The One Thing That Transformed My Fitness Journey: Juli Bauer, Founder of PaleOMG
Meet Juli Bauer, founder of PaleOMG. Unlike many fitness gurus, she openly admits she is obsessed with food. At one time, she loved and devoured Oreos and cookies like it was her job. But  her life changed when she discovered CrossFit. However, even though she began working her ass off, she wasnât seeing the results she felt she deserved. Thatâs when she realized there was something missing, something that would change her life forever. Enter: her journey to paleo, and the birth of her brand, PaleOMG, and at least three cookbooks to date.
A photo posted by @paleomg on May 17, 2016 at 12:37pm PDT
Hard Relationship With Food
I had a really hard time with food growing up. I had eating disorders. I had body image issues. I had all these issues with food, and it was amazing that food actually became my medicine in the end- this thing that I fought with for so long. Through the years, and my body has gone up and down in weight. I finally was able to really listen to my body and share that with others.
Diet Was The Missing Piece
At the beginning of my nutrition journey, I went on CrossFit.com and saw one of the main tabs was diet and nutrition. I figured, these people knew what they were talking about. There has to be something about it. I started reading into the Zone diet and tried it out. This fueled into a huge curiosity into this thing called âpaleoâ I kept hearing about. I actually had Loren Cordain as a professor in college, who wrote The Paleo Diet. So, I feel like it was always following me.
From Oreos to Paleo Oreos
Once I realized I wanted to compete in CrossFit, I decided to take the plunge. I did CrossFit full out in a gym and went full on Paleo. It was an extremely hard transition, and it was very, very slow. On my book tours I always say, this is not an overnight thing. Itâs not easy. It took time and dedication. I started out eating Paleo Monday through Friday, and then going HAM on the weekends. And slowly, over time, Iâve brought it under control to the point where I eat only one cheat meal a week.
My old eating habits made me feel terrible, my energy went down, my workouts were crappy, so it made me want to stick Paleo more and more. It probably took me to 6-9 months to be able to change over to a Paleo lifestyle, and that was still binging on the weekends.Â
It took me at least 2-3 years to become full-on Paleo and completely gluten free.Â
I say this to put things into perspective for you and to not get discouraged. Patience is a virtue.
Juliâs newest cookbook on Amazon, Paleo Cooking ($24)
Teaching Myself How To Cook
I never thought Iâd do a food blog or cook books. It was never my goal or even in the back of my mind. I started blogging about 5-6 years ago, and I had no idea what a blog was. When I started Paleo, I didnât know how to cook at all. It was either freezer meals or eggs. I had to teach myself to cook. I started looking up recipes online, which are nothing like they are today. I Googled terms I didnât know and taught myself over time how to cook healthier meals.
It's pretty amazing what we can do to our bodies when we set goals for ourselves and set out to achieve them. These photos span across 7 years and I had different priorities in every single one. Every one of these stages and how they changed throughout. Goals change, hormones change, stressors change. But if we continue to work hard and experiment with what we are capable of, we will see the benefits. It may not be in that moment or that month or even that year, but the more persistent and the more consistent we are, the more we will see the changes and be able to be proud of our accomplishments. Check out PaleOMGÂ today for all the details of how I changed mentally and physically over the past 7 years!
I found that with my voice and through PaleOMG, I can help others find that food can actually help us find a happy place, a place where youâre comfortable in your own skin. Because Iâve been able to do that, I know other people can do that as well. And at first, it was hard to find my voice. But through my journey, itâs become more clear over time. And as many people know, your mid 20âs are a huge transitional time. Being 28 now, Iâm starting to find out who I want to be and who that person is. Iâve gone through many bumps along the road, and my blog has been a diary of all those bumps.
âThe biggest lesson Iâve learned is listen to your body, more than anything.â
Take Control Of Your Health
My vision for all women is to be kind to one another. We have to support each other and build each other up. You never know what someone else is going through, especially people you donât know. So many times weâre brought down by other people. I just want to make people healthier, and make them motivated. For women especially, I want them to feel like they can do something, and to realize that you can take control of your health.
What You Put In Is What You Get
Itâs not a one step process. Health or fitness, whatever your goal is, itâs going to take time. The more effort and time you put into it, the more results you will see. Be patient, be persistent, be consistent.
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Image Credits: PaleOMG.com, paleopaparazzi.com
