Ep. #223: How Cassandra Lost 25 Pounds & 6% Body Fat In Just 90 Days

Cassandra: [00:00:00] It just became this thing now where I don’t dread any day. I know that I’m going to work at the gym, but it’s not, Oh God, I have to do this. Or, Oh God, I have to do that. If you’re to that point, you can tell your coach and they immediately just essentially take that workout out or they can reprogram it or redistribute it in a way that makes it a little bit nicer for you.

Mike Matthews: Hey, Mike here, and welcome to another episode of the podcast. In this episode, I interview. Cassandra, who recently completed my 90 day transformation coaching service. And as you will hear about, had some pretty outstanding results. She lost about 25 pounds and 6 percent body fat and gained strength on her key lifts in just 90 days.

And As usual in these interviews, she’s going to share with us a bit of her backstory. She’s going to share with us what she had done previously and [00:01:00] where it got her, what worked, what didn’t work, how she found her way to me and my work, which is a cool story. In the interview, I pull up an email from her from February 1st, 2014, thanks Google.

And that’s that, that’s when she first reached out to me and now, she’s graduating from the transformation coaching service, which is pretty cool. But yeah, so she’s going to explain how she found me in my work and eventually how she found a way to the coaching program and how that experience went, and she’s going to share with us some of the things that she learned along the way, because.

As with anything, you go in with a plan, but then ultimately you have to adjust and you have to adapt to what actually happens and what things actually work out and what don’t. So for example, in her case, she was running into a lot of morning Hunger and so she had to work with her coach to figure out the optimal meal timing and also the optimal meal [00:02:00] Sizing and the optimal setup in terms of meal composition as well in particular how she ate her carbs throughout the day to stave off that hunger and Ultimately stick to the plan and get the results that you want This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I’m not big on promoting stuff that I don’t personally use and believe in, so instead I’m just going to quickly tell you about something of mine.

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At least let’s get to the show Cassandra, thank you for coming on the podcast to share your story. 

Cassandra: Oh, thank you so much, Mike. I really appreciate this opportunity. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s start with the results first. So just because they’re impressive. So in 90 days, what happened? 

Cassandra: So I want to say what was, I thought was really cool is I immediately noticed results.

I lost nine pounds [00:05:00] in the first week. Which actually freaked me out at first. And it took the coach a little bit of hand holding with me. And I think that’s one of the things I really liked about it was, If I began to get nervous or concerned, they’re like no, you don’t understand you’re all carved up right now, right?

Exactly Yeah, you need to cut back on this. And so it was also a clear example to me I think of how far out of alignment my diet was first of all, I felt better I started sleeping better probably within about I think two weeks or so No, that’s what really motivated me to keep at it And so even when you know those food cravings hit or whatever I just essentially would power through and be like, you know what?

No, you want to see that scale drop. You want to see it happen. You want to make it happen. You probably 

Mike Matthews: also found it easier to deal with hunger and cravings with more sleep and better sleep. 

Cassandra: Oh, 100%. And then true. I actually had really tasty food on my meal plan. 

Mike Matthews: Sure. 

Cassandra: That helps a ton.

And then second would be, I always had what my cheat meal would be in mind. So I had that reward. And so it was the idea of. You’re going to have to get there, but it was one of those [00:06:00] things, focus, go for a walk, do something else. It’s like the Midnight Munchies hit or something. It wasn’t anything where I was sitting there, white knuckling it.

Mike Matthews: Yeah. And that’s actually a very simple, but workable strategy is take your mind off of the food. That’s the famous marshmallow experiment, right? With the kids that have you heard of that? So the kids that could resist the marshmallows ended up, basically doing better in life.

Basically the kids that had more willpower, more self control grew up for the most part got better educations and we’re making more money and blah, blah, blah. But the strategy, even the little kids use that. That were able to resist the temptations of the marshmallows was that they just distracted themselves.

They would just start playing with their chair or just doing things and they would, turn away from the marshmallows and do something else. 

Cassandra: And that was part of it is no matter what, or I had something else that, that I would do in mind. I’d start reading a book or I’d. Anyway, 

Mike Matthews: yeah, that’s smart.

It’s almost like a, and again, there’s even research on this. It’s, if this, then I’m going to do that. You know what I mean? Just having that little plan in mind can make a difference when it comes down to the moment where you’re like, [00:07:00] okay, so if I’m feeling a bit hungry, I’m, you’ve already decided, I’m going to read a book or do this or do that.

That puts you in a better position. You had never really thought about it. And now you’re in the moment and you’re hungry and you’re trying to decide, all right, what am I going to do about this 

Cassandra: by the end of the program, though? It wasn’t that difficult for me. So it was essentially you have to get into the groove, right?

It’s that initial sort of thing. But once I started seeing the results, it actually was not hard for me at all, because it would be Hey, guess what? You know what? You’re already 30 days in. Why would you start to wreck it now? Second would just be, you check the box at the end of the day. Did I adhere to your meal plan or didn’t you?

And you have to explain why. And if it’s just, I’m a weak human being, I don’t think that’s a great excuse going forward. So that was another huge motivator for me. But it was, first of all, essentially started losing numbers the weight, slept better, overall health. I used to have cystic acne.

Actually, that went away. So there were a couple other markers for health that were bizarre that I don’t know if there’s science behind to explain. But those were some of them. [00:08:00] Also, just when I felt better in the gym, too. Because I wasn’t bogged down by so much. If that makes any sense. It was a little bit more Oh, guess what?

I can freaking lift this. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. And just so everybody knows, how much weight did you lose? 

Cassandra: Oh, dear. By the end, I think, jeez, I had from a total of 180. And by the time I exited, I was down to 153, 154. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, it’s amazing. 

Cassandra: Yeah, and like I said, some of it was the water weight and some other stuff, but I think that’s actually something that you just, you don’t think about at the time, you just begin to feel lost.

And so that was part of the reason why I went to the coaching program. I’d actually started probably about three years ago or so losing weight. I started off at 218 pounds. That was on the reason why I needed essentially a little bit of help to get me over a hump essentially with the coaching program.

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. And in terms of body fat percentage, I have here that you dropped your body fat percentage about 6%. So then that’s fantastic. 

Cassandra: I thought so. And it was one of those things of once it just started and everything clicked into place. And it just became simpler for me. 

Mike Matthews: Totally. And 6 percent absolute, obviously for a man listening, not [00:09:00] relative.

So it went from about 28 percent to about 22%. Let’s now start at the beginning. So before you found me or my work and ultimately the coaching service. So you were 180 pounds. You had over a few years had lost maybe 30 pounds, 20, 30 pounds. Let’s even go. I’m just curious. What’s your origin story.

How did What was it, that got you to your heaviest? And then what did you do from there to get down to the one eighties or so what worked? What didn’t work? What was that experience like? 

Cassandra: Mike, back in my day, no, but in all seriousness, I joined the Navy because when I graduated from high school, I couldn’t afford college.

Joined the Navy, and I picked up the really horrible habit of smoking in the Navy. I was probably up to about a pack a day habit or so, and by the time I left the Navy, I, for some reason, thought that everything I did, as long as I didn’t smoke, would be healthy. And I can’t explain this rationalization looking back, but I ballooned from probably about 155 pounds to my 218 in a small matter of time.

[00:10:00] It was actually scary, and I had carried That wait for a while. And it was one of those, I really, I would start a diet, and I’d stop it. Because it would be those crash diet, or it would be one that I didn’t want. It was something that I read online. I’m like, oh, I can do that. Rather than understanding that you really have to pay attention to what you’re eating, what’s going on in sort of your body.

If you don’t like turkey breast, Don’t try and put turkey breast on your diet. It’s not going to work exactly well for you. 

Yeah, I’d start and stop I ran for a while, but I eventually jacked up my foot needed surgery so that didn’t turn out real well for me I knew that I could lift weights, but I didn’t know how to do it properly.

So I typically wind up with an injury and then you take time off. And then before you know it, you’re not back in the gym. So it was the series of starts and stops. How I found you is a funny story. You popped up in my Amazon feed because I like to buy cookbooks and it was the shredded chef version 1.

Mike Matthews: 0. Oh, so this is back in the day. 

Cassandra: Oh yes. Yeah. So I had hovered around in your periphery. I may have [00:11:00] been what could be called cyber stalking you for a period of time, and I want to apologize on that. Because, 

Mike Matthews: Forgiven, forgiven. 

Cassandra: I was, every one of your email address lists, I love the fact that you sent out recipes for free, I, all of your articles I’d read and I’d devour, but I started off with a shredded chef.

And then from there, Amazon said, if you like this, then you’ll like Thinner Leaner Stronger. So I read that and it was Oh, this makes perfect sense to me. Now this explains a lot of why I’d start and stop in the gym. I didn’t have proper form. I didn’t really do my research on how to do a chest day, how to do an arms day, why I never saw those results.

So then the year one challenge popped up and the year one challenge involved a barbell back squat. Which I’d never done before. I was still pretty heavy at that time. I think I’d started to lose some weight, but it wasn’t really coming off like I wanted it to. And I wrote to you. I was trying to find the email actually before we started the podcast, just so I could read it back.

I can’t explain how you wrote back to me in that email or what you said precisely, [00:12:00] but it was essentially just get in the gym. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know how to squat right now. You can learn that. It doesn’t matter that maybe you don’t have a squat rack available. You can do a leg press.

If you can’t do a leg press, do some dumbbell squats. Do this. But it was just, and it clicked into me that what I really needed to do was get serious in the gym and get serious about my diet. So I continued on with the year one challenge for women, and I completed that. And once I did that, I was looking for my next challenge, so to speak.

And it 

Mike Matthews: was that, was it, was that in the period when you had lost, did you lose weight during that period or were you focusing more on the exercise and on the diet? 

Cassandra: That was when I first really started to melt away at the pounds. So I. I’d hover down, I’d maybe go down to 202 pounds, but I’d balloon back up shortly.

I think it was probably about two years ago, so I did the year one challenge. And that’s when I went down from 218 to 180. I started doing some other stuff. I added a little bit more cardio into my routine. I really like to walk. So the long state steady cardio. Which isn’t necessarily, it’s not like [00:13:00] absolutely verboten at the same time.

It’s like you don’t need to do it, but I enjoyed it. So I went ahead and did it anyway. I had 

Mike Matthews: been walking is a great and I think in terms of cardio. Sure. If you want to maximize fat loss for the time, then you want to do high intensity stuff. But if you don’t want to do high intensity, I recommend people I say then go to the other end of the spectrum and just work in a few hours of walking every week.

You burn depending on your body weight and how quickly you’re walking. But if you walk like with a purpose. You’re going to burn anywhere from three to 400 calories an hour. That, that adds up. 

Cassandra: And it was just sort of part of the, for some reason, what you said in that email clipped for me, which was, you just have to start doing it.

It doesn’t necessarily matter that you’re doing low intensity cardio. If that’s all you can do, for whatever reason, if you’re injured, just do it, right? I was looking back at the year one challenge, and I went ahead and got a meal plan, and that really helped accelerate my fat loss, and then what I loved about the meal plan people was I could write back to them and say, hey, I really don’t like this.

I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. So [00:14:00] with that, the shredded chef, I continued on my own for a few more months. And then I saw essentially that some spots in your coaching program and opened up and it was okay. So now I really want to get serious, right? So my goal is to be below 20 percent body fat.

But I needed a little help to get me past that edge. I essentially I hired my own cheering squad really in a way Because there’s someone in the background no matter what going you can do it. You got this so in that way It was so uplifting to know that if I could write back if I had a question or if I had a concern But also even then there’s that little bit of encouragement that says don’t worry about this.

You got this You went at 10 pounds in your squat this week. That’s freaking awesome when it starts to get dark or when You’re worried. Oh, crap. I’m not losing the fact that I want to. There’s always someone essentially to help you there. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Funny just as an interjection. So I found your email here.

So the first email was February 1st, 2014. 

Cassandra: Oh shit. Okay. So 

Mike Matthews: you’re asking your, initially you said your gym doesn’t have a squat rack to have any alternatives. And then I was like, huh, how about a Smith machine? And yeah, then we ended up talking [00:15:00] about goblet squats are good. Dumbbell lunges, pistol squats.

Yeah. So the key is just that you get going and that’s funny. 

Cassandra: It’s so it’s actually, so you guys maintain files. You’re tracking me. I knew it. 

Mike Matthews: I blame Google, 

Cassandra: but Actually, so it goes back to, I was so embarrassed to get in the gym because I was so fat. I didn’t want to go to my work gym because I was embarrassed.

Mike Matthews: I actually wanted to ask you about that because that’s something that, I’ve dealt with just emailing, mostly emailing and social media with people from the beginning, usually women, not usually guys. And no, that’s a very common thing. And because many women are hypersensitive about how they look for whatever reason, in some cases, you wouldn’t think it looking at the person.

If you say, if someone was very overweight, you go, yeah, I understand. It’d be uncomfortable, but I’ve seen it, with quite a few women that Sure. They have some fat to lose if they want to be at 20 percent body fat. They have some work to do, but not at the point where you’d think that they would be [00:16:00] reluctant to even go in the gym.

How did you deal with that? Because you started with just thinner, leaner, stronger and that program, you just get in there and tough it out or, and then how did it meet your expectations? So if you thought, if you were embarrassed in the beginning and then what? 

Cassandra: So I worked out in the homeowners association gym, which is like a basic hotel gym for a little while.

Yeah. Cool. But then, after I started reading Thelma Leonard Stronger, and I realized that you’re really not going to make great weightlifting results without barbell work. And there’s no room for that in my homeowner’s association gym. I just said, you know what? Just do it. No matter what, everyone is typically embarrassed about something in the gym.

And more often than not, I find that you think more about yourself than other people do. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, it’s very true. You probably spend some time in a gym and then you realize that people don’t even see anybody. All they see is themselves and they don’t even look. You’re lucky if you get eye contact from anybody that’s unusual.

I 

Cassandra: know. And then you’re like, is he a creep or is he asking me a question? I can’t tell. Yeah. Even then there’s this guy in our gym. Yeah. Yeah. [00:17:00] Routinely before every set yells out. Come on, let’s go get some. Yeah, you got this every time 

Mike Matthews: to himself. 

Cassandra: Yes, 

Mike Matthews: that’s great. You can just ride on the pep talks.

Cassandra: And so that was like, all right, then you know what? Everyone in here has their own thing. So I just thought that was great. You know what, dude? I appreciate that. You’re going to be you in the gym and you’re not going to worry about me. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, I had somebody in a gym that I used to go to in Florida that would call me to wear the same clothes every day.

I’m assuming he cleaned them. He would do these mostly body weight stuff and kind of like body weight circuits and he would be running around and talking to himself and pointing at himself in the mirror and pointing up to the sky, like pointing up to God and stuff. And every day he would show up and for 20 minutes, it’s, he would basically be on this cocaine high, running around the gym, doing all kinds of crap, talking to himself. So you know, I was like, Hey man, it was funny, [00:18:00] but at the same time, I would say the same thing. Be working out. I’m like, I like that. He doesn’t care. I don’t think he’s crazy. I think he knows that he looks pretty ridiculous, but this is his thing and that’s it.

That’s what he does. 

Cassandra: And that’s what I realized. It’s everyone is doing their own thing in the gym. Even other guys who love to look at their biceps when, they’re doing bicep curls, and you’re like, okay, go ahead, do it. Yeah, I get it. Your biceps are getting huge. That’s, it’s lovely.

The beautiful biceps. 

Mike Matthews: Your value as a man is increasing right now. I understand. 

Cassandra: Yes, please excuse me. I’m going to go dab some gold water on my face real fast and then get back to my bed. But, and that’s it. It’s you just have to realize, and then second would be, you know what?

So maybe when I get a gigantic red face, and I cringe, my face, because I’m doing a real heavy deadlift, maybe I look a little ridiculous, but you know what? That’s okay, because at the end of the day, the result is worth it. So once I began to really see those results, I’m like, you know what?

That’s okay. I can be a little bit embarrassed for a little while. It’s actually probably a good thing. 

Mike Matthews: I agree. Actually, I think it is a good thing to do things that [00:19:00] are just outside of your comfort zone that are embarrassing. I recently when I was in Florida, I started playing hockey again.

I grew up playing hockey and, but I hadn’t skated in a while and it was embarrassing. I was terrible. You know what I mean? But it was for the same thing where I didn’t care because one, I was like, I want to pick this back up and get good at it. But two, I think there’s value in it. It’s humbling.

It’s humbling. I think there’s value in it. 

Cassandra: After you see you’re like, okay, you know what? No big deal. People laugh or whatever. But at the same time people walk by me now and they’re like, hey, wait a second. Was that just you doing deadlifts? I went, yeah, that workout is gangster and that compliment alone, that’s right.

Damn straight. I’m a badass. 

Mike Matthews: That’s great. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s also a very common experience, especially with women where again, like not so sure going in. And then after a few months, people are one, they’re Surprise that you’re squatting, you’re deadlifting, you’re overhead pressing, like that’s real weightlifting.

And then two, when they start seeing results, inevitably, then, not only compliments, but in many cases, people will [00:20:00] start asking what are you doing? Because they’ll see over the course of a few months, your body changing week after week, and they want that too. 

Cassandra: But then when they hear it’s a diet and exercise, they’re like 

Mike Matthews: oh, that.

Cassandra: Oh, yeah. No, I should definitely get in the gym more. I should. Yeah. Good point. 

Mike Matthews: Oh, I mean in the gym, I don’t know if you had that, but a lot of times like you become, if you’re in, if you’re in a routine where you’re going to the same gym, same time every day, you start seeing the same people.

And then they start seeing, in your case in 90 days, it’s pretty, pretty dramatic change in your body. And then it goes the other way around. We’re not, you’re not embarrassed to be there. You’re like, one of the examples of someone who’s really kicking ass. 

Cassandra: So no, I’ve started probably three other women with thinner, leaner, stronger.

Mike Matthews: That’s awesome. 

Cassandra: And I think, first of all, so let’s just say you’re a little scared of the coaching program, which is great. I wasn’t because I had watched your brand for a while, so I knew it wasn’t going to be something where there’s judgment or something like, you know what? You missed your reps this week.

You have failed as a human being. You know that? Quit now! Quit! Quit! Quit! I knew it. I knew you couldn’t do it. [00:21:00] But for start within a winner stronger and get a meal plan. And when you start to see those results, you will see the value in the other part of it. Because with the coaching. Although, yeah, you look at it, it is an investment.

It’s an investment, though, in your whole life, right? These are Knowledge skills that will last you your entire lifetime. I will always have that meal plan. I will always have this workout program. 

Mike Matthews: And more importantly you understand how they work. So now you’re never going to be baffled again on like, why did you gain a X number of pounds over the holiday?

Or why can’t you just get rid of those last few numbers of pounds? Like it does always come back to the fundamentals. Sure. There can be some extenuating circumstances and, as you get older, certain things change a little bit here and there, you also never now be baffled as to, what’s going on with your body composition.

Cassandra: And that’s it is you’re like, okay, I get it. It was just great to be able to talk to someone too. Is this normal? Is, does this happen to everyone? It’s yeah, sometimes that happens. But it was great. And so Roger, he was my coach, was fantastic throughout the whole [00:22:00] thing. It was one of those things where I’m like, sometimes I feel like I may have bought a friend online, but that’s 

Mike Matthews: okay.

Roger’s that kind of guy too. He’s just such a nice guy. I 

Cassandra: know. I could never be mad at him, no matter, and I would cuss him out via email all the time. He’s God damn it, Roger. I thought I told you not to increase my weight. And he’d just roll with it. He’d be like, I knew you could do it. I’m not worried about it.

But it was just this great sort of relationship that I know, Even if six years from now I could email Roger or a Muscle for Life coach and say, Hey, I’m an old coaching client. Can you just provide some advice? 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Yeah, you could email me directly. 

Cassandra: I could, but I know you’re a very busy man.

You’d get back to me, but I’d feel bad because you’ve 

Mike Matthews: got You might have to wait a few days, but you’ll get a reply. 

Cassandra: On your to do list is respond to email. It’s just, I think, of the books, the diet, the product launches. I’m like, oh, he’s busy. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, I’m busy, it’s always something I give time to every day just because, it’s a good business practice, but it’s also enjoyable.

It’s it’s nice to be able to connect with people. People because a lot of my day to day work is really just me in my head [00:23:00] writing stuff. You know what I mean? These days, it’s a lot of that or even other business stuff that, where I’m in or I’m interacting with the same one or two people, here in the office most.

And that’s fine, but it’s also nice to just be able to hear from people, especially because it’s always positive. Either they have questions and I can help or they’re just reporting, rarely ever do I get any sort of and even I’d say that the negative things maybe are some constructive criticisms, which are useful, like I’m always open to ways that I can make my stuff better because I’ve done a number.

I’m actually going to be starting soon another round of updates to thinner, leaner, stronger and bigger than your stronger. Not so much in the programs. Like I like the programming where it’s at. I might tweak a couple of things, but I want to see if I can make them a little bit shorter. And I want to, in the case of thinner, you’re stronger.

I’ve just made, I have a list of things based mostly on people’s feedback where people just brought up things. I was like, Oh, that’s good. And it’s a good point. It’s good. I didn’t think of that. I want to talk about a little bit more about some female only stuff and some questions that, I’ve been asked now many times.

Yeah. That’s a lot of the updates that I’ve [00:24:00] done. Take the Shred Chef. So now it’s gone through two full kind of rounds of revision and the majority of that work was driven by constructive criticism. So it’s all around just a positive experience to spend time emailing with people, DMing, although I really need to get like a Bluetooth keyboard or something.

DMing pisses me off at, there’s a point because I, the typoing on the, on my phone It starts to enrage me, but but it’s that’s 

Cassandra: not even close to what I’m talking about. Yeah. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, exactly that. Yeah. That shit. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it?

Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. If you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say, Thank you.[00:25:00] 

Thank you. You can find me on Instagram at muscle for life fitness, Twitter at muscle for life and Facebook at muscle for life fitness. So I want to ask you over this 90 day period, what were some of the adjustments? What were some of the hurdles? Some of the obstacles that were, was there anything that you had to work around or that didn’t quite go as planned that you had to then adjust for?

Cassandra: One of those in particular, and It was my own sort of lazy fault at the beginning. I don’t think I really took the time to customize my meal plan like I wanted. So if I remember correctly, we had to go through a couple different iterations before it was something that I was really happy with 

Mike Matthews: out of curiosity.

How did that kind of come together for you in the end? What did your meal plan look like? Just generally. 

Cassandra: Part of it is my schedule. So a bit skewed. So I have to get up at 3 45 in the morning. Nice. Oh, it’s great. It’s great. But anyway, so it’s, I can essentially live up to my family obligations.

Okay. Walk the dog, get all that stuff together and I can hit the gym before I had to work because that [00:26:00] was Something that was stymied me if I did it at the end of my day I either inherently dreaded my workout or I had no energy to do it because I was 

Mike Matthews: yeah, I understand Yeah 

Cassandra: fasted and 

Mike Matthews: that’s one of the one of the reasons why even I Prefer sure, if I didn’t have a lot of work to do, and if I was just like one of those kind of I just live in the gym kind of guys, I probably would work out in the afternoon because you just tend to be strongest.

So these guys do, but I work out first thing in the morning for the same reason, because ultimately I have a bit more energy first thing in the morning than last thing after, doing everything I need to do. And I think it’s a nice way to start the day, huh? 

Cassandra: I feel like it gives me purpose if that makes any sense, like no matter what, I still did something of value today.

Totally. So it’s yeah, check in the block, done, did that. 

Mike Matthews: And there’s even research I saw recently on that your, essentially your mood in the morning. And this is one of those things, I guess you don’t really need science to tell it to you because it’s obvious and you just experience it yourself.

But that your mood in the morning basically, Kind of sets the tone for the entire day. You get that benefit too, where not only do you have that [00:27:00] psychological, okay, I did something with purpose today and I moved a little bit closer to a goal that matters to me. That of course just makes you feel good.

But then you also have the physiological high of. Endorphins and other chemicals that are released when you exercise that just make you feel good. 

Cassandra: It’s a fantastic too. For some reason, it’s yeah, you know what, even if I know I’m going to have a bad day or whatever, it’s like at least bench pressing is a fantastic stress reliever, right?

So let’s just say I know I’m going to have a bad day or whatever. It’s oh, that’s right. Here we go. Watch this. That too is fantastic. But because of that, because I’m working out so early in the day. Working out fast it became easier, right? Because I just woke up, don’t eat anything. But my morning hunger was actually pretty significant, where even if I ate, I think I was eating egg whites, Some toast and a shake throughout the morning.

I was still incredibly hungry. So I would write back saying, Hey, can you please help me out here? How can we either space this out or redistribute my calories in a way? So I’m not, my stomach isn’t growling in the middle of a morning [00:28:00] meeting or something. 

Mike Matthews: And how did you figure that out? How did that get worked out?

Cassandra: Some of it just got to be timing. So I would for sure eat my or drink my shake right after I worked out just to make sure I got some nutrients in my body. Just make sure I leveled out my blood sugar to just the basics. Then I would space out a smaller snack in the meantime and then in some cases I would eat my lunch a little bit earlier and I for some reason didn’t get as hungry in the afternoon but it took a little bit of tinkering with the timing as well as Where the carbs essentially came into it because if I ate all of my food I found out earlier in the day It just made me super hungry.

So spacing it out and spacing out the delivery of carbs for some reason worked better for me. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, that’s great. And that’s, ultimately how it goes for most people. You can start with a one size fits all. This kind of tends to work, but almost always there’s, if You know, sure, you could have just stuck to it and toughed it out, but why, if you don’t need to, and some people do best with your type of setup, and then some [00:29:00] people do best with eating, larger meals earlier in the day and just having them taper down.

Some people till they around and there’s not really at least as far as I know that it can’t be really predicted by research that you can do or anything. It’s just, you got to get into it. You have, yes, some simple little levers you can pull in terms of meal composition, meal timing, meal size, but ultimately you got to get into it and just see what works.

If you get it right the first time, cool, you got lucky. But if not, yeah, you just keep on tinkering until you hit your sweet spot. 

Cassandra: Yeah. That’s all it took was, it’s just essentially flow of communication, right? That I was really hungry today. I wasn’t hungry today. Hey, can we shift this? And then in some cases too, I asked for a bigger meal at dinner, so with a smaller lunch essentially, because I eat relatively early, so I could go to bed early.

Hey, can I eat more food at dinner? So that way I don’t get the munchies after dinner, because that was another problem I was having too. And I wanted like a few treats can I have a sweet treat after dinner that feels dessert like, if that makes any sense. 

Mike Matthews: And what did that turn [00:30:00] out to be for you?

Cassandra: It turned out to be a flip yogurt, believe it or not, just the real easy flip yogurt. I pull off the shelf, and if I wanted it, then I had it, and there were some nights where I’m like, you know what, I don’t need it right now. But it was nice to know that it was super easy, right? I could get a chocolate fix, I could get a peanut butter fix, both of which are, Oh, they’re so delicious, but they’re also my denticles when it comes to my dieting.

Mike Matthews: Yeah. I like chocolate and peanut butter too. That’s my daily little, I have some dark chocolate every day. 

Cassandra: Oh yes. I, since I’m back to cutting right now after the holidays, as you can imagine, I look, it happens to everyone 

Mike Matthews: and that’s that’s also something though that makes it easier to enjoy.

Cause you can just go and you can be like, all I’m willing to put on, when you factor in water and glycogen, you’re like, Eh, I’m willing to put on X number of pounds, over the holidays. And you just go and do your thing. And then you don’t, you’re not, you don’t, you’re not feeling guilty while you’re eating and you’re just keeping an eye on it.

And even if you go a little bit over, it still doesn’t matter though. Cause you’re like, Oh, okay. So now I extended my cut by two weeks. Big deal. Yeah. I think it just makes it so much more enjoyable to overeat [00:31:00] intentionally. And then, cause you know exactly what you’re going to do after. 

Cassandra: For me too.

It was like, okay, you know what? All right, so that’s this right now. One of my friends just invited me to a Super Bowl party, and I said, you know what, no thank you. Because I knew I couldn’t resist the sweet treats, but I also knew that going into it, right? So I knew at Christmas time, it’s okay, this means no football parties.

This means nothing like, you’re not gonna go to any bowl games. You’re not gonna do this, because what happens? You can’t help it, right? When you’re surrounded by a buffet of pizza. No one has an iron will, right? They’re like, I won’t have any pizza. I’m just enjoying these carrot sticks. Thank you. 

Mike Matthews: And some ice cubes, too.

Cassandra: Thank you. I’m just gonna no, I love this. I love ice water. It’s delicious. 

Mike Matthews: So that’s, that was figuring out your meal timing and sizing and so forth. Was there anything else along the way that got in the way or that you had to maneuver over around? 

Cassandra: So there weren’t any major changes to my workout.

There were a few times where I said, Hey, can I actually start off a little bit lighter than 50 percent on my first warmup set? And they said, sure, not a problem. Go ahead and do that. And for me, it just particularly with the barbell back [00:32:00] squats and the deadlift, I start out maybe About 10 pounds or so below what is the 50 percent mark because for me it just reinforces the muscle memory in the form.

So that was a small little tinkered thing to the check sheet or to the Google form that you fill out. I hate Bulgarian splits. I don’t know what we did to the Bulgarian people. I’m concerned though because those split squats are horrible. They’re my nemesis. And so I asked, Hey, can we take those out?

Mike Matthews: That also just highlights another point of, and this applies equally to dieting is everybody’s heard the saying the best diet is one you can stick to. And that’s true. Obviously it needs to be within the there, there are boundaries. It needs to be like, if it.

Doesn’t account for energy balance or macronutrient balance at all. And then it’s not so exciting, but so long as a diet has the fundamentals there, as you have learned, the best diet is one you can stick to. You have your calories where they need to be and you play with macros. You figure that out, you figure everything else out to make it yours.

But the same thing can be said for workout programs. That’s a good example of if you just hate an exercise, [00:33:00] then there’s no reason to continue doing it. There’s no single exercise that is so universally important that you have to do it no matter what, if you wanted to say one that approaches, maybe if you can only do one exercise period, I guess you look at it that way, probably it’d be the deadlift, right?

If you just, if you, for in terms of whole body benefits, but even that, if you can’t deadlift or you don’t want to deadlift, It doesn’t matter. There are other options. And you can break that movement up into a couple movements and still do just fine. In many ways the best workout program is going to be the one that you can stick to.

And the one that you’re going to enjoy. It’s not Oh, you can grit your teeth and. Show up to the gym every day because that’s not the goal. As you’ve said, the goal now is it’s, this is a lifestyle for the rest of your life. And if you’re going to make it a lifestyle, you got to enjoy it. You got to enjoy your diet.

That means you have to look forward to every meal every day and you can’t be overly hungry. You can’t be struggling with cravings. And then on the workouts, yeah, you should be looking forward to your workouts. Some days you may, it’s not always perfect, but on the whole, it [00:34:00] should not be that you’re showing up to do a bunch of exercises that you hate and you’re doing them Even in rep ranges that you hate, it’s a programming if you don’t like, because for one reason or another, I think that’s true. Even if it’s not a hundred percent optimal, yeah, you could say that, a strength training program without deadlifting is not optimal, but if you can’t, or really don’t want to deadlift, you can still make it work.

And if that means it’s going to be a lot more enjoyable, then that’s worth making the change. 

Cassandra: Oh, a hundred percent, because even now I’m actually, I have Bulgarian split squats back into my routine because it’s just. Okay, if you’re dreading that and that was what was happening was I’d wake up in the morning and be like, Oh, God, I got to do some split squats today.

Or I think at one point, too, I was doing within the same day I think I had split squats, goblet squats, and some other stuff. And I’m like, can we just break this up a little bit? And so it just became this thing now where I don’t dread any day. I know that I’m going to work at the gym, but it’s not a Oh, God, I have to do this or Oh, God, I have to do that.

If you’re to that point, you can tell [00:35:00] your coach and they immediately just essentially take that workout out or they can reprogram it or redistribute it in a way that makes it a little bit nicer for you. Which I think happened with Goblet Squats, Bulbarian Squat Squats, and I think I was doing Barbell Lunges all in the same workout and that just got to be just, I was like, I don’t want to be at the point where I can’t walk up and down stairs for two days.

Yeah, 

Mike Matthews: that makes sense. So then you can move some of that, volume to another day or instead of the lunges, you could do lying leg curls, which obviously are just less difficult, but still give you a good hamstring workout and so forth. 

Cassandra: Yeah, and right now I’m actually doing Romanian Deadlifts, so Also, every now and then too, hey can we change this up?

Can we do this? Can we do that? It was a little bit like, like a puzzle. Essentially, it’s how I look at my workout now, and then what fits into it. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, it’s a good way of looking at it. Again, it’s like figuring it out for you. It’s your puzzle. 

Cassandra: And so you just look at it like, okay, I have the basic pieces here.

I just need to make sure that it shapes evenly. And that’s actually one of the things that ThinLayer Stronger is great at, right? Because it tells you that. And same with the year one challenge, because [00:36:00] you lay it out there so easily. Okay, I’m going to do, essentially, what is it segment two from the Year One Challenge, now.

So that was one of the reasons why I liked it so much was I could repeat it if I needed to. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. And that was intentional when I was designing is I wanted people to work through. I wanted women to be able to work through different types of workout configurations where you’re still getting everything done that you need to get done, but different exercises.

And so then once you’ve gone through the entire program, You have now experience with pretty much all the major exercises that you can choose from. And then you’re in a really good place to create your own routines and to do your own programming. Cause it’s one thing to read about exercises, especially if you’re just looking at them in terms of effectiveness, that’s just an objective measure.

There’s also, how are you going to do with them and how much are you going to enjoy them? How are you going to feel, doing them? Some people, certain exercises cause aches and pains. Okay. So that’s not for you. So yeah, that was part of what I wanted people to achieve from that is to [00:37:00] walk away with a lot of now weightlifting experience that they can use to, to customize their routine and make their puzzle.

Cassandra: Yeah. And it, for me also I saw such significant results. It wasn’t just newbie gains. It was also, I was very timid with the weights that I’d put on. So even I think with the coaching program, I think I still went up at least 20 pounds, I think, in my deadlift and some other significant weightlifting milestones.

And it’s the same thing, right? It’s, you can still make the gains when you’re cutting. What I liked about your program, everything is laid out so simply. I, okay, that’s fine. So I look online. That’s how I do that. Okay. Focus on the muscle memory, focus on this, line up a few things. I’m still horrible with my squat form, but I’m working on it, Mike.

And that’s what matters. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Squatting. I remember that back before I knew what I was doing. I’d actually, I had actually gotten up to four Oh five for these pathetic quarter, probably quarter squats, maybe one third. I don’t even know if I don’t even know if they counted as half squats.

And this was many years ago. And then when I was like starting to educate myself [00:38:00] and first starting with the big barbell movements, I was like, Oh, range of motion. Okay. And if I remember correctly, I went down to no more than two Oh five. I think one 85 for sets of 10. That’s how I actually, at first I remember trying to remember how much I had in the bar.

It was too much. This was the first time I was like doing a proper squat and got stuck and there were no, it was There were no, no bars or anything. I had to throw the weight off me. Yeah. So then from there, I learned the importance of of range of motion 

Cassandra: and still, no matter what I do for a couple of sets, at least, which is the bar, just to essentially get into the motion again of squatting every time I do it, because I found when I didn’t do that, I would start to cheat like a, a quarter squat.

And maybe I’m like, huh, this is strange. You have to go back to the fundamentalization every time. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. And that’ll come the more you do it, the less you have to think about it. Eventually you’re, then you’ll really be able to just focus on moving the weight and not also trying to make sure that your form [00:39:00] stays tight.

Cassandra: It’s oh it’s just one of those, no matter what, it’s I know it can be better. I know it can be better. It’s not a plus squat form. Okay. That was a good rep. I did that one, but. The next one. Ah, damn. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Totally. So where do you go from here? What are your goals? You said you’re cutting after the holidays.

Do you want to ride it down to the 20 percent range or what do you want to do now? 

Cassandra: So yeah, no matter what below 20%, I’m going to see how I look just aesthetically. I still have a little bit of tummy fat at the end. So I cut out all alcohol, all fast food, and I made my own cheat meals, which actually you can eat a lot more food if you make your own food.

That’s 

Mike Matthews: very true. It’s 

Cassandra: just for the cheat meals anyway. A lot of people want to eat out or they order pizza. My recommendation is do all that stuff yourself and you’d be surprised the offset, like you could eat more food and that felt more rewarding to me. Because 

Mike Matthews: you get to control the really high calorie stuff, the butter, the cream, the oil.

Cassandra: Yeah, especially with something like, I love to bake, I love to cook and so I would make my own chocolate chip cookies and I would, and parcel it out, but the smell of chocolate chip cookies, all that stuff became part of that sort of ritual that made it more rewarding and almost feeling more [00:40:00] indulgent, more luxurious.

Mike Matthews: Yeah. That makes sense. 

Cassandra: So anyway so that was just something that I did, but no matter what, 

Mike Matthews: It was like the foreplay. It’s then you got to anticipate. Oh, hello, Mr. 

Cassandra: Hershey. How are you? It’s going to take a couple of chips. Yeah. So no matter what second would be, I’ve got, I have three major weightlifting goals.

So first I’d like to do a one for one ratio from weighting, weight to squat. So that would be about 150 pounds or so. Right now I’m on the cusp of 145 and really nailing that for my squat. Second would be for deadlift. I want to get up to 250 pounds by this year. I’m at 220 now. 

Mike Matthews: Impressive.

That’s strong. 

Cassandra: Yeah, but my squat isn’t still where I want it to be, but years ago I’d hurt my back and I was afraid to squat and anyway, it took me a little while before I’m like, you know what, you got this, don’t worry about it. If you, a proper stretch routine that I do at least once a day, I, all that other stuff, it’s a little bit like, I think you don’t want to squat and you’re making an excuse for yourself right now.

Mike Matthews: You said it, not me, 

Cassandra: I don’t know what you’re talking [00:41:00] about, but 

Mike Matthews: one thing to keep in mind also though, is if for your back, anybody listening that might have any back issues with squatting front squats are more back friendly as you’ve mentioned front squats a couple of times. So you probably know that.

Cassandra: Yeah. It’s the front squats also, for some reason I feel wobbly. I don’t know why I don’t feel staple and it’s just one of those things. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, it’s an awkward, it’s an awkward exercise. It definitely takes some getting used to. 

Cassandra: And it’s a little bit like you’re almost like in a mummy position because you got your, the bars crossed and you’re anyway, it’s, it is definitely something that you’re like, okay, you know what?

Just work through it and take the time to get it right. Rather than. Just get it over with. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah. Yeah. And eventually then it becomes the movement itself becomes more familiar, but also you eventually stop feeling the bar on your shoulders that, the discomfort for whatever reason just goes away and regardless of the weight.

So it’s just a matter of going, cause it is strange though, cause you can be back squatting for a while and then you go to front squat and you feel like a newbie again, you feel it’s uncomfortable and you feel weak and you feel wobbly. [00:42:00] You just go through that process again, as if you were learning to squat for the first time, basically.

Cassandra: It was just, I’m like, okay, so how does this go? And then it feels very strange when at least for me, my forearms don’t necessarily allow me to hold onto the bar really well. So I’m, it’s a platform and I know that, but it’s still a weird grip for me. The third goal that I have is my overhead press.

I’d like to be able to get up to a hundred pounds for overhead press, which I, you From what I understand is a lofty goal, but that it’s not going to stop me from trying to get at it right now. I’m about 85 pounds. And so I think I can do it. I can do it. So those are my weightlifting goals. No matter what I actually, the continuation, I went ahead and went with the continuation program, just because I essentially really wanted to keep up my relationship with Roger and have a couple, A little bit more, a few more months with him just to talk things out and then gradually I’m taking the training wheels off.

I had a couple of suggestions. I’m like, hey Roger, I want to do this. I want to go ahead and do that. How do you feel about that? So Roger be like, oh, that’s fantastic. That’s great. That’s a bad idea. And then so gradually I become more the [00:43:00] owner say of my fitness plan overall and then at which point I will Sadly, eventually have to say goodbye to my coach, but that will be a sad day, but that’s what I’m looking at right now.

So it’s essentially, those are my fitness goals. 

Mike Matthews: That’s great. Love it. All right. Those are all the questions that I had for you. 

Cassandra: so much. I really appreciate the opportunity. 

Mike Matthews: Yeah, I know. Thank you for taking the time. Keep kicking ass. You’re doing great. 

Cassandra: So I have to be a hundred percent honest. I thought Roger just said that my results were impressive.

And I was like, Oh Roger, you say that to all the girls rather than it wasn’t until I heard from Matt and I heard from some other people Transcribed And then all of a sudden this huge surprise came when I saw me in an email and I’m like, Oh, I actually guessed that I did make some progress. I’m a case study.

That’s fantastic. But that was like the first real boost that I got. That was a huge boost to me. 

Mike Matthews: That’s great. Yeah, that’s great. I’m that’s, I’m serious in those emails where I’m like, Hey, it could be you in the next email. These are all, that’s where these emails come from is people like you.

Cassandra: If nothing else, that gives me the motivation to continue on. So I really appreciate that. 

Mike Matthews: Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you again. And I look forward to seeing your [00:44:00] continued progress. 

Cassandra: Thank you very much. 

Mike Matthews: Now, before we wrap up, I just want to quickly say if you, Mr. Or Mrs. Listener are currently struggling to get the body that you really want.

If you are struggling to lose fat, gain muscle, do them both at the same time, whatever it might be. And if you want some one on one personalized help. And if you want. Guaranteed results. You either get results and you’re either thrilled with those results or you get your money back. Then you definitely need to check out my one on one coaching service.

Go to muscleforlife. com slash coaching and you can learn all about it. This is a popular service in high demand. There’s usually a wait list. So if this sounds interesting at all to you, I recommend going right now to muscleforlife. com slash coaching, checking it out and scheduling your free consultation call.

So we can see if you qualify for the program and if it is right for you. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and [00:45:00] found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don’t mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you’re listening from.

This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility. And thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever to. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won’t miss out on any of the new goodies.

Lastly, If you didn’t like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife. com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself, and I’m always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. Alright, that’s it.

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