Mocktail Minutes

Navigating Real Life with Dani

• Mocktail Minutes • Episode 132

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This week we are joined by our guest Dani! Dani has lost 40lbs naturally while navigating a full time job and motherhood. She chats with us about how she is able to juggle it all, and what mindset shifts allowed for this to happen!


You can follow Dani on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/designxdani/


If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/


Featured Mocktails: 

Liquid Death 

1st Phorm 

The Roasted Purpose 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Baylee:

Right. Hi everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey

Brianna:

This is.

Baylee:

This week I am drinking the Roasted Purpose. I'm doing a, oh man. Oh, maple Pumpkin Spice Collagen Coffee. This one, you can't get any more though because they do like the flavor of the month so you can subscribe and they, you get coffee to your door every month and you forget about it, and they're like, oh, I'll sign new flavor. So this was the October one, I think. November. It's like a, I don't know. I think it's more caramelly. Maybe it's a toffee one. I think that's what it is. But yeah, it's fun to do the flavor of the month.

Brianna:

I am doing a liquid death today. I've been really bad about getting cocktails. It's the root beer one. I don't even like root beer, but everybody in

Baylee:

Oh,

Brianna:

does. That's what I have to settle on. It's actually pretty good for root beer. It's better than the op. I feel

Baylee:

really?

Brianna:

beer. Yeah.

Baylee:

I haven't tried that one. I haven't tried any flavored liquid jets. I never think about those.

Brianna:

Pretty good. There's just.

Baylee:

Yeah. And today we have a guest on, we haven't had a guest in a while, so we have Danny here today. Danny, if you wanna introduce yourself and then share your drink that you have.

Dani:

Yeah. Hi, I'm Dni mom of two. Full-time working mom in the corporate world, I guess you could say. And I am drinking shameless plug. First form clear. If you have a hard time getting in your protein, you should have zero excuses. You need to find a clear protein to drink because it tastes just like juice. There's also like grape fruit punch watermelon, like, so I just sip on this to hit my protein goal throughout the day. So, yeah.

Baylee:

Yeah, I've had, I feel like clear protein. It's, it's like all the hype right now. It's helping lot people out. I sometimes give it to my son as well because we're in the phase of, he is putting things in his mouth, chew, didn't spits it out on the floor, and it's like, hilarious. So I'm like, well, at least if you're gonna chug water, I'm gonna give you a little something to. Some nutrients. So he does the vital proteins, like the mom pop flavor, or I put like protein powder in his milk.

Dani:

Yep. I do too. My kids one of my kids I swear, is gonna be a vegetarian. She eats like no meat. Good and bad. My other kid, she'll eat meat, but give them both. Chocolate. Protein.

Baylee:

milk. Yep.

Dani:

in the morning. And they love it. They like, every morning they're like where's my chocolate milk? Like, excuse me. And then, yeah, anytime I'm drinking my clear, they're always asking me for drinks. It's crazy. It, yeah, it's crazy. It tastes so good. And I feel like I'm cheating. I feel like I'm legit drinking juice.

Baylee:

because this is too good.

Brianna:

to try. I have not tried Clear Protein yet.

Dani:

Oh, you need to, you hop on the bandwagon.

Brianna:

I used to get first form religiously, the fruit loop flavor

Dani:

Oh yeah. Formula One Post-workout. Yeah.

Brianna:

So

Baylee:

Mm. Yeah. Danny, do you wanna share how old are your kids?

Dani:

Reese is five and Josie will be two next month.

Baylee:

Crazy. Yeah.

Dani:

I feel like there's a fast forward button as soon as you have kids and it's like so unfair.

Baylee:

Oh my gosh. I know. It's literally insane. I'm like, Gannon is almost a year and a half.

Dani:

Yeah. Aw, I haven't seen'em in so long.

Baylee:

Oh yeah. He is all boy. Very wild. Very redhead attitude. Mm-hmm.

Dani:

Love it. We love it.

Brianna:

energy.

Baylee:

Yes, lots of it today. So we asked DNI to be on the podcast. She kind of mentioned she's a mom, she works in the corporate world, and I think something we see many people struggle with is finding the balance of it all with feeling like you have to sacrifice either being a mom for sacrifice, being. At work or sacrifice your health, you're always sacrificing something and it's like, oh, I just can't do it. So we wanted her to come on here and share like, how the heck do we do it all? And kind of give some behind the scenes of what makes you, I guess, feel balanced and not feel like my life is just secure and I'm just dead at the end of the day.'Cause I also know, like, so you're really active on social medias and you get up and you do the morning workouts and. I mean as a montu, I think the mornings are my time and they're very sacred and I find that morning workouts, they just work the best for a lot of people, especially when you have young kiddos and the hardest part, or even if you don't have kids, morning workouts can be the best time to get it in. But we often have a hard time like committing like, how do I get up? Like I just couldn't get out of bed. I kept pressing snooze. So what is your advice, like how to get started with doing the morning workout? Why do you choose to workout 5:00 AM

Dani:

Well, I wanna preface it with this. If you are a new mom, like let's say brand new, like you have a newborn three months, okay? You have to give yourself grace. It's really hard to see other people online like getting their bodies back so soon. And like you start judging your journey against theirs, and that's just so not fair. And sometimes it's really unrealistic. Thought process too. Like possible. You really do have to have almost like a moment of like, okay, I'm ready to do this tomorrow. Like, if you keep putting off tomorrow, it's never gonna happen. So there's a fine balance of like, Hey, give yourself some grace, but hey, I'm finally at a point now where I'm ready to start, you know, pushing through and doing that. And I would say for me, for my second kid, it was at six months, but for my first baby, like. Her entire first year was just so hard, and I really had to accept the fact that like, I just have to do what's right for me right now, and that's not getting up at four in the morning and praying that I make it to work and don't fall asleep at the wheel. Like so terrible. So like, it's really different for everybody and don't judge your journey against someone else's. But with Josie, it was about that six month mark where I was like, okay, I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to, you know. Shed some fat, gain my muscle back. And I mean, that says a lot coming from someone who works like in the supplement and fitness industry like our, that's what our company does. That's what I work for. I work for First Form and they are a supplement nutrition, health wellness company. I work on in the apparel division, which is super fun and we can get into that later. As far as like getting up. So yeah, my mornings is when I get to, I have two kids. One's in school, one's a daycare, and I have to get home. I have to make dinner. I have to get them baths and then get them to bed. And to add another twist to this, I drive like an hour and 15 minutes. One way to work every day. So I'm in the car a lot. I sacrifice my drive for where I live. But I don't want that to sacrifice my fitness and my health and how I wanna feel 20 years down the road when you know I'm not gonna be able to jump on the trampoline with my kid. You know what I mean? Like I wanna be able do stuff like that. And I honestly, like once you have a kid and your postpartum body, like you can feel that, you can feel that drain, you can feel that like, oh my gosh, why was it so hard to get up that step? Holy cow. Like you're starting to lose your muscle and you feel that drain. And I just never wanna feel like that ever again. I wanna be a strong mom. I wanna be able to be there for my kids. And so I know if I don't get it done in the morning, I'm probably not gonna get it done in the afternoon. And body and motion stays in motion type thing. So if you just get up and exercise it every single day, it'll get easier And. Honestly, what I have found for me is like mini challenges for myself, so. I'm sure you've heard of the program 75 hard. You don't have to start there. You definitely like you can cold Turkey, just go and some people need that. But maybe start with little challenges. Okay, for 14 days straight, I'm gonna get up at this time and you know, maybe you do miss it one day, but don't let that stop you. I think that's the biggest piece that people miss is like. Well, shoot, I missed it that one day. I might as well not just not do it tomorrow, like, no, it again tomorrow and just keep going and act as if that didn't happen. And I think that's the mindset you kind of have to get into, especially for morning workouts. But yeah, does that answer the question? Like, I know that was really loaded, but i's a little bit of grace, but at knowing when it's, Hey, it's, I'm ready for this. Like, I'm ready to keep going and I'm ready to, you know, get my muscle back, start losing fat.

Baylee:

And it sounds like you're relying more on the commitment side of things rather than just being like, oh my gosh, I'm so excited to wake up and the sun's not even up yet.

Dani:

I mean, I'll say the sunrise does help.

Baylee:

Yes. Being

Dani:

Where we live. Yeah. I mean like I said, I drive an hour and 15 minutes to work one way, so I'm in the car a lot, but, and I get a lot of crap for that too, of like, how do you do it all? I'm gonna be honest with you, my house looks like a tornado half the time. Okay. The dishes pile up, but. It gets done. You know, I'm not just gonna like leave it there for weeks, but you gotta, there's give and take for sure. It's hard to get it all done. Also having a supportive partner, you know, gonna touch on that too. Like someone that's gonna help you clean or help you with the kids and everything else. Like we each take on duties. But yeah.

Brianna:

And I think that's the, that's the key is figuring out like. What does juggling it all mean for me right And I've talked to so many women who are just like, I, well, I gotta do the laundry and the house needs to be cleaned. I'm like, that's always gonna be there. Is that something you wanna be juggling right now? Because for me, I try to make it to where it's like fitness is one of those things I'm juggling. That's one of the things that I wanna keep in motion. So what do you do for your mindset? Because I think a lot of people think like, there's no way I can, I, I have to get all this done, and fitness is like this optional thing that they can juggle, if that makes sense.

Dani:

That's why fitness is the first thing I do when I wake up because. If I do that, then it's not hanging over my head all day long. Also, that's the thing that's probably gonna take me, I don't wanna say like the longest,'cause that if you chop up your day, everybody has the same 24 hours. We all have similar things to do and similar time at our job. Well, Hmm. For the most part, I don't wanna, you know, downgrade, you know, nurses who have 12 hour

Baylee:

Oh yeah.

Dani:

things like that, you know what I mean? But we all have the same 24 hours. So if I get that done first, I know, you know, the dishes are gonna take me 25 minutes. Maybe I'll have time to do dishes tonight before bed, and then tomorrow I'll do laundry. You know what I mean? Like but yeah, it's this, I, I feel, I feel your pain because. Fitness almost has to be first. Otherwise, I'm, I know I'm gonna miss it. And you said, dishes are gonna keep going. They're gonna, you're always gonna have to do laundry, so like why not think about your fitness the same way though.

Baylee:

Exactly. Yeah. And I think that's a problem that many of us face is that fitness, it's an optional thing. Sure I could have nice biceps and abs, but I think we kind of missed the point where maybe fitness isn't about having abs. I don't really have abs, but like, you know, I do like to look in the mirror and be like, oh my God, look, some arm muscle is popping through. Oh my gosh, my jeans fit really nicely. So I think it, we often just think about fitness in terms of like how I look. So then it feels more optional. But really, I don't think it should be optional. I mean. Our muscle's gonna determine how well we age. It's gonna be, it's like your best insurance policy, I always say, because that it determines your health, having a lean muscle mass versus looking at your fat mass. And we've actually had a few episodes on that recently versus like talking about subcutaneous fat versus visceral fat. So having this lean muscle, it is a priority and I think that can be a, a big shift for a lot of people.

Dani:

Yeah, and like I said earlier, being able to jump on the trampoline with your kids not going stairs and feeling winded, like being able to help the old man with the boxes he's carrying. Like little things that just add up that really do matter about your fitness.

Baylee:

And I think a lot of things like, I think all three of us kind of relate to this, where sometimes we just like to do things on our own. We don't wanna have to wait for our husbands to like bring a box inside or to like build something or whatever it is like. I wanna be able just to like carry something up the stairs above my head. Or it's even when it comes to kids too, and I think we do have people listening that don't have kids, but we have lots, lots of people that do have kids. But being able to like put my kid on my shoulders and do squats with him and he thinks it's hilarious, like cool, I'm able to do that. So I think there's lots of things to think about why fitness should be a priority, not just that optional piece as well. Do you feel like you have specific, like systems in place that help your day run smoother? Like, for example, laundry, that's something that it, like it can pile up so easily. A system that I put in,'cause I hated spending hours just folding laundry and now I have like five baskets to fold and put away. So I do a load of laundry almost every day. I put something in there and I try and pull it every night before I go to bed because then it helped decrease screen time before I went to bed.'cause I don't need a screen to pull laundry necessarily. But it also made Sundays run smoother'cause I'm not spending hours. So do you have any like systems in place that just helped things run smoother?

Dani:

Well, I'm just gonna touch on laundry real God bless me. My husband, because that is my downfall as a human being, is laundry. This is no problem. Cleaning toilets, cleaning the house, cleaning the floor, like no problem. Laundry, shoot. I'm just, I'm just gonna be honest.

Baylee:

Yeah.

Dani:

He helps me a lot, but systems in place. I'd say the dishes, I haven't been as good. Hopefully my husband doesn't watch this. He'll be like but I really do try to do, so, you know, you run the dishes and then you load it later. I try to run it, load it, and run it again. So then the next morning I can take it all out and then I'm better set up for the week as far as the dishes go. So that's one thing.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Dani:

Do with kids. I try to place their outfits out for the week, like on Sundays. So like throughout the week. I don't have to think about that later. That's one less thing. I do have a five-year-old who likes to choose what she wears sometimes, and so that throws a wrench into my plans. But yeah, I try to do that. I'm trying to think of any other systems I have in place.

Baylee:

Well, you mentioned like working on your protein goals right now. Do you do any meal prep or when it comes to nutrition even? Like what helps you there?

Dani:

Yes. I try to meal prep at least one thing on the weekend for my lunches during the week. So like, let's say it's a pork chop or it's taco meat or it's chicken, that way I have one thing. I have to less, I have less to think about throughout the week. do meal prep, at least one thing, and that's just for my lunches. I, my husband's listening to this, again, is such a diva and will not me meal prep dinners. They, he prefers them fresh. So you give and take. He helps laundry. I can at least cook you a meal at night.

Baylee:

You get a hot meal, I guess.

Dani:

That's right.

Brianna:

Huh? Do you? Okay, I'm gonna ask this'cause this comes up a lot. Moms are always like, where do you find the motivation? And for me, I have a hard time answering that because I don't really feel like a lot of these are motivation driven for me. A lot of days it's like, this is just something I'm choosing to do. I'm making it just what I do. I get up, I move, I try to move throughout the day. So how would you answer that if someone was like, how do you just have the motivation to do it?

Dani:

For me, it's all mindset. I, it's not really motivation. It's, I, my mind literally had to like click of, Hey, this makes me feel better. I know I'm gonna feel so much better if I just get up and go. And then I harp on, okay, today I didn't get up. It's nine o'clock. I have the kids in bed and I feel like garbage because I didn't get up and get my, you know, with my alarm and get my workout in. Like it's all mindset. Like, for example, the past couple weeks, my lunch, even though it's getting colder, which is unfortunate. I'm gonna eat my lunch for 10 minutes and then I'm gonna put on my weighted vest and I'm gonna go for a walk a couple laps around our building. That's all mindset. It's like, I know if I get these extra steps in, I'm gonna feel so much better in eight weeks. Like at the holidays when people are all asking me, oh, how'd you do it? How you look so good? How'd you lose the weight? Like, it's like all mindset shift. I want,

Baylee:

You just did it.

Dani:

yeah, I know. I will feel so much better in eight weeks if I just keep. Keep doing it. And it's not a for everything. It's not like something I have to do, you know, long term. I do think that weighted walks is extremely underrated,

Baylee:

Yes.

Dani:

A walk in general, but a weighted vest walk is like the hack no one knows about. I don't like, literally probably wouldn't even have to weight lift or cardio or anything if you were to put on a weight vest and just walk for 45 minutes a day. Like that just changed my life. It really did. that's a topic for another day, but. Super underrated, but I think it's like a, like I said, all mindset shift. You just have to, you have to know what you want and the goals that you want, and you know you're gonna feel so much better. It's not really motivation, it's not, honestly, it comes down to practicing your discipline muscle.

Baylee:

a lot of these things, I personally think this, it's. How we can do self-care. A lot of times we think about self-care in terms of like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna take a bubble bath with candles and all these things where I think moving your body, making sure you're eating, going to bed on time, all these different practices, they are true forms of self-care. So, and it sounds like you're doing that too. So what helps you re reframe? Like this is self care that doesn't feel selfish.

Dani:

Yeah. I think society has really twisted that

Baylee:

Yeah.

Dani:

social media and society has made that. Something completely different because self-care is, you know, maybe that's not drinking alcohol every night. Maybe not, you know what I mean? The things that they feed us and tell us that are gonna make us feel better, I mean, self, self care is exactly that, is care of. Your skin of, you know, your, your mental health, your physical health, it's way deeper than a bubble bath

Baylee:

Yes.

Dani:

in my opinion. Like and that's something we talk a lot about here. Like at first format our company is like,'cause at the end of the day, if we're gonna ask, you know, our customers to take our protein and work out, like we've gotta preach that to, we've gotta live that same life. It's not exactly easy, but it's simple. It's not, we don't have to overcomplicate it. It's

Baylee:

we're very good at doing. We That's what, so we were actually just talking about this because a lot of times Brianna and I are. What we're teaching to build foundations for people like these are not hard things. Eating three 30 grams of protein does not have to be hard, but it seems hard when you first get going because it's not a habit that you have in place. So it's a simple task that, that we're trying to make it harder than it is. We're like. You could go eat a pack of tuna and two hard boiled eggs and boom, you're at 30 grams of point. That wasn't hard. That was actually easy. We just kind of make it harder than what needs to be, I think sometimes too.

Brianna:

Yeah. Well, and I think too.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Dani:

need people like you tell because they don't know. Like I remember when I first got started and I was like, I have to eat 130 grams of protein. And I remember tracking it and being nowhere close. And I was like, how in the world am I supposed to do this? But like we said, if you just keep trying every day, you'll get a little bit better at it. And every single day it'll compound and soon you'll look back and be like, wow, look at Migo.

Brianna:

But that's it.

Dani:

didn't mean to interrupt you.

Brianna:

No people, but what you said is exactly it. Like, oh, if you just keep trying, you'll get there. I think people want to go from A to Z like right now and they want to, and that's just not how it works. And that's the unsexy thing is like, no, continue doing it. I'm not gonna wake up tomorrow, do a workout at five in the morning and then have a six pack and look amazing and fit into the jeans I wanna do, and just like love how I feel. Same with nutrition, same with all that. But you like work yourself to it. And I think for me, and this happened when I became a mom, it was that shift in perspective of like, maybe I'm working out today and moving my body to feel good so that I have the energy to actually keep up with my kids, not lose my mind. Like maybe it's not for that six pack right now. Eventually all of that comes as like a byproduct of like, oh, I'm looking better. Okay, great. I'm having that body composition change, but it's the. Maybe I'm just doing this so I feel good. Yeah. Eating 130 grams of protein feels overwhelming, but wow. I feel so good. When I'm energized and I'm nourished and I'm not snacky all day and I have the energy to do the things, like, I think that's what people miss is like that mindset shift of, what if I just do this to feel good? Mm.

Baylee:

Jane question, like how do you involve your family with your health goals or like your planning to meet those goals? Like you mentioned your husband and your kids, so. I mean, this is a common pain point too, of like, well, my husband, he doesn't want to eat a piece of broccoli. Like, okay, well then just make broccoli for yourself. Like we don't have to be weird about it. So how do you normalize things for your family, but also like involve them in what you wanna do?

Dani:

Yeah. I mean, just like you said, I'll cook my own something. It sucks in the time, like having to wash an extra pan or wash an extra dish. But at the end of the day, like. If I'm not hitting the goals that I wanna hit with the meal that they want, then I need to adjust that for me. And that's okay. I mean, my husband doesn't work out. He doesn't exactly eat like super healthy or anything like that, but he knows that it's important to me and that's what I like to do. So it's important to have a supportive partner of like. Let's say they don't work out. That's okay. Have the conversation though, like, just talk about it like it's, it's so funny how humans, we don't wanna have conversations that may or may not cause conflict and he knows that I like to work out and even if I don't get it in in the morning, it's kind of funny. My five-year-old, she's my kind of accountability partner and if she finds out I didn't work out in the morning, she'll be like, let's go down and work out. And so she'll go down there with me and I have, I have a gym at my house. And she'll go down there with me and work out and, but I won't use it as an excuse. And sometimes, sometimes she'll do the workout with me and you know, it's just her time to veg out and watch the iPad and that's okay. That's okay. Sometimes it's a little of both. Yeah, so a supportive partner. And then honestly, your kids can be your accountability. But yeah, like I said, I'll, I will cook my own whatever. I will meal prep something for me. And sometimes I'll, if I'm feeling a little extra nice, I'll meal prep something for him. But yeah.

Baylee:

I think like voicing your goals is an important part of it. Like, I don't know why we get so weird about this with our partners, our husbands, spouses, whoever it is, where it's like we're nervous to tell'em that we need a zucchini or we're like, We need time to work out. So I think just being able to communicate that because yeah, they can support you and you don't have to depend on them to like go to the gym with you. You could just go downstairs and work out by yourself, like be your own person. And like one thing I do, I try and put my workout times in our shared calendar so that way he knows like, yeah, you were supposed to work out this morning and you are not in bed. I'm like, well now that you called me out for that, I guess I will get my butt downstairs. So I think things like that can be helpful. And you also mentioned an important part where like he's not doing the exact same things that you are and that's okay. Like people ask me this all the time, like, does Josh just eat all these great meals? Because that's like what you're eating, like. He, he is an adult, like he can do whatever he wants. He is drastically improved what he does, but he, he doesn't lift anything. He doesn't eat exactly what I eat. I'm not here to be like a dictator of like, you must follow exactly what I wanna do. I have my goals. He has what he is doing. We incorporate what we can and it's fine. It doesn't have to be weird.

Dani:

Yeah. And then sometimes too, you can cook the exact same things, but make it somewhat different. So say I'm cooking spaghetti for the girls. Well, I can still use all those same ingredients, but just switch out the pasta for protein. Pasta like you can. And I think that's so intimidating when you're first getting started because you think you have to give up all your favorite foods, but you don't. You just need to out how to make them in a healthier way, which there's literally a hack for everything at point in our lives. There is a hack for everything. Even I literally, for the longest time, like when I, I actually did 75 hard a couple years ago, and I, I ate grilled cheese like almost every day and I made it work because it macros. I made it a little healthier. I included a extra protein side, like you can make anything work that you want to work, you have to figure out how to make it healthier and making those like different substitutes. But yeah. Then I would lean on your dieticians because I'm you guys have tons of recipe ideas and

Baylee:

Oh yes.

Brianna:

I think that is like not reinventing the wheel. Yeah.

Baylee:

Do you

Brianna:

a lot of pressure on

Baylee:

oh yeah. Do you have any like favorite time saving meals that you do like to include? Or let's say like, oh, you woke up late, because I'm sure that's probably happened, like would you, do you just skip a workout or do you have like a quick go-to that you're like, okay, I'm at least gonna get this in?

Dani:

Yeah. Honestly. If anything, I will get, I have a treadmill, so I'll put on my weighted vets and I'll get an incline walk if I'm like

Baylee:

Yeah.

Dani:

shut, like close on time.'cause sometimes too, my brain just doesn't wanna come up with a workout to do. And I'll sometimes refer to like the app that I use to come up with a workout for me.'Cause I really, I wanna get a good sweat on, I'm telling you what a weighted incline vest walk is so underrated. But for like meals in the morning, I'll do a protein bar or like a protein meat stick. I do that a lot. I also will make like protein hot chocolate or something like that, that really fills me up. I do have this chicken recipe that is so underrated and it's literally two ingredients where you take olive Garden dressing and you let it marinate your chicken overnight, like in a Ziploc bag in the fridge, and then you put it on the grill the next day. And I will eat that all week for work. It's so easy. It's literally two ingredients. There's no extra I need like. Dumb people recipes. Okay. I need like, so, so easy. I'm a horrible cook. I'm a horrible baker. I don't think my husband knew what he was signing up for, but I've come a long way. But this, honestly, it's so good. That's super easy. Macro friendly obviously because it's chicken. Trying to think of anything else. I rely on protein bars a lot and. To hit my protein goal.'cause like I said, you don't know you, you really don't know what you're eating until you track it. And then once you start tracking it, you're like, wow, way off where I thought I was.

Baylee:

Yes. Yeah. I always see protein low. I've seen it get better. I would say in this past year, like people are starting to be like, oh yeah, I do need protein.

Dani:

yeah.

Baylee:

But what I'm seeing now, we're really low on fiber. People are struggling with fiber and like full food fiber from fruits and vegetables. So that's been a big challenge for many of my clients right now.

Brianna:

yeah.

Dani:

I relate.

Baylee:

With kind of shifting gears a little bit, so how has like prioritizing your health changed how you show up at work or at home? Because like we talked about like, yeah, everyone wants aesthetic goals and that's also something weird that like people are. Almost like guilty to be like, I just wanna look hot and love myself in the mirror. I'm like, that's not a bad goal to have. Like I am totally okay with it. Like I would, I like to look in the mirror and be like, oh yeah, there we go. So yeah, like how has prioritizing your health helped? Just like with work and being at home?

Dani:

Especially when I get my workout in in the morning, I have such a clear head and I feel. So good throughout the day. And it's funny when it comes to bedtime, I know like when my body's tired and like I fall asleep, so easy, it sounds so silly. Like I could like crash out after the go to sleep. I could just crash out and go right to bed. Like my day I feel like just feels so, I don't know what the word is. Fulfilled, like clarity, clear. Like when I get movement in. It just like all the pieces that fits and it feels right. Whereas when I don't, I feel super sluggish. I feel more tired. Like getting up earlier, like it's so weird. Like the signs that your body gives you when you start giving it the things that it needs. Because when I did do 75 hard, like I got the little sleep, I was probably like five to six hours of sleep a night, which is.

Baylee:

Oh, no,

Dani:

It depends who you are. people, like my mom can function so well on like five hours of sleep every night. Like I'm, my sweet spot's like six, seven,

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Dani:

but I was getting such little But because I was, sorry, should eight? But because I was doing it for literally 75 days straight every single day, waking up at the same time every day. Yeah tired all day long. Like when I put my body in that very rigorous routine, like I felt so good and so great. It's so crazy. You give your body the things that it needs and it actually does what it's supposed to. Like what?

Baylee:

Yes. Yeah. Listening to that biofeedback.

Dani:

Yeah.

Brianna:

It's a weird

Baylee:

Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's almost like the day feels more purposeful. I definitely know weekends when like I don't purposely get up a little bit earlier where I'm like, eh, we'll just go sleep in a little bit. It's like my whole day just flies by, like I didn't get anything done and I like what happened here. So I think having that routine at U just show up differently in every aspect of your life.

Dani:

But if you're going from not working out and you're hearing this conversation. Of like, you wanna get started and you hear of us saying, saying things like, oh, it's, we have clarity and we're not tired, and blah, blah, blah, blah. It's gonna take you time to get there. You have to be consistent with it. Give yourself at minimum two, three weeks and then assess how you're feeling because I be back and be like, wow, I should have started this a long time ago. Like I, I think back to like my. Self before I found the gym and before I found love for fitness. And like I would listen to stuff like that and be like, yeah, that doesn't apply to me. Like there's no way you guys just have this, whatever it is. And I'll never be that until you give yourself. The opportunity and the chance to actually go forward and do, you know, do it. And then you look back and you're like, oh, that's what they were talking about. Like I get it. You know, it really does. It takes that mindset shift, like you were saying. It just takes that mindset shift to be able to give yourself the chance to, you know, try at least people don't try'cause they're afraid to fail. And it's so funny, like humans are hilarious. Really.

Brianna:

Or they think like it should be that instant gratification. Like, oh my gosh, this is the first morning I worked out. I feel amazing. Life change, like you're not gonna feel like that week one. I can can guarantee that, but you will eventually.

Dani:

That compounds. It's little tiny decisions that compound and then at the end of that, you know, two weeks or three weeks, it's like this big and you're like, oh wow. That really did make a big difference.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm. If you could go back and tell your younger self one thing about health, what would it be?

Dani:

Oh, it's not all about looks

Brianna:

God,

Dani:

not,

Brianna:

a good one.

Dani:

doesn't matter. Yeah. Your waistline. Doesn't matter. Your loose skin, it's okay. You're gonna get stretch marks. It's gonna happen. Doesn't matter. Like at the end of the day, like I said, I wanna be able to jump on the trampoline with my kids. I wanna be able to chase them in the yard without getting like winded. Like those things really do matter. It's like showing up for the people that matter the most in your life and being able to do that with, you know. Not getting tired and winded and feeling sore and you know.

Brianna:

Yeah, I think for me it's that not wanting to have to say no. Like I even look at, I can say this'cause my dad doesn't listen to my podcast, but he says no to a lot of things.'cause I know he's like, doesn't feel great in his body and he's a young grandpa. His oldest grandson is 12 and he just turned 60. Like he's not super old, but he'll be like, oh no. Like,'cause he is tired or like he's a hard time moving. Or like, I don't wanna be that. I wanna be like, yeah, let's do it.

Baylee:

Exactly. Like I want to be able to just continue to do things, and I think even before becoming a mom, I think a lot of it was like, I just want to. Stage nicely. I don't want to be fragile. I don't wanna be like, I don't wanna be this weak woman where I can't do anything and I have to call everyone over to do things for me. I want to live a long, high quality life. Like I don't wanna just live till I'm 90. I like wanna live till I'm 90 and actually do things. So I'm 90 and I think, yeah, kids are an extra little motivational piece. Like, okay, I also wanna keep up with my kids and I wanna be able to do. All these different things. My great grandma, I mean, she was in her nineties and before she passed away, like she would like be hula hooping and jumping rope and like dribbling a basketball literally up to like the week before she passed. And so I wanna be able to live like that. I don't wanna be just like sitting in a chair all day and my personality could not handle that either.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

I enjoy being up and moving and I've been in a spot where my. Brain wanted me to go, go, go. But like my body could not handle it because I was not taking care of my nervous system. I was not taking care of my meals, I was not working out, and it didn't feel good. And you're constantly feeling like you're fighting your body. So I think the more we can really dig into these internal, why do I wanna do this? Not just for how do I look in the mirror? What's the scale say? The more you're gonna commit to those pieces because it's like, eh. If I don't look great in the mirror today, oh well, we'll try again tomorrow. But it's like, you know what, no. If I do this today, I'm gonna function a lot better at work. When I function a lot better at work, I can help more people. When I help more people, I am building my business. My business builds, I'm getting more free time with my kids. So it's just like you said, it compounds all these different things. So having those deep rooted whys is what keeps you going and figuring out these systems and not just feeling like a victim to everything. Oh, can't do it. I'm a working mom. I can't do it.

Brianna:

We could do. Episode on that.

Dani:

I love this conversation. I love it.

Baylee:

yes. Any last bits of advice that you would give to anyone listening, whether they're a mom, not a mom getting started? Thoughts.

Dani:

Yes. If it was important to you, you would,

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Dani:

and you have to think about that like in every facet of your life. And sometimes that means like maybe I don't have the, you know, friendships that I used to have a long time ago, like maybe that doesn't fit my lifestyle anymore. Like, that's okay. That you know, like I said. If it's important to you, you would. So if it's important to you to feel healthy, then you would work out and you would choose to eat, right? If it's important to show up for your kids, then you would do that. Like for example, I save specific PTO to go in and do her Christmas party and her Valentine's party. Like if it's important to you, you would, and that has really helped me the buckets that I think are important to me in my life.

Baylee:

and I think it's okay to recognize some things are important to you that aren't important to others, and it doesn't really matter. It has to do with who you are as a person. And even with our clients, like they come and they're like. I didn't work out like we talked about, or I didn't get my protein goals. I'm like, okay, like I knew you'd be mad. I'm like, I'm not mad at you. What you do outside of our conversation that is on you. I'm here to give you the information. I'm here to help guide you, but you have to choose why you want to do this, not because Bailey said so.

Brianna:

I lay down at night. What you did that day does not impact me at all, and vice versa.

Baylee:

It always, it's always gonna impact you. And thinking about, like, I, I think nutrition and. Like nutrition and moving in general can be tricky because it's like, well, if I don't do it, like who's really, who's, yeah. Like we don't necessarily see that right away happen, but like if you don't pay your water bill, your water's gonna get shut off eventually. Like you get cut off. So we show up to work so that way we can pay our water bill. The same with our health. Like you have to show up. That way you can fill your tank up and you can handle life better and better each day. I think it's just harder'cause we don't physically see that happening right away. it's like you can physically see your water not turning on and not being able to take a shower that night.

Brianna:

I, if I had a dollar for every time an older patient or client was like, if I would've known then

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Brianna:

like,

Dani:

Yeah, you can't go back in time.

Baylee:

Do things now that like 50, 60-year-old you would really appreciate.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

It makes a difference. Thank you so much, Danny, for coming on. This was a great conversation. I like to kind of take a break from too much sciencey things and just talk. As you can tell, we enjoy talking and just having the conversation. So yeah, we appreciate you coming on.

Dani:

Yeah, I love this conversation, like I said, multiple times because I am a mom and I work and I relate, like it's such a relatable struggle that so many people go through and it's really hard to see online. Like people just doing it so Perfect. And I promise you they're not like they're just showing up. They're just up and they're trying, and I've said it multiple times on my social media, like, you have to give yourself grace and give yourself a chance. Just, just try. Yeah. If you wanna follow me on social.

Baylee:

Yes. Yeah. Where can people find you if they wanna keep up with you?

Dani:

Yeah. Design X, Danny. I share a lot of where I live, but I sprinkle in fitness every once in a while. We just, I like to share my story because it is relatable and I didn't really realize how relatable it was until I started sharing my story. And a lot of people just reaching out, being like, Hey, I'm doing the same thing. I do have a blog too. So if you're interested in any of that, you can find that all on my Instagram.

Baylee:

Yes. Perfect. Yeah, it's so fun just to be able to share things and you're like, okay, someone else kind of needed this. That's why I had a video recently of just like my workouts and. There was several people that commented like, oh my gosh, someone else that works out in unfinished basement, like the Dungeon Club. I'm like, yeah, your basement, your, I mean the goal, yes, I wanna build the gym in the basement, but like. Right now that's not happening. So we're gonna work out in the dungeon and it's gonna be akay. And so I think it's just these little pieces that we build up in our brain that hold us back. They don't have to hold you back, like go to your dungeon, go outside. Just do something. And it doesn't have to be beautiful. Like there are some really cool basement gyms out there that's not my gym, but I'm also not gonna wait for that to happen.

Dani:

If it's important to you, you will, whether that's a dungeon or gym membership or just getting some Amazon dumbbells and getting it in, in the, like, you don't need a lot. You really don't.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, honestly, just getting started, you can just use your body and that works.

Dani:

I, my top two things I always recommend to people is the dumbbells from. Which is a little bit of an investment. I think that's like 1.5, and then a weight vest with a I mean, those two things, you are set for life. Now. Eventually you build out your gym totally fine, but literally, if you have those two things, like you'll never have to buy anything. You wouldn't need a gym like that would pay for itself and just a couple years of a gym

Baylee:

Literally, yeah, we calculated that.'cause I was like, okay, if we both got a gym membership, it would cost this much a month. I'm like, we could just build our whole gym for that price. And now we have it for more than a year.

Dani:

Exactly. Yeah.

Brianna:

The best investment.

Dani:

So thank you so much for having me. This was such a fun

Baylee:

Yes.

Dani:

and yeah, I'm excited to keep listening and hear you.

Baylee:

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you everyone for listening and coming back to this week's episode. We will be back next week with a brand new topic. It'll be great.

Brianna:

We'll be here.

Baylee:

Yes, have a great week everyone, and you next week. Bye.

Contributor

Baylee

Host
Contributor

Brianna

Host