podcast Archives | Redefining Strength

Why Your Hard Work Isn’t Paying Off

by Cori Lefkowith | May 1, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

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Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. You’re doing the workouts, you’re tracking the macros, you’re working really hard, but it still kind of feels like you’re spinning your wheels. And it’s not a lack of willpower, that’s the problem. It’s that you’re planting in a field that hasn’t been cleared. And I want to break down this analogy for you because often what we really need is to slow down to speed up. So in this episode, I now only want to go over three steps to help you do this so that you can finally see the results that you deserve, but give you some reflection questions to ask yourself. Because I think a lot of times we just go all in and we try and speed ahead. And what we ultimately need to do is take that step back to realize what we’re applying all of our hard work to.

(00:56):
And if we don’t take that first assessment, a lot of times we’re adding on all these other things to a field filled with weeds. We’re trying to plant seeds where they can’t grow. So let’s go through the different steps that I think you really need to take the slow down to speed up to ultimately see better results. So step number one, and I bring all this up because I get a ton of questions and comments of people just saying, just tell me what to do. And the problem with that is, is that you can’t just be told a plan to do. You need to build a plan around where you’re at right now, and that means assessing what’s in your field, right? You are a field. What is in that field? Is it filled with weeds? Is it growing very smoothly? Does it have proper irrigation?

(01:43):
But step number one is you need to take that time to actually prep, can’t rush it. You need to assess where you’re at right now. If you want to create sustainable, lasting habit changes because that ideal plan you’ve been searching for, it doesn’t exist. And the more you keep trying to seek it out, the more you’re ultimately trying to force yourself into a mold that doesn’t really work for you. Like saying, I’m going to do six days a week, because that’s what the plan says when you can barely do three means that you are having a mismatch in what’s actually possible. You’re saying, oh, I’m going to grow this plant here That thrives in tropical climate. When you’re in the desert, it’s not going to work. So you have to pause to prep and make sure you are going to be able to plant things that can grow.

(02:29):
So I want you to think, what is my actual lifestyle looking like right now? I want you to assess what’s going on that would make things stressful. What have I tried in the past that hasn’t worked? What mental resistance have I built up towards tools? What tools have worked for me in the past? Really reflect on what have you done and where are you at? Ask yourself even the question of what quick fix have you chased before? And what happened when the motivation wore off? Because if you think about it, every time we’re looking to make a change, we’re super motivated. We’re super driven. Maybe it’s that we tried on those pair of pants that didn’t fit, or we stepped on the scale or we don’t like how we look, or we just feel low energy. Usually that drives us forward with motivation, and we’re even willing to embrace more sacrifices to see the result that we want because we feel bad.

(03:23):
But that bad feeling also then gets attached to a lot of the habit changes we’re trying to make, especially if with tracking, we feel restricted. And so then we have negative feelings towards that. So we have to assess what did we try and do when we’re motivated and what was the impact of that? And then how do we try and do too much, which ultimately sabotaged us. This pause right now to reflect on all those different things can save us a whole bunch of time and energy later. Yet so often we just say, I want to be told what to do, and we jump right in. So the first step is really pausing to prep before you make any changes. And it can be hard. It can be hard to slow down to speed up, but if you clear that field, you have that field cleared to then be able to plant the seeds so they can grow properly.

(04:07):
But if there’s a whole bunch of weeds, nothing’s going to thrive. Then step number two is really knowing what is in your field. We don’t often even realize what is and isn’t a weed. It could be a really pretty looking flower, but ultimately a weed that could kill everything else if we let it thrive. I don’t know a ton about plants, so I don’t know what that pretty flower that would kill everything else would be. But there are plants that do that. And the same thing can happen with habits that we’ve already ingrained, routines that we’ve already ingrained patterns that we’ve already created. Think about how many times you try to make that healthy habit change, and then you come home after that stressful day at work and you go to the cabinet and before you know it, you’ve got that whole bag of chips half eaten already on the couch and you’re going to devour the rest of it.

(04:50):
That’s a pattern, a seed that has been planted some time ago that now has grown into something that you might not even be aware is there. And a lot of times what we try and do is cut it off at the stem, right? We don’t actually pull out the roots, but we’ve got to truly understand what has grown in our field before, what it actually has available to it. Again, if it doesn’t have proper water flow, we can’t grow something that needs a lot of water. So in pausing to prep our field, we also have to pause to recognize all the underlying things that are there, all the roots that might still be buried, all the seeds that we haven’t recognized that have even grown, because these are all the mindsets, the patterns that we’ll repeat, especially when we get stressed, especially when that motivation wears off.

(05:33):
So I want you to look at three habits you’re repeating that might be holding you back currently, three patterns you found yourself falling back into, especially when you’re stressed. And then even think about what beliefs are you holding onto that are causing you or slowing you down or causing you to slow down. And I bring this back to the tracking that I brought up earlier. When do we usually go to tracking our food when we’re not happy? And then what do we do with tracking? We cut things out. No wonder we have a negative association with it. We’ve used it in a negative way in the past when we haven’t felt good. It’s felt like punishment. It’s felt like restriction, but tracking itself is none of those things. So we have to recognize the habits we might need, the lifestyle change we might need that we’ve pushed back on in the past, oh, I’ve hated increasing my protein, or I’ve hated doing strength work, or I’ve hated doing this, right?

(06:25):
Assess why you dislike those things and how you’ve implemented them in the past and how they might serve you now and resisting those hard changes might be the one thing that’s keeping you stuck. But the more we reflect on the mindsets and beliefs and habits and attitudes that we have and the interaction between those things, the more we can help ourselves really understand the situation we’re dealing with to move forward. And then step number three, build the right environment. When we see results, it’s because our environment is reinforcing the habits that we need. Ever notice the second you go on vacation and then you come back and you’re thrown out of your routine, it’s way harder to get back into things and you feel like you’ve completely lost the flow. It’s because of that shift in environment because maybe you don’t have the same meals prepped even coming back, or you don’t have everything ready the way you have, or you’ve been out of that routine, out of that environment.

(07:18):
It’s even something I see happen with clients and coaching is they’ve built these habits, they have this routine, but they don’t even recognize how much. Having that constant reminder of some of the resources or the community really helps them. I green those things. Or even when you think about going to the gym first thing in the morning. The first morning you don’t put out your clothes or you haven’t put out your clothes the night before. It’s a little bit harder to get yourself up, a little bit harder to get to the gym often, and it’s because we don’t have that same environment, as silly as some of these little habit things might seem. But those visual reminders, those environmental reminders, those habit repeaters almost, they are the things that keep us in the routine. If you think about it, on a stressful day, you walk in the door the same way you put your bag in the same place, you go to the cabinet the same way you go to the couch in the same way if all of a sudden you weren’t to come in your front door or you want to put your bag down the same place or you weren’t to have the thing in that cabinet, those are environment interrupters, pattern interrupters.

(08:13):
So really think about your environment and is it setting you up to repeat the same patterns and habits and routines that you don’t like, reinforces the same mindsets that you don’t need or that aren’t serving you? Or is it being developed in a way that reinforces the person you want to become, the habits you want to implement, the new lifestyle you want to lead to reach your goals. So I want you to think about what do you need to stop doing to make the space for the results you want? And what’s one small habit you’re ready to plant this week? And I want you to think with the stop doing to make space, think about it as what we prioritize or what we value we prioritize, and what we prioritize we’re going to do no matter what. So if there are things in your day, you’ll do no matter what right now, because they are priorities and they’re usually also your excuses for why you don’t have enough time for other things.

(09:05):
Put them last in the day instead of leaving your workout to the end of the day to put all the priorities you have first, put your workout first because that way you’re going to do all those other things, you value them, so you’re going to find the time to do them. So put first a thing that you won’t find the time for. If a push comes a shove at the end of the day, or you’re stressed out or you’re tired, but think about what even do you need to stop doing to make that space? Do you need to stop doing specific things in your environment? Do you need to shift your environment? And I’ve used this example before, so I apologize if you’ve heard it, but it’s something for me that was so eyeopening in how much the environment can shape what I do. But I had candy in the cupboard and I would play the one more game when I was stressed and I would go, Ooh, one more piece of candy, one more piece of candy.

(09:50):
And I keep going back to the cabinet. All of a sudden, one day I just threw that in the freezer and it was like the game stopped. Is the candy just as delicious and just as accessible in the freezer? Yes, it might even be arguably some of the pieces of candy more delicious. But that change in environment and the fact that I’m like, well, it’s here forever, even though it would’ve lasted a heck of a long time in the cabinet, it’s here forever. It shifted the environment. It was that pattern interrupt I needed. So as you’re thinking about something that you want to implement, think about some of the things you need to stop doing or shift how you’re doing or change your environment to help you prevent the same pattern from repeating as you’re planting that seed. Because we can’t plant the seed in a field overgrown with weeds.

(10:35):
It’s not going to thrive. So if we’re only trying to add new habits, do more workouts, do the macros work harder When the environment isn’t set up for success, we’re not going to seed things snowball. So hopefully these questions are helping you start to reflect. And if you want more, I want you to check out the journal entries and the journal questions that I have in the video description that will really help you or in the show notes that will help you also dive into these things a little bit more so that you can go through these three steps and really take action. It doesn’t have to be more than 10 minutes, but even take 10 minutes to really reflect and pause to prep. Are you clearing the field to then be able to put in the work in the right way with the seeds that you want planted there, the habits that you want?

(11:21):
How are you shaping that environment to help you move forward to see the results that you want? And it’s not easy. It’s really hard to even pause ourselves to take this time to think through things before we just jump into an ideal plan. But this desire to just be told what to do, to implement something that seems perfect is what holds us back and doesn’t allow us to meet ourselves where we’re at right now. So stop thinking about trying to do more and think about how to do things differently this time. Slow down, clear the field, plant the seeds, and put in the work strategically to help them grow.

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

Tips For A Healthy Life (Take Action Today!)

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 24, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey. Even the stuff you don’t want to hear. I know what to do, but I just can’t make myself do it. I think we’ve all had those moments. It’s really hard at times to parent ourselves, and this is a big, but if we don’t embrace that knowing isn’t doing and find a way to take action, we are never going to see the results we want. I love the quote, the world is full of educated fools because I think we can all relate to this. We go searching for more information, searching for a new plan. We seek to learn more, partly because we hope there’s a magic pill or some quick fix out there, but we think that in learning something, something will magically click that will all of a sudden get us to our goals.

(00:51):
And that’s just not the case. No matter how much knowledge we have of we can’t implement those things, ultimately that just keeps us stuck and we’re very educated, but we’re still the fool because we’re not at our goals. So I want you to take a good hard look at yourself as you maybe want to work towards a new goal. Are you doing a lot of research, searching for some quick fix or not even something you think is a quick fix, but some answer out there when in reality you have enough information, you just need to take action on something? This is where that shiny object syndrome comes into play, and we kind of do it to ourselves where we go in search of something new because we don’t want to just do something that we already know we should do, and this is where we have to go.

(01:28):
What change am I resisting against the most? Because that’s probably the one I need to make. What’s the unsexiest of unsexy habits that’s sitting right there that I could do right now that I’m not taking action on? Because when we do that reflection, that brings us back to what truly will move us forward from where we’re at right now, not even where we used to be, because I think a lot of times we also get caught up in searching for some answer based on where we feel like we should be based on where we used to be. Oh, in my glory days I was here. I used to be running marathons. I used to have abs. I used to, well, it doesn’t matter what you used to have, what matters is where you’re right now. And so in order to not just be an educated fool, in order to have knowing payoff and doing payoff and getting the results that you want, you first really have to assess where you are right now.

(02:16):
If you assess your current lifestyle, your current needs, your current goals, your current mindsets, and you do that reflection, you’re going to be able to find one action you can take today. And then I say one action for a reason, because so often we see all the things we should do, all the things we could do, but it doesn’t matter. It’s that whole phrase, and I think this analogy is really gross, but also very accurate. You eat an elephant one bite at a time. Same thing goes for our habits. There’s a lot of things we could do. There’s a lot of things we probably should do, but ultimately we can only do so much. And so if we can take action on one little thing that builds momentum, we don’t recognize enough that so much of what we take action on and how we actually move forward and see success is because of our mindsets.

(03:01):
And if you feel successful doing one thing, you’re going to want to do more of that. If you feel unsuccessful doing something, you’re not going to want to do more of it. If you’re doing less, you’re going to want to keep doing less. And so much is that momentum of our mindset. So if you know where you’re at and you find one small action you can take, you’re going to feel successful in taking that and you’re going to want to do more. We get caught up in seeking some ideal, some perfect mold that we should be fitting instead of assessing who and what we are and then taking one small action with a minimum. And when we get caught up in perfection, which I’m sorry, we’re human and we’re flossing, but we’ll never be perfect, we’re going to hold ourselves back from doing something, and we do.

(03:38):
We go in search of more tools, more tactics, but really we need more time taking even imperfect actions to see results build. So I would urge you, if you’re struggling with knowing and feeling like you just can’t see the results, I know I just can’t get myself to do it first, really assess where you’re at. Second, really set one small change you can do and focus on those minimums. And then also think about goals in terms of habit changes. Celebrate success with the boring basics and the implementation of the boring basics. We only set our goals is I want to fit back into those jeans. I want to look fabulous in these photos. I want to do that pull up. What about just saying, I want to hit my goal today of doing these habits and then feeling really successful with it because those are the things that we can control.

(04:28):
Those are the things that build. We don’t celebrate success with those boring basics daily. Instead, we think, gosh, how long do I have to do these things? Do I really have to do ’em forever? No wonder we don’t like doing them. No wonder we don’t stick with them long enough. No wonder we go in search of trying to find something else, something that feels better, that’s sexier, but I’m sorry. The things we have to do to reach our goals aren’t sexy. The results are sexy, but the habits aren’t. And the more we embrace that and the more we celebrate that and see is it even a good thing, the better off we’re going to be. But it goes back to knowing who and what we are and the lifestyle we’re leading right now over trying to fit ourselves into some ideal. And I think this is a very accurate way of describing it, of we try and go on a program versus adjusting our lifestyle.

(05:11):
And when we try and go on a plan, we’re not truly embracing the changes that have to happen. It’s the fake it till you make it versus the act as if, and in trying to reach a goal, you are creating a new identity. You are stepping into new mindsets, new routines, new patterns. If you don’t embrace that, you are ultimately never going to really see results snowball in a lasting way. So I would say own where you’re at. Set those minimums. Focus on one habit change you can make today. Really celebrate the daily habits as success in and of themselves in a goal in and of themselves. And then recognize too that self-control, an infinite thing. Self-control is like a gas tank. Everything that happens through the day basically depletes it. Your bosses a butthead at work or you get stuck in traffic or you get a flat tire and something happens, right?

(06:02):
There’s all these things. We’re using self-control to keep ourselves moving forward through all these challenges where we don’t react in a way that would be bad, and then we think, oh, well, I just can’t eat well because I don’t have willpower in this way. No, no, no. All that stress is going in one bucket. All that stress is depleting your self-controlled gas tank and you’re going to be on empty at some point. That bucket is going to overflow, whichever analogy you prefer. And if you’re not conscious of the fact that everything is contributing to the emotions that you’re feeling, not just your workout or diet changes, if you’re not recognizing those things, you’re ultimately going to sabotage yourself and not recognize the minimums. Maybe that you have to go back to make habit changes or celebrate those boring basic daily habits that seems small that are so important.

(06:46):
That can be so hard the more effort we’re giving other places. But we have to recognize that self-control isn’t just this infinite thing to meet ourselves more where we’re at having a stressful season of life, Hey, maybe you can’t do the macro tracking you used to. Maybe you can’t do the six day a week workout plan that you used to, but there’s something you can do right now if you really own your reality and focus on those small changes to meet yourself where you’re at again, versus going and trying to find something better out there. It’s going back to those basics consistently and constantly that really pays off. So if you’ve been struggling with a feeling of like, I know what to do, I just can’t get myself to do it, don’t go in search of more information that’s only going to hold you back instead, really take a look.

(07:30):
Even sit down right now and be like, where am I at? What does my lifestyle look like? What are my current habits, my current mindsets, my current struggles, my current priorities? Because their priorities will often become our excuses. When you assess that, focus on one small change and then celebrate consistency with that, but recognize your self-control isn’t going to be infinite, and at times where it feels depleted, that’s the timing where we sort of self-sabotage and we wait for motivation to go search for something else, or we start searching for other things because we’re losing motivation. We feel out of control. We feel overwhelmed. We feel like the effort isn’t worth it. With some of the habit changes we’re doing, again, why celebrating those things even as wins themselves and as goals themselves can be so key. But I just wanted to highlight this. If you are struggling with the feeling of I know what to do, I just can’t get myself to do it, because I think action is often the hardest part.

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

Why You Aren’t Losing Weight

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 17, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. What if not having changed anything is truly the problem? So I had someone comment, I haven’t changed anything, but all of a sudden I’m gaining weight and getting that comment, I slightly smiled because I think often we think, well, I’m not doing anything different, so why am I getting a different result? And my comment back to her, I could tell it slightly surprised her, but my comment back was, have you considered that not changing anything may actually be part of the problem? Because guess what? Your body, your lifestyle, your mindset, your goals are constantly evolving. And if you aren’t adjusting your workouts or diet to match that mismatch now with what used to work when your body and lifestyle and goals were all in a different place might be part of the problem.

(00:57):
What we do to reach one goal can often hold us back from reaching the next, even if our goal is still weight loss. And I bring this up because I think over the seasons, we need to assess what does and doesn’t work for our lifestyles. We need to assess where our mindset is right now. But in thinking about all this, when we think about sustainability, we also think about this as one thing. So think about what was sustainable for you in college? What was sustainable, maybe as a newlywed, what was sustainable when you had young kids? What’s sustainable when you’re an empty nester? All these things are going to be different. Sustainable is going to mean something different to you at each of these phases. And if you try and clinging to what felt comfortable and confused, comfort with sustainability, you’re going to ultimately hold yourself back because nothing works forever.

(01:40):
And everything is constantly changing. And I bring up the seasons too, because I think we think often, okay, yes, now I’m older, so I have to adjust, or my goals have changed, so I have to adjust. But even over just the course of a year, your habits are not going to look the same, driving towards the same goal. And the more we own that, the more we can come back to the fundamentals, but evolve the exact implementation of habits before we fall off. So if you think about a workout plan, you’ve done a workout plan, or maybe you’ve done a diet plan even, and all of a sudden you’re like, oh, this is just not sustainable any longer. Well, how has your lifestyle changed? What’s happened? Is it simply that you’re hitting that hard? Where at 21 days you always start to give up? Okay, well maybe that’s the case.

(02:23):
Maybe it’s just a timeframe thing. It’s not that anything else in your lifestyle has even changed. Well, then how can you get over this hurdle still doing more than you would’ve done in the past? What works in January when you’re super motivated, all of a sudden it’s summer, you’re traveling more. Those habits might not work. And if you keep trying to clinging to them, that’s where you can end up falling off and sabotaging yourself. Same thing with the holidays. So the more we’re constantly assessing, okay, A, am I getting the goal or reaching the goal I want, maybe then I do keep the habits. But if I’m not seeing the results that I want, or even going backwards and I haven’t started to fall off my plan to get less consistent, what is a mismatch that I need to address? And I think it’s really key that not only do we do a lot of reflecting along our journey and set those checkpoints, so not only a deadline for our ultimate goal, but even, and I won’t say deadlines because I think deadlines mean, oh, we’re supposed to be done here.

(03:12):
I do like to call ’em checkpoints, but just times to check in, be like, okay, every three weeks I’m going to do a check-in. I’m going to assess how things have gone, assess my true consistency, and then reflect on what it can change. Because it’s kind of like we’re a mechanic on our car. You don’t want to have your car and then not do the check-ins, the oil changes, all those different things. You want to be doing those things so that your car works really well. But so often we’re not doing those checkups, so to speak, on our diet and workout routines as we’re working towards our goal. All of a sudden we’re just like, oh, it’s not working. The car’s broken down. I’m just going to set it on fire and leave it there and go do something else. No, you wouldn’t do that.

(03:47):
You got to take care of that car. So it keeps moving. You don’t want to have to go buy a new one. You can’t buy a new body. So you got to do those checkups. But I want you to really reflect if you are struggling with seeing results, what other things have changed? Because sustainable doesn’t mean that it is comfortable. It doesn’t mean what we’ve always done. It is going to mean that there is some hard, it just has to be something built off. Those basics that we can consistently do that we know will drive us forward. And that’s even where we so often see that response of, oh gosh, why didn’t I do this sooner? Well, it didn’t feel sustainable to start, but now it does. But you embraced the why behind it. You reflected on what you needed to meet yourself where you’re at.

(04:25):
You went from those January habits where you could do six days a week, one hour in the gym to realizing all of a sudden that felt like the effort wasn’t getting the outcome that you wanted and it wasn’t feeling worth it. And so you’re going to give up. But instead you’re saying, no, no, no, I’m going to do three days a week because there is no ideal. It’s just about meeting myself where I’m at. And in that evolution, in that willingness to change, in that willingness to even say, Hey, it’s not a right or wrong thing. It’s just that nothing works forever. What I did in college doesn’t work for me now. Right? That reflection is what ultimately drives us forward to create sustainable patterns that will evolve. Because sustainable means being open to evolution so that we’re always meeting ourselves where we’re at. So if you have been frustrated by your lack of progress and say, but I haven’t changed my healthy habits, really dive in and reflect on what in those habits might need to evolve because something else in your lifestyle, even if it’s a mindset, even if it’s a routine because of work, a family life, that you’re not going to change, especially, how can you then evolve everything else to match what your body, your goals, your lifestyle needs right now?

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

Tips For Healthy Eating (And How To Be More Mindful)

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 10, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast, everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. Let’s talk about being more mindful. When we munch, it can be very easy to eat for a whole host of reasons and not be conscious of the calories we’re consuming and the impact they’re having and what this is really doing to our body. So I’m super excited to be joined by amazing registered dietician, Julia, to talk about being more mindful when we munch. Julia, welcome. I’d love to hear your thoughts on mindful munching.

Julia (00:38):
Thank you. I’m happy to be here. As we know, eating mindfully really helps us bring that intention to the food that we’re choosing and eating, like you said. So the ultimate goal with mindful munching is really to cultivate a healthy relationship with food, to improve our digestion and really learn how to eat in a balanced way that allows us to hit our goals.

Cori (01:00):
So as you know, and I know you are too, we’re big advocates of macro tracking, and I don’t see being more mindful as the opposite of macro tracking. And I do want to get into intuitive eating and how that plays a role and what that really is, but how can being more mindful go with macro tracking to help you really reach your goals?

Julia (01:23):
Yeah, definitely. So the first thing is it really allows us to be intentional, like you were saying. So when we don’t take the time to think about why we’re eating, we can allow those temporary emotions to take over, whether this be stress, boredom, social pressures, or even just aimlessly eating whatever is in front of us because we’re hungry in the moment. So that tracking really helps us bring that intentionality back to the choices that we are making. And then the next issue that we kind of find is that a lot of times when we’re rushed, food can enter our stomach before it’s even ready. So with tracking and being intentional, we’re able to really also kind of dial in on that digestion process where we’re able to better break down our food, chew it properly, improve our digestion, and give our natural satiety signals a chance to really kick in, which also prevents overeating. So through that mindfulness, we’re able to stimulate the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, often referred to as that rest and digest. So not only is this going to help boost our gut health or digestion, but it’s also really key for those of us looking for weight loss and body recomposition through macro tracking as well.

Cori (02:32):
It’s such an interesting thing because we think what feels natural or our hunger cues are just, well, they’re there, right? It’s our body telling us something, but we don’t realize how much of what’s natural, what our body is. Singly is something that we’ve trained even through previous dieting practices, and so that can make it hard to eat intuitively when we have a specific goal. Can you go over what intuitive eating really is and how being mindful is slightly different from it and how all this works together?

Julia (03:04):
Yeah, so intuitive eating is a way that you’re eating to honor your cravings, your hunger and fullness cues. But the goal being to foster a healthier relationship with food in theory, it is a wonderful concept that we as humans should be able to have the ability to choose what our bodies are needing day-to-day. However, like you brought up, for those of us who have a history of undereating emotional eating or eating a poor quality diet, because our food system is saturated with highly palatable addictive foods, our intuition is probably not going to be the most accurate reflection of what our body actually needs because our current cravings are heavily influenced by how we currently eat, like you said. So you look at someone who has a history of extreme dieting, they probably don’t have the proper hunger cues telling them when they need to eat because their metabolism is downregulated and adapted to that low intake.

(04:00):
You look at someone who craves sugar constantly throughout the day, that could be the result of dysregulated blood sugar from undereating on certain foods like protein, fat, and fiber. And I also just really quickly want to highlight a study that was done, I believe in 2023. It was pretty recent, and it actually showed that as humans, if our protein needs are unmet, we’ll continue to overeat predominantly on carbohydrate and fat rich foods leading to weight gain in an efforts to meet that goal and get that satiety. So while intuitive eating is a great long-term goal for most of us, it’s often not the first step that we need to take to get there.

Cori (04:39):
It’s all about learning what portions we need. And I bring this up too because I think a lot of times we’ll start tracking macros and we’ll get frustrated that we’re not hitting the ratios, but it comes back to, well, if you were hitting the numbers you needed, you’d be at the goal you wanted to be at, but you’re not. So you have to relearn to look at those portions. And in this process of relearning those portions and even tracking things to start, you are learning to eat more mindfully. You’re learning to eat more intuitively because you are seeing what you’re actually consuming and then the impact that it’s truly having. And I think that’s something we don’t talk about enough, the benefit that tracking can truly have to make us more mindful.

Julia (05:23):
Yeah, I definitely agree. I mean, tracking serves as that data to show us what is and what isn’t working for our bodies. So it allows us to go in and separate our actual reality from our own perception of our reality, which is really key because sometimes we can feel like we’re doing great, we can feel like we’re eating the right portions, like you said, we can feel like we may be eating a lot of protein, but it may not always be the case. So tracking is kind of that gateway that allows us to better understand what our bodies need in order to thrive. And over time, as we’re able to shift our palate and really reap the long-term benefits of supporting our metabolism, we’ll find that we’ll be in a much better place to implement these intuitive eating practices. But we need to first put that work in, do that tracking, get that data in order to better educate ourselves and really rewire our metabolisms.

Cori (06:14):
You use the word feel a lot in that, and I think it’s very important that we come back to this word because feelings are not data yet with being more mindful. We have to try and trust in our feelings more, but we have to build more accurate feelings, we’ll say, or mindsets through tracking. But if we’re just allowing how we feel to dictate what we do, think about a fun event. When you’re celebrating excited and it’s fun and the food tastes good, you’re going to be willing to or want to eat more. When you’re stressed after a long day and you’re looking for that comfort and a food gives you comfort, you’re going to go to that food. I know simply when I want more of an ice cream or the peanut butter or whatever else it is, I feel like a portion should be bigger than it is and the portion becomes bigger than it is. Feelings aren’t data, but they can really impact how we ultimately fuel. How can we start to separate out what is a feeling and driving us towards not the correct portions and what’s truly data-driven decisions?

Julia (07:20):
The first step is really just understanding and bringing awareness to it, like you said, right? So a lot of people think that we do these compulsive behaviors like emotional eating because we just lack the willpower on food. Like, oh, I just don’t have the self-control. When in reality we often do it because it’s the only way that we know to either self-soothe or to give ourselves that boost of happiness or whatever. It’s that we’re really seeking from that food. So most of us have heard as dopamine as it’s an important part of our brain’s reward pathway and it causes us to feel good, right? It’s a very pleasurable thing to have. So we also know that foods can give us this dopamine boost really highly palatable foods. So sugary foods, high fat foods. So what makes sense from a scientific standpoint that we are going to reach for these foods, whether it be that ice cream or that glass of wine to make us feel better in these moments because scientifically it’s boosting that dopamine and making us feel better.

(08:19):
But the key takeaway here, and the big point of bringing that awareness to it is that we have to understand that it’s often not the food we’re seeking, it’s the feeling that the food gives us. So the issue is that we’re not really solving the problem at the root. We’re just coping in an unhealthy manner that can contribute to waking and health issues over time. And when this happens continuously, we’re wiring our brain to immediately turn to food when we feel stressed, scared, or even happy. So this is where I always call it the power of the pause that can come in and just allow ourselves to ask those appropriate questions. Am I actually hungry? Am I hoping to relieve feelings of stress, of sadness? Is this food going to satiate me? Am I just eating because I’m at a party and every single person around me is eating?

(09:04):
But ultimately bringing that awareness to it, taking that pause can help us recognize that it’s not really the food that we need, and over time we can begin to replace it with healthier habits. And this is why again, tracking things before eating them can be so helpful because it forces you to take that pause. Not only does it help you be more proactive with our goals as we know, but it really allows you to take a step back outside of the situation, detach from those emotions, and really just pause and think about how we are going to eat and how that lines up with our goals.

Cori (09:39):
It’s that reflection that’s so powerful to give us choice in what we do. And this isn’t to demonize any foods because you are going to want to just enjoy a food that you love, that you grew up with that has memories attached. You’re going to potentially want to sit down to a Thanksgiving meal or have those Christmas cookies, and there’s nothing wrong with these things. I know I am not giving up my summer margaritas and chips and guacamole, especially when the reed avocados are ripe, and it’s not a bad thing to have feelings associated with food, but it’s being mindful then of the choices you’re making when you do consume these things and the impact they’re having on your results. Because when we’re mindful in that way, we don’t create guilt too, which only creates more of a spiral with some of these things. However, pausing is easier said than done. And I love that you bring up tracking beforehand because that allows you to assess what you really need. But let’s just say something comes up and you do eat out of emotion. How can you then use the power of the pause to learn from that?

Julia (10:39):
Yeah, that’s a great question. And that’s where again, we always say tracking services that data to have. So even I have all my clients track your off days, track those moments that aren’t so perfect because that’s data that allows us to then peel back those layers, go back and see what could have led to this, what could have caused this. But again, kind of just that power of the pause in the moment, even if you’re out at a restaurant with people socially, it allows you to come back to things and check in with yourself and check in with what you actually need and want in that moment. And like you said, sometimes you are going to want to go for the cheesecake or the ice cream or whatever it is, and you are going to want to enjoy it. And I think that’s totally okay to even allow yourself to acknowledge like, yes, I want to go for this.

(11:21):
And even if you’re going to try to work it in with your goals, whatever that looks like. But again, just making sure that we’re taking that pause and if it’s going to be something that we’re going to go for, we’re going to enjoy it, savor it, enjoy the experience with the people that we’re around versus feeling that guilt around it. And if it is something that we’re like, I’m not really going to enjoy this. I’m extremely stressed right now, I’m uncomfortable. This is not what’s going to serve me in this moment, then that’s okay too. And that’s again where the power of the pause allows you to det from.

Cori (11:53):
It’s realizing that being more mindful of what you’re consuming is also understanding why you’re consuming it. And on the flip side, while I’m actually guilty of both, while overeating with stress, sometimes we can even undereat with stress and we’re not mindful that we’re eating too little and that’s impacting our results. How do you navigate if you are undereating due to stress? Because we talk a lot about overeating with it, but undereating can also be an issue.

Julia (12:20):
Yeah, definitely. And it’s kind of that idea of that fight or flight response which you can get, which causes us to overeat can also cause us to undereat like you’re saying. And sometimes people feel like they can’t really switch gears from experiencing that stress that they are experiencing firsthand. So even just again, practicing mindfulness by meeting ourselves where we’re at, remembering that food is still fuel, and this could mean even just adjusting your plan for the time being. Maybe you’re going to rely more on things like small calorie dense snacks, things like protein bars and shakes, things like yogurt bowls where you can add a lot of nuts and seeds and kind of bulk that up a little bit. Things like smoothies where you can add in yogurt, nut butters, or even using an eating schedule and setting reminders for yourself throughout the day, that can be huge. As silly as it sounds, just setting an alarm on your phone or scheduling it in your calendar when to eat, that can be huge just to remind you, Hey, I know I may not want to eat right now, but it’s important to fuel my body and still give myself as care in this moment. And just having that little reminder can go a really long way to helping you to still accomplish that goal and get in that fuel when you’re feeling a little bit stressed.

Cori (13:31):
It’s that accountability and outside perspective that we’re often missing because again, feelings aren’t data and what’s going on inside our head can often take us down a path that’s not correct if we let it. And so being more mindful is assessing where those feelings are coming from. With that being said, we can track ahead to help hold us accountable, whether we overeat or we even undereat, and especially if we’re undereating, we might think, well, this is even good for my weight loss goals, which is a whole other subject, but not necessarily the case, which is why meal planning can be so key so that you can track ahead, you can hold yourself accountable, you can give yourself that outside perspective. Can you go over some tips to help with that? I think that is often the biggest struggle that pre-planning, but if we don’t do it, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. And as odd as it sounds to have a plan in place that makes us more mindful.

Julia (14:25):
Yeah, definitely. I mean, even just pre-planning or pre logging, whatever that looks like for you can really help us bring that intentionality and just ensure that we are hitting our goals and we’re usually sitting down to plan in a time that we’re not hungry or tired, so we’re able to make more mindful choices. So we’re really just setting ourselves up for success. Like you said, sometimes you aren’t able to be mindful simply just because our environment doesn’t allow for us make long choices. If you’re someone who you work 10 to 12 hour shifts and you don’t have a plan for what you’re going to eat when you get off shift, then of course you’re not going to make the best choices. You can’t expect yourself to do that. But pre tracking really helps to come in and reduce any questions of what you should have, reduce any food noise throughout the day and just allow you to set up a plan.

(15:11):
And this can look different for every single person. For some people it can be meal prepping individual meals. For some people it could be bulk prepping, maybe a few protein items or veggies, if that’s what you struggle with, so that you have them easily available to throw into meals, even if it’s coming home and chopping up your produce, your fruits and veggies and just having them ready to grab in the fridge to pair with something for when you get off that shift, that can go a huge way or a long way just to help you have that readily available for you and give you that crutch to lean on when you are needing it.

Cori (15:45):
You’re using that power of the pause to plan ahead so that you can be more mindful because you’re not letting emotions or stress or fatigue or any of these other things come into play. You’re sitting down to really assess. And I think it’s key at these points that we reflect on even what our emotional triggers are and how we respond to them and why they come up, and even what our coming week or coming months, even the coming year looks like in terms of some of those stressors to really plan ahead for it. Because if we don’t own what’s going on, all those priorities that come up are what become our excuses. So off of that key takeaways, if someone wants to be more mindful so that their priorities aren’t sabotaging them, their emotions aren’t sabotaging them, they can be more mindful in their eating to see the best results.

Julia (16:33):
I mean, just going off of that, obviously dialing into what your personal causes are that lead you to eat more mindlessly. So could it be that lack of preparation? Could it be emotions? Could it be that you’re on the go and you’re very busy? It could it be lack of time? It could it be just distractions during mealtime that you’re experiencing, but whatever it is, really dialing in and figuring out what those biggest challenges are for yourself will allow you to then come up with a plan to implement the necessary changes. So for those who stress eat, for example, this could mean leaning into that power of the paws and working to find healthier stress releases unrelated to food or even facing the stress at the root for those who are busy and on the move. This could mean planning a few meals out, maybe going for overnight oats or a smoothie that you can take with you on the go in your car, or even keeping some macro friendly, convenient snacks on hand like beef jerky, roos, edamame, protein bars in your gym bag for whenever you’re in a pinch. But again, this is where tracking will service that data and allows us to see those areas throughout the day in the weeks where we are struggling and allow us to see those huge room and areas of growth.

Cori (17:45):
Being more mindful isn’t just being aware of how your body responds to the food that you eat or how full you feel. It really is about having that outside perspective of how everything works together and how your fueling is impacting you and how your emotions are impacting your fueling. So it’s so much more than just intuitive eating, truly at its heart. And again, we are human and that voice inside our head can really sometimes sabotage us. So having that outside perspective and using tracking to our advantage, whether it is in a food tracker and if someone’s maybe struggling with the food tracker, struggling with macros, struggling with even becoming a little feeling that they’re obsessive with the numbers, what would you recommend they do to track to help them have that outside perspective to be more mindful?

Julia (18:31):
Yeah, that’s a great question. I would say even just taking a more modified approach to tracking, whether it be just a protein goal or again, if you’re really struggling with a certain meal, even just focusing on that meal, maybe it’s just breakfast or it’s just your snacks and really just trying to start small, and then over time you can build up and gather more data. But even just that will allow you to then go in and see how you can make just those little 1% changes day to day.

Cori (18:58):
I love that. And I even think taking pictures of the meals you want to eat, you plan to eat that will fuel you well. And then even taking pictures of the things that you maybe consumed that weren’t on what you had planned to eat, to sort of be able to compare, to have that data, to understand even writing out some notes on why you then had those things. There’s so many different ways to hold yourself accountable and give that outside perspective to then assess your feelings, how they’re impacting your fueling, and be more mindful in how you choose to fuel. Julia, any other closing thoughts? This has been fabulous.

Julia (19:32):
Just again, kind of figuring out what those possible causes are for you, and this is where it looks different for every single person and not being afraid to even dive in if it is something more so like stress, if it is something, whatever it may be for you, just not being afraid to dive even into it, because often it’s things beyond food, right? It’s that planning, it’s that accountability. So just not being afraid to dive into it and make those small changes over time, that is what adds up to that lasting change.

Cori (20:01):
It’s all in the reflection guys. Hopefully this was really helpful for you to really step back, see how you can be more mindful in your fueling. Love to hear your biggest takeaways. Julia, thank you so much for joining me today. Have a great rest of your week.

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

Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 3, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. What if not having changed anything is truly the problem? So I had someone comment, I haven’t changed anything, but all of a sudden I’m gaining weight and getting that comment, I slightly smiled because I think often we think, well, I’m not doing anything different, so why am I getting a different result? And my comment back to her, I could tell it slightly surprised her, but my comment back was, have you considered that not changing anything may actually be part of the problem? Because guess what? Your body, your lifestyle, your mindset, your goals are constantly evolving. And if you aren’t adjusting your workouts or diet to match that mismatch now with what used to work when your body and lifestyle and goals were all in a different place might be part of the problem.

(00:57):
What we do to reach one goal can often hold us back from reaching the next, even if our goal is still weight loss. And I bring this up because I think over the seasons, we need to assess what does and doesn’t work for our lifestyles. We need to assess where our mindset is right now. But in thinking about all this, when we think about sustainability, we also think about this as one thing. So think about what was sustainable for you in college? What was sustainable, maybe as a newlywed, what was sustainable when you had young kids? What’s sustainable when you’re an empty nester? All these things are going to be different. Sustainable is going to mean something different to you at each of these phases. And if you try and cling to what felt comfortable and confused, comfort with sustainability, you’re going to ultimately hold yourself back because nothing works forever.

(01:40):
And everything is constantly changing. And I bring up the seasons too, because I think we think often, okay, yes, now I’m older, so I have to adjust, or my goals have changed, so I have to adjust. But even over just the course of a year, your habits are not going to look the same, driving towards the same goal. And the more we own that, the more we can come back to the fundamentals, but evolve the exact implementation of habits before we fall off. So if you think about a workout plan, you’ve done a workout plan, or maybe you’ve done a diet plan even, and all of a sudden you’re like, oh, this is just not sustainable any longer. Well, how has your lifestyle changed? What’s happened? Is it simply that you’re hitting that hard? Where at 21 days you always start to give up? Okay, well maybe that’s the case.

(02:23):
Maybe it’s just a timeframe thing. It’s not that anything else in your lifestyle has even changed. Well, then how can you get over this hurdle still doing more than you would’ve done in the past? What works in January when you’re super motivated, all of a sudden it’s summer, you’re traveling more. Those habits might not work. And if you keep trying to clinging to them, that’s where you can end up falling off and sabotaging yourself. Same thing with the holidays. So the more we’re constantly assessing, okay, A, am I getting the goal or reaching the goal I want? And maybe then I do keep the habits, but if I’m not seeing the results that I want, or even going backwards and I haven’t started to fall off my plan to get less consistent, what is a mismatch that I need to address? And I think it’s really key that not only do we do a lot of reflecting along our journey and set those checkpoints, so not only a deadline for our ultimate goal, but even, and I won’t say deadlines because I think deadlines mean, oh, we’re supposed to be done here.

(03:12):
I do like to call ’em checkpoints, but just times to check in, be like, okay, every three weeks I’m going to do a check-in. I’m going to assess how things have gone, assess my true consistency, and then reflect on what it can change. Because it’s kind of like we’re a mechanic on our car. You don’t want to have your car and then not do the check-ins, the oil changes, all those different things. You want to be doing those things so that your car works really well. But so often we’re not doing those checkups, so to speak, on our diet and workout routines as we’re working towards our goal. All of a sudden we’re just like, oh, it’s not working. The car’s broken down. I’m just going to set it on fire and leave it there and go do something else. No, you wouldn’t do that.

(03:47):
You got to take care of that car. So it keeps moving. You don’t want to have to go buy a new one. You can’t buy a new body. So you got to do those checkups. But I want you to really reflect if you are struggling with seeing results, what other things have changed? Because sustainable doesn’t mean that it is comfortable. It doesn’t mean what we’ve always done. It is going to mean that there is some hard, it just has to be something built off. Those basics that we can consistently do that we know will drive us forward. And that’s even where we so often see that response of, oh gosh, why didn’t I do this sooner? Well, it didn’t feel sustainable to start, but now it does. But you embraced the why behind it. You reflected on what you needed to meet yourself where you’re at.

(04:25):
You went from those January habits where you could do six days a week, one hour in the gym to realizing all of a sudden that felt like the effort wasn’t getting the outcome that you wanted and it wasn’t feeling worth it. And so you’re going to give up. But instead you’re saying, no, no, no, I’m going to do three days a week because there is no ideal. It’s just about meeting myself where I’m at. And in that evolution, in that willingness to change, in that willingness to even say, Hey, it’s not a right or wrong thing. It’s just that nothing works forever. What I did in college doesn’t work for me now. Right? That reflection is what ultimately drives us forward to create sustainable patterns that will evolve. Because sustainable means being open to evolution so that we’re always meeting ourselves where we’re at. So if you have been frustrated by your lack of progress and say, but I haven’t changed my healthy habits, really dive in and reflect on what in those habits might need to evolve because something else in your lifestyle, even if it’s a mindset, even if it’s a routine because of work, a family life, that you’re not going to change, especially, how can you then evolve everything else to match what your body, your goals, your lifestyle needs right now?

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

Better Daily Habits For Results That Last!

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 27, 2025 | podcast

Listen:

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Change Requires CHANGE

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

APPLY NOW

Transcript:

Open Transcript:

Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. I don’t know about you guys, but I have a hard time sometimes slowing down to speed up. I am all about taking that action I want to do. Reflecting is not in my natural nature and it’s something I’ve had to learn, which is why I’m super excited to talk with Coach Ashley today about the power of the pause. Ashley, thank you so much for joining me.

Ashley (00:33):
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to get to dive into this topic and talk through it and talk through what are some of the benefits for people in their health and wellness journey.

Cori (00:43):
So let’s get right to it because as I mentioned, I am not good at reflecting. It is something I’ve had to really learn to slow down to ultimately speed up because there is a desire to sometimes do act out of emotion, react to something. So how can we really see the power in the pause and then use it to our advantage?

Ashley (01:03):
Absolutely. Okay, so when we talk about the pause, the way I like to frame this is it’s the space in between when you have a thought and the action that you take right afterwards. Now, the way that we kind of produce action and the way that our thoughts influence our actions, there’s two different systems. There’s the fast action response, which is usually born out of patterns that we have routines like the way we’ve operated since we are two, three years old. And I don’t want to say it’s animalistic, but it’s so instinctual that it’s just whatever our first instinct is. And then we have our slow response system, which is where more of that pause comes into play, where you think a thought, have thought, take a pause, and then determine or choose the action that you’re going to take. And so that’s where that pause kind of exists is right in between the position of where you’ve had that thought.

(02:03):
And what’s so powerful about it is that it allows your brain to actually override the automatic pattern that you’ve developed over the course of your entire life. And so the reason why this is so important, especially with behavior change, you’re trying to change anything about yourself, whether it’s the way that you wake up. I mean, I’ve had to use this because I’ve been told as I get older, I should wash my face and do skincare before I go to bed so that I don’t have wrinkles and I hate washing my face and it’s not in my nighttime. So I’ve had to intentionally use this strategy for something as simple as being clean, but you can use it for your health, your fitness, any area of wellness.

Cori (02:50):
It’s remembering that your habits made you do it in a weird way. And we think of habits as a good thing, but the habits do have that ingrained pattern that we default back into. So when we’re trying to create something new, we have to use that pause to recognize that our habits made us do it and unlearn those patterns as we’re even learning new ones. And that’s why it’s so hard and this giving ourselves space to really think about it is so key. So knowing that and knowing that it can be helpful for about any habit mentioning washing your face, I’m like, I’m not good at that either. Maybe I should use that here. But what can we do to help make ourselves actually take that pause when it’s so easy to default back into action?

Ashley (03:33):
I think first, recognizing and understanding that there are those two brains within us is the first thing. What that does is it allows us to remove guilt and shame from this process because a lot of times I’ll hear from clients is like, I just feel like I can’t get a handle specifically around food a lot. I can’t get a handle on this. I feel like I keep self-sabotaging. And what that produces is then a shame response that drives them away from the action altogether because they’re so worried about failure. So the first thing that you can do is when you have the thought, so let’s take just the situation of washing your face. So I’m cozied up on the couch, it’s hitting that time that I’m ready to go to bed. Typically it’s like, okay, just go to bed. I’m done. I’m ready for the end of the night.

(04:25):
Okay, wait, what can I use here to interrupt my pattern that I have of just going to bed? So for me, again, ridiculousness, but this is just who I am. I have to set an alarm on my phone that is at least five minutes ahead of the time that I’m too tired to actually want to do anything. And it’s an interruption, right? Go wash your face. Well, now it’s right in front of me to either make the decision because it’s an interruption. I either need to make the decision to go do the thing or to not do the thing. But because I know that there is something intentional I’ve placed in there, there’s no shame or guilt around my choice that I make. I’m just making the choice. The second thing that we really have to understand here is that a lot of our automatic decisions, a lot of our routines are inside being driven by dopamine.

(05:24):
And the reason why this is so important to understand is dopamine is highly addictive to us as humans. Humans. There’s studies that have been done on rats that show rats will go crazy for sugar as much as they can, even to the point of it killing them. And again, I don’t want to narrow us down to animals because we’re not, and we do have the second brain, however, acknowledging that dopamine is driving a lot of the impulsive decisions that we get, and that’s what we’re pursuing day in and day out. Just having that understanding puts us more into position of like, okay, I can think about this and analyze what’s happening versus just moving and going and reacting to my life moment and moment day after day and feeling like I have no control over it. So I think the first step is like understand what’s happening inside your brain.

Cori (06:16):
I think that understanding is so key because it does put you in a more proactive state. You recognize that there are things happening that are natural and that you shouldn’t even necessarily feel guilty about, but at the same time, you can control and change. And I love that example of setting that alarm For me, it’s a change in my environment. So thinking now about like, okay, I’m actually bad at washing my face as well, what could I do to then shift things so I have that reminder, well, I could put out all the materials I need to wash my face right on the counter so that I have no excuse. I see it when I go to brush my teeth, which I do do religiously. So that’s a good habit to have ingrained, but that will help me have that reminder and then make a choice. Yes, I can still choose not to do it, but it’s a lot easier to remember to do it when those visuals are there. So it is finding a way that you can create that pause through other things that trigger it, because trying to think about pausing is kind of impossible to start until you really recognize the pattern you’re repeating.

Ashley (07:17):
You just hit on that word. You have to recognize it to know that it’s happening. Recognizing it requires reflection, it requires pausing, it requires looking back and even having a moment of analysis. So pair this back, really simple things that affect our clients daily. Oh, I didn’t work out yesterday because my day was so busy. Okay, let’s reflect on it. Let’s look back to yesterday then. What was different? What was the same? Where was the moment that you decided that you weren’t going to work out? And can you in that moment, is there a different trigger that we could have put into place? Just like you just described, what is something that you want to do differently? And in fact, the author of Atomic Habits talks about how to implement and put new habits into place, and everything comes from a queue. So let’s say stressful day, long day meetings up the wazoo, something happened at work.

(08:27):
Okay, stress response, right? Then you have the routine of that. So maybe the routine is when you get stressed, you stop by McDonald’s and you pick up your shamrock shake because it’s March and you got to have one in there. That’s like your little trait. And then at the reward, what’s the reward of that is that you get comfort. Okay, well, if I want to interrupt that pattern, I want to do something different, then what I have to do is the moment that the routine is hitting, that’s where I have to insert the pause. That’s where I have to go. I guess I’m going to take a different way home maybe as a strategy, or I’m going to immediately drive to the gym right now versus even stopping someplace else to delay that process. And that’s where again, the pause though comes as you’re recognizing the routine that’s there.

Cori (09:23):
And it’s even using the pause not right in the moment. So while we do want that pause to come in the moment to assess our choice in the matter, what we really want to do, it’s even realizing that when something happens, instead of creating that guilt, instead of blaming yourself for the impulse, instead of just writing it off as, oh, this is a routine or habit or mindset that I can’t control, at the end of the day, reflect, put in that pause automatically right now at a time you can fully control, just say, Hey, I’m going to reflect on the day, what happened that led to this routine? What triggered this pattern? And then what things can I test out to do it to then implement? Maybe it is even putting in your gym bag so that you can go right to the gym, right into your car, so you don’t go get that shamrock shake.

(10:05):
Maybe it’s even having an extra snacker protein shake that you walk out of your office with at the end of the day of work because you’ll have that and won’t stop then. But using almost a preset pause at the end of the day to help yourself then even see those pauses because you’ll notice as you drink that protein shake, even though you’re doing that now sort of out of habit because it’s there, that creates that pause to assess this is how I felt. Okay, this actually did help, or maybe it didn’t, but it pauses your brain enough to give you that choice when you do select that thing. So it’s using pause in multiple different ways so that we can recognize what leads to that cycle. For us, even

Ashley (10:44):
One of the key things I think you hit on there, Cori, that’s really important is it puts you back into control and choice and decision. And I do think so many of us are just running around day to day being highly reactive to what the day brings to us. And sure, there’s going to be certain days that are that way. There will be things that are outside of your control. But what you just referenced is how do I use tools and strategies to make sure that I’m being intentional? Even the strategy of reflection, end of the day, you’re being very intentional with that to reflect back, to say, okay, what did I like about my day? What did I not like about the day? Let me forecast into tomorrow. What would I like to change for tomorrow? And it puts you into that driver’s seat again versus feeling like you’re just a passenger in your life and just whiplash in and out of traffic whichever way that you’re going.

(11:44):
And that’s a key factor that any person who wants to implement a behavior change, change something about their life change, something about their health and wellness, about their fitness, you have to start with the power to choose, have to start there. Once you recognize that you have the opportunity to choose, that’s when you can start actually using this strategy very strategically. Whether it is, I know sometimes I’ve worked with clients who I’m like, end of the week, here’s your reflection point. How many people are actually spending the time to look at their week or look at their month or even look at a quarter or a year of their life to say, what do I, lemme pause and reflect on what I liked here. That’s why New Year’s is such a great time to start producing change is because there’s a pause that’s built in after Christmas, after New Year’s, people are like leaning back, ate too much food, and they’re like, I can slow down for a second. And it’s built into their calendar almost. But we have to be intentional about building that in other places. Otherwise, a whole year goes by and you realize you’re in the same place

Cori (12:59):
And it can’t just be in the reflection after the doing, even it’s being intentional and taking that pause even prior. So to start your day, if you find yourself constantly in that reactive state, not pausing, even saying, well, I just can’t pause. And again, giving away your control, what at the beginning of your day can you do to set your intentions for the day, to set out the routine to recognize, Hey, this is what I even have in store and own it. Because I think that’s something we don’t do enough is own the reality of our situation, own our priorities, and therefore we don’t give ourselves the power to pause because we don’t recognize what might be coming up with the new year. We do exactly that, and the more we do it by even setting specific things versus saying, well, I want to track this year because I want to lose weight.

(13:41):
Well, how are you going to track, okay, how is that going to look on a daily basis? What action can you take today for that? The more you start to give yourself those really tangible things, the more you start to see the actions and the more it actually becomes easier to even pause because you are aware of those daily actions. And I feel like awareness is so much at the heart of all of this, and we’ve been circling around and touching on in so many different ways. Is there any way you’d recommend that someone goes about building that awareness more in the moment besides just the reflection, just the setting, the intentions for the day?

Ashley (14:16):
Absolutely. I think you’re touching on some really great reflection strategies and in intentional strategies, but it doesn’t take away from the moment that you need to make a decision where stress is high or your body and mind are pursuing comfort, right? So when you get into that moment, there’s the 5, 5, 5 rule, and this is a little bit more thought driven. So once you have the thought that you’re recognizing as like, okay, I really don’t want to, I’m just going to keep using this example, go to the gym. My day was long. I’m stressed out, I’m exhausted. Okay, well, let me give five seconds just to do nothing for five seconds. Have that thought address that it’s there. Okay, now I’m going to ask myself five minutes from now, how do I feel now about going to the gym? Okay, if I could get to the gym for just five minutes and do just five minutes of treadmill, warmup, foam rolling, whatever it is that I can, I just do five minutes, is that something that I can do?

(15:20):
And starting to look from that five, five perspective and talking yourself through it, it produces enough pause in the moment that you are not just reacting to the thought that is sitting there. It’s not an automatic like, oh, don’t want to go to the gym, not going, it’s a, oh, don’t want to go to the gym. Five seconds. Think about it. Okay, five more minutes, ask yourself again. So you’re driving home, ask yourself again, okay, now what if I could just go do five minutes that I’m there? So that’s one strategy that people can kind of utilize is that rule of 5, 5, 5. This is a little bit more meditative and it doesn’t work for every single person, but if you know what box breathing is, box breathing brings down the cortisol levels and the stress response in the body, which is where we make a lot of our automatic decisions pursuing dopamine.

(16:21):
So when you are in a high stress situation, you go back to routine. So what box breathing does is it’s strategy where you’re inhaling for a beat of four or five or a six. I have seen people do it even up to eight. Then holding that breath for that count of four to eight and then releasing it. What it does is it lowers the body sympathetic nervous system. That response that you’re having, it lowers your cortisol, brings you out of your amygdala, the emotional part of your brain and puts you back into, I call it the driver’s seat, that prefrontal cortex where you’re actually making decisions. You’re actually getting to have that response. So those are two strategies that strateg you can use to implement a pause into a moment or a situation, but something I think is key for you to even expand on. I love that you said earlier, Cori was about the environmental factors and how you can use those to interrupt and produce a pause.

Cori (17:26):
It’s all about where your attention goes, your energy flows, right? And with the breathing, with having those environmental shifts, we’re creating something that draws our attention to where we want it to go. And with the breathing, it’s amazing how much just that pause, not only because you’re pausing to count the breasts, but just that relaxation relaxes your mind, gets you to refocus, not just respond to something and allows you to honestly assess what you want. Because a lot of times in that immediate wanting to take action, you default back into what’s comfortable, convenient. You almost even give yourself permission and make an excuse for yourself to just do what you’ve always done. Well, I just don’t have the power. I just don’t have the self-control. I don’t have the willpower. No, I’m sorry. You do. You have all of those things, but we have to make the choice to have them.

(18:12):
And I’m very much a tough love person for myself and for everybody I work with. So for me, it is even in those pauses, not just saying, well, what do I want in the future? But why am I feeling like I don’t deserve this? Why am I feeling like I should give up on myself? And I think that honest reflection a lot of times is like, well, heck no. I’m better than this. Right? There gets a little like dust his shoulders off. It’s recognizing not only why you deserve it, but sometimes just saying strength is built through what you overcome. And the first few times you take that pause as hard as it is, that’s ultimately what makes you more comfortable being uncomfortable in that way. And so for me, it is a lot of environmental shifts. It’s not having the candy in the cabinet, but putting it in the freezer even though it tastes even more delicious, arguably in the freezer.

(19:01):
It’s that pause that creates the environmental shift that originally created that now helps. And so now I have that whole cycle in place. It’s putting out the gym bag or putting out the different things I need to handle. I hate for some reason responding to different mail things, even though I’ll respond to emails in two seconds. But if it comes in the actual mail, which generally are more important tax things that you have to do, whatever, but I for some reason, dislike doing them. But if I put them on my keyboard on my desk, I will do them because I have to pick it up to move it. So I’m that lazy that I will do it right? It’s just those small things that almost seem so silly that can be the biggest pauses and shifts just because they make us actually have to take action in a different way. And where our attention goes, our energy flows, right?

Ashley (19:48):
Yes. Oh, it’s one of my favorite statements and one of my beliefs is you have to know that in the driver’s seat of your life. You have to know that the direction you are determining the direction of who you’re going to be a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, and this is where everything that you just said reminded me of. Another tactic that people can utilize in the thought processes is we’re so impulse and dopamine driven sometimes as human beings, that as you’re interrupting your thoughts and your flows and kind of taking control of your life, one thing that you always have to ask yourself, is this serving the future version of myself actually going to thank me for this? Because sure, right now in the moment, I might be tired, I might be stressed, I might be joyous, I might have all of these different things, but a week from now, am I going to regret that I made the choice that I’m making right now, three months down the line, am I going to regret the way that I’ve handled the last three weeks or the decisions I’m making today?

(21:01):
And it really starts putting into your mind this future focus where it’s not all about the present moment and just the present moment, but now you’re living for something that is, I don’t want to say greater than yourself because it’s you. You’re pretty great. Do you deserve that for yourself? Does the future version of yourself actually deserve that? And when you start thinking about it that way and having more of a No, I want to live a purpose driven life wherever I’m going, I want to make sure that I am driving somewhere intentional as we start living that and start having that thought process and asking ourselves, again, pausing, what decision do I want to make for my future self? And I’ll just say this, sometimes the decision is yes, I do need to rest today because if I go work out right at this moment, I might pull my hamstring because my mind muscle connection isn’t there. And if I’m going to do that, if this happens, then I’m going to workout tomorrow at this time instead and starting to use the technique of even if then I’m in the driver’s decision, I can decide if I’m going to work out or not. And if I make this decision, then this is the consequence that comes of that decision, if you will.

(22:22):
Bargaining with yourself in that way can be another strategy. You can use that pause too.

Cori (22:29):
I definitely want to talk about bargaining because I think that can even sometimes steer into taking ownership of the fact that we are dopamine driven. Because I use it, and I don’t call it bargaining, but I think it’s very much along the same lines of, well, I can work out, or if I don’t want to work out, I have to work out to listen to this podcast that I really want to listen to or with not wanting to do the dishes, I also get to do this other fun thing. So it’s even combining and using things that really are that fix that we want with things that maybe we don’t want to do, or I hate foam rolling, I don’t want to do it. Okay, well, I get to watch X amount of Netflix if I also have foam roll during these different points in the show. So it’s sometimes connecting things that you are driven to do with things that you aren’t driven to do, to give you that pause to want to do them, and even potentially create some positive associations so that you want to ingrain in those habits potentially even faster too.

Ashley (23:29):
Oh, it’s so good. Using our dopamine fix to our advantage is so smart. And again, there brings a fun level to it and a joyous occasion to it because so often I will hear from people like, oh, I have to work out, I have to work out. And I’m like, is there anything that we enjoy here? I had a client once who her favorite thing about working out was the outfits that she got to buy to workout in. She loved it. She’s like, I love a cute gym outfit. I’m like, more power to you. I’m a t-shirt and sweatpants girl, but I love that for you and you love it for you. And so her thing was, okay, if I’m consistent this long, I get to go buy this new outfit. And when you start kind of combining that reward factor, like you said, that dopamine, and again, not guilting yourself over it, okay, yeah, I’m driven with some rewards. Awesome. How can I start partnering those things together and marrying them together so that I am both moving in the direction I want to go? And what you said, Cori was so important, starting to associate positive associations.

(24:43):
There is usually so many patterns people have had throughout their years of dieting and feeling like failure or feeling like they had these lived experiences of, well, in the past, my pattern has been to quit or to fail or to lose it and gain it. And so with that, there’s these negative associations with the process. I love asking the question, well, how much fun, positive joy can we start partnering with this experience so it doesn’t feel like so much resistance in it? You can tell me a little bit about your experience here, but I hear this a lot with tracking or when people go into a calorie deficit for the first time, there’s a fear response and they’re like, Ooh, they just cringe with it. And I’m like, okay, well let’s pause here. Let’s pause and figure out where that’s coming from. Okay, can we even use a strategy of a little game? How many treats can I fit into my macros on this cycle so that I can figure out how to actually not hate being in a calorie deficit? Because look at, I can have as many treats as I want as long as it fits my macros.

Cori (26:03):
I think that’s key because as a dessert person, for me, tracking seemed restrictive. And then I realized, wait, I’ve always cut out all these things without tracking, and now with tracking, I can work them in. So my trying to restrict food groups before was more restrictive than tracking, but because a lot of times we have used tracking to cut things out, we have that negative association. So pausing to really assess why we have attitudes towards things and break down how we’ve used ’em in the past is super important. That’s why I like having people just track to start because they see there’s no judgment in it, there’s nothing they can’t have. And then from there, they can adjust based on what they actually want. And I love your example of working in the things and seeing how much of a game you can make it.

(26:44):
Same thing with meal prep, right? A lot of times people have meal prepped and they’ve had chicken and broccoli. I actually do like chicken and broccoli to some extent, but I want diversity. And so if you only think about meal prepping in that way, that’s not going to be fun. But if you go look for new recipes and cookbooks and search on IG and Pinterest, you can find so many good things that make all these different habits really fun. But it goes back to what we’ve been talking about, power of the pause to assess why do I have certain attitudes and what can change this for me?

Ashley (27:19):
It’s so good. It’s so good what you just said. I think if there’s any two questions that somebody were to walk away with today, it would be those two questions right there. Why does this exist? So getting super curious without judgment towards yourself, working in that intentional reflection, is it at the end of the day for you? Is it at the end of a week as you’re looking through things, you have a cup of coffee, sit on your back deck, think about your week. What is that experience going to be like? And then second, asking yourself, well, what can I add in to this experience even before I take away? What can I add in that’s going to give me more of what I want? Is it quick and easy meals? Are those things that are important to me? Is it more treats? I’m also a treat person.

(28:05):
I want them, right? What is it that I want to bring into my health and wellness experience? And this is why I always ask clients when first starting with them, what is your ideal vision for your health and wellness? Magic genie pops out of a bottle. It’s like you get three wishes. You get these. If you could have anything, what could those be? And Cori, if I could tell you how many times people aren’t sure because they’ve never actually stopped to think about it and no one’s asked them, well, what do you actually want your health and wellness to look like, feel like? What do you want your process? Do you want to go hard in the paint or do you want it to be a little bit more slow because you’re like, I want to implement one thing at a time. Do you want this to be something?

(28:54):
There’s not the pause that they haven’t even thought about it. And so when I get to start working with a client, that’s the first thing we’re going to pause. We’re going to actually ask these questions of ourselves, and then we’re going to start piece by piece asking, well, what needs to change in order to get there and how do we go about that? So that’s where even as somebody is starting out at asking themselves what has changed, but I’ll just give this as a freebie too. One of my other favorite questions to ask people is, when was the last time you felt your best? Because in this reactive, crazy life, people go, man, 20 years ago, what was different about life 20 years ago, comparative to right now? Because if we can figure out the gaps between what was and what is now and then even go and where do we want to go from there? It allows people to pick out what’s changed before and what do I want to change now? So a lot of reflection in there. Journaling’s a great prompt if you’re a journaler, if you’re an analog person, maybe you’re a verbal processor. I will just say, this is where a coach comes in handy because you can verbal process at your coach and they can help bring some clarity. But even if you don’t have a coach, having a support person in your life that you can process with can also be really strong.

Cori (30:27):
I think there are so many great tips in that, and one of the biggest summaries of that is question and be curious. And I would add in a little bit, dare to dream because I think part of why we don’t ever achieve as much as we’d want is because we do limit ourselves whole other subject for another day. But we need to dare to dream. And if you want to implement the power of the pause, all these things are questioning and being curious about why you have that response. So in the moment, if you take that deep breath, you do the box breathing, you ask yourself, Hey, why is this coming up right now? Even that right there can make you really assess what you want and then put in the actions that you really feel you need to move forward towards your goals. So Ashley, three key takeaways for you from all of this that you want people to have in terms of using the power of the pause.

Ashley (31:21):
Let me think. Because when I get to this point, I always need a pause. I’m like, oh, there’s so many big things that people could take away. I would say the first thing is one, understand what’s going on internally. Understand that your brain and body are designed a certain way. And as you understand that, you use that too as a strategy to know that you can make a choice and that you can start choosing. And I say that very intentionally because sometimes people will slide into, well, this is just the way that I am and I can’t control it. No, no, no. Knowledge is power. Once you can know what your body and mind are doing now, you can use that to your advantage. So one, have that understanding without shame, without guilt. Two, get curious. So start working it into your day-to-day life or even weekly, that opportunity, 30, 60 minutes to just reflect on what is going well.

(32:16):
It doesn’t have to be super deep. You can say, what is going well? What is not going well? What do I want to focus on in this next week? Really simple. Third, what strategies are you going to use? So if you’ve noted a specific behavior or something that you want to change internally, maybe again, we’ll use the same example, stressed out, tired, you need to go to the gym, but you’re craving that shamrock shake. Okay, notice that. What’s the pattern interruption? What am I going to do differently this week? What am I going to try out? And then the biggest thing, after you try out that strategy, make sure you come back to the reflection. How did that work for me? Am I going to keep doing it in this way? So those are my big takeaways. It’s almost like a step by step. If you want to simplify it, understand, get curious, take an action off of that.

Cori (33:14):
And then pause again. Right?

Ashley (33:16):
It’s a cycle. It just keeps going. Yes!

Cori (33:19):
It does. We’re constantly learning and growing. And Ashley, thank you so much for all of this. I would love to hear how all of you are going to be using the power of the pause, what questions you really use to reflect and how you’ve shifted your environment, bargained with yourself, created those changes through really understanding where you’re at now and what you need to move forward during the most stressful times. There we go. Ashley, thank you again. It was fabulous to discuss the power of the pause with you.

Ashley (33:48):
Absolutely. Thanks, Cori.

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

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