369: Empowering Women to Their Best Shape with the Fit 40 Formula™

00:00:00 Tamara: So here's the idea, we don't even attempt something if we don't believe that we can. And I think a lot of times women, we do feel intimidated by the gym. And that's completely normal. And it's okay. But guess what? Do it anyway. Do it scared, do it afraid, do it not knowing what you're doing. Because if you think back on anything in your life that you were successful at, your first attempt was not your greatest attempt. You did not know what you were doing at the beginning, whether you went to school, whether you started a new job, whether you started a new relationship, whatever it was when you started, you were scared and you didn't know what you were doing. But how did you get to the point we are now? You did it anyway.

00:37:00 Maya: This is the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast and I'm your host, Maya Acosta. If you're willing to go with me, together we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life and increase our longevity in a good way. Let's get started. Friends, I think you're going to really enjoy this conversation that I had with Tamara Marie, a plant-based nutrition and body sculpting coach. She came on the show to talk to us about how she empowers women to achieve their best shape with the FIT40 formula. That's her own trademark program. We talk about strength training, we talk about the importance of nutrition, we talk about mindset. These are all the important things that you want your trainer to know and have to empower you. She takes this simple approach to plant-based nutrition and sensible strength training. The fact that she's well-trained and educated in nutrition is so important. Many personal trainers don't have that information and we're lucky that we were able to have this conversation with her. Also, the sensible strength training that she talks about and the components of that. We have been trained by marketing and social media to have this mindset that it's all about restricting. Eat less, exercise more, and hit the gym real hard. We focus so much on cardiovascular training or aerobics and cycling and running as if that's the ultimate thing that we need to focus on.

00:02:14 Maya: While in this conversation, she doesn't say to move away from that. She says really that we need to focus on the other things that will add to the quality of life and longevity. The reason that we want strength training to be part of a daily routine is because of the importance of building muscle. It reduces our risk for developing osteopenia, which she spoke about. We become stronger, more stable, we improve our balance. Also, it just helps us to age more gracefully. This is what we talk about. We talk about the importance. She has this Amazon analogy where she talks about whether if we only focus on cardio workouts, then we're just burning the energy for the sake of burning it, especially when we focus on burning calories because of a meal that we might have had, as opposed to strength building, which is more of an investment. We invest in our health when we build muscle. Then if we take the time to relax and watch a movie or so, we're still burning calories, so you're investing. I hope that you find this conversation to be valuable. I enjoyed Tamara. I mentioned how I met her at the Vegan Women's Summit and how I was immediately drawn to her because of her energy, but also her physical beauty and her inner energy and beauty. You can see that. You'll see that in this conversation. My friends, I hope that you enjoy Tamara as much as I do. Let's welcome her.

00: 03:51 Maya: All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast. I'm your host, Maya Acosta. Today, I have a wonderful individual that I met when I was in New York for the Vegan Women's Summit. I'm going to introduce you to her because as soon as I met her, I said, oh my gosh, she needs to come on the show and speak to us ladies about getting in shape because I know a lot of us are always looking for that trainer, body sculpture person who can help us to encourage us in terms of working out. So today, I have a fantastic guest. Like I said, her name is Tamara Marie, a plan-based nutrition and body sculpting coach. She empowers women to achieve their best shape with the Fit40 formula, a simple approach to plan-based nutrition and sensible strength training. Get ready to be inspired as we delve into her remarkable journey and expertise in the world of fitness and wellness. Welcome, Tamara.

00:04:51 Tamara: Thank you, Maya, for having me.

00:04:55 Maya: Well, thank you for being here. You know, I said that I was immediately drawn when I met you. You have this beautiful energy about you, not only the energy, but really your physical presence is incredible. And I was drawn to you when I was at the networking event for the Vegan Women's Summit and your arms stood out. So if you could just kind of show my audience, those that are watching the video, please show us those amazing.

00:05:21 Tamara: Shoulders.

00:05:32 Maya: That is, I was going to say a girl can only dream, but not really because you do work with individuals to get us to sculpt the body that we so desire.

00:05:43 Tamara: Yes, absolutely.

00:05:45 Maya: Yeah.

00:05:46 Tamara: Yeah. And that's, you know, one of the things that a lot of women will say to me is like that my arms do they're pretty my most noticeable feature, I think, when I especially I'm wearing sleeveless shirt, because it was kind of warm when we were in New York, that you can do the same thing. Right. I mean, it's, there are strategies available. And if you employ them, then you can get that result for yourself. So, you know, my goal is always to inspire other women that I'm not some special anomaly. But that if you put in that work, and it doesn't have to be hard work. But if you put in the work, then you'll get the result. So but I'm glad that you notice that you're drawn to that because that is part of, you know, I think that people tend to frown upon aesthetic sometimes because we think it's shallow, and it's not necessarily related to health. But I think there definitely is a correlation that when we look better, we feel better. Right. And when we feel better, we treat ourselves better overall. So I do think that there is an importance to going after a look that you want, even though people may, like I said, think it's shallow, or that's not health, that's just beauty or aesthetics. But I do think it's important, because it plays a part into how we treat ourselves, what we put in our bodies, which does affect our ultimate, our overall health, and our mindset, you know, because if you feel crappy, if you look crappy, you feel crappy, and like, oh, I'm flabby. And then you start to talk, all this negative self-talk comes out of how we perceive what we look like, and especially in comparison to others. So I always try to encourage people when they say that, like, look, hey, you know, D, I can I can work with you, we can, we can get you there too.

00:07:27 Maya: Right. Well, you're definitely walking or practicing what you preach in the sense that if you want to sell this program, that you're, you know, you got to show that it actually works, right. So clearly, your physique, your, your appearance really communicates to us that you're, you're walking, what is it you're walking the talk, or you're you're practicing what you preach, and that the program works, the body sculpting program really is effective. So there are two things that I'd love to learn about you before we really dive into how you work with people in general. But you have two components that are really intriguing, you have a background as just your personal journey, and how you came about being plant based, but also your personal training and how you combine both of them to be really effective. As you know, a lot of us always, you hear this a lot from people that you know, their physicians are not on board, their personal trainers are not on board, people are always telling them that you know, they're lacking protein, they're lacking nutrients. So let's hear from you, because you're a living example that what you're eating actually helps to build muscle as well. So please tell us how this journey got started for you.

00:08:40 Tamara: Wow, there's so much to my overall journey. But I will say, I'm the one thing I want to point out, just like you mentioned, the fitness industry, it there is this prevalence, and even doctors, you know, I've had doctors tell me before, like, eat a steak or something like that. I'm like, what are you even saying? There is this prevalence of this mindset that we need to eat meat. And if you actually peel back the layers of it and ask people, you'll find that they don't really have any evidence to support it. They're literally just telling you what they're used to. And like anyone, if you haven't examined your beliefs, and you haven't examined why you do what you do, you just kind of go with whatever your parents did, or whatever your friends did. And that's not always the best route for you. So please don't get discouraged if you're talking to a health professional who doesn't know a lot about nutrition, because I think it's pretty common knowledge at this point that doctors are not nutritionists. They are taught to look for find and treat disease, they're not really focused on wellness. So you do have to really take that into your own hands. And for me, my journey actually, it did start similar to that, like I did have an issue that came up when I was very, very young. And it involves my kidneys, but I was never actually diagnosed with any kidney disease.

00:10:08 Tamara: So we'll say that but I was having a test result that came back that indicated that there could be an issue, my kidney function was always fine. And so I would go to these specialists, they didn't really solve the problem for me, they would tell me like, well, you know, actually did have a nephrologist one time tell me to eat a steak, you know, because I think I was a time severely anemic, but that was from heavy periods, which a lot of women, especially young girls experience. That's why I was anemic. It wasn't because I was, you know, not eating meat. So just a little background, I actually stopped eating meat. I think the last time I had meat was probably when I was about 17 years old. And I'm about to turn 42. Wow. Yeah. And at the time that first sort of experimentation, I guess, with even with being vegetarian was, I was doing a fast. And during that fast, it was let's abstain from at the time it was called land animals. But at that point, I was basically a pescatarian, even though I don't think that word existed. When I was 16, I really despised labels. You'll learn that about me. I really don't like to get into the granularity of what you call yourself. But at the time, like I was basically only eating fish. And I went on this 30 fast. And I said, Okay, let me just see if I can just not eat meat at all. And how will I feel? And it was perfectly fine. I didn't miss it. And I've never looked back. So that was really my first journey. So I'm kind of used to being the person in my family and my peer group that just eats a little differently. So okay, well, she doesn't eat meat, you know, my family's from the south. So we grew up pigs feet, you know, fried chicken, the typical, you know, typical diet.

00:11:21 Tamara: So for me to even be around family, it was sort of like, well, she's a little weird. And I was used to that. And I was fine with it. Some people that really bothers them. But my personality is one that I'm just like, I don't care, I'm gonna do me. So I never, it never really bothered me that people thought I ate weird or whatever. And I also, when I was in high school, one of my first jobs was a cashier at Whole Foods, which before Amazon on them. So this is a while ago, right. And working at Whole Foods, I learned a lot about organic farming, I learned about food quality. So these are things drove into me at a young age. And so I never really strayed from those principles. And so throughout my life, yes, my diet has evolved, it has changed. But basically, it's followed those tenets. Now, I would say I became completely plant based. Gosh, I can't pin a date on it. Maybe about four years ago, it was a gradual process. I think the last thing I stopped eating was cheese pizza, because I would have like that pizza Friday with my son. And then one day I was just like, you know, it really doesn't make a lot of sense because vegan cheese did used to be horrible. Let's just be real. When the only brand was cheese made with rice milk, and it didn't melt because I used to, I used to try it out at Whole Foods. They actually let us sample a lot of food. That was one of the perks of working there.

00:13:09 Tamara: And I remember I was like, I'm going to try this vegan cheese. Oh, man, it's probably back in the late 90s. I mean, it was horrible. But there's so many options now, like that's no longer the case. So I kind of said, Well, you know, why don't I try some of these other things? And it turns out even for me and my son that we found a vegan pizza that we really liked. And it was sort of like, all right, well, that was the only thing we were still holding on to. What's the point? So I really just decided to become intentional about it. But I have been pretty much, you know, plant based for quite a while, it was just a matter of setting that intention and making the real decision that this is what I'm actually doing, I'm going to commit to it. And yeah, and so I'm one of those people where, you know, sometimes people say, Oh, if you're a muscular, you're athletic, you were eating meat, and then you became vegan later. And that's why, you know, you built all your muscle with meat. But no, I can say that about me, because I didn't start lifting weights until I was completely plant based. So.

00:14:07 Maya: You know, it's interesting, because right now, you know, you just shared with us your age, and I'm thinking what you actually look much younger. So we know that there's a correlation or association between building muscle, and, and really going and increasing your longevity, your quality of life, I feel like we slow down the aging process, when we're building muscle and really just working out. It seems like based on what you've shared with us that you've sort of always been drawn to the whole plant based living little by little, I kind of appreciate what you've said that you don't like the labels, it's just, you know, part of your journey, you, you gravitate it slowly towards whole foods, and you've been open to that, which is not always easy for other people as well. So I really appreciate that. How did you go into this field of body, you know, and I like the word body, or the term body sculpting coach, it really moves us away from that mentality of focusing on weight loss, focusing on excessive exercising, which sometimes can feel overwhelming for people that go from zero to suddenly, you know, feeling like they're going to the other extreme of hitting the gym every day, or whatever that may be.

00:15:25 Tamara: Yes. Well, so, so I guess there's a few things. So how I got into bodybuilding, I guess I'll start there. So I'll try to make, I'll try to make it succinct, because it's actually quite interesting stories. Like I mentioned, I really hadn't lifted weights at all seriously up until during the pandemic, actually, I was kind of sitting around the house. So, you know, I set this intention of, okay, I want to get in shape. I know I'm going to be fully plant based and committed to that. And I was looking for some help because like everyone, it's like the freshman 15, I think everyone gained the COVID 10 or 20. So a lot of people are, you know, gaining weight, we're all, you know, at home a lot. And so I was really just looking for a way to do that more intentionally, I wanted to do it the right way. So I was looking for actually a coach or program of some sort to kind of get myself in shape. Because I had done a few things before in the past just to try to get in shape, like I'd been to the gym, I used to be a Zumba addict. So that would really be all I did. And maybe I messed around with the machines a little bit, but I had no idea what I was doing.

00:16:27 Tamara: And so I really hadn't had the experience of lifting weights. But it wasn't until I actually found a program and I was actually found a trainer who was a bodybuilder, which I didn't know anything about female bodybuilding. You know, the only thing I thought about was like, I don't know, I'm definitely showing my age. There's a show called A Living Color back in the 90s, the Wayans Brothers, and Jim Carrey had this character, Vera de Milo, right? And basically, Jim Carrey in drag, right, as a female bodybuilder, you know, so all the stereotypes, oh, all the testosterone and all, you know, they just don't they look manly. And that was my impression. And there was that in Arnold Schwarzenegger. And so I had no clue that there was even female bodybuilding. And so I started working out and a friend who used to be a personal trainer mentioned to me, he says, Oh, wow, because I was wearing a sleeveless dress. He said, How many years have you been lifting? And I was like, years. I was like, I just started like a few months ago. What are you talking about? And he said, Seriously? And he said a couple of choice words that I won't repeat. And I was like, what? Why are you upset? Like, what? And he goes, man, you're you're just you just have really good physique, like your muscle bellies.

00:17:39 Tamara: He was saying words I didn't understand. I was like, What are you talking about? He says, man, you missed your calling. I'm like, what calling did I miss? He said, you should have been a bodybuilder. I was like, What are you talking about? So it was just so funny the way it came up to me because I didn't even like I said, I didn't know that there was this, you know, class of female bodybuilders who were natural athletes who weren't on steroids who, who looked beautiful and feminine and strong, you know, didn't fit this like sort of stereotype. And so I didn't really take it seriously at the time, honestly. And I say some months later, I started looking on YouTube, I was like, let me just look into it and see what it's about. And I found a prep coach online. And the first thing said in their video was, if you're thinking about bodybuilding, you should just go to a show, check it out, see what it is. And so there just happened to be a show coming up like the next month in my town. So I was like, let me just go check it out. I go to the show, I walk in the door, people were asking me like, Oh, so you're are you competing? I was like, Am I what? Because again, I'm just there to see what it even is. And I kind of left, I said, No, I'm just here. Can you show me where the auditorium is? Like, I just want to see what this is even about. They're like, Oh, you're just trying to size up the competition. I was like, I have no idea what you mean. I just want to see what's happening.

00:18:58 Tamara: So I go in there, I checked it. I was like, it was a nice show. And I was really interested in the 40 and over category, because I wanted to see, I said, I'm about to turn 40. This is like a, this could be a goal, right? I'll turn 40. I'll compete in the 40 and over category. And I thought, Oh, they'll be older, they'll be frail looking, you know, it won't be as hard. But the 40 and over, these are women who have been lifting for their whole lives. They were probably some of the most muscular, you know, women. And so I was like, Oh, wow, I got my work cut out for me. If I want to get up on that stage. And at this time, I still, like I said, I was just, I was just playing around with the idea. So I met the person who won the 40 and over category. She came out and I gave her a little trophy or whatever. And I said, Oh, congratulations. I'm just congratulating her. So I said, Can we take a picture? So I take this little picture with her, kind of do a little bicep flex. I posted on Instagram and everyone's like, Oh, so you're competing. I was like, No, I was just congratulating her. No, like, but look at you, like you guys have the same biceps and she just got off stage. So it actually came in full circle when I did compete in my first show, which was last last May. I think at that time, she was off season, I actually saw her. And then I was the one on stage and then she came up to me after.

00:20:12 Tamara: So it's just kind of like a beautiful thing to see that cycle. But yeah, it was just, you know, women inspiring other women, I had a consultation with a real bodybuilding coach. And I said, Look, are people just blowing smoke? Or can I really do this? She was like, No, you have potential. But just because you can doesn't mean you should. And I'm like, challenge accepted. Because anytime someone tells me now I hear, do it, do it. So, so yeah, I mean, it was hard. And I always say, getting to stage like that level of, you know, conditioning and being lean is not where you stay throughout the year as a bodybuilder. It's not a healthy range of body fat to stay in, especially for a female. And so you do push your body beyond the limits of what, you know, would be considered just that lean beach body. And it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Besides, almost 24 hours of labor with my son, who is now 11. I would say getting ready for stage was one of the hardest things because your body is literally telling you to eat, because your body fat is getting lower. And it's actually not like I said, it's not a healthy place to stay long term. But the reason we do it is to show the definition of the muscles if we're going to build it, when it's actually shred down to show it, which is why we tell women, the reason why I say body sculpting is because you don't just want to be skinny. Nobody wants to go from being flabby and fat to being skinny and flabby, right?

00:21:36 Tamara: You know that like when you wave your arm and you see the like, your arm is still waving and your hands waving at the same time, nobody wants that. And that's exactly what happens when you approach fitness with, I'm just going to do cardio, I'm going to kill myself to death, I'm gonna go for a run, I want to stay on the treadmill for an hour a day. And we have this idea that we need to punish ourselves, punish our bodies so that it will look the way we want it to look, which if you think about it is really insane. Because what you're saying is I want to look good by feeling bad. And what kind of association are you setting up when your idea is that to look good, I have to feel bad. Like some people say, Oh, you know, beauty requires pain, we go through all this pain. When you have that mindset, you expect to suffer, you expect it to be hard, which means you have resistance to even getting started. And the one thing that most of my clients say to me is when they're working with me, they go, I didn't think this was going to be so easy. And I also didn't think that the food would taste good. I've even had clients who told me you're giving me too much food to eat. Which is hilarious, right? Because they think they're going on a diet, they want to they want to feel deprived, because they're used to it. And then they're going, Tamara, I cannot eat all this food. Like, it's great. But like, I'm full. Which to me is the best thing, you know, to have people experience because until you experience it, it sounds weird, because we're so used to diet culture, we're so used to depriving ourselves, starving ourselves, suffering to look good. And when you actually have the experience of I'm good. I'm just good. I look good. I feel good. I have energy. You know, that is a really hard place to explain. It almost sounds like a fantasy. If you haven't experienced it, if you're trying to tell someone, there's a way that you can feed your body, not starve yourself and still look amazing. People are like blown away. Right.

00:23:27 Maya: Well, we have all this programming, Tamar, that we come in, you know, that's already part of who we are in many ways this we've internalized these messages of no pain, no game, or no, no pain, no gain. And, and other messages, like you said, you know, we just have to eat less and exercise more without really understanding the physiological part of how we build muscle and optimize our health. For those of you that are listening, if you're not watching the video, you need to know that Tamara, as we're interviewing here and having a conversation, she's on her treadmill. So, and she's able to have a conversation while she's on the treadmill.

00:24:11 Tamara: My dad's treadmill. I always tell people I do not run, although I was a sprinter back in high school. My joke is that if you see me running, then you better catch what's chasing me. My cardio is largely walking, just like I'm doing right now. I have my desk treadmill set up. When I'm anytime I want to Zoom call or anything, I just walk and you know, I'm not running on the treadmill. I don't believe in that. So, you know, it's you don't really have to punish yourself. And walking is great because you recover. You don't need to recover from walking, right? If you go for a run, maybe your knees start hurting or you're tired, you're exhausted, then your appetite gets kicked up because you've been doing all this hard cardio or you hit everyone's to hit themselves to death. I'm doing Tabata. And then you end up eating way too much because you have all these cravings and you're super hungry. But if you go for a walk, you know, there's no recovery because it's just what you do to move your body around. So, it's the easiest form of movement. You don't need to do like hardcore cardio to get in shape.

00:25:08 Maya: Yeah. You know, Tamara, you talked about how you didn't understand this world of bodybuilding. Kind of it was all new to you. You became intrigued. So, there's a documentary on Netflix. I don't know if you've seen it. It's really the live story of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:25:28 Tara: You have seen it. Yeah.

00:25:32 Maya: You have seen it. Okay. So, I was never really interested in him, unlike other people that watch his movies and were also intrigued by Sylvester Stallone. I really ramble in all those movies. I wasn't into all that stuff, but clearly I was aware of who they were. And so, I watched this documentary that really gives you a history of bodybuilding and, you know, who the key players were in this world. And I knew, you know, so I lived in California at one time and Venice Beach. At the time I lived there was not like what Venice Beach was back in the day when bodybuilders were outdoors showing off, you know, what they were able to do. So, if you're interested in what all that world is about, I really recommend that you watch, you know, and I'm speaking to my listeners to watch this documentary so that you can just kind of have an idea because I remember one time going to someone who competed locally in my area. I said, well, what's the difference between a bodybuilder and a personal trainer? And she was so insulted. She was just like, how do you not know? One is more about almost like modeling, modeling your muscles in many ways. And the other person, I mean, oh, I know, I think I said, what's the difference between a bodybuilder and a weightlifter or something like that? And it was just like, how do you not know this stuff? And, you know, unless you're in the gym every day or regularly, you kind of don't really know all that stuff.

00:26:55 Maya: And so I also want to touch on something you just spoke about, because I'd love for you to dive into more of your work in terms of training. So you touched on what some people call skinny fat. And I know what that means. You're skinny, but you're flabby. And some people use the term skinny fat. And then you have the other people that are in the gym, clearly they're building muscle, but then you have that belly of fat. So you have the added fat on top of the muscle because they're not understanding how important the nutrition part of all of this is while you're building the body that you so desire. So tell us a little bit more about that. If you can share some of the misconceptions and myths of, you know, fitness that you encounter with your clients, we've touched a little bit on it, about it, that people feel a little bit overwhelmed by a lot of the food that you're giving them. They don't understand why that. And of course, we know that when you eat plant-based, you are, you know, most of the food is lower on the caloric density. So therefore you sort of consume more. What else can you tell us about how you work with clients?

00:28:06 Tamara: Well, I have two main groups of clients. So I have clients who are they're already like vegan or plant-based and their bodies just don't look the way they want. They're exercising a lot. They're doing a lot of cardio. They don't really lift heavy weights. And they're like, what am I doing wrong? I'm turning whatever age 35, 40, whatever age we think is old, because I don't never get to that, but our hormones do change. And at some point, they'll realize what I used to do in my twenties is no longer working for me. What I used to do at whatever time in the past, you know, the used to be body, I can't do that now, or it's not working like it used to. Right. And then I have clients who are, you know, they're they've never thought about being plant-based until they saw me step on stage, they go, Oh, well, if that's what you look like, I'll try it out, you know. And so I would say the thing that those clients are surprised about the ones that don't already plant-based is that the food tastes good. They're always like, Oh, wait, this was easy. And it tastes good. They also tend to be the ones because they haven't eaten that way before. They go, I'm actually going to the bathroom, like every day. Is that normal? You weren't before.

00:29:21 Tamara: So the fiber, you know, that that hits the system is one thing that they also start to notice and they're kind of surprised by. But they also again, just they find it to be easy. I would say one of the misconceptions, so their misconception is that like, it's going to be nasty, it's going to be hard, you know, not going to have enough food, I'm going to be hungry all the time. And that's never the case. Now, on the side of my clients who are already plant, who are already plant-based, it's really difficult sometimes because there's so much information out there. And I think that the reason why I mentioned earlier why I don't like labels is because people treat eating food as if it is a religion. And it really does become difficult because people become so entrenched in these camps, and these labels and these rules, and then they don't understand the principles behind it. So they don't know how to apply it to themselves. So for example, I had a client who was cycling constantly, ate a whole food plant based diet completely, you know, was very like anti, you know, any anything that was in a package and all that, which is, you know, I'm not saying it's bad, but just, but she was also over exercising. So her electrolyte balance was way off. She was like, I'm tired all the time. I'm like, well, you don't salt your food. So if you're on the SOS free side, but then you're also doing all this extensive exercise, and you're not replacing the sodium that you're losing through all the sweating that you're doing, you're going to feel horrible. It doesn't matter how much water you drink, you're flushing the electrolytes out of your body, and you're off balance.

00:30:56 Tamara: So what one of the things that I face is that people who have these rules that they've decided upon, because somebody told them that they told them directly, they listened to someone who was giving advice to someone else. And they've taken it upon themselves. For example, there are some very strict diets that are made for people who have had heart disease. And those diets are good for reversing chronic conditions. And not that they're not good for everyone. But if you are an athlete, you are going to have different needs than someone who may be much older who has been not healthy for their whole life who doesn't work out who might be a smoker who might eat red meat, they are going to need something more extreme and more extreme intervention than someone who is relatively healthy, and is already active. And so I think what happens is we listen to health and nutrition advice, for quote unquote, a general person, and this general person does not exist. You are unique, set of chemical reactions and personality and habits and mindset, all of that plays into what will work for you. That's what I always tell my clients, yeah, I know someone told you not to eat gluten. I get it. But do you actually have a gluten sensitivity? Or have you been tested for celiac? Are you allergic to wheat? No. Well, seitan is a great source of protein then. Is it oh, well, is it a process? Is that what you know what, you can get all this protein, you're not going to get all the carbs with it.

00:32:26 Tamara: And it's a flower, I could buy it in the store. It's not, you know, something that was made in a factory. It's not lab created meat. It's just it's good. It's the protein component of wheat. That's what it is. And for some people that oh, but you know, flour and bread is evil. And we have all these rules. So the thing that I find it hard to do is to get people to break down through all those beliefs that came from all like well meaning people. And I'm not saying it's misinformation, but they're applying it to them when it may not apply to their goals into their situation.

00:33:02 Maya: Right. That's really hard to break through.` I really like that you address the gluten myth in many ways, the gluten sensitivity that people claim to have, we hear it all the time, no matter what event, no matter what we're working on, people feel that, you know, they they have gluten sensitivity. And then we know that there might be some dysbiosis and other gut issues that need to be addressed. And people just say it's, you know what, again, it's the media, it's the marketing, it's everything out there that is teaching people that all the products now when you go to the grocery store, you'll find when no matter what you're looking at, they have to label it as gluten free. So it's this programming that's happening in our mind that we need to be concerned about gluten when there are other issues that are

affecting our gut. Are there foods?

00:33:49 Tamara: Yeah. And I think that's it overall. There's all this marketing, right? It's like gluten is a problem. Well, soy is a problem. Well, this is a problem. And it's just so funny when you see the memes and it's like, oh, we have this gluten free, soy free, sugar free, oil free, and it's like a glass of water. Because it's like at the end of the day, what else are you going to eat? Like you just eliminate everything at a certain point. And, you know, unless you've done like a true elimination diet, or you work with a professional, you've had the testing, you can't just go with, oh, because there's a section now in the store that says gluten free, that must mean, you know, that I'm gluten free. Because if you check some of that stuff, it's actually a lot more calorically dense, you know, the gluten free option. So you might think, oh, this is just a swap, but it's actually like a completely different makeup of macronutrients, which may or may not help you reach your goal. And people don't always have that awareness because they're focused on this one thing of no sodium or no that no sugar, no. And you just end up not being able to eat anything after a while.

00:34:45 Maya: Yeah. You know that I think that's also another thing that sets you apart from say regular trainers is that you have this plant based nutrition education and this understanding of how foods impact us, as opposed to other people that have been trained to recommend meat, meat, meat as like your main source to build muscle. So that's one thing that makes you really unique. And also, I want to go back to something that you touched on the over exercising component of it. I come from that generation that in the nineties, you saw a lot of aerobics, you know, happening, you know, people, you know, I remember those days where, and I also was addicted to Zumba, you know, at one point, cycling is one of my favorite things. You know, my husband was a heavy runner. So these things of over exercising aerobics going in the gym and thinking like we're burning calories, this is what we need to build muscle and all that. I now know, this is just so sad, but I now know that, well, that's fine. That's not necessarily the approach that we want to take, especially as we're aging. So tell us what you recommend. And what are the best approaches in terms of how you work with your clients?

00:36:09 Tamara: Well, I'm so glad you touched on that, Maya. And something you said earlier, too, you talked about just the training component and how it slows down aging. And there's definitely a correlation between longevity, but I don't want to get the misconception because I know I said I don't run and everything. I was a sprinter. Cardiovascular health is important, of course, and you do need to move your body, right? There are some basic recommendations for getting in certain amount of cardiovascular activity to keep your heart healthy. So I don't want to downplay that as if it's not important at all. However, there's equal research on the benefits of strength training to your cardiovascular health as well. Because when you're lifting heavy weights, you're not casually picking up the three pound pink dumbbell and going, Oh, right, let me do 20 reps. You actually are exerting some force, right? So that does tire you out. That is some energy output. So it's not the same as you know, from the perspective of cardio.

00:37:08 Tamara: But I like to give people this analogy when you think about strength training in particular, because it really does help you keep your muscles strong, right, and to combat osteopenia. So this idea that you start to lose muscle and bone, you do actually start to lose muscle mass and bone mass as you age, that's just the fat. And the way that you combat that is by doing strength training, and by shifting your diet, so that you actually are keeping your body strong and stable. And the side effect of that is that you also happen to just look amazing. So and you feel great and you have energy. So I always say the analogy I was going to give is, if you think about you have like $100 to spend, and you go, Okay, I want to spend this money. Maybe I'm going to go buy, I don't know, whatever, whatever thing that you see on Amazon that you wanted to buy, right for me, whatever's on your Amazon Prime wishlist. And you say, Okay, I buy it. And it's something that you buy. And it's a thing and you enjoy it. But then you've used it up. And now you've parted with your $100. And you have this thing and it's no longer enjoyable to you. So that's one way that you can spend your money.

00:38:20 Tamara: Another way you can spend the money is by investing it, right, you can say, Okay, I'm going to actually buy some stock by  Apple stock, which is a good deal, right? Don't want to, I'm not giving financial advice, but whatever stock, right? You're going to buy index fund, let's say that that's that's more sound, you're going to invest $100 in an index fund. And what's going to happen with that? Well, you spent the $100, but it's starting to grow and pay dividends for you in the future. And the longer you keep it invested, the more payoff and more benefit you get down the road and the more viable it becomes. That's the difference in energy output between doing cardio and strength training. When you do cardio, you're trying to burn the calories off because you feel like you were quote unquote bad because you ate quote unquote too much, whatever that means. And then you punish yourself by like, Oh, I'm going to burn the calories, you've burned 100 calories. But what happens when you eat again? They come right back, right? Whereas when you're doing strength training, the benefit that you get is now you're actually building muscle. And as you're building that muscle, that muscle starts to work for you so that even when you're sitting still, your body is burning calories. Right? Instead of I need to get up now and do another hour of cardio, because I ate a pizza.

00:39:36 Tamara: And by the way, those numbers don't work out. Eating 1000 calories worth of pizza in an hour cardio is not going to burn it off. So let's just deal with that. But if you use that energy output to build muscle, you actually build adding muscle fiber, which is more expensive for your body to hold on to meaning carrying around muscle is going to burn more calories while you're at rest. While you're literally sitting on the sofa, watching Netflix, your body is going to be burning more calories because you have more muscle. And as you are, you're starting to naturally lose muscle as you age, you need to do everything you can to combat that loss so that you can even just stay at baseline, right? Because you don't, that's why people say, Oh, I'm just I'm doing what I used to do before, but I'm gaining weight now. Yeah, because you're eating the way you were eating when you were 20. But your activity level isn't the same as it was when you were 20. So the ratio isn't working out for you anymore. It's not that something weird happened. Science is still science, math is still math.

00:40:33 Tamara: You're not as active as you were point blank period. And so and you're losing muscle mass. So you're losing the thing that naturally burns, it keeps your metabolism running high. So strength training is the way to combat that. Because you're sending a signal to your body, and to your brain that we need to keep this muscle around because I'm going to be lifting heavy things. So I need it. And by the way, one of the things that happens for most of us as we age, the number one reason why people end up in the emergency room is from falling. You know, how many of us have had parents or aunts, uncles, that have fallen, and, oh, then you end up breaking a hip, or something you need a hip replacement now, or you end up with a fracture. And that could land you in a place where you can't move at all for an extended period of time, like it's just compounding, right. And then it's harder to recover, it takes longer to recover. So you want to be able to just not even just for aesthetics, but for some very basic functional reasons to keep your body strong and healthy, so that you're less likely to fall because you're strong and stable, you're less likely to break a bone if you do fall, because your bones are strong.

00:41:43 Tamara: You know, and I've had the scans done. So my bone mass is so far in the green, that if I live another hundred years, even if I continue to lose bone, there's no way I'm going to have osteoporosis, like it's just not even possible. So, you know, again, you don't need to eat meat to achieve that. And in fact, I think what gives me advantage even as a bodybuilder, is that because I eat plant based protein exclusively, actually recover much faster, because protein from meat actually causes inflammation in the body, which makes it harder to recover from exercise. So those competitors who are using animal protein, also generally use some sort of performance enhancing drug, if they're not in a natural federation, because they need to do something to combat all the inflammation in their body, so they can recover quicker. That's why people use PEDs. But if you're on a plant based diet, you don't need to do that. Because your body is naturally able to recover, you're not introducing all the inflammation in the first place. So all these things are important for our overall health. And like I said, it just so happens that the great side effect is you also look amazing while you're doing all these things.

00:42:54 Maya: Yup. Oh my goodness. I love your Amazon analogy. The second part of strength building is like investing. I mean, you're literally sitting there, even if you're watching Netflix, you're burning calories. I kind of learned a little bit from my husband because he was always into working out or playing some sort of sport. It's amazing that even if he goes a couple of months without building, without lifting weights or anything like that, he has this incredible muscle memory that in just a couple of days, boom, he's back. And we talk about that. Just recently, the other day, he said to me, you know I eat twice the amount that you eat. And I said, yeah. And you do not. He's lighter, obviously. Men burn. I don't know if it's a physiological thing, but it seems like men can lose weight faster and not gain as much weight as women.

00:43:46 Tamara: Well, it's just because they have more muscle mass, naturally. That's just it, right? Men have more muscle mass, and that is why they burn more calories.

00:43:56 Maya: So it's again associated with muscle and the ability, the investment, I guess, that they could have. So a couple of questions. I really want to know what your program entails, Fit40 formula, because we've touched on it. You have the nutritional component that you coach on, and then you have the body sculpting coaching part of it. And what about mindset? I know that can be tricky. How do you work or get past those challenges that your clients have? And I've mentioned that most of my listeners are women. I've been trying to encourage myself and my listeners to really take this seriously, because we're all aging and we want to increase our quality of life and our longevity. So yeah, tell us about Fit40 formula.

00:44:42 Tamara: Absolutely. Well, the first thing I want to say is that because you mentioned mindset and I think it's never too late to get started. Right. And I think we've been programmed also to see aging as a bad thing, but aging is actually a good thing, because the alternative is that we be dead, honestly, like we just have to be playing about it. So anytime we're sitting here lamenting, oh, there's a wrinkle or oh, I don't look. Oh, I have a stretch mark. Well, guess what? Your body did amazing things. You know, if you're a mother, you brought life into the world. So yes, you might have a little extra skin, or you might have a stretch mark. Men can have stretch marks, too. It's not just unique to women. So just this idea that aging is somehow a thing to be avoided and to run away from is like really where I always just try to tell people like, it's perfectly fine. You know, I know we all have different feelings about it, but the alternative is that we're not here anymore. So let's start with embracing our age and the wisdom that we have, because I don't know about you, but you know, me at 40 much more wise than me at 20. So I just want to start with that. And I think the other thing is this belief that we can't do something that, you know, for example, I remember when I first started lifting free weights in the gym, and I was really intimidated, you know, because I was in Planet Fitness before, and I was just the purple and pink machines and, you know, the little dumbbells that are like three pounds like I talked about before.

00:46:11 Tamara: And so the first thing that I really try to get women to understand is that you can, you can sculpt your body, it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter what happened before, you can absolutely transform, you absolutely can. And it's not too late. As long as you're still breathing, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. And you can even if you have injuries and limitations. Other thing is we get older with Oh, my knee, I got a bad knee and my back and my all these things. I always you know, I train people around any issue. So there's no excuses, basically. And there's a quick story I'll tell about this happened to me in the gym the other day. I was like working out, I was doing like a shoulder workout. And this younger girls in the gym, she says to me, I want to do whatever workout you're doing. So I kind of laughed and you know, usually I'm not the person that walks around the gym like trying to correct people. And that's not me. But she opened the door because she says something to me like I want to do whatever workout you're doing. So I noticed she was doing lat pulldowns, but she does like you tap the bar and the cable machine, you're pulling it down from over your head, and you're putting it down by your side.

00:47:18 Tamara: And those the bar was shaking. And I kind of laugh, I said, it wasn't shaking because the weight was too heavy. It was shaking because the weight was too light. You know, her body was almost laughing at like, okay, seriously, are you gonna put some weight in? So when she said to me, I want to do workout you're doing, I said, I said, Hey, um, double the weight on that. And she said, What? She said, I've been so scared to I don't think I can. I said, I know I was the same way. I know exactly how you feel. But just go from 20 pounds to 40 pounds. And see how you feel.

00:47:53 Maya: Yeah.

00:47:54 Tamara: And she did it. And she was like, Oh, my gosh. What I mean, she was amazed that she could do it because she had never tried because she thought she couldn't. So when I left her, I said, the next time you come to the gym, that's where you start.

00:48:09 Maya: Oh.

00:48:10 Tamara: And she's like, Okay, I mean, but she took the feedback. Do you see what I mean? But it was only because I figured she was open to it. So here's the idea. We don't even attempt something if we don't believe that we can. And I think a lot of times women we do feel intimidated by the gym. And that's completely normal. And it's okay. But guess what? Do it anyway. Do it scared, do it afraid, do it not knowing what you're doing. Because if you think back on anything in that,  in your life that you were successful at, your first attempt was not your greatest attempt. You did not know what you were doing at the beginning, whether you went to school, whether you started a new job, or you started a new relationship, whatever it was, when you started, you were scared, and you didn't know what you were doing. But how did you get to the point we are now? You did it anyway. So we have to get over this mindset that we can't.

00:48:57 Tamara: Okay. So I do deal with mindset, because this is a part of everything. But for the fifth 40 formula, there are four key principles. We've already talked about one of them, which is strength training, you absolutely do have to do some sort of strength training. When I say that I don't mean dumbbell curls with five pounds. Okay. There's four key types of movements I suggest everyone should be able to do for your functional health and for your strength. And that's one is some type of squat. And it doesn't be well, but I have bad knees. There are things that you can do to improve your mobility so that you can do some form of squat. And there's so many variations. It doesn't have to be the heavy barbell back squat or you have to do the heavy barbell back squat. You can do it right out the gate. You can build up to that. That can be a goal over time, but some sort of squatting motion that you can do safely. And again, there's many variations. There's many ways that you can build up to a full squat. So a squat, some type of deadlift. And again, you don't have to do 500 pounds, but you also don't want to be deadlifting 10 pounds. Most of you have children. If you pick them up off the floor, you've been a deadlift. And for those of you who have an Amazon Prime addiction, like I may or may not also have, you have to pick up those boxes. When they come to the door, the Amazon people, they don't lift it up for you.

00:50:15 Tamara: So that's a deadlift. That's a functional movement that you want to be able to do as you get older, because you don't want to have to be like, I need to call somebody to come pick up the box for me or to carry my groceries. So a deadlift is a very functional exercise. And again, there's variations of that as well. So a squat, a deadlift, and then you want to do some sort of rowing motion. That's something where you're kind of pulling something towards you. And that's for your back. Right. And it's really a compound. A lot of these are compound movements. So they're going to involve more than just one body part. So that's why I'm recommending these, but some type of rowing motion. And then you want to also do some type of pressing motion. So something where you're pushing weight away from your upper body. So most people think traditionally a bench press, you do not have to do a bench press. I honestly do not myself. Sometimes overhead pressing is difficult, especially if you had shoulder issues, but there are variations again of a pressing motion that you can do, whether it's on an incline, so it doesn't hit your shoulders much directly, but there are all types of adjustments you can make.

00:51:23 Tamara: So you can have a pressing motion. And that really helps with your upper body in the front, the front part of your body as well. So a squat, a deadlift, a row and a press, you have those four components in your strength training. You will be good to go. You don't have to spend hours. Those are four exercises. You don't have to be, Oh, let me do, you don't really need to do bicep curls, because if you're doing a row, your arms are involved, right? As you're pulling. So you really don't have to do all these individual exercises if you focus on these four main movements.

00:51:56 Maya: I see. If I can add to that, I just found myself really enjoying rowing. It's one of those things that when I started using the machines here at our property, I realized over the last three or four years that I really love the way I feel. That's something that I didn't really try before. I even thought, I said to my husband, maybe kayaking in the future or like rowing or something like that out in nature as well. And I'll just start in the gym. But yes, these are very squatting. Oh my goodness. I didn't realize how important that is to work on your, that helps with balance as well.

00:52:33 Tamara: Right? Yeah. I mean, it helps overall just with overall body strength, honestly. Again, it's a compound movement. So it means that you're involving your whole, your multiple body parts. Right. And I will say thank you for mentioning about rowing because I do want to make a distinction. The type of rowing you're talking about with the machine is great. That is a form of cardiovascular exercise that does have a strength component to it. But anytime I'm talking about strength training, I'm not talking about circuit training. I'm not talking about orange theory. I'm not talking about body pump. Right? Because all those are just forms of cardio with weights, which sounds weird, but you can turn weight training into a cardio exercise if you do little to no rest, very lightweight and really high repetitions.

00:53:16 Tamara: So when I'm talking about, I was talking about rowing is more of like the cable machine where you sit, you do a certain number of reps, usually eight to 12 reps, then you pause, you wait, and then you do it again when your energy is restored after you've recovered. So I do want to make that distinction because I do know that there are other forms of rowing. So just because you're using weights doesn't mean you're doing strength training. I want to make that clear because there are all these programs that say, oh, we're doing strength training because we picked up a barbell and we're going to jog with the barbell. I see people power walking, holding their dumbbells and I'm like, okay, that's not strength training. Sorry to burst the bubbles, but yeah. But these are all very functional movements that are really important. And the idea again is that you're sending a signal to your body to build and maintain muscle mass. And that's what we want to do.

00:54:09 Maya: Yep. Though this is great information. Now, do you personally coach your clients? Do you have a team? And also do you do it virtually like this so that you can cater to anybody who's interested?

00:54:19 Tamara: I do. So the four principles, like I mentioned, why I only kind of talk about strength training. I'll talk about the other three, but yes, I do virtual coaching. It is me mainly. And so I work with clients through an app and I assign all the workouts, all the nutrition through an app. So it's really flexible and people can communicate with me on there, which I really love because it's asynchronous. We can do voice notes, videos, stuff like that, chat. And everything is in one place, which is great because it's not like, oh, I have a PDF over here with my training, then I have another thing over here. Everything's in one place. And so that's really how I work with clients. And I'm always accessible and available to answer questions. But yeah, I give people the strength training actually is one of the last things I give. The first three components of it are more focused on nutrition because I tell all my clients, 80% of your results are going to come from your nutrition. Yes, you have to train, but if you're training and you're not feeling your body properly, you're not going to get the results. So the three principles of nutrition are just around protein, fiber, and fat. Right? Really simple. And a lot of people actually have a protein calculator on my website because a lot of people always ask the question, one, where do you get your protein to? How much protein do you need? And I always answer, it depends.

00:55:43 Tamara: Because I can't give that type of information here because like I said, the problem with most nutrition and fitness advice is someone will listen to a podcast like this. They'll go home and go, all right, well, Tamara said, is the number. So I'm going to work on this now. And then they start telling other people, well, yeah, you know, this is how much protein you need. When the actual answer is, it depends on the situation. It depends on you, your history, your current body composition, and what your goals are. And other issues, maybe if you have kidney disease, there's going to be a cap on how much protein you should consume. So I take all those things into account with my clients. But I do have a protein calculator on my website for free. So if anyone's just curious, all right, I'm trying to lose weight or I want to build muscle. I'm 45 years old. This is how much I weigh, whatever it is, you can put that into the protein calculator and it'll give you a suggested range for how much protein you should have every day. And then I also have a cheat sheet that tells you some of my favorite protein sources as well. So it's plantempowerfitness.com. There's a calculator there. And then there's also my list of my go-to protein sources in case anyone's interested.

00:56:49 Maya: Well, this is great. I'm going to touch on nutrition and what you just said, because your approach is very personalized. So you're not prescribing this generic list of foods. You're actually working with everyone individually. I like that you said you're not just focused on the strength training, and that's not necessarily how you start off. I think you and I have had some training or education on nutrition and there's so much to learn. And especially when we've been brainwashed to believe that protein is a steak or chicken or fish, and then that's about it. And the fiber is what you put in your water and drink when you're constipated. Yeah, there you go. So we know that some people, when they transition to a whole food plant-based lifestyle, sometimes they're taking in more fiber than their body is used to. So then they might have some discomfort. So it sounds like you know exactly how to work with people based on where they're at. And then you start to incorporate some of these things. And understanding too fat, because that's a huge question we often get is, we just recently had a workshop and someone asked about nuts. Can we have nuts? And what about avocados? So you probably addressed those concerns as well. It's like, are we completely eliminating all the fat or which fats should we have in our diet?

00:58:12 Tamara: Yeah, and we absolutely need fat. And that's one of the biggest misconceptions. And the other thing is the way that question was phrased that you mentioned in the workshop, can we eat? That is the biggest mindset I'm trying to combat when I work with people. Because you can do absolutely anything. You can do whatever you want. That's what people say, oh, you're a vegan. Can you eat fish? I'm like, I could, but I choose not to consume fish. So it's very important the way we talk to ourselves. Because when we say it's I can't, then it's a rule. And I don't function off of rules, I function off of principles. If you have the principles, and you know what underlies it, you then can answer that question for yourself. And I always tell my clients, my goal is for you to not need another coach ever, because you will be armed with the information you need to make sound decisions. So you don't have to go to a workshop and ask, can I eat a nut? So fat is important, especially for women, because, well, for all people, but a lot of women are really low on fat, especially if they're whole foods plant based, their fat is so low. And you don't realize, like, if you're taking vitamin D, vitamin D means fat, fat soluble, it's more of a hormone than a vitamin. So if you don't have fat in your body, you don't have enough fat, vitamin D cannot really be used properly. estrogen, testosterone, all of our sex hormones, women do have testosterone.

00:59:32 Tamara: So all those things that help us build muscle and maintain muscle, if we don't have adequate fat in our body, our hormones will not operate sufficiently well. And oh, by the way, thyroid has hormones as well. And we all know the relationship between thyroid and body fat. So if you're not consuming enough fat, you will, you will experience problems, you know, and so I'm not saying oil. And that's the other thing, like you said, some people think protein meat, they think that oil, you don't have to douse everything in oil, like you mentioned avocado, nuts and seeds, these are things that I find people either overdue or under due because they're like so afraid of them. They're like, I can't have any fat. Oh my god. And the low fat, you remember the low fat from the 90s. It was like, oh, low fat, but everything was high sugar. You know, they're like, I can't have any fat. And then they don't know why they're tired all the time. You know, and I experienced this first year when I was in prep. So prep is just what we call preparation for our competition season and bodybuilding is when we're cutting down, dieting down for a show. And I got to a point where my calories are pretty low. Like I said, this was extreme. This was for stage. This isn't like a lifestyle thing. So I'll make that clear. But I was really tired. And I was like, I couldn't think straight. All that brain fog. I was like, what is wrong with me?

01:00:46 Tamara: And my coach at the time wasn't vegan. And so she couldn't really give me specific nutrition advice, like in terms of what foods I should eat. So I had to kind of go rogue. And I figured out for myself that I needed to put more fat in my diet, even though my calories were low. If I didn't have that fat. And I tell you within like two days of me increasing my fat intake on my own, my brain started to work. I was like, I can see things again. So it really is dramatic. And I know because I went through it in a very extreme way through my own experience when I was getting ready for my first season. So it's important. And that's why I say that's why I don't do template cookie cutter. I don't sell these one off programs because I really do need to know what's going on with you and your body. What are your goals? How do you feel? Because there's no point in looking good if you feel like crap. There's just no point. So I definitely customize what I do for each client. And again, I teach the principles so that they can kind of go off on their own and then make it a lifestyle. Because I don't think everyone needs a coach all the time, but we do need help sometimes to get over a hump and so that we can get ourselves to the next level and get there much faster.

01:01:59 Maya: Yes, I'm a heavy believer of using coaches in different fields for to achieve the goal that you want. And so I'm very much for that. And I'm moving into that space of wanting to hire a fitness coach or like someone like yourself that could really work with me because I know that what I lack is discipline. And it's not so much that I don't have discipline because I clearly have I prioritize things that I really want to accomplish. So I think it's a matter I was listening to a recording the other day. I think it was an audiobook that was talking about how we make excuses really because there's that fear that's associated with why we don't pursue those goals that we really want for ourselves. There's some fear there, the limiting beliefs, the mindset's not there. And also support, you know, in general. I don't know if you have a group of clients that you've had, do you put them in like a WhatsApp group, a Facebook group so that they can come together once you've started working with them?

01:03:02 Tamara: Yeah, I will say, I mean, I would say I believe in coaching too. I have a coach right now for bodybuilding because it's very specific thing that sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. So I definitely believe in coaching as well. So also practice what I preach in that regard. But yes, you mentioned discipline. And I always laugh because people say to me all the time, like, Oh, gosh, you're a bodybuilder, or you're vegan or whatever, you must be really disciplined. And I laugh because I like if you don't know my ADHD self, if someone in my family was here, you call me discipline, they would laugh except where they would agree on the food because they don't. I don't know how you can eat chicken. I'm like because I don't want to. But I guess what to say with that is I laugh because for me, if it was something that I really wanted to do, like I tell people if I really wanted to eat a steak, I would eat a steak, but I just happen to not want to, you know, and so I view it that way, because I'm always making a choice. And even though that could be viewed as discipline, I view it as making a decision. So if I've decided a thing is decided, I don't now go back and revise it and rethink it and replay. I have decided and I've made a decision. So therefore, these things are not on the list of things that I do. And when you make a decision, you don't really need the discipline, because you're then you're just following through and you're staying congruent in alignment with your values and your goals. You're not trying so hard. You're just being who you are. When you approach it that way is so much easier. But what I think helps though, is the accountability, right? Like we all need accountability, especially women.

01:04:37 Tamara: We're so driven by showing up for others. And when we know that there's a coach waiting for us to check in, we're much more likely to do it. I mean, I'm guilty of it too. Even now I go, Oh, I'm supposed to write down what I did today. Or like now I'm walking because I have to get my steps in for today because I know I've got to tell my coach before I go to bed how many steps I got today, right? So there's something about people in general, we're social creatures, but women especially, we will show up for other people and not show up for ourselves, we will make a commitment to someone else, we will feel horrible if we don't meet it. But we make commitments to ourselves and don't fall through all the time. And we don't even blink an eye, you know? But for me, it's like, Oh, if it's my son, I'm there. What did I have planned today? I don't care. It's my son, I'm there. Right? So coaching gives us that accountability where we actually create that for ourselves. We have someone that's checking on us for us, that's being that friend to us that we want to be to ourselves. So it's accountability. And yeah, I do connect my clients. I try to have, sometimes we do like a movie night or do things like that. But everyone's so busy, it's hard to try to coordinate those sometimes. But yes, I do try to connect because I think community is so important. I do have a Facebook group where people can kind of share their wins. And I also share where I am on my bodybuilding journey in there too. So it's a lot of fun. So yeah, I do think we all need that connection and that support.

01:06:00 Maya: Yeah, absolutely. I love connecting with other people that have worked with the same coach that I have. I know that my life coach has also offered like, she work with anybody, but she loves to bring all her female clients together once a month to do like a session. And it's pretty cool because you kind of have an understanding among the group of how, you know, we have the same language, the common language that our coach uses with us in terms of like her approach. Tell us a little bit more as we're, you know, starting to wrap up. I'd love to hear what you're working on for yourself. You just said you have your own coach and you're working on your next thing in bodybuilding. So what's coming up for you?

01:06:42 Tamara: Yeah, well actually, so my next season competing will be this fall. That's what we're aiming for now. And I'm still looking at some of the shows, I've picked some out. But it's like, you know, want to see kind of where my body is if I'm ready. Because that's kind of another thing is like, you can do everything you have to do, but the feedback is the feedback. So we kind of have to see where we end up. But definitely this fall, I'm planning to compete again. And my goal really is to just step on the stage and be undeniable. You know, I want to make improvements from where I was last time. Yeah. And I want to be undeniably at the pro level. You know, I can't control what the judges say because the Bible is a subjective sport and the judges decide, you know, placements and all that. So I can't set my goal around something I can't control. It's another kind of important thing for anyone listening. You want to make your goals things that are within your spirit's influence. And I can't control what the judges are going to say or decide that I can't control the physique that I bring to the stage. So that's what's next for me, undeniable pro level. And, and yeah, and I'm also just working with with other women, I really do want to build a community of women who are really interested and committed to fitness and just can keep each other going because you know, it's so hard to do something on your own, especially something as difficult as, you know, doing something you've never done before. Maybe you want to get to your dream physique is something you've never had before, not even when you were in your 20s or whenever whatever your reference point is.

01:08:14 Tamara: And that seems impossible, especially without support. So it's just so good to have that like community. So that's the thing that I'm really working on building. And my big goal for actually for 2024 is I am planning to host the VIP retreat for some of my clients in Puerto Rico. Next June, just beautiful. It's like a restore and reset retreat, where we're going to go through all of the coaching all the principles of the fit 40 formula together, regardless of where you are in your journey. And it's Puerto Rico. So it's one of the most beautiful places on the planet. And this beautiful beachfront house that I've rented out and a vegan chef coming. There's right across from the rainforest, it has a beautiful hike to a waterfall. There's an organic farm close by, we'll be able to do some organic farming and experience that. And hopefully get some salsa dancing too, because that's my other love. So that is my big thing for next year. So if anyone's interested, you don't have to be a client of mine to do that. But I do have coaching packages that go with the retreat as well. So that's what I'm really excited about that I'll be launching soon. Because yeah, that's my vision. I want to bring us all together. And as we've achieved our goals, wherever we are in the journey to just celebrate that, and to just restore and reset where we are in our mindset and our bodies and our health. So that's what I'm really looking forward to.

01:09:40 Maya: Oh, that sounds exciting. I mean, Puerto Rico, and it's a retreat, and it's about fitness. Oh my gosh, sounds very enticing. So also tell us about your podcast.

01:09:51 Tamara: Yes, the Planet Power Fitness podcast. I've done two seasons so far, I will be doing the third season soon. And I've interviewed other fitness professionals who are all plant based as well. So I have even something for the men who are out there listening. I do have an episode with one of the vegan coaches, I know amazing coach to help give the guys some advice as well. But I have interviewed other female vegan bodybuilders. So we give training tips on how to build amazing shoulders, how to get in the amount of protein that you need, how to make it easy, how to make it convenient. And I share some of my experiences to getting to stage. But I do talk a lot about really just the questions that come up with my clients. But I always do answer questions too on the podcast. So I'm on Instagram at Planet Power Fitness. You can also send me a DM or email PlanetPowerFitness.com. You can contact me through there. I just love answering people's questions because there's no dumb question. And if you're thinking it, somebody else probably is thinking it too. So I do like to respond as people ask questions that I can do an episode about that too. So I do a lot of Q&A on the podcast as well. I just try to give it practical advice. My goal is to make everything simple. If it's too complicated, too complex, it's too hard, you won't get started. So my goal is to make everything simple and accessible.

01:11:15 Maya: Yeah, absolutely. I love it. So you share your social media and your website and your podcast. So I want to encourage all my listeners to check you out, because I know they're going to enjoy you as much as I have enjoyed you. And I'm telling you, I'm so glad that I asked you to come on the podcast. When I met you again, you had this incredible energy, this beautiful appearance, both physically and internally in terms of who you are as an individual. And I hope that this has been beneficial for my listeners. And I'm so excited. I'm going to follow up with you. I'd love to continue to learn more about your work. And I think you're a tremendous resource for especially my women, my female listeners. So I want to thank you again, Tamara, for being on the show. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Maya. It was so great to meet you as well. You've been listening to the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast with your host, Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this content, please share with one friend who can benefit. You can also leave us a five star review at ratethispodcast.com/ HLS. This helps us to spread our message. As always, thank you for being a listener. Thank you.