Eating More After 50 Through Long COVID and Knee Surgery

Leynise: I didn't realize at the time that I was abusing my body. You don't have to be a superwoman. Before WarriorBabe, I was eating clean, but I wasn't eating enough. Take the big step. Take the risk, because it does work if you do the work. But you do have to do the work, and you can't be afraid of doing the work. You've got to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

Host: What if I told you that even when life throws its toughest challenges, like battling long COVID, even knee surgery, you could still rebuild your strength? You could still transform your mindset and take back control of your health at any age. Well, Leynise thought she was doing everything right, training hard, staying active, but her body was screaming for help. And through WarriorBabe, she not only overcame these obstacles, but found a way to thrive. Today we're going to dive into how she did it and how you can too. Leynise, welcome.

Leynise: I am originally from Puerto Rico, and I've been in the States, on the mainland, for a long time. I came to the States to go to school at 18, ended up staying after getting my degree, and the rest is history. I'm 53 years old. I've been active my entire life. I've been in sports, and it's something that I crave. I need that dopamine, those endorphins running through my blood.

I was married. I ended my marriage. A few months later, I lost my job. My job got eliminated, so I lost my identity. At that point in time, I decided I needed to transform my life. That's really when my journey started. I decided that I was going to concentrate, I was going to put myself first for the first time in a long time, and I was living life at its best. I was traveling on my own, going to places that I wanted to see, doing all the things. I was biking, I mountain bike. I went to Tanzania, and I was healthy when I left and I wasn't when I came back. I came back with COVID. It hit me really hard, and it took me about two months to recover from that.

I watched one of your videos and I was like, okay, I'll give it a thought. I was doing my thing, trying to get back on my feet, and I noticed that I'm not making any progress, and menopause is hitting me, things are changing, and my body's starting to change. I was like, hell no, this is not happening. So I was like, let me go find this lady that I put in my revisit folder and see if I can get some help. I was visiting my parents for a couple of weeks, so I dove into the documents and I read every single one of them, and I was like, okay, I'm already doing all of this. So let me call Jeannie back. I get back on the phone with her, and she's like, we can sign you up for the VIP program. I was like, all right, let's do that. Let me see how this works out and how I like it before I commit for a whole year. The first thing she tells me is, you need to slow down.

Host: How did doing too much physical activity, and I'm assuming under-eating or not understanding macros, affect your day-to-day life?

Leynise: I slept good, I can tell you that, because I was always exhausted. I was like the skinny fat, because I was under-eating. I didn't have the muscle mass that I wanted to have.

Host: How were all those things, dealing with those challenges, affecting you both mentally and physically?

Leynise: I didn't realize at the time that I was abusing my body. I thought I was doing a good thing. When I was talking to Carrie, I was bragging about it. I'm doing all these things, right? And she's like...

Host: As any type A personality would.

Leynise: I was like, I'm doing all these things and life is good. She was like, we need to slow you down if we're going to do this. I was like, okay, I'll give that a try. So I made a point to start giving up some of the stuff that I was doing. And I got to the point where I was actually almost there, and I tore my meniscus in my right knee. The way I tore it, I was on crutches, because it took me a month. I couldn't straighten my leg. I couldn't bend my leg. It was stuck. I had to wait a month to see an orthopedic doctor, a month to get an MRI, and then another month for the surgery. Carrie was awesome during this time. She was very supportive. I don't know where I would have been without her, because we worked on my nutrition.

Host: Were you doing workouts at the same time? Did she give you alternative modifications to workouts?

Leynise: Yeah, she put a program together to work my upper body, especially my arms. It started with very light weight. I started with five pounds at times doing some exercises.

Host: When you finally joined, what were your thoughts? What were you skeptical about?

Leynise: I wasn't really skeptical, because I did my homework. I not only watched your video, but I might as well have called the FBI, because I did a background check on you. I made sure you were a real person and the company was legit and successful. So I did all my homework before I joined. That's just, again, type A personality.

Host: You can see that in your mindset, and you can see that in the way that you tackle your day-to-day, even by what you're explaining now. You're learning that this is a new chapter of your life, that you need to understand how you will navigate it, watching your energy and listening to your body. And that's coming from somebody who, as you shared at the beginning, was like, I'm doing it all, I work out every day, I'm active and I go get it. Now the mentality that you have is, okay, God's handed me these obstacles to learn, to understand, to grasp, and to learn how to navigate life differently. So now you're looking at it through a different lens of, I have to listen to myself and listen to my body and slow down and not do as much as I used to do before. But you still have that determined mindset to accomplish the goals that you've set for yourself, which is amazing, and you should be proud of yourself for that.

You had mentioned that Coach Carrie has been the best coach for you. She's helped you continue your journey, even through hardships. She has been your biggest cheerleader, and without her accountability, you probably would have quit long ago. You're one year, seven months into the program, and you just signed up for your third year in hopes that you can gain your health back, which is incredible. You said, I feel like I'm healing my body through movement. You are a warrior. You are a true WarriorBabe.

Leynise: Thank you. That means a lot. When I feel like giving up and just waving that white flag, I come to Carrie and I'm like, I just have no more fight. And she's like, you're a warrior, we're going to keep going. She believes in me, and she makes it a point to tell me. That definitely changes my mindset at times when I'm not feeling so well, when I'm feeling a little sorry for myself because I'm going through this. But at the same time, I look at other people and I'm like, there are other people going through worse, right? There are a lot of people going through this. I can't just quit. If I just went 15 miles down the road and I'm tired, what am I going to do? Am I just going to sit on the curb and wait for somebody to pick me up? No. You just keep going until you make it back to your car. If you're on a hike, same thing.

Host: That's a very inspiring mentality. I hope that when this gets shared with many other women who are going to resonate with your story, whether it be one, whether it be 50, whether it be 100, it could be taken and shared in these support groups: hey, we're all struggling with this. I hope that one of you or two of you or 50 of you could get this perspective and know: don't give up, don't have the mentality of giving up, because you're a true warrior, continuing on despite the challenges that have been handed your way. People who listen to this and hear this will be motivated and say, if Leynise can do this, she's someone I'm going to look up to, because I have the same symptoms, but I don't want to feel the way I'm feeling anymore. I want to have the mentality Leynise does. That will trickle very, very far and impact many, many lives.

What do you feel are your top achievements when it comes to WarriorBabe? Is it learning macros, for example, or starting to see your body composition change? What would be your top achievement?

Leynise: Definitely finally figuring out my macros. It took me about three months to get there.

Host: Did you have any idea about macros before? Were you aware of them?

Leynise: I did, but I didn't really know how to work the food to meet the macros. It was frustrating for me. That was one of the things that would frustrate me, because I was like, how do people do this? At the beginning, I would tell Carrie, you have to be a scientist to be able to do this. I just don't get it.

Host: How do you feel about macros now, today?

Leynise: I love them. I no longer regret getting into it, like, oh, I have to enter my macros.

Host: That's a huge testament to you learning and understanding your macros. There's a trend in these interviews I'm starting to do: it's been mentioned that a lot of women and WarriorBabes are eating the same things. The fact that you can take two weeks off of tracking your macros... You've been at this for a year and seven months. You have a deep understanding at this point of macronutrients, of protein and carbs and fats, eating the same things and looking at these meals. That's a huge testament to your success, that you understand macros well enough to take two weeks off. I don't want people to track macros for the rest of their life. I do not expect you to pull out your MyFitnessPal or pull out a scale while you're with family or friends and be like, this is what I'm eating right now. No. I want you to look at a meal that you've been tracking for two, three years and be like, okay, I know that this is this much protein, fats and carbs. I'll eat this consistently throughout the day, and then you can have a cheat meal or an off meal at night, but your body will recognize that you've had a set amount of food for the day. So being able to do that for two weeks is huge.

Leynise: So yeah, to this day there are exercises where I'm just doing eight pounds, and I'm okay with that, because I'm listening to my body and I'm going to do what's best for my body, because I've already abused it for too long.

Host: That's one of the biggest messages that I wanted to drive home during this conversation. You don't have to be a superwoman, or try to be a superwoman, to make changes and help your body transform. Now, the macros are the most important part of that equation.

Leynise: In my opinion, nutrition is king.

Host: Yes. Nutrition is queen.

Leynise: Before WarriorBabe, I was eating clean, but I wasn't eating enough. With all the stuff that I was doing, I was not eating enough, but I really wasn't feeling hungry.

Host: Do you know why? I need to share this so others who are listening know this too. Do you know why you weren't hungry?

Leynise: Why? I don't know.

Host: Because your metabolism basically adapted to the low caloric intake, the low amount of food that you were consuming on a daily basis. So you wouldn't feel hungry. It was just used to you not consuming what you're consuming now, or what Carrie told you to start eating when you initially came in. That's why women don't eat enough. And when we say we want you to eat more, it's essentially because we want to kickstart your metabolism, to wake it up so that you can drop body fat. You can't drop body fat only eating 900 calories. At that point, your body is holding on to it and it's just adapted. So we want you to eat more so that you can lose the body fat that you want.

Leynise: Yeah. I was also amazed, during those three months that I was sitting around a whole lot waiting on my knee surgery. I was like, Carrie, are we going to decrease my macros, my calories? And she's like, no, we're going to leave it the same. And I was like, what? That doesn't make any sense. And she was like, just trust me, okay?

Host: Trust us now, believe us later.

Leynise: I went through all that, and I didn't gain a pound. I was amazed at the end of that. There was no change in weight whatsoever.

Host: For those who are watching or listening right now and may be unsure about taking that next step... As you shared earlier, you were like, I'm going to revisit this later on, but then I was in your brain and I kept popping up on your social media. Somebody else is struggling with that next step right now. What would you tell them about WarriorBabe and the impact it could have on their life?

Leynise: Take the big step. Take the risk, because it does work if you do the work. But you do have to do the work, and you can't be afraid of doing the work. You've got to become comfortable being uncomfortable at the beginning, and then it's just as easy as riding a bike. Just do it. Nikkiey knows what she's doing. I made sure that she knew.

Host: Yeah, you checked it off. Do you want a new job, Leynise? I've got an interview for you.

Leynise: Nikkiey is legit. So you can take the step and trust the process.

Host: Leynise, thank you so much for sharing your story. It's definitely been a challenging one for you, and I know it's been hard and uncomfortable at times, but it seems like you're a true warrior. You've accepted it, you're working through it, you're not giving up, you're going to keep going, and you're dedicated to continuing to improve your health along the way. That's very inspiring. You should be proud of everything that you've accomplished so far. Keep going. You're only 53, right? What would you say to somebody your age right now who's thinking, I'm too old?

Leynise: There's no such thing. Age is just a number. I'm a 26-year-old in a 53-year-old body.

Host: Oh, I love that.

Leynise: It can be done. Anybody can do this. If I can do this while I'm in the trenches, imagine how much you can get done being healthy. That's why I signed up for a third year. I already have it in my head that I'm going to be healthy this year. You talked about starting a new chapter, but I'm starting a whole new book this year, and I'm leaving everything else behind. I'm not adding any chapters. I'm writing a new book. And part of that book is, I'm going to be healthy and happy, and with that are going to come new adventures. That's my thing for 2025. So if I can do this, so can you.