If thereās one thing I want you guys to focus on before starting this new week itās cultivating a better relationship with yourself.ā£
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Body image issues can stunt & affect any kind of progress or growth in every facet of your life.ā£
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I can tell you after losing almost 50lbs over my 38 yrs on this earth, the weight loss doesnāt magically make you love yourself more or fix any problems.ā£
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10 Ways To Improve Body Image Issuesā£
Source: Myself & The National Eating Disorder Awarenessā£
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1ļøā£ Stop comparing yourself to others. Love & appreciate your body for what it is & what it is becoming as you live a healthier life.ā£
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2ļøā£ Remember that beauty is not just about appearance.ā£
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3ļøā£ Question the media & things you consume. Especially social media. Most of what you see is photo shopped & the highlight reels.ā£
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4ļøā£ Dress in clothes that make you feel your best! Wear literally whatever the hell you want. You wear your clothes they donāt wear you.ā£
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5ļøā£ When you see yourself in a mirror or in your mind, choose not to focus on specific body parts. You are a beautiful sum of all your imperfections.ā£
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6ļøā£ LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. What do you NEED? A walk? Yoga? A bath?! Listening help so much!ā£
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7ļøā£ Use the time and energy you might have spent worrying about food, calories, and your weight to do something to help others. Sometimes helping out other people can help you feel better about yourself and can make a positive change in our world.ā£
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8ļøā£ Shut down those voices in your head that tell you your body is not ārightā or that you are a ābadā person.ā£
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9ļøā£ āI amā affirmations! Say them, write them, believe them! ā£
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š Donāt rely on others for confidence boosts! Your worth comes from within.ā£
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Also, seek help. Therapy does wondersā¤ļøā£
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Training lessons learned the hard way
Had someone tell me yesterday, āI want to look like you. How do you eat & train?ā
I replied with, āYou canāt look like me & I canāt look like you.ā
This mornin before work, I had about 40min. So this is me, a shameless gym selfie, committing to me.
Some important things Iāve learned the hard way I want to pass along when it comes to training.
Listen, Iām not the expert, but I have been one to make all the wrong moves first.
Iāll lead off with hard work beats talent when talent doesnāt work hard. You know the saying. Iām not just talking about this in the aesthetic sense, same thing goes to your healing protocols & taking time off too.
Here goes…
1ļøā£Genetics play a big part & if you hate what youāre doing you wonāt stick with it. Consistency & adherence get you results with nutrition & training.
Weāre not genetically made to all look the same. Thru trial & error, you will find the aligned nutrition & training program that work for you. INVEST in coaches & trainers to guide you. Quit your diet & program ADD.
2ļøā£Be intentional about your training. Just because you go to the gym doesnāt mean youāll see results if youāre not really doing the work. Just like hiring a nutrition coach, you still have to do the work. Stop trying to out supplement shitty nutrition, over training, & putting more work into posing in the squat rack or being more concerned if your hair & makeup look on point in your IG video.
ā Follow your program.
ā Nutrition & recovery build your foundation.
āSupplements arenāt really that important. The basics are. SLEEP.
āPrioritize HEALTH first. Eat food. Get your gut & hormones in check.
3ļøā£MOST important, manage your mindset. You can wish all you want but if you donāt commit to yourself, donāt believe you can achieve, & still tell yourself you fxck up all the time ā youāre gonna fxck up all the time.
We all have cups we fill: self care, career, relationships, body goals, financial goals. Choose which cup to drink from & which one to refill. Your seasons will change & thatās ok. But commit fully to that season so you can truly reach your potential.
I wish you all the best!
Self love is the best love
A while back, someone slid into my DMās & commented I had no boobs, no butt, & my eyebrows were too thick… ā£
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šš¼āāļøApparently they drank the Hater-aid.
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Years ago I wouldāve been crushed. Most likely starved myself for weeks later because it was something I could control. Or tried to find the next work out that would change my body. Maybe different hair color. A bandaid. A drug. A high. ā£
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It happens to us all the time. What you have to realize is when people lash out at you like this, that is a reflection of how they view themselves. It really has nothing to do with you. ā£
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Love them anyways. Wish them healing. ā£
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I posted these beautiful words on my Instagram stories almost a year ago:
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āEvery day, she falls in love -ā£
She falls in love just a little bit more.ā£
She falls in love just a little bit more, with who she is, and with who she isnāt.ā£
She falls in love just a little bit more, with her flaws, her fears, and her insecurities.ā£
With her smile, her her laugh, her voice, and her body.ā£
With her passions, her goals, her dreams and her future.ā£
Every day, she falls in love -ā£
She falls in love just a little bit more, with exactly who God created her to be -ā£
This unique, intelligent, independent, kind, caring, funny, creative, talented woman with a beautiful mind, a loving heart, and an incredibly deep soul.ā @allthings_possible ā£
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What we really have is a happiness & lack of self-awareness problem.
Itās not just because youāre overweight or underweight or struggling financially, relationally, or however this relates in your life.
=> you dig. Go deep. ā£
=> you spend time alone. You ache from lonelyā£.
=> you acknowledge. You heal. ā£
=> you empower. Yourself & others. ā£
=> you look in the mirror & see God. ā£
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I am grateful for this little body & life of mine. It is strong, resilient, & every wrinkle, scar, cellulite, stretch mark ā is the mark of life I lived.
Thatās real Queen shit.
ā£Donāt drink the Hater-aid.
Xoxo
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You can survive too
I have no idea what kind of influence I actually have on people.
I have the tendency to just go about my life, hustlin, trying to be a good human. Tryin to be true to myself, basically spewing my heart & emotions on this thing called the gram.
Itās been really good for me. Therapeutic. Emotionally cleansing.
Like life, it has a dark side too. It can be very energetically heavy trying to be a light & lending ear to so many.
My tendency to live & do & say things unaware of how it really influences other people has its drawbacks too.
My independence alienates people unintentionally.
I donāt typically do things to be hurtful or malicious but they can come off that way.
Reason ā Iām really shitty at communication. I donāt realize other people canāt read my mind or energy like I can read others.
Iām working on it.
Iām aware of it now so I donāt have any excuses for myself.
I really donāt know how Iāve affected other peopleās decisions, how they feel about themselves, or their perceptions of things.
I do know I want to be the realist, most positive force I can be. Iām grateful yāall allow me to let you know youāre not alone & allow me to put my life, my emotions, my experiences & lessons into words.
Know you can survive anything.
Iāve gotten my heart broken numerous times. Iāve broken hearts too.
Iām currently missing my best friend @_rottier_ like you wouldnāt believe. Japan is not 6 hrs away.
I pulled up my GPS today to take an alternate route to work & it still pulls up his Missouri address first.
Made me wanna cry & I was instantly pissed off at myself. I donāt like being weak. And I thought, āYou aināt got time for this shit, Katie, pull it together. Talk about whiskey glasses, @morganwallen , Iād like a few right nowš„.ā
Iāve failed tests in school, I even got suspended in Xray school. š¤·š¼āāļø That authority thing has always been a struggle. š
My worst grade in high school was an 86% in Algebra & I thought my overachieving ass was gonna die. I obviously didnāt. And that doesnāt mean shit now.
Iāve been rejected from jobs I thought I wanted only for the right ones to come along later. Ive had hard times with family only to laugh about it later.
Iāve had friends disappoint me, men leave me, hell Iāve abused myself with all the addictions ā it was never one thing: disordered eating, over exercising, drinking too much, settling, sabotaging myself, surrounding myself with a hard shell, wishing I could eat like a ānormalā person without crohns & special needs.
I did it once, twice, again & again.
And you can too. ā¤ļø
Love yāall
Xoxo
Of Kings & Queens…
We gettin deep today yāall. This is something Iāve never completely disclosed. I hope it helps you where you are right now twas a message I was nudged to share today.
So here goes…
Never did the world make a Queen of a girl who hides behind a facade of perfection in a house of guarded walls but an imperfect woman of wisdom in a house of mirrors & glass.
Are you just INTERESTED in being a Queen of high value building your empire or are you COMMITTED to being her?
I had a mentor ask me this.
Holy shit.
Another gut check moment.
You see our beliefs build habits & our habits reinforce those beliefs.
For those of you who are new around here & donāt know my story let me set a quick framework of my past that may resonate close to yours.Ā
I too have been that human:
ā½ļøgoing through a divorce feeling like failure & confused about identity
ā½ļøcar repoed, $40,000 in debt, $5 to your name, basically living out of your office & your car, eating at hotels to save money on food
ā½ļøsick, struggling with disordered eating & orthorexia feeling powerless & ugly
ā½ļøcomparing wanting to be someone else, coveting their life or body thinking that would make me successful & happy
ā½ļøthinking being single means thereās something wrong with me & I needed to settle & find a partner fast to actually be worthy instead of realizing I needed to work on myself & be the person I wanted to be with first
ā½ļøgetting involved in relationships, jobs, social plans when I feel resistance & ignoring my intuition, excessive drinking, overspending, giving my body to people who didnāt deserve it
So what did I do?
I visualized & BELIEVED in the things I wanted to manifest. I made a list of the things I would need to do & the person I would need to embody to achieve these things.
- The BODY ā healing, health, rest, eating ENOUGH, working out because I love my body, vibrancy, food & body freedom, self love
- The CAREER ā freedom, loving what I do, making an impact, following purpose not a paycheck
- The RELATIONSHIP ā doing the inner work, believing in my self worth, getting rid of pre-conditions I learned over time, self awareness of my shadows and triggers, being the person I would want to be with
- The MINDSET ā believing in myself, telling myself Iām a mf Hustler, a survivor, a thriver, I lead with my heart & I deserve everything I desire so I can serve others & myself to the highest degree
I stepped into my worth, I said NO to people, social media, habits, self sabotage more than I said yes to consuming toxicity. I created a routine that helped me be the person I wanted to be in the areas of my life: self, health, wealth, & relationships.
Doesnāt mean I was perfect, but it meant I fully believed in myself enough to grant GRACE & laughter for my humanness (aka when I fugged up š), & refuse to put myself on the clearance rack.
THINGS I MANIFESTED DOIN THE WORK:
š«For decades I lived in debt, during this Quarantine I made my last payment & paid off $43,000. Debts paid.
š«My health was shit, my digestion & adrenals a wreck ā I finally got my health back & completed my most successful cut this past year.
š«I was basically living out of my office with 5$ in my account, barely having enough money for eggs, to having the apartment I always wanted.
š«I wanted freedom of schedule doing all the things I loved. I now have 4 different jobs in radiology as well as my coaching practice making my own schedule.
š«I wanted travel & to live in 2 different places. I traveled bw IN & MO, making them both home.
š«Iāve had a failed marriage, numerous failed relationships which broke me. I wanted a best friend & partner to live life with, one that is a life story not just a love story, one worthy of growth & future & feels like freedom & home. The Universe gave me a MarineĀ šŗšøā¤ļøĀ @_rottier_
š«Ā Iāve had car trouble for some time, transmission finally went out on my bugĀ šĀ I was devastated but knew I deserved better. Recently manifested the car of my dreams.
This has been a huge source of anxiety for me because my car is freedom & my freedom means everything. Which is something I struggle with & Iāll admit to you all. These are tough shadows to talk about & reveal.
It goes back to me being a prisoner in the majority of my abusive relationships in the past. I refuse to rely on other people to take care of me, Iām an overachiever, I donāt like to ask for help, Iām afraid of commitment because of my past experiences & itās something Iām working on. I am independent & self-sufficient to a fault, causing me to put up a hard shell around my very soft center when fearful or threatened.
Thick skinned you could call it but I realize I come off as cold and heartless when this happens. When I reach a point of emotional exhaustion & frustration in a relationship, & Iāve said it before, I will cut a mf out of my life with no remorse & move on. (Friend, family, or romantic partner) Not proud of it. Again, with self-awareness comes the power of change. Iām working on it.
It affects every facet of my life & is one of my biggest fears.
My biggest fears: feeling insignificant, disrespected, unworthy, a failure, feeling like a prisoner whether itās financially, relationally, or with my food & body image.
Iāve come to realize I have a problem with authority & Iām not always in the ārightā for always doing what I want to do. I have constant discussions with my ego, Kathleen, as I like to call her. š
I get stuck in my own head & place so much pressure on myself to achieve & GSD to a degree it affects others & makes them feel inferior &/or insignificant. I apologize to anyone whom Iāve made feel this way through my ignorance.
In support, I told you before about a story where I had a performance review at work & my manager told me I needed to have more patience & empathy for other peopleās weaknesses. That was the first time I became self-aware of this shadow.
Kathleen is my masculine survivor. She is wolf.
Katie is my feminine caretaker. She is woman.
I know I need both of them. Finding the blend is the challenging part of being a human.
So a reminder to my fellow Type Aās, Ima get shit done 4x as fast as you, get out of my fuggin way I can do it better ā props to being efficient but please be kind to those who are different than you. Utilize it as a strength to help others become better. Lesson learned.
#manifestinggenerator problems.
If you donāt know what your Human Design is, I highly suggest you look into it. Itāll help you understand how youāre wired & how youāre supposed to live this life & manifest more effortlessly.
I also suggest @tobemagnetic Her courses on doing the inner work we all talk about changed my life.
So some Sunday pondering, reflection, life lessons learned the hard way for yāall.
Remember the KING or QUEEN you wanna be.
Iād rather be a woman of imperfections & wisdom living in a transparent glass house than an imposter living within guarded walls. š
Iād love to hear your thoughts & comments or if youāve struggled with similar struggles like meš¤
And if you need someone to talk to & coach you through your own situation, Iād love to listen, link hereā¤ļø
5 Year Plans, Emotional Eating, & the Buzz of Busy
āWhatās your 5 year plan?ā She asked.
I laughed.
Sister, 2 months ago I wouldnāt have thought one of the most important decisions of my week would be what sweatpants Iām wearing to the living room today?
I stumbled across a to do list as I flipped back through my daily planner…
…I welled with emotion.
It was so BUSY.
Busy with apts, shopping lists, workouts, work schedules, errands to run, consults, projects ideas, meetings, down to what color scrubs I needed to wear to make sure I went to the right hospitals.
Stress ā on my body, mind, & spirit.
I felt ashamed to discover it. Time & life have changed so much. Forced to slow down. To long for that old life, the ānormalcy.ā
It was also a great reminder.
A reminder of how weāve transformed busyness into beingness.
Iām different now. I long for pieces of that old ānormalcyā but not the busy.
I loathe the word busy. I used it as a bullshit excuse & conversation filler for years. I catch myself doing it now.
I used it for not doing things I wanted to.
Travel. Vacation.
Spend time with friends & loved ones.
Invest in a new project, job, or venture.
Move.
Just fucking BE & do what I want to in a day.
Mostly out of fear of not having enough moneyĀ Ā or being seen as lazy. BUSY made me feel safe & worthy.
Same with control. If I control my body, my food, my workouts, my schedule ā everything will be ok. Which in the past Iāve realized leads to disordered eating & body image & a poor relationship with food, myself, & exercise.
You place your worth on what you look like & how much youāre achieving.
So when youāre not ābusyā what initially happens?
You emotionally eat.
You doubt yourself.
You compare.
You get anxiety.
You lose your labels & sense of self.
Your relationships suffer.
Basically you step on the hot mess express full speed ahead.
Emotional eating is a biggie.
So here are some things to help you:
š Stay occupied, halfway organize your day and do a brain dump the night before. That way you kind of know what to expect & can set a semischedule.
š Jot down tentative eating times so you have something to stick to ā expectations & commitments to yourself. And this way you can plan around your activities for the day.
š Good activities that help pass the time positively:
-Cleaning house
-Purging old things from closets and spaces it makes way for new positive energy
-Take a nap, most of us donāt get enough sleep anyways
-Read ā Knowledge + action is power
-Invest in a new learning course or workshop ā be a forever student
-Color or pick up a creative hobby that keeps your mind and hands busy
-Go for a walk or do a mini workout for 20 minutes
-Call a friend
-Brain dump and schedule your week
-Listen to a podcast or write in your journal
-Go shopping, run errands, get out of the house
-Keep trigger foods out of the house if you know you canāt control yourself well around certain foods
– Eat a big breakfast with plenty of proteins and fats they will keep you fuller the majority of the day: things like eggs and sausage, eggs and bacon, burgers, roasts, it doesnāt have to be breakfast food
Itās ok to plan, but leave room for grace, flexibility & adventure.
Next time when Iām sitting in traffic, running late, Iāll reflect on the time of not having anywhere to run to. Iāll remember in the midst of confusion & suffocating stillness I grew strong, calm, & found a new appreciation of life & control.
Xoxo Coach K
Exercise & Food Anxiety – The Obsession with Control
I didnāt know whether to laugh or throw up.
Can I just wrap up in a warm blanket & eat Texas Roadhouse rolls all day???
Quarantine hit. My workout routine was ripped from my life. Anxiety hit. The thoughts of past self sabotaging behavior started to creep up.
Should I restrict?
How many more steps do I need?
Fugggg I canāt sweat.š© Iām gonna pack on 20lbs, better cut food.
What if my āsafeā foods are taken away?
When I began specializing in gut issues & primarly womenās relationship with food & body image, I saw a pattern. I LIVED the pattern ā basically an obsession about control over food & exercise.
We deny we have an eating or behavioral disorder ā we DO, sister. But you donāt have to stay there.ā¤ļø
Signs include:
- Feeling panicked when sick, injured, or vacation jacks up our workout routine
- Feeling like walking āisnāt enoughā
- Restricting or allowing food based on exercise that day.
- Feeling we have to āearnā food.
- Fear about gaining weight
- Feeling worthless if any weight gain occurs, obsession with the scale & letting it dictate our attitude for the day
One client said, āI feel like I MUST control & workout everyday. If I donāt, I feel worthless & obsess about it until I do workout.ā
We talked about how that disordered need for control is taking over our ability to intuitively listen to our bodyās cues to rest. It also affects our energy, hunger, sleep, digestion, hormones, & bluntlyā our ability to give a shit.
This relationship with food & exercise tends to make us miserable. Paralyzing us from enjoying the important things in life.
Hereās how I help clients (& myself) establish a better relationship with our food & exercise:
- Disconnect the connection of āperfectionā with food & exercise to our worth & obsession with having to earn food.
I used to count every calorie I consumed, down to the gum I excessively chewed. I only ate the calories I burned that day. I only ate diet food, hoping to save calories & carbs. I was chained to numbers. My macros were shackles. My mindset & perception of my methods & myself were the enemy. It wasnāt the food or exercise.
When we were young, we knew when we were hungry & we stopped when we were full. Because of environmental & emotional factors, getting stuck in cycles, many of us lose touch with our true hunger cues.
This is where I find intermittent fasting & or setting a meal schedule or eating window is helpful, teaching us when weāre actually hungry & preventing mindless/emotional eating.
Also viewing food as fuel for our day & workouts instead of a reward is a helpful way to rewire our brains from earning to nourishing.
2. Focus on simply moving your body.
Workouts should be enjoyed. Walking IS ENOUGH. Shoot for 10k steps per day or simply increasing your steps by 1k each week till you reach your goal. If you have a good relationship with food, there is no need to kill yourself in the gym 7 days per week. Spend adequate time eating at your true maintenance calories. You should not be dieting more than 1-2 times per year.
Before quarantine, I would walk, CrossFit &/or bodybuilding 5 times per week with one rest day and one active recovery day. I love the community & push of a group Wod.
Intra quarantine, I donāt have access to the equipment or facilities for specific workouts. Iāve worked out at home 3 days per week with minimal equipment and walked.
Havenāt gained, inflammation is actually down, & Iāve become more in tune with my body, hunger cues, & how to adjust my food & eating schedule based upon what my body is craving.
3. Surrender to the seasons. We arenāt meant to look the same.
Binges, disordered eating & body image, cravings, & anxiety for control flare up when weāre living in a chronic deficit &/or chasing a size weāre not meant to naturally be.
Your hunger &/or lack of are signs your body is simply trying to survive. Lack of resources trigger our bodies to down regulate systems, cycles, & hormones. Wonder why you lost your period or youāre cold all the time, you plateau on 1200 calories & gain when you eat anything above 1600? BINGO. Donāt be afraid to Reverse Diet. Invest in a coach!
Weāre really chasing a feeling, not a number. We want to feel worthy, loved, significant, safe, heard, seen, & happy.
These are all a state of being my loves.
It didnāt matter if I was 100lbs or 160lbs, happy was a state I FELT about my life at whatever season. If you donāt do the inner work & address the root cause, itās like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound.
Youāre afraid to surrender because you donāt want to give up control. Especially for my fellow Type Aās.
Guess what?
You never had control, you became youāre own prisoner.
One of my favorite IG accounts, @maryscupofteaa wrote a new blog post for you: 7 books about self-love every woman needs to read.
CHECK IT OUT!
Educate yourself. Self love is a skill we sharpen. Surround yourself with people & environment full of positivity. Everything you consume, down to social media makes an impact on your perspective.
Cut the toxicity & self sabotage.
Food & body freedom are just one decision away.
The decision to choose YOU. ā¤ļø
Whether youāre struggling with gut issues, trying to learn macros, fuel for your workouts, or fighting for your food & body freedom, Iām here for you.
Xoxo Coach K
Low Carb Reset, Life Hacks & Longevity
I went into this low carb, insulin reset diet as another learning experience. What I found was a wake up call.
A lot of knowledge and life bombs here š£
With the dramatic life changes for us all over the course of the past 2 weeks, clichĆ© as it sounds, everything happens for a reason atĀ precisely the right time.
I also listened & shared an incredible podcast on my stories & facebook group on protocols about insulin control & longevity with @jasonphillipsisnutrition & @drmolly.com this morning on my walk.
Why the reset? I had been overly stressed, trying to cut, eating a high amt of carbs (via jasmine rice/rice Chex/occasional alcohol) while intermittent fasting & focusing on 2 (occasionally 3) larger meals a day.
Backstory, for my new followers:Ā
šš»I have Crohnās, struggled with a missed diagnosis of IBS basically my entire early life & was overweight.
šš»Donāt digest fruits or vegetables or fiber or seeds or skins well
šš»Thrive off animal meals & animal-based nutrition
šš»Struggled with disordered eating & bingeing
šš»Ā Spent 4-5 years healing my gut & getting myself out of metabolic adaptation because I ate poverty macros for fuggin forever
šš»Tried to competitively CrossFit on Paleo, Quito, low carb & did all the dumb shit for years
šš»I eat lowfodmap, gluten-free, dairy free, bullshit freeĀ š, and basic af, not cute meals are my jam. Why? Because thatās how I like to eat, Karen.Ā
My cut started out well, but as we progressed I noticed my energy was all over the place I was starting to feel more out of control eating larger meals (I was fuller throughout the day). My fasting blood sugar was consistently higher (for me) around the 95 to 100 range, staying elevated even 2 hours after eating.Ā
Mine typically sits around 80 to 85 in a controlled environment, fasting.
My digestion was decent, but I still felt inflamed, puffy, & like I was carrying a lot of āfluffā around my middle which I did not have in my 20s. (I was more low carb as far as my diet approach in my 20s, & my workouts were lower intensity). I didnāt CrossFit until my 30s.
My lifestyle now is very different from even December 2019. My stress is higher & Iām traveling more.
My last cut was amazing (I had not dieted in 2 years & was coming off of a surplus) My schedule & stress were more controlled.Ā
šš¤ HELLO!!!! Katie, youāll be 38 in July, you donāt have the same body you had in your 20s. Dude, youāre almost a legit Cougar š»š
šš¼āāļøItās time to get real, refocus, & realign.
To those of you in your 30s, let me tell you, things change quickly. You donāt recover as quickly, nights of bad decisions haunt you for weeks, and youād rather go to bed by 9:30 than stay up & go clubbing. PS you still donāt have your shit together in your 30s.Ā šš¼š¤š»
Iāve learned this is the time to accept, adjust, & think about longevity more so than a ripped set of abs.
I love being lean & feeling light & strong, but just because you look the part doesnāt mean youāre healthy on the inside. Abs, striations, & single digit body fat ā donāt help you live to a ripe old age.Ā
MY CHANGES:
šš»Focus on a low carb approach, primarily animal-based nutrition. Why? Because I thrive off animal meats & already donāt digest fibers and plants well. I will harp at you till Iām blue in the face, go your own way! Donāt send me fucking hate messages because I eat animals. Iām not telling anyone to eat this way, Iām simply sharing my experiences and reasoning why.
šš»I also am not āCrossFittingā because all the gyms are closed, therefore, my activity is more lower intensity. This would warrant lower carbohydrates for my needs are not as high.
šš»I am also sleeping more, reducing caffeine intake, & fasting at least 14-16hrs overnight to recover, give my digestion a break & allow my body to balance itself out.
šš»I need an approach that is going to keep me fuller, longer, with less energy crashes to sustain long days working at the clinics & hospitals. I donāt like worrying about food & a bunch of meal preps, just my personality. I prefer two large meals a day. Naturally, protein and fats will do this. they take longer to digest and are harder to digest by the body ā keeping blood sugar more stable, energy levels more stable with you feeling fuller, longer like a cherry on top. Which is why Iām taking a higher protein, higher fat approach.
šš»Macro wise, I am loosely tracking just to make sure my calories are in check. Keeping my carbs 50 g & under. Not really paying attention to where my protein & fats fall, obviously Iām getting plenty of both with animal-based nutrition with the inclusion of nut butters.
šš»I Am tracking weight, progress photos, & blood sugar with a simple glucometer (am fasting, 2 hrs post meal, bedtime) just to see how my body tolerates specific ratios, salt intake, stress, & food choices. Not because Iām focusing on the weight on the scale. Obviously when reducing carbohydrates, youāll naturally lose water, so a lot of this is water weight loss, initially.
THINGS IM LEARNING:
ā CrossFit is not in aesthetic sport. Stop choosing CrossFit to look like a bodybuilder. Align your training, lifestyle, & align your food. Manage you mofo stress!
ā I personally feel much better on a carnivore-ish diet which aligns better with my lifestyle right now.
šMy digestion is exceptional, my bloating is gone, bowel movements routine & normal, my puffiness is gone, I feel lighter.
šAfter nine days Iām noticing aesthetic changes finally. Stomach is starting to lose that patchy fat in my stubborn areas above and below my belly button.
šYes with the training differences Iām getting smaller, and softer but Iām fitting more naturally back into my happy setpoint. My weight is staying around 113 pounds.
šI donāt hurt as much (minus my broken toe I have right now).
šNo energy crashes, I have absolutely no cravings for sugar and Iām offen satisfied with one large meal during the day after my fasted walk.
šI love walking, it is my savior mind and body. I donāt need to work out six days a week and I need to sleep more. Duh.
ā The more data we have the more we can make educated informed decisions about our lifestyle & food choices. Do we need to worry about tracking & measuring all of the time ā NO! But thereās a time & a place for it so you can learn & make educated decisions about how to live your life for YOU.
Quit whining, complaining, yo-yo dieting, yo-yo training, yo-yo living your life aimlessly because youāre not educating yourself. Get tested, invest in mentors, coaches, doctors to help you. There are free podcasts, wonderful people & resources on social media, books you can purchase & things out there at minimal cost.
ā Your goals should be centered around 4 different areas: healing, performance, aesthetics, & longevity. Your seasons will change, adjust accordingly.
ā People just think glucose is just a measure of carbs, itās not, itās a measurement of your lifestyle. Stress, food choices, sleep, your workouts, air pollution, under eating, over eating, toxins, artificial shit you put in your body or on your body ā it all matters. It all affects your physiology, hormones, gut health, & processes that go on internally.
ā You have to ask yourself what level of stress you are OK with in your life. Adjust accordingly. If you choose this stress level, donāt bitch when you donāt get what you want.
ā The biggest thing people ignore are their mindset & their thoughts. So why are people having such a hard time right now being at home with their thoughts?
BINGO.
I hope this helps you wherever you are in your journey. Remember only you know your body best. I am not endorsing anyone to follow any particular diet I want you to learn, I want you to follow your heart, and I want you to ALWAYS listen to your gut. ā¤ļø
Let me know if this was helpful in commentsšš»
Hugs š¤
Xoxo Coach K
Emotional times & Emotional Eating
āItās always a beautiful day to save lives.ā
Insert cheesy #greysanatomy quote hereā¬ļøšš·
But for real…Iāve received an influx of messages about emotional eating during this time of heightened emotions.
As one who suffered from disordered eating, body dysmorphia, bulimia, orthorexia…all the deepĀ š©Ā ā I HEAR YOUā¤ļøšš»
FOOD & FEELS
They go hand-in-hand.
We use them for celebration, socializing, fitness, etc. Theyāre a necessity. We need food to LIVE. BUT if you feel like food is your go-to coping strategy, it may mean that youāre not actually meeting your needs ā emotional &/or physical.
How to approach emotional eating:ā£
ā¤ļøLike not having your period ladies, categorize emotional eating as a red flag š© Something is off balance. Physically &/or emotionally your needs arenāt being met.
ā¤ļøJournal. Letās get to the root issue. Ask yourself āWhat am I feeling ?ā āWhat do I need?āā£ā£
ā¤ļøBraindump. How can you meet your needs?
ā journal, read, walk outside, sauna, read, listen to a podcast, workout, talk to someone, what puts you in a better mood?Ā
EAT ENOUGH FOOD in the first place, we binge most often because weāre restricting in some way, positive self talk.
ā¤ļøKnow thy self. If you know you canāt control yourself from trigger foods, get them out of your home. Find an approach to redirect those thoughts from ones that are hurting you to one a that are helping you.
The point is to become a mf boss at identifying & meeting your needs before they own you.
Emotional eating, like any gut &/or hormonal dis-ease, is a complex topic that affects many differently.
Please seek help from a qualified individualš„°
Leave advice & your thoughts for others in commentsšš»šš»
Rose š¹ are red, my scrubs are blueš……& I ā¤ļøyouš¤
-Hugs xoxo Coach K
The New Chapter Begins
A lil bit wolf, a lil bit woman ā itās the wild that made her beautiful. @lil_bit_of_fit
She finally started to love the pieces of herself she used to hide & run from.
The scars, the imperfections, the things that made her different ā like her Indiana twang, the way a strategically placed cuss word just rolls off her tongue a little bit sweeter, & the way she loves selflessly without abandon.
The scars physical & mental.
The ones on her shin missing a box jump.
The ones on her chest from falling off a tractor in childhood.
The ones from having her gallbladder removed, cervical cancer, Crohnās, umpteendozen farm injuries.
The ones on her heart from self loathing, disordered eating, overtraining, periods of debt, failed relationships, food fear, fear of failure, fear of fucking up societal timelines & wondering if sheāll ever have her shit figured out.
Livin life somewhere among boots, scrubs, & lessonsā¦
She stared at her picture & out the window, always something on her mind, & finally felt the peace & acceptance of her past, present, & future, all the knowns & unknowns, & realized the experiences & pieces that made her beautifulā¦
ā¦a lil bit wolf, a lil bit woman ā itās the wild that made her beautiful. – @lil_bit_of_fit
And with thatā¦I finally got my shit together this morning & launched my website, my little writing space to hopefully add value, laughs, mentoring, coaching, & shine some light in this world.
Itās official ā lilbitoffit.com
Working on a blog for yāall later, stay tuned: 10 HABITS HAPPY & SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DIFFERENTLY.
xoxo -Coach K
Photo: @matteuccij13 @lensandlightphoto
Lashes: @kyra_coleman2488 @thelashloungefishersdt
Wardrobe: @tjmaxx
Hair: @skoontz1
Makeup: @sweatcosmetics @elfcosmetics