Mom of 2 Gets Fit After 40: 'It's Never Too Late'

This mom decided to go from "skinny fat" to super fit in her 40s

Sloane Davis - Bodies
Photo: Source: Sloane Davis/Instagram

Sloane Davis had always considered herself healthy, but was frustrated because she couldn’t seem to get a toned tummy.

“I was always taking exercise classes, but I really wanted to see my abs — as silly as that sounds — and I was always told that abs were made in the kitchen, so I thought that by getting leaner and leaner I would be able to see them,” Davis, 45, tells PEOPLE.

The New York-based mom-of-two said she was losing weight but wasn’t seeing the results she wanted, so when she was 40, she decided to seek out advice from a professional.

“He told me that I was ‘skinny fat,’ that I wasn’t eating enough, and that I needed to build muscle,” she says. “That’s when I found flexible dieting, [which involves tracking your] macronutrients, which are proteins, fats and carbs.”

Davis says she actually wasn’t eating enough carbs to gain muscle tone.

“I learned that carbs fuel your energy and your workouts, and if you don’t have enough you can’t fuel a heavy workout,” she says. “I learned that food is fuel. Instead of always trying to negate what we eat, I learned to use it to fuel a heavy workout.”

Davis also began adding weight lifting to her workouts.

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“Over time my body definitely changed,” she says. “Muscle takes up less space in your body, so you’re able to become much leaner, smaller and tighter all around. Muscle burns more energy while resting – the more muscle you have in your body, the more energy you’re burning. The only way to truly transform your body is by lifting weights.”

Davis’ transformation was so stunning that many people began asking her how she did it.

“I really didn’t have any credibility to tell anybody what to do, but I felt like I had a little secret inside of me that I wanted to share,” she says. “I went back to school, and got [certified to advise on] nutrition and personal training. I started a business on social media, and have over 200 clients now in a year and a half. It’s been great!”

The Pancakes and Push-Ups founder assures her clients that they are never too old to get healthy.

“It’s never too late,” she says. “And I think weight lifting is even more important as we get older.”

She also advises her clients on how to eat well — not less.

“People don’t need to starve themselves in order to lose weight,” she says. “When you make healthier choices, there’s more volume in the food. You’re able if you want that half a cup of ice cream at the end of the day. There’s no foods that are off limits, so there’s no reason to have an unhealthy relationship with food.”

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