Transcript: The Truth About Fad Diets, Fitness Goals, and Why There's No Finish Line

What would I say to the girl in August, 2023?

Listen to the instructor and do what she says.

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. I got some more fun questions and I thought,

you know what? Let's do another Q &A day. It's

fun getting these questions and then answering

them because some of the things that I have even

forgotten about. I'm able to reflect on and then

kind of just give you guys the raw and real answers.

So one of the questions I got was, what would

you say to the version of yourself who walked

out of that first Zumba class after 15 minutes?

So this is related to the fact that I had mentioned

that in August, 2023, whenever I took my very

first Zumba class after 15 minutes, I was completely

winded and could not handle the class. And I

had to walk out. So if I could go back and talk

to that girl, I would say to her, listen to the

fitness instructor. Just do what she says because

she's right. And I hate admitting sometimes when

people are right, especially whenever I don't

want to do what they tell me to do. But yeah,

if I had just listened to her that day when she

said you can do more than you think you can,

I probably would be a lot further along in my

fitness journey and have met a lot more of my

goals much sooner than I have now. I also probably

would tell that girl that don't believe everything

you think. Because I believed a lot of things

back then. I thought I had to go into a crazy

calorie deficit. I thought I had to go down to

significantly less calories than I was consuming.

I thought I had to diet really hardcore. I thought

I had to completely change everything about myself.

And the reality is that what I really needed

to do was just start putting in the work. The

problem with fad diets and dieting in general

is that they don't last. And whenever you start

looking at life from a perspective of, OK, well,

I just won't eat this week. You know, you fail.

You set yourself up to fail. So if I could go

back to August 2023, Ashley, and tell her anything,

I would say stay the course. You know, even if

you have to walk out after that 15 minutes, just

take a breather and then go back in. Like, that's

one thing I do kind of regret is that. After

that 15 minutes, I didn't even just come back

immediately, and I really should have. Okay,

another question that came in, and I find this

one kind of interesting. It was, how has getting

fit changed how you show up in other areas of

your life, such as work, relationships, and creativity?

Believe it or not, it has actually helped a lot

in terms of creativity because I get more ideas

than I had. So I was starting to come to a mental

block creatively. And I have to say that because

of the fact that I was starting to work out,

it was starting to make my mind clear up a little

bit. It was starting to help me like just take

a breather and get really clear on some things.

And so creatively, it's helped a lot. And because

what I do for a living is creative work, it's

helped me big time in terms of work. It's given

me some really fun. ideas for content. And so

I've pitched those kinds of things to clients,

I've had a lot more confidence to ask to do some

of the assignments that I want to do. And so

that's been that's been helpful as well. In terms

of relationships, it's also helped me there because

I'm, I'm a very, I'm what you call an introverted

extrovert. And what I mean by that is, I love

being around people, I get a real kick out of

like hanging out with people. And in that respect,

I'm very extroverted. But it comes to a point

where I'm like, okay, I gotta recharge, recharge

my social batteries. And so I was starting to

get to a point where I was really getting frustrated

with just how I never really saw anybody. I work

from home. I was becoming somewhat of a hermit.

And so by being able to get out and see people

in my in my fitness classes, that was starting

to really help me feel like I was part of a community

again and like I was not just a hermit in a shell.

So relationships wise, it's actually expanded

the number of relationships that I have and it's

been helping me. with other relationships in

terms of like, you know, I'm starting to show

up more for people. I do this thing where I'll

put into my calendar, if I haven't checked in

with someone for a while, I will make a point

to add it to my calendar to check in with them.

I set timers and I set, you know, appointments

to just check in with people because I really

do genuinely care about others, but it's very

easy whenever you are in the monotony of day

-to -day life to forget that. Other people exist.

And I know that sounds terrible to say, but I

think we're all guilty of it. We all, you know,

just we get so caught up in our day to day lives

that if I don't make that point to add it into

my calendar, like, hey, this person said they

were going to have surgery on this day. So I

add it to my calendar so that I can check in

with them. Or if I find out, you know, someone's

having, you know, some sort of a. an appointment

or whatever that they're nervous about, I make

a calendar entry to check in with them and just

check in and see how they're doing. So relationships

wise, it's actually been really beneficial for

me. And where I was becoming such a hermit, I

feel like I'm breaking back out of that shell.

And I'm really loving it. I even joined the pool

league since I started going hardcore with fitness.

And I'm really enjoying just how much I'm hanging

out with others again. And it's been so I guess

in that respect, fitness has really opened me

back up. in a lot of ways. And OK, another question

that came in and I'll stop with this one. This

one I find kind of funny. It's is there a finish

line in fitness or does your goal keep changing?

And is that a good thing? Is there a finish line?

No, there's not. I guess I guess you could say

the finish line would be when I take my last

breath. That's wow. That's morbid. I didn't mean

to just come out there with that, but that's

just the truth. My goal is to move for the rest

of my life. I want to move my body every single

day for the rest of my life. So in terms of a

finish line, yeah, that's just the truth. The

finish line would be whenever I stop breathing.

Does the goal keep changing? Yeah, kind of. It

does. Initially, when I first got started, I

had a goal weight in mind. I now see that chasing

a scale number is not what I should be doing.

I should be... trying to feel better about myself

and feel more fit. One of the things that was

a fitness goal was to get my blood pressure under

control. And I've done that. And I was trying

to kind of regulate, you know. my stress levels.

And I'm still working on that. I'm definitely

having, you know, some issues with that that

I'm still working through. But so and then goals,

do they keep changing? Absolutely. Whenever I

first got started, I was using threes for my

small weights and fives for my bigs. And very

quickly, I wanted to get to fives and tens as

you know, my my smalls and bigs. And shortly

after that, I wanted to go to, you know, the

seven and a half and the and the 15s. And now

I'm using eights and 15s but my goal is to get

to 10s and 20s and I know that that will change

once I get once I get there as well the other

thing was I really wanted to just get to a size

medium in my pants and I've done that now and

initially I thought okay medium that's the goal

and then I'll be where I want to be but now I

actually am going for better like I I would like

to see if I could get to a small I I'm fascinated

by the idea of seeing if I could get to a small.

Who knows? I don't know if I can. Is it a good

thing? I think yes. I think if you always have

something to work towards, you always feel the

motivation to keep going. And so I think that

having your fitness goals change. is a good thing.

I really do. So I'll stop there because I don't

want this to be too long. But thank you again

for once again, sending in some awesome questions.

Like I said, I get such a kick out of the questions

that you guys send in. I've been getting them

in DMs and I just appreciate it, man. I think

it's so cool to be able to reflect on this kind