In May, we got our first glimpse of Linda Hamilton’s return as Sarah Connor in the trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate. In early September, Linda sat down for a profile with the New York Times. She discussed her fantastic-sounding life in New Orleans with her dogs and her community, and how she’s not interested in the trappings of Hollywood, like people’s obsessions with looks, age, and fame. She mentioned some of her preparation for reprising her role as Sarah Connor, explaining that she did a lot of intense training and went on bioidentical hormones and took supplements to help build muscle.

Linda also spoke with People about her preparation, and said that it included giving up carbs:

[I]n Terminator: Dark Fate, Hamilton is once again taking on a ruthless robot sent from the future — and, at 63, she’s trained far longer to prepare for this role than she did in Judgment Day.

“I worked for a year to get ready for this one, Dark Fate,” Hamilton tells PEOPLE. “Judgment Day was maybe three months. But they kept postponing the filming.”

“In Judgment Day, it was just the beginning of the fat-free diet,” she continues. “I ate no fat for all those months. More than a year. I would never do that again, because the brain needs fat, the body needs fat. But we didn’t know any better.” . . .

Just like Judgment Day, Hamilton had to pick up a specialized diet, but this one was much different than the fat-free one she used for the previous film.

“This time, I ate no carbs. See, you always have to give up something!” she says while laughing. “But, obviously, the training is different as a woman of a certain age. I could work out just like I’d had for Judgment Day and not put on the muscle because you need hormones for that, and I don’t got them!”

[From People]

I’m in awe of the amount of sustained discipline that some actors embrace to prepare for roles. I can’t imagine maintaining that sort of diet and exercise regimen for a year, though I don’t have an incentive to do it. Perhaps if I were preparing for a project, I would. (I keep thinking about Tim Tebow’s anti-carbs stance.) Despite not being enamored of Hollywood generally now, Linda seems to be relishing her return to the Terminator franchise, which is great. She’s a 63-year-old bad-ass woman who is going to save the world while everyone watches. Though Sarah Connor isn’t Leia, I’ve appreciated witnessing people’s thrilled reactions to older, wiser, stronger Leia-as-General over the past several years. (Admittedly, of course, this has a lot to do with people’s deep love for Carrie Fisher.) I hope something similar happens with Sarah Connor!

Photos credit: Avalon.red and WENN