Latest / Something to Say / Ep 10: "Body Image & Conscious Health" with Dee Gautham

Transcript

Ep 10: "Body Image & Conscious Health" with Dee Gautham · Something to Say

0:25
Hello and welcome to another episode of Something to Say with me, Curry Badshah, AKA Amrutha.
0:31
This episode is yet another topic that I have been wanting to get going for a while, like a good minute now, and the things have finally aligned in the world to make it happen.
0:44
I personally have suffered from body dysmorphia my whole life and struggle to just accept my body as is.
0:52
I have run my body through the gauntlet on various workouts, juice cleanses, fasting, severe calorie counting, and so many other things to lose weight.
1:04
But when I joined BBR Fitness or the Boss Body Revolution, I learned ways to appreciate myself and figure out how healthy lifestyle choices are ones that can be smaller and stack up to make a lasting and better impact on your health itself.
1:25
And when your health itself is good, the body can follow.
1:30
So the founder of BBR, Dee Gautam, and I sat to chat about body image and that mentality around like the health choices that you make, the habits that you form, and we even debunk a few things that I also just learned about.
1:48
We even have an exclusive about some healthier foods that she's putting out or even has put out, and apparently nobody knows about it.
1:59
So listen carefully for that.
2:01
I could also just talk about this topic and so many other branches that come from this topic of body image and health for hours.
2:11
But we both have lives to live, and we all have things to do, so I do hope you enjoy my conversation with Dee around body image and health
2:21
Curry Badshah: Hi, Dee.
2:22
Curry Badshah: How are you?
2:24
Dee Gautham: I'm really good.
2:24
Dee Gautham: How are you?
2:26
Curry Badshah: Good.
2:26
Curry Badshah: Okay, welcome to Something to Say.
2:28
Curry Badshah: Now, we know we have so much to say on today's topic, but before we do all that, I would love to give you a chance to introduce yourself to the people and talk about all the amazing things that you do
2:38
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
2:38
Dee Gautham: Thank you so much for having me, and I'm super excited to be here and talk about all things body image and wellness.
2:45
Dee Gautham: My name is Dee.
2:46
Dee Gautham: I am a trainer and nutrition coach, and I'm the founder and CEO of a coaching company called The Boss Body Revolution.
2:53
Dee Gautham: We help women, primarily South Asian women, achieve their health and fitness goals in a healthy and sustainable way.
2:59
Dee Gautham: Our mission is to help women transform their confidence through fitness and health.
3:02
Dee Gautham: And I started it after going through my journey of disordered eating, years of bad body image, and finally recovering and learning how to approach health and fitness in a healthy way.
3:13
Dee Gautham: So I'm a big proponent of the fact that you can change your body if you want to.
3:17
Dee Gautham: You can definitely work on different aspects of yourself and do that in a healthy way and do it without shame or self-hatred or anything like that.
3:26
Dee Gautham: So that's what our coaching's all about.
3:28
Dee Gautham: Yeah
3:29
Curry Badshah: And that's how you got me.
3:31
Curry Badshah: I was a client, like, I think it's almost three, four years ago now, which feels like also so long ago, but also not that long ago.
3:40
Curry Badshah: So I know I walked away with a lot of things that I learned about myself.
3:44
Curry Badshah: And so having you on the podcast is something that I've been wanting to do for a while.
3:49
Curry Badshah: This is a topic that I've wanted to talk about for so long because it's so, like relevant and directly relevant and important to me.
3:57
Curry Badshah: But, let's start off with what's on the top of your mind around body image and health and fitness?
4:03
Curry Badshah: Like, let's start off hot.
4:04
Curry Badshah: What's the one thing that you wanna definitely shout from the rooftops around body image and health and fitness?
4:11
Dee Gautham: That's a great question.
4:12
Dee Gautham: I would say the biggest thing I would shout from the rooftops is You can't hate yourself to change
4:21
Curry Badshah: Ooh, tea.
4:25
Dee Gautham: Done.
4:25
Dee Gautham: Podcast over.
4:26
Dee Gautham: That's like the mic drop right there.
4:28
Curry Badshah: drop, turn it off.
4:29
Dee Gautham: A lot of us start a fitness journey fueled by hating our bodies, right?
4:33
Dee Gautham: We look at a photo of ourselves, or our jeans don't fit one day, or we just, look in the mirror, don't like what we see, and we're flooded with shame, self-hatred, and like disgust at our bodies.
4:44
Dee Gautham: And we're like,"Oh my God, I have to do something." And then when we get into that place, it turns into panic of"Okay, I gotta cut my calories and over-exercise and be perfect,'cause otherwise I'm a failure." And it just creates this internal atmosphere of like just anxiety and panic and shame.
5:02
Dee Gautham: And we can't...
5:03
Dee Gautham: Shame is not a good motivator.
5:06
Dee Gautham: Think about when you, think about when you feel ashamed or when you're having a bad body image day, you probably don't want to go to the gym and eat healthy.
5:13
Dee Gautham: You probably wanna sit at home in your sweats and eat cookies on the couch, right?
5:18
Dee Gautham: So it's, when we...
5:20
Curry Badshah: me yesterday.
5:20
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
5:21
Dee Gautham: We've all had those days, but, and maybe, maybe that negative feeling can get you in the door, that extrinsic motivation.
5:29
Dee Gautham: But in order to really stay consistent with your goals, m- reach your goals, sustain your goals after you've achieved them, you need to be motivated by something that's not shame and self-hate,'cause that's not gonna last very long.
5:44
Dee Gautham: Shame is like a paralyzing emotion, and, you can't sustain your habits if you're in that mentality
5:50
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
5:51
Curry Badshah: And I think and I don't know if this is, like, relevant in other cultures, but I know in, for South Asians, least I've experienced that sometimes, like, the shame of it is what is intended to motivate you.
6:03
Curry Badshah: Like,"What do Doing this?" Or,"Look at you.
6:05
Curry Badshah: What will people say?" That will people say that you're being like this, or you look like this, or you've dressed like, whatever.
6:09
Curry Badshah: Like, there's so many things.
6:11
Curry Badshah: And so that is intended to be the motivating factor of don't bring shame or don't do- d- don't be this way because people will talk about you and you don't want that.
6:20
Curry Badshah: Such an annoying drive and I hope that, you know, our generation and so on have learned to, that's not helpful, that's not actually the corre- It can be fueling,
6:32
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
6:32
Curry Badshah: correct kind of fuel.
6:34
Dee Gautham: For sure.
6:34
Dee Gautham: I think that's a really good point that South Asian culture is fueled by shame oftentimes, whether it's shame ab- not just shame about"Oh, you're so fat.
6:43
Dee Gautham: You need to lose weight.
6:44
Dee Gautham: What are people gonna say?
6:45
Dee Gautham: No one's gonna marry you," et cetera, et cetera, but also shame about bodies, right?
6:49
Dee Gautham: "Oh,""I can see your shoulders," or,"I Why are you wearing such a short outfit?" There's there's so much of that, too, with women, and it's so rooted in what people think, and I think part of that comes from it just being a collectivist culture.
7:02
Dee Gautham: But I do genuinely hope and feel that our generation and future generations will put an end to that and realize that is doing more harm than good.
7:12
Curry Badshah: Yeah, I obviously I recently got my hair cut and it's very,
7:15
Dee Gautham: It looks so cute
7:17
Curry Badshah: But thank you.
7:17
Curry Badshah: Than what, like, honestly most South Asian women are encouraged to have.
7:23
Curry Badshah: I'm like, I did the many years of the long hair, and it wasn't until I was like older that I started cutting my hair and I started being like,"Actually, short hair feels correct for me." Like, I feel like my best self.
7:33
Curry Badshah: And I remember when I was younger there was a point in time where I had first cut my hair really short and I had lost some weight, and my mom said...
7:41
Curry Badshah: And this is, Ma, if you're listening, this is not, I'm not saying anything negative.
7:44
Curry Badshah: But it's just, she was like it's a good thing you lost weight because your short hair looks really good on you."
7:50
Dee Gautham: What?
7:51
Curry Badshah: I was like,"That's..." And I, and so but like something like that, you carry that with you, like when
7:56
Dee Gautham: Yeah
7:58
Curry Badshah: It's such like a, it's like a backhanded compliment.
8:00
Curry Badshah: Like, it's intended to be a compliment, but then
8:02
Dee Gautham: But why wouldn't it look good
8:03
Curry Badshah: face
8:04
Dee Gautham: a...
8:04
Curry Badshah: round, it
8:05
Dee Gautham: Yeah
8:06
Curry Badshah: w- my short hair wouldn't look good?" And it's such a weird thing to knock out of your brain when you get older that I'm like, then I'm like,"Oh, I should lose some weight before I cut my hair again." And then I have to be like no, or I could just cut my hair and accept, like,
8:20
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
8:20
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
8:21
Dee Gautham: I think your hair looks super cute
8:23
Curry Badshah: Things, like round face or not.
8:25
Curry Badshah: Think it's, for me, it's also been such a great like, experiment, but what's the word that I'm looking for?
8:31
Curry Badshah: It's been such a great reason to accept my face the way it is, whether it's round because I've gained weight or whether it's, you know, skinnier because I've lost weight, like it doesn't matter.
8:41
Curry Badshah: If I like the hair and I like how I look that's what matters at the end of the day.
8:46
Curry Badshah: But it did take a lot of effort for me to also get from a place of like, you know, my body and how it looked and all this other stuff, to really just accepting it Saying"Hey, today this is what it looks like."
8:58
Dee Gautham: Yeah
8:59
Curry Badshah: to change, it's not gonna change just because of today.
9:02
Curry Badshah: Like, today, this is what it looks like, whether it's because I've bloated because I've eaten weird or it's bloated because I worked out a lot or any of these other things.
9:10
Curry Badshah: I'm just like this is what it is today, and if I wanna change it, I have to be okay with a long-term plan."
9:15
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
9:15
Curry Badshah: have to commit to that plan.
9:17
Dee Gautham: For sure.
9:18
Dee Gautham: I think what you're saying is something we talk about a lot in BBR, of this concept of body neutrality, of you don't have to sit there hating your body, right?
9:28
Dee Gautham: But you also don't have to delude yourself into feeling like you love it or love its appearance all the time, which isn't normal.
9:34
Dee Gautham: It's not normal to love everything all, anything all the time, except, maybe your fam- your family or your partner.
9:40
Dee Gautham: But,
9:40
Curry Badshah: let's be real, we don't always love our family all the time also.
9:43
Curry Badshah: Sometimes you're like,
9:44
Dee Gautham: we love our family, but
9:45
Curry Badshah: you love
9:46
Dee Gautham: don't like them maybe all the time.
9:48
Dee Gautham: But think about your hair, right?
9:49
Dee Gautham: Some days you love how your hair looks.
9:51
Dee Gautham: Some days it's like, ooh, I'm having a bad hair day.
9:53
Dee Gautham: But it's not something that you just, it gets you so down all day, versus with our bodies, we're so conditioned to pr- to, especially women, are so conditioned to see that body equals success and self-worth,
10:06
Curry Badshah: worth.
10:07
Dee Gautham: when we're having a bad body image day, it turns into a bad us day, right?
10:11
Dee Gautham: There's no separation between who we are and what we look like, which is what the root of a lot of unhealthy body image.
10:18
Dee Gautham: But yeah, this concept of body neutrality, I teach it in BBR.
10:21
Dee Gautham: It really is this idea of that you can just be neutral about your body.
10:25
Dee Gautham: It can just...
10:26
Dee Gautham: You don't have to say,"I hate my stomach." It can just be,"I have a stomach.
10:30
Dee Gautham: This is what it looks like today.
10:31
Dee Gautham: The end.
10:32
Curry Badshah: Yep.
10:32
Dee Gautham: I'm work- I wanna work on changing it.
10:35
Dee Gautham: This is where we're at right now.
10:37
Dee Gautham: I don't love it, but I also don't need to sit hating it in either."
10:41
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
10:42
Curry Badshah: I have also found that I have days where I actually really love how my belly looks, and I mean, I am by no means, like, washboard abs, skinny, anything.
10:51
Curry Badshah: Like, I'm...
10:51
Curry Badshah: I have rolls, I have fat, I have a belly that jiggles, and I...
10:56
Curry Badshah: There are some days where I look at it and I'm like,"I can see why this is cute.
10:59
Curry Badshah: I'm into it." And
11:00
Dee Gautham: Yeah
11:01
Curry Badshah: "Gross." How d- wait, how do we cover this up?
11:04
Curry Badshah: Or I wish, like, it wasn't so dimply or
11:06
Dee Gautham: ஆ
11:06
Curry Badshah: know, I have my days where I'm like,"Oh, I could see why a guy would be into this," when before I would be so...
11:12
Curry Badshah: Even if I got a compliment from a man, I'd be like, st- stupid."
11:16
Dee Gautham: Yeah
11:17
Curry Badshah: hot?" And he's like,"I like how you look." And I'm
11:20
Dee Gautham: Aww.
11:21
Curry Badshah: And
11:22
Dee Gautham: Yeah
11:22
Curry Badshah: sad.
11:23
Curry Badshah: If I heard a friend say that, I'd be like,"How dare you?
11:26
Curry Badshah: Don't,
11:26
Dee Gautham: one thing that's crazy to me, one thing that's crazy to me is, like, how much of it is societally influenced, right?
11:34
Dee Gautham: You didn't come out of your mother's womb hating your stomach.
11:37
Dee Gautham: You learned that over time.
11:38
Dee Gautham: And if, think about if somebody from the 1800s could time travel and see us today you would be, like, the epitome of beauty because they value...
11:47
Curry Badshah: yeah.
11:48
Dee Gautham: fuller women signified the prosperity, right?
11:52
Dee Gautham: And if you they would...
11:54
Curry Badshah: goddess body.
11:55
Curry Badshah: I saw something,
11:55
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
11:56
Dee Gautham: Yeah
11:57
Curry Badshah: or a candle or something, and it's called a goddess body candle, and it's got some rolls and has a prominent belly to it, and I'm like,"That makes a lot of sense, and I love that."
12:06
Dee Gautham: Yeah, and they would look at the Victoria's Secret supermodels and, d- looking down the runway and be like,"Wow, they look so emaciated," and"They look like the peasants," versus the,
12:15
Curry Badshah: yeah.
12:16
Dee Gautham: class.
12:16
Curry Badshah: eating?
12:17
Dee Gautham: so it's so much of it is just learned, but that also means we can unlearn it, right?
12:21
Dee Gautham: If we're carrying around all this shame about our bodies and this programming there is a that, that was put onto us, and we can remove it, too, slowly
12:31
Curry Badshah: Yeah, absolutely.
12:32
Curry Badshah: And like speaking like Victoria's Secret is like on top of the mind because like in the relevance of this timestamp of like the fashion show just happened,
12:40
Dee Gautham: Yeah
12:41
Curry Badshah: is a, one, was one of the models, and she had just, she g- just gave birth.
12:45
Curry Badshah: Like, I didn't even realize it's only been six weeks since she gave birth everyone
12:50
Dee Gautham: wild
12:51
Curry Badshah: on the internet, and I'm like,"Really?"
12:54
Dee Gautham: ம்ஹும்
12:54
Curry Badshah: I extra scrutinize, I'm like, if you notice, like her like butt and thighs are covered, and technically her abs are also covered, like her stomach is also covered by both outfits.
13:06
Curry Badshah: So I'm like, we don't actually know what it looks like under there.
13:10
Dee Gautham: Yeah
13:10
Curry Badshah: is also insane that she was on the runway so soon after giving birth.
13:16
Curry Badshah: And I loved your post about like you posted your own postpartum body,
13:20
Dee Gautham: ம்ஹூம்
13:21
Curry Badshah: "This was me six weeks later," and"Looking like that is not realistic, so don't
13:26
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
13:26
Dee Gautham: Like all respect to her, right?
13:28
Dee Gautham: This is her job.
13:29
Dee Gautham: This is her decision.
13:30
Dee Gautham: I don't...
13:31
Dee Gautham: it's pretty awesome for her that she was able to do that.
13:34
Dee Gautham: And at the same time, it shouldn't be the standard for all women, right?
13:37
Dee Gautham: Even my body I shared my postpartum six weeks.
13:40
Dee Gautham: That's leaner than a lot of people postpartum because I am literally a fitness professional, right?
13:45
Dee Gautham: So I always hesitate sharing stuff like that because I don't want people to compare to me either.
13:51
Dee Gautham: But it, the goal was just to show the range of different postpartum bodies
13:55
Curry Badshah: It is, yeah.
13:56
Curry Badshah: I mean, I, as default factory setting myself right now, I'm like, I have had to deal with my own body dysmorphia, and I've dealt with this whole, like, hating myself and then figuring out neutrality and then, like, again, having those days that I love myself and then those days that I don't.
14:12
Curry Badshah: And it does get me to a place sometimes thinking of"Oh, wow, when I do have kids, I wonder what will happen to my brain afterwards," if I will be able to kinda continue to wrap my brain around the fact that"Hey, it's okay.
14:23
Curry Badshah: This is temporary.
14:25
Curry Badshah: Don't start jumping to conclusions yet.
14:28
Curry Badshah: Don't start doing something.
14:29
Curry Badshah: Don't start crash dieting or do- doing anything like that to hurt yourself,'cause you don't need to." But I love that you do talk about your own, I guess, like, moments of dysmorphia.
14:41
Curry Badshah: Like, you've talked even before you had your baby that you were like, my boobs are just not sitting right in my sports bra, and it really annoyed me, and I'm at the gym, and I'm just, like, fidgeting all, like...
14:51
Curry Badshah: And keep checking to see if I'm okay, and I'm fine, but I'm not," and talking about those things.
14:56
Curry Badshah: Like, Deal with that?
14:57
Curry Badshah: Do you just also have that internal monolo- monologue of just"Okay, fine.
15:00
Curry Badshah: It's weird today, whatever"?
15:02
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
15:03
Dee Gautham: Yeah, for sure.
15:03
Dee Gautham: I think that's funny that you remember about the boobs and the sports bra,'cause I don't even remember that
15:08
Curry Badshah: You probably don't, but like I think a lot of things that when we put it on the internet or when we put it like in these podcasts and what I do as well, like sometimes I don't think about these things But then someone else is like,"I thank you for s- mentioning that because it, resonated with me, it stuck with me, and I needed to hear someone else say it." So I know for me, who was already like following you, did the program and like it's been years later, to continue to see like you also talk about, you know, I specifically remembering you talking about it before you had a
15:37
Dee Gautham: Yeah
15:38
Curry Badshah: to get in the best shape of your life before having children, and then now afterwards as well.
15:42
Curry Badshah: I'm just like, so this is a consistent thought process of like there are just some days where like it, this
15:48
Dee Gautham: yeah.
15:48
Dee Gautham: I think people have this delusion that once they lose weight, they're gonna feel good in their body all the time.
15:54
Dee Gautham: And maybe you'll feel good in your body more of the time, but it's still never really gonna be 100%, because that's just not how life works.
16:03
Dee Gautham: Some days you just have weird body image days.
16:06
Dee Gautham: Especially as a woman, if you have a menstrual cycle and, when you go through your luteal phase, that's actually correlated with worse body image.
16:14
Dee Gautham: And, bodies fluctuate.
16:16
Dee Gautham: We're not robots who eat the exact same thing every day, who do the exact same amount of activity every day.
16:22
Dee Gautham: We're people, and just like our intake, our life, and everything is a little bit different every day, our bodies will be, too.
16:29
Dee Gautham: And some days you're bloated.
16:30
Dee Gautham: Some days your boobs are just boobin' and not fitting the outfit.
16:35
Dee Gautham: And other days for me right now, my postpartum, my hips are just hippin'.
16:41
Dee Gautham: I look in the mirror and I feel good and I like the way I look, but then when I try on clothes none of my jeans or old skirts or shorts fit, right?
16:49
Dee Gautham: And I'm just like, what is going on?" And then that makes me have negative body image.
16:53
Dee Gautham: But yeah, I would say I have a bad body image day maybe once every couple weeks, and less now because I'm on birth control and I don't have a luteal phase because endometriosis.
17:01
Dee Gautham: Whole, whole other podcast topic.
17:03
Dee Gautham: But, especially when I wasn't and I had hormonal fluctuations every month, I definitely would have really bad body image before my period.
17:11
Dee Gautham: But what really helped me was that concept of body neutrality.
17:15
Dee Gautham: Instead of sitting there letting it just bring me down all day, I would try to just separate it and just be like,"Okay.
17:22
Dee Gautham: I feel this way about my body, but that's, that's just one part of who I am, and I can still go and do the things that I'm supposed to do today," right?
17:29
Dee Gautham: I can still go to the gym.
17:30
Dee Gautham: I can still eat healthy.
17:31
Dee Gautham: I can still do my work.
17:33
Dee Gautham: It doesn't have to be paralyzing.
17:36
Curry Badshah: Yeah, it really doesn't.
17:38
Curry Badshah: And I think maybe it's just as women from this perspective that, like, a lot of us have a tendency to out the things that we just, like, really don't like about ourselves and then be like,"Oh, I wish I had your confidence your blah, blah, blah." And more specifically when I think about a scenario like that given my, the Carrie Bradshaw moniker and everything, like Sex and the City, there was, there's one distinct moment early on in the series where, like, the four women are just sitting and chatting over, like, wine and whatnot, and one's like,"I hate my ears.
18:09
Curry Badshah: I hate my nose.
18:10
Curry Badshah: I hate my thighs." And then Samantha is just like,"What?" And everyone's, like, looking at her and she's like,"There's nothing that I hate.
18:16
Curry Badshah: I like my body the way that it is." And it's and they're all looking at her like that's, like, a foreign concept Like, okay that's just Samantha.
18:25
Curry Badshah: She is, like, really into herself and it's also, like, that's not a bad thing either if you do really love your body.
18:33
Curry Badshah: I know
18:33
Dee Gautham: Yeah
18:34
Curry Badshah: who are plus size and they're like,"I like how I look.
18:37
Curry Badshah: offends you if that's what it...
18:39
Curry Badshah: If that's the situation." Like, you don't have to look at it.
18:42
Curry Badshah: You can, The show Four More Shots Please!, which is supposed to be like desi version of Sex and the City, there's that character Siddhi, who is the heavy one of the friend group.
18:52
Curry Badshah: And I think in the ear- in the initial s- few seasons she's always, like, on some diet, or her mom is trying to get her to do whatever.
18:59
Curry Badshah: And then one day she has a, she has an accidental cam moment where, like, her camera's on and she ends up on some site and so, like, people are like,"Wow, you look hot," and do this and that.
19:11
Curry Badshah: And I and the validation that she gets from that of like, there are people that really do appreciate your body the way that it is I know for me really resonated, talking back again to body image and having my days where I'm like I understand.
19:30
Curry Badshah: I think I look good, and I understand how this can be attractive to someone, and I like it," versus those days where I'm like,"Yeah, the body is not bodying the way that I want the body to body."'Cause it could be anything, right?
19:41
Curry Badshah: But I just had a thought of'cause we had talked about the show briefly, and thinking about that particular character, and I know I often felt like the, quote,"fat one" in some groups of friends, where I'm like, everyone got a size small and I had to get a medium or a large.
19:58
Curry Badshah: And just something like sizing itself being so crazy.
20:03
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
20:03
Dee Gautham: Yeah I think it's like it's a good thing to like how you look most of the time, but even if you do, like even those women who like how they look, like I like how I look.
20:13
Dee Gautham: It, I do think it's also normal and I guess arguably healthy to have a day here and there where you're just like a little blah,
20:21
Curry Badshah: yeah.
20:22
Curry Badshah: I think it's just, like, it is normal to just be like,
20:25
Dee Gautham: Yeah
20:25
Curry Badshah: that it means that you're I don't know, like aware enough of"Oh, okay."'Cause I'm also thinking of if there's like a health emergency, and if you're like,"Oh, that's weird, like, I've been bloated for like a long period of To like,"I'm bloated for a day or two, and then it's gone." So I think there is like a good healthy like situation of like being,"I like how I look, and I know I have these moments where,
20:49
Dee Gautham: Yeah
20:50
Curry Badshah: how I look most of the time." And then it can also inform if something is actually wrong where you're like that's weird."
20:56
Dee Gautham: Then that's where the dysmorphia comes in, right?
20:59
Dee Gautham: 'Cause when you have body dysmorphia, you don't have an accurate perspective of what Like, and you're not able to think that logically and rationally about it, right?
21:09
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
21:10
Curry Badshah: I know I definitely had worse body dysmorphia before.
21:15
Curry Badshah: I mean, I still, I guess I still have my days, but it was definitely like all the time I was like,"I hate this, and this is wrong, and that is wrong." I definitely maintain the fact that, like, I do love being strong, but also there's like a there's some sort of a balance to strike.
21:29
Curry Badshah: What do you have to say to, like, the women who are, scared of becoming, like, super jacked when you're like,"Hey, you should be doing more strength workouts," and they're like I don't wanna be so big and muscly."
21:41
Dee Gautham: What I wanted to say about the bad body image days back then that I didn't get a chance to was one thing I've noticed anecdotally with myself and with other people, too, is that oftentimes bad body image days correlate with other things going on in your life.
21:57
Dee Gautham: I remember, for example, when I was working in the tech industry, and if I had a big presentation or a deadline or some other situation where I was being scrutinized, my body image issues would go through the roof that day.
22:12
Dee Gautham: I would stress out about what I looked like, what I was gonna wear.
22:16
Dee Gautham: And I think it was because so much of my self-worth was tied to my body that I, it just felt so tethered.
22:25
Dee Gautham: No matter how good I perform at work, it's, my body image is like it's related somehow.
22:30
Dee Gautham: I don't, I...
22:31
Dee Gautham: It's hard to verbalize.
22:32
Dee Gautham: But I have noticed, and I, subsequently noticed as well in other situations that my body image issues would flare up a lot right before something high anxiety.
22:44
Dee Gautham: I think for me it was a way to take out that anxiety into something I felt like I could control.
22:49
Dee Gautham: And I think it's often related.
22:50
Dee Gautham: So if you're having a bad body image day, ask yourself, like, A, where are you at in your period cycle?
22:55
Dee Gautham: If you're luteal, that can explain some of it.
22:58
Dee Gautham: But B, what else in life is happening that could be bothering you right now?
23:02
Dee Gautham: Is it is there something happening at work, with your relationship that you're maybe taking out on your body when it's not really about your body at all?
23:11
Dee Gautham: So you had asked about women strength training, like being afraid, people being afraid to get bulky basically, right?
23:17
Curry Badshah: yeah, getting afraid to be too big if they do a strength workout
23:22
Dee Gautham: I think first off, it's like really hard to accidentally get jacked.
23:28
Dee Gautham: I'm sure when you were doing CrossFit, you were like consistent, you were lifting heavy.
23:32
Dee Gautham: It didn't happen by accident,
23:33
Curry Badshah: heavy.
23:34
Dee Gautham: Doing like weights three times a week is not gonna accidentally make you jacked.
23:39
Dee Gautham: The other thing is that nutrition plays a big role in how we look, arguably a bigger role in how we look than fitness does.
23:46
Dee Gautham: Workouts and such can help you build muscle, but nutrition helps with actual like body composition and like fat loss changes.
23:54
Dee Gautham: So I think there's kind of two ways to think about exercise, and you can think about them the same way or like combined too.
24:02
Dee Gautham: But like some women just work out, some people just work out because they love the workout and their body shape just is what it is.
24:10
Dee Gautham: Think about people who love marathon running.
24:13
Dee Gautham: They might not be thinking about like their shape and how they look.
24:16
Dee Gautham: Like they just love running.
24:17
Dee Gautham: They wanna run.
24:18
Dee Gautham: Their body will mold into whatever it molds to in order to run and perform.
24:23
Dee Gautham: Those people probably have really healthy body image'cause they're really focused on what their body can do.
24:28
Dee Gautham: On the other hand, you have people who exercise and eat to shape their body into how it looks, right?
24:35
Dee Gautham: So it's like bodybuilding, for example is all about like shaping your body and how it looks and like exercising certain muscle groups to achieve like an hourglass figure and be super aesthetic and they eat and train very intentionally for that purpose.
24:48
Dee Gautham: H- as somebody who did it in the past, what, about eight years ago at this point.
24:53
Dee Gautham: There's two ends of the spectrum, like people who train and eat for performance, and then people who train and eat for aesthetics.
24:59
Dee Gautham: And it sounds like when you were doing CrossFit, you were maybe on the, the first side of the house, right?
25:04
Dee Gautham: You were really focused on performance in CrossFit And maybe you weren't like, I don't know if you were tracking your macros or like trying to achieve aesthetic goals.
25:12
Dee Gautham: It sounds like you were hoping that it would happen, but
25:16
Curry Badshah: Yeah, I was just like, here's a new workout to do, and, you know, go to work, come back, go to a workout, you know, a session and go and do the WOD.
25:27
Curry Badshah: And then just, like, you just do the workout, and you've done the workout.
25:31
Curry Badshah: And I know I was definitely eating more because, like, Your bur- your body's...
25:35
Curry Badshah: When you have that much muscle, you're burning a lot of ener- like, you know, your
25:39
Dee Gautham: yeah
25:40
Curry Badshah: a lot of calories.
25:41
Curry Badshah: So I would get hungry all the time.
25:43
Curry Badshah: And so I was definitely eating more, but I couldn't tell you what I was eating or whether I was
25:48
Dee Gautham: Okay, got it
25:49
Curry Badshah: healthy or not, or just being like,"Oh, whatever, I work out.
25:52
Curry Badshah: So if I'm hungry
25:53
Dee Gautham: yeah.
25:54
Dee Gautham: So you're eating and training for performance rather than like just for aesthetics intentionally, right?
26:00
Dee Gautham: And so I think most people probably wanna be somewhere in the middle where their body can function and perform well, and they like how it looks and like it's aesthetic.
26:09
Dee Gautham: And to do that, we need a combination of strength training and nutrition, right?
26:14
Dee Gautham: If we just have one, then, if you just strength train and lift without really paying attention to nutrition, you may end up in a situation where you like gain muscle but don't lose body fat and then don't love the way that feels.
26:27
Dee Gautham: Or you might lose body fat.
26:28
Dee Gautham: It's just like it, you, who knows what could happen if you're not intentional about it, right?
26:34
Curry Badshah: yeah, that also goes to show that, when I say bodybuilding, I guess the kind of body that you want to achieve and the Build is definitely very different for everyone.
26:43
Curry Badshah: It's Your genetics, and your whatever you're made up of, it's just going to be different and work differently from somebody else's,
26:51
Dee Gautham: Yeah
26:53
Curry Badshah: plan and regimen.
26:54
Curry Badshah: It's n- there's no one-size-fits-all, I guess,
26:57
Dee Gautham: For sure.
26:57
Dee Gautham: Yeah
26:58
Curry Badshah: whether it's weight loss, muscle build body
27:01
Dee Gautham: Some women want to look jacked, right?
27:03
Dee Gautham: That's not necessarily a bad thing for them.
27:06
Dee Gautham: Other people don't.
27:07
Curry Badshah: Maher and how jacked she is, and she's"Dude, my body is awesome, and I can do Tackle people." And I'm like, And I'm sure
27:16
Dee Gautham: Yeah
27:17
Curry Badshah: body image days, too.
27:17
Curry Badshah: She's posted definitely being like,"It's weird, but, like, just today, right?
27:22
Curry Badshah: And tomorrow maybe I'll feel better." But I'm like, that level of confidence is, like, so inspiring to just be like she's super jacked and super strong hot, and if you don't like, it's your loss."
27:33
Dee Gautham: Yeah, exactly, right?
27:34
Dee Gautham: Everyone's ideal body and the path to get there is really different from person to person.
27:38
Dee Gautham: But don't shy away from strength training'cause you're worried about being bulky.
27:42
Dee Gautham: That's like saying,"I don't wanna, I don't wanna go jogging because I'm afraid I'll turn into," what's that guy's name, the fastest guy on Earth?
27:51
Dee Gautham: Usain Bolt.
27:52
Curry Badshah: can pull
27:52
Dee Gautham: Yeah, right?
27:53
Dee Gautham: It doesn't, it's not something that typically will happen by accident.
27:57
Curry Badshah: Yeah,
27:57
Dee Gautham: And we can if you are intentional about your nutrition, you can strength train and lose body fat or achieve, A lot of women wanna get toned.
28:06
Dee Gautham: This is my soapbox that I'll die on.
28:08
Dee Gautham: You can't tone a muscle.
28:09
Dee Gautham: Muscles either grow or they shrink.
28:12
Dee Gautham: They don't tone.
28:13
Dee Gautham: But you toned is an adjective that means you can kinda see the muscle.
28:17
Dee Gautham: So you can get a toned appearance by building muscle and losing body fat simultaneously so that muscle shows.
28:24
Dee Gautham: There's no workouts that will tone a muscle.
28:26
Dee Gautham: It's really you gotta push yourself and build muscle
28:29
Curry Badshah: Yeah, you have to build the muscle and then you have to be willing to lose the fat.
28:32
Curry Badshah: And you can't target body fat loss either, which is something that I know Talked about.
28:37
Curry Badshah: You can't just target, like, losing fat around your belly, like,
28:39
Dee Gautham: Yeah, you can.
28:40
Curry Badshah: just not how it works.
28:41
Dee Gautham: Yeah
28:42
Curry Badshah: you will lose weight and it will, your, whatever your genetics are, again, whatever
28:47
Dee Gautham: I think the, and I think the fitness industry can be so predatory sometimes with these toning workouts or belly fat burning workouts, which it's not a thing, and every fitness professional knows this, but they'll still say it on their social media.
28:59
Dee Gautham: "Do this belly fat burning exercise."
29:03
Curry Badshah: Yeah I definitely, the more that I, like, followed along with you and BBR I was like, now anytime I do see something like that gets targeted in my direction, I just immediately scroll away'cause I'm If it's like a workout that I'm like,"Let's see what it is," I'll be like, do I feel like- I wanna do that workout or that particular exercise?
29:21
Curry Badshah: Like, cool, but I know it's not gonna specifically, like, doing 50 crunches is not going to, or whatever variation of crunch to actually give me abs.
29:31
Curry Badshah: Me not eating a third slice of cake, is gonna be more likely to give me abs than me just simply doing 50 crunches every
29:40
Dee Gautham: Yeah
29:40
Curry Badshah: would have to change my diet.
29:42
Curry Badshah: And I've also come to the acceptance level of like, I like to have my treats, and you've always spoken of like, there's a there's space for everything as long as you count correctly, and if you really want to lose weight, you have to make your sacrifices.
29:58
Curry Badshah: That's just how that goes.
30:00
Dee Gautham: Trade-offs.
30:01
Dee Gautham: I like to say trade-offs, not sacrifice.
30:03
Dee Gautham: I just- Yeah.
30:03
Curry Badshah: trade-off.
30:04
Curry Badshah: Excuse me, not sacrifices.
30:06
Dee Gautham: I don't know.
30:06
Dee Gautham: Sacrifice just seems like sacrifice is s- I feel like it has such a negative connotation to it, right?
30:12
Dee Gautham: But trade-offs is trade-offs is like you're getting something in return, right?
30:18
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
30:19
Curry Badshah: And yeah that makes a lot of sense actually, just like trading off okay, if you want another piece of cake, like that means that maybe you're not going to have something else tomorrow or the, and also the wagon system of like, you know, there's no such thing as like off the wagon, I've fallen off the wagon, and like you can get back on.
30:39
Dee Gautham: Yeah
30:40
Curry Badshah: even if, you know, the- there's no falling off and then being like,"Let me start next week."
30:44
Dee Gautham: It's a dial, remember?
30:46
Dee Gautham: It's like you can turn the dial up, you can turn the dial down, but it doesn't ever have to be fully off or fully on
30:53
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
30:53
Curry Badshah: What do you have to...
30:54
Curry Badshah: What's your, I guess, like, what's another soapbox
30:58
Dee Gautham: ம்ஹூம்
30:59
Curry Badshah: of that dial method where, you know, showing up at 3:00 is better than just sitting on the couch and eating is
31:06
Dee Gautham: It doesn't have to be like...
31:08
Dee Gautham: I think especially South Asians especially high achievers, we have this all or nothing mindset where it's either okay, I'm on my fitness journey, or we're completely off and doing nothing, and that just doesn't last.
31:20
Dee Gautham: Maybe that's how we achieved goals in other areas, like with career or like schooling, like we just hustled, and then turned off once we like achieved the goal.
31:30
Dee Gautham: But that's not really how a sustainable fitness lifestyle is gonna last or work, right?
31:35
Dee Gautham: You need to learn how to make it work in real life.
31:38
Dee Gautham: You can't just stop doing things for your health when life is busy because,
31:43
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
31:44
Dee Gautham: Then...
31:45
Curry Badshah: when you, even when you achieve the goal, like,"Oh, I
31:47
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
31:48
Dee Gautham: Oh, I lost...
31:48
Dee Gautham: Yeah, now I can eat cake, and then that's how you regain it back.
31:51
Dee Gautham: Typically, the way you, the method you use to lose the weight is gonna need to be the same way you, is gonna be the same thing you use to keep it off, just maybe to a different degree.
32:02
Dee Gautham: So if you focus on like healthy lifestyle habits to lose the weight, if you continue a lot of those healthy lifestyle habits, you will keep the weight off.
32:09
Dee Gautham: Again, maybe to a slightly different degree.
32:11
Dee Gautham: Maybe you're not tracking calories, but maybe you're just eating more intuitively, or maybe you're tracking like half, like here and there just to spot check instead of all the time when you're in it, when you're trying to lose weight.
32:22
Dee Gautham: So yeah.
32:22
Dee Gautham: I think so many of us get trapped in that all or nothing mindset, and we just have to take it...
32:27
Dee Gautham: We have to catch ourselves when we're in that and just be like, you know what?
32:31
Dee Gautham: Like something over nothing, right?
32:33
Dee Gautham: Maybe you're traveling, you're still gonna eat anyway, right?
32:36
Dee Gautham: Why do we have to say the whole weekend is ruined when it could just be like one fun meal and the rest of the meals could be protein and fiber focused?
32:44
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
32:45
Curry Badshah: What is something that is so underrated on a health and fitness journey that anybody could do even with the smallest amount of determination?
32:56
Curry Badshah: Like, what...
32:56
Curry Badshah: Is it, like, a 30-minute walk?
32:59
Curry Badshah: Is it, like, three liters of water?
33:02
Curry Badshah: Like, what's something
33:03
Dee Gautham: I would say protein at every meal.
33:06
Dee Gautham: I know protein is having a moment right now, and so
33:08
Curry Badshah: perfect
33:09
Dee Gautham: that makes it really easy, for us to hit protein.
33:11
Dee Gautham: But especially for vegetarians when there sometimes isn't protein available at restaurants and things, like pre-game with a protein shake.
33:20
Dee Gautham: Maybe bring a, have a protein bar as a snack earlier.
33:22
Dee Gautham: I think having a serving, and a serving around 20 grams per meal, and ideally per snack, is going to make you feel so much better.
33:32
Dee Gautham: You're gonna be fuller, you're gonna have less, fewer cravings, you're gonna have more energy.
33:37
Dee Gautham: And then that's gonna snowball into other things, right?
33:39
Dee Gautham: You're gonna eat better'cause you, if you have less cravings, you're gonna make healthier choices overall.
33:43
Dee Gautham: And when you eat better, you're gonna wanna move your body and exercise, and then it creates a positive cycle.
33:48
Dee Gautham: So I think protein is having a moment, but it's a justified moment because it is good for you and it does help you feel good, and it's probably what I would say is the smallest thing you could do.
33:58
Dee Gautham: What I tell people all the time is you're eating anyway, you might as well make a healthy choice.
34:03
Dee Gautham: Versus exercise, it's like you may have to go out of your way to do it.
34:06
Dee Gautham: It's a bigger habit to incorporate.
34:09
Dee Gautham: But food is a easier habit to do'cause you already do it, right?
34:13
Dee Gautham: You already eat
34:14
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
34:15
Curry Badshah: What's your favorite protein, like way to get protein before you go for an event or You're not, y- or you don't know what kind of meals you're gonna get there?
34:23
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
34:24
Dee Gautham: I loved it.
34:25
Dee Gautham: Like before, especially like an Indian event, like we went to just like some Diwali event the other day, and usually Indian events aren't gonna have a lot of protein.
34:33
Dee Gautham: Even if they're non-veg and there's like chicken or something, it's, it still is gonna be like kinda heavy and oily.
34:40
Dee Gautham: So I like to just have a protein shake before I go.
34:43
Dee Gautham: I get the NURI ones from Costco in the steel cans.
34:46
Dee Gautham: And I just chug one of those in the, usually in the car on the way there, and it just helps me take the edge off and not show up to the event starving and, like likely to overeat on things there
34:57
Curry Badshah: That's a good call, especially the overeating part.
34:59
Curry Badshah: Or sometimes I'm just like...
35:01
Curry Badshah: I mean, I've been to an event I think a couple months ago I went to one, and I was like, should have, hacked it before and
35:08
Dee Gautham: Yeah
35:09
Curry Badshah: done a protein shake because I actually didn't end up liking any of the food.
35:12
Curry Badshah: Like, even just looking at
35:13
Dee Gautham: Oh, dang.
35:13
Dee Gautham: Yeah
35:14
Curry Badshah: what kind of food it was, I was like,"This is not gonna be good." So I definitely was picking and choosing and just being like let me just try to have this'cause it feels like it might be the healthiest
35:25
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
35:26
Curry Badshah: them."
35:26
Dee Gautham: Is like when it's just hors d'oeuvres or like just apps and I didn't, if I like didn't have a protein shake beforehand and I get there and it's like just apps, I'm like,"Oh no." Like I, I'm like a meal kinda girl.
35:37
Dee Gautham: Like I need a meal.
35:38
Dee Gautham: I don't like doing like apps for dinner or girl dinner is not,
35:42
Curry Badshah: that I
35:42
Dee Gautham: I do not girl dinner.
35:44
Dee Gautham: Like my girl dinner is like a boy dinner I guess.
35:46
Dee Gautham: It's like a protein and a carb and vegetables and I don't know.
35:50
Dee Gautham: I don't know if it's a psychological thing or physical
35:52
Curry Badshah: you figured that out for yourself though, like, I assume that you did,'cause that's not something that you just, like, simply just do.
36:00
Curry Badshah: I'm sure that was something that you were like,"Oh, I realize that my body needs
36:03
Dee Gautham: Yeah, yeah.
36:04
Dee Gautham: Every time we would...
36:05
Curry Badshah: fuel."
36:06
Dee Gautham: Every time I go out with friends and they just wanna do think about when you go to a Mediterranean restaurant, you can get like a bunch of dips and stuff like that.
36:12
Curry Badshah: yeah
36:12
Dee Gautham: Yeah, the mezze.
36:13
Dee Gautham: I'm a mezze, but then I need a meal still after the mezze, the mezze is not the meal.
36:19
Dee Gautham: The mezze is like the pre-meal for me.
36:21
Curry Badshah: The pre-meal, yeah.
36:23
Curry Badshah: Like, there are some people out there who are like,"Yeah, I actually love a bunch of little nibbles of this, that, and the other thing, and That'll fill me up and I'll be satisfied." Like, the, a whole message to one size does not fit all in terms What works for you.
36:38
Curry Badshah: I know people have asked you on, like your Ask Me Anythings like, what about fasting or, intermittent fasting?
36:46
Curry Badshah: And you're like,"If that's what feels good for you, do it." Do I recommend it?
36:49
Curry Badshah: Not particularly.
36:50
Curry Badshah: But if you fast don't overeat later because you're starving.
36:53
Curry Badshah: And when you do eat, like you said, you're gonna eat anyway, you might as well eat healthy In a way that fuels your body and not just, like, whatever's lying around.
37:01
Dee Gautham: Yeah
37:02
Curry Badshah: different things work for different people, and there are some people who do want to lose the weight to be aesthetically skinny, and I hope for those people it doesn't come from a place of, like, pressure, hatred, or anything like that but rather for, like, what works for them and themselves.
37:20
Dee Gautham: Yeah, different strokes for different folks
37:22
Curry Badshah: There is no one size fits all.
37:24
Curry Badshah: Multiple types of bodies can be attractive.
37:27
Curry Badshah: Healthy is where...
37:29
Curry Badshah: Like, healthy and those healthy choices are where it does ultimately matter and what works for you, what makes you feel good, what gives you the right amount of energy, and all this other stuff all various things that I have...
37:41
Curry Badshah: I still give BBR all the credit that, like, I picked up these things from there.
37:46
Dee Gautham: So glad
37:47
Curry Badshah: yeah, like, this whole weekend I was at an event.
37:50
Curry Badshah: I was on my feet a lot.
37:51
Curry Badshah: Like, to get in, you know, just fiber actually in those days.
37:56
Curry Badshah: Like, what, like, you know, for these days of how much you can get and how much water can I get in because I know the eating is gonna be really, like, chaotic, and you've a 30-minute window to scarf down a sandwich.
38:06
Curry Badshah: And then so on Monday I was so physically tired and I did spend time on the couch.
38:10
Curry Badshah: I did actually, despite trying to eat really healthy and have a healthy, like, salmon and rice bowl, ended up also having a sleeve of cookies.
38:19
Curry Badshah: And then when I had to go to the doctor's office, stepped on the scale, and I was like,"I'm not gonna like this number.
38:23
Curry Badshah: I already know because I have not had enough water.
38:26
Curry Badshah: I am exhausted and didn't sleep
38:28
Dee Gautham: yeah
38:29
Curry Badshah: just insert all factors here, and so of course when I stepped on the scale, I was like,
38:35
Dee Gautham: Nope.
38:36
Curry Badshah: "Okay." That's un- it's unfortunate that today I had a doctor's appointment and I was not feeling my best, and that's what the number is gonna be.
38:44
Curry Badshah: But I'm also like, I know that's not what the number is all the time.
38:47
Curry Badshah: And having moments like that, I guess this is just my way of sharing that story, not just with you, but to other people as well.
38:53
Curry Badshah: Like, All normal things, and again, it's the learnings that I got from BBR of okay, just because it's that number today, you know it wasn't that number three days ago before the, all the chaos.
39:04
Curry Badshah: That number last month.
39:06
Curry Badshah: But you know it's been that number before, so, like, it's not that crazy.
39:10
Curry Badshah: and also, like, one weekend of, being thrown for a l- my usual loop of daily regiment of whatever does not make or break anything, I can just get back to, like, drinking more water and make, taking the steps and all the little habits that will just help
39:30
Dee Gautham: Yeah
39:31
Curry Badshah: talk about food.
39:33
Curry Badshah: holiday season is upon us.
39:34
Curry Badshah: It's Navratri, Diwali is coming up, all the Diwali parties that you're going to.
39:38
Curry Badshah: And of course, there's Thanksgiving, a big eating holiday.
39:42
Curry Badshah: There's Halloween, lots of candy, people with kids and, like, candy coming.
39:46
Curry Badshah: I know I used to have set candies I would get from...
39:49
Curry Badshah: For Halloween, I would just give it to my mom and be like,"I'm not gonna eat these, so you can eat them." What is some...
39:56
Curry Badshah: What are some...
39:57
Curry Badshah: What's some things that we can talk about for the people in terms of, like, around holidays?
40:01
Curry Badshah: We've talked...
40:02
Curry Badshah: I know you've got a lot of content around, like, politely declining food, especially from the
40:07
Dee Gautham: ம்ஹும்
40:07
Curry Badshah: We talked about having the protein beforehand getting those, that nutrition in that you need, that you know your body does need, and that we said if there was the one thing, get that protein in beforehand.
40:18
Curry Badshah: What are some other things that we can talk about around just
40:22
Dee Gautham: I'd say, yeah, in terms of healthy habits yeah, pre-game with protein.
40:27
Dee Gautham: Remember it's okay to say no to people if they're pushing.
40:30
Dee Gautham: I like to delay, don't deny.
40:32
Dee Gautham: So instead of if somebody's like,"Have another serving.
40:34
Dee Gautham: Have another serving," just be like,"Hey, ooh, I'm so full.
40:37
Dee Gautham: Give me like 30 minutes to digest and then I'll see." So that way you're not saying no, it's like a softer, let's just redirect this to later.
40:45
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
40:46
Dee Gautham: And you can also redirect their energy of"Oh my God, how did you make this?
40:49
Dee Gautham: This was so good.
40:50
Dee Gautham: I need the recipe," right?
40:52
Dee Gautham: Another thing that often comes up this time of year is there's just a lot of indulgent opportunities.
40:58
Dee Gautham: And with holiday parties you might have one Friday, Saturday, maybe Thursday, too.
41:03
Dee Gautham: Friends might wanna go to happy hour on Tuesday.
41:05
Dee Gautham: It becomes like a lot of frequency of events.
41:09
Dee Gautham: And so this is when that concept of trade-offs I think is relevant.
41:14
Dee Gautham: I think it's important to be selective and choose what is gonna be most worth it to you.
41:20
Dee Gautham: Maybe some cocktails at like the work holiday party is more worth it to you than a random happy hour on Monday, right?
41:30
Dee Gautham: Maybe at that happy hour you do a Diet Coke or something because you're, you know you're gonna be more indulgent later in the week.
41:36
Dee Gautham: And I think where people get into, trouble or where they get to a place where they just don't feel that good is when it's repeated over and over again for the whole season, right?
41:46
Dee Gautham: I guess what I mean is they repeat episodes of overeating, overdrinking, like multiple times throughout several weeks.
41:53
Dee Gautham: If it's just once here and there, then that's a different story.
41:56
Dee Gautham: So yeah, I would say it's like really helpful to give yourself a bird's-eye view of like your week, what's going on, and decide where are you gonna splurge and where are you maybe gonna pull back.
42:08
Dee Gautham: What are your goals this season?
42:10
Dee Gautham: Are, is your goal to maintain things, or are you trying to move things forward, right?
42:14
Dee Gautham: If you're trying to move things forward and see changes like fat loss or body composition changes, you do need to decide and be very intentional about"Okay, this is how I'm gonna approach these events," versus if you're just in maintenance mode, you have a little bit more flexibility
42:30
Curry Badshah: Yeah, I like that.
42:32
Curry Badshah: I mean, it just takes a little bit of planning to And see.
42:36
Curry Badshah: You know what you've got coming up for the week, so where are you going to...
42:40
Curry Badshah: What are your trade-offs?
42:41
Curry Badshah: Where are you going Maybe there is a day that you're like,"I'm not gonna worry about it today because I wanna just be present and enjoy the company and enjoy
42:48
Dee Gautham: Yeah
42:48
Curry Badshah: other."
42:48
Dee Gautham: I don't call it a cheat day or anything'cause that's just binge-eating land.
42:53
Dee Gautham: I would say if it's a more mindful day, right?
42:55
Dee Gautham: And maybe you're not tracking food or what, if that's your approach.
42:58
Dee Gautham: Maybe you're not really thinking too hard about it.
43:00
Dee Gautham: That's cool, and also make sure you're really consistent the other six days, right?
43:05
Dee Gautham: So that one day doesn't do too much damage.
43:08
Dee Gautham: If every day, like you said, if it's three days in a row, that's a different story than if it's been six days of consistency.
43:15
Dee Gautham: Maybe you're trying to stick to a calorie deficit, you've done that for six days, and you have one day where you're not tracking or maybe eating at maintenance, you can still see progress forward if we do that versus if every day is a maintenance day.
43:29
Dee Gautham: I think it's really important this season to be proactive instead of reactive.
43:33
Dee Gautham: Like we just talked about with planning ahead, maybe looking at menus in advance, being really conscious about alcohol, like, and intentional.
43:42
Dee Gautham: "I'm gonna drink on these days and this many drinks." Rather than reactive of"Oh, yeah, I accidentally...
43:48
Dee Gautham: I didn't realize there was no protein there.
43:50
Dee Gautham: I, everybody was ordering this, so I just ordered it, too."
43:55
Curry Badshah: Yeah, and I think also for anybody who's wondering about like the psychology behind that also of"Oh, I don't know why I can't say no to it if everybody's getting it, and I felt like I had to get it as well." Like even if you feel that way, I would almost say like,"That's okay.
44:10
Curry Badshah: Just know where you can also..." Like maybe you direct the approach of"Hey, what if we got something with like vegetables?
44:18
Curry Badshah: Because I know I need to eat a vegetable, so
44:21
Dee Gautham: Yeah, that's a great idea.
44:22
Dee Gautham: Yeah
44:23
Curry Badshah: bring other people into your decision,'cause I know I've done that where I'm like I think we should all have this because I know I need it and so
44:31
Dee Gautham: And people love that honestly.
44:32
Dee Gautham: Like most of the-- think about the people we hang out with.
44:35
Dee Gautham: Most people want to be somewhat healthy-ish, right?
44:40
Dee Gautham: In the 2020, like world where I don't know, I think if-- whenever I propose to getting a salad and splitting a salad, everyone's like,"Yeah, I'll have some," or,"Yeah, let's get two," or something like that.
44:52
Dee Gautham: So I think that's a great idea.
44:54
Curry Badshah: Yeah,
44:54
Dee Gautham: And I also think it's okay to be the only one getting the salad sometimes if that's what you want, right?
45:00
Dee Gautham: Or let's take a talk with alcohol,'cause I know that comes up a lot in the holidays.
45:04
Dee Gautham: It's okay to be the only one who's drinking like a soda water when everybody else is drinking cocktails, right?
45:11
Dee Gautham: I've been that person
45:13
Curry Badshah: Mocktails are everywhere now
45:15
Dee Gautham: Yeah, mocktails.
45:16
Dee Gautham: I don't personally like a mocktail.
45:18
Dee Gautham: I feel like it's just a waste of calories for me.
45:20
Dee Gautham: I'd rather just have a Diet Coke.
45:23
Dee Gautham: But that's just me.
45:24
Dee Gautham: I'm a I would rather eat food than drink my calories.
45:28
Dee Gautham: But my husband really loves mocktails, so he always gets them.
45:32
Dee Gautham: But even if, whether you do a mocktail or something that's completely different that's also non-alcoholic or no alco- no drink at all it's okay.
45:40
Dee Gautham: I think we're so afraid of being the one who is singled out and everyone's like,"Ooh, why are you, why aren't you drinking today?" You can just say something.
45:47
Dee Gautham: "Oh, no, I'm just working on my health goals," or you don't even have to say that.
45:49
Dee Gautham: Sometimes I'll be like,"Oh, yeah, I'm taking medication.
45:52
Dee Gautham: It interferes with it right now." If I don't, depending on who you're with
45:55
Curry Badshah: Yeah, I've also just been like, I'm just, I feel like I've been drinking a lot lately, and I
45:59
Dee Gautham: Yeah, right?
46:00
Dee Gautham: I just need a day
46:02
Curry Badshah: I know I like a mocktail because sometimes I'm like, I wanna f- I wanna have the cute drink,
46:06
Dee Gautham: vibe, yeah.
46:07
Dee Gautham: It is vibey.
46:08
Dee Gautham: I get you
46:09
Curry Badshah: match the vibe.
46:10
Curry Badshah: But I, for me, I'm also like, what is the point of...
46:13
Curry Badshah: And maybe'cause I'm not thinking about calorically, I'm thinking about, like, what is the point of putting the alcohol/the poison in my body?
46:20
Dee Gautham: Yeah
46:20
Curry Badshah: is, like, what is it even gonna do?
46:22
Curry Badshah: N- I'm not, you know, in
46:24
Dee Gautham: Exactly right.
46:25
Dee Gautham: It's gonna mess up his sleep.
46:26
Dee Gautham: Yeah
46:27
Curry Badshah: to get drunk.
46:28
Curry Badshah: Like, I'm like, what is the point of having the alcohol?
46:31
Curry Badshah: And if I know I wanna get only one or two drinks, it's not like I want a buzz.
46:36
Curry Badshah: Like,'cause
46:36
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
46:37
Curry Badshah: do.
46:37
Curry Badshah: Like, I don't
46:38
Dee Gautham: Yeah
46:39
Curry Badshah: yeah, I'm gonna do a mocktail.
46:40
Curry Badshah: I love a non-alcoholic beer because sometimes I just want the j- like the enjoyment of a beer.
46:46
Dee Gautham: Do you, okay, do you ever have the placebo effect where you drink a non-alc beer and then you feel a little buzzed?
46:52
Dee Gautham: 'Cause that happens to me whenever I have an, like an athletic brew or something.
46:56
Dee Gautham: I don't know if it's my brain being conditioned from years of actually drinking beer
47:02
Curry Badshah: Maybe.
47:02
Curry Badshah: I don't think so.
47:03
Dee Gautham: like,"No, you're crazy."
47:05
Curry Badshah: I've tried, like, those other kind of canned mocktail beverages where it's like leaves you, like, flushed,
47:12
Dee Gautham: Yeah
47:13
Curry Badshah: feeling that little flush.
47:15
Curry Badshah: I don't know if I've paid attention to it,
47:18
Dee Gautham: Okay.
47:19
Curry Badshah: very intently, but I know that, like, most of my non-alcoholic choices are just because I'm like,"What is the point of putting the alcohol into my body?" Because it'll give me the drunkies if I have
47:30
Dee Gautham: Bien
47:30
Curry Badshah: alcohol, and then I'll be, like, drunk, tipsy, whatever, and then, like, wanna eat a bunch of stuff.
47:36
Dee Gautham: Messes up your sleep
47:38
Curry Badshah: yeah, it messes with my sleep.
47:40
Curry Badshah: I...
47:40
Curry Badshah: Then I'm like it's coming out of my pores when I'm sleeping, and I already run hot as a human, like, just on normal mode, so when I'm, like, detoxing the alcohol in my sleep, I'm, like, extra sweaty, and I gotta make sure I turn the temperature down and put the fan on high and all this other stuff,
47:57
Dee Gautham: Yeah
47:57
Curry Badshah: it is.
47:58
Curry Badshah: But I know...
48:00
Curry Badshah: that's also something that comes with, like, time and age, that you get older and then you're just like,"Hey, y'all, I need a, I n- I need a green.
48:07
Curry Badshah: I need some vegetables
48:08
Dee Gautham: you just
48:09
Curry Badshah: all day, so I'm gonna order some vegetables.
48:12
Curry Badshah: Y'all can join me if you want." And then people will think,"Oh, yeah, I don't think I've had a vegetable all day either.
48:17
Curry Badshah: I'll share it with you."
48:19
Dee Gautham: Love that
48:22
Curry Badshah: Okay.
48:22
Curry Badshah: Finally, talk to us about Josh Food, and I saw you have theplas now or
48:27
Dee Gautham: Yes.
48:29
Dee Gautham: I'm sure by the time this is published, we'll, they'll be out.
48:32
Dee Gautham: But yeah, so I talked a lot about, we talked a lot about BBR, my coaching company, and that's my...
48:37
Dee Gautham: i've had that for eight years and in that journey of coaching, like almost over several thousand South Asian women at this point, I realized how much of a struggle it can be to get enough protein with the South Asian diet.
48:51
Dee Gautham: And so during COVID, I was playing around.
48:53
Dee Gautham: I was making a healthy Desi recipe book, and one of the recipes in there was a protein roti.
48:59
Dee Gautham: And we actually...
49:00
Dee Gautham: I actually...
49:01
Dee Gautham: It was actually really good.
49:02
Dee Gautham: And I was like,"You know what?
49:03
Dee Gautham: Like we could actually like maybe sell this." And so a couple years later, we, my husband and I started a business called Josh Foods that makes and sells high protein rotis, and now theplas too.
49:16
Dee Gautham: So each of our rotis has 10 grams of protein, 90 calories each.
49:21
Dee Gautham: The theplas are same 10 grams of protein and just around like 100, 110 calories each.
49:26
Dee Gautham: So yeah, pretty like high protein, like a great protein to calorie ratio in those.
49:32
Dee Gautham: So two of those is as much protein as a protein shake, which is pretty crazy.
49:36
Dee Gautham: To be able to eat two roti and like that's a protein shake right there.
49:40
Curry Badshah: Yeah
49:40
Dee Gautham: we sell them primarily online right now.
49:43
Dee Gautham: We make them fresh.
49:44
Dee Gautham: We have some staff who help us make them fresh every day in Houston, and we ship them all over the country.
49:50
Dee Gautham: So if you're interested in trying those, head to eatjoshfoods.com.
49:55
Dee Gautham: It's Josh like J-O-S-H.
49:57
Dee Gautham: Like it sounds like Josh.
49:58
Dee Gautham: My husband's name is Josh.
50:00
Dee Gautham: Thank you for pronouncing it right, by the way.
50:02
Dee Gautham: The company's actually pronounced Josh Foods.
50:03
Dee Gautham: It's just a funny play on words because his name is actually Josh too.
50:07
Curry Badshah: Josh, yeah.
50:08
Curry Badshah: But Josh
50:08
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
50:08
Curry Badshah: feels like strength.
50:10
Dee Gautham: Yeah, exactly.
50:11
Dee Gautham: Josh means like strength, passion, and the, the goal is, of that name was just to evoke that feeling of when you eat well, you feel good and you have that like josh in your life.
50:21
Curry Badshah: yeah,
50:22
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
50:22
Dee Gautham: Yeah
50:23
Curry Badshah: mean I've had the protein rotis multiple times.
50:25
Dee Gautham: Oh, nice
50:26
Curry Badshah: I've, I brought it to my parents and had them try it, and they were like,"Yeah, this is really good." And so I'm,
50:34
Dee Gautham: we mix them with real atta so it tastes like normal roti, but we also use a blend of other like plant-based protein, proteins, mostly soy protein isolate so that it just boosts the protein content without affecting the flavor too much
50:46
Curry Badshah: Yeah, and it really doesn't, like it puffs up like a normal roti, like my
50:50
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
50:50
Dee Gautham: I can't wait for you to try the thepla.
50:52
Dee Gautham: It's so good.
50:53
Dee Gautham: I could eat 20 of those
50:55
Curry Badshah: I'm not a big thepla person
50:58
Dee Gautham: Neither am I.
50:59
Dee Gautham: I'm South Indian.
51:00
Dee Gautham: I didn't grow up eating it at all.
51:02
Dee Gautham: But
51:03
Curry Badshah: a staple
51:04
Dee Gautham: Yeah, I tried them as an adult and I really liked them, and I was like,"You know what?
51:07
Dee Gautham: This could use some protein." And the process of making them is pretty similar to a roti, so it worked well with our current operations to just add that.
51:14
Dee Gautham: So yeah, I'm really excited about that.
51:15
Dee Gautham: If you're watching this, it'll probably be released by the time we're, this is, episode is out.
51:20
Dee Gautham: So just head to the website and you can check it out there.
51:23
Dee Gautham: We also sell the atta, too.
51:25
Dee Gautham: The rotis are m- yeah, I know.
51:27
Dee Gautham: I didn't really do a whole launch about this on Instagram.
51:30
Dee Gautham: I should have, but things were just so hectic with having a new baby and a bunch of travel and all this.
51:35
Dee Gautham: So I never got to do a post about it, but we do sell the atta
51:39
Curry Badshah: You will eventually.
51:40
Curry Badshah: It's okay.
51:41
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
51:41
Curry Badshah: it
51:42
Dee Gautham: This is the hard launch.
51:43
Dee Gautham: This is the hard launch right here
51:45
Curry Badshah: I love it, an exclusive.
51:47
Dee Gautham: Yeah
51:48
Curry Badshah: There is protein atta available at Josh Foods.
51:52
Curry Badshah: I love that.
51:53
Curry Badshah: I mean, like I said, I'm a huge proponent of Josh Foods rotis, and so I'm excited to try the theplas as well.
51:59
Curry Badshah: So if you are looking to make that little adjustment in your diet and lifestyle, like I've even had the, I've gotten the rotis and I've put them in the freezer and
52:09
Dee Gautham: Yeah, they freeze well
52:10
Curry Badshah: eat them every day.
52:12
Curry Badshah: I, you know, I had my two, three days of meals, whatever, and I'm like,"Okay there's some left.
52:16
Curry Badshah: Stick'em in the freezer." And then just if you're, you know what you're, what meals you have and you're gonna eat, so if you plan ahead, you know you can take'em out
52:24
Dee Gautham: Yeah, or if you're just like, it's like a...
52:27
Dee Gautham: Or if you haven't cooked much and you just need protein in a pinch, they're good for
52:31
Curry Badshah: yeah.
52:31
Dee Gautham: a sub, you like-
52:32
Curry Badshah: like quesadillas and little
52:33
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
52:34
Curry Badshah: it.
52:35
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
52:35
Dee Gautham: I-
52:35
Curry Badshah: tried all that because my brain just is like,"It's roti, it's for Indian food."
52:39
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
52:40
Curry Badshah: I,
52:40
Dee Gautham: I have one with peanut butter like almost every day before the gym
52:45
Curry Badshah: Oh my gosh, really?
52:46
Dee Gautham: Yeah, it's so good.
52:47
Dee Gautham: I just put it in there and roll it up and it's delicious
52:50
Curry Badshah: I love it.
52:51
Curry Badshah: Okay, so before I let you go, was there anything else that you wanted to share as final takeaways to everyone?
52:56
Curry Badshah: Your final messages and words
52:58
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
52:59
Dee Gautham: I would say that, first thank you again for having me here.
53:03
Dee Gautham: I loved chatting with you.
53:04
Dee Gautham: I could talk about these topics for hours.
53:07
Curry Badshah: Me
53:07
Dee Gautham: thank you everybody who listened.
53:09
Dee Gautham: I would say that if you do want to change your body or work on fat loss or building muscle or weight gain, if that's your goal, like it is okay to do that.
53:22
Dee Gautham: It- but you don't have to hate yourself through that process of change.
53:26
Dee Gautham: You can practice, practice body neutrality focus on how you feel and how these changes make you feel, and remember that this is a lifestyle.
53:36
Dee Gautham: It's not a wagon that you're always getting on and getting off.
53:38
Dee Gautham: It's a dial that you can sometimes turn a little higher in seasons where you have that capacity, and maybe sometimes turn a little bit lower when you have less capacity, but it doesn't have to be completely off ever
53:50
Curry Badshah: Yeah.
53:50
Curry Badshah: I love that, and it's definitely something that has helped me, the DIAL system, and just even focusing on small things that you know can make lasting changes.
54:01
Curry Badshah: So I thank you so much, Dee, for starting BBR and having,
54:05
Dee Gautham: Thank you.
54:06
Dee Gautham: Yeah
54:07
Curry Badshah: to me, that I've learned it and held onto it, and it's things that I genuinely believe in.
54:12
Curry Badshah: So I'm so happy to have had you here
54:14
Dee Gautham: Thanks so much
54:15
Curry Badshah: There's so many other things that I know I wanted to talk about,
54:19
Dee Gautham: Yeah.
54:20
Curry Badshah: means you'll have to come back another time, and we'll
54:21
Dee Gautham: I would love to.
54:22
Dee Gautham: Yeah, thank you so much.
54:24
Dee Gautham: And yeah, if you're interested in checking out BBR our website is bossbodyrevolution.com and you can learn more about our coaching programs and what it's like to work with us
54:35
Curry Badshah: Yes, check it out.
54:36
Curry Badshah: We'll link everything in the bio below.
54:39
Curry Badshah: Have a great day, Dee.
54:41
Curry Badshah: Thank you so much.
54:43
Dee Gautham: Yeah.