(00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone you know. So let’s jump right in.

(00:29):
Squats are bad for your knees, pushups kill your wrists, deadlifts are bad for your back. There are lots of exercise myths and a lot of moves that are being demonized is causing aches and pains out there. And today I really wanted to dive into why this is occurring, why people fear movements and what we can do about it because I firmly believe there really aren’t any bad or wrong or evil exercises. There are just misused moves and no one variation is not going to be right for everybody. But too often we label and move as bad as causing our knee pain, our back pain, our hip pain, and then we just simply avoid it. In avoiding that exercise, what we don’t realize is that we’re not training and learning to control a fundamental movement pattern often that we do in everyday life. And if we don’t learn to control this movement pattern, we’re going to put ourselves at greater risk for injury, stepping off a curb, trying to go upstairs, just moving to twist and put plates away in the kitchen.

(01:29):
So we’ve really got to see our workouts as a chance to rebuild and retrain those movement patterns. So I thought it was interesting even that it came up when I asked about movements. You guys wanted to hear about that someone brought up that they wanted something else besides back and front squats because they couldn’t squat because of their knees because this is the exact thing that I wanted to address. I also thought it was interesting and where this topic came from was off of the burpee video that I shared because I think it’s a fundamental movement that everybody needs to master, and I go over modifications in this new YouTube and one of the comments on it was, I disagree. I don’t think the burpee is right to use with clients. I think they don’t do it correctly and that because of all these other aches and pains, they shouldn’t do it.

(02:08):
And I put ’em on the paradigm bike instead and part of that, my reply to him was that the Dyne bike not only perpetuates a lot of the postures that contribute to a lot of the mobility restrictions we have, as much as I like the Dyne bike and use it, but also that when we’re not retraining these movement patterns, we’re not actually strengthening or reversing some of the things that we see and that leads to injury we can’t simply avoid. Because if you think about the squat, even with the squat, and I’ll even use the bench with the squat. This is sitting to a toilet, this is sitting to a chair, this is sitting down to a couch. You’re not going to be able to be like this and not do any flexion to get down very easily. So the more you can control that active knee flexion, the better.

(02:53):
A lot of times we don’t think about things that way and that’s what leads to other injuries. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve a client’s reaching for a pen, reaching for something and all of a sudden they get injured. It’s not even in the gym and it’s not that moves can’t cause injury. They 100% can, but we have to earn them. We have to understand that even form and recruitment are different things. Form is what the movement looks like. Okay, this move looks great. I’m squatting with perfect form, but if I’m watching myself and really I have a compensation and balance and I’m trying to force everything to stay in line when my body really wants to shift, that’s where overload and injury occurs, which is why we have to focus not only on what the movement looks like but what we feel working.

(03:32):
So I want to talk first about the squat. The squat is a move that is often demonized for causing knee pain. You’ve probably even heard the cue, keep your knees behind your toes and this cue came about because of that knee pain issue. When we sit back more, keeping our knee more over our ankle, that more vertical should angle not only helps us load our glutes a little bit more, but it doesn’t put as much strain and stress on the quads. Now, it is not bad for your knee to travel forward. The deeper you get in that squat, and especially if you go more as to grass, you’re going to find that your knee is going to travel forward. Where this becomes an issue is yes, if you have not built up those quads, yes, active knee flexion, depending on what you have going on with your knee, you need to really work up to it and the exact range of motion you include will vary.

(04:21):
But where this became an issue is that we didn’t have proper loading and people weren’t noticing that they weren’t keeping their heels down. And so that shift forward and weight not only puts more strain on the quads and you can even use that strategically amazingly enough, but that’s where that cue keep your knees behind your toes came about to help prevent people from squatting incorrectly and not actually sitting their butt back. Now if you do have knee pain and you’re like, there is no way I’m getting all the way down there, I don’t have that range of motion, I don’t have that control, I can’t keep my heels down, this is where we start to find variations that work for our build our body because even toes just being pointed straight ahead versus toes out versus their squat width, all those things are going to be based on our build.

(05:04):
And a lot of times with social media now we demonize any form outside of one specific mold and that’s just not correct. If you have longer femur and a shorter torso like I do, you are going to have more of a hip hinge squat. You’re not going to be as upright. But even in that you want to address any mobility restrictions from ankles to hips that might be impacting that if you are trying to get a more upright squat. So you can train that when you’re working on mobility, there are even modifications for that. That might be front loading a weight, it might even be pressing the weight out. That counterbalance to brace your core can help. But again, it’s finding ways to use the movement patterns work around our pain and retrain to earn all the different variations to control the full range of motion that our joints are supposed to do to strengthen the muscles involved in these fundamental movement patterns.

(05:50):
And that might mean as you’re starting out with a squat, you sit back to a box to help you load. You can then feel your feet pushing into the ground to drive up. You’re not feeling your weight come forward. You’re also protecting against the hip pinch as much because especially setting up at the bottom, you can focus on that drive up, but that helps you control the squat range of motion and hey, maybe coming back after knee injury, you’re using a higher box maybe right now you can’t control active knee flexion, so you use a wall sit or just a squat hole at the depth you can go. It’s not that you’re going to be able to do exactly the full variation that someone else does. So maybe back squat or front squat with a barbell is not right for you. But the point is is that you can easily find a variation that helps you build up.

(06:33):
The more you can help yourself build up and slowly progress, the more you’re going to earn harder and harder variations and be able to include more and more going move this back forward a little bit. Cool. All right, so I’ll actually use the barbell now because I wanted to go over deadlift next. Do you have to move back? My beautiful assistant is helping me out with Now. Moving on. I do want to touch on lunges. I also wanted to touch on deadlift. You know what? I’ll go back to lunges really quick just because lunges are really close in terms of being demonized often for knee pain, just like squats, and it’s because we haven’t been able to control the range of motion. If you are doing a front lunge, a lot of times what we see is that weight traveling forward, that heel coming up, weight not being centered, and that’s where you even see the shifts to get back where people can’t fully control it or we try and go into a deeper range of motion.

(07:25):
What we don’t realize is that lunges are also a hip flexor stretch. So when we do these things, we’re stretching our hip, especially because we’re squeezing that glute to drive the hip into extension. So if we don’t have the mobility, that’s where we can also see aches and pains. So when you are lunging, you want to think about keeping your weight centered. You can utilize different variations. So when you do that front lunge, the more your knee travels forward, if you don’t have the proper ankle mobility, the more you’re going to put strain on that knee. So you have to work on your ankle mobility to allow this to happen. But if that is too much strain and stress keeping that more vertical shin angle can help you load that front glute a little bit more. Potentially using a little bit more of a hip hinge can help you load that glute more.

(08:10):
Maybe right now the dynamic movement of the front lunge, you can’t control it. Maybe you step a little bit more narrow. Maybe you keep that back leg straighter to do an interior reach lunge. Maybe you even do a reverse lunge because that is slightly more glute dominant and you can keep that vertical shin angle. What I’m bringing up here is a lot of opportunity in using different options to make sure that we’re meeting ourselves where we’re at. But even in that, even if you can control the front lunge, you want to target your glutes more. You do a reverse lunge if you’re even building up and you’re like with all the movements, I can’t control everything. I can’t focus on what I feel working, we can start to do a split squat. So I actually like having clients set up even at the bottom of a split squat because that way they can focus on squeezing the glute to drive the hip into the extension.

(08:53):
They can make sure their weight is centered. They’re working through a full range of motion because again, this is the way we strengthen through a full range of motion and improve our mobility. Because if we’re only doing a split squat right here, we’re not strengthening through the full range of motion. So all that hip stretching we’re trying to do, hip mobility work we’re trying to do, we’re then going and reversing it by only strengthening and learning to control a portion of that movement. So by setting up at the bottom, and I’m going to knock myself over as I try and talk, you can learn to drive up evenly with your weight and then you can come all the way down and you’re strengthening through that full range. Now you might be thinking, I can’t yet control that full range of motion. Maybe you do have a hand support to help out a little bit to reduce some of the resistance, help with that instability or you even reduce the range of motion to control for it and then you slowly lower that block that you’re kneeling down to.

(09:41):
The key here is there are so many different ways to change not only the control, we have to feel those recruitment patterns but work through a range of motion safely. Again, if active knee flexion is something that you struggle with but you want to work your quads instead of avoiding the squat, instead of avoiding the lunge, find variations that allow you to build up and slowly strengthen the muscles, strengthen the movement pattern. Again, that anterior reach lunge, which has more of a hip hinge, has less knee flexion. That’s a great way to work your quads, load your glutes, even learn how to control maybe a forward movement and still be able to push back efficiently without your heel coming up. I do want to talk really quickly about ankle mobility because knee pain comes up a lot with both squats and lunges and the knee is generally caught in the middle of the ankle and the hip and injury there.

(10:28):
Even previous ankle sprains, hip pain, that’s what leads to movement compensations, which then as you can see, just moving at those two places impact our knee positioning, right? We can be squatting, we can see our knee cave in, so we might need to activate our glutes. We might need to address our ankle mobility as well, especially even if we’re seeing hip and glute issues. But with that, if you’re trying to assess where the mobility restriction is because you don’t necessarily have a hip injury or an ankle injury by putting weights here and putting your heels up, if you can then all of a sudden get lower without pain, you probably have ankle mobility restrictions that you need to work on. I can link out to some more tips to help with that ankle mobility, but you want to assess what’s going on. And even with the glute stuff, if you’re trying to work on activating your glutes, you are struggling to control your knees caving in, and a lot of it comes from your hips.

(11:18):
Put that mini band, I even like it above the knees or right below, but really close the knees so that you can focus on that tension. I love people starting it above just because I feel like that’s easier to focus on using the glutes to actually pull it open, but you can do that controlled squat that can help you really activate your glutes. And that being said, guys, while you want to get your glutes working during squats, during lunges, your quads are working. We’ve got to stop fearing our quads working during squats. They are a knee dominant movement, not a hip dominant movement, which now moving on to a hip dominant movement, the deadlift, so deadlifts often demonized as causing back pain and they are a hard movement to learn to control, especially because we spend so much time seated. We are in constant hip flexion and this is working on hip extension and we tend to overuse our lower backs and our hamstrings decompensate because our hips are tight and our glutes are underactive because of that hip flexor tightness.

(12:15):
So when we do deadlift, a lot of times what you might find is you end up leaning forward when you do the hip hinge, A great way to train it is against a wall pushing the butt back to touch the wall. You’re not bending your knees more, you’re just pushing your butt back. That hip hinge movement is so key when you do that. A lot of times we’ll think flat back, we’ll start to arch your lower back. This is where you have to pay attention to what you feel working. If you’re not paying attention and you’re trying to mimic a movement, you are going to seek out mobility from areas that aren’t meant to carry the load and you’re going to overload them. So you have to be conscious of what you truly feel working. While there are lots of different styles of deadlift from sumo to conventional, which has more knee flexion, but it’s still like a hip hinge, not like a squat where you’re trying to focus more on the knee bend or you can even do straight leg, which stiff leg, straight leg, RDL people use them interchangeably.

(13:06):
There are nuance to those things, but a straighter leg deadlift, we’ll just say for today, all these things can be used to your advantage to activate muscles to different extents. The conventional is going to use more quad versus you’re going to get and quad and back versus summa is going to be more leg intensive and R DLS are going to be more hamstring. You’re also going to do a lot of posterior chain, but there’s a lot working here. And I have the barbell out here because I wanted to highlight why the barbell can be so challenging to start because you have to drag this puppy up your shins, okay? Whatever variation you do, you’re keeping it as close to your body as possible. And part of this is stemming from your lot engagement, pushing the bar back, but that’s how you engage everything because when you create that lat tension, you are creating tension through your lat, through the thoraco lumbar fascia into your glute, and that bracing is what keeps everything tight.

(13:58):
And then you’re thinking about pushing the ground away. Too often the deadlifts is queued as a pull, which then makes us lose tension, and I learned it as it was called a stripper deadlift, but it was where your butt would come up first before your back would come up. And we don’t want that. We want consistent tension pushing the ground away, but you need that tension. You need that engagement, but it is uncomfortable to drag the bar ball up your shins. That’s why at competition you have to wear high socks. They don’t want blood on the bar constantly in between things. So if that is uncomfortable for you and that’s preventing you from being able to sit back correctly because you also can’t put it back between your legs, that’s where a kettlebell can come into play in that you can actually take kettlebells or dumbbells no matter whether you do sumo variation, whether or not you do more conventional, but you can set it back between your heels that can help you sit back.

(14:48):
And when you’re doing that conventional deadlift, again, it’s not about sinking your butt down as low as you can. It’s about thinking that you want to hinge at the hips and let the knees flex to be able to touch that weight down. So when you do it, you want to think about how can I sit back, hinging over to reach the weight, flexing my knees as much as I need, engaging my glasses, set it back, squeeze my butt, pushing the ground away, not driving my hips extra forward, but just squeezing and pushing the ground away as if I’m almost jumping off the ground and then set the kettlebell back. But it’s that setback, that hinge over that’s so important to do. And in doing that, we want to make sure that we’re not arching our lower back. And if you are arching your lower back to try and keep your chest up, address those thoracic mobility restrictions, address that glute activation through those activation moves earlier in your warmup, but notice what you truly feel being recruited during these moves, and then don’t be afraid to use other variations.

(15:42):
Think about the sumo deadlift where you’re setting again, the weight back between your heels, your toes are turned out. Push the ground away, pull your knees open with your glutes, drive the ground away, squeeze your butt at the top and then hinge back over and set it back. You want to use the different variations based on your build as well. But using a kettlebell, using dumbbells can be super helpful if you’re struggling with that hip hinge to start even doing a bandit hip hinge where you have a band link behind you to pull your butt back to squeeze your butt against can be helpful, but find a variation that allows you to retrain that hip hinge because you need it. Lifting a box off the ground, picking something up is a hip hinge in everyday life. And if you do not learn how to control that movement pattern, that’s where you’re reaching for the box and your weight is coming forward versus you being like, oh, there’s the box.

(16:29):
Okay, I need to go up to it and pick it up. I need it close to my shins. I need it back between my heels even versus reaching and then overloading because we want that lot engagement to be able to pull back as we use our glutes to drive up. The next thing I wanted to go over was the row. So you guys commented some great other things that I can share some other videos as well, but I wanted to go over the back row because I think a lot of times with back movements, and again, this goes back to our postures and positions, what do we do all day? What typing in our computer, typing in our computer, driving in the car, all those different things in constant hit flexion. We are rounded forward a lot of the time. I find myself doing that a lot of the time.

(17:13):
So activating our back and that scapular mobility, the ability to pull our shoulder blades together, the ability to pull our shoulder blades down, the ability to elevator shoulders, all these different movements, protract our shoulders. All these different movements are things we need to learn how to control, and a lot of times we’re not addressing that scapular strength. So if you’ve ever done back rows and you feel like you’re going like this and you’re feeling your bicep lot, you are not using your back. What you feel working in a move is what is getting the benefit? Doing an AB exercise, feeling your lower back, doing a deadlift, feeling your lower back. Those things are working, not the muscles you want to be working. And a lot of times we think, oh, well, the muscle’s weak. I need to strengthen it. Uhuh, a lot of times it’s getting overloaded.

(17:55):
So if you’re feeling your biceps a ton during your back movement, I want to encourage you to think about initiating that pull from your back. Don’t let your elbows bend until you sort of pinch the shoulder blades back. So do even the shoulder blade pinch and then pull with your back so your elbows, yes, are bending, but you are not just bending. You need to think about that movement of your shoulder blades towards your spine to engage that back. It can be very helpful, and I like doing the bent over variation, but just so you can sort of more see it. I like doing just the pinch of the shoulder blades back because that is that movement to initiate that pole, to engage that back. You should feel that movement. That’s where that pole comes from. And yes, you want it fluid, but it’s so important to do and change your grip.

(18:38):
Again, varying things up because a lot of times we’ll say, oh, it has neck pain, or I feel lower back pain when I do the different rows. Maybe you just start with a single arm and you put your hand and knee on the bench to help brace your abs. Maybe you lie down on a bench that’s inclined so it supports your chest so that you can do the row. Maybe you start with a band anchored out in front of you so that you can do that row. You want to think about different ways to support and prevent some of the aches and pains you have. And I can tell you, doing a little sumo chin tuck can really help if your neck is engaging, but a lot of times it’s because our shoulders are elevated, so change your grip. We can do overhand, we can do neutral.

(19:18):
You can even do under hand on a barbell or with weights here too. Whatever you feel working can be a great place to start to help you engage. There isn’t just one way to do a movement, but we want to be conscious when we do have these compensations because maybe going to a unilateral row if you can’t control it and you feel especially your shoulder or neck on one side can be very helpful because we can focus on that back engagement so that shoulder isn’t being overloaded in the wrong way. The bicep isn’t being overworked, but you need to find variations that allow you to build up and then even see opportunity in the options because the more we use these variations to our advantage, the more we can find progression through the same but different. Because as I mentioned with even the deadlift, they all work the same muscle groups, but to different extents with the pull up, even chin up versus neutral versus over handful pull up grip all just activate the biceps back to different extents.

(20:10):
They’re all beneficial and they can all be used. We just have to find ways that we can make sure that we’re working the right muscles. So those were the main ones I wanted to cover today. There are lots of different movements that can cause lots of different aches and pains, but I would encourage you to assess where your mobility restrictions are coming from to include that work as prehab, work in your warmup, foam rolling, stretching and activating, and then making sure that you’re using variations that allow you to work around, but try and rebuild. The one thing we should not be doing is avoiding the more fundamental movement patterns we avoid from overhead, pressing to horizontal, pressing to vertical, pulling to horizontal, pulling to squats, lunges, hip hinges, all those different things. The more we set ourselves up for risk for injury and everyday life as much as we want to, to often treat our workouts just as a chance to burn calories. As much as we want to work hard in the gym, we want it to be quality movement. We want to see the gym as a chance to retrain those movement patterns so that we move well in everyday life because that’s ultimately what’s going to help us build more muscles. It’s ultimately what’s going to help us see better body recomp. It’s ultimately what’s going to help us see a healthier metabolic rate, aging well, seeing the fat loss, muscle gains, all those different things that we want and feeling our bests. Guys,

(21:27):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in.

Cori (00:28):
Alright, let’s talk about making meal planning easier. It can be often the hardest part about trying to hit our macros, achieve a new goal. It can feel a little overwhelming, but the more we plan ahead, the easier it becomes to really see those results snowball, get in those healthy habits. So Michelle, I’m super excited to dive into some of the tips you have. As you mentioned, it’s that decision fatigue and we want to lighten that mental load. So can you talk a little bit about what you often see clients struggling with in terms of meal prep in general?

Michelle (00:59):
So the two biggest complaints are often feeling like they don’t have enough time to meal prep or feeling like it’s kind of like an extra chore or homework assignment. So I feel like we have to kind of dismantle what meal prepping actually means or meal planning means because so often when people hear meal planning, they hear meal prep and they’re thinking that they’re going to be cooking all their meals on one day. That’s not a bad thing. That’s not something. Some people can do it and be very successful at that, but it’s not for everyone. Meal planning is just making the decision of what you’re actually going to eat prior. So actually coming up with a game plan, and I know we all hear the cheesy saying, a failure to plan is a plan to fail, but it’s true if you’re not putting in that initial thought upfront, you aren’t going to most likely be hitting your macros. It’s kind of just crossing your fingers and hoping by the end of the day things kind of align. So we really want to make sure that we are making those decisions because otherwise we will fall back in our default mode setting. Whatever’s going to be quick, whatever’s going to be easiest. The quickest thing that comes to your mind is going to be the thing that you are going to then put in your mouth. So you have to come up with a game plan prior.

Cori (02:12):
We have to think about what is natural for us. And often what is natural for us isn’t necessarily what we were evolutionarily meant to do or what we were born doing. It’s the habits that we’ve ingrained and created over an extended period of time. So what is natural for us to do is potentially go into that fast food and grab something quick and easy when we’re really in a pinch reach for that sugary sweet treat, right? So we have to notice what natural patterns we have there, even what natural macros we’re hitting because a lot of times we’ll set a macro ratio and be like, well, I’m not hitting it. I’m really far off of it. Okay, well what have you actually changed? And often we haven’t changed anything. We’ve been just repeating the same meals the way we’ve always done. And that’s why sometimes even taking meal planning back to basics and saying, Hey, here’s what I naturally do.

(03:00):
How can I tweak what I’ve already sort of planned in a weird way because it’s what I’ve done for so long and now make adjustments so that tomorrow I can eat a little bit differently, but also based on my current lifestyle. So it is really planning ahead, but it doesn’t have to be this overly complicated, dramatic thing where you’re making all these changes. It can really be based on what you’re doing currently, but something has to change if you’re going to hit new macros. If you’re naturally hitting them, you would already be hitting them, right?

Michelle (03:25):
Yeah, exactly. I mean so often, usually it’s protein that’s usually lacking because oftentimes it’s the hardest thing to prep or kind of to plan in. So usually when you’re doing your meal planning, if you are going to plan your protein first, really build your meal around that protein because that’s oftentimes where we tend to kind of fail and tend to kind of be off in our macros.

Cori (03:48):
I love too that when we were talking about making meal planning easier, because I’m a lazy person, I loved your example or when you were talking about the struggles, right? You go to the fridge, at the end of the day, you’re really tired, you’re not feeling like cooking anything, so you reach for the easiest thing. And I know that I do that. I know that sometimes even microwaving meal prep that I have frozen for five minutes feels like it takes too long, which is very, very lazy. But I know that that can sometimes feel like even too much. So I have those meals frozen. I have things in the fridge that are quick to pull out that don’t require a lot of cooking. I have even healthy snacks, so when I’m on the go, maybe they’re not completely the whole natural foods I would like otherwise. Maybe it is a protein bar, protein shaker, whatnot. But I have those little handy things. Let’s start to dive into your top tips to make meal prep easier because part of what I’ve developed is knowing myself and I think there’s ways and strategies we can encourage people to start implementing to see what really works for them. So first thing that you would recommend besides planning those meals around protein, if you’re looking to make meal prep easier,

Michelle (04:52):
So actually set aside a dedicated time to plan, put it in your calendar, make a reminder on your phone, know what day you are going to do it and actually get it done. So often times we’re like, oh yes, we know this is important. We know we’re going to get to it, but very few of us actually schedule a time to set aside to do it. So again, if you’re not going to plan on getting it done, it’s not going to get done. It may seem like it takes a lot of effort, but it’s really one of those things that you put in a little bit of effort at the front of your week or midweek, whatever time you want to actually do your planning, it’s going to pay off for your future self.

Cori (05:29):
And what would you say to somebody who says, that’s great Michelle, but that feels like homework. It takes time. What would you tell somebody in terms of still embracing this fact, that planning ahead really is key.

Michelle (05:45):
So it’s going to come back a little bit, and this may be a little bit tough love, but there has to be a change and change requires a level of difficulty. It’s going to take you embracing something that seem a little bit hard and a little bit more like a homework assignment at first. But you are here to learn, you are here to try and gain knowledge so that you can improve. So sometimes your health journey is going to feel a little bit like class, a little bit like you’re doing a homework assignment, so I’m not being super nice there, but sometimes you just got to suck it up and do it.

Cori (06:19):
You do. It’s tough love, but it’s so key and nothing changes and nothing changes. And let’s face it, what’s comfortable is what we’ve always done. So we’re setting the time, we’re embracing that. Yes, it can feel like homework to start, but it will get easier as well. Now what are the first steps to creating meal plans and meal prep that actually work for you?

Michelle (06:40):
So be realistic with your calendar. Actually open up your calendar. One of the most frustrating things I see, and I shouldn’t say frustrating, that’s probably not the right word for it, but I will get so many people that want to show me the most perfect meal plan and they have created these, everything is high veggies, everything’s cooked from scratch, it looks fantastic. But the reality is if every single thing on your meal plan the entire week is made from scratch, the likelihood of you actually using that meal plan and creating every single one of those meals is very low. So I always recommend that you are actually focusing on very simple meals and then maybe one or two meals that are either new recipes or may have a little bit higher level of difficulty that you’re planning on those days that you have more time. Because the reality is most of us, the majority of us don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So if you’re putting in where everything for breakfast, lunch, dinner is different and there’s no repeats and everything’s from scratch, you’re probably not going to do it.

Cori (07:49):
And off of that, I know one complaint that does come up at times is, but I want diversity. And just because you’re trying to keep things simple doesn’t mean you can’t have the diversity there. Just because you’re not using 50 different recipes doesn’t mean you can’t have diversity. You can bulk meal prep, a protein source to then use in a salad or use in a burrito bowl or use in tacos. You can have frozen vegetables as well as fresh so that you can include or swap in a diversity that allows you to not worry about them also going rotten. You can still include a diversity while keeping things simple. I even know yesterday I wanted random things, and I even said to Ryan at the time, I’m like, this plate looks ridiculous, but it was like random ground Turkey with carrots and broccoli and then I had a cottage cheese dip I made and then I put some sauerkraut on the side just because I wanted those things and I wanted to work in those things to hit my macros. And I had them all already prepped and it was easy to just mix and match because it was already in the fridge. So understanding even how the puzzle pieces can work together and having meals entered that you can then plug and play can also keep things simple without making it feel like you’re just eating the thing over and over again or don’t have opportunity for that diversity.

Michelle (08:59):
And that is really key. So many people don’t or they forget about taking advantage of the power of leftovers. And like you said, people are very worried about diversifying their diet, which as a dietician I love, but you can really do the mix and match game and as you said, batch cook, anything that’s very starchy where you can actually, and I got to put a plug in here because it’s one of my favorite tips to always share, but if you have a high starchy item and you batch cook it, you are actually going to make it healthier and more nutrient dense for you if you reheat that starchy item. So I’m talking about legumes, pastas, any type of lentils, potatoes even, because what happens is as you cook and then you cool that retrogradation actually increases the resistant starches in those foods, so you’re actually creating more high fiber foods as you do that.

(09:55):
And this is one of my favorite things because if you know that you love rice or you love grains, your rice, your quinoa, anything like that, bash, cook it, double it up. It doesn’t have to be this, I’m going to cook everything on one day and use it throughout the week. It can be, oh, this meal tonight, I know I’m going to have rice. I’m going to plan another meal the next day or eat it for lunch, so I’m going to make sure I’m doubling or tripling this recipe because that’s going to keep you from actually taking a lot more time to even meal prep and you’re going to save again, we’re investing for that future self you’re going to save. And all those items, those starchy foods freeze very well. So even if you don’t use it that week, if you’re putting it in your freezer, all of a sudden you have a week where you can just pull out a grain and add a little water, reheat it, and you’re good to go.

Cori (10:47):
And by having different sauces, if you make these things more basic in terms of flavor, in terms of seasoning, you can throw them in so many different things to have that diversity in flavors, meals over the week while keeping the meal prep simple because if you have chicken and you have rice, you could add salsa and guacamole or you could add tamari or soy sauce and all of a sudden have very different dishes. I like too that you mentioned two recipes per week. And I think this is key because not only can that keep meal prep easier, you can bulk make things have leftovers, freeze some of the leftovers if you don’t necessarily want to eat the same thing for six days a week. So you have maybe three days you eat it and you have three leftover for the next week or the week after.

(11:27):
But also the more recipes you start to experiment with and throw yourself even the challenge if you do tend to eat the same things of two different things to keep things interesting, you can create those two recipes, log them as recipes in your food tracker, have those macros already readily available, and then be able to have different puzzle pieces you can easily plug and play so that if something does come up during the day where you’ve had to change other meals or you simply do want something different last minute, you have items already logged that you can easily see how everything fits together as you get more comfortable with that planning. So you can slowly add up your databases. Basically what I’m saying over the weeks by just even testing out two new recipes per week.

Michelle (12:07):
Yeah, it really allows you to keep cooking and eating a little bit more interesting. But again, we’re not going to be putting a ton of that mental load on you throughout the week every day of the week.

Cori (12:19):
And off of this, you mentioned making a shopping list, which for me, I’m like, I need a shopping list if I’m going to the grocery store, otherwise I’m going to forget something. But I think that’s a key component. We don’t think about when making a shopping list any recommendations for people.

Michelle (12:35):
So always go to what you have on hand first. I mean this is going to reduce time in the store, it’s going to reduce the aimless wandering and also it’s going to save you money. So again, so often people are going to open that piece of paper, start filling out what they want to shop, but they’re either one, not planning how they’re going to utilize those ingredients in mills or they are putting down the mills and then they’re forgetting the ingredient and pretty soon the macros are way off because they don’t actually have what they need to create the mill. So make sure you’re doing it at the same time. First look in your pantry, look in your fridge, see what needs to be used up, build off of that, and then add your shopping list and make sure that you’re getting those staples. This again, I know it sounds like we’re telling you to put a lot more effort upfront, but when you take in the time that you’re going to save at the grocery store, when you’ve take in the time that you’re going to save every single day when you’re creating your meals and cooking, that is going to have a bigger difference at the end of your week and save you more time as a whole than the 20 minutes is going to take you to put together that shopping list and some meal plan ideas.

Cori (13:49):
It’s a little bit more time now for less time spent later, and it’s sometimes hard to remind ourselves of that, but it’s truly important. And also in creating that shopping list, a lot of times we can find sauces or spices or ingredients that overlap in multiple different dishes or can be used in multiple different ways. Even things like I got pistachios the other day and I’m like, okay, I can use this in oatmeal, I can use in my Greek yogurt. It can be a snack. Sometimes thinking about the diversity of ways you can use something so that you can keep prep easier or even have things on hand for other options. If you get eggs, hey, you can hard boil those eggs, you can make almonds with those eggs. You could make baked oatmeal with those eggs. There’s so many different ways to use them. And even having that idea of, okay, what could I even use this in if something were to go off in my day and I were to need to adjust my macros can be very helpful when creating that shopping list to get some staples.

Michelle (14:43):
And I love that too because I mean, we mentioned diversifying your diet and so often we forget that those sauces, toppings, those minor little things are really going to add in and help really help diversify. So your example of, I bought pistachios this week. If you bought pistachios instead of a different nut, or maybe you bought two or three nuts that week and you can mix and match them in your different meals, that’s going to help you add that diversity to your diet.

Cori (15:12):
And diversifying is easier than we think because it doesn’t have to be complicated recipes every time. It can be bulk prepping some of those different starches and freezing them so that you have potatoes that you can unfreeze when you need versus the next day you can use rice. It’s even thinking about things that don’t go bad. And I know when I say that people are instantly like, oh, that’s processed, that’s bad. Okay. There’s lots of different levels of processing a, but also freezing. We don’t often think about not only freezing those starches, but frozen vegetables, frozen fruit. I can tell you I almost live off of frozen fruit because it allows me to use it in smoothies easily. I love putting it in my Greek yogurt. It makes the Greek yogurt a little frosty ice creamy. I can even unfreeze it, microwave it and use it in so many different ways, but then I don’t have to worry about it going bad and it’s always there.

(15:57):
And if I overbuy one week, it’s still there for the next week. Nuts, you can get those and easily be able to use them for a very long time. They have a good shelf life. You can get jerkies can get oatmeal. There’s so many different things that are healthy and quality and even canned fish, there’s different things we can do that we always have on hand then. So then if something didn’t go as planned, and I always bring this up, didn’t go as planned because life is not going to go as planned no matter how much we even planned for it. And planning only helps us navigate some of the ups and downs and the unexpected things better. But the more we can have those easy things on hand, always readily available that we can always make sure stocked because they won’t go bad, it can be so helpful in that planning process and even reacting when we need.

Michelle (16:39):
Yeah, I love a well-stocked pantry and a well-stocked freezer to make those decisions easier. If dinner by chance you did forget an ingredient and you didn’t buy something or you need a five minute meal, I always like to challenge clients to have five recipes that they have ingredients for that they can create in under 15 minutes, and it’s because they’re using pantry staples and freezer staples. And I do want to address, because I know I’m going to get some questions on this, so I’m going to answer it right now and dispel the myth that is frozen better than fresh or worse. And the truth is oftentimes frozen is and fresh can sometimes be even equal or oftentimes even frozen is a little bit better. And I know that’s going to upset some people, but the reality is when those products are picked and for flash frozen, it’s going to trap in the nutrients. So you’re actually getting it oftentimes more at the peak of the season than you are otherwise. So if you’re buying fruits and vegetables out of season, sometimes their frozen counterparts are actually going to be a little bit more nutrient dense. So I’m not saying fresh is bad, I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but if you are one of those people that are a little bit nervous about having the healthier option, there’s absolutely no reason to not have those frozen items.

Cori (18:02):
And off of this, because again, we’re going for ease, lazy person here, I own it. I wanted to talk about some other tips besides just even cooking. So while the more we can cook whole natural foods at home, the more control we have, the more we can enter even in meals to our fitness tracker or our food tracker as well as all the ingredients we eat. Because the more you can even enter those ingredients, save those recipes, right? The easier it is when you’re in a pinch, when you’re short on a time or even when you’re just meal planning to save yourself time. But there are times where cooking is not a possibility or we’ve planned ahead really well, but we want to plan meals out. Can you talk a little bit about finding restaurants, planning and meals out, how to approach that too to strike a balance? Because I think so often we can then feel like a person on a diet or we can feel like we’re always having to do all this extra labor and some of us don’t like doing dishes, but meals out can be a part of it. Can you talk a little bit about how you have clients work those in?

Michelle (18:59):
Yeah, I think this has a lot to do with kind of the mental load that’s people as specifically when they’re dieting can feel like they’re carrying. So if you feel like you’re constantly depriving, you depriving yourself of nights out or those fun mills out with friends, then you are not going to be on a plan that’s going to work long-term for you because if that stresses you out, then we need to actually work it in now so you can be able to get that balance. So some of the biggest things is really making sure if it’s at all a possibility to actually plan the day out that you’re eating and being able to look at the menu beforehand, being able to even decide before you enter that restaurant what mill excites you that you want to make sure that you’re going to fit into your macros.

(19:48):
Again, if we’re just hoping that everything fits at the end of the day, that’s not most likely, we’re not going to hit everything correctly. And then you build your day around that mill. So if you know it’s going to be a little bit heavier carb, you may need to focus a little bit more protein earlier on in the day so that you can still have that mill and enjoy and enjoy it while still hitting your macros. And I want to say this too, because of course there’s always the 80 20 rule. If you are looking for super fast results, that’s going to take a little bit more sacrifice. If you are someone that’s really looking for the lifestyle, the maintenance, and being able to build habits that you can still get results maybe not as fast, but still get results and be able to have a little bit more relax around your diet, then you can definitely work in a day that you may be a little bit off.

(20:41):
As long as we’re still trying to keep things within reason. This isn’t a binge, this is just a mill out, then you can still enjoy that without worrying that everything is going to fall off and you’re not going to see any results. It’s really striking that balance and making sure that 80% of your diet of course, is going to be really what your body needs and is those healthy nutritious foods. But you can still enjoy that 20% of your diet from foods that may not be as nutrient dense, may be a little bit higher in sodium and fat than what we really would like to stick to that 80% of the time.

Cori (21:20):
I think we often put too much pressure on being perfect with things when we are making those habit changes and there is a learning process, not to mention, we have to think about what we would do in that situation otherwise. And often we’ll realize that going for that meal out, getting that fast food, even while being conscious of our macros and having planned it in often is better long-term because we’re hitting those macros still. We’re getting that food diversity. We’re not feeling guilty and throwing ourselves off of our plan or even eating something that was potentially worse. I know that sounds really negative, but often we don’t think, well, I would actually be doing something worse for myself right now if I wasn’t finding this balance. And so we just makes ourselves feel guilty because it isn’t the perfect thing we necessarily want it to do.

(22:04):
So I can tell you if I’m in a pinch, I have fast food restaurants that I know the macros on, different things that I could log. I’ve even gone to restaurants that I really like to go to frequently have taken takeout and then done my best to really break down the macros. You don’t even have to go that far. You can use visual portion guides, you can estimate based on nutritional information for other restaurants as well, but you can find the things that you do consistently or that you enjoy as part of your lifestyle now and just plan those in. It goes back to planning, but you can work in meals out. And I think the more we embrace this balance, we see that there has to be that consistency in what we can do. And we even say, is this better than what I would do in another situation? It allows us to truly move forward consistently, see those habits snowball, see things progress more than trying to force perfection in the moment.

Michelle (22:53):
And I’m going to add to that too. I think so often we do get a little uptight and very stressed out about our diet, like you mentioned being perfect. And oftentimes that actually is going to play an effect on and kind of have a domino effect on your overall health. If you are so stressed out about your diet being completely perfect and really stressed that you’re missing out on things, that stress level is going to negatively affect you and your results. So sometimes loosening up the reins just a little bit, and like you mentioned, knowing that you can still have the best of both worlds is going to actually give you the best results. And when in doubt if you happen to be at a restaurant that you didn’t choose, let’s say it was up to the group you were with or someone else chose it, and you’re still hoping to hit as close as you can to your macros, that you have no time to look anything up. We’re always focusing on protein first, veggies most. So when in doubt, let’s try and make your plate majority of vegetables. So if that means swapping out the side of fries with an extra serving of vegetables, and then really looking for those lean protein options, and of course standing by the old, let’s focus on grilled or roasted items. Those are usually going to be your healthier options when dining out.

Cori (24:13):
And I wanted to get your closing thoughts on this, but also add I for the longest time try to force perfection when I would try and do a cut lean down. And that ultimately sabotaged me. And I’m not saying that there isn’t sacrifice. It is sacrifice and hard work to reach a goal that you have never had. When I was first trying to get leaner, there were sacrifices because it wasn’t just doing what I’d always done. And let’s face it, if we could get away with doing exactly what we want every moment of every single day, we would, but that’s just not reality. So there is a sacrifice, there is a consistency. There is a hard work when you don’t want to do it, but I think too often we try and rely on that willpower versus realizing too that there is something to consistency. And the more you make those little improvements, the more on top of that you’re willing to make other improvements that might’ve even felt like something you didn’t want to give up before. So as much as you might say, I need to get results now, I need to be perfect. And as much as there is sacrifice, you have to find something you can truly be consistent with. So on that note, Michelle, any closing thoughts to help people lighten their mental load, make meal planning a little bit easier because it really is the secret to success.

Michelle (25:20):
I think you hit the nail on the head just with that comment. You do want to make sure that you are looking at things down the line. I think so often we look at the fast results now, but we forget that sometimes taking the slower route sometimes is actually going to lead to the best maintenance results down the road, or you being able to actually have the best results. And I wanted to say this earlier, so I’m just going to plug this in right now. Meal planning does mean that you can repeat if you are someone that you don’t want to have to think too often or we want to make sure you’re planning on those leftovers, that’s either eating leftovers for that lunch or eating the same meal maybe three days out of the week. If you’re new to cooking or you’re someone that used to eat out a lot and you’re trying to eat out more at home, repeat. Repeat your foods, repeat your meals that you’re going to have because that is going to be the easiest for you. And we are really trying to just make those slight changes. And again, if repeating sounds dull to you and boring, as Corey said, really take advantage of those toppings and those sauces to really mix things up so that you don’t feel like you’re necessarily having the exact same meal.

Cori (26:37):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. Again. This is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips.

Cori (26:43):
I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

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*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in.

(00:29):
Let’s talk intermittent fasting, whether you’ve considered seven day water fast because they become popular recently. A doing more intermittent fasting with a longer fast and shorter eating window on a day five and two. All the different options out there. We want to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. So welcome Michelle. Let’s dive into what is intermittent fasting in general.

Michelle (00:52):
So the biggest thing with intermittent fasting is it’s really just about the timing of when you eat. It’s not really necessarily changing your eating behavior as far as your diet goes, but actually the eating behavior of when you’re going to eat versus when you’re not going to eat. And a lot of times people like to couple multiple diets on top of it, but when it comes to intermittent fasting, the simplest form of it is just restricting when your eating windows are.

Cori (01:22):
And you can do a lot of different eating windows as I mentioned already. It could be that you skip breakfast and have that shorter eating window each day and a longer extended time without eating. So like 16, eight, it can be full days, it can be many extended days. But I love that you brought up that intermittent fasting isn’t a diet. We really do talk about it like it’s a diet, but it is a meal timing that can be implemented with so many different ways of eating, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, paleo, even carnivore, and on top of that it can be used with a variety of different macros. Now we’re going to dive into some of the benefits. The downside is who it works best for. I do want to start though with the fact that all of this really depends and you have to experiment with what works for you because ultimately whether you hit your macros or not is going to make the biggest impact. Correct. So we can’t use this to restrict our eating too much or we’re going to end up binging later. We can’t sort of out fast our macros. There has to be that underlying macro focus to make the meal timing really work for us. Can you go over a little bit about that, the fundamentals of it?

Michelle (02:28):
Yeah, so when it comes down to it, this really is just a tool and it’s a tool that can help some people be able to have some calorie restriction. If they happen to really struggle during certain times during the day where they overconsume calories, having a more shut off time can allow them to be like, okay, I know that these are my times that I typically overdo things. I’m going to stop eating here and that will keep me from over consuming calories. And then there’s that benefit of, or I should say, but you have to couple it with healthy eating. This does not mean that you have an excuse to binge during that time period that you’re allowed to eat, nor does it mean that we are consuming less during that window. You still need to consume the same amount of calories and the same amount of macro just possibly in a shorter window

Cori (03:22):
And diving into some of the research and what it shows. I do just want to preface this with the fact that a lot of these different things can be accomplished in a lot of different ways. Just like you don’t have to eat one specific food to get micronutrients. There are a lot of foods that have those micros. Intermittent fasting can help you accomplish these benefits. And if it’s right for you, which we’ll sort of dive into as well, what might make it right for you, what might make it wrong for you? The upsides downsides again mentioned that. I just want to say as much as the research can be positive, we can think these things can be beneficial. There are other ways to do it if this doesn’t feel right for you. So experimentation is also always key. Diving into the research, what have been some of the benefits shown of intermittent fasting?

Michelle (04:02):
So some of the biggest benefits have been improved metabolic syndrome, so that’s like multiple facets. So that’s lowering blood pressure, lowering triglyceride levels, being able to reduce some of that waste circumference. It’s shown that we can really target some of that fat on our abdominal. We’re also looking at, of course decreasing the risk of obesity. But some things that are a little bit more unique to intermittent fasting itself compared to other items is that it does show an increase in cellular autophagy, so you actually have more cellular turnover, which is a good thing especially for women as we age. Sometimes that kind of slows down and it’s not going to be a night and day difference, but if you are promoting cellular turnover, you can actually improve your skin. And sometimes those wrinkles, some more of those superficial aspects that sometimes we do kind of stress about as we age. So there’s definitely some positives. And another big thing is it does show a decrease in inflammation that can actually lower risk and slow down both the aging process but progression of diseases as well.

Cori (05:11):
And if someone were looking to implement intermittent fasting, what are some different options for them to use fasting to their benefits?

Michelle (05:19):
So it’s really going to come down to of course the windows, like you mentioned earlier, what is going to work for them and their lifestyle? If you are an active individual having a very restricted window that you do daily, like let’s say the 16 eight where you’re fasting for 16 hours, you’re eating for eight hours out of the day, which is really not, if you look at a normal eating pattern, that’s really not that extreme, right? You’re really just extending that period just so slightly. Most of us, we stop eating 12 hours, we are awake, we’re eating for 12 hours. So you’re just making those slight adjustments. And if you’re someone that trains in the morning, you’re doing training for something very specific, like if you were a marathon runner, an endurance athlete training for an Ironman, doing something like that where you’re fasting during those period, that’s probably not the best option for you.

(06:10):
But if you’re someone that has days that you train and days that you have more rest, you could potentially do a more five to two option where you have five days that are more regular, two days that you’re kind of implementing more of this fasting state. So it really is going to depend on you and what your activity level is, what you’re kind of doing and even where you are kind of in the life cycle as well. And to go into that a little bit more, it’s not going to be something that we’re going to recommend for pregnant women, lactating women, and I’m going to focus on the women specifically because men don’t have, quite frankly, men just don’t have as much going on as we do. But for women we are seeing that for perimenopause and menopausal women, they actually respond very well to intermittent fasting.

(06:57):
And it used to be that this was more of an unknown because all the research was actually done in men. So we were trying to force women into this eating pattern and what we have found is women who are having more pre meno and are having regular hormone fluctuations, they can have fasting if they’re taking it to an extreme. So we’re going past that 16 hour fasting period, we can actually affect our hormone or hormone production and our hormone levels. So that is something to kind of consider too is we do want to make sure that we are keeping our hormone levels regulated because that’s something we want. It’s not a good thing if all of a sudden our hormone production is being shut off and that is going to be something that will be affected if we are doing extreme levels. Now, if you’re doing something more like a regular eating window, you can and your exercise isn’t an extreme where you’re doing lots of endurance activity, lots of cardio, you can still probably implement intermittent fasting in a more easier ratio to follow.

Cori (08:07):
I love that you brought up earlier that intermittent fasting is a tool. I also like that you brought up that at different stages of our life we might find it’s more beneficial or less beneficial because it’s even with goals. If you’re training for a marathon and the timing of your workouts don’t work for it, it might not be as good. However, if you’re in that fat loss phase, maybe it’s better, but maybe if you’re transitioning to muscle gaining based on when you’re working out, it’s not as beneficial. And I say this as someone who I found intermittent fasting and loved it to start, I thought it was a great experience having that eating window, learning my actual hunger cues versus being very conditioned to eat at certain times and get hungry around those. So for me it was a way to learn to listen to my body and once I did it a little bit stricter at the start, I then was like, okay, this is when it works for me, this is when it doesn’t.

(08:49):
As my schedule changed, I even found that there were days I wasn’t doing it or periods in my life where I wasn’t doing it as much. It’s learning how this can impact you when it might be beneficial to experiment with having the experiment but not forcing it as well. And there are the different meal timings you might find that you are a person that is really good about hitting your macros during the week and on the weekends you let things go a little bit more. So maybe you do find that you even do a five and two where two of those days are the weekend days and during the week you do two lower calorie days where you have that extended fast and lower calories so that everything balances out and you can sort of balance out the higher calorie weekends a little bit or maybe you have that eating window because you do train in the afternoon and you can fast in the morning and that makes meal prep easier.

(09:34):
So there’s lots of different reasons to use these strategies to make something sustainable for us. We just want to make sure that the underlying nutrition is there and we’re following our macros. We’re really still tracking that calorie deficit. A lot of the times we ignore the fact that intermittent fasting does recommend really understanding the calories you’re consuming and we just think of it as the meal timing, but we also don’t want to force something that doesn’t work. If you’re trying to train in the morning and trying to fast the afternoon, that’s not going to be beneficial. No matter how much you say there are these benefits of it and research have shown great potential for it, it’s not going to work for you, it’s not going to be sustainable, you’re not going to be using it in the correct ways with your schedule. So you want to think about your schedule and what’s realistic for you and then recognize if you’re doing something that is detrimental, like if fasting till the afternoon is making you hungrier and you’re binging because of that, that’s not a good thing despite the benefits. Now going into who it really works for, who it doesn’t work for as well. I know there’s even some nuance based on health concerns that people have. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Michelle (10:30):
Yeah, so some people that this is not really recommended for is going to be anyone that is going to have any metabolic conditions. So diabetes where we do want to make sure that we’re eating more regularly or if you’re on medications that do of course require you to have food while you’re taking those medications, that’s going to obviously be more important than your eating window. So those are going to be some for instances why we wouldn’t recommend if. Now something that I think people sometimes kind of force into this eating habit, and you kind of touched on this a little bit is this is a tool, this is a meal timing tool. However, if you are looking at it as this is a fad diet that I’m going to do this until I hit X weight or I’m going to do this for this long before this vacation, this is not going to work for you.

(11:22):
And I say that and I would say that with any diet that you’re trying to incorporate, any eating behavior you’re trying to do, if you’re looking at an end date, this isn’t going to be sustainable because you’re already having your exit plan. But the issue is this is teaching you how to incorporate it continuously. If you’re only going to do it for a short amount of time and you get off of it, you haven’t learned to be able to maintain the progress that you have gotten with another tool or another method. So oftentimes if you’re doing this for a short period of time, just like any diet, anything out there, you will oftentimes rebound and usually overshoot where you were at before you even started and it’s really just because you’re like, oh, I’m done, I’ve done it, I’ve completed myself. Everything’s free game now.

(12:12):
And that’s the behavior that we see with anyone that’s going to incorporate any diet. So you need to look at this as you are going to do this forever. This is going to be something that you employ for the rest of your life. Now other people that I would highly discourage from ever doing this would be anyone that has a history of an eating disorder or even has some of those eating disorder behaviors. And I’m going to even specifically call out orthorexia here because so oftentimes it’s one of those conditions that people get praised for being healthy. They do things in the name of health, but if you are constantly thinking about your food, you’re stressed about your food, this is causing more stress in your life because all you can think about is when you are fasting is the food that you’re going to eat and it’s going to cause that obsessive behavior that’s not a good relationship with food.

(13:08):
For some people, like you mentioned, it allowed you to notice those hunger cues. It allowed you to be able to see those things and be able to improve your relationship with food. For others this could be detrimental and this is really the important thing. There’s tons of research out there on lots of different options that you can kind of do and not everyone fits in that box and intermittent fasting is definitely one of them. There’s lots of different ways that you can utilize this tool because there’s different eating patterns, but that doesn’t mean that you have to force yourself into that box if it’s not right for you.

Cori (13:43):
And when you mention using something long-term, it’s about designing systems that all work together based on our goals. It’s not that you will be doing intermittent fasting in one form for the rest of your life. It’s having the attitude though of what is this experiment? Why am I doing it? What’s the purpose? How does it work with everything else? Too often we just say, oh, this is a good thing and I’m going to try it without thinking about how it really impacts our lifestyle. And ultimately we were potentially designing something that is a short-term fix that doesn’t really teach us what we need to ultimately make lasting habit changes. So if you’re using this and you’re like, Hey, I don’t know if it’ll be long-term, that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be something where you’re like, I’m doing this for the rest of my life needs your goals, everything will change.

(14:23):
But you do have to go in being like, this is why I’m strategically using it. I’m using because it works with my schedule. I don’t like meal prepping for breakfast or hey, I like the five and two because the lower calorie days work with my days off and I’m not as hungry and they allow me more food flexibility on other days. The one thing we don’t want to do though is jump to that seven day water fast, which I’ve seen these really push. And the only reason I’m bringing this up is because so often the three day, the seven day fast are turned to not even just for health benefits or someone wanting to experiment with how they feel and wanting that challenge, but because they want to drop weight quicker on the scale. And I want to caution against this because a lot of times, well not a lot of times that is fake weight and what I mean by that is it’s true weight changes on the scale, but it’s glycogen depletion is water weight being lost?

(15:08):
It’s potentially even muscle being lost as much as it is fat and the second you rehydrate the second you refill those diodes stores afterwards, you’re going to gain some. So it’s not a quick fix as much as that scale might change very quickly. And if you’re not implementing and learning the good habits, which you could do with intermittent fasting windows of five and two, you are not ultimately making a change that’s going to sustain anything you even built up potentially during that time. So please don’t use this as a quick fix. Please use this as a strategy to learn more about your body and how you feel. Now I did want to touch on some of the side effects of it because anytime we make a dietary change whether or not it’s a change to macros to calories to meal timing, there is a response.

(15:46):
I can tell you personally when I first started intermittent fasting because I was very rigid on meal timings before I got a little hangry at times I felt a little off at times, but ultimately when I started to do that and get off of having these set meal times, I was so conditioned to them. Now there’s a lot more flexibility when I can eat and I don’t feel like I’m die if I don’t ride away. Can make the travel day a lot easier. But talk a little bit about the side effects that people might experience and when you really have to pay attention to ’em and say this is not just my body adapting to something new but something that means this really isn’t right for me.

Michelle (16:17):
Yeah, so very common side effects. Of course you already mentioned the one being irritable. So when we’re hungry, if we’re constantly thinking about food, we can be a little hangry and snap at people sometimes. And then of course there’s headaches, there’s nausea, there’s fatigue. So those are kind of the most common ones and typically your body’s going to adjust. Everyone is a little bit different because we adjust a little bit differently whenever we’re going to change that metabolic state. So it could be a little bit longer, it could be shorter, but if you are still experiencing these things after, if you’re going into it two weeks a month and you’re still having these issues, it may just not be a right tool for you to implement. And some big things that are really going to be issues if you are doing a workout and all of a sudden you are dizzy, you are seeing black spots, your vision is blurred, that is a major sign you need to eat and you need to get some specifically you need some carbs right away because it’s most likely that you have had a major drop. So this is something that we really want to pay attention to, especially if you are working out, again, it’s one thing to implement this, but it’s a whole other layer. If we’re adding workouts and depending on how long those workouts are, how hard you’re pushing yourself in those workouts, that’s going to also cause an adjustment to that meal timing or if you’re willing to move your workouts around. So that’s something to consider as you are if you’re looking into this as well.

Cori (17:47):
And even fasted training itself, I know that’s a very popular thing to ask about, but it can really depend. It can depend on your goals. If you’re focused on building muscle, you might want that fuel beforehand, but of course if you’re training first thing in the morning and it’s just not possible for you to eat, it really doesn’t feel comfortable for you to eat, you can work around that. So if facet training feels right for you when you’re doing it to do it, but you do want to know when you’re forcing fasted training to try and get the fat burning benefits and then your workouts are subpar and you’re not able to push as hard because then the supposed benefits you’re getting aren’t really going to benefit you because you’re not able to push it at a hundred percent intensity. So it’s always sort of weighing the cost and reward and seeing how you respond and the other ways you time everything because again, if you do like training fast in the morning and that just feels better, focus on that pre-bed meal to make sure that you’re prepared for your workout session so you can have that quality session.

(18:36):
If you don’t like training fast at all and you don’t feel like you can push as hard or maybe you experiment to see what works, take that meal beforehand. There’s no one way to get a lot of the benefits that we do see with these different systems. It’s about all the systems that you implement really working together. Which brings me to something I want you to go over is the three myths that you actually find floating around about intermittent fasting.

Michelle (18:59):
Yeah, so I mean there’s obviously a lot, but one is it’s going to put you into starvation mode, which is going to cause muscle loss and lower metabolism. And we talk about metabolism quite a bit. I talk to my clients all the time, we need you eating more because we’re going to have metabolic adaptation. Now remember, intermittent fasting is just a meal tiny tool. It is not a we’re going to limit your calories, you’re still supposed to eat the same amount of calories just in a shorter window. So that right there is why it’s not going to potentially affect that metabolism or cause that muscle loss because you should still be eating healthy high quality foods when you are allowed to eat. What intermittent fasting does do is during that exercise, like you said, if you’re going to do in a fasted state or what we’re kind of mimicking is actually we’re getting the body into a little bit more of a ketosis state.

(19:57):
So kind of why people love the keto diet is because it burns fat a little bit faster. So we’re actually able to get there without actually following a strict diet like keto. So that is actually the big benefit is you’re going to burn through that fat because you’re not going to have the glucose so your body’s going to turn to the fat to burn energy, but we are still going to eat later. So you’re still going to have the adequate amount of carbs, the adequate amount of protein to make sure that we are protecting and ensuring that muscle mass that we’re not going to burn it because that of course is always an issue whenever we’re dieting is the body likes to turn to muscle for energy, but making sure that we are getting that adequate amount of calories, adequate amount of macro appropriate macros for your needs are going to keep that covered.

Cori (20:50):
And this is why even recognizing, hey, as much as you might want the fat burning benefits of training fasted, if you are looking to gain muscle, our systems have to change. If you are training for that endurance sport and carbs are the fuel that you need, being depleted might not be as beneficial. So it’s always remembering that tools are only as good as their implementation and they have to be utilized based on your goals and what you use to get to one goal will not necessarily be what you use. To get to the next off of that too, I think it’s really important to note that with intermittent fasting it’s not just restricting calories. Yes, you have that restricted window and it can help you restrict calories and with certain forms of it like five and two, there will be lower calorie days and higher calorie days, but it’s really just impacting your calorie distribution over the week. If you’re still trying to make sure you’re eating enough, you still have to eat enough to build that lean muscle. If you’re trying to create that calorie deficit, you still have to create that calorie deficit to lose fat. So it does come back to macros and calories need to be hit no matter the meal timing you use. Myth number two, hit me with it.

Michelle (21:48):
So intermittent fasting will make you feel weak, lightheaded and foggy brained, and we kind of talked about that is initially when you’re first starting you can kind of have some of those side effects where you do feel a little fatigued, maybe a little nauseated, but as your body becomes accustomed to it and as you adjust, there’s actually a lot of research and even the Society of Neuroscience has discovered that intermittent fasting actually improves our learning and memory and can actually lead to growth of neurons in our brain. So it’s actually something that they recommend as a preventative diet shouldn’t, I’m calling it a diet, but as a preventative meal timing tool to actually be able to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. So that’s not what the science is showing. A lot of people think that they’re going to have fogged brain, I want to say foggy brain, I was trying to say foggy brained and mental clarity at the same time. So they think that they are going to have a fog brained and not be able to think, but what Ashley is happening is oftentimes they’re going to have mental clarity and be able to think a little bit better

Cori (23:02):
Going back to those side effects even I think it’s really key to highlight that you never want to ignore your body’s response to something and the more dramatic the change, the more you have to expect a response. But it is good to realize that our body wants to do what it’s always done. It feels comfortable, it feels safe with those things. So anytime we make a change, there is going to be an adaptation period. So giving your body time to adjust is important, but if you find that you are very sensitive to any changes and you’ve been very rigid in your specific systems, whether it’s a specific MAC or breakdown for a long time, calories meal timing, make smaller adjustments to start. Maybe that just means even moving breakfast back an hour from where you usually have it, maybe it means moving dinner up an hour earlier, but make smaller adjustments if you know you’re sensitive and going to have a bigger response just so that you can sort of mitigate some of those side effects to see if it’s right for you and if it really fits you for meal timing. Now, myth number three.

Michelle (24:00):
So the last one is it just doesn’t really work and again, that’s just not what the research is actually showing. So we have recently they’ve had a systemic review of over 40 research studies. So they’ve looked at 40 different research studies on intermittent fasting and all of ’em did find that there was typically a weight loss of seven to 11 pounds and that’s in about 10 weeks. So it definitely is helping people achieve weight loss. Now the biggest issue with all diets is it sustainable and that’s really dependent on the person is how did they implement, and I know we mentioned this a lot just even in what we’ve discussed previously, but your mindset really matters. Your mindset matters on anything that you’re going to employ or going to use when it comes to your eating behavior or your diet. It’s really what you are putting into it is going to depend on what you’re going to get out of it. So as you mentioned, we don’t want anyone to jump in thinking this is going to be a short term solution. You can always pivot and you can always try a different fasting ratio or be like, oh no, this really wasn’t for me. But you need to enter it thinking this is going to be a long-term solution for you

Cori (25:14):
And recognizing that tools only really work if they’re focused on our needs and goals and actual lifestyle. We need something we can be consistent with. So you might find that intermittent fasting is not for you because you train first thing in the morning, you get up early, you don’t want to eat dinner any earlier, so you can’t adjust your eating window that way. Or maybe you find that you don’t feel good with it. You like breakfast, you like breaking down your meals because you struggle to fit in the calories. Otherwise there are lots of reasons this might not be right for you and there are lots of reasons it might be right for you. But even running the experiment if you are fascinated by some of the benefits can be important or key to do because you might even find that, hey, I fast now on days that I do have something come up but I don’t fast on other days or days I train.

(25:55):
You’ll find different variations of it that might not be the traditional ways of using it that really help you stay more consistent. So think of meal timing as this option to get better results from hitting your macros and hitting your calories. If you don’t hit your macros, if you don’t hit your calories, you’re not going to see the changes that you want no matter how amazing the other potential benefits of something could be, especially long-term, right? They might provide some short-term benefits because we’re making changes and you start adding in more vegetables, you cut your calories a little bit, you’re going to see initial progress, but if you don’t learn how to truly make habit changes, implement the foods you love, find your lifestyle balance, you’re not going to sustain those habits and it’s why something can work, but we ultimately fall back. So just recognize the opportunity in this and realize that there are benefits, there are benefits to all the systems we can implement, but they have to fit us and work all together. So closing thoughts, if someone’s like, Hey, I’m really interested in trying intermittent fasting. I want to see if it can benefit me, if it feels good for my schedule, how would they go about starting to do that, Michelle?

Michelle (26:54):
So go into it with a plan. Actually sit down, lay out, look at your calendar, be like, this is when I’m working out, this is how I’m going to start that or implement that plan whether it is I am going to try working out fasted or I’m not ready for that, so I’m just going to shorten my window a little bit as you mentioned. So really sometimes just kind of easing into it and even having something that maybe just as simple as you’re going to fast from seven to 11:00 AM or maybe you’re going from 8:00 PM to 12:00 PM and that’s just going to be kind of where you start. That is typically going to be an easier route to go. Another big thing is make sure that you are drinking while you fast. If you are going to intermittent fast, you still need to make sure that you are drinking and staying hydrated throughout the day.

(27:45):
Now there are some things that you can still consume that’s not going to ruin that fast, and some of those items are going to be things like herbal teas, electrolytes, as long as they’re no sugar added to it, black coffee is a great option. Anything with BCAAs, those are all going to be zero calorie options that you can kind of help. And oftentimes even the electrolytes can actually decrease the side effects of the headaches that you may suffer from when you first start. And really, really when you are getting going, you still need to focus on whole foods. Your diet needs to be coming from Whole Foods first. I would even argue to say if you don’t have that foundation down yet, that’s where you start before you actually implement fasting is improving your diet a little bit. Make sure you’re hitting your calories and macros that you need before all of a sudden we try to jump in and make it a little bit harder by changing up your eating window.

(28:44):
And really final thing is just make sure you actually are working out to that. I know oftentimes we are like, okay, I’m going to fix this and I’m going to focus on my diet and that is all great. Don’t get me wrong, nutrition is a big part, but if you’re doing that and you’re not also adding in the workout where we are really going to see the biggest benefits of intermittent fasting, which is body recomposition because it allows you to burn a little bit more fat so you can kind of take advantage with that body recomp and focusing on that weightlifting, we want you to get the most out of it. So making sure you’re adding that workout is also going to be a huge part of it.

Cori (29:20):
And I just wanted to add in that as you go through this experiment, set a certain amount of time, 10 to 14 days that you’re going to commit no matter how you feel, watch for different signals and symptoms because you don’t want to push your body to a limit that you’re not comfortable with, that there are negative side effects really impacting your functioning. But just to give yourself the time to adjust and then over that time, track how you feel with it, track the changes, track your body’s response from how are you sleeping, how are your training sessions feel not just your weight change on the scale because in that you might notice that you feel better if you get a big meal right after your workout if you’ve trained fasted and you want to time more carbs there. Or I can tell you, especially if you are skipping breakfast and then you are training fasted, you might want to time a lot more calories and a bigger dinner even though we’ve potentially feared in the past eating a big late dinner.

(30:09):
And that can have negative effects, which you won’t gain fat just from eating later, but you might need that big meal to feel really energized to do your training, especially if you are having that fasting window and not breaking it until after the workout. So you have to let go potentially of some of the things you’ve always even feared in the past or thought in the past, but play around with how you’re using that window and really record things as you’re running this experiment to see what works for you to adjust and tweak because that meal timing within the meal timing can have an impact in how you’re breaking down those macros as well. Any last thoughts, Michelle?

Michelle (30:44):
I’m just going to add this. I know we’ve kind of talked about a lot of positives that intermittent fasting has and it does. And if it’s right for you, it can really be that kind of that magic sauce for you to get your results. But I am going to add for a lot of those positive things that we said, anyone can achieve that as long as they are having a diet and are achieving weight loss. So you can still get a lot of those benefits and not actually use this as a tool to help you get there. It is a tool that can help some and may get to the results faster, but if it’s not for you, it’s not like all of a sudden all the benefits we just listed are out of your reach. It just may mean that you need to get there using a different tool and implement something else for you to have the same results,

Cori (31:31):
Opportunity and all the different options. Well, thank you so much Michelle. I’d love to hear are you guys intermittent fasting? How do you feel with it? Are you going to be testing it out? And if so, what type of fast are you going to be doing?

(31:43):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hacks podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free work out and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone I.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript