Well with Arielle Lorre - 27: BRITNEY VEST - From Weight Loss to Wellness

Episode Date: October 16, 2019

In this episode I talk to Britney Vest (@fittybritttty) about all things weight and wellness. We discuss her journey with her 85lb weight loss, starting with how she was affected by pressure to lose weight from a young age. She shares her experience of being in and out of Weight Watchers as a teen and her breaking point when she decided to make changes in her lifestyle. While her transformation is admirable, I was most interested in her qualities beyond her weight; namely her resiliency, confidence and zest for life. Today, she practices "wellness" without weight being the focus - and she has great advice for others looking to lead a more active, fulfilled life.    Follow Britney on Instagram: www.instagram.com/fittybritttty  Visit Britney's website: www.fittybritttty.com  Follow The Confident Collective on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentcollective/  Visit The Confident Collective Website: https://www.theconfidentcollective.com    Follow Arielle on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ariellelorre Follow the pod on Instagram: www.instagram.com/theblondefilespodcast Visit Arielle's website: www.theblondefiles.com Visit Arielle's YouTube: www.youtube.com/theblondefiles See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Welcome back. Welcome to, welcome back, welcome, I don't know. I never know how to start this thing. Hi, my guest today is Brittany Vest. Brittany is the fitness and wellness blogger and influencer behind the weight loss journey and lifestyle blog and Instagram, Vitty Briddy. She transformed her life over six years ago by losing over 85 pounds and having skin removal surgery. and she had an amazing transformation, obviously. But I was really interested in her life now and how she got to where she is,

having grown up in an environment where she was always aware of her weight and was being told to lose weight by people that she loved. I didn't grow up in an environment like that. I just had these self-imposed beliefs, I guess, and I was affected by culture and societal norms around me. I was always tiny and it still fucked me up even 20 years later. So if you're going to listen to this episode, I highly suggest you go to her Instagram or her website or both and follow her and poke around because she really exudes confidence and joy and she kind of seems to like give

zero Fs. I don't want to swear twice in the intro. She also has a lot of experience. with how to stay consistent and how to practice, like, quote unquote, wellness without it all being about weight. In fact, at one point in the interview, I didn't stop her or say anything about this, but she said, like, when I was done losing the weight, like, very nonchalantly, like, it was a finite thing. And I found that so refreshing because I think so many of us kind of feel like we're never done losing weight or even if we're not actively trying to like it'll always be a goal right or it will be a rewarding thing if it happens and it was so nice to hear her kind of end that part of her chapter and then shift on to like what her life is now and how she takes care of herself now without the

end all be all being losing weight so I really loved talking to her and I really was fascinated by her story and she also has a lot of helpful tips for anybody who might feel like they're stagnant or they don't know where to start or how to start and she's been there, she's been through it and she has a lot of advice. So without further ado, Britney Best. I'm Ariel Lori and this is the Blonde Files podcast where I talk to experts, influencers, and inspirational people in the world of wellness and beyond. All right, so I'm here with Brittany. Welcome.

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited you're here and Kennedy is here. Hello? I feel like I don't even have to introduce you really. I'll pop in when it's necessary. I think people just assume that you're here. I don't know.

Anyway, so I kind of went down a black hole, like reading your blog. I love your website, by the way. Oh, thank you. I have a website envy. I just got mine redone and I was like, Oh, I'm in the process of redoing mine right now. I really don't like my current one, so thank you. But it's about to be so bomb.

I just saw a preview of it actually up and running for the first time last week. And I'm like obsessed. So I can't wait to launch it. Who did it? The name of their agency is called Sister Agency. Oh. And they're really great. They're like the chillest easygoing two guys.

Nice. Yeah. Two guys have the sister agency. I know, isn't it? It's really funny. I wasn't expecting that either. I got like introduced to them. There's someone else because I wanted to stay on WordPress and I didn't want to go to Squarespace. So someone else introduced me and they're like WordPress experts apparently. And I'm like, great. And I was expecting it to be women. And there's two guys. And they're like the easy. They're like the chillest guys though. They like, I'm like, this is going to be like the girliest project you've ever worked on. I think. And they're like, we're ready. Oh, that's amazing. Well, so yeah. So I was like kind of researching your story. And yeah. So I know that you said your your kind of journey to where you are now started in 2010. Yeah.

But I want to kind of like rewind and go further back. Okay. So where are you from? So this question is always difficult for me because I'm a military rat. Oh, you are. So I was born in Southern California. But we, I probably lived there for like my first three years of life. And then my dad was in the Marines.

So we kind of moved every. three or four years and I've lived in Arizona, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and then like we bounced back and forth between Arizona and Virginia quite a bit and then I went to college in Virginia like outside of D.C. Got a job out there, stayed for a while and then I made my way back to California.

Gosh, it's been four years. Wow. Yeah. I always wonder like you hear some people who had that kind of childhood and like were really affected by it and then other people really weren't at all and it kind of like makes them more resilient and it just strengthens them. So what was that like for you? I think when I was in it, I wasn't the happiest always. I mean, when I was really young, I don't, I think it was fine because my friends were

my siblings. I'm the oldest of four and, you know, like your family is like your friends at that point. But then as I got older like in high school, that's when it started getting a little rough. Like I had to move my, so I did my first two years of high school in Arizona. And then I had to move and go to a new high school on the East Coast in Virginia. And I was like so mad. Like not happy at all. But when I look back on the whole experience, it was so good for me because my friend group that I had in Arizona wasn't like the best.

And I was like, you know, talking over teachers in class and like being a bad girl. And then I go to the East Coast and everyone's like, have you taken the pre-SATs yet? And like all studious. And I was like, oh my gosh. And it was like very, it was a good thing for me to get to do that. And it kind of like actually led me down the path of like finding graphic design, which was my previous career. And I mean, I'm a big like cheesy LA person and believe everything happens for a reason.

So I think it was good for me. And it definitely taught me like how to make friends anywhere I go and how to like adjust and how to be independent. And, you know, it gave me a lot of good life lessons. And, you know, I read that you were struggling with your weight, right? Yes. And your journey has kind of, your journey with that has kind of gotten you to where you are today. So we'll definitely talk about that. But I'm curious, like, what it was like as a kid and being in that environment and then also having this thing.

Like, it seemed like from what I read in your website, at least, that, like, you just weren't really aware of it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my family definitely made me aware of. my weight from a young age. I don't really like I don't have like a strong memory of my first like experience of being told I was overweight, but I definitely have memories of like my grandpa slapping my hand away from my plate or like my parents would sit me down like every week and be like Britney, you really need to lose weight. You need to be healthy. Like you can't, you know, snack all the

time when you get home from school and you can't, you know, all the things that my siblings were doing, but they weren't having like the same issues with their weight. But it's funny because through, you know, this journey, I like actually like called my mom up not too long ago. I was like, mom, like, was I really like overweight like ever since I was born? Was I like like when did it really happen? Because I don't remember. And she was saying that, I mean, when I was born, I wasn't overweight. I was like seven pounds, six ounces.

That's a pretty like normal healthy baby weight. And but she said she remembers when she took. me to the doctor like when I started drinking like regular milk or whatever they I think back then told kids to have like whole milk or 2% or something and the doctor told her that I was too high my weight was too high and that I need to go on skin milk so like that right there like however old I was I was probably a toddler I was being put on technically my first diet by switching me to like a skim milk which is so crazy to think about but I think I've just I think it generally. genetics play a big role in my certain situation. And then I think I just really love food. And I still

love food a lot. And I also think I love my parents so much, but they were both busy. My mom was a full-time teacher when I was growing up. My dad was gone a lot. And we ate out a lot. There was a lot of fast food. There was a lot of, like, if we did cook, if my mom cooked, it was like things like this like taco pie thing that definitely had like an entire bag of Doritos in it. I was like, not healthy at all. So, um, you know, over the year, she definitely like did better and like would cook like healthier things. But when we were young, it was just like whatever we would eat, you know, type of thing and whatever she could like go get or, you know, it's hard when you're basically a single mom and raising however many kids. And I mean, I can't and barely take care of myself and I have no other

responsibilities right now. So I can't imagine. But I think there was a lot of like things playing into it. But I definitely think genetics was like a big part of it. Both my parents had struggled with their weight growing up. And yeah, it was just an unfortunate like bad mix of things. But kind of like you said, like it's gotten me where I am today. So in a way I'm like very grateful for the whole process. I like that you're talking about genetics. Because I think so many people don't talk. about it and like we're in this like I don't know people ask me like what I what I do for like thin legs or something like that or like and I'm like it's genetic like the women in my family are small and like I feel like especially with social media now there everybody wants to look like somebody

else and it's like so much of it is out of our control like yeah we can take care of ourselves but like the girl with the big thigh gap like that's genetic yeah or it's lipo It really is. Or it's Photoshop. Yeah. And like we blame people who are like, who are not like society's standard. Like, oh, it's like a thing of willpower when really like that's that's not the case. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. So when did you kind of become aware like? I think when I, I remember I would go to Weight Watchers with my mom when I was little for sure. I don't think back then you couldn't like sign your kid up for wait watchers I think now you can though which is really sad but um I heard recently that like there's a new app yeah wait watchers for kids yeah it's disturbing it's literally wait watchers for kids yeah it's it like made me cry when it came out I was like so upset about it and like I found out about it through like another one of my friends in the Instagram world and I was just like I can't believe this is like a thing now but then I see I

started thinking about my past and I was like I can believe it as a thing even though it's like it's I don't know there's definitely two sides of the story it makes me sad for young eight year olds because that's like the minimum age I think that you can be to sign up for the app like that's so young you're allowed to have a phone yeah but no the way of watching that and like your brain is developing and you're going to create those pathways oh my gosh I 100% agree with that and there was this interesting article when when all that came out this woman, I can't remember her name right now, but I'll have to find the post for you because it was super interesting. And she was talking about how when parents or anyone is talking to a child

about their weight, it creates stress around, around their body, around food, around everything in their lives. And those conversations that create the stress are actually what's like making the person hold on to weight more than like the food they're intaking or exercise they're doing or not doing. And I was just like, wow, like, I always wondered what would have happened if my parents just, like, let me live my life and, like, provided healthy food for me. I was very active. I played soccer. I swam year-round. I played the violin. Like, I literally was doing something all the time. And I just always think, like, I wonder if, like, they hadn't focused so much and, like, talk to me so much about my weight and how to get healthy.

by like offering to pay me by the way like not actually giving me tools but just being like if you lose way yeah like we'll pay you money or whatever or buy you you know things and yeah they weren't actually like giving me tools to work with to learn how to be healthy and you know at a young at eight years old you're depending on your parents right to provide like food and everything else so and or your school providing lunch and that's a whole other crazy topic because school food is not healthy So it's, yeah, there's a lot of, you know, things. But I definitely remember going with my mom to Weight Watchers meetings. I would go with my mom to jazzercise back in the day.

We would go on walks. Like they, it was like they were trying. She was trying to teach me what she had learned, right? But, you know, in the 90s, when we were going up, it was low fat. It was low sugar. It was like all these fake things to put in your body to help you lose weight. But like it's, and, you know, now it's. it's people talk about how real food is like nourishing and um and i obviously agree a lot with that but yeah so

basically from like eight years on um it has been a conversation about my weight and about how i need to lose weight so that i'm healthy they did always phrase it as like healthy and not like so you can fit in or so you can wear smaller clothes or you know anything like that but i do have like memories of dress shopping for like prom or any dances or graduation of like my mom being like well you know like it would be easier if like you did were smaller so you could fit into the clothes in a way like where I would be crying in a dressing room because like the size 12 didn't fit me or that I was like having to shop like in the old women's department instead of the juniors. Yeah I think I don't know if that answered your question. Yeah. No and even though our stories are very different like I can still relate to

being aware of my weight. Like I remember when I became aware of it and I mean, I struggled with eating disorders and I didn't have, I didn't struggle with the same issues as you, but there were things that happened in my life that created a feeling of shame around eating. So I remember like instead of just eating like a normal teenager, like I would feel ashamed and I would try to hide it. And that stays with you. And, yeah, I'm sure it has some kind of, like, biological effect when you're eating. Same with, like, I talk about it all the time, but with, like, food sensitivities. Like, if you're going out and you're like, oh, my God, is there gluten in there? I'm going to, like, if there's gluten in there, I'm going to get so sick and blah, blah, blah.

And then you eat it and you have a reaction. It's like so much of that is mental. Yeah, you're in that head space. Yeah. That's crazy. So, so you went to college, right? And that's disruptive for all of us. Oh my God, yes.

Of lifestyle. College was so, like, I just, I mean, first of all, you're thrown into this situation where you don't know anyone, typically. I didn't know anyone when I went off to college. And you're living, you know, for the first time by yourself, although I was living in a room with four other girls, my first, my freshman year, which I chose to do. I'm like, what the heck? But it was fun. But, yeah, like, I remember my parents made me have the meal plan on campus. Oh, I got that too.

And it was just like the food on college campuses. I mean, maybe hopefully it's gotten better. But like we had a Chick-Balay on our campus. We had like Burger King, you know, fast food. And we also had like a cafeteria that and we would, me and my friends would go. And of course I made friends with all the other girls who loved to eat but didn't like gain any weight. So that was interesting. But I, yeah, it was the first time I kind of was like making my own food decisions, I guess.

definitely was eating lots of like dessert. They're not setting you up for success there. No, no. There was nothing like even. And if I, you know, if you eat a salad, it's like there's, it wasn't like there was healthy salad options. Like the lettuce was like basically white. Yeah.

You know, like there's no nutrients in it and you're putting like ranch on it and bacon or something. Like I don't even know. Like not anything healthy. It's all been sitting out for like hours too. It's just no. Yeah. My dorm was right across from like a food hall that had like Taco Bell McDonald's, Burger King, some like Asian thing that was just not.

I mean, it was all fast food. Yeah. And that was all I ate. We had a we had a soft serve machine that was like 24 hours. It was like the worst. It was like the worst. Like I come home from like Friday night and just everyone's in line for the soft serve. Oh my gosh.

So when was your breaking point? I mean, you got through college. You were working. Like, when did, when did it suddenly click? So, okay, so I definitely like put on even more weight when I was in college because I stopped working out as well. I was on the swim team in high school. So I was pretty like active in high school. But as soon as I went to college, I did not work out at all. So no working out, eating really. bad drinking, et cetera. We had a really late night, like place called Ikes that was open 24 hours, too, that we would go to. So all that obviously led to more weight gain. I mean, the most exercise I did was like walking up the hill to class and down and then dancing at parties. That counts. And yeah, so after college, I was like in this on again off again relationship. I was like back with him at this point. I was like working this job.

I like kind of I wanted to move to New York City. I wanted to pursue like the magazine world and be a graphic designer at a magazine. And I kind of like ended up taking a really boring high paying job instead. And so I was at this really boring job working for the government. That's a graphic designer. I like wasn't barely doing anything. I was just like sitting there all the time not doing anything. And anyway, so I would often like go and see this, this guy like he lived like an hour away. And I remember I like the transition out of college to into the work world was also very confusing. It was like I still didn't have want to work out. I was eating even worse. I was like going and getting Chipotle all the time, but not like healthy Chipotle like extra cheese Chipotle. Like. tortilla on the side, you know, like nothing good there. And that was happening multiple times a week because I was like too tired to cook. And I didn't know what to cook or like it, you know, all those life skills were not. They were like taught to me, but it wasn't taught to me in a way of like this is how you like transition into this lifestyle. I don't think anybody. No, no one knows that. Those skills. I mean, it's one thing to learn it and then it's another thing to like be going through it and actually know how to apply it. Exactly. especially when you have the choice.

It's like this or like the easy way or this. Yeah. And I had the money. I was like, oh, it's not like I don't have the money to go out for dinner, go out and get happy out or whatever. So anyways,

I was gaining more weight basically. And I went down to see this guy and we would eat a lot. He was also overweight by the way. And we were like together in his car driving like after eating or going to eat or something. And he like turns to me and tells me like he thinks I need to lose. weight and I was like, are you kidding me? I was like, you have some nerve. I didn't say this. Like, I was like in shock. Like I just was like mouth open, crying. Like I couldn't believe it. He was the one person like at the time who had never like brought my weight up. It was never an issue. He always told

me I was beautiful. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then like things had changed. And so I was just in shock. I was upset. We like obviously like we were in a car together. So I think we had some sort of conversation about it. And then I think I left and like I remember driving home crying. I got pulled over because I was like speeding. I was like my boyfriend just called me fat. I hope you didn't get a ticket. I think I did. It was just like the worst like you know like the absolute worst day. Right. And so I finally get home. I'm definitely like still crying like go to sleep. I probably like I don't know. I think I, like, pouted about it for a couple days. And, and then one day, it's like, I woke up and, like, this switch in my head had gone off. I think a lot of it, I'm very competitive.

And I think a lot of it was, like, no way is he going to tell me that and get away with it. Like, I'm going to get revenge. Like, I'm going to, like, quote unquote, I have my revenge body. So, yeah, I, it was like the switch had gone off. And like I said, I had gone to Weight Watchers so many times before with my mom. So I just kind of like decided I was going to go to Weight Watchers. I was going to go in person. And I remember going over to my mom's house. She like, they lived like 15 minutes from me at that time. And I was like, mom, I'm starting Weight Watchers. I'm going on Thursday to the meeting. And it was the weekend. And she was like, okay, like let's start the diet though on Monday. And I was like, no, mama, I already started. Like I already am started. And she was like,

okay, like I'll go to the meetings with you. And but I'm not going to start until Monday. And I was like, okay, well, I'm starting. And I don't even remember, but I was just like so stubborn about it and so dead set that that was what I was going to do. And then I went on Thursday and went to my meeting and signed up and paid. And typically my parents had paid for me to like go do Weight Watchers before. But finally I was like, no, I'm paying. I want to do this. It was like very this like thing that I was going to do for myself.

And no one else had, well, besides the boy. boyfriend, the ex-boyfriend was influencing me to do it. And yeah, so I, like, found a meeting on Thursdays that I loved. I found a meeting leader who was like my long-lost grandma. She was the sweetest woman ever. And it was just like the same people were always there. It was a very supportive, like, place where it felt like you, like, everyone in the room, like, understood, right? Where you, what was going on or how you felt or the struggle with food or, like, not being able to want to work out. or whatever it was everyone kind of like had this like common thread so it felt very good and very like the right thing for me and yeah so i did wait watchers every thursday i would go to the meetings um i did that for like probably the first like three months and then as i i started in i think i said August and that year in January they switched like the program changed the rules change and they made like fruits and vegetables zero points and I remember like reaching kind of like my first plateau and um because I started eating a ton of fruit which is healthy but it also is loaded up in sugar so my body

wasn't responding anymore and so I went to the gym for the first time and I hired I joined the gym I hired a personal trainer. My friend, one of my, like, best friends at the time was, like, working out with me. And he was my personal trainer was, it was, like, thinking back about it. It is crazy because I was very resistant. I did not want to work out. I would, we would yell at each other at the gym. We would get in fights.

I'd scream at him that I wasn't going to do something. He'd be like, you're doing it, pick the weight out. Like, it was embarrassing. But, you know, I think... Have you seen Revenge Body? I haven't. I saw like one episode was on when I was maybe working out or something. And that's what the girl is doing.

She was, I was like, it's so bad. She was like screaming at the trainer. I would not want to see myself on TV back then. It would have been just like that. But yeah, I was just really resistant. I, like, didn't find joy in working out. Like, I just felt like it was torture. I felt like it was, you know, a punishment for, like, me being overweight.

and I just couldn't like find the joy in fitness. And but I kept going because again, I'm stubborn and eventually I started liking it a lot more. And I started seeing changes in my body and people would come up to me at the gym and being like, wow, like I've really noticed a change in your shape of your body and like you've been working so hard. Like good job. And you know, like I was getting like this like positive feedback.

I was getting like great feedback at Weight Watchers. I met the scale was going down. So I just kind of started liking and looking forward to my workouts. And at the time, I was working this boring job. And so I'd literally wake up, make my meals, take them. I'd go to work. I'd leave work right as soon as I could. I'd drive straight to the gym.

I'd work out for like an hour and a half. And I'd like go home, eat a quick dinner shower and like repeat. Like every single day, six days out of the week, I was doing that. So for somebody who might be listening and like struggling, getting started. Yeah. It sounds like you were just like you had this resolve that like you were just going to do it. Yep. And I can't relate with eating stuff, but like I've been sober for five and a half years and like very different story again.

But like I was pretty much like struck sober and like that was it. Yeah. And I have a group also that's supportive. And you know, we speak the same language. and it's so helpful. So it seems like the nutrition piece for you or the eating piece was came a little more naturally. Yeah, it was like the easier part for me to comprehend on how to change. So were there anything, any, do you have any tips for anybody who's listening who might be like

struggling with that part? So I think the best thing to do when you want to change your lifestyle is to pick something, kind of like how I did and kind of focus on that and like adjust that into your life. Like we were saying earlier, it's changing your life. and doing something in a split second like that, whether it's going to college, whether it's going from college to your career, it's hard. So pick something that you want to change first and then adjust that into your life, add that in whether. So for me, it was nutrition. And that was, that had everything to do with like, I was tracking. I was measuring my food. I was, you know, I was more conscious.

I was thinking about it all the time until like I was able to kind of seamlessly like come into a routine with my nutrition and feel good in that place. And then I finally, like I said, I plateaued. And so I was like, okay, well, I can't get away now with not working out. Like, I have to start working out if I want to continue. And so that was like my only option. So I was like, okay, I'm, I'm going to have to add in the fitness component. And so that was like the next thing. And then like, I always talk about too, you know, when I actually lost weight, those are the two components I actually tackled. But when I was done losing weight, I started tackling a lot of other things. like how to add, you know, like supplements into my life that were helping me, how to clean up my diet,

how to live my life more mindfully, how to, you know, like keep my house organized, how to, like, the complete like 360 view of living a healthy lifestyle, like I started tackling those things and I'm still working on them. I'm 100% not perfect. Like for anyone listening, don't, I don't want you to like think that at all. And again, my journey has been. going on for 10 years and I don't think it's ever over. I think it's just evolving and we're growing and things are changing and we're adapting. Yeah, and that's so important because I think I'm sure you have people reach out to you all the time and I think people want to change, they want to change their life and they want to do everything at once and do like a drastic overhaul and maybe

for some people that works. But I always try to tell people like pick one thing. thing. Like start with one thing. Even like I think diet and exercise are probably equally important, although I tend to lean more towards nutrition. Yeah. Because if your nutritionist fucked, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But like don't even start with both of those. Like just, you know, start with taking walks or start with, you know, doing whatever diet wise. So I think that's really good advice for people. Yeah. Yeah. And I also tell people who are starting to pick something that can stay consistent with right right because consistency is actually the reason you're going to see change and growth so you can't just you know eat healthy for one day and expect changes um or you can't work

out just for one day and expect the change um it's like doing it over and over again and staying consistent is what helps too yeah how did you have motivation i mean i'm sure there were times yeah i mean my motivation, that's a question I get literally all the time. And it's funny because I always tell people I go through waves and motivation. You know, during my weight loss, I definitely had blinders on. I was ultra motivated. Like I tell people I could never get back to that brain state. Like if I tried, I don't think. It was just my brain was in a different universe where I could say no to anything. I had like, willpower that was crazy. I, you know, I just was like so focused on the goal and my weight that I could not see anything else other than that that entire time. And now I, my motivation comes from just not necessarily wanting to go back to how I lived, you know, before. Like I worked really hard to get where I am today. And so I never want to completely like give up anything and give up my hard work and all the time I've put into myself. And so that's one of my big motivators. My other

motivator is just I honestly, I don't feel like 100% motivated every day. It's, but my community and the people, my friends that I have in my life are very big motivators for me because they're all living a healthy lifestyle. And, you know, if I don't feel like working out one day and I can call up one of my friends and be like, let's go for a walk today and still be, do something active, and fun or they'll be like hey i actually signed up for yoga today do you want to join me and then i'll be like okay yeah like that sounds fun so knowing that there's not going to be like this constant state of motivation but and knowing that there's going to be ebbs and flows and like for me right now like i'm in a state where i like don't even have a workout routine like i am so busy running around

doing a million things like we all are that i just i can't even commit to a routine because i'm just hustling away working and you know and so and i know and i'm okay with that like in my past I would not have been okay with that. I would have done everything in my power to still get six workouts in a week. I would have been dragging myself into the ground. So you have to kind of look at your situation and do the best you can do with what everything else is going on like in your life. You have to say like is my workout going to benefit me or drive me crazy?

And is it feasible to do? And then if you're not motivated at all to work out, like finding ways that you or things that you love to do that don't feel like working out and like food that you love to eat that doesn't feel like you're forcing yourself to eat it just because you know it's healthy. There's so many great recipes and different types of workouts and things that you can do that can be fun and that you'll look forward to. So it'll be a lot easier. That's such good advice. Like preach.

Oh yeah. Amen. So can you tell us a little bit about Fitty Brady and the Confidentful collective and everything that you're doing now. Yes. So Fitty Brady was created about five years ago. I had already lost all my weight. I had my extra skin removed.

And I was like at this place where I just still felt like I wasn't going to Weight Watchers meetings anymore. I had felt like I figured out how to be balanced and healthy and, you know, all the things. And I really wasn't. I was tipping back into the state of. like what I felt like before and I just I wasn't really happy I saw a photo of myself and I couldn't stop looking at my arm and I was like wow like I've just let myself go like I can't believe this what am I doing I've worked so hard and I was having trouble staying motivated I was having trouble because my friends at the time were you know we were in our young 20s we were

going out and we were eating and drinking a lot still no one none of my close friends at the time had struggled with their weight. And so I was feeling kind of alone. And I didn't want to go back to that restrictive state of like, oh, I can't be social. I can't, you know, enjoy my life as a young 20-something year old. And I wanted to figure it out. So I started Fitty Brady literally on a whim. I do nothing on whims, which is so weird.

I usually ask like everyone I know, like, do you think this is a good idea? Do you like this name? Blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like, no, I'm just going to do this. I didn't tell anyone about it. for a while and I used it as a place to keep me motivated. It was my journal, my diary, but it was open to the public and I was wanting to connect with other women who had been through either a major weight loss or who were going through that and who I could just like see what they were going through and know

that like we were going through the same things because I felt like I was like the only one that I knew who was struggling. So yeah, it was just like the best decision I've probably ever made was to start Fitty and pretty. And slowly over time, like I told my friends and family about it. And they were, of course, very supportive and, you know, all the things. And yeah, it just kind of grew very organically. I was sharing my transformation stories and my weight loss story on Tuesdays.

I think I shared my transformation story every single Tuesday for probably three and a half years. Wow. And, and then I kind of started just like not relating to it as much myself because I really wasn't losing weight anymore. And I just wanted to pull away from this just obsession with losing weight because that's what we all know. That's what we grew up with every.

My mom love her. She's still trying to lose five pounds. I'm like, what are you doing, lady? You don't need to lose weight. Just be healthy. Like live a healthy life. Yeah. And so I just.

And like those last five pounds or just those five pounds are usually like the fun. Yes. pounds. They're your life with friends and the like memories. Yeah totally. Oh, I completely agree. So I just didn't want to be like that. And so I kind of transitioned away from this focus of weight loss on my page and went more towards lifestyle and balance and how to find confidence and love yourself how you are. And this whole, you know, the body confidence movement was really on the rise. And it was just like great timing. And I was just, yeah, everything kept growing. And, you know, now, um, it's my, My page is, it's health and wellness focus, but it's definitely more lifestyle. And it's my full time,

my full time gig. And it's just really cool to be able to, you know, motivate and inspire women and help them love their bodies and feel less alone and, you know, everything. And I've even like done a lot more fashion stuff on my page now. And it's going over really well too. And I never thought like I would be a quote unquote fashion blogger. But, you know, it's kind of cool to be able to do like what I love. because I do love fashion and be able to like do my spin on it. But yeah, Fitty Brady has been amazing. How do you avoid the comparison drop on Instagram? Okay, this is good question.

I think so before I moved L.A. So I moved to L.A. about four years ago I had Fitty Brady for about a year at that time when I moved here. And I did not have any friends who had Instagrams, really. Like they had their personal Instagram, but no one was like at that that I. I knew was really using their Instagram for like this public thing. And I started making friends in the industry in like the blogging world and then like the fitness industry and all of them would sit around and like complain and compare.

And I was like, whoa, like I never thought about. I never even knew what like engagement meant or like what any of this meant. Like I didn't realize it. I didn't even realize like it could be my job one day. And so it was like very eye-opening for me to hear like all these other girls talking about this. And so I got caught in that too because I was around it all the time. And so I found myself constantly thinking, oh, well, she's doing this and getting this many legs and getting, you know, these jobs and like, why am I not getting this stuff?

And I definitely got in that trap for a couple months of me just like feeling like I wasn't doing the right things or I was never doing something good enough. And then again, one day I was just kind of like, this is crazy. Like, I can't live like this. And I don't think anyone should live like that. I wasn't necessarily like comparing myself like to other girls and their looks, which I know a lot of a lot of women tend to do that. But I was, I mean, I follow people. I really curate my feed. So when I open Instagram, I don't see anything that triggers me.

I don't see anything that makes me think less of myself. And if I do, I unfollow it or unfollow the person because I don't, we have that power. That's the one thing on Instagram we have power over is who we follow. So I think every woman or listener needs to take that into their hands and use that power for good for themselves. And if you find yourself comparing yourself to someone, it's just ridiculous. And also Instagram is literally one little blip in our lives. Like, you know, there's so much that I share, but there's also so much I don't share just because I am enjoying my life and don't have a camera attached to me at all times. Again, preach.

Yeah, I like that. We do, I don't really, I can't sympathize with people who complain about. certain things on Instagram because you're right like we do control what we see just don't go on the explore page yeah that's the place of like misery oh yeah okay tell us about the confidence collective so the confidence collective is something that I just started with two of my best friends um ran and Christina um and you know it's funny because we we've been friends we all met kind of separately and then they met too. And then we all kind of started like seeing each other at the same things and hanging out.

And Rayan actually DM me. She slid right into my DMs and we hung out. She interviewed me for her blog and we were like sitting across from each other and like, I was like, are you me? Just younger. And she was like, are you me but older? And I was like, I think so. So we were, we like were friends basically from the start.

And I met Christina at an event. And anyways, so we had been friends for a while. and we each kind of had talked to each other about like this idea of wanting to create these community, this community off of Instagram and in real life. And I kind of, I wanted to start doing retreats. And a lot of people had told me like, oh, you would, you know, you would do amazing retreats. And I was, you know, I've been trying to think, okay, how can I like build this, build something off of Instagram in case Instagram goes away tomorrow? And so we had been, you know, talking about this for a while. And then one day we were like, you know what?

We should just do this together. Like this will be so much easier for us to all do together versus separate. We all have the same mission. We all have amazing communities of women that are like-minded. And this would be really powerful to do it together. And oh my God, I'm so happy we did it together. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work to have another brand and to build something.

from the beginning, but it's also so much fun. Like watching the Instagram grow is like so fun. And watching like doing our first event, we had our launch event last month. We had a fun like boxing class. So anyways, the Confident Collective is basically a community of women that we get together and we go to workout classes. We're going to be doing some body positive workshops coming up that are going to be like half day workshops.

We're planning some retreats for next year. And we're going to have hopefully have a podcast very soon too. Yeah, we'll have to have you come on. Yeah. So there's a lot of aspects to it. And we want to be able to like reach people everywhere. And that's why we are kind of going to offer many different things. But, you know, our goal with this is to just help women love themselves more, feel more confident, whether that's in their bodies, in their jobs, in their relationships, in their lives.

We, their confidence is, you know, it's something that. like I think can come out of someone, right? If someone's like, oh, I'm not confident. I never think I can be confident. I don't agree with that. I think it's one, your mental state. And two, for example, with your body, if you're self-conscious in, you know, your clothes,

well, okay, let's find something that makes you feel amazing. And you're standing up tall and you just can't stop looking at yourself. And there you go. You've just become confident. And it literally just, I know that sounds so silly, your clothes. But it can be something as simple. is that that can really change a woman's mind about how she sees herself because that's really all it is. It's how we see ourselves when we're looking at herself in a mirror or we see herself in a picture.

How can we, you know, change that conversation so that we can find something positive about ourselves even on our like worst days. Yeah, I love that. And usually like, I know for me at least like what I see in the mirror could be the exact same thing one day to the next and one day I could be feeling really down on myself or you know whatever and I can see something completely different yeah um it's crazy so yeah I love that and there's nothing more attractive than confidence right yeah like agree you could have the most beautiful person you know by society's standards and they could lack confidence and then you could have somebody I don't want to

say not you know what I mean yeah and and I don't know I think personally people who exude confidence are just so attractive agreed and you do I mean I'm like you're so attractive no but like you look amazing obviously but like that's not what it's about like you you you like exude this light and it's like so clear that like yeah you had this physical journey but it also you had a mental journey too and like you just seemed so strong and like you're so inspiring for me and for a lot of other people so I'm excited to see what you guys do with it yeah we're really excited about it well where can everybody find you so you can find me on instagram at fitty britty two T's in Fiddy and four in Brady and I know it's annoying and then my website's

fittybritty.com and the Confident Collective is at the Confident Collective on Instagram and theconfidentcollective.com. And yeah, I'm on Facebook as well, but not very active over there.