Transcript: The Truth About Fad Diets, Fitness Goals, and Why There's No Finish Line
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Ashley introduces the Q&A format and answers what she would tell her August 2023 self who walked out of her first Zumba class after 15 minutes — mainly to listen to the instructor and not believe everything she thought about needing extreme diets.
What would I say to the girl in August, 2023? Listen to the instructor and do what she says. What's up you guys, famous Ashley Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. I got some more fun questions and I thought, you know what? Let's do another Q &A day. It's fun getting these questions and then answering them because some of the things that I have even forgotten about. I'm able to reflect on and then kind of just give you guys the raw and real answers.
So one of the questions I got was, what would you say to the version of yourself who walked out of that first Zumba class after 15 minutes? So this is related to the fact that I had mentioned that in August, 2023, whenever I took my very first Zumba class after 15 minutes, I was completely winded and could not handle the class. And I had to walk out. So if I could go back and talk to that girl, I would say to her, listen to the fitness instructor. Just do what she says because she's right. And I hate admitting sometimes when people are right, especially whenever I don't want to do what they tell me to do. But yeah, if I had just listened to her that day when she said you can do more than you think you can, I probably would be a lot further along in my fitness journey and have met a lot more of my goals much sooner than I have now. I also probably would tell that girl that don't believe everything
you think. Because I believed a lot of things back then. I thought I had to go into a crazy calorie deficit. I thought I had to go down to significantly less calories than I was consuming. I thought I had to diet really hardcore. I thought I had to completely change everything about myself. And the reality is that what I really needed to do was just start putting in the work. The problem with fad diets and dieting in general is that they don't last. And whenever you start looking at life from a perspective of, OK, well, I just won't eat this week. You know, you fail.
You set yourself up to fail. So if I could go back to August 2023, Ashley, and tell her anything, I would say stay the course. You know, even if you have to walk out after that 15 minutes, just take a breather and then go back in. Like, that's one thing I do kind of regret is that. After that 15 minutes, I didn't even just come back immediately, and I really should have. Okay, another question that came in, and I find this one kind of interesting. It was, how has getting fit changed how you show up in other areas of your life, such as work, relationships, and creativity?
Ashley describes how working out cleared her mental block, generated new content ideas, and gave her more confidence to pitch creative assignments to clients.
Believe it or not, it has actually helped a lot in terms of creativity because I get more ideas than I had. So I was starting to come to a mental block creatively. And I have to say that because of the fact that I was starting to work out, it was starting to make my mind clear up a little bit. It was starting to help me like just take a breather and get really clear on some things. And so creatively, it's helped a lot. And because what I do for a living is creative work, it's helped me big time in terms of work. It's given me some really fun. ideas for content. And so I've pitched those kinds of things to clients, I've had a lot more confidence to ask to do some of the assignments that I want to do. And so that's been that's been helpful as well. In terms of relationships, it's also helped me there because I'm, I'm a very, I'm what you call an introverted extrovert. And what I mean by that is, I love
Ashley talks about being an introverted extrovert who was becoming a hermit working from home, and how fitness classes helped her feel part of a community again — including joining a pool league and scheduling calendar reminders to check in on people.
being around people, I get a real kick out of like hanging out with people. And in that respect, I'm very extroverted. But it comes to a point where I'm like, okay, I gotta recharge, recharge my social batteries. And so I was starting to get to a point where I was really getting frustrated with just how I never really saw anybody. I work from home. I was becoming somewhat of a hermit. And so by being able to get out and see people in my in my fitness classes, that was starting to really help me feel like I was part of a community again and like I was not just a hermit in a shell.
So relationships wise, it's actually expanded the number of relationships that I have and it's been helping me. with other relationships in terms of like, you know, I'm starting to show up more for people. I do this thing where I'll put into my calendar, if I haven't checked in with someone for a while, I will make a point to add it to my calendar to check in with them. I set timers and I set, you know, appointments to just check in with people because I really do genuinely care about others, but it's very easy whenever you are in the monotony of day -to -day life to forget that. Other people exist.
And I know that sounds terrible to say, but I think we're all guilty of it. We all, you know, just we get so caught up in our day to day lives that if I don't make that point to add it into my calendar, like, hey, this person said they were going to have surgery on this day. So I add it to my calendar so that I can check in with them. Or if I find out, you know, someone's having, you know, some sort of a. an appointment or whatever that they're nervous about, I make a calendar entry to check in with them and just check in and see how they're doing. So relationships wise, it's actually been really beneficial for me. And where I was becoming such a hermit, I feel like I'm breaking back out of that shell.
And I'm really loving it. I even joined the pool league since I started going hardcore with fitness. And I'm really enjoying just how much I'm hanging out with others again. And it's been so I guess in that respect, fitness has really opened me back up. in a lot of ways. And OK, another question that came in and I'll stop with this one. This one I find kind of funny. It's is there a finish line in fitness or does your goal keep changing?
Ashley answers whether there's a finish line in fitness — her blunt answer is no, the finish line is when she stops breathing — and walks through how her goals have shifted from a scale number to blood pressure, clothing size, and heavier weights.
And is that a good thing? Is there a finish line? No, there's not. I guess I guess you could say the finish line would be when I take my last breath. That's wow. That's morbid. I didn't mean to just come out there with that, but that's just the truth. My goal is to move for the rest of my life. I want to move my body every single day for the rest of my life. So in terms of a finish line, yeah, that's just the truth. The finish line would be whenever I stop breathing.
Does the goal keep changing? Yeah, kind of. It does. Initially, when I first got started, I had a goal weight in mind. I now see that chasing a scale number is not what I should be doing. I should be... trying to feel better about myself and feel more fit. One of the things that was a fitness goal was to get my blood pressure under control. And I've done that. And I was trying to kind of regulate, you know. my stress levels.
And I'm still working on that. I'm definitely having, you know, some issues with that that I'm still working through. But so and then goals, do they keep changing? Absolutely. Whenever I first got started, I was using threes for my small weights and fives for my bigs. And very quickly, I wanted to get to fives and tens as you know, my my smalls and bigs. And shortly after that, I wanted to go to, you know, the seven and a half and the and the 15s. And now I'm using eights and 15s but my goal is to get to 10s and 20s and I know that that will change once I get once I get there as well the other thing was I really wanted to just get to a size medium in my pants and I've done that now and initially I thought okay medium that's the goal and then I'll be where I want to be but now I actually am going for better like I I would like to see if I could get to a small I I'm fascinated by the idea of seeing if I could get to a small.
Who knows? I don't know if I can. Is it a good thing? I think yes. I think if you always have something to work towards, you always feel the motivation to keep going. And so I think that having your fitness goals change. is a good thing. I really do. So I'll stop there because I don't want this to be too long. But thank you again for once again, sending in some awesome questions. Like I said, I get such a kick out of the questions that you guys send in. I've been getting them in DMs and I just appreciate it, man. I think it's so cool to be able to reflect on this kind of stuff. And hopefully it inspires you to reflect on your own journey and kind of just think about where you are now and where you want to be. And I love it, man. I really do. And if you guys want to send me a voice note or a message or whatever, just go to famousashleygrant .com backslash fitness. And you can leave me a voice note and
Ashley wraps up by thanking listeners for their questions, sharing that knowing she's not alone in the journey keeps her motivated, and directing people to her website to send voice notes.
all those good things. And I just, I appreciate you guys so much for tuning in and, and being here with me because knowing that I'm not on my own in this journey, it's, it's really helpful. It really makes me feel like I'm, I'm more inspired to, to keep showing up, to keep coming back and to keep putting. putting my best efforts out there. And so, yeah, just thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate it. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?