Girls, Gains and Growing Pains

Choosing Fitness Daily: How to Stay Healthy for a Lifetime

May 15, 2024 Rachel Johns and Julia Ross Season 1 Episode 17

In this episode, we talk about the benefits of making choices that shape a fitness-focused lifestyle you can stick with. We share how setting short-term goals keeps you focused on your long-term health and how controlling our decisions gives us the power to positively impact what we define as hard or challenging in the future. 

Follow us on Instagram @gggp_podcast and contact us by sending a direct message or emailing girlsgainsandgrowingpains@gmail.com!

Speaker 1:

This is Girls Gains and Growing Pains, a podcast about working smarter and harder to achieve your fitness goals. In every episode, we break down common health and fitness questions in a fun and relatable way.

Speaker 2:

Whether you're a beginner or far along on your fitness journey, this podcast is for you. I'm Rachel Johns, a bikini bodybuilder, nutrition certified to precision nutrition and NASM certified personal trainer.

Speaker 1:

And I'm Julia Ross, just a regular gal trying to get healthier and lose weight.

Speaker 2:

It is important to note that neither of us are medical professionals and the views expressed on this podcast are those of the host. So today's episode Julia and I are going to go through kind of the side of a client, side of a coach, of how do we have a fitness journey and make it for a long time, not a short time. We're around for the long haul, so how do we get into a long-term relationship, committed relationship with fitness, with our health, with nutrition, like how do we make that so it's actually manageable for a long period of time?

Speaker 2:

I know, I have my perspective on this and you have a perspective of a client, because I've been in fitness my whole life and we talked about this earlier. That's just been my whole life. That's who I am as a person, and so be it. We're going to talk about how I coach people through a sustainable whether it's weight loss, whether it's, you know, just general lifestyle and kind of your perspective on you know how it's going for you so far, so let's jump into that. How has it been going for you so far and what are some things that help you? When maybe we're starting to go off a little bit, how do you revert back on?

Speaker 1:

I think it's interesting to note that for this episode, we started with me asking Rachel the question oh well, we should do that inevitable time when you fall off your fitness journey and then there's a little bit of shame for you to come back, you know, but you want to, but then you let it overtake you and Rachel's just like no, how's that happen?

Speaker 1:

So I represent the every man here today. I have fallen off fitness journeys many a time for many reasons injuries, laziness, cost, like so many different reasons and I would say pretty confidently, I've fallen off the nutrition bandwagon for the last like three weeks or so. I've really been trying to rein it in, but I my birthday is coming up and I get especially hedonistic around my birthday, so there's been a lot of oh well, I'll do this thing I wouldn't normally do because it's my birthday, and so now I'm trying to rein it in with reminding myself that a lot of deadlines for my goals are coming up sooner rather than later and a lot of milestones that I would like to document in a happy, like as impactful way as possible. So I'm just, I'm recentering myself and, I would say, reminding myself of my goals and how little time I actually have remaining like setting smart goals where there's a time on it. I think that's my my go-to for getting back into it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, kind of with that, that's. That's similar to how I coach people to be on a longer term thing is we set shorter goals, and I had a conversation with a client about this recently. Of you know, the long-term goal might be lose 70 pounds. Okay, whatever that looks like, that might be the long-term goal. But then reminding ourselves every five pounds is is a big goal and like creating these short, really attainable goals to make it long-term. But then, like, what do we do once we've reached those goals that we've set for ourselves so high and where do we go from there? How do we keep doing what we're doing?

Speaker 2:

And I know, like some of the social media influencers I follow, you know they're kind of at like where they're at Like I really like Brittany Lupton and a lot of times she's just like lifting for her health. So it's kind of like well, how do I stay in a regimen? How do I keep eating healthy? And a lot of it is educating yourself, too, on like, why should I do this? Like, not just for like the, the physical look, or like, oh, I want to lose weight. It's like what? Where does this get me in the longterm?

Speaker 2:

And something I remind people of is because in 10, 15 years you don't want to look back and be like, oh, I could have made right now a lot easier. So it makes that longer term feel more sustainable Cause you're like, well, I'm helping my future self. I always say that to myself is like when I'm thinking of maybe like, oh, quitting or whatever. I'm like I'm just helping my future self, I'm making myself in the perfect spot for down the road, which is why fitness is a long-term journey. It's not a six month, it's not a year, and you'll talk to people at the gym who are in really good shape and they didn't start last year.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

And you see 70 year olds still at the gym working out and they're like this is, this is what's keeping my health where it needs to be, and so when I coach people through that, it's a lot of well. We're helping our future selves, we're helping our families by taking care of ourselves and making life easier for them. I mean, I have multiple clients who are like well, I have to take care of my parents because they didn't take care of themselves.

Speaker 2:

So, they're watching their parents and they're maybe 50 years old and they're like well, I need to prioritize this. Yeah, but it can be hard to like not see those things and just see the right now of like. Right, you're like it's my birthday. But sometimes when we get into the mindset of treating myself, treating myself, treating myself, then that's where we go completely off. Yeah. So how do we reel ourselves back in?

Speaker 1:

I think something that I've been starting to do to kind of steadily pull myself out is decreasing how far in the future I think of myself as benefiting because, thinking 15 years into my future, I just like I can't. I can't do that, so I'll think more, like oh, if I have this very creamy dessert, I'm really not going to feel good and not like a long even time from now, like it's going to be like four to six hours. I'm not going to be having a good time. It's not going to be, you know. So the consequences or the benefits, depending on your choice, I think are all able to be framed in a shorter term context as well. Or like the future could also be you tomorrow, where, like, if I skip my workout today, not only will I get the benefit like I won't be able to feel the benefits of tomorrow, but I'll also be more likely to skip my workout tomorrow too.

Speaker 1:

There's a litany of reasons. So if 15 years in the future feels like too far ahead to motivate you, you can always make it like tomorrow or next week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, my, my well, we're going out to dinner tomorrow night with my clients and my client was like, well, are you going to get a steak? And I was like, well, to be honest, steak really upsets my stomach. Sure, it's great, but like in 30 minutes after eating it I am going to feel miserable. And like there I've actually done a lot of studying on like that hit of that hormone that makes you feel really really good after you eat a certain food and that sticks with us, versus the long-term where maybe you didn't feel good, maybe like you're lactose intolerant and you continually go back to something that makes you sick. And it's because we think of that short-term reward spike, like that's what our brain like literally just locks into and it forgets.

Speaker 1:

Like that you were sick on the toilet for an hour Right, which is so interesting because, like I feel like most of the times, my brain has a negativity bias where I remember, like, the worst parts of things. So it's always interesting to me how, with food, I'm always like, oh well, it'll be fine because I remember this happy part, whereas with so many other behaviors in my life, if they were positive but then had a really negative, especially painful consequence, every time I eliminate that behavior.

Speaker 2:

so I just I find it interesting that food always gets that little sneaky pass yeah, in my family we all have like really bad digestive systems, so like problems yeah, the tummy problems, and for for me I'm like very good at it's happened so frequently that I think now I'm like okay, like that is not a fun feeling no like it's very painful and so for me, with like that aspect of it, like I'm pretty good at just being like nope, that upset my stomach.

Speaker 2:

I'm not doing that again. There is probably one food that I'm like I I'll survive through it and I only eat it Like I just had it for the first time in like 10 years, like a month or two ago, is my mom grew me up on bratwurst, what that's so random, I know we went to a training camp, a game or whatever.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and they had bratwurst and I told I told you for an hour I was like I must get one Like and it's worth. It was worth the belly pain for me for that one that I've had in like 10 years and I haven't had one since. That game like that was like sufficient to curb that craving for probably another 10 years once, a decade once a decade your system yeah, but I do think the short-term goals are very helpful.

Speaker 2:

And actually, too, I was just talking to a trainer about this because he just joined the bodybuilding world. He's training with my coach now and came up to me today and he was like it's just really cool to have something to train for. Yeah, because you see your fitness people at the gym and sometimes they're they're bored, they're doing it out of simple habit and sometimes it is kind of nice to get like that fire under your rear end and like have something new to train for and push yourself and like do different things. And so some people get bored. So sometimes with clients that are like I'm sick of doing this, we just like change their fitness modality. Like we're like, oh well, okay, let's start start doing like a group fitness class, start doing this, start doing that, like changing it up, like we'll change, like their whole rep scheme, they'll start power lifting or they'll start doing something. Like you know, some people just gravitate towards different things.

Speaker 2:

As your life progresses, things change of what you want to do with that, as long as you're still moving and knowing your reasoning for what you're doing, and that's where educating yourself is very helpful in continuing your fitness journey. Because when you understand, especially the female, like, oh, okay, strength training helps strengthen my bones, so then when I'm older and I fall, my bones aren't going to break because I've been stimulating that bone growth for so, so long, cause my mom didn't and she broke her back two or three years ago and found out she has severe osteoporosis, which can also be genetic. So therefore I'm like very motivated bone stimulation. There's a lot of reasons like that, like that, those genetic reasons, that people will push through any hardships with a fitness journey, any hardships with nutrition. Some people are have Crohn's, crohn's disease.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, like that. They're like I have to be healthy, I have no option. But for people who do have an option of like, oh, I can eat this versus this, it's like how do we sustain that for a long time and I know we want to talk about this is I have a lot of weight loss clients that is something I'm special, specialized in Like those are my people and it's like okay, well, how do we stay on that track forever? How do we build a body that can last now and not go back to where we were?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Which is interesting so so we're going to talk about you for a second, because you're a great example of this is now that we have dropped 60 plus pounds, but you're able to sustain it, even though, yeah, maybe you've had a rough three weeks of nutrition. Yeah, but your rough three weeks of nutrition is nothing compared to what you were, and your body has so much more active muscle on it now that it burns through your food faster anyway. So you might not be losing weight, but you're also not gaining it. You're probably hitting around a maintenance calorie intake now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So therefore that's very sustainable for a very long time. Your body knows how to digest that amount of calories. Now, because you have more tissue, you're still working out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Now, your body's never going to stop. No.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. So now you're at this like beautiful, like okay, if we wanted to stay at this weight forever, we could, but we got to keep going yes, but you know, you're still doing other pieces of like you know, making sure your bones are staying healthy.

Speaker 2:

you're still like hydrating well, so sure, maybe the food's not perfect, but at the same time, like because your lifestyle has changed so much and at least you're you've changed your body in a way that's sustainable for a long time, and the way we did that was the cardio, which was healthy for your heart, healthy for your weight loss, but also now you're strength trained, you have active muscle on your body, so you have a lot more active tissue, so now your body's working more efficiently for you and now it's sustainable. And you're not the only weight loss client I have who's like that, where now we can have maintenance calories and people aren't having to be in a deficit and maintain this weight that they feel really happy and comfortable at. They can continue doing their workouts, feeling strong, you know, empowered, and it lasts a long time. Like that's how you, you maintain a sustainable lifestyle. You. You learn to eat appropriately for your, for your weight and your activity levels, and that's it it reminds I.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if we've already talked about this because it's feeling really familiar, but I've been re-watching my 600 pound life because they came out with a new season on hbo. Where are they now? Where they like check in with them later, yeah, and they were talking to this one lady and he's or so he says okay, so how did you gain weight if you've been following the diet? And the patient says well, doctor, sometimes I'll just black out, and then when I come to, I've already eaten something that wasn't good for me. And he goes what? And the patient says no, you don't understand, like I don't realize it's happening, until it's too late and the doctor goes I simply don't believe you. And that's so how it's felt the last day, cause my gut reaction will be to tell Rachel like oh, I woke up and I my tummy hurts and I checked Uber eats and there's an order and I just don't know how it got there.

Speaker 2:

Like no, it was you.

Speaker 1:

It was you yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, the hard thing about those surgeries which I have this conversation very frequently is people be like, well, what if I just got liposuction? What if I just got a gastric bypass surgery? What if I just got lap band surgery? A lot of people are like, oh, what if I just take a bunch of like weight loss pills or whatever, like um, you know, obviously Ozempic is a big thing right now and the issue is is those sort of things yes, they are a very good quick fix and like, yes, sometimes gastric bypass surgery works incredibly well and that's what people need and I get that, I love that show.

Speaker 2:

But the issue is is they don't know how to change a lifestyle to lose that weight. And that's where it's not as sustainable for a long period of time, because all of a sudden they have this surgery and then they're expected to follow this diet, they're expected to exercise after a surgery, but they didn't know how to do that prior to the surgery. And then you expect them to do it afterwards, when they kind of feel like crap and they're like I don't know what that did. And people are always shocked when they find out that you lost your weight naturally, like through exercise and nutrition and it's like, oh, she didn't have like some major surgery to lose that much weight. And it's like, no, first of all it's been what.

Speaker 2:

How many months? Like 10 months, like 10 months, okay, over 10 months. Like 10 months, okay, over 10 months. That's a very sustainable like. So what? Like six pounds a month, that's so doable. If you're simply working out in a calorie deficit and, you know, building muscle mass, that's very doable. Wait, people think I took drugs. No, not drugs. Like a lot of people who lose that much weight, you know, might have had like gastric bypass a little bit of.

Speaker 1:

Anyone said that about me. Yes, what? I'm like no, no, no, it's hard work and discipline, oh my god, I can finally sing along to meganeve stallion bodies of the one. What's the freaky line? It's like I'll never be able to tell you the line no, that's true, I'm quizzing the wrong person, but like body's so nice, they be asking who did. It's amazing how much, how little people know about specific nutrition of like, how much is in everything?

Speaker 2:

What's the serving size? The serving size is not the full package most times like that kind of thing, but then, once you educate yourself, that's why it's so like more sustainable now, cause, like you're now aware and it's not like you you could not track and still be very aware of how much food you're eating it's true because you've just educated yourself. No, which makes all the difference to make something very sustainable, because now you go to the gym and you're like oh well, I need to hit this muscle group. Okay, well, if my goal is hypertrophy, then I need to do this amount of reps. So now it's like you already know what to do exactly, and so that's for a lot of people, that's. All they need is that education, because I I work with adults, not kids. I work with 19 year olds, I work with 85 year olds and the.

Speaker 2:

The key commonality of everyone is just lack of education on things Like.

Speaker 2:

There's so much information in the world and people typically just grab onto random things and they're like like beans as their protein source, people who eat meat will be like well, I eat a ton of beans and I'm like well, that's great, but that's like so many carbs, like or you could just be getting like lean protein.

Speaker 2:

You can eat chicken, you can eat fish, you can eat turkey, but you know, it's just. It's just like a lack of education, and one of my most recent clients said it very well. He was like I realized I needed someone to educate me when I thought I had a lot of education. Then, when we talked, I realized that you're like education's up here and there's a big delta sign between us, like there's a big difference between what I don't know and what I thought I knew. Like it's just educating yourself creates for a very good, sustainable journey, because you are always aware. Yeah, and that doesn't mean you're always counting your calories, it doesn't mean you're working out six days a week, all the time. It just means that you are aware what's going to make you feel good, make you feel healthy and like, literally, just like physiologically, what is good for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Well, it's health literacy Like we. Just we have very poor health literacy in the us and well as your new master in public health oh, oh. Do we get to drop this shout out?

Speaker 2:

oh yes, yes we has graduated yes, I have graduated from usc with a master's in public health. Now, walked the stage, I actually just found the other um tassel that. Oh my god, I it was in one of the bags. Also, perf jones sending me the wrong hood for graduation.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, rachel had a different colored hood. So when you graduate with a master's you have like a backward scarf it's kind of funny and they call it a hood and hers was a different color from everyone else's, which was funny, because normally you really wouldn't have been able to tell, but she was sitting in the back row so it was everyone could tell. Well, I could tell because I was looking. It wasn't that obvious. But one of her dear friends, like, ripped off his hood and lent it right after he got his diploma.

Speaker 2:

Like walking down the aisle, he's taking off his hood, he hands it to the lady in charge and she brings it over to me. We do a little switch of the hoods and then so I can walk across the stage. And he was the hero that day he was, he was heroes don't always wear capes. Sometimes they wear hoods oh my god, or don't in this case, or don't so anyway, yes, that did happen, so we'll be working on the public health system of america, we've got another one of our brightest minds going into working on that for you.

Speaker 1:

Yes, um, but no, it's true, it's true. Well, and a lot of it too. I feel like is just like once you know you can't unsee it like I remember being in really little elementary school and I don't remember much of my childhood, but I do remember when we had some health advisory person come into my second grade class and he held up on a board like a plastic bag filled with the amount of sugar that was in a 32 ounce thing of Coke like Coca-Cola. I just sat there and like literally like downward spiraled. It was a horrifying.

Speaker 1:

No, I couldn't unsee it, but I still like I drink Coke later in my life, but I did so more knowingly of the situation, and so that's been my biggest thing with nutrition is like once I realized what a real portion size was, I just like emotionally process that and then adjusted and, sure enough, I lost the weight.

Speaker 1:

And so even then, after your graduation, we went out to eat and we went to a seafood place. So I obviously ordered mac and cheese, as I do, and um, I only had like a quarter of it and um, one of Rachel's family members was like, oh, aren't you gonna have more of that and I was like no, like I had a full, like I had a cup of mac and cheese that's a serving like I feel full and it's because we put in all of the work of not, you know, stretching my stomach out. And so I was worried because I've been, you know, eating a little off the rails the last couple of weeks, but it's still like now that I've portioned down, even when I have a big portion of what I want to eat in front of me, I have way more self-control just because I know what I'm doing yeah, and actually Ethan brought this up is, um, so I started prep yesterday.

Speaker 2:

So yesterday was day one, today was day two and Ethan is supposed to start a prep with me, okay, and yesterday he goes oh my gosh're going to be so boring to go out to eat with. And I was like, no, we're not, and he goes. Well, but everyone's going to like see, like what we're eating and that we're not getting like you know, these big dishes or whatever. And I looked at him and I was like we went out to lunch for Mother's Day and I was like, well, on Mother's Day I got the regular house salad, plain, I got the fat-free raspberry vinegar on the side, I got shrimp skewers that are just plain shrimp grilled. And then I got a plate of fruit. And I looked at him and I said do you think anyone at our table thought twice about my meal? And he was like, oh, I guess no one said anything. And I was like, no, because everyone is so focused on their own field food, like they're not saying they're judging you for it. And I was like, and you know what? I felt so good, like that was honestly such a good meal. It was actually so good. I put the shrimp on the salad like, oh, it was, it was. It was great actually. Yeah, and I felt really really good.

Speaker 2:

We went to the gym later and you know, so you can go out with your friends and family and it's totally doable and you don't have to like stress about it. But he ate so much at lunch he just went hey, I'm at lunch. He felt like crap the rest of the day, yeah, and that's where I was like okay, this is something to be mindful of in the future is like, okay, you want eggs benedict and you want french toast, okay, get half a portion of each or something. But he like, and that's where he's like, oh my gosh, like I can't believe, like I just you know. And that's where it's not as sustainable.

Speaker 2:

It's like where you just put your blinders on to everything you know. As long as you are consciously being aware of, like the knowledge that you have, it's, it's really, it's actually very enjoyable. I feel like really good when I can go out with friends and family and still walk away being like okay, I feel good, my stomach feels good, my skin's going to feel better Now. I mean, my skin is breaking out right now. I think that's due to my birth control being removed out of my arm, which, if you listen to previous episodes, I love. Control of my life and plans and structure yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I don't know Cause, I have kind of a different, a slightly different, less, slightly less rosy, slightly marginal.

Speaker 2:

That's why we have our two different perspectives.

Speaker 1:

That's true Cause for me, like learning about nutrition and fitness and health and what it really takes and all of that good stuff has left me feeling like ignorance was bliss a lot of the time.

Speaker 1:

But then I remind myself ignorance was not bliss. Ignorance was a super painful knee problem and lack of sleep and tummy problems and I had to get like a test done for ulcers, but it was just. It was just the crap I was eating, and so I think that's helpful, because there are definitely points, especially in that kind of year into the fitness journey, where I felt like man, I wish I could just go back to eating without realizing like how bad or not bad you know what I mean just like how not macro friendly so many of the foods that I used to eat were just by the pound and how uninhibited I was and like yes, that's kind of fun to look back on, but I just remember how painful and how sweaty I would get and being pre-diet and just everything. It was not a good time and so it's like you got to remember just because there was a high doesn't mean it was always good.

Speaker 2:

I think you have to choose your heart in this situation because, as your friend, who you know, prior to you starting your fitness journey, you know it was hard seeing you struggle to walk to like our locations that we were going to, yeah, and you know you read me your journal entry about feeling really like down about yourself, like there were a lot of points and you almost had knee surgery yeah, so like that hard was probably going to be a lot harder than what is now, because tonight you get to go work out at the gym with the trainers and like that's something you would have never done before.

Speaker 2:

No, no, and like we do photo shoots now and you're like, oh, look how good I look. Like, oh my gosh, you. You sent me pictures of your abs and like, you know, that's, that's a different. The baby abs, they're just the baby abs. Well, it's still very different than you know struggling to walk to our shoots, where that was a whole different level of hard. And now, because right now your hard is do I eat a full plate of mac and cheese or not? The other hard was do I get knee surgery or not, which are very, very different hards, because now you're choosing, your hearts are like, nowhere near what they used to be. It just it's now in a different perspective because you're now used to being how you are now. Because now your hearts is oh, I bought this pair of jeans last week and now they're too big on me, right, that's a. That's a very different hard, yeah, but I think most people would choose that hard versus surgery and medication and feeling down about yourself because you're not taking care of yourself and like-.

Speaker 1:

Or trying on my jeans and having them not fit which happened over and over for months and months and months Like that's not comfortable.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so there's always going to be a hard to choose, and I think that's where, like with fitness journeys, sometimes, yeah, it's not fun always going to the gym. Like we were at the gym at 11 PM last night and I had a 6 AM client. But like I would, I know. But I would rather, you know, do that and feel good and feel like I'm on track for what I want to do. Um, do that and feel good and feel like I'm on track for what I want to do, then not be able to walk up the stairs for 30 minutes.

Speaker 2:

Like I would much rather choose that than the others, because I worked at a hospital, in the ER, where people chose the other heart and see the toll it takes on family, see the toll it takes on spouses and partners and friends, and so it's always good to keep that in mind too. Like life is not a breeze, no matter which journey you choose, but when we choose one, that's choosing us and taking care of ourselves. Like that makes it very sustainable because you're like this is so much easier than all those other things I was dealing with. Yeah, so, yeah, portioning out your mac and cheese at a restaurant, I mean, yes, but that's. That's not the end of the world.

Speaker 1:

It feels very similar to like when something will happen and I'll tell myself like, oh, this is such a first world problem, like this is just such like a my life is so amazing. I can't believe I'm actually complaining. Complaining like the fact I get to complain about this is ridiculous, kind of feels like that where it'll be like I can't believe these jeans are too loose again. I'm like, oh, okay, right, do we really need to be complaining about this right now? Like really, you know, it's just, it's a good reality check yeah, but we have the.

Speaker 2:

we have the opportunity to take care of ourselves and do well for ourselves and our families and take hold of that and, like we have the education available to us to like, make this something that we can do for a long time and teach kids about it, teach our families about it, help others with it.

Speaker 1:

Our friends about it, our friends about it.

Speaker 2:

I know as a coach, like so so I'm training my friend's mom and I saw them recently and her husband came up to me. He was just like thank you for being so kind to my wife and helping her get where she's at right now. And like it's hard for her to do this. And it's hard to have your best friend's daughter, your, your daughter's best friend, but your trainer, like that Trump's feeling terrible every day, that trumped feeling terrible every day. And so for me I'm like I see how like it's not fun in the beginning but like in the long run, the amazing things that come out. I get to see everyone's transformations. And so it's as a coach and creating that lifestyle for people and helping people get to that lifestyle.

Speaker 2:

It's worth all those hard conversations. It's worth all of the talking about what you can and can't eat or how much of everything you could eat. Like it's a lot and overwhelming sometimes for people. And like people like I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but like once they get past, once you got past that, I remember it was like a whole spiral into like you did it and you're still doing it. And for me on the outside I'm like yeah, you don't have to live like the super restraining lifestyle. You're able to do what you want. You go to parties with us, we go to restaurants and you're where you're at and you're doing well with it. Yeah, and so that's what makes it so sustainable, though. So it's a very cool thing and through that, too, is you're able to, like, encourage your friends because you see the change made for you, and then now you have friends who are also getting gym memberships and texting you when they're going to the gym, and you know it's create a whole new community and relationship with your friends too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's a fun way to even like make new friends, like on the internet too. Like I know, I posted in a fashion forum and a ton of people commented it's like female centered fashion forum and a lot of women commented and were like, oh my gosh, like how do you get such buff arms? I was like oh my gosh, buff arms. But it was really fun because I was like okay, so here's how to do a lateral raise and I sent like a little video and it was just like oh, this is so delightful.

Speaker 2:

Again, like I'm a fitness pusher, I like I like putting people on to it very fun yeah, but you're also educating, it's true, it's true, and there's so much value in that, so it's not much to learn.

Speaker 1:

It's. It's a wonderful cycle to be in. Everyone has I mean I'm I just signed up for a new certification to learn it's.

Speaker 2:

It's a wonderful cycle to be in. Everyone has. I mean, I'm I just signed up for a new certification to learn even more, and so it's like the the journey. It just keeps going and going and it's cool because you can just see, keep seeing the changes and how you can just make everything else easier. Like if food is the hardest part but everything else gets easier, then it's so much easier to like maintain that and understand that portion of your life because everything else is easier, exactly so set yourself up for success yeah, choose your heart and know that taking care of yourself is probably going to be your easiest of the hard ones to do.

Speaker 2:

It's in your control.

Speaker 1:

The most painless of the available pain that you could possibly do.

Speaker 2:

It's just promoted as something that's like miserable, yeah, but it's really. It's really rewarding.

Speaker 1:

It has some bad PR. Yeah, I don't like that.

Speaker 2:

There's been a smear campaign against working out yeah, then then I get the, then I get the brunt of it where they're like no, I can't you're crazy for doing this.

Speaker 1:

You're so mean to me for making me work out. This is an actual quote from me. How dare you?

Speaker 2:

I get a lot of texts from julia that are like oh my gosh, what were you thinking when you wrote me this workout?

Speaker 1:

the other day, I think, I texted. I was like I'm sorry, did you still want to be my friend after this leg day? Like I'm just confused. I just want to clarify, like, did you want me to continue contacting you because, oh, she survived to tell the story.

Speaker 2:

We lived through it Emotionally haunted.

Speaker 1:

No, it's fine, they've only gotten worse. Kidding, but also.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I finished program this morning, so Love that for me. Yes, love that for you. All right, I think we are just about out of time.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I actually. I have to get on my way because I'm gonna go work out at the gym and make some new gym friends, hopefully.

Speaker 2:

Wish me luck yes, you'll be great, very proud of you. Post some gym selfies for us oh, I will.

Speaker 1:

You know, I will can't help it we have to, we must. It's an upload we got it perfect, okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, if you are on your fitness journey, I hope this kind of encourages you. You can see different perspectives of it.

Speaker 1:

Not everyone has experienced it the same or will experience it the same, so um yeah yeah, and if you want like a more intimate view of different perspectives, you can also follow our different fitness accounts. I'm at dreams to dumbbells on instagram and rachel what's your personal? At? Rachel j underscore fitness beautiful. And then you can follow our joint account for podcast updates, like friendship posts. It'll be soft. It'll be coming up at gggp underscore podcast also on instagram. And then, if you want to reach out to us by email, you can find us at girls gains and growing pains at gmailcom.

Speaker 1:

Perfect so this has been another episode of girls gains and growing pains you.