Real Talk on Weights, the Scale, and What a Full Week of Working Out Actually Looks Like

You got Q's and I got A's. What's up you guys?

Famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement

Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you

to move your body more. Today I'm going to do

another Q &A episode and if you're listening

to this, I might still be on my trip. I might

be back. I'm not actually sure, but I've got

some Q's from y 'all and so now I have some A's

and thought, you know what, I thought I'd do

another. answer session. So here we go. All right.

So the first question I got was, what does a

typical week of workouts look like for you now?

And how is it different from when you started

six months ago? Well, at this point, by the time

I am answering this question, it's been a little

bit more than six months. But yeah, let's let's

talk about it. So a typical week of workouts

for me right now, with the exception of the fact

that I'm traveling. Normally, whenever I have

my weekly workouts, it goes like this. On Sunday,

I do a longer stretch class and a walk. That's

an active recovery day of mine. On Mondays, I

typically am doing a stretch class and then Zumba

and low impact cardio and toning. Then on Tuesdays,

I do another stretch class and low impact cardio

and toning. And right now I'm doing abs and booty.

And then come Wednesday is another active recovery

day. So I do once again, the same thing I did

on Sunday, which is a longer stretch class or

yoga and walking. Then Thursdays, I typically

am trying to do an additional stretch class,

Tabata, and then a circle mobility, which is

basically just another, well, stretch class.

Fridays, I do same thing I do on Monday, which

is a stretch class, Zumba and low impact cardio

and toning. And then I repeat that again on Saturday

with stretch, Zumba, low impact cardio and toning.

So usually I typically try to do about four low

impact cardio and tonings a week and three Zumbas.

If it was up to me, I'd do Zumba pretty much

every day. Zumba is my favorite. I've said that

a bajillion times, but it's not available every

day. And I don't. particularly want to take them

online. I have considered it though, because

I do enjoy it so, so, so much. But, but yeah,

that's, that's what a typical week of workouts

looks like for me right now. Whenever I started

this though, 280 something days ago, I was barely

doing Zumba only. Like I may have done two or

three classes a week, hardly ever did any low

impact cardio and toning, hardly ever did Tabata,

hardly ever stretched. I mean, I, I was lucky

if I got three hours of exercise in. And so that's

the biggest thing that has changed is I kind

of went from zero to 60. I just really amped

things up because I knew that I wasn't moving

my body enough. And I was starting to have some

health problems. And I was starting to see how

dark things could get in terms of my health.

And it's up to us to basically choose whether

or not we do something. for our bodies with it.

I've changed a lot in that time. And I've not

just changed physically, but I've also changed

mentally, emotionally, and honestly, spiritually.

So yeah, that's what a typical week of workouts

looks like. Let's see. Another question I got

kind of got me tickled. And it was, what do the

people in your personal life think about how

much you work out? Do they get it? Or do they

think that you've lost your mind? This one kind

of cracked me up because in the beginning, You

know, people were like, yeah, go, go, go. And

then, you know, later it was like, are you doing

too much? And the truth was, yeah, I probably

was doing too much for a minute there. I was

trying to go to every single class that I could

possibly fit in. And the reality is that my body

was not happy about it. I probably could have

just gotten used to it if I'd powered through.

But I felt like for my own personal. like needs

and wants and where I was at on my journey, it

made more sense to kind of dial things back a

little bit. Instead of doing 19 to 22 hours a

week, I went down to about an average of 13 hours

a week. And some people say that that's still

too much, but considering the fact that a lot

of those exercises now are stretch classes and

walking and active recovery, I feel like that's

okay. There may come a point where I feel like

I'm still doing too much, but for right now,

I'm happy with the cadence and I'm trying to

work it out to still do all the stuff in my business

and in my personal life, but also. keep going

to the gym. Another question I got that got me

very tickled was what's something you do at the

gym now that you would have laughed at if someone

told you you'd be doing it when you first started?

And that is definitely getting the 20 pound weights.

I am now regularly reaching for the 20 pound

dumbbells as my big weights for the classes that

I'm taking. And when I'm not doing the big weights,

I'm now officially doing the 10 pound weights

as my small weights. And so that's been going

on for a few days now and I'm, I'm really enjoying

it. I'm really liking it. So even though I'm

struggling, I think it's a good struggle. And

so, yeah, I would have laughed. I would have

laughed really hard if someone told me that I

was going to be able to lift the tens and twenties

the way that I am now. So that, that definitely,

that's definitely a big change that I'm very

proud of and hope to continue building on that

strength. Another question I got, what's your

honest relationship with the scale right now?

It's a love hate relationship, honestly, because,

you know, the numbers aren't what I want them

to be. But I'm trying to remember that I'm still

losing inches and I am gaining muscle and muscle

does weigh more than fat. And so I'm trying to

focus on the non -scale victories because, you

know, those are the things that. are really mattering

right now, like my clothes fitting better and

and feeling more confident in my skin. That's

more important to me. I'm not gonna lie, though,

it's still really hard sometimes to look at the

scale and not get annoyed that the number is

what it is. But, you know, I'm just going to

keep going and keep doing what I know I need

to do to get stronger and healthier. And as long

as as long as my my pants, but I guess I'm good

to go. But yeah, one of the non -scale victories

that really surprised me and or I guess you'd

say caught me off guard was the day that I put

on my wedding ring for the first time in, I think,

like 10 years and it fit. And that was just like

it was such a happy moment because, you know,

though I don't really subscribe to feeling like

you have to wear a wedding ring if you're married.

I, you know, in fact, I'm not even wearing one

right now. I hardly ever wear it now, even not

even though now I can fit into it. When I put

it on and it slid on no problem and was actually

loose, that was kind of crazy. I was very surprised

by that. And the day that I put on the mediums

for the first time, I didn't expect it to happen

as quickly as it did. And so just the fact that

I lost four pant sizes as fast as I did, I was

very surprised and very happy to have to go spend

more money on pants. One of the questions I got

was, what would you say to someone who keeps

telling themselves they'll start on Monday? I

actually did an episode about this and I would

say, don't wait till Monday. Start now. Why are

you waiting? If you keep waiting on an arbitrary

date, you may never do it. Because what happens

if you get to Monday and you start your period

or you get to Monday and you get in an argument

with someone or you have a bad day or something

just goes wrong and you can't get to the gym

or you can't do whatever it was that you had

planned to do? Do you then wait another week?

Don't wait for an arbitrary day. Just start.

Like, just start. One of the questions I got

was, how has being part of the YMCA community

specifically changed your experience? Well, I

honestly can say that working out at the Y is

better than some of the other gyms that I tried

in the area. because of the group fitness classes.

That was kind of a deal breaker for me as to

why I wanted to join the Y versus like there's

a Planet Fitness in town and there's a Get Fit

in town. But at least it was called Get Fit.

I don't even know what it's called anymore, to

be honest with you. But yeah, the only place

that really had the group fitness classes that

I was looking for was the local YMCA. And, you

know, the fact that it was Zumba and the classes

that are being held. Every single one of those

I absolutely love. There are a couple of classes

that I am not as excited about, but the ones

that I'm taking right now, I'm pretty happy with.

There are days that I'm like, should I, you know,

instead of doing abs and booty, do something

else. But that class might not be available forever.

I'm actually not sure. But the most important

thing to me about working out at the Y specifically

is that. working out with people like that that

is the biggest thing like no matter where I work

out I have to work out with other people because

it makes such a huge difference to me to have

that camaraderie to have other people that are

also working out with me so that's what I got

for you today I hope you guys enjoyed this episode

if you want to leave a question for me head to

famousashleygrant .com backslash fitness. There's

all kinds of ways there that you can get in touch

with me. If you want to leave a voice note, if

you're in the fitness industry and you want to

tell my movers and shakers what they should be

doing, or if you have some tips and tricks for

weight loss and strength training, or if you

want to share your journey, I would love to hear

from you. So thank you guys so much for sending

in questions. And I always love getting your

questions because they're really fun to answer

and to kind of reflect on where I'm at in my

own journey and where things are going. So I