#42] Alex Mazzurco: Diets, Macros, + Gut Health

Alex Mazzurco [@almazzurcofit] is back on the podcast -- this time talking to Elisabeth about why most diets fail, her weight loss journey, day in the life -- eating wise, ++ all about gut health. Favorite quote from the podcast: "Take ownership of the suck, so that you are in control. If you don't like the way your body looks, you can make the decision to change it ++ you don't need a naturopath, an herbalist, or an Ayurvedic specialist to tell you to get sunlight, get sleep, be active, eat whole foods, drink a gallon of water a day. There's your recipe for success... or at least the start of success. I think we get caught up in *I just need someone to hold my hand or figure it out for me.* You need to pull yourself out of the suck, + you need to take ownership of that! Be #inCHAARG of your health because it's no one else's responsibility."

Notes
-- Almazzurcofit.com
-- The 3 Liquids I Drink Every Morning
-- Prev. Podcast Episode With Alex
-- Coaching Opportunities With Alex
-- Online RMR Calculator
-- Espresso Machine: Breville 
-- Book: Girl Go Wash Your Face, Grit 
-- Instas: @shutthekaleup, @thefitnesslionness, @caseysamsel_bikini

Transcript

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guys and welcome to the charge podcast.

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Today I have Alex Mizeur Co back with me. She is the founder of Alma Zarco Fit. And if you guys haven't listened Teoh last week's episode and make sure you do so. We talked all about the body building industry and about all things competing in bikini and figure. So make sure you check that out this week. We are going to talk about dieting and about her coaching and entrepreneurship journey and maybe get into a little bit of gut health if we have time. So welcome back to the podcast, Alex. So thank you for having me again. I want to start out with asking you. Why do you think most diets fail? This is so easy. So they're polarizing, so they everybody needs to get one thing. Animals are bad. Gluten is bad. Sugar's bad. Whatever is bad. That's bad. Carbs are bad. That's not the case. There are no good food's on. There's no bad foods. And when you create this polarizing atmosphere and experience what happens after the 12 weeks or three months or form, However long around this diet, there's glue in and their sugar and they're scary and they're carbs and their pizzas. Other nights out with friends. You are not gonna give those up for the rest of your life. And so how do we create something sustainable instead of something that's polarizing? Do you feel like you were ever on a diet? The first proper I ever did was probably the first diet that I ever had. Like I said in my beginning of my journey, my like 51st days, I just make healthy choices. And I think I'm really lucky to be a female. That's never really I tried to do a fad diet, but competing with my first immersion into there's good food on their fat foods. And this is your food list and everything is not good. You can't have it. I just creates deprivation right now. I know you have been very public on your weight loss journey. I guess you could call it. I'm curious why you use weight as a measurement. What does that mean? Thio. So wait isn't the only measurement. Now I'm bad at this because after weighing myself daily for so long with competing, I'm kind of known to it so that this skill goes up a few ounces. It doesn't bother me like it does. Most women. I don't take my own brother's photos enough because I should be checking in with myself weekly, and it's really nice to see the body changing. But with my clients, we used three things the skill measurements and photos. And they have to give me two out of the three, and I only ask for to weigh ins a week on. That's just to get an average. You could have eaten really late. Glycogen stores are higher. You're pulling a little bit more water with this car pulled water. Hi, guys. You can eat cars after dark. I promise. Um, that could be why your weight's up or you could be super stressed out. Or you could have started your period, and that's the day you decided. Tow, weigh in. And really, you might be a pound or two or £3 lower, and we don't know that, and I can't make an accurate change off of like one day. I would like to see the bigger picture, which is where the matter mons and the photos commit. You talk about someone's baseline. What does that mean? And how do you find that? So this could mean a few things. So there's your arm are, which is your resting metabolic rate. So you woke up, you opened your eyes and you laid in bed all day. How many calories would you burn now? There's also need, which is your non exercise activity. Thermo Genesis. So anything that's not working out, you walking around, you're talking carrying your groceries in, that is all you're neat and then your tee de hee. Your total daily exercise expenditure is everything. So right now, my arm are used to be a 1400. But it's at 1300 calories now, So me living me being awake is 1300 calories. My need is low because I sit down at my desk all day. I'm not training people in the gym doing more office work style, so I really bring less than 500 calories day sitting. So we're maybe at 1800 I probably about 500 calories a day working now, so I'm only eating 1300 calories, So enough 1000 calorie deficit right now, which is now I'm just starting to really that weight loss is just ramping up. I started my cut at 2200 calories, and I thought I would have lost a little bit of weight. But my metabolism hadn't turned back on until we've, you know, got lower, which is but difficult for me because I used to lose weight at 1800. My baseline was higher because they hadn't gone through all of these diet cycles and my metabolism adapting the gut health played a huge part in that as well. How do you find those numbers So you can get a bod pod? You can do an arm. Our test, which is you breathe two for 20 minutes. No, not everybody has access so that there are plenty of online calculators that will help you find a rough estimate. As a coach, I've calculated over 200 Mac Rose and based off an intake form. I couldn't tell where someone's gonna be at just based off of the fact that I've been doing it for a while and I what I see. But I am not opposed to referring Thio a calculator and double checking. I think people's problem when they are in putting their information and as they're being a little more generous with their activity level. And so if you have an office job and even if you work out one today, you're not considered highly active. You're considered sedentary. And I think there's a disconnect there. How much people are actually working out, how hard they're working out. I completely agree. I always say so important to walk throughout the day because you could say, Yeah, I worked out for 45 minutes an hour. But what did you do the rest of the day? You just sat on your butt hunched over on my computer. It was great having a dog like I'm up and out. I get out at least once a day for 15 minutes through the exercise part. Get some sunshine is good for you. Yeah, good old vitamin D. Walk me through What a typical day in your life. Looks like eating wise. You my So I intervened fast. Now I was just listening to a great podcast on this. So just use your fasting doesn't mean you're not eating. So I still make sure I'm getting all of my calories and all main backers in It's just in a smaller frame of time. I do this because all of the debt cells that are actually cleared away, they're just their debt. And that girl's cancer diseases, infections, all the bad things, those that don't get cleared away while you fast your body has no fuel toe run on. So it kills and eats all of those dead cells that haven't gotten clean away. So you're cleaning up yourselves, which is three. And you we were talking about this. You don't realize that eating is actually a stressor on the body like your you know, you're releasing quarters all you're breaking down. You know, there eating is actually a stress. And, like when you have issues, got health issues, it could be even worse. So that's why I did a bone broth fast and was doing other fast to give my body a break. So I didn't have to work at digesting food so Internet fast. I start the day with Allah Vera juice. Why'd you do that? Alabama edges. So people put Mallory on their skin for like a cut or burn or whatever I think of that. Doing the same for the lining of your esophagus and your gut So I helped. It helped to boot. So that's actually what I started doing it. And then it's just continue to be a really stable. I probably do it five of the seventies week, Trader Joe's or Walmart and $7 for Guillain. It's not an extensive thing. So if you're having digestion or blow issues of one of the first thing, I tell people it's all natural. It's healing. It's got healing properties with outside, same on the inside. So then I do warm lemon water and I just washing the apple cider vinegar. And I do that because I don't think my digestive juices are very high. So I want to make sure I'm bringing down any food that's left from the night and the acid from the lemon that the apple cider vinegar and help that. Then I do celery juice. So I buy organic because salaries on the dirty dozen list on, and this is something I drink every day. So I wanted me from doing my best. Mitrice's clean us possible So you chop it up, put it in a blender, streaming with That's not bad. Um, and I make a big batch of that I have a glass of that. And then I usually treat myself home after a lot. Eh? I have a pretty much give up all coffee with my gut health issues with. I was a pot a day person. I would work from home, so I just make the pot and drink the whole factor in the day, which is not good. How did you give up coffee? I did a trial run in November with the candy to diet, and I lost £2 of pure inflammation. Like just water weight off me. Not that worked, but I had a migraine for an entire week. And so funny thing my dad gives us is very nice espresso machine. It's the same one. I should kill off like, um and I couldn't even have coffee as, like things. Dad. Think so? I don't even know how to use that. Tell Maybe two weeks ago. Yes, I do a match a lot. And when my fat was a lot higher, when I was intuitively eating, trying calories up, I was doing like full fat coconut milk and C t oil. Now I just do like a lower calorie almond smell for stigmatic or metal proteins. Macho, huh? A little maka Uganda adapted Jin's to help with hormones and stress, and then I typically eat my waffle. You guys follow me forever and make protein waffles, so have a waffle every day. But I've cut out the sugar free syrup. I just top it with almond butter, maybe a little bit of God's, A blueberries, and then they usually have, like a salad or eggs with some peppers. Financial. A little online in a bull pre workout I always have. This is weird. Seaweed. Help me get my iodine up, which was really low, and an apple. Honey. Crist best apples over and go to the gym. And then when I come home from the gym, I don't do another scoop of protein because it's usually my waffle and really cut back on anything artificial. So I tried to sit only one scoop of protein a day, and I just wait for dinner. Just usually a veggie keen wa and meat protein source and I finished the day with Hill a top so you might have seen my ice cream reviews on my G live. What's your favorite flavor? So I've been pretty much dairy free at, like 90% dairy gluten and sugar free. Um, the dairy free hilltops. None of the month. Great. But this so delicious brand, the Snicker Doodle is amazing. What has sugar in it that you would be surprised? Everything. Have some examples? Um, all

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of your sauces,

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all their top Sicily. Turn around. Any bottle that's in the drove your fridge usually has sugar. Everyone knows this, but then they say, it's good for you. So fruit fruit is so high sugar. So I didn't have bananas for a long time. I didn't even have I had no fruit. For the first month of my candy to diet, you can phase in blueberries and blackberries and green apples because they're a little bit more sugar. Um, but people don't realize that there is sugar and everything, even like a gram of sugar, and think there's sure oatmeal there's there's sugar in everything, whether it's process it or not. And I think to a certain extent you could tell, Oh, it's a natural sugar. It's fine. But when you have got issues going on or or sugars extremely high, you have to look at that. I can't eat four billion as a day. You might really like bananas, but let's pick something up. Let's pick a different carb sores on having a different Beyonce between quick carbs and slow carbs. Put carbs are gonna be like your fruit. Slower. Digesting carbs are going to be like your oats sweet potato stuff like that. So pre in post workout, you wanna make sure you have a good balance of put carps before your workout and slower cards after your workout. So do you still e boats? I do know. So after the month and 1/2 candy to diet I faced in, I don't have them. Often I stick to 100 or 100 50 Grand's a keen wa and my waffle mix are gluten free flour and not like the majority of where it may. Starchy carbs come from the rest come from greens, veggies, fruits, some sauces. But I try to make them as healthy as possible sauces. But the best thing about Makris is that you start to really look at nutrition labels and see Oh, this looks healthy looking naked juice. Would you eat a banana and apple and orange? Two pairs and fighting groups. All at ones? No, but that's all in a naked juice and what people don't realize. It's like a naked just like only half of that. Nikki juices one serving. And so you end up consuming so many calories. They might be healthy calories, then still calories. We talked a little bit about Mac Rose in the previous episode, but now that you are a macro master, that should be your new executive macro master. Are you able to intuitively count macro there? You still have a journal and write all the numbers, so I still write everything down because I am tracking. I'm tryingto actively lose weight right now. Now I have to stop tracking Macros to do these other diets and limiting foods. I had to disassociate butter with having 14 grams of fat, one carb and one protein, and I would look at food as a number, and it's really hard to disassociate with that. You're not worrying about the calories you're not worried about the backers. You're worrying about the nutrients. It's important to disconnect that. So it was a great experience to intuitively eat this winter and not go crazy. And so the biggest myth or misconceptions that you can't intuitively eat after you compete and you can. I think it's longer hunger. Hormones have up regulated. You're good. It's when they're going crazy. Don't know what real hunger is. Verse. I'm craving something because I haven't had it for so long of calories that you intuitively e ah lot more and you intuitively eat past the point of being satiated, which I'm not an intuitive eating coach. But there's There are sets of rules where you stop eating when you're full and that usually happens. We'll show you don't know when you're full. Interesting People who don't know your journey are probably listen, this podcast thinking, Why is she on so many diets? What is a fan Vida diet? So let's backtrack a little bit and share your gut health journey and how you've gone into exploring all of these different diet and also just tools that have to do with our body. I love the work tools instead of diets. I competed for two years straight, and that time I lost my cousin. I crashed my car twice. I have a lawsuit for one of the cars. I spent 20 out of 24 months in a core deficit and decided to start a business and get out of a bad relationship. So that's a lot of stress on the body. And in hindsight, my adrenal fatigue probably came first, but I was drinking a pot of coffee a day, so I didn't notice on. Guy was supplementing with Things will work out and caffeine, and I didn't notice how bad it was. And when you're improper, you're just kind of an automation mode. Your go, go, go. You don't really have time to stop and think like maybe five hours of sleep A night isn't isn't a good thing. I used to be one of those fields like, Yeah, we need fiber sex So I ended up having becoming severely constipated. Four up, 13 days, and I think that was like the initial start of the gut problems and bacteria buildup. So I didn't go to the doctor and I kept competing in four more shows. So I did five shows last year and the day before the last one. I had one of the biggest blow ups bloat digestion. I pregnant. There's no other way to describe my body, which is, like, Nope. Stop. And it couldn't have come at a better time. You know that the day before my show, which, you know, was probably what I needed to stop competing because I wasn't gonna stop. I'm like, I can push. I can push, I'm I can push through. And so I ended up being in severe pain. Blake. Awful pain. I hold onto a good £15 post that show for two weeks, and then my body started to kind of regularly and have it. Oh, my gosh. This is great. I'm gonna be okay now that I am more food because I begin reverse dieting. So we ended up going to the Olympia to Vegas, and we, of course, eat whatever. We were joined donuts in Vegas, and it was happening again. The pain was coming anytime and ate food that wasn't super clean or had sugar in it. Or Kutner, dearie. I was blowing up. So after Vegas, mid September, within three months, I put on £35.30 pounds. How many months? And within three months, I put on £30. I think in one month it was 20. And then the £10 came like November December, and that was a huge, obviously red flag because I was reversed dieting. I was sticking to my macros. How could all of this week just piled on So I decided to take control over things. They did this test candy to diet and shoot. It worked. I have to literally give up. It's a look. A severe elimination diet. No sugar, not a lot of carbs. Close taquito. But you can't have certain fat cancer nuts. It means your food listen small. So I felt like I was in panic Milk. Saif Ali was going back to that prep diet, that first proper diet where you could only have 10 foods and that creates that this food fear in you. So I ordered a bio test bio health, and they do a stool test which actually come to find out really hard to get a stool test from your doctor, which sucks, Big guy. It's like the last thing the order or look at and in my opinion, should be the first. So I didn't get everything like gall bladder liver. I got my major organs rolled out because I was in severe opinions. I obviously wanted to be sure nothing was ruptured or so at that point. It comes on, you know, to my stool, and I waited a long time to get the results back. And a friend said, You know, you did try that one diet out two months ago. You should just do it. You have nothing to lose. And it was hard. I mean, I went from Mac Rose. You can have anything you want as long as it fits, too. You can have nothing. Nothing sweet, no sugar, not even fruit. But in a month and 1/2 I saw huge improvements. Inflammation, So I wait, wasn't going down. But my face waas my I had no idea how big and blamed my base Waas until I looked back out with pictures. And that's how I get really tell I was sick. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't make it through the day without a nap. When before I was running on five hours of sleep total No, I needed like 10. I had no energy. My cycle was off. My psoriasis was ramp it like I was getting in places that I had never gotten before. I had cystic acne. I just talked about this on me. I was just going to say, your skin looks amazing, really going. Thank you. I have cystic acne for the first time ever on my face and my butt. This is so weird. But it's like one of the first things that popped up and they weren't like little. But temples that you get from sweating thes were large, painful, almost like cysts. And I noticed that in the beginning, and I want to like six months later there was, like a whole colony. And not only is that like, mortified her, it's hurt. You sit here like think of how about a fur on your face? And I just with the inflammation, the weight game, I felt like I just lost myself. I didn't have the energy you have spark. I just knew that there needed to be something done. So I did the candied a diet. And then I went into a CBO protocol just to make sure I didn't have Cibo because it was kind of borderline. What is C Both small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. So candida is an overgrowth of yeast in your gut and see Bo is an overgrowth of bacteria that is in your stomach and has leaked out in tears. Small intestine. Some of the people I talked to thought I did have Cibo some didn't. I just wanted to be sure, like I had gone through enough. I'll just check all the boxes. That's also when I was told I had to stop working out, so I got the test. Back then I was a heavy adrenal fatigue. So I cortisol is high thyroids at risk. My metabolism is at risk, which is it was already gone, so at risk of not, you know, we already threw it out the window. So I stopped working out for nearly two and 1/2 months to reduce that stress. So just like I said, eating as a stress around the body. So it's working out, and I had to be really strategic, so I hated yoga, and I saw how I love it. I go twice a week, and it was all that I could do, and I mean, I work from home and set up home all day, needed to get out. My boyfriend's going to the gym. Our Jim is in our building, an athlete for Jim and I felt that, like fear of only having this amount of food. I am excluding myself again and hermit. It was taking me back to all the bad parts of prep, and it was dark and not to mention. I've totally lost control over what my body looks like and what it's doing and doing these crazy, weird things. And it's embarrassing. So I agreed to not work out for two months. It was a little over two months, and then I said, I am so uncomfortable I have to start this cut. So in April, I started cutting from 2200 calories and were made it up to 1300 calories. This is about the lowest I'll go in and Mr Reversing after my birthday is October 1st. So I'm gonna enjoy my treat and then strategically, worse rivers up on and this goes for anybody. I don't start it. Cut with anybody during the holidays that should a recipe for disaster. So we either want to maintain or we can even try and bulk. So it's crucial that I start to get my calories up in October. So by the time a having Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies and everything that my body isn't in shock and it's used to the higher calories that fire's burning hotter and brighter, like we talked about in the last episode. So you found out that you had adrenal fatigue. Yes, okay, so nothing with use nothing with bacteria. So the hair and the urine and the blood work showed that I had adrenal fatigue and, surprisingly, no thyroid damage. But my progesterone is really low. So I am in the process of figuring out getting my birth control out and doing natural family planning because the low progesterone, it's kind of scary. But the rules has came back and show that I have had severe disposes. So if you have candida or you have sea boat, you have disposes. Disposes is just a imbalance of bacteria in some way, so they couldn't pin down one specific thing. But let's say you were supposed to have 25% of the pink bacteria and 75% of the purple. I had 75% of the pink and 25% of purple like I literally have exactly the opposite of what you're supposed to have, and I'm even missing a few strains. So with adding and Mac Rose, I had a kind of ditch that if it fits your macro mentality and just still focus on Whole Foods, which I think that's lost on everyone, just because you can fit in cupcakes and pop turds and snaps and treats, that's great. Do that two out of the seven nights a week in the 80 20 rule and eat whole nutritious foods. The rest. That was the only way that I could be getting feeling my gut. I think the most frustrating thing for me is I just took £10 down and people that might have just started following me or may not see every post thank you instrument algorithm. They're all that happened so quick, and I'm like I spent eight months rebuilding my body. I had to actually take 10 steps back to go 11 steps forward, and it wasn't easy. And as a coach, trying to explain that to my client, what wherever they're at them. But they have got issues, but they diet culture have been pulling her lives, and so their metabolism has adapted dolor calories you might have to take a few steps back, but if you're only eating 1200 calories and you want to lose 10 more pounds, where you gonna eat 900 calories? We gotta reverse back up first and then go back down. And that doesn't mean you're gonna game crazy. Amounts of weight. River Stichting. We like to maintain our weight, but with the addition of building muscle, the different styles of training that all helps you maintain your weight while you're able to eat more food. I hear a lot about leaky good, and I don't honestly know exactly what that is. What is it? So at some point in your stomach lining, you have a leak and what's happening as your food is leaking out into your bloodstream and then you're getting food intolerances, that's, you know, the easiest way to describe it. Now we all meet in our cars on the go. While we're working over stress, we're not producing the hydrochloric acid, you know when we start to diet the 1st 2 things to go. Women are stomach lining are uterine lining, so we lose our period on. We lose the ability to digest food the right way. And so look at all of these girls that are so bloated and like until stressed, it's completely correlated. So I do think the majority that people have some form of blinky guy and things like a whole nutritious diet, not eating the same foods every single day. So if you have broccoli leaking into your bloodstream every single day, gonna create antibiotic, these antibodies against it and your body second like broccoli anymore. So people are eating this my whole life. I don't know why it's suddenly starting to bother me. It's probably something along those lines, and you can take things like Luna mean, which is a supplement most companies offer. Do Apple Vera make sure getting hydrochloric acid. Celery juice does help with that. Make sure you're breaking down the food and you're getting You're just a healthy human. You're getting sleep. You're getting pressed your putting so many stressors on your body that stops producing your stomach lining. Do you have to take any more tests to see if you are guys back to normal? I'm gonna do the buying stool test again to see where I'm at, so I'll probably do it If I'm good this weekend, I'll do it soon. We've had six wedding, the fear, and so I don't want to do it after we get We've been at a wedding or I had some off food. But I sent it in the beginning of November last year, and it will be interesting to see what a year of working toward this helps. I think I'm I don't want to say I'm healed 100% but I don't have issues. Nearly all I made every three months have an episode or when I'm on my cycle. My digestion is always a little bit off, but that's in my opinion. Everybody's that. Yeah, it's funny because I feel like there's a little trend on Instagram with showing people's bloated stomachs, and I'm just like why we all get bloated at sometimes and just like what you said with our different phases of our cycle, we're going to react to foods a little bit differently and that's okay. I don't think it's anything that we need to be completely concerned about unless you're experiencing the symptoms that you shared. Yes, and I think there is little like if you just are loaded. There are things that you could D'oh! You can do the Al bridges. You can get some rest. Who can take a few days off from the gym that will help you. Look, most people think that hurt them. That will hope you don't be afraid to take a rest and take time off. It's when you're experiencing the pain. Constipation for days on end the acid reflux this skin and autoimmune issues pop up and not what started happening like your body will will start to give you science on the outside that some things are on the inside. When you talk to your doctors, How long did they say it would probably take to be healed? Oh, I heard anywhere from six weeks to six months Thio here. No, I think a year now that got tremendous like us. A good a good place, I would say, could probably begin to really see improvement in 6 to 8 months, which is what happened to me. But again, I was extremely dedicated. I think my experience with prep helps me to do that and be a little bit more objective about things and being a coach. And you've just gotta do it. Um, it's funny when you ask me What if you're hungry and a prop? Do you like what if your starting you go over you, don't you? Just That's what you do now. If you're not in a prep, a bigger your stuff. Weight loss goals to something lower calorie salad protein fluff, which is just ice cream, protein powder, a little bit of almond milk make like a big protein ice cream out of it. There are ways to get like a high volume food for a lower amount of calories instead of opening up the pint of Juries. If you don't have a week off school and you're chillin and you're hungry and you had a bad night, get out the kind of brother Jerry it's like and also look at it and say, Am I starving or I'm bored? And that's the other thing that I think people have to get used to. I don't care how many meals a day you eat. I tend to eat between three and four. When I was in prep, it was more than five or six, and the smaller meals were like snaps. But having those be structured instead of the jar being open next to you while you're working for the popcorn bowl sitting on your lap and you're just mindlessly eating those calories add up. So there our way said, you know, minimize the damage you're gonna dio. If you're just starving. You mean t eat something when working with your clients. How do you know if they're eating too little if they're not seeing progress? So that's what I have seen the most, and it breaks my heart. These women come to me. This is my favorite. I'm eating Kato, but I'm eating 1200 calories. That is that in fat like Kato is Ah, higher calorie diet. It's just all fatso. You can't combined with a low power. You can't just pick and choose what you like. Out of each diet, women come to me and they are. They're all leading company calories for some reason, then they're like, I'm not seeing progress. You've been so low for so long that none of them machinery inside you is working. You have no gas in the tank. So the moment we start giving gas there, I'm happier. I am more energetic. My pants are starting to fit better, but the skills not moving because they're building muscle on. And I guess it's another thing to talk about body recover positioning. So this bill might not change, but you could look like a completely different person if you've built a little bit of muscle. And I just posted us side by side of this. I looked completely different at 1 39 And then I used to look at 1 36 I still with more muscle. I'm tighter. My face looks better before just rapidly put on a bunch of fat. And now I built more muscle. Yes. Do I have a little bit of extra fat? What? I love to be around 1 30 not 1 39? Yes, but you look completely different and getting clients and women in general just to realize that that lifting will help shape you instead of Maybe they're just scared because I've competed. But I don't want to be about I think you want You're gonna be okay. When you had to stop working out for two months and then you incorporated, I'm saving weight lifting back or like what did that look like? And How slow did you move through that journey? I didn't really do it the best way. I shouldn't have started with a body part split. So in the bodybuilding world or in workout world, a split you could do body parts, splits and do arms one day, back legs, glues a different day for different body parts. And so when you're jumping back into it, which is why the first week of macro mindset is always like a conditioning style, full body style workouts. I should have jumped into it with those, but I have the knowledge I did probably put a little too much stress on my body in the beginning. But I was careful. I didn't do comp own lifts for almost two months. I still don't really do them or do them a lot later. So instead of going toe body 1 85 actually just wanted 1 45 for eight drops for the first time, you know, in over six months. So I added back in wait. But I didn't go super heavy, and I still incorporated you, which I'm very proud. I'm glad you like it. Now what does your current work out would you look like. So Monday is I do shoulders and triceps in 15 to 20 minutes of serious supper Tuesdays, I do yoga and 15 of 20 minutes on the serious Upper Wednesdays. I do glutes 15 20 months on stair stepper Thursdays. I do just yoga and do it on my lunch, so I have my evenings to myself. It kind of is what may midday break on Thursday and Fridays, due back and buys Saturday. If I knew glutes again or yoga, depending or maybe even a full body had thrown some shoulders Sunday's rest, so I should have probably an active rest day in there. But I kind of consider that Thursday yoga. It's 45 minutes. It's not even a full hour. It's kind of my active rest day, but I tell clients one full, active rest and one full arrest and then when you're working out, how are your weightlifting sessions? Depends on how many demons I'm answering, never doing sets. It's stupid, like an hour 15 but I will be the first to admit I'm on my phone a lot during a workout, which is my fault. So my lift is probably like our our 15 and then the 15 20 minutes on the Stairmaster and blessed they do live in the building that my gym is, Um, so we walked downstairs. So an hour and 1/2 we're done, and I kind of justify that time on my phone is like, Oh, my, it would be travel time if I didn't drive with the job. But how long do you give yourself? Until realizing this workout plan is working? This diet plan is working, and this not only is with you, it's also with your clients. So a set of macros stupidly, with someone on prep, I would make changes every week. Our two weeks. It's typically two weeks for someone not in prep. It could be every 23 or four weeks on. DI Do offer different plants with different check ins because not everybody needs a weekly accountability because we're typically not making changes every week because six or seven days isn't really enough time to see if a diet or a set of Mac roses working. I like to lead at least two weeks, but when you prepped, sometimes you don't have all the time in the world to see if something works, but you also again don't wanna cut too soon, and you often and then have the body adapt. A lower calorie is quicker than you want to make the most out of your cut as possible or rivers. What percentage of your clients are in the body building industry that are competing versus people who want to lose weight or tone up like one. I really don't take on competitors. The few that I have. I think I have or five, and they don't all actively compete at the same time because there's a season and most people do spring shows or fall shows. So I have my 45 probably all Oliver take on its a lot of work. It's a lot of stress, like these people are paying three grand, you know, in total to do the show. They're putting their bodies through a lot. You want to make sure that they have all of the jewels, all of the support you're on your game. There's no look massing up on e mail or getting something wrong. Typically, especially in the last, like eight weeks of a prep, it's it's go time. You have to be there for them mentally and physically. I helped them pose A lot goes into it, especially for first time competitors. It's a lot of hand holding, and that's fine. There's obviously so much to know about the industry. But because I have so many more general pop clients, I don't want to take that away from them, either. That makes sense. A charge girl asked. How do you gain weight if you have a high metabolism? So I love this question because I have a male client and I it's all relative, but we've had to really ramped up his calories because he had a hard time building muscle. He was definitely an actor, morph, uh, and we have him eating 600 grams of carbs and 140 grams of fat, which is like four times while I'm eating. Right now, it's close to 5000 calories, and he's full every day, and it's not. It is a full time job teat. A lot of food, and you have to plan for it, especially if you don't want to eat 5000 calories of garbage, and you do what you don't so things that I would say our cup cardio that will help, um, Adam weightlifting go heavier. So you're not in that hypertrophy. You're focusing on more of the strength and the muscle building on really focused on getting your carbs and fat up you Can. They have literally powdered carbs that you could drink. I used to do that. My first prep. A lot of people do them into a workout, so let's say you have heavy spots. One day they'll do a B C. A shake with inter workout carbs. Protein shakes, smoothies. You can, you know, ramp up the calories and a protein shake with a scoop of protein powder, two tablespoons of almond butter, Ah, banana and frozen Berries. Shakes can get high calorie quick, and it's easy and quick to get down, making sure you have 5 to 6 meals planned a day. If you're really, really having trouble gaining weight, implement actual cheat meal every week instead of that re feed. So I appliance that they're so high macro and like it's not worth saying. You only have 50 carbs and 20 fats. It's more of a mental break for them. Their calories are already super super high. Go eat whatever you want for a meal or two. Enjoy your Saturday and then hop back on track on Sunday. You talk a lot about being okay with the suck on your instagram. How do you teach yourself to be uncomfortable in the struggle? Proper help? Um and honestly, this is weird. Like sharing it online and receiving messages back that Oh yeah, me, too. And so as much as I'm trying to help you guys understand that I said it yesterday. It's not all rainbows and sunshine. People get my job, my apartment, our relationship and think, you know, things all must just be great. Or that I must just a loss of these £10 in overnight and by me crying on my story or showing you a hard day. That's my way of showing you that it's not like that. Um, it's not like we only just sit here and talk about the bad things in our lives. But social media is a highlight reel, and we often sit there, get consumed in the opposite. I think everybody's life it's so great when if you would've asked me a year ago or when I was a freshman in college like I didn't think I had a great things going on in my life, and I obviously made it through the suck and e Think taking ownership of the suck. So you are in control so you don't like the way your body looks. You can make the decision to change it, and you don't need a natural path and herbalist and innovative special. You don't need any of those people to tell you to get some light, get sleep, be active. Whole foods drink again on the water like there's a recipe for success or leased the start of success. And and I think we get caught up in. I need someone to just hold my hand or need someone to figure it out for me and they'll get me out of the sock. You've gotta pull yourself out of the second. You gotta take ownership of it. Show up for yourself. Amen. Another girl asked. What advice do you have for looking back on photos from when you were thinner? It used to suck, especially when this show season started and you know your Facebook memories pop up or you see your friends competing at the same shows that you were. I try to look at it as I used to be. A size zero. I had a job I hated. I was excluding myself. I was eating a low calories as doing two hours cardio day. I might be a size four. Now I have a thriving business. I control my schedule. I do whatever amount of cardio I want. I felt my Mac rose with whatever I want and I actually feel better. Um, so we do think that looking back at photos can be upsetting. Especially maybe if you've gotten shoot. Maybe if I went from a 4 to 12. Not that I'm not saying 12 is a bad thing, but if I get a excessive amount of weight, I think as women were so hung up on that 5 to £10 we live and die. Our happiness depends. Our day is made by what the number on the scale shows and whether it is 1/2 a pound a pound, £2 that five or £10 seems to be a breaking point when likely no one else has noticed or cares like it's about the inside. And, you know, obviously to an extent. You wanna look good. You want to feel good, But why don't you forget, Don't feel and then what you look like? Well, come. Yeah, We were just talking about this, and I feel like even when you get to that Wait, that's your goal. You're gonna wanna lose another five or £10. Like, if that is your goal. If your goal is strictly numbers, that's all you're going to focus on. I think this is I'm so happy I got Indio got my mind's eye toward that has changed and I was in the class and should Yoga is managing agitation. And as this is exactly how I feel, like, get me out of this warrior to know, Uh, and it's funny because yes, I do have a weight loss school. Um, I think this is important to you. I have a few weight loss balls. I read 1 47 at my heaviest. My goal is to be around 1 25 but I had a ball for 1 37 Had a goal for 1 36 medical for 1 33 1 30 I've had had these many goals and milestones that I could celebrate and be proud of because I may not get up under 25 for a year. But is the work I put in for the last six months useless? No, it's not Instill making progress and we don't often appreciate our small winds. And then we get to that big win, and then we resent it and we just want another. We chase another number. You are so body positive on social media. And I'm curious. Did you have any thoughts in your head that I don't know. Maybe you did share that line, too, but especially during when you gain that £30 what did that feel like? And then my second follow up question, that is, when did you start to trust your body again? I don't know if there was a certain moment of, like, I'm going to work with my body instead of just being in this state of confusion. Oh, I don't know if I trust it yet. When Your honor, sir, it's not fitting that should stretchy. That's when you know, you're like, Oh, my underwear doesn't This is not good. But in all seriousness, I thought my credibility, the people my following. I thought people would just assume that I binge it after a show, which is what happens to a lot of girls, which has happened to me before. People make do, make comments. The mean group of girls in this base make comments and don't think it's right to judge anyone for gaining weight. What, along? Something with a medical issue? Um, I just thought no one would like me. I'm worried about my relationship. Honestly, you know, I was with someone when I was extremely lean, and in my opinion, it's really not attractive. Like if you saw some of my check and pictures you Billy, you look emaciated. It's not feminine at all when you get that lean. And so, yes, I know the guy's like the curves, but there was a lot of curves, really click like 0 to 100. So I was just panic that people would not like me or judge me on. That really wasn't the case. Thank goodness, as we're trusting my body, don't know if they really do. I'm starting to, but I didn't make the decision the week before New years or so, right in like two days after Christmas last year that I was gonna work with my body. It wasn't an easy decision. It wasn't an easy decision to take 10 steps back and to go back to eliminating Huns of food, whole food groups. And it wasn't easy to give up working out, knowing that it was still probably getting gained some weight. It wasn't easy, but I knew that I had to heal first. Before I couldn't make actual progress losing weight because up until March, I kept working out. I kept trying to lose weight, and it I was gaining it. So if whatever I was doing wasn't working, you might as well turn around jump ship and try something else. And I think the majority of women Joan, that doesn't click. But I'm just gonna keep trying. This magazine tells me that this new diet work and I dropped £5 1st be. So why am I not dropping another £5 2nd week? It's so cool, because as much as I can't even imagine the challenges that you went through, all of this has now led to you being able to share your story, relate to more people and that only helps with your current coaching business. Let's talk about how you first got into coaching. So, like I said, one of my favorite moments I met Sarah that waas in September, and immediately she was a wire. You, not a coach, You're amazing. You could be so successful. And I know you love me. Uh, and she kind of hammered me and I got the opportunity to run social media for my protein company. So I was gonna try and keep all of my drops and trying to four drops because that's what normal, sane people. D'oh! And it didn't end up working out, obviously, because if you split your time between four things, you know, nothing's really growing are flourishing. And right around that time I was leaving my job a startup and my coach I wanted to start this business and my coach said, I want to bring you on and bring you honor me. You make sure you know the ropes. And so that's how I got my start. And he gave me a few clients and then because I obviously had a social presence, I had a few clients. I ran My first Met reminds that it was a huge success. Um, it's kind of it's really, really taken off in the last year and 1/2 and I couldn't be more proud, not only of myself, but of over 200 women that I've helped. Congratulations. Thank you. Credible for people listening. You have the macro mindset and build your brand. Who are your deal clients for both of those different programs. So with Mack Rosie, do the one on one coaching and then I offer mackerel minds up, which is it's a group community. You get Mac Rose, you get check in six weeks of workouts and you get to explore the different types off, work out and not just a way for everyone to come together. And I'm super excited because next year we're basically launching a subscription form of it. So you pay $100 a month and you get access to every single backer might set that we release the whole year. So there's eight Mac or mindsets, so you can get a lower priced coaching all year round because the majority of what I see is these girls come to me. They do a hacker mindset where they do wanna round of coaching and we get their metabolism in, agree place, and then the holidays happen or they go on a vacation. And they also what I get for two months because they don't have that accountability after effect on. Then their metabolism adapts to the lower calories, and we have to rework and reverse diet. So I want to create something that offer sustainability for a longer period of time because it's gonna help you stand track. It's gonna help your body. It's your metabolism. Your we lost all of the things and make my job easier for build your brand. I went to school for graphic design and marketing. So those air what my you know, first passions and loves are so I have a lot of friends in the industry and because my brand, it's cute, looks nice. It looks professional. So many people had asked me, How did you do this? And I mean, well, it used to be my job, so I got it took everything that I knew I needed to start my business and that I had figured out, and I have a 12 week, um, small group course, so up to fight people for per course in the health and wellness base that are interested in coaching. I've actually done packaging, design and products. Um, tiger nut butter. Uh, so I take companies in the health and wellness face and create a website brand logo, email list, email, templates, everything you need. Thio basically watch your business we create 12 weeks on. The goal is for you to walk away with a sustainable business that is making you money unreal. So if any of you guys are looking to build a brand, you should definitely work with Alex. I have three more questions on both coaching and entrepreneurship, and then we'll get to the rapid fire questions because again, it's already been an hour Cotto use. I don't know. Question number one is what are the three lessons you've learned through coaching. Trust is a big one. E. I have to be able to trust you. And you have to trust me because, like I said, I feel like I'm selling a magic pill, eat more, lose weight, but it does work. It's proven Okay, you got to wonder girls to tell you, so I would say trust a compassion. I not that I didn't have it. But coaching is more than assigning. Someone numbers they. It's almost like a minute therapy session every week. I asked to be included in your life because if you went through a break up and you get a pint of ice cream like the girl, I feel you. Or if you're on your period or going on vacation like those are all things to know because I'd rather give you a little more food for your vacation and have you enjoy it instead of saying going whatever you want for a week, just balance. And then with my gut issues, it's just made me more informed to other issues why people could not be losing weight. And you'd be shocked that more women than not have some form of an issue because they've participated in died of culture and these extremes, whether they're prepping or not for their whole, you know, sensor 8th 9th grade, like that's when you even younger girls air trying to diet. So that's that's a whole other conversation. Oh, what does balance look like to you? Balance to me, it looks like a healthy relationship with my family and my boyfriend calling my parents probably a little more often than I should. Uh, it means working 6 to 8 hours a day and shutting off, not looking at my phone before a AM and looking at it after 8 p.m. Eating a hole in your church is food and enjoying dominance on the weekends. If you've followed my instagram, you know, they're my favorite thing. Uh, and I think most shocking to me that I've changed my mind said, is being a more well rounded, balanced athlete. So I incorporate yoga. I had these other goals that have nothing to do with weight. Like got a headstand squat, that smell running another half marathon do other things that on Senator earned a pant size or a number on the scale. Last question. What is your ultimate goal with their company? So I do have a co coach, an assistant, actually say, and I would like to start transitioning. You know, a lot of the client I keep my clients in any new clients have them transitioned to her so I can begin to build, build your brand, um, and having things automate. So we send a lot of emails a week. We've talked about this, but I said to e mails a week out to my witness list, and one to build your brand list, at least and growing the automation. Having macro mindsets runs smoothly, just having things that a loop basically, which will make things smoother for me. Kelsey, my co coach, assistant. And you know all of my clients, Let's do the rapid fire questions. One word to describe you. Loud favorite charged memory. The Retreat and Michigan the national surgery. My favorite memory with you is when we were trying to figure out the colors, I was seriously, so anal. I mean, what does that make you? D'oh. Shaming but Gillian Reds in the way. If you're in the design world there, see M Y K and Cantone, and you really can't tell the difference on a screen because your screen on Lee has so many colors. Which is why sometimes you see the bright reds in the bright greens. When a website doesn't fully loaded in the ugly blue, it's really an RGB on a screen, and you have C M Y K, which is four colors in print. Like Elizabeth, you can't even see that. Wait. The Booty Camp logo. Oh, my gosh. Three favorite fitness instagram accounts. Shut the kill up. I wouldn't consider it if we could say wellness at you, but she shows fitness and I love the way she showed Fitness. Casey. Sam! So I mentioned her as a competitors to follow. And then, um Sarah the fitness Linus She is really, really smart when it comes to training. I telling Elizabeth she's way more training side and I'm way more macro side. Um, but she's also like a good kick in the ass Motivation story tell Listen to three staples in your kitchen. Guede's the green Got ist thio Trader Joe's dressing. I too have China. I'm petrified that Well, not anymore on probably honey. Crisp apples, one a day. So good And Apple season No. Yes. Except for we. I would be addicted to those expensive apple do you said intentions. I know you're so big. And then I said more more Pakistan goals intentions. I think at this point I work so much in my business that I need to be better about setting intention than than or goals in completing them and crossing them off instead of having 5 to 10 written down, right? Wanted you and accomplishes and then move on to the next ones. What is your favorite sweat sesh? Uh, blue lift. It's like a love hate relationship, but you see the results right away because you get a pump and your butt looks amazing. And then you're Lulu Lemon walking out of the gym. I would say that, or if I'm gonna do something that's not lifting. I was going to say there was that one spin instructor that you're loved. Every friend and Duffy double. She moved to another studio. I don't help me get there. It's just a little out of the way. But yeah, I was addicted to spend for what is your favorite restaurant in Cleveland. Besides Mitchell's Town Hall, which they actually do have Mitchell's Tom Holland Rebel. They're both by the same company and Columbus girls. You will be getting one soon, so it's really healthy food American with some Asian twist. They have Kato options paleo vegan, vegetarian. They have in amazing brunch with sweet potato pancakes. It's one of the only places I could go and track. May Matt grows when it was prepped and it's delicious food. I think I've been there. You have? Yeah, I remember. I loved it. What are you curious about right now? Money, retirement and investing. So I like that age where and I work for myself. So I had no one contributes to four okay for you when you work for yourself. So I just wanted to make sure I'm financially set and like a pre gym build your brand creating sustainability, you know, for yourself. So that is like my number one priority As I begin to grow. My business is strategically, we're to put things in the right place Book every charge girl should read, Grow the washer face by Rachel Hollis or I read this one Mile Go with Grit by Angela Duck Worth. It's like it's like the definition of embrace the suck, strengthen the struggle. But go, go wash your face might make you cry And it She is adamant about you taking responsibilities for the things that happened in your life. And she Each chapter is an experience that most girls go through and she kind of like, leaves it all out there. It's a relative buck need to read it. Female you'd like to meet, leave for America or took the pillow? Jeanette Ogden, right there. Just liest. So interesting to me, The way she lives her life. I'm social media, but she's still so holistic, and in that world, I don't know the right way to describe it. But she is so empowered and she makes traces about her body and how she lives her life. And I think it's powerful, I think Genet. The way she shows her workouts as a mom and the way she balances, I'm going to be that I'm working from home and I'm gonna have a child and I look at that. How do you balance that? Um, and I just like how she's open and honest about her relationship. Motherhood and her kid is so cute. Oh, my gosh, like I need to have kids. I want my kid to be bilingual, too. I'm just screwed me like that. What is your favorite exercise for arms, Booty and core? Um, so for booty glue hip thrust. So the bar you get dressed up four shoulders I really love and overhead press with barba, or lateral raises with the cable fly Yeah, of the cable. And what was your bison Court? Court? Okay, everyone's gonna hate me Nothing. But there's ex squatted. Yes, yes, that's what I'm gonna say. Compound lifts yoga and maybe a blinker to every once in a while. Please, please save yourself the extra 10 minutes after your workout. Don't sit there doing crunches. I would rather have really take your butt to the Stairmaster and not hold up like that's probably giving you as much for work. But that's like a huge misconception. It's like if I said here I do crunches my absolute beer and it's the compound movements strengthening your for doing things like yoga, ballons and mobility that will help you. Yeah, yoga's huge for that. What is the most out their wellness trend you've tried Kolonics. That was one of the things that I did to, like, keep make sure things were keep moving. Where did you get that? There's only one place in Cleveland that doesn't and I I don't want bashing, but it will so give the recommendation. Yeah, I mean, I have heard people like going at like in Vegas or other places and having like the most relax full sensual look, nice experience. And I didn't really get that. And when you're like who you're vulnerable. It's I think, like you're the guy I know with your feet up in the air. But you've got water going up, up and in Yeah, and things coming out. So it's you wanna feel, relax and comfortable and you actually have. You actually have to be afford to work, Have to be one relax and so have toe what you have to let go. So it's kind of like when you have a baby and I never had a baby Shut out all the mountains out there but you do have to let go. So I did go one time and I didn't I think my second and my third time and I didn't even relax till five minutes before it was over, and I didn't get the full. Nothing really came out because you're not relaxed. Well, team, what is your favorite podcast? Mind pump That is a great fitness pot gas. And they're really good. No bullshit. They kind of talk about everything. But then they get into, you know, Rhea life questions and, like they just talked about breast implants, illness. They talk about hormones. They talk about steroid use in the industry. They they're real and raw and open Bucks. I like that. What has been your greatest lesson on wellness that it doesn't have to be polarizing. So just like in diet culture, we were just talking about this like, wellness Has this, like air about it that like, Well, I'm a Yogi or I do iron made a or I do this and I only have green smoothies and that only shop Whole Foods will not Everybody has the money for it. And I think that I didn't grow up with money or even I wasn't taught any of this. It was a talk with organic whole foods. None of it even know who lose Waas. And I think knowing that you don't have to be an elitist or you don't have to have a jillions of dollars to just live well and live healthy, it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. So that's the biggest thing that I learned in them. Learn to be okay with it because you also kind of have that phone call where, like oh, she has new Lou. I'm in her. She's taking the newest class or she blonde sequin acts. Well, if you can't afford equinox, don't go the other gym down the streets. Probably gonna give you are really good work out. If you go in with a good attitude to so much of that subject to another podcast, what is your personal mission statement? Be a good human. Just get get commit cuffs? No, because $0 to hold the door for someone to reach out if you know or even suspect that someone struggling to donate to charity to help your friends business, What does? Being hash tag in charge means, Theo. So this is evolved, which is a good thing. So to me, we you don't talkto a lot about taking responsibility to moving in charge of your own health and wellness. Not waiting for doctor. So Enzo to tell you what to do. Implementing the knowledge, the knowledge, the free resource is digging deep and doing things that make you feel good to be in charge of your health. So many type. Well, I'm just gonna wait for the next plan. Why? You couldn't start today. Um so take control of your life. Drink again on the water a day You whole foods try to get in, even if it's a 10 15 minute full body hit. Work out. Do some Burpees jump squats, lunges. Call it today, huh? Tak a meal instead of playing to the McDonald's drive through. It takes an hour out of your Sunday to pack a few meals and be set for the week. Be in charge of your health because it's no one else's responsibility. A men baby. So good. Thank you so much again, Alex, for spending countless hours with me. Thank you so much for listening and we'll link up all of Alex is information and all of our different programs in the

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show notes, so that you guys can look into that. Have a great day and charge girls Good morning. Yes, I'm talking to you was time to get charged up? Cousin stays knew the Scott says hi, hands bluer than blue with the sun shining and all the birds are chirping to two day. It's the best day to be alive. The miracles appeared once you open your eyes, Surprise time to keep living the dream, so get up and join the rest of your charge. Tain