Manders Mindset

95: Feel Good, Look Good: A Bodybuilder’s Journey to Health, Healing, & Lasting Wellness with Shannon Selge

• Amanda Russo • Episode 95

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In this episode, functional nutritionist and women’s health expert Shannon Selge shares insights on achieving true wellness. With a background in competitive bodybuilding and personal health challenges, Shannon emphasizes the importance of balancing fitness goals with sustainable health practices. Key topics include mastering foundational habits, knowing when to track macros, and the power of staying connected to your “why” for lasting results.

In This Episode, Learn About:
- Prioritizing the basics: sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress management 
- The concept of “test, don’t guess” in understanding personal health 
- Strategies for achieving and maintaining results without burnout 
- When to track macros—and when to step back for mental health 
- Why feeling good matters as much as looking good 
- Staying flexible and evolving in your health journey 

Episode Highlights 

[2:15] - Shannon’s path in wellness and holistic health philosophy 
[11:40] - Why getting the basics right is essential before advanced steps 
[20:45] - The impact of functional lab testing on personal health insights 
[29:30] - Balancing tracking macros with a relaxed approach 
[38:15] - Feeling good vs. looking good: finding the right focus 
[47:45] - The importance of connecting to your “why” to avoid burnout 
[54:25] - Embracing changes in your health journey over time

You can watch this episode HERE!

To Connect with Amanda:

 To Connect with Shannon & her Links & Resources : 

Enjoying the show? Remember to rate, follow, and share the podcast for more episodes on sustainable wellness and mindset shifts.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers and a variety of other people where your host, amanda Russo, will discuss her own mindset and perspective and her guest's mindset and perspective on the world around us. Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life.

Speaker 2:

Hey guys, manders here, and before we jump into today's episode, I wanted to mention the last few episodes episodes 91 through 94, where we really dug into the theme of forgiveness. I got to sit down with three incredible women, including Jill in the last episode, and each one brought their own unique perspective on what forgiveness really means. We talked about everything from forgiving others to forgiving ourselves and how that process can open up space for growth, healing and transformation. So if you missed those, I highly recommend going back and checking them out. They really set the stage perfectly for today's conversation with Shannon and, without further ado, let's get into episode 95. I think you're going to find this one ties everything together in a perfect way and allows us to forgive ourselves. Now let's get into the episode.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Mander's Mindset, where we explore the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life. I'm your host, amir Nibuso, and I am here today with an awesome guest. I am here today with Shannon Selge, and she is a functional nutritionist and a certified women's health coach and personal trainer. She's been in the health industry for over a decade. She has worked with thousands of women to speed up their metabolisms, balance their hormones and work on their gut health. She competed in a bodybuilding competition and we are going to delve into that and everything that happened leading up to that and post that for her, and I am here with Shannon today. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm happy to be here, shannon, today. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm happy to be here. So can you tell us who Shannon is at the core? That's a great bio, but who would you say Shannon is at the core?

Speaker 3:

Gosh, that's a great question. You know, everybody always asks for, like your bio, what you've done, but it's like who are? You, you know what I mean. I'm a mom, I've got a one-year-old and I'm like an absolute just lover for women's health and wellness. And, yes, I own a company, a functional wellness company. But like at my core, I think I'm just like a leader, a helper, just like a giver and an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2:

Can you take us down memory lane a little bit and tell us about your foundation, upbringing, childhood, family dynamic, however deep you want to go with that.

Speaker 3:

So actually I don't think you know this. This is interesting I'm a triplet right.

Speaker 3:

I didn't know that. So I'm a triplet, right, I didn't know that. So I'm a triplet and growing up with three girls. It's a lot of estrogen. But I grew up in Los Angeles and I grew up with an amazing family really. But you know definitely an interesting dynamic with two other people you're essentially like I hate to say competing with, but it was like kind of always felt like that a little bit growing up and I grew up pretty young age always being like this very high, achieving type A kind of woman which we'll talk about autoimmune disease later, is very tightly linked. I was always like top of my class student council and then I became a professional dancer at 13. And it was always kind of driving to be the best I could be and that's. I don't know how deep you want me to go, but that's a little bit of my like.

Speaker 2:

I mean, hey, did you have any other siblings, or was it just you and the sisters?

Speaker 3:

It was just us and everyone's like. Oh yeah, I would definitely want to stop there, but my mom wanted another. She wanted another one. Uh, I remember her asking us when we were I can't remember like six or eight years old, and she was like, oh, you want like another brother or sister? And we all started bawling. I remember it's so crystal clear because I was like, why would you want to take attention from us? Are we not enough for you? Like, yeah, it was so, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

No, okay, your assistant didn't want that either no, I don't remember how dramatic they were, I just remember being very dramatic about it. I think they were upset too, but I don't remember if all of us were crying, just me. I just remember like feeling very like hurt by it, even though obviously like it wasn't you know me thing. So, yeah, just us and it's, you know, we're really close now. It's been really fun. Actually, my triplet sister gave birth to her kid six months behind me, which has been a lot of fun, and my other sister is best in her best life. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:

Nice, okay. So you became a professional dancer at 13.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, I had a great career. You know I was well, it ties into my autoimmune disease, which is really interesting. But I always remembered being like in a lot of like pain, like joint pain, and being in and out of physical therapy, chiropractic for so long. And everyone's like you're just young and I mean I was I was dancing 30 hours a week. I think I was just like crazy at such a young age. And now I realize like a lot of that too was just like some underlying stress and autoimmune stuff that had been boiling under the surface. But I just pushed through it like any athlete does, you know, just kind of rub some dirt in it and carry on. I mean I literally dance full time through a tear in my back. If that gives you an idea of like that was before college, and yeah, so it was.

Speaker 3:

I did it for a short period of time and then I was pulled out of it because my parents had wanted me to be a kid, which I understand. Then I went to college and wasn't going to do stuff with dance. I ended up getting a dance scholarship. I double majored in actually science and dance and then after college I actually joined a professional touring company for one year and my autoimmune stuff started getting really bad at that point. One year and my autoimmune stuff started getting really bad at that point and so I was going to go to med school and then decided med school. I wanted to be more on like the reactive instead of pro, or the proactive, not the reactive side of medicine. So I actually got into personal training of bodies and that led down my functional health trade so how old were you when you stopped dancing approximately?

Speaker 3:

23, about 23, 24, actually 24. So, and it was a hard stop and I never went. My body was done, it was just yeah, it was pretty bad. My last season I was in a. I was in a car accident right when I started with this company and that's when things started getting worse with my health and I just ignored it. And, yes, it was a good lesson and I'm glad I did it. But I wasn't meant to dance, it was a fun thing. I always wanted to be on a national touring company. I did it. I checked it off my list. We're good.

Speaker 2:

Okay, now you say, things started getting worse with you.

Speaker 3:

How? So? Yeah, I just started noticing more joint pain, more back pain. I was waking up with spasms in my back in the night. My hormones started getting really bad. I didn't have periods for years. Actually. My hair was really thin, my gut was really off, my sleep was off. I just noticed like my body wasn't, like I was really tired all the time. It's like relying on multiple shots of caffeine a day and yeah, you know, you're just when you're used to that like I had lived like that for so long. I didn't realize how bad it was getting until fast forward many years. I look back and I'm like, oh my god, like I thought that was so normal to feel like that for so long. I didn't realize how bad it was getting until fast forward many years. I look back and I'm like, oh my god, like I thought that was so normal to feel like that. And now I realize it's not. That's literally why I do what I do is I'm like it's not normal to feel this way.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, you mentioned.

Speaker 3:

You danced with a tear in your back yeah, yeah, before college I, I, uh, I had a tear in my disc in my back and along with like just a lot of other pain, but the pain didn't show up really on like a lot of imaging, because I was autoimmune stuff tends to not show up really. Yeah, the tear in my disc. I was like, oh, this is not that good. And it was like two and a half weeks before I left for college where I had a scholarship for dance and I was like I'll just work through it and I did so, don't suggest. But I wouldn't say anything now still, because I know that I excelled in college and dance and I just took a lot of anti-inflammatories.

Speaker 2:

Okay and now. So you went to college for dance and science. Just took a lot of anti-inflammatories. Okay, and now so you went to college for dance and science. You said and when did you start getting involved in fitness and personal training?

Speaker 3:

College I started getting into fitness. I started really getting into like weight training a little bit, probably a little earlier. You know I think it's so important to. My mom grew up really being in to working out, so like I was always exposed to that, and that's one thing I'm really passionate about too and I work with a lot of moms is like expose your kids to you working out and you eating healthy, but not being over obsessive about it, because I think there's a fine line with especially women, like if we see like a mom dieting all the time or see mom like constantly working out, that creates more negative patterns. But there's, you know, I remember seeing her work out and I would get to the gym and people started asking me like what I was doing because I was in like amazing shape.

Speaker 3:

And then I just got really into fitness in college and then decided I wanted to get my personal training cert. And then I my major was around health and fitness sciences and I knew I wanted to get my personal training cert. And then I my major was around health and fitness sciences and I knew I wanted to train and then I was going to go to med school, decided to back out of that then was going to go to physical therapy school and that's actually. I got Pilates certified so I worked on like apparatuses to work with injured, like athletes and dancers actually. Then I ended up saying I'm not going to physical therapy school, I'm gonna try this personal training thing and Pilates and I, like excelled in that for years and then decided to open up my own company and go more into the functional health stuff later down the road.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, so when did bodybuilding come into play for you in terms of fitness?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I was 27,. I think my now husband and I we did long distance. He was in law school at the time and I was working as a manager in a gym and I had a lot more time, which was great because I was so busy. I was working there and I was like you know what? He was almost in the Marines and I wanted, like you know what? He was almost a in the Marines and I wanted to get in the best shape of my life. I was like, if you're going to go to basic training, I want to get in the best shape of my life too.

Speaker 3:

And I decided like it's something I'd been thinking about for years. It's big on time and it's hard on your body. I was like, let's do it. So I hired a coach and I went all in and you know my first show I won it. I won all five first places first places, you know, actually certified and you know, I just went all out and I think that was 2017 or is it 2018? I'm not those years and it was great until it wasn't.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and so post-show. How did you discover your autoimmune issues? More so, post-show, correct.

Speaker 3:

How did it go? This is dramatic Like it's dramatic Because after my show, about three weeks later, I started rapidly putting on weight. About three weeks later, I started rapidly putting on weight. I think I put on about 15 or 20 pounds in five weeks, maybe six weeks, but more than that. I started not being able to walk. My pain was so horrible in my hips and so flared up I started not being able to get out of bed, started not being able to put bare weight on my legs and it got so bad I was on like three or four or five leaves a day just to walk into work.

Speaker 3:

And I was a manager in a gym at this time. So I was embarrassed, right Like. I was like I have to be lifting weights for these clients, I have to be like helping out. So I started walking with a foam roller to like support my weight so people wouldn't ask questions. And then my client who I loved working with geriatrics to giving them their life back and his dead wife's cane is, he gave it to me. He was like, hey, I see you're struggling. I know you don't want to buy cane, please just use this. That's what I still have to this day. And so I walked around with a cane for months and just my flare-ups got so, so horrible during this time Massive fatigue, massive body aches, massive brain fog.

Speaker 3:

And I went to specialists for two years and nobody would diagnose me, even though I knew what it was, because I had gotten a gene marker tested for this back when I was starting having the joint pain when I was 13. For this back when I was starting having the joint pain when I was 13. So I have ankylosing spondylitis is what I have. So when you don't take care of it, it can fuse your hips, it can fuse your spine, and my cousins had it and were like debilitated from it, like in a wheelchair. So it does run in my family. So that was a pretty a lot of motivation to get my act together and try to understand this from a holistic standpoint, because medications were my only answer and after finally getting diagnosed three years later, that's all the answers they had for me. So I went on them and they helped until they did it what is that exactly?

Speaker 3:

well, you mean ankylosing spondylitis. Yes, yeah, it's an autoimmune disease that primarily attacks your spine and like your sacroiliac joints, which are like in your hips, and so ankylosing is fusion. Spondylitis is like of your spine, so, like in its most progressed form, your spine fuses together so you don't have any mobility in there. It's obviously very painful, so it can affect other joints as well, but that's like what primarily attacks. And so I realized when I was starting to have these pain in my hips and my back, that's kind of what was happening.

Speaker 3:

But you typically sometimes don't get diagnosed unless there's progression of the disease, meaning like fusion, and they just thought, oh, you're active, right, you're super in shape, you're flexible. So people thought I was making things up, people thought I was, yeah, when I would go in with like immense pain, I was told to take an antidepressant, an anti-anxiety medication, go see a therapist. I was like no, something's really wrong, something's pretty bad. But because nothing showed up on the labs, my blood work was great, my MRIs were great and they finally diagnosed me off of a little bit of inflammation in my SI joint, off of one MRI. Years later it's hard because I was eating so healthy and I was taking really good care of myself at least what I thought of. So everything was showing up perfect and I was super healthy on the outside. So people don't take me seriously.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's insane. So they didn't believe it. Was it doctors that told you to take antidepressants? Oh my God.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, this is why, like when I work with clients, I'm such an advocate for them, because if somebody tells me I don't feel right and doctors are taking me seriously, I get it and it's not a hit to the medical profession. Well, I have my own thoughts, but, like, they have their time and place right, they're often there to medicate. They're not there to medicate. They're not there to work on your lifestyle or your gut health or what's going on internally. Right, like when you look at an autoimmune issue, you need to adjust the root cause of why that autoimmune disease is happening in the first place, and typically it's going to come down to nervous system. Right, which I know you're big into. Nervous system work is just vastly huge. Like your body's in fight or flight constantly. It's not going to heal itself. Right, past trauma is a big one, right, that lives in our body. But what we work on a lot is gut work, because when your gut is out of balance, literally everything else is out of balance. You won't be able to absorb your nutrients, your immune system is compromised and mineral balancing, and those are like the biggest things that we see without immune. And so once I addressed that, so I was on biologic drugs which are immunosuppressants, and they did help. They were a godsend to me at the time, because I was so horrible. I would have taken anything to just so. I ended up in the ER one day after just. I literally couldn't put my socks and shoes on, I couldn't get out of bed. I would have taken anything to just so. I ended up in the ER one day after just. I literally couldn't put my socks and shoes on, I couldn't get out of bed. I finally told my husband we got to go. We have to go to the ER, I need help, I need medication. And so we did. And I was fast-tracked to a rheumatologist and I said I've been to three rheumatologists in the last year. I need you to take me seriously. This is what I have, it runs in my family. I need you to diagnose me. She said, okay, like that, and we started medication after like years.

Speaker 3:

It was crazy and I started falling in like the rheumatology office and she's like, well, my God, what's wrong? I was like thank you for just like taking me seriously, like it's all I needed so I can get help. So yeah, so then I started biologics and the help. And then I realized when I started switching off of them to try to get beyond one that was better for pregnancy because I knew down the road I wanted to get pregnant. It was a whole mess. Nothing worked. Insurance is a mess.

Speaker 3:

You add in COVID, you add in COVID vaccines and my body just said F. You and I was like you know what? I need to work on this holistically. I'm done, never went back and I felt the best that I have. So, yeah, it's the true testament to all the internal work that you can do, instead of just feeling like you're tied to medication your whole life which, again, is not a bad thing. Like sometimes people need to be on them and that's okay, but do the internal work too. Right, because I was feeling better but I was still not feeling good on them, you know so?

Speaker 2:

So now, when you say internal work, what are you meaning by internal work?

Speaker 3:

Gut health. I did functional lab testing. I had so much wrong with my gut. I'll never forget my functional doctor at the time. He goes shit. He knew me. He was also my chiropractor. He was like Shannon, I know you want to be the best at everything Congratulations. This is the worst test we've ever seen. And I was like, well, you know, I was trying to be the best and it was just horrific. So I worked on my gut health. I worked on I didn't work on mineral balancing quite as much because I didn't understand that until like what I know now, I could have expedited a lot of that process. But I worked on a lot of food, a lot of nervous system work and tapering down.

Speaker 3:

Workouts was a big one for me. Eating more was a big one for me. Supplements for short term were a big one. But big thing was just getting stress off of my body. You get stress off the body Typically with like our clients who come in with this is eating more, working out less, going through a gut protocol and everything. A lot of it is also just removing stressors in your life like toxic people, toxic work environments, right Things like that.

Speaker 2:

So you said it was three years before you got diagnosed.

Speaker 3:

If you want to talk about longer, it was actually 12 years, but like because at 13, actually 15 years, 15. Yeah, because at 13 is when I started getting tested for this. How it can present sometimes is uveitis, which is inflammation of the eye. At 13 I had a issue with my eye and I started having joint pain and my mom knew it immediately to take me to a rheumatologist because her cousins or her uncles had literally been like on disability with it. So she knew what it was.

Speaker 3:

I was positive for the gene marker for it, which doesn't mean you're going to get it, but it could escalate, right. So but nobody like. And then I would keep going to rheumatologists and there's nothing they can do, right. It's kind of like when things get really bad, then they can medicate you, but they're not going to medicate you if it's not problem, right. And so then when it actually started getting bad, then it was yeah, it was like two years straight of like 30 different specialists, everything under the sun, before I actually got a diagnosis, like a diagnosis, so I could start medication, you know that's just crazy to me because I again it's hard to decipher it, but your mom pretty much knew you had a strong reason to believe that, even genetic reason outside of your symptoms.

Speaker 3:

On top of everything, that, yeah, yeah, but that's the problem with medicine sometimes, is they? You know, with autoimmune disease, sometimes it's 10 years before it shows up on labs before you, but you can still be symptomatic, but it's like it's not until it gets bad enough that they will then medicate you. Right, and I get it right, like if somebody's coming in and they have pain but nothing showing up on labs, like okay, like I get them not wanting to medicate. But it's also like I don't want to be on medications, like it's not a pain medication, like what am I getting out of that? I remember asking one of the doctor. It's like he thought I was just trying to pill push and I was like no, I don't want to be on any of this stuff. I don't want to be on any of it. I'm very natural, but I at this point, natural doesn't work. I need the hearts, like I need stuff that's gonna work. So yeah, it's, and that's what triggered me to be on the. That's when I knew I wasn't going to go to med school and that's when I knew I wasn't going to go, that I was like I want to be on this proactive side of health before things get bad, before people have to go down this medication train or when the medication stops working.

Speaker 3:

I want to heal people's bodies, not mask symptoms and again, they have time and place but, like most people, it's just masking symptoms. Why are you having the symptoms in the first place? And it's like also medication. It's very much like you're treating this with a medication. Then you have a side effect, then you treat that side effect with this medication and then you have maybe another thing you treat with this medication. You're not looking at the body as a whole, right? And so if I go in and I was seeing an OBGYN, I was seeing an endocrinologist, I was seeing my PCP, I was seeing a rheumatologist, I was seeing a pain specialist, so they were all dealing with certain things when it wasn't. It's all connected. It literally is all connected. So that's why nobody you know I was told to just go on birth control, go on anti-anxiety medications, go on biologic drugs and keep taking NSAIDs. That was going to be my life forever, like, until I interrupted that.

Speaker 2:

Now, what was your first step in that interruption?

Speaker 3:

The thing that changed everything for me was functional lab testing, and that's why I'm so passionate about it now is because my chiropractor God bless him. He saw my demise for lack of better words, Like he couldn't fix me. He tried and he it would make things worse and just like my body was just a mess and he's like. He was getting into functional lab testing at the time and he was like you should, you should do the stool testing. I think it'll help. My stomach was like a hot mess express, like I couldn't keep anything in. It was just like chronic stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, distension, heart. Like everything was like fine, I'll get over it, I'll just fix my diet, which it was already like.

Speaker 3:

At this point I started getting like more sensitive to foods and so at one point I was only eating like five or six foods a day, and that's when I was like something's wrong. So I finally did it after he asked for like a year. I didn't want to invest in it. That's the thing I was like. I didn't want to. It was expensive. It's like I just know I'm not going to do it. I'll figure it out myself. I should know how to do this because I'm in the health profession right? Spoiler alert I didn't. And that changed everything. When I realized just how bad it was and when I got on the right kind of protocol I'm talking like six weeks probably 60% of my pain went away. I mean that dramatic. I stopped walking with my cane, my stomach pain got exponentially better and it wasn't even anything dramatic. It was just just like I just needed the right thing for my body and just to just do it. So I did and like that changed everything for me wow 60 better.

Speaker 3:

That's a lot uh-huh, and I mean the other 40 was just I need more time, you know. But you know that's, when I work with clients, like it's an investment, obviously to do testing, to have coaching, but like if I had just done it when I first knew I would have saved years of my life heartache, stress, damage to my body because I have irreversible damage, and also just like the heartache of trying to figure it out myself, like I get wanting to figure it out yourself, like I was there and I was in that profession too, which made me feel like an imposter. But it's like your life gets so much better when you fix this. But it just takes the right kind of approach. You can't just think your way out of it. You can't just like eat clean and expect it to go away, sometimes, like it depends to the extent of what's going on. But, like you know, customized approaches are just key to fixing it right, because I don't want anybody to struggle like I did right, especially so young.

Speaker 3:

You know, like I, if I didn't fix it, I don't know what would have happened to my life. I don't know that I could have gotten pregnant or sustained a pregnancy or been able to keep up with my kid. Like that was a huge motivation for me was I wanted a healthy pregnancy. Your gut microbiome gets passed on to your child, so I wanted to make sure that was good for me and my baby my future baby and that when I gave birth I could actually pick them up and then I could play up and grab with them and sure as hell, that's some badass motivation to get your stuff together.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, no, I bet no. So the functional lab testing what would you say that helped you decide to do after getting the test?

Speaker 3:

done. I just had a lot of infections, I had a lot of overgrowth in my gut, I had a lot of just severe compromised immune system, and so it really just came down to I was doing a lot of like the food work already, so I swapped a few things out. So I was already pretty good with that. I just needed to add in specific supplementation and for me a lot of it was like I wasn't killing the bad pathogens and the bad infections and that was why I kept getting even more sick. It's like that doesn't go away with just eating better.

Speaker 3:

So once I was able to kill that off and also restore the gut lining a little bit more and strengthen my immune system, strengthen the lining of my gut, that's when things got better and it was like I wasn't allergic to all these foods. I just kept becoming more sensitive and sensitive to it because that immune system response was so heightened and my gut lining was so damaged. So what I thought was good was taking like an Everly Well like food sensitivity test. It was a complete waste of money years ago because I thought it was a food sensitivity issue. It was not. It was a gut issue, it was an infection issue.

Speaker 2:

It was a lining issue, it was a stress issue, so yeah, Okay, now how would you know the difference, whether it was a gut issue or it was like a food sensitivity issue?

Speaker 3:

Probably 90, maybe even 95% is not a food sensitivity issue. You know it's when your gut is compromised and when your immune system is compromised you start becoming very reactive to certain things. So like I'll use dairy as a big one because everyone wants to cut out dairy and gluten although I'm not a fan of gluten, but it's like dairy. Most people don't become necessarily more sensitive over the years. It's that the stress, the damage from environmental factors, from food, things like that start damaging the gut lining. You become more sensitive to foods. So then once we go through a gut protocol, they're able to introduce dairy with no issue again. So it wasn't their issue, right? So you know, and at some point too, if you do a food sensitivity test, it's just going to show probably everything you just ate in the last two weeks, like at least half of that's going to show up. And then you're going to start fearing food and you're going to start fearing that all these are the issue or they're not. Like you keep cutting out foods. You might feel a little better initially, but then nothing really changes and then you want to introduce those foods again.

Speaker 3:

You know, I know for me, when I did that, I just cut out everything. I was reactive to everything. I wasn't, it was just my body. It's just a way of just rejecting everything. So what I say is people, if they're still reactive to foods down the line, if you go through a gut healing protocol, if you work on stress management, if you work on reducing just overall toxic load on your body, and then we're still having some issues like we might want to explore food sensitivity, it's like there could be absolutely some stuff that's going on. But do you need to invest in that, especially right off the bat?

Speaker 2:

No, Definitely not Okay. No, I gotcha Now. When would you think somebody should invest in functional lab testing?

Speaker 3:

you know that's a great question because it really just depends the sooner you test and don't guess, the quicker you can get results. So do I think everybody needs to invest in it. I'll'll tell you if you aren't doing the basics, like if you're not already eating decently clean, if you're not moving your body, if you're not drinking water, work on that. If you're not sleeping, work on that stuff first. Because literally, if we're going to invest hundreds of dollars in functional lab testing, it's always going to come down to probably the basics are always going to be we need to eat better, we need to sleep, we need to reduce stress on the body, you know we need to move Minimum right and so, like, do those basics first.

Speaker 3:

Then if we're still having symptoms, then yes, I believe in lab testing. It's just like I love. I never want anybody to waste money, so I think you have to be mentally in a good place and your body in a good place before really doing that. But honestly, it's a game changer if you're doing all of the basic work and you're like my hormones are so messed, my stomach's still bloated, I'm still having pain, my brain is kind of foggy, losing hair Test, don't guess, because you're going to just expedite your process tenfold when we actually have a clear plan of what's going on internally, instead of just trying to like chase symptoms.

Speaker 2:

You know yeah, no, that makes sense. I like what you said test don't guess. No, it makes a lot of sense, kind of like like better safe than sorry, just assuming that you don't have something clients.

Speaker 3:

I'll give an example. One of my favorite examples is I had a client I'd worked with very closely for years. So like I knew her lifestyle and our doctor kept increasing her SSRIs and I was like she's like, yeah, I just keep feeling more anxious and I don't know why. I was like, okay, nothing changed, like her diet was on point, her nutrition, like she was doing everything right. And I was like this, something's not right.

Speaker 3:

So I asked her to get labs. Showed a lot of inflammation. I was like, listen, we need to explore what's going on in the gut. She didn't have any traditional gut stuff like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartbreak, nothing. And I was like, just trust me, came back rampant levels of what's called candida and yeast overgrowth and a lot of just bacterial imbalances. And it was just so interesting because gut issues don't always present. Sometimes, like 90% of your serotonin is created in your gut, so when your gut's off, it's going to sometimes show up as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, things like that. A big one. We see a lot is also rashes, like skin rashes.

Speaker 3:

So eight weeks later, 90% off of her SSRIs, she was able to taper down. I didn't do that, her doctor did, but she didn't need them. She was on a super low dose just because she was getting married and she wanted a little bit of help. She's like they just kept increasing and I didn't even know what to do. And now I'm like that is the power of healing, and so sometimes it's not as obvious. So most clients that come into us come in for weight loss in some regard and then they realize everything else in their life gets better. It's like they come in thinking, oh, I'm just going to learn how to eat right and work out, and they do. But then their cycles get better. They don't have PMS anymore, their skin clears up, their bloating gets better and the brain fog gets better, their anxiety gets better and it's like, wait, I didn't even realize that was a problem and I realized how good I could feel because I'm just so used to feeling bad. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Wow, yeah, that's amazing. I love that. Okay, so a lot of them come to you for weight loss.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know we take an interesting approach, because you know I am a women's health and fitness company. We do focus on weight loss. It's not the only thing we work on, though, because I wanted to be the change in the industry where it wasn't just like you come in and I try to make you lose as much weight as possible. I've seen too many programs, too many bad trainers and they just you rack your hormones and your gut health in the process and so you can't. You know we do teach things like macros and things like workouts, and I think those are great basics, but what happens after that? You don't want to track macros the rest of your life and what happens when going a little bit off.

Speaker 3:

So I wanted to address a little bit more holistically what was going on. So I'd probably say 80%, maybe 75% of our clients come in with weight loss. Not everybody does. Some people want to gain weight, Some people just want to be healthier, but the clients that do come in with weight loss we stress the importance of like. This is more than just your nutrition, more than just backgrounds, it's whole body healing. That way you can lose the weight and stop getting tracked in this diet cycle forever, you know, because it's mentally a huge bear when you are just so focused on losing weight and what diet you're going to do next, right? So, without addressing anything else, that's going on you know that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 2:

So when somebody comes and works with you, what's your guys is like both step.

Speaker 3:

It depends on the client. You know, really we are a custom like health coaching company and I take a lot of pride in that, because some people come in and their first step is like let's drink 100 ounces of water a day because you're like a dehydrated cucumber and we need to just like work on basics. You know habits like sleeping, stress, you know cleaning up the diet a little bit Some people who have been doing a lot of that. We go into more advanced protocols, like a flush, where we work more like deeper on adrenals, thyroid and liver. Some people do functional lab testing right off the bat and so we're going into gut protocol or mineral balancing protocol. But most clients that come in we're always working on like we're getting a baseline for nutrition first. A lot of people think they're doing everything right on like we're getting a baseline for nutrition first, like a lot of people think they're doing everything right, right. Then they come in and they're usually vastly under eating, actually some overeating. So we work on that.

Speaker 3:

We work on opening up detox pathways and drainage support. We usually do some custom supplementation based off of their labs, based off their symptoms, to just kind of get them started. And we address stress management. We have like a nervous system course that we have clients kind of go through. So that's usually step one and then step two is going to be are we reverse dieting them, are we putting them through a cut? Are we doing a gut protocol? It really just depends where they're at right, not only physically where they're at, but where they're at mentally, because so many people come in having done like, let's say, macros and workouts, and it's very triggering for them to do that. So we take that away. Some people want to understand macros and they want to understand that and they want to, you know, work on building muscle and really like that's a big focus, right? So I don't believe that everybody has to be put in one box. We kind of meet clients like where they're at.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, meeting them where they're at.

Speaker 3:

I think that's the best way for any type of success, wherever somebody's at meeting them there has to, because if you're going to invest in it like we want this to be something that you can do forever Because I see too many programs that you know people invest in they put them in a box and maybe they see success right, maybe they drop weight, maybe their skin gets a little better, their gut gets a little better, but it's like it wasn't in tune with what felt good for them.

Speaker 3:

They were just doing it to drop weight fast or to follow the protocol, but then what happens after that? If it didn't feel good for you, if you didn't actually understand how you're doing these protocols or why you're doing them, then you're not going to keep that weight off, you're not going to keep your gut in a good place, and so it's one thing to see results, it's another to keep them. So that's what I feel is really important. One thing I'm passionate about is the education that high touch accountability. Because I touch accountability because, like I don't want this to be something that you get success and then reverse it back the second. You stop Right.

Speaker 2:

That's so true. You know, even I think that's seen in a lot of even like bodybuilding, like you mentioned, you gained a lot of weight post competing and I've never competed, but I know a lot of people who have and I've seen that even if it's not 15 pounds like you see them gaining that weight back and almost verbosing everything that that they progressed post.

Speaker 3:

I yeah, and I mean there's a way to do it, healthy and not because, like you, should gain weight after a competition at some point, like you need to, because you can't stay lean forever. You know, and you have to. I think this is one thing women just fail to understand more than possibly anything is you have to go through periods of not dieting and like eating at maintenance, like you've maintained a weight loss. You understand, you've probably done that through periods of dieting, reversing, maintaining, right, you know your metabolism has to be flexible and it cannot be metabolically flexible if you're in a deficit. You know, if you're in a deficit forever, your thyroid, your hormones, everything starts down regulating forever. So, yes, but you know that there's a healthy way to do it. You know my coach, you know they.

Speaker 3:

It was a big company and I was one of hundreds of people and I received a sheet that every other person got. I know that 100%, because I had food issues, I had workout issues because of like pain and my stomach. So, like they kept forgetting it, they kept just giving me the plan they would give everybody else and I was like, hey, I can, I'm paying you to give me a customized thing, right, and then, even reversing, they told me some basics on what to do and I, in full transparency a lot of it was my fault, I didn't follow it. I was like, oh my god, I'm starving, give me all the donuts. You know so.

Speaker 3:

But it was hard because, like I didn't feel understood. And now I understand, as I tap into intuition more. I just ignore my intuition. I was all logic brain, all like, just tell me what to do, give me a plan, I will follow it. No intuition. And then I just realized like it wasn't aligning with what I wanted and like I wasn't getting what I needed. And now I understand, like, as I tap into intuition, I wouldn't ever do that again.

Speaker 2:

So I don't know if that makes sense. How were you ignoring your intuition?

Speaker 3:

I just did what people told me and, like I remember reaching out to my coach saying, hey, this doesn't really feel that great, and she told me pretty much in this exact words I've been doing this for a long time, so you should trust what I have to say and ignore how I was feeling. And so I did. And you know what, though, it got me my competition, I won it, I get it, but I didn't even really know what intuition was until the last few years. I know I've had it, but I've always just kind of pushed it down with logic and pushing through everything. And so that's been a journey, the last really year and a half, to like understanding intuition and trying to tap into it, trying to chill out.

Speaker 2:

You know, I love how you mentioned not staying in a fat loss phase forever and understanding, and I think a lot of women don't realize that you can't be in one for too long. And I, even myself, prior to working with the coach I work with now, when I first went to her she was like Amanda, you've been in a deficit for way too long and it was about six months and it was kind of lengthy, especially for what the deficit was, also with my activity level. So my insight.

Speaker 3:

But it's like you know, I think a lot of people, especially women, don't realize that yeah, it's because we're not taught that, we're taught to eat less, we're taught to work out more. But then they're surprised like, well, it's because we're not taught that, we're taught to eat less, we're taught to work out more. And they're surprised like, well, I did this diet and it worked, but then I gained it all back and more. Yeah, every time you diet, your metabolism down, regulates and when you just go back to eating normal, you're going to put that weight on quicker and then it's going to be harder to lose that second time and harder to lose that third time. But that's one thing I really like love to break from women. Like.

Speaker 3:

One of my favorite cases is a client that came in like eating 1200 calories we have a lot of these cases but and I reversed her to 2700 calories and she dropped 30 pounds of the process and her whole life changed because she'd just like been eating like a bird forever and, like you know, obviously she felt like crap and she just feared food all the time and like her whole life got better, like weight loss aside, like she just started trusting her body more, her body started trusting her. But it's not going to happen if you're eating nothing and people are like, oh well, I just, you know, I went on vacation and I ate a ton, so, like, I've been eating in maintenance. Like no, that's not how it works. Like you know, typically I don't like seeing clients in a deficit for longer than three to four months, you know, and people come into us having deficit for, like you know, 15 years. So that's one of the hardest conversations I think to have with a client is like, hey, we've got to reverse you, we've got to eat more and you might not lose weight in that process. And people are like but I came to you for weight loss, I understand, but your metabolism is giving me the big middle finger. So we can either drop you down in calories which I'm unwilling to do as a smart coach or we reverse out of this. You got to trust me and it sucks because it's not quick fix.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes you got to get your body, your metabolism, to. You know, when I talk about metabolic restoration, sneaky thing is it's not me giving you a new supplement that's going to burn fat faster, it's me giving you more food so your body starts trusting you again and burning more calories later on, right, like, so, yeah, it's, it's important, it's one of the most important things that you can do is just go through these cycles so you can lose weight. Like I always tell clients, you probably understand this If you're in a 500 calorie deficit, you're not losing weight Like. We can keep doing this forever and ever until, like, your metabolism eventually shuts down Like, or it can reverse you. You should be losing weight easy. You should be losing pound a week.

Speaker 3:

If you're in a deficit, you know a 500 calorie deficit. If you're not, let's take a look at that. Obviously, there's some other elements we could be dealing with a hormone issue, insulin resistance issues are so big right now inflammation, but there's a reason. So stop trying to diet your way. They're like oh no, it's just because I have to do keto again. I was like no, no, but it's not that actually.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, definitely cycling and called periodization of nutrition is imperative for long-term success, especially when, like you know, you can be in a deficit a little longer if you have more to lose. You know, if you have 100 pounds to lose, we could probably be in a deficit for longer, but after a while, if you're in a deficit and you're losing I don't know if you experience this a lot of those clients start experiencing hair loss, fatigue, maybe some like joint pain. They just like things start going a little bit off because they're not having enough nutrients. But then it's difficult because you've just lost a lot of weight and you think if I reverse, I'm going to put it all back on and I'm going to go back to the person I was beforehand. Did you go through?

Speaker 2:

that too, a little bit of that like feel mentality.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and then that's normal, right. But sometimes it's like you drop 70 pounds and then you put on five during a reverse. You're okay, and then you can drop another 20 or 30 pounds, depending on how much you have to lose right. But you have to have that break. Your metabolism needs that break. If not, your thyroid really starts getting wonky, your hormones start getting wonky, your gut health starts getting wonky all very scientific terms. And so you know, having that break gives your body a chance to just like, like, even if you're in a good calorie deficit, you're losing weight and you're feeling good, it's still a stressor on the body. It's still stress, right. Even the good stress still stress, right.

Speaker 2:

So Even the good stress is still stress, right, so Love that. Even good stress is still stress. That's so true. But I'd love if we could transition a little bit. But before we started recording, you mentioned about how the mindset in the bodybuilding culture is often negative and not the best. I'd love if you could elaborate on that a little bit.

Speaker 3:

I think I had mentioned it to you. People look at bodybuilders or people that are really lean in the fitness industry and think you're super healthy. Right At my fittest, at my leanest, I was 100% the most unhealthy I've ever been, not only physically but mentally and I think in the bodybuilding industry and I will say I wasn't huge into this culture. I was in and out of it quickly when I realized it wasn't aligned with myself. But so many of these women deal with body dysmorphia. So many women deal with eating disorders and so many people don't know how. It's all about food macros by tuning and not about general health. Right, and it has to be to an extent like you can't like if you're getting on stage, like you're not worried about literally anything else except for how is my body reacting and how am I looking right versus how are you. But so many women ignore that year after year and they're doing competition after competition until suddenly their body stops responding. This happens all the time and then suddenly they stop losing weight, they put on weight rapidly, they start developing an autoimmune disease like puffiness, fatigue, like that happens and this is also just athletes in general, like it doesn't even have to be solely bodybuilding. But that happens all the time and it's like overnight and then it takes years to reverse, like to get your body to chill out from all the stress and trust you again. You know, I know I've dealt with some bodybuilding clients. I mean, it's been two, three years before we could enter a deficit again, you know. And so people get mad when they can't ever enter a deficit after a six-week maintenance period, even six-month maintenance period. Sometimes your body needs time right after years and years of damage. So it's a really interesting culture, it's an interesting mindset and it's hard.

Speaker 3:

When you've been lean and when you look lean, it's really difficult to suddenly go back to being a little bit fluffier and not seeing that same muscle definition and even though that's what you need to do, that's healthy. When I was going through maintenance and cuts, I would put on about 10 pounds, sometimes 15, to go into a bulk. That was what I needed to do. I was okay with that, but sometimes mentally it's hard. You want to be lean, you want to see your abs, you want to see that striations. But yeah, I think the last decade we've seen a shift a little bit. Competitors are focusing a little bit more on hormone optimization on gut health, things like that. But it's still not quite there. I think the reason we're seeing it is because we've seen so metabolically damaged people for so long. People are catching on like, hey, this can't happen to me if I don't take care of myself now.

Speaker 2:

That's so true. I love how you mentioned when you were at your fittest and your leanest. You were at the worst mentally. I myself, myself, was in the same way like when I was even lesser than the 70 pound loss, like when I was at my absolute lowest. I felt awful internally and the things I was doing to be able to be at such a low weight was insane. The excessive training, the excessive macro tracking which nothing against macros but I was obsessive and it was to the point where, even mindset wise, it wasn't right. It wasn't a good mentality place to be. Yep.

Speaker 3:

And I think that's where, also, I think a great like coach comes in. I know for some of our clients, when they're like in a deficit, they've seen a lot of progress, maybe they've dropped a lot of weight, I will sometimes be like we are done macro tracking for a bit and it's hard. They're like no, but that's how I got here. I was like I understand, but we need to break up with that a little bit so we learn how to trust our body again, how to eat maybe a little more intuitively, how to, like you know, get out of this so you don't have to feel trapped in macros forever. And it's scary. I remember when I was obsessively tracking everything and also eating only like chicken, tilapia and rice and broccoli. But you know it was really difficult to stop doing that because I thought I would just gain all the weight back and like lose all of my progress. Right, and you know that's not. It's definitely not the case. But you know they have their time and place.

Speaker 3:

I think you, understanding macros is a game changer for people because for a lot of it it's like I understand I can eat more and this is actually. There's not that many calories in this. A big one is fiber. Right, it's like you're eating like no grams of fiber or no protein, like I think it's really helpful to understand how we're eating and what goes into how many calories, versus just calorie tracking right, and eating if it's my macros and you know and realizing why we're still hungry and tired because our blood sugar is imbalanced and our food is filled with additives that are just low calorie. So yeah, but it's it's hard to break up with it. When you've seen progress and it's worked in the past, you know, like why change right yeah.

Speaker 2:

So what do you suggest? If anybody's facing that, why change how to embrace that?

Speaker 3:

I think a lot of it is figuring out where you want to go. Like, once you lose the weight, there's always like a what's next and I think that's what like people struggle with is okay. Like people think they're going to be happier if they drop 20 pounds and suddenly their life's going to be forever different. Maybe, but how many of people lose 20, 40, 50 pounds and their life is the same, if not worse? Like people think they're going to be happy. But anyways, it's like what's next?

Speaker 3:

Let's say you drop the weight, are you going to just keep tracking macros forever? Do you want to do? We want it like what's the next step? Do we want to get stronger? Do we want to live a little bit more like free? I like tracking macros and a deficit and in a reverse and then when in maintenance, that's a great time to take like the gas off the pedal. Usually I see the most success with people trusting that a little bit more. But I think for searing out like why we're tracking it and what the next step is. But I think a lot of it comes down to trusting and also just like having another person to lean on and to watch and make sure everything's okay and kind of guide you in that process.

Speaker 2:

I think is really really imperative now I'm curious if you have any suggestions. Anybody listening that's in the bodybuilding culture and has this mindset that we've been talking about how they can shift it. Can you repeat the question Anybody in the bodybuilding community that has this mindset how they can shift that mindset?

Speaker 3:

I don't think it's exclusive to people in the bodybuilding industry.

Speaker 3:

You know, bodybuilding is like the extreme form of, but there's way too many women that are in this over-exercising, under-eating life without going to like those extremes. I think it's taking a really hard look at how you're actually feeling and sitting with that a little bit. Are you really feeling your best, doing this right now, or are you ignoring some of your body's warning flags? You know what I mean, because if you think you're feeling fantastic, why are you going to change? There's no reason to change. Do you know what I mean? I could tell you all day long if you do this for too long, you're going to feel bad on the other side, but you're not going to believe me. Long, you're going to feel bad on the other side, but you're not going to believe me. So I know because I didn't believe myself either. So I think shifting your mindset unfortunately sometimes comes down to when things I hate to say this, but when things start going wrong and then you're forced to do it right. So I think, before that happens, it's just like being honest with you. How do you feel? Do you want to be doing this forever? Why are we doing this. What's the next step? How do I see myself living in the next five years? Do you see yourself doing exactly what you're doing right now in the next five years? No, then let's change it and I think also just recognizing that if you shift and you change, it's not a forever thing, right? Like if you will just talk macros, if you're tracking macros and let's say we want to take a break, it doesn't mean you can't go back to tracking macros. You know, if you never track macros and you have a bad relationship with it, it doesn't mean that you can't heal that relationship and understand a little bit more. There's going to be phases in your life and there's going to be things that you need to work on or not, and it's not forever. So I think that's probably one of the big things you can always change, we can always shift.

Speaker 3:

I think it's healthy to try different things and to also just like. I think as females, we turn off intuition a lot too, and I think when we get overly obsessive about numbers and stuff, that turns it off. So I believe, taking some time off too and just tapping into what feels good on my body, doing stuff because you enjoy it, not because it's going to give you X, y and Z outcome is also really, I think, a really important phase to be in. But again, that phase might come at different times. It might be after you go through a weight loss period. It might be that your body's not losing weight because it doesn't feel safe and it doesn't enjoy what you're doing and that, and then we just have to tap into that. Then, right then, once your body feels good and safe, we can enter that fat loss phase right. So you know cups of different times thank you.

Speaker 2:

I I love everything you mentioned there. How do I feel? Why am I doing it? Do I want to do it forever? And I love how you mentioned about change and like it doesn't have to be a forever thing just because you're doing something now, like you can always resort back to something else if you try this. You know, I had a guest at one point who left her corporate job to pursue her business and her partner was like what if? And had all these what ifs and she was like it's not saying I can't go back and get even if it's not this job, get another corporate job, you know, and it's like so many people don't want to take this leap into whatever this new thing is. But it's not like you're stuck and you can't shift backwards, because it's not even backwards, it's just shifting again.

Speaker 3:

another change 100% In my world, especially with, let's say, we're dealing with a hormone or gut protocol. So it's like spend the next two to three months doing something different, do something different and then change your freaking life. Because if you dedicate time to that, whether it's your business, whether it's your help, spend those three months and do something different and then did it work? Maybe it's a no? Okay, then let's shift and let's try something different, but don't freaking give up.

Speaker 3:

And I think so often I deal with a lot of clients that just aren't willing to do, sometimes the hard thing for a few weeks, for a few months, to change the entire rest of their life. You know, and even like what you mentioned with the other guests, it's like, yeah, just sometimes you got to take the leap of faith. And you know, I always say like leap and build a parachute on the way down sometimes. But yeah, sometimes you have to do the hard thing, parachute all the way down sometimes. But yeah, sometimes you have to do the hard things. Sometimes you really have to like focus on certain things for a few weeks at a time to change, like, the course of your entire freaking life I love that.

Speaker 2:

Go to parachute on the way down. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me. I really appreciate it. Yeah, this has been a good. Yeah, thank you. Have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty?

Speaker 3:

Probably Is he in the functional world.

Speaker 2:

So he's got a podcast called On Purpose motivational speaker. He's an author, I think so. So he ends his podcast with two segments and I end mine with the same oh nice. The first segment is the many sides to us, and there's five questions and they need to be answered in one word each. What is one word someone who was meeting you for the first time would use to describe you as Kind? What is one word someone who knows you extremely well would use to describe you as Kind? Achiever Passion.

Speaker 3:

Self Passion.

Speaker 2:

What is one word that, if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset, would you use to describe you as?

Speaker 3:

Probably passionate.

Speaker 2:

What is one word you're trying to embody right now? A's Okay. The second segment is the final five and there's five questions and they can be answered in up to a sentence. What is the best advice you've heard, or?

Speaker 3:

received Recently it's been not making stories about something means something more than what they are. Why is that the best advice? Because I think people create stories about what's happening and make it mean something about themselves and make it mean something about who they are, and rather than like just seeing it for what it is and realizing that it's not necessarily about you, it's about their projections or you know how they're feeling.

Speaker 2:

So that's true. What is the worst advice you've heard or received?

Speaker 3:

recently it's been a lot of just grind harder now, ignore everything else and just like grind so that you can see success. You know, I've been really trying to rewire a lot of that the last few years. Tap into a little bit more of my feminine and realize that a lot of that masculine energy of just like keep going, grinding is like driving a lot of us into the ground yeah, what is something that you used to value that you no longer value grind culture?

Speaker 2:

What is something that you used to value that you no longer value Grind culture? If you could describe what you would want, your legacy to be as if someone were reading it.

Speaker 3:

What would you want it to say?

Speaker 2:

That she's changed a lot of lives for the better and she cared for people and she's changed the course of women's wellness for good.

Speaker 3:

If you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I want to know why a law oh lord, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use this for my industry that, while seeing a normal doctor, that every minute, like insurance, also pays for a functional doctor or a nutritionist or somebody alongside, so that women particularly, but also men, are more holistically taken care of.

Speaker 2:

No, that makes a lot of sense. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me, and where can everybody connect with you if they want to get in touch?

Speaker 3:

My Instagram is Shannon Salgi S-A-L-G-I-G-I-N-D. I have a really great Facebook community. It's like the Women's Holistic Health and Fitness Community, so you can find me over there. Shannon Salgi is on Facebook. Those are probably the two best places to find me.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and I will link that in the show notes. And thank you so much for speaking with me. I really appreciate it. Thank you, and thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Mando's Mindset. Hey guys, mando's here with a few key takeaways from my informative conversation with Shannon.

Speaker 2:

Now let's keep it simple. First, you've got to get the basics right before diving into anything deeper making sure you're eating clean, prioritizing your sleep, managing your stress, prioritizing moving your body. You need to make sure your nervous system is regulated before you dive into the deeper, more complicated things. Once you have the basics down, it's time to test things out and see what's working for you, what's not working for you, and that's where you can start to see real progress. Results are great, but keeping them is key. Anybody can get fit, but can you stay fit? It's one thing to get results. It's a whole different game to keep them. And now, no one can stay in a calorie deficit forever. You need periods of eating and maintenance and keeping things balanced and sustainable, because you can't be in a deficit or dieting forever. Next, it's important to know when to track macros and when not to track macros. If you're in a deficit or you're reversing. It's a great idea to track to stay on course, but when you're in a maintenance phase, that's a great time to stop tracking and allow yourself the ease or the flexibility of taking your foot off the gas and being a little less strict.

Speaker 2:

Next, it's about feeling good and not only looking good, depending on what your goals are. If you are in the process of prepping for bodybuilding competition, looks are something you're focusing on. I'm just going to be real with you. Bodybuilding is all about looks, but when it comes to your own health, it's just as important to feel good. Pay attention to how you're actually feeling, not just how things look in the mirror. You know I talk about foods a lot and paying attention to how it feels in your body and feels for you. You know, just because something might be quote unquote healthy I'm using air quotes, if you're listening to me doesn't mean it's good for your body. Everyone's body is different. Maybe your body is rejecting this or it's not having a good, positive effect to it. Pay attention to your individual body, not simply how things look in the mirror. How do you feel? How does this food make you feel? How does this exercise make you feel? How does this exercise make you feel? How does whatever it is you're doing make you feel, and paying attention to that, because our bodies will give us cues if we listen.

Speaker 2:

A big thing that Shannon and I talked about that I loved was staying connected to your why and checking in with yourself. Why am I doing this? Why am I tracking that? How does it make me feel? But I see myself doing this. Long term, staying connected to your why keeps you grounded in what matters to you and it helps you live a more intentional life.

Speaker 2:

And, lastly, nothing is set in stone. Don't be afraid to switch things up and tap into what feels right. It's something that worked for so long for you is no longer working anymore. Try something different. Do things you enjoy and not just what helps you hit a goal. Remember, the whole journey of life is about balance and making it work for you. You know I talk about all the time how just because something worked for me doesn't mean it will work for you, or vice versa.

Speaker 2:

Everybody is different. When I first started my weight loss journey and losing weight, everybody wanted to know how'd you do it? How can I do it? What did you do? What I did might not work for you. It might and I can share my story to potentially help you, inspire you, motivate you, but it might not. My story to potentially help you, inspire you, motivate you, but it might not. So, trying different things and seeing what works.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people have this nerve or this anxiety about stepping into something new, but you can always step out of it. You're not stuck. If it doesn't work, if you don't like it, buy something new. That's it, guys, I hope this helps you stay focused on what truly matters. Keep it simple, keep it sustainable and keep it true to you, because that's all that matters. What matters to you is most important and remember it's about progress. You're in this for the long game. So stay flexible, stay focused and keep showing up for yourself, because if you don't show up for you, who's going to show up for you? I hope this helps keep you centered and I hope this helps shift the way you look at how you are showing up and prioritizing your health.

Speaker 2:

Thanks, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Mando's Mindset. In case no one told you today I'm proud of you, I'm booting for you and you got this. I'm proud of you, I'm rooting for you and you got this, as always. If you enjoyed the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a five star rating, leave a review and share it with anyone you think would benefit from this. And don't forget you are only one mindset. Shift away from shifting your life. Thanks, guys, until next time.

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