Health Coach | Speaker | Writer | Welcome to my digital diary! I'm here to help you blend life & fitness to find your health & happy! Thank you for being part of my family & allowing me to add value to your journey!
Body recomposition goes hand-in-hand with making sure your body feels safe enough to lose body fat which means you’re eating adequate calories for optimal body function, aka: you’re in good hormonal & metabolic health.
When I started my fitness journey my goal was to lose as much weight as possible on the scale. I had no idea what body recomposition meant.
I got down to 105 lbs, by basically starving myself & doing cardio all the time. My current body looks completely different now, same weight.
Know that the body you desire may take years to build & develop, mine has taken nearly a decade.
I was shocked at a check up for insurance at work 10+ years ago when they told me my body fat was 25% at 105lbs. Huge wake up call! I was #skinnyfat
I went carnivore 2 years ago, took a higher fat approach at first, gained weight (15lbs) my body fat was higher at almost ~26%. I switched to a higher protein/moderate fat approach & that is truly when my body changed to the lean physique you see today.
I’m not saying this is right for everyone but I just wanna explain you don’t have to fear food &/or higher protein even when you go low carb.
You can make your diet cyclical too. You don’t have to follow a higher protein approach forever just make sure however you’re eating it aligns with whatever your body goal is.
People freak out & they think just because they’re not in high levels of ketosis they’re not gonna be able to lose body fat.
I was never in a high level of ketosis & I still managed to lose 20lbs. Finally took an inbody scan & my body fat is now around 14-16% which I realize is pretty low for a female. I’m being transparent about my journey & experiences. This is the lowest my body fat has ever been & the best I’ve felt.
No matter what diet camp you belong to, if you’re gonna crush 2 habits a day please make them be SLEEP & eating enough protein 😴 🥩 🦾!
Swipe for tips that helped me!
Simply sharing my personal experiences & years working with clients as a nutrition coach. I hope these help you however you need!
I also have a 354 page guide I brained dumped everything learned throughout my years as a nutrition coach & on a carnivore diet.
You don’t have to cram all your protein down your pie hole in 1 meal/d or fast. Split up up your meals for optimal digestion, satiety, energy, & adherence.
It’s not only hard on your digestive system to break down protein but large meals make it even that harder.
If you’re experiencing that crash post meal, take a look at your meal size. You may do better with more frequent/smaller sizes.
Protein helps us build muscle, aka we look better naked. It also keeps us satiated & full. Trust me, if you’re eating enough protein in your meal you’re not gonna want all that other bullshxt.
I’ve 2 ends of the spectrum, those eating barely enough to keep a bird alive, & the opposite with my meat based peeps, smashing 200-300g of protein because they fear fat. We gotta balance them out y’all.
Protein is even more important when we are in fat loss deficits & as we age. We want to maintain as much lean muscle mass as possible so often we need to increase our protein needs.
My general recommendation is 1g/lb of body weight if you’re in a normal healthy range, or goal weight if you have more weight to lose.
Super lean, active individuals typically require higher protein levels. Some up to 1.2-1.7g/lb. (I fit that profile, active + lift, 5’1, 105lbs, ~16%bf. I consume ~160-180ish g/d. Doesn’t mean you need to eat like this but an illustration that everyone’s needs are different.)
Listen, I have “Crossfit boobs.” Aka card toting member of the #ittybittycommittee to all my newbies round here…confessions of another dirty bathroom photo + Pete 🐈⬛
I am 55lbs lighter now than my heaviest weight. I’m 5’1… snack sized, fun sized, been called a spinner before 💁🏼♀️whatever you wanna call it 😂
Our bodies change hourly sometimes.
I do not have flat abs by the end of the day typically. Y’all it’s called food & we gotta eat. You didn’t get “fat” in that hour, you just ate & lived.
The majority of the time I haven’t washed my hair in a week (I really do only wash it once a week) & I’m standing here in my @jcpenney underwear & @kincaidsmeatmarket in Fishers
I’m lucky to wash my face at night because I’m lazy af & work 60 hrs a week. I need to do better on this account 😂 🧼 Dirtball status x10
Being a sustainable lifestyle lean, eating food ya love, having a supportive community & relationships you love, movin your body & doing workouts you love, havin purpose, fulfillment, & happiness are so much sweeter than any piece of cake or savory piece of bacon or any shredded ab or muscle striation I could ever have.
I’m telling you this because I know there are a lot of you in the same spot I was. Still self sabotaging on the weekends.
I spent decades fighting against my body’s needs. Chronically dieting, eating food that triggered tons of physical & emotional problems, getting nowhere. Nowhere but pissed off until I learned about food, owned what diet & fitness I wanted to do, how to periodize my nutrition properly, & the fact I actually needed to EAT.
In all reality it took me a decade to build the body that you see in front of you.
It’s really simple now guys I just eat meat because I love it & it makes me feel good. And I eat a lot of it. At least 2lbs a day. Some days that I’m really hungry I can smash 3lbs & I’m 105lbs. You can eat & eat well.
THINGS YOU LOSE CHRONICALLY WORRYING ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT:
🦄Your vibrance
🦄Your joy
🦄Your clarity
🦄Your flexibility
🦄Your mind
🦄Your relationships
🦄Your energy
🦄Your life
Remember, the diet you follow doesn’t matter. Your ability to adhere to that diet protocol does. Your body’s metabolic state & ability to appropriately adjust to that diet does.
Here’s your reminder: Don’t spend your life fighting against yourself. You have so much more to offer the world than worrying about what someone else thinks of you.
We weren’t meant to live in a constant state of restriction. Feeling like sh*t, no energy no matter how many coffee or Bangs I shoved down my pie hole, chronic constipation, no body comp changes, cold all the freakin time – THAT was my normal back in the day.
I committed every sin I’ve talked about here on the interwebs. I used to CrossFit my a$$ off hours a day 7 d/wk on 1500 calories, eating all the carbs & plants, wrecking me mentally & physically. I wondered why I could never recover & I never looked “jacked” like other female athletes that weren’t working “half as hard” & eating twice as much as me.
Like a fine wine bitches. 😉
Fast forward today, my 39 year old self finally fit the puzzle pieces together & learned not to fear food, not to see it as something I had to earn or burn off. I’m 5’1, 105lbs. I workout 5 d/wk, I lift & CrossFit, I walk a lot, and I eat ALOT. I avg 1850-2000 calories a day most days, primarily ground beef, eggs, lamb, & Perdue ground chicken.
Reminder, maintenance calories are how many calories we can eat in a day & maintain optimal body function without seeing any changes to muscle & fat composition. In other words, chillin like a villain.
If you’re eating below where you need to be calorically & basically feeling the exact opposite of the signs we’re talkin about in the slides of this post, you most likely need to do what’s called a reverse diet. Don’t know how? I have a whole 354 page EGuide with a section dedicated to this very subject.
Included are some things you may not want to hear:
A healthy body loses body fat & any weight you gain in the process of gaining health is weight you needed to gain.
It may take years to get the body you want going through numerous periodization cycles.
There is a cost to being a certain level of lean.
That athletic body you covet just may weigh more than you think.
Unless you’re a newbie & never worked out before or dieted, fat loss takes a calorie deficit, muscle gain takes at least maintenance & more likely surplus. Pick one. You cannot do both at the same time.
Also, our bodies are all different. What weight & body fat % one person is might work great for them as far as hormonal & metabolic health, others it may not be optimal & you may need to eat more to remedy any issues.
And if you refuse to eat more when you need to restore your health, you have far pressing more important issues than looking good in a bikini.
Please read the visuals & captions. I answer many redundant questions if you guys would read the posts in it’s entirety. I say this with love❤️
Tap photo for all the Cheat Sheets on IG
There are 100 different ways to “Meat” your macros. All of our bodies/goals/histories/needs are different, which means all of our macro nutrient ratios are going to be different.
I’m not saying you guys have to eat this way but I’m breaking it down so y’all have a visual!Using 2 meals/d as a generic simple “meal plan” AGAIN, go your own way most of us carnivores eat 1-3 meals/day, avg 2.
QUICK REMINDER ON HOW TO WEIGH, LOG, & TRACK MEAT CORRECTLY! ⬇️ and check out this article if you are not consuming all of the fat that’s in the bottom of your air fryer, or you blot or drain your meat: https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/lean-to-fat-ratio/
Please check out this article!
In a Fat Loss Cut? Most of you will choose 1-2 meals/day. Maybe you’re fat cycling too
In a Muscle Building Phase? I suggest 3 meals/day to get your calories in
Many of you are choosing super lean meats like chicken breasts because you’re still stuck in that bro diet mindset. Talked about this in a YouTube video yesterday – YouTube link in IG bio!
Our fuel sources are carbs & fats. When you take away carbs, the fuel source you have left are fats.
If you’re struggling with hormonal imbalances & low energy, check your fat to protein ratios. Your protein may be too high. You have to eat ample fat for healthy hormone balance & to get your calories up to function like a normal human being.
What I have to say may piss some of you off, and that’s OK.
I hear this question a LOT.
I asked you guys what you were struggling with & these were the biggies: What can I do to beat the sugar cravings? And the “I’m bored with my food.”
And I get it, I’ve been there too, & I’ve also realized when I tend to crave things like this it’s because my life & body are out of balance.
⠀So here’s the thing…there’s not just 1 reason why sugar cravings take over. It really could be a number of things, but these are the ones that are worth taking a look at first:
• Under eating, over exercising, overly fasting
• Unbalanced blood sugar
• Too many processed carbs & sugar
• Malnutrition
• Too little sleep
• Not drinking enough water
• Unmanaged stress / emotional eating
• Bad habits
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When you start to become more aware & mindful about what’s causing your cravings & you start linking them to your lifestyle or daily choices, you can start to reset your body & strive for more balance in these areas, to help ease your cravings.
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For me, not getting good, restful sleep is a huge trigger for cravings as well as Crohn’s flares.
Swipe through, I promise the cravings will get better the more you build a foundation on consistency & fueling your body & mind with nutrient dense foods like all the delicious meats & nourishing positive thoughts!
Raise your hand if weekend eating is your nemesis & you feel you just can’t shake the carb cravings🤚 I understand it’s a problem at work too! Especially around the holidays.
I was this person for years. “I’ll start my diet on Monday. I already ruined my day, might as well eat what I want”…sound familiar?
Or the, “I had a stressful week or I was good all week so I deserve this.” mentality.
Chasing fitness goals doesn’t mean you can’t go out & have a good time, but for many of us we’re stuck in this disordered, scarcity mindset constantly set on replay.
The biggest shift to make if you want to start winning your weekends & kicking your food/sugar addiction is to deal with your inner baggage & change the way you talk & think of yourself.
On carnivore especially, make sure you’re eating enough food to support optimal body function & your goals. These are called your maintenance calories.
Hydrate, often times we’re thirsty not hungry. Take your electrolytes. Cut the artificial sweeteners.
Keep your mind busy. The answer is always walk. Boredom & stress are huge triggers to emotionally eating.
Make sure you’re eating enough protein & fat! Not only do we need fat for healthy hormones & protein for lean muscle mass & tissue building, they help keep you satiated too.
Once you remove the carbs & sugar I promise the easier it becomes & less cravings you will have.
I’m gonna say it again…if you constantly restrict food all week & constantly tell yourself that, well, I f*ck up every weekend…guess what? You’re never gonna become the person or have the health & body your desire because you’ve told yourself you’re a f*ck up.
Do you really want to stay a slave to food addiction, disordered eating, & “I’ll start my diet on Monday?”
I get it, I did it to. But there comes a time you get fed up enough you decide to make a different choice. You’re not alone.
Swipe through, let me know if these resonate with you! Share this post freely with your friends! Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYG6wb7O331/?utm_medium=copy_link
Tap for IG post with all the cheat sheets!!
Share your struggles, tips, & experiences with your fellow warriors below 👇
It was like I was jumping into my car to go somewhere without the keys…
The number one block preventing me from transformation was my BRAIN.
Like 90% of all transformation comes from awareness & resilience. I didn’t know that when I started.
When you are at your lowest point, that is your greatest door to change. A big friggin door that smacks you in the face!
I remember the morning after I wrecked my truck. I fell asleep at the wheel. Tired, going through a divorce at the time, living with my parents, had been drinking that day.
My mom looked at me as I walked into the kitchen & I told her what had happened. I said, “Mom I have a problem.”
She replied, “Yeah I saw your problem sittin in the driveway. Congratulations, you’ve hit rock bottom. There’s only one way left to go & that’s UP from here!”
Trying to navigate my way through life, more specifically my weight loss & health journey, I thought my success & happiness would come when I found the perfect diet. I thought if I could just find an easy way to restrict food, lose fat fast, & shrink to the smallest version of myself my problems would be solved.
It wasn’t all my food, most of my problems stemmed from my thoughts & the story I kept telling myself.
Your brain is the control center for all activities in your body, mind, & reality you live. It regulates your breathing, heartbeat, emotions, thoughts, words, conversations you hold internally & externally, & many more vital processes.
Yet, most of us think success comes from singular things like diets, workouts, having just the right job or relationship, when we’re harming our brains every single day. And most of the time, we’re not even aware of it.
I started noticing positive changes & ease of life when I set new intentions & habits like spending more time outside, listening to my gut, doing things that brought me joy like coloring & walking, light therapy, gratitude, morning movement, less time on my phone, using blue blocking glasses, not drinking tap water, moving more throughout the day, removing toxic people/things/habits/social media & cultivating an up leveling environment. All products, codes, & links are in the link in my Instagram bio.
I wanna share these with you so you can learn them quicker than I did.
The 4 habits crippling your brain & blocking success!
SLEEP
Y’all this a biggie! Most of us don’t get enough & realize the impact quality sleep has on our overall health & energy. It affects EVERYTHING from our mood, energy, performance, fat loss, muscle gain, body function, ability to give sh*ts about the truly important things we should give sh*ts about.
When was the last time you didn’t sleep well but felt great & performed at your best? Never. I’ll answer that for you.
The consequences of sleep deprivation can be fatal & range from dementia, brain cell loss, early memory loss, or even Alzheimer’s. These effects slow down your thinking, impair your memory, & hinder learning. Research even shows that sleep deprivation might shrink your brain. When you sleep, your brain gets a chance to recover & process what you’ve learned & experience throughout the day.
THE FIX
Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep to feel & perform their best. However, it’s also important to consider the QUALITY of your sleep. Set regular bedtimes, wear blue blocking glasses after sunrise & light therapy in the mornings. I use Swanwick glasses. Put down the electronics an hour before bed, create a dark, cool environment by turning the heat down & getting black out curtains, reduce caffeine intake to mornings only & under 300mg/day, take a natural melatonin & or magnesium supplement before bed. Helpful supplements I’ve used are Natural Vitality Calmful Sleep, Relax Liposomal from Nuethix Formulations, & Zzzyquil. On Amazon Favorites List here
2. DOING “NOTHING” One of the most underrated ways you might be harming your brain is by NOT USING IT. Your brain is like a muscle & like they say, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” We are designed to move & create & think. Challenging thoughts, new skills, different hobbies, interesting & meaningful conversations, reading, podcasts, nurturing social media, YouTubes, new experiences, puzzles, games, coloring, cross stitching, painting, & crosswords can help stimulate your brain & develop neuroplasticity, which refers to the brain’s ability to adapt. Like any muscle, your brain needs to be used and flexed to stay in shape.
THE FIX Research proves that brain exercises have a positive effect on our cognitive abilities. So, what are you waiting for? Ask yourself what you could do today or this week to learn something new & train your brain. Start with choosing something that brings you Joy! I enjoy coloring, writing, learning, exploring new places I’ve never been & talking to new people!
3. NOT MOVING
I’ll say it again, we were made to MOVE. Living a sedentary lifestyle can have dangerous effects on our mental & physical health. An inactive lifestyle comes at high costs, such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, depression, loss of strength, & even dementia.
A study found that a sedentary lifestyle also has negative effects on our brains. For example, it negatively influences our memory. There’s nothing wrong with chillin on the couch & taking a time out, we need that balance too. However, the problem is that millions of people, especially those working from home or with desk jobs are victims of a sedentary lifestyle (because you choose to be). 10k steps per day, make that a goal.
THE FIX Beating a sedentary lifestyle is mostly about incorporating daily activity into your life that you enjoy & becomes a success habit. It’s not about exercising hours a day but being intentional to make movement a vital part of your day.
Teach yourself to be a morning person, get your workout or some kind of movement done first thing. The most successful people make this a part of their morning routines. Take short walk breaks every 20-30 minutes, walk after meals, park further away, take the stairs, wind down with a short walk at night, do yoga, stretch, run, do group classes, walk around your house & lift dumbbells during commercials – just do something! I walk around our ER & around my CT machine in between patients, I walk after meals & work out in the morning. I also have a pair of extra 10 & 3lb weights & a resistance band I keep in my radiology suite for a quick circuit during down time.
4. NIX THE SUGAR
According to Fernando Gomes Pinilla, professor of neurosurgery at UCLA, what you eat affects how you think. 100% agree! If you’re like me, I’m one that has suffered with gut issues & food addiction. Never had a great relationship with carbs or sugar, nor could I digest them well.
Research also proves that a high-sugar diet slows down our brains as well as interferes with memory & learning. What do we tend to crave in times of stress or boredom? Typically highly caloric foods chocked full of sugar, carbs, & fat. When we get overwhelmed & stressed, these cortisol spikes make us feel the need for more energy & the easiest way to get that instant hit is through sugar. And that’s exactly what most junk food delivers: minimal nutrients, low quality oils, additives, sugar, & salt. The problem is that we are overfed & undernourished as a whole because of readily available “junk” food. Malnutrition doesn’t only harm your waistline but also affects brain function & development. Our brains make up 2% of our body weight, but they use 20% of the resources. That’s why the food you consume has such a huge effect on your thinking & behavior.
THE FIX
Cut out the crap. Protein & healthy fats should make us the majority of your meals. Choose foods you love & ones that do not trigger negative physical or mental problems like gut issues, mood swings, & disordered eating habits like binging & emotional eating.
Make sure you’re eating enough, We should be eating out true maintenance calories the majority of the year. You can use the TDEEcalculator.net to find yours & it’ll give you a suggested group of macros. I like my protein set around 1g/lb of body weight or goal weight if you have more to lose. I’ve personally even gone up to 1.5g/lb of body weight & for smaller individuals like myself doing a more meat-based, low carb lifestyle.
My meal 2 at work today! #meatbars 😉 Airfry. 380, 12 minutes thru preheat cycle. Surf & Turf! Air fried shrimp, 80% ground beef, & 93% Perdue ground chicken! Cleaning out the fridge. I bring an airfryer to work with me. Have an instant vortex 6 qt. on Amazon fav list. These also re heat well. Info all over my IG, scroll thru, check highlights & link in IG bio!
Invest in a coach or practitioner or qualified individual to help you! My Coaching FAQ’s are in the link in my Instagram bio & here!
AS always, to my humans out there just tryna be better! oxox Coach K
Did you know even if you’re “low carb” you can still have blood glucose spikes?
Experiences I too encountered starting my carnivore journey 2 years ago & using a continuous glucose monitor from @nutrisenseio
New YouTube video where I show you how to apply a CGM & things I wanted to track with mine to see how my body responses to different food & stimuli. Code: lilbitoffitCGM10 link in bio to CGM info.
Blood sugar imbalances affect our energy, mood, digestion, cognitive function, metabolism, performance, as well as our ability to lose body fat.
How have I tracked my blood sugar?
I’ve used a simple glucometer in the past when I started with testing strips from Amazon & CVS.
What range should my blood sugar be for optimal body fat loss? I like mine in that 75-90 dL range fasting.
Mine tends to run a little bit higher during the day & fasting (usually around 90-100 fasting & around 105ish during the day. It stays steady & doesn’t spike much even after a large meal. I think the highest it spiked after a meat-based meal is 130 & 160 after consuming a few rice cakes one time)
I found what spiked mine the most was a high intensity workout while fasting. Duh. Your body does this to give you the boost of energy it needs to perform. It’s a big stressor. So to all of you who are beating the shxt out of your bodies, working out too much, even if you’re eating low-carb, your blood sugar is still spiking. FYI.
Again, we’re all bio individually different. Our environment, lifestyle, genetics, as well as the food we eat all play a part.
Some things you may be overlooking that can spike your blood glucose!
🔼adrenaline & cortisol (stress hormones) & blood sugar which can cause a release from our liver glycogen even when fasting. This was one thing I tested, luckily black coffee only affected my blood sugar like 2-5 points.
2️⃣Fasting too long
Again, increases body stress which increases your cortisol level which will cause liver glycogen to be released & your blood sugar to rise. Are you waking up in the middle of the night? Is your fasting AM blood sugar high (>95)? Try eating more, shorten fasting windows
3️⃣Dehydration
Less blood volume=higher concentrations of glucose in the blood. Shoot for 1/2 your body weight in Oz of water daily.
4️⃣Carbs
No they’re not the devil. Typically it’s our relationships with them & our habits that are. Carbs do keep us calm by 🔼serotonin & 🔽cortisol. Our tolerances vary bioindividually. Typically in a healthy individual the more active the more carbs we require & tolerate. Carbs do spike your insulin higher than protein or fats. Carbs obviously spiked my blood sugar higher than any other food even experimenting consuming 2lbs of a high-protein meal. 3 rice cakes spiked my insulin to 160. The 2lbs of beef #meatbars spiked my insulin to 130.
5️⃣Over exercising, under eating, &/or eating trigger foods. All huge stressors on the body which increase cortisol & thus blood glucose. That gut brain connection is so impactful on our body function as a whole.
6️⃣Artificial sweeteners & sweet beverages
If it tastes sweet typically it will cause a reaction in your body & spike your blood sugar to some degree. I’m all about moderation but don’t have the majority of your diet full of diet foods & Splenda just to save a few calories & carbs. They lack in micronutrients which your body needs to function properly. In my experience with the CGM, they did elevate my blood glucose slightly but not very much, maybe 5 to 10 points max.
7️⃣Alcohol. I’m just leaving this one there, y’all this is common sense. The higher the calorie, the higher the sugar, the higher the carbs the more it is going to spike your blood glucose. The “worst” options are beer, wine, sugary cocktails like White Russians, margaritas, Mojito‘s, Long Island iced teas, etc. I know it’s heartbreaking right 😂?! Vodka actually dropped my blood glucose when mixed in Diet Coke. Weird but it happens every time & I notice I get cold when this happens. This was not consuming any food with my drink.
8️⃣Sleep
Not only does this disrupt your satiety & hunger hormones like a leptin & Ghrelin which can cause you to crave carbs & feel like a bottomless pit, it also spikes your blood sugar, & your performance, fitness goals & recovery suffer. I found lack of sleep, & high intensity workouts especially fasting were the biggest culprits that spiked my blood sugar & made me feel like trash.
