TAKE ACTION
a
M
TAKE ACTION
STOP Sabotaging Your Results…How To Create Lasting Habits

STOP Sabotaging Your Results…How To Create Lasting Habits

by | Jan 15, 2024 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

You want to lose weight. Gain muscle. Adjust your diet to really feel better…

But creating new habits is HARD.

So many of us have thought…

“I just don’t have the willpower.”

“I don’t have the self control or discipline!”

But what if it isn’t that you don’t have enough willpower or self control?

What if it is that you’ve been approaching how you make workout and diet changes all wrong?

What if you need to embrace that discipline is BUILT?

Because so often we are sabotaging our own results in how we go about making healthy habit changes, I wanted to highlight 6 mistakes I often see clients making and how you can avoid these same issues!

The first mistake most of us make when looking to work toward a new goal is not first pausing to assess where we are at CURRENTLY.

So often when we want to lose weight or gain muscle we look for what we “should” be doing.

But searching for some ideal workout routine or diet is often what keeps us stuck in this yo-yo dieting cycle, never really seeing results build.

Because often we aren’t considering whether those ideals are actually even doable right for us right now or even sustainable.

And while we do need to embrace change if we want a new and better result, the more these changes are far from what we are doing currently, or what we feel capable of doing, the less likely we are to even do them or stick with them.

Often in trying to make these massive changes far outside our comfort zone all at once, we also just ultimately overwhelm ourselves and stop ourselves from even starting!
Instead approach making changes like you would approach driving to a new destination.

You not only enter your destination into your GPS. You put in your current location.

This gives you the fastest, most accurate route.

So before you start to make any changes and create a plan, really understand where you are starting from.

What does your lifestyle look like? What is a schedule that is realistic for you?

What are easy changes you could easily make today based on your routine and habits?

When you truly take a look at your lifestyle, you can make the changes YOU.

One size doesn’t fit all and by knowing ourselves we can find the things that will yield the biggest impact for us personally over wasting energy making changes that really don’t matter for our situation!

And then start with something SMALL first to get that momentum building.

Because that is often the second mistake I see clients making…and one I’ve made myself a ton…

We don’t start small.

I don’t know about you, but when I want a goal, I want it yesterday.

So often in my attempts to get results as fast as possible, I try to do everything at once.

But this can not only lead to me overwhelming myself, but also burning myself out on all the new things I have to do.

This is often what causes me to feel like I just don’t have the willpower or self control to keep implementing all the new habits.

But really it is just too many big things all at once.

By breaking down habits and even starting with the smallest changes that meet me where I’m at currently, I find results more easily snowball without me falling off my plan or feeling constantly stressed out.

So today write out all of the things you “could” do to make a change and circle the easiest one.

Do that.

Don’t worry about the other changes that you should or will eventually have to make.

Focus on one you can do right now.

The success of getting started, of moving past that first hurdle, will lead to you even WANTING to do more.

And this focus on small changes can even help us embrace the fact that often something is better than nothing.
I mean how often do you just simply skip a workout because you can’t get to the gym for a full session and think, “What’s the point of just doing 5 minutes?”

But if instead we had the view of one small thing adds up, we may do that 5 minutes anyway.

And not only may that 5 minutes lead to a 30 minute workout, it is also still 5 more minutes done that week than we would have done otherwise.

And 5 minutes more, week after week, adds up!

So focus on small changes.

Especially changes that don’t mean restricting the things you love most first!

Because that is a BIG mistake many of us make…

We cut out all of the things we love first.

We often do this because the things we generally like the most are lifestyle habits that are the least healthy for us or the most in opposition to our goals.

For me…dessert was always what sabotaged me.

I loved dessert.

But I also knew those high calorie, carb and fat loaded foods, were probably working against my body recomp efforts.

So because it was the most obvious thing to cut out, I would always restrict that first.

But the second I cut out dessert, I found myself wanting even more.

I would look at dessert food porn constantly on Instagram. It took over my feed.

And eventually, I would give in and not only eat the dessert I was craving…I would eat until I had food twins and couldn’t sleep I was so full.

Then I would struggle to make any diet changes again for awhile and end up not only regaining any weight I lost but even more.

It was only once I stopped that cycle and planned in my dessert FIRST that I was able to make changes that snowballed.

I first focused on ADDING in more protein over cutting things out.

I focused on small swaps to foods I didn’t care about as much, using a lower carb tortilla over a regular.

Swapping in greek yogurt with more protein for a regular yogurt.

Changing up berries for mangos in a smoothie.

Little things to hit my macros that didn’t make me feel like I couldn’t have something.

And on top of deciding to make those changes, I realized how much I could work in whenever I wanted which made when I DID cut something out really feel like a CHOICE.

Because often when we are looking to lose weight or make a change, we feel like we are being FORCED to do things we don’t want to do.

But…who’s forcing you?

Often NO ONE is technically making us do those things.

We are CHOOSING to.

But we don’t see it that way as it feels like we HAVE to do certain things to see results. We’ve been conditioned to believe that dieting means deprivation.

And this is a big part of what hinders us from making lasting changes…OUR MINDSET.

We need to recognize that mindset matters most.

As odd as that sounds, this is mistake that holds us back from seeing results…

We put this emphasis on new tactics, macros, workouts, meal timing, best moves…

But we never consider our mindset behind the changes.

And I can tell you, you can have a less than perfect plan and see results if your mindset is in the right place.

Or you can have the perfect plan and never move forward because mentally you hold yourself back.

As cliche as it is….

Whether we believe we can or we can’t, we’re right.

We can doom ourselves with doubt or help ourselves achieve amazing results because we trust in the process.

But just blindly believing in something is hard to do. What if it doesn’t work?

So often nothing really HAS worked, so why should this?

This is why we need to realize that we can create motivation through actions.

We can MAKE ourselves feel successful by how we approach change.

This means boiling things down into easy to manage bite-sized actions that allow us to get moving forward and feel successful right away.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with a ton of changes you feel bad at so you don’t want to do them any more, take one action that would make you feel successful and start with that.

Because when we feel successful with what we are doing, we want to do more. And we become open to bigger and harder changes.

We build confidence in our ability to even overcome.

So start small with actions you know you can do…even easily…

Maybe it’s 2 10 minute workouts.

Just writing down your food.

Just eating one more serving of veggies.

But realize you can create that motivation by allowing yourself to make those small changes that meet you where you are at.

And this motivation will allow you to BUILD.

Because so often we jump to trying to do everything we “should” be doing over trying to stack behaviors.

This is what leads to us falling off and feeling like we’re constantly not strong enough…like we just don’t have the willpower or self control to make the changes we need to see results.

But instead…

We need to focus on that habit build.

What’s one small habit you can do right now?

Can you go drink a glass of water to improve your hydration?

Now once you add in that glass of extra water every day this week, how can you build off of that habit?

Can you add in another?

Can you now move to adding in 1 more ounce of protein to your lunch?

Can you then make a swap to another food in a meal to lower carbs or increase them?

The more you make habits that allow you to stack more off of them, the more you will prepare yourself to make bigger and bigger changes.

And 1% improvements add up the more you make.

So while it may not yield the immediate sexy results you want, it creates a snowball that ultimately leads to better results long term and ones that truly last.

Now…just because you’re making small changes and avoiding cutting out the things you love most first…

This doesn’t mean that everything will always feel easy or fun.

Too often we try to oversell changes to ourselves.

We tell ourselves this program will be soooo easy or fun.

That this is the best lifestyle EVER.

Instead of recognizing that there is a downside to every upside.

Not embracing the negative is a BIG mistake.

This is often why we feel like there must be something wrong with us when we can’t make changes other people have made.

But the only thing wrong is that we didn’t recognize that doing something different than what we’ve always done WON’T always be easy or fun!

I mean…why should something feel easy to start?

It is new…

It is awkward…

We’re probably bad at it…

It isn’t what you’ve always done.

Things outside our comfort zone, many habits we do to get a great result, simply aren’t sexy or cool.

I mean who wants to wake up with an alarm?
No one. But who wants to miss their 4 am flight to their beach vacation?!

That’s a downside to the upside.

And there are lots of those.

But the more you do those habits, the more you don’t even think of them in a negative way.

They are just the downside to the upside.

The cost to get the reward.

So if a change right now feels unsustainable, don’t just give up on it.

Assess the benefit it is providing. Consider if it COULD be worth it enough to give it a chance.

Then realize that just because it is awkward now, doesn’t mean at some point it won’t feel good or at least be tolerable and WORTH IT.

We need to recognize that what feels sustainable right now is simply what you’ve always done until you’ve given the new habits and behaviors time.

Because often if we embrace that things can stink a bit to start and we push through that immediate mental barrier, we’ll see results snowball and find ourselves thinking…

“Why didn’t I make these changes sooner?” as the habits become normal and even enjoyable!

Changing habits is hard.

And often we are our own worst enemy.

We sabotage ourselves in how we approach making changes.

But by understanding these 6 mistakes, you can help yourself avoid them and see results snowball!

Apply to my Online 1:1 Coaching if you need that kickstart to see the results you deserve and avoid these mistakes!

–> Apply Today

I’m Losing Inches But I’m NOT LOSING WEIGHT! (Body Recomposition?)

I’m Losing Inches But I’m NOT LOSING WEIGHT! (Body Recomposition?)

by | Oct 30, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

“I’m losing inches but not losing weight 😭”

I couldn’t believe the first time I had a client send me that with a crying face emoji.

I was like…

What in the actual F$#@!

I didn’t send that back, but I’m pretty sure my face went into spasm because of the numerous conflicting emotions that ran across it.

When I finally responded…and I’m pretty sure she saw text bubbles pop up and disappear for at least 5 minutes…

I said, “Out of curiosity, why do you say that as if it’s a bad thing?”

“Because I need to lose 50lbs and the scale isn’t budging!”

Over the years, my replies to this conversation have evolved.

And yes…I’ve had this conversation often…so if, right now, you’ve basically sent yourself that mental text…

LISTEN UP….

Because I’m going to explain why you’re losing inches while the scale isn’t changing and how this is actually a GOOD thing!

Don’t sabotage yourself by getting discouraged!

I’ll then share 3 essential steps to achieve amazing body recomp and build your leanest strongest body no matter your age.

So why are you losing inches while the scale isn’t budging?

Because your previous dieting practices have sabotaged your body composition and metabolism. 

The reason so many of us struggle to achieve our ideal weight and body composition is because we’ve lost muscle over the years and never put an emphasis on building it. 

And all those weight loss fad diets only make our body composition worse.

They keep us stuck in that yo-yo dieting cycle…

We starve ourselves, slashing our calories lower to lose faster on the scale as we increase our cardio, turning even our strength workouts into destructive sessions of cardio death. 

And while this may have yielded weight loss at one point, and “worked” to see fast results that fade quickly…it killed our muscle and our metabolism.

It’s 100% why we feel like it gets harder as we get older and especially during perimenopause and menopause.

Our body is already changing and on top of that we have to fight our previous diet and exercise practices… 

Sorry don’t waste your breath defending them.

I say this after having been guilty of them too. But I’ve now sucked it up and owned it to move forward.

And this is why you’re now seeing inches being lost without the scale changing. 

So…Why is this a good thing?

Your body is screaming at you…

“FINALLY! I CAN BUILD MUSCLE!” 

And it is doing just that.

It is healing your metabolism. 

It is building the lean muscle you need to be fitter and stronger and healthier. 

And those inches you are losing is actually fat being lost. 

Not just water weight. Not just glycogen depletion.

Not as much muscle as fat disappearing.

But because you’ve put yourself on this horrible yo-yo dieting roller coaster in the past, your body first wants to build this metabolically amazing muscle…

And that is why the scale isn’t changing. 

You’re doing things the right way this time.

You’re setting yourself up to be lean and freaking fabulous at every age moving forward. 

So don’t sabotage yourself.

Realize your body is thanking you for giving it the ability to gain muscle. 

And weight loss will follow if you trust the process. 

But don’t let the scale not changing as you LOSE INCHES make you sad in the slightest. 

Now the 3 Essential Steps To Keep This Amazing Body Recomp Happening…

You want to do everything you can to promote muscle growth which will help you lose fat and ultimately achieve your weight loss goals….and keep the weight off. 

However, this process isn’t fast AND can be frustrating because we aren’t getting the satisfaction of the scale changing.

A huge part of the battle over even what macros to use or what workouts we should be doing is getting ourselves to stick with the habits we need when we aren’t fully seeing results in the way we want…. 

Often we don’t need more “tactics”…we need more TIME for results to build.

More time creating new systems that lead to results and break those bad habits that are keeping us stuck.

Which is why Step #1 is to Fight The Urge To Do What You’ve Always Done.

It’s going to be hard to change your mindset and approach to weight loss. 

You’re going to have to keep reminding yourself not to default back into old habits and patterns. 

To not want to cut your calories lower. 

To not want to train longer or add in more sessions. 

The hardest part often of making changes is often UNLEARNING or breaking those old habits. 

Especially when the old habits are comfortable and we “feel” like they used to work to some extent. 

This is why it can be helpful to write out the habits we often WANT to fall back into to make them conscious while listing out what we want to do instead.

This can remind us to stay focused on the new habits we want to build while catching us if we do track back toward what we used to do. 

We want those conscious reminders.

We also want to set out other ways to celebrate wins with the new habits and remind ourselves they are paying off even while the scale may not be changing. 

The more ways we measure progress, the more ways we can see our success.

Take those body measurements. Track those strength gains in the gym.

Heck set a performance goal for yourself to help you have other reasons to want to keep doing the habits you need. 

Show yourself how this is paying off in so many other ways so you can get yourself buying into the process to keep doing what you need! 

And even list out all of the reasons why what used to “work” didn’t really work! 

Too often we just want to do what we’ve always done because it is comfortable. 

But if it worked so well, we wouldn’t be trying to reach the same goal again.

Remind yourself of the pattern those old habits lead to.

Remind yourself of the negative outcomes.

Help yourself see why you deserve this change and why it is worth it!

Step #2: Focus On Nutrition By Addition. 

Part of what also sabotages our success in reaching our body recomp and weight loss goals is the mindset of restriction.

We always turn to cutting things out.

And cutting things out can not only backfire because we aren’t eating enough to support building lean muscle, but also from a long-term ADHERENCE standpoint. 

When we feel like we are deprived or restricted and working SUPER HARD toward a goal, we feel we DESERVE better results faster. 

We want the outcome to match the effort. 

So the more we feel like we are having to do so much to not see the results we want, the more likely we are to give up when things are working.

This is why you need to approach nutritional changes with the mindset of what you can ADD IN first over what you need to cut out. 

This can also help us focus on FUELING our body to feel more energized, train harder and support lean muscle growth. 

Instead of focusing on what you need to cut out to make changes, focus on what you can add in that will help things shift. 

Even consider how you can still work in things you love by ADDING other things around them that balance out. 

Love dessert, but need to increase protein?

Don’t cut out your dessert!

Put that in first then find other ways to add in protein to other meals to still find a balance. 

Focus on things you can add to make healthy changes and better fuel your body. 

By focusing even on how we can drink more water, add in more fruits, consume more vegetables, we often will make changes that pay off without getting ourselves into a restriction focused cycle! 

Step #3: Train To Build. 

Stop seeing your workouts as a chance to burn more calories.

This creates that cycle of doing more in our training that ultimately not only leads to injury, but a lot of wasted effort. 

Doing more reps, training for longer, can end up in a lot of wasted time and volume just for us to try to burn a few more calories in a day. 

The simple fact is, you can’t out exercise your diet. 

And the more you try to, the more you don’t truly get the benefits of your training you should.

If you want amazing body recomp, muscle is magic. 

While your diet matters to building muscle, your training matters most.

If you don’t train to build, creating progressive overload, you won’t create the stimulus for growth. 

And building muscle will not only help you look leaner and lose fat, but it ultimately will help you feel younger and move better. 

If you love long bike rides or running marathons, you can still do the training you love. 

But by focusing more on strength work as well, you’re ultimately going to be able to do more of what you enjoy AND even achieve new personal records. 

So as much as you may not “enjoy” the strength work, you need to remind yourself of the value for both your performance, aesthetic and even LIFE goals. 

When you design your workout routine, your goal should be on building muscle. 

Especially for amazing body recomp, focus on full body workouts or hemisphere over body part splits to be efficient in your training and work more large muscle groups per session.

This also allows you to hit areas more frequently. 

And design for the time you have so you can get consistent with that schedule! 

Then make sure to push yourself to maximize the reps you do while not just eliminating rest! 

Think quality not quantity when you train!

As much as your goal may be to ultimately lose weight on the scale, if you’re losing inches and not yet seeing the scale budge, do NOT give up. 

Remember this is a GOOD thing.

Stop the extreme deficits. 

Stop the fanatic cardio sessions done purely to burn more calories. 

Start focusing on muscle.

Use these 3 steps to help you dial in your lifestyle to achieve amazing body recomp! 

If you’re looking to have all 3 steps combined into a personalized plan, check out my 1:1 Online Coaching!

7 Bad Habits That STOPPED Me From Losing Weight

7 Bad Habits That STOPPED Me From Losing Weight

by | Sep 17, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

I’ve made all the mistakes when it comes to trying to lose fat, gain muscle and create a sustainable lifestyle.

But I like to think all of my…interesting experiments…weren’t for nothing.

Because I’ve made so many I can help my clients avoid making those same mistakes and wasting time.

That’s why I wanted to share 7 bad habits that kept me from losing fat for the longest time!

And I’ll be honest…most sabotaged my success because they were simply unsustainable and created a mindset of restriction and deprivation.

Because while achieving our goals does mean making sacrifices at times,
we also have to learn to create a balance, meeting ourselves where we are at.

And that’s why I think this first bad habit is something many of us have had sabotage our results…

Focusing On Eating Too Clean. 

I literally ended up curled up on the bathroom floor of a hotel in San Diego. I was pasty white, in a cold sweat and looked like death. 

All because I’d been eating only chicken and broccoli and extremely clean, one ingredient foods for weeks before the vacation. 

One spicy sangria and a couple of appetizers later and I was sick. 

It’s because I’d created these extreme limitations on myself that not only had left me miserable for weeks, while not seeing better results faster, but they led to me being sick at the first deviation from my clean eating plan.

Too often we try to make ourselves feel guilty for not hitting some arbitrary standard of clean.

But this mindset of good and bad foods not only assigns moral value to foods that don’t have any, leading to GUILT when we eat one thing we aren’t supposed to, but it also can sabotage our results and long-term consistency. 

This extremely restrictive clean mindset can lead to an obsession with food.

It can also lead to us creating nutrient deficiencies.

And it can lead to us ultimately feeling so miserable and deprived we give up. 

And then we feel that reaching our goals is impossible and we just don’t have the willpower. We start to even DREAD the idea of making diet changes.

And all because we’re trying to force something unsustainable.

Instead of focusing on “eating clean,” focus on small swaps to foods and ingredients based on what you’re currently eating. 

Realize that whole natural foods are key BUT that you can and SHOULD include the foods you love.

However, this does bring me to bad habit number 2….

Including Too Much Food Diversity. 

After attempting to cut out all unclean foods, and the massive backfire I suffered…not to mention I literally couldn’t even look at chicken and broccoli for awhile… 

I went to include as much diversity as humanly possible.

I thought it was a great idea to include things to keep my meals interesting and get micronutrients from a diversity of sources. 

And while we do want to include a diversity of foods for optimal health to get vitamins and minerals in different forms…

Trying to include too much diversity can be overwhelming and lead to actually more cravings!

The more we give ourselves, the less of a routine and habit we get into and the more we WANT.

It becomes then a slippery slope of more and more foods creeping in. 

And the less nutrient dense they are and the more processed, the easier it becomes to overeat and feel hungry even when we’ve eaten enough calories.

Not to mention it can make grocery shopping, meal prepping and hitting those macros more overwhelming when there are so many more pieces to the puzzle. 

Simplifying and focusing on a set grocery list and meal plan with a few key ingredients each week can help us stay consistent and not be overwhelmed as we make changes! 

Studies have even shown that we are less likely to overeat when eating the same things repeatedly, making it easier to maintain our macros and calories to lose the fat!

It leads to fewer cravings and a better shut off mechanism when we’ve consumed what we need! 

The 3rd bad habit is a hard one to change when we want results as fast as possible…

It’s Always Going Hard And Never Cycling Intensity.

Sometimes less is more.

And sometimes if we back off when we aren’t motivated or proactively give ourselves a break, we actually stay more consistent overall. 

If you’ve been dieting and in a deficit for a while, you may both physically and mentally start to feel the impact of the lower calories.

Your body does want to fight the weight loss process as weight loss is seen as a threat to your survival.

So you will find that cravings go up even as you get leaner and your mind fights against what you know you “should” be doing. 

You may even feel demotivated to train in the way you need.

This is where potentially a deload week or a dieting break may come in handy.

The key is doing these things strategically and with a plan not just eating everything in sight while you lay on the couch for a couple of weeks doing nothing. 

But give your body a break from the calorie deficit, maybe including even a few foods you’ve wanted but haven’t had.

Just be strategic in giving yourself guidelines to eat at maintenance calories and even hit easier macro ratios.

Don’t let this become a free for all. 

And then you may find you’re more motivated to train with the increase in fuel or that a deload week allows your body a break to repair and rebuild while also giving you a mental break from the strain of constantly pushing that progression. 

But be proactive if you’ve been dieting for awhile and give yourself that strategic break. You may be surprised by how much it even helps you bust through a plateau!

The next bad habit is one I think many of us fall prey to that prevents us sticking with the habits we need to see the body recomp we want…

And it is – Only Using The Scale To Measure Progress. 

I think the scale can be a great tool. And I think it can even be a good thing to weigh daily.

But the scale also doesn’t show us the full picture.

It can make you feel like you’re actually even losing ground when results are truly building. 

And this is because the scale just tells you your weight in that moment on that day.

It doesn’t tell you if you’ve gained weight because you’ve gained muscle while losing fat or if you’ve lost weight by losing muscle and even gaining fat.

And seeking to see faster results on the scale, can actually sabotage your fat loss efforts, especially your long term maintenance.

Because the faster we seek to see results on the scale, the more we often end up losing muscle mass and NOT just fat.

So if you want to focus on truly losing fat to look leaner, you need to track your progress by taking body measurements and progress pictures. 

Especially progress pictures of areas you don’t even care about changing. 

Because often the places we want to lose from the most are the LAST to go.

So by taking multiple angles and areas, we can see fat loss occurring in other places to know to stay the course! 

The next bad habit is one that I’ve found personally the hardest to break…especially because I always enjoyed training…

It was – Trying To Out Exercise My Diet.

Many of us fall into this habit because it actually does work…to start! 

But relying on this is also what ultimately keeps us stuck in this yo-yo dieting cycle, struggling to lose more and more as we get older.

It works because most of us are more comfortable being uncomfortable in our training than we are with making nutritional changes. 

We also can create that calorie deficit to start by doing MORE in our workouts.

And it makes us feel really in control to push hard. 

We feel good about our hard work. 

But working hard doesn’t mean we’re working hard in a direction that moves us forward.

And over time, our body adapts to the training stimulus, which means we aren’t then creating the calorie deficit we once were. 

So at that point either our diet needs to change or we need to train harder and longer.

At some point, trying to only do more with our workouts will burn us out, lead to injury or even ultimately result in metabolic adaptations that make it harder and harder to lose as we get older.

The simple fact is, our nutrition has to match our goals. 

And by adjusting our diet we can see our performance in the gym even improve as we achieve fabulous body recomp.

We will truly see the hard work and sweat we are putting in during our workouts PAY OFF! 

And I think it’s really key we recognize that at times…it WON’T feel like our hard work is paying off.

We won’t see linear progress toward our fat loss goals. 

But this is why I think this next habit is so key to break…

Treating Your Workouts Only As A Means To Lose Weight.

While we do want to design our workouts and our nutrition to work together toward a singular goal, I also think it is key we set complementary goals that further motivate us to do the habits we need to see results. 

And that’s why I found that a secret to consistency and success in losing fat and keeping it off is actually Setting Performance Goals while also NOT seeing my workouts as just a chance to burn more calories and lose faster.

By focusing on a specific performance goal, like improving my push ups, conquering a skill, lifting more weight in a specific lift, addressing an imbalance…even training for a competition…

I help keep myself more motivated to train hard. I have more purpose for each workout. 

And then I have something to track in the gym to see my hard work building toward. 

This ultimately also helped me lose fat because it kept me doing the habits I needed.

I wanted to eat to fuel and feel my best, which resulted in better body comp. 

I wanted to do the recovery I needed to be able to train hard. 

By setting complementary goals, like performance goals for our workouts, we better help ourselves to stay motivated to do the habits we need even when fat loss results are slow or we hit a plateau. 

It allows us to celebrate other wins to keep moving forward!

And the final bad habit I think sabotaged for years and kept me stuck losing the fat to only regain it and feel like I was starting over every January with a new cut was…

Not Doing SOMETHING When It Was Better Than Nothing. 

Every holiday season I would make an excuse not to track. “Oh I know the portions I need to eat.”

“Oh I can find balance I’m not being that off plan.”

“Oh I can take today off.”

And every holidays I would pack on the pounds.

I realized that, while there are times of year I don’t track and stay consistent, the holidays was not one of those times. 

But I also knew the habits I enjoyed when motivated in January wouldn’t fit the holiday season. 

That’s when I realized the power of 1% improvements.

Just being a little more consistent, focusing on doing a minimum, could help me move forward even during a time I didn’t care as much or have the motivation and focus. 

Too often we try and rely on a perfect 21 days or 6 weeks. 

But doing the ideal only during those times doesn’t allow for true habit changes or results to snowball. 

So it’s key we stop the all or nothing habit changes and realize that sometimes something is better than nothing, embracing doing the minimum at times! 

If you’ve been struggling to make consistent and sustainable changes, and have fallen into these bad habits, focus on making one change today!

We need to keep constantly learning and remember that small swaps and changes add up!

Ready to create sustainable habits that help you achieve your leanest, strongest body EVER and maintain those results till your final day on this planet?!

Join my Dynamic Strength program!

Can’t Lose Fat? Here’s The #1 Reason Why

Can’t Lose Fat? Here’s The #1 Reason Why

by | Sep 10, 2023 | Blog, Diet

“But I was good all week!”

Have you thought this after stepping on the scale Sunday morning to weigh in only to be disappointed by the result?

Many of us have….we feel like we’ve worked hard all week to not see the results we feel we deserve!

That’s why I wanted to share the number one reason you aren’t seeing the weight loss results you want…

Which is honestly…you weren’t as “good” as you thought you were.

Now before you give an angry look and click off this video saying I’m wrong…

I want to go over the hidden inconsistencies I often see in clients’ diets that sabotage their weight loss results.

But I also do just want to first mention…

The scale doesn’t show us the full picture! 

Just because you didn’t lose that week doesn’t mean results aren’t building.

The scale just shows us our weight in that given moment. But our weight isn’t just fat and muscle.

It’s glycogen being stored, water weight, inflammation, poop…

So a hard workout the day before, a little more sodium with dinner or even eating slightly later than usual could all impact our weight the next day.

We may even have seen losses had we weighed the day before a hard workout that made us sore while seeing increases on our weigh in day.

That’s why we never just want to jump ship because of the scale not immediately showing us the results we want.

It’s why taking pictures and body measurements are so key.

Because the scale also doesn’t show us body recomp happening at times.

If you gain 2lbs of muscle and lose 1lbs of fat, you’re going to gain on the scale while looking leaner.

So it’s key we aren’t just only basing results off changes on the scale.

We also need to recognize that progress is never linear. 

While we often hear it is possible to lose 1-2lbs a week, this doesn’t mean it is realistic for us or that we will achieve this every single week.

It often means that when you look at averages over time, that it is a realistic, but challenging rate at which you COULD lose.

But week to week, may vary, including weeks where you actually gain a pound before losing 3.

We also have to remember that while something is “realistic” it doesn’t mean it will happen for us.

How long we’ve had the weight on, how much we have to lose, how aggressive we are being with our plan, even our age and training and dieting experience can all impact how fast is realistic for us to see results.

So as frustrating as it can be, you need to track progress in multiple different ways and also step back to assess trends over time.

And if you aren’t seeing results snowball, consider whether or not you’re actually being as “good” as you think or if these 5 underlying issues are popping up…

Issue #1: Weekend Eating Blowing Your Calorie Deficit

The “but I was good all week” feeling comes from us working really hard Monday through Friday afternoon.

We’re precise in our macros. Really cutting out foods and dialing in our calories.

We’re meal prepping.

We feel like we’re working really hard.

Then on Friday night we feel like we DESERVE that cocktail.

Those chips and guacamole.

On Saturday morning, we wake up feeling a bit lazy and wanting to relax.

And after indulging the night before, we find it easier to want to not eat according to our plan that day as well.

Which often spills into starting over Monday…

We think, “Well it’s still only a couple of day off plan while I was good all week. 5 days vs 2 IS consistency.”

But what we don’t realize is how much even those couple of days can throw us out of a deficit and really impact our weekly macros.

Especially because often we don’t log those days to see their impact.

But it’s easy for meals out, extra serving of dessert to create a calorie surplus over those weekend days that destroys our deficit from the week, especially if we are trying to create a smaller deficit to feel energized and protect our lean muscle mass.

Those weekend meals are also often carb and fat heavy and pretty low on protein.

This can dramatically change the macro ratio we are actually hitting over the week.

It’s why we can feel like we are working so hard, being so good, and overall consistent, yet not seeing those results snowball.

It’s why, starting out, it can be good to track EVERYTHING.

That way you truly know what your weeks and even months are averaging out to to be able to adjust accordingly.

Maybe it does mean adjusting your macro or calorie goals to slightly accommodate different habits on the weekends.

Or maybe it means finding ways to make more macro-friendly versions of the weekend meals you usually enjoy.

But so often we just aren’t aware of how much of an impact a couple of days can have on our results!

Consistency isn’t just the number of days but the impact of each day on the total!

Issue #2: Having “Free” Calories. 

I know many popular diets say you don’t have to log certain things…like you can only track net carbs or not log certain sauces, fruits or vegetables.

And over time you may not log certain things because you know the calorie impact for you is low.

But the more you don’t log, the more calories can be adding up that you aren’t aware of.

The more you don’t have fully accurate data to work off of and make changes from.

Plus, it goes back to MINDSET.

Excusing not logging certain things, makes it easier to not log other little extras!

So no matter how minimal the calories may be, or even the argument that we don’t actually absorb the calories say from fiber,we should log everything to start when we are wanting to reach a goal as fast as possible.

When it comes to veggies, often people argue against logging them because they are very low in calories.

But most of the time we aren’t eating them plain.

Too often the sauces or oils we put on them DO have calories that add up on top of the calories from the veggies themselves!

And when it comes to tracking only “net carbs,” we often only make this excuse to be able to consume MORE CARBS.

While tracking net carbs may be key for specific health concerns, for weight loss, don’t subtract fiber.

When you set your calorie intake and deficit, you are assuming that you ARE eating foods with fiber.

You aren’t creating that deficit planning to eat no fiber!

So counting only net carbs can throw off the numbers you are actually hitting.

As painful as it is to start, LOG EVERYTHING!

What gets measured, gets managed!

Issue #3: Not Logging Bites, Licks And Nibbles. 

This goes back to logging everything to start as these small little things add up over the day and weeks.

A couple of nuts or crackers here or there, the bite of leftover food off a kid’s plate…These things really add up.

And the less we are aware of them, the less we hold ourselves accountable for them, the more we tend to do them.

By pushing ourselves to log everything, we can often break patterns of mindless snacking. Snacking out of boredom even or stress.

And we can start focusing on fueling better. We can change even our relationship with food.

But focus on being conscious of your tendency to take little things throughout the day.

Make an effort to log them and be accountable.

You may find you then stop this pattern OR at least know the actual calories you’re consuming.

And you may be surprised by how much those little things have added up to an extra couple hundred of calories over the week on top of other habits throwing you out of the calorie deficit you thought you were consuming!

Issue #4: Not Truly Measuring

Our portion sizes easily get distorted.

How hungry we are, the size of the full portion served at a restaurant, how much we want it, how stressed or tired we are…

So many things impact what looks like a portion to us.

And it is so easy to let emotions lead to you scooping out a little bit extra of that peanut butter than you know is right!

Even the size of what you’re adding an ingredient to can impact how we see the portion.

A bigger piece of toast can make a serving of peanut butter look oh so pathetic!

That’s why, especially as we are really learning what portions we need to fuel and reach our goals, we need to get accurate measurements of everything we eat.

Tedious, boring, frustrating? YUP.

But this is the way you can really learn how distorted your portions may have been!

And this is the way you see results as efficiently as possible.

It’s just like baking a cookie…A little too much or too little of an ingredient can dramatically impact how ooey gooey or crispy that cookie is!

You don’t want to just wing it and hope when you’re craving those cookies! You weigh and measure everything so they come out exactly perfect.

This is exactly why you want to measure everything.

Results require a recipe. Help yourself know exactly what you need!

Whether you use measuring cups or a scale, weigh and measure everything, even saving recipes or meals to reuse quickly in the future.

Issue #5: Not Entering Ingredients. 

A common excuse people make for not tracking everything is that they cook from scratch at home. Which is actually a funny excuse as cooking from scratch makes it EASIER to log everything than eating out.

You know exactly what you included and can measure out everything to log each ingredient accurately!

Too often we make a lasagna and simply select “lasagna” in the food tracker.

But we don’t know if that recipe was the same as ours. Or even if another person entered it manually and the macros and calories are correct.

Whenever possible, create your own recipes and meals in your food tracker, entering ingredients and portions.

This gives you the most accurate numbers to make changes off of!

And when you eat out, do your best to find something close to what you got.

Even check restaurant websites for nutritional information as many now list the breakdowns so you can enter them into your food log!

But the more precise we can get with everything, as hard and annoying as it is to start, the more we can help ourselves know we are doing what is needed to move forward over feeling frustrated when we step on the scale and aren’t sure why results aren’t snowballing!

So if you’ve stepped on the scale and thought, “But I was good all week.” Step back and ask yourself…

“Have I actually been as precise in the habits I should be doing daily as I think I am?”

Reflect on whether or not there is room for growth and opportunity in realizing some of these issues may be popping up.

Because often there is always a little bit more we can do to better implement our current plan over jumping ship and starting over!

Ready to dial in your diet and your workouts to see amazing body recomp results at ANY and EVERY age?

Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching!

 

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

by | Jul 23, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Workouts

Our metabolism does slow down as we get older.

But so much of the metabolic slowdown that we blame on age is actually due to lifestyle factors we can CHANGE adding up.

We have to remember that nothing works forever.

And often what we “got away with” even when we are younger is now coming back to haunt us.

As our body and lifestyle evolves, we’ve got to adjust how we fuel and train.

That’s why I’m going to share 6 tips to help boost your metabolism to lose fat at any and every age.

First, Focus On Hydration. 

Many of us know we should drink more water. 

But the struggle is real to actually change this habit.

Not only is it confusing to know how much water to drink but it’s hard to stop yourself during the day to get water when it isn’t already a part of your routine or you’re not really thirsty for it. 

However, proper hydration becomes more important as we get older and even start the hormonal changes of perimenopause.

Especially if you’re training hard, you want to consider consuming MORE than the general recommendation of 50% of your bodyweight in ounces.

You want to even shoot for 70% of your bodyweight in ounces of water consumed every day.

While you may find setting out a filled water bottle by the coffee maker helpful to remind you to drink water even as you make your coffee, you can also improve your hydration levels by consuming more high water content foods over the course of the day. 

To help you hit this amount and stay hydrated, don’t just only focus on drinking more water, as key as that is.

Make a salad of cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and lettuce – all high water content foods. 

Add berries to your oatmeal for breakfast to improve your hydration to start your day. 

Or try melons in your cottage cheese as a protein rich snack to stay hydrated. 

But focus not only on ways to drink more water but even improve your hydration through fruits and vegetables that also pack in the micronutrients to your diet as well!

Second, Eat 30-40 Grams Of Protein Per Meal. 

Increasing your protein is key.

And while most of us have heard we can only consume 20-30 grams of protein at one sitting, this just isn’t the case. 

While 20-30 grams may be the max we need to specifically utilize to build muscle from one sitting, this is also based on studies of protein supplements. 

The other macros consumed at a meal will impact the rate of digestion, slowing the process even to better let us utilize more at a time.

Not to mention as we get older, we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently, meaning we need more to see the same results. 

That’s why increasing our intake to 30-40 grams per meal, especially in our post workout meal can be super beneficial.

The harder you train, the more you want to focus on a higher protein intake to make sure you’re able to repair and recover more efficiently from your training. 

If we aren’t able to recover and rebuild properly, we may see our hard work in the gym not pay off the way we’d like in terms of strength gains and muscle growth, which can impact our metabolic health. 

And protein is not only key because of its muscle building benefits but also because it keeps us feeling fuller if we are in a calorie deficit to lose weight. 

This can make sticking to our nutritional plan easier long-term which allows consistency and time to work their results magic.

Plus, protein has a higher thermic effect than the other macros, meaning your body burns more calories to digest and utilize it for other bodily functions and to keep the tissues of your body strong and healthy.

It’s also important to find your food quality balance.

I’m a big believer in working in the foods you love. 

I love having a rice krispie treat or Reese peanut butter cup or ice cream as dessert.

And I will plan these things in first when I want them.

I also think we too often sabotage ourselves with this clean eating pressure where we feel we can’t have things we enjoy and eliminate foods arbitrarily that aren’t even necessarily an intolerance we personally struggle with. 

BUT we do need to find a balance.

Quality fuel helps our body function best. And we always want to seek to balance enjoying life and functioning optimally! 

We need those essential micronutrients to not only feel our best and stay healthy, but even to keep our metabolic rate higher and help us lose fat. 

A few micronutrients you may want to focus on more if you are working to lose fat and rev that metabolism are choline, magnesium, vitamin D, selenium and zinc. 

Choline is involved in the process of lipolysis, or fat loss, helping to break down fat into smaller pieces to be burned as energy. 

Eggs, beef, red potatoes and kidney beans are all great sources to include. 

Magnesium is involved in nearly everything, but when it comes to fat loss and metabolism, it helps control insulin and glucose, which both impact fat storage. 

It also can help with water retention and bloating, especially as you are increasing protein and making other dietary changes. 

Pumpkins, chia seeds, almonds and spinach are all great sources of magnesium.

Vitamin D is also key to include although harder to boost through our food consumption.

Even if we try to get out in the sun daily, as we get older we want to make sure we are boosting our intake even with a supplement. 

Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are linked to higher rates of overweight and obesity.

And both selenium and zinc are key for proper thyroid functioning. Impaired thyroid function will lead to a slower metabolic rate.

To increase your intake of selenium include foods like brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna and halibut and to increase zinc consider oysters, pumpkin seeds, pork loin or even oats. 

While I’ve talked about 3 key nutritional tips, the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together.

That’s why you can’t ignore the importance of your training for your metabolic health. 

When designing your workouts, stop just doing body part splits.

(Looking for workouts designed strategically to help you reach your goals? Check out my Dynamic Strength App!)

Design progressions that Work Your Upper And Lower Body In The Same Workout. 

Full-body workouts or anterior/posterior splits can be beneficial if you are looking to keep your metabolism healthy as you get older without having to spend hours in the gym 6 days a week. 

Not only are these workouts more efficient, but you will target multiple big muscle groups each and every workout to more effectively build muscle while also burning more calories per session.

While I never like to focus on training as just a time to burn more calories, this extra calorie burn because you’re working more big muscles per session to build more muscle isn’t a bad added bonus! 

And by doing these splits, you can also increase your training frequency for each area over the week.

Training a body part 2-3 times per week over simply doing more for an area in a single session may help you see better muscle gains. 

That training frequency for especially hard to grow areas of 2-3 times per week has shown to yield the best results.

It can also help you train the area at a higher intensity each session, performing a higher overall quality of work, as too often we simply include more training volume in a workout that becomes wasted as we fatigue over the session. 

So consider designing workouts that allow you to target different areas every workout while hitting both big muscle groups in your upper and lower body each session!

The next training tip is to Focus On Low Reps And Heavy Weights. 

Too often we turn to more cardio or metabolic workouts when we want to lose fat. They make us feel out of breath and like we worked hard. 

But muscle is what stokes that metabolic fire.

To build that muscle we need heavy loads and progression in movements that challenges our muscles to tear them down so they have to rebuild stronger.

This is why you want to work down in reps and up in weights during your training.

And while using a diversity of rep ranges is ideal, do not ignore that maximal strength rep range of 1-5 reps even if muscle hypertrophy and fat loss is your goal. 

Increasing our strength allows us to then move more weight overall during our training, resulting in better muscle gains.

So while you may have heard that 6-12 reps is best for muscle hypertrophy and you do want to include this rep range, working lower in reps with even heavier loads will ultimately make you stronger to lift more for those exercises done in the 6-12 rep range.

Consider including a single heavy compound lift at the start of your workout for 4-5 rounds of 3-5 reps, resting 3-5 minutes between rounds. 

Follow that up with other compound accessory exercises in the 6-12 rep range to target specific muscle groups you’ve already started fatiguing with that first lift! 

The final tip is to Sprint More.

That high intensity interval work is so key to our conditioning and metabolic health. It is a great way to burn calories in an efficient way as well.

And if you perform short intervals of work of even just 10-20 seconds with 3-5 times the rest, you can really train speed. 

Just don’t get caught up on doing a bazillion rounds.

You don’t want to feel beat down from these short sessions. Less is more. Think even just 8-10 rounds of sprints. 

Go all out and fully recover. You want to train speed which means not doing a work interval again until you’ve recovered.

When you include sprints in this way, not only can you help keep your metabolic rate higher, even increasing your calorie burn after the sessions, but you’ll help improve your mind-body connection to even get more out of your lifting. 

This explosive power work helps you more efficiently recruit muscles which can lead to better strength gains.

These short intense bursts also help us see better results from our other workouts because they improve our conditioning and therefore our ability to recover more quickly between rounds of work. 

Better recovery means better quality of work during our training!

Using these 6 tips you can improve your metabolic health to lose fat at any and every age. 

Just remember the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together!