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I have a question. Can you actually drink in your 40s? What's it like to drink in your 40s?

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Like drink alcohol?

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Yeah, alcohol.

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Turtle!

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Yeah!

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Get loose!

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Hello and welcome to the 40s Formula, your go-to place for insightful discussions on

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navigating your 40s and thriving in this transformative decade.

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We're your hosts, Amanda and Jasmine, two women that are passionate about exploring the

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challenges and adventures that come with turning 40 and what lies ahead.

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Jasmine Dillon is a certified nutritional health coach and mother of three who has been

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coaching women to lose weight following on from her lifelong struggles with her own body

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and health. Having dealt with Hashimoto's, estrogen dominance and hitting menopause at

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36, Jasmine went on the journey to heal her body and help other women like her along the

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way. Despite having a background in finance and law, Jasmine's real passion lies in health

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and nutrition.

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Amanda L Lim is a certified health coach, director of Singapore-based metabolic health

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centre at the Lyft Clinic and mother of three. With 18 years of experience in the wellness

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industry, she currently works with over 100 clients per week on fitness, nutrition and

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behaviour change. Amanda has consulted for major companies such as Disney, Google, Channel

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News Asia and Tumasic Holdings and contributed to global publications such as Shape Magazine

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and The Straits Times. Her years of publishing and practising weight loss, prenatal and postpartum

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fitness and nutrition planning have made her an in-demand wellness expert in South East

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Asia and beyond.

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So Amanda, somebody asked us, how do we get into this? How do we decide to come up with

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a podcast called the 40s Formula?

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I mean, that's a really good question because I feel like the real impetus was one day at

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coffee, two nutritionists sitting down, shooting the shit, realising we had a lot more in common

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than we realised.

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And we just thought, shall we do it? Shall we really do this? And we did.

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And we did. And guys, you've been listening to the fruits of our labour the entire season

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long on the 40s Formula. But what I think is really cool about our journeys is that

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they are very dissimilar, even though we ended up in what you might think of as a similar

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place.

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Absolutely. Amanda was the athletic kid and I was the fat kid.

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Best friends. But I think what's cool about being the fat kid that I never experienced,

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let's say, is the fact that you really got to overhaul and transform. I always say with

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my brand that I'm working on transforming people, right? I'm giving them the tools to

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transform and change and overhaul. But to be fair, I can't say that I've really ever

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had that journey myself, other than postpartum transformation, right? And that's a natural

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thing that we all go through, right? I think it's really cool that you took that upon yourself.

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You initiated that journey for yourself and you took it to where you are today professionally.

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Thank you. It wasn't an easy journey because it always starts off as a fat loss journey.

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I went through this phase where I just wanted to be skinny. And sometimes when I look back

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at posts and things which say, oh, let's get skinny. I want to be skinny. I think, shit,

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what was I thinking? Because it's not about being skinny.

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It makes my skin crawl grow. Like I'm getting a goose bump.

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It's always about being strong. And it was only when I decided that I wanted to change

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my health and I wanted to change my mindset, did changes actually happen.

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How did you realize that nutrition was the key? Because I feel like that's actually something

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that I arrived at very late in the game.

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Oh, that's such a difficult question. I really don't know. I feel like I was always dieting.

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And I guess after the twins were born, those late night feedings led me to do a lot of

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research. And then the more I researched, I fell into this rabbit hole. And then I realized,

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shit, proteins not going to kill me. It's going to make me stronger.

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Oh girl. And it's funny that you say about the late night feedings, like being your rabbit

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hole toward information. Take that lesson, mamas. Okay. Don't be like me and do all your

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online shopping while you're diet feeding. Be like Jasmine and go learn something. Okay.

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So what about you, Amanda?

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Well, for me, it was more like, again, this is my lifelong calling. I always knew that

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I wanted to do something in health and fitness. And I was in graduate school in a medical

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sociology program researching obesity. That was my main focal point. And as I'm writing

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my master's thesis, I'm thinking to myself, this is so cool. I'm going to change the world

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with this information. It was about correlates of obesity, of morbid obesity for women and

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how they're kind of distinct from those for men. And as I'm writing this on the side,

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I'm juggling a personal training gig, right? So I'm training at the university gym. I'm

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taking on clients and my business is blowing up. I'm in the gym at 5 a.m. every day with

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clients till eight. Then I'm in class. Then I'm a teaching assistant for a relevant class,

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alternative medicine, exercise science, stuff like that is what I TA'd for. And then I realized

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the actual people I'm helping are the people I see at five in the morning. They're not

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the people who might potentially read my master's thesis, which like if you guys have done

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a thesis, you know, is basically your advisor and you and maybe your buddy, maybe your mom

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at the time. I did not have my husband. So just, you know, my mom and me. But yeah, realizing

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the people I was actually helping were the people in that gym with me at five in the

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morning. My first ever client as a personal trainer was a woman who unfortunately has

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since deceased, but she was 68 years old and she had just come back from double hip replacement

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surgery. And to be honest, I now realize that my boss at the gym gave me that client because

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no one else wanted to take her. And they were like, hey, this new trainer, she's hungry.

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Let's give it to her. And I took her on. Bonnie was her name. And we worked together for two

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years and Bonnie and I went from literally rehab style workouts for a double hip replacement

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all the way to being able to, I'll call it shuffle run, but generously run a lap around

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the university gym 400 meters nonstop. And it was incredible. And I also ended up working

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with her husband over that time. And we reversed his type two diabetes through increasing his

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cardiovascular exercise, changing some things about his diet. And unfortunately, again,

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two years after that time, after the two years we worked together, I got the news from her

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husband that she passed away from a really aggressive form of cancer, which took her

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life. But the point is I'll never forget the feeling of actually helping someone improve

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their quality of life from zero to hero, from someone who could barely walk to someone and

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their husband who could thrive. And again, cancer aside, it was so clear that I had to

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change my path. So I ended up leaving what was then a PhD program. I took my master's

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degree. I said, that's good enough. And I went on to start my first business in LA.

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And that's really where the whole impetus for what I do now at Lyft Clinic came from.

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That's amazing. And again, it's so different to my background. You know, I've studied law,

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I did a master's in law, but I'm not doing anything like that now.

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Except dropping the hammer.

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And all it is now is I just want to help people, people who are going on this path of I've

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always been fat and you know, I'm on this diet or that diet. Sometimes it's to stop

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dieting and actually look at what you're eating. Stop counting those calories. Like I can have

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100 grams of this cereal bar, that's, you know, 100 calories of this cereal bar. But,

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you know, what nutrients is it giving you? Is it actually nourishing your body? You know,

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stop looking at what's the lowest amount of calories you can take, but look at what is

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the most amount of nourishment you're going to be getting. And it's trying to get through

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that mindset and how you can eat to nourish your body and then achieve your results.

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What would you say is your overarching nutritional philosophy? Like if you could boil down the

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way that you practice with your clients into one or two themes, what would they be?

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Protein first. That's the number one thing, you know, I'm always telling people. I think

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when I first started on this journey, I used to focus more on the fat. And I've just realized

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now that, you know, protein is number one and getting that protein in and making sure

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that your body is getting what it needs. Then you will start to see results, whether that's,

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you know, you're feeling full, so you're not snacking. You're helping protein muscle synthesis.

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You're actually nourishing your body and, you know, using those amino acids in the way

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you need to. And you're not losing out on potential muscle mass that you need. And that's

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what's going to help you. That's most important.

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And I would definitely say, you know, if you see Jasmine and I as like a Venn diagram of

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nutrition approaches, if Jasmine's theme is protein first, I think mine is muscle first,

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right? Meaning you need to build the muscle on your body to have the best shot at a healthy

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life.

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Definitely.

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And I think that's absolutely the dietary component of doing that. No question. Strength training,

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P.S., spoiler alert, is the way that you do that for your body through exercise. But again,

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you need both kind of both guns firing on that problem.

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100%.

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To make it count.

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If I was to sort of put everything down into a few steps, it would be protein first, strength

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train, sleep.

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Yes. Sleep.

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Sleep is so important.

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I was just on another podcast talking about sleep is the foundation of my wellness house.

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Again, I mean it. You could have the most the strongest pillar of nutrition, the strongest

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pillar of exercise. But if your sleep quality is trash and your sleep quantity is minimal,

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it will catch up with you.

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Definitely.

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None of that other stuff can save you.

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Yeah. And that's when, you know, you're going to be hungrier. Your hormones are going to

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be off whack and things are just not going to work. Right. So you need to focus on all

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three elements. It's not just, you know, oh, I can eat right and exercise. If you're not

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sleeping well, you'll get fucked.

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It's so, so true. And I always say, I always bring it back. You know, I've mentioned this

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several times before, but you know, something I believe in in my house is helping my kids

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sleep and giving my kids a proper sleep hygiene routine. That is a life skill. And you see

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adults every day. I see them every day in my practice that just never learn to sleep

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because just like eating right, just like exercising, it is a learned skill how to wind

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down, clear your mind, shut your eyes and fall asleep. Sounds simple, but it's not.

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Seriously, with kids, it's not. I just have to.

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Any listener out there with kids, you know, this is not an easy journey.

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I just shut the door. Good night. Shut the door. I'm out.

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Off to slumberland. No, I will say these days my kids are three and two. And again, we're

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about to throw newborn in the mix. And really the importance of the sleep pattern is really

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the importance of the consistency in the routine. So whether or not they fall asleep at exactly

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X time every night is less concerning to me as the fact that they know what's coming.

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I don't have kids that argue with bedtime. Bedtime is a fact of life. It just it comes

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upon them and they must, you know, it was so nice when my kids were your kids age. You

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know, I would obviously they'd brush their they'd have the shower, they'd brush their

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teeth. They would have a bedtime story followed by four songs. Four songs. It was, you know,

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that good night, sweetheart. Well, it's time to go. That one. There was a few others in

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there, which I'm not going to sing because I'm not going to do it. But the last song

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was always the Scottish national anthem. We're not Scots. I learned something new about Jasmine

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on this podcast. No, not Scottish. But we don't know how it happened. But the Scottish

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national anthem was part of our bedtime routine. That is remarkable. I got to work the US national

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anthem into our bedtime routine. My daughter always asks now, like I'm a jukebox for the

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catalog of songs. You know, what can you sing, mom? You know, I got four things and one of

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them is a tooth brushing song, which they heard, you know, already that night. But I

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like the Scottish national anthem. Could be worth a working. And now we're at the point

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where the boys are going to argue about going to sleep five more minutes or if I have them

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because they will share a room. It will be one of them will keep the other one awake.

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And I have to come up the stairs at least three times. And I say to them, if I have

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to come up one more time, I'm splitting you all up. And that usually does the trick. But

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you know, never works the best. They know mommy's going to come up at least three times

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before she splits up. But on that third time, she's serious. So don't mess around. Oh, man.

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Back to I want to you know, like I said, I learned now I've learned about the Scottish

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national anthem in your background. But something that I always wondered about you, Jasmine,

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is how did you kind of discover the exercise piece of the wellness equation? Because I

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now know how you kind of figured out nutrition for yourself. But how did you learn about

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strength training? Because I feel like unless I was an athlete, I don't know that I would

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have stumbled upon that, you know, that lifestyle. I think I have been exercising for years.

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When I was 16, I think that was when I sort of discovered the gym and I started going

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to the gym. But then it was like, Oh, I just burned 100 calories on the treadmill or I

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would just did, you know, 30 minutes on the cross trainer or whatever it was. But then

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I started seeing the weight machines and I was curious by it. And I was like, Oh, this

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looks like fun. And the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it. And I very quickly realized

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I fucking hate cardio, but I love strength training. So it was actually it was just a

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way for me to get to the gym. And I think I started training with a male friend who

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would then be like, Okay, this is what we're going to do. And I would just follow him around

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and do what I needed to do. But again, then with the research, you know, it was one thing

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I enjoyed it. The second thing was I just started realizing that actually I wanted more

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muscle because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, the more carbs you

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can eat. There's no motivation for exercise that isn't met with strength training. And

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I think that's like definitely something that men and women need to understand is like,

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all of your targets will be improved with strength training, whatever it may be. And

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now I just want to be strong. I want to be able to deadlift a certain way. I know. And

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my goal is just to improve. Like there's no goal of I'm doing it because I want to look

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a certain way. It's just I just want to be better than I am now. Yeah, I hear that. I

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hear that. And it's hard. You know, again, now that we are in our 40s, and everything

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is telling you that you're on the decline. Oh, yeah, it's hard to conceptualize yourself

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still as an athlete who can improve. Yeah, but I will say, you know, there are definitely

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new things to be learned. I consider learning something new and improvement, even if let's

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say my mile pace isn't as fast as it used to be, or even I can't lift as much as I used

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to. But if I can learn how to handstand walk this year, that's pretty kick ass. And that's

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an improvement in, you know, in a way that maybe like I said, it's not going to be a

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strength victory this year, but maybe it's a new skill or a new level of mobility. You

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know, I mean, for people that can't touch their toes once you actually hit the floor

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for the first time, the thing about my lovely husband, he's like, dang, this works. Do you

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know what I want to do, which I'm trying to do now is I want to sit down and get up without

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using my hands from the floor from the floor. This is a real thing. It's like a real test.

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Yeah. Things like this. It's little goals like this is what I set myself. Yeah. And,

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you know, and I think, right, that's that's my next goal. That's what I'm trying to do.

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And these are things that will help sort of with longevity and, you know, movement as

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you get older. And if you are able to do that, then that's amazing. Can you do it? Probably

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not right now. I mean, this is this is about the least mobile sitting here, almost nine

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full months pregnant that I could ever be in my life. But I can definitely get down

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from a kneel to a stand. And I feel like that's not too bad with an extra 17 kg of straight

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up baby. It's good times. How big is the baby right now? It should be. We're going to go

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in tomorrow and get the scan, but should be around two point eight kgs by now. Yeah, there's

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only three weeks to go. And, you know, they say about 200 grams per week. So we're looking

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at almost full baked. Amanda, most people say get your sleep in when the baby sleeps.

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Now, obviously, sleep is important, but you've got two young kids as well. How are you going

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to sleep? Oh, I'll tell you what. I mean, I just give up on sleep regularity and consistency

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in the first month of postpartum because it's not a useful metric. The necessity to feed

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your baby at that time around the clock is takes precedence over everything. So your

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sleep goes out the window. What I will say is I do start sleep training quote unquote

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around the two week mark. I know that sounds ridiculous because you can't sleep train a

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two week old baby. What I mean is I start making intentional moves toward a schedule

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at two weeks. So the baby leaves our room. So the first two weeks he's in a bassinet

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next to me. Then at two weeks onward, he goes into his own room. From then onward, we start

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to stretch the feeding windows a bit from then onward. So the point is I do have a pathway

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out of my sleeplessness, but it's not quick. Not for a while. Usually about three months

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is when things start feeling normal again. And again, normal is a relative term. How

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quickly after having the baby do you get back into sort of your exercise routine? Okay.

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Take this with a grain of salt listeners because this is, you're speaking to someone who's

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been an athlete for 25 years, right? So this is a little bit of a different pathway. But

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I will say with my C-section, I was able to get into the gym in the sense of putting dumbbells

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in my hands at four weeks. Still wearing my corset, my binder, and still obviously taking

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care of my scar and not doing any core, but at that time. And then with my vaginal birth,

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my second baby, I was able to get back at two weeks.

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Amazing.

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And that was remarkable. It definitely highlighted to me the difference between those two birth

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of having major surgery and going through a natural birth and how those could be very

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different outcomes. But do not take that ladies as any sort of admonition to get back in the

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gym at that time. Remember that the gym is my life. It's my lifestyle. It's something

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I have done regularly as regularly as brushing my teeth for again, over two decades. So for

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me to get back in the gym is just a euphemism for brushing my teeth or getting in the shower

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for some people. What I will say is to get back to performance level. So to get back

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to where I would have been earlier last year before I got pregnant, that's more of a six

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month thing. To get where I could be competitive again.

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I think I went back to the gym at six weeks after the twins were born.

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That's already an accelerated timeline by the way. Most people is 12 weeks for really

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putting on lifting weights.

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I wasn't lifting. I was carrying shit loads away. It was all body weight.

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There's no one timeline for sure, but it is a good feeling. There's nothing like not,

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Paul, listen closely here, for your future partner, there's nothing like the feeling

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of giving birth, I mean obviously, but meaning walking out of the hospital that first time

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with without the baby there, meaning just back in your body that is only yours, that

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is only you own, there is nothing like that in the world. That is a feeling I can't even

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put into words. And again, then when you get back in the gym with that body, nothing can

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stop you.

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Do you know what I loved actually, when I first went back to the gym, there was this

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really nice cafe called Pickleville, which no longer exists and I'm really gutted.

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This is in Singapore?

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Pickleville.

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All right, RIP Pickleville.

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Everything was pickled and I used to get this really nice bowl. It was like salmon and then

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you can choose your pickles. It was like cabbage and the carrots and all this stuff. And I

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was like, oh, that used to be my incentive to go work out because I can get my pickle

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bowl.

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Oh, I love it. I mean, that actually sounds like a great model. So guys, bring back Pickleville.

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It's one of the enduring messages of this podcast.

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I loved it.

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That sounds amazing. But I guess maybe one last thing to leave our listeners with on

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this Getting to Know You episode is what's something that no one would expect from you

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as a wellness professional? So with the condition of like, I'm a healthy person, but just so

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you know, XYZ, what's your secret?

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Oh, geez, that's really, really fucking hard. So my brother will always take a photo of

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me if he's around and I've had some chips and he'll be like, ah, you know, keto.

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Transfers.

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I'm like, keto with jasmine seed and chips. I'm like, yeah, but I'm no longer keto and

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I can eat this if I want to. I don't know. I don't know what I don't know if I've got

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a really dirty little secret, but even like I had I had cake for breakfast this morning.

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Oh, that's right.

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But it was after my protein. So I did have. Okay. So just so you guys know, I didn't share

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that, but I did have protein first. So, you know, it wasn't too bad. And also it was a

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sugar free chocolate cake. So, you know, I don't know. I don't I think I feel like all

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the dirty little bits are out of me now. It's just like it doesn't exist anymore. I'm really

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sorry, guys. I don't think there is anything.

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Yeah. It's I think for me, people are always surprised to know that I love and treasure

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and savor craft beer. Craft beer is my favorite thing in the world. And while I definitely

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am up to date on the research about alcohol and I really do try to limit consumption and

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obviously while pregnant, I haven't smelled a beer probably in like 10 months. But it's

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something that I truly enjoy and love. So I will say that when this baby is out and

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when I want to have a little bit of a celebration time, I'm going to find myself a beautifully

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made beer here in Singapore and enjoy every job.

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I've had it. My husband always tells me about beer. I'm just like, I don't get it. Doesn't

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doesn't do anything for me. And I mean, I recently had a cocktail, which I really enjoy.

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Get loose. But otherwise, I think my biggest vice is probably coffee. Yeah. But even then,

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I don't drink it after 12. That's such a healthy person. That's such a healthy person thing

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to say. And the worst thing is I don't drink it after 12 because then I can't sleep. So,

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you know, give me all the coffee before 12 o'clock and then then my one cocktail. I mean,

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I like champagne. But even then, I feel like if I drink too much, I won't sleep. Sorry,

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guys. I sound really boring. Oh my God. No one's going to like me after this.

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You can still be cool in your 40s, guys. I do like chocolate.

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Fair enough. That's yeah. I do feel like there's definitely this understanding that that healthy

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people never indulge or or never, you know, put toxins in their body like alcohol, like

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sugar. And of course, that's not the case. I do. I definitely do. But I just don't I

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don't get shit faced. Yeah. You know, I have coffee very occasionally after three. I have

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a question. Can you actually drink in your 40s? Like what was it like to drink in your

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40s? Like drink alcohol? Yeah, alcohol. Brutal. The answer is it is a brutal wake up call.

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I mean, the reality is that your body is less and less efficient at processing alcohol the

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older that you get. Age does you no favors in this regard. And just like anything else,

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right? You know, if your body is less efficient at burning fat, for example, particularly

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after menopause, if your body has, you know, a little bit less muscle on it, you are not

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as metabolically active as you used to be. And alcohol is going to hit you harder and

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you will feel the impact. Also, daytime drinking is probably the only way you can get around

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it. Do not drink at night, people. Just go for a brunch. Yeah, very, very true. There's

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there's there's it will ruin your sleep quality. And then it will. And I think it just really

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depends on the individual person. I mean, you know, my husband is is quite happy drinking

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in the evening. I don't like it because I don't like the way it affects my sleep. Again,

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that sounds super boring. Sorry, guys. Yeah. But again, I will say just like anything else,

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I am a big believer of everything in moderation. My husband is a physician and he is very much

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of the kind of zero tolerance on alcohol. He's like if you are trying to truly optimize

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your health, the first thing to eliminate it besides cigarettes, right, which cigarettes

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are, I guess, the absolute killer because they're they're not they don't even provide

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nutritive content. Right. Right below that is your alcohol. And he's like, if you're

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serious about your health, you got to let it go. And I and I I'm there. You know, I'm

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research. I'm in the research with him. But what I will say is that I do think this is

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one area where I personally choose to have a bit more freedom and take the risks and

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choices that are associated with that. I know how bad it is. But if I'm having a steak,

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I do want to have some wine with it. Oh, girl. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. This post is sponsored by

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the meat club. Oh, but yeah, no, it's it's really true. That's that's my that's the example

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I always use, actually, with my husband is like, we bought this beautiful bottle of wine

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in Napa years ago, and then we keep pushing off when we're going to drink it. Right. Oh,

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it's going to be for when the baby is born or when covid's over. You know, you keep pushing,

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pushing, pushing. And now it's to the point where he almost he really doesn't drink anymore.

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So I'm like, this is so sad. I'm going to be alone with our beautiful wine and this

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beautiful steak. And Tyler's going to be having kombucha. Yeah. You know, again, he doesn't

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mind. But yeah, I that's one of my my all time pleasures. And so like I always get,

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oh, I'm going to do dry January. And I'm like, well, you don't need to do dry January, because

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what you're going to end up doing is go fucking crazy in February. February 1st. Yes. So just,

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you know, just have it when you need it or want it. But don't go fucking overboard. And

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I think that kind of brings it full circle to a perspective that you and I both share.

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Right. So we both share the emphasis on protein for our clients, you know, the emphasis on

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strength training. And I think and again, you know, an approach that has moderation.

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And I think what we also look at is what is the lifestyle long term longevity based fix?

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What is the quick fix? The short term, the detox, the cleanse? What is the actual thing

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that you want to do with your life that will make a difference in the long term? And again,

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dry January never saved anybody from alcoholism. You know, actually, I don't know that that

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we look into that. But let's say that's probably not the traditional pathway that leads people

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into better habits. Right. These these short term fixes often have these bounce backs and

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rebound periods. So, you know, I think the what we agree upon in both of our approach

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is that it has to be sustainable for it to even have an impact in your life.

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Definitely. And whatever is sustainable for you. Yeah, absolutely. What's sustainable

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for me may not be sustainable for you. You just have to find what works. Thanks, guys.

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And so, guys, that's about it for us today. We were just hoping that you could learn a

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little bit more about our backgrounds, how we came into the nutrition field, why we do

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the work that we do and how we became close friends.

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Yep. And, you know, if you guys want to find out any more about us, you can always log

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on to our Instagram, which is Coach Amanda Lim and at eat with Jasmine. Oh, no, hold

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on. It's at eat dot with dot Jasmine. Yes. And I'm at at Coach Amanda Lim. So, guys,

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we'll see you later in the year for season two. Can't wait. See you then. Bye.

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And contributed to global publications such as Shape magazine and the Straits Times.

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Hey, guys, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time.