Earlier on the week on instagram, I mentioned how I dealt with hormone issues from overexercising and I had a handful of people ask if I could elaborate on that more. So I’m breaking down the issues I ran into when I was overexercising, undereating, and putting my body through constant stress by hating myself. It’s amazing what stress can do to the body if you aren’t paying attention. I’m breaking down how I fixed those issues and healed my body.
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Episode 71 Transcription!
Today’s episode of PaleOMG Uncensored is brought to you by Aaptiv. It’s like Active, but with a P! Aaptiv shares audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. All you have to do to get your workout is simply listen on your phone. It’s that easy. And new members get 50% off the annual membership. All you have to do is go to Aaptiv.com/PaleOMG.
This is Juli Bauer from PaleOMG and you are listening to PaleOMG Uncensored.
1. Bachelor recap [14:27]
2. Adrenal Fatigue [26:47]
Juli Bauer: Well hello. Welcome; scratching my ear. Probably making noise in this microphone. Welcome to another episode of PaleOMG Uncensored. I’m here on the couch in between life, just got a butt workout in. Shoveled my face with food. Got some emails done. Walked the dog. Almost froze to death. It’s not even that cold, but it feels like it’s 1 degree out. I am such a b*tch when it comes to cold weather. I just hate it so much now. It’s so uncomfortable. I just could not live in a rainy place, and I don’t know why I still live in a snowy place.
It’s supposed to snow tomorrow. I think we wake up to snow. Which is so incredibly sad. But at the same time; it’s 40 degrees out and I’m complaining how f*cking cold it is. My brother-in-law and mother-in-law, they’ve been in Nebraska. And it’s been insanely cold in Nebraska. And then the East Coast is getting slammed. So I don’t know why I complain, or why I’m talking about the weather. I just don’t know.
What have I been doing lately? Guess what? This is what I’ve been doing. I am coming out with new leggings! And I’m so pumped about it. My first pair of leggings launched in November. And they were shipped out in December and January. And we learned so much from that first pair of leggings. I took everyone’s feedback that I heard back from. And these new leggings are new, and improved. They’re thicker material. They hug the butt really nicely.
Something in my first pair of leggings I did white underneath, because it was the base color of the flowers. So you have to go with the base layer of what that color is and then build from there. So there was a white flower, and the leggings were blue. But the problem with that is the white shows through when you move. So it looked like some were see-through. And then some people had issues with things showing through. It was just not as I had hoped. But there were so many people who have been emailing me who loved the leggings.
So it’s been cool to see both feedback and I decided with this second round I wanted to go with a thicker material. I’m coming out with five different pairs. Two have pockets. Three are the same leggings, but in different colors. And one is just a super fun print. So I’m coming out with five different leggings to chose from. I love all of them. I’m going to do an Instagram story with the underwear test. You know, when you’re in the changing room and you’re leaning over, looking between your legs. I’ll do that for you. Because none of these I can see through whatsoever. There’s no issues with that.
I just love this thicker material, personally, because I have cellulite on the back of my legs. So this material I think just makes your butt look so much better. My butt, I guess personally. So much better. I don’t see any of those dimples or any of those lines, whatever cellulite is. Dammit. Trying not to yawn.
But no cellulite shows through on these ones. No dimples, whatever you have. And I just love them. I’m so excited for them. I’m taking photos of them on Sunday. Because we did some minor changes, and I just got all of them in the mail. So I’m taking photos of them on Sunday. And then they launch on; I’m forgetting all my dates here. They launch on the 15th. So Thursday. So excited. So stay tuned on the blog for that.
I want to hear back from you guys what your favorite leggings are. I’m going to show all the photos in my Instagram stories and have you vote for your favorite ones in there. I want to hear back from you guys. So I’m excited to see what sells well. What people like. What people don’t like. Why they hate my yawns; I get it. Are you guys so sick of me complaining in my podcast about yawning? That’s fair.
What happened over the weekend? I’m trying to remember. It went by so fast. Oh yeah, because I talked about this on the podcast. We had a surprise birthday party for the owner of my gym. It was his 40th birthday. So his girlfriend has a surprise birthday party for him at her house, and it was so much fun. He sh*t his pants, pretty much. Because I think he saw a light when we were all hiding in the dark. He saw a light, and he thought somebody had broken into the house, and he was ready to f*cking throw down. So we surprised him. It was so much fun.
And then I was PMSing really bad this past week, and I was in such a bad mood. My husband came home with two gluten free cupcakes from one of my favorite places in town. This place has frozen yogurt where they have the details; what’s gluten free, dairy free, whatever. And then they have gluten free cupcakes. And it’s not downtown, so I feel like it’s not very busy. Because it’s not where all the hipsters and trendy people are. So that’s really nice.
But he brought home two gluten free cupcakes, and it was magical. I feel like; my friends Joy and Claire, on Girls Gone WOD. They always do marriage hacks. And I feel like that’s my husband’s marriage hack. He’s found out when I’m PMSing and things are a little high stress to come home with a sugary treat.
And from what I understand, that’s not the best when your hormones are all out of whack. To f*cking shove your face with sugar. But it worked for us. And our relationship is better because of it.
And I got my husband to the dentist this past week. He hasn’t been to the dentist in years. And I haven’t been to the dentist in probably 6 years. Because I don’t think I went through college, and then I was poor as f*ck after college. No health insurance; definitely no dental insurance. So I never went to the dentist. And I’ve always had great teeth, luckily. I’ve had good genetics for that. Never had cavities, never had any issues other than just braces. I’m lucky with that that I haven’t had any issues.
Nowadays, I go in for a cleaning every 6 months. And I kept telling my husband to book an appointment, and he wouldn’t. So I finally just booked an appointment for him. But I think teeth are just so damn important. And more so, my teeth look whiter when I go to the dentist. So I always want to go to the dentist. But man. Go to the dentist. Your teeth feel so good afterwards. You should feel like a new person. And he has amazing teeth, so it was fine. But he looked even better. Looking hot; looking fly.
I don’t know how I got on that tangent. But I was just thinking of marriage hacks the other day. And him bringing me gluten free cupcakes was a great marriage hack. And me; I got in a fight with him over the weekend because I was mad he didn’t do something. So my marriage hack needs to be talking like a normal person instead of letting it blow out of proportion. Man, those hormones.
How do women get through it being pregnant? I don’t get it. When your hormones are so crazy, and you just can’t; your brain is not firing like normal. How do marriages get through that time? That must be brutal.
Speaking of babies. I talked about this on my Instagram. People who don’t listen to the podcast did not get it, and they thought I was pregnant. But as I’ve talked about before, the owner of my gym and this other guy both bet me that I would be pregnant by Thanksgiving 2017. It was after I got married and they’re like; “Oh my god, you’re going to be knocked up so quickly.”
Which makes no sense. Because Jason, the owner of my gym, has known me for 7 years now. And I’ve never once been like, “Oh, I can’t wait to have kids.” Never ever. So I don’t know why he thought I would just be pregnant. And this other guy, Derrick. What a dummy.
So they both bet me $100. Obviously I’m not pregnant. And never was. And I’m not trying. So I got $100 from Derrick, and I’m still waiting on that $100 from the owner of our gym. So I put on Instagram stories that I got $100 from one man, the other one needs to man up. I forgot how I worded it, but instead of one it looked like I. So I think people thought like; oh, I have to hand over $100 because I’m pregnant. And that’s so not the case. I’m not pregnant. I’m just $100 richer from not being pregnant. But I think I pissed some people off.
Anyway. So I got $100, just so you guys know. Just so you’re up to date on everything. That was great.
Let’s talk about a little Bachelor recap. I’m so annoyed. I just tried to upload a workout video to Instagram stories and it didn’t work. That son of a b*tch. It’s totally multitasking here. That is what life is all about, right?
Oh. Can I tell you something? OH. Oh! Back to the story. Kids. So we went to a Super Bowl party this past weekend. And it was such a great reminder of why I’m not ready to have kids in any way. Because there were five kids there. There was a 3-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 4-month-old, and then two 10-month-old twins. Like, one two. And man, it is mayhem with kids.
Also, one of the kids is now sick with strep throat, and now I’m very freaked out that I’m going to get strep throat. With this flu season, I don’t like being around anybody. Even at the surprise birthday party, I was thinking how everybody is eating chips and dips, and going in for seconds, and putting their grubby hands all over everything. And then I was out to dinner the other night, and this person kept eating off my plate. And licking their fingers. And I’m like; no wonder you are sick all the time. You lick your fingers constantly. Get out of here. I think it’s so gross when people lick their fingers.
If you just washed your hands, and say you got a little sauce. Ok, lick the side. But when you’re popping the fingers out of your mouth. It disgusts me. Ugh. When people do that with wings, where they’re like {slurping} Gag. I can’t.
So being around kids, who have all the diseases. Kids are sick constantly. I was worried I was going to get sick being around these kids. And what do you know; one of them is sick. And the other day I was like; oh, I kind of have a sore throat. I feel totally fine now, but I’m like; that’s weird. My throat feels sore. I don’t know how; do you just get sick all the time as a parent? You just deal with it? That’s such a bummer. It’s such a bummer.
1. Bachelor recap [14:27]
Ok. Anyway. I’m always on some sort of kid tangent. It’s so annoying. So, let’s talk about the Bachelor. I am up to date, but I’m always a week behind on here. On my Instagram; sorry. On my podcast. I’m so lost at what social media channel I’m on right now. So, I’m up to date, but I’m a week behind. Just because I was in Cabo when I started doing these recaps.
{laughs} So. It’s so funny because all Bachelor stuff, they’re like “You’re going to go around the world.” So they started out in Lake Tahoe last week. And then they went to Ft. Lauderdale. And I don’t know a lot about Ft. Lauderdale. But I would be; no, I don’t think I would be pissed. But it’s not around the world, like Chris Harrison said, liked a real jackass.
So, first up. Arie goes on a date with Chelsea, and Chelsea is the only mom of the group. And Chelsea says, “I’m excited for him to get to know Chelsea; not just a mom he knows me to be.” Ok, first of all, it’s so weird when people talk about themselves in the third person. And a lot of people have done that on this show. I don’t quite understand it.
And then, Arie doesn’t know this woman as a mom. He just knows her as the hot chick that he wants to make out with. I don’t even think he’s thought about her being a mom. Because Arie doesn’t have any thoughts or feelings. God I’m so mean.
So they go one some f*cking yacht, which looks sick as f*ck. I was in the Caribbean on a Catamaran trip, and there was a yacht that was going to pretty much every stop we were going to on this trip. And this yacht had two to four people on it. Four people max. And it had 8 to 10 people manning the boat. So it had like 2 people per person on this boat helping you do everything. It looked so rad. What it would be like to be rich as f*ck like that. Just so sweet.
Two of my hopes in life is to one; fly on a private jet. I would love that to happen. And I’d love to be on a private yacht. Just live like the rich and famous, man. That would be just the best. But as of right now, that will not happen. Instead, I will be in economy class complaining.
So, I don’t know. They go on this date on a yacht, drink champagne. What are they called; not snowmobiling but in the water? I don’t care what it’s called. And then they go into some old car warehouse. And it has all these cars. And she’s like, “Oh my god, this is so cool! I have to sit in all of them!” I would be like, what. You just took me to a f*cking grease monkey. Get me out of here. I don’t want to look at old cars. But that’s because I just have care for anything history wise. So sad. Such a shame.
So next they have a group bowling date. Not romantic. My childhood is full of bowling dates and group setups. So many memories in a bowling alley, and how it smells, and just smells like old smoke. And Arie starts off with this Big Lebowski skit where he licks the bowling ball. And it was the most offensive thing I’ve seen him do so far, and that says a lot based off how he makes noises when he makes out with everyone.
So pretty much the producers are like; let’s ruin Crystal’s life. Let’s make her look awful. Which, she is also making herself look awful. But, man. They’re just rubbing it in. Let’s see. So Crystal goes into full competition mode.
This girl sees a therapist regularly; I hope she does, at least. And she is competitive as f*ck. She’s a fitness coach, and does workout videos, and is insanely in great shape. So she’s obviously a competitive person already. And then you put her in a competitive situation, like bowling, and she is ready to slam girls faces into the floor to be like; “Ha ha! That was fun. Bye!” She’s crazy.
So first of all, she makes the whole group pray before they bowl. Which is very strange. No offense to those who like to pray before they bowl, but that’s weird. And then they win the game. And Arie’s like; “Whoever wins gets to go to cocktail hour with me.” So her team wins. And then he decides that he feels bad, so all the girls can go to cocktail hour. And Crystal shits the bed.
And Crystal is the one that talks like a baby. She’s like, “Hi. I’m so sad.” So she’s starting to throw a fit. She’s super pissed. But what was the best part, when she gets pissed, she talks like a normal person. You’re like, yes! Yes! Your voice is beautiful when you talk like that. Just talk angry all the time.
So she gets all pissed, because Arie went back on his word. And she decides she’s not going to cocktail hour. And she does the typical teenage behavior. Where it’s like; I’m going to go away and hide in a corner until they find me. I’m going to throw this fit, and they have to want me. You know what I’m talking about? I do that when I’m PMSing. I’m like; oh, I won’t talk to me. And he’s like, ok. I’m not talking to you so you’re going to have to talk to me. And then I end up talking to him.
But she just throws this fit. She’s like; I’m not going to the cocktail hour. Of course, Arie comes and finds her, and they just do this baby talk to each other. Like, “Yeah. You hurt my feelings. And I was very sad. Because I felt hurt.” And Arie’s like, “Mm-hmm. I understand. Baby, baby, baby.” It’s just, it’s not cute.
Then she ends up coming back down and hanging out with everybody. And Lauren asked him 21 questions. And her questions are absolutely terrible. It’s like, what’s your favorite color? I don’t even know my husband’s favorite color. Does that make me a bad wife? Does that mean I don’t know him? I don’t know.
For some reason, Lauren has become my least favorite of the group. I can’t even talk. I can’t talk sh*t about someone if I can’t even complete sentences. But Lauren has become my least favorite person of the group. She’s so boring.
So then Tia has the next one on one date. And her date is straight up out of a horror film, and she loves it. I’m like; how did you get this sh*tty ass date? They couldn’t think of anything better? They get them on one of those air boats that takes you into the Everglades. Number one; Everglades. Have you guys seen Bloodline? That is where bodies are dumped. No thank you. I do not want to go into the Everglades.
Have you ever flown over the Everglades? It’s the creepiest looking f*cking place. No thank you.
So they get on this air boat. And this hick of a guy drives them to his house that he built in the Everglades. Number two; you’re about to have your own body dumped in the Everglades, guys. First, you’re in the Everglades. Second, you’re in some guys house that’s built in the Everglades. There’s no neighbors around that sh*t. No. Your body is about to be eaten by an alligator. Has no one listened to true crime film on this production team? On this ABC production team. I hated it so much.
And then, of course, to make it even worse, this guy who owns this house is like, “Hey I made you frog legs and deep-fried corn.” And Tia thickens up her accent, and she’s like, {southern} “I love this stuff!” Stop, Tia. Stop it. You don’t live in Arkansas anymore. You live in a city. She said she went to school for 7 years. I think she’s a physical therapist. Stop talking like you live in the Everglades. The date sucks so bad.
So after they have their frog leg dinner, it’s so funny because Tia talks about how important religion and going to church is for her. And it’s such an important piece. And he’s like; “Can you date somebody who doesn’t have those same beliefs? Because all my friends have died so I don’t believe in god.” That’s pretty much what he said. And she’s like; “Yeah, sure! Yeah, I’ll date you! You don’t believe in god, I can bend my beliefs. That’s fine!” Go you. I mean, I’m all about that.
So the worst part of this date other than deep fried frog legs and f*cking deep fried corn. Corn is so good by itself, why did you have to ruin it, you dick? Tia says; which Tia has known him for probably a total of 6 hours that they’ve seen each other and actually had physical contact. Ok 10. I’ll give her 10 hours. And she says she’s falling in love with him.
So this is my guess. My guess is Tia was told my Raven to say you’re super in love with him, because it probably won’t work out with him. And then make it as far as you can, and everybody who feels bad for you, because you were the first person to say I love you, and you become the next Bachelorette. That is what I think this game plan is. Because Tia is very intelligent. I’m not sure what she’s seeing in Arie. I don’t know. I guess he’s the only guy he’s around, so it’s easy to be like, “Mesa has a penis! I’ll love him.”
So, let’s see. Crystal ends the show; production gold. She’s like, “Hater’s going to hate.” And then the says, “I’m throwing glitter.” And she does this little thing with her hands. She’s like “Glitter!” She’s like, “I wasn’t hiding in my room, I was investing in myself.” Which, I love. Because that’s all I do with my life. “Mm, I’m not going around kids. I’m investing in myself.” “I’m not going to that sh*tty ass bar, I’m investing in myself.” I’m just going to start telling my friends that. I won’t have friends soon, but that’s fine.
So at the end of the show, Crystal gets the last rose. And then Mikel; I think it’s Mikel, goes home. Which is sad because she literally just got back from her grandpa’s funeral, and then Arie is like, “Deuces, b*tch.” And then Marie, the Kardashian twin, and Ashley, which totally makes sense because no one knows who she is. But I’m very sad Mikel went home, because she has great hair. So that was that episode.
2. Adrenal Fatigue [26:47]
Ok, but let’s talk about what’s important here. The topic of the day. I did a little Instagram post earlier this week saying how I was feeling really sore, and so instead of just going to a CrossFit workout and just crushing my body again, and messing up my hormones again, I went with an easy workout. So I started to get some questions about that. About adrenal fatigue, and what that experience was like.
So I’ve talked about it on my podcast before. Talking about exercising, and over-exercising, and kind of under-eating and how that affects the body. But I thought it would be a good time to kind of revisit that topic. Because I think it’s on people’s minds regularly.
Let me kind of break down my experience. I used to compete in CrossFit. And when I was competing in CrossFit, I was working out two to three times a day, six to seven times a week. I rarely rested. I continued to gain weight. So I started to under eat, as well. So I was like; obviously I don’t need this much food. I just keep gaining weight. So the obvious answer is eat less.
So I was eating less food, working out more. My sleep was all f*cked up, and that’s when I was working a sh*t ton at different gyms. So I wouldn’t get to bed until 11 at night, would wake up at like 4 in the morning to work at the gym and then put my body through this stress all the time.
So, on top of just putting my body through physical stress, I was also putting my body through emotional stress by worrying constantly about my weight. So the more I worried, and the more I stressed out, the more I f*cked up my cortisol.
If you don’t know what cortisol is, just do a little Googling with cortisol. It’s your stress hormone, and it can lead to changes in your weight. It’s a huge key factor in just an overall healthy body and healthy life.
So with this, final I was super fed up with what was happening. Because I was working out more. I was eating less. And to me, this doesn’t make sense. I should be; oh my god, Jackson just sat in my lap. I should be losing weight in theory. Because that’s what I’ve been taught, and most of us have been taught most of our lives. That calories in, calories out. So if I’m working out all the time, and I’m eating less and less calories, why aren’t I losing weight? This isn’t adding up.
So finally I couldn’t even look in the mirror anymore. I didn’t recognize myself. I was unhappy. I was miserable. So I decided to end competing. And I was only going to CrossFit five days a week or less. I started taking two rest days a week; full rest. And I don’t do the sh*t that a lot of people do. I don’t do active rest days. My active rest day is walking my dog, but I don’t consider that a workout.
My active rest days before, when I was still competing in CrossFit, were a 3 to 5-mile run. And that’s not letting your body heal. To each their own, and whatever works for you. But I was putting my body through so much stress. And it was never able to come back down to heal, to repair that muscle that had been torn up. I was just in a constant state of stress and elevated cortisol. It was a mess.
So I cut all this back. I started resting more. I started eating more. Eating more carbohydrates. And listening to what my body wanted. Before I used to eat pretty high fat, and I really should have been eating more carbohydrates. And you’ll get opinions with that everywhere, and you have to find what works for you, honestly. And that may change for me as well someday that I just need more fat than carbohydrate. But as I was healing from all the damage I had done, I really needed a little bit more carbohydrate and less fat than I had been consuming. And my body seemed to take to that really well.
When I say I was in adrenal fatigue; I never did any; I did one thyroid test at one point. And that was such a frustrating day. Because I went in to this doctor. And I’m pretty muscular at this point. But I was 30 pounds or 35 pounds over my normal weight. And I was very “puffy”. I just didn’t have a lot of muscle tone. My face looked very inflamed. So I went to the doctor to get my thyroid tested to see if I was having issues. And I could hear outside the door one of the nurses talking to the other nurse. They were like, “She’s in good shape. I don’t know why she’s even here.”
So right away, I was like; obviously they don’t understand what’s going on. And then the thyroid test came back completely fine. But I know you can do deeper thyroid tests, like T3 or something like that. But I didn’t know any of that back then. So everything came back normal. Like, ok so what is wrong with me? Obviously my body does not need this much exercise. And it was very hard for me to wrap my head around that.
We’re taught from a young age; and I think this is changing. But we’re taught that our bodies, as females especially, you need to do a lot of cardio if you want to lose weight. You’re going to bulk up if you lift weights. We’re taught these things. And it’s really hard to get it out of your brain. Even when you’re doing it regularly and know for a fact it’s hard to erase that believe that you had for so long.
So, for me, to believe; I always thought the more I workout, the more results I have. So if I have results from one workout, what results can I get from two workouts in a day? What results from three? How much better can I get? How much can I reach in my potential with CrossFit competitions?
And I have listened a lot of Mind Pump podcast. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re amazing. But I really like that they talk about how much further can you go? How far can you push it before there’s nothing left? When you limit your calories, how much lower can you restrict? And it was the same thing with workouts. How much farther can you go before your body just breaks down?
And luckily I was at an age where I was 24, 25. And so I could recover a little bit quicker. And then any injuries I got didn’t really go on very long term, because my body was able to heal itself. But almost being 30 now, I can really tell the difference of how much exercise I need versus when I need to rest.
So going back to when this was; this was probably 2012, 2013 when I started to do this. And when people are like; how long did it take you to lose weight? I’ve had that question before. Because I’ve lost weight through the years, and gained weight, and lost weight. And it took me really 3 years to lose 30 pounds that I had gained. And for my body to find a weight that it felt comfortable with.
What I think is so important, especially for women. I don’t ever get on a scale. But I think we choose this weight in our minds that we think is the best number. And I’ve done that in the past, as well. But I think it’s so much better to listen to your body for what weight it thinks is the best weight to be at. Because I’ve been at 125 pounds in the past, and I’m like; “Oh I can fit into anything.” But it wasn’t the happiest I’ve been. My body really likes to be at about 135, and that’s kind of it’s happy medium.
So I stopped getting on the scale a long time ago. I stopped looking at that number. Because my body was able to find a rhythm. But the way it was able to find that was by working out less. And listening to my body, and figuring out what it needs.
So I’ve gone through all these different cycles of fitness. Of doing CrossFit five days a week. And our workouts change regularly at the gym. And right now, we’re in leading up to the Open. So the owner of our gym programs really challenging workouts, because he’s game status. So he puts many of the workouts similar to that. And my body just cannot do that anymore. So I can push it hard for one day, sometimes two days. But if I’m not rolling out constantly, getting massages, going to the chiropractor, going to acupuncture, and doing all this extra stuff on the side that I don’t have f*cking time for, my body can’t do it five days a week regularly. It can when it’s normal CrossFit workouts, but not Open-style, leading up to the Open workouts.
So I’ve found that if my body is incredibly achy sore. If I’m getting headaches because my traps are tight and achy and it’s leading to poor sleep, I find that I need to just go in and lift, simply lift. Do nothing other than that. And get a CrossFit workout in when I’m feeling better.
But I really listen to my body more. And because of that, I’ve been able to see it change and shape. And from a person who does not gain muscle easily, I’ve never gained muscle easily. My legs have been so challenging to gain muscle in because I didn’t grow up doing sports and really challenging those muscles from an early age. That’s what I think is kind of what has made it a little bit harder. I just don’t come from a genetic background that is predisposed to muscle gain.
So, for me, I’ve had to work very hard at gaining this muscle. But I’ve seen the most when I’ve taken more rests and listen to my body and simply lifted. Not did any sort of cardio. And my body has been able to grow muscle. My legs start to define more, when they’ve never been defined my entire life. I’m starting to see those changes.
And it was from finally erasing the thought that more is better. It’s just not the f*cking case if you’re a person who is a person who over-exercises and maybe under-eats. If you’re a person from that background, like me, that can really destroy your body. I wish I would have understood that earlier.
I’m going to take a quick break from this episode to talk to you a little bit more about this weeks’ sponsor, Aaptiv. Since we’re into February, and it’s pretty freaking cold everywhere, you may have lost that drive to actually get into the gym every day. I know that it stinks to have to put on your coat, and boots, and everything to get out to the gym. But thanks to Aaptiv, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home.
Aaptiv produces audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. They carefully select a group of certified personal trainers that guide you through every workout. This means you’ll get a wide array of personalities, voices, and styles. Plus, Aaptiv’s in-house music production team partners with every trainer to create music play lists that are perfectly timed to the intensity and pace of your workout, so you stay motivated throughout. I’ve loved seriously all the music on Aaptiv’s app. It is so nice to have great music throughout, instead of the gym that you’re at playing the song Shout. Which I experience the other day. Not with Aaptiv.
One of the coolest parts about Aaptiv is that you can do the workouts anywhere. Whether you like to workout at the gym, at home, outside, or when you’re traveling. Aaptiv is ready to go along with you. I’m traveling to Phoenix next week, which means it’s time to pull out my Aaptiv app. And since I’ll be on vacation, I don’t want to take much time for my workout. Which is great, because Aaptiv has a full body strength training class that takes around 11 minutes. There’s really no excuse to not get a workout in when you have workouts that are under 30 minutes long. It’s so freaking cool. It’s like having a personal trainer in your pocket.
If you’re not interested in strength training, they also have running, strength training, cycling, stair climbing, yoga, and even meditation. Aaptiv trainers give you the guidance you need to be better at the types of workouts you love the most. They even offer maternity programs and marathon trainings. And they have seasonal challenges to keep you motivated and excited through the year.
Aaptiv subscriptions usually start at $14.99 billed monthly, or $99.99 for an annual membership. But right now for a limited time, new members get 50% off an annual membership. Which is $49.99 for the whole year of unlimited workouts. All you have to do is go to Aaptiv.com/PaleOMG.
Aaptiv wants you to set your goals this year and accomplish them, even as the months go on and on. Just because it’s February doesn’t mean you can’t start your goals and really get after them. They have a supportive community full of Aaptiv members of all levels reaching their fitness goals just like you. They have 2500 workouts available on the platform, and they’re adding about 30 new classes each week. Which is so insane. That’s so crazy.
So if you’re ready to kickstart your goals in 2018, Aaptiv has your back. Big thank you to Aaptiv for supporting this podcast, and supporting the fitness community and getting people excited about workouts, even in the comfort of their own home. So if you want 50% off your annual membership, just go to Aaptiv.com/PaleOMG. Now back to the episode.
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So if you’re someone who is dealing with exercise, with over-exercise, with any sort of adrenal fatigue. There is so much information about adrenal fatigue out there. I don’t know a ton of the information. I only know what I’ve experienced myself. So do your research and listen to podcasts. Mind Pump talks about that kind of thing all the time. And it’s been really helpful listening to that.
But if you’re a person; say you’re going through a lot of stress in your life. Maybe you’ve had a parent who has gone through an illness and passed away. And it’s been this huge stressor in your life. Maybe doing your hard workouts, like your normal hard CrossFit workouts that you’ve been getting after for years now. Maybe it’s not the best setting for those workouts.
Because you’re already putting your body through so much stress, and it’s having a hard time processing like it normally does. And putting yourself through that same amount of stress in a different way, even though exercise can be a stress reliever. That might not be the best route. It may feel like the only way to relieve stress, but it might not be the best thing for that moment.
That’s why I think obviously taking rest and taking time and just letting your body heal is so important. And I have been really thinking about that more often as I go through a few stressful days in a row, that my body is just completely exhausted. Instead of going to the gym because it’s the normal thing I do, I take a break. And I let my body just heal itself. And get back to baseline before getting back into the gym.
There’s a lot of different ways and a lot of different things that people talk about with adrenal fatigue. Whether that’s rest, making sure you’re getting adequate sleep. That is a huge, huge key component. If you’re not sleeping, your body is not getting the full benefit. And you see that a lot with people who are trying to lose weight and say they’re doing everything by the book. But maybe they have a stressful life and they’re not sleeping well. Your body is not going to be able to really reap the benefits of all the hard work you’re putting into it.
Whether you’re eating healthy, working out. Taking time to yourself. If you’re not sleeping and you’re still stressed out, you’re not going to see that weight loss or those goals really attained because the cortisol is really holding you back. And I learned that from experience.
I don’t come from a scient background by any means. I’m literally talking through my experience, and what I wish I would have known. And I didn’t have anybody telling me otherwise. As I’m gaining weight, and unhappy, and my workouts are suffering, and I’m eating less. Nobody is telling me; “That is not what you need to do.” Or saying, “OK, you need to workout less.” I wish I would have had somebody to tell me that. “You need to workout less. You need to eat more. You need to sleep more. You need to rest more. And that’s how you can really heal these hormone issues.”
So, the way that I healed it. And healed these hormones. This was a three-year process, really. And I feel like I’m finally at a normal hormone balance at this point. But it was exercising less. And I know I kind of touched on this before. But just to reiterate. It was working out less. So I take two rest days a week. I normally do five CrossFit workouts a week and sometimes I add in accessory stuff. Or only do the accessory stuff, like lifting. And if my body is feeling sh*tty, then I take the day off. I listen to it. And don’t push through it like I did in the past.
Because since I started doing that, my muscles have shown through so much more than they did in the past. I’ve leaned out. My muscles have been able to grow and really flourish, I guess, in a way. I eat more carbohydrates. And you’ll get different information, so you kind of have to see what works for you. I know I’ve heard on Mind Pump, they say eat more fat and going kind of more keto lifestyle. But for me, it was eating more carbohydrates.
So remember not everything works for everybody. I used to be more keto, and then I’m more of a carbohydrate balance. I still get daily carbohydrates in in the form of vegetables and some white potatoes, sometimes rice. But adding in white rice to my diet and white potatoes was very helpful. I find that I do better with white rice and white potatoes versus sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes make me pretty bloated and just make me kind of feel weird. So I cut those out pretty much most of the time.
Working out less. Resting more. And eating more. But the biggest thing. Here’s the thing. This is what changed me the most. I stopped f*cking obsessing. I stopped looking in the mirror. I stopped talking sh*t about my little “problem areas.” Worrying about cellulite here. Wishing that my legs would tone up. Wishing that I looked different in jeans. I stopped worrying. I stopped caring. And the fact that I just stopped obsessing.
Something that was playing into these issues with my cortisol and my hormones was the stress I was putting on myself daily by hating myself. Stop f*cking hating yourself. That’s the biggest thing. I wish I would have had a woman to look up to and to explain these things to me that, “Hey. By you hating yourself, you’re causing issues with your hormones, just by putting your body through that kind of stress every single day.”
And I stopped doing that. I stopped caring. I said, “F*ck this. I’m going to be happy where I am. And I’m going to continue to work hard. And I’m going to continue to eat healthy. And I’m going to have chocolate when I want it. And I’m going to make a dessert when I want it. And I’m going to have a gluten free cupcake when I want it.”
I just stopped worrying so much. And I think that was a huge key factor in getting my health back. Stop caring. Because man, hating yourself daily is exhausting. And it is so not worth it. It’s so not worth the time.
So those were those biggest things. I stayed hydrated. I slept more. I stopped working out as much. I rested more. I ate more food. And I stopped being so mean to myself. It’s as simple as that.
I see these guys. You picture the guy on wall street or something that’s very high stress. Or a football coach. A lot of times you see those football coach or basketball coaches who just look like they’re about to have a heart attack because they’re screaming. They’re stressed out the whole time. Their body is just seizing up. And you’re like, “Ok. You’re about to have a f*cking heart attack.”
That’s pretty much what I had to tell myself. “You are going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep doing this to yourself. And you are putting yourself in hormone imbalance more than anything.”
I don’t have any details about getting your hormones checked. I’ve never done that myself other than what I told you about. But I think if you know your body, you know something isn’t right. And it often has to do with your hormones. So when you’re dealing with these hormone issues, working out is not always the best thing. And sometimes you need to take some time off. Maybe get some simple lifting in. Maybe just go for a walk; a little jog. Not putting your body through high amounts of stress is so important.
I just keep saying the same thing over and over. But I wish I would have had somebody to tell me this sort of thing when I was going through this issue and having such a hard time and not feeling great. I wish I would have had that.
Remember your hormones don’t have to feel terrible all the time. You don’t have to workout more and eat less. That’s not how you have to accomplish your goals. It’s time to erase that stigma that we’ve had for so long, and that belief, and whatever was engrained in us at an early age. This is the year of the woman. {laughs} I mean, all these women are being strong and powerful, and we’re seeing that in the media and so many things are coming to light. I think we’re in such a hard time of social media and believing that we have to do things to look a certain way.
Look at these women who are putting themselves out there for the greater good and to become a voice. Do the same thing for yourself and for your body? I wish I would have had that when I was younger, and the understanding that you can just have a healthy lifestyle of eating well and lifting and having a good workout and sleeping and having a good time with your friends and having treats here and there. And you can live a perfectly healthy, wonderful lifestyle that doesn’t include comparing yourself to other women, and wishing you had something that you don’t think you have.
We just don’t have to live like that anymore. I feel like social media is so hard. But it’s also giving people a voice. And you can be the voice in your community of all around health and show to maybe your children you have that a strong healthy woman comes from taking care of themselves and taking care of their body. And not listening to the f*cking bullsh*t on social media.
So if you have a daughter, be the good figure in their lives. That really shows what health is. I wish I would have had that. And I wish I wouldn’t have had to gone through all these awful dating. {laughs} dating. Too, awful dating. But awful dieting and starving myself and over-exercising. I wish I didn’t have to go through that. You don’t have to if you can kind of show the world what healthy lifestyle is all about. And there are so many women who are doing that.
So that’s kind of the background on that. I just wanted to share a little piece about that, and my experience. Because I had a couple of questions about it and a couple of messages of people saying, “How about you share this on social media.” And I have talked about that on my episode of exercising and over-exercising in general. So yes. I hope both of these podcasts answer any of the questions you have.
And be sure to check out other podcasts, because there’s great information about adrenal fatigue and adrenals and hormones and all that jazz. There’s all kinds of information out there. Much more science-y, helpful information than I have, other than just my own experience.
So I hope that was helpful. I hope my experience was helpful. This dog is getting heavy on my lap. I have to go head to the gym to do a little CrossFit Open workout. I will be going light as possible, because my traps are still sore and tired from a hard week. I can’t wait until the Open is over. People are so hyped up about the Open, and I f*cking hate it. Because it means I have to do workouts RX, and I’m not into it!
But anyway. Don’t forget to head to the blog this week. I shared a special guest post with my friend Jess. She talks about health coaching that she does. I was thinking about having her on the podcast, because she’s a real gem. She’s in Ecuador right now, being cool as f*ck.
And then I have a new recipe for apple arugula walnut salad with a rosemary vinaigrette. And I did a cooking video for this. I’m sharing cooking videos every Tuesday on the blog. So watch out for that. And then I also shared almond joy bars, a new recipe for those. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.
And then I shared a post all about meals I make at home in under 30 minutes. I think people get so wrapped up in having to create this big intense recipe at home. And that’s really not how I eat, even though I share hundreds upon hundreds of recipes. I like to keep it very simple at home. And all my meals are pretty much done in under 30 minutes. So I’m sharing those recipes.
And then I have a post about Valentine’s Day; what me and my husband are doing for Valentine’s Day to make it special this year. And some kind of Valentine’s Day looks for him and for her. And I think that’s it.
So don’t forget, if you want to continue to hear this podcast, and keep it live. Keep rate, review, and subscribing. So if you subscribe to this podcast, then it makes it easier because it pops up in your iTunes or wherever you get your podcast. It pops up automatically so you don’t have to download it every time. And then I know iTunes is changing. So don’t forget to rate and review if you’re wanting to review and say that you like this podcast.
You have to be nice. Nice people win at life. So feel free to share your experience with the podcast. And hopefully that it was just a fun podcast, because that’s why I made this podcast in the first place. And I’m working on a couple of interviews now, so hopefully those are turned around in the next few weeks. And that’s that.
Thank you guys for listening. I will talk to you next week. Have a lovely, lovely day.
I love your comments on kids. I feel the same way!! It’s so awesome to hear someone else talk about not having kids. In my family, everyone starts popping out babies as soon as they get married. I’ve been married for 4 years now, never want to have kids, and my family acts like there is something wrong with me. I appreciate hearing from someone else who has made the choice to not have kids and is not afraid to say it. Thanks for being genuine!
Love your pod cast on hormones. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s last August and recently I noticed other changes in my body, especially the puffy face thing and weight gain out of no where. I just got my blood work back and my cortisol was off the chart! I loved your message especially your point about loving yourself. I have been obsessing about food, my disease and weight gain so I took your words to heart. Thank you! Also, I love your website too and make so many of your recipes.
thanks for listening to the podcast lisa!!
This is SUCH a great podcast. I have a hard time with this and I am struggling mindfully to cut back on training. It’s great to hear that I am not alone and that I can do this. It’s so hard when working out is your relaxation but as I am coming close to 30, I totally understand what you are saying about feeling puffy and inflamed. It’s a work in progress but seeing your success is truly a blessing that this is possible!
Thank you!
it’s interesting to see how your body is effected by stress as you get older and it doesn’t bounce back and needs that extra rest