Get Your Dream Body By Moving Daily

Tracy Steen

I am so glad to be here. I love talking about this stuff. This fires me up. Just the thought about how critical it is, I’ve just got a lot of passion about this. So we’ll be diving deep today.

Sharon Stills, ND

Yes, we will. We will. So, let’s just do it. Before we start giving out the information, I’m just curious: how did you become this huge fitness influencer for all the ladies? Is there a personal story behind this? Were you struggling, or was it just something you’ve always been passionate about?

Tracy Steen

Honestly, it’s something that I’ve always been passionate about. I started off in the realm of Psychology, and just really, as I was starting to work with people in this realm of fitness trying to get fit and healthy, there was always this stall point, right? Sometimes it was mental health issues, sometimes it was motivation, sometimes it was drive, and sometimes it was willpower. That just seemed to be all this psychology of how to move forward. As I began to explore that, I think I tapped into an audience that also saw that it wasn’t just about—give me a diet, give me a workout plan. It was really about this 360 approach. Right? It was looking at things like hormones, sleep, stress, motivation, and willpower and really uncovering the genesis behind those things and exploring them. Once I started to speak like that, I felt like my tribe, or the audience, started to connect. It just seemed to be so many women in this age group—40 plus. There are younger women in there as well. But it really seemed to attract those women who wanted to not just get fit but to optimize their health. I started just talking more about that—more about, it was seeing fitness through the lens of psychology, right? Not just the what, but in nutrition as well. It wasn’t just the what; but it was the why, right? Why do I do the things I do? Why do I sabotage my workouts? Why do I eat this when I said I wasn’t going to? So I really enjoy opening up Pandora’s box and taking a little deep dive into it when I’m working with women.

Sharon Stills, ND

I love that. I don’t know that I knew that about you. I’m going to learn right along with the audience today. I love that you said that, because I have always said that. I was just being interviewed a half hour ago. I said the same thing. I was talking about health, but it’s not just the what; It’s not like, What are you eating? Oh, you’re eating organic broccoli. Great. It’s, Why are you eating it? Who are you being while you’re eating it? When are you eating it? Where are you eating it? That’s much more important. Before we even get into talking about muscles and workouts, I’d love to just talk about that a little. What do you find? Because that is such a common thing, whether it be, Yes, I’m going to go to the gym, and then, Oh, I sabotaged. Now I didn’t go, and I’ll go tomorrow, but I didn’t go. Now it’s two months, and now it’s two years. What kind of tips do you have for unwinding that? Also, the other thing you said about, Today’s going to be a good day, and I’m going to eat healthy. Then, by the end of the day, you’re knee-deep in a bag of chips.

Tracy Steen

Just so many things. That’s the thing. That was my journey as a personal trainer. As a young trainer, 15, 16 years ago, when I started, I couldn’t understand why women would start a journey and then they would stop. It just bugged me so much. I just wanted to know so much about why did you stop? This is going well for you. You’re going in the right trajectory and you’re changing your life; you’re optimizing your health. Some would stick. Some would stay with the journey, but then others would stop. And then I just had to figure out why that was. As I began to explore that, I think what I discovered was just, I want to say, tenfold. There were just so many things. Again, it’s not just one thing that we can pinpoint and say, Oh, it’s just that. If you fix that, then you’re going to be able to be fit and healthy for the rest of your life. It wasn’t that. It was upbringing, right? What type of family did you grow up in? What were the values of that family? Did they value fitness, wellness, and nutrition, or did they not? Because that’s going to write on the slate of you, as well. I had a client once who grew up in India, and his parents wanted to sort of keep him indoors so that the sun wouldn’t brown his skin darker. So that was a value there. He did not exercise outside a lot. He spent many of his young years inside his house. He got really smart. He read lots of books, got very smart, went to Harvard, and became a doctor. But then later in life, he’s like, I know the necessity of it, but I didn’t grow up with it. It wasn’t a value of ours. So it’s hard for me to stick with this process. It’s hard for me to stay with the program because it just wasn’t modeled for me. So that’s an issue. That’s a thing. That’s something that we need to work with, because I would look and I would see women who are sticking with it. Many of them had good role models—not everyone, but there were so many that had good role models, and they had them. Yes, modeled for them as they were growing up. So that’s an issue. Motivation, for sure, is an issue. Are you a Type A personality? Are you someone who can motivate themselves, or do you look for motivation externally? Were you want to have others around you to help motivate you? If that’s the case, that’s challenging for people to stay with the program because what happens when someone doesn’t motivate you the way that you’re supposed to or you just become lackluster? That is an issue for people as well. But yes, I think it’s just interesting to watch a woman’s journey and see where she’s going, and it’s just exciting.

Sharon Stills, ND

I don’t think we often think about psychology and our upbringing when we’re thinking about our exercise habits. And I think that is such an important piece to bring in to it. And if you haven’t had it modeled for you, how can you go back and repair that inner child or just create good because it is good to know, like I know about myself. It’s funny; the other day, a girlfriend said to me, Oh, I’ve got these yoga classes online; I’m going to send them to you. I was like, Don’t bother; I’m never going to do them, but I have no use being committed. I go to my yoga studio like clockwork, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I just know that being alone at home on a computer that’s not what I’m going to do. And then for some other people, it’s the total opposite. I think when we can really get engaged with what is not going to be kicking and screaming in a fight.

Tracy Steen

Yes. I always tell people to choose what’s going to be the easiest for them. What are you going to be able to do with 90 to 100% accuracy? That’s really important because the biggest predictor of exercise adherence is self-efficacy. So do you believe that change is possible? Do you believe in yourself? What we want to do is basically hit a home run right off the blocks so that you do feel motivated so that you do believe that change is possible. I think sometimes people set the bar really high, right? September comes, January comes, and they just do it all. They commit to an exercise program. They go on probably an extreme diet, and they try to really become who they want to be. But really quickly instead of slowly over time. Often, they just fall because the bar is set so high. What we want to do is, again, hit that home run or do something where you’re like, Okay, I’ve got this. I’d committed to walking three days this week, and I walked all three days. That was amazing. So now you have a little bit more belief in yourself. Now you have this sort of moment where you’re like, I can do this, right? I can make these changes in shifts, but if the bar is set so high, then I fail, and then you lack motivation when we don’t see that self-efficacy. When we believe in ourselves, we tend to spend more time on the task. When we spend more time on the task, we see more change. And when we see more change, we believe a change is possible, and that creates exercise adherence. So it’s an important thing to set the bar slightly lower. I know that might seem counterintuitive because we think, Go set the bar high. But in fitness and nutrition, do what is sustainable with 90 to 100% accuracy, because then you’re going to hit a home run and then you’re going to feel like, Okay, I can do this, and that self-belief with women, I feel, is so huge when we don’t believe in ourselves, right? It comes from even into that internal voice. What do we say to ourselves about ourselves? Do we say that change is possible, or is that an internal voice? It’s saying, No, you can’t do this; you’ll never do this. You’re going to do the same thing as last year, when you failed. Of course, you just messed up again. Of course you missed your workout, right? What is the language that we’re saying inside of ourselves? To ourselves? That really has to be noticed as well.

A great way to notice that about yourself is to walk by a mirror or reflection when you’re walking in a mall. Just turn and take a look at yourself in that reflection. What’s the first thing you say to yourself about yourself? What’s the language inside that comes out? It’s a great telltale sign of the things that we say to ourselves. If it’s a look at you, Oh, you suck, or you’re fat, or you’re overweight, or you just are so sluggish, or you just were, if that’s the language, I mean, we’re going to live out our lives according to the things that we say to ourselves. So that’s where it starts. I feel like, How do you talk to yourself? What are you saying that’s positive, that’s life-giving, that’s affirming, and that’s motivating? You can’t even believe it right away. But we say it, and then we would, and then we became it.

Sharon Stills, ND

I couldn’t agree more, and it’s so funny. This theme is coming up in a lot of the talks that I’m having here on the summit. It’s like an overarching take-home message, ladies. You’ve got to love yourself. You’ve got to be kind to yourself. That is how good health grows, and yes, I love that setting the bar low because then you can be like; Yey, I did it. It was like I just walked for 15 minutes, three times a week. It’s a much better thing to be. Yes, you did it then. Like you said, I didn’t do it. I’m no loser. I’ll just spiral into never doing it. We want to create healthy, positive neural pathways. So I love, love, love, love, love that, so let’s talk menopause and what is going on. Why is the body changing, and how does our workout need to change? Let’s just dive in and give them the information they need.

Tracy Steen

I just had a DEXA scan today. I had my first DEXA scan. Have you had a scan?

Sharon Stills, ND

No.

Tracy Steen

Okay. It’s really so, tell telling. It just lets you know what’s going on inside the body, which is great. My doctor was absolutely thrilled with my numbers. He was like, Your bone density is amazing compared to women your age. Like, What are you doing?

Sharon Stills, ND

I am a queen. 

Tracy Steen

Like, Are you taking new clients? Then there is also the visceral fat. It shows you your VAT, your visceral adipose tissue, right? It shows you that on the scan. Again, he said, according to women your age, you’re just doing tremendously well. And I said, I mean, part and parcel, it is because I have been moving daily and lifting weights. The very weight on ligaments and joints for the better part of 25 years. We have to say that the earlier you start, the better. That said, it is never too late to start, and it is never too late to make that shift and begin to increase bone density or increase lean muscle tissue.

Sarcopenia is a thing, right? So as we age, we are losing lean muscle tissue. So it must become this critical element in our brain that we have to maintain or build lean muscle as we age. Just because the dropoff is so drastic year after year. Making that as part of our target, which is part of our goal to build muscle, is going to benefit us. It’s going to benefit our posture, okay? It’s going to benefit us by helping us and preventing us from falling. It’s going to increase longevity, right? It helps to increase our telomere length, which are the little caps on the end of our chromosomes, right? The shorter those are, the shorter our lifespan. But if we have longer telomeres, visibly exercise and nutrition and management of stress and management of hormones, we’re going to have a longer lifespan and a shorter disease span, which is crucial. So in terms of lifting weights, as in menopause, I just think it has to be part of our routine. As Sharon said, years ago, we may have been cardio queens. That might have been something that we used to lose weight or lose body fat. But really, resistance training is going to be sort of your ticket to ride in order to maintain, right? Your weight or even to increase muscle, which will make our body more metabolic, which can help us decrease our body fat as well.

Sharon Stills, ND

So that was a lot. Do you allow or do you permit cardiovascular or is it just weight resistance training? What is it like for someone who’s listening and says, either they’ve never worked out or someone who’s listening and they’re like, Ooh, I run five miles a day or I go to the stair stepper, and that’s what I’ve been doing? How do they make the shift? What do we need to know?

Tracy Steen

I love both, don’t get me wrong, and I think cardiovascular training is super important. Aerobic, anaerobic. We need to push the envelope. Dr. Peter Attia is someone I follow. He talks a lot about it; he calls it the Centenarian Olympics. So if you think about who you want to be when you’re 100, think about maybe the things that you want to be able to do. Do you want to sit down on the ground to be able to play with your grandchildren? Do you want to be able to climb up the stairs by yourself? Do you want to be able to lift a toddler above your head? What are the things that you think you want to be doing in your older years? 80, 90, 100. Then, basically, what we need to do is reverse engineer, right, or back past, this concept of thinking. How are we going to train today? In my 50s, in my 60s, and in my 70s, in order to be able to sustain movements and functional patterns like that as I’m older, right? So if I want to lift up a toddler above my head and the toddler is 20 pounds, I’m never lifting 20 pounds over my head now, right? Am I going to be able to do it then? It’s this concept of challenging the muscles. It’s challenging your aerobic peak. It’s challenging your zone 2. So you have endurance, right? There are lots of different facets that we can look at, and we can break that down into lots of different categories. But I think all are important as we age. I would definitely not say, Ditch the cardio; that’s over, and let’s just focus on strength training. I think both are important, and how you can incorporate them into a week would be a real fun week of workouts, in my opinion, right? You can have zone 2 cardio by doing walking or doing a light jog, or maybe some stair climbing. You could do some aerobic or anaerobic training where you’re doing some hit training, even. We can talk about that because I know a lot of older women think that they shouldn’t be doing high-intensity intervals any longer. But again, I think when you push the system and you challenge the heart, you’re going to adapt and it’s going to be available to you when you need those functions. We may not be running from bears in our lives any longer, right? We may not need to do sprints and things like that. But it is important to challenge the heart and your cardiovascular system as well. So having both, I think, is a really important factor.

Sharon Stills, ND

Now that’s good to hear because sometimes you just hear, you got to ditch the cardio and it’s only resistance training. And I’m like, No, I love my cardio. I love hiking. All those.

Tracy Steen

Yes. Well, I think it’s just, again, I’ve been reading that book, The Telomere Effect, by Dr. Elissa Epel and Dr. Blackburn. They talked a lot about lengthening those telomeres through aerobic activity. I think it’s important to continue to train like that. Now, in terms of even changing your body composition, there are a lot of studies that have shown that both are beneficial. But when people are trying to lose a large amount of body fat, mass aerobic training plus resistance training is actually dominant over just resistance training. So it is important for fat loss as well. You’re going to get a good caloric expenditure when you’re doing aerobic training. But again, it helps increase the heart rate, which increases blood flow. So I think it’s beneficial for a lot of reasons. And if you enjoy it, that’s the bottom line.

What do you enjoy, what are you going to sustain, and what are you going to continue with? That should really be the thing that we’re looking to find in our lives. What is the most enjoyable way for me to move my body? If it’s playing pickleball, with your friends four days a week, that’s awesome. Do that. And then, two days a week, try to pick up those weights because, again, from this DEXA scan and knowing what we know about osteopenia, osteoporosis, and sarcopenia, we want to be bearing weight on the ligaments and joints. We want to be using those muscles so we don’t lose those muscles, right? But for your other days of fitness, I say fill them with the things that make you feel happy and that you love and joy. I mean, I love hiking, so I do hiking multiple times a week. But I know the critical mess of bearing weight on my ligaments and joints and sustaining my muscle tissue because, again, it’s going to impact so much of my life as I age. I had this story of a client, and she’s giving me permission to share this, but it’s really profound. So I’m going to share it with your audience here. Her mom was 70 years old, and she saw something down in the shower in her bathroom one day. She went down to pick it up, and she slipped and fell. She wasn’t showering or anything. She didn’t even get hurt. But she went to pick it up, fell on the ground, and then went to stand up. And she couldn’t; she didn’t have the strength in her legs, her arms, or her hips to stand. And so she’s down on the floor, going, Now, how am I going to get now? So she crawled over to her bed, where her phone was on the bedside table, and she called her kids, and no one answered. So she just sat there, going, Well, I have to cook supper. How am I going to stand up here? So she ended up calling 911. The ambulance came and had to break down her door to get into her house; all they had to do was help her stand up. 

And my client said to me, Tracy, that will never be me. So whatever I have to do to ensure that that is not me, please tell me what I need to do. And so we started a routine of functional training where she’s bearing weight on those ligaments and joints, doing functional patterns and functional movements like squats and deadlifts, and doing actions that we have in our everyday lives. And we’re training the muscles around there so she can sustain that and continue to do that forever and ever.

Sharon Stills, ND

Well, that makes you think, right? Because, like you said, she didn’t even break anything; she just couldn’t stand. Isn’t there that test rate of age, like, can you bend down and then get up quite on your own, right?

Tracy Steen

Yes.

Sharon Stills, ND

So two days a week of strength training, for someone who wants to get started, what do you recommend? Because you want to do it properly. You don’t want to hurt yourself. Are there any tips for getting started?

Tracy Steen

That’s a good minimum, which is two days a week. If you’re like, I don’t want to do it. I don’t like strength training; I hate weights. Then at least try to commit to that two days. I mean, optimally, you’re doing it for 4 to 5 days, or even 3 to 5 days, right? Let’s go to your question here about beginners. If you could afford to hire a trainer, I think that would be ideal, right? Because then someone is watching just you. I give tips and tricks on my YouTube channel. I talk about form. I’ll correct my own form, and I’ll coach while I’m working out. But I can’t see you, right? I can’t see the person working out, so I don’t know if your form is good or not, but a personal trainer can certainly critique your form and help you. I think if you haven’t done it before, if you haven’t done resistance training before, so often we don’t know how to really use those muscles in a way that is not going to get us injured and in a way that’s going to maximize these lifts. So that is a good recommendation again. Now, if you can’t afford it, there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube that are free, and that’s just wonderful. It’s a wonderful resource that I think you can tap into. We have over on my channel a full beginner playlist. There are almost 100 beginner workouts, they’re all low-impact, right? We’re lifting really light, and we’re starting to progress from there. That is one mistake I feel like a lot of people make, and when I would take a client on for the first time, she would grab the weights and be able to lift maybe 10 pounds over her head. But then I would pass the 3-pound dumbbells to her initially, and she’d be like, I think I can do heavier. I’m like, Yes, it’s true. But normally, you would only lift something overhead once, not 12 times. And now I’m asking you to do it 12 times. 

If we do that for a few rounds by the end of our session today, you’re going to be so sore by tomorrow that you’re not going to even be able to show up again tomorrow. And truly, that is the key. We need to be able to show up again tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, right? To build that consistency. If we talk about how do I build muscle, right? How do I put on more size? Volume is the driver of that hypertrophy. So hypertrophy is the increase in muscle size. So you need to be able to show up again tomorrow in order to get the volume required for that growth. Now, a lot of people also think, Well, I don’t like lifting heavy weights. I’ve got arthritis or it hurts, or I don’t have heavyweights. Could I still build muscle with lighter weights? And the answer to that is most definitely yes; you can. It used to be the answer. And this is interesting. Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, he’s a big name in the sports medicine arena. He’s done a lot of studies over many, many years—the last 20, 25 years that have shown that while we used to think that you had to lift heavier weights in that 10 to 12 rep range for 3 to 4 sets, now that studies have shown that you can’t lift lighter weights, the volume is going to be higher. 

So say, for example, if I did a shoulder press and I was only using three or five-pound weights, Okay, I’m not going to fatigue at 12 reps. It’s going to be still too easy. But I might fatigue right at those 15, 20, or 25 reps. So the key, if you’re lifting a little bit lighter, is that you still have to push the system; you still have to cause some sort of overload or adaptation so the muscle shifts, changes, and grows. And if it’s duration or volume, that could be a good driver of that muscle change. So if you’re lifting later, just always think about that, because I think sometimes people will grab a weight and lift it. But there’s no fatigue in the muscles, right? There’s no, Yes. It doesn’t come close to failure. It doesn’t fatigue. It’s great for ligament and joint health. That’s great. But if you want to build muscle, it has to be overloaded in some capacity. So in order for those muscle fibers to tear.

Sharon Stills, ND

Yes. So first of all, I just want to say, Did you see her guns? Follow her; this lady knows what she’s doing. I’m like, Oh, you want to be lifting to where you’re like, Oh, I like where you get the shakes. Is that–

Tracy Steen

So what it’s called is Reps in Reserve. This is a good thing to remember when you’re lifting. So let’s take the three sets of 12 reps category kick. That’s typical; lots of trainers on YouTube will lead in this area, okay? So within that first set, you’re testing and trying to weight. You’re seeing how it feels for your muscles in that specific lift, and you’ll get to the 12th rep with the weight that you have. And maybe it’s only an eight-pound dumbbell, right? Maybe you’re doing shoulder press again. You should have about three, four, or five reps left in reserve. So that means you should be able to go for an additional three, four, or five reps, past rep number 12. Okay, that’s good; you’re getting the ballpark, but now we come to the second set, and you want to have less reps left in reserve. Maybe this time it’s only 2 to 3 reps. So you’re going to pick up a heavier weight, and this is sort of where that trial and error comes in. It’s also really helpful to write down the weights that you used last time so that you know where to start, what ballpark, and what arena you should start in. So you pick up the weights and you’re going into your second set, and again, now you’re thinking, Okay, I only want to have 2 to 3 reps left in reserve. So you finish off with the 12th rep, and you’re like, Okay, I could have done just about two or three more. And then the last set, now you want to push the envelope a little bit more and bring it closer to that fatigue, maybe only having 1 to 2 reps left in reserve, maybe even 0 to 1 reps left in reserve.

So now you’re going to choose a weight that you think you can do for those 12 reps and really push the system. So reps ten, 11, and 12 should be where you’re like, Oh yes, this is getting hard. This is getting hard. But if you’re lifting in endurance with lighter weights, you’re going to be okay. Reps 15, 16, 17, or 22, 23, 24, 25: Now I’m starting to really feel it, and yes. You always have to just think; that’s the caveat. Am I challenging the muscle to overload and adapt to the weight that I’m giving it? And again, it can be lightweights with high volume. It can be like weights with isometric contractions, right? You can be holding a weight out there. So I’m not even lifting. I’ve got a two-pound weight in my hands. I’m doing a bar workout, right? I just got these little movements or whatever I’m doing. But I have to hold my arms out there for a full minute. So I’m feeling that fatigue; I’m feeling that burn. And that’s the overload right there. I think often we’ll pick up lighter weights, but we won’t feel any of those things. And again, it’s good that you’re doing something. I think that’s great. It’s better than sitting on the couch. You’re still increasing circulation, which is going to decrease inflammation, disease, and decay. So that’s good. But if you want to grow muscle, if you want to offset Sarcopenia and increase that lean muscle tissue, then we have to push the envelope. We have to push the system and challenge those muscles.

Sharon Stills, ND

That makes sense. Do you recommend having like a leg day and arm day, back day, or do you work? How do you do that? 

Tracy Steen

So again, this depends on what your target is, okay? This is my main question. I say to my members all the time, What’s the top target? Because that really is going to determine your nutrition. It’s going to determine your training protocol. It’s going to determine your NEAT factor. It’s going to determine so many things, okay? If your top target is to increase lean muscle, let’s just stick with that one for a second. You’re going to break down your body into muscle groups. You’re going to get real specific. Okay, so Monday might be chest and triceps. Because what I want to remember is that volume is the driver of hypertrophy. So I need volume throughout my week in order to get that growth. So triceps, I’m going to have to hit at least probably twice a week. Chest, I’m going to have to hit at least; I’m going to have to do one main day maybe and then do some chest in another day so that I get that volume. And typically speaking, when I say volume in hypertrophy, that’s really anywhere between that ten and 15 sets per muscle group in a given week. So that’s some good volume. Like that, you have to be training five days a week for that. So then yes, maybe chest and triceps on a Monday, maybe back and biceps on a Tuesday, and maybe a rest day on Wednesday where you’re doing some active rest like walking or a little jog or hike. Thursday might be a glutes and shoulders workout. Friday might be a nice total body. Saturday might be again, whatever you missed during the beginning of the week, maybe another upper body, or a combination of that. So we’re really looking at the week in terms of you dividing it up into specific groups where everything is kind of getting a little bit of a target.

Now, if your top target is for longevity and you just want to move your body because you know that’s important and you want to, again, increase circulation, but you want to include things like maybe some yoga, Pilates, cycling, or some of these sports that you enjoy. Then maybe perhaps doing an upper body on one day and a lower body on another day throughout the week would be a great way to again target all of the muscles. Also, you could do two total-body workouts, right? You could just, if you’re only doing it twice a week, then you could do that. If you’re doing it three times a week, you could do a lower body one day, then skip that upper body one day, then skip then a total body on the third day. So lots of combinations, right? But I always kind of think about the whole body and think, Okay, have I targeted the major muscles in my body today or this week, rather? And so major muscles—I’m thinking shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest back, abs, core. So that would be your lower lumbar erector spine wall, and then your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. So that’s kind of how I think.

Did everyone get a chance to work out this week? And then, if there are parts that I want to grow; then, I’m going to need that volume. I’m going to need that overload on those parts. So for people who want to sculpt their arms and get some good-toned, sculpted arms, Well, this is where people make a mistake. So often, women will just say, Oh, I want really nice triceps. I don’t want, flabby arms or what have you. But they’ll only have two tricep exercises in a given week that was in their total body workout. Well, that’s not enough. That’s never going to target the back of that. Plus, I think we also must remember and be cognizant of this fact. Everyone’s bodies are so different. You may have been born with a different somatotype than someone that you admire. Maybe someone who’s an Ectomorph, or sorry, an Endomorph, yes, an Ectomorph, who’s really lean, wants to be a Mesomorph, someone who gains muscle easily and loses weight easily, but you’re just different. You were born different. So I think it’s important to recognize that you may not be able to reach a certain point, but it’s going to be more challenging for some people than it will be for others. And I think it’s important to not just focus on what we can gain esthetically, especially as we age. I think it has to be important that we begin to develop other targets as well. So I’m talking about targets, like maybe I want to go for strength. Could I get stronger this year? Could that be one of my targets, that I’m really going to improve my strength quotient, and I’m going to mark that? I’m going to gauge that. I’ll take notes about how much I can lift, and I’m going to look at the scale. I’m not going to, like, focus on how skinny I can get or lean, but I’m really going to focus on strength. Someone else is might be. I’m going to work on balance and stability because I don’t want to fall as they age. And so this is going to be a primary goal. And target of mine is to focus on these things. For other people, it could be, I’m going to work on agility, and just can I be fast? Can I be agile, right? Can I stop and catch myself? So I try to help women just see that the only target, it doesn’t have to be how skinny you can get or lean you can get. Let’s make it some other things. Let’s make it how strong I can feel, right? How energetic I can feel? How confident I can feel? These things have to be a part of the conversation as well, because not all of us are going to get there. Like to the lean, the look that we think that we wanted to. We just won’t; not all of us will, right?  

Sharon Stills, ND

Better to have that extra five or ten-pounds, but be strong and be balanced and be healthy. Be moving as.

Tracy Steen

Well. And those extra five to ten pounds cost something as well, right? There’s a cost to being lean if that is something that you desire. I mean, you could be if you wanted to be, but it does cost something, right? There’s a lot of commitment in the training, in the eating, in the sleeping, and in the supplementing. There’s a lot of commitment there. So I think I tell women to just gauge for themselves what the target is and what they’re willing to do to get there. I can help women compete so that they’re stage-ready and they can be in a body competition. But is it sustainable for the long haul? Are you going to? What’s it going to cost you to get there? What’s it going to cost you emotionally and psychologically? 

Because this is what happens to a lot of people. They’ll go on these plans where they’re losing a lot of weight, maybe getting very lean, getting very ripped. But it’s really challenging to stay there. So they get to this place. They feel really good. They look really good. But unless you’re willing and your lifestyle is willing to take that drastic 360 change and sustain what you’ve achieved, you won’t be able to. You won’t be able to stay there for long, and that can then mess with us, psychologically speaking. We’re like, Well, I was leaner, right? I did look good. And then we can go into a cycle of beating ourselves up. But really, was that sustainable for anyone? For most people, it’s not. Maybe for people who are getting paid to be there, it’s more sustainable. But we hear this story all the time, right? We have a natural set point in your body. Your body does have that natural set point. And what if you could camp there but be strong, healthy, and love yourself? Honor your body with the things that you do, honor your body with the foods that you put in it, and focus on that more than just, aesthetically, what you look like.

Sharon Stills, ND

That’s part of going through the menopausal transition and getting that wisdom, and learning what’s truly important in life. So I really agree. That being said, what can you say? Because it is a common thing I hear in my office from patients, and I’m sure you hear it continually. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. And now, I drive by a supermarket, and I gain five pounds. And so I’m sure you hear this as frequently as I do. Why is that happening? What do you have? How do you speak to that?

Tracy Steen

Yes, I do hear that all the time. It’s frustrating for all of us, right? Because, yes, what used to work no longer works. But there are a lot of things that are going on as well. Studies have shown that as we age, we do slow down, so we’re not moving as much. We’re not as active maybe as we once were. With that slowing down or that lack of non-exercise activity thermogenesis in place, we don’t have that caloric expenditure that we possibly had when we were younger, running after kids and running all around the city, and we would drive into soccer camps. This is what I always say to women at this age: your non-exercise activity thermogenesis for your NEAT activity has to be in place. Okay, this isn’t necessarily just walking daily, although I do recommend that. I recommend that for reducing cortisol, for being with friends, for being in nature, and for getting morning light in the eyes. Like, it’s just a game changer for most women that I make do that it’s a game changer, but non-exercise activity thermogenesis can include things like balance in your life, right? You got like jiggling, wiggling, fidgeting, standing, standing desk, taking a call, standing your call.

There was a wonderful study that was done on soleus raises. This is where you are lifting your heel up and doing like a calf raise, but in a seated position, and how that soleus raise was done, it was done for a long time, or something like a two-hour time frame that someone like these would be subjects were doing soleus raises. But it showed how like after someone ate a meal that was high in glucose, how it helped offset unstable insulin spikes and glucose spikes just because the muscles were moving and using that up. So I think that has to be something that we really do consider that, yes, we used to be able to eat what we wanted, but we’ve also slowed down. So how can we integrate in our life more movement? Because that’s going to help increase that caloric expenditure. 

You know more about this hormone fluctuation than I do, but from what I know, as estrogen drops in our bodies capacity to manage glucose shifts. And so I tell my members, and we talk about this all the time, that we need to try to manage glucose and find ways to either eat foods together or in a different pairing. That’s going to help do that, right? If we eat carbs by themselves, we get more glucose into the system. Then we’ll have more of those glucose spikes. If you’re not using up that glucose, which is provided to us as energy, if you’re not going out on a marathon run and using that all day long, anything that’s in excess is just getting stored as fat in the body. It just gets stored. So we need to monitor the amount of glucose that works, see where the carbohydrates are that we’re eating, and begin to prioritize protein.

That’s another thing that’s important because protein has the highest thermic effect of food out of all of those macronutrients, out of fat and carbohydrates. So that means for every 100 calories of protein you’re consuming, your body is going to use about 30 calories to break that down. So you’re burning energy while you’re eating that macronutrient. And so and it also helps us to build lean muscle, right? Protein is the building block of lean muscle, and the regular RDA amounts of the what basic websites will recommend for protein is pretty low compared to what is really required to build lean muscle. So a lot of RDAs will say that around 50 grams of protein a day is good. But if you’re wanting to build muscle, most professionals would say you need to be upwards of 1.8 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. So for me, I’m 58 kilograms. That means I’m anywhere between that 92 and 120 grams of protein per day to put on muscle to build muscle. That might be a lot more than you were eating, but it does help. It does help the body become more metabolic as well.

It’s little things like that I think are so important to understanding sleep and how sleep impacts our ghrelin and leptin hormones, right? So ghrelin is the go hormone. That’s the hormone that makes us snacking and makes us feel like we to have more hyper palatable foods, eat more in the afternoon. And if you’re having less than seven or eight hours of sleep per night, we’re going to have increased levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin, which is the stop hormone. So we need to switch that around. What we want are higher levels of leptin and lower low levels of ghrelin. Sleep can impact that greatly. So yes, lots of things.

Sharon Stills, ND

Could you just give a few examples of, you said that’s a high amount of protein and I agree. But what could that for someone who’s listening like thinking, like 57 steaks a day like does that look like how.

Tracy Steen

Could that look.

Sharon Stills, ND

Like lunch? Dinner? Yes. How is that palatable?

Tracy Steen

Sure. And let me just say this, too, because I think that intermittent fasting is a great protocol for menopause. It is for me. I do enjoy it, but it makes it a challenge for me to get that adequate protein in. If I need about 90 grams a day, I’m somehow going to have to fit that into my eating window, which could be a challenge, right? So, yes, choosing foods that you enjoy and I think it’s really important for longevity and lifespan to make a lot of those protein sources plant-based. So an increase in fiber and an increase in vegetables I think is important as well. For an example, I suppose if you’re looking at, Okay, give me a 90-gram protein day of eating, you might start your day with something like protein pancakes. I do a protein pancake that I really enjoy. It’s got, what, one tablespoon of large flaked oats, two eggs, half a cup of cottage cheese, cinnamon, and a little piece of banana. Blend that up, and then make a pancake. You can top it with Greek yogurt. That’s a good 30 grams right there. So a little bit of all-natural nut butter and some blueberries. That’s great. Lunch might be something like a chicken salad, right? So four ounces of chicken is around that 28 to 30 grams of protein. So that’s great. Lots of leafy greens, healthy fat, a homemade dressing with olive oil, and maybe some nuts and seeds on top. So that would be great if you could fit a snack in if you’re still hungry or needed a snack, even having something like a protein shake. If you wanted to supplement with protein powder, you don’t have to. I would say Whole Foods Trumps, But if you have a hard time fitting in that amount of protein, a protein supplement like a protein, whey protein is an easy way to get in 30 grams right there. But you could have something like some humus and veggie sticks that would be a lower protein option, but you could even have some Greek yogurt maybe. And some berries. That’s a good source right there. And then dinner might be something like stewed lentils, right? With some salad. That could be a good protein source, or maybe a salmon dish with some asparagus and quinoa. That would be another great probably 30 grams protein right there.

So it’s totally doable to get in that 90 to 100 grams; it just how’s your appetite, right? And if you’re doing intermittent fasting, then it is a challenge. I find it hard because I’m not as hungry in that, but I am trying to prioritize protein. So I make sure that every single thing that I consume has protein in it. Right? As you age, your hunger levels go down too. You don’t have as much of an appetite. So every sort of food that you put into your mouth has to have some thought behind it. Does it have fiber? Because fiber is crucial for our gut health, right? And for that, we must have fiber. It also helps us to feel satiated. It makes us feel fuller for longer. So yes, does the food have fiber? Does a good have protein? Does the food have that healthy fat source? Does a feed have complex carbohydrates that is high in fiber? There’s a lot to think about. We’ve got to think about our plates and make those decisions. But again, it kind of comes down to, What’s the top target like? What do you really want to do first? And then let’s look at the secondary targets and try to pepper those in throughout that.

Sharon Stills, ND

Very helpful. And I’ll just add on; that’s something I harp on all the time: when you’re eating all that protein, you want to make sure you’re actually absorbing it. So checking to make sure your hydrochloric acid levels, most of us have deficient stomach acid, so you want to make sure that’s optimized so that when that you’re chewing it and you’re liquefying the food, you’re very mindful and eating it in a nice parasympathetic state, you’re absorbing it.

Tracy Steen

Yes.

Sharon Stills, ND

But yeah, that is that’s all really, really helpful. So any last, we’ve kind of went from lifting to eating to thinking, the whole, like you say, that 360 view. Is there any last nuggets of wisdom or anything you want to share with the audience before we wrap up?

Tracy Steen

Yes, I think that the main thing to think about is that you’re not trying to identify as just goals or targets to move toward. I want to lose ten pounds. I want to fit into these jeans. I think what would be better and more helpful is to think about this shift now as this lifestyle habit. Who do I want to be? How do I want to feel? And could I begin to shift my whole life so that it begins to reflect who I want to be and how I want to feel? It could mean you’re shifting from some friendship groups, maybe, right? I had a client who wants to; she was known as Cocktail Cara, and everyone came to her house for cocktail hour every day at four, and she’s like, I don’t want to be this person anymore. But that meant shifting a whole friendship group and changing the environment. So as we think about what we want to do, wouldn’t it be nice not to have to be thinking about that next year going, Oh, and I really need to change? I wish I could make a change. I wish I could lose weight. I wish I could get fit. I think what we need to start with is by thinking, What do I want to look like? How do I want to feel? What do I want my life to be like?

Then let’s reverse engineer some of these microprocessors that I’m going to have to do day in and day out to make that happen. My favorite quote is by Ovid, and he says, Dripping water on the stone hollows it out, not through force but through persistence. That’s really the key. It’s like, How do I find the little things that I need to drip on the stone? Drip, drip, drip? It’s my waking up at 5 a.m. It’s my drinking water, it’s my taking supplements, and it’s getting my hormones checked. It’s making sure my sleep is intact. Those are the dripping water on the stone. It’s going to hollow it out. And what needs to happen is that we just show up for ourselves and continue to do those things day in and day out. And we can’t do it alone. I think community is a huge way that we can support ourselves on this journey, right? It’s Facebook groups, it’s friendship groups, it’s walking clubs, it’s friends at the gym—whatever it is, find your tribe and have that support because there are other women just like you and me that want to do this as well.

Sharon Stills, ND

So beautiful. And that Cocktail Cara, those events—that’s such an act of bravery, and sometimes those are the hardest things we have to do to really change. I love it, I hope you all. Well, first of all, I hope you all go follow Tracy. So tell them I don’t do YouTube a lot, but I follow you on Instagram. We have this page, so how do we find you on YouTube or Instagram?

Tracy Steen

So YouTube is TracySteenMoveDaily. I mean, you could do it daily, and anything would pop up. But that’s YouTube move daily. Instagram is new daily fitness big Facebook group right now called the Move Daily Hustle. You could also find me on Facebook. Tracy Steen one. Tiktok is Tracy Steen. So lots of platforms. Yes.

Sharon Stills, ND

She’s everywhere. Fun, fun platform. So be sure to follow her and get your daily dose of moving. And I hope that you all there’s so much in this. I hope you go back and listen to this interview again. Just even one little nugget of the thought, or something that’s really sticking with me, is that, like, who do I want to be? Do I want to be strong? Do I want to be agile? Do I want to be stable? Because we do that. That’s huge. It’s like, because we do tend to just be like, I want to fit in my size three jeans on at the end, and we’re wise now that there’s a little more to it than just fitting in our jeans, and yes, of course we want to,  carrying around too much extra weight is a health hazard, not what we’re saying. But there’s the whole gestalt of it. I hope you really can digest and think about that. Now we have permission to do cardio. So for those of us who are like Annie McCartney, Oh, we’ve got permission. So thank you so much for just educating us, spending some time with us here at the summit, and sharing your wisdom. and just really appreciate you and all that you do. For everyone else, you’ve got a little bit of homework and a little bit of things to think about. We’ll be back with another amazing interview for you at the Mastering The Menopause Transition 2.0 Summit. We’ll see you soon.