Top Guest Moments on The WarriorBabe Show

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.

00:30Was that the picture from 2016 where you were 126 pounds to 2003 where you were 142 pounds? Yeah, yeah. So I went through some phases, but yeah, the 126 was when I was my leanest when I had my six-pack. And then I was like, I still like, I cut down to what you said. It was like, I actually didn't have a lot of muscle. So I cut down and there wasn't a lot of muscle there. And I realized, yeah, that's right. So I needed to add the muscle.

01:01And so then I did end up going into a bulk. I think that was in like, it's probably 2017, 2018 when I did my powerlifting competition and really added. I mean, I got up to 140. I went from 126 to 147, 148 and really did it. And then was able to cut back down so that I could get into my weight class for my powerlifting competition. But yeah, bulks are hard mentally and physically, but they're awesome. Yeah. So all of the things right there that I want to unpack, there's two things mainly.

01:32One, I want to get to the scale in a second because obviously a very similar story. I was 140, dropped down to 120, and now I weigh 155. So I want to talk about that number with you. But first, let's talk about that mindset because I know a lot of women that are in the community that I have, Warrior Babe, that we teach bulking, but we teach it in a sense of it is a mental game that you're going to go through. But if you want to build muscle and you have a smaller frame, jumpstart, like accelerate results, right? Put yourself in that phase for a little bit so you can build muscle at an optimal rate.

02:06So talk to me about that mindset that you had to endure while you went through that. Yeah. It's super counterintuitive for most women to intentionally gain weight. That just blows their mind. Why would you actually... Your goal is to have the scale go up. That makes no sense at all. It goes against all the last 50 years of Jenny Craig Weight Watchers, all of the things. That's right. But I think the first thing to break down there, and this kind of gets into that scale mentality, is the reason that that blows...

02:36People just cannot grasp that is because they have taken fat and weight and collapsed the things down together. And they said, if the scale goes up, that means I've gained fat. And if the scale goes down, that means I've lost fat, which is not actually the case. You can lose weight and gain weight without having any fat leave or enter your body. And so when we can start to break that apart and help women to understand that the scale is a data point, it gives us some information, but not a clear picture of what's going on, which is why we include lots of data points.

03:07Then we can start to separate that idea of why would you ever want to add weight? Well, because when I'm adding weight, my goal is not to add fat. My goal is to add muscle. And yes, some fat's going to come along with it. That's the expense of doing a bulk. You're going to hopefully maximize muscle gain and hopefully minimize fat gain, but there's going to be some fat along it. So when you start to understand, oh, you're wanting to add weight on the scale because your goal is to add more muscle, people can start to wrap their head around that process a little bit more of, okay, now I see why you actually wanted to see the scale going up because I wanted to add more muscle to my body.

03:42Yeah. And damn, that picture, guys, definitely check out. We'll have her Instagrams and all the things below the podcast. But that picture was so cool to see and that you're still an athletic figure, right? It's not like you gained fat. You gained muscle. And boy, is that muscle present when you're given that flex. I know that you've been through it. Like you've shared being 20 pounds underweight. You shared being 30 pounds overweight and all or nothing mindset to now like finding a totally simplified approach, which has made you so much more happier with your physique, your health and your mindset.

04:19So just like I just want to hear. I personally want to hear more of your journey, but I know the listeners want to hear that too as well. So can you take us along your journey and share it with us and why fitness is just so important to you? For sure. Absolutely. So, I mean, I would say I got into fitness seriously when I was 20. So people are always surprised to hear this. I did not play a sport growing up. I played one season of soccer when I was in middle school and it was far too much running. I don't know why I didn't anticipate that. There was a lot of running in soccer, but I was like, well, we're done with this.

04:51So I don't really qualify that as having played a sport. But my parents are former military. So my dad always had like a home gym and he always lifted. So that was kind of like what I saw growing up. It was just lifting weights. My mom always did like, I don't know if you remember the at home, like VHS workouts, like buns of steel, the firm. So that was like my intro when I was like 16, 17. But when I got to college, I really wanted to start lifting weights because I would watch, you know, or look at not watch.

05:22I would look at the pictures of when Nicole Wilkins and Aaron Stern and Alicia Marie and like all the OGs and Oxygen Magazine and Muscle Fitness Hers. And I'd like tear them out and put them up in my dorm room and finally started learning how to lift weights. Had a guy friend of mine take me around the weight room. And that was sort of what made me fall in love with it. And what's so crazy is that prior to getting into fitness, I never struggled with my weight. Like in my teen years, I never had a hard time staying thin. I just was naturally always thin.

05:54And I remember thinking like, I'm very grateful. I don't have to worry about that because I had to worry about my skin. But getting into fitness was actually what created such a poor pattern of eating for so long because it's like it made me obsessed with food. Because I hired my first personal trainer when I was 21. So I started learning to lift at 20. At 21, I hired a personal trainer because I wanted to do a figure show. And turns out, I didn't actually want to compete in bodybuilding. I wanted to look like I did. And that's a very important distinction when people are like, oh, should I do a show?

06:25And it's like, well, do you want to compete? Or do you just want to look like you compete? Because you're going to have a very dramatically different mental outcome if you're only getting into this because you want to look a certain way. So that was me. Like I didn't really care about actually the competition piece. I just wanted to look like that. But having like my intro into the knowledge of how to eat, I went from eating Nutrigram bars to following a contest prep diet. So I always associated that with healthy eating. I thought, oh, well, this is what I have to do to lose weight. So I was like so emotionally attached to this contest prep diet for years because I didn't know any other way to lose weight.

07:02So what I fell into was this horrible cycle of restricting for weeks and months on end. And then when I would mentally break, I would binge and then I would mentally spiral into like depression. And then I would get my shit together and go back into restricting again. So that's that's how I ended up getting into that. I was either 20 pounds underweight or 30 pounds overweight. Like I was I didn't always dramatically shift that much in my weight, but I definitely was constantly in a state of yo-yoing. I was either gaining weight or losing weight.

07:33It was one or the other. And that was like my entire 20s. So I got certified as a strength coach through the Poliquin Strength Institute. If you're familiar with Charles Poliquin, he's a strength institute. Well, he passed away a few years ago, but he has strength institute in Rhode Island. And I got certified there actually after I graduated because I have a degree in art. So I studied art in school. But as I fell in love with lifting, I'm like, well, I want to learn as much as possible because if I can cram as much information into my brain, then maybe I'll get shredded. That was my whole like knowledge base was like, OK, I'll just learn as much as I can.

08:07And what's so ironic is that I was gaining all this knowledge. I was getting, you know, certified. I had certification after certification and course after course and seminar after seminar. And I still couldn't figure out how to lose weight. I couldn't figure out how to get lean. No one ever taught me macros. Like they're all of this. Like they did it like so many. That's seriously. Key word. It's like I was eating all the right foods. They say eat a handful of nuts for a snack. Eat avocado. Eat whole eggs. Cook everything in coconut oil.

08:37All of those are fats. So fats are like twice as calorically dense as carbs at the time. Like I'm not even paying attention to that because I just wasn't. So it's like I went from eating this diet plan to like falling into the paleo thing. And like all the while diet plan didn't teach me how to eat because it's just eat these things. It's not here. Learn what is in this. It's like go follow this plan. And then I became emotionally attached to it. And then after that, it was paleo because it's like, oh, well, as long as you eat healthy foods, you don't need to worry about how much you eat, which is a lie.

09:09Like because eating for health and eating for, you know, weight loss are two totally different things, right? Like they need to be blended. But it took me probably until I was like 28 years old to figure that out when someone finally was like, you just need to track your macros. And all I want you to do is focus on your calories and your protein and let your carbs and fats fluctuate. And that blew my mind because for the longest time, I was like so obsessive about those numbers. Like, well, what's the right number of carbs? What's the right number of fats? Like surely like that matters. Like I have to make sure all the numbers are perfect.

09:41I believe there was this like magical formula that I hadn't like cracked the code yet. And lo and behold, when I started tracking my calories and protein, let my carbs and fats fluctuate and eating healthy food 90% of the time, it became really easy. And it just will find a approach. Oh my God. Let me tell you when like you've gone through, I know you've, you understand this completely and probably a lot of listeners do as well. Like when you go through the ringer of like trying every diet under the sun, keto, carb cycling, everything like diet plans, paleo.

10:14And you finally like, oh, just calories and protein. Surely that's not it. Yeah. Surely it's more complicated and it's really not. 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. I'd appreciate that tons. And also it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Why compete? The glam. The glam. The glam. The glam. Okay. No, seriously.

10:45You pulled off well. The feeling. No, seriously though. The feeling of stepping up on stage, all made up, all with your hair and in a very shiny, nice bikini showing off what you built. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you like, I don't know. I think I just from the very get-go was very, very aligned with the fact that people are different. And if you are one of those who actually make up your mind to go up and stand there and say, hey, judge me in comparison to the others, you need to be okay with that.

11:22And all I could do was, okay, just bring your A game. It doesn't matter how everyone else is looking like, if they like you, they're going to give you good points. Love that. I just always enjoyed the feeling of having a date to kind of work really hard to, to get to my best shreddedness or just best shape. Because in figure, it's not always about being the most shredded. It's about having it. You need to be so symmetrical, so balanced.

11:56You have to have the, the way of being. You need to have the aura. And then you have to be ripped on the right places, I guess. I was never the most ripped. But for the four wins that you had, you were symmetrical though, right? Like you have, for the four wins that you did win, they, they judged you basically off of your symmetric, your being symmetrical. And the level of leanness you did bring to this stage, obviously the other girls. Yeah. Yeah. So I know there is a decent amount of people listening to this podcast who are interested in bodybuilding, have done bodybuilding.

12:29And they have questions in terms of, which you mentioned in some of those aspects there. So I want to unpack a couple of things. When you talk about like leading up to the show, you said that was one of the reasons why you love stepping on stage, right? It was second to the glam. It was, you're going to put in the work for the couple of weeks, months to get ready to step on stage. What do you experience in that timeframe? Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

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13:36Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. Everything. You experience absolutely everything about yourself and about other people. And especially about your body.

14:07Like our, our beings are so unique and so cool. And to at some point in time, just really put yourself to the test of doing uncomfortable things. It is just like so self-developing that it's just like top tier level of, I don't know. It's just, for me, it was just like, okay, I'm going to challenge myself. Because that is what, what bodybuilding is about. Because you can never, as I said, compare yourself to others.

14:40Because you don't know what the judges were like. But during that time of getting there, there's going to be so much work on yourself to be able to cope with the different things. Because it's not only going to be days when you feel like, wow, I am not heading in the right direction. Or today I'm so tired and I still need to put in the work. I still need to do my normal daily job if you're not a professional. So it's just like, it's a lot, a lot to actually handle and take care of.

15:13And that's really hard. You're learning so much about yourself. You're learning so much about your mindset. You're learning so much about what you're fully capable of. And like, I think elaborating too on, it's a lonely road. Unless you have friends or a boyfriend or somebody who knows what you're going through. Like, it's you versus you every single day. So I actually do think that many people rely too much on other people. We are an animal that moves in groups.

15:48Like, I'm totally fine with that. But I just think that if we focus on ourselves first, that sounds very selfish. I know. But keep me, let's keep going here. Because it's not. If you just focus on the things that you need for your being to be feeling good, to be balanced, you will just take care of other people way better. And you will be able to handle problems that comes your way so much better. And stress will not change.

16:19Agonize you in the same way as if you are not in a good place. And I think that people around you will always be super important. And I've always been so, so blessed with the people that I have around me because they are such amazing human beings. But that also makes me want to be a better person too. Which makes me need to focus on myself to make sure that I can greet them at the same way that they greet me.

16:51So, during a competition diet, which is an extreme diet, it's not something that I recommend to anyone that is not willing to actually go the full length of uncomfortableness. Because it is uncomfortable. Amen, sister. It's freaking uncomfortable. Say that louder. Say that louder for the audience. It is so uplifting too. Because it is when you understand that you are capable of doing something like that, that you're like, holy shit, Sherlock, life ain't too bad.

17:26And this is something that shows for me. So, I better not whine about it. Honestly. Yeah. Dude. Oh my God, babe. Spot on. Spot on there. It's like, if there's anything to take away from a competition prep and the journey that you're on, it is definitely learning and uncovering your best self. And also, I feel like if there's one way that you – if you're going to take it seriously, like you said, it's uncomfortable and you have to take it seriously. If you're going to go to the extreme, go to the extreme, full send, be proud of yourself for going that far, stepping on stage and doing all of the things.

18:00But if you do stick to the extreme, you do get ready in the right way, you're there giving your best when you step on stage, not only do you learn so much about yourself, but man, there's so much discipline in those actions on a daily basis that you build for yourself that don't you feel like that can just – like literally, why you're so successful as you are now still maintaining your body. You've most likely built some of that discipline habits during competition that carry through your whole lifestyle.

18:35If you are working out to undo calories, that is something you need to look at. And I think there's so many women that I need to go to the gym because I had Mexican last night. Like you can't look at it that way. Like exercise is something you get to do, not something that you have to do. And that was another thing when I was in my mess. I was like, that's how I looked at it. Like I got to go get a workout in. Like I have to get a workout in. Now it's like I get to go for a walk. And I'm maintaining my weight this way because I'm not living in this complete state of obsession and stress and cortisol, which is a hormone that makes you hold on to fat.

19:08And my whole life was cortisol because I would like pull up menus on the way to a restaurant to make sure there was a salad I would eat or only stay in hotels that had a gym that was open 24 hours. So if we were on vacation, I could get in a workout. Like that's where my mind was at. And when you just calm the F down – and it sounds scary to like not live your life that way, but I'm telling you when I lived my life that way, I was 20 pounds heavier. There is something to be said about just honoring your hunger cues, calming down, listening to your body, and having your body trust you again and not having all that cortisol.

19:43And your body will just start to work for you again. You have to trust me. I know it doesn't sound right. I'm like, oh, eat whatever you want. But like you won't want to binge when anything is allowed because it's like I don't need to eat all the cookies. I can have a cookie later. And then you don't want it as much. It worked for me. Yeah, exactly. Spot on there. And you said too for when that happens and we have the cookies, we have the things. It's like I just tell people I'm like just have some more protein for the rest of the day. Like just – Yes. You're not over.

20:14It's not over. You can balance it out. Yes. It's not over. Think of what you can add. Like add a salad. Don't think of what you have to take away. Exactly. Yeah. It's not – Oh, I love that. And don't totally go off the rails because you had a cookie. Like it's not going to be that impactful. Yeah. You're making it impactful by 10Xing it. You have one. That's impactful. But if you just have one, it doesn't need to turn into a binge because it's just a cookie. Take it off the pedestal. Yeah. So you brought that pin back, which I appreciate because I want to talk on that with the exercise calories.

20:49That's – wow. But there's so many people that do that because like that – Of course. You're a perfect example. Mexican the night before. Fuck, I screwed up. I need to go burn all this shit off the next day. And it just doesn't do their body good at all. That's not the mindset. And it's such a shift from like how I live for so long. Like literally calculating. It doesn't work. You can't cancel out. Like I was 20 pounds heavier when I was canceling out on an elliptical the amount of calories I burned. So it doesn't even work.

21:20And you're just stressing and obsessing. And that's what I was like – had like PTSD about macros. Like learning my macros changed everything. I learned I was under eating and I learned I eat too much sugar. So now I'm cognizant of those two things. But I'm not living by the MyFitnessPal calculation and how many grams and bringing my food everywhere. And I know women that live that way and they are miserable. I live in the middle. Squats and margaritas, like I'm going to have a cocktail but I'm also going to work out the next day. I'm not bringing my food everywhere and calculating my macros.

21:53But I am still going to move my body. And this has worked for me. So if there's a woman that is restricting and, you know, living and dying by their macros, it's important. But you can't be obsessive about it because then that's the cortisol. And that's – your body is just not going to trust you. And once you get to a place where it does trust you again, you can maintain your life and still be happy. But it's been insane to me. I've lost so many followers, which is okay because I think that a lot of people that did follow me didn't follow me for motherhood.

22:24You know, a lot of people were following me for the Hannah Eden that showed up through Iceland and went fucking monster mode, you know. And that's okay if there's not things that we can relate to at this stage. But I caught myself, like, questioning. Should I post this? Is this what my audience wants to see? And then had, like, this rude wake-up call of, like, that's not how you got here. You never curated to fit inside of someone else's box. You just did what was true and aligned to your life. So right now I'm pregnant. Right now I'm going through this. So this is something that I need to stay true to. And if that means there's loss in some sides, that's great.

22:55But the engagement's gone up because the people that do relate are far more interested in this truth, in this reality, in this experience. But I've had so much hate, dude. I've had so much mean stuff. And I'd be lying to say that it doesn't affect me of, like, what are you doing to your child? Because I'm still doing box jumps or I'm still doing intense exercise of, like, you're going to kill your baby. Like, some freaking brutal stuff. And it's, like, times have changed. I'm a fitness professional. I would never do anything to put my unborn child's life at risk in, like, trying to navigate that whole world and grow that thick skin again.

23:30Because I haven't had that much hate on social media ever. But it's wild to hear and see what some people will say. You know, it's kind of crazy. Keyboard ninjas, man. They're out. It is. It sucks. But at the same time, you're such a hard, like, know yourself. And you're very hard in understanding who you are. And I think that what you just shared there is really inspiring. I know I felt that way, too. I have some freaking trolls who are like, you're on steroids. I'm like, wow, like, it's just so hardcore shit that comes out from the pipeline.

24:02Or I look like a man. I'm like, okay, cool. Like, what are you struggling with? Right, right, right. And honestly, like, looking at that whole concept, though, that I have done a lot of inner work on, it's like, I think there's a lot of projection of fear. Yeah. Of, like, what someone is unable to do themselves. So they just doubt that you'd ever be able to do it, too. So there must be steroids involved here. Like, that's not possible. No, no, no. It is, it just takes a lot of really hard work and discipline that maybe you're not willing to put in to see your body or your results get there. So I'm trying to switch that and, like, have empathy rather than anger.

24:35Because at first you're like, fuck you. How dare you come at me like that, you know? But it's like, no, maybe in my case, maybe someone has lost a baby. And that's something that I don't ever understand. And that's maybe why this anger is coming out. Or maybe they let themselves go during their pregnancy and they gained 50 pounds and got gestational diabetes and regret that and resent anyone that didn't. Principles you've learned, right? You're living on purpose. How can that be incorporated into a fitness routine for yourself, like what you're explaining, to make it more meaningful for women to want to work out?

25:05Oh, this is a good question. Right? Let's see what you're doing here. This is so bad. I'm like, now I have to think. Okay. What a good question. And, like, let's just walk through this together, right? Because this is kind of your area of expertise. And my coaching is called Fan into Flame because I believe it's 2 Timothy 1.6. It says, Fan into Flame, the gift of God, right? Which we're all given this purpose. God instills in us this beautiful flame. And it's our job to tend to and fan it into flames. And so when we're thinking about this, when we're thinking about igniting our purpose, living on purpose, living in our truth and our authenticity,

25:42and life just becomes easy from there because we're in congruence and it actually feels good. Work doesn't feel so hard. The relationship doesn't feel so difficult. We're acting from overflow rather than overwhelm, right? Right. When we're in that state, think about it. You are at an all-time high. You're, like, energy. You're hormones. You're just operating from this beautiful state and space. So how does that translate into your workout routine? Well, all you want to do is store and amplify and grow. Yes. Right? Like, for right now, I'm technically homeless, which is so silly to say.

26:14But I don't have anywhere to go. And I'm going to Hawaii. I don't have anywhere to go. My plan was to go to Maui. Maui had fires. Yes, you had a whole plan. We're praying over them. And I'm going to Oahu. And for the first time in my life, I can confidently say I'm not chasing anything. I don't think Oahu is going to, like, make me rediscover myself. I'm not on this search for anything. I'm fulfilled. And I'm going to go to places where it will be amplified. Right. So if you're fulfilled, you're going to go to the gym to amplify that fulfillment. Yes. Right? You're going to treat your body like a vessel to amplify your fulfillment.

26:44All of a sudden, it becomes less about the chasing and trying to find rather than it's like walking around like bags of need looking for fulfillment versus walking around like for fulfillment looking for where's the need. And how can I serve and show up? Oh, snap. Really? Holy moly. That was powerful as fuck. I gave myself chills. Can I say that? Yes. Let's go. Oh, that's so good.

27:15Because, like, I think about, like, why do I work out? Oh, fuck, man. It just makes me feel incredible. It makes me feel great. And to your point, what you just said, what you articulated so well is that I'm just amplifying that feel goodness. I'm living on purpose. Like, I don't think of working out as a chore. I get to go do that because of the one body I've been given. Like, I get to keep it. Yeah. That's it, babe. Yeah. I get to. Of course I do. I'm abundant. I'm strong. I'm powerful. I'm a badass. I get to take my ass in that gym and kick it myself.

27:47Like, that's, like, the treasure. That's the health. That's the vitality. So then we go from scarcity into abundance, right? We're like, I'm abundant. I'm deserving of things. I'm deserving of good health. I'm deserving of vitality. Like, of course, of course, of course. And so that's the reality that we start to see. And the body starts to listen because the body leans in and hears every thought that we have because thoughts release chemicals, chemicals release hormones, hormones release, right? So we're all of a sudden training this different muscle. We're leaning into this abundance. And we go from this voice of fear and scarcity and resistance to receptivity, growth, abundance,

28:21and faith. And we're like, I get to have it all, including the sexy body. Because that's an amazing desire to have is a healthy, beautiful body. 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. 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.

28:53And it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

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