Answering your questions today!! Thank you to everyone that wrote in on my blog post and left a fun question! You guys are awesome!

Links from podcast:

[powerpress]

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Aaptiv is a fitness app that gives you custom workouts with the voice of an elite trainer and an amazing playlist, walking you through the class or workout or training session! They have unlimited workouts such as race training, ab workouts, spinning, strength training, and even more! I’ve been using it for stretching workouts after my CrossFit or Orange Theory classes! To get motivated or simply just get to stretching this 2017, try Aaptiv out for FREE for 30 days using the promo code PALEOMG. Sign up here and try it out for 30 days now!

Support the podcast by clicking the Subscribe button on iTunes and please a review only if you love the podcast! There is enough negativity in this world, don’t spread more. I love hearing about what YOU want me to talk about so feel free to leave on comment here or on social media with topics you’d like me to cover! And don’t forget, some posts have affiliate links which I may be compensated from. This compensation helps with keeping this blog and up and running! Thank you so much for your support, you guys are amazing!

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Episode 35 Transcription!

Today’s podcast is brought to you buy Aaptiv. Aaptiv is a fitness app that I’ve been telling you about for weeks now. It’s an amazing app that brings together the voice of an elite trainer, walking you through your workout of your choice. And it has music playing in the background, so you don’t even have to turn on your own music. It’s genius. Literally open the app, pick your workout, and get your sweat on. It’s as easy as that. I’ve been trying it out forever now, loving it, and other people keep trying it out and telling me what they’re loving. I just got a comment on Instagram just the other day telling me how much they love Aaptiv, and thanking me for talking about it on my podcast. Because they couldn’t make it to their CrossFit workout, so they just turned on Aaptiv, they picked a 7-minute workout that required no equipment, and did that at their house. It got their heart rate up and got their sweat going. And they had a great workout in 7 minutes. That’s so freaking easy.

I have been trying out workouts. I always go to Orange Theory or CrossFit, but I like trying out the workouts on Aaptiv when I just need something on the side or I just want to see what they’re really about. So recently I did the 5-minute HIIT workout from Amanda M. And the total time is 7 minutes and 34 seconds, and it’s cardio and core, and you’re doing 10 moves, 30 seconds each. It’s just bam, bam, bam. You get your workout on. You get your sweat on, and you’ve fulfilled your day. It’s freaking awesome.

So right now you can actually try Aaptiv out for free for 30 days. All you have to do is go to www.Aaptiv.com. That’s A-A-P-T-I-V. And use the promocode PaleOMG. P-A-L-E-O-M-G. And try it out for 30 days. See what you think. Check out all the workouts. They have yoga, they have marathon training. They have really anything you can think of they have. And they’re continuously adding workouts on a regular basis. So go check that out. 30 days for free. Aaptiv.com. Promo code PaleOMG.

This is Juli Bauer from PaleOMG and you are listening to PaleOMG Uncensored.

Topics
1. Pre and post workout supplements [18:10]
2. Heart rate in Orange Theory [24:15]
3. Calorie burn in Orange Theory [31:44]
4. Juli’s fitness goals [34:11]
5. Allowing indulgences without being overcome by them [38:16]
6. Internet trolls and mean people [42:06]
7. What would Juli do if Juli wasn’t PaleOMG? [47:50]
8. Morning workouts and refueling [48:36]
9. Use of under-eye cream [50:28]
10. Training right, eating right, gaining weight? [52:19]
11. How to pick out a CrossFit gym [55:53]
12. CrossFit lingo, Orange Theory heart rate, and Whole30 [1:00:52]
13. Managing cortisol levels [1:06:44]
14. Juli has a tattoo?! [1:08:13]
15. Follow-up on The Paleo Kitchen collaboration [1:14:17]
16. Carb cycling to workouts [1:15:45]
17. Fighting the alcohol vice [1:18:25]
18. Sleep hacks [1:22:12]
19. Choosing a workout [1:23:39]
20. Suggestion for future podcast guest [1:25:28]
21. Advice on reducing bulk [1:27:38]
22. Cookware [1:32:19]
23. Gift giving go-to’s [1:32:50]
24. Hair treatment [1:34:13]
25. Bloating and food intolerances [1:35:16]
26. PaleOMG listener meetup? [1:37:08]
27. Reintroduction after Whole30 [1:37:39]
28. Combatting that fluffy feeling [1:40:50]

Juli Bauer: Welcome back guys. I’m Juli Bauer Roth of www.PaleOMG.com and you are welcomed to the 35th episode of PaleOMG Uncensored. Hopefully you’ve been binge listening; watching. Somebody told me the other day they haven’t watched my podcast yet. I don’t think they know what a podcast is. But, hey. I feel ya. I haven’t watched my podcast either. So thank you guys for listening in. Hopefully you’ve been listening to many of the other podcasts, binge listening. Isn’t it the worst when you binge listen to a podcast and then you have to wait week to week to listen to a new one. F*cking sucks. Waiting for My Favorite Murder is the hardest. I can check it 47 times a day. I’m like, “Oh did they do…” God I’m already yawning. Did they do a mini episode? Do they have a new post up? So I’ve been binge listening to that.

And since the Bachelor isn’t on, I’ve been listening to Reality Steve. So I already binged listened to that. And he has guests on from past seasons. And you get to listen to that. He’s just, he’s an odd guy. He’s an oddball. But, it’s fun having those people on and listening and getting my Bachelor drug on. But, the new season of the Bachelorette starts; Rachel’s season of the Bachelorette starts. Hell yeah! Something else to talk about on the blog. Which is always helpful, because I think my life is a tad on the boring side. This is what’s going on in our life. Here; I’ll give you some examples of how my life is on the boring side.

Just got invited to go to Vegas with some friends. We did this; when did we go? I forget when we went but I did this same thing with a couple friend. They were like, “Hey, do you want to go to Vegas for a night? We’ll go to a show. We’ll go to your favorite dinner place. We’ll wake up the next morning, get brunch, go home.” Yes. Yes. I want that. Because Vegas, I don’t want to stay more than one night. Hell no. It makes me feel gross. So my friends are like; I told this couple. I’m like, hey, I want to go back for Calvin Harris. I want to see Calvin Harris, because I heard he’s awesome. Everybody has so much fun going to his shows wherever he’s at this summer. So my friend asked me if I wanted to go. F*ck yeah I want to go.

Here’s the thing. We have a brick house. But the brick is a f*cking ugly color. It’s not attractive. It’s not a cute brick. We’re not into it. So, we have to decided. A couple of houses in our neighborhood have painted their brick. And they’re actually kind of the same type layout. Our house is like 1950s or something. So we’re going to paint our house, and we’re painting in gray. Like a dark gray. So, we have to paint the outside. We have to redo the gutters. Our gutters suck. And then after we finish, we’re going to get landscaping done. So do I want to go to Vegas and be cool, and have fun, and be social since I’m not good at being social with many people? Yes. But you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to paint my house instead. Me; not physically, no. Hell no. We hired someone. Actually I asked for recommendations, and someone mentioned this company when I asked for recommendations on Instagram. So shout out to the person who recommended this company. You’re the best. Whoever you are.

So yeah. No Vegas for me. No fun times. I was supposed to go to Savannah, and kind of things fell through with this trip I had coming up. And then flights were $1000. $1000 to go to Savannah, Georgia. The Hilton Head Airport. One. Thousand. Dollars. Are you high? No thank you. I do have a trip in August coming up where I’m going to St. Martin. A spot opened with my friend who goes on this trip annually. And so she invited me. And I was looking at flights. They were like, $500. To go to St. Martin. This is just Georgia. I’m not saying Georgia is a bad place, but it’s just to Georgia. Not to St. Martin. What the f*ck? So yeah. I was supposed to go to Savannah. Those things fell through. So nothing really on the agenda fun-wise. Just painting the house. Which happens at the end of this month.

Oh, we did buy a new couch, though. That’s another really fun adult, boring-ass sh*t thing. Bought a couch. It’s very comfortable. I’m on it right now with a dog in my lap. He’s very confused about the new couch. I don’t think he’s into it. Because I’ve covered it, so he can’t get his bare ass on it. So yeah. That’s what’s going on over here. I wish I had more exciting things to talk about. But I just don’t.

Wait, I feel like I had more stuff to talk about. Oh. Let’s talk about Mother’s Day last week. I feel like a total hot mess. Oh, ok, this is why I feel like a hot mess. Before I get into Mother’s Day shenanigans. So I told you guys last week, I think it was last week or the week before, that I was getting off birth control. So I was getting off birth control, because my husband fucked up with our insurance, and Kaiser was a big asshole and they kicked us off our insurance. Our health insurance. What the f*ck. It’s so weird. So we got new insurance; which by the way, the insurance we got. I feel like I shouldn’t let my husband pick our health insurance. Because the insurance we got I’m pretty sure is just for old people. Like, when I see the commercials for this insurance company, it’s for old people. It’s like all 70-90-year-old’s in the commercials. I don’t know why I let him choose. Ugh.

So whatever. When we got kicked off our health insurance, for some reason, I was supposed to have my birth control renewed. But since we didn’t have insurance, couldn’t do that. I’m sure I could have called in and been like, “Hey. Can you write me a script to go get birth control?” But I was too lazy to do that. Because I don’t want to go into Kaiser and get a script, because it usually just comes to my house. Whatever. Lazy as f*ck, ok. So, I was like, ok. This is the perfect timing to get off birth control and let my hormones do their own thing. This girl a long time ago emailed me about her friend getting cancer from being on birth control. But I know many people who are on birth control and don’t have cancer. So, there you go. But I’m pretty damn clean with how I eat and how I live my life. I’d rather not have hormones pumping through me after I’ve been on them for 15 years. 15 years on birth control. It’s f*cking crazy.

So I got off birth control. But if any of you are females out there, which I’m guessing 99.9999% of listeners are, you know that getting off birth control or getting on birth control makes you become a she-devil. Luckily I haven’t become quite she-devilish, but I feel super fatigued, feel super unmotivated. Just getting my daily work done. I feel really tired, and get these kind of mood swings. Like my husband, last night. We were supposed to have a movie night, and he’s like, “Hey, will you make gluten free pasta, and then will you buy ice cream and gluten free brownies? And then we’ll have a movie night on the couch.” Hell yeah. So we rent a movie. He falls asleep. It becomes ice cream time; he’s not into the ice cream. He doesn’t want ice cream. Not that he doesn’t like the flavor. I picked a flavor; I called him earlier at the store, and was like, “Hey, do you want sea salt caramel?” He’s like, “F*ck yeah.” So we get to dinner, he falls asleep in the movie. I ask if he wants some ice cream, he says he’s good. I’m like, “So why the f*ck did I get ice cream at the store?” Now we just have ice cream in our freezer. For me, I don’t need ice cream in my freezer. I need it to be out of my freezer.

So you know what, I didn’t have ice cream. But I did feel f*cking annoyed with him. It’s really not that annoying. He actually makes me healthier because he’s like, “How about we just have chicken and vegetables.” That kind of bullsh*t. That kind of a guy. Luckily. But me being hormonal, having to deal with that, makes me a bit peeved that he doesn’t want ice cream. So it’s just that hormonal balance that makes you just kind of like, you’re just on edge.

So, last week was Mother’s Day weekend. We had family in town; my husband’s mom and brother came into town and stayed with us. We ate out for most meals, and then played darts at the house. Played this game called skunk; it’s with dice. So we’re at the house a lot. We went to a Rockies game. We went to a bunch of different restaurants. I don’t know what else we did. We did a lot of things. So this weekend, coming up, I want to do none of the things. I don’t want to be around people. I don’t want to celebrate. I just want to be calm. So there’s a party I’m supposed to go to tonight, and I don’t want to go to it. But that makes me a bad person.

Is this my therapy session today? It feels like it. It really does. But, you know what? This is the kind of Juli you’re getting right now coming off birth control. And, it’s snowing here in Colorado. It’s snowing. What’s the date? It’s like May 19th, is that what day I’m recording this? Friday, May 19th. It’s snowing on May 19th in Colorado. And all these people keep moving here. I’m like, why the f*ck do you want to move here? It’s snowing here in May. Go to California. But they’re just hogging up the traffic. Clogging it. Honking. When I grew up here in Colorado, nobody honked. Everybody was very kind. It was like, maybe a little love tap honk. Just like this person is playing with the stereo, before people had phones to look at. Someone is playing with the stereo; just a little light tap of the honk. Like, “Oh, hey. Go on, buttercup. Yip, yip.” Nope. Now it’s like, “I f*cking hate you!” Type honks. And those people did not grow up here in Colorado. No they did not. Because that’s not what we do here. But they’re bringing it in from other places. Don’t they know it snows in May?

Mood. This is my mood. Anywho. This is what’s going to happen. I’m going to book my flights to St. Martin, which is the trip in August. I’m going to book those flights, and everything will be looking up. And it’s supposed to be like 60 degrees here this weekend. Oh my god, hurray. 60 degrees is much better than 30. So I will take it. My toes have become cold, instantly, as soon as it snows and they don’t get warm until it’s 80 degrees outside again. They’re literally freezing. I have a dog on top of my feet right now, and they’re freezing ice cold. Clammy; I have clammy, sweaty feet, and they are cold.

So anyways. That’s what’s going on over here. I hope everything’s going great for you. That’s all I have to say. So today, earlier on the blog this week on www.PaleOMG.com, I asked people to ask any random question. So that’s usually where I ask a question, like, “Hey do you have any questions for the blog?” I ask it in my weekly workouts post. Like every 5 weeks or so. It’s just easier to ask there than on Instagram, because Instagram is just a little bit harder to filter through, when I’m trying to look at comments. So FYI, if you didn’t. God, do you yawn while you’re listening to this? Do you hate me so much? I hate me so much. So if you have any questions that you didn’t know I was asking questions, feel free to leave them on the blog. I’m happy to answer questions there. I get back to questions on the blog much faster than I do emails. Email is my hell and I try to get back to emails once a week. But I also have a couple of different email services and messages within Instagram; those have become emails as well. And I can’t seem to catch up on those either. So leave a question on the blog. I will get back to you ASAP. I check those daily and get back to them daily.

Ok, so let’s start some questions off. Gotta drink that water. Gotta make sure I have big breaths in. No breasts, breaths. So I can not yawn. This feels so peaceful.

1. Pre and post workout supplements [18:10]

OK, Brittany. I’m going to say people’s names because they left their names on the blog post. I don’t usually do people’s names on Instagram because that seems creepy for some reason. Whatever. Brittany. It could be a million different Brittany’s, right? Whatever. Ok. “I would like to know your take on protein and a snack before and after a tough workout. Because of my work schedule, I don’t get to the gym until 5 p.m. I usually try to have a small protein, sometimes a little fat and carb snack between lunch and the gym so I don’t get hangry during my workout. For a few years now, I have believed that it is important to have protein within 30 minutes after my workout, usually in the form of powder. But then I’m having roughly 20 grams of protein, then headed home for dinner. For reference I usually spend over an hour in the gym. I gave up whey protein after taking a few years, because most of the brands on the market are made with junk, and they still do not agree with my hormones. So after my rant, my question is; do you think it is important to take protein after an intense workout, or just eat a regular meal within a few hours after? Muscle gains would be lovely.”

This is a question I get all the time. And every single person you ask out there will give you a different answer. So I think it’s very important to listen to what your body needs. I don’t often drink protein powder. I do it when I have a shake. So once in a while, I make a shake when I coach at the gym, and I know I’m going to workout and then coach afterwards, I like to have a shake because I’m not going to eat for a while. And I get a pretty bad stomach ache if I don’t eat. And just drinking is a little bit easier than chewing on something when I’m trying to mid-coach. I just feel like it looks so unprofessional. But I get really, really bad stomach aches if I don’t get some sort of food in me.

So, I think it is very important for people who are doing multiple workouts a day training for something to get protein in after their workout. And getting some sort of muscle recovery quickly. And I think that should be for people who are working out multiple times a day that are training for something, or maybe they’re trying to get extra protein in their diet. Maybe they have a hard time gaining weight and they need that in their diet. I think for normal people; I would call myself a normal person. I do hard workouts, but I think of myself as very normal. I’m like an average build, average jean size type of person. Whatever. And I do one workout a day. I workout 5 times a week. I think that I personally don’t need the extra protein, when most of the time I’m going to get a meal within the next two hours. So it sounds kind of like you. I like to workout often at 4:30 in the afternoon, which means I’m going to go home, I’m going to make dinner, and I’m going to eat within an hour and a half, two hours. Sometimes I’ll snack on something while I’m making dinner if I start to get hungry. But a lot of times, whatever workout I did kind of suppresses that appetite, so I’m not feeling hungry right after a workout.

I’m not training for anything. I’m not trying to gain weight. I’m not any of those things; I’m not trying to do those things. I’m not trying to do muscle recovery so I can workout again within the next few hours. So I think it’s fine to just get a meal in, if you can. If that’s not an option, I think protein is great. But for me, first and foremost, I believe in food first. The broken down foods later on. And liquid drinks later on. It should be food foremost. That’s just what I believe. That’s just how I see it. People will see things very differently. And I have many of my CrossFit friends who religiously have their pre-workout and they have their post-workout. I don’t perform any worse than them because I don’t do pre-workout or post-workout. Because my diet is really clean, and I have energy, and I know I don’t need to recover right after my workout, because I’m going to get food later. So I hope that helps.

If I’m going to workout at 4:30, and just say I had lunch at 12, usually I’ll have something to eat before I workout. Like maybe half of a Larabar. And I know to a lot of people that is not enough food. And it’s not even a lot of times that I’m hungry, but I will be getting hungry by the time I start working out. So I like to settle my stomach about an hour before hand. So I’ll do half of a Larabar. Something to just get a little carbs in there, and that just settles my stomach. So something like that is what I do before a workout. But post-workout, I just treat it as a meal. Because whether I’m working out in the morning, or I’m working out at night, there’s always a meal right afterwards, so I don’t feel like I need to take protein. So that’s my long-winded answer. That was a f*cking long answer for one simple question. I’ve got like 47 more to go. Not really. Not that many questions. But that was a great question, Brittany. I hope that was helpful.

2. Heart rate in Orange Theory [24:15]

Sarah. “I wonder if you could talk about your calorie burn at Orange Theory. As someone with a CrossFit background who enjoys Orange Theory, I struggle with not having as high of a calorie burn as I would hope. I have a low resting heart rate, 50 to 60, and I can get into the Orange during running as long as I keep my pace up. On the floor, I often am blue or even grey. I sometimes think about throwing a few burpees in between exercises, but I don’t want to be rude. Just curious if you’re doing anything to increase your heart rate on the floor other than what is assigned.”

So I’ve been getting more questions about Orange Theory. And I’ve talked about this in a podcast before, but I thought this would be a good time to talk about it again. So Orange Theory is a heart rate monitored workout. So you go in, they strap you up with a heart rate monitor. I wear the one around my chest. They also have a wristwatch one. But I bought one, and I keep one with me and just use that whenever I do Orange Theory. So my heart rate is about the same as yours; it’s 50 to 60. So when you go into Orange Theory, you strap on this heart rate monitor, and then up on the screen it shows your heart rate. It shows your calories burned. What heart rate zone you’re in. And it tracks it throughout the workout. So you can kind of check yourself and the coach can check where you’re at during each workout.

The workouts are treadmill, rower, and then floor exercises. So every class is totally different. If you go to my blog to www.PaleOMG.com. In my weekly workouts post, I also link to the forum that shares the Orange Theory workouts. So if you’re still trying to kind of picture this, you can always read this online, which each workout is each day, and I always link the workouts that I did that day. But you’ll go through, say you start on the treadmill. Every workout is different. But you’re going to do some sort of treadmill during the workout. They also have an elliptical and a bike. So you can run, you can walk uphill. You can be on the bike. You can be on the elliptical. They have a bunch of different options depending on what your fitness level is and what injuries you’ve occurred; or happened upon. Whatever.

So on the treadmill, you’ll do sometimes hill sprints. You’ll do an endurance workout. You’ll do sprint workouts. You’ll do all kinds of things. And then sometimes it’s even run to a rower workout. So you’re on the treadmill, and then you’re on the rower, and then back to the treadmill, back on the rower. That sort of thing. So you’ll have half the time there, half the time on the floor. And the floor is just different normal exercises. They’ll have stuff from dumbbell snatch, to burpees, to TRX workouts, to dumbbell to body weight. They have all kinds of different stuff and they tell you what sequence you’re going to do it in. How many sets, how many reps. And it’s usually timed, and then you’re cut off.

So that’s kind of how it looks. And then at the end of each workout, you’re sent an email with the breakdown of your workout. So how many calories you burned. What your average heart rate was. Your SPLAT points, which is however much time you spent in the orange and red zones, so a high heart rate. So yeah, that’s kind of the breakdown of Orange Theory if you were still wondering about that.

So my resting heart rate is 50 to 60. I don’t really even know, I guess Sarah in this question said that was low. I don’t even know what low is or what a high heart rate is anymore. I learned that sh*t in school and totally forgot it all. But, her question was, just to go back to her question. So she can keep a high heart rate on the treadmill, but has a hard time when she’s on the floor. So what I find, the way to keep my heart rate up on the floor is often going heavier in weights. So if you’re doing; let’s see. If you’re doing biceps curls, you are not going to get a huge spike in your heart rate as much as you would in something that you’re doing with your legs. Because your legs are such a bigger muscle group, so much more blood flow has to go to that. Your heart has to work harder. So whenever you’re doing, all over body workouts, or even just leg workouts, you’re going to get that bigger pump. And to get that bigger pump, often going heavier in weights. So say the dumbbell snatch; a lot of times people are busting through the dumbbell snatch really fast, and their heart rate is kind of staying the same. But if they would increase the weight, their heart rate would completely change.

So you talk about you do CrossFit; CrossFit, why we get that crazy feeling like we’re going to die is because we’re lifting so much heavier than you would in a normal class setting with just dumbbells. Because barbell you can put so much more weight on there, and you can drop it. You’re not always getting that at Orange Theory. So I recommend going heavier in your weights when you’re using different weights on the floor. Trying going heavier in those. And that’s the best way that my heart rate keeps up.

Once in a while, there are just those workouts that your heart rate just doesn’t stay as spiked on the floor. And I think that’s normal. Sometimes you’re going to have that crazy great workout. Sometimes it’s just going to be, eh, whatever. But that’s not a bad thing either. I think people, if you do CrossFit, especially, you’re obsessed with feeling like you’re going to die. You get so comfortable with feeling like that all the time that when you don’t get it, it feels weird. I think that’s just something to remember. You can have a really great, hard workout. But it’s ok to have those workouts that aren’t feeling like you’re going to die. Those are still very beneficial to you. So keep that in mind. If you feel like you’re not able to get that crazy heart rate up, you’re still moving your body. You’re still pushing it, even if you’re heart rate is not going crazy. That’s sometimes healthy to keep that heart rate down, and changing it up on a regular basis. The body loves change. And that’s why our bodies change. Because you’re adapting to the new change. So just keep that in mind. I try to keep that in mind. If it’s not like a crazy burning workout where I feel like I’m dying. That’s ok. I don’t have to feel like that every single day. And CrossFit trains us to think that we have to. And it’s ok to not feel like that all the time. So, keep that in mind. I hope that helps. I don’t know if it does.

3. Calorie burn in Orange Theory [31:44]

This is another Orange Theory question. Seneca asks, “Do you find that the Orange Theory calories are off? I feel like mine are super inflated. It always says that I burn about 500 to 600 calories. When I track the workout on my Apple watch, it ranges to 400 calories. What are your thoughts and insights?”

I think that sh*t is really hard with heart rate monitor stuff. Because how do you know that the Apple watch is totally correct? I don’t really trust those things that much to really be like, “Oh, I burned 700 calories today in just my workout.” I think a lot of people do that, where they’re like, “I burned 700 calories so I can eat however many calories.” I don’t see it like that. I just see it as a workout. I see it as a number, and next time maybe I can go over that number. Maybe I’ll be under it, but I like having that visual. In CrossFit I don’t remember my numbers anymore. I don’t care about my weights anymore. And that used to be a big deal to me. So when I go to Orange Theory, it’s nice to have a number that you’re like; “Ok, why did I burn 40 more calories. It says I burned 40 more calories than last time. What felt different this time?” And it’s kind of cool to see it like that.

But I think it’s just like those steppers. Remember we used to have those steppers that would keep track of your steps, and how accurate were those, actually? It’s the same thing with any of those Apple watches and any of the heart rate monitors. How do we know those are totally accurate? Someone did say on my blog when I was like, “I don’t know how accurate they are.” Someone said that Orange Theory is supposed to have the most accurate heart rate monitors around. I don’t know how true that is. But at the end of the day, I don’t care. I don’t care how many calories I burn. It makes no difference in my life. I’m just working out to build muscle, to feel better, and to be healthier. So I can’t tell you what is and what’s not true. But I would just; who cares about a number? That’s how I see it.

4. Juli’s fitness goals [34:11]

Ok, Kira. “Where do you envision your fitness taking you in years to come? Do you have any long or shorter-term goals with it, or is it just serving a purpose to stay healthy, happy, and rocking that hot bod for now? I don’t think you’d ever want to compete in CrossFit again, but would you and your husband ever want to do anything like rock climbing or cycling, or anything of that sort? Also, you definitely don’t have to answer this if it’s too stalkerish, but what park do you take Jackson to in the big field where he runs off leash and in the amazing creek?”

Ok. So I don’t really envision my fitness going anywhere exactly. I just see it as staying healthy long-term and building muscle and building stronger bones so I don’t have osteoporosis, like many women run into in their older age. I want to be mobile. That’s more than anything. I just see my family, who aren’t mobile, and I don’t want to be like that. I want to be able to get up on my own. I want to be able to workout into my 60s. I have friends who their parents are in their 60s right now, and they do CrossFit 6 days a week. And that is so f*cking awesome. They look their best, and they feel their best, and they’re thriving, and they’re kicking ass. And that’s what I want to do. That’s my long-term goal.

And I always want to be more comfortable physically with myself. I want to look in the mirror and be proud of who I am and the hard work that I’ve put into it and know that I’m doing everything possible to be comfortable in my own skin. So that’s why I work out. Because I don’t want to be unhappy. I don’t want to make up excuses. Be like, “I wish I could lose weight.” Or, “I wish I had that body.” I don’t want to say that bullsh*t. I want to know that I’m doing everything that I physically can to become the best version of myself. I don’t want to make up excuses. I’ve seen so many people in my life close to me and within the fitness world that say I want something, but won’t take the steps to get there. And I don’t want to ever do that. I want to take all the steps. So yeah, that’s my long-term goal is to be happy with myself. Be proud of the life that I’ve created for myself through fitness. And to be physically able when I’m older.

And that’s one of the reasons I stopped competing. Because for me, I was not going to be physically able if I was destroying my body and having to go through surgeries from injuring myself after competing. That’s why I stopped competing. I was just getting to that point for my body. So, I don’t envision my fitness going anywhere other than just being happy and being physically able and being able to walk everywhere and run everywhere and chase my dog and be happy. But no, my husband and I don’t rock climb. We’re not hikers. We just like to be out in the lake, and he likes to wake board. I like to surf. So that’s where I envision our future, is on a lake. And I know you didn’t ask me that, but that’s what I’m going to answer.

And I take Jackson to a few parks. Honestly, there are a ton of parks around me in Denver. If you want to email me privately, I will let you know. But I get freaked out. I think everyone is a murderer, so I don’t like to answer questions like that. But I do take him to Cherry Creek Trail all the time. There’s all kinds of dogs there, and I let him off leash. And he can play in the creek, and other dogs are off leash. And sure, you can get a ticket. I just take my chances, knock on wood. {knocking} I don’t want to get a ticket. But yeah. That’s where I take him.

5. Allowing indulgences without being overcome by them [38:16]

Cass. “I wonder what indulgences you allow yourself, and how you don’t let it consume you entirely. I feel like I finally get it together after a week of not giving a sh*t, but that’s too many careless decisions.” Sorry, I read that question wrong. I think for me, I’m good at not overindulging nowadays because I don’t eat the things that make me want to overindulge. I don’t often eat them. So let’s say cake. My sister-in-law bought me this big cake for my birthday, and I froze it because my mother-in-law was coming into town, and my mom would be over. And they love cake as much as I do. So I was like, ok, I’ll save this cake. So they come into town. My mother-in-law comes into town. This cake comes back out. We bought them another cake for Mother’s Day. So there are two cakes in the house. And when I have this sort of cake; it was a gluten-free cake but it has buttercream frosting, huge layers of frosting. I cannot stop myself. I can have one bite and that bite turns into me eating the whole platter. So I just try to stay away from it. So I know that sort of thing, I have a much harder time controlling myself while Eating Evolved, their chocolate coconut butter cups. I can stop because that’s not this high amount of sugar that creates this cocaine sensation into my brain that tells me I need more, more, more, more, more. Their chocolate is just this nice, ok I’m taking the edge off with what I wanted. With having chocolate. My hormones are going f*cking crazy, this helps out. But I’m not feeling like I have to eat 4 million pieces of cake because I’m on crack.

So I think finding the foods that you need to stay away from; and staying away from those. Like chips. Chips at a Mexican restaurant. Who can stop? That’s f*cking hard for most people. Maybe that’s something you need to stay away from. Everybody has their thing, and you have to figure out what that is and if cutting it cold turkey is the way or if maybe only have small amounts that you’re able to have. So you don’t turn into crack/cocaine Cass. Ha-ha, that was funny. Then that’s the way to go. So I personally just try to stay away from the foods I know I can’t control. And I also remind myself that I’m going to feel really sh*tty and full of regret if I go overboard. And I just remind myself of that. And over years, I’ve gotten better at that. Not to say that I don’t overeat sometimes. Everybody does, and that’s just life. Especially when there are two cakes at my house, and everybody is drinking and I’m not. I’m like, “Well everybody’s drunk. I’m going to have a piece of cake.” Because that’s my vice at this point when everybody else their vice is drinking.

So just know that that happens. But I would recommend staying away from the processed foods for sure, and processed indulgences, and sticking with cleaner foods. Because I think that’s easier to regulate your blood sugar and not go overboard when you’re not eating processed sh*t.

6. Internet trolls and mean people [42:06]

Ok, April. “When did you first launch PaleOMG? Do you think that the trolling has gotten worse over the years, and if so, why? I feel like you have a unique perspective into people’s behavior on the internet, so would love to know any observations you’ve had over the years.” I don’t think it’s gotten worse. I launched PaleOMG in 2001, and I definitely don’t think it’s gotten worse. It’s been the same. It ebbs and flows. I remember within the first 6 months of starting my blog, I got an email about how ugly and fat I was. I even remember sharing that on Instagram. And that’s just how it is on the internet. And it’s been like that. There’s a website that’s out there that blasts bloggers. And I don’t even want to say it because I don’t want to give them promotion. But there’s a blog out there that just literally, it’s a hate forum for everyone that people don’t like. And I found my name on there, and there’s a whole forum about people hating me. And I’m sure it’s grown more and more. And this was in the first year of starting my blog. There was a whole hate forum against me. I’m sure it’s huge at this point, because it’s been so many years.

So no. It has not gotten worse. It’s always been the same. There are always bad people out there. And I’ve seen this little meme, and it’s like, “If you’re mean on the internet, you’re just a plain mean person.” And it’s true. People who say f*cked up things over the internet are f*cked up people. We all think f*cked up things in our head. We think mean things. The difference between a bad person and a good person is a good person knows how to keep that inside, and be like, you know what? Why am I thinking negatively about this person? It probably has to do with me.

So I follow these random people on the internet. I was following this woman, and I was getting really jealous and thinking negative thoughts about her. And I was like, why am I thinking negative thoughts? What has she done to me? Sure maybe she’s done something to me. But if I’m thinking negative thoughts, it’s because of my own insecurity. It’s my own problem. And that’s why I guess I’m different than people who just attack people they’ve never met over the internet.

So it’s not gotten worse. I think we live in a world where we see these people online, and we; how do I say it. It’s like we think their lives are a certain way. We think we know these people based on their f*cking Instagram posts. And we make judgements of them. We all do this. It’s not like just bad people do this. We all feel this way. And maybe we get jealous, and we talk badly about someone because their life seems so great on the internet. And it feels better to talk bad about them. It makes you feel better. That’s all it is, at the end of the day.

I had a woman, I think last week, call me a slut. I go to this woman’s profile, and she has pictures of her grandchildren. This older woman; she looks probably in her 50s. Was calling another woman on the internet a slut. Said I dress like a slut. Who; what woman in their right mind does that? An older woman. A person who is not in their right mind. So I think if anyone ever says bad things to you over the internet, and everybody has gotten this in some way. Some guy called me a b*tch in French the other day. And a woman told me. She was like, “Hey, just so you know, that means b*tch in French, in case you want to take it down.” It’s like, every single day there’s something. Every single day there’s an email.

But I have to remind myself that I have a f*cking sweet ass life that I created on my own, and these people are very unhappy. And that’s proof because they have to say mean things about a person they’ve never met. And you know what? The world is just going to get worst. And I really fear that for adolescents and people going through hard times. Because imagine if you’re depressed and you see these people with these amazing looking lives online. It’s just so hard and it’s so much easier to just, instead of being like, “How can I change my life around and create a better life for myself?” It’s just easier to attack someone. So that’s what people do. Because there are so many people not in the right mindset. In the right mind space. Or the ability to understand how they can change their own lives, so they attack other people.

So, that’s kind of my viewpoint of it. I deal with it every day at this point in some way, whether it’s an email, or a comment, or a message. Or maybe just something on a hate forum. I deal with it every day. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be famous and have that in such a crazy degree. But that’s the name of the game when you’re on the internet. You just move forward. Sometimes it really hurts, but most of the time it’s like, ok. Call me a slut. I will move on with my day. But I hope your grandchildren have a better life than what you are creating on the internet for them. Whatever.

7. What would Juli do if Juli wasn’t PaleOMG? [47:50]

Ok. Cassy. “If you weren’t writing a blog and hadn’t found CrossFit, what do you think you would be doing instead? What were you going to school for?” I went to school for health and exercise science. I was always interested in health, always interested in exercise. I had honestly; I answered this question before, and I probably would have just opened a gym. That would have been probably my go-to. For a little bit there, right as I was starting my blog, I almost had the opportunity to run a CrossFit gym, and I’m glad I didn’t. Because this business I have now I love. But that’s probably what I would have done. I would have opened my own gym and ran my own gym. Been a personal trainer. Yeah, I think that’s where life would have led me.

8. Morning workouts and refueling [48:36]

Ok, Rebecca. “I was wondering if you could touch on morning workouts and if, what you eat before them. My work schedule has changed, and now that’s the only guaranteed time I get to workout. Just looking for some early morning workout ideas and prep.” So, I think first you’re asking about what to eat? “If you could touch on morning workouts and what, if you eat, before them?” Ok, both I guess.

Let’s talk about food. I work out; I’ve been working out more in the mornings, but my workouts about 8 a.m., usually, or 9 a.m., and I don’t want to eat breakfast before that. So I usually have a snack. I’ve been doing dairy sometimes in my diet, like Maple Hill Creamery. They have a great Greek yogurt that I’ll add some gluten free granola into it. And sometimes, honestly, I’ll just eat half of a yogurt and that’s just to settle my stomach. Kind of like the half a Larabar. I like to have something in my workout an hour before to settle my stomach. And then I’ll have breakfast afterwards. So half a Larabar, half an Rx bar, half a Perfect bar. Just any of those bars just to get my stomach settled and feeling a little bit more comfortable before I workout.

And just looking for workout ideas. I mean, if you’re looking for workout ideas that you’re doing at home, I would just go to my blog to www.PaleOMG.com. In my weekly workouts post under the fitness section, I share free travel workouts every single week, and there are a ton of workouts that you can do anywhere. Some have weights in it, some are just body weight. So I try to add both of those in there. But you can find workouts every single Monday on my blog to help with ideas. So I hope that helps.

9. Use of under-eye cream [50:28]

Lindsey. Ok, now we’re mixing it up. Now we’re a little bit away from workouts for now. Ok, just this one question. Lindsey, “Do you use an under-eye cream? You never have dark circles, and that is something I can’t seem to get rid of. Do you use a nightly cream? If so, which ones do you recommend? And also, what eye concealer do you use?”

So, Lindsey. Hopefully you listen to this this weekend, but next week on the blog, I will be sharing a beauty post on Wednesday. So I’m sharing my latest favorite beauty products; hair, makeup, and skin care. I don’t use any certain. Well, ok, I do sorry. I use this brand called Venus, and it’s a stem cell product. It’s a stem cell serum they have. And I use their product called Eye Perfect. And I’ll be linking that on my blog in case you miss that. But I’ll be linking it. And I love that. I use that under my eyes before I put my makeup on, and that’s the main thing I use for my eyes. I don’t really use a certain night cream or anything like that.

And then I use concealer. I use Jane Iredale. They have like a two-toned concealer under my eyes. So even on my no-makeup days, if I still want to have some sort of freshness to my face, under my eyes I do concealer and then I put a little bit of bronzer on my face, fill in my brows, and do mascara. But that Jane Iredale concealer is awesome. I highly recommend it. And I’ll be linking that, too.

10. Training right, eating right, gaining weight? [52:19]

Sorry I needed my water break, ok. Ok, Chelsea. “I exercise most days for 90 minutes, including a combination of strength, HIIT, running, currently training for a marathon next week. I eat relatively gluten free, paleo, low sugar. For the past several months, I’ve been feeling a bit heavier than usual, and I don’t understand why. If anything, I’ve been exercising more, and eating more healthy. I feel frustrated, and I don’t get it. Are my muscles simply growing because of all the training? Is that possible? Am I missing something here? Any advice?”

So yeah. I mean, it’s definitely quite possible that your muscles are growing. That’s very common when you’re working out. Especially, it sounds like you’re working out a lot. I think it’s important to remember that if we’re not seeing some of the results from our workouts, it could be because of overtraining. It could be because stress levels. And that stress has to do with overtraining, as well, but it could have to do with your work life, personal life, whatever. Sleep schedule; if you’re not getting enough sleep in. And then it could always have to do with diet. Maybe something is different in your diet. But I think it’s important to look at all of those things. Are you getting enough rest in? If you’re training most days for 90 minutes, you have to rest. And that doesn’t mean an active rest day. That means f*cking rest! Let your body recuperate so all that tissue that you just broke down, that muscle that you just broke down, can build back up. Because if you’re just breaking this muscle tissue down, and beating it up, and not letting it recover, that just creates inflammation. So that’s when usually we’re seeing our bodies change and we’re not loving it, because of this overabundance of inflammation in our body that we’re not letting our body get rid of.

So drinking a ton of water is important as well. But sleep, stress, overtraining, not getting enough rest; those are all important things to look at. So I would look at all of that, and see what component it might be. But I speak from experience of, I was working out so much, and I was working out multiple times a day. Sometimes 3 times a day when I was competing in CrossFit. And I was continuously gaining weight. And I didn’t understand because I was eating healthy, I was eating paleo. But I just continued to gain weight. And it was because, not only was my body growing; I was gaining muscle. But because there was so much inflammation in my body, and I was not giving myself enough rest, and enough rest days. So, remember that more isn’t always better. Our bodies weren’t made to be in fight or flight all the f*cking time.

Think about our ancestors. If you read any paleo books. If you go back to our ancestor times, they would go out to hunt something, to find something to eat. But the other times we’re kind of hanging out at home being relaxed. But then we’d have these times where they’d have to sprint, they’d have to run, they’d have to catch something. But then it’s calm. Our bodies weren’t meant to do this all day every day. So keep that in mind. Look at all those pieces. See if you can find that factor. But remember, more isn’t always better. I speak from experience.

11. How to pick out a CrossFit gym [55:53]

Emily Anne. And I’m pretty sure this is my friend from grade school, so hello, Emily. She says, “I’ve never been interested in CrossFit until recently. However, I am very particular with my training and would like to have a really good coach who knows his or her sh*t when it comes to training. I’m not interested in just doing CrossFit to say I do it. How would a newbie go about finding a home with good atmosphere and a good coach?”

So I would first ask around to your friends, if you have any friends that do CrossFit. Get some feedback on their gym. You can even look up reviews online, too. But, first and foremost, when you go into a gym, make sure they have some sort of on-ramp or elements program. If a gym; a CrossFit gym, specifically, if it does not have a program that coaches you through the movements that you’ve never done in your life, then you should not be going to that gym. Sorry if any gym owners are listening to this and don’t have an elements program, but I fully believe that. If you don’t have an elements program; if you’re just throwing a fish to the sharks in CrossFit, you are going to either have someone who injures themselves, or does not feel comfortable in a class setting and will never do the movements absolutely correctly. So find a gym that has an elements program, that has an on-ramp program, that coaches you through the movements so you can learn what a snatch is. You can figure out how to do pullups, or the techniques to do pullups. Someone who will coach you through that stuff before throwing you into classes. I think that’s so incredibly important, and I highly recommend that.

After that, the coaching part is hard. Because you have to kind of figure out what coaching style is good for you. I know tons of people who go to gyms that I think the coaching sucks at. But that’s just my personal opinion. So everybody is going to have a different style. I think a good gym should have an elements program. Every class should walk you through a warmup. It should take you through an intense warmup that not only does some sort of stretches, but does some sort of mobility. Does sort of active movement. Gets your heart rate up. Makes you shake. Makes you be challenged, because you’re supposed to throw yourself into a really hard workout. And I keep going back through all of these, but I want to make sure I hit them all. Elements program, they walk you through the warmup, and they also walk you through the movements of that day. So if your workout has thrusters and it also has snatches to start, you sure as hell should be doing snatches and should be doing thrusters in your warm-up and talking through those. And making sure nobody has any questions.

Our classes always start with a 20-minute warmup, and then we go through barbell prep with everyone before we get into the workout. So I think everyone should have barbell preps in their warmup if there’s any barbell movement within the workout. So that’s kind of what I recommend. And at the end of the day, it’s where you feel comfortable at. Maybe a gym has great coaches, but it’s just not the social atmosphere that you’re comfortable with, and that’s ok too. You have to just kind of test things out. But make sure they have those things. I think those are all incredibly important, and every gym should have them. And it’s crazy to me that they don’t. So hopefully that helps. If this is the Emily Anne that I think it is, feel free to email me if you’re in Denver, and I can help you find a place.

But yes. I’ve been to many sh*tty gyms in my life; many CrossFit gyms when I traveled, and I couldn’t believe it. I had gone to one in Idaho, and there were snatches and they were telling us to do a 90% snatch, and she didn’t even take us through a warmup with anything in it, and not even a barbell warmup. I was so disappointed. I could not believe this gym. And I told my friend who lives there, I was like, “Don’t ever go to that gym.” I cannot believe that. And there are other people who talk really highly of it. But you can’t expect people to snatch if you did not warm them up properly, and you did not even talk about a snatch. Because I sure as hell know that I know many people who have been crossfitting for years, and still need a ton of help with their snatches. No one is perfect. And everybody needs help all the time. So find a gym who will really push form all the time, and not let people’s egos get in the way. That was a long answer for a simple question. {laughs}

12. CrossFit lingo, Orange Theory heart rate, and Whole30 [1:00:52]

OK. Jade. “So I have a couple of questions. For a non crossfitter, your workouts make zero sense to me. Maybe not necessarily in your podcast, but could you do a CrossFit workout post for dummies, or a dictionary or something. I’m interested in what kind of workouts you’re doing. But I feel like I’m reading another language.” You know what, when I started CrossFit, I felt the same way. I promise you Google is your friend. YouTube is your friend. If you ever don’t know what a movement is, just put it into YouTube. If you’re like, “What’s a squat snatch?” YouTube. Boom, squat snatch right there. And there’s often progressions on how to go through those movements. That’s how I learned CrossFit, was YouTube, honestly at the end of the day. So that’s what I recommend. Google is your best friend.

Her second question was, “I do Orange Theory as well, and like someone else said, struggle with getting my heart rate up, and sometimes especially to red. I notice you’re in the red zone quite a bit. Can you share when that is; rowing, running? What is your resting heart rate?” So I kind of mentioned that in that first question. My resting heart rate is about 50 to 60. I’m always in the orange and the red when I’m running, and I’m almost always in the red when I’m rowing. I think getting your heart rate into that red zone in rowing is challenging if you don’t know how to row correctly. And I’m not saying that I’m this amazing rower, by any means. But I know when to pull and when to let go, and I know how much time to go back. And a lot of times, people don’t know how to pull. So they’re rounding their back and they’re pulling with their arms instead of pulling with their legs. So just like I mentioned before; if you’re using the lower half of your body, when you’re rowing, that’s what you should be using. You should be using your legs, your butt, powering through your legs. And your arms are pretty much just holders. You’re keeping your back nice and straight, like you would in a deadlift, and you’re pulling you’re arms at the end.

I don’t know what the percentage is, but I’d say 60% or more of your legs when you’re rowing. And when you’re using your legs, your heart has to work much harder because it’s a much bigger muscle group. And so whenever I’m rowing, I’m always in the red because I’m using so much of my legs to power through to work that rower correctly. Whenever I’m running, whenever I’m rowing, I’m always in orange and red. And then depending on what’s happening on the floor, my heart rate kind of goes all over the place on the floor. If it’s burpees, obviously the heart rate is spiked. If it’s any weight stuff, I can add weight to it. Biceps curls are harder because you can only do so much. But if there’s a full body movement that I can go heavier on, that’s going to increase the heart rate. That’s kind of what I recommend for upping your heart rate, rowing correctly and increasing your weight on the floor.

And then, two more questions from her. “What do you do for recovery?” Girl, I f*cking suck at recovery. So I’m not the person to ask for that. I use the Fasciablaster in the shower, and I bought that for cellulite. I’ve seen no difference in my cellulite, but I also don’t use it the recommended amount of time. Because I just don’t have that much f*cking time in my day. I use it like 3 to 4 minutes per leg. But, using it 3 to 4 minutes per leg, the Fasciablaster, makes my legs feel so much better. So whenever they’re crazy sore, I use that, and that helps a ton. But I don’t do other sh*t. I just started to go see an acupuncturist, and got deep tissue massage and acupuncture yesterday. But I f*cking suck at recovery. And I don’t take any supplements, either.

And then, “What are your thoughts on Whole30? Every done it? Not your thing? No comment? I’m not sure if this has been covered or not.” So, I’ve done Whole30 when I started CrossFit years ago. I’m sorry, started paleo years ago. For me and my personality, it is not good for me. If you tell me that I can’t have something, I want it 10 times more. And then when that 30 days is up, I go f*cking ham on sh*t food. And that’s not the point of paleo for me. So I think Whole30 is amazing at figuring out what foods work for you and what don’t. But I think it can be very challenging for people who maybe have addictive personalities, and coming off of it is hard.

And I see so many people, when they’re on Whole30, and I post a dessert. They’re like, “I can’t wait until after my Whole30.” And it’s like, people are just thinking about the day they finish it, instead of thinking, “Is this long term. I can’t wait to feel better and hopefully I can have that type of food, but I can control it more.” I think people just see it as 30 days and then f*ck it, who cares. And I see that at my gym, too. When people do 30-day little competitions, after the 30 days is up and they’ve lost all this weight and they feel so much better and their skin looks so much better and they’re glowing. 30 days is up, and then they eat f*cking sh*t, and they drink a ton of alcohol. It was like this small 30 days in their life instead of a lifetime of better choices. So that’s kind of how I see Whole30. I think it’s awesome for some, harder for others. It’s obviously been a great program for a lot of people out there.

13. Managing cortisol levels [1:06:44]

Ok. Amanda, “I’ve heard you mention cortisol levels and how it relates to belly fat. Any tips on what to add to your diet, or what practices to help reduce cortisol levels? Thank you so much.” I first and foremost will recommend reading Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution. That’s where I started really learning about cortisol in the first time. And cortisol, it has to do with your stress levels. So whatever stress you are, maybe at work, your relationship. Maybe you went through a trauma. Stress levels, they cause your cortisol levels to get out of whack. Sleep schedules, as well. If you’re not getting enough sleep, that can affect your cortisol levels too. So messing up your cortisol levels can definitely add to belly fat. It can add to just overall change in physique and change in hormones.

So I’m not the specialist on this by any means. I highly recommend reading Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution. He came out with a second book, too. I haven’t read that. But he is just amazing at explaining that very science-y technical sh*t in layman terms. So I recommend that. But sleep and reducing stress; big two things that play into that.

14. Juli has a tattoo?! [1:08:13]

Amy. Ok, she says; this question is funny. “I’ve noticed in some photos that I can just barely see a tattoo on your side. What is your tattoo? Do you have others? And what is your reason for not making it more prominent in your photos? I don’t have tattoos myself, but I’m just curious.” And then she has a second question but I’ll answer this first one.

I have two tattoos. I have one my ass. Yes, that was a good decision at 18 years old or some bullsh*t like that. And then I have one on my side. And that was a 21-year-old decision. No, I will not tell you what either are. {laughs} I know there are photos all over the internet of my CrossFit days when I was in sports bras all day long, and my tattoo is on my side, so I’m sure it’s easy to find within my blog somewhere. So if you go dig enough deep; deep enough digging, you’ll find it. But I’m keeping that to myself. This is the thing with f*cking tattoos; wait. For people who are thinking about getting a tattoo, f*cking wait. Just wait. There are so many friends who are covered and littered in tattoos. And they f*cking rock them. And they don’t regret them at all. I’m not that person. I have one on my ass that matches a girl that I know that we were best friends in high school. We are no longer friends. This is why I will never get a tattoo of my ring on my ring finger. I think that dooms your relationship. No offense to the people who have tattoos on their ring finger. Just saying. Been there, done that, it’s on my ass forever. So I have that one.

Then I have a tattoo on my side, ribcage. So at this point, when I got this tattoo I had just started CrossFit. I was the leanest I had ever been. I was like, the skinniest I had ever been. Because I started paleo and my weight drastically dropped. So getting a tattoo on my ribcage was the most painful thing, f*cking ever. Probably close to the same pain I felt when I got my face, when I did the ProFractional treatment. I was f*cking miserable. Which I have to do that again soon, and I’m dreading it. So anyways, I had a boyfriend at the time who was covered in tattoos. He was my college boyfriend. I thought I was going to marry him, that kind of thing. He was covered in tattoos, so that’s what I was just used to. I was around that all the time. I went with him all the time to the tattoo parlor or whatever for him to get a new tattoo. So that was my norm.

So then my 21st birthday came; I think I got it on my 21st birthday. And I was like, yeah I want to get a tattoo that represents this time in my life. It did not represent him, thank god. But it represented a time in my life. And I got this tattoo. It was so f*cking painful because I’m thin around my waist, so it was just skin to bone around my ribcage in a very sensitive area, right on the side. So I’ve looked into many options of getting it removed. I 100% want it removed. But just listening to people, how much pain they went through. Seeing my friend, who she is married now, but she was engaged before and had a diamond tattooed on her ring finger. And seeing her get that removed; it’s like a blood blister like an inch off her f*cking ring finger. And I’ve had other friends. I think it was the person who does my eyebrows. She said it felt like, what’s it called; not oil. I don’t know, like hot oil being poured on her skin when she got her tattoos removed.

So I’m hoping for better technology in the future. How much pain it hurt to get it, I can’t imagine trying to get it removed and having to do that 15 sessions, when my tattoo was one. I just can’t imagine. I f*cking can’t. So I’m stuck with this tattoo. So whenever people who are younger than me are thinking about getting a tattoo, I’m like, just f*cking wait. Wait. Think about it for like 2 years. Because when you’re young, you just don’t think as much. You just don’t think. And you think just in that moment. So I wish I would have waited and that time would have passed. But yes, I do have a tattoo. I have two tattoos. Wish I wouldn’t have gotten either of them. Case closed. Until the future of lasers improve. Wah. But yeah, I always try to cover it up. I f*cking hate it.

Ok. Second question. “I know you talk about drinking a sh*t ton of water all the time. And I know everyone is different. I try to drink a gallon per day. Do you keep track of your water intake?” Yes. I try to drink a gallon a day, if not more. And sometimes I’m really good at it, sometimes I’m not. Like right now, I was just at two appointments back to back, and then came home to record my podcast. I haven’t had time to drink water because I’ve been talking nonstop and doing something nonstop. So, usually I drink a gallon a day. When it’s my crazy busy days, or when I’m in the car, I just don’t drink as much water because I usually ran out of my water. So, hold on. You can hear that. I need to refill it. But yeah, I try to drink a gallon a day. But I pee all the time too.

15. Follow-up on The Paleo Kitchen collaboration [1:14:17]

Lauren. “I hope this isn’t too personal or sensitive, but I was wondering why you haven’t worked with George from Civilized Caveman since you two produced a cookbook together in the past? Only curious. Don’t feel like you have to answer this question.” I totally had this question before. And I’ve answered some of them in private. And you know, it is personal. But I think it’s good to address. George and I are just different people. We wrote a cookbook together, and I pretty much lived at his house when we wrote this cookbook and we went on book tour. But we’re just two very different people. And I’m sure you remember working with someone in college on a group project together, and how challenging that was, and how that might have hurt your relationship you had with that person. Or maybe you just didn’t get along in the first place and it was really hard to get through. That’s what doing a big project; a big life project is like. And we’re just two different people. We just weren’t meant to be friends, and that’s it at the end of the day. I don’t know what he’s up to; he doesn’t know what I’m up to. We’ve just moved on with our lives after our cookbook. But that’s just how it is. People go different ways and see viewpoints differently, and sometimes they’re friends and sometimes they’re not. That’s kind of long story short at the end of the day.

16. Carb cycling to workouts [1:15:45]

Abby. “I know that you don’t follow macros, but I do think you’re cautious about what you eat and when. If you haven’t already talked about this, I would love if you could shed some light on how you think of each meal. For instance, since you work out in the a.m., you’ll include healthy carbs in your breakfast. Or since you didn’t workout, maybe you won’t have any carbs and eat protein and grains. I hope that question makes sense.” It makes total sense, Abby.

So, you know, I try to be mindful of eating in the fact that I don’t want to eat until I’m overly full. I don’t like feeling overly full. Like I can’t take in a full breath. That’s how I feel when I overeat and I don’t like that feeling. So I try to be mindful of that. Stopping when I’m just comfortably satisfied. But I don’t do the carb swapping on non-workout days, that sort of thing that some people do. I honestly find that I probably eat more on rest days, because I have more time on my hands. And my workout didn’t just suppress my appetite from being in fight or flight for an hour.

I just try to be mindful that; ok, maybe I’ve been eating too many gluten-free carbs. Last night, we made gluten-free pasta. I don’t need to have gluten-free pasta, or gluten-free bread, or gluten-free granola every day, multiple days in a row. So I try to think of it like that. “Ok, I had gluten-free pasta last night. I don’t really need that tonight. Maybe I’ll have something that’s going to be greens and some sort of meat.” So I think of things like that. I don’t count macros. I don’t count calories or anything like that. I just try to eat rounded meals with lots of greens and healthy proteins every time. And sometimes I’ll have starchier carbs, and sometimes I won’t. But that’s kind of all I think about it. And sugar, obviously. I’m aware of sugar, if I’m overdoing it on sugar, I just have to remind myself and pull back and cut that out. So hopefully that answers your question. But I don’t do the more carbs in my breakfast if I work out in the morning. I don’t really do that. Sometimes if I have a super hard workout, I will add more starchy carbohydrates than I was planning if the workout was harder than usual. So I do keep that in mind. I hope that answers the question.

17. Fighting the alcohol vice [1:18:25]

Ellie. “Can you talk about when you decided to cut back or cut out alcohol? I rarely drink during the week, but come Friday and Saturday, I find myself drinking cocktails or beers, and then feeling gross for a couple of days. Obviously you would think I would learn, but after a work week, I seem to have forgotten how sucky I feel after drinking, and the vicious cycle continues.” So obviously you do remember, because you’re saying it in this comment. So I think you need to remind yourself of that.

I cut back on alcohol probably when I turned; after my birthday. After I turned 21. The age of 21, and after, I cut back on drinking mostly because I was competing in CrossFit. But then I would still go on; like I would go to Lake Powell and drink heavy for a few days. Or, I don’t know, party with my friends pretty hard. I was just competing, so alcohol just didn’t get me to where I needed to be. I couldn’t train the next morning because I was hung over. I felt fat. I felt gross. So I just didn’t do it anymore.

And then as I get older, I just feel that alcohol so much more. I remember in college where I’d drink, and I’d wake up and be like, skinnier than I was the night before. Now I wake up, and I’m like, “I feel like a f*cking fat ass.” When I drank heavily. So my metabolism has changed over time, and I don’t like feeling like that. When you wake up in the morning and your depressed, and you feel; for me, I feel chubby. I don’t want to work out. I feel like a worthless piece of sh*t that day. That is not what I want out of life, and that’s not how I can continue doing my business, and getting the work that I need to get done. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week are all work days. So I can go out and have a drink. But if I have multiple drinks, I’m not going to be able to get my work done. And if I’m getting that work done, it’s not going to be to its fullest potential.

So, at the end of the day I don’t drink because I don’t want to feel like sh*t. I did not work this hard in the gym, and I did not work this hard cooking and eating healthy to throw it all away on cocktails. So that’s it at the end of the day. That’s how I did it, was I was like, I can’t f*cking do this. And I get this all the time. People at the gym give me sh*t all the time, because I think we’re a pretty heavy drinking gym. Every weekend our gym is doing something. People are hanging out, going out, getting wasted. And they have such a fun time, and they’re like, why don’t you ever come out? Giving me sh*t about it. And I’m like, I don’t want to feel like that. I don’t want to sit around, doing nothing all day because my work is 24/7 every day. And most people have 5 days a week and they have weekends off. Well mine is every day, and if I don’t work as hard at something, I don’t make money. It’s not like I have a salary coming in. I don’t make money because I slacked off. So that’s what kind of motivates me to stay away from alcohol.

But you know, I still have those times that I do drink sometimes. And I want to have fun. Like, time out with my friends on a double date, and have more drinks than usual. And that’s that. But I think you just have to remind yourself. Is it worth it? Is that feeling like sh*t worth it?

Oh my god, it’s already been an hour and 22 minutes? Holy tits! Ok. My computer is almost dead, too. Geeze Louise.

18. Sleep hacks [1:22:12]

Ok. Let’s see; Steph asks. Oh, sorry I almost missed Lisa’s. Lisa’s is a short one. Lisa asks, “What’s your sleep routine. Any nighttime habits or hacks?” So I use the app F.Lux, I think that’s how you say it. Flux. It turns your computer on the orange screen. I have that same thing on my phone where you turn it on to night mode and it changes the color of your screen. So it’s just easier on the eyes. And it helps your body kind of turn off a little bit. Because I’m always still on my phone and computer at night, and those two things help just turn off the brain a little bit. There’s all the science behind it that I don’t know. But yeah, just turning those screens off.

And then, I don’t really have any other nightly routines. I usually get up around 5:15 at this point, because my husband gets up to workout. So I’m pretty tired by 10 p.m., so I fall asleep pretty quickly. But I have to make sure I turn my phone on, and my computer onto those whatever screen colors that they go to help you fall asleep faster. That’s the only thing. That’s the only thing I do.

19. Choosing a workout [1:23:39]

Steph. “Hi! I was wondering if you could talk about how you decide what workouts you do each day. Do you do what your body is telling you? Do you look at the CrossFit workout and see if it’s something you’re feeling up to doing? Do you do a certain amount of CrossFit and Orange Theory classes per week? I’m also unfamiliar with Orange Theory.” Well hopefully what I just said helped you out.

So, I do Orange Theory twice a week. So I’m on whatever plan they have. I think it’s like 8 times a month, which for me I go 2 times a week. And then the other days I do CrossFit or Fit. But I often, nowadays, cherry pick my CrossFit workouts. Just depending. I don’t want to go on a day that does ring dips, because my implants do not like doing ring dips. So I’ll kind of change. Maybe I’ll go to Fit instead of CrossFit if I was planning to go to CrossFit. Because Fit is at our gym, which is like a bootcamp style class.

But yeah. I do 2 classes of Orange Theory a week. I try to do 2 classes of CrossFit, sometimes three unless I do a Fit class. But a lot of times I’ve been going to Orange Theory because it fits time-wise into my schedule better. It has a certain morning class that our gym doesn’t have. So I’ll go to that class because I can fit it into my morning a little bit better. And it’s closer to me than my CrossFit gym is. So I’ll just go to Orange Theory, it’s down the street. Get my workout in, be able to get back to the house, all within an hour and a half instead of CrossFit that takes up to two hours to do. So that’s kind of how I pick it.

20. Suggestion for future podcast guest [1:25:28]

Let’s see. Rebecca. I think. Yeah, Rebecca. “I have a quick question, but I was wondering if you could touch on morning workouts.” Oh sh*t. Did I read this question already? I did. I already did that one. Oopsie poopsies! God. I even read through these before. I don’t know how I did that.

Ok, Jamie. “You had asked in your last podcast for suggestions on guests for upcoming episodes. What about your husband? I totally understand not putting pictures of him. People are mean and suck.” Jackson! Oh my god. He’s pushing my microphone off of me. “People are mean and suck, but for us nice listeners, I’m always curious to know what your relationship is like and how he supports your blog. Does he give you content information? How he deals with crazy traveling schedule? Just a suggestion.”

And I love that suggestion, Jamie. It’s a great one. But my husband works Monday through Saturday. So he only has Sundays off. I record my podcast on Thursday or Friday. So yeah, I could do a week ahead of time. But the last thing my husband would ever want to do on his day off is record a podcast with me. This guy; he’s not very involved in my blog. In my business life. Just like I’m not involved in his. I mean, whenever I’m like, “What should I make for the blog this week?” I think he always says teriyaki chicken. Like, he has the same answer every week. He does not help with content. If I ask him for advice with certain things, he’ll help with that. But my husband is not very involved with my business. And I kind of love it that way. So yeah. No. I would not have him on the podcast. I guess if I’m very, very desperate. But he would be so annoyed and bored. And be like, why are we just sitting at the dining room table with a microphone. Just not his thing. Nope. But thanks for that idea. It was a good idea, Jamie. It really was.

21. Advice on reducing bulk [1:27:38]

Ok. Let’s see. Now for Alex. “I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I’ve listened to your podcast, working my way from the beginning, and I remember you talked about before how if you don’t like how big your legs are getting you’ll cut back on either CrossFit or lifting heavy in weights. I can’t remember exactly what you said. I’m talking about that, because I’m struggling with how my body looks these days. I work out about 5 times a week, and 4 of those days include weights and cardio. But they encourage you to keep lifting heavier each week. I feel the strongest I’ve ever been, and have great endurance right now. And I also can tell I’ve gained a lot of muscle. But my issue is I carry most of my fat in my butt and thighs. So all the muscle in my quads just made my legs huge, and I’m not liking how they’re looking. Last year I wasn’t lifting heavy, and doing more cardio, and was about 10 pounds lighter, and was much happier with how my body looked. But during that, I was restricting my food and doing so much cardio, and wasn’t enjoying it. Also, I eat clean and don’t drink, but just now recently have been trying to be aware of eating until satisfied and not full. So I’m not eating too much. So I just need some advice.”

Yeah, ok. Ok. So that’s the thing with CrossFit. You’re pushed. That’s how they are. They push you to lift heavier and go harder than you did the day before, and that’s every single day, all the time. And I love the coach at my CrossFit gym, and the other day he had a deadlift weight that he told us to get two rounds unbroken. And it was 100 deadlifts total. And the weight prescribed was 155 pounds. And I chose my weight, and he was like, no. You’re not doing that. He’s like, that weight is atrocious. And I was super pissed about this after this. And we have that relationship that he wouldn’t say that to another person. But he was like, no that’s disgusting. You need more weight than that. And I was like, no, I don’t. I’m about to do 100 f*cking deadlifts. I don’t need more weight than this. And I held my ground. He was pissed off because I didn’t push it to where he wanted me to. But, I was able to do the workout how it was made to be.

So why I’m saying this is, you have to find what works for you. It doesn’t matter what works for the coach. What matters is what works for you. So, if you feel like you’re gaining weight and you don’t like how you’re gaining weight, you’ll tell your coach that, and they will be annoyed with that. Because as coaches, we are there to push you. And in CrossFit, it’s not just about physique. It’s about what you’re physically able to do. And if you can physically do it, why wouldn’t you? That’s how I looked at CrossFit for a long time. At the end of the day, it is your workout. Jackson, we can’t eat this bone today.

At the end of the day, it’s your workout. And you get to decide how much weight you use, and how you do it. And you have to put your foot down with that. So I would just start messing around with it. Maybe you’re like, ok. I’m adding weights. I’m not comfortable in my skin. Maybe I need to change that. Or maybe you just need to become more comfortable with that if you want to lift heavier on a regular basis. That’s it at the end of the day. It could have to do with food for sure. I can’t tell you; I’ve never met you. So it’s hard to say those kind of things. But I would say mess around with your workouts. And if your coach is telling you to go heavier, tell him, I don’t want to. Maybe explain why. Maybe lie. But at the end of the day, it’s your workout. And you’re paying to be there. You can do your workout however you want to do. Whether that’s lighter or heavier. So I hope that helps. I don’t know if that’s the full answer. But it’s hard to answer that kind of stuff when I’ve never met you and I don’t know your habits and I don’t know your stress levels and what’s going on with you. But that’s an overall answer.

22. Cookware [1:32:19]

Chrissy. “Do you have a specific type of cookware?” And I get this question all the time. I don’t. I use a green pan. I use, what is it called, Bialetti pans. I always link those in my posts because I like those. So green pans and those ones. I don’t have a specific pan. I love cast iron skillets, I use that. But I’m not specific about those. I go through pans, I think, on a regular basis because I use them so much. So no specific ones.

23. Gift giving go-to’s [1:32:50]

Beth. “Can you talk about gift buying? You’re such a good shopper and have great taste, and you can always find new, unique products. Do you have any go-to gifts that you like to give, either to your husband or girlfriends.” Oh my god, Beth. I’m the f*cking worst gift-giver. Sure, I’m hella good at buying sh*t for myself. Because I’m an only child. And if I want something, I will figure out how to make the money to get it. If I can’t make the money, I don’t deserve it. That’s just how I see it. So I see it like that. If somebody wants something, they can buy it for themselves. So why wouldn’t they? That’s how my stupid, only child mind works. If you want something, you should work to get it. So I’m terrible at gift giving.

When people are like, “Oh my god, I totally want to get this.” And then they don’t, I see it as like, “Ok, they’re going to get it soon. Because they’ll work to get it.” So I’m a terrible gift-giver. I don’t even know the last gift I bought my husband. A house together? I’m the worst. Total worst. So I don’t have any go-to gifts. Maybe making people food is my go-to gift. Because it’s the easiest gift to give, and people love food. So, sorry. I shouldn’t even put your question down there because I answered it so poorly. Apologies.

24. Hair treatment [1:34:13]

Jada. “How often do you wash your hair? What do you do with it on the days that you don’t wash your hair, but you don’t want it to look like a total grease ball. Especially if you worked out and have gotten sweaty.” Ok, Jada, my hair is always greasy. Always, always greasy. It’s f*cking so gross right now I can’t stand it. But what’s the point in washing my hair when I’m just going to workout Friday and Saturday. That’s how I see it.

So, I don’t have any tricks. The only trick I do is after I workout I try to take my hair down and let it air dry. Because then it doesn’t get all greasy and kinked in a ponytail. And that just lets it air dry a little bit better and it looks so much better. So I take it down out of the ponytail right away, try to air dry it out. And I use Bumble and Bumble, what’s it called, dry shampoo. I don’t love it, don’t hate it. I just don’t really care that much. But I also work from home. So, it’s easy for me to have nasty f*cking hair. Because I don’t give a sh*t!

25. Bloating and food intolerances [1:35:16]

Patty. “I often have trouble feeling bloated. I hate feeling bloated because then I hate wearing jeans. I just feel like I want to take a nap, and then have a gross muffin top going on.” Oh, no Patty! “Do you know if drinking more water would help? Or more kombucha, probiotics, trying different foods. Sometimes I think it’s dairy, so I’ve been staying away from dairy as much as I can. I love ice cream, though.” {laughs}. “But I feel like crap when I eat it. Oh well. I love onions and black beans; those seem to do it too. However, sometimes I think that food may have caused that bloating.”

Dairy can definitely cause bloating. Beans can definitely cause bloating. I think you need to test those things. Ice cream; I mean, it’s sugar and dairy, so it’s definitely going to cause bloating and inflammation. Drinking more water absolutely helps with bloating because you’re getting rid of the excess water in your body constantly. But you have to drink a lot of water on regular basis to flush your system like that. But I think testing and retesting certain foods. If you’re like, “Ok, I feel like crap with dairy.” Maybe you shouldn’t be eating dairy. If you feel like crap when you’re eating beans, don’t eat beans. Don’t say oh well, like you just said in this comment here. Be like, ok, maybe I need to cut out these things because I don’t feel comfortable in my skin right now. And help cutting those foods out might help. So, keep those in mind. Test and retest. But eating clean, drinking a lot of water. Making sure you’re getting a good amount of sleep, stress levels are low, and working out all are things that will help with that belly bloat and that belly fat that happens. Hope that helps.

26. PaleOMG listener meetup? [1:37:08]

Ok. Katie. “Have you ever considered doing a meet up for your followers in Colorado?” I haven’t. I don’t know what I would do at a meetup. I mean, I’ve done book tour stops, and those are kind of meetups, because I get to talk to people, and sign books, and show my book. But I don’t know what I would do in Colorado. Like, “Hey, come meet me here.” I don’t know. Seems like a way to get murdered. So that’s why I haven’t done it. Hopefully that answers your question.

27. Reintroduction after Whole30 [1:37:39]

Ok. Only two more questions, which is perfect because we’re at like, holy tits, an hour and 40 minutes! This is the longest one I’ve recorded in a while. Ok. Let’s see, Julia. “I just finished the Whole30 program. I know you mentioned you completed prior to the previous podcast. I think the sugar one. I was curious to know how you approach the reintroduction stage. In theory, I want to stay by the book and reintroduce one thing at a time. However, I know I will be drinking alcohol in a setting where there won’t be compliant foods for an upcoming event. Well, life happens. I do not want to completely botch all the progress I made during the Whole30, but I’m not sure I want to systematically reintroduce foods back into my diet in a scheduled way, like the book suggests. Do you have any insight as to what worked for you and friends of yours?” Come on. Get up here. Come on doggie. Sorry, Jackson needed to cuddle.

I think that’s the hardest part for people is that reintroduction phase. I would remember that parties like this are going to happen all the time where alcohol is involved, and sh*tty food is involved. So trying to make better choices. So making sure you eat before this party and trying not to drink too much. Just know these parties are going to come up all the time, and you’re going to have to deal with this all the time. So it’s something that you have to start making a game plan for. Whether that’s eating a meal before, so you’re not overeating later. And drinking soda water at the event so you don’t overdrink and make bad food decisions. I think those are important things to…

Jackson. God, how does somebody keep coming to my door. I’m ignoring the door. So, no now I feel like I need to get the door. Dammit. Ok, sorry. It was just UPS. Who doesn’t love a package in the mail.

Ok, I think coming up with a game plan is what helps people survive Whole30 and make it more of a lifestyle change. For me, I eat before I go to an event. I have snacks with me in case I need to snack on something. And I try not to overdrink, because I know that leads to bad decisions for me. So those are the things I do. And that’s going to lead to better decisions long-term, because you’re going to have those parties come up all the time. So that’s what I recommend. And it will get easier with time. Try not to do where you go overboard and ruin everything, because that’s when people get addicted to sugar once again. I hope that answers your question. If you have more of a detailed question, or need a better answer, feel free to just comment on this blog post and I can help you out a little bit more.

28. Combatting that fluffy feeling [1:40:50]

Ok, last but not least. J.B. Another J. B. out there. Ok. Oh my god I’m moving around so much. “How about a quick discussion on CrossFit “fluffy”. I’m in my 7th year of doing CrossFit, and have struggled off and on with that. I didn’t start until I was 29, so I didn’t compete other than a few fun charity competitions. But I’ve had an endurance background and a pretty good engine, so even though I’m 36 I can usually still hang and beat the fastest girls at the gym. I still do my longer running, biking, etc. Because I enjoy it and try to balance that with the gym. But lately I seem to be fluffy no matter what. Maybe it’s just the reality of moving into my 30s and I’m f*cked. But I’d like to hear more about how you transitioned from training so hard to easing back and kept the intensity. I feel like if I lower the weights or shorten the workouts, I leave feeling like I didn’t get uncomfortable. I know you’ve covered this before, but maybe some more detail.”

Ok, so I just kind of talked about that. You just said, “I didn’t get the feeling, even get to feel uncomfortable.” And I think it’s important to remember that not every workout has to be this brutal, uncomfortable workout. As crossfitters we’re taught to feel like that all the time. And we’re like, “Yeah, f*ck! We can f*cking kill it!” That is totally amazing. But your body doesn’t need to be in fight or flight all the time. Honestly, when I’ve seen my body change the most; my body was changing a lot last year kind of during my wedding, and that’s when I was kind of pulling back on my workouts the most. And I was doing shorter workouts. I was doing less weight than I had in the past. But my workouts were shorter. And the fact that I wasn’t leaving feeling like I was dying and feeling like I got crazy uncomfortable. I left, I was like, “Oh yeah. Yeah. That was a good workout.” That was it. And that’s when my body was changing the most.

Nowadays, when I’m doing Orange Theory and CrossFit workouts and putting myself through the wringer more often, my body has gained some weight back. And I think it’s kind of proof that you put your body in fight or flight all the time, not only does inflammation occur within the body, but it might be holding onto some weight because it’s like, “Hey, I don’t know when you’re going to put me in this fight or flight thing again. I don’t know what the f*ck is going on. I’m going to hold on to some excess weight.” I’m not a scientist here. I’m just speaking from my experience. I’m not a doctor. As you obviously know. But I’m speaking from experience of my body holding onto weight because I was just putting it through shit all the time. Maybe you’re doing that too.

Answering these kind of questions is really hard because I don’t know you. I’ve never met you. I don’t know what your actual lifestyle is. How you eat, what stress your under, how you sleep, what your genetics are like. It’s really hard to say. But I don’t think just because you’re in your 30s you’re f*cked. I just think you need to remember that bodies do change, and the needs change as well.

I had a really hard time when I lowered my weights in my workouts. That was really challenging, because I felt like I wasn’t getting enough of a workout in, but that’s not true. You’re still getting a great workout in no matter what you’re doing, whether you’re doing CrossFit at lower weights or whatever. You’re still getting a great workout in. So don’t stress so much about it. Don’t worry so much about the weights. It’s hard to answer. It’s hard to answer not knowing. But what has been the best for me is not worrying about the scale, not worrying about how my weight is changing. Just getting a good workout in and changing it up on a regular basis. And that’s kind of what has worked for me.

I’m sorry if that doesn’t answer your question. Hopefully it just kind of gave you some insight into what I went through, and maybe that helps you. But yeah, when you feel like you can’t lose weight, the body is probably stressed in some way. And we feel fluffy from either lifting extra heavy, because they body is like, “Ok, you want to lift weight? We’ll add some weight to you.” But everybody’s body is so different. Like Brooke Ence. She is shredded, and she competes in CrossFit. So she obviously does crazy heavy weights all the time. And she’s so shredded. If I was doing that still, my body wouldn’t be that shredded. It didn’t function the same way as hers does. So keep that in mind. Your body is different. Your body changes. And you kind of have to keep figuring out what works for you. Eating healthy. And taking your rest days more than anything. I always recommend rest days for people.

So I hope that answered; oh, hi Jackson. I hope that answered questions. I hope that helped. Thank you guys so much for writing in questions. I hope you guys like these podcasts. I’m guessing you do since you took the time to write one in. But definitely give me your feedback, what you like to hear about. Thank you again, Jamie for inviting my husband on. Maybe someday. But I love hearing what kind of ideas you have. People you’d like to be on. There’s not many people I want to interview. Because I guess I’m a b*tch. But, that’s how it goes. So. Go have a great weekend. Go do cool sh*t. It’s snowing here once again, so I have to head out to an Orange Theory workout. Not pumped about doing that on a Friday evening. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. So go be awesome. Go do big things. Go kick ass this weekend. And I will see you guys next week for another episode of PaleOMG Uncensored. And don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast. If you want to leave a 5-star review, that would be fabulous. I have not checked reviews in a long time, because I’m sure there are many negative ones about how I suck as a person. So I try to stay off of that. But, it’s always helpful to my business if you support it. Support other people, guys, don’t call them sluts. I’ll talk to you soon. Be awesome. Kick ass. See you next time guys. Bye-bye!

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16 Comments

  1. Karin says:

    Freaking love you. Haven’t listened to this episode yet but the fact that it’s almost 2hrs long makes me want to dance a little bit (I sometimes find myself dancing (well, moving my shoulders back and forth with the beat) when the intro music starts. Love it).

    I just really want to thank you for saying that you drink “a shit ton of water” several times in different episodes because those exact words are now always in the back of my head. Haha. SO, I now drink a shit ton of water myself and it really does make you feel that much better! I see a huge difference in how I’m feeling if I drink more water. Kinda sorta starting to see some abs coming out for the first time EVER and I believe drinking more water has at least something to do with it.

    Did you know that you have at least one huge fan in Sweden? lol now ya do!

    1. juli says:

      i wish more people understood the importance of water. so many people start drinking water a ton of water and stop because they feel bloated but people don’t understand that the bloating stops after a bit and a healthy body appears afterwards! good work feeding your body what it wants and needs!

    1. juli says:

      awesome! thank you!

  2. Kira Freemann says:

    Thanks for answering my question on this podcasts! Sorry about the park question, I kind of knew that was unfair before I even asked it haha. No way would I want thousands of people knowing which parks I go to on a daily basis. My pup just gets so hot in the summer and I haven’t found a section of the Cherry Creek trail that looks as fun as wherever you go with Jackson. I’ll keep searching or stick with my usual Wash Park 😉
    On a different note, I had to tell you, did you see that Kaitlyn Bristowe is doing a podcast now?! It’s called Off the Vine and airs first on the 30th of this month I think. I thought you might enjoy it because I know you love her snaps as much as I do.

    1. juli says:

      hahaha you can TOTALLY email me and i’ll let you know exactly where i take him! and OMG YAAAAAS I cannot wait to listen to her!!!! thanks for telling me!

  3. Real Food with Dana says:

    Freaking loved this one. So if you’re feeling totally exhausted and BLEH coming off birth control, try taking a good quality B vitamin (or like the liver complex from vital proteins) – the pill can really deplete your B’s which help a ton with energy! Also, there’s no freaking way I would say all the parks I go to with my pup. Even I think there are creepy ass people out there and I can’t deal with those murder podcasts, they freak me out too much ha!

    1. juli says:

      good to know, thanks Dana!

  4. Betsy says:

    Whomp whomp, iTunes is saying the ep is unavailable. Whyyyyy?

    1. juli says:

      iTunes just does that sometimes, it’s not the actual episode. if that ever happens to me, i just shut down the app and it usually works once i open it back up.

  5. Rose says:

    Hi Juli! I can’t believe you are going to St. Martin in August! I am going this week and was just thinking “I wish I knew all the cool places to go like when Juli does her travel posts!”

    Have you been there before? I haven’t but we are going with friends that have, so that helps! I am pretty excited for all the yummy food, I hear they have a lot of GF options.

    Love the podcast!

    1. juli says:

      i’ve never been! my friend said she had the easiest time eating paleo and gluten free out there last year!

  6. dotsie924 says:

    Some unsolicited advice – no husband, but more Jackson 😀

    Love your views on CF and OT (oh, and the Whole30 ) – and – now I have something to listen to! Podcasts have been around for age and I’ve tried listening, but nope. HOWEVER, I listened to the entire 1:48 podcast! #winning I’ll probably binge listen over the weekend.

  7. Emilyanne says:

    Juli! 😉 Thank you SO much for answering my question! Your answer was perfect, and I appreciate your insight.

  8. Rachel says:

    I LOVE these listener question episodes SO much! So helpful and informative! Thank you for being awesomeeee.

    1. juli says:

      awesome!! so glad you like them!!