Transcript: 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