by EM2WL | Apr 29, 2014 | Self Acceptance
At EM2WL, we believe whatever your fitness goals, you should enjoy your journey and celebrate the moments along the way where you are achieving small victories.
Nothing can rob you of that joy more than comparing yourself to others.
Daily, we are blasted with messages from social media, blogs, and even friends and family regarding fitness. We are wise to be on top of our mental game by eliminating messages that will cause us to second-guess the journey we’re on. Surrounding yourself, as much as possible, with like-minded people is a great way to keep you moving forward and motivated.
However, its easy to look at those that motivate us and begin to wonder why we aren’t experiencing the success they are. We can move rather quickly from thoughts like “Wow, look at her, she’s doing great and I’m so happy for her!” to “I wish I had that kind of success, but I’m obviously doing something wrong.” We start to nit-pick the path we’re on, and pretty soon we’re convinced that if we did x, y, and z like so-and so, we would be able to manufacture their success.
Listen, everyone is different. Each of us has a different set of genetics, metabolic capacity, and body type. Beyond that, each one of us experiences different life circumstances. Stress can add in an additional variable to manage. Even if you were able to follow your best friend’s diet and exercise plan to the letter, you would get different results. Comparing yourself to others can only introduce an additional stressor that can do more to hinder than help your progress.
Understand that fitspo is not real
We’ve all seen them, the pictures of super-ripped (read: unrealistically lean) headless females with some saying that is meant to motivate the masses…
Strong is the new skinny
Eat clean, train dirty
When I lost all my excuses, I gained all my results
Try harder, you’re worth it
You get the idea. Gag me. Apparently a picture of a headless chick in a thong and heels doing deadlifts are apparently supposed to motivate us to swear off carbs for the rest of our lives, train so hard we feel one step away from death at the end of our workout, and finally lose all that weight so we can prance around night and day in a bikini. The fact is no one can look like the headless models in these pictures, day in and day out. Some serious photoshopping goes into most of these pictures. Even those models that really do look like those pictures only do so for a short time because it’s very unhealthy and unsustainable to carry such low levels of body fat. Getting a physique like the models in these pictures is generally the result of an extremely restrictive, short-term diet, not a healthy lifestyle. See them for what they are. Be your own fitspiration!
Put yourself on a media diet
It’s not just the fitspiration that’s the problem. Even if we are careful to surround ourselves with a “fit fam” who shares the same mentality and goals as we do, it can be easy to get sucked into the comparison game. Try to limit your time online. If you start to compare yourselves to your online inspirations and are struggling with feelings of inadequacy of failure, it might be time to take a step away. Make sure that your life is about more than your fitness goals! There is a considerable amount of time that goes into planning out meals, scheduling workouts, and training in the gym, but don’t let it become your sole priority in life. Make time for the things that truly matter-your friends and family, your significant other, your spiritual life, rest, relaxation, a personal hobby.
Make sure your goals are your own
Regardless of your goals, make sure that you are setting goals for you, not based on the goals you think you should have. Think about what achieving your goal will mean to you personally and what it will require for you to achieve that goal.
Be proud of mini-successes along the way
Remember that this isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. There are sure to be ups and downs along the way, so make sure to check in frequently with yourself. You may or may not have a goal weight or goal size, but try to set up mini-milestones along the way that are sustainable and achievable. Setting a few performance-based goals in the gym can be sanity saver and gives you many reasons to celebrate along the way. You never know, you may find that achieving that elusive goal weight was never the real goal anyway.
Becca is a busy wife and homeschooling mother to five children ages 5 to 13. About three years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts. As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.
by EM2WL | Apr 11, 2014 | Intuitive Eating
Q: I’ve been tracking my food and counting my macros for about a year now. I’m loving the results I’m seeing, but weighing and measuring everything, counting calories and reading labels sometimes makes me feel a bit obsessive, even though I know I’m eating plenty. Do I have to track my food indefinitely?
A: Absolutely not! In fact, one of our goals for you is to learn to eat intuitively!
EM2WL doesn’t recommend calorie counting as merely a way of restricting food, but rather as a means to determine if you are eating ENOUGH! Using a calorie counter like My Fitness Pal can be a great tool for educating yourself about the calorie and macronutrient breakdown of different foods. It doesn’t take long to familiarize yourself with proper portion sizes and an understanding of setting up meals that will help you reach your macro goals by the end of the day. Many of our clients that begin tracking their food are surprised to learn they are eating far too little.
Photo credit: Stuart Miles
The ultimate goal of tracking food, however, is to trust yourself enough to eat intuitively, even without the security of tracking every macronutrient. Keeping a food log provides an opportunity to educate yourself about how to adequately fuel your body. After a short time period, you are likely to find the best way to set up your meals to reach your daily macronutrient goals. You will probably find what foods make you feel your best, and which foods you’d be better off avoiding or eating less frequently. You will probably find that for the most part, the staples of your eating plan are fairly similar from day to day.
If you’re used to keeping pretty accurate food logs, it can feel pretty overwhelming to make the journey to intuitive eating, but it’s well worth it in the long-term. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, think about implementing small baby steps with the long-term goal being eating intuitively.
1. Keep a food journal, but don’t count calories
If you’re afraid that a break from logging will turn into an all-holds-barred eating fest, keep yourself accountable by keeping a food journal while you make the transition. Don’t worry about writing down amounts, but do jot down times and foods consumed, along with a few notes about how different meals make you feel. Are you satisfied after each meal? Struggling with emotional eating? Notice you don’t feel so hot after a particular meal? Struggling to get through workouts? All these observations can help you to make informed decisions about making a few simple tweaks to your eating plan.
2. Listen to your hunger and fullness cues
In addition to paying attention to how different meals make you feel, make sure that eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are satisfied, but not overstuffed. This may seem too obvious and simple to even mention, but for those who have spent a long time dieting, counting calories, and/or eating at specified times, it can be difficult to discern when you are hungry and full.
3. Log late in the day
Photo credit: Praisaeng
Another approach that can be helpful is to eat intuitively throughout the day and then check how you’ve done once you’re done eating for the day. You may choose to continue to weigh and measure foods during this transition, but remember the ultimate goal is to rely less on weighing and measuring foods and learn how to trust yourself to make decisions about food choices and portion sizes. It may be helpful to continue to weigh and measure “big ticket” items like fats and starchy carbs during this time, and eyeball things like lean meats, fruits, and vegetables since they have less potential to be overeaten.
The following rule of thumb might be helpful to remember:
1/2 cup rice or grains=1/2 baseball
1 1/2 ounces cheese=4 game dice
2 tablespoons nut butter=1 ping pong ball
3 ounces lean meat=deck of cards
1/4 cup dried fruit or nuts=1 large egg
1 tablespoon butter=1 game dice
1 cup cereal=1 fist
Bodybuilding.com also has a pretty awesome visual guide for eyeballing your macros.
4. Check your “eyeballing” occasionally
Occasionally, after you’ve already portioned your food, check in with your digital food scale to make sure you’re still on track. Hopefully, you will be pleasantly surprised that your portion sizes are pretty spot-on! If not, a few days of getting back to weighing and measuring should get you back on the right track.
5. Take a short break from logging
If a break from logging food makes you extremely uncomfortable, consider taking just one or two meals per week off. Over time, you might be able to extend this time into a full day, and over time you are sure to find that you are trusting yourself more and more comfortable with eating intuitively.
Photo credit: lamnee
6. Don’t give up!
Be patient with yourself and forgive yourself if you run into some bumps along the road. Those things that are truly worth it in the end rarely come without a few obstacles. Ultimately, you are sure to enjoy the freedom you find from being able to eat intuitively. If you seem to be struggling to stay on track, you can always go back to logging for a few days. Remember there’s no time limit here and this is your journey! You can take as much time as you need to accomplish your goal. We look forward to hearing your success stories!
Becca is a busy mother five children ages 9 to 17. About seven years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts. As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.
All photos credit of www.freedigitalphotos.net
by EM2WL | Apr 7, 2014 | The Journey
So I’ve sent in my success story before of my weight loss but I just thought I would follow up.
I hit my “goal weight” almost a year ago but when I hit it I knew I wanted more! Being 5’3 everything says I should weigh 130-140 so I’ve been trying for a year to get my weight down…during this time, I stopped counting my calories and tried to make better food choices by eating no processed food as much as I can but it slips in their here and there ;) I kept my weight training in and just recently added in a bit more cardio.
The scale never goes down, this whole time it only goes 150-155 and I’m so frustrated so I started meeting with a trainer and he’s been tracking my bodyfat, and in three weeks I went from 17% body fat to 16% and down 3.5lbs (of fat) but the scale has never moved. It’s been the same! That means I’m gaining muscle and losing fat! I feel so great and I finally believe that the scales LIE!!!! Here is a picture of only three weeks in which I went down in bodyfat percentage but not the scale.
I know how success stories keep me going everyday! Life struggles are always there and knowing the little things can push you through is what its all about!
Thanks ladies for all the inspiration!!!
Melanie
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Willing to let us tag along on your journey? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
by EM2WL | Mar 26, 2014 | Fat Loss / Cutting
Ever wonder why it gets harder and harder to lose weight? Or why you’re finally doing it the right way, but the scale just won’t move?
Dieting… Why is it so hard?
The more you diet, the less likely you are to lose weight – because you lose muscle and gain fat repeatedly — ultimately crashing your metabolism. Some studies have shown that for every 13 pounds lost on a traditional, low-calorie/high cardio diet, six pounds of muscle is lost. That’s almost HALF. In case you didn’t know:
Muscle = metabolism
This means that the more you lose, the slower your metabolism is. Then when (not if) you regain – you gain back FAT ONLY. Every time this process repeats, the fat percentage becomes higher than it was before, while muscle mass drops lower. So, even if you are the same weight you used to be, you’re technically “fatter.” If your weight is higher than it used to be, it begins to seem almost impossible to get the weight off. In some cases, it actually is impossible — if not futile — considering the loss of muscle mass and resulting metabolic crash.
After going through several diets, our goals must change. No matter how much you weigh – the goal (whether you realize it or not – your body does) becomes to “bulk” and build muscle to replace what was lost. Even if you ignore this fact, and attempt to start cutting the right way (eating a proper amount of calories and including some lifting) – your body still wants and needs to do this. When weight training during dieting – even if you’re in a deficit – you WILL gain muscle to replace what was lost. This means that you could sit at an extreme standstill on the scale, until your body has replaced every.morsel.lost… Remember that the scale does not tell the whole story.
Some women may only lose four pounds, yet drop two jean sizes; others may gain several pounds, and drop the same amount on the jeans. Although this is a more than nerve-wrecking experience, STAY.THE.COURSE. Because your only alternative, is to repeat the above course of action – and end right back at square one…gaining MORE fat.
Terrianne hadn’t seen any progress…based on the scale ;) ~Check out her story!~
Still not convinced? This study goes into extensive detail about how each diet leaves our body with less of the metabolism boosting muscle that we need. For those not interested in the 97 pages of details, here’s the meat: women will lose muscle naturally (23% in women between ages 30-70), if they do nothing to preserve it. Diet + cardio = muscle loss (68% fat, 22% muscle). Diet + LIFTING = 97% fat loss, and only 3% muscle loss. Big difference? We think so. When you truly grasp how the fat continually increases (while the muscle stays the same or lessens) between diets, you’ll understand how we diet all our lives, yet end up bigger. Doing it right is so hard to wrap our brains around, but I’d rather have 97% fat loss over 68%. How about you?
So…Is there any hope?
Many women hear of the harmful effects of the dreaded yo-yo diet and throw their hands up in frustration. They either decide that eating properly isn’t worth it, so they go back to overeating (drowning sorrows) or undereating (back to the diet comfort zone). With all this bad news, they feel despair over their hopeless metabolism, and reaching their fat loss goals.
There’s always hope!! You simply have to be JUST as patient with doing things the right way as you were with the quick fixes.
We’ve trained ourselves to have much more faith in doing whatever it takes when the process is quick. Yet our faith wavers when doing the right thing takes “too long.” It really becomes about not looking for the same measures of success that you have in the past, and not putting yourself on those same timetables. Something is always happening, but the amount of patience that we have, and stress that we put ourselves through will come into play. I tell clients that taking on fat loss in the right way – after years of doing it the wrong way – is like going to college. Every time you doubt the process and change something up (unnecessarily) it’s like changing your major mid semester — you add more time to your journey. More time is lost in this process due to the wavering of trust, than to the actual length of time it may have taken with a tad consistency. Add stress/cortisol to the mix, and it’s like taking a full semester (or two…or three) off. Stressing about your journey, and changing things up constantly to make things happen more quickly, usually hurts more than it helps. It never makes them actually happen more quickly (you either stand still or head backwards). Stay the course. Again – it’s tough, but the alternative is worse.
But what if you can’t lift?
Some clients feel hopeless because they have limitations that keep them from being able to lift heavy enough. We are not talking mindset limitations, like “I’m too old/young/fat/skinny, etc…” Those would be considered excuses, not limitations. But others of us may have actual physical limitations, or injuries (permanent or temporary) and doctors orders to not do certain movements. If this is you, you have to work with what you have. Not everyone can lift heavy. Heck, I (Kiki) couldn’t for the past year, due to injury. If the situation is temporary, then keep your protein in check, allow yourself to fully heal, and get back to it when you can. All you can do is the best you can do. Don’t put yourself at risk by taking on more than you can, and don’t put your metabolism at risk by eating less than you need. The healing process is worth it in the end. You’ll be able to lift soon enough (although I personally know how hard it is to wait).
If the situation is permanent, then much of the above still applies. Finding ways to add resistance that works for you will be your key. Just find ways of putting as much resistance on the muscle as you can to maintain what you do have. Feel free to contact us if you need help, putting together a personalized plan for your circumstances.
Feel like you’ll NEVER see changes?
Sometimes it’s really hard to see changes in ourselves that are so obvious to others. My husband, family and friends always see changes in me before I “allow” myself to. My first instinct is to deny that anything is happening until he says it about three to four times…or until someone else says it. Remind yourself to take compliments at face value. Most people have nothing to gain by telling you that “you look amazing” or “like you’ve lost tons of weight.” Instead of saying “no I haven’t” followed by some negative retort (because of your own inner scale struggle), train your mind to just accept that they likely see something that you haven’t allowed yourself to see yet. Take a few moments to allow the compliment to sink in — and remind yourself of it every time you cross paths with a mirror, until the next compliment rolls in (or you find a new one to give yourself).
Learn to see yourself as (or better than!) others do, rather than constantly being your own worst critic.
by EM2WL | Mar 3, 2014 | Consistency, Fat Loss / Cutting, Motivation, Nutrition
Combining family and fitness
Trust me, as a busy momma of five children I understand that feeding a family, presents its own unique challenges. When you are working towards eating for your fitness goals, that can be even more challenging. And if you throw an food-allergic child or two into the mix, things really get interesting!
For years, I allowed these challenges to overwhelm me to the point that I figured there was no way I could possibly lose weight or become fit. I allowed excuse after excuse to creep in, and eventually just stopped trying. Years later, I came to a point where I realized that my excuses finally caught up to me. I had to make a way to embrace my challenges and succeed in the midst of them.
2010 – I’m smiling, but can remember dreading getting family pictures done because I hated the way that I looked. My life has completely turned around!
I’ve been at this for about three years now. After struggling to lose weight despite being on one diet right after the other, I learned that our whole family needed to embrace the changes that I was attempting to undertake. Fortunately, I am blessed with a great support system in my husband and children. Today, all of us are healthier, more active, and happier. Instead of looking at this like a diet, our whole family’s lifestyle changed.
Over the past three years, I have emphasized eating for different goals including powerlifting performance, weight loss, muscle gain, and fat loss. However, our family’s approach to eating has remained fairly consistent.
Below are a few things I’ve learned along the way…
Ditch the Diet Mentality
This sure doesn’t look like a diet to me! Big breakfasts are something our family loves to enjoy together.
There’s no reason that you should have to prepare separate meals for you and your children.
Even if you’re eating enough calories, preparing separate meals tends to make you feel like you’re on a diet. This feeling of mental restriction may actually trigger binge eating.
With a little recipe tweaking, even kid-pleasing family favorites like pizza, tacos and spaghetti can be included into your weekly meal rotation. Simple tweaks like adding a serving of protein, adding more veggies, or trying out a healthier twist on a recipe can ensure that you are hitting your macros. Get creative in the kitchen!
Have a weekly meal plan and stick to it
This can be as detailed as you want! To begin with, I’d recommend coming up with a list of weekly dinners. It may be helpful to ask for some input from your family as you are coming up with your list. I usually keep a list of meals on the refrigerator, and will sometimes ask my family which meal sounds best to them in the morning.
The good, the bad, and the ugly…a typical trip to the grocery store includes lots of whole foods, and plenty of treats too!
If you’re stuck in a cooking rut, you might check out our Pinterest boards for some healthy alternatives to family favorites. Your local library probably has some great cookbooks that you can check out for some new ideas. Trying out a new recipe once a week can be a fun family adventure, and may lead to coming up with some new recipes!
If you are home all day with young children, it may be helpful to come up with a list of breakfasts and lunches that they can select from. Keep some options for easy meals on hand, and as they get older, allow them some freedom to make choices and prepare their own lunches or breakfasts. It’s a great lesson in responsibility. As a homeschool mom whose kids seem to always be hungry, this has been a huge time-saver for me. Now that my oldest three are 13, 11, and 10, they are pretty self-sufficient and usually select pretty healthy meals for themselves.
After you’ve come up with your meal list for the week, make your grocery list so that you have everything on hand you need for a successful week of cooking (and eating).
Plan a day for food prep
After your trip to the grocery store, it may be helpful to do a little food prep make the cooking process a bit faster.
S
ince you already have all the groceries out, why not take a few extra minutes to think about the meals you have planned for the week ahead. It only takes a few extra minutes after you get home from the store to cut and bag fresh veggies, cook up and freeze some hamburger meat for soups and casseroles, or separate foods into single-serving containers.
I like to do this on grocery shopping day because there are already so many things to put away! I usually prep a few casseroles for the freezer to give myself some quick grab-and-go meals for those busy nights when I don’t have a lot of extra time. I also tend to cook extra meats, rice, potatoes , or vegetables when I am already cooking so that I can re-purpose the leftovers into a whole other meal. Thinking ahead can save a lot of time in the long run!
Don’t keep self-sabotaging foods in the house
At EM2WL, we are all about including all foods into your healthy eating plan. Nothing is off limits! That being said, however, many of us have foods that tend to be triggers to throw caution to the wind. It’s important for each of us to recognize our limits in this department. Keeping a lot of highly processed snack foods in the house “for the kids” may be a recipe for disaster if you are prone to occasional binges. Trust me, the kids will be okay without keeping them in the house. Help them to come up with healthier alternatives for snacks instead! Know yourself and your limits.
Involve your kids in the kitchen
Getting your kids interested in eating healthfully can be as simple as inviting them into the kitchen.
Even my youngest loves brussel sprouts…and dark chocolate chips too…OF COURSE!
Not only does getting them in the kitchen teach them math skills, responsibility, and nutrition, it can also be a fun time spent just with you. Even very young children can help measure ingredients, pour, and stir together a recipe. An older child can be taught to make an entire recipe by themselves and will get tons of satisfaction proclaiming they made dinner “all by myself”! Spending time in the Besides, they are much more likely to try something different if they have helped you prepare it!
Take the time to educate your children about the importance of including all kinds of foods as part of a healthy and balanced diet. These important life skills will serve them well their whole lives!
Don’t completely eliminate treats
Having a moderate and balanced approach to all foods, including treats, is an important part of any successful approach to eating.
Food is fuel, but it is also an important part of our family get-togethers and celebrations. Plan on including some mini-indulgences in your eating plan now and then.
Bake some cookies with your kids. Enjoy a cupcake guilt-free at your little girl’s birthday party. Have a few slices of pizza during family movie night. Enjoy the freedom to pursue your health and fitness goals without sacrificing your sanity! This isn’t a diet, but a lifestyle. Consistency matters! Make choices that allow you to win at consistency.
Becca is a busy wife and homeschooling mother to five children ages 5 to 13. About three years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts. As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.
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