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!
Before I can dive into this, we need to agree on a few things. First, if your goal is body fat loss, the number 1 magical “exercise” you should be doing daily is quit eating sh*t food.
Ditch the highly processed, I have no idea how to pronounce that ingredient, junk.
Eat real food.
Next, to cardio or not? A: it depends. What are your goals/limitations? How’s your biofeedback/stress/recovery? While I agree it can be overdone, I don’t think it needs to be avoided entirely. When done in combination with strength training, cardio can have benefits.
It is possible to lose fat without doing cardio at all, but that depends on your goals. And be realistic here, do you mentally & physically have what it takes to diet down to those shredded pics do you think you want to look like? Are visible abs worth it?
Cardio is a way of increasing your deficit without having to severely deprive yourself. Cardio will NOT increase your muscle mass. Ladies, pick up the weights.🏋🏼♀️
Aerobic exercise can help increase blood flow & oxygen to your muscles & brain. This is good for recovery from intense activity & getting rid of brain fog. Some of my best ideas come when I’m walking (or drinking 🏃🏼♀️↔️🤷🏼♀️↔️🍸😁)
Endorphins release when exercising. This helps lower stress & improve mood. Take that 20 minute walk at lunch.
Don’t use cardio as a way to punish yourself for indulging. Practice forgiveness. One cheat meal or bad day won’t kill you. Refocus, get back on track, eat real food, drink your water, & conquer YOUR LIFE.
Most of all be true to yourself & realistic about your goals. If you love cardio & approach it with the right mindset, who cares if the person next to you tells you otherwise.
That might not be their cup of tea, but that might be your shot of whiskey 😉 🥃 #cardiovsweights
Q: Do I need to train different for muscle gain vs fat loss? I want your arms & shoulders! What do you do? A: One, the basics don’t change. Two, you just need to be the best version of you💚 The most common mistake I see people make is changing their training & nutrition every time the wind blows. You guys have to stick to something consistently for more than 2 weeks-30 days. The biggest difference between muscle gain & fat loss phases are going to be the amount of food you’re consuming. Your workouts shouldn’t change much, maybe volume & intensity to reduce the stress on your body in a calorie deficit depending on your biofeedback. Volume, intensity, & duration are your levers you can adjust any way that you need to tailor for your needs. Walking is really all the cardio you need if your strength training & food are on point. You don’t need to do endless circuit training, group training, & HIIT for results. Sweating is not a point of progress or efficacy. Your fit trackers are not 100% accurate when it comes to calorie burn. We shouldn’t be working out to earn or burn food anyways. It is fuel and should be treated as such. During fat loss phases we simply want to maintain as much lean muscle mass as possible because you’re eating in a deficit. Muscle gain takes extra food & it is very hard to do both simultaneously. Commit to one or the other. ⠀⠀ Train & eat smarter, not harder😉 Enjoy some sample programming & movements that I enjoy for push, pull upper body, & lower body days. Swipe! ⠀⠀ Consistency & loving what you do are the keys 🔑 always! Oxox Coach K
Had a client tell me yesterday she loved running but everyone said cardio was “bad” & she should only lift weights. 🤦🏼♀️ (but she hates it & is the reason she avoids the gym)
This is the problem with the inter-webs & having so much information at our fingertips. We get lost in the things we love, we ignore our intuition, & think we have to do what everyone else is doing.
I’ll ask you this, if you choose a form of exercise you hate, do you think you’ll stick with it? Don’t you think getting to the gym, period, is most important?
I personally love me some cardio. 🙋🏼♀️ Type A, give me that hit & high all day long. No shame as long as you are using it for the right reasons & from a place of self love, not self hate.
Too many people use it to punish themselves for overeating, or they use it incorrectly as a singular form of exercise thinking it will build them a booty 🍑
You absolutely can use cardio to reach your fat loss goals. It’s just another tool for your toolbelt! Strength training can be abused as well, it all comes down to your application & relationship with food & exercise.
Cardio conditioning is a tool that improves your health, performance, & even allow you to build some muscle (yes, cardio can!).
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For example, why do many CrossFitters look so “jacked?” We combine cardio AND resistance training in our workouts. Is it for everyone? NO, not if you hate it. Will it work for you if you stick with it? YES.
Cardio should be intelligently applied, just like lifting weights.
We should be working all our energy systems & using different modalities, switch it up, your body does adapt.
People are gonna tell you you CAN’T do a lot of things. They’re gonna tell you THEIR way is better than YOUR way…
You’ve asked great carnivore questions over the weekend. I’ll summarize for those I haven’t had the pleasure to chat with & tell you some things you may not want to hear…
▫️I don’t ‘treat myself.’ My view of food has changed since going animal based. I “treat” myself everyday, enjoy every bite & it all serves a purpose — nourishment & fuel. Food is not a reward/something to earn.
▫️You must experiment with different meats/food/fats, eating/fasting windows, meal sizes/freq, tracking macros vs not, & macro ratios. Your experience will be different than mine. It takes TIME. It took me an entire year to fully adapt &, yes, I gained 15lbs initially.
Common Q&A’s:
⇢ Majority of my meals are 85% ground beef, ground chicken, & salmon. Avg 2lbs of meat/d, 2-2 1/2 meals/d. Yes I drink coffee. Ground meat is easier to digest & track. I removed pork & dairy, I found I don’t digest’em well. I only consume them on occasion in small quantities.
⇢ I stick to beef bc it’s satisfying & delicious but not SO delicious I want to over eat. For those who struggle with food addiction, like me, find foods that are satisfying & get the job done without triggering over eating or bingeing. We typically do better with food rules, we are abstainers. (Food addicts tend to have issues controlling carbs, sugar, sugar free substitutes, keto treats, dairy, butter, cheese, bacon, pork rinds, hyper palatable & processed meats)
⇢ I track macros loosely. It keeps me accountable & I know where to adjust. Rice cakes/white rice on occasion post workout or in the evening if I need them, portioned carefully, rarely above 50g/day.
⇢ YES, you can CrossFit & carnivore, CAREFULLY. Comes down to allowing yourself to fully adapt to being fat-fueled, meal timing, eating ample calories, & RECOVERY (sleep, rest days, deloads) Macros 10% C – 30% P – 60% F for ME**
⇢ Sleep is a MUST. 7 hrs min. Zzyquil helps. It is what it is, I’m transparent here.
⇢ Still hit 13-15k steps/day, even on rest days, drinkin a ton of water + electrolytes, reduce alcohol, fasting when I’m not hungry (~18hrs avg), eating when I am. No extended fasts, no snacking.
It’s taken me 38 yrs to understand where my body is at mentally & physically.
And I’ll have to keep figuring it out every day for the rest of my life.
Have patience. Take care of your body it’s the only forever home you have♥️🏠
I’ve talked about this before…I am the first to admit I prefer extremes & love the high of a red line heart rate.
Thought this was appropriate to talk about with CrossFit open right around the corner.
These particular videos — this workout was basically like 15 minutes in the pain cave🤢
I prefer to overtrain & over work. I prefer that ‘sittin in the dirt’ feel of a fat loss cut over a surplus.
I’m also one to admit I’ve learned a lot through these chapters of extremes & they’re not ones you want to chronically stay in.
Most of you I talk to & SEE in the gyms…you’re doing enough. Maybe we should try to do less 🤷🏼♀️ We have seasons for a reason. Mother Nature doesn’t hustle & grind all year.
If a little is good then MORE is better right? That’s the mentality we adopt.
Some examples:
Drinking a couple socially vs gettin black out drunk & wakin up in a bush.
Being content with what you have vs always wanting the next best thing to keep up with neighbors.
Losing 10lbs vs starving yourself & beating the shxt out of your body 7 days a week.
Sometimes you may need to push yourself more, but let’s be realistic. If you have a good routine down, you work out 3 days a week, you eat well 90% of the time — you don’t need to work out 7 days to be worthy.
Ask yourself:
— Are you working out efficiently & putting in the work when you actually train?
— Are you using positive self talk & affirmations?
— Are you eating appropriately for your goals?
— Are you eating low carb because instafamous Karen does? Are you trying to be a vegan because Yoga Bob down the road does yet you don’t feel well eating vegetables?
— Are you doing stupid workouts with inappropriate weights just because Crossfit beast Sarah lifts 300lbs & you think you should do?
Had someone tell me yesterday, “I want to look like you. How do you eat & train?”
I replied with, “You can’t look like me & I can’t look like you.”
This mornin before work, I had about 40min. So this is me, a shameless gym selfie, committing to me.
Some important things I’ve learned the hard way I want to pass along when it comes to training.
Listen, I’m not the expert, but I have been one to make all the wrong moves first.
I’ll lead off with hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. You know the saying. I’m not just talking about this in the aesthetic sense, same thing goes to your healing protocols & taking time off too.
Here goes…
1️⃣Genetics play a big part & if you hate what you’re doing you won’t stick with it. Consistency & adherence get you results with nutrition & training.
We’re not genetically made to all look the same. Thru trial & error, you will find the aligned nutrition & training program that work for you. INVEST in coaches & trainers to guide you. Quit your diet & program ADD.
2️⃣Be intentional about your training. Just because you go to the gym doesn’t mean you’ll see results if you’re not really doing the work. Just like hiring a nutrition coach, you still have to do the work. Stop trying to out supplement shitty nutrition, over training, & putting more work into posing in the squat rack or being more concerned if your hair & makeup look on point in your IG video.
→ Follow your program.
→ Nutrition & recovery build your foundation.
→Supplements aren’t really that important. The basics are. SLEEP.
→Prioritize HEALTH first. Eat food. Get your gut & hormones in check.
3️⃣MOST important, manage your mindset. You can wish all you want but if you don’t commit to yourself, don’t believe you can achieve, & still tell yourself you fxck up all the time — you’re gonna fxck up all the time.
We all have cups we fill: self care, career, relationships, body goals, financial goals. Choose which cup to drink from & which one to refill. Your seasons will change & that’s ok. But commit fully to that season so you can truly reach your potential.
I went into this low carb, insulin reset diet as another learning experience. What I found was a wake up call.
A lot of knowledge and life bombs here 💣
With the dramatic life changes for us all over the course of the past 2 weeks, cliché as it sounds, everything happens for a reason at precisely the right time.
Why the reset? I had been overly stressed, trying to cut, eating a high amt of carbs (via jasmine rice/rice Chex/occasional alcohol) while intermittent fasting & focusing on 2 (occasionally 3) larger meals a day.
👉🏻I have Crohn’s, struggled with a missed diagnosis of IBS basically my entire early life & was overweight.
👉🏻Don’t digest fruits or vegetables or fiber or seeds or skins well
👉🏻Thrive off animal meals & animal-based nutrition
👉🏻Struggled with disordered eating & bingeing
👉🏻 Spent 4-5 years healing my gut & getting myself out of metabolic adaptation because I ate poverty macros for fuggin forever
👉🏻Tried to competitively CrossFit on Paleo, Quito, low carb & did all the dumb shit for years
👉🏻I eat lowfodmap, gluten-free, dairy free, bullshit free 😆, and basic af, not cute meals are my jam. Why? Because that’s how I like to eat, Karen.
Save this for later 😉
My cut started out well, but as we progressed I noticed my energy was all over the place I was starting to feel more out of control eating larger meals (I was fuller throughout the day). My fasting blood sugar was consistently higher (for me) around the 95 to 100 range, staying elevated even 2 hours after eating.
Mine typically sits around 80 to 85 in a controlled environment, fasting.
My digestion was decent, but I still felt inflamed, puffy, & like I was carrying a lot of “fluff” around my middle which I did not have in my 20s. (I was more low carb as far as my diet approach in my 20s, & my workouts were lower intensity). I didn’t CrossFit until my 30s.
My lifestyle now is very different from even December 2019. My stress is higher & I’m traveling more.
My last cut was amazing (I had not dieted in 2 years & was coming off of a surplus) My schedule & stress were more controlled.
Last 12 week cut for a photo shoot.
💭🤔 HELLO!!!! Katie, you’ll be 38 in July, you don’t have the same body you had in your 20s. Dude, you’re almost a legit Cougar 😻😂
💁🏼♀️It’s time to get real, refocus, & realign.
To those of you in your 30s, let me tell you, things change quickly. You don’t recover as quickly, nights of bad decisions haunt you for weeks, and you’d rather go to bed by 9:30 than stay up & go clubbing. PS you still don’t have your shit together in your 30s. 👍🏼🤘🏻
I’ve learned this is the time to accept, adjust, & think about longevity more so than a ripped set of abs.
I love being lean & feeling light & strong, but just because you look the part doesn’t mean you’re healthy on the inside. Abs, striations, & single digit body fat — don’t help you live to a ripe old age.
These require different levels of commitment and flexibility with your diet and training. Be realistic.
MY CHANGES:
👉🏻Focus on a low carb approach, primarily animal-based nutrition. Why? Because I thrive off animal meats & already don’t digest fibers and plants well. I will harp at you till I’m blue in the face, go your own way! Don’t send me fucking hate messages because I eat animals. I’m not telling anyone to eat this way, I’m simply sharing my experiences and reasoning why.
👉🏻I also am not “CrossFitting” because all the gyms are closed, therefore, my activity is more lower intensity. This would warrant lower carbohydrates for my needs are not as high.
👉🏻I am also sleeping more, reducing caffeine intake, & fasting at least 14-16hrs overnight to recover, give my digestion a break & allow my body to balance itself out.
👉🏻I need an approach that is going to keep me fuller, longer, with less energy crashes to sustain long days working at the clinics & hospitals. I don’t like worrying about food & a bunch of meal preps, just my personality. I prefer two large meals a day. Naturally, protein and fats will do this. they take longer to digest and are harder to digest by the body — keeping blood sugar more stable, energy levels more stable with you feeling fuller, longer like a cherry on top. Which is why I’m taking a higher protein, higher fat approach.
👉🏻Macro wise, I am loosely tracking just to make sure my calories are in check. Keeping my carbs 50 g & under. Not really paying attention to where my protein & fats fall, obviously I’m getting plenty of both with animal-based nutrition with the inclusion of nut butters.
👉🏻I Am tracking weight, progress photos, & blood sugar with a simple glucometer (am fasting, 2 hrs post meal, bedtime) just to see how my body tolerates specific ratios, salt intake, stress, & food choices. Not because I’m focusing on the weight on the scale. Obviously when reducing carbohydrates, you’ll naturally lose water, so a lot of this is water weight loss, initially.
Me this morning 3/24/20 113.7lbs
THINGS IM LEARNING:
✅CrossFit is not in aesthetic sport. Stop choosing CrossFit to look like a bodybuilder. Align your training, lifestyle, & align your food. Manage you mofo stress!
✅I personally feel much better on a carnivore-ish diet which aligns better with my lifestyle right now.
🌀My digestion is exceptional, my bloating is gone, bowel movements routine & normal, my puffiness is gone, I feel lighter.
🌀After nine days I’m noticing aesthetic changes finally. Stomach is starting to lose that patchy fat in my stubborn areas above and below my belly button.
🌀Yes with the training differences I’m getting smaller, and softer but I’m fitting more naturally back into my happy setpoint. My weight is staying around 113 pounds.
🌀I don’t hurt as much (minus my broken toe I have right now).
🌀No energy crashes, I have absolutely no cravings for sugar and I’m offen satisfied with one large meal during the day after my fasted walk.
🌀I love walking, it is my savior mind and body. I don’t need to work out six days a week and I need to sleep more. Duh.
✅The more data we have the more we can make educated informed decisions about our lifestyle & food choices. Do we need to worry about tracking & measuring all of the time — NO! But there’s a time & a place for it so you can learn & make educated decisions about how to live your life for YOU.
Quit whining, complaining, yo-yo dieting, yo-yo training, yo-yo living your life aimlessly because you’re not educating yourself. Get tested, invest in mentors, coaches, doctors to help you. There are free podcasts, wonderful people & resources on social media, books you can purchase & things out there at minimal cost.
✅Your goals should be centered around 4 different areas: healing, performance, aesthetics, & longevity. Your seasons will change, adjust accordingly.
✅People just think glucose is just a measure of carbs, it’s not, it’s a measurement of your lifestyle. Stress, food choices, sleep, your workouts, air pollution, under eating, over eating, toxins, artificial shit you put in your body or on your body — it all matters. It all affects your physiology, hormones, gut health, & processes that go on internally.
✅You have to ask yourself what level of stress you are OK with in your life. Adjust accordingly. If you choose this stress level, don’t bitch when you don’t get what you want.
✅The biggest thing people ignore are their mindset & their thoughts. So why are people having such a hard time right now being at home with their thoughts?
BINGO.
I hope this helps you wherever you are in your journey. Remember only you know your body best. I am not endorsing anyone to follow any particular diet I want you to learn, I want you to follow your heart, and I want you to ALWAYS listen to your gut. ❤️
