Episode 1: Finding Your Why and Creating Your Health & Fitness Journey

The speaker introduces themselves and discusses the importance of finding a "why" in your health and fitness journey. They share their personal story of being overweight, diagnosed with PCOS, and their initial goal of losing weight. They lost 40 pounds through Weight Watchers and cardio exercises. They hit a plateau and started weightlifting, focusing on becoming strong rather than just losing weight. They emphasize the importance of listening to your body and adapting your "why" as your journey evolves. They discuss their struggles with illness and injuries but emphasize the importance of not giving up and continuing to work towards their goals. They talk about the changes they made to their diet, prioritizing nutritious foods and cooking at home. They also discuss the impact of mental health on their fitness journey and the importance of taking care of their mental well-being. They conclude by encouraging listeners to find their own "why" and pursue a journey that is unique to them. Hello and welcome to the first podcast on the Madison Rose Fitness website. I hope you all are having a wonderful day and I'm so happy you've taken the time to tune in. I hope I can help inspire you in some way or form on your fitness journey and your health or wellness journey. But remember, it's your journey, your journey alone. Just breathe and keep going. I would like to start off with finding your why and creating your health and fitness journey. You need to have a why. What is a why? Well, I'm going to explain the importance of why while introducing myself a little to all of you. What does the why mean? We all have a reason why we love something, why we hate something, why we don't want to do anything, why there is something. There's a why for everything. Why? Why this? Why that? Why? How do you find your why? Your why is a start to your journey. It was a start to my journey. I was in eighth grade and I was severely overweight. I was chubby and unhealthy and I had been eating a ton of processed food because my parents were very relaxed and chill and you know they gave their kid whatever they wanted, you know. So I was, you know, living off mac and cheese and ice cream and cookies and my parents did try to give me, you know, like chicken and veggies. They're very healthy. Anyway, eighth grade, severely overweight, I'm immune deficient, I struggle with anxiety and ADHD. I went to the doctor and got diagnosed with PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal imbalance that makes it extremely easy to gain weight and almost impossible to put it off. There are a ton of other symptoms of PCOS, but that was the major issue impacting me at that time, at that age. I decided my why, my why in that moment was to lose weight. My goal, lose weight. Why? Because I wanted to look better and at that time, yeah, I cared about the look thing and I was going into high school freshman year and I ended up losing 40 pounds through the help of Weight Watchers. It's a diet that my mom had been on and there was the results that helped with my results and it's still balanced. You get your protein, your carbohydrate, fruit, vegetables while balancing with, you know, cookie or ice cream here and there and I did a ton of cardio. Cardio, elliptical, biking, running, no weightlifting, just cardio. Same thing pretty much every day, seven days a week. I lost 40 pounds, 40 pounds before high school. I felt really good about myself but then I hit a plateau. I got down to 160 at 5'2", which is still big, but it was fit for me and my body said, girl, no, we're done. We don't like this. We need more calories. This is not what you need to be doing. I changed my mindset and sophomore year I started weightlifting. I actually started working out at my at-home gym, middle school freshman year and then I had a gym membership because I was on my family's gym membership. Both my parents exercise like crazy. My mom's been running for years. My dad lifts, runs, bikes. Anyway, sophomore year, finally had the confidence to go to an actual gym. I went to the gym and I started weightlifting and combining that with cardio. I would watch YouTube videos or look on Instagram and find how to do it with the correct form. I did have that anxiety going to the gym. I was worried everyone was watching me. That's completely normal, but I'm here to tell you when people are at the gym, humans are selfish. They're only paying attention to themselves. Over time when I realized that, I started getting more and more comfortable and I changed my mindset and my why. My why changed because your why can change. My why changed to I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be strong. I increased my calorie intake. I stopped doing weight washers and I focused on eating whole nutritious foods. Less processed, which meant more time-consuming, but I felt better. No, I didn't lose any more weight, but there was noticeable changes in how pants and clothing were fitting me and size ratios and stuff like that. I started cooking a ton at home. I started meal prepping vegetables, rice, potatoes, chicken all the time, constantly. My parents wanted me to cook for them and yeah, I was really enjoying it. At the same time, I just wanted to be strong and unfortunately, junior year of high school was severely hard for me. I am immune deficient, like I said earlier, and I got hit with pneumonia about three times. I was sick constantly. I was missing school. I almost couldn't finish my junior year. I had to take classes online in the summer. It was not good and when I'm sick, what did I want to do? What do I want to do when I'm sick? I want to work out because it helped me mentally. It helped with my anxiety, but what could I not do? I couldn't work out. What did I do anyway? I pushed myself and I would get injured and I would make myself more sick and have to be on longer rounds with antibiotics and steroids that help decrease inflammation. The steroids are like dexamethasone, prednisone for pneumonia and stuff and they also increase blood sugar levels, which you know, negatively, very negatively impacts PCOS and could raise you to be prediabetic, which I never got to that point, but I was holding a ton of water weight. I was feeling very unfit and there were many times in between each bout of sickness, I would keep working out. I would run at home. I would go lift at the gym. I would do what I could because life is gonna throw things your way. It's never gonna be a straightforward journey. You're gonna have to stop and you can either stop and have that mindset of, okay, this is it. I had too many cookies. I had a cake. Let's just fall off and keep doing it. We'll just keep eating the processed food or I missed a day at the gym. I missed another day. You know, like what's the use? What's the point of going? It doesn't matter. I've already missed, you know, like what's gonna happen now if I go? Like it doesn't matter. It matters. You need to get into the mindset of it's okay to have something thrown your way, a curveball, like me getting sick constantly. You need to be okay with stopping and starting because life happens and that is how your why will change throughout your life. So, Jimmy you're severely sick and I was on my last bout of pneumonia in about March 2016 and I was running and I coughed. I ended up tearing cartilage away from my ribs and I was in excruciating pain. Thank God I was working out at home but I was rushed to the doctor. Pneumonia and now a rib injury. It was horrible. Horrible. At that point, I started listening to my body and since then I have listened to my body and my why changed again. My why was to be the healthiest version of myself because when I am healthy and I eat the right foods, I listen to my body and I work out is when I feel my best. So, no, I don't do hours of cardio anymore. I don't eat minimal foods on a point system. I eat whole nutritious foods. I make omelets, avocado toast, oatmeal. I love making this protein cookie dough. I eat cookies every day. I love it but I balance it. I balance it with running because I love to run and I love weightlifting. I'm technically a power lifter. I've gotten my deadlift up to 325 pounds and nothing makes me feel better than working out consistently and eating the right foods. I don't work out every day. I take two rest days because rest is just as important as exercise and I prioritize an early bedtime. I go to sleep about about 830. 830 p.m. Good night. I'm done. I need to go to sleep. I wake up at about 445 a.m. 5 a.m. every day. Get to the gym and I think that's a great way to start my day. I have created a healthy habit through my why. Your why is gonna kick start your journey. Today people are coming up to me at the gym asking me what what are you training for and I say my mental health. Sitting here today in 2023 my why has changed from wanting to lose weight to why for my mental health. I work out and I eat the right foods and nutritious foods that work best for my body. I eat very low dairy because of my PCOS. I try and do gluten-free for my PCOS. I try and cook 90% of the food I eat at home and I eat when I'm hungry. I eat when I'm hungry and when I want a cookie I eat a cookie. Eat a cookie. They're really good but no matter what setback was thrown my way or pushback or how many times I had to stop and keep going and stop and get back up, stop and start. I was sick for actually this last February. I was sick for a month. I got sick the day before the Super Bowl and I was on antibiotics, had a chest x-ray for pneumonia and I was sick but you know what I had to take time off. I had to take a week off. I got up and I restarted and I kept going. How do you find your why? You need to find what resonates with you and what you're passionate about and find what you enjoy. Your purpose will guide your way. The reason my fitness journey has evolved as it has is because it's my journey. My fitness journey has been based on me, my struggles, my battles, my curveballs, my passions, my dreams, my goals. That is what has created my current why. Since the 2020 pandemic I've been struggling very bad with my anxieties and I hope by sharing that you guys can feel like you're not alone. Mental health is a real problem in the world and I feel like it's something that needs to be talked about and acknowledged because you can't go up to people thinking oh they look okay but inside someone could really be having a hard time. That's why you have to spread kindness but my why I work out five days a week. I do what I love. I lift and run. I eat good food but I eat healthy food. I cook my food and my why is because when I do that and when my sleep is good too that's when I feel my best. That's when I feel like I can be me. That's my why I kept going. It took a long time to find my why and my why has changed many times along the way and that's okay. Your why will fuel your journey and become your purpose based on the habits you create to help understand your why. We'll have a habit podcast too I'm letting you know because creating healthy habits are just as important as finding your why. You need to find what you love and only you. Don't be influenced by what others tell you you should or what you shouldn't do. You need to lose weight. You should put on some weight. You shouldn't be sad. You shouldn't be anxious about that. You should try long-distance running. Be influenced by you and only you. Say it with me. Be influenced by yourself. Driven by your own goals and consistent by your habits. Find what your body loves most and what you love most. How you feel your best. Emphasize your why around balance and what works best for you. Whether it's you know taking a nap, going for a walk, doing yoga, Pilates class, doing yoga with your dog, painting, anything. Self-care is just as important when it comes to finding your why. But finding your why is for you and only you to do. I hope sharing my story with you today helped inspire someone out there even just a little bit and hopefully we'll start your hopefully words are working here. Words can be hard sometimes. Hopefully you can take something away that can get you started on your journey whether it's health, wellness, fitness. I hope you can find your why. Your purpose will guide your way. Everyone has a why and your why will change along the way. Thank you. Don't forget to check back weekly for new blog posts and podcasts to help you along your health, fitness and even a wellness journey. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for listening.