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 slept until almost 7. Our patient numbers in the ER are insane. Grateful for a day off right meow.🐱
➡️I Googled #fengshui for the new year yesterday & they said to wear red or yellow underwear for good luck 🤷♀️🍀🩲 contemplating buying some😄 although I really hate wearing underwear. Jus sayin. I know I’m not the only one, don’t lie.
➡️Set routines not resolutions for the new year. You have to BE the lifestyle & the person you want. Routines will get you there, vapid resolutions with no true intention or action will not.
➡️Figured out how to keep Pete from waking me up when I don’t have to get up early. Set my auto brew on the coffee pot maker till later. ☕️ 🐈⬛ He hates it when I work on my computer in the mornings. He’s a Snuggle bug.
He wants to sit on my lap!
Holy sh*t tomorrow is a new year. I know they say as you get older time flies by, they ain’t kiddin. We’re only here for a short blip.
Simply sharing things on my mind & heart this mornin. Swipe through for lessons I wished I’d learned earlier & “That Girl” habits to bring into 2022.
Click for full post on IG!
I just want to thank y’all for your love, your kindness, your dedication to yourselves to learn & grow & do that with me, here.
Why digestion matters & how to properly take digestive enzymes!
Eating trigger foods, even when I transitioned to carnivore caused a lot of inflammation. I discovered some animal-based foods like pork, pork rinds, PSMF bread, & turkey caused water retention, constipation, weight gain, & poor digestion.
Enzymes significantly helped! I don’t have a gallbladder either, fyi.
I really had no idea the application of digestive enzymes or how vastly different foods affected digestion early on in my journey.
Enzymes play an essential role in physiological processes throughout the body. Natural digestive enzymes, such as lipase, amylase, & protease, aid in breaking down fats, proteins, & carbs.
First & foremost, if you’re experiencing chronic problems, go get tested, see your doctor, practitioner, or qualified coach. Stop ignoring the root causes.
The best time to take your enzymes is right before, or right as you start eating. When in doubt, check the label. Usually anywhere from 10-20 minutes right before you eat is ideal.
Most of us lack stomach acid. We don’t slow down when we chew our food, we’re always in get sh*t done mode & this is the 1st step in the digestion process.
EXAMPLES OF COMMON SUPPS & TIMING:
💊BETAINE HCL &/or ACV: increase stomach acid to breakdown down macros, especially proteins & fats. Take prior to eating.
💊OX BILE: great for people without a gallbladder, especially doing keto/low carb/carnivore. Take prior to eating.
💊MOST BROAD SPECTRUM DIGESTIVE ENZYMES: take before or mid meal.
💊FISH OIL & MULTIVITAMINS: take mid meal.
💊PROBIOTICS: take at night on an empty stomach.
Below are lessons learned, my triggers & symptoms. You may be experiencing similar. Remember we’re all different!
MY SYMPTOMS
▪️bloating after eating dairy, carbs, larger meals, too much sf gum
▪️reflux, poor digestion, inflammation after eating larger quantities of pork & turkey
▪️constipation when eating too lean too long & too many pork rinds
▪️bloating & constipation after eating PSMF “bread” (egg white powder sensitivity)
▪️Bloating after larger lunch & dinners
▪️poor digestion in general later at night (which is why I don’t eat “dinners” & eat early in the day)
▪️gas & gi bleeding eating plants, grains, & most carbs other than white rice
▪️right lower quadrant pain during flares
▪️chronic constipation & slow transit digestion if I eat trigger foods, don’t get sleep, or am stressed to the titties
▪️low stomach acid & reflux eating trigger or meals too high in fat for my threshold
▪️low energy after too large/high fat meals
▪️energy crashes after eating carbs
▪️inflammation & water retention when eating triggers, too many artificial sweeteners, carbs, shitty sleep, too much stress, too much alcohol, workouts too high in intensity/volume/frequency
MY TRIGGERS
▪️Gluten, corn, fiber, grains
▪️Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, most seasonings
There hasn’t been a day of my life where I haven’t needed to read a quote, a poem, an affirmation, a book, or beautiful words from a talented creator to express how I feel, give me a hug, punch me in the gut, break my heart, or put it back together.
You know what I mean?
I told a friend one time I understood the feeling of that hopeless pit. I said, “I hope you find love, but most importantly, I hope you love yourself more to be strong enough to walk away from what love isn’t & find peace in the realization that you are already love.”
In my 20s/early 30s I made plenty of bad decisions after my 1st divorce at 27.
Plenty of fast & furious acquaintances, some more longer-term, they all aided in growth (some more enjoyable than others 😂)
Hxll, let’s be honest, some I don’t even remember. It’s like that person you put in your phone as “Joe Bumble” or “Dude from Texas” 😆📲
I talked about this in therapy. My therapist said it’s because when I was younger I didn’t believe I was worthy of love I desired.
Which is why I picked men that were not on my level, & to be frank, EASY for me. 🤦🏼♀️fxck me, she’s right.
She said now I’m “selective & guarded”because I’m actually afraid I might find someone & be forced to choose between my happiness & freedom of autonomy & that person. I’m afraid to make the same mistakes like being a people pleaser & losing myself.
Today was an absolute sh*t show at work. One of those days the ER is completely full all day, like a waterfall that never stops. Don’t get me wrong, I love busy days. I love the rush. It’s an addiction & a high for me.
Like working.
I know it’s an addiction. I love working to the point of exhaustion, same with physical labor.
💁🏼♀️I’m a special kind of crazy, I know.
And I realized this week I use it partly as a shield. It’s really hard for me to get truly close to someone, to crack open & completely expose myself emotionally.
I know I don’t NEED anyone. I love myself & my life so much it’s kind of embarrassing.
Not in a narcissistic way but I have so much appreciation for the woman writing these words today compared to the woman 5 years, 10 years, 20 years ago.
I can bleed my heart via words with y’all & I’m not ashamed to talk about heartache or things I really just am not good at.
My last marriage ripped me to shreds. I hadn’t taken a chance & loved someone like that in a long time.
I come back even better every time I experience a failure whether it’s in life, love, or fitness.
I hate heights. I’m even more afraid of falling. I’m not afraid of love, I’m more afraid of rejection & the scattered pieces of my heart that follow.
I’m not afraid of being alone, I’m more afraid of committing to a relationship & feeling lonely, again.
I’m proud of my risks & mistakes. I would never know how good it feels to realize you love someone so much it brings you to tears & no matter how much that other person pisses you off, you can look at them & you’re like, “Yeah, that’s my person.”
The thing is – I’m not the same woman as I used to be, & neither are you. We have the privilege to learn from our past experiences, good & bad, to find US & THEM.
Tips if you’re stuck in this rut:
– Take off the mask & filters. Perfection isn’t needed, the “real life shxt” is what builds a solid foundation.
– Own your baggage. Have the hard conversations you don’t want to have, with yourself & the people in your relationship.
– Be open to meeting someone with the same level of consciousness. You attract the energy you put out. You also have to be open to receive & believe you’re worthy of your desires.
– Live with JOY & Unattachment to outcomes. You have control over your reactions, which means you choose whether it is a positive experience or a negative one. It’s simply an experience, not a right or wrong decision.
I personally do not digest plants, gluten, fiber, nuts & seeds, lectins, or oxalates well. Figured this out thru trial & error & 3 decades of living with gut issues.
You can catch the details of my story & whole first year one the Carnivore diet here in this interview.
The research points to YES according to Dr. Mark Hyman. Gluten has been found to negatively impact the lining of the gut, creating “leaky gut” or intestinal permeability, even in those who do not have celiac disease. The lining of the gut is supposed to be strong & tight, keeping food, waste, & microbes inside the digestive tract. Gluten can cause the release of an inflammatory protein called zonulin, which opens up the junctions in the lining of the gut & causes gaps, allowing particles to leak into the bloodstream (where they don’t belong) & creating an immune response. This sets the stage for systemic inflammation. To summarize world renowned gut specialist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, animal foods are the foods that FEED the human body & SUSTAIN the physical structure of the temple you live in. Because only animal foods can provide the right quality protein & fats to build your physical structure. Our human digestive system is perfectly designed to digest & absorb animal foods.
Tap photo for cheat sheets on recipe for #meatbars
These are basic physiological facts.
Plants are indigestible for human beings. In order to digest plants mother nature created ruminant animals. They are equipped to digest plants, like cows, they have 4 stomachs with specific microbes. You have to have the right kind of microbes to digest plants & fiber efficiently.
We don’t have a rumen like cattle. We have 1 stomach that releases hydrochloric acid, which creates a hostile environment for many microbes, which is why the stomach is the least populated area of the digestive system. This acid & digestive enzymes are specifically equipped to break down meats, fish, dairy, eggs.
Plants do not digest to a large degree, they are than passed through the rest of our digestive system. We digest a small amt of water, things like vitamin K, vitamin C & some phytonutrients
Our body — muscle & fat & organs, are structurally almost identical to animal based products. Only animal foods provide the optimal protein to build YOU efficiently.
The more they study plant proteins, gluten is the most common, the more researchers find it is unsuitable for the human body & damages everyone in some way.
Light bulb moments right?
And fiber? Which is what all my doctors told me to add back in along with fruits & veggies when I was experiencing chronic constipation & slow transit digestion are all like sandpaper on my insides.
Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water. It’s abrasive to the gi tract & damages the epithelial cells. Bacteria ferment fiber, creating gases like carbon dioxide, hydrogen, & methane.
Now do you understand why you’re getting gas pain in building when you keep adding fiber & more plants to your diet?!
A Journal of Gastroenterology study showed stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduced constipation & its associated symptoms. Showed complete resolution of constipation, bloating, & painful bowel movements within the study group on a zero fiber diet.
Now do you understand why I stick to meat & eggs & my digestive symptoms & constipation are completely gone since going meat-based?!
You just need to eat food you digest & absorb properly. All of us will be different but biologically most of us will do better on an animal-based diet.
Choose food that doesn’t cause any digestive distress or emotional issues triggering self sabotaging habits.
Hands-down for this cattle farmer’s daughter👉that’s meat for me.
This is me this morning getting in my workout!
I feel great, I love the way I look, I feel strong, & I’m never hungry. I 💯 support our farmers & give gratitude to Mother Earth & all creatures giving their life so we can thrive❤️🦾
Feeling pretty & PRETTY STRONG this mornin. Shamelessly admiring my arms in the freakin awesome lighting🦾 @hotworx.fishers
Your homework is to take time to simply love on yourself today, too. You’re magnificent!
Photo dump on IG of my morning success habits which includes me writing to y’all (& myself) every single day.
Workout at HotWorx Fishers. Loving the new Blast workout!
Post workout breakfast. 1.25 lbs of 80% ground beef #meatbars Airfry. 380. 12 minutes. Did not consume the fat in the bottom of the airfyer to make it leaner. Recipe is on my IG, link in bio & in highlights. I bring an Airfryer to work . Instant Vortex 6qt.
Happy light! I use this portable light everyday for 30 minutes. On Amazon Favorites List on IG. Link in IG Bio.
I had a great workout & sweat sesh while learning & listening to @iamsahararose & @itskrista talk about The Law of One. Well done sisters👏🏼 this was mind-blowing 🤯 & remarkably expansive!
Sparked what I felt nudged to channel & share with you guys:
Uncomfortable truths I wished I had realized & accepted earlier in life …
Here goes…
Happiness is the byproduct of living your purpose. Happiness doesn’t make you happy, having purpose makes you happy. Once you become at peace with your purpose, your life & your body will fall in line. You won’t feel the need to numb & self sabotage with emotional eating, gluttony, self-loathing, overspending, sleeping around, excessive drinking – pick your poison.
Talking with clients & reflecting on my own journey, the reason we self sabotage is because we’re trying to find love & stimuli outside of ourselves & feel we have no purpose, no significance.
It’s like eating when you’re bored. It’s like the elderly & their partner dies or they’re put in a nursing home or you take their keys away, they often expire shortly after. It’s like taking away their purpose.
Gut check moment, right?!
Learn to redirect your mind & you then learn how to redirect your life. It’s your choice.
We all have definitions of heaven & hell. We are all deliciously unique individuals. Just let people BE. Loving someone in the hopes that they will change is not truly loving someone. Truly loving someone is giving them the free will to live as they choose. This includes learning to lovingly release & let people go. Remember everything happens for you not to you. Stop trying to cram a round peg into a square hole.
Not everyone wants to be in the same kind of “relationships.” The definition of a relationship will be different for us all. We’re all One. One Love. There is no right or wrong way to live your life, it’s all an experience of your choosing.
I personally feel there is no requirement to have to slap labels or legally binding contracts on relationships to make them more significant or lucrative.
What “successful” looks like, what “beautiful” looks like…if they make you happy & fulfill some part of you, let it BE & savor the moments. And if you choose at some time to be exclusive or to change your definition in a different way, let that BE & savor the moment or the season. Stop over complicating shxt.
Have a partner who wants to see you thrive & evolve WITH YOU or no partner at all. Y’all, being around energy vampires who’re trying to keep you small is painful af – AND your decision. One of my best friends, as well as myself, have been in a relationship(s) where the other persons needs & goals were always way more important. You felt all that mattered was that you made it as easy as possible for THEM to move forward & be comfortable. If you achieved success, they were jealous, felt you were overshadowing, it was never as good as theirs, & your goals were ridiculous.
Even though we sometimes can’t choose whether we fall in love or not, we can indeed choose whether we stay with someone. There’s a big difference in being alone & lonely. I will repeat this to my very last breath. If your partner constantly dulls your shine & all you feel is your energy waning & seeking to people please, it’s probably the wrong partner.
A rich relationship should be full of support, nourishing challenge, & encouragement. If someone doesn’t want to see you achieve your dreams, they won’t be there when you hit rock bottom either. Sorry Sis, no, quit bullshxttin yourself. And just because a relationship has lasted “a long time” doesn’t mean it’s working.
Life isn’t “fair” it just “is.” If you expect life to be fair, you’ll be disappointed & never reach your potential. Shxt happens, & sometimes, there’s no reasonable explanation for why things happen or why people do what they do.
Ultimately I do believe we manifest our lives & attract what we get, we attract what we are. So think about that & control what you can control, which is your vibration & reaction to things.
There won’t ever be a better time to start. Most people waste their lifetime procrastinating instead of living their desired life because they think there will be a “better time to start.” You never know how much time you have left, & life is certainly too short to postpone experiences that bring you joy. Making a wrong decision is better than making no decision. It’s like that saying I love SO much, “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” 😂
Money is simply energy & it has power. No matter if you like it or not — money matters. Learn to love it. Learn to appreciate it. It isn’t bad. It doesn’t make people bad. The vast majority of the global population spends 40+ hours per week working for money. Most people hate their jobs, but stay because they need to “pay the bills.”
Many of us spend a significant part of our lives working for money, I personally LOVE working, it brings me happiness & a feeling of purpose, but most people deny its importance or they let it define them.
Stop denying the power & importance of money & start learning how to use it to your advantage & give back. Make it work FOR you, stop wasting it on useless things, use things love people, invest only in things that bring you joy & upleveling.
Money isn’t everything, but it certainly brings you freedom, the ability to give back, & makes life a whole helluva lot easier & more fun.
Social media can steal your time, energy, & your soul but it doesn’t have to. I have a love-hate relationship with Social media. The trolls make it unbearable some days, haters gonna hate, hurt people hurt people, etc. etc.
Your voice matters, don’t let other people stifle what you want to share with the world. Be proud of your life & your body. You can decide whether you use social media to make your life better or worse. You have control over what you consume & what you see.
Choose to be a creator, not a consumer of content. I loathe the word influencer, I choose to be an Authority. Sorta sweet, sorta Beth Dutton vibes. 🙅🏼♀️😉 Where my Yellowstone fans at?! 👋
Final thoughts… Life ain’t always easy but it’s always good. It’s a privilege to wake up & be alive. Don’t expect life to be fair, create your own rules. Or do as I do, I don’t do rules I do what feels right.🙃
If you constantly choose comfort & ignorance over courage & awareness, you’ll end up being the puppet of others. If you, however, manage to embrace the following truths, you might be able to design an extraordinarily fulfilling, purpose-driven life earlier than I did.❤️❤️🩹❤️🔥
I’ve never been good at asking for help. Not in school, not from friends, not from the doctor, therapy, not from mom & dad, not from anyone really.
Always had that “figure this shxt out for yourself” mindset.
I know now this stemmed from fear of being judged – fear of being wrong, fear of being viewed as weak & stupid & not being able enough to take care of myself.
In my 1st marriage, I was not the breadwinner. I depended on him for numerous things. To put a roof over my head. More expensive items & investments. Paying for vacations & when we went out to eat. And he provided, which I’m grateful. He’s a good man & I wish him the best to this day.
I didn’t have a lot of money. I was in debt. Still a hard worker but could just never get my head above water. I felt like a prisoner & hopeless & weak. I should’ve left years before I did for the both of us to thrive.
This fear of having to rely on someone else grew throughout my following relationships. I was the breadwinner for the majority of them. Fear of commitment & dependency turned me into the stereotypical emotionally & relationally avoidant. You could imagine the pain of having to say I was a “dependent” when I married a US Marine. Omg the sting.
Growing up on a farm you’re raised to be strong, productive, resislient, & self-sufficient. There wasn’t always someone there to help you. You had to learn to figure things out for yourself.
Which I guess is why I do well in radiology, too. We have to think on our feet, outside of the box. We often times work alone, we have to move patients by ourselves, we have to learn to get images & diagnostic exams done for your doctors with as much precision as possible so we can help save peoples lives.
We are the eyes of your physicians. If we don’t do an exam correctly & efficiently, a diagnosis could be missed or misdiagnosed which changes the trajectory of your life. If we inject the wrong contrast or don’t follow proper protocol, we can kill you.
Talk about pressure right?!
We’re not just monkey button pushers.
Xray school just exacerbated my issues with not asking for help. Stubborn. As. Hxll. I hated every moment of Xray school. You feel like you’re under constant scrutiny & criticism. It’s true, survival of the fittest & only the strongest survive
One of my favorite mentors, Dr. Stephen Cabral, sent an email yesterday about this very topic. Him & his team helped me heal from SIBO & a bacterial overgrowth years ago. I learned much from them about proper functional nutrition.
This really hit home for me too… You can apply it to any area of your life.
“If you encounter a forest & you know on the other side are your hopes & dreams, you’d want to get through the woods as fast as you can…
But most of us struggle, forever hacking through the bushes & branches, changing directions, getting lost, & wasting time…
While all along if we had just stopped before making the treacherous journey on our own & found a local guide that had traversed this forest thousands of times, that person could simply show us the paths they’ve cleared over the years.”
I don’t know if I needed to hear this, or someone else out there too, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I know I’m not the only one out there that has been conditioned to believe “figuring it out for yourself” is some badge of honor. Like I used to think not eating & beating the
out of my body was too.
I’ve learned I NEED to ask for help & it’s ok. That’s what we’re here for to help support, learn, & grow together, united.
It doesn’t mean you’re weak, stupid, or incompetent. It means you’re smart because no one knows everything & you should never be the smartest one in the room or you’re in the wrong room.
This is the fastest & most guaranteed path to success. On every level: health, weight, relationships, career, finances, spirituality.
If I can ever help in anyway, I am honored to be your guide. This was way longer than I expected but obviously a message that needed to get out there.
Wish you all the best Monday & start to your week!
This morning I I realized how messed up my relationships were.
I thought about chapters in the past, the struggles in particular. I talked about overcoming struggle yesterday.
(If you haven’t, check that blog out. I needed to hear it myself too. A swift kick in the🍑)
Food, body image, money, & love are all connected. My 29 year old self & sure as sh*t my 19 year old self had NO IDEA.
It all comes down to energetics & the way you FEEL about yourself.
I told y’all my body image issues, eating disorders, & fxckd up relationship with food & myself started at the age of 8.
I never felt pretty or significant. We had “enough” as a hardworking family of 5, growing up on a farm.
But as a child, often material “wealth” outweighs the truly important things like kindness & service.
So if you don’t have certain things or dress like the cool kids, you’re picked on & told that you’re poor & less worthy.
If you’re not skinny like the popular kids you’re told you’re fat & not worthy of love.
This wrecked my relationships with love, food, & money for decades.
As a result I racked up credit card debt to buy things to make myself feel more worthy.
I over ate & under ate to control my body thinking reaching a certain size would make me worthy of love. Exacerbating my poor health, disordered eating, & gut issues.
My romantic relationships we’re like rainbows of confusion, struggle, & continuously feeling lost.
We place value & control on specific things for validation in hopes of making ourselves FEEL a certain way.
Usually the feelings we’re chasing are to be loved, seen, heard, worthy, significant, & included.
We want to be CHOSEN & LOVED.
Over spending
Discounting & under valuing
Emotional eating & Disordered eating
Over exercising
Giving our bodies to people who don’t deserve them
People pleasing & playing small
Excessive drinking & drug use
In American society we tend to value thin bodies, financial wealth, titles, material wealth, “fitting in & following suit.”
Improvement in all of these areas of my life started with changing my mindset, my energetics around my worth, reminding myself money is just energy, thoughts became things & I controlled my reality by my reaction, reminding myself there is so much abundance in this world, I matter simply because I exist & because I have a kind heart & choose a life of service & purpose.
I felt some of you out there may have needed to hear this message this morning & know that you’re not alone.
I may be known as a “nutrition coach” & “Xray tech”, but a reminder there are so many more facets to you than labels, food, money, & body image.
And my doors are open if you need a listening ear who accepts you as perfectly imperfect as you are.
And what you are is incredible simply because you’re YOU.💕
Ya know I love vacations but I LOVE going home, more. Anyone else like this too?
Back to routine. My home. My gyms. My Pete 🐈⬛. My bed. My people I love.
Gettin ready to head back to Indy tomorrow.
As I did laundry & packed, I let my mind wander. This vacation felt like a huge reflection & reset for me. New beginnings.
A few:
Starting a new job PRN at the VA hospital in Indianapolis soon. PUMPED!
New workout routines & body goals, it’s gainz season y’all 🦾🦿
Purging stagnant & less optimal habits & replacing them with better ones
Purging things I don’t need
Simplifying & optimizing business & life
Being ok letting old friend circles go
Pushing myself to do new things, date, & meet new people
I am actually REALLY excited to enter my 40’s. Something about moving into a new decade makes me feel optimistic & all warm & fuzzy like a deep conversation over an old fashioned or a cup of coffee.
Life really hasn’t turned out as I “expected”
I feel it has turned out better & exactly how it was supposed to.
Kinda like this jumper here. This 5’1, shorty was skeptical about buying it. It was not what I expected – but BETTER. Well done Amazon, well 👏🏼 done 👏🏼 XS fit purrrrfect 😻😆
My younger self thought at 40 I’d have it all figured out, be happily married for decades, picket fence, 2 kids, #merica ….y’all can laugh now.
After 2 divorces I feel like the universe is telling me I make a really good ex-wife 😂 And ya know what? I am. I’m a great ex wife. I love all my exes. I have zero baggage & no hard feelings. I choose to remember the lessons & all the wonderful memories from my relationships.
That thinkin at 40 I’d “have it all figured out thang”…hxll I can’t even fxckin remember where I park my car in the mornings or what day it is half the time.😝
Spiritually I still feel like I’m in my 20s, most days I physically feel BETTER than I did in my 20s.
I say I have a young spirit & a significantly old soul. Dangerous combo.
I look young but inside I’m a baby grandma. Totally ok with it. Some days I can party with the best of them but most days I’m an introvert, don’t ask me to do anything after 8 PM.
It’s like I don’t really know what to do with me? So finally I just said fugg it, I don’t do rules I do what feels right. Especially dating or dressing myself.
I’m at that weird age I really don’t know what’s appropriate, like how to “dress for my age” or “date in my age range”
WTF does that even mean anymore?! 🤔🤷♀️
Someone, if you have the answer please clarify this for me 🙋♀️
I surrendered y’all. I surrendered to the fact that I will continue to get older each year & I don’t have to have expectations at all. Simply just a direction to always be working on bettering myself.
I vow, this year, to settle in & let my 39th year wrap itself around me like a warm & fuzzy Sherpa jacket.
I remind myself that faking happiness & perfection are the quickest way to die on the inside. I remind myself life is what it is & it IS what I make it. Do shxt that makes me happy & brings Joy. Be kind.
Moral of this page from the life of Lilbitoffit:
I’m a 39 yo old woman. I’m flawed & weird af. I don’t love everyone & everything, & there’s plenty of people who do not love me & I could care less.
I am getting wrinkles, sunspots, & I sure as hxll can’t recover from drinking like I used to & way over consume caffeine, but I refuse to give up coffee & making memories with friends & family.
I am still working on loving myself & living a life that makes me proud, fulfilled, & content. And I’m cool with having no idea what I’m doing or where I’m going. It’s never boring 😉
Thank y’all for listening to this “middle-aged”rambling.
Cheers to officially being a “cougar” next year 🐆😸
There are 50 shades of a meat based diet. Some people include small amounts of carbs, some do fat or carb re-feeds, some do not. Don’t be that Ahole that shames other people for including other things & different approaches into their diets because you don’t. We all have different needs/preferences. I see it too much. No need for dogma of any kind, we are here to learn & support one another. Choose what work best for you.
Seems most “higher” protein carnivores are around 40P/60F, 50P/50F, 60P/40F as far a protein/fat macro ratios. Always go your own way, again, we’re all different!
I’m showing you what I’d do for myself as far as macros, not saying you have to follow these, but a visual & calculation breakdown were requested. If you need coaching, fill out an inquiry here & I’ll send details via email.
Your 1st steps in choosing any kind of diet need to be:
1. KNOW YOUR WHY & BE SELF AWARE
2. UNDERSTAND YOUR STORY & FOUNDATIONAL STARTING POINT
3. DEFINE YOUR REALISTIC GOAL
4. SET A PLAN & ORGANIZE YOUR SUCCESS ROUTINE
As far as Carnivore, get adapted & heal FIRST. I wrote a blog from an interview on my experiences the 1st year of my carnivore journey. Please read that interview here (link also in IG bio to blog post) — it will answer the majority of your questions as far as my story, living with Crohn’s as an athlete, adapting, transitions I went through, & my special digestive needs & trigger foods.
I don’t recommend any kind of manipulations with the carnivore diet for fat loss until you are adapted, eating at maintenance, & thriving confidently with this lifestyle.
Fat Loss Tips:
Create a calorie deficit from pulling from your fat macros. Protein should stay consistent (around 1g/lb of body weight or goal weight for most) Tracking will help. It creates awareness & more educated decision making when making adjustments. Protein for most/meal should be around 30g minimum, most do fine around 40-60g/meal if you’re eating 2-3 meals/d.
Choose meats that are easier to track & control like ground meats & eggs. Leaner meat will naturally be lower in calories.
When in a calorie deficit, & this will depend on your degree of calorie deficit, it can be helpful to increase your protein macros to maintain as much lean muscle mass as possible especially if you’re strength training. (YOU SHOULD BE)
If you’re fat cycling for fat loss, try 4-5 lean days/wk, 2-3 higher fat days/wk. Its helpful to have higher calorie (high fat days) on days of higher activity or harder workouts. You can also reserve these for days of social events for easier adherence.
Diet breaks & structured refeeds can be wonderful tools to create adherence, consistency, & decreased hormonal & metabolic stress. I included a graphic on different kinds of periodization.
Intermittent fasting can also be a wonderful tool to allow larger meals for satiety while staying within your allotted calories. Choose eating windows that work for you & your schedule. Do not abuse fasting. Extended fasting is not necessary, most do fine fasting 14-16 hrs overnight. It will bite you in the a$$ by increasing stress on the body if you abuse them. Same for overdoing protein sparing modified fasting (PSMF). PSMF are more applicable to people with significant weight to lose, of higher body fat, & kept only 2-3 days/week. If you cannot control yourself with portions after fasting because you’re SO ravenous, decreases your fasting windows.
If in doubt, WALK. Simply increasing steps & choosing lower intensity activities will be easier on your body yet still help create a calorie deficit by increased activity.
If you’re including carbs in your training & fat loss diet, keep them around workouts. Your largest meal I prefer post workout for recovery & optimization & earlier in the day. Taper meal sizes as the day goes on.
If you’re waking up starving, having sh*tty sleep, peeing all the time, low energy – these are signs you may need higher fat, higher calories, &/or a period of a diet break or refeed. YES, hunger will be part of a fat loss diet, but you also want to optimize hormone & metabolic efficiency as much as you can. That’s what diet breaks & refeeds are for. If you’re body & mind are stressed to the titties as I say, it will not drop body fat easily or optimally.
Sleep is a nonnegotiable, 7-8 hrs/night. If you eat carbs, a little before bed can help decrease your cortisol level. Do not eat late, heavy meals. You won’t sleep well & your digestion will be a dumpster fire. If having loose stool after meals &/or wonky digestion, include some digestive enzymes before or mid meal to help, decrease meal sizes & decrease fat. You will adjust. I use Nuethix Formulations Utilyze, Discount Code: lilbitoffit
1lb ground @perduechicken (yes the brand matters 👋 chicken snob. It tastes best)
2oz cream cheese
1 egg
Dash of salt (I rarely measure 👀)
Pork Rinds for the coating (I prefer Epic brand baked pork rinds but use what you want. I find it takes about 2-3 bags of the small Epic packages & about 3/4-1 bag of the regular sized pork rind bags)
DIRECTIONS
Mix ground chicken, egg, cream cheese, & salt in a large bowl
Crush pork rinds up
Roll chicken into a “meatball” or use a spoon or scooper to scoop & coat the meatball with the crushed pork rinds (warning, it’s sticky af. That’s chicken for ya)
Place meatball or nugget (however you wanna shape your chicken) in the air fryer. Space evenly. Spray your basket if you need to.
Airfry for 10 mins at 400°
Flip your nuggs & cook for another 5-10 minutes at 400°, depending on your desired crispiness or texture. I like mine CRISPYYYY so I do 10.
