Latest / Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40 / Ep 79: How to SOLVE the Fat Loss Puzzle (Hormones, Gut Health, & Stress) with Allie Cass

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Ep 79: How to SOLVE the Fat Loss Puzzle (Hormones, Gut Health, & Stress) with Allie Cass · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:00
  Allie Cass: And then let's say they're in a really high stress career and they finally make a decision and they're like, You know what? I can't do this anymore. I'm gonna make a pivot.
• 0:08
  Allie Cass: They go to something they're more satisfied with and they dropped 10 pounds like that.
• 0:14
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the Wits& Weights podcast. I'm your host Philip pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger. Optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition will uncover science backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best. Let's dive right in. Wits& Weights community Welcome to another episode of the Wits & Weights Podcast. Today I have a very special guest with me. Her name is Allie Cass and she's a former bodybuilding Pro turned functional fitness, functional health and fitness coach who helps stressed out women optimize their metabolism uplevel their mindset and shift from surviving to thriving, Ali will share her unique perspectives on health and fitness, the importance of the mind body connection in overcoming health challenges, and how to uplevel your mindset to achieve your goals. You'll learn about the fat loss conundrum where hormones gut health and stress intersect, and practical strategies for optimizing these. We will explore topics like body positivity, self improvement and self love. Ali's the founder of ally casts health and the metabolic makeover, an online immersion program that teaches women how to reclaim their health, heal their metabolism, ditch self sabotage, and create a life of strength and vitality.
• 1:33
  Philip Pape: She's an advocate for self love becoming your best self through mind body health and living life fully alive. Ali, welcome to the show.
• 1:43
  Allie Cass: Thank you so much for having me. That was a fire introduction. I think you wrote that better than I would have written up myself.
• 1:49
  Philip Pape: So we tried to do here break the fire and I know you will as well. So I'm really excited. Thank you for coming out. I just I have to just say this everybody, like we both had a little mix up in our, in our appointment time here and we were able to pull it together, jump on and now we're recording the show. So it's gonna be fun.
• 2:03
  Philip Pape: Okay, so what what was the turning point for you? You could tell me your whole story. But I really want to understand the turning point in your life when you transition from being a professional bikini fitness competitor, right to as you call it a health and fitness fanatic and business owner.
• 2:21
  Allie Cass: Yes. So I will say there were two big turning points for me. The first was technically prior to becoming a bodybuilding competitor and then professional. And that was right after I graduated college, my mother was diagnosed with stage three brain cancer. I had been an athlete my entire life. So I wasn't competing in bodybuilding, but I was always competing in some sort of sport and some shape or form. Movement was always very important to me.
• 2:46
  Allie Cass: But that was when I realized a couple of things in my life, I realized that no one taught me how to nourish my body. Nobody taught me about nutrition, health, stress management, sleep recovery. It was all about training for that competition.
• 3:01
  Allie Cass: And I saw myself being the unhealthiest that I had ever been simultaneously watching my mom get sick and going through that journey with her. I also realized through that process, a lot of the flaws that we have in our western medical system, and how how the system that we live in is really a system to treat sick people not help people be their healthiest. So she was really my catalyst, my mom getting cancer, she passed away nine months after her initial diagnosis. And that was really the catalyst of me getting into this industry, doing it for myself, but also doing it with the intention of helping other women because I started asking questions like What makes someone truly healthy? You know, what is the role that nutrition, environmental toxins, stress, thoughts, beliefs, like where do these all intersect? And how does that interplay to either make somebody a healthier version of themselves or to make them sick, and it really was actually a way for me to cope with that loss. And I didn't know it at the time. So fast forward a couple of months, I again, I found myself in a place where I was the heaviest I'd ever been. I was 22 years old, and I felt like Shi T. I was tired. I just I didn't like the way that I was showing up in the world. And I didn't feel like myself. I hired a health and fitness coach and I really just wanted someone to help me get back on track and just give me a goal to work towards the athlete. And he was like, No, I'm not working toward anything.
• 4:28
  Allie Cass: I don't know what I'm doing. And she was like, why don't you compete in bodybuilding? And I was like, why don't you recommend something that doesn't sound as terrible as that but she quickly convinced me to do it. It became a wonderful thing for me at that point in my life and at that point in my journey.
• 4:46
  Allie Cass: However, about a year and a half into bodybuilding, I had that kind of second pivot point where I realized okay, I went from one end to the spectrum. Now I'm totally on the other like my de Rivoli. was around when I'm going to eat, what food do I have access to? When am I going to work out and it, it served its point for part of my life.
• 5:06
  Allie Cass: And then I was like, wow, this is controlling my life, I now have body dysmorphia. I don't have an eating disorder, but I have disordered eating habits and patterns and views around food. And so I really weren't like many women, I was like, either at zero or I was at 100.
• 5:24
  Allie Cass: So once I made it over to 100, I was like, still didn't really feel very healthy either. And even though I look amazing, I still feel like I don't quite feel my best. So that was that turning point where I was like, Okay, I need to get out of this competitive space. And I need to focus on from a functional perspective. Again, going back to the root of health, what does that really look like for me?
• 5:43
  Allie Cass: What areas are not optimized?
• 5:47
  Allie Cass: And how can I fix those, so I can show up as a better version of myself to help other people.
• 5:50
  Allie Cass: And so it was that initial, you know, having that tragedy going through that that really got me into the space. And then it was realizing that I had gone from one unhealthy end of the spectrum all the way to the other where I was like, whoa, okay, this isn't it either. And that kind of caused me to take a little bit of a pivot. And I will say, I'm not quite as lean or ripped as I was when I was a competitor. But I feel the best I've ever felt in my body, both physically and mentally. And it's such a great place to be.
• 6:23
  Philip Pape: Oh, that's such a great story. I mean, talking about the extremes like that there are people who look at fitness influencers, and they look at an ideal. And think wouldn't it be great to be there. And it sounds like you've, you've had the personal experience, at least of going from the spectrum of, okay, there's a lack of health, right, there's sickness, there's maybe doing things that sabotage your health and so on to I want to look great and have this aesthetical in this very specific, extreme ideal, and you did that it sounds like and learn from it. Do you have any regrets of going through that?
• 6:56
  Philip Pape: Are you happy you went through that? Because it taught you those extremes?
• 7:00
  Allie Cass: Absolutely. I'm so grateful for the experience. And then like I said, at the time, it was also a way for me to process my grief and process the anger that I had around losing my mom in a more healthy productive way, as opposed to, you know, going out and binge drinking and then reaping the, you know, the the cons of that.
• 7:16
  Allie Cass: And so it did serve its purpose, for a lot of different reasons.
• 7:21
  Allie Cass: It opened me up to the world that I'm now in, if I hadn't met my coach and mentor in that process, I actually ended up buying her business, I've rebranded. So it's been at whole evolution. And so I'm a big believer that at any given point in time, we're right where we're meant to be, even if it doesn't feel or look the way that we want it to. And so I'm very grateful for the journey and I've oftentimes thought about what if I just went back and did one more show, and I don't know that I ever will but I am grateful for what I've learned in the process.
• 7:53
  Philip Pape: I know what you mean there if I didn't get into lifting tie was around 40. And I've never been like through a properly proper like shred phase, you know, getting totally cut I had I had Cody McBroom on my show not long ago, his shows coming out. And toward the end, he's like, hey, you know, if you ever want to get shredded, reach out to me, I'm like, you know, I want to do that, because I've heard from bodybuilders what that can cause but like you said, there's value in all of these and some of the some of the behaviors you had to apply for even the extremes of that. I imagine you still use some of those to to a certain level, like maybe tracking food, or at least being aware of things that you can help clients get through, would you say it's a fair statement?
• 8:30
  Allie Cass: Absolutely. And tracking foods are a really great example. Because it's something I was having this conversation this morning with a client. It's not something I do all the time. But it is something that I will bring myself through periods of doing that, because I think that I know where I'm at. But sometimes it is really beneficial to get that accurate picture of exactly what's going on. Because sometimes we self report and we're not that accurate with what we're really doing. So I think that everything that I learned in bodybuilding, and this could be the case with anything that you learn in life can be used as a tool in the right circumstance with the right intention. And so for me, it's all about the intention, right? Like, am I doing this because I feel like I need to get shredded, because it's going to make me look and feel a way that my ego is going to make me happy, you know, am I feeling unworthy of something? And I feel that I need to do this? Or is it purely because I really want that accurate data? I want to have a good picture of where I'm at so I can make data informed decisions about what I should do next.
• 9:25
  Philip Pape: Yeah, you put it great. Bass when you said the tool is, well, it's agnostic, right? You need it for a circumstance and an intention.
• 9:31
  Philip Pape: And I do agree with that, because I was actually just recording a solo episode about when to lose lose fat or build muscle or whatever under different scenarios and talk about food tracking how if you have the intuition, it may you may not need it at all. And you may even not eat it if you've never done it before, but there's value in it to going through it at least for a time.
• 9:52
  Philip Pape: And so even limiting these extremes for a tad you know, just especially with guidance of a coach can be enlightening, right if nothing else Exactly.
• 9:59
  Philip Pape: All right. So I mean, you're, you're a big advocate for self love living life fully alive. I love that language. It's very positive, very optimistic, and, and even self centered in the right way if I can put it that way, because we often neglect ourselves for years. That's right. So how do you define these concepts? Like what are and then practically, how can we cultivate these? Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:23
  Allie Cass: So I love the topic of self love, because it's one of those that has gained so much traction on Instagram and social media. But I think people explore it a lot of times in a not so constructive way. So I feel like you have people on one side of the spectrum, who are just it's go go go at self improvement all the time, you know, it's not, it's never good enough. And then you have people on the other side that are like, love yourself, and it's all magic and rainbows, and you're perfect the way that you are.
• 10:49
  Allie Cass: And it's, I think that mindset can breed complacency. So what I oftentimes tell clients is, in my opinion, self love is doing the things necessary to get you to where you want to be in life.
• 11:02
  Allie Cass: Now, again, what's the intention behind that? Where you want to be in life? Are we doing it because it's genuinely gonna make us a better person? Is it gonna make our life better? Is it gonna give us the tools that we can, you know, have a more positive impact in the world? Or is it coming from a place of I feel unworthy, I feel lack all of that. So we, when I work with clients, we dive into those things. But I think that self love, sometimes is doing the hard things, right? It's actually having the discipline to show up and do what I need to do to help me reach that next level of what it is that I truly desire. I don't think that self love is going to get your nails done, or going to get a massage, like those are all great things, if that's what you're into self care. Right. Exactly, exactly.
• 11:41
  Allie Cass: So I think there's a lot of noise on social media. And I think people get confused.
• 11:49
  Allie Cass: Because it's like, you know, it's, you're a parent, right?
• 11:52
  Allie Cass: You have kids. And sometimes, what you have to do for your kids, to show them that you love them is not the thing that they want you to do in that moment.
• 11:58
  Allie Cass: So sometimes we need to do that same thing with ourselves.
• 12:02
  Allie Cass: Because we do love ourselves.
• 12:05
  Allie Cass: And we do want to get better. So I think that when you can look at those things a little more objectively, you can say like, wow, you know, maybe going to the gym today, or maybe making a better choice with my nutrition or whatever XYZ is actually a form of self love and not a form of discipline, or not discipline, but restriction or something like that. And so that's where I try to help clients reframe their mindset around what is the self love talk topic? Because I think that self love and self improvement are not mutually exclusive. But oftentimes in the industry, when we talk about them, it seems as though they are, I think they're one in the same personally.
• 12:40
  Philip Pape: For sure. That's where we can get into things like body positivity and accepting yourself versus, you know, accepting the person you are and then striving for more, because you love that person.
• 12:50
  Allie Cass: Right. Exactly. And that self acceptance, I think what you said is literally the key, right? It's not about like, let's just fake pretend that we love ourselves right now, right?
• 13:00
  Allie Cass: But it's like, I accept myself, just as I accept you, just as I accept everyone else in the world, can we all do better?
• 13:05
  Allie Cass: Sure, let's go do it. But you have to have that acceptance first, at a healthy level before you can make yourself better, and have it come from a positive place of intention.
• 13:16
  Philip Pape: So when you see people struggle with that, or come in with, you know, I've had clients who are just it's very, very difficult for them to get over themselves as that one way to put it, or even they're just just in a routine from years and years of self sabotage of like, I can't, I didn't make any excuses and so on. How do you deal with that? The real extremes of that and getting them shifted toward this positive mindset?
• 13:39
  Allie Cass: Yeah, I mean, I would be lying if I said it was easy. Some clients, it's certainly easier than others.
• 13:46
  Allie Cass: But for me, it's all about bringing that awareness. First, I think, for a lot of those people who have been living in that mindset, or in that place for a long time, that's just the narrative, that's their norm.
• 13:54
  Allie Cass: They don't even realize that that's kind of the place that they live in. And so bringing to attention the verbiage that they use to talk about themselves, or to talk about how they interact with the world, asking questions, you know, why do you believe this? Or where does this stem from? Is this your belief?
• 14:10
  Allie Cass: Or did you pick this up from someone? And so, I, when I'm coaching people, I try to have this come up as an organic thing, because I think that people also have to be ready to explore those areas. But I just start poking little holes in keep going and asking questions.
• 14:27
  Allie Cass: And I even had a client the other day who she said something that we were in a dialogue and she said something about like, I know, I can't have this or something along those lines. And I was like, Okay, let's, you know, let's reframe that verbiage. Because the reality is, is no one's telling you, you can't, you're just adopting that belief because of what you've been told. And so we talked about it, I offered a different perspective. And she's like, Well, that makes total sense.
• 14:50
  Allie Cass: Thank you for interjecting on that. And so I find that like when you have a really good relationship between client and coach, which is a big deal for me when I work with people Will, you can foster you know, that connection and start using that to shed some light for people.
• 15:04
  Allie Cass: Now, sometimes it's a lot harder I have sent clients to therapy before it just as a recommendation, you know, like if I can tell that something is stemming from, let's say a childhood trauma or something that's really deep that I'm, you know, it's a little bit outside of my scope, I will make that recommendation, I explained to them how that's affecting not just their mindset that their physiology and how they're showing up now. And so, you know, it kind of depends on the person. But I'm a big proponent of unpacking those things, whether it's me whether it's with another professional because I do see the impact that it has on their health on their wellness and how they show up.
• 15:43
  Philip Pape: You know, what's great about coaching, because you talked about the personal experience, I was thinking of a Netflix documentary called Stutz with Jonah Hill. I don't know if you've seen it yet. I haven't.
• 15:51
  Philip Pape: But I need to, you should watch.
• 15:53
  Philip Pape: It's one of those things where the hook isn't that great. And it doesn't look that interesting when you watch it like this blows your mind, especially as a coach because as a a psychotherapist, this particular man who works with him, believes a lot using tools to help me help people move forward rather than focusing so much on the past. And like sitting in all the all this trauma. And of course, we're not we're not shrinks, and but because someone's coming to you with the intent of taking a step forward and improving themselves are already in that mindset of I want to do something to move here. It's not just talking to someone, necessarily, exactly.
• 16:25
  Philip Pape: So you just you just talked about how like having a coach like you get deep with them can uncover things, even if you're not a psychotherapist, for the intent of using a tool to move forward. So it's a good distinction to make and why having support is very helpful because even our own family members who love us don't necessarily have the, the awareness or the ability to provide that exact same type of support.
• 16:48
  Allie Cass: Exactly. And sometimes, at least in my experience, it's hard to get certain feedback from your partner or from people that are in your family or people that you're close with, especially when we're you know, starting to really dig into like things at a deep emotional level. And so sometimes it's nice to have somebody who you know, cares about you, but it's a little bit more of a third party.
• 17:10
  Philip Pape: Yeah, exactly. So so we're getting into mindset stuff here. And I did want to explore that because so many conversations I have with coaches and even my own experience with clients, it's 99% up here. And there is a connection and you're talking there's physiological connections, there's there's emotional connections, neurological and so on. You you wrote, quote, I don't know if this was on your website, but I, I found it somewhere, quote, We can literally die at any moment.
• 17:35
  Philip Pape: And while that is a terrifying thought, for some, it's what gives us the drive to make the most out of each and every day, which is what I help women do through mind body transformation. And like, for me that connection, that mind body connection is powerful, because one tends to unleash the other and create this perfect storm and elevates the whole person, you know, physically and mentally. Sharon example now that we're getting to mindset of how you've seen that connection play a role in overcoming any health challenge.
• 18:03
  Allie Cass: Yeah, I'll speak with my own experience. About four years ago, I found myself again, kind of in this place where I wasn't I wasn't sick, per se, I had some gut issues, I had some other things, low level challenges that I was working on. I just I didn't feel my best I was working out. So I felt like my exercise is pretty on point my nutrition, maybe could have done a little bit better.
• 18:25
  Allie Cass: But again, pretty on point was definitely not a newbie at that point in time, supplementation felt like that was on point. And I just felt energetically low. A lot of the time like I felt heavy, I felt like I was carrying around a lot of baggage I couldn't quite figure it out.
• 18:41
  Allie Cass: And when I sat down and I really dissected that I realized that I had a lot of grief from losing my mom, I also under went to a another traumatic death when I was in high school. And so I realized that a lot of the things that I thought that I had addressed, I had not really addressed, I just pushed down and was like I'm strong, I can deal with it. And so it was that factor. And then on the other side of the coin, I also realized there were a lot of situations and things that I was engaging in on a daily basis in my own life that I just wasn't happy with. And so it was literally the energetic weight of me feeling unhappy me carrying grief me holding on to burdens from the past that I for some reason, could not let go of at that time, but thought that I had. And when I went through the process, I went to therapy myself, I started doing a lot of self work, I started really analyzing what was going on in my mind. What I really wanted out of life and where the incongruency was between where I was at then what I was saying that I wanted and why I wasn't showing up that way. And as I started to work on those things.
• 19:42
  Allie Cass: I just started feeling more energized. I started feeling happier, I felt lighter, and I just started showing up differently. So it was interesting because I kept saying like, Well, gosh, like I'm not eating anything that I know bothers me. I'm working out you know, I'm sleeping pretty well and it was just I kept going back to those things like, what am I doing wrong? What am I missing? And the reality was It was everything going on inside, was refusing to address that was keeping me feeling less than my best. So that's an example of how I've seen that play out in my own life. And, you know, similar similarly with clients, I've had clients before who are amazing women, they're dedicated to the process, they do all the right things, and they get great results. And then let's say they're in a really high stress career, and they finally make a decision. And they're like, You know what, I can't do this anymore, I'm going to make a pivot, they go to something they're more satisfied with, and they drop 10 pounds like that, like they're happier, they sleep better, their stress levels are, are significantly lower, and then that shows up in their physical manifestation of a body.
• 20:46
  Philip Pape: Yeah, I want to explore that a bit. Have you?
• 20:48
  Philip Pape: What is? Have you looked into the research on this? So we all understand that that life stress can affect our energy expenditure directly, right, because of just the way our body goes into a certain mode of preservation, and there's all the hormones and cortisol and everything else? I mean, what what is the research, say, if you've looked at it in something like a massive, you said, holding on to burdens, you thought you'd let go like that massive of a trauma you're sitting with that, then all of a sudden is off your shoulders?
• 21:14
  Philip Pape: How does that cause your expenditure to come back up?
• 21:17
  Allie Cass: Well, if you think about the, from, like a psychological perspective, that is a form of stress, which just not you know, this external, we think of stress is like my job or my relationship or my finances, but in reality, if that's what's going on in your mind at all times, that's signaling a stress response. So if I, you know, it's like, if you're driving your car, and you, I don't know if you've ever had this happen, where you're driving at night, and it's like, you're kind of tired and like you think you see an animal, like, run out and like across the road, but like, nothing's actually there. And all of a sudden, you're like, oh, and you get that like, hit of adrenaline, and you're like jazz, and you're like, Oh, my God, nothing was there, right?
• 21:55
  Allie Cass: Like, I thought that I saw something. So it's what we think and what we seek can have that physical reaction in the body.
• 22:01
  Allie Cass: So I haven't spent a ton of time in the literature, but from my understanding, and the education that I've gone through on the mind, body subject, and then with stress response, psychological thoughts, emotions, as well, every time we have a thought that produces an emotion, we release a neuropeptide, that creates a chemical reaction in the body.
• 22:20
  Allie Cass: So that can either create stress within ourselves, or it can help alleviate stress, which is, you know, another reason why I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but like, when you're in a new relationship, or you're in a new job, something that you're really excited about, it's like your sleep can be like, totally crap, like you can be eating, like junk food, but you still feel really good.
• 22:36
  Allie Cass: You're like hyped on life.
• 22:39
  Allie Cass: You're like, whatever man like.
• 22:39
  Allie Cass: Yeah. And so I think that what we go through internally, and even so like our perception of what we go through, I think plays into how we feel like a significant amount.
• 22:54
  Philip Pape: That's good perception. Yeah, it's so true.
• 22:56
  Philip Pape: Having like having good friends in your life, for example, I mean, there's a few relationships I've established through podcasting, where we'll send each other videos, and I'll get a video and they'll say something that just pumps me up and motivates me, I'm like, the whatever happened that day almost doesn't matter. Because now all of a sudden, you've got this fire in your brain and the energy that you didn't know where it came from. So you talked about perception, which I think of things like the fixed versus growth mindset, right?
• 23:22
  Philip Pape: The constant curiosity, willingness to challenge ourselves, and then even even mastering our behaviors by mastering our thoughts, like, again, it all comes down to framing, you can't talk about framing. So what is your view of maybe we get philosophical here of mindset as a concept? How do we take action to level up the mindset, as you say, Talk Talk about that a little bit.
• 23:44
  Allie Cass: So how do we take action to level up the mindset?
• 23:47
  Allie Cass: That's a good question and strategies? So again, I think it you know, it kind of depends on the person and what they're looking to level up in their mindset. Is it just having more self awareness? Is it cultivating better self talk? I mean, I'm just a huge advocate of self awareness in the first place. I think that a lot of times we can sit down and be realistic with ourselves and say, like, and that's one of the hardest things for people as one of the hardest thing for me was to sit down and just be real.
• 24:09
  Allie Cass: Like, we might think we're being truthful to everyone else, but like, are you telling yourself the truth and so being able to have that hard conversation with ourselves? I think once that awareness comes up, a lot of times the cascade of changes starts to naturally occur once that awareness is on the forefront. I'm really big into strategies like meditation and visualization. Not everybody resonates with those things I do because I'm like, I need to sit down and have quiet and still time. And so for me, that's really big. You know, even things like gratitude. It sounds so cliche I know that's everywhere. Now, you know, practice gratitude, but it's, it's really physically impossible to be like angry or to have negative emotions when you are genuinely feeling grateful for something. And so just kind of take for me personally taking myself back to those places. And acknowledging.
• 25:00
  Allie Cass: Again, when I'm having a day, let's say where my mindset is not so great, or I am, you know, it's just one of those days where you're like, what else is gonna happen? Acknowledging that whatever is going on in my head that is not productive is there for a reason, you know, we always talk about to win, like the, the philosophical kind of woowoo side of the world.
• 25:25
  Allie Cass: They're always like, you know, the ego death, I believe that the ego serves to protect us.
• 25:31
  Allie Cass: And I think that's a beautiful thing. So I, when I feel my ego getting really like, you know, you're not good enough for Who were you to do this, I stopped for a second, I show gratitude for I say, Thank you for trying to keep me safe, but we're good.
• 25:44
  Allie Cass: We've got this, like, what our life is not in danger. So like, please sit over there and be quiet. And when danger comes up, you can you can say something that and so, you know, I think acknowledging different parts of yourself going back to that self acceptance, and being grateful for those parts, but recognizing what's serving you or what isn't at any given time. can be very helpful.
• 26:05
  Philip Pape: Okay, there's, there's a lot there. So you did talk about No, no, there's a lot there. I'm trying to figure out what you want to poke at. You talked about self awareness, what came to my mind was emotional intelligence, and how that's like the first part of self awareness. This theme comes up all the time. And the more I know, personally, the more uncomfortable I sit with, who I am and what I do to people, meaning if I ask somebody for honest feedback, which we rarely do, because it scares us what the answer is going to be. And, you know, nine out of 10, people are saying, like, you're awesome. And then that other person says, you know, this one thing you did? And of course, we focus on that, right. But it does allow us to put a lens back on ourselves and maybe get, just just get comfortable with who we are. I mean, you can kind of set it, whether it's a self reflection of the gratitude or journaling. Some people love that. And some people hate this stuff. And it's okay, find the thing that works for you. Yeah, yeah, we're getting deep here.
• 26:59
  Philip Pape: But self awareness. Let's let's put that in a nutshell is kind of what it's all about. Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:04
  Allie Cass: One other thing I would say too, is understanding the role that you play in any given situation. So I find it like funny if I had like a room full of women in front of me, and I just say women, because I work with women. And I was like, if I ask them to raise their hands on like, Who here is like a, you know, a self proclaimed control freak, like most of them would raise their hands like, I would raise my hand. And so like, I feel like as humans, we have this desire to have control over all these things that happen, when in reality, the only thing we can control is how we respond to a situation and the responsibility that we take from a situation regardless of if it's our fault or not. So if something can happen to us, it's not our fault. But it's our responsibility to decide what kind of meaning we're going to sign to that, and then how we're going to move forward. And so few people actually put that into practice. So I just find this like irony of people wanting to be in control. But the one thing that actually gives them control over their circumstances they refuse to do because it involves taking responsibility for a situation that oftentimes might not even be our fault. And maybe we don't like the situation, that's fine.
• 28:02
  Allie Cass: But it's our responsibility to analyze that and figure out how we're going to move forward with it. And so that's another thing that like, taking radical ownership for my life, even when I'm like you, what just happened? Like that's been a game changer, because now I have the control to change it.
• 28:19
  Philip Pape: Yeah, you are imagine, right? This moment is a reset, and you were just born into the world like you have all the control to do whatever happens next, regardless of what happened in the past. Yeah. And that's a common theme we hear a lot like with stoicism of whatever happened in the past, you can blame people you can do whatever, it doesn't matter.
• 28:36
  Philip Pape: You're responsible in the future. And unfortunately, some people are in worse situations than others. But again, it doesn't matter. Start there and move forward. Right. Love it.
• 28:45
  Unknown: Hi, my name is Lisa.
• 28:45
  Unknown: And I'd like to Big shout out to my nutrition coach Philip pape, with his coaching I have lost 17 pounds, he helped me identify the reason that I wanted to lose weight, and it's very simple longevity. I want to be healthy, active and independent until the day I die. He introduced me to this wonderful Apple macro factor I got that part of my nutrition figured out along with that is the movement part of nutrition, there's a plan to it and really helped me with that.
• 29:10
  Unknown: The other thing he helped me with was knowing that I need to get a lot of steps in so the more steps you have, the higher your expenditure is and the easier it is to lose weight when it's presented to you like he presents it it makes even more sense. And the other thing that he had was a hunter guide and that really helped me so thank you below.
• 29:29
  Philip Pape: Okay, so getting a little more nuts and bolts on maybe the fat loss conundrum thing that you have here. I like that. I like words like conundrum
• 29:36
  Allie Cass: I know that was good.
• 29:39
  Philip Pape: You did that's like your it's like your theme like everywhere? No, no, the fat loss conundrum, which is how hormones gut health and stress affect our metabolism. So you're right, you don't really explain what the conundrum is. So now I have you on the show to do that. To me, that means like it's the contradiction maybe between the improved health you get from losing fat and getting into a mat a manageable healthy weight, but also all the downregulation potential damage, not damage downregulation adaptation that occurs from maybe excessive fat loss that you experience with the extremes, right have either been very unhealthy or being unhealthy in the other direction with the bodybuilding career. Is that what you mean? Or is there something completely different with that?
• 30:19
  Allie Cass: Yeah, no, that's that's definitely part of it. So I think that's a huge component, especially in the women's space where the narrative, oftentimes it's just eat less move more, yes, there are many people out there that do need to eat less and move more there are a lot of women who are maybe moving, maybe need to move more, but also need to eat more, because they have been told since they were children, young girls, you know, eat less, don't eat all your food when you go out for a date. Because, you know, nobody wants to look like they're eating all their food. I was not that person. I was like, I will order Second. Thank you. So that is part of it. But also the role that things like hormones, gut health, you know, your thyroid stress, what that that cortisol connection, how that actually impacts your metabolism and your ability to burn fat. So really, I think the conundrum there at a very high level for people is just understanding that all of these things affect your ability to lose fat, they affect your metabolism, your metabolism is a dynamic thing, right? As you mentioned, metabolic adaptation, it adapts down, it adapts upward. It adapts to the inputs that it's receiving, which is an amazing thing from a survival perspective. But I see women a lot of times who don't think you know, they I have clients all the time, who will have signs and symptoms of some level of hormone imbalance. And I'm like, hey, maybe we should get your blood work done. Or let's check this out. And most of them are receptive to it. But every now and then I'll have someone who's like, no, that's, that's not it's not a big deal. Or people downplay the role that their stress plays, let's say, they're like, Well, you know, like, I've been doing this for 12 weeks, and I can't seem to lose fat, and everything's on point, but Oh, my God, I run my own business. I work 80 hours a week, and I'm a single mom, and like, my life is miserable. But no, no, no, no, no, I meditation, I don't need to do that. Or I don't need to like, you know, delegate some stuff.
• 32:03
  Allie Cass: That's fine. It's not that. So what should I do for nutrition?
• 32:06
  Allie Cass: And I'm like, tell
• 32:08
  Philip Pape: me my macros.
• 32:08
  Philip Pape: Scenario. Yes, yeah.
• 32:11
  Allie Cass: And I similarly, I've had people with like, pretty severe gut issues that exactly I'm like, we really need to visit this as a foundation first, because your fat loss efforts are going to be much easier once we address these things. And again, yes, they're like, no, no, no, I've done that before. I just need exactly I need you to tell me what my macros are. Like, I will not do that. So it is that intersection, right, like everything is integrated within the body and within the mind and the body. So I just think that people in general, need to learn that even though in a Western setting, you know, we segment different systems of the body, or different parts of the body for ease of teaching, or for ease of treating in a Western setting. But the reality is, is that when something is dysfunctional in one system, or in one organ, it's going to have downstream effects that are going to affect other things. So if you have five different things going on, regardless of where it started, they're all interconnected, in some sense.
• 33:05
  Allie Cass: And if your goal is fat loss, and you have dysfunction in these different areas, your fat loss efforts, if they happen are going to happen with much more restriction, it's going to be a lot harder, you're not going to enjoy the process, it's not going to be as easy as it could otherwise be.
• 33:21
  Philip Pape: Yeah, so I'm guessing you go you take clients through some sort of pre diet, maintenance, or prep, or whatever phase we call it to try to, at least regularly or normalize these as best as possible.
• 33:32
  Allie Cass: 100%. If I see that there's dysfunction first, every now and then I get someone that comes in, and they already have a really good base, and we can just kind of hit the ground running. But yeah, it's it's addressing gut dysfunction it is addressing do we need to spend time balancing hormones do we need to feed you up so that you're not living on you know, 1000 calories a day, and I have to go into a cut at 600 calories, which I would never do, because I wasn't gonna do that myself. And it is it's an The unfortunate thing is that it's not sexy for a lot of people, right? Like they want to come in and they want that like, well, you know, Suzy on Instagram told me, I could like lose 12 pounds of fat and eight weeks. And I'm like, that's because Susie's just selling you a standard program. And she's not looking at any of this. So the reality is, is that it's probably going to take longer, because we really need to fix this first. And I'm very transparent with clients that like, I will not run your body into the ground for the sake of you achieving an aesthetic goal.
• 34:24
  Allie Cass: So if you can't spend time being in this, this phase, I just call it a health first phase, right?
• 34:28
  Allie Cass: We're just building your foundation and then we're going to build your house. If you can't build the foundation, then don't expect to have a nice house.
• 34:36
  Philip Pape: Yeah, love it. I mean, any I guess on the other side, it's really satisfying when someone says, Well, there's one small tweak, you know, having some electrolytes or you know, starting a probiotic or just getting the extra half hour sleep. All of a sudden, everything started to move, you know, it's just better. Let's, let's talk about health. Right, because that's Yeah, I think it's still misunderstood topic.
• 34:57
  Philip Pape: It's one of those. I'll say newer topic. that are being explored where where we actually don't understand a lot about science, you know, from the evidence. And there's a lot of research going on. So how can we even if we don't know it, all right, we could at least have practical strategies for dealing with it, improving our digestion, improving our microbiome biota? How would you summarize this whole thing, and maybe the top two or three high impact actions people can take.
• 35:22
  Philip Pape: So
• 35:23
  Allie Cass: without having any background, so I know everybody listening is going to be like, Well, I have, you know, I have bloating, or I get some gas or you know, whatever it is, but without knowing any of those things. And I've had clients where we've been on extensive gut protocols, and I can tell you those things, or they have a time in place, if needed. But what makes the most impact for so many people is not eating in a like not eating while you're on the run, sitting down, like trying to recenter yourself, shifting into a parasympathetic state, taking some deep breaths before you eat, which I know for a lot of people, if you're, if you want a business, if you work full time, and you're in meetings all day, that can be really difficult. But just not eating when your body is in a some sort of stressed out or sympathetic state can be wondrous for your digestive tract. Because when you are, go, go go and you're in a sympathetic state, your body is not prioritizing digestion, because in its mind, it thinks that we are fighting against a stressor, whatever that means.
• 36:21
  Allie Cass: And so I think, for people, something like that can be really impactful. And along the lines of sitting down and slowing down to eat your food, chewing your food thoroughly, not inhaling, taking, like three bites, and then being like, oh, gotta swallow that one. You also have a more pleasurable eating experience, when you actually sit down, calm down, take the time, taste your food, savor the sensations. And that can help prevent overeating as well, when you actually slow down and you take the time to enjoy your food. And it's better for digestion. So, people are always like, yeah, digestion begins, you know, in the gut, or in the stomach, and it's like, no, then you have people who are like digestion begins in the mouth, because we secrete enzymes in our saliva. And it's like, no, it actually doesn't it begins in the mind, right? Like, have you ever been like, like, late at night, you're like, sitting on the couch, and like a Wendy's commercial comes up, which is like, I've not had Wendy's in probably eight years, but every now and then they get me and I'm like, Oh my God, that kind of looks good right now. And your your watch, or your mouth starts to water, you know, or, you know, you go into a bakery and close up of the juicy burger.
• 37:22
  Allie Cass: Exactly, yeah. So it's just that visual, right then is producing saliva, which has enzymes, kickstarting what your body thinks to be the digestive process based on the input that you're getting it from what you're seeing. So it begins in the mind. So sitting down, looking at your food, giving yourself a second that can be really impactful for gut health.
• 37:40
  Allie Cass: And then doing more low impact activity like walking especially after meals super beneficial, not just for stabilizing blood sugar, but for helping your body with digestion. So I can tell you, I've had clients on you know, I've done a whole four or five, our protocol with them, we've gone super deep, we've done a GI map, we know what's going on what, what pathogens are in there. And it's like, what has had the most profound effect was eating and eating in a parasympathetic state, chewing their food more, going for walks, after meals, slowing down. You know those things so without, you know, anyone who's listening that feels like you have got issues without doing a deep dive into what you have just start there. And I guarantee you, you'll make some progress of some sort.
• 38:25
  Philip Pape: Oh, I love it. This is really good, because well, I want to dissect both of them but but the general idea that a lot of these things we think are big problems that have to be dissected to the nth degree often have a big simple solution that we're just not doing or refusing to do or not aware that we need to do right all of the above I've can be easily accused often just rushing through the kitchen, grabbing whatever I need to grab and trying to eat it because I've got a million things to do. And like you said, mindfulness is a potential cure to digestion which are digestive issues which we talked about mindful eating all the time, but it's like always this whoo thing of I don't even know how it's justified usually it's it's in the context of you're going to eat last or something like that right and for digestion, which a lot of people experience I love that the walking would you say there's so I like walk into I talk about all the time like walk as much as you can walk before meals after meals like pacing around the house when you're on the phone. Is it after a meal before meal when's like the best time to walk when we're talking about digestion if there is
• 39:27
  Allie Cass: so I've not actually seen and there could be research on walking before meals. I haven't actually taken a look to dive into that but there's a lot on walking postprandial so after your meal, to help with the digestive process and to help with blood sugar. So if you're eating something and it's causing a blood sugar spike going for a walk can help kind of stabilize that as well. And so all the research I've seen partially because that's what I've sought out is after post meal like 1520 minutes, nothing super intense. You don't need to go for a power walk. Just a nice leisurely walk down the street, around your house, whatever.
• 40:00
  Philip Pape: Yeah, and you know, Brandon Cruz's big fan of like talking about that with compared to Smith Metformin, the type two diabetes drug and its whole high flux lifestyle does is there a court so what's Is there a correlation between blood sugar than indigestion? I'm really asking these.
• 40:17
  Allie Cass: These are great questions I'm like, okay, just so everyone knows as at the time we're recording this. It's Friday, so my brain was like I I'm not sure I'm trying to think back if I've seen anything. But again, it's not something that I've purposely sought out. But I think I might, that might be a takeaway from it, we should look that up. We should look that up, and then come back for round two.
• 40:38
  Philip Pape: There we go.
• 40:38
  Philip Pape: Awesome. Cool. So all right. So stress, you mentioned stress as the other piece of this, besides besides hormones, stress management. And my question was going to be like your practices for effectively managing stress.
• 40:51
  Philip Pape: And now that we've talked a lot about it, you know, you talked about the different I guess, layers of life stress, there's the really deep stuff that's just sitting with you, for years. Then there's the situational stress, like you have a job, a family, and so on.
• 41:05
  Philip Pape: And I always like to tell people, like, there's certain things you can't control, there are certain things you can, but there's probably things you think you can't, that you can, like, you can change your job, you can move, there are big decisions and big changes. But if something is so chronic, that it's just beating you down, and this is your health, think about it, right? Whatever, what are your thoughts on all these different layers of stress, and then just managing stress in a doable way for people
• 41:30
  Allie Cass: 100% I mean, I think all of the layers of stress are very valid. And again, depending on the person, I think, starting with what might be something that's manageable, manageable for them, right. And I think you know, talking about stress, we can also look at internal stressors as well, things like inflammation and things like having type two diabetes, and having blood sugar that's off the charts like that is a form of stress to the body. So you can manage a lot of stress from an internal perspective with the proper changes to nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, things like that. But for those other things, the the relationships, the jobs, the trauma, and the emotions, potentially, that we're carrying from the past. I think they all play a role. And I think at some point, they all need to be addressed. However, I think, with anything, personally, a plan or whatever route forward has to be feasible in some sense for somebody. So it doesn't matter if it's exercise, nutrition, trust management, if I give you the best plan in the world, but you can't, at least effectively execute some of it, then it doesn't matter how good the plan so I, I really, when I work with people, I really try to take an individualized approach. So I have a client right now who unfortunately, her mother has cancer, and she is a caregiver.
• 42:41
  Allie Cass: And so that's actually something we're actively working on right now is okay, we might not be able to control, you know, what is going on with our mom. And we have to show up at various times to be that support. But what can we control, we can control our self talk, we can control the foods we can consume, we can control our bedtime most of the time, you know, when we have extra time we can control are we doing? are we including movement? What are we doing? So I think stress management looks different for different people at different stages in life. And it just has to be something that's feasible. So for instance, like I mentioned, I love meditating, meditating, I love sitting in stillness, because my days can feel kind of scattered and crazy and a lot of interacting. And sometimes I need that to recharge. So for me, that's a form of stress management, going for a walk, that can be another form of stress management. And so I think for people finding something that feels good to them, and that can look different. And that might look different for you at different stages of life, as well. But I do think, you know, like you mentioned, there are a lot of things that we think are out of our control that they're not, but they're big decisions. And sometimes we don't want to face those things. And when I work with clients, I try again, I see my role a lot of times is just bringing up the self awareness and then helping clients choose which path we're going to take now it's up to them to decide if that's what they want to do. I would never tell somebody, you should quit your job, even though sometimes I want to. But just to bring up the fact that like, wow, like, I never realized that I a lot of my stress actually is stemming from my job, is there something else I can do instead? Let's explore that. And so I think that, again, going back to that self self ownership and taking responsibility for what's going on in our lives gives us a lot more power to change it. But I do think that all of those stressors need to be addressed, but it's like anything, right?
• 44:34
  Allie Cass: Like, if there's 10 stressors once we start peeling it layer by layer, we might find that the other things aren't having as much impact on us when we don't have that that's pile stacking on top of it.
• 44:47
  Philip Pape: Yeah, that's so I'm sure there's like a there's a threshold you know, he does you it's so funny, a client asked the other day, like he's like I have some extra free time. What can I do to just de stress and I'm like, you know Ask yourself a question like, What did I what am I really love to do? That I haven't done in a while, you know, and that you just think back to it just gave you so much joy, maybe forget everything like, it could be simple things.
• 45:10
  Philip Pape: I love doing karaoke with my daughters now at night sometimes before they go to bed. And it's just like, you know, my brain is into the music and dancing with them and just like sharing the microphone and like, not everything goes away. Right?
• 45:23
  Philip Pape: What is that for you? If you're listening, you know, and, and like you said, we have to help you choose what it is, your coach or somebody else is not going to tell you what that is.
• 45:30
  Philip Pape: But the self awareness is where it's at?
• 45:35
  Allie Cass: Absolutely. That's actually a question I asked in my intake form is What is something you used to do either as a child or just in general that you don't do anymore?
• 45:41
  Allie Cass: Because you know, adult responsibilities and like, oftentimes, that's a homework item. It's like, take one hour.
• 45:46
  Allie Cass: And if it's feasible, go do it.
• 45:46
  Allie Cass: Like I started doing adult gymnastics about five months ago, because I love trampolines.
• 45:51
  Allie Cass: And I love doing backflips. And it brings me a ton of joy. Yeah,
• 45:56
  Philip Pape: I need to start playing my saxophone again. I used to play jazz. And for years, that's how I met my wife.
• 46:01
  Philip Pape: Amazing. My kids are now playing instruments, and they don't see me play. And I'm like, that's a missed opportunity for all of us. So there you go. Maybe that's I don't want to commit to now. That's your homework for the week. It's my homework.
• 46:13
  Philip Pape: Cool. All right, I want to touch on you have some time, right little the body positivity.
• 46:15
  Philip Pape: Let's get into that very non controversial topic for a bit.
• 46:20
  Philip Pape: Okay. And we talked about this health centric approach to wellness, and balancing you we talked about acceptance and self love and then striving for more, and even striving for a lot more depends on what that is to you.
• 46:35
  Philip Pape: But it could be in your case, in that period of life where you strove for a physique, a certain physique, right? And it could be somebody trying to be super strong and compete or whatever.
• 46:45
  Philip Pape: Maybe we've already touched this, but how do you? How do you help clients overcome that negative body image? self criticism? You know, did we already I guess we already covered this,
• 46:53
  Allie Cass: we kind of want to talk about it a little more?
• 46:55
  Allie Cass: Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. So again, first, starting with where is this? What is the dialogue? First off? And where is it coming from? Is that genuinely what you believe about yourself? Is that what you were told, growing up, you know, does this stem from, like, I didn't receive enough love as a child.
• 47:10
  Allie Cass: So I feel like I have to look or present a certain way in order to get that. So helping clients kind of dissect where that's coming from, for me helps shift my strategy. I mean, I've had, I've had clients go through exercises where I have them stand in front of a mirror, and they just let whatever thoughts come up naturally about their body. And when if it's like, I hate my midsection, I have them actually spend time focusing and setting an intention to shift the narrative around their midsection. And so you know, it just kind of depends on the person.
• 47:45
  Philip Pape: How do you do that?
• 47:45
  Philip Pape: So if they said I hate my midsection, what what's the Oh,
• 47:49
  Allie Cass: yeah, so this is them actually, in the exercise.
• 47:51
  Allie Cass: So I don't I let them do this on their own. I'm like, you don't have to share unless you feel comfortable. But I actually have them repeat affirmations to themselves of it. It's not I you know, I love my midsection, right? Because if we hate something, and we try to pretend like we love it, like our minds, like Yeah, right, like you lie.
• 48:04
  Allie Cass: But again, just going back to that acceptance, starting to say I accept you as you are, I'm working to change you, but I accept you as you are now. So just focusing on that acceptance. Also helping clients shift the focus to what their body is doing for them and can do for them. So one of the it sounds so silly, but one of the most profound moments for me in my journey of this body positivity or self love, acceptance, whatever you want to call it. So sitting on my couch one day, I think I'd had like a glass or two of wine. I like a nice wine every now and then.
• 48:39
  Philip Pape: Me to
• 48:42
  Allie Cass: wine at a jazz concert. That actually sounds really nice. So yeah. But yeah, I was thinking about just from a cellular perspective, how our body is constantly just trying to keep us in homeostasis. And it was like, it felt so silly.
• 48:57
  Allie Cass: But I had this lightbulb moment of like, wow, every time I do something, whether it's have a glass of wine or eat something that I know is not really health promoting, my body is working 24/7 for the duration of my entire life, to basically take the things that I do, that aren't conducive to my health and bring me back into that homeostasis. So I can be healthy. And I was like, holy cow, like, like, if that is not love. I don't know what is right. Like, how many of us you as a parent, right? You show up for your kids day in and day out because you love them our bodies are doing for this, us doing this for us, our entire lives.
• 49:30
  Allie Cass: No matter how we talk to it, no matter how we look at it, no matter what kind of trash we expose ourselves to. It's constantly showing up for us to make us healthy. And I was like, literally on my couch like, I'm not crying, you're crying like like it was just such a beautiful moment of like, wow, we live in this vessel that is just, it's constantly working for us, even when we have symptoms that don't feel good.
• 49:55
  Allie Cass: And we think like, you know, I hear that narrative all the time. Like my body hates me Are, my body's doing this? It doesn't. And so just shifting the narrative around that and realizing that no matter what you're going through, your body is always trying to work in your favor, we just need to help it along that process.
• 50:12
  Philip Pape: That's so good. I'm imagining like a visual here imagining like a line, a spectrum, right? Where there's the equilibrium in the middle, and your body's already trying to always trying to get you back there. And we, you know, make choices that that push it away and push it away and push it away. And it's trying to get this back. So if we weren't cool with it, we give it a helping hand, right? And if it's if the result is not what you want, and there's something else in our control that we might have to go after, it is a great way to look at it.
• 50:39
  Allie Cass: Yeah. And if you think about it as like a friend or a loved one, like, if your loved one was constantly trying to help you and bring you back, and you were like, Oh, you're ugly, and fat, and I don't like you like, like, when you think about it like that you're like I would never speak to you know, a person I love like that. And so for me, that was just really a really big mindset shift. And so I tried to help clients with that. And then, you know, the last thing that is really I feel like a missing component for clients is helping them focus on performance, right? So all, every single one of my clients right now wants to be able to do pull ups, which I think is amazing, because I do pull up.
• 51:11
  Allie Cass: So when I finally could do pull ups, I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. So focusing on like, yes, we're working on our fat loss goals, right? But let's focus on like feeling badass in our bodies, like, because that's what's really cool. Honestly, at the end of the day, it's
• 51:27
  Philip Pape: huge. You know? So speaking of that, I actually wanted to ask you about a specific scenario. Do you work with teenagers? Teenage girls like 1617?
• 51:34
  Allie Cass: I don't specialize in that I do. I don't have any on my roster right now.
• 51:39
  Philip Pape: Because I'm just curious about your thoughts about that. If you had like, let's say a 16 year old who's who's an average bodyweight, right, lean, whatever you want to call it, and she wants she comes with you wanting to improve our physique. And we don't have any trauma going on, right, or disorders going on?
• 51:52
  Philip Pape: What approach would you take?
• 51:55
  Philip Pape: Would it be a performance based approach a habit based approach, we're not really focused so much on the things that maybe an adult could write, let's say,
• 52:03
  Allie Cass: I mean, I would probably take a mix of those approach, I would probably I would work on habits for sure.
• 52:08
  Allie Cass: Just because I don't think kids or teenagers, unless you have a great parental like, example.
• 52:12
  Allie Cass: They're not taught healthy habits. So I think just from the purpose of carrying them into adulthood, with with good habits, is something instrumental. And I mean, I was not the best, but that's one thing I learned in sports and athletics that I'm just so so grateful for. So I think I would focus on that. But I think I would focus more on performance in the greeting with someone who's 15 1617, right, like, I mean, I could give them a workout plan, let's say that's going to give them a physique that they want. And I could make it about performance, and they're still going to get the physique they want, because their bodies are like so resilient, and so adaptive. But from like, the mental perspective, I wouldn't be focusing on like, Yeah, girl, like, let's get you sexy, and shredded. Like I would never, I mean, I don't really talk like that anyway. But that would never be my verbiage with someone
• 52:59
  Philip Pape: who is like, let's have let's have fun. Instead, here's your
• 53:02
  Allie Cass: right, let's have fun. Let's feel strong. Like, yes, if that was their goal, that would be baked into it. But that wouldn't be the way I presented, if that makes sense.
• 53:10
  Allie Cass: So I would very much be like, like, let's have like, you know, what's something that your friends can't do that you won't be able to do? Right? Like, how can you be like, the one in the group who, you know, you guys go to the club and, like, those guys over there are afraid to come talk to you guys. Because you're like, you look like you've worked on us or something. You know, like, what can we do to make sure like that? So
• 53:30
  Philip Pape: love that. Okay, yeah. And I was just curious. So you do have this mission to help women live fully alive. And again, the image, something that comes to my mind is like the fog being lifted, having this vitality, this energy's mental clarity. What does that concept mean to you? Because we didn't really touch on that phraseology that you use, and how do you measure the impact on someone who isn't fully alive? And you want to get them there?
• 53:55
  Allie Cass: Absolutely. So for me, it's about whatever your ideal life looks like, how can we get you there using the tools of nutrition and fitness lifestyle, and oftentimes, like, I like to connect clients with other resources that they need to get to that point, even if it's another person if it's just helping them with a different life transition. So where that stems from that phrase, when my mom passed, she was super just turned six years old. She had worked her entire life. She was kind of the breadwinner for much of my life from my parents. My dad had some health issues and so he wasn't able to work from the time I was like 10 years old, until he passed in 2020.
• 54:36
  Allie Cass: And so my mom was like the one who kind of took care of everything. She was probably one of the hardest working people I've ever met in my life. But she was so great. She never really asked for help. And she was just such a you know, that kind of image of like a really strong woman now I think it would be a whole nother topic for another podcast could be the detriment of that right of not asking for help. However, she had this vision When she retired when she was only a few years from that her and my dad, they had a cabin in northern Arizona in the mountains, they were living in Phoenix at the time when she was sick. And she had this vision of you know, we're going to retire, we're going to go spend time in the mountains, we're going to travel we're going to spend time with my sister has three boys, and then my oldest sister has a daughter.
• 55:20
  Allie Cass: So we're gonna go travel to Atlanta and spend time with the grandkids and this and that. And she never got to do that, you know, she got started feeling bad one day, went to the hospital, and basically got told you have 18 months max to live.
• 55:34
  Allie Cass: And so I realized from that situation that we can't live life afraid of when we're gonna die. But the reality is, is that we never know when that's going to happen. So I tried to check in with myself and ask myself, if I found out that I was going to die in six months, would I be happy and content with the way that I've been living my life so far? And can I look back and say, wow, like, maybe I didn't get to do every single thing that I wanted to, I have no regrets. And I have been, like, fully present in this life for the time that I've given. And I see so many people, women and men alike who cruise through their day like zombies, because they're unhappy with what they're doing. They feel like crap. They wake up on Monday, and they cannot wait for it to be Friday afternoon. So they can live for those two days that they don't have to go to work.
• 56:26
  Allie Cass: They don't have to do anything.
• 56:26
  Allie Cass: They can sit around, eat, drink, do whatever they want. And I just think it's so sad. Like, I can't imagine living that way.
• 56:33
  Allie Cass: And looking back when I'm 80.
• 56:36
  Allie Cass: And thinking, holy cow, I've been here for eight years. And that's what I've been doing for most of it. So when I am helping women, yes, it's about getting healthier. Yes. It's about you know, conquering their fitness goals, whatever that means to them. But the reality is, is if what we're doing isn't serving to make you better, so you can live this freaking epic life, whatever that means to you. Even if that means like, I just want more time and energy to send my kids with my family. Like, I love the job that I'm at awesome. Like, let's keep doing it. That's my goal, right?
• 57:02
  Allie Cass: Because I want people to look back when they're at and think like, damn, this has been a good ride. Like, I feel good about this. Not wow, I was given this chance. And I didn't make the most of it. I think that's like, the saddest thing ever, like breaks my heart thinking about it.
• 57:20
  Philip Pape: So good ally. So I mean, people who are listening this is this is not about a physical transformation, right?
• 57:25
  Philip Pape: This is not about changing something in the short term.
• 57:28
  Philip Pape: This is like if you're gonna die in less than two years, if you don't what you want to do and then even longer than that, would you like to live? You know, if you're going to live for many years? How do you want to thrive doing that? Yeah, really good. Ally. Okay, so here's the second to last question. I like to ask all guests unless you're prepared for it or not, but
• 57:45
  Allie Cass: I hit me.
• 57:48
  Philip Pape: What one question Did you wish I had asked, and what is your answer?
• 57:52
  Allie Cass: Oh, my gosh, um, it's so funny. I'm, I'm never someone that really I don't really like enter into anything with any kind of expectation. So I did not have any questions that you didn't ask. But you didn't ask me what? Well, I guess I already answered. You didn't ask me what my thing that brings me joy that I used to do that. I don't, it's okay. But I went ahead and answered, I was like, Whatever I'll ask myself and that that was doing adult gymnastics. I also love hiking.
• 58:20
  Allie Cass: I love being in nature. I'm actually I will already have my camper van when this release is I'm sure I'm in the process of getting a camper van right now.
• 58:26
  Allie Cass: So I'm going to do some traveling in that which is very exciting. So yeah, I love exploring. I love seeing new things, trying new things.
• 58:35
  Philip Pape: positive way to end and anyone listening like think about the same thing for you What brings you joy. Okay, Ally.
• 58:41
  Philip Pape: So where can listeners learn more about you and your work?
• 58:44
  Allie Cass: Yes. So I am on Instagram at ally cast health or you can visit my website www dot alleycats health.com You can read more about me my program and if you'd like to connect, I'd love to hear from you.
• 58:55
  Philip Pape: Awesome. So I will include your Instagram and website in the show notes so listeners can find you. And Allie, thank you so much for bringing the fire and the energy today. Absolutely. Thank
• 59:05
  Allie Cass: you so much for having me.
• 59:06
  Philip Pape: It was awesome. If you've been inspired by today's interview, and are ready to take action and build momentum on your health and fitness journey, just schedule a free 30 minute nutrition momentum call with me using the link in my show notes.
• 59:21
  Philip Pape: I promise not to sell or pitch you on anything, but I will help you gain some perspective and guidance so we can get you on the right track toward looking and feeling your best