Fat Girl Therapy 34: Finding Inner Strength and Outer Flavour in Life's Transformational Path

Ever found yourself chuckling at the chaos an L-shaped desk can inject into your life, or pondered the transformative journeys the past few years have taken us on? Well, we're right there with you. Our latest episode is a heartfelt reunion where we spill the tea on everything from our personal metamorphoses—hello, weight rollercoaster and rekindling joy in assembling a quirky light-up book—to the tough love decision of rehoming our furry friend Jake for little Harper's safety. Plus, we've discovered that a dash of friendly competition can do wonders for motivation, especially when it comes to closing those rings on our iWatches.

Now, let's talk about finding zen in the judgment zone, shall we? We open up about the unspoken glances and battles with the mirror that can turn gym sessions into self-esteem minefields. But, with a dash of resilience and the right gym vibe, those sweaty hot yoga classes can be less about the side-eyes and more about finding your inner warrior. It's not just about lifting weights; it's about uplifting each other, and we share insights on how to cultivate that positivity, even in spaces where scrutiny seems to lurk around every treadmill.

Wrapping up, we head into the delicious territory of customizing the perfect Big Mac to our savory surprise and stumbling upon the ideal protein coffee concoction. Join us as we laugh, swap stories, and get creative with our protein shake recipes. It's not just about flexing muscles; it's about flexing our culinary chops to blend health, flavor, and convenience into our daily grind. So, ready for a blend of honest chat, gym hurdles, and the pursuit of the perfect workout? Tune in and let's embark on this fitness and wellness journey together.

Transcript

Recent Updates and Catching Up

Speaker 1 0:40

Okay, I just need one second.

Speaker 2 0:41

That's fine, okay, hi. Hi, how's it going? It's good. How are you Good it's been a while it's been so long. Oh, my microphone's. All the way over here I forgot what I was supposed to do.

Speaker 1 1:00

I know I was like how am I going to position my microphone now?

Speaker 2 1:03

But I think I'm okay, I have an L shaped desk now and it's just, I'm like, I think I'm going to be good. I'm like I'm going to be good, I'm going to be good, I'm going to be good. Oh, when I thought about it, I'm like I think the reason I asked for it was so I could have more clutter. So success.

Speaker 1 1:20

Yeah, oh, it's been so long since you've done this.

Speaker 2 1:25

I don't know. It feels like it's been like years.

Speaker 1 1:27

Like it feels like it's been so long. It's been years and we're still here.

Speaker 2 1:34

Yeah, what? How many years has it been now we met 2020.

Speaker 1 1:39

Right, but so we're. But we're in the fourth year, right Cause we would have done 2021. 2021. 2022., 2023. So we're in year four.

Speaker 2 1:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:49

Yikes, that's nuts. Yeah, not yet.

Speaker 2 1:53

I'm heavier than I was when we started the irony. So let's just snap right into fat girl therapy. I'm not sure if you've ever had a fat girl therapy before.

Speaker 1 2:06

So how's the past?

Speaker 2 2:07

like two months been Pretty good. I'm in counseling now. I don't know if I was when we ended, I think.

Speaker 1 2:17

I don't think you were talking about starting, but I don't think you had started.

Speaker 2 2:20

Yeah Well, I'm in that and it's going pretty good. I just oh, I just did this. I've always wanted to put one of these together. I was just trying to put it in my mouth and it's really really really good, that's the best thing about it.

Speaker 2 2:36

I'm not trying to, but it's one of those book, oh yeah. And then it like lights up. Yeah, it totally. Oh see, it just fell. Yeah, I was trying to do it. No, I just cause I was trying to glue that thing, so there's only one piece of it that didn't snap on right and so I'm still drawing. Oh yeah, no, it's good Anyway. And I sat being furious about it all day and then I realized that there's actually a power switch right here after everything's said and done.

Speaker 1 3:05

So yay, it works. It's like an upgraded version of your doors.

Speaker 2 3:09

Yeah, exactly. Also, there's so many things like this that are Harry Potter but not Harry Potter, so you can still have those things and not give that double bitch your money. Yeah, we also. Oh, I got a Dyson vacuum at.

Speaker 2 3:28

Christmas time and can not believe that we have lived without this thing. I thought that Dyson was all hype, but ours has, like, this little green light in the front of it and it just shows you how disgusting you are and I'm like, wow, I knew that cat shed. I didn't think it was everywhere, like when I say it's everywhere.

Speaker 1 3:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we don't have a. Sorry, my brain went blank for a second there. We don't have a Dyson, we have a shark, and it's kind of one of those things where it's like so we actually don't have Jake anymore. We had to re-home Jake, but because there's no dog here now, we don't really think about vacuuming as often. But then when we do vacuum it's like, oh my God, like I didn't realize how bad the floor was.

Speaker 2 4:20

Since you did bring it up, do you want to touch on that in case people are wondering?

Speaker 1 4:25

I can? Yeah, because I know, see, and I think a lot of people have the mentality of like, oh, people have babies and then they've re-home their dogs and blah, blah, blah. But it wasn't that kind of situation at all. It was a situation where we ended up moving and Jake long story short, got very territorial, especially towards Harper, so it just didn't feel safe with him and it didn't feel safe for Harper. But we did have a friend who ended up taking him and honestly, it was the adjustment that he needed to Like he gets to play fetch for hours on end, he goes for long, long, long walks, Like he's been losing weight himself. So he is much happier and we feel that Harper is much safer. So it was just, it was what was needed for everybody.

Speaker 2 5:22

And you can still see how much is nice. Yes, yeah, it's your friend.

Speaker 1 5:26

And we get updates too right, Like pictures and all that. So that's nice too, yeah, it was a very tough decision to make though.

Speaker 2 5:35

Yeah, it's super sad, like I guess, in case anyone's wondering what my reaction is, I've already known about this. Yeah, like you know, it's sad, but it's definitely good for everyone.

Speaker 1 5:46

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 5:49

Other than all that stuff. That's how my last couple months went, and also then trying to get back in the swing of things you and I and a couple of your friends are part of. Oh God, now I can't get my words out. A competition on iWatch, like where we are just, it's just motivating when you have other people doing it. The week after we stopped doing it, I dropped off the radar.

Speaker 1 6:15

Yeah, pretty much yeah.

Speaker 2 6:16

Yeah, and actually like this week's been like since Friday night when I got home, I've been really bad with food. In today's Tuesday evening I have not been eating anything except for like a meal. I've been feeling like really sick and then like the meal ends up being like really disgusting and then I kind of go bingey because I wasn't eating.

Speaker 2 6:38

So like the last four days have been like a struggle for me, but I'm gonna snap back around. I have something that I'm gonna cook for dinner. But my problem is that even when I'm not eating the food that was planned for me, I still wanna track it and I'm not doing a good job of that, like this week. I've been doing a pretty okay like 70% I'd say I'm doing well at this year, but this week I dropped off the radar again. That's fair it happens.

Speaker 2 7:10

Yeah for you. How has the last two months been for you?

Speaker 1 7:17

I don't know, you did a lot.

Speaker 2 7:18

You moved you.

Speaker 1 7:20

I know I ended up moving and Harper had her second Christmas and she was just over one this time, so it was a lot more interactive. I guess you could say you got a giant teddy.

Speaker 1 7:35

Yeah, oh my God, we got one of those massive ones from Costco, like the ones that are like 300 bucks, but they won't on clearance for 67 bucks or 69 bucks or whatever it was. So mom and I were lugging this thing all over the house. I actually threw my back out on New Year's Eve. I was supposed to go out to do an escape room with a couple friends. We already knew we didn't want to do like a crazy New Year's Eve this year. We just wanted to keep it low key, like not have to find a babysitter, like that kind of thing. And then that morning, as I was putting Harper on the floor to play with her toys, my back just went out and I'm 99% sure it was from carrying that big ass bear.

Speaker 1 8:18

Because I was like we had to carry it through the store and I lifted it onto the cart thing and we had like, anyways, it was a massive, freaking bear. And so she got that on Christmas and I had already felt in my leg that like I was having some like almost like sciatic pain, but like I couldn't put much weight on my leg the one day it was like two days beforehand I think. And then on New Year's Eve, when I bent down to put Harper down, I went to get back up and my back just went out and to the point that I could not move. I was crying. Brandon had to help me sit down because I couldn't move, and then I'm just stuck on the couch and I'm not even in a comfortable position. So I just wanted to move so that I could like like get comfortable in the kitchen or on the couch, and I could not move.

Speaker 1 9:10

My dad and Brandon had to come pick me up and move me on the couch. Like that's how much pain I was in. It was horrible. I've never had that much back pain in my life. I've at least been like I've been able to hobble places and like you know what I mean Like be sore, but like they literally I am not exaggerating had to pick me up and move me on the couch and I felt so bad because there I am, like 330 pounds right, and instantly in my head I'm just like, like I'm too heavy for them, this is too much for them, like I feel so bad that they have to lift me Like you know what I mean. Like it was just great.

Speaker 1 9:54

I'm not a good time. So I did get in a comfortable position on the couch. It took about a week for my back to get back to normal. My mom and I had signed back up for the gym and that first week back at the gym I was like I really like my back was better, but it still wasn't at that 100% and I was like I really do not want to throw my back out again. So I did cardio that whole week and that was almost as much torture as the actual back pain because I fucking hate cardio.

Speaker 2 10:23

Have you ever had to be carried out by like fire ambulance before?

Speaker 1 10:27

No, I refused. Even when I had my placenta abruption. I was like I'm walking up the stairs, do not carry me. To be fair, I was also in shock.

Speaker 2 10:37

Yeah, like the fact that you didn't have it done, then I think that you could be like broken legs and you'd probably still find a way to like make it up.

Speaker 1 10:47

I will drag myself, it's fine.

Speaker 2 10:50

Yeah, I've never had to have anyone do that and it's just like a big fear of mine. I kind of went into another world when you were talking about that because I was thinking, like even up here, like if someone had to bring me down like they did have to lift me into the ambulance.

Speaker 1 11:02

But it's new technology now, like you see it in the TVs, where they're like who are they Lift the people up into the ambulance. But it's all automatic now, like they press a button and like the it goes up and then you press a button and then the other side goes up and then it like slides in and then it folds up and then it goes in Like they don't lift you. Oh wow, yeah, it's not like that.

Speaker 2 11:25

I've been into restaurants where I just like look at the seats and immediately I'm like nope. I'm like oh, that was wrong.

Speaker 1 11:30

I'm like what are those little Ikea legs, like the itty bitty ones that are like thinner than the size of my thumb, those chairs?

Speaker 2 11:37

that go like this and then it's the arm and then go like that and there's nothing on the back.

Speaker 1 11:43

Oh, yeah, just like that air rocking chair.

Speaker 2 11:46

My brother has like had one and he was like just sit in it, You'll be fine. Like it's pretty much. Sitting in it, You'll be fine. I'm like there's no way I'm going to there's no back support. No and yeah. They're like you'll be fine. I'm like it will snap and they're like no, it won't. I'm like I get that you're probably being nice and maybe you don't know how much I actually weigh, but there is no way in hell that something with no back legs is going to hold me over 300 pounds.

Speaker 1 12:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:13

When a regular bar stool I've seen it can't hold over 220.

Speaker 1 12:17

Like give me a break those who aren't picturing it. It's like an L shape and then it comes down and the legs go like under itself. But there are no legs on the back. Like it's free, it's like a rocking.

Speaker 2 12:28

It's an Ikea rocking chair. That's what I call them, because, like they, I think that's where they're sold.

Speaker 1 12:33

My friend had chairs that were like made of elastics. Like there's the one that's like it weaves, it's like a woven elastic, and then he has another one that's like loops that are together and I've never sat in those chairs because I'm like I'll never. I'll get stuck in those chairs, like 100% I will get stuck. Either I will break it or I will get stuck there's no in between or I will break it and get stuck. Yeah, so I refuse to sit in those chairs. I just need like four feet on the ground chair and I'll probably always be that way. You know what I mean. Like I'll probably, if I lose X amount of weight, I probably still won't sit in chairs and be comfortable.

Speaker 2 13:21

I understand why comfortable chair.

Speaker 1 13:24

Yes, wide, wide is important. I think my rocking chair for when I was pregnant it like we spent the extra money so I could have a wide rocking chair.

Speaker 2 13:33

Yeah, good times living in a fat, full big world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, my brain like kind of just stopped because I'm still thinking about firemen trying to get me out of this damn apartment. My speaking about firemen.

Speaker 1 13:48

you guys have a firehouse now.

Navigating Judgement at the Gym

Speaker 2 13:52

Yes, we have not been to it so it has not been 100% confirmed, but it is in Delta. We wanted to go yesterday but when we Google mapped it it would take us an hour. And I'm like what? And then I remember that the bus strikes happening right now. So, everyone is on the road. But, yeah, good times here in Vancouver. It would have been great if the bus strike had happened like when that snow storm hit that would have been great.

Speaker 2 14:23

That's the shitty thing about Vancouver. There's no snow on the ground right now. There's still some mounds from where they put the big mounds and whatever there's mounds where they put the big mounds. Good job, Christine. There's no snow here and everyone panics for two days and then it rains for 20. I live on like a quiet street and people are going to eat shit out there.

Speaker 1 14:50

We have the complete opposite. We just got a crap ton of snow. So much snow so, so, so, so so.

Speaker 2 14:57

But you don't get rain immediately after.

Speaker 1 14:59

No, but we are supposed to get rain on Friday.

Speaker 2 15:02

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 15:04

It's supposed to be like four degrees on Saturday.

Speaker 2 15:07

Oh wow, I know I was going to say we did get an email. If you wanted to talk about that. It was while we were off and it was talking about Jim's in Vancouver, sure. So someone wrote into us saying that they first discovered us on TikTok and now listen to the podcast. About eight years ago they gained 50 pounds and have spent the following years trying to lose it. To date, they have lost about 30 pounds. They're actually this is what they write.

Speaker 2 15:40

I'm actually okay with where I am mentally, but the smirks I still get at the gym are really wearing me down. Recently discovered that people position next to me in cardio class because it takes attention off of them. I guess it's like having a fat friend to make you look better, feeling really discouraged. Anyway, I'd love to hear an episode about this or talk further. I think it's one of the main reasons people give up at the gym Totally, and I'll just leave out their name just in case, because I did not ask if I could read out their name Right. But you know, the last time I can remember being in a class and feeling people stare at me because I don't actually go to classes anymore was when I actually took Bikram's yoga. So that tells you how long ago that was.

Speaker 1 16:28

I have no idea what you're talking about. It actually tells me nothing.

Speaker 2 16:32

You don't know what. You have not heard of Bikram's yoga. No, you should all get you to give you the documentary to watch. It's really messed up, but essentially, just think hot yoga. So, like, bikram was a specific person and it's whatever. So I went to hot yoga, okay, where you're pretty much in a sauna and then if you get really hot, they ask you not to leave the room, like just lie down on your mat and whatever. And I was the fattest person in that room.

Speaker 2 16:58

Like there was no one that had like any fatt on them in this room and like the looks I'd get. And I had bought a unlimited monthly membership and I planned to go every day. And I'm like if you're going to be in here, you have to get over what you think they're thinking, because that person could be standing there right now and I'm not saying this is in every situation because you know you can get a look and you know the look. But how do I know what they're thinking? They're probably like oh, I wonder if they're new here. Oh, I wonder if they know how to yoga. It could have nothing to do with my size, it could be with I'm glad to see a new face in here Like there are so many positive things that this person could be saying. We've had so many negative things said to us that we can't help but perceive that to be a negative thing immediately.

Speaker 2 17:48

But I don't think in every situation it is, and what I like to do is just give the person the benefit of the doubt, because it gives myself peace, because that person looking at me, how is it going to affect me If I don't let it? If I don't let that look, how is it bothering me? They're not saying anything to me. They're the ones that are standing there giving judgment. If they are, they're the ones that have the issue, not you. And who cares? Does anyone else? Does the person outside that you're going to see later know that that person stared at you? No, you do, but no one else knows about it, and you're the one that lets it get to you. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 18:26

This is so much easier said than done because I will be there, probably tomorrow, and think that someone's staring at me. So, trust me, I'm not, I'm not living what I'm preaching right now, but it's, it's the only way to get by those things, because you can't stop someone else's actions, their perceptions, their opinions. You cannot stop any of that. You can only adjust your perspective and your thinking and your and your feelings.

Speaker 2 18:53

Yeah, and no one else is like you can't do anything about it. It's the same way like when I try and avoid my mom. You know I can't. I can't change the way she's what she's about to say about my body, but I can. I can let it affect me or not. Right, right, I shouldn't have called my mom out like that. It's been a while, you know.

Speaker 1 19:13

And the one thing I will say and I don't know what gym you're going to, but like I feel like the quality of the gym you go to also changes who goes? Like I went to one of the, so I went to one of the cheaper gyms in town and but it wasn't up, kept the best I guess you could say so, but the people who went there it was the same idea where it was like it just wasn't a very good environment, like anytime I was trying to work out, like people were constantly just staring at me like all the time. And then I went to go work out in the women's only section and first of all, there was no cardio in the women's only section, like it was just wait. So my five minute warmup on cardio I had to do out in the public area. Then, when I went into the women's section, first of all the women's section was not very big. It was literally just like a. Like I swear to God, it was a closet, like it looked like it used to be a custodian closet area and then they just turned it into a women's only area and there was like three pieces of equipment and a bunch of free weights and I'm like this is not a very good environment. Then I went to another gym that was paid the same but it was actually like owned by one of the like more expensive gyms and when I went to that one it was better upkeep but the environment was still a little bit the same. I found, like I found there were still a lot of judgy people or like people who would like stare at you a lot.

Challenges of Gym Culture and Finding a Suitable Workout

Speaker 1 20:55

Where I am now, I don't get that vibe. I get a really positive vibe at where I am, but I also understand like sometimes you can't afford that. I mean it's not really fair that you have to pay more just to feel comfortable to go work out and something like that. You know what I mean. So I think the biggest piece of advice that I can give on that is like who are you doing this for? You know what I mean. Like sure, other people are going to stand beside you, sure, people are thinking this and thinking that, but like you started doing this for you and you shouldn't let other people get in the way of that. You should be putting you first, in my opinion. I feel like I'm scolding a bit, but that's not the vibe I'm trying to give off.

Speaker 2 21:37

I'm hearing it too, you know, like what we're saying is like we have to take that too, because, like we have, I still message Lisa. I'm like, look at what this person said to me. But it's like from my perspective in the moment, this person's being a complete bitch To Lisa. She's like, well, maybe it's coming from like this place, well, at least it's on my side for just to start off for one, but then she goes. Maybe we can look at it this way.

Speaker 2 22:06

So yeah, it's a hard place being in Vancouver, I can say that the last gym I was a part of was not fitness world, that was the one before and I would never recommend them again. The Trevor Linden, like this club 16 slash. She's fit because they have women's sections in their gym. But also the one that I was going to, that's not far from me, was women's only. Like there, you won't see men coming through that door at all, which I found really great. But to be quite honest, I would still get looks from people in the women's part.

Speaker 1 22:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2 22:42

I felt like I got it.

Speaker 1 22:43

more Women compare to women all the time, which makes it like men will look at you, but like women are comparing themselves to other women.

Speaker 2 22:56

Yeah, but the thing that I noticed is like when men have looked at me like, I feel like they're almost like looking through me, like you know, but like they're not actually looking at me.

Speaker 2 23:07

Of course you will get some Judgy McJudgesons and we've seen it on TikTok, we've seen it everywhere. But with women it is very much, almost like a comparison vibe, and I have had a lot of semi-ugly stares from women that are at least like 20 years older than me, which I find really weird that you think that you'd get something more from, like a bratty teenager. But from the older women it's almost like this judgment for being that size, cause, like you know, people of my mom's generation it's like, oh, you know, just don't eat so much. It's that eating disorder, that nineties diet, diet culture kind of thing. And so that's where I feel that that's the kind of look that I'm getting from those people.

Speaker 2 23:51

Again, my perception. That doesn't mean that that's actually what they're thinking, cause they haven't said anything to me, but from the vibes and the looks and the things that you know, like there's a certain level of knowing when you've lived in this body for so long. But I just go whatever, like that person's not getting a very good workout, because for me my workout is not just physical, it's mental, because when I'm on the bike or the treadmill I'm thinking about different things I can accomplish throughout my day. I'm organizing things and that's helping me mentally.

Speaker 2 24:24

That person is focused on me sad life, sad life. I'm focused on bettering myself and that person is not. They're focused on whatever the hell I'm doing. That's cool and I like to just bask in that happiness.

Speaker 1 24:40

Yeah, and honestly, like it's physically impossible to make other people happy Like you can't. I was actually thinking about this this morning, how I was flipping through some TikTok, and it's a big thing right now where those who have had weight loss surgery are talking about how it's not the easy way out, how a lot of people are coming at them and saying it's the easy way out, and I'm sitting here and people send me comments saying that I should have had weight loss surgery by now because I would be much farther along and the amount of weight that I've lost I would have lost in five months. And so it's like to one person they're saying do it. To other people they're saying oh, no, you took the easy way out. Like you have one person saying how it's literally saved their life and they're like no, no, you took the easy way out. Like it's when it comes to the gym, when it comes to weight loss, when it comes to anything you wanna do in life. It will be physically, mentally impossible to please everybody out there. It's just not doable. Everybody just has their own thing, that they've got, that they're doing and it's just what's best for you.

Speaker 1 25:47

And it's like we've seen people who've had weight loss surgery and gained the weight back. We have seen people who have done a calorie deficit and gained the weight back. We have seen people who have gone keto and gained the weight back, like there is no easy fix. If it was easy, there wouldn't be fat. People Like you know what I mean. And on top of that, like there's hormonal issues, there's medications, there is mental stability, like there's so many things that affect weight. So it's just yeah, you can't please everybody and it's hard to get into the mentality of fuck you, I'm doing this for me. But when you find it like, hold on to it because it's so easy to let go of. That's exactly what happened to me last year in August, like at the end of August, like that's literally what happened to me. I've just lost that mentality of I'm doing this for me. You know what I mean. But then it's like, once I found it again, it's like nothing's stopping me now.

Speaker 2 26:49

Yeah, yeah. I think another thing to say about the gym is also ask yourself if that's what you really wanna do.

Speaker 2 26:56

Like obviously, if you're doing, weights and stuff and you can't like afford to have weights at your house or whatever, then yeah, of course, the gym is great. But for me, like I hate the gym. I go to the gym at work because it's something. There I have the time, like on a break and stuff, to be able to hit the gym for like a little bit. So it works in my schedule, but I don't actually like it If I have the option to just go to the gym, like it's my day off and I have the option to go to the gym or go for a hike. I'm gonna go for a hike 10 times before I wanna go to that gym, cause that's what I love and there a hike is great exercise, a walk is great exercise, people think that a walk isn't good exercise because you're not like sweating like you would at the gym.

Speaker 2 27:37

That doesn't matter. Like moving your body is what matters and doing stuff that you enjoy. May the weight come off a bit slower because you're not given two hours at the gym. Yeah, probably are you better off mentally because you're putting in like an hour hike outside because it's something that you enjoy, compared to that two hour strenuous workout at the gym. Yeah, I'm gonna be a lot happier outside, so you just also just everyone needs to find a workout that works for them.

Speaker 1 28:05

Totally. There's so many great resources. I think a lot of people have put into our heads that's like, oh, you're losing weight, you gotta go to the gym, you gotta eat salad, and as long as you're doing those two things, everything's gonna be fine. But like, yeah, to your point, chris, like if you don't like the gym, don't go to the gym. There's so many things out there that you can do that are physical activity that can help, and even if you're at home, youtube such a great source. There's so many good workouts on YouTube.

Speaker 2 28:34

You know, and there's been some really great videos from like James, for example where like he's.

Speaker 2 28:40

He stitches a lot of people's videos where they're giving like bullshit information and it's like, for example, like let's say, you don't like vegetables, but the one vegetable you do eat is broccoli with some melted cheese on it. Like, and you love that, then eat it. Then eat it because it's like at least you're getting that rather than not. It's like they would rather you have that in your body than not. Like, should you be like? Should we maybe like be pouring it all over and drenching it Like?

Speaker 2 29:07

it's not like everything in moderation you know Like it'll be better overall for it to not be like an insane amount, you know, but it's about working it Perspective.

Speaker 1 29:19

What do you mean? It would not be better overall, like I want more cheese.

Speaker 2 29:23

Yeah, but I mean like you could remove a little bit at a time I was gonna get more into that when it's like. You know, it doesn't mean that you have to go from using a cup to a half a cup immediately. It means from going from a cup to like a fifth, I don't know, I don't know measurements right now but a spoonful less, you know. And then you keep working on it and then get lower. You know, lisa's even explained that to me before. My 100% isn't gonna be your 100%. It's like everyone's habits are going to be differing. You gotta do what's right for you and it doesn't mean it has to be immediate. It can be over time. I'm done talking.

Speaker 2 29:55

I feel, that was really long.

Speaker 1 29:56

No, no, that was good. I have two things to add on to that. The first, because these are two things. Well, the one that I've been doing I was doing last year and then I fell off the rails but now I'm going back to it. And the other thing I just recently learned on TikTok and now I've been doing them hand in hand. So the first thing is volume eating. Highly recommend volume eating. I mean, if you're counting calories, volume eating, if you're going low carb I don't recommend volume eating because I did that when I was on low carb. That's a story for another day. But if you're calorie counting, volume eating is fantastic.

Speaker 1 30:28

And if you don't know what volume eating is, the comparison is let's say, you have a Big Mac and it's 500 calories, which, by the way, remind me to come back to Big Macs. You have Big Macs, they're 500 calories. You have carrot sticks and it is one calorie per baby carrot. So for you to have 500 calories of baby carrots, you're gonna have to have 500 baby carrots. So a Big Mac versus 500 baby carrots. You physically cannot eat 500 baby carrots, but you could eat a Big Mac. So the perspective of that is the volume eating if you were to eat the carrots, you're not going to eat as many of the baby carrots, therefore, you're going to have less calories. The idea is to fill yourself up on the lower calorie foods so that you feel fuller for longer, especially if you combine it with proteins and fats and carbs and like. As long as that's like a balance and you can fill up on the lower calorie foods, it helps you stay fuller for longer.

Speaker 2 31:35

But the biggest question of all is where do you find carrots that taste like Big Macs?

Speaker 1 31:42

So that is the next thing that I was going to say. So the other thing. So this is what I actually, and I'm not making carrots that taste like Big. Macs just people who just got hyped.

Speaker 1 31:52

They're like oh no, there are no carrots that taste like Big Macs. I'm really, I'm really sorry for those who are disappointed, but the thing that I learned on TikTok recently oh, and I want to say her name is Liza and I can't remember but she said Um, how, how is it worded? Have what you want, eat what you need, or have what you want, add what you need. So if you want to have a big Mac because you're like craving a big Mac, totally have that big Mac. But, good chance, when you go to get that big Mac, you would usually default to fries and a soda. But you usually only get the fries and a soda because you were craving the big Mac and that's just what comes with it, right. But if you get the burger on its own and then you side it with raw vegetables instead of potato, like the fried potatoes, or a salad or whatever, and water, already you're at less calories and you're filling yourself up on lower calorie foods, but you're still having the thing that you wanted to have.

Speaker 2 32:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1 32:56

So right. So like you still get the main thing that you're craving and who cares about the potatoes? Cause you weren't craving the French fries, you were craving the big Mac, so at least you still get to have that big Mac.

Speaker 2 33:07

Yeah.

Weight Loss Goals and Food Preferences

Speaker 1 33:08

And then that's just that first step, right? Maybe your next step afterwards is hey, I'm craving a big Mac. You get a double cheeseburger dress as a big Mac or a single cheeseburger dress as a big Mac, and that's how you start counting calories. So I always like, don't dive in head first and cut out all your favorite foods and like say, oh no, this food is bad for me, and start demonizing all the foods and just cutting it all out and blah, blah, blah, because that's not going to make you succeed. If anything, you're just going to crave and then one day you're just going to snap and you're going to binge and you're going to eat all of the foods that you haven't been eating because you haven't been having anything in moderation. So have what you crave and pair it with what you need.

Speaker 2 33:52

Ta-da.

Speaker 1 33:52

Love it. Yeah, going back to the big Mac thing, I don't know what happened. I fucking love big Macs. I've been getting big Macs with extra pickles and extra sauce. Are you serious?

Speaker 2 34:06

I am dead ass. Oh my God, what did I do to you?

Speaker 1 34:09

And you don't know what it was so like I had them with you and I was like this is okay, I don't know if they would order it again and I technically didn't. Brandon was ordering McDonald's and it was like you got a free thing when you ordered McDonald's, on whatever app he was using. So he's like it comes with a free big Mac, but I don't like big Macs. I'm like, okay, I'll get it, but just get extra pickles and extra sauce. And he was like okay. And then I bit it and I'm like, oh my God, this is. And I haven't. I can't say I haven't stopped eating them because you know, I obviously have stopped eating them.

Speaker 1 34:46

But yeah, that is my new go to at McDonald's is a big Mac with extra sauce.

Speaker 2 34:53

Have you tried just making the McDouble as a big Mac? Because like that.

Speaker 1 34:58

No, because the app doesn't.

Speaker 2 34:59

Let me do it Cause like when it doesn't have that middle piece of bread. I find it just to be so much better.

Speaker 1 35:04

I did, however, make a big Mac salad the other day at work. I have now been deemed crazy by my friends at work. Yeah, because I go to the gym so early and then commute to work and then I eat salad at lunch and everybody's like, oh, what kind of salad is it today? Everyone's like, oh, good for you. But it's like I don't know. I feel so good getting back at it. You know what I mean. Like it was I really fell off there at the end of August. I felt so good all year and then mentally took a big hit in August, which just continued through the year. And now it's just like I feel good getting back at it and I feel good about me again and it's nice. I do struggle a little bit with body image, not as much as I was like at the end of last year, but you know, I think everybody struggles a little bit from time to time but I did, however, today have the greatest protein coffee ever. Have you tried the Alani new from Costco?

Speaker 2 36:07

No, and now I remembered I partially listened to your voice note, but then something happened and I went yeah, go on. Oh, the one about the coffee this morning. I forgot that.

Speaker 1 36:15

I told you about it. It was to the other group chat that Chris was talking about earlier in the episode. But so, alani, new is it's not a new like they've had it for a little while at Costco now not least at my location they have. I really hope that they're bringing it back because they keep moving it through the store. You know when an item moves through the store and you're kind of just like, ooh, I hope that doesn't mean they're getting rid of it, but the price is still marked at 99 and not 97. So I think it's going to keep coming back. 99?, yeah, 1999. Oh, if it was marked at 1997, that means it's on clearance and they won't be bringing it back. If it's 1999, it's going to be a regularly stopped item.

Speaker 2 36:53

For how many?

Speaker 1 36:55

So, yeah, 1999 for 12. That's so good. Right Versus Premier, that is ours is like 45 bucks for 18.

Speaker 2 37:10

Okay, so yeah, it's like $44 for 18 Premier protein.

Speaker 1 37:14

They have two different flavors. They have the Munchies flavor, which is like a caramel chocolate kind of one more caramel forward than chocolate, so I like that one. And then they have a cookies and cream that tastes nothing like cookies and cream but it's kind of like a plain one that I like as a base that I can add whatever flavor shots that I want into my coffee. But today I had the cookies and cream one. I emptied about a third of it into my cup with ice and then I took my instant coffee and added it to the bottle of or not Premier of the shake and put the lid on it and then literally shook it for like two minutes because it's instant coffee, so you want to make sure it gets all, yeah, so shook the crap out of it for two minutes and then I poured the rest of it into my cup with the ice and started around and tasted so good Cause it wasn't watered down at all from either being mixed with espresso or coffee. It was like really creamy and frothy from being shaken. It was like the way shaken espresso should taste. Yeah, it was like the borderline whipped coffee meets shaken espresso, but it was a protein shake. It was delicious.

Speaker 1 38:24

I love it. I'm so excited to have more. They are 20 grams of protein per shake. So they're 20 grams of protein per shake and they are a little higher in sugar, but it's not like 30 grams of sugar or something like that, it's like six grams of sugar. But the thing is, whenever I had Premier, I only ever had half a shake because they were too creamy and too rich I found, so I was only getting 15 grams of protein from them. Anyways, versus one of these they remind me of, like those milkshakes that I would get as a kid, like the convenience store ones that were like coffee crisp or crispy crunch or whatever. They remind me of those and they're just so good and I have no problem drinking one every day.

Speaker 2 39:06

So, yeah, I definitely want to try them, but I currently still have two 18 packs of chocolate and cafe mocha because I went for the last three months not drinking it.

Speaker 1 39:16

How was the cafe mocha?

Speaker 2 39:18

Really good and already has caffeine in it too. So then you add it with coffee. It's like, wah Like. Could you imagine actually mixing one of those with a chocolate instant pudding? It would taste so much more like a coffee crisp, especially if you like, get those sugar-free chocolate wafers and crumble them on top.

Speaker 1 39:36

That would be good.

Speaker 2 39:37

So I was going for a bit. They were good. Anyway, I'm really glad we got to hop on I for everyone. As of right now there's no waiting room, like we're actually recording this pretty early. I don't think it's going to come out right away, probably maybe next week.

Speaker 1 39:56

Yeah, we just kind of wanted to catch up on life when we had a second to catch up on life. Do you have goals for the year, like for your weight loss specifically, or are you kind of just vibing? Did you send an email by the?

Speaker 2 40:10

way.

Speaker 1 40:12

Yes.

Speaker 2 40:13

Are you sure? Yes, I'm going to look right now. Go for it. Oh, you did, oh fuck you.

Speaker 1 40:21

I don't think you were actually that sure, because you're still like. No, because I was like I definitely typed it out, but did I hit send? And then I was like no, I definitely hit send, because I knew I did it. I just couldn't remember if I had hit send or not.

Speaker 2 40:37

Yeah, I don't know what goals I really have. I did put goals down in our email for the end of the year. I think my goal really is just to try and stay on top of tracking because moving my body and stuff, even if I can't do that, the one thing that I can try and control in my life is my food. To a point I still allow myself to have those higher calorie days. I just want to at least track them fully, everything.

Speaker 1 41:04

Right, have you considered doing the zigzag thing?

Speaker 2 41:08

I have done that before. I don't mind it, it's just so. I don't know what's going on with my ozempic right now, but I'm all over the place with how nauseous I've been and I don't know what's going on. But yeah, once I have that sorted, maybe, I don't know I just kind of have to figure out when my higher calorie days are right now Fair enough, and figure out a better time to take my ozempic shot. And what about you?

Speaker 1 41:36

These ones I don't think I wrote down in the email. I already forget what I wrote down, but these ones I don't think I wrote down in the email. But I have set three milestone goals. I haven't set a time of when I wanted to reach them, but I have these milestones that I want to reach through the year. The first one is I want to reach 305, which be officially 100 pounds lost from my starting weight at the very beginning of my journey. The second goal is 299, just to hit underneath the 300 pound mark. And the last one is 50 pounds lost for this year.

Speaker 1 42:14

So a pound a week kind of thing. Or is that like what you wrote down In the email? Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think that's what I put in the email. I know I do have one that has to do with weight loss and I have another one that has to do with reading and I think I have one more. But yeah, that's just overall what my goal is for and not really goal as much as it is milestones that I would like to hit, because I haven't really set like a date as to when I want to reach each one of those things.

Speaker 2 42:46

I think weight-wise I'd like to be at my lowest weight again, but before the end of the year, which was either 282 or 284, I can't remember that would be really nice. But just being under 300 would also be nice. But also, just as long as I can keep doing good things and not be depressed and not have any injuries, that would be great.

Speaker 1 43:09

Not going to want no injuries for 2024. Boop, boop, boop, boop.

Speaker 2 43:13

Oh, that's why there was so many things I actually wanted to talk about on this podcast and totally forgot. But this is just one quick thing. Sure, since you're 10 years younger than me, was just dance super popular when you were growing up? Yeah, okay, my TikTok feed is only three things right now Just dance, people being like I used to crush this in 2010 or whatever. As I'm watching people do these dances, they're like fuck, give it her butt.

Speaker 1 43:46

And I'm like how is this not still a?

Speaker 2 43:48

thing that's for workouts Because I know that it's 100% is the Apple. Watch, is it Mm-hmm? Oh, well then, I'm definitely getting it? What system is it for the Switch? You can get it on the Switch.

Speaker 1 44:02

Rams.

Speaker 2 44:02

I want just dance, just dance. Thank you, because those people I love dancing and one of the-. But make sure you get the right one, because some of them have the old songs and then some of them have songs that are out today.

Speaker 1 44:14

You want to pick the one that has the songs that you like. Okay, I played the shit out of the Michael Jackson one.

Speaker 2 44:23

The one that I keep hearing is a Rihanna song but the Apple Watch has a bit of a different vibe. But the Apple Watch has a badge for doing a workout of dancing and I was like what Like do people just dance around their house to do that one? And then I was like I could do, just dance.

Speaker 1 44:45

Yeah, no, my friend actually lost a ton of weight through high school just by doing just dance as his workouts.

Speaker 2 44:51

I don't see you how he wouldn't because, like you know how I love sweating to the oldies, I just seriously age myself.

Speaker 1 44:57

Oh yeah, you love it.

Speaker 2 44:58

Like bringing out Richard Simmons again. I could have just brought out just dance and it'd have been modern. Yeah, you'll love it. I still love.

Speaker 1 45:07

Richard Simmons yeah, you'll love it.

Speaker 2 45:11

There's also a ring fit.

Speaker 1 45:12

I love the ring fit. Still, I haven't done it because I've been going to the gym.

Speaker 2 45:15

but oh my God, we should both download, just dance and do lives of that. Oh my God.

Speaker 1 45:21

Go rickety, hilarious the trolls. I can hear them now.

Speaker 2 45:25

We'll just get some good mods, yeah, and you know what we'll be dancing. We won't even see the fricking comments because we'll be dancing all over. That mean shit. All right until next time.

Speaker 1 45:39

Yeah, that was an abrupt close, but Okay, okay, okay, thanks for listening and coming back this year and it's going to be another good year and yay.

Speaker 2 45:50

Yeah, let us know what you want to hear.

Speaker 1 45:53

Yeah probably our voices. Maybe we'll do it, maybe other voices, if there's other voices you want to hear.

Speaker 2 45:59

Yeah, we're going to have that this year too.

Speaker 1 46:02

Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:02

Yay.

Speaker 1 46:03

Yay, bye, bye.