The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

200. I Want to Thank ME: Celebrating 1 Million Downloads + A Fun Q&A

• Kristy Castillo

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I honestly can’t believe I’m saying this…but today’s episode is #200. And as of this week, we’ve officially hit 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS for Unf*ck Your Fitness.


I’m not usually at a loss for words, but I’m feeling that way right now!


To celebrate this huge milestone, I wanted to do a fun Q&A episode, based on your questions from Instagram! I’m answering everything from what motivates me now, to how I track on vacation, my favorite self-tanner, podcasts, and more.


I’ve been reflecting a LOT on what this journey has meant to me. I’ve stayed consistent, I’ve adjusted when I needed to, and I’ve done my best to ALWAYS show up authentically. 


This podcast has helped me build confidence in myself in ways I NEVER expected, and reminded me (just like I remind you all the time) that you CAN do things that scare the shit out of you!


I belong in this space, and I have value to share. So yeah…I want to thank ME (cue Snoop Dogg)! 


Whether this is your first time tuning in or you’ve been around since day one - THANK YOU. You’re a HUGE part of why I started this, and I’m so glad you’re here!!



Episode recap:

  • Reflecting on my podcast journey so far (200 episodes + 1M downloads)
  • What motivates me now + why I keep showing up behind the mic
  • Why I still keep my cosmetology license active
  • My honest thoughts on the Oura ring & how it’s helped my health
  • My dream rice cake flavor
  • My go-to self-tanner
  • Some of my fave podcasts right now
  • The #1 mistake I see women make in their fitness journey + how to avoid it
  • How I track food when macros/calories aren’t available
  • My flexible & realistic approach to vacation eating + movement
  • Where I currently stand with balancing macro tracking vs. focusing on ingredients
  • A personal update on my recent blood pressure & heart health improvements


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go.

Speaker 2:

Hey you guys. What's up? Welcome to today's episode. I wish you could see me. I have the biggest grin on my face, just so giddy.

Speaker 2:

I'm actually recording this episode, the 200th episode of the Unfuck your Fitness podcast. I'm recording it literally one week to the day before it will come out. And just the fact that I've recorded 200 episodes, the fact that I thought of topics to entertain everyone for 200 episodes, the fact that many of you have listened to all 200 episodes, the fact that I didn't miss one single week and, in fact, I added an episode a week, is just so crazy. So I don't even know what to say. Thank you so much. What I should do is that Snoop Dogg meme sound, or when he was accepting an award, he was like I would like to thank me for never giving up. I would like to thank me for never quitting. I would like to thank me for all the sleepless nights. I don't know what he says, but basically I do want to thank you so much for being here for listening. It's kind of it's surreal. What's so important, I guess, for me to also talk about is one or 1 million downloads. I don't know when we're going to hit it. We'll hit it sometime between me recording this episode, which is on Friday, and when this comes out the following Friday, we will have hit 1 million downloads in between here. So I'm still kind of feeling like, holy shit, I'm recording the 200th episode, which is I just don't have words for that Like how crazy. And also that we have hit 1 million downloads on the podcast too. So just surreal. I'm just feeling like I'm actually just kind of in the middle of it. I'm like, okay, I'm recording the episode, I'm getting ready for a million downloads. I don't know what it's going to feel like. I don't know what it's going to be like. But thank you so much for being here and also, yeah, I do want to fucking thank me because I'm so consistent, I'm so determined I will quit something. I'm also a quitter. No, if I feel like you know, this is something that if I started it and it felt like it was inauthentic, or it felt like it wasn't helpful, or I felt like anything that made me realize it wasn't what I should be doing, I would quit. I'm not one that's just like well, I'm going to do this, whether I like it or not, or whether it's helpful or not, or whatever, I will quit things that I don't feel that align, or that I don't feel are good or fill in the blank that align or that I don't feel are good or fill in the blank. But I'm also so determined that if I want to do something, if I believe in something, if I'm liking something, if something is good, authentic, helpful, you know I'm going to freaking do it. So here I am. This is just one thing. This is just one thing. You know.

Speaker 2:

I talk about confidence and I talk about that in your fitness journey. This is basically just me building confidence in myself, that, not that I could have a podcast, but just that, yeah, I can show it for myself and yeah, I can do things that scare the shit out of me. And, yes, I do belong in this space and yes, I do have information that is valuable. And I used to question all those things about myself, not whether I could be consistent, but what am I going to talk about and are people going to find this helpful, and all those types of things. So it's just this consistency, and doing this has created more confidence in myself than I already sort of had. I am a confident person, but I'm also not at times. I think we're all that way. So, and being in the gym lifting weights, sticking with a plan, doing what you say you're going to do, building muscle, all of those things has helped too. So this was just another thing for me that felt like, yeah, I did the damn thing. So thank you for being here and also thank me for being here. Yeah, so I digress.

Speaker 2:

I may have to talk more about the million downloads. I'm not sure I guess I could do it here. I don't know. I'm going to hit that fairly soon in the next couple of days and I'm just, I'm beside myself, like just excited. It doesn't change anything for me. It feels like a huge milestone and it also feels like who cares? You know, like I don't know, the first download felt freaking cool. Right, a thousand downloads felt cool. A hundred thousand downloads felt cool. A million downloads feels unreal and maybe I'll feel I'm sure I'll feel a lot of things, you know, as this week goes on and just celebrating that and celebrating the podcast being a thing and the brand and all that stuff. But that's not really what matters to me so much, but it is pretty fucking cool. So thank you again for being here. So to celebrate.

Speaker 2:

We are doing a Q&A in this episode and I'm going to go over to my questions right now. So I asked on Instagram stories, just, you know, quick Q&A for the 200th episode. Make it fun, make it spicy. I have to be honest, I wish you guys would make it a little spicier, like a little more fun. So the next time I ask for questions, make me think okay, I did have some good ones I mean, you guys did come through, but I think we could do better. Okay, we're friends, like it's good to know each other here.

Speaker 2:

But I'm gonna start with and I read through them all, but I didn't answer all of them like typed it out. I did type out a couple and think about a couple things like that I needed to write down the name of or something, but a lot of them. I'm just going to kind of wing it too, so we'll see how many we get through here. I may dive into, like you know, health topics. Currently you know things that I'm using products, thoughts on things. So we'll see how far we can get in this episode with kind of the time frame that I've allotted myself to Yak. So, but I'm excited.

Speaker 2:

So the reason I wanted to do Q&A is just to kind of the time frame that I've allotted myself to Yak, so, but I'm excited. So the reason I wanted to do Q&A is just to kind of honestly keep it fun, keep it light, to celebrate, to have you guys partake in the episode, to have me just you can get to know me more in this episode. And then, of course, these are your questions, so I wanna answer them for you. So I think this is a fun way to do that. So let's celebrate episode 200 by me answering some questions that hopefully will be fun or just help you to get to know me, or help you by knowing you know where I stand on things and what I personally do, because I know that's very helpful too. So first question these are kind of I'm gonna start with more of just like the random, I guess, questions and then we'll move into more of like the health, fitness things like that and we'll again see how far I can get here. So first question was what motivates you? Now, 200-ish episodes into your podcast, so it's the same thing that motivated me in the beginning. Honestly, as far as motivation, we know that that's not really a thing, it's a feeling.

Speaker 2:

So I don't always feel motivated to get out my recording stuff and talk. Sometimes even actually before I started recording this episode, I opened my email I shouldn't have done that and I found some like a subscription that had come through that I forgot I even had. So I paid $40 for something that I'm not even using and so I went to go try to delete that. I couldn't delete it it wasn't. It was such a pain in the ass to, you know, take care of subscriptions. But and then I found a couple other emails that I needed to do for subscriptions and passwords and emails and resetting passwords and the codes and all the I.

Speaker 2:

That stuff is so exhausting and finally I thought I need to stop doing this because this is draining my energy. I need to record a podcast. I need to stop doing these things that are making me feel like shit. This is so annoying, and you know that are making me feel like shit. This is so annoying, and you know and get into a better headspace to record, because, yeah, I want to show up here and feel good and be excited about what I'm talking about and I always am once I get moving but I'm not always motivated to like, oh, I have to record a podcast episode today. I don't know what I'm going to talk about. I'm not feeling confident myself, or I don't know if people will like what I have to say about this topic or what do they want to hear what's helpful. So I don't always feel like showing up for this just like anything else, but once I do it, I'm totally in it and I love it.

Speaker 2:

But, yeah, I think what motivates me the most is just the messages that I get from you guys saying that the podcast has changed your life, saying that you've sent it to your friends, saying that it has given you a better relationship with your body, or just thanking me for being honest and open about things and sharing things that are hard for me to share. And, yeah, just you guys letting me know that the podcast is helping you. Seriously. Every single message that I get in that sense is just so helpful, because I feel like I'm sitting here literally looking at myself in my computer screen and I have a microphone next to me and there are four walls with no windows, so it's you know, I'm here talking to myself, so the reminder that there are so many of you out there is so nice. So that is motivating and, yeah, I love it. I love talking to you guys. I love thinking of things to talk to you guys about, because I know it's helpful now, because you tell me, and so that really is just motivating and I really enjoy it. I really enjoy giving information this way speaking, talking. You guys are my people, so that keeps me motivated, but also I would have to do it even if I wasn't motivated, because that's just how I am.

Speaker 2:

So next question do you keep your cosmetology license up to date? This is interesting because I have no idea. I think so. Oh, yes, I do. Yes, I do. So here's the thing about me. On any random day, if you ask me a question, my answer will be I have no idea. That is, unfortunately, how I live my life. A lot of the time is like I have no idea and I really don't care. But yes, that is a good question. I honestly wasn't sure, but it was way past due.

Speaker 2:

So we remodeled the main floor of our house last, the beginning of last year, and I remember just we would get mail and again, this is the main level of our home. So our kitchen, dining room, living room and we don't was all combined like downstairs, just condensed. And so I remember just mail piling up, piling up, piling up, and my cosmetology renewal was in that pile of papers forever and then I lost it. So I kept getting emails that I was ignoring. But eventually I did renew it. And I know because I want to get the discount from hair salon stores. You can buy salon products, salon quality products only in certain stores, and so I did renew my license so that I could get the discount on hair products and keep my luxurious locks looking beautiful. But in Michigan you don't have to, and this is crazy. In Michigan you do not have to keep up with education or anything. So I think it was like $50 to renew it every two years, which is insane, and I keep thinking I'm never going back to that profession. So why do I keep my license up? But I do because I want the discount on products. So there you go.

Speaker 2:

Next question how are we loving the Oura Ring? I still love my Oura Ring, you guys. I love it so much. If you don't have one, I would definitely get one. I love it because it tells me my daily expenditure for calories. It tells me so many things. I have a completed episode on this. But I love looking at my daily expenditure of calories because then I know how many calories, so many things. I have a completed episode on this. But I love looking at my daily expenditure of calories because then I know how many calories I expended. I also know approximately how many calories I've eaten because I just know. I don't track right now, but I intuitively know because I tracked for so many years. I love that.

Speaker 2:

It tracks my period. It tracks my cycle. I love that. It tracks my sleep. It tracks my heart rate. It tracks my cycle. I love that it tracks my sleep. It tracks my heart rate. It tracks my steps. It tracks my calories burned in general. I think, well, yeah, that would be my total daily. And then it also tracks, like I have a daily kind of exercise goal, so calories that I track during exercise or while my heart rate is up. It tracks that too. But I love it. I love, love, love.

Speaker 2:

The Oura Ring Again. I got the cheapest one almost two years ago literally the cheapest one and I love it so much. But I wouldn't mind upgrading to like a color that I actually like, maybe the rose gold or the gold, but I just have the standard silver and I'm not gonna do anything with it until it dies. But yes, I fucking love the Oura Ring and yeah, I highly recommend that you get one because is it 100% accurate? No, is any tracker 100% accurate? No, but it gets to know you, your cycle, your body, your routine, you know when you should sleep, based on your type and all this kind of stuff Like. It's freaking so worth it and I don't have to wear a watch and worry about that, so that's fantastic.

Speaker 2:

Next question If you could pick the next rice cake flavor, what would it be? Oh, that is a good question. So I pretty much only eat the chocolate rice cakes. There's caramel that I like. There's the tomato basil I like. There's like a sour cream, something or other. Isn't there? I may be making that up. Ranch, maybe it's called ranch. Um, I think I would actually create like a strawberry, like a okay, and forgive me if this is already a thing okay, I think I would create something more fruity, like there's caramel and chocolate and the savory ones I I do like, okay, but I'm eating them for a sweet treat, so I'm only eating sweets. But I think like a strawberry, but I'm eating them for a sweet treat, so I'm only eating sweets, but I think like a strawberry flavor would be nice, like something more on the fruity side, rather than like chocolate and caramel. So I think I think that's what I would create. Yeah, cherry or strawberry, that would be good.

Speaker 2:

What self-tanner do you use? I use Tanologist. It's in the purple bottle and it's like dark or extra dark, which is crazy, because my skin is not dark or extra dark. But my husband is Puerto Rican and my daughter is obviously a mix of both of us, so her skin is darker than mine, and we share a lot of things and Tanner is one of them. So actually, right now I think she's using like Bali Body I don't know how to say it. Well, we're not using anything right now because it's July and it's hot here in Michigan, but when we do share, we do share pretty much everything. So if she buys something and she's like, oh my God, you have to try this, I do and vice versa. So it's Tanologist Purple Bottle.

Speaker 2:

I love it. It's a foam, it's not streaky. We do have a black like a soft padded mitt that we use to put it on. It has a little thumb hole and it stays on. Really nice. I do recommend that. I used to just do it with a rubber glove Insanity, that is crazy, that's gross. I couldn't do that anymore. But we do use, yes, a reusable, a washable mitt they're called a mitt, christy to put it on and the dark.

Speaker 2:

Don't let the dark or extra dark deter you. I leave it on for a whole day sometimes and it's like one hour. I think it's a one hour express tan and I leave it on all day and it doesn't make me too dark. So don't be afraid, but that's the one that I love. I actually also have the separate.

Speaker 2:

So Tanologist makes facial tanning drops. I have those in medium because I do kind of care if my face is. I would like my face to not be that dark, but it comes off because I mean I'm washing my face twice a day so it doesn't stay on that much. But I do have the medium tanologist facial drops and I really really like those two and I just mix like three drops in my moisturizer. I haven't done that in a really long time either, but I will. In the winter I'll probably do it like every other night. My daughter being that she's darker, her skin is darker than mine. She's like I use like 10 drops, mom. I would look ridiculous if I did that. Plus, I kind of mess up with getting it in my hairline sometimes so you can see a line Again. I don't know what I'm doing.

Speaker 2:

I'm just swinging it out here and kind of the last question in the random category. I would qualify this as my recommendations. Or they asked what are your recommendations for other podcasts or recommendation for influential women? Shoot, I wrote down some podcasts, but I didn't write down influential women to talk about, because I just was thinking that was like a podcast with influential women. I wasn't thinking influential women separately. So I'm just going to talk about podcasts because I feel like I would miss on if I tried to go down my Instagram or think about influential women. I think I would forget some and then I would feel crazy.

Speaker 2:

But this may come as a surprise to you I obviously am the host of a fitness podcast, but I do not listen to many, if any, fitness podcasts. I will sometimes listen to the Macro Hour. I do listen to Shailene Johnson sometimes she's talking about fitness but I don't listen to those very often, I'll be honest. Just because one I think I used to listen to them a lot to kind of get ideas and see how other people were doing podcasts and what they were talking about and how their intros were, and I was gaining and gathering information on how I wanted to do my podcast or how I should do the podcast, and then I thought I don't need to do this. I can do my podcast, however I want, plus, just like anything else. When you're this is my job, okay, just kind of like a car mechanic doesn't want to work on his own car right, his or her own car.

Speaker 2:

A podcaster doesn't really want to listen to podcasts about what they talk about. All day. I work health and fitness, so I don't really want to think about it outside of this and honestly, I don't think you should consume it all day either. I used to listen to Dave Ramsey a lot, which is financial, and that was just kind of the phase of life that I was in and what I liked to listen to. So I really do recommend Dave Ramsey's podcast or anything that he is audio you can just listen to.

Speaker 2:

I love to listen to things I have a podcast on constantly with me throughout the day, and these are some that I would recommend and that I listen to and they are literally all over the place. So I'll kind of explain. Obviously I'm going to recommend the SoulFit podcast. That is my podcast that I'm on with my friend Erin. We talk about fitness, we talk about life, we joke. It's so good. She is a therapist, so she brings the mental health side, I bring the fitness side and we are obviously a great combo. So the SoulFit podcast, the Clues podcast I think it's just called clues. It's so great, it's a crime podcast but they dig up the clues and I'm not going to say any more about that. It's pretty new but I'm obsessed with it and I'm caught up to date on it, which sucks, because now I I just want more. Like I'm just. I love that podcast.

Speaker 2:

The what we said podcast just two girls chit-chatting. I love that. Two Hot Takes podcast has the same host, morgan, as the Clues podcast. Two Hot Takes is great. They talk about Reddit stories and there's always two people on there giving their takes and it's very entertaining, not very thought-provoking, funny, sad, scary, disgusting, whatever. I love that.

Speaker 2:

Giggly Squad I listen to Again, two girls. They're amazing, paige and Hannah. They're just. I love following their journey. Give it To Me Straight podcast. They husband and wife duo. They're actually back. They took a hiatus a hiatus, oh my God, from the podcast, but they're back. They I believe it's just well. They talk about their life and stuff, of course, and give updates, but they also take writer questions and stuff and answer those and they give it to you straight, which I love.

Speaker 2:

Parked Car Convos is a great girly podcast, healing Unfiltered and the Ed Milet Show. Healing Unfiltered is my friend Erin's podcast and the Ed Milet Show is also kind of a mental health business, more serious side of things. So Healing Unfiltered and Ed Milet Show are two that I listen to for mental health, for kind of being more grounded. If I wanna work on healing, if I wanna work on myself, if I want something to kind of, yeah, ground me and be a little bit more serious, those are the two that I listen to. Otherwise I'm filling my head with just things that I do not have to think about, because life can be a little too serious sometimes and I just kind of want to zone out, you know. So those are the podcasts that I listen to, and I don't know if they're influential women or not, but you know what, sometimes we need people that are well, yeah, I mean, all of the ladies are influential on these podcasts.

Speaker 2:

They're just influential in different ways. Maybe not in fitness, but we don't need to soak up fitness content all the time. We don't need to watch influential people working out and talking about what they eat every day and what they wear and their supplements and all the things Like. Life is so much more than that. So go laugh and go. Yeah, go veg out, go listen to people's Reddit stories and crazy questions and it may help you think that like, oh, my life isn't so bad and that's kind of fun too.

Speaker 2:

So, moving on to a little bit of the fitness side of things, so what is the most common mistake you see people make on their fitness journey and how can it be avoided? I don't know if there's a most common. The most common theme not really a mistake, but like a theme is not having a plan, rushing it and following other people's goals right. So when you start out, you're just like I want to lose weight. I want to lose it by this time I go on vacation in three months and you're just kind of it's all over the place and you're just like I'm going to cut out these foods and I'm going to start running and I'm going to start walking and I'm going to start binging podcasts and I need to start tracking my food, I need to start drinking and it's all over the place, right.

Speaker 2:

So I think the most common mistake that I see is just people not having any freaking idea what they're doing, why they're doing it, and they don't know where to start. So to fix that, I think, having a specific goal in mind and realize that you're not gonna be able to probably fit into that dress you wanna fit in by vacation if you only start two to three months ahead of time, you know like, if we're just being real, you should be taking care of your health all the time. So you need to have a particular goal and then you need to have a particular plan and you need to not rush it and you need to not give a fuck about what your friends are doing, what they think, what they say. You know it doesn't matter. That's the most common mistake. I would say.

Speaker 2:

Another mistake, too, is thinking that, like tracking is obsessive or I don't have time to track things like that. Tracking is one of the best things you can do for yourself, for your fitness journey, for your education, for your confidence. It's one of the best things that you can do, and so I think another mistake is people not wanting to do that and they're taking the easy way out. They're taking supplements, they're following other people, they're following a food plan. They think that'll be easier and it's just not so. Tracking is something that I think is a mistake for people that don't do it. If you're saying I can't track, I don't know how, I don't want to, that's a mistake.

Speaker 2:

Next question how do you track meals if you have? How do you track meals that you've had out if the calories aren't available? So I think what they're trying to say is how do you track meals and calories for, like a meal that you have out at a restaurant, if the calories aren't available? Track something close. So I have in my macro episodes. I have talked about this before on the podcast. So in those episodes, if you're out to eat and whatever it is that you're having if the calories aren't available, you just find something close to that, whatever kind of meal it is.

Speaker 2:

If you're using MyFitnessPal or a larger app that's been around for a long time a good app for tracking macros their database should be pretty large as far as what's out there. So just search in the search bar. You can either search for that particular restaurant and that item. It might be in there. You can actually search it online and just say you know, I, this is the restaurant, this is the food, and see what it is. Chatgpt right now is great too. You can take a picture of your food probably, send it, you know, upload it to ChatGPT and say what do you? What's an estimate amount for this calories? I think that would be great. I haven't done that, but I'm sure that's a capability like of chat GPT. But before any of that came along, I would just tell my clients there's no way to know exactly what's in that like quite literally. So you just have to guess. You have to search something in the search bar. You have to pick something close, overestimate if you can, because you don't wanna underestimate and think, oh, I have calories left over If I don't, I'd rather have you be overestimating than underestimating and then you just move on with your day. That's the part about tracking. That's just like well, it's not perfect, but I have to do it anyways. So track something close and move on, because that's where a lot of people can get caught up.

Speaker 2:

Next questions how do you approach vacation? Do you just eat whatever and keep principles of protein? Yeah, pretty much. And this is how I approach vacation and this is also how I teach my clients to approach vacation. Is vacation is meant to be vacation? You know, it's meant to be fun. Life is meant to be lived. When I was saying there's more to you know, soaking up fitness and nutrition content all the time, like there's more to life than being on vacation and tracking every single macro. But we do have goals too, and you can still enjoy your vacation and track your food and eat protein and be sensible and conscious about it. So, as far as vacation is concerned, I have clients who are very, very strict on most of their vacation, but then they have days where they are going to go get ice cream and they're going to go get pizza and they're going to do all the things Myself I do.

Speaker 2:

Basically, I'm going to eat my staple foods. If I can go shopping and buy my staple foods, I will. If I can bring them, I will. But I'm going to eat prioritized protein early in the day Think less carbs earlier in the day. So, like breakfast, lunchtime, prioritize protein, just get it in and overeat protein earlier in the day. So, like breakfast, lunchtime, prioritize protein, just get it in and overeat protein earlier in the day and then undereat carbs a little bit earlier in the day, because usually at night is when you're kind of wanting to chill on vacation. Right, have some ice cream, have some snacks, go out to eat. That way, when you go out to eat, you can prioritize protein, but you can still have your carbs.

Speaker 2:

Because you were kind of lacking on them early in the day, you saved them for later and then just realize that, you know, even if it's seven days of a free-for-all, I remember before I kind of knew how to do this. We went on a cruise, for example, and I remember coming home and I had gained like five to seven pounds on this cruise and I thought this is freaking terrible, like I know what that feels like and you know, my body just wasn't set up. I didn't have the muscle that I have now, I didn't have the consistency that I have now. So my body got a taste of fucking around on vacation and I came home, I believe it was seven pounds heavier. Was that fat? No. Was it water weight? Yes. Was it just my body being like what are you doing? Yeah, absolutely, because I was eating clean, quote unquote, and then I went on this vacation and ate whatever I wanted. So my body was just like what are you doing? So I've been there for sure.

Speaker 2:

But if you can follow these principles that I'm teaching and you can get muscle on your body and you can get consistency in place and you can start eating at your maintenance calories, your body isn't going to be so surprised when you have, you know, three, four nights of dinner out and ice cream after it's not that big of a deal Will you probably go home feeling bloated, feeling bigger, feeling sluggish, feeling a little gross. You know, maybe up a couple pounds, yeah, but you'll also know that it's not a big deal. But technically, that is exactly what I do is keep the principles of protein, but I front load my day with protein and then I front load my evening or back load, I guess, my evenings with carbs. So that's exactly what I do and I just try to get in a lot of steps, a lot of movement. And then I'm also conscious like do I need these foods? Do we have to go out to eat every single day? Do I have to eat lasagna for every meal or can I have a salad? You know, there's still things that I can ask myself Just because I'm out to eat, do I want to eat like this? Am I going to feel like shit after? Would I rather have a salad or maybe some salmon and asparagus at dinner and then have the ice cream and feel good? Just because I'm out doesn't mean that I have to eat all the bread in the basket and drink all the things. You can still think about and ask yourself how you're going to feel after and make sure that you are still in control. So I think that's really important as well. I have a couple. I have time for a couple more.

Speaker 2:

I want to talk about this question Do you prioritize clean ingredients or macros in foods more? Because I think this is really important. And there are other questions, so I can always answer those in a post on my Instagram or on stories too. So if I don't answer your question, I'm so sorry, but do I prioritize clean ingredients or macros and foods more? Currently I'm prioritizing I wouldn't say, clean ingredients. I don't know I have trouble with that, but currently I am prioritizing healthier ingredients, cleaner ingredients, whole foods. I don't know how we want to phrase that, but because I don't really know what I'm doing for myself. It's not necessarily that they're clean, it's just like is this healthier than something else that I was eating, kind of working on replacing that. So currently I am prioritizing my health as far as what I'm putting into my body, ingredient wise, more so than I am prioritizing macros. But once I get a handle on and I think I've gotten a handle on the quality of my food right now then I will focus on macros again.

Speaker 2:

The reason let me back up Previously to me the beginning of the year, having blood pressure issues and heart rate issues and being very, very sick and all the things that I've kind of gone through health-wise this year. That is the reason that I have started to prioritize the quality of my food rather than the quantity. Before that, though, focusing on macros was my main priority, and that goes back. You know, the food quality matters, but also living your life matters, and processed foods are okay on occasion, and you know I have a very solid balance of that, but macros are most important for my body compositions and usually that's what I'm focused on. And since that's what I'm focused on. I am focusing on and prioritizing macros. So that was basically years and years and years and years and years of my life. I've focused on prioritizing macros. But within that I also had a very good balance and I prioritized the balance of clean foods, whole foods, processed foods, having fun, you know, meal prepping a little bit when life allows, when it's too busy to do that. I have staple foods that I don't have to prep. Yes, it's a little more processed. And then when life slows down a little bit and I'm able to clean up my foods a little bit, I do so. I'm very good at prioritizing a lot of different things depending on the season.

Speaker 2:

But why I wanted to talk about this was just to give a little update, because in the beginning of the year I was very, very sick, found out that I had blood pressure issues and if you've been here a long time or if you've listened to the podcast and hear me talk about this, I've been dealing with this all year and I still I'm currently on medication for for my blood pressure two medications actually, and my numbers are better, probably due to these medications, but the last time I was taken into the emergent or urgent care, I should say by my husband, was a couple of months ago, just a couple months ago, I'll say maybe two months ago, and I don't think I even talked about this online or anything, because it was just. It happened so fast and I just I'm kind of sick of it, honestly, but an update is good for everyone. So I was taken into urgent care and then my heart rate was, or my blood pressure was, so high. I mean, the doctor was just like you really need to go to the emergency room. I can't believe, looking at you, that you look as healthy as you look with this blood pressure, with these numbers, like just crazy. So she had me cut out and this was the urgent care doctor, not my family doctor. She had me stop taking all of my supplements. So I wasn't taking EAAs or creatine or glutamine, I wasn't using protein powder, any of that kind of stuff. I did that for about two weeks and then I thought you know, I want to take my supplements, but I only started taking back up. I'm currently taking creatine, EAAs, keon Aminos who I'm having someone on the podcast to talk about that very soon, maybe next week actually and so I'm taking the Keon Aminos and I'm also taking.

Speaker 2:

What did I say? Creatine? Oh, and I'm also taking a probiotic and prebiotic, which is what I wanted to talk about as well, and I've just kind of cleaned things up. So, in my search for things that would make me feel better and hopefully just help my body as a whole not necessarily like just help my blood pressure, but help me as a whole I did realize, you know, I took my diet, my food that I was eating. I took a little inventory and realized there are ways that I can clean this up. This needs to be cleaned up a little bit. For a couple weeks I decided I'm not eating any processed foods, I'm only having salmon and sweet potato for dinner, like that was my only option, because I just needed to see, I needed to have simplicity, I needed to be rigid with myself, I needed to see what this would make my body feel like, and then I could maneuver from there. And then I started adding things in. So what I'm taking right now is, like I said, creatine.

Speaker 2:

I'm taking my key on amino acids, essential amino acids, and I'm taking a product called Diblo. It's a prebiotic and a probiotic by a company called Pro-Mix, and I actually do have a link in code because I love it so much when I started taking. So I'm actually taking the D-Bloat from them and a Red's powder from them. I take that every morning and I just mix my everything else right in that same bottle and I just drink it in the morning. It keeps me feeling regular, it keeps me feeling leaner, not bloated. It makes me feel like this feeling just comes over my body of like cleanliness and just a lightness. So that has really really helped me feel better and so I kind of wanted to start taking that.

Speaker 2:

I cut out energy drinks for the most part. I'm having maybe one a week if, like, we're busy on the weekend and or we go somewhere and we're out super late concerts, something like that. But I'm having maybe one a week if, like, we're busy on the weekend and or we go somewhere and we're out super late concert, something like that. But I'm having like maybe one a week. So I cut that out. So, and then I also am starting to.

Speaker 2:

I started to eat these protein and collagen bars. They're by a brand called Stars and Honey. They're so good, they have collagen, they have about 15 grams of protein and the ingredients are freaking amazing, and so I replaced my previous protein bars with those. I actually started drinking Chobani Greek yogurt like the drinks, instead of my regular just protein shakes. I'll mix and match those, but I just wanted to clean things up a little bit.

Speaker 2:

So, between the Stars and Honey bars, the Pro-Mix D-Bloat and the, the Reds powder, and just cleaning things up, honestly, I started the Oats Overnight Company again. I have a ton of those because I keep forgetting to cancel my subscription. So I'm eating those again and just getting my protein in that way and cutting out more processed foods and just being very conscious of eating more fruit, a little bit more veggies. My stomach doesn't do great with veggies as far as digesting them, but yeah, so for now, to answer this question I knew that was going to be a very large answer, but a little bit of an update, since we are talking about me, after all, and what I'm using. That is what I'm absolutely loving and I will, going forward, recommend to everyone, like I just think everyone can benefit from that debloat product and I'm going to recommend these bars too. I mean, I have to recommend things that I'm using, so I swapped out a lot of products that I thought they just have a lot of shit in them.

Speaker 2:

The other bars that I was I like Bearbells. I was using first form bars. I liked the Bearbells more than the first form bars taste-wise, but I just was like I can clean this up If I eat one of these every single day. I can have a better option. I don't have to have cookies every single day. You know, I don't need to be so creative with things. I can just start having these stars and honey bars. They're very good. They're very good. Actually, the flavors are so freaking good. I just got a variety pack and they're so good. I actually have a link for those and a discount too. But, yeah, variety pack and they're so good. I actually have a link for those and a discount too. But yeah, I just I like to share things that I'm using and that I'm loving, because it's not fair for me to just kind of which is kind of why I unpartnered with First Form. I still love that company and I love a lot of their products, but I switched and found products that worked better for me and so I had to stop working with that company so that I could talk about other things. But I felt like that was just a really natural transition.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I cut out more processed foods and during that time, in the experimental phase, I didn't track and I didn't focus on hitting a certain number of protein. My only goal was to feel better and see how that impacted my blood pressure, see how that impacted my runs, my lifts, my sleep, all of that kind of stuff. And then once I realized, okay, this is making me feel better eating these things, drinking these things, then I started to track and hit my numbers again. So it just depends on your goal and you can go back and forth and it's okay. Now that I'm found out what works for me, I'll go ahead and hit my macros again, because I know how important hitting macros is for your body composition and overall health and what my body needs to run. I can't just feed it whole clean foods and not eat enough, because then my body is still not getting enough fuel. So there's a delicate balance there that needs to be paid attention to.

Speaker 2:

So that is all the questions that I have time for today, but I do, like I said, the other ones I can talk about on social media and answer. So I really appreciate you writing them in. These episodes always go so fast. But I again appreciate you so much for being here and for asking me questions and I hope that these answers help. I always want to kind of give a thorough answer so that you know what I'm up to and what I actually do in my own life. I don't want to sit here and say this is what you should do, but I'm doing something completely different. I want to explain what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, how long I've been doing it, whether or not you should do it. I would be honest and say this is what I'm doing, but I'm doing it because of social media and influencers is just because someone's doing something doesn't mean you need to do it. It's definitely a per person basis. So I like that part about being able to get on here and talk to you and kind of talk some reality. But again, I appreciate you more than you ever know.

Speaker 2:

Please, let's celebrate, okay, and do me a.

Speaker 2:

Let's celebrate me no, I'm kidding and do me a favor, since we are hitting a million downloads and since this is the 200th freaking episode of the podcast, please, please, please, get out your phones and leave a rating and a review and follow the show. So, on Apple Podcasts, which is where I personally listen to podcasts you can follow the show, you can rate the show and you can leave a review. And then on Spotify I don't know I'm assuming, yeah, you can follow a show, because I follow my own and Healing Unfiltered and SoulFit, and you can leave me a comment, which is absolutely amazing too you can rate it. You can rate the show and you can leave me a comment, which a lot of you do and I'm loving that so much. So that would just mean the world to me.

Speaker 2:

You guys, it really does help the show and, yeah, I mean that's kind of what I want right now is help for the show to grow, because why not, like, let's keep going right. So, thank you so much for being here. I love you all and appreciate you more than you would, more than you can honestly ever know. I appreciate your messages and just every single download.

Speaker 1:

So thank you so much. I will talk to you in the next episode, bye. Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. So much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time. Bye.