Fueling Your Fitness: How Stronger U and Orangetheory Transform Health Goals

In this episode of the Stronger U Radio, Orangetheory Coach Jess, and Stronger U RD, Gianna dive into the dynamic partnership between Stronger U and Orangetheory, focusing on how personalized nutrition coaching and structured fitness programs combine to drive lasting health transformations. With a spotlight on the Orangetheory Transformation Challenge, Coach Jess explains how time-boxed goals, flexible nutrition strategies, and accountability can help participants maximize their results both during and beyond the challenge. She shares her experiences as an Orangetheory coach, emphasizing the critical role nutrition plays in enhancing fitness outcomes and offering tips for staying motivated when balancing a fitness routine with a nutrition plan.

Listeners will also learn how Stronger U’s evidence-based, sustainable approach complements Orangetheory’s results-driven workouts, helping participants shift from quick fixes to lifelong health habits. Jess and Gianna address common misconceptions, like the fear of tracking forever, and provide actionable advice for anyone looking to integrate fitness and nutrition into their daily lives. Whether you’re just getting started or striving to reach the next level your Transformation Challenge, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical strategies to take your nutrition and performance journey to new heights.

Please visit otf.strongeru.com for more information on how Orangetheory and Stronger U are working together with special offers for the Transformation Challenge!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to another episode on the Stronger You Radio.
This is Gianna Massey. I'm a registered dietitian at Stronger
You and I'm so excited for today's topic on all
things Orange Theory, fitness and Transformation Challenge. To help me
discuss these topics, I'm sitting down with an amazing Orange
Theory coach, Jess mclatty, who is also a fitness manager

(00:24):
of four locations. She holds her NASMCPT. Has been an
OTF member for seven years and started working for the
brand five years ago with over four thousand classes coached.
She uses her previous experience in the mental health field
to take evidence based and inclusive approaches on how to
coach members successfully and sustainably. Her expertise has led to

(00:49):
some of the most successful special events such as Transformation
Challenge and Dry Try. She now sets that standard for
all of her studios. Having a fashion for fitness has
helped with her own transformation goals and allows her to
pursue regular physical activity in and outside of the studio
with things like snowboarding, hiking, biking, and playing with her

(01:13):
two Shepherd mixes. Let's welcome coach Jeff to the show,
and let's dive in. Welcome to the Stronger You Radio.
Stronger You Radio brings insightful conversations with top nutrition, health
and fitness experts, hosted by Stronger You dieticians and nationally
certified coaches skilled at simplifying nutrition science into actionable advice.

(01:39):
Get inspired with evidence based practical tips to optimize your
potential and crush your body composition, health and performance goals.
This is your time to level up and become a
stronger You. Well, Jess, thanks so much for being here today.
We are so excited to talk to you about orange

(02:00):
and Stronger You nutrition. So can you please just tell
us a little bit about yourself? How did you get
into orange theory? How'd you become a coach? We'd love
to hear your backstory. Yes, first, thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
My story with orangeery goes back at this point six
or seven years. My older sister who is actually an
orangery coach and has been doing it for about seven years.
And you know, I was an athlete growing up. I
got out of it after college. She was an orangeary coach.
She kept telling me to go take class. I was terrified.
I thought orangeery people were crazy, and so I pushed

(02:33):
it off and pushed off, and I took one class
and after that during Hell Week, Might I add, so
I know that you know about.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
That first class ever was in Hell Week, Yes.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And when I walked in, she told me, she's like,
if you can get through this class, you'll be fine.
And I was a little skeptical and even more scared
at that point, but again, everything's like super at your
own pace. So I took my first class, I fell
in love, and I became a member and actually, you know,
I know we're going there. But I participated in a
transfer ration challenge. I won second place in a non

(03:03):
healthy way. But I was basically just a diehard member
for a couple of years and decided, you know, I
hit a point at my other job, in my other
career that I wanted to do something else.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
So I started working at the front desk actually.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
And then a little bit after that, I just started
seeing kind of gaps in fitness, you know, where I
just felt like it was one stereotype of the super fit,
super toned eating chicken, rites and broccoli type people, which
you know, like there's nothing wrong with that, but I
was just feeling like I didn't fit in.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
So I had been an athlete. I wanted to do it.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
That was my hesitancy, and it ended up actually becoming
my driving factor. So I said, if if I'm not
seeing this diversity like I kind of want to be
a part of that change. So I got certified and
I started coaching right before COVID, and then everything got
shut down for COVID and that was a nice learning experience,
but it also meant that my previous job they shut out,

(04:00):
and that was kind of my jumping off point of
becoming a full time coach. So I had really only
been coaching a few classes a week up until that
point before COVID happened, and then I transitioned to full time,
and by the time that we reopened the studios, I
was coaching twenty seven classes a week.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Wow. Yeah, and I just I fell in love.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So I've been there ever since and I don't really
see anything changing anytime soon.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I love that backstory, and I love that you said
you wanted to be the change. It's very similar to
a lot of the stronger nutrition coaches is that, you know,
we want to show people like there's another way to
doing this. You don't have to starve yourself, you don't
have to do these really restrictive patterns, And so I
really appreciate what you're saying so much. And I'm so
glad that you are a coach because Jess actually coaches

(04:47):
me at my local studio, So I'm super grateful and
I love her and her team, So that's awesome. So
I'm curious, like, how does your coaching experience like align
with the importance of nutrition, Like how do you see
orange theory and nutrition needing one another. So that also
kind of goes back to my personal story.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
I had lost forty pounds over the period of a
year with orange theory and slight changes in my nutrition
with little to no guidance. And I think the only
reason why I was successful was because I was very
interested in becoming a coach and in taking that next
step and kind of doing a lot of my own research. So, like,

(05:30):
the small sustainable changes is really what I That is
the hill that I will live and die on, right,
small sustainable changes in fitness, in nutrition, in whatever it is,
you know, And like you kind of said, trying to
live a balanced life and not just going one hundred
and ten percent into one thing all the time. So

(05:51):
orange theory for me, what it did was it kind
of brought back that feeling that I really liked when
I played sports, was it was kind of kind of
just me against myself and I had somebody who was
behind me cheering me on, telling me to push farther.
And so when I started coaching, that was something that
I tried to take in. My background is in mental health,

(06:11):
that's actually where I used to work before this, so
I really started to try to come in and change
the tune of you don't need to come into class
and kill yourself and get a million splat points, which
is very much like a lot of people have that ideas.
They're very hyper focused on splat points calories, like really
looking at all of that data and instead using that

(06:32):
data to listen.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
To your own body.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
You know, we are only supposed to spend a certain
amount of time in the orange and then the rest
in the green zone or lower so that your body
can recover. Because you know, you probably know this, I
know this is recovery is also a huge part of
being able to if it is your goal, like losing weight,
keeping it off, keeping your stress levels low, making sure
that your recovery post workout is good. So my own

(06:57):
experience with that and like kind of having to go
through it block is where I think my passion for
it came and which is why I've been very interested
in what Stronger You is doing because I can see
it on the fitness side. For myself, I know that
I try to coach with that balanced approach of listen
to your body, push when you can, let's try to
hit your goals. But at the same time, my scope

(07:19):
of practice is cut off like almost immediately when it
comes to nutrition, and there are gaps in a lot
of personal trainers knowledge on what we can do exactly.
So that was I think where you and I started
to get talking about that a lot of your teams
being based off of registered dietitians and trickling that information
down is going to be so helpful for people like

(07:42):
me who had no idea what I.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Was doing and just kind of did it blind. Yeah, definitely,
And I commend you for what you did do because
it's like to just like dive in and like make
change that's very hard for so many people, and just
taking the first steps into that is a lot. So
good job Jess, that's awesome even so, I'm learning so
much about you today. And yeah, I loved what you
said about data because I think from performance in orange

(08:07):
theory and then data in nutrition, like we have our
app which gives you a lot of graphs. You have
all the numbers and there's data sets there, which is fantastic,
but it's like, we want the data to inform behavior.
We don't want the data to be this kind of
like shackle on us or have like you said, like
the splat points be the only thing that matters, because

(08:28):
we know so much more matters than just the numbers
are the data, and so I like that there's that
kind of like energy there for both of us with
what we're doing. Yeah, I think that's just you're going
to not burn out as quickly if you're not focusing
just on numbers, whether that be the scale weight, whether
that be the splat points and things like that. Do

(08:50):
you find like that's something that when I would call
them beginners or like new people come to the studio,
are they like hyper focused on splat points or is
it kind of more of like the veterans that you
see like being very hyper focused on the slat points.
I guess it's probably both, but I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, I think it's also very tricky from you know,
like a coaches perspective. When we do get these new
members coming in, there is you know, an orange cury.
It's almost like we're speaking a different language, you know,
Base push all out splat points, Orange zone. Like new
people are coming in and have no grasp on what's happening,

(09:29):
and they don't even fully understand what they're looking at.
So as much as we're trying to introduce them into
a workout and get them to just kind of not
feel confused with all of the moving parts, it's almost
easier to take that new member and make sure that
they don't get hyper focused on splats and calorie and

(09:49):
all of that. And I think with where Orange Theery
has developed over the last few years, the way that
we talk to them about it is so much better.
So what you said is it can happen new members,
but I think we see much more of an issue
with older members who weren't introduced to the workout. I
don't want to say properly, but with the new updated information,

(10:11):
you know. Yeah, And I think it's also as much
as I like this is I feel where coaches like
fight the good fight every day, or at least like
the coaches who really cared do is is if these
members are taking classes from other coaches that aren't realizing that,
like what you said, that data can either drive it
or just support it. If they're not recognizing that difference,

(10:34):
you can walk into certain environments where it is a
little bit more of that I'm going to be a
little harsh right now, toxic language of calorie burn. And
like I remember when I first took orangeary classes back
in the day, hearing somebody say something about a bikini body,
and that grated on my nerves. I was like, ugh,
like that is just not what I want to hear
coming from my background, you know.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
And so I think.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Now we fight the good fight of like coaches who
maybe might not be aware of that or again, a
lot of that old language or like the old misunderstandings
at Orange Ry is very calorie burn, orange flat point,
like all that mentality, which it's not if it's being
done properly. But yes, I think veteran members are definitely

(11:16):
a little bit more of the issue and then trying
to get them out of that is a whole different adventure.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, and I think you're speaking to something even so
much broader than just an Orange Theory thing. This is
like just a I would say, fitness industry, nutrition industry,
cultural thing that we've seen shift. You know, I think
when you and I were growing up, it was a
lot more you know, this language that wasn't as supportive
to put it nicely right where we were seeing like
you know, it's like fat free everything, or like it

(11:44):
has to be this or that and very you know,
not super positive. So I think just as a as
a culture that's shifting, which is awesome to see. And
so I think we're seeing that inside Orange Theory and
inside even like language that's stronger. You like, maybe language
that we used ten years ago is now we use now,
and that's great because then means we're all learning and evolving.

(12:04):
And the one thing that I've really loved about Orange
Theory from you know, being involved with the brand like
the past several years, is like you guys are very
evidence based and science driven, which not a lot of
you know, studio type of workouts or fitness programs provide.
And you guys have that as like your beacon and

(12:26):
so do we. And so that's why I love this
so much, because I'm like, great, we both care about
the same thing. We're not going to worry about someone
saying something outlandish on either side. So there's confidence there
which I so appreciate and I know you do too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
I think also though, for both of our brands, like
what you just said speaks volumes of you know, where
you can see a lot of brands that just don't
change with updated information, you know. I think there is,
like you said, a very old school misunderstanding that if
we said something once, that is what we have to
live and die by.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
But like you said, I feel.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Like both brands, and like what led me to being
comfortable kind of with both of these brands as somebody
who I think, just in life approaches things very skeptically,
is that they're not afraid to change, you know, And
I think that that is super important, and like you said,
with looking at the research and the evidence, that is
one of the reasons again that drew me to orange theory,

(13:26):
and then again drew me to suggesting to our members
to find and locate registered dietitians, which isn't easy, and
that's kind of where stronger you is filling in the gap.
And that is I think a huge misunderstanding in both
the fitness and nutrition communities is at Instagram, right, social media,
You're going online and you're seeing these people who are
putting fitness coach, nutrition coach, and they're trying to sell

(13:50):
you a program, right, and everything that they're trying to
sell you doesn't have any type of research behind it.
But because people are almost so desperate for change and
they're desperate now to like find what's going to work
for them to hit their goals, that it's it's clickbait.
So they're finding it, being it, they're clicking it, they're
not doing the research. And I think for both of

(14:11):
our brands, having the fact that like there is research
and studies and science that kind of backs up why
both are so successful when done properly, is super super important.
I don't think that I would be able to be
behind a brand that did not do that.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, and like for.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
Both of us, I feel like we've seen such big
changes when doing these things that it's it's you can't
deny that it works if you work it, you know, yeah,
one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
And I think also it's like everything's research, evidence based,
but also there's nutrition literacy at play with you know,
teaching people how to do these things for themselves where
they don't just have to follow along, you know, a
prescribed program where then when they go out with their
friends or when they're at school or something happens, they're

(15:01):
just totally like what do I do now, Like this
is not my plan, I don't know what to do. Like,
we want to equip everybody with tools so they feel
like they can go and do nutrition wherever they are
in their world. And then for you guys, it's like, yeah,
you know how to lift weights, like you know how
to do the aerobic piece. Like I think that's very
empowering for everybody across the board.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
I'm actually really glad that you said that, because that
is a huge staple of how I train my coaches, right,
So you know, over the years, like I've moved from
being a coach to a head coach to an area
manager and now like I've got four studios of coaches
that I need to train and develop, and a big
touch point on kind of what I do is the
education piece. And I think it's so both, like it's

(15:45):
important for both nutrition and fitness. Right, if they don't
know what they're doing, then the likelihood that they'll stick
with it is very slim. Right, if they don't know
what to do when you're not there, right, it doesn't
give them what is that that I'm looking for, like
autonomy over their own life. Right, So it's like if

(16:05):
I'm telling you that you can only come into Orange
Cury and do X y Z when you're not at
Orange Cery, or if you know you move to you
know the handful of states that don't have orange theory,
which is very rare at this.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Point, right, pretty much right we're expanding, you cannot stop us.
But if you know you did that or you went
on vacation and you.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Want to do fitness, like you'll know something or enough
about your own body hopefully with how we're training our
coaches that like you can go do a workout in
a hotel gym and feel confident in yourself, or you
could feel confident reaching out to us for a baseline
and then doing it yourself and not worrying that you're
gonna get hurt. And the same thing with nutrition, like

(16:45):
let us teach you because we can't be with you.
Twenty four to seven, and like not giving those structured
plans and like allowing flexibility for mental health purposes is
so important. Like I will again, mental health is my background.
I did it for five years before I came into
Orange theory, Like dealing with disordered eating, all other types

(17:07):
of like mental health conditions, anxiety, depression, all of that.
Like giving a rigid schedule to somebody who's ever struggled
with something like that can be so harmful. So I
find that like if we are teaching them on our
side for the fitness and you're teaching them on the
nutrition side, it does give them that sense of I
know what to do when I'm out in the world,

(17:30):
and it's empowering.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
I love that, And I want to shift into a
little bit about So we see a lot of people
who just do fitness, right, So if they're just doing
Orange Theory for their workouts and they're not really focusing
on their nutrition that much yet, I think this happens
from my perspective, and I want to hear yours too.
They might be like, I'm working really hard, I'm getting

(17:54):
the flat points, I'm doing all the things, but I'm
not progressing. Maybe I'm not pring on any workouts, or
maybe I'm not seeing changes in my strength or my
body that I want to see. How would you approach
that conversation with them about looking into nutrition, Like, what
does that side look like for you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (18:14):
I like, like you said, this happens frequently, you know,
and it really is. I usually start the conversation by saying,
it's great that you started doing this. Have you made
any adjustments to your eating habits?

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Right, it comes off as very non threatening, right, like,
I'm not judging you for not doing that. I think
it is a huge misconception that you can start working
out and everything will change. There are a lot of
things that will change, right. Working out is very very
good for a number of reasons, right, A number of
things that will just change in your body internally when

(18:48):
you're working out. But a lot of people aren't necessarily
coming to the gym for just internal changes, right. They're
looking to externally see changes in their bodies or to
feel changes. Said like I'm not feeling like or they're
not feeling like they can lift as heavyer. They're not
seeing changes in strength, right, and it is all to
do with diet.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
The old saying of you can't outwork an unhealthy diet
is still true, you know, like you can get benefits
from exercise while not changing your diet. However, you're not
going to get the real benefits are the best benefits
without doing both right. Protein we now know so so
important for muscle growth, Like if almost we may maybe

(19:31):
have gone too far on the spectrum of telling people
to eat protein.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
You don't need as much protein as these people on
Instagram or telling you right, but like increasing your protein
to build muscle and to like keep your strength and
especially for you know, people as they're aging, very important,
like muscle density, bone density, all of that, right, Or
my favorite the myth on carbs. If I like the

(19:56):
carb thing again, so you see it all the time
of people they want to come in, they want to
lose weight, so they're like, I'm cutting out carbs. I'm like,
your body needs them for energy to work out at
this level, right, your body needs it, your brain needs it, right,
Like I don't know, tell me if I'm wrong, because
you're the professional here. Isn't it like carbs make up
like forty percent of like the energy that your brain
needs to use or it's like it only functions at

(20:18):
forty without carbs, something.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Like that, your brain loves glucose and carbs like it needs.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
That, yes, to function, But you can cut out my
random percentages thrown in there.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
You're good. The point is made, for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
But like that is like these all these misconceptions that
people have just been living with for years of like
cut out carbs to lose weight or do this, and
it's we need an understanding of what those nutrients actually
do for our bodies, right, fiber, protein, carbs, like you
even said like sugar if you follow I find this
so interesting because obviously I follow a lot of people

(20:53):
who tend towards our side of the fitness and nutrition
type program on Instagram versus kind of the clickbait profiles,
all of one who she has a PhD and she's
an ultra like an ultrarunner. She does hybrid training, she
lifts super heavy right, and her whole big thing is
like she will pack rice crispies right, ricesats, and she

(21:17):
eats to keep her energy up because it needs to
sit easy in her stomach and she needs the carves
and the sugar right and.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Digest And are you talking about Alissa? Yes, yeah, I love. Yeah,
I come on the podcast.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed with her good She's literally like,
I love, love, love.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Her so much.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
There's like a handful of people that I will just
repost their information all the time, because again, like from
somebody who is just a personal trainer, I need to
look at people who have degrees or more education or
more experience in things that I don't, and I need
to pull that information back into the mainstream of like
people who take my classes. So anyway, by that is

(22:01):
where I think we have all these members that come
in they don't see these changes, and then I end
up finding myself saying, hey, let's maybe start to look
for a registered dietitian. And it hasn't been super easy
in the past for people to find that, which again
is another reason why I'm super excited that this is
kind of trending in the right direction for orange theery

(22:21):
and stronger you.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. And just
like doctors have different disciplines or you know, board specializations,
so do rd's and some other nutrition coaches where they
have specialties in you know, weight loss and performance, so
things like that. So I think that stronger you caters
towards the type of user that is going to Orange

(22:44):
theory fitness, so encompassing that body composition, the performance side
and living your best life right Like it's like we
still want people to live their lives. And there was
something about rice crispies. I was going to say, now
I'm planking, we'll go back. Those are sious. I think
the point I was going to make about that is
like when people hear that you don't have to eat

(23:06):
Rice crispy treats, but you can, and that's like that's
the flexibility component that at Stronger You is. One of
the philosophies that we have is like you can do
these things, will help you figure out in what type
of way, whether it's the amount, the when, and like
how to do it all that it makes sense for
your goals. And you know, I think about my personal

(23:29):
story of like I started lifting in the gym, didn't
really know what I was doing, didn't really know much
about nutrition. This was way before my nutrition degrees and
things like that, and I was like, wow, like I'm improving,
I'm doing a lot of good stuff, but I felt
just very like solid if you wire, I was like
I was like all right, Like, I'm definitely stronger, I

(23:50):
know how to lift weights, Like this is feeling good.
I was like, but I'm not seeing changes, and I
didn't understand why. Like and then we started like peeling
back the onion and you're like, okay, got to your protein.
Like I actually was eating. Like I remember I went
into a dietician's office and I had a huge bag
of almonds right in my bag. Now everyone was like, oh,

(24:10):
nuts are healthy, They're a great healthy fat. You should
eat nuts before a workout, which is not the recommendation,
by the way. That is wrong. Do not eat a
lot of fat before your workout. But I have this
bag of almonds I'll never forget. And the RD was like, so,
like how many almonds do you in the day? And
I'm like, I don't really know. I just like grab
a couple scoops with my hand and like eat the almonds. Now,

(24:31):
if you know anything about nutrition and how dense those
calories are in those almonds, I was consuming a ton
of calories via almonds. Sure I could have had a
single serve of almonds. I would have served me much better.
And so I started to like understand, Okay, I can't
eat a huge bag of almonds. Just I'm not like
hating on almonds everyone, but this is just the example.

(24:53):
I always laugh. Now I'm like reflecting, I'm like, wow,
that's so funny. I did that. But you learn and
you start to accumulate more knowledge, and so it's like
your knowledge and those gaps can take a long time
for you to figure out on your own, or you
can have a coach for a short period of time
or a long period of time that helps you figure
it out and get onward and upward quicker. And that's

(25:15):
why we go to orange theory too, right, Like I
can work it on my own, but I love being
able to like know what time I'm going show up
and know what I'm getting. I love that like that
that makes me so happy and consistent, and that's the piece, right,
being consistent.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, I mean, I also think it's hilarious that you
said that thing about almonds, because you know, backtrack to
twenty minutes ago when I said I figured everything out
by myself, I did the exact same thing, Like honey
roasted almonds were my jam.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Oh, it's like a Laine jess mine, weren't even that delicious?

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yours were like the more you know, quote unquote healthy version.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
But in my brain I was like, oh yeah, notts
are healthy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
I would just sit there and snack on containers and
then wonder why I seeing any progress. And once I
started learning things about new Church, like you said, like,
I was like, oh wait, this is like no, Like
I can have them for the occasional snack because they
are healthy in a.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Way, but they cannot be like half of my meal.
Yeah exactly. Yeah, same thing happens with like with like avocado.
People tell me like, oh, just like I'm eating lots
of avocados. I'm like, that's awesome. They're a great start survivor.
They have a lot of fat. But if we're trying
to change body cop or when transformation challenge, might need
to know how much we're eating.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yes, yeah, so literally, I think honestly, like my and
even for me, like protein was my big game changer.
Like I'm a carb girly. I love carbs. I could
eat bagels all day long, like desserts bred Like I'm
a French toast cinnamon bun like bread carb girl. Right,
that is just where I live naturally, So like learning

(26:50):
to introduce proteins that I actually enjoyed and like wasn't
just like a protein shake that like I always hated
or a protein bar which I always hated. You know,
Like that was my sweet spot of like where if
I could naturally introduce that because like we both know,
it's a little bit more filling, it's going to keep
you full for longer, right, Like that was my thing

(27:11):
that I had to implement, and like I know now
that for me, and like I know we're probably going
to talk about this more. Is that was my small
sustainable change.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, it was like instead.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Of making French toast for breakfast, now I have Kodiak
French toast sticks, right, the brand Kodiak, We love them,
and Greek yogurt and that is like for me, like
maybe a little bit of fruit like that is for me.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Like my balanced breakfast, you know.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
And it's going to be different for everybody, right, Like
it's almost like you have to lean into what you
naturally like, and like you said, dieticians will help you
figure that out, right, Like they are equipped with they
already know what foods have what, and they'll help you
kind of find like a group of things that you
can rotate through so you're not eating almonds for breakfast.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
You know, well, you can't eat almonds regular protein with
it for sure. Don't like amazing No, I know, well,
we probably came up in the same timeframe, so it's
like make sense. We were like, yeah, we're gonna have
some moments. Is it time for you to level up?
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(28:18):
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(28:40):
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(29:01):
That's SU Radio fifty. This is where a Stronger You begins.
Let's do this. I would love to hear for those listening.
I think we have a lot of listeners who do
know what transformation challenge is at Orange Theory. But for
those who are like, oh, I don't really know a
lot about it, can you tell us what transformation challenge is? Yes?

Speaker 2 (29:22):
And I'm actually so so happy that you asked me
in the time of Transformation challenge because if you ask
anybody who's done mine or who works with me, I
take these challenges to a new level. I think. One,
I'm super passionate about them. Two, I think, like you said,
fitness is heading in a new direction. It's time to expand.

(29:43):
So on a baseline, though, the eight week Transformation Challenge
with Orange Sory originated as a fat loss competition back
in the day, right, Orangeree's fourteen years old, So back
in the day, that's how it started.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
People stepped on scales, they waited in, they weighed out,
and that was how it.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Was determined male and female winners.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Over the years, we've transitioned it to be body fat
loss percentage. Right, So you've seen in each of our
studios we now have embody scams, right, So you can
step on the embody and you scan and it'll do
your whole thing. So it'll measure your weight, but it'll
also measure your body fat percentage, your muscle mass, your
metabolic rate, the whole night.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Once we started to introduce that, it transitioned to body
fat loss percentage. Now Orange Syria had actually reached out
to coaches to say, what are we missing from Transformation
Challenge and fun fact, my sister actually responded back and said,
here's what we've been doing in our studios in Connecticut,

(30:46):
and last year they started to change it a little.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
So as of last year, the Transformation Challenge.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Is now an eight week challenge where members can sign
up to participate and it is based off of a
competition in for either body fat loss percentage or now
it includes muscle gain. Right, so that was a huge
step in the right direction over those eight weeks. It
might change from studio to studio, but the goal is

(31:12):
that the coaches and the staff try to either set
up from any of our tools that were given via
Orange Siri, set up an eight week almost accountability program,
so we are there to try to help them achieve
those goals of either muscle gain or body fat loss percentage.
Now what we've been doing at our studios which has

(31:35):
actually I can't even take the full credit myself actually
came from members asking was one I started as head
coach about four years ago. I had a lot of
members coming to me and saying, I don't want to
step on the embody. They just said for their mental health,
Like they could not feel themselves getting on that and
feeling good about themselves. It was really getting in their heads.

(31:55):
They were transitioning into patterns that weren't healthy for them.
So with my background again working extensively with people who
had disordered eating, anxiety, all that kind of stuff, I said,
how do we make this different? So we've actually started
over our eight week challenge doing We call them esthetic,
athletic or health goals, right, so they can either pick

(32:19):
to participate in that competition of the body fat loss
or muscle gain. If they feel like they can do
that in a healthy way and that aligns with their goals,
we will help them do that right because there's no
judgment on that. Like I've been in periods of time
where I wanted to change my body fat percentage or
how much muscle I had in my body, Like those
are very normal fitness goals. Absolutely, I wanted to make
it more accessible to other people. So we also have

(32:42):
right where we'll kind of set a track for people
who have performance goals, right, which still again we'll talk
about this after like aligns with nutrition of like maximizing
performance of if they want to increase their wattage on
the rower, if they want to increase their base on
the treadmill, if they want to start lifting heavier on
the weight floor. And then we also just had an
overall health goal, which is we've had a lot of

(33:03):
success actually with some of our members. One comes to
mind and shouting her out, Evelyn, we love you. She
really just wanted to have something that kept her motivated
for eight weeks because she was battling osteoporosis.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Right, she hadn't really.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Worked out for most of her life, and she found
Orange Siri, and she had I'm not going to name
all of them, right, but like she had a number
of health conditions that she just wanted to see, like
with the balance of a healthy diet and fitness, how
that could change.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
You know.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
And now she's been with us for a couple of years.
She went to the doctors, they did a bone scan
and they basically were like, it's reversed.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
That's right. I love those stories.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, it's just it looked like it gives me chills
even now to like think and talk about it because
the power of fitness and eating right is just so
under sold.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
So anyway, So those are our three categories that we
let our members pick from. And we've seen such success
with the Transformation Challenge having kind of that multitude of
options for people to pick from, because we don't just
want to be that gym that tells you that you
need to change.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Your body, right, has really been.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Moving towards non scale victories, right, So how can we
celebrate you on or off the scale?

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Right?

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Like, how can you feel good about yourself by lifting
heavy er knowing you can lift your kids or your
grandkids or whatever it is that your goal is. And
that's really where like, I don't just want to sell
the eight week Transformation Challenge as body fat loss and
muscle gain is it can be so much more. And
I think that if you're listening and you're an Orange
Sary member and your studio isn't doing that, and that's
the reason why you're not signing up, tell them, right,

(34:40):
I think any fitness coach or anybody who cares about
their members will then try to incorporate something like this
so that we can.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Get more people who are just really signing up.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
For eight weeks, not as like a new Year's resolution
or because they want to change their bodies, but like
as something to participate in to help them reach their
goals whatever they.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Are, right, Yeah, and other you know, I've seen like
other type of gyms and places that are you know,
around they're like, oh yeah, it's a thirty day challenge
and it's like who loses the most pounds and it's
like boring, Like okay, so that's I love the setup
of how Orange Theory does it and how you guys
personally do it over there, Like that's fantastic. And I

(35:21):
think one other thing that I want to make sure
that people hear too is that you guys have a
starting benchmark, and I think is it is it midpoint
an end or is it just starting an end for
like the mile runner the power Walk.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Yeah, so they started that last year, which again I
loved because again we're leaning towards on scale victories at Orangeery,
which yeah, if you could see me, I'm over here
like waving fake pomp bombs, like I love, love love it.
But last year we started and ended the Transformation Challenge
with the one mile benchmark. Throughout the eight weeks, Orangeery
and the Template Design Team, you know, which is again

(35:55):
love that we're part of a company that has a
team of professionals that designs our workout with a goal
in mind. And it isn't just up to the personal trainer,
you know.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
The top of that team too, because I work their
butts off. So shout out to you guys.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Literally, if you need somebody to hire me, I want it, right,
honorary members, We'll just start poking that in there so
they incorporate, right, because they knew, right, the Template Design team,
they have a goal, they have a plan.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
They knew that we were going to start and finish.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
So throughout the eight weeks, we were focusing a little
bit more on workouts and designs of templates that we're
going to allow members to start to increase paces. Right.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
A little out of.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Time, right, That's that is literally again everything that you're
looking for in success of anything that you're doing in
life is a little out of time, right, So a
lot more endurance workouts on the treads, right, So that
is what we saw so that we could kind of
set members up for Hey, you might not see a
huge change in eight weeks.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
That's been another thing that I'm really glad has changed
is we're not asking you to drop the most amount
of weight in eight weeks because that's not healthy, it's
not sustainable, right, we want to see And even last year,
I remember, you know, as an Orangeery coach, they release
execution guides for us every time that we have a challenge,
and I think for the first time they actually put
in the execution guide of we're really only looking for

(37:15):
like a one to three percent difference in body fact
over eight weeks, and I was like, imaginary pop hobs.
I was like, oh my gosh, yes, like this is
what we need, because if we're seeing that drastic change,
that means we made too many changes at once and
we might not be able to hold on to them.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Right.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
So again, I know, I'm like going off winded on
tangents here.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
But like, all this is great. I mean you're saying
like it helps them set expectations, like the members have
better expectations for themselves, and I think that helps everybody
across the board.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, I just it's changing in the
right direction. It has these benchmarks now for people who
who want to track performance. Like I said, we started
adding that as one of our goals, and now Orangeery
is actually setting us up for it in a more
trackable way. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
I think that's fantastic. My first experience with Transformation Challenge,
actually doing it as a member was last year. So
I don't know those historic challenges that you're mentioning that
that have happened, but I can tell you my experience
from last year was a great experience. Like I did
muscle gain actually because I figured, all right, I'm going
to do eight weeks really focus, be accountable to the muscle,

(38:23):
and then if I want to shift into a more
fat loss phase, I could do that afterwards, just because
that's just how my brain works and like how I
like to set things up for the year. And I
did the one mile benchmark and like it wasn't the
largest PR but I improved that one mile time and
it felt so good. And I think that like doing

(38:43):
the challenge and having to go three times a week, right,
I have to go three times? Yeah, like having to
go three times on that third day, or like when
I was like tired or like didn't really want to
go and like skip a workout. It really helped me
get there at least three times a week. So I
mean that's another element of like why this is such
a great thing when we do these timebox challenges or

(39:05):
this kind of like segmented time that the Transformation challenges.
I love that. So I think it's honestly the healthiest
approach to a New Year's challenge that you could ever have.
So I'm like, yes, like I want more people to
do it.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, And I know whose team were you on last year?

Speaker 1 (39:22):
I think was I Marissa? Was it? Because we did
Willie Wonka? And what was the other?

Speaker 2 (39:26):
So it was Wonka and Team Charlie.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
What's the one that lost? Because I was on the
loser team. I don't know. I can't. I feel like
my team either Orange. I think it was an Orange team.
I thought it was Marissa's team. So then you were
on Wonka. You weren't on my team. No, I wanted
to compete against you, Okay, I know, listen, my team
historically always wins. I ride or die for these challenges. Well,

(39:51):
you know, maybe I'll join your team this year, Chess.
Maybe I'll try to go on that one we've had
to come up with a theme. So if you have
any ideas, I will take this very seriously after this
call and I will think of some ideas. So I'm
curious to, like, you know, being a coach and being
in so many studios with so many people, how do
you encourage people who are at maybe that like four

(40:14):
to six week mark where like their fresh start motivation
is kind of falling a little bit, Like any tips
or tricks to kind of like I mean, obviously you
have to go three times a week, so that's kind
of a built in one. But any other comments on that?

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Well, So that was yes, I do have comments on
this is a short, short answer. But really what I've found,
you know, again, just with all of the knowledge that
I've had and challenges that I've seen, like we were
just bantering back and forth of like what team were
you on and like all of this kind of stuff.
So what I like to do and how I set

(40:48):
up at all of my studios is that we have
some type of theme. We divide everybody into teams. Right,
So is the eight week Transformation Challenge a team challenge?

Speaker 1 (40:58):
No? Technically right?

Speaker 2 (41:00):
It is all based off of your individual changes and performance. However,
over eight weeks, like you said, it's super easy for
that motivation to dwindle. So when you are not feeling
internally motivated, how can we externally motivate you?

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Right?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
And when you have to do it on such a
broad scale, right, So, a lot of the time when
it's just normal classes, when Transformation Challenge is not happening,
and this happens, members an I or their coach or
whoever can have one on one conversations all the time, right,
But when you're at a studio with two hundred members
participating in an eight week challenge, it is almost impossible to.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Have two hundred one on ones.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
So what we started to incorporate was team challenges where
you're saying, like having to come three times a week
was super motivating to you. Well, for our auditinary listeners
out there, we have people who have the basic membership,
the elite membership, people who can't necessarily always come three
times a week. So how do we keep them motivated
when they already know so that that third class is

(42:01):
going to not be a thing for them and they
won't be able to participate in the competition if that's
what they want it to So what we've done is
come up with team challenges, whether it is color Wars, right.
So there are weekly challenges within our eight weeks, and
we need as many people inside the studio from each
team for that team to take home the win. So

(42:22):
when people are not going to be internally motivated by
their own goals, we can't always fix that, right, Sometimes
you're just going to have a bad week. However, a
lot of people and part of the reason why Orange
Cury works is we ask you to pre book your class.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
We have set class times.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
You know that if you sign up for class and
then late cancel, your coach is going to notice, right
that external motivation. As much as in a perfect world
we'd love to say that like we don't need it,
sometimes we do, right. So having that team accountability of
you know, we usually do group chats on group me
for the teams and they get in there and they're
like who's going to class.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
And who's wearing this?

Speaker 2 (42:55):
And like xyz and so they're all going back and
forth with each other to try to stratgy gives how
to win a weekly challenge starts to build community, which
I think if we go back historically, like community is
something that is super super important just for humans to
have in general, but when you lay it into a
fitness routine is even more important. Right, if you're going

(43:16):
into a gym and you feel alone, you're probably not
going to come back. If you go in and you
feel like you have friends or a family or people
you can come and talk to you, you're much more
motivated to show up. So that's how we started to
kind of combat it on a larger scale, is to
add in those weekly challenges of attendance or dressing up
or posting on social media or doing whatever they have
to do, just to try to get them to come

(43:37):
into the studio so that they don't give up on themselves. Right,
it's much easier from a coach's perspective to continue to
motivate you when you're in front of me than when
you're not coming in. Right, Even if I call you,
you can hit ignore right, you can you can decline
to answer, I can DM you, and you can leave
me on red right. But when you're in front of me,
it's much much easier for me to have that conversation

(43:59):
with you. If you're out, what are we missing and
how can we motivate you? And so that is it's
gonna be different for everyone. Not everyone loves team sports,
but for the majority of the population, especially Orangeery, like
we are known as a community like kind of cultish,
like we all love Orangeery, so we kind of use
it to our advantage. So I think finding within yourself,

(44:21):
like making sure whatever your goal is is realistic, which
is something we try to help you with at the beginning,
will help long term to make sure you don't burn out.
But it's also going to be like we provide the
external motivation for when you're not feeling it internally to
hopefully keep you coming for the challenge.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Yeah. I love what you said about community, and I
totally remember I was in those and you know, I
think for someone who's like, oh, I don't really need
another thing I don't want to be in like a
community and like talk to people, it's like you can
be as involved as you want or as not involved
as you want, right, Like there's options there, but that
piece of it is really fun and stronger. You does

(44:59):
that too, Like some people roll their eyes about Facebook
or like, oh, I don't want to be on Facebook,
But the one really great thing about Facebook is like
we have a huge community of Stronger You members or
people who have been previously a member, and they all
get to chat and talk and like people talk about
like recipes. They'll put like a kitchen gadget on there.
They're like, I'm obsessed with this, I'm using this all

(45:19):
the time, and it's just like it's just a great
crowd source, like hive mind, place where people can get support.
Some people have really personal questions that they want to
put out there, and others are just like there to
like just chit chat and like see what people are doing.
So I love that you mentioned the community piece because
that is I think such a driver for both nutrition
and fitness, and I think that's why both both of

(45:41):
us have been successful within our brands for sure. So
if I'm listening and I'm kind of like on the fence,
maybe even to join Orange Theory or the Challenge, Like
what are some common misconceptions or like myths that you
would want to just dispel while you have this platform,
like just to let people know like they should come
into Orange Theory or they should sign up for a

(46:02):
Transformation Challenge.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, I think Orange Cery in and of itself. If
you're hesitant about Orange Cery One of the reasons why
it works kind of like you said, is is it
does give an element of fun, community, It gives all
these other extra things that make it more than a workout. Right,
If you're hesitant about orange theory, the biggest misconception is

(46:25):
nobody else is looking at you. Right, No one is
looking at you. The room is dark, it's orange. Everyone
has their own station, right, Like our members are so
kind of focused.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
On their own journeys. Right, they're they're.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Looking at the screens, they're looking at us. No one
is paying attention to you, right in the best way.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Right.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
You can come in for your first class and no
one's going to judge you. Right, And once you start
coming in and taking your own class, you realize how
much brain power it takes to be doing your own workout.
That like you know, when you're taking class, you are
not looking at anyone else. So that's the biggest thing
for me is no one is going to look at you.
You can come in, you can do your own thing.

(47:04):
You can do it at your own pace. The coaches
are just going to be there to help you. It's
very inclusive, right. A lot of this, like one of
our new slogans is if you're doing it your way,
you're doing it right, right, So I know, yeah, right,
So Orange Sery is just like moving in this very
inclusive direction and like more outwardly too, you know. So

(47:24):
that is something like I didn't try Orange Sery because
I even thought as an athlete, like a previous athlete
I'd played across my entire life. I went to college
for it, Like, I did not think that I could
come in and do orange theory.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
And I was so wrong. I was so wrong.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
I've had members who are in their eighties coming in
and doing Orange Sery workouts. I've had members like our
youngest age of members. You can come in and work
out with a parent when you're sixteen, right even so,
like I've had sixteen year olds and an eighty year
old in the same class and they can both do
the workout because it's so personalized within that experience. So

(48:00):
I would say, don't be afraid to come in try
a class. If you like it, you like it. If
you don't like it, you don't have to do it again,
you know, Like that is my moral for life, right, Like,
if you don't like it, then don't do it, but
try everything once, because that's so important when you're trying
to find a new fitness routine, is you have to
do something you like so that you keep coming back.
And I just happen to feel that a lot of

(48:22):
people can really like Orange Theory because of how it's structured.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Don't have to run, like I want people to know
because I had a lot of friends who are like, well,
don't I have to run? And I'm like, no, you
can power walk in pot walk, whatever that is for you.
So another little nugget.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I know, we do get a lot of people calling
in and saying do I have to run? Because they
come in they see a lot of people doing that,
and you're right, like, the answer is no, you can
power walk, you can jog, you can run, like we
have stages on the treadmill and if you're not comfortable
with the treadmill, if you're injured.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Right, we have bikes, no stationary.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Bikes, and we have what we call the strider, but
most other people will know as the elliptical. Right, So
we do have options and Orange Theory, every or serious
studio is equipped to handle kind of whatever you walk
in the door with.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Awesome.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Yeah, As for transformation, Challenge. I feel like we talked
about that. Right. If you come in and you don't
want to sign up for Transformation Challenge because you don't
want to pay for it, or you don't feel like
you want to step on the Emadi scale or or
whatever it is, tell your studio, right, your studio should
be trying. Like I ask my members every year, almost
every challenge that we do, like, what would make it

(49:26):
worth it for you?

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Right?

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Like Gianna, you probably know, like I am infamous for
if you come to my class, you're probably going to
sign up for the challenge.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Right, she will. She will not let you escape. Just kidding,
just kidding, but I mean, but kind of you know.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
But the whole reason behind that is, Like, the reason
why I feel like our challenges have become so successful
is because we listen to what you guys say. Right.
If you're saying the money isn't worth it for you,
then what can we do? What can we add to
the challenge that makes that fifteen dollars, twenty five dollars,
thirty five dollars, whatever the cost of that challenge is?

Speaker 1 (49:58):
What can we do that makes it worth it? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Right?

Speaker 1 (50:00):
And that is where a.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Lot of those ideas came up of like we're giving
out random raffle prizes, or we're having extra happy hours,
or we're doing VIP classes for just Transformation Challenge participants.
We're doing VIP workshops for just participants. Right, We're trying
to give you as much extra as possible so that
you do feel like it's worth it and that you
do feel like you got a lot out of that challenge.
Because the worst thing that could happen to me, which

(50:23):
I actually heard from a member themselves of a challenge
that they participated in before I came into the studios,
was they felt like they signed up and it started
strong and then it kind of fizzled out and they
never got any acknowledgment or any kind of formal wrap
up on that challenge.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
And that's my heart.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Yeah, that's hard and like, and it wasn't my studio
at the time, but like it really crushed me for
a member to feel like excited about something and then
not have that follow through. So I think it relies
a lot on you know, if you're an Orangeery coach
and you're listening to this, like you have to have
to have to feel passionate about whatever you pick and

(51:00):
make sure that if you're some type of manager or
even if you're a regular coach, you can do it too,
like setting up a type of schedule to keep the
coaches accountable for holding the standards that we set at
the beginning, and listening to the members for what they want.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Because we are in customer.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Service, right, we want you guys to have a good
time to enjoy it, and so we have to be flexible.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
So that is another thing.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
If you're hesitant about transformation challenge, you're an existing member
and you don't feel like you're seeing the things that
you want to see, tell your coaches, right, and if
they can't give it to you, fine, don't sign up,
but they should be giving it to you.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
And then after that works, yeah, right, then after you have.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
The best one, you have the best transformation challenge ever
because you vocalize what you wanted and then they were
able to do it. No.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
I love that. It's great advice. And I think when
you were talking about the misconceptions for orange theory, I
was thinking about some of the misconceptions or like hesitations
for someone to work with stronger you, for example, and
one of the ones that's kind of a universal thing
is like, well, do I have to track macros forever?
Do I have to you know, journal my food or
do these things forever? And I really want people to

(52:07):
know that you don't have to do any of this
for even longer than the transformation challenge if you don't
want to. It's kind of like, if you want to
just really focus in and do this sort of tracking
for just the challenge, you can do that. Or you
don't have to do that type of tracking. You can
just work with the coach without even the data and

(52:28):
metrics around your nutrition. So there's so many options. Our
app is customizable like that where you can turn on
and off different features, so then it's personalized to you.
So I think that's probably mine that I would want
to say, you know if someone asked me that, yeah, yeah,
I mean, And also like you know, I'm going to.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Throw this out there and you know this is I.
If you're you're listening or even giving this a chance,
I hopefully you've had some type of introduction to our brands.
And if you're still skeptical, I was skeptical, right. I
hounded you with questions about like what is stronger you,
how does it do this because again from my experience,
I'm so nervous about people who are looking for help

(53:10):
are sometimes the easiest population to get taken advantage of. Right,
So I was so so skeptical, and I asked you
probably one hundred questions. We sat there and like really
just talked about them. And by the time I walked away,
because also, you know, I knew that I could trust
you as somebody who I'd had experience with in the past,
I knew that I could trust you to not lie

(53:30):
and you could say, like, here is a gap that
we have, Here is something we.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
Want to do, here is whatever it was.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
And by the time I left that conversation with you,
I was feeling so confident about Stronger You and Orange
Serie partnering together that I think, if you need someone
to trust and you're willing to put your trust in
a stranger who is also skeptical of other strangers, like
I would do Stronger You.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Like if I was at the beginning of.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
My journey again, I would lean on something like Stronger You. Right,
it is so accessible from what I've understood, it's so accessible.
It has a flexibility, it has like you said, it
has the data if you want it, and then it
also has that option for people who might struggle with
it on the mental health side to not use that,
and it has the flexibility and it's really just like

(54:13):
kind of you said this earlier. It's like you can
take what you want and leave the rest, Yes, exactly,
And so I think that that's so important when you're
looking for fitness or nutrition, but like for both of them.
So I don't know, Yeah, that's like I wish that
that misconception behind, like stronger you can start to make
its way to the past and understand that, like if

(54:33):
you're looking for help for nutrition, and especially if you're
one of our members, like this is going to be.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
The easiest place to start. Yeah, And we have special
offers for Orange Theory members in general and then for
people specifically participating in the Transformation Challenge. And so this
is obviously a podcast, so I can't share a link
great here, but in the show, in the show notes
wherever you're listening, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, will put

(54:59):
a link to the website where there's actual special offers.
So we have some really competitive pricing for people who
are doing the Transformation Challenge because we know that you're
paying for orange theory, and then you'll be paying for
stronger you for example. So we want you to feel
supported on both sides, so I will make sure that
is linked. And then, Jess, thank you so much for

(55:22):
being here. The last question that I ask guests is
what are some ways you're living a stronger you with
your nutrition or lifestyle or health right now?

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Yeah, well, again, thanks for having me. And I feel
like this is such a good question because this is
something that I feel like I had to implement into
my life a really long time ago. But again, small
simple changes of things that I enjoy right am not
forcing myself to working to work out because I don't
like how I look or I don't like how whatever,
or not eating foods that I don't like just because

(55:52):
I think that they're good for me. I feel like,
you know, to keep the corny but true saying of
like a stronger you, like I am a stronger mean
because I learned how to bring my own personality and
my own values and my own morals and like things
that I enjoy and like and implement them in my
regular life so that it doesn't feel like too much.
You know, I'm never getting overwhelmed. I genuinely enjoy my workouts.

(56:16):
We talked about it earlier, like I genuinely enjoy my
protein French toast with yogurt in the world, like I
look forward to it, right, you know.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
And so it's about.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Finding the things that bring you joy because quite honestly,
like life is too short, and we're doing all of
these things to like make our lives better in the moment.
And if it isn't making your life better, there is
a better way. So yeah, finding things I enjoy make
me a better me, a stronger me. And I do
them kind of without thinking now because it's it's what

(56:46):
I like doing and it makes me feel so much better.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Yeah, and I bet that in the beginning it wasn't
so mindless, but now, like you said, it's automatic, and
that's like the best outcome that we hope for everybody
that they get to that would feel easier over time.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Like my big thing, I've always been a breakfast girl,
like I love like I said before, like cinnamon buns, French.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
Toes, pancakes, all of that.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
I made the transition to like this ones very specific
brand of sugar free syrup, and now I hate regular syrup.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, get what you're doing. Yeah, it tastes
better to me.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
It makes me feel better, right, Like when I eat better,
I feel better. When I eat better, I perform better.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
You know. When I eat better, I sleep better.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Right when I work out, I sleep better, right Like,
So there's all these types of things that just kind
of add on top of each other that I'm making
these decisions. Or even when it was hard, if I
had a performance goal at Orange Cerey that I really
wanted to.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
Hit, I knew I had to eat something that.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Was a better choice in order to perform that way,
and that way. It wasn't becoming a punishment, right. I
wasn't eating that way because I wanted to be smaller
or shrink myself or because I wanted X y Z.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
It was I wanted. I had a goal.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
I was goal oriented, and so I ate to hit
that goal.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Yes, right, I love that. Yeah, totally go what you're saying. Yeah,
And it informs your choices a lot when you're trying
to do performance or like I say, performance as a
proxy for your physique goals, It's like that can be
more important. And something I was going to say I
forgot is that you know, with like the carb thing
you brought up, it's like sometimes eating a little bit

(58:19):
more or having some of those carbs. If you don't,
your performance and your output, your intensity can actually go
up in class and you're going to progress forward. Then
had you underfueled yourself not eat carbs, your intensity and
your output goes down in class and then you're kind
of on this like stuck cycle where you're not really

(58:41):
moving forward. So yeah, last clothing thoughts.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
That I had. We're wrapping it up in a nice bough.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Yes, we're like cinnamon buns and performance. That's that's the
title of this podcast now.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
I mean, honestly, that's my favorite combination or title of
a podcast ever, Cinnamon buns and performance.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
I'm in all right, we'll do that, So, Jess, thank
you so much. I really look forward to Transformation Challenge
this year for all of our listeners. You know, look
into your studios Transformation Challenge and look at Stronger You
and we're going to help you in twenty twenty five
really kick butt. So we're excited to support you all.
Thank you for listening to Stronger You Radio. For more

(59:22):
information about how you can get started with a Stronger
You coach. Visit stronger you dot com or click the
link in the episode description. As a special thank you
for listening, we have a Stronger You discount code just
for our listeners. Use the code Radio fifty at checkout
for fifty percent off your first month of coaching with

(59:43):
Stronger You. Tune in next time for more health and
nutrition conversations