Want to level up your running game? Then this episode is for you! Join me as I chat with one of my amazing coaches and fellow endurance athlete, Pamela, about the top three strategies to enhance your running experience: easy running, fueling, and strength training. Prepare to learn how these tips will make you a more efficient, stronger, and faster runner!
We dive deep into the importance of easy running, discussing how training by time and effort is more beneficial than solely focusing on pace and distance. Pamela shares her expertise on balancing strength training and running, providing creative scheduling solutions for both beginners and experienced athletes. We also tackle the significance of proper fueling, tracking your data, and adjusting your caloric intake as your training evolves.
In the latter part of our conversation, we explore the benefits of tracking macronutrients for optimal performance and aesthetics. Pamela and I emphasize the importance of focusing on the hip and ankle joints when doing mobility work, and how this can help prevent injuries and improve your running gait. Don’t miss this insightful episode, packed with valuable advice to help you unlock your full potential as a runner!
They are simple and hard and often not too time consuming.
And something is always better than nothing to get us moving and motivated.
BUT…
Honestly, these challenges are also what sabotage our long-term success and adherence to a workout routine.
They can even make us feel like we’re working super hard, staying super consistent, making ourselves super sore and not seeing results build as quickly as we would like.
They can lead to us feeling like we are finally getting back into a groove but them BAM! Always hit with an injury.
That’s why in this video I want to go over what results you can truly expect from these 30 day challenges – the good, the bad and the simply ugly…
So let’s break down these 30 day challenges and the results you’ll get over the weeks…
Starting with that first week…
In that first week, if you haven’t been doing anything in terms of training, and this is your motivation to get moving…
Be prepared to be VERY VERY SORE.
Did I say you’ll feel SORE?
Because you’re going to feel sore those first few days.
If you break up those first 100 reps over the day, you may deceive yourself into thinking it “wasn’t that bad,” but that volume will sneak up on you.
You’re going from 0 to 100 reps and doing a repetitive movement for a high volume of work.
You’re also doing this movement daily so not giving yourself fully enough time to recover from the previous session.
So those first 4 days, you’re going to feel sore and even a bit beat down.
If you haven’t checked your squat form or are feeling a bit stiff and immobile from a lack of activity, you may also find your knees and hips and even lower back are extra achy.
This may pass with movement or it may be the start of the end.
Too often we sabotage ourselves from getting in a routine by simply pushing too hard in that first week.
We need to rebuild slowly to make sure we’re doing moves correctly and using the correct muscles.
Not to mention just because you can “do” a move and for that volume, like your muscles are strong enough, doesn’t mean your connective tissues, such as your ligaments, are truly ready for it.
It’s why doing too much too quickly leads to injury.
Also if our form is off we overload joints and muscles also putting us at risk.
And squats, like a fundamental movement pattern are often blamed for knee pain because we don’t use them correctly!
However, if we can stick it out for those first 4ish days, often we feel like we get stronger overnight.
While our muscles haven’t grown, our body starts to become familiar with the movement and we become more efficient at repeating it.
It’s why toward the end of that first week we may feel like things got almost easier overnight.
While you are getting stronger by creating a challenge for your body, you haven’t really built muscle this quickly.
It is simply that mind-body connection first improving.
We may also see some weight loss initially with the challenge.
You are moving more which can mean you’re now burning additional calories during the day.
But just like our body adapts to make the reps feel easier in that first week, our body adapts to be more efficient which means this deficit through added movement will be short lived.
If we don’t add on to our training, move more or change our nutrition, we won’t keep losing weight.
In that second and third week, the weight loss benefits will stop as your body adapts.
And you’re going to start feeling more burned out from the daily repetitive movement and see yourself hit a point of diminishing returns.
You may feel more worn down. Weird places may hurt again. Despite you feeling just a little bit before like you are getting stronger, you may feel like you go backward.
You’re not giving yourself enough time to rest and recover from a high volume of the same move, over and over and over again.
And as things hurt or feel sore, you’re going to start compensating.
Your form may break down more from fatigue and even from you starting to rush through just to get things done.
Doing the same thing every day gets tedious and boring!
We start to just want to be done with it.
It isn’t the same fun mental challenge it once was.
So often this is where we stop. We go back to our previous workout practices and we end up feeling like nothing will ever be sustainable.
Or we keep pushing through. Maybe finally at the end of week 3 our body starts to adapt and we do see those muscle gains if we’re fueling well.
But often we just start to see knee and hip aches and pains add up more and more.
We also haven’t built up any other muscle groups. We haven’t worked our core or our upper body.
And we have no plan in place to guide us.
We have no “exit strategy” from this challenge except to do another challenge.
And at some point this pattern leads to burnout.
We never really create clear progression, a clear BUILD for ourselves with a road map to take us to the goals we want.
So what may have seemed like an “easy way” to get started ultimately is also what keeps us stuck!
Now maybe you’ve powered through to week 4. And honestly, that is freaking awesome. Most don’t make it past that 3 week hump.
Injury. Boredom. Fatigue. Time. Some excuse gets most of us as we lose that initial motivation.
We’ve been doing the same thing day after day after day.
And not only does that get tedious so we become less careful and conscious of our movements, not to mention we aren’t as intentional to maximize each rep, but often the challenge really isn’t there for our body any longer.
We won’t keep seeing muscle gains as we’ve adapted to the volume and load of squatting our own bodyweight.
So ultimately we NEED to do more or at least create progression through the same but different.
And many of us reach the end of the 4 weeks with no plan.
The same challenge of creating a program we faced at the start, we are now faced with.
The good part about having committed to the 30 days though is we’ve created a workout habit and gotten in a routine, prioritizing some time each day for us and taking care of our body with movement.
We’ve also hopefully built some muscle and even lost a bit of weight from the added activity.
Because something is better than nothing when starting out.
But nothing keeps progressing if we don’t adapt as we grow stronger and fitter.
And if we are unlucky, this repetitive movement could have led to injury and overload.
We went all in from the start over giving ourselves time to build that solid foundation and slowly build up.
We may see more aches and pains even adding up over the following weeks if we aren’t careful.
It also hasn’t prepped our body necessarily for other movements.
We may still be starting out at ground zero when it comes to our upper body or even core training.
We can’t skip building that foundation and these challenges don’t help us become well rounded.
They so often lead to us just doing too much too quickly over easing in.
Not to mention we may feel like the daily movement is unsustainable long-term but not be sure now how to design a schedule that actually fits our busy lifestyle.
And as simple as these challenges seem, they are deceptively inefficient at getting results.
You could see better results from LESS volume and even less frequent sessions designed with the appropriate intensity and recovery.
You could have found something more sustainable!
And you could have even found something more FUN to do weekly that would have led to better results faster.
Including a diversity of movements for your legs over the week would have targeted every aspect of your lower body and hit the muscles to different extents while moving you in every direction.
This could have created faster muscle gains, better recovery and all while avoiding injury and being fun.
By repeating that weekly routine for 3-4 weeks with a clear build to movements, you may have seen your results snowball faster while avoiding boredom that lead to you just rushing through the squats to get them done!
If you’re considering a challenge like the 100 squats a day for 30 days challenge, I urge you to seek out a clear plan that includes diversity and focuses on your entire body instead.
This will truly help you build that strong foundation.
The more you rebuild safely, slowly and while addressing any mobility restrictions, the faster you will actually progress with less risk for injury.
So while something is better than nothing, and these simple challenges are tempting, find a plan laid out for you even if it is just 5 minute workouts to start back!
So you want to see your abs…Here’s what you need to know.
I’m going to tell you right now that often the first time you attempt to get leanlean the process is often more difficult than you’d expect.
There are going to be mistakes, frustrations and it’s going to take a lot longer than you’d like because your body will fight against you.
Our body, just like our minds, doesn’t like change and will resist it.
Sounds fabulous, right?!
But honestly, as much as we like to try not to focus on the negative,
I think it is key we face the obstacles and struggles going in so we are prepared for them.
Too often we try to ignore that there will be challenges and that ultimately sets us up for failure.
So I want to share 5 things to be aware of in the process of trying to reach a new level of leanness you’ve never achieved before so you can be prepared to stick with the process!
But before I dive into those tips, I just want to remind you of the importance of MACROS for body recomp.
Macros matter most when we are really trying to lose that last little bit and do everything we can to preserve our lean muscle mass while losing fat.
You need to focus on increasing your protein, but you also can’t fear carbs the more active you are.
Your body will need the instant fuel.
And by cycling macros every couple of weeks, you can also help give yourself a wider diversity of foods, maintain a better hormonal balance and even MENTALLY feel more in control and motivated to keep moving forward because you have little mini “end dates” and points at which you know you get a little shift!
Now, here are 5 things you need to know about getting abs for the first time…
#1: Realize you may feel like you look worse before you look better.
Often the areas we most want to change are the LAST to go.
And often in the process of even losing off of other areas, the areas we want to change that haven’t look BIGGER and worse.
Not to mention, fat loss and body recomp are a slow process. Especially toward the end, results can feel like they aren’t happening when things are building and changing.
This is why it is key we use more than the scale.
Use pictures of a ton of different angles NOT just the areas you want to lose so you can see fat coming off of other places.
Use measurements to track changes.
And then even focus on tracking your consistency so you can trust in the process.
But realize that things will be coming off at a snails pace and you may even at times look SOFTER in the process.
You may have times where the scale doesn’t change…doesn’t change…doesn’t change…then BAM! It drops dramatically.
It wasn’t just the eating right around it that did it.
You’d probably been losing fat slowly over time.
However, you didn’t lose until you dropped the water weight being stored in your fat cells.
Which may have even been why you looked SOFTER for a bit!
One common time you can look softer is if you have been slightly lower carb.
YUP!
So often we fear carbs BUT you can sometimes need to add them in to lose water weight.
This phenomenon is known as the Whoosh Effect. And while the science on it is limited, it is something we’ve seen happen time and time again.
The hypothesis as to why this happens goes back to our body not liking to lose weight.
We each have fat cells and the size of these fat cells change as we gain weight, increasing in size, or lose weight, shrinking in size.
Fat cells are filled with triglycerides, which will be used as energy for the rest of your body.
Working out, being in a calorie deficit, all make your body need to call on these stores to fuel.
You’d think this would mean steady decreases as you draw from these stores during your diet.
But instead, water is often stored in these fat cells as your body tries to maintain your current weight and avoid depletion of its energy stores.
They store water to anticipate more fat filling them soon.
So because of this water storage, your weight plateaus even though you are technically losing fat.
And often it’s why we can feel like we look extra soft and squishy during the fat loss process at times. We will see this especially around our middle or thighs. It’s why you can hit dead zones where you feel you look WORSE even.
Then BAM! We get that Whoosh Effect and you wake up the next day and your body has let go of the stored water!
And often the cause of this water release comes from kicking our body out of the deficit temporarily so it no longer feels like it is “starving” and in need of holding on to the water weight to keep those fat stores ready to be filled!
It’s why we may see this release after a cheat meal or day or even a carb refeed where our energy stores are “refilled” even if we still keep ourselves in the overall deficit for the week.
But it’s why sticking with the process despite not seeing results immediately is so key!
#2: Know your whyS and set a motivational deadline.
The closer you get to your goal, the more cravings will probably have increased and your mind will work against you.
You’ll want to eat. You’ve been in a long, consistent deficit and there are probably foods you’ve cut out for a period of time because they weren’t easy to work into your macros.
As much as you may think you want abs, well, just getting abs for the sake of…well…getting abs won’t keep you truly motivated for long.
Especially when your friends ask you to go out for happy hour after a long and stressful week.
But precision is key.
And especially if you’re pushing yourself to a level of leanness you’ve never been able to achieve before, you’re going to have to be ready to sacrifice.
That’s why you need not only a why but WHYS and a deadline to keep you motivated.
I’d wanted to achieve a six pack for years before I did.
What finally got me to actually commit was setting a photoshoot, announcing it to all of my clients and wanting to be able to create a nutritional program to help clients no matter their goals. But I felt I couldn’t talk about getting lean if I didn’t personally know the struggles.
So having that hard photoshoot deadline, public “pressure” and accountability and even a big investment of money in the process, helped me stay consistent when I 100% wanted to quit.
Thankfully I’ve now learned a ton to make the process easier for myself and clients and even know how to maintain so my set point is lower, BUT that outside accountability and motivation beyond just wanting abs made all the difference.
So give yourself no way to wiggle out of your goal if you want to succeed!
#3: Plan ahead…With EVERYTHING.
You can’t be guesstimating. You can’t not track a bite of food.
You can’t be skipping random workouts or randomly stringing routines together based on how you’re feeling that day.
You need to have everything planned out. Planning .
A clear plan of action gives us added accountability and motivation to stay the course. It also allows us to make more accurate adjustments based on how we are progressing.
It let us see what truly works, and what doesn’t.
Planning ahead also removes a lot of the stress involved in the precision required.
It’s hard in the moment, when you’re hungry or tired or stressed from a long day to figure out what workout to do or what to eat.
Because, often you don’t want to do what you know you should in those situations.
It’s why planning ahead, having meal prep frozen or having fast restaurant go-to options is so key. It takes the thought and guesswork out of it.
It even takes the stress and emotion and CRAVINGS out of it.
The food is there. You know what you have to eat.
Even already logging it in your food tracker adds accountability and makes things easier so you aren’t just having to track as you go!
And by having your workout pre-planned, you are making sure you’re progressing. You’re not just doing what you feel like, as your energy at times may dip as you adjust and tweak ratios and calories.
It’s easy when we are tired to slack. But everything in your programming needs to work as a cohesive system. Your macros are based on your training and visa versa. So both need to go together.
You can also see if your performance is truly decline because you have that clear progression you repeat to compare and track numbers against.
Data is key to helping you achieve results as efficiently as possible as well!
#4: Find ways to move more.
By being in an extended deficit to lose that last little bit of stubborn fat, your body is going to find ways to conserve energy.
That means you’re going to naturally fidget less and want to move less.
You want to be conscious of this and do little things to keep your NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis higher.
You want to burn more calories during your normal day.
This does NOT mean making your gym sessions longer. It does NOT mean even doing 2-a days.
It just means being conscious to move more.
Too often we try to train harder or length out our training sessions which actually leads to less results and more metabolic adaptations.
Plus, the quality of these training sessions often decreases and we end up doing a lot of wasted volume we can’t recover from. This actually ends up diminishing our returns.
Plus when we train harder as we try to cut calories lower, the deficit we are in grows.
And our body fights that weight loss for survival purposes.
This trying to do more in our training could actually lead to more metabolic adaptations and muscle loss instead of aiding our weight loss process.
And I know we often think, well I won’t lift more, I’ll just add in even a quick HIIT training session.
But just recognize, these intense sessions can deplete our glycogen stores and actually sometimes even make us hungrier. Plus they can add more to our fatigue.
This is why walking can be such a great thing to add in.
It doesn’t detract from our energy for future training sessions. And it is low intensity so we can do more of it without causing further cravings.
It can also really assist in fat loss, especially when included after workouts that have targeted our stubborn areas to increase blood flow to those areas and mobilize more fatty acids to be utilized.
So be conscious of when you start to feel like doing less to not fall into the couch but still include some fun activities over the week to move more!
#5: Progress will feel slow. Your body will fight you.
I know I slightly mentioned this already, but I think it’s key we oversell the negative to ourselves so we stick with things when we want to quit and challenges arise.
We’re almost ready for them if we do make ourselves aware early on.
PLUS, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the same reason progress is slow…
The longer you’ve been above the weight or leanness level you want to be at, the harder it will be to reach that new point.
Your body doesn’t like change. It wants to maintain balance and balance to it is where you’ve currently been at, especially if you’ve been at that weight for awhile.
Your body will do what it can to stay there.
The positive part of this is that, once you get lean and start to transition into maintenance practices, it becomes easier and easier over time to maintain a leaner physique.
But the initial getting there is often not easy.
Progress will be slow. And this is actually a good thing.
When we try to see dramatic results, often we aren’t really losing more fat.
Often we are simply losing water weight and glycogen that’s been stored.
Plus, the faster we attempt to lose weight, the more we often lose muscle and not just fat.
Muscle is metabolically more costly to maintain.
So when our body is in a deficit and looking to conserve energy, it will use muscle as fuel.
That not only provides the energy it thinks it needs, but it also helps it conserve energy overall.
So embrace the slow process.
The easiest way to do this is by focusing on those daily habits as goals themselves.
Put your focus on doing what you know will lead to results. Celebrate the consistency in those habits as wins.
That will help you stay focused on the actions that will build toward results.
SUMMARY:
These 5 things are key to be aware when you commit to a program to get abs for the first time.
The process will be slower than you’d like, and your mind and body will fight against you as you seek to achieve something you’ve never done before.
But remember, maintaining gets EASIER!
Just focus on those daily habits and don’t freak out and do more when results are slow!
Ready to see the results you deserve? Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching:
Hey there busy Moms! Struggling to find the balance of prioritizing your health needs and goals with everything you do for everyone else? Then this episode is what you need! In this episode you’ll learn some amazing tips from my team of trainer moms to help you prioritize your needs and goals and realize it isn’t selfish to do so.
They’ll share meal prep and workout tips whether you’re a mom of young children, teenagers, just recently an empty nester or doing it all on your own as a single parent! I’ll also share an amazing accountability hack to help you stay focused on your goals, 5 ways to help you pack in those micros to those family meals (even if your kids don’t like veggies) as well as one of my favorite ways to get in a killer workout in under 15 minutes.
Because there is ALWAYS a way to own our priorities and work around them! But first I just want to remind you that prioritizing yourself is NOT selfish. It may actually be what inspires everyone else in your life to make the changes THEY need.
0:00 Intro
01:43 – Feeling Selfish
04:36 – RS Super Moms
32:47 – Accountability
35:27 – Hidden Veggie Tips
43:23 – I don’t have time
Transcript
Jamie:
I love that you guys brought up flexibility is the fact that it looks different, right, when you have your kids. And you don’t have your kids. All of a sudden you go from being the Uber driver, like Andrea said, and you know, having all this like no time to yourself to a lot of time where your diet looks a little bit different and it’s like, holy cow, i can spend any time I want at the gym, right, so it’s like it’s very, very different. So flexibility is huge.
Cori:
Hey guys, this is Cori from Rita Finding Strengths. Welcome to the Finish Hacks podcast. So busy moms, busy parents this episode is for you. If you’ve been struggling to prioritize your needs, your goals, you know, find something sustainable that actually helps you move forward while allowing you to be there for everybody else in your life. I’ve got some fabulous tips to help, and I’m so excited to share my team of trainers and their advice as well, because I have some fabulous moms on my staff that just have great perspectives, whether they’re now an empty nester or they’re a mom of young kids single parents as well. So I’m excited to share that segment with them so they can share all of their fabulous tips through their different stages of being a parent and how they’ve managed to navigate them, still prioritize their needs and goals as well.
I’ll also share some amazing macro hacks to help you work in those veggies, make family meals that your family will enjoy, and then also share some amazing workout tips that help you dial in your training so that you can see results no matter your busy schedule. So let’s dive right in, But before we do again, i just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has left a review. This helps me keep the episodes sponsorship free, so please go leave a review if you haven’t yet. All right, let’s dive into the tips and how you can prioritize your needs and goals to see results. I feel selfish doing that. I’ve heard this phrase said by multiple parents in the program when they’re doing the coaching trying to put in their workouts, trying to meal prep.
It can feel selfish when we’re focusing on our needs and goals. But I think it’s really key we realize the importance of leading by example telling your kids not to do something, telling your friends to do something or not do something, that’s all well and good. Like we’ve all seen ourselves do it right When a friend is saying, oh, i feel guilty doing this, oh, you shouldn’t feel guilty, you need to get in your workouts at the same time that we feel guilty and don’t prior or ties our workouts right. So we tell people to do things. But I think the leading by example it inspires more people than we realize. It allows our kids to know that is okay to have needs and goals and prioritize those, even while they’re taking care of other people. And I think if there’s one thing I want you to get out of this episode. It’s how important it is that you do really prioritize what you need and lead by example.
It is not selfish, as much as it can be hard, to take that step back, but if we’re drawing from an empty cup, if we’re not taking care of ourselves, we can’t really truly take care of other people. It’s like one of the analogies that uses even workouts right, if you’re not resting in between rounds, as much as we want to skip the rest because it doesn’t feel like we’re actually doing anything If you’re not resting between rounds, you’re not able to go at a true 100% intensity.
Each and every time It might feel like we’re giving everything, but we’re not actually able to give everything. So if you’re not taking care of yourself, you are drawing from an emptier and emptier cup and not able to truly take care of everyone else in your life. So if you’re starting to feel guilty with making some changes, i want you to pause and think what would I tell a friend in this situation If they’re saying oh, i feel, you know, so selfish, like I should be doing this, this and this? you would be like no, you need to take care of yourself. No, you deserve these goals. No, you are a person too. No, you are inspiring other people. All those things you would say to your friends, pause and say them to yourself. Remember you need to take care of your house so you can be there to support everybody else. Not to mention, you are representing a lifestyle you want your kids to live.
You are leading by example And I can tell you that was incredibly important in my life. I’ve seen it incredibly important in my clients life and how they’re inspiring their families, their friends, to make changes. My trainers, their kids, the lives they’re inspiring through how they’re acting. But with my mom, seeing her take care of herself, seeing her train, seeing her fuel, no matter what was going on, the fact that she was a busy mom, a single parent, working, you know, and taking care of us And all these things inspired me to be strong and prioritize myself too.
So remember that it is not selfish. You need to take care of yourself, to be there for everybody else. But you’re also leading by example and inspiring more people than you realize by prioritizing your needs and goals, and I’m excited to share some tips and even jump in with my trainers to how you can make sure that you’re prioritizing yourself in a way that truly is creating even a healthier, happier lifestyle for all of those around you.
I’m super excited to chat about the challenges that parents, and specifically moms, face when they are trying to make dietary changes. It’s very easy to not prioritize yourself and not make your needs, your goals, important, so I’m excited to share some great tips for my coaches and how they have prioritized themselves at each stage of parenting. So we’re going to start with Kathy and we’re going to talk about being an empty nester and how that has changed. How you approach your diet and exercise routine. Any tips for women balancing, you know, their new parenting status in an even maybe, jobs as well.
Cathy:
Well, yeah, so I am a fairly new empty nester. I have three kids, and my youngest left for college last fall and actually just came back home and I ran out of hot water yesterday morning when I went to take my shower and then was told that there was no freeing the house. So all the things that you get to kind of rearrange those things I missed last fall, i’ve kind of like, okay, when do you leave again? But for me, as far as for exercise, i’ve kind of built my habit and that has never really changed. Even when I was working you know, not from home or in a coaching position, but was working out in a gym I got up every morning, i went to the gym early. Now I work from home, i get up every morning, i go to the gym early. It’s just kind of what works for me.
So, finding that time, if you are now kind of like, okay, what do I do? Think about those times that maybe you would have been running a kid somewhere or, you know, on a Saturday morning, if you would have been at some sort of a competition or a meet with one of your kids, that’s a great time to try and build that in And I think, too, one of the things that can really help is, i think exercise can be a really good catalyst for new relationships, because I think it’s really hard for women. We’re all friends with our kids’ friends’ parents, and then we all go different ways and we go different directions, and maybe some of those people still have kids at home, so they’re still doing some of those.
You know high school things and I’m not. So you know, getting into a gym, if that’s something you know that interests you, trying to take a class, maybe something different, that you haven’t taken before. Looking for a sport, whether it’s a sport, maybe you did when you were younger. Or you know pickle ball is now everywhere. I know it is in Ohio, i’m assuming it is everywhere. But you know, meeting people that way, exercise that way, can be a great way to kind of build some of those new relationships. As far as food, you know the one thing that I’ve always done When I go to log my food or track my food, i always put my dinner in first. I might be totally happy eating like a salad every night or something.
You know, my husband, my son, when he was home, my family, they would not be, they’d be like nope, we’re not doing that. So we actually do a meal service And when I get that I put it in first And if it’s, you know, a little higher in fat, then maybe I don’t get peanut butter with my breakfast And I just kind of make those swaps out. But that has really worked for us in keeping everybody kind of happy.
Cori:
That’s such an interesting shift in mindset I think that you don’t even think will happen right, you’ve had these other priorities and so your life has been focused on those things and a lot of your relationships. Your scheduling has come out of your kids And all of a sudden you got time back. But it’s like what do you do with that? And finding this new purpose can be harder than we realize, and seeing exercises that opportunity to build relationships is really awesome.
Cathy:
Yeah, you know, the other thing that I’ve run into and you know I wish that, you know, wish this on anybody of course, but everybody’s your parents are also getting older and you may be done raising your kids, but it’s also an opportunity to step in. I know I hadn’t. My father fell last August and broke his ankle and it’s kind of created a. Every Tuesday I go clean for him and hang out and maybe just watch TV if there’s not that much to clean. But I think exercise and taking care of yourself gives you that opportunity to kind of give back. You know you’ve gotten your kids out of the way a little bit, but you know, giving back to your parents or to those older influences that you’ve had in your life has become a bit of a focus for me as well.
Cori:
But on the flip side, it can be easy to replace all the things you were doing now with those other obligations and still not take care of yourself. So it’s very key you find that balance.
Cathy:
It is. It’s very key to find that balance. But I also find you know my dad fell. He healed. That’s great For some people. They you know their parents may require a little more help. If that’s something that you wanna be able to be there for, then you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself so that you can actually physically inform those things. If there’s any of that, you know, physical involved.
Cori:
We’ve gotta be strong at every stage to be there for everybody else in our life, and not just ourselves. It’s not a selfish thing to wanna exercise.
Cathy:
No, it’s not. No, it’s not at all.
Cori:
So if you still have kids at your house and maybe they’re in that very interesting teenage phase, can we talk about tips now for taking care of your teens, balancing their social lives and their obligations as well as our own as moms?
Andrea:
Yeah, so I have two teens and I feel like I have one that’s a Kardashian, because he’s got such a busy schedule. All I do is Uber drive him all over the place. So I feel like I have two jobs, not only just a parent and coach, but also an Uber driver. But I’ve always, like Cathy, i have very similar routine where I get up before life starts, so to speak, before the kids get up. I get up and I go under the rooms and I say guys, i’m going to the gym, i’ll be back in a little bit at the alarm set, make sure you guys get up with the alarm. And I usually call them while I’m at the gym just to make sure that they’re up and get moving.
But, yeah, so I’ve always ingrained that that time is important to them. But I also want them to understand that this is part of a lifestyle that’s not. They’re both in sports. My youngest one is a runner as well, and he used to be a lacrosse player too. So I want them to understand that this is how you take care of your body and this is what you need to do to prevent injuries and that so not. So they’ve come with me to the gym as well and worked out, and they understand the importance of working out to make sure that they are injury free as well as ready to face the challenges of running and doing the sports that they do.
Cori:
And I know of course you do not let them beat you, Andrea, but you show them how it’s actually done in the gym.
Andrea:
Yes, yes, i mean, they’ve told me many times like mom, i don’t think, am I doing this? Or I know they’re like boy, do you need to do it this way? And they be like you know? and so, yeah, i do get the challenge of does mom really know? But on the offside, I really feel bad that they have me as a mom too, because they’re like, oh, this hurts. I’m like, do it, keep doing it. You’re fine, keep going.
Cori:
It’s a good thing You’re teaching them to push, to embrace the being uncomfortable or being comfortable being uncomfortable Yeah.
Andrea:
Exactly exactly. They don’t get the sympathy from me when I’m like nope, 30 more seconds, let’s go.
Cori:
And you’re showing them that it’s OK to prioritize yourself and have your own things that are not negotiable in your life, and it’s not a selfish thing, but it’s something you’re doing for a purpose.
Andrea:
Absolutely. They know that that time at the gym, if they’re not with me, that that is my time to only bother me for emergencies. I mean, they’re older now that they’re a little bit more independent One’s driving, one’s not So they can take care of themselves where I don’t have to be at their beck and call, so to speak, although I think they would like me to be at their beck and call. But they know that when I’m there or when I’m out for a run, only call me if it’s an emergency kind of thing.
Cori:
But I think it’s hard to set those boundaries And I think it’s very easy to become a time martyr, whether or not it’s for kids, for our job, for whatever else. How do you go about setting those boundaries and not just letting your time become everyone else’s?
Andrea:
That’s one of my biggest things. I mean, everyone says they’re busy, everyone’s busy. I get it, we are all busy. How about? how many times do we sit there and scroll and scroll and scroll? Stop with the time waste or the time sucks, and really figure out what you want to do within your day. I figure out that my exercise comes first because I know I need to get it done first, otherwise I can’t take care of anyone else. I’m irritable, i’m cranky. I didn’t get my time to fill my cup, so to speak, so I need to make sure that I fill my cup first before I can help them.
Cori:
And in terms of balancing foods. OK, teenagers maybe aren’t as picky as little kids, but they can have their opinions about food, and sometimes it’s not the healthiest opinions about food. How do you balance teaching them to fuel fueling yourself, creating that good representation for them but also not forcing them into habits that might not align with what they need?
Andrea:
Absolutely, i think, having good food and focusing on protein. We do that a lot. We make sure we have a protein shake before school, even if we’re drinking it on the way to school. We bring disposable toothbrushes So that way we can at least get that done before that happens. But we focus on protein here. But also I make sure that they have a decent dinner. I know what they’re going to eat at school is school food, and when they come home they’re ravenous. I make sure that there’s some things for them to eat, but I’m a vegetarian. I don’t force the kids to be vegetarian and that’s fine, but I make sure that they have their protein. But a lot of times they’re picking off on my plate too, so they like to have. Their palates are pretty expanded, which I’m pretty proud of, but I make sure that they always have a vegetable, a good protein and a good source of carbohydrates, so to speak, and they make sure that they’re full throughout the day. But lots of snacks. I mean, i’m at Costco every week getting whatever I need to get.
Cori:
And in terms of balancing that meal prep and getting them involved, because teenagers are going to be going off to college and then they’re going to be responsible for their own meals and taking care of themselves And you don’t want them gaining the freshman 15. How are you reinforcing those healthy habits to make sure that you’re sort of saying, ok, now you’re off on your own, but I know you’re going to feel well?
Andrea:
Absolutely. We do meal prep on Sundays And I have them do it. I’m like, ok, guys, this is what we’re going to have for the week. What are you thinking? What do you want most of? They love tacos. It’s a big thing. So we make sure that we make tacos. We make sure we cut up the vegetables, those type of things. We have protein bars that I make. So they have those things and they see that I’m doing it and they know that that day is dedicated to that specifically. But that’s been something that’s non-negotiable as well. That I you know. Nope, we’ve got a meal prep tonight. I know we’re all tired, but we got to get this done.
Cori:
I love that And I love tacos too, so I’m all for the taco meal prep. Now diving into even younger families, starting those healthy habits early on. How can we find that balance of educating our kids as early as possible while creating not even a pressure around food, not a pressure on exercise? Because I think it is that difficult balance of I want you to have these healthy habits but I also don’t want to force something on you. Can we talk a little bit about that, erica?
Erica:
Yes, absolutely So. Just to give you a background of me, i have two beautiful children. I have a boy and a girl. I have a nine year old and a soon to be seven year old. So I am in the nitty gritty of childhood, i guess, so to speak. As you can see, i’m in my basement because I am hiding from my family right now to have this podcast. So part of motherhood is not always pretty and that’s okay. I feel like a lot of times we had to be okay with it not being pretty and not being perfect. Now going back to nutrition and how I tackle this of my children, i know at this age it gets people get really sensitive about talking about food to children. They don’t even want to talk about it, they don’t want to bring it up And I feel like at this age this is the wonderful time when they’re actually listening to you, right Prior to the teenager years, when they’re really not listening to you all the time, right. So at this time they will ask you really wonderful questions and you’re there as their source of truth to give them those answers. You’re there to help tell them that protein, fat and carbs are all important.
Nothing should be demonized at any time. Calories, it’s just a number, right. So, like, how do we focus on educating our children at this age? that way, as they get older, they can make smarter choices themselves, and I like to lead by example. So this is why I love when people come in and they have this age group, because they say I don’t want to track in front of my kids. I feel like I’m pushing something on them and you’re not right. In your way of educating yourself, you’re also educating them as well, and by improving your diet, you’re more than likely going to improve theirs as well. And this is at a time when they’re growing. They’re growing big time, right? So if you need to work on your own diet, then you probably need to work on your kids diet too, right? And you can all come together to learn about it, to grow about it and to come together as a family about how you’re going to approach it going forward. Now, like I said, i have young children, so workouts for me are also interesting. Sometimes My schedule fluctuates month to month, season by season.
So right now, my kids are in school, so I can do my workout in the morning the way that I want to, but they’re about to not be in school anymore. So this is an example of those transition periods that we have to be okay with and we have to plan for, because just because my kids are home doesn’t mean that I can forget about filling my own glass even though they’re home. It just means that I have to flex and I have to change my scheduling so that way I can still accommodate what they need to do as well.
Cori:
So so many key tips there and I just want to break apart a few different things because I think there’s so many points that you really touched on, one being that we can, at this age, influence the mindset they have towards tools. Right, because I do think there’s a lot of power given to towards tools because of how we’ve approached dieting the past or how we were taught dieting and the influences that we had. So we can change tracking from being something that’s restrictive and only about losing weight and negative to something that’s about learning to fuel better. Right, we can change these different mindsets around these different tools to encourage our kids to lead their healthiest, happy lives and not get to that point. And then I also love that you touched on having to flex as the schedules change, because I think you know whether we have young kids, old kids, no kids, bazillion kids, parents that have become our, you know, adopted kids. Now, whatever it is, our schedule will evolve over the year and being okay with that and embracing that there are going to be seasons to the year, to our lives is really key that we’re always meeting ourselves where we’re at.
Erica:
No, absolutely. And I just want to talk about that first thing that you said about like breaking old habits and going back in terms of like how we educate them. So I know I’m not alone that I saw my mother like diet incorrectly I guess the quote is saw her stepping on the scale and always feeling down about herself about that number. And for me, i try to spin it the other way. I step on the scale and I tell my kids, wow, your mom has gotten really strong, right. Or I’ll even bring them to the gym with me. Instead of using workouts as being something that I’m beating myself up about, i’ll let them try to lift up the weight and they’ll say, mal, you are really strong, i can’t believe you lift that up, i can’t believe it, right. So this is that age that you can really influence them positively about not only food, but workouts too. So just be open about sharing that with them.
Cori:
I think you ensured a picture at one point, and it was the ab wheel that they were rocking, because you had them doing that. Yeah, that’s a killer.
Erica:
My kids have been in Iraq as well, So they are learning these things, they’re experiencing these things. they’re lifting no weight at all, but they’re having a lot of fun doing it.
Cori:
And in terms of someone struggling right away, right now, to make that time for themselves with their young children, what would you recommend is the first step to helping build in that focused time for you?
Erica:
Absolutely So. First I would talk to the family, have a mini family meeting and just say this is what mom wants to prioritize. Mom wants to spend, even starting with 15 minutes a day to be alone. It doesn’t have to be a full hour, it can be 15 minutes, and when they’re little they understand that, they can understand that piece of it And after you get started there you can start pushing it out like mom’s going to go for a walk. It’s okay to do that. You have to give yourself permission to do that, but you also have to loop in the family as well and let them know why you’re doing that as well.
Cori:
Awesome, and making time for yourself gets potentially even more difficult when you are the only one even doing the parenting, jamie. So can you talk about the struggles to be a single parent? balance your goals, your priorities, with making you know family life a priority for yourself as well.
Jamie:
Yeah, i think the biggest balance is the. I love that you guys brought up. Flexibility is the fact that it looks different, right, when you have your kids. And you don’t have your kids. All the sudden you go from being the Uber driver, like Andrea said, and you know, having all this like no time to yourself, to a lot of time where your diet looks a little bit different and it’s like, holy cow, i can spend any time I want at the gym, right. So it’s like it’s very, very different. So flexibility is huge And as a mom that’s raising daughters as well, that’s really big too.
So for me, like when time is limited and I have to get that work out on right, that’s a non negotiable for me. Fill my cup up. First, getting them involved going downstairs, little have like a mini gym. They do gymnastics, they see mom working out. It’s something that we can do together and it’s something that’s done consistently so it doesn’t feel hideous for them. They know that they can have fun doing it as well. They do little plank challenges with me and things like that. So I think that’s super fun. And then knowing that it’s going to look different and I can go to the gym and have my lifting days when I do have time right.
So a big thing is meal prep, meal prep, meal prep and Costco, i think, buying things in bulk, having things that are not going to go bad, so having, you know, emergency frozen vegetables and things like that on hand. So when you do, when you’re running to softball or cheerleading or something like that, you already have your stuff to go. I have it to go with me and I’m eating at the softball field or things like that, just making those things a priority because, yeah, we’re all busy, right like it’s just time is limited. But I always keep in mind that I’m a better person and I’m a better mom when I do an hour of me time and have that non-negotiable time for myself.
Cori:
I love those tips to make it budget friendly as well, because I do, and I’ve actually seen this a lot on recent videos where I’ve talked about increasing protein, where people will be like, well, that’s super expensive. How do you approach shopping? I know you mentioned getting a lot of frozen things, which I love too, because I hate when things go to waste but how else do you really make your meal prep as budget friendly as possible?
Jamie:
So Amazon subscriptions are really great, right. So having that on rotation and also knowing sales, so going to your local grocery store and kind of knowing, okay, when something is buy one, get one, free capitalizing on those things and buying the fruits that are in season, going to local grocery stores I like shopping local and buying from local farmers and farmers markets That’s also a great option. And getting your kids involved too within that and within meal prep. I know for me, meals for me look different right Than the kids. But it’s funny because now all of a sudden, mommy’s food tastes really good And now they’re asking for things that mommy’s eating without me even asking, and now the lunches are looking a little bit different. So it’s funny full circle how that comes into play.
Cori:
Yeah, And I know sometimes it’s a struggle where you have your specific goals. You want to fuel your kids and give them what they want. How do you balance potentially making slightly different things for yourself While not feeling overworked to make two different meals, or feel like you’re doing prep for days and days on end to balance their needs and your needs?
Jamie:
Yeah, so tacos are a big thing in our health too, right? So I love implementing cauliflower rice I’m a bulk volume girl, so kind of having little tips and tricks with that to where I can make tacos for them and I can make my taco bowl and making it a little bit more protein heavy. For me, spaghetti is another one that’s huge in the health as well. So having the things that we have like one common food item that we like and then having little substitutes within that that I know are go-to’s for me as well as them, is a huge thing, yeah.
Cori:
I love that The build your own plate right. You can have a lot of different dishes where each person and then if anybody doesn’t like a specific food you’re not prepping even different things for them. They can all do whatever they want. Yeah, and then in terms of encouraging your girls to see exercise even as something that they want to do, that’s promoting strength, because I think, especially when we’re raising that next generation of females, promoting strength over just going to cardio or feeling like it has to be all about weight loss and aesthetics is super key. How do you have that conversation with them when they see you also training?
Jamie:
Yeah, They see how much fun I’m having with it. It’s not a stress thing for me. They see that I’m having fun doing it. Downstairs, we put on the loud music. We have a dance party afterwards. They’re involved because they’re doing your gymnastics. So it’s something that it’s not tedious in the fact that like, okay, now we’re going to the gym, hurry up, we’ve got to make it. It’s not daunting for them. It’s something like let’s go downstairs, let’s get our speakers on, we’re going to turn on Taylor Swift and we’re just going to jam out. So I think knowing them, seeing the value that it adds to me and to their life, I think creates a funness and a curiosity for them to want to kind of get involved.
Cori:
Yeah, And then for all of you busy moms, eating out with kids. Okay, kids don’t necessarily. Sometimes they have more advanced palates, but you know, sometimes they don’t. How do you balance the restaurant choices, your healthy lifestyle goals, even teaching them to want to fuel well and make good decisions? Let’s talk about eating out in general.
Erica:
I can start things off. So I have two little ones, our medium children. I guess I actually love going to the restaurant because this is the time where they can pick whatever they want on that menu and I can still pick what I need from that menu. So it allows them to have that free choice. It allows them to have a little bit more fun without putting that stress on myself. But, knowing ahead of time, it allows me to choose, like that, chicken salad instead. Right, that way I can plan the rest of my day around that and they can still have fun and eat the things that I necessarily may not be able to fit in my meal plan for that day. So it allows them to have a little bit more freedom.
Jamie:
And kind of to umbrella under that too, erica. I think it allows them to try things that maybe you want them to try. But all of a sudden it looks like enticing. Because you’re out of restaurant and like, oh my gosh, like mommy’s chicken didn’t look so good, but ooh, at this restaurant you know it’s really good, right? So I think it’s an opportunity that you’re not feeling like you’re not wasting food because it’s just coming from your plate, right.
Cathy:
But then it’s like, with all the fancy lights and stuff, all of a sudden it looks so yummy, so you know, on the other side of that I would say, like when my kids were younger, we would go, you know, maybe it was, we were traveling and it was fast food and I’m not a big fast food eater, you know. But what kid doesn’t like, you know, a McDonald’s french fries or whatever? But I would go along and I would make the best possible choice and then I would just say we’re on vacation, it’s okay, Like finding that balance.
Because I don’t think, you know, obviously we want on that every day, for our kids to see that those good, positive things, we want them to make the better choices, we want them to know that that’s really where they should be on for the most part. But you know, every once in a while it’s not a problem, it’s not, it’s moderation. So I think that plays into that. Even, even mom will have, like, you know, surprise or mom you know, so that it doesn’t seem like we’re just really super rigid about it.
Cori:
I love that you’re striking your balance. Not to interrupt you, Andrea, but I was like that is striking your balance, Like that’s showing that it’s it’s good to have other foods and it’s not always just about having to focus on aesthetic goals or health goals or whatever other goals. You can sometimes just say, yeah, I want some french fries.
Andrea:
So I was just going to piggyback off of what everyone says. But my, my, our experience is a little bit different. There’s no more leftovers. I, i’ll like have something left in the lake, mom, can I have that? And we went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday, this big Italian restaurant, and I think my, my youngest, the rest of my food, the rest of my sister’s food, the rest of my mom’s food, and my sister went to the bathroom. I felt so bad. She went to the bathroom and Reese is like do you think that Chrissy’s done with it? And I’m like, well, let’s wait till she gets back, let’s not just dive in. So I think it’s a little bit different. It’s like how much more food we can order, kind of thing, you know. And they, they get the uh, they don’t order from the kids menu anymore. They order the big, extravagant meals. So, which is fine, you know, we go out to eat and it’s, it’s a good time.
Cori:
Well, i love that, although it does stink to not have the leftovers. If you do want the meal prefer later, you know, but I guess you can order even extra. But these tips have been amazing for moms at every stage And I appreciate you all sharing them. Any closing thoughts for parents really looking to prioritize their needs, their goals, that have been struggling to find that balance with, you know, even feeling guilty with family life and potentially also their job as well.
Erica:
But I just want to say that it’s really important to recognize that prioritizing yourself and your needs will not negatively affect your family at all. And it’s not being greedy, it’s not being selfish, it’s about putting your line in the sand and saying this is where my boundary is, this is what I want for myself And this is everything else that I can give to you, and so recognizing that that’s okay, giving yourself permission to feel that and giving yourself permission to do that I totally agree with what Erica said, and I think, erica, you had mentioned this too.
Andrea:
It’s nothing’s perfect, nothing’s ever going to be perfect, but do it in small chunks. Change is hard, change is always hard, and if this is a new habit you’re trying to create, like you said, erica, state your family down. This is important to me and mom needs this time, and you’re going to be a much better mom for it.
Jamie:
Yeah, and I was going to say kind of reflecting after that, like once you get out of the gym and feel like how that feels and you go back and you’re like this, like you know mom 2.0 or whatever, and like recognizing that, like stepping out of your, outside of yourself, and seeing that I think kind of takes the selfishness, like feeling that we all feel out of it, and go, wow, i have more patience today, like I’m being more compromising and things like that. The acknowledging those small wins for yourself kind of makes it the guilt kind of go away.
Cathy:
I would just say, especially as your kids get older, you have this whole other life now, Like you have all these other things that all you know. like I said, my son came home. I have a daughter graduating from college tomorrow. My oldest daughter is getting married in the fall. There are so many fun things to look forward to, and prioritizing yourself so that you can enjoy those things, that you could be a part of those things, is not the least but selfish.
Cori:
Well, i love all this, and there have been so many great tips for all the moms out there looking to make healthy changes for themselves who might have been struggling with the balancing act that is parenting. So thank you all so much for coming on and discussing this with me today. It can be incredibly hard to hold ourselves accountable. It’s easy to say I want to do things and then let all these other things get in the way during your day and have your workout that you were going to do in the morning, get pushed the evening and then you’re tired and you don’t do it. So I wanted to share a really important accountability hack and something that I’ve seen pay off personally and with a lot of my clients as well, and it’s actually scheduling something on the calendar and putting it in a public place and announcing it Okay. So that’s a lot of things, i guess, but it’s the accountability of having something written out that is so key.
If we’ve mapped out our workouts for the week, we know what we’re going to do. Then we’ll get into the workout and be like, oh well, maybe I’ll do this because this equipment’s in use, or only have this. No, you know what you’re supposed to do And there’s accountability in that It’s a lot easier to skip something when there’s nothing solid. So if you have that thing written out, if you post that, even someplace public, like if you put it on your fridge where you can see it, if you have it on your Google calendar where it alerts you if there’s something that’s holding you accountable because there is a visual to it and it is firmly written out, there’s going to be extra accountability in it. It’s why I am going to link in the video description and the show notes as well, to an accountability calendar. This allows you to map out your weekly schedule so you can write out I’m doing anterior this day, posterior this day, i’m going for run this day and have that accountability.
And then, yes, you’re going to want to make sure that you schedule on your Google calendar So it gives you alerts. Maybe you put on the family calendar so that it’s out in public and people know when you’re going to be training and you don’t have to feel guilty about making that time for yourself. But you want someplace that it’s firmly announced and really there in your face, especially to start, so that you have that solid plan.
You have that firm commitment because, as silly as it might seem, it’s a lot easier when you just say I’m going to work out today, i’m going to maybe do something in this realm, than when you actually have it written out and that firm plan in place that allows for a lot better implementation. So, summarizing how this accountability hack works use the schedule that I’m going to link to in the show notes to write out what workouts you’re doing on what days. I highly recommend you put the time on there, the time you’re actually going to go. Do it Once you’ve completed it. Check that thing off. If you’re like me, it feels really good. I actually put a star on there so you can color it in gold. Give yourself a gold star, but have that then put out on the fridge. Put on your family calendar. Put in your Google calendar with alerts, but give yourself those reminders and that firm plan written out so that you have no excuses.
You can’t make any deviations. There’s something to make you even feel guilty if you don’t do it, because I think that can really help us become more conscious of unconscious habits and make those changes on learning things that we were doing and learning new things that we want to implement. So go, download that try implementing it. I’d love to even hear what kind of splits for your workouts that you’re planning to use and how many gold stars you got this week using this implementation. Your healthy lifestyles can really impact the entire family, and this can be both in a positive and feel sometimes like a negative. Okay, when you’re trying to map out your macros, it can feel like you have to make two meals. It can feel like you’re forcing your family to eat different things, so it can feel a little challenging, but it can also have a very positive impact if we choose to see it that way And if we choose to really adjust our lifestyle to be sustainable for us.
Okay. So this when you’re changing your macros, it doesn’t have to mean changing every meal you’re making for your family. However, it can also be a way that now you’re exploring how to add in more healthy foods to your family’s diet And if you’re thinking, well, that’s all well and good, but my family doesn’t really like vegetables. My kids are anti vegetable. I wanted to share some tips to actually hide vegetables in more meals to get that diversity, help yourself, even potentially hit your macros better, get that micronutrient intake that you all want to be healthy. Okay, and just remember when you are making those macro changes again, it can feel like we’re making changes that are negatively impacting our family. But instead of trying to force changes on them, remember you can adjust other meals around it and then plan in that family meal you do love so that it doesn’t have to be a negative. You can do build your own tacos or build your own salads, so that way you can hit your macros in a way that doesn’t impact other people. Okay, so there can be totally no impact on the rest of the family without being also crazy extra work for you.
But if you are like, this is my opportunity to add in those other healthy foods. I wanted to give you some ways to hide vegetables and things and also hit your macros. So number one is blend them into smoothies, sauces or mashes. You can hide a lot of different things by adding in other flavors. So if you’re using like a smoothie, think of a two to one ratio of a sweet fruit to also adding in something like spinach or kale. By blending that in, you can get in those extra micronutrients. You can give your kids even that bump in a smoothie that they won’t necessarily notice. Things really work well to mask it are berries, tropical fruits or even nut butters, and that way you’re getting a lot of micros into something that can pack a really nutritional punch.
You can also add your protein powder to help yourself better hit your macros to that while getting a lot of micros. Okay, you can also blend things like cauliflower into Alfredo sauce or tomato sauce. It can beef up your your sauces, make things more flavorful, potentially even allow you to take out some of the carbs, but add those micros to things and help you even reduce the calories to hit your micro macros as well. But it can also hide that vegetable flavor if you have some anti vegetable eaters in your family. The second thing is to pull out the crock pot by allowing things to marinate a lot longer and a lot of different seasonings and spices and sauces.
A lot of times we can end up hiding the flavor more So if you are making like a chicken dish, you throw some vegetables in there. A lot of times it can take on the other flavors of the dish in that marinating in the crock pot for longer. Or if you’re making a sauce in the crock pot, when the vegetables are allowed to sit in it, they’re going to take in a lot more of that sauce from what you’re making. So allow things to marinate in there, even adding broths to the different vegetables to hide the flavor a little bit more. And again that can allow you to then work them into masses and different things like that where you can add or potentially take away a little bit of the carbs.
So, if you like, use cauliflower with potato. You can cut the carbs in half, reduce the calories in that by adding cauliflower and potato and also increase the micronutrient intake. So you did marinate everything together with a little bit of broth, butter, whatever else you want. And this is also where swapping your sarches can come into play. So I am big on. You want to make swaps where you don’t sacrifice something that really matters to you. So for me, i’ve tried the cauliflower crust, the cauliflower different things for breads, and I actually did find one that I like, but it’s not a bread replacement. It tastes like potato lacquets to me, which actually tastes really good, but I use it for something separate.
So I am not going to swap in my pizza dough for a cauliflower pizza crust. Most of the time I found a couple I sort of like, but for me, that swap isn’t something sustainable. It’s not the real thing. However, i do find that a lot of times like swapping in, you know, some cauliflower with some potato. I don’t mind that mash. To me that tastes the same, it’s the same flavor. I still get my potato, but I also have that cauliflower, the extra micronutrient intake. I’ve lowered the calories, lower the carbs. It finds my balance. So for me, that is the balance.
So think about where you can swap your sarches. Maybe you don’t necessarily swap all your rice for cauliflower rice because it doesn’t taste like the same thing, but you feel like you can cut your rice in half while adding in that cauliflower. So think about ways that you can find a balance, because it doesn’t have to be that all or nothing cauliflower, rice or potato. It can be little half swaps where we’re getting more of the vegetables and cutting back on carbs where we need or cutting back on calories where we need, but we’re not sacrificing the feel or the flavor or the overall like dish for ourselves. So we’re feeling like we’re having to eat diet food. Right, we don’t want that, okay. So we’ll find that adding in like a little butter to those masses can really help And you might think, okay, well, that’s calories too.
Yes, but it can be good calories. If you’re on a higher fat ratio, it can be really helpful as well, and we do want some fats when we are taking in those vegetables to help us absorb more of the nutrients. We forget that a lot, right, But those fats are really key to make sure that we’re actually getting the nutrition that we need from those vegetables that we’re consuming. You can also think about swapping in things like chickpea or lentil pastas if you do want to make a pasta, or even trying some baked carrots and something along with sweet potato fries. Again, it doesn’t have to be sweet potato fries or baked carrots, it could be half and half, and that way you’re short of getting the feel of both And you might find you even like that mix better.
I even like doing zucchini noodles. They don’t replace pasta for me, but they’re an extra different dish that I can work in And I think it’s having fun sometimes experimenting with those new recipes where you like the flavors even of those different things, and you might find that your kids thinking it’s, you know, a fun noodle thing to slurp on.
They might like it as well, even if it doesn’t taste at all like actual pasta. So it’s seeing where you can even work things in hiding them, even if they know they’re actually taking in vegetables. Just because it’s a fun new method of taking in the vegetables. Like, sometimes the chips are fun and they’re different because they can dip them in different things. And that’s actually tip number four is dip into things or dip them, create dips even So, dips like guacamole, hummus, spinach, artichoke dip. Not only can you mix vegetables actually into those different dips and hide them in the dips, but it can make vegetables more tasty if you do bake them into chips to then dip them into that. So you can do a lot of fun things. You might even find mixing like ranch seasoning with Greek yogurt.
Then you can even dip carrots into it or even cut up the carrots really small like dice them up, blend them up and put them into that mix, and no one is the wiser and they enjoy it as well. And then you can even dip pretzels into it and hide them that way and get little pretzel fix And you can also help your carbs if you do have more carbs to use and have a fun snack for your kids as well. The last thing is just to make it fun, because I think so often. Instead, we feel like it’s a chore or we feel like we have to eat things instead of saying, hey, how can I have fun with my meals? How can I get creative? How can I make little tweaks that allow me to still enjoy my pizza, enjoy my pasta, and even have a new recipe that I like, potentially even more than the old recipe, or, alongside it, to make whatever macros I do have as they shift work. But think about different ways that you can hide things.
Make it a fun, creative challenge to see what you can do in terms of it. How can you put vegetables into tacos in a way that tastes good? Can you put them in the air fryers and roast up some cauliflower there and then add it to a taco with some meat? Or can it be a fun side? Or can it be dipped into something different? Can you add different vegetables to a fried rice, even? or to a casserole or into a pizza? What can you do that can make things fun and tasty and also help you hit your macros? Then impact your family’s health in a positive way when you’re making these changes for yourself, because I think there is really a way to find balance where we’re hitting our macros, achieving our goals And, again, us sort of leading by example.
We’re also then improving our family’s health and making them see that adjusting our nutrition doesn’t have to feel like we’re on a diet. It can be something that we’re doing for our health, to move and feel our best to really fuel our body and honor our body as much as possible. So I hope these tips helped. I love to hear how you pack in more micronutrients to your dishes and the things that your family enjoy them in. I don’t have time.
A lot of us have said this excuse. This comes up very often And I think it stems from the fact that a lot of us want to do what we consider to be the ideal. We hear an hour a day in the gym, six days a week, is like this ideal, and so we try and shoot for this, and if we can’t do that, we just don’t have enough time. But ultimately, what leads to success is us designing for the time we realistically have, and I can tell you that, while I might even have my ideal progression written out, each and every time there are things that come up and I can’t do it. So I always have that plan B in place. I always have that 15 minute option that I can go to.
And when you’re thinking about designing those quick workouts for yourself, i want to give you one of my favorite tips to make sure that you actually then do them. Because I think what can happen is we think, oh well, i’m going to cut out these different things and then this will be short enough. But then either we don’t start it, because we feel stressed, wondering if we’re actually going to be able to get it in, and we rush through everything in it because we’re like, okay, well, if I get it done faster, i’ve gotten it done faster. So if you say, have 15 minutes to train and you want to design exactly for that 15 minutes, use intervals or use time circuits, okay, this is my hack to always making sure that I’m able to use whatever time I have, because that way I don’t have to wonder if I’m going to be able to fit in in the 15 minutes, the 10 minutes, the five minutes, the 20 minutes, whatever I have. I know that everything is mapped out to be able to fit into that time.
I might time my foam rolling, stretching and activation. Or I might do a time circuit where I know I’m going to flow through a few different things to address whatever is tight and say five minutes and then go into the other workout. But by timing it I’m less likely to rush through or skip things because I know I have the time for it. I’ve mapped in this is what I’m doing in this time and I have this time to do that. So I’m not going to rush through the reps. I’m going to be able to be more intentional with the moves, versus if you say you have to do eight to 12 reps if you’re short on time, you really tempted eight to do eight, but B to rush through as fast as possible, which is where we start to compensate. We don’t push ourselves as hard with the movement, we don’t take the time and give the workout the intentionality we should.
So time circuits and intervals And often we do use intervals when it comes to our cardio workouts, but we don’t think about them in terms of our strength. But you can still use them in terms of your strength and they can be very, very effective if you are more short on time, because what you can do is you can do a harder move and build up the volume over that one minute rate Instead of feeling like you have to do more rounds. Add in more rest. You can really use training density to your advantage where you’re trying to get in one more rep of a very hard exercise to that one minute. Or if you have a five minute circuit, try and choose a move that you can really only do five reps of and then cycle between body parts being worked to be able to come back to that move and end up working up in volume over the rounds of it, even though you can only do three reps of it at a time.
So think about the most challenging moves you can use and then creating the volume. If you have that minute of work, don’t pick something you can do for that full minute. Pick a pushup variation that you have to stop 20 seconds in, go like a couple of seconds of shaking out your arms and then go back to doing it, so that you have to sort of pause and use that rest pause technique to actually work for the entire minute. But you end up busting out a lot more reps than you would if you just even said eight to 12, because you’re potentially going to get 15, 20, 25 in that one minute with a few intervals of rest, or if you’re like, okay, i’m going to have to rest for like 30 seconds to be able to recover. So let’s clarify do reps, past failure and that you started from your toes and now you’re off the bench and now you’re even off the wall because you’re trying to keep moving through that entire minute.
But don’t give yourself something that you can do for the entire five minutes of work that you just stop at for the minute. Right, you want to do something that challenges you, that forces you to have to do the lower reps and build up the volume over that time. But that is one of my most important focuses when I am short on time is creating a workout that doesn’t allow me to rush through, that allows me to be secure in knowing I can get it done in whatever timeframe I have. So if you are really looking to design for 15 minutes, consider intervals, consider time circuits.
That works for five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes And if you are looking for things laid out, guys, i am going to link to my dynamic strength app that does have a fab in 15 progression that comes along with it in that first month so that you can make sure that you’re getting in a workout, because I know we have that tendency to think, oh well, if it’s not the ideal it’s not good enough, but something is better than nothing and it keeps us in the habit. If you design for the time you have, trust me, that is going to make you see results far faster than trying to shoot for some ideal. So I hope that tip helped of using the intervals or time circuits. It’s a great hack if you are short in time but you want to be intentional with your training. Well, that is a wrap for this episode of the Fitness Hacks podcast. I hope, if you are a busy parent, a busy mom, that these tips really helped you not feel selfish, prioritize yourself and find ways to really match your needs and goals while creating a sustainable lifestyle and owning your priorities.
Do you find yourself constantly worrying about cellulite, questioning how to reduce its appearance or even why it’s considered a beauty issue? In this episode we’ll explore the fascinating history of cellulite and its evolution into a perceived beauty problem. Join us for a riveting journey that reveals five secrets about cellulite, from its presence in 17th-century paintings as part of the beauty standard, to how the term became popularized in the 1960s for marketing purposes.
Get ready to uncover the truth about cellulite and learn that 80-90% of the female population experience it. Together, we’ll dive into the science behind cellulite, discussing how genetics, age, and weight gain/loss can all play a role in its presence. Plus, we’ll explore the differences in fat cell alignment between men and women, which contributes to the appearance of cellulite in women. Discover why it’s so important to understand and embrace our bodies, even as we strive to improve them.
Finally, tune in as we share practical tips for reducing the appearance of cellulite through strength training, low-intensity cardio, foam rolling, mobility work, and macronutrient ratios. We’ll also discuss the benefits of collagen supplements, Vitamin C, zinc, and antioxidants in improving connective tissue health, which can help with cellulite. Ultimately, improving our overall health and making healthy changes can have a positive impact on our appearance, but it’s essential to love and accept our bodies, cellulite and all.
Episode Transcript
Michelle :When it comes to hot topics like this, people are like well, tell me the one food, the one thing that I can eat that’s going to fix this problem, or the one supplement? And the truth is, there is no magic food, there’s no truly one thing that’s going to make a massive difference in your looks and your appearance.
Cori:Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks podcast. So today we’re going to talk about cellulite. Most of us are familiar with this term. Many of us have even wanted to get rid of cellulite, looked for what we can do to remove it, worried about it in some way, shape or form. And it’s because 80 to 90% of the population does have some form of cellulite, whether they have more weight to lose or they’re actually out there goal weight. So I wanted to discuss this term, what we can actually do about getting rid of cellulite or reducing the appearance of cellulite, and some of the other factors that come into play. Also, why there has to be a bit of body love and some interesting things that have popped up with cellulite and the way this term and this whole beauty standard or beauty issue came about. So I’m going to jump into this. I’m excited to for Michelle to share some nutritional tips. I also wanted to say a big thank you to everybody who has left a review for the podcast. This does help me keep it sponsorship free, so if you haven’t yet, please go leave a review Now.
Cori:Let’s jump right into everything cellulite and what you can do to reduce the appearance and really more on the background of how this term even came about. So five things you didn’t know about cellulite. I find this term very interesting and my initial research into it was when I had clients coming to me about, specifically, how to get rid of cellulite, and I was like you know, i know what this is, but I don’t know that much about the background of it. So me being the nerd that I am, i wanted to dive into it. So I wanted to share five very interesting facts about cellulite, because I think it really will help inform you in terms of how you work about reducing the appearance of cellulite and even embracing your body if you do have cellulite.
Cori:So five secrets to cellulite and its history. Cellulite has always existed, so this has been something that’s been around, but being seen as an issue is a more recent phenomenon. There were actually 17th century pictures that depicted it as part of the beauty standard of women. The first secret about cellulite is Americans didn’t care about cellulite until April 1968 when Vogue actually popularized the term and it was the first English language periodical to print the term, and it was in an article titled cellulite, the new word for fat. You can’t you couldn’t lose before, and I think this is super interesting because this term didn’t have that original meaning and cellulite and the appearance of cellulite wasn’t something that we even considered to be an issue in terms of a beauty issue that we wanted to correct. This came about for marketing reasons, just like breakfast, just like a lot of the terminology we have. It was born out of a market being there now that we could sell stuff to you, and so I’m not saying that you might not want to reduce the appearance of cellulite or want to do what you can to remove it, but I think it’s really key that we know that this was not something that was necessarily a beauty issue all along. It was even accepted in terms of beauty in the depictions, as I said, in the pictures in the 17th century.
Cori:Number two so another secret about cellulite is prior to the introduction of America women to the term cellulite, it had been talked about in French beauty magazines and medical textbooks, but the definition of the word change and no one really knew what caused cellulite in the first place. So there were all these different rumors about it even being too tight a belt and all these other things, because we didn’t know why it happened. The first appearance of the term cellulite was actually in 1873 and it was first seen in a French medical journal and applied to cells or tissues in a state of inflammation or infection. So it had more of a medical reason and it was more seen as a medical problem, originally not a beauty standard that we had to change. It was closely related to cellulitis a diagnosis still used today, actually, which has nothing to do with the fatty dimples that now we relate to being the cellulite appearance on, like our butt, cheeks or whatever else And it was even more related to having to do with pelvic infections. So I bring this up because this term has really come about as a something that we now need to correct, only in recent years And I’ve mentioned this a couple of times. But looking back at the 17th century paintings, you can see cellulite even being depicted as part of a beauty, or women who are being depicted as beautiful. So I think this is all really key when we are judging ourselves, that we understand where some of the beauty standards that we have now are coming about.
Cori:Number three secret is part of mainstream push to make cellulite an unwanted thing came after the Second World War And, as I mentioned, it came about because women were starting to enter the workforce, there was more money to be spent, beauty standards were changing with some of this, you know, women being more out in the workforce and out in society, and because there was more money to be spent by women on potentially beauty standard type things. So, bam, new issue we needed to fix. Number four the secret about cellulite is women, who even have very little body fat. So even if you have six pack abs, you might still have the appearance of cellulite with some of the fat that you have on your body, and 80 to 90% of the female population does struggle with cellulite. There is a small portion of the male population that also has it as well.
Cori:But this is not just about having so much fat. You need to lose fat. It’s simply the appearance of fat through fascia, and so this is secret number five cellulite isn’t just fat. It isn’t just having fat. You need to lose or want to lose. The bumpy, dimpled appearance of cellulite is how the fat is pushing through fascia. So it has to do with your connective tissues and that net. So basically, under your skin is a layer of fat And we’re just seeing that dimpled appearance because of how it is pushing through the fascia. So, based on your connective tissues, you may or may not have that appearance, whether you have more or less fat. So sometimes because the fat cells are clumped together and Michelle actually even goes into the different alignment of fat cells between men and women, which makes women tend to have more of the appearance of cellulite than men But it’s them, the fat pushing through the fibrous connective tissue, that creates that appearance.
Cori:Okay, so those are five sort of fun facts, secrets about cellulite that I really wanted to highlight and explain, because I think that and I always like to take this, and I want to dive into this more shortly, but I like to take the approach of control what you can control, so I never like to say, oh, we just can’t do anything about a situation, because I think there’s always ways we can improve upon a situation. However, i think it’s really key that we recognize when things are marketing terms, so to speak, or things that can make us feel bad about our body, that we don’t necessarily have as much control as we would like over, and so there is going to need to be some acceptance built, some mindset shift, that we’re going to have to love our body more, even as we constantly work to control, we can control and improve our body shape and form. So hopefully those were five fun facts that you didn’t even know, and now you’re even more informed about what cellulite actually is and how the term came about.
Cori:Cellulite is one of those interesting beauty issues And I keep saying a beauty issue because I think it’s something that we have decided now that we want to work on the fix that we don’t like the appearance of, when it used to be part of just the beauty standard. But I wanted to talk about this issue specifically because there is only so much we can do to change the appearance of cellulite. 80 to 90% of the population has it, regardless of how lean they are, and it’s because it’s the appearance of the fat cells through that that fibrous tissue that connect to tissue, that fascia, and so we can do a little bit to improve upon how much fat we have on our body. We can do a little bit to improve upon the connective tissues and their tensile strength and the appearance of them. But there’s only so much we can do and age will impact it. How we’ve gained and lost weight will impact it. Our genetics will impact it, just like people will get stretch marks, even if they haven’t necessarily been overweight, just because they grew really fast and had that growth spurt. So there’s only so much we can do to control certain things.
Cori:And I like to recognize this fact because, hey, we don’t want to give away our own agency. If there’s something we want to work to improve, we want to do everything in our power And maybe it’s making those 1% improvements and saying, hey, this is only so far we can take it. But I think it’s remember you can control what you can control, and a lot of the healthy changes that you’ll have to make to potentially improve upon the appearance of cellulite will improve your health and improve other factors in your life helping you build muscle, whatever else. So I think you know approaching it as okay, let’s see what I can control is always good because it does usually have a far reaching impact. That is good.
Cori:But also recognizing that this is a beauty standard that came about and that we only have a certain amount of control over the appearance of cellulite, okay, we need some fat on our body. We would not survive without some fat And whether you have more weight to lose and you are working on that weight loss process. You want to lose some weight or you have very little weight to lose or no weight to lose, you may have the appearance of cellulite. Okay, so it is not being overweight that causes cellulite, it is that connective tissues and the way that the facils appear through it, and there’s only so much we can do to change that. Part of it might really back to genetics and other factors that we haven’t yet determined. So I bring this up because
Cori:I think a big part of this, too, also highlights the importance of, no matter where we are in any journey that we’re taking to improve our health, to improve our aesthetic, to make the changes that we want to be the person that we want to be, we have to also embrace the journey and enjoy the journey and recognize that there are things that are outside of our control. Okay, it doesn’t mean, don’t do what you can to make the improvements that you want, but you’re not necessarily going to be able to grow taller. Okay, you’re not going to necessarily be able to change your body shape. If you want an hour glass figure. You’re only going to be able to grow your butt to a certain extent or shrink your butt to a certain extent based on your build. Right, there are going to be genetic factors that might limit the amount of changes or the exact changes that we can see.
Cori:And so, while we want to control what we can control, i think learning to love our body and embrace the things that also some of these genetic things bring with it, like the good things, is really key. Like I know, i’m never going to necessarily be taller, or I know that I’m not going to have an hour glass figure. I’m going to be more of that athletic build, but with that I can because I have long monkey arms do amazing pull-ups. Right, there are always upsides to the downsides or downsides to the upsides, and the more we can learn to love our body in the process of always wanting to grow and improve, the better off we’re going to be, and I think this relates back to recognizing our flaws but also recognizing our flossomeness. With that, okay. So when you are trying to make a set of changes, yes, you’re going to be drawn to looking at the areas you still want to change. That you don’t not like as much, right, but in that process you always have to take a step back and draw your brain back to the things that are improving. So if I have a client that wants to lose weight off of their middle, when we’re taking progress photos, i will make them take progress photos of other areas specifically because a lot of times they’ll see changes in those areas first, but it will allow them to recognize all the other good things that are happening.
Cori:We like to step performance goals, even when we have aesthetic goals that we’re shooting for, because you have to recognize all the other awesome things about yourself, because what you give your attention to is what you’re going to focus on and what you’re going to dwell on. Okay, and you can change what you’re focusing on consciously, but you have to make a conscious decision to focus on it. If you’re telling yourself that you’re not good enough, that there’s only all these things that you need to improve and you’re never recognizing the good, you are only going to focus on the bad. Okay, you are only going to see your flaws and not how awesome you are. So, even if you want to improve the appearance of cellulite, you have to take that step back and recognize there’s only so much you can control.
Cori:First off, and secondly, you need to recognize all the amazing parts of your body and realize that this really doesn’t impact the functionality of your life, how awesome your life can be. Okay, and it’s hard sometimes to separate that, because we do want to look and feel a certain way, and I get that. There’s nothing wrong with having those goals. But you got to give yourself that separation and that space to step back and recognize some of the awesomeness, because you will allow all of your attention, all of your actions to go wherever you focus on. So recognize that you are in control with this mindset and that even as you work to improve things, you need to take that step back and recognize how awesome you are along the journey.
Cori:All right, i just wanted to highlight that with especially this subject, because cellulite is one of those things that we we can control some of it, we can help improve the appearance of some of it, but we also need to recognize that there are factors outside of our control as much as we also give ourselves agency. I’m super excited to dive into some nutritional strategies to help you reduce the appearance of cellulite and control what you can control and even talk about the genetic factors that play in and the lifestyle factors that play into the appearance and what we can really do to work towards our goals while loving our body along the way. So let’s jump right in. So I’m super excited to talk about cellulite. I think it is a topic that comes up a lot because about 80 to 90% of the female population suffers from it. So, michelle, let’s dive into not only a little bit more about what cellulite is, how it can change over our lifespan, what we can do about it and nutritional strategies to help. So first, let’s talk about understanding cellulite a little bit more.
Michelle:Yeah, absolutely So. It is one of those things that a lot of people like use it like it’s a sign that something’s bad, that you’re not doing something right, when it’s simply just your fat cells being apparent from a topical point of view, and we all have a layer of skin, we all have a layer of connective tissue and then we all have to have fat. Your body requires fat, so what happens is usually cellulite is the cause of when that connective tissue is either decreased then and that those fat cells are becoming apparent. This can become worse if you are someone that has more fat at a post, so your fat cells are larger. This can become worse just through aging and our connective tissue and our skin loses its elastin, loses some of that collagen, and it is a very normal part of the human body.
Michelle:It’s one of those things like people be like am I going to get cellulite? Who’s going to get cellulite? How do I prevent it? And it’s very similar to stretch marks. There’s lots of factors that kind of come to play. A lot of it is going to be a genetic thing, some of it. We don’t entirely understand all the causes and all the little treatments that we can do, but there are things that we can do to kind of improve it, reduce it, but at the end of the day it’s really just a normal part of the human body.
Cori:And it’s one that women especially seem to be a lot more concerned with, whether it’s down to beauty standards, which I’ve heard argued and I think could be argued but also even just where it tends to show up because of where we tend to store fat. So can you talk a little bit about cellulite, especially for women, and the appearance of it?
Michelle:Yeah, it doesn’t discriminate. Overweight, skinny It could appear on anyone but women in particular. We tend to have we tend to see the appearance of it more often than men And that really comes down to the fact of where we tend to store our fat. You know, the thighs, hips, stomach, but those are going to be the areas that women store fat more. So we’re going to have more fat cells in those areas that can kind of come through. And another thing is just the structure of actually like where our fat cells lie compared to men. So men actually will have like a crisscross structure where women we actually have a more vertical structure of our fat cells in the connective tissue, so it is going to be more apparent for women.
Michelle:But also we got to look at what does the woman’s body go through in their life cycle. We go through, you know, we go through puberty, we have our, we hit menstruation cycles, we have those bodily changes where we’re going to start storing fat in those areas. And if you’re someone that you know, puberty hit hard and you kind of got those that fat laid down quickly, those that expansion and kind of, you know, when you kind of before a growth spurt, you kind of do get a little heavier and you have that extra weight you carry. That’s going to weaken some of those connective tissues And it’s also going to happen in pregnancy. When a woman gets pregnant or prepares a baby or it gets abducted, it’s going to repress. But if you remember there’s different cases of random Onceforce Quantum creature to get pregnant, we naturally will store fat again on our hips, on our stomach, in our chest areas And that is going to be because it’s just the bodily function to be able to prepare and nourish a child.
Cori:And when you think about even where we’re storing fat, where we tend to see cellulite pop up, it’s areas that are more stubborn for a reason. They have that different type of fat cell that is more stubborn to lose. They have less blood flow. So, of course, some of what we want to do is control for those factors as much as possible, while recognizing that our genetics being females tending to store in these areas are just going to make it more likely that we have cellulite, and this isn’t a bad thing.
Cori:Cellulite is not ugly, it is not evil. We might not want it, right We. there’s a lot of different body shape, sizes, types, things, aesthetics we do and do not want, based on what your beauty standards are. But we need to focus on loving our body while realizing we can control. what we can control and how we can even control these things will change potentially over our lifespan, as you mentioned. So a woman going through you know having a baby might see different issues with cellulite and want to approach it in a different way than a woman going through menopause and seeing changes in their cellulite.
Michelle:Yeah, when we hit menopause it’s.
Michelle:There’s a different reason why we can kind of see cellulite appear, and one of that is is estrogen actually does help our body stay hydrated.
Michelle:Hydration is a big thing to just the health of skin And again that thinness is going and dryness in general is going to make it more apparent, and then on top of that it does actually help the blood flow. So estrogen does help improve the blood flow to those connective tissues. So when we hit menopause we’re actually having a reduced circulation to those to provide for collagen production, and the enlargement of those fat cells can often be seen in those areas that really create that dimpling effect that women you know call cellulite. But it is one of those things that you know. I’ve seen it before where people were like look at this Olympic athlete, and they took a picture of someone that was performing you know an incredible, you know physical feat And they’re like she has cellulite. This must mean that she isn’t in the top performance that she could possibly be, which is a ridiculous statement to make, because that has no, no determination of how athletic someone is or how what their body fat to even muscle mass ratio is.
Cori:And I never like to blame things on genetics, on age and on any factors outside of ourselves, because I think it takes away our own agency to make a change, and I think there’s always ways we can improve, learn and grow. However, we also do have to recognize that there are certain things that just are going to be part of our existence, right, like I am not going to grow taller all of a sudden I mean, maybe magically, who knows but I’m not going to grow taller. Or my body shape is not going to change. I’m going to have that athletic build. There are certain things we have right That you know.
Cori:Based on beauty standards, you might want something slightly different, but you’re just realistically not going to have. So at that point you also have to realize how can I optimize what I am? cellulite, no matter how lean you get, there is a chance you will have the appearance of it. 80 to 90% of the population does, and even way back when it wasn’t demonized but was actually depicted in beauty standards. But that’s a whole other subject. But it’s one of these things. We have to embrace that our body is what it is and do what we can to move forward always, while not not not accepting our flossomeness. I guess it’s sort of the point I’m trying to make. But on that note, controlling what we can control. What can we do from a nutritional standpoint to reduce the appearance of cellulite as much as possible, based on our genetics or build where we tend to store fat?
Michelle:Yeah, so I know I probably harp on this quite a bit and people are probably sick of me touching on this, but hydration really is going to be a key factor. It’s going to be super important to be able to make sure that we are keeping those skin cells plump and well hydrated, as well as making sure that we are actually improving our blood circulation. So the more water you kind of are intaking and making sure you’re properly hydrated, you actually are making easier for nutrients to be able to enter into cells And even with collagen production, that’s going to be a big thing is actually making sure that you’re well hydrated. Again, this is a big concern as we age, just because our thirst naturally declines, we tend to confuse thirst for hunger, but also estrogen is going to be a factor. So when you have estrogen that declines, you can be more dry. So you do want to make sure that you are staying properly hydrated and keeping those skin cells plump.
Michelle:Another big thing is, of course, going to be actually collagen. When it comes to kind of the connective tissue. Collagen supplements can actually help with that framework and kind of improve the connective tissue health overall, and that’s going to require making sure that you are also having adequate amount of vitamin C, which I know everyone I feel like everyone’s like vitamin C is in everything, and it tends not to be something that we lack, but it is something that we just want to make sure you are still getting enough, because it is a water soluble vitamin, so you can definitely be losing it, and it’s not something that we store.
Cori:Not to mention it does help with that collagen production. It is anti-inflammatory, so it can help with the regeneration of cells, keeping cells protected and healthy. So it’s something that hey, if you can boost it up, not a bad thing.
Michelle:Exactly. Another one that doesn’t get a lot of attention as far as its important role in collagen production is actually zinc. So zinc is again something that our body does not have a reserve for, So you got to get it from your diet. You need to get it from your diet daily, And it does. Zinc in general just really does have a lot of roles within the body. It’s one of the most important minerals that your body can have, But in particular, it is going to help with that collagen production. So just some foods to kind of make sure that you are intaking on a regular basis would be things like seafood, pumpkin seeds, whole grains. Those are all going to be good sources of zinc.
Cori:And I think, with all of this, is remembering that these are the details you want to dial in, but you have to make sure that the fundamentals are there first. So there’s one last tip, and it’s antioxidants, which I’ll let you dive into in terms of focusing more on those micros, or those details, the supplements, all that stuff, before we sort of talk about the macros as well. So tell us, why are antioxidants so key?
Michelle:So the most important thing is making sure that we are keeping our oxidative stress down, because those free radicals are going to cause damage to the connective tissues. Cellulite is going to appear in those weakened areas. So we want to make sure we are doing the most for our skin and the most for our connective tissues by reducing those risks that can cause damage. So colorful fruits and vegetables are all going to have high antioxidants in them. So really making sure that you’re hitting those Nuts seeds in your diet. of course berries, things like berries, kale, spinach and green tea are all going to be high in those antioxidants.
Cori:And when we’re talking about all this, it really occurred to me like thinking about the subject because I really wanted to do cellulite as a topic and I brought it to you and I was super excited because I think that with some of the aesthetic changes that we’re even seeking right, we might not see results right away, especially towards some of these things, or we might not see exactly the buildup that we really want. But we have to remember that there’s so much else benefiting us from making these changes right. You just said if you want to increase your antioxidant intake, you need to take more fruits and vegetables and get a diversity right. That not only is going to do what it can to improve the appearance of cellulite, but it’s going to improve your overall health. So when you’re thinking about, are these changes worth it? because you’re not seeing the result in the exact aesthetic way you want, they are worth it because they’re improving all these other habits which are going to make you like function better for the rest of your life.
Michelle:Yeah, it’s definitely one of those things that people, when it comes to hot topics like this, people are like well, tell me the one food, the one thing that I can eat that’s going to fix this problem, or the one supplement? And the truth is, there is no magic food, there’s no truly one thing that’s going to make a massive difference in your looks and your appearance, is really going to be hitting all those things so that your body has all the nutrients, everything available for it to be able to move forward in the best way that’s going to be optimum for your health. So, fruits and vegetables. I know everyone’s like.
Michelle:Of course, you’re going to say eat more fruits and vegetables. But, like you said, what’s, what’s going to be the downside of eating more fruits and vegetables? Even if you are still seeing the cellulite, you’re most likely are increasing your fiber intake. You’re most likely increasing water content, because fruits and vegetables also have a high amount of water, so you’re improving that hydration. Oftentimes we’re getting those benefits from energy and we don’t. We don’t give it the recognition or the wins that it truly deserves.
Cori:And this has been, i feel, like a theme for me recently, but it goes back to all this So often, when we have a goal we want to hit, we think more stuff, right, but really it’s just more time. So, doing these things, if you can embrace all the other non scale, non cellulite related wins, you’re going to stick with it enough that maybe those things do snowball as much as possible. And on top of this, while these are the details, the micronutrients you want to get in, the supplements you want to potentially add in, if your overall diet is not online, there’s no detail. That’s going to get results over macros being doubted, and so I wanted you to talk a little bit about what macro ratios we can sort of use over our lifespan to potentially see better fat loss results, improve our connective tissue strength and just function overall better.
Michelle:Yeah. So macros, of course, if you’re hitting your macros and you’re making sure it’s quality, not just quantity, you’re going to be already taking care of these little areas. But a big thing is, like you said, your macros are going to change over your time because our bodies change over time and our needs change over time. So a big thing is is that the bare minimum? I do highly recommend everyone start at least hitting a 30% protein intake and adjusting from there, because that is going to be where we are going to get the benefits of a high protein diet, where we are going to kind of get some body recomposition occur. So, starting there, if you don’t know, if you don’t know where to start at all, start with a 30% intake of the protein from there.
Michelle:If you’re looking for just kind of in general, what can I do to kind of improve? And it’s always baby steps Like, yes, i’m saying, start at 30%, but if you’re taking, if your intake’s like 15%, aim for 20, and let’s get to that point where you’re 30%. Now, if you are at that 30% and you already kind of know macros a little bit better, i would recommend kind of a 35% protein, 30% carbs, 35% fat. Just this is more of a moderate. Moderate ratio, but you again, you’re going to be able to build up that muscle mass, lose some fat if you have some extra fat that you’re looking to lose but also even getting the healthy fat intake that’s also important for your skin health. So making sure you’re hitting that mono and poly and saturated fats and getting that energy that you need And after that, like, those are good ratios to kind of start with, but really it’s all going to be about getting that personalized touch.
Michelle:This is really where I feel like coaching comes into play, because we are so individualized. We all are at different stages, we all do different exercise routines. So really making sure that you can work with someone that’s going to give you specific ratios as well is going to help you get those results a little bit faster and get you to your goal faster and even potentially helping you with your cellulite cellulite a little quicker than normal.
Cori:That’s such an important point because people ask like what’s enough right? They’ll be like well, i’m getting enough protein, so do I need collagen? Well, yes, you’re getting adequate protein. So now that collagen can actually be used for these added benefits that you actually want it for, versus being utilized because you’re in need of protein, right, but what’s enough protein, what’s enough carbs, what’s enough fat? We’ll be so dependent on like what are your requirements right? Like, as we get older, even our requirements change based on our activity level, or our requirements change based on our genetics. our requirements change even if we’re trying to dial in some of those 1% details, like if you’re trying to compete in a competition where you’re trying to get extra lean or you’re trying to lose that cellulite. the details do matter in that the more we can really adjust and tweak exact percentages of protein, carbs and fat, the more we’re going to see those results really snowball.
Michelle:And yeah, you brought up a good point with the amount, because we’re talking about macros and the percentage of your diet and how we can make these little changes. But also it is important to note that calories are a big factor here too. So actually having someone that’s going to help kind of dial in your calories and what is actually going to be appropriate for that protein amount, for that carb amount, for that fat amount, is going to be important as well.
Cori:And this is where we get into another subject. We could go down and would be a whole other episode, but the eating enough, which I know we’ve also talked about, because if you’re under fueling, you’re going to end up losing muscle mass, which could even change how soft you look, which could make the appearance of cellulite look worse. So it’s why not going into those extreme calorie deficits and those extreme diets is so important as well. So again goes back to making sure that you’re dialing in your calories correctly. But off of all of this again, we’ve both touched on it a couple different times We’re talking about controlling what you can control and knowing that cellulite is genetic.
Cori:There are so many other factors that really we don’t fully know the cause of it, other than it is the appearance of fat through fascia, right, and that people have different genetic potentials for fascia allowing the appearance of it or not allowing the appearance of it. There are, of course, lifestyle factors, but all of this aside, right, i do just want to talk about body image and body love, because no matter where we are in our journey, we have to love ourselves, and this doesn’t mean think we’re perfect, like I hope. I never think I’m perfect, because then I’m probably the most imperfect I’ve ever been. But we have to love ourselves along the way and love even the changes we’re making, because we are always going to find flaws.
Michelle:Yeah, it’s true, and it’s one of those things that I think body positivity and like, like you mentioned, self love. There it’s kind of become this polarized topic because people are like With the movement anyways, people are like, oh well, you’re, you’re pushing obesity and you’re saying obesity, it’s okay to be overweight, but you can be overweight and still appreciate your body and you can still have body positivity But be working towards a goal. So it’s really appreciating the phase that you’re at, but not being afraid to make those changes for Health reasons. So if, yes, if you are like, hey, i have this body, i know it’s strong, i can lift, but I also like, i would like to get to this point where I’m pushing myself a little bit further.
Michelle:Or, like you said, we all have those areas that we don’t feel like are perfect and we’re striving to reach a goal. So there’s not going to be this oh, i hate my body because of this. I’m fat because I have cellulite. You’re not fat because you have cellulite. You could just possibly have thinner skin than normal or your connective tissue Those layers are closer to the top layer of your skin, whatever it may be. But it’s appreciating your body for what it can do and pushing your body to improve better for better health, better strength, whatever it, whatever it is.
Cori:I think it’s also pausing in the moment, because I can tell you like, even when people are well a, we’re creatures of comparison, right? so when you lose the weight, you’re comparing to potentially where you were before. When you build the muscle, you’re comparing to where you were before, and so you look better than you did, right, when you first have achieved, worked in progress, towards your goal. So you feel really good. But then, over time of maintaining, even though you’ve not gone backwards at all, you stop looking better than So.
Cori:At some point you’d be like do I look good at all, like I’ve had clients do that? I’m like, yeah, you look the exact same as these photos where you were so excited by how you look. Right, but we lose that comparison a. So I think it’s key we remind ourselves like, hey, we lose comparison as we maintain more, but also remind ourselves that we have a tendency to go to the one area that we want to change the most and So often along our journey that it’s going to be the last place to change, because it’s more stubborn, because there’s lack of blood flow to those areas, because you know There are more stubborn types of fat cells, like. Whatever else it is, they’re gonna be the last to change, and so I think it’s taking time to take measurements that allow us to see the other Progress and even celebrate non-scale, non aesthetic wins, to to recognize why the habits are paying off.
Michelle:Yeah, i think we do. We get desensitized to our own progress. When we get closer to the end goal, that progress isn’t all the sudden as drastic and We tend to be like, well, is this even working? and that’s really where I see people backsliding into old habits because it’s like well, i’m not seeing that payoff. And The most dreaded word I say and people hate to hear it is you have to be consistent And you have to give it time, and that especially is even with improving cellulite.
Michelle:Improve, improving your cellulite appearance like it’s never going to be. Like. Oh, i always said and I’m eating my antioxidants, i have collagen, i’m improving the muscle mass I have on my body, so it’s smoothing out that area, but I I now don’t see any progress. It’s going to take time and it may, it may just be a genetic issue for you, but even if that’s the cause, you are still going to be improving that skin health. You are still going to be improving your overall appearance. If you had done nothing, or if you kind of backslid and you had a diet that was filled with, you know, refine carbs, processed foods, smoking, lots of alcohol, all of those are going to make things look worse. So we focus, we always focus on the more what can we do more, instead of focusing on like what to avoid necessarily, because then we always tend to be like, oh well, i can’t have this, i can’t have this, and it, mentally, it messes us up.
Cori:But it really is one of those things that time and consistency are going to matter, just like it does for any type of body recomposition and I think, even that self-awareness to be like, hey, the reason I haven’t pushed past this point and seen the results that I want is simply because every time I hit This wall and I turn back, and so it’s it’s kind of almost embracing, trying to just keep pushing at the wall, even though it seems like you’re not going to be able to move the wall right. The wall is kind of Weak and you can actually push it. If you just keep going at it, it’ll slide slowly back and slowly back. So just embracing that consistency and having that self-awareness of hey, this is the heart I always hit when I turn back. If I keep pushing through and I love my body and celebrate these other wins, i might even see some of these other changes that I’ve been dreaming of achieving.
Michelle:Yeah, and, like you said, it is even looking back and being like okay, remember, i was here and I made it here and I’m super excited to be here. So I’m going to do everything I can to maintain where I’m at moving forward.
Cori:I love that, because maintaining itself is a huge win and Results tend to even snowball just while we’re maintaining Yes, exactly. Well, thank you so much, Michelle. I think these tips were great to help anybody you know become more empowered to get the fall-offs, the aesthetic results that they really want, while also understanding their body and what cellulite really is a little bit better.
Cori:Perfect Thanks for having me. So Michelle shared some great nutrition tips to help you reduce the appearance of cellulite, and I wanted to dive into some workout hacks so we can focus on controlling what we can’t control. I’m just going to say it again I know I’ve repeated this multiple times throughout the podcast but there is a genetic factor, unknown factors to cellulite that we have not been able to control or change. So you have to remember that in doing this, you’re giving yourself agency to control what you can control and make the improvements where you can, and even impact your overall health and wellness, because all these things that I’m going to talk about in terms of workouts are going to benefit you in other ways from being functionally more strong to just having better conditioning, all that stuff But they will help as much as it is possible to reduce the appearance of cellulite. So, tip number one focus on strength training. If you build muscle and you lose fat, you’re going to look leaner. You’re going to look more toned. The stronger we are, the more muscle tone we have, the more we’re going to help improve that appearance of the cellulite. And we’re also, in our strength training, going to help improve our tissue strength overall and we’re going to help make those connected tissues as smooth and strong as possible. So we want to strengthen. It’s also going to make us functionally stronger. It’s going to help us age better. So there’s a lot of other health benefits to this right. But you want to focus on building the muscle as much as you can, because if you’re doing too much cardio and you’re actually losing muscle, you can look a lot softer as you’re leaning down. So if we want to minimize that dimpled appearance, we want to make sure that we’re actually building the muscle and we want to make sure that we’re doing what we can to lose fat, especially if you are trying to lose more weight and get a little bit leaner. This will help us look firmer in the process. Okay, and I want to mention when you are working muscles to build that lean muscle, you’re going to be mobilizing more fatty acids from the surrounding tissues. So if you do have more subinfrat around your hips or thighs or belly and you’re working those muscles, not only are you building lean muscle there, but you’re mobilizing more fatty acids in those areas, okay. This is why another workout hack is to actually put cardio after strength work. So if you’ve done your strength work for those areas, mobilize more fatty acids from those areas and built more muscle fabulous. And then we want to do that low intensity cardio and more of that fat burning zone to utilize those mobilized fatty acids to try and get rid of them, to help us actually reduce fat from these areas. No, it’s not spot reduction in the way that we think about spot reduction, but we are utilizing those mobilized fatty acids. Okay.
Cori:So this isn’t a quick fix. You’re not going to just lose only fat off your middle but, especially as you get leaner, you can implement this to really help tone those areas a little bit more. And when I say working in that fat burning zone, i do just want to highlight, like you don’t want to think about only having to do like that walking right, you can do your running, you can do the hit training. You’re going to burn more calories and therefore you will burn more fat, okay. So when we’re talking about the fat burning zone, it’s just that the calories being burned, a higher percentage are coming from fat. And so when we’re using this after our strength training, where we’re not trying to just, you know, train for an indoor sport or whatever else, we want to think about that low intensity cardio training because it’s not going to deplete us more, so it’s not going to plead our glycogen stores. It’s not going to be catabolic for our muscle mass, which is going to help us see those strength gains, help us building muscle, but it is going to utilize this mobilize fatty acids Okay. So it’s going to be beneficial in that it will not detract from future training sessions. It gets this little extra movement and it’s going to utilize those mobilize fatty acids. So we want to think about some of that low intensity cardio after strength workouts that have worked the areas that we want to maybe lose from a little bit more, or that we have a little bit more of the appearance of cellulite on Okay.
Cori:Number three is foam rolling. So it’s actually funny that it came up originally that they would have people like take a rolling pin to go try and roll out their fascia to improve the appearance of cellulite. It doesn’t really work that way. However, by foam rolling, not only are we improving our mobility to be able to train harder, which will be beneficial, but we are helping make sure that our fascia is functioning correctly and as strong and smooth as possible, and so through doing this, this can help a little bit with the appearance of cellulite. It’s just keeping our fascia healthy. Okay, so we’re going to have all their benefits for our mobility and everything else, but it’s keeping our fascia and our connective tissues healthier, which can help with the appearance of cellulite a little bit more, especially when we are dialing everything in from a nutritional standpoint to make our connective tissues as strong as possible.
Cori:Number four is just doing mobility work in general. The better our body is functioning, the more fluid everything is working, the better our our, our fascial strength, our connected tissue strength is going to be in, the more stable our joints are going to be. So, again, going back to when we’re thinking about controlling what we can control, we want to think about all the other benefits we can reap from doing these 1% improvements that make the aesthetic changes as well, and so, because of doing the mobility work, the foam rolling, you’re going to help keep like that fascia, which is the netting, as strong as possible, which can help potentially prevent some of that fat, pimpled, dimpled appearance popping through. Okay, so do can make sure that you’re including that mobility work as well.
Cori:The last thing I wanted to touch on in terms of workouts and just everything in general is recognize how much more your workouts really mean to everything than just aesthetic changes. Okay, we think so often I want to work out to burn more calories, to lose more weight. But our workouts are so important to our overall health And I bring this up because a lot of times when someone is looking to you know, reduce the appearance of cellulite, lose fat, make aesthetic changes, get abs, whatever else, it does come back to well, is all this all worth it when they’re not seeing the changes they want? And A yes, it is worth it. Right, you’re improving your health, you’re improving your mobility, you’re gonna age better, you are gonna look better as you get older because you’re gonna stay more youthful looking because of the training, because of your nutrition. So it’s gonna have great benefits.
Cori:But also, you have to remember that a lot of that hard work takes time to snowball. You’re not gonna see results immediately, and so, recognizing all the other ways that this stuff is paying off, like I mean, what’s the alternative? right, you’re not gonna train to be stronger, you’re not gonna eat well to improve your health, so you’re just gonna let yourself deteriorate, right? Like, even if it’s not paying off in the weight loss you want right away. I mean, if you think about it that way, it’s kind of ridiculous, right. We wanna do these things. Yes, of course it’s worth it, it’s paying off for my health. But in recognizing that it will give results, time to snowball. And I can’t tell you how often people have been like, oh, i have loose skin, i have this, i have that. And when they’ve given it more time than they really wanted to, they have seen improvements. It might not be perfect, right, we’re not necessarily gonna get everything we want the exact way we envisioned it, but there’s lots of times that improvements would add up if we just gave more time.
Cori:So recognize that the workouts you’re doing, that the changes you’re making to your diet, are more than about just reducing the appearance of cellulite. It is about improving your overall health. Okay, building the strength is gonna pay off. Building the muscles is gonna make you functionally stronger. Doing your mobility work is gonna help prevent aches and pains, especially that foam rolling, stretching and activation combine. Okay, doing that. Walking after even your strength workouts is gonna make you more active. Be more functionally strong. Keep your cardiovascular base stronger right, there’s so many other benefits to all of these different things, while, of course, controlling what you can control to reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Cori:So I wanted to share these tips just because I think it’s so key that we focus on what we can do to move and feel our best at any and every age and give ourselves agency and power to control as much as possible. So I hope all these tips were helpful. I did just wanna recognize all of the nuance that goes into reducing cellulite and controlling what we can control. I just also wanted to highlight one last thing.
Cori:With all these tips, guys, not only are we trying to improve your overall health, but a lot of this relates back to improving your blood flow, which keeps you healthier overall. But that blood flow is so key if we do wanna do as much as possible to reduce the appearance of cellulite. So remember these tips are about reducing the appearance of cellulite, but that you are not flawed. There’s not something wrong with you that 80 to 90% of the population has cellulite, regardless of their weight, regardless of how much fat they have, if they wanna work to lose fat or they’re at their leadiness level that they want. That this is the appearance of fat through fascia, and there’s only so much we can control. But by implementing all these different things that we mentioned, from the nutritional strategies to the workout tips, you’re gonna improve your overall health to move and fill your best at any and every age.
