Flipping 50 with Debra Atkinson

Hey, J.J. here.

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Hey, this is JJ Virgin. Welcome and thanks so much for joining me. This is Ask the Health Expert here. Here I put the power of health in your hands and give you access to the top people in health and wellness. In each episode I share safe ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your.

Gut, detox and lots more.

So if you want to get healthy and get off the dieting for life merry go round, I'll give you strategies that will help you look and feel better fast. All right. You have been asking for for this so I'm bringing it to you. I have been getting so many questions about like what should I do before I work out, Do I need to eat? What should I eat? What about afterwards? And I have a friend who honestly, I cannot believe I have not gotten on the podcast yet because she is so amazing. She really is the top expert now in exercise during and after menopause. She is amazing. Her name is Deborah Atkinson. She has this great book. First of all, she's going to be giving you this book. You can get it@jjvirgin.com flipping50 and that's her brand. F L I P I N G50.com she's going to give you her book hot not bothered 99 daily flips to slimmer, trimmer, fitter, faster so you can master your metabolism before, during and long after menopause. She also she has helped over 145,000 women 50 plus flip their second half and really it's like making 50 the new 30. You're going to hear about how much better shape she's in. And I'm in in our 50s than we ever were in our 30s despite being fitness people. She also wrote you still got it girl, the after 50 fitness formula for women navigating fitness after 50. So this is really her world. For 35 years she has dug in and she has really done the research as little like not a whole lot of it by the way on women, menopause and beyond and how to get the best results. So we are going to share all of that with you today. Now before we go there I want to do a shout out to Nicole Hallett and she did a five star review on iTunes. She says love this podcast. JJ Virgin's lifestyle podcast is seriously so good. She always has amazing guests who are so knowledgeable in their area of expertise. Every episode is full of great advice and tips. I also love how each episode is short and sweet and straight to the point.

Keep them coming.

Well, thank you. That is one of the things I strive to do because I know we are busy. So my big goal with these is to give you actionable information based on what you guys are asking for. So here's the thing. If there's something you want to know more about, pop on over to itunes, leave a review and say I want to know X, Y or Z, whatever it is and I will go hunt down the best guests or I will do it myself because some of these are my favorite topics. Before I dive in, I want to share another one of my favorites with you.

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Deborah Atkinson, welcome to the show. It is about darn time.

I am so glad to hear you on the other end of this.

Yes, I know. So for everyone listening, I've known Deborah for years and she has got this awesome brand all around. Flippin50, how the heck to. And this is something that's not addressed because I gotta tell you, I think I'm not alone. Most 50 plus year old women don't want to like get exercise instruction from some 25 year old in booty shorts and a jog bra. Right? Am I right? Can I hear an amen?

Amen.

Amen. Amen. And so you just tackled this one, which I'm thrilled about. But the other day something was coming up and I saw a post that you'd written about eating and exercise because this comes up all the time in my community. People are like, and it's, it's a super confusing situation. It's like, do you eat before exercise? After exercise, don't eat at all. Should we, should we be fasting? Like, what the heck do we do? So I know we're going to tackle this today and I am very excited for us to do this. But before we get there, what got you into all of this? Because I actually don't know.

A midlife crisis. So that's a whole never show. But really this for me is year 35. Literally. This is when I changed my major from graphic design. And I knew, you know, it wasn't quite fitting in because way back then everybody smoked and drank if they were in graphic design. They stayed up all night. And I was like, I can't do that, can't do any of those things. And had some great instructors. So the, the short story is I was like, I want to make other people feel the way I have felt from these fantastic instructors. And of course it starts being, you know, I want to look good. But it was like how I felt, whatever else I could do. And then I thought I got my older adult clients, I thought I got my older females because I was raised by older parents, had older brothers and sisters. I was doing research before I knew I was doing research. And then I turned 49, I was.

Like, oh wow, now I really got it.

And I flipped my world upside down. I quit my job. I wanted to have a bigger reach. And I said, I'm going digital. We've had Some really good luck here in the very conservative, very Midwest. And if we can do it, anybody can do it. And I realized I want to help trainers connect better. But in order to do that, I've got to still be talking to that market myself and demonstrating I'm doing it. I can't get irrelevant and just be talking. Right. So as I was doing all this research, and then I panicked. I quit my job. No insurance, no safety, security. I left the university. All of these really secure things I'd seen from a dad who worked for 40 years and then got a clock, you know, and nobody does that anymore. And I realized, I've got to pay college tuition in eight months. What did I just do? And so I locked and chained myself to a keyboard and went from exercising for hours a day, typically, to I would let myself maybe away for 20 minutes. And when you do that, of course, you make every minute count. So it became more intense. I was simultaneously researching it online, what's really happening during perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. And then I was. I was the study of one. I was literally my demographic, totally stressed, totally, you know, panicked. And beginning to have things under the hood change. And hearing from all kinds of women. Nobody gets us. It's not working. What used to work isn't working anymore.

All that cardio is definitely not working.

Or from those women who thought they never had to do anything, now suddenly they. They are aware I've got to do.

Something, and I think they should go hit the hardest. Crossf.

Exactly. Exactly. So after 14 months of about eight major life changes.

Eight.

You know, and I hadn't counted on six of them. I signed up for a couple, but I was just, like, underwater, literally. But I was in the best shape of my life. I looked better, felt better, and it was 20 minutes of exercise that was helping me balance hormones and balance the stress. And I realized, I've got something here. I've got to share this. And that's really flipping 50. Take it any way you want, but I flipped my life. And then I've worked really hard to talk on every platform about how other women can flip theirs.

I just love the whole story because I look back, back when I was. Because we've been doing this the same amount of time. It's crazy. And back in the leg warmer days.

Whoa, yeah oh, yeah Back in the.

Leg warmer days But I think back then, I had clients. My clients were 45 to 55 years old. And I think now, and I'm like, sorry, guys, gals. I Didn't know, you know, and there really wasn't information about this all. Like, I was in graduate school at the time. All the studies were being done on college age, mainly guys. And, you know, is that like.

Yeah, 39% of studies still are on. On only females. Right. So we've got like 60% of research is still on males still on young, hit, fit males. And so we've really got to look at.

Yeah. What the heck is that? My gosh. Right, so what do we do? Like, you know, I know you found some, but I think a lot of what we probably learned in this is by working with that clientele and kind of understanding what happens with hormones. So, you know, what, what are you seeing with women? Let's not talk food yet. Let's just talk exercise. Women heading into menopause. In menopause, what are some of the big exercise mistakes that they can make?

We're still. You nailed it earlier. We're still spending way too much time doing cardio or we're, you know, I'm not even sure you'd qualified as cardio. Going for walks, which I'm not going to throw into the bus, that's a good thing. But thinking that you, you do speed the same distance, probably the same route every single day, and you know, you're not getting results, but you're going to keep doing that. There's something has to change.

Insane. Here's what I view walking as we all need to buy to. Everyone should own a dog. I'm looking at mine right now. Who's sitting there pouting?

I will farm mine out.

Right? Everyone should have a dog. And you should walk your dog every day. And that is not exercise.

That's right.

That is moving, brushing your teeth. That is flossing your teeth. That is just part of what every day. We gotta floss, we gotta brush, we gotta drink water, eat some vegetables, walk and get good sleep. But that's not exercise. I like to say, you know, in order for it to count as exercise, you have to get hot, sweaty and should hurt a bit. But this doesn't mean go kill yourself on CrossFit either. So we've got people out there counting walking, which just should be part of your activities of daily living. That's why we should track as exercise. What should they be doing?

They should be strength training. And if you ask me that again, I will say they should be strength training.

What should they be training?

Yes. I mean, again, why? Because it enables every other thing in your life to be easier for you to do. More. Say that again. It makes every other thing in your life easier. So, yes, you should be doing cardio. We've got to do some kind of Getting breathless is my definition of cardio. Everybody should get breathless. And if you love yoga, awesome. But you can't just choose yoga and say, that's my exercise. Well, you've got a heart, you've got muscles, you've got bones. You got to take care of it all, girlfriend. So strength training is the common denominator that will make you stronger and better and more confident in yoga, even if you hate yoga. I know I'm talking to somebody who maybe doesn't.

I do not. Like, I don't. I love throwing weights around, though.

I love that.

But yoga, yes, I, I, it's so funny because I was just talking to my husband again. I go, you know, we really gotta start yoga. Like, this is what we start. We start this whole, like, we really should start yoga. And then we grumble about it and grumble about it, and then maybe we'll go to a class and we're like, okay, well, check that off. The years. It's like, I just don't, I want to, like, I want to be the person that likes yoga. Sadly, it's not going to happen.

Not, not going to happen. And that's okay. Whoever you are, like, you're listening. But we need range of motion, movement. We need some kind of stretch. And you've got to keep yourself able to do the other thing. So if you have a priority. I love doing this. I love playing golf. I love doing this. You've still got to do a little cardio and a little strength training and that mobility to keep you doing that.

Yes. And notice you said little cardio, not hours of cardio, a little bit of cardio. Because as we know, hours of cardio actually can age you more. So we're not doing that. All right, so let's dive in then. Let's talk food.

Let's talk food.

Let's talk food. Because, gosh, this one comes up all the time. And I think it's more confusing than ever because of, you know, this whole breakfast skipping, intermittent fasting gig going on. So someone's going to exercise. And of course, some of this is going to depend on when you exercise. But what's your basic recommendations?

It's really about. And probably the most basic of all is you and I know that we're all a unique thumbprint. So our gut health, our what stresses me versus what stresses you? What's long cardio for Me and what's long for you, all that is different. So first of all, everybody listening and take this into, here's what I know works for me, but too many of us are like beating that drum and doing more of what doesn't work. Let's stop that right now. So secondly, look at the intensity of the exercise that you're going to be doing and eat accordingly because your body has a preference for what it's going to burn during certain activities. And that's really important to pay attention to. So the higher the intensity that you're going to work and let's say define that as really getting breathless. So you and I both like to throw weights around and I would qualify using heavy weight and definitely reaching fatigue, which we may want to define. That's intense. But there is something different about weight training, which temporarily will, yes, raise or elevate your heart rate while you're doing a lift, but you recover between. That's different than doing high intensity interval training your body in doing those 30 second to breathless hands on my knees, I gotta bend over and I deserve this break. That kind of workout. Your body needs a little bit more carbohydrate to get you going. Its preference is that because essentially it's lazy. Right. It can't multitask very well. So if you're working super hard, your body is not going to be able to go and get fat because that is much harder for your body to derive and turn it into energy while you're breathing super hard. So a little bit of carbohydrate is actually helpful. And let's come back to. Okay, what about intermittent fasting? I thought if I didn't eat anything that I would then burn more fat.

Burn my. I'm so excited to have someone else saying this. Okay, good, because I know what everyone's singing right now. They're going, but wait a minute. I don't want to burn sugar and carbs during exercise. I want to burn fat.

Yeah, well, and we're going to be still careful about the kind of food.

You're not having a Snicker Spar.

No. And you're not having a goo. I mean, let's just kill that right now.

Is that you're not doing five hours of marathon running. Even if you were, goo would not be the best option.

No. Right.

You're not. You're doing a short exercise. And by the way, it's really not about the fat you're burning during. During the exercise, is it?

Right. Nope. It's about the fat you're burning after. So literally, if you're doing high intensity interval training, the proportion, the percentage of fat you're burning during those moments is very small. But the overall caloric burn, the energy burned, is so high that a small percentage of a big number is still pretty good. And then it's the two for one. So afterward, for hours afterward, you're burning more fat. That's the real benefit. Let's do that again. All day long, right? But not really.

Yeah, but that's what we really want to do. The, the time when your body can really access stored fat for fuel is when you're sitting, when you're at lower intensity. I remember way back when, this craziness where we had to monitor our target heart rate and our training zone. And if we weren't working out for at least 30 minutes, we shouldn't even bother because we didn't get into our fat burning zone and we had to be in our. And it was like, well, this is just silly when you look at it. If exercise, if what we're trying to do is A, improve our muscle mass so that we have better metabolic rate and better insulin sensitivity, and B, burn a bunch of sugar and make it so our body has to recover harder and is better at burning fat all day long, it's really about having more energy walking into that session. And I think that's why you said if you have some carbs prior to working out now, you're going to have more energy during that session. You'll be able to train harder.

Right?

Exactly.

You train harder. You can train longer. Longer, if of course that's appropriate, without feeling like it's harder or longer. So that we don't want to skip. Right. Because nobody wants to repeat a workout that feels like hell, right? I mean, you gotta like it a little bit. And I know you say there's gotta be a little bit of pain. Well, yes, I think that's true. But you really gotta know, okay, there's a little bit of. I'm gonna get really uncomfortable, but I got a break coming.

Yeah, I'm not talking joint pain, people. I'm talking, yes, little bit of pain. Now, what about what you shouldn't like, the big mistakes, what you shouldn't eat before or after you work out, A lot of fiber.

So normally, right, we want to get fiber in those smoothies, we want to get a lot of protein, get a lot of fat. But some of us are unique in this, in that, you know, we can eat almost anything and then we can go. We feel pretty Good. But a lot of women I find in midlife are not that person either anymore or never were. So they don't want to feel like they're bogged down, you know? And if you eat a lot of fiber right before you exercise, that's the opposite of how you want to feel. You want things that will clear your gut. So you feel light and you feel like, I've got energy, I'm ready to go. And, you know, you're not held back, so you don't want to put fiber in. You may want a very simple smoothie before because it's fairly easy to digest. It's already broken down. It's not going to weigh you down. But don't put your fiber in that one. Hold the fiber until afterward. That's one. If you have too much fat for you. Now, I can eat like a quarter to a half of an avocado before a workout if I'm hungry and take the edge off my hunger and feel really pretty good. But not everybody could do that because it is high fat and it would take a little longer to digest. So look at, what are you doing now? How's your energy level during your session? And then test. Right. Don't guess. Someone I know and respect says that a lot. Right?

Yeah. And that's. I think these things are counterintuitive, but you really don't want, like, in life, we want you to have fiber and healthy fats and it slows down. Stomach emptying. You feel fuller, longer, and it's awesome. But not when you're going to go work out.

Exactly.

You do not want your body focusing on digestion rather than on getting blood flow to the working muscles. We only have so much blood flow. It's not like we can go, hey, let's have some extra. Nope, that's not happening. Now, you also did something kind of cool and you used your DNA results and you use them to help you do better. So let's, like, let's talk a little bit about that. That's exciting. I did that. I did my DNA too. So I think it's really cool stuff to have.

Yeah. Well, the most exciting thing I found from DNA is I metabolize caffeine really well, so.

I know, Me too.

Exactly. But what I found out was, you know, I desperately wanted to be somebody who could shift their ability to burn fat at higher and higher levels of intensity. And I was really trying to reduce the amount of carbs that I was having before exercise so that I could become a fat burner and better at it. And that takes time. Some people can do that better than others, but I am not one of them is what I found out from my DNA. And I wasn't experiencing great results, but I was falling into that trap A little bit of. And let's do more of what's not working. Okay. Hard to admit, but I think I just did. Right.

There's so much information right now that's making people once again carb phobic. And, you know, it's. And there's still that info out there where people seem to think that in order to burn fat, they've gotta be in ketosis. And like, you know, especially if you've got adrenal problems, if you've got thyroid issues, if you're going through menopause, this is not the place to be. And that's not the case. And that's. That's what makes me concern. I mean, there's times when this is a great diet and there's people it's great for, and there's times in people it's not. There's never something that's going to work for all people all the time.

Great point. Great. And so what I found is that I really do better with a little higher level of carbohydrate. So specifically, I'm focusing on increasing carbohydrates that I have before I exercise and then post exercise. And here's another thing that I did. I actually tested the status of my muscles, and they can do that on any muscle tissue. But typically they'll do something like your quads or your hamstring.

So you did like a muscle biopsy?

Exactly. More like an ultrasound. Yeah. So nobody. Nobody was stuck in that thing.

Right.

And, you know, big ego hit because here I went, you know, I'm doing great. You know, I can't wait to get this back. I mean, he's going to see, like some really good. No, I was, like, dehydrated. My muscle was not doing very well. He's like, you probably need to take a look at this. So I was like, okay, nutritionally, we're gonna change the game. Yeah. So now I recover so much quicker. And, you know, I didn't know what I didn't know. You settle without knowing you're settling if you don't know how good you can feel on the other side. So as I kind of sandwich my workout with a little bit more carbohydrate pre. A little bit more right after, as well as protein to hang on to that lean muscle tissue for sure. I'M doing so much better. I rebound quicker, I feel better, I'm giving more during my workouts. Go figure. But all of that is, you've got to look at what are you doing, what could be better. Change it, test it for a week, two weeks, see how you feel.

Yeah. And that is so key and critical because I think, you know, it reminds me of the old Weight Watchers thing where I thought where you're counting points and I went, yeah, but what if you're not hungry? It says you need to eat. Now. I go, but what if you're not hungry? What if you don't want to eat that much? What if, you know, where we disconnect from, like our own innate intelligence? Like, you know, if you feel better when you have some carbs and then go work out if you do and you can get a better workout. And guess what? It's just like this whole breakfast skipping thing. You skip breakfast. Women tend to have elevated blood pressure, elevated cortisol, you know, and they, even though they might eat a little less throughout the day because of it, they actually have a slower metabolism, too. So it's a rebound bad effect for most women. It's not the thing to do. So we've got to really look at how things work for us. And now I'm going to stop my rant. All right. Now I know you have a lot of this information and I. First of all, I love this, this book so much. The. The Hot Not Bothered book. And is that the book that you're giving away for everybody free?

Absolutely.

Wow.

And they can get it immediately.

Wow.

Digitally. Yay.

So everyone can get this@jjvirgin.com forward/flipping50 and that is F L, I, P P I N G F I F T Y. We will have all the great show notes in there. Also put my favorite smoothie in there for after a workout. And again, it's different than the typical smoothie because it's not loaded down with fiber and fat and it's one you can do pre and post. And again, the name of the book is Hot Not Bothered, right?

Exactly. Yes. Hot Not Bothered is the one we're giving away.

Tell us all about Hot Not Bothered.

You know, it's a pick it up, read a tip for today. Put it down. So for those of you who are short on time, but I want to pick up little tips and retain them, this is your book. About a third of each of the little tips that are in there are about nutrition, a third are about exercise, and a third are about the lifestyle habits. But every single One of these 99 flips is research that's only been done on women in perimenopause, menopause or post menopause.

You really are the leading expert on this. You have like just taken it on and owned it. I am like so, so thrilled to have you as a resource. So again, everyone, you can get this@jjvirgin.com flipping 50 and you'll get the hot not bothered book. 99 flips. I love those. I love the whole Flippin 50 brand. You know, I think it's so flipping cute.

It's fun.

So fun. It's so fun. And you know, I mean, because I'm 55 and I know that 50 is definitely the new 30, I feel better than ever. And that's really the biggest thing to get out that message, to get out, because you said the exact same thing. You can feel better, look better, be better than you were in your 20s and 30s and 40s when you put this information into place. If exercise was a drug, it would be the number one prescribed drug. Hands love it, right? Yep. I mean, especially for brain, for bone, for, for everything. So, but you got to do it right. So here's all the tools that you need to do it right, to do the right eating choices with it and to have amazing results. Deborah, thank you so much hanging out with me today. I so appreciate you.

Love my time with you.

Thank you. All right now after the break, I'll be answering a listener's question, so stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is the time where I answer listeners question. Hey, if you are not hanging out with me on Facebook @JJ Virgin Official or Instagramj Virgin, I jump in there and do lives and answer questions every week. Sometimes a couple times a week. Depends on what's going on and how much I'm traveling. So I would love to hang out with you. And that's where I get a lot of these questions. But today's question actually does not come from there. It comes from my girlfriend, Shailene Johnson. She sent me a voicemail the other day and she said, jj, I want to feature you on my podcast and what you do for your workout. So to walk me through a weekly workout routine. All right, now here's the deal. I travel about 50% of the time, sometimes more now that I'm settling into Tampa life. I'm traveling less because like, who wants to leave? Hello. But I still, no matter where I am, I basically have a routine. And that is what's super key and important because I think a lot of people will use traveling as an excuse not to work out. And I actually use an excuse to try some fun different stuff. Meaning that I'm going to get to a different gym, they'll have different equipment, I can do different things, but always going to do three things. Here they are. Well, actually four. These are my core four fitness formula. And, and I, I'll put that in the notes too. I have my fast fitness program. So again, jjvirgin.com flipping 50. Don't forget about that. You're going to get that cool ebook from Deborah right away. Digital download. And then I'll put some links for some other stuff like my good smoothie recipe for post workout, et cetera. But, but for working out, number one, we talked about it moving more. I'm looking at my dog as we speak. You are going to want to make sure that you're moving every day. But do not think this is exercise. This is like flossing. Okay? We need to do this. And if you're not flossing, then we got a whole another discussion too. But flossing, walking, water, good sleep, vegetables kind of key. And of course taking your daily multivitamin, mineral antioxidant and fish oil formula too. I'll put that in the notes. I'm looking at mine on the table. Sitting right here, ready for me to take. So, so that's step one is moving more. And this is where tracking with an OURA ring or a Fitbit really, really helps. I have my Oura ring on. I track my sleep every night. I'm about to put my Fitbit back on too. I kind of like to dual track. Maybe that's a little obsessive, but they give me different information. So that's the first thing is moving more. Second is high intensity interval training and that is that cardio burst training. You can do that by running upstairs. You can do that using an exciser. We'll put a to the info for the exciser and how to do that in the show notes as well. You can do that through like walking and sprinting. You can do that on a StairMaster so whatever you need to do to go all out for 30 to 60 seconds, recover for twice as long and Repeat to accumulate 4 to 8 total minutes of all out bursting, but again in 30 to 60 second increments. And this is where you get breathless. It hurts a little bit, it's not easy. And as you get stronger, guess what, you just make it harder. Third one, and you heard us talking about that, is throwing weights around. Now you can do some high intensity interval training and throw weights around and mix it up back and forth. That's another great thing to do. But I've divided the body and this is my fast fitness program into pushing, upper body pushing, which are things like chest and shoulders and triceps, upper body pulling, lats, biceps and shoulders and then power core, back and abs and hips and thighs. And what I do, hips, thighs and legs. What I do is I divide into those four and I hit each body part at least twice a week. And that's key, critical for keeping your bones strong, for keeping your metabolism up, for staying insulin sensitive. Super important. I just did like the most ridiculous fall, I'm embarrassed to say, down a flight of stairs, texting, yes I did. One of my friends texted me something about getting married and it was like one of my long term bachelor friends and I literally fell down the stairs when I read it, haven't told them yet. And it was like missed a step and fell down another step and on to marble, which should have just like, I mean I was like lying there in a puddle going, what on earth did I break? Answer was nothing. Why? Lots of good strong bones and muscles because of resistance training. So super important. Then of course the fourth is adding in some flexibility. I almost forgot it, as you heard, because it's not my favorite part, but I incorporate in as I'm doing resistance training. And one day when I do get to yoga, I'll be telling everyone about it and hopefully it'll be one day soon. If you see me, hold me to it. All right, that is it again. Make sure you grab the show notes jjvirgin.com/forward/flipping50 all spelled out and I will see you next time. And thanks again for the review. I'd love to give you a shout out. So if you haven't left a review yet, go on over there and while you're there, subscribe and share it with the pal. See ya.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all Things Books and Reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.