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!
I wanna be with someone that would divorce me if I gained 50lbs.
Now hear me out…morning ponderings & real talk…
I’ve thought a lot about my journey of becoming my best self: past mistakes, my health, my fitness journey, my relationships, & every facet of 50 shades of f*cked up & beautiful on this ride.
For those of you new here I’ll be 42 years old this year & still don’t know what the f*ck I’m doing. It’s ok. I love every minute of this life! I’m grateful for all the sh*t I’ve been through because it’s made me the woman writing this today in this journal entry.
My opening statement isn’t about weight gain & aesthetic changes, it’s about being THE PERSON & with a partner who holds high standards for themselves too & one who makes me want to be a better woman, partner — human.
A reminder for myself & maybe you too 🤷♀️to be with people who make you want to be the best version of yourself. Maybe they make you feel a little uncomfortable. Good. Choose people who are different & help you grow.
I set these standards for all relationships — platonic, business, & romantic.
Why? Because it influences who you are.
I understand we’ve all been taught about these “fantasy” relationships & unconditional love …
… I believe love is conditional because people change & that’s totally OK. Lovingly allow the right people into your lives yet also realize it’s OK to lovingly release those who do not fit your nonnegotiable conditions.
👉 The game of relationships & choosing wisely @hormozi 👌🏻 🎙️
I’ve disclosed to close friends & coaching clients that I battled bulimia & body dysmorphia since the age of 8.
It started with a scarcity mindset around food. I was the “fat” girl in class & “bigger” than my brothers. Kids in my class were cruel & mean.
As I got into middle school & adulthood it exacerbated into full blown bulimia with bouts of anorexia.
Life was bleak & I KNEW I was 50 shades of F*cked up. I knew I had to stop or I was gonna die because of my disorder &/or my Crohn’s disease complications.
With this blog post, I’d rather focus on the healing part than rehashing the past. Grateful it made me who I am so I can now help you.
In a way, I’ve purposely avoided sharing TOO much about my pre-recovery story because it can horribly backfire.
Those in the pre-contemplation or contemplation stages of change can hear these stories & think, “I’m not sick enough to get help,” “I don’t have a problem,” or “She was far worse than I am.” or even get ideas to further deepen the dark relationship with food, exercise, & self hate.
But when carefully crafted, these stories can be the very propellant that pushes someone into taking action.
The reality is, millions of people, right now, are living the secret life I once was as they battle disordered eating & body dysmorphia.
May my story instill the hope that you, too, cannot only recover but take back your power!
The Beginning
My relationship with disordered eating & poor body image started when I was just 8.
I spent the majority of my childhood & early adulthood overweight & unhealthy. Had a middle school teacher tell me I was too big to be a cheerleader at tryouts.
Kids were cruel, calling me names like lambchop because I had big 80’s hair & even thicker thighs.
My disorder began with overeating & then restricting to punish myself. I’d skip breakfast & barely eat lunch which I’d “allow” myself sugar free jello, a small travel size cottage cheese & 5 Ritz crackers.
My stomach would growl. I remember being embarrassed if the classroom was quiet enough for others to hear. Inevitably, I’d return home in the afternoon absolutely ravenous & binge on cookies, candy, cereal, chips, & junk food.
These episodes got more & more out of control. I continued eating less during the day, binging at night & sometimes I’d take cold medicine to make me sleep to keep from eating.
Years passed, & my eating habits fluctuated. I had never considered throwing up until I saw a Lifetime movie about a girl who had bulimia.
The process seemed easy. Eat whatever you want, throw up. The first time I purged was in middle school after eating a tub of ice cream.
Bulimia became a sort of coping mechanism for me. I told myself my obsession with diets & exercise were normal. It was about control. I was dealing with increased stress: school, college, & later on, relationships, a failed marriage on top of debt & drinking too much.
There were many things in my life I felt I wasn’t able to manage. I’d binge & get a rush. Then I’d get an even bigger, better rush after getting rid of it all.
12 Years Old: Barely Average
In so many ways, I guess I was an average midwest farmer’s daughter, pre-teen girl growing up in the 90s.
I played catcher, 3rd base & outfield in softball & threw shot put in track. After being criticized for going out for cheerleading being “my size,” I was mortified & self hate thickened.
I idolized Britney Spears & wished I was liked enough to be invited to the popular girls’ parties. I had boy crushes & a very small circle of friends. I was the smart girl & quiet & extremely insecure. I didn’t dress “cool” like all the pretty girls or athletes. I was awkward af. (hell I’m still awkward af 😂)
Then, one day, I did something not so average. Something I’d never done or known anyone who had but recently learned about from a boy at school.
I wish I could say I went home & masturbated, but that would be an untruth. Instead, I did something that felt extra perverse. I made myself vomit after eating.
Yes, I thought. This would make me skinnier faster & then I’d be liked.
I swore it would just be this one time. I’d just try it.
See, for about a year up to that point, I’d struggled with binge eating and fantasized about food because I allowed myself so little. My body starving, I’d gorge.
I just needed a single “fix” of ice cream or cake or cookies, and then I’d be good to go.
But then it happened again. And again. And again.
In no time at all, I met the diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa.
We always had junk food & snacks at home, so despite eating large quantities, my mom or siblings never grew suspicious. I also purged when no one was home to eliminate any risk of them finding out.
Bulimia had become my dirty little secret. A secret, unbeknownst to me at the time, I would carry for another 20+ years.
12–17 Years Old: Popularity and Pleading
Part of what fueled my eating disorder was my insatiable need to have something most every kid my age wanted: popularity.
My theory went as such: restrict food > be thin > get more friends/a boyfriend.
I went through many school days with only nibbles of food in my belly. If I had gym or farm chores in the evening, I ate a little extra so I could basically not pass out.
I wound up bingeing and purging when I got home because starving myself intensified the urge to eat uncontrollably. I could smash whole boxes of cereal, cheese nips, & goldfish.
All the while, I portrayed myself as the nice girl, the smart girl. I never reached Homecoming Queen nominee status, but I did bounce around between multiple friend groups. I got along with everyone.
I was in the honors society, president of the FFA & 4H, top part of my graduating class & received numerous scholarships to Purdue University.
I had duped everyone — even myself, at times — into thinking I was “normal.”
But no one saw me crying in the shower because I was so sick and scared or throwing up my food after every social gathering.
No one saw me looking at my reflection in the mirror and telling myself how hideous, fat, and worthless I was.
No one saw me keeled over after purging, pleading with God to forgive me for my gluttonous, grotesque behavior.
After every episode, I swore to higher power that it would be the last. Tears streaming down my face, I begged for God to not to give up on me. But week after week, month after month, year after year, the scene kept replaying.
18–22 Years Old: A Not So New Chapter
In August of 2000 I moved into my dorm freshman year & then participated in sorority rush.
I joined as a sister of Delta Gamma at Purdue University. Perhaps this — and my new life in college, in general — could be a chance to begin again.
Unfortunately, my keenness outweighed my hopefulness. I quickly learned my roommates’ schedules and when I could be alone with my behaviors.
But after a couple instances of them arriving home early or not leaving at their normal times, I realized I wasn’t guaranteed any solitude.
I secretly ate in my bedroom, blarring music to conceal the purging. They overheard on more than one occasion, and I either blamed it on being sick or hungover.
Swollen lymph nodes, puffy cheeks, and blood-shot eyes. A broken-out chin and sores on my lips from the stomach acid that often coated them.
WTF was I doing?
Still, I carried on as a social butterfly. Like my friends, I went to parties, took shots of God awful cheap tequila & vodka, and ate fourth meal at 1 a.m.
Unlike my friends, I made myself pay for it. I could easily down a super size fry & 20 piece chicken nugget meal from McDonalds. I could eat a whole box of Mad Mushroom Cheese sticks.
To make matters worse, at 22, I married my college sweetheart, not even knowing myself. I couldn’t love myself, How could I love another? My first marriage lasted 6 years, we were together 11 total. That post divorce hoe phase is real y’all 😂 let me tell ya. Added fuel to the fire.
In retrospect, my life hadn’t changed much at all in college. It was still an endless stream of lies, deception, self-hatred, and suffering.
What’s more, I’d completely lost sight of who the real me even was anymore & that continued well into my late 20’s & early 30’s.
41 Year Old: Current Flexible Carnivore Me
“My Fitness Journey” started at the age of 8. I started my Instagram over 10 years ago & that has been one helluva transformation story all on its own. I don’t even know how it happened but I feel it’s important for you guys to know the person behind the Instagram handle.
I wanted to share my fitness, health, & healing journey with y’all because it’s similar to many of yours. I want you guys to know you’re not alone, you’re seen, & you’re heard.
Before I started sharing my story, meals, fitness tips or acting like I know “everything” about “healthy” living, it’s important to share I am not a therapist, a doctor, or the best trainer of any sorts, yet, I am a person who lost a significant amount of weight, kept it off & has dedicated her life to living a healthy lifestyle & forgiving herself of her mistakes.
I’ve overcome decades of gut issues. Physical & mental hurdles. ⁃ Crohn’s disease ⁃ cervical cancer & infertility ⁃ numerous other health issues including renal stones & having my gallbladder out ⁃ decades of disordered eating, bulimia, orthorexia, & food addiction ⁃ managing Crohn’s & being a Crossfit athlete ⁃ managing social pressures of being told I needed to eat, workout, live, & BE a certain way to be “significant” & fit in a certain box
Some of you have watched & have been there for my journey since the beginning, while others are reading about this for the first time.
To put it out there plain & simple though, I’ve lost 60 lbs over my lifetime & transformed my body to all different shapes & sizes.
While that may not seem like a huge or significant feat to some, on my petite 5’1 frame – the transformations have been huge, mentally, physically, relationally, & spiritually.
Throughout my whole journey, my heaviest was 160 lbs at barely 5ft tall & my lowest in my adult life has been 97 lbs.
I’ve had ups, downs, I’ve gained, I’ve lost & learned a whole lotta life lessons along the way. My journey started at 8 years old, I’m 41 years young now, will be 42 in July, & the best is yet to come!
Everyone’s journey is different & this is mine… I hope it can help you in any way possible & know my door is always open.
Join my Newsletter Community! I’d love to share & grow with you! It’s a weekly newsletter full of ideas to help you become the most EXTRAordinary version of you!
Age [Whatever You Are, Doesn’t Matter]: YOUR Moment
Whether you’ve been secretly battling an eating disorder for a few months or 50 years, I want to make 3 things very clear:
You are sick enough You deserve help You can’t do it alone Sadly, there are thousands upon thousands of eating disorder stories like mine, but each one is still different. Some cases are more severe, some less. But that’s all irrelevant.
What matters is knowing, at your core, you have an unnatural or undesirable relationship with food. That realization, alone, warrants getting help.
It doesn’t matter how much you’re restricting, what you weigh, how often you’re purging, or how much you’re bingeing. Yes, certain factors will determine the level of treatment you need, but you deserve help, regardless.
The first step is saying something. Is there someone who’s been there for you when you confided in them about other personal matters? Someone who exudes kindness & compassion?
I hope you can also learn from my experience and not hold out for a wake-up call or a feeling of readiness to tell someone. If you do, you may never get the chance.
As long as a piece of you recognizes there is a problem and wants something different, you are ready to start your new life & begin again! Who you are with your eating disorder is not who you are destined to be.
You can heal yourself.
You can find yourself.
You can be the version of yourself you wish for you and the rest of the world to see!
Life reflections lately…2 years ago today I was at a bar crawl with this beautiful soul. Thank you Facebook memories 😆
I have a small circle of high value people & I prefer it that way. When I was younger, I thought if everyone didn’t like me &/or I didn’t have a huge friend circle that I must not be cool or hot enough to spend time with.
In my 20’s, I lied to myself with a plethora of “good” reasons to drink, & I thought that everyone would drink if they were dealing with problems like mine…
I drank because I was depressed & hated my body
I drank to cope with the trauma of Crohn’s disease, obesity, orthorexia, body dysmorphia, & bulimia
I drank because my marriage was misaligned
I drank because it made me feel confident & vibrant (numbing social anxiety & insecurity)
I drank because I felt life was “really hard” when I didn’t
Navigating the world in a marginalized body can be hard. Add trauma &/or mental sabotaging to that, & it makes sense that some of us might use substances to cope with the weight of living in a fog of scarcity & lies
A coping mechanism doesn’t have to be healthy to be valid; we’re all just doing the best we can with the tools & level of consciousness that we have.
I Had Lots of Reasons to Think I Didn’t Have a Problem
Despite the fact that I had been admitted to the hospital one time with a BAC of .346 & on a vent, a year later after that incident I started drinking again.
I had lots of reasons I told myself I wasn’t an alcoholic:
I didn’t drink every day or much on many occasions
I didn’t drink in the morning (unless I’d been up all night & was still drinking. That didn’t count)
I’d never had a DUI (but should have)
I didn’t drink alone. Even if I went to the bar alone, there were always people there, so that wasn’t technically “alone”
And then one day, I was fed up with giving something power over the magic of my life.
And someone said to me, “It’s not about how much you drink; it’s about what happens when you drink & how you feel when you don’t.”
Ooof.
With that one sentence, everything fell into place for me. I started to connect the dots about my behavior & it was like warm sunshine came thru my windows of life.
1. I Often Drank More Than I Planned
I often went out with the intention of having “a cocktail. No more than 2.” No matter what I told myself at the beginning of the night, it hard to just have a couple of drinks. I got a better handle of it in my late 30’s but would still wake up & feel less than even if I had 1.
2. My Drinking Interfered with My Life
Waking up hungover affected my work, productivity, energy, workouts, Crohn’s disease, weight gain, energy, mood, hunger, satiety, money, relationships — EVERYTHING.
3. I Routinely Did Things When I Was Under the Influence That I Wouldn’t Have Done Sober
I used to be the queen of drunk texting. I’d wake up & delete all my text messages before I couldn’t even read them because I didn’t even want to know. I slept around. In the morning, I never wanted to hear about what I’d done the night before. “Just don’t. tell. me!”
4. I Was Drinking to Fix How I Felt When I Was Sober
Drinking may have caused a lot of problems for me, but the real problem was how I felt when I was sober. When I was drunk, I was relaxed & confident. I wasn’t so insecure about my body. I was outgoing, I could talk to people, & I could go places without my empathy & clairsentience going into overdrive, especially in large crowds.
5. Drinking Controlled Where I Went, What I Did, & With Whom I Hung Out
I was way more likely to attend a function if I knew there would be booze. I could be friends with anyone as long as there was alcohol involved. I avoided hanging out with people who didn’t drink like me because they made me feel guilty. I’d take shots before going out to social functions to “chill out.”
6. I Kept Promising That I Would Stop, But Never Could
I tried to stop (or cut back) drinking many times in my 20’s & 30’s. My 40s haven’t been bad, but I still enjoyed drinking less & less the more I realized how it affected me & my spiritual awakening strengthened. Remember swearing off drinking many weekends?
I’m not writing this to say you’re wrong if you drink. And I would be lying if I said, I didn’t enjoy drinking. I love enjoying cocktails & enhancing experiences. But I had to come to terms & ask myself if I was really enhancing experiences when it did nothing to make me feel better or improve my life?
If you’re reading this & thinking, “Wow, this sounds a lot like me,” then hi! 👋 I’m so glad you’re here! Thank you for reading a chapter out of my diary of life!
Knowing that other people thought & acted like me was a huge step towards getting well. It meant that I wasn’t abnormal, I wasn’t broken, & there was a solution.
As a first step, I encourage you to do some reading. Read other stories & blogs written by people embracing sobriety & the sober curious life.
There are many wonderful venues out there now with alcohol free options, & mocktails, too. You’ll come to realize there are an abundance of life things to enjoy that do not have to include alcohol.
If you’ve read this far & relate to what’s written here, I want you to know that you are an incredible human!
Recognizing that you want to make a change is the beginning of a lifelong journey that can be incredibly difficult, but it’s one that you never have to take alone.
If no one has told you how strong you are yet today, let me be the first❤️🫶
Oxox Coach K
My name is Katie Kelly. I’m a multi modal travel clinician 🩺💀, nutritionist, high performance coach, & biz consultant specializing in human connection & process optimization with over 20 years experience. On social I’m better known as Coach K & I’m just like you!
More importantly, I want you to believe in yourself, your health, your business, your voice, & your ability to live your best life!
I’m known as the sweary, Indiana farmer’s daughter who went from a sick (Crohn’s Disease & bulimia), overweight (lost 60lbs via the carnivore diet & CrossFit), broke bish (was 50k+ in debt) to a thriving, self loving human here to inspire, educate, & mentor!
Welcome to my digital diary & wellness guide full of life lessons learned the hard way🫶
I post content about life/biz/self improvement anywhere from fat loss, therapy, disordered eating, Crohn’s, self love, entrepreneurship, healthcare, food, fitness, finance, & everything in between to a social media audience of 47K+!
Thank you for allowing me to add value to your lives! Grateful to have you part of my digital family ❤️
Journaled my feelings & thoughts this morning around energy, intentions, & alignment.
Big Dolly Parton energy ✨
I realize I’m constantly shedding skin into new versions of myself. Like peeling layers off an onion. I reflected back even 2 years ago & wow such a transformation inside & out!
I share this in hopes of being relatable to y’all wherever you are right now too. We’re all humans living this experience.
I reminded myself this morning I deserve people & companies & connections who are SURE. SURE in themselves and SURE about me. Because I SURE as heck is sure about me 🙂
This year, one of my big intentions is calling in aligned partnership & connections. I’m open to receive whatever is meant for me & my highest alignment without judgement or questioning.
Yeah, it’s painful & uncomfortable af for someone who loves control 👋 😂
Another change is the way I view time. I had to let go of my old “routines” & simply organize & schedule my daily activities & energy management to cycles that serve me best.
So I decided to stop looking at time like the norm & view it in cycles authentic to me. Maybe you can relate to this too?! ⏰
February is the month of love. I hope you manifest & receive whatever love (for yourself, others, & your life) is meant for you🙏💕
I was asked before if I had a “best friend.”
So I thought, well, I guess I don’t really use labels like that at 41 🤔
As I’ve aged it doesn’t “fit” in my life anymore.
I view people in terms of frequency & the qualities they bring out in me – you see, they’re all different.
I don’t judge people based upon race, sex, sexual preference, religion, politics, size, shape, whatever da fugg you wanna put here.
I ask myself:
Do you make me want to be a better person?
Do you bring me joy?
Are you kind & energy giving?
High vibe?
Do you embody a human & life I align with?
Yes?
Cool. We can hang out.
I have friends that hold keys to all different doors of my personality. I have close friends I’ve never even met in real life thanks to social media. I am incredibly grateful to have all of you in my life!
Some keys open my mind. Some my heart. Some my entrepreneur. Some my introvert or extrovert. Some my feminine side. Some my masculine. Some laughter. Some adventure.
Some Saint.
Some Sinner.
Some my rawest, deepest, ugliest, & most beautiful parts too.
Some I haven’t seen in decades or years, past lovers, acquaintances, friends, family, yet they’ve been a part of the most pivotal moments in my life.
They all take a piece of my heart that I plant in my garden of life. Some only grow & bloom for a season, or moment, or a lifetime.
It’s OK if a past friend, family member, spouse, or partner don’t hold all the keys to your billion dollar home or nourish every part of your field of life.
Some of the most beautiful weeds are the most beautiful flowers, some of the most magnificent creatures are the most unruly.
Throw away the labels, definitions, boxes, chains, & cages – let love grow wild. 🥀🌱🌹
Be fearless. Let your guard down. Always put your oxygen mask on first. Stand by your boundaries.
Love fiercely (especially yourself) because this all ends.
I had a teacher tell me in middle school I was “too big to be a cheerleader.”
I was CRUSHED.
➤ That meant I was different.
➤ I was less than.
➤ I didn’t. Fit. In.
(I’m 60lbs lighter than I used to be for people new here. I spent the majority of my life sick, over weight, & broke af. You can find my weight loss/healing story in the link in my IG bio)link here
In the absence of love & belonging there is suffering. -Brené Brown
I still feel alone (not lonely – big difference).
I truly am a dominant introvert. Being around a lot of people is really hard & energetically draining.
I won’t, however, sacrifice my loves like live music, travel, & exploring because of it tho. I’ve taught myself to be a selective extrovert.
If I wanna go do something – I do it.
Here’s been the game changer for me: I belong to ME.
I spend a lot of time belonging to myself &, frankly, that makes a portion of other people feel uncomfortable🤷♀️
Even when I feel alone or “don’t fit in” I know I belong to ME. For the first time in my life at 41, I feel fully embodied in the unique, sparkly, sweet & spicy essence of MY “being.”
You see the opposite of belonging 👉is fitting in. Belonging doesn’t ask for us to change ourselves it asks us to BE ourselves.
The more you love yourself & give yourself what you need, the less you’ll demand & need from others.
♡ I challenge you to ask yourself the question, “Who am I?”
How would you answer that?
To give you examples, today, as the 41 year old model, I’d describe myself as follows…
∞ Storyteller & Experience collector
∞ Life & people lover
∞ Creator & entrepreneur
∞ Messenger & mentor
∞ Psychic Intuitive & Healer
∞ Forever student & athlete of life
∞ Your safe space & biggest adventure
I don’t like to be “defined” by labels, nor do my values reside there. I value freedom/time/health/& energy more than anything.
I used to live for labels like being defined by things like being a CrossFit athlete, a former Marine wife, an X-ray tech, yada yada, etc
I am an athlete of LIFE!
And guess what? So are for you!
Enjoy flexibility & the ability to shed & create whatever shade/character you want every day.
As a travel RT & clinician, I’ve learned to make HOME in MYSELF. That’s how I’ve found happiness, joy, & peace embracing this lifestyle.
♛I belong everywhere I go as long as I don’t betray myself.
If I’m worried about:
if other people like or accept me
or the need create for likes or follows instead of what my heart wants
& I feel the need to change for those reasons…
THAT is the moment I’ve betrayed myself.
“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.” -Brené Brown
My name is Katie Kelly. I’m a multi-modal travel clinician 🩺💀, nutritionist, high performance coach & biz consultant specializing in human connection & process optimization with over 20 years experience. On social I’m better known as Coach K & I’m just like you!
More importantly, I want you to believe in yourself, your health, your business, your voice, & your ability to live your best life! I believe in vibrational living in life, fitness, health, relationships, & business. Intuition is one of our greatest gifts! I’m here to help you discover & follow yours to a more abundant, joyful life!
I’m known as the sweary, Indiana farmer’s daughter who went from a sick (Crohn’s Disease & bulimia), overweight (lost 60lbs via the carnivore diet, CrossFit & Orange Theory), broke bish (was 50k+ in debt) to a thriving, self loving human here to inspire, educate, & mentor!
Welcome to my digital diary & wellness blogs full of life lessons learned the hard way🫶
I post content about life/biz/self improvement anywhere from fat loss, therapy, disordered eating, Crohn’s, self love, entrepreneurship, healthcare, food, fitness, finance, & everything in between to a social media audience of 47K+!
Thank you for allowing me to add value to your lives! Grateful to have you part of my digital family ❤️
You can simply book a call via email: katieokelly2@gmail.com
When I was in my 20’s & early 30’s, I used to drink a lot on the weekends.
Every Friday and Saturday night, my friends and I would head to a local bar. We’d start with a few beers or cocktails, have dinner, and then head out for the second half of the night, often drinking until 3 a.m. Finally, after 12 hours of overindulging, I’d pass out in my bed until noon the next day. I’d wake up to the bad decisions still lingering from the night before.
I’m embarrassed to say this behavior went on for years. I was, by some definitions, an alcoholic. And eventually my binge drinking ended me in the hospital, on a vent with a blood alcohol level of .346. I’m lucky I survived.
I had terrible side effects: I hated my unfulfilling life, had anxiety attacks, binge eating, gut symptoms, my Crohn’s disease was out of control, relationships in the shitter, & over 50k in debt.
I share this story as a cautionary tale, but I’m not here to say that you should never drink alcohol. I still drink occasionally, but I use it now with respect to enhance and savor an experience. I no longer drink to get drunk. I rarely have more than two drinks and rarely more than once every couple weeks.
If you’ve recognized that you drink too much &/or binge eat, then it’s time to implement a life edit & the system that worked for me when I was cutting back.
Love this blog! Wonderful tips on how to do a life edit!
This system uses five simple steps that anyone can follow, and over time, builds habits that dramatically reduce your dependency on alcohol and junk food.
Step 1: Spend Time with the Right People (Your environment is everything!) This lesson comes straight from entrepreneur, author, and speaker Jim Rohn. Here’s the gist: You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you spend your time with people who are getting drunk all the time & eating shit food, then guess what you’re going to do?
Think about it—do you really think you’re going to have superhuman willpower and be able to stop at one drink or eat healthy when all of your friends are grabbing a second, third, and fourth and smashing pizza and nachos all night?
On the other hand, if you spend your time with people that drink less, they eat well & exercise often—then you’ll soon have control over your poor habits. Pick your friends wisely.
Step 2: Slow Down It’s easy to say you’re going to stick to just one drink or eat a healthy, protein based meal when meeting a friend after work in the right atmosphere. But when the bar is buzzing and you’re starting to loosen, slowing down just isn’t going to happen. The next thing you know, you’ve downed that first beer or cocktail in record time and you’re ready for a second & a huge plate of loaded fries because you’ve numbed you’re decision thinking.
Here’s how you get over the “suck it down vs savor” urge: Order a drink that doesn’t go down so easily. Mine is vodka water. Even better, order a shot and a water then mix your own. That way you are in charge of the alcohol content you consume.
Once upon a time, I used to love drinking margaritas, malibu & coke, & anything sweet! The trouble was, they were sweet and I have a strong sweet-tooth & poor relationship with carbs and sugar. They’re triggers to binge eating (& bulimia), over indulging, gut issues, & me feeling like crap. It’s no surprise that those drinks went down fast and easy.
These days, I order bourbon, a glass of vodka & water on the rocks or maybe tequila & water on the rocks. If I want flavor, I add electrolytes (Ultima Replenisher or LMNT) to my water. The flavor is powerful—and remarkably un-sweet—so I sip it instead of down it. As a result, I don’t drink more than I should.
Success requires removing obstacles, leading yourself out of temptation, and getting accountability to stick to your goals. With these in place, you’ll soon kick the booze & junk food to the curb and start enjoying more nourishing, higher performance days—moving you closer to your big goals and dreams.
Step 3: One Drink of Alcohol + One Glass of Water. Stick to Protein at Meals. This one seems obvious, but so many people forget to drink water while they’re enjoying alcohol. It’s critical to keep yourself hydrated—not only to prevent hangovers the next morning, but also for slowing down your intake. Every time you finish a cocktail, beer, or glass of wine, make sure to take a pause from the booze and down a glass of water.
Keep your meals to a lean protein source like chicken breast, lean beef, pork, or seafood. You’ll be more satiated & less likely to overindulge. Grilled chicken is my go to.
Step 4: Ask Yourself These 2 Questions Before Eating 2 things changed my relationship with food. They allowed me to beat binge eating & lose 60 pounds while healing my gut👇
1️⃣Before I ate, I asked myself, “How does this food make me feel?” ⁃ Does it help or hinder? ⁃ Do I feel energized & satisfied? Bloated & tired? ⁃ Am I still enjoying my meal? No? Time to stop eating. Yes? Ok, I’ll eat a little more. ⁃ Does it make my gut feel happy & healthy? Or inflamed & painful? ⁃ Does it support me physiologically, aesthetically, & mentally?
2️⃣I asked myself, “As fuel, what am I using this food for?” ⁃ To fuel a workout? A meeting? Playing with your kids? A walk? ⁃ Am I truly physiologically hungry or am I bored & this just a craving? ⁃ Am I numbing a difficult emotion with this food?
The food, environment, habits, & information you consume each day are the soil from which your future thoughts, body, & reality are grown! Many of the best things in life grow along the way by simply having better awareness, understanding, & then once you know better, you CHOOSE BETTER!
Start hanging out with high value people & success & love grows along the way.
Start exercising & eating well & motivation + results grow along the way.
Start writing, therapy, spending time alone & aligned inspiration grows along the way.
Start now & watch the feelings & results follow!
Step 5: Schedule Something for the Next Morning Let’s say you’re planning on heading to the bars on Friday night. Set up a workout, an appointment or meeting for Saturday morning. Knowing that you have that appointment—and that you have to be ready for it—will keep you from going overboard at the bars. (I often recommend setting up a physical activity. Your body will hate you if you try to do it while nursing a hangover, so you’ll quickly learn not to overindulge.)
These five steps can help you cut back on alcohol & binge eating and regain control so that you can focus on the more important things in life.
For example, cutting back on my drinking allowed me to tackle my gut issues, have better sleep, higher energy, more mental clarity, more money, and more freedom to focus on my life’s work – serving ya’ll!
Success requires removing obstacles, leading yourself out of temptation, and getting accountability to stick to your goals. With these in place, you’ll soon kick less optimal habits to the curb and moving you closer to your big goals and dreams.
When you’re ready to move from distractions like alcohol to the tools and routines that build your dream body and life, I urge you to check out resources that helped me + a Blog Guide I created just for you documenting how I lost 60lbs, healed my gut, & beat binge eating:
Thousands have used the insights from these sources—all gathered over decades of experience. Take your life to the next level!
If you want to improve your relationship with food, reach your fitness goals, increase your income, stress less, love yourself more & become the person you’ve always wanted to be…Katie Kelly is the coach who will help you do it! With more than 20-years of experience as a multimodality travel clinician , nutritionist, & high performance coach, she specializes in helping struggling women & men get out of the mud and build the life & body of their dreams. To see if you qualify for Katie’s Coaching Program, fill out an inquiry form here.
Like blogs like this one? Sign up for her weekly Email Newsletter Community here
I had a patient tell me I had really BIGblingy earrings in the ER one day💎✨😂…
I find in general people are afraid to step outside the norm.
Y’all, the more we embrace the concept of being colorful & XTRA, the more we will normalize people feeling comfortable in their own skin.
When my patient commented on my appearance in the ER, I was so freaking proud of myself in that moment because instead of being triggered, I thought f*ck yeah, I’m doing my life right.
I feel amazing, regal, beautiful, luxurious, abundant & I’m not afraid to show up. I no longer live life trying to shrink myself. (Note most of my jewelry is affordable & from Amazon. These particular earrings were Kate Spade AB crystals. LOVE. OBSESSED.)
There are threads that connect our past, present & future selves together. 🧵🪡🧶They’re unique to us. No thread is identical.
Btw… my patient smiled, I looked at her with loving eyes, & I said, “Hell yeah, I love my big earrings 👉just like life. Little person, big personality. That’s how my mom describes me.”
I experience JOY crafting & creating my character of the day. That’s me creating my heaven + my reality. You can create yours too! That’s the magic of thoughts become things. 🪄🦄
💫I manifest the feeling of my reality via my writing, my words, my wardrobe, my accessories, the way I take care of myself, the way I present myself. 👉It all comes from me. We co-create life. Utilize your resources & inner beauty.
I truly do enjoy the “ #travelnurse “ life. (I’m a travel Xray tech & clinician for newbies here) The decision to partake in this unique lifestyle didn’t come lightly, however. I did it scared shitless & had self doubt, too.
What if I suck?
What if I’m homesick?
What if people don’t like me?
What if I hate my assignment?
What will people think of me?
What if, what if, what if…
I’m elated embarking on this journey. It’s exciting, enlightening, challenging, adventurous, fulfilling, pleasurable & painful af too.
You become a more resilient, able, adaptable, loving, insightful, resourceful, badass & bombdiggitty human in my opinion.
Dudes, we rock 🤘🫶💀💕🚑🏥 Travel healthcare workers UNITE!
I realized in a rock-bottom point in my life years ago that I was stuck in a stagnant, hyper vigilant state. I was addicted to the complacent, “busy life” instead of one of inner peace & fulfillment.
GSD (get shit done) is a dopamine hit with pros & cons on both ends of the spectrum.
On one hand, it made/makes me super successful, productive, & proud, but on the other hand, also burned out, tired, cranky, oftentimes sick. It can feel on occasion I’m stuck in a phase called “chasing the next best thing,” missing out on the sweetness of life. I forget to be present.
I’m clearly aware of it. Back then I simply didn’t know how to change it or how to evolve into a better version of me. Some things that helped me understand myself & other people to get what I wanted 👇
I’ve lost 60lbs in my life’s time and kept it off. I documented my healing, weight loss, & carnivore journey HERE just for you in case you’re struggling like I did.
My complacency with life was a protective mechanism. I armed myself with “safe” decisions & stagnancy because of past trauma:
being a people pleaser
always feeling like I had to achieve to receive love
feeling I had to look a certain way or weigh a certain weight to be seen as beautiful & worthy of love
wanting to change myself to be accepted & validated…I could go on & on here.
Ego got me into debt because I would buy shit just to look the part instead of because it made me feel amazing or enabled me to express my creative authenticity.
It’s taken over 40 years for me to acknowledge & accept the following things that are seen as weird & non-traditional to society.
I’m exuberatingly proud to say that I am OK living an extremely satisfied, loving life being self partnered & non traditional.
Self partnered to me is living life on my own terms to feel, look, & be my best…AND THAT MEANS designing a life optimized to help me live my most peaceful, happy, easy, joyous, abundant, loved filled, & purpose driven life possible.
I don’t give a shit that my light shines differently. And you have permission to shine bright yourself, as bright as you want, however you want! ✨🪩✨
Huge observational revelations I scripted one morning trying to make sense of myself & life. They’re a tad bit triggering but honest af. Maybe you’ll relate to them too!
🧠I sleep in cycles & when I’m tired, I don’t pay attention to the time or whether it’s deemed morning or night. Chock that up to probably working weird 3rd and first shift cycles. I am always responsible/respectful of my work schedule. I feel my best when I honor my natural sleep/wake cycles. I sleep really well 😆 in the back of my Ford Ecosport (named Ruby btw 🚗) where I’ve made a little bed. I had to take naps on my lunch breaks to conserve energy on many travel assignments and road trips. I travel often & this has been a Godsend in keeping my energy/health as a priority.
🧠 I am a biohacker 🤷♀️ To answer y’all’s questions about my anti-aging & biohacking routine, I wrote a blog HERE for you.
🧠Music is my life force just like food. So is my wardrobe, colors, & the vibe of my environment. They immensely influence my mood & energy. I’ve learned how to change & utilize these to my benefit. I have playlists & colors that I’ll wear & listen to to reflect the mood I’m in or vibe/state I need to be in. Playlists I enjoy are my Denim & Rhinestones list, coffee house jazz, classical pop, nature sounds, country, red dirt music, caffeine & kilos playlist, etc. morgan wallen, post Malone, & Warren zeiders always 🙂 A HUGE VARIETY! 🎶 Spotify playlist HERE
🧠I feel my best when I’m caffeinated. Haha! I do enjoy coffee & occasional alcohol in moderation. I don’t drink alcohol much tho. If I’m going to partake in alcohol or a cocktail, it’s to enhance an experience like a special occasion or my favorite venue. I don’t drink to get drunk anymore. Not worth it, dims my light & numbs my abilities. I’d rather go to bed early & get up early. If I’m going to partake in alcohol, it’s usually early in the day, socially.
🧠I eat when I’m hungry & eat what I’m hungry for. I do whatever form of exercise/workouts feel good to me in that moment. Here lately it’s Orange Theory, zone 2 cardio, walking, occasional CrossFit & strength training. I look & feel my best when I honor my body without force. I do better digestively & energy wise eating one large low carb, MEATY meal early in the day & sipping on my daily chocolate nutritional shake from @acheiveequilife or @nuethix_formulations Medipure DS during daylight hours. (LINK to discounts & products IN IG BIO & HIGHLIGHTS btw)
OR one larger meal in the morning post workout & a small snack around 1pm-ish.
Meat bars and my airfryer are my jam. You can find recipes and videos in this blog HERE.
Post workout breakfast. 1.25 lbs of *0% ground beef #meatbars Airfry. 380. 12 minutes. Did not consume the fat in the bottom of the airfyer to make it leaner.
I have a whole recipe book full of low carb deliciousness! 👇👇
I prefer eating alone or intimately with few people vs eating out. My energy is best with liquid meals (I am more satiated with real food however, that’s why I keep one large meal in the morning) I do fab fasting longer hours overnight (like 20 hrs) That’s when my digestion is the best.
🧠I prefer being a lone wolf. I am social, but do it in doses on my own terms.
I have very few people I am comfortable sharing my space with (traveling, sleeping over, adventuring, etc): my parents, + my 2 besties @lisamitchellindy & @just___jess___
They are my persons & make my life FULL❤️ no matter how little or how much we talk, or are/aren’t physically around one another, I know they are always there & we pick up where we left off. People that feel like Freedom & Home. Thank you for being my biggest adventures + safe spaces.
🧠I define & base my relationships on how they make me feel. Traditional relationships, the married then kids then picket fence things, feel like masks & facades people put on to appease society. They simply don’t feel aligned. It’s not that I haven’t tried being the bride with the white picket fence in the past, &/or I’m not open to love, I’m just open to love & relationships on my own terms that serve me best. And why is it that the majority still feels they HAVE to have kids?
I understand this is “weird” for most people. Let me explain what is aligned to me…
💕I typically don’t stay over at peoples houses. I feel more comfortable in my own home around my own energy.
💕I enjoy driving myself, Uber, & travel solo.
💕I enjoy & sleep better alone.
💕I like going to bed early + getting up early. My mornings are everything to me & set the tone for my entire day.
💕I am energetic in the morning & more productive. I don’t lay around in bed when I first wake & I’m not one to lay & cuddle for hours. (I like cuddling & I love physical affection, but I don’t want it first thing in the morning I have things to do 😂 Same with Sex…I LOVE passionate sex, but would rather have it spontaneously throughout the day or in the middle of the night. I don’t like it first thing in the morning because ya girl dedicated to her routine)
💕I love people & being in an aligned relationship. I’ve realized I am frankly super happy & satisfied doing my own thing on my own time and I would hope that other person would feel the same. Then when the time is right, we come together later when our energies & attention are aligned to be a freakin POWER COUPLE.
🧠I love being by myself🤷♀️ Took me decades to get here. One thing I’m SUPER proud of myself for cultivating. It’s effortless. I am my own best friend, in my own energy. I openly love myself a ridiculous amount👉 I’m not afraid to admit that. It’s taken me over 40 years to love the essence of my being & my body & being able to just BE me.
🧠I don’t feel the need to be a wife. I look forward to a life partner that agrees with my lifestyle, my ambition, my goals, my personal boundaries, & similar beliefs. I prefer someone that compliments me in their own unique way. I prefer diversity, someone not exactly like me. I like the wisdoms that comes with challenge & variety. I like someone that wants to build something together, I like someone that is OK with me striving to always be my best.
🧠I desire someone that doesn’t want to change me. I am able to evolve & compromise but the moment you tell me what to do when I don’t want to do it & it doesn’t feel aligned, you’re trying to change me. The relationship will not work. I say this with love because I want you to be your best too. (I’m speaking to whomever my life partner is here.)
➡️➡️I call this kind of writing/journaling scripting. Simply get your thoughts out. I suggest trying it to everyone out there! Visualize/journal your thoughts & what you desire! That’s why I write all of these down in the morning on my notes page in my phone. It has helped me make sense of my life, myself, make better business decisions, relationship decisions, health, & body decisions, money decisions, etc.
🧠I am an impulse shopper. I’m an emotional being & I buy shit on a whim. 😂 I’m aware of this. I don’t shame myself for it. It just is what it is. If I buy something when I’m being emotional & I don’t love it, I require myself to take it back. It’s a self love boundary. Because money is freedom and I want to utilize it in the best way possible. I’ve made investing & saving a game that is SEXY & FUN TO ME! That’s how I’ve been able to create wealth, including getting myself out of 50k+ in debt! If finances & wanting to be a high performance achiever are things you struggle & want to improve, book a consult call with me. I’ll coach you how to do this specifically for your situation. I’m not just a “ nutrition coach “ 😉. Email me, katieokelly2@gmail.com
🧠I love to save time & make my life effortless. I love Amazon➡️easy returns, effortless shipping. I love Instacart. They save me time going to the store & having to be around other people when my energy is low.
🧠I don’t shop in stores often because I buy shit I don’t need 😆another reason I like Amazon. I tend to only get what I’m inspired to buy. I love goodwill and thrift stores. Sometimes I just want to dress in a different style or a different color for a day or a week. I don’t need to buy designer I just buy what I feel good in. It can be a dollar or it can be $500
🧠I invest in what I feel is worthy of my well earned and deserved money. I tell myself I’m gifting the universe when I invest in other peoples crafts and skills or wardrobe. I don’t care my hair extensions and lash extensions are expensive 💁🏼♀️they make me feel amazing! The same with my lip injections. I love the way I look & I don’t care that other people criticize me for investing in this form of self-care.
🧠I love an effortless, energy giving life. I like auto brew on my coffee maker, I organize my space in a way that makes sense to me. I purge and clean old energy & stuff constantly. I update my wardrobe all the time with the seasons, with my seasons. If something frustrates me, I get rid of it, I change it, I cut it out of my life, I optimize it, or I delegate it in someway. I am here to love every bit of my life and I have the power to change whatever I want.
🧠I know I don’t have to do everything myself. I can utilize my resources. I am worthy and deserving just being me, I deserve being paid for just being me, in whatever form that means, I don’t have to perform or achieve or look a certain way to be incredible.
I record these reclamations/thoughts/acknowledgments simply for observation & self nourishment reasons with so much self-love, not ego.
And now I can go out & serve everyone to my best ability because I know my blueprint.
Oxox Coach K
Love you. Mean it.
Who’s Coach K? Wrote this for you, my fellow warriors working to be the best versions of yourselves!
You asked the questions, here are your answers! Documenting my story & weight loss journey on the carnivore diet!
Chronic bloating, constipation, weight gain, feeling like your body is fighting against you – all the feels, right?!
That is what I lived for 3 decades. Hopefully my story can help shed light for you!
Without further adieu, let’s dive into your questions!
1.) Introduce Yourself
Anyone else get anxiety when asked this question? Like where do I start? 🙂
Indiana farm girl & Purdue University grad, I like to say that I’m a multifaceted human!
I have many loves, interests, & hats.
So who is this awesome chick? 😃 My name is Katie Kelly. Professionally, I’m a multi-modal travel clinician 🩺💀 with Aureus Medical & functional nutritionist with over 20 years experience.
I specialize in improving your health & fitness goals utilizing a flexible, non-dogmatic carnivore nutrition approach while providing high performance coaching.
On social I’m better known as Coach K & want you to know I have struggled just like you! I created this safe space over 10 years ago & welcome you to this amazing community!
More importantly, I want you to believe in yourself, your health, your voice, & your ability to live your best life!
I believe in vibrational living in life, fitness, money, health, & relationships. Intuition is one of our greatest gifts! I’m here to help you discover & follow yours to a more abundant, joyful life!
Vibrational living is being in alignment with your true self—choosing thoughts, behaviors, habits, & environments that nurture, expand & empower you. Living with an awareness of your energy vibration & understanding of yourself completely change your reality, creating your heaven every single day.
I mentor to help you find your power & solutions to create the body, career, finances, relationships, purpose & fulfillment you’re seeking.
I’m just a sweary, Indiana farmer’s daughter who went from a sick (Crohn’s Disease & bulimia), overweight (lost 60lbs via the carnivore diet, CrossFit & Orange Theory), broke bish (was 50k+ in debt) to a thriving, self loving human here to inspire, educate, & mentor!
Welcome to my digital diary & wellness blogs full of life lessons learned the hard way🫶
I post content about self improvement anywhere from fat loss, budget beauty, decorating, disordered eating, feng shui, Crohn’s, self love, entrepreneurship, healthcare, food, fitness, finance, laughs & everything in between to a social media audience of 47K+!
Thank you for allowing me to add value to your lives! Grateful to have you part of my digital family ❤️
As far as nutrition, I specialize in gut health, sports & performance, disordered eating, low carb/carnivore approaches to healing. I help you to optimize life by creating a success routine.
All preferences & skill levels are welcome with a no diet dogma or one size-size-fits-all approach to health, wellness, fitness, & nutrition.
I appreciate everyone who allows me to add value to your lives!
2.) How Did You Eat Before Carnivore?
I grew up as an overweight kid. I was told to lose weight & tried to diet before I was 10 years old. My self-esteem & body image issues started at 8. Standard American Diet, being a “farm kid” we ate the home cooked stuff. I had no portion control whatsoever.
Kids were mean, & I couldn’t tell you how many times I was told, “If you’d just lose weight you’d be pretty like the other girls.” This translated into, “You won’t be successful, loved or worthy unless you’re thin & look the part.”
Following came the years of disordered eating & orthorexia — binging and purging with intermittent phases of anorexia. I would gorge & then hide Reese’s wrappers, tubs of ice cream, bags of chips, crackers, cookies – anything I had denied myself.
Then the guilt-restrict cycle would kick in as I layed there with puffy cheeks & bloodshot eyes from throwing up food. I had a food addiction and carbs were not only a big autoimmune & gut trigger, but they were like giving an alcoholic a drink.
I found CrossFit in 2013, was a competitive athlete & then beat my body down into a hole of metabolic adaptation, exacerbated gut issues, & hormonal imbalances due to over exercising & under eating.
It took 4 years for me to reverse diet up to my true maintenance calories so know this is a long journey. Have patience.
I was misdiagnosed with IBS, as many are. Went through tons of testing & doctors.
Honestly, I feel the only diet I haven’t done is a vegetarian diet. I’ve done’em all.
As a CrossFit athlete fueling for my sport, I leaned more towards a high carb diet. (Knowing I had a poor relationship with them.)
3.) Why Did You Try Carnivore to Begin With?
All the deets here!!
My last Crohn’s flare was about 4+ years ago, which was when I started the Carnivore diet approach. I knew I needed a reset. I was stressed out, eating out more, sleep was terrible, and I felt horrible. I had put on 10lbs of inflammation & felt I was insulin resistant. So I thought, this is my time. I’m gonna commit, cut the carbs & clean my shxt up.
As for my relationship with carbs, I am an abstainer. I am not a moderator when it comes to food. You need to determine which one you are too, an abstainer or a moderator? I do better with food rules and an all or none approach. I cannot have just 1 cookie, that leads to wanting the whole pan!
My own personal experimentation, data keeping via tracking food, journaling symptoms & triggers were my best “doctors.” Figuring out my trigger foods took YEARS. Years of getting to know myself, my needs, and how my body responded to food and stressors.
As far as my specific needs, I don’t digest veggies, fruits, fiber, gluten, dairy, lectins, high oxalate, or high fodmap foods well. That’s a lot, right?!
I noticed when I finally got my gallbladder out, I could eat meat just fine. My digestive symptoms went away.
I suggest for anyone else out there struggling with chronic bloating, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, heartburn, feeling like your food just sits there and you’re bloated and look 6 months pregnant every night, etc — these are warning sings. They are not normal and sign of an imbalance. An elimination diet like the carnivore diet is a great first step. Seek help from a qualified coach, dietitian, or practitioner. Coaching options & services are available here.
Tap photo for full post
Often we don’t realize the ‘healthy’ food we’re eating are the culprits because we cannot properly digest and absorb them. Often the plants, pre-packaged frozen meals, diet bars and shakes are the culprits. That’s what happened to me. The fiber, fruit, and veggies were causing me more harm because of my compromised digestive system. I’m grateful for these experiences because now I’m able to help clients pinpoint their trigger foods too and start the healing process.
Repeat after me, “We are what we DIGEST and ABSORB.”
My safe foods when having a gut flare were always soft meats like fish, ground meat, rice Chex cereal, eggs, plain rice cakes, & white rice. Basically a low residue diet & absolutely no fruits or vegetables. I could not break them down, they caused bloating & agony.
Nutrition is not a one size fits all. Reason we need to track, experiment, & realize templates or cookie cutter meal plans rarely work long term.
I created a whole Biohacking guide with my favorite products and supplements HERE. Fitness over 40, I look and feel better than I ever did at 20.
4.) How Do You Personally Approach the Carnivore Diet?
People are more familiar with the term “Carnivore Diet.” I prefer to reference it as a meat-based diet. That’s because there are 50+ shades of the Carnivore Diet. I feel you have free will and choice to eat the meats & foods that make you feel your best. You don’t have to be strict carnivore (beef & water). We all have different trigger foods, preferences, and individualized needs. I like to use the flexible & functional meat based approach to nutrition.
I call my myself a “Liberal Carnivore.” I believe in flexibility. The majority of my meals are ground meats such as ground beef & ground turkey/chicken, pork, eggs, steak, ribs, ground lamb & veal. I personally don’t like organ meat after experimentation.
Tap for two of my favorite recipes here!
If I feel I need a refeed day of higher carbs, I would choose white rice or plain rice cakes around workouts. They don’t typically bother my digestion in moderation. Rarely do I go over 50g of carbs, my average is around 20g daily. I don’t deny myself or feel guilty if I need to consume them for my health, gym performance, & recovery. All carefully portioned, of course. Now I find I don’t need or crave them any more.
Another common question I get is, “Do you drink?” Not much anymore. If I do choose to enjoy socially, I set boundaries to no more than 1-2 beverages. Usual choices are an occasional craft cocktail like an old fashioned or tequila.
**Disclaimer: This is what works for ME. I am not a medical doctor giving advice, simply sharing my experiences.
As far as macros and ratios, again, we are all different. I prefer a higher protein approach for my needs. As far as my activity & physical stats for comparison, I’m currently 41 years old, 5’1, 100 lbs , cross train via Orange Theory, lifting, & occasional CrossFit. I train 5 days a week, average 13-15k steps/day.
Just to clarify what a macro is if you’re a beginner.
My “sweet spot” for maintenance seems to be around 1850-2100 calories per day, ratios around 65% Fat, 30% Protein, 5% Carbs. I eat when I’m hungry, fast when I’m not. Fasting window is around 16-20hrs. I prefer to work out fasted most mornings during the week. Largest meal post workout with another meal around 1-3pm. I don’t force fasting and I don’t do extended fasts. Average 2lbs of meat daily.
I do track occasionally with food & macros via My Fitness Pal. I track weight, sleep, & steps via my Fit Bit Sense 2. I’ve also teamed up with NutriSense utilizing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). What gets tracked gets managed. Not necessary, but I’m a data girl 😉 It helps me make more educated decisions and adjustments.
My fitness routine is outlined here👇 This varies with travel assignment & my life season. It’ll give you a good sense of what a typical day is like.
5.) What Benefits Have You Seen Since Starting the Carnivore Diet?
A TON! The biggest benefits have been no gut issues or flares, increased, steady energy (once adapted, it took me about 8 months), no carb cravings or binge eating urges, no more constipation, normal appetite and satiety, no more inflammation, and eventually, fat loss.
I didn’t go into the Carnivore Diet chasing fat loss or weight loss, I went into it chasing better health. I preach this to my clients, chase health and healing first, everything else will fall into line. The problem with yo-yo dieting is chasing unrealistic goals and expectations with an unsustainable diet &/or training approach.
I outlined all my food, macros, weight transitions and experiences here in this IG post. Tap photo!
6.) What Negatives Have You Found With the Carnivore Diet?
I’m gonna be real, I gained 15lbs total when I started the Carnivore Diet. After 1 year, I lost that 20lbs, however. I wanted to quit many times and felt like shxt early on trying to adapt. I listened to the veterans and my own intuition, kept going.
Your appetite does correct and level out. Performance in the gym does suffer, initially. Depends on what modality of training you prefer. Take it easy. I significantly reduced my workout volume and intensity with no HIIT for about 6 months. Did a lot of walking and lifting simple weights, keeping my heart rate in a lower range.
About month 8/9, I noticed I was able to hit it harder in the gym and everything else was falling into line. That’s about when my weight started dropping as well.
Meal timing is important, especially when timing appropriately for your workouts. If you eat larger meals, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to digest them. Meat and fat are naturally “heavy” and the body has to work hard to break them down for digestion, affecting your energy levels. Again, everyone is different.
7.) Do You Exercise on the Carnivore Diet? What Do You Do?
Yes, absolutely! The gym is my sanctuary. I found CrossFit in 2013, drank the Kool-aid. My love affair has been ever since the first sound of a barbell dropping. My weights, intensity, and volume have changed with my seasons. I no longer train like a competitive CrossFit athlete. Yes, its hard to beat the competitiveness out of me, but is absolutely necessary for longevity.
I modify weights and movements to my needs. I listen to my body and rest when needed. Workout 5 days a week, rest 2. I get in about 13-15k steps a day. Also enjoy body building and orange theory!
I feel the term “CrossFit” gets an unfair bad rap. It’s simply a term and just another modality of exercise. I love it because it combines strength and conditioning made up of functional movements performed at a your desired intensity level. The intensity and approach are up to you. Anyone can do it and you determine the pace and modifications of your workouts. Invest in a quality gym with quality coaches. Three Kings Athletics in Noblesville, IN is my second home and family! Owned by Bryn Jafri.
8.) What Piece of Advice Would You Give Someone Who Is Interested in Trying This Diet, But Hasn’t Taken the Leap Yet?
Thinking about carnivore in terms of 3 phases is helpful starting:
1.) Just get adapted – eat meat, find the low carb sources you love, cut the junk, find what eating windows work for your schedule, track to make sure you’re eating enough food.
2.) Focus on healing any G.I. issues & give it time. Be patient & consistent. You don’t feel good all the time, as with any diet it takes time to find your groove. Most hit a slump around 2 weeks. You didn’t develop gut issues overnight and you didn’t put on 30lbs overnight.
3.) Thrive & THEN play around with fat loss or muscle gain goals. You’ll be more self aware & educated once your reach this point.
Not until someone is adapted & healed do I recommend any kind of playing around with fat loss cuts. For some it may take 3-6 months or it can take years depending on what kind of healing (gut, hormonal, metabolic etc) you have to do. Honor your biofeedback. Biofeedback means my quality of sleep, energy level, recovery, performance, mental clarity, menstrual cycle, sex drive, hunger & satiety cues, etc.
Tips for tracking more accurately:
Pick meats that are easier to track. Ex: ground meats like beef/turkey/lamb/pork. The protein & fat grams are not as variable as say a ribeye or chuck roast.
Weigh your meat raw before you cook. Meat shrinks down something like 20-30% when you cook it. It can account for a big difference in protein/fat grams & calories if you’re logging the oz or grams of cooked meat vs the actual raw weight. Fat will differ as well, especially if you’re draining or dabbing the fat off your meat after cooking. Here’s a good resource explaining what happens.
Measure out your fats (butter, bacon fat, tallow, etc) Don’t guess. Weigh it out on a scale for most accuracy. Most of us use teaspoons or tablespoons but I don’t recommend eyeballing until you master accurately weighing food.
Reasons you may be gaining weight on low carb:
You’re eating in a surplus. As with ANY diet you choose if you are eating in a surplus chances are you will put on body fat. It’s part of it. This is when you should be focusing on muscle gain & strength.
You’ve been eating in a chronic deficit & your body is finally getting the nutrients it needs to function & grow muscle. You WANT muscle growth. More muscle=more food=more badass.
You’re snacking too much on things like pork rinds, fat bombs, or fake keto junk like Atkins bars. Guilty 🖐🏻 They’re easy to overeat & nutrient deficient. Go back to the basics. Simplify. Meat, water, coffee, no sweeteners, no supplements.
You’re choosing highly palatable low carb foods like ribeyes, bacon, & cheese & eating when you’re not really hungry. It’s like when you’re not hungry but then they bring out dessert. Most of us will have that extra piece of cake. Choose foods that are satisfying & get the job done. I find ground beef to be most satisfying.
You’re overly fasting &/or overly training. Chronically high cortisol & hormone imbalances affect your weight, recovery, energy, & fat loss. Reduce your intensity & workout volume. Walking & simply just moving does wonders. Don’t over complicate your workouts. SLEEP. Shorten your fasting window or STOP fasting.
You’re eating too much protein, throwing hormones & your biofeedback off. Try increasing your fats & start with protein around 1g per lb of lean body mass, your goal weight, or 20-30% of your daily calories. Our energy sources come from fats & carbs. Take away your carbs & what do you have left? Fat. Don’t fear it. Play around with it you’ll find your threshold.
9.) Do You Think the Carnivore Diet Will Ever Be Accepted Mainstream?
Never say never, but I doubt it. Carnivore is just like being a vegetarian only we prefer meat. No one bats an eye when you say you’re a vegetarian, but you say you only eat meat? They look at you like 4 eyes. The awareness, research, and education is spreading, however, so that is promising!
Is any diet really mainstream?
There’s hundreds of ways to eat. All that matters is you pick the one that suits YOU.
10.) Where Can People Follow You?
Everyone is welcome to become part of my digital family here, lilbitoffit.com and Instagram, @lil_bit_of_fit If you’d like to be added to our email list, click here!
Thank you all for reading and allowing me to add value to your lives! I hope my experiences on this journey can allow you to find your authentic puzzle pieces to life!
Today’s theme for self/life improvement/optimization: UPLEVEL & UPCYCLE
⭐️Uplevel: Having greater capabilities. To transform & grow in an area previously stagnant. To make progress or improve in a specific skill or area of one’s life.
⭐️Upcycle: form of recycling where instead of turning waste into new materials, you can take a product that you would otherwise throw away & give it a new use in life.
Being frugal & living as a minimalist aren’t about restriction &/or living a life less than…it’s about freedom & living MORE with LESS.
Moi
Photo dump of my morning loves & the simple things!
Found this dropped on my floor. Somehow it was attached to my clothes. Happy angel blessings & reminders. Mom left this before I left for my new travel xray job in Omaha, Nebraska.
Spending is massively influenced by advertising & marketing. Don’t fall to consumerism. I did in my 20s & 30s, resulting in $50,000 of debt which I payed off 3 years ago👉an achievement I’ve most proud of to have overcome & continually evolve to improve.
Learning about health & money haven’t been easy or natural for me either. I simply do the best I can every single day to live my best life as my best self, physically, mentally, spiritually, & financially.
It’s not about perfection or feeling guilty every time your spend money, it’s about investing in what is important to you & detoxing the clutter. That’s it. You determine your rules.
I sat down & wrote out how I wanted to feel in life. Where was my resistance? Fear? Frustrations? Most orbited around having too much clutter. Having too many unnecessary decisions. Saying yes, when I should say no.
Freedom, ease, & joy. Bingo 🎯
Enjoy all these tips, tricks, & #lifehacks I’ve learned about #lifeoptimization & #minimalism . Lots of brain vomit here, but I promise they’re worth their weight in gold + time reading.
I’ll continue to add to & improve these✨
One of my favorite go to books! Lifts your vibe & improves your perspective about money! I listen to it on Audible!
Blueprint on how I optimize a simple, more peaceful, successful, & abundant af life!
Lessons learned the hard way. Anyone else belong to this club? 💁🏼♀️work smarter, creating more flow.
** These are recorded for me & from pages of my story book. They’re things I’ve learned. These are from my perspective & my experiences. I am in no way telling you exactly what’s gonna work for you, but these have worked for me. Enjoy. Take what you need, leave what you don’t **
➡️ @instacart & @amazon prime delivery. Saves time, money, stress, & energy. Allows you to get other sh*t done during your day without having to run errands. prevents impulse shopping.
**I noticed if I shopped in store i bought tons of crap I didn’t need. I’m an emotional buyer. I reduce this as much as possible. All comes down to self awareness. I ask myself before I make a purchase if it will make me feel amazing in my soul & is NOT AN EGO OR NUMBING BUY. (Like making me feel “better” like a dopamine hit. These are short term & usually don’t last & make you happy long term.) if I don’t love & use something consistently I have to take it back, another reason I like Amazon, easy returns. If I buy something I also have to get rid of something. Reduced clutter & attachment to things.
➡️ Workout 1st thing in the morning & get sunlight. Get up early & have an easily adaptable success routine nailed down. Works wherever you go. Walk after meals, set an alarm every 20-30 minutes to get up & walk around at work, take stairs, park further in parking lots, take the stairs, walk hallways. Easy changes to get more movement.
➡️Bought a cheap treadmill off Amazon & simple set of dumbbells (15, 10, 5, 3 lbs weights) I workout at home with to save on excess gym memberships & keep fitness at the forefront. You can google & YouTube free workout ideas. Luckily, the treadmill fits in the back of my car, as well as the dumbbells, and I take these with me on travel assignments, which eases my mind not finding a convenient gym.
➡️ Get easy tasks & must do‘s done 1st. Work 1st, play later. Creates energy of achievement & peace vs anxiety & procrastination.
➡️ I have multiple income streams (both active & passive) & do travel healthcare (I understand this isn’t for everyone or does everyone have the lifestyle to allow it). Transparently, I make 3x as much working less as a travel healthcare worker vs a staff healthcare worker. I also get insurance & benefits through my company.
**I view ME as a business. I know I am my product. I have coaching & Xray as active income sources, meaning I trade my time for money. My passive income comes from e-books, courses, & partnering with other aligned people/businesses for the greater good. Social media is also viewed as a business. I use it wisely + with intention.
**I do my research on travel Xray contracts that I take, I’m smart about cost of living, location, & expenses. I don’t take time off much, I don’t go out excessively & I save as much love-earned money as I can to invest where I please& pay off any debt that I have. This gives me peace of mind, freedom, happiness, and everything I’ve ever wanted. I also feel free and easy vsdown the road I go. It’s help me live simple and actually with Wess. It’s made me a more well rounded person as well as healthcare, professional, and has allowed me to travel while making really good money!
➡️ I use clear storage bins & containers to help organize closets, shelves, cabinets, pantry’s & drawers when I plant roots somewhere longer term & aren’t traveling. Creates peace of mind & order.
➡️I purge & clean every week unnecessary items & any items attached to old energy no longer serving me. I take old clothes to stores like Plato’s Closet or Clothes Mentor. They give you money for old clothes to resale. Learn to live unattached to things. They weigh you down. This also means social media & media on your phone. I clean my car completely out once a month.
➡️ Organize shelves, cabinets, drawers, pantry’s, & closets by color. It creates a beautiful aesthetic look & you know exactly where to find things. this make me so happy 😀 which helps user more abundance into my life because I feel good. Manifesting what you desire is all about feeling. Feel good juju, get good juju.
➡️ Clean 1 area of my home every day. No dirty dishes in the sink. Declutter. Simplicity & detachment are bliss.
➡️ Get movement & steps in while your food cooks. Sometimes I do a mini workout with bodyweight or dumbbells while my meat Airfry‘s or meal is cooking.
➡️ If you’re 1 that travels often, have pre-packed bags with essentials ready to grab & go. I have an overnight bag with me at all times, I keep it in my car & closet. I also invested in an Anytime fitness membership because wherever I travel, I always have a gym for low cost.
➡️ I lay clothes out for the next day, brush my teeth in the shower, set my coffee on auto brew. It speeds up the process. I bring my own coffee & maker when I travel. Saves money & energy. I also utilize hotels free breakfasts/coffee/& amenities to save money. Research hotel beforehand. Book this with the amenities you need like free breakfast & fitness center.
➡️ I delegate things I don’t like to do or hire it done. saves energy & frustration in the long run which again, make me happy & user more good energy & wealth into my life.
**I have people drop me off when i don’t wanna drive or get an Uber or Lyft. I get to meet new people & have a more peaceful life not living in stress when I don’t wanna do something. I also feel good paying someone for their services & allowing them to have abundance in their life too. I call it gifting the universe. I find if I drive or do something I don’t wanna do, negative shiz like getting a ticket or having to pay for parking or car trouble is more likely to happen therefore costing me more in terms of money, time & energy.
➡️ Have ready to go or go to meals or snacks. I keep a freezer full of sale & budget buy meat (like steak or rib sales & ground meat. They’re cheaper). Go to snacks are deli meat, @applegate brand sausages, string cheese, & packets of tuna just in case I don’t have time to go to the store. I grab rotisserie chickens at the store & keep pork rinds in my car to carnivore on the go. Most hotels also have free breakfast with eggs/sausage/bacon. Also travel with an air fryer & grab my meats when I get to a destination.
**Cheapest low carb, carnivore foods I love: eggs, chicken drumsticks, stew meat, & fattier ground meats. Chicken/Turkey/pork is cheaper than beef/bison/lamb/seafood
➡️ I save & fill up my water bottles in natural springs or filtered water fountains at the gym. Reduces trash, helps with detox, & saves a TON on money on a budget.
➡️ I do my own nails. I order press on nails + glue from Amazon. I also do my own toenails. Have days I wear no make up & only wash my hair once a week. Saves time & money.
➡️ I don’t use much makeup. Again, simple is best & less is more. Reduces toxic products, your hormones and body will thank you. I use tallow lotion on my face & natural lotions, beauty products, deodorant, shampoo etc. as much as I can. Shop sales, places I have coupons or discounts for cleaning, beauty products & groceries. Love Aldi, amazon, TJ Maxx, thrift stores, goodwill, garage sales. Just do the best you can.
➡️ Pay your bills on time! I have credit cards that are cash back, I use these for purchases, shop sales, & then pay them directly off vs use my debit card. I also keep cash on hand, this will help reduce charging things. Set a loving boundary to only buy what your cash will purchase.
➡️ Shop at second hand stores like thrift stores, goodwill, & the Salvation Army. Most of my favorite clothes have come from thrift stores! I also love to buy kids clothes & shoes, one benefit of being a petite person 😂 saves a ton of money! Some of my favorite budget buy stores are Walmart, Marshall’s, tj maxx, old navy, kohl’s, meijer, & shoe carnival.
➡️ I don’t go out excessively. A benefit of being an introvert, I save a ton of money not going out. I also don’t drink alcohol or fancy coffee drinks much. I go out like once every couple weeks & set a 1- no more than 2 drink limit.
➡️ If you get a large sum of money, like a promotion or inheritance, or a happy surprise, put that towards your debt or something you really really want/need like a vacation or hair extensions or whatever the hell you want here.
➡️Set YOUR nonnegotiables & services/products you LOVE. Mine are my hair extensions & lash extensions. They help me feel incredible and save me money on make up, time, and energy. That is worth it to me. Don’t spend it all frivolously. Remember, love and respect your money. Give it a good/quality purpose.
➡️ Close any “leaky faucets” like services/subscriptions/memberships/products I don’t need or use. Motto: saving & investing are sexy. Travel & experiences are wealth, don’t be afraid to invest on self care & things that bring you expansion, joy, freedom, fulfillment, & help you vibrate at your highest. This helps me attract fulfillment in the ways I need.
➡️ Be open to accept income from endless opportunities available. Create opportunities to welcome income for your unique abilities & gifts. Do shit you love & get paid for it. Mindset is everything. I Repeat, “Whatever I spend comes back to me x10!” And I treat $1 like 1 million. Money has ears, loves love, & loves purpose👉give it purpose.
✨Remember, your energy allows you to attract what you want, but your aligned action allows you to claim what you want. You still have to act. Simply wishing & creating a vision board won’t magically make it happen.
✨Outer order, inner calm. An organized clean environment welcomes & attracts more abundance. Think less & simple, not more & complicated.
✨The most successful people are organized, honest, frugal, invest wisely, service driven, prioritize health & education, & communicate effectively. Above all they KNOW THEMSELVES & are KIND TO EVERYONE no matter who they are. They know people remember how you made them feel. And how you make them feel ultimately determines how you’re remembered & treated. Remember that thing called the Golden Rule? It’s like the Universal Laws & Karma. They aren’t bullsh*t.
✨I vow to spend my time working on improving my health, environment, attracting wealth, educating myself & others, & embracing different ways to utilize my gifts to better other peoples lives. I live by a personal creed & set of values I’ve written down. You should do this too.
Now go get sh*t done ✅
Oxox
Coach K
Enjoy this blog & like free stuff? Sign up for my email list here!
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development.
You can find her personal weight loss & healing story here.
She’s been involved in travel nursing & radiography for 20 years! She’s a writer, connection maker, nutritionist, branding consultant & entrepreneur who loves helping others & squeezing every drop out of life!
Katie grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation with weight loss & Crohn’s disease.
She competed as a competitive CrossFit athlete in her early 30’s. After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, & hormonal imbalances, she is passionate about helping others find self-love, achieve their health & business goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
This will probably trigger you… It triggers me everytime someone asks me. “How do I learn to love myself?”
Straight up, I’ll tell you, you are the reason you’re not where you wanna be. And it’s because of fear.
I tell you this as your coach & fellow human that understands.
For the majority of you following along my fitness journey via the interwebs, I feel confident saying we have many things in common, including this painful topic.
You see I realize now, as my 41 year old self, fear of gaining weight totally stifled my potential, controlled, & basically wrecking balled my life in every facet.
Every facet of life is connected. I categorize mine as health, self, wealth, & relationships.
My disordered eating & self love journey started at the age of 8.
Fear of gaining weight & self loathing caused me to live decades in agony & struggle.
I ate all the wrong things for me. All the “healthy” sugar free food & crazy diets that tore up my gut, hormones, & metabolism.
I starved, binged, purged, & over exercised myself to exhaustion, inflammation, & imbalances.
I didn’t have many friends & missed out on SOOO many memories because I feared eating food, both because I didn’t wanna go over my calories & be “fat” & I feared being judged for not being able to eat “normal” due to my Crohn’s.
I didn’t ask guys out, I doubted myself. I was never athletic enough, skinny enough, lean enough, strong enough, pretty enough, smart enough…
I never reached a body goal I was happy with no matter how thin I got or how strong I got. Not because I wasn’t a hard worker, I worked my ass off, but because my relationship with myself, my negative mindset, & fear of gaining weight controlled ME.
I had a DM from a woman desperate for me to give her magic macros & all the answers to get a lean physique.
First thing she said, “I’m afraid to gain the weight back, but what I’m doing isn’t working.”She was eating tons of lean protein, little fat, stated she was hungry all the time, fasting, working out like a fiend…sound familiar?
I said you’re right, it’s not working. The main issue isn’t not having the perfect macros or workout regime, it’s because you’re letting your fear of gaining weight block your doors of abundance & success.
It’s preventing you mentally & physically from making the correct decisions & courses of action. Your body also responds to your thoughts & feelings, if all you think & feel is self hate, despair, & poor health – that’s what you’re gonna get.
She said, “I never thought of it that way.”
I said, “Exactly.”
So I wrote a list of simple things I did to help me learn to love myself for you to refer back to. Make these yours however they fit & resonate.
I hope they give you HOPE that you can learn to love yourself too.
Simple Ways I Learned to Love Myself
Self awareness means to know & accept yourself. It’s impossible to love yourself if you don’t even know who you are. Invest in discovering what you believe, value, & like. And yes, this will mean making mistakes, but you’ll learn & discover what you do like.
I asked myself these questions: What are my strengths? How do I want to feel in my body, relationships, & finances? Who matters most to me? Who are my people? What am I ashamed of? What do I like to do for fun? What am I worried about that consumes my thoughts? What are my values? What do I believe in? If I could have one wish, it would be… Where do I feel safest? What or who gives me comfort? What or who do I numb with? If I wasn’t afraid, I would… What is my proudest accomplishment? What is my biggest failure? Am I a night owl or an early bird? How can I arrange my life to better suit this part of me? What do I like about my job(s)? Does it bring me joy & fulfillment? What do I do to show myself love & self-care? Am I an introvert or an extrovert? Am I energized being around others or being by myself? What is/are my happiest memory/memories? What am I grateful for?
Say “no” when you need to. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you smart & more able to fully yourself & those around you. Boundaries are one HUGE form of self-care because they let others know that you are deserving of respect.
Comparison is the thief of Joy -Stop. Others aren’t better or worse, more or less than you; we’re all just different. You are worthy simply because you exist. Period. The reason we struggle is because we compare everyone’s highlight reels to our behind the scenes.
The reason we struggle is because we compare everyone’s highlight reels to our behind the scenes.
Know and own your strengths. We all have tremendous gifts. refer back to those questions in number 1. And again, stop comparing. When you’re busy, distracted, & always stuck in comparison “whoa is me” mode, it’s hard to acknowledge & access these vibrant qualities. Focusing on your strengths will increase your positive feelings for yourself & inner & outer vibration.
Let go of the past. Your past mistakes and imperfections don’t need you anymore. Cut the cords physically & energetically. Embrace your humanness. Mistakes are normal. Imperfections are part of what makes you, YOU. Everything is an experience. That’s it. You can choose & begin again every day.
Accept that some people won’t like you no matter what you do. All that matters is you love YOU. People view you from their own lens of life experience & trauma. We do this to others too. So think about that before you go to judge someone. Don’t waste your time trying to please people who are impossible to please or people who just aren’t that important to you. Being yourself means you have to give up your people-pleasing ways and embrace your authentic self. People pleasing leads to you losing yourself & ultimately building resentment.
Make JOY & fun unapologetic priorities. We were meant to live this life in Joy. Put something you love & look forward to on your agenda every week. Anticipation is a key stage in helping you feel happiness; by having something to look forward to, no matter what your circumstances, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place. That’s you vibrating those happy feelings we all want which helps us attract abundance into all areas of our lives.
Practice gratitude. Gratitude is one of the simplest ways to focus on the good in yourself and in your life. Name at least 3 things you’re grateful for when you wake up every morning. Flood your mind & morning with positive quotes, images, intentions for your day. This is an enormous part of my morning routine. I speak out everything I’m grateful for no matter how silly they seem. I can’t tell you how many times I say, “Thank you God & Universe” during my days. And it has made all the positive difference. Even for small things like a light turning green, or a parking space, or bills or expenses that enable me to live a life of comfort & joy.
Here are some things I like to do that help me live in positivity & gratitude:
Waiting in a checkout line, compliment someone. Acknowledge people & say good morning. Buy someone’s groceries or coffee. Be kind to the homeless & less fortunate.
Leave sweet notes for your partner, spouse, kids, roommates, coworkers, etc telling them how much you appreciate them. Send a kind text.
Send people gifts on Amazon. OMG, one of my favorite things to do! Get their address & send them something to brighten their day! You can do this anywhere & anytime without even leaving home or getting out of your pj’s!
Tip well & express gratitude for exceptional service. Give well deserved reviews. I do this at restaurants, bars, on instacart & amazon, surveys about services.
Thank the Universe, God, Collective- whatever & whoever you believe in for letting you live another day.
Thank Mother Earth & farmers for our food.
Express your appreciation for the weather.
Daily, write down at least 3 things you feel grateful for.
Look in the mirror & appreciate all the miraculous things your body does for you. What do you love about yourself?
Open the door for people. Help the elderly. Talk to everyone no matter who they are. Tell people who serve you THANK YOU!
Take nurturing, loving care of your body! Y’all, health is truly priceless & your greatest wealth. Give yourself the gift of feeling physically strong & thriving – move, exercise regularly, eat healthfully, hydrate, get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights, say no to gluttony, & minimize alcohol &/or other numbing mechanisms. The most successful, happy people are those with daily success habits & a routine that helps them thrive!
Write yourself a love letter. Get it out, you’re amazing! This puts all the wonderful intentions out there & that’s what you’ll attract back to you. We attract what we ARE. Attraction also includes the words ACTION. Do the things that embody the person you desire to be. Repeat this list in the mirror every morning. Write them out on post it notes & put them where you can see them.
Surround yourself with a nurturing, up leveling environment. This includes everything you consume: people, books, movies, social media, food, drink, jobs, where you live, where you hang out, etc. Who you spend time with reflects how you feel about yourself. People who feel worthy surround themselves with positive people. Sometimes loving yourself means you have to end relationships & things & let them go. Let them go with LOVE.
Things that keep me HIGH VIBE⚡️✨:
Pinterest scripting (saving photos I wanna manifest & those that make me feel AMAZING, LUSCIOUS, VIBRANT, EMPOWERED, etc)
High vibe music
Exercise, walking, nature
Infrared sauna, red light therapy
Positive podcasts & audiobooks
Coloring & Canva design
Talking to my people, writing
Smiling at someone, hugging
Doing something kind for someone
Gratitude shower
Putting on makeup, hair/wardrobe accessories
Dressing in sparkly vibrant clothes/jewelry
Massage, Doing my nails, lash & hair extensions
Organizing & cleaning my space
Wearing certain colors #colortherapy
Start with the ones that feel easiest for you & work on something new every week. A reminder you can do hard things, especially when the hardest thing feels like loving YOU.
Hailing from Fishers, Indiana, Katie is an aficionado of healthcare, fitness, & personal development.
You can find her personal weight loss & healing story here.
She’s been involved in travel nursing & radiography for 20 years! She’s a writer, connection maker, nutritionist, & entrepreneur who loves helping others & squeezing every drop out of life!
Katie grew up on her family’s beef cattle & crop farm where agriculture & healthcare were her first loves.
She is a Purdue University graduate well known for her storytelling of life lessons & personal transformation with weight loss & Crohn’s disease.
She competed as a competitive CrossFit athlete in her early 30’s. After decades of struggling with her own health issues from Crohn’s, obesity, disordered eating, infertility, & hormonal imbalances, she is passionate about helping others find self-love, achieve their health & business goals, & create sustainable success habits for an EXTRAordinary life!
, nutritionist, & high performance coach, she specializes in helping struggling women & men get out of the mud and build the life & body of their dreams. To see if you qualify for Katie’s Coaching Program, fill out an inquiry form 
