“We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits”

Well we have been out of touch with our schedules for a couple months now.
How many of you stuck with the same routine?
I mean be honest here…. same gym days? Same eating patterns? Same sleep hours? …….
yeah …. I thought so. Me too. Things were outta sorts. I became immersed in farm projects to occupy my mind and what seemed like endless days of anxiety.
i cooked. I cleaned. I gardened. I just sat and stared at the wall. I thought I would sleep. I thought I would read. Well maybe a couple days I did. But I needed routine!
i am happy to be getting back to routine. It’s not even so much routine it’s my natural rhythm. I love being up and out the door before the sun rises! I love connecting with like minded people face to face to feel the energetic pulse of being! I love hearing about your weekend your accomplishment trying/doing something new. I’ve felt out of sync and announcing our official reopening last week and scheduling in appointments I felt “ahhhhhhhh” relaxed at ease and like my chakras all lined up again! Lol

It is time to return from wherever we have been whatever we have been doing and take that step back into our journey. It is time to once again become “in sync” with our lifestyle in a way that benefits us and those goals we chose …..
I welcome you back :)

Suz

Are you out of sync ?

With the current situation of Covid 19 many are forced to stay home out of work. Our routine is out of sync and we may he binge watching Netflix playing if the internet or online shopping.
the worry of what will happen next is on our minds and we may find ourselves tossing and turning.

The best way to combat sleep issues is routine or sleep hygiene

We are going to dig deeper into the most common activities people do to signal their body that it is time for bed. You don't need to try them all, but try out a couple and keep tweaking them until you find a routine that works for you.

TOP TIPS

ELECTRONICS

No electronics for one hour before bed. Our bodies are used to winding down when the sun goes down. Computers, TVs, cell phones and tablet screens stimulate the brain. This brain stimulation can keep us up at night telling our body to stay awake. By unplugging at night, you ensure both your mind and body are in a proper sleep state and are not being overstimulated.

If you must use your computer after the sun sets, we suggest you download f.lux, which is a program that adjusts a display's colour temperature according to location and time of day. It is designed to reduce eye strain during night-time use. If you have an Apple device, turn on Night Shift (found under Settings - Display & Brightness).

SAME TIME EACH DAY

Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Your body loves routines. If you are someone who gets up early during the week but sleeps in at the weekend, you are messing with your body's natural clock. As tough as it may seem, try to wake up early even on the weekends. Of course, there will be the occasional weekend where you are up much later than normal but try to stick to a strict bedtime and wake time as much as possible. You'll be surprised by how much more you can get done by sticking to this normal schedule.

SHOWER BEFORE BED

Sometimes there is nothing more soothing than a nice bath or shower. It will calm you down and relax you right before bedtime. This can also act as a trigger for your body as it can associate an evening shower with going to sleep, helping you get into a deeper sleep quicker. Keep the temperature warm, not hot, as this will allow the body to cool better when you get out, signalling sleep.

SOFT TISSUE

Perform some light stretching or soft tissue work, especially after a warm shower. Again, this type of activity will relax your body and can be very beneficial to your overall health. Make sure this is not aggressive stretching but nice gentle movements.

BRAIN DUMP

This final tip is one not enough people take advantage of but can be a game-changer if you struggle to fall asleep. Get a notebook and right before you go to sleep, write down everything that is going through your mind. We call this a brain dump. It doesn’t matter what you write, just get it out!

It might be an email you have to write in the morning or an errand you have to run. Maybe some thoughts from a meeting you had earlier in the day are still on your mind. If you don’t get these out of your head, they will be running through your mind all night, keeping you awake. Get it out on paper and forget about it!

SINGLE PURPOSE

Use your bed only for sleeping. Try not to study or eat in your bed. This should be a place that as soon as you lay down, your body knows exactly what it should do. Doing too many activities in your bed can confuse your brain and keep it guessing. Remember, your body loves routine

How to set up a home gym for under $100

All the gyms are close, and you think you are about to lose all your “gains.”

Let’s not complicate this, you CAN get a workout in at home, even with minimal equipment.

Don’t let that be your excuse; you can also get a workout in even with NO equipment!

Even with no equipment, you can incorporate bodyweight exercises, run outside, use gallon jugs for weights, lift your kids, lift your dogs or significant other, use cans of food or toolboxes. Be creative, but YOU CAN workout.

If you have space for a workout area and want to purchase some things to START your home gym, you can do that for 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 $𝟏𝟎𝟎 with the basics.

1️⃣ 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭. You can purchase this on Amazon for about $15. This will make any floor exercises more comfortable, especially if you are on a hardwood floor or concrete.

2️⃣ 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. You can purchase these at Perform Better or Spri. They are all different resistances to make it harder or easier. These are great because they are lightweight, inexpensive, and you can do endless exercises with them. They are small but mighty!

3️⃣ 𝐊𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥. You can purchase from Perform Better They are VERY versatile!

4️⃣ 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬.....invest in a light, medium, and heavy pair. (5 lbs, 8-10 lbs, and 15 lbs). With dumbbells, you will be able to work out EVERY body part. They may not be heavy enough for you, but do make it more challenging you can do your sets until failure.

5️⃣ 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐫 sturdy 𝐛𝐨𝐱 from home that you can also utilize.

Some extras 

* Jump Rope.

* Set of adjustable dumbbells

* Full-Length Mirror

* TRX Suspension Training system 

* Doorway Pull up Bar

* Gliding discs/ furniture movers paper plates or towels work too

* Adjustable Bench (incline/flat)

* Stability Ball

* Barbell with weight included

Women and weight loss

FOUR WAYS FOR WOMEN TO MAXIMIZE FAT LOSS & MUSCLE GROWTH

Body composition changes are much harder for women than for men. 

The injustice largely boils down to biological factors:

1- Women are smaller than men and therefore typically require LESS calories to maintain their weight.

2- Women typically carry less muscle mass and therefore tend to have slower metabolisms (burn less calories) 

3- Differences in hormonal makeup. For example, women have 15-20x LESS testosterone than men. Testosterone helps promote the growth of muscle and the loss of fat. And women have higher levels of estrogen and progesterone, which contribute to food cravings. This can make adhering to a caloric deficit harder. 

4- Thyroid abnormalities are more common in women and thyroid hormone levels play a crucial role in regulating weight and metabolism.

But just because biology isn't necessarily on our side doesn't make physique change impossible.You can start setting yourself up for success by:

1- LIFTING weight. Building muscle elevates your metabolism which makes fat loss easier. And lifting heavy weights, particularly compound exercises can temporarily cause an increase in your testosterone and growth hormone levels, which optimizes your muscle-building AND fat burning potential.

2-Consuming adequate protein. You can't build muscle or lose fat without adequate protein. As a general rule, between 20-30g at each meal can help build muscle, increase metabolism and make weight loss easier.

3-Build a healthy relationship with food. Women tend to be much more emotional about food and their weight than men. This is why- particularly in my women's-only Beyond Strong coaching program- we focus not just on nutrition and training but also on building a positive relationship with food and a healthy self image. 

4- Get tested. It's important for women to get their hormones tested. I cannot emphasize this enough. Body composition is largely driven by hormones. Bloodwork can help you determine if your weight-loss struggle is impacted by a hormonal imbalance or insufficiency. And if something is off, you can then address it appropriately through a doctor or a trained health coach. 

thanks Allifitness.com

The iron never lies

The Iron Never Lies To You

You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk

You can get told you're a God or get told your total bastard

The iron will always kick you the real deal

The iron is the great reference point

The all-knowing perspective Giver

Always there like a beacon

In the pitch black

I have found the iron to be my greatest friend

It never freaks out at me and never runs

Friends may come and go

But 200lb is always 200 lb

~Henry rollins~

THE MUSCLE GROWTH TIMELINE

Here’s what results you can expect if your main goal is building lean tissue mass. Warning: Genuine muscle growth without performance enhancing drugs takes a long time.

Of course these time periods can vary individually depending on your genetic blueprint and work-ethic. You might see results sooner, or maybe even later.

The time frame is set to training 2-3 times per week (continuously!).

Pro tip: Ask a friend or hire a coach to boost your progress tremendously.

This is what happens when you decide to join a gym, out of my experience training hundreds of clients:

Month 1-3

Eat – Sleep – Gym – Repeat.

Your motivation is at your peak at this point. You will tell your friends and family about your new workout regime. You will notice slight differences in your appearance, which are mainly nonexistent.

You will experience immense strength gains on your training because your body finally realizes how to use its muscles properly.

Month 3-6

This is the time period where most people break and quit. You will be going to the gym consistently, yet the results won’t come just now. It’s the big dip in the whole process.

Your goal in this phase is to build a habit around your gym visits. You will most likely discontinue to have the all-in mentality as in the first 3 months. You will seek sustainability. Breaking news: It will still be hard.

But in the end it’s all worth it. Trust me.

Month 6-12

“I’ve seen a new vein in my arm!”

This is the time where the normal person starts to see considerable results in his training.

An old friend will talk to you and see a difference in your body shape. Suddenly, the old t-shirt gets too small. The frequent gym-goer feels amazing.

Month 12- 24

Fitness is a trojan horse. While you might think frequent training will only change your body shape, your character will be impacted too.

Your friends and family will notice. You’re more confident, assertive and more happy with your self-image. You feel confident and sure in your abilities because you have achieved what you set out to do.

Breaking news:

You will still not be satisfied. And that’s a good thing. But don’t forget to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

The “magic pills” of weight loss…

• Go beyond weight tracking. You can track your waist, hip arms thighs and even neck circumference in the ISF app. Use this feature to see how your measurements change over time as you lose weight and gain muscle.  

• Sweat for 30-60 minutes each day. Visceral fat responds well to regular endurance exercises, such as running, biking, rowing, swimming, that elevate your heart rate. As your body uses fat to fuel exercise, it’ll start using up your visceral stores AND trigger those feel good endorphins

• Eat a well-balanced diet. Eat a diet high in complex carbs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean protein with calories set for gradual weight loss (e.g. about 1-2 pounds per week). Limit added sugars to less than 60 g per day and alcohol since these nutrients will more likely end up as visceral fat. Load up on fiber 25-30 g per day for females 30-35 g per day for males

• Sleep more, stress less. It’s easier said than done, but in order to take care of your physical body, you have to take care of your mental state. Sleep loss and stress can sabotage your health and fitness goals, so learn more about getting a quality night’s rest use sleep hygiene habits that work for you. use meditation or yoga to calm your mind. Remember, it’s not just about your health;

• RELAX this journey is about sustainability and consistency and it’s about your happiness, too.

The importance of protein

Protein: feeds your muscles, promotes satiety and is an important component to sustaining a healthy weight. Eat too little, and you may have trouble building or maintaining muscle mass — and per the above, we know muscle’s importance to metabolism. Also, protein requires more energy to break down than carbs or fat, so you’ll actually burn more calories during digestion.

Protein requirements vary from person to person recommended ranges are from 0.7g per kg bw to 2.2 g per kg body weight. A good place to start is 1g per kg of body weight.

STRENGTH TRAINING + PROTEIN consumption are your key components to preserving MUSCLE MASS when you’re trying to lose weight.

Preserving muscle mass is crucial as you don’t want to lose any of your hard earned gainz while your cutting weight/body fat.

Of the total weight lost, those on a fat loss plan without strength training and who are overweight tend to lose ~30% of muscle tissue.

Those who are already lean can lose up to a 50% of their weight from muscle mass. This is definitely NOT what you want.

The more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn throughout the day and during activity

Strength training (and other forms of anaerobic exercise) tax your muscles sparking a muscle preserving protein synthesis pathway to occur.

Protein sources

Think progress not perfection!

Making PROGRESS is more important than being perfect. This can relate to any goal, well beyond just health and fitness. The more you focus on being perfect the more you tend to delay ever being successful. You got this! 👊🏼

“I WANT TO GAIN MUSCLE BUT DONT WANT TO GAIN ANY WEIGHT.”

I hear this statement many times until I explain how illogical it is.
OR “I want to lose weight” but then the person wonder why they really are just a smaller softer version of themself.

Wanting to GAIN MUSCLE without gaining any weight is  crazy thinking. You want to ADD TISSUE to your body and the addition of tissue- be it fat or muscle- means adding WEIGHT. 

Think about it: if you GAINED fat you would expect to gain weight wouldn’t you?

In truth muscle tissue is more dense than adipose tissue so if you’d expect to gain weight by gaining fat then you can expect you’d gain some weight if you plan to gain muscle.

Amd to truly change your body SHAPE we need to change both muscle and fat.

This moment in 2020 and beyond …..

Finding peace and maintaining your goals and balance in a chaotic world isn’t as elusive as it may seem—even in the face of mounting email notifications and errands to run. 

In fact, when it comes to regulating your nervous system and deep healing, finding the right yoga practice or exercise session for your life is key. One plan does not fit all, and in some cases it can create more chaos. (Ever rile yourself up trying to make a 60-minute session happen in your day when it just. isn’t. possible?)

Id like you to really focus on the small things this 2020.  What are the small daily choices: the 15 minutes of activity maybe HIIT exercise the 10 minutes meditation maybe legs up the wall restorative the walk around the block maybe at lunch break from work the 5 minutes stretching while the morning coffee is brewing the 20 minutes food prep while listening to your kid/partner share their day what can you choose in the short term that thing that will reflect on and contribute to your overall change for 2020 ?

Because if we really are seeking transformation it happens in phases it’s adding one more piece one more layer at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Micheal Angelo painted the Sistine chapel in painstaking layers of patience and creative love for his daily work. 

Find what inspires you. Not in the face of someone else (a picture of a supermodel) but in your soul! Your deep desire to be your true self your best self your highest self ! And that is all those things you are. ..... a creative intelectual  physical emotional  spiritual being! 

So start with 1 thing 1 choice 1 minute that honors that being today. Then keep going from a place of respect and love for the greatness you may have forgotten you were meant to be you have ignored for others you have set aside. Each day add another minute or two and feel how amazing you are in your full right of being!

Let’s make 2020 the year (and the next decade) of possibilities and growth of being your best and highest self! 

“When we nurture the whole being we open the door to endless possibilities”

Are you ready for change?

Are You Ready for Change? Are you thinking about changing a bad habit or unhealthy behavior? Take this “ready or not” quiz and see just how ready you are. Examples of problem health behaviors that are difficult to change include: • overeating and other eating disorders • abuse of drugs, alcohol or pornography • smoking or chewing tobacco • compulsive gambling or compulsive Internet use • any stubborn habit that has the potential to negatively affect your health Experts in behavioral change have found that people move through five distinct stages when they go about trying to change a health-related behavior. The stages are: 1. Precontemplation: having no desire to change 2. Contemplation: knowing one should change but not taking any steps toward change 3. Preparation: taking the initial steps to change, such as learning more, seeking advice or simply committing to change 4. Action: engaging in change behavior 5. Maintenance: changes are incorporated into a person's daily life It is important to assess where you are in this process so that you can take appropriate action to move through your current stage and enhance your chance of success.

http://www.valueoptions.com/spotlight_heart/html/pdfs/Quizzes/Are_You_Ready_for_Change.pdf

The healthiest vegetables!!! IMO

Cruciferous vegetables are some of the healthiest vegetables that you can eat. In my opinion, they are also some of the most delicious! 

These vegetables have a high level of phytochemicals and work to block estrogen.

Cruciferous vegetables are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They also contain indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and other important natural phytochemicals. These elements change the way estrogen is metabolized and may prevent estrogen-driven cancers. They also provide tremendous support to the liver for detoxification. Chopping or chewing cruciferous vegetables results in the formation of these bio-active products. Eating these vegetables either raw, lightly sautéed, quickly stir-fried, or steamed is best to retain the full array of nutrients. But the most important thing is to eat more of them! Individuals with thyroid function concerns should consume these vegetables mostly cooked  vs raw. 

There are many to choose from, so if you’re choosing these wonderfully nutritious vegetables as a regular part of your diet, be sure to keep up the variety. If you wish to experiment with them raw, try juicing, fresh salads, marinated salads, and adding sprouts or greens to your sandwiches. If you’re cooking them, try steaming, sautéing, stir-frying, and roasting. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/1656396/

Is lack of sleep limiting your fitness success???

Inadequate sleep reduces insulin sensitivity and makes you fat. Here's why and how to get more out your nightly sleep. Most research shows you need at least 7 hours sleep per night. Most people are sleeping less; several studies show 30% of us are sleeping less than 6 hours a night. In our new world, sleep has unfortunately become a luxury and trying to make it a priority is often looked at as lazy or weak. That's ironic because people who don't sleep are actually getting fatter and weaker. Even if we looked past the compromised immunity, increased risk of degenerative disease and early death afforded by poor sleep, inadequate sleep negatively affects our ability to build strength and muscle.

Sleep hygiene or a sleep routine can help.

Follow these tips to establish healthy sleep habits:

• Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends or during vacations.

• Set a bedtime that is early enough for you to get at least 7 hours of sleep.

• Don’t go to bed unless you are sleepy.

• If you don’t fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed.

• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine.

• Use your bed only for sleep and sex.

• Make your bedroom quiet and relaxing. Keep the room at a comfortable, cool temperature.

• Limit exposure to bright light in the evenings.

• Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

• Don’t eat a large meal before bedtime. If you are hungry at night, eat a light, healthy snack.

• Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.

• Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening.

• Avoid consuming alcohol before bedtime.

• Reduce your fluid intake before bedtime.

Do you need a detox??

It’s the New year the time of marketing weight loss gimmicks and detoxes to combat the overindulgence of the holiday season

If your goal is weight loss, a detox diet might help you drop a few pounds initially, but you’ll likely just gain it back especially post holidays.   The average weight gain for the American over holiday season is 10#. And of this 10 pounds literally 7 is fluid from increased salt sugar and alcohol and carbohydrates.  So in the end you haven’t accomplished anything, but lose water weight. 

If your goal is to detox your system, don’t waste your time or money. Your body is an expert at getting rid of toxins no matter what you eat. If you have a healthy system toxins don’t build up in your liver, kidneys, or any other part of your body, and you’re not going to get rid of them with the latest detox wonder. Especially avoid diets that promise to detox your liverwith supplements or “cleanse” whatever the diet/detox determines needs washing out.

if you don’t have a healthy system you should seek medical advice not a detox!!!

The only type of “detox” diet that is worthwhile is one that limits processed, high-fat, and sugary foods, and replaces them with more whole foods like fruits and vegetables. That clean-eating approach is your best bet and will fuel your body and brain. 

Just jump

I've learned that when I trust that inner knowing, there's always flow and alignment awaiting me on the other side. 

I take chances. I do things that I know are ultimately going to inspire my highest self to help me grow to inspire others. Even if there's just a chance of this, Jump!

Jump and you will grow wings and SOAR!!!

What are you going to jump into this next year?

The issue isn’t the “food”

Diets do work... temporarily. You can label yourself & your way of eating however you’d like Keto, Raw, Paleo, the list goes on....

The problem is a diet is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. You must be brave enough to figure out what’s the real issue(s)!

Shame guilt fear reward stress exhaustion boredom pleasure ..... can you pull the thread? Unravel what’s the underlying issue? Because the issue is not food. Can you say that out loud? THE ISSUE IS NOT THE FOOD ITS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD. 

If you can’t feel okay with that there is something to consider.....pull the thread, peel back the veil, stop trying to be strong and allow yourself to be vulnerable and explore that relationship. Be curious. Be fully alive and aware. Feel deeply. It’s ok to feel all those things you are human. And its ok to indulge once in a while without feelings of guilt, shame and regret, food is comforting it has emotional connections to experience, to people in our lives, to memories. Maybe you need to take a step back and ask yourself what is your end goal really? Restricted deprivation and bingeing or sustainability allowing pleasure joy and comforting and nurturing? Listen to your body’s cues. Honor them..

So stop pursuing your goal body or goal weight in an unsustainable way! Heal your relationship with your body and make peace with food first! 

Instead of labeling your way of eating, or living by lists of “good foods” and “bad foods” what if you starting to  LISTEN to your body & it’s innate wisdom, and allowing yourself to live the healthiest life possible... in terms of both WHAT you’re eating and HOW YOU FEEL about it!! 

I know this is easier said than done it takes patience and practice. Not perfection. Practice. 

Self care is not all pedís and massage….

“Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.”

-Brianna Wiest

Low energy and training

You’re training hard you’re watching your nutrition but not meeting your goals …. what’s up??? Are you consuming enough?? When you are in too restricted of a caloric deficit you may be making more difficult to achieve your goals of leaning out. When you don’t consume enough calories to meet the high energy (calorie) demands of training (called low energy availability) your testosterone will likely drop. There are 3 main reasons for this:

- Trying to make weight being too focused on the SCALE

- There is an unintentional mismatch between calories consumed and calories burned yep it takes work to consume enough total calories you need to plan prep and find time to eat it all!!!

- Disordered eating / eating disorders Most commonly seen in women but yes in men as well the binge purge (with exercise) cycle

Cyclists, rowers, distance runners are at higher risk of low energy availability (not consuming enough calories to cover the cost of training).

Typically low energy availability is defined as < 30 calories per kilogram of lean body mass.

Chronic (over time) low energy availability (not eating enough to cover the calories you need each day stresses the body can lead to low testosterone, excessive fatigue, muscle loss, frequent illness or injury, stress fractures, menstrual dysfunction, inability to recover, and decrease in performance.

You gotta eat. Work to figure out what to eat and when and also how to alleviate stomach distress so you can get the calories you need.

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2018;28: 364-374.

J Sports Sci 2004;22(1): 1-14.

Br J Sports Med 2014; 48(7): 491-497.

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2018;28(4): 335-349.

Sports Med 2016;46(2): 171-182.

J Biochem Physiol. 2018; 1(1): 103.

Diets do work…..

Diets do work... temporarily. You can label yourself & your way of eating however you’d like Keto, Raw, Paleo, the list goes on....

The problem is a diet is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. You must be brave enough to figure out what’s the real issue(s)!

Shame guilt fear reward stress exhaustion boredom pleasure ..... can you pull the thread? Unravel what’s the underlying issue? Because the issue is not food. Can you say that out loud? THE ISSUE IS NOT THE FOOD ITS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD. 

If you can’t feel okay with that there is something to consider.....pull the thread, peel back the veil, stop trying to be strong and allow yourself to be vulnerable and explore that relationship. Be curious. Be fully alive and aware. Feel deeply. It’s ok to feel all those things you are human. And its ok to indulge once in a while without feelings of guilt, shame and regret, food is comforting it has emotional connections to experience, to people in our lives, to memories. Maybe you need to take a step back and ask yourself what is your end goal really? Restricted deprivation and bingeing or sustainability allowing pleasure joy and comforting and nurturing? Listen to your body’s cues. Honor them. 

So stop pursuing your goal body or goal weight in an unsustainable way! Heal your relationship with your body and make peace with food first! 

Instead of labeling your way of eating, or living by lists of “good foods” and “bad foods” what if you starting to  LISTEN to your body & it’s innate wisdom, and allowing yourself to live the healthiest life possible... in terms of both WHAT you’re eating and HOW YOU FEEL about it!! 

I know this is easier said than done it takes patience and practice. Not perfection. Practice.