UX3 Restoration Radio talks to Jennifer Nicole Lee about the power that exercise and nutrition plays in our life and what to do about it.
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John Rowley: Hello this is John Rowley and welcome to UX3 Restoration Radio. We’ve got an incredible guest today. She’s a good friend of mine. She’s got a very, very compelling story. Through her ups and downs in life she’s actually turns it into a career where she’s helping millions of people worldwide. Our guest today is Jennifer Nicole Lee. Jennifer, how are you today?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: I’m great. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be a guest on your podcast, on your radio show, and everyone out there listening, this is going to be a very powerful podcast. You’re going to walk away empowered and motivated. Thanks for your time today. John.
John Rowley: I appreciate it, Jennifer. I’m excited as well. We’ve been friends for a few years. I know your back story, but a lot of the people listening to us may not. Can you give me your educational background, what led you to where you are today?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Absolutely. I always say that thoughts become things, but if you were to tell me that I’d be right here right now being interviewed on your radio show empowering all of our listeners when I was just a little girl, first generation Italian, growing up in a very rural town, really pretty much on the poverty level, that I would actually amount to something, I had all the odd stacked against me. I as really lost until I got real with myself which wasn’t until I became a mother.
It was a long journey to actually have that snap in my head saying, “You know what? I’ve got to take control of my life. No one’s going to give me my dreams on a silver platter. I got to learn the hard way. I’m sick and tired of hitting my head against the wall trying to figure it out, and going nowhere fast like a gerbil on a wheel, just no traction going nowhere fast.”
Growing up in a very dark, childhood. My father was never around. My mom was working three jobs. It was just me and my brother and my other sisters fending for ourselves, living off food stamps and getting assistance from our church, always being left out and not fitting in. I remember, first generation Italian in a very small town outside Hendersonville Tennessee, I really stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a very hard childhood at the time, however it gave me all of the hard knocks of life that I needed to pick myself up time and time again to say, “You know what? Yeah I had a hard time in my life, but now I’m going to do it and make it happen.”
Even after you chase your dreams and you go after your education and you get your resume and you get all your accolades, that’s even more difficult than just growing up how I did. Long story short, really came from nothing, came from nowhere. Here I am today, motivating the masses through all of my books and sharing these very sincere and genuine communications like you. You’re a great leader, great visionary. I had the honor of knowing you for a long time and you do the same. I always believe that the cream always rises to the top. I’m honored to be on the show and share my story with everyone.
John Rowley: I think it’s incredible. You said you were raised in Tennessee, so you went to high school in Tennessee?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Yes.
John Rowley: Where did you go to college?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: I went to college at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Go Big Orange.
John Rowley: What did you study back then?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: I studied, actually, international relations and theater, which I loved to perform and communicate, which actually helped me really be able to learn how to express myself powerfully to connect with other people. I really enjoyed that. International relations come into play a lot now with all the craziness in the world, but I always had my fat suit on. I always yo-yoed up and down, first generation Italian, born with a fat gene, didn’t really know how to get in control of me weight. That was another issue that I think a lot of people know me, from my story, from. After I became a mom, I said, “You know, it’s finally time to get off this yo-yo of being up and down on the scale, and finally say goodbye to my fat suit.” It was just very painful. You know about that, John, after writing all of your books and all the shows that you’ve done, that people really emotionally eat because they’re lost, they’re alone, they’re insecure. It’s emotional medicine. After I went and got out of school and became a mom is when i really finally got real with myself.
John Rowley: Between school and getting into the fitness world, did you have a career or were you just a full-time mom? Not just a full-time mom, were you a full time mom?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Right. Not at all. I didn’t work out at all. I didn’t even know how to work out. I thought working out was two hours of cardio, eating about eight hundred to a thousand calories a day because that’s what I saw. I saw the cardio queens, “More cardio! More cardio!” I did that, and I got all the way down to that magic number on the scale, and then I realized, I’m still not happy. Not only that, I’m lethargic. I have no energy. I’m not strong, I’m skinny, and my metabolism was so out of whack from starving myself and doing those endless bouts of cardio that I would look at a piece of chocolate cake and I would just bounce back. I’d gain all the weight back plus some.
I went to school, battled with that, then I moved to Miami, and here I am in North Cuba, where they take fat and they fry it in fat and they call it a Chicharróne. Here I am, I gained more weight, rice and beans, plantains. The women down here in Miami give new meaning to curves. I gained a lot more weight, then I became a mother. After I gave birth to my second son, I said, “Wow. I’m falling into the same trap that my mom did and her mom did. I’m creating that continual lineage of being out of shape, having no energy, complaining, emotional eating and not really having control of my life.”
John, it wasn’t even just about the food. It was about not even having control of my life mentally, physically, emotionally. Then I said, “You know what? I got to learn from the masters.” I didn’t learning it growing up. I didn’t learn it in my childhood, didn’t learn it at college, didn’t learn it by becoming a mom. I got all the advice in the world after you become a mom, you know that John, you become a parent, you get all this advice. I said, “I got to model myself after people that I want to be like.” I started reading and researching and seeing people who were in control of their life, who were living the life that I wanted to have, that were powerful, that were affluent, that were happy and upbeat.
I started reading all of their books, doing their seminars and I really realized that I can do it too, and here I am being the author of over ten books now and a successful business and really enjoying my life. It can happen. You have to really fight for it. You have to want it, and you have to finally be ready to break the cycles.
John Rowley: After you had the kids, a lot of moms go through that. They put weight on and then they’re not quite sure how to handle it. Some of it’s hormonal, some of it is bad practice as far as eating and not exercising properly. What do you think was the number one thing that you did back then to help turn your health and fitness around?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: That’s a great question. I’d have to say that I went from what was being told to me, which was cardio cardio cardio and low fat and low calories, to actually weight training and a high to moderate quality protein diet, which you really reinforce with your protein line and everything you coach and promote. It really is the fountain of youth. You know that being a successful gym owner in the past and working with other fitness competitors and body builders, that muscle tone is truly the fountain of youth. I start a weight training and I started eating high quality protein and drinking my protein shakes, which, by the way, I love your line, a quick little plug there.
It really was about out-learning what I was told and then learning from looking at people’s bodies and saying, “She’s not skinny. She actually has glutes and beautiful quads and beautiful shoulder caps and muscle tone. I want to look like that. What is she doing?” I had to really reeducate myself, and now you can see how the trend has really changed strong is the new skinny. Women want to look empowered and strong, and really have that athletic muscle tone. Those are a couple things that I did.
John Rowley: That’s really good. I find that a lot of women, I don’t know if you thought this way, but a lot of women think that if they start lifting weights they’re going to start looking like a football player. Did you have that mental barrier, or did that not bother you?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Right. That’s a great point, and yeah, ladies out there, please do not be afraid of embracing the weight training because you think you might get thick or bulky, or you might get too wide or get big. That’s the opposite. I learned the hard way doing that eight hundred calorie cabbage soup diet, and then doing all this cardio, I got so thin that if I ate a small little piece of chocolate I would just gain the weight. It really messed with my metabolism. When you do the weight training you’re actually going to shrink in size because your muscle tone is going to get tighter and smaller and more compact. That’s a really big myth, and I’m glad we’re able to bust that myth today. Women, you’ve got to embrace the weights. You will thank me. Your body will thank you, and everyone else will thank you too because you’ll actually have more energy as well.
John Rowley: That’s exactly right. Muscle is smaller than fat so it’s more compact. A lot of people say, “All I want to do is tone up.” What give you the tone is your muscles. Bones and ligaments don’t give you any shape at all.
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Right, and we’ve seen the lady at the beach that, maybe she’s a size zero too, but she’s saggy. She’s got saggy skin. She might be small and skinny, but she’s saggy. You want to have that beautiful, sleek, sexy muscle tone that looks like you were sculpted out of marble, absolutely.
John Rowley: I agree. When you were restoring your own body and restoring your life to where you wanted it to be, did you find that the mental aspect played a little role in it as well, not just the diet and exercise, but maybe the way you looked at diet and exercise, looked at your life, tried to keep empowered and positive? Did you find that important?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Yeah. Absolutely, John. That’s the horse before the cart. A lot of people think, “I’ll start exercising and eating healthy and then I’ll get the results that I want.” That only lasts for two weeks. That’s like the New Years resolution. You have to start with your mind, which I always say in my seminars, in my interviews that your mind is the strongest muscle of your body. You have to exercise it. You have to have strong decision making muscles. A lot of people have wimpy decision making muscles and they really don’t know what they want. They don’t have the clarity, they don’t actually stop and say, “Let me visualize how I want to look. Let me see what my after is.” They don’t take that time.
Yes, your mindset, you have to be really real with yourself, like I got real with myself, and I love the theme of your podcast today, restoration. The definition is the action of returning something to a former place or condition. The great thing was I didn’t have that. I didn’t have that, “Let me get healthy because I was healthy before.” I yo-yoed up and down. I did all the bad things that the whole industry conned me into believing was healthy. I had to stop and say, “Let me seek the truth. Let me find the universal truths.” Go to bed early, wake up early, a lot of water. Get your rest, meditate, think positive, and set out your goals, write them down, visualize.
These were the things the most powerful and prolific people and leaders do. That, not only helped me lose the weight, but also gain the confidence and gain the backbone and gain the assurance that not only will I achieve in my weight loss, but also all the other goals, career wise and helping other people wise. You can’t keep it unless you give it away. This is why I love doing interviews with you and sharing all the success secrets and clues that I’ve learned along the way, the hard way from really wanting to know what they are.
John Rowley: I agree with you and you touched on something that I think is really important. You said, “Get up the right time, go to sleep at the right time. Drink your water.” Did you find that habit transformation was an important part of your, not only your physical success in transforming or restoring your body, but also in your business success? Do you find that having healthy habits or good habits are important to you?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Absolutely, discipline, respecting the system, it is so important. When I first became a mom that’s when I had to get real because it as no more stating up until two o’clock in the morning and eating garlic bread sticks in bed and waking up at eleven, and then just dabbling though the day. I had to get on a really good system that I had to departmentalize everything and have a good schedule. That flooded way over, not only into my personal weight loss life, but also career. It’s about the respect and discipline, just like a fighter, you have to be disciplined. Just like a business CEO, you have to be disciplined. Just like a fitness competitor on that competition level, discipline and having a system that works.
I don’t want to know McDonald’s, but the reason why they’re still here today is because the systems that they’ve put into place, they’re just not throwing stuff against the wall hoping it sticks, which I did half of my life until I became a mom. Yes, the discipline and respecting your time, respecting you as a person, self love, self respect. That is not only weight loss, but also fro career and business and setting your goals and making them happen.
John Rowley: I agree. With your habits, I have my day set up a certain way where I pretty much do the same thing as every day. What does a day in the life of Jennifer Nicole Lee look like?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Wow.
John Rowley: I’m not talking about when you’re traveling, just a regular day at home.
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Right. Absolutely. It sounds cliché, but when I wake up I wake up early. I like to get up early before my sons do just so I can get my mind right. I always start with, it doesn’t have to be a prayer, but just a attitude of gratitude, “Thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to do something new and help others, and to continue on my journey.” I always have that mental attitude adjustment right when I wake up. Then I definitely have the most important meal of the day which is breakfast. Everyone out there listening, it seems minute, but it is essential. You’ve got to have breakfast. It really us your largest and most important meal of the day. Then I’ll do my most important business meeting of the day which is my workout. I really do schedule in my workouts like important business meetings that I can’t be late to, call in sick to, not show up. After that, I feel like I’ve already had a successful day.
Then I’ll do my meetings, and then I’ll do other agendas or emails or interviews or photo shoots after that. That’s pretty much basically the fundamental foundations, the principles that make me have a successful day. Then the rest of the week has a certain week, Sunday I always do my grocery shopping so I have my soup prepped for the rest of the week. That’s about it. That’s a day in the life of, sounds boring, but it helps.
John Rowley: Routine is important. Sometimes routine sounds boring, but if you have a routine I think it empowers you to do what you want to do in life. How do you structure your workouts throughout the week? Do you work out four days a week, five, how do you work out?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Yeah, that’s a great question. I work out on how I feel very intrinsically, however back in the day when I first started I was very rigid in my workouts. I have that a little bit still in my workouts today. Monday, hardest workout of the week, legs lower body because then this way I just jolt my body. Tuesday I’ll do cardio and abs. Wednesday will be upper body. Thursday will be cardio and abs. Friday will be a total body. I usually do something on Saturday that’s maybe not so rigid, and then Sunday is my rest day. I’ll repeat that. If there’s a certain part of my body, if I want to dial in more or chisel more in, I will then address that more during the week.
I really suggest and urge everyone out there listening to take time to look at their body and see how they feel because your trainer won’t know that. You know that. Get to know your body very well. I wanted to really work on a certain part of my body so I addressed that. The same thing with everyone out there listening, enjoy the process because I always say that working out is an art form. It’s not a horrible thing that you have to do. It’s actually very creative, and it’s fun. When you start seeing the results you actually feel like you are an artist creating the body that you want. That’s the fun of it, especially with [weight 00:21:14] training because you get to sculpt and chisel your body the way you want it.
John Rowley: I agree with that. For everybody listening, I know a lot of people are thinking, “Okay, Jennifer can go to the gym and work out. She works for herself.” I find in my life, I work for myself. I work for the biggest maniac in the world, and I’m harder on myself than anybody. Jennifer has a busy day. That’s my point. She has a very busy day. The thing is, when you described your workout, I could figure out how many hours a week you work out. Tell the audience, approximately how many hours do you put into your physical fitness a week, not counting eating. Just in the gym time.
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Right. That’s a great question. I always believe in getting at least four good, solid workouts in a week, and then I always believe in eating healthy and then I’ll enjoy one cheat meal a week. I think that the system, going back to what we said earlier in the podcast, is that the system really takes out all that guessing work and that blurred confusion out. If you just do your workout, [first 00:22:14] in a progress have your six healthy meals a day, have your protein shakes. Really believe in that. You’ve have that elbow room to then really focus on your other areas of your life. I want to also say, John, a lot of people think that we have a very easy lifestyle being an entrepreneur, deciding how we want to spend our day. It’s actually opposite.
Everyone out there, God bless you that you get to clock and clock out, get your check and go home and leave the problems with the CEO and the top management. We go to sleep with those sleep with those problems. It’s not only the physical duties to want to look good and feel good, but also the mental. You have to keep yourself very mentally sharp and strong. Not everyone is cut out for it. I enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge physically, mentally being into my fitness and also being my own business owner. The challenge really entices me. It feeds my spirit. A lot of people might not really understand the challenges that we go through daily. I think it goes hand in hand. It goes hand in hand.
John Rowley: I met Leann Rimes a few times. I met her in a gym actually. She was picking my brain, her and her husband. I asked her, I said, “You definitely make time to work out all the time?” She goes, “If I don’t make time to work out, I don’t have time to do the rest of the things I need to do.”
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Absolutely.
John Rowley: You find that in your life also, that the working out, keeping healthy actually gives you more energy to be more effective with your family and your business?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: That’s a great point. I love what she said. A lot of people say, “Oh, I don’t have time to workout.” If you don’t have the time to workout then, wow. I don’t know what, twenty minutes a day just to do something, set yourself up for success. A lot of times I have to do a home workout, but those are some of the best workouts because I get to focus, I get to do a full body circuit at home. You don’t need to park, go into the gym, workout. That’s great too if you want to do it that way, but there’s no excuses. To back up Leann Rimes’ point, you will have more energy and more focus and more of a quality of a time doing everything else in your life if you then take your priorities first which is your workout.
John Rowley: I agree. With regards to hours, how many hours a week do you think that you put into the gym itself?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: I would say I don’t believe in working out more than an hour a session because then I really believe you’re over training, and then it gets more of a mundane workout. You’re getting results than more results, because there is such a thing as over training. Your muscles don’t have time to recover. I would say maybe four hours a week. If I get four workouts in a week I’m happy. If I do five, even better. If I do six it’s because I’m really feening for it. You guys know what I’m talking about. When you start working out and eating good and eating healthy, your body starts craving the workout and you feel so much better after the workouts, so four, five hours a week.
John Rowley: That’s terrific. So many people will say, “I don’t have the time.” Everybody has four or five hours a week. I don’t care how busy you are. Even if you have to get up early and do it. Jen, can you give your main website. I would like everybody to go visit Jennifer’s website right now. Look and see what she looks like. She’s putting four hours a week in, tops five. See what she looks like and see what she’s doing because you can do the same thing. Plus she’s got resources on that site to help you. What is the main site, Jennifer?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Yes. My website is jennifernicolelee.com. Just like you said John, it is a great resource to get inspiration, to get inspired to perspire. Sometimes you need a little kick in the butt. Great subjects on the blog, cellulite, stretch marks, how to make time in your life as a busy mom, a lot of great resources that I didn’t have when I first started. We both believe you can’t keep it unless you give it away. Passing that torch of motivation to everyone out there listening is my passion. Check it out.
John Rowley: What was that site again, the link to that site?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Absolutely. That’s jennifernicolelee.com and then I have a really great digital product called joltofjnl.com. That’s where you can really figure out what to do, and more importantly, what not to do to stop wasting your time. I know a lot of people out there, John, you’ve coached and talked a lot of people, they’re spending the time the money and the energy and they’re getting nowhere fast. I love what you do. That’s what I do which is just keep it simple, keep it focused. You’re going to learn about what to eat, what not to eat, how to think, how to keep yourself positive and motivated, other people’s success stories, because when we learn from others we continue to grow spiritually on our journey. That’s joltofjnl.com.
The great thing is is that it’s a digital product. You don’t have to read a lot. It’s videos that, you’re a workaholic like me, you love what you do and I love what I do. Last year recorded all these videos exclusive content for our members. I believe in it. That’s my gift to the world. We’ve gotten great success stories from it. Thank you for allowing me to share that with all your listeners.
John Rowley: I appreciate it, actually wanted to share it for a reason because several months ago we had a chance to review it. I didn’t review the whole program, but I had part of my team review what I didn’t review. It’s a phenomenal product, phenomenal resource, and you put a lot of effort into that. I really think it’s a good resource for people to go to, and to go to your main website.
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Thank you.
John Rowley: As far as the future holds for you, where are you going with the future? I know you got books, you got the website, you do modeling, you do infomercials. What direction are you going in?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: I have really designed and created my career up until now. I’ve been blessed by God to have turned forty this past summer. I’m really enjoying the fruits of my labor that I’ve invested in the fitness industry for the past almost fifteen years. I’m working on another book. I’m working on another infomercial which I’ll be filming the first week of December, which is a great vertical climber, so people who like to mountain climb and get a total body workout in the comfort in their own home, I’ll be filming that, and other great projects in the works. Honestly, that’s what I’ve planned, but I’m also making a nice open space for God to bless me with any other abundance and prosperity that I don’t even really see coming. That’s the fun part about it. Sometimes you plan and plan and plan, but if yo let go and let go other big blessings come. That’s also my new mindset for 2016 coming.
John Rowley: How true is that? We have a tendency to want to control our lives, some things are just out of control.
In closing, I’m trying to keep these to thirty minutes or less just so people can listen to them on the way to work. I want to have you back again because you’re always so great to have on, you’re always so transparent. You share so much. In closing is there anything I missed or anything that you would to tell the audience that maybe we didn’t cover?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Yeah. I’d like everyone to know that there is an opportunity in your life, daily, to reinvent yourself. Your past does not equal your future. Maybe you’re stuck in a rut, you don’t know where to go, but John, listen to his podcast, visit his website. Looking back at the book that I had the honor of being interviewed long ago, The Power of Positive Fitness: Maximizing Physical, Mental & Spiritual Health. That book right there, that’s a classic. You offer so many great resources. We’re here to help you, and John is a leader, and I’m, again, honored to have this time on your show. With that being said, thank you, guys, for listening. Remember if you don’t believe in yourself, because I know how life is, just letting you know that I believe in you and I’m here praying for your success. Never give up. Get up, dust yourself off and try again. Keep on trying.
John Rowley: That’s great. Jennifer, thank you so much for being with us today. Everybody out there, make sure you go visit Jen’s website jennifernicolelee.com. What was the other one again?
Jennifer Nicole Lee: It’s joltofjnl.com.
John Rowley: That’s right. Also, if you want to go, Jennifer had talked about protein. If you want to see really great meal replacement go to ux3nutrition.com to learn a little bit more about what we do, and you’ll be able to take a look at UX3 as well.
Thanks everybody for being here and I’ll see you next time.
Jennifer Nicole Lee: Thank you john. Have a great day everyone.
John Rowley: Thank you Jennifer.
