0:08

Health , wellness , fitness

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, relationships and everything

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in between . We're removing the

0:15

taboo from what really matters

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in midlife . I'm your host , michelle

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Follin , and this is Asking

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for a Friend , and this is Asking for a Friend . Welcome

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to the 100th episode

0:29

of Asking for a Friend . We

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are two years in and you know how , when you start something new , no matter

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what it is , you have doubts or uncertainties . Well

0:41

, I had hoped we would get to this point

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, but you never know for sure . But

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your support has gotten us into

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the top 2% of podcasts

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globally . On the topic of

0:52

starting new things , I have

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spoken of getting myself

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some health and nutrition coaching last year

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, now . I'd always been pretty

1:01

fit . I was certainly very

1:04

health-focused with my background in

1:06

the health industry . I've always had a gym

1:08

membership . I've always

1:10

eaten well . I do love to cook . I

1:13

have been honest about the fact that I think alcohol

1:15

was keeping me . Fromopause

1:17

had not been real kind to

1:19

me . I was very

1:26

tired , low energy , I was

1:28

not sleeping well , I was

1:30

gaining weight and , honestly , I was

1:32

really starting not to recognize

1:35

my body . There's a certain

1:37

amount of acceptance that

1:39

goes along with the aging body

1:41

and I know that . But

1:44

this is where I'm going to fight the

1:46

fight . So let me explain . I

1:48

have a beach trip coming up . I want

1:50

to feel comfortable in my

1:53

bathing suit . I don't need to look like

1:55

a hot 26-year-old , but I do like

1:57

to feel comfortable in my swimsuit . I'd

1:59

like to fit into my favorite pair of jeans

2:01

, but , most importantly

2:04

, how do I feel ? And

2:06

at 80 years old , will

2:08

I be mobile ? And now

2:10

you've heard me say that I want

2:12

to be able to get up off the floor when I'm 86

2:15

. And the reason why

2:17

is again , I've told you this story

2:19

that my mom was almost 86

2:22

when she fell in the kitchen

2:24

and she could not get up . She wasn't hurt

2:26

, but she lacked the body strength to pull

2:28

herself up off the floor , and

2:30

this was a huge wake-up call for me . So

2:33

back to why . I got some coaching , I

2:36

started doing some research and I

2:38

was looking at a lot of the online

2:40

options . I was looking for

2:42

a program where I

2:44

felt like the science made sense to

2:46

me . I wanted an app . I

2:48

wanted some daily exercise routines

2:51

that they were offering . I

2:53

wanted it to be midlife friendly , because

2:56

I didn't want to feel intimidated by a bunch of

2:58

22-year-olds working out . I didn't

3:00

want this program to necessarily

3:02

be gym focused because I wanted

3:04

to be able to work out at home with not

3:07

a ton of equipment , and I

3:09

also like the macro

3:11

focused nutrition that

3:13

you hear so much about out there in

3:16

the market right now . Here's what

3:18

I decided to do . I went

3:20

with the Faster Way program and

3:22

you may be familiar with Faster Way

3:24

. You may have seen it out there . There's

3:26

a lot of coaches that are Faster

3:28

Way coaches out there . They

3:30

started about eight years ago but

3:33

they have done a really good job at adapting

3:35

and changing as the data has

3:37

changed . But what really appealed

3:40

to me was they have 30-minute

3:42

workouts with strength as

3:45

being the emphasis . When

3:48

they have their daily workouts , they

3:50

have three people doing the

3:52

actual exercises . So

3:55

these people all have varying degrees

3:58

of skill and fitness so that

4:00

you never feel left behind . So if you're a

4:02

beginner , you don't feel

4:04

out of place trying to do these exercises

4:07

. So I love that you can do

4:09

them at home or at the gym without

4:12

you know a ton of equipment . They

4:14

focus on eating the right foods and

4:16

when I say right foods , I mean whole foods

4:18

at the right times based

4:21

on your activity level . So based

4:23

on what the exercise is that day

4:25

, your food's going to reflect that

4:27

. There's recipes , they

4:29

have a nutritionist on staff , they

4:32

have a functional medicine practitioner

4:34

and there is an intermittent

4:36

fasting component to this , but

4:39

I don't think that is the full

4:41

emphasis . Your macros

4:43

are set by whatever your goals

4:46

are , and I found

4:48

that I wasn't eating enough calories

4:50

and I was probably

4:52

stunting my metabolism , which

4:54

was part of my issue . You

4:56

always get support . There's always accountability

4:59

, there's meal plans , there's

5:01

educational resources . The

5:04

program is sustainable and you

5:06

can have food freedom without

5:08

a restrictive diet . Like I

5:10

said , this is not a diet . The benefits

5:12

of more energy , I'm sleeping

5:14

better , I've had fat loss

5:16

, I feel as if I have better

5:19

mental clarity , but , honestly

5:21

, that is all secondary to

5:23

the strength and the overall improved

5:25

health that I feel , and my nurse

5:27

practitioner at my last appointment

5:30

told me that all of my biomarkers

5:32

had improved and to just keep

5:34

doing what I'm doing and that

5:37

was all I needed . I was sold . So

5:40

I completed the initial six-week program

5:42

and I'm still with FasterWay

5:44

, but I'm in their VIP group and

5:46

this way I keep access to the

5:48

app and all of the workouts

5:50

. But it was then that

5:52

I decided to become a Faster

5:54

Way certified nutrition coach . Okay

5:57

, the one thing that I have loved about

5:59

my career was the coaching

6:02

aspect , and this tied

6:04

in really well with the podcast

6:06

as well . I have learned

6:08

so much from my guests

6:11

and then with my 26

6:13

years in the health industry . So

6:16

I got certified with

6:18

the Faster Way in 2023

6:20

. With the Faster Way in 2023 . But if you fast

6:22

forward to 2024 , here

6:25

I am a certified coach and

6:27

I still have my full-time job

6:29

and a podcast , but I

6:31

wasn't doing any of the Faster Way

6:33

coaching . Oh , and I was

6:35

just about to turn 60 years old , but

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I knew morally and ethically that

6:40

I could not start a coaching business

6:42

while gainfully employed . But

6:45

the thought of giving up my career

6:47

and , frankly , my

6:49

financial security , that was just such

6:52

a daunting thought . You know

6:54

, a lot of my self-identity

6:56

was tied to my career and

7:04

you know I look back and I was able to support my two children as a single mom

7:06

. At one point in my life I was talking to a good

7:08

friend of mine . She's also a podcaster

7:10

. Her name is Rochelle Conde

7:12

Now and she is the host

7:15

of the Unabashed

7:17

you podcast and I was telling

7:19

her about my quandary and what I was

7:21

thinking about doing

7:23

, but I was scared and she

7:26

always tells me you know , do it scared . But

7:29

she said hey , michelle , you know it's never

7:31

too late , but late is coming . And

7:33

that stopped me in my tracks . I

7:36

thought , oh my gosh , she's

7:38

right . So , after many

7:41

discussions with my husband , michael , I

7:43

eventually decided that

7:45

it was time to make the jump . But

7:47

this was not without creating

7:50

a whole bunch of anxiety for

7:52

me . You know , I'd been working

7:54

since I was 18 , except

7:56

for during the pandemic . And I now

7:58

, looking back , think that those

8:01

10 months or so when I was

8:03

not working was preparing me

8:05

for this moment , because that

8:08

gave me a taste of what it was like to

8:11

not just not have an income

8:14

but to just not

8:16

be working , because it's hard to

8:18

just all of a sudden turn it off . It's

8:21

hard to explain , but then you know , you

8:23

have the thoughts in the back of your head what

8:25

if it doesn't work out ? And then will

8:28

women have trust and faith in me

8:30

to coach them to

8:32

improve their health ? So

8:34

on February 28th , on

8:37

my way home from a work trip , I

8:40

called my boss and I told

8:42

him that I was resigning . It

8:45

was surreal , but

8:47

it really didn't hit me until

8:49

about four weeks later

8:52

, when I had wrapped

8:54

up my last day and I had had a few

8:56

days of not answering a

8:58

second phone , zoom

9:00

calls and also a

9:02

lot of emails . A

9:05

few days later , after I had resigned

9:07

, my daughter took me

9:09

to see a psychic and this was

9:11

for my birthday , for my 60th

9:13

birthday and I know some

9:16

of you are going to totally poo-poo

9:18

this and , trust me , the skeptic

9:21

in me had me a bit leery because

9:24

I thought , oh , you know , this guy could just Google my

9:26

name . He can get enough information about

9:28

me , just you know , on the internet . But

9:30

this guy is so busy he's

9:33

booked six months out . He's got back to

9:35

back to back clients . I

9:37

don't really see where he would have enough time

9:39

to do a good Google search on anybody

9:42

. But the minute I walked in

9:44

I noticed he had all

9:46

these religious relics around his office

9:49

. It was really interesting . And

9:51

when I sat down he

9:54

goes oh my God , there's

9:56

so much energy coming off of you . He's

10:01

like wow , just wow . And I started laughing and I

10:03

said well , I just resigned

10:05

from my job and retired

10:08

from a 40-year career

10:11

and he

10:13

said yeah , I can absolutely tell

10:15

. One of the first questions he asked

10:17

me was what I was doing for a creative

10:19

outlet , and I thought that was a very interesting

10:22

question . I told him I have a podcast

10:24

and he said well , you need to write a book

10:26

. And I

10:28

started laughing because

10:30

I said oh my God , the

10:33

reason I have a podcast is because originally

10:35

I was going to write a book . And he

10:37

said I think you should still write the book . I

10:39

know you don't see yourself as a writer , but

10:41

I see a book in your future . So I

10:43

thought that was interesting . He told

10:46

me I needed to go back and

10:48

listen to the recording , because he records

10:50

our conversation , because

10:53

he sensed that I was only listening

10:55

or hearing about half of what he

10:57

was telling me , which is also

10:59

true . I did share with

11:01

him that I had planned to do

11:03

health and nutrition coaching and

11:05

he said we need to

11:07

talk about your angels . He

11:09

said that I should be talking to my angels every

11:12

day and that I have

11:14

a tendency to only ask for what

11:16

I need and not for what I want

11:18

. He said when you're going through a really

11:20

hard time , you can

11:22

call out 10,000 angels . You

11:25

can call out 100,000 angels , he

11:27

said . But just , you need to ask for what

11:30

you want , not just for what

11:32

you need . And I can't begin

11:34

to tell you how true that has been

11:36

. Probably in my whole life I've

11:39

always just asked for what I need

11:41

, the basics . I've never really

11:43

asked for what I want . He

11:46

said that I would be successful

11:48

in my new venture and

11:50

I'm not kidding you when I tell you I think

11:53

at that point I was finally

11:55

finally able to take

11:57

a deep breath . Someone

12:00

outside of my immediate family

12:02

was telling me that everything

12:04

was going to be okay and I almost

12:06

started to cry . We

12:09

keep so much bottled up within

12:11

us sometimes that we

12:14

don't realize how this stress

12:16

affects every part of our being

12:18

. It

12:20

affects our sleep . It increases

12:22

our cortisol . We can have

12:24

weird neurologic symptoms , stomach

12:27

issues . For me , my eczema

12:30

flares up . But

12:32

ever since my meeting with the psychic

12:34

flares

12:39

up . But ever since my meeting with the psychic I've had this almost

12:41

eerie feeling of calm that I have not had in a very

12:43

long time . I found some peace in

12:45

making a really tough

12:47

decision and having the

12:49

resolve that I want

12:52

to help other women find health

12:54

and body confidence and

12:57

continue to create a community

12:59

of collaboration and education

13:02

around the podcast . I

13:05

know the pieces of the puzzle are finally

13:07

fitting together . So why am

13:09

I sharing all of this personal stuff

13:11

with you . If you are faced

13:13

with a big decision , a life

13:15

pivot , or you just want

13:18

to make some changes and

13:20

try something new maybe

13:22

you want to finally get serious

13:24

about your health you

13:27

can do it . It's okay

13:29

to be scared and have

13:31

uncertainties and doubts . I

13:33

want you to feel empowered to make

13:35

the jump , because you have life experience

13:38

, knowledge and

13:40

know yourself and your capabilities

13:42

better than anyone . You

13:45

can do hard stuff and do it well , but

13:48

it doesn't have to be perfect . You

13:50

just have to get going . What

13:53

are you waiting for ? With

13:55

all this said , I would love to tell

13:57

you more about my coaching business . I

14:00

will be using the Faster Way platform , but

14:03

if you would like private , one-on-one

14:06

coaching , we can talk about that too

14:08

. I would ask

14:10

that you shoot me an email or a

14:12

DM through Facebook or even

14:14

Instagram so that we

14:16

can connect , and I'll put

14:18

all of my contact info in

14:21

the show notes of this episode

14:23

. Thank you for two great

14:26

years of the podcast

14:28

, for listening and

14:30

sharing the show . I

14:33

appreciate you being here and

14:39

sharing the show . I appreciate you being here , follow

14:43

Asking for a Friend on social media outlets and provide a review and share this show

14:45

wherever you get your podcasts , reviews , and sharing help us grow

14:47

.