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From Childhood Challenges to Triathlon Triumphs with Gabby Villa

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Life-Changing Challengers
From Childhood Challenges to Triathlon Triumphs with Gabby Villa
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Season 2 Health Challenges Nutrition Success Self-Improvement

Have you ever wondered how a family competition could spark a lifelong passion for triathlons? Join us as we sit down with Gaby Villa, a dedicated dietitian, sports nutritionist, and triathlete, who shares her incredible journey from her childhood in Saltillo, Mexico, to becoming a prominent figure in the sports nutrition world. Gaby opens up about her early life, playing in her mother's photography studio, dealing with the complexities of a blended family, and the emotional challenges of moving to Australia for her master's degree. Her candid discussion about teenage body image issues offers a sincere look into the personal struggles that shaped her path to professional growth.

Discover the fascinating diversity within the triathlon community as Gaby and I discuss how self-awareness in training can shift our perspectives on body image. We reminisce about a memorable issue of Triathlete Magazine, which showcased elite athletes in artistic nude poses, challenging traditional fitness ideals. Gaby’s love for triathlons, rooted in a family relay event, underscores the sport's inclusive and varied nature. Our conversation touches on university triathlon clubs, the challenges of marathon running, and the influence of a university triathlon club at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Get inspired by Gaby's career transition into sports nutrition, motivated by a challenging experience with a swimming coach during her teenage years. She shares the rigorous academic and hands-on journey that led to her specialization in sports nutrition, including working with state teams in kayaking, rowing, and sailing. Gabby founded IntensEatFit to provide expert nutritional guidance to ultra-endurance athletes, and she offers valuable insights into performance nutrition, client tracking, and the mental and physical aspects of Ironman training. Tune in for an episode filled with knowledge and inspiration from Gaby's remarkable journey!

Contact Gaby @ IntensEatFit
Instagram: @intenseatfit
Facebook: @intenseatfit
X(Twitter): @intenseatfit
LinkedIn:  @Gabriela Villa Carillo
IntensEatFit.com

Have an idea or feedback? Click here to share.

Contact Brad @ Life Changing Challengers
Instagram: @bradaminus
Facebook: @bradaminus
X(Twitter): @bradaminus
YouTube: @lifechangingchallengers
LifeChangingChallengers.com

Chapters

00:00 - Family and Body Image Challenges

13:04 - Triathlon Body Image Diversity

16:22 - University Triathlon Club and Competition

24:14 - Sports Nutrition Career Transition

33:58 - Barefoot Trend and Triathlon Lifestyle

38:44 - Triathlon Training and Nutrition Insights

48:17 - Intense Eat Fit Nutrition Insights

56:58 - Performance Nutrition

01:11:22 - Client Nutrition Tracking and Insights

01:20:10 - Triathlete Inspiration and Knowledge Sharing

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.922 --> 00:00:04.551
And we're back with another episode of Life Changing Challengers.

00:00:04.551 --> 00:00:13.414
As always, I'm your host, brad Minus, and I am super excited to be talking to the future.

00:00:13.414 --> 00:00:24.649
Gaby Villa is in Australia right now, so it's actually one day later in the morning, so we're talking to the future, all right.

00:00:24.649 --> 00:00:34.902
So Gaby is a dietician, a sports nutritionalist let's just say that she's an expert, and most of her expertise is in food and fuel.

00:00:34.902 --> 00:00:37.426
So, Gaby, how you doing?

00:00:38.689 --> 00:00:39.110
Hey, Brad.

00:00:39.110 --> 00:00:39.893
Yeah, I'm doing great.

00:00:39.893 --> 00:00:41.121
Thank you so much for the invite.

00:00:42.262 --> 00:00:44.243
Oh no, I'm super honored to have you here.

00:00:44.243 --> 00:01:02.790
The thing that I didn't mention, that I was going to mention was so Gaby is an avid triathlete and trail runner, of which, you know, yours truly is, you know, an avid triathlete and runner, so we have a lot in common and I'm super excited about it.

00:01:02.790 --> 00:01:05.245
So let's dig in.

00:01:05.245 --> 00:01:10.344
So, Gaby, can you tell us a little bit about your childhood?

00:01:10.344 --> 00:01:14.721
What was the compliment to your family, where did you grow up and what the environment was like?

00:01:16.123 --> 00:01:16.865
Yeah, of course.

00:01:16.865 --> 00:01:31.826
So I grew up in a city called Saltillo in Mexico, so that is north of Mexico, probably like driving like three hours to get to the border, and we're exactly south of Texas essentially.

00:01:31.826 --> 00:01:43.308
And I am the oldest of well, it's a complicated arrangement of family, but I'm the oldest of six siblings in total, but back then when I was a kid, we were three in total.

00:01:43.308 --> 00:01:48.323
So I would say, yeah, like my childhood, I remember it as a happy one.

00:01:48.323 --> 00:01:55.001
My brother and I are one and a half years apart, so we spent a lot of time together.

00:01:55.001 --> 00:02:05.299
Both my parents are entrepreneurs or they had their own business, so that had a butcher and mom had a photography studio.

00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:16.556
So we would spend most of the time with mom because the way the business worked was very flexible and it allowed us to spend most of our days pretty much just playing around the studio.

00:02:16.556 --> 00:02:22.293
She had a very large room where we would just like I remember playing teacher and things like that with my brothers.

00:02:22.293 --> 00:02:24.451
We would always like be having fun games and things like that with my brothers.

00:02:24.451 --> 00:02:26.100
We will always like be having fun games and things like that.

00:02:26.100 --> 00:02:41.745
Then my sister came when I was six years old and that was me asking for her because I really wanted a little sister, and yeah, so essentially it was three of us I, in terms of how the the family was composed, that was pretty much us.

00:02:42.145 --> 00:02:47.514
Still, I think I turned 13 and that's where my parents decided to split.

00:02:47.514 --> 00:03:04.473
So now I'm going into all their tears, because I know you ask about the childhood, but just to explain how I ended up with so many siblings Essentially, dad got married again a few years later and his wife has a kid.

00:03:04.473 --> 00:03:11.020
He is 20-ish, so he's my stepbrother now and they got two kids together.

00:03:11.020 --> 00:03:16.129
So I have a half sister who is six, and a half brother who is 15.

00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:18.413
I absolutely adore them.

00:03:18.413 --> 00:03:20.584
They are beautiful kids.

00:03:20.584 --> 00:03:27.362
Of course, now I don't see them very often because I'm living very far away, but that is a family arrangement.

00:03:27.362 --> 00:03:30.248
Now I'm happy to bring it back to my child.

00:03:30.909 --> 00:03:38.293
Well, no, I just I think it's fantastic that you obviously still have a good relationship with your dad and your mom, you know.

00:03:38.293 --> 00:03:39.443
So that's fantastic.

00:03:39.443 --> 00:03:44.126
That doesn't happen a lot, right, when people split and of course they change in geography.

00:03:44.126 --> 00:03:44.707
It doesn't happen.

00:03:44.707 --> 00:03:52.277
So it's fantastic that you the idea that you said that you adore them, meaning that you still have a good relationship.

00:03:52.298 --> 00:03:53.683
So that's fantastic, oh, absolutely.

00:03:53.683 --> 00:03:56.295
I think moving to Australia probably my.

00:03:56.295 --> 00:04:01.087
When I moved to Australia my little sister was not around yet, but my little brother was.

00:04:01.087 --> 00:04:06.949
He was six years old then and, yeah, six or seven, he was seven.

00:04:06.949 --> 00:04:09.788
Anyway, to me that was one of the hardest things.

00:04:09.788 --> 00:04:13.986
Leaving him it was really, really hard, and I was coming just to do a master's degree.

00:04:13.986 --> 00:04:18.451
It was not necessarily thinking that I was going to stay here for such a long time.

00:04:18.451 --> 00:04:24.391
So, yeah, it was probably one of the hardest things, because I know I've always had a good relationship with them.

00:04:24.471 --> 00:04:24.932
That's great.

00:04:24.932 --> 00:04:26.403
So you're 13,.

00:04:26.403 --> 00:04:27.288
You split up.

00:04:27.288 --> 00:04:29.545
Did you end up living with your mom?

00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.730
No, we ended up living with dad Mom's still around.

00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:38.129
We still, like always, have a really good relationship with mom.

00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:46.839
It was just, I guess, the situation it meant that mom felt it was better for us to stay with that.

00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:49.610
It was like it's really complicated.

00:04:49.610 --> 00:05:15.846
It's about like, essentially, the house and like that, being like financially involved and things like that, to stay there, stay with the house and like, essentially, it's like you know, I'm here, I love you and that's how it ended up being you and that's how it ended up being, which, of course, I know, and the more time passes, the more I understand how difficult that was for mom and how it was such a yeah, a really difficult thing to do, especially when I think of now.

00:05:15.846 --> 00:05:27.269
I mean, I'm married now and I was having a chat with my husband recently because we were watching a show and they are splitting up and the ladies are staying at the house and my husband is like, of course she's going to stay down.

00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:37.149
I was like, hang on, like let me understand what you think, because of course, we are not planning on split up or anything like that, but like it's interesting to think, like what are the yeah, the assumptions, I guess.

00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:49.896
So anyway, it was definitely difficult um, so in the research that I did with you, you had mentioned that in your teenage years you had some body image issues.

00:05:49.896 --> 00:05:55.831
You want to go into a little bit about that so we can kind of now we can start digging into the real meat of it.

00:05:57.012 --> 00:06:01.841
Yeah, definitely so I think actually it did start from childhood, let's say so.

00:06:01.841 --> 00:06:07.519
Both mom and dad had issues with their weight when they were younger.

00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:38.713
So, with all their as I'm sure that it was with well intent, good intentions they, especially with my brother and myself, they were very strict about food, let's say and I remember, with a strict enough I want to say in a good way so like, oh, you't eat, but it was very conscious about what we were eating and because for themselves it continued to be an issue, they continued to try diet after diet and, of course, as the new diet comes in now, the kids are also doing the same thing.

00:06:38.713 --> 00:06:41.148
So we will have these diets.

00:06:41.148 --> 00:06:53.288
Thankfully, I think most of the diets were, let's say, balanced, even though it still was a restriction, and now I understand how harmful that was, even though they did have the intention of this being good for us.

00:06:53.689 --> 00:07:02.502
I remember going to school with a tin of tuna and some crackers, and that was my lunch, when most people would have a sandwich or something a little bit more conventional.

00:07:02.502 --> 00:07:06.327
That was when I was probably in primary school.

00:07:06.327 --> 00:07:18.872
Then, of course, the more time passes and in my teenage years I'm starting to become even more self-aware and my body's changing again and all these things.

00:07:18.872 --> 00:07:29.704
That's when things started to get a little bit more complicated, let's say in terms of now I'm a little bit more independent, I can take decisions.

00:07:29.704 --> 00:07:37.386
I think, and now that I reflect on it, I think that food wasn't necessarily the problem.

00:07:38.048 --> 00:07:42.600
I'm thinking it was more exercise that I was becoming more and more obsessed with.

00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:45.589
I remember we went to because we used to swim.

00:07:45.589 --> 00:07:53.288
We were part of the state Well, actually the local team, the swimming team and then we would go also to the gym.

00:07:53.288 --> 00:08:03.269
And I remember one day mom took us to the gym and we were meeting this new coach, or this new personal trainer, essentially, and he gave us a really light load.

00:08:03.269 --> 00:08:05.288
It was very easy training session.

00:08:05.288 --> 00:08:14.867
I came back home crying and crying and crying because it was not hard enough, like, oh, we barely didn't do anything and it was not hard that I barely sweat.

00:08:14.867 --> 00:08:18.444
I was like, now that I think of it, I was like, oh my God, like I can't believe.

00:08:18.444 --> 00:08:21.985
I was so annoyed because I didn't.

00:08:22.425 --> 00:08:26.026
Essentially, I think to me was like I didn't exercise enough.

00:08:26.026 --> 00:08:30.451
Of course, now, as I will, I didn't burn enough calories, or it was like wasted time or whatever.

00:08:30.451 --> 00:08:35.312
So it's obviously a very troubled relationship with physical activity.

00:08:35.312 --> 00:08:48.663
To me, physical activity was a means to, yes, making my body look different, and of course it meant that this also the way I was eating was also very controlled and I was very careful about things.

00:08:48.663 --> 00:08:58.721
But then of course, the bee inges will come and whenever I will find it was usually cashews or nuts in the pantry that will be my thing, because the house is all healthy.

00:08:58.721 --> 00:09:08.231
So there's actually no cookies, there is no chocolate, there's nothing you can eat like that, so it will be cereal or peanuts or things like that that are like the health stuff there.

00:09:08.231 --> 00:09:11.005
That, of course, is compared to all the other things.

00:09:11.005 --> 00:09:13.611
Those are things that were higher in energy.

00:09:13.611 --> 00:09:22.293
So, yeah, that was pretty much how I was approaching my, I guess, idea of looking after myself.

00:09:23.182 --> 00:09:23.504
Okay.

00:09:23.504 --> 00:09:26.804
So let me ask you a question, because this is what we, you know.

00:09:26.804 --> 00:09:31.226
Obviously, this is what's going on in America right now, both with kids and with adults.

00:09:31.226 --> 00:09:43.105
When you look back at that moment and you looked at yourself in the mirror whether it was you passed by a mirror when you're going to swim, or you were getting dressed in the morning or whatever what did you see?

00:09:43.105 --> 00:09:46.341
Was there something that you saw that?

00:09:46.341 --> 00:09:54.246
Maybe your parents said that no, that's not right, that's not what we see, or maybe your brother said that's not what I see.

00:09:54.246 --> 00:09:55.965
Did you see something else?

00:09:55.965 --> 00:09:59.605
Did you feel like you were bigger, smaller, not big enough, not small enough?

00:09:59.605 --> 00:10:00.769
How did that work?

00:10:02.682 --> 00:10:07.253
I do know that among the kids at school, I was among the bigger ones, definitely.

00:10:07.253 --> 00:10:10.566
Now I see photos of myself, I was like, oh my God, what?

00:10:10.566 --> 00:10:14.765
Like I look like a normal kid, actually, compared to all the other kids.

00:10:14.765 --> 00:10:18.250
Yes, I was definitely bigger, but not significantly.

00:10:18.250 --> 00:10:20.322
I remember there was a classmate of myself.

00:10:20.322 --> 00:10:22.788
That will always be the ones who will be.

00:10:23.789 --> 00:10:34.525
I really hope people are no longer doing this, but they will always pick the tubby kids as the goalkeepers whenever we will play soccer, and I was always the goalkeeper, and her as well.

00:10:34.525 --> 00:10:43.140
So, yeah, anyway, of course, there were definitely those insecurities because, yes, like my body and the thing is that that's something that I'm able to recognize.

00:10:43.140 --> 00:10:51.355
Now I am aware that my body has is this it's definitely never going to be size X or like whatever, and that is okay.

00:10:51.355 --> 00:10:55.707
Now, it's understanding that there's a wide range of body types.

00:10:55.707 --> 00:10:58.254
There's nothing wrong with it.

00:10:58.254 --> 00:11:05.307
It's more about like, okay in this body that I'm in, how am I going to look after my body and make sure that I'm as healthy and as happy as possible?

00:11:06.408 --> 00:11:10.894
and no, and I get it and, and as triathletes, it's like the aesthetics.

00:11:10.894 --> 00:11:15.448
Obviously we still all have the ability that we look at it.

00:11:15.448 --> 00:11:27.410
We're like I like a little bit more to be as more aesthetic, but as triathletes it's kind of like okay, what do I put in my body that's going to fuel my next workout, it's going to fuel my next race, it's going to get me to that next PV.

00:11:27.410 --> 00:11:31.395
That becomes the priority versus aesthetics.

00:11:31.395 --> 00:11:32.322
You know what I mean.

00:11:32.322 --> 00:11:33.827
Like I know I fueled my workout.

00:11:33.827 --> 00:11:38.221
Hey, is my, is my abdomen a little more distended?

00:11:38.221 --> 00:11:39.504
That I would like you know.

00:11:39.504 --> 00:11:39.784
Is it?

00:11:39.784 --> 00:11:42.489
Do I have a little bit going over my speedo?

00:11:42.489 --> 00:11:44.852
I don't wear speedos, by the way, just so you know.

00:11:44.852 --> 00:11:46.014
I wear jammers.

00:11:46.014 --> 00:11:47.826
Is it sticking out a little bit more?

00:11:47.826 --> 00:11:49.164
Well, why is it sticking out a little more?

00:11:49.164 --> 00:11:52.429
Well, because you had a few more carbs last night.

00:11:52.429 --> 00:11:56.291
Carbs tend to hold on to water a little bit more.

00:11:56.291 --> 00:12:01.024
Therefore, it might look a little more distended at that point in time.

00:12:01.024 --> 00:12:01.306
Right?

00:12:02.967 --> 00:12:15.186
And the thing is that triathlon makes you very self-aware, especially with the tri suits, and I always say like, seriously, after seeing the pros in a tri suit, I'd be like they don't look great either.

00:12:15.441 --> 00:12:30.500
It's like okay, now I'm happy no one looks okay in a tri suit anyway, because, yeah, it was very feeling, because of course it's a skin, so essentially like all of you is, it's exposed pretty much and it it makes it quite challenging.

00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:40.510
And I still see and I have a lot of, I guess, compassion for people who feel that way, because I'm part of, like, different triathlon forums and I hear people commenting is like, oh my God, this is awful.

00:12:40.510 --> 00:12:51.085
I feel so like trapped in this thing and I'm looking at the photo and I can see that actually I don't see anything wrong with it After being in so many triathlons.

00:12:51.085 --> 00:13:03.057
There is such a wide spectrum of body types and people that I think is important to essentially open your perspective instead of just looking at the select few that finish and look at all the other rates.

00:13:03.057 --> 00:13:10.452
That you realize is like, hang on, there's actually so much diversity here as well no it, and we're going to talk about that here in a minute.

00:13:10.533 --> 00:13:28.280
I remember there was an issue of triathlete magazine and it had all my favorite pros in it and it posed naked but strategically, and it was very artsy, like, oh, and australia, you know, mirinda carfrae, right, mirinda carfrae is like for in her time.

00:13:28.321 --> 00:13:32.929
I mean, you're talking about three-time iron man, kona world champion.

00:13:32.929 --> 00:13:51.086
You know she's married to tim o'donnell, right, but I remember that that up that issue and mirinda was in it, craig was in it, craig, one of my favorites of the time and I I'm just losing it right now, but like all, lionel Sanders, I think, was in it at the time.

00:13:51.086 --> 00:14:00.312
And you know, oh, keneal Seve, sebastian Keneal was in it and I mean, just like all these, like my favorites at the time.

00:14:00.312 --> 00:14:26.991
And, yeah, you're right, none of them look, you know, know, like you wouldn't see them in a men's health fitness, in a men's health magazine, because we tend to we either get on the skinny side as triathlons, triathletes, or we have like skinny they look, we look kind of like skinny fat if you want to put and that's just a normal thing with us and it's very hard for a triathlete to lose weight if they want to maintain their training.

00:14:28.134 --> 00:14:28.995
Yeah, definitely.

00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.669
So, speaking of triathlon, where did that start for you?

00:14:32.669 --> 00:14:33.864
Because I know that you were a swimmer.

00:14:35.349 --> 00:14:42.813
Yes, so I was a swimmer and I think I was like 15 years old when my cousin saw that there was a local triathlon.

00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.533
So, essentially because I was a swimmer, I had cousins, including.

00:14:45.533 --> 00:14:53.639
So, essentially because I was a swimmer, I had cousins, including that cousin, she was a swimmer and then we had an uncle and some cousins who were runners.

00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:59.864
And then, for example, dad was always on not necessarily cycling what he used to do a lot of a spin bike and things like that.

00:14:59.864 --> 00:15:03.091
She thought it would be a great idea to have some 5e new relays.

00:15:03.091 --> 00:15:07.171
So we organized several ones and it was quite exciting.

00:15:07.171 --> 00:15:19.212
Actually, I remember feeling very excited to be part of the competition between the family in terms of which team was going to win, because we had a cousin that was a really good cyclist for us, because he was always cycling.

00:15:19.212 --> 00:15:20.345
So let's see how this goes.

00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:22.567
Anyways, we went to the triathlon.

00:15:22.567 --> 00:15:25.288
It was an enticed distance triathlon.

00:15:25.288 --> 00:15:31.951
I think it was like 300 meters, it was 15K bike and like a 3, 4k run, something like that.

00:15:31.951 --> 00:15:33.821
It was not necessarily so.

00:15:33.821 --> 00:15:41.263
Anyway, we went to the triathlon and the whole experience to me was fascinating, so fascinating.

00:15:41.263 --> 00:15:43.629
So I decided that I wanted to do it again.

00:15:43.629 --> 00:15:50.636
I was like I want to do one of these on my own and I had to wait a whole year for the next triathlon in the city.

00:15:50.636 --> 00:15:56.068
So essentially when the triathlon came, my preparation for it I was still swimming.

00:15:56.068 --> 00:16:02.807
I seriously couldn't run much as in like my fitness for running was not necessarily there.

00:16:03.167 --> 00:16:22.306
I remember, because of part of the swim team they would take us to do, maybe once a week, some running sets or something like that, and two weeks before the triathlon that take me to a space where I could go on the bike and all the objective was to make sure I wouldn't fall, so whenever I needed to dismount I wouldn't fall off the bike.

00:16:22.306 --> 00:16:23.211
That was essentially the preparation for it.

00:16:23.211 --> 00:16:24.938
Sure, I wouldn't fall, so whenever I needed to dismount I wouldn't fall off the bike.

00:16:24.938 --> 00:16:26.645
That was essentially the preparation for it.

00:16:26.645 --> 00:16:33.524
But of course I crossed the finish line of that triathlon and it felt like I finished a night on man.

00:16:33.524 --> 00:16:39.140
It was just an experience that it felt so satisfying and like.

00:16:39.621 --> 00:16:46.312
I mean I'm sure you have experienced that as well, but to me was like this is amazing and even though I was swimming and I was part of competitions, I have never.

00:16:46.312 --> 00:16:51.846
You have experienced that as well, but to me it was like this is amazing and even though I was swimming and I was part of competitions, I have never experienced something like that before, so I just fell in love with it.

00:16:51.846 --> 00:16:54.408
I just decided that I wanted to keep doing that.

00:16:54.408 --> 00:17:15.440
Of course, because it was still in my city and very local, there were not many options in terms of training and races, options in terms of training and races so I essentially was pretty much a triathlete, even though I was continuing the similar training structure that I just described and waiting a whole year to do the next one Nice.

00:17:16.441 --> 00:17:23.545
Yeah, so once I moved to do my dietetics degree, I moved to a city called Monterrey and that's bigger.

00:17:23.545 --> 00:17:29.448
There was a cycling team and the university, so I joined that and that's when things became a little bit more serious.

00:17:29.448 --> 00:17:48.345
I went to a triathlon in that city and it turned out that a few of us participating with part of the same university, so we actually decided to start the triathlon club, so I'm one of the founders of the university triathlon club there and yeah, so essentially everything else.

00:17:48.345 --> 00:18:05.434
Of course I mean I can continue because this is now 20 years of history, but yeah, essentially every single event just became more and more exciting and of course, the longer, the more time it passed, the preparation was getting a little bit more elaborate, for sure.

00:18:06.095 --> 00:18:09.257
Right, so you said Monterey California or Monterey Mexico.

00:18:10.057 --> 00:18:10.897
Monterrey Mexico.

00:18:11.137 --> 00:18:14.103
Okay, what was?

00:18:14.123 --> 00:18:19.472
the name of the university Tecnológico de Monterrey, monterrey's Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

00:18:19.472 --> 00:18:19.732
Yeah.

00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:29.625
Well, that is so cool that you started your own triathlon club at the university level.

00:18:29.625 --> 00:18:30.786
That's fantastic.

00:18:30.786 --> 00:18:34.781
I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1999.

00:18:34.781 --> 00:18:39.744
I was in the military, I had just finished my master's degree and there was the Marine Corps Marathon.

00:18:39.744 --> 00:18:42.501
Because I was living in DC, I was stationed at the Pentagon.

00:18:42.501 --> 00:18:44.000
So it's like, right there, the Marine Corps marathon.

00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:45.084
Because I was living in DC, I was stationed at the Pentagon.

00:18:45.084 --> 00:18:46.641
So it's like, right there, one of my buddies said, hey, do you want to run this?

00:18:46.641 --> 00:18:47.740
And I'm like, let's do it, let's train for it.

00:18:47.840 --> 00:18:57.319
Now, back in 1999, if you were in the running community but we weren't, we were in the military community knew nothing about gels, knew nothing about hydration.

00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:03.728
Basically, we did 18 and 19 milers with a 20 ounce bottle of water.

00:19:03.728 --> 00:19:07.773
That was it water and yeah.

00:19:07.773 --> 00:19:16.836
So when I got done with that marathon, I completely drained my glycogen stores, like completely.

00:19:16.836 --> 00:19:28.575
And if you've ever done that, you realize that you feel like you've got the flu, like nothing is going to, and it takes 48 hours for you to fill your glycogen stores again.

00:19:28.575 --> 00:19:31.449
It was the most awful thing ever.

00:19:31.449 --> 00:19:50.368
So I said at that point I was like one and done 10 years to almost the day I had started, I had gone through the military, I separated after the FOIF Operation, iraqi Freedom, the global war on terrorism, basically, and then I started working and I started becoming a workaholic.

00:19:50.368 --> 00:19:55.067
So I started this bootcamp class to get me back in shape.

00:19:55.067 --> 00:20:00.750
And a friend of mine in the bootcamp class saying, hey, we're listening, we're doing the Chicago Marathon, which is actually where I'm from.

00:20:00.750 --> 00:20:04.226
I'm actually from Chicago, I wasn't born there but I was raised there.

00:20:04.226 --> 00:20:14.529
And he says we're doing the Chicago Marathon for this charity because my wife has it's a polycystic kidney disease and we're going to do that Now.

00:20:14.710 --> 00:20:16.840
I'd sworn off marathons, I'd said forget it.

00:20:16.840 --> 00:20:20.586
But anyway, lo and behold, I ended up doing it.

00:20:20.586 --> 00:20:21.848
I gotten hurt.

00:20:21.848 --> 00:20:27.868
But in the midst of training for it, the same buddy goes to me hey, I'm doing this sprint triathlon.

00:20:27.868 --> 00:20:28.491
It's.

00:20:28.491 --> 00:20:30.038
I think it's a great way for you to cross train.

00:20:30.038 --> 00:20:31.221
Why don't you try it with me?

00:20:31.221 --> 00:20:37.261
And I'm like, yeah, sure, I'm down, bought a bike and started training and I did it.

00:20:37.261 --> 00:20:41.929
It was a sprint, it was a USAT, it was a USAT sanctioned event.

00:20:41.929 --> 00:20:43.290
And I did it.

00:20:43.290 --> 00:20:48.944
And I just, like you, came across the line and was like, wow, look what I just did you know?

00:20:48.944 --> 00:20:50.627
So yeah, that's what.

00:20:50.627 --> 00:20:51.790
That was my introduction to it.

00:20:51.911 --> 00:20:58.592
A year later I'd gotten injured badly, which is then a year later and then I.

00:20:58.592 --> 00:21:03.047
So I'd done several triathlons in that midst and then I started coaching.

00:21:03.047 --> 00:21:09.148
So someone said you're doing really, really well, yeah, and I started coaching and I've never been like you.

00:21:09.148 --> 00:21:13.186
It's about the PB, it's not about the metal, it's not about getting on the podium.

00:21:13.186 --> 00:21:15.441
I've been on the podium, but very rarely.

00:21:15.441 --> 00:21:20.652
I'm an average age grouper, top third, top 50%, depending on who's there.

00:21:20.652 --> 00:21:26.893
It's all about finishing it and my methodology is I want you to finish with a smile.

00:21:26.893 --> 00:21:30.332
That's how I want you to experience it.

00:21:30.332 --> 00:21:31.897
So you started this triathlon club.

00:21:31.897 --> 00:21:33.402
You started getting into more races.

00:21:33.402 --> 00:21:39.013
Were you competing as a triathlon club with other university clubs?

00:21:40.881 --> 00:21:46.346
yes, so we have the in in mexico and, I'm assuming, everywhere.

00:21:46.346 --> 00:21:48.788
For example, here in Australia they're called uni games.

00:21:48.788 --> 00:22:07.405
So over in Mexico it was Universidad, and essentially every year it will happen, but it will be for different sports and because now we had a triathlon club, we were able to participate as well, to participate as well, so it would be pretty much a national thing.

00:22:07.405 --> 00:22:18.865
That's when you are faced with reality, because, for example, in my case, back then I was not winning, but I was pretty much every race I would go to I would be in the podium and then we go to the national competition and it was like I think I finished like second last or something like that.

00:22:18.885 --> 00:22:20.148
It was just crazy.

00:22:20.148 --> 00:22:41.573
But of course it was a really good experience, a reality check in terms of like hang on, like maybe you're not as good as you think you are, but yeah, it was always lots of fun because the best part, especially being at that age, was that we will go on the trip and we will meet people from other places and you stay in this hotel and everybody else is like having excursions and things like that.

00:22:41.573 --> 00:22:43.026
So it was a good experience for sure.

00:22:43.026 --> 00:22:45.845
So I went to that twice I think.

00:22:46.968 --> 00:22:48.211
That sounds amazing.

00:22:48.211 --> 00:22:52.521
So NCAA triathlon is like just barely right now.

00:22:52.521 --> 00:22:54.169
It's in its infancy.

00:22:54.169 --> 00:23:02.769
There are a lot of universities that do have triathlon teams, but the actual competition is not as well at least that I've seen.

00:23:02.769 --> 00:23:08.808
It's not as prevalent as it sounds like you were, at least what the environment that you were in.

00:23:08.808 --> 00:23:11.909
So, but I'm really, really hoping that it takes shape here in the States.

00:23:11.909 --> 00:23:21.700
So you were at the University of Monterey, the Technology University of Monterey, and you were studying what was that what you were studying?

00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:23.125
That was my dietetics degree.

00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:24.250
The dietetics degree and what led you to that?

00:23:24.250 --> 00:23:27.325
My dietetics degree, the dietetics degree and what led you to that?

00:23:27.325 --> 00:23:33.066
I mean, I know that we talked about the image thing in the whole bit, but what led you into going into to be a dietitian?

00:23:34.028 --> 00:23:46.990
yeah, it's actually an interesting story because I always I mean I'm assuming, because I always talking about my body image and issues with food that someone looking from the outside would think that that's why she become a dietitian, because Because often if you are obsessed with food, you end up there.

00:23:46.990 --> 00:23:49.304
But in my case it had absolutely nothing to do.

00:23:49.304 --> 00:23:52.432
Like to me was extremely different to my experience.

00:23:52.432 --> 00:24:03.589
So what happened is that when I was in the swimming team and this was me, 13 years old the coach wasn't what I would think of an ideal coach.

00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:05.192
I was very frustrated to see that.

00:24:05.192 --> 00:24:19.907
First, my results as a swimmer were never good, but I could see the talent in some of other swimmers there and it felt like such wasted talent because the coaches wouldn't care Like I knew they were really, really good and the coach would be like oh yeah, whatever.

00:24:19.907 --> 00:24:24.102
For example, we will have like the 5 am swim set and he will be laying down.

00:24:24.102 --> 00:24:25.237
We will have like the 5 am swim set and he will be laying down.

00:24:25.237 --> 00:24:28.288
He will just like write the set and then just lay down to have a nap.

00:24:28.288 --> 00:24:30.807
I was like, what are you doing?

00:24:30.807 --> 00:24:35.251
And then, of course, when the competition will be, he'll be all mad because people didn't get results.

00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:38.250
At that age I could tell that something needed to be different.

00:24:38.250 --> 00:24:52.545
So let's say that, even though it was a not necessarily positive experience to me, it was a positive in a way that it inspired me to not be like that.

00:24:52.545 --> 00:24:54.067
Essentially it's like OK, I want to be in a sport.

00:24:54.067 --> 00:25:01.675
I can see how I would love to be part of that environment and support people, especially those who have the passion and the talent to excel to get a really good result.

00:25:01.675 --> 00:25:04.183
So back then I was like, ok, I want to be a coach to get a really good result.

00:25:04.183 --> 00:25:05.967
So back then I was like okay, I want to be a coach.

00:25:05.987 --> 00:25:17.269
So when the time came, which was five years later, to decide what to study, the pathway to become a coach was pretty much becoming a phys ed teacher and I was like I don't know if I like that.

00:25:17.269 --> 00:25:20.670
I feel like it doesn't feel exciting to me.

00:25:20.670 --> 00:25:39.441
And then I don't know how I ended up seeing this dietetics degree and especially at the university where I did it, it was essentially a bachelor in nutrition and wellness and the wellness component had a whole section in sports, nutrition, physical activity, exercise and health.

00:25:39.441 --> 00:25:47.075
I was like, oh, so you're telling me that I can do this and actually still be involved in the sport through nutrition.

00:25:47.075 --> 00:25:48.766
So I just love that idea.

00:25:48.766 --> 00:25:50.105
This sounds amazing.

00:25:50.105 --> 00:25:52.788
I definitely would love to do that.

00:25:52.788 --> 00:25:59.613
So pretty much from day one I was aware that I was going to become a sports nutritionist.

00:25:59.613 --> 00:26:02.990
That the whole time had been my goal.

00:26:02.990 --> 00:26:11.771
Maybe go to clinical, or I want to see what's around, but in my case, the whole time I was convinced that that was exactly where I was going to end up.

00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.008
So what did you do when you graduated?

00:26:16.401 --> 00:26:27.443
So because you finish with the dietetics degree but not necessarily the specialization and of course at least in my case you never feel like you are ready and of course at least in my case you never feel like you are ready.

00:26:27.443 --> 00:26:33.367
So, essentially, I enlisted into a graduate diploma with the International Olympic Committee, so it was two years in sports nutrition.

00:26:33.367 --> 00:26:34.288
It's online.

00:26:34.288 --> 00:26:45.855
It was quite intense two years of understanding sports nutrition specifically and around the same time, I started to work in the State Institute of Sport in Monterrey.

00:26:46.536 --> 00:26:56.119
It was amazing because I was, of course, getting my sports nutrition degree and I was, at the same time, having a group of athletes I could work with in terms of fueling, ride and everything.

00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.627
So it was definitely a great experience.

00:26:58.627 --> 00:27:12.834
Back then, I was responsible for the nutrition of the kayaking, rowing and sailing state teams and, yeah, that was incredible, definitely a totally different atmosphere because it's very competitive.

00:27:12.834 --> 00:27:22.307
They have a lot of them, they live in the specific accommodation for them and they have all their meals for them and, yeah, it was really cool to be part of that as well.

00:27:23.250 --> 00:27:26.208
Wow, that's got to be an amazing opportunity.

00:27:26.208 --> 00:27:46.432
When you're talking about the kayaking and sailing, it reminds me of a documentary I think it was Netflix and it followed one of the Tour de France teams and it was all at the POV, the point of view of the nutritionist who also was the chef.

00:27:47.835 --> 00:27:49.307
Yes, I think it's her name.

00:27:49.470 --> 00:27:59.462
Exactly, yes, yes, yeah, I thought it was amazing that she would go out and find a farmer's market and find, like a place for her to get meat.

00:27:59.462 --> 00:28:04.673
That was, that was, you know, gmo free and it was free range and the whole bit.

00:28:04.673 --> 00:28:20.282
But the amount of calories that these guys put out, which they had to, and I understand, but it was like following them through each phase and the difference of the meals and everything else and these guys just praised her just like my god, you know.

00:28:20.282 --> 00:28:24.628
But the idea that it was all of it was super fresh.

00:28:24.628 --> 00:28:30.596
He wasn't feeding them anything from a box or from a bag or nothing.

00:28:30.596 --> 00:28:33.910
I mean, it literally was everything was completely fresh.

00:28:33.910 --> 00:28:40.973
So when you were working with the kayakers and the sailors, I imagine you had some of the same experience.

00:28:40.973 --> 00:28:43.809
Maybe you weren't cooking it, but you were somehow.

00:28:43.809 --> 00:28:45.125
How did that work?

00:28:45.125 --> 00:28:46.984
What exactly were you doing for them?

00:28:48.127 --> 00:29:03.209
yes, so when he was essentially not outside of the competition, it was pretty much making sure that they were feeling right, that they were essentially especially those who were having issues with managing their performance, let's's say so.

00:29:03.209 --> 00:29:05.554
It was like, okay, let's see if nutrition can do something about it.

00:29:05.554 --> 00:29:15.729
In the case, for example, of sailing and rowing, to a certain degree there was a weight management component as well, because for some of them they actually have to make weight.

00:29:15.729 --> 00:29:29.299
So that, of course, was there and it was, yeah, like pretty much in general making sure that they were healthy, that they were eating, doing regular and I hope they are no longer doing routine skin folds, but that was part of the job as well.

00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:40.588
Uh, yes, unfortunately, it was still very, especially then very prevalent in terms of the nutrition intervention also having a component of changing body composition.

00:29:40.588 --> 00:29:43.803
And then, whenever it was a competition, it was traveling with them.

00:29:44.003 --> 00:29:54.730
Yes, I was not in charge of cooking and I'm sure they're grateful for that because I'm a terrible cook but I was definitely in charge of making sure that whatever they were provided was adequate for them.

00:29:54.730 --> 00:30:15.571
So if they needed, for example, if it was a dining area, that was probably easier to control, because usually the race organizer would make sure that this is adequate for people who are going to be competing, but sometimes it needed to be more per chase, so I will be in charge of making sure that the selection was adequate while keeping it fun.

00:30:15.571 --> 00:30:37.029
It was pretty much only teenagers, so it was making sure that it was something that it was interesting for them to consume, giving them the energy without risking any problems as well, and also, on the competition day, being there for those who had different races on the same day, so making sure they were recovering adequately and those things as well.

00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:38.240
Nice.

00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:41.289
I wish I had somebody like that when I was training all the time.

00:30:41.289 --> 00:30:42.845
So how long did you do that for?

00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:45.601
So I was there for two years and a half and essentially I stopped training all the time.

00:30:45.601 --> 00:30:45.750
So how long did you do that for?

00:30:45.750 --> 00:30:48.813
So I was there for two years and a half and essentially I stopped because I moved here.

00:30:49.737 --> 00:30:52.546
So that's when you took the plunge and decided to move to Australia.

00:30:53.368 --> 00:31:00.611
Yes, because when I finished my dietetics degree, I remember feeling a lot of anxiety because I was like, okay, I need to do something else.

00:31:00.611 --> 00:31:02.924
And I knew I wanted to do a master's degree.

00:31:02.924 --> 00:31:14.489
And when looking at the options, nothing in Mexico looked suitable for what I wanted to achieve, let's say so the option was going overseas.

00:31:14.489 --> 00:31:14.971
I was very anxious.

00:31:14.971 --> 00:31:15.532
I didn't feel ready for it.

00:31:15.532 --> 00:31:19.503
The whole process in applying and everything felt so overwhelming.

00:31:19.503 --> 00:31:27.330
Finding the diploma from the IOC was amazing because it's like, oh perfect, this is giving me everything I need and I don't have to move yet.

00:31:27.330 --> 00:31:31.210
But the itch to go somewhere and study was still there.

00:31:31.210 --> 00:31:44.128
So a few years later, I have a cousin who had a scholarship to go study in Spain and he was the one who said like you should try this, it's amazing, and like I can help you with the process, it's not that hard.

00:31:44.128 --> 00:31:51.384
So essentially, I ended up applying for the scholarship and got it.

00:31:51.384 --> 00:31:53.611
So that's how I ended up moving to Australia to complete the master's degree.

00:31:55.395 --> 00:31:58.226
Oh my God, that had to be a complete culture shock for you.

00:31:59.750 --> 00:32:09.663
Absolutely, I think, one of the most, because everybody asks well, not everybody, but when someone asked me, like what was the biggest cultural shock for you, I would say two what?

00:32:09.663 --> 00:32:11.990
And they actually happened on the same day.

00:32:11.990 --> 00:32:16.973
So the first one I remember I landed on a Saturday night or something like that.

00:32:16.973 --> 00:32:25.750
So I went to the supermarket to get some grocery shopping the next day and the first shock was that everything looked so different.

00:32:25.750 --> 00:32:30.674
Now I look at the supermarket and when I go and visit my family I was like it wasn't that different.

00:32:31.237 --> 00:32:39.346
But because I was in that mindset of being so obsessed with food and things like that, I went into the supermarket and I couldn't find the things that I like.

00:32:39.346 --> 00:32:42.864
I couldn't see anything that would like work the same way I like it.

00:32:42.864 --> 00:32:50.951
So remember, I came back home, but to where I was staying and just crying because but I feel like it was just a shock of reality.

00:32:50.951 --> 00:32:55.756
It's like, hang on, now you are so so far away from home and that's when it hit me actually.

00:32:55.756 --> 00:32:59.750
And the second shock is that a lot of people love going around barefoot.

00:32:59.750 --> 00:33:10.726
So at the supermarket I saw several people without shoes and just walking around and to to me that was just like what is going on here, Like why are people not wearing shoes?

00:33:10.726 --> 00:33:12.488
Life?

00:33:12.508 --> 00:33:14.829
You know, there used to be actually little signs in the windows.

00:33:14.829 --> 00:33:29.582
It'd be like no shirt, no shoes, no service.

00:33:29.582 --> 00:33:32.073
And the minute if you walked in there without a shirt or shoes, they would like nope, nope, turn around.

00:33:32.073 --> 00:33:32.736
Here, we're not serving you.

00:33:32.736 --> 00:33:35.145
And here they're just walking around just barefoot.

00:33:36.750 --> 00:33:46.436
Yes, I mean not everybody, or I would say probably 5% of the people I've seen are going around barefoot, but it feels like a lot of people anyway.

00:33:46.436 --> 00:33:50.400
Only happens at shopping malls, supermarkets, sometimes in the street.

00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:51.861
I haven't actually paid attention.

00:33:51.861 --> 00:33:55.403
If there's a restaurant there barefoot, I'm assuming.

00:33:55.403 --> 00:33:56.003
Maybe.

00:33:56.003 --> 00:33:59.526
I'm not sure, I haven't checked, but yes, that was what.

00:34:00.006 --> 00:34:02.127
Don't walk around looking at people's feet.

00:34:02.127 --> 00:34:04.054
I don't understand that.

00:34:04.054 --> 00:34:09.432
No, I'm kidding, um, and actually you know what the funny thing is is that's like a new trend.

00:34:09.432 --> 00:34:13.967
Now they call it grounding of course right now.

00:34:14.007 --> 00:34:14.489
It's a new trend.

00:34:14.489 --> 00:34:23.813
Now they're telling you get outside, take off your shoes and socks, ground yourself to the earth, extract your energy from the earth, and you can't do that with shoes.

00:34:23.813 --> 00:34:25.938
So, yeah, that's like the new thing.

00:34:25.938 --> 00:34:28.123
Now it's the new, like you know.

00:34:28.123 --> 00:34:33.400
Woo, woo, right, it's the new meditation, it's the new yoga, it's the new pilates.

00:34:33.400 --> 00:34:36.371
Go outside and walk around barefoot.

00:34:36.371 --> 00:34:37.172
Yeah, it's amazing.

00:34:37.172 --> 00:34:38.056
I love it.

00:34:38.056 --> 00:34:40.119
So how long did it take you to get your master's?

00:34:41.123 --> 00:34:41.423
barefoot.

00:34:41.423 --> 00:34:42.266
Yeah, it's amazing.

00:34:42.266 --> 00:34:42.606
I love it.

00:34:42.606 --> 00:34:44.030
So how long did it take you to get your master's?

00:34:47.349 --> 00:34:47.570
Two years.

00:34:47.570 --> 00:34:49.914
I finished it at the end of 2017.

00:34:50.036 --> 00:34:50.115
Nice.

00:34:50.115 --> 00:34:51.699
And then what did you do when you got done with your master's?

00:34:51.699 --> 00:34:53.844
So, in the process, I got here in February 2016.

00:34:53.844 --> 00:34:58.934
And in August 2016, I met who is now my husband.

00:34:58.934 --> 00:35:08.992
So, even though my plan was to do with the master's degree, have my international experience and then go back to Mexico, of course plans change when I finish my master's.

00:35:08.992 --> 00:35:17.298
We both were aware that we wanted to be together for longer, but it still was like, okay, I'm going to stay here a little bit longer to see where this goes.

00:35:17.298 --> 00:35:20.313
And now the two years have turned into eight.

00:35:20.313 --> 00:35:24.797
It's obviously going very well, but of course, it changed my plans drastically.

00:35:25.358 --> 00:35:26.221
That's fantastic.

00:35:26.221 --> 00:35:28.958
So I got to ask where did you have your wedding?

00:35:30.731 --> 00:35:34.159
In Mexico, of course, because there's no weddings like the Mexican wedding.

00:35:34.849 --> 00:35:35.875
That's what I was going to say.

00:35:35.875 --> 00:35:41.099
Did you pull your family to Australia or did you go home and take your fiance with you?

00:35:41.099 --> 00:35:47.322
I figured you probably would have taken just to gone back to Mexico, because I imagine your parents wanted to see this man.

00:35:47.322 --> 00:35:52.561
At least, that's the stereotypical Mexican family that we hear and read about.

00:35:52.561 --> 00:35:54.496
Okay, so I'm just going on stereotypes.

00:35:56.692 --> 00:35:57.474
No, that's okay.

00:35:57.474 --> 00:36:08.202
Of course, they met him way earlier, so I think it was 2017 that he came with me to Mexico and we spent Christmas over there, and even his parents came as well.

00:36:08.364 --> 00:36:11.851
Really, yes, oh, that's fantastic.

00:36:11.851 --> 00:36:14.255
Oh man, that sounds like a great story.

00:36:14.255 --> 00:36:21.043
Yeah, wow, okay, now that I'm getting to know you a little bit, I'm like the friend that's hopping up.

00:36:21.043 --> 00:36:22.043
I want to see pictures.

00:36:22.043 --> 00:36:26.635
So maybe offline, somewhere down the line, you and I can share some pictures of our family.

00:36:26.916 --> 00:36:32.880
Cause I'm like, I'm so frigging, I'm like totally interested and intrigued about what that wedding looked like.

00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:35.291
So I just it's just interesting to me.

00:36:35.291 --> 00:36:39.858
I really love connections with people and people's stories and stuff like that.

00:36:39.858 --> 00:36:42.742
So that's kind of a little thing on the back burner, but anyway, all right.

00:36:42.742 --> 00:36:48.036
So during this time that you were in during the master's, were you continuing to race?

00:36:50.222 --> 00:36:55.135
Yeah, so pretty much before registering into the university, I was registered in the triathlon club.

00:36:55.135 --> 00:37:02.996
So yeah, no, I definitely continued to race and I think that's one of the things that I love the most about being here, because that's what makes it very difficult.

00:37:02.996 --> 00:37:23.458
If we move to Mexico, then I think about how wonderful it is to have a nice lifestyle, and that includes I can seriously cycle for hours without having to cross a single street because there's a designated bike lane on the freeway and then you can easily just do your whole training session without any issues and lots of safety.

00:37:23.458 --> 00:37:25.001
So that's amazing.

00:37:25.001 --> 00:37:30.476
And then we uh, where I live, there is a massive river and of course, there's the ocean.

00:37:30.476 --> 00:37:35.755
So you can do we call it river loop and you get to see the ocean and get to see the river.

00:37:35.755 --> 00:37:42.300
So it's beautiful to cycle and just have such amazing um views while you're doing that.

00:37:42.300 --> 00:37:43.554
Also running.

00:37:43.554 --> 00:37:50.240
I can literally just step out the door and start running without feeling concerned, knowing that I'm going to hit the path very quickly anyway.

00:37:50.240 --> 00:37:59.400
So it makes it really really easy, and of course, it would have been silly not to do it while being here and of course that was a very good experience.

00:37:59.400 --> 00:37:59.831
I must.

00:38:00.193 --> 00:38:07.280
Actually, even though by the time I moved here I had been doing triathlon for quite some time, I was very intimidated by the longer distance.

00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:22.079
So to me my longest triathlon was I think it was either Alcatraz or another one in Mexico that it was like similar distance, that is, a little bit longer than a standard triathlon, and that was already like a big challenge.

00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:27.585
And when I moved here, most of the triathlon club people were training for a half Ironman.

00:38:27.585 --> 00:38:34.891
So I didn't do it straight away, but being involved in that environment where that was the norm, it's like, okay, I'm going to give this thing a go.

00:38:34.891 --> 00:38:40.190
And of course, as like it happened, all the distances I've done I again fell in love.

00:38:40.190 --> 00:38:43.094
I love the distance, it feels amazing, it's a really good challenge.

00:38:43.094 --> 00:38:49.483
So from there I decided well, I started to do half Ironmans a little bit more regularly.

00:38:50.490 --> 00:38:51.536
That's my favorite distance.

00:38:51.536 --> 00:38:53.978
The half Ironman is my favorite distance.

00:38:53.978 --> 00:38:58.742
The full I'm going to do my sixth one in September and I'm done.

00:38:58.742 --> 00:39:01.181
I've got friends that do one every year.

00:39:01.181 --> 00:39:02.009
I've got friends that do one every year.

00:39:02.009 --> 00:39:05.456
I got friends that do two every year and I'm like not for me now.

00:39:05.878 --> 00:39:07.139
I love the 70.3.

00:39:07.139 --> 00:39:09.030
That's like matter of fact.

00:39:09.030 --> 00:39:10.512
I tell people I'm like.

00:39:10.512 --> 00:39:12.576
You tell me I'm gonna go do a sprint.

00:39:12.576 --> 00:39:26.516
I would rather do a half than a sprint any day of the week and twice on Sundays, because those sprints, when you're doing them the right way, the way you're supposed to do them, they're hard.

00:39:28.101 --> 00:39:30.793
Yeah you know they 100% are it's red line.

00:39:30.853 --> 00:39:34.550
From the minute your toe touches the freaking water to the time you cross the finish line.

00:39:34.550 --> 00:39:37.318
You are red lined out and I'm like you know what?

00:39:37.318 --> 00:39:40.931
No, no, give me aerobic the whole time, keep me aerobic.

00:39:40.931 --> 00:39:41.713
I feel great.

00:39:41.713 --> 00:39:45.721
I'll do a, you know, at the transitions and at the finish line.

00:39:45.721 --> 00:39:47.244
Other than that, I'm good to go.

00:39:48.851 --> 00:39:49.614
Yeah, definitely.

00:39:51.409 --> 00:39:55.516
But I don't mind an Olympic or what they call international distance, which is what?

00:39:55.516 --> 00:40:05.449
Half mile, half mile swim, half mile swim, 25 mile bike and a 10k, those aren't bad yeah, no, they're really good.

00:40:05.530 --> 00:40:06.012
I like them.

00:40:06.012 --> 00:40:07.297
Yeah, definitely.

00:40:07.297 --> 00:40:15.760
It's just that I mean, for example, I've never done an ironman, and the reason, the main reason for that is that I big time work with ironman athletes.

00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:25.023
It's just crazy to see how much training is required and I don't think right now I have the space and the availability to commit to that.

00:40:25.023 --> 00:40:28.480
And I'm someone who is if I'm going to do it, I need to do it right.

00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:34.818
And I even see it disrespectful if I just like, oh, I'm just going to wing it and, of course, first I'm going to be miserable if I do that.

00:40:34.818 --> 00:40:44.684
And the other one is like knowing how hard my clients train and how much they are dedicating to this, coming and being like, oh, I still can do it, even though I'm training half of it.

00:40:44.684 --> 00:40:48.119
It's just to me it feels very disrespectful to them.

00:40:49.954 --> 00:40:50.255
Oh right.

00:40:50.255 --> 00:40:58.396
So basically, what you're saying is that you want to maintain the service level to your clients and you feel like if you're training for Ironman yourself, maybe you're not going to give that service level.

00:40:59.416 --> 00:41:11.887
No, I mean that if I see how hard they work, if I were to do it without committing properly, it feels like I'm not being respectful to what they are doing, like, oh, look at me doing half of that and I still can do it.

00:41:11.887 --> 00:41:13.047
That's what it feels like.

00:41:13.047 --> 00:41:23.141
If I'm going to do it, I want to do it right and that's why maybe one day I'd love to have so much that, I don't know, it may not happen, who knows?

00:41:24.304 --> 00:41:25.144
I get it, I get it.

00:41:25.144 --> 00:41:28.713
And the funny thing is is that it really is.

00:41:28.713 --> 00:41:42.164
The difference between half and a full is the gap in fitness is 10%, maybe 15%.

00:41:42.164 --> 00:41:44.766
The rest of it it's all up here.

00:41:44.766 --> 00:41:47.010
It really is, and it's an amazing.

00:41:47.130 --> 00:41:56.574
I've had more than one person tell me that, like the training, the difference in training between the 70.3 and the Ironman is obviously you're going to do more biking, you'll do a little bit more running.

00:41:56.574 --> 00:42:00.797
The swimming will take care of itself as long as you are doing as long as you're hitting those distances.

00:42:00.797 --> 00:42:02.605
But the swimming will take care of itself as long as you are doing as long as you're hitting those distances.

00:42:02.605 --> 00:42:04.385
But the swimming will take care of itself.

00:42:04.385 --> 00:42:12.483
But it's the more, more time in the saddle and more time and more time getting your mileage up, but the so, the long.

00:42:12.744 --> 00:42:18.722
What we call long slow distance, right LSD is you've got those, so those go a little bit longer.

00:42:18.722 --> 00:42:25.023
But your tempo you're in, your speed workouts and your recovery workouts, all those are the same.

00:42:25.023 --> 00:42:28.295
So that's basically that's.

00:42:28.295 --> 00:42:29.117
That's basically what it is.

00:42:29.117 --> 00:42:37.273
But when you're at 80 miles on the bike and your rear end is telling you that you just want everything possible to get off this bike, but yet you've got 32 miles left.

00:42:37.273 --> 00:42:39.336
You're like, what the heck Cause it?

00:42:39.336 --> 00:42:42.702
Basically, that's what what everybody tells, that's what everybody tells me, and I believe it is iron.

00:42:42.702 --> 00:42:50.943
Man actually doesn't start till mile 80 on the bike because that's when usually the wheels start to like fall up and you're like, yeah, I want.

00:42:51.222 --> 00:42:52.512
All I want to do is get off this bike.

00:42:52.512 --> 00:42:54.699
And then you get off the bike and 13 miles in.

00:42:54.699 --> 00:43:00.257
All you want to do is finish the run and you know that you still got two hours left, or you got an hour and a half left or whatever.

00:43:00.257 --> 00:43:03.762
You could do your half and he's like it's torture at that point.

00:43:03.762 --> 00:43:17.253
So, yeah, chris mccormick, an australian triathlete you know he's always like embrace the suck, so you finish up the your master's, and the master's was in, was actually in.

00:43:17.253 --> 00:43:19.597
It wasn't in dietitian, it was something specific.

00:43:19.617 --> 00:43:28.719
Yes, yeah, it's a master's in health science, specializing in exercise and health, and because to me that was the part that I needed more.

00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:47.525
So I already had the sports nutrition part, but I wanted more about the health science, and I love that this one was health and exercise, because at the end, that was pretty much my area of expertise is more about that supportive component, which is that nutrition and health and everything else, not about prescribing, training or anything like that.

00:43:47.525 --> 00:43:54.054
That was a master's and something that was really good about it that I was not expecting, even though the curriculum was.

00:43:54.054 --> 00:43:59.039
It has a really heavy component on public health as well, on public health as well.

00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:32.731
So, yeah, and that was very good at helping you understand, especially from a nutrition perspective, that sometimes you come to someone and say, oh, you should be eating this way or you should be eating healthier, and you forget to understand that that person is part of a family, that is part of an environment, that is part of a community that is, and often that decision of like this is what you should be doing is not as easy to just go and implement it, because there are so many factors that can influence that, starting from can they afford it or do they have access to it?

00:44:32.771 --> 00:44:36.740
Like what if they have to travel super far to get to whatever you're suggesting?

00:44:36.740 --> 00:44:43.842
Or especially, for example, in nutrition, and there's a running joke about how every dietitian will tell you to eat seven and once and all these things.

00:44:43.842 --> 00:44:47.195
That is like, hang on, you are prescribing these things that are actually quite expensive.

00:44:47.195 --> 00:44:51.353
Not everybody can just change their diet and start eating like that.

00:44:51.353 --> 00:45:13.726
So it was really helpful in in making it click and seeing how we can easily well, I say we like or sometimes we can easily say or assume things about someone just by the way they are doing things, when in reality there's a whole spectrum of conditions that are influencing that behavior that we just don't see or understand.

00:45:14.670 --> 00:45:16.115
Yeah, no, no, no, I get it.

00:45:16.115 --> 00:45:21.784
And especially since now it's so much more expensive to eat healthy, why?

00:45:21.784 --> 00:45:23.628
And it's going to mean it's like it's so much more expensive to eat healthy why?

00:45:23.628 --> 00:45:30.262
And it's going to mean it's like it's so cheap for people to manufacture in boxes and bags and the whole bit.

00:45:30.262 --> 00:45:31.103
It's so much cheaper.

00:45:31.829 --> 00:45:42.391
But our joke here was when you go shopping at the grocery store, you just stay on the outside at the grocery store.

00:45:42.391 --> 00:45:43.054
You just stay on the outside.

00:45:43.054 --> 00:45:46.425
You never go on to the inside of the inner points of the grocery store, because obviously for us it's always the same thing.

00:45:46.425 --> 00:46:09.211
As you go to the right that's usually, I'm just saying usually the right or to the far left is fruit, right, and then the bakery where they're baking bread not bread that's manufactured or put into you know what I mean and then it's the fish case, and then the meat case and then the dairy case, right, and that's where.

00:46:09.293 --> 00:46:12.141
And then you get to fresh juices and stuff on the on the outside.

00:46:12.141 --> 00:46:13.414
That's usually what it is.

00:46:13.414 --> 00:46:23.891
So all the whole foods are on the outside of the grocery stores here in America and then all the all the processed stuff is so that that was a running joke.

00:46:23.891 --> 00:46:25.998
For you, you say it's always eat salmon and almonds.

00:46:25.998 --> 00:46:38.844
For us it's always if you're gonna shop, shop on the outside of the grocery store and that's just not and you like again, it's also the most expensive part yeah, and the one that is going to go off quicker as well.

00:46:39.030 --> 00:46:46.775
Like, for example, you are telling someone that they need to eat the fresh vegetables, when actually teen vegetables are there's nothing wrong with them.

00:46:46.775 --> 00:46:49.376
Or even frozen vegetables there's nothing wrong with them.

00:46:49.376 --> 00:46:56.061
And now they're like, on top of being more expensive, it's a waste, because if you don't get to finish them in three days, they're off.

00:46:56.061 --> 00:47:04.668
So there are so many, I guess, foods that have some stigma around them when in reality, there's nothing wrong with them.

00:47:05.250 --> 00:47:15.085
So let's just bounce ahead, because obviously you've gotten to the point where you've gotten this expertise in health science and in exercise science and public health and in nutrition.

00:47:15.085 --> 00:47:18.820
How did you come up with the Intense Eat Fit Intense Eat Fit Right.

00:47:18.820 --> 00:47:19.983
Intense Eat Fit.

00:47:19.983 --> 00:47:21.730
Intense Eat Fit Right.

00:47:21.730 --> 00:47:25.061
Intense Eat Fit Ladies and gentlemen.

00:47:25.121 --> 00:47:33.579
Yes, I always joke about how, first I love the business brand, I love the name, but whenever I'm on the phone with someone and they're like, so what's your email address?

00:47:33.579 --> 00:47:42.771
I was like, oh, I always feel like, I feel like I wish I could say at gmailcom, because it's way easier to say at intensive, yeah, then you have to spell it Anyway.

00:47:42.771 --> 00:47:45.710
So how that happened Actually?

00:47:45.710 --> 00:47:51.637
Well, like, essentially, I finished my degree, my master's, and I applied to a graduate program in the Department of Health.

00:47:51.637 --> 00:47:56.617
So absolutely nothing to do with nutrition or sports nutrition, but it was a really good opportunity.

00:47:56.617 --> 00:48:08.362
Hundreds of people apply and they only choose nine, and I ended up being selected for it, so ended up working at the department of health for, I think, two and a half years as well.

00:48:09.063 --> 00:48:22.103
And, of course, as it happened for many people, the next thing in terms of like the covid-19 hit, and for many of us it was a sort of a wake-up call, I guess, or something that makes things shake.

00:48:22.103 --> 00:48:38.943
So in my situation, it was my physio who was, because I continued to do triathlon and my physio was specialized in triathlons and endurance and she suggested why don't you try doing sports nutrition consults for my clients.

00:48:38.943 --> 00:48:39.614
I think I see a need of this.

00:48:39.614 --> 00:48:40.077
Why don't you try it?

00:48:40.077 --> 00:48:41.123
There was absolutely nothing wrong with my clients.

00:48:41.123 --> 00:48:41.706
I think I see a need of this.

00:48:41.706 --> 00:48:42.170
Why don't you try it?

00:48:42.170 --> 00:48:44.237
There was absolutely nothing wrong with my job.

00:48:44.237 --> 00:48:44.900
I love it.

00:48:44.900 --> 00:48:48.472
It was so chill, well-paid, everything was great.

00:48:48.472 --> 00:48:55.490
I didn't have that urge to leave it, except for my heart that was still in sports nutrition.

00:48:55.490 --> 00:48:56.873
I love what I do.

00:48:56.873 --> 00:49:01.684
I love working with people, I love being so close to the actual let's say.

00:49:01.684 --> 00:49:12.614
And every single day you're sitting behind a computer and so far away from the ultimate outcome, because by the time you develop a policy that actually gets approved, that actually gets implemented, it's.

00:49:13.230 --> 00:49:17.922
I was at a presentation and I remember they were so happy with this policy that was implemented.

00:49:17.922 --> 00:49:22.702
It took 10 years from let's do this to actually here it is.

00:49:22.702 --> 00:49:26.778
So I was like, oh, my God, I don't know if I can wait this long for this.

00:49:26.778 --> 00:49:30.054
So, anyway, from there, it's okay, let's try this.

00:49:30.054 --> 00:49:38.018
And I have a client, I have a friend who does marketing and I mentioned it to her that I was going to start doing my nutrition thing.

00:49:38.018 --> 00:49:42.918
It's like, oh, I can help with that because I'm actually starting to work on branding and things like that.

00:49:42.938 --> 00:49:50.458
So we ended up back then the name of it was intensity sports at intensity advanced sports nutrition.

00:49:50.458 --> 00:49:58.556
So, essentially, intensity and sports nutrition, rebranded to intensive fit, with the concept of marrying everything.

00:49:58.556 --> 00:50:07.338
That is, in an essence, what I do, which is that, yes, intense component, but the food component, but also the health component.

00:50:07.338 --> 00:50:09.532
So that's how we came up with this branding.

00:50:09.532 --> 00:50:25.744
So, essentially, in 2020, that's when all this started and by 2021, that's when I officially resigned from my job at the Department of Health and decided to go fully into this.

00:50:28.092 --> 00:50:28.835
That's awesome.

00:50:28.835 --> 00:50:30.112
What would you say?

00:50:30.112 --> 00:50:35.202
That you're the demographics of your average client.

00:50:36.989 --> 00:50:38.112
Sorry, what would you say?

00:50:38.291 --> 00:50:39.052
The demographics.

00:50:39.052 --> 00:50:39.815
Sorry, what?

00:50:39.835 --> 00:50:40.014
would you?

00:50:40.034 --> 00:50:46.224
say the demographic, so gender, age, activity level, and basically that's what I'm looking for.

00:50:48.110 --> 00:50:51.804
What is your average demographic?

00:50:51.804 --> 00:50:52.391
Yes, so mostly males.

00:50:52.391 --> 00:50:56.101
Now, this is not because I don't work with female athletes, but it sort of has been like that.

00:50:56.101 --> 00:51:07.835
Of course I love working with female athletes, by the way, of course I love working with female athletes, by the way, but at this stage probably, I have 70% male clients and 30% female clients.

00:51:07.835 --> 00:51:15.380
They are, regardless of their gender, very intense into their physical activity and their training.

00:51:16.041 --> 00:51:20.923
All of them are endurance athletes, especially leaning towards the ultra endurance.

00:51:20.923 --> 00:51:39.496
So triathletes, normally Ironman and beyond, so also Ultraman, for example, and in terms of runners, is actually pretty much 95% of them ultra runners, with a small component of marathon runners.

00:51:39.496 --> 00:51:45.349
So that is the main in terms of age, between 30 to 60, usually.

00:51:45.349 --> 00:51:54.041
So, anyway, anyone listening is doesn't mean that I don't work with you if you're outside any of these things, but that's usually how naturally things have shifted.

00:51:55.206 --> 00:52:18.945
And, yeah, essentially, when I started here in australia in 2020 because I'm a triathlete and because my physio works with endurance athletes, I was already in that endurance space, but it has continued to evolve to the point that it's like every time, every year, I seem to get people who are crazier and crazier, let's say, doing longer and longer things.

00:52:18.945 --> 00:52:23.697
So, yeah, I love it Definitely, especially nutritionally.

00:52:23.697 --> 00:52:29.597
It's a quite really big challenge in terms of how we are doing these things, so it's really good.

00:52:29.597 --> 00:52:31.552
There are so many elements to it.

00:52:31.552 --> 00:52:38.617
That makes it quite exciting to work for whatever new crazy adventure that I decide to do.

00:52:39.652 --> 00:52:41.297
Oh man, that's fantastic.

00:52:41.297 --> 00:52:44.418
In the show notes you're going to get her website.

00:52:44.418 --> 00:52:51.081
It's IntensFitcom.

00:52:51.081 --> 00:52:52.224
I'll put that in the show notes.

00:52:52.224 --> 00:53:02.501
The site is beautiful and has a world of information, so you need to jump on that and take a look at Gaby's website at intenseeatfitcom.

00:53:02.501 --> 00:53:05.775
Those links will be in the show notes.

00:53:05.775 --> 00:53:10.244
Are you active on any of the socials?

00:53:11.610 --> 00:53:12.590
Yes, definitely so.

00:53:12.590 --> 00:53:15.375
Instagram is where I'm the most active.

00:53:15.375 --> 00:53:31.351
Let's say, I try to post consistently there every week, so that one is also my business name, which is at Intense Eat Fit, and Facebook also posting regularly there, so it's Intense Eat Fit by Gaby Villa as well.

00:53:32.173 --> 00:53:32.655
Excellent.

00:53:32.655 --> 00:53:35.340
So, and again, that will be in.

00:53:35.340 --> 00:53:36.782
Those will be in the show notes too.

00:53:36.782 --> 00:53:47.532
So if you want to get ahold of her, you can go to the website or drop into her DMs and hopefully and you're pretty open to that, to grabbing people and answering questions and stuff, right, Gaby?

00:53:48.536 --> 00:53:49.798
Oh, definitely, I love it.

00:53:49.798 --> 00:54:06.581
So I think, at the end, it's everything about also being able to help people in terms of offering a different perspective into nutrition, especially when, in my journey, the message was pushing me towards a direction that was not helpful.

00:54:06.581 --> 00:54:13.753
So if I can steer at least one person in a different, more enjoyable perspective, my day is done for sure.

00:54:14.617 --> 00:54:15.018
Excellent.

00:54:15.018 --> 00:54:28.063
Yes, and that's what we say about this website, about this podcast podcast is that if you take away one, one little nugget, we just get one little nugget of information that will help steer you to your next big step.

00:54:28.063 --> 00:54:31.320
We call it just the next step in your journey.

00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:33.407
Whatever that might be, we've done our job.

00:54:33.407 --> 00:54:36.032
With that being said, I got a couple questions for you.

00:54:36.032 --> 00:54:55.793
One would be what do you find is the most prevalent issue, um, with the fueling for triathletes that are just kind of maybe because you don't work with a lot of beginners, right, you work with people that have kind of been in the sport for a while.

00:54:55.793 --> 00:55:01.244
What do you find is the most prevalent issue with fueling?

00:55:03.731 --> 00:55:15.219
I think there's still a very strong mindset in terms of the fuel sort of not being required or being a problem.

00:55:15.219 --> 00:55:18.251
If you are using it too much, let's say so.

00:55:18.251 --> 00:55:24.336
For example, I see this a lot of not cyclists in general, but usually, for example, for bike rides.

00:55:24.336 --> 00:55:31.804
It's always like a joke if you show up to the bike ride and you have energy gels and a bar or something extra.

00:55:31.804 --> 00:55:34.335
It's like oh, we're only cycling four hours.

00:55:34.335 --> 00:55:36.143
It's like we're cycling four hours.

00:55:36.143 --> 00:55:37.148
It's like what are you talking about?

00:55:37.148 --> 00:55:56.050
It's like so I feel like there is a lot of fear to fuel because there is this idea that by doing so you are almost going to ruin the quality of your training, when in reality is totally the opposite you need that fuel for that training to be of really good quality.

00:55:56.472 --> 00:56:00.096
I think part of that has been because I see things changing.

00:56:00.135 --> 00:56:08.525
I definitely see how there's a better and like now, there's a clearer perspective into understanding that food is fuel and that you need it.

00:56:08.969 --> 00:56:23.980
But there's still that idea, especially with the racing weight concept, that you need to be at certain weight for race day and that's how you prepare to be at your optimal and that's how nutrition is meant to be used to get to that race weight.

00:56:24.610 --> 00:56:38.255
So it is helping people understand that actually now that's obsolete, because there is nothing showing that you dropping weight in order to get to a race is actually going to translate into improved performance.

00:56:38.255 --> 00:56:48.817
What very likely will translate to, as part of like trying to lose the weight, is under fueling, risking injury and pretty much sabotaging your whole preparation.

00:56:48.817 --> 00:56:53.771
So by fueling adequately, the whole experience is drastically changed.

00:56:53.771 --> 00:56:58.862
So I see how that perspective is starting to change and that's great.

00:56:58.862 --> 00:57:20.239
But I feel like there's still a lot of work that we need to do in allowing people to have the confidence to eat, because there's still like that idea that it's like, oh, there's, it's too much sugar and the carbohydrates like actually, well, that's what your body's using, especially if you want to push at higher intensity and you want to to sustain that energy for as long as possible.

00:57:28.510 --> 00:57:29.050
I 100% agree.

00:57:29.050 --> 00:57:29.913
I've been doing some experimentation.

00:57:29.913 --> 00:57:40.139
I'd have tailwinds that you know 120 calories or so in my bottle, and then you know, with like 20, maybe 25 grams of carbohydrates, and then I'd have a 20 gram gel, right, and I do one of those an hour.

00:57:40.139 --> 00:57:58.760
As I've stepped up my training and I'm on the bike about 10 hours a week, I've gone to the point now where I have 80 grams of carbohydrates, almost 90 grams of carbohydrates, in my bottle, and I still have another gel just in case.

00:57:59.469 --> 00:58:08.402
But I've got 90, I got 90, 90 grams and I and I'm telling you it changed, it made, it changed everything when I doubled my carbohydrates.

00:58:08.402 --> 00:58:11.911
It changed absolutely everything.

00:58:11.911 --> 00:58:14.657
And then people were, people were and I was.

00:58:14.657 --> 00:58:16.081
You know, I was always big on it.

00:58:16.081 --> 00:58:18.355
I was like let's, you know, let's fuel more, fuel more.

00:58:18.355 --> 00:58:27.411
But I was, I was doing okay at 40, like 44 grams per hour, but it wasn't.

00:58:27.411 --> 00:58:32.322
It was never the greatest and I'll end, towards the ending hours I would feel like it would get tired and more and more tired on the run.

00:58:33.510 --> 00:58:49.992
I use a precision 90 and it's literally it's a one gel and the drill's got 90 grams of carbohydrates and I take that sucker every hour Like I know exactly what mile it's going to be and I'm like I take it right before I need it.

00:58:49.992 --> 00:58:56.536
You know, I'm still still coming off on the other one and I take the other one, so by the time I digest it's already gotten through.

00:58:56.536 --> 00:58:57.539
And let me tell you some.

00:58:57.539 --> 00:59:07.733
My last one I was able to keep a steady pace the whole time.

00:59:07.733 --> 00:59:11.483
I was actually able to negative split the last three miles and it was all because I kept these 90 gram fricking gels.

00:59:11.483 --> 00:59:15.293
Plus I still had Gatorade and you know and a couple of small cups of Coke on the course.

00:59:15.293 --> 00:59:18.538
But it was a game changer.

00:59:18.538 --> 00:59:20.942
Game changer to double my carbohydrates.

00:59:21.804 --> 00:59:22.585
But it was a game changer.

00:59:22.585 --> 00:59:24.068
Game changer to double my carbohydrates?

00:59:24.068 --> 00:59:24.889
Oh, definitely.

00:59:24.889 --> 00:59:30.597
And something I want to point out there is that you also use it for training, which makes a big difference.

00:59:30.597 --> 00:59:31.039
For a lot of people.

00:59:31.039 --> 00:59:46.070
They see that like, essentially, they say, yes, I need the carbohydrate for race day, but if during training they go with the 40 grams per hour or sometimes even nothing, and they are all puzzle on race, it's like, oh, I just don't understand why I had all these issues and I couldn't stomach the energy gels.

00:59:46.070 --> 00:59:59.891
Well, even because and the thing is that and I did try them and the try them is, let's say, that 90 gram gel they use it for a two hour thing and then they want to use it for a single and of course, they are going to stomach it in two hours because that's great.

01:00:21.489 --> 01:00:29.460
But I always had a differential with my clients is there's a difference between fuel and nutrition.

01:00:29.460 --> 01:00:34.958
Fuel does for your workout, it's for pre, during, post.

01:00:34.958 --> 01:00:45.858
Nutrition is your everyday meals, not that it doesn't play a part, but nutrition for me is like you want to be as clean, you want to be whole foods, the whole bit.

01:00:45.858 --> 01:00:57.034
And the reason why I made those distinctions was so that, hey, if you're doing like we said, right, you're doing whole foods around the, around the grocery store, the whole bit.

01:00:57.034 --> 01:01:04.255
You do that while you are, while you are doing breakfast, lunch, dinner, your normal daily eating, to keep yourself just healthy.

01:01:05.318 --> 01:01:22.942
The fuel when I said fuel, that gave them permission to use the gels and stuff which are manufactured, so it gave them the permission to, or gave themselves the permission to, okay, I can take something out of a bottle, I can take something out of out of a packet.

01:01:22.942 --> 01:01:29.563
You know what I mean and whether, whether what's in the packet might actually be whole food, but it just.

01:01:29.563 --> 01:01:32.056
You know what I mean Because we've been teaching about this.

01:01:32.056 --> 01:01:35.373
Hey, if you're going to get rice, you make sure that it's good rice, you make sure that it's quality rice.

01:01:35.373 --> 01:01:37.416
You're going to go get fruit, it's quality fruit.

01:01:37.416 --> 01:01:42.905
Even if you're getting frozen vegetables, you're getting the right frozen vegetables.

01:01:42.905 --> 01:01:47.820
You're not getting the ones that are loaded with friggin' extra salt and sauce and the whole bit right.

01:01:47.922 --> 01:01:48.503
Ah, definitely.

01:01:49.070 --> 01:01:53.722
Right, so that's why I was able to like nutrition and fuel Fuel post.

01:01:53.722 --> 01:01:57.954
So you tell me if you agree with that statement, or maybe you don't agree with that statement.

01:01:59.275 --> 01:02:16.610
I think it's a good approach in terms of helping people see how it is important to see other training differently, because I think and that's the other trend I'm noticing a lot recently is that there is this concern that because these products are ultra processed and they are just sugar, they are going to be a problem.

01:02:16.610 --> 01:02:28.514
And the thing is that there are situations that let's assume that this is someone who is going to go on a bike ride with a friend and they're going to be chatting the whole time and they are stopping and taking photos.

01:02:28.514 --> 01:02:36.119
I will never advise 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour for someone doing that type of intensity, because it's very low intensity.

01:02:36.119 --> 01:02:38.594
Your body won't need that amount of carbohydrate.

01:02:38.594 --> 01:02:40.338
It still will need nutrition and food.

01:02:40.338 --> 01:02:45.835
Because if you are going to go still for four hours, I will say can you please at least take a sandwich or a bar or something?

01:02:45.835 --> 01:02:53.181
You are even going to get hungry at some stage If you are moving at that high intensity.

01:02:53.181 --> 01:03:07.173
That's what your body needs and at the end, if you decide to eat the whole food and you are eating a banana or a potato or something like that, what your body is going to do is it's going to break it down, it's going to make it sugar and then you're going to use it.

01:03:07.173 --> 01:03:13.896
So why not make the task a little bit easier by actually giving the sugar for that Now, exactly?

01:03:13.896 --> 01:03:26.585
And now, if you let's say, oh, but for example, I'm going to be working on my computer, I will never tell someone to please make sure they have their bottle of tailwind with X amount of carbs to just be like making sure that they stay productive.

01:03:27.333 --> 01:03:43.798
So of course, there are contexts, and that's why I don't make the distinction as like oh, what you eat outside of training is a nutrition as in doesn't have to be processed or whatever it's, because it does influence a lot how your body recovers, how your body responds to that training.

01:03:43.798 --> 01:03:54.871
So allowing people to be more flexible is also helpful because it depends at least that's what I see for example, depending on how intense or how long that training session was.

01:03:54.871 --> 01:04:05.134
Even if they feel adequately during it, it's likely that how they eat during the rest of the day will impact how their body responds.

01:04:05.134 --> 01:04:14.490
So let's say they do it, they fuel with the 90 grams per hour and then they get home and they decide to only have because they ate all this sugar during the training.

01:04:14.490 --> 01:04:19.583
Oh, actually I'm just going to have lean chicken and salad and not eat anything else.

01:04:19.583 --> 01:04:27.050
Or actually now I'm'm just at my fasting window because I'm not allowed to eat because now I had all the calories during the background, things like that.

01:04:27.070 --> 01:04:34.713
So like I've seen some crazy things that people do in order to like still sit within their macros and calories.

01:04:34.713 --> 01:04:40.938
But of course, when you were exercising for so long, everything goes out the window in terms of trying to fit in that way.

01:04:40.938 --> 01:04:42.313
But I love that approach.

01:04:42.313 --> 01:04:54.416
I love that like at least helping people see how the what you're doing during training is under very different circumstances as how you are doing it outside of of training.

01:04:54.416 --> 01:04:57.806
So that way people see that the things need to be simpler.

01:04:57.887 --> 01:05:00.134
Things need to be easy to carry as well.

01:05:00.134 --> 01:05:08.001
Even from a practical perspective, even if you want to fuel on real food, 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour means three bananas an hour.

01:05:08.001 --> 01:05:13.282
You just told me that on the run you can easily just have all your 90 grams in one hand.

01:05:13.282 --> 01:05:16.744
Imagine running with six bananas for your two-hour run.

01:05:16.744 --> 01:05:17.829
That is impossible.

01:05:17.829 --> 01:05:23.922
And then, if you try and you manage to carry them, it's likely that your gut will suffer because it's not as easy to process.

01:05:23.922 --> 01:05:38.077
Even though they are, bananas are something that is simpler, it still requires breaking them down way more than a simpler syrup, let's say, like the energy gel, exactly, exactly and and even for me it's I even temper it.

01:05:38.599 --> 01:05:47.369
So if, if my training session is an hour, it's 30, I make sure that if I'm, if it's intense, it's 30 to 40 grams of carbohydrates.

01:05:47.369 --> 01:05:52.516
I'm only working out for an hour and that also depends on you know how how intense.

01:05:52.516 --> 01:05:54.722
If it's super intense, I'll take that 30 grams.

01:05:54.722 --> 01:05:57.856
If it's an easy hour, I might do it fasting.

01:05:57.856 --> 01:06:06.798
If it's hour or less To two hours, I go to 60 grams, 60 to 70 grams depending on the intensity of the two hours.

01:06:06.798 --> 01:06:11.422
Three hours and over, it's 90 grams per hour, no matter what Duration matters.

01:06:11.422 --> 01:06:16.579
Right, you could be in zone two, zone three, between zone two and zone three, and I'm going to use those 90 grams.

01:06:16.579 --> 01:06:25.298
I don't need to be in zone four to use those 90 grams every hour, exactly Because duration you know it's more of a yeah it's very hard to sustain it for that long anyway, right?

01:06:25.469 --> 01:06:54.989
So yeah, no, definitely, and I think that's why I think it's important for people to be aware that the whole purpose and structure of the training will influence the nutrition, because it is easy to listen to us and like and I'm glad you made that distinction hang on, if we're going for one hour, I'm not going to be eating 90 and I definitely wouldn't advise it, because one hour at high intensity yes, as you said, like 30 grams maybe, especially if you are actually well fueled, because your body will have that glycogen.

01:06:54.989 --> 01:06:57.793
So it does depend intensity, the duration.

01:06:57.793 --> 01:07:08.735
For example, if it's oh, it's only one hour, but in the morning you did a two hour bike ride, how you feel for that hour is going to be different, because now you actually did use energy earlier.

01:07:08.735 --> 01:07:15.951
So there are a lot of things to think of before just going down a path of like I'm just going to do this one.

01:07:17.152 --> 01:07:28.597
That's absolutely and, as I was mentioning to you, nutrition and fuel, and as far as my clients go, it's not that the nutrition part isn't playing a training effect, right.

01:07:28.597 --> 01:07:30.818
So you're coming off of like, okay.

01:07:30.818 --> 01:07:41.005
For instance, I burned like I think it was 2350 calories no, I'm sorry, it was 4008 calories for my race and I only put back I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

01:07:41.005 --> 01:07:45.072
90 is three, 20 times three is 90 is 90.

01:07:45.072 --> 01:07:49.891
I only put back like 2000 of it, you know, during the race, cause you're never going to put it all back, right?

01:07:50.331 --> 01:07:56.702
But when I then, when you go out and you then eat, you know I don't need to have an eight ounce steak.

01:07:56.702 --> 01:07:59.452
I can have a 12 ounce steak with that, that amount of protein.

01:07:59.452 --> 01:08:08.429
You know I can have that big giant potato versus a smaller one and I can have a salad and a vegetable because I've got all those extra calories that I can put in.

01:08:08.429 --> 01:08:12.547
You know, if you're going to take out 4,000 calories, you might as well have dessert.

01:08:12.547 --> 01:08:15.516
So you know there's a good time for everything out there.

01:08:15.516 --> 01:08:19.913
What is your favorite type of client that comes to you directly?

01:08:19.913 --> 01:08:21.056
You know what I mean.

01:08:21.056 --> 01:08:25.395
If you were to get that perfect client that walks up to you and says Gaby, I need your help.

01:08:28.309 --> 01:08:30.618
What's your favorite to work with?

01:08:30.618 --> 01:08:49.692
My favorite type of client will be the one who's open to try something different, the one who is willing to surround themselves with a and he comes again to how capable and available and like financially situation as well but that are willing to listen from different experts.

01:08:49.692 --> 01:08:58.561
So I, my favorite type of client, would be the one who sees and works with me as their nutrition advisor and it's willing to work in that dynamic.

01:08:58.561 --> 01:09:14.237
For most of my clients is really important that we do have that two-way communication, because it's not just me like, oh, you're doing this, like here you go and just giving them whatever I believe is right, because at the end they are the ones who need to go and implement it and come back to me saying how it went.

01:09:14.237 --> 01:09:23.208
So someone first off was willing to give that feedback because of course it will guide the whole intervention and at the same time, see that as like okay.

01:09:23.310 --> 01:09:34.987
So I have the dietician who is in in the nutrition, I am working with the coach who is on the training, I'm working with, uh, my psych or mindset coach or anything that we're in that part.

01:09:34.987 --> 01:09:51.990
So, seeing those stink lanes, let's say, and willing to listen and to incorporate things and, of course, still bounce ideas if they are, because, at the end, what I mentioned to everybody is, yes, I am a nutrition expert, but not the expert in your body.

01:09:51.990 --> 01:09:58.118
So it doesn't matter what I say, it's going to be the best advice.

01:09:58.118 --> 01:10:15.600
If, for you it doesn't work, we need to change it, because, of course, if it doesn't work because that is not your preference of products, that doesn't sit well with you, or you are actually having a different running strategy as well, we need to incorporate the nutrition, considering all these elements.

01:10:15.600 --> 01:10:19.636
So I find those are the type of clients I work with the best.

01:10:19.636 --> 01:10:22.185
I think all of my clients are like that at the moment.

01:10:22.185 --> 01:10:25.815
I love that because I don't think I have any difficult client.

01:10:43.573 --> 01:10:44.975
I love that because I don't think I have any difficult.

01:10:44.975 --> 01:10:54.872
Well, or maybe I tried it and the last time it worked and this time it didn't, and I need to find out why that's going on, what's going on, and then you can start calling out data points.

01:10:55.545 --> 01:10:56.930
I am the exact same way.

01:10:56.930 --> 01:11:00.335
I mean, the more you can tell me about your training, the better.

01:11:00.335 --> 01:11:05.671
I use a SAS program and I'm like you gotta put notes in there and tell me exactly how you're feeling.

01:11:05.671 --> 01:11:06.693
What was going on?

01:11:06.693 --> 01:11:07.774
Did you have stomach issues?

01:11:07.774 --> 01:11:09.438
Did you feel something in your legs?

01:11:09.438 --> 01:11:10.025
Did you feel something?

01:11:10.025 --> 01:11:13.735
I need to know this, but sometimes you're right, it's like pulling teeth.

01:11:15.185 --> 01:11:33.353
Yeah, I feel like it's that willingness to do it Because, for example, even though, let's say, I say, okay, it will be helpful if you try this, because I can see how there's this gap in your feeling and if we incorporate this it will make a difference, and then going and doing it and then coming back is like no, it did work, but I feel like I didn't enjoy that type of food.

01:11:33.353 --> 01:11:34.216
Can I have something different?

01:11:34.216 --> 01:11:35.569
It's very different to me.

01:11:35.569 --> 01:11:36.710
Oh, no, I don't think it will work.

01:11:36.710 --> 01:11:37.426
No, I don't think.

01:11:37.426 --> 01:11:38.452
I don't think I have time for that.

01:12:02.752 --> 01:12:06.416
I was like, oh listen, you got to go into into my fitness pal and you got to log your food.

01:12:06.416 --> 01:12:07.436
It only takes this for dinner.

01:12:07.436 --> 01:12:12.207
I had this while I was fueling and I always so I, when I have it separate, I have it done for them.

01:12:12.207 --> 01:12:24.255
I always have breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and workout, and workout is what they put, um, what they fueled with basically pre, post and pre, during and post workout, and I'm like so they just list it.

01:12:24.255 --> 01:12:28.761
But after a couple of weeks we fuel with the same stuff because we know it works.

01:12:29.721 --> 01:12:36.627
And most of the time our breakfasts are one of three things, most of the time our lunches are one of three or four things and our dinners are one of five things.

01:12:36.627 --> 01:12:49.927
So within two weeks, all of a sudden it's just like click, click, click, click, click and you're done in 30 seconds.

01:12:49.927 --> 01:12:53.819
You know you can be done maximum two minutes, but you get them those first two weeks sometimes and I'm just like come on, do this, cause we're going to be able to have that data point.

01:12:53.819 --> 01:13:00.377
When you sit there and you tell me hey, I did the same exact workout and for some reason I bombed it this time, where last time I did really really well.

01:13:01.565 --> 01:13:02.167
Or did I train?

01:13:02.167 --> 01:13:03.229
Did their training?

01:13:03.229 --> 01:13:04.752
Does their training stress go up?

01:13:04.752 --> 01:13:05.654
Does our load go up?

01:13:05.654 --> 01:13:06.596
You know whatever?

01:13:06.596 --> 01:13:08.381
Did their training stress go up?

01:13:08.381 --> 01:13:08.942
Does their load go up?

01:13:08.942 --> 01:13:09.403
You know whatever?

01:13:09.403 --> 01:13:26.617
And if everything seems to stay the same and all the indicators state that there's no reason why they should have bombed that workout, then I go back and look at their nutrition and TrainingPeaks works with my fitness pal where it doesn't give me what they ate, but it gives me their macros, and I can go.

01:13:26.636 --> 01:13:32.657
Oh well, the last time you did this, you were at a 50-30-20, and now you're at a 30-20-50.

01:13:32.657 --> 01:13:34.570
I mean, you're low on carbs.

01:13:34.570 --> 01:13:37.431
That's why it bombed, and most of the time that's what happens.

01:13:37.431 --> 01:13:39.573
But yeah, that's one of my pain points.

01:13:39.573 --> 01:13:44.875
Do you use something like that for tracking nutrition?

01:13:47.126 --> 01:13:56.099
Not necessarily so well, because the way I work with my clients it's also I have a really good understanding of what they are eating anyway.

01:13:56.099 --> 01:14:05.560
And because there's a concern of like, if they start tracking, they start becoming obsessed with their food, which is something I don't necessarily would like them to.

01:14:05.560 --> 01:14:08.092
I try and actually discourage it.

01:14:08.092 --> 01:14:25.493
Sometimes if they come say like, oh, look, here's all my loads and all the things I've been eating, and it's like hang on, because, as you said, like, for example, if there's this pattern where very likely they will continue to eat in that similar way, well, let's look at how you're eating, see where the gaps are, see how we need to improve and let's go ahead and do that.

01:14:25.493 --> 01:14:36.898
And having that understanding of, okay, so I need to recover this way, I need to make sure that I'm eating my breakfast with this arrangement Makes it really easy even for them to identify.

01:14:36.898 --> 01:14:42.837
Whenever something like that happens, it's like oh, now I know why my training was this.

01:14:43.284 --> 01:14:47.889
Because I didn't have the right breakfast or actually my dinner the night before was.

01:14:47.889 --> 01:14:53.488
I remember one client who essentially was saying like oh my God, my training session was awful.

01:14:53.488 --> 01:14:54.490
I felt super bad.

01:14:54.490 --> 01:14:55.552
I was like what do you have for dinner.

01:14:55.552 --> 01:14:57.627
Oh, I didn't have time and I made a smoothie.

01:14:57.627 --> 01:15:05.033
So essentially they just kind of like essentially it was protein powder, milk and something like like a fruit and that was a whole dinner.

01:15:05.033 --> 01:15:14.091
And they couldn't understand why in the morning they were feeling so flat and they didn't have the energy, even though they did eat their toast in the morning or whatever.

01:15:14.091 --> 01:15:19.930
Well, obviously their reserve, the tank, was pretty much empty, or there was not enough there anyway.

01:15:20.805 --> 01:15:24.279
So 150 calories ain't going to do it, which is usually what a smoothie is.

01:15:25.162 --> 01:15:31.097
Yeah, exactly so when I work with them, it's often helping people see that for themselves as well.

01:15:31.097 --> 01:15:36.233
So, for example, one of the things that we do as part of one of the programs I have I call it it's a personal nutrition audit.

01:15:36.233 --> 01:15:42.532
So it's pretty much like tracking, but they are not tracking macros or anything like that, they are just listing down their food.

01:15:42.532 --> 01:15:52.340
They are listing that like breakfast, breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything, and they also list their hunger levels before and after, and, of course, they list the physical activity that they did.

01:15:52.340 --> 01:16:01.207
And then I ask them okay, look at it and I want you to see, based on the things that we have discussed about how carbohydrates are important and protein is this way, when you look at it, what do you see?

01:16:01.207 --> 01:16:02.449
It's like oh, I can see that.

01:16:02.449 --> 01:16:06.118
First, I'm actually every single day eating the same thing, so I need more variety.

01:16:06.118 --> 01:16:11.493
I can see that my lunch is pretty much protein and vegetables, so I need more of my carbohydrates.

01:16:11.493 --> 01:16:15.591
I can see that before training, I'm not eating anything, so they even can see that.

01:16:15.591 --> 01:16:22.051
And then, of course, we are working together, nourishing and still is, and allowing you to have that balance throughout the day.

01:16:23.126 --> 01:16:43.136
I remember, for example, a client who did that, and it was very interesting that during the afternoon, hunger levels were like beyond hangry, like she was literally starving, and one of the things that we noticed was that the whole morning she was avoiding carbohydrates.

01:16:43.136 --> 01:16:53.953
She was very strict about what she was eating and then, of course, in the evening, even though she was starving and she would have a massive dinner because she was so hungry, she would finish that and then still feel like having more.

01:16:53.953 --> 01:17:23.765
So once we talk about it and look at it, she is like, oh OK, I can see where the problem was Changed, how she was distributing her intake, and now everything changed, because now their balance was there, was not feeling that craving, she was no longer going for the cookie jar at work or anything like that, because her body was no longer asking for this rapid energy, because everything was already balanced and aligned in a way that would work for her that is super interesting.

01:17:24.025 --> 01:17:27.909
So where my fitness pal asked you how much of that did you have?

01:17:27.909 --> 01:17:29.511
You're more about.

01:17:29.511 --> 01:17:30.492
Okay, what is it?

01:17:30.492 --> 01:17:31.774
What are you having?

01:17:31.774 --> 01:17:33.555
It's not about the amount, it's just about.

01:17:33.555 --> 01:17:34.775
All right, well, what are you eating?

01:17:34.775 --> 01:17:36.918
And then, how do you feel about that?

01:17:36.918 --> 01:17:38.940
That is super interesting.

01:17:39.220 --> 01:18:21.114
You just taught me something, Gaby no-transcript and mostly because my services are so specific that sometimes that overkill for someone who comes with that, let's say, weight loss or wellness in mind.

01:18:21.114 --> 01:18:27.372
But of course, like I still would say like get in touch anyway and we can talk about it and see what the need is.

01:18:27.372 --> 01:18:33.912
Especially if you are someone who's very active, there is a heavy component in terms of how you are dealing with your nutrition and that physical activity.

01:18:33.912 --> 01:18:40.140
That is very likely guiding how you're experiencing how your body is responding to all these influences.

01:18:40.845 --> 01:18:47.324
Yeah, and I think most of our demographic here are people that are active, and I think most of our demographic here are people that are active.

01:18:47.324 --> 01:18:58.456
They might I think a lot of them probably might have take a lot of value in chatting with you or at least looking at some of your resources, and I think that's more of the demographic here I don't usually have on that side, as far as people that just like, oh, I just need to get started.

01:18:58.456 --> 01:19:01.592
You know what I mean, which there are plenty of references out there.

01:19:01.592 --> 01:19:08.447
I help with people just getting started to get moving and I help with people just getting started to get moving, and usually they start moving and then they end up an endurance athlete anyway.

01:19:08.447 --> 01:19:16.868
It just happens to be that path Again, intenseeatfitcom and on Instagram and Facebook.

01:19:17.409 --> 01:19:31.314
And I am so excited that I've met you, Gaby, because I'm super excited Obviously a fellow triathlete, that's part of it but just your wealth of knowledge and the amount of work that you did to get where you are is so inspiring.

01:19:31.314 --> 01:19:35.914
So thank you, I mean thank you so much, and I think this is going to help out a lot of people.

01:19:36.954 --> 01:19:39.376
Oh, thank you so much for the invite, brad.

01:19:39.376 --> 01:19:41.877
It was such a joy having a chat with you.

01:19:41.877 --> 01:19:47.637
It was a very different conversation to what I normally have, which was very refreshing and welcoming.

01:19:47.658 --> 01:20:06.583
to talk about things in a different way, Well, thank you, I appreciate that and, with that being said, hey, listen, if you found this episode, if you have found some value in it, go ahead and review the episode and share it with somebody that you might find might take some value out of this.

01:20:06.583 --> 01:20:13.394
And now, with that being said, we will see you in the next episode.

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