Fueled By Momentum w/ Dan and Elise

Misbah  00:00

Hey, welcome back to another episode of Inside The Mind, I am your host Misbah Haque. And before we dive into today’s episode, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by pod Mahal. They help people who have a purpose, they have something they want to share something they want to say, and they want to profit, but they want to do it without perfectionism. So get started on creating content for your business has never been easier. You literally show up, you speak your ideas into existence, and they take care of the rest, they are able to authentically preserve your voice. And translate that into Instagram posts or your own podcast on Apple and Spotify, or YouTube videos if that’s your thing. So check them out at pod mahal.com. And if you want to start a project, tell them we send you an email at [email protected]. Thanks so much for supporting the show. And without further ado, enjoy today’s episode.

Misbah  00:56

Dan and Elise, this is very exciting for me, because I’ve wanted to do this episode for quite a while with you. But in the time that it’s taken to a kind of get this scheduled, I’ve had such a chance to watch you grow ever since I’ve met you to now where Dan, you’re competing for is it Muscle and Fitness or Men’s health.

Dan  01:20

Muscle and Fitness

Misbah  01:26

Like it’s very fun to watch. And you fully deserve all this good stuff coming your way. I’ve been watching you guys on YouTube, a lot of your movement and your holistic mindset, I really just appreciate giving people a background, the power couple element that you bring to the table, where Dan, you really specialize in training and movement. And, Elise you are kind of the nutrition guru in a sense to where that’s exactly kind of what you need. I think when you work with people or you get to kind of consume, hey, this is how a momentum fitness or nutrition program works. Because there are so many out there, can you hear sorry about that in the background? There’s an emergency going on, apparently. But you really kind of see this with people, especially that look like I would say, Dan, all in this is what you do five, seven times a week, two hours a day. And people almost love that there are some people who want to put in that work. And it’s like, it’s a two way to do it. But I really, really, really appreciate how both of you take on this like, little bite-size and momentum mindset, I think you call it to where I don’t know if there’s just something different that maybe after your burnout on that a little bit like I know, at least for me, I crave that type of wellness, mindset or philosophy behind it. So I don’t know what you did that sounds kind of accurate in terms of what you’re exploring and what you’re up to. Because you’re doing this everywhere. You’re not just doing on YouTube, you’re doing on your own podcast called The Deep Life. You’re doing it on Instagram. And so I’m really excited to have you on and share some of your concepts with people today.

Elise  03:24

Thank you for having us. We are so excited to join you too. But I think you hit it right on the head. I’ll probably have Dan explain a little bit more interesting. But it’s we develop momentum, strength wellness, which is the name of our company, kind of just to defy the odds of the fitness industry. And simply we’re not trying to place blame on them or knock them because we’re a part of it. We’re in the health space. But we wanted people to really understand what it meant to live a healthy, well-rounded life without spending hours in the gym and counting macros every day of their life because there’s a time and place for that. But just as you said, it burns people out really quickly and it burned the both of us out really quickly. So we can be a voice of reason if we can show people or at least give them tools to help them sustain their health and wellness in a much quicker timeframe. And we did get the tickets are really time to get here.

Dan  04:24

It’s been kind of a lifetime’s worth of experience kind of coming together. And what we think is basically that we can save people, the burden of our mistakes, mistakes that we made and kind of get a little bit of a shortcut to building momentum.

Misbah  04:41

I really appreciate that about you guys. Because you do put yourself through a lot of these experiments and a lot of what you do preach you are absolutely practicing. And so it’s always fun to watch that kind of documentation from somebody. I would say what did things kind of look like for both of you? When you were a little like, right before you kind of got burnout, what was the regime? I mean, I’m sure in some ways, maybe it helped you write the can macro counting or whatever you did in the gym, Dan, like, did it contribute to how you look today how you feel today? And what did that day-to-day kind of grind look like for you? Were you stressed out? Or were you handling it pretty well? I mean, what kind of flip the switch? 

Dan  05:31

For me and kind of like what you mentioned before, I trained because I love it. I’ve always loved fitness since I was like eight or nine, I was like a little kid doing push-ups before bed. Like it’s just, it’s just like I got into it at a young age, I’ve always really, really liked it. And my background was kind of through like sports and performance I played, played tons of sports growing up, I played college football. So my training was always like bigger, faster, stronger, you there’s always more you can always do more, you can always do more. And I pushed myself really, really hard. And even though like I did love it like those days in the gym, were still like it was a lot of fun. And I look back fondly on being in the weight room in college with a bunch of big meatheads and lifting real, real heavy. But eventually, like my body kind of started to break down, I injured my shoulder, I injured my back, there were always lingering pains, there was always something like my elbow would hurt or my wrist would hurt a shoulder. And I wasn’t giving I wasn’t I never fully healed from any of my injuries. So I injured my back and it lingered for years. I injured my shoulder and lingered for years. And it started like just it’s I started to realize it like the point like especially like once my athletic career was over, and I was getting into training and coaching people then are still almost like pushing myself to that level. And not fully recovering well never just improving, I was staying the same. And then the pain was also staying the same. And it just didn’t make sense that I would be the point of going to the gym every day was to get better. And I was going and I was working really hard putting in a lot of effort. I’m thinking about it. When I wasn’t there, I was kind of obsessing with it. But that wasn’t getting better. I was getting more pain kind of like stiffer and slower. And I was just I was getting like big and strong. I looked muscular. 

Misbah  07:27

Injuries are such a way to highlight kind of like what’s important to you. And it’s funny how to like, when you’re not injured, you don’t necessarily you can’t connect to that emotion of what it’s like to like, not get out of the car without paying or like vacuum your house and things like that. I know for me like what this reminds me of was my wrist I had this wrist injury from doing a lot of snatches. I was competing and weightlifting. And it never likes it’s such a sensitive area that it doesn’t matter how strong everything else is, if your wrist is a little jacked up, you feel it. Especially with barbell stuff. And I competed on it for months and months, I would just tape it up like I had it looked like I had a cast on and I would just keep going. And it was one of those things where after I was done competing as well. And I was like, why am I still like doing this? Because now you’re right when I was coaching and teaching a lot. I didn’t like that my wrist was getting in the way from demoing movements or stuff that was just like, dude, like, what, how did this happen? So I totally understand that, how about you at least what did things kind of look like, on your end?

Elise  08:39

 I do not get me wrong, I love to work out. It’s definitely enjoyed mine. It’s a release of stress and anxiety where I can have that like the peace of mind for the 45 minutes or an hour that I’m working out. But for me the burnout really came with food in my relationship to it because I had always been someone who struggled with self-worth for so long and I used food as a comfort. And I used it so much that I developed an eating disorder in college and it lasted nearly 12 years of my life and I basically allowed it to control me. And even when I began our fitness and health journey, I was still in the height of my eating disorder. But I almost used it in a different way where I got addicted to like my fitness pal where I was excessively counting calories and macros to the point where if I didn’t hit my calorie intake by the end of the night I would go into like an apple. And it just that’s not the mindset that I wanted to live my life through at all because I was allowing food to control me and I was getting so overwhelmed and so defeated by what I was using as comfort as opposed to really like digging deep within myself to real Lies why I was using this as a clutch instead of handling my own emotions. So that really was my driver to become a nutrition coach because I once I began diving deeper into more of the psychological issues and what was causing me to be so unhappy and to use food, kind of abuse it almost in a way, I was able to wrap my head around how food can really be empowering. And food can be information, food can be a community, food can be medicine for your body, if you’re able to tap into the resources that is available to you, as opposed to abusing it, I was almost abusing it like a drug, unfortunately. And I just at one point, I mean, I hid my eating disorder from Dan for so long, because I was petrified to tell really anyone. And at one point, I just threw my hands up. And I said to me, I was like, I need you to help. I can’t, I can’t live my life like this anymore, I’m gonna die. So we sat down, and that’s where kind of his years of knowledge and kind of diving deep into all holistic aspects that were fitness, nutrition mindset. Breathing properly connecting to nature and stuff, he was like, Alright, we’re gonna sit down, we’re gonna get you metabolically correct. Because I had messed up my digestive system so much, I was a complete metabolic-like, mess. And he just like, Thank God that he had the knowledge that he did, over almost like a decade worth of this. And within 30 days, we had a plan. And from that moment, I just, I instantly felt my purpose in life, like the kind of come to life, and I was able to dig myself out of this hole. And even though I hadn’t told anyone about this, like a horrific journey I went through until recently, I certainly am at the point where it’s encouraging that I’m happy to speak about it, and I’m happy to coach on it. It’s not necessarily the only people that we coach have eating disorders by any means. But I have a better outlook, I have a more sensitive understanding of people and why they want to become healthier, eat a certain way, and I feel I’ve been able to bring a really unique aspect. In coaching, it was definitely more…

Misbah  12:23

Let’s talk about the hole a little bit, because that is someplace that I just admire so much that you were able to, because it’s it’s kind of a cycle, right? And it’s when you’re in a place like that. It sounds so easy when we’re maybe talking about it on a podcast, but to realistically implement, like, oh, yeah, fix your metabolism and do these things. It was it’s a grind when you’re feeling like that every step of the way. And so I’m curious, especially with maybe your with your eating disorder, maybe there was like an all or all or nothing type mindset, the same way competitors and performers also have, like, all or nothing type thing, right? And so, how did you? How did you? Did you just go all in on the metabolic thing? And you’re like, I’m gonna fix this, or did you? How did you make that jump from being kind of like, Alright, I’m in this whole, too. Now. I need to like, get out of it. How do I actually do this? Because I’m sure it wasn’t smooth.

Elise  13:27

When I was in (inaudible) I was basically living a double life, when you think about it, because I was hiding what I was doing with eating and binging. And I was still working out regularly. I was active, I was doing things. But it’s so strange to think like, I wasn’t like really skinny by any means. So I had already known something was off. And I just got to the point where I was so tired. I think I can’t live my life like this. At that point, though, because this happened, maybe gosh, probably like six or seven years ago, I didn’t I was fully doing real estate at that time. We didn’t have momentum as a company. I wasn’t ingrained in nutrition or nutrition coaching. Dan was a personal trainer and he was beginning all of his hardcore lessons and research on the human body. And that’s where it is because I said I know that I can’t I know I can’t heal this myself. And I need you I need your expertise to get me out of this hole.

Misbah  14:30

I’m sure it’s different being a couple possibly to, in terms of how you have maybe like, how you had to separate yourself from the situation or I don’t even know but walk me through what kind of went through your head as you’re maybe now designing a plan to help.

Dan  14:45

So it was definitely like it was a weird, challenging time. And then there’s really really like when at least finally like asked for help, was like really exciting kind of, because they knew it was possible. I had to do, like do a lot of research and figure out a plan and figure out how to put things in motion that would be useful for her. And she had to put a lot of trust in me and trust in the process, which is huge, because I mean, up to them, like everything had been about control. So is the point where like, she needs to trust me and kind of give up a little bit of control. And we just tried to really, really, like simplify things, start eating much better quality food, and then kind of play around with different amounts of calories and the different macros that she was getting. And just kind of sit down was like cyclically, so she’d have, like few weeks where she should train really hard, but at the same time, she’d eat a lot more than she was. And then for two weeks, would pull back and make the workouts a lot easier. And when we did that would also pull back on the food and like, Okay, now like, it’s gonna be two weeks of eating fewer calories. But we’re in the process, we kind of training your body to be a little bit more metabolically flexible, and to be able to, to go between eating higher calories for two weeks, anything lower calories for two weeks, and separating the harder workouts. So if she would, there’s never a time where she was working hard and not eating well, because that’s what she had been doing. And that’s what was causing problems. So hormonally, she was kind of a wreck, her body was just gonna, like, not able to handle the demands he was putting on it because the food wasn’t there. So it’s almost like you’re gonna, you’re gonna have two weeks where you don’t need to eat a lot. And that’s, and that’s fine, but you’re not allowed to train hard. But then when it’s time to train hard, you need to feed your body so that you can build muscles so that you can just be strong.

Misbah  16:53

So that’s kind of like your permission to train because you’re because for, for a lot of people understand that like, oh, man, I gotta train. I gotta work out like that feeling. But like, there’s a whole community of people, once you’re in that fitness-like world, and you’re an enthusiast and you love it, you see how much it works? Like, you do? Really, that is a big motivator. And when your body can’t keep up with it, that’s like, the biggest time where I’m sure you’re like, Alright, fine, I’ll do it, I’ll eat more, you know?

Elise  17:29

And that was a, it was brutal. For me, I was like, within the first two weeks, I really needed to, like pull back, he was like, we’re gonna get you like, you’re only going to eat 1000 calories. And all you’re going to do is like some yoga and some bodyweight stuff, which is so not typical of me whatsoever. Because I was grinding, like, the harder that I can work out means like, the more weight I’m going to lose, and yeah, eating less. So it completely flipped my mind. But I’m so glad for that those 3045 days that we implemented this because it gave me a new perspective on what my body could do, I finally let my body almost heal itself, because our natural state is true. Well, being your body doesn’t want to be sick and broken and in pain is a teacher, right? You can really understand that. And so after those 30 days, I just it, it blew my mind the results that I got, I felt like I I lost so much weight and gained so much confidence within that timeframe. I’ve never, ever wanted to go back to my eating disorder since that. And it’s been like, it’s been the most rewarding thing. And I only keep getting better and better. I feel like not trying to toot my own horn here. But I just I really, I could have never told you this or never could have had this conversation even maybe two or three years ago, but I just am in such a better place. And I’m so happy to voice this. If I can reach one person and say, Hey, I see you I understand you like eating disorders really aren’t something that people talk about. It’s very taboo. So regardless of whether or not you want to share your story, if I can just be a beacon of hope or someone to show that you can get out of this for over a decade…

Misbah  19:18

It’s one of those things that or when you are starting from a point of like freshness, right? So let’s say like a new device, a new iPhone or something completely clear. You’ve got all the space to use it or whatever verses like, you have an older iPhone, one that’s fully clear and full of space and then you have an older iPhone that has all the stuff on it and it’s operating really slow and it doesn’t know even what it wants to do. Right. So there is a way where when I it sounds like what happened is the metabolic reset allowed you to start from a fresh starting point that was kind of like oh, I Can I have where the fuel the whatever goes on neurologically chemically to actually, like, it’s maybe the series of decisions, right, I can make this decision I feel better or more energetic to say, all that stuff. So I can totally see how that maybe it like almost like a whole 30 type approach where you feel so good after it. And it took so much hard work that you’re like, sometimes you’re like, I don’t want to go back to what I was doing. Or I want to hold on to this level of discipline or whatever I’ve built. But what I want to hear a little bit more on is when you said you went to 1000 calories for two weeks, and you didn’t train as much as you’d like. What I’m sure that was intentional. Dan, would you say that? Like, at that time? If if if you were not training as much, and you were still eating whatever it was before, like 2000? Or during the higher training periods? What would be the reason that you maybe wouldn’t do that? Is it too? Is it to train your system to get kind of get by on 1000? And because he also maybe doesn’t need it, it’d be accessing? Or would it be would you recover faster? If you ate more during the low training periods or something?

Dan  21:25

I think that the issue would be, like I said, I didn’t want her to be surplus is and like, like I said before, she had to put a lot of trust in the program. So if we two weeks in and she’s gaining weight, that is not going to work. So a big part is like, there needs to be a calorie surplus there. But well, while there’s a surplus, we’re not going to beat down your body. So that it is able to, like you said, like recover and heal itself. So we took I took away the exercise.

Misbah  21:59

What are the signs to look out for, I guess, to where if you are training hard, and you’re like, your metabolism is just not responding correctly? Like what? How do you know that like, oh, I should have been recovered by now? Or why am I so sore? What’s my brain fog is kicking in. I don’t know, what do you see as signs of like, okay, metabolically, you might be a little worn down. I don’t know if something’s jacked up. But like, you’ve done some, because I felt this too when I was competing for a while. And also just like, maybe at that time, like, the beginning of a career business where you’re just like, hard, you’re not sleeping much, you’re just completely destroying your body. But like, after I felt that from afterward where you’re like, okay, something’s not right. And so what are some of those signs that you may encourage people or you’re like, Hey, keep an eye out for this, because it’s not like, it’s something that it’s like, won’t happen to people, it’s like through your life, you might have times after a big job after a big relationship ending or some something who knows, whatever it is, like these things, stress your body, and we might all encounter at some point, a time to reset. So what is that? What do you look out for?

Dan  23:24

I think so some big ones to pay attention to would be like, exhaustion. If you’re going to just sleep and wake up and you’re still tired. There’s a major problem. You mentioned brain fog before, and that’s another one and you just like, can’t seem to focus. You kept me up forgetting things. Like all of a sudden, you start forgetting things all the sudden, you just I can’t remember, can’t figure out what’s going on, you’re just not you don’t feel like you, that’s always a good sign that something’s wrong. Like achiness, like pain, pain, and inflammation is a big ones. So not like, not specific to one spot. But maybe like, all your joints are a little achy or like your back, like just your body just not feeling like a lot of these, you need to kind of be intuitive, right? Listen and know your body. And you can notice those kinds of things. Another one is mood swings. There’s also kind of falls into like, You’re not yourself, but whether it’s whether you’re just like all of a sudden getting really sad or really angry, if you’re irritable. It’s another one that could be could be a result of metabolic dysfunction. Because our hormones are tied so closely to the food that we’re putting into our body. And kind of the way we exert ourselves and how we’re working. So if our if hormonally were off, then we’re not going to be able to get good quality sleep, we’re not going to be able to clear away inflammation, we’re not going to be able to.

Misbah  24:50

You’re saying that like this process took 30 days, for somebody like you were saying you for 12 years or something like that. This was you are saying like, Oh, and it took it took 30 days like, does that differentiate for people? Does it take longer for some and shorter for others? What’s the timeline? Kind of like, it sounds like 30 days is like a tried and true.

Elise  25:17

For like when we put our clients through, like this metabolic reset that we say is like three weeks, it’s specifically designed for weeks, you that’s all it takes to at least get your gut and the gut microbiome to be back to kind of normal or to regulate itself to have like, it’s homeostasis, but everybody’s gonna be different depending on their age, their gender, women, and men are very different. We do like women hormonally have a lot more going on than men do. So gender does affect it. But after that, once we get people through the four weeks,  the 30 days, then we slowly begin implementing more foods that they like back into their diet, because when I say like, I was eating very minimal like I was really just eating plants, animals, and meats like I had absolutely zero alcohol, nothing processed whatsoever. And that’s, I mean, that in itself is amazing for your health and your digestive system. But that’s not sustainable for me, I like to go out and by myself, we’re not machines. So it’s just really that’s where the slogan comes in, right? Building the momentum, it’s like really just taking the small steps after the metabolic reset, to begin introducing things back into your system. And what we realize too, is when we eliminate really highly processed foods and toxic foods from people’s diets, introducing those foods back in, it’s automatically going to make people not want to, so quit, they can quickly realize like, oh, wait a minute, okay, so I can’t eat in and out all the time anymore. And that’s what’s really rewarding. It’s like, that’s amazing. You never want to deprive people of that. But once you get your metabolism on point, you’re able to digest foods and quickly realize like, Oh, nuts, and beans really don’t work well for me. So it’s kind of like a puzzle piece finding what’s going to work for certain individuals, because everybody’s different, and everybody requires different. 

Dan  27:29

And be clear, like after like the 30-day, metabolic reset. It’s not over. It’s just like, that’s a really good starting point. Yeah. And then from there, you can, things are kind of back online a little bit, and you can start building that building momentum. So it’s really not, it’s not just like, Do this 30 Day Fix, and then you can just go right back to eating donuts, for breakfast and pizza for dinner, then you’re just gonna end up with the same problems again, and you wasted 30 days where this is an opportunity to, to reset and some people want to just repeat the same program. Some people adapted, like at least still kinda eats in a similar way, in alignment, get some information in alignment with her like hormone cycles, where it’s like, it’s usually it’s gonna be two weeks, whereas ramped up in two weeks where it’s a little slower. I do the same day I kind of intuitively will just if I start to feel, feel rundown, I feel like I’m not myself. I’ll pull back a little bit. I’ll ease up on the training or eat a little bit less. Yeah, basically, anytime I back off on training on it also back off on eating. And the difference is usually carbohydrates. Like I’ll eat, I’ll eat more fruit and more carbohydrates during periods when I’m training really hard. And then if I’m gonna pull back…

Misbah  28:48

What would you say that momentum-like building thing after was because like, in and of itself, I’m sure it was tough to go like for some people even like, okay, no processed at all. You’re like, alright, that’s a whole adjustment. I go, What do I actually eat? You got to figure that out? Was that part? Like tough for you? Within the 30 days, what did you use to kind of build momentum and stick to it? And then after the 30 days, what was your like, alright, well, I’m not gonna do it that hard, but like, here’s what I’m taking with me, you know?

Elise  29:23

It definitely was a change. We weren’t eating a bunch of processed foods because the health journey that we were on kind of for years prior in the research that we were doing, we just realize that processed foods aren’t the best for use and when we certainly eat them, yeah, that was a complete shock for me, but when I stopped training, or at least minimize the training, and I hit it at this point, with the metabolic reset, I was counting my calories and measuring the food. And it was a lot actually like having a cup like two cups of vegetables. At five or six ounces of protein, it was a lot, especially when you’re not working out because working out is obviously ramping up your metabolism and you need much more fuel to help your muscles recover. But I was so full and satisfied for like the first week of doing this, that I was barely even finishing what I had on my plate. And that in itself is a mental thing for me, especially with food because I was letting food control me for so long that I was realizing wow, I don’t have to finish everything on my plate, and I’m able to be satisfied. And then when I began increasing the calories and doing more workouts, I could feel my system kind of beginning getting back on track and I was hungry or I was able to eat more, I was able to incorporate more fruits, and we were putting like more whole grains in the last two weeks. It was like, Okay, this is great, I felt so much more energized, I didn’t feel lethargic, I felt like I could think properly. And after that, because I had felt so good. And I had already seen my body like transform and like a lot of the Bloat and inflammation go away within that 30 days. It was like I don’t want to stop here. Like I didn’t want to continue, I didn’t want to do the same metabolic reset for the next three days. It’s almost counterintuitive because I had already gotten my metabolism where I needed it to be. So that’s when I began adding things in we would have like our, our cocktails on Saturday night, and there would be like a one, like, I hate your cheat meal. But like that, I know your audience will know that was like a cheat meal, like whether we go out to dinner, or we go out for drinks and appetizers, but then we come home and make dinner. So it’s really compromising I didn’t want to go full force of like, yeah, okay, I’m gonna treat myself with donuts five days a week. No,for me, food is something that I am learning to respect. And to have a relationship with it that I know is going to nourish my body as opposed to just like knowing, right or status. Where it was, it was so it’s so important. So yeah, he’s just really implementing little things.

Dan  32:11

That’s been going on now for like eight years, seven years, where we just think, like, looking back at what we ate two years ago, I thought, Wow, I can’t believe I was eating that. Just slow progression where like, at least like once you start to feel better. When you realize how good you can feel, then you just want to keep feeling better. So I think a huge part of like building momentum for, for me, especially I think for both of us, has been keeping finding like what’s the next thing that can just help? Well, yeah, feel better. So we expect experimented with a bunch of different ways of eating, we’ve done keto for 30 days, keto for 90 days, you’re like a carnivore, we’ve eaten like tons of vegetables, you didn’t talk very little vegetables you didn’t know. Jerry was like, we’ll cut things out for a little while and then introduce reintroduce them and take up. Do I feel better without it or don’t feel better with it and just paying close attention to how we feel and perform when different foods have been a huge gigantic growing?

Misbah  33:16

Well, one, it seems like if you’re doing it right, you almost don’t notice it. In the moment. It just kind of like becomes your normal. Yeah. And when you fast forward and look back, you’re like, oh, wow, things have really changed. That’s kind of that’s maybe a caveat that to pay attention to with like momentum, or habit building or small actions and stuff is like part of it that we let feeling we want of like, I want everything to be different my whole life to be different, just because I’m like, now counting my calories or whatever that next small step is for you. It doesn’t always happen like that. So it’s almost just knowing that like, Okay, I may not notice it, but it is happening. It’s all kind of working the same way as processes inside our body are happening. And we don’t know we can’t see it happening. But we kind of know, right? Yes, right. So there is that I’m sure. But then the other thing I found interesting was how you have tested so many things over the years. From all of that keto, carnivore. Just all the stuff you mentioned what I mean, I’m just curious, what was your surprise? Were you surprised by anything like that worked better that you didn’t expect to what was kind of the learnings from that experiment? 

Elise 34:38

Keto, for me, blew my mind, because, with the keto diet, you’re really just eating fat. And I think we kept it to between 25 and 50 grams of carbohydrates a day, which, for people who don’t know like that is like, not a lot of carbohydrates like you Vegetables, carbohydrates, which like carrots, like we, I would only be able to eat like one carrot. And I thought like, how on earth? Is this going to either help me lose weight? Or how is it going to affect my mood? And I mean, when I say that was probably the best shape I had ever been in, in my life, like, inches dropped down. And I’m not we’re not people who weigh ourselves, but I could just feel like my clothes were falling off. We, I just I saw the definition happen so quickly. And I will say it’s not great. For your digestive, right? There’s an adjustment period for needing to go to the bat.

Misbah  35:43

But you do adjust. You do come out on the other side?

Dan  35:47

Which is usually like, like a week or two different people…

Misbah  35:51

That’s good to know.

Elise  35:52

But through that, and again, just kind of like my addictive personality with food, and after keto, after doing it for three months. And I felt amazing. I’ll let Dan tell his portion after this. But I was like, I’m just gonna continue this off. And that was a huge mistake. That was a huge mistake of mine. Like no one told me not to do that, especially where I think that the fitness industry, like I feel like women are coming up in the fitness industry a lot more. But it’s very male oriented and geared towards men, and a lot of keto, a lot of fasting studies, all done on met. Fasting is very different from women and Tito’s again, very different for women because we’re made up different Remita hormonally very differently. So after three months of keto, and I kept it going for like weeks and months after I like gained that weight back. It was so strange, and I was like what’s happening and that’s where I was like, Okay, this has happened before I needed to take a deep breath and I just started reintroducing a little bit more carbs a little bit more like raw organic honey, and eating a lot of fruits, all things that were naturally carbohydrate it and natural sugars back in. And the weight dropped like that. It’s almost like I needed to get my macros.

Dan  37:11

Everything works sometimes, it works every time. Like keto is an amazing tool. I highly, highly suggest it to people but know that it’s a tool. And it’s probably like, I’d say, like 30 to 90 days is probably as long as one or two it at a time.

Misbah  37:27

Is there any protocol you found that was longer than that you could do or that’s more sustainable? Or were they all kind of like, okay, 30 to 90 days, then kind of go back to something normal and maybe come back to it. But like, don’t.

Elise  37:43

A lot of people and like what we did not to interrupt you was jump from like, keto to carnivore because it’s a really kind of seamless transition or carnivore. You’re really just eating like meat, and steaks, and heavy ground.

Misbah  37:59

And you did that one too.

Elise  38:02

We did. And that was great as well, that we only did for a month, just simply because it made us feel great. I mean, the fuel sources from protein and fat, like you need that for brain development. And I could feel it. But again, I just like I enjoy fruits, and I enjoy having vegetables and like I enjoy having yogurt and kefir and things like that. And like, knowing that it can be cyclical, though. It’s like, Alright, I’ve done this before. So I know that if I just need to do carnivore for 30 days to just reset my brain and have a be different. It’s great. I know I can go back to it.

Dan  38:42

To go back to your question earlier about the one thing that blew our minds the most burning is how great I felt not eating vegetables. Because I had, like, up to that point. I have been obsessed with eating vegetables out eat tons and tons of especially like green leafy vegetables.

Misbah  39:01

We’d be having smoothies, like, at least once been infused with these green juices. 

Dan  39:07

And then even when we first started experimenting with like, going into ketosis, it was like how can we only have 50 calories of carbs. How can we squeeze as many vegetables as we can and then try out like a strict month of carnivore and it really really felt amazing got really really lean and when I started reintroducing vegetables like immediately started floating again and started feeling achy is like is very gassy. Like there’s something to the so like vegetables Wow inflammatory that was really really interesting because I like you’d hear people say that and like hear like the Paul Saladino so the world talking about it. And like Yeah, yeah, but I suppose vegetables are good for you. And then after 30 days of vegetables and eating like some broccoli and just do not feel well. This is terrible and like felt like I was getting fat and bloated it just wasn’t as lean.

Misbah  40:05

I thought, how do you I guess what, how are you getting all your fat? On something like keto? Was it just more meat-like just a ton more meat and basically no vegetables?

Dan  40:18

A lot of like very fatty meat and a lot of butter.

Elise  40:23

A lot about a lot of like avocados, coconut oil, dee, like we just tried to supplement it with like the fat like, I do want to preface to like if you’re trying a keto diet or carnivore, like the meats have to be of the utmost quality, like have to be sustainable and pasture-raised. Because you can’t unfortunately be eating low-quality meats and low-quality fat, it’s going to have the reverse effect, it’s going to only cause more harm to your body. You want it to be from regenerative farms, grass-fed grass-finished beef.

Misbah  40:57

I think I learned so much today around just like metabolism and just little things that I didn’t know. And so I want to like where, because I’m sure you talk a lot more on this and specialize a little bit in that area. Your Podcast, where can we find that? And where are some other places that you guys were active and maybe exploring holistic wellness and metabolism and all this stuff momentum on a bit of a deeper level?

Elise  41:29

So our podcast is the deep life by momentum where we dive deep into all aspects of health and wellness and kind of spirituality mental like stress anxiety, you can find that on any major platform, Apple, Spotify, Google, all the all the podcast platforms. And then our company momentum, strength and wellness, we’ve got a website, if anybody wants to check that out. We’re very active on social media and our handles for Facebook, Instagram, as well as YouTube, which is the platforms that we’re most active on is at momentum strength, and wellness, we always try to convey to whether it be our followers on social media, our clients or friends and family, people who know us that we’re not your typical fitness coaches and nutrition coaches, because we really try to dive deep podcasting into the why, why do you want to become healthy? Why do you want to lose 30 pounds? Or why do you want to have a PR and deadlift depending on what that is? And I think through the momentum method coaching that we do, because when we first started coaching, it was Dan and I can get you shredded, we can get you ripped, we’ll give the nutrition plans and the fitness programming all day long. But we found out was, those 23 hours that you’re not spending in the gym are the hours that are going to aid in the sustainability and the longevity of your life. And we were kind of doing a disservice to our clients when we first started coaching because we didn’t realize that there’s so much more to our life than just food and fitness. Now, of course, that’s what we do. But it’s really how we dive deep with our clients on sleep quality, and proper breathing techniques, which is huge. The majority of people don’t even know how to breathe properly, which flows over into every aspect of their life, whether it be communication, sleep, or optimal training in the gym. And then it’s developing like a mindful meditation practice because food and fitness is such a great outlet, but like to Dan and Mize experience like I abused food, Dan abused the gym to the point where he didn’t want to work out anymore, I couldn’t sustain the way I was eating anymore. So really, as we developed and we grew on our health journey, and things began kind of clicking, clicking and puzzle pieces were fitting for us, we were able to in turn really help our clients figure out deep down what was going on. Like why internally, they felt they need to look a certain way or act a certain way so that we can kind of deconstruct their mental aspect to help them grow to become the best.

Misbah  44:19

 I really love that. So what did you find? Because you have gotten to converse with a lot of people on this on their way, especially with people that are coming kind of into your world and wanting to build momentum and learn about some of these things. Has there been a through-line? I mean, I’m sure everybody is different. But was there kind of something you were surprised by like, wow, everybody says they want to look good. 

 Elise  44:43

I mean, everybody’s different for sure. I think you remember a couple of people as I remember, there was a girl we were coaching a few years ago and we were giving her nutrition plans we were giving her workouts and I would text her like we’re accountability coaches. We’re all therapists, unwittingly to that sense. And I remember she was giving you really snappy responses. And I just I said to her what’s going on, like, you have to like, Tell me what’s going on. I am just going to be your friend for the next like 20 minutes like tell me what’s going on and she just unleashed a bunch of like, family stuff that was going on with her mom, and then she had told you that boyfriend cheated on her and it was just like, light bulbs, light bulbs going off with okay, this is making more sense as to why you’re acting this way.