The Author BookTok Loves That I Outgrew and the One Nobody Is Talking About Enough Yet | The Unfiltered Bookshelf Vol. 2 | Ep.117

The Author BookTok Loves That I Outgrew and the One Nobody Is Talking About Enough Yet | The Unfiltered Bookshelf Vol. 2 | Ep.117

The shelf is growing. And this volume gets completely unfiltered. Volume 1 of The Unfiltered Bookshelf started with a TBI that took reading from me for two years and the author who gave it back. If you have not listened to that one yet go find it first because it is the foundation of everything this series is built on. Volume 2 is where things get honest. I have read every Colleen Hoover book. I kept exactly two of them. And I am going to tell you which two, why those two earned a permanent place on the shelf behind me, and why everything else did not. Not as a pile-on. As someone whose reading taste has evolved and who is not apologizing for it. And then I am going to introduce you to Alice Feeney. The author who has been quietly sitting in BookTok's shadow while Beautiful Ugly finally starts getting the attention her entire catalog deserves. She is a slow burn author who delivers twists that do not stop. And she earned her place on my shelf faster than almost any author I have read this year. Plus two more Freida McFadden additions that pushed deeper into what she is capable of. One that is so completely unhinged it has to be experienced. One that gets mixed reviews because of its content but hit until the absolute final page with a final twist that is going to be devastating when it gets adapted. In This Volume: The Colleen Hoover conversation nobody is having without making it bigger than it needs to be. Why Confess and Verity are the only two five star reads in her catalog for me and what makes Verity the most interesting outlier she has ever written. The honest three out of five on Woman Down. Introducing Alice Feeney and why she deserves more attention than she is getting. The full style comparison between Alice Feeney and Freida McFadden so you know which one to reach for and when. Reviews of His and Hers, My Husband's Wife, Rock Paper Scissors, and Beautiful Ugly. Dear Debbie rated four out of five and absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. The Teacher rated four point five out of five and the twist that will haunt you. Plus Lucy Foley and Mary Kubica join the stack for the first time. The shelf is growing. Come see what earned its place. Shop every book mentioned in this episode: Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/ginamariefit [https://www.amazon.com/shop/ginamariefit] ShopMy Unfiltered Bookshelf: https://shopmy.us/ginamariefit/the-unfiltered-bookshelf [https://shopmy.us/ginamariefit/the-unfiltered-bookshelf] Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit [https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit] Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit [https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit] Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit [https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit] Listen on all podcast platforms: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/ [https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/] Website and Blog: https://ginamariefit.com/ [https://ginamariefit.com/] New Unfiltered Bookshelf volumes drop monthly. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Built Different | Bianca of Discolates: From Disability and Self-Doubt to Building a Movement on Her Own Terms | Ep.116

What happens when the very things that made life hardest become the foundation of everything you build? That is exactly the story Bianca, founder of Discolates, tells in this raw and unfiltered Built Different series episode. Bianca was diagnosed with epilepsy, later uncovering ADHD and dyscalculia, a number-based processing condition that nearly kept her from graduating high school. She spent years feeling misunderstood, minimizing who she was to make others comfortable, and questioning whether there was a place in this world for someone who thought and moved differently. Then she built Discolates. What started as a creative outlet during COVID has grown into a full movement rooted in liberation, intentional fitness, and radical acceptance. But the path to get there included trademark infringement battles, burnout, building a business while holding down a full-time job in the nonprofit space, and learning to trust her intuition when everything around her said slow down. In this episode we go deep on: The late diagnosis journey and what it taught her about identity and resilience. How her disability shaped the very DNA of the Discolates experience. Why she almost quit more times than people know. The trademark battle that nearly cost her everything she built. What it really means to build a brand rooted in your personal story. The fine line between community and business and why boundaries matter. And why her brain, once her greatest source of pain, is now her greatest superpower. This one will stay with you. Bianca is the definition of Built Different. New Built Different episodes drop the last Tuesday of every month. Subscribe, leave a review, and let Bianca know in the comments what resonated with you most. Connect with Bianca: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discolates [https://www.instagram.com/discolates] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@discolates [https://www.tiktok.com/@discolates] Sweatpals: https://sweatpals.com/host/Discolates [https://sweatpals.com/host/Discolates] Connect with the podcast: Mindset Health and Empowerment: The Unfiltered Trainer Podcast by subscribing. Episodes drop every Tuesday.

The When I Get There Trap: Why the Life You Are Waiting For Is Costing You the Life You Already Have | Ep. 115

When the debt is paid I will finally feel okay. When the revenue hits I will be able to breathe. When life calms down I will start taking care of myself. How many of those sentences did you just recognize? Because every single one of them makes your happiness conditional. Every single one of them places joy somewhere in the future past a milestone, past a financial number, past a version of your life that the world told you was the acceptable place to finally exhale. And while you are waiting to get there the actual life you are living right now is passing by. This episode is about the when I get there trap. The pattern of postponing your own joy until the conditions are approved by a checklist you did not write for yourself. Where it comes from. What it is costing you in real specific measurable terms. Why high achievers are the most vulnerable to it. And what it actually looks like to start building joy into the life you have right now. Not the one that is coming. This one. In This Episode: What the societal checklist actually is and why it was never yours to begin with. Why the goalposts keep moving even after you hit the milestone. The specific cost of postponing joy until the conditions are right. What your life is missing while you wait. Why ambition and the inability to rest in a win are deeply connected. The difference between drive that builds you and drive that depletes you. What joy actually looks like in an imperfect life that is still under construction. And what Gina is doing differently right now in real time. When you keep striving for life to be a to-do list or a societally approved checklist you lose the joy in building the life you actually have right now. This episode is about burning the checklist. Stay Connected: Listen on all podcast platforms: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/ Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit Website and Blog: https://ginamariefit.com/ Subscribe so you never miss a Tuesday episode.

How a TBI Stole Reading From Me for Two Years and the Author Who Gave It Back | The Unfiltered Bookshelf Ep. 1 | Freida McFadden Reviews

After my car accident and the TBI that came with it I could not read. Not would not. Could not. Letters came out backwards. Reading went right to left when the page went left to right. What my brain was thinking and what came out on the page did not match. Retention was gone. Concentration was fractured. Eye tracking was completely off. For two years I could not finish a book. And for someone who grew up using intelligence as the one level playing field in an unstable world, losing access to reading was one of the most disorienting and frightening things I have ever experienced. And then in January I picked up The Tenant by Freida McFadden. And I finished it. For the first time since my accident I finished a full book without struggling. Without the letters betraying me. Without breaking down. I read four books that month. And what I did not know when I picked up the first one was who Freida McFadden actually is. She is a physician who specializes in brain injuries and disorders. That is not a coincidence I know how to explain. I just know what it meant. This is the first episode of The Unfiltered Bookshelf, a brand new monthly series on Mindset, Health, Empowerment: The Unfiltered Trainer. Every month I will share what I am reading, my unfiltered ratings and reactions, what you should pick up, and what you should skip. No literary pretension. No book report. Just honest opinions from someone who loves stories and wants to share them with the people who come here for exactly this kind of real conversation. In This Episode: The full story of my TBI and what it took from me cognitively. What two years without reading actually felt like when intelligence had always been my foundation. The moment I finished The Tenant and what that meant. Who Freida McFadden is and why that detail stopped me completely. And unfiltered reviews of all four books I read in January including The Tenant, The Crash, Never Lie, and The Housemaid. Book Ratings: The Tenant by Freida McFadden: 4 out of 5 The Crash by Freida McFadden: 3.75 out of 5 Never Lie by Freida McFadden: 4.5 out of 5 The Housemaid by Freida McFadden: 4.5 out of 5 CONNECT AND SHOP Listen on all podcast platforms:  https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/ [https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/] Follow on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit [https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit] Follow on TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit [https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit] Watch full video reviews on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit [https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit] Shop all books on my Amazon Storefront:  https://www.amazon.com/shop/ginamariefit [https://www.amazon.com/shop/ginamariefit] Website and Blog:  https://ginamariefit.com/ [https://ginamariefit.com/] Subscribe so you never miss a Tuesday episode or a monthly Unfiltered Bookshelf drop. And if you pick up any of these Freida McFadden books after listening DM me on Instagram and tell her what you thought.

Why the Wellness Industry Will Celebrate Your Botox and Filler But Shame Your GLP-1 Injections | Ep. 113

Let me paint you a picture. Someone walks into a room and they have clearly had work done. Botox. Filler. The room responds with you look amazing. Tell me your injector. Now that same person mentions they are using a GLP-1 medication prescribed by their doctor to manage a chronic weight condition that their body has been fighting for years. And suddenly the room has a completely different response. You are taking the easy way out. That is cheating. You have not earned it. Both are injections. Both modify the body. Both are personal medical decisions made with a healthcare provider. And yet one is a wellness flex and the other is a moral failure. That is a double standard. A glaring, hypocritical, industrywide double standard. And this episode is naming it directly. In This Episode: Why the specific comparison between botox, filler, and GLP-1s exposes a logic the wellness industry cannot defend. What the judgment is actually about and why it has nothing to do with the medication itself. The fitness industry's long history of selective standards around steroids, cosmetic surgery, and disordered eating repackaged as discipline. The weight stigma at the root of all of it and why the judgment followed the stigma not the science. And what bodily autonomy actually looks like when it is applied consistently across every personal medical decision a person makes about their own body. This is the most unfiltered thing I have said on this show in a long time. And it needed to be said. Stay Connected: Listen on all podcast platforms: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/ [https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/] Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit [https://www.instagram.com/ginamariefit] Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit [https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamariefit] Website and Blog: https://ginamariefit.com/ [https://ginamariefit.com/] Subscribe so you never miss a Tuesday episode. Share this with every trainer and wellness professional who has ever had an opinion about what someone else does with their own body. And DM me on Instagram if this episode said something you needed to hear.