3 Tips to Get Comfortable with Strength Training

Walking into a gym full of men, weights, and loud music can bring up anxiety and fear in women.  Getting injured, embarrassing themselves, and not knowing what to do are all fears I hear a lot when I talk to women about strength training.  They know on an intellectual level lifting weights is important and super beneficial at any age, especially after 40, but the thought of actually doing it makes anxiety race through their veins.  

There is a way to go from discomfort to comfort in the gym within a reasonable timeframe.  This is why women come to me for help.  It’s my jam.  I was one of those women several years ago and now I’m super comfortable around workout equipment.  In fact, working with women in my boutique fitness studio is one of my happy places.  It’s empowering to watch a woman transform not just her body but her mindset and attitude towards lifting weights.  It’s fun to see her confidence grow with each movement and stretch her comfort zone.

Today I’m sharing my top three tips to get comfortable with strength training in the gym.  

Work With a Personal Trainer

Just to clarify upfront, I’m not talking about getting a fitness app that will program workouts for you.  While these are great, an app can’t hold you accountable or check your form to make sure you’re doing the movements safely.  Working with a personal trainer in person is the best way to get support when beginning a strength routine when you’re new to pushing around weight.  Or even if you could use a refresher because you’re in a different season of life.  

For example, if you’re pregnant you may want to learn how to strength train while keeping you and your baby safe. If you’re postnatal, you may want a strength training plan that slowly eases you back into your pre-pregnancy fitness routine.  If you’re in perimenopause and experiencing joint pain, trouble sleeping, mood swings, and lack of motivation to workout, having the accountability of a trainer to help you create a strength routine for your midlife body might be the safest way to get started.

I have personally worked with personal trainers in the past and it’s been super helpful.  My hubby and I did a training session with a trainer to help us refine our skills with a few movements.  As two people who geek out on fitness and are pretty knowledgeable about the body, it was super helpful to have someone look at our form and give us cues on how it could be better.  We also joined a CrossFit gym and had a certified CrossFit coach make sure we were doing the movements safely to avoid injuries and get the most out of the movement.

A highly qualified trainer will create a progression plan that’s tailored to your abilities and goals.  When I’m working with a client, I create a workout template for her sessions and then make adjustments as needed.  Sometimes we stick to the planned workout while other days if she’s not feeling well because of menstrual cramps, fatigue, muscle soreness, or joint pain we do a totally different workout.  I’m always prepared to help her get the most out of our workout session together no matter how she’s feeling so she can maintain consistency and continue making progress.

Start with Light Weights

It’s important to know what your fitness level is before you begin a workout routine.  You need to know where you’re starting so you can map out a strategy to get to your end goal.  By the way, your goal might change as you go which is totally normal.  Most of the women I work with start with a goal of simply getting comfortable with weights.  We do less weight and more repetitions to slowly push their comfort zone.  After they start to feel more comfortable, she’ll choose a goal that’s a bit more of a stretch.  Or she’ll set a goal and realize it’s too much or she’s not willing to work towards it.

Once you have a starting point, the main focus is getting your form correct.  In my professional opinion, this is best done with light weight to not only prevent injury but increase your confidence in the beginning.  Celebrating your wins from the very beginning is a key component of finding success.  After a few sessions or when you’re ready, you can begin increasing your weight in small increments.

Effective strength routines always have a progress plan in place.  As you get stronger and your muscles grow, they want to be challenged in one form or another.  It doesn’t have to always be lifting heavier.  It can be increasing the number of sets and reps or doing more complex movements depending on your goal.  

I get excited when my clients are ready to move on to the next level with their routine.  This means the workouts we’re co-creating are not only helping them physically become stronger, but also mentally.  This is the time when the fear and anxiety around being in the gym really start to fade and they begin to exude confidence from the inside out.

Create a Consistency Plan

The best way to get good at something is to practice it and keep practicing it until you feel like you’ve mastered it.  Consistency is key to honing in on a new (or old) skill.  Creating a plan to do at least 1-2 strength workouts for the first week is a great starting point.  I encourage my clients to start with two 1:1 personal training sessions a week in my fitness studio.  We don’t go super hard during the sessions in the beginning.  The first few weeks are all about getting in to the rhythm of carving out time to workout.  

To be honest, this is one of the benefits of working with a personal trainer like myself.  All my clients pay for their sessions in advance which is an incentive to show up for their training sessions.  Of course, I do have some flexibility with rescheduling and canceling sessions but it has to be at least 24 hours in advance.  This is to protect my time but I’ve also found that it encourages clients to show up for their sessions even when they don’t “feel like it.”  

Doing something for at least five minutes when you’re not in the mood or feeling blah will help you maintain consistency.  It’s okay not to be totally into every workout.  Sometimes I start an intense workout and after about five minutes I transition into a lighter workout if I’m really not feeling it because of fatigue, menstrual cramps, or muscle soreness.  Listening to your body is a key component to maintaining consistency,  believe it or not.  If you go hard all the time even when you’re sore, you’re more likely to throw in the towel one day and call it quits when your body is wrecked.  

The lesson here is consistency doesn’t mean intense workouts all the time.  It means creating a strength routine that helps you make progress even on the days your body’s not up to it.  The best part is you get to decide what progress looks like for you.  It’s all relative to your values, lifestyle, and abilities.  You have the freedom to create a progress plan that fits into your life.

Are you ready to explore what a strength routine looks like for you? My Strength Training the Woman’s Way workshop is a gentle introduction to lifting weights with empowerment.  See what’s included in the workshop here.

My Weight Loss Story

Have you ever felt that one specific decision you made in your life was the absolute right one for you?  I’m talking about the one that changes your life in a way you never thought possible.  The one that led you on a path to let go of the insecure woman you didn’t want to be any longer and become an empowered, confident woman.  

If your answer is yes, you’ll love my weight loss story.  If you haven’t quite found the path to become an empowered, confident woman, I hope my story will inspire you to take action.

Before I dive into the details, I want to be totally transparent.  I don’t always feel confident in all areas of my life.  My confidence fades every now and then when I’m going through a personal or professional challenge.  But I’ve found a way to bounce back quicker than when I was younger.  

When I was 18 years old I met who I thought was the love of my life.  I was a senior in high school weeks away from graduation when he walked into my place of work, charming and good looking.  We instantly hit it off and jumped into a romantic relationship.  Looking back I realize it was teenage love and not the genuine love I now feel for my husband.  

Now, you may be wondering what my relationship at 18 years old has to do with my weight loss journey.  This relationship traumatized me emotionally in ways that followed me into adulthood and took me a long time to recover from.  I’m talking several years, many therapy sessions, and a lot of inner work.  I’m grateful for all of it because it’s led me to this point in my life.  Married to an amazing man that loves me, is my best friend, and treats me with respect every day.  A boutique health and fitness coaching business where I have the honor and privilege of helping people improve their health and wellness.  And most importantly, respect for myself as a woman and my body.

So, here’s my weight loss story that’s led me to where I am in my life right now.

My Origin Story

Frozen pizzas, canned ravioli, boxed mac-n-cheese, onion rings, tater tots, and fast food with the occasional meat and veggies were the go-to food choices when I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s.  This is when my not-so-good eating habits began and not to the fault of my parents.  They were doing the best they could when low fat and easy-to-make processed foods were all the rage.

Thankfully as a kid and into my teens, I was very active.  I was always riding my bike, running around with the neighborhood kids, or playing softball so I never gained weight (this would come later).  In high school, I joined a women’s weight training class that changed my life.  This is when my true passion for women’s health and fitness emerged.

Each year we were paired up with another woman and she was our partner for the year in class.  We held each other accountable, supported each other emotionally (and sometimes literally during a back squat), and celebrated each other’s accomplishments.  I learned early on that there is something unique about women bonding over health and wellness goals that I can’t quite put into words.

I experienced first-hand how powerful (pun intended!) it was to be a woman and have the ability to lift heavy things, without getting super big.  My one rep max (the maximum amount a person can lift once) for squats in high school was 225 pounds.  When I started training with weights, I never thought I would be lifting that much weight.  This was definitely a confidence booster for me.

The Relationship that Almost Broke Me

Remember the romantic relationship I mentioned at the beginning?  This was when it started to really fall apart for me.

A year into dating at the very young age of 19, we decided it would be a good idea to get married, so we got engaged.  Shortly after getting engaged, my anxiety started to going up and I felt like something wasn’t right.  I ignored these signs for a few reasons.  I don’t like conflict so I didn’t want to break it off. And I was so insecure that I didn’t think I would ever find someone else that would want to marry me.  I know it sounds crazy but my insecurities stemmed from the way he talked to me.

He used to tell me that if I got fat, he would leave me.  At this time I was super lean and fit from strength training and running track in high school.  I so desperately wanted to make it work between the two of us that I ignored this and other disrespectful things he would say to me.  So, I kept working out and stayed lean and fit.  For him.  Not for me.

A few years later, he decided to end things and I was devastated.  He said he didn’t want to get married.  I knew we were too young and he wasn’t the right guy for me.  Even so, I felt rejected by a guy that I didn’t even want to be with.  I was an emotional mess and I allowed it to affect my education.  My grades started to slip in college and I didn’t know how to move forward.  I started partying with my girlfriends to have fun, but mostly to mask the pain I was going through.

As I started to move on thanks to the support of my family and friends, I began heal as I shifted my focus to figuring out what I wanted in my life.  I started dating again and taking things slow.  I was on a date with a guy who was so sweet and good looking who I had met though a friend (my ex’s sister).  It was going well until he told me my ex married another woman.  Oh, and I found this out right before we saw Sweet Home Alabama in the theater.  I had to leave the theater during the proposal scene at Tiffany’s. All the feelings of hurt came flooding back to me that night.  

It was just like the scene in When Harry Met Sally when Sally finds out that her ex is getting married.  I felt the exact same way.  I didn’t want to marry him but couldn’t understand why he said he didn’t want to get married and then married someone else.  I felt like there was something wrong with me.  I was allowing him to control my feelings even though we weren’t together any longer.

My Struggle and the Solution

Fast forward to my mid twenties.  My clothes were a little snug, my self-confidence took a nose dive, and I was depressed eating way too much processed and fast food in addition to drinking on the weekends.  I got to a point where I was so uncomfortable (literally and figuratively) in my own skin that I knew I needed to change my eating habits. While I was able to shed some weight by eating less calories and low-fat I quickly learned that it wasn’t sustainable.  

It wasn’t until I met my husband when I was 31 that I learned how to eat mostly whole foods (there’s some wiggle room for the sweet treats I love!) and train my body to burn fat efficiently.  During this time not only did I lose fat, I learned how to accept my body at the weight it was the healthiest.  Let’s be real, accepting your body as-is is not easy to do as a woman with our current society and social media.  I’m living proof that it can be done.  While I still struggle at times even now, it’s much easier for me to overcome any negative self-talk about my body.  It’s a skill I’ve learned over the years that I’m still mastering.

The Decision that Changed My Life

Deciding that I am worth the effort and investment in my physical and mental health has changed my life for the better.  I now stay healthy and fit for myself and no one else.  Yes, I want to be healthy to go on adventures with my hubby but that’s all part of my personal values.  It just so happens that it aligns with my hubby’s personal values as well.  This decision has also taught me to love and respect myself for who I am as a woman.  To take my strengths and use them to maintain nutrition, fitness, and rest habits that work for me and my lifestyle.  

This decision has helped me embrace the faint wrinkles that are starting to appear around my eyes, cellulite on my legs that will never go away no matter how many squats and lunges I do, mistakes I make in my life, and insecurities that still pop up every now and then.  I wake up most days feeling empowered and confident that I can accomplish my life missions.  

Remind yourself every single day that you are capable of saying yes to the foods that give you energy, help you sleep, and build lean muscle and strong bones.  You do have the ability to complete multiple strength training sessions every week.  You are in tune with your body to know when it needs rest.  Doing all these things for YOU and no one else is the secret to sustainable healthy habit success.  

Diet Rules vs Trade-Offs For Women Over 40

I’ve been a rule follower most of my life.  Yes, there were times I broke the rules while in a rebellious streak in my high school years and in my early twenties.  For the the most part, I’ve always felt rules gave me guidance to keep me on a path moving towards my goals.  What I’ve learned on my health and wellness journey is that following rules isn’t always the right path if you want to become the healthiest version of yourself.

There are so many diets and fitness regimens that if you followed them exactly you would get the results you think you want.  However, sometimes what we think we want isn’t actually what we want in terms of lifestyle and mental health.

Today I’ll be talking about the difference between rules and trade offs and the benefits of both when navigating which foods to eat and which ones to avoid with weight loss as a goal.

Let’s dive in!

One of the most asked questions I get as a health and fitness coach is, which diet is best for weight loss?  There’s a lot of weight loss friendly diets that are promoted by health and wellness professionals such as paleo, vegan, mediterranean, and keto and it can be confusing and overwhelming when choosing which foods to eat and which ones to avoid.  

Even with the complexity of choosing a diet, my answer is simple: it’s the mostly whole nutrient-dense food diet you can stick to.  One thing I’ve learned over the years working with my clients is that there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to food and weight loss.  Everyone can customize their diet (or what I like to call “eating style”) to fit their taste preferences, values, and lifestyle.  

Rules are viewed as concrete steps that must be followed.  A vegan diet eliminates any animal products including any type of meat or seafood.  This includes eliminating food that comes from animals such as eggs and dairy.  A paleo diet focuses on eating only whole foods such as meats, seafood, eggs, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and dairy that are as close to their natural state as possible.  This means there’s minimal processing involved in getting the food to your table.  A paleo diet excludes grains, seed oils, and legumes along with ultra processed foods.

There can be a lot of restrictions around these diets depending on your strategy for implementing them.  Some of my health coach colleagues require their clients to eliminate bread completely for an extended period of time.  This works for some people but not for the majority.  After I went through my elimination period when I was focusing on a paleo eating style back in 2012, I was really strict with the foods I ate by eating 100% paleo.  The fat started to melt off my body even though weight loss was not my intention.  

After a while it became too stressful to keep up with mentally and emotionally.  I was craving the occasional bowl of rice and sourdough bread with melted butter but I wouldn’t allow myself to eat either of these even though I knew eating it every now and then was not going to make me gain weight or compromise my overall health.  When I did eat rice or bread, I would tell myself that I needed to get back to healthy eating as soon as possible.  By the way, I wasn’t telling this to myself in a way that was encouraging.  I was way too hard on myself which is not the kind of self-talk that helps you achieve your goals.

On one hand, I learned a lot about which foods give me energy, help me sleep, and support my strength training efforts by following a strict paleo diet for a while.  On the other hand, I learned which foods made me feel tired, bloated, and blah.  When you follow the rules to the tee for a specific diet you can learn a lot of about how foods affect you and keep this information handy to guide you in making food choices in the future.  So, there are benefits to being super strict and following the rules for a while.

The eating strategy that works best for most people is a mostly whole food strategy that allows for flexibility to enjoy sourdough bread with butter or your favorite sweet treat or bowl of popcorn.  This is considered a trade-off eating style.  You’re trading eating a burger with the bun for uncomfortable bloating for a few hours.  Or a few glasses of wine for hot flashes.  Or your morning coffee ritual with cream and sugar for a little anxiety and blood sugar spike.   

The trade-offs go the other way as well.  You could trade your weeknight glass of wine for water or a delicious mocktail in exchange for getting a great night’s sleep.  Or you could swap your daily lunchtime sandwich for a robust salad with leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, chicken, avocado, and olive oil and balsamic dressing to have consistent energy levels the rest of the day.  

It’s up to you to decide whether or not a trade-off is worth it.  There’s no right or wrong answer in any situation.  You get to decide what’s right for you in the moment.  You could make a choice one day and a different one another day depending on how you’re feeling.  

When it comes down to it, you’re always trading one thing for another.  If you choose to follow an eating style with strict rules, you’re trading rules for flexibility and the ability to indulge in foods and beverages that bring you joy.  Often times we forget that healthy eating habits isn’t just about physical health.  It’s about mental health as well.  If you’re constantly stressing yourself out over what to eat when you go out to dinner with your friends, this might be a sign that you want more flexibility but you don’t trust yourself enough not to over do it.  Or you have an all-or-nothing mindset and believe that if you “mess up” by eating bread you should just throw in the towel and give up. 

Once you find a way to navigate trade offs with food that works for you, you’ll feel empowered to make food choices that are right for you in the moment while feeling confident that you have the ability to maintain what you define as a healthy eating strategy.

Need help learning how to navigate nutrition rules and trade offs?  Go here to book a Wellness Strategy Session with me and we’ll talk it out.

2 Simple Steps to a Consistent Exercise Routine

Here’s a fun fact you may not know about me: I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies!  I’ve watched most of them many times because they’re fun, entertaining, and have great one liners.  The casting is great and the actors do an amazing job at delivering their lines.  

My favorite Avenger is Captain America (a.k.a Steve Rogers) because his moral compass  aligns with mine.  He’s always wanting to do the ethical thing and does his best not to judge others for their choices even when he doesn’t agree with them.  This is why the Captain America movies (with the exception of the most recent one) are my favorite Marvel movies.  

Aside from Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter is a character that admire because she’s a strong confident woman. She was a British MI6 agent which was uncommon for women in the 1940s.  Now, I understand she’s a fictional character BUT I love the way she’s portrayed as a woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself.  Plus, she has some inspirational lines in the movies that make me feel empowered as a woman.  

“Compromise where you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say ‘No, you move’.” - Peggy Carter; as spoken by Sharon Carter in Captain America: Civil War

This is one that I absolutely love and here’s why.  As women, we tend to make sure everyone else’s needs are taken care of before our own.  While this sounds great in theory, it can create conflict within ourselves.  A lesson I’ve learned over the years is that little to no boundaries in my personal and professional life helps others in the short term but does a disservice to me in the long run.  This doesn’t just look like creating boundaries for others but for yourself too.  When you do this, you show respect for yourself.  Sometimes we need to stand up for ourselves to ourselves.  

For example, if you continue to come up with excuses (time, energy, ability, know-how, and the list goes on…) not to fit a consistent exercise routine into your life even though you keep telling yourself you “should” workout, the solution could be as simple as creating a boundary for yourself.  The excuses you tell yourself are a product of the programming that’s been ingrained in you for a while.  You can think of it as your ego trying to protect you from harm.  When you begin to stand up for yourself and change the story you tell yourself you will develop the ability to create boundaries to carve out time for self care workouts.

This can be challenging in the beginning if this is a new concept to you.  It can be done in two simple steps.

Step 1

Write down every single reason why a consistent exercise routine is important to you.  Focus on how being strong and mobile will benefit not only you but your family as well.  There’s a common misconception that I hear way too often from women that exercise only benefits them so it’s a little on the selfish side.  This could not be further from the truth.  When you carve out time for yourself to exercise your mood improves, you have more energy, you’re more productive, you’re healthier, and you’re able to focus on taking care of your family when your cup is filled.

I know I’m a much happier and nicer person to my hubby when I carve out me time to workout.  I say this tongue in cheek with humor and truth rolled into one.  When I’m not moving my body frequently, whether it’s a strength training session, hike, or yoga, I tend to get grumpy and I feel anxious about the little things.  On the other hand, when I prioritize my workout routine I feel better and have more energy to put into my relationship with my hubby.  The positive energy in our home goes up and we’re able to live a more abundant life.

Step 2

Brainstorm ideas on how you can start implementing an exercise routine into your life.  I know I say this a lot but it’s super important when creating sustainable habits.  Start small.  If you need to, schedule one workout session within the next week and write down how you’re going to follow through.  How can you set yourself up for success and hold yourself accountable?  This can be as simple as putting your shoes and workout clothes right next to your bed so you can put them on right after you wake up for a 15 minute morning walk.  Or setting up your yoga mat before you leave for work in the morning so you can get started on your workout right when you get home in the evening.

Once you’ve established a routine that works for you that you feel confident about, you can add more workout sessions to your schedule.  You can also add more challenging workouts to your routine such as strength training sessions or high intensity cardio sessions.  

The bottom line is when we create boundaries for ourselves to prioritize our own health and fitness habits we’re able to be more to our family, friends, and colleagues.  What’s one way you can prioritize your exercise routine in your life?  

Need help figuring this out?  Go here to book a free Wellness Strategy session and we’ll brainstorm ideas on how you can make this work in your life.

How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Work for You

You may be surprised to hear this, but I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions.  While I love helping people make lifestyle changes, I’m not a fan of making resolutions just because it’s a new year.  

Research says that only 9% of people actually follow through with resolutions until they achieve they’re goal.  About 23% of people give up by the end of the first week and 43% of people stop trying by the end of January. 

If you’ve been part of the group that gives up before January is over, it’s not your fault.  It’s not your lack of willpower, abilities, or motivation.  It’s the process that’s failed you.  Having the appropriate support systems in place to help you reach your end goal will move you into the group that follows through.  

Making lifestyle changes such as exercising more and eating healthier (whatever that means to you) is not always easy.  It can feel easy in the beginning because of the excitement and possibilities of how your life can be different when you lose weight or get stronger or both.  It’s when the excitement begins to fade and the obstacles start getting in the way that people want to throw in the towel.

Today I’m sharing my simple 3-step process you can implement in 2026 to help you follow through on your resolutions throughout the year and beyond.

Step 1- Get Clear on Your Values

This is a super important one that many people often overlook.  If you feel like you need to lose weight or exercise more or eat healthier, I encourage you to ask yourself how this aligns with your values.  For example, you’re more likely to stick to a Monday through Friday 6am workout routine if you value structure and consistency.  On the other hand, if you value flexibility more than structure a 5-day weekly workout routine might not be a good fit for you.

Write down every single value that’s important to you during this season of your life.  Next, make a list of your top 3-5 values that are non-negotiable.  These are things that are most important to you and you’re intentional about prioritizing.  Your top 3-5 values will help with the next step.

Step 2- Set Specific Goals

Most people are really great at setting goals, especially vague goals.  The problem with saying “I’m going to exercise more” is that it can look different for everyone.  If your sedentary, it might mean going for a 10 minute walk three days a week.  If you strength train two times a week, it might mean adding one more strength workout each week.  

When you set specific goals remember to take into account your values.  If you value your independence and want to continue that well into your 80s and 90s, strength training twice a week and going on a 15-minute walk every day might be the workout routine that’s in alignment with your values.

Getting super granular with your goals will give you a solid safety net if you’re concerned that you might not be able to follow through.  For example, packing your gym bag and getting your workout clothes ready the night before are two small tasks that could increase your chances of getting out of bed in the morning to workout when you don’t feel like it.  This brings us to the third step.

Step 3- Consider All Obstacles

We all have obstacles that come up in our lives that prevent us from following through with our intentions.  Some we can anticipate while others are harder to predict.  Making a list of all the obstacles that could come up, even the ones that are less likely, is a critical step with your follow through process.  Take into consideration whether or not it’s an obstacle you have control over.  If you have a work project that has a strict deadline, it’s okay to switch up your routine and scale back your workouts temporarily.  This is called having a growth mindset.  I talk more about this in my new program, Wellness Abundance Your Way, that’s launching in January.

If you want to begin a strength training program in the morning, consider what would get in your way of making this happen.  Maybe you don’t sleep well during a specific time of your hormonal cycle or when you’re feeling anxious.  Brainstorm ideas on how you can make sure you follow through with your morning strength routine even when you’re tired.  One idea might be to decrease the intensity of the routine by doing a bodyweight workout rather than lifting weights.  Or doing three sets instead of four.  

Once you have your list of obstacles and ways to overcome them if they come up, you can feel more confident in your ability to stay consistent.

The Key To Success

Approach your 2026 health and fitness resolutions with an open mind and heart.  Remind yourself every day that you’re doing the best you can in each moment.  Fill your health and fitness toolbox with resources you can go to for guidance and support.  You can rely on the Wellness Abundance podcast and blog for support and tips on health and fitness lifestyle habits.  

If there’s any topic I haven’t covered that you’d like to learn more about feel free to reach out to me here and let me know.  I love hearing from my community and the people that are in the trenches of everyday life doing their best to stay focused.  

How to Build Healthy Habits When You Have No Motivation

How many times have you said to yourself “I really want to start eating better and exercising but I just don’t have the motivation!”?  Be honest with yourself.  If you’ve said this so many times that you’ve lost count, that’s totally okay.  I hear this all the time from people and I’ve said it myself many times.  

One thing I’ve learned over the years about motivation is that it’s usually waiting for you to take action so it can kick in.  Motivation comes and goes throughout your daily life which is why it’s important to learn how to not to rely on it all the time to get out of bed and do that workout. 

Today I’ll walk you through my step-by-step process on how you can get the ball rolling on eating better, exercising regularly, getting great sleep, or whatever your health and wellness intentions are when the motivation isn’t quite there yet.  

Step #1- Write Down Your Specific Intentions

This is an important first step because if you don’t know exactly what you want, you may not know how to actually make it happen.  This is one thing that stops a lot of people from having success with healthy lifestyle habits.  Being specific will help you carve out a path that you can get excited about and bring your motivation to the surface.

If you want to start eating better, write down what eating better means to you.  Does it mean eating more veggies or cooking at home more often?  If it’s eating more veggies, how many meals a week do you want to add more veggies to your plate?  It’s important to be specific about what you want to do.  Eat more veggies is too vague and looks different for everyone.  Remember, this is about finding what works best for you and your lifestyle.

Step #2- Write Down Your Implementation Strategy

This is where a lot of my clients get tripped up and feel overwhelmed and why they enroll in my coaching program.  The truth is, without the how your intentions are just wishful thinking.  If you feel overwhelmed by figuring out the how, starting small (super small if you need to) will help you get your footing with this new habit you’re creating.  It’s like climbing up a big flight of stairs.  To get to the top you take it one step at a time.   

Back to the eating more veggies example, start by making a list of veggies you like to eat  or ones you’ve been wanting to try.  Next, decide how you’re going to prepare them.  A few different ways to cook them are steaming, boiling, sautéing, and roasting.  Choose the method that you feel most comfortable with.  From there, you can decide how you’re going to make sure you have them ready to cook.

I encourage you to get as granular with your implementation strategy as possible.  When I’m guiding a coaching client through this, we talk about every single step it takes to get the veggies on the plate.  It might sound silly or unnecessary but this is how we master skills.  One small step at a time.

Step #3- Write Down Any Obstacles

Let’s be real.  Your day or week may not go as planned.  While this is a natural part of life, sometimes it makes sticking to healthy habits a little challenging.  Anticipating obstacles will help you feel more confident in your ability to keep moving forward no matter what.

Take into consideration every single obstacle that could get in the way of you being able to take action.  It doesn’t matter how unlikely it is.  Write it down.  Brainstorm ideas on how you’ll overcome it if it comes up.  You may only a few obstacles on your list form some habits while others may have a long list of obstacles.  

Let’s revisit the veggie example.  If you’re concerned fresh veggies might go bad in your fridge, stock up on frozen veggies.  These are great to have on hand because they’re usually flash frozen when the nutrients are at their peak and they’re already washed and cut ready to cook.

Now it’s time to take action!

If you still feel overwhelmed by getting started, I’m here to help.  Remember, taking action doesn’t have to be a big leap to make progress.  Your motivation will eventually catch up to your actions with consistent efforts.

When my clients enroll in my program, they do it through a multi-step process.  The first step is getting on a call with me to chat about their intentions and what they want to get out of coaching.  The second step is deciding they want to enroll in my program.  The third step is actually enrolling in my program.  

My point is, it’s not all done at once.  Every single step of a process is taking action towards your end goal, whatever that look likes for you.  Take action today and book your free Wellness Strategy Session with me today.

My Top 3 Weight Loss Mistakes and How To Avoid Them

One of the benefits of having a coach or mentor is that you can learn from their mistakes.  I love hearing stories from my business coach about things she did in the early years as an entrepreneur that did not work.  Learning from her has helped me avoid mistakes in my own coaching business. 

Today I’m sharing my top three weight loss mistakes I made and how you can avoid them.  These are things that slowed my progress and left me feeling frustrated and discouraged.  If this is you, you’re in for a treat today. 

Let’s get started!

Focusing Too Much On The Scale

I have a decades long history of attaching my weight loss and maintenance success to the number on the scale.  In high school and my early twenties before I started gaining weight, I hovered between 120 and 125 pounds.  Once I started to creep up closer to 130 then 140 and up to 145 I felt my self-esteem plummet.  I was tying my self-worth into that specific number.  This just caused me to eat more junk food and drink more high calorie beverages.  

Once I finally started making changes, I decided I would still use the scale as tool to measure my progress in addition to paying more attention to how my clothes fit.  During this time, I lost about 10 pounds just scaling back on my calories slightly.  More on this later.  I was running and strength training which meant that I was burning fat and building muscle.  When you’re building muscle the number on the scale may not change much but your clothes will fit better.

When I started to make sustainable changes to my eating style, that’s when the fat really started melting away.  I eventually went from about 133 pounds down to about 118 in my early thirties.  I still found myself celebrating the success of 118 being on the scale.  Looking back, I realize I was probably too lean for my body type.  I didn’t have a lot of lean muscle mass which meant I wasn’t that strong.  

Now that I’m in my mid-forties and my focus is on building lean muscle mass, my weight hovers around 135 and I’m the most confident I’ve been in my entire life.  Now it’s not about the number on the scale.  It’s about staying consistent with whole food nutrition, a strength routine, moving frequently, and giving my body rest when it needs it.    

Counting Calories Or Carbs

In my late twenties, I was all about counting calories.  I would aim for 1200 calories or less a day which was really difficult because I was hungry all the time.  It wasn’t about the quality of food, just stopping at the 1200 mark.  To be honest, I fell into the trap of yo-yo dieting.  One week I would eat around 1200 calories and other weeks I would binge on food because I was so tired of feeling hungry all day long.  Obviously, this didn’t last long.

When I stopped counting calories while still eating less, the fat starting melting away.  I was eating less processed food and more whole foods while paying attention to how full I felt to avoid overeating.  I actually felt satisfied after my meals and was no longer hungry all the time.

When I was introduced to a low-carb eating style, my old habit of wanting to track a number led me down the rabbit hole of counting carbs.  This was actually really helpful in the beginning but then it turned into an unhealthy obsession.  I was so worried that if  I ate rice occasionally I was going to gain weight and all my hard work would go out the window.  The reality was this wasn’t going to happen.  Eating rice every now and then (even once a week) wasn’t going to make be gain five pounds over night.  That’s not how the body works.

If you’re transitioning into a low-carb eating style, counting carbs for a week or two might help you get a good idea as to how much you’re actually.  Let’s be real.  We usually underestimate how much we’re really eating.  We tend to think we’re eating less than we actually are.  Once you know where you’re starting, you can make adjustments from there.  

Not Working With A Coach

Your body is made up of complex systems that work together to keep your blood sugar under control, help you stay at a healthy weight for your body type, and keep your hormones in check.  A highly skilled coach knows the ins and outs of the body and has the skillset to guide you through the process of experimenting with different lifestyle habits so you can find which ones work best for you.

When I was on my weight loss journey, health coaching wasn’t as well known as it is these days.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was a thing back in the day.  Thankfully my hubby knew more than I did about the body so he was able to help me make choices that were right for me and my body.  He was the closest resource I had to a health coach at the time.  

I’ve lost count of how many times I wanted to give up.  If I were working with a trained health and fitness coach like myself, they would have helped me sift through my frustrations and disappointments to keep me moving forward.  One super important role of a highly qualified coach is to listen to your frustrations, validate them, and help you find solutions that work for you to overcome them.  It’s not always easy but it’s definitely worth it to have someone on your side to help you see situations from a different perspective.  This is usually what we need to do to get out of our own head.

I believe one-on-one coaching is the most effective way to achieve your goals in shortest amount of time but group coaching is incredibly effective as well.  I’ve been in many group coaching sessions where someone else was being coached and it helped me view my situation from a different perspective.  The odds are in your favor that if you’re having a weight loss challenge another woman is going through the same challenge.  

Having a coach that’s highly trained is a guaranteed support system.  When I work with my clients, I reassure them that I’ll catch them when they fall (sometimes literally if we’re working out together).  If you’re willing to do the work, you can achieve goals that feel impossible in the beginning when you work with a coach.

Be Open To Making Mistakes 

Sometimes it’s necessary to make your own mistakes and learn from them.  In fact, it’s actually a great growth opportunity for you.  Minimizing your chances of mistakes by learning from others who have been on a similar journey will help you get to your destination more efficiently.

Want to learn how we can work together?  Go here to book your free Wellness Strategy Session.

From Frenemy to Bestie: Low-Carb Eating For Women Over 40

I’m sure you’re familiar with a low-carb eating style, right?  This type of eating style has been criticized over the years for being unhealthy.  There’s people who say there’s not enough scientific evidence (a.k.a. published scientific studies) to prove that it’s effective for sustainable weight loss and improving overall health and that it might be doing more harm than good.  I’ve been eating this way and studying a low-carb eating style for over 13 years now and the evidence that I’ve come up with is that it works.  More importantly, there is a healthy way to make it work for you.

Today I’m going share the health benefits of a low-carb eating style if you’re in your 40s and how to take this eating style from frenemy to bestie to make it sustainable for you.

Before we dive into the benefits of eating low-carb, let’s talk about how your body processes the calories you consume.  When you drink alcohol your body sees it as a toxin and has no ability to store it so it burns this first.  Next your body will burn any calories from carbs to use as energy.  The leftovers will be stored either in your liver or muscles. When your liver and muscles carb storage reach their limits, the remaining carbs are stored as fat.  

If your body still needs energy after all this, it will begin burning fat from calories you’ve eaten.  If your body doesn’t need any more energy, where will any excess fat go?  You guessed it!  It will be stored as fat. 

Now let’s dive into the benefits of a low-carb eating style.

One of the most common objections to a low-carb eating style hear is that your body needs carbs to function, specifically your brain and for medium to high intensity exercise.  This is true to some extent.  If you’re eating too many carbs in the form of highly processed starchy foods such as whole wheat bread, bagels, chips, baked goods, etc., your brain becomes overwhelmed with too much glucose and this is when neurological disorders occur such as Alzheimer’s.

Giving your brain the right amount of carbs in the form of whole food veggies and fruits will suffice the requirements for optimal brain function.  If you’re following a keto eating style eating less than 50g of carbs a day, your body will make ketones and use these for energy for your brain.  Your body also makes glucose from protein you eat or your muscles.  This is the “break in case of emergency” glass case in your body in the event you need a little glucose boost. 

As you enter your 40s, our estradiol (the prominent form of estrogen in your reproductive years) begins to fluctuate dramatically before it finally drops and a weaker form of estrogen (estrone) takes over.  Estrogen increases your body’s ability to process carbs efficiently so you don’t experience the dramatic ups and downs of energy from your blood sugar levels rising and falling too fast.  When your estrogen levels begin falling and become unpredictable, your body tends to store more fat.  In addition, you may not sleep as well if you have too much glucose in your blood stream at night.  When you’re not sleeping well, your hunger and satiating hormones get out of whack and you may eat more which in turn could make you store more fat.

This may sound like a vicious cycle but it’s actually your body’s way of keeping you alive with the not-so-great resources it has to work with.  This is survival mode for your body.  Giving your body healthier options such as meat, veggies, fruits, and nuts to use as resources to keep you at a healthy weight, sleeping great, and moving efficiently is a key component to helping you thrive.

So, how do you sustain a low-carb eating style?

This is actually a simple process that’s not always easy.  The key to success is starting small, whatever that looks like for you.  When I started eating low-carb in 2012, I slowly replaced highly processed foods until I eventually eliminated them from a majority of my meals.  For example, I replaced my lunchtime sandwich with a nutrient-dense salad filled with mixed greens, olives, tomatoes, onions, protein, and avocado and topped with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.  I continued to eat toast with my eggs in the morning until I felt ready to focus on adding more protein and fat to where I didn’t even want the bread.  After several weeks, I was eating at least 90% meat, eggs, veggies, fruit, and nuts.  I would occasionally eat pasta or baked goods but not that often.

When you slowly introduce more whole foods to your eating style, your body adjusts to   not needing as many carbs.  Your hormones get to levels where you’re not craving ultra-processed food and you don’t get hangry when you’re hungry.  You can go hours feeling hungry and still maintain energy levels.  This is your body thriving on the whole, nutrient-dense foods your giving it.

Once you begin eating low-carb, you may notice that you need more carbs during the second half of your cycle.  This is to be expected because of low progesterone levels.  During these weeks, eat more whole food carbs such as potatoes and fruit to help your progesterone levels increase.  If you’re working out more in the beginning of your cycle because you have more energy, you may benefit from eating more starchy carbs.  

Low-carb for you can be different than low-carb for me.  It’s all relative based your individual needs.  It’s important to be willing to experiment with different whole foods to figure out what works best for you.

There’s so much more I can share on this topic but I’ll leave the rest for another day.  The bottom line is a low-carb eating style can help you maintain a healthy, sleep great, and have consistent energy levels throughout the day.

Want to learn more about how you can get started?  Book your free Wellness Strategy Session with me and I’ll help you get started.

How to Enjoy Thanksgiving Without Derailing Your Health Goals

My favorite day of the week is any day I get to wake up naturally without an alarm.  This means going to sleep knowing I can wake up whenever I want, not feeling rushed, and being able to sip on my cup of coffee for as long as I want to.  These are the days I usually feel the most rested and relaxed.  When I’m well rested, I’m happy and have a more positive outlook on life which means I’m more likely to make lifestyle choices that align with my intentions.

Today I’m sharing how I prioritize the Wellness Abundance Trifecta (nutrition, movement, and rest) on Thanksgiving Day to be sure I maintain the lifestyles habits that help me stay healthy and thriving while enjoying holiday indulgences.  You can follow my process and personalize it to align with your health and wellness intentions.

Priority #1- Feel Well Rested

Sleeping in as late as I want to (7am is the latest for me) is how I love to start any holiday, especially Thanksgiving.  I get up super early at 5am and work hard during the week and, even though I love what I do as a coach, I still look forward to taking a break to recharge my batteries.  It’s not just giving my mind a mental break from work but also my body a break from feeling like I need to workout right after I have my coffee.

Sleeping in and enjoying coffee time with my hubby helps me start Turkey Day in relax mode before the holiday chaos starts.  It’s our quiet time together before we join the rest of our family and jump into our family dynamic of conflicting personalities.  I think everyone can relate to this.  As I mentioned earlier, when I’m relaxed and happy I’m more likely to make food and beverage choices that align with my health and fitness goals (more on this later) and I’m able to have a good time no matter what happens throughout the day.

Priority #2- Move Your Body

After our quiet, relaxing coffee time, we’ll do our annual Turkey Day burpee workout.  This has been our tradition for several years now and it’s one that I look forward to every year.  

One of the reasons we do a burpee workout is to deplete our glucose (the body’s form of stored carbs) so when we eat all the carbs delights during the afternoon feast our bodies are less likely to store them an excess as fat.  Not only am I physically benefiting from this type of workout but it helps boost my mood as well.  

You don’t need to do an intense burpee workout.  You can do a strength training session, go for a hike, participate in a local Turkey Day Trot, or simply go for a walk around your neighborhood.  If you need accountability to get moving, invite a friend to join you. 

Speaking of accountability, we’ll be live-streaming our Turkey Day burpee workout on our YouTube channel here and would love for you to join us for a full-body workout at 9am PST.  We’ll start by giving everyone a tutorial on different versions of a burpee so you can choose the one that aligns with your fitness level.  You can do as many as you’d like and we’ll be there to encourage you to push your comfort zone.  You’re way more capable than you give yourself credit for so this will be an opportunity to see what you can do.

You don’t need to do the entire workout at once.  You can break it down into micro workouts throughout the day.  For example, if you’re cooking, you can do squats or push ups in-between basting the turkey or preparing the mash potatoes and green bean casserole.  Even moving around the kitchen cooking and cleaning is movement that can benefit you.  Going for a walk after a meal slows down the digestion process and keeps your blood sugar levels from going crazy.

Do whatever feels right for your body, mood, and schedule for the day.

Priority #3- Nutritional Flexibility 

This is one that I struggle with every year.  I love eating delicious food and am not one to shy away from a hearty meal.  If this is you, you may be able to relate to the struggle of staying true to what you consider healthy eating style intentions.  It can be easy to give into the delicious temptations on the table.  

• Warm rolls fresh from the oven

• Buttery mashed potatoes 

• Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows

• Pumpkin pie

• Apple pie

These are just a handful of delicious holiday dishes that tempt me.  I give myself permission to indulge in any Turkey Day dishes if I feel like it.  I go into it knowing I might not feel great but it’s an infrequent indulgence and I know it’s not going to derail me from my health and fitness progress.  

One the other hand, if you want to stay true to your healthy eating style on Thanksgiving, have a strategy in place if you feel like you might be tempted to indulge too much.  You’re the expert in your own life which means you’re the only person who can decide what you eat and don’t eat.  If I were to stick to my usual eating style, I would focus on eating meat and non-starchy veggies with butter.  If I really wanted dessert, I would bring dark chocolate to treat myself to an after dinner sweet treat.    

Day After Strategy

If you want to use Turkey Day to take a vacation from your healthy lifestyle habits, go for it.  Often times days like these are friendly reminders of why you’ve implemented different nutrition, fitness, and rest habits.  You may wake up the next morning feeling like crap and be super motivated to get back to it so you don’t feel like that again.  

If you indulge a little or a lot, have a strategy in place to reset your body such as scheduling a hike or strength session with a few friends the next day for a post Turkey Day workout.  Make sure you have nutrient-dense foods such as meats, eggs, seafood, veggies, and fruit in your house ready to eat on Friday and through the rest of the long weekend.  

My philosophy at Wellness Abundance Coaching is that living your life in a way that you enjoy without strict rules to follow all the time will help you stay healthy and happy and keep you thriving.  

So, how are you going to enjoy your Thanksgiving  next week?

How To Stop Labeling Food As Good or Bad

The other day my hubby and I were talking about how it’s a little strange to be in our 40s since it feels like just yesterday our parents where in their 40s.  When my parents were my age it felt like they were old.  Now that I’m in my mid 40s, the reality is I’m not actually old (even though at times I feel like it).  

This season in life can be a bit tricky to navigate with hormonal and life changes that can be frustrating and confusing.  The great news is we have a choice to fall into the midlife victim mentality or recognize the opportunities to make changes and embrace this season of life.  

Today I’ll dive into how you can take these opportunities and run with them to improve your health and maybe even become the healthiest you’ve ever been in your life.  

When I ask women in their 40s and 50s what their health and wellness goals are it’s usually centered around overall health.  Most women in midlife no longer have the unrealistic goal to be super skinny.  Some women do want to lose weight but they want to lean up for health reasons and not aesthetic reasons.  This type of weight loss goal is realistic and totally doable.  We all have an ideal body weight where our body is happy, healthy, and thriving.  

One huge benefit of aging is most people (not all) become wiser as they age.  I know I’m definitely wiser than I was in my 20s and 30s.  I’m more self-aware of areas in my life that can be improved and more open to honest feedback.  In my younger years, I took a lot of feedback personally even though it didn’t reflect on who I was as a person.  Now a days, I’m always asking for feedback from my clients and community.  I will occasionally take it personally depending on what kind of mood I’m in but, for the most part, I enjoy getting feedback because it gives me ideas on how to improve my programs to help my clients on a deeper level. 

The same can be said for health and wellness habits.  Midlife is an ideal time to reflect on what you’ve learned over the past several decades in regards to nutrition, fitness, and rest so you can become self-aware of your choices.  With your hormones fluctuating more frequently than before it can be a bit more challenging to dial in a nutrition and fitness strategy that works for you. 

We all make choices based on logic or emotion and sometimes a little bit of both.  When you reach for the cookies, this choice is probably based on your emotions and not logic.  You’re most likely fully aware there’s little to no nutritional value in a cookie.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes we need to give into our cravings and eat that comfort food.  It’s not about eating nutrient dense food all the time.

The key to success with sustainable habits is to be able to recognize the difference between emotional and logical choices.  If you’ve spent your entire life differentiating between “good” and “bad” foods and still struggle with it, this will be game changer for you.  When you stop labeling food as if there were super strict rules with what you can and can’t eat, you feel a sense of freedom you’ve never felt before.  You just eat food based on what your body needs including the occasional indulgence.  There is a skill to this based on self-awareness that you can master.

If this is a new concept to you, you’re on your way to creating a new nutrition strategy.  This is an exciting change that just might be exactly what you need if what worked for you in the past to build muscle or lose weight isn’t working any longer.

Let’s dive into how to become self-aware with your nutrition strategy.  If you’re already self-aware, diving deeper into your awareness can help you take your nutrition habits to the next level.  I’ll share four simple questions you can ask yourself to raise awareness when you want to eat a specific food.  I’ll use the example of eating microwave popcorn since this has been an indulgence for me lately.

What am I thinking right now?

When I eat popcorn I’m usually thinking about how movies and popcorn go together.  But not just any movie.  It’s usually when we’re watching a movie in a theater.  When I’m at home, curled up in bed watching a movie popcorn doesn’t even cross my mind.  In my mind, it’s the experience of watching a movie on a big screen with surround sound.  

How am I feeling right now?

There was a day in the last few months when I was craving carbs because I was PMSing (which is normal, by the way) and I wanted comfort food.  Since I connect movie theaters to popcorn, that’s what I gravitated towards based on how I was feeling.  I was satisfying my body’s need for carbs and my emotions.

How am I behaving right now?

When I was eating popcorn, I was enjoying a relaxing afternoon with my hubby disconnecting from reality for a few hours.  When I’m in relaxation mode, I don’t worry about what I’m eating or drinking or how it’s going to affect me.  I just do what feels right in the moment to help me relax.

What’s logical about eating this food?

I know popcorn has very little (if any) nutrients that’s going to help me build lean muscle mass, sleep better, or improve my overall health.  There are no logical health benefits to eating popcorn with butter and salt on it other than the fact that it made me happy in the moment.  I love the crunch along with the salty, buttery flavor.

After I indulged, I didn’t feel any guilt for eating popcorn.  In fact, I felt like I had satisfied both an emotional and physical craving.  I was very self-aware of the food that I was putting in my body and why I was eating it.  I didn’t label it as good or bad food.  It was just food that I gave myself permission to eat sans the guilt.  I did go on to eat a nutritious, home cooked meal for dinner at the end my popcorn and movie days.  

Years ago I would have been really hard on myself for eating a “bad” food that has very little nutritional value.  I even may have said that I was behaving “badly” for eating it.  You know what I’m talking about because you’ve probably said it yourself.  “I’m just going to be bad today and eat whatever I want.”  When we label our eating behavior as good or bad it sends a message to ourselves that we’re a good or bad as a person.  This sends us down the rabbit hole of “I’m not good enough to be healthy.”  When we fall into this mindset, we tend to lean towards behaviors that don’t support our healthy habit intentions.

You’re eating behaviors are not a reflection of who you are as a woman or your ability to create sustainable nutrition and fitness habits.  When you remain neutral with your food, exercise, and rest choices and are fully aware of why you’re making those choices you find a groove with your lifestyle habits.  You’ll instinctively know when to indulge in treats and when to focus on nutrient-dense foods.  Mastering this skill takes time, focus, and patience and you have the willpower to make this happen.  

Next time you eat a meal, ask yourself these four questions so you can get a sense of how self-aware you are of the rational behind your food choices.  

Why Healthy Habits Feel Like Frenemies (and How to Finally Make Them Stick)

If you’ve had an on again, off again relationship with healthy habits, it’s not your fault.  A whole food eating style and consistent exercise routine can be your frenemies.  They’re like that person in your life that’s your friend one day and the next day they’re driving you crazy and you’re wondering why you even hang out with them.  Sometimes my hubby and I will be walking through the frozen food isle at Trader Joe’s and he’ll say, “Why do I need to eat healthy all the time?  There’s so many delicious  frozen foods that are not so healthy!”  The temptations are everywhere.

If you can relate to this and struggle with sustainable habits, I highly recommend working with a health coach and not just because I am one.  I see the value in any type coaching when you want to learn a new skill.  Working with a pro who’s trained in a specific area will help you reach your goals faster and more efficiently.

Habit creation is a skill that many people are not great at which is why most people struggle with sustainable healthy lifestyle habits.  It becomes especially challenging when social media is telling you how to lose weight by implementing habits that you have no idea how to fit into your life.  One great example is spending an entire day meal prepping.  I know this works for some people but most people I speak with tell me they don’t want to spend their entire Sunday cooking and doing dishes.  There are other ways to be successful with a whole food eating style.

This exactly how I help my clients figure out what will work best for them.  Let’s do a deeper dive into how this works…

Set Realistic Goals

My clients come to me feeling either overwhelmed or ready to take on the world.  Both are completely valid.  The great news is both ends of the spectrum can have strong motivation behind them.  

When you feel overwhelmed with where to start, you’re more likely to hesitate taking the first step towards a healthier you.  You might just need a little nudge and some clarity to get started.  

If this is you, I will help you breakdown your overwhelm into manageable steps so that you feel confident with your starting point.  We’ll brainstorm a list of starting points and narrow it down to one that resonates the most with you.  From there, we’ll co-create an action plan so you can start implementing one habit right away.  Once you feel like you have a rhythm with your first habit, you can add another small step.  As you continue to have success and celebrate your wins, you can add more small steps.

If you’re ready to take on the world, this is an amazing feeling.  While you’re riding this wave of motivation it’s super important to consider what you have the ability to take on at this time.  If you take on too much too soon, it could be difficult to sustain.  

If this is you, I’ll help you step back and take a look at your schedule, resources, and abilities to make sure your habit intentions align with them.  If they do, we’ll co-create a strategy on how you’re going to implement your new habits into your life.  If they don’t all align, we’ll start with the ones that do and create a plan of action together.  It’s super important to keep the ones that don’t align right now in your back pocket for later.  Once you have your initial habits dialed in, you can revisit your other list and choose which ones to add.

The key to finding success from the start with healthy lifestyle habits is to start small (whatever that looks like for you) so you can build your confidence and experience quick wins.

Overcome Obstacles

Once you get into a rhythm with a new habit it’s important to maintain momentum so you can keep moving forward.  Obstacles are what trip people up and throws them off course.  The great news is most obstacles can be anticipated which means you can create a plan in advance to overcome them.  Even with the ones you can’t anticipate you can still decide how you’re going to respond if or when something unexpected comes up.

Let’s start with anticipated obstacles.  If you’ve decided that you’re going to wake up thirty minutes earlier than usual so you can get a bodyweight workout in at home, make a list if anything that might get the way.  One obstacle might be not getting good sleep for any reason (night sweats, insomnia, a kid waking up in the middle of the night, etc.).  Create a plan around how you can overcome each one.  

If you wake up with night sweats, having a clean, dry pair of PJs right next to your bed to change into quickly might help you get back to sleep faster.  If you haven’t been getting great sleep lately and insomnia is a concern, have a plan B for your workout that you can do after a not-so-good night’s sleep.  Some movement is better than no movement at all.  If you’re working with me, we can brainstorm ideas on how you can get back to sleep rather than stay up all night lying in bed feeling anxious about not getting sleep.  

Create Accountability 

Accountability is hands down the most common challenge I hear from women and I get it.  This is a tough one to navigate.  You can talk yourself out of a workout within minutes by listing a bunch of reasons why you can’t do it.  

• You’re too tired.  

• You’ll workout tomorrow.  

• You don’t know what you’re doing.  

• You might injure yourself.

• You don’t have time.

• I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.  Now, all of these reasons might be legitimate.  Sometimes you actually are too tired and your body is telling you it needs more rest.  I’m all for it.  

It’s important to differentiate between legitimate reasons and excuses which is something you and I can work through together during our coaching sessions.

Most of my clients start out with an external source for accountability such as a friend or partner and me, their coach.  This works great in the beginning but shouldn’t be relied on in the long run.  A friend might bail on you because something comes up in her life.  Your partner might help you legitimize your excuses.  This isn’t necessarily because they want to sabotage your intentions.  They most likely want you to be happy and healthy which is great.  You want this kind of support.  However, because they want you to be happy they might also unintentionally encourage you to skip your workout if it they think it would make you happy.  

As we’re working together, we’ll strategize how you can hold yourself accountable so you don’t need to rely on anyone else (myself included) to keep you on track and moving forward.

Where do you start?

If you’re still on the fence about working with a health coach, I get it.  I always want to make sure I’m investing my money into services that I know are a good fit for me.  Most health coaches offer a free call for you to ask questions before you officially enroll in their program.  I do the same.  Go here to book a free virtual video call with me so I can answer all your questions before you commit.  

Just a friendly reminder that when you invest in health coaching you’re investing in your future self.  Think about how future you would feel if you upgraded your health and fitness habits now.

Hormones, Weight Gain & Mood Swings: The Missing Link Most Women Over 40 Overlook

If I could give one piece of advice to women in their 40s who are struggling with weight gain, mood swings, hot flashes, and any other perimenopausal symptoms it would be to track your hormones.  I know the last thing you want to do is to track something.  I get it.  I’m don’t even track my workouts.  But hear me out with this one.

One huge benefit of tracking your hormones is it gives you a sense of control over your body when you’re going through a phase in your life where you feel like you have little control over your body.  You don’t know if your pants are going be snug tomorrow or what kind of mood you’ll be in and it can make you feel like you’re crazy.  

The truth is you’re not crazy.  It’s your hormones that are going crazy.  Today I’ll share how you can track your hormones easily and effortlessly and how to use the data to align your nutrition, fitness, and rest habits to mitigate mood swings, weight gain, and other perimenopausal symptoms.

Before we dive into the good stuff let’s tackle the legal stuff.  I’m not a licensed medical professional which means I’m not qualified to diagnose or treat your hormonal fluctuations.  My role as your health and fitness coach is to help you to create sustainable nutrition and fitness lifestyle habits that work for you.  I will share my knowledge based on my in-depth training of perimenopause and personal experience.  Got it?  

Okay, let’s dive right in.

When you’re in your reproductive years ovulating and have a regular menstrual cycle it’s pretty easy to predict what your hormones are doing throughout your cycle.  Estrogen begins increasing when you start your period and continues to rise until ovulation.  This is the follicular phase of your cycle.  After ovulation, you enter the luteal phase where your estrogen begins to decline.  Your progesterone increases during and shortly after ovulation and then declines a few days before your period.  Low progesterone can trigger sugar cravings which is why you want to eat all the sweet stuff right before your period.  Your estrogen also begins to decline during this phase.

When you reach your 40s (or even your late 30s) your hormones may fluctuate more frequently.  This could explain weight gain, mood swings, insomnia, brain fog, low energy levels and other symptoms.

Now let’s talk about how tracking your hormones (specifically estrogen and progesterone) can boost weight loss, minimize anxiety, and mitigate brain fog.  

Your body is made up of systems that interact with each other by increasing one hormone and decreasing another.  Estradiol, the prominent estrogen hormone, keeps a handful of hormones in check.  For example, estradiol works with your satiety hormone, leptin, to let your brain know you’ve had enough to eat.  When your estrogen levels are low, it can’t communicate with your brain as effectively to let you know it’s time to stop eating.

Low estrogen also increases insulin resistance which means your body isn’t able to distribute nutrients from carbs as efficiently as it should if you were more insulin sensitive.  When this happens your body stores carbs as fat and sends your blood sugar on a roller coaster ride.  When you’re insulin sensitive, your body can burn carbs more efficiently by moving them through your blood without the roller coaster ride.

Estrogen also has an impact on sleep.  When your estrogen levels are low you may not sleep as well.  The same goes for progesterone.  If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, this could be due to low estrogen and progesterone.  When you’re not getting great sleep you’re more likely to experience sugar or salt cravings, false hunger, and anxiety.  

So, how does this help with weight loss?

If you know that your estrogen levels are low, you can make choices throughout your day knowing that you may want to eat the entire box of cookies or bag of salty potato chips because of false hunger and cravings.  It’s super easy to be reactive when it comes to food by giving into your body’s cravings when it actually prefers whole foods. 

The solution is simple: focus on prioritizing whole foods with protein first (fish, beef, bison, chicken, pork, and eggs), healthy fats second (avocados, real butter, diary), non-starchy veggies third (broccoli, spinach) and fruit fourth (preferably berries).  This will help your body keep these hormones in check.  When you become proactive with your nutrition you naturally fall into the habit of working with your body rather than against it.  Your sleep, mood, energy levels, and everything else will fall into place.

Will whole foods actually increase your estrogen levels?  Probably not.  However, if your estrogen levels are low, feeding your body processed junk food will only intensify your perimenopause (or menopausal) symptoms.  If you want to increase your estrogen, I encourage you to see your healthcare provider about hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  You can go here to check out the podcast episode with my nurse practitioner friend, Dana Salisbury Duarte, to learn more about HRT.

If you’re not sleeping great because you know your progesterone and estrogen are low, this is a great opportunity to take an active rest day from your workout and go for walks.  You may even consider taking a nap or simply lying down for 15-20 minutes for an afternoon energy boost.

So, how do you track your hormones?

It’s actually super easy to do in the comfort of your own home.  There’s several hormone tracking products on the market. I personally use Mira and it’s been pretty accurate so far.  If you have irregular periods (this is a sign of perimenopause) and it’s new territory for you, the Mira app will predict when your period is going to start so you don’t have to be surprised.  I recently started tracking my hormones again at the end of my cycle and it was spot on with predicting the day I was going to start my period.  I was amazed at how accurate it was even when I hadn’t tested in a few months.  

I talk to women all the time who say they’ve had their hormones tested by their doctor and the results come back within normal range yet they’re still experiencing mood swings, irregular periods, and weight gain.  One snapshot of your hormones is not a good measurement of what’s really going on because your hormones fluctuate from day to day and throughout the day.  It’s best to track your hormones over at least a few cycles to see if there’s a pattern.

The Mira app will create a testing schedule for you when you input all your info including why you want to test.  You can test for fertility or where you are in the menopause transition.  The actual testing part is really simple.  You just pee in a silicone cup, dip the wand in the pee for 20 seconds, stick the wand into the monitor, and go do something else while waiting for your test results.  It’s best to test in the morning with your first pee before you’ve had anything to eat or drink.  This will get you the most accurate results.

One feature of the Mira app that I’m a fan of is the ability to download a report of your hormone levels to send to your health care provider to share your data.  This will help them recommend the appropriate treatment for you.  If you’re enrolled in my 1:1 health and fitness program you can share your data with me and this will help me guide you in creating a fitness program and nutrition plan that works for you.

If you want to start tracking your hormones, you can go here to check out Mira.  To be totally transparent, I earn a small commission when you order from any Mira links on my website, YouTube channel, or podcast.

Exercise vs Diet: What’s more effective for weight loss?

When you think about weight loss, do you think your focus should be on exercise or diet?  I’ll give you a hint: it’s probably not what you think.  There’s a lot of confusing information roaming around the internet on this topic and it can be challenging to sift through it all.  In addition to being overwhelmed with information on the internet, we’ve been taught that calories in/calories out is the ideal equation for weight loss and weight maintenance.  This is true to some degree, but it’s not that simple.

Today I’ll dive into the most effective strategy for weight loss and how to make it work for you.

Let’s start by talking about how your body responds to exercise to clear up any confusion.  When you workout your body uses energy from stored fat, sugar in your bloodstream, or recently consumed calories from fat or carbs depending on the type of exercise.  For example, a high intensity cardio workout uses carbs for energy.  A lower intensity workout like a light run, hike, bike ride or strength training session uses fat for energy.  Your body doesn’t just burn random calories when you exercise.  It has systems in place to utilize different forms of calories depending on how you’re moving your body.  This is one of the reasons why the calories in/calories out theory isn’t completely accurate or straightforward.

Now, let’s move on to diet or what I like to call your eating style.  When you eat a meal your body uses any carbs for energy first.  After all the carbs are used up in the form of energy, it taps into any fat that you’ve eaten.  If your body doesn’t need any more energy, it will store any unused fat under your skin, in your blood as triglycerides, or around your organs.  Your body doesn’t have a storage limit of fat so it can hold as much as it needs to before burning it off.  By the way, any unused carbs will be stored as fat in your body in addition to fat calories consumed.  

Your body doesn’t necessarily use protein for energy.  Protein is made up of amino acids  which are the building blocks of your body.  It helps build muscle, create strong bones, and keeps your skin healthy.  Protein, in my opinion, it the most important macronutrient to consume in abundance.  It also helps minimize sugar cravings and helps you feel full longer.  This means you’ll naturally eat less calories when you prioritize protein over processed foods.

Protein and fat are usually paired together in whole food sources so it’s the ultimate macro to focus on.  Your body has the ability to make carbs if needed.  To be clear, I’m not saying carbs aren’t important but they shouldn’t be a priority with your meals.

Now that you have a better understanding of how your body works when you exercise and eat, what do you think is the better for weight loss: exercise or diet?

If your answer is diet, you’re right.  We always say in our home that you can’t exercise your way out of a poor diet full of processed foods.  When you exercise, your body wants to use “clean energy” in the form of whole foods to fuel workouts rather than “dirty energy” from processed foods.  

Exercise is definitely an important part of your weight loss and weight maintenance strategy, however, starting with the food you eat will be more efficient.  If exercise is the most convenient habit to implement first on your weight loss journey, I highly encourage you to start there.  It’s still going to benefit you in the long run and you can always add whole food eating habits down the road.

So, how do you implement more whole foods in your eating style?  Start by making a list of all the whole foods you enjoy eating (i.e. beef, chicken, pork, eggs, broccoli, sweet potatoes, etc.).  From there, you can cobble together meals to make throughout the week.  Decide how many whole food meals you want to eat in the upcoming week, gather all the ingredients, and find simple recipes that you can make at home.  Repeat this simple process every week by adding more whole food meals until at least 90% of your meals are made with whole foods.  

When you’re ready, add exercise habits into your lifestyle one step at a time.  Start with what you’re comfortable with (i.e. walks, light strength training, etc.) and add a little more as you gain confidence and you’re able to carve out time for more workouts.

Weight loss and weight maintenance is actually easier than it sounds.  If you’ve struggled with weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight in the past, I’m happy to help.  My specialty is helping women like you find a way to make it easy for lifestyle.  In my program, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.  Healthy lifestyle habits look different for everyone.  Go here to book a free wellness strategy session with me to learn how you can make it work for you.

Interval Training Isn’t Just For Fat Loss

I’m sure you’ve heard the term high intensity interval training (also known as HIIT) in relation to exercise routines.  HIIT workouts can be beneficial for everyone, no matter your age, ability, or goals.  If you’re a woman in your 40’s and beyond, interval training can not only help with efficient fat loss, but also with navigating the hormonal changes in this season of life.

Let’s start talking about the “fun stuff” we go through as women in midlife when our hormones can’t decide whether or not they want to stay at healthy levels, go super high, or drop to an all-time low.  This can vary from woman to woman and from day to day.  You could be feeling like everything is going great one day, then wake up the next day with a wave of anxiety.  You might not remember what you walked into the kitchen for or why you opened another tab in your web browser (this is me on daily basis!).  You might all of a sudden feel like it’s 5,000 degrees in the room and then frantically grab the nearest blanket a few hours later.  Or you might look at your partner and wonder why you hate them so much for no reason at all.  The struggle is real, Ladies!

Yes, these are all real-life challenges that many fabulous midlife women like you and I experience.  On one hand, it’s an interesting season in life that can be confusing and frustrating at times.  On the other hand, it can also be a time where you don’t really give a #%&@ about what anyone thinks about you and finally take the risks you’ve been wanting to take.  Or it could be a little bit of both.

Thankfully there are ways you can mitigate the anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, and other perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms with lifestyle habits.  One of them is exercise.  

Before we dive into how exercise can improve the “fun stuff”, let’s learn a little bit about the changes that could be happening with your hormones and how it’s affecting your ability to remember where you put your keys or the anxiety you’re feeling for no reason at all.  I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty science of how hormones affect your brain but I think it’s important to have a basic understanding of what’s happening.  I’ll make it super simple to understand.  

Let’s start with fun facts about hormones and your brain.  Your central nervous system (CNS) is the system in your body that controls just about everything: appetite, sitting down, standing up, muscles, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.  Your CNS is made up of your brain and spinal cord.  It’s a pretty important system in your body since it literally keeps things running efficiently.

When your brain isn’t getting enough estrogen, you may experience brain fog, difficulty concentrating, or other memory issues.  Progesterone helps stimulate your feel good hormones such as serotonin and GABA.  When your progesterone levels are low, you may experience anxiety, depression, and mood swings.  

Ever notice just before your period starts you feel moody, anxious, and like you want to rage over your kids misbehaving or your partner not doing the dishes?  Or if you ever feel like a raccoon and get distracted too often by shiny things.  You’re not crazy.  It’s your brain’s response to your estrogen and progesterone levels being low during this phase of your cycle.  If you’re cycle is regular, these hormone levels will start to increase as you get closer to ovulation.  You should start to feel relaxed and focused after you start your period.

If you’re in perimenopause (the menopause transition), your story might be a little different.  When your cycles become irregular and your hormones fluctuate more frequently, it can be harder to predict when your estrogen and progesterone levels are low.  There are tools you can use at home (I use Mira Menopause Transition Kit here) to measure your hormones to give you a better understanding of what’s happening inside.  Sometimes not knowing what’s going on can add a layer of frustration to your emotions.  Knowing what your hormones are doing can help you be more strategic about your exercise routine to minimize anxiety, boost your mood, and be able to concentrate better.

Now lets talk about how interval training can help with memory, mood, and concentration.  

High intensity interval training is known to stimulate the brain by using glucose (a.k.a. carbs) for energy.  This will help you stay alert and focused throughout the day and boost your energy levels.  If you feel like your anxiety is skyrocketing, a lower intensity interval workout such as a walk or hike with occasional hills can help your body produce more feel good hormones and reduce stress.  If you really need to get some frustration out, take a medicine ball or any kind of ball that’s tough and start slamming it on the ground.  This is a great way get any rage out of your system without harming anyone else.  

An effective mindfulness exercise that will help you improve your concentration is to focus on one thing during your workout.  For example, paying close attention do your form during a movement will help you prevent injury, work your muscles effectively, and teach you focus skills.  You can also pay close attention to your breath to make sure you’re breathing properly throughout the movement.  One of the worst things you can do is get in the habit of holding your breath during a movement, especially one that’s difficult.  Breathing through the movement by inhaling during the easy part and exhaling during the difficult part will help you move through the movement efficiently.  

To wrap it up, when you feel like you’re going crazy or simply don’t feel like yourself go for a walk, take eight deep breaths, or push heavy weight around.  This will send a message to your brain and you’ll feel better afterwards.  You may not feel 100% but you’ll definitely see an improvement in your mood.  If you can’t find anything that works for you, go here and schedule a call with me.  We’ll figure it out together.  

Ladies, Feel Stuck? Quick Wins That Jumpstart Real Change

If you ever feel discouraged by not making progress when creating new habits, you’re not alone.  I hear this all the time from clients and I definitely feel it myself.  It’s super easy to focus on everything that’s not going the way you planned rather than the what’s actually working.  This can be tricky to overcome because it’s in our genetic makeup to be more pessimistic than optimistic.  On one hand, this is actually a good thing because it protects us from any danger we might be in.  On the other hand, this makes it harder to focus on what is working.

Today I’m going to walk you through how to find quick wins in any situation to boost your confidence so you can focus on solutions.

There’s a great quote from a psychologist, the late Wayne Dyer, that sums this up nicely:

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” 

Now, I’m not here to encourage you to look at everything as rainbows and unicorns.  That’s not realistic or even healthy.  However, when you can look at a situation from a different perspective, you’re able to find and celebrate even the smallest of wins.

A quick win is a small success you have at the beginning of and throughout a journey where you see results right away.  For example, when a new client enrolls in one of my programs the first thing I do is celebrate their win of simply enrolling.  I speak with people daily who don’t even take the simple step to reach out for help when they know they could benefit from working with a professional.  So, the simple action of hiring a coach to guide you through the process of creating nutrition and fitness habits that work for you is a win.

If you tend to navigate towards what you’re not doing (i.e. maintaining a consistent strength training routine) rather than what you are doing (i.e. going for a 15-minute walk twice a week), getting your quick-win muscle strong is something you can work on daily.  If you’re walking for 15 minutes a day, what changes have you noticed?  Are you sleeping better? Do you have more consistent energy levels throughout the day?  Every single result you notice and celebrate moves you one step closer to creating that consistent strength routine.

If you want to lose weight and tone up, your body knows exactly what to do to get you there.  It may not happen as fast you want it to because your body has a process it needs to go through.  If you experience a lot of stress in your life, daily 15-minute walks could be the catalyst to lower your cortisol (the stress hormone) to a level that will allow your body to burn fat efficiently.  Your clothes may not feel looser and the number on the scale might not go down right away, but you might feel more relaxed and less stressed.  This is definitely quick win.  This shows that you’re on the right path to your ideal body composition.

My 6-Week Healthy Habit Reset program will help you find and celebrate quick wins from the beginning.  I’ll walk you through setting small, realistic goals so you can actually get results.  My Reset is a group program which means you’ll have an extra layer of support and accountability from other women.  It never ceases to amaze me the impact a group of women can make on their own personal lives, but also the lives of others.  I truly believe in the power of community which is why I started my business 9 years ago facilitating group coaching and why I love it to this day.

The last day to enroll in the Fall cohort of the 6-Week Healthy Habit Reset is September 6th and there’s limited spots available to keep it small and intimate.  Go here to learn more and secure your spot today!

3 Simple Steps to a Safer Beauty Routine

Did you know the quality of the skin care and cosmetics you put on your body is just as important as the food you put in it?  Yup, it’s true!  Your bathroom could be housing bottles of cleanser, moisturizer, shampoo and conditioner, sunscreen and more that are causing hormonal chaos in your body.  These products could be contributing to infertility and increase your risk of breast cancer and endometriosis in addition to causing damage to your reproductive organs.  Even if you’re not looking to get pregnant, healthy fertility is still a super important part of your overall health.

Today I’ll dive into three simple steps to get on the safer beauty train.  It’s actually easier than you may think.

Step 1 - Check the Quality of Your Current Skin Care Products

There’s a really cool organization called the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that has a database of skin care, cosmetics, household cleaners and other products with their hazard rating.  EWG’s rating system (which you can check out here) includes rating ingredients for allergies, cancer, and more.  They have a rigorous certification process companies can go through and receive the prestigious EWG Verified Certification for their products.  This makes it super easy for you as a consumer to choose skin care products that are safer and way less likely to cause cancer and other health issues.  

I would advise against relying on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a go-to resource for safer beauty ingredients because there’s very little regulation for the cosmetic industry.  As little as 10 chemicals are banned in cosmetic in the U.S. while over 1,700 are banned in the E.U.  At the time of this article, a Safer Beauty Bill Package is in the U.S. House Of Representatives to create more regulation in the beauty industry.  This will help you take the guess work out of which products could potentially be causing more harm than good.  You can learn more about this bill in an NPR article here.

Step 2 - Find a Transparent Clean Beauty Brand

There are several clean beauty companies that offer amazing products.  The number one thing I look for when I’m on the hunt for safer products is transparency.  I want to see a list of every single ingredient in all products.  I may not know off the top of my head what the ingredients are but I have an amazing tool at my fingertips (the EWG app and website) to look up each ingredient.  If a company isn’t willing to list out every ingredient or send me an ingredient list when requested, that tells me they could be hiding something.  As a business owner, I do my very best to be super transparent on my website with my programs.  If a feature of my health and fitness coaching services isn’t clear on my website, I’m more than happy to answer any questions or concerns during a free Wellness Strategy Session or over email.  I want all of my clients to feel confident they’ve made the right choice at the time enrolling in my programs.  I expect the same of investing my money in safer beauty products.

My go-to clean beauty brand is Counter (formerly Beautycounter).  Counter is fully transparent about the ingredients in all of their products and they don’t just make safer products.  They advocate for more regulation in the beauty industry.  Counter is a company of integrity which is why I’m a Brand Partner for them.  This means I make a commission off of sales from my Brand Partner website.  

Side note about Counter: Beautycounter was recently rebranded as Counter.  Most of Beautycounter products were EWG verified, however, since Counter is technically a brand new company, the EWG verification process starts all over again.  So, many of the products might not officially be EWG certified.  They are in the process of getting their products certified.

Another clean beauty company I trust is 100% Pure.  This was one of the first clean beauty companies I found years ago when I was making the switch.  They list all the ingredients on their website and you can find the hazard ratings on EWG.  They’re now my backup clean beauty go-to if I can’t find what I’m looking for at Counter.

Step 3 - Start Swapping Your Beauty Products with Safer Products

After you dive into the EWG database to check how safe your skin care products are, choose one or two that are the most harmful.  Find a clean beauty company that you resonate with and start replacing your beauty products with safer ones.  You’ll find that higher quality, cleaner beauty products are more of an investment than products that use synthetic, harmful chemicals.  If needed, build your new safer beauty collection as your budget allows.  

Go on the hunt for discount codes for your first purchase.  Most companies offer you a first time purchase discount as a thank you for joining their community.  Counter offers a 10% discount on your first order when you purchase $100 or more in product.  This is an ongoing offer.  There’s a limited time 15% discount for all Counter products when you order 3 or more products.  Use the code CLEAN15 when you check out on my Brand Partner website here.  This offer is only available until 8/18/25.  Counter also has a loyalty program where you can earn points towards future purchases.  

So, are you ready to make the switch to safer beauty products?  You deserve to look and feel your best while giving your body the care it needs.  Your future self will thank you!

3 Things Yosemite Taught Me About Habit Creation

Photo credit: Dani Kwan

We recently emerged from the wilderness after spending three nights in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park.  The granite rocks were an incredible sight to see, the water was crystal clear at a temperature ideal for tired feet, and the wildlife wandered around giving us our space to enjoy nature.  It was four days that gently nudged me out of my comfort zone just enough to return to civilization feeling more confident in my abilities to do hard things.  It was challenging and enjoyable at the same time which reminded me of the habit creation process.  Today I’m sharing three friendly reminders from the trail about habit creation. (The photo to the left doesn’t do it justice to the beauty that is Yosemite live in-person!)

Set Up Realistic Expectations

This is a super important one.  When we embarked upon our Yosemite journey, I was under the impression that it was going to be a moderately easy hike.  I was wrong.  The first day was a lot of downhill that was hard on my knees (Scot hiked the same trail in 2020 and gave us a heads up on this).  Most of the difficulty for me was carrying a 25-30 pound pack on my back which I was not used to.  I trained by doing a few hikes with my pack on prior to this but definitely not enough.

Day two had pretty steep climbs that were really challenging and definitely unexpected.  One thing I did not do before this hike was look up the elevation gain for each stretch of the trail.  I went on what Scot said which was a mistake on my end.  Everyone has different abilities which means the same hike might be hard for someone and even harder for someone else.  I was carrying the same amount of weight on my back (give or take 3-5 pounds) as Scot, however, I weight 50 pounds less than him.  This is something I did not think about until I was climbing up the switchbacks on day two.

It’s the same with habit creation.  A consistent exercise routine is easy for some of my clients and difficult for others.  This isn’t necessarily because one client is more committed than another.  There’s several variables that are involved in creating consistency.  The most common one is schedules.  We all have responsibilities outside of simply keeping ourselves alive on a daily basis.  We have jobs, pets, kids, and parents to take care of in addition to paying bills, feeding ourselves, sleeping, and relaxing.  At times it feels like a never ending juggling act.

If you have a history of struggling to stay consistent with an exercise routine, give yourself grace and brainstorm ideas on how you can overcome the challenges you have control over.  From there, you can set up realistic expectations to enable you to celebrate wins along the way.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing This

We have a running joke in our friends circle where we question why we’re friends with each other.  This is because when we spend time together we don’t just go to a coffee shop or restaurant and hang out.  We go on an adventures that includes 30+ mile bike rides, climbing sand dunes, summiting mountains, or 4-day treks through the Yosemite backcountry.  Believe it or not, this actually is my idea of fun.  With that being said, it doesn’t mean it’s always easy for any of us.  During the challenging times, I question my choices and dream about what it would be like to just lay on a beach for week reading a great fiction book and sipping on mimosas.  The reality is, that’s not me.  I would get really antsy laying around for a week and drive myself (and my husband) crazy.  I prefer to challenge challenge myself while getting out in nature.

When you’re super clear on your Why you want to eat more home cooked whole food meals, get to bed at a reasonable time, and move your body frequently, the obstacles some how become easier to overcome.  Just about everything you do in your life that’s worth doing and will bring you abundance will have challenges along the way.  When you can tap into your emotional Why it’s so much easier for you to power through the challenges and get creative with finding solutions on how to overcome them. 

I see this all the time in my clients who are clear on their Why.  Our coaching sessions are centered around what’s holding them back from carving out time to make a nutritious meal at home.  Often times the solution is obvious like making sure to get to the grocery store on the weekend to stock up on meat and veggies for the week.  Other times it’s bit more complicated and involves rearranging schedules and delegating other household tasks to partners.  The key is to be so committed to creating the habits that work for you that you almost automatically go into solution mode.

Lean on Your Support System

I’m incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to hike through the beauty that is Yosemite with my hubby and two of our favorite people.  With every step I took up the granite staircase on the switchbacks, I felt a wave of “I got this!” just being with three people who are part of my strong support system (and having my trekking pole in hand).  When I said out loud “I can’t go any further!” and felt the need to burst into tears, someone would remind me that I could in fact keep moving forward.  Looking back at this made a big difference.  I felt like I was infused with energy to get to the top of switchbacks.

When a client reaches out to let me know they’re temporarily unable to stick to a fitness routine we previously discussed and asks for suggestions on what to do instead, it’s a reason to celebrate because I know this person is committed to their health and fitness intentions.  One of my favorite parts of being a coach is helping my clients brainstorm ideas on how they can find an alternative way to stick to a fitness routine when life happens.  There’s multiple ways you can stick to a routine that aren’t necessarily obvious to you so this is why reaching out for support is crucial. 

If you’re feeling discouraged by your progress and feel like giving up like I did on the trail, leaning on your support system can shift your mindset into a “I got this!”  This is why building a strong support system of people who you know will help you see your value and ability during the times when you can’t see it will set you apart from the people who throw in the towel to early.  I talk more about what to do when you feel like giving up in this podcast episode here.

The End of the Trail

Stepping back into civilization after four days on trail I felt a sense of accomplishment.  It felt great to get back to indoor plumbing, hot showers, and food that wasn’t freeze dried.  Don’t get me wrong.  I actually enjoyed unplugging from civilization as it gave me a deeper sense of appreciation for the conveniences of modern life.  But I was looking forward to washing the sweat off my body with soap (and washing  my hair!) and not just river water.  I will say, the river water felt amazing on my skin at the end of a long day and it was super clean water.

The moment you realize you have systems in place to cook nutrient dense meals on demand and get out of bed almost effortlessly to get your workout on, I encourage you to look back at the work you’ve put in to get to this point.  It most likely wasn’t always easy and you probably overcame many obstacles, but you did it.  While the journey isn’t over and your maintenance section of the “healthy habit trail” has just begun, hopefully you’re feeling more confident in your ability to make even more progress.

How to Stay Healthy After “I Do” — 3 Tips for a Strong Body & Stronger Marriage

Getting married is an exciting season of life.  It can also come with a period of adjustment.  It’s easy to let your healthy habits go when you’re knee deep in wedding and honeymoon planning.  Sometimes the entire process feels like full time job.  Once the wedding is over and you return to your daily life after the honeymoon, there’s an adjustment period.  Even if you’ve been living with your partner for a period of time, it may take time to mentally take in the fact that you’re actually married.  

One thing that doesn’t get enough attention is how marriage can quietly sabotage your health and fitness habits.  You may not even know it’s happening until one day when you put on your favorite jeans and they’re a little snug.  Or when you’re finally ready to have a baby and experience fertility issues.  

Today I’ll share my top 3 tips for maintaining (or creating) healthy lifestyle habits while building a solid foundation for a strong marriage.

Let’s start with real talk: marriage isn’t always easy.  You’re not always going to want or need the same things as your partner and this is normal.  The sooner you understand and accept this, the easier it will be to work with your partner to find ways to support each other’s health and wellness journeys.

Tip #1- Be Open to Your Partner’s Perspective

Remind yourself every day that you’re still your own woman in addition to being on Team Marriage.  At times it can feel like a juggling act to prioritize your personal needs while still being an active participant on Team Marriage.  One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from being married is to always look at my hubby’s perspective on things with an open mind and heart, including health and fitness.  It’s not always an easy task, especially when we have different opinions.  I strongly believe this is the foundation of a solid relationship.

Tip #2- Share Your Why With Your Partner

This is an important one.  When you share your Why (your motivation behind your health and fitness habits) with your partner, you get them on board as spectator.  There’s no pressure for them to do exactly what you’re doing.  Share with them how they can support you whether it be giving you space to do your strength workout, plan your meals for the week, or enjoy some quiet time in the morning after you wake up.  Even when your partner doesn’t have the same lifestyle habits you do, they can still hop on the support train in their own way.

Tip #3- Live by Example

There might be times when your partner is not willing to get on the healthy habit train and that’s okay.  If they’re not ready to eat more whole foods or start a strength training routine but you are, do it anyway.  They may not be convinced that eating a certain way can be beneficial.  Or they may not want to give up their shows at night just to get to bed earlier to get a more restful night’s sleep.  Showing your partner what’s possible by taking action and getting results might eventually inspire them to create they’re own nutrition and fitness habits to help them become the healthiest version of themselves.

Whether you’re building new health and fitness habits or maintaining your current ones, give your partner the freedom to choose how and when they want to be involved.  Be open to hearing their inputs and listen carefully when they share how you can support them.  This will help you build a strong foundation to stay intact if things get a little shaky down the road.

Vegetable and Seed Oils: Good or bad for you?

Vegetable and seed oils are getting a lot of attention in the media these days. There’s an ongoing debate as to whether or not these oils are healthy for you. To be honest, this debate has been going on for years, possibly even decades. However, I believe one of the main reasons this debate is talked about so much these days is because Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the Health Secretary and he believes these oils can be harmful to your health. 

The purpose of this article is to talk about what vegetable and seed oils are and whether or not they could potentially harm your body. I'll dive into how to sift through all this information on the internet. This is one thing that holds people back from actually making healthy lifestyle changes because it can feel overwhelming to constantly be reading “this is good for you, but that isn't good for you” not knowing what the truth is.  There’s all sorts of debates in the health and wellness space. So, I am here to help you sift through all this information that's being thrown at us on a daily basis with every news cycle. Alright, let's dive right in. 

First of all, what are vegetable and seed oils? Well, they’re oils that come from seeds and vegetables. One of the main differences between vegetable seed oils other ones like olive oil, tallow, avocado oil, lard, and ghee is the way they're processed.  Vegetable and seed oils like canola and sunflower are processed at super high heat. You may be wondering why this matters. This actually damages the molecules in the fat cells. When they're damaged and you consume them, it can cause oxidative damage in the body. 

It's generally agreed upon between the plant-based, paleo, and carnivore folks that olive and avocado oils are both healthy for you. However, there is one caveat. There are some avocado oils and olive oils that are not processed in a healthy way. Meaning they could be processed at high heat as well. Cold-pressed is definitely the way to go. Most companies will tell you on the bottle how it’s processed.  

One great benefit of avocado oil (I’m still not clear on this with olive oil) is that the fat molecules can sustain a very high heat without being damaged. When you're cooking on medium or high heat, you want to make sure the molecules in the oils that you're using aren't being damaged and you’re not consuming oxidized oils. This is one reason why the coconut oil, lard, and tallow are more heat stable and better oils to cook with.

Even when you’re not cooking with the canola oil at high heat and eating it in a salad dressing, you still run the risk of these oils causing damage within your body because of the way they're processed. So even if you don't use them for cooking and you personally are not heating them to a high temperature, then they could already be damaged when they're in your salad dressing bottle. 

Let's talk a little bit more about how they could be healthy and unhealthy for you now that we know what they are and what’s causing the drama is around them. 

There are two omega fatty acids that we consume frequently: omega-3 and omega-6. The best whole food source of omega-3 fatty acids is oily fish such as sardines.  Pasture-raised eggs are another great source of omega-3s. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. The difference between omega-6 and omega-3 is omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory which means they help reduce inflammation. This is why many health professionals (doctors included) recommend taking fish oil supplements or eating sardines regularly if you have joint pain caused by inflammation.

On the other hand, omega-6 fatty acids also have anti-inflammatory benefits yet they can also be inflammatory. So this is where the whole debate comes in. Because here's the thing, if you are eating food with omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids, but you're eating more omega-6 fatty acids, then that ratio is going to be off. This means you're going to get more of an inflammatory response with a lot of omega-6 fatty acids than with omega-3 fatty acids.

One of the reasons why this is a huge topic in the health and fitness space is because there's a lot of seed and vegetable oils in processed foods. I feel like there's an understanding amongst health and wellness professionals like myself that eliminating as many processed foods as you can and incorporating more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, and eggs is the the best way to give your body what it wants so it can thrive. 

One of the biggest problems is people are eating too much fast food and too many processed foods, especially ultra processed foods. And a lot of this might be because people are busy and have a hard time carving out time to make homemade meals. And it's hard to create new habits. It's hard to create whole food eating habits that actually work for you. And this is one of the reasons why I do what I do, because habit creation can be challenging. It's not the lack of information out there. There's so much information out there (maybe too much). It’s the lack of being able to sift through the information and implement and experiment with what works for you and what doesn't. 

Let’s dive into the a super important question: how do you know if you should be eating vegetable oils and seed oils? Should you eliminate them altogether? Should you just have them occasionally? And the answer is… it depends on your body and what's happening inside of it, including your genetics. There's a lot of variables involved in this. If you have any chronic pain such as achy joints, endometriosis, PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), or any other health challenges that affect your daily life, you may want to consider eliminating vegetable and seed oils (including soybean) for a short period of time (not forever). 

Try it first for a week and then add another week. Build upon that and see how you feel. Really take note of how you feel. I'm not a big fan of tracking food in too much detail but if you’re experiencing chronic pain and you want to manage it better, definitely track your symptoms and what you eat and go from there. Then use the data, the data meaning “I felt great today” or “I can actually do pushups in the gym without my wrist throbbing” or “I was actually able to get out of bed today because my PCOS pain was not that intense” to decide whether or not eliminating these vegetable and seed oils from your diet could benefit you. It’s really just about experimenting on your own body to figure out what works best for you. 

To wrap it up, it's really about what works best for your body. Some people can tolerate mostly whole foods and a little bit of processed food. Other people have to do all whole foods all the time. Other people can do a little bit more processed food and maybe a little less whole foods than their friend or brother or sister. 

I hope this article clears up at least some of the confusion for you. If you ever want to chat about this in more detail, you're welcome to book a free Wellness Strategy Session with me here.

Why Rewarding Exercise with Food Might Be Holding You Back

If you've ever rewarded yourself with a cookie, brownie, cupcake, or glass of wine for exercising, raise your hand and raise it high.  I’m raising my hand because I’ve totally done this. In fact, I used to do this all the time (more than I’d like to admit). What I learned was this habit actually kept me in what felt like an infinite loop of not being able to lose weight and keep it off. 

Now just to be super clear and to get the record straight, I’m all for indulging. I love enjoying a delicious brownie, cinnamon roll, or adult beverage on the weekends but I do it within reason. I actually encourage my clients to indulge in foods and beverages that make them happy and brings them joy because we all have to live your life. The problem comes when you fall into the mindset of “I can eat whatever I want because I worked out.”

This mindset makes you fall into the trap of exercising for the wrong reasons. So, if this is you, you're definitely not alone. I hear this all the time from my clients. And like I mentioned before, I said it for years.  This was my way of justifying eating too many baked goods and processed food.

Today I'm sharing with you how to get out of this infinite loop (yes, there is a way) to get the weight loss results you want from your exercise routine.

Let's start with how exercise actually supports fat loss and a sustainable healthy weight. I'm going to share a little bit of hard truth with you, which you may or may not have already heard, but the calories-in/calories-out method doesn’t actually work the way that we were taught.  We’ve been taught to eat less calories and do more cardio to burn those calories that we ate so we can stay in a caloric deficit.

The realistic big picture of the calories-in/calories-out method is it's actually difficult to measure accurately. And here's why. Calories-in (food you eat) can be easily tracked through an app. There's so many apps available for you to input exactly what you ate throughout the day and it will calculate how many calories you consumed in a specific day.  The challenge with this is it can be time consuming and you have to be consistent with it to get an accurate measurement. 

An even bigger challenge is calculating how many calories you actually burn throughout the day because it's not just about exercise. Yes, you burn calories when you do cardio or a strength training session. But your body also burns calories when you sleep, digest food, menstruate, and when your organs are doing their job to keep you alive. So, without being in a lab setting it's very difficult to measure all of this. 

How you can get out of this infinite loop? Now that we’ve cleared up that the calories-in/calories-out method is not really a good measurement of weight loss, let’s talk about which type of energy your body uses when you're exercising.  Understanding this will help you flip the script and shift your focus to what matters most with exercise and weight loss.

When you're doing a low level cardio workout where your heart rate gets up high enough to where your breathing is a little heavier and a bit more intense than normal and you can still carry on a conversation with someone, your body is burning mostly fat.  A few examples of this are walking, swimming, a light run, hike, an easy bike ride, and strength training sessions.

When you do more intense workouts like high intensity interval training where you're getting your heart rate up super high for a short period of time and then resting, giving your body an opportunity to catch its breath, your body is burning glucose, which is the storage form of carbs in your body.  

Now that you know this, think about the energy you use while exercising in the form of carbs and fat rather than calories. Calories are important. We need to eat enough calories so our bodies can function properly and keep us alive. But when you shift your focus off the calories, it's easier to align the food you eat with your fitness efforts.

So, rather than saying “I worked out today so I can eat whatever,” consider saying “I worked out today so I’ll eat whole, nutrient dense foods to support my body.” Because when you deplete your glucose stores in your body from a high intensity interval workout, you want to replenish them, right?

Now there are a few of ways to do this. One way is by eating starchy or non-starchy carbs.  If you're doing a lot of high intensity interval training, I would recommend, focusing on eating whole food starchy carbs (i.e. potatoes).  There's a lot of fitness and influencers on social media that eat candy after a workout to replenish glucose. This is something I’m not a fan of. I don't think candy or cake is an effective way to really replenish your glucose stores.  I’ll get to how to indulge in a healthy way in a sec, just stay with me. 

Another way to replenish your glucose stores is to eat enough protein. Enough is a very general term because everyone needs different  amounts of protein.  There's a lot of variables that go into calculating recommended protein intake such as your strength goals. If you really want to build lean muscle mass, adequate protein intake is key.  When you eat protein, your body has the ability to break it down in your body to make glucose. I talked more about this in the last episode about intermittent fasting. So if you haven't done so already, head back to last week's blog here and give it a read.

Let’s dive into indulging and how to approach it in a way that supports your weight loss efforts. When you catch yourself saying “I worked out today so I'm going to eat half a pizza” or “I'm going to eat two pieces of cake or an entire box of cookies" pause for a sec and ask yourself why you’re eating the pizza. Why are you eating the cookies? Why are you eating the cake? I know this might sound a weird at first, but taking a step back helps you put things into perspective. If your first response is, “I'm gonna eat this because I worked out today and I earned it” consider putting the pizza, cake, or cookies down to think about it.

If you are eating it because you want to enjoy pizza night with your family or you’re at a party, then go for it. Eat the pizza, enjoy it and savor every single bite. I tell this all the time to my clients and I remind myself of it when I'm indulging.

Another question to consider asking yourself is “Is this actually supporting my fitness efforts?” You work hard to workout even though you may not feel it in the moment.  I see it all the time with my fitness clients. They may not be sweating dripping sweat by the end of the workout or their legs may not feel like jello (you know what I’m talking about), but I know every single one of them is putting in the effort based on their ability and their fitness level. And this is something to be celebrated. 

Remind yourself that it's not about rewarding the exercise with eating junk food or eating baked goods or drinking an entire bottle of wine. It's about rewarding your efforts to replenish the glucose and fat that you burned. When you do this with whole foods, you’ll naturally replenish your calories in a way the supports your exercise efforts.

To sum it all up, something that we say in our home that my husband taught me years ago is you can't exercise your way out of a poor diet.  If you're trying to exercise your way out of a poor diet, you're going to stay in that infinite loop of not being able to lose weight and keep it off.

If this is you right now, what’s one thing you can do to get you out of the infinite loop? 

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