by Keysia Linares Marzullo | Apr 10, 2022 | Binge Eating, Diet Mentality, Intuitive Eating, Metabolism Reset, Nutrition, Videos
If you’re struggling with your weight or have a history of yo-yo dieting, then intuitive eating may be able to help. Find out what it is and how it can help you reach your goals!
Intuitive Eating: What is it, and How Can It Help You?
I’m just going to put it out there. If you want to lose fat, you have to be in a caloric deficit. How do you know if you’re in a deficit eating intuitively? Is intuitive eating good for weight loss? Will intuitive eating make me fat? Can intuitive eating work? There’s so much confusion around intuitive eating and its purpose. We tend to see many questions and misinterpretations about intuitive eating and when to use it in our journey. We often see this happen when someone says, “will intuitive eating work for me?”; usually, there’s something behind that word “work .”
First and foremost, if you want to know if intuitive eating will work for you, you want to ask yourself that question. What do I mean by work? Are you using it for binge episodes, to lose weight, or go on a journey of self-love? There are so many different reasons why people head down the path of intuitive eating that it’s crucial to understand what intuitive eating is and what it isn’t.
I have found that when asked, “Is intuitive eating going to work for me?”, usually they are referring to a weight loss technique. With Eat More 2 Weigh Less, when I’m referring to intuitive eating, it’s typically for someone in the “Chill Phase” or the metabolism reset phase. Those are the main two times that I would recommend that somebody venture into intuitive eating. The reason for that is that although there are five phases of EM2WL, typically three of those, you’re keeping a tight rein on what you are eating. When you’re tracking your food and keeping a tighter rein on what you’re eating, it’s a little bit harder to eat intuitively because you may want to eat something that will not fit in your calories or macros.
Who Can Benefit From Intuitive Eating?
If you … Are Healing From A Diet Mentality.
The best time to use intuitive eating is when you are trying to heal from a diet mentality. Diet Mentality is when someone is constantly thinking that getting smaller and being thinner will solve all of their problems – a thought process that has infiltrated and cultivated our society, even now. If you’re of that mindset, then that’s when intuitive eating could be a path you should set out on, to become okay with the fact that getting smaller is not the absolute solution to all problems. Diet mentality tells us that there’s this quick and easy solution to something that has been plaguing us for our entire lives. “Try this 2 week, 30-day, 90-day diet and lose X amount of pounds!” When you start constantly chasing after all of these fad diets and thinking that you can solve weight loss issues overnight, that leads to this constant feeling of shame and failure when you don’t succeed in a diet when in actuality, most diets are failing you.
If you … Struggle with Binge Eating.
Another instance where intuitive eating would be an amazing route to go on is if you struggle with binge eating. This typically carries over from dieting because we often don’t realize that restriction typically begets binging. You see people constantly trying to like stick to this perfect way of eating, constantly restricting calories, removing things from your diet that you actually like and enjoy, or just eating too little food. It’s going to work until it doesn’t, and then when it doesn’t. So when you’re constantly struggling with these binges, whether it’s a binge-purge cycle in the traditional sense of actually purging the food manually or a purge where you eat a lot of food and then you’re trying to burn it all off with exercise. There’s also restricting yourself so much that it leads to an all-out binge. So if you’re stuck in that cycle, that’s when intuitive eating can help because one of the biggest benefits is learning how to honor your hunger cues.
If you … Categorize Your Food In Extremes.
The third reason why intuitive eating would work for someone is to help them understand that every food serves a purpose. One of the things that we don’t tend to realize when it comes to dieting, is that we start to slowly categorize food. We’re trying to fit things into a very tight window of opportunity or a tight amount of calories, points, or whatever the case may be. You start looking at something with a lot of points versus a few points, high calorie versus low calorie, high carbs, and low carbs, constantly swinging in these extremes of high and low. So we start to develop this good and bad philosophy about food. Anything with a high amount of calories, fats, carbs, points, or whatever the demon ingredient is of the year is, we label as bad. Lower amounts we look at as good. When we start to live in this good and bad food mindset it puts us in this good/bad position regarding our behaviors. We begin to think that we are good when we undereat and bad when we overeat, eat foods that we love, or things considered “unhealthy”.
Intuitive eating can work wonders for you as you begin to cultivate this mindset around the fact that something can be healthy and high calorie/fat and can be good for you but be on the “bad list,” simply because it’s good for you mentally. Some foods’ entire purpose is to light up your taste pallet and make you happy. Sometimes the purpose is just happiness for that moment or taking a bite and truly savoring how something feels versus bypassing taste to hit some data point. This also means accepting that health and weight loss are not always synonymous.
If you want more info on how health and weight loss are not always one and the same, check out my youtube video Why Dieting Doesn’t Work | The Truth About Healthy Eating
The fitness industry often tells us that losing weight is the epitome of health but that isn’t always true. There are health benefits to losing weight, but there are also health repercussions to getting too lean as well. We look at women in the media and magazines who are doing fitness competitions, then doing photo shoots right after those fitness competitions that appear in our Instagram feed or magazines. And because they’re gracing the cover of a “Health Magazine,” we cannot mentally detach those images from what’s happening and understand that person was most likely at their leanest they’ve been all year. That physique may have been something that they’ve been working towards for three, six, nine months. and at the peak of that leanness, they were the unhealthiest that they had been all that year. They are now seeing negative repercussions of it, like not having their period anymore and losing essential body fat that their body needs. Most know this and plan to put back on their essential fat after the competition and go off and live happily ever after. However, we will continue striving for that image of them that we see in the magazine.
Having that intuitive eating period helps you see things for what they are. Learning to step away from the diet mentality, honor your hunger cues, get away from the good versus bad mentality, and learn to love yourself, right where you are. Loving yourself is crucial. It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 2 or 22, you can hate yourself and hate your body, just the same. When we step away from the thinking that size will magically make us accept ourselves, then true healing can begin. Even if all the commercials are saying the opposite and telling us that once we get to XYZ size, we love ourselves again. That is never going to happen. So if you don’t love yourself as you are, it will not magically happen when you get to be another size.
It’s one thing to have a goal for the sake of having a goal and achieving things that you thought you couldn’t. However, thinking that the goal of losing weight is going to solve a bigger, deeper problem is that is when we need to take a step back and do more of the inner work to find out what we’re seeking.
With that being said, if any of the reasons above are you then I highly recommended going down a path of intuitive eating or taking a chill phase, as we call it. Let that phase do what it is intended to do.
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by Keysia Linares Marzullo | Apr 1, 2022 | Nutrition, Protein, Reviews
Are you looking for affordable home gym equipment recommendations? Look no further! In this video, I share my advice on affordable home gym equipment – all of which will not break the bank.
Affordable Home Gym Recommendations [That Will NOT Break the Bank]
So, today we are digging into home equipment recommendations for anyone who is considering investing in a home gym.
If you are in my workout app, you will know that one of the benefits is our office hours sessions, where I answer your questions one by one. Sometimes I come across questions that I love and want to share with all of you. This week’s post is based on one of those questions. The question is…
What are your home gym recommendations?
When considering a home gym, I recommend asking yourself the following questions first:
“Am I going big, or am I going small?”
“Is this just a substitute for days that I can’t get to the gym or something I plan to do long term?”
“Should I go all in and invest in it all at once or slowly chip away at it over time?
Unless you’re rolling in the dough, most people decide to start collecting things one by one as they go.
If your goal is to create a place for those days where you can’t get to the gym or only use your home gym for specific days in your split, then you would only need heavy enough equipment to make that work. If your goal is a Full Home Gym, I suggest adding on to your supply over time.
That is what I did, and others I know with a total gym did. They started semi-small with maybe a barbell, some dumbbells and then slowly increased. Then once you see that you like it and want to stick with it, you can start investing in things like power racks and more advanced equipment.
So now that we have a general overview, take the time to watch the video above for a more in-depth look into what it takes to start creating your home gym.
Products Listed In The Video:
US Weight Barbell Set: https://amzn.to/3HWv8tm
Adjustable Dumbbell Weights: https://amzn.to/36XPbL3n
Olympic Training Barbell Bar: https://amzn.to/3tUk0t2
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by Keysia Linares Marzullo | Mar 30, 2022 | Nutrition, Protein, Reviews
If you’re like most people, you probably think of Amazon as a one-stop shop for everything from books and clothes to electronics and household items. But did you know that Amazon is also a great place to find high-quality protein products? In this blog post, I’ll share my favorite Amazon protein products and explain why I love them. Stay tuned!
My FAVORITE Amazon Protein Products
Usually, I am harping about protein and how you need to get more consistent at protein, so I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite amazon products to help me stay on track with hitting my macros, mainly my protein. And all of these products are available on Subscribe and Save so that you can have them automatically sent to you when you choose.
What you may or may not know about me is that I am a self-professed carb queen. I love carbs. I do not have a hard time getting my carbs in, but I have a hard time staying consistent. If left to my devices, I start eating whatever feels good to me or intuitively. I eat predominantly carbs, which means that my protein ratio can be anywhere from 15 to 10 percent or less because carbs and fat are life, right?
Macronutrients consist of protein, carbs, and fat, for those who don’t know. Let’s also not forget about fiber which is essential because it gives the thermogenic effect of food. This means you are burning calories just in your digestion, including protein. So if you are someone like me who needs to up their protein, then maybe some of these products and tips will help you figure out how to make it work for you.
Now let’s dive into My FAVORITE Amazon Protein Products.
Core Power Protein Shakes
The first product is Core Power Protein Shakes. This 12 pack comes in different flavors that you can try, such as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry banana. You can choose between 26 or 42 grams of protein (The 42g option is called the Core Power Elite.).
If you are having a tough time hitting protein or someone who looks at your macros at the end of the day and realizes you are down 50g, these shakes may be for you! There are a lot of products that are labeled as “high protein” that are not. However, these Core Power shakes are great when you need to get some grams in.
Now, when it comes to the 42g Core Power Elite shake, I have found that many women find it hard to digest them. It is for me. Usually, in my house, what ends up happening, is that I end up drinking the 26g version, and my husband ends up drinking the 42. This is how it’s been for years, even with protein powders. If you’re somebody who has followed me for any length of time, you know that I was very anti-protein shakes and powders for a very long time, especially Pre 2013-=to 2014.
I thought they were disgusting and tough to get down. However, I discovered over time that some of the protein powders that were marketed toward women were a little bit easier to digest. Many of them were lactose-free or plant-based options, making them a little easier for me to swallow, they started tasting a little bit better, and there were many more options.
I will say that it’s not about the particular brand. Find one you like, but Core Power makes the best protein for me. They are also lactose-free and more accessible to digest than many other brands like Muscle Milk. These are my go-to.
Click HERE To Check It Out!
Collagen Peptides
Next thing on my list is collagen peptides. This brand has 10 grams of protein in each serving, which is excellent for adding an extra protein boost. Collagen peptides are not complete proteins, so you cannot substitute them for something like a protein shake. This is supplemental. I use it in my coffee. No, I am not keto or using it to have like coconut oil, MCT oil, or anything like that. This is literally about the protein for me. And since coffee is something that I drink every morning…. with real creamer and sugar (literally nothing beneficial for me), this is my way of boosting my macros.
If you use collagen already, you know that some can be lumpy. However, this brand (Unflavored) is our preference because it does seem to stir in better than most and gives you an excellent creamy coffee. I will warn you, though, it does not stir well into anything cold, but for us, it works for our hot coffee. It’s been a game-changer for me! I just start each day with a scoop and go about my day.
Click HERE To Check It Out!
Quest Protein Chips
Moving onto our following protein product, Quest chips. Now, I am not going to lie and say that these taste exactly like your regular chips nor are they my favorite to indulge in, but they do the job for some healthy macro boosts.
I keep these around my home and office to have with a sandwich or a quick snack. These give you anywhere from 19-20g of protein, which is not too shabby. You can get them in various flavors like Nacho Cheese, Loaded Taco, and Chili Lime. Chili lime… Oh my goodness. So good. These don’t last very long with my husband and son in my household. They are chip guys. My husband’s favorite is Loaded Taco, and my son thinks these chips are “smack,”…. Whatever that means. (If you are under 30, perhaps you know and can fill me in!)
Click HERE To Check It Out!
Chicken of the Sea Tuna Infusions
Tuna…. but not just any tuna. This particular type is higher in protein ranging around 22g of protein per cup. There are a lot of unique flavors to try, like Lemon and Thyme, Basil, Cracked Black Pepper, Garlic Herb, Cilantro Lime, and Smoked. You can carry them anywhere and come with a small spoon, so it’s easy to eat with your favorite bread or crackers.
Click HERE To Check It Out!
Now that concludes our protein heavy lifters….. Now for the fun stuff!
Quest Caramel Candy Bites
These are DELICIOUS!!!! They only have 5g of protein, but they are only 80 calories and give you 4 grams of fiber! Are you kidding me? For chocolate and nuts? I gobble them up! They sometimes help at night when you are a snacker or have a sweet tooth like I do but don’t have the macros to grab your favorite candy bar. Seriously, get some now!
And Lastly… My Favorite!
Click HERE To Check It Out!
Skinny Girl Popcorn
I keep this in stock because I love popcorn! I eat it every night, and if you are like me, you may want to look into something like Skinnygirl.
It’s not super macro-friendly, but there is a good amount of fiber in these.
Now that you know some of my favorites find what works for you! Hopefully, this gave you some good protein ideas. Let me know how you guys like it in the comments below.
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by Keysia Linares Marzullo | Mar 17, 2022 | Diet Mentality, Fat Loss / Cutting, Motivation, Q & A, Uncategorized
What if I told you?… You don’t need to eat low carb, workout for hours a day, spend your weekend meal prepping, or even miss out on eating donuts with your kids. Did you know that you CAN lose weight WITHOUT cutting out the foods you love?
How to Lose Weight WITHOUT Cutting out the Foods you Love
In this Youtube video, we are throwing back to my interview with Amber of Biceps After Babies (@biceps.after.babies on IG 
!) as she speaks ALL about how she created a body she loves WITHOUT giving up the foods she loves!
In this chat, you’ll discover, how YOU can also be an example that ALL foods can fit into your diet and that you can eat the food you love while seeing the progress you want to see (rather than taking breaks from your progress to “enjoy life”).
If you…
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Eat “healthy” but don’t see the scale go down.
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Are overwhelmed with the thought of getting started counting macros.
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Feel “stuck” or “frustrated” in your fat loss journey.
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Start the day with such good intentions but then end it with a carton of ice cream and guilt.
It doesn’t have to be this way….
You CAN find food freedom AND finally make progress on your fat loss goals… …without having to cut out ice cream or pizza.
(Got a friend who is struggling, removing everything from their diet, and seeing no progress? Share it with them!)
And Great News!!!
My friend, Amber Brueseke from Biceps After Babies, will be holding a FREE 5 Days to a Fitter You Challenge starting March 21, 2022. Trust me, you will love it!
Want to get fitter WITHOUT misery? Nothing restrictive. Nothing off-limits. 100% customized to the body you want? THIS CHALLENGE IS FOR YOU! Daily Emails, Daily Training, and ALL recorded – so get in it, get on it, and invite a friend!
Links
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by Keysia Linares Marzullo | Mar 14, 2022 | Building Muscle, Diet Mentality, Fat Loss / Cutting, Strength Training
So you’re trying eat better, but the weight isn’t coming off? You’re not alone. Here’s why “healthy eating” alone doesn’t work for weight loss.
The Truth About Healthy Eating
Getting healthy does not guarantee weight loss, and thinking that way may be getting in the way of you reaching your physique goals.
I know that for many ladies – weight loss and the journey to become more “healthy and fit” coincide. And the line is often blurred, with so many “health” foods, gadgets, and supplements being marketed as a magic solution to make you fit, trim and lean. But the thing is, those things are not one in the same. So here’s a few things to consider if you want to be healthy and lose weight.
Weight Loss Basics Still Matter
Most of us have expressed the desire to be more fit and healthy as if they’re the same. We tend to assume that being healthy and losing weight are the same goal and, depending upon the information you consume, that thought is likely being confirmed.
Maybe you’ve experienced going to the doctor and constantly hearing about how you need to lose a little bit more weight to help solve some problems that you have in an area that has nothing to do with weight loss, like a knee issue, back pain, or fertility. We’ve often heard that if we lose weight, it will help. And while losing weight does affect blood markers, that does not mean that getting healthy and losing weight are the same.
Think about it.
There are so many loving, caring moms out there, who only eat organic foods. Some grow their own vegetables, and even grind their own grains, almonds, etc to make bread and other whole grain or gluten-free products. Yet they rarely lose weight, and many are gaining! This may even describe you, a person doing alllll the healthy things, but not seeing the scale move the way you want it to. This is because a healthy diet does not automatically equate to weight loss.
Many ladies assume that as long as they eat clean, healthy, or organic, that calories don’t count. The reality is that you may see beneficial health improvements from an extremely healthy diet, but not see physique changes. This is because gaining or losing of fat and muscle require either a surplus or deficit of calories:
If you are trying to lose weight and are eating an excess of calories, even if those are the most amazing healthy organic calories, they’re still going to cause weight gain. If you are eating maintenance level calories of the most nutritious foods on the planet, you are still eating maintenance level and will stay the way you are. If you’re eating less food, you will probably see the scale go down or some weight shredded off, even if it’s “junk” food.
If you want to be healthy and lose fat, you need to eat healthy at a calorie deficit. If you’re going to gain muscle and be healthy,
you will have to increase those same healthy calories, to put yourself in a caloric surplus. If you’re someone who is on the fence – you want to lose a little bit of fat but eating super healthy foods isn’t all that important to you – good news! you still can lose weight and not be eating 100% healthy, clean and organic.
That’s why it’s essential to know both ends of the spectrum. The reality is, it doesn’t matter how healthy you are if you’re eating too many calories, and it doesn’t matter how unhealthy you are if you’re eating fewer calories. You will probably still lose some weight, whether or not that is a healthy weight that you’re losing.
So if you can find a healthy medium where you’re doing both, that will be the best-case scenario mainly because you are tailoring it to yourself. You can be “kind of” healthy, hitting your macronutrient level by eating a sufficient amount of treats, even if those things are what somebody else might consider junk food.
As long as you’re hitting the amount of protein and fiber your body needs and hitting the calorie level for your specific goal, then you can still see progress. This should give you both hope and a reality check!
Getting “Fit” vs Getting Lean
The second thing that I would say to consider when we’re thinking about being healthy is that being fit is not the same as being leaner or thinner. As I said in the first point, someone can be unhealthy and underweight. So assuming that because someone is skinnier than you means they are healthy is just not the case.
If you are taking excellent care of your health and body, working out consistently, eating healthy foods like whole grains, vegetables, and high protein, you are a healthy person even if your weight does not reflect that. On the contrary, some people are not exercising, not eating the healthy foods, getting insufficient protein, and not correctly fueling their body; even if they are underweight, that does not mean that they’re healthy. Knowing this allows us to have the freedom on our journey to do what it is that we set out to do.
How does this relate to your goals?
Well, if fat loss is your goal, understand that exercises that are “heart-healthy,” high endurance, or make you feel good may not actually be related to your goal of a physique change.
Your endurance may improve, but endurance and fat loss are not the same. Having a “healthy” heart does not automatically equal a smaller body size. So if you’re attempting to lose some fat, you may need to adapt the style of exercising accordingly. This means specifically executing fat loss behaviors, such as hitting a certain amount of protein, eating a certain amount of calories, doing some strength training workouts (your best friend when you’re trying to lose fat because it helps you hold on to muscle mass and keep your metabolism nice and high), and sometimes – limiting cardio for periods of time.
Sure…If you’re only looking to be healthy, then that means you can do whatever exercise makes you feel good. Get your heart pumping and get those endorphins…
Just remember, endorphins don’t cause weight loss.
So..what do you really want?
When you start to see fit/lean and healthy/weight loss as separate entities, you can begin creating the goals that you want, knowing what to expect from the actions that you’re taking. If you’re looking to lean out, then it’s about understanding what the basics of fat loss entail and making sure that those are incorporated, regardless of your health goals.
You can have a health goal, and you can have a fat loss goal. Just make sure that the actions and expectations align. That means you should not be upset when you eat healthily, exercise a lot, and see physique changes. Don’t say, “I just want to be healthy again,” when you mean “I just want to be the size that I was.”
Remember that your journey has different seasons, and each phase brings something new.
When you are in a muscle-building phase, you are looking to build muscle. You’re not necessarily looking for fat loss.
When you’re in a fat loss phase, you’re not looking to build muscle. You’re looking to lose fat and hopefully hold on to some of the muscles that you had.
There’s also the Chill phase when you’re not looking for anything. You’re not paying attention to what you eat. It’s a time to relax, be more intuitive, and have some mental freedom from tracking food all.the.time. BUT…that means you’re not expecting fat loss. You’re not expecting muscle gain. You’re not expecting anything. You’re just taking life as it comes because your focus is on mental clarity, relaxation, and not having to log everything.
It may seem nitpick-y to spell the differences of these phases out, but when you’re working your butt off to get results, it helps to make sure that you are getting the terminology right to express what you are looking for.
The terminology you uses indicates where your mindset is, and can be a huge indicator of why you’re not seeing the progress you want. So don’t be afraid to sit with the question “what do I REALLY want” and answer it unapologetically – even if it’s “unpopular.” I get it, we live in a society right now where either side of the fence can be looked at as horrible. One community is shouting, “Love yourself the way that you are, don’t ever try and change anything.” But then another community is telling you to change everything about yourself because “You suck, you’re fat. You don’t belong in this society.” The person who wants to enjoy life and not be concerned over their weight is shamed for being “unhealthy”, while someone else who wants change how they look is made to feel bad about it.
I see so many ladies don’t want to admit their actual goals, for fear of being excommunicated from the self-love community, or health-shamed.
Find your happy medium! What are your standards of beauty? Own it, even if it’s unpopular with another crowd. You’re going to be 100% unhappy if you’re in one camp shouting “Rah, rah!” when what you REALLY want is the results of another camp.
If you want to lose fat, there is no shame in that. If you are pleased where you are and want to be healthy, there is no shame in that.
If you want both, then be honest with yourself and do what it takes to make the two of those things align in a way that works for you.
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