114 Im Back! I Decided to *TREAT MYSELF PRETTY* While Navigating a Tough Season

Who are you going to be during tough seasons of life?

After three months away from the podcast, Sami is finally back—and this episode is a deeply honest life update about what happened during the quiet season.

Since March, life got heavy in beautiful and difficult ways. Sami bought a condo. She navigated big decisions, uncertainty, loneliness, and moments that would have been easy to numb, avoid, or abandon herself through.

But she didn’t.

Inside this episode, she shares what it looked like to keep choosing herself during a season that didn’t look productive from the outside.

She opens up about making the scary decision to continue investing in coaching while closing on her home—trusting that becoming the woman she wants to be doesn’t stop when life feels uncertain.

She talks about something that challenged her more than pushing harder ever could: resting.

After recognizing that her body wasn’t recovering well, Sami made the difficult decision to take eight weeks away from the gym. As someone who is ambitious and used to earning progress through effort, slowing down felt uncomfortable. But her body was giving signals. Her coach was reinforcing what she already knew: now is not the time to push.

And instead of becoming the old version of herself—the one who would abandon herself when things got hard—she chose differently.

She stretched daily.
She cooked from home.
She drank her water.
She tracked her macros.
She hit her steps when she could.
She listened.

Because Treating Yourself Pretty isn’t always going harder.
Sometimes it’s trusting yourself enough to rest.

This episode is for the woman navigating a tough season who is wondering:

“Who am I going to be while life feels hard?”

You don’t have to become perfect.
You just have to stop abandoning yourself.

Inside this episode, Sami also shares ways to work with her if you’re ready to start keeping pretty promises to yourself, build confidence through self-trust, or learn how macros could change the way you care for yourself.

Early bird opportunities are linked in the show notes—including the Macros Masterclass before prices increase.

Welcome back, Pretty. ♡

If today’s episode spoke to you, imagine what could happen if you had daily support, accountability and an entire sisterhood doing this with you. Our Pretty Consistent Membership is now hosted inside our brand new Skool community, and it is truly the most elevated space we’ve ever had.

If you’re ready to feel pretty again by treating yourself pretty, building consistency and creating a life that feels good in your body, come join us. This is BFF-style accountability, micro choices, and momentum all in one place.

Join the Pretty Consistent Membership on Skool!  Click the link to the left!

& if you haven’t yet, subscribe to Pretty Is as Pretty Does, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who’s ready to grow with you. 💖✨

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, pretty, I'm Sammy Snow. As your coach, I know you want to be sexy as ever. But as your nurse, I want you to be healthy as ever. The best news is you can have both. Because the habits that help you feel confident, strong, energized, and beautiful are often the exact same habits that protect your health and help you build a body that feels so incredible to live in. Somewhere along the way though, Diet Culture convinced us that taking care of ourselves had to come from shame, punishment, and never feeling like our bodies were ever good enough. Well, it's time to say F you to Diet Culture and start treating yourself pretty. On this podcast, we're talking pretty things like mindset, confidence, body positivity, the standards you set for yourself, the habits that support the life you want, and healing the relationship with you. You'll be inspired to love yourself enough to start showing up. And your confidence will flourish every time you keep a promise to yourself. Over time, by treating yourself pretty again and again, you'll become the woman who loves herself so much that of course she shows up. She takes care of herself. She keeps her promises. Because pretty isn't what you look like. Pretty is how you treat yourself. Welcome to the pretty is as pretty does podcast. If you're ready to feel pretty, let's get into it. Hello, pretty people. Welcome back to the pretty is as pretty does podcast. It has been a minute, a hot minute, and I just missed you guys so much. There's literally so much to catch up on. I went to coffee with a girlfriend today, and she had no idea that I bought a condo. And I was like, yeah, I really haven't been posting about this. I haven't really shared much with my community at all. But this was a really big deal that definitely stretched my capacity, and I'm so excited to share with you everything that's been going on. So let's get into it. First and foremost, just want to say thank you so much. The amount of downloads that I've had in the last couple months have been incredible. So thank you for supporting the podcast. Thank you for being here. And if you listen to my last episode, you have the secret. You had the secret that I bought a condo and then I was gonna be back as soon as that was over. And you guys, oh my gosh, it nearly took me out. And I don't mean to be dramatic, but I just felt like one of the lowest lows during the highest highs of my life. Let me back up real quick because buying a condo was not on my bingo card this year at all. It wasn't even a thought. My mom has been planting this seed for a long time, but I had just spent thousands and I mean thousands of dollars to have Morpheus 8 treatment done to my face, which is micro-needling and laser treatment. But I also got the IPL Lumeca, so it helps with sun damage. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just some skincare that literally cost me thousands of dollars. And the next weekend, I'm talking to my mom and she said, Hey, you should really think about buying a place in Dallas. And I'm like, Mom, you're crazy because the goal is not to stay here forever. And I have no family here. I have built some really incredible friendships, and I'm so grateful for that because it definitely makes me feel a lot less lonely. And I'm gonna share with you guys this process was really tough for me, and I did bring a lot of feelings of loneliness that we'll talk about. But going back to the seed being planted by my mom, that I should buy a place. I'm like, you're crazy, I'm not doing that. I just spent so much money on my face, and I started looking and I kept coming back to this one condo in particular, and I'm like, this is the best neighborhood that I could be buying in. This is it's it's incredible. But I also thought, like, when I was buying a place, I didn't think I'd be doing it by myself. Anytime that I thought about like, oh, having a mortgage, I always felt like I would be married to the love of my life and have a mortgage with someone. So while I think it's incredible that my ancestors and our ancestors paved the way for women to have rights and equalities and freedom to do this, and I'm so grateful for that, it also brought up a lot of feelings. One big heavy decisions were being made, and I felt alone in making those decisions. Now, of course, I leaned on my support system, but nobody's here with me as a partner to navigate this uncertainty. And, you know, going and negotiating and advocating for yourself and knowing what to do and when to do that, you know, I really felt like I was gonna be married when this when this time came to sign mortgage documentation. So in the midst of that, I just felt like I was bleeding money because the amount that I came up with in a down payment is I I still don't even know how I did that, but here we are, and I'm so grateful that I was able to make this happen. But a lot of things were out of my control, and a lot of things I advocated for and really did awesome negotiating. And shout out to my uh broker, CB Bosa Group. If you are in Dallas, you'll want to check him out. Um but just navigating that tough season, so yes, not having a partner really affected me during this process, but also like buying a place away from my family. Now, it's what's weird is I've been in Dallas for years at this point. Um it just never felt like even my driver's license is still in Illinois because Dallas never felt like a permanent home to me. But lo and behold, I will be here for the foreseeable future, and that's awesome because I really do love the life that I have built here. I love the condo that I'm sitting in right now as I record this podcast, and I have built some incredible coaching momentum already. So I launched the Pretty Promises for 30 days. It's a challenge, and it exceeded my expectations, and the women inside are incredible, and I'm actually gonna share with you some of the testimony in a moment. But I am so happy to be in this condo, to style it the way that I want to. So I am planning on starting a YouTube series so that you can come along the home decorating journey with me because it's gonna be so good. It's gonna be so good. Anyway, I'm happy to be back. I'm happy to share what got me through those incredibly tough months. I felt like this process has taken months because if you know, um uh last year I painted my apartment black. And not only did I paint the kitchen, but I also painted the living room and the bathroom and the bedroom and everything else in between, and it was a lot to paint back. So, in the midst of me knowing that I'm coming, I'm closing on a condo, that enough was already heavy, but then I couldn't get a quote for how much it would be to paint back, and I was afraid they were gonna come back with some absurd amount, so I started painting. It took four coats, y'all. It took four coats of white primer to paint my black apartment back. Do I regret it? No, and sometimes I really hate that I'm so stubborn, but like honestly, it was such a vibe to have that hot pink couch on those black ass walls, and it just made it made my year that I lived there, and I don't regret doing it, but when I was painting it back, I definitely was cursing myself. Like, why am I so hard-headed? And I definitely got it, and I told you so, not from one but two people. So, shout out to my mom and my sister for yeah, thanks so much for that. Um, so I just feel like I was navigating a lot physically, mentally, and my body was not recovering. I was still, you know, you guys know, well, actually, no, you don't know. I have been working with my coach for over a year, and during the time that I'm buying the condo was also the time that my contract ended. And I'm like, no, I have not met my goals. I still feel like I need support, but we're talking about thousands of dollars investing into a fitness coach, and I just spent thousands of dollars on my face. I'm bleeding tens and tens of thousands of dollars into purchasing the condo, and I feel like everything is so chaotic, and I was like, this is a non-negotiable for me. Investing in myself is a non-negotiable. Now, I probably would not have done my face if I had known that I was actually going through with this uh purchase of and of this condo and having a mortgage, but I did it, and I'm glad that I did it because it probably would have never happened otherwise. But anyway, so I'm navigating a tough season, everything feels chaotic, out of my control, and there's definitely a version of me that would have turned to emotional eating. There was a lot of emotions that I was navigating during this time, both big, happy, sad, disappointed, wanting more, and like literally everything in between. And there's definitely a version of me that would have turned to food. But during the midst of that, as I mentioned, my body was not recovering. So I had these protocols that my coach had given me, and for the most part, I followed them pretty closely. My body, because it was not recovering, because I could not get good sleep, and it literally was really affecting me on a day-to-day basis, it definitely was very synergistic with my low feelings, and because I wasn't sleeping and because I was already feeling like really challenged, I just went through a period of a really tough time, y'all. I don't know another way to say that. But my body, because it wasn't recovering, and I share this with my coach, I stopped working out. My coach prescribed to me to take time to rest, to allow my body to recover. And it's really crazy to me that I needed to be given permission to allow my body to rest. And she sent me a very beautiful check-in that week, and it just touched me emotionally. I actually shared it on my social media, so you may have seen this. But being having a coach and uh knowing that I have weight loss and fat loss goals to become healthier, of course, and treat myself pretty in that process, I was given permission to rest. And she goes, I know that this is hard for high-achieving women to do because your natural instinct is to push harder. And that's exactly where I was at. I was having the mentality of like, why can't I do more? I'm going to push harder. I'm going to just white knuckle my way through. And it didn't feel good. And my coach was like, no, I am prescribing you to forget about your cardio. We're not even doing cardio. We're not going to do lifts. I do want you to do some stretching and some warm-up stuff. So like it's, and I told her that I wanted to get in the habit of using my new gym at my condo that I just bought. And I want to make it a thing that after I come home from work, I go step into the foot into the gym. And I was telling the girls inside of my community, like that was my goal for myself, was to go spend 10 or 15 minutes inside the gym. Well, I did that, but it wasn't to do cardio, it wasn't to go lift weights, it was just to stretch. It was just to make the habit of I come home from work and I go to the gym. And I'm so glad that I did that for myself because there is a version who would have emotionally ate, binge ate to deal with all the feelings, but then also would have neglected to take care of my body. And right now, taking care of my body, the best thing that I ever did for it was rest. And I literally took over eight weeks off of the gym. Eight weeks off of the gym. So I'm navigating a very tough season. I have no confidence in buying a condo and going through a mortgage process. I've never done that before. It felt really scary. So I'm having these big emotions, some very low love feelings. I am navigating a mortgage journey that I don't feel very confident in. And now I can't work out, which is normally a good outlet for me. It was almost like the old version of myself was coming and knocking and saying, Hey, who are we going to be? Are you going to be the woman who gives up on yourself? Are you going to be the woman who allows this to be an excuse as to why you can't do it? And it feels so freaking good to be the woman who does show up for myself. It feels so good to have the confidence that I'm navigating a hard time in life, but I have the confidence that I'm going to close the gap and get back on track. And I had that confidence that I knew I was going to get back in the gym because I do the things that I say I'm going to do every single time. Like my word is law. Now, does it take me a couple avenues to get there and different detours? Yes, because I try things, I fail, and I realign with what my goal is. Like, what is the next step for me? So although I wasn't confident in the mortgage buying process, I love that I was the woman who was like, no, I am going to close the gap as soon as my body is giving me signals, it is ready. And it feels really good to be that woman because there is a version of me that that old woman would have come knocking and I would have repeated the loop that I'd always repeated in previous years. I struggled with emotional eating, overeating, binge eating for a very long time as I subscribe to diet culture. But because I am a woman who keeps pretty promises to myself, who does the things I say I'm going to do, it feels really good to know that I have built the skill to close the gap and get back on track. And while I wasn't working out, I was doing the things that I did have control over, which includes drinking my water and staying hydrated. You guys know my hydro drug goes with me everywhere that I go. And I was still cooking from home. I was still meal prepping. I did track my macros and have tracked for almost 400 days, y'all. 400 days of tracking my macros as a recovered binge eater. And that allows me so much confidence. I'm excited because the things that I'm working on behind the scenes are the things that I have struggled with that I have really navigated out of. And I just want to help everyone in the world. Like I want to help women achieve feeling really confident in their skills and in their body again. And I want to help women keep promises to themselves and master macros because I think a lot of people have really messed up relationships with food. But if you just understood food, like you understood your finances, you know, your macros is essentially your budget. What bills are you going to pay? Your home bill, your car notes, your insurance, your phone bill, internet, whatever. You have all these expenses and you know exactly where your budget goes, but you don't know where your macros go. And when you take the emotion out of it and you take it away as a coping mechanism and you look at it as how do you want to spend your currency, macros are really an incredible way to bring awareness to your habits so that you can make small tweaks to honor your body and to achieve your goals. You guys know me. I like small promises, which is exactly why I created Pretty Promises for 30 Days. It is both a masterclass and a 30-day challenge, and I am so happy for the women inside of my community because they're doing it. I will censor everybody's names, but client B says, I have a commitment to an early bedtime so that I can get my mornings on point. And I'm in Easter time, so I'm catching the replay now, excited to watch. Yes, I love this for client B. I have client M. My pretty promise is to not eat or stress snack after my kids go to bed around 8 p.m. I did meet this goal yesterday, and tonight I did get a Diet Coke, which I'm currently sipping, but not snacking. I'm also working on having available prepared meals in my fridge. Tonight is a win. I had leftover homemade chicken sandwich and boiled some corn. This is incredible. Um, client L, my pretty promises to track my food and water intake. And I think this is just such an incredible goal for her because I've seen her already tracking, but this is going to give her the power to do it consistently, and I'm so excited for her. Client C is my pretty promise is 10 minutes of physical therapy a day, along with staying hydrated. These are not big promises, but they are here so that they can build confidence and momentum towards their goals. These are these are promises that they've made to themselves in the past, but they haven't followed through on consistently. So they're inside the challenge. They are committed, they are engaging in the daily prompts that are given. And I just love this for them. Client K says, I'm attempting my cut numbers again after a really tough two months. My pretty promise is to shorten the gap to one day or less. Meaning, if I go over my cut calories and my macros, the next day will be right back at my numbers. I feel like this is flexible enough to allow me to live, but also strict enough to keep me, she says, keep my pretty little ass accountable. I just, I love the women inside of my community. And if you are listening to this and you have a fear of missing out, which you should because it's just incredible in there, there is going to be another challenge coming and it will be a six-week challenge because this is this is so much fun. This is so much fun. This is so much fun for me. It's so much fun for the girls inside my community. And I am bringing to you guys at the end of this month, right now will be early bird pricing, and I'll put the links in the show notes for you to sign up. If you're like, yes, I've been wanting to track my macros, but I don't even know where to start. I had a masterclass that I ran for free earlier this year, and if you caught it, like good for you, because I knew I was never gonna do that for free again. It is so good. The feedback that I got from that macros masterclass, one woman specifically, client G, she says, I understand the why. And we were talking about fats in particular because she thought the bacon on her plate was what was contributing to the fat when it was actually the olive oil. And it was just such a good aha moment, and you will experience that when you start tracking your macros. So if you're interested and you're like, I don't know what my macros should be, I don't even know how to track or how to weigh food. This is gonna be the masterclass for you. I'll put the link in the show notes. What the F are macros masterclass and six-week challenge. I I just love it here. I love it here. I've been through a really hard transition this year, but it grew my capacity. It proved to myself who the fuck I am, which is I'm Sammy Snow. And I do the things I say I'm going to do. And while my body needed rest and recovery, I did not abandon myself. And I that's the message that I want you to take away. So if you're navigating a really tough season, things are feeling out of your control, you're having a hard time keeping up, you're feeling low, maybe even possibly depressed. There's kind of a moment that I was like, I think I might be clinically depressed. If you felt like that, I just want you to know you can still treat yourself pretty, even in those moments. You can still prove to yourself who it is that you are. You can be the woman who is going through a hard time but also shows up for herself. You can be a woman who does the things that she says she's going to do and keep promises. You can be the woman to create confidence in your life and feel incredible in your body. And if you want to join me, I would love to have you inside of these courses that I am creating for you. Let's connect on Instagram at coach Sammy Snow. I would love nothing more than to be a part of your world and cheer you on. And before I let you go, this is just who I am to a core. Okay. I had a moment this weekend that happened and it was very explosive for me. This is, I have never been so starstruck. Okay, you guys, I met Alicia Baumgartner. Alicia Baumgardner, you know the bomb. She is the lightweight, featherweight world champion boxer. She's incredible. So what happened? Some of you guys know that I am a car girly and have been a driver's enthusiast my entire life. Um, it doesn't matter what I'm in. I could be at a 98 Toyota Corolla and I'm mobbing the hoe. But I am pulling up to a stoplight and I see this really beautiful SQ8 coming up beside me. It's orange, it's just a really unique looking car, and I was checking it out. And as as she pulls up next to me, I realize that it's a female. Her windows are halfway rolled down, and I'm like, girl, you are my kind of lady. Like, yes, I'm loving it. And I am so glad that I am the woman who loves to empower other women, who loves to compliment women, because she looked at me and I realized I was looking at Alicia Baumgartner. We were making eye contact, my jaw, it dropped. I said, You're Alicia Baumgartner. And she goes, Yes, I am. And I fangirled you guys, it was, it was oh my gosh, I totally embarrassed myself. I couldn't help it, but I just love that once she was so kind and she let me hype her up because I could not stop. Literally, quite literally, I would not shut up about how much I loved her and watch watching her fights and how incredible I think she is and the way that she was looking at Joshua. Like, oh, you guys know. If you guys know, you guys know, okay. But either way, I had this moment and it was such a short, small interaction. I wanted to pull out my phone and record it, but it just felt like too good to leave the moment. And it was just such an authentic experience. And you guys, she reposted me on Instagram. I was like, which is even better than getting it on cont on camera. Anyway, I am just saying that because I am the woman who always compliments women, and that exchange, that black girl magic that I experienced talking to Alicia Baumgartner, yes, I said that. It was really powerful for me. And it's a testimony to the woman that I am because I am always uplifting other women, and that exchange would not have happened if I didn't say anything. So I want to leave you on that note to go empower another woman, to go empower yourself, treat yourself pretty, and I can't wait to connect with you next week's episode. Bye! Love y'all.