Confidently Flawed
Confidently Flawed
How I Lost Over 10% Body Fat - Featuring Julie Smith
This week we are so beyond excited to be joined by current member and coach, Julie Smith.
Julie joins our podcast to share her fitness journey and how she has been able to find success after lots of ups and downs in her path.
Her story is extremely powerful! We hope you get value from her story like we did.
Thanks for sharing Julie!
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What's holding
SPEAKER_01:you
SPEAKER_02:back from being the most confident
SPEAKER_01:you? What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another week of Confidently Flawed. It's Brooke and Danny here today with a special guest that we are just so excited to have on this episode. We've got a loaded episode for you guys today, as I feel like we always do. But as always, it just comes from our heart. It comes from wanting to help and serve you guys just overall be better. So, Danny, are you excited for episode today?
SPEAKER_02:I'm super excited. The person we have on today I've known for a long time. We've had a lot of great discussions, great relationship, and I'm super excited to bring him on. And what we wanted to do today is you hear a lot from us. You hear a lot from Brooke. You hear a lot from myself. And we talk about our stories or things, our past or things that we've overcame. But we wanted to bring in somebody that is maybe a little bit different or has had their own different types of struggles. and kind of show what this person did to overcome that. And hopefully teach you guys some things on what maybe you can do in your lives to live a healthier, happier, and more confident life. And maybe give you some of that secret sauce that we always talk about that you can kind of take away some of those golden nuggets and start to implement. One of the things that I loved about this person's story and her and I have talked about it quite a bit is just the utilizing... the support and accountability around her. And I think that's really powerful in her story. And I can't wait for her to share it with you guys. So introducing longtime member of raw and one of our newest coaches here at the raw fit family is Julie Smith. Welcome Julie to the confidently flawed podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Danny. Just the title alone makes me smile. Cause that's how I feel now. So much more just healthier and confident, maybe more than I have like in my whole life. So, um, That just made me smile. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So, that's awesome, Julie. And, you know, you're obviously a talker. You're definitely somebody that will rock on a podcast, you know, and a lot of people. And you have a lot of experience, you know. You've been, you've tried different things and you found what has worked for you. So, I would love to hear, like, you know, why don't you share a little bit of, like, what were some of those, like, trials and tribulations and obstacles that you were kind of struggling with before you kind of had that transformation?
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So... I wasn't really going to mention my age, but I think it's kind of like a big part of my story because I am in my early 50s. So I think a lot of like people my age can relate to kind of my story and my history. So I would say, you know, I kind of was your typical like in my early 20s, I had really good success with found fitness, started working out, got in pretty good shape. And it was very much life changing for me. Right. Like not just in fitness. Not just in my physical appearance, but in my confidence. So my hair became a little blonder. I got rid of the glasses. I started to be a little attractive to boys. So it kind of changed everything about my personality, I guess. A lot about my personality. And then over the years, I got married, had kids. I think kind of the typical story of, I call it the creep. We slowly kind of gained these, I don't know, 10, 20, sometimes more pounds that became, I don't know how to explain it. It, I felt like for 20 years, I was always trying to like lose those last 15, 20, 10 pounds. And I would have some success with, and I was definitely doing it. Now I would look back and say very wrong, right? I did the low fat diet where I was eating like 20 grams of fat a day. I lost a ton of weight. Guess what? I gained it all back. I did the Atkins diet where I only ate protein. I ate bacon. Um, Every day, pretty much I had bacon. So I lost a ton of weight. As soon as I stopped doing it, I gained all the weight back. So I definitely like Danny and I talk about a lot, you know, was on the diet train for 20 some years, probably on the diet train and would feel what's like, I'm going to use air quotes would feel better. Right. So I felt I would feel better. And then I would kind of go back to the whatever the way I was eating. Like I never really changed those habits. Right. So that was great. that's probably, I guess, like so many people's stories, right? Like we gain a little bit, we lose a little bit, we gain a little bit more, we lose a little bit and it just, we never get to where we figure it out a hundred percent. Right. So I feel like now I figured it out. I don't know. It's, it's bizarre still to me sometimes, but I'm so happy. Um, so then I guess, um, really I joined, I mean, Danny and I have been working. I mean, I think I was in my forties when I signed up for like this fit, this weight loss challenge with my family. So the kids were getting a little bit older. They were like, you know, in their early or preteen years, I guess. So, and I never stopped, never stopped trying and I never stopped, like I never gave up. So like I would walk with the kids every day. I would walk on their treadmill. I definitely wasn't like lifting weights or doing anything like that, but I never gave up and I was always trying to lose weight. always. So Danny and I started working out. Yeah. Like in our, I was in my early forties, maybe when we started working out. And from then on kind of like was somewhat consistent, like three to four days a week, I'd exercise. I tried different diets. I'd have success. I started weightlifting a little more, but and then if I kind of like, it would fluctuate more though. Right. So I'd have like bad months where I would just disappear for a few months. And then I come back kind of with my tail between my legs. Um, and that that's hard. I don't know why that's so hard. Like you feel that sense of like failure or it's hard on your, it's just hard. It's hard on, you know, it's, it's a pride thing, I guess, you know, um, you feel like you've failed, I guess. So we kind of come back and like, try again and try again and try again. Um, And I've been pretty consistent the past, I think I joined Raw like five, it's been probably almost five years now. I was pretty consistent, had lulls, but I never still kind of got to where I wanted to be. Had a lot of success with weightlifting and, you know, kind of got in better shape, but just never got to that, like, really, where I really feel good. And then COVID hit. COVID kind of was like the start of this now story, I guess. So when COVID hit, I had been pretty consistent with the gym. My weight wasn't where I wanted. I didn't feel great, but I was feeling good, right? Better. And then COVID hit. And I don't know how to explain it except that I'm a nurse, first of all. The stress of COVID was at the beginning was just unbelievable for me. It was like, I felt like I was spiraling, I guess is the word the kids use, you know? Like I was just living COVID and, it was like people were calling me all the time and I was watching the news all the time and I was living alone and I was only going to work every day. And it was just, and we didn't really know how long it was going to last, right? At first it was like a few weeks and then it was nine weeks and then it was 12 weeks. So it's like, there was just, you didn't really know what was happening. So this is kind of where the support piece comes. This is where the support piece starts. And it's kind of funny because I can almost remember the feeling and the day that I sent this text. And this is kind of like why I think like being part of like such a small fitness community is so different than being part of like some big, you know, gym where you're just like a number. Because when I really was having trouble and I could kind of see what was going to happen, like I'm falling down this, I'm sliding down this slippery slope and I don't know how long COVID is going to last. But when I come out on the other side, like if I have to, if I end up gaining 10, 15, 20 pounds, I'm going to be so depressed on top of being depressed is because of everything that was happening in the world. But I almost could feel it happening. Like I feel my eating habits changing. I could feel myself starting to like sink in that hole. And I was alone all the time and I was so stressed and I wasn't sleeping. And I could almost remember that feeling of like, and I'm again, I'm 52 years old. Like I am, I'm a nurse. So I have a degree in science. I did not know what to do. to get myself out of that. Like I couldn't, I just couldn't figure it out. Right. Is that a good way to say it? So I remember sending the text to all four coaches, like a panic text. Like I need somebody to call me right now. I need you. I need help. I can't do this by myself. I need some help. And, and honestly that like just being able to say like, I can't do this. I can't handle like this piece of my life because I have all this stuff going on over here is huge. Right. To be able to like, say, I, I can't do this by myself. I need someone to tell me what to do. And all of the coaches are younger than me, but this is their, you know, this is like their specialty and their, I don't know. I feel like I had our gym so small that I have like, you know, intimate relationships with all of the coaches, not intimate maybe, but like personal relations, personal enough where I felt comfortable to text. So all four of them answered, all four of them answered me. I remember Steve specifically was like, hold your pants on, you know, pretty lady. Like I'll get to you in a second. And literally called me like within minutes. And from that phone call forward was like, life-changing for me. Um, every, but all, all of the coaches in raw for me, I kind of joked, I think after like, literally, I felt like they picked me up at the beginning of COVID and like sat me down on the other side. Right. Like they were there on zoom to work out. Um, Steve gave me so many tools that I still use today to kind of, um, change like some of my habits. Right. So like one of the big things we did was put the scale away. So which was very hard for me. I was like, I don't know how I'm doing without the scale. But now I can tell you all different kinds of ways you can tell how you're doing without the scale. And the scale means almost nothing to me. It's very, very much just a tool, but never thought I would say that. So that was one thing we did is we put the scale away. Something else we did was kind of like decrease those external stressors, right? So I stopped watching the news. I watched the news every single morning from, I can't even remember, like literally the first thing I do is grab a cup of coffee and turn the news on. I haven't watched it. I don't even know what the weather does anymore because it's like, oh, it's snowing. What's happening? Because I never have the news on because it was so negative that it was, and I was, you know, and I was a nurse, right? So like, I'm kind of like stressful all day. And then I would come home and the news would be on the morning, the news would be on. So shutting that off was like life changing, ridiculous. It sounds right. But that was one of the biggest things. Family and friends. So like I, at the beginning I had people texting me and calling me almost constantly about, you know, what was happening in the world and I couldn't get away from it. Right. So that was another thing. Like I would come home from work and shut my phone off and do my zoom. Like I wouldn't even have the phone on. Right. So I'm telling, I'm looking at Danny cause he needs to turn his phone off sometime. So I would shut my phone off and just go do my workout. So a lot of those things were just to like help decrease those external stressors that were causing me so much anxiety. Right. And then one of the biggest things, and honest to God, I, I don't know why I never figured this out my whole life myself, but I still do it today is that, and I know you guys had Steve on the episode, Danny and I would say like, Steve is our polar opposite. Right. So like he helps your brain kind of like, right.
SPEAKER_02:Did
SPEAKER_00:you hear that? Let
SPEAKER_02:the air out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. And I still use this tool today, but it's, it sounds so simple, but it, but it's something I never really kind of figured out how to do was to like, if I can't control something, to just let it go, right? So like really focus on the things I can control and the things I can't control, like COVID, right? I couldn't control that. I can't worry about it. So there's so many things now that like come into my head, like things that happen with my kids or with my job or with this. And now it's like, if there's nothing I can do about it, it's out of my head. I can't worry about it anymore, right? And the things I can control, which at the time was like what I was eating, what I was filling my head with, And if I was exercising, I did control. So I would say for like, I would say that I didn't really have at the time a weight loss goal. Like, oh, I'm going to, because we didn't really know how long this was going to last. Right. So it was more like, just do the things, you know, you need to do. And then, you know, hopefully things fall into place. And that is almost, I would say the biggest thing now, right? Like just do like, Eat good, exercise, eat good and exercise. And over time, like things will fall into place. And in the meantime, you've kind of developed new habits that hopefully last forever, right? So I guess that was the thing. So kind of came out of COVID on the other end in pretty good shape, feeling pretty good, kind of had lost those last, like I would say 15 pounds that I could never kind of get down to. And now it's been like almost two years. Yeah. I would say that like now my habits are different. And Danny and I used to talk about like those synapses in your brain, right? That too is huge. Like some of those things that you, some of those connections you made for so many years, like I have to physically stop myself from doing almost, I kind of say it physically, but it's like a thought process, right? I say like a hard stop. Like one of the things is negative thoughts, right? Like if you start to look at, like I'm 52, right? Do I wish I was younger? Yeah. Do I wish I had long, pretty hair like Brooke? Yeah. Do I wish, you know what I mean? Like there's so many things that you could say that about, but like, it's kind of one of those things, like I cannot fix any of that. So yeah, I just stop. I have to stop some of those negative thoughts because to me, like those negative thoughts just turn into negative behaviors and positive thoughts. right. Turn into positive behavior. So we talked about that before too. Like it's kind of like a joke at the gym that I nicknamed myself princess. That was my nickname growing up, but it's kind of like, it's kind of almost part of my success is to be able to, you have to see yourself in a positive light. I have to look at myself like I can do anything. And I have to think that I can do anything. And I have to think that I, I don't know. It's just like, if I don't, if I don't think it, nobody's going to think it right.
SPEAKER_02:So Julie, I think your story is really amazing. We kind of touched on it. You and I had a lot of conversations or, you know, where you're, you're falling off and we don't see you for a couple of weeks and you got your tail between your legs, like you said, you know, that, that, that was something that I think was really big for you to overcome. And I'm, I'm super proud of you for being able to do that. I think that's, that really showed your journey and your, your ability to take in a lot of these like mindset things and all of that. And there's, you know, as you, as you guys can see, like talking to like hearing Julie's story and all that, there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just like, okay. She mentioned like eating good and exercising and eventually it hits. Yes. That's it's simplistic in nature with that, but there's a lot of other things. Sometimes you have to uncover or overcome whether that's mindset or what have you. So, um, I think it's, it's really powerful hearing from somebody that has been able to do that and have sustained that over a period of time of like the last two years. So if Julie, if you're talking with somebody and somebody, you know, was the Julia of a couple of years ago, what, what are those like three to five things that you're like, you know what, if you do these things, because before you do that, like that simplistic model is that's what we try to teach at raw. I mean, literally the whole program we built around is, find a couple small things that are going to have the biggest impact that you know you can follow through with and focus on those to your blue in the face. And you will see results if you stay consistent with and you have somebody to hold yourself accountable to. And I think you've taken that system and utilize it to your advantage to be able to do that. And that's really, really powerful. So I applaud you for doing that. And I'm glad that the process that we, you know, we try to help people with, you know, helped you and all that. So if you had three to five things, if you were or a couple of things that you were like, you know what, if people could start to do this, they will see massive change in their life. Like, what would that be for you?
SPEAKER_00:It's kind of making me laugh because like we've had so much, like, I don't know how to say it except that I've, I've been there. So like you said, I've been there. So for me, it's like, you knew logically those things work, but to really have success with it. And now it's just, It's mind-blowing to me, right? And all those little cliches, like you can't out-train a bad diet, which that's probably the main one right there. Someone at the gym just asked me the other day, like, you have to eat good, don't you? And I'm like, yeah, you do. But I will say with that, I would say that I found the foods that I like that work for me and I'm still eating them. I just drove here with my giant green smoothie, not because I'm on a diet or because I have to, it's because I love it and it keeps me full and I enjoy it. Um, every meal I eat, I like, there's nothing that I eat that I don't like. So that's been, that's been huge for me. Um, So that's one of my things, like find the foods that work for your body. I don't eat a ton of meat just because I don't crave meat, not because I don't like, not because of any other reason, right? So- Kind of like I found things I like, I still eat them. I almost eat the same thing every day. And I don't restrict myself from anything. Like if I want to have something, I have a little treat. I have found tools around the house to help with that a little bit. There's some foods in the house that I just can't have in the house. They're trigger foods, right? Nachos. If I have an open bag of nachos in my pantry, my hand's going in them at some point of the day. So if they are in the house, I move them to the downstairs basement cabinets because then they're just not of temptation for me. Right. So and I did find like things that are things I like to eat that are a little bit healthier. So if I go out to dinner, yes, I'll have a glass of Cabernet and some salmon. I enjoy my evening. I don't stress about, I mean, Danny, that is, that just hit me there. Like how many times, like, oh my God, I have to go on vacation and everyone's going to want to eat, or I have to go to this party and there's going to be so much food. Like that used to cause me so much stress and anxiety which sounds crazy to say but when you feel like you're eating good like that's a huge stressor
SPEAKER_02:well you used to even avoid those situations big time like you wouldn't even go yes you know out to eat with friends or whatever because you were afraid it was going to turn into a spiral
SPEAKER_00:yes yes
SPEAKER_02:and that's no way to live either you know yes so
SPEAKER_00:yes it's These are so many things. It's amazing to me that I can say that because you're right. Now I go on vacation and I enjoy myself. I always watch it, but I don't... I would say I have not said the word diet in two years. I haven't said I'm on a diet or I'm off a diet. I'm on a diet, off a diet. Also, you find over time that certain foods just make you feel better. So right now, it's not that I can't have pizza, but trust me, if I eat four or five pieces of pizza right now, I will be so... uncomfortable. Right. Because now I kind of look at it like that. Like that's my body doesn't like that. Right. I don't like feeling that way. I can have one piece of pizza and enjoy it and, and I'll feel good, you know? So, um, kind of found the foods I like. I definitely eat less. So yes, you have to eat less to lose weight. There isn't, I don't think there's any way around that unless you have some magic thing to say, Danny, but like you have to eat. I
SPEAKER_02:mean, it depends on the individual, right? Cause we, we deal with a lot of people that eat too much. infrequent or too little that have issues right yeah if somebody's eating 200 out 200 calories a day and
SPEAKER_00:yes
SPEAKER_02:they're eventually going to come into issues where they're they're gaining weight even though they're under eating yes they're but they're but for a good amount of people that tend to overeat it's for sure there's definitely a lot of thermodynamics that um you know eat less than you
SPEAKER_00:i would say and that's the other thing like i eat I mean, there's no way I definitely eat enough calories. Right. So I just found foods that, that, like I said, I like, and that I can still maintain this weight. I guess now I'm more a little bit of a maintenance phase. So without saying, I guess I don't say I diet, but I definitely like tighten up at times and lighten up at times. Does that make sense? So sometimes I do like, Oh, I just probably, probably ate a little more than I should over Christmas where in past years, eating bad over Christmas and gaining a couple pounds could have turned into skipping the gym for the next two months and gaining 15 pounds. And that's no lie, right? Danny can attest that. So that is another thing. Like right after the holidays, I kind of just got rid of the junk food in the house, went back to the gym and never let my foot off the gas. I didn't eat healthy through the holidays. I didn't diet through the holidays. I just enjoyed the holidays a little bit. and then immediately turned it around again. And I feel better already. So that was another big thing, even weekends. Like if I maybe went away for the weekend and didn't eat great and you just feel a little, I guess for women, we feel bloated, right? So like that feeling of like your waist feels full makes you feel fat, which can in your head make you feel like, in your head, you've gained 10 pounds. That's how you feel like you look. But in reality, I tell myself like, there's no way in four days that I damaged what I just did in the past year. So instead of like, I'm not going to the gym today because I feel like this, I'm going to eat bad because I already ate bad instead. And that's where we talked about like breaking those synapses, right? Like immediately I hard stop myself and say like, you're get back on track. You're go back to the gym, face the music. If you eat eight, not great for four days in four days, you're going to feel just like you did. Right. Or you just felt good on Thursday morning. There's no way on Tuesday you change that much. Right. It's all in our heads. So, yeah, that was a big thing. Like, I don't let things like keep going. I don't let Christmas keep going. I don't let weekends keep going. If I do something, I'm not even gonna say it's wrong. If I do something wrong, it's just salt or sodium or fluid most of the time. and doing things right for a couple of days usually will self-correct it. So that's been a, that's, that's been a big, big change for me is like that kind of consistency, right? I
SPEAKER_02:think the, probably the biggest, the most frequent conversation I've had with people that I think a lot of people listening could learn from is make your next action back on track, even if it's small, right? I've had that conversation with so many people and it's, and I tell people this all the time, the ones that are generally the most successful at health and fitness are not the most perfect athletes. They're not the ones that like eat the absolute best or work out the most or whatever it is. Now, do they do some of those things? Absolutely. But it's usually the ones that have that exact approach of like, okay, I fell off over the weekend. On Monday, I'm hitting my workout or I'm getting my food and not letting it spiral into weeks and months and all that. So I think that's really powerful that you had that takeaway.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. It's not like I would never say I'm on or off. I will never say that again because there is no such thing. It's like, this is just how we live, right? Speaking of workouts is scheduling my workouts. Like the day I thought I would get my butt up, princess would get her butt up at four o'clock in the morning to get to the gym is the day hell would freeze over. Even on the weekends, like I don't know. Sometimes I do that. Like, what am I doing? It's dark out. But workouts have become just part of my life. It's just like taking a shower. It's just like going to work. I feel fantastic working out. My body feels fantastic. It makes me feel good in my clothes. It makes me feel good in my skin. It gives me those endorphins. I mean, how many times have I left that gym? Like just full of like life and energy. Those endorphins are real, right? And even like during COVID and during all that struggle, like it was, we all joked, like it was our happy place, but literally, It was our happy place. It was the one place that didn't feel like we're in a pandemic. So you would just go and have fun and turn the music up and leave feeling amazing, right? So I always schedule my workouts two weeks out. I know what days I can go. Yes, I work full time. Yes, I have a family. I just make it work in my day. So sometimes I go get up in the morning and go. Sometimes if I can't go in the morning, I'll go at night. If I can't do either, I'll do a Zoom class. But it's just part of my day and there's no thought process about that. And that's kind of where like that community of comes in also like a like-minded community. Right. So if I didn't, I don't, I purposefully, I think from the beginning kind of never wanted to fall in that trap of like, I love having gym buddies, but I didn't ever want to fall in that trap of like, Danny, will you go to the gym with me? And if you're not going to go, then I'm not going to go. And we're going to go to this class. Okay, you can't go to this class. I go to the gym when I need to go. And I've met a ton of people. I have friends in every class. Well, at least in my head, they're my friends. But I have friends in every class. I love to see people there. I love to be with everybody. I love when I see people I know outside of the gym there, but I don't let other people deter me, right? Like this is what I do. And this is just part of my life. And people who aren't in that kind of same mindset as all of us, they don't always understand it, right? Like some people think like, oh, Julie, she works all the time. I work out for 45 minutes a day. Sometimes the rest of the day, I sit on my butt at work. So I'm not overworking out. I'm not working out for hours a day. I work out for 45 minutes a day. That's all I did to get the kind of change in body composition that I have, which we didn't really talk about that, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, you can touch on that, Julia. I think you have had a lot of physical transformation. We talked a lot about like the mental part of it, which is huge. And like the habit based things of just the standards of living that you live by. And I, you know, again, another conversation I've had a lot is, the people that you see that are moms or dads or whatever that work full time, all of this, you know, we look at those people like, Oh, they just somehow they have more time in their day or they just have something that lets them do things. No, they just set the standards of what they're willing to live by, like brushing their teeth or taking a shower. It's no different. It's just, you set the standards and those are non-negotiable things. And you've done that and it's, it's shown and it's given you some physical benefits to that, you know, feel free to share.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. That's, that's, I guess where people, like we said, like that's where that community of, uh, fitness community kind of, um, it gives you that kind of support, right. Cause we're, we're all doing it together. We all have highs and lows together. We all support each other. Never has anybody, everybody in the gym supports each other. Right. So, I mean, like that's a, that's a huge piece of it. Um, sometimes people outside of the gym aren't as supportive. Is that a good word or don't understand. Right. Um, so, um, definitely just to have that like-minded community, I guess. I don't want to go too much into that. So, yeah. And then, you know, we, we talked about, well, I guess we'll talk about, so like, I guess over the past, like, I guess total in the past year or two, like I probably lost, like I'm probably down 20 pounds, probably like 12 to 15% body fat. And then I don't know how many pounds of muscle quite a bit.
SPEAKER_02:You've added a lot. Yeah. I should have
SPEAKER_00:brought your skin. Yeah. But yeah, So physically, even though like I was, I was very lean in my twenties, I probably am in the best shape of my life. And in my head, I can do anything. I don't even, I don't even like to say an age because I don't feel like my age deters my mindset at all. Like, I don't look at my age and be like, oh, I can't. I'm in my head. I can like, I'm going to learn how to do a backflip. That's my next goal. I'm going to learn how to do it. You're laughing. It's true.
SPEAKER_02:I like
SPEAKER_00:it. I
SPEAKER_02:like it.
SPEAKER_00:So, so eventually you, you know, that was, I, I almost struggled a little bit with like not having like a weight loss goal. Cause it seems weird not to have a weight loss goal. Right. But then I started doing other things. Like one time, Justin and I, we worked on, I know I couldn't do a pull-up. I never could do a pull-up. So for weeks, we, every day after the gym, we did pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups until eventually I I could do a pull-up. And I almost cried because I was like so excited that I did a pull-up, right? Now we're on the backflips.
SPEAKER_02:Seamless transition.
SPEAKER_00:Seamless, yeah. But you kind of still need like, even though you kind of have, this is a good point, I guess, too. It's like, and Danny, I know I remember texting him, but this past summer was honest. And I think I told you, like, it was probably my biggest, biggest, in my head, successful thing that happened to me. And it was, and this might sound stupid to someone that's never struggled with, you know, losing weight or body confidence, but it was in the beginning of summer and after COVID, like so much, you know, again, work, stress, all that stuff at the beginning of summer. And I'm a summer person. I'm like Danny, like I live for summer. So I was like, I just want to enjoy the summer, but I really don't want to ruin any progress. Like that was my main goal. So when, and that's the other thing, like I still meet every month. I do a scan every month. just to kind of hold myself accountable to something. Just so I guess to avoid the creep, right? And just to kind of see where I'm at. So I'm not obsessed with the scale. I don't jump on the scale at home, but I definitely set myself up to just be accountable to someone. And I'll usually tell the coach, like, you don't let me cancel, right? Because it's just a way to like say to myself, like I want someone and I want a partner, right? Like I want a partner to say, okay, you and I are going to do this together because sometimes I can't do everything on my own. And here's my goals for the next month. And I'll see you next month. And then we're going to talk about it. And like, it just gives me something to work towards and to keep, to keep like the creep from ever happening again. Right. So I, I usually do set like a hard, which, which that's weird too, with muscle gain is like, I used to have a hard goal with my weight, but then that's not even that applicable anymore because it's more about your body composition. Right. So Which, Danny, could you have told me that 10 years ago?
SPEAKER_02:No, I didn't tell you that 10 years ago. It just took 10 years to get it
SPEAKER_00:in your head. You could have never told me. My weight now, compared to my weight however many years ago, my body looks 100% different.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, totally.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, people can tell you that, but you just don't believe it all the time. Anyways, back to summer. At the beginning of summer, I just was like, I want to be able to maintain, but I want to enjoy summer. at the end in September. So I weighed in June and then I had a scan at the beginning of September and everything was almost exactly the same. My weight was the same. My muscle was the same. My body fat was the same. I worked out, you know, I came to my, I did all my workouts during the summer. I didn't let my foot off the gas, but I definitely like enjoyed the beach, you know, took trips, like went on the boat, had my Coronas, you know, like I really like enjoyed the summer without just being just what's the word, like just letting go completely. And to be able to do that and come out in the same place, like to be able to like live my life and still be able to feel confident in my body and have like, you know, feel good about myself has never, I can't ever tell you when that happened in my whole entire life. And so I remember texting Danny, like, I can't tell you how bizarre that feels, but like how great it feels to be able to like live my life not stressed about going to parties, not stressed about going to dinners, not stressed about vacations and still be able to maintain my health and fitness gains, right? Super exciting.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's more prominent of a like transformation more so than 12% body fat, even though that's incredible. Just because of the fact of like, think of how like much stress on summer would cause you and parties and events and like, oh, I gotta be super strict or I have to let go and I'm gonna just fall off for two months. Like that aspect that you can like rein it in to like figure out what that balance looks like. That's really what we're all shooting for in this process of health and wellness. So the fact that you like found that is really, really powerful.
SPEAKER_00:And that's, I guess another thing is like my biggest piece of advice is, kind of what we said is just patience and not, and again, like, I know you couldn't have told me this, but not just the scale. Right. So we talked about before, like, it's just the things you'll see over time. Like if you just keep eating good, exercising, eating good, exercising, the things happen in the littlest and strangest times. Um, I don't, we, in my video, I told Danny about my, uh, the DSW story, which is still so funny to me, right? Like I always had big caps, so I couldn't wear knee-high boots. And then after like I lost the weight and had been working out consistently for a while, like every pair of, I always had to buy wide calf boots. Every pair of like boots I tried on, I could zip up. And I literally, I think I stood up, like Brooke, you know how DSW looks like all rows. I literally stood up like, I can zip the boots. I'm zipping the boots. Like I was so excited, but it was like, Those little, the littlest changes happen that you don't think. I remember one time I was making dinner and I just had my hand like on my side and I was like, what happened to that? Like what do they call them? Saddlebags, right? Like what happened to that? Like it was smooth and hard. And I was like, what? Oh my God, is that my leg? You know, like, but so like, it's not the scale necessarily. It's just like all these little things happen if you just be consistent that change the shape of your body, right? So that's another thing. Like if you just have the patience and kind of keep, I call them the things, right? If you just keep doing the things and having the patience, like things will fall into place. And like we said, in the meantime, you kind of now develop new habits because you've been consistent for so long, right? So yeah, I guess that's one of the biggest things.
SPEAKER_01:Well, first off, I want to say thank you so much for sharing your story because I've never heard that before. I know Danny has, but I'm not one of the coaches that works with you. So first, thank you for sharing your story. That was very powerful. But there was just so much that I kept hearing. And I think the overall, so we always do things at the end of our podcast, we always talk about the one thing, like the one takeaway that we've all had. And the one takeaway that I'm really getting is that you know, maybe you never full out came and said it, but it just was the same kind of concept of like, you are successful because you took away the pressure. You took away the pressure of having to do something or having to eat a certain way or having to show up, you know, because even taking what happened like during the COVID season, like, you didn't know what was gonna happen. So you almost like took that pressure away from yourself and maybe that's what released so much in your mind of, okay, you know what? Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know how I can show up, but I'm just going to show up for me. I'm gonna control what I can control, which is my diet and my exercise. And it almost makes it seem like, at the end of the day, you took away so much pressure that you put on yourself. And that's what I think so much of this journey is all about. Like at the end of the day, this shouldn't be a weight loss journey or a fitness journey, because you could sit there and be the most in shape person in the world, but feel like crap. Like it's, you know, you might be at your goal weight and feel like crap, and that's not going to help you be successful. At the end of the day, you know, we talked about last week in our episode about burnout, like you're eventually going to get burnt out by trying to do something when you have so much pressure on yourself. So, you know, I think that, you know, my biggest takeaway from your story, Julie, is just is the pressure, taking that pressure away and just enjoying your life more that in itself releases so much in your mind. And, you know, weight loss is a mind game too. You know, that's why some people might plateau is because their mental strength isn't there. So Julie, thank you for sharing your story. Danny, what would you say your one thing is?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I would say there's, there's kind of like two different things that really hit home to me, but I think the biggest thing is, is The first one is kind of similar to yours, so I'll do my other one, is all about control what you can control. I run into issues myself, so I think the biggest takeaway for me personally would be control what you can control. But I think the other one is, we touched on it a little bit, is just all about the consistency. It's not about being perfect. It's progress over perfection. Just focus on being consistent, making your next action back on track, and making an effort to say, I'm not going to focus on the outcome. I'm only going to focus on the process. I'm going to focus on what are the things that Julie calls them that I need to do to be successful. And I'm going to ride with those. And I'm only going to focus on just doing those. I'm going to create these new standards of living. I'm going to go by those. And they can be simplistic, guys. It doesn't have to be like some outrageous thing. It could be I'm going to work out two times a week. Like I'm just going to figure out how I can get two 20 minute sessions in a week, you know, whatever that ends up looking like to you, or it's, I'm going to get in one bottle of water every day. Like it doesn't have to be huge, but it's just that consistency is eventually going to lead to success. And that is what I think a lot of us are missing the boat on. And that is, you know, we have a, we have a challenge coming up in a couple of weeks that I think would be really beneficial for a lot of the people listening to jump in and do that. We, we scale it. gets you to try to focus on things that are all about the process. And we hold you accountable to that. But it's all about building that discipline for the first four, six, eight weeks, however long the challenge is. This one's going to be six weeks. But it's all about building that discipline into your life and viewing the standards. And then at the end of it, saying like, okay, I did all of these things. What are the takeaways that I can continuously do consistently that I feel confident that I can do every single day And that's what our challenge is about, all about that support and accountability of finding those couple things that are going to work really, really well for you and sticking with them and having that support system around you to ensure that you follow through with it and have the guidance if you need help. And that's what our challenge is about. So we'll drop the link below for what that challenge is about. We are doing$50 off right now if you're one of the early bird special people. So we'd love to have you and help you and have another story like Julie's and many others. Julie, you kind of mentioned the one thing for you. It sounded like it was patience, but if it's that or not that, is there any other like quick, like feedback that you'd give somebody if like the one thing for them to kind of start to do?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, I still, you know, more than anybody, I still reach out when I need help. I mean, I... I will reach out to Danny, whoever can help me. That's what I'll do. But I mean, we can't, it isn't easy to do on your own. You need to surround yourself with people that kind of have the same thought process and having the support of the coaches when I am struggling or I'm having trouble with something to be able to reach out to is immeasurable. But not just that, it's the community, right? So it's the same thing with all of our, Well, gym friends, we call, we're all friends at the gym, right? So we support each other. We help each other. We pick each other up when we're struggling and that, um, I don't have to go there, right? I could do zoom if I want to. I love going there. I love the feeling. I love the feeling when I leave, I laugh a lot. I have fun this morning. My face hurt from laughing so much. I had so much fun. So, um, it's just, it's not just like for the workout part, it's for the accountability and the, um, just community sense of community. I love it. So community of what we're all in the same boat. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, definitely. Well, Julie, thank you so much for coming on, being a guest with us, sharing your story. And I, Definitely impacted me. Like I said, that was the first time I heard that. So thank you for sharing. And hopefully our viewers were impacted. I know a lot of our viewers are members, so they're probably like, oh yeah, I know her. So thank you again so much for coming on. We are so excited for episode next week as well. We've got an episode on the seasonal blues. You know, it's midwinter, it's getting cold. It's real, like the seasonal blues happens. And so we want to take some time and just talk about the seasonal blues and how you can get over that hump of the seasonal blues. So as always, please give us a rating review or share this episode. If you like it, share it with your friends. Again, we are just doing this to help impact you guys and just help you understand that it's okay to love yourself and be confident. And we all have flaws and that is confidently flawed. So thank you guys. And we'll see you next week.