Ep 261 – How Kelsey Became a Pro Bodybuilder in 6 Months

In this episode of Muscles by Brussels Radio, Ben sits down with coaching client Kelsey to discuss her remarkable first bodybuilding season, which culminated in earning professional status. Kelsey shares what initially inspired her to compete, how she balanced contest prep with a demanding legal career, and the lessons she learned about consistency, flexibility, and self-belief throughout the process.

The conversation also explores Kelsey’s long-standing commitment to animal advocacy, her journey from vegetarian to vegan, and how those values shaped both her career and lifestyle. They discuss the realities of contest prep, overcoming perfectionism, navigating setbacks, managing travel and work responsibilities, and why having the right coach and support system can make such a profound difference. Kelsey also reflects on the experience of stepping on stage for the first time, achieving pro status, and what comes next after accomplishing a goal that had been decades in the making.

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TRANSCRIPT

Ben (00:00)
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Vegan Proteins Muscles by Brussels Radio. My name is Ben and today I’m joined by my client Kelsey. Kelsey just wrapped up her first bodybuilding competition season and so I thought it would be an awesome idea to have her on the podcast to talk about her experience but also just to talk about some different kind of common client experiences that I think a lot of us have and

I think would be really useful for our listeners and our audience to kind of be able to take some things away from this. But before we get into that, Kelsey, you won your pro card at your bodybuilding competition. how does it feel now to, know, when you think about the fact that you’re a professional bodybuilding athlete, is that like a strange thing to think about? Or is it like, you know what, I feel like I earned this sort of thing.

Kelsey (00:48)
No, it feels, it still feels a little surreal and it just, couldn’t have been a better day and it ⁓ seemed like a really big mountain to climb and you know, a lot of questions about next steps and what I’m gonna do next and so just sort of trying to take the space to be in that post-show glow and just kind of enjoy the fruits of the labor, so to speak.

Ben (01:13)
I love that. think there’s a balance in the post-show period. And I know that we’ve had some conversations about this and you know, the competitors listening will be nodding their heads along to this, but there’s a lot of mixed emotions. There’s the high of like, you know, I did this thing. I did what I wanted, what I set out to do. I finished all the hard work that went into it. There’s also kind of a little bit of, feel like of like sadness and melancholy that it’s over because when you’re in it, it feels like

On the one hand, it feels like, my God, this is stretching out so long. How am I going to go for this many more weeks? But then when you get to the end of it, you’re also kind of like, wow, that went by so fast. When I think about it, like now it’s over. It felt like it went by in the blink of an eye. So there’s kind of this weird dichotomy there. And then, you know, it depends on personalities, but some people will jump right next into like,

These are my new goals. I want to attack them right away. And I think, you know, there’s a lot of value actually to be able to kind of just like sit with the experience for at least, you know, a couple of weeks, a couple of months even, and just, you know, really think about and reflect, you know, what did I get out of this? And really just allow yourself, like you said, to enjoy, you know, it for what it was without rushing on to the next thing. Because I think as humans also, we have a tendency to like always

be looking for like the next thing to focus on, the next goal to achieve, especially if you’re somebody who’s very goal oriented and goal driven. And that’s why I think sometimes it can be hard as well in the post-show period to feel like I was working towards this goal for so many weeks and now it’s kind of just gone and there’s not much else now.

Kelsey (02:38)
Yeah, there’s a lot in there to talk more about it. It truly is a space of the hours are long and the weeks are short when you’re in prep. And there are some hours where you just think, all I got to do is get to the next hour. All I got to do is get until where I can hop on the treadmill or get to the gym. And I’m going to get through this really sticky spot. And then, before you know it, the show is here. And 12 weeks went by in the blink of an eye. So the time warp is definitely real.

And then, you know, nobody does this if they’re not goal oriented and somewhat competitive and at least setting their sights on something for themselves, if not for some other reason. You maybe you’re not a highly competitive person, but this is a goal you’ve set for yourself. And so it does feel, it does feel a little bit, it’s not anticlimactic because it’s an amazing day and it’s an amazing accomplishment, regardless of how somebody places to.

to get up on stage with heels and an itty bitty bikini and your makeup and everybody’s literally judging the way you look, that takes a lot of courage regardless of who you are. But I most likened it to that feeling on the day after your wedding. A lot of my friends are married and so they have that sort of analogy to relate with to say, or the day after Christmas.

You know, if you host Christmas or a holiday as a family where it’s this whole buildup and there’s so much time and energy spent, a lot of money, a lot of, you know, all of the stuff that you’re doing to dedicate to this one fulcrum of an event. And then when it’s over, now what? You filled so much of your time with this one pursuit and this one thing. And that’s something that I’ve been working through personally is, you know, I had this goal.

So was easier to stay on track with food. was easier to stay disciplined in the gym because I was looking towards April 19th. And when I don’t have something to look forward to, I’m in that space and we’ve been talking about it together, Ben, about what is the next goal? You know, I like to work towards something. So figuring that out with a little more grace and flexibility has been, I think, the next step for me is to decide, yeah, this is what I want to do in the gym and with my fitness journey.

Ben (04:46)
Absolutely, and I think sometimes you have to allow yourself to hold that space and not rush to like, what is that next goal? Because you might not know it yet. You might not have given yourself enough time and space. So in the interim, you have to kind of just lean on some of the things like, okay, you know, these habits and the discipline that I developed in prep, I kind of have to keep it going through this post-show phase as I’m like figuring out what I want to do next before I have that next kind of external motivator. Because I think most people need a combination of internal motivation and external motivation.

even if you’re very internally driven, you still kind of latch on to having something to work towards to feel like the things that you’re doing matter outside of just, you know, the fact that, okay, you know, obviously I know eating nutritiously and, know, going to the gym and training, it’s good for my health, you know, mental health, it’s good for my physical health. You know, you enjoy doing it even if sometimes it doesn’t, you don’t always feel like getting to the gym or you want to eat a little bit more. So you kind of almost have to use.

the skills and the habits that you’ve developed as like a bridge until you’re able to determine what that next thing is. And so I think it’s important to have a variety of reasons behind why you do what you do. And competing is definitely one of those things where I think it’s important to have a solid why. And I feel like this would be a good bridge and transition into talking about your background kind of growing up, your relationship with athletics and your relationship with the gym.

If you wouldn’t mind speaking a little bit about that, did you start out playing sports? Have you always kind of gone to the gym? You know, what’s that been like for you?

Kelsey (06:14)
Yeah, I’ve always been a fairly athletic person. So growing up, my folks owned a franchise of powerhouse gym in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And so I grew up as, you know, a little bit of a gym rat. And it’s, you know, it’s very different from more of a wellness center vibe. So it was hammer strength machines and, you know, only two or three cardio machines. Everything was weights. Everything was, was lifting and kind of competition focused. So

I definitely was familiar with that environment. And even before that, my folks were super active. So I was playing softball and little league basketball and just doing all the things until I discovered that I was a horse person around 10 and dove into that. But I watched my dad and my brother compete in bodybuilding as natural competitors. And going through that process with them, know, as, gosh, I was maybe

maybe 11, 12 years old and watching them training and the tanning and the diet, which is so different from the diet and the experience that I had. It’s an interesting comparison to see what was it like, you know, when, gosh, probably the mid nineties to, to what we did, you know, this, this year and what we’re doing now in the sport. And so I always had that kind of focus growing up and on being

active and engaged in a lot of different ways. But I got to kind of see firsthand what contest prep was like, going to see my dad and my brother compete and watching their posing routines, and then eventually joining them in lifting when I was old enough to be able to do that.

Ben (07:47)
And so you mentioned getting into riding horses when you were 10 or 11. Can you speak a little bit more on that and how you got started with that? And it’s something you still do today. So I’d love to know more about that whole journey.

Kelsey (07:59)
Yeah, it’s you’re a horse person or you’re not. There’s really no halfway in between. I tried like crazy to get my stepdaughter to be a horse person and she just wasn’t going to have it. so it was always, you know, those are the books I read growing up. Those were the toys I played with growing up were the Briar’s horses and the grand champions. I never had a baby doll. I never did Barbies. It was all horses. So I was so lucky when my folks signed me up for horseback riding lessons around that age. And then

I was surprised with my first horse in a stall with a big bow on it when I was 11 years old. And it’s just, it’s been an undercurrent and a big part of my life ever since I took a break between, you know, while I was in law school, largely because the time commitment and the financial commitment. But I moved to Charleston to ride horses competitively for the college of Charleston. So it brought me to where I’ve called home for the last 22 years.

And it’s something that, you know, that was one of my COVID babies. Everybody develops something during COVID and I got back into horses. So I have Elliot and we compete in eventing on the East coast. So that’s typically my cardio, even on the days when I’m not supposed to be doing cardio and prep. was like, well, then I’m going to go ride the horse three or four days a week. Sorry.

Ben (09:14)
And

honestly, feel like that’s kind of, it’s almost a blessing in disguise to have something that doesn’t feel like it’s, you know, physical activity. you know, some people like playing pickup basketball or some people like, you know, getting out the water and rowing, whatever it is, if you enjoy doing it, it’s going to make the process a whole lot easier. And we’ll get to kind of talking about that with nutrition as well, like, you know, finding ways to make things, you know, not just doing them for the sake of them, like.

as a means to an end, actually because you enjoy them themselves and just having that kind of side benefit of enjoying that as well. So you’re riding horses, you end up going to college to ride and throughout this time, are you still lifting weights? Is that still like a regular part of your routine and what you do?

Kelsey (09:53)
Yeah, yeah. So when I was old enough to get into the gym and I don’t remember exactly what age that was, my dad started, he turned into my lifting buddy and my lifting coach. And he came from a really strong foundational, you know, the idea where the negative should be longer than the positive. So weights that you really control, not throwing weights around form over weight and how much you push.

And he was always really big on the mind muscle connection. So for most of the weights we were doing, it was either, you know, touching that part or, or he was there kind of coaching and using the mirror. So it was a really, to me, it was a really functional and safe place to start lifting. And of course, this is all the horse social media and you get to see all the things that people do wrong. And his posing coach was the same way that, you know, posing should feel.

like a full body workout. If you’ve gone through your posing routine for about 10 minutes, you should be exhausted. And so he really focused on a lot of that and working on those smaller muscle groups, but a lot of really healthy balance with what the purpose of the weight training was, whether it was to build, to define.

for functionality and then just kind of growing up in that typical three sets, 12, 10, eight of increasing weight. So that stuck all the way through. I skipped out on all of the ⁓ team practice weightlifting in high school for volleyball and track and I went and I lifted with my dad. And then when I moved to the College of Charleston, same thing, I found lifting buddies to go to the gym with and.

So that’s always been something that whether I was designing my own program or following something else, it’s been a really comfortable space for me. So never walking into a space and feeling like I didn’t belong. I’ve been fortunate in that regard. Although walking into the Crunch Fitness that I hadn’t been in in years, there are so many new machines. And it’s a little overwhelming because we got by with…

Gosh, maybe 10 hammer strength machines, dumbbells and some Smith machines. There are so many ways to do lifting now. So some of those machines, I actually had to ask people for help. I’m like, how does this work? How do you set the weights? But it’s always been a big part of how I’ve spent my physical energy. And then the horses, I like what you said before about having something that doesn’t feel like work because…

There were some times where I’d go out to that space, which for me is like an emotional safe space and just be able to exhale. And I think it’s so important, whether it is on the water, whether it is, you know, at the barn or on the basketball court, having that space where it just feels like you can exhale is so important, regardless of what training you’re doing. And that was a big, I spent a lot of mornings in the end days of prep. I packed my breakfast and I just went out to work at the barn for

you know, the first half of the day, to kind of be in that space.

Ben (12:43)
I think there’s such a huge aspect to intention and mindfulness and just presence that comes with with bodybuilding. And I think you can apply it and you can find that in other aspects of life as well. Like you said, it’s so important to be able to just, I think, immerse yourself in something and be lost in something. And I think

⁓ in the world that we live in today, there’s a lot of like attention switching and it’s like, okay, I’m going from my phone to my laptop to I got to do this. I got to do that. And you’re kind of all over the place. And like you said, just having those moments where you can take a deep breath, you can breathe, with weight training, like it really brings you into the present moment. You have, like you were talking about focusing on the mind muscle connection, what’s working, you know, where am I feeling this internally? what do my muscles feel like as they’re contracting? What’s my tempo?

you know, it helps to keep you engaged. And when you’re posing, that’s like a huge example of that. Cause you’re being aware of all these little, you know, how am I twisting? What muscles am I actively contracting versus relaxing? You know, what are the angles that I’m presenting, ⁓ you know, when I’m posing, there’s so, so much of that. And so I feel like having these pursuits or having these activities that you can incorporate as part of your routine that bring you some, an element of.

mindfulness of presence. I think it’s just an important practice to be able to apply to your life broadly.

Kelsey (13:59)
Absolutely. having that mind shift of I have to, to I get to. You know, having a body that works well enough to take me to the gym and to do the things I want to do. you know, just shifting that from, there were hard days where you have to go to the gym, but it’s that mantra when you’re in the car driving there that says, no, I get to do this. And that’s a beautiful thing. And so that, and then I love what you said about being intentional with whatever you’re doing because

It focuses you, it’s a form of meditation, and it just changes the entire way that you respond emotionally to something when you are grateful for what you can do and shift your focus to the positive and the why.

Ben (14:38)
So on the topic of kind of being intentional, being mindful, obviously vegan proteins, our whole thing is ⁓ we have a huge community of folks who are plant-based, are vegan, who are wanting to head in that direction. So how did you end up kind of coming to that decision for yourself and at what point in your journey was that something that you decided to explore?

Kelsey (14:59)
Yeah, it was a trickle along. So I grew up in South Dakota in, you know, rancher country kind of space. So I went to a public high school that had an agriculture class. And one of the sections of the agriculture class my senior year was about different meats. And you talk about the way that animals are processed and how things look different. Well, we went to the local hog slaughterhouse.

And that was a class field trip for us. And so we started from the shipping dock and walked our way back through the entire processing plant, slaughterhouse. It’s not a processing plant, they’re animals. And the majority of the people that I were with were, you know, they’re farm kids. So they’re like, yeah, this is, you know, this is what happens. This is the things. I still.

have dreams about some of the things that I saw in there. And I can’t imagine that those would still be open to the public that way, that they’re still taking kids through. I wish they would. But by the time we got to the floor where, to the kill floor, where they’re shuttling, you know, the live pigs up to be stunned, shackled and bled, I didn’t eat another animal after that.

So I was vegetarian then after having that experience. And that was a fairly straightforward shift that was back in like 2001. I decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle and it was my New Year’s resolution in 2009. And it was largely because in law school, know, it’s an education of rational basis and reasoning. So you’re constantly going through the if-then, if-then.

And my classmates would give me a little bit of a hard time and they’re like, well, how can you be this passionate about animal welfare and still eat dairy and eggs? What about the dairy and egg industry? And you’d always say, oh, well, they’re not being killed. They’re not this, that, and the other. But the rationale didn’t make any sense, especially when you consider the beings that suffer the most in the vegetarian industry are the female animals who are producing all of this material for us.

And so January, 2009, said, Steven, I’m gonna try this thing. What New Year’s resolution has ever stuck? That one. So 2026, and we’re still going strong. It was a lot harder in 2009, and it was, we all have learning curves when we get into it. I wish I’d had this community to start and all of these great recipes and ideas and meal plans, but.

kind of working through the journey on my own was both rewarding and now it’s super gratifying and I couldn’t imagine anything else.

Ben (17:36)
So that’s really interesting that it was actually some of your, ⁓ I guess your colleagues who kind of like spurred some of these thoughts for you. Were these folks who were vegan themselves or were they kind of just like, well you’re vegetarian and like therefore the logical thing to do next would be to go vegan. Cause I know, I feel like Sawyer has maybe had some, I remember, mean he.

Kelsey (17:54)
Yeah.

Ben (17:59)
I think he went vegan as well after he or like while he was becoming a lawyer. So I feel like maybe he had kind of a similar journey, but yeah, speak, speak more on that.

Kelsey (18:07)
Yeah, it was antagonistic. It was kind of joking and you know, these are hunters and these are the people who are like, well, you know, I’ll order two of the beef hot dogs for your one veggie dog. So it there, they’re still friends. And of course, you know, we have different friends and colleagues who who we have different relationships with. But it was it was largely a little it was antagonistic. But they were right. If you know, as.

For me, it was an ethical shift. People have different reasons for choosing different lifestyles. But for me, the ethical, you know, I’m an ethical vegan. So everything from clothing to the products we’re buying to the food that’s in our house, that’s the compass for me is the impact that it has on other living beings. So I’m grateful for them in many ways. it was fun.

Ben (18:57)
And how has that shift like, you know, becoming vegan? Like when you got into, I guess this would be a good question to ask is what made you want to pursue law in the first place? And then once you decided to make that change of going vegan, how did that then influence like the path that you ended up taking working in the legal field?

Kelsey (19:13)
Sure. Well, while I was at law school, I co-founded the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter at the Charleston School of Law. And that was our second year of school, which was the same year of the vegan shift. And so I had always been passionate about animal welfare. And I think I just, we all have ways we can do better and be better. And that’s part of.

how we move through life. And so for me, the transition to vegan was just one more way of me walking the talk that I was speaking. But I started law school with rescue pets and a passion for animals and the horseback riding and that sort of thing. So it never occurred to me that I could have a career in animal law or supporting animals. And so that’s been a really lovely opportunity that I’ve been able to pursue.

A lot of it, honestly, was just moving forward. You know, after college, what was going to be the next step for me? And I applied to medical school. I got a few interviews. I got told to sit for the MCATS and come back, and I am not a patient person. So I sat for the LSAT, and now I’m a lawyer.

Ben (20:14)
So you decide to go down the route of becoming a lawyer. I think it’s cool that you’re talking about the fact that it was this progression, Animals have always been a theme in your life and it was just like, there’s this one area that I had maybe a blind spot that I didn’t really see and now, okay, the next logical thing is to continue down that path and attempt to continue to try to do good, to do more good in the world.

What does that look like today for you in terms of how you then go about your career and the work that you do?

Kelsey (20:47)
Yeah, yeah. So I think, you know, the only obligation we have as humans is when we know better, then we have an obligation to do better. So being kind to yourself about the things that you don’t know. You know, I grew up, my dad, we went to the Shriner Circus. So I’m sitting on elephants for elephant rides. We’re going to SeaWorld and seeing Shamoo things that we didn’t know were not ethical things to do. Now we know, so we do better. So having the opportunity to advocate for that in a professional setting has been

has been truly one of the biggest gifts in life. So I’m a legislative attorney for Best Friends Animal Society. So what I do now is I write and lobby for laws and policies that work to end the killing of dogs and cats in shelters in America. So it’s a very focused line of work that I get to do now for my job, but we’re all advocates in our lifestyle. So I feel like I’m still, I’m sharing the amazing food that we’re eating.

I’m sharing the fitness journey. And so I feel like it’s going to law school just turned me into a bigger and a more effective advocate for what I think is truly my life’s purpose, which is sharing that we can all be kinder to the other animals on this planet.

Ben (21:56)
That’s a really inspiring message. I love that. I’d love to now kind of transition to talking about how you found vegan proteins and how you decided actually that you wanted to compete in a bodybuilding show. Cause when you signed up with vegan proteins, that was like, Hey, this is what I want to do. This is my goal. And I’m like, okay, let’s go. Let’s let’s, you know, let’s attack it. And it was kind of like that from the get go. So what made you decide that now was the time for you to pursue this goal?

and how did you find us and let’s get into that.

Kelsey (22:29)
Yeah, so I’ve wanted to do, I wanted to do a show ever since I saw my dad and my brother competing. And then life just changed and it wasn’t something that was accessible for a long time between school and moving and they sold the gym and all of these things that just kind of draw you away from that being a priority. My dad is still in South Dakota. His health is not great. So as his health,

kind of continued to decline, I thought, you know, I’ve always wanted to get on stage and I’d love for him to be there in this journey. And the one thing we don’t get more of is time. So there’s no time like the present. One of the things that also kind of improve my confidence is that I was working out at the time at Orange Theory and I signed up for one of their fat loss challenges. And that’s when I started using a macro tracker.

and really being intentional about looking at what I was eating and how I was eating it. And I won that challenge. So, you know, for our little gym, so, you a little hundred dollars doesn’t hurt. But also, I thought, you know, I’m probably in the best shape that I’ve been in a long time. So let’s keep going. Let’s level this up and let’s just keep rolling with what we started. So between that and really looking for the connection with my dad,

as his world gets a little bit smaller, being older and being a little more homebound, it was harder for us to have conversations on the phone about different things. When I told him that I decided to do a contest and was gonna hire a coach and was gonna start prep, our conversations that were maybe three times a week from three, five minutes checking in on the weather, that sort of thing.

We’re talking daily, we’re sending pictures back and forth, we’re having our hour and a half long conversations about what the plan looks like, about what the nutrition is, about how the lifts are going, about how I’m feeling. And it just completely changed and opened an access door to the way that we were able to connect and communicate. So mission accomplished in terms of that. And then how I chose y’all,

was a roundabout way. So because I grew up in bodybuilding, I know that it’s a political sport. I reached out to the gym here that promotes most of the shows here before OCB came. They just had their first show in Charleston. I reached out to the coach that I knew had trained other competitors just based on my circle of people. And I said, hey, this is me, vegan since 2009. I track my own macros. This is what happened.

I want to hire you as a coach.” And he said, I can’t work with a vegan. I can’t prep somebody who’s vegan. And I just thought, what do you mean? I told you that I know how to do all these things. So that set me off for about two weeks and I had to kind of wrap my mind around not absolutely blowing up the internet with this feedback on I can’t work with a vegan.

reminds me I need to send him the pictures of my pro card and say yes you can work with a vegan. And I found you through a Facebook group of other women who were looking to compete for the first time and searching out other vegans because it’s what we do and

⁓ Dani and vegan proteins were mentioned over and over and over. And so I checked out the website and did a little research and thought, this is well-rounded, this is well-founded, this is a holistic approach that’s gonna be healthy because there are so many ways to compete in bodybuilding that will absolutely wreck you. And that’s what you see all over the internet. My poor partner was terrified about that.

But that was never the vibe that I got looking at the information y’all had online. And then of course, Giacomo, you know, if anybody wants people to be healthy and live until they’re 120 as a vegan, it’s Giacomo. And so he, you know, he was so kind and so generous and taking time to understand the why and saying, you know, I’ve thought about this too, and I think we are a good fit for you. And so when it felt to me like,

I was also being kind of interviewed and assessed for, you a good athlete for our team culture? I thought this is the right place for me. Because if all you’re doing is accepting anybody who wants to do a thing, it changes the culture of the team. I know that very much from working on team sports and being, our barn is very team focused. so it just felt like a really safe space.

emotionally and physically to go forward with this.

Ben (26:58)
I was going to say, if you’re a coach and somebody inquires or asks about coaching and the first thing that you say is great, okay, let’s go. Let’s start right away. That’s a little bit of a, if not a yellow flag, it’s a little bit of ⁓ a red flag just because you would think, like you said, that there would want to be some level of ⁓ vetting of just making sure like, hey, as a coach, I don’t want somebody to…

⁓ sign up with me if I think that they’re not going to get out of this experience what they need to get out or what they want to get out. Like for instance, if I have somebody sign up for me and they just want to follow a plan and know, be, you know, do what they’re told and you know, you know, kind of like looking for like more of drill sergeant type, like I just know that’s not going to be a good fit because that’s just not my style of coaching and so.

that wouldn’t work out too well for either of us. And we’d both kind of be frustrated at the end of the day with the process. So I think it is so important, like you said, to really make sure that we’re feeling it out from both sides and that we’re confident that it’s gonna be a good fit. I mean, just hearing you talk about the way that your bodybuilding prep impacted the relationship that you had with your dad and just how it was such a positive thing for you.

you know, our goal when we prepare somebody for a competition or, know, even when we’re just working with somebody, is to be able to facilitate, their growth in whatever way, you know, that looks like to them because everybody has different goals. And, ⁓ especially with a contest prep, like you said, it can be something that you can really, you know, I, you know, I, I never like to fearmonger. I always like to have a balanced perspective of these are the pros. These are the cons. These are the things to be prepared of. And that’s something that we do when we intake someone as well, like you were saying, like.

If somebody is inquiring about doing a contest prep and we’re not asking any questions about what’s your relationship with food, you know, have you been consistently training? If somebody’s coming and they’re like a beginner to the gym, they’ve never tracked their nutrition before, they want to do a show in 16 weeks, that, you know, to me, that’s just something that wouldn’t be responsible thing to do. the reality is that some people are going to do it anyways, whether you help them or not. And so sometimes there are cases where, you know,

we decide it’s the lesser of two evils as opposed to them going to somebody else where it’s going to be potentially a disastrous experience. But we always want to make sure that we’re telling people this is what you can expect. It’s informed consent, right? It’s not just like where I’m going to try to take you, get the best transformation I can in a short time and then send you off on your way and say, luck with the rest of your life. And they haven’t developed the habits that they need in order to actually.

be able to make these things stick and not have it be a, you know, a short term thing that they pursued and now they’re not even, you know, going to the gym or, you know, their nutrition has gone out the window. So I think it’s important to ask those questions.

Kelsey (29:39)
Yeah, absolutely. This is a relationship. I mean, not just within the community, but like you and I have a relationship. had, you know, there were things that I’m sharing with you that I didn’t share with anybody else because that’s the type of relationship that we have. So you have to be able to feel like you’re compatible with that person, that there’s trust and that there’s some really good expectation settings on both sides.

what, you what did I expect and what did I need at times? And you did the same thing, you know, setting this is a realistic expectation. This is not realistic. Like we’re going to do the best we can with the time that we have. And so, you know, I feel like you never just, nobody at vegan proteins kind of jumped in and said, yeah, we a hundred percent let’s we can do that guaranteed because it’s, it’s a relationship. And there was, you know, I had really some pretty.

some pretty tight timeframe goals too. And you were really clear with me about that, even though, we started in August and I got on stage in April, I probably still needed another 18 months to build. And when people were like, are you gonna go do the show in Minneapolis next? Which was sort of the goal, that was next weekend. And I thought, you know, I had the best experience and the things that I need to change about my physique to be more competitive, I can’t change in a month.

So what’s gonna be the best experience for me if I wanna come back and do this is going to be to make the meaningful changes that will yield a different result on stage than what I got. I won one class to get my pro card, but I was second and third in the other classes that were more open. So having that conversation too and where you could say, hey, this has really gotta be the difference that we need to make for there to be a different result.

It’s just a lot of transparency and communication and trust. And so I think absolutely, if you call a coach and they’re just like, yeah, here’s my form and give me your credit card number, run, don’t walk away from that because they’re not focused on whether they can actually help you achieve your goals. I would venture to say they don’t much care about your goals because they’re just looking to get that next client on the roster and odds are you’re going to get hurt.

either physically because they’re pushing you too hard and not being mindful of what you actually can do, or honestly, worst case scenario, you’re gonna end up with some pretty messed up relationships with your body or food or the gym or things that can be out of whack for a long time. to me, was a very high risk decision to choose y’all because I knew that there can be a lot that can go awry.

lifting heavier weights, building muscle, being that engaged and physically active. And then also, you know, having that really steep deficit cut to get, you know, as we all know, is kind of unhealthfully lean to get on stage. Nobody lives stage lean because it’s not sustainable. And to me, Ben, knowing that I was going to be safe on the backside of the contest,

was as important, if not more important, than getting on stage in a good way. So those are all the things that I think take the time to interview the coach and make sure it’s a good fit and make sure you’re going to be safe all around. And I felt that way with all of the coaches here at Vegan Proteins.

Ben (32:44)
and take the time to maybe talk to people who have worked with vegan proteins or worked with whatever coaching company or whatever coach you’re talking to, because that’s where you’re going to get the most ag. And maybe not even the people that they’re posting about, but people. See if you can find posts somewhere publicly, hey, have you worked with this person? Have you heard anything? Because obviously the people that those people post are going to be more inclined to say positive. I’ve heard coaching stories about people saying their coaches paid them to

speak positively about them. There’s some crazy stuff out there. So definitely, definitely do your research.

Kelsey (33:17)
Yeah, absolutely. And there are a lot of really, really terrible stories and kind of borderline abusive stories that I’ve seen other women in particular experience and have shared thoughts out about. And I just think, why would you pay somebody to do that? Like, is a big relationship that you have for a good chunk of your life, for whatever goal you set up. It should be somebody that you trust and that

trusts you back. And so it just, it was, it’s important that you have those conversations. And to me, it was important to feel that way with the coach that I hired. So.

Ben (33:50)
Absolutely. So we start working together in the fall of last year and we know that kind of this late spring maybe, yeah, late spring timeline is what we’re looking at. So I would say that usually when I start working with someone, the first couple months are kind of just like, we’re getting to know each other, we’re setting up systems, we’re setting up routines, we’re setting up habits. When I look over someone’s intake form, I’m putting together their programming.

based on my best guess. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s never going to be completely spot on. We’re going to have to make some tweaks. We’re going have to make some adjustments. And especially if somebody’s, you know, there are times I’ve had times where people come to me and they’re, you know, maybe they’re already prepping or they’re kind of working on it in a shorter timeframe. And I kind of just have to jump in and go, but ideally you’d love to like work with someone for, you know, a couple months if not.

you know, if they needed a couple years before they decide to actually compete because that is a whole other stressor that you’re throwing in there. And so in the first couple months of us working together and getting started and kind of working on setting this baseline to then go and compete, I mean, some of the things that I noticed when we first started working together, like you said, you you won that challenge, you were already in really great shape. And so I knew, okay, you know what? There’s not going to be…

⁓ a huge amount of weight loss that needs to occur, but I think there is going to be, have to be maybe some programming things that we’re working on and just making sure that we’re setting up a nice structure so that you have a solid routine so that when you go into prep, it’s not like this huge change where everything’s changing. It’s just like, okay, we have everything kind of established, we feel stable, and now we’re just making these small changes every so week. it’s, you know, it’s going to be stressful, it’s going to be hard, but we want to try to make that.

the least amount of stressful and hard that it can be. So my question for you is, what do you feel like was maybe something that was different about having a coach or working with a coach, whether that be the programming changes, the nutrition changes, maybe just the fact that you had somebody to talk to or to express when you were feeling maybe a little bit anxious or concerned, or you had a question, what was the biggest?

maybe were some of the biggest changes or things that you observed in having somebody to work with.

Kelsey (35:52)
Yeah, I mean, yes, to all of those things. It’s truly a whole package. It’s the best way to go through any of this experience. so starting out, we kept the nutrition sort of the same because that had worked for what I had done. And then what was super helpful for me was having accountability in a lifting schedule and

you jumped in right away, starting on the body parts that have to show up in the contest. So having that experience and the expertise and the base to say, okay, well, you’re doing bikini. So you’ve got to get on stage and it’s got to be shoulders and glutes. we didn’t, people look at me like crazy when I say I didn’t do a pushup or a chest press for nine months. And they were like, why you didn’t do any chest? And I was like, no, it’s not judged. Like,

we had a goal and then set up this goal. so putting together a program to yield results, that was a big thing that I never could have done on my own in a way that was gonna be accountable enough. I loved sending you videos of things that were new to me, a lot of stuff I was familiar with, but being able to send a video and saying, okay, well I’m doing a cable lateral raise. And you would tell me which position to hold my wrist in.

the adjustments that you made and the way that they changed both how the lift felt, decreasing pain and increasing the muscle targeting. And obviously it worked because my shoulders were ridiculous on stage day. So having that feedback from a remote perspective, I think that can scare a lot of people. want somebody in the gym with them, but

Being able to send form videos in and getting that immediate, like, here’s, you know, that looks good, make these changes. That was super helpful to target those specific muscles. And then really dialing in the nutrition to get on stage. So the way that you brought me down in a lean space felt very structured and it felt very responsive and

to things that I wouldn’t even know I needed to be responsive to. Like when I can usually just kind of truck up the stairs with a laundry basket and then the next day it feels like, my God, my legs each weigh 800 pounds. You’re like, okay, let’s have a refeed day. So you, if I shared, if I was doing my job and being transparent and telling you what was going on, you were telling me things that I didn’t know my body was telling me because you’ve been here and you’ve done this. And so having that,

immediate feedback and knowledge of, okay, that’s what this means. And then also, you know, the freak outs, right? When you are, regardless of what path you’re on, whether it’s, you know, fitness or stage, it’s not always easy. And because you’re changing something, you’re changing your body. And so there were, there were times where I feel like I was struggling with, you know, whether it was

the food or whether it was the gym or whether it was the cardio or whether it was just kind of looking in the mirror and going, nothing’s changing. You were as much, you know, a therapist and a cheerleader as you were putting together macros and lifting formats. the whole, that’s why I say yes to all of it. was all, I think each part, each piece of that played a big role in having a really great experience on stage and

having me feel like I was in the best possible place mentally and physically to get on stage and have a good time.

Ben (39:16)
The communication piece that you mentioned is so important because as a coach we can only go off of the information that we’re given and so it’s always really ⁓ you know it’s hard for me when I have somebody that I’m working with where I’m always having to try to pull more out of them just to be able to you know make a change or give them some positive encouragement in a certain direction. So to an extent the more that somebody can communicate obviously there’s some information where it’s like okay you know

I probably don’t need to know that your dog took three poops today or whatever it was, but most of the time, as much information that you can give me that is relevant, that’s going to help me make decisions that are going to have a positive ⁓ impact or be able to give you that positive encouragement that you need. Sometimes we just need a little bit of somebody saying that you’re on the right path, you’re doing a good job. Especially I think sometimes when we’re really goal oriented, ⁓ there’s like a…

I just want to get there tomorrow sort of thing. And sometimes it’s just like, actually, you you are making progress. This happens all the time. I think with people feeling like, Hey, maybe I’m not losing weight. But then if you actually look at the averages over time, they are, they are slowly trending down. just like in the moment because it’s fluctuating and you can’t always see it because you’re so zoomed in a coach. think oftentimes we’ll help you zoom out and look at the bigger picture and say, you know what we are, we are headed in the right direction. And

you know, with the communication thing, with, with refeeds or for instance, or just having to make those calls on the fly. You know, I don’t know to do those things unless somebody tells me. And sometimes I think, especially if you’re somebody who pushes hard, you can have this mentality of, just got to push, push, push. got it. You know, it’s, you know, I’m okay with, you know, hard things and, know, with suffering, but, you know, there will be times where that’s appropriate and you’re, you know, if you have a coach, they’ll tell you, this is going to be hard. You know, I’m sorry. We kind of just have to lean into it at this time.

but there are also times where it’s like, actually, no, like in order to push, we have to pull back here and it’s kind of this give and take. And that’s why bodybuilding, think is, it’s a science, but it’s also an art. And it’s like, you pick up certain patterns working with people over time. And I guess that is science too, you know, it’s pattern recognition and understanding trends, but just, yeah, I think what you were talking about is just so important to, you know, and then having that trust, like you mentioned in the start, if you don’t have that trust, you don’t feel like you have that trust.

you’re not gonna wanna communicate those things because you don’t feel like you’re gonna be listened to or you’re worried about what the response might be.

Kelsey (41:34)
Yeah, yeah, can’t, my favorite words from you that will like always be Ben’s mantra to me is how many times I left you a voice memo and your response was, Kelsey, that’s totally normal. And I’d be like, my God, thank God that’s totally normal because I’m pretty sure I’m broken right now. And so just to have that space and you’re like, yes, that’s totally normal. That’s okay. And here’s what we’re going to do. And having a coach know when to say, you know,

be kind and when to say, this is the hard part. You kind of got to suck it up, Buttercup, because this is the path we’re on. And if you want to get on stage and look your best, you’re just going to kind of have to like, I have some tools for you. You know, here’s how to cope through that really sticky space for you, whether it’s eating more, eating less, whatever it is, you have tools. But, you know, just that real talk of, yeah, we need to be kind right now versus time for your big girl pants.

Ben (42:27)
Yeah, that’s an important kind of space to navigate is like knowing when is it appropriate to use those tools and sometimes misapplied in the wrong context and that can lead to a prep that is more difficult than it needs to be and you walk away feeling either like you didn’t get the result that you want or feeling resentful of the process and I think something that I was really happy with

to hear from you was just how much you enjoyed it. And I think a large part of that was the way that you set it up for yourself. I mean, anyone who was kind of following along with your prep, like in our community or what you were sharing publicly, they would see you were still eating like, you know, food that looked amazing and beautiful and still kind of fit your goals. And I know that you’ve talked to me about like how it was such a revelation for you to be able to say.

You know what, I can eat the kind of similar things year round. Of course, maybe it’s not going to look exactly the same. I’m going to have to make some modifications and some tweaks, but I can still enjoy the foods that I’m having. You know, some people, they really like eating the same things every single day. It’s a comfort thing for them. It works for them and that’s great. Other folks, they want the variety. They want to be able to feel like they have, I think, and I’ve kind of been on both ends of the spectrum, but I think we’re…

What I like about the variety is that to me it feels a little bit more autonomous. It feels like you’re not kind of locked into a box and you can kind of ebb and flow with what feels like it’s gonna be, again, I’m gonna be hungry today, but I can still enjoy my food and I can still kind of pick out foods that are gonna fit my goals.

⁓ and also, you know, doing all of this while being, ⁓ you know, a busy working professional, you were traveling. So I’d love to hear about the ways that you not only like managed your time so that you could get all the stuff in that you needed to get in. And, know, you had structure and you had routine, but there was an also a component of flexibility. And that’s something I feel like I’ve talked to people a lot about is like, you have a structure, you have a routine, but you know, you can have flexibility within that. That makes it feel like it’s not harder, more difficult, or more invasive than it needs to be. So.

What was that process like for you?

Kelsey (44:28)
Yeah, I really enjoy cooking. It’s something that is a good decompression for me. And so I know that’s not the same for everybody. And those are probably the people who want to cook their whole meals on Sunday and put it in a box and just eat that and not have to worry about it or touch the kitchen again. And so this part’s not necessarily going to be as enjoyable for them. But I love eating something different every day. I love meal planning.

Less than meal prepping and I’ve always been a meal planner ⁓ even with you know My stepdaughter when she was little we’d sit down with our vegan cookbook and I’d say okay. We’re gonna pick a soup a casserole an Entree, you know, let’s go through and look at these together and see what what’s the menu this week? And so it was always variety and always new things and always cooking as a way to be together as a family and so to keep that

with my husband during prep was also important to me. So I would just use the macros that you gave me. And a lot of my breakfast and lunch was quite similar. I would always cook my protein over the weekend and kind of prep that ahead of time because that just makes things a little bit easier. So whether it’s your protein bagels or seitan nuggets, things like that. But then during the week,

You know, I would know I would have about 300 calories for breakfast, about 350 calories for lunch. And then dinner was open. You know, I usually had to make sure that I got somewhere between 25 and 40 grams of protein. And so we could do whatever we want. And I would take basic recipes. Y’all ate ramen every single week until I still do like all of prep. had ramen noodles. It’s like at least once a week.

I’m obsessed. So I wasn’t going to give up noodles or carbs. And you don’t have to when you’re vegan. But taking recipes that I would traditionally cook or that I would see online, on Instagram, somewhere that was maybe more indulgent, like a coconut curry recipe, and you make pretty basic swaps. You know, I stopped cooking with oil other than a spritz. And sometimes it’s just sauteing in water.

I’d never pan-fry tofu. You always just spritz it with a little bit of oil and throw it in the oven at 425. And it comes out the same way as if you fry it in two tablespoons olive oil. So that immediately, you’re cutting off 10, 20 grams of fat from any recipe that’s having you cook things in oil. And then just making really reasonable swaps. If you’re out of fat for the day, don’t use tofu, use seitan. Or use a mock meat that’s

that’s vital wheat gluten-based, Impossible or something like that. I never used coconut milk. I always used Ripple, high protein. And then adding in things like nutritional yeast or a couple tablespoons of vital wheat gluten into oatmeal, something like that. Or even some just neutral pea protein that’s unflavored, putting it in a pasta sauce, putting it in a soup, if it’s a creamy soup.

those kinds of things drastically change the macro profile of a recipe that before was maybe even more fat than protein when you looked at the recipe and you imported it into your tracker. And then you just go in the tracker and you make some swaps and say, okay, well, it’s not gonna be coconut milk, it’s gonna be ripple. And when you go through and you look at the serving size, then now we’ve already got that change. And the other thing, so I do use purple carrot.

for a lot of meal prep because I am busy. So I’ll usually get purple carrot two or three times a week for those meals. But I always cut them from two to three servings. So we expand how many they serve. And then I supplement with vegetables. So I’m buying from Costco massive amounts of zucchini, of cucumber, of asparagus, of green beans, cauliflower, broccoli.

So whatever the meal is, if I feel like, you know, that doesn’t look like it’s gonna be a whole lot of food, fill it up with some veg. And it’s gonna help you feel like you’re eating a full meal, because you are, but it saves you so many calories. And same thing, you just spritz it with a little bit of avocado oil and throw it in the oven when your tofu is almost done. So I was able to cook quick meals that way, easy track macros with purple carrot and their…

know, but their guidelines are, but again, almost all those recipes, I was cutting 10 to 20 grams of fat off by just not using the oil that they prescribed. And, you know, I had variety all the way up until show day. The only thing that I didn’t get that I really loved on show day was peanut butter. The rice crack cakes.

Ben (48:56)
Yes, you have to… Yes, yes,

yeah. That’s a pretty common pre-stage food. You’ll put some rice cakes, some actual nut butter, not like the powdered peanut butter that you use for pretty much all our prep usually because again, that’s one of those swaps. You’re swapping something that has less fat, it has more protein, and it’s like these small swaps.

Maybe in isolation, they don’t seem like a lot, but when you’re doing that throughout your entire day, that can be hundreds of calories that you’re saving and like dozens of grams of protein that you’re then adding to your meals and that makes a really a tangible difference. And I also really liked the fact that you talked about, hey, you your breakfast and lunch can probably look kind of similar most days. And that’s something because, I mean, you know, most of us were kind of in our routines where, you know, we’re working. And so those are the times where

Maybe we’re just trying to grab and go or, you know, we’re not as concerned about making a whole new meal, but it’s like dinner at the end of the day, especially if you have somebody that you’re sharing that time with. It’s time to kind of decompress and to unwind and to maybe enjoy making a meal and having the time for that. And so it’s nice to be able to have more flexibility with that and maybe just have like a calorie target and a protein target that you’re shooting for.

Kelsey (50:06)
Yeah, and

that was a way for me to still be a really to show up for my for my husband because I didn’t use enough that he’s he’s suffering a lot with me through this to write like he’s going to the gym four times a week. He’s starting to kind of lean into this. I didn’t want him to feel like he was having to eat something different or was coming along and eating the same thing with me every night. So for me, that was kind of important part of my partnership at home to kind of say, hey,

Thanks for the support too. Let’s continue to keep up this variety in this part of our life.

Ben (50:37)
And that’s huge because ultimately the people that we have in our lives that are supporting us through this, can, you know, through basically the actions that we take, we can make it harder or easier on ourselves. Like if we are excluding them from the process, if we’re saying you do your thing, I do my thing, they feel isolated. They’re probably going to be more resentful of this. And then that’s going to result in stress on strain on your relationship, which results in stress and strain on you. And it has this cascading effect. So think the more

inclusive you can be and bring people into the process, explain why it’s important to you, explain what it’s going to look like, but still find ways to try to be as inclusive as you can. I think that’s really ⁓ big for just making it, again, a more enjoyable experience.

Kelsey (51:17)
Absolutely, yeah. And so he was in the audience, know, greeted me at the end of the hallway after stage with flowers and a cupcake. So was just great overall.

Ben (51:26)
That’s fantastic. And in terms of, okay, so you obviously, you you have a busy life, you’re traveling, you’re going around, you’re doing stuff. What was important for you to make sure that at the end of the day, you got all the stuff that you needed to get done? You know, the steps, the cardio, the training. We talked a little bit about nutrition here. Are there any like tips or tricks you could give people who are also, you know, busy and trying to fit everything in that you found that made it more manageable for you?

Kelsey (51:52)
Yeah, the so in terms of steps and daily movement, know, Dani, Dani talked about that on her journey. I don’t think there’s much that replaces your steps every day. Like to me, that was that was such a big factor in your your total daily expenditure and like making sure that if you have some variation in your intake, that was an equalizer for a lot of my stuff, especially when I travel.

⁓ so traveling is fairly straightforward to get steps, especially if you’re on vacation, cause you’re moving around a lot, but it’s being intentional about, you know, don’t take the Uber. If you’re a few blocks away, just go ahead and walk back and walk to and from. and then for daily life, I sit behind a computer and I’m in meetings for a good chunk of my day. So investing in a walking pad, a treadmill with a standing desk. That was huge. I will put my Apple watch on my ankle.

and turn that on to make sure that I’m tracking the steps that I’m getting there, especially if I’m typing on the computer so I don’t have to worry about my wrist. And then taking as many check-ins with my staff as I can take on a cell phone call. And then I can go out and walk the dogs, get some vitamin D, and kind of get away from the computer a little bit. So using that and encouraging them to do the same. know, hey, can we have a walk and talk check-in this time? Or do you need me to look at something on your computer? If I don’t have to screen share with you, let’s walk and talk.

leash up Millie and let’s go. So encouraging other people to meet me where I was without to get the steps in was, was a really easy thing to do. And then because when we travel, when Steven and I travel, we love the post dinner strolls because you know, you’re in Europe or you’re somewhere else and you’re kind of in an urban setting. We instituted post dinner strolls at home. So every time after dinner, the kitchen’s cleaned up, we leash up the dogs and we walk at least half a mile and it gives us a chance to talk and just kind of let that food settle. And

you’re always getting another, you know, five, 800, 1,000 steps in just by choosing that as opposed to sitting in front of the TV. Structuring for travel, for work, I, you know, I would choose a hotel based on what the gym picture looked like sometimes. So making sure that if there’s a cable and a cable machine in the gym, you can do everything that you need to do with, one cable machine, frankly, and even just a set of dumbbells. So

Being able to adapt, and I love the new app. The new app makes it so much easier to say, for this workout, I have to do this a little bit differently. prioritizing that, even if it’s getting up a little early to get your workout in, and then logging it in the app. So I always pack one set of exercise clothes, if nothing else. And for weightlifting, you don’t usually get very sweaty, so you can kind of rewear your exercise clothes so you don’t have to take up a bunch of space.

And then the cardio, that just flexed a lot. You we didn’t add cardio until the last two months. So sometimes that was easier for me to do if I knew I had just a crazy day to hop on, to hop on the Peloton and knock out 20, 30 minutes. But it was really nice also to take my Kindle and do the stair climber at the gym, because that was more of a, you know, that’s not as intense in terms of bopping your vision around. So that was kind of a nice way for me to decompress.

When I travel, I always pack my protein. So I know Alice does that too. So packing, you know, I buy the packets. I always pack my creatine because I found that if I don’t take creatine, my GI system is whack because creatine pulls so much water into our guts. And that was the hack for me. Every time I traveled, I would have, you know, GI upset for probably two days after getting off the plane. I don’t have that anymore.

traveling with creatine. So I maintain that. And then I always pack protein powders, a couple of protein bars. And then if it’s a short trip, make and take my seitan nuggets.

Ben (55:34)
I think what you’re talking about with the cardio and being kind of flexed based on what my schedule was, think knowing the day before or the morning of, carving out that time to look at your schedule, or at the start of the week, what days am I able to train this week, or if it has to be the day before, can I train tomorrow, is it going have to be the next day, when am I going to do my cardio? Just having a plan or an idea of when you’re going to do certain things, when am I getting my steps in throughout the day. Those are things that are helpful because

you can, again, you have structure and then if you need to be flexible, hey, so the last minute meeting came up, so I’m gonna have to adapt and do something a little bit differently. Maybe I’ll have to, or I got sick, okay, I can’t go to the gym today, maybe I have to go tomorrow. So having a plan I think is important and then just having flexibility within that plan and being able to adjust when you can, which I think you did well throughout your prep.

Kelsey (56:23)
Yeah, and I think people who maybe aren’t used to going to the gym or having that kind of workout structure, put it on your calendar. You there were times where I would block my calendar either pre or post in the morning or the afternoon, just so that I don’t get a meeting put on last minute. And even if I’m still working through, it means I’m not getting pulled into something new, but put it on your calendar with a reminder. And then it becomes the same priority as picking up the kids or going to the doctors and it helps you

build that muscle memory of, yeah, it’s time to go to the gym.

Ben (56:54)
Absolutely. So as we’re getting into the final weeks leading up to your competition, ⁓ how are you feeling? And then once you’re actually arriving, like talk about the peak week process of changing up the, you know, the training and the nutrition, getting the tan, you know, the, posing practice, the hair, the makeup, the, you the nails actually stepping on stage, talking through the show day experience. There’s a lot there. So just, yeah, just talk through like how you were feeling leading up to it. And then the actual like.

show experience itself and everything kind of surrounding that. What was that like for you?

Kelsey (57:24)
Yeah, the weeks leading up to peak week, peak week is its own little unicorn space of time. So aside from that last week before, it’s pretty time intensive, right? Like it’s sending, it’s getting in the suit and sending pictures and measurements every morning, or these pictures every morning, not measurements, but that doesn’t seem like a lot, but it adds another 10, 15 minutes to your morning. And if you have a tight morning,

You’re getting up a little earlier to do that plus it’s increased cardio. Thank goodness we ended up decreasing down to two sets. So I wasn’t hating my time at the gym. So what you did was you took my same, I lifted the same program for most of our prep for most of the six, eight months we had together. And what you did is my

fatigue started to kick in mentally was you’re like, okay, well, let’s just go to two sets. That was a lifesaver in terms of being able to manage my time at the gym, especially as the cardio went up and I needed more hours there. I felt great until about four weeks out and then my strength started to fail and I noticed things were coming. I couldn’t get as many reps in, I was having to bring the weight down. So that was when I was like, okay, we’re in a much as

a deficit such that now we’re starting to see some muscle changes, right? And so that was an interesting experience for me. The food was the food. I mean, it’s we came down from from where we started gradually. So it didn’t feel like I cut an entire meal out. So that kind of transition down felt manageable. But

not every day is the same. And there are some days where I would sit down at the end to eat my bowl of ramen and that was going to be my 1200 calories. And I think, oh my God, there’s, can’t finish this today. Like this is, I’m full. This is a lot of food. And other times where, you know, I’ve eaten 1200 calories by four o’clock and I want to eat my arm off still. So it was unpredictable at best. Um, but that that’s where that comes in, where the hours are long, but the weeks are short.

And you just kind of say, okay, well, it’s time for a fizzy water and a dog walk then. And you shift your focus to something else. But that coming down and then kind of the maintaining and the stick-to-it-iveness, that was what you really helped me with is it takes a while to see those changes come through. And I got frustrated at not seeing them fast enough. And you’re like, that’s…

Kelsey, that’s totally normal. that’s how you feel. Trust me, you’ll see it. Just stick with it and it’ll be fine. You’ll see the changes. So having all of that, that reinforcement and that support was really great. And then peak week, it’s a magical week. You get to eat more food every day and you get to eat more carbs and you get peanut butter and agave.

⁓ the lifting felt, my body felt great and it felt, it felt irresponsible to not be lifting more. So it was really, really great to have you there and say, no, this is your body needs to relax and decompress and de-stress for a little bit before you get on stage. You should not be doing all of this cardio and all of this lifting because you’ve

been doing it so intensely for so long that that last week where you just kind of get to enjoy the body that you’ve built is a little surreal. And I felt like I had a lot of time on my hands.

So.

Ben (1:00:56)
Did

that leave space for you for just like lot of reflection on the experience as well?

Kelsey (1:01:00)
It left, well, it did. It forced that a little bit. it, especially because you had also decreased steps a little bit. So I couldn’t fill things up with walks. couldn’t, there was a lot of just sort of, of being and of, of yeah, reflecting on that and kind of sharing with others what was going on and how it was feeling. And then also getting ready, you know, finishing up with what time.

you know, what time are we doing hair? What time are we doing nails? What’s the cadence going to look like? And being able to kind of focus on the day of logistics is a nice space to have that too, as you’re kind of coming down from that week. I blow dried my own hair. So I’m a bit of a minimalist. The pageantry part was my least favorite part of the entire process, which I’m sure it is for a lot of people. But

So I did my own hair, my posing coach, whom I found locally and same thing. We had a few coffee chats and interviewed each other for a while before we signed up with each other and we’re still friends getting together, that sort of thing. So it was a nice bonding experience. But Yvonne came over and did my makeup. She did the base before in the morning and then met me at the venue to finish up.

in like a crazy, we didn’t think we were gonna go on until after two or maybe even after four. And by one o’clock, they were like, number 37, where you at? And Yvonne’s like frantically putting eyelashes on me while we’re both squatting down in the hallway of a school. So that’s okay, that’s fine. So that was chaotic and I think that’s…

you also level set for that. you’re like, show day, you go in with the best of intentions and it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be and we’ll do our best.

Ben (1:02:46)
I can say your experience there is certainly not unique in that you never really know exactly when you’re going to be on. Sometimes the classes run short, sometimes they run long, sometimes there’s more or less competitors, sometimes there’s little hiccups with, hey, the lighting’s off or the music isn’t working, so it’s delayed. You never know what’s going to happen, especially, I think you had said it was the first time that the show had been.

Kelsey (1:03:04)
Yeah.

Ben (1:03:11)
you know, had been there and it was the first time the show was being produced. And so there’s always kind of new unknown challenges around that. And that can definitely happen where it’s like, you’re not ready to go on. shoot, now we’re going on. So you didn’t necessarily have time to do things like, hey, usually we do a little bit of pump up before we go on stage. And so, you know, you, it is kind of a case of like, you do the best that you can with the, with the situation that you’re in and you try to stay calm and just relax. Then once you’re on stage, usually.

that kind of melts away and you just try to focus on, you know, the posing. Cause there’s so much that you have to just focus on when you’re on stage, you kind of forget about everything else for a second. So you get up there on the stage and what’s, you know, what’s going on in your head at that time.

Kelsey (1:03:49)
Bye.

just so happy to be up there. It was sort of the culmination of all of the things. I wasn’t nervous because the other women who were on stage with me were all, it was debut, right? So they’re all up there for the first time as well. They were absolutely terrified and that leaves me a space to kind of be, there’s, I will be the supporter and the promoter and the cheerleader if that’s the environment that I’m in. So I was

calming nerves. And so that just instantly put me in a space of, I’ve done this, you I’ve walked around the gym and, you know, where the entire gym can see into the fitness room. I’ve walked around in these heels. I’ve walked around and it’s show time, you know, let’s go do this and let’s go have a good time. And you had told me that so many times, Yvonne had told me that so many times, you’re not going to change anything else. And so just go have a good time. And, you know,

Yvonne yelled at me a couple of times from the audience about twist this and turn that and I heard her because my ears are attuned. And so I twisted and I turned and it worked out. I feel like looking back at the video and some of the reflections that my friends shared, they said, just look like if it were a personality contest, you were having the best time.

You were smiling, you were comfortable, you were gracious to the other competitors. It just felt like I got to be there. I didn’t have to be there. And so I wanted to take that time to just enjoy it and smile and make eye contact with the judges and listen to my friends here from the audience.

Ben (1:05:17)
And that’s huge. There’s a huge component to that where the way that you show off the energy in which you present that attracts more eyes to you because you, you know, you want to be there. You look like you’re having fun. You look like you’re, you’re happy to be there. That’s, know, sometimes I have to remind people, Hey, smile when you’re on stage, because you don’t want to look like you’re, you know, you’re hating yourself up there. Oftentimes people are just concentrating, but Hey, you know, like that confidence ⁓ that comes with that is going to ultimately like.

Kelsey (1:05:33)
Yeah.

Ben (1:05:44)
probably result in a better placing and you’re just gonna have more fun while you’re up there. you’re up there, the day’s blitzing by, you’re on stage, you’re off stage, you’re on stage, you’re off stage. Do you wanna talk about kind of going through all the different classes? And I know at certain points, I think it was maybe after they had announced you did your individual routines and then they did the awards and they had announced that.

you won your pro card in one of your classes and I think they had talked about you being vegan a little bit as well and so that was something when I heard you tell me that I’m like that’s super cool that you were able to kind of like share that and you got exposed to all those people to that. So what was that like?

Kelsey (1:06:23)
Yeah, yeah. So after the debut class, it’s just sort of that that’s the shake it off. And and I told you and I told Yvonne it, was like, I didn’t have time to pump. didn’t have time to this. And you both said it’s OK. That class, you know, it’s that’s a get your feet under you class. It’s not a qualifying class. It’s you get to go out and practice. Now you know what the stage looks and feels like. You know that your heels going to stick someplace. You know how about how long they’re going to have you hold the poses.

I signed up for everything. There was one gal who competed who only signed up for one, even though she was eligible for all the things that I was eligible for. But I thought if I’m gonna go, why don’t I just get as much exposure and as much time and as much opportunity for a win because your physique changes over the day and you’d never know exactly which class you’re gonna show up your best for. So we came out to debut first and…

And that, you know, coming back off of that was just, that was a big exhale and kind of ⁓ getting ready for the next and saying, okay, now I am going to pump and I am going to, you know, eat this or drink that. and so then waiting backstage, the other gals are all lovely. Everybody’s so kind. Everybody’s sharing weights. And I think, you know, just talking to the other competitors is such a nice way to diffuse the tension because

most of them were pretty nervous too, especially in debut. And so then we came back, you know, for a bunch of those, we didn’t get to pick our own music for the walk ⁓ for our individual, which is kind of apparently interesting and a little off norm, but that’s okay. And I think that was still fun to be able to go out and practice the routine that we’d put together and just have a good time with that. And then coming back for the stage placings,

you know, they have, pull you out by number. You go out in a numbered order for your actual classes, but then for the placings, they call you out by place number. So going out last to win the 35 plus division as a 42 year old. And for it being my first time was just, I had the biggest smile, the crowd, you my friends were cheering so loudly. And then in that little bit of a lull,

Yvonne, my posing coach stood up and she yelled, and she’s a vegan. And so then the whole conversation ensued and they mentioned the professional who was on stage earlier, who was vegan. And I blundered because after they do the little medals and you start to walk off stage, I just turned and walked off stage and the announcer was like, Kelsey, do you want your pro card? And I said, I have to carry it.

So I turned back around and I picked it up and I picked up the protein and I said, is this vegan? And everybody laughed and then off stage I went. But yes, you have to take your prizes yourself when you win them on stage. So something to know.

Ben (1:09:09)
So you get off stage, you have this wonderful experience, you you have friends there to support you and who have come to watch. so a lot of, you know, a lot of times you’re chatting to other competitors, you’re wrapping up, you’re exchanging, you know, maybe information or, you know, you’re kind of like just talking about the whole experience with the folks around you. So how was it kind of just like stepping off the stage for the last time and then, you know, having those conversations and then, you know.

going home after it, what was that all like?

Kelsey (1:09:39)
Yeah, yeah. So I started to amass a little bit of an audience backstage while everybody’s waiting for placings because there were people talking about their what was going to be their meal afterwards. And ⁓ my gosh, people wanted this. People wanted that. They couldn’t wait to eat this. And they were like, well, what about you? And I said.

I’ve eaten everything I’ve wanted to up to prep. Like my carbs didn’t go below 140 and the jaws that hit the floor. And I was like, well, yeah, I’m vegan. Like I eat noodles every week. And so then all the questions about prepping on vegan and the girls who were like, I’ve been on, you know, under what 70 carbs for some of them. And I just said, yeah, no, this is, this can be a lot more enjoyable.

So maybe, you know, check out some vegan plans. And so that was really fun to talk backstage with that. Then just walking down to get out, you walk down a long hallway, my coach went out and she grabbed all of my things. Because of course you can’t leave the venue if you qualify for your ProCard. You can’t leave, you have to go immediately to your urine screen. If you leave the venue and come back in, you don’t get, you’re disqualified. So.

Yvonne grabbed all my stuff and carried it out. then just being able to walk down the hallway and see Steve in there holding flowers and a cupcake and a big smile on his face and knowing that this was his journey with me too. And then all of the fun posing with the girls from the barn afterwards and my little crew that was here. So we all got in front of the big step and repeat and were flexing and other.

friends put the medals around their neck and we just had such a good time. Yvonne shoved a cupcake in my face, which was amazing because we had the best vegan gluten-free cupcakes there afterwards. And it was just really, really lovely. the best thing, the thing I was terrified is that it was going to be over at nine o’clock and I was going to hold my friends there all day. was like the consummate hostess worrying about what their experience was going to be. We were done at four. And so

instead of having to kind of go out and my social, my social energy is pretty much over at that point because it’s just the anxiety, there is anxiety, even if, you know, I felt good about it, but there’s so much stress, the stress on the body. I didn’t really eat much for most of the day because we were trying to figure out, you know, when to, when to eat the carbs, when to, you know, when might I be on stage next? It was so nice to just,

go home in the car by myself and then take a shower, scrub off the tan that stayed on for another two weeks. That tan is no joke. And then we just went out, Stephen and I, just the two of us for dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. And it was just like the quiet afterwards from what was a whole lot of noise. And so I think planning things for you.

rather than entertaining and planning for everybody else. I would highly suggest that. And if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t have a whole lot of social spoons, you don’t owe anybody anything. See them for cookies and stuff in the lobby and then go be by yourself. Take a bath or enjoy a dinner with your partner and you don’t have to talk.

Ben (1:12:41)
Yeah, it’s a lot. It’s a lot. The showday experience, the adrenaline, you’re running on adrenaline essentially the entire day from this time you wake up to the time you get off stage. It’s like your go, go, go. It’s showday. It’s here. And you’re just constantly going until, you know, you leave the venue and then like you said, there’s this silence, like, okay, like this is it. It’s, you know, it’s over now. And that again, kind of extending the, you know, the next couple of days that can be, ⁓ it’s just a strange space to operate in. think.

Kelsey (1:12:47)
You are.

Done.

Ben (1:13:08)
And you’re still kind of basking in the high of having actually done the thing and then you’re still experiencing all these different emotions and it can be a lot. So what were those days in the first couple of days after the competition like? And how are you feeling now thinking about kind of what’s next for you?

Kelsey (1:13:28)
Yeah, think, you know, there were a lot of people, you know, after coming out in my first show and getting my pro card, there was a lot of, what are you going to do next? What are you going to do next? And I just thought and said, I’m going to go have some food and probably take a shower. Like I needed to not have to think about what’s next. And so being a little defensive and protective about, I’m going to think about now.

and I’m just gonna be present in this moment. That was important. I called Giacomo since he knew he was big on the why from this. So after I talked to you, I think you were probably my first call when I got in the car. And then I called my dad and then I called Giacomo. And I held it together until I started talking to Giacomo. And then that was sort of like when the flood of like that just big emotional release came out about.

I did a really hard thing and it was fun, but it was hard. So being able to kind of feel that space too. And then I took the next couple of days off of work just to be around, just to kind of, you know, take a walk, to not have to go to the gym, to not that first day where you don’t have to keep close track of your meals and you can just kind of eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re not.

just sort of having an unstructured time to really let the body and the mind down before jumping back into work. It’s still taken me a while then to get back into a rhythm at the gym because I don’t have a have to ahead of me anymore. And so a lot of the life priorities that took a backseat, know, some of the writing, some of the bigger work projects that, you know, was like, well, I need a lot of brain energy. I’m going to focus on this.

at this time, the attention and the focus have shifted a little bit to managing those things. So I, the thing I struggle with the most, think right now is still just finding that cadence back into the gym. The first two weeks after PrEP were the hardest from a food noise perspective, which I didn’t expect. I thought the deficit was going to be the hardest and maintaining that, but

when you start to get to eat a little bit more, it’s turning off. For me, the hardest part of the day was when I chose to eat because I wouldn’t know how to stop. And so really having that structure from you and that structure and some of the, you know, the different tools to navigate that. And again, for you and for Dani to say, that’s totally normal.

And Dani was so big to say, give yourself extra grace, not just grace, but extra grace. There’s a lot that you’re going through, hormonally, emotionally, physically. This is not a willpower game. This is a lot that’s going on in your body right now. And so finding that grace with myself, because as a competitor, we’re structured, we’re driven, we stick to it, and we’re hard on ourselves. So finding that grace and being like, it’s,

It’s okay, you know, and keeping different things handy in the house for when it doesn’t feel okay so that if I have a snack attack, it’s something that doesn’t make me feel like I’ve lost a battle that day at the end of the day.

Ben (1:16:32)
Yeah, that’s, mean, the psychological framing around how you feel after certain decisions is huge too. And like you said, you can give yourself grace and even if you have some, let’s call them deviations, it’s okay because at the end of the day, it’s not like you’re…

Kelsey (1:16:40)
Yeah.

Ben (1:16:49)
You know going out and going to the grocery store and grabbing everything off the shelves, right? You’re still trying to you know, I can I can give myself a little bit grace Maybe I’m gonna eat a little bit more today But I’m still going to you know kind of keep it to my my normal my regular routine and rhythm and I think it can be yeah It’s almost like after coming out of prep and having been in such this structure and routine and now there’s this calm I think there’s like a you know, it’s just a strange feeling and

It can take an adjustment. I mean, if you think about other sports, when, you know, the, you know, the Lakers go and win a championship, they’re going to take time off after that. They’re not going to go right back into the training or, you know, like even bodybuilders when they, know, who are competing at the Mr. Olympia at the highest level, they might take, you know, a couple months off after, know, their competitive season. ⁓ so it’s really not, you know, we shouldn’t feel guilty about, Hey, you know what, like in the weeks or months after my competition.

Maybe I’m only going to go to the gym two or three times a week. And if I feel like going more than sure, you know, I, you know, then, then that’s fine. And eventually, you know, that fire and that drive starts to come back a little bit more, but because it was running on, know, on, on such a, on high octane for so long, it’s going to come down afterwards naturally. And that’s like, again, it’s normal, right? It’s, it’s expected that that’s going to happen. and the food noise thing, you know, when you’ve been

dieting for a long period of time, it’s almost like your body gets used to it, I think in a way. And then when you start increasing your food, it’s like, okay, we’re eating more. So I’m going to try to encourage you to keep eating more and eating more. And so again, it’s something that it happens immediately post, but over time, as you start to slowly get to a healthier body composition, regaining lost muscle, putting on a little bit of body fat, because like you said, the stage look isn’t necessarily sustainable.

you those things start to normalize. You start to kind of slowly revert back to more of a sense of normalcy and just feeling a little bit more like yourself again. And ⁓ I think it’s, yeah, it’s, I think it’s okay in this period to not exactly know what’s next and kind of like prep, you kind of just take it a day at a time and, you know, you know, take, take what you’re, you know, what you’re being given essentially.

Kelsey (1:18:54)
Yeah, yeah. it’s, you know, the plan that we’ve had and the reinforcement you’ve given has been so important. And we’ve seen those scales numbers fluctuate a lot. we’re what? Almost a month out. And I’m only three pounds above my stage weight. So it’s

And I think it’s still coming down because I traveled last weekend and the scale jumped up a lot from travel and from being on the plane and presenting the stress from going to national conference and all of these different things. so I feel like we’re thwarting the fears that I had originally of, my gosh, as soon as I’m done prepping, I’m gonna turn into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory balloon.

And that hasn’t happened because of the good structure and planning. So yay.

Ben (1:19:41)
And I th-

I was going to say, and I think a huge part of that as well is the fact that like you were talking to the people backstage, it was something that felt sustainable for you that you actually enjoy. And I think the hardest post-show periods for people are when they drive themselves into the ground in their preps and they don’t enjoy it and they hate it. And then the post-show period is, I like to think of it as it’s a rebellion against everything that they were just doing. But if it doesn’t feel like you need to rebel against it because you enjoyed it, then there isn’t this like slingshot effect after the prep where.

Kelsey (1:19:51)
Yeah.

Ben (1:20:11)
you know, you’re, kind of going in the opposite direction, so to speak. It’s just like, okay. The only thing that’s really changing is I’m eating a little bit more to get back to a healthy point.

Kelsey (1:20:15)
Yeah.

Yeah, and the gym, know, the time in the gym has been, has felt that way too, because we have been able to put in a more full body program. And so it feels really fun and exciting to, you know, to be able to do some tests and to be able to do some different lifts that we weren’t doing when we were focused on getting stage ready. And so I think it’s the same thing. It’s being able to make a little bit of a change and get out of that.

that kind of superstructured space to have a little more fun with it and to deviate a little and to vary. And, you know, for you to say, if you don’t like that one, you then, yeah, show me, show me what you do like, and let’s talk about how we’re doing that differently. So that and then the other big thing has been socializing again, because it’s a lot of I can’ts and probably the two to three months before prep, I can’t, I can’t go out to lunch unless I’m taking my own things or

You know, you’re not going to go out with everybody who’s out for happy hour and having drinks. So that’s been a lot of like catch up with friends too since that time and have to have that little more flexibility of being able to order a restaurant meal a couple days a week and not very widely from the plan and from the path and the progress is I’m spending more time seeing the people that weren’t at the gym with me. And it’s a beautiful thing.

Ben (1:21:38)
Yeah, that was something that I was going to mention but I forgot and that is like giving back to those areas that took a little bit of a hit during your prep in that post show period. I think that’s so important. Maybe reaching out to people you haven’t talked to in some time and you know, kind of re-establishing those connections, pouring back into those areas. I think that’s, it’s really important because

If you go right back into bodybuilding mode and I gotta focus on the improvements for next time and you’re so driven and focused like you, you might forget to do those things and then ⁓ over time, like anything else, if you don’t put time and intention and effort into it, these things will kind of fade. So I think it’s really important that you mention that as well.

Kelsey (1:22:19)
Yeah, yeah.

Ben (1:22:21)
So before we wrap things up today, I just love to know if there’s any kind of messages that you want to leave people with, maybe if someone’s thinking about competing or they’re thinking about maybe working with a coach, any kind of words of wisdom you had for them. I think we’ve touched on a lot of important things already when it comes to competing and coaching. So it could even just be something as simple as a parting message. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about somebody who’s looking to compete or get coaching, but I guess anything that you feel like has been a takeaway for you or just something that you want to share with people.

Kelsey (1:22:50)
Yeah, I think for me, the

There are few things, but don’t, I guess from what I’ve seen online, don’t let AI and the internet gaslight you into thinking that you can do this on your own. Unless you’ve done this a bunch of times on your own. I feel like having a coach that is a good match for you is the only way to do this. And I would recommend vegan proteins all the time for that.

So I think don’t believe everything you read on the internet. ⁓ I think that gives us a false sense of bravado about how things work. The mantra that you had for me, which is it’s totally normal, hearing that over and over again about my experience out, I think is why the coaching was so important. And then not letting perfection get in the way of progress is…

That’s just a life mantra, right? whether you’re an ethical vegan, whether you’re training for a show, we’re going to mess up for humans. The goal is just to not make them the same mistake over and over over. So being kind and keeping moving forward towards your goals and not letting that idea of perfection.

and 100 % adherence get in the way of your overall progress. And that was something that you had to remind me of as well. that’s probably three things to take away, but I think there three really important things and there are three things that sit different with me after our time together than maybe they did before.

Ben (1:24:10)
Hmm. I love that. Okay. So if people want to keep in touch or follow along with your journey, obviously they can become a member of the vegan proteins community through the membership or getting coaching. outside of that, is there anywhere that you’re kind of sharing your, your journey more specifically that people can kind of follow along with?

Kelsey (1:24:28)
Yeah, they should absolutely join the community because the new app is amazing for all of that. I put a lot of my workouts and progress on TikTok. I have been taking kind of a detox from that after a pretty intense time, but I’m on Facebook. There’s not any other Kelsey Gilmore Futerals. So.

A lot of the food and a lot of the workouts and those types of progress, plus a lot of ways to get involved to improve animal welfare and to be an advocate for animals yourself, those are all gonna be public on my Facebook page. So I’m always happy to engage and connect with new friends there and anything I can help on their journey. But the odds are if they ask me for help, I’m gonna be like, call Ben and Giacomo.

Ben (1:25:13)
Well, thank you

so much for taking the time today to just share your experience. And I feel like I learned a lot more about you and also just got like more deeper insights into what this experience was for you, because obviously, you know, we talk pretty frequently, but you don’t always get the long form opportunities to really like dive deep and, you know, talk in this way. So that’s one of the reasons that I love doing podcasts is just being able to.

you know, have these deeper conversations. So if you are listening and you enjoyed the episode, please, you know, leave any comments down below. Any questions maybe you have for Kelsey or for myself or, you know, things that you’d love to share. Commenting and subscribing obviously helps if you’re watching over on YouTube and writing reviews and leaving, you know, ratings on Spotify and Apple podcasts and just sharing, you know, sharing the episode with more people. If you’re looking to get coaching, you can head over to veganproteins.com and fill out an application. We’ll get back to you within.

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