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Well, hello ladies and gents, 
Robert Sykes, keto, savage.com 

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And today I've got special guest
Elena Reinhardt on the line. 

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She is a competitor. 
She just recently did her first 

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competition. 
She is training for another one 

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in June and she actually got in 
contact with me via one of my 

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clients that met her at her 
first show in his first show and

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he said that she had a inspiring
story, wanted to get her on the 

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podcast. 
So I reached out to her and lo 

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and behold, here we are. 
She does have an incredibly 

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inspiring story. 
Love to peel in the curtain back

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on that, talking about her 
journey, what led to her 

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competitive endeavors, what 
she's learning, that process, 

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how she's transformed mentally 
and physically, and then what 

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her plans are going forward. 
So I've got no doubt that you 

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will take something from this 
without further delay. 

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Sit back, relax, enjoy the 
conversation with Elena 

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and we are live. 
Elena, how are you? 

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I'm good. 
How are you? 

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I'm doing wonderfully well. 
I'm excited to chat with you. 

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So just for the listeners 
context here, you and I got 

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connected because one of my 
clients did the same show that 

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you did back in November and he 
messaged me and said hey, you 

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got to get her on the podcast. 
She's got a super inspiring 

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story. 
So here we are today and I'm 

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excited to dive in and learn 
more about your journey. 

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So great to have you, Elena. 
Yeah, there's no mistakes, 

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right? 
I'm so excited to be here. 

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It's my first ever time being on
anybody's podcast. 

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So thank you for inviting me on 
and getting giving me the 

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opportunity to just be a part of
this. 

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Yeah, no, my pleasure. 
I feel like podcasting is a 

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great way just to connect with 
people, have a long form 

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conversation and I love talking 
with competitors because there's

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so much of A journey with that 
in and of itself. 

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And the same holds true for you 
here. 

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We we start talking a little bit
before we started recording, but

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I wanted to just peel the 
curtain back on what got you 

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into the wonderful world of 
competing in the 1st place. 

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Like what? 
What incentivized you to get 

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into health in general? 
Yeah, and it is a little bit 

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deeper than what we initially 
talked about too. 

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I I have a backed up phone of 
photos you know that you get and

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I have photos that I've been 
saving of competitors on my 

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phone for 10 years. 
It's always been something I 

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wanted to do. 
And I struggled with eating and 

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alcohol and partying and just 
being in my young 20s and not 

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really disciplining myself to do
the things I would need to do to

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ever compete. 
And as I got older and started 

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to think about maybe, you know, 
having a family of my own felt 

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even less motivated to want to 
go for that goal because I 

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thought, Oh, well, I'm gonna 
have kids and then I won't, you 

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know, be able to compete. 
So because of things that 

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happened in my life, it kind of 
gave me the platform to just go 

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for a goal I've had for over 10 
years. 

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So you've been, you've had these
pictures on your phone of other 

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competitors for the past 10 
years and then you were, you 

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know, drinking and partying and 
whatnot during that time. 

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Did you did you feel like in the
back of your mind you were going

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to compete at someday or did you
just feel like giving your 

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current lifestyle circumstances 
that was just a a far away dream

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that you never really 
anticipated doing? 

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Yeah, I can think of times about
five years ago I was like 200 

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lbs. 
From pretty much just lack of 

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any kind of workout plan 
whatsoever and a very sedentary 

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lifestyle. 
And laying in bed holding my 

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stomach and hating myself, 
absolutely hating my body and 

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and just hating the fact that I 
couldn't sleep because I had 

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been drinking all day or, you 
know, in the evening and you 

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just get terrible sleep when you
drink and and you're not eating 

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right and you just terrible 
lifestyle, you know? 

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And I just hated myself. 
But I pretty much just felt like

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there was no way I would ever 
get back to a place where I 

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could compete. 
What what do you think was the 

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the catalyst for that lifestyle 
to begin with? 

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Like, was that something that 
was brought on in college or 

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what was the the trajectory for 
starting the partying scene? 

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Yeah, I mean, fortunately, 
fortunately for me, I have never

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personally been interested in 
drugs, so it was really just 

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alcohol. 
I think our culture is very 

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alcohol positive, although I am 
grateful that sober curiosity is

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becoming a trend. 
I've been on this train for 

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almost four years now, but it's 
great to see so many people 

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talking about how there's 
alternatives. 

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And you know, you don't have to 
just chase your next drink all 

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the time, but you know, it's 
definitely around the people you

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spend time with. 
And growing up in San Diego and 

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in a town in San Diego that's 
more low income than, you know, 

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the kind of San Diego you fly 
into. 

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And not that the gas lamp isn't 
just a big party scene itself, 

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but, you know, pretty much the 
only thing to do in the part of 

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California I'm from is to just 
go out to the dive bars and kind

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of, you know, if I go home and I
visit, it's the same people 

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doing the same thing years and 
years later. 

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You know, there's just not much 
to do. 

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And that's just kind of what 
people fall into is, you know, 

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maybe it really comes down to 
people use alcohol to escape the

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reality and they don't love the 
reality of the life they're 

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living and the place they're 
living and what they're doing 

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with their life. 
So they are using alcohol as an 

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escape from that. 
Yeah, I totally agree. 

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I I used to drink in college. 
I'd drink pretty heavily, like 

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my first semester in college. 
And then I started prepping for 

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my first bodybuilding 
competition as a sophomore in 

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college. 
And then once I did that, it was

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like, really hard to justify 
drinking because it was just so 

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counterproductive to the goals 
that I had at the time. 

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And I've just maintained that 
ever since. 

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But before that, you know, I 
didn't have those goals. 

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And it's easy to turn to some 
form of escapism, like the 

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drinking or the drugs or 
whatever the case may be, and 

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just fall into that negative 
feedback loop and breaking free 

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of that. 
When you're around people, when 

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all your peers are doing it, 
when all your friends are doing 

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it like that, that becomes the 
trend that just honestly keeps 

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people stuck and trapped for so 
many years, 'cause I look back 

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at the people that I went to 
school with, and so many of them

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are doing the exact same thing 
still. 

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Yeah, yeah. 
And I I honestly have to say 

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like it was for me, You know, I 
I'm not gonna say I was like a 

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functioning alcoholic to the 
point of like, you know, I had a

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drink to start my day. 
I'm definitely a coffee drinker.

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I like it to at least start my 
day that way. 

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But, you know, it just usually 
my activities where I was 

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spending my time. 
How I planned my day was like if

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there was alcohol involved, you 
know, and it's like I can think 

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back to not wanting to go do 
something if there wasn't going 

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to be alcohol involved or like 
if as long as I could bring like

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a roadie with me or something, 
which it's embarrassing to 

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admit. 
But I also hope that this will 

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be relatable to somebody who's 
maybe at that point because it 

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is extremely easy to fall into 
and being. 

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I just, I know for so many 
people when you're drinking and 

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you know you need to cut back or
you know that you're doing 

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something that's just so 
detrimental to you, you'll 

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you'll, you'll usually be like, 
well, if I'll, I'll quit, you 

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know, once the holidays are over
or after my birthday month or 

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like once I get through this 
event And I so was there, like, 

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but you can't do that because 
you'll always have an excuse. 

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There's going to be some event 
you want to go to and drink at. 

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Like, you just have to decide 
that you're not doing it 

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anymore, which really segues 
into competing because it's the 

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same thing with food. 
Once you start to want to 

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compete and you have to start to
plan your food and what's good 

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for you and not good for you, 
you can't be like, well, I'm 

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just going to, you know, cheat 
here and there because it's 

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like, it's not going to help you
reach those goals. 

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Yeah, does not really work like 
that. 

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And like the when you're 
drinking pretty heavily and 

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going to the party scene in the 
nightlife, like there's 

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generally not pretty good food 
options there. 

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I mean, like it kind of goes 
hand in hand. 

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Like, if you're drinking a lot, 
you're probably eating bottom of

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the barrel food quality and a 
lot of it. 

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Yeah, totally. 
It's funny they talk about 

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munchies with pot, but like, 
it's just as bad with alcohol. 

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And I feel like the they talk 
about how you have like a lack 

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of, you know, I can't think of 
the word they use, but like 

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we're, you know, you're your 
choices are not, you know, as 

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good or whatever when you're 
drinking like that liquid 

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courage kind of thing. 
But I think it's like that was 

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food choices too. 
You're like, I'm totally going 

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to eat this and not have any 
guilt around it because I'm 

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drinking and I don't care. 
Yeah, totally. 

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You said you got up to 200 lbs 
at your heaviest. 

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Were you were you eating pretty,
you know, standard American diet

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foods early on, like when you 
were a child, before you started

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drinking or? 
Like, so my parents were really 

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great about, you know, really 
not eating out, making home 

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cooked meals, you know, big 
portions of protein and 

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vegetables, starches. 
I mean, it wasn't like so clean 

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that it's crazy, but it was 
definitely like a really good 

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diet. 
But the first time I started 

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struggling with diet was in 
college. 

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I think as soon as I got that 
freedom to start making my own 

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food choices in the cafeteria, I
gravitated towards all the foods

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that were bad for you. 
And I didn't understand, like, 

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the value of fiber. 
And that really started to 

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impact me as I, you know, was 
eating the crappy food all the 

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time in college and it followed 
me for a while, but I was still 

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skinny in college. 
It wasn't that, you know, you're

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in your early 20s as women, the 
hormones and everything, they 

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don't catch up to you. 
I I didn't get my hips until I 

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was 25. 
And once that kind of set on it 

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was pretty much between 25 and 
30 that the weight loss, I mean 

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the weight gain and it really 
hit me. 

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Part of it was birth control, 
you know as well. 

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And I think that's not often 
talked about either, but you 

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know finding something that's 
going to work for you can really

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affect that too. 
You know they say weight gain 

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can happen from it and you 
usually don't think it's going 

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to be you, but it definitely 
affected me. 

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But I think the main thing was 
just not eating well at all. 

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You know, in those years I was 
married and my husband and I, we

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love to have fun and we were 
just always looking for the 

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next, you know, good time. 
I mean, it was very fun and we 

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were eating whatever we felt 
like eating. 

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And, you know, just not worried 
about that. 

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And I think that, you know, 
definitely contributed to it. 

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Did you ever have any issues 
with like disordered eating, 

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like eating, bingeing, purging, 
things of that nature? 

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Yeah, so I want to say that if I
have an eating issue, it is 

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definitely more on like the 
binging than the like anorexia 

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side. 
I definitely don't struggle with

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not eating as much. 
I I think portion control is 

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hard for a lot of people. 
It's probably why I've gotten so

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addicted to macro counting since
starting to be a competitor. 

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It's one of my favorite ways to 
kind of part of my day planning 

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is what I'm eating and I find it
fascinating like how much 

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protein is in one ounce of 
chicken That is crazy to me. 

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Side note it's about 10 grams. 
So I had I was just out the 

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other night which I don't ever 
go out but I wanted to go out 

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and some girl Bachelorette party
came out to me and they said 

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your arms are goals and how much
protein do you eat? 

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That's always a good thing. 
To do, I said about 140 grams a 

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day and then they're like how do
you get to that? 

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And I was like well, one chicken
breast if you eat like 10 ounces

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is 100 grams. 
And they were like no way. 

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So, you know, I, I have seen a 
lot of lately. 

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I'm in the social media 
business, so my job is to spend 

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time on social media. 
And I've seen a lot of posts 

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lately about high protein diets 
and how women keep bringing up. 

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You know, like, oh, I'm, I'm 
just learning now I need to have

223
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,800
a high protein diet. 
And I definitely have known that

224
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:31,680
for a long time. 
So I'm surprised it's just now 

225
00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:35,240
kind of Catching Fire. 
But you know, the fact that they

226
00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:37,800
came up to me and asked me how 
much protein I eat was was 

227
00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,760
pretty funny to me actually. 
Yeah, no, that's promising for 

228
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:42,240
sure. 
I've always been actually had 

229
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:43,960
this conversation with my wife 
last night. 

230
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,880
I was eating and I looked at my 
macro tracker and I don't 

231
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:49,320
normally consume this much 
protein. 

232
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,120
But I was kind of doing an 
experiment and I I had 450 grams

233
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,960
of protein yesterday and it was 
easy, it was effortless. 

234
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,080
I mean it was just it went down 
smooth and so many people have a

235
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:00,880
hard time getting enough protein
in. 

236
00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,040
And I'm like, how do people have
a hard time getting protein? 

237
00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,360
And it's super easy if you have 
some basic knowledge of 

238
00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,880
nutrition and make good new 
choices. 

239
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:12,200
But so many people, to your 
point, under consume protein and

240
00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,240
that's just no bueno from any 
standpoint. 

241
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:19,880
Yeah, definitely. 
I I I personally have pretty 

242
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:21,720
high protein breakfast every 
day. 

243
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:26,600
Two eggs, protein pancakes and a
a Greek yogurt with which is 

244
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,640
packed with protein. 
So I start my day off pretty 

245
00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,560
high protein from the get go and
there's definitely times that I 

246
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,760
over consume protein based on 
what my coach has given me as 

247
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,000
you know macros. 
But it's better than over 

248
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,400
consuming carbs and thigh again.
Yeah, for sure. 

249
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:48,160
So when it comes to your desire 
to actually compete and I guess 

250
00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:50,360
not desired because you've had 
that for quite some time, but 

251
00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,280
you're, you know, making steps 
to actually compete, what was 

252
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:56,920
the catalyst for that? 
Like what spurred on that that 

253
00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:58,760
moment? 
Yeah. 

254
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:08,160
So yeah, In 2020, my husband 
passed away and he was 34 years 

255
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,120
old. 
I was 31. 

256
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:16,160
And first thing I did pretty 
much right away was get into 

257
00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,160
grief coaching. 
It's funny. 

258
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,000
They always say like everybody 
handles grief differently. 

259
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:28,160
And looking back, I definitely 
had a hard time processing what 

260
00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:32,760
was going on in my life and kind
of compartmentalize that and 

261
00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,480
just it, you know, put my head 
down and just kept moving. 

262
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,360
I am part of, like, Facebook 
groups for widows, and there's 

263
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,400
plenty of women in there that 
are like, I still haven't 

264
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,080
cleaned out the closet. 
I still haven't, you know, 

265
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,280
cleaned out his car or sold his 
car or whatever. 

266
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,160
For me, it was like, immediate. 
I was just like, moving forward.

267
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,480
And I don't think that's right 
or wrong, 'cause, like they say,

268
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:55,880
everybody handles it 
differently. 

269
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,840
But I definitely had to go into 
survival mode. 

270
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,920
My husband was the the 
breadwinner and I had to figure 

271
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,480
out how I was gonna, like, 
survive without him. 

272
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:12,840
And I committed in the the grief
program to not use any 

273
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:20,040
substances to cope. 
And so that started my alcohol 

274
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,480
free life. 
And what originally was supposed

275
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:30,280
to be a eight week program 
turned into 16 weeks because I 

276
00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,560
needed more time to do the 
homework in between the classes.

277
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,880
And so at that point I was four 
months alcohol free and I had 

278
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:43,560
dropped almost a pound a day. 
And that really motivated me to 

279
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:48,080
want to kind of get my, you 
know, body back, if you will. 

280
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,840
Like I played softball growing 
up. 

281
00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:55,080
I I was pretty lean through high
school and college, had a six 

282
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,280
pack from being a softball 
pitcher and I wanted those ABS 

283
00:15:58,280 --> 00:15:59,320
back. 
That was my goal. 

284
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,400
I looked back at old pictures 
and I'm like, I just want my ABS

285
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,640
back. 
So I started following the 

286
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,360
Isagenix nutrition program, 
which worked for me. 

287
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,400
Not to say it would work for 
everybody, but it definitely 

288
00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:17,880
worked for me and doing that 
alongside cardio and not 

289
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:23,920
drinking. 
I was from 195 lbs to 125 lbs 

290
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:31,120
within four months and and so at
that point I was maintaining 

291
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:37,440
that from beginning of 2021 
until I moved to Florida at the 

292
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:43,440
end of 2021 and I started into 
like this new place. 

293
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,080
And about a year I enjoyed those
results of just kind of being 

294
00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,960
what I like to call like fat 
skinny because I didn't have any

295
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,120
muscle from the way I did it. 
I wasn't working out or building

296
00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,160
muscle, I just wanted to be 
skinny. 

297
00:16:55,520 --> 00:17:00,160
So I was still eating whatever I
wanted after like I had reached 

298
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:03,760
that goal and wasn't really 
being active and I just started 

299
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,119
not liking the habits I was 
putting in place again and and I

300
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,200
really felt like I know what 
this road is leading to. 

301
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,000
I know where this is going. 
I've been here before and I I 

302
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,839
don't want to go back to where I
where I just came from, minus 

303
00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:22,319
the alcohol. 
I've really not had a problem 

304
00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:25,720
staying away from that, thank 
goodness, but just the, you 

305
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,480
know, sugar and sedentary 
lifestyle and eating stuff that 

306
00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:35,240
comes out of containers and 
packages rather than Whole Foods

307
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,520
and whatnot. 
And so I reached out to a coach 

308
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:44,520
I had met here in Tampa, Allie 
Cass Health, And I asked her if 

309
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,840
she could help me, you know, 
prepare for my first show. 

310
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:54,960
So I sent her pictures and her 
response to me was, well, you 

311
00:17:54,960 --> 00:18:00,440
need to build muscle. 
And I I don't know what I was 

312
00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,640
thinking like from the day I 
signed up. 

313
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,680
I just, I don't know what I ever
thought I was signing up for. 

314
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,080
But has been such an educational
journey as I've been going 

315
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,640
through it because most people 
who want to do a show don't 

316
00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,280
start the same day they start 
going to the gym. 

317
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,080
From what I understand, most 
people have been going to the 

318
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,920
gym for a long time, have been 
maintaining muscle mass for a 

319
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,160
long time, and now they just 
want to cut for a show. 

320
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,280
So I kind of did it. 
I don't want to say backwards, 

321
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,000
but I definitely did it the hard
way of like getting super skinny

322
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:38,960
and lean, no muscle mass to 
having to bulk significantly 

323
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,200
over the last year and then 
cutting just in time for the 

324
00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:49,240
show. 
So it was, it was definitely, it

325
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:51,120
definitely took kind of the hard
route, if you will. 

326
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,320
Did you have any, like, stigmas 
against resistance training when

327
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,080
you first started? 
You know, losing the weight? 

328
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,040
Like, did you just assume that 
you were gonna blow up and look 

329
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,560
like Arnold Schwarzenegger, like
a lot of females think for some 

330
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,680
reason? 
I guess a little bit there. 

331
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:08,040
You know, even though I wanted 
my ABS back, there was one guy 

332
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,000
that said to me, like, he didn't
really think that was 

333
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,200
attractive. 
And it's so funny. 

334
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,520
It's like, I don't know why this
came to my brain, but you know, 

335
00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,760
podcast life in the 5th grade, I
was wearing glasses and a boy 

336
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:20,920
told me that they weren't, they 
weren't cute. 

337
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,760
And I never wore glasses again 
to this day where contacts. 

338
00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,880
And I've been wearing them since
like fifth grade because I was 

339
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,760
like, glasses aren't cute on me.
So sometimes what people say to 

340
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,200
you will follow you. 
As we know words can kind of 

341
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:33,720
stick. 
So somebody said it to me. 

342
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,320
I was trying not to be muscular,
I think because of that comment,

343
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,200
even though I wanted my abs 
back, 'cause they're kind of 

344
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,600
natural on me, I was definitely 
not trying to get muscular. 

345
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,680
The one thing I will say though,
like my first ever, like real 

346
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,320
big roll job was at 24 Hour 
Fitness. 

347
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:58,360
So I've always enjoyed like the 
gym atmosphere, but I naturally 

348
00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:02,280
have like a pretty built upper 
body because of softball and 

349
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,560
didn't really ever work out my 
legs. 

350
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:10,080
Growing up or you know, in my my
younger years and so that has 

351
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,000
been my struggle this entire 
time, is that like my legs have 

352
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,400
absolutely no muscle memory? 
No. 

353
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,480
You know, like soccer players, 
you can kind of tell girls at 

354
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,000
the gym that, like played soccer
or something prior to this 

355
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,720
because they've got that quad 
definition or you know, 

356
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,040
hamstring definition. 
I I just don't have that. 

357
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,720
And even today after doing a 
show and another six months of 

358
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,440
training, I still feel like my 
legs look like I've never been 

359
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,640
to the gym, even though I train 
them three days a week very 

360
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,720
hard. 
Whereas I, like I said, I have 

361
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,320
women coming up to me out at the
bar saying you have my dream 

362
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:43,680
arms, you know? 
So it's funny. 

363
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,000
I think we all have our our 
weaknesses and our strengths, 

364
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000
but my bottom half is my 
struggle. 

365
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:52,280
Yeah, mine has always been my 
chest and my calves and my legs 

366
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:53,640
too. 
But I've been, I've been hitting

367
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,320
those like it's like a Mad Men 
that they're finally growing, 

368
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,600
which is good, but it's been my 
weak point for sure. 

369
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,200
So when you started training and
you reach out to your trainer, 

370
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,000
they asked you to, to build some
muscle, prioritize that. 

371
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,480
That was when you were around 
that 120 mark, right when you 

372
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,280
reached out to them initially. 
Yeah, exactly. 

373
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,400
And I I do want to share that 
the first day I did the workout 

374
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,080
that, you know, was was 
prescribed to me to start, you 

375
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,520
know, being a bodybuilder, I was
like, oh, she's going to kill 

376
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,200
me. 
It was really hard, like way 

377
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,200
harder than any workout I'd ever
done. 

378
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,960
And that was just day one. 
And I told her it was really 

379
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,360
hard. 
And she basically was like, 

380
00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,000
well, maybe bodybuilding's not 
for you, which lit a fire in me.

381
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,160
I'm like oh I'm proof her wrong.
I like it. 

382
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,560
How long was your building phase
after you started training? 

383
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,080
Yeah. 
So I started building in March 

384
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:50,960
and we started cutting about 12 
weeks out from the November 11th

385
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,720
show. 
So I guess like August ish, so 

386
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,680
March to August was was 
definitely the building phase. 

387
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:02,560
Did you gain much weight during 
that time? 

388
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,760
About 20 lbs. 
Nice. 

389
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,000
So yeah, like a lot of people 
like, since you hadn't really 

390
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,400
done much resistance training 
prior to that, your body was 

391
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,480
super responsive to the weight 
training because it was all a 

392
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,160
very new stimulus to your body. 
A lot of people don't realize 

393
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,360
that, too. 
Like when you first start weight

394
00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:21,680
training, the last thing you 
want to do is go into a massive 

395
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,920
deficit because you want to just
give your body the fuel it needs

396
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,360
to capitalize on those newbie 
gains, so to speak. 

397
00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:30,000
So it's awesome that you're able
to do that prior to actually 

398
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,880
cutting down for the show. 
Yeah, I do want to mention 

399
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:39,120
though, that the hardest part 
for me last year was the bulking

400
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:40,000
phase. 
Yeah. 

401
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,840
Mentally, it was very hard for 
me to see weight gain. 

402
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:53,360
My abs started to disappear and 
I really was having issues with,

403
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:59,880
you know, body dysmorphia and 
body image and just never been 

404
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,880
through the process before. 
There was a lot of fear I had. 

405
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,440
I mean, I definitely had to lean
in and just trust my coach. 

406
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:11,200
But I also, just like I said, I 
kind of went to approach this 

407
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,480
whole thing so backwards that I 
didn't know or understand even 

408
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,000
like what the process was. 
I didn't fully understand what I

409
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,400
was trying to sign up for. 
My my real reason for wanting to

410
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,080
do a show was like, I wanted to 
do a show. 

411
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,080
I just, I wanted to do the 
actual physical, like be on 

412
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,440
stage and do a show. 
But I had to get my body 

413
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,480
competitive to do so, you know? 
And I just didn't fully 

414
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,240
understand what that really 
meant when it came to like the 

415
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,120
the additional step of actually 
building the muscle and then 

416
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:45,040
having to cut to be able to be 
lean enough to be on stage. 

417
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,960
So very grateful. 
Obviously loved it enough that 

418
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,720
my next show's coming up in four
months. 

419
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:55,680
But, but I yeah, I definitely 
have been learning as I go and 

420
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,440
you know, going from there. 
Yeah, I want to talk about that 

421
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,400
in detail because so many 
clients that have worked with me

422
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,440
over the years, especially 
female clients that have never 

423
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,640
gone through a building and 
cutting cycle. 

424
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,800
The idea of gaining weight 
during the building phase is 

425
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,360
very scary, especially when 
they've worked so hard to lose 

426
00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,360
the weight to begin with or if 
they've come from a place where 

427
00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,760
they were overweight. 
To see that scale kind of go the

428
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,120
other direction is like a 
psychological battle every 

429
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:25,720
single day. 
So when you're doing that, what 

430
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,680
I always tell people is just get
like change the proxy for what 

431
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:29,880
it is you're getting excited 
about. 

432
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,560
So rather than seeing the scale 
go down, get excited about 

433
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,760
seeing the way you're pushing 
the gym go up And like your 

434
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,240
performance markers, how did you
cope with that scale weight 

435
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,400
increasing? 
You know, you gained 20 lbs 

436
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,880
during that time. 
Like, how did you lean into that

437
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:49,080
and get excited about that? 
To be honest, I definitely don't

438
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,040
think I pushed myself at the gym
as much as I should have to gain

439
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,200
to increase my lifts. 
I would say that's probably one 

440
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:02,000
benefit of having a coach in 
person versus a coach that's 

441
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,200
remote. 
My coach is is, even though 

442
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,480
she's here, she coaches me 
remotely. 

443
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,080
And I think that if I had a 
trainer in person, that is like 

444
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:16,720
watching my form and encouraging
me to go for more weight or you 

445
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:18,320
know, just to push me a little 
harder. 

446
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,320
Or even just keeping an eye on 
the the workouts that I was 

447
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,320
inputting and saying like, hey, 
you know, you've been kind of 

448
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,320
sticking to the same weight for 
three months, you probably 

449
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:30,880
should, you know, up it or 
something. 

450
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:36,000
Because I was so afraid of one 
one of two things. 

451
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,960
First of all, I just want to 
mention because of your brand. 

452
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:45,680
So I went for 417 days of no 
days off and that was like a 

453
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,680
really big part of my life. 
Last year I just started the 

454
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,080
snow days off things to get 
myself motivated. 

455
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:56,000
And the reason I got to 417 was 
I got COVID and I was out for a 

456
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,360
week. 
So when it finally derailed me, 

457
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,160
but I I did not miss a day for 
417 days. 

458
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,640
But I didn't want to miss a day,
so I didn't want to get hurt. 

459
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,160
And I was very worried about 
getting hurt and not being able 

460
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:13,360
to compete. 
So I think I held myself back a 

461
00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,520
little bit of like overdoing the
weight because I was afraid of 

462
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,160
that. 
Where I now have been increasing

463
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,680
my weight on every single time I
go to the gym, like a week after

464
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,320
week I'm increasing my weight 
significantly. 

465
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,920
And I think it's partially 
because I'm not worried, like if

466
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,080
I get hurt, OK, I just won't do 
my show in June. 

467
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,000
It's not like as big of a thing 
as my first show that I was like

468
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,440
really amping up. 
And like, I got the feedback 

469
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:48,000
from the judges when after my 
show, they told me to, you know,

470
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:51,200
that I had a great base, but 
that they wanted to see much 

471
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:55,920
more glute and quad growth on 
the next time I was on stage. 

472
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,760
So like, since I'm pushing, if 
you're a coach, you know that my

473
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,120
coach is not pushing me to do a 
show in June. 

474
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:04,160
I'm pushing to do the show in 
June. 

475
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,640
Since I'm pushing for that, I'm 
really pushing to get my 

476
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,600
development as far as I can take
it so that I can do this show 

477
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:13,800
and and feel like I'm coming 
with a different package. 

478
00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:15,440
Yeah, that's. 
That's the main thing. 

479
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,000
Like so many people compete too 
frequently or they don't push 

480
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:20,520
themselves enough in the 
building phase. 

481
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,600
They don't take the, quote UN 
quote offseason seriously. 

482
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,680
But realistically, there's no 
offseason with bodybuilding like

483
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:28,280
it's a lifestyle year in and 
year round. 

484
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,840
But I think having a market 
improvement in your physique 

485
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,120
every time you step on stage 
should be the the paramount 

486
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:36,760
goal. 
And if you're not doing that, 

487
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,640
then that's not good. 
So yeah, I've got no doubt that 

488
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,080
you can improve upon your last 
showing. 

489
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:42,800
What? 
What? 

490
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:44,640
What? 
What division did you do? 

491
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:50,720
Bikini. 
I did the OCB show bikini and 

492
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,800
got second in my class for 
novice. 

493
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:02,160
And this next one is actually 
going to be a WNBF show. 

494
00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,400
Not because I don't want to do 
OCB, but just because I want to 

495
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,240
compete in my hometown in 
Escondido, CA and that they're 

496
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,400
having a show there WNBF. 
And it's also a natural 

497
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,880
federation that does the 
polygraph and urine analysis. 

498
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,120
So I talked with my posing coach
and she kind of gave me the 

499
00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:24,160
stamp of approval on that 
federation. 

500
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,200
She's been in the industry for 
over 25 years so she knows 

501
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,720
everything about every 
federation and she said go for 

502
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,920
it. 
So I'm going to be swapping 

503
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,120
federations just so that I can 
compete in a place where I have 

504
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:37,760
friends and family there to 
support me. 

505
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:38,600
I. 
Love it. 

506
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,280
I love it. 
Well, I've competed in multiple 

507
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,880
federations in. 
I can honestly say not to talk 

508
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,680
bad about the OCB by any means 
or any federation, but as far as

509
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,440
federations go, I think the WNBF
is probably the upper echelon 

510
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,160
within the natural. 
It's got it's it's more 

511
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:59,480
prestigious, they they have a a 
greater competitive class in my 

512
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,320
opinion, generally speaking and 
they just take things very 

513
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,880
serious like it's a very 
professionally run organization.

514
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,240
So you definitely aren't going 
wrong by going with the WNBF. 

515
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,000
Great. 
Now I feel even more nervous. 

516
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,400
That's good though. 
I mean like you want to compete 

517
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,360
against the best of the best 
that you can really test 

518
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:19,400
yourself. 
So I'm excited about you. 

519
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,920
So what was your, what was your 
intake like? 

520
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,120
Out of curiosity, I know, I know
you're not doing a ketogenic 

521
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,920
diet, but for like a caloric 
standpoint, what were you 

522
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,040
consuming prior to the building 
phase? 

523
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,360
What did you get up to calorie 
wise at the end of that building

524
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:35,800
phase? 
And then what did you kind of do

525
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,680
with your macros tapering down 
for the show? 

526
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,720
Yeah. 
And The thing is, I was so 

527
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,080
surprised by how that whole 
process was because I didn't 

528
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,200
have like a full understanding 
of what it was going to look 

529
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:48,880
like. 
It kind of just came in as like 

530
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,680
week by week. 
Here's your macros. 

531
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,480
And so it was interesting to see
how it kind of all played in. 

532
00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:01,600
But during the building Phase, I
I want to say that I got up to 

533
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:06,640
2500 calories, might have been 
2000, but I I want to say I was 

534
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:14,560
about 2500 and then tapered to 
2000 getting closer to the cut 

535
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,440
phase. 
And then once we started the cut

536
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:24,600
it was like 1800, seventeen 116,
fifty 1600 like week after week.

537
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:30,040
And then I got down to 1200 
calories, not peak week but the 

538
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,520
week prior to peak week. 
And then we did like the carb 

539
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,800
loading. 
The one thing I didn't do was a 

540
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,120
lot with my water. 
Water in general. 

541
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,360
I am just the worst example when
it comes to that. 

542
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,480
I drink a lot of sparkling 
water, so I'm not really great 

543
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,640
with like keeping my gallon with
me all the time. 

544
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,880
So there wasn't a lot of 
opportunity there. 

545
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,960
So I'll definitely be trying to 
improve that for this show. 

546
00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:01,080
But the other thing that I 
really struggled with during 

547
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,280
days leading into the show was 
bloating. 

548
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:08,720
Like I was very, very 
constipated and I did not know 

549
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,680
how to mitigate that. 
Like, you know, coaches don't 

550
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:15,520
want you to use laxatives 
because you know that's not good

551
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,720
for you and they don't want you 
to become dependent on them. 

552
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,800
So one of the things that I'll 
be really trying to improve upon

553
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,840
going into this next show is 
playing with foods that are 

554
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:30,400
Whole, Foods that will help 
regulate my body so that I'm not

555
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:35,120
relying on packaged foods going 
into the show because I do think

556
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:36,600
that had something to do with 
it. 

557
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,680
And so, I mean, of course, we 
all know Whole Foods are always 

558
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,400
better, but it's just so easy to
grab things and packages. 

559
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:47,040
And I definitely want to do 
better going into this next show

560
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,760
so that I can, you know, hold it
together. 

561
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,120
They have you on stage for so 
long holding it in. 

562
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,880
And if you're not feeling great,
it's so hard. 

563
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,680
I mean, it was miserable, Which 
is How I Met Kevin, your client.

564
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:10,120
Because in between my novice 
stage time and my open class 

565
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,680
time, my first time ever on 
stage, I was like fainting. 

566
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,960
Like I took everything in me, 
not to faint, Not because I was 

567
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,000
like depleted of water or 
anything. 

568
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:26,040
I didn't feel good, like I was 
so not feeling good and I I 

569
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,480
texted my coach and she said go 
eat a rice cake. 

570
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,680
So I ran down and that's when I 
met Kevin during my little rice 

571
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,560
cake moment. 
Nice, nice. 

572
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,200
Yeah. 
Well, I certainly am probably 

573
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,120
going to be a little biased, but
I would definitely encourage the

574
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,000
ketogenic approach when it comes
to the prep because you're not 

575
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,840
going to have near as many 
issues with bloating and the the

576
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,000
fluid fluctuation that often 
comes with people that are carb 

577
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,040
back loading or carb loading for
peak week. 

578
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,680
Like all that pretty much just 
is minimized. 

579
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,560
Like you don't have the risk of 
of spilling over so to speak and

580
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,880
having that that soft loop 
because of improper electrolyte 

581
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,960
and hydration manipulation as a 
result of that water retention 

582
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,840
from the carbs. 
So yeah, that that would be key.

583
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:11,480
I mean it it is sad when I see 
competitors who like they don't 

584
00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,960
feel good on show day. 
Like you put in so much work and

585
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,440
if you don't feel good on show 
day and you're not able to 

586
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:19,880
capitalize on that moment like 
it's it's disheartening. 

587
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,520
Like, I've had competitors that 
I've been on stage with that 

588
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,920
literally had to stop in the 
middle of the the poses and walk

589
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,400
off stage because they were 
cramping so badly. 

590
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,480
And I'm like, man, that's got to
be rough. 

591
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,080
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
My hardest part was like, the 

592
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,400
lights. 
They're just so bright and 

593
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,640
they're right in your eyes. 
And the judges are so low and 

594
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,800
you're trying to like, look at 
the judges. 

595
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,000
And yeah, it was like, I don't 
know how to explain almost like 

596
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:49,680
if you get like seizure from 
strobe lights, it was kind of 

597
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:51,840
like that. 
Like the lights were just really

598
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,960
throwing me off, like my balance
and everything. 

599
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,520
And I just, like I said, I 
wasn't feeling good. 

600
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,520
So I, like really couldn't like 
hold it together. 

601
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,800
And a coach that I follow on 
Facebook, he was there with his 

602
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,080
clients, not for me. 
He said, yeah, I could tell a 

603
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,600
few times that you, like, didn't
hold your stomach in. 

604
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:08,719
And that's like the worst 
feeling in the way in the world 

605
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,639
because I was very lean like 
that morning. 

606
00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:16,480
But I ate like 2000 calories 
between like 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM

607
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:20,159
when I got on stage and then I 
just wasn't feeling whilst I 

608
00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:22,040
wasn't able to like hold that 
together. 

609
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,719
What kind of foods were you 
eating with this with this peak 

610
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:30,520
week, for instance? 
So because of the bloating kind 

611
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,840
of coming like setting in on 
peak week my coach really pushed

612
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:39,239
like dairy free, gluten free 
because my breakfast every 

613
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:44,040
morning being the the pancakes 
and the yogurt and she that's 

614
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,960
not part of her like what she 
would like. 

615
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:52,280
So for the days leading in, I 
did like sweet potatoes and eggs

616
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:59,840
and spinach for breakfast, and 
then my lunch slash dinner was 

617
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,360
like white rice with cicchini 
and chicken. 

618
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,720
So that was kind of like what I 
ate, just like the week of the 

619
00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:09,440
show. 
Gotcha, gotcha. 

620
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,080
What was the actually before I 
moved there, I'll, I'll give you

621
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,480
a forewarning with the with the 
WNBF Federation, they like to 

622
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,080
have their competitors on stage 
a long time. 

623
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:23,240
I've been on stage I think for 
like north of 30 minutes at a 

624
00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:24,880
time before. 
So get ready for that. 

625
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:26,920
Wow. 
OK. 

626
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:32,120
Practice to posing like 
religiously before you ever even

627
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:33,720
get close to peak week, because 
they're going to have you out 

628
00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:36,000
there for a long time. 
Yeah. 

629
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:37,840
That's good though. 
That's good. 

630
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,560
So what did you do? 
I'm going to talk about reverse 

631
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,680
thatting because I'm I'm kind of
on the tail end of my reverse 

632
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:45,480
that now. 
And that's a a part of the whole

633
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:50,840
process that often times gets 
totally unspoken, so to speak. 

634
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,360
People love to talk about 
getting leaner, losing weights, 

635
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,640
seeing more visible ABS, 
definition, vascularity. 

636
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,400
The show itself obviously, but 
then when the show is over, it's

637
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,080
like the story styles, but in 
reality the story definitely 

638
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,760
keeps going post show. 
So what was it like after the 

639
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,240
show was over? 
Like did you have a massive 

640
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:12,080
celebratory meal? 
Did you gain a bunch of weight? 

641
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,560
Did you feel good? 
Did you feel bad? 

642
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:14,720
Like, what was that like for 
you? 

643
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:21,600
So I planned the meal I wanted 
to eat that night and I cooked 

644
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:26,120
at home with all like planned 
ingredients fit it all. 

645
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,360
I didn't worry about the macros 
because like I said, I had 

646
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,520
already eaten my daily macros 
like what I would normally have 

647
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,240
eaten for the day before my show
started. 

648
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:40,880
Though it was definitely like a 
5000 calorie day, but I made 

649
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:46,080
beef Wellington which is like 
filet mignon like wrapped in 

650
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:50,080
pastry and I think I made 
asparagus and like mashed 

651
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:56,760
potatoes like it was bomb. 
And then after that, yeah, I 

652
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,160
think she said like go ahead and
take like a day. 

653
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,440
But then she wanted me to kind 
of like reverse out. 

654
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,520
So starting pretty low kind of 
where I had been and then you 

655
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:09,040
know increasing calories again 
like about 50 to 100 calories 

656
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,840
per week, just increasing it. 
The one interesting thing? 

657
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,400
A couple things. 
So being that any eating 

658
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,360
disorder I've ever struggled 
with is more on the binging side

659
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:25,560
than the not allowing myself 
food side, I struggled more 

660
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:27,720
with. 
I didn't struggle, excuse me, I 

661
00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:30,720
did not struggle more with the 
binging. 

662
00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:35,280
Surprisingly, I think most 
people do binge after a show 

663
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,800
because they depleted themselves
so much. 

664
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:44,160
But for me, I was so happy to 
kind of see myself in the best 

665
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,160
place I had ever been 
physically. 

666
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:51,000
I really just wanted to stay at 
the lower calories and my coach 

667
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,560
really had to work with me on 
like that mindset than anything.

668
00:37:54,560 --> 00:38:00,160
I think I really wanted to just 
stay at that, like leanness. 

669
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,600
And she's like, Nope, you got to
start eating again, especially 

670
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,720
if you want to compete again, 
like you have to start getting 

671
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:09,640
back up. 
So it actually took me quite a 

672
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:17,240
while to go back the other way, 
but I had a family cruise over 

673
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:20,360
the holidays, Christmas and New 
Year's that I had every 

674
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,000
intention of eating whatever I 
wanted on the cruise. 

675
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:28,360
So I think there was a little 
bit of motivation for me to stay

676
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,440
within the prescribed reverse 
diet. 

677
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,720
And if anything, like not 
pushing myself to increase more 

678
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:38,600
than anything, because I really 
wanted to be able to eat 

679
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,800
whatever I wanted on the cruise 
and I just wanted to like build 

680
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,600
up my intake enough to be able 
to do that. 

681
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,200
And I definitely did. 
I ate so much on the cruise and 

682
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:52,440
I definitely gained weight, but 
I got COVID on the cruise and 

683
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:56,320
then coming back I was so sick 
for over a week, which is when I

684
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,800
got derailed from my no days off
and I ended up losing all the 

685
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,960
way I had gained on the cruise 
from just basically not being 

686
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,800
able to eat for a week. 
So I don't recommend that, but 

687
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,360
it definitely worked. 
Yeah, that is rough for sure. 

688
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,760
Did did you lose your cycle the 
latter half of the prep? 

689
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,520
I didn't, actually. 
In fact, I had it during the 

690
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,200
show. 
Oh lovely. 

691
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:25,200
Yeah, really dunk on top of 
everything else. 

692
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:27,440
That may have been a 
contributing factor to some of 

693
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:29,520
the bloating and and fluid 
retention then, for sure. 

694
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,080
Yeah, yeah, that was pretty 
rough. 

695
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,840
I literally, like, woke up with 
it the day before the show. 

696
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,960
So it was like, awesome. 
I did want to mention one thing.

697
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,520
It was kind of interesting. 
So the week after my show, I 

698
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:47,760
flew to Utah for a family 
wedding and I was still macro 

699
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:51,040
counting. 
So I asked my cousin what the 

700
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,440
dinner was and, you know, just 
kind of wanted to, like, 

701
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,440
guesstimate whatever it would be
to put it in so I could plan my 

702
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,880
food for the day. 
And she's like, oh, it's a pasta

703
00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:02,880
bar. 
And I'm like, awesome. 

704
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,480
This thing's challenging. 
Not in the plan ever. 

705
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:14,440
So you know again I I listened 
to plenty of podcasts 

706
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:17,280
bodybuilding podcasts and 
somebody had suggested like if 

707
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:19,520
you ever go to a family wedding 
or something just eat the 

708
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,040
protein only you know and and 
stay away from all the carbs. 

709
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,440
If if, if you know you have to 
and whatever your plans are or 

710
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,920
whatever And it's all when she 
says the pasta bar I'm thinking 

711
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,960
like well there's going to be no
protein like what am I going to 

712
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:33,720
eat? 
So ended up at the the actual 

713
00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:37,480
wedding. 
They had like grilled vegetables

714
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,760
and I filled my entire plate 
with vegetables. 

715
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:45,440
It was like cauliflower and 
carrots, broccoli or something 

716
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:47,080
like one of those like vegetable
medallies. 

717
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,400
And then I just topped it with 
like the marinara beef sauce and

718
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:53,760
I'm guessing the beef was like 
80%, you know, not like what I 

719
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,760
would normally cook like 93 or 
whatever, but I just put it all 

720
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:00,520
in my my app was like, this is 
what I'm eating. 

721
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:04,040
And you know, got my fat intake 
from that because it was plenty 

722
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,120
with the the 20% beef or or 
whatever. 

723
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:10,520
But I still was able to like 
avoid the pasta bar a week out 

724
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:13,480
of my show, which is, you know, 
I didn't want to be eating an 

725
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,280
entire plate of pasta and I 
didn't want to be hungry. 

726
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,720
Avoided the cookies. 
What what app are you using for 

727
00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:24,840
tracking your macros? 
So I use chronometer I just. 

728
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:26,200
Switched over to that one 
myself. 

729
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,560
I'm still using both. 
I've been using my macros plus 

730
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:31,840
for like the past. 
I don't know 10 years, but I've 

731
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:34,920
switched over to chronometer. 
Chronometer however you 

732
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,640
pronounce it, and I love how 
detailed it is with regards to 

733
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:40,760
micronutrients and just all the 
functionality it has. 

734
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:43,880
It's a pretty slick app. 
Yeah, I really like it. 

735
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:49,000
And what I really enjoy about 
that app is how easy it is to 

736
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:53,240
move food items to the next day 
or to copy and paste them to 

737
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:56,920
other days. 
That's really helpful, you know,

738
00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:00,640
for like your time sake. 
And you can add so much of the 

739
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,640
custom meals. 
Even my peanut butter and Jelly 

740
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,400
sandwich that I eat almost every
day cuz I've made it fit in my 

741
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:10,200
macros and I pick specific 
ingredients or whatever and I 

742
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:12,920
can just copy and paste that to 
the next day. 

743
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,400
Or if I change breads I can 
easily change it. 

744
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,960
I just really like how that app 
works for that. 

745
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,920
But the other nice thing is if 
you find a recipe online, you 

746
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:26,240
can import the recipe and then 
update whatever ingredients you 

747
00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:27,640
know. 
If it just calls for flour or 

748
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:31,120
something, you can like put the 
exact flour you're using, but it

749
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,920
saves a lot of time when you can
import a recipe. 

750
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:38,560
And then also, if you're eating 
out and you have a general idea 

751
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,400
of like what was in the food, 
you can find a recipe that's 

752
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,400
similar and then bring that in 
to at least get as close as you 

753
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,280
can. 
Obviously you shouldn't do that 

754
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:48,000
if you're in the middle of a 
cut, but if you're just in the 

755
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,160
bulking phase or you're just 
trying to like kind of, you 

756
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,640
know, keep keep an idea of where
you're at macronutrient wise. 

757
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,920
Totally. 
Do you like tracking macros even

758
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,480
in the building phase, or do you
find it to be too tedious and 

759
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:01,440
time consuming? 
No, I love it, I say. 

760
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,200
I love counting macros and I 
hate counting reps. 

761
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:06,960
Nice, nice. 
Yeah. 

762
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,560
I feel like a lot of people, 
they go back and forth like they

763
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:12,400
they find tracking to be 
unsustainable long term. 

764
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,520
And for me it's like I like 
having the data. 

765
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:17,360
I like knowing how my body's 
responding. 

766
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,760
There may be times where I 
intentionally don't track just 

767
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:23,400
so that I can allow myself to be
more intuitive, but I eat pretty

768
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,320
much the same thing every day 
anyway, so it's not really that 

769
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,800
much of an issue. 
But so many people never track 

770
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:33,200
macros and therefore have no 
concept of, you know, what is 8 

771
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,280
ounces of ground beef even look 
like on a plate and they they 

772
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:37,880
over consume or they under 
consume. 

773
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:41,280
So I think anybody would benefit
from a period of tracking macros

774
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:45,200
just to have that education. 
Yeah, that's what I was kind of 

775
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:48,120
referencing earlier about like 
the one ounce of chicken. 

776
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,960
It's like once you have a 
concept of what one ounce of 

777
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,240
chicken looks like on a plate, 
like you just said and you know 

778
00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:57,880
that's 10 grams of protein, you 
realize how easy it is to get 

779
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:01,120
that protein in because you can,
you know what it is. 

780
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:06,880
And that same weekend, family 
weekend, Utah wedding, the next 

781
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,560
day we went to brunch. 
And again, it's tough, you know,

782
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:13,360
like everyone's eating whatever 
they want and overeating. 

783
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,920
But I'm on a week out of my 
reverse diet, so I'm not trying 

784
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:21,760
to overeat at brunch. 
And I had my steal out and I'm 

785
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,840
sure no one said anything, but 
I'm sure there were people that 

786
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:26,640
thought like that was over the 
top. 

787
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:32,000
But what I was measuring was how
much chicken was eating, how 

788
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:36,400
much blueberries I was eating 
because I wanted to make sure I 

789
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,640
got enough food in for the day. 
Not because I was trying to cut 

790
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:41,680
back, but because I was trying 
to make sure I ended up with 

791
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:46,280
enough food for the day and I. 
And so yeah, when people see you

792
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:49,520
weighing your food out at a 
public restaurant, I think you 

793
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:52,440
know that it's such a stigma of 
like, negativity. 

794
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,360
But it was like, I'm trying to 
make sure I get enough food. 

795
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,480
Yeah, it's unfortunate there is 
that stigma there. 

796
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,200
But I don't know, like, I am 
definitely that weird guy as 

797
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:01,680
well. 
Like, I bring my food scale. 

798
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,640
I've gone as far as to bring 
like a smaller scale for for 

799
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,840
weighing, you know, sodium 
intake out. 

800
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,000
And obviously I'm a drug dealer 
because I got this little drug 

801
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,560
scans for salt. 
But it's like once you commit to

802
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:16,560
this and you make it a 
lifestyle, it just becomes part 

803
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,560
of your life. 
And then ideally you've got 

804
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:20,600
enough self-confidence that you 
don't really worry about what 

805
00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:21,960
people think. 
And more often than not, the 

806
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,360
people that are passing judgment
or, you know, throwing sneers 

807
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,600
your way when you pull out a 
food scale at a restaurant like 

808
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,680
those people are often times 
incredibly overweight. 

809
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,040
They're not healthy by any 
stretch of the imagination, 

810
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:33,760
They're not really making any 
moves in their own life. 

811
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:35,920
So it's like, who are they to 
judge what you're doing anyways?

812
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,640
Right. 
And the and I think that, you 

813
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:46,680
know kind of comes back to you 
can eat at a buffet and just eat

814
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,440
whatever looks good and fill 
your plate. 

815
00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:50,680
And the goal is how many plates 
of food did I eat? 

816
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:55,760
But, like, you have no concept 
of how many calories you just 

817
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:58,000
took down. 
And it's like, no wonder you go 

818
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,800
home and you just want to sleep 
because you don't even know, 

819
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,880
like, how much food you just 
took. 

820
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,800
And like, I just think it's so 
valuable to to count your food 

821
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:11,080
and and have a good idea of what
you're in taking no matter no 

822
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:14,320
matter what your goals are. 
You know, my roommate I just 

823
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,160
recently moved in with, she 
struggles to eat. 

824
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:21,080
And I was kind of joking with 
her about it because you know, 

825
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,960
she's living with a bodybuilder 
who's like eating 6 to 8 meals a

826
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:30,400
day and and so I've been 
encouraging her to start putting

827
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,080
food in an app just to get her 
basics. 

828
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:36,000
You know, I'm I'm no not a 
trainer or anything. 

829
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,280
I'm just, I really want to see 
her just start to start to eat 

830
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:41,360
and get those those nutrients 
in. 

831
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,080
On that note, I I just 
discovered this with the 

832
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:46,440
Chronometer. 
But there's a feature in there 

833
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,720
that allows like if you're a 
coach and you're using it with 

834
00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:50,480
your clients, for instance, 
there's a feature in there that 

835
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:54,280
allows you to said it such that 
the people logging their food 

836
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,280
can't see the nutrition 
breakdown. 

837
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:57,920
They could just simply add the 
food. 

838
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:01,280
And that's kind of a a pretty 
cool use case scenario for 

839
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,360
people that are on the anorexia 
side of the spectrum and they're

840
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,960
they're trying not to eat enough
food or they're not consuming 

841
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,960
enough food in general. 
So you could like have them log 

842
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:12,360
their food and then not know 
what the macro nutrient 

843
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,000
breakdown is, but you can, you 
know, instruct them to eat more,

844
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:16,840
eat less, just adjust things 
accordingly. 

845
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,920
But yeah, so many people 
struggle with just simply not 

846
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:22,120
getting adequate nutrition. 
There's there's two extremes. 

847
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,200
People eat far too much and 
people eat far too little, and 

848
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:27,360
neither is optimal by any 
stretch of the imagination. 

849
00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:31,040
And it can go. 
It can be so valuable. 

850
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:35,880
I gave myself like a cheat 
doughnut like couple months ago.

851
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,800
It's like maybe six weeks after.
My show is definitely like 

852
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:41,600
plenty of time to do it or 
whatever. 

853
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,480
And I went to Dunkin. 
I was really just going there 

854
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:44,720
for coffee. 
And I was like, I haven't had a 

855
00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:48,280
doughnut in so long, so I 
didn't, like, put plan it and I 

856
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:51,360
didn't put it in first and like 
make any, you know, real 

857
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:53,600
executive decision. 
It was kind of an impulse, like 

858
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:57,080
we all do. 
And afterwards, of course, I put

859
00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:02,640
it in the app and it was like 70
calories for one doughnut hole. 

860
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:04,600
And I'm like, that was just not 
worth it. 

861
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:09,080
I mean, I definitely ate them, 
but I was like way over on my 

862
00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:13,520
macros that day, just from that 
one cheat, 3 doughnut, 3 

863
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,960
doughnut holes. 
It was like crazy what the 

864
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:20,240
macros were on that. 
And I think it's just so it's 

865
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:24,400
like for me now that I know that
I will not do that again because

866
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:26,720
I have a concept of what those 
macros were. 

867
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:30,360
Yeah, I think that's just good 
for everybody to have that kind 

868
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:33,080
of a concept, you know, So easy 
for us to just be like, oh, it 

869
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:35,120
was only three and they were 
blueberries. 

870
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:38,080
Yeah. 
It's easy for people to justify 

871
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:40,320
their decisions, but if you're 
like tracking it and being 

872
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,640
objective and what that date is 
telling you, then you can at 

873
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:45,760
least be honest with yourself. 
And if you decide to eat it then

874
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:47,760
then by all means make that 
decision. 

875
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:49,040
But make it consciously, you 
know. 

876
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,440
And it really comes down to 
being that I've been on this 

877
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:58,920
journey for over a year now. 
I've had a lot of people reach 

878
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:04,080
out to me on social media, 
sharing their issues with 

879
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:06,400
themselves. 
Their, you know, whether it's, 

880
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:10,760
you know, I wish, I wish I had a
body like that or I wish I was 

881
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:14,280
skinnier or I wish I, you know, 
whatever it might be, You know, 

882
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,440
so many people out there that 
have a lot of wishes but aren't 

883
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:23,440
taking the action to get there. 
And you know, my motivation is I

884
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:28,080
don't ever want to hate how I 
feel in my own skin ever again. 

885
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:32,240
I hate going to the gym, which 
is so abnormal for people that 

886
00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:33,960
are in bodybuilding. 
I think most people are like, 

887
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:35,720
it's therapy. 
I love it. 

888
00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:38,160
It's my outlet. 
I don't feel that way. 

889
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:39,320
I really don't. 
And I'm. 

890
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:41,440
I'm being honest about that 
because I I think there's so 

891
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:43,800
many people out there like, 
well, I just don't like the gym.

892
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:47,280
Me either. 
But I also don't like how I feel

893
00:49:47,280 --> 00:49:50,680
when my clothes don't fit, when 
I have to keep buying bigger 

894
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:55,720
clothes, when I'm choosing a 
lazy lifestyle and I'm making 

895
00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:58,680
bad eating habits. 
And then everything starts to 

896
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,600
make, you know, end up where you
don't feel good in a swimsuit or

897
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:05,640
in whatever you're wearing. 
And just it can affect 

898
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:07,840
everything, including, you know,
your sex life, because you don't

899
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:10,560
feel good about how you feel 
naked, you know? 

900
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:13,160
And I think that it's so 
important. 

901
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:16,760
And that's just on the outside. 
We have no idea what those 

902
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:21,000
things are doing to our insides 
and how that's affecting your 

903
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,480
organs and can affect your long 
term health when you're not 

904
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,240
making those healthy choices. 
Yeah, totally agree. 

905
00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:30,160
And like people know. 
They know if they've left 

906
00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:32,200
anything on the table or not. 
Like you can. 

907
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,360
It's not good to compare, you 
know, one's physique to somebody

908
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:37,160
else's. 
I mean, you just have to be the 

909
00:50:37,160 --> 00:50:41,320
best that you can be. 
But you know, if you're pushing 

910
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:43,640
yourself, you know if you're 
being disciplined, you know if 

911
00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:46,920
you're being lazy, you know what
you're doing. 

912
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,480
And it's all like perspective is
all relative to that individual.

913
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,440
But just strive to be better 
every single day. 

914
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:56,040
And there's gonna be high days, 
there's gonna be low days. 

915
00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:58,680
But if the overall trajectory is
moving in the right direction, 

916
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,400
you're getting better over time,
then feel good about that. 

917
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:06,160
Right. 
I totally agree with that. 

918
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:09,240
And I definitely don't want to 
encourage people to compare 

919
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:14,600
themselves to me or to somebody 
else, but it is also very normal

920
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:16,800
in our society. 
That's literally like the 

921
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:20,520
premise of social media, which 
is not great, but everybody 

922
00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:23,120
looks at each other on social 
media and then they want 

923
00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:25,720
whatever somebody else has, 
which I think we all have a 

924
00:51:25,720 --> 00:51:27,160
little bit of a reality check 
that. 

925
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:30,120
Those are just the highlights. 
But you know, at the end of the 

926
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:34,480
day, just seeing, seeing that 
you're making the choice to show

927
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:38,920
up for yourself, I think that's 
really what it comes down to. 

928
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,240
There's going to be days that 
you don't feel like it, and 

929
00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:44,120
there's going to be days that 
you would rather just be crappy.

930
00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:50,640
But you making the decision to 
be disciplined, to do the things

931
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:54,080
that you need to do so that you 
can reach those goals, it will 

932
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:58,160
all come with consistency. 
And I think so often we're just 

933
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:01,840
in such a instant gratification 
culture that, you know, we can 

934
00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:04,200
only do it for two weeks and 
it's like, oh, I didn't really 

935
00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:09,440
lose anything or I I it's just 
easier to be lazy or easier to 

936
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:11,800
just eat out. 
But you just have to be 

937
00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:13,480
consistent and do it for 
yourself. 

938
00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:17,160
Yeah, 100% agree. 
So you've you've got another 

939
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:20,400
show you said in June, right? 
June 15th. 

940
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:25,400
June 15th, So what do you what 
do you forecast for this long 

941
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:26,520
term? 
Like, do you feel like you've 

942
00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:29,120
got the the bodybuilding bug dug
in deep now? 

943
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:31,360
Like you're going to make this 
complete lifestyle and keep 

944
00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:32,840
going with it? 
Or what are you thinking? 

945
00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:38,280
Yeah. 
So for me, I see a lot of 

946
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:44,440
competitors that I quote UN 
quote compare myself to and a 

947
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:49,240
lot of them they've been on this
journey for five, 710 years. 

948
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:55,480
So for me, I would like to 
commit to doing this for five to

949
00:52:55,480 --> 00:53:00,920
10 years as a minimum because 
the goals I have for 

950
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:04,640
specifically my legs, since they
look like they still haven't 

951
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,720
ever been to a gym. 
I think that's just going to 

952
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:10,000
take a long time. 
I think I look at pictures of 

953
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,720
women that you know their first 
year versus their fifth year and

954
00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:15,680
their legs look the way I want 
my legs to look. 

955
00:53:15,680 --> 00:53:19,040
So I do think it's just going to
be something I have to be 

956
00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:24,560
committed to long term. 
As for the food and whatnot, I 

957
00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:29,000
think that they're just, it's 
good to do and I like counting 

958
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:32,800
my food and knowing what it is. 
So I mean, it comes alongside 

959
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:36,880
with the bodybuilding. 
And so I'm definitely committed 

960
00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:40,200
to all of it. 
I'm excited to start cutting 

961
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:44,160
again in the near future, 
probably six weeks from now or 

962
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,680
so. 
I'm just because I definitely am

963
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:50,000
very obviously in bulk to myself
in the mirror. 

964
00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:54,840
But I'm also excited to see what
all of these very heavy lifts 

965
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:57,040
have accomplished on the bottom 
half. 

966
00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:01,120
But I just keep saying like once
my legs look the way I want them

967
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:03,240
to, I'm never going to want to 
let that go. 

968
00:54:03,240 --> 00:54:05,920
So I'm going to always want to 
maintain that because I worked 

969
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:11,240
so hard, because the day I have 
a teardrop, it will be like I I 

970
00:54:11,240 --> 00:54:15,000
was not gifted with that. 
Naturally, I will definitely 

971
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,920
want to hold on to that. 
Well, hopefully you've got deep 

972
00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:20,680
squats implemented into your 
programming. 

973
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:25,280
Deep squats, got it. 
I definitely do squat deep, but 

974
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:29,000
I don't think it's very heavy. 
That's where I have to just keep

975
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:31,800
working. 
You know, I will say, you know, 

976
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:35,640
we didn't talk much about like 
any kind of, like limitations. 

977
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:42,520
But I have a spot in my left 
shoulder blade that has a nerve 

978
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:45,080
touching a tendon. 
And I know this because I had an

979
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:47,280
ultrasound on it just to make 
sure that there was nothing I 

980
00:54:47,280 --> 00:54:50,800
would do that would was like 
maybe holding on by a string and

981
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,360
then, you know, too heavy of a 
deadlift and I would like snap 

982
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,040
my tendon. 
So it's nothing like that. 

983
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,520
It's just that the tendon is 
rubbing on a nerve. 

984
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:03,480
And so when I deadlift more than
about 90 lbs, it burns and I 

985
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:06,080
can't. 
I lose the ability to hold the 

986
00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:07,760
weight even if I use like a 
wrist strap. 

987
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:10,240
Like it doesn't matter and and I
just can't do it. 

988
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:14,880
So it's been a limitation for me
throughout my entire prep to not

989
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:17,160
be able to deadlift. 
In fact, my entire last prep 

990
00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:19,680
leading into my first show, I 
didn't do any deadlifts with a 

991
00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:24,240
barbell, only dead. 
Only dumbbell deadlifts like B 

992
00:55:24,240 --> 00:55:28,440
stance where your feet are 
staggered and it was definitely 

993
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,480
not enough weight because you 
know your upper body can only 

994
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:35,160
hold the dumbbells at so much 
weight without you know your it 

995
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:36,880
really affecting your bottom 
half anyway. 

996
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:40,440
So I've been kind of pushing 
myself through that as best as I

997
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:43,040
can. 
Now again, not being as worried 

998
00:55:43,040 --> 00:55:47,760
about getting hurt and missing 
out on my show, but also I'm 

999
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,840
just trying to come up with 
other ways to to build. 

1000
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:55,080
You know, if you can't do one 
thing just finding an adaptation

1001
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,440
and another way to do, you know,
to to target that. 

1002
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:00,120
Good mornings don't bother me at
all and I definitely feel like 

1003
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,200
they target the same area. 
So it's just like finding an 

1004
00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:05,840
adaptation. 
Yeah, that that's so key. 

1005
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:08,760
I mean, I feel like a lot of 
people use some form of injury 

1006
00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:11,440
or ailment as an excuse to not 
train at all. 

1007
00:56:11,880 --> 00:56:14,440
And there's so many different 
ways to skin a cat. 

1008
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:16,360
As the saying goes, like there's
there's a movement out there, 

1009
00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:18,440
there's an exercise out there 
that you can do. 

1010
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,000
If you do that. 
I mean, if you can't do squats, 

1011
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,440
if you can't do deadlifts, then 
there's so many variations to 

1012
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:25,600
those that will target the same 
muscles in a slightly different 

1013
00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:27,160
way but still activate the 
tissue. 

1014
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,920
So yeah, I think just getting 
creative and mixing things up 

1015
00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:32,680
and figuring out what you can do
and then attacking that with the

1016
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:34,680
same degree of intensity is is 
the key. 

1017
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:38,720
Yeah, definitely. 
And I mean, I'm a big person. 

1018
00:56:38,720 --> 00:56:41,880
I love my chiropractor. 
I love my massages. 

1019
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:44,160
There's definitely things you 
should be doing in between your 

1020
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:46,800
working out to make sure that 
your body is functioning the 

1021
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:49,440
best it can. 
And, you know, doing things like

1022
00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:52,680
getting an ultrasound on a weird
spot on your back if you just 

1023
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:54,920
want to make sure that you know 
you're being safe, but 

1024
00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:57,600
ultimately, like not letting 
anything hold you back. 

1025
00:56:57,600 --> 00:57:00,800
You know, I know somebody was 
born with one hand and did a 

1026
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:04,960
bodybuilding show and used a 
wrist strap to attach the 

1027
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:11,720
dumbbells to, you know, their 
limb and like did amazing in 

1028
00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:14,560
their show because like they 
didn't let that hold them back, 

1029
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:16,880
you know? 
So it's like you see people all 

1030
00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:19,720
the time with the prosthetic at 
the gym and whatnot. 

1031
00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:21,720
Like, you know, it's like, 
what's your excuse? 

1032
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:24,400
Do you know their name off top 
of your hand? 

1033
00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:27,480
Yeah. 
I don't want to say it though. 

1034
00:57:28,240 --> 00:57:31,160
I I had one guy on my podcast 
that was born without an arm or 

1035
00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:33,200
born born without a hand that he
did the same thing and he 

1036
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:35,560
competed and he did amazing. 
So I didn't know if it was the 

1037
00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:37,640
same person or not, yeah. 
Probably not. 

1038
00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:43,040
That that's super cool, like 
people that that do great things

1039
00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:46,400
in spite of the obstacles. 
Like that to me is where the 

1040
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:48,560
inspirational stories come from.
Like if you had everything 

1041
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,760
handed to you on a silver 
platter and you succeeded in 

1042
00:57:50,760 --> 00:57:53,440
life, you know, great. 
But that is not nearly as 

1043
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:56,120
impressive to me as someone who 
is born with the odds stacked 

1044
00:57:56,120 --> 00:57:59,280
against them and just did the 
best they could with what they 

1045
00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:01,760
had and killed it like that. 
That's that's what stories are 

1046
00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:05,120
made from, right there. 
And even if it's not physical, 

1047
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:08,000
it could be something like 
losing a spouse, losing a 

1048
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:12,080
parent, you know, so your whole 
life gets derailed. 

1049
00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:16,160
Use that as your fuel. 
I mean, that's exactly what I 

1050
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:19,040
have done. 
You know, like, life has been so

1051
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:24,120
hard the last four years, and 
there's so many days that I had 

1052
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:27,280
every excuse to just be like, 
I'm not doing this anymore. 

1053
00:58:27,680 --> 00:58:30,320
But I just use that pain, you 
know? 

1054
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:33,160
Sometimes it's what makes me 
lift harder, or sometimes it's 

1055
00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:36,160
just what makes me, you know, 
realize that, like I've been 

1056
00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:40,280
through so much worse than 
whatever I'm dealing with right 

1057
00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:43,240
now. 
And it can just be that fuel to 

1058
00:58:43,240 --> 00:58:46,760
just help me get through that 
day or get through that hour at 

1059
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:48,240
the gym. 
Yeah, no. 

1060
00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:51,160
Totally. 
Have you ever dove into Stoicism

1061
00:58:51,160 --> 00:58:53,320
much by chance? 
Yeah, a lot. 

1062
00:58:54,240 --> 00:58:55,200
Nice, nice. 
What? 

1063
00:58:55,200 --> 00:58:56,800
What got you into that? 
What was your What was your 

1064
00:58:56,800 --> 00:58:59,920
introduction to Stoicism? 
Partner actually. 

1065
00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:01,640
Very cool. 
Yeah. 

1066
00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:04,840
Stoicism has had a profound 
impact on my life. 

1067
00:59:05,360 --> 00:59:08,080
The the book by Ryan Holiday, 
The Obstacle Is the Way. 

1068
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:10,360
Have you ever read that? 
I have not. 

1069
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:13,480
Highly, highly recommended. 
That was my introduction to it 

1070
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:17,280
and I've literally listened to 
that book on Audible on repeat. 

1071
00:59:17,280 --> 00:59:20,880
When I'm in a prep, I mean it's 
like it's it's it's good, it's 

1072
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:24,160
good energy for a prep for sure.
That's great. 

1073
00:59:24,200 --> 00:59:26,040
I'll definitely look into that. 
Thank you. 

1074
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:28,760
Absolutely. 
Well, and I'm super excited for 

1075
00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:31,400
you. 
You have made tremendous headway

1076
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:33,840
and just you got a super 
inspiring story maybe that's 

1077
00:59:33,840 --> 00:59:36,760
lost that much weight. 
Did all this as a catalyst from 

1078
00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:41,000
a unhealthy lifestyle, lost your
your husband in the process and 

1079
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:43,080
had just continued to stay the 
course and get better as every 

1080
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:46,320
day progresses like that that 
that's super impressive. 

1081
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:49,040
So I'm I'm forever grateful for 
you being as transparent and 

1082
00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:51,920
honest with you, with what you 
have done on this podcast, and 

1083
00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:54,280
I've got no doubt that you'll 
keep making waves going forward.

1084
00:59:55,200 --> 00:59:56,800
Yes, thank you so much for 
having me. 

1085
00:59:56,800 --> 00:59:58,880
I really appreciate it. 
My pleasure. 

1086
00:59:58,880 --> 01:00:01,000
Where do people go to find out 
more about you and follow along 

1087
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:03,920
on social? 
Follow me on Instagram. 

1088
01:00:03,920 --> 01:00:11,560
I like to call it miscellaneous,
so it's MSELANAUS and that's 

1089
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:15,320
where I post anything I can to 
just inspire you to living your 

1090
01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:18,120
best life. 
My goal in life is to be a ray 

1091
01:00:18,120 --> 01:00:21,960
of sunshine to other people, 
because I've every reason to be 

1092
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:24,960
cloudy and I choose to show up 
differently anyway. 

1093
01:00:25,520 --> 01:00:28,840
And so I post a lot of just fun 
relatable stuff on there and of 

1094
01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:32,240
course content about prep and 
working out and and that kind of

1095
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:33,480
thing I. 
Love it? 

1096
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:35,880
Well, we certainly need as much 
sunshine in the world as we can 

1097
01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:38,600
get, So keep doing what you're 
doing, and if there's everything

1098
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:41,120
I can do to help in any way, by 
all means just reach out and let

1099
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:42,720
me know. 
Wonderful. 

1100
01:00:42,720 --> 01:00:44,560
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you. 

1101
01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:45,120
Take care.