Drop It, Keep It, Add It: A Trainer's No-Guilt Approach to Eating Better

What should you drop, what should you keep, and

what should you add? Let's talk about it. What's

up you guys? Famous Asha Garrett here. Welcome

to More Movement Please, the podcast where I

hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today

I'm excited to share another awesome voice note

with you, and this one comes to us from Virginia

Kinkle. Here's what she had to say. Hey Ashley,

it's Virginia Kinkle. I'm a personal trainer,

lifelong bodybuilder, I'm also a business owner,

mom, and the creator of the Drop Keep Add approach

to nutrition. As the founder of a gym and co

-founder of Body Mass Composition Testing, over

the years I've worked with so many women over

the age of 40 who really want to improve their

body composition of building muscle, decreasing

fat, making sure they're maintaining their bone

density. But most importantly, figuring out how

to move more, how to eat better, and how to make

this sustainable so that they're not burning

out in the process of trying to do it all. So

for women over 40, really my number one fitness

tip is to make sure you're prioritizing true

strength training. So I'm not talking about using

the two pound dumbbells as you're doing a cycling

class, but really compound lifting that's utilizing

multiple muscle groups, working close to failure

and obviously a safe way for about six to eight

reps. And that's the true strength training that

women need. to not just maintain muscle, but

hopefully build it during the phase where sarcopenia,

that onset loss of muscle, really occurs. So

how do we prioritize in women in this age group

that true strength training? In terms of nutrition,

it's really about this big picture balance. So

if we're moving more, which obviously I'm a huge

fan of, really the next question is, what should

I be eating and how do I stay consistent with

this? So that's where the drop, keep, add approach

comes in. It's simple. It covers all of the bases

on the what and the how, but it also respects

women on their life instead of punishing them

for it or creating feelings of guilt. So this

drop, keep, add approach has three parts to it.

The first is drop. And this is really important.

It's dropping the shame around imperfection.

I think it's a time of life where we try so hard

to hone in and be perfect on everything that

we're doing that if we're not, we instantly feel

like we've failed. So how do we drop that shame

around snacks and imperfection? I've really found

that the 80 -20 approach to nutrition is huge.

So 80 % of the time you're eating. quality foods

that are helping you towards your goals of building

muscle, losing fat, feeling better overall. So

your vegetables, your lean proteins, your complex

carbs, your fruit. But the 20%, that's where

life comes in. Maybe you're on the road and you

don't have food prepared with you and you have

to hit a drive -thru. That's okay. Maybe you're

taking a couple bites off of your kid's plate.

That's okay. It is not going to be detrimental.

It doesn't mean that we have to have these feelings

of guilt surrounding it. It's just understanding

that those cases are the exception. They're in

the 20%. Primarily, we're focusing on the 80

% of quality nutrition that'll help us reach

our goals. So that's the drop component. Second

is the keep. So keeping the habits that already

help support us with our goals. Maybe that's

sitting down and eating meals with your family.

That's enjoying your favorite cultural foods.

It's going out with friends or your significant

other to be able to go to a restaurant and enjoy

a meal. How do we work that in so that we can

kind of keep the framework of that 80 -20? 80

% of what we're doing is helping us towards our

goals and creating that quality food, working

towards our goals. But the 20 % are the habits

that maybe are a little more flexible on the

food, the going out to eat or enjoying food on

holidays. So it's not getting rid of that, but

keeping those habits in that 80 -20 proportion.

And finally, the third component of this is adding.

So how do we add nutrients around what it is

we're eating to help us achieve results? So often,

nutrition and diets are viewed as a sense of

deprivation, of things that we can't have, that

we're not allowed to do, that we need to cut

out. Rather than dropping that, cutting it out,

how do we keep what we're doing and add more

vegetables? add more lean protein, add more water

throughout the day. So by default, you're starting

to make progress and you're not living in the

sense of failure or deprivation. So those are

the components of the drop, keep, add. It's really

about creating something, an approach that's

sustainable over time, that reduces these feelings

of guilt and really work. with life during this

phase. It provides grace, it provides understanding,

but it also provides reality. So on a more personal

note, I really connected with your story about

the more movement, please. I think the 100 days

of movement, it's ambitious. It requires you

to think about it. It requires work. But the

way you approached it really is human and about

building these small, sustainable actions continually

day in and day out. So very similar to the Drop

Keep ad is how do we make these small, sustainable

changes that can yield long -term results when

compounded over time? So it's really about dropping

the pressure of perfection, maintaining humor

and honesty just like you do, but having a little

bit of structure and accountability in what it

is that we're doing. And your approach is so,

so realistic because it's not about like, look

at me, I'm perfect. But it's really about having

others meet you on the journey along the way

and really trying to figure out the process with

you. So I really appreciate that human approach

to what it is that you're doing. So anyways,

I just wanted to share how Drop, Keep, Add can

kind of weave in with your foundation and what

you're doing. And I look forward to talking with

you soon. Thanks so much. Bye -bye. First of

all, I just want to say thank you, Virginia,

for your message about the 100 Days of Movement.

And I'm still going strong. Today just so happens

to be day 277 of how long I've been at this,

like being serious about it. And I have said

in the past that this wasn't just a challenge

I was doing. It was something that I knew that

needed to be a lifestyle change. And so that's

why I'm so excited about what you shared. And

so I'm excited to share it with all of you movers

and shakers that are listening to this podcast.

I really think it's important to take a healthy

approach to how you are going about your weight

loss journey. That's why I do actually really

like Virginia's ideas of the Drop Keep ad and,

you know, looking at things as an 80 -20 because,

yeah, we're not all going to be perfect. We're

just not. I mean, I just went to Bucky's and

got an oatmeal raisin cookie, for crying out

loud. And I've eaten my way more sweets this

week than I normally would and just hormonal

fluctuations and all the things. And that's,

well, hell, that's why I work out as many hours

a week as I do is because I love food. And so

I think it's really important that we... not

shame ourselves for the things that make us human,

the things that make us who we are. And it's

interesting timing of me hearing this voice note

and reacting to it because I've actually had

it in my queue for a little while. And I just,

you know, life started lifing and I just haven't

had a chance to get to all of the voice notes

that have been in my queue. And so if you have

sent me a voice note and I have not yet played

it on this podcast, please know that I do still

have it and do still intend to listen to it and

react to it. I just have been life has been life

and y 'all and things have been busy. But I do

appreciate every single person who has sent me

a voice note. But anyway, the timing of this

one of hearing this one, it was interesting because

I've been feeling hella guilty this week about

how. How much I've been consuming in terms of

like sweets and like I've tried to be much better

about not just grabbing sweets because they're

available. And what's funny is normally. Like

on any normal given week, I don't really have

as much of a sweet tooth as I used to, especially

since, you know, I've started going to the gym

more. I'm reaching for water more and I find

myself craving more like healthy, nutritious,

nutrient dense foods. And so I've never been

into dieting per se, but I naturally just started

adapting my eating habits to be healthier. And

it wasn't even intentional. It's just kind of

happening. But this week, I've been real bad,

y 'all, about lots and lots of sweets. I mean,

I have eaten, your girl's eating a lot of sweets.

And so it did make me feel better to hear this

one this time because I've actually had some

people recently in my life tell me like, you

know, don't you need to be more careful about

what you're eating? Won't your trainer get mad

at you? Won't your instructor get mad at you?

Don't you need to, you know, watch what you're

eating because you're going to gain all that

weight back? And the shame that has been around.

It's like, you know, you still got to eat. You