Unmasking Greatness
Join Fitness/LifeStyle Expert & Mentor Chris Kakouras talk about maximizing your health, business, mindset, and overall life! Let's get better together as I bring on amazing guest to interview and learn from!
Unmasking Greatness
Unmasking Bailey Cisson: How Losing 100 Pounds Changed Everything
Bailey Cisson's transformation story will stop you in your tracks. At 220 pounds and just 5'3", she'd reached a point where walking through Target left her winded and parking spot hunting became an Olympic sport. Fast forward to today, and she's 100+ pounds lighter, a bodybuilding champion, and completely reinvented her relationship with food, fitness, and herself.
What makes Bailey's journey uniquely powerful is how she navigated both the physical and mental obstacles of extreme weight loss. After years of failed HIIT workouts while dining out 5-6 times weekly, a doctor's blunt assessment—"you're just overweight"—finally triggered her turning point. Through disciplined nutrition changes and eventually embracing strength training over cardio-focused exercise, Bailey discovered that building muscle wasn't just aesthetically transformative—it created a metabolic engine that revolutionized her body's function.
The podcast reveals intimate details of Bailey's struggles with emotional eating, family dynamics that complicated her health journey, and the unexpected hurricane that nearly derailed her first bodybuilding competition. Coach T'abren Wallace joins the conversation, sharing behind-the-scenes insights on how they navigated prep challenges together, including a miraculous chicken-cooking rescue mission amid power outages and gas shortages.
Beyond the physical transformation, Bailey's mental evolution shines through. From desperately wanting to be "skinny" to proudly building "boulder shoulders," her perspective on health has completely shifted. Now working at a nutrition store and launching her own podcast to help other women navigate fitness intimidation, she offers this powerful reminder: "Nothing's going to change unless you do." The future Bailey thanks the past Bailey for taking that first step—what step will you take today?
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Welcome to Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, a lifestyle fitness coach and mentor. This podcast is about unmasking your greatest potential, finding your purpose and crafting a life worth living. Health and fitness has been the gateway drug to all of my success. My continuous drive to keep learning and surround myself with other high achievers forces me to level up, which has developed my mind to something I never thought was possible. This podcast is here to share what I've learned and continue to learn with all of you. This is your sign to take back control of your health, mindset and personal environment. Strap in as we are recharged and always find value in the show. Please subscribe and share, as we can all get better together. Let's go. What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, and today I have two very special guests with me. Really excited for this one. A ton of value to unpack.
Speaker 1:But first we have Tiobre Wallace, coach T, who is one of our success coaches in CAC Performance, and then, very special guest we talked about bringing her on six to eight months ago Bailey Sisson, who is also one of our clients, but her story is truly inspirational. It is going to touch a lot of you guys in multiple ways, because from her background of losing over 100 pounds to going through eating disorders and then even winning her first bodybuilding show along with us, there's a lot of peaks and valleys in there, but also a lot of personal development, a lot of mindset. I'm sure that went into that. So you are not the same, I assume for sure. So let's lead into it. So, bailey, I'm glad to have you on into it. So, bailey, I'm glad to have you on. Let us give us a little background on you and tell us kind of the journey of where were you when you were 100 pounds overweight till kind of now, like how'd you, how'd you get here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so August 2020, I was 220 pounds, I think I was 23. That math might be right. I think I was 23. So I was still in college and still living at home. Math might be right. I think I was 23. So I was still in college and still living at home and I just kind of. I was kind of at this point where I was just feeling like I guess I'm always going to be the fat girl, like I'm just always always pretty much always been overweight. Like in high school I was a little bit more on the average side, but like I didn't play a ton of sports, I was more into theater, and that should tell you really all you need to know, Acting like someone you're not.
Speaker 2:But I just got to this point where I was feeling so awful all the time, I had so many horrible symptoms and I probably still, honestly, in my phone I probably still have that list that I took to the doctor and I'll get to that in a minute. Yeah, um, but I had like the worst brain fog. Um, I, I couldn't focus on anything. Um, obviously overweight and walking was difficult. I'm also 5'3", so that much weight on a frame my size is kind of a lot, A lot yeah.
Speaker 2:But I was eating out a lot. I was probably eating out like five or six days a week. Jeez, Multiple meals a day. Eating at home was oh, we're eating at home tonight, and when I'm making something at home, it was like the Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup or like chicken quesadillas or you know, like not healthy.
Speaker 1:Sounds good.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, right yeah. You want the recipe I got you. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I got to this point where there were some girls that I had worked with who had thyroid issues. And I was like I've got to have a thyroid issue Because I'm working out five days a week. I was doing HIIT exercises at like a boutique gym, so I was working out five days a week, consistent High intensity for an hour but also eating like shit, trying to offset. Can I say shit?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can say whatever you want, because I just said it twice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was like, well, I'm doing all I can, you know why am I not losing weight? Why am I not feeling better? So I was like got to have a thyroid issue. So I went to the doctor. They ran the labs, she felt around and she's like, yeah, your thyroid looks good, You're just overweight. And I was like, hmm, not what I wanted to hear. So that's where I was kind of like, okay, food's got to change. So I did Whole30.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's kind of like okay, food's got to change. So I did Whole30. Okay, which is more so of a. I wouldn't even call it a diet or like necessarily like a lifestyle change, because it's really just an inflammatory diet to see what food groups are causing inflammation in your body.
Speaker 2:And clearly, when I look back at old pictures of me, my face looks like I was on like prednisone, like my face was so round and puffy Like my, my body was just so inflamed and like I had. I had a lot of that on me too, but I had so much inflammation just from the foods that I were I was eating that that was also contributing to a lot of issues as well. And so in that 30 days I was 100% consistent. I did not cheat once I don't want to say cheat because that's not a good word to use with that diet, but I stuck exactly to the way I was supposed to eat and stuck to like whole foods, literally a protein, a vegetable and, um, like a starch, potatoes, um. But I stuck to it and ended up losing 15 pounds in 30 days, okay.
Speaker 2:And so I have like a picture of right before that and then also right after and there's like a clear difference. It honestly, it kind of looks like I lost more than 15 pounds.
Speaker 1:You think a lot of that was that inflammation that you were talking about as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then I stuck to it. I kept eating that way, like the dairy I didn't. I had a feeling that the dairy was probably a big player in what was making me feel bad. Now, I can eat dairy, no problem, which is very weird, but I think I was just eating it so much. The dairy alcohol is a big one for me, like added sugars, refined sugars, I mean, that's one for most people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially like with processed foods. So I try to keep it as whole as possible. Um, but I kept eating that way and I was losing. Probably. I want to say by the beginning of January I was 185. So, whatever the math is on that, I was 220 and then 185 in January. So in let's see.
Speaker 1:And you started it when. August like the middle of August.
Speaker 2:Okay, so like three months.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's pretty significant.
Speaker 2:So I just kind of kept and I kept eating this. I ate the same thing all the time. I ate ground chicken. I would cut up okra and I would put that in the air fryer.
Speaker 1:Like I wouldn't, like bread it or anything. I would just do okra in the air fryer and then potatoes in the air fryer.
Speaker 2:I wasn't weighing out any of my food, but that's like that's what I did. I kept it very simple, very easy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot of people sleep on air fryer though. Oh, for real, it's a hack.
Speaker 1:It's a big hack, you know. So let me. I want to back up just a minute too, because all right you was, you were overweight and you probably didn't just wake up you know a hundred pounds overweight. But like what was it? For you that was like, okay, like enough's enough, like I got to do something, I got to figure it out, because I feel horrible, like moving is just an effort, a high intensity exercise, as exercise as it is. So like what was it? That was like that tipping edge for you to be like okay, like I got to change.
Speaker 2:I don't know if there was like one particular thing, but I remember specifically like if I was going to Target I would drive around for minutes trying to find the closest parking spot so I wouldn't have to walk. And that is when I think about that now I'm like what? I will park farther now so I can get the extra steps, but it's like I would get so winded just walking inside of the store from the closest parking spot and that's just I don't know. It's just so sad to me.
Speaker 2:Like it's so sad that I spent so many years of my life feeling like that, when I could have spent a lot more years feeling healthy and good and like I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no for sure. I mean you start losing out the quality of life. It's not uncommon. I mean we've talked to people, like in the program too, that just you know they're older than you are and have kids and they they can't even walk through Disneyland. You know they can't go through an amusement park without needing a motorized wheelchair. Not because they can't walk is because they just physically can't, can't do it, and you start losing a lot of memories. I mean it's good that you've been able to catch it early I don't think it's ever too late, by no means but like, yeah, that quality of life. I mean I'm sure you've had friends that probably want to do, you know, hiking or physical activities and you just kind of probably opted out of that. So, yeah, I mean that's a tough spot to be in. I mean so mentally, I guess you was when you started kind of doing you know the HIIT classes and the whole 30, was that even a struggle for you? Or you were just so focused I was like I got to get this weight off.
Speaker 2:Like my mental.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my I was not in a good mental place too, and that also contributed to my eating, because I think I would eat a lot out of emotion, um, which again a very common thing. Um, but I was still living at home. My parents had divorce and I was kind of like um, I don't want to say like I was used as, uh, like an emotional crutch for my family, but I was definitely kind of that person that a lot of people came to to talk about their emotions and sort of like I don't want to say it sounds mean, but like dump their emotions and sort of like I don't want to say it sounds mean, but like dump their emotions onto me. And then I was left with um, so that I also had to like fight through that and honestly, I kind of had to like put myself on autopilot and just move through the motions. And I'll say sometimes I think that makes it a little bit easier when starting a health journey, because you kind of have to do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, you have to kind of go through the motions, because not all of it is going to be like amazing or I mean, you just got to, you got to do what you got to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you have to push through A lot of people with that, though they like so if they have like a bunch of family stuff with them too, they like to like include their family with everything and so, like, sometimes, when it comes to like fitness journeys in itself, people will tend to try to please the other people as well, and so whenever that happens, then it's kind of like well, now you need to focus on yourself at this point, you know, and so I've taken those steps there. I feel like you did really point, you know, and so I taken those steps there. I feel like you did really good, you know. Obviously, you know you weren't the first bodybuilder on the show, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I think that the road is lonely at first, right, because, like you said, with family, even when I started, and many people if your family members or you know close relatives are not into like working out or eating healthy, what you're doing is weird to them. You know, it's like they, they kind of low key, throw these little jabs like, oh, you're going to eat your chicken and rice again, or you know, this one cookie isn't going to ruin you. But you know, our, our headspace is like we're doing this for a reason and a purpose, so people are not going to understand all the time. You know what we're doing, why we're doing it, until like we've already done it and then they see the results and they're like maybe I should start doing this now. Yeah, you know, um, it definitely made a probably, and even for you, I don't know, have you has your friendship friend circle shifted from like who you used to hang out with versus now?
Speaker 2:yeah, I can imagine yeah, I've still got some friends. I mean, my circle, my close circle, is sort of small, but but I mean, I feel like I make friends everywhere and I'm always, you know, my, my friend group is big but my close circle is small. But, um, I think a lot of people feel, or can feel, intimidated, or if, um, just from what I've witnessed is like I've had a few friends who I think have wanted to be where I am but it's not happening quick enough because you gotta think, like, from where I am to where I was, that's five years yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it's a long time, but it's really not. It's gone by very quickly, but when you're at the beginning of that that seems very daunting, right yeah, you're like well, I gotta wait five years to be where I want to be did you have?
Speaker 1:did you you knew? I don't know if you ever thought like I was going to lose a hundred pounds, but you obviously probably had I need to lose 20, 50, 60, whatever it is. Did you put a timeline on certain things or were you just like I? Just I keep seeing the weight go down. Let's just keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. I just I just wanted to be out of the 200 club. Yeah, not a club I want to be in again, but that was like my biggest thing is I wanted to be like I didn't want to be 200 pounds anymore. I don't want to weigh more than my boyfriend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 200 club is not a yeah, it's not a VIP club anymore, unfortunately. Yeah, everybody's in that club. Now the obesity rate is continuing to go up. It's crazy Like we talk about it, because I'm not talking overweight Obesity rate is at 40% now in the U? S and it's going up and there's more access to training, coaches, nutrition, I mean free stuff out there and people just don't utilize it and I think it's a convenience thing. You know potentially why. Maybe fast food or going out to eat was just more convenient for you, maybe? Yeah, I mean, or yeah, I don't know, you tell me, was it a convenience or was it just kind of?
Speaker 2:It was more of like a definitely convenience because I'll be honest, I didn't want to be at home.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:I wanted to. I didn't want to be at home, so it was convenience for sure, but then also, like, it was like a like oh, I want Chipotle so I have to get Chipotle. Or like I want Mexican food, so let's go get Mexican. Or, oh my God, chick-fil-a Bruh. I would have a 10-count chicken mini in the morning with extra large hash brown and then like a large vanilla iced coffee every morning.
Speaker 2:Dang yeah, that'll add up yeah, yeah, and like my chipotle order, like that was, this is kind of like getting off, but, um, my chipotle order was kind of like insane. Like I would get a burrito like fill it with literally everything, and then also get a quesadilla and eat the quesadilla on the way home as my appetizer before I eat.
Speaker 1:Low key.
Speaker 3:Low key like a little impressive, but also just like self-sabotage, yeah, so if that gives you like an idea, cause I was.
Speaker 2:I was overeating too, but yeah, Does that answer that question?
Speaker 1:So let's go back to the, the back to 30, or not.
Speaker 1:Sorry Back to 30, the whole 30. So you're going through this process. You're losing weight. I'm sure at some point during this the weight was stalling occasionally. So how did you approach that? Because there's going to be a lot of people that are listening to this, that are trying to lose weight and if they don't see the scale go down one week, it's like nothing's working, like this isn't working anymore, like I need to change, like where was your headspace on? Like okay, do I keep pushing? Do I keep doing the same thing? Do I change things?
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly I can't remember exactly, but I know exactly the numbers that I stalled at, because 185 was one, okay, and 170 was another, and then 160 was another, and now 150 is kind of another. But I ended up getting a coach. I got a personal trainer in January, so I started working with her and that's when I was 185. And so, as I started working with her and doing more weight training as opposed to the HIIT exercises, that's when the weight started to come down more, but I was still eating the same. I was still literally that okra, the ground chicken and the potatoes. I would eat that, um, but that that's. I think she really helped me a lot because I worked with her for about eight months.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so I'm going to um, I mean, I know the answer, but I'm going to try to kind of pitch it to you in a way that you can hit it. So why do you feel like, from stalling doing the HIIT training and then now diet didn't change, purely like going in and doing some strength training or personal trainer, like why do you think that was what got you to start like chipping back down at your weight?
Speaker 2:and your body fat, you're building the muscle. And when you have more muscle, you're you're burning more calories, right? Is that the?
Speaker 1:answer yeah, that is, that is exactly. Yeah, I mean, this is this is. You know, I think I never try to like down talk when you're talking about bootcamp classes or you know high intensity, you know all of those yoga classes, things like that. I think it all serves its purpose. I think if you are significantly overweight, you're just burning a ton of calories in a short period of time, and I think that is good, considering more than likely they haven't been doing anything prior, so it's good to do something like that. At some point they'll get to where you're at, to where now those classes were not designed to put on healthy muscle tissue and tissue is literally the organ of life. Like, if you want to have a long, prosperous life, you need healthy muscle tissue. It is also going to improve your physique and your appearance. You're going to start sculpting or toning.
Speaker 1:A lot of people want to use the word toning. Toning is just such a broad term. I don't, you know, I feel like I hear this more with with female clients than anything. They just want to tone. But honestly, all that means is you just want to drop some body fat percentage and you want to see some muscle. Right, it's just a. It's a recomp, Um so, but with that muscle also comes, like you said, it increases your metabolism in a sense that you are now going to be able to burn more calories at rest, which is going to help you work smarter and not harder, so you don't have to like kill yourself in the gym. Now it's like let's put some good, healthy muscle tissue on You're still eating healthy and let that fat burning kind of happen on the back end. And so, yeah, I mean massive shift in that one. And you probably I don't know you tell me like, did you feel different, like stronger, healthier, by doing that, versus just crushing yourself at a bootcamp class?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, definitely Definitely stronger. And then like, the more you get stronger, the more you're like I want to get even stronger. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like it's kind of like and like.
Speaker 2:Now I'm like super strong now and I'm sure like there's a lot of people who can relate to this, this but I've spent so much time wanting to be skinny and wanting to be like the smallest version of myself. Now I'm like, uh-uh, I gotta get some muscles on, like there's nothing that makes me feel like cooler than like if I have my shirt off in the gym and like I'm walking my weights back, like if I'm doing upper body and I see like my tricep and my belt, and I'm like, oh yeah, that's like you sent me that picture when you was in.
Speaker 3:I think it was Hawaii. Yes, I'm like, did you show, chris? I didn't.
Speaker 2:I showed Giles, my husband, and he was like you look like a man, but I'm like so far away and I'm standing behind a Jeep but like the way I like have my arm, my belt is just like popped.
Speaker 1:It's like actually insane looking. That's no, that's awesome. I think you know, when it comes to your physique, these are things that you can't buy. So when I see somebody that is healthy, that is fit and not necessarily bodybuilder shape, I'm just saying, like, in general, you look healthy, you look like you take care of yourself. A sense of respect is automatically given to you, right, right, Because you take care of yourself. Like you, you care about your life. I'm sure you care about others around you. So to me, when I see people that are fit like that, I mean I can, I can already sense some discipline, some consistency, a little more trust with you, you know. So I think that, um, that comes along with it for sure.
Speaker 1:So there's that picture if you want to see it. Oh yeah, I wonder if you know we're doing a video here. I might see. If I can, you send that to me and I'll clip it in. Y'all can see the boulder shoulder. So did you tell your husband, like, go do the dishes, all right. So you got. You got with the trainer, all right. You stayed with her for I don't know how long. Yeah, eight months, eight months, okay. And then from how long? From then to when you came to us and why did you come to us?
Speaker 2:So it was about a year? Yeah, so it was about a year, because I came to you guys in September of 23. Because I was getting married October of 23.
Speaker 2:That's right, and I was like, honestly, I think I came to you guys more for like mental, because I'm like, if I feel like I'm doing, you know, a more regimented, you know schedule, a little bit more structure, I'll feel better. So I came to you guys for that and, obviously, like I was doing the workouts and eating the meal plan, um, and after the wedding this is probably like November I was like T, I think I want to do a show and he's like okay, great, actually think about it, though Like don't just don't just jump into it. Yeah, actually think about it, cause it really affects everything, Like it affects your relationships, it affects your work, it can affect your mental. Like you need to actually think about it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah. I want to just touch on real quick because one of the reasons I'm sure he talked about this because he knew a little bit about your past. And with bodybuilding it is very restrictive for a purpose. I mean, it's a sport, you know. So you're just kind of taking things to a whole other level of discipline and consistency and you got to be mentally strong for sure. But you have mentioned in the past about having a food disorder or, you know, looked at I don't know, like binge eating more so.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah. So that's kind of what I want to figure out is like, okay, what was the I mean binge eating was the thing? Were you worried about going into something that's more rigid? I mean, even Whole30 is a lot more rigid than what you were doing. But then, talking about doing bodybuilding, were you scared that those urges could come back or arise? Or were you kind of like, okay, no, I'm good at this point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think my issue wasn't so much the actual prep. I think my problem, or what I was scared of most and I shared this with you was after, like after my show. I was terrified of one like binging to the point where I would be like gaining an insane amount of weight back, which I think is also a common thing.
Speaker 1:Very, very common.
Speaker 2:And also being fat again, like that's not something I want to be ever again. And I was a little nervous that you know I was going to fall off, like I was going to give in to all of these wants that I had been craving, you know, because my prep was very long too. Yeah, that I'd been craving for whatever the seven months we were on prep. So but like the actual prep, I like the structure of it. Honestly, I'm kind of looking forward to getting back to it. I'm kind of like all right, when am I going?
Speaker 2:to start. But yeah, I wasn't so much nervous about the restriction of it, but more so jumping back into like regular life and navigating that afterwards.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's very yeah, it's super common, because when people and this is something like we talk to all of our, you know, anybody that wants to compete that is the biggest thing that I like hone in on is like, okay, we're going to do this prep for, you know, 16, 20 weeks, you know, whatever, however long it's going to take for us to do this prep, it doesn't end after the show. You know you need at least another four to eight weeks of re-comping, rebounding out of that diet, because most people and I did this my first show, dude, it was like pizza, donuts, all kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:He's not the only one, yeah, I think a lot of us make that mistake in the beginning, and afterwards it's like, okay, I won't do that ever again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you look like straight trash in a matter of like 48 hours. I've even heard people gain almost 20 pounds in like a matter of days and that's dangerous. I mean it's really dangerous. People end up in the hospital because of that kind of stuff. So you, dangerous, I mean it's really dangerous. People end up in the hospital because of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:So you know, now me knowing what I know and having that experience, I'm very like, hey, listen, you got to listen to me or trust me, this is going to happen and some people listen and some people don't, you know, but the ones that listen you can definitely tell, you know. So that part. But I think for you it sounds like just having that structure, having a system to follow. It takes a lot of the guesswork out, a lot of the thinking, or even giving you options of which fast food restaurant do I want to go to today. So but is that? Is that why you feel like you, you are kind of ready to get back on this nutrition plan is because you like the consistency of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like to know exactly what's going in. I like to know exactly what I'm doing and I mean, like even now, like I have my meal plan and like, praise, it is pancakes every day. It's actually. It's so great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, so I will miss that.
Speaker 2:I will miss that. But, um, I do really love to know exactly what's going on and I've become more type A. I've always been type B, clearly, where I'm like flying by the seat of my pants doing whatever I want. But now I'm like, okay, I have a little too much free will, let's take it away. Not really, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, kind of just dial it in. Yeah, dial it in. Yeah, the lifestyle diet is very, very much different.
Speaker 3:So, like intuitive eating, things like that, sometimes it can get a little out of control. Some people just don't know and want to stop, you know. Yeah, yeah, especially with intuitive eating, because it's just too much freedom for people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I always say that Too much freedom makes people in trouble and it's very easy to lie to yourself too, which I used to do that a lot.
Speaker 2:It's very easy to eat, for example, like you got a cake in front of you right, you can eat half of it and you can say, well, I only ate some of it. That's kind of true, you did only eat some of it. Like you didn't eat all of it, but you did eat half of it, queen. Like you did eat half.
Speaker 1:Of it, you justify it yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And I think that was for me, that was a lot of my problem is I would justify it and be like oh well, you know, I didn't eat the whole thing. I just say I left like that much left.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know you can't do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, having some accountability, knowing that you have to answer and you know, sending your check-ins, the numbers don't lie, the metrics don't lie, you know. So we can kind of pinpoint things. So how was it? You know, obviously coach T over here was the one that guided you through your prep. Where did, like, what did you feel like was super beneficial on his end, from you know, him holding you accountable, to just dialing you in? Just tell me your experience, like how was it, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, it was really nice to have somebody to like like the guidance. The guidance was great Cause you've been through it. So, you, you already you know what to expect. I had no idea, um, if I had questions about anything, if I, um, you know, was feeling really bad one day, or, um, especially more so, post prep or post show, you know, I'm like I feel chubby hell and he's like no, no, you, you look great like post post show. There's been times where he will in my check ins like pull up maybe, like comparisons from when you were that specific weight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like oh, I don't look that bad.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But if I look at it on my own I'm like hold on. But then when you look at them together you're like, oh, there's so much more muscle, like I actually look great. So that is like someone to kind of like bring you back down.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's been very helpful too. But in prep, I mean like we met up and did posing some, which was very helpful, just having like that person who knows what's going on and what you're going through to kind of just help you navigate what's going on.
Speaker 1:That was very, very helpful. Did you guys run into any like roadblocks through prep, like going into the show, or was it pretty smooth for you?
Speaker 3:I think it was for the most part pretty smooth. There were times where we kind of, when we first started off, we were just like on a strict, you know four or five meals a day, and then we kind of switched over because her weight wasn't dropping. So then we switched over to a carb cycle and so once we switched over to that carb cycle it started dropping like that and I was like this is the way to go. And then once that happened, then you know, um, we've kind of figured out too that she doesn't like sweet potatoes. Her body just can't do them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Some people just some people just can't do it, and she's one of them. So, yeah, I think that's the cool thing about doing, you know, these preps is you learn a lot about your body. You learn about, like, what foods digest well with you, uh, what you've hold well. But even with, like, a carb cycle, if you guys don't know, with a carb cycle it's, it's a great tool to help with weight loss. It's not something you should do inevitably forever, but you have to be really good at being consistent.
Speaker 1:It's not somebody that can just kind of, you know, spit ball and throw different foods in every single day and hit your macros.
Speaker 1:I think there's just there's too many variables to go into that for it to work correctly. So, you know, and me and Coach T we talk about this a lot, like if somebody is qualified for it, you know, are they ready, are they committed to be able to do something like that Because it works right, but only if it's done like 100% Right. And not only that, and you notice this too, with carb cycling you'll have high days, you'll have low days, sometimes moderate days, but weight is a little bit of an influx due to just the glycogen in the water that you're holding, based on where you are in that cycle. So mentally as well, you know you have to be okay with seeing that scale, kind of have these peaks and valleys that are mild, right, but at the same time, if you're someone that just like can't stand to go up half a pound, it may freak you out. Yeah, you know so, but then let's talk about the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's talk about the show the crazy show.
Speaker 2:The whirlwind yeah so genetically.
Speaker 1:first off, I just want to say, like you are genetically blessed in your legs, like you have great calves, great quads, hands Like.
Speaker 1:Lower body is like built for wellness, which is the division that we decided for you, or you decided really, but I think it was optimal, you know, for the category. So for those that don't know, wellness is a division where it's obviously you have to be in good shape, but lower body dominant I always like relate it to like a Brazilian right. That's kind of like the look that they go for, which I don't have any Brazilian in me, believe it or not. Body dominant I always like relate it to like a Brazilian Right. That's kind of like the look that they go for. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which I don't have any Brazilian in me, believe it or not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but these legs from the gods.
Speaker 3:So yeah.
Speaker 1:So we prepped for that one and that show actually, yeah, crazy show, that show. We prepped for that show and it ended up.
Speaker 2:It was the weekend of hurricane, yeah, like the the morning before. That was when everything went down, literally, and I remember waking up at like six in the morning and I hadn't made my fish, which, because I was eating cod and I like woke up out of a dead sleep. It was like well, 5, 30 or 6 and I was like the power's still on and I was like well, 530 or 6.
Speaker 2:And I was like the power's still on and I was like I need to make my fish and like while I'm making my fish, the power goes out. So it was like God saying Bailey, come on, make the cod, make the cod. But yeah, that was crazy.
Speaker 3:I will say this, though I don't know any other coach that does this Coach T came in clutch yeah, During this storm she had no power. I couldn't find chicken anywhere.
Speaker 2:He was driving around, like to the stores she ran out of chicken.
Speaker 3:I couldn't find any anywhere and I stopped at this one store. Luckily they were open. Aldi Got a pack, a seven-pound pack of chicken, dang the last one on the shelf, snacked that bad boy up and went back to the house because I didn't lose power.
Speaker 1:I had power all the time.
Speaker 3:And so I went back to the house and I cooked the chicken for her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like who else is going to do that? Yeah, exactly Right. I've had the joy on your face as like a kid on Christmas for some chicken. Joy on your face with like a kid on Christmas for some chicken For real and like.
Speaker 2:It was like a trek to get over to your house because none of the lights were working. It was complete chaos and anarchy.
Speaker 3:If anybody drove that day like rip Because it was rough- yeah, good luck trying to get ahold of somebody too, because service was terrible yeah service was down.
Speaker 1:Good luck trying to get gas. Gas stations were running out of gas or you was waiting for like two hours to get gas, yeah, so with this show it's in. If you guys don't know, we're in Spartanburg, greenville, south Carolina. The show was in Spartanburg, the venue had no power, so, of course, like there's no chance that we're doing a show there anymore, and this is literally a day before. And so we had what did? We have Three, four, five clients in that show, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, was it three? Yeah, five. And so I'm trying to message people with a delay because the service was down. And so I said look, guys, we're just trying to keep up. We don't know what's going to happen yet, and we're trying to check Instagram for the promoter to kind of like keep, keep us up to date, what's happening. So they eventually decided to move the show same day, same time, but in Columbia, which isn't like too too far. It's like an hour or so, that's far.
Speaker 3:That's far. You're going from 10 minutes down the road to an hour.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ten minutes down the road to an hour, yeah, but what was scary part about it is the gas situation. People were like I don't know if I'm going to have gas to get there and come back if there's no gas anywhere. So we collectively kind of like made a decision together. Like I mean, you guys have been in prep for so long.
Speaker 1:They're like let's risk it Because the next show would have been like two weeks later or something right, yeah, yeah, because I also I said that as well, kind of like, hey, like this is the other option. We could push you guys out and keep in mind you guys already gone through peak week by this point. Yeah, literally like the whole peak week. Yeah, yeah, and everybody's like no, like let's go, let's do it. And so me and t were like yo, let's, let's pack up, let's roll. And uh, we went down there columbia looked like they didn't really get hit hard when we got down there.
Speaker 3:You know what? Actually, they did everything the same day. They had to tan in that morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It was at like 10 o'clock, I think, and then the show didn't start until 12. And they ran straight through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and the turnout was actually really good. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:So tell us about that experience, the nerves, oh yeah, like I was like panicking, but not panicking, because I was like all right, if I panic, I'm going to look good for me. So I was like, okay, well, I got to chill. I didn't have any internet so I couldn't see anything on Instagram. No emails. I think y'all were like trying to figure out what's going on, so I'm like waiting to hear from y'all.
Speaker 2:I was sitting in my car most of the day trying to charge my phone and then like between that I was like, okay, send a check, in charge my phone, try to eat something, check in. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, my husband worked that day and we had two trees down on either side of the street, so somehow I don't know how he went to work. He works for UPS, so they're like you better get here or your butt is grass. So he jumped a ditch somehow. I don't know how he did it, but he has a truck, so my Subaru was not doing that. But I was panicking because of the tan, because I was like, okay, if they're still doing it here, I need to figure out how to get to the tan, because if not, I'm going to be very pale and that's not going to be good. But ended up, they said everything was the next day.
Speaker 2:When Giles got home, I was like all right, we're going to need to go to Columbia. And he's like okay. So we went to Columbia. We got the last, the last hotel room, I think, in all of columbia. I don't know what that hotel was called, but I hope I never experience it again. Oh god, it was one of those hotels dare I say motel that like you're like, I'm not sleeping under these sheets, I'm, I'm gonna try not to touch anything in here. Um, so I think that was probably the worst sleep of my life, cause I was like this, like I had brought a blanket to sit on for for the show, um, and I used it to cover our pillows.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, resilient.
Speaker 2:Um so, uh, there was that. And like as soon as we could, we were like, all right, let's go. And then we went to the venue and it was actually very chill and everybody was very nice and nobody seemed to be very stressed. So I was like, okay, all right, cool. But the day went by so fast.
Speaker 3:Always does.
Speaker 2:It went by so fast, but it was so much fun. It was like get the tan, okay well, and oh my like get the tan, okay well, and I and all oh my gosh, I need to shout my friends out too.
Speaker 2:All my friends came. Oh yeah, it makes me want to cry. Like all my friends still showed up for me. I had called them the the night before. I was like please don't feel obligated to come. Like I know you guys love me, like you don't have to. And then my one of my really good friends she lives in pickens. Actually she was like um bailey, what do you mean? You, you have worked so hard. Of course we're going to be there, what do you mean? But yeah, like all my friends came, so I got to see them and then you know, like it was like makeup and the girl who did my makeup was like going in on me, like she had like some kind of vendetta. I don't know what I did for her, but she was like going in on my waterline, like I hurt her feelings or something that, and then put the suit on and then it's like okay, go, go, go, go, go. I don't know, does the show always run that quickly?
Speaker 3:No, not really no Funny story. Actually I did the same show two years ago.
Speaker 2:We actually won overall Total flex, but whatever, Funny story.
Speaker 3:Actually I did the same show two years ago, I think it was two years ago. Yeah, we actually won overall. Yeah, total flex.
Speaker 1:But whatever, just drop that in the bucket. This isn't about you two, yeah.
Speaker 3:Turn the mic off. When I did it two years ago, we actually had intermission, so I think we started with maybe 10, and then I was done maybe by like 12 or 1. Then I came back like at 4, and we were done by like 6 or 7. So it's usually split in between.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will say, like back when COVID happened, that's when like a lot of like the way they were running shows has shifted and I think it was a blessing in disguise, because it really to the competitors it was kind of a blessing Because it used to be pre-judging in the morning, there usually was like a three-ish hour intermission and then the nighttime show would start, and now they're doing like a 20-minute intermission where we just kind of roll through it and you can get in and out, because there was times, like we've done shows where people aren't leaving until like 9. Oh wow, you do a national show when there's that many people. You know, I hope that you guys win and turn pro, but just plan on being there until like damn near midnight because you've got to wait for the whole show to finish. They want all the overall people to be on stage to take the pictures, right, yeah, yeah, I remember when I turned pro, like it was cool, the only thing that was open was Waffle House.
Speaker 1:At that point, yeah, you know, and I had all these ideas like what I'm going to eat, yeah, and I was like, well, I guess there's tomorrow. So yeah, but yeah, so okay, wellness, you won first place not once, not twice, but three times.
Speaker 2:Novice, true novice and class A, I think, was mine. Yeah, and so it was me and another girl for overall and she was also like 10 feet tall. But, she really did look great, she looked great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us that feeling.
Speaker 2:It was. I mean, it was like kind of crazy, like you're like, okay, this is it, and you got to like, you know, keep it moving and do what you gotta do, and um I I blacked out each time I I went up um.
Speaker 3:Did you hear anybody in the crowd?
Speaker 2:yeah, I, yeah. I heard you. My mom was like who's that guy yelling for you? And I was like mom, that's my coach. What do you?
Speaker 1:mean a random, random guy in the back.
Speaker 2:But, um, I remember, like when I was going out to do my individual routine, there was a girl behind me and I was trying to like run through you know, just to kind of like just to say, okay, all right, I went through it, I'm good, I got it. Every time I would start and I would get into my, like you know, the next part. This girl would talk to me and I was like On stage. No, no, no Like backstage.
Speaker 2:Like in line to go onto stage. I was like girl, please, please, um, but yeah, I, I don't. I remember being up there, but I don't remember what I did.
Speaker 1:Like doing your routine. Yeah, I still got a video if you want to see it so no, no, no, I do too.
Speaker 2:I look at it every day when I'm on the stairs I'm like, okay, this is what we're doing it for, this is what we're doing it for. But yeah, like it was just, it was so fun and I remember getting off stage and being like I'm just happy to be here, I'm just happy to be here. Like I'm like I don't know, maybe, or like all my dopamine was like okay we're good.
Speaker 1:No, that's a huge accomplishment. You know, I think it's competing is not for everybody, nor is it like meant to be. But to go through something like that you learn a ton about yourself. You know outside of, just like you know eating the food and you know doing the training, the extra cardio and all that kind of stuff, I think is definitely more of a mental push, because you know when you are doing the cardio, you know some people deal with that differently. I can't look at the time because it just feels like forever on there. Um, but even with, like, the nutrition and everything else, you just build a another level of discipline and I think I don't know for me that's correlated into my everyday life.
Speaker 1:You know that you can push through some of the hardest times, which is probably why you're very resilient in everything that you do. At this point. You know because you're very consistent and you know that the path is not easy, right? I mean, I've been on a big kick here recently that there's a lot of people out there that, uh, they have goals or they want certain things, and a lot of people will.
Speaker 1:You know, whoever you pray to, whether it's god or the universe or higher powers. They'll say you know god, give me, give me this, give me all this money, or give me this success, or give me this relationship. And, um, sometimes you get it, and not the way that you expect. Which means that you know if you want that relationship, if you believe in God, maybe he made you go through one or two bad relationships to teach something about yourself, that you know what you want and what you don't want. Or you know, if you want the money and the success and all that, he'll make you go through those stages of just feeling completely gassed and burnt out, because if he just hands it to you, you won't know how to handle it, you won't know what to do. So you know, be careful what you ask for, but also embrace the hardships, because that is what's going to make you the person that you want to be.
Speaker 2:That's good yeah.
Speaker 1:That's good, yeah, that's good. So, but so you know kind of wrap this up with you know some of the listeners that I'm sure a lot of them probably have similar, similar goals as far as weight loss, potentially some of the things that you went through If somebody is, you know, overweight, they really want to lose weight, but they just they just can't. Is you know overweight, they really want to lose weight, but they just they just can't take that step, they just can't like figure out how to get motivated, what kind of advice would you give them that helped you kind of?
Speaker 2:start moving in that direction. Yeah, um, I mean, honestly, nothing's going to change unless you do Right? That's like one of those things you like. It's like read this and then it's like read that again. You know what I mean? That's like one of those things you like. It's like read this and then it's like read that again. You know what I mean it's like nothing's going to change unless you do so, I mean, and nobody's going to do the work for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you got to do it and and that's what I was saying.
Speaker 2:Like sometimes you got to put your head down, get through what you got to do and then do it again the next day. Rinse and repeat, yeah, and like you know, the you six months from now is going to thank you. And I say that to my patients at work too, like when they're recovering or they're like you know, I just can't, I can't do this, I can't do that. I'm like how were you a week ago Bad? Okay, can you do more than you could a week ago? Yes, okay. Well, think about where you're going to be two weeks from now. Yeah, think about like you're going to look back on our conversation right now and be like wow, I can't believe I was talking to that girl about not being able to do this. When I can, I can do that and I can do what you got to do to get to where you want to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we as humans anyways, we hone on all the things that we want or can't do, versus looking at the things that we can do now. It's easy to think so far ahead of I want to lose 100 pounds, but that can seem very distant and very far. But if you can just kind of focus on just one step at a time, it goes from how far you need to go to how far have I come, you know. So it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3:We do like. You know small wins and big wins. You know that a hundred pounds is a big win. Yeah, small. The small wins in between the five, the 10 pounds, in between there those are your small wins you know, yeah, and perspective is everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the way you look at something is everything, and I used to look at things like, really honestly, more negatively because I was like I'm just like you know, I'm so fat Like I'm not going to, I can't do this, I can't do that. Well, you know, now you got to look at things like in a different, through a different lens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure you know there's things that I want to do, still that you know I'm not quite where I want to be, whether it be like mentally, emotionally, whatever and you know I've got to put in the work to be able to get there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it should be a never-ending journey with a personal development, yeah. So, lastly, I'm going to give a little plug too, and also I don't know if this was a hack for you I will say, you know, doing the podcast started out as just kind of like me and Dr Preston Gregory joking, because we would have like deep conversations just me and him, and we're like, dude, we should just press record. It'd be cool, you know. And eventually we turned it into a podcast.
Speaker 1:But I love podcasts because when I really started making a shift in my life too, I would listen to people that were inspirational to me but also just got me thinking differently. And then I went down the rabbit hole of them bringing guests on and I'd be like, oh, that person's really interesting. I would start looking into them, reading a book that they wrote or something like that. So podcast was just a powerful tool for me. That's completely free for people to just grow as a person. And so I say that because you got, you and one of your friends, jc, are starting a podcast.
Speaker 2:Is that right? The Big Scoopers, the.
Speaker 1:Big.
Speaker 2:Scoopers at the nutrition store.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, so can you give us a little like I know you guys are just starting, but what's the kind of of? What's the concept? Like, what are you guys going to be talking about?
Speaker 2:So if you're familiar with the nutrition store, I think a lot of people think about you know Jacob and the other guys there. They're like, you know, big dudes, and you know me and JC are working there now too. So you know, we're just little girls, we're just little girls, so we're just trying to get a little bit more like female perspective on you know, supplements and just like fitness and health store in general is intimidating, but like gym culture can be, or like supplementing and stuff like that, I mean it's just out of the comfort zone of some people.
Speaker 3:It makes it seem like it's more bro-ish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I think like when you think like protein powder, creatine, like you just think you know, like you just big dudes like in the gym, like pushing heavy weight, but like girls can do that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, girls take creatine. Yeah, girls take protein, 5 grams every day Monohydrate only. So do you think there's going to be more? I'm sure there's going to be drops of, like you know, educational content with like supplementation, but do you feel like it's more of a more, more mental aspect going into the health and fitness?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um yeah. I mean we're kind of covering a lot of things like our um most recent uh podcast that we filmed. I can give you a little. A little we talked about it, so our thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:I'm going to listen to that which is kind of like a it's.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a hot topic. It is, and for me personally, I've got mixed feelings about it. I've got mixed feelings about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I mean, I definitely have my feelings on it, for sure. I think I don't know what your podcast, I don't know what you say, so I don't want to conflict with what you're saying either. Well, I mean, you can.
Speaker 2:That's the beauty of it, it's like we don't have to agree. But I mean honestly, we're probably on the same wavelength. I'll be honest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I honestly like this is my own personal opinion when it comes to any of those GLP-1s. You know there's such a negative look on PEDs and you know steroids, but at the same time, I would honestly like categorize it in kind of the same realm when you're looking at, you know, performance enhancing drugs, right, I mean, obviously, these are meant for diabetics in that sense, but it's a very powerful tool if done correctly. And that is where this is where the big shift is is because most people are willing to get on stuff like that and they think that's the magic, the magic shot, Magic pill. Yeah, this is going to fix all my problems. They're not changing their lifestyle, they're not changing their diet, they're not working out.
Speaker 1:And now I mean you probably would even say this too, because now there's studies I mean these people that are coming out with like osteoporosis, there's a lot of health conditions for people because they just basically starving themselves on this, on this drug. So you are losing weight, quote unquote Uh, but a lot of that is muscle tissue as well. So I don't like to say it's it's good or bad, it's just something that I think that needs to be monitored, uh, by a professional and also you. If, if you are not changing your lifestyle, you are setting yourself up for massive failure.
Speaker 2:And there's a study like talking about the loss of muscle mass and like osteoporosis. There is a study that I saw and if I can find it I'll send it to you. But basically if someone who's older, like say, above the age of 60, has less muscle mass on their body, they have more of a um, more of a chance of having a traumatic um break, so like breaking a hip or, you know, a knee or whatever Um cause those are the kinds of people that I work with like in the hospital and I see that all the time and it's always like these little small, older ladies who have probably lived their whole life thinking like thin is the best, being skinny is like ideal, and that also has like just changed my whole perspective. I'm like, okay, I gotta get some, gotta keep this muscle on my legs, like yeah and I'm 27.
Speaker 2:You know I'm not really thinking about breaking a hip, but when. I'm 50 or 60, you know, hopefully I make it that long. You know like it's like if I'm given the privilege to live that long. You know, like I don't know, it's frustrating.
Speaker 1:For sure Nobody thinks about it when they're young, but I think as you get older, maybe some relatives you know my, my father and my grandmother like I seen that happen to them because they weren't they weren't exercising. No nobody in my family like exercises or eats healthy for that matter. So you know you get into a hospital, lay in a bed, don't eat for a month, see how much muscle atrophy happens so quickly and I know you probably see that too. Yeah, no, but big scooper.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big scooper podcast Okay.
Speaker 1:Is that on all the platforms, or yeah? I think, so, okay, cool, yeah, look it up. I'll probably put it in the link in the description in our podcast. So if you want to check it out, check it out. So I want to thank you guys for coming on. I'm excited for this to drop and I hope you guys got a ton of value.
Speaker 2:Peace.