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3 Tips To Stop The Self Sabotage Cycle

3 Tips To Stop The Self Sabotage Cycle

by | May 29, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. It was a horrible day at work. You came home, you went to the cabinet, you know shouldn’t have done it, but you grab the bag of chips, then you go to the freezer, you grab the pint of ice cream, the couches call in your name, you head over and before you even get to the couch, half of the bag of chips is gone. And then you think, well, I’ve ruined the day. I’m not even going to go work out. I might as well just eat this pint of ice cream and then who cares about anything else? I’m just going to order some stuff on DoorDash. And all of a sudden you’re laying on the couch at the end of the night, completely miserable, feeling extremely guilty, and you just say to yourself, I just keep repeating this pattern.

(00:49):
I’m never going to see progress. You wake up the next morning, you don’t feel good about it, you feel extra super guilty. You were on such a good stretch. You step on the scale. Holy moly, it has just skyrocketed. This is what I call the flat tire situation. What happens is we get a flat tire, we go to the cabinet, we maybe have a couple of the chips even, and we do have that turn back point right then or that stopping point right then where we could say, Nope, I’m putting this bag back in the cabinet. I’m not grabbing the pint of ice cream out of the freezer. But instead, when we get that flat tire, instead of pulling over the side of the road calling aaa, put it on the spare, fixing it and getting on our merry way, instead of that, we get out of the car, we grab a knife and we go, ah, and we start slashing the other three tires.

(01:34):
We eat that bag of chips, we get the pint of ice cream, we DoorDash stuff. And then not only that, we light the car on fire for weeks on end because we just say, well, I ruined yesterday and tomorrow is Friday and I’m not going to be good on the weekend anyway, so who cares? I’ll just start over Monday and one day becomes four days and what could have even been a handful of chips or a bag of chips becomes thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of calories and bags of chips potentially over that time. And then because we feel worse about our situation starting over Monday doesn’t happen. We’ve all been there with a spiral and it can go on and on and sometimes it lasts for even months. And the simple fact of the matter is we have a choice and if we can get ourselves to pause at that initial choice and change this pattern, we can fix the flat and get moving forward a whole heck of a lot quicker.

(02:25):
And I say this with having a ton of experience with not only getting a flat tire but slashing the other three. And I will tell you the three tactics I’m going to share to really help you fix that flat faster. I sort of noted right there, it’s fix the flat tire faster. It’s not never get a flat tire. Honestly, I won’t even say it’s never slash the other three, but it’s fix it faster because that’s all we can ever do. We are human. We are going to have those stressful days that make us react, but we have to recognize that it’s not really a failure. We just panic a little bit and when we panic a little bit, if we own the mistake we can get moving forward and really ultimately what holds us back the most is that guilt and that sabotage that we do after not even the initial situation.

(03:13):
So I do want to go through sort of three tactics so that we’re not only fixing the flat when we get the flat, but we’re potentially only slashing one tire, not all three, and we’re definitely not lighting the car on fire and just walking away and saying, forget it. Okay, tactic number one, I want you to set a rule and I want you to set a 24 hour rule because one day, one bag of chips, well, it’s human, right? We have those stressful days, we react out of emotion. We want that comfort. That is even a pattern of comfort that we’ve taught ourselves to repeat, right? We feel better in the moment when we do that. It seems like a good idea. It gives us the instant gratification. So we go to it. What isn’t just human or one of those little slip ups is deciding the next morning that we’re not going to get back to those healthy habits or the morning after or the morning after that or the morning after that.

(04:05):
So I want you to set a 24 hour rule for yourself within 24 hours you have done something in a positive direction to put yourself back on the path that you want. And in that time, one of those actions can be to even reflect on what happened. How did your environment set you up to repeat that pattern? And I say environment because I think a lot of times we think about the stress, the emotion as causing it, and yes it does, but then it triggers a consistent sort of pattern to follow. And a lot of times that is only promoted by our environment. We walk into our house the same way the food’s in the same cabinet, we’ve gotten the same types of foods and if we shifted one of those things in our environment, we could actually prevent that pattern from repeating. So I want you to think the next day you’re back on track, so the 24 hour rule, but you’ve also paused within that time to reflect on what you could do next time to make it so that you’re again, maybe still slashing one tire but not all three.

(05:03):
And the more we have that pattern or that rule that we’re not going to do multiple days in a row, the more we can see that we’re even moving forward faster. And that can create that success mindset that allows us to really shift environments, act as if build that new identity that pays off, but we’re interrupting that spiral. So I want you to think how can you really think about creating a sort of rhythm reset or a pattern interrupt for yourself when this does occur, but reflect on it. Give yourself that 24 hour rule. You’re not doing it the next day no matter what happens, but then reflect on it to say, Hey, how can I change this environment? How can I create that sort of rhythm reset when I do get that urge to have the chips and how can I maybe stop myself from going to then to the ice cream or if I went to the ice cream and DoorDash something, how the next morning can I get right back up and on track?

(05:50):
Then tactic number two, track the bounce back, not the breakdown because so often we create that guilt and that’s really where the self-sabotage builds and we snowball down into a spiral of negativity and off track. So we want to think about how can we really focus on that bounce back over the breakdown and it’s taking pride in how much faster did I get back on track? How much did I get back to those healthy habits? Not all the things I did wrong when I made this mistake. So stop obsessing over the slip and start celebrating the rebound whenever you get back on track and maybe it does take you a week the first time, maybe it took you two weeks the first time, but say, Hey, great, I recognize this and now I have the power to reflect on it and not only did I recognize this the two weeks, but I’m going to write down it took two weeks and I’m going to reflect on all the things that happened and that reflection is something I’ve never done in the past.

(06:41):
So then the next time it happens, maybe it’s 13 days versus 14. That doesn’t seem like a huge win, but the more we can make those incremental improvements, the more we’re also celebrating our success, but the more we’re not having that guilt with it because we know we’re going to get back on track, we’re building that trust in ourselves to keep moving forward through it all. And that’s super key. Think about questions or even things to track as you’re reflecting on those things of how fast did I recover and then what did I do right afterwards? So what did I do right afterwards that might have delayed my recovery, but what did I do right afterwards to also promote improving my recovery from that little deviation? Okay, because the recovery speed really does matter more than the mistake. Ultimately it’s not the one day. If you think about it in the consistency in the grand scheme, it’s not the one day, it’s not the vacation, it’s all the 300 some odd days around it that too often we waste feeling guilty or being off track or not doing what we should or trying to force perfection.

(07:39):
So really think about how fast did I recover and then what did I do right after? It’s sort of reframing what progress is to us to help ourselves track the bounce back, not the breakdown because we’re human guys, we’re never going to be able to avoid mistakes, we’re never going to be able to avoid stress. We’re always going to reach for comfort and the call of our old identity no matter how far away or how long ago we thought we left that identity, it’s going to cause back in our weakest of weak moments and we need to recognize that. Okay? So we just want to try and minimize the delay from getting back on track into the healthy habits we know make us feel best. So one other reflection question that I do want to throw out there because I think this is so eyeopening, is what would you change if you measured your comeback, not your crash?

(08:23):
So if you measure how fast you got back on track, if you reflect on all the things that happened, that is really where the lesson is learned and the more we track that and focus on that versus what we did wrong, the more we give ourselves back power because you did it wrong, it happened, you’re human and it’s going to happen. So sometimes obsessing over this happened, I don’t have the willpower only makes things worse and only makes us feel like we just will never be able to move forward. So really track what you can control and that’s how fast you bounce back from that emotional response. And then tactic number, build your flat tire response plan. We plan for a lot of negative situations in our life, but so often we just accept these patterns. We say this is who we are. We don’t plan for how we can respond to ’em.

(09:09):
So even if you’ve had a stressful day and you’re on your way home from work, start to think about, Hey, what can I do to handle this stress? How can I have fun in a different way? What can I change in how I go home? Because I can already feel myself saying to myself, oh, there’s chips in this cabinet, there’s the ice cream in the freezer. I’m going to go to all these things. And then you start to think, well no, I shouldn’t go to all these things. Okay, the second you start saying, I shouldn’t be doing this, I won’t do this, no, and you feel that white knuckling happening, how can you instantly shift yourself out of that mindset? But think about a checklist you can do and even write out for yourself ahead of time when you have the stressful days or if you know you’re going into a stressful week, Hey, maybe you won’t get stressed out this week, but you know it’s really busy for X, Y, and Z things, which tends to lead to that stress response happening if it is going to happen.

(09:55):
So maybe you put your flat tire response plan as a checklist on your fridge so that when you walk in you can say, Hey, I am going to try and get water first. I’m going to go do my workout first and then I’m going to go from there and see what happens. And the more you have that plan in place and even something you can check off to feel really good about doing the things that you should be doing, the more you’re going to keep yourself in that success mindset and want to do more of those positive things, but really plan ahead. The more we do think about when do these patterns tend to repeat, the more we can prep ourselves for those situations and the more we can catch ourselves and not tell ourselves that something’s inevitable. We do say, well, I’m stressed out, I’m going to go home, I’m going to do these things, and then we even feel ourselves white knuckling against it or pushing back against it, which then only almost even makes it more sort of going to happen, right?

(10:40):
It’s probable. So have that response plan in place. Think about what you’re going to do. Are you going to do five minutes of movement when you first get home? Could you track your next meal? Could you even work in something saying, Hey, I know I really do want these. Let’s see if I can work this in. Because even doing that be like, now I feel like I can have it. You want it even less versus when you know you shouldn’t have the chips, you can’t have the chips and then you have the chips, all of a sudden you have this thing you shouldn’t have and that just makes you feel like you’ve ruined the day versus if they worked in you haven’t ruined anything you plan them in, even if maybe you go to a protein minimum and a calorie cap instead of hitting your normal macro ratios.

(11:15):
But again, think about that checklist and have it someplace you can really see so that it can help you bounce back quicker. Again, we’re trying to track that bounce back, not the breakdown because things are going to happen. We are human and honestly we’re really bad too at winging our recovery. So the more we can have a plan in place, the better off we’re going to be. So the more we can systematize it, the more we can create that environment for it, the more we’re going to make it easier to repeat and the more we’re going to help shift that mindset into that success mindset to keep moving forward. So even a great question to ask yourself is what three actions can help you reset instead of retreat when life throws you off because life is going to get in the way, it’s never going to stop, but what can you control when life throws you that curve ball?

(12:01):
So the last thing I want to leave you with is what if you just kept driving? So often when we have something happen, we don’t pause, we do say instantly I have ruined the day. But have you ever reflected on what that really means? How do a hundred, 200, 300, even a thousand extra calories that one day really ruin your long-term plans? Especially when you consider what usually happens if you don’t just fix that flat and you go slash the other three tires and even like the car on fire, 10,000 calories added up over that time has a much bigger impact than there’s a thousand on that one day and your ability to show yourself your grit and to pull yourself back up and to move forward, honestly, that strength that reveals is going to build a lot more success in the future than even those a thousand calories are going to cost you.

(12:53):
So I want you to think about what would happen if I just kept driving. What would that look like if I had the chips and I even did have the pint of ice cream and I did DoorDash things and the next morning I just got up and went to the gym and got right back on my macros and moved forward like nothing had happened. I fixed that flat and got right back on the road. Because I think so often we really do think about our trip towards results or getting in the car, driving towards results. We’ll even say as being on this racetrack going in circles and if we pause or breakdown, we’re just done. When really it is a road trip. There are pit stops, there are times we have to pull over to the side of the road. We have to stop to get snacks, we have to refill the gas tank. There’s highways and traffic jams, and all these times where we’re going faster or slower, that road trip is a much better analogy. We’re not just going at one speed around this racetrack perfect conditions all the time. So you need to really think about what would it look like to just keep driving after I fix that flat again? You’re going to get that flat tire. Sometimes it’s going to happen, but the faster we move forward, and that’s what all three of these tactics are about, the better off we’re going to be.

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

The TFL Muscle (Tensor Fasciae Latae) – The Hidden Cause Of Low Back, Hip, Knee and Ankle Pain

The TFL Muscle (Tensor Fasciae Latae) – The Hidden Cause Of Low Back, Hip, Knee and Ankle Pain

by | May 25, 2025 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief

There’s just this nagging pain you can’t seem to get rid of.

Maybe it’s your lower back. Your hip. Or even your knee or your ankle that feels off.

You’ve stretched. You’ve strengthened. You’ve rested even.

But the issue never really goes away. It keeps coming back.

The culprit may be one muscle that you don’t realize is perpetually getting overworked…

The TFL.

And this muscle can have a far reaching impact leading to aches and pains from your back down to your feet. 

In this video I want to break down… 

…where the TFL is and what it does, 

…how doing even the “right” moves can backfire and

…then how to adjust your movements to help you better activate your glutes

…while also doing the mobility work to relax this tight and overworked muscle.

So first, where is the TFL, what does it do and why should you even care?

The TFL or tensor fasciae latae is a small muscle on the outside of your hip.

To feel where your TFL is so you can notice when it is working, put your hand on the front top of your pelvis down your leg as you’re lying on your side.

Rotate your toe down toward the ground, turning your leg all the way up toward your hip. This internal rotation of your hip should make your TFL tense.

Ever notice that area really burning or working during moves like band walks where you’re trying to make your glutes work?

That’s your TFL compensating for your glute medius and becoming overworked and probably tight. And this is what can throw your ENTIRE lower body out of alignment and even perpetuate back pain.

Your TFL helps flex your hip, internally rotates your thigh, and abducts your leg.

Because it connects into your IT Band, tension in your TFL doesn’t just stay local.

It impacts your knee and even reaches your ankle. It even changes the way your feet strike the ground.

Over time, these changes in your movements, these compensation can lead to:

  • IT Band Syndrome
  • Patellofemoral pain (or runner’s knee)
  • Hip impingement or hip pain
  • Shin splints
  • Even chronic ankle issues

And here’s the kicker and why you need to care about this muscle… 

You might be seeing some of these other aches and pains and so focused on the point of pain you didn’t realize the culprit is this nasty little sucker of a muscle. 

So all of your work to correct those other issues doesn’t pay off and you just constantly struggle with aches and pains sidelining you.

Now if you’re like, but I am doing glute medius strengthening because I have heard it’s my TFL is the issue…

That’s great…BUT…

What do you feel working?

Because “good” moves, the “right” moves, done with the wrong muscles working? 

That’s only going to make the issues worse and lead to a lot of frustration that your hard work isn’t paying off.

Going back to when I mentioned band walks…

Ever do those and end up rubbing right where you now know your TFL is?

Or maybe it’s clams. Or a lateral raise…

If you don’t feel the side of your butt really being the main muscle working and instead feel the burn in your TFL…

Your TFL is still running the show.

You may even be trying to roll out other areas that feel tight…

Foam rolling your back when it gets sore or your lower leg because your ankles are having issues or even around your knees because they’re feeling twingy…

But none of this is addressing the original overcompensation pattern.

You can’t just fix the tight spots downstream. 

You have to go straight to the source.

So how do you change those recruitment patterns and get your glute medius working as it should instead of your TFL taking over?

I want to share 3 form tweaks that may help based on the move you’re doing that emphasis using that glute medius over the TFL and then even share other prehab exercises, both foam rolling and stretching, that you can use to relax that TFL further.

That relaxation of the muscle even prior to the glute activation moves can only help you change those recruitment patterns and make it easier to have that mind-body connection work correctly.

Basically, it helps you mentally find your butt to make sure it’s working when it should be!

Form Tip #1: Turn your toe in and down. 

Your TFL internally rotates your hip or turns it in and abducts your leg, lifting it laterally. 

But while you’ll often see your thigh and knee cap turn in with a tight TFL, you’ll also see your lower leg externally rotate and your feet turn out. 

If you find your knees really cave in with movement, give your TFL some love!

But turning that toe down toward the ground or back in can help prevent the movement pattern seen with a tight TFL to help avoid it taking over. 

While this may lead to you internally rotating all the way up your leg, this movement puts the emphasis on the glute medius to raise the leg laterally. 

I joking say it “distracts” the TFL, making that muscle even contribute to working to internally rotate so it can’t take over for the glute medius during abduction. It’s too distracted with the other movement!

So think of slightly leading with your heel as you raise your leg up or out to the side.

Form Tip #2: Use hip extension. 

Your TFL is also a hip flexor, meaning it works to bend your hips. 

You can therefore prevent it from working by extending your hip.

This has the added bonus of also engaging your glute max which can help your glute medius fire better. 

Just make sure that you aren’t faking that hip extension by arching your back or leaning over as a torso hinge is hip flexion.

Focus on using your glute to extend truly at the hip, even pushing back into something like a wall as you laterally lift your leg. 

You should feel not only the side of your butt but also the back of your butt working.

Pair this with turning your toe down for even better activation!

Form Tip #3: Play With Your Setup.

Ever notice when doing different moves some are way easier to feel your glutes working in? While with others you can’t get that TFL to shut off no matter how modified you make them?

If this is the case, play around with postures and positions. 

With our glute medius, different fibers contribute slightly to different joint actions. 

So don’t hesitate to lean forward or back instead of sitting straight up during seated abductions. This can help you target more anterior or even posterior fibers of the gluted medius.

Try even bridge abductions to use that hip extension to engage your glute max.

But don’t be afraid to play around with postures and variations, using both one sided and two sided moves.

And to help you master moves you can’t get your TFL to be quiet during, try including them AFTER a move where you’ve already gotten a little pump in your glute medius with. 

Often that little pump can make it easier to then feel the correct muscles working in the moves 

Remember if you’re not feeling it in the right place? You’re not fixing the right problem.

And if you’re really struggling with your TFL taking over…here’s a huge piece most people skip:

The foam rolling and stretching.

Prehab is a 3 part process – 

Foam roll tight and overactive muscles…

Stretch those muscles as you mobilize joints…

THEN activate to strengthen weak and underactive muscles and improve stability. 

So if you’re using the tweaks I mentioned above with activation moves for your glute medius and struggling with still feeling your TFL try these two moves prior…

TFL Foam Rolling and the Lunge and Reach.

Both are great to include as part of your warm up.

To roll out your TFL…

Place the ball on the front side of your hip, lying over it. You can roll it back toward your glute or slightly down the side of your leg in front of your hip bone. 

But focus on that spot that tenses as you turn your leg in.

Hold on any tight spots and breathe as you relax into the ball. 

Lift and lower your leg to tense and relax 5-10 times. 

You can also bend your knee toward your chest and extend your leg back out to hit this hip flexor as well.

You can use this foam rolling move during rest between activation or even strength exercises when you feel the TFL taking over, but for sure include it in your warm up or prehab before a stretch like the Lunge and Reach.

To do the Lunge and Reach…

Step forward on one side, keeping your back leg straighter as you lunge forward. Lunge deeper to intensify the movement and stretch.

Reach with your opposite hand overhead even leaning to reach further. You will feel a stretch down your side but into the front side of that back hip.

Really engage that back glute to drive your hip into extension.

If you are really struggling with TFL tightness or even using this in your cooldown, you can do a static stretch variation half kneeling on the ground near a way.

But focus on that hip extension engaging your glute as you reach toward the opposite side to stretch.

Remember, the point of pain is not always where the problem started.

If your knees hurt…If your hips feel stiff…If your ankles feel locked up…

If you’re doing a lot of the “right” things but nothing’s adding up, look at other areas that can have an impact, like your TFL

Because if you don’t address the TFL? You’ll just keep fighting the same battle over and over.

Try those form tweaks after the foam rolling and stretching moves today.

Focus on what you truly feel working to finally change those recruitment patterns and address that overload to alleviate those aches and pains!

Move and feel your best with Dynamic Strength workouts. Every workout includes the prehab work you need!

–> Learn More

Go From Surviving To Thriving

Go From Surviving To Thriving

by | May 22, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. If you’re taking pride in being able to do it all on your own, you’re actually taking pride in staying stuck. So we have this image of the lone wolf thriving on its own, but the lone wolf is actually just trying to survive. So this realization came to me that we keep ourselves stuck by trying to do it all on our own. When I was up at three 30 in the morning, and I was thinking through this conversation with this woman that I had had on email, and she was very proud of herself for I know it all, I can do this on my own, and I’ve been there. So I get that ego in feeling like you can do it on your own.

(00:49):
You are strong enough, you’ll find a way. And again, it goes back to I’m a lone wolf. Well, I actually then had this idea at three 30 in the morning, why do we have this image that the lone wolf is this strong successful thing on its own? And I was like, is it even? How did this come about? So I went and Googled it because that’s what you do when you don’t know what something is at three 30 in the morning, of course. And I realized that the lone wolf is actually trying to find a pack. It is not trying to survive on its own. It doesn’t want to. It wants that pack to really thrive. And it made me realize, do we sort of do the same thing? We go out on our own thinking, we’ll be better off thinking we’re strong enough to do it on our own and ultimately hold ourselves back because we aren’t utilizing the knowledge of others, the perspective of others.

(01:36):
And so we’re not going as far as we really can and we’re limiting ourselves and it’s ego that’s getting in the way. So if you’ve been sort of saying, I’m a lone wolf, I can do this on my own. You need to question if you’re just trying to survive or if you really want to thrive, potentially leaning on others. And it’s hard to be vulnerable in that way. This is where really showing ourselves our own strength, our own ability to be receptive to feedback is so key. So I wanted to go over some strategies to help because I think the shift from feeling like we should or need to do it on our own and getting our ego out of the way is really what ultimately leads us to see better results faster and avoid so many pitfalls. I can tell you that the more I’ve embraced help from others, the further I’ve actually seen myself go.

(02:21):
So I wanted to share some really big, important tactical ways to give yourself that perspective shift. Because accepting help, accepting support is what will ultimately get you further. And if you even think about it, and this is something that really helped me because I was like, well, I know a lot knowing isn’t doing. And also we often can’t know what we don’t know. If you think about Olympic athletes, they’re often technically more skilled, more talented, even than their coaches are. Yet they have coaches to give that perspective. Anybody who’s succeeded at something, if you look down their path, you’ll see all the mentors. They talk about having all the different perspectives they’ve done, all the different they learned from some, gave them really positive experiences and some not so positive experiences. But even the things we do that don’t feel as positive in the moment, that feel like they set us back, we can learn something from.

(03:11):
So the more experiences we have, the more perspectives we get, the more we grow. So I wanted to go over some steps to help you embrace putting that ego aside and getting help. And number one, our step number one is stop overestimating your self-awareness. We simply don’t know what we dunno. And I can tell you that even the more I seek out contradictory opinions, I will literally say, I believe in tracking macros. I want to go read everything on why you shouldn’t track macros. I still am looking for all these things that contradict what I believe from my own perspective and lens. And often in this, we miss the little nuance of things, the little tweaks that could really add up. Maybe it isn’t that I should be finding perspectives against tracking macros, but maybe it’s that I should find perspectives against my belief that X person needs higher carb or this food is important and that’s really what adds up.

(04:01):
But I can’t see some of those things because I don’t know what I don’t know. And so by having outside help to see those opportunities and the nuance, I can start to question what I believe and even improve and grow. When we think about even our movement patterns, you’re focused on what you feel working and how the movement is going. There might be one little way you can cue something differently to get yourself to have an even better result from it, or you might be able to do a little heavier weight or slower tempo in a different way if you do a slightly different posture or position. But all these different things are just things we might not have been introduced to yet. And by putting ourselves out there and asking for help and asking for perspective and looking to constantly learn and grow and be receptive to that feedback and even normalizing feedback, we’re going to ultimately move forward faster.

(04:46):
But I would really encourage you to take a step back and say, I think I’m very self-aware. I think I know all these things about myself, but in what I’m perceiving as the self-awareness, where am I actually missing strengths and where am I missing flaws? Because in that too, we think about our weaknesses just as weaknesses, but a lot of times they’re attached to our strengths as well. And we can’t necessarily change the weakness without a detrimental impact on our strength. However, we do try going to changing the weakness. But what if you just double down on the strength? Instead, all these things are perspective shifts that we might not be able to see because we don’t see where things are attached, and we need that outside perspective. That’s step back to really help. So step number two, to putting yourself out there, being more vulnerable, risking the support of others.

(05:33):
And I say risking because sometimes it can be really uncomfortable is borrowing perspectives before you break. Often we do only seek out help when we’ve really fallen down, when we feel at the lowest of low. And instead of getting to that point, instead of failing, be like, Hey, I’m making great progress. How could I make better progress? Because I think too, we hesitate, our ego pushes back against asking for help because we’re usually asking for help at an uncomfortable time, A time we don’t feel like enough. And if we instead are asking for that perspective shift when we do feel great, when we do feel like enough, we’re going to be way more receptive to it. It doesn’t feel like that negative. It doesn’t feel like that thing that’s a ding to our ego or pride, our knowledge. So instead of saying, oh, I don’t know, be like, I do know all these things, what more can I learn?

(06:21):
Or because I know, I realize all that. I don’t know. If you think about Bruce Lee’s comment about I more respect and I more fear the person that’s practiced one punch a thousand times than the person that has practiced a thousand punches one time, or it might have been kicks if I butcher the quote. But it’s that ability to recognize that the better we get at something, the more we’ll realize there’s more opportunity in it. The more we can improve upon those basics, the more we even have to take ourselves back to those basics to keep improving. And so the more receptive feedback we really get, so instead of seeking out perspective when you failed at your highest of highs, say, what more can I do? Because that’s really where you launch even further faster. So borrow perspective before you feel broken. It shifts your whole mindset.

(07:10):
And even thinking about it that way of like, oh gosh, I’m not looking for support because I don’t know. I’m looking for support because I realize all that there is to know because I know a lot in this area. The more I learn about macros, the more I realize there is to learn and the more nuance I see in the things. So there’s always more to learn. And the more we have that positive association with asking for support, the less our ego pushes back. Step three, learn to love the pushback. The more I’ve almost seen getting feedback and pushback as a good thing, the more I seek it out, the more I want to do it, and the more I realize how much it’s pushed me forward. So think about the last time you did start a new program. You did ask somebody for help and how much you learned from that experience.

(07:53):
But the more you see that pushback is a good thing, the more you’ll find opportunities that weren’t even meant by the initial feedback that you got. But if no one’s pushing you, you are not going to grow. If you really think about everything in life, it’s kind of forged out of a hard, it’s forged out of a pushed, so to speak. We don’t often succeed because we don’t have any struggles. We succeed because of those struggles. If you think about the last time you became more confident, stronger, you saw results or progress, it was often hitting a hard and pushing through anyway, legitimately. Our muscles grow because we tear them down. They hit this hard, we force them into the struggle, and that’s what makes them adapt and grow stronger. That’s how everything sort of works. And the more we see that opportunity, the more we can embrace that pushback and realize how much that pushback is why we ultimately leap forward faster.

(08:47):
So I want you to really change your perspective to recognize that it’s your ego. And I say this, having had lots of ego and trying to do it on my own, but it’s our ego that wants to keep us in the comfort, keep us in the safety, but also keeps us stuck, right? We don’t want to feel bad at something. We don’t want to feel like we failed. But support and seeing opportunity in that support in that perspective isn’t failing. It’s believing in ourselves that we can achieve so much more. We don’t want to just be the lone wolf surviving. We want to be that wolf that finds its pack and really thrives. So I would love to hear how you are stepping back and embracing support, embracing perspective, how you made that mindset shift to allow yourself to see opportunity in the different perspectives. Because again, we can’t know what we don’t know. And only through asking for help, asking for support, seeking to see other vantage points and viewpoints, can we grow and prove to ourselves what truly is possible beyond our own limitations or beliefs?

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.

5 Golden Rules To Lose Fat (Without Losing Muscle)

5 Golden Rules To Lose Fat (Without Losing Muscle)

by | May 18, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Mindset

Most of us don’t just want to lose weight – we want to lose fat.

We want to look leaner, more toned, more defined.

We want to fit back into our skinny jeans or that dress in the back of the closet we can’t bring ourselves to give away because we desperately want to wear it again…

We want body recomp. We want to lose fat without losing muscle.

In this video I’ll share the 5 Golden Rules to help you do just that so you can shed those inches and see fabulous muscle definition.

Golden Rule #1: Commit To The Change You Hate The Most.

Ever jump into a new program and change everything you’re doing dramatically at once?

Which thing are you then most likely to blame if results aren’t happening fast enough and the effort starts to feel “not worth it?”

The change you least want to make…and probably need to make the most because it is the most outside your comfort zone.

We don’t want to adjust the hard workouts we’re “enjoying.”

Or the extra fats or carbs we justify as healthy and quality food that also taste good.

No….

Instead we research why high protein is bad or not needed to resist the protein increase we’ve made.

Or we resist the reduction in cardio because we love our long runs even though we’ve heard the work against building muscle.

Or we resist the push to eat more and create a smaller calorie deficit because we fear gaining weight and slashing our calories lower is what we’ve always done…

We resist trusting the full SYSTEM. And that makes it break.

We can’t only make the changes we are comfortable with.

Honestly only being willing to make those changes we are comfortable with is what has kept us stuck.

We repeat the same changes that “work” to get to the same point where we end up falling off again to start back over.

So while you may see some initial progress staying with something familiar or seemingly easy…It’s not really working if you’re constantly looking for a new fix.

This time, embrace the hard. It means that is the change you truly need!

And one hard change most of us want to resist is Golden Rule #2: Track EVERYTHING.

Tracking is restrictive. It’s hard. It’s boring. It’s tedious. It’s annoying.

It’s obsessive.

You can FEEL this way about tracking, but we have to recognize that these are FEELINGS. And feelings and attitudes we’ve created toward a tool because of how we’ve even used it in the past.

But tracking isn’t restrictive or obsessive. It may be hard or boring or tedious or annoying to start as you’re learning, but so many things are.

And you can make it worse by repeating those feelings to yourself. Or you can choose to see the opportunity in it.

You can also recognize WHY you feel this way about it.

Have you usually turned to tracking in the past when you hated how your clothes fit or the weight you saw on the scale?

When you slashed your calories super low and cut out all the foods you love?

No wonder you don’t like tracking if that has been your experience with it!

But tracking is just you recording what you’ve done. It doesn’t have to mean cutting calories lower. It doesn’t have to mean eliminating a food group.

It can even be about adding in MORE. It can be about making sure you’re fueling well. It can help you assess even food intolerances and meal timings that help you perform better to build muscle and feel more energized.

Tracking gives us data to make accurate adjustments and SMALL ONES that truly address where we are right now. It gives you the power to strike YOUR balance…if you give it the chance.

And recognize that tracking doesn’t have to be done in one form. You can use hand portions as a guide, take pictures, log just protein and calories or do full ratios.

But if you’re sick of not feeling like anything is sustainable or you aren’t sure what is working, tracking can fix all of that.

Nothing is off limits. And you know what you’re doing to adjust.

What gets measured gets managed.

You want to stay within your budget? You track it.

Well, tracking your food helps you stay within your food budget.

Golden Rule #3: Diet for fat loss. Train for muscle.

Adjust both together and that’s where the magic happens.

Because, while most of us have heard the saying, “Abs are made in the kitchen”…

Fabulous ab definition is really REVEALED by the kitchen.

The muscle we want to show is built through progressive overload and pushing ourselves in the gym.

But too often to burn more calories in our training and create that deficit to lose faster, we turn to cardio.

This only backfires, causing us to lose not only fat but also muscle.

It’s why we can see metabolic adaptations occur more quickly.

And it’s why we can feel like we’re working so hard, adjusting our diet yet not looking any leaner!

We can’t just turn our workouts into killer cardio sessions. We need to stop thinking, “I should do more cardio!”

And instead we need to think about our training as a chance to build muscle.

If you want to lose fat without losing muscle, focus on strength training and progressing moves week over week. Don’t cut out rest to feel more out of breath. Don’t just add in more to feel more worked.

Focus on truly lifting more with quality reps, even needing MORE rest between rounds to keep using harder variations and heavier loads.

That way when you dial in your macros and your diet with what I’m about to go over in Rule #4 while training to build muscle, you’ll see the best body recomp results happen even faster!

Golden Rule #4: Create DAILY Consistency.

Have you ever wondered…Should I eat less on a day off? Lower my carbs?

Stop adding more complication. Stop trying to do more. Focus on those basics.

KISS…Keep it simple, stupid.

Simple is sustainable.

Focus on that daily consistency in those habits!

The less we add complication or more variation, the easier we make it on ourselves to create a new environment and shift mindsets and habits.

The fewer changes we make at once, the more we can know the impact they have and how they are working to then adjust habits as we go.

The less we overwhelm ourselves with more to do, the more the effort feels worth the outcome!

What we do consistently we get good at. What we do consistently builds results.

You can’t know if a macro ratio or workout or meal timing works if you’re not doing the same thing weekly. You can’t build habits and routines if things are constantly shifting.

And at the most basic level, your body can’t repair and rebuild on days off if it doesn’t have the fuel. You aren’t just eating more to train hard, but to recover.

Inconsistent energy sources are what can lead to us feeling extra frustrated, confused and hangry! It also adds more precision in numbers we have to have as we cycle.

Instead, keep things simple. Allow yourself to build those daily routines and get confident in them. Then adjust.

But focus on a set macro and calorie goal you maintain for a few weeks. Plan ahead to hit those numbers. Dial in your precision with them. It will pay off.

And Golden Rule #5: What You Put First Gets Priority.

If you’re struggling to prioritize a habit change, put it first in your day.

Add protein to that first meal

Drink water when you first get up.

Do your workout before the day gets busy.

When a new habit can fall by the wayside when life gets busy or we get worn out, the best way to make sure we complete it is to do it first in the day.

That way we leave things we know we will do no matter what till later because we’ll do them anyway.

But this rule also applies to cardio vs. strength work and eve the order of exercises in your routine.

What you put first in your training gets you when you’re freshest. You’re giving a more true 100% intensity and effort.

Want to lift heavier for your glutes? Prioritize a lift for them first in your lower body workout day.

Or if you’re wanting to include some cardio because you love it while still focusing on losing fat without losing muscle?

Put your strength work first in your session and ideally first in your day if you are doing a second walk or cardio session for any reason.

That way you are freshest and can truly push hard to create that challenge to build muscle. And you can still get in movement with cardio you may put after.

Even consider timing a walk or sprint interval session at the end of workout where you work muscles near stubborn fat to help utilize mobilized fatty acids.

And don’t include steady state endurance cardio after a workout where you’re working a muscle group that you struggle to build as this can hinder those muscle gains.

But consider the order to things you include and what you need to prioritize.

While we don’t want to stress over details first, we want to note that how systems are designed together has an impact.

We need to embrace those hard changes, track how things are going and our consistency in implementation and then review all aspects of our lifestyle to make sure things complement!

Because we can lose fat without losing muscle, but it isn’t as simple as eating less or doing more cardio. It’s a strategic process and we need a clear plan to push through the hard!

Break free of the change loop keeping you stuck losing the weight only to regain it, and MORE, later…

–> Busting The Change Loop

Build Habits For That Shredded Summer Body

Build Habits For That Shredded Summer Body

by | May 15, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

If you’re feeling stuck and know deep down that you could be doing better, don’t wait any longer. Your life is not going to change until you take action and make a bold move towards your goals. If you’re ready to take control of your life and start moving towards the results you want let us help you achieve your goals. ⬇️

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast, everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. Life is constantly evolving, and at every new season we have to sometimes step back and assess what do we need now to meet ourselves where we’re at, to keep rocking those results and own lifestyle changes. So I’m super excited to be joined by Sierra, one of my fabulous coaches today to talk about how we can shift with the seasons to make sure that we’re always moving forward towards our goals. Sierra, welcome. Thanks for joining me today,

Sierra (00:37):
Cori. I’m so happy to be here and happy to talk about what the summer will bring.

Cori (00:42):
So with that being said, potentially we’ve started a new habit. We’ve built a new lifestyle. Starting in January, we’re feeling good with our progress, and then we hit the summer and all of a sudden it’s like, ooh, margaritas. Ooh, beach vacations, right? There’s all these different shifts that happen and trying to force the same old habits can backfire. How can we really start to assess what we might need to change to make sure that we’re meeting ourselves where we’re at and not losing everything that we work so hard for?

Sierra (01:15):
Great question. One of the first things I look at is planning to succeed. So you’ve probably heard the quote before, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, right? And we can’t underestimate that. The summer is an entirely new season. So what we do then is assess the entire summer in total, and then we dive into what that looks like, taking everything into account and I mean everything. So one of the first things that we consider is what does your summer look like? When is your actual summer is what I like to think of. Is it May through August? Is it kind of a calendar summer? Or I’ll ask about careers. Are you an educator where your summer is actually specifically designed into your career? Or who are you actually taking into account for summer as well? Do your kids dictate your summer? Does your spouse dictate your summer?

(02:12):
Are there graduations? Are there elderly parents? Are there parents that know that you have some time off, so they’re going to take advantage of that? We take a lot into account, but it’s really more about the planning than anything that will make a summer as successful as possible. So if we can take environment into account, take your people, your loved ones, your family, your friends into account, if you take even your environment in terms of school zones or summer schools or changing populations in the gym, that’s some factors that may not be as big until you get into the situation. Lastly, we can take even climate into account and weather changes. So for example, if you are kind of prone to sickness when the seasons change, it’s going from cold to warm or if you have pollen, allergies, anything like that. If climate changes, does that affect your workouts too?

(03:17):
Does it affect when you work out outside? Are you a runner? Do you need to now work out earlier in the day to avoid the heat in the afternoon? I know in my example, I live in southeast Louisiana and we have to prepare for hurricane season, and so anytime that happens, we have to figure out how our nutrition plays a part, how our evacuation zones play a part as well to keep up with reality. The reality of planning, so I’ll put it this way, there’s not too much to plan, but we have to be realistic in what our goals are and how that can play a part in a new season.

Cori (03:55):
It’s owning the reality, as you mentioned, so that our priorities, our needs don’t also become our excuses because a lot of times it can be like, oh, well it’s too hot now in the afternoon to work out. Okay, well you can own that. You can plan for it and then you can work out in the morning. Or I have dogs stepping on my face, which wake me up way earlier in the summer because it’s all of a sudden light out. Or even as you mentioned other people, as you said that, I was like, oh, I’ve never thought about the fact that my summer extends a little bit. Because Ryan’s birthday in September is usually a time we want to celebrate. And so the more we do consider vacations, which is something we usually jump to as the only thing, but when it’s light, the weather, all these different things, the more we can make sure that we’re meeting ourselves where we’re at. So those excuses don’t pop up because that’s often the problem. We haven’t owned that. Something’s changed, and then we get to this time where we’re like, what do I do now?

Sierra (04:55):
That’s absolutely the problem, and what helps so much is drafting and creating that calendar because like you said, we take into account vacations, but we might forget that a birthday is here, that someone’s graduation is then here, and then things will come up possibly. Or you might have to do some travel that you weren’t initially thinking of. And Corey, how many times have you done it? I’ve done it myself where I then look at my schedule and say, oh my goodness, there’s a birthday this weekend and then I have to go out with my girlfriend in two weeks and then the next weekend has something and the next weekend has something. So even planning and realizing that those long weekends, like Memorial Day weekends or even 4th of July, that even those two to three day weekends do play a huge part in how you,

Cori (05:57):
But the more we own that, the more we can find different strategies to navigate those things. Because I can tell you if there’s multiple weekends back to back, it’s easy to get in the mindset of like, well, does it even matter if I do anything during the week between because I’m basically going to be bad these other times? But it’s like, no. And how you even handle that might be based on your goals, your needs at the time where maybe you do a mini cut in between those two things, or maybe you just go back to normal habits or maybe because you know won’t be as motivated. You set some minimums and there’s no right or wrong, but by having that clear calendar where you can see everything, you can determine what might be the best course of action for you. And then even in that say, oh, that didn’t work out the way I planned. I had all these great intentions to do a mini cut, but I’m actually not motivated, so I realized that it didn’t work for me. How can we navigate that to help ourselves make the most educated decisions when it comes to how to handle the in-betweens, I’ll even say

Sierra (07:00):
Great question. One of the first things I would say is research, research, research, research. A lot of times, and we always think of vacations first, but I do want to also stress that it’s all the events that I’d recommend creating a calendar and putting all together throughout the summer months, but researching your environment and where you’re going to go and what that environment has is going to be a big first step. So for example, just some that I think off the top of my head, if we’re going on a vacation, will it be hot? Will it be cold? Are you in a hotel or in an Airbnb? Are you in some place with a microwave and refrigeration that will play a part in how your nutrition comes together? Do you even have control over your nutrition or are most of your food and drinks, will they be out?

(07:50):
Is something already planned? Is it an all you can eat buffet? Is it a resort, is it a cruise? Or do you have control of maybe one to two meals that you can go grocery shopping for? Are you going internationally? Is customs going to be something to plan for, especially if you’re bringing food items. So just all the things to research and know and don’t be afraid to delegate this research by the way. I would say don’t take it all on your back. If you can delegate that research and say, Hey, I need your help to look up this country or look up these cuisines, make it fun, make it family filled so that everyone can have an idea of what you’re about to embark on. So the research is going to be super important, but that also not only plays a part in nutrition, it plays a part in workouts as well.

(08:42):
What environment are we going move in? Are we close to a gym far from a gym? Is it a hotel gym or is it a hotel gym? We know the difference. Is it a hotel room floor that we’re looking at or are you able to walk with others? Is it going to be a trip where it’s a lot of steps? Disney World looks different than a cruise. So just all the different research that is kind of the first piece of putting those plans together. And then after you research, make sure to communicate. A lot of times we’ll do the research and then we’ll think that this journey and our goals is just by ourselves, but especially with unicorns, tell your wrangler what you researched so that we can help. We have all the different tips, tricks and plans to make sure that one vacation may not look like the same as another.

(09:36):
Vacation may not look the same as a three day weekend. So everything looks different. And so we want to help you navigate what’s realistic. And then also the people around you. Like I said before, you should not be the only person with all the research in your head. Make sure to let your trip mates know what you plan to do. I’m going to work out. I’m going to walk on a beach. Would you like to join me? I’m going to moderate my alcohol intake. I’m going to have a couple because guess what? I want to have a couple. We have a lot of Wrangler classes talking about alcohol, and the big key is if you want to choose to drink, then choose to drink because you want to choose to drink. But don’t be afraid to let people on your trip know that at the end of the day.

(10:22):
So it’s going to be that communication after that research plan, how your movement works. And then lastly, create an exit strategy. How many times do you get home and nothing’s in the refrigerator? How many times do you get home and you’ve eaten a lot of salt or had some alcohol and then all I want is a salad and some broccoli and none of it’s there. So creating that exit strategy, return home with a plan. One of our coaches, Lynn actually talked about this all the time, is schedule food delivery in advance. Make sure there’s food delivered when you’re at home or have some frozen options so that you can pop in the oven, pop in the microwave, the air fryer, and then maybe go grocery shopping after that. But you can prepare with protein and fruits and vegetables, make sure you have something. So at the end of the day, that was a lot, but it’s a lot to say, do the heavy lifting beforehand, research it, communicate and plan how you’re going. Move, come out with an exit strategy and know that all of that is to benefit you and your goals.

Cori (11:32):
It’s coming back to not only what your schedule is for the summer, but what your goals are, what your priorities are, how you want to strike balance. Because I brought up the in-between and I love that exit strategy because that leads back to the in-between and how we’re handling it and how we’re getting back on track because sometimes we just go right to the vacation, right to the holiday and we think, I can’t do something on this to reach my goals. And we try and white knuckle our way through, which ultimately sabotages us. Instead of saying, Hey, I’m a cocktail girl. I want my cocktails on vacation and I’m not going to have access to a gym, so I’m going to work out on the patio that’s there, which I’ve done patio workouts, I’ve done bed workouts, I’ve done any sort of workout, I need to figure out ways to do stuff.

(12:14):
But sometimes it’s just not possible and sometimes you don’t end up wanting to do it, and that’s okay, but owning that balance to then know how you’re going to have that exit strategy, how you’re going to get back in a groove, there is no one right way. And you might even determine that how you’re handling a vacation right now when you’re really driving hard towards a goal is not how you handle it later on. And I think the more you research, the more you see the opportunity or even see some of the struggles you’re going to face, right? Because if something is too hard to do and we’re ultimately assessing it and we’re not going to do it, then plan for it, right? Even if you ideally wanted to maybe cook more meals or work out consistently or do different things, if it’s not going to be possible, the more you can own that, the more you can then strike that balance around it.

(12:58):
And I do think you hit on something so key in the communication because we need to manage our expectations, and this also means managing the expectations of those around us. If you’re going on vacation with a spouse and you’re making changes to how you’ve usually vacationed, the more you have that clarity with them and that conversation, the more they’re also going to be on board and they can find their own balance versus you both wanting to do different things and then being on vacation and be like, oh no, we’re not on the same page. And then someone ends up giving and then there’s not happiness with something. So I think communication is almost the missing piece that we don’t see people utilize enough to find their balance on vacation even or through the summer or new season. Would you say that that it’s a key component,

Sierra (13:42):
Massive component. Corey, I cannot stress how many times have we been on a trip with others and we don’t want to be the buzzkill, we don’t want to be the person that wants to be the health and fitness person. We have our goals, we know what we want to do, but we know that everyone else might have different goals in mind. There’s no reason, especially if we are traveling with loved ones who know that we are on this journey, we’re on this goal trek, we want to make sure that we’re the best beast at ever. If that’s the case, why not share it with the other people around us? It’s not to be a bus kill, it’s to own your own journey, but also find the balance. And you touched on that recently, balance is going to be key because you still want to have fun at the end of the day, you’re going on a vacation, you don’t want to squander it an entire vacation if you realize that tracking to a complete macro ratio to a normal calorie range, if you’re all the way, for example, if you’re in a caloric deficit, if we’re focusing on fiber, if we’re focusing on a bunch of different things while not on vacation, and if that is just too much to focus on while you’re on vacation, own that reality, realize it, and then we talk about how to find the balance, then do we need to set a calorie cap?

(15:03):
Do we make sure that instead of two drinks a night, maybe it’s one drink a night or have a space in between drinks, make sure that there is moderation there. Do we focus on hydration because it is a lot of heat, right? Do we make sure that we set a hydration goal and a protein goal so that it’s much better for you to hold at the end of the day? It’s not really the numbers, it’s the consistency on the numbers that are going to maintain your results. So all that to say the communication is going to be exceptionally important, especially when it’s a bunch of people on the trip that also have access to the itinerary too. Two,

Cori (15:47):
I love that you brought up the different macro options because I think we get very set in viewing habits in only one way and balance over the year doesn’t mean that every day has the same balance. It could mean on vacation being like, Hey, my balance is that calories don’t count. But knowing this and the impact that’s going to have, no, I’m not going to make the excuse that every day is legendary and special and I can do this every day. That’s not giving yourself grace, that’s giving yourself an excuse, but you could say, Hey, this vacation to X place is really special or this holiday does mean a lot to me and so I’m going to strike a balance around it. Going more intensive with the macro ratios, focusing on fiber, focusing on quality foods and then saying, no, maybe I’m not tracking off of that. How do you navigate different options? I know you brought up the calorie cap and the protein minimum, but how can someone be not on their phone tracking if they’re on vacation and that doesn’t feel like the right balance for them, but still holding themselves accountable,

Sierra (16:47):
That’s where their communication comes in again. So obviously talk to your Wrangler. We have different strategies, especially we want to make sure that the balance is there that you’re not having to figure out and play Tetris with macros all at the dinner table. So for example, hand portion guide comes into play. We make sure that we can see what your meals are even tracking in different ways. If it’s not on your standard tracking software, maybe it’s taking pictures. Pictures are also important, and by the way, it’s a twofer because when you take pictures, you also have pictures of your vacation and trips. And a lot of times you’ll see that a lot of foods are very nice and pretty and with a lot of accoutrements. So it’s a twofer and it’s a win-win situation right there. So you can take pictures, you can plan your meals in advance.

(17:39):
Maybe the ones that you have more control over than others if you would like, maybe it’s the same breakfasts, maybe it’s the same lunches or it’s the same breakfast, the same snack. So that dinner can be a choice. Maybe it’s the calorie range and the protein range. Maybe you only track protein. I would say make sure that you at least track or do something. If you track and do something, you can then have reflections afterwards as opposed to an entire vacation, an entire weekend or an entire trip, kind of just going over our heads. Maybe have something tangible and some data that you can then return back to a year from now, maybe 20, 27 in the summer and say, Hey, this is what worked and this is what didn’t. So now I’m going to use what worked and I’m going to go 1% better and still be able to enjoy myself. So at the end of the day, I make sure to track something, make sure that you have a plank on what to track. But there are tons of ways to follow macros. Hit protein without having to go completely in your phone and miss out on all the beauty of your vacation trip in summer.

Cori (18:54):
Please, we know you’re taking pictures of your food anyway to post to Instagram. I mean, we all do it. We’re all guilty of it. But I love that because it’s even a memory for future plus. It’s that accountability, and I think what you touched on in there is so important of even the 1% improvement for next year, but meeting yourself where you’re at right now was something you’ll feel successful with because I do think a lot of times we think in ideals of ideally what we’d like to do and we don’t own. Again, this goes back to doing the research planning ahead and the more we say, Hey, what would make me be 1% better this summer? The more we meet ourselves where we’re at, and we do those improvements and then because we feel successful with them, we even want to do more. Because we might say it’s not possible to track on vacation, but if you’re taking a lot of trips, maybe there are some vacations that aren’t meant to be as much as food trips.

(19:46):
Or maybe there are days in that vacation where you’re like, Hey, I have more control. I can be a little bit more consistent and every day doesn’t have to be this legendary day and it makes the other days even more special. But there’s different ways to really strike that balance and make those 1% improvements so we can keep moving forward. So off of this, thinking about the different seasons, how would you, again, summarizing all the great tips you’ve given, how would you really tell someone to get started making the assessments? They need to understand that stuff does shift with the summer. That’s not a bad thing, but we’ve got to focus on meeting ourselves where we’re at.

Sierra (20:26):
First things first is you have to know where you’re, so especially things like roadmaps and how do we know where we’re going? If we don’t know where we are right now, make sure that you understand. Are you in a caloric deficit? Are you trying to lose body fat? Are you at maintenance? Are we building? Are we bulking? Are we trying to gain strength? So know what your goal is first and foremost, and know that whatever choices you make, own those choices. Knowing that choices no matter what, have consequences and that could be beneficial or that could be not as beneficial towards your goals. So the more that we know where we are and where we want to go, we can then plan how the summer and how these months are going to impact it. Just know for example, if we want to go out of town, we want to have fun, but we also want to continue to lose weight, then there are going to have to be some choices that you might have to make.

(21:24):
And what we want to do and what we want to do, don’t always meet and agree. So for example, what we want to do with our goals and what we want to do when we’re out on vacation might clash. So then what’s our priority? Hopefully it’s goals. So we might have to make those decisions based on the research, based on the communication, based on how we put plans together. So best place to start is know where you are and then know where you want to go, especially all throughout the summer. Summer is a time where we might not be wearing as much fabric or clothes. So that’s already a great, great strategy in terms of, okay, I might need to figure out what ratios or what hydration I need to stick with to make sure that in my summer months I can wear short sleeve shirts and feel phenomenal in these summer months.

(22:20):
I want to wear a bikini and I want to feel phenomenal. So that’s where knowing where you are, also planning how you are going to go through month to month and every event is going to look different. Corey talked about it even within the same event, every day will look different too. So will there be some days where maybe you can focus on the food and then maybe there are some days where you don’t focus as much on the food, but all of that compounds and it snowballs and it snowballs. We just have to make sure that it’s not multiple setbacks in a that when you come out of the summer, now we’re five steps away from our goal. So start with knowing where you are and then know where you want to come out of the summer with, and then all of the things in the middle, we talked through the details there

Cori (23:14):
And you hit on the most important word and mindset with it is choice. We have a choice every time we’re presented with how we want to handle something and how we handle it in a specific situation or season of even our goals might be different than how we want to handle in the future. And instead of seeing that as restrictive even, or maybe even against our goals, we just see it as the balance we’re creating and recognize that we can always make a different choice at a different time. And the choice we make, this might not ultimately work, and that’s okay, but it’s making those small changes because if we do too much, we also have to recognize the sabotage that can create despite the fact that we have really good attention. So it’s always sort of balancing everything on that. Any other closing thoughts? This has been fabulous, Sierra.

Sierra (24:06):
Just one. I am no expert at the summer, but I do love to talk through and all of the wranglers love to talk through different seasons and what struggles it might create and might bring about. So not only have we gone through different seasons and how they change, but we’ve also coached others through how to navigate the seasons and how to be even realistic and celebrate the wins that come out of these seasons. So think my final words are make sure that you have the reflections out of the season once it comes to August and September, once we start to trail and transition into the fall, either have it written down or notated how this summer was, that can be based on, you can do journals in the reflections, pieces of the playbook pages. There are so many places that you can actually write down how that summer went.

(25:02):
What you never want to do is go into the next summer, make the same exact decisions and choices, and then we’re in the same place. Again, those reflections will be important. Don’t forget that, but also avoid overcommitting. And this is one that I personally struggle with is a lot of times we’ll have events that are on our calendar ready to go, and then how many times has this happened? Friend comes up, says, Hey, you want to go out for X, Y, Z? Oh, hey, we got a three day weekend. And it’s typically the friends that do not plan by the way, but they’ll say, Hey, you want to come to do this? Let’s go here, let’s go there. You have a choice to say, okay, let’s do it, but I need to do this while X, Y, and Z. You could even say, Hey, I’m good for today.

(25:51):
Let’s plan something out in July or August so that I can still spend time with you. It’s not going to work for right now. So avoid overcommitting to every single event that pops up and comes your way as I wrangler. Liz, let me know earlier this week, a great way to say it is say yes to less, and that way you can have the room to enjoy yourself without feeling like you’re always having to do something, especially in the summer that it would be a lot. And the last but not least, ride the waves. There is so much, so much, so much that can happen and there’s a lot of planning that you can do, but not everything always happens the way that we plan. And that’s okay. Ride the waves, continue to have fun. Enjoy your loved ones, enjoy the people around you. Be present in the moment. And then we come out on the other side and then we talk about how to keep trucking in 2025.

Cori (26:52):
I love it. And that reflection component does make us learn from everything. It helps us find a better and better balance. As you mentioned, we’re all constantly evolving that balance. I know my summer balance is different than it was the previous summer because I’ve learned from mistakes and things I really liked, and we are just enjoying life as we’re trying to move towards our goals. So Sierra, thank you so much. This was so helpful guys. Would love to hear what really resonated with you, how you are planning ahead for the summer months and really meeting yourself where you’re at. But thank you Sierra. Have a great rest of your week.

 

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.