Menopause Boosters vs. Disruptors

Menopause Boosters vs. Disruptors

Getting older means often what used to work no longer does.

And especially with the hormonal changes of menopause, you can’t just keep training and eating the way you always have.

Frustrating?

Sure.

But we’ve got to face reality.

And the more we embrace this and the faster we adjust, the more we realize how many symptoms of menopause are actually within our power to control.

Now if you’re thinking…

But I train so hard…

I eat so clean…

That doesn’t mean you don’t have some boosters and disruptors in your diet that need to be addressed if you want to look, feel and move your best.

Yup.

Look, feel and move like your most fabulous fit self…

Because adjusting our diet isn’t just about fitting back into those slacks that have been hanging in our closet gathering dust because that top button just won’t close…

Nope!

Nutritional changes don’t just have an impact on weight loss or muscle gains…

Addressing those boosters and disruptors in our diet can help alleviate those hot flashes that make you want to stick your head in a bucket of ice…

…Or the aches and pains that make you feel like you’re a 1000 years old just getting up off the couch…

…Or the fatigue you feel that makes you feel like a zombie that could power through two family sized bags of candy in one sitting and still go back to sleep…

Our nutrition, and the adjustments we make can have a huge impact.

Which is why I remind clients, you can’t stop menopause…

But you CAN focus on controlling what you can control…and how you fuel is just one of those things you have so much power over!

So let me go over what boosters and disruptors are before I cover some common foods and lifestyle habits in each category.

I’ll then give you tips to help make adjustments to find your balance!

WHAT ARE BOOSTERS AND DISRUPTORS?

The foods we consume can have either a positive or negative impact on the results we get and how we feel.

This isn’t as simple as clean or dirty, healthy or unhealthy.

Because you may find that you develop intolerances to healthy foods you used to include.

Like this sparkling water you used to drink and enjoy now leads to excess gas and bloating during menopause because of the changes to our GI system that can occur. 

This doesn’t mean we just have to eliminate all of the things we love, BUT it is why we need to be aware of what may be a booster or disruptor to be able to balance everything out.

Boosters are foods and behaviors that can help improve the symptoms of menopause.

Disruptors on the other hand are foods and behaviors that can exacerbate menopausal symptoms and have a negative effect on overall health.

During menopause, you have to think of this scale as automatically skewed toward the disruptor side. Our hormones aren’t working for us like they did when we were younger.

When we’re younger, we can get away with a ton of improper practices. Of course these are part of why we tend to struggle to see results as we get older…

But the point is…they work at the time.

A weeklong Summer vacation filled with pina coladas, margaritas, chips and all the BBQ we can find could be counteracted with an extra gym session or two the next week. 

But now…

Well now you look at a cookie and your pants no longer close. 

It seems like we have to work three times as hard to see worse results.

And this is why paying attention to our booster-disruptor balance is so key.

So the more we can focus on boosters in our diet, the more we counteract the inflammation, brain fog and insulin resistance we may have found appear with menopause.

Now the more disruptors we have in our diet, the worse those symptoms become and the more we even knock the scale completely out of balance.

Of course your brain probably right now is automatically jumping to a ton of foods you know aren’t the best for you…

And you’re thinking, “BUT…I don’t want to cut out these things! I love them!” 

Just because something is a booster, doesn’t mean it needs to be included. Just like just because something is a disruptor doesn’t mean we have to avoid it.

We may find specific foods have more or less of an impact.

And the dose makes the “poison” so to speak. 

You may find that your cup of morning coffee doesn’t interrupt your sleep, but a sip more of caffeine after 10 am and you’re up up all night.

The key is finding our balance through small additions of boosters and elimination or reduction in those disruptors.

Ok so now I want to share some fundamental boosters and disruptors that I feel have the biggest, farthest reaching impact not only on how we feel but also how we look while being the overall easiest changes to make to our diet.

When it comes to the most powerful boosters these things are those unsexy, boring basics…

So stop avoiding them searching for a magic food that will cure all your problems.

If there was one, trust me I’d be happy to share it.

But these boosters are protein, water and omega-3s.

You may be groaning to yourself thinking, “Ugh. I know I should increase my protein and water but it’s sooooo freaking hard!”

Well let me let you in on the easiest way to create these habits…

Start by stacking small changes…

Like even just making sure you’re getting 20 grams of protein at breakfast or in your first meal of the day. Find one small change that is not only closer to what you’re doing currently but also something you can do EARLY ON in your day. 

Because when something isn’t a priority, we aren’t going to do it the more worn out we get. The more other priorities press on us.

So if you aren’t finding yourself prioritizing protein, start by adding just a little bit more to that very first meal of your day!

Because increasing protein is one of the BEST things we can do for ourselves to feel our most fabulous in menopause. 

During menopause, and as we get older, we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently. But protein keeps all of the tissues of our body, including our brain, health and strong!

So we need more if we want to function optimally and even look and feel younger!

By increasing our protein portion at each meal, we can create that optimal environment for muscle growth…mimicking what we naturally had when we were younger and didn’t even give protein a thought. 

This muscle mass retention and even growth helps us stay functionally more fit to conquer any challenges that come our way while also being metabolically magical.

It can help us lose that stubborn fat that our body seems to believe it needs to not sink during menopause…like a floaty around our middle in the deep end. 

Protein also improves our bone health, recovery and even our hormonal balance. Yup…it directly fights against those hormones going haywire!

It can be especially key to help regulate insulin. During menopause we can become more likely to develop insulin resistance and even type 2 diabetes.

A focus on protein helps us reduce our risk and even balance our blood sugar levels to manage mood swings and improve our energy levels.

So even if you don’t care about rocking that tank to say “suns out guns out,” you need to be increasing your protein to feel extra fabulous.

And as you increase your protein, you’ll want to stack on the habit of increasing your water.

Maybe you even set that water bottle out by the coffee machine to drink your water as you brew your coffee and prep your protein rich breakfast! 

Because not only does water help with the digestion of protein and assist in better fat loss (it plays a key role in the lipolysis process!) 

But as we go through menopause we may notice that we become drier…

Our joints become creekier and we may feel like the tinman…

And our skin and eyes may sometimes feel like all of the moisture was just sucked out of them the second after our last sip of water.

Improper hydration can hinder our recovery and well…make us look older and more wrinkled…which is actually the opposite of what most of us want…

Most of us feel like extra wrinkles are really only cute on those adorable little dogs! 

Now you may be thinking “But I don’t FEEL thirsty ever! So how can my hydration be the problem?”

This weird phenomenon is due to the fact that as we get older we lose our bodies’ natural thirst cues.

So you may not feel thirsty, you may be drinking a decent amount of water and still need MORE currently! 

And then as you increase your water and protein, don’t fear fats.

Fats do not make you fat, and increase your fat intake, specifically your Omega-3 intake may not only help you look leaner, look leaner but also keep your heart, brain and skin healthier as you go through menopause.

Getting more omega-3s can help reduce the increased inflammation that often occurs with menopause and negatively impacts our sleep, recovery and even muscle gains.

So increasing our omega-3 intake can improve our recovery and joint health, not to mention there have even been some recent interesting studies showing that omega-3s may lead to better strength and muscle building results from our training.

So consider including even an omega-3 source stacked in that breakfast, maybe in the form of smoked salmon on your eggs or even chia seeds in your antioxidant rich, berry packed smoothie (with some greek yogurt for that protein boost!)! 

You may find even just stacking in these 3 boosters starts to positively impact your symptoms.

But if you’re making these changes and feel like you can still see more improvements, you may want to address some disruptors in your lifestyle as well…

If you’re getting nervous that I’m about to shame you and tell you to cut out all of the things you love…you’d be wrong.

While two of these disruptors will come as no surprise, you don’t have to eliminate them.

And probably jumping right to eliminating them completely will only backfire.

Instead, decide to maybe reduce your intake by a serving. Or eliminate the easiest one first.

Or even just set an experiment for yourself to remove them for 14-21 days and see how you feel. If it helps and feels worth it, great! 

If not, slowly introduce them and see at what dose they go from ok to poison!

So first on the disruptor list…DUN DUN DUUUUUN

Is alcohol.

You know that nightly glass of wine that you feel makes you sleep better? 

It doesn’t.

Alcohol has a negative impact on our sleep, recovery, fat loss, muscle gains, inflammation…

Yes even your glass of wine you don’t really drink, but tell yourself you drink, for the antioxidants. 

Alcohol is a toxin…at every age.

And it can have a bigger impact on our symptoms of menopause, even making night sweats worse.

Alcohol is its own macro and has a high thermic effect, which means it can raise our body temperature. 

So if you’re really consistently drinking alcohol, even in moderation but seriously OVER the symptoms of menopause, this single disruptor can outweigh a ton of boosters.

Consider cutting out just one serving of alcohol from your week this next week!

Now this next disruptor may have even more loyal daily drinkers, and just as many connoisseurs….

Coffee or more specifically caffeine.

Caffeine is part of a viscous cycle…

Menopause leads to poopy sleep.

Poopy nights of sleep make us want coffee to function even more. Coffee and the caffeine we consume to function ends up making it harder for us to get that quality sleep. And around we go. 

To break that vicious cycle, we may have to tell ousrelves to “Suck it up buttercup” and embrace one very horrible no good very bad day.

We may also not want to go cold turkey, but start by reducing our caffeine intake a serving at a time.

Or we may even first start by adjusting when we drink it, making sure we drink it only at the start of our day.

But being aware of this cycle, even if we didn’t feel that caffeine used to impact our sleep, can be key.

Again, our body is changing and what used to slide may no longer work.

I also want to mention the impact of caffeine because it is tempting to turn to pre-workouts and even fat burners as we not only struggle to feel motivated to do our workouts but become increasingly frustrated when our hard work in the gym doesn’t pay off.

Here we don’t even want to workout yet we’re making ourselves at times only to not see those results snowball! 

But those fat burners and pre-workout drinks will not only make symptoms worse, they often backfire further.

So don’t dig yourself more of a hole you’re going to have to crawl out of. Stick with adjusting those macros and fueling well as you meet yourself where you’re at with your training.

Now this final disruptor isn’t anything unhealthy.

It’s actually something many of us not only enjoy but include for its metabolism boosting properties…

It’s spicy foods, like hot sauces!

Spicy foods, or foods with capsaicin, are something that can be added to our diets for extra flavor as we may be looking to lean down and boost our metabolism even that 1%. 

And there is nothing wrong with including hot sauces BUT we do want to note that even these “little” things can make certain symptoms worse.

While this disruptor may not be something you eliminate, especially as you add a booster….

If you’re having horrible hot flashes that make you feel like you’re sweating worse than that meme all over social media… 

You may want to recognize that those spicy dishes you love are only making things worse.

Track and see if symptoms flare up more after meals with spice.

If they do, you may cut back on the spice at least for a little bit, until the symptoms calm down.

The key is recognizing all of the boosters and disruptors you’re consuming to be able to adjust by adding where you can, and reducing where you need.

FINDING YOUR BALANCE:

Because it truly is all about finding YOUR balance.

Each of these boosters and disruptors will have a different weight for us.

So we may find that an addition of a big booster, or one that really addresses our deficiencies, has an impact to balance things out.

While we may find by adding a smaller booster as we reduce a disruptor creates the balance right for us.

So don’t just feel like you now can’t have things you love or have to overwhelm yourself with changes.

Start small and realize that you’re in control and can truly manage your menopausal experience to move and feel your best.

You are not doomed!

To learn more about your boosters and disruptors…

–> Take The Quiz

The Best Bodyweight Exercise (Everyone Hates)

The Best Bodyweight Exercise (Everyone Hates)

Unpopular opinion…

I think Burpees are underrated.

You may be like, “WHAAAAT!? I see burpees in everything. They’re overdone!”

And while I agree they can be overused, misused and simply put in a workout just to make it harder…

I also think they aren’t given their due credit for being more than just a hard move, but an amazing full-body cardio move to improve your mind-body connection and functional fitness.

Burpees are an exercise that too often don’t get enough respect for being a move that has to be EARNED, but that can, and should, also be done in some form at EVERY age.

Yup…EVERY age…

That’s why in this video I want to explain WHY burpees can be so valuable to do even as we get older, but also why this move can be such a challenge and how we can break it down and modify it to fit our needs and goals!

And if you’re right now shaking your head saying, “NOPE! Burpees aren’t for me!”

I’d urge you to hear me out on WHY they can be so beneficial and then check out the modifications I share!

So…how and why are burpees so beneficial to include?

I’ll be the first to admit…I don’t like burpees.

They stink.

They’re hard.

They’re uncomfortable. 

They never seem to get easier…especially if we do them correctly with intention and focus.

And because they are a very advanced move, I’m very careful with how I program them into progressions for clients.

They are a complicated, full-body, explosive movement.

They challenge your mind-body connection, requiring you to perform multiple joint actions and engage muscle groups down your entire body efficiently in sequence to move quickly and powerfully.

Lose tension in one area and your burpee looks like the worm. Your push up becomes a belly flop. 

And not only do they require a strong mind-body connection and great full body strength and stability, they also require more MOBILITY than we realize.

To be able to jump your feet fully in close enough to your hands to jump up at the top, requires more hip and even ankle mobility than we recognize! 

But what makes them a hard and complicated movement we need to often regress to progress and truly EARN, is also what makes them a valuable exercise that I want every client to build up to as much as possible.

Breaking down the burpee to build up this movement will help you improve your ability to recruit muscles correctly quickly.

It will help you be able to engage muscles throughout your body in sequence to perform functional everyday activities that have us squatting and reaching and bracing all at once.

It will teach you to brace and stabilize while still reacting quickly.

And it will help you maintain the mobility to get down and up easily off the ground. 

While you may never do the exact burpee movement in every day life, it can really help us build functional strength through the fact we ask our body to do so many things as once and quickly.

That ability to engage things to stabilize and power movement FAST is what helps us react in everyday life to stay injury free and functionally fit.

It helps us react quickly to catch that glass when it gets knocked off the table.

To avoid slipping and falling when we trip on the curb.

It’s all about that mind-body connection.

And burpees are exceptional at helping us build that.

They are also a great move to improve our conditioning, especially when we are short on time. Working so many areas at once with this fast paced movement is going to get your blood pumping. And even just intervals of 20 seconds of work can be killer!

And while this may sound weird…

They even help us become more comfortable being uncomfortable which is truly invaluable to growth in life and success.

This ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable helps us conquer new challenges, which builds confidence. And the more confident we become, the more we will embrace learning and growth and rock those results as we get older!

Now if you’re starting to be sold on burpees and considering adding them in, you need to make sure you’ve truly EARNED the full variation.

And just because you can “do” a burpee, doesn’t mean that full variation is right for you…YET.

If your burpees look sloppy, like you’re a fish kind of flopping out of the water on dry land, it’s time to check your ego and regress. 

Build that core stability. Build that strength.

Build that mobility.

Regress to progress!

Get everything truly working together efficiently so you aren’t just working harder with this move, but actually seeing amazing full-body strength and conditioning gains from it!

So…How Can We Break Down And Modify The Burpee?

I want to break down some key modifications for this move based on some reasons why the burpee is so challenging….

Starting with the fact that it requires more mobility than we recognize.

Challenge #1: I don’t have the mobility to easily get down into the plank and stand back up.

I love using a bench or low box for clients starting out who may not yet have the mobility to easily step or jump back into a high plank and stand back up.

If you notice when you do burpees that you don’t put your hands flat on the ground or you can’t jump your feet in close enough to your hands to easily shift your weight back and stand up, using a bench or box will help. 

The incline helps create more “space” so you can more easily jump or step your feet into your hands.

This modification can also be key if you struggle with challenge #2…

Challenge #2: You don’t have the core stability or upper body strength.

The incline can also help reduce the resistance or load on your upper body and core as you move into that plank position and perform the push up.

Because the burpee shouldn’t be a belly flop onto the ground.

There should be a jump or step back into plank then a lower into a push up before you press back up and stand up.

By using an incline you modify the push up and plank, which can help you slow build that core and upper body strength.

As you build up, you can lower the incline slowly toward the ground, increasing the resistance and load on your upper body and core! 

And even starting out, if you don’t have a proper incline to use, try taking out the push up even and just focus on that nice plank position to start. Or even consider a knee push up variation. 

But focus not only on moving quickly but also proper form with each component of the move.

I mention this because SPEED and moving quickly with exercises has to be earned!

Which brings me to Challenge #3: Not having the neuromuscular efficiency aka the speed or power.

We can move faster while performing a movement correctly because we’ve built up that mind-body connection.

And that takes time.

To start, you may need to step with the burpee over jumping. 

Or you may need to slow things down.

I know often we don’t want to do that with the burpee because we are using it as a cardio move.

This is why modifying it to allow ourselves to move quickly and get our blood pumping is key.

BUT always modifying may also be why you feel “stuck,” unable to progress to a harder variation.

Sometimes we also need to progress and slow things down.

Then as we master that new movement pattern, we can slowly speed things up!

So consider including both burpees slightly broken down into components as you build up, removing the push up or only doing a half burpee without the jump up while also taking time to do longer intervals of conditioning work where you can slow things down to focus on the full movement! 

Now the final challenge I want to address and help you work around is…

Challenge #4: Modifying around aches and pains.

I’m going to tell you right now, the burpee may not be right for you in the starting phases of rehab.

But your goal should ALWAYS be to build back and retrain whatever movement patterns and exercises you can.

The key is to find ways to reduce mobility or strength demands whenever possible in that rebuilding phase.

If you have a wrist injury, that may mean using a bench to reduce the load on your upper body.

It may mean slowing down to place your hands on dumbbells instead to keep a neutral wrist position. 

It may even mean using an incline to modify into a forearm plank as you step back. 

But you want to find ways to embrace the components of an exercise you can train while avoiding overload.

Same can be said for knee or hip injuries. 

Maybe you remove all jumping and instead step back. Or you even use sliders to reduce impact more. 

Maybe you use the incline to give yourself space so you don’t need as much hip or ankle mobility to step back up and stand up.

Or maybe you even do a bulldog variation to target those quads more while putting less stress on your core. 

Again it is about considering what you need to eliminate, but what you can still do in a move to use as much as possible!

While the burpee may not be right for you at your current fitness level or phase of rehab…

While it may not be right for you YET…

I think too often we just demonize moves or write them off over thinking…

“How can I regress to progress?”

“How can I build back?”

We don’t break moves down, slow down the speed and RETRAIN movement and recruitment patterns to function optimally…

We just AVOID.

And this doesn’t help us stay functionally fit till our final day on this planet.

It honestly puts us at greater risk for injury in everyday life!

The more we can retrain and the less we have to FEAR movements, the stronger and more independent we will be till our final day on this earth!

So if you’ve been just hating on burpees, avoiding them thinking they’re hard and pointless…

Think again!

Find ways to include this amazing move in your workout routine using my tips to modify around your challenges and see your strength and conditioning improve dramatically when you’ve earned this killer exercise!

Ready for some fun workouts that will challenge you no matter your fitness level?

Take your training to the next level with my Dynamic Strength Program.

–> LEARN MORE

The Diets That Hurt Our Metabolism

The Diets That Hurt Our Metabolism

Fad diet are keeping us stuck in this horrible yo-yo dieting cycle…

A cycle where we oddly become really good at losing the weight…

But also really good at regaining it.

And over time we only feel more and more frustrated not seeing the results we want while working harder and harder.

It’s all because these diets with labels overcomplicate things by oversimplifying things.

Let me say that again…

They suck you in making things seem easy and simple, but really they’re making things complicated and unsustainable.

And I don’t give a flying fart in space how you want to defend your diet with a label…

A diet you’re super excited by because you’re seeing initial results after just starting a month ago while being super motivated…

But, talk to me the second life gets in the way and you’re tempted by that basket of chips and salsa…

The first time you travel and it isn’t easy to hit the arbitrary standards of clean eating your diet recommends…

Because most fad diets…those diets with a label you almost attach yourself to as a badge of honor…

Keto, Carnivore, Paleo, Raw Food…

Promise fast results and make things seemingly simple to start.

BUT…they never truly help you create lasting change or shift your lifestyle.

They create restriction…not understanding.

They actually bank on the fact that you’re not truly learning what you need…

because it means you’ll buy into another label probably only months later when someone else posts on social media it’s magical and POOF the weight just disappeared…

But lasting results are not overnight results.

And we don’t often want to look and feel good just for a day.

That’s why I want to show you the Change Loop you’re keeping yourself stuck in jumping from label to label – repeating the same mistake over and over again just packed with a different bow on top…

And why you not only need to SIMPLIFY things but also embrace the HARD LEARNING PROCESS that seems far more complicated to start if you truly want a change.

I’ve done the label hopping…

Always thinking, “This next change will be it!”

I’d pick something that seemed like it would work fast.

That seemed simple to do…

I mean…I just need to cut out THIS ONE THING right and it will all work!?

Yes!

I’d go all in.

Restricting whatever I was told, even if I loved it.

And sometimes, I’d see fast results…to start.

I’d even try to convince myself, “This isn’t so bad! I didn’t like dessert that much anyway.”

But slowly it would feel like the restrictions tightened more and more.

I felt haunted by the foods I wanted and the cravings would increase.

And worse of all…The results would stop.

I’d hit a fast plateau. And began to DREAD the diet.

The overwhelm would hit and I’d start to whine and tell myself it wasn’t worth it.

So I’d quit. I’d go straight to my craving and BOOM a month later I’d be worse off than where I started…

Sluggish on the couch nursing a food hangover, I’d start to think…“I need to make a change! And I’d go search for the next label to fall for….

This right there is the change loop.

We find a program, get caught up in the promise of it.

We go all in, never really considering if the habits match what we need or are sustainable.

And in the process of making changes, we create habit overload.

We can embrace the restriction and sacrifice it for a bit if the results happen fast.

It feels worth it.

But then we always hit that point where results slow.

Where we start to feel like we just don’t have the willpower or self control.

We do that walk to the cabinet 17 times trying to talk ourselves out of having just ONE of those mini candy bars…

We do this until we hit that emotional sabotage point of this isn’t working anyway…

And we have the whole bag.

Once the seal is broken, it can take us days if not weeks or months of “I quit” before we again get motivated and jump right back into this loop…

Being swept up in the promise of another program…

What we don’t realize is that each and every time, we’re truly repeating the EXACT same mistakes.

Sure one time we’re cutting out carbs. Or nightshades or cooking…

But what we don’t realize is that by trying to keep things SIMPLE, we’re just constantly repeating the same mistake of restricting.

We’re drawing arbitrary lines of what foods we can and can’t have.

We’re not truly learning our balance or the fundamentals of nutrition.

The stuff that is hard and complicated and SLOWER changes to start.

Sorry.

But let’s be real…

No results worth having EVER came easy…

That’s why if you want to get out of this cycle and see lasting results to feel, look and move your best at ANY age…

You need to embrace the sucky fact that you’ve got to do the HARD process of creating a balance through a slow habit stack and learning!

This hard process starts with learning about your current lifestyle and finding one small change you can make today.

And…very unpopular opinion, but busting out of this loop to see the body recomp you want and feel your best, also comes with learning about macros.

Yup macros – the breakdown of the portions of proteins, carbs and fats you consume.

Now how you learn about macros, and how you track your food may vary.

But the more we truly learn what we need, the more we can control to adjust while including the foods we love.

Many of us have heard, heck I’ve even SAID, the line “Eat whatever you want and see results.”

“See results without cutting out the foods you love.”

And while this line sounds too good to be true…

While it sounds like just another diet with a label is coming your way…

It isn’t.

This statement is true.

It’s the power of macros.

Now note, I didn’t say whatever you want whenever you want in whatever quantity you want.

Sorry that’s not the case with anything in life.

But this is the power of learning the portions of each you need to see results while not having to label things as good or bad, off limits or ok!

And this is also what helps you create a lifestyle.

One size doesn’t fit all – yet we force ourselves to fit a diet label.

We force ourselves to not embrace that food is no longer just fuel.

That we have so many things in our diet we just include because we enjoy them.

And this isn’t a bad thing.

We shouldn’t feel guilty for just ENJOYING certain things and even the events that come with those foods.

We just need to learn our balance.

And the more we assess our current lifestyle, make one change to move forward while we learn about those macros and their impact, the more we can see those results snowball.

As we then stack more and more habit changes, we will see those results build. But not only build, actually LAST.

So as unsexy as this process is…

As hard and complicated and overwhelming as it is to start…

It’s ultimately easier.

It demystifies what works.

Because those diets that make it seem so simple, are really just not showing you HOW to do it on your own. They’re not teaching you so you stay stuck.

So today, if you haven’t before, just write down what you’re currently eating.

Then pick one really easy change to make.

Don’t cut out the food you love most.

Even consider adding in.

But make one small change and then even check the video description for a link to more on the basics of macros so you can start to truly understand what YOU need for long term results!

Get off the dieting rollercoaster and learn how to truly stack those habits and make those LASTING nutritional changes…

Learn more about my Metabolic Shred!

 

You’re Eating Protein WRONG! 5 Mistakes To Avoid

You’re Eating Protein WRONG! 5 Mistakes To Avoid

Increasing your protein doesn’t have to be this disgusting or hard.

Little changes and shifts to how you plan out your meals can really pay off. It just takes you pausing to assess what you’re currently doing and being open to looking at your portions and meals in another way.

That’s why I want to share 5 strategies to help so you can avoid common protein “mistakes” like these.

Let’s start with what I’ve already mentioned…

Increasing your current servings of protein by just an ounce!

Too often we try to find new ways to add in protein instead of just tweaking what we’re already naturally doing.

Which honestly just makes things feel more overwhelming and confusing.

So instead of trying to search for something new or a bigger change, just take a current protein sources your consuming and add an ounce.

If you usually have 3 ounces of chicken at lunch, make it 4.

Small increases to the protein sources you’re already eating can help you keep your meals and prep basically the same while helping you slowly increase your protein intake.

No big dramatic changes.

No having to think of new options.

Now, if you start adjusting your portions and are finding that your fat intake is way too high or you can’t keep your calories in check, this is where you can start to divide and conquer.

Often when a protein source is higher in fat or carbs, we think we just have to cut out something we enjoy.

Instead, we need to divide and conquer, which means we can simply COMBINE two different protein sources with different macros to hit our goals.

Love steak but finding it’s killing your macros while leaving you low in protein?

Try a surf and turf dish so you can have your steak but lower your fat by including another protein source you love that’s lower in fat.

This can sometimes be a better option than just eliminating the cut of meat we love.

Sometimes swapping for a completely different cut or type of protein isn’t enjoyable but the combination of two sources we love is!

So to get that 6 ounces of protein you want at a meal, you do 3 of each.

This can also help you avoid feeling like you’re just having to power through a bazillion ounces of protein as well at a meal.

Because another common protein mistake we make is just forcing ourselves to power through protein portions that simply aren’t enjoyable.

While a new and better result does mean embracing change and often that includes making some sacrifices, if we feel like we’re force feeding ourselves something, chances are we won’t keep doing that for long.

We can avoid this protein overload not only by dividing and conquering with different protein sources but even further HIDING the protein in meals.

How can you hide protein?!

Using dishes that allow you to diversify!

By diversifying your protein sources in a dish and not making yourself feel like you just have to eat more, you can often pack in more protein.

Soups, smoothies or oatmeal parfaits, casseroles or even omelets make this an easy task because it is easy to combine a variety of protein sources so the dishes pack a punch.

Try bone broth as the base for your soup with chicken or tofu and veggies to add 10 more grams of protein per cup.

Combine greek yogurt with a protein powder in your smoothie or even in your oats to pack in 30+ grams while being easy to take on the go.

Heck, even blend in tofu to add more protein while making it extra creamy, especially if you don’t consume dairy!

For your casseroles, bump the protein and cheesiness by adding in cottage cheese on top of your usual proteins included and even swap traditional pastas for edamame or lentil variations.

And in your omelets not only use eggs and egg whites to hit your fat and protein macros, but add in ground protein sources like turkey or ground beef to bump your protein intake further without getting bored of the same flavor!

But by diversifying your ingredients it can make for tasty meals that don’t just make you feel like your force feeding yourself protein.

And then don’t make the mistake of ignoring the boost you can get from so many non-traditional sources of protein.

So often we only focus on the amino acids from complete protein sources.

But there are amino acids in so many of the foods we eat that, combined over the course of the day can really add up!

This can make increasing our protein intake seem so much less daunting!

And by embracing this diversity, we can also get a great micronutrient boost.

Sooo….Don’t ignore the grams.

Small swaps like buckwheat noodles for regular white pasta can bump our protein intake.

Or peas with broccoli in our stir fry help us bump those protein grams and improve our micros.

Nutritional yeast and parmesan cheese are great little ways to boost flavor while adding protein even.

I stole this term from my Dietitian Michelle, but she calls them protein sprinkles. And I love calling parmesan cheese protein salt!

Heck, nutritional yeast is not only a great seasoning for the protein source you may be cooking up that day, but it can even be sprinkled on your popcorn snack.

Yup!

It’s a great way to make your popcorn taste cheesy and add a protein boost to a snack that normally is devoid of protein (and not in the gross protein powder on peanut butter cups way…)

You can even do this by pairing something you want with something you “need.”

Instead of putting protein into something that it doesn’t work in, consider it on the side to your usual snack or treat.

Try jerky with your crackers.

Or some natural deli meat on a snack plate with your apple and peanut butter.

But consider small ways to make those grams add up!

This can help us include the foods we love and not feel like we’re only eating bland and boring foods!

And then…stop seeing increasing your protein as having to be…well…bland and boring and diet food!

We often make the mistake of being lazy with the changes and defaulting into not trying to make the meals taste good.

It’s almost like we get this attitude of “Well it’s a diet. It’s not supposed to be enjoyable.”

But that holds us back from building lasting habit changes or even developing a good relationship with our food!

Make an extra effort to make your protein delicious through sauces and spices and seasonings!

Seasonings and spices can really make a huge impact and they come at basically not calorie cost!

Then even look for sauces that are flavor filled but lower in calories to start.

Consider things like soy sauce or tamari for some extra flavor while being low in calories.

Or use salsas even in place of other salad dressings.

Even consider making some of your own salsas or dressings out of greek yogurt and seasonings.

It’s a great way to even make some ranch variations while boosting your protein a bit, hiding that protein in your sauce!

But don’t shy away from finding some recipes that use seasoning to their advantage!

While I know it is easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of making changes and default into what seems easy but actually makes the process harder, you don’t have to fall into doing things that just aren’t sustainable and make you miserable.

Increasing your protein doesn’t have to mean destroying dishes and snacks you love.

Avoid making these protein mistakes and start building meals you love that help you hit your macro goals!

Learn how to adjust your nutrition to see all of your hard work in the gym pay off and build your leanest, strongest body EVER…

–> Learn more about the Metabolic Shred

 

5 Signs You’re Actually Burning FAT (NOT MUSCLE!)

5 Signs You’re Actually Burning FAT (NOT MUSCLE!)

Have you been celebrating quick weight loss on the scale?

Maybe you shouldn’t be… 

Because those extremes you’re going to so that you can see the pounds fly off are actually sabotaging your results.

It’s also why you feel like you have to starve yourself to get back down to your goal weight and the process just gets harder and harder. 

The sucky truth is…your hard work, trying to do more, is actually hindering your progress.

And no one wants to work hard not to see the results they deserve!

Most of us want to to do less work and get leaner and look more defined.

We want to lose FAT not muscle.

But when we strive for faster results on the scale, we sacrifice more muscle in the process.

Muscle that gets harder to regain and retain as we get older.

So if you want to lose fat…

It may be time to ditch the scale.

That’s why I also want to go over ways to tell body recomp is truly happening – that you’re losing fat while retaining and even GAINING lean muscle…

But first it’s key we understand why the scale is a horrible measure of fat loss and why seeing fast changes to it probably shows our hard work is working against us.

Because so many of us have defined “being in shape,” defined what our ideal aesthetic is in relation to a number on a scale.

And letting that number go at times isn’t easy, but it’s necessary if we even want to look leaner than ever before…

WHY THE SCALE IS HOLDING YOU BACK:

Because being solely focused on the scale changing often leads to us doing extreme dieting and training practices.

Ones that not only set us up for failure because they aren’t sustainable…

But also ones that hurt our metabolism, create hormonal imbalances and lead to us losing more muscle than fat.

And while, yes, in the fat loss process, as we strive to get lean, some muscle mass may be lost…

We CAN gain more control over what we’re losing, muscle or fat, by how we adjust our diet and our workouts.

This means not creating an extreme calorie deficit or trying to add in extra workout sessions.

When we don’t have enough energy coming in, our body will find internal sources.

This is why we do need a calorie deficit for weight loss.

Less energy coming in, our body used what is stored.

And of course we’d love our body to use our fat as fuel first.

But when we don’t focus on macros and we slash our calories super low, the opposite is going to happen.

Instead of turning to our fat as fuel, our body will utilize muscle.

It does this because breaking down muscle not only provides us with the fuel we need, it also SAVES us on the energy we require to survive.

Because muscle requires more energy to be maintained than our fat stores do.

So from a survival standpoint, it makes sense to use a bit of muscle first as fuel and keep the fat stores for later.

This is why metabolic adaptations occur. We lose lean muscle because of our dieting practices and therefore burn fewer calories at rest!

That’s why if we only focus on losing fast on the scale, there’s a great chance the weight we’re dropping isn’t fat, but instead MUSCLE as our body seeks to provide energy for the most important functions.

So it’s time to step off the scale, stop the extreme calorie deficits and focus on tracking progress in these ways.

5 Signs You’re Actually Burning FAT (and not muscle)

1: You’re losing inches as the scale isn’t budging.

You measure and you’ve lost inches…

But then you step on the scale and your weight hasn’t changed.

You’re frustrated because you’ve been so good all week!

You think to yourself, “I’ll just lower my calories further or cut out more of (insert food you’ve decided is bad here)”?

Don’t!

Losing inches while the scale isn’t budging shows you’re actually achieving AMAZING body recomp.

So don’t sabotage it by trying to do more!

How is this possible though that you can be leaning down without the scale changing?

Some of us have heard muscle weighs more than fat, but that’s a slight misphrasing of what is going on.

Because 1lbs of muscle weighs the same as 1lbs of fat.

But 1 pound of muscle takes up a whole heck of a lot less space. So if you’re eating to fuel your training, you may GAIN muscle as you lose fat.

Gain 1lbs of muscle as you lose 1lbs of fat, and you’re going to look leaner yet weigh the same.

So while it may be frustrating to not see that scale change, this can actually be a sign that not only are you losing fat, you’re not doing so at the cost to your lean muscle mass.

And this will help you ultimately reach your goal, not create metabolic adaptations and therefore be stronger and able to sustain your results more easily!

2: Your clothes are fitting better.

If you aren’t measuring, but your clothes are fitting better while the scale isn’t changing, you body is telling you the same thing…

You’re losing fat and not sacrificing your muscle!

I even love having clients keep a specific pair of pants or a clothing item that is just a bit too tight around the areas they want to lose from as reference.

Each week or so they try this on to see how it fits, even taking pictures in it to help them judge.

But as you feel that waist get looser on those pair of jeans, you know you’re losing fat even if that scale isn’t changing.

And sometimes using clothing to judge is easier than measuring because it is easy to not get the measuring tape in the same exact spot!

3: You’re feeling fitter in your workouts.

But what if you aren’t feeling your clothes fit looser yet?

What if the areas you want to shrink, like your waist measurement, aren’t changing?

Often our most stubborn areas, the ones we want to lose from most, are the last ones to change.

It stinks.

We lose from areas we don’t care about, and therefore don’t even measure, first.

This is why even tracking progress in your workouts is important.

Not only does this keep you in the habit of staying focused and intentional with your training to allow results time to snowball, but it allows you to see you’re on the right track toward body recomp.

Think about how you often feel when you slash your calories super low and try to out exercise your diet to lose weight…

You feel burned out right? Tired with baby weights?

Like your workouts are sometimes a battle and like your lifts start to drop?

Your energy just isn’t there.

And you start to feel like your hard work isn’t paying off.

But if we are focused on a smaller calorie deficit, clear progression and macros to see body recomp, we often see our strength and fitness IMPROVE.

We feel better in our training.

Like we are able to tackle more and do it more easily.

This is a sign we’re building muscle in our training.

And if the scale isn’t changing, that means we’re also losing fat!

So track your progress in your workouts to see those muscle gains and help yourself even want to stay more consistent with other healthy habits.

The more ways we measure success, the more ways we have to be successful!

4: You’re seeing definition in the mirror…even if it is areas you don’t care about as much.

That’s also why I like having clients take progress pictures.

This is a great way to see that definition popping out and the muscle gains we’re seeing from our strength improvements in the gym.

We just have to remember that lighting plays a factor. So make sure to take pictures in the same place consistently to compare.

And then make sure to take a variety of angles and pictures of areas you don’t “care” about.

Because often we will lose from everywhere besides where we want first.

In this process of losing from everywhere else, it can even feel like our trouble spots look worse.

So be conscious of this if you are tracking your progress pictures.

If an area looks worse, this doesn’t mean you gained fat and lost muscle. You just have to recognize another area around it got SMALLER.

Progress pictures, while not as objective as measurements or a item of clothing, because you can FEEL like you don’t look as good, are a great indicator of fat loss as we not only retain but gain lean muscle.

You may see increases more easily in areas you’ve even wanted to build when you flex for the photos!

So especially if you even want to GAIN a bit of muscle as you lose fat, progress photos can be a great way to monitor body recomp.

5: You’re gaining on the scale but measurements, clothing and progress pictures show a leaner physique.

And while many of us have heard you can’t build muscle as you lose fat because you can’t build muscle in a deficit, this isn’t fully true.

It is why strength workouts and especially a focus on protein is so key.

But this is also why we can’t get just solely focused on a goal weight…

Because we may be losing fat as the scale even goes up.

Yup. You can lose inches and see the scale increase.

You may actually LOOK LEANER, and people may even ask if you’ve lost weight, while weighing more.

This can happen because you’re eating enough to fuel that muscle growth and build 2lbs of muscle as you even lose 1 pound of fat.

And the more muscle you build, the more you may see that metabolic rate increase. And what was once a small deficit may get bigger.

So you may even have to end up eating more to fuel that muscle growth to see the scale increase as you ultimately lose more and more fat.

This is why those measurements, pictures or use of clothing to track is so key outside of just using the scale.

Because had you not had those other methods to see that fat loss occurring, you may have given up seeing the jump up on the scale even though that jump showed you were actually achieving even better results than you thought possible.

As hard as it is to let go of the scale, to forget your goal weight even if you have more weight you want to lose…

It may be the secret to you getting better results and a leaner, stronger body than you’ve ever had before.

And it sets you up to be functional fit till your final day on this planet!

Ready to learn how to dial in your workouts and your diet to work together so you can build your leanest, strongest body no matter your age?

Check out my 3-Step Recipe For Results HERE.

 

Macro Tracking For Beginners – 7 Tips To Make It EASY

Macro Tracking For Beginners – 7 Tips To Make It EASY

In this video blog, I’ll cover 7 common macro tracking struggles and how to overcome them.

Check out the full video or transcript below.

And if you’re just wanting to learn to track macros, and even feeling overwhelmed by the idea of logging and measuring everything, check out my Metabolic Shred!

I include 3 different macros methods to help you start adjusting those portions, even if visual tracking methods work better for you to start!

–> Learn More About The Metabolic Shred

 

Transcript (please excuse any typos!):

I know I should be tracking macros, but it’s just so overwhelming, so tedious. 

I mean, how do I log family meals? 

How do I log meals out? 

Tracking macros can seem very overwhelming to start, and I have lots of clients that rebel against ever doing it because there are so many details it seems like there are to learn.

 And I get it; it was one thing that I avoided for the longest time. 

However, I realized I was keeping myself stuck falling for fat diet after fat diet because I was falling for the oversimplifications that were actually making things overly complicated. 

Let me say that again because I know that’s really weird, but the oversimplification that was making things more complicated. 

Because with all these diets with a label that are restricting specific foods, they make it very simple to do, right? 

You just cut out this one food, and you’re going to see results. 

However, in cutting out that one food, we might see progress for a little bit, but we don’t know why. 

And then when we don’t want to cut out that food any longer, we don’t know how to make the changes that will actually pay off. 

So that’s why tracking macros is so key. 

It’s hard to start; it can be overwhelming; there is a learning curve. 

But ultimately, what gets measured gets managed. 

The more that you learn to track macros, the more control you get over your diet to be able to adjust as your needs and goals change over time.

So I’m going to go over 7 things that might be a little confusing to track and log and show you how you can actually do this to see results.

Number one, should we count net carbs or all carbs? 

This is an interesting debate, and if you have specific health concerns, you may only track net carbs. 

But if you are looking to lose fat, see body recomposition happening, you need to track all carbs. 

Your calorie deficit or surplus is based on the fact that you are consuming whole natural foods, which would have fiber in them. 

So by only tracking net carbs to be able to eat more carbs, you’re ultimately potentially throwing yourself out of a calorie deficit, which would be key if you want to see that fat loss occurring. 

Net carbs also really isn’t a regulated term, so it’s very much used to market specific products nowadays. 

And I love some of the products that are net carbs, but these tortillas say they have 70 calories, and that’s based off of the fact that they can do that based off the net carbs actually listed. 

But they truly have 123 calories, and I bring this up because if we’re subtracting those calories, we might be eating out of the deficit we’ve created because again, we’ve set that deficit assuming that we’re eating whole natural foods which do contain fiber to them. 

So you’re not going to be subtracting that necessarily with your apples or other things that aren’t with labels. 

So you want to make sure that any product with a label that is subtracting that net carbs, you’re conscious that the calories are being impacted by this. 

Same thing goes with this bar, not as bad, but it says 200 calories, it’s actually 22 something that’s going to potentially lead to us throwing ourselves out of a deficit, especially the more net carb type products that we’re consuming. 

So it’s really key that we don’t fall for the net carb marketing term but realize that this is allowing them to list lower calorie counts and that our calorie deficit is truly set based on the fact that we’re consuming whole natural foods, which would have fiber. 

If you’ve set your deficit not accounting for net carbs, you do not want to just only count net carbs, as that can throw you out of the deficit which is so necessary for fat loss. 

Be aware that this is a marketing term that is used. 

All carbs count. 

I know that’s not what you want to hear sometimes because you want to be able to eat more carbs, which tastes really good. 

But if we want to see results, we have to make sure that everything is dialed in correctly.

Number two, to make macro tracking a little bit easier…

Should you weigh your food, your produce, everything cooked or raw? 

The short answer is it doesn’t matter, and that’s great for us because it means that we can make a lot of different things work. 

Ideally, yes, you are potentially weighing your stuff raw; that gives the most accurate measurement, is very easy to do. 

But sometimes we’ve cooked a meal and we’re having leftovers. 

Sometimes we’re bulk prepping, and we can’t necessarily weigh out each portion ahead of time. 

And the great part is we can easily still weigh out and be accurate with cooked foods. We just need to make sure that whatever ingredients we select in our food tracker match up to what’s used. 

So if you select a raw ingredient because you use raw, that’s perfect. 

If you select a cooked ingredient, you want to make sure that you select baked, grilled, whatever it is and make sure that it’s the same cooked ingredient because if you select raw when cooked, there is a change in what is going on there. 

It’s really key that you select the correct ingredient to complement because 4 oz raw chicken is going to be 3 oz cooked, and that change is going to impact the macros and the weight that you’re going to need to hit your macros. 

So just make sure that whether you’re weighing it cooked or raw, you’re selecting the correct ingredient in your tracker, but really you can make either work based on what you need. 

If you’ve cooked meal prep, and now you’re pulling chicken out of the fridge and you’re putting it on your salad, that’s easy to just do the cooked meat. 

If you’re cooking raw, you can easily divide up the portions and even meal prep those into different containers so you already have it weighed out. 

But don’t stress; you can do either one.

Number three, let’s talk about alcohol. 

So if you drink and you want to include your glass of wine, your cocktail on occasion, this is how you can log alcohol into your food tracker. 

I do just want to make a note that even though you include it and it logs the calories, and I’m going to show you how to log the grams of the macros, it still can impact the rate at which you see results if you’re really striving for the best weight loss, fat loss, even body recomposition. 

You may want to consider eliminating alcohol for a period of time because it does slow the process even when you’re logging it, taking it into account. 

So alcohol comes with a certain amount of calories. 

Let’s just say 100 calories. 

But because it is its own macro at 7 calories per gram, it will show as empty calories in your food tracker. 

That means what you need to do if you’re tracking macros is decide how you’re going to allocate those calories. 

So if you’re logging alcohol, you’d ideally like to take it out of protein because we usually want to eat less protein and more carbs and fat, especially when we’re drinking. But you can’t take it out of your protein. 

Ideally, you’re going to take it out of your fat grams for the day or your carb grams for the day, depending on what your ratio is. 

I say fat because it slows the digestion of fat specifically, and it really inhibits fat loss. 

Ideally, we’re going to be taking it from our fat calories from the day. However, if you are on a lower-fat ratio, you might subtract it from carbs. 

So when you have those calories from that drink that you’re including, the 100 calories that aren’t logging as anything specifically, you’re going to take those 100 calories and divide it by either nine for fat or four for carbs. 

That’s going to give you the grams of each macro that you have to add in. 

You then will want to create a food with the calories and allotting those calories to the specific fat or carb that you’re putting them towards. 

That will help you track macros and still take away from your carb intake or your fat intake for the day so you hit those ratios very nicely.

The next thing I’m going to go over is meals out.

And this is not only meals out at restaurants but also parties, different family events where you might be eating where someone else’s cook. 

It seems overwhelming to log these things because sometimes you can’t be exact; you don’t know exactly what recipe they use, how they cooked it. 

But the great part about a lot of restaurants is they have nutritional information online, and if they don’t, a restaurant similar does. 

So you can always create a food off of that. I also like to Google common recipes because if I know someone’s cooking, I know they’re going to be using something that’s probably a recipe I can slightly find online, and off of that, I can use hand portion guides and get pretty close in terms of my tracking. 

But you can always create a food off of a recipe that you find there, and that way you have macros that are close enough to hold you accountable because part of logging restaurant meals and meals out is that it helps us know that we deviated and had something that was potentially different than what we usually have. 

And if you’re traveling for work, finding healthy restaurant options at places like Chipotle or Chick-fil-A or different things like that may not be the quality we usually want, but it can be really helpful because it can keep us on track hitting those macros. 

Anyway, we can’t always use the thing, “Well, I’m traveling, so, you know, whatever, I’m going to throw my macros out the window,” because if we constantly do that, we’re never going to see results build. 

So if you are traveling for work, make sure to get some go-to options and even log them ahead of time to see how they can fit in. 

But if you can’t find the exact nutritional information for a restaurant, make sure that you’re looking up a similar recipe, entering that just to hold yourself accountable, even naming it the restaurant if you go there more often so that you have that already pre-planned so you can sort of plan the rest of your week around it based on how you respond to it.

So just got done with the Starbucks drive-thru. 

Now, if you’re going to Starbucks, the great part is they do have nutritional information, and Starbucks really wants this on their website. However, if you can’t find something at your local coffee shop or cafe that’s similar, this could be a great option in terms of what you log because it’s probably not as healthy as what you make at home. 

Generally, they use extra oils, different things like that. But I could sort of look at this and be like, okay, what’s on this? I know it’s cheese, bacon, it’s double bacon, it’s the egg, and then it’s sort of a croissant-like sandwich. 

So I know that if I go to a local cafe using the nutritional information from Starbucks could be a really great way to go.

I often get asked, should I log sauces, especially ones that have very few calories? 

And the simple answer is yes. 

Those five calories might not seem like a lot in your mustard, but they add up over time, and often our portions aren’t that single serving that we think they are. 

And if we’re trying to create a smaller calorie deficit, these things can really impact the deficit we’re actually in, especially if we are including alcohol or meals out. 

But I wanted to highlight some portions and how many calories are actually in the sauces we’re including. 

This serving of ranch dressing right here is 150 calories. And maybe this says something about how much I dislike salads and feel like the rabbit food at times, but that would not be the only amount that I would put on my salad. I would load it down. 

So I’m going to be easily packing in more than 150 calories with the salad using that dressing. And yes, I can get lighter dressings, which might be a swap that you make. 

But you want to log that because 150 calories, especially if you’re doing that multiple times over the week, it’s really going to impact the results that you’re getting. 

And by measuring and weighing it out, you might even realize, hey, I’m not eating that entire 150 calories so I can be spending those calories elsewhere.

Now, ketchup, 20 calories for the serving. 

I don’t know about you, but if I have fries, if I have potatoes, I use a lot more ketchup than that. So maybe my portions are distorted. 

Maybe yours are finding yours are too. 

But that’s 20 calories for not that much. Even this amount of mustard, that’s five calories, and you’re like, oh, five calories is easy. 

But I don’t know about you, but again, I don’t think I use that little mustard when I’m making my sandwich. 

And even if you are, if you’re making that sandwich every single day, and then you’re adding some salad dressing onto your salad every single day, and you’re using that ketchup multiple times a week, all these little calorie amounts add up. 

And I also bring this up because I think our portions can easily get distorted on things like peanut butter. 

Anybody else have a problem with just that one serving, and a serving gets a whole heck of a lot bigger when they want it? 

That tends to happen. 

So by making sure that we’re measuring and weighing everything, we’re not going to let those little calorie amounts add up in a way that can really sabotage and derail us because 5, 10 calories over the week can throw us out of that calorie deficit, especially when we are doing other things. 

So make sure you’re logging and measuring everything to get the correct portions to really see an accurate picture of what you’re doing because too often we just say, oh, the macro ratio isn’t working, oh, the calories aren’t working, but really it’s things that are off in our diet that aren’t allowing us to hit the numbers consistently, and those inconsistencies are what are adding out. 

Log all those sauces even if it says it only has 5 calories.

So now let’s talk about the impact that cooking has on those protein sources and whether or not you should count the fats and marinades that you’re using cooking oils. 

Marinades, the fat that cooks out of meat – do we have to log all of that? 

The simple answer and the easiest answer is yes. 

Often when we don’t want to log something, it’s because we want extra calories and extra macros to use elsewhere, and I totally get it. I try and cheat wherever I can. 

But the more accurately we measure everything, the more we log everything, the better our results are going to be, and the more we’re going to have the power to make adjustments where we need.

Because the thing is, with olive oil, even though it’s being spread over the entire pan, a lot of it isn’t being cooked in; it is being cooked over the entire portion of meat. 

This is 120 calories, and that is a lot of calories that can add up over the course of a week, especially if we’re constantly cooking with it. Now you might think, “Okay, well, I’m going to use a spray instead.” 

A spray for zero calories is 1/4 of a second. 

I don’t know about you, but my spray is not that precise. 

That doesn’t even get anything in there. I’m pretty sure that was like 1/4 of a second. 

My spray is probably like 10 seconds, just kidding, but it’s a lot more than we think. 

So that is not fully going to save you, and we want to be conscious that even though it lists zero calories, it’s going to potentially add up. So we want to be conscious of that even if we’re not logging it, but we want to note that the oil we are cooking with is going to add calories, and we want to track it.

Marinades are the same way. 

Even though all of it is not going to be cooked in, you might not use all of it. 

You want to log it if you want to be extra super precise, and I can tell you that I have not found the need to be. I will just count all the marinade and just log all of it. 

But if you really want to make sure that you’re only getting the portion you’re eating, if you weigh the marinade beforehand and then you weigh the marinade after you’ve marinated the meat and then you include that, you can find what was truly used in the recipe. 

But you want to make sure that you are logging everything, and yes, some fat is going to cook out of the meat that you are including, but do not try and subtract it. 

The more you just take everything and make it as easy as possible to and don’t overcomplicate things. 

And again, we often overcomplicate things that we want to cheat on to get more calories and macros to use elsewhere. 

The more we’re going to create deviations and inconsistencies in our log. So cooking oils, marinades, the fat that cooked out – just log all of it. It makes it a lot simpler and helps you be more accurate.

Let’s talk about casseroles, family meals, soups – those dishes that you might be sharing with the family. 

So it might seem a lot easier to track if you’re a single person making a single meal, and when we have those casseroles or family dishes that we’re sharing, it can be a little overwhelming to know how to create a portion size.

What you want to do is set yourself up for success by entering the full recipe into your tracker and saving that, because then you don’t have to enter it every time. 

But let’s just say you’re making a casserole. 

If you’re making a soup, this works as well. 

But if you have your casserole dish, you can weigh it beforehand and get the weight. 

Find out the weight of it, and then make sure it’s tared, that’s great, or I can take it off and then find the weight. 

Or if you don’t tare before and you can put it on – okay, so I know the weight of this, which is great. 

So when I put this back on after I’ve made something, so let’s pretend I’ve actually put this in the oven, made a nice casserole, and it looks really delicious and filling. 

Then I would get the weight of the casserole now with this in there. 

So I know the weight of the casserole. 

I might have to subtract out the dish itself if I wasn’t able to tear it because I wasn’t pouring it into something. 

So if the dish is 477, I would now know that this is the total dish. 

I would then take that number and divide it by six. 

That would give me the size of the portion. 

So then what I could do is tare it right here and then even just cut out my portion and then start to weigh out what a sixth of this dish was. 

Once I had that, I would make sure that I entered the recipe into my tracker and then I would enter how many portions to divide it by so that I could get the macros for each serving. 

Make sure when you enter your ingredients that they’re correct. 

The great part about this is it saves it for future use. So every time you make this recipe, you can easily reuse it.

Now, if you have something that’s a little bit more based on people choosing their own portions and you can’t divide it as evenly, what you can do is instead of dividing it by the six servings, you can actually make a serving just a single gram or ounce, and that way you know what the macros are for each gram or ounce to be able to take a portion at a time and even vary your portion size more easily. 

So if you have hungry kids at home or other family members who are just taking their own scoops and you know you now have 50 grams left, you know the exact macros on it. 

But you don’t have to overcomplicate these things or get stressed out when you have family dishes. 

Just weigh the entire recipe, divide that weight so you get your weight of your serving, and then you can measure that out.

I hope those tips really helped. 

I know that it can feel overwhelming to start to track macros, but the more you even just start by logging the average day, don’t even worry about making adjustments, but just start to weigh and measure everything, get that accurate picture, the better off you’re going to be at making adjustments because you’re going to be able to meet yourself where you’re at. 

Just remember, it’s really easy to get caught in that fat diet cycle, falling for something that’s oversimplified. 

But ultimately, that overcomplicates getting lasting results because we’re not truly learning what we need. 

So embrace the learning process of macros, reach out if you need any help, and comment if you have any questions about these seven tips.