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TMHS 867: Lose Stubborn Weight & Transform Your Fitness When Your Hormones Change – With Autumn Calabrese
Everyone deserves to feel strong, comfortable, and healthy in their body. Yet for years, half of the population has been overlooked not only in scientific studies, but also in doctor’s offices across the world. Women who are dealing with issues from stubborn weight gain to mood swings have largely been dismissed and left to unnecessarily suffer with debilitating symptoms.
Today, fitness icon Autumn Calabrese is back on The Model Health Show. Autumn is a certified health coach, author, and the creator of several fitness programs that are designed to help women feel their strongest. In this interview, she’s here to discuss her experience reclaiming her health, what our culture gets wrong about women’s health, and how regulating your hormonal health can change everything.
You’re going to learn about topics like cortisol, bioindividuality, blood sugar management, and much more. Autumn is sharing her personal experience with Pilates, breathwork, supplementation, and how these lifestyle changes inspired her new program. I hope you enjoy this interview with Autumn Calabrese!
In this episode you’ll discover:
- Why the common messaging around women’s health is misleading.
- The role that hormones play in women’s health.
- How dietary fat impacts hormonal function.
- The exact steps Autumn took to reclaim her health.
- Why exercise can act as stress in the body.
- How doctors often write off women’s health concerns.
- The important role of bioindividuality in nutrition and exercise.
- What Autumn learned from pivoting to Pilates.
- The benefits of Pilates.
- How blood sugar management affects hormonal health.
- The connection between sugar intake and processed foods.
- Why we need to reframe the way we think about alcohol.
- The health advantages of breathwork.
- How to intentionally create healthy habits.
Items mentioned in this episode include:
- Fromourplace.com/model – Get up to 40% off toxin-free, ceramic coated cookware during the Black Friday sale!
- DrinkLMNT.com/model – Get a FREE sample pack of electrolytes with any order!
- BelleVitale.com – Get 15% off Autumn’s program with code AUTUMNCBODI15!
- FDA Bans Red Dye No. 3 – Listen to episode 865!
This episode of The Model Health Show is brought to you by Our Place and LMNT.
Get 10% off toxin-free, ceramic coated cookware by using my code MODEL at fromourplace.com/model.
Head to DrinkLMNT.com/model to claim a FREE sample pack of electrolytes with any purchase.
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Transcript:
SHAWN STEVENSON: One of the greatest gifts that we could ever have is to feel comfortable, safe, and healthy within our own bodies. But for so many people today, it's becoming increasingly rare. More and more people are struggling just to feel good in their own skin. We are facing epidemics, multiple epidemics of chronic conditions. Not to mention here in the United States, over 3/4 of our population are considered to be overweight or obese. Something is seriously awry. And this is not about vanity. This is about the health of our citizens. And I'm here today to tell you that we have the power to do something about this. Not only that, it is our responsibility to do something about this. And I'm telling you right now that you have so much more power to take back control of your body, to take back control of your health, of your mind than you could ever imagine.
But I'm also here to tell you that the cards have been stacked against you. The deck has been stacked against you. The dice are loaded, and there are entities that are profiting from our collective demise. And this is just, it is what it is. We have an economy that is now heavily dependent on the farming of sick people. Right now, the U. S. healthcare system is nearing about a 5 trillion a year industry. And much of that money is going towards chronic, largely preventable chronic conditions. And so to get ourselves out of this system and out of this very real matrix. We have to get educated. We have to be empowered. We have to have guidance. We have to work together. And that's why I'm so excited about this episode.
Today, we're going to be revealing some of the most blatant, but yet little known causes of struggle. In particular, when it comes to women's hormone health. And I can confidently say after over 20 years in this field, at least one of these boxes, that our special guest is going to talk about that we need to check off to really get master our hormones and to have empowerment with their own bodies to feel good, to feel fit. At least one of these boxes isn't getting checked for the vast majority of people even if you've got a lot of other things stacked in your favor with just one of these things can throw you off. And she's gonna share her story of one of these things throwing her completely off and 20 years as well and operating at a high level with many of these things like fitness.
She's a fitness icon. And even her health was thrown into a complete tizzy, just really thrown her whole life off because of one of these particular issues. And so again, very, very excited about this episode. And this is about empowerment. It's about education. And it's about supporting real sustainable change in our world today when we need it more than ever. Now, recently we did an expose on one of the latest FDA bans, banning red dye number three. And I'm saying one of the latest FDA bans because they've been doing this stuff for decades. It's a pattern of behavior, red dye number three, and we went through all the clinical trials, the most prominent clinical trials that led to it being eventually banned.
But I brought up a really basic question that a lot of people don't think about, which is red dye number three is banned. Was there a red dye number two? Was there a one? Is there a four? And we went through and shared this. Historical pattern of these newly invented synthetic chemicals being allowed, if not promoted and being allowed into our food supply in mass, causing all manner of disease and dysfunction to the dismay of the people. And most of the time, having no idea that these things are affecting them. Eventually after enough cases, it getting removed, and the onus has been on the people. Even this recent ban was due to grass roots movements to get these things removed from the food supply. Whereas in other countries, as we talk about, and by the way, definitely check out that episode about the FDA ban after you listen to this episode if you happen to miss it.
In other countries, manufacturers, food manufacturers, product manufacturers have to prove that their products, their chemicals that they're using in the creation of their products are safe before it is allowed to be used in the public domain. Here in the United States, so many times because we have tens of thousands of newly invented chemicals in our food supply. So often these chemicals are allowed to be in the food supply due to a GRAS Statement or a GRAS proxy, which is generally regarded as safe or generally recognized as safe. And so manufacturers can just put these into our food supply and product supply and the FDA has little to no power in getting these things removed unless it gets so bad because they're not really functioning as that watchdog that we are marketed to as it's framed to be.
Because again, companies here can put them into our food supply, into our product supply and then it's on the public. It's on grassroots movements to campaign for the FDA to finally remove these products and enough is enough. The best thing that we can do is to not wait around for the next thing to get banned. We already know, we've got tons of some of the best peer viewed evidence on these food additives and chemicals that are used to make common household appliances and our pots and pans and the things that we cook with that are supposed to be safe. The practice of cooking is supposed to be health affirmative for us and yet this practice again of simply making a pivot a little sleight of hand will remove this toxic chemical and we'll just replace it with another one and then find out that this is hurting our health as well.
Which was actually the case with one of the most notorious compounds to ever make its way into our environment. It's a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA. And this is one of the chemicals used to make Teflon cookware. And it was found repeatedly in peer reviewed studies to contribute to higher rates of infertility, liver disease, and a variety of cancers. For instance, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that PFOA is a strong kidney carcinogen with the risk increasing in tandem with the level of exposure. The more that you're cooking, the more you're getting exposed to this chemical, the higher risk of kidney cancer.
And they only, this is the thing, they only recently removed this chemical after decades of harming people's health. Only to replace it with chemicals like Gen X that was found to be similarly toxic. According to a report from the FDA, based on the data from DuPont who created Teflon from their own data was showing that, yeah, this thing got banned, but we replaced it with something else and it's gonna be a while before you catch us. So, how can we break free from this nonsense? Cooking is supposed to be one of the most helpful things that we can do for me and for my family for real, safe, beautiful, non-stick cookware, my family uses the cookware from our place. It's non toxic, PFAS free, ceramic coated, and over 75,000 5-star reviews on their award winning cookware, pressure cookers, and more.
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ITUNES REVIEW: Another five star review titled "Thank You Shawn" by Brianna C. Finally, a health podcaster we can trust. Thank you for providing us with such excellent resources and education that is practical, understandable, and so impactful for the mind, body, and soul. I love this show and look forward to every episode.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you so much, Brianna. I appreciate that. So much. Thank you for leaving that review over on Apple podcasts. And listen, if you have to do so, pop over to Apple podcasts or whatever platform you're listening on, if you can rate and review the model health show, you know, that means a lot. All right. I appreciate you. And without further ado, let's get to our special guest and topic of the day.
Autumn Calabrese is a Midwestern girl who went from living paycheck to paycheck working as a personal trainer to becoming a fitness and nutrition mogul and the most viewed super trainer on the Beachbody on demand platform with over 140 million views. Autumn's game changing programs for Beachbody, known today as Body, include 21 Day Fix, The Master's Hammer and Chisel. and the cardio dance program, Country Heat. Based on the nutrition success of 21 Day Fix, Autumn created her wildly successful cookbook, Fixate, which has sold over half a million copies and led to her own cooking show by the same name. She's here today to talk about some of the most important aspects of improving your hormone health and taking back control of your body. Let's dive into this conversation with the amazing Autumn Calabrese.
Right now we're experiencing an epidemic of health issues and there are some things that are specifically hitting women even harder. Some of those issues being depression, certain types of cancer. Obesity actually affect women slightly more than men. But especially as we're aging and this is really what I'm excited to talk to you about because there's a missing part of this conversation, a huge gap in the conversation about women's health, especially as women age. From your perspective, what are women not being told about health and fitness as they're getting older?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Oh my gosh, it's like such a loaded question because I think there's, there's two sides to that. First of all, there's what we are being told, right? What we're, what is being preached to us and blasted everywhere, which is like, it's okay to be this way and it's okay to essentially not be healthy. That's really like, like... you're almost shamed if you want to be fit, you want your body to look a certain way, like, it's almost preached that's unhealthy. We're being sold on this idea that I'm trying to be cautious with my words right now, so let me just say it like it is. You look at the people they're putting on the covers of magazines, you look at the people that they're sort of now putting up as the normal body type.
And there is excessive body weight. And I am not putting any shame on that. There's no shame to that. But they're calling it, they're labeling it healthy. And I think that's a problem. There is always a wide range for healthy and then there's a wide range for unhealthy on both sides, right? You could be unhealthy at too low of a weight, and you can be unhealthy at too high of a weight. And I think we're just targeted as women that there's too big of a range, that we're being told it's healthy when it's not. I don't know if I'm saying that eloquently, but like I said, I'm trying to walk a line so I don't make women mad. But then there's the other side where it's, we're not being talked to about how our hormone levels change. We're not being talked to about what influences those hormones. Blood sugar levels, insulin levels, cortisol levels, chronic stress, right? It's like, what you eat and exercise. And that's really just a fraction of the puzzle.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. I didn't even think about that component that you were going to bring that up, about this is how it is. This is how you should be. Don't worry about it. Versus here are the things that are going on in your body. These are the things that we need to take into consideration, especially as you age, especially in this environment that we're existing in right now.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And you have a very, very tangible visceral experience with this because you're somebody who's been in this field now for what, 20 years?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: 20 years, yeah.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And you're checking all the boxes. You're training, like you're training your ass off.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: You are, your nutrition is dialed in. You know about sleep wellness. You're, you're really focused on that as well, and you're checking all these boxes, but you ran into a wall yourself.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And I would imagine that it came out of nowhere.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: It, it really did. And it's not the first time it's happened to me. And it's interesting because people will look at it and be like, well see, you're healthy and it still happens to you. And I'm like, okay, but I can acknowledge where now that I've learned where my issues were. So yes, about two years ago, hormonal changes hit me out of nowhere. I actually had just done a photo shoot for a clothing line that I was repping. Felt amazing. Looked great. Awesome. A week later we were in Mexico for a work event. And I had gained like five pounds in a week. That's unheard of for me. I, I don't, I'm pretty regimented in my training and my eating and everything I do.
So like, I don't fluctuate like that. And to gain five pounds in a week, I'm small. On my figure, that's a lot. And I had literally packed those same workout clothes that I had done the photo shoot in a week before. First of all, I was like literally crying the whole week, like, I was not wanting to go out by the pool or hang out, and I needed to be out and about, but I, one, I emotionally couldn't stop crying, I didn't even know why. I felt horrible because I was like, I look like I've gained 10 pounds, 15 pounds, like I just felt, and I went to get dressed to go teach a live workout, so I'm teaching a live workout to 5, 000 people. And those workout pants barely fit. And I can still, like, when I look at that photo, like, the tears come to my eyes because I remember, like, I was welling up backstage going, Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed.
Because I'm supposed to be the expert and I don't know what the hell is going on with my body right now. And I had actually done blood work a few weeks earlier with one of my, with my naturopathic doctor. So I got back from the trip. I got on the phone. I was like, Dr. Ernie, I don't know what is going on, but I can't take this. Like, I can't live like this. So what? And he was like, we got your blood work back. And he looked at it and he's like, yeah, your hormones are all over the place. And I'm like, well, how is that possible? Like, I was already on my thyroid meds. I was already taking pregnenolone and progesterone to help balance my hormones because we already knew that from chronic stress. My progesterone was really low, when you're really stressed out, cortisol will steal pregnenolone, precursors, all this stuff.
So we already knew that. But I was like, I'm on all the things, I'm doing all the things, how am I bottomed out again? And he finally looked at me, I've been working with Dr. Ernie for a couple years, and he said, he goes, Autumn, I can put you on every supplement there is, you can eat every bit of kale and spinach and everything else, until you learn to manage your stress, there's only so much I can do for you. Because for me, stress is my enemy. Like, I have lived in a state of chronic stress my whole life. And that's when I was like, okay, that's a missing puzzle piece for me. Because exercise is not managing it enough, walking isn't managing it enough, all the things I'm doing is not managing the stress well enough. But that's when I dove into it. I was like, what, what is going on? Because if I'm doing all the healthy things and it still happened to me, what's happening to everybody else, all these other women out there? And then I, integrative Institute of Nutrition, I did their year-long hormone health course, like eight months long, and I learned so much. Like I just remember, it was so cool to go through that cert while I was going through the issues with my body, because I was like, oh my gosh, and that's, and that's me, oh! And so I was like playing with my own protocols while I was going through the course. So it was really cool to experience. The changes as I was learning it.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow. Yeah, so what did you do? So, how did you figure this out?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: I tweaked my nutrition a little bit. That was for me I needed to tweak my carb load a little bit more because obviously when blood sugar is out of balance and we knew mine was. I already know genetically I have a predisposition to higher blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity. So I tweaked that a little bit more, you know, there's this big thing on the internet.
I'm sure you see it for women, where everybody's like, well, higher protein fixes your hormones. Higher protein fixes your. It's not higher protein. It's moderate protein. It's higher fat. You need protein. We don't want to not have protein. But obviously at a certain point, if you're just eating huge amounts of protein, and your body can't use it. It's either getting excreted or it's getting stored as fat. So it's not that. It's higher, a little bit higher levels of fat, little bit lower levels of carbohydrates. And I just tweaked it a little bit. I changed up my workout routine because I realized, you know, obviously exercise is stress on the body and it's a stress that can be good. But if you're in a chronic state of stress everywhere else, I was doing HIIT training constantly.
I love it. I love going hard in the gym. My, my adrenals were just flatlined, basically. I switched it up to doing a lot of Pilates. Love it. So hard. So challenging. Still kept my strength training in there, but dialed my cardio way back. Put HIIT training, HIIT cardio in once a week. Compared to how much I was doing before. Really started, I was like, I need something. That I can actually do to manage stress. Like, you know, people say, well, like, journal or walk or do this or meditate. I'm like, it doesn't work for me. I do walk. Journal's not my thing. Meditation isn't my thing. And I found breath work. Which, you know, you could do it anywhere, anytime.
In a minute, literally, in 60 seconds, you can bring your body back into a rest and digest state. And I was like, oh my gosh, I love this. Like, I feel it instantly. I feel my body calm down. And I was playing with supplementation at the time, too. Like, what supplements will help? Ashwagandha, rhodiola, magnesium, zinc, using chromium a little bit for insulin levels. Blood sugar, mulberry. Citrus and Guarana for fat burning just to help a little bit here and there. So I just started playing with everything. Felt better pretty quick.
SHAWN STEVENSON: What you just shared, so many of those pieces impact stress or help with that parasympathetic switch over.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: From the supplements to the breath work and in particular changing your mindset too, especially about exercise. And I would imagine that that's a tough one. I know it is for me, you know, because there's certain things. We love it.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Love it.
SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, but when your body, which is when you mentioned stress being that kicker, you know, that your doctor was like, listen, until you address this. I've been speaking about this for years, years and years and years, because I saw it, you know, 15, about 15 years ago was the first time it just hit me like a ton of bricks. You know, I'm seeing in particular, again, women coming into my office, they've got their nutrition dialed in, their exercise in. We're paying more attention to their sleep, but sometimes they're still struggling with sleep. But it's the stress. And if we're not getting this stress in check, you can overeat your way into being overweight. You can under exercise your way into being overweight, under sleep your way into it. You can over stress your way into it. It changes the way your metabolism works.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And so having all those pieces to address stress is really what it's about. You're sending your body more safety signals. Right. That's amazing.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: And, you know, once, when your cortisol curve, be it inverted or flattened, that's going to affect your sleep. And then if you don't sleep, that's stress on your body. Or if you're eating inflammatory foods, that's stress on your body. I think so often we're thinking about it as just, well, I'm stressed about work, I'm stressed because I was in traffic, or I'm stressed because there's a major life event. Those are stressful, but we don't think about. Am I going too hard? Am I never giving my body a day off because you're trying to beat your body into submission with your workouts. Like I'm going to just keep going until it responds. The stress, the food, like I said, I actually had an interesting experience. I took my son to Italy over the summer and I made the conscious choice of like, we're in Italy. This is our first time. I'm going to eat the things. And obviously their food is.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And you're Italian.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: And I'm Italian. You gotta eat it. I'm eating the pasta. I'm eating the gelato. Like it's, that's happening. And I felt so relaxed and I was good, but I had my aura ring on. And at the end of the everyday I was like, why is it showing me stressed almost the whole day? I feel great. Like I'm sleeping like a champ. We're not like 10 days. I'm relaxing with my kid. And then I realized, oh, I'm taking in way too much sugar. I'm eating way too much. Things I don't normally eat and even though they're probably a better quality and I wasn't having like the indigestion issues. It was still stress on my body to process those things.
SHAWN STEVENSON: This should be a huge light bulb moment for a lot of people too.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: It was huge.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Because again, we don't think about food being a potential stressor.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And the truth is, food can be a stressor or a stress reliever. And even the, what we deem to be, and of course it can check a lot of boxes with being healthier versions of things, but you know, high amounts of carbohydrates coming in, maybe a little wine, whatever the case might be. And, but the thing is for you experientially, it was balancing out because psychologically you had less stress.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. But your body was saying, Hey, this thing is still, your overall stress load is still like you're in a bit of a hole.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And I love that example because what I've been talking about for years is people's overall stress load. You just articulated it so well because we think it's acute stress, like I'm not stressed at work. You know, I'm not stressed about traffic or whatever. These are little acute stressors, but what about your overall, like, emotional template? Right? What about your spiritual stress even? Like, do you feel like you're on purpose?
You feel connected? You feel like you matter? You're connected to something? Obviously relationship stress, throw that into the mix. Exercise stress. You mentioned that earlier. And this is what I want to dig in on with you, especially. We, it's in this category of a hermetic stressor, right? So it's a stressor that can make us better, right? Build back better. But we have to recover from the stressor. But the thing is, it is a stressor. If you're already stressed and you're like, you know, I want to get in shape now, I'm going to sign up for a marathon.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Oh!
SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? So many people do that though.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And they find that they've dug themselves into an even deeper hole. But here's the thing. Initially, weight's gonna start coming off.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: But this is gonna be changing the way your body operates at a deep cellular level. And wonder why again at the end of this whole thing, you're probably worse off than when you started, right?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: You feel like you don't recover like I just remember because I have a program called nine week control freak. It's hard. It was meant to be designed that way. 30 minutes, get in, get it done. We're density complex sets, tabata training, all in 30 minutes, minimal rest. Love it. Great for nine weeks. But this is what I've started, you know, again, sometimes, even as the expert, you know it, but you're not even thinking about it. You're like, it's great. I got it. I'm good. Keep doing it. I love it. But I was doing round after round without maybe a few weeks of low impact training in between. And I just remember like, I was, I was doing one of the workouts one day and I was like, I, what is the deal? Like, I'm training so hard and all of a sudden I'm, I can't lift as heavy.
I feel like I'm jumping with bricks on me. Like, am I even leaving the ground? And then I went into the creation of a different program called 4 Week Gut Protocol with 4 Weeks for Everybody, which was really low impact training. Because we want to make sure with gut health and everything and all of a sudden I was like I feel amazing like this is so good! And I was like oh yeah, duh Autumn, like maybe you don't, but in my mind I was like oh they're 30 minute workouts, I'm not putting my own program down, but this is what people need to learn is that like if you're going to do a hard training program. Great.
Do it, finish it, and then do something for at least a few weeks that's a little lower impact. Not as intense. Or try to find, that's what I've created with Belvital is a combination. That's why we have the Pilates, the strength training. So when we're lifting, we're lifting heavy. We're going for it. Hour long workouts. There's recovery time, but it's not every single day of the week. It's mixed with the Pilates training, the low impact, the flexibility, the mobility, the breathing, being really mindful when you're in Pilates work. So, that really makes an impact on the amount of stress that's on your body.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, and what you're doing is, you're taking people along the journey and addressing and this is some of the best teachers in the world. It's figuring out things for themselves so they can be in service to others, right? So you create these programs and you've got the thing about you and your work people are gonna see the testimonials all right. There are so many people so many people have gotten results. And with this particular program that's really intense for this amount of time, you found that it swung things in a certain direction. And then it led you to another program, which like this helps to balance things out.
And that brings you to this place today where, you know, I was just looking at some of the testimonials for Belle Vitale and just, I think women are shocked of how, I think this might not be the right word, but how little they do and they're getting these results. It's not as hard as they would think.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yes.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And that is kind of complimenting where we are today, which is stress. Honestly, it's the human condition today. It is, it's the human condition, but women are impacted more and that's just the way it is. Due to a myriad of biological reasons, but also psychological reasons as well. And the biggest kind of bleach and reason why is the cyclical nature, right? This is not paying attention to the cycles and also the overall cycles of life. Perimenopause menopause postmenopause.
And understanding today and I'm grateful for this and I'm standing here today as a man and honored to be able to say this because I didn't see it when I was doing it. But being able to lift up these women's voices. In particular, it comes to mind. Dr. Lisa Moscone. Early on, you know, I was one of the I was the first quote big podcast for her to go on and then connecting with all these other Influential people. And her sharing with me early on, this is years and years ago, how these clinical trials that me being a research scientist. I'm in this stuff every day. But just really getting me to like focus on the fact that as I'm reading this data how often women are excluded.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? So so much of the data that I'm sharing and citing excludes women because they're too complex, right? Which was crazy to me. It was crazy. And now that these revelations are happening, and so many women are lifting up each other and lifting their voices and sharing this and speaking to other women. And this is why, again, I have you here today. To share, listen, stress is the human condition, but especially for women, we are unique in this and we have to, we have to take back control of our own bodies. And that is going to direct us to doing some homework. And a part of this and with this program is self education because it's not going to be a one size fits all cookie cutter thing. There are some things you're going to have to do and tweak for yourself right now based on where you are.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah, absolutely. And that's what I say. I'm like, when you write a program that's for the masses, right? Because that's what I do. I'm with a company and we're putting out a program that people can do at home. So you have to take the masses into account. That's not to say I don't recognize and understand that there's bio individuality. So what I try to do is take all the research that is out there and say, okay, what principles can I put that should help the majority of women? And I always say, I'm like, this is not the end all be all.
This is like your first step in. But I really want women to realize we have more power than people are leading us to believe. And like you were saying, these women are getting amazing results, and they're getting it quicker than they're, like, week one alone, which I barely tweak things in the first week of the program. I want to ease them into it. And they're like, oh my gosh, the scale hasn't moved in years, and I lost five pounds this week. And I'm like, yeah, our bodies are actually meant to work, but we're so, I'm just gonna say, like, brainwashed into thinking that it's supposed to be hard, it's just a part of our age.
We're just supposed to not feel these things. I can't tell you how many women in my groups have said they have gone to their doctors and their doctors have, and I'm not putting doctors down, but doctors have refused them blood work, have said those symptoms are just normal. It's a part of your age or just offer them some version of a pill without addressing the underlying cause.
And I'm like, I'm not here to say you might not need it. Some version of medication. I myself am on HRT. Everybody has to make that own decision for themselves. But, I was on HRT when my hormones were a mess. Because I was still dealing with the chronic stress. So, there's all these things that we have to take into account, but really what I want women to understand is they need to be their own biggest advocate. They need to pay attention to their body. I'll get so many messaging even in my group right now. I've got a group of 1, 300 women going through the program. And they will say, like, Well, just tell me, can I have this or that? Or what about this? Or can I tweak this? And I always say, you have to pay attention to your body.
Well, they're like, what's better? Fasted workout or workout after breakfast? I'm like, how do you feel? You have, you have, I can only tell you what feels right on my body. You know, so many people want to say like, this is the end all be all. It's, it's workout fasted. It's workout not fasted. I'm like, guys, it's bio individuality. What feels good to you. Here's what I want you to understand about if you work out fasted, here's what I want you to understand about, you know, cause we use some fasting, intermittent fasting in the program. So I want you to understand breaking your fast, how to break your fast, what's optimal way to do it, like let's not break it with coffee or energize. That's not gonna feel your best to just hit your adrenals with caffeine after a 13 or 14 hour fast. Things like that. So, I'm really trying to get them to see that they have a lot more power than maybe. The outside world is telling us we have.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Got a quick break coming up. We'll be right back.
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SHAWN STEVENSON: All right, let's dig in deeper specifically on exercise because again, you've really been an icon with fitness and training and challenging yourself and encouraging other people to do the same. And bringing in more and the thing is we, let's don't sleep on it as far as Pilates, don't sleep on it thinking it's, it's easy, easy pants. But you're bringing in something that is a little bit more restorative, especially for people that are experiencing a lot of stress.
So it's just a, it's a, it's an adjustment. You're still moving, you're training, but my question is, and I want you to talk about that. But my question first and foremost is, how was it for you to, to tell yourself that I need to dial it back a little bit. I need to, I know that this exercise is essential for my vitality, but I need to make an adjustment here with this. Was that challenging mentally for you?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: It was because the first thing you think is, am I going to be pushing hard enough? Am I going to be burning enough calories? I can't believe I didn't sweat that bad, right? Like all those silly little things go through my mind. They go through everybody else's mind too because if you're showing up to do the workout, at least for me, I want to do the work. I want to leave the workout feeling like I don't have to go do more. I've done enough. But I had to adjust my mindset to what that meant. And as soon as I really got into the Pilates training, and here's what I will say. There is a lot of stuff out there that is labeled Pilates that we'll put in the hybrid category of like Pilates, bar, making up moves on a piece of Pilates equipment.
Cause I went and I was taking a lot of different classes from a lot of different studios and it doesn't mean that they weren't fun or challenging. But I went and did the BASI certification. So the Body Arts and Science Institute, Rael, I'm not going to butcher his last name so I'm not going to say it, but Rael created it and he is very true to Joseph Pilates and what that system is, the controlology system. And when you really are doing Pilates like that, slow, controlled, precise movement. Connecting the breath with it. Everything is lit up. Everything is sore. Muscles you didn't know you had. You're like, oh my gosh, why? And when you were doing it, it didn't feel that hard. So it's actually, it started to get really fun and I started to recognize my body getting way more defined, way leaner.
Feeling stronger, because it's still resistance training. So when I, just so your listeners understand, I'm not doing Matt Pilates. I actually took a door track system that we used in 9 Week Control Freak, and I recognized very quickly that I could mimic the reformer in Cadillac with it. And so that's what I started doing.
So I used the door track combined with strength slides and a core ball to essentially mimic the Reformer, the Cadillac, some moves that would be done on the Wounda chair or the F2 chair. And essentially you have an entire Pilates studio at your house. And really incredible training for core strength, mobility, flexibility, like I said, strength, endurance, that you would never expect to get. Or that people wouldn't think you would get, right? People look at Pilates. Oh, it's stretching. No, not if you're doing it right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: I just saw a video from a guy who's like, listen, he was like, I'm a D1 athlete, all the things. He was like, women have been hiding Pilates for me. Like he was like, I had no idea. And also if you think about it, for me. You know, coming from where I come from, when I think about Pilates, it's tied to an exclusivity. It's tied to like access, you know, and this is one of those things where even getting into a class, they tend to be much smaller.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah, because you can't have that many reformers in a room.
SHAWN STEVENSON: That can get in, right? So it's limited even in that, you know, so. It tends to be expensive. It tends to be very expensive, especially in Los Angeles.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Oh, yeah.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And so even that is another barrier of entry for people to, to learn this, to try this out, to incorporate this. And so you're removing so many barriers of entry and staying true to the methodology. Is that what I'm hearing?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yes, absolutely.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Okay, that's, that's dope.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Did so, Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year. They had no injuries. I watched the game last year. No injuries. The other, who'd they play last year? I'm not going to remember.
SHAWN STEVENSON: It was the Eagles, right?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: No, that was 49ers.
SHAWN STEVENSON: The Eagles the year before. Last year was the 49ers.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: But 49ers had quite a few injuries. The Chiefs were all doing Pilates training leading up to the Super Bowl. They were posting it. You would see them in classes and stuff. They were just dying in those classes.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Is this because of Taylor Swift?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Is that why I watched it? Or is that why they're doing it?
SHAWN STEVENSON: Is that why they're doing Pilates?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: I don't know if Taylor does Pilates.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Let's start a rumor.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Taylor does Pilates, guys. Actually, one of my really good friends who dances with her, teaches Pilates. So I wonder if maybe they did.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Mmmm, see!
AUTUMN CALABRESE: I'm going to ask Tori. I got to call Tori.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Rumor has it.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Y'all doing Pilates over there? But no, I did think it was really interesting when I was watching the game last year because I kept, you know, you get served up certain things on social media, the more you look at it. And I kept getting served up. Like I said, the Kansas City Chiefs players doing Pilates and just, like I said, sweating, moaning. And then I watched the game and how many players on the 49ers were getting injured. And I was like, Dom, did you see these Chiefs? Not one injury. And he's like, why? And I was like, I'm not saying, but I'm just saying.
SHAWN STEVENSON: It's, this is so fascinating because this has become more and more prevalent. Like for example, Pilates being a secret thing with the Kansas City Chiefs. There are certain teams that incorporated yoga. But what's jumping into mind right now is Phil Jackson and incorporating meditation with his players and, you know, being a big part of Kobe Bryant's life, for example, and introducing this to his team on a team level, having these practices to basically control or have some agency with your nervous system, right? And that's just one part of the benefits, but, you know, this is just speaking to some of the things that are incorporated in this. But I got a little, I got a little beef though. I just watched the Chiefs game, this past weekend, as of this recording against the Bills.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Okay.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And I have, you know, I, I don't watch much football these days because I'm a little obsessive, you know, so I just keep to myself. I don't, you know, invest in a lot of these teams. But After the Chiefs would score, they cut to Taylor Swift in the box, celebrating with her mom or whatever. Like, why are you doing that?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: That's because Taylor brings a whole new audience. All the women. Listen, y'all, as men, should be happy about it. Because it's probably the first time your wives and girlfriends aren't mad that you're watching the game. And they might actually sit down and watch it with you. Advertisers know. That's why they keep going. But that has been a very big complaint since last season. All the guys are like, stop showing us Taylor Swift.
SHAWN STEVENSON: But I do, I get it. I get it. That's amazing. Now that we know that Pilates is a part of the program, strength training as well, what about women who are dealing with some physical issues? You know, some ailments, some pain. Can they still participate in this? Are they able to utilize the program? Just, for example, let's just say they've been having some back pain.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah, absolutely. I definitely always give modifications when I can, but you know, that's the beauty of Pilates too. A lot of it, we're supported, a lot of it is on the ground. So you're supported by the ground. You're choosing what resistance band level you're using. We're moving slow and controlled. And a lot of times when you start activating the core muscles, and I'm not just talking about your abdomen, I'm talking about the core wrapping around, pelvic floor, inner thighs, everything. Those ailments start to go away. You start to rebalance the body. You take out the foods causing inflammation in your body and all of a sudden you're like, Oh, the joints don't hurt as bad. You're recovering because you're sleeping better. So, yes. Obviously, depending on what the ailment is, they may or may not, one big question I get asked a lot is, can women who are pregnant do it?
And I recommend against that. You know, when you're pregnant, your body's going through so many different hormonal changes that need to happen. You're growing a life. So it wouldn't be the time to be trying to take control of that. That needs to take its natural course. And also, like I said, we're on our back a lot for Pilates. So when you're pregnant after a certain point, you're not supposed to be on your back or on your stomach. So. I wouldn't, I wouldn't recommend it for that. Save it till after, when the baby's sleeping. But yeah, I really wanted it to be accessible. And I had women in my test group from their 20s through their 60s. I think 62 or 3 is the oldest I've seen. That doesn't mean it's the oldest person who's done it, but I think that's the oldest I've seen so far. Loving it. Feeling amazing. Knees not hurting as much anymore.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah.
SHAWN STEVENSON: As they say, motion is lotion. And this is, you've got experience in this as well and having a back issue and utilizing fitness to, you know, basically become the person that you are. So let's talk about that a little bit.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah. So I have scoliosis and I have a bulging disc in my lower spine. I think the scoliosis I've probably had was probably born with that. I've, I actually noticed in the last probably 3 or 4 years that it's definitely worse than it's been. And that's scary and frustrating. With my bulging disc, I got that in college I think from dance, but I have really been able to control the flare ups of that through my nutrition and through my exercise. Again, maintaining proper form and posture and core strength. But I noticed with Pilates, while I'm not saying it can correct scoliosis, because it can't, what I have noticed is how much more balanced my body feels, that the alignment isn't as hard for me to hold, so while I'll never be able to fully undo that, I can definitely work to improve my alignment, and I have noticed a huge difference in it since I started the Pilates training.
SHAWN STEVENSON: That's amazing. You know, there's this, especially when it comes to, and this is another epidemic in our society today, is back problems, in particular low back issues. But, one of the biggest issues with this is, and I'm just gonna say it, it's, this is an issue of blood flow. Period, point blank. You know, the discs are non vascular and you, again, when I said motion is lotion, like, seriously, we really have to be able to have some stability of our spine, but be able to move our spine as well.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And to do it in a safe manner. If we're not utilizing and moving our spine, and of course, and coupling that with some strength, we're just setting ourselves up for inevitable issues. Right. You know, and so, having some intelligence in this, being proactive, we're going to be able to sustain our livelihood much longer, be able to play and have fun to be mobile. You know, a lot of people are taking out of the game, just doing small stuff that they want to do in their life because of back issues. And so, but also I want to say this too, if somebody is dealing with that, there is hope. You know, the same thing with you, you know, I would imagine you were probably told that hey, it's you're a candidate for surgery and that's all you could do.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah, I was told that I was told that at 18 that if I wasn't careful, I was going to be in back surgery before I was 21. And I'm 44 today with no surgery so far. But it is, it is one of those things like you were saying that. The health of your spine is so important and we're sitting all day, we're hunched over on our phones, we're driving more, we're moving less, and then we wonder why everything hurts. The newest saying is sitting is the new smoking. Cause it really is that bad for us, we gotta move, we've gotta get that motion into our body. Body in motion stays in motion.
SHAWN STEVENSON: This is physics, man.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Physics!.
SHAWN STEVENSON: So, with this being said, this is the great benefit of having somebody like you is being able to have their coach along with them, right? Having that voice, having that inspiration, having those moments of insight that you provide along the way, which are very great at, and to have the guidance on what to do, right? From start to finish. And, you know, it's one of the things I admire about you, and when you put programs together, you know, again, it just, the results speak for themselves with all the testimonials. So I want to talk to you about, with this program, again, really being geared towards women, paying attention to, but this, again, this is across the board, but, perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Why was blood sugar management something that you on. And, you know, I know that my friend, friend of the show as well. Dr. Will Cole. Yes is involved with the program as well But why blood sugar management? Why was that like a real big focus point?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: As I started to do my research? And I as I started to go through my certifications, that was the big thing I kept learning was that blood sugar and insulin referred to as tier one hormones like if they're out of balance then all your other hormones are going to go out of balance. And really it was insulin and cortisol were actually the two big ones.
So if insulin and cortisol were out of balance, obviously if insulin's out of balance, blood sugar's out of balance, but the second those things are out, then estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, everything else is gonna have a ripple down effect. So I was like, okay, well we gotta start at the root. And if you look at what people are eating, just in general, and how much of it is processed, packaged. You know, you turn a box around and all of a sudden you're like, 34 grams of added sugar. And it's not something you would expect it to be in. It's not, it's not a cookie, it's not a dessert. And you're like, what is happening? Why is there so much added sugar in here?
It's really interesting when I teach that to women. Like, we cut the added sugar way down. Five grams or less in the first four weeks, then we go to 10 grams or less the rest of the program. And the second they start reading food labels, I talk about being a food label ninja, understanding like what is on that label, what are you putting in? And they are just shocked when they start learning what they were eating and what was in there. So, that was a big one. Everything I was learning was, if you don't have insulin, and cortisol, properly regulated, you will not be able to regulate these other ones. And, that actually was super exciting to me, because we can control that.
We don't have to eat the highly processed foods. We don't have to overload our bodies with carbohydrates. Even now, I'm sure you see this, and it probably drives you crazy too as a, as a dietician. I was saying about protein earlier and, you know, you'll see people post recipes and it's like high protein blah blah blah, high protein this recipe, high protein that recipe.And then you look at the recipe and it's like, all carbs. And I'm like, okay, it has, the recipe has protein in it, but the carbs are like double the amount of protein. So let's not call this a high protein recipe. Let's call it a high carbohydrate recipe and understand what that's going to do to our body.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah, it's like that with a lot of You know high protein Pre packaged foods as well, you know, like snack bars and things like that. Yeah, it's just but of course folks are waking up to this and I love the fact that you're directing People to paying attention to this but with more precision because as of this recording also, we just released an episode about the red food dye ban. You know, and, but of course I came from the perspective of illuminating, this is a pattern, this is a pattern of behavior with food manufacturers and with the FDA and, you know, red dye, number three being banned.
Ask a simple question. Why did I jump to right number three? Was there a one? Was there a two? Was there a four? Yeah, there were. We went through in the episode and talked about it. This one was banned for liver cancer. This one was banned for gastrointestinal lesions, you know, and just going through it's just again It's this pattern of behavior where the food manufacturer simply comes up with another chemical compilation, newly invented synthetic thing that is largely not regulated. And We've got studies that Every food dye that's allowed in food today has some kind of peer reviewed, published data problem associated with it.
And we're just like, again, just trimming little branches, little Mr. Miyagi. You know, we're not really getting to the roots of the issue, which is, if you're not paying attention to what's in your food at this point, you are getting poisoned. You know, and we want to eat more things that don't have a food label on them to the best of our ability. And if we are, And this is another thing that I love about you is like, this is an all or nothing type thing as well. You get to have your fun, you know, you get to like have the, but we need to make sure that it's the exception and not the rule.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Right. It's not the wine every night. It's not the go to for the unwind. I mean, I'll, I'll get crucified for this, but I'm gonna say it. I get really frustrated, like, when I see the going trend of, like, it's, you know, I'm a mom, so I'm drinking, of course I'm drinking. I'm, oh, the kids are in bed at five o'clock, okay, it's time for the wine. Like, Sunday, fun day, what, everything is like, Like, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, and I'm like, oh my gosh, we have got, how are we thinking that this is an oak, and everybody's making a joke about it.
I'm like, guys, it's not a joke. In fact, let me go on a little tangent for a second, you know, people like to talk about that's trigger, right, you gotta put the trigger warning on everything. And I don't think people stop to recognize how many people out there might have had to deal with an alcoholic in their life, or might be a recovering alcoholic and they're trying to enjoy social media with the rest of the world. And everybody's making super light of something that might not actually be super light. I personally have had to deal with multiple alcoholics in my life. Really hard stuff. So when I see people just joke about it and make it this easy thing and this light, hard thing, I'm like, look, I like a good glass of wine as much as the next person.
But it's just something to be aware of. Or like when they're just making these gluttonous desserts, and they're just like, Oh my god, it's so good, and you're looking at all the things in it, and I'm like, Why does it have to be so much? And that's, I just think that's a question that people can ask themselves.
Why does it have to be so much of any of it? Why does it have to be so much of the dessert? Why does it have to be so much of the alcohol? It's only a question they can ask for themselves, and that's something we gotta dig into, and I understand that, you know, people have different addictions and things like that, but, I just wish that we weren't crucified for saying, eat more whole foods, cut back on those things. But we are. I am.
SHAWN STEVENSON: So we've talked about the focus on managing insulin with a purpose. Because again, it has this top down, trickle down effect. I love that. And cortisol is the other one. All right, cortisol can be impacted by diet as well, maybe not so Captain Obvious. But we generally attach cortisol with stress and psychological stress and Helping to address this this brings up the conversation about the breath work, which I was pleasantly surprised to see was a part of the program. And If you could I'd love for you to elaborate on What breath work is for you versus something like a conventional meditation.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: So for me, when I think of meditation, and I know that there are so many ways that you can meditate, right? A walk in nature can be meditation. But I think a lot of people, when you hear the word meditate, you think of sitting still, silent and trying to like wipe your mind clean of thoughts for an extended period of time. Not saying that that is the only way to meditate, but I think that's what kind of comes to people's mind when you hear meditation. For me, my brain never stops. That's just the thing. And I really, I needed something that was just a quick action step that I could take. That I also could take in stressful situations where I can't be on a work meeting and be like, hold on, you're stressing me out, I gotta meditate.
Like, I can't do that. And I'm on Zoom meetings all day, and there are people stressing me out on those meetings at times. But when I started, so I think something had popped up with the Breathwork app, like on my, on my phone or something, and I was like, let me try it. And because they were so short, 60 seconds, 2 minutes, I was like, I could do this.
And then I also recognized, like, I could do this anywhere, so I would be on those Zoom meetings and, you know, getting stressed, my blood pressure's rising, because I'm very passionate when I'm creating a program. And at the end of the day, it's my face that's on it, and it's my name and my reputation. And even though I work with Body and they're absolutely amazing, and their reputation is on the line too, it's, Autumn created that. So, I get stressed easily. I would be on these calls, and I would, you know, Nobody knows. Like, it's breathing. And breathing is something we all have to do. Every day, all day. So, it's something you're already doing. But to take control and to breathe deeper into the belly and not be a chest breather Feels so different. Or to lay down to go to sleep at night I love four seven eight breathing in through the nose for four hold for seven exhale through the mouth for eight. It's two minutes long that I do it. And my sleep quality is drastically different. And I've tested it multiple times now of like don't do the breathing do the breathing.
How do I sleep? How fast do I fall asleep? Do I stay in a deeper sleep? So I was really like this is, this is a thing that anybody can do and we got to team up with the Breathwork app. So people get To actually get three months of the breathwork app for free included with the program so that they can access it.
SHAWN STEVENSON: That's awesome. And I love that just a couple of key insights here. I do Nine times out of ten I do some breathwork and then meditate right after, I coupled them together. But again, like you said this is something you could take out in the world with you As far as the breathwork, and you change your physiology. And for many people they probably caught themselves or paid attention to their breathing Once we started talking about it.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And we adjust our breathing, but it's crazy It's happening automatically and chances are especially if you're getting more and more tense, and you're not paying attention, we tend to start to breathe more shallow. In our culture again, just because of the stress around us It's kind of like a protective thing.
And so it's like being able to let your body know that you're okay, right? I can I have the room to breathe And this is something that we have the choice to be able to do, right? So it's part of this autonomic nervous system. We could jump in. It's automatically happening or you can jump in and consciously influence it as well when it comes to the breathing. And you know, this is so fascinating because you're giving people an opportunity to have a tool that basically it's like a switch To, I love the example you gave with sleep, right? Improving the sleep quality because you're proactively switching over to the parasympathetic nervous system and Helping you to transition into sleep right. It's just like, and we have this tool available all the time.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: All the time. And knowing it. I think that it's just, it's relearning. We've just, yeah. You know, we have so many learned bad habits. We have to relearn some, some better habits, some healthier habits. And like I said, we breathe all day every day. But man, once I realized how shallow I was breathing and how tense I was, it actually took some work. Like, I really feel like I had to work to get my diaphragm to start to expand. It took a good week or two. Like at first I was like, I can't take a five second inhale. Wow. Like, I couldn't get five seconds of breathing in through my nose. Yeah. That's crazy.
SHAWN STEVENSON: It's tension.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: It's tension.
SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, wow. Wow. You know what just to give everybody a little cue like when you talked about breathing the exhale being longer.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? That's where if you have done this for a while or you couldn't actually notice immediately if you pay attention to it. But your heart rate slows down on the exhale.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Mm hmm.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? And so this is again intentionally doing something with your nervous system to slow your heart rate down, right? And focusing more on that part, that's kind of why, one of the reasons why it works.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yeah. But on the flip side of that, the other thing I love about breathwork, right, you get that mid afternoon crash, right? Maybe you've just been working hard, you've been in front of the computer, and normally people might go for sugar, wake them up. Caffeine, wake 'em up. But you can also do different breathing exercises that are a little bit faster. They are a little bit more shallow, and they will wake your nervous system up. So there's a natural way to get a hit for energy, a natural way to get calming feelings or to reduce the anxiety. There's just so much that you can do with it, and I love that.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And speaking of those. Sugar and snacks and all those things, which I've, again, I've done historically as well, but guess what we're doing? Insulin, cortisol. Alright, so we've, there are better options, and this is a great spot to let everybody know where they can get access to the new program.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yes. BelleBitale.com. B E L L E B I T A L E. com. BelleBitale. com is the easiest way to do it. I have it on all my website, social media, everything as well. And, can I give them the discount code so that they can.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Hell yeah!
AUTUMN CALABRESE: We need a discount code! It's Autumn C Bodi, B O D I 15. AutumnCBodi15. And it'll save them 15 percent
SHAWN STEVENSON: Ok, so Autumn and then your last initial C.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Correct. Body B O D I.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Fifteen.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Fifteen.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Write it down.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Write it down.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Write it down. That's awesome. Thank you for that. That's, that's dope. You know, and again, just seeing your work over the years and seeing your evolution and how you've been willing to adjust your teaching, your perspective, and just keep inviting more people in basically over time. And this, I think this program is the most inclusive of programs. Thank you, yeah. And, you know, it's really, again, there's certain things that come along at the right time, and this is one of those things where women's health is finally getting a bright spotlight shined on it, and there are more and more emerging resources, and also trusted voices in health and fitness like yourself, to help women to walk through this process of really taking ownership of their body.
And, their mind again and getting permission to do that. And, you know, I can't let you go without sharing this, that we graduated from the same high school. We sure did. We met in Los Angeles, but we graduated from the same high school in St. Louis, Missouri. So that's just straight up nuts.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Shout out to the Lafayette Lancers.
SHAWN STEVENSON: The Lafayette Lancers, baby. Yes.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Who knew?
SHAWN STEVENSON: That's, it's just bonkers.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Passed cross years later. Yeah, you're one year older than me. One year ahead of me.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah. Not that it's better or nothing like that, but like, you know. You know. My class, kind of, you know.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: But we were walking the halls at the same time, which is just so weird.
SHAWN STEVENSON: And who knew? Like, this is the magic of life. Yeah. You know, that we'd intersect at another point, you know, somewhere completely different.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Very cool.
SHAWN STEVENSON: So, yeah. Well, I appreciate you so much for sharing your brilliance with all of us. Can you give a shout out to your socials? Where can people connect with you?
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Yes. Autumn Calabrese is basically all my socials. So, that's my Instagram, that's my TikTok. AutumnCalabrese.com is the website. Obviously, again, the name of the program is Belle Bitale . You can get it at BelleBitale.com. And honestly, Shawn, thank you, because I can't tell you how many times I come to your podcast because you have on all the experts, taking on all these topics. And I'm like, okay, what's Shawn saying about it? He's doing the research. Like, I'm in here digging into all your stuff as much as I'm digging in anywhere else. So, I think what you're doing is incredible.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you. It's an honor. I love that. Thank you so much, Autumn. I appreciate you.
AUTUMN CALABRESE: Thank you.
SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode today. I hope that you got a lot of value out of this. If you did, share it with somebody that you care about. You can share this on social media, of course. You can tag Autumn. She would love to see the love. And you can tag me as well. I'm @ShawnModel on Instagram. And she's @AutumnCalabrese and you'll see her there. She'll pop right up. All right. She's popping out there on social media. And of course you can send this directly from the podcast app that you are listening on. Write to somebody that you care about. You want to share this message with, and we've got some epic masterclasses and world class guests coming your way very, very soon.
So make sure to be ready. Take care. Have an amazing day. And I'll talk with you soon. And for more after the show, make sure to head over to TheModelHealthShow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes. You can find transcriptions, videos for each episode. And if you got a comment, you can leave me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome. And I appreciate that so much. And take care. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.
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