How do you overcome the demons of yo-yo dieting and negative body image? How can strength training be a gateway to a better physique and mindset?

Today, Philip (@witsandweights) sits down with Isis Alvarado, a long-time member of the Wits & Weights community and a fitness and health enthusiast with a 15-year journey marked by personal struggles and triumphs, which is exactly what they talk about today.

Isis isn’t just a fitness enthusiast;  she’s a warrior who has battled and triumphed over yo-yo dieting and negative body image. As an adult, she broke free from the chains of restrictive eating, discovering the world of strength training and evidence-based nutrition. This wasn’t just a physical transformation but a mental and emotional one. Her story is about resilience, solid information, and transformative impact. 

In their conversation today, you’re not just going to hear another transformation story. You’re going to learn the real, tangible strategies that Isis used to overhaul their relationship with food and their body. You’ll discover how strength training can be a gateway to a better physique and mindset. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to apply these lessons in your own life, breaking free from the myths and misconceptions that hold you back in your fitness journey.

Today, you’ll learn all about:

2:57 Childhood environment and its impact on health and body image
5:42 Experiences with yo-yo dieting and beliefs about genetics
7:52 Early adulthood decision to stop dieting and relationship with food
15:32 Catalyst for shifting to strength training and changing fitness approaches
19:03 How the right information led to significant results in less time         
28:44 Influence of strength training on physical, mental, and emotional well-being
34:46 Shifting food relationship from restriction to flexibility
40:24 Strategies for finding reliable, evidence-based fitness information
50:57 Impact of fitness journey on personal relationships, career, and goals
53:54 Practical advice for listeners starting their health journey
57:56 Future goals in fitness, health, and helping others
1:00:47 What question did Isis wish Philip had asked
1:04:19 How to connect with Isis
1:05:36 Outro

Episode resources:

• Join the Wits & Weights Facebook group (where you can also connect with Isis Alvarado!)

• Ep 141: Why I’m Getting Fluffy Before I Get Jacked

Episode summary:

Embarking on a fitness journey can be a transformative experience, not just for the body but for the mind and spirit as well. This is the central theme of the podcast episode featuring Isis Alvarado, whose tale of resilience, strength, and joy is nothing short of inspiring. Throughout the episode, listeners are treated to an in-depth look at the many facets of sustainable fitness and health, debunking common myths and exploring evidence-based strategies for lasting change.

The conversation begins by exploring Isis's early challenges with weight and the negative impact of diet culture. Growing up in a family where weight issues were prevalent, Isis was introduced to dieting at a very young age. This early exposure to the dieting mindset had a lasting effect on her relationship with food and her self-image. As we delve into this part of her story, it's evident how societal pressures and family influences can shape our health narratives from a young age.

Transitioning into the topic of weight loss misconceptions, the podcast takes a critical look at the misunderstandings surrounding genetics, metabolism, and the often underestimated caloric content of snacks. This discussion sheds light on the complexities of managing weight and emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to nutrition. The conversation also touches upon the emotional and psychological impact of restrictive dieting, revealing the turmoil caused by labeling foods as 'good' or 'bad.'

The transformative power of exercise and a shift in mindset come into focus as Isis shares her journey from grueling workout programs to the discovery of weightlifting. This chapter of the episode highlights how finding joy in exercise can change one's approach to fitness and overall well-being. The podcast also celebrates a listener's success story, which echoes the importance of a strategic and informed approach to fitness, showing how knowledge and proper planning can lead to more effective and enjoyable workouts.

Community support plays a crucial role in any transformation, and the podcast emphasizes this through a discussion on the motivating and supportive online space created for listeners. The sense of belonging and the ability to share experiences with others on similar paths provide a valuable source of encouragement. This sense of community is further enhanced by the podcast's focus on the empowering effects of strength training, not only for the body but also for mental clarity and self-perception.

The latter part of the episode delves into the mental and physical challenges of entering a gaining phase, an often-overlooked aspect of fitness. This transition requires a different mindset and approach, highlighting the importance of setting realistic goals and trusting the process. As Isis discusses her experiences and the changes in her mentality, the conversation becomes a testament to the value of embracing the journey and focusing on long-term goals rather than quick fixes.

Navigating through the overwhelming amount of information and misinformation in the fitness world is another significant theme of the episode. The podcast encourages listeners to be open to accurate information and to share helpful resources, emphasizing the readiness to act on evidence-based strategies. This discussion is crucial for anyone trying to sift through the conflicting advice that often circulates in the health and fitness industry.

The episode concludes with a powerful message about the comprehensive benefits of consistent and sustainable fitness habits. It's a reminder that transformation is possible at any age and that the journey towards better health is ongoing. The final words of the episode express gratitude for the insights shared and the impact they have had on listeners' lives, encouraging everyone to continue on their path to self-improvement.

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Transcript

Isis Alvarado  00:00

For me now I'm trying to embrace the fact that it's just the journey that I'm enjoying and that is just bringing me closer to everything that I always dreamed I could never have.

 

Philip Pape  00:13

Welcome to the Wits & Weights podcast. I'm your host Philip pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger. Optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition will uncover science backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry so you can look and feel your absolute best. Let's dive right in. Wits & Weights community Welcome to another episode of the Wits & Weights Podcast. Today I am thrilled to sit down with ISIS Alvarado, a longtime member of the Wits & Weights community and a fitness and health enthusiast with a 15 year journey marked by personal struggles and triumphs, which is exactly what we're going to talk about today. ISIS isn't just a fitness enthusiast, she's a warrior. She's battled and triumph over the all too common demons of yo yo dieting, and negative body image. Her journey began in a family where weight struggles were the norm, leading her to her first diet at the age of 10. This early challenge set the stage for a life altering journey through the highs and lows of self identity, health and well being. But here's where the usual trajectory was turned on its head because as an adult, ISIS broke free from the chains of restrictive eating, discovering the world of strength training, and evidence based nutrition. This wasn't just a physical transformation, though. It was mental and emotional. And her story is about the power of resilience, the importance of having solid information rather than misinformation, and the transformative impact of a balanced and sustainable approach to fitness and nutrition. In our conversation today, you're not just going to hear another transformation story, you're going to learn the real tangible strategies that ISIS used to overhaul her relationship with food and her body, you'll discover how strength training can be a gateway to not just a better physique, but a better mindset. And most importantly, you'll find out how to apply these lessons in your own life breaking free from the myths and misconceptions that hold so many back in their fitness journeys. ISIS. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

 

Isis Alvarado  02:18

Thank you for having me here. I'm very happy to be here.

 

Philip Pape  02:22

Yeah, I'm so excited to have you on. Because you you've got an incredible story to tell. You've also been very engaged with our community and have a very bright positive spirit, which is appeals to me for sure. And I'm sure our listeners. So let's go way back in the time machine to your childhood, because that's where your early self identity was shaped right? That you told me that you quote came from a family where most were overweight. And even in my home where we would eat healthy homemade food all the time. My mom was overweight. And I consider myself overweight too, even though it probably wasn't. So how can you share what it was like growing up in an environment where, you know, weight struggles are prevalent? And that how that shapes your early perceptions of health and body image?

 

Isis Alvarado  03:08

Well, yeah, ever since I can't remember. I remember hearing my mom and my aunt talking about diet, about that diet that made them lose like 10 kilos ate with that doctor, you know, like so it was like kind of romanticizing this diet culture, losing weight, and they will see it as you know, like this, for example, this diet that it was the Atkins diet, something like the keto diet. So they, they always thought about it, about how successful it was they lost 10 kilos, but they would never say that actually, they gained more than that way. So it was not as though they weren't caught up in this vortex of dieting, losing weight, and then getting it all again. So I grew up here in this. And when I was about 10 I did my first diet with the full support of my family, of course, and I was praying for losing weight. And even I remember doing one diet when I was like maybe 11 years old, not even tall, which was almost not a thing. It was called the cabbage soup diet. So yeah, yeah, you're supposed to lose like four or five kilos in a week because they weren't eating anything was your soaps, they were surviving on 500 calories a day or something. Course. I did that diet for three days.

 

Philip Pape  04:28

Yeah, and then you gave up

 

Isis Alvarado  04:30

right away, right? We'll add up all my life. That was my mindset, you know, like you need to diet to lose weight. But at the same time, it was normal to never be successful like to always lose diet and like lose weight and then gain it back again. Because it was not seeing us as a lifestyle, you know, a sustainable lifestyle but at something you had to know a goal to reach and then what happens like we don't care you just lose the weight and hope Fully pray that it was the body that would never have.

 

Philip Pape  05:04

I mean, your story is so relatable to probably everybody, everybody listening to this and myself included have been somewhere in our past where we lost weight getting back lost again and back. And just the very idea of what it means to lose weight. First of all, losing weight being the goal, like why is that the goal, we just have been trained to be that that's the goal for some reason, even though we're never happy when we do that. Secondly, how we lose weight, and then it never, we can never maintain it. So it's like this on off switch. And then the kind of I got a little sense of disgust almost when you said you you did a diet at the age of 10. Because that I don't know how common that is for listeners. But I know women especially have a lot of struggles in their childhood with an attention on weight from their parents reflect on that now knowing that that happened, like do you know a lot of people who've been through a similar situation where they were officially dieting at the at that young age? Yeah,

 

Isis Alvarado  06:00

for sure. Yeah, I come from a country where you know, like, the standards are very unattainable. I come from Venezuela. And like, that, even the people, like men who compete on the men's beauty patients, they already look amazing, and they make them lose more weight. There is this, this idea of beauty that is unattainable. So yes, like, with all my girlfriends, we always talk about diet, even at this age. And at that time, it was pretty much normal. Like no, like, if you say to your parents, I wanna lose weight, I want to go on a diet, they are like, happy for you. Like why not that that's what they thought it was? Good. You know. So, like, reflecting on that. It's, it's actually, for me, like, the biggest damage that it did for me, was the toxic relationship with food that I started developing from that age, because I would say, food as something that will make me be fat, you know. So creating that mindset that you need to eat as little as possible to as much as exercise as possible, in order to look a certain way, until I made that decision that I'm not going to diet anymore. I'm gonna work out because I want to be healthy. I want to live a long life. But I'm not going to restrict myself anymore. So I'd be you know, Chelsea forever.

 

Philip Pape  07:28

Yeah, yeah. No, I hear you that and you're right, just the very image of certain foods like bread or potatoes. in some people's minds. It's like that equals fat. And, you know, I have clients all the time where I say, Well, have you eaten potatoes? Like, that's a great option for satiety during fat loss. And like, Yeah, well, that's carbs, and, um, and fat loss, and you seem to eat potatoes, like, we just have these links to food. So alright, so then let's fast forward a little bit. Because then in your teenage and college years, you said, that's when you started this yo yo dieting, right? This, lose weight, regain weight, lose weight, regain weight. And you said that you believe being fat was in your genes. And the only way we mean like genetics, right. And the only way to keep away from that was through a lot of food restriction and exercise. A lot of listeners definitely believe, or I'm sure they think that their genetics are sort of hardwired and they're everything. And they're restricting food, and they're doing lots of exercise, especially cardio. So tell us about your life at that time.

 

Isis Alvarado  08:27

Well, I did believe it was in my genes, because when my aunts were, you know, overweight, even my mom. And as I said, my family in my family, wait, very healthy, we rarely out, etc. But then I realized, you know, my mom was, you know, I call the time snacking and stuff. And that adds up, you know, so she was actually it was not on the genes. Then at some point, I started the thing that I damaged my metabolism forever. And that was worth the work. I did so many diets that now it may I grow it. But now,

 

Philip Pape  09:03

yeah, hold on, hold on. You said hold on. You said something very interesting about your mom how you thought so you saw her as overweight, but you thought she was dieting, but she was really just sneaking the food in and so she was just over consuming food. I think that's important, right? Like we all we all lie to ourselves in that way many, many times that we just don't know how much we're eating. Yeah, exactly.

 

Isis Alvarado  09:21

And it's something that I discovered after I started tracking food that, you know, something that things like that harmless little snack, it's actually 500 600 calories. And if you're already in your calories that your body should be eating with your three meals. And actually, that's that's a lot. You know, like if you do two or three times a week, which is very often, you know, some people they snack, like all the time and some people they never do like my dad, he will never snack. But my mom yeah, she's in the kitchen and she's always you know, like, eating here and there. So of course, now that I realize is that yeah, I mean, she He went overweight because he was eating more calories. And was he was burned? Is not that, you know?

 

Philip Pape  10:05

And then that leads to, well, now I'm overweight and I got to go on a diet, right? I have to just like cut all this weight as fast as possible to get back to some magic number. Yeah,

 

Isis Alvarado  10:14

exactly. And that made me believe that it wasn't possible for me to be lean, because it was in my genes, I would always say that even you know, eating, I was getting fat from air, you know, but the truth is that I was, I was restricting myself most of my life, you know, like, on and off, because when you restrict yourself, then you have periods in which you restrict yourself to become Feel free. And, you know, the thing is that I was just making my metabolism slower. And at that time, and that's something I started also to understand with the macro factor and thinking your, and nature going up and down. And I realized, of course, I was just my body is just a perfectly good, functioning body that was adapting to the little calories I was given. And I should actually be thankful for that. Because my body was very good to adapt to that. And you know, I love not your new thing, or the way my body was just that acne, like you're eating less now you'll find some with that. Yeah,

 

Philip Pape  11:18

yeah. And that's another great point for folks listening is that you could be even if you're not losing weight, you could be in this perpetual low energy state where you're eating less than your body needs, but not so little that you're going to lose much weight. And now you're just under fed your metabolisms lower. And you think that you have to eat way less calories than you do for losing weight, or whatever it is. So yeah, all these revelations are important. But let's continue the let's continue getting close to the present. Because I want to, I want to understand the experiences you went through because in early adulthood, you said that you promised yourself you were never going to dye it again. Because you love food and the restrictions that you thought you needed to be lean, were just too much to happily handle. And you started to exercise intensely and regularly and eat quote unquote super healthy, right? Lots of veggies, restricting carbs, having a huge list of foods you love but shouldn't eat because they make you fat. And you thought you could never be lean because it would take too much effort and you couldn't sustain it. So again, clean eating, cutting out carbs and you know foods is good and bad. Just this is your relationship with food at the time, right? Still, not the healthiest.

 

Isis Alvarado  12:25

Not not that not healthy at all. It was a very unhealthy actually not only for my body, but also mostly for my mind and you're always it's not just it's not only that you end up binging on food more often than not it's also the impact of those changes in your emotions you know, like in your in your mind you know, you feel like you're a failure you feel that you're never gonna be able to do it you know why I can control myself always be like, what's going on? Like? I do very well in other almost all areas in life and Letson mess with food

 

Philip Pape  13:07

Yeah, falling out quote unquote falling off the wagon all the time right or whatever labels we use.

 

Isis Alvarado  13:11

Yeah, it made me feel like out of control which I never found in any other areas in my life. It manifests are out of control. So powerless, so frustrated Yeah. So it was all this emotion that he was creating. Not only like the extra calories that I was consuming, because my body was trying to compensate but always okay, it was in my mind,

 

Philip Pape  13:35

chaos in your mind. And what did the exercise look like? Then you said you were exercising intensity? This is before you got into lifting? What did it Yeah,

 

Isis Alvarado  13:42

what I was at the end when I start to hate doing 3040 50 minutes of heat, but I went through almost everything I could find and I was just I wanted this one called insanity probably heard about it. Oh, yeah, sure. All for a left off was

 

Philip Pape  14:02

I was hoping it was a Beachbody one of those programs

 

Isis Alvarado  14:05

Yeah, it was dance for like hour already. The warmup was like giving me exhausted and I'm not. Wait, am I doing like that? So yeah, I then so

 

Philip Pape  14:17

it wasn't fun was it probably wasn't fun, either. No,

 

Isis Alvarado  14:20

I was not enjoying it. I was. And I actually I ended up like, taking to hate for the longest because it was short intervals of time. So I know in my mind, it was nice. 30 seconds you can do 30 seconds. Right? I think so it would feel easier. It will feel more manageable. You know, but I never really enjoyed it. I did and I felt very well afterwards. And I could see that you know, able to help my body somehow I never looked like really fit but I will say that it looks so

 

Philip Pape  14:57

nice as I can. I mean doing CrossFit for a year. I can relate to that were like, because people have asked me that, well, where are you in shape? And I said, Well, conditioning was there, like you had pretty good heart health probably. Yeah. And and you burned a lot of calories, kind of, but your body probably compensated a little bit as well. But it's because you're just working so much and putting all this intense work in. And we're not saying hits bad, right? Like even as a lifter, a few hit sessions can can be a great thing if you, especially if you can make them enjoyable, but that was your only mode of exercise, which sounds like torture. Okay, so now let's get to the fun stuff we come to like about a year and a half ago, you started lifting,

 

Isis Alvarado  15:36

right is that about a year and a half? A year? Less than a year and a half a year?

 

Philip Pape  15:40

Okay. Yeah. And you said that there was a significant shift in your approach to health and fitness. Now, as an adult, you're in less than a year and a half ago? What was the catalyst? What was the thing that led you to break away from the cycle of the eating stuff, you know, restrictive eating, and you're you're dieting, but also the training.

 

Isis Alvarado  15:57

So first, it started with the training, I was doing it at home, I had worked some you know, after the pandemic, I ended up buying a few things here and there. And then I, I met this friend who was a personal trainer, and she had been training all her life. And she told me, let's work out together a couple of days a week. And I was happy to because I never had friends who wanted to work with me. On the contrary, and not like I had to back them. And so I started working with her at the gym, and we were weightlifting, because that's what she was doing. And I started I realized I actually liked it. Way more than any other kind of exercise I actually liked. You know, Korean liked it. So I started weightlifting with her. But we were just William follow any strategy, we were just there. And she's like, we're just conditioning and now like, in next few months, we'll start with a strategy but I think she really didn't want to get there because he's been doing that all her life. And now she's on her lazy years.

 

Philip Pape  17:00

Oh, she's just maintaining, so it was more of exercise, not training, we had to actually

 

Isis Alvarado  17:05

see what it's like so eager to for me to join her because she was not able to bring to the team. Okay, an example activation for so I started and I liked it. So I started to read more about weightlifting, I you know, that's when I discovered your podcast and all and I started, I started to realize that, okay, first I need a strategy. I cannot just go there, to the machines, I can actually I was doing more than what I'm doing now. I was doing seven, eight exercises, you know, like, each time and like pushing very hard, but at the same time not tracking anything. So it was depending on how I was feeling that thing. So I started to realize, okay, I need a strategy. Then also, I became again, open minded to taking care of my nutrition in with an objective in mind with that strategy as well. And I have found the calories before here and there, but I didn't really see. I mean, I didn't know how many calories I had three, you do these calculations online, but they don't work for you. I mean, regulations I read online, were not correct after you know, using manufacturing for a while, so I didn't really see resource. So eventually, I match this together and say now I'm gonna try I started studying and listening to podcasts rather beginning taking notes. And I started doing progressive overload. I designed like I didn't design I took it from different sources, my workouts, I started, I bought macro factor started to follow another calories, they told me and in like maybe four months, I've seen more change that I have ever seen before in my life. And the AFR has been like a fraction of what I actually what I usually have to do to see any kind of changes in my body.

 

Philip Pape  19:03

Okay, okay, okay. I'm beaming right now ISIS, okay, I have to interject, I'm beaming. Because this is like, what I wish everyone who listened to the show would do is exactly what you're doing is you took action, and you started me took notes, which I love. You've been to the show, and hopefully got a few nuggets, which makes makes me really very proud. And I still am surprised when I hear people say that, believe it or not, I still very surprised. We were like, Yeah, listen to your show. And it actually helped change my life. That that makes me feel great. But for you to say that it helped you get more control and do it in a way that felt like you weren't sacrificing anymore, and you're able to get progress. Like that's what that's what we want. That's what people want out of this journey for it to be a fun thing for it to be a productive thing that doesn't require all this, you know, guts and sweat and discipline and willpower. So I just congratulate you on like taking that action. You made it happen for yourself, but you took the information so, so thank you and I want to applaud you for that.

 

Isis Alvarado  19:59

Thank you. And now I wanted to find any also to tell you how grateful I am with everything that you share. And like, You're very generous with your time and the the information, also getting people together, I usually don't belong to any online communities. And if I do, I'm just there like knocking on the desk. And you'll have created that space in which I feel also inspired and motivated to share my experiences with other people, you know, like I do have some kind of virtual long distance connection with other people who are going through the same journey, as we all are.

 

Philip Pape  20:44

That's beautiful ISIS, and I've heard that from a lot of people. And I agree, like in the sense that I'm also in a lot of Facebook groups, and some of them are not very active, or it's just a different fields, a different culture. And having come from, like the world of CrossFit, I was very much missing the community aspect of that, because I work from home, but also with the podcast, knowing that people would reach out and say, Hey, I listen to this. And it helped me out. I'm like, Well, how can we get more and more people who do that who listen to the show, to kind of interact with each other? Because every day we see people come in, who are where you were, like two years ago, or five years ago, they come in, and you can see their questions are like very basic questions, that I'm always surprised that they don't know the answer to but we've all been there. And so our community just said, hey, at any dive in with a very positive attitude, you you'll chime in and somebody who's, you know, an expert lifter will chime in, or whatever the answer is, to improve all of these things. So yeah, I'm glad you said that. And I want to go back to you ISIS with the the recent transformation, you said, because it's, you said you had all this chaos in your mind before, right? Yeah. What it what is your mental state now? Like, how has it changed, and what specific strategies allowed that to change?

 

Isis Alvarado  22:00

Well, I, you know, and I have self diagnosing, diagnosed myself with that I have a toxic relationship with food, and that I am an emotional eater, et cetera, et cetera. But then also, I realized that man, the biggest trigger for me, was my food restriction, I never worth an emotional eater in INR, I was going through some trauma, or bullying or wherever it takes no, my own my, my relationship with foods started, like the toxicity of it started by restricting the food by restricting the quantity and by restricting the diversity of food I could eat and by relating eating certain foods, so being fat, which is something I never wanted to be, and now that I'm eating more, like, I feel always, I never feel hungry, that I'm eating a lot of carbs. And that I'm eating probably more protein that I never I had never eaten before. It that the desire to be in shape, almost never there, that for once and for like, the other thing is that I also wanted to thank you for it, you talked so much about the sustainability, that it finally made a weight inside of my mind. And for example, when I would bench I would just try to compensate. And the next two, three days, do it at least as little as possible to balance that out. Right. At some point, I you know, I realized that this is not sustainable. You know, like, one day, you just fall off the wagon, which happens to absolutely everyone, even with people who are not, who don't have any younger, unhealthy relationship with food, you'll hear them talking about how they finished the bag of Doritos or whatever, you know, and you am here punishing myself because I did that. Instead of just, it's okay, I ate 1000 calories extra. So what you're not like, maybe if I'm trying to lose weight, it's just gonna, you know, it's gonna delay slow you down a tiny bit. Yeah, and there is no end goal anymore. You know, like, it's just, it's, this is just a process for me. So it's not like before, when with this diet mentality, I want to lose, thank you. And that was the end goal, you know, now is like, I'm just trying to make myself stronger. And hopefully, that will also shed the extra fat. And, you know, just, it's more like a vague goal, like the call is actually in the process to follow this process in a way that is sustainable for my body and for my mind. So is this content I can contact constant mentioning of Sustainability also shifted something in my relationship with food in my binges, you know, like, now if I do, it is very, like rare is just an isolated event before I would bench and then I would try to restrict myself in the next two or three days to compensate the calories. So then I would end up painting again one day or two days later. So it would be always like three, four in a week. Instead of use one, just take it you know, because also, when you see that, you know, black and white, this is bad, I did something wrong. It also brings, you know, the guilt, the feeling of not being enough, but like what's wrong with me. So that makes you self sabotage again. So it all, you know, like all this process has also helped me a lot, mentally and emotionally in my relationship with food. I'm starting to see things with a completely different field. And I don't like now when the last time I didn't, it was the day that my period came. I just wanted to do like eight adventures. I was like, what just happened? Why? And then maybe you can say, Ah, okay, now exactly. It's that I don't and I don't feel bad about it. It's like, okay, whatever, you know, like, I just life goes on. I'm not gonna change anything. Absolutely. And

 

Philip Pape  26:28

I says you have such a level of self awareness. And you're right that like the buzzwords we use, like sustainability, I say it all the time. And I think it can be it can be overused when you don't explain what that means. And I think you did a really great job explaining different facets of what we mean by sustainability. So what you basically said was, overall, that I heard is, it's part of your life, it's part of your process. You don't think of it as dieting or not dieting, and you talked about the binge restrict cycle, you can't binge on a regular basis, if you're not also restricting on a regular basis to have that cycle. So if you're simply accepting that you can enjoy the foods you like, incorporate them, plan for them. Obviously, we don't want to eat to excess or do anything in excess. We don't want to do that. But your body won't feel great when you do that. Anyway. So incorporate the things you love. Like you said, You're not You're hardly ever hungry, right? And, and maybe you still get golf, golf a little bit here and there because of hormones, because it doesn't matter, you accept it, it's reality, and you move to the next day. You also said that the goal is in the process. I love that quote. He said it's just a process, the goal is in the process. And every day we can have goals, right? Whether it's training, or you know, hitting our macros or making sure that we are satisfied or non fitness related goals as well. I agree. That's how we make things sustainable is just going after those on a regular basis, and then pushing the comfort zone a little bit on the areas where we want to improve. Last thing you said was the no guilt from the black and white mentality. So again, same philosophy, same principle of just do things in moderation, right? Do things in a way that that you can live with sustainably, so you don't have that dieting mentality. And then finally, you mentioned getting stronger, which we all love here. Because if you have a goal to be athletic or strong, or you know, build muscle, it allows the food to support that. And then you're never really restricting. And of course, you can go through a fat loss phase. And you know, we talked about that all the time. Sometimes you do have to do a level of calorie restriction with it for a fat loss phase, but you're still not restricting the types of foods you eat. So thank you for kind of laying the whole masterclass out of sustainable sustainability, ISIS. So yeah, that was just a lot of commentary. So let me ask you another question. Because strength training was critical. And it still is critical to your transformation no more P 90 intensity workouts right. Now so how is it tell us about your training? What does it feel like? How has it transformed your your physique and your mindset? Is it because it's okay to want to have like a great looking body, you know, and I think you do it in a healthy way. So tell us about all that.

 

Isis Alvarado  29:09

So Well, as I said, I really enjoy my my training. I really love them. I always look forward to going to the gym. And I I didn't realize how much of an impact it has in my mindset until I had to stop for a couple of months, and then vomit and I was also going through some difficult times that were making it a little down. And the moment I went back to the gym, I did that first training after two months, I felt so empowered. You know before I was feeling like I was letting go is he does not bring me down but I was feeling like a little like a bit like a victim. I just did that and I don't know what it is in my brain. I feel like I feel normal again. You know, like I feel like myself again. So definitely that I enjoyed that I enjoy. Like when I'm training, I like the fact that it permits I can meditation, because I have to focus on one thing like Todd, which is like, you can do 10 reps or whatever how many reps I can do is like you can do it, my mind goes down where for a minute, like, for a millisecond, then as my strength goes way up, I think about like, whatever you're not like, I have to boom, it's also it's a mental exercise for me. And yeah, I really am planning my work as now, I plan in the way that I'm going to do the rest I'm going to it. I don't know, more or less. I don't know if that answers your question. It

 

Philip Pape  30:49

does. No, it appeals to me and the whole structure behind it. Because what you're saying is that, you know, just just so people are listening who may not be as familiar, we are talking about training, where you have a plan, you have sets, reps, movements, yeah, loads all planned out, and then executing on that. And there's a sense of empowerment and control, but I liked it you. You could compare what it was like to not train for a while after having trained and come back and realize, whoa, like I really want this in my life. Because it's just mentally invigorating. And you feel powerful and strong. And I I've seen I have never seen anyone who didn't feel that way, to some extent about strength training. Now, that's different from exercise and like randomly working out and all this high rep stuff and cardio that's different than what you're talking about. You said this is like a form of mindfulness. It's a process you focus, like, there's a common theme here. So you definitely answered the question. I want to inspire people that training can be more, it's more than just building muscle and getting strong. It's a lot of other things.

 

Isis Alvarado  31:49

Yeah. And actually, like, if you're lucky enough to do it, like to do it with a friend, which I was doing before. Hopefully, I go back to do it in a few months. With my friend, it's also time for socializing, I really enjoy that our friend time in our images that they just, you know, catch up on thing than the weekend or whatever. So if I like it, then you know, like, you have a lot of time for yourself now that I'm going to learn is like, a lot of me time. Okay, I have somebody says I will have to do some online shopping in between that.

 

Philip Pape  32:25

That's so true. Yeah. Yeah, I

 

Isis Alvarado  32:27

love it. I know they there is nothing I don't like about strength training. And yeah, it empowers me as well. And for sure, in my physique. I've never seen such a change in my life, even when I have lost like 20 pounds with a diet or something. I've never seen that change. Because actually, when you're used to losing weight without strength training, your body's just becoming smaller, but very slowly, right? So you get in the state in the mirror, maybe when you see a picture of how you were before you're like, oh my god, did I look like that? You know, like you realize you have changed. But with strength training now well, following of course, following a plan a strategy. So in like, three, four months, like now when I'm at the gym looking at, you know, the actual, like exercise, say like doing something and looking at myself in the mirror. I don't recognize my body. Yeah. Is that that's also that definition. So yeah, just yet change with strength training, because it's like, you are not only losing fat, you're building muscle. So you're like, becoming a little smaller, which is not very noticeable, maybe, but then muscle. It's not the Opsahl. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's actually very motivating. I mean, not that I need it to go to the gym because I'm lucky enough to understand to really love everything about it, but I get a few I'm not, you know, so much into it. Yeah, no, it's

 

Philip Pape  33:52

true. Yeah, I agree. And, I mean, I can see your delts and shoulders right here popping, you know, like on the screen. I mean, it's fun to have that physique even when you gain some weight.

 

34:03

Hi, my name is Lisa. And I'd like to give big shout out to my nutrition coach Philip pape, with his coaching I have lost 17 pounds, he helped me identify the reason that I wanted to lose weight and it's very simple longevity. I want to be healthy, active and independent until the day I die. He introduced me to this wonderful Apple macro factor I got that part of my nutrition figured out along with that is the movement part of nutrition, there's a plan to it and really helped me with that. The other thing he helped me with was knowing that I need to get a lot of steps in so the more steps you have, the higher your expenditure is and the easier it is to lose weight when it's presented to you like he presents it it makes even more sense. And the other thing that he had was a hunter guide and that really helped me so thank you below.

 

Philip Pape  34:46

So like I wanted to ask you about that. Have you gone through a dedicated gaining phase where you actually gained a little fat as well and and what was that like or have you not done that yet? That's the thing that started okay. Yeah, okay.

 

Isis Alvarado  34:58

Yeah, remember, I gone from this mentality that putting away these bad days has been like, a challenge for me. I just I was in that guard for like four months. And I decided, Okay, I think I'm ready to go into maintenance, which I'm, I'm now in maintenance a little above maintenance. And I'm still like, I mean, I'm very happy with all that I ate. Very exciting. But I'm still here. I'm like, mentally getting there to go into the gaming thing. I mean, it's gonna be scary for me, but I trust the process now. 100%

 

Philip Pape  35:33

good. Yeah, no. And I recently did that episode, right? Why I'm getting fluffy before I get jack. So hopefully it helps. That

 

Isis Alvarado  35:40

one that the one that inspired me to say, Okay, it's time, let's go, like, a month in losing weight is just gonna slow down my metabolism. And, you know, I already look alien enough. You know, before I when I started, it was like, very hard for me even though recommended also like to start, but my mind is still like, you know, reluctant to like if I see myself fluff in the mirror to it about my maintenance calories, but now it's like, Okay, enough. You're looking already, you know, fit enough. It's time to go into the gaining phase. Yeah, which is what I'm doing. I've been like two weeks in at maintenance. So I'm going to stay two more weeks, and then I'm going to increase a little bit more considerably the calories. So I can Okay, cool.

 

Philip Pape  36:27

Yeah. And if it's your first gaining phase ever, you're probably gonna go go after something like, point 2% A week or something like that, maybe maybe a couple pounds a month gain is what we're looking at, yeah,

 

Isis Alvarado  36:38

I got both pounds a month, that will be something I'm comfortable with. Exactly,

 

Philip Pape  36:42

yeah. And, you know, figure, if you did that for six months, that's anywhere from six to 12 pounds, but you're gonna gain, you know, six pounds of muscle or something like that, which is incredible, a credible amount of muscle that you're going to gain. And what I'll say is like, when you're at that phase, where you You're, you're kind of maybe not beginner anymore, but you're getting into intermediate phase, now, you still have the chance of somebody recomp along the way, where, you know, you may gain more muscle than you think you may not. And it's it's embracing the things that you can control and that are a measure of your success in that phase, which is not leanness. It's, it's your lifts, right? It's your muscle, it's even when you want to look in the mirror, it's like focusing on your biceps and your shoulders and things that can be defined even while you're gaining weight, and not focusing so much on your belly ears or other spots that may gain a little more fat. It's, you know, part of the process, you

 

Isis Alvarado  37:33

know, I'm still hoping that I can, you know, even if I go into client surplus, I will still keep losing weight. And by then,

 

Philip Pape  37:43

yeah, you may lose your fat while while gaining muscle, fiber

 

Isis Alvarado  37:46

and muscle because that they can enter my even though I started like lifting like a year and a bit ago, I actually started niche there with a strategy four months ago, or months ago. So I'm still a beginner. So I still gain a lot of muscle.

 

Philip Pape  38:05

You definitely can you definitely can. What are your thoughts, though, on if you do start to gain some fat? So for example, are you going to take body measurements like your waist circumference, biceps, things like that, so that, you know, whether it's muscle or fat?

 

Isis Alvarado  38:19

Well, now I'm trying to embrace the fact that, you know, it is a journey, and doesn't matter. And you know, like, you know, we all want this and this idea body, right? Focus on that, for me is now I'm trying to embrace the fact that it's just the journey that I'm enjoying, and that it's just bringing me closer to a physique that I always dreamed of. And I could never have. So of course, it's gonna, as I say, I have a lot of resistance to go into even maintenance. I was like, especially because it's so easy, that it's like I feel I could do, I could continue on account for months on end, because he didn't feel difficult for me. Right. Or to everything. You know, all I have done in my life before that. So it's it's an emotionally challenging, challenging for sure. But I'm willing to trust the process, because it has worked so far. For sure.

 

Philip Pape  39:19

And I can't wait to see your gains and see you get super stronger in that phase.

 

Isis Alvarado  39:24

They all said they want the right.

 

Philip Pape  39:29

Yeah, it's and it's funny because you say that it's going to be its own challenge, right? Because people always think of dieting and cutting and restricting as as a challenge, so to speak in the dieting mentality. But when you are gaining weight to gain muscle, it has its own challenges of doing that from a nutrition intake and carbs and performance perspective, which is kind of fun, right? Because it's the other problem of like, I gotta eat enough. And you maybe and you haven't experienced that yet. It sounds like but when you do it'll be another Yeah, it'll be nice. Yeah. I wouldn't say yes. Yeah, yeah. And it has its own, it'll teach you a lot of things. As far as like you'll, you'll learn about yourself even more about the meal timing and carbs and stuff like that. And if you start to fall behind macro factor will let you know, right? Because you'll start to flatline. Keep keep us up to date in the community as you do that, you know, post some screenshots and stuff, because we'd love to see that. So, all right, I wanted to ask about information and misinformation, because one of the things you mentioned was, you know, took all those years before you finally found like this podcast, and probably some others like it that you listen to now, how do people navigate through that today, knowing that there's so much junk on social media, there's just so many, the things that get all the attention are usually the extreme fringe ideas, or they're like the 1% of like cold baths and red light therapy, and like, all this stuff, that just doesn't matter versus the basics, how do people navigate through all that? How do you do it?

 

Isis Alvarado  40:59

I didn't know anything for a long time. I thought it wasn't easy, I thought it's not it can be easy. So this is something that, you know, like, actually goes against a lot of what I believed, you know, that I was not gonna be hungry, and I that I was gonna work out on these four days a week, you know, for a very short intervals of time. So it's, you don't really, I didn't really believe we could work until I decided to give it a try. And I think, you know, I still have many friends from my childhood from my college years, who are still struggling, like with weight issues. And they are like barely eating, exercising a lot. And even sometimes I try to tell them, it seems like they're not ready to late. And so I guess, when you are ready, the information will find you. And you will be open to receive it. Because even my friends can see that it's working for me. They just done. They they want to go on one hour, run it very little, etc. I'm like, Okay, I mean, I guess it's not about the information. It's about you being ready for that. Ready?

 

Philip Pape  42:18

Yeah. Oh, that's so good. Yeah, all the information

 

Isis Alvarado  42:20

in there. And maybe this information passed through my eyes a while ago, and I didn't need them. Because in my mind, my mindset at that time was thinking that that's not possible. At manatee, you know, like, eating that much. Just working out that little. Yeah.

 

Philip Pape  42:38

Oh, that you know that I just thought of something when you said that. Because for years, I did low carb diets. And anytime I would see anything that said anything to the contrary, like, no low carb diets are not necessary. Carbs are good for performances. I would just my confirmation bias or whatever bias I had was like mineral that can't be right, like, and so I would ignore anything related to that, which would have led me down this to this world of evidence based fitness. Right? Yeah. My first question to you is, Have you shared this podcast with them?

 

Isis Alvarado  43:04

I haven't.

 

Philip Pape  43:07

We'd watch it, share it, share the podcast with everyone just yeah, just very passively say, hey, there's a podcast I really love. Not everybody listens to podcasts, but like, Hey, this is my favorite podcast, send it to them. I'm shameless plug on my part. But honestly, if it helped you, Hopefully we could help.

 

Isis Alvarado  43:23

That's what we all want, you know, like, to help each other to support each other, you know, to share what has worked for us. But yeah, I mean, they, they I was also doing keto low carb for so long. So then also because I realized that nutrition, it's like, an, you know, like many things in life is like everyone Asian, you know, people, it's like a religion. Yeah, there is one, one universal truth, even amongst professional people, you get bias with what you believe in. So it's not until you are ready. That's why I say you have to be ready to break free from your religion and open your mind to something completely different. You know, like, listen to it. So yeah, it's like

 

Philip Pape  44:10

being saved from a cult. It's a being being rescued from a cold. Not everybody's ready for it. Right back

 

Isis Alvarado  44:20

out of there. Oh, yeah. Wait for the like, I'm ready. Yeah,

 

Philip Pape  44:23

yeah, that's why I guess the best way the best we can do is like love and support people who are in our lives, even if they're maybe making the choices we don't think are best for them. And and gently encourage them and provide support and maybe there'll be when they're ready, you know, it'll be there for them. So that's a, it's a good approach. Plus the idea of, of it being a religion implies that, like you said, a universal truth. If if you are listening to this, and you have if you have the lease like that right now and you're listening to ISIS a story and you can relate to everything she said, you're like, Hmm, maybe I should question some of that. I would go back to your concept of sustainable To me, sustainability is like a principle rather than a dogma, right? Rather than, like, if you have sustainability, it means you can eat in a way for you for forever. And therefore, there's no one right way to eat, it's the way it is for you. So kind of kind of embrace that idea, rather than a specific, you know, these are the right foods.

 

Isis Alvarado  45:22

Like I really enjoy with weightlifting, but I can see why for some people, they would never enjoy it, you know, they will never get into it. It's just a different way of No, like, working out. So some people, is

 

Philip Pape  45:36

that true? I just hold on, hold on. I want to challenge that because I have a lot of conversations with this on other podcasts about that, where they'll say, Well, what do you say to people who just don't like weightlifting? And And I'll say, Well, are they doing it the way that I would do it? And if you start like, getting stronger because you're using a training plan and progressive over like, I've never met anybody who doesn't start to like the training, then that's my opinion. What do you guys

 

Isis Alvarado  45:58

Zack my opinion, but they wouldn't they wouldn't even want to try or they wouldn't wouldn't try it long enough to to like it because of everything. You cannot like something like there is no love at first sight with your workout.

 

Philip Pape  46:14

True. And it's hard. It's hard, right? Yeah, people. Yes,

 

Isis Alvarado  46:18

they are very resistant to it, especially women. But now more I see more and more women who are into weightlifting. Actually, much more than before. So yeah, I guess I guess I would believe that everybody would love it, if they give it a try if they are rational enough to understand it enough to decide whether they like it or not. And for sure, they would like it more than any other kind of any any other kind of exercising. But as I said, like some people, they're not even willing to make

 

Philip Pape  46:53

it true. So that's a lot of wisdom right there seriously, that you just dropped that. You may not like something the first time you try it, but you stick to it, and then you'll see if you like it. And with weightlifting with lifting weights, it seems to be almost universal, that if you do it the right way and start to build muscle, you're going to like it. And there's something like natural about using your body and using your muscles as a human being. Again, in my opinion, I'm very passionate about this. But I've seen people who did not like lifting, and they've done everything. And then all of a sudden, they maybe do some bodyweight movements that help them solve a problem in their life, like an older person who has trouble getting off the couch. And then they start squatting. And now they can get off the couch and their joints don't hurt. And now they're like, Oh, now I see the value in this. And so if you're listening and you like you think you're not gonna like it, you've got to give it a shot like ISIS is saying and tie it to a performance goal you have or a health goal you have or something very specific that you can then train toward, you know, don't just train to be have a great body and a lot of muscle like a year or two years from now. That may be too vague. Do it for the process. Do it for the short term wins and salsa. So yeah, good.

 

Isis Alvarado  48:02

I think I also think regarding weightlifting, there is a lot of you know, like, people like him when I was younger, and I started going to the gym. Way nifty and for me it was for like bodybuilders so and a lot of people still say like that, at least, where I'm from where I come from, you know, like, like lifting heavy, like we met would have like these tiny little numbers to pink, lifting heavy weight. And using all the machines that was like on he wanted to be like Mr. Olympia, like, gigantic, bulky in the gym. So I think a lot of people still associate by lifting with that, because not long ago, and she messaged me asking me what what do you think, what can you tell me about intermittent fasting? And I was like, what, for losing weight or for health? In general? She's like, No, I just want to lose some weight. And I won't say well, I did it for a long time. And actually, I didn't lose any weight. Because of it. You may or may not, but it does. It's not gonna make you lose weight, per se. But this one, I can tell you how to lose weight very easily. And I kind of talked to her about it, like you have to lift weights, etc. As you say, No, I'm doing for that. She's like 45 And I'm not too old for that. And first, like, actually, you should start lifting weights. If you want to avoid like osteoporosis or whatever, you know, that's the best anyone to do. To avoid all these pains you start on all these health issues you start having when you grow it because of your bones, bone density, etc. So as I say, as I said, if it weren't addressed as I say whenever you want I can guide you to it you just need to find probably a personal trainer who will like help you understand you know the correct one, that's all and they want

 

Philip Pape  49:52

one ear out the other. Well, she's not ready. She's not ready to leave the call.

 

Isis Alvarado  49:56

Okay, well, you know, that's what I can do. I just and they plan

 

Philip Pape  50:00

to see that's true, it's true. And that's a good point too, because some people will hear it over and over and over again. And then like two years later, they'll finally you know, after frustration, they'll finally reach out. And, by the way, for anyone listening, there is an age at which you're too old to lift, and it's the day after you die. That's the age that you're too old to it. And I mean, that literally, because recent studies have shown in your 80s, and 90s, you can build new tissue, I mean, that is so amazing. My own mother's approaching 70. And she's lifting for the first time in her life, she loves it, and she's getting stronger. That's what it's about. It's not just physique, even though physiques a nice side benefit. It's about being a human like, we're, we're mechanical, right, we have these joints and skeletal muscle, and if we don't use it, it all just starts to waste. And you start to get frail. And just like anybody else you see, walking around, your trajectory is poor health, metabolic disease and all of that. And ISIS here is like staving all of that off, she's getting younger every year of her life by lifting. So what else has it improved in your life? Besides, you know, the physical and mental, like, relationships, career personal goals, anything else? Well,

 

Isis Alvarado  51:08

I mean, already that emotional part of it. And, and the physical part of reading, like a lot, emotionally, it has improved a lot. As I said, when I, this period, in which I was like, a little bit too down, like working out made me feel like myself, again, that's already a huge improvement. I realized that exercise, and it's not just exercise, just because I exercise because I have if I had done some hate or some party or whatever, I would have felt like I wouldn't have felt the same, I would have felt like no,

 

Philip Pape  51:45

yeah, I'm just exhausted.

 

Isis Alvarado  51:48

Love me power. Yeah, it makes me feel empowered, then that I would say that the effect in the IP every single aspect in my life, sir. Beautiful,

 

Philip Pape  52:00

ya know that we hear that a lot of the confidence you get sometimes it sometimes it feeds into other areas where maybe you, you make a decision you would have made otherwise or take take, you know, be work on personal development or make you know, you speak up at work or something, sometimes people have a very specific thing they tie it to with confidence, you're already a very confident person, it seems I suspect a lot of that is inherent in you as well over the years. But the fact that you've found yourself and you've kind of got past the emotional side of it, and now it's been more positive, I can just see it on your face and how you talk. And I think that alone is you're gonna inspire a lot of people, just in general, by your interactions with them. It sounds like already you're doing that. As well as being on the show. I don't want to give the show too much credit, but like, seriously, you're gonna you're gonna inspire a lot of people because it's just just so positive.

 

Isis Alvarado  52:47

That's mine. Well, that's my job, I

 

Philip Pape  52:50

for sure.

 

Isis Alvarado  52:51

I hate to hear people struggling with, you know, their weight issues every time. And every time I talk with my college friends, they're always you know, like, telling me how hard it is why they cannot lose weight. And they are like doing everything and they tell me what they eat. I'm like, Oh my God, you just need to eat more.

 

Philip Pape  53:10

You know what, you're gonna share this episode with them? Right? All your friends, everyone, you know, like, Hey, look at me, I'm on this fate. I'm famous. I'm on the show. Now, you know, millions of downloads and share it with that. And then maybe they'll get the message and they'll they'll laugh because I'm saying we're saying all these things about the

 

Isis Alvarado  53:29

identities that religion? Yeah. Another afraid they're gonna be like that.

 

Philip Pape  53:35

Yeah, maybe maybe you never know, you might be surprised. Now probably be surprised. Like, we're gonna give them the benefit of the doubt when they're

 

Isis Alvarado  53:42

watching me know for sure. I think a lot of people you know, like, it just takes time. It takes time for some people to like, get the message and be ready. For sure.

 

Philip Pape  53:53

So tying this all together. For listeners who might be where you once were right, if they're feeling stuck in the unhealthy patterns, maybe it's your friends who are listening to this, but anybody who's listening? What either what practical advice do you want to give them? Like one or two simple tips to start their own journey? or thought of another way? What would you have told yourself, you know, like 15 years ago to kind of jumpstart this, knowing that there's the mental piece you have to get past the this religion of like bias, you have to get past what what would you say?

 

Isis Alvarado  54:24

Well, I would say that definitely like things are simpler than what you think they should be. And consistency. And sustainability is the main my magic ingredients in this part of my journey. Like being consistent, because I don't see it anymore as an end goal to lose this amount of skills. So it means that it's just my life journey. So of course you have to be consistent. It's okay to like, fall off the log on once in a while, it's okay even if it's twice in a week, whatever, is just keep on the journey. Just keep walking this path, and period. And sustainability helps it consistency. Because the more sustainable you do, like you have to create your own process. Like, for example, I was trying to balance when I was having like my, my once a week, meal out, I was trying to balance my calories of the day to be able to fit that 1000 Calorie burger. And then I realized that, that was putting too much stress in my mind. And you know, I was feeling hungry or whatever. And I say, Okay, I'm just gonna eat enough. And if this day, I eat more calories. Who cares? You know, it's more sustainable for me to do it this way, than to like, do it the other way, which is sacrificing my other two meals, to be able to see that delicious burger that I like to have once a week. So it's all you know, you have to make it sustainable for you. And that will help you be consistent. So

 

Philip Pape  56:06

true. So true. I mean, you've you got it, you've got it like you figured it out. I just like if you can plan your day, your week, your training, your food, your movement, all that in a way that you can do it or that if it's your life, of course, then you can be consistent. Yeah, some people have a backward they like trying to force in the consistency with some discipline or willpower, with things that they don't like, right? Well, you're saying, Well, if you like it, and it's a process, and it's giving you wins every day, you'll just do it. Just like you

 

Isis Alvarado  56:36

can, you can't rely on willpower. This is something I have learned the hard way. You can't rely on willpower because it is not an infinite resource. And food is always available. I mean, like if we're talking if you have issues with food, with power on a lawn, it's not gonna get you anywhere, because food is always there.

 

Philip Pape  56:57

And now the temptation is always there. So why Why try to make it? Yeah, yeah,

 

Isis Alvarado  57:01

it's not something like alcohol or cigarettes that you can just, like, make disappear from your life completely. So yeah, willpower is not gonna help. You just do create a system that works for you in a sustainable way. They send that that is enjoyable, that doesn't feel like a sacrifice. And now with the right information, I have realized that this system exists for me, it's not a sacrifice, I eat as much as I want. I eat everything that I want, you know, in moderation, of course, I plan it out. And it works very well for me, and it doesn't feel it doesn't have to feel difficult. That's my main main livelihood feels difficult, that's a red flag, you have to find a different way.

 

Philip Pape  57:48

I love it a system a system that sustainable, enjoyable, doesn't feel like a sacrifice. And that is 100% possible for everyone listening. So I want to know is this what is next in your life? Well, it besides this amazing conversation we had and of course, you're going to share this with all your friends who are going to get you know, converted out of that religion into you know, this sustainable way of life. What are your future goals for your fitness, your health, and this spreading awareness that you seem to be really good to do it here

 

Isis Alvarado  58:16

are my, my bigger goal right now is to completely heal my relationship with food, do not feel guilty for like not feeling any kind of feeling of guilt or, or self they fade or not being enough because of the way it I want to feel that freedom that you know, I can eat wherever I want. Not literally, but actually I like to eat healthy. I just want to break free from that mental chaos, which is now almost zero, where they learn in my subconscious mind still, like you know, whenever I eat extra calories, it's like tomorrow you will eat those calories that and then I already say that doesn't work for me. And you know, you know, like just heal completely my relationship with food. I am very confident that in the physical aspect of it on the right track and there's no way back. I'm looking forward to my first cycle full cycle of gaining and then Jamie I think to see how it looks. But yeah, mainly my main goal now is focusing on the emotional side of it because everything else it's already it feels it fits perfectly. I I already you know I feel well with what I eat, etc is just the mental side of it, but it's still it's still there. It takes time because it's your subconscious mind. You know, since I was a child, feeling guilty for what I ate, feeling that I had to eat less you know, like sometimes and thinking like maybe I could just go back into the gut you know, like yes Yeah, totally agree. Yeah. All in mind that telling you like, what, are you doing anything too much?

 

Philip Pape  1:00:06

Right? I mean, it sounds like you've come so far. And you're right, you know, we're always gonna have things that we struggle with or things from our past. And you put it nicely when you said subconscious. And I would even say unconscious, in some cases, pattern, like their patterns, right, their patterns that are just like trained in you. And if it started when you were 10, that's even harder to break because it goes so far back. But since you said that, it reminds me we, you know, in the Wits & Weights community, you know, I would love to have more content about emotion and, and self sabotage and like, you know, unconscious patterns and things like that as part of our, you know, information and maybe some future podcast episodes about that. So I'd love your input on that as we go forward. I do like to ask this question of all guests that we think you know, what's coming, but what one question, did you wish I had asked it? What is your it's

 

Isis Alvarado  1:00:55

okay, yeah, I had to take about four days. So my.

 

Philip Pape  1:01:01

So you thought about it in advance, and it was hard. Right. Okay. All right. Oh,

 

Isis Alvarado  1:01:05

no. So what's the most difficult part of this new

 

Philip Pape  1:01:09

journey? Okay, good question. But what's your answer?

 

Isis Alvarado  1:01:13

And the answer is the, the emotional part of it, they're transitioning from the old mentality that I have to do more sacrifice more illness, etc. To this new mentality of things have to be simple and eating? Because it's kind of like, it's like counterintuitive, you know, it's like, it's like, when you're, you're afraid of heights, and you you're gonna jump, even if you tell your mind and say it's safe to jump, let's do it. Your subconscious mind, like, keeps you there, like, frozen. And I can do it, I'm kind of facing that right now. Almost, like very frequent that you have to realize that in the like, you have this internal battle, like, this is too good to be true. This is doing say what you know, like, is it gonna work? How is this gonna work? Like, I have to think much more difficult if they haven't worked? Why isn't it work? So that is my only actual challenge right now with this new way of doing things? Because everything else is? What is there than what I always done? So yeah,

 

Philip Pape  1:02:26

so the emotional shift in all of your beliefs? Is is difficult. Yeah, yeah.

 

Isis Alvarado  1:02:33

You are changing from mindset in which things have to be super hard, and you're turning into something easier, it's still difficult for your brain, because your brain gets kind of like, hooked to that mentality, or the idea to that level of difficulty. So when you don't have it, your brains like, Hey, what's going on?

 

Philip Pape  1:02:54

Because it thinks something bad is gonna happen, right? And thinks, thinks that, that, so So why don't we just why don't we make everybody feel a little bit more easy about or relieved about this? What is the worst that can happen? If you make a quote unquote, wrong decision, like with your food, or your training? What's the worst is going to happen? Like that? Maybe it's hypothetical. But, you know, right. What, it's probably no worse than what's happened in the past when you haven't been doing anything. Actually,

 

Isis Alvarado  1:03:20

I had this. No, no, no, like, what's the worst that can happen? I'm gonna put away well, I've been putting on weight all of my life. Exactly. My name is not in you. So yeah, you're right, let them happen. It's nothing new, actually, something you've been going through all your life. Exactly.

 

Philip Pape  1:03:38

And the way we do things and the way ISIS does things, and I know, we didn't get into a lot of detail on that, but it's the awareness. And the control comes from the tracking and monitoring of what you're trying to measure, like ISIS, you know, tracks or food and tracks or lifts and stuff. And it's not quote unquote, calorie counting or like, this very, you know, has to be exactly this thing. It's more just, hey, what's going on with my choices with my body and with the outcome so that I can be that back and change what's happening. And if you have that awareness, you know, if things are going off in the path you don't want, and you can just correct it the way you do. Yeah, yes,

 

Isis Alvarado  1:04:09

exactly. And it's not about perfection. It's about on constant that consistent. Yep. Sustainability

 

Philip Pape  1:04:16

and consistently Awesome. All right, is ISIS. Do we want to let anybody know how to reach you here? Or do you want them to find you in the community?

 

Isis Alvarado  1:04:25

While I'm on the community, I don't really have like a public in social media persona. So it's just personal friends and all but I'm happy and I'm happy to interact with people and on the Facebook community. Beautiful.

 

Philip Pape  1:04:41

So for everyone listening, we're talking about the Wits & Weights Facebook group, totally free. It's a private group, but it's free. And as I mentioned before, very positive, very supportive. And you can join using the link in our show notes, or just searching Wits & Weights on Facebook, and you'll be able to find ISOCELL Lorado in there. I'll see if I can like link. I don't think I can link to a pro So far, but we'll link to the group so you can find her. Other than that this has been a pleasure, an amazing conversation. I'm really glad we had you on. I'm inspired just talking to you, you're so positive. And again, I'm grateful you came on ISIS.

 

Isis Alvarado  1:05:11

Thank you. And I really enjoyed this conversation too. And as I said, Thank you for everything you share, like this information has changed my life. And not only the scientific facts that you shared, but also your approach to it. That as I said, it has sunk in my mind and it has been like, it has been a key factor for the changes that I needed to do.

 

Philip Pape  1:05:36

That means a lot to me and says thank you, and thanks for coming on.

 

Isis Alvarado  1:05:39

Thank you. Really nice to meet you in person. Well,

 

Philip Pape  1:05:45

exactly. It's awesome. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits & Weights. If you found value in today's episode, and know someone else who's looking to level up their Wits & Weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them. And make sure to hit the Follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode. Until then, stay strong.