The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - How Mari Llewellyn Lost 90 Pounds & Transformed Her Life Through Dedication & Healthy Habits

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

#452: On this episode we are joined by Mari Llewellyn. Mari is an entrepreneur and founder of two successful businesses — Bloom Nutrition & Mari Fitness. Today we discuss how Mari lost 90 pounds and transformed her life through dedication and implementing healthy habits.  Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) Check Out Lauryn's NEW BOOK, Get The Fuck Out Of The Sun HERE  This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential  The Hot Mess Ice Roller is here to help you contour, tighten, and de-puff your facial skin and It's paired alongside the Ice Queen Facial Oil which is packed with anti-oxidants that penetrates quickly to help hydrate, firm, and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, leaving skin soft and supple. To check them out visit www.shopskinnyconfidential.com now.  Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. water lily. It's really pretty. It's like a lavender color. It looks so cute with black. I'm wearing a lot of black these days. Very, very pregnant. And then I also got the black woven strap mule. So I got two different colors. It comes in all different colors. The mint is really cute too. But I think after stalking the site that you guys will love their woven strap mules the most. They have a great website that has tons of different footwear, handbags, jewelry, all the things. When I was styling myself on their site, their woven mules made me feel invincible. They're so cute. I got them in person. They're quality. They're thick. They're sturdy, which I very much appreciated. You can head to vincecamuto.com slash podcast and use promo code podcast for 20% off your next purchase. While you're there, do yourself a favor and sign up to be a part of their VC VIP program

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If you're going to get a third pair because they're so amazing, the cool mint is really good too. All right, let's get into the show. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her. Aha! Firstly, I would say, like, beyond the physical transformation,

it was so much about a mental change for me. I didn't like who I was as a person. So not only was I physically unhealthy and, like, not feeling good and eating the wrong things. I didn't like Who I was I wasn't goal-driven. I did not have a work ethic. I was very insecure I think it took me like hitting rock bottom and having that feeling to figure out and have a reality check I feel like until I had my fitness journey, I didn't know who I was. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. That clip was from our guest of the show today, Mari Llewellyn. And on this episode, we're talking

about transformations. We're talking about health. We're talking about wellness, keeping up the theme of what we've been talking about a lot lately. I think that's just because we're both really passionate about it right now. So this is an incredible episode. I think there's a lot in here for everybody. And I think you're going to enjoy this episode. I wanted to have Mari on the podcast because a lot of you guys sent me her via DM and I went and stalked her page. And first of all, I found tons of value on her Instagram. She's someone who puts the audience first and she really shares it all from what she eats in a day to her fitness workouts, to her secrets, to her hacks, all the things. But then I started digging deeper into

her content and found that she had actually lost 90 pounds. So she's been on this incredible journey and we go into it on this episode. And she talks about how she ate unprocessed whole foods and exactly what workout she did. A little spoiler alert, it has to do with weightlifting. And she talks about how she ate unprocessed whole foods and exactly what workout she did. A little spoiler alert, it has to do with weightlifting. And she gives you tangible takeaways that you can apply to your own life. It's so incredible to hear from someone who has lost 90 pounds. That is no easy feat. I am so excited to welcome her to the podcast.

You're going to learn everything about health, fitness, and wellness. If you're looking to tighten up or lose weight, this is the episode for you. I was very inspired. Health, wellness, diet, all the things with Mari. Welcome to the show. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Okay. The reason that I wanted to have you on the podcast is because some of the audience messaged me about you and I went and looked at your content and your content's incredible. There's so much value, first of all. Thank you. But the reason I wanted to have you on is because you see on Instagram so many women that are posting meal plans and diet tips, et cetera, et cetera, and they're

already genetically thin. Yes. Which is fine. Like do you, but I think it resonates more when someone has a story of how they got their health under control. Yeah. And if you look at your page, you seem like someone who was not happy with where they were at. You were uncomfortable in your skin from, this is what I've read from your caption. Yeah. And now you've completely transformed your life. I would love to hear what your life was like pre-looking, feeling like this. Yeah, let's do it. Firstly, I would say like beyond the physical transformation, it was so much about a mental change for me. I didn't like who I was as a person. So not only was I physically unhealthy and like not feeling good and eating the wrong things, I didn't like who I was. I wasn't goal driven. I did not have a work ethic. I don't think I treated people very well. I didn't treat myself

well. I didn't really like try at anything. I feel like I was just kind of floating around. I was very insecure. You know, I've never really like dedicated myself to something. I feel like I was just kind of floating around. I was very insecure. I've never really dedicated myself to something. I didn't have a passion. And I think it took me hitting rock bottom and having that feeling to figure out and have a reality check and be like, I need something that's going to make me feel alive and something that's going to make me find out who I am. I feel like until I had my fitness journey, I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what my full potential was. And that's for a number of reasons. You know, I kind of, I had like a little bit of a toxic childhood and a difficult time with mental health. So much of my journey was about mental health. And now that I'm here and I look back, I really was just like a

shell of who I am now. And it took a lot of hard work to figure out what I'm capable of. What do you mean a toxic childhood? Growing up, I moved around a lot. My dad works for the United Nations. Where were you born? I was born in London, lived there for a year, then lived in Switzerland for three years, which I don't really remember. I wish I did because it's a gorgeous country. And then moved back to England and lived there until I was 10, but moving house all the time. And then moved to New York when I was 10. I grew up, I say grew up because that's what most of my memories are. I'm like my childhood, 10 onwards. I lived in

Scarsdale, New York, which is a predominantly Jewish town, super wealthy. I was not Jewish, not super wealthy. So I definitely stuck out. And I was with my mom, my sister, and my dad. And we were like this kind of tight unit. And like, at least I had them in this environment, but there wasn't, it wasn't a very affectionate household. I had a really difficult relationship with my mom. I still do. And that really contributed to my mental health. Ultimately, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. I know not a lot of people know what that is, but having a platform has really given me a space to speak about it more. Because personally, when I was diagnosed, I didn't know a single person with that diagnosis. Not a celebrity,

not anyone in my personal life. So getting that diagnosis and looking it up was pretty scary. Well, I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with it. But also, I think people label a lot of people that aren't actually diagnosed with that as that. Somebody goes some people, you know, somebody goes off the edge or whatever, does something they don't like. Oh, that's- They do that with narcissists. I did it to you today. Do you have narcissistic personalities?

But to actually get diagnosed, how does that manifest? So I had years of instability. Like my mood was all over the place. I had a really hard time with personal relationships, like romantic relationships specifically. I just felt like everything kind of hit me harder. And I had all this pain all the time. Like it felt like an empty hole is the only way I could really describe it. And throughout college, I would numb that pain with drinking, partying. I constantly needed to be out. I couldn't bear to be alone. And eventually that led to self-harming, which was obviously

really scary for me, for Greg. I was with Greg at the time. And ultimately I went to a psychiatrist, got diagnosed with BPD, which did give me a sense of relief. I was like, oh, okay. That's why I'm constantly in pain and looking for something to make me feel better. But I was immediately put on a number of medications. What is an episode of BPD? Just so I can contextualize, how does that... And does Greg know or is he confused or how does it present itself? Currently or back in the day? Back in the day. Oh, I guess and currently.

Because I think a lot of people just aren't familiar. Like how would you even recognize? Yeah. So BPD is characterized by unstable moods, issues with interpersonal relationships, lack of identity, self-harm is super common. It's just like a really painful disorder and it comes from trauma.

And that's like a new discovery. They used to think that you had to be genetically disposed to have BPD, but now they're saying that it's trauma related. And if you're not getting enough affirmation and love when you're younger, that can turn into a disorder like BPD. So an episode for me, I have a good example. Actually, I used to do group therapy when I was in school. And one of the stories I brought to class was I was at a party with Greg eating a slice of pizza. And I saw Greg like look over at me in a certain way. My brain interpreted that look as he doesn't approve of me eating this pizza right now. I shouldn't be eating this. I'm disgusting. He thinks I'm fat. I turned that look into this crazy, I spiraled. And I went home

and I ended up smashing a window and I was freaking out. And a lot of the time that would end up in self-harm or drinking too much. I really was consumed by this disorder. Like I couldn't even go out in public and have an interaction without getting triggered. And that honestly is the main motivation for everything that I've done because it was like a nightmare living in that. Do you think it was triggered by the relationship that you had with your mom? Yes. So you can 100% say that if you were to pinpoint it.

Yeah. So what does that look like knowing that it was triggered by your mom now? How do you have a relationship with your mom knowing that? Does she acknowledge that? No. I don't think she has any idea. I've done a lot of therapy. I'm in therapy now. I do it twice a week. And it's been helpful. Like I've learned so much and I've come so far from those days where I was smashing windows from eating pizza. Now I meditate and journal and I have my own ways of dealing with it. My mom and I speak occasionally. We have a polite relationship. For a while, I had a lot of anger towards her. And I'm trying to move away from that and more into like having empathy because I feel like everyone hurt people and she must have gone through something,

right? That's why she's treating me the way she's treating me. It's just, it's like kind of like radio silent from her. I've worked super hard over the years to get away from this like dark place I was in. And I have these businesses, which I'm so proud of, and my weight loss story. And not a lot of it has really been acknowledged. And that was hard for me. But I think through that, I've learned how to self-acknowledge, if that makes sense. This may be a really stupid question.

Is BPD something that you will live with for your entirety? Okay, it is. Yes. You will live with it for your whole life. So you have to you will live with for your entirety? Okay, it is. Yes. You will live with it for your whole life. So you have to learn to live with it and manage it. Exactly. So that's kind of why my routine is so intense and my diet is so intense. Honestly, my whole life is centered around managing BPD, but it's led me to this kind of amazing space where I care about health so much. I have this routine that I love and I feel great now, but it's definitely something that I still have to manage. Remember Naomi came on the podcast and she talked about how people who have been through

really traumatic events, like she said something about how if they could take it back. There was a study and I'm going to, what did they call it? Like secondhand tea or something like that. I don't remember the study. I'm going to botch it. But basically it was a study and I'm going to, what did they call it? Like secondhand tea or something like that. I don't remember the study. I'm going to botch it. But basically it was this study on people and says like, hey, with everything that you've been through in your life, any trauma, and this could be anyone in any kind of spectrum, any kind of different type of trauma.

Knowing what you know now, would you take away that trauma or would you keep it because of the person you became? And they said, most of the people said, I would still keep the trauma because of where it's led me. I would keep it. It sounds like you would because it's made you who you are. Yeah, literally. I don't think I would be here right now.

Because of what you went through with your mother, if you decide to become a mother, what will you do differently? You have been seeing me wear this all over Instagram stories. Good flannels. Here's a trick. If you want to get flattered real quick, and I know this because I'm very pregnant,

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have tons of different other brands on their site that are amazing and their prices are right. I think you guys will love it. They have brands like Free People, Bellini, Daydreamer, even Spanx. What I did, like I said, is I got the flannels and then I threw in a couple of Spanx because I need all the help that I can get. They have a huge celebrity and blogger following and they come out with items daily. I'm constantly checking for their flannels. I got this gray one, which you saw on my Instagram story. And then I also got the vintage boyfriend flannel. It's so good. It's lightweight. It has like a chest pocket. It's soft. It's buttery. Like I said, I got a large. Go check them out. I think you're going to love it. Shop today at ulalux.com. That's O-O-H-L-A-L-U-X-E.com or check them out on Insta at Ulalux for daily fashion and lifestyle inspo. They also have fun

behind the scene content, prizes, giveaways, and more. You can use code skinny at checkout for 20% off your order. I literally am using my own code. Shipping is free for orders over $50 within the United States. That's ulalux.com, code skinny. Oh my gosh. That thought gets me through these experiences, honestly. Knowing that I can break the chain in my family and give my child so much love, if anything, too much love. I'm so excited for that because I think that will bring me a lot of peace. And just that thought is very therapeutic for me, honestly. Even with my dog, I'm excessively caring. No, I think acknowledgement is important in every area. I think it's important in a

relationship. I think it's important in a friendship. I think it's important in a relationship. I think it's important in a friendship. I think it's important when someone gives you a gift. Like, I just think, I think humans crave acknowledgement by nature. So when you're going through everything that you were going through with BDE, were you, wait, BDE, isn't that big dick energy? I wasn't going to say anything. I was like, what? No, say it. BPD, BDE, isn't that big dick energy? Did I just say that? I wasn't going to say anything. I was like, what? No, say it.

BPD. BD. B, I'm thinking of my ice roller because I talked about how it had big dick energy. Oh my God. That's such a, such a new thing. I'm not diagnosed with BDE right now. Well, you also have BDE.

Thank you. Okay. While you were going through borderline personality disorder, you were also struggling with your weight at the same time, correct? So it was kind of like a gradual thing. So I was telling you guys during college, alcohol, partying, and I had no knowledge on nutrition at all. I mean, I ate, I was just talking about it with Greg. I ate like dirt. Like I was eating Subway sandwiches.

It's a miracle that any of us lived back then. Oh my God. I'm like, how was I alive? Subway is so good. I can't even go near it now. I can't go near it now, but it is good. Subway, like the halal truck. And were we in school?

Philly at Drexel. I was eating. God, I don't even want to know. Honestly, it was so bad. I had no, I don't even want to know, honestly. It was so bad. I had no knowledge of what it was doing. And especially when you have a mood disorder, you need to be very careful with what you're eating.

Why? Because if your energy is going up and down and you're like sugar crashing, that adds to the mood instability. So they say if you have a mood disorder, keto is actually a great diet to be on because it's a ton of healthy fats. It's good for your brain. You stay stable throughout the day. I don't personally do keto anymore, but I did for a long time. Okay. So you were not eating the way that

you should be eating. Is your partner who you're with today eating the way he should be eating? Were you guys in this relationship where he was super healthy? Yes. Oh, so he was doing his bodybuilding very healthy. Yeah. He's been into bodybuilding since middle school. Like he is. So how did he support you when you were going through everything you were going through with health? So I lived with him when he was like going to the gym twice. I was like, this man is crazy because I truly didn't care about fitness at all. I was watching him make his little meal prep, bringing it to class. And I'm like, what? Like in college, none of us cared. I'm like microwaving hot dogs and eating that. So I was a little confused by him truly, but he never pressured me into getting

into fitness because I feel like once you are into fitness, you understand you're never going to convince someone to start their journey. You have to do it on your own. Truly. I like, I have people in my life who are like, help me get into it. They never do. You know, they ask me questions. They never do. You have to find it on your own. But when I was going through that rough period of time and I was having all this weight gain from the medication, from the food, from the alcohol, he taught me how to weightlift. He taught me the form. He taught me the basic movements. I was learning from a bodybuilder. So I started my fitness journey truly being a bodybuilder. I was eating chicken and rice every day. I was eating too much, truly. I was trying to imitate his diet. So I would make six eggs and oatmeal and I would send him a picture because he was

still at school and I had moved back home. I dropped out of school ultimately because everything was so bad. I would send him a picture and he'd be like, oh, I mean, that's great. But you know, I'm 250 pounds, right? And I'm like, you know, I'm a huge man. I'm like, yeah, you're right. I'll tone it back. This is another reason that you just sparked my memory of why I wanted to interview you because I didn't start weightlifting until about a year ago. Yeah. And because in my brain, I thought it spiked my cortisol. But what I've realized is I was associating like a boot camp cardio hit. Yeah. With weightlifting and they're very different and we're going to get into how different they are. Totally. But people were sending me your page because they saw that I started talking about weightlifting and how it's changed my body.

Yeah. Obviously not at this exact moment, but I'm weightlifting through my pregnancy and you did a post and I'd love for you to talk about it about how weightlifting is what kick-started this and helped you lose so much weight. Yeah, that's true. Going into my fitness journey, I will say I always emulated women with muscle. I thought that was amazing. And also, I was looking to change who I was on the inside. I wanted a work ethic. And I was like, what a great way of showing that you're a hard worker on the outside of your body by having muscle. I mean, gaining muscle as a woman is really difficult. Like, I think a lot of females are like, I'm scared I'm going to get bulky. It's super difficult to gain a lot of muscle as a female. Like, I wish that I could get bulky, you know? But yeah, that was

kind of what sparked my interest. I think because I wanted to become a strong individual mentally, weightlifting appealed to me. And truly, I think it was the best thing I could have done. I was going from very little movement at all to lifting pretty heavy weights. And I was leaving the gym sweating. It was hard for me. Each workout was very challenging and it still is. I've definitely changed my style a little bit over time, but I feel like weightlifting, you don't just lose weight, you change your whole body composition. Like everything starts changing. Like Your shoulders look a little bit perkier and you get toned arms. And that's really what I was going for. And it made me feel strong as I was doing it. Why it's crazy is because I gained weight when I first started,

but my clothes fit completely different. Oh, yeah. You can't look at the scale. You can't look at the scale. No. No, but I'm happy people are talking about this more, especially from a perspective of like, I don't think people realize how important building muscle is as you age, right? It's like, you will live, like this is, I can make this statement. You will live longer and protect yourself

from many life altering diseases if you build muscle. Yeah, totally. Even they like just did this study on just grip strength alone. And it showed that like, if you have strong grip strength, there's a correlation to longer life. Yeah it strengthens your bones like it your bones get smaller as you age that's why you see all those people hunched over exactly so question what was

your rock bottom where you were like i'm going to the gym tomorrow and then how many times a week did you implement right away was it three days a week right away? Was it every day right a week? Did you go head first? So when I dropped out of school, I got off of the medication I was on. I'm definitely not a doctor. So this is just my personal experience. Oh, we have to say that every episode. Let's just do a disclaimer. We're not a doctor.

Go check with your doctor. I am a doctor. No, even on Instagram, when people ask me, go check with your doctor. Do your own research. Be your own guru. I feel bad because everyone is like tiptoeing and has to say that. She's not a doctor. I'm done making the disclaimer.

This is the disclaimer. This is the last time I'm making the disclaimer. No one's a doctor. Thank you for making it for me. You're not a doctor. I put in X amount of hours on the podcast. You are not a doctor. I've talked to doctors, so maybe now I have the equivalent. Your hand is so shaky. I've talked to doctors. So maybe now I have like the equivalent. Your hand is so shaky. A lot of medical experts out there in the web.

Go ahead. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. Literally, I'm constantly tiptoeing everywhere I go. But I cut the medication cold turkey because I was like, I don't have a personality on this medication. Zero grip on reality.

It ruined my life. So I cut all the medication. It was rough, but ultimately it let me look at my life and see what I had done. I was like, okay, I dropped out of school. I'm not graduating. I don't have a job. What can I take control of right now? And to me, it was my health because I was inspired by Greg. I had been watching him for years, take control of his, you know, he had a super strict routine and I was inspired by that. So I didn't start by going to the gym. That was very intimidating

for me. And I'm sure a lot of women listening can relate, but if you don't feel good about yourself, going to the gym is so intimidating. There's so many fit, amazing people there. It's scary. So I started just by walking. I would take my dog Lulu on extra walks every day. We were doing like 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes at night. And then I would speed walk and then I tried jogging. And then ultimately Greg took me to the gym and taught me a little bit, still terrified of going by myself. But even if I just went and went on the treadmill, I would go because at least I'm getting used to being in that space. So I think I went maybe like a couple times a week to begin

with. And even if I wasn't weightlifting, I would just get in there. And then eventually I was doing like five days a week. I got addicted pretty quickly. And how did your body change? I mean, explain to the audience if they haven't seen a visual of you, like weight wise, composition wise, clothes fit, what happened? So I'm 5'11". So the weight, yeah, I'm tall. I'm a tall gal. She's taller than you. You didn't decipher that? Is she taller than you? Yeah, by an inch. Oh my gosh. Listen, it doesn't bother me. Okay. Are you sure that you're 5'10"? I'm 100% positive. How tall are you, Lauren? I'm 5'7". That's what I thought. Yeah. I had a feeling. I'm 5'7". You're not short. I love how tall you are. That's amazing. Thank you. It's Nicole Kidman vibes. Yeah. Nicole Kidman vibes.

I'm not tall, Lauren, but I'm not fucking Danny DeVito. Just keep going. He's going to... So the weight was dispersed like... I don't know how to put it like kind of evenly. Like when you look at photos of me, you'd be like surprised. I was 250 pounds, but it didn't really look like it. Like it was kind of dispersed all over the place, but I definitely was using the scale, but I was too nervous to actually look at it myself because I didn't want to see that number. So Greg would weigh me each weekend. He would come home from Philly. I would get on the scale and be like, wow, you lost two pounds this week. You lost five pounds this week. I just wanted to know the increments of weight that I was losing because I didn't actually want to look at the scale.

Sometimes he would lie to me. I found that out later in life. Greg sounds like a good guy. Yeah, he's amazing. He's crazy, but he's amazing. So he would lie to me if I hadn't lost weight because he wanted me to feel encouraged. So he'd be like two pounds down, even if I wasn't. I mean, I'm assuming he explained to this to you and you obviously know this now, but I think a lot of women and men get scared of weightlifting because they start lifting weights. They put on muscle and the scale goes up. And then they're like, oh my God, I'm gaining weight. This isn't good for me. And they quit because they think it's bad, but it's because muscle weighs is more dense, right? Exactly. The scale probably will go up or it may not move, but your body looks so different.

As you said, clothes were fitting me so differently. I felt stronger. It's like a functional way of exercising. You feel it in your day-to-day life. You just feel stronger. Recently, we had the founders of Clear Stim Skincare on the Skinny Confidential podcast. And I have to tell you guys, I posted it on my stories. They talked all about acne and where acne comes from and how to get rid of it and all these weird hidden things that are causing acne. And I have never gotten more shares on an Instagram story for podcasting. People are very curious about the acne subject. So I'm excited to have them on the podcast.

They're coming on soon. But I think in the meantime, if you're looking for anti-aging, anti-acne products, you should check out their site. I am someone who does not struggle with acne. So that episode was really interesting. But to know that there's products on the market that really, really zone in on acne, I think is an amazing resource. It's something that I didn't talk about too much in my book

that I want to learn more about. And these founders know their shit when it comes to acne. Like if you are struggling, I would head straight to this website. Of course, they also have anti-aging stuff too. The two items that I picked off their site to try that I really like are the brush on mineral sunscreen. So it's like this brush with mineral sunscreen in it.

It's almost like a makeup brush. And what I do is I can reapply it throughout the day, which is really nice. It's SPF 50. And then the other one that I am all about, like I love it, is the No Botox Serum, okay? It has so many amazing ingredients. And of course, like I said, it's non-toxic,

which is very, very fun. All right, we have a code for you. Use code SKINNY at checkout for 20% off your first purchase. That's clearstemskincare.com. That's C-L-E-A-R-S-T-E-M skincare.com. And like I said, check out the Brush-On Min on mineral sunscreen SPF 50. It's amazing for reapplication.

Make sure you use code skinny for 20% off. I think this is where women and men get in trouble because they put more emphasis on weight than they do on what an actual healthy body composition is. I need to be 110 pounds, 115, 130. And guys too, like I need, and they don't realize like it's not about the weight. It's about the healthy body composition. Exactly. And I also feel like women who weightlift look so feminine. Like I think there's this fear that you'll end up looking masculine, but I see women

at the gym, like great butt, the hamstrings, the shoulders. Like I personally think it looks super feminine and great. And I just saw my body like shifting in that direction, getting a little ab definition. It took a long time. I did it pretty quickly at nine month period. I lost 70 pounds. Wow. So I guess that is kind of fast, but like it felt. I mean, that's a, that's a substantial amount of weight to lose. Like that takes dedication. I mean, I didn't have any friends. I really isolated myself for that nine months and all I cared about was fitness.

Well, at nine months after you lost 70 pounds, did you feel confident with who you were or were you still not there yet? No, I, you know, it's still a work in progress. Like I'm still not 100% confident with who I am. I feel like I'm always getting better. But at the end of that journey, I was like, my life has never been this good. Like I remembered my birthday after that

weight loss. I was like, how could it get any better than this? Honestly, I felt amazing. And it was the best accomplishment of my life. And probably like at that point, the only time I'd had a goal and actually completed it and dedicated myself to something. I think that's the biggest thing for building confidence is when you have a goal and you say you're going to do something and you complete the goal. I think that is single-handedly the most important part of the recipe of confidence. You need to keep your own promises. A hundred percent. To build your confidence. Like Ed Milet. Ed Milet.

That's what he always says. He's like, you have to, if you constantly are telling yourself you're going to do something and you don't follow through. Yeah. Of course you're insecure. Well, it's either the people don't, like you said earlier,

they don't make any promises. They don't set any goals, which is like, I don't want to tell you that. Or they set a goal that's so ridiculous compared to where they are that they can never hit it and they get discouraged and quit, right? So you got to like build up

these little wins in your life so that you can develop that confidence because then it starts to get more and more. Then you can start swinging for bigger and bigger things. Obviously, you're not a doctor, but do you think that the weightlifting really helped

with the borderline personality disorder. And the reason I asked that is the other day I was having a hormonal mood at Michael. It's not downplay. I was fucking psycho, fucking psycho. And I went into the gym and I started doing arms and there's a release of something. It's like endorphins that you get from weightlifting. And it made me feel better. Is that like a real thing? Yeah, I think so. I wake up, I have pretty bad anxiety in general. And I wake up and my thoughts are like, oh my God, I have this crazy thing to do today. And I like think so much. I have to just get in the gym first thing in the morning. Otherwise, those thoughts take over my whole day. And by the end of the workout, couldn't tell you what any of them were like. It really, I think it's

because it's so mindful. Like you're not on your phone, you're focused on your body and how you feel and you get that feeling of accomplishment at the end. I think that's like a recipe to feel amazing. You're right about being mindful. Like it's like, and not to take anything away from runners, but you run and you kind of go on autopilot, right? It's like you're running and you're just going. And that's a whole different thing. But when you're lifting heavy weights, you have to pay attention because if you don't and you fuck up, you're hurt. You're injured. There's nothing you can do but focus on the task and it takes you out of your worry and out of your stress. Exactly. It's just enough focus where you're focused just on yourself and your body and how

everything's feeling. I agree. So after you had lost 70 pounds after nine months, what does your life look like then? And how long ago was that from now? Was it like two years ago, five years ago? How long ago? So I lost the weight in 2017. Okay. And in November of 2017, I posted my first transformation photo. I was not an active social media user during my journey. I think I was just like, I had tunnel vision during that time and I didn't want anyone's input. And I also didn't care. It was really just for me. So at the end of the nine months, I had this transformation photo that I thought was cool. And I showed Greg and he was like, oh, you should for sure post that. Like everyone will freak out. No one even knows that you lost this weight. And I was super nervous.

I was like my 900 followers, like, what are they going to think? Oh my gosh. And I ended up putting it up and it blew up. Like I'd never had had anything like this happen to me. I was getting DMs. It was getting reposted on bigger pages. I was getting all these comments, people asking me for my workout plan, my meal plan. And I think that's when something went off, mostly in Greg's head.

He's super entrepreneurial and business-minded. And he was like, oh, okay. And I was like, I felt this rush of purpose because I had all these women in a similar situation to me saying, how did you do it? And I felt like I had this hack of like happiness because I was so, I was in such a bad place and fitness changed my life and changed who I was. And I felt like I had this like secret I wanted to share with all of them. And I think in that moment, I was like, that's why I went through all of this to help, help this community. And that's really where everything started.

So from 2017 to now, how has your life changed and evolved business wise, physically? Like, did you all of a sudden realize that maybe something you were doing in the gym was giving you bad results? So you pulled back from that and now you're doing more of this. I would love to just know like an overall view. Yeah. So business wise, career wise, I was working at Orange Theory Fitness at the time making minimum wage. I didn't make any commission because I was super bad at the job. Like couldn't sell the workout plan. Didn't want to do the workouts. No offense, Orange Theory, I'm sure you're great, but I was just on my own journey. And then after this rush of interest, we ended up creating a workout PDF. Just me and Greg put together all the exercises I was doing on my journey, sold it for $5. We were manually emailing it to people. So in my DMs, I'd be like,

do you want to check out my workout plan? They would PayPal me $5 and I would email them the PDF. And we would do this all day on our phones, just all day. And we saved all that money and put that into resistance bands. That was my first ever physical product, Mari Fitness resistance bands. We still have them. Now they're called something else. And then sold a bunch of resistance bands. We still have them now they're called something else, but, um, and then sold a bunch of resistance bands. We hand packed and shipped them out of my dad's house. He was about to kill me. The house was full of boxes, but I was like, trust me, this is going somewhere. Kept selling the bands. We knew we wanted to do something bigger than that. And during my fitness journey, I felt like I couldn't find supplements that were appealing

to a female beginner to fitness. I would walk into a GNC and it was very intimidating, like black, red, super masculine, super masculine and like full of caffeine. And especially in 2017. Oh my gosh. The peak era of like crazy males C4, like, you know, I don't need to name names. No Explode. Is that one of the names? That I don't need to name names. No Explode. Is that one of the names? That's what he used to take notes. No Explode. I'm a little older than you, but there was, I don't want to age myself too much,

but the elders out there, they know what I'm talking about. Yeah. So like I was intimidated and I would come home with all these supplements and Greg was like, you got to take that back. You're not taking that. And I was like, why?

Full of crap. So many of them are full of crap. So I felt like there was this hole in the market for a supplement that was amazing for women, not intimidating, friendly, tasted good. And Greg is super passionate about supplements. So after saving all this money from selling these bands, which did surprisingly well for us, we put all of that capital into Bloom Nutrition. And so all of 2018, we were sampling pre-workouts, trying to find something that wasn't triggering my anxiety, which is not an easy task. I have bad anxiety. And ultimately, we ended up with the formula we have now. We've made some tweaks. We launched January 2019 with three pre-workout

flavors. From there, we added protein, greens. greens greens are our best seller now. Thank god for the greens. They're like an all-in-one Incredible supplement and they came out right around the pandemic Which worked out? Very well mari fitness has now become the slay app So we took our pdf guides and turned it into an app, which is obviously much more user-friendly. So yeah, that's the business story. In terms of physically or athletically, I've changed my style a little bit. I definitely was training in a more traditional bodybuilding style at the beginning of my journey. And now I really love HIIT training with weights. So burpees with upright rows or squats supersetted with RDLs. I'd like to keep my heart rate up and keep moving. I feel like that gets my endorphins going.

I like to sweat. So yeah, I think I'm training a little bit more like an athlete now. What's your schedule? Tell us like a whole week of what your schedule is and is it in your calendar? How do you hold yourself accountable on those little micro levels? Okay. My calendar. I do two days on to one day off. So let's say on Monday, I'm training legs. That's a hard day. So I take it easy the rest of the day. Tuesday, I'll do maybe chest and arms, for example. And then Wednesday is going to be an off day. So I'll do a light jog around my neighborhood with my dog or like a hike, something more restorative. And then we're back on Thursday, Friday training back and biceps or shoulders and then off again Saturday. So it's two on one off. When you say off, you mean when on the off, are you doing like, you said restorative, are you doing like yoga or walking or anything?

Or are you just off? Walking, jogging, hiking. I need to move. Like I'm not the type of person where I can just chill. I need to do something. I think people mess up in weights, especially new weightlifters, because they go and they, you know, like say you're somebody that goes to the gym every single day, but you're not doing weights.

It's like a routine five days a week. Are you talking to me? No, no, but if you do. I feel like you are. Well, but I think when you're lifting heavy weights, like I tell me if you disagree, if you don't give yourself

that like day of rest, even if it's just a light walk, you're not going to get the gains that you would hope. I just get, I get like very, I'm not addicted. I get like very consistent. I know I'm the same way because I feel like that day off, I'm like the mindset's ruined. I get what very, I'm not addicted. I get like very consistent. I know I'm the same way because I feel like that day off.

I'm like the mindset's ruined. I get what you mean. But the day off is the day you grow. Are you one of those people that drinks endless amounts of water and seems to never be able to get hydrated? That's probably because you're not hydrating in the right way. You're not processing the water the way you need to be, which is why we love this partner so much, Liquid IV. They've been a partner of this show for years now. And I think they are one of the

best products for staying hydrated. If you listen to this show, you realize how important it is to be hydrated, not just for your skin and the way you look, but for the way you think, the way your brain works, the way you process. Being dehydrated is a severe vulnerability if you're a human being, which I'm assuming you are if you're listening to this episode. And Liquid IV can help you stay hydrated much more effectively. The way I use Liquid IV is I like to use it during a workout. So I'll put it in my tank smug with lots of ice and water, and then I'll just rip open a packet, throw it in there, get my electrolytes in. Or I like to use it when I'm in high altitude. I notice such a difference. If I'm ever skiing, it's an absolute lifesaver. Anytime I'm in high altitude,

it makes all the difference in the world. Outside of staying hydrated, it also gets you some essential vitamins, including B3, B5, B6, B12, and vitamin C. And I just recently went through a health panel and had our doctor on the show, which is coming. And he said that some of these B vitamins are severely lacking in most of the patients that he sees. So definitely make sure that you get those as well. Liquid IV products are non-GMO and free from gluten, dairy, and soy. And you can grab Liquid IV in bulk nationwide at Costco,

or you can get 25% off when you go to liquidiv.com and use code skinny at checkout. That's 25% off anything you order when you use promo code skinny at liquidiv.com. Experience better hydration today at liquidiv.com. Promo code SKINNY. Today's my day off and I was going to go walk on the treadmill, which I always say wrong.

How do you say it again? Well, that's okay. I mean, treadmill. I'm going to go walk on the treadmill. Yeah, I think that's great. Okay on the treadmill yeah I think that's great okay I think that's great I mean I'm not fitness approved

yeah okay I'm not a pro this is just what I like you are a pro though because you're a practitioner that's why I think you're so interesting thank you

I think someone that that has gone to school and like studied fitness or they're genetically thin doesn't have the same story to me because you've actually been through the struggle to get here. And not that I'm taking anything away from someone

who's genetically thin, but you have really gone through all different facets. That's the thing. And I feel the same way with business. I think a lot of people feel like you need some kind of certification or a degree to do business. You just need to do it and you just need to experience it. So yeah, I agree. I want to talk about little, and sorry, Michael, little hacks. So I want to talk about like your morning routine, your nighttime routine, what wellness things you do. You told me you had a sauna. Maybe start- I'm sorry. I want to hear that. Oh, okay. I know. I just, it's like beauty parts. Like, you know, like- Beauty. Yeah. Like the beauty, wellness, health.

Okay. First up, what is the number one thing besides fitness that you do for your wellness? Meditating. Oh, meditating. Start the manipulation. 100%. I agree. Has changed my life.

Okay. So how did you- Greg refuses to meditate as well. And I'm sure Greg, Greg, do you need meditation? Does Greg need meditation? More than me. Okay. Let's do a little manipulation for Michael and Greg

and turn it up if you're with your significant other. Learn is to evolve. She's like, I do it now for like 40 minutes. He says I'm self-righteous in my meditation. Do you want to do a couple of therapy? I want to learn. It'd be like this. It'd be like me bringing you to the gym

for the first time to lift weights or Greg doing it to you and being like, okay, I need you to start deadlifting, squatting, the first day. I told him to start meditating and do what I do and do 35 minutes in the morning. I need to get to 10. I cannot do 35 minutes. I can give you a couple of tips, but I don't want to sound self-righteous. So you, you, okay. Go with how you started and what your meditation practice has evolved into. I feel like I'm still at the

beginning of my meditation journey. I'm by no means am I like great at meditating, but it has changed my life within, I think I've been doing it now for three months and it's changed everything. I do it with journaling and I think it's the meditation, but together, I mean, game over. And I do it wherever I go. Like together, I mean, game over. And I do it wherever I go. I travel and I do it. I need to do it. Is it the first thing you do when you wake up? No. Let me ask you this, because you just started three months ago. It's great.

But was there an app or a specific thing you use? Because I feel like I need help. Headspace. I tried the Headspace. Hashtag not sponsored, but Headspace. I tried the Headspace. You tried it? I did. I did it for a while. I like the British man. Hashtag not sponsored, but Headspace. I tried the Headspace. You tried it? I did. I did it for a while.

I like the British man. I feel like we can connect on a different level. His voice is like, it's like a porn star. What's his name? I don't know. Nigel? I don't know his name. Nigel.

I don't know his name. It might be Nigel, but he really brings me. Nigel? Nigel Thornberry. I'm like, Harry Potter. Every fucking British person. What the fuck is it? Everyone.

Ron Weasley. I wish. I wish. So how do you incorporate meditation? And like, how do you habit stack it into your day? Because it does have to be habit stacked. I feel like. My morning routine is very exact. I can give you the full breakdown. You have to be habit stacked, I feel like. My morning routine is very exact.

I can give you the full breakdown. You came to the right place. I know you love a morning routine. I love a morning routine. So I wake up 5.30 every single morning. Wow. Turn off my sound machine. I have to sleep to rain.

It has to be rain. Nothing else. A little thunder is fine. Turn off the sound machine. I basically roll into gym clothes. I put my clothes out the night before because there's no way I'm like trying on different. No, no. You know, so it's laid out. I roll into the clothes, brush my teeth, kind of put it in a ponytail and then head to, I go to Gold's Gym Venice, which is down the street from us.

It's an iconic gym. Iconic. I feel lucky to work out there every day. I mean, I started in a Planet Fitness in the middle of like White Plains, New York, and now I'm at Gold's Venice. I love that. A lot of pressure to perform in Gold's in Venice. But you know what? The guys there, everyone's super intimidated by the big guys. The bigger they are, the nicer they are.

I swear. They're such softies. They'll like cheer me on. They're the best. They're the best. So I'm there by six, train until seven. I'm home by 7.15. Feed my dog, feed myself. What do you feed yourself? Gluten-free toast, two eggs with spinach, usually hummus or avocado on the toast and some berries.

What's your favorite brand of gluten-free toast? I knew you were going to ask me and it's from the farmer's market. You're going to kill me. I don't know. That's okay. Brentwood Farmer's Market. You have to take a picture and post it on your Instagram stories. I will.

I will. I go every week. She knows who I am. Just grab my loaf. I go through one loaf every week. Will you look at bread seriously? I'm going to put it in the show notes and tell me if you like it

because it's my favorite gluten-free sourdough. What's it called? Bread Seriously. It's home-baked. Bread Seriously. Okay, I need to check it out. Okay, so you do your breakfast and then what? Okay, green tea always.

I'm not a coffee gal. Again, with the anxiety, it's not for me. Yeah. Take my greens every single morning. Crucial for consistency. Then I go upstairs. I put myself in my closet with the door shut and I meditate for seven minutes.

So you do the meditation after the workouts? Yeah. Maybe that's what I got to do. You got to get the energy out first. I'm weird though. For you, you need to do what I told you in the car. I'm not that normal myself. No, no, no. Just do what I said to do. Okay? You need to wake up and go meditate.

But don't you feel, maybe you will relate to me on, I feel like I'm racing in the morning right when I get up. I'll tell you what meditation's like. I just got the perfect analogy. Meditation is like when you're so clogged up in your penis. No, just go with me. I don't think you have any clue what you're about to talk about. Just listen to me.

First of all, that doesn't happen. No, not when you're clogged up in your penis. That's the wrong word. When you have blue balls. Like when you need to have sex because you haven't had sex. How do you do this? You got balls now? No, I just talk're clogged up in your penis. That's the wrong word. When you have blue balls, like when you like need to have sex because you haven't had sex. How do you do this? You got balls now?

No, I just talked to a lot of guys. You have blue balls and your blue balls are so blue and big. Do they get blue and big? Let me tell you something. And then you finally release your blue balls. That's meditation. No, but when you have blue balls,

you don't want to sit and relax, Lauren. This is what you, this is why. No, but it's not the relaxing part that's the same as meditation. It's the release. Lauren, let me, yes, but the release is not the meditation. The release is the physical activity, Lauren.

Let me tell you as somebody who actually the only person, I hope, who has balls at the table. So that's what I'm saying is, before we go on a whole fucking tangent here. But if you want to, I like that if you get theitation is a release of blue balls. You clear the shit out of your head

and then you can actually calm down. No, not for you. Tell him why you're different so he can hear why you're different. I mean, I'm crazy. We might be the same. We might be the same person. No, Lauren.

He needs to not do that. I wake up with a lot of anxiety and like my mind is just like, I get like dark and I'm like, oh my God, I can't handle my day. Like I have crazy thoughts. So if I'm, if I'm working out and I'm sweating it out, it leaves my body. Like all those thoughts leave my body. And then I want to do the meditation. So I go into my work day, remembering to take care of myself. If that makes sense. I like that way better than your way,

but everyone has their own way. You know, You do whatever you do. Just please meditate. Because I can't deal with you. I want to get on your level of like calmness though. Like that's my goal. I'm like a sea turtle though. I don't know if that's a good thing. Like I'm like a slower moving person. That's what I want to be.

Yeah, but there's not always good things about that. There's pros and cons. Yeah, like, you know, my first pregnancy, I like rolled around like, like Veruca Salt from Charlie and cons. Yeah. Like, you know, my first pregnancy, I like rolled around like, like Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Like there's not always good things about, I'm slow moving. He's completely different.

That's why I think, but if I did the workout first, then I'm calmed down. Then I got, because. Okay. We don't need to dissect your day. Okay. So go on.

Once I get rid of my fucking blue balls. Beat your meat while you're meditating. So, so after you have gotten into your workday, what does that look like? Is it the same? It's like me explaining what's going on with ovaries. Your ovaries are exploding. Is this the same workday every single day?

Do you work seven days a week? Do you work five? Do you work two? What do you do? That's it. Fruit is saving parents everywhere. i am not kidding around i cannot tell you how many meltdowns and tantrums that that's it has helped with okay first of all that's it the apple crunchables we have them in every single bag we have them absolutely everywhere in our house in

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Like I can't say enough good things if you're a parent and you're breathing you need this. Okay There's no added sugar. No preservatives, no weird ingredients, which I really appreciate because I was looking at some toddlers food the other day and there's so many added ingredients and so many brands. What you got to do, the move is, is to get the apple crunchables and the pineapple bars. Just trust me telling you, and if you don't have kids, you're going to want these too. You're going to go to that's it fruit, T-H-A-T-S-I-T fruit, F-R-U-I-T.com and use code skinny. You get 25% off your order. That's that's it fruit.com. Use code skinny and you get 25% off. Enjoy. Okay. So I start work 9am every single day. I primarily work out of my home office.

So I head downstairs. That's pretty much it. Unless I'm going to the Bloom office. The Bloom office is like 10 minutes from my house. Greg is at the Bloom office every single day and I'll go maybe twice a week. But honestly, to make the content I make, I need to be at home. I can't be in an office environment. It doesn't work. So my assistant Fi, who is like my best friend, soulmate, assistant, I meet her at 9 a.m. every day in my office. We have the Bloom team call every day at 9.30, check in with the entire team, see what's going on.

I give any updates I have. And then Fi and I on Mondays will create an entire content calendar for the week. So anything I want to get filmed, content is my main priority pretty much. And then we'll talk about any collaborations I'm doing. You know, I'm releasing a new product with Bloom soon. So we're talking about shoots with that. It really depends. Like every day is different. Some days I'm like gone all day because I'm at a photo shoot. Some days I'm on the computer all day doing emails. It really depends. But the meditation helps me a ton because I find if I don't do that, I completely forget that like I need to go on a walk without my phone.

I get stuck on my phone too much. So I need the walk. I need the lunch break. I need to have a gallon of water by me every single day. There's just like little things that I need to keep doing for my sanity because social media doesn't sleep. I feel like I never done. I can never close out at five and be like, I'm truly finished. I feel like I could just keep going. It sounds like you have a toolbox for managing borderline personality disorder. Yes. What are some other little wellnessy things you do?

You mentioned that you have the same sauna. We talked about barrel sauna. Anything else that you have like that, I'd love to know. Sauna is huge. The water is huge. A lot of healthy fats. I'm huge on healthy fats. What's your favorites?

Avocado, olive oil, sesame oil is great. I realized that recently. I take fish oil. I take six fish oil pills a day. So I know that's a lot, but it's great for inflammation, but it's also great if you have a mood disorder. So I've seen a lot of benefits from fish oil. I am going to shout fish oil out. You have a product that's fish oil for brain, heart, and mood. Yes. And I recently got my blood tested by Dr. Daryl. Yep. Get off my acids.

And he could not believe how low I was in omega. And I get inflamed. As we know, I have a whole product line on getting inflamed and de-puffing. And he said that is one of the things that's really contributing, like you just said, to my inflammation. Yeah.

So I have upped my fish oil to this whole pregnancy and I feel so much less inflamed. So I can confirm as a human guinea pig what you just said about fish oil. I think it's insane. Most people are low on it. Yes. The majority of people, high majority. Exactly. And especially if you have depression or anxiety, you need to be taking fish oil. To me, it's like a medication. I take three in the morning, three at night. I can tell if I don't take it. Can you take it on an empty stomach or do you have to eat it? I eat it with food. I think you can because it's like a fatty, it's a fatty substance, right? I think you can. The only thing that's gross if you do that is

like if you get the fish burps. Oh, people talk about that. I've never had that. I've never had that. It can happen if you don't, like if you eat with it, then it mitigates it a bit. If you start burping fish, I mean, we got bigger problems. I can't do that when I'm pregnant. If you're going to burp fish, you got to go down to the hotel. It's not going to work for me. I won't, I promise. But what I'm saying is maybe you don't do it to me. No, it doesn't matter what I do. When I'm pregnant, I can do whatever I want. This is true. A little tangent. Okay. So what about nighttime routine? What time do you wind down? How do you get off social media? Yeah. Tell us all the tips. So me and Greg are like full-blown grandparents. We're 27 years old and we go to bed at 9 p.m. every night. It's such a flex.

It's the biggest flex. No, but we are pretty intense with our night routine. So I finish work around 5.30 or 6. And I'm pretty strict about that because when we were growing our businesses, we used to just work into the night. We were never not working. And now I'm pretty strict with the cutoff. Greg, he could work. He's constantly working. He's always on the phone. But I do request that we do no phone during dinner. So once I stop work, I take my makeup off, change into comfy clothes, and then we make dinner together. I've gotten really into cooking recently. It's like such a mindful activity. I went gluten-free and dairy-free recently, and I was trying to find new fun recipes I could make.

And that's really sparked my cooking interest. I was never into it before. Greg is a great cook. So I've kind of taken over lately, but we always just sit together, cook, catch up, talk about our day. And then we have dinner together almost every single night. We sit at the table, have a Zevia. I'm obsessed with Zevias. I'm addicted to them. Do you know what those are? The sodas? Yeah. Yeah. The zero calorie sodas. Love those. We will watch a little bit of TV, just a little, like 20 to 30 minutes or so. And then I go up and do my skincare routine, which takes me longer than I expect all the time. I have that, what is it called? Like that LED face mask by Dr. Dennis Grossman. I'm obsessed with that thing. I will use that and kind of clean up a little bit,

like do something mindful. I have to do something to not be on my phone, to be honest. Like I have to give myself a task or like an activity because otherwise I'll find myself like drifting back to Instagram. And I'm really trying to work on that. But I think it's smart what you said about how when you first start out and you're running a business and you're an entrepreneur, you have to go headfirst in, in my opinion. You have to eat, live, breathe, sleep it. But then it gets to a point where that stops serving you.

And you have to be able to pivot and evolve with the way the business has evolved. Yeah. Because you're just going to run yourself into the ground if you keep going that way. More people should talk about that though. Because I think the danger is, is that, well, I think back to the early days of us too. And there was times we used to get in the car because we were running businesses in San Diego and LA at the same time. And we used to get in the car because we were running businesses in San Diego and LA at the same time. And we used to get in the car at 10 o'clock at night in San Diego after working all day

and then drive up to LA at midnight so that we could get up early and work in LA the next day. And I was like, we would never do that. It's like you do what you have to do to get somewhere, but then you got to know when it's time to start saying no instead of yes. Yeah, we're embedded. Like we're like, if I'm not in bed by like nine o'clock, I'm going to have a full meltdown.

Or like 7.30. I remember the early days. It wasn't like that. Last night or the other night, we were in bed at 7.30. Yeah, we're like clapping our hands and like running up the stairs. I love that. No, I agree. Like you need to have that period of time in your business where you just don't stop. Like, I think that that's how you learn to hire also. Like we were for Bloom doing things we should not have been doing. We were doing customer service. I was designing the labels. I was doing all the product photography. We built our website ourselves. And then you hit a point where you're like, wait, we're not really the best at cost. I mean, doing customer service for your own business is brutal. Like I'm, people are sending me mean emails. I'm getting personally offended. Well,

that was kind of rude. No. We had to find people who were better than us at what we were trying to do. And now we have a super talented team of people who keep Bloom going. And Greg and I can just focus on what we're good at. But I feel like we're still on the journey of trying to let go. It's definitely difficult to watch your business being handled by other people. It's a challenge, but we have such amazing team members. But also in my own work, when it comes to content and social media, I've kind of applied the same work ethic that we used on Bloom to my content. And I can find myself overdoing it. And that's why I have to implement

such a strict nighttime routine and morning routine. It sounds like you guys working together is also, I mean, there's a lot of great things about working up with your significant other, but there's lots of challenges. How do you guys make that work? Yeah, it's hard. And Greg is a character. Like he's a crazy Italian man. He's impulsive. He's willing to spend it all. And I'm a little bit more nervous. I'm an anxious gal and I watch him make crazy decisions and I have to sit there and hold myself back on the team call. And then afterwards, I'm like, what did you mean by that? Like, what was that decision fueled by? You know, we're just very different people, so it can be challenging.

But over time, we've definitely separated our roles. Like, at the beginning, we were side by side doing everything together. And, you know, that's nice to look back on, and it was a fun time. But after a while, it's rough. Like, you know, you have the same day. Like, you have nothing to talk about at the end of the day.

As we've evolved in our business and realized, okay, I'm more creative. I like speaking to the community. I like making content. Greg is a business guy. He likes the numbers. He likes growing. He likes inventory. So that is his focus. I focus on creative. And now we're so separate in our business that we can come together and share things that happened in the day and it's not like too much overlap. What's your cocktail of choice if you have one? How did I know you were going to ask me that?

I can't figure out if you drink and you just drink healthy or if you don't drink. I'm not a huge drinker. I knew you were going to say that. I'm not a huge drinker. I used to be. If you have a gun to your head, what are you drinking? No, I like drinks.

Don't get me wrong. I love drinks. I'm going to get drinks tonight, 100%. Okay. But I would say either a glass of Prosecco. I love Prosecco. Okay. Red wine or a spicy skinny margarita.

No agave, no sweetener at all. Okay. I like that. I like that too. Salt on the rim. If our audience were to come seek you out, where would you point them? You're a business owner. You've got amazing content for what I eat in a day. You have weightlifting tips. You have an ebook or an app. Where would you point them? What direction?

My Instagram page at Mari Llewellyn. That's where it all is. What would you tell them to start with your product wise? Okay. I guess if they're at the beginning of their journey, I would say the app. Okay. The Slay app is really simple and easy to use for a beginner. We have levels for all abilities. There's healthy recipes in there, vegan, low carb. Can we give some away? Yeah, we can totally give some away.

Okay. You tell me the amount and I'll tell them. We can give away a year membership. That's so nice. Let's do it. A year membership to the Slay app. All you have to do is follow Mari at Mari Llewellyn. And let us know your favorite parts of this podcast on my latest Instagram.

And then where can everyone find your products, pimp yourself out, your app, everything? So the products are Bloom Nutrition, bloomnew.com. The Slay app is just the Slay app by Mari on the app store. And you can find my Instagram at Mari Llewellyn, M-A-R-I-L-L-E-W-E-L-L-Y-N. It's a long one. You are very inspiring. Next time you come back on, you can bring Greg on so we can get- Yeah, I got to talk to this character character I think you need to talk to Greg yeah I think that it's interesting

how you guys have built your business and structured it I think it's really cool thank you thank you so much for having me thank you for coming on wait don't go Mari's doing a giveaway

for her brand I think you're gonna absolutely be obsessed with bloom sups all you have to do is follow at Mari Llewellyn on Instagram

and make sure you comment your favorite part of this episode on my latest post at Lauren Bostic so we can find you. With that, we'll see you next time for a fire episode. This episode was brought to you by VinceCamuto.com. Use code podcast at VinceCamuto.com for 20% off. VinceCamuto.com is a one-stop shop for wardrobe staples and occasion pieces that make every moment a chance to express your personal style. I went on their site. I was so impressed. I immediately bought their woven strap mule. They are so cute. I got the color water lily. It's really pretty. It's like a lavender color. It looks so cute with black. I'm wearing a lot

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