Hello and welcome to the next episode of the compete waffle. My name is Alicia. I'm an advanced Sports dietitian and founder of Complete Nutrition and within our waffle podcast. If you haven't come across as before, we love to put the spotlight on a whole range of athletes of all different levels or different shapes sizes abilities for the main reason that we believe that everyone who works with us and we come across has one brilliant story to share and weLove to share it with you guys. We also share Snippets of information. That is all things about performance nutrition. So if you'd like to go through our previous episodes, you will find a lot to do with that. And we also hold Facebook and Instagram live Q&A is every Thursday night. So if you haven't caught one of those then please jump on because we cover a different topic all the time and we love to get your questions and feedback and ideas on different topics to cover each week. So the next guest that we've got coming on for today's episode is one that we have been so excited to interview. It's taken us a few goes to get this interview sorted with me having a newborn and Lavinia having quite the schedule. I guess you could call it between training and work but we have got there in the end and I am so glad we persisted because her messaging and her journey and just her beautiful words that she uses in where she's come in. The last three years is just something to share. And it really goes to show why she's inspiring so many within her Instagram Community her community winning strongman, which is the sport. She's ended up in but also the her ethnic Community as well and how she has achieved her progress and continual progress in the last three years is something that we try and encourage all of our athletes or clients to actually achieve in the way that it's been that gradual change that doesn't necessarily have one angle but instead is a whole lot of habits and achievements all rolled into one that adapt and change as you do. So without further Ado is my absolute pleasure to introduce like Lavinia to you or as you may know her as lightly strong. Hi, Olivia. Thank you so much for joining us. It's brilliant. I was just saying to Lavinia. I always have this habit Rod of having this massive conversation on a podcast before I actually press record and I was just saying to linear how awesome it is that she agreed to come on SO Lavinia we've started working with if a few months ago now living here, isn't it? Yeah, really three. Every year yeah delivering it. Did you want to tell the audience a little bit about yourself for those who aren't aware of who you are on Instagram basic. I'll start from the start. I've started my Instagram account like too strong about three years ago. Now I had moved to Country Town didn't have many friends or support and had put on a bit of weight and I wanted to lose it and needed. The motivation and I found Instagram is a great way to do it. So I decided doing home workouts and walking around the block and trying to get my penis up and lose a bit of weight while documenting it on my Instagram and grain to a lot of followers from Kayla's BPG workouts is what I was doing. Yes. Yeah. I did them by myself seven minutes in the backyard. Like my fitness level is really really bad and then just as slowly as I got more confidence started going to the gym and then just amped it up from there and then started everybody. Training and which to record my videos but as I was progressing I was showing my audience as well like I started from here and now I'm here and it's sort of just go on from there and I like people have been following me since day diet and now it's yeah, it's pretty cool. I feel like I've got my own little Community. Ah, I totally agree with that. So I came across I don't actually know how I came across your account to start with a video. Um, I think you may have commented on one of our posts or something. What's the uh, Equity 5-gallon probably was probably was about the nutrition for their 45 it look it is gradually changing which is excellent. But yeah, so I came across your account through that and then I think we both just started following each other and I was like, oh my gosh, this chick is incredible and I was just a bit fangirled and then you contacted me and I was like, ah, I would love to work with her. I think that's such a cool little feet and yeah, it's been happy day since then and so so fun to get to know you in terms of like that starting point for You what instigated that want to change and improve your fitness and health or and change your wait. What was that real little point of going I need to do something. I think I was just in a bit of a right. So my boyfriend with Billy active. He was playing football. We had moved to the town because he was playing football. So he be going to the gym every day and I was the complete opposite and I'd always been active growing up. I went to a sports high school played competitive basketball like after the state level. Well, since I was 12, and I just got into that bad eating habits and like it's true what they say. I could eat that you feel bad and then you don't want to do anything and I was just in that cycle. Hmm. I just decided one day. I thought you know what like I've just got to do something and I remember seeing girls on Instagram. Actually. It's like I've done the full circle they yeah because I remember seeing one of them and I was like if she can do it surely I can like if she's out there, you know sweating in the backyard I can do it too. So I just started walking and just it just progressed from there so inspired yeah people that now I'm inspiring. Oh my gosh, I love that and I think it's so nice because so often we talk about the negatives of social media and obviously there are lots of pressures that come with Fitz Po and the whole Instagram Perfection, but there is this beautiful side where people are sharing real stories real images real Journeys that actually really Capture what it's all about and I love that about it what you just said really resonated with me because I've just had our third baby and I went from being an Iron Man previous to our first baby. So full 12-hour events, like really big Fitness endurance capacity to then becoming a mom and losing my identity and they're not really like I did a few little triathlons between kids, but now I'm like, okay what's now like my fitness is so poor compared to whats I would say where I could be like today. My activity was like I'll just do some stairs. Well, my kettle's boiling, you know, like it's just these little simple things of like just starting and I listen to this podcast today and the most beautiful quote he finished on which is just so perfect with what you were saying. The video was the perfect time, you know, the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, but the second best time is today. Yeah. It's like oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, so even if you didn't do it 20 years ago, you didn't do it yesterday. The second best time to start is today and I was like, oh my God, it's so true like just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do anything. Yeah, and that's that's exactly how I felt as well because I used to think and look at you know people before and afters and their weight loss Journeys and I feel like there's no way I can ever do that. It was always you always think of the end M along with my weight loss journey is my mindset has completely changed like I'm a completely different person now to where I was three years ago, Because not only that has helped me along the way because I've come to realize that it wasn't just going to be you know me getting fit in six weeks or doing a challenge you told weeks and dropping the ton of weight. It was making that complete lifestyle change and commit into the small changes that you can sustain forever. Mmm, but that I was like, well, there is no end golf movie, like people always say to me. Well, you know, how long does it take you to lose that or they always want to know the answer and I used to be like that and I laugh now. And they asked me the answer because I can't give them the answer like the answer is it's a forever thing like I'm constantly still changing as I'm going out like three years on yes. I've had a massive transformation. I've lost heaps of weight. I've accomplished a lot of gold but I'm still going like it's not ending is its light like yeah, and this is the the continual progress. Right? Like it's just always changing and you know, if you're happy to chat about it, I would love to bring up like obviously when you start Of this journey, you may have had a goal weight in mind and I'd love to know how that has now changed with your change of exercise and things to I was really cautious when I first mentioned my weight because you know, when you're growing up or like just the stigma around a certain number on a scale and what people perceive numbers to look like. I never wanted anyone to share my weight. So I was very very cautious or always on Instagram or social media pick girls would always say to me how much did you weigh now? Now, why would I when I was at like, you know, my fish are still looked a certain way they asked me for a number because that was what they were trying to achieve. Yeah, and I got to a point I had lost. You know, I initially when I first started I think I was a hundred 80 kilos at my heaviest. Mmm and I started doing Weight Watchers and you didn't because you know, it was reducing calories. So, of course I was going to lose weight, but with Weight Watchers to reap that reach the ultimate goal of weight work, which is they go off. Am I right now? I'm just a fix quick tall extremely lot of muscle mass and I was never going to reach the Bay of I could but it wouldn't be healthy for me. Hmm and I got to the point where I had lost like 25 kilos and I still wasn't at the the white watch goal. So I sort of felt like I was going around in a circle myself because I wanted to achieve the ultimate Weight Watches, but could it without doing something unhealthy like eating less? Yeah that breaks the go on. It wouldn't be any wolf. So that was when I sort of got to the stage where the and at that stage. I was like 18 percent body fat and 98 clothes. Yeah, there's not much room to move until you really looking at a number. That's way too lean for female. Yeah, and and sustainable design. Oh absolutely the chain and be able to be able to live like, you know healthy. Yeah, and now I and then that's when I decided that I was going to because wait with his asked me to do the cover story for them. But see they release your weight and I didn't want the world to know and it for it to be published, but I was not hit kilos because I still had that that stigma around. The way and I just didn't want everyone to know how much I weigh. I don't wasn't until they had asked me maybe the fourth or fifth time because they kept the hot senior. I sort of started I thought about it and thought to know what like me sharing my weight and how I look at it girls are at me thinking that they want to look like this. I think it's important for me to share it with them because it'll take a bit of the stigma around how much you should look at a certain way. So yes, so yeah, well of my pride and I went Did that article and had it published for like Australia New Zealand to read wow that you know, they at 98 kilos? Yeah, and this is what I look and I remember when I first posted it on my social media. I felt sick a pit in my stomach because I was so nervous mmm, but then feedback that I got back from everyone was nothing but positive like we are always our biggest critics. Yeah, like I just I don't know. I just I'm so grateful that I took that punch out of my comfort zone to share that because now I feel like I even even just local girls at my team would talk to me Michael. No, thank you so much for sharing that you know, you really opened our eyes to see like a certain weight doesn't look a certain way. No and oh, yeah, absolutely and I think the big thing there is also that you know when people get Feedback like all you don't look like a runner or you don't look like an athlete or you don't look like you know, what does that even look like that day that is not a response. You know, you'll get people saying that to me. Yeah, like you you read not like I get people message me on Instagram and I said, what are you weighing our like 72 kilos? Oh my God. Should look like yeah that and it's not me. No, that's right a hundred kilos. Neither. You can't have a body composition like better than hundred kilos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I am I come from a rugby background with a lot of my work. And so yeah weights and different body compositions and stuff are really interesting to me particularly with the different like places that people come from and come into sports and that's why I really wanted to know where you're from and what genetic profile you had Liberty ago. It's such a beautiful mixing. Yeah say and I was like, oh she's definitely talking. Yeah. No, it's absolutely not. Yeah that plays a part in it as well because you know, someone can be looking at me with completely two different genetic. Yeah. I'm like quite tall and then they're going I've 90 kilos and I don't look like her it's like you're never gonna look like me because like I'm a yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're all the same. It would be extremely boring. I'm afraid and this is the part of like Instagram that I find really negative is that you know, everyone does strive for a certain image and that's what I love about. Your account is that it is so open to you striving for an image that's right for you and you share that message with all of your community, which is amazing to speaking of community. You have quite a lot of support for you on Instagram, but also obviously external to that do you feel like you're inspiring not only you know your Instagram for coming your butt? So the Pacific Island community, I didn't realize that I'd had such a big following for them and do people start messaging me. Like I know it's like mites out. I know I remember people are watching but I have the time I forget. Yeah, and I still use my account today as I did three years ago like a glittery to motivate myself. Like I've talked to people that message me and I I watch them I love when they send me videos and say I went to the gym because I saw you or I started this because because you did it like when I get those messages they are they literally helped me keep going with my girls because I'm like, I forget that I'm inspiring people because I was looking the person looking for that inspiration. Yes. Yeah now it's like we've done the 360 but when I get like Pacific Islanders or girls like that who look at me and think that they are sort of related. I'm relatable to them. I still don't believe it because I never thought I would be yeah. Yeah, absolutely like why Watching me. It doesn't make sense. We see you and we want to do what you're doing and I still don't believe it because I'm just a normal person. Yeah. Yeah, but how amazing is that? The social media gives us that ability to see into the lives of just normal people doing incredible things. And I think that is just so so cool. And when you're looking at, you know, making those few changes that you talked about at the start Lavinia, what were those few changes that? That you felt worked for you. So what were the little habits that you started to do? Like you mentioned like the little BBG seven-minute things food-wise was there things that you would just gradually changing or did you find that you kind of did everything at once with the Weight Watchers stuff? I know I was it was gradual. I think I learned to cook I didn't really want the hall. I know I can't believe that Lydia because you are ridiculous in the kitchen. Wow. I was the type of person who would do. You get like, you know the bottom sources and yeah, they're real like if I suppose it's cooking in a sense. Yeah, not really knowing what's going into your spirit. Hmm. So okay more I guess through to where I've learned how to read what was in my food. I started to cut out refined sugars. Yes. I think I was like a be predicted to sugar and refined sugars. Like I could really I couldn't taste the difference of the laden Foods. Whereas meow my palate to completely change. Oh, yeah, so I and to caulk I use just I think I'd followed the jerk concept a bit. So just eating real food. Yeah, and I noticed that after a while I decided to feel so much more better like cutting out the refined foods and the sugars and I was drinking a lot of soft drinks and stuff. So I don't really drink them at all. Now, I don't drink coffee March my body's just change and adjusted to what it needs and I've think I've become more in tune with this how it feels. Yes. So like I'm 80 Something that you know heavily refined or high in fats, which I still do because I don't cut anything out. I can just feel the difference and I don't really like that feeling anymore. Whereas before it was the norm. Yeah, so period-wise that was how that change and exercise wise. I think I started to set some goals whereas before I wasn't really a big goal set. I know it's hard to believe so I've got it. I'm sitting in a whole room now covered in yeah, like literally covered even posted notes of gold. But like three years ago, I didn't really have any goals. I was sort of just going by my day by day and nothing was really driving me. Yeah, and once I started setting goals and putting that into plan everything just sort of aligned and you start to get into that routine and just setting myself small goals. Like I think some of my very first one was just to walk around the block three times a week. Yeah not be wasn't difficult. But I made that promise and commitment to myself to get it done. Yeah, and once I've got that done On moved on to the next thing and then as I started to just keep gradually getting into the Habit it just became more and more of my routine and then it was just the normal. Yeah. I don't know if you realize you said it but you said, you know, it wasn't hard but it was something I wanted to like. I knew I could do and it was a promise to myself and I think that's probably something that I wanted to repeat because if you set yourself up to change everything all at once at the end of the day often, you don't end up changing anything at all because it becomes way too overwhelming. And you're trying to fit something into a hole that just doesn't fit into and you haven't changed your lifestyle in a sense of changing all those different habits that you're wanting to change. So choosing things where you will rate, you know, eight or nine out of ten confidence that you can achieve. It is a way better approach than trying to change everything where you feel like it's going to be completely overwhelming within two weeks. So, you know, if you go, oh I'd like to you know do and now I run. Get cozy just not going to be able to do that. But if you can set a goal, we like I can walk three times around a block I am going to do that and I'm going to do it three times a week and I am absolutely confident. I can do that too as a promise to myself then you can build upon that and get to that point of maybe doing that with our run but to start there is just you know, seeing it as like, you know your weights in the gym Lavinia. You wouldn't go out and lift double what you are now all of a sudden you would be like, okay. I need to build up of that unless you're doing a strong man comp and you just Happen to try that. Productivity killer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've usually only do 35, but I'm just going to do the 50 this time. That's sort of bad segue. Can you talk a little bit about how you got into strongman? And what strongman is that might be actually something to cover as well. Well, so strong man is basically a test of strength. It's movie obscure objects and lift in really heavy things. And yeah, so I how I got into strong man was on Instagram. So I girl contact me. Yes. I was doing 45 and heavily doing a 45 stars for me training like six times a week sometimes twice a day. I was really into my he training I loved it and and but I'd also worked up a really good strength space just remember 45 because I as like we're talking about morning with those bubbles when I was in there 45 I was also Setting myself some go so like you know, I think I started my first class before killer dumbbells and come you use on your I was pressing 30s. Wow. Wow. So yeah. I had a girl who does strongman Scout actually. She was following me on Instagram and she saw me doing all this stuff and I'm 45, and she messaged me and said you need to start doing something constraints like you are just super strong. Do you want to come to a strong band in with me? And I thought like I know I don't know. Thank you, but no that like know that yeah, I'm good. And she missed she was constantly messing and I've got I have anything like I I'd say no initially but then if people are persistent, yeah, I let out and she asked me like four times and then we actually passed each other in the street and I thought you know what like I've met I've met her in real life. Yeah, she's met me I'm going to I'm going to say yes, so she asked me again. I said, yeah look you can you can Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm not going out of my comfort zone too much here. Like new make sure I'm okay this whole time. Yeah, she took me down and we play with if you implement and at the time I didn't have any any thought that I'd ever compete. It was just really out of my comfort zone time used to team sports and it's like individual and I have yeah went to this drunken with her maybe three or four times just looked around with some implements and thought it was pretty fun. Hmm. And that was where I met my coach At the gift and he was like sort of said, oh, you know, if you ever want to do anything, just let me know when we didn't push me or anything and I'm emailed him and thought to myself I needed something different. Like I wanted another challenge. I'd sort of Pop mastered are 45, but I had a really good Fitness base there and I thought you know, I want to try something else. So I just said to him would it be able to do a strength program for me? Like nothing to do with strong man? I just thought I'll start doing some weights. Just see how strong I can get. We started a program but then I think that had another commitment doing more hit stuff. So I ended up stopping it and we got back on track and the Arnold's were on. So it was March this year and my coat was actually competing in it. And I remember what's unit and it just looks so cool. Like they were lifting like this deadly frame and like he had three hundred and sixty or eighty cute 80 kilos. I just rip it off the floor and everyone was as Jared and I just sucked it in my life. I want to I want to do that. But I remember them emailing him. I think that week and I said I want to do a call when we started friend. So I go and he was like, yeah. Yeah he knew exactly what he was doing is like I'm gonna do strong man. And you are gonna come watch me. Did you want to do a shout-out for the cook your name the name of your coach because yeah, he's I don't we have baby. We don't we just like, yeah, we just keep him Secret. And run juice and he's very accomplished within strong man. I'm quite lucky that I've been paired with him. And I know he's amazing. You guys have a pretty cool working relationship. It's pretty funny people actually. Yeah now that you're following living here. If you weren't before you will see there's a lot of banter. It's really really good. He's really knowledgeable and he's taking me under his wing and I'm really really grateful that we've had together. So P so good. So when we're looking I guess, you know at everything that's come about I really want to bring up your organization level because oh my goodness this girl. She has like just post it notes as big as a body like a prediction but each week. She like Maps out a whole week we ought it didn't sound like you're always like that instead of like this came with the change. Yeah and your journey, I wasn't I Used to roll out of bed like at eight o'clock to start work at 8:30. Yeah, three years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking if you told me I would be getting up at four o'clock to do it go to the gym. I would have laughed at you and said no way we as I've just started. I really think it works with the goal setting. Yeah, like once you've got that goal and you know what you've got to put in place to make it happen, and I'm I really love having the visual. So I think it's because it's been successful for me in the past. Like I just No, it works. Yes. So if it works I've continued to do it. So like I don't know that having my goal board that having, you know, all the things I need to take like I don't know if you can see Alicia good forecasting. So I run all my gosh. Yeah. Yeah, not even kidding. Oh my gosh, you could have like a full blog like obviously now, I've got everything mapped out like all the things that I need to hit all the weights that I'm going to To here until I get that. Yeah. I've got the timeline when I need to do it. Wow, they're all the things that are getting make me accountable and that's what I'm going to be successful on my day. So like when I'm going to go into pump are you okay? Yeah, because I'm like do not like to not be prepared. Like I'd like over-prepared than underprepared. Absolutely. That's amazing. And I think I think I can now call you the queen of Prague process like, you know, everything we everything we talked about with our athletes and our It's is all about process. It's not about it's like that habit. So instead of having that goal. It's about having Pros habits that lead you to a progress. And as I said the goal changes and if you only have one end goal and then you reach that angle or the angle doesn't work out what next and that's where we often feel like we're failing and so we're in nutrition if you have a bad day or you have a bad week and then that goal is just unattainable all of a It's just another failure and you reflect that on yourself of like oh, well haven't done it again. That's great. So pay effort. I'm just going to you know, just give it in for a bit and I'll just restart another time and having progress like that and having habits that you can fall back on. Do you have bad days bad weeks where you feel a little bit out of control and how do you then get yourself back on track and back into that process? Of course, like I always have have bad days. I'm constantly second-guessing what I'm doing, I think for me it's more that more my mindset. So I hate I really hate when people say like they have fallen off the wagon or whatever because for me, I'm just like this is not a wagon like this is life. Like if I don't stick to my meal plan and I have a really bad training session. I see the repercussion that that's happened and I don't want it to happen again. So for me, it's just like I get over it and we just keep moving because we've got that angle. Like yeah, I'm gonna be bumps in the road and I'm not going to it's not going to be perfect. Like I could map everything out and something might happen that's going to detour me but I've always know that I'm striving to that end goal and I've just got to build a new Pathway to it. So like if I don't follow my nutrition today, that's fine. I'll start tomorrow like the next meal or just exactly why I don't get caught up on those things anymore because I know that there's really no point like you can't do anything about it if it's happened. It's happened. Did you? Use do did you used to really panic over those bumps yet? Yeah, and I think that's why I was so unsuccessful in the plastic losing weight and hitting goals because I would just give up and I didn't have the mindset of what I was doing was continuous and it's a lifestyle. It was more just I had to hit a certain weight or I had to get to this and it was always things that were like you said once they were achievable you didn't achieve them sort of get lost because you don't hit it and then what Is refer back to where you started. Yeah. Yeah, and it really becomes that self-blame that just keeps eating away at you know, you being useless or you being not being able to achieve something that should be so easy or you know, just stop eating Alicia or you know, like you have this terrible self stalk that does oversimplify something that is quite complicated. But yeah, that's awesome that you've had that time. Did you feel like that came with just more knowledge and confidence in seeing the everything yet? Knowledge and confidence and not just that I think finding what works for me. Yeah, because I always was like people ask me now, right? Right. Like they might see my goal boards and my onion Cayenne Eden that and try and duplicate it but it might not work for you. And I think that's really important is what I always try to say to people is what works for me. It was not might not work for you because you've got to find what works for you. Like, I'm not a mom or like I don't have other things that can. What do you grow load make may not be able to hit these things. This is what works for me and my lifestyle now like my dog with my life and I just want people to try and find what works for them. And once you do it becomes easy because you'll be at you can slot it into your life. And that's where you find your groove and like your your lifestyle really like it. Yeah find what works for you that you can't I think and that's why we diets and like all those sorts of things. It's a one fits or mold and that's not light. Like we're all different so you really got to find what works for you and that's I think how I've been successful is I found small things that work for me and I've just been able to put them into my daily routine and that's become successful for me. So I know that's my formula. Yeah. Absolutely. And yeah and that's the thing right? Everyone's got different priorities and what works with for one person won't work for another person and you know what I was you know, for example, what I was doing five years ago before kids is completely Achievable right now and if I was to really, you know, my body looks different in my strength is different in my fitness is different and if I only ever compared myself to what I was able to achieve and judge myself on that it just it's totally different priorities now like yeah, I just you know, what constitutes Fitness for me now is movement and just being active rather than training as such but I'm really excited for when training will come back in but at the moment I've had I've had to learn to be very forgiving of myself. Elf to not be able to prioritize everything. Yeah, and I think that's where when we were just talking before we started importing say how with myself now my fitness goals have changed and I'm trying to wrap my mindset arrived. I actually feel like I've thought about this the other day in I feel like I'm a beginner again because I'm doing something completely different my body composition is changing. I'm learning lag about nutrition on a different level. Yeah, because I'm now competing. And you know, my train is amped up my body covered like everything that I had done in those last three years are not insignificant, but they've led me to where I am now and now I'm taking that next step. Yeah. So I feel like for me it's even a bigger learning curve now because I'm having to change my mindset again from everything that I had taught and all my successful tools. They got me where I am. And now I'm trying to do this biggest step that it's completely out of my comfort zone, but I feel like that's how you grow. Yeah, and so, I'm trying to push and do it as well. But everyone should know that like I'm not I'm not just nailing it all the time. Yeah. Yeah as a background, I guess that's kind of like yeah, so you've learnt like all these Basics around food. You have your General Nutrition pretty good you you know striving towards weight loss and things like that, but then you change Sports and you change focuses and your focus focus you to focus and your Just becomes performance and strength and recovery. And so all the things that we're teaching Lavinia now are actually really performance Focus. So we're adapting her intake depending on what training day it is and showing her how to get more apt ations to her training and previously that was irrelevant, you know, so if you whole intake is, you know, not great as a baseline, then you're going to get so much more out of just changing that and getting the basics right? But now she's got the basics right? She just steps it up a level and I think that's a really the cool thing about food is that there's never perfect. It's just always changing and your goals are always changing and that's why I'm finding now and like I'm really enjoying it at but as I was saying to you mmm, I'm always second-guessing myself because I had my formula that was working for me and everything that I had towards weight loss and now it's all performance. And so I've literally got a not forget everything that I've learned but come up more open-minded and realize that my angle is changed. So process is going to change so I've got it Trust the process and just go with it. And yeah, and this might be really, you know a nice thing for you to he live in New York. So I don't think I've actually explain it to you can almost see it as a Triad so you can have Performance Health and body composition in the different corners of the triangle and you can have the dot in the middle you can kind of aim for all of them, but it means you're not hitting all of them a hundred and ten percent. But as you move the Dot from the middle towards performance or body composition or health the other to kind of get lost a little bit and That's okay, but it just means that that little dots changing depending on where your goal is and your goal was kind of around that body composition piece for the start of it and then it moved toward health and now it's moved towards performance. And so it has actually changed. Yeah and like the whole you just put it. Yeah right on how I was feeling because like I was saying to you I'm not looking how I was looking like I was a lot leaner before when I was doing all my heat ray. Yeah. I remember I could have for breakfast. Party, Jack it up Kobe up until ten o'clock now shopping bag to work everyone how much strength training I'm doing and how heavy it is. I have two fuel. Otherwise, I literally could have got to get through it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah and and because of you know, all the triggers that you're giving your muscles from the strength training you're doing your muscles are getting the response of like well, we are gonna grow then and so if you're feeling that ride and You're recovering. Well, the muscle mass will come and you know, sometimes that comes with a little bit of body fat, but if we're doing the right training and the right combo then a lot of the weight changes that we see are actually really positive to you attaining that performance goal, but it also means is someone who's always focused on a number going down is that you're now seeing that number either stay the same or increase and that's a really tricky thing to get your head around. Yeah, and I think that's where I'm at now and it hasn't Disgust is by because I hadn't weighed myself alone and scales. And now that I have seen, you know, the number he's creeping up and my body composition is changing but you know, what's funny is all my clothes still fit me. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's not like I paint my games but I'm just like I can see the different. Yeah on the scales. I can see the difference in the mirror and then I'm still wearing the same being. Yeah, I think I'm just going to add it as we said like it's going to be a growth now the great for me. And just try and find that balance and just realize that you know, we have my end goal and one working toward and we're on track. So I just need to eat he's into it. Yeah, and it's sitting yourself different progress markers down. And so your progress markers are more around, you know strength and you know performance within the gym and if that's going up and if you're fitting that then you know, that's a really good indicator. If you're you know, there's a reason why we're always kind of looking at Your energy levels Your Sleep Quality things like mood or is a really good indicator as well and then also overall health so, you know, there's definitely the performance Focus but there's still you needing to indicate that you're coping with that and so there's so much more to just look in a number to look at success in performance. And so that's objective measure. It sounds a bit Fluffy at times to be looking at that. But if we can pick up if your energy is really low or your moods flat or you're not sleeping. Well, then we can pick up really big indicators of like, you know, maybe you are not meeting energy needs. Maybe we're not feeling correctly. Maybe we need to look a recovery or hydration and all those types of things. So yeah, we kind of have to look at the whole individual and not just numbers which can be frustrating for the perfectionist taipei's. Yeah. Yeah. Don't talk subject even me. So I guess like from he living here. What's next? What's the next goal that you've got on your wall? And what your what are you looking to achieve? So my next poem is Victoria strongest and obviously I were growing into that. I want to go prepared and Podium because that will be my ticket to Anna's 2020. Yeah, awesome. Now Adams 2020 is that national International filler everyone in that don't doesn't know what I means. Is that basically like The strength Olympics. Yeah, it's it's held in Melbourne and it's for a straight Australian. Why did they do have international competitors calm? The one that I will hopefully be qualifying for will be it's an amateur Strongman Competition but a lot of the girls that are going into it and women that are going into it. They are all very season strong be an athlete so I am a real newbie. But um, I'm gonna go for it. Yeah, I can see that sport is being very long term because it takes so Much time to get that strength yet load up. Yeah, and what's the community like in strong man? Oh because I'm used to teams. Yeah, when you go into a court of basketball court or Netbook court. It's like, you know six other girls with you and you've got that camaraderie in strong man. I did when my first combat didn't know what to expect because it's just you against everyone else but that they're amazing. It's like you've got a team like the I had no self-esteem I can't but They were cheering me on while like I'm trying to get reps to beat them. Hmm and like I was just like a mental game where they are. Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing to me? That is amazing. Everyone's really really really they just whatever Branch to the best because I guess you are against other people, but they also want you to hit those peavey's and Nia it's good really really encourage has been really nice. Yeah. Now what? The background he to Smiling during ridiculous size lips smiling like a video when I think back to that everything is just a blur. Like I had to feed you have to you know, block out everything and I actually lucky that growing up playing basketball. I work with a sports psychologist and we learned, you know, when we're shooting free throws and things like that how to mentally block it out of focus on but yes, it's sort of came back to me and strong mad when I had to compete because I was like not focusing on anyone around me and just trying to get those lips amazing and oh, yeah, the mental side really came into it and I think I just smile because it's just but that's right. Yeah. Well if you don't having fun doing It why are you doing it? I guess he's probably that comes down to it. It's funny though because people used to settle so I'm to me and trifling little heck. Why you smiling all the time like you just like you just 11 hours into an event. Like what are you doing when you don't need to smile? Like look mate. I'm not doing this for a living if I'm not enjoying this then there is something wrong. So yeah, and he's really funny. Yeah, I was one of those people who would carry like a camera with me to some events. Like I did like the nice to Monaco half marathon and I'm gonna take a camera with me and it was pretty phone like is pretty like smartphone. So I carried like an actual camera with me to take photos along the way from nice to Monaco because I'm like no this is going to be a really Scenic run. I need to make the most of these useless. Seriously. I don't I drove my husband crazy. He's like you could actually be Pretty talented if you concentrated. Yeah, what was that? Sorry for him for fun for a camera back then how things have changed? Oh man. It has been such a pleasure Lavinia as a background everyone. We're doing this which I have to think living here for so much quite late at night because I have a newborn that Does not have a rhythm in her sleep as yet and so we had to kind of hedge our bets we've already had to cancel and Boost phone and read a book because of that said baby. So I do have to think the videos so much of that and I hope it hasn't put you out of your routine too much the video 45 men. Yeah, exactly. Although you do get up very early, so that is important. So I do thank you so much for your time II feel like I could probably like get Snippets and quotes of this whole conversation. You were just this amazing parcel of knowledge and experience and the everything you share with your audience is reflected in how you chatted today and it's just been so so called a chat to you and talk about your journey and see how far you've come and get really quite a short period of time. So I'm very very excited to see what's next any parting words. Or messages that you would like to share my one quote that I've been saying since they don't just said. Oh, yeah, I always say if it's not sustainable. It's not successful. Yeah, that would gosh. It's so simple and so true, but how often do we over complicate things for ourselves? Seriously? Yeah, and I always a now when anyone asked me like no a diet related question anything that they want advice from that's like one of the first things that I would straddle on because I'm just like you can add to that pretty easily they could Can sustain that for the rest of your life or for a long period of time? Yeah, it's probably a quick fix and it's not going to work for you. Like if you can see yourself doing it long term then go for it. Yeah. Absolutely. It's so small changes that can have add up to just such a big outcome, which I think you're just the like the child for like, you know, like you've just shown how like little habits can just lead to this epic event that this year has been for you and you know so much so many more things to come I should finish because I'm obviously Ali having trouble with this whole talking thing ha ha ha so I should put everyone out of their misery. But thank you so much living here. It's been off. I actually have one more question that I just sort of when did the name light you come from? Okay. I started the Instagram account. Yeah. I was completely Anonymous. Yeah would not kill any of my face not my real name. Nothing. Wow, and lights you is actually a nickname that my older sister calls me. See, I love that. Oh my goodness. Was it always lot too strong or was it something else was baby? Je Lai Chi then you get the followers. Yeah fantastic know that is so so cool. Like yeah. I love that. It's kind of just stuck and people have probably just started calling you that people don't even know my real name. No, no, no. No, I'm gonna reveal all in this podcast. Sorry everyone. I should have called you a lot to the whole my throat. Now that's amazing. I really like that and I think it shows so much. About your humility and honesty in this whole process. So absolutely epic. You've been a pleasure to work with and I could not wait for more things to come. So thank you so much for being here. We hope you've enjoyed today's podcast with a beautiful Lavinia. If you're not following her in her journey already, you can find her act like she's strong on your Instagram account. If you would like to follow compete and you're not already then we are at compete nutrition. So compy underscore nutrition on Instagram. And at Complete Nutrition odds on Facebook, we share lots of content a very non BS approach. If you are interested in any of our recipes that Lavinia is always whipping up in the kitchen and making look way better than we ever did you can absolutely access those on our website. If you head to our memberships page and login to the knowledge Hub account, you can access all of our recipes along with lots of different learning module videos so that you're learning about nutrition you're feeling empowered about your nutrition and food. Goals along with accessing all of our recipes and things along with it. So if you have enjoyed today's podcast, we would love for you to leave a review and also make sure that you actually subscribe to our account every little bit of feedback that you give every rating that you give helps us for business grow. So we thank you so much for joining us today and looking forward to the next episode of the combat waffle.
FREE NUTRITION ASSESSMENT FROM SPORT NUTRITION PROFESSIONALS!! Lavinia Kava (@lychee.strong) is a Strong(woman) and all round legend! Her messaging, her Journey and the beautiful words she uses to explain how far she's come in the last three years just needed to be shared with the world. She has achieved these goals through small gradual changes that adapted and changed over time. She didn't necessarily have a major end goal in mind all the time, but rather a collection of smaller habits and achievements all rolled into one. How she has achieved her progress is something that we try to encourage in all our athletes at Compeat Nutrition. It just goes to show why she's inspiring so many within her instagram, strongman and cultural community. Within our waffle podcast, we love to put the spotlight on a range of athletes of all different levels, shapes, sizes and abilities. The main reason is that we truly believe that everyone who comes to work with us has one brilliant story to share... and we would love to share it with you!! We also share snippets  of information that is all things performance nutrition. If you'd like to go through our previous episodes, you'll find a lot lot more on that! And we also run Facebook and Instagram live Q&As every Thursday night. If you haven't caught one of those yet, please jump on! We cover a different topic every time and we love to get your questions, feedback and ideas on topics each week. If you have any further questions or simply want to keep up to date with all the cool stuff we have going on, make sure to check out our socials: Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/compeat_nutrition/   Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/compeatnutritionaus/ 