147: 45 Years Old And Finally Hitting Her Goals with Anna Meinhardt [I Did It Series]

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps after Babies radio episode number 147.

Hello and welcome to Biceps after Babies radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PRs. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife, and mom of four.  Each week, my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise mindset, personal development, and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel, and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you, my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in, now let’s jump into today’s episode.

 

Amber B  0:47 

Hey, Hey, Hey, welcome back to another Friday episode of biceps after babies radio. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke. And today, just like every Friday, we have another amazing story to share with you. These stories are really meant to inspire you, to motivate you just to hear other women who are being successful. I think the more that we can normalize success, the more that we can learn lessons from each other, the more successful we are going to be on our journey. And that's really why I wanted Anna to come on the podcast today. 

 

Amber B  1:19

So today, we have Anna Meinhardt, and she is coming on the podcast to share her story. And I'm gonna let her, you know, tell most of it. But one of the things that really stood out to me as I was talking to Anna, was that she did what so many women do, which is that they program hop, they like diet hop, they program hop, they go from influencer to influencer, thinking that all of the answers lay outside of them. And maybe you've had that experience where you know, you trust people who are like the supposed experts, and you kind of want you to go to them, and you want them to tell you what to do, because they're the experts. And we really get into this conversation with Anna, which is such an important conversation to listen to about who is the actual expert when it comes to you. And how when you start to realize that the answers aren't taught, aren't found outside of you, but rather inside of you how that changes everything. And so Anna went from being a program hopper trying all the things following all the people to going all in with Macros 101, and all in with remaining coachable and trusting the process. And you'll hear in the podcast how that made such a difference for her. 

 

Amber B  2:30

The other thing I want to highlight because I'm always about bringing on women with different life experiences is that Anna is in her 40s. And she is, you know, pre-menopausal and I know that's not something that I'm dealing with so I want to always bring people on who have those life experiences. Because you know, many of you are in that same age bracket or in that same phase of life. And society has told us a lot of times, hey, you're too old to reach your goals. Hey, it's not gonna be like it was when you're in your 20s. Hey, you know, menopause is gonna screw everything up. And again, the more that we can normalize, and hear stories of people being successful, the better it is. So let's dive into the episode with Anna Meinhardt. 

 

Amber B  3:14

All right, I am so excited to have Anna on the podcast today. Anna, how are you doing? 

 

Anna  3:20  

Fantastic. Thank you. 

 

Amber B  3:22  

Yes. Okay, this is gonna be such a good conversation. I am really excited for you to hear about Anna's story and for her to share a little bit about, you know, what she's gone through and where she's at right now. And really, the goal of all these episodes is always to help you to start to believe that you know, if Anna can do it, you can do it too. And so let's start on Anna just kind of giving me a little bit of background telling us a little bit where you were at in terms of your journey prior to joining Macros 101 like what were you struggling with? What you know, where were you on your journey?

 

Anna  3:52  

Absolutely. So I am going to be 45 next month and I have spent pretty much my entire adult life chasing a goal and never been able to achieve it. And now at this point in my life feeling like the reason I'm not achieving my goals is because of my age and that excuse of being pre menopausal and my metabolism being crappy and all those things and kind of having this like inner conversation with myself that I was literally feeling like I was going to die before I ever reached my goal and that was like part of my really big why is feeling just this sadness that why can I not reach my goal. Feeling like I'm doing all the right things and not being able to. And so over the course of probably literally 18-19 years of lifting weights not really being on a diet, but I'm feeling like I'm doing all the right things, still never achieving my goal. I have become a professional follower of all sorts of fitness coaches on social media, belonging to all sorts of groups, always searching for the right answer and I'm never getting there. 

 

Anna  5:01 

So thankfully, because I had become a professional follower I had obviously been following you. I think thanks to LBW actually and then so I had fallen upon that information and your story. And I think it must have been in January like you had done an introduction in January before, before Macros 101 where it was to hop on and just to listen to see macros and Macros 101 was for you. And I clearly remember putting in my headphones and going for a walk and everything that you said in there, I felt like you were talking to me. And I thought, Okay, this is it, I need to stop spinning my wheels. And I instantly got off the introduction call and went to social media and unfollowed and laughed at so many groups, because I just felt like my head was full of so much noise. And that was part of the reason I was not reaching my goal because I was never truly tuned into one path and sticking with it. And knowing that I needed to stick to one path, believe in it, believe in myself and have a coach that I truly trusted and go from there. And so that's kind of what led me to and led me to Macros 101.

 

Amber B  6:23  

I really want to highlight what you said there, that your head was so full of noise, that it was like you never committed to one thing because it was like all of the things we're trying to like compete for your attention. And I think that's a really common experience that a lot of women have, because we've been told this idea that knowledge is the key, right? You just need to learn a little bit more. And so of course, you're going to follow like all of the people and you're going to get all of the knowledge that you can. But the experience Anna had was like you had a lot of knowledge. It sounds like knowledge wasn't the thing that was keeping you from the results that you wanted. If you had to put a pin in it, like what was keeping you from the results that you wanted?

 

Anna  7:05  

My diet believed that I needed to eat more, I mean, just my head is full up, eat less, eat less, eat less. And reflecting back on it now. I would say what I paid other coaches or paid to be in parts of other groups. I always checked, lose body fat because even though I had always been lifting weights and feeling like I had been lifting heavy weights. If you'd asked me what my goal was, I would say to lose fat because I just felt like well, there's muscle underneath this. I'd have fat on my belly, I have fat everywhere. So if I could just lose the fat the muscle will be there. And so I always checked to lose fat and lose weight. I never cared about the weight, but to lose fat. That was my goal. And I would never get there. So when I look back on it, I would say I was chasing two rabbits for the past 18 years. I have been literally chasing two rabbits trying to lose body fat and gain muscle and at the same time when you try to chase two rabbits you catch neither. So that is definitely where I fell chasing two rabbits and that was my issue.

 

Amber B  8:20  

That's awesome. And so how did you realize that? Right? Like, you know, 18 years have gone by and you've been trying to do both of them simultaneously and it didn't hasn't really worked. So what finally clued you in what was that like? Aha, like hey, maybe I should try to read these one at a time.

 

Anna  8:36  

I don't know if there was a true one moment. I mean your quote of what got you here won't get you there is always in the back of my head. I say that to myself over and over not even just now for fitness but other things in my life. And I think hearing you say and hearing the ladies in the group say you have to pick one. You have to pick one and when I really try to go through in my head what is it that I am wanting to do and it's to build muscle and so why am I afraid to eat food? Why am I believing that hunger pains are a good thing like I've never been a dieter, I've been well actually I haven't been a macro dieter, when I felt like last year prior to COVID I had been on a pretty good path I emotionally, physically in the gym all the right things. COVID happened you know like all the things and I fell off track without the gym not being able to lift weights. It's all I really ever have loved to do and so I just like if I can't do that I'm not going to do anything. 

 

Anna  9:41  

And so when I started Macros 101 I had actually already put myself at like it now looking at it a cut, I mean I believed it was a cut. It's definitely a cut but I had already started that prior to Macros 101 and I was seeing progress. I was riding our peloton a lot be in so listening to you say over and over again, you have to pick one, you have to pick one I was like, all right now I've picked cutting fat and it's working for me, thanks to all the damage, bad choices I made over during COVID. So I was seeing progress and I said, I'm just gonna stick to this and stick to the cuts, I'm riding the bike. I know I shouldn't be doing a lot of cardio if I'm lifting. And so I wasn't lifting because I still wasn't back to the gym. So I decided to stick with it and saw progress and set my date and it came. And of course, I didn't stop because I was afraid to add more food, afraid of you know, all the things right? So. And I also knew I wasn't able to go back to the gym yet. So I thought, well, what's the point of adding calories if I'm not going back to the gym? Well, I finally you know, keep listening, keep listening, be coachable, that's big advice be coachable. And I decided to start my reverse. And I have been enjoying that. I think I'm done with my reversal, though I'm not really sure. Still, I think just knowing, just trusting the process and believing that, you know, I'm not too old, food is good. And it's still like going through even yesterday. I went through again, some of the modules, Module Three, because I was you just have to, you have to keep, then 44 years of one way, and it's trying to learn it, you know, a different way. So, I don't know if there was truly one moment, but it's just that blood meal hearing it over and over again and listening to the podcast and getting rid of a bunch of, of the noise, for sure does help.

 

Amber B  11:48  

That's no good. And so in terms of results, right, because one of the reasons that you came into Macros 101 was because it had been difficult to get the results that you wanted, and you kind of got to the point where you're like, well, maybe I'm just like 45 and just like, it's not gonna ever happen, which I think is a point a lot of women get to, we've been told a lot like, the older you get the lower your metabolism, you know, hormones and menopause, and you're just gonna kind of give up your goals. So what have those results been like for you? And how has that kind of proven your future or past self wrong, I guess it's like, you were never gonna get there?

 

Anna  12:25  

Well, I could say I have, you know, started with that cut where it was successful for me that I went from, like, 1400 calories. I'm around like, 1950 right now. And holding tight there. I'm using my data. I'm still being very religious about my data. And just having that scientist mindset has really helped a lot. And now I'm such a believer that I started my gym membership again, like a week and a half ago, and it felt so good to be at the gym. And I couldn't believe, one,  I thought I felt like I was starting over from a year ago. But really wasn't I think partly because I was eating, eating, I'm eating right. And it's like, your body remembers those things. But now I'm like, I'm 45. And I truly believe that in the next year, I will be in better shape than I was when I was 25. And so I just know that I mean, things change as you age. I mean, of course, maybe my results would have been quicker at 25, then they're gonna be a 45. But I know it's possible. I know that, you know, I've always heard you can't outwork a bad diet. So I've never really had a bad diet. But you know, drink, eat more protein, okay, so I'd like a protein shake. And now I'm realizing I was never probably even now eating half the amount of protein I am now. And so just believing that truly you can, if you're doing the right things, if you're following the data, and being coachable. Like you can reach your goals. So I'm just like fired up and excited to see what happens in the next year with me and so.

 

Amber B  14:10  

That's so exciting. And I think it's just such a good reminder that your goals are possible. And I always say that, like we don't set goals that we can achieve like you don't have desires for things that you can achieve. And sometimes what it takes is you know what Anna's talking about. Sometimes what it takes is buckling down and focusing in on one thing and going all in with that one thing. I think sometimes we kind of try to hedge our bets. And we try to do a little of this and oh well maybe this person says this thing and then we're gonna grab this thing from this other person. And you know, a lot of times that will keep you spinning your wheels and when you can really just focus in and be like I'm going to go all in on this one thing. I'm going to remain coachable. I love that you brought that up because I think that's such an important trait. I got to remain coachable. I'm going to listen. I'm gonna, like, narrow in on this and I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna trust that this is the process and I'm gonna take that action. I think that's such a valuable reminder for the women who are listening. And you know, hopefully they're able to apply into their own journey. What would you say to somebody who maybe is like where you were, like is following all the people, listening to all the different noises and as at that point where they're like, well, maybe it's just not for me like maybe you just can't do it, what would you say to her?

 

Anna  15:33  

One does that try to stop falling people I mean, because what works for one person is not going to necessarily work for you. And again, for one person is not necessarily going to work for you. I definitely, you know, fell into that trap of following people who have a body or an image or goal similar to mine and thinking, Okay, well, they're, you know, some of them are good, they don't share their macros, but, you know, thinking I'm gonna do exactly what they do.

 

Amber B  16:06  

Yeah. And then you're gonna look exactly the same way they look. Right? And it’s weird how it works

 

Anna  16:12  

And usually, I would say, I found that the biggest person to trust is myself. 

 

Amber B  16:18  

Yeah. Oh, can you feel it again? 

 

Anna  16:22  

The biggest person to trust is myself. I mean, you're super trustworthy, too. But if I asked you to do my macros for me, I think you would have done with a lot of people have done I mean, I've paid coaches, and they've said, Okay, well, you're, you know, 44 years old, and you you know, weigh 125 pounds, you should be eating 1200 calories if you want to lose fat. And I would do that, because I trusted them and I dealt with experts and I would stick with it for a while. But the back of my head was saying, This is not enough food for you. You're hungry. You've been lifting since you were 23. And, you know, your metabolism is not this slow, even though I believe that what they told me was right. And so when I started following my own data and saying, Okay, this is where I'm going to start, I'm gonna see what happens and be diligent and trust it like, okay, yeah, when they were telling me to eat 1400 calories, and now I'm at 1900 calories. And I'm, like, smaller than I was 10 years ago. But that says something, right? So I need to be trusting that I knew what was right for me and having a coach that will show you how to do it yourself, you know that's been the most important thing for me for sure. I mean, we're always second guessing ourselves, right? So even Macros 101 ended and I'm feeling great, still paid to do beyond macros, because I knew, you know, it's not easy. And it's a long journey for me. Of course, another program, I tell my friends that I'm doing this, you want to do it with me. And I said, Sure. I've seen this person post a lot on social media, a lot of people love this influencer, fitness influencer, paid my $50 and got into the group. And I left the group within three days, because I thought, Oh, my gosh, this is exactly what I was doing. Yes, but it was nice to have that validation again, like, you can't just pay someone or something online, and they're going to put your data into a calculator. And that's going to be the answer. You know, I mean, it might be a great starting spot, but you have to be open, coachable and flexible. And, you know, your paper towel analogy, like you have to believe that you're like, going to make progress, you just have to, you know, follow the data for sure.

 

Amber B  18:46  

Yeah, and I think I mean, Anna, you just hit the nail on the head on something that I just I really want to reiterate for anybody who's listening, because, you know, I'm really big on. I know, people want to hire the expert, and like, just have the expert tell them what to do. But at the end of the day, who is the expert on your life, you are. Right? Like I'm not the expert on your life, maybe I have a lot of knowledge in terms of fitness. And so we're going to combine those two. But I think at the end of the day, when you really can get to that point where you start to trust yourself, where you start to learn and follow the data and rather than just listening to somebody outside of you tell you what to do. It's such a powerful place to be and it's such an effective place to be right that's you've been ineffective because you've kind of been ignoring what you've been telling yourself all along and trusting other people and when we come come back to that like trusting yourself and understand the science following the data, then we can actually start to make progress and you know, that's really, really what you were able to see. It is so exciting for me. Awesome. What are your goals moving forward?

 

Anna  19:53  

Yeah, my goals are to continue to see you know, push the upper limit of how much food I can enjoy to get better about making the right food, the right food choices in terms of not being afraid to me, you know, to eat the food and to try to continue to put on a little bit of muscle because I do know that as I continue to age like having extra muscle is just it's great for your body for the long term palatine strength and so yeah, too. I'm just excited to be back to the gym and lifting and I'm excited. You know, I do build your own workouts. I finally have that like aha to progressive overload. I mean, how many years have I been doing bicep curls with 15 pounds like okay, well if you don't do that for 10 years, why are you still doing bicep curls with 15 pounds like, I'm to progressively overload so my goals are to you know, build more muscle keep tracking my data daily via weekly pictures I'm off weekly picture but every other week or so pictures and just to stick with it and I'm like bound and determined to you know, not die and say I never reached my goals. Yeah.

 

Amber B  21:11  

Oh, that's amazing. That's so good. Thank you so much Anna for coming on and sharing your story. 

 

Anna  21:17  

Thanks for having me. 

 

Amber B  21:18  

I hope that you enjoyed that story. Anna had such an amazing experience and it's always so fun to be able to hear those aha moments and the things that make the difference in the long run. It is those little things that aren't necessarily big. You know, she didn't say there was like this big aha thunder striking moment but it's just that trust that learning the peeling back the onion, listening and remaining coachable that has made all the difference for her and it can be the same for you. 

 

Amber B  21:18 

If you are not yet on the waitlist for Macros 101 I highly suggest getting on it go to bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist. We open up Macros 101 a couple times a year. The next chance you will have will be August 30. So if you want to be like Anna and you want to go all in on a program and you want to get the coaching and the support and the education that's going to make all the difference. Go to bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist and I will see you in the fall. That wraps up this episode of biceps after babies radio. I'm Amber now go out and be strong because remember my friend you can do anything.

 

Outro

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