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3 Things I’ve Changed My Mind About – Nutrition Edition

My relationship with food has been a roller coaster ride. After being overweight, I have lost weight, gained it, and lost it again multiple times. If you can name a popular diet, there is a good chance I tried to follow it at one point or another. These experiences, combined with years of working with clients, taught me many hard lessons about what really matters in nutrition.

I believe all the nutrition information floating around these days has actually done people a disservice when it comes to getting and staying in great shape. Most of us have too many rules we try to follow which sap our willpower and don’t leave us looking or feeling any better.

In my quest to pare back the steps it takes to live a healthy life, I work with clients to help them get rid of the BS and instead focus on the few factors which really move the needle: caloric balance, food quality, balance, and eating in a way you actually enjoy.

This week’s blog post shares 3 big ideas about nutrition I’ve changed my mind about since I began my own fitness journey. If you’re struggling to identify which food rules to follow and which to ignore, I think you’ll find this information helpful.

If you missed last week’s post sharing 3 training ideas I no longer believe, check it out here.

There are “good foods” and “bad foods.”

Almost everyone has a mental list of good and bad foods. Our bad foods lists vary widely and could include anything from fast food, gluten, dairy, sweets, carbs, fats, fruits, and meat.

When I was first dieting, I got swept up in some of the popular nutritional dogmas floating around the internet. At various times I followed a paleo diet, keto diet, carb backloading, intermittent fasting (more on this below), and did a Whole 30.

In retrospect, following these restrictive diets was very destructive for my long-term relationship with food. I always struggled with emotional and bored eating, but placing certain foods on a do-not-eat list took it to a whole other level. Now, these foods became even more appealing precisely because they were off limits. When I did break my strict rules (and it always happened eventually), I felt compelled to eat as much of these foods as possible all at once because I knew they would be off-limits again soon. This led to a battle with binging and restricting that I’m still working through.

These days, I’ve completely done away with my do-not-eat list. Instead, I follow a moderation-based approach. I can eat any food at any time, but I only eat enough to feel satisfied. This usually means eating just a few bites of a formerly forbidden food as opposed to gulping down as much as I could eat and not paying attention to how full I felt or if I even wanted to continue eating. Taking foods off a pedestal actually reduces my cravings because I don’t feel a sense of urgency to eat ALL the things at once.

Furthermore, much of the “science” behind restrictive eating plans is misleading. While it’s true our bodies behave in certain ways, there is a ton of individual variation regarding food tolerance. We all have different immune, digestive, and hormonal systems. Some people are very sensitive to many foods; others have no food sensitivities whatsoever. For example, I’ve learned I don’t have any negative reactions to eating gluten, even though some people report feeling dramatically better when they remove it from their diets.

There is no magic that happens when you follow a restrictive diet. In most cases, the impressive results you may experience happen simply because you’ve eliminated a lot of calories from your normal diet. You can achieve this same effect without the unnecessary suffering caused by highly restrictive diets. Additionally, the psychological benefits of taking a more moderate approach will continue to serve you long after you hit your goal.

Takeaway: You don’t have to remove certain foods or food groups from your diet just because someone else told you to. Experiment to learn about your body and decide which foods leave you looking, feeling, and performing your best.

You have to eat (or not eat) certain foods at certain times to see good results.

There are a lot of ideas surrounding the best time to eat (or not eat) certain foods. Here are a few ideas I once believed:

  • Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
  • You should skip breakfast and fast for 14-16 hours each day.
  • If you don’t eat within an hour of your workout, you’ll lose all your training gains.
  • You should eat as little fat as possible on training days. On off days, eat as little carbs as possible.
  • Don’t eat carbs before bed.
  • Eat more frequently throughout the day to stoke your metabolism.

Reading all of these in a single list reveals just how silly this is. How can all of these ideas be true when some of them contradict each other? The answer is many of them are not true, or at least not important for every person at all times.

For elite athletes and physique competitors, nutrient timing is an important part of results. But at most, nutrition timing makes up about 10% of your results. It’s just not a big rock for most people. If you’re not consistently nailing your calorie balance, getting enough sleep, training hard, and eating mostly high-quality foods, it doesn’t matter when you eat.

Takeaway: Don’t worry so much about the most ideal time to eat. Instead, find an eating routine which controls calories, works with your schedule, manages hunger and cravings, and provides consistent energy and focus throughout the day.

Food issues are always about food.

I’ve learned through my coaching and personal experience that many times, issues with food are rooted in deeper psychological and emotional problems.

If you’ve been yo-yo dieting for many years without much to show for it, another diet is likely not the solution you need. Many people use food as a coping mechanism to deal with deeper personal struggles. Going on a diet treats a symptom rather than going after the root cause.

I used food for many years as a way to numb uncomfortable feelings like anxiety, boredom, and loneliness. Some of my clients have used food to exert control when they felt powerless to change other areas of their lives. There are a million reasons why we may have learned to use food to cope with or get through difficult situations.

If you truly want to change the way you eat, you need to realize these behaviors are no longer serving you. This requires you to get more in touch with your thoughts and emotions to determine what’s really going on. When you can more clearly notice and name your emotions, you can respond to them appropriately without food.

Mindfulness practices like meditation have helped me get more in touch with my feelings and recognize when I’m using food as a tool to blunt or numb uncomfortable emotions. Meditation was challenging for me at first – I’m a very wired person most of the time – but taking time to sit with myself without distractions has taught me to be less reactive to my feelings and environmental stimuli. Journaling can also be a helpful tool to get out of your head and look at things more objectively. (You can learn more about these and other tools in my Beat Emotional Eating blog here).

Takeaway: You may not need another diet. I encourage you to take some time to learn about yourself on a deeper level. Aim to be less reactive and rely less on food as a coping mechanism. Also, learn to get more comfortable in your skin. If you don’t like yourself now, you won’t like yourself 20 pounds lighter.

Food is an important part of life. We eat not only to survive, but also as a way to celebrate, try new things, and get in touch with our roots. If you’ve struggled with your relationship with food, or simply haven’t experienced success changing your body because you never know what advice to believe, there is hope for you. By filtering through the noise and learning to listen to your body, you can create a nutrition approach which balances calories, works with your lifestyle, and is enjoyable and fulfilling.

If you want some help figuring all this out, please reach out to me here.

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3 Strategies to Combat All-or-Nothing Eating

Let’s say you’ve been following your strict diet perfectly all week when your friends invite you to Sunday brunch. Although you’re nervous about finding menu items that fit your plan, you accept the invitation anyway.

When you get to brunch, you cave to peer pressure and order a bloody mary. Then you have a few bites of a shared fried appetizer. Your defenses are down and you’re mentally exhausted from a week of white-knuckling your eating.

After indulging in the drink and appetizer, you feel a wave of guilt. Since you’ve already “blown” today, you go all in on your favorite cheat foods. You order a heaping plate of pancakes and two more drinks. On the way home, you stop and pick up a pint of ice cream, which you eat mid-afternoon. When it’s time for dinner, you order Chinese take out and eat way past the point of fullness.

At the end of the day, you feel bloated, overstuffed, and riddled with guilt and disgust. You vow to resume your restrictive diet the next morning.

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It’s easy to get caught up in this vicious cycle of restricting and binging. This rarely leads to success with your fitness goals; instead it almost always leads to decreased self-confidence, guilt, frustration, and an unhealthy relationship with food. If this story sounds anything like you, it’s time to try a different approach. Keep reading to learn my top three strategies to combat all-or-nothing eating.

Get rid of rigid rules.

One of the best ways to set yourself up for all-or-nothing eating is to set strict rules about what you can and cannot eat. If you struggle with this problem, don’t make any foods completely off limits (the exception here would be if you have a serious food intolerance or allergy).

As soon as something is forbidden, it becomes much more appealing. Indulging in just one of your forbidden foods can create a chain reaction leading to an all-out binge. These binges do way more damage than simply eating enough to satisfy your craving.

Instead of setting rigid rules, allow yourself to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. This can be scary at first, especially if you are someone who is constantly dieting. However, giving yourself the freedom to eat anything makes you reconsider your choices. Combined with mindfulness practices (more on this below), you will be more likely to eat only foods you truly want and stop when you’re satisfied.  

Another strategy is to have small amounts of “cheat” foods throughout the week. Jill Coleman calls this “preemptive cheating” and believes it can help moderate weekend eating. A preemptive cheat would be any less-than healthy food you enjoy such as chocolate, alcohol, fatty foods like cheese or butter, and carbs. Rather than telling yourself you’ll never eat your favorite foods again, allow yourself to eat just enough to make your meals taste good and to satisfy any cravings.

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Don’t take on too much at once.

Psychological wins are very important when building new habits. It’s crucially important to set yourself up for success early on in the process.

One of the surest ways to fail is to try to change everything at once. For example, if you are currently eating McDonalds for breakfast, skipping lunch, eating 2 heaping plates of food at dinner, and snacking on chips and ice cream before bed, attempting to overhaul your entire diet is likely to completely overwhelm you. After a week of trying to manage 20 new habits, the smallest slip-up may trigger a binge. This only fuels the vicious all-or-nothing diet cycle.

If you have a long list things you want to change, start with the one thing you are most confident you can manage right away. Slow, small improvements are easier to sustain and will build confidence in your ability to change. Accept that you’re not going to be perfect right away and acknowledge that you will surely slip up along the way. Give yourself permission to start small and grow to relieve some of the pressure that can cause all-or-nothing eating.

Slow down and sit.

My final strategy to combat all-or-nothing eating is to practice mindfulness. It’s easy to get swept away by uncomfortable emotions or to lose touch with what our body is actually trying to communicate. The best ways to get back in touch with these signals are to slow down and take some space every day to sit quietly with your thoughts.

Practice eating slowly and without distractions. Focus on the taste and texture of each bite of food and chew fully before swallowing. Put down your utensil between bites to breathe or take a sip of water. Stop eating when you are satisfied or when the food no longer tastes as good as the first few bites. Slowing down can help you take back control of your decisions around food and potentially interrupt the whirlwind of emotions that can fuel a binge.

If you do notice the self-talk or thoughts that precipitate a binge, do something to halt the process. Set a timer, find something engaging to occupy your mind, or call a friend or family member. Whenever possible, remove yourself from the situation tempting you to binge.  

Finally, establish some daily practices to connect you with your values and long-term goals. Keep a journal or spend time reflecting on how you’re feeling. When uncomfortable emotions come up, allow yourself to sit with them until they pass. This sounds cheesy but it actually works. When we learn to manage our emotions appropriately, we no longer need to use food as a coping mechanism.

mindfulness practices can help you lose weight and improve your health

If you struggle with all-or-nothing eating, you’re not alone. Many people are silently caught in this vicious cycle. The good news is there is always hope to move forward. Start by accepting you don’t need to be perfect to see results. Get rid of rigid food rules that set you up for failure. Focus on making sane and sustainable changes and give yourself room to make mistakes. Slow down when eating, identify and interrupt binge triggers, and spend time exploring yourself and your emotions. And always practice compassion toward yourself; building healthy habits is hard, but you have what it takes to see it through.

If you want exclusive access to tips, tools, and strategies to take charge of your health and fitness, despite a crazy schedule, please sign up for my email list here.

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Limited Funds? You Can Still Get in Great Shape

People mistakenly believe they can’t eat healthy or train hard because they’re on a tight budget. They see expensive gyms and depressingly high grocery bills and feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and defeated. If you’re trying to get in shape for the first time, it can feel like you need a ton of extra cash to pay for the things you think you need to do.

The good news is you actually don’t need a lot of money to eat healthy or work out. Keep reading for some of my favorite strategies to save while chasing your fitness goals.

Affordable healthy eating

The best way to save money while eating healthier is to cook your own food. I love eating out, but restaurant meals rapidly add up in cost and calories. Learning to plan, shop, and prepare most of your meals at home is an invaluable skill and money-saver.

Many people complain about the cost of buying fresh produce and protein. And it’s true that if you shop at fancy organic stores like Whole Foods, you will spend tons of money each week. One of the easiest ways to reduce your grocery bill is to change where you shop.

For years, I have done 95% of my grocery shopping at local international and ethnic food markets. The average cost of both produce and protein is significantly cheaper across the board at these stores. I also find the overall quality of the food I buy at these markets is much better than what I find at standard grocery stores like Jewel, Safeway, or Hy-Vee. My boyfriend and I save thousands of dollars each year doing our shopping at international markets as opposed to some of the more expensive standard grocery stores.

Note – If you live in the Chicagoland area I HIGHLY recommend shopping at one of the numerous Cermak Markets or Fresh Farms International Markets located in the city and suburbs. Those have been my two stores of choice for many years.

You can also reduce your grocery bill by changing what you buy. Start by selecting different kinds of protein. The most popular meats at the store – boneless skinless chicken breast and steaks – are also the most expensive. Choosing less common cuts of meat can save some cash. Here are a few ideas:

  • Choose bone-in cuts over their boneless counterparts
  • Fattier cuts will generally be cheaper than learner meats.
  • Buy large cuts. For example, a big pork shoulder roast is cheap and produces many meals worth of meat. Whole chickens are another delicious way to get more value from your purchase
  • Organ meats such as liver, kidney, tongue, and heart are usually cheap. These underrated cuts of meat are chock-full of nutrients for more adventurous eaters.
  • Eggs and other dairy products (if you tolerate them) are a cheap, healthy source of protein for meat eaters and vegetarians alike
  • For vegetarians, buying dry beans and lentils is extremely cheap. You can cook large quantities of these at once and freeze leftovers for later.
  • Consider buying a bulk protein powder supplement to fill in any gaps in your protein intake.

Finally, if you are very tight on funds, prioritize staples like rice, beans, canned vegetables, pasta, olive oil, and potatoes. These foods contain a surprising amount of nutritional value at a very low cost. In addition, buying your food in bulk can often (but not always) save extra money.

Training for cheap

Expensive gyms with fancy amenities and facilities aren’t necessary to get in great shape. Most cities have a number of discount gyms that offer $10-20 monthly memberships. Although these gyms have more limited equipment and space, they usually contain everything most people need to reach their goals.

If your goal involves getting really strong or jacked, you may need to look for gyms with a wider range of equipment (namely barbells, which most discount gyms don’t have). Take the time to shop around for gyms offering what you need at a reasonable rate. Neighborhood gyms often charge a lot less than larger chains. I trained for years at a small, hardcore basement gym that offered a steep discount rate for young people. I loved the vibe of this gym and did some of my best training there.

Depending on your location and financial situation, joining a gym may be out of the question entirely. The good news is you can train effectively at home or outside with a bit of planning. Check out my article about training on the road for some ideas to structure bodyweight workouts. You can invest in some low-cost equipment like bands, sliders, a kettlebell or two, a door chin-up bar, or powerblocks to dramatically expand your potential at-home exercise options.

If you want to get faster results and avoid the risk of injury, hiring a personal trainer is a great choice. However, training is a luxury often out of reach. Luckily, the internet is full of amazing free or low-cost training programs and other helpful resources. I relied on many of these programs when I was first getting into training as a poor college student. You can buy a really great program for under $100 and most are much cheaper. Make sure you choose a program that is appropriate for your goals, skill level, and equipment. Follow the program as closely as you can for its entire duration to see best results.

Note – Although there is tons of great info out there, the internet is also filled with lots of BS fitness advice. I pride myself on being a great researcher and finding the best of the best in any field I’m passionate about. Please reach out to me here if you want me to direct you to the expert(s) or program(s) I think would be most helpful for your goals and situation.

Getting in shape doesn’t have to be expensive. With a bit of creativity, research, and planning, you can look and feel great without breaking the bank.

If you’re interested in receiving more tips, tools, and strategies to get into your best shape ever despite a crazy schedule or other limitations, please sign up for my email newsletter here.

 

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The Only 3 Things You Need to Lose Fat

I used to think getting in shape was complicated.

After my initial success losing weight, I got swept up in several fitness fads. I believed that unless I fasted for exactly 8 hours per day and removed certain foods from my diet, I would never reach my ultimate fat loss goal. As you might expect, this created unnecessary stress and didn’t get me much closer to where I wanted to be.

Read more: Why popular diets don’t work (and what to do instead)

My perspective on this issue has changed tremendously over the last 7 years. Whereas I once believed there were “secrets” to losing weight and keeping it off, I now believe in the power of mastering the fundamentals.

The old me chased quick-fixes, present me is working to build sane and sustainable habits that truly matter for myself and my clients.

The fitness industry wants you to think fat loss is complicated. But in reality, you only need to do a few things to lose fat. My old coach Bryan Krahn calls these factors “big rocks.” If you want to experience success, focus on moving all the big rocks before getting caught up in the noise and unimportant details.

Close-up-weigh-scale

Sustained caloric deficit

We need to consume fewer calories than we burn over the course of many weeks and months to lose fat. This is the most important factor in successful fat loss.

No special diet or meal plan (keto, intermittent fasting, paleo, vegan, etc.) can counteract the ultimate importance of caloric balance. These diets work because they help us cut back on calories, not because they provoke any magical changes in the body. The sooner we accept we will have to eat less to lose fat, the faster we steer ourselves onto the right path.

Many of us are clueless about the caloric content of our favorite foods or underestimate the total amount we are consuming. If you feel you are eating “healthy” but aren’t losing weight, try logging your food honestly. I have had many clients return to me shocked at all the sneaky ways they were actually eating more than they thought. Even if you only track your food for a few days, you may gain some useful insights on ways to cut back on calories.

If you’ve honestly tracked your food and you still aren’t satisfied with what you’ve found, you might want to talk with a doctor. Certain medical conditions can interfere with fat loss even in the presence of a caloric deficit. However, in my experience this only affects a small percentage of people struggling to lose weight.

Regular exercise

Exercise is often the first place people start when trying to lose weight. And although it’s not truly essential for fat loss, exercise has innumerable benefits and can make the process of changing your body much more rewarding.

Exercise is also a keystone health habit. This means if you start exercising regularly, you may also be inspired to clean up your eating and address other unhealthy habits. This cumulative effect of these changes makes it much more likely you will reach our fat loss goals.

A blend of cardio and strength training is most effective. Cardio promotes recovery and can help burn a few extra calories in the later stages of a diet. Strength training ensures you hold on to as much muscle as possible which keeps your metabolism revving. Muscle also helps create the toned, lean look most people want after shedding body fat. Prioritize strength training first and be careful not to overly rely on cardio.

Read more: I’m New to the Weight Room. Where Should I Start?

Be as active as you possibly can be outside the gym. The extra calories you burn walking instead of driving, taking the stairs, getting a standing desk at work, and participating in physical hobbies really add up. This is one of the easiest ways to influence the caloric balance equation without adding much extra time to your already busy schedule.

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Sleep and Stress Reduction

Dieting is stressful on the body. Your body can’t tell the difference between diet stress, work stress, home stress, or actual life-threatening stress like being chased by a lion.

For best results, reduce other stresses in your life. If you try to diet during your busiest time at work or when you have lots of travel planned, you are setting yourself up for failure. Too much stress can lead to a host of health problems in addition to making it nearly impossible to stick with your diet and training plan.

Read more: Stress, the silent results killer

Getting enough sleep makes everything else easier as you diet. Sleep is essential to help your body recover from training. It also helps reduce food cravings and provides energy for your workouts. If you can’t get uninterrupted sleep at night, try adding in a 20-minute power nap during the day.

Bonus: Patience, Consistency, and Time

Even if you do everything discussed above, you won’t make any progress unless you stick with it for many weeks and months. Those dramatic, rapid transformations you see online are the exception, not the rule. Unfortunately, it often takes much longer than anticipated to see the changes you want and many people simply give up when things get hard.

I encourage you to make a mindset shift regarding fat loss. Instead of viewing your goal weight as a destination you will arrive at, view fat loss as part of an ongoing process to transform your life in a healthy way. If you can learn to enjoy the day-to-day process (training, cooking, shopping, stress-reduction, etc.), you will enjoy much more long-term success.

Read more: 3 Mindset Shifts That Helped Me Lose 70lbs and Keep it Off

Aiming for perfection sets you up to fail. Instead, pick one or two big issues to tackle right away and execute them with ruthless consistency for 2 to 4 weeks before adding more to your plate.

These steps are simple, but not easy. Practice patience, embrace the process, and understand that changing your body often takes much longer than anticipated.

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts? Join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

 

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Make This One Change and Everything Else Gets Easier

I used to be like many of my clients and think sleep was optional. I was a busy college student trying to get shit done and sleep always seemed to get in my way. Why waste time sleeping when I had to practice trombone, exercise, complete mountains of reading, and try to maintain a social life? There simply wasn’t enough time to do everything.

I changed my mind when I had an important awakening which convinced me of the value of sleep. This experience occurred during my year living in San Francisco, when due to my unusual school and work schedule, I was able to get much more sleep than I had in the past.

I had been getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep per night for the previous few years. After moving to San Francisco, I started sleeping around 9 hours most nights. I woke up feeling refreshed every morning. I had tons of energy throughout the day and I experienced few food cravings. I strongly believe prioritizing sleep was a huge reason why I was able to so easily lose weight that year.

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Since that year, I have gone through phases where I get more and less sleep. Although I am human and can’t always practice what I preach, I am much better at noticing when things are going awry.

Feeling burnt out and overwhelmed?

Experiencing strong hunger pangs and powerful cravings?

Super unmotivated to train?

If I find myself experiencing any of these feelings, I almost always realize I’ve been slipping back to 5-6 hours of sleep per night. If I get at least 7 hours of sleep for a few weeks, I notice immediate improvements. I am busier than I’ve ever been in the past, but I still try to prioritize sleep.

Many people think they function just fine on fewer than 7 hours of sleep per night. I know this feeling well because I was also one of these people. The reality is this feeling of “being ok” is a delusion.

I strongly believe if most people got a taste of regularly sleeping at least 7 hours over the course of the day (naps count!), they would notice big improvements in all areas of their lives.

If you can only make one change to your life to make the biggest bang-for-your-buck impact on your health, get more sleep.

Sleep helps you eat better.

One of the first things I notice when I haven’t been sleeping enough is a huge spike in junk food cravings. I can’t stop thinking about all the fried and sugary foods I want to eat all day long. If I am well rested, I experience fewer cravings. If you are like me and battle with powerful cravings, or if you are simply trying to stick to a diet, this benefit cannot be overstated.

Sticking with regular sleep and wake times helps establish a routine, which allows you to be more productive and make better food choices throughout the day. For example, if you always eat at the same time, you are less likely to experience huge hunger swings and are more likely to stick with your meal plan and make healthy choices.

Sleep helps you train harder.

It goes without saying that if you are less tired, you are less likely to skip workouts. This is true whether you work out in the morning and find yourself constantly hitting snooze, or if you are always too exhausted to get in your training after work.

Once you do show up to the gym, a good night’s sleep will help fuel you through a more productive workout. A well-rested trainee will move more weight, faster, and with better form than someone who is just phoning it in because they only got 4 hours of sleep the night before. Over the course of many weeks and months, the trainee who gets enough sleep will experience faster progress, greater gains, and will greatly reduce their likelihood of injuries.

Finally, sleep is when your body recovers from your workouts, repairing damage to tissues and producing adaptations which move you toward your goals. Not getting enough sleep robs your body of this precious recovery time and leaves you feeling beat up and wondering where all your hard work has gone.

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Puppies need sleep, too.

Sleep helps you manage stress.

There are many ways getting enough sleep can positively impact your lifestyle. In addition to helping your body make repairs, sleep refreshes your brain. People who regularly get enough sleep feel happier, more optimistic, and less stressed than people who are running a huge sleep debt. You may feel “fine” on fewer than 7 hours of sleep, but in my experience most people feel way better getting 7 hours or more.

I am all about sane and sustainable lifestyle change. I know it’s tough to overhaul or even make minor tweaks to your eating and exercise routine. Why make this process more challenging by refusing to give your body the rest and recovery it needs on a daily basis?

A well-rested body and mind are more likely to make better choices which move you toward your goals. An exhausted body and mind are more likely to succumb to temptation, experience frustration, and give up too soon because “nothing is working.”

If you want to experience the magic of getting more sleep, start small. Figure out when you need to wake up in the morning and work backwards to establish a bedtime. Set an alarm on your phone 15-30 minutes before this bedtime to remind you it’s time to wind down.

If you are way below 7 hours, add in just 30-90 minutes at a time. You can also add in 20-30 minute power naps throughout the day if it’s simply not possible to sleep more at night.

If you can get more sleep, everything else gets easier. If you want more tips and strategies to help make health and fitness fit with your busy life, please join my email list here.

 

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How Taking Action Changed My Life (And How You Can Do the Same)

I spent at least five years of my life very overweight.

During that time, I experienced repeated emotional swings surrounding weight loss. I would have some experience which made me feel terrible about myself and would vow to do whatever it took to lose weight. I ate very little for a few days, and then without fail I went back to my old ways when I didn’t see an immediate drop in the scale.

Over time, this approach created the false belief that I was completely stuck and nothing I did would ever make a difference. I stopped trying to improve my health in any way.

When I was 19, I had a big health scare which made losing weight immediately very important to me. However, I approached this experience much differently than my past “attempts” to lose weight. Instead of trying to do everything at once and expecting immediate results, I picked just two things I felt would make the biggest impact: I started exercising almost every day and I started tracking my food.

After taking these two simple actions consistently for a month, I finally achieved the progress I had been unsuccessfully chasing for years. This small taste of success got me out of my rut and helped fuel me during the many months and years of change that followed. Taking a few small but important actions got me moving toward my goal, even though I didn’t have all the answers at the start or know where I was going to end up.

Action can bring you out of a slump.

We all go through periods in our lives when the world seems to be conspiring against us. We may be wrestling with overwhelm and uncertainty at work, grieving the loss of a loved one or a failed relationship, struggling with our finances, dealing with the impacts of health issues, or some combination of other stressors. Perhaps our lives are generally okay but we haven’t made much progress in the gym or with our weight loss goals. It’s tough to find the motivation or inspiration to change when we feel as if nothing is making much of a difference.

One of the best things we can do if we feel stuck is to take action. Action has a way of improving our mood and motivating us to do more than we thought we could. Taking the first step forward is usually the hardest part.

Think of the principle of inertia, which states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. Doing something is the outside force which pushes us out of a stationary position. After the initial action, it’s much easier to keep moving.

If you’ve been feeling down in the dumps, your first step could simply be pulling yourself away from Netflix or social media and getting out of the house. Knock out some errands that have been piling up. Make plans to grab coffee with a friend. Do something fun you haven’t made time for in a while. Bonus points if this is something physical, like bowling or rock climbing, as physical activity has a powerful mood-boosting effect.

If you are feeling stuck in regards to your health and fitness goals, pick one thing you can do today you know would move you closer to your goal. This may mean dialing your efforts back if you have been trying to do everything at once and aren’t able to stick with it. Choose something you know with absolute certainty you can do, even if it seems ridiculously small or easy. I elaborate below.

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Action can combat information overload.

Sometimes we have too much information about how to move forward and it paralyzes us. We wonder which first step is the “best” and will get the fastest results, or we read too much conflicting information and are confused about how to move forward at all. Our fear of making mistakes keeps us stuck in place. This is especially true in health and fitness, where everyone has an opinion and contradictory information abounds.

Recognize there are many paths that will get you to your destination. Instead of wasting time looking for the best way, choose a way that seems clear and reasonable given what you know right now, and act on it. You will be much better off if you are farther down the path and have to make some changes than if you stay where you are and do nothing out of fear.

Another helpful action to take to limit information overload is to go on an information diet. Instead of reading anything you can get your hands on about your goal, choose a small group of thought leaders, coaches, and experts whose work really resonates with you and ignore everybody else.

Start with no more than 5 people. If you find the messages of these people conflict, cut some out until you have a core group whose work compliments each other and seems most relevant to you and your goals. It can be tough to ignore all of the noise and shiny objects floating around on the internet, but cutting down your information intake will give you much needed clarity on the actions that will have the most impact for you.

Action can be small.

The Japanese principle of “kaizen” values small, continuous improvement to foster positive growth and change. Adopting this mindset is one of the most powerful things we can do to grow as people. Rather than waiting for the big, life-changing moments to catapult us forward, we empower ourselves to grow a small percentage every day. In time, this continuous investment in ourselves adds up.

Focus on small daily actions. You don’t need big leaps forward to improve yourself or reach a goal. In fact, you will likely experience more success if you focus on small changes which compound over time. Learning to trust and love the process makes it more likely you will build long-term, sustainable healthy habits and won’t just go back to your old ways when you achieve your goal.

Set big, long-term goals and then break them down into stages, levels, or parts. Brainstorm all the little things you need to do to achieve each step. Then, take action. Start working on mastering the daily and weekly practices and “forget” about your bigger goal.

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A tactic you can use to take action today.

“Five, three, first” is a practice you can use to determine which action step to take right away. Here’s how it works:

  • Make a list of five actions you can take that will move you toward your goal. These should be specific – think “three strength training sessions per week” vs “exercise more.”
  • Next, narrow this list down to the three things you think would make the biggest difference for you right now.
  • Finally, pick the one item from this list you are most confident you can do right away. On a scale of 1-10, you should be at a 9-10 that you can handle this one thing. Get started as soon as you can. Focus on nailing just this one action step for a couple of weeks before adding more to your plate.

You will, of course, get to all five changes on your list (and more) eventually. Selecting one task doesn’t mean those other things aren’t important. Instead, you are simply choosing to narrow your focus and eliminate overwhelm so you can act right away. This builds positive momentum and makes it easier to take more action and make more changes down the road.

If you’re feeling stuck, pick one thing to do today. Get out of the house, connect with other people, knock some things off your to-do list, or take the first step toward building healthier habits. There is tremendous power in taking action, and I guarantee taking this small step will help you feel at least a little bit of forward momentum.

If you need help figuring what the first steps toward your health and fitness goals are, please reach out to me here.

 

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Got New Year’s Resolutions? I’ve Got Resources

As 2017 comes to a close, I want to take some time to reflect on everything I’ve covered this year. Since launching this website in mid-April, I’ve written 37 articles covering a wide range of topics related to training, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle. It’s been such a joy for me to use my passion for writing as part of my fitness work, and I’m grateful to everyone who has read and shared my posts.

My two most popular posts this year told the stories of two different phases of my ongoing fitness journey. The first post, How I Lost 30lbs Without Counting Calories, revealed the habits that allowed me to lose weight with minimal stress while living in San Francisco in 2014 and 2015. The second post, 6 Things I Learned From a Year of Online Training With Bryan Krahn, explained some lessons I learned in 2016 and 2017 when I hired a coach to help me get in my best shape ever. I hope some of my experiences can provide insight and clarity on issues you may be dealing with as you chase your own goals.

My objective is to provide clear, simple, actionable tips and inspiration to help you navigate the confusing and contradictory world of health and fitness advice. With that in mind, this week I’ve put together a year-end guide for you. I reviewed my 2017 posts and organized them by topic. Many of you probably have New Year’s resolutions related to health and fitness. However, it’s likely that you aren’t 100% sure what steps you need to take to realize those goals. Skim through this post, look for the articles relevant to you, bookmark them for later, and share with others. I hope this guide can help answer some of your questions and give you the resources needed to take the first steps toward a fitter and healthier 2018.

Note – hyperlink text does not appear in another color. Hover over the text to find links to each post

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Healthy eating

Year after year, weight loss is the most common New Year’s resolution. If you want to lose weight, take control of your eating. Calories must be managed to create a deficit. This requires you to cook more, manage portions, choose more nutrient-dense foods, and combat destructive eating habits like emotional eating. These are all great skills to master even if you are happy with your physique.

  • Cooking more of your own meals is an important step in making healthier food choices. Check out these articles for tips on how to become a better home cook:
  • It’s not always possible to prepare your own food. This post provided strategies for eating out at restaurants when you are on a diet.
  • One of the easiest ways you can improve the quality of your diet, regardless of whether you want to lose weight, is to eat more vegetables. In this post, I explain how I overcame my dislike of vegetables and transformed them into a centerpiece of my diet.
  • Finally, for many people healthier eating means taking control of destructive eating habits such as emotional and stress eating. Check out these posts for tips on combating these challenging obstacles:

Training

It’s no secret that I think everyone should perform some kind of regular resistance training. Strength training builds strong muscles and bones and makes our bodies more efficient. However, it can be confusing, overwhelming, and intimidating to get started with lifting weights. Check out some of these resources if you want help establishing a new routine or improving your current routine.

  • If you want more information on how to train around pain and injuries:

Consistency and Routine

Many New Year’s resolutions fail because people are too ambitious right out of the gate. If you aren’t in the habit of coming to the gym every day or prepping all of your meals, you should set more realistic initial goals. First work to build better systems and develop consistent routines. Real change is made by developing sustainable healthy habits. Start where you are and take one small step forward every day.

  • If you struggle to have healthy food available when you need it:
  • This post on seasons of lifting provides ideas and inspirations for organizing a year’s worth of training. This is a great strategy to ensure your fitness goals mesh well with your life outside of the gym.

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Mindset and More

Mindset is the secret sauce to achievement. You can have all the practical knowledge in the world, but if you don’t surround yourself with good people, practice patience, believe in yourself, and choose goals that resonate with your values, you will never truly succeed.

That’s a wrap on 2017. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or ideas for a future blog post. If you are interested in working with me, please fill out an application for my online training program here. Thank you all for your continued support!

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All About Cardio

Cardio is one of the most confusing subjects in the world of fitness. On the one hand, cardio kings and queens claim the only way to build the body of your dreams is to perform hours and hours of cardio every week. On the other hand, hardcore meatheads warn that performing any cardio at all will kill your hard-earned strength gains. If you are a normal person who just wants to look and feel better, how do you figure out what to do?

As usual, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Every person should include some cardio as part of a well-rounded exercise routine. However, it is possible to do too much cardio or choose activities that aren’t a good fit for your body or your fitness levels. This post should help you better understand how to best incorporate cardio into your workouts. Keep reading to figure out the what, how much, and when of setting up a smart cardio routine.

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What do do?

There are two different kinds of cardio: low intensity cardio and high intensity cardio, often called HIIT (high intensity interval training). When performing low intensity cardio, the goal is to keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. HIIT pushes your heart rate above this threshold for short periods followed by periods to rest and recover.

To be successful with low intensity cardio, it’s essential to choose a modality you enjoy. There are many different ways to get in your cardio. If you hate running, try cycling or walking instead. If you don’t like cardio machines, go for a swim or do something outside. If you get bored easily, listen to a podcast or audiobook or watch your favorite tv show. Be creative and experiment with different tools and approaches until you find the options that work best.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Machines: Treadmill jogging or walking, stationary bike, elliptical, stair climber, rowing machine, arm bike
  • Other options: Running, walking, hiking, cycling, skateboarding, swimming, kayaking, pick-up sports, martial arts, etc.

If you have any joint problems, such as knee or lower back pain, it’s best to choose low impact cardio options. Stay away from things like running and jumping and instead choose activities like swimming, walking, or cycling.

I have previously written in-depth about high intensity interval training. You can read more about equipment and timing options for HIIT here.

How much?

After you’ve decided how you will perform your cardio, the next step is to determine how much you need to do to get the desired training effect.

At this stage, I want to clarify why we are doing cardio in the first place. Lots of people view cardio as a way to burn extra calories to help them lose weight or make up for an unhealthy diet. In reality, calorie burn is not the main objective of cardio (if weight loss is your goal, aim to set up a caloric deficit by altering your diet first, then add in extra cardio only when progress stalls.) I suggest you view cardio primarily as a way to promote recovery from strength training, increase focus, and build a healthy heart and cardiovascular system. You should perform just enough cardio to feel great without placing unnecessary stress on your body.

I recommend beginners start with just 10-20 minutes of cardio performed 2-3 days per week. Certain modalities, such as the stairmaster and rower, are more challenging than others and will require shorter initial training times. If you are new to the gym, training for shorter periods of time can also make it easier to stick to a workout routine.

As your level of cardio fitness improves, gradually increase your training time. More advanced trainees can alternate between shorter sessions of 10-30 minutes and longer sessions of 30-60 minutes. You can perform cardio up to 6 days per week depending on your goals, stress levels, and the volume and intensity of your strength training routine.

However, more cardio is not always better. In fact, it is absolutely possible to perform too much cardio. Performing hours and hours of cardio every week can lead to excessive buildup of stress hormones and place unnecessary wear and tear on your body. Too much cardio can:

  • Lead to increased stress levels, making it difficult to recover, sleep, or lose weight
  • Greatly increase your appetite, making it difficult to stick with a healthy eating plan
  • Lead to overuse injuries from too much repetitive motion

When in doubt, start with a couple of low intensity cardio sessions per week. Pay attention to how you feel as you slowly add more or longer sessions. Success depends on finding the right balance for you.

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When to do it?

Finally, you need to  figure out the best times to fit cardio into your routine. Short sessions can be added to the end of strength training sessions. Longer sessions work better as stand-alone sessions. In general, you should not perform cardio before you lift weights. You want to save your focus and energy to push yourself in the weight room.

Perform your most intense cardio (HIIT, density training), earlier in the week. As the week moves on, choose lower intensity cardio options to promote recovery. Keep in mind that HIIT can be just as taxing on the body as a heavy strength training session. Perform HIIT sessions after a lower body lifting day whenever possible.

Morning is generally the best time to perform cardio because it’s when your body naturally produces the highest levels of stress hormones. Many people feel refreshed and focused after a session of low intensity morning cardio. However, performing your cardio in the morning isn’t essential. As with any form of exercise, the best time is always the time that allows you to be the most consistent.

Regularly performing cardio can do wonders for your physical and mental health. Use the tips in this post to help you determine the best methods, timing, and scheduling for your goals and ability level. If you want some help figuring out how cardio fits into your training routine, please reach out to me here.

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Seasons of Lifting

Do either of these sound like you?

  • It’s May and suddenly beach season seems imminent. Unfortunately, you realize you’ve been skipping workouts and eating poorly for the last four months. Now you are scrambling to get in shape as fast as possible. Although you start off strong, your efforts are derailed as summer arrives and you find yourself enjoying drinks with friends at your favorite rooftop bar and stuffing yourself at weekend barbecues.
  • You decide you want to lose 20 lbs so you start a new diet. However, things are getting very crazy for you at work. Between the chaos of business travel, lack of time to prepare healthy food, and large amounts of stress, you soon find yourself giving up your attempts to get in shape.

Many people fail to live up to their eating and exercise aspirations because they choose unrealistic goals that don’t mesh well with their daily lives. Rather than attempting to overhaul your entire life, it’s best to look for ways to incorporate training and healthy eating into your current routine. You will certainly have to sacrifice and make changes to get in shape, but that doesn’t mean you need to force a square peg into a round hole.

One of the easiest ways to set yourself up for success is to modify your routine based on the seasons. Even in places without true seasons (I’m looking at you, California), most of us have alternating periods of grinding and relaxing throughout the year. Different seasons are filled with activities that influence your eating, activity levels, and stress. It makes sense to plan your training around these factors.

This blog post provides a few ways you can use the changing seasons to help you plan out a year of training and eating. At the end, I explain what to do if your personal schedule doesn’t fit with my general recommendations.

Winter/Spring

Many people begin the year with a diet after a holiday season filled with various indulgences. There aren’t many holidays in the first few months of the year, which makes it easier to cut back on eating out or social obligations involving food or alcohol. This is also a time when many people are the busiest at work. For these reasons, the winter is a great time to focus on fat loss.

Although diet is the main driver of fat loss, your training plays a role as well. You should always aim to retain as much muscle as possible when dieting. Keep pushing yourself in the gym and strive to make progress even as you get leaner. Although you may want to add in some extra cardio or high intensity interval training to your training during this season, weight training should remain your top priority.

No matter what type of training program you follow, keep a close eye on recovery. Dieting is stressful on the body and compounding this stress with too much training volume or intensity can lead to burnout, injuries, or chronic fatigue. High intensity interval training can be especially draining, so start with just one session per week and increase only if fat loss progress stalls.

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Summer

Most people want to have fun and relax during the summer. Between summer Fridays (which are huge in Chicago where I live), family vacations, and weekends by the beach, there is a lot going on in our lives outside the gym. Summer is the time to maintain your performance and physique while still allowing some flexibility to enjoy the seasonal activities.

Training time can be cut back in the summer to get you out of the gym faster. You can also move some of your workouts outside to get in some extra sunshine and Vitamin D. Hill sprints, track workouts, or bodyweight workouts in the park are all great options during nice weather.

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Fall/Winter

The last four months of the year are filled with holidays, feasts, and parties, most of which involve lots of food. Rather than stressing out about gaining weight during this time, harness those extra calories to seriously crush your workouts.

Fall training should be intense enough to promote muscle or strength gains. Lift some heavy weights, set some new records, or challenge yourself with a high volume hypertrophy-focused program. Although anyone can lose fat with diet alone, hard training is necessary to stimulate strength and/or muscle gains. Chasing these goals at a time of year when eating supports them ensures you will keep getting better year after year.

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Plan Your Training Around Your Year

Many people will find the above recommendations are a perfect fit for their year. However, your schedule may not follow the seasons. If this sounds like you, look at your yearly calendar and determine when you will be more or less stressed. This could be influenced by busy times at work, planned vacations, family obligations, visitors staying with you, or many other things. For most people, stressful periods tend to fall at more or less the same times every year even if they don’t line up with the seasons.

You can use this information to inform decisions about your training. For example, a three-month stretch filled with travel is a bad time to diet. However, a three-month stretch when things will be more relaxed at work could be an ideal time to try to lose fat. This can also work in reverse: a period when you will be hosting lots of visitors may be a good time to focus on building muscle or strength since you know you will be eating some extra calories. Above, I explain how these periods can line up with the seasons. However, if your year looks totally different feel free to move these blocks around. The goal is to set up a plan that works with your unique schedule.

As we move into December, take some time to sketch out what your next year of training will look like. You don’t need to train with the same intensity, frequency, or programming all the time. Scheduling a year of lifting based on the seasons or big life events will keep things fresh and put you in the best position to be successful. Better planning leads to better results.

If you need help adjusting your training or eating to match your lifestyle, please submit an application for my online coaching program here.

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Better Health and Fitness Through Gratitude

This Thursday is Thanksgiving, the day Americans set aside to celebrate all the things we are grateful for in our lives. For many people this means gatherings with friends, family, and other loved ones. Some people may spend the holiday alone due to work or other reasons. Regardless of how we spend the day, most of us will spend at least a bit of time reflecting and giving thanks.

Although gratitude is an overused word these days, it can still be a powerful tool to help live a more positive, fulfilling life. Practicing gratitude enables us to see the positive in any situation. It teaches us to celebrate the things that enrich our lives even in the face of struggle and hardship. The perpetual optimist who always tries to appreciate the things they do have will be much happier than the person who constantly dwells on the negative, thinking only about the unfair burdens they’ve had to bear or what is lacking in their life.

As you give thanks this week, consider your attitude toward your health and fitness. Are you someone who looks forward to daily movement and loves the way you feel after filling your body with nutritious food? Or are you someone who dreads the gym, eats junk regularly, and constantly feels run-down or lethargic? Do you take ownership of your choices or do you feel like eating right and exercising are impositions placed on you by someone else? If you are struggling to make exercise and healthy eating a regular part of your life, take a step back and use gratitude to reframe your situation. Getting in shape is tough, but being thankful for the things you are able to do goes a long way in helping you push through challenges.

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Exercise as a celebration of movement and life

I know how hard it can be to find the motivation to work out. After a long day at work, a poor night’s sleep, or unexpected family stress, putting on your gym clothes to get your sweat on is often the last thing on your mind. Compounding this problem may be a toxic attitude toward exercise. For many people, exercise is a form of punishment for eating poorly, looking a certain way, or feeling lazy and apathetic. There is no joy in their workouts and they dread coming to the gym.

To change this, reframe exercise in a positive light. See exercise as a celebration of all the things your body can do. The human body is an amazingly complex, versatile, and resilient machine. Be thankful for the gift of movement and recognize that if you don’t use it, you lose it.

The human brain and body evolved to be intimately connected. Engaging in regular exercise and physical play enables you to feel more connected to your body, encourages mental sharpness and focus, and improves your mood. This is one reason why mental health practitioners always recommend exercise as a part of a well rounded treatment for mental health issues.

One way to get motivated is to find physical activities you actually enjoy. Too many people force themselves into conventional exercise modalities because they think it’s what they’re supposed to do. The reality is that movement comes in many shapes and sizes: walk, run, climb, throw, jump, kick, crawl, lift, swim, pose, stretch, carry, dance, play, and more. Find a handful of activities you enjoy and engage in them regularly. Ensure you have a good foundation of strength and conditioning so you can safely and effectively perform these other activities.

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Another way to make exercise more enjoyable is to find a community of likeminded people to support you along the way. This could be as small as one other person or as large as a group of 100 people or more. If you don’t have access to such a group in person, there are numerous online communities designed to provide support, accountability, and encouragement to people of all ability levels chasing every kind of physical goal. Humans are social animals. Going through challenges with others helps you appreciate your own skills and keeps negativity in check by providing some perspective as to what other people are experiencing.

It only takes one accident or serious ailment to rob you of your ability to move. Don’t take this amazing gift for granted or let it slip away as you age. Be grateful for your good mobility and engage in whatever kinds of movement feel best to you.

Healthy eating as a gift to your body and brain

Dieting is inherently challenging. You have to push your body to an uncomfortable place in order to see changes. Experiencing hunger, practicing self-restraint, resisting temptation, and dealing with pressure from friends and family are all par for the course when you go on a diet. These uncomfortable sensations can compound to make you miserable if you let them.

Instead of getting caught up in negativity or self-pity, reframe dieting as a temporary discomfort that ultimately allows you to live a healthier life. Think of healthy eating as a gift to your body and brain. When you fill your body with nourishing foods, you look, feel, think, and perform better. This makes everything in your life more enjoyable.

Be grateful you live in a place where you are privileged enough to restrict food intake or make healthier choices in order to improve your wellbeing. Many people around the world don’t have access to fresh, healthy foods and still others are suffering from various malnutrition related ailments. If you have the resources to make these changes, you are doing much better than most. Sometimes thinking globally helps put your individual discomfort into perspective.

Another food related reframe centers around holiday eating. Many people experience a great deal of food anxiety over the holidays when they find themselves surrounded by less-than-ideal food choices at parties, gatherings, and family meals. Stress over weight gain can put a huge damper on a time that should otherwise be relaxing and joyous.

Instead of fretting about your diet, take a step back and reconnect with what the holidays are truly about. Take some time to show your appreciation for friends and family. Be grateful for the opportunity to rest, celebrate, and reflect with loved ones. If food is an important part of your holidays, go ahead and relax a bit. Eating has always been a central part of human celebration and you won’t ruin a whole year of hard work with a couple of feasts.

Use gratitude to help you appreciate life more

Nothing worth having comes easily. In all areas of your life – professional, personal, health, and more – you must push yourself through challenges and make sacrifices to move forward and grow. Taking time to be thankful for the gifts we’ve been given goes a long way in making these struggles more bearable. Don’t dwell on the negatives; look for ways to practice gratitude this week and beyond.

If gratitude has you feeling inspired to recommit to your exercise routine, you should check out my 4C System. It’s a totally free five day email course teaching you to become a more consistent exerciser. Sign up using the box below.