Fitness Extremes To Balance with Trainer Lindsey

00:00Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. Tracking macros is simply measuring the amounts of your carbs, fats, and protein that go into your body.

00:30You can do that eating keto, eating high-protein, low-carb, eating whatever you want to eat, eating junk food. You can track your macros eating ice cream and Snicker bars all day long. Yeah, yeah, McDonald's, exactly. And so it's just optimizing those and having that balanced approach that's going to be the key to making it work for you. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the show. Today, we're thrilled to have Lindsay Matthews, also known as Trainer Lindsay, on social media.

01:07Lindsay is not just a fitness coach. She is a storyteller of personal transformation, and I'm super excited to have her on the show today. From, I can't wait to hear about the competitive fitness that you did, to overcoming your own health challenges, you know, your journey into understanding hormones and gut health. It's inspiring and also transformative and informative. So today, she's going to share her highlights with us and her balanced approach to health and wellness. Lindsay, welcome to the show.

01:37Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here, Nikki. Yes, cool. So let's dive right into it. You know, recently, man, I just found out, like, you and I have very similar stories when it comes to, like, competition days. I know. It's so crazy, right? Yeah, wild. So go ahead. Why don't you just share with us? I want to know selfishly, too, a little bit more about what your journey looked like. But the audience, as well, they want to hear more about you. So open up, share about your story, why you started, you know, competition days, what you experienced with what you're going to share.

02:09Yeah, yeah, perfect. So let me back up just a little bit. I, when I started, like, in fitness, so to speak, I put that in quotes, in the fitness industry, I was really just kind of looking for a job that I could do from home to make some extra money for my family, help kind of, you know, we had a very young family at the time. I started coaching in 2004, actually, before online training was, like, even a thing, you know. And I wanted to be a trainer, but I did not want to be a trainer in the gym because I just didn't want to do that. I wanted to do something from home.

02:39And so a lot of my story was built on insecurity and being afraid to take the next step. And so I really wanted to get certified as a coach or a trainer, but I was really insecure with how I looked. And I felt like I did not look the part of what a trainer is, quote, supposed to look like, right? And I feel like nowadays that's, you know, people go more for the healthy approach. But I'm talking 2004 or 2005 when I just thought you needed to be lean and ripped all the time in order to call yourself a fitness trainer, right?

03:13And so I decided to do it. I decided to go for it. I did end up getting a job at a gym for a little bit just to get more in-person, you know, experience connecting with people, knowing how to motivate them, knowing how to push them, that kind of thing. I feel like a lot of that experience really comes from being with people in person. And then you can translate that to online, but oftentimes you can't just start that online. Do you know what I mean? Totally. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I need to have the personal experience, in my personal opinion, so that you know how to work with those clients in a totally different arena when it comes to the online space.

03:47Yeah. And then once you know how to do it, it's super easy to adapt to online. But I feel like it's hard to just jump in online if you've never really, you know, done that in person or at least harder, not saying you can't do it. And I remember a couple of little stories. I was working at this tiny little gym. It was an anytime fitness. Do you have those where you are? Anytime fitness. Is that nationwide? Okay. Yeah. And so I was working there and I specifically got a job there because I was like, it won't be very crowded. I'll go there because I don't, I don't want people to see me. I was super embarrassed still.

04:18Um, anyways, I was working there and a friend told me, she was like, well, you should start, um, bootcamps. This was in like 2007. She was like, this is, this is where fitness is going, like small group training or even large group training, but not like just teaching fitness classes, like my own business bootcamps. And I was like, there is absolutely no way that you would ever find me working out in front of people with the microphone up on like the stage or a landing, like just being in front of people. There is absolutely no way. And, but that seed was kind of planted.

04:50Right. And I went home and I was like, well, what could it look like? And I'm a big like visionary. I get the ideas and I like to, you know, brainstorm and come up with fun things and just make everything kind of gamify everything. That's kind of how my brain works. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do this. And if I can get eight people to sign up, then I'm going to, I'm going to do this. And so I remember I put it out there and by putting it out there, keep in mind, there was no Facebook. There was no Instagram. It meant like I flyered my neighborhood, um, on the doors. And I like hired teenagers to help me put out flyers, like at the library and the carwash and all that kind of stuff.

05:25And, um, I remember the day that the eighth person signed up, I was like, had a panic attack. I was like, oh my gosh, I really have to do this now because I told myself if I had eight people, I would do it. And this was back in 2007 and I did this for eight years till 2015. And, um, it grew from those eight people in our neighborhood clubhouse kind of area into the last time at the last session I did, we had 150 people in a, in a big gymnastics facility. So it was so much fun, such a good part of my life that really, you know, kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone, helped build my confidence.

05:59Um, it was amazing, amazing. So it was during those years, gosh, I think it was 2009. This is embarrassing. This is my, this is the story of my first competition and it's awful embarrassing. Okay. So, so I remember, I remember I went to, I felt like I looked so good, right? Everybody does before they go to a competition and they're like, oh gosh, that's a whole nother level. Right. And so this was in 2009 and I went to our local university here and they had a bod pod. Do you, do they do those still anymore?

06:29It was like, you know, body fat testing, air displacement versus like, you know, however they do it with other things. And so I remember I went and got that test and it told me that I was 18% body fat. And I thought I was like the queen of being so lean. I was like, oh my gosh, I've never been so lean before in my entire life. I am good. So anyway, I went to do that. And then I went to the gym right after and I was in the bathroom and there was a flyer for a bodybuilding competition. I was like, sweet. I should do that. When is it? Oh, it's Saturday.

07:00Awesome. Okay. I was like, I'm 18% body fat. I can do a competition on Saturday. Oh, this is hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. So this is how little I knew about the whole world of competing. Granted it was in 2009. The bikini division had just come out that same year. And so it was a much softer look, but still you still, you know, still that doesn't justify

07:30what I did. And so I would. Five days, four days. I didn't even know what a prep was. I got some, I got some clear heels at probably like a stripper store. I don't even remember. I bought my spray tan on Amazon. I applied it myself and I knew enough to go to one posing class at a local coach here. And I was like, wait, I don't posing. Like what, what is this? I'm like, okay, you, you put your toe out.

08:02Like, okay, got it. You know? And, and everybody was wearing like suits off the rack at the time. So I did have a little scrunch bum. Like this was way, way back, but my suit was not good at all. And I remember I showed up to the show that Saturday. I think I had eight days or whatever. It was like the Friday before the weekend before. And I was like, Oh, what have I done? And I was like, do I turn around and go home? Oh my gosh.

08:32My tan that looked so dark in my bathroom was obviously like nothing, nothing close to what I needed, you know? And I was like, no, I'm going to see this out. And I went up on stage. I got last place. I mean, to, to be a little bit fair to me, they weren't super lean. Like I was definitely last place, but it wasn't like I was, I don't know. It wasn't like doing the same thing. Like nowadays, you know what I mean? It was very in the early days, but still. So I went through with it and I, it was mortifying, probably one of the most embarrassing experiences

09:06of my life. But I left there thinking like, Oh, this is actually kind of cool. Like, what could I do if I really tried? Like, let me learn more about this and, you know, figure this out and see what I could do if I actually like applied myself and did a prep, because by then I knew what the word prep actually meant. Not just like, you know, walking on stage. And so this was in November. And so I knew nothing about an off season and on season. Like, I don't, didn't know anything about that. And so I was like, Oh, the next show here in Salt Lake city is in March.

09:36So I'm going to do that one. And so I hired, uh, he's, he's a pretty well-known coach, or at least he was at the time back in like 2010, 11. Um, but he was $30 a month. Oh my God. And you get what you pay for. Right. And so he was hardly a coach. I just had no idea what I was even looking for. Right. And so he gave me a meal plan and did a check-in every three weeks. And the check-in was basically like, how are you feeling? Okay, cool. Here's your new meal plan, which I guarantee all his clients got the same meal plan.

10:06I mean, for 30 bucks a month, that's all you can expect. Right. And it was awful. I always, I joke sometimes like there was tuna for breakfast, like no mayo, no bread, just like a can of tuna. And I was like, tuna, like, am I just supposed to open this and eat it with a fork? Like, what do, what do I do with this? You know, and that was a horrible experience, but I did come in a little bit better. I think I placed like top three or something. And then I was trying to prepping myself for a few shows. I placed top three.

10:38I mean, granted, these are small local shows. That doesn't really mean anything that I placed top three, but, um, you know, I slowly just to cut to the kind of the bulk of the story. I, um, this was in 2010, 11, uh, I competed in bikini until 2012 and then took a couple of years off in 2014. I was like, I, I want to do this again, but I want to, I want to try the figure division. Now, granted at that time figure looked how bikini does now, right? It was not as big and muscular as it is now.

11:10And so I hired another coach. Um, I did things like my calories stay high. I did it really healthy. I didn't really have a lot of negative hormonal implications at that time from 2014, 15. I went to nationals. I didn't place at nationals, but it was just kind of a fun experience. And then I was like, okay, I'm done. Um, in 2016, so 16, 17 pass and 2018 rolls around.

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12:41Maybe I'll just try it again, but go back to the bikini division, which is where, you know, kind of the same look I was going for before, but the divisions had changed. Right. And so my, this was kind of when it all went down. So, which is the same year as you, right? 2018. Yeah. That's so funny. And so I told myself I was going to do one show. And so we started prep in January. Interesting thing. I still haven't quite figured this out, but my calories started high. I remember I lost my period in January. So like two weeks into prep, I don't, I still don't really know why.

13:14Maybe it was the stress of like my body knew what it, what was coming. I have, I don't really understand why I lost it so early before I got super lean or my calories dropped super low, but that did happen. I did not have my period that entire year. I remember it came back on Christmas day and I was like, this is the greatest Christmas present I could ever have was to get my period back, you know? But that's jumping ahead. So I was going to do what I saw. How stories, I didn't share that on your podcast, but that's the same thing that happened to me and around the same time my period came back to as well.

13:44No way. Yeah. Wild. I didn't, that's crazy, but go ahead. Keep going. That is so crazy. Interesting. Yeah. So I was going to do one show. It was going to be in June. But of course, as time goes on, you're like, well, why just do one show? I'm doing all this prep. Might as well do one more, like right around the same time. And so I decided to do one in Idaho the week before. I won that one. And then of course, you know, you get kind of all in your head and the judges are like, you should go to nationals. And you're like, oh really?

14:14Do you think I should? Oh yes, you should. Like it's a whole story, right? In your head. And then you, I go into the next one and I won that one as well. And so I was like, okay, let's just do it. Let's just see. I'm already here. I've already done all this work. Might as well just see what happens. Right. And what was the time difference in between those two shows? Just one week. It was a Saturday and the next Saturday. And so that was the whole plan. And I truly believe if I would have stopped there, I would have been fine because I was so lean. So my normal, I'm five, six. I normally hang out like one 40 to one 45 or so.

14:46I was down to, by this show, like one 20, one 25. And so that was, it was lean for me. And to just get there and like touch it probably would have been fine. But to hang out there all summer, like I did, I, I believe that's what did me in, you know? And so we're like, okay, let's go to national. So I did one show as more of like the practice, um, placed 11th. And then I was like, okay, that was just the practice. We're going to do a master's one. So I went to master's, uh, whichever one's first master's nationals or the other one that, um, I, uh, North Americans, I think master's nationals was first.

15:21And so I went to that one and I, let's see, it was first call out or I was made first call outs. They pulled us out to the front. I wasn't put in the center, never moved. Everybody moved around me. I came off stage. People I knew were like, oh my gosh, you did it. You're great. You're, you got first place. You're turning pro yada, yada. The night show comes around and they call me a second. And I was like, what? What? I thought it meant, I thought it meant that I won if I was in the middle, never moved all the things. And so again, that lit a fire in me that I was like, I got to do one more.

15:55I got to do one more. Yeah. You did two shows. You did a show. You did the week, one week later. And then I went to North America. Yep. I went, I went team universe, which would, or is that what it's called? I am so out of the competition world nowadays. I don't even remember the names of the shows, but I think it's team. You was like four to six weeks later than the masters nationals, I think was like a month later. And then maybe my times are wrong. I can't remember. But the last one I did. So from that time I play second, I had six more weeks and I was like, should I do it?

16:27Should I do it? I decided to do it. And I, you know, again, this is by, by the time that last show came around, I was like one 15, like I was so small. And so I don't want to use the word emaciated, but I was just so small and, um, I did not place well. Well, I placed like eighth. So that's great, of course, but I didn't win. Like I was hoping to, you know? And so that's where that whole summer, I like to tell people like, for me, my stress was

16:59being so lean. You know, I had time, my calories never went to like seven, eight, 900, like crazy levels like that. You know, I did it in as healthy of an approach as you can, but it's never healthy to stay that lean for so long. And so there's only, you know, you can't really do that in a healthy way. I feel like, um, well, where were you at there with your food? Like what were you eating and then how much were you, how much were you in cardio? Yeah, that's a great question. And let me try to remember. I feel like I like put it in the back recesses of my mind, like never to relive again. You know, it's, but I think how you think about that, that's, it's like, whenever people

17:33compete like that was back to back shows, it's like a mirage in the desert. It's like, yes, it's like, yes. See what the end point is, but it's like, you get closer. Like that's like competing in a nutshell, right? You're like, I thought I was there and no, it's still a mile away. Oh my gosh. It's so true. I feel like my calories were 12 to like 1200 on a low day, 1300 most of the time, maybe having some refeeds at 15, 1600.

18:04So they're low, but not like, not crazy low, you know, but cardio was, uh, there was a time where my cardio was like 70 minutes, seven days a week. Um, yeah, yeah. Super high and lifting. I mean, we talked about this on my podcast, but it's like, you're lifting for at least an hour, but you've got your body work. You've got your foam rolling. You've got your, your glute stuff with your ball. Like, yeah, I haven't even like touched that stuff in years. And it's like, you bring your heels to the gym and you're posing and like, you can't do anything else.

18:34It's so consuming. And I remember times like laying on my couch after dinner at night and the kids were like, let's go outside and go swimming or whatever. And I'm like, no, no. And I just wanted to get to the, I wanted to go to bed because I wanted the morning to come so I could have breakfast. I remember thinking those things like so stupid, you know? And I was just like a shell of a mom, a shell of a human, you know? And of course at the time you're like, oh, but I look so good. So it's fun. And I love it. And at the time you think you love it, I really feel like I had, yes, you're dying inside,

19:09but you don't realize it until after looking back. I think at least that's how it was for me. Was that how it was for you? Yeah, totally. A hundred percent. There's so many things that I gained positively from the world of bodybuilding, but also there was a lot of cons as to what we're talking about. It just felt like once the end point was done, I was like praising God that it was over. I'm like, but why did I put myself through all of that for the last six months? I was like, yeah, I'm sure you relate. Yeah, yeah, totally. And so that last show comes and goes and I was like, okay, that's fine. That's how this sport rolls. No big deal. Well, we'll try again next year.

19:41And so that next year never came because afterwards I did reverse diet. I brought calories back up. And I remember it was that last show was early September. I feel like I think it was like Labor Day weekend. And by mid-October, I think my calories were about where they usually my maintenance is approximately 2000 ish, just, you know, kind of basic. And I got calories back up to there. My weight had come up to really my set point. It was like 135. So I had gained some weight back, which I wanted to.

20:11I didn't, I never wanted to stay that lean as I was, you know, even my husband was like, your butt's gone. Like you're so small, you know. How fast is that? You were 115 and you just went up to 135. How fast did that incrementally like happen? Yeah. So I think the 115 was so depleted. And so, gosh, I'm trying to remember. I feel like I gained like five to seven pounds in the first like week or two, but it was just, I mean, that was fine with me. It was just like water, food, like, you know.

20:43But then it came on pretty fast, like a pound or two a week, I feel like. But again, I wanted it. And so I was prepared for it and I wanted to get back to that healthy place. So I wasn't like sad or discouraged or frustrated or any of those emotions, right? So I got to October and I maintained for probably a month and I was like, cool. I reversed. I maintained. I'm back to where my body likes to be. Let's, you know, move on and do other things for a while, right? And then come like mid-November, my weight started ticking up again.

21:13And it went up probably a pound or two a week, Nikki, until July. Like, I am not kidding. I got up to, I think my highest was 165 and I have never been more than like 145, not pregnant. I mean, not having just had a baby. After I had my babies, I was higher, of course. But I think with my first baby, though, I was like mid-160s. Anyway, numbers are nothing. I'm just trying to paint a picture for people, you know, up 25 pounds above to 30 pounds where

21:45I was, where I normally like to be. And so over that year, it was- What happened? Like, did you do anything different with like, clearly you said you were reversing out and you were getting your calories up to 2000. And then you had like, you maintained come that October. And then from there to July, what happened? Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it and there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button.

22:17I'd appreciate that tons. And also, it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. So many things. I mean, well, my body started gaining and I started freaking out, you know? And this had never happened to me post-show. I mean, I've gained the weight back that I lost in the show, but I've never gained up higher than that. And I think at this time, I don't know if you remember, but there were a lot of people on social media talking about this. I feel like there were a lot of us that had competed in those few years. And a lot of people that were saying like, I gained weight for like a year or something,

22:51no matter what I did. I talked to so many people that had said they gained weight for like a year. And I was like, oh my gosh, what's going on? And so I tried everything, everything over the course of that year. I thought I had, well, I did labs first, of course. And my cortisol was super high. My thyroid was really low. I was estrogen dominant. My progesterone was like tanked. Those were my main issues. I think cortisol, sex hormones, testosterone. My testosterone has always been fine, but like my estrogen or my progesterone was really

23:23low. Thyroid was really low. Cortisol was super high. So those were kind of, how are you sleeping during that time? I, well, I've, I've, I've, I struggle with sleep, like in general, like my whole life, but I was sleeping horribly. And so I worked with, but during that time I worked with holistic coaches. I tried keto because my gut health was a disaster as well. And so I actually, it's interesting. I did strict keto for six months. Didn't lose a single pound. Actually, I kept gaining. I truly believe I would have gained no matter what I did. And I did lots of things.

23:53I did keto to try and help my gut, which it did help my gut a ton. And it actually, it made it so it's like when your gut is healthy, you, your hormones work better, right? Our endocrine systems and our gut is so intertwined. And it made it so my, I was taking way too much thyroid medication. So my free T3, I don't know if your listeners know much about lab numbers, but it's supposed to be like three to four is a healthy place for your free T3. My free T3 got up to like an 8.2 or something. So my heart was racing all the time.

24:24Um, I was, you know, I was super anxious feeling, which again, those kinds of things are in line with estrogen dominance and low progesterone as well. So I was just a disaster. And so I tried things, like I said, keto, um, during that time I was getting rashes. And so my mom, I remember my mom was like, oh, I have the best autoimmune doctor. You should just go to him. And I'm like, I am not going to an autoimmune doctor who is just going to tell me I have an autoimmune disease and I have to take medication for the rest of my life or something. I'm like, I'm going to do everything I can with nutrition and lifestyle to try to fix that

25:00before I go see your autoimmune doctor, you know? And so there was actually a time when after keto, when I did a carnivore, oh, that was awful, awful, awful. But my rashes went away. I had this sore on my lip that I thought was like cancerous and it wouldn't go away. And when I did this little bout of carnivore, which I didn't even do full out, it was so hard for me, but all that stuff went away. And so I don't know everything I did. Like, I don't know what worked and what ended up helping, but I had times where I did not

25:33track my macros because I thought maybe the stress of tracking my macros was making things worse. You know, where I just ate more intuitively. I had times where I tried a deficit and that didn't work. And my weight just kept ticking up. Literally nothing I did was working. And I talked until honestly, I truly believe that it was just lifestyle stress, like all of that stress. And I don't know the science behind why it took my body so long to, I mean, you hear

26:04people talk about your body needs to trust that you're taking care of it and feel loved, appreciated. All the woo woo stuff I truly believe is real, you know? And it's like, it just took so long after me. It's like a pendulum, right? You swing so much to one side, the extremes that my body seriously swung to the other side for literally just as long before I found that middle, you know? And not to mention like all of, so you did all of the dieting world, you with bodybuilding and then you did the reverse, but then because you saw your weight incrementally increasing,

26:39you tried to do, yeah, it freaked you out. So you try to do other things that would maybe supplement, you know, the weight gain by making the reverse happen by you losing weight. And like, how many, how many things do you think you tried in that span from like October, November to July of the next year? Oh my gosh. I mean, I didn't do any of like nothing with like Optivia or any of the shots. I mean, the shots weren't even out at the time, but like, I didn't do anything like that. But nutritionally, I don't know, five, six, seven, like so, so many things over the course

27:14of what? Your body was like, what the fuck is going on? Yes. Yes. Went from keto to carnivore to. Yeah. Back to balanced eating. Like, yes. And it was going from a deficit to no, this isn't working. Let's go back up to maintenance to what am I going to do? Am I just going to keep gaining? Like, and that was my thought. I remember crying on my bed. Well, numerous times, but this specific time and really feeling like, is this weight gain ever going to stop? Am I going to be like over 200 pounds? Which, you know, not, I'm just using numbers, like no shade on anyone who is over 200 pounds,

27:49of course. But I was like, is my weight just going to keep on going up and up and up and never stop gaining? Yeah. How do you come from a space of just how do I stop this and how do I figure it out? And you were trying to figure it out along the way. Yeah. So you got up to like 50 pounds overweight, right? That's what you. Yeah. 50 pounds over my, over my stage weight. So I gained 50 pounds in that year. And I remember it was early September and I remember I stepped on the scale and I did, I measured myself. I stepped on the scale every week. I never really put it in the back of my mind where it was, I was always aware of it, which

28:22I think was a good thing because I don't know, it kept it from probably being more maybe, but it was something I was always stressed about and aware of. So that was probably the downside, but I remember getting on the scale early September and I was down a pound and I was like, whoa, like that's never happened before. Like, and I, instead of getting my hopes up, I was like, well, it's probably a fluke. It's probably going to be back up two pounds next week, you know? And it wasn't, it was down another pound the next week. And I was like, what? Maybe, maybe this is like that time where my body has been, you know, not, I haven't

28:56been like in an extreme deficit. I haven't been super lean for like this year. Maybe this is finally starting to work. I don't even know. It's like I, every, I think I really attribute it to just such high stress and, you know, auto, there was gut stuff. There was autoimmune things going on, you know, just so much stuff going on that my body just needed to chill and calm down, you know? And the first 10 pounds came off fairly easily without really trying. I think I was loosely, I don't even know if I was tracking my, my macros.

29:27I think I was loosely being like, okay, that's approximately 400 calories. Okay. That's approximately, you know, just kind of eyeballing things. And I lost about 10 pounds in a couple months. And then it stayed there. And I was like, okay, well, I don't really still want to stay here. I was still like mid, you know, still 15, 20 pounds above where I wanted to be. And at this point when my body was responding, my hormones were still kind of a mess. I was trying to do this more holistically. Uh, I do take progesterone, but I was, you know, trying to do the rest with, you know, health thyroid supplements, like that kind of thing, just like selenium, magnesium, like

30:01that kind of stuff. And so I hired another coach who really specializes in, you know, optimizing hormones naturally, really focusing on the nutrition, lifestyle exercise kind of aspects and supplementation. And that really started to work for me. Like it was just taking the stress down, cutting out all the cardio, um, you know, focusing more on mindfulness techniques, um, spending some time at maintenance, but really just taking supplements based on my lab work, you know, my thyroid was low.

30:31And so I took specific vitamins and minerals to help thyroid production, right? Nothing gimmicky, nothing magical, just the basics. And I kind of, I approached it in kind of like 10 pound chunks. So we reversed again, cause my calories had gotten kind of a little bit lower, um, stayed at maintenance for a while, did like a 12 to 15 week diet, uh, lost 10 pounds, spent another like six months at maintenance. And this is the part that nobody wants to do, right? Is take a bigger weight loss goal and break it into chunks and spend some time at maintenance

31:03in between there. And so that last 20, 25 pounds, it took me probably a year and a half. Could I have done it faster? Maybe, but I wanted to do it slower and slower diets, maintenance period, diet, maintenance period. Right. And I truly believe that's why I've been able to maintain it for like two and a half years pretty easily. Um, because I was able, I did it slower and it's almost like your body creates that new set point in that maintenance time. And you're like, okay, I'm here, you know, and then you try to lose a little bit more. Um, and then you create that new set point by spending some time at maintenance and then,

31:36you know, go again. So that's kind of the whole story. I don't know. Yeah. I'll unpack there. I have tons of questions to ask. Okay. Okay. I'll highlight the fact that you've been in the game for a long time. You've been doing this. You started social media before social media was even cool. Right. Just to go all the way back to the beginning there. Yes. Um, but okay. So I want to unpack a little bit more as we did, we unpacked as we were going there with the competition and leading up to it, training, diet, cardio, you know, all that things in

32:07those to unpack a little bit more in the months where you were trying, you gained all this weight and you were trying different things. You mentioned like once you started to, uh, turn it around and start, start to work with another coach, which I freaking love. Like coaches work. So like that's, that's our coaches. I'm a big believer in coaching for sure. Yeah. Um, so once you started figuring all that stuff and you're working with that coach, you know, you mentioned that you pulled back on cardio. What else, what, what besides the things that you were trying nutritionally and trying to

32:38eat right and trying to get the weight to come down, what, what did your training look like during that time? What did your cardio look like during that time? Can you elaborate on that? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I basically, I started with him and he cut out all cardio only walking. And it was like, not even, I don't mean walking at an incline at the gym. I mean, with my dog around my neighborhood, my heart rates like 90, 95, like not even exercise. It's just moving. Really? That was my like, quote unquote, cardio. Uh, he took my training from when I competed, I was lifting usually six days a week.

33:11He took it down to three and specifically told me no failure. He was like, do not go to failure. We're focusing on recovery rest. Um, you can lift, but it need, you need to have at least, you know, two to three reps in reserve, like not to failure at all, like a seven out of 10 on like a 10 scale. Um, and he had me do restorative yoga once a week and yeah, so that was kind of the training aspect. And I did that for probably six months before, and he was looking at labs and what my, my

33:42second set of labs showed improvement. My third set of labs were pretty darn awesome. And so at that point, actually after my second set of labs, he let me go up to four days a week of training and let me push a little bit closer towards failure, but I could not add cardio in, um, or I still don't lift five days a week. I'm still at three or four, actually four, four most of the time, but sometimes three. Um, he let me push harder in my lifting and moved into a deficit, a calorie deficit after that third set of labs when they looked pretty awesome. And then the weight just came off.

34:13Okay. Can we just like put a pin right here? Yes. Right now, Lindsay, I need you to elaborate a little bit more on what you just shared personally that you changed. Because I think a lot of women need to understand that you were doing extremes, right? You were training, you were working out, you were doing six days a week that you said you were doing cardio. Were you still doing a ton of cardio post show until like those six months that you're gaining the weight? Were you still doing some, but not any, nothing like the, what I was doing during competing. I was probably doing maybe three or four days a week though, for like 30 minutes.

34:47Okay. Something that are something that our listeners are probably doing, you know, 30 to 45 minutes, a few times a week is what I was doing. And he cut it all out completely. Oh, that's incredible. So women think that they have to be inside the gym for two to three. I think it's starting to shift in the online space. I agree. But women always think they look at a body and they're like, well, that person probably spent a ton of time inside the gym. You just shared like from, you were your hormones, everything, gut was off, you're gaining weight, you were overtraining and you're on this extreme side of the scale.

35:17Right. Yeah. And then you just elaborated that you cut basically everything in half. You didn't do any cardio and you were training three to four times a week. Yes. What message can you share with women that need to like take that piece of advice and try it in their world? Maybe they're like struggling with like, they don't, they don't understand how that works and how they can still get the same results. Like, what would you share with a listener right now? That's like, I am training seven days a week. I'm doing cardio every single day.

35:48I want to train abs seven days out of the week. Like they're over here. How could you, what could you share with them that, that can help them see that they only have to train less, not more. Right. Right. I think that so often people think that, like you just said, that more is better, you know, and they're only, I think a lot of that comes down to maybe not for everybody, but like a calories burn perspective, like, Oh, I need to do more cardio so I can burn more calories. I need to lift so I can burn more calories. Even if you don't burn those calories in the lifting session, it's those metabolic boosts seven days a week. I need all of that in order to either lose the weight or stay lean or whatever.

36:21But I like to look at it more, not necessarily as like, what's the minimum you can do, but kind of like, what's the minimum you can do to see the result that you want to see? Because if you need to increase cardio, you always can. Like we did once I kind of was back to that healthy baseline, we did add some cardio. It's not like you can't or shouldn't ever do anything, but it's like baseline. Love. Yes. A healthy baseline until you reached a healthy baseline with your blood work, with your lab hormones, with your everything internally.

36:52Then that's where you were like, Oh, okay, well I can add a little bit more of things that I enjoy doing. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Because, you know, more is sometimes better, but oftentimes getting to those extremes is makes it worse because there's so many hormonal effects that happen that from too much that will prevent you from seeing weight loss. You know, it can slow down your metabolism through like so many different ways with the, you know, high cortisol, which can then lead to so many different hormonal issues that will

37:22make it really hard to see results. But cutting that back and doing less is almost like, okay, what does, as opposed to thinking about what, what do I need for fat loss or for body composition goals? You think, what do I need for, for your mindset, for your hormones, for your stress levels? And then so many people, there's a little tangent. We'll say like, well, I run to help my stress. Like that is my stress relief. And it might be for mental, it might be a mental stress relief, but on your body, it's, it's not a stress relief. It is a stress on your body and you have to manage that and find a moderate place.

37:56And that's when you're going to see the best results. Love that. Love that. That's definitely a key differentiator to understand when it comes to cardio. Yeah. A lot of people say like, I just love to do it because it relieves stress from my days. Like you got to think if you're already stressed and that you're adding more stress on top of it, you're just like sinking yourself deeper into a hole. Yeah. Well, and you can find other ways to relieve that mental stress. You know, they might feel harder to you like meditation, breath work. All of these things are better for your, a better way, a healthier way to reduce that

38:27stress. Yoga. But they're hard at first. Yes. Yoga. At least that way you're moving, walking outside, you know, walking with around your neighborhood out in the sun. Like all these things are really good. And that's something that we do with our clients who really struggle mentally with bringing exercise down is we let them fill that time in with walking restorative yoga. So they still kind of feel like they're moving, but it's a lot more moderate. Yeah. I love that. So listeners that may be experiencing like weight fluctuations or hormonal issues, what

38:58advice would you give them based on your journey? Or like what, how do you help clients that experience the same thing? Yeah. It's really just keeping that long-term perspective. I mean, because I don't, I feel like we all know why we have weight fluctuations. That's not really the topic here, you know, but it could be due to so many different things. And so I felt like there's kind of magic in like the one year mindset. So when we get clients that are, that are coming on and they give us a year, like that's incredible because it kind of releases the pressure of, you know, what is your way in

39:30or you're checking going to be like this week and next week, because you have just that longer mindset or that longer, uh, yeah, I guess mindset and that longer journey to have the phases and change your focus from, okay, this is, you know, we're going to take a break from fat loss. We're going to do a two week diet break. If you're just thinking week by week, month by month, that will make you freak out. Right. But if you have this long-term perspective, it's going to be so much easier to kind of shift focuses, shift directions here and there, all with the end goal in mind of reaching

40:00your goal and maintaining it. You know, amen, amen, man. And I love that. That's what we call the long-term game. It's like, if you can accept that your journey is going to take you six, 12, 18 months, two years, like just accept it because that's realistically, nobody, ain't nobody talk about that because it ain't sexy. No, no. And you're going to enjoy it so much more. Yeah. You're going to enjoy it so much. Right. You're going to be happy because people are like, oh, when I get X result, I can be happy

40:31then. It's like, yo, just learn to be happy right now. And it grows your journey for what it is that you're experiencing and learning and all the new things that you're creating for yourself. And then like, you're going to, then you can experience the happiness of along the whole journey. Exactly. And when you have that long game mindset, like you said, it, it does kind of force you to find the joy in now because it's easy when you're just thinking short-term, oh, I'm doing a six week program or whatever. You're like, I'll be happy at the end of the six weeks when I can have pizza again and stop eating so much protein or whatever.

41:01But if you realize these are lifestyle changes you're making and it's the long game, it kind of forces you to find the joy in the journey. Yes. I love that. Okay. So obviously you went from the extremes of things, right? As did I from bodybuilding world. And we definitely have a lot of similarities in that. And now you're living the world of like a more moderate balanced approach to your, to your results, to your journey. So like how, what, what does that look like for you? Like, what does that mean to you living with a balanced approach with a fitness style or the fitness lifestyle?

41:31Yeah. That's a great question. I think the biggest thing I have in my mind all the time is rest and recovery. Like for example, last week I had a killer leg day. Um, I was going to hit hamstrings and glutes again, like three or four days later, but I was still super sore. So guess what? I didn't do it, you know? And like the old me would have been like, no, I got to power through it. Maybe I'll lower my weights, but I was really able to step back and be like, is this better for my legs to do another leg day? Like, no, of course it's not. I'm not recovered yet.

42:02So I'm not going to do another leg day. You know, it's I, and same thing if I didn't get a lot of sleep and I'm super tired, like maybe I got, you know, four and a half, five hours of sleep. I have a super crazy day. I'm not going to work out because I'm like, is that better for me when I'm low on sleep, have a kind of a high stress day to go to the gym and add more stress on top of it? No, that's not better for me. I'm going to, I'm going to work out three times that week and just skip today, you know? And so I'm not saying it's on the extreme of you never go to the gym and you never, you know, do these things, but it's being able to step back and be like, what is better

42:36for me as opposed to checking off all the boxes of getting in all my workouts, tracking every macro. It's just finding that balance. If I'm extra hungry one day, if it's around my period and I'm hungrier than I normally eat, I'm going to eat some more food. Am I going to make sure it's healthy food? Yeah, of course. I'm not going to eat a Snickers. I'll have, you know, an apple and a protein shake or whatever it is, if I'm in a hurry, you know, but it's, I'm really able to step back and say, what is better for me when it comes to recovery, balance, moderation.

43:07I have ice cream almost every night. Do I have a lot of ice cream? No, I have like three bites because I know I have it every single night. And so it's fine. Whereas the old me would have eaten a whole pint of ice cream to get it out of the house. So I wouldn't be tempted and thinking about it tomorrow. But when you take away that restriction and you know, you can have the foods you want, whenever you want them, you just don't have that urge to overeat the things most of the time. I mean, of course, sometimes people do, but you know, the ice cream is a good example. I have, you know, just a little pint of ice cream in my freezer and after dessert or after

43:39dinner, after dessert, I have dessert. And then I have my ice cream. You have dessert, then dessert. After dinner or like, you know, before bed or whatever, I have like literally like three or four bites. And I'm like, hmm, that was so good. And there's no feeling of needing to overeat that because I don't tell myself I can't have it. I love that. I'm the same way. I have dub chocolate almost every single night. I ran out of it. So I need to go get some more. Oh, no, that's the worst. I know, right? I'm like, I really want my dub chocolate tonight. I basically have either two to four pieces, whatever I feel like I need that day.

44:12Right. And it literally opens up the world of like, I don't I'm not restricting any type of food. And I think that's really important for people to understand. It's like you can have what you want. It's just like you can't eat the pint in one sitting. Right. Because I mean, that's just that's just that's what like a thousand calories and like one. Yeah. So like consciously being aware of that and being aware that like, is this choice I am making serving me for my future self? Or is it like an act of like, oh, I'm, you know, still leading into the old habits that

44:48I've been doing. Yes. Yes, for sure. I love it. I totally agree. Yeah. Because it's so important. Like you can have the foods that you want. You can enjoy the foods. Even if it's a little bit, it's enough to curb the craving. You don't need to down an entire bag of Dove chocolate. And then you find that you don't even have those cravings. Exactly. Can you like do you I feel like when with my journey, I was a sugar queen. Right. Like before my journey, I had Smarties in my bedside table. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. It's. Oh, I hate Smarties. Oh, my God. They're so good.

45:19There's a hilarious picture of me at my old work where I'm at the computer and there's just a bag of Smarties right next to me. Oh, my God. I was a sugar queen. That's so funny. But like thinking about it now, and I'm sure maybe you can relate. It's like I look at that stuff and I know how I feel after I eat. Yes. Uh-huh. I feel like shit balls. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. It like immediately shift in like my brain and an immediate shift in my like overall energy. Like I just feel like I'm weighed down by that food after that. So it's like once you go a while without consuming it and then you only allow it in moderation,

45:55you gain almost like a new respect for it and then also recognize you don't need it. Yes. Yeah. I 100% agree. And when you like when you tell yourself you can have it, that releases a lot of that, you know, that need for it as well. Because I mean, human nature, if you say you can't have something, that's all you're going to think about. That's totally normal. It's like me telling you not to think about a pink elephant right now. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Are you thinking about a pink elephant? It's exactly the same. Yeah. Right. That's a great point of view right there.

46:26Yes. Okay. So I want to dive into really quick. You talked about macros before. Yeah. Can you elaborate on your perspective on tracking of macronutrients? Yeah. I think tracking macros is almost like built in moderation. You know, you truly can have whatever you want as long as it's fitting into your targets. Right. A lot of times with our clients too, we do what I call a modified macro approach where we just have them track calories and protein. And that's even better for fitting in the foods that you're craving, you're wanting that

46:58you have on hand. Like, I mean, I have times where I'm just feeling like I want more fats and I don't really care about carbs and times where it's vice versa, you know, and for probably 90% of our people, that is enough tracking to help them reach their goals. Yes. Some people are going to need a little bit more, need to dial it in a little bit more, but I think that's a great starting point for people, especially if they're just starting because you don't have that macro Tetris at the end of the day. We're like, Oh crap, I'm 20 grams of fat short, but 10 grams of carbs high or, you know, that can be tricky sometimes. So I think tracking calories and protein is a great start.

47:29Great start. I totally agree. How, what would you say to somebody that's like tracking macros is hard to do? I would say, give it two weeks. I think honestly, it can be hard. It can be hard at first. It's just like anything, anything that's worth it is hard at first, but if you give it two weeks, I mean, I don't know why two weeks. I've just heard that from a lot of our clients. Like after a couple of weeks, it just felt so much easier. It just becomes second nature. You might feel like pre-tracking your food the night before takes 30 minutes in the beginning and it's just so tricky and you don't know how to do it.

47:59But with practice, it gets easy and it can literally be life-changing. Like literally. Amen. How about when people say I'm too busy and I can't track my food? Then it's like, give me like pre-planning, I think is huge, you know? And if you're tracking and you pre-plan for 10 minutes, like do it while you're pooping the day before. I don't care. You have time, you know? Amen. Yeah. You know, you're on the toilet scrolling social media. Just open to eat. I mean, I love that. That's hilarious. It's like priority.

48:30It's like, yeah. Like you're not too busy to sit down and watch Netflix at the end of the night. You're not, you choose that over prioritizing. Pre-track your food while you're watching Netflix if you want to. Yeah. Go, go turn the volume up and go into the kitchen barcode, scan your food. It's like, I just, I needed more votes towards, you know, why macros are so good. What happens when people say they're too busy? You got my vote. Yeah. And why that's The WarriorBabe Show. We need to, we need to help people understand why macros are such a great tool. Not on their diet.

49:01We agree it's not on their diet. It's a tool. No, not at all. And I, I don't like it. Pet peeve when people are like, well, I've done macros and that wasn't enough carbs for me. I'm like, I've done macros and it didn't work for me. And I'm like, yes, wait, you wait. What do you mean? Yeah. What do you even say? Work it the right way. Yeah. Yes, exactly. Or they're like, I've done macros. I've done keto. I've done whole 30 and none of them worked. I'm like, no, that you don't understand macros.

49:31If that's what you're saying. Yeah. Because you can try a little bit deeper. We need to get a little bit deeper. What's going on at human level. Are you actually trying to do the thing? And are you successfully setting up the way you can do it? Maybe you've been guiding. And do you understand like what that even means? Because tracking macros is simply measuring the amounts of your carbs, fats, and protein that go into your body. You can do that eating keto, eating high protein, low carb, eating whatever you want to eat, eating junk food. You can track your macros eating ice cream and Snicker bars all day long.

50:05Yeah. Yeah. McDonald's. Exactly. You know? And so it's just optimizing those and having that balanced approach. That's going to be the key to making it work for you. Yeah. Love it, Lindsay. Well, thank you. We're so one, a couple last questions. Reflecting on your journey, what advice would you give a younger yourself? Especially when you started your like whole fitness career. Yeah. Don't compete. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. There's some pros to it. There's some pros. There is. That's why I was going to go. I actually don't like hating on competing because there are a lot of pros to it.

50:37And I think it taught me discipline that has helped me with moderation actually. Yeah. Because I know what the one side looks like. So I think advice to my younger self would be not to be so black or white thinking and not have like that all or nothing mindset where if you miss one workout, that means your whole week was ruined because you didn't. I'm a very checkboxy person. I like to finish a list. I like to check things off. And I felt like, you know, if I missed a workout, it meant that I didn't have a perfect week.

51:09I wasn't completely on track all week. It's that black or white thinking that leads people to the pantry, to the fridge, to overeat because they think I didn't do it perfectly. So I'm just going to start over on Monday, you know? And so I would try to, you know, tell myself to really just look at the whole picture and just kind of be more, what's the word? I don't know. Just not so black or white, all in, all out kind of thing. Because when you have those extremes, it's really difficult to find the middle.

51:40But the middle is what you can be consistent with long-term. And that's where you'll have that long-term success. Yes. And be happy now. Be happy now. And enjoy your whole journey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Amazing. Well, I'm going to put all your links below this. I know you're awesome. Thank you. New host of your Nurse and Strengthen podcast too as well. Yes. Yes. So this nurse definitely will give that a listen. Thank you. I'm going to put like all your socials below, but where can they find you most? Yeah. Instagram and Facebook. I have a Facebook group called Fat Loss Secrets for Busy Gals.

52:11Everyone can join that one. And then just Instagram and Facebook is where I hang out. Amazing. Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for being here today with us. I appreciate your info. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Your insight, your story, the transformation you've made and the women that you're helping along the way too. Women and men, right? You coach both. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Cool. All right. Well, thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Talk to you soon. Real quick. The only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident.

52:43And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds. And it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

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