What Weight Loss Is Really About with Camille Martin, RD

Hi friends! I’m excited to share today’s episode with you as I think it’s a topic that many of us can relate to - weight loss. Camille Martin of Love to Lose is our guest on today’s show. She is a registered dietitian and public health writer who has dedicated her career to helping women get off of the dieting merry-go-round and actually set helpful goals for their health. You guys know that I talk about goals and mindset often and it’s something that I think is so important in anyone’s health journey, so I think Camille’s perspective on how those things affect weight loss is going to be helpful for you!

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Topics in this episode…

Weight loss is a common goal for most women, whether it's just a few lbs or a major weight loss goal. You say that in reality, it’s not about the actual weight, right? Can you explain what you mean by that and what you believe it is about instead?

How do mindset and the kind of goals we set affect whether or not we experience progress in our health journey? 

How does this affect women who are dealing with specific health issues? How can they focus on improving their symptoms without becoming obsessed with their health?

What is one practical action step that women can take today that will actually help move them forward with their health goals?

Learn more about Camille Martin of Love to Lose.

Not Seeing Results with Your Health Goals? This Could Be Why!

Hi friends! It’s the end of February and a lot of us are feeling 1 of 2 ways with our new year’s health goals - either confident and excited to keep going or frustrated and ready to call it quits. In this episode, I’m sharing some of the most common reasons that we tend to hit a wall this time of year and stop seeing the results that we think we should be seeing in our health - whether that’s weight loss or another health factor we are wanting to improve. I think this is going to be super practical and helpful for you, so let’s get into it! 

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While there are a lot of factors that can go into why we may feel that way, I have found that when people are feeling stuck or frustrated with a lack of results, there are usually some common culprits. So before you call it quits, evaluate how you’re doing in these 5 areas. 

Not enough quality sleep

Most of us don’t get enough sleep. We prioritize productivity over rest and we’re damaging our health. The recommendation is 7-9 hours of sleep and 2 hours of deep sleep (most of this happens before midnight). So really get intentional about your sleep - track it (Apple watch / Oura ring, Garmin smartwatch), set some hard boundaries, etc. (more ideas for optimizing sleep in episodes 29 and 69). 

Inadequate calorie/protein intake

Often when we think about weight loss or health goals, we think about eating less (which occasionally may be warranted) but I’ve found the opposite to be true more often than not. So many times when someone is experiencing difficulty losing weight or regulating blood sugar, healing their hormones, etc. - it’s because they aren’t eating enough. Not enough calories, or not often enough throughout the day, or even both! It’s also very common for women to not eat enough protein. 

I’m not a proponent of counting calories because I think we set ourselves up for an unhealthy obsession with our bodies and an unhealthy relationship with food by doing that; however, having said that sometimes it can be helpful to track for a couple of days (ONLY) just to gauge how much food we’re getting. Somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted this mindset that we should only be eating 1200 calories a day or something ridiculous, and for 99% of us, that is way under what our bodies need to actually function. Now, this is different for everyone, and I don’t want you to mishear what I’m saying and think that I’m saying that weight loss is the most important goal or that it’s as simple as kcals in/out because if you know me or have been around here for a while, you know that I don’t teach that at all. BUT I do believe that understanding the science behind how our bodies use food as energy is helpful. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to just basically function - you can find out this amount by using a BMR calculator. It will show you the number of kcals you need to just sit still and breathe. s the algorithm explains, this energy will be used only to maintain vital organs, which include the heart, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, intestines, liver, lungs, sex organs, muscles, and skin. For most people, upwards of 70% of the total energy burned each day is used for upkeep.

If you want energy to move or do anything at all you will need more and the calculator will base that on how active you are, if you’re pregnant, nursing, etc. Again, this isn’t as simple as this math equation, but it does provide a basic frame of understanding and supports the idea that major calorie restriction is not a good idea.

It’s also super common to not have enough intake of protein and have too high of an intake of either simple carbs or fats. A really simple rule of thumb here is to make sure that you’re not having any meal or snack that is just a carb (or just a protein, for that matter). The inclusion of all three macronutrients is important for stable blood sugar and metabolism. Somewhere around 25-30g protein per meal is a good goal and using the palm of your hand as a guide is a super easy, sustainable way to track this.

Too much or too little exercise

Another common issue I see often when someone isn’t seeing the progress that they want is an imbalance in their physical activity - either too much/too intense exercise or too little exercise. 

Regularly moving our bodies for somewhere between 15-45 minutes daily supports the function of our bodies in so many ways! It helps our bodies manage stress levels, helps promote deep sleep, aids in digestion and good gut motility, reduces chronic inflammation levels, increases oxygen, and therefore healing, to the body, helps with cognitive ability, supports stable hormones, and so much more. It’s a vital component of a healthy lifestyle! 

On the flip side, overtraining or doing too intense of a workout, or even too long of an intense workout can have some of the opposite effects leaving us feeling more exhausted and depleted; it can also raise inflammation levels, have a draining effect on our adrenal health and therefore hormone health, lead to digestive issues including bloating and constipation, add to insomnia, and when paired with a too restrictive way of eating, leave our bodies starving for energy. 

As with most things, there is a sweet spot for exercise, especially for women. 

Misaligned Mindset and Goals

I’ve talked about this a lot because this is one of the most common issues that I see and one that most of us simply overlook. I actually have a guest interview episode all about this that comes out in a couple of weeks, so I’m not going to go super deep into this, but I do want to give you a couple of things to think about. 

When we are setting goals from a place of negative feelings or feelings of shame about our bodies, we are likely keeping ourselves stuck right where we are. Those feelings may motivate you for a day or two, but most of the time they are going to lead you to feel like giving up or crashing on the couch instead of taking proactive steps to improve your health. 

However, if we can switch our mindset to setting goals tied to something we love or a dream we have for the future, we are much more likely to feel motivated to take those action steps. 

Behavior is driven by our mindset, not the other way around. 

There’s so much more to be said on this topic and as I said, I actually have an entire guest interview about this coming up in the next episode, so make sure you are subscribed and keep a lookout for that. 

I also have a youtube video dedicated to a healthy mindset and goal setting that you can watch. I’ll link that in the show notes so that you can get to it easily. It’s actually a clip from my Move Forward, Feel Better course and dives much more in-depth into how we can align our mindsets with the truth of who God made us to be. I truly believe that this is the missing piece for so many women who find themselves stuck in a cycle of dieting and frustration with their bodies. 

Have any of these common issues resonated with you? If so, I hope that you have found this episode helpful and it has given you some ideas to think through. The good news is that in each of these examples, we can easily make changes to address what’s going on. I encourage you to spend some time evaluating these areas of your lifestyle and brainstorming 2-3 very achievable steps that you can take to move forward. You’re doing a great job, friend! Just by taking the time to listen to this episode and give intentional thought to your health, you are moving forward, even if it doesn’t feel like it! 

Tips for Injury Prevention and Recovery with Dr. Blake Bohanan, DPT

Hey friends! In this episode, Dr. Blake Bohanan shares tips for preventing exercise-related injuries and best practices for recovering quickly should those injuries occur. He also shares about his journey into opening his own practice, Shift Performance PT, here in Knoxville, TN.

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Topics in this episode…

Why workout injuries are so common, especially this time of year. 

How to prevent common injuries from happening in the first place.

Best practices for recovering from exercise-related injuries

How the Shift Performance PT therapy model is different from traditional physical therapy.

Learn more about Shift Performance PT here.

"Balancing" A Healthy Lifestyle

Hi friends! Today we are jumping into the topic of “balancing” a healthy lifestyle and how I believe this idea of “balance” is leading a lot of us to burn out and or leaving us feeling stuck. Let’s get into it! 

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I think we’ve gotten too attached to the idea of balance, especially when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle or maintaining healthy habits. So often when I ask people what they’re most frustrated with or what they’re struggling with in regards to their health, I get a lot of responses about frustration with inconsistency with working out or how they’re eating as well as a lot of frustration with not being able to balance it all. The question - “how do I do all of this” comes up a lot. Sometimes a “healthy lifestyle” can feel like a whole lot of boxes to check, which really feels like a whole lot of work! Right? 

I mean, that’s why so many of the fad diets become so popular, even though they often aren’t actually good for your health long-term, but they promise a result without all the work. 

I think we have made the ideal “healthy lifestyle” into something that is actually not realistically attainable. In reality, who can get 8 hours of sleep (2 of those being deep sleep, at the optimal time of night) every night, wake before the sun, drink 32 oz of perfectly filtered, lemon water, eat a nutritious large breakfast with the optimal amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fat within an hour of waking + 15 different vitamins/supplements; practice complete mindfulness while getting completely ready for the day; spend time outside; space perfectly portioned and balanced meals out all throughout the day the day; stand for 10 minutes every hour; get 10k+ steps; get an hour workout in; be totally present and accessible for your family; feed your kids a beautiful, nutritious dinner; avoid too much caffeine or screen time; keep your home completely clean and laundry caught up; get everyone to bed at the ideal time of evening…. And then turn around and do it all the next day! Oh and did you notice I didn’t even mention anything about actually working a job or having any obligations or responsibilities… 

You hear me say all of this and think it sounds ridiculous - and it does! But how often do we subconsciously hold ourselves to this kind of standard and then feel like we just can’t “balance” it all when we don’t measure up. I have 100% felt this way and tried so hard attain this kind of “balance”. 

So what do we do? If we aren’t looking for balance, what are we looking for? 

I think that living a healthy lifestyle, and maintaining healthy behaviors/habits, looks a lot like a balanced scale and a lot more like juggling. 

Do we want to build a solid foundation for our health? Yes. Do we need to focus on all the different areas of a healthy lifestyle - sleep, stress, exercise, nourishment, relationships… yes - but not all at the same time. And I think that shift in mindset is what makes the difference between someone who is able to settle into participating in healthy behaviors, steadily making progress in their health, and someone who sets a goal, is all “into it” for about two weeks or a month, and then burns out. 

Think of someone who is juggling 5 bowling pins -  is he aware that all 5 are there? Yes. Is he focusing on all 5 of them at the same time? No! Just the ones in his hand at that moment and then his focus shifts as it needs to in order to keep all of the pins in the air. 

It’s just not possible for us to focus on all aspects of our health at the same time. I kind of wish that it were! My personality’s bend toward perfectionism wishes that I could master all of these areas of health and check off every box, but the thing is that I’ve tried it and it just doesn’t work! 

When we allow ourselves to focus on 1-2 areas of our health or 1-2 healthy habits at a time, it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed and burnt out so quickly. Then when we feel confident in one area, we can move onto another. This allows us to actually feel successful and to make real forward progress - it may be slower than we want to go, but it greatly increases the odds of us actually achieving our goals.  

So think about the most pressing or needed change that you need to make for your health. Is it sleep? Is it hydration? Is it eating more plants and veggies? Maybe it’s cutting out processed, chemical-full foods? 

I asked you guys on Instagram earlier in the week to give me an example of just one thing you feel like you need to focus on for your health and I would walk through what this practically looks like in the episode. Several of you said exercising consistently or being more active - something like that.

That’s a great one and super common. So let’s talk through some ideas of what that may look like practically:

• Make an appropriate goal - to move your body 5 days a week (not to work out every single day and lose 10 lbs.). The goal is simply to move your body. 

• Make it work for you:

  • Figure out what activity/exercise you actually enjoy

  • Decide if you do better alone or do you need someone to keep you accountable? Would you enjoy a group activity more than a solo workout? 

  • Brainstorm your usual excuses - time, energy, soreness? What has prevented you from being consistent in the past?

  • Schedule it ,but be flexible. Your week won’t go exactly as planned, so you need to be able to not be completely thrown off. (This may look like planning to walk M,W,F and do Barre or Pilates on T/R but it is 12 degrees outside or it’s raining all week, so you do a quick youtube workout or stick to pilates/barre every day instead.) You have to be able to pivot or you’ll never stick with it.

  • Track your activity with an app or watch to give yourself a little extra accountability. 

Do you see how changing your focus from 5 goals or areas of focus to just this 1 could lead to more successful progress? It’s like a snowball effect. A little change and progress leads to another change, which leads to another, and another. Before you know it, you look back and things look completely different. 

Here’s the thing - consistency and success in one behavior or habit usually crosses over into another. For example, when you’re feeling good about how you’re moving your body, you will likely naturally be more intentional about what you are eating and if you’re hydrated. Or maybe you’ll notice that your sleep starts to naturally improve and you start to pay more attention to the quality of your sleep overall. Success usually breeds success leaving you feeling more confident in how you’re caring for your health. Which is really the goal at the end of the day anyway. 

So I hope that you will try adjusting how you approach living a healthy lifestyle and choose to focus on 1-2 things at a time. I believe it will be a game-changer for you. 

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What I've Learned about Body Image and Chronic Disease

Hi friends! In this episode, I’m sharing some things that I’ve learned recently about navigating body image while dealing with chronic disease and how it’s affecting me personally. My hope is that some of these things that I’ve learned will be helpful and encouraging for you too!

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So if you’re thinking, “wow, Alaina - you’ve been talking an awful lot about body image lately…”, let me just say - you’re not wrong. 

A couple of months ago, one of my favorite people to follow online - Jess Connolly - started promoting her new book “Breaking Free from Body Shame” that comes out this month, and instead of a launch team, she created a community called Good Body Gals - if you listen to me here, online, or in real life, you’ve definitely heard me talk about it. :) I joined it because 1) - I’m a Jess fan-girl and 2) because I wanted to learn more about struggles with body image and body shame - especially from a Christian perspective, not only for myself but for the women that I coach. I wanted to be better equipped on how to help them work through some of these issues as well.  

What I did not anticipate is that right about that same time, I would start having Endo symptoms flare up and find out that I need to have another surgery soon. It’s been six years since my last surgery and when I had that last one I was in the thick of a long season with infertility, so I really wasn’t sure how the news would affect me this time around. I certainly wasn’t prepared for the way it would affect my body image. 

Last time, I was so much younger and was so deeply wounded and hurting from the journey I had been on. I remember feeling like my body was broken or betraying me back then but this time, I expected it to be different, I guess. I’m older, I feel like I’ve healed a lot emotionally, I’ve grown a lot spiritually, and by God's sweet faithfulness and grace, I am a mom now! I even went back to school and learned how to help others with Endo and other health challenges… how am I struggling so much with this now?

But it wasn’t different. If anything, I think it hit me a little harder this time. 

My thoughts quickly started spiraling - I thought I was done with this part of my life, you know - the “pain into purpose”, Cinderella story thing. A chapter in my story that I could look back on and credit with helping me know God more and finally figure out what I wanted to do with my life. 

I’m a health coach now! I teach other people how to move through their own health challenges and support their bodies in functioning the best that they can! How can mine be struggling so much? 

I felt frustrated. I felt a little ashamed. I felt like I didn’t do enough, didn’t know enough. That it was somehow my fault. 

I know the reality. I know that Endo is never truly gone/cured (outside of something miraculous- which I do believe can happen but don’t believe that everyone’s story goes that way). If I hadn't learned and applied what I have to try and support my body, things would likely be much, much worse. I probably would’ve already needed surgery again long before now, but the thing is, logic doesn’t really have much of an effect on feelings, does it? 

I’m so thankful that God allowed me to join the Good Body Gals community right at that same time. He knew that I would need to have some truth poured into me and spoken over me to fight these feelings. {Btw, this episode isn’t a plug for Jess or her community - although I highly recommend it to any woman, anywhere, any age}. My point in all of this is that this is a hard issue that so many of us deal with. Whether it’s as simple as feeling disappointed in yourself every time you look in the mirror, or something horrible and derogatory that someone has spoken over you that you’ve allowed to define you and still ring in your ears today, or if it’s some kind of brokenness and weakness that you are experiencing in your body - whatever the circumstance poor body image or body shame is a common struggle that when left unchecked or unmet with the truth, will start to affect the rest of your life and your health. 

I want to share just a couple of the things that I’ve learned or been reminded of over the last few weeks that I hope will help you too. 

My body is not a project 

This one really got me. I didn’t realize it until I heard it specifically addressed and taught on, but this is something that I have subconsciously thought about myself at least since I received the #endo diagnosis, maybe before that. My body being able to function, be fertile, perform, look and act the way that I wanted it to is something I have been striving toward for the past 8 or so years. Don’t get me wrong, I 100% believe in supporting our bodies to be as healthy and functioning as they can be - but for me, especially while I was going through infertility, it crossed over into obsession and consumed me. This idea of always striving, always improving, always optimizing consumed more of my thoughts, time, money, and probably even my prayers than just about anything else during that time. When I realized that I was starting to be symptomatic again, it was so easy for all of those obsessive “need to fix it” type thoughts to start rolling in again and with it these fears and insecurities that maybe I wasn’t worthy enough or knowledgeable enough to do this - to keep teaching you how to support your own health.

My body is not a tool 

Another lesson that was shared recently was the idea that not only is my body not a project, but it’s also not a tool. To be honest, I had some mental/emotional resistance to that one at first. I think I’ve always believed that my body or my health was a tool for me to turn around and use to serve others - and that sounds good, right? I mean, aren’t we supposed to be selfless and all about helping others? 

Here’s the issue with both of these ideas: when we view our bodies, or even our health, as a continual project or as a tool only intended for other people, it can quickly lead us into shame and feelings of failure because the “project” will never be done or complete on this Earth - the goalposts will keep moving and we won’t ever catch them, and at some point, our bodies aren’t going to feel like a very useful tool anymore - they aren’t going to perform, look, act, or be able to be used the way that they once were. Both of these ways of thinking lead us to look at ourselves with shame, guilt, or disappointment. And the real, real issue is that they have us just looking at ourselves.

The actual beautiful truth that we can replace these false ideas with is that God created our bodies as a gift!  He made them so that we would have a way to experience Him and worship Him while we are here on this earth and also be able to experience the rest of His creation. When we adopt this perspective instead, we find ourselves looking at God rather than ourselves and that’s the whole point. He made our bodies good and beautiful because they reflect Him. 

God’s Glory

The last thought I want to leave you with today is something that was so, so convicting to me. God is God - and that means that He is always after His Glory. When we find ourselves getting caught up in how our bodies look, how they are performing, how healthy they are or aren’t - we need to think long and hard about our motives. Why do we want those things so badly? Is it so that other people will see how good we look, how hard we’ve worked, how healthy we are, how much weight we’ve lost or muscle we’ve gained? Do we want other people to see us? If it’s about that, if that’s where our motives are - then we are out for our own glory. If we find ourselves thinking “wow - look at her” or “wow - look what she’s been able to do” (and friends, let's be honest - we have all thought those things at some point), then we are trying to take God’s glory. As believers, as women who bear the image of God, our goals should be wrapped up in people looking at us and saying “wow - look at God”, “Wow - look what God has done.”

I know that is tough and kinda stings because it got me too. I’m still preaching it to myself as much as I am to you - but if we are going to experience true freedom in our health and our body image, we are going to have to align ourselves with the truth of what God says about it (He created us after all) and then we will be able to care for our health and our bodies as the gifts that they are. 

Some exciting news… 

Lastly, I want to share some exciting news with you today! As we are talking about aligning ourselves with truth and caring for our bodies as the gifts that they are - I have created something that I believe will help you do just that! 

For a long time, I have been wanting to provide an option for women just like you who are wanting to support their bodies and improve certain areas of their health but want to do it in a way that actually moves their health forward with a real, lasting impact. I know how overwhelming it can be to try to figure out what to do first and which thing is best for you, specifically - and I want to make that easier for you than it was for me,  which I why I started coaching - but I also know that not everyone has the budget or schedule margin for one-on-one coaching. So I’m so excited to share with you that I have created an eCourse! Hooray! 

The Move Forward, Feel Better course is a 4-module course, in which you will learn the exact steps needed to:

• Sustain your energy throughout the day, without the afternoon crash

• Support a healthy weight that’s right for your body

• Improve the clarity of your skin, from the inside out

• Increase your mental clarity and ability to focus

• Build a strong, well-functioning immune system

• Stabilize your mood and reduce frustration with yourself

• Foster a healthy body image that’s based on the truth of who you are

• Support your gut health and overall function of your body

So now you’re thinking “sounds great… but what’s the price?” {See, I told you that I’ve been where you are. ;)}

While I’ve seen other courses similar to this one that retails anywhere from $300-$400 and I could easily charge that for this course, I want to make this as affordable and accessible to you as possible, which is why I’m offering this course for only $79. 

And as a special gift, you can also get a follow-up, 1-hr, group-coaching session with me for absolutely FREE when you enroll in the course by next Thursday, June 17th (that’s one week from today).

Once you enroll in the course, you will have lifetime access to all the videos, course guides, a private FB community where you can be in community with other women, just like yourself so there is no better time to take advantage of this offer - start moving forward in your health journey, and caring for your body as the gift that it is. And don’t forget, when you enroll with the code HFpod you will also get a free group coaching session with me! 

I’m so excited to be able to offer this course to you! You can get all the details, as well as enroll in the course by going to yourhealthforward.com/course. 

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023 - 2020 Is Coming! How to Set Smart, Healthy, and Meaningful Goals for the New Year!

Hi friends! Can you believe this year is almost over?! It’s winding down so quickly and I just wanted to take a minute and thank each one of you who have joined me here, and listened and subscribed! Starting this podcast was definitely one of the bigger and scarier (haha) things I did this last year, and the past few months of sharing with you each week have been so fun. I’m excited to share more with you next year! 

Speaking of next year, we’ve been focusing on goal planning and getting our mindsets in a healthy place for 2020, and we are continuing with that theme for today’s episode by talking about how to set smart and healthy goals for next year. 

When we think about setting goals for a new year or making New Year's resolutions, we often think big picture, end result goals — and I absolutely think we should start there! 

Focus on the Big Picture 

Lara Casey is the founder and CEO of Cultivate, a company best known for its PowerSheets and goal setting and planning resources. She is brilliant at all things future planning/goal setting and she says that you should start the goal-setting process by thinking about what you want your life to be like when you are 80 years old. What do you want to be doing? What will your priorities be? 

Do you see yourself pouring your time and money into your kids, grandkids, or maybe great-grandkids? Do you want to be able to get outside and play with them, teach them things, and pass down family legacies? Do you want to be well-traveled with tons of stories pictures share with your friends? Do you want to give your time and money to ministry after you retire or start a non-profit? 

Give yourself some space to really think about this and then make sure any goals you are setting will move you closer to this end goal. This becomes your why and will help keep you motivated when you feel like forgetting about the goals you have set. 

Set SMART Goals

The next step in setting goals is to make sure that they are actually achievable - and someone out there, who is way smarter than me, made up an acronym for the word “SMART” to use as a tool for realistic goal setting. 

Specific - Measurable - Achievable - Relevant - Time-Bound 

So let me give you an example of how to use this framework: let’s say your overall, big-picture goal for next year is to feel well enough to be active with your family. Putting that into the SMART goals framework may look like this...

Specific - Your family is running a 5k in the spring and you want to join them. 

Measurable - You will move your body by walking/jogging for 30 minutes 4 x per week. You will stretch for 10 minutes every night before bed and increase your water intake every day to help prevent injuries.

Achievable - You know that you only have 2 hrs a week to devote to exercise, so you’ve chosen to make exercise fit into that amount of time (30 minutes, 4x per week). 

Relevant - Moving your body regularly, along with the increased hydration, will improve your overall health and help you feel better, which is relevant to your overall goal.  

Time-bound - You will need to be able to walk/jog 3.2 miles by April. As you progress and build more endurance, you will work to increase your mileage with each walk/jog while staying in your time allowance. 

So from this example, instead of walking away with the goal of “I’m going to be active” or “I’m going to do a 5k”, you walk away with action steps that will specifically help you to do that and allow you to feel the “win” along the way. You also start out with a goal that will keep you committed as you envision participating in the 5k with your family! 

From this framework, you can use your calendar to actually schedule your daily and weekly intentions and action steps. When you put something into your calendar or on your schedule, it really increases the likelihood that you will stick to it and follow through. 

Own Your Goals - Be Accountable to Someone

My last tip on this subject is to share your goals and weekly action steps with someone who will hold you accountable. Someone who you know will check-in and ask if you have followed through and not just easily let you off the hook. Even better is to ask them to join you if that is something that would be good for both of you! This exponentially increases your chances of success! 

I hope that these tips will help you to set SMART and healthy goals for the new year!

For more support and resources, find Lara Casey’s Goal Setting blog series here.

022 - Why Losing Weight Should NOT Be Your Goal for the New Year

Hey friends! As I mentioned in the last episode, we are going to be spending the remaining episodes of 2019 talking about setting ourselves up for success with smart and healthy goals for next year! 

What Your Goal Should Not Be

We all know someone, or maybe we are that someone, who comes to the end of the year and says “my New Years’ resolution is to lose weight”. As a matter of fact, according to statistica.com, 45% of Americans made “losing weight” their goal for 2018. Today, I am going to share with you why that actually isn’t a good goal, why your weight isn’t how you should measure your level of health, and what you should be focusing on instead. 

Why Weight Isn’t A Reliable Indicator of Good Health 

My story is a perfect example of this. I recently shared my experience with Insulin Resistance and PCOS and how my physician and I were both surprised at the results of my blood work because I wasn’t considered overweight. I had a normal BMI and while I had gained a little weight, I was still within the normal range. As it turns out, I had inflammation and the beginning stages of disease taking a toll on my body, but I thought I was healthy because I wasn’t overweight. 

Our weight just isn’t a reliable indicator of the state of our health, for many reasons. One being that it isn’t a static number - our can weight fluctuates 3-5 lbs on a regular basis. This can be based on so many things including hormones, especially for women (weight will fluctuate at different stages of your cycle). This is why we do NOT need to be weighing every day! If you are getting on the scale every morning and beating yourself up because you seem to be battling the same 3-4 lbs over and over - STOP. You are creating undue stress on yourself by obsessing about your weight and being disappointed in your body or thinking that the work you are putting in isn’t worth it. This isn’t good for your physical or mental health, and actually, studies have shown that obsession with weight or dieting can actually lead to more weight gain. 

Also, standards such as BMI are skewed as well. They only take into account a ratio of height and weight and make absolutely zero adjustments for body composition and muscle mass. So people who are actually in great health and have a good amount of muscle mass will usually fall into the overweight or even obese categories.

Also, it’s important to note that in a lot of chronic diseases, studies are showing that weight gain or inability to lose weight is more a side effect of an underlying disease or dysfunction in the body, rather than the root cause. So when all we are doing is focusing on the weight, we could be missing what is actually going on in the body.

So if we shouldn’t be focusing solely on the scale or BMI, how should we measure our level of health?

Better Indicators of Good Health

Waist circumference

One better option for monitoring your health is by measuring your waist circumference. Studies have shown that having a waist circumference greater than 35 for women and 40 for men is indicative of higher amounts of visceral fat (a type of fat that lies deep within the abdominal cavity and pads the spaces between vital abdominal organs) and is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, unhealthy cholesterol, hypertension, hormone imbalance, and Cardiovascular Disease. 

All you need to monitor your waist circumference is a tape measure. Simply wrap it around the middle of your waist, right above the top of your hip bones, Make sure the tape measurer stays flat against your skin and level all the way around. This isn’t something that should be done daily or even weekly. Every 2-3 months is a good increment of time, especially if this is something you are trying to work on. 

Health markers related to metabolic disease 

Another better option to monitor your health and risk for disease is by regularly monitoring health markers associated with Metabolic Disease (BP, Fasting Insulin and A1c, and Cholesterol)  specifically HDL/ Total Cholesterol ratio and Tri / HDL ratio)

As a reminder, you need to work with your physician to have these markers evaluated:

• Blood Pressure Levels 

• Blood Sugar Levels - Fasting Insulin and Fasting Blood Glucose 

• Cholesterol Levels - specifically HDL and Triglycerides

A Harvard-lead study reported that high triglycerides alone increased the risk of heart attack by 3 times and people with the highest ratio of triglycerides to HDL -- the "good" cholesterol -- had 16 times the risk of heart attack as those with the lowest ratio of triglycerides to HDL. The ratio of triglycerides to HDL was the strongest predictor of a heart attack, even more accurate than the LDL/HDL ratio

Optimal Triglycerides / HDL ratio is under 2 (the lower the better)

Body function 

Just taking a moment to evaluate how your body is moving and functioning can be helpful in measuring your level of health. 

How are you sleeping? Do you wake up refreshed or groggy and exhausted? 

Do you find your energy crashing throughout the day - especially the afternoon?

For the ladies, are your cycles regular? 

Is your skin clear?

Do you have repeated sickness or seem to catch everything that goes around?

Do you have chronic pain or stiffness? 

How is your digestive health?

These are all questions you can ask yourself to possibly pinpoint any areas that you need to focus on or work with a professional to address. 

Better goals 

We will get more into the specifics of how to set smart and health goals in the next couple of episodes, but for now, as you are starting to think about health goals for next year - I want you to focus more on establishing healthy habits and rhythms. You are much more likely to see progress in your health with those anyway.

If you feel like you could use some extra support as you set health goals for next year or work to meet your goals from this year, schedule a free 30 min consultation call with me! I’d love to help point you in the right direction and see if there are ways that I can help!

021 - The Power of the Pause

Hi friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

It’s December now, which means two things for most people 1.) They are in the thick of Christmas preparations and 2.) They are starting to reflect on this past year and think about the new year! I know I’ve found my thoughts wandering to planning for next year and goals I may want to set or things I may want to accomplish. I love goal planning and new beginnings - I just love all the potential that lies ahead! 

I’m going to spend the next couple weeks talking about goal setting and ways that we can set ourselves up for a healthy and successful 2020, and I want to start today by giving you a tool that can help you now, during the holiday season, as well as with your health-related goals in the new year. 

When I am starting a new coaching relationship with a client we will discuss their health goals and what they feel are the obstacles standing in their way and so often they say something like “I just can’t stop eating _______” or “I have such intense cravings for ______ and I can’t resist.” I think we can all relate to feeling this way and have experienced that at some point. 

So, let’s pretend that you and I are sitting across from each other, I would ask you if you are feeling this way now? Maybe you’re thinking about the goals you want to set for next year and know that you’d like to change something about your health - maybe lose weight, maybe regulate your blood pressure, blood sugar, or hormones - and as soon as that goal enters your mind, the next thought you have is “...but I can’t give up ____, so never mind.” Or maybe its “...but I’ve tried before and I make a little progress, but then I just go right back - it’s not worth it.” I want to challenge you to change the way you are thinking right now! You absolutely can overcome whatever food cravings, food addiction, or unhealthy habits you are struggling with and I’m going to give you a tip that has helped me so much! 

I like to call it the “Power of the Pause” but really it’s just the simple act of pausing and thinking before making a decision or continuing in an action. It sounds so simple, right? It is simple. But it’s not easy - at least not at first. 

Behavior change is part of any kind of personal growth - whether food-related or not - but especially when it comes to changing your eating habits and overcoming food cravings. You can’t change the behavior without first becoming aware of it, and in addition, I believe that in order to really change it, you also need to understand the root of where it’s coming from and be able to consider the effect it will have. 

Trace it back to the root

When it comes to emotional eating, addiction to foods or other substances, or even intense repetitive cravings there is usually something deeper going. When you do the work to identify where the desire is coming from, you can better understand what you are actually needing. Sometimes it’s physical - like maybe a type of nutrient or more sleep, and sometimes it’s emotional - like maybe you’re actually lonely, sad, or frustrated and need to talk to a friend or go for a walk. 

Consider the consequences

There is always cause and effect, right? Every decision we make has a consequence - whether good or bad. Taking a moment to pause gives us the opportunity to consider how an action or behavior will affect our health - physically and mentally. Eating that brownie at 10 pm or skipping your workout may make you feel good at the moment, but what about later? Are you going to be wired and unable to sleep well because your blood sugar was spiked right before bed? Are you going to be overwhelmed and anxious later because you didn’t move your body and get those endorphins flowing? This isn’t about punishment or guilting yourself into something, but rather in being intentional with your decisions and learning to listen to what your body needs. 

It’s worth noting that this is work. Good things always take work!  It’s much easier to just follow your impulses and cravings and enjoy the temporary high, but you and I both know that it won’t last. You will always need more and more, right? Also, using sugar or whatever the food or behavior is for you will only cover up what your body is trying to tell you that it actually needs - and you still won’t be fulfilled! It’s not worth it - the easy road rarely is! 

So practically, how do you do this? 

The next time that you have a craving for something that you know isn’t nourishing for your body - pause and think about why you are craving it - see if you can trace it back to the root. Are you trying to comfort yourself in some way - maybe after a bad day? Is there something that would actually nourish your soul rather than provide a temporary fix? Is your energy crashing and you feel like you need a pick-me-up? Should you maybe eat something with fat and protein, rather than sugar, a simple carb, or more caffeine, to stabilize your blood sugar so you can have more energy and be mentally alert? 

This can be applied to so many other areas of life as well, not just food. Whatever behavior or habit that comes to your mind that you’d like to change, take a minute to pause and think about what is at its root and what do you actually need instead? 

Whatever your goal may be for the new year, or even for tomorrow or next week, using this method of pausing can really help you learn to listen to your body and be intentional with your decisions. It can also help to open your eyes to other things that may be going on - be it a nutrient deficiency or buried feelings you need to deal with. This will also move you forward on your journey to better health! 

Remember, being healthy isn’t just about how you look or what you eat or how much you exercise. It’s your whole life and how it affects your overall health as a whole. So, friends, I encourage you to do the hard work - the heart work - it’s worth it!

Thank you for joining me today! If you put this tip into practice and give it a try, come back here and leave a review or leave me a comment on Instagram and let me know how it worked for you! I’d love to know!

011 - Meal Prepping Could Be the Key to Your Success

Friends! In today’s episode, we are talking about the benefits and methods of meal prepping!

Once again this is one of those topics where the “right way” to do something is the way that works best for you and that you will actually do! Last week we talked about how to plan our meals (if you haven’t already listened to that episode, I encourage you to check out Episode 10  first), but as much as the planning part can overwhelm people, the prepping part for sure stops a lot of people in their tracks. 

There are so many ways to do this and it can be challenging to figure out which is best for your situation. I hear a lot of questions like “how do I know how much food to make ahead?”, “Which foods will still taste good prepped in advance and which are better to prepare right before you eat them?”, “How much time does it take?” and so many more - and, don’t hate me, but a lot of the answers to these questions are “it depends…”. The answers change based on how many people are in your household, how you personally tolerate left-overs, and how much time you have to do the prep.

Today I want to just do an overview of how beneficial meal prepping can be as well as give you a few tips to help make it simple and helpful for you! 

Benefits of Meal Prepping 

So, why would someone benefit from prepping some or all of their meals in advance?

Well, one of my favorite things about it is how much time it can save throughout the week. This is especially helpful for people who work long hours or crazy shifts and know that they won’t have the energy to cook when they get home from work. It’s also great if you and your spouse work differing shifts and maybe can’t eat your meals together every night. It’s been really helpful for me because as I mentioned in the last episode, the dinner-time hours also seem to be the neediest hours for my toddler, and it keeps me from having to spend as much time in the kitchen when she is needing more of my attention. 

Another great benefit, and the one that I think is key for most people, is that prepping your meals ahead helps you stick to your healthy eating goals. This is so important, especially when you are trying to make changes to your health. Let’s be real, the temptation to grab take-out or swing through the drive-thru on your way home is high - especially after a long or stressful day; however, that temptation will be so much lower if you know that there is a delicious home-cooked meal that you love waiting for you at home and one that you’ve already put work and effort into. You’re not going to want to waste that effort! 

This is one of the keys to success for my clients. Not only does it help them to fuel their bodies well, but it helps to also change their habits and gives them the confidence they need to cook more at home. So now they are both making healthier decisions and saving money by not eating out as much! Win-win!

Methods for Meal Prepping 

As I mentioned before there are different methods for prepping your meals ahead. I personally have used two different methods that I go back and forth with depending on how much prep time I have. 

The first method is what I call the “big prep”. I use this method when I have a little more time, maybe on Saturdays or during one of my daughter’s nap-times throughout the week. I got the idea from the book “Cook Once Eat All Week” by Cassy Joy Garcia and it usually takes around 1.5 hours, maybe 2 if I have more interruptions. But essentially, I will prep most all ingredients for 3-4 dinners, plus a few breakfast or lunch items if I have time. In the book, Cassy teaches you exactly how to do “prep day” - which items to prep first, in what order things should go into the oven, etc. in order to make the most of your time and your space. I highly suggest this book if you are new to the process of meal prepping or if you would like to learn a new method. She includes recipes for 26 weeks worth of healthy meals, and even if you don’t use her recipes, and use your meal plan instead, you can still apply her principles of meal prepping to save yourself time. 

The second method is my “mini-prep”, which is what I default to a lot, especially if I haven’t had a chance to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen. Using this method, I just try to prep 1-2 extra things when I am cooking dinner on Sunday or Monday evening. Simple things like browning ground beef or pre-chopping veggies for other meals can save you so much time later in the week. I’m already in the kitchen and in cooking mode, so while I wait for the oven to preheat or for water to boil or something, I just prep an ingredient for another meal. Also, a lot of times you put what you’re having for dinner in the oven to cook for 20-30 min and instead of going and doing something else with that time, on those nights, I just prep for other meals. Another reason I like this method is I don’t know about you, but I start most weeks with pretty high motivations and good intentions, but by  Wednesday or Thursday night, I’m tired and that motivation has usually decreased significantly. 

Even just prepping your lunches for the week while you are cooking dinner one night will keep you from being tempted to eat out for lunch every day! 

Simple Meal Prepping Tips 

Here are a few tips that can help you with your meal prep, no matter which method you choose:

• In order to have a game-plan for what to prep, you will need to have your meals planned out. It’s hard to prep meals ahead when you don’t even know what those meals are. You can grab my free meal planning guide here, or over on Instagram if you need some help with planning your meals. 

• I highly recommend that you do your grocery shopping and you’re meal prepping on different days. Now, I will say that this is dependent on your personality and the amount of time you have, so you can experiment with it and see how it goes. Personally, it stresses me out too much to try to do both on the same day. I do like to wash my produce and maybe do a little pre-chopping or something when I’m putting groceries away, but actually cooking a bunch of meals right after I come home from the store and having to put all the groceries away is just more time than I want to spend in the kitchen at one time

• Along those same lines, I recommend that start your prep with a clean kitchen. It doesn’t have to be spotless, but at least have mostly cleared off counters and an empty sink. Believe me, it is not an enjoyable experience to try to chop, mix, and cook when you’re working with about 6 inches of clean counter space or if a pile of dirty dishes is staring at you from the sink (ask me how I know :)). You want the process of meal prepping to be as enjoyable and stress-free as possible, so do yourself a favor and clean your kitchen up a bit before you start your meal prep and turn on some fun music (or maybe your favorite podcast {wink, wink}) while you’re at it. 

• As far as storing the food you prep, you can store it in a few different ways. One way is to store in the fridge in the pot that you used to cook it in. This is really helpful for when you’ve made soup or something large that you will need to reheat before you have it as a meal. It couldn’t be more simple than that, just take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you’re going to need to heat it, and then just put it on the stove or in the oven to reheat! Then for smaller dishes or if I’m going to divide a certain ingredient up to use in multiple meals, I will use my glass food storage. When it comes to storing food or anything that is going to be going into your body, it’s better to use glass or stainless steel than plastic. Even BPA free plastic still has many other kinds of estrogen-like chemicals in them that can easily leach into the food, especially when the plastic is heated. So, if you don’t have glass containers, use what you’ve got but please don’t heat your food in the microwave in plastic containers - move over to a ceramic or glass bowl or plate before you eat it.  These chemicals do a number of things in our bodies, including increasing the overall toxic load on our livers, but increased usage of them can lead to hormone imbalance, in both men and women.

• The last tip is also going to be one of preference, but personally, I wouldn’t prep more than 3-4 days of food at a time unless it’s something that you’ve prepped before and you know will stay good for the entire week. Chopped raw veggies or hard-boiled eggs are great examples of things that should last the whole week, but some cooked veggies will become mushy and some meats will become dried out when left in the fridge over a few days. This may take a little trial and error to figure out, but as a general rule, I stick to about 4 days for cooked meals. 

Friends, I hope you found a few tips helpful and were able to see that meal prepping can be done in many different ways and how it can be key to helping you stick to your healthy eating goals! 

As always, if you have any questions about the episode, feel free to reach out! Have a wonderful rest of your week and I’ll see you back here next week!

005 - Part 1: The Top Four Reasons Women Struggle To Lose Weight - The Wrong Goal

Hey friends! I am so excited today because we are kicking off something new here - a month-long series about weight loss. Each week in the month of August, we are talking about the top four reasons that women struggle to lose weight. I think this is something that most of us have experienced, at least at some point in our lives. Whether it’s something you’ve battled for most of your life or it’s something that you are newly facing after having a baby, most of us can relate. And while it always takes effort and intention, for some, it seems downright impossible.

Can you relate to that? Do you feel like you are doing all the right things but nothing is changing? Have you tried every fad diet out there only to find yourself frustrated and pretty much in the same place you were when you started? Well, if so - the episodes this month are specifically for you and I hope that you will hear at least one thing that encourages you and can help point you in the right direction! 

Another reason that I am SO excited today is that I’m announcing the launch of my next group coaching program! So real quick, before we get into today’s topic, I want to give you a few details about the program and how you can sign up! 

So my Group Coaching Program is personalized coaching and support, just like you would get in a one-on-one coaching program with me, but in a group setting. This will be a small group of women, all with similar goals that will meet virtually - so in the comfort of your own home, twice a month. One of my favorite parts about participating in a group coaching program is that it provides you with not only education and coaching from me, but also with both accountability and community with other women just like you. It’s also a super affordable program and is great for those that feel that they need support, but maybe not to the point of needing a one-on-one session. Sign-ups for the session are open now and will remain open until September 1st! As I mentioned before this is a small group, so spots are limited!  Click here to sign up! 

As I transition into the topic of this month’s series, which is weight loss, I want to take a minute and just get clear on something that is really important to me and something I want to be sure that you understand. You, my sweet friend, are so much more than whatever number shows up on your scale in the morning. As a matter of fact, your weight, your pant size, your waist circumference has absolutely zero impact on your worth and what you bring to this world. If you never lost one pound, you would be just as valuable and loved by your creator as you are right now. So, while the topic of this month’s episodes may talk a lot about weight loss, it 100% does not need to be the focus of your entire life or the thing that defines you. 

As a matter of fact, when I’m working with a client, one of the very first things I tell them is that losing weight isn’t going to be the focus of our work together. Losing weight is a side effect, a symptom of becoming more healthy physically and emotionally, just like a lot of times gaining weight is a side effect or a symptom of becoming less healthy. Good health, increased energy, an optimally functioning body, a joyful and clear mind are all examples of a great goal, but losing weight cannot be the core goal! This leads me to today’s topic (finally, right!?)

One of the most common reasons that women struggle to lose weight, and to keep it off, is that they have the wrong goal! 

When a client comes to me and says “I want to lose weight” my very first question to them is going to be, “why”? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it so that you feel better? Feel better how? More energy to play with your kids? Fewer headaches and joint pain so that you can go out and be active with your friends and family? Is it because you hope to have a baby soon and you want to increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy?  Maybe it’s so you can feel more confident as you enter the dating world or as you prepare for an upcoming job change. Maybe you know that you have a genetic predisposition to a disease like diabetes, hypertension or an autoimmune disease, and you want to reduce the chances of that becoming your reality. Whatever the reason is, it has to go beyond losing weight for the sake of losing weight. It has to be something meaningful to you... Something that will keep you motivated when you are exhausted or when you aren’t seeing results as fast as you think you should. It has to go beyond the surface of just wanting to be thinner before vacation because guess what… that vacation is going to come and go, and then what? You go right back to where you were and then do it all over again next year. That just doesn’t work! 

Also, not only does it need to be meaningful, it needs to be both specific and realistic. Friends - this can be so frustrating for you! Having either a vague goal or thinking that you are going to be able to drop 25 lbs, safely, in 30 days will have you feeling defeated before you even start! As I mentioned in the beginning, this is one of the reasons that I believe that losing x # of lbs in x # of days just isn’t a healthy goal. There is so much that goes into your body functioning well and releasing weight, especially if it’s something you’ve been battling for a while, you can’t think that you’re just going to somehow will it into being. It’s a much better idea to set a meaningful overall, big-picture goal, and then to set small, specific, action steps that you can take as well as small, specific, results you would like to see.

So, let me give you a quick example - Let’s say that you come to me and say that you want to lose 30 lbs. After diving a little deeper, we realize that the reason you want to do this is that you are getting married next year and want to not only feel amazing and confident on your wedding day, but you also want to start this new chapter of your life as healthy as possible. So now we’ve identified your main, big-picture goal! Next, we set a few action steps that involve eating more meals at home - made up of whole, nutrient-dense foods, increasing your water intake daily, and moving your body 30 minutes every day. In our conversation, you also mention that you are struggling with acne and are so stressed out about taking pictures because of that. So, knowing that the food you eat has a major effect on the condition and quality of your skin, we set clearer skin and reduced acne as your small-goal/result # 1. 

Can you see how you would leave that session feeling much more hopeful and motivated, than if I said, okay - get to work and I want you to have lost 5 lbs before we meet again? That isn’t helpful! So why do we set those kinds of goals and expectations for ourselves? 

Your homework for this week is to make time to really sit down and think about your goal. Does it go beyond just seeing a certain number on the scale or fitting into that pair of jeans that you have tucked away in your closet? Is it meaningful? Is it reflective of your true desire and is it something that will keep you motivated? Also, is it specific? Do you know what action steps you need to take to get there? What results will you look for on the way, to help you know that you are making progress and on the right track? 

If you can already say, “no - I have no idea where to even start” or, “my goal feels too overwhelming”, let me help you! Sign up for the group coaching program or if you feel like you need more personalized, one-on-one support, send me an email or schedule a free consultation. I would absolutely love to help you! 

Next week we are going to be talking about health myths that could be making it more difficult to move forward in your health journey! Until then, enjoy your week and I’ll see you next time!