The meaning behind individual health with Camilla Adams

Allie Hansen welcomes Camilla Adams to the podcast. Camilla shares her journey into health and fitness, starting with her desire to take better care of her body and her career as a massage therapist. She made a conscious decision to exercise every day until she learned to love it, and now fitness is a priority in her life. Camilla's routine varies depending on her goals and the season, but she consistently incorporates weightlifting and running. She emphasizes the importance of consistency in achieving any goal, comparing it to brushing your teeth - something you do without relying on motivation. Hello, this is your host, Allie Hansen, and welcome back to the Overcome and Become podcast. Let's get motivated. Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back. This is your host, Allie, and what do you think of the new intro? I love the background sound. I think it's so much more podcast-y and just gets you so excited to listen to it. This is an episode I have been waiting for. I've been nervous about what's so excited about. So when I do guests, I'm not going to do a life recap because I want them to be the star of the show. I want to hear their story, what their life is about, instead of me. So that's why I'm not going to do a life recap. But I am beyond excited to announce that we are having Camilla Adams on here. I have known her for a very long time. After we moved to Page when I was three years old, they were some of our very first friends. We've been really close with their family ever since then. And this is a woman that I have always looked up to. First of all, she is absolutely gorgeous. Like when I say stunning, she is just, like, jaw-dropping beautiful. But she is also one of the most hardworking, bad-A women I have ever met in my whole life. She has a big drive and passion for health and fitness, which is the main reason we are recording this episode. And I am so excited. So let's get into it. All right. I have Camilla sitting here next to me. Why don't you say hi? Hi. Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself so we can give the listeners a little insight onto who you are. Sure. Yeah. What do you want to know specifically, Jen? Just really anything. Do you have any fun facts, maybe some of your favorite things to do, hobbies? Okay. Let's see. Well, I'm 40 years old. I have two boys. They are 21 and 16, almost, just shy of 21 and 16. I'm married. I've been married since I was 18, so I got married super, super young. But some of my hobbies, I love to trail run. I like weightlifting. We live by Lake Powell, so I love to wake surf, anything in the sun, honestly. I enjoy warmer weather more than winter, but as long as the sun is out, then I can deal with most anything. Yeah. Well, that's me in a nutshell. Yeah. I love that. And I also love the sun. I feel like we share that as a big similarity. A lot of people on page love Lake Powell and love the sun because if you live here, then I feel like you would be wrong not to love the lake and love the sun. But that's awesome. So what I wanted to have you on is because you've been in the health and fitness game for a long time now, it seems like. I remember a while ago when you and Brigham really started getting into it, I feel like, because I was telling them a little bit about earlier how we've known you guys for a long time. Like right after we moved here, we became really good friends. So I don't know this personally, but I want to know what started your passion for health and fitness. Like why did you decide that that was something that you really wanted to get into? Fitness is kind of, I would say, it's interesting now because fitness has sort of become a little bit of a fad for people, I feel like. I remember when I was a kid, you know, there was like church aerobics and things like that, and our moms would get together. And, of course, it was probably a little bit of a fad back then, too. You know, this is the 80s, so the 70s and 80s, it was a bit of a fad also. Get together with your friends and do aerobics and, you know, listen to music and those sorts of things. So I guess it's probably went through different decades of fads, you know. But when I was a teenager, I wasn't really into fitness much at all. I did a little bit of running. I played softball, but I wasn't like, you know, real worried about the fitness aspect of any of that. But for whatever reason, after I got married, probably because I started having kids right away and I needed probably, number one, an outlet, but also my body felt different all of a sudden. You know, I was 18 and my body felt different. And so that's probably why I was pretty consistent going to the gym with my husband and, you know, going on walks and things like that. But I wasn't really serious about any of it, honestly. It was just kind of what we did, but I didn't really know what I was doing and I didn't really have any goals. A while back, several years ago, I remember thinking, you know, I'm getting a little bit older and I will probably have to start taking my health a little bit more seriously than just this casual, you know, do it kind of when I want to. And I knew that I needed to learn more about it as I got older so that I could take care of my body. And by trade, I'm a massage therapist. So I knew that I would have more longevity in my career if I was healthy and if I was physically fit. So I remember making this decision. It was actually a very conscious decision, but I told myself, I'm going to start weightlifting and exercising in some form every single day until I like it. And that goal seemed so, it seemed like a mountain to climb at that point in my life because I was working a lot. I had two little boys. I was so busy personally and, you know, in all aspects of my life, but I knew that I had to make my health a priority. And so that's the way I decided to do it. I told myself, you're going to do it every morning until you learn to love it. And I literally taught myself to learn to love it because I knew that it would serve me as I got older and as I continued in my career. So fast forward, I mean, it probably took, I'm not sure, a year maybe. And then one day, I remember waking up and I was like excited to go get my workout in. And I realized, oh my goodness, maybe now I reached that goal. Maybe I love it now. And I never really looked back. So I love it now. Yeah, well, that's one of the best things, listening to a bunch of kind of health and fitness podcasts and then just trying to do as much research as I can myself on health and fitness. That's one of the number one things they always talk about is you're never going to be able to stay consistent and to be able to do these things unless you learn to love it. Because the consistency part is the most important part, but it's also the hardest part. Because like Camilla talked about, she was very busy, you know, working a lot, had a family, and those things were priorities. But she also wanted to make sure that her health was a huge priority, which I think is absolutely amazing. I know we've had a couple young women's lessons in my ward, and we'll do little health and fitness things here and there. But some of my leaders always talk about the importance that they wish they would have gotten into health and fitness a little bit younger because as they got older, they wish they already had that head start of really prioritizing their health. Because coming from someone who is only 16 and, you know, looking at the grand scheme of things, that still is pretty young. I would say that we almost brush it off. We don't realize how important it is. And then at some point or another in your life, you would wish that you would have paid more attention to your health. And so now that you love fitness, you love weightlifting, you mentioned trail running and wake surfing, what is your routine like? Because I feel like I've heard different things, but I want to know it from the source. What your routine is on a daily. Oh, goodness. My routine changes depending on what my goals are. So I think when we're talking about health and fitness, it's important to realize that your goals are going to change, your priorities are going to change, and that's dependent on the time of life that you're in, the season. Sometimes it depends on the season. It depends on what you have time for, so what you can add into your routine. So currently, I'm in kind of a winter routine, which is more weightlifting than running. I do keep up with my running on the weekends and on my treadmill. I love my treadmill because I have to be to work before I have time to run in the light, and I don't love running in the dark because I'm on the trails. I'm not under streetlights and things like that. So I keep up with my running, but in a lot smaller amounts during the winter, and I usually weightlift five to six days a week. That also looks a little different depending on if I'm training for a race. So if I'm training for a race, then my weightlifting is lighter. It's more flexibility and higher reps. If I'm not training for a race, then, yeah, like right now, I'm in winter routine, so I'm lifting heavier and doing progressive overload and things like that. But six days a week, I'm either running or weightlifting. With your routine fluctuating a little bit throughout the different seasons and phases of your life, would you say that still continuing to be consistent is very important, especially if you're trying to achieve a specific goal or train for a specific race? Oh, yeah. Really with anything, whether it's health and fitness or any goal that you have in life, it really comes down to consistency. A lot of times, like you mentioned before, we're not always going to be motivated. You might be super motivated this morning or today, this evening when you get home from work. Tomorrow, you might have zero motivation. I always tell people it's kind of like brushing your teeth. How many times do you wake up and you're just super motivated to brush your teeth? No. I don't know that any of us really think about that anymore. We have to rely or we can't rely on motivation to brush our teeth. But just like our parents taught us when we were young or whomever taught us, they taught us to create those habits, the habit of brushing your teeth. So now we've all gotten so accustomed to it as adults that we wake up, we brush our teeth, and before we go to bed, we brush our teeth, and we don't think about it. We don't attach emotion to it. Fitness is the same, staying consistent with it. It looks differently for everybody. So my routine is for me, and someone else could have a completely different routine, and that really doesn't matter. It's the consistency of what you can sustain. So in every aspect of your life, I think just thinking of how can I get my movement in today and deciding how that looks for what you're going through and what you're trying to accomplish and sticking to that the best that you can. Of course, you have days that you're not going to feel like it. Of course, you have days, and there are obviously times when you take a break and you allow yourself that rest day, and that's taking care of your health also. That consistency in putting your health first, I think, is really important. However, you mentioned that your routine works for you, and that's going to look very different for someone else. I got into health and fitness kind of when I decided that I wanted to get into it more and start taking it seriously. I also weight lift. I still find myself trying to get into a routine of things, and I'm still really trying to figure that out. But with the discipline portion of it being probably, I would say, a good 80% of the time, you have to keep yourself disciplined. Do you have any tips or tricks on how you have developed your mind and developed your body to be like, no, I'm getting in the gym today, whether I want to or not? You hear lots of tips, and I actually utilize some of them. So in the winter, because it's colder, I do set my workout clothes out. Probably a lot of listeners have probably heard that tip before. It actually does work because I utilize it myself. If I don't have to go rifling through my drawers looking for something to wear, then it's a whole lot easier for me. I just crawl out of bed and grab my sack and get changed. That really helps. So that's one thing. Another thing is having a goal, so just deciding what is your priority. And at different times in my life, it's been different. Honestly, I've had priorities at times that were purely aesthetic. I wanted to look a certain way. I had an event that I wanted to wear something to. So even that, I reserve judgment on even those sorts of goals because I think really that's the biggest tip, is to figure out what drives you, figure out what's getting you in the gym. That is always more important than trying to think of a reason to get in the gym. If you already know what drives you, it makes it easier when you wake up. I do my workouts early in the morning, so it makes it easier for me to wake up early in the morning. If something is bigger than that feeling of, I'm tired or I don't feel like it, most of the time, you're not going to feel like it. Wow, that's amazing. Would you say that there is a lot of importance behind, because I know I am guilty of this for sure, and it's not a wrong thing to do, but a lot of people go to the gym to look a specific way, like you had mentioned. They want bigger biceps or they want their legs to look more defined, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but have you found yourself now, being in the industry for a while, have you found yourself going because it makes you feel good in more of a mental trait, or are there still, I mean, there's always going to be parts of you that want to develop a specific muscle, but is it more of a mental thing now? Yeah, I would say for me at this point in my life, it's absolutely an emotional and an overall wellness thing, more than anything. I have went through periods of my life where it was purely aesthetic, where I ate what I ate because I wanted to look a certain way, or I denied eating something because I wanted to look a certain way. I got myself in the gym because I wanted to look a certain way, and like I said, I reserve judgment on that, because I too have been there, and there is a confidence that comes from being able to, well, you know, I'll tell you, Allie, because I told you I'm a massage therapist, so I love the human body. I love the way muscles work. I love what they're capable of doing. I mean, it sounds kind of weird, but I love the way that the human body can be manipulated. So in a massage, you can feel those things. You can feel experiences that people have had. We hold our attention in certain places because of experiences we've had, grief that we've felt, sadness, trauma, so whether that's a physical trauma or an emotional trauma. When you create that skill to feel that, you can feel that in people, and the human body holds on to those things. And so if I can feel that as a massage therapist, then absolutely it's there, right, in myself. So I love when we're talking about even aesthetics, that aspect of fitness, I love how the human body can be manipulated, how it can be utilized. So for me, I wanted to look a certain way, and I did what it took to get there in my mind, and in the meantime, I'm not going to lie, I created some negative thinking habits, some negative thinking patterns, some behaviors that I really had to learn to overcome because it wasn't sustainable. So when we're talking even about consistency, some of those things, like you're going to age. I'm a 40-year-old now. We can't stay consistent forever, even with how we look, because we age. That's just life. So the consistency has to come from exactly what you said, from what your physical activity does for you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. For me, that's way more powerful than the aesthetics. Even though I myself was benefited, I will admit that, I felt better when I looked the best that I could, if that makes any sense. But that was for that time in my life. That was a priority for me at that time. I really wanted to see the human body be manipulated. I really wanted to see if I was capable of that also, and so I reserve judgment on that. I will never say that that's not important because there is a gratification that comes from having a goal, even if it's an aesthetic goal, and reaching it. There is a satisfaction and there is a fulfillment and even a confidence that comes from that. It does not come, this is the clarification though, it does not come from the way you look. It comes from the hard work that you put in to get there, if that makes sense. That's why I reserve judgment, because that's not our place to say whether that's how someone should do it or not. That's their own journey. That's their own experience. But there is something that comes from that. Like I said, it's not from how you look though. It is from the hard work that goes into getting that, to being able to accomplish something that you previously thought was never possible, if that makes any sense. So now for me, because I'm a 40-year-old lady, so aesthetics, your mentality looks you in the eye every time you see those wrinkles, and every time you see your body is dropping in places it didn't drop before. Things just change, and that's natural gravity of this planet and of aging, which is a very beautiful thing in itself. So now I have kind of moved past that aesthetics and more into long-term health, long-term sustainability and an emotional uplift. Now my health and fitness is really based around my general well-being. Can I move my muscles? Do I feel strong? Do I feel capable? Can I take care of my daily activities without being unduly fatigued or exhausted? And can I prevent injuries as much as is in my control while I age, while I go through this midlife? And that's really where my goals are now, and I see a huge benefit from it. There are days, anyone who really knows me knows that if I have to talk in church, if I have to do a presentation at work, if I have to do any of those things, you can guarantee I'm on a run that morning because that's how I pound it out. My mind is so much more at ease in those situations. You have that connection to something bigger than you, and that is your feet on solid ground. And you get that connection to something bigger than you, and it helps to calm your mind. It helps to really clarify your thoughts. And so anyone will know that I'm on a run if I have something big that I'm going to be presenting on or talking about or I need clarification in my mind. Yeah, because it's hugely emotional for me now. Yeah, you have to change that perspective of the way that works best for you. And I've never really looked at it like that with aesthetics, where it's not necessarily about the six-pack that you get. It's about the hard work that you put into getting that six-pack. And I think that that is honestly the best way you could approach it and go about it is with changing your perspective. And it's so important that you figure out what works best for you because oftentimes and so easily we compare ourselves to other people. It's so easy to look at someone else and be like, oh, but only if I did exactly what they do, then I'll look like them. It's so easy to do that when in reality, like Camilla talked about, and I'm sure knows way more about the human body than I do, with her wisdom and her being a massage therapist, is that people are so different in so many different ways. So we can't look at someone else and go, I want to look exactly like them, so I'm just going to do exactly what you do. You have to go through trial and error again and again and go through different failing points to be able to figure out what works best for you. And that's not saying that specific goals you have are unreachable. That's just saying that you might have to go at it with a different approach. And alongside of fitness, nutrition is just as important, if not more important. And I know Camilla is very good about nutrition, so I want to hear a little bit about what your nutrition is like, how you keep yourself motivated to eating clean and eating good, because personally that's something I probably struggle with the most because I find a lot of joy and love going out and working out early in the morning or late at night, but sometimes those three cookies just look really good every day. So what would your tips be, and how have you figured out how to maintain a healthy but also balanced nutrition point? How much time do you have? We've got enough time. Don't worry, girl. All right, so let's see. How do I find a balance? Well, right now I'm on a strict cookies and milk diet because that's what's in season. So back to when I was really worried or really concerned. Those aren't even the right words. Really focused on aesthetics. Let's go back to that. I created some very, very specific eating habits for myself based around those goals. I had just had two boys, both by C-section, both fairly physically traumatic for me, and I wanted to be able to—and probably if we look into it psychologically, it was the fact that I started at 18 and I kind of missed those prime years in my head. I kind of missed those prime years of looking a certain way and feeling a certain way. So that's probably the basis where it started. But anyway, I became pretty hyper-focused on what I was eating, what I was putting into my body, and a lot of it was for aesthetics. A lot of it was for these goals that I had. What I realized pretty quickly—well, actually not pretty quickly. It took me years. But what I realized is that that would be very difficult to sustain, that sort of eating. Do I regret it? No, absolutely not, because I did reach goals that I wanted to reach that I didn't think were possible. I did learn a lot. I learned a lot about food. I learned a lot about what makes me feel good and what doesn't make me feel good. I learned a lot about, I guess, learning how to not let food control me or to play into my emotions, but rather it became sort of a game, you know, like I control it. But I did learn through that process that it wasn't going to be sustainable as I got older, and I didn't necessarily want my kids to only remember me that way. So I went on another kind of priority to figure out how to balance my nutrition to where I would feel good. I could do my workouts. I could do my runs, try and alleviate injury as much as possible, but also have a life, because there for several years I didn't have much of a life in the way of food. And like you say, yeah, sometimes we just want those three cookies, you know. So I think once again it really comes down to your priorities. What are your priorities? Do you want to be able to enjoy every single, you know, family meal without worrying about it? That's a great priority. And so the rest of the week are you, you know, a little bit more careful, a little bit more mindful? Yeah, that's great. Do you, you know, what are your goals? I think it's the first thing when you're talking about nutrition and sustainability. What are your goals? I think the first thing is, you know, if you want to perform well, then you eat a little bit differently than you do if you want to just, you know, eat, drink, and be merry, if you want to just really live life. When I'm running a lot, I have to prioritize my carbohydrates. I have to, you know, otherwise I don't have the energy to sustain my long runs. When I'm weightlifting, I'm making sure that I'm hitting my protein intake. I think, once again, for people, it's easier said than done, but identify your priorities first. Identify what is it. Do I want to enjoy those cookies when my family makes them? Absolutely. That's a perfect priority. So decide what you're willing to do, you know, the other days so that you can sustain eating those cookies but still being able to perform like you want to perform. I don't know if that helps. Yes, that definitely does. I feel like that covered nutrition perfectly because, as everything else in life, it has to be balanced. We can't throw our life away just because we're only eating salads with maybe a little chicken on the top. And it's very important that we don't just throw away those moments eating dinner with our family or maybe there's that week that you all want to go get milkshakes. There's no shame in that, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as, like Camilla said, you remember your priorities because you never want to get down on yourself for doing something and then being like, oh, I shouldn't have done that. So she mentioned a great point to where maybe if you know that Friday night your family had plans to do this movie night and you were going to have popcorn and candy and ice cream that you said, okay, I'm going to make sure that I get three nutritious meals in that day before I do that. So that way I'm fueling my body. It can feel good, and then I can create that memory and have that fun with my family. So to kind of finish this off, is there anything else, one, is there anything else you want to say? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. 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I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. I believe that what we do with our physical body is why we are here on Earth. That is the test. You know, we were sent... Is it okay if I go with... Yes. Oh, yeah. Okay. For sure. So, at the core of my being, I believe that we were sent here to have a physical body to experience things that you can't experience without that physical body. On the flip side, our physical body is also what gives us these appetites for cookies or for, you know, laying on the couch and watching TV and not doing anything. But it's also what allows us to do the activities that we love. It allows us to go running. It allows us to wake surf. It allows us to hug our moms. It allows us to give our kids a kiss on the cheek. If we didn't have the physical body, then we couldn't enjoy some of these things in life that we take for granted. So, the physical body is the test. It is what we were sent here to appreciate life more fully because we have the ability to touch, to feel, to be active, to move. But it's also what makes those things so difficult because, you know, we do have those appetites for things that might not be healthy for us, whether it's sugar or caffeine or drugs and alcohol. And that's what we are sent here to overcome. That's what we are sent here to learn how to say no to, to learn how to make decisions based off of our priorities. What do we want for this life? And do those things align with what we want? So, the physical body is so important. And you have to realize that the physical and the spiritual are intertwined. There's no way around that. From the minute our spirit entered this physical body, they were intertwined. And the plan was set long before our spirit entered our physical body. And so, think about that as you think about, you know, feeling your best. You want to align your physical with your spiritual goals because they are the same. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the current president of the church, he is also a world-renowned cardiac surgeon. And he made a comment one time about overcoming the natural man. So, that's those natural tendencies that we have to eat that extra cookie or, you know, to vape or to smoke or to drink. That is the natural man. And so, this world-renowned cardiac surgeon says that when we overcome the natural man, we are able to give our spirit, so our being, its rightful dominion. Meaning that the spirit should come first. Meaning that rightful dominion is, it's supposed to be in charge. But what happens when we allow the natural man, those natural tendencies to overcome that or to be stronger than that, then our spirit isn't given that rightful dominion. So, when we can learn to feel our best physically, that allows our spirit to have its rightful dominion. That allows our spirit to be stronger. And those skills, they are skills. We think a lot of times that it comes down to motivation or genetic traits or, you know, character flaws. We think that some of these choices that we make or decisions that we make or, you know, even whether it's I don't want to get myself in the gym in the morning because I just don't feel like it. We think of those as character flaws. Really, they're not character flaws. Sometimes they're a lack of ability. It's a lack of teaching ourselves those skills. It's a lack of teaching ourselves the skill of creating positive habits. It's the lack of having the skill to prepare ahead of time so that we don't rely on motivation. So, if you think about it in terms of that, what skills do we need spiritually and physically to be able to sustain what we want for our life, what we want for our goals in the future, and to give our spirit its rightful dominion? Wow. Thank you so much for being on here. We have a lot of incredible words said and a lot to be taken from this podcast with a lot of different perspectives and approaches that I think you could go at it. So, thank you so much for letting me take some time out of your day to be here because I know the listeners all over the world are going to love this episode. Thank you so much, Camilla Adams, for doing this podcast with me. It was absolutely incredible. I know the people listening are going to love it and feel so very inspired. So, let's finish off with a quote, and that quote is, Health is wealth. It's a basic one. It's straightforward, and it speaks the truth. I promise health is the greatest form of wealth that you will ever be able to attain or ever be able to give yourself. So, take advantage of the opportunities to find and strive for that desired health that you have in your own individual life. I hope you all loved this episode because I absolutely did. I cannot wait to talk to you guys next week for another very exciting one. Bye!