I’m JJ Virgin, PhD dropout, sorry mom, turned four time New York Times best selling author. Yes, I’m a certified nutrition specialist, fitness hall of famer, and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe, but I’m driven by my insatiable curiosity trainings love of science. Science to keep asking questions, digging for answers, and sharing the information that I uncover with as many people as I can.

And that’s why I created the Well Beyond 40 podcast to synthesize and simplify the science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. In each episode we’ll talk about what’s working in the world of wellness. From personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to healthy aging and prescriptive fitness.

Join me on the journey to better health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out at 100. Have you ever been on a diet, lost the weight? And then gained it back. I have, I know, and I’m, I’m betting you listening probably have too, because the reality is 95 percent of people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back within five years.

Well, not so with our guest today. Today I have Mari Llewellyn. She’s the co founder of Bloom, the founder of Strength by Mari, a mental health advocate and fitness entrepreneur who in 2022 landed on Forbes coveted 30 under 30 list. And. Has a platform of over 2 million combined followers. And by the way, a top 10 podcast in health that I was just on.

Fantastic podcast, Pursuit of Wellness. I wanted to interview her because I wanted to really pull back the curtain on how she did this. Who did she have to become? How did she have to live? Not only to lose the weight, because actually in a lot of ways that’s the easiest part of the. Plan, but to completely change how she lived, how she thought who she was, so that she couldn’t even relate to the person she used to be.

She honored her, but she no longer could even put herself in that place because when you start to live like a healthy, lean person, you know, time catches up and that’s who you become and that’s who she’s become. So she’s going to walk through her journey. what she did, how she Thought what she ate, how that’s all changed, how she’s used diets as tools, how she’s progressed through her exercise program, and how she’s done all that to step into where she is today, seven years out, uh, lean, fit, healthy, happy, and a whole career in the wellness space.

So I will be right back with Mary Lou Wellen. Stay with me.

I am so excited to be here with you, Mari Llewellyn. Thank you so much for having me. Well, you’re a unicorn. Oh. Yes. You’ve lost 90 pounds and kept it off. How long have you kept it off for now?

So I lost the weight in 2017. I’m not good at math. So where are we at from then?

So you are a total unicorn.

Yeah.

Because that is seven years. It’s probably about six and a half now. I’m assuming that, you know, anyway, seven years, let’s say.

Yeah.

If you look at the statistics, it’s so abysmal. It’s like 5 percent of people actually maintain weight loss after five years.

That’s wild to me.

So I always like to say that success leaves clues.

Thank you. And it’s, it’s a number one question that I get is like, how did you keep it off? But it’s weird for me because I’ve never once looked back. Like for me, this is a full lifestyle. So, but thank you for, for recognizing that.

So let’s go back because I do this. This is a very, very good question.

Fascinating, huge subject. I mean, this, this needs a book and a course. Let’s go back to you in 2017. Where were you and what was the impetus that made you decide to shift?

So for some context, the reason I was ever, you know, needing to lose that amount of weight, I grew up, Relatively lean. Like, I did not think about health or my body at all.

I grew up in a pretty European household, is how I like to put it. I was born in the UK. I lived in Switzerland. We ate a lot of bread, a lot of ham, a lot of cheese. Um, it was high quality food, but it wasn’t necessarily healthy food. Going to college, I was dealing with a lot of mental health issues, sort of like, you know, family trauma, pain that I didn’t know how to deal with in a healthy way.

So I was eating, I mean, It went from like one Subway sandwich a day to tons of food truck food. Like it really just depended and I feel like alcohol was a very big problem. Like I was using alcohol as many college students do but for me I think it was on a different level. I was using it to numb a lot of pain, I was blacking out frequently and then Around my junior year, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which is now known as a trauma based disorder, that I no longer meet the criteria for.

But at the time, I was self harming, I was having episodes, it was a, it was, took over my whole life, and I was immediately put on a number of medications. And before I go into this, I’m not a doctor. I’m not giving anyone medical advice. This is just my experience, but I was put on antidepressants, anti anxiety, anti psychotics.

Oh, I know what these do to your metabolism.

It was insane.

Yes.

So I didn’t necessarily have a healthy looking body before because I was drinking and eating and had never exercised ever. Um, but after being put on this medication, It was insane. Like, the foods I was craving completely changed. Like, all of a sudden I wanted all of this super processed, unhealthy food.

I was still drinking and just kind of completely numb, you know? Like, I felt like getting out of bed. Bed took effort. Getting to class took effort. And my life deteriorated very, very quickly after taking this medication. I was a semester away from graduating. I had to drop out of school, move home with my dad.

I had probably gained 60 to 70 pounds at this point. I wasn’t even really aware of the weight gain until I moved home and I had to kind of confront myself head on and take a look at my life. And I was pretty shocked at how How bad it had gotten, and that was the moment that fitness and health, specifically nutrition, for me really stood out as a way for me to get control back.

And I think my husband, he was my boyfriend at the time, he’s a bodybuilder. For me he was such a great example of hard work and discipline because he was in the gym multiple times a day for a little bit, chicken and rice, like he, it was his whole life. And um, Yeah, before I go on too much of a tangent, that was where everything started.

Yeah. And my son, when he had the traumatic brain injury, when you’re coming out of it, they put you on anti seizure, anti psychotic. And I remember I had to leave the hospital for a week and a half to go on a PBS tour, maybe two weeks. And my ex husband was there. I came back, he’d put on, it was like 30 pounds.

It was crazy because it makes you very quickly insulin resistant and very hungry.

Is that what happens?

Yes.

Wow, I actually didn’t know that. Like, I remember people around me telling me, Oh, when you’re happier, you eat more. That was the reason. Really? Yeah.

Wow. Yeah.

I, I tell you, my, my hunger was, it didn’t have a limit.

It was insane. Yeah. Like, I could go to a restaurant and eat an appetizer, two entrees, dessert. It was bizarre.

Right. Yeah. Mm. So there you were, low point. So what did you do?

So I was 250 pounds. I forgot to mention that. I’m 5’10 for reference and now I’m probably closer to like 160. Um, but I was 250 pounds and I didn’t have a degree, didn’t have a job, didn’t really have any goals.

So I came off all of the medication and that’s where I Cold turkey? Cold turkey. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah. And now looking back, I know how. Uh, bad that is and how difficult it is. But at the time I was like, this stuff’s ruining my life. I’m going to stop. And I am kind of that way in general. Like I’m quite an impulsive, uh, person and I make decisions quickly.

Um, and coming off of that stuff was insane. Like it made me act crazy. It’s, it’s so interesting looking back that come off period, but it also made me start feeling again. And I started to feel finally. the sort of, like, disappointment and the embarrassment and all the things that came with where I was at in my life, and I feel like I finally took responsibility.

Because I kind of had a bit of a victim mentality before fitness. I looked around me and blamed everyone else for my problems, and then finally, I began to, to sort of, To say, hey, like the reason I’m in this position is because of me and I’m, I’m the only person that can get myself out of it. So nutrition is where I started.

My breakfast back then was two muffins and not like cute ones, like big New York sized muffins. I was in New York at the time. Pumpkin or blueberry. I would have an iced coffee about that big with milk and sugar. So for someone with a mood disorder, this was pretty much a recipe for disaster. Um, carbs all day, like really not paying attention to my food.

And I remember my dad bought me a book that was called like, food is medicine. And he was like, maybe you should, maybe this will help. And I was so angry. I was like, there’s no way food can help me. Like, you don’t understand. This is far beyond that. Plot twist, like now my whole life revolves around nutrition.

Um, but looking at this book, looking at Greg as an inspiration, I was like, okay, let me try swapping some things out. So instead of the two muffins, I started with probably like four to five scrambled eggs. Not bad. A bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, like a proper bodybuilder breakfast, given it was probably not exactly what I was needing, but it was better than what I was doing before.

Compared to

the, like, the cupcakes that you were having. And the milkshake.

Exactly. Yes. So, um, That put me on the right foot. I felt like my mood was improving. My energy was better. It was helping me get my foot out the door. And I didn’t get in the gym right away. I just started with walking. I would take my dog on more frequent walks.

That movement we were talking about on my show with you, um, was just having a massive impact. And then I remember Greg taking me to Planet Fitness for the first time. And he taught me compound movements. He taught me how to squat, how to overhead press, how to deadlift. I was learning from a male bodybuilder and I I am forever grateful that that was my introduction to fitness rather than crazy cardio bunny.

Yeah.

Style because so many women fall into that trap of getting smaller and smaller and smaller. And from the beginning, I was looking up to IFBB bikini pros. To me, That was what I wanted to look like. And I knew muscle was a huge part of that. So yeah, that was where the weightlifting journey began for me.

And I fell in love and I’ve never stopped. So

I love what you first said. I just did a couple swaps. What? I learned first in nutrition from a great mentor was he was like, add before you take away. And what I see there is if we just start with some upgrades, with some swaps, it can make all the difference.

A

hundred percent.

You know, so you did that. Then the next thing that you did was you just started moving. And multiple times a day. And then you went and started doing resistance training. Like in my algorithm of success, I’m like, yep, yep, yep. Good, good, good.

Yeah. Cause I was sedentary for the most part.

Like I really wasn’t thinking about movement at all. And then I feel like it just builds your confidence on a mental level, being able to show up and keep your own promises and telling yourself, Hey, I’m going to do this. Go on three walks tomorrow and actually doing that, that was like the building blocks of confidence to get myself doing actual workouts.

So for me it was, I mean, it’s difficult for me to even put myself in that headspace now because I’m so different now to how I was then. But the insecurity I felt, the lack of confidence I had, I felt like I was in a completely new world. So going slowly but surely really was the only option for me. I couldn’t just throw myself into it.

So you also said a very important thing is you can’t even really put yourself where you were anymore because you’ve done, you’ve just completely gone and, and I like to say, if you live like a healthy, lean person, you will become one. It’s just time has to catch up. Yeah. So now you’re at the gym, you’re doing resistance training.

And I also love that your then boyfriend, now husband, right? Started you with squats, And overhead presses and these big compound movements. How did you start? Like, did you just start with body weight and, and do you remember coming out of the gym and like the first couple of times and how you felt?

Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Feeling was what kept me going back because I remember. For me, yes, I wanted to be physically healthier, but also, like, I just wanted to feel happy. I was so, so severely depressed and anxious, and, like, my mental health had run my life for so long. I was ready to feel happy again, and every time I got that endorphin boost, I was like, oh my god, like, this is why I’m doing this.

I started with weights. I know body weight’s a good way to start, but Truthfully, like, having a bodybuilder husband, he was like, no, no, no, you’re doing, you’re doing weights. So, and I, I was really strong. I feel like when you’re heavier, sometimes you’re a bit stronger. Maybe that’s, I don’t know if that’s true, but I could do a lot of weight.

So I probably started closer to like, I don’t know, 10 pounds. And then I, every single time worked my way up. So 12 pounds, 15 pounds. Squats were a really big focus for me because I felt like they were working everything. My core, my legs, glutes, quads, whatever it may be. And I remember I got myself up to two plates on each side, which now I don’t think I could do that anymore.

Um, but I really found a lot of joy in increasing weight, because it made me feel stronger and stronger and stronger. Um, so yeah, that was kind of the mindset going in.

Man, so how did your diet progress?

Okay,

good question. How did we go from like the, I was called muffins, I go, you know, if you take the frosting off a cupcake.

Same thing. When we were at University of Miami, they had these huge, those huge muffins, like the Costco muffins, and we actually had them analyzed and they were 1000 calories. You’re kidding. So when you’re describing that, I’m like, yeah, that was probably a 2500 calorie Sugar bomb. That’s insane. Now, if I were

to make a 2, 500 calorie meal, like two steaks, I’d have, I’d have a huge plate.

Right. And you could never get through it.

I always, at the beginning, I used to think about the fact that like a Starbucks Frappuccino, you could have a whole meal instead of that. Like, it’s bizarre the things that people

are consuming. But sadly, I know, we were at the airport watching, I admit, I sit and I’m fascinated by what people choose.

And just watching what people were choosing at Starbucks, just going, are they not realizing that that

Benti Frappuccino.

I know. And

I don’t mean it in a judgmental, mean way, but I just know, not even from a weight perspective, but how you must be feeling after drinking that. Yeah. I would, I mean, I look back and feel bad that I was consuming things like that because I was giving myself a disadvantage.

Like I was starting the day on a bad foot every single day with this like packet of sugar in my iced coffee and these muffins. Anyway, the diet evolution, I kind of started to figure out what felt good for me. High protein for sure. High protein has always been a big thing. And what’s high protein

look like for you?

I guess like what you said, a pound, a gram per. pound of gold body weight, and I was using my fitness pal to track. I don’t track anymore because I feel like I have a good sense of what I need, but back then I truthfully had no knowledge around macros. I didn’t even know what a fat and a carb was, or a protein for that matter, so Greg really helped me hone in on what those should look like, and I’m a tall person.

I’m 5’10 and I was 250 pounds, so I was eating a lot of protein. Um, I can’t remember the exact amount, but it was, like, What would it have been? 160 grams a day. So I really like built my meals around protein and I still do that now. But I think carbs and fats were the thing I had to kind of experiment with because I don’t know that I felt the best eating a bowl of oatmeal.

I felt like this surge of energy and then this crash afterwards. I feel like I felt a lot better when I had like eggs and or steak and some ghee, for example. Um, now I eat that. So, um, so I maybe pulled back on some of the carbs I was eating. I prefer to eat my carbs at night with dinner. Yeah, what is that?

Um, so, it was funny as you were saying oatmeal, like, I don’t know. I dearly love oatmeal. It’s so good. I feel like crap.

I know.

Like, it just, and I’ve worn CGM and I’m like, this just doesn’t work for me. It does not work for me. Um, but I find at night, it really helps with sleep

just a little bit. Yeah. You know, that’s a fun dessert too, with some berries or something.

I like that.

Okay. Here’s my, what I really love for dessert. is to get so delicious coconut whipped cream.

Oh yeah.

And berries, blueberries, and a little bit of lilies or another no sugar added dark chocolate chips. And then we’ll use that RX sugar I told you about. They’re syrups. So they have a chocolate syrup.

Stop. I know. Wow. Right? I’m now obsessed with that company. I need to check that out. Yes, you’re gonna be super obsessed. Have you heard of evolved chocolate? Yes, that white, the white chocolate from evolved chocolate, that cashew stuff. Oh my gosh. I’m obsessed.

I have it

every night. Yeah, rightly so.

Some people don’t like it, I think because of the erythritol taste when you first try it, but after, like, it’s so good to me.

And the little hazelnut Brownie bites, obsessed.

Oh, I’ve not had those. You need to try. Wow.

I have one every night.

I’m very hungry now. I know. So for everyone listening, there’s this evolved chocolate company that makes a white chocolate out of cashew. And I love white chocolate, but it’s dairy. You know, it’s like, oh shoot.

And this is amazing. It’s amazing.

So good. And it’s like very satisfying to me. And I look forward to every night. I have it with my spare mint tea. Love it.

You have it with what? Spearmint tea. Oh my god. You said spearmint tea and I heard spam and tea.

Yeah, I’m having spam and tea every night. Wow. Let’s not eat spam.

What’s in spam? Let’s

upgrade that.

I’m like, yeah, a little protein at night. Um, no, I’ve actually never had spam. So I would say I did experiment with keto. I told you that on my show. And that was a great tool for me. I, how so what did it

do for you?

So I did it for multiple reasons. I have always struggled with acne for the last 10 years.

I have high testosterone. Turns out I had some liver overload. I had heavy metals. I had mold. I had candida. I had SIBO, which I’ve now been in the process of healing from. It takes a long time, but I’ve gotten rid of the mold and candida. Anyway, I found keto was one of the most helpful tools for me with clearing my skin.

However, it’s not the best for weightlifting because I was finding that I was getting more fatigued quickly during my weightlifting and also my gut health. I was missing some key good bacteria. So I used it as a tool here and there and perhaps it helped with weight loss. I don’t know. I was. You know, already on a path of weight loss anyway.

But I do feel better eating a higher fat, lower carb diet. Now I have incorporated sweet potato. I have it almost every night. I love it. Um, I don’t feel good on white rice particularly. Like, I’ll eat it every now and again, but it’s not my favorite. So I feel like I’m a carb sensitive person. So focus on protein and healthy fat for me.

Which I think is super important is, if you look at it, we have to have protein, we need those essential amino acids. We have to have fat. Carbs are optional. But the important thing that you’ve done is used diets as tools for what you’re looking to achieve and then paid attention to what worked in that diet so that you could pull it into what you eat every day.

In our world, I wish we had a name for how we eat every day and then a therapeutic diet so that we could distinguish because we don’t and it’s confusing. But that’s the reality is this has been an experiment where you’ll do things short term for an effect. And And if you did need to improve insulin sensitivity, that can be a great tool to, to do that.

Um, along with resistance training, of course, and good sleep and vitamin D and all these other things, fish oil, but you know, and then you look at it and go, what is, what is this hurting though?

Yes.

And is it hurting? Cause I, I got, I’m trying to think of the research that I heard about, um, keto with, with resistance training.

I just know for me that if I have a little bit of carbs under my belt and. I can lift a lot more.

Same. And quality

is everything in your resistance training. So what does your diet look like now? Like walk me through a typical day for you.

Okay. I eat quite similarly every day so it’s quite, it’s easy for me to answer the question.

For breakfast today and pretty much every day I’ll have Steak cooked in ghee with berries. Pretty simple. I’ll go And what kind

of steak?

So I’ll go between like filet, always grass fed. I order it from White Oak Pastures, which is a really awesome farm. I think it’s in Georgia. It’s like regenerative farming, grass fed, pasture raised.

Today I had their, they call it their tips and tails and it’s like tips, like sirloin tips, I want to say. Um, but I tried to go for a lean red meat. With my berries, I drink King Coffee. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.

No.

Okay, it’s by the brand Organo. It’s a really interesting kind of, it is real coffee, but you only absorb eight milligrams of caffeine per packet, and it has ganderma and reishi and Mushrooms that are really great for healing like bacterial overload.

Wow.

Yes.

Okay, I need that information. I am a huge fan. You put that in the show notes. Yep. Two packets

a day. And what I like about it is I am someone that wants to have a lot of something and I can have two big mugs of it and not feel like crazy, you know? So

are you a fast or slow caffeine metabolizer?

Do you know?

I mean, I feel very jittery and crazy when I have it. What does that mean?

So you’re a slow caffeine metabolizer. I’m a fast one. Okay, got it.

Blast through. Drip

it all day long, drink, and I’m a big beverage drinker.

Me too. I have to have this. I see you with the venti iced tea. I love that.

That’s like my drink of choice if I go to Starbucks.

This is what I’ve been doing now going to the gym is I’ve been taking a green tea, Big ice green tea in my 32 ounce thing. It’s a

32

ounce or 64 ounce, a big, it’s a big thing. And then I throw in my creatine, I throw in essential amino acids, I throw in electrolytes, I have this big old thing with green tea because I’m always trying to get more green tea in.

Yes, okay, that’s a really good idea. And I will do, I forgot that actually, before I even have my breakfast, I will make this electrolyte drink. Drink. I use these electrolytes by jigsaw and it’s called Pickle juice . It’s a really interesting electrolyte and it has potassium in it. I have very sensitive skin, so certain electrolytes will break me out.

So that’s the one I use. I add glutamine powder. I’ve been adding creatine. I do two, two packets of OL for Egg health ’cause I’m trying to get pregnant right now and I’ll do, have you heard of Quinton Minerals? The glass vials.

Yes, yes I have.

I’ll do that.

What do you think of those? So are those the ones, they have the glass, but do they also have the little travel packets?

Yes,

I think so.

So my girlfriend, Dr. Ann Shippey, we went to Korea and Bali last year together. And I got, like, I will get leg cramps if I do stupid stuff. Okay. And I’m not using my electrolytes. Yeah. So I’m very adamant about my electrolytes. But I’d done something, I think we’d actually run out. Like, here we are now, we’re in Bali, and I’ve run out because I’ve shared them with people.

And she had that. So I don’t know better. I have the little packet. I just take the packet, suck it down. It tastes like you just drank an old icky pond.

Yeah, it’s saltwater. It’s awful. It’s the most awful thing. It’s awful, but if you mix it with things you can’t taste yet. Yes, I

know that now.

Yep. So I take that every day.

Um, mostly because I heard the inventor speak about it, and it sounds incredible. I don’t know if it’s doing anything, but I never get sick, so I think maybe it’s working. Who knows? So that’s my habit stack drink. I drink that while I work out. Then I have my steak and berries. For a snack, you just saw me have one, I’ll eat a raw bar, R A W R, or I’ll have a chomps, like a meat stick of some kind, something with protein.

Um, I drink a lot of water all day. I fill this up like three times, this Stanley cup I have next to me. Lunch is usually a bowl of beef, Groundbreaking. And I’ll do it with like avocado, maybe some salsa, red onion. It’s quite simple. Or I’ll do steak on a salad. I’m not like a big vegetable person, if I’m honest.

I love Brussels sprouts, like you mentioned before. Or arugula with like tomato and red onion. I love arugula.

It’s really the only.

Yes, same. Mixing I

use.

I don’t feel fantastic when I have kale or.

I like kale if it’s been cooked.

Yeah.

That is it. Yeah. Raw kale is. To me, really nasty. My mouth does not like it.

I’m also a super taster,

you know, that

bitter thing. So kale is not a. Okay.

Well, I just feel like if it’s upsetting my stomach, why would I.

Exactly.

Eat it.

I, it’s, it’s interesting. I’ve really come a long way with salads where I’ve been doing a lot more cooked vegetables, cauliflower, pilafs, broccoli, asparagus, green beans and mushrooms I’m obsessed with, mushrooms and onions.

Um, and I just find that a lot of times if I’m not careful, a salad turns into a sundae,

you

know,

because the oil, the dressings or the

whatever, especially if you’re out. It’s really difficult.

100%. Um, yeah. So the simpler, the better for me. And then dinner is usually steak again. I feel like this is so boring, but I’m just telling the truth.

Red meat or wild caught salmon. I’ll have that one to two times a week, but because I found heavy metals in my system, I limit the amount of seafood I have now. And I’ll do sweet potato. With a little ghee and salt, with brussel sprouts or a little arugula or carrots or mushrooms, and that’s kind of it. Or I’ll do taco night where I do the ground beef, maybe a siete tortilla, I like those every now and again.

And then I’ll end with the evolved chocolate and my spearmint tea. That’s kind of it.

Now, it’s interesting because the research shows that people who are very routine in their diet do better.

Yeah, I’m very routine. I think the

big important thing in the routine is the diversity of different vegetables for the colors.

I’m not good at that. That’s, uh, um, we’ll link in the show notes. Deanna Minnick and Kara Fitzgerald both talked about this. Deanna has the rainbow diet, but it was kind of like the challenge of 50 different things a week. I’m like, whoa. Now, herbs counted, but Like it made me very aware of let’s, I’ll tend to get into, I would eat blueberries all the time.

So it’s blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, like how many different things could we just start to shift so we’re not eating the same stuff? Totally. I

need to get better at that. Yeah. So cauliflower

pilaf actually is a great way to sneak in a whole bunch of other things, you know, like different colored peppers, different kinds of mushrooms.

Um, I’ll get some broccoli rice, throw it in there too. I mean, you can go totally wild.

Do you make your own? Cauliflower rice or you buy it?

I do not make my own cauliflower rice. I do not. So where do you get it? What brand do you get? I do Sprouts Organic. Sprouts Organic. Okay. So I think I have not met someone who said, I really wish I could spend more time cooking.

I’m sure they’re out there. But for me, most of the people that I talked to are like, how can I make an amazing meal in like five to ten minutes? Right? Yeah. And so my husband’s in charge of the protein.

Nice.

And I’m in charge of the vegetables.

That’s generally how Greg and I also split it up, but I’m also very capable of doing the protein too.

I, I feel like health and fitness has gotten me like very proficient at making food.

Which is super important because I, I remember during the pandemic, you’re discovering that people have no idea how to cook. Yeah. Um, but you know, you realize when you eat out, because I travel 80 percent of the time and how much stuff can get snuck in if you’re not careful.

Yes.

And so it’s really the more you can eat at home. First of all, you’re going to save a ton of cash too. And you’re not eating, I mean, you’re eating pastured and wild. These things that would be considered expensive. Well, it’s way more expensive to eat non that out. So

I think literally by switching from eating out to eating at home, you would feel better and look better immediately because I really think even if you’re going somewhere that’s high quality, if they’re making food in mass, they’re never going to put the time and attention into the ingredients.

Or they turn it into, like, the Brussels sprouts dessert.

Oh, I know.

Which is so delicious.

I know. But it’s

like, come on, you just had a, like, fried, sugared Brussels sprout. I hate when they put the sugar on it. It’s like, well, it’s balsamic, so code word for glaze, whenever it’s glaze, you know, balsamic glaze.

I’m like, oh, shoot, could we just, just roast some Brussels sprouts and not do that, please? I

agree.

Yeah.

I agree. Sometimes they’ll put the chunks of bacon in it, which. That’s good. Hello.

Yeah, that’s really good. We like that. That’s fantastic. Okay. So diet styled and the key takeaways there is you’ve gotten really into a routine.

You found what works for you. You started with tracking and weighing. So you really understood. I always tell people, if you find that you’re kind of stuck again, go back and start the weighing and measuring again, right? Because it’s easy to just start to kind of let things creep. What about the exercise side?

Okay. So I’ve. Gone through, weightlifting has always been the foundation of what I do, but I’ve gone through kind of different phases of it. When I first started, it was like, you know, definitely newbie gains, really enjoying that phase of seeing so much progress. When I lived in LA, I definitely went through a period of time where I was probably over exercising a little bit.

Like, I was doing HIIT weight training six days a week. Yeah, with my Polish trainer, Paulina. She’s awesome. She’s like a six pack. She’s super intense. And I think. A little bit the pressure of being the face of a brand, living in LA, being in the fitness industry. Like, it was really cool to push myself and to see my body transform.

I had, like, very visible abs. I was super lean, but it, I think affected my, my hormones at a certain point. Um,

what did you notice was happening?

Well, I came off birth control and lost my period. And I really wanted to get that back. So I had to kind of pull back a little bit on the weight training. And it’s tough when you get to a level where you’re training really, really, really hard all the time, because In comparison, nothing feels like enough, you know, if you’re not like dying on the ground, you’re like, this wasn’t even a good workout.

So I had to kind of reframe the way I was thinking about it. Now I’m weight training about four to five days a week. So for example, this morning I did squats, heavy squats. I did RDLs, I did abs. And RDLs are?

People don’t know what an RDL is. Oh, Romanian deadlift. Sorry. Um, great for hamstrings. Yes, I love them.

They were, when I started them and they were stiff legged deadlifts. Really? I’ve heard people call them that. And then I saw RDL. I’m like, what the heck’s an RDL? Then I was like, and now I love single legged. This is my latest. I did them this morning. I Because, you know, as you age, balance is a thing. Yeah.

And I’m like, how is this so hard?

I think it’s fantastic. And also my butt cheeks are uneven. So I want to do

How do you know your butt cheeks are uneven? I

can tell. Yeah. I feel like my left one is bigger than my right one. My right one is my weak side. I also This is why you need to do a DEXA like we talked about.

I know. See, that’s why I don’t want to do it. Because I don’t want to know. No, I’m kidding. I need to, I really do need to, but I can also see that my right glute is weaker than my left one. So I do single leg leg press, single leg RDLs.

There’s something I really love because having a blown out my knee at 17, I’ve always had to work unilaterally to make sure that things are even and using a TRX suspension trainer, I do single leg RDLs.

Squats that are just burn your quad and glutes so much. Yeah. They’re fantastic. Wow. So that’s another way you can, you can do it.

Is that kind of like a sissy squat movement?

Uh, yeah. And those kill my quads. It feels much more like a, you know, when you’re doing a single, like a kind of single lunge where you’re going up and down, it’s more like that, but Oh, like a Bulgarian split squat.

It’s more like that, but with just that foot off the ground the whole time.

I think Bulgarian split squats are my least favorite exercise of all time, but also the most effective.

Now, do you tend to do the same thing each time you go and switch it up every eight weeks? How do you, how do you navigate your resistance training routine?

So I, at the beginning I was doing the same things and just increasing the weight because I was still like really getting in the groove. And how long

did you do that for?

Probably three years, I would say. Now I’m in a phase where I want to have a little bit more fun with it, and I like athletic movement, so I’ll do hill sprints in between, I’ll do a lot of supersets.

I’d like to switch it up, so maybe I’ll have a more quad dominant day, and then a more glute focused day where I’m doing hip thrusts or something. Um, I have to switch it up more now because I feel like I need to entertain myself. But I still really love it. You know, I love upper body days as well. I love training shoulders.

It’s like my favorite day. Um, I’ll invite friends over and we’ll do it all together in the garage. Like I have a bit more flexibility now, which is really nice, but I needed to put in the, the years of, you know, figuring out the movements and the form and the weight to get to where I am now, if that makes sense.

Now, along the way, did anything slip you up? Did you hit a plateau? Did you get

frustrated? Yeah. I mean, I think that’s inevitable with anything. I feel like I’ve talked to you about this, but when I first was losing weight and cutting back calories, I hit kind of a wall where I felt like I wasn’t eating enough and I knew that, but I was also afraid.

of increasing calories and gaining weight. And a lot of it’s really mental because I associated weight with like this version of myself that I never wanted to be again. So I had to learn about reverse dieting and explain to everyone what that is. So reverse dieting is when you’re eating out, for example, I was maybe eating 1200 calories at the lowest,

so little.

So little, and it was miserable. Like, I felt like I was going to faint. And I was like, this cannot be, you know, how I live. And reverse dieting is adding calories back slowly, but surely. So correct me if I say anything wrong, you’re probably better at this than me, but adding a hundred calories, like each week kind of thing.

So maybe I add an extra egg each day, and then I add, I don’t know, more salmon, more steak. Like I’m slowly, but surely adding, adding those calories so I can get back up. To a good place and kind of heal my metabolism. I think that’s what happened. I think I was running into a little bit of like a, what would you call it, metabolic dysfunction.

Yeah, there’s a thing that happens with chronic dieting that can happen. It was, I think it really came to light with The Biggest Losers when they looked at them five years later and discovered that they’d gained weight back. Not all of it, but the thing that was devastating was that they’d had this phenomenon called metabolic adaptation where there’s a kind of predicted, it’s basically if your weight’s 150, your BMR’s probably around 150, theirs would be around 1,

000.

And think about the disadvantage

Yeah, that

that creates. And because your body is hardwired to survive our stupidity, right? So it’s like, oh, nutrient sensing, there’s not a lot around, we better like, shut it down. And one of the interesting things that starts to happen when you do that is, you know, when you look at metabolism, we have your basal metabolic rate, how many calories if you just We’re in bed all day long.

And then the thermic effect of food, which we know we can impact with protein. And then you have activity, exercise and activity. And, and the real modifiable part of that really is this activity that we don’t think about. And, and there’s the, the part that you’re not aware of. And it turns out that like when we cut our calories, our body just starts to, move less.

Yeah. We

just conserve. We don’t fidget. We, you know, just so, so that may have been some of the things that start happening too. But we also know that as you start to increase more calories, you start to move more.

Yeah.

But I think the easier way to, to avoid it is just, again, like know how much you’re moving.

Yes. A hundred percent. And I wasn’t, as knowledgeable as I am now about that. And I think it was just this place of like, being stuck and feeling terrified. So I guess you could call it a plateau.

Well, how did you get through it? You just, you just every, like, how long did it take you? Did the reverse dieting work?

Like, what happened?

It did work. And I had to do a lot of research. And back then I was listening to podcasts and going on social media and researching reverse dieting. And I very intentionally Slowly added foods back in using my fitness pal. And I think also maybe discovering like getting my heart rate up a little bit more.

I was definitely weight training in a very bodybuilding style. Like I was taking rests in between and kind of going slow and adding supersets in and getting my heart rate up a little bit, I think helped a ton as well. And I really like that style of training now. Like I find it quite frustrating to just stand there and like wait in between each set.

Yeah. Having worked out at Gold’s Gym in Venice, and I know you did too, there, I mean, guys were there, like, they’d be there all morning. Yes. Then they’d go eat their oatmeal and egg whites. Yes. Then they’d come back, you know, for a couple more hours. Then they go eat their chicken, broccoli and rice. I mean, it was like, And they’d get, like morning, they would do chest press.

Mm-Hmm. . . Yep. I’m like, oh my gosh. No,

I, I like to be efficient in the gym for sure. And now I put so much more of an emphasis on my steps, and I think that’s really, really helpful too. Like, surprisingly helpful.

Any big mistakes that you made along the way that you could, uh, reveal so that. Anyone here would not make the same.

Mistakes, mistakes. I mean, a lot of trial and error, you know, like it’s difficult for me to look back and regret anything cause I wouldn’t be here right now. Let me think. I think just like emulating. other people’s routines too much, rather than honoring what I know works for me. I feel like bio individuality is such a thing, and I would maybe get thrown off course if I saw someone was eating.

I mean, there was this phase of like, if it fits your macros. Oh yeah. And I was like, wait, all these people are eating fun pancakes and all this syrup. Like I want to eat that way. I felt awful. And even though it fit my macros, the quality of the food was so bad. And I was like, I can’t eat this way. But it’s confusing.

I think because we emulate our favorite influencer, our favorite, whoever, and I feel like honoring what you know makes you feel good or what fits your schedule the best is always going to be the better option.

And we’re also assuming that what they’re showing us is actually what they’re doing. Right. So there’s that issue too.

Right,

that, that, I mean, adds a whole other layer, you know.

There’s the other side too that I hear with weight loss where I go, okay, yes, caloric restriction has to be a part of this, obviously, but, But since we’re losing, we’re healing our metabolism to lose weight, what those calories are made up of, where they come from, counts most.

Like we have to look at all of this.

Yeah.

And I think sometimes in the physique world, in the weight loss world, we tend to just look at calories. And I’m like, No, we gotta look where they come from.

Yeah, and I fell into that a little bit. Like, I remember I was obsessed with Halo Top back then. That wasn’t, I mean, crazy, but like, I definitely dabbled with that kind of thing, and now I am so ingredient conscious, and I’ve done so much inner healing work as well, that I’m just way more tapped into what’s in everything, and I’m focusing on whole foods.

Awesome. So mindset shift, because I think that’s the most interesting piece. Having worked with so many people in weight loss, what I would see quite often is they never left who they were. And so as they started to shift, it was almost like a rubber band that got stretched about as far as it could. And then they went zoop!

You know, they’d zing back. Unless they made that transformation in their mind to this healthy, lean person, they would never leave. Kind of run back to that comfort zone. So how have you done this mindset shift?

Yeah, I kind of have to think back to like,

well, this is great. You can’t I mean, if you that is the biggest piece of this is you can’t even really see yourself where you were when you were starting.

Did you have an idea of where you wanted to be? Did you see yourself there? What did you do?

I knew I kind of did it by day. And it was this feeling of like, if I can show up for the workout and stick to the meal plan and drink the amount of water I want, I’m getting closer to what I want. And truthfully, I didn’t have a goal of losing 90 pounds.

I think if I had that goal, I would have gotten super overwhelmed and stopped soon. I think I had a goal of just being a person that I was proud of, and that kind of helped me keep showing up. And it was like a day by day, week by week kind of thing. It was like I was chipping away each week and I remember my husband was still at school in Philly and he would come back and he would weigh me because I didn’t want to look at the scale and he would tell me how many pounds I’d lost and sometimes he would lie to me to keep me going.

So he’d be like, oh you lost two pounds this week even if the scale didn’t move, which now we know perhaps I was gaining muscle at the same time, it’s a whole thing. But I feel like for me it was, I know something good will come out of this because I’m working my butt off. I’m proud of myself. I mean, I was so mentally unwell before my fitness journey that I couldn’t go to a grocery store by myself.

Like, everything was hard for me. And I feel like fitness, and it sounds super cheesy, but I felt like fitness taught me about life too. Like, every rep and set, doing an extra rep,

doing

an extra set. Only benefited me in the long run and I kind of took that into my real life. I ended up getting a job at Orange Theory Fitness.

I worked the front desk making minimum wage, but it was a job and I remember bringing my Tupperware. I eventually went back to school. I finished my degree. Fitness just kind of built my confidence in every area of my life and really taught me how to be a goal driven person. I feel like before fitness I was kind of coasting through life, kind of okay with being average, I didn’t have high aspirations for myself, and losing weight showed me that I’m pretty much capable of whatever I want, and that was how I have the life that I have now.

It was how I started up my business that I have with my husband. I feel like I’m living the dream now, and I feel like I truly would not be able to do that if it weren’t for fitness.

There’s this saying that the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.

Yeah.

And the gym teaches you that you can do hard stuff.

Yes.

And not just survive it, you actually get better and stronger.

Yeah. And

that hard stuff seems easy.

Yeah. And for someone who was so kind of like, I was down really bad, I felt like I was a mentally weak person. Like the belief system I had about myself was really, really low. And getting in the gym and lifting heavy stuff.

I mean, I can’t think of anything better for someone who’s in a really bad place because it just shows that you can do hard things.

It’s one of the things that we did to help heal my son from his brain injury was I got him in to a functional performance gym in Palm Desert and he did battle ropes and balance work and all sorts of stuff.

I mean, it’s amazing for what it does for your brain, but also just for his confidence again. Yeah, 100%. It’s fantastic that you’re now in this business because now it’s your whole identity.

Yeah.

So how did that happen and tell us about your podcast because it’s what it’s like what number one in health Thank you.

I don’t know if it’s one number one, but it it’s been there.

We’re not right now. We’re in the top 10 for sure Fantastic. Thank you. It’s really exciting and it’s exciting I think for women to be in the top 10 because I see a lot of men up there and they’re all incredible But it is nice to see So in November of 2017, I posted a side by side, um, a before and after of, you know, me, before my fitness journey and me after, and I had 900 followers at the time.

And that photo ended up blowing up on the internet. It was the time of social media where things could naturally blow up. It was getting reposted everywhere. I was getting a ton of dms and everyone was like, what did you do? What did you eat? So my first ever product was a workout PDF guide and a nutrition guide and I sold them for five dollars.

And people would email me and PayPal me and I would email them the guide. So it was this very sort of like manual system. And my husband is a very entrepreneurial, great with marketing. Very high energy. And he helped me so I could create content, connect. I love branding. I love anything creative. And he was doing all the behind the scenes.

Eventually we made a website, automated the whole thing. My first physical product was a resistance band that we hand packed and shipped out of my dad’s house, 900 bands. It was insane. It was insane. And we were just like two young kids, like 23, just super duper passionate about health and fitness. Like, I felt like I had this fire under me and I wanted to share this information that I had learned in my story.

And I felt like a lot of women on the internet wanted to connect as well. So many of them were in the position I was in and didn’t have the information that they needed. And also I felt like Not a ton of people online were sharing the struggle side of things. Like, there was not this, like, candid diary style of sharing.

It was kind of more airbrushed. So I was coming from this angle of, hey, like, I was in a really bad place and this is what I did to get out of it. And then all of 2018 we were sampling for our company Bloom. We started with three pre workouts. It was just myself and Greg and our manufacturer. And the pre workouts sold out.

And I think It was a great, a great moment for us because we were so connected with my community that I had been building on Instagram, that they were really helping us create these products. Like, they were telling us what flavors they wanted, we were showing them the labels. Now I look back and I’m, the labels are hideous, but it was because I was doing them myself.

Um, and we just kept releasing products. We did EAAs, we did protein, very gym style products, and then right before COVID, I was telling you before I really struggled getting in a variety of vegetables. I wanted to create a powder that had all the veggies, all the fruits, tasted really good, was easy to incorporate, and that’s where we created the greens powder, which we’re known for now.

And COVID kind of made these greens go viral. They kept selling out, all the girls were loving them, and now we’re in Target, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Wegmans. And it’s bizarre to think about, honestly, from like beginning to now, it’s crazy.

And you’ve got like top podcast products. It’s, and you think back, you know, to you.

I know. Working Orange Theory Fitness, you know, barely making it by. Taking your

Tupperware

salad. Yep. I know. The podcast for me, so I started the podcast January of last year, and I’ve only been doing it for a little bit, but it has probably been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done, truthfully. I felt like I just hit a limit with social media where I was like, 30 second clips and photos just aren’t representing me and I don’t feel like I’m learning and I didn’t feel like I was being challenged and I felt like I really just wanted to have conversations with experts and share so much more.

I mean the long form content of a podcast is so much more valuable to me than watching a TikTok or a Reel and I feel like it’s such more, it’s a value add. for society. Um, and I’ve loved it. The podcast is called Pursuit of Wellness. I’ve spoken to some amazing people like yourself. I’ve learned so freaking much.

It’s insane. And, um, yeah, we’re doing two episodes a week right now. It’s definitely a hustle. It’s a lot of work, but I, I love it so much. It shows. Thank you. It’s so

good. You’re an excellent interviewer. Thank you. It’s a skill I’m, I’m really working on honing. I am not a natural interviewer. You’re an expert in so many ways.

It’s very challenging when you have like ADD, cause you’re like, you have to just, I’m like, just duct tape my mouth. It can be very challenging. So I’m going to put at jjvirgin. com forward slash mari. All of your information, your podcast, your website, your products. Um, very exciting about the products. Do you still have the pre workouts?

We do actually. Nice. They all, I’ll send you some. They’re great. Cool. Cool.

Exciting. All right. We’ll put all of that there. And I, again, success leaves clues. I just am, you know, so impressed with what you’ve been able to accomplish, but really it’s that shift to not even recognize the person that you were before.

Yeah.

Uh, to honor them but not recognize them and to move into this whole way of being that you’ve built an entire career around is so super cool.

Thank you so much.

Go you!

Thank you and thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips, and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life to ensure you look and feel great and are built to last. Check me out on Instagram, Facebook, and my website, jjvirgin. com, and make sure to follow my podcast at subscribetojj. com so you don’t miss a single episode.

And hey, if you’re loving what you hear, don’t forget to leave a review. Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just like you to spread the word about aging powerfully after 40. Thanks for tuning in, And I’ll catch you on the next episode.

Hey, JJ here, and just a reminder that the Well Beyond 40 podcast offers health, wellness, fitness, and nutritional information that’s designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional at wellbeyond40. com. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes.

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