The Power of Unmatched Support: How CBG Changed Jess Smalling’s Nutrition Journey
As a former bodybuilder, Jess Smalling was way too familiar with restrictive diets and macro counting.
And she knew it wasn’t what she wanted anymore.
“It wasn’t something that worked for me. It made me neurotic,” she said.
At the same time, at 5-foot-3 Smalling knew she wanted to gain some muscle mass, and she knew she wasn’t eating enough to reach her goals.
“I wanted to get stronger, so the game plan was to figure out how to get food in me to put on a bit of size,” she explained.
But she wasn’t sure how to do it on her own.
That’s when Smalling saw a post on Instagram Danielle Brandon had made about CBG.
It spoke to her, as she quickly learned the CBG Blueprint approach wasn’t going to ask her to weigh or measure or log the exact number of grams of protein she ate each day.
Taking the Plunge
Last October, Smalling was teamed up with CBG Coach Amanda Jeffrey.
At first, Smalling was a bit overwhelmed, as it felt like a lot of food.
“I was like, ‘Dude, how am I supposed to get all this in?’ And it’s hard because I’m a vet tech, and it’s hard to eat at work, but I have been making it a priority. Sometimes I go to the bathroom to eat,” she said, laughing.
Seven months later, the results speak for themselves.
Smalling’s actual weight hasn’t changed much, but she says her body composition is completely different. She’s stronger and leaner and couldn’t be happier with her progress.
“This is the most I have eaten in my entire life, and it’s also the best I have ever felt and looked,” Smalling said.
Further, she’s reaching her goals in the gym as well. Despite dealing with a back injury, her back squat is improving and she recently hit a 195 pounds clean, just five pounds shy of her ultimate goal of hitting 200 pounds for the first time this year.
Smalling also credits her dialled-in nutrition with helping her body recover and handle the volume of training she is currently doing as she prepares for the TYR Wodapalooza SoCal as well as running a marathon in September. This has her training twice a day five days a week.
“I genuinely feel better. My body can actually handle it all. I’m not just driving myself into the ground hoping for the best,” she said, adding that her relationship with food has also “100 percent” improved.
“It has made me more mindful about how I’m fueling, rather than being like, ‘If I don’t hit these numbers, I’m going to explode,’” she added.
Smalling’s Message: The Support is Unmatched
Smalling has worked with nutrition coaches before, but nobody compares to what
Jeffrey has given her, she said.
Not only are the weekly video call check-ins invaluable, but she also knows she can fire a question off to Jeffrey any time she has one. Additionally, she’s able to communicate with Jeffrey on a competition weekend, like she did when she was competing in Miami at TYR Wodapalooza in January and had competition fueling questions.
“You really feel supported, versus just putting numbers into an app. And it swaps your frame of mind around food and makes it enjoyable so it doesn’t feel like a job…It takes the stress out of it,” Smalling said.
She added: “It’s worth it. I have worked with nutritionists before, and this is hands down the best support I have had yet.”