of success is just a losing game for so many women. So it's, you know, again, not to say like you don't have to disregard this. Like, there's information- Mm-hmm… to be gleaned from getting on the scale. But if that's, if that's the thing that's making you like,

29:26"Well, I'm failing," then maybe- Yeah… there's just other things to be looking at, you know?

29:31Rachel: Yeah, 100%. yeah, so I would definitely go back to the audit episode and, take a look through that.

29:38Ashleigh: Mm-hmm…

29:38Rachel: and then als- the last thing here is just like the steps. She's went, went from, fif- went, 15 to 25K steps a day. So I think this is another thing to just think about too. you know, there is, and we talked about this before, like I feel like there is a point of diminishing tur- returns when we go above, consistently above a certain amount of steps and, and try to like… Yes, obviously if you're moving more, you're utilizing more energy, like there should, you should be m- in a quote-unquote bigger deficit, if you're eating the same amount of calories, right? But I think, taking that out a little bit in terms of like, okay, what, like if I'm moving this much, am I now drastically not doing other things? For example, like in the gym, like, you know, if my steps went up dramatically f- to 25K, am I s- now s- not recovering enough that I can actually push myself in the gym a little bit more where it matters in terms of the body composition side of things? So those are all just kind of like little things that more is not always better when it comes to that. I don't know. Those are just some, a few of the things that stood out to me, but-

30:42Ashleigh: Yep. Yep.

30:44Rachel: Yeah.

30:44Ashleigh: Okay. Well, this was meant to be a short one where we mostly just complain about our aches and pains and answer-… a couple questions. And I think we, honestly, I think we accomplished that today, so. Yeah. Is there anything else that you wanna share?

30:58Rachel: not that I can think of.

31:01Ashleigh: Okay. Great. Well, let's just leave it here. Yeah… quit while we're ahead. Thanks, everybody. it di- it was spicy at the beginning. we were getting, we were having a little bit- Yeah… of a domestic disturbance at the beginning, but I feel like, I feel better now. I feel like we, we've gotten it out, we've moved past it. Yeah. For sure… so nobody has to worry. Nobody has to worry about your favorite, podcast co-hosts. We're doing great. All right… thanks for listening, everybody, and you know, until next time, don't do stupid shit.

31:27Rachel: Don't be insane.

31:28Ashleigh: And we love you.

31:30Rachel: Love you. Bye. Yeah.

31:31Ashleigh: Bye