Asking for a Friend - Health, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife

Ep.146 Nourish Your Journey: A Fresh Start After 50 with Michele Folan

• Michele Henning Folan • Episode 146

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Hello there, ladies! It's Michele here, your 60-something guide to health after the big 5-0. In today's episode, we're having a good old chat about taking care of ourselves in these golden years.

Listen, I know what you're going through. Those hormones playing musical chairs, feeling like your muscles are on vacation, and all those "experts" telling you what to do—it's enough to make your head spin! I've been there too, and that's why I'm sitting in this chair today talking to you.

We're going to break down intermittent fasting into bite-sized pieces that make sense for real women like us. No complicated rules—just simple ways to give your body the rest it deserves between meals. And those workouts? Lady, we're not training for the Olympics! We're just looking to jumpstart our metabolism, keep our bones strong so we can play with those grandbabies, and get up from the floor without calling for help!

Many of my clients come to me having tried every diet under the sun. They've been counting points, cutting carbs, and feeling guilty about every morsel. Well, not anymore! In my kitchen, we focus on nourishment, not punishment.

I want you to know something important: it's never too late to start, no matter where you are today. Whether you're struggling to climb a flight of stairs or you've never lifted anything heavier than a grocery bag, you belong here.

Every little thing you do today—taking the stairs, lifting those small weights, saying no to that second helping—is a gift to your 80-year-old self. And trust me, she'll thank you for it!

So pop in those earbuds while you're folding laundry or walking the dog, and let's figure this out together. Subscribe to our podcast, join our community of wonderful women just like you, and remember: you're not starting over, you're simply beginning an amazing, new chapter.

I'll be right here, cheering you on every step of the way!


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Are you ready to reclaim your midlife body and health? I went through my own personal journey through menopause, the struggle with midsection weight gain, and feeling rundown. Faster Way, a transformative six-week group program, set me on the path to sustainable change. I'd love to work with you! Let me help you reach your health and fitness goals.
https://www.fasterwaycoach.com/?aid=MicheleFolan

Have questions about Faster Way? Feel free to reach out.
mfolanfasterway@gmail.com

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*Transcripts are done with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.

**This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Michele Folan:

I simply love what I get to do. I get to bring my midlife audience helpful tools and tips to make managing this phase of life a little easier, and I have the privilege to work with women to fulfill their goals of being healthier, stronger and to feel more confident in their bodies. Nothing could be more fulfilling their bodies. Nothing could be more fulfilling Health, wellness, fitness and everything in between. We're removing the taboo from what really matters in midlife. I'm your host, Michelle Folan, and this is Asking for a Friend. Welcome to the show everyone.

Michele Folan:

It has been a while since I have done a solo show and the timing is good because I get so many questions on a weekly basis from potential clients, people that are curious about getting coaching or Faster Way in itself, and I thought I might take those most commonly asked questions and put them into a podcast, because I figure, if clients have these questions or potential clients have these questions, you may also have some of the same questions as well. And you know making that big step to get coaching can be a big deal, and I know we as women sometimes want to be independent and we're not used to putting ourselves first but taking that step and saying I need help to do this, because what I have done in the past isn't working is brave, right? You're saying I'm putting this in your hands, help me out. So I am very empathetic to the fact that a lot of women have tried many, many things at this stage in the game to lose weight. My youngest client has been 27. My oldest client has been 27. My oldest client has been 74, but the bulk of my clients are 50 plus, and so with that comes some unique challenges. We are post-menopause, so we've got some different hormone issues that we're dealing with particularly lower estrogen, higher cortisol and that higher cortisol means we're dealing with particularly lower estrogen, higher cortisol, and that higher cortisol means we're going to deposit more weight around our middles. And I know that's so frustrating because you wonder where is this coming from and that's exactly where the bulk of it is happening.

Michele Folan:

And we also may have some physical limitations. And we also may have some physical limitations and that has really been something that I have had to dig deep on, because either we haven't really had a regular fitness routine or we have some injuries, maybe we even have osteoporosis and we have some concerns around that. So I understand all of that because, guess what? I am almost 61 years old and actually when this podcast airs I may be 61 now that I think about it and I too have osteoporosis. I have some physical limitations, so I don't want people to think that I'm because I'm this Faster Way coach, that I don't identify with what you're dealing with.

Michele Folan:

It does require some patience on my part, but I also ask my clients to be patient, because we're not going to lose weight as quickly as we did when we were 34 years old. I'm really asking my clients to embrace the fact that we're going to put on some lean muscle and you probably already know this but muscle weighs significantly more than fat. We're going to have body composition changes that don't necessarily show up on the scale, and I have countless stories of clients who have lost 10, 12, 13 pounds but lost two pant sizes or two dress sizes. So the timing is really going to be up to the individual person, because it also requires some habit changes. They say on average, it takes about 66 days to adopt a habit, so it can be anywhere from 18 to 250 days right, that's according to researchers, but let's say two months. So I do guarantee that, even early on in the program. Most of my clients feel so much better. They have more energy, they're sleeping better, fewer sugar cravings and the weight will come off, I promise, but it will not happen overnight.

Michele Folan:

Let's talk about the workouts first, because that seems to be one of the biggest questions I get and, like I said, there are quite a few clients that I've had over the last months that don't work out regularly or haven't had a regular workout routine. So starting something like this can feel very intimidating. They're not comfortable in a gym and lifting weights is something that's foreign to them. And when you look at the faster way workouts, you've got three people up there doing them. The person on the far right is doing them at a more modified level, but even that for some people is too much, and I understand that. I try to meet people where they are and I like to dial in on the nutrition first and then really address the workouts.

Michele Folan:

But if I can get a client to get out for a walk every single day at least 30 minutes, that is a great place to start. Then we can start adding in the workouts Once people are feeling a little bit better. They're feeling a little more fit because they are moving their body. And getting out for a 30 minute walk every day doesn't have to be 30 minutes all at one time. It could be 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. I actually prefer clients to get out for a walk after a meal because this helps our bodies handle that glucose load. It actually helps you take that glucose up into your muscles and it minimizes blood glucose spikes. So it's really just a healthier approach to walking and so absolutely recommend that for most of my clients and then for those of us that are sometimes a little more sedentary during the day maybe we are working at a desk job I like to call them exercise snacks. So it does not mean you go to the kitchen to get food. It actually means just stand up next to your desk or take a walk, do the steps in your office but get up, even if it's just 10 squats next to your desk.

Michele Folan:

All these things add up at the end of the day and they're super important just in the fact that we've got to move our bodies. We got to keep that blood flowing, we got to keep our metabolisms going, and that is really where you get your fat burn is from walking. So I really encourage people to get to that zone two level, and I always tell clients how to figure out where their zone two is. Zone two is a walking pace where it's conversational. You should be able to have a talk with someone as you are walking, so it's not getting your heart rate up really high. It could be around, you know, 109, 112, somewhere in that neighborhood, depending on your age, but that is for maximum fat burn. So then, if you combine that with starting to lift some weights and they can be lightweights they could be three pounds, five pounds. I don't want anyone to hurt themselves.

Michele Folan:

We got to start somewhere, though, and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat. We also know that muscle is our metabolic currency. Your muscle is what drives your metabolism, so without muscle, it's going to be hard to have that body composition change that we're looking for. The other reason that muscle is so important is we can lose up to 30% of our muscle mass between the ages of 50 and 70. This causes some issues for many women, from a mobility issue being able to get up out of a chair, being able to get up off the floor Muscle protects your bones and joints and also if you have osteoporosis again super important to make sure that you have enough muscle mass.

Michele Folan:

So the combination of the workouts lifting weights, the workouts lifting weights and maybe even getting a weighted vest for walking, which I highly recommend Now, not for everyone, so you want to start at 5 to 10% of your body weight, but if you have a pre-existing condition like an injury or severe osteoporosis, I would highly recommend you ask your healthcare provider if using a weighted vest is okay for you. So we take all that working out, we take your nutrition and we're going to get you eating a lot more protein. That is where the magic happens. So it's not just one thing, it's a combination of all these things that help women realize body composition changes. The short answer is absolutely. You will be able to do the workouts. Will you be able to do them right out of the gate? Maybe not, but we'll get you there. I'm going to dial in your nutrition first. We'll get you walking, we'll get things moving, then we'll add some weights in. I just want women to have confidence in themselves that if they just get started, they will see positive results.

Michele Folan:

Now the next question I get very often is about intermittent fasting. There's a lot of confusion out there about the purpose of intermittent fasting. I look at intermittent fasting as digestive rest. I ask all my clients just don't eat after dinner. Close the kitchen, don't get out the skinny pop the kitchen. Don't get out the skinny pop. Don't get out the bag of nuts. Stay out of the rosé or the chardonnay. Just don't eat. Drink some hot tea. Have you know, a glass of sparkling water? Let's just not eat after dinner.

Michele Folan:

Now, intermittent fasting looks different to everyone. Some women are more comfortable just doing 12 hours because they want to be able to eat something before they go to work, and I totally respect that. Some women really love going to 16 hours. Again, I respect whatever feels good for you and your body. Here's the thing 50 plus, 55 plus. And the reason is I think it's really important that if you're doing a morning workout, that you have some food on board. I'd rather you eat a little something before that workout than to do it fasted. And the reason I'm saying that is we tend to have higher cortisol levels anyway in the morning and if we stress our body out we may increase that cortisol. And remember, cortisol is that hormone that tends to lay that fat right around our middle. So what do you eat before you work out? It's a great question.

Michele Folan:

If you are going to be doing more of a weight-centered workout so let's say, leg day, which is Saturdays, and those are always pretty strenuous I would try to make sure I've got some protein on board. Doesn't have to be a ton, maybe 20 grams of protein, but just something and maybe a little carbohydrate. If you're going to be doing a more aerobic type of activity, like a HIIT workout, I would opt to have a little more carbohydrate with just maybe a little bit of protein. So that is my strategy. Now, after you work out is when you really want to get some protein on board, and I would say at least 30 grams of protein 30 to 35, if you can do it, and that would be leucine-based protein, that would be animal-based protein. Now, if you're vegan vegetarian, go ahead and do your vegan protein, but for people that are able to do meat proteins, I would definitely want you to try to get some of that on board within, let's say, 45 minutes. So try to do that. That will help you with your muscle gains. And remember, we're looking for muscle gains because we want to drive your metabolism, we want to have body composition changes All right, and we want to have muscle anyway because we want to protect our bones, so very important.

Michele Folan:

Now back to the intermittent fasting. If you want to go 16 hours, I say go ahead and do that. But intermittent fasting is not about skipping meals or calorie deprivation. I ask my clients to get the same amount of calories in that 8-hour eating window as they would in a 10-hour window, as they would in a 12-hour window. So you have to be very cognizant of the fact that you're going to be packing a lot of calories in a very narrow window and for some people that's uncomfortable. So again, it really has to work for you, has to work for your lifestyle and it has to make sense with what we're trying to achieve here. So again, I leave it up to my clients. They know their bodies better than anyone and I am not going to dictate how we do it. It's just don't eat after dinner. By giving your body that digestive rest, it allows your blood sugars and your insulin to normalize. When we eat all day long, our blood sugars are going up and down, up and down. That digestive rest gives your body some time to repair and rest.

Michele Folan:

Carb cycling is a strategy that is very unique to faster way. It may seem a little confusing at first, but I'll tell you I don't even think about it now. I know every day of the week what day is what. So it's something that you just learn and it becomes very intuitive. Carb cycling is a way of just changing up our eating cycle throughout the week to keep our bodies kind of guessing. Our bodies are incredibly adaptable, if you think about this. I use this example all the time. Back when we were cave people, we could still have babies and survive even when there was scarcity of food, because our bodies would adapt and hold on to fat. So that's why those restrictive calorie diets don't really work long term because our bodies eventually get smart and we'll start to hold on to fat. Because our bodies eventually get smart and we'll start to hold on to fat.

Michele Folan:

With carb cycling, Mondays and Tuesdays we do a much lower carbohydrate diet with much higher fat. You're going to derive your energy from the fat and then those extra calories that we've eaten, maybe over the weekend, that gets stored as glycogen. We can burn those off, because if you have a lot of carbohydrate on board, you're going to burn that first before you burn your glycogen, and we want to burn off the glycogen so that we can start burning fat, and I probably have just totally confused everybody, but hang tight with me here. The rest of the week we do a lower fat, higher carb eating schedule, because that carbohydrate again is going to provide our energy, like the fat did on Monday and Tuesday, and then we're going to have plenty of protein on each day, we're going to have plenty of fiber, but just knowing that our bodies have carbohydrate on board, we need to have that carbohydrate, ladies. We've got to have that in order for us to keep our muscle, because without the carbohydrate, our bodies will start to burn muscle for energy and we don't want that.

Michele Folan:

Again, it goes back to why keto works initially, but long term it is not a great strategy. I had a client potential client who said after I explained Faster Way to her she goes well, I think I'm just going to try keto again. And I said well, if you were so successful with keto the first time, why do you have to do it again? And she said oh, yeah, so that's why we do things the way we do at Faster Way, and the carb cycling really does work. So these are just a few of the things that I think are really important and make Faster Way kind of stand out as being unique.

Michele Folan:

Again, it's. It's about feeling good in your clothes now, having great energy, sleeping well, being able to do the things you love to do, being able to play with the grandkids on the floor All those things. It's really important for the here and now today, because we want to be healthy, we want to get a good report card from our doctors, we want to prevent disease. We don't want to have type 2 diabetes. We don't want to get a good report card from our doctors. We want to prevent disease. We don't want to have type 2 diabetes. We don't want to have heart disease. We want to prevent cancer, dementia, all these things down the road.

Michele Folan:

Imagine yourself at 80 or even 90, not just existing, but thriving. Picture yourself getting down on that floor to play with your great-grandchildren, tending to your garden without fear of falling, or dancing at a family wedding. This isn't just a dream. It's a future you can actively create, starting today. And while many of us focus on how we'll look in our summer clothes and that's important or maybe at an upcoming event, the real prize is building a body and mind that will carry us through our golden years with dignity and joy. At 50 plus, we've gained wisdom about what truly matters in life, and now is the perfect time to channel that wisdom into caring for our future selves. The strength and mobility you build today are investments that will compound over decades, just like a well-planned retirement account.

Michele Folan:

Think of the women you know in their 80s and 90s. Some struggle with basic tasks, while others remain vibrant and independent. The difference often lies in the choices they made decades earlier. Your body is remarkably resilient and it's responsive to positive change, even if you haven't exercised in years. Every walk you take, every strength training session you complete, every balanced meal you eat. These aren't just about today's health. They're your love letters to your future self, promises that you'll be there, truly present and capable for life's precious moments decades from now.

Michele Folan:

Starting today doesn't require dramatic changes. Perhaps it begins with a 10 minute daily walk, gentle stretching while watching television or choosing to take the stairs instead. Maybe it's joining a woman's exercise class where you can build community while building strength. The key is to begin somewhere, anywhere, knowing that your 90-year-old self will look back at this moment with profound gratitude for the gift that you've given her the gift of movement, independence and vitality. This was your pep talk. This was your pep talk to take some action today. Even if you don't sign up for Faster Way with me as your coach, I want you to do something positive for yourself today. Take the walk, take the stairs, make yourself something nutritious to eat. Ditch the sugar. Small changes, big benefits. I'm here for you. I'd love to work with you. Reach out, dm me or send me an email. I'm always here for you. Thanks for tuning in. Please be sure to subscribe and rate the podcast and, if you listen on Apple iTunes, be sure to leave a review. This helps the podcast find new listeners and grow. Thank you,