What's going on, ladies and gents, Robert Sikes keto Savage.com and today I have special guests Crystal Renault on the line. How are you Crystal? I'm great. How are you? I'm doing wonderfully. Well, give me some background. Know, your Aikido Quest coach. And I've kind of I was stalking you on Instagram prior to this this conversation kind of get some background on you and looks like you've lost quite a bit of weight and you lift hard, you lift heavy.
Which I'm happy to see other people doing, especially with a ketogenic diet. So dive into your background. Give me some kind of your biochem look. Got you into the keto space and its entirety. Well, I used to be an all-around athlete in high school. I grew up the typical childhood of riding the bike everywhere. You needed to go spending. My Summers swimming with friends at the pool, I was always active and now the ice cream, the
sugary treats the pizza. Those are all very normal with my childhood growing up, but being so active, I didn't I didn't see any negative negative sides to that. So I continue just thing and Lee and eating that kind of diet and I didn't see any effects until I was a little bit more of an
adult. So when I was going through College full-time working, three jobs, just a lot of stress, a terrible environment, I wasn't taking care of my body especially with nutrients and I started seeing the weight gain as the first initial issue when I was about 19, 20 years old, which is something is pretty young for someone to start kind of gaining weight. 8 and the way that I was feeling. So I didn't really pay much attention to it.
You know. I just mentally didn't see myself the way that my body started kind of changing. I kind of just ignored it just, you know, relying on my youth I really didn't expect for it to go the way that it was going.
But it ended up being to the point where I just was very unhappy with myself physically, around age, 21, 22, you know, the drinking, the lack of Going out with friends, the poor eating habits, I could really start physically feeling the changes, so I decided to go back to kind of the training that I used to go through. Whether it was like the I was in gymnastics, I was in track and field, I played like a lot of street basketball, so I kind of wanted to start going back to
the gym as adults. That's kind of like the image. Like, okay, I'm gonna go to the gym and work out and get fit. But unfortunately, without a coach through Sports, I had no idea what to do. I was very intimidated by the gym. I have never put myself through a workout so I was the person using YouTube and bodybuilding.com I was looking for videos anything to just get me started in the right direction because I had no help
and support. So my my training started with workout videos, you know, on my phone and just trying to piece together what it takes to Least lose some of the weight and diet at this point, wasn't even a thought I thought that training was what have people been in healthy. So, I went through a couple years of that, where I did lose
the first 10 pounds. Now, like, in high school, my weight was about 110, by the time that I was 21, 22, I've gotten up the highest, I saw the weight, get up there was 147, which me on a five foot four Games. That was more than enough to finally put my foot down and say aye. This is an issue so I can stop it now or I'm gonna regret it later. If I continue this path, do I was able to knock down the first ten pounds and I was pretty proud of that.
But you know, you can only kill yourself in the gym so much for the party when the training. So eventually I asked for a personal trainer to help me. So I did hire a personal trainer to work on. For make sure I was lifting properly, I do have a couple sports injuries, so lifting properly is really important. With anything that I do. So he worked with me on a lot of things, and he also mentioned diet a few times, but that wasn't a specialty. So, I kind of just ignored it thinking.
If I keep training, if I keep lifting heavy, if I keep running on this treadmill, I'm going to lose all this weight. So I kind of was just maintaining my weight at that point. I was on the whole loaf at higher carb, high protein diet because I thought that's what was healthy. So, I continued to this diet for A few more years and then are at 25. My mother who I was visiting in Ohio is currently living in Chicago. But I'm from Ohio.
She noticed a lot of changes. She noticed that I was exhausted all the time. I was taking naps, every single day, she noticed that my my had mood swings, very irritable irritable. So she just as a mother, she told me like I think something's wrong and that we need to go see a doctor. So I ended up in Chicago, going to see a specialist. You just went through a whole lot of questions to kind of figure out how I felt and where I was not just physically but you know, met with like hormone
imbalances and things like that. So when I'm doing some blood work and he told me at 25 years old, my blood work was similar to a 56 year old woman already going through menopause. I looked physically healthy, but inside I was a disaster. So I, yeah, I left that doctor's. An appointment sobbing thinking at 25 years old, why am I doing this? What's going on?
And he even told me that like my estrogen, everything was so off that if I wanted to have kids at that point, I couldn't because my body wasn't able to so I was as horrible, it is to get that news. I was excited that he wanted to be really proactive with me. I didn't want to do anything with medication. So the first way of attacking this was through through food and this is kind of Like, the beginning of me learning that everything that I knew about
food was wrong. So he initially told me to get rid of the brains start adding more leafy greens, specifically avocados, things like that. And I remember thinking it was crazy, like I'm Asian. What do you mean? No rice. That is a part of my culture. Like you're telling me not to breathe and he's like, I promise you, it's okay. Just just get rid of it.
So I started implementing some of the changes that he asked me to To do and being young and kind of naive in like I'm not going to do all of it, but I'll make some of the changes. And I did notice, my body started to change and feeling a little healthier than apps or reduced. My energy, levels changed a little bit. So, I noticed that diet was starting to really affect how I
felt. So I decided to dig a Little Deeper from there, it kind of sparked my curiosity and Obviously years of are to a couple years of killing myself in the gym that wasn't working. I wasn't getting the results they wanted. So let's run with diet. Let's see how diet affect me. So I ended up getting in touch with a diet, dietitian prep coach, one of my girlfriends did did any competitions with him but also recommended him for
diet. So I went to him and be we did a quick consultation in person and even it said to me like you've built the figure if you want to do bikini competition, you're already almost there. We just got to get the diet down so I was excited like okay this is like my road to being fit and healthy is but working with this guy and looking like these women on stage these beautiful figures their detail their physiques. That's what I want to look like because the me I thought that
was healthy. So I started working with him for a few months and at some point he's like I want to One a keto diet I have never heard of this. I've never researched it. I was kind of just a little soldier that okay whatever you say. I'll just do it and going into it. I really wish and this is something I preach is that you need to know what you're doing, or at least know why you're
doing something. Don't just do it to someone tells you to I ended up having one of the worst transition with the phaedo flu. And again, I didn't even know what it was but I thought I was going to go to the hospital. I was laying in bed. Bed in a city that I'm not from with no friends, no one to help me. I felt so awful and thank God. People from work were willing to take me to the hospital but I needed to because like, I'm I'm gonna dump this out. I don't know what's going on.
So that was definitely my horrible experience with Geeta was going into it and not knowing why, and not having the support of coast to properly. Helped me through that transition, it was just like, there's your program, we're going to move forward so I wasn't happy with that.
The experience. But once I started Ito and becoming fully adapted, I noticed the weight started dropping, I was suffering from acne all over my face and my back, I've had that for years, all of that cleared up, I just from stress levels my hair. Sometimes it followed a little more than normal and uncie do that stopped. I've noticed that the like symptoms like that had change. My energy levels went up. My my gut I stopped loading.
I stopped doing Did everything was working really smoothly. So I started noticing all these positive changes on this diet and when we started getting closer and closer to a couple months away from the show, he wanted to put me back on carbs and I actually said no I said you know what, I feel so good. My body feels so good, why would I come off of it? So I went from having the mentality of I need to be in a prep show. I need to compete.
I want to look like that. Be healthy through being on this new diet finding finding all these Made it benefit and then refusing to come off of it. Because why would I do something to work backwards and put myself in a position of not feeling as healthy? So I decided to just be an example of being on a healthy diet and incorporating exercise and living a, what I feel is to be really healthy lifestyle.
So that is, that is my goal and what I've taught them to today is wanting to just be an example for those that, you know, maybe they don't want Compete on stage and I don't think that's everyone's goal. But to be able to live the keto lifestyle, get some exercise in and and just be a human being without what the stage is kind of brought to us because that's where we only see fit people because as you know, obesity is
very normal. Now, that's what I thought was healthy and it's not and I want to portray what it's like to just Use the tools the diet and the exercise, the be able to live a life and feel good about it. Yeah, I can totally get behind that.
It's interesting. A lot of people, you know, they jump into keto because I wanted to do some kind of short-term fix lose a couple pounds for an events but then they fall in love with it from a sustainability and lifestyle standpoint and then it motivated his stick with it which is that's that's that's the end goal in my opinion. That's what you should strive for. Absolutely. And people ask me that is one of the questions I get the most is Is it sustainable?
And if you feel healthy and you feel, if you've seen all these positive changes, why would you go back to the same habit that got you to the place? You didn't want to be any longer. So when I say it sustainable, I mean I don't count my calories, I don't weigh myself, you know, I don't have to measure my Foods anymore, since I have learned what proper portions are. And as you as your hunger levels naturally, drop on this diet, you don't even have to worry
about calories. And Portion sizes anymore, your body, just knows what it wants. So it's very sustainable and being able to have a diet that doesn't stress me out has just added so much positivity to my life kind of percent plus I mean you're eating quality Wholesome foods. Like if you're doing key to the right way, you're eating quality Wholesome foods which takes so much the guesswork out of it.
Like if you're trying to do you know flexible dieting or If It Fits your Macros approach and you're trying to make Pop-Tarts seemed like the right way to go. I mean, in the back of your mind you know that That's not healthy whereas with keto you should be in Wholesome foods and you know you're doing something good for
yourself. Absolutely. And and I didn't come across a lot of that information, until I kind of continue to dig deep into what I was going through and, you know, how to improve pedo. And when I'm doing cardio, I hate I hate doing cardio home, I hate the treadmill. Well, I'll pop up, either like on Spotify or YouTube and I'll watch whether it's doctors information on keto. I like to sit there and listen and I'll just continue my own education and see what I can
find. and that's why I came across the grass that grass-finished, whether you know, it's instead of it pasture-raised eggs, so the quality of food absolutely make the difference and I really tried to I don't want to say push that on my clients, but I try to educate them so that they can make the best decisions possible. And a lot of people ask me, how can, how can you afford that?
I can afford it. Well, I went from having three, four, five meals a day protein, shakes snacks and never feeling full never feeling satiated. That's a lot of money and now I'm going to one to two meals a day. I saving a lot of money. I'm also not going to the doctor's anymore because I feel fantastic. So I continue to save money. Like your own health insurance by buying products that are way higher in nutrients and better quality than these process bagged and boxed food.
Absolutely, I hate it. When people try and use the price point argument, for you know, not jumping into ketogenic diet. And because it's, if you look at all the variables and all the, all the things that you have to spend money on throughout the course of normal carbohydrate-based that I would venture to say that you're spending a lot more than you think you are.
And then like you said, you're not going to spend the money on the doctor's visits and all the pills and prescriptions if you're giving your body the right food and on top of that, I mean you don't have to like a poorly formulated ketogenic diet with subpar, you know, beef is still going to be better than you know, an extravagant carbohydrate based diet. So even if you are less at an advantage with the, you know, the price point, you can still make it work and still reap the
benefits. Absolutely, I think that moving to grass-fed grass-finished wild pot. You do everything. That I worry about focusing on your percentages, the fats, proteins and carbs and then as things get rolling, start moving towards better quality foods. You can't have pork rinds for every meal and assume that that's healthy and I've seen that, you know, someone submits like oh I had pork rinds and pecans for lunch. Like that's not exactly a meal you want to snack on something
like that. That's fine. But you still have to worry about quality of nutrient on this diet and that's really what it's about is just eating Foods that were meant to eat. And unfortunately the food industry has just worried about a dollar with extending its shelf life and adding all of these, these chemicals and the things that we shouldn't be eating.
And that's I think what is really hurting us, so kind of avoiding that as you continue to develop your ability of like maintaining Beto going in that direction is one of the greatest things. That's what I credit. The right, my lean physique was the fact that I don't eat any of those things. Zai by organic, I buy grass-fed and at only two meals a day and one of those meals is eggs, it's pretty cute. When it when it comes down to it, I think I'm saving way more money.
Then again, the five meals in the protein shape, Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of people don't take into consideration the absorption of the food you're eating. I mean if you're eating substandard foods and minimal quantity of that food is actually getting absorbed and used by the body. It's going to be a larger quantity of food.
But if you're getting the higher end, you know, truly quality and Foods. You're going to absorb a lot more of it. So your body's going to, it's going to be stretched a lot farther for what it's been able to do inside you internally. So it's from a price standpoint, it really, it really makes a lot more sense to do it, right? You know. Absolutely.
You can you can buy supplements but if everything's not prepared correctly, like it is in nature they're not going to absorb some of those nutrients so you're kind of just throwing your money away. I'm getting all of my nutrients as intended from nature. The way that I should be getting it and my body is never felt better and I don't need a doctor to tell me what to do to feel good because it's like Diet is a tool. It's not the only answer but I feel like I found what has worked for me.
And the fact that I feel so good, that's a doctor's opinion is not going to change. If maybe you should have carbs things like that. For example, my dad. I just went home and found out that he was a type 2 diabetic and they had them on insulin high blood pressure, but I decided to put them on a keto keto diet and within a few weeks his blood pressure. I'm sorry his blood sugar's fasted, get it, he had ever surgery, that's I went home.
Home or at 2:30 which the doctors have said about and I was upset about and by the three weeks later when I left his blood sugar's were back down in the 80s and I was so proud of him and then he went to the doctors and of course the doctor was like I want you to put cards back in your diet. I'm like, oh my God. So well, it's unfortunate. I know you know if he has a piece of poster something every once in a while that's fine. They're very old school.
They're, you know, they're not going to go to the Internet and look for all the information like some, you know, I'm capable of doing. They barely know how to even turn on the computer. So I try to give them as much information as possible, so, if he has a piece of toast, I'm fine with it, but I'm just happy that even with him being so uneducated about Quito and willing to trust me a little bit
and see those changes. Is it you can see how it impacts somebody just to take them not completely down the keto diet because he is having a little bit of carbs but just to remove all those refined and processed foods, huge changes. Yeah, it really is night and day. I mean, I commend you for, you know, trying to get your dad to educate on heat and what it is. It's hard, you know, we talking to like, your parents, your grandparents.
I've had to struggle with this. I can't tell you how many times like my parents and my dad specifically, and my grandparents like, Talking to an older School generation about what you do is and how to research it and why it's important. It's like it just is very hard to get through to him so I commend you for for making some
progress there. Yeah. I would have to say that with my parents when I come home and visit, I will kind of raid their cabinets and throw out all the junk and then just replace it then we can see this is much better to use. So this way it's like me encouraging it I'm not going to really explain it. There's like okay we'll use it. Yeah that's great. But when it comes to just being feet, No, I personally don't know anyone that's droopy do. So I'm kind of like the Oddball
out all the time. I order last at the restaurant so I don't really make a scene where Everyone's Watching Me modify my order. So it's a little bit of a hassle but it's completely worth it because my health is a priority. Absolutely. When you were 25 and you're getting that blood work back, do you? I know you said you weren't paying much mine too. What's your nutrition was looking like? Then you're focusing mostly on the training.
Do you remember if you You know, really under eating like trying to just avoid eating in excess at all and just training very hard. Like so you think your blood work being poor? May have been a result of malnourishment. So I mean, I've never had a problem with undereating, I'm an ear which is why you do work so well, for me is because I do overeat Thursdays.
I hit 4,000 calories. I'm like, dude, that was kind of a lot, I probably should cut back and then on a low end for me. I'm heading around 1400 calories, and that's it. I track. So overeating has always been my issue but again, it's just over eating foods that were really processed. Like the pancakes pancakes were always a big thing on leg day for me. I ate my pancakes before leg day and then I went and framed lots of rice, lots of carbs and low
quality proteins. That pretty much just been provide anything for me, so it was just a complete imbalance of nutrition and it completely Through my hormones out of whack. So for my doctor to step in and give me the complete opposite of what I was eating was a bit of a shock, but again, he was, at least willing to work with me on diet because I did not want to be put on medicine for thyroid or anything else. And for him to want to work with me than against me was an absolute blessing.
It is cool that both your coach and your doctor both advocated, the lower carb approach. I mean that's, that's seems to not be Be so common out there. These days, I would have to say that he did. He did ask for me to eat yams. He's never included. Processed food. He always wanted me to go. Is more like a Paleo style. I guess he wanted me to eat yams for estrogen. So when he started telling me how Foods affect my hormones and what kind of hormones, that's where I got intrigued.
So that ain't encouraged me to kind of go and do my own little research and start figuring out how diet does affect the body. But I just again just being young, I was like, you know, maybe I can kind of get away with some of these things and then I'll listen to him on some other things but trial-and-error, you've got to be able to not be afraid of diet. Not be afraid of food and that took me a long time to realize is that it's okay to kind of experiment and see how your body responds.
And after years, again, even with Vito, I'm still experimenting. What am I sensitive to? How do I feel? He'll keep the variables really low with my food so just at least having a doctor. And again, dietitian put me in that direction was just something that I had. Never I never experienced that, it would come to where I am today with being able to work with people and preach. What I love and have to do as my passion, it's completely changed my world.
Yeah. And plus, I mean when you when you find interest in it, you're more lucky to want to dive into the research and the science and manipulations that you can. You know, make and change with whatever the variable may be, but as far as nutrition specifically is concerned, I mean, there's nothing cooler than to be able to look at your body as I can experiment. And then able to tweak these subtle things and notice a pretty significant change and then get excited about the next change.
I mean, that to me is, is is fun and enjoyable. So when you, when you kind of put the power back into your own hands, as far as what you're consuming, and you're being able to quantify the benefits that you come. They come from it. I mean, that's That's what life is all about figuring out. What works, what doesn't work and then adjusting accordingly, really? And I think we've built a fear of, am I doing this wrong?
It's okay. If you try and you fail, failure is a part of success and if you're at a starting point, obviously some of the decisions that you're making are failing you, and it's time to make those changes and you're not going to know what's working for you until you tie and even, even to this day, I think I've gotten my diet down, but there are times
and I go a little stricter. And start removing certain things and then if I eat something I noticed that my baby, my gut doesn't feel as good or I am a little bloated. I'm a little tired. Okay, my body doesn't respond really well to that. I'll keep that in mind, moving forward and, and we shouldn't be fearful of full of food. I mean, we need it. It's something we need to survive. It's just figuring out the foods
that we need to eat. And I think on the keto diet, like I said, being a Binger, I have a binging habit, being able to eat until I'm satisfied and And having those suppress hunger levels, have really allowed me to listen to my body. Rather than always feeling hungry because I wasn't getting the nutrients and then feeling like I'm snacking constantly. So it's just given me a peace of mind and having that peace of mind and then pushed me into, okay, what can I do with food?
How can I experiment with it and it's really given me that freedom I think Vito if I had to sum it up in one word is freedom. I completely agree. I mean, I was kind of on the opposite of the spectrum. Would I would under eat? Why would over each?
I would binge then I would like under eat trying to recoup from that and I never really had a good idea of what true satiety was and I was always just getting these skewed, the skewed feedback from anybody because I was eating just some poor nutrition and went even nutrition-related just no crap. And then when I switched over to kedo, I was able to really quantify what my body was telling me. And then I kind of just more in tune with what actually needed and I wasn't getting those false.
Has anymore. So I had an idea of what enough was or what to little was then I can adjust accordingly but you're absolutely right Quito from a sustainability standpoint and from a just instinctive standpoint you're able to read correctly that the feedback you're getting from your body and then make those adjustments and it just becomes much more sustainable enjoyable. You don't have to take the take the guesswork out of eating basically and I'm not I don't
get me wrong carbs to an extent. Are the enemy but I don't think you need to remove them forever. I live with a bodybuilder who eats carbs and I see that it does work and he only eats carb-free and post-workout. Everything else is very low in carbs. So he's learned. What's worked for his body with including those carbohydrates and he feels fine with it and I think that if that works for you that's fantastic but it's he's not eating the bags and boxes
food other than maybe, right? That's This carbohydrate and then I do see him on Sundays, like he does the binge eating of all the junk food. And I remember when I was going through the whole body builder mentality, like Sunday's are my cheat day, I'm gonna eat all this junk food and just not ruin, all my hard work, but it worked against me, wasn't working for me. So I don't think that you have to remove carbs for the rest of your life.
But once you can at least get to your goals and start balancing out your hormones and healthy blood sugar levels and all that stuff. Then you're more than welcome to enjoy the pretzel. Or if you want to have the donut, go ahead. I do that occasionally to and I don't beat myself up over it. You get right back on the Kyoto train and you keep pushing forward.
You don't have to Guilt Trip yourself over it and just in that you keep seeing results because when you eat healthy and it specifically me for keto 98% of the time, you know, that one little tiny carbohydrate meal, doesn't completely throw me off and It makes me feel okay. They used to build myself so bad
doing those things. So again it's just my attitude towards food is completely changed with her feet has allowed me to physically and mentally feel yeah, you definitely want to be a slave to food like when you start, you know, playing these mind games and guilt tripping over things just becomes a really negative feedback loop that spirals out of control. And then, then food is winning and you're kind of like at a loss as to how to recover.
But for me, I mean, in others, like yourself having a ketogenic Is your foundation. Makes it much much easier to stay within reasonable nutrition for sure, with you being a coach and interacting with all the clients that you do.
What would you say? I mean, I know we're all individuals and we have bio individuality but what are some of the main pillars that you see people making mistakes on it relates to Quito, and what is your advice to kind of mitigate against that when it comes to my clients with be do? I do a very similar. Our style of approach for bodybuilding. Why have them do all the meal prepping and after a couple weeks I know they're they transitioned they're feeling really good.
I have them take over a day of their own meal so they can start making those choices and getting comfortable and they have to submit their meals to me. So if they're eating nothing but pepperonis and pork rinds all day, then we can make those Corrections. So I think that one of the biggest things for me is there quality of foods voices, that's number. One. And then some anything that's really minor would be something like not getting enough electrolytes and things like
that. But everything's so controlled in the beginning because I want them to have the smoothest transition possible. And I think that's the biggest part that a lot of clients here. That's those, are the questions that I get the most is, I don't want to get sick, I don't want to feel awful and I keep hearing about this keto flu, but you combat that with it really well planned and formulated diet where, you know, you're getting these high nutrient density.
Then and and your moderate activity, to kind of get you through emptying your gas tank and into fat burning mode. The quality of food is definitely something. I think people have to work on the most just because sometimes convenient, especially if they have a busy lifestyle, it is not the best food choices, and it's learning that taking that extra couple minutes to go get a healthier version of food. It's got to be more beneficial than just picking up a pepperoni
lights or something like that. Lily, absolutely. It's becoming easier and easier to, with all the companies coming into the marketplace and putting in there, just slapping the word keto on the labeling. So it's half the time. It's not even really a truly ketogenic food particles, just the easy, grab and go, you know, oftentimes card base product with key to on the label and it's it's enforced because people are not digging deeper into nutrition.
They're just grabbing what they see at the onset. Something says keto must be Quito and they're not really putting any attention to focus on. On the quality of the ingredients themselves. Absolutely. And the big companies are getting really smart with their marketing strategies on what to
put on the labels. Like you said, but want taking the time to actually turn over and look at that ingredient list and that's going to tell you what did and there's there's all these drunk sugars and oils that I would never want and doom and I understand that we want quick, grab and goes and sometimes we do need that. But what's really great about the keto diet? Did you conclude When fasting.
So you know what I can't make it the breakfast but you want to hold off a couple extra hours until I get a real meal in and, you know, you're not going to sit there be and be starving to death because your body has an unlimited growth or thick and full from which is your body fat reserves.
So, I've found that I don't need to run and grab that protein shakes that I used to do all the time or you know, these these facts that aren't healthy and I can easily keep the pecans walnuts Macadamia and things like that in my in my bookbag or purse or ever I'm pairing and completely prevent from going off and getting something that isn't as high nutrient dense. So it's there's there's little tricks that you can do to prevent you from kind of going off the path and be able to
continue. Staying with quality food. Yeah, hundred percent and that's why I very little sympathy for people that Veer off Quito when they're in like a work event or they're traveling or something like that and a readily available. Keto food is not right in front of them and they opted for whatever. Is being offered to the general public. I mean, there's always time to wait and get something that's
more suited towards your goals. I mean, there's no reason you can't add a couple more hours to your fasting time and function, probably even better than if you had eaten a meal in between because the longer you're fasting, the more these for me, the more mentally clear. I feel anyway. So there's always always reason to make sure you get the quality foods and if you don't have them, you can always wait a
little bit longer. Even it like social events are probably the hardest, especially with having to go out and Whether it's like the weddings and birthdays and those things usually get me and that's kind of where I'm like, okay it's all about just minimizing the damage minimize the damage and you know again just get right back to it as soon as you leave that event but I'm the person that's like picking all the meat off the tacos it and I don't know what sauce was used and I don't know
where the figures are coming from but I guarantee like if you minimize the damage, you can just get right back on the keto training. Keep moving. Board. And it's a lot better than tossing it up in the air, and throwing it out the window. And then having to kind of pick yourself out a ketosis and start all over again. So, even when it comes to not having much of a voice, you can still make dumb choices to minimize the damage and prevent yourself being completely.
Absolutely. So with that said, like when you're, you know, have your own kitchen and you've got access to everything you need. What is a optimal day of eating? Look like for you live. How do you say? Structure your nutrition throughout the course of a day. So, everything in our home, I do all the shopping. The only thing that process, I think the marshmallows that I might put on Joey's baked potatoes.
Every once in a blue moon, when I make those, but everything is very to my diet or to his, I don't allow drunk food in the home, otherwise I know him and I will eat it. So, that's my number one defense. Just not bring it in the home, but at this point, I usually eat two meals a day. My first meal is always Exile. Do One to two tablespoons of grass-fed butter with anywhere from four to six eggs and that Neil Perry's me throughout the, throughout the afternoon, into the evening.
We're all finished off, my second meal, sometimes it'll be steak and eggs. Sometimes it could be like, a really big salad. I will listen to kind of what I'm in the mood. For I, I don't really plan anything just because I know everything is Ito food. So, I kind of just pick what I'm in the mood for And as long as I'm safe, dated, which I always am. Usually it's two meals a day. Sometimes the most difficult part for me is that my partner is not veto this ee, the four
five sometimes six meals a day. So watching someone else eat is very difficult for me. So even if I'm not hungry sometimes if he's going to Five Guys up like you know what go ahead and grab me a Patty with cheese and bacon, lettuce wrap and then and it is tactically Emil. Yes. Nothing. But I'd rather have something that's in front of me. That's so friendly than not. So I usually have two meals. Occasionally, we'll have a third.
If someone else is eating in front of me, and I've got to have Somethin to ya. Think two meals, a day is pretty much my no. I'm too. I think when you're he do having that first meal a little bit later in the day and then, you know, dinner meal, it seems just work really, really well as far as the eggs are concerned. Why, why are you so adamant about, they just from the nutritional profile, you Just really like eggs, a couple of
reasons. I want to love eggs and when I was about seven months ago or so, I did an egg fast challenge now to make it more of a challenge. Usually, from what I understand, you do an egg basket, like three to five days, but really kind of helped break through plateaus because there's no carb. Basically, it's just high fat, great weight. Quality nutrients. I end up doing it for 14 days, just to make it a challenge, which I don't exactly recommend it, but I decided to do it.
And even as lean as I am, I managed to drop 9 pounds and I felt amazing, which is crazy. I'm like, I'm only eating eggs. You're allowed to have some low carb condiments. And I think the cheese but the fact that I felt such high energy levels. I was amazed with how my body felt of that level of fat, with no vegetables. So that almost turned me on to that this egg, but like carnivore style eating. So, again, this is where experimenting trial and error and seeing how you feel.
I think comes into play, but being Doing that experiment I'm like wow my body feels so amazing with the protein, the type of food and I just enjoyed it again. I loved eggs. So since then I've just always Incorporated eggs as my first meal because it's just Rock, Bottom carb, rock-bottom insulin levels and it keeps me still full throughout the day. I've just kind of Incorporated that into my routine, that's always my first nail.
Yeah, they are really feeling like when I'm doing a contest prep, will do a bunch of scrambled eggs because you get a lot more volume. It seems and it kind of Psychologically works better with the mind and it makes it easy to go through a Prep High regs are. So what it is is a couple hundred calories for anyone that wants to cut the calories. It's like you can only eat so many eggs in your pool where I can scarf down a lot of food.
So so that kind of like gives me the volume and gives me gives me the food that I want each me satiated and then I'm not really overeating. And there's even times where if I get hungry at night, I'll say, okay, do I want eggs? And if I don't want eggs and I'm really not that at hungry stuff like kind of use it to balance myself out. What about, what about train? Let's, let's dive into training because just in, you look on your Instagram part of this
call. I could tell it you're an advocate for lifting hard and lifting heavy. And I'm a huge believer in that as well. You don't see a whole lot of females that take that approach and I think that is absolutely the direction. People ought to look more so than what they do. Because that's where so many of the gains come from both from a compositional standpoint. Is from a ability standpoint,
really? I think that women should live and they can lift heavy and a lot of people get worried like, oh, you're going to get bulky, you don't accidentally get bulky. You intentionally have to sit there and lists and lists and know what you're doing to get to the level of these Elite athlete. This isn't just something you fall into.
So I've been Lifting for about two years more for weight loss, and then the last three years to build And that's because as a female, you know, we're supposed to have this curvy feminine physique and as an athlete I don't have that I have a very boxy square frame and I was never really confident in how I was built. So, with bodybuilding, I find this beauty in being able to State myself. So, by building out my laps and my shoulders and building out my
quads and the glutes. I was able to kind of give myself a little bit, more of an hourglass shape frame. So the fact that I have power over changing my physique, there's certain things I can't roll, I enjoy that and being able to see a little bit more of those curves. I'm way more confident than when I was just like lean. Stick figure tone. So I've been able to lift heavy with proper form and get the changes that I want and that I think are beautiful for my own body.
And I think that training the way that I've trained hard and heavy has been able to not only continue to feed my results for its weight loss. But physically, I feel better stronger healthier than I was when I was in high school competing or, you know, in my early 20s in the beginning, you mentioned that you were pretty insecure in the gym that you didn't know what you were doing, from a training standpoint.
How did that transition happen from from that to feeling confident, and lifting hard and heavy like you do know? So even as as The coats, I'm Ali, the student. It, you can always learn. So, when it came to me in the beginning, being very intimidated, it's just, I had no Direction when you have no Direction, you're not going to stick to something. So that's why I started following. People like Michelle Lewin, for example, she started putting out great content of.
This is how I train on Mondays, on Tuesdays on Wednesday. So there are these people that you can follow to get motivation and great Insight. So that's where I started with. Where can I get good information content. So I started following their routine, and one of my big things is having a workout buddy, because I sometimes was really terrible at holding myself accountable. But having somebody to come with me and push me and, you know, comedy, stop making excuses on. Didn't want to go.
That kept me going in the beginning, it's not every day, you're going to be motivated, but you got to keep going anyway. So having a workout buddy to kind of go through that reduce some of my fears of walking into the gym and being that person that didn't know what they were doing. I wouldn't even walk through a water fountain if I didn't Where it was. I don't want to be that person that looked like I was lost.
I was so intimidated by everything so I started developing Confidence from watching and learning from other people. I would see them at the gym that person looks like they know what they're doing. I'm going to wash a little bit I'm gonna look at their form. I'm going to see what exercises are doing but I really want learned from my environment and anything that I didn't know. I would Google it. I would you two-bit whatever I
could to find that information. So as I became more comfortable, My friends that did work out would start asking me to start work out with them and then I started learning from them. And most of the people that I work out with were males, most of my male friends, all went to the gym and that's how I started getting into lifting heavy was because I didn't want to be the girl that was like, no. Take the weights off. I want to go lighter. There were like Crystal. Just do it. You can do it.
And all of a sudden I'm pushing is the same exact weight as they are and it was a confidence boost. Like oh my gosh, why am I pushing this much weight? I know. Never would have done that without somebody motivating. Me being behind me and tell me just to get it over with and get it done. So that's where I started lifting heavy was because I had people telling me that I could do something.
So absolutely having the right people in your environment to motivate and push you I think is completely crucial to your success and and moving forward and that's for anything. It's not just the gym. That's for everything. In life is to have the right people around. You totally agree. A lot of people, I mean, like, with anything. Like you said, if they don't 100% know the right, Way to go about it. They just put up a wall almost and look the other way.
But if if you want to, you know, shape your physique to look a certain way. At some point, you're going to have to just bust down that wall and and train.
And the only way to do that correctly as just a, you know, own up on those insecurities and jump into it and learn as you go. I mean, when I first started lifting that didn't have a blast doing either but learning it and in recognizing your faults and had improve upon them that that becomes part of the journey, that that makes it fun in the
first place. I mean, you can get it Excited about learning a new exercise or a new technique, or adjusting the way, you grip the barbell, and seeing the difference that makes and how your muscles develop. I mean, all that is just as it is with your nutrition kind of like going through and figuring out what works and what doesn't work. That's what makes this whole process enjoyable and sustainable and educational for for many many years to come happily.
And as you continue to develop your knowledge and your skills and you continue advancing, it's amazing. Kind of like the world that does open up and the people that you can Everett with and I mean, I'm very very blessed to have Joey school as well. Everyone knows my story as well as my boyfriend because he's so knowledgeable. I love picking his brain and him and I occasionally do train together on certain days where, at least I can kind of hold the
similar waste to him. He has a few injuries. That's the only reason why I can push the same weight is because he has to go a little lighter but being able to learn from him and even some of these other people that are competitors, I I've been able to train with one to learn from them but also because I'm able to contribute from from going out and learning on my own. So to continue advancing that knowledge. I no longer look at the gym as intimidating. It's like it's a playground.
I can take a single machine and figure out for different exercises to hit different angles and hand grips, and to be able to play around with that, it's exciting because then you start noticing different results. Start noticing feeling store and different ways because you haven't done something like that. It's very exciting, one to see results and then to not be intimidated anymore, that's probably one of the better accomplishments that something where you know, you walk in and
you're confident. That's, that's a really positive thing. Yeah, yeah, that's huge. How do you structure your split? Are you doing, like a like a stereotypical bodybuilding split or do you have it broken up differently? So I don't look at Monday's. Is this? These days is that I absolutely listen to my body, but it's the point now where I feel like I've died Got my physique, and from lifting heavy, I've been able to
build the muscle. I want them actually in the stage of not just maintenance, but I kind of want to tone it down a little bit. And just worried about lightweights flow control. Time under tension, all about the squeeze. I don't need to go as having anymore. The only time I go heavy is legs because it's your largest muscle group. I want to I want to trigger all those fat burning hormones. And I like a really good sweat, but when it comes to working
out, I like to do legs one day. I'm now currently starting to split them up from the quads one day and then hamstring connect those you do like quads and then I'll do back and then I'll hit the hamstrings and the next day I'll probably hit like some shoulders and arms, I rarely workout fast or do ab work, just ABS, you're going to do during all your compound movement. You need to have like, a good strong ABS to really complete, a lot of the movements that I am doing especially with some of
the ways. So, I don't really worry about chest and abs, but everything else. I kind of just go back and forth. And with being able to focus on the squeeze. And the time under tension, I've noticed like, my recovery is definitely a lot better, and I've noticed that the targeting those muscles in that way. I get a much better workout than trying to throw up a whole bunch of weight.
And then I start incorporating all the other muscles that I'm not specifically Target. So I've really gone from in the beginning overtraining pushing heavy weights to really Whoa. It's bold lighter-weight movement to just focus on the muscle group that I'm working on totally agree.
You know, like somebody could look at nutrition and if you take keto, for instance to the the nth degree in, you're looking at the, you know, EPA and DHA, sand all the different, you know, in a grid like detail, orientations of where your food is coming from, it's kind of like the equivalent to a training perspective, really getting into with the muscle, mind muscle connection and how all that ties in. That's like the next level. Oil.
And that is when it gets really interesting because you can truly see how each little variation of a movement really Taps into it, you know, triggering a certain muscle fiber differently than before and that's that's cool. I mean, when you're when you're that in tune with your body just as you are, when you're that into with your nutrition and mean it's just power at your fingertips and you can truly change how you look. Feel and perform. And that's just that's the Pinnacle.
Absolutely. I there's for example, something simple. Like the bicep curl. Hi sir. I used to be using the 20s thinking. I was all cool. Lifted, I'll have you next to people and now I'm using fives, maybe eight or tens and it's all about the squeeze and I'm getting dressed as good of a workout. If not I feel better than when I was recruiting all these other muscles that did it need to be recruited during a bicep
exercise. So it's really changed my perspective and just for taking things to do it better. It's Joey has a saying and I love it. It's not how much you live but how well you live. Really changed my perspective on my training in the gym, is to make sure that I'm lifting properly and lifting a weight that I'm able to control, that is made a complete difference in How I Live. Absolutely. What, what's on the horizon as far as I could?
Are you doing any competitions or any kind of events or anything that you're training for specifically? It just life in general. So when I first started in to Quito in Taquito, I wanted to do my first rap show and I was traveling back and forth. This is when Joey And I just started talking was, I think four months before my show,
those flying back and forth. And I didn't moving out to California when the show was originally going to be in Chicago. So it just, it didn't plan out the way that I originally thought it was going to be in my head, just things happen, but it was a discussion that I had with Joey, that I was fixing my hormones through diet and him, and I had the discussion that if you were, I wanted to really just go into a deficit and put my body into that position.
It's very Got four, female hormones and if I'm trying to fix that, I do working against myself and the fact that my body was already making all of the changes that I wanted to see and then move into that direction. I decided not to take a beat and I've never competed and people ask me that all the time because I do have striations. You can see definition. I don't carry a lot of body fat so a lot of people think I do
compete. But again I just I try to decide an example of this is what you can look like if you get your diet. Down. You do exercise that works for you and reduce stress get good, sleep. Have a lot of healthy habits, your body will respond in a very positive way, but when it comes to all the training and eating now, it's really, I'm at a maintenance point. I don't feel the need to build.
I've actually reduced almost my training and some of my cardio because my body is just so in tune with itself right now, I mean, I'm 30 years old and I'm turning 31. I never would imagine. In that I could feel this good this healthy the strong but it's just because a diet and training and like I said, the sleep and other habits that have allowed me to be in this position. Yes, that's a good healthy
relationship right there. Like when you, when you look good, feel good, perform good and your training and your nutrition are dialed in. I mean, life is better. That should always be viewed as like, the, the Apex, like the Pinnacle. That's what you're training for, and living for the competition's, the events, all that, I'm, that's great. Al I love it.
It gives you kind of a short term goal to strive for him and work at, but I think as long as you're living life and making that the priority, then then your rock's all out there. And I think that's where some people make the sacrifice is because now my career is Ito. It is my passion is my coaching.
It's working with people. The gym is my job, so I do get to put a little more time and effort, that is my priority where there's people review of families, you have kids, you're a nurse or doctor, it it whatever. You are, you have all these other priorities and I get that.
And those are important, those are jobs that you abscess put up with do. But don't forget to take care of yourself visit, you're eating the right nutrients and getting some exercise in and the right slaves, you're going to be able to put way more energy and effort with less stress into all those priorities without taking your body down in the long run completely agree. So with you kind of focusing more on maintaining right now. What are what are you excited about in the future? I want?
What are you? Get it for you, go into any of these kids and at conferences, I know your keto career. So to speak is really kind of gaining traction right now what's on the horizon for you. So I know that my presence on social media has grown largely because of who I am.
Oh I'm in a relationship with e is a really big influence that I love that I get to kind of kind of go with him to these places and meet all these amazing people and be in the environment that it gets to be and it's very motivating to go to these events and I've got to say as much as social media is integrated into his life. It's not so much mine.
My job, my goal is to one focus on my clients but I try to remove social media as much as I can because I really like being present I like doing what I can in real time instead of reporting it through a phone and thinking that's what my memory is going to be. So when it comes to like the conferences and things like that I haven't played around with them yet but with Everything that I'm doing that's kind of the direction that we're going and because as everything
continues to grow and move in that direction, I I'm kind of getting inspired and my passions christenings bro, where it's like, okay do you want to start reaching out if you want to start expanding? But my number one goal is always going to be my family life to take care of myself, my family, Joey, my dogs and just always work on being a really good person and as things are growing and continuing to change. I'm I'm changing in those directions. And kind of figuring out everyday.
It's it's so weird. How social media has grown to be so powerful. I'm learning to kind of manage my life and what I thought my life should be to switching over to what the possibilities. I really respect that.
I feel like social media is a great tool, it's a great resource that you could leverage to, you know, send a positive message to more people and have a broader scope and positively influence more people, but not at the expense of Of being present in living your own life to the fullest and those around you and your inner circle, I think if it ever comes to the expensive that some things need to change. So I completely agree and respect that for sure.
Because I think if more people viewed social media through that lens, like you just described the, the want to be a better place. Absolutely. I think social media is a pool. It's a restore, but we've allowed people, a lot of people have allowed their phones to be their life, and I know that, Social media is meant to keep us connected, but I think it's really disconnected us from having real relationships. And I want to make sure that my home life, my family life, my friendships.
Those are more important and being able to use social media to connect with people such as you. That's how I connected with Jason Witt Rock, and starting to expand that Network. That's what I want to use it for and then obviously to be a positive influence for anyone that might be looking for motivation or questions. I want to be a resource. Source for them where they can learn something or if they need to reach out.
Ask, that's what I want to be. I don't want to be someone that you just look at and put on a pedestal. That's not me. I don't want to be that. I want to be someone that you can reach out to. You can talk to if I don't know the answer, I'll find it for you or point you in the direction of where you can love it. I love it. That's that's 1% the right. I'll look in my opinion without a doubt will Crystal working people speak of social media, where can people go to find you
on social? I'm on Instagram. He do with Crystal and I just started a YouTube channel. I actually started about a year ago but I was never, I've never been comfortable in front of a camera.
So after the last year of kind of, putting myself out there and trying to get over my own fears and wanting to be more personable, I just started relaunching and I'm starting new videos for for YouTube. For Stover know, my last name is re n Tau. So I want to do a little bit more behind the scenes of not so filtered. Instagram is very Filter be kind of put like our best life out there and that's not always the case with YouTube. I really want to start doing more behind the scenes of into
my relationship, my daily life. What I do with training so this is going to be a whole new platform that I'm going to start taking off in a way more personable and organic feedback. Very cool. Yeah, YouTube is easy to stuff. I mean, it's not easy to put yourself on camera and just be honest and genuine sincere in front of a camera.
And It on social media and YouTube and that's not easy, but the but once you kind of bust through that Plateau just like anything, like we're talking about before with, you know, feeling confident in the gym before, you know everything. I mean, you put yourself out there on YouTube. I mean the the positive feedback you get it. It's motivating itself so that keep you, it keeps you wanting
to just put out another video. So definitely tip my hat to you on therefore for striving to go that direction. That's it's a very worthwhile direction of take things. Yeah. It's also very difficult because the other person in this household has Very big successful shoes to fill so, you know, him on camera, he's on it. Like I said, very delicate so well and I love listening. So when I'm doing something I'm like awesome, the closet hiding for you hear me. So I can do my own things and
then I don't feel judged, right? So it's great to learn from one of the best in the business. He's definitely very inspiring and so encouraging and it's something that I really appreciated having a partner that wants me to be successful with things that I'm Passionate about. So we've really become a really good team and I appreciate someone that's motivating me and pushing me to do what I love.
Yeah, that's, that's huge. I mean, you got to have that in order for a relationship to work moments, I feel very fortunate to have, you know, my wife. Chris her name's Crystal as well by my side because we've just been there to support each other. I think when you find that especially for in a similar industry, I mean it just the the sky's the limit you can just you can do anything.
Absolutely. And again that's where social the media should be used and being able to reach out to those people and show them possibilities. Educate have great content and to have a partner that is doing that with you. It makes life so much smoother because it's a whole different ballgame when you start putting things out there in public or in the public eye. So it's it really changes the game to have that person. Definitely, definitely will keep doing what you're doing, Chris,
let me know. You get the right Outlook. You get the right support system. So anything that I could do, Help with an Aikido Space, by all means. Let me know and best of luck going forward. I'll I'll link out to your social platforms there. So people can find your easy, but like I said, keep doing what you're doing. Thank you so much. I really appreciate this was the
first time that we've spoken. So I've really I've appreciated being on your podcast and getting to talk to you and I hope to get to know you more in the future as well. Absolutely, you're in. Are you in Texas as well? No. Currently in we just moved into La side of Hollywood. Yeah. So I lived in Chicago for two years originally from Cleveland. I'm a I'm an Ohio girl moved to Chicago for two years. And then I moved out here to California to be with my guy.
So we're currently out in La. Very cool, very cool. With a keto space is definitely growing out Nelly. So that should be a pretty good home base for you for sure. Absolutely, we get in, we get to travel around to different gyms. We never go to the same gym, few days in a row.
We just depends on the equipment, things like that, but I love being able to get to meet people and some people do come up. Asking people questions and I do notice that the interest people wanting to know more is out there, the hopefully being out there being with the answer their questions and inspires people gives them more confidence. At least try something. If something's not working, be willing to try something new on a percent, and you'll be finding that out with the YouTube for
sure. You going to be doing all kinds of new things. Absolutely, awesome. Oh, Crystal has been a pleasure look forward to speaking with you, again, in the future, like, say anything I can do, just let me know. Talking to you having a good day. Thank you so much for having me on. Absolutely take care.