Archive.fm

Beyond the Body

EP139: How our Client Christine Lost 38lbs and Quit Binge Eating

Christina sits down with Christine, an elite client of Cut & Conquer, to talk about her mental and physical transformation since working with Cut & Conquer.


When Christine first reached out to Cut & Conquer, she was struggling with nutrition, binge eating, body image issues, and the emotional challenges brought on by knee surgery and shift work. Over 8 months, Christine has not only lost 38 pounds but also completely transformed her entire mindset and relationship with food.


Christine’s journey is a testament to the power of a holistic approach to fitness, where physical changes are just one part of the transformation.


In this episode, they discuss:

  • Christine’s struggles with nutrition, binge eating, body image, knee injury, and personal life challenges
  • The biggest factor that led Christine to invest in a coaching program like Cut & Conquer
  • The improvements Christine saw in her overall fitness and mental well-being after joining the program
  • How Christine’s mindset and relationship with food change through the program
  • How she stayed on track with her nutrition and workouts while travelling and working night shifts
  • How the support of 1:1 accountability with her coach, the client community and the other Cut & Conquer trainers helped in her success
  • The importance of a comprehensive program that addresses nutrition, exercise, and mindset


Memorable Quotes:


“Joining was the best thing I ever did. People are like, ‘Oh, that’s expensive. That’s crazy.’ But it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than ending up in the hospital with a heart attack or being on medication for the rest of my life.”


“Don’t be so hard on yourself. But you have to have a plan. You have to have a goal, and you have to make yourself do that stuff because it’s not going to work if you don’t put that dedication in and that mindset in.”


Links Mentioned:


Christina’s Instagram: @knifina


Cut & Conquer Instagram: @cutandconquerfitness


Cut & Conquer Coaching Application: https://cutandconquer.typeform.com/CQA-application


Free FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weightsandwellness/



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Broadcast on:
09 Sep 2024
Audio Format:
other
Welcome to Beyond the Body, a podcast for women who aren't afraid to dive deep into who they are, embrace discomfort, and level up their mind, body, and life. I'm your host, Christina Slater. If you've ever struggled with body image, self-worth, or knowing how to take your fitness to the next level, you have come to the right place. We go deeper than just the latest bad diet or trending workout to provide you with the mindset tools, to transform your body, upgrade your mind, and reclaim your life. Let's get into it. Hello, you guys. Welcome back to Beyond the Body. I am your host, Christina Slater, and today I am joined by one of my amazing clients from Cut and Conquer. I am really excited to have her on the show because, honestly, you guys know I have coached hundreds of individuals, and this lady right here has got to be, honestly, in my top three mental and physical transformations of all time. So, welcome, Christine. Oh, my land. Oh, thank you. I'm blushing. It was so sweet. Yeah, so I mean, Christine's been working with Cut and Conquer for, what has it been, about eight months now, 30, eight pounds down, I believe, and completely transformed physique, not to even mention the mindset transformation, the emotional transformation, and everything that you have battled and gone through in your time with us. So, yeah, we will definitely dig into all of that, but to kick things off, Christine, tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, where are you from, what do you do for work, just your story? I'll let's, yeah. Well, I'm originally from Prince Edward Island, and I've been out in Fort McMurray for probably about 14 or 15 years. I work on site, I work at Suncor, and I do that famous six and six shift. Lovely. So, yeah, my toes are operator there. So, yeah, I spend a lot of time sitting and pondering thoughts of my mind, so it can get a little hard in the head sometimes. But yeah, that's a little bit of it, me, I guess. But. And so I remember our first conversation, I remember it like very clearly, because I was like, man, this girl's got a lot of shit going on. Yeah, I'm not to mention like shift work, even in itself, shift work is challenging, because there's so many changes to your schedule from days on, days off, you know, long hours, night shifts, all of that stuff. But then I know, of course, there was struggles around nutrition, binge eating, body image, all of that stuff. So, tell us a little bit about what you were struggling with most when you first reached out, reached out before joining Cut and Conquer. Yeah, and I also had my knee, I was recovering from my knee surgery, and just mentally going through some hard decisions in life with my marriage and stuff like that. So it was a bit, it was a lot overwhelming. When I hurt my knee, I probably put on probably about 50 pounds, and just discouraged mentally. I think that's the biggest thing being like so hard on yourself and trying to find a way to get around that, you know what you need to do, but you don't know how to get there, and you just want somebody to listen. I, you know, so, I had a, my sister had reached out to you earlier, and she was getting along great, and I said, you know what, I'm just gonna give her a try, give her a call. So, that's how kind of that conversation started with, with you, but yeah, first, I was like, oh man, this girl is never gonna pick me, but yeah, I was like, oh man, I'm just too much work. But like, you seriously have embraced everything, like no other, because the reality is like, I like your knee has actually been so good. I almost forgot about that for a second, because I know that was another big thing holding you back at the beginning, and not to say that it's completely fixed, but we've seen some really great progress physically. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely the program has 100% helped my, my knee and recovery. When I had stopped, I had asked the surgeon if I need to go to physiotherapy, and I had told him when I was doing with you, and he's like, no, absolutely not, don't go, just do what he's telling you to do, and follow your exercise, and, and she'll modify them, and, and then it's exactly exactly what I did. I mean, some days, I felt like I wasn't doing enough. I'm like, really? It's over? So like, 25 minutes or 30 minutes, like, you know, so it was like, yeah, it was, it was really good. Yeah, and one really great thing that you're such a strong testament to, and I think it's going to be really inspiring for a lot of listeners, even for our clients, is we've never taken like an extreme approach with your program whatsoever. We haven't been super restrictive with your food, we haven't pushed cardio almost at all, and when you started, Christine, how many times per week were you working out with me? For sure, I was pushing myself to do three. I've tried to do that for when I was working. I didn't even, I just come in the door, drop my bag, and go downstairs. I had my work clothes on, stinking like oil, sand in the hair, whatever, but it was just like, if I didn't go, I wasn't going to go. I was just walk, walk, do it, walk downstairs, do it. So yeah, that was, that was a kind of an adjustment, but I just felt like at this point, I didn't have a choice. I felt like my health was struggling, my breathing was struggling, my I know I had gone to the doctor and she wanted to put a blood pressure monitor on me for to start monitoring that, and I was like, oh man, like you're 50. Is this it? Is this it? So yeah, I just knew, I just, I just knew I had to, I had to listen, I had to push myself. Yeah, and it's like, even back, and I only worked on site for a very short amount of time compared to what most people have who live in Fort Macapores, but that feeling, when you just want to sit on the couch, and you're just the couch is calling your name or your bed is calling your name, and you have to wrap your head around and be like, no, like gym clothes on. I'm doing my workout. Yeah, it's it's brutal. I mean, kudos to the people that can get up at four o'clock and work out or go to the gym or whatnot, but I just knew a deep downside. I was not that person. I had to have access right away at home, you know, and I didn't spend a lot of money at doing it. Like, I just used Amazon, got myself a bench, a mat, few weights and just really concentrated on my form and that kind of stuff. So it was, it was no big deal. It was way cheaper than getting a membership. So yeah, yeah. I think that that is a huge takeaway for our listeners too, because Christine, when you start, it was like two to three workouts per week consistency with your nutrition and a home setup, right? We started with just dumbbells, a mat and a bench that was absolutely, and the progress was, was there and it was because you were consistent and you implemented feedback and just embraced everything as an actual lifestyle change and not, you know, how can I get the fastest results in 12 weeks and then not have to do anything. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's a point, you know, I mean, I know bad things can happen to people at any age with their health, but I was just like, what do I need to do to make me feel like my life could progress longer? And with the binge eating and not being healthy and mentally just depressed and whatnot, just disappointment. I'm like, I got, I got to figure this shit out like enough's enough. So in regards to the binge eating, because I know nutrition was in the past, like a big struggle for you, can you tell us about things that you had tried in the past with your nutrition and kind of where that led you? Because I know a lot of ladies struggle with, you know, extreme diets and fat diets and all of those things. Oh, well, I think I did keto and like fasting and no calorie and oh, man, just a bit, but probably everything you could do. And then what happened was it was affecting my health, because if it would stop, we'll put your cholesterol level up for down. And it was just, it was just no good. Remember my doctor saying to me, are you doing keto or are you fasting? And I'm like, yeah. And she's like, you can't, you have to stop your cholesterol is too high. Like, well, what am I gonna do now? It's just brutal. But like, that's a thing when you're on one of your programs and you're watching your food, nutrition, and you're actually learning about all that stuff, you're eating everything. And it's okay to eat, you know, normal stuff or go to a restaurant or whatnot, you know, the biggest thing is not being so hard on yourselves, because as women, we're so hard on ourselves, you know, so, yeah. And that is what really feeds into that, like, binge and restrict cycle, right? And then you brought up discouragement a few times. And, you know, when you have cut your calories or taken those extreme measures so often, and then still not seeing the success, it's so discouraging, because mentally, you're exhausted physically, your body is so tired from essentially being malnourished. And then it just then you get even deeper into that whole of like, Oh my gosh, I'm overweight, I don't feel good, my health is suffering. What do I do? Yeah. And it can be so yeah, cravings. Yeah, the cravings would just like kill you like the sugar cravings and stuff like that. It was just, it was insane. It was like, I felt like a mad person. I remember it Easter time and Halloween and all those little small candies and chocolates and all that kind of stuff. You just like, Oh, it told me a little bit. It's only a little bit. And you just like, you mentally cannot stop until you're out. It's like, it's brutal. That used to be me and be like, I have to eat the whole box of chocolate and then I'll start my diet because I gotta get it out of the house. Yeah, right? Yeah. So yeah, I still eat those stuff, but it's it's a normal thing now. It's a normal thing. It's not it's not a guilt thing. So yeah. Yeah, tell us a little bit about, I guess how your mindset has shifted around food and kind of how you think about food now compared to back then, you know, food, it was like when I was starving, like, I'm sure a lot of people get this, they get like hangry. They're just hungry. Like you just want to bulldoze or someone and you don't care what you're putting some what whatever in your mouth to eat. And now, with this mindset, it's like, I'm fueling my body to work out. I'm fueling my body to for myself. And I noticed in my skin and my clothes and like the water, the water's so much water, you know, but yeah, it's a total different thing because you're not, it's not like it's you're not forced to eat it. Like, you know, like, yes, I have to follow the program. But you know what? Hey, if I slip up, it's okay. And like I say, Oh, my gosh, Kristina, I had bad week or had this or a die, you know, everything's okay. Well, I mean, you'll give me shit when I need it. But that's okay too. You know, but it's it's a different, it's a total different thing once you start. And some one day just clicks and it's just, Hey, this is okay, I can do it. And you get on a scale and you're seven pounds later or you you measure yourself and you got two inches gone or whatnot, like they inches mean more than me than the numbers. But I still talk about the numbers, but I'd rather they inches anyways. But yeah, just it just clicks one day. Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you brought up even changes to your skin and whatnot, because my one of my favorite things about your transformation. And I know we're still transforming and there's still more you want to achieve, but is literally and I can see this in your progress photos, but I can also just see it in you when we have our calls or in your pictures is like you literally have a glow now. And I did not feel that when we first met, like I felt like you were truly in a dark place. And now you are in a great glow and I love it. Yeah, yeah, I know I've had people say me, Oh my God, are you pregnant? Are you seeing somebody that's going on? No. But yeah, but yeah, I do I feel it. I feel that I like when I put even cream on and I just feel more mentally alive too. And, you know, I just I've had so much struggles this last year with everything. I just everything's okay. It's just it's just okay. It's okay to have them struggles. I just let it beat me up so much with the eating and where to start and my marriage. It was just it was just so much. I just didn't know where to turn. But when you learn it that it's okay. It really is okay. And it's a lot to a lot to like work through in your own mind all at once, especially with everything coming at you that you already mentioned between relationships, fitness, injuries, all that, and having an outside perspective to kind of help even just guide you in the right direction makes a huge, huge difference. And one other thing I wanted to ask you about because you have during the program, traveled for work and for pleasure several times and stayed very on track with that. So can you tell us a little bit about that and kind of how you navigated that effectively? Yeah, I always went on the app and I went and did like the travel, the travel workouts, or the alternative, alternative eating or different stuff. I knew what I had to eat, even though I was at places that were serving me. And either whether be restaurants or cafeteria or on the plane or whatnot, I traveled so much. I knew I wasn't going to Tim Hortons and getting baggles and muffins, all that stuff. You just know that stuff is not good anymore. So you're looking for other stuff to eat. Like, you know what you should be eating at that point when you're traveling. And the little workouts, there were some places that had gyms in some places that didn't. So I would just go on the app, travel, find out little things and tweak things. I didn't go step by step of your stuff. But I said, Oh, okay, I'll do this because it takes over that or I'll do this because that fixes that. But you learn how to read that when you, when you didn't know nothing before, you know, it's just like, it just starts to come to you. But yeah, I went home, I traveled to school, I traveled with work. And yeah, it was a lot of traveling. Yeah. Yeah, and what I love about what you said there too is like the adaptability and learning how to make those choices on your own because yes, obviously you and I talked about it and came up with plans and whatnot. But I feel like now you would be very confident even if you didn't talk to me in knowing how to stay accountable when you're traveling. And in the past, potentially for yourself and for a lot of our listeners, when we travel, our fitness just completely goes by the wayside like we don't even even try really because we don't know how. Yeah. Yeah, that's a thing like, you know, you go on vacation for a week or you have to go to a meeting or I had to go to some school for work and stuff. They say, Oh, you know, I don't want to work out. Yeah, I'm going to enjoy myself or whatever. But hey, if you just took that extra walk or did a few things in your room, like 15 minutes of going on the app and just doing some different stuff in your room and just like, Oh, that's over with like, it's only only takes a little bit of time. But it's you need to be in that mindset that you're just you're just going to do it. And then it just, it just comes. Totally. Just naturally, just yeah. Another thing that is really valuable in what you're saying about, you know, just taking the little steps and doing those little things is the momentum that you keep. Because then when you come back from your trip, you don't have to be like, Oh, man, now I gotta take this week and get back in the swing of things because we all know one week usually is two weeks and then it's another week getting back at it. Right. So you lose an entire month. If you know, Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You start saying, Oh, I'll start Monday. Oh, I'll start after this. I'll start after I do this like, Oh, man, that just beat you up around the kitchen. That's just horrible. But yeah. So, Christine, what would you say was one of the biggest factors that led you to invest in a coaching program? Because, like I said, I'm 50 and I've tried so much stuff. Like we watchers and other trainers and programs and what not. The big thing with yours is the one on one, the accountability, the podcast, Facebook group, your other trainers. Like everybody is just so close to you. I know if I just had to ask something or do something, if you weren't available, or you were on vacation or whatnot, which is rare, someone else would answer. You know, and when I first I was thinking, when I first started, Oh, man, I'm not going to be able to do this. This is so strict. What's because what are macros? What is all this stuff? What are macros, papers? And yeah, I'm like, how am I getting grocery? Like it was just, you know, it's just, you know, so much. And then I just took a day and I really dumbed it down. Like I was like, what is grams? How many grams is the cup? What is this? What is that? And I just Googled it. You know, and I made my I took your eating plan. And I made my own little eating plan off it that was a little more dummy down. And then I like took your food chart that you could get for your groceries, whether it's good or whatever. And I picked out everything in there that I liked. So then I wrote that all down. It was just one like little little things that helped me that get a little bit organized. But it was, it was, I don't know, it was just something in that I knew I could count on you guys. And it was the best thing I ever did. You know, it's a lot. It can be a lot because people are like, Oh, that's expensive. That's crazy. That's this. Like so many people asked me, what did you do? What did you do? And I tell them and I tell them about you and all that stuff. And you know, and some girls are just like, Oh, just so so even more protein then, right? I'm like, oh, it's just it's way more than just eat protein. Right? But yeah, that's the it's the biggest. It's the biggest thing that has changed my life mentally, physically, everything. So I mean, I owe it to myself first, but I owe it to you guys too. For sure. I appreciate that. We appreciate you so much. And again, like, yes, we provide you with the blueprint and the basics, but at the end of the day, it's you that is still showing up because you could have made the choice like, Hey, this isn't for me. I'm not doing anything. I'm not ready for this. But like you said, every single check in every single week, you've, you know, implemented the feedback, you've taken initiative on your own, which is huge. And, you know, follow the process. And there's still so much more that we can achieve. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know. I mean, kind of kicking myself in the butt lately because the summertime and it's nice. And it's, you know, a beer tastes really good and barbecue and all that stuff. I would say this is probably the hardest time to work out and to eat properly. Like Christmas and Halloween and Easter have nothing on this. Oh, it's like, this is takes a little bit more mind pushing than anything. But now that I have, you know, the weight gone, I think I started at 262. I'm at 220 now. I'm still struggling with that 220 ish. But it's when you get over that and you just like, Oh my gosh, look what I accomplished. Like, and I have a new puppy and he's 15 pounds and I'm carrying and thinking, Oh my gosh, like, I that was me. I had that extra weight on me. Like, it's crazy. Like, it's not. Yeah, really good point. Like, I know we were, we were just chatting about this, but, you know, having that initial body fat gone is huge because now we have flexibility, you know, over summer, like we talked to this as well, enjoy a couple beers, like, yeah, for me, summer is the time that I also want to enjoy myself. So, you know, enjoying food and drinks that you that truly bring you joy and moderation. This is the time to do it. Because then, you know, as we head back into fall, you can maintain the physique that you worked the last eight months to achieve. And then we can, you know, pick things up and either go more into focusing on building more muscle, we can work on cutting more fat. And you're not going to feel like it's so restrictive. Yeah, I mean, I remember being on diets or like restricting myself and I would start, I don't know, Octoberish and then Christmas, I'd look okay. And then January, February, I'd take off some more weight or whatever. And then come summer, I put it all back on. Because you're just like doing overeating and overdrinking. And so much, you know, s'mores and chocolate, camping treats. And that's just the worst. But yeah, this is probably the first summer that, you know, if I put a pound on here and there it comes off real easy, you know, it's not it's not like I'm putting 20 pounds on in the summertime, you know, and I'm not beating myself up for it, because there's a numerous amount of reasons why that could be there or what that weight could be, right? So yeah, yeah, and something that is really important too, from the coaching perspective is because Christine, you are so compliant and so consistent with your nutrition, we have a really good, you know, idea of what works for your body and how much food you can eat to still lose that weight. So we have like a really effective threshold where we're like, okay, we can go up a little bit in calories, we can go down a little bit in calories, because you're consistent when a client isn't consistent, it's so challenging to to like know that threshold, because some weeks it's up, some weeks is down. So yeah, you know, the work that you put in it, it really pays off. And again, doing it for the lifestyle and, you know, not just to get in shape for this event or to get in shape for the summer, because that's what happens is when people are like, Oh, I want to get in shape for summer, well, every September, you know, you're going to be getting in shape again. And it's just that revolving door. Yeah, yeah, it's not just like to me, it's not just, Oh, I'm going to take off 30 pounds and I'm done. I'm not going to do this anymore. Like it's that's not what this is about. Like, that's Weight Watchers or that's Keto or whatever. That's that's not what this is about. This is about your whole life and how you want how you want to be in the next few years, you know, and you learn you're learning about what you should be eating, you learning, you know, what you're what you can take for vitamins, you learn what you can do for exercises and change things up like it's kind of like resetting all those old habits that you had since you were 15 and 16 years old and picking you were fat and you look back at the pictures now and wishing that you look like that like. So yeah. So if you could give it, you know, a piece of advice to listeners who were maybe in a similar situation to where you were back, I guess, about a year ago, you know, struggling with the binging, struggling with the cravings, working shift work, trying to lose weight. What advice would you? Well, that's the biggest thing is I think you need to be in a program or a platform that is everything. It's not that's what cotton conquerors to me. It's everything. It's not Oh, I'm going on a diet or I'm going to start working out because everything coincides together. You know, my my meal plan coincides for if I'm taking off weight or if I'm trying to stay in moderation or my workout is for my needs, Pacific, whether whether, you know, I want to tighten up my legs or tighten up my belly or work on my back. It's not just hey, I'm going to go Google Google some stuff and Google some workouts. You know, the biggest thing is is don't be so hard on yourself. I find like women are so hard on themselves. But you have to have a plan. You have to have a plan. You have to have a goal. And you have to make yourself do that stuff because it's not going to work if you don't put put it in. We don't put that dedication in. And that mindset in. I mean, realistically, I could pay for your program, download the app and not do a damn thing. And you wouldn't know, you know, so it's it's you have to do it. You have to if you do everything that's in your program, and your meal plan, there's no way it's not going to work. Yeah, it's it's it's yeah, it can't not work because we adjust it until it does work. If it isn't working, because there's there's all the two things that I'm looking for in check ins, right? It's like what can the client do to, you know, be more compliant and what can I teach you so that you can acquire those skills more easily quicker and effectively. But also what can I change in your program to make it align better with your life? Because, you know, the the meals that you start with the nutrition plan you start with and the workouts that you start with are not going to be what you end the program with, because you're going to get better. And you're going to progress. And we're, I shouldn't say constantly making changes, but every several weeks, we're making those changes based on how your body responds. So the only way you can not get results is if you literally don't do anything. Yeah, don't do it. Yeah, like, it's just like, that's you're not going to get any results. But if you don't do it, that's bottom line. And the check ins, like the accountability, if you're, you know, I'm sure every woman is there a man out there that has to work shift work and whatnot. I mean, anybody actually has to be accountable to somebody else to, you know, their bosses or their managers or whatnot. That's what I kind of feel like it's like, but it's, it's not like at the same time, it's like two weeks, I have to be accountable for what I did. And if I'm not, she's going to give me shit. But at the same time, she's still going to tell me I'm human. And she's still going to tell me like, good on you for doing this and this and this. But hey, let's try a little bit harder on this and this, because I know you can do it, right? So it's, it's, you know, it's, it's really, it's really, really fantastic. Like kudos to you, man, I don't know how you invented this, but it works. I think I've had a few people ask me not that exact question of that concept. And it's just like a few things. I mean, even when I think about my own self, and sometimes I have to ask myself when I'm struggling, it's like, what would I tell my client to do? Yeah, but having exactly having the accountability and having the check-ins that you you know are coming up, it even helps you stay more accountable. Because most of our clients are thinking throughout the week, like, you know, what's going to be in my check-in this week, am I going to be able to put things in here that I'm proud of? Like, what am I struggling with in it? Even keeps you a little more aware of the obstacles that are coming up in your life, because then you know what to ask for support with. And your personality and what you've accomplished, you know, Christina always just was in this weightlifting skinny girl. She has had numerous body types, like numerous struggles. And it's like, yeah, fortunately, I'm older than you. But that's really, that's what you see, you're you're younger than me. But it's like, you've still had those troubles. You've still had a lot of the same struggles, even though, you know, we're at different stages of our life. It's like, hey, she can do that. But look, she was this way at this weight in this way, this weight, like, you know, if there's a whole, like, there's a whole bunch of things that go together with the program is just not, it's just not just eat do, like, you know, do your check in. There's no way that you cannot succeed if you do the program. There's no way. Also, I'm curious, if you reflect on the last several months of us working together, what would you say is the biggest belief or behavior or habit that you have implemented that has changed your life the most. My morning routine, my morning routine talking to myself, like, manifesting, doing that stuff at first, I was like, man, this girl's crazy. She wants me to talk to myself and all this stuff. But yeah, just that that morning, that morning routine, that day in morning routine and, you know, reading some good books and having stuff on audible and manifesting stuff and, like, changing that whole little mindset of like, that stuff used to be foolish to me. But now that stuff is part of my life. I know when I start struggling, I'm struggling sleeping or anything like that, I put one of your podcasts on or I put like one of the other ones I listened to or something like, and I listen to the secret a lot and things over and over and over repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, even though that I heard it a hundred times, I'm listening to it again. My sleep, my sleep has definitely changed. And anytime that I did struggle, you were there to help me and we kind of adjusted things. But I really didn't know how important sleep was and how that can really mess up everything, what your weight is, right? You know, and your life, it can really mess with your head. Those are such good points. And I'm going to just like reiterate it one more time for our listeners and our clients is like, morning routine. I don't have a client and I have a lot of clients. I don't think we have a single client at Cotton Hawk or who doesn't consistently do their morning routine or evening routine. Some people do evening and not see excellent results. Any client we have that is struggling struggles with that as well. So it's, you know, it's anecdotal if there's no like hard evidence, but personal experience coaching hundreds of individuals, there is such a strong correlation between your progress and your ability to, you know, self reflect, and then sleep as well as sleep is everything. I wish I knew that like, if I could go back in time, that's what I would tell myself because recovery and sleep is so important, especially for shift workers and not just sleep because I know, Christine for you and for most people who work shifts, there is a constraints on the times you can sleep, of course, but the recovery, you know, if you're trying to train even like, even five times a week consistently when you're working like 15 hours, yeah, not generally a good recipe for success. Can it be done? Yes, it can be. But again, it's usually like short periods of time in which you can push your training to that level for the majority of our shift workers. They train, you know, between two to four times per week, when they're on shift, when they're off shift, it's a different story, they can usually recover better, because again, burn out with shift work. Yep. So go hand in hand, because you try to do so much, your body just physically can't do it. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, before I used to get feel really guilty about doing math, but now I don't like, I didn't realize how important was for to get the recovery, you know, and I'd be like, working out at 11 o'clock or getting up before. And it was just a disaster, disaster. But now, like, if I go down, if I get home around nine o'clock, and I get 1520 minutes in, you know, if I'm good, I'm good, I'll do it. If not, I'll move the workout to the next day, you know, and take a little bit, take a little break. And like, that's good. Like, sometimes I have to do workout in a half. And I don't say have to, but I'm like, you know, that's just part of me now. But or sometimes I combine two workouts, because I missed one or whatnot. But you just don't think adapted that, right? Oh, another thing you said a little earlier on that I think was so powerful was kind of the importance of doing the hard work so that it becomes easy, right? Because at the beginning, it is a lifestyle change. It is a learning curve. Like you have to, like Christine talked about you, you do to a degree have to learn macros, even if you're following a meal plan, you want to understand the components and why you're eating certain things to a certain degree, you want to understand, you know, the basics of what muscles you're working out and how everything works, just the basics, you don't have to be an expert in it. And it's a learning curve. But by doing that and learning those things and pushing yourself to show up when you really don't want to show up and you'd rather be doing anything, you're it's going to become easier down the road. And I think that's Christine, where you are now, I don't want to say it's easy, but it feels so much more in alignment with who you are today than it did probably a year ago. Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely. Now it's just like, it's normal. It's and when I first started, I was like, Oh, my gosh. How am I going to do this? And you know, I need this kind of container for this and I need to measure this and I need to do this. I need to do that. And then I was like, one day it was just like, oh, big deal. And it only took me like maybe an hour or so to get to work. And even sometimes I was getting up around 20 after five. Sometimes I was getting up around five a.m. And I was making a little bit of breakfast or my oatmeal or stuff. And I just didn't feel rushed anymore. Like everything was just natural. All I put a scoop of protein in here or yeah, I'll do this or I'll eat that, you know, it just yeah, it just does come to you. And like you mentioned earlier on to and there's nothing wrong with having a bagel at Tim Hortons once in a while, but your body starts to want to eat more nutrient dense foods. And like when you do kind of have something that's a little bit off kilter, and I know you've even mentioned this before, it's like, it didn't even do it didn't taste that good. And it didn't make you feel that good. You're like, man, like I would rather eat my meal plan. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Because we get more and sustained longer with your meal plan than you do if you're going eating something like that. And yeah, if you're on the goal, you're traveling or whatever you're hungry, you're just going to grab something or whatnot. But I feel like I take more time to look at what I'm eating rather than I'm just going to grab that cookie or I'm just going to grab that. I'm like, maybe I'm going to grab protein balls instead. You know, or, you know, maybe I'm going to grab a smoothie instead of a milkshake, you know, like that kind of stuff that just kind of makes you a little bit, you know, a bit more awake, I guess. I love that. And that's like what we talk about a lot when we say like being proactive over being reactive because when we're stressed out, we're overwhelmed, we got families to take care of and everything going on. It's so simple to just slip into that reactivity where it's like, I don't even care. I'm just gonna eat this. I don't even care. I'm just gonna eat this. This is the quickest thing need to get in my body. But you know, when you feel good and you have the mental space to actually make those choices, like, oh, it feels, feels amazing. One more question I had for you, Christine. So what would you say in regards to your fitness journey has been your proudest accomplishment? What are you most proud of yourself? Um, you know, when I went to put my summer clothes on this year that really skin tight, they were falling off me that was, I was like, so shocked. I was like, wow, I thought these fit me last year. But they actually they did, you know, you know, and all that is really good. The weight and the inches and whatnot. But the mental that I've learned, the mental stuff and the emotional stuff that I've learned is probably way more important because when you have things that are going on in your head and you're trying to figure out how am I going to start losing weight, how am I going to start living a better lifestyle and you have so much going on, we just think I'm never going to be able to do this, because the last thing, the only thing I can control right now is what's going in my mouth. So that's the only fun thing. So it's like, when you learn, when you learn, like, it's, it's what to do. And, you know, not to be so hard on yourself, I think that's the biggest thing, like, the weight and all that is yeah, that's that's a bonus. But the mental health is like number one, number one. I completely agree. Yep. All that will come. Well, the weight and everything will come when you start to take care of yourself mentally. And you believe in yourself, even just like, you know, just for that 15 minutes, you can believe that you can do it. It comes powerful. I love that. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. You know how proud I am of you. I know I love it. Thank you. Is there any way our listeners can support you in any way? You know, I'm pretty, I can be kind of shy on our Facebook stuff or whatever. I always say things every now and then. But, you know, I think it's, I read all your guys and stuff all the time. And I see your guys' struggles and, you know, just the biggest thing is, I find just don't think that you're the only one. And if you really, really want to say how you're struggling or you really need some help, like reach out because the you and your staff and everybody is, is there. And you think it's not very too, it's not too often that you have people in your life that you that will help you like this. So you just take advantage of it, you know, but I don't know. I think, you know, everybody's just be good to yourself. Let's see. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for your effort and dedication to the program. I'm excited to see, you know, what else we accomplished in the coming months. And yes, me too. Yeah, if you guys got value from this podcast, definitely drop us a review. And we'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Beyond the Body. If you're getting value from the podcast, please don't forget to follow rate and review. It really goes a long way. And if you're ready to take your mind and body to the next level, and you want to work closely with me and my team, head over to my Instagram page at knifeina and tap the link in my bio to fill in a coaching application to see if cut and conquer can help you transform your life. [MUSIC] (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]