Exercise & Over-Exercising – Episode 3: PaleOMG Uncensored Podcast

I always believed calories in-calories out when it came to weight loss and weight management. But after competing in CrossFit, limiting my caloric intake, and working out multiple times per day – I finally figured out that was not the case. My body was inflamed and yearning for more carbohydrates and less exercise. But I was too addicted to exercise to see the full picture. My workouts began to suffer and my body continued to progress into a constant state of stress. There was no recovery in my life and my body began to show it.

It wasn’t until I gave up competing, gave in to more rest days and started feeding my body properly that I began to see results. I slept longer at night, I slowly began to lose weight and the inflammation in my body reduced, I listened to what exactly my body was craving and ate those things, and I became a much MUCH happier person.

I had no balance in my life for so many years. I would either completely limit my food intake or eat everything in sight. I would not workout at all or workout multiple times per day. I would completely hate everything about myself and constantly talk down to myself instead of putting good energy out into the world. It was a really negative times, that lasted for about 24 years.

I’m saying all this because I see so many other people go through it as well. Thinking they need to starve themselves or just workout more instead of looking at the big picture: workout regularly, take rest days, eat well, stress less, sleep more, and be kind to yourself. It’s amazing how much your body will thank you when you follow those few things.

If you guys have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. And if you have any recommendations for podcast topics, feel free to leave them in the comment section below or reach out to me on social media. I put this podcast together for you guys so I’m here to share whatever you want to hear about! Next week, I’ll be covering paleo on a budget!

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Episode 3 Links:

• Find out more about Crossfit here
• My Ever Changing Viewpoint on Paleo and CrossFit
• My Weight Loss Journey Over the Last 3 Years
• Before and After Photos
• Gluten Free Canyon Bakehouse Bread

Listen to episodes 1 and 2 here!

Episode 3 Transcription:

Juli Bauer: Hello! Hello everyone out there. Welcome to the PaleOMG Uncensored podcast. I feel as though I need to start introducing myself, since I haven’t done that in the past two. I’m just really getting my shoes on; getting going. Whatever the hell that means.

Last week, I had a bunch of you, thankfully, let me know that I suck and I need to suck less by writing down kind of an overview of what my topic is going to be so I don’t get lost. Because I tend to do that. But I will get lost, even though I have an awesome overview planned out; I’m just letting you know ahead of time.

Anywho. Today we are going to be talking about exercise and over-exercise. Ooh, what a fun topic. I have done both in my life, so I want to kind of tell my story about that. I always thought calories in, calories out. So if I was eating a certain amount of calories, the more I worked out, the more weight I would lose, or the more muscle definition I would see. I always had this kind of belief in that. But we’ll get into that in a little bit.

I want to talk about kind of my history with exercise. If you’ve seen my Instagram or my blog, every Monday I post what I did, when my rest days were. I also share once in a while what I ate in a day, and I give you free travel workouts and on-sale fitness apparel and new workout music, and sometimes I kind of just talk about motivational stuff; what’s kept me motivated and excited about exercise in the end. So, I’m just going to talk all about that. You can always find more details on www.paleomg.com every Monday if you want to know details about more exercise.

But first, let’s talk a little bit about history. Let’s go back in the books, guys. Of Juli Bauer; now Juli Bauer-Roth, to the history of her life. Because I can tell you one thing; I was not always into exercise. And I definitely am at this point, but it was a taught skill, that’s for sure. So really, my first interest, I was always outdoors and doing things outdoors, but my really first interest in any sort of exercise was swim team. We had a pool at one point; my parents and I, we lived in an apartment when we were between houses, and my mom said I tried to jump in the pool and almost drown, so she put me in swim lessons. Quickly fell in love with this pool when we moved to a new house; this neighborhood pool, so I joined on the swim team there. I didn’t have any exercise prior to that, I didn’t do really any sports, so swim team at 9 years old was my first regular practice exercise on a daily basis. I was hooked to it, I loved it, and I was pretty good for a little kid. Nothing to write home about.

After swim team; once I got kind of to my teenage years, and I was swimming in high school swim team as well as summer swim team, I kind of dabbled in the gym, because they would tell us to go lift weights. At that point I didn’t know what that meant. So I would just do regular machines, like the biceps curl machine; anything that was in there. And I would just mess around. I did lots of Stairmaster, kind of elliptical. But it was more so to just kind of dick around with my friends at that point in high school.

And then I got mono at some point in the middle of high school, like really bad. I was out; I think it was mono. It was some kind of illness. But I was out of school for a month, and that was during swim team. And I kind of just lost a lot of energy from that, and I never could come back to swim team fully after that. I would do swim team a little bit in the summers, but I just never really could commit, because I just lost the endurance that I had built up over the years. And it kind of sucked to get it back, so I gave up on it.

I dabbled on and off with exercise for a long time. I felt really uncomfortable going to a regular gym, and like going to the rec center at college, I really felt uncomfortable. I remember walking in there and feeling so overwhelmed, because it was a busy time, like 5 p.m. or something. All these people who looked in such good shape, and I felt so out of shape, and felt really lost in the gym so I would just walk back out. I was so humiliated that I had just walked out, and walked out. It was just a really intimidating thing for me.

So since I felt intimidated in the gym, I decided to train for a half marathon. It just gave me a goal that I could do outside instead of going to workout in the gym. And if you live in Colorado, you know that we have a ton of sunny days, so even when it snows, you’re able to run pretty quickly, especially if you’re dedicated, you’re able to run outside pretty quickly just because the sun is shining. So I trained for a half marathon, and did my first half marathon, and my only one, because I was like, well I never want to do this again. But it gave me a goal, and I started to see my body change. The shape of my legs changed a little bit, I felt that I had more calves. My arm definition changed a little bit. Because while I was doing this half marathon, since I didn’t want to go to the gym, in my apartment at the time I would; oh my gosh. You guys, my dog loves the gym, because he always comes to my Crossfit gym, and he just stopped in his tracks when I said gym! Oh, he’s going to start whining.

Anywho. Ok, so since I didn’t want to go to the gym and I was just running; in my apartment before I would go running, I started doing pushups, and sit-ups, and air squats, and then I got a couple of bands, those exercise bands you can get just at Target, and I started doing biceps curls, and triceps, and looking up all these different movements I could do. So I started seeing some muscle definition. I was like; ok, this exercise is actually making sense. It’s happening.

So I did my first half marathon, and then I didn’t really have a goal after that. So it was on and off with exercise, just really not interested in anything until I found Crossfit. And I kind of talked about that in the first episode. So when I found Crossfit, I started doing it on my own and teaching myself all the movements, and really fighting through form, and fighting through building up strength. So I started doing competitions, and when I decided I wanted to do competitions, I created a strength training, I don’t know, thing for myself. So I started doing two-a-days three times a week, and I was doing Crossfit 6 to 7 times a week. So I was doing a good amount, and then strength training on top of it. And during that, I made it to my first regionals, and that was in 2011. And I believe that; I think I made it, I don’t know, 13th, 11th? Something like that. And I was so happy, I couldn’t believe I made it to regionals, the Crossfit regionals, I was so pumped about that.

And then after that, I began working at multiple Crossfit gyms, so I was working out all the time, just because I would have time between classes and other coaches would be there, and they’d be like; do you want to work out? So I would work out. And then I’d go to the next gym, and the same thing would happen; do you want to work out? Yeah. And then a bunch of people would meet up; we’d meet up in these big groups and just do little, not competitions, but workout with each other and compete against each other.

So I was working out sometimes three times a day, I was working out all the time. And then I went to regionals the second time in 2012, and I think I finished 8th that time around. So I had a ton of endurance; I was really able to hold on pretty well. My strength was nothing to write home about, but it was decent. Just compared to other women, so many women in the Crossfit games are so incredibly strong and I wasn’t the strongest. But between that 2011 and 2012, I put on about 30 pounds and totally was muscle. To be able to lift on a regular basis and be squatting extremely heavy weight, you’re obviously going to put on muscle, you’re body is going to change. So I gained about 30 pounds, but I looked at myself in the mirror and I literally did not recognize myself, and I was very uncomfortable at that. I kept trying to tell myself, “you want to make it to the Crossfit games, you have to put in this energy and your body is going to change and you’re not always going to be content with it.”

I just was not happy with it. I didn’t recognize myself, and I wanted to recognize myself. And I just couldn’t wrap my head around that I was eating healthy, I honestly wasn’t eating enough when I look back, because I was like, well I’m gaining weight because I’m eating too many carbs, so I limited my carbs. I would up my fat, and be like; I only need fat, and I’m working out so much there’s no reason that I’m gaining weight. When I look back at it now, it’s because I was so inflamed. My body was never able to recover, that I was in a constant state of inflammation, and my body was, not bloated, but bloated in the way that it was just very unhappy. And it was very unhealthy. I didn’t understand that, because I thought; “If I’m only eating this certain amount of calories, and I’m working out 3 to 4 times a day, this makes no sense why I feel this way.” Yeah, I was just kind of an idiot.

So, at one point, I was so unhappy, and I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself, so I said, “I’m done with this.” I’m not competing anymore. I injured myself in a competition, I injured my shoulder. So that kind of made me step back and reevaluate what I wanted. I just was like; ok, competition is not for me. I don’t want to injure myself again. I want this to be a lifelong lifestyle. I wanted to live a really healthy, long-term lifestyle and not be going through surgeries because I was trying to snatch a certain way. I want to do Crossfit forever, and me competing and injuring myself wasn’t going to get me to do Crossfit forever.

So I gave up crossfitting; I’m sorry. {laughs} I did not give up crossfitting. I gave up competing, and I started to rest more. I was like, you know, I’m just going to rest whenever I feel like. And before, I was working out 6 to 7 days a week and my rest days were active rest days, so that means I would go for like a 4 mile jog. Eww, no. that’s not giving your body rest. Whatever works for you; I’m not saying any of what I do works for other people. But, I was not letting my body recover whatsoever.

So I started adding in more rest days, and I felt so good. I just felt more energized, I felt happier, and I started decrease my weights. And I get this question a lot, so I just want to kind of hammer this home. I started decreasing my weights; and there’s no rhyme or rhythm or whatever about what weight I chose. But let’s say we did a 95-pound thruster, I pushed it back to 85 pounds, and then slowly moved it back to 75 pounds. And before I knew it, I was getting weaker. And I really just tried to do a weight that I knew I could hold perfect form in. that my knees weren’t coming in, I wasn’t leaning forward, or leaning back, or whatever else. I wasn’t rounding my back, anything. I made sure I kept perfect form. So I continually started to drop my weights down, and got weaker and weaker, so I had to drop my weights down even more. But more than anything, I just concentrated on movements.

I think with Crossfit, people are always like, “Oh I know this person who got injured, or this person had to have surgery because of Crossfit.” No, they had to have surgery because they’re a f*cking idiot. Why did I injure my shoulder? Because I was an idiot. I was like, ok I’m going to try this weight. Even though I was uncomfortable with it. We all have something in our brain; ok I shouldn’t say that. Most of us have something in our brain that says, “You know, this doesn’t feel quite right.” Even if we can’t pinpoint why. And I was an idiot and went for the weight because I wanted to get the most weight at that competition. I did not, just FYI. And I injured my shoulder from there. It’s totally healed; well, it’s not totally healed, but I haven’t had to have surgery or anything like that, knock on wood.

So I just limited my weights, I didn’t change any reps or anything like that, I just cut numbers back. I did a little running stent for a while, did some spin classes, and then I was like; ok, this is so boring. I hate running, I hate spinning, that’s just not for me. So I went back to Crossfit. And I was doing Crossfit still at the same time, I was just adding in some running at the same time, and still wasn’t seeing the results that I wanted, necessarily. But I also wasn’t thinking about it.

So when I decided to quit competing, I also did this; I said, “f*ck it.” I’m going to eat whatever I want, I’m going to workout when I want, I’m going to rest when I want, I’m going to be happy. That’s it, at the end of the day. I’m going to make myself happy. So whenever people are like, “what did you do?” I’m like, “I said f*ck it.” So I stopped worrying about looking at myself in the mirror, I stopped obsessing over the cellulite on my legs or whatever f*cking bullsh*t women obsess about. I stopped obsessing about that. And over the next 3 years of decreasing my weights and not f*cking stressing out about every single detail about myself, and taking more rest days, so instead of working out 6-plus days a week with multiple workouts I was doing one Crossfit workout a day, and I was working out 5 days a week and taking two rest days. And I started, my body started completely changing. And this took about 3 years of my body changing and looking less inflamed. And when I look back at photos, and I’ll link one of the blog posts. You can see that my face just looks inflamed; it looks like, I don’t know, like I’ve been drinking a lot and eating a lot. And I wasn’t at that point, that’s the inflammation that had built up in my body.

So when I started eating what I wanted; I want to preface that. I don’t eat gluten, and that being said, if I go to a wedding, I always eat the wedding cake, gluten or not. But I always eat gluten free because gluten f*cks up my stomach. I’m not celiac; I’m not dead sick when I eat gluten, but my stomach is terrible, and I’m sick for a good amount of time. So I stay away from gluten most of the time; 99.9% of the time. But I added in rice. So I hadn’t eaten rice in probably 3 years, unless I had gone to maybe sushi or something. But I had stayed away from rice pretty much altogether. I stayed away from white potatoes, and I stayed away from gluten free bread. And I’ll link my favorite gluten free bread in here, because I really like this brand and it does well with my stomach.

But, I started adding those things in. I started adding in rice, and potatoes, and having gluten free bread when I wanted it. And my body was thanking me; it needed more carbohydrates. And I figured out that white potatoes settled in my stomach a little bit better than sweet potatoes, so I kind of played a balancing act with that. But my body was yearning for more carbs, and I was cutting it back because I was always taught that you don’t need carbs; a carb-free diet is the way to go. And for some people that works well, but it obviously wasn’t working well for me. So adding in those carbohydrates, not stressing about my body; lifting less, and working out less was really what changed my body. People don’t understand that; they think you need to work out a crazy amount of time.

With Crossfit, you’re giving it all you have. We’re lifting and we’re giving an all out sprint for say 10 minutes. Giving everything you have, it’s going to be different to the body than a long hour run. So I needed those carbohydrates; I needed to listen to my body. And that’s it at the end of the day. And when I finally did, I was really able to understand what it needed, and it didn’t need as much exercise as I thought, and it needed more food than I thought. It’s pretty amazing, because people always think the opposite. And whenever I tell them this, they’re always like, “Oh, my body is not like that.” I’m like, well maybe it is. Maybe you just haven’t listened. Because I thought that same exact thing just about 4 years ago, so it’s not that long ago.

So, more than anything, I really think the exercise as well as food, but we’re talking about exercise today, is really about finding balance. You have to find a workout that works for you, and you have to find a schedule that works for you. And you need to give your body rest. Stop obsessing about all the details, stop obsessing about this dimple, or this ripple, or whatever the f*ck it is. You have to stop obsessing because you obsessing creates stress, which f*cks up your cortisol, which leads to weight gain! And I don’t know all the science, but I know that’s true, and I know that was happening with me. Hi, Jackson doggie! You’re the best.

In regards to exercise, this is kind of past that note; if you’re a person who hates exercise; please understand that I did too. I hated exercise. Doing my first 5 burpees, I said, “F*ck this, I’m never doing it again.” And now, I’ve done, I think 150-plus burpees in a row without stopping. You can teach yourself to like something. That’s just true at the end of the day. I’ve taught myself how to cook, I’ve taught myself to enjoy cooking. I didn’t like doing that at the beginning. I didn’t like exercise, and I’ve taught myself to enjoy exercise. Do I want to exercise every day? No, and I don’t exercise every day. But, I know that it’s something I should be doing. I don’t want to f*cking brush my teeth every night. I don’t want to floss my teeth every night. And I do both of those things, because I know they are good for my health, and nice teeth are better to look at than ugly teeth; right? Right? So I brush my teeth every night, I floss my teeth every night, because I need to do that. Exercise is the same thing. It is good for your health, it something you should be doing. It’s going to increase your longevity in this world.

Think about all the people who don’t exercise out there. Our world is mostly full of people who don’t exercise. Be a step above that. Prove that your body is worth it and you can take control of it. I think that’s so important, and what Crossfit has given me is control over my own life, and over my own destiny, and I’m able to see all these changes. And no, did I see changes right away when I started Crossfit? No. did I see changes when I started my marathon? No, not exactly. You see small changes over time, and these changes keep building. So before, I was like; ok, I’m never going to have tone legs. That’s just not how my body is. And my legs have changed, and they’ve morphed, and they’ve toned up. And when I stopped obsessing about exactly how I wanted them to look, they took on a whole new look of their own without me even really trying. I mean, trying is working in the gym, but without obsessing.

I just wish I could go back to my younger self, and just say; keep working hard, and stop f*cking obsessing. Because I grew up so unhappy, so sad that I was never a certain way or I didn’t look like a certain person; you know, just all the bullsh*t out there. And I still see women do that all the time, and compare themselves, and there’s no point. Why not just try to be the best version of you, and continue to be the best version of you over time? I think that’s what’s so empowering about food and fitness. You can create the best version of you by simply eating healthier and exercising on a regular basis. You sure will have bumps in the road, whether that’s illness or; and I won’t say pregnancy is a bump in the road, but you know that changes our body. But things come up, stressors in our lives, and if we’re able to just continue combating that stress with food and with exercise, we feel so much more in control of our own lives. And I’m speaking that from experience and from really feeling so much better because I was able to understand that my body will continue to change and get better and get stronger and get more physically able.

Being able to haul your super heavy suitcase above your head in an airplane and not to have a male figure get it down for you is pretty f*cking empowering. I remember getting my suitcase above; and it was a heavy one because I was on book tour. Getting it above, and a guy was like, you must Crossfit. That’s so f*cking cool! Somebody thinks that right away; and I’m like, I could just get so distracted by that. But taking control of your own life and being able to live longer and live independently and feel so good in your skin is so f*cking empowering, and I wish I could go to every younger woman, or older woman. I still see many older women going through insecurities and I wish I could just shake them, and say; ok, let’s get in the gym, let’s get rid of this insecurity, because you can only go up from here. You can only improve from here; that’s what’s so cool about exercise. It can only get better; you can only get better, you just have to stick with it. Not for f*cking 30 days, not for a year; forever, you have to stick with it. Because you’ve got to brush your teeth forever. It’s not like you can just give that up. It’s not like; well that kind of changes. But always think of parents; you have to clean your child’s diaper. It’s not something you want to f*cking do, but you have to do it. You have to pick them up from school; not something you always want to do, but you do it. Those things in life we should just be doing, and exercise is one of those.

So I press this exercise is so important, but taking care of your body is really important too. So don’t forget that you deserve rest days; don’t forget that maybe active rest days, if you’re a person who works out all the time, maybe active rest days aren’t the best bet. Maybe you need a full rest day. Like, f*cking brunch with your friends; I don’t know, a mimosa. If you’re not into a mimosa, a soda water with lime. I don’t know; the world is your oyster! And that’s what I think about that, guys.

If you have any questions about getting started with exercise, or maybe you’ve been exercising too much. I’m sure there’s a broad spectrum of people out there who maybe listen to this podcast. If you have any sort of questions, feel free to leave them on my blog, on www.PaleOMG.com. I always upload this podcast to my blog, so you can leave questions there, and that’s where I answer quickest. I don’t always answer back to emails, because I f*cking hate emails! Does anybody like emails? I don’t feel like anybody likes emails.

That’s all I got, guys. And the doggie wants to go for a walk, so I better get out of here. But I love you guys; you guys are so awesome. I can’t believe you’re listening to my podcast. Someone showed me that my podcast made number 64 out of the top 100 on the top charts podcast last week; that’s so crazy! I can’t believe you guys listen to my bulls*t! That’s f*cking awesome. I wish I could kiss you all on the lips. Just kiss you! I hope you guys have a wonderful day. Hope to hear from you on the blog; I’ll be leaving those links. I’ve got a whiney dog ahead of me. I’ll talk to you guys soon. Can’t wait to talk to you next week. Bye-bye!