How I Lost 30 lbs Without Counting Calories

My fitness and weight loss journey began in the summer of 2011. There have been many ups and downs and numerous phases along the way. I’ve lost weight, regained it, and lost it again more times than I can count. Every time, I learn more about myself and the process of coaching others through challenging behavior changes.

I’ve written previously about my recent experiences working with Bryan Krahn to reach my leanest level ever and about my battles with disordered eating.

However, not many people know about one of the most successful periods of my journey when I lost 30 pounds without counting calories, weighing myself regularly, or stressing out about food. This occurred in 2014 and 2015 when I spent a year living in San Francisco.

Me at the start of the year, at my heaviest since my initial weight loss

How was I able to effortlessly undergo a pretty dramatic transformation while still exploring one of the world’s best food cities and having tons of fun?

I unconsciously established a healthy routine and followed it religiously while still allowing myself room to enjoy life.

This article examines the four key areas that helped me achieve this success. Think about the ways these four areas play into your own ongoing health and fitness journey and use my experience to consider tweaks you could make yourself.

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Me at the end of the year, thirty pounds lighter.

Food

The most important component to my success was falling into a regular eating routine that put me in a caloric deficit.

I say this was relatively effortless because I honestly didn’t put a lot of thought into designing my meals or weekly eating structure. I combined my past successful experience dieting with my basic nutritional knowledge to find meals that were easy to prepare and I genuinely enjoyed. I ate these same meals at the same time most days of the week for many months in a row. This made shopping, cooking, and planning an absolute breeze after just a couple of weeks.

This was the exact eating schedule I followed 5-6 days of the week:

Breakfast: 3 – 4 whole eggs with sauteed spinach, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and garlic, all cooked in ½ – 1 TBSP kerrygold butter
Lunch: ½ lb extra lean grass fed ground beef (or sometimes chicken breast), cooked as a bunless burger. Steamed broccoli or brussels sprouts. Baby carrots. One piece of fruit like an apple or an orange
Dinner: 2 or 3 grilled chicken thighs. ½ -¾ dry cup jasmine rice served with ½ – 1 TBSP olive oil. Side salad with red onion, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, lime juice, cilantro, and avocado oil. One piece of fruit, usually a pear.

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I loved this dinner and ate it almost every evening.

One thing you may notice is all of these meals follow Precision Nutrition’s hand portion control system. Each meal has about 2 palms of protein, 2 fists of veggies, 1-2 cupped hands of carbs, and 1-2 thumbs of fat.

Each meal was balanced and covered all of the important food groups. Overall this eating plan fits into a higher protein, moderate carb, and moderate fat blueprint. I found if I didn’t eat a healthy amount of carbs at dinner (usually in the form of white rice), my performance in the gym and energy levels throughout the day suffered. But I also didn’t shy away from healthy fats and consumed a moderate amount with each meal.

On the weekends, I ate out 1 – 3 times. I never paid much attention to what these meals were and used them as an opportunity to enjoy the amazing food in the city.

Frequent meals included burritos, ramen or other asian food, and enormous deli sandwiches. Most weekend mornings I met some friends for a full-fat latte and expensive piece of toast at Trouble Coffee. If I wasn’t eating out, I usually ate fewer and lighter meals than during the week.

In short, I left myself enough wiggle room on the weekends to enjoy great food and treat myself without going overboard.

I ate a lot of burritos.

Takeaway: Although I have used calorie counting a great deal in my weight loss journey, you don’t really need it to see dramatic transformations. The important things are to use a system to monitor your portion sizes and to balance out higher calorie meals on the weekends so overall you set up a caloric deficit throughout the week.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to eat the same meals most days of the week. This removes guess work, reduces hunger and cravings, and helps make your food prep significantly easier.

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This article wouldn’t be complete without a photo of my Trouble order.

Training

Just as I did with my nutrition, I found a training routine and stuck with it diligently throughout this process.

I used several free or low-cost programs written by fitness pros I respected. Once I decided on a plan, I followed it all the way through, which was usually around 3 months.

Conveniently, the end of each program usually coincided with a vacation or trip which allowed me to take a week off of training. Afterwards I jumped right into the next program.

This is the exact program I found for free on T-Nation and followed for the first ten weeks of my transformation. As you can see, the program includes 5 days of challenging workouts. There is an alternating emphasis on heavy compound lifts and lighter, high rep pump work. The program also includes a lot of interval training using bodyweight movements, throws and jumps, and sprints on the bike and rowing machine.

I followed this plan religiously and didn’t miss a single workout during the 10 weeks. I saw noticeable improvements in my strength, endurance, and muscle definition. At the end of the program I was able to squat 225 pounds; this was only the second time in my life I ever successfully hit that number.

Later in the year I ran through Bret Contreras’ Strong Curves (my second time going through the program) and a muscle-building program from Nia Shanks. (*Note – I purchased this program from Nia’s website and intended to link to it but it appears she is no longer selling it. I’ve loved Nia’s work for many years and am sure any other program on her site that seems right for you would be a great choice).

With each of these programs I was training hard 4-5 times per week, focusing on slowly improving my performance on everything I did. Each program placed a premium on strength training and used supplemental accessory lifts to build muscle in strategic areas.

Takeaway: Find a program that makes sense for your ability level and goals and follow it all the way through. You can also hire a coach to tailor-make a program for you. The most important thing is to train consistently and to constantly push yourself to improve your performance and test your limits.

On a personal note, I have always made the biggest changes to my physique when I was training 5-6 days per week. The workouts don’t all need to be hard lifting workouts. However, if you really want to see dramatic physique transformations and you have some previous training experience, are healthy, and recover well, you may want to consider increasing your training frequency.

Non-exercise activity

In addition to hard training, I led an extremely active life in San Francisco.

I walked everywhere. I was constantly exploring new neighborhoods and parks in the city. Some days I would walk several hours getting to and from my obligations and checking out my surroundings. On the weekends I walked to the beach or spent lots of time on my feet. I went out dancing at night and took weekend hiking trips throughout the Bay area.

Although it may seem like such activities burn relatively few calories, altogether they really add up over the course of weeks and months.

Takeaway: Don’t be sedentary. Find ways to walk as much as possible. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park farther away, walk or bike somewhere instead of driving, and spend your free time participating in active hobbies. It may not seem like much, but all of this low-intensity activity really helps when trying to lose fat and improve your overall health.

Sleep

During the year I lived in San Francisco, I made sleep a very high priority. I got around 9 hours during the week and only a bit less on the weekends.

I accomplished this by setting fairly rigid bedtimes and wake times. If I was feeling a bit behind, I found a park and took a 20-minute power nap. I also took longer naps on Friday and Saturday evenings if I knew I would be out late at night.

I cannot overstate how awesome I felt getting this much sleep. I felt sharp and focused on all of my tasks and had plenty of energy to train hard, be active, and enjoy my life. It was also easier for me to resist food temptations as I experienced very few daily cravings.

Takeaway: Don’t underestimate the power of sleep when trying to change your body or get healthy. Sleep makes it easier for your body to recharge and repair itself. Getting enough sleep helps you feel energized, focused, and well-prepared for everything life throws at you. Adequate sleep can also help you resist cravings and better manage hunger during a diet.

I totally understand sleeping for this long may be impractical for most people. These days, I am lucky to get 7 hours of sleep with my work schedule. However, you can get some of the same benefits by following a regular sleep routine. Set a bedtime and/or wake time and stick with them as much as possible. If you fall behind, set aside some time for a short nap to refresh and recharge.

Routine = Freedom

I learned some very powerful lessons about weight loss and healthy living during my year in San Francisco:

You don’t need to count calories to lose weight. Instead, find a way to monitor portions and account for excess calorie intake on the weekends. Cook most of your own meals, don’t snack or drink too often, and get into a consistent routine.
Find a training program or a coach and follow instructions precisely for several months. Train hard, but listen to your body and never compromise good form for higher numbers. Focus on strength training but don’t neglect cardio. If you can train more often (while still being smart), you may see more dramatic results.
Be as active as possible outside the gym. This is great for both physical and mental health.
Prioritize sleep, stress reduction, and other recovery methods.

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Me at the start of the year, at my heaviest since my initial weight loss.

Most importantly, my year in San Francisco taught me that routine allows you more freedom when dieting or trying to live a healthier life. Following a rigid eating and training schedule most days allowed me to stress less about what and when I would eat, while still allowing me sufficient freedom to explore and indulge in an amazing food city. Sleeping well and moving often helped me recover well and made the entire process run smoothly.

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Thirty pounds lighter while still enjoying life.

I am still looking for ways I can learn from this experience to make the current leg of my fitness journey easier and more sustainable. I hope you can apply some lessons to your own situation. If you want help building sustainable healthy habits and gradually moving toward your fitness goals, please contact me here.

September 5, 2017

How Should I Warm Up?

Many people I observe at the gym seem confused about how to best warm up for their training sessions. I see two different extremes when it comes to warming up. On one hand, some people don’t warm up. These are the people who walk on the gym floor and start banging out their first sets straight from the locker room. Other people in this category hop on a random piece of cardio equipment for 5 minutes before they start to lift. Neither of these approaches adequately prepares the body to perform its best.

On the other hand, some people waste half their workout time warming up. They start by foam rolling nearly every muscle, then move on to 20 different correctives for perceived imbalances or injuries they don’t even have. After this lengthy warmup, they are left with limited time for actual training.

It’s no wonder both of these groups feel weak and beat up; they are never putting themselves in a position to truly be successful during training. These issues could be corrected by following a smarter warmup routine.

A proper warmup accomplishes two goals: it addresses any obvious imbalances or postural issues, and it prepares the body for the work to come in the training session. For most of my clients, this means getting out of tight desk posture and ready to perform a full-body strength training workout. A good warmup is short and to the point. There is no wasted time and everything you do serves a purpose and follows a logical progression.

In this article, I provide a basic framework for a simple, intelligent, and effective warmup. I highlight the 3 body parts most people should target. I include plenty of videos featuring my favorite mobility drills. Many can also be performed in between sets of strength training exercises later in the workout as active rest fillers.

This is not an all-encompassing list but it does hit the most common problem areas. Those of you recovering from specific injuries may choose to incorporate further work on one particular joint or body part. However, don’t go overboard here. If you are so beat up and injured that you can’t train well after a 5-10 minute warmup, you may want to consider visiting a physician or a physical therapist.

Hips

The hips are your source of power and should be one of the body’s most mobile joints. However, for those of you who sit at a desk all day your hips are likely weak and tight in all the wrong areas. A good warmup will activate the glutes and open up space in your hip joint to facilitate movement in different planes.

The warmup should addresses the hips in two steps. First, open up and move through a full range of motion. There are many ways to approach this, and you should pick drills that make sense based on your plan for the training session. Doing a lot of squatting or deadlifting? I like hip rockers as they mimic the bottom position of those lifts. Are you focusing on hip extension movements like swings and hip thrusts? Do a few sets of active hip flexor mobilizations to stretch tight hip flexors. Using single leg exercises? A 90/90 flow helps you move your hips independently. Find which drills feel best to you and mix and match accordingly.

Second, activate the glutes. I love bodyweight glute bridges and single leg bridges and use them in almost every client session. Be sure to also activate the muscles on the side of your butt and hips. My favorite drills to use here are clams, fire hydrants, fire hydrant circles, lying straight leg raise, and lateral band walks.

T-Spine

The thoracic spine is the portion of your spine between your neck and lower back to which your ribcage is attached. Unlike the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) spines, the thoracic spine is supposed to be highly mobile. We need to be able to both extend and rotate through the t-spine in order to facilitate proper breathing as well as movement of the arms and shoulders.

If you sit hunched in front of a desk all day, you need to open up your t-spine before you train. I also find people with shoulder pain have especially limited thoracic spine mobility. If your shoulder bugs you during training or you have trouble getting your arms overhead, make t-spine mobility a priority during your warmups.

I recommend inhaling as you extend or rotating and exhaling as you relax.

Shoulders

After you have warmed up your thoracic spine, you are ready to warm up your shoulders. This is actually a bit misleading because a proper shoulder warmup isn’t specifically targeting the deltoid muscle. Rather, your shoulder warmups should activate your external rotators – think the muscles of your upper back and the back of your shoulders – and get the shoulder blades moving properly.

I love using high rep band work sets in my warmups on upper body workouts. Be sure you resist excessive arching of your back during these drills. You should be able to complete them all with a relatively neutral spine.

Putting it All Together

A good warmup should follow the neurodevelopmental sequence. This means you begin on the floor and progress through quadruped (all fours), crawling, half kneeling, and tall kneeling positions before finally arriving to standing and gait (walking).

Most of the drills we have seen thus far occur on the floor. I recommend finishing your warmup with 1-3 crawling, standing, or gait drills that force you to use your body as a whole unit. Again, pick drills that prepare you for the workout you are about to perform. The squat-to-stand is a great drill to perform on lower body day. If you are going to be doing a lot of pressing, inchworms or bear crawls are a good option. Get creative and get your whole body moving.

Now you have a simple framework for a warmup that prepares you to train without wasting time. Pick 1-3 exercises from each category (hips, t-spine, shoulders, and full body) and perform 1-2 sets of 8-15 reps. Feel free to do a bit of foam rolling at first, but if you need more than a couple minutes this is better left to the end of your workout as part of your cooldown.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more exercise videos covering warmup drills, training tips, and more. If you want help revamping your training so you can stop wasting time and start seeing results, please contact me here.

August 29, 2017

Awesome Gym Tool You Should Use: The Landmine

If I mention the word “landmine” to you, what comes to mind? For most people it would be this:

IED Landmine

The landmine I want to discuss is completely different and a lot less threatening.

Landmine-photo

The landmine is one of my favorite pieces of gym equipment. It is highly versatile and takes up little space, making it a great tool for full-body workouts during busy time at commercial gyms or a great investment for a small home gym. If your gym doesn’t have a landmine, you can build one yourself by putting one end of a barbell into a corner. You will see this setup in some of the videos included below.

This article provides my top five landmine exercises and includes demonstration videos. You can easily group these five exercises into a fantastic full-body circuit. Be sure to use appropriate weights for the different exercises as some are more challenging than others.

Half-kneeling landmine press

The half-kneeling press is the first landmine exercise I introduce with new clients. I love pressing from the half-kneeling position because it makes it much harder for you to arch your lower back as you extend your arm overhead. This position also requires you to engage your core and hips, turning the exercise into a full-body challenge.

Landmine pressing is also a great option for people with a history of shoulder pain or injuries. The angle of the landmine allows you to train your shoulders without having to get into a direct overhead position.

When in half kneeling, ensure you have a straight line from your ear to the knee on the floor. The front leg should be positioned at a 90 degree angle directly in front of your torso. In the bottom position, your elbow should form a 90 degree angle or less when holding the end of the bar in front of your shoulder. Always brace your core before beginning the lift and exhale as you press. Keep your elbow underneath the bar and don’t let it flail out to the side. Start with your weaker side to determine how many reps you can complete with good form.

Landmine reverse lunges

To perform the landmine reverse lunge, simply hold the end of the barbell in front of your shoulder. Make sure your elbow is at a 90 degree angle or less. Next, take the leg on the same side and lunge backwards. Stop just shy of the ground, drive through your front heel, and return to a standing position.

BONUS: Landmine reverse lunge to press

If you are short on time or just looking for a solid combo exercise, you can combine the landmine reverse lunge and the press. Simply add a press from the standing position at the top of your lunge. You will need to use less weight here because your lunge will be stronger than your press. Be careful not to shrug or arch your back as you complete the press.

Landmine bent over row

You can use a landmine to perform bent over rows similar to dumbbell or barbell rows. You should know how to hip hinge before attempting these exercises. This means you can hold a bent over position with a slight knee bend, hips reached behind you, and a tall chest without rounding your back.

You can choose between a 2-arm and a 1-arm version of this exercise. For the 2-arm version, you will need to grab a neutral grip cable attachment to put around the bar. The 1-arm version can be performed by holding onto the bar directly. For both exercises, start from a standing position and hinge back until your torso is just above parallel with the floor. Row up and back until your upper arm is even with your side. Hold the flexed position for one second and try to feel your back muscles engaging. Then, lower the bar until your arms are straight and you feel a stretch in your back. Avoid shrugging or swinging the bar around.

Landmine 1-leg RDL

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts are a fantastic exercise to build posterior chain strength and stability through the knee and ankle joints. Unfortunately, many people struggle with this exercise because they have poor balance. Using a landmine as an anchor can help you feel more balanced when performing this fantastic exercise. It’s also a great way to load up lots of weight once you can perform the exercise well.

There are two ways to position yourself when performing 1-leg RDLs with the landmine. The first, shown in the video, is to stand with the landmine to your side in the hand opposite the leg on the ground. I recommend a thumbless grip when holding onto the bar unless you have very large hands. The second method is to stand facing the landmine with the bar in the arm opposite the leg on the ground. Choose whichever method feels best to you.

From a standing position, unlock your knee and reach your hips back behind you. It’s helpful to think about pushing the heel of the back leg toward the wall behind you. You should feel a big stretch in your hamstrings as you move into the exercise. To finish, drive the floor away from you and return to your tall and tight standing position. Add in a big butt squeeze at the top.

Landmine rotation

The fifth and final exercise targets your core. Landmine rotations, sometimes called window wipers, rainbows, or arc, are a challenging way to build rotational strength through your abs, obliques, lower back, and more.

Put both hands on the end of the bar and slowly move it in a large arc from side to side. Keep a slight bend in your elbows to maintain control of the bar. Always move slowly when performing rotational exercises. Keep your core engaged throughout the movement and fight against the pull of gravity. These can be very challenging for many people, so I recommend starting the first set with no weight on the bar.

The landmine is an underrated piece of gym equipment with tons of potential for building strength and muscle. With these five exercises, you can put together a challenging full-body circuit that won’t require you to run all over the gym and use a million pieces of equipment. Check out my youtube channel here for more creative ideas on how to use the landmine.

August 24, 2017

What Does Fitness Do for You? Part 2

Part 1 of this post provided my favorite exercise to get in touch with your deeper goals and how exercise can help you along the way. In part 2, I want to dig a bit deeper into the most common goals I hear from new clients. I explore why these goals are valuable, what they may mean on a deeper level, and some unexpected benefits you get from focusing on each.

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“I want to feel healthy.”

Health is at the heart of many people’s motivation for exercise, but each person has their own idea of what it means to be healthy. For some, exercise is a way to manage or prevent certain medical conditions. If your family has a history of heart disease, exercise combined with proper nutrition can help reduce your risk of a heart attack. Certain bone and joint problems are better managed with regular movement. There are numerous other examples. If a particular medical condition is an important part of your goal, be sure to communicate with your doctor about potential limitations and what kinds of exercise will best assist you and your unique situation.

For many people, feeling healthy means having more energy and focus throughout the day. It seems counterintuitive, but the more active you become, the more energy you will have. When I was very overweight, I noticed I actually had much more energy on the days I made it to the gym for a short elliptical session. If I stopped going regularly, my motivation to exercise and my general energy levels plummeted. Getting into a regular exercise routine, no matter how light at first, is crucial to help you escape this vicious cycle.

Improved mental health is another powerful benefit of exercise. The gym (or your house, the park, or anywhere you exercise) can become a place of peace where you work through aggression or negative energy from your day. Finding activities you enjoy and a supportive, engaging fitness community can also help transform exercise from a chore into something you cherish. Our brains evolved to be connected to our bodies in primal and powerful ways, and regular movement can help regulate your mood.

“I want to get stronger.”

I’m always thrilled when a new client expresses interest in getting stronger. Becoming physically strong carries over into all areas of your life. You’ll have a much easier time performing basic tasks like climbing stairs, carrying grocery bags, and hoisting a suitcase into an overhead compartment. Strength is the most basic physical adaptation, which means getting stronger can help you run faster, jump higher, and perform other athletic tasks with greater ease.

As a woman, getting strong has allowed me to become very independent. I know I will never have to rely on another person to help me perform basic physical tasks. It’s incredibly empowering to push my body to perform feats I never imagined possible. For those of you who struggle with body image issues, pursuing strength goals is a great way to challenge your body and build confidence without obsessing over your weight or the way you look.

Physical strength also helps you build mental and emotional strength. Learning to push through challenging loads, maintaining composure under stress, and continually striving to improve your performance are all valuable tools to help you deal with personal and professional trials.

“I want to lose weight or look like XYZ.”

These days, aesthetic goals are frequently poo-pooed in the fitness industry as a vain and harmful distraction. However, I find chasing aesthetic goals can be incredibly fun, rewarding, and empowering. Be advised that an aesthetic goal should always start from a place of self-love and self-improvement rather than self-loathing or guilt. If you don’t like yourself now and think that will change when you lose weight or build muscle, you are in for a big letdown.

Changing your body can bring about a powerful confidence boost. You may feel more comfortable in your own skin, less awkward in social situations, and more likely to speak up at work or with your friends.

For me, losing weight allowed me to feel comfortable on a dance floor. I always dreaded school dances because I hated shopping for dresses and felt super uncomfortable dancing in my bigger body. This was my own issue to work through, but losing weight helped me feel much more confident in my own skin and taught me to care less about others’ opinions of me regardless of how I looked. These days, dancing has become my favorite hobby and my reduced fear has allowed me to build many meaningful relationships.

For many people, this is the true power of chasing aesthetic goals. The way you ultimately look is less important than the increased confidence and reduced anxiety and fear of social situations. Like building strength, the long and challenging process of building the body you want also teaches you the power of patience and helps you build habits that can create success in other areas of your life.

The real payoff of regular exercise

The biggest benefit of regular exercise is an improved quality of life. Few of my clients explicitly communicate this goal initially. In time, however, it becomes the most powerful reward.

All of my clients experience unexpected improvements from exercise. Regular exercise helps you perform daily tasks with less pain and greater ease. It gives you more stamina to play with your kids or participate in your favorite hobbies and activities. You will have more energy and greater focus so you can enjoy your days more. And you will be more likely to able to do these things well into your old age, while others in your life are forced to slow down. As I mentioned earlier, exercise helps you build confidence and connect with your body in ways that encourage you to live a more active, vibrant, and fulfilling life.

There are so many reasons to start exercising today or recommit to a routine if you’ve fallen off the wagon. No matter where you are at in life, it’s never too late to move forward with fitness. Please reach out to me if you are unsure of where to begin or need some accountability to help you along the way.

August 22, 2017

What Does Fitness Do for You? Part 1

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There’s so much more to fitness than losing 10 pounds. Many of the most powerful rewards of regular exercise manifest in small, daily improvements in your quality of life.

What is Your “Why?”

I encourage all of my clients to complete an exercise to help them get in touch with why they are coming to see me. Sometimes clients come in with specific goals and we talk through this process together. Other times, especially if someone is new to exercise and doesn’t really know what they want, their motivations reveal themselves over time as the client starts to reap the rewards of a regular exercise routine.

Ask yourself what you want out of exercise. Some common reasons include improved health, increased strength, and weight loss or other physique goals. These are broad, surface-level statements that need to be explored further. What exactly does this goal mean to you? Why is it important? If you accomplished this goal in a year, what would your life look like? How would things be better? How would life be worse if you stayed where you are at now or moved farther away from your goal?

I find people often know deep down inside what they want to accomplish and why, but they feel embarrassed or worried their reasons aren’t the “right” reasons. They then express goals they don’t really care about but they think I or other people want to hear. Don’t let anyone tell you your goals are bad or wrong. Furthermore, remember your initial goals don’t have to remain your goals forever. You will almost certainly have new goals arise as you progress further along your fitness journey. As you age, your priorities will also shift. This is all totally fine.

After you identify some possible motivators, you have two final steps. First, establish metrics for success. How will you know you’re doing a good job or moving forward? I like habit goals because they encourage you to take things one day at a time and focus on the process rather than the outcome. For example, instead of measuring success only in pounds lost, focus on making healthy food choices and monitoring portion sizes every day. Ultimately we cannot control our outcomes, only our behaviors. I encourage you to look for ways to measure success aside from hard data and numbers.

Finally, set realistic expectations and commit to the long haul. This is an area where many new exercisers set themselves up for failure. If you plan to do ALL OF THE THINGS right away, you will almost certainly fail. Start small and build on your initial successes. Avoid setting hard deadlines for your goals (there are exceptions of course, such as getting in shape for a wedding or training for some kind of event). Instead, get comfortable with the idea of building a lifelong practice of regular movement. Be open to experimentation and shifts in priorities.

In part 2 of this post, I will dig a bit deeper into the most common goals I hear from new clients. I explore why these goals are valuable, what they may mean on a deeper level, and some unexpected benefits you get from focusing on each.

August 15, 2017

A Different Kind of 28-Day Challenge

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These days, it’s impossible to scroll through your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter feeds without seeing regular mentions of month-long health and fitness challenges. You know the ones I’m talking about – some have you perform higher numbers of squats and pushups every day, others challenge you to remove sugar or certain foods, and still others involve practicing yoga, gratitude or mindfulness. I often see my friends debating the merits of one challenge or another. Will this one help me achieve X result? Can this one finally kickstart my motivation to achieve Y goal?

Many of the 28-day challenges floating around contain good advice. The problem lies in the implicit promise of these challenges, which is that you can go back to your old habits after finishing them. This would be like saying you’re going to stick to a budget for just one month. Chances are good that after the month is up, you will go right back to your old spending habits and maybe even blow the saved money on a treat you feel like you earned.

You don’t need a month-long challenge, you need lasting lifestyle change.

The wrong mindset

One of the biggest problems with short challenges, especially those related to food, is people start them under the mindset that they are making changes only for the short duration of the challenge. Elimination diets often cause you to spend the entire time fantasizing about all the forbidden foods you will eat after completing the challenge.

For example, let’s say you pledge to remove added sugar from your diet for an entire month. You start the challenge super pumped about how you’ll have more energy, fewer cravings and less bloat. However, as the days pass, you start to get even more excited about all the foods you get to eat after finishing the challenge. You make plans to go to your favorite ice cream shop, bake cookies, and generally be a bit more relaxed because “you earned it.”

Do you see how this is counterproductive? Rather than helping you conquer your sweet tooth, the anticipated end of the challenge is fueling your cravings and giving you a false sense of accomplishment. A few days after the challenge, you have eaten your weight in sweets and feel terrible. You then conclude that “diets don’t work” and your self-esteem takes a hit because you weren’t able to control yourself.

Do This Instead

I encourage you to take a different kind of 28-day challenge. From the start, your intention should be to make small changes you can manage right now with the plan of building positive change momentum. Take an honest look at your exercise and eating habits and identify your one or two biggest challenges. Be as specific as possible for best results.

Next, brainstorm ways you can improve your biggest problem area using habits, tools or strategies accessible to you right now. You don’t need to pick options that completely solve the problem; rather, focus on noticeably moving the dial forward. The best solutions involve things you have to do every day. For example, someone who is sedentary may be better suited to go for a 15 minute walk every day than to attempt a challenging gym workout 2-3 times per week. Someone who never cooks should focus on just one meal per day for which they already know some healthy recipes. Finally, the best solutions are those you can actually stick with. Scale back your commitment if you aren’t sure you can do everything you want to all at once. The most important thing is to take some action right away.

Now that you’ve done the work to honestly think about how you can improve your situation, commit to nailing that habit every single day for a month. This is your customized version of the 28-day challenge.

The most important difference between this challenge and the ones you see on social media is this way recognizes you are making this change for life. Once you master the one or two most important changes, then you can take the next steps and address more challenges. You may even find you are so inspired by your success in the first 28 days that you can add more to your plate than expected. However, this isn’t necessary. The important thing is you are moving forward and building a growing snowball of permanent, positive habit change.

Change Takes Time

Improving your health and changing your body takes a long time. Rather than looking for a quick-fix, practice patience and accept that you are in this for the long haul. It’s pretty uncommon for people to experience dramatic body changes in just a single month (with the exception of people who are significantly overweight). After a few months of consistent, sustained effort, however, you can start to see real progress toward your goals.

By all means, if you are inspired by a short challenge you see on social media please take action and start it right away. I certainly can’t predict what might spark lasting change in your unique situation. However, don’t be fooled by false promises of rapid results with little effort. It likely took you a long time to get out of shape, and it will usually take just as long if not longer to get back into shape.

If you want help determining which behavior changes will make the most difference for you, please fill out an application for my online coaching program.

August 10, 2017January 21, 2020

Training Around Lower Back Pain, Part 2

Low back pain is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the US. Chances are good you or someone you know has struggled with back pain at some point. Because most of my clients work office jobs, I see back pain more than any other issue. Long days of sitting combined with too little movement and poor exercise form all contribute to an epidemic of sore, achey backs.

Thankfully, in many cases, back pain can be dramatically reduced and even overcome completely without the need for prescription drugs or costly surgeries. Moving well and often is one of the best things you can do for your back. Even people who have never experienced back pain can reduce their risk of future problems by consistently following a smart, structured training program.

Please note – I am not anti drug or surgery. These interventions help many people. If your back pain is severe and persistent, please go see a medical professional.

In part 1, I explained the dos and dont’s of training for those already suffering from back pain. This second part offers training strategies to reduce the risk of hurting your back down the road. Following these tips can keep your back healthy long into the future.

Learn how to hip hinge.

One of the most common ways people hurt their backs is by improperly lifting a heavy object from the floor. Instead of bending through the hips and using their legs, people round their backs and ask their spine to bear the brunt of the load.

Learning how to hinge through the hips is one of the best ways to spare yourself back pain down the road. To do this, you first need to learn how to move your hips independently of your spine.

First, let’s get to know your spine. Assume a quadruped position (all fours) and perform the cat-cow exercise. This is a yoga move that involves moving your spine from a fully flexed to a fully extended position. Notice that your spine is the only thing moving.

Next, we will isolate movement from the hips. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Push through your heels and squeeze your butt until your hips are fully extended. Notice how you can move through your hips without moving your spine. Pay attention to the differences between these two exercises so you can replicate this separation in a performance setting.

After you perform the cat cow and glute bridge, it’s time to work on standing hip hinges. I like to use a broomstick or PVC pipe to give clients some context about where their body is in space.

Hold the broomstick along your spine so you have three points of contact: the back of your head, in between your shoulder blades, and on your tailbone. Now, unlock your knees and reach your hips back into a hinge while maintaining all three points of contact. Be sure to keep your chest tall so if you had writing on your shirt someone could read it from across the room. When you feel a big stretch in your hamstrings, drive the floor away and return to your tall and tight standing posture.

Build posterior chain strength.

One of the best ways to protect your lower back is to build strength in all the other muscles on the backside of your body. Strong glutes, hips, and hamstrings will spare your lower back during heavy lifting and daily activities.

My favorite exercises to build glute strength are the glute bridge and hip thrust. Start with bridges on the floor and progress to hip thrusts when you get stronger. Hip thrusts can be heavily loaded to build some serious strength. However, never go so heavy that you arch your lower back or feel the movement too much in the front of your legs.

You can also use a variety of hip hinge exercises to learn to properly load your entire posterior chain. Be sure you can safely perform a hinge (using the drills above) before you attempt these exercises.

My favorite hinge exercises for people with back problems are dumbbell RDLs, cable pull-throughs, elevated kettlebell deadlifts, and kettlebell swings. You should primarily feel these exercises working your legs and butt rather than your lower back. If you want to work on regular deadlifts, consider using a trap bar or shortening the range of motion by pulling from blocks or a power rack.

Build core strength and stability.

Many people who suffer from back pain have a weak core. One of the main functions of your core is to stabilize your spine while performing other activities. For this reason, it is crucial to add some anti-extension (resisting arching of the back), anti-rotation (resisting rotation), and anti-lateral flexion (resisting side-to-side bending) exercises to your workouts. These exercises teach you to use the deeper muscles of your core to prevent unnecessary movement of your lower back.

Read more: Core training beyond crunches

Some of my favorite anti-core exercises are dead bugs, pallof press, and planks and side planks. Loaded carries are also a great option as they force you to engage your core and stabilize your spine while moving around.

It’s also a good idea to eventually add some rotational core movements to your training program. Most of the exercises we do at the gym happen in the sagittal plane (moving backwards and forwards). However, the activities of our daily lives happen in 3D and we need to be able to move safely and control our bodies in all planes of motion.

Cable rotations, chops and lifts, and Russian twists are my favorite rotational core exercises. When performing rotational exercises, go slowly and ensure you maintain control over the full range of motion. Whipping back and forth is a good way to hurt your back.

Build a stronger lower back.

Your quest to build a more resilient back should include some direct training for your lower back – assuming you don’t have any current pain or an injury history that requires you to tread more carefully.

My favorite lower back exercises are RDLs, back extensions, good mornings, and reverse hypers. All of these exercises also target the rest of the posterior chain and can be modified to hit the erectors of the lower back more or less. Always use perfect form, go slowly, and be conservative with weight increases when performing these exercises.

Lower back pain doesn’t have to be a death sentence for your training. In fact, regular exercise (using good form and a balanced training program) is one of the best things you can do for the health of your back. With some adjustments and planning, you can train around pain and implement strategies to possibly reduce future problems.

Want to work on squats and deadlifts without exacerbating lower back pain? Download your free copy of my ebook Squat and Deadlift School below. I share the exact progressions and exercises I use to help clients feel strong and confident with these exercises, including ways to modify your training if your back is bugging you.

August 8, 2017January 21, 2020

Training Around Lower Back Pain, Part 1

Over the years, I have helped clients deal with many different kinds of back pain. Some clients are struck by episodes so severe they can barely get out of bed for several days. Many clients feel achy after a long day sitting in an office chair. Still others sometimes suffer from pain related to old sports injuries or accidents.

The good news for anyone suffering from back pain is there are plenty of ways to train around discomfort and increase resiliency to reduce the risk of future injuries.

This two-part article shares my top tips and strategies for training around low back pain. The first part explains what to do (and not do) at the gym when your back is currently bothering you. In part 2, I explain how to structure your workouts to avoid back pain in the future.

Please note that a trainer cannot diagnose or treat medical conditions. If you are in severe pain or have discomfort lasting several weeks, seek help from a medical professional.

*Lower back pain doesn’t need to be a death sentence for your workouts.*

Minimize spinal movement during training.

According to Dr. Stuart McGill, the foremost expert in spine biomechanics, the biggest danger to the spine occurs when we move from flexion (rounded spine) to extension (arched spine) while under load.

For example, if your barbell deadlift begins with a rounded back and ends with an arched back, you are putting your spine under a lot of unnecessary stress.

If your back is bothering you, choose exercises that require minimal spinal movement. Exercises like pushups, inverted rows, and single leg variations are good options.

You can also perform upper body exercises like rows and presses from a half-kneeling position, which makes it much more difficult to move your back.

Deadlifts and squats can be problematic for people with back pain. To perform these exercises safely, it’s crucial to keep your spine stable. Always take a big belly breath and brace your core before performing each rep. Choose a variation of these exercises you can perform with great form. You may need to shorten the range of motion, use less weight, and use lower-risk training implements like dumbbells and kettlebells. Depending on your level of discomfort, you may want to skip these exercises altogether until you feel better.

If you deal with back pain, traditional core exercises like sit ups and crunches are not a good option. Many people find these exercises can actually exacerbate pain. Check out part 2 to learn my preferred core exercises to help prevent lower back pain.

Read more: Core training beyond crunches

Think twice before using barbell exercises.

Barbells can put a lot of stress on the spine, especially when held directly on your back. I try to put my clients in the best position to be successful; I want them to train hard without pain and with minimal risk of injury. For this reason, I rarely have my back pain clients perform barbell back squats or deadlifts from the floor.

Instead, we focus on squat and deadlift variations that are more-back friendly. Squat options include goblet squats, double kettlebell squats, zercher squats, and safety bar squats. Deadlift options include kettlebell deadlifts, RDLs, trap bar deadlifts, and block pulls and rack pulls.

Unless you are a competitive powerlifter lifter, you don’t have to train with a barbell. There are many other tools at the gym you can use. Dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, machines, and even bodyweight exercises offer many of the same benefits as barbell training with fewer risks.

Choose low-impact cardio.

Landing places a lot of stress on your joints. This is especially problematic when you’re running and rack up thousands of landings during a single workout. When your back is bothering you, it’s best to leave running and plyometric exercises out of your workouts.

Instead, choose joint-friendly cardio and conditioning methods. Walking, sled pushes and pulls, loaded carries, and swimming are all good alternatives. Some trainees will be able to tolerate bike riding, others may experience discomfort from sitting for too long. Pay attention to your body and do what feels best for you.

19-woman-walking-in-the-park — *Low impact cardio is best for those dealing with back pain.*

Just because your back is bothering you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise. Movement is one of the best medicines for low-intensity chronic back pain. Choose low-impact exercises that involve minimal spinal movement. Choose handheld implements or bodyweight movements and avoid heavy barbell exercises. Always use good judgment and never train through pain.

Check out part 2 for ideas on how to use an intelligent training program to reduce future flare-ups and avoid back injuries.

August 1, 2017

Six Things I Learned from a Year of Online Training with Bryan Krahn

July marked the one-year anniversary of one of the best decisions I ever made for my physical and mental health. After a lot of research and rumination, I signed up for online training with Bryan Krahn.

As many readers know, I lost over 70 pounds on my own in 2011 and 2012. I had already experienced tremendous success in changing my body, building new habits, and making lasting lifestyle changes. However, I never quite took the process as far as I intended. At my lowest weight I still hovered about 10 pounds above my goal. I was no longer obese or even overweight, but I still felt like I was carrying around more body fat than I wanted. I worked my ass off in the gym and I wanted to look a little more like I lifted. Many factors had conspired to prevent me from building the body I wanted. I decided it was time to fully commit and enlist the help of another coach.

Beyond simply wanting to get leaner, I knew I needed major help with my eating habits. A lifetime of overeating combined with my recent dive into the world of diets and health food had created a perfect storm of disordered eating from which I could not seem to break free. I alternated between periods of healthy, balanced eating and periods where I felt trapped by cycles of bingeing and restricting. I was tired of suffering through this alone and believed a coach could help me learn more about myself and what was causing these cycles.

Bryan appealed to me for two reasons. First, I knew I wanted to follow a plan geared more toward aesthetics (more on this below), and Bryan is a seasoned expert in that type of training. Second, I appreciated his holistic approach to getting lean that places a high value on managing stress, emotions, and other lifestyle factors. My original intent was to stay with Bryan for 3 months and then move on. However, I’ve had such a rewarding experience that I am still a loyal client more than 12 months later.

This article shares some of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned over the last year. Included are insights on building the body you want, creating lasting habits, and the value of coaching.

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A year’s worth of progress

If you are honest about what you want out of training, you will have more fun and get better results.

For years I trained as a competitive powerlifter. I truly loved the sport, but I was getting to a point where I was frustrated with my progress. My lifts were no longer progressing as quickly as they were in my first years of training. This is a normal part of getting stronger, but I was beating myself up if I missed a lift and started dreading my workouts. I was letting my self-worth as a lifter get tied up in my total.

More importantly, I began to realize that what I really wanted was to look better. I wanted to be leaner, with bigger arms and shoulders and more definition across my body. I never spoke this goal aloud because I always felt like it was “too vain” and that training for strength or performance was a more accepted use of my time as a fitness professional and confident woman.

One thing that drew me to Bryan was his insistence that fit pros can and should try to get in good shape. There is absolutely nothing wrong with chasing this goal. Although I will always love powerlifting, I decided to shift gears and fully commit to an extended period of training for aesthetics.

Bryan’s programs initially kicked my ass. I was completely unaccustomed to higher volume training and performing such a wide variety of exercises. After a few months, however, I started to notice all kinds of positive changes in my body. This encouraged me to keep going and excited me for workouts workouts in a way that I had lost. I was motivated to work harder because I felt like I was spending my time in a way that resonated more with my desires.

Figure out what you want out of training and don’t let anyone else dictate what goal you should be pursuing. By being honest with myself about what I really wanted, I found a training style that was more fun and got me closer to my true goals.

If you want bigger arms or shoulders, you need to train them a lot. Like, A LOT.

Confession: I’ve always wanted more muscular arms. Even after losing a lot of weight, getting fairly strong, and generally feeling very confident in my skin, I was never truly happy with how my arms looked. Additionally, I’ve always admired and wanted a pair of big, round shoulders. No matter what I did, however, it seemed that my shoulders were never going to grow. I now realize that I wasn’t doing nearly enough volume for these muscles if I was serious about building some size.

During the past year, I’ve followed many training programs. Almost all of them had me doing tons of volume for the arms and shoulders. I typically trained shoulders 3-4 times per week and arms 2-3 times per week.* This specifically refers to direct isolation work for these muscles and does not include extra exposure from compound chest and back movements. Bryan also had me do a lot of giant cluster sets that included 3-5 exercises for the same body part with no rest in between. I didn’t worry as much about adding lots of weight. Instead, I focused on using good form so I could really feel the target muscle contracting and stretching.

(*Note – most of my shoulder work came from lighter shoulder raise variations. It’s not a good idea for most people to overhead press multiple times in one week.)

After a year Bryan’s workouts, I love the way my arms and shoulders look. They are still very much a work in progress, but I’ve seen noticeable muscle gain. This summer I’ve been rocking sleeveless shirts with every chance I get. But this didn’t happen by accident.

If you want bigger, leaner, or more defined arms and shoulders, you likely need to put in way more time. Don’t be fooled by people who say your arms get all the training they need from compound big lifts. Train your arms and shoulders often and with a variety of exercises for best results.

Arm gains

Following a program for a longer time leads to better results.

One of my favorite things about training with Bryan has been to spend some time digging deep into a training program. Too many people are caught up in the idea that they need to change things up all the time to see progress. In my experience, the latter weeks of a training program was where I started to really see and feel the magic.

Here is what a typical first phase of a training program looked like. The first few weeks were spent adapting to the new workouts, revisiting or learning any exercises that I hadn’t done in the last phase, and establishing a foundation for weights and reps. These weeks often left me feeling pretty sore. The program then built in volume or intensity through 3-5 weeks, after which I usually took a deload week where we cut the volume in half.

The second phase of the program brought back the same basic workouts with a few tweaks to minor exercises and the addition of some intensity techniques. It was in this second phase that I felt I could really push myself, set weight or volume PRs, increase the density of the workout by resting less, and generally get into a deep flow during the workouts. Notice that this didn’t really happen until the second phase. Although I was always trying to improve, I felt the biggest gains the longer I stayed with the program.

If I was in a hurry to get a totally new plan all the time, I would not have gotten as strong or built as much muscle. The takeaway here is to be patient with your training. Don’t be in a hurry to try the latest craze or new exercise all the time. You can see great progress for a long time by pushing yourself on a simple, well-constructed program.

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The diet is the easy part.

When I first started with Bryan, I was super pumped about my goals. I had reached the “fed up” point that I think is extremely valuable in driving motivation for change. I knew that in the next 3 months, I would do whatever it took to achieve my goal of getting lean. Diet, sacrifice, and hard work did not intimidate me as I had gone through similar processes before I knew what was coming.

As expected, the first 3 months of coaching went really well. I was able to fully commit to the new training style, adjust to the increased volume of training, and religiously stick to my calorie and macro guidelines. This led me to impressive results. I dropped over 15 pounds and looked noticeably leaner. I felt great about my accomplishments and loved the way my body was changing.

However, after the diet ended and we started to reintroduce a bit more freedom on the weekends, I fell hard back into old destructive eating habits. I had been so spot-on with my diet that when I finally relaxed the reins, I wasn’t able to maintain control. For a number of months, almost every weekend ended in a binge. Once the genie was out of the bottle, it was extremely difficult for me to get it back in again.

I didn’t realize it at first, but this period is where the real coaching work really began. I needed to confront a lifetime of bad choices and compulsive behavior that my 3 month diet simply masked. When I was losing weight and running a tight ship, I wasn’t really doing the deep work to address my personal demons and build habits to help me when I was at my most vulnerable. These issues came to the surface once I allowed myself more freedom to eat “normally”. Over time, I worked closely with Bryan to identify my triggers and put systems in place to help me deal with the before, during, and after parts of a binge. I also worked to distance myself emotionally from my eating habits. Before, I would freak out and feel tons of self-loathing when I “messed up”. Now, I practice compassion and kindness towards myself. If I fall back into old habits, I practice standing up again in my power without judgement.

I won’t sugarcoat this process and say it was easy, enjoyable, or even that it’s completed. I will probably always struggle on some level with my disordered eating. However, working with a coach who had been there and helped others in similar situations has helped me improve my mindset tremendously.

If you are working to change your body, remember that you can’t always be on a diet. You need to spend some time learning about yourself and building habits that will sustain you when you are out in the world living a normal life. If you don’t do this work, you will always be riding the roller coaster of weight loss and regain and the emotional scars that go along with it.

weight fluctuation

This is what a year’s worth of almost daily weigh-ins looks like. Notice the initial diet and then the many ups and downs related to binging.

Consistency is key.

One of the most valuable life lessons I have learned this year is the incredible power of consistency. I saw the best results when I got into a consistent rhythm of executing a few simple things every day. It’s one thing to have a few good days; it’s another thing to string together many weeks or months of good days. This is where the magic really happens.

Lots of people (myself included) shoot themselves in the foot by “being good” all week long and then feeling like they earned the right to relax and eat crappy food all weekend. It’s incredibly easy to wipe out a large deficit from the week with a couple meals out at a restaurant and an evening spent drinking.

Building habits was a huge help in maximizing my time and minimizing decision making. I got used to eating my meals at the same time every day and I had some version of the same breakfast and lunch most days. This made it much easier to shop and meal prep. I scheduled my training sessions on the same days every week so I always knew what to expect and how my body would feel before and after. As these habits solidified, I felt like I had to exert way less effort to get the same results. If I could put my head down and just do the work, I didn’t have to think as much about things like shopping, cooking, hunger, and how I felt going into the training sessions. I just did them because it’s what I always did.

If you’re struggling to make progress, first look for the good habits you already have that are moving you forward. Then look for ways to incorporate those habits into areas where you struggle. Try not to see your week vs weekend in black and white terms. If you can make everyday look a little more like the day before, you will start moving in the right direction.

Everyone needs a coach.

Even though I work in the fitness industry, I wasn’t getting the results that I wanted with my own training. After a long day of writing programs for clients, I lacked the desire to write programs for myself. My personal programs were biased and tended to include things I enjoyed and was good at but that weren’t the best tools to get me towards my goals. Additionally, I knew that I didn’t have the most relevant experience for my particular goals.

In the past, I had success following programs I found or purchased on the internet from other fitness pros. However, these programs only take you so far. They don’t provide the level of individual tweaking, support, and accountability that can make the difference between sticking with something and falling off because you got bored or didn’t feel good. I knew that I needed to seek out someone more experienced to take over my own training.

Working with Bryan also showed me that I was really not pushing myself to my full capacity. I would go so far as to say I was being lazy before. I would only do a couple workouts per week, skip cardio, and let myself off the hook with challenging sets. Although I always trained regularly, I also had a host of excuses for why I couldn’t or shouldn’t do more. It’s no wonder that my strength gains had stalled out and I was unhappy with my physique.

The bottom line is that even if you know a lot about health and fitness, there is always someone with more experience and knowledge than you. This is true in many other areas of your life as well. If you are serious about improving yourself, do your research to find someone highly qualified who you respect and hire them to coach you. It may be one of the best investments you’ll ever make.

If you need help figuring out how to make healthy eating and exercise work with your busy lifestyle, please fill out an application for my online coaching program. If you are interested in working with Bryan, you can visit the application for his online training program here (although it’s often full).

July 25, 2017October 14, 2019

You Don’t Need an Extreme Diet or Program

During my initial period of weight loss several years ago, I adopted some pretty extreme nutritional practices.

I ate in certain ways because I believed it was the only way to achieve true health and reach my ultimate weight loss goals. I got these ideas in my head after doing lots of self-guided research and from reading advice from people I thought were nutritional experts. I thought I had discovered the secret key to weight loss and everyone who didn’t eat like me was making a big mistake.

As you might imagine, I became pretty miserable to be around during this time. I’ll never forget going home to visit Omaha and going out for sushi with my family. At the time, I was following a very strict paleo diet and refused to eat grains of any kind. I ordered a sashimi platter and ate it all by myself while I enviously watched my family members enjoy rolls, sushi, and other items with rice. They thought I was crazy while I battled with conflicting anxieties: I felt left out but was terrified of what would happen to me if I succumbed and ate grains.

Because I wasn’t armed with the skills to discern good advice from not-so-good advice, I became a bit of a zealot and fell prey to a kind of “all-or-nothing” mentality. I would fast for extended periods of time and when I did eat, entire food groups were 100% off limits.

Ultimately, this approach fueled my problems with disordered eating. When I couldn’t keep up my extreme eating habits, I fell into epic binges where I would eat as many of the forbidden foods as I could get my hands on. Afterwards, I would return to my long fasts and tell myself that I was going to get back on the wagon. Every few weeks this vicious cycle would repeat itself. The very advice I thought was the key to losing weight and being healthy was taking me farther away from either of those goals.

One of the reasons I got into the fitness industry was to help people experience success while avoiding some of the painful mistakes I made during my own journey. For this reason, I want to give you a few pieces of advice on how to detect and avoid extreme advice on eating and exercise. Adopting a sane approach to exercise and divorcing food from fear will go a long way toward maintaining or developing a healthy relationship with food and your body.

There is no magic bullet.

You know those sidebar advertisements promising “one weird trick to six pack abs?” You may roll your eyes at these ads, but they are powerful marketing tools because they prey on our insecurities and desire for instant gratification.

We are used to getting what we want right away with very little effort on our part. With health and fitness front and center in many people’s minds, it’s not surprising that companies are trying to capitalize. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take a single pill or remove one food group and lose weight without diet or exercise?

Unfortunately, the body doesn’t work this way. It takes a long time and lots of trial and error to make noticeable, lasting changes to your physique or improve your health. The sooner you accept you’re in this for the long haul, the quicker you will move down the path of successful change.

Be cautious of any product, service, or website promising you better results in less time. This is especially true of supplement companies who are allowed to make claims about the effectiveness of their products without clinical trials or government regulation. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

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How to interpret science and studies

One of the methods people use to verify the legitimacy of health information is with scientific studies and references. Unfortunately, simply citing studies is not really enough to guarantee the accuracy of information anymore.

Anyone on the internet can write about science or cite studies without the education, qualifications, or knowledge needed to critically interpret what they are citing. It’s easy to cherry-pick one or two studies to back up just about any claim. When you actually read the studies themselves, you will likely find that some “experts” completely misrepresent the contents or conclusions of a study in order to push their own agenda.

Educate yourself on how legitimate scientific studies are put together and what conclusions you can draw from certain types of evidence. Learn to think critically and ask deep questions about what a study is actually saying and what other factors could be influencing its conclusions. Understand what a peer reviewed study is and how study sponsorship can influence conclusions.

A common logical fallacy is to extrapolate causation from correlation. Just because two items are positively or negatively related on a graph does not necessarily mean one thing causes the other. For example, nutritional studies often ask people to record their food intake and then look for certain health markers. You may then see sensationalist headlines like “Eating an Egg is Equivalent to Smoking 5 Cigarettes” or “Diet Soda Causes Dementia.” In fact, these studies merely indicate that there is a correlation between a certain diet or food and a health issue. These studies in no way prove that eating a certain diet causes the problem. There may be many other factors that influence the outcome.

Look for authors who rely on meta-studies, rather than individual studies. A meta-study is an analysis of many different studies on the same topic. Meta-studies are much more reliable than individual studies as they draw from multiple experiences and have more data and trends to back up any conclusions. You can make a stronger scientific argument when you compare multiple studies examining the same basic question.

Seek the middle ground.

I learned the hard way that following a restrictive approach to eating and exercise rarely works in the long term. With the exception of elite athletes or people pursuing challenging performance or physique goals, the average person does not need to follow an extreme eating or training approach to look, feel, and perform at their best.

Beware of blanket statements, especially from people who claim their way is the only way to achieve a particular goal. For example, many diets claim removing certain foods, food groups, or macronutrients is essential for weight loss and optimal health. There are also numerous examples of blanket statements in regards to exercise. Some people claim cardio will kill your gains and should be avoided at all costs. Others claim any exercise that isn’t “functional” (whatever that means) is a waste of your time.

While these claims may work for many people, they are unnecessarily restrictive. You can lose weight and be healthy eating a wide variety of foods. You can get strong, lean, and powerful by consistently following a basic training program without running yourself into the ground or relying on circus tricks. The dark side to following these approaches includes anxiety, burnout, eating disorders, and injuries. Restrictive approaches are usually not sustainable long-term.

Moderation and simplicity aren’t sexy, but they are the key to establishing lasting healthy eating and exercise habits. It is much more valuable to learn how to eat well and exercise while still living a normal life than it is to force yourself to give up things you love or completely overhaul your life. Seek out experts and resources that promote moderation, consistency, and balance in your quest to look great and live a healthy life. Experiment to find approach what works best for your environment, body, and values, or hire a qualified coach to help guide you through the process.

(Note: Some fitness pros that are especially awesome at promoting a sane, moderation centric-approach to food and exercise are Jill Coleman, Nia Shanks, and Precision Nutrition)

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Getting in shape is simple, but not easy.

Just to be clear – I don’t claim that getting in shape is an easy or relaxing process. Just the opposite. Many people need to make big sacrifices or change a great deal about their lives to look and feel better. However, this does not mean you need to follow an extreme eating or exercise regimen that leaves you miserable, anxious, and in no way fits in with your current lifestyle.

Success comes from mastering the following things:

The right calorie balance needed to achieve your goal
Eating a diet rich in nutrient-dense whole foods that you enjoy, with some leeway to enjoy occasional treats
Following a safe, smart, and progressive training plan tailored to your goals
Managing stress and prioritizing sleep
Having fun and building a lifelong love of exercise and healthy eating

If you can do these things consistently, you will never need to follow an extreme diet or fork over hundreds of dollars on crazy supplements. You can make better choices while still enjoying your life and avoid my path into disordered eating and misery.

If you need some help sorting out the good information from the noise or want a specific plan catered to your needs and goals, please fill out an application for my online training program.