Ep 020: Efficient Exercise for Weight Loss with Shawn Stevenson

Ep 020: Efficient Exercise for Weight Loss with Shawn Stevenson

Are you ready for this? We are tackling the major myths about exercise for weight loss and establishing the most effective workout strategies for lasting fat loss and optimal hormone balance. We’ll be talking about what works, what doesn’t and what is a total waste of your time (and might be holding you back).

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Who is Shawn Stevenson? Sure, Shawn is a best-selling author, incredibly popular podcast host and renowned fitness expert, but more than that – he is a passionate guy with a heart for helping people get healthy. One thing I love about Shawn is his genuine heart and desire to make a positive change in the world. He is about making a difference, reaching people, transforming lives and helping people reclaim their health. He has overcome personal adversity and is a fantastic example of the incredible changes you can make in your life with a few fundamental shifts in diet, movement and lifestyle.

The Problem: Unfortunately, most people still fall victim to the “eat less, move more” paradigm. They feel like they’ll accelerate their weight loss by spending hours in the gym huffing and puffing their life away on the treadmill. In fact, chronic cardio inhibits fat loss. It creates a negative hormonal response that increases hunger and cravings while impairing fat burning and decreasing energy. There’s no doubt that there are ineffective exercise strategies and those are the ones most people engage in! No good! We’re investing time and energy without seeing the results we’re after! There’s a better way!

The Solution: First and foremost, you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. There is no amount of any kind of exercise that can compensate for poor food choices. Are we on the same page? Get your diet right first. Exercise comes faaaaaar second to good, clean nutrition. It’s also important to remember that if you aren’t ready to workout, that is ok. You don’t need to do everything all at once. However, when you’re ready, you need to be strategic about fitness. There are three types of activity that are best for fat loss:

  • Leisure walking
  • Heavy lifting
  • High intensity intervals and/or sprints

Practical Implementation: 

  1. Walk your buns off. We aren’t talking about arm-swinging, track-suit-wearing, huffing/puffing walking. Walk slowly. Breathe deeply. Do this often. We humans were built to move and we spend most of our time sitting. Get up and walk. It is fantastic for fat loss and hormonal balance. It decreases stress hormones and helps to reduce hunger and cravings. There’s no maximum amount. There’s no minimum amount. Walk as much as you can.
  2. Lift heavy things. For the love of food, please put down the tiny dumbbells. However, keep in mind that “heavy” is relative. It’s about choosing a weight that challenges YOU. Don’t sacrifice form for weight – that’s just silly and a recipe for injury, but don’t play it so easy that you could easily pump out 15 reps. That’s not heavy. There are a few core movements that create an incredible hormonal response for fat loss when you push yourself. Those include the squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press and pull-up. Public Service Announcement: If this is new to you, invest in a trainer. Form matters. If you aren’t sure if you have great form, you probably don’t. Ask for help. Don’t be silly.
  3. Include sprint or high intensity interval workouts. These are super short workouts but they are high intensity. We understand that some people are intimidated by the idea of “sprinting” but remember that it is relative. A sprint just refers to your maximum effort and output. You sprint for a very short interval – as little as 20 seconds and rarely more than 30 seconds. Then you rest and recover until you’re ready to go again.

Connect with Shawn
Shawn’s Website
The Model Health Show
Shawn on Twitter
Shawn on Instagram
Shawn on Facebook

Other Resources
Shawn’s Book: Sleep Smarter
Elizabeth’s ebook: Hormones & Fat Loss

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Ep 020: Efficient Exercise for Weight Loss with Shawn Stevenson

Episode 019: What Paying Off Debt Taught Me About Weight Loss

I tried to lose weight for over 20 years. Sometimes I was able to but I inevitably piled the weight back on – always more quickly than I had lost it.  I doubted my ability to ever permanently lose the weight and truly be healthy. I thought I’d always have to rely on gimmicks, tricks, crazy ridiculous diets or diet pills if I EVER wanted to get to a “healthy” weight and stay there.

In my late twenties I embarked on a totally different journey. I was determined to get out of debt. Between my husband and I, we had well over $100,000 in student loans and other small, miscellaneous debts – just over $130,000, actually. After reading a Dave Ramsey book, I focused on the goal with unrivaled intensity. We met, and surpassed, our goal in less than 2 years. Little did I know that the process of getting out of debt would teach me everything I needed to know to finally tackle my lifelong weight struggles. It’s true. The crazy parallels between paying off $130,000 and losing over 130 pounds are astonishing. Here’s what getting out of debt taught me about life and extreme weight loss.

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Your habits catch up with you
Accruing debt is a lot like gaining weight or delaying weight loss. You figure its ‘just this one’ little expense you’re putting on credit. You’ll deal with it next month. You really need a new outfit for your class reunion so you might as well use the store credit card so you can save 20%. You’ll just use it this once. You go ahead and take out a little more than your financial needs for tuition – you’ll use it for books and maybe a plane ticket to visit your best friend. Just this once. Next semester you’ll save more and only take borrow what you truly need. You’ve exhausted your budget for the month but you really want to have a night out with your spouse so you put it on the credit card – its just one night – you’ll pay it off as soon as you get paid…

All those ‘just this once’ moments catch up with you. You can’t ignore them forever. They add up. In the moment, they seem like small concessions but five years later you’re looking back on a mountain of debt. Isn’t that true of how we gain weight or fail to lose it? We figure one cupcake won’t hurt. You’ll do better tomorrow. Then you go on vacation and you figure you might as well “let loose” – what’s a week? Your co-worker brings donuts in to work and you justify that one little donut won’t do much. Just like with debt, all those small concessions add up to years of damage to deal with. Your little habits DO count. Small concessions make all the difference.

A season of discipline doesn’t mean you’ll never enjoy your favorite things again.
We could not have paid off our debts without discipline. There was no way to have our cake and eat it too. We had to cut back. We had to temporarily pass up vacation opportunities or other fun things we might have otherwise been all about. But doing so for a season opened up many other opportunities that we wouldn’t have had if we were still in debt. The same is true of weight loss. Yes, you’ll have to be disciplined. You’ll have to be focused.  You’ll have to say “no, thank you” to a few things. But it’s only for a season. Sure, you won’t ever be able to mindlessly indulge in anything and everything just like we won’t ever rack up 130,000 in debt ever again. But a season of discipline and saying “no, thank you” doesn’t mean you’ll never eat ice cream again or ever enjoy your favorite pizza. For years I quit diet after diet because I felt like I had signed on for a lifetime of deprivation and misery. It’s all in your perspective. A season of focused discipline opens all kinds of doors.

You can’t hit a target you can’t see.
Getting out of debt was a huge goal. We needed a plan and a timeline. It wasn’t going to happen overnight. We had to know where we were headed and what it would take to get there. I knew exactly what debt was getting eliminated next and approximately how long it would take to get there. I had to look at our budget and figure out what could be cut, what could stay and come up with creative ways to bring in more cash. Sure, the unexpected will come up but you must have goals. Without goals and a plan, not only would it have been hard to stay motivated, it probably would have been impossible to get where we wanted to go. Weight loss is no different. You’ve got to break it down into smaller parts. Establish small, short-term goals and focus your energy towards them. Have a long-term plan but feverishly pursue short-term targets.

Celebrate your progress.
I can’t tell you how excited I would get when I reached one of my small goals. I’d look forward to it for weeks and be over the moon to pay off a small student loan or get a car title in the mail. It was empowering and such a great symbol of the hard work and discipline it took to get there. It’s easy, however, to get caught up in how much further it is to go. Yes, the journey continues; the journey always continues, but you need to stop and take a moment to celebrate how far you’ve come. There’s no question that this is also true of weight loss. It can be easy to overlook your victories because you feel frustrated and discouraged by how far there still is to go. I get that. But I can also guarantee you that if you don’t celebrate the little victories along the way, you’ll really wish you had. You’ll look back at those moments you brushed right past – fitting into those jeans you love or getting under 200 lbs for the first time in years – and you’ll see how major they were. Celebrate your progress. Be proud of yourself. Allow other people to celebrate you. It all matters. It’s all a big deal.

Removing major stressors transforms your entire life.
When we were in debt, I can’t say that it was particularly stressful – we were able to easily pay our bills – it just frustrated me that so much of our income was tied up and we were unable to enjoy it. It was more of a nuisance than a stressor. However, the process of getting out of debt was incredibly stressful. At the time, my husband wasn’t really on board with the process. He didn’t like not having all the extra cash at his disposal to go play and have fun. THAT was stressful. When we paid off our debt, not only was that stress gone, but it eliminated countless other pressures and stress. Being unhappy with my job was suddenly far less stressful because financially, I didn’t need that job anymore. It was amazing how removing one stressor truly transformed so many other areas. This truth is magnified when it comes to weight loss. Being unhappy with your weight impacts every area of your life – your professional life, your social life, your marriage – you name it. Your confidence and your happiness is paramount. When you finally tackle your weight struggles once and for all it will transform your entire life in ways you could never anticipate.

Progress isn’t linear.
Yup, I’m a planner (everyone who knows me is reading that sentence laughing at what a massive understatement it is!!). I’d like to say that I laid out my plan and everything went smoothly from there. Of course that’s not how it happened. Things came up. Unexpected tax bills, medical bills, home repairs, etc. There will always be setbacks. There will always be things that happen and you can use them as an excuse to throw in the towel and say “well, this isn’t going to work afterall” or you can embrace the opportunity to get creative and find a work around. There wasn’t a single month in two years that went exactly how I planned but you know what? We reached our goals anyway. Progress is not linear in any area of life. Not finances and certainly not weight loss. The same thing happened while I was losing weight. I had a plan. I thought I knew how things would play out. But there were injuries, bad weeks, periods where my body just seemed to not respond to what I was doing. Yes, sometimes I wanted to quit. Sometimes I felt like it just wasn’t working and I questioned the point of it all. But that’s the way ALL journeys will go. Progress isn’t linear so don’t expect it to be. More importantly, don’t use that as an excuse to give up on yourself or your goals.

It’s a lifestyle
If I were to return to the same habits I had when I was in debt, I’d pile the debt right back up. If I were to stop using a budget, even now that I’m debt free, it would be pretty hard to avoid spending more than I make and I’d definitely have trouble setting aside extra cash to save and invest. Getting out of debt fostered habits that are now so deeply engrained in me. It is a lifestyle. Financial responsibility, spending less than you make, and assigning every dollar that comes in is a way of life. I will never go back. This is exactly what is required for lasting weight loss, as well. Sure, I can enjoy ice cream from time to time, just like I can splurge on a vacation or beautiful handbag. But those occasions are the exception, not the rule. Losing weight is about so much more than shedding pounds. It’s about adopting healthy habits that increase your energy, improve your move and prolong your life. It’s not a temporary way of eating. It’s a lifestyle. You can’t ever go back to old, unhealthy habits and expect to maintain your results.

Help yourself and then help others.
As we got out of debt we found that many of our friends and family members were also struggling. We have had countless opportunities to share our story with others and encourage them to do what it takes to pay down their debt. We told them what it had done for us and how we made it work. We shared the hard parts and the great parts. I know we helped a lot of people. I think we still do. The same thing has happened throughout my weight loss journey. As people saw changes in me, they wanted to know what I was doing and how I was making it work. I started to share bits and pieces of my story, offering whatever I could to those who asked. Now, sharing my journey is my life. I don’t want anyone else to struggle the way I have. I know that the more I help myself, the more I have the ability and the opportunity to help others.

Change is hard. Extreme weight loss is rare. Whether its getting out of debt, losing weight, breaking an addiction, changing jobs….its hard. It takes work. It takes discipline. It takes endurance and perseverance. But the skills you’ll learn along the way will be catalysts to achieve absolutely ANYTHING you can dream of.

Resources:
Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover
Tony Robbins Money: Master the Game

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Ep 020: Efficient Exercise for Weight Loss with Shawn Stevenson

Episode 018: The Key to Permanent Weight Loss – A How-To Guide

Ready for permanent weight loss? Have you tried a million times but never succeeded? In this episode we talk about how most of us go about behavior change in the wrong way and why it leads to failure. Then we dive into a step by step process for how you can changes that will lead to effective fat loss but will also be EASY to maintain for the rest of your life!

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The problem:
 So many people tell me: I don’t know where to start! Or, there’s so much information, how do I know what’s right? Or, I do ok at breakfast but I always blow it after dinner. There’s a common problem with all of these questions, concerns & challenges. YOU ARE TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH.

The Solution: Go back to the 80/20 rule (episode linked below) and identify what few activities produce the greatest results for you. An easy way to do this, which we talk about in detail in this episode, is to complete a SWOT analysis. Look at what has the potential to really hold you back and then target activities that can help you to avoid or overcome these challenges.

Practical Implemention:

  • Complete a SWOT analysis
    Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats as they relate to your ability to improve your nutrition choices & change your lifestyle to reach your fat loss goals.
  • Identify what weaknesses and threats could hold you back the  most
  • Identify ONE small change you can make to help you overcome that most significant threat or weakness
  • Practice it until it becomes effortless. When you fail, keep trying. When you mess up, don’t quit.
  • Once it is effortless and habitual, go back to your SWOT analysis. What are you current weaknesses & threats? How can you minimize their ability to throw you off course? Identify another ONE thing.
  • Practice, practice, practice, practice.

Resources:
Episode 003: Less is More
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
Healthy Crockpot Recipes
Tikka Masala Pizza
Beef or Bison Stew
Pulled Pork Chili

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Healthy Eating On ‘Vacation’

Healthy Eating On ‘Vacation’

Ok guys – time to stop stressing about finding fat loss friendly options when you’re traveling. Sure, its not quite as easy as it when you’re home with your own fridge, but it’s not as hard as we act like it is. (Maybe some of us tell ourselves it is hard as a way of creating an excuse to make poor choices…..maybe?)

This is going to be a random post sharing some of the food choices I’m making while visiting Boston for work and some family time. Am I perfect? Nope. Do I make some concessions while traveling that I wouldn’t make at home? Of course. Will I make excuses for myself? Sure won’t!

Wednesday Night: Flight delays. Unexpected stay in a hotel. Planned to stay with my sister but my flight got in late so I ended up getting a hotel room. Plus, it was way late when I got to my room and I was exhausted + hungry. My choice? Pull a protein bar out of my bag and eat it right before falling asleep. Ideal? Nope. A big deal? No.

Thursday Morning: I followed my normal routine of meditation, visualization, affirmations, journaling and reading. Then what? Check out that hot breakfast bar in the lobby. There was cereal, waffles, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bagels, muffins and eggs. Piled up a plate of eggs and got a couple cups of coffee. Oh, and I hit up the hotel gym for a quick workout and walk on the treadmill. Boom. No excuses here!

1-eggs-in-hotel

Thursday Afternoon: I was working with my girlfriend Keri on a super special project (for all of you) and we were supposed to go to her house to film (where she had stocked up on some of my faves: salmon & brussels) but we never made it there. So, we were stuck in a suburb of Boston that seemed to only have Taco places! No joke! We could have found fat loss options there but we opted for Stop N’ Shop (a local grocery chain). We hit up the salad bar and then got a couple pieces of grilled chicken. We were commenting on how this little grocery store salad bar had no eggs or avocado – we wanted fat! We circled back around and got some cheese. You can make it work anywhere! We took the salads into Starbucks, grabbed a coffee and ate right there!

2-salad-and-chicken-breast-in-bag

Snackage! I started to get super hungry as we wrapped up our work and munched on a handful of baby carrots.

Thursday Night: Time to catch up with my favorite sister! No shame. She isn’t my only sister but she’s my favorite. We’re all cool with it. Debi decided to take advantage of having me in town and we cooked dinner together (I’m lying. I cooked). Don’t be afraid to suggest meals to family and jump in to help prepare! Take control! Don’t be passive. Heck, offer to cook for everybody! They’ll probably love it. And if they don’t? Who cares?! Not this girl. I made garlic burgers, shredded brussels and fried eggs. It was so delish and she appreciated it, too. Even if my burger was undercooked!

3-brussels-with-2-burgers-and-egg

Friday AM: Oh boy it was a rough night. My sister offered me an air mattress but I told her the loveseat would be fine. I was wrong. Ended up trying to sleep on the floor. Started the day with coffee – it couldn’t be bulletproof because she didn’t have butter (who doesn’t have butter?!) but I did blend up a cup with coconut oil and raw egg yolk before we hit the gym. We bought a day pass to a gym near her house that she’s been wanting to check out and did a fast but HELLA intense interval workout of strength and cardio (deadlifts + burpees). As we left the gym I bought a coconut cashew Quest bar to munch on.

4-quest bar in the car

Friday Afternoon: We drove up to New Hampshire to take one of my grandmothers out to lunch. We let her pick the place so I couldn’t do my normal ‘check out the menu ahead of time’ deal. No worries! There are always healthy, yummy choices to make! She picked one of those seafood diners where almost everything is fried and Debi and I were the youngest people by about 40 years. Fortunately, there was a baked haddock dish topped with some breading. They were happy to leave the breading off for me and I requested a side salad to go with it. Debi got baked scallops wrapped in bacon and we shared the fish and scallops. Don’t be afraid to ask for modifications!!!

5-fish and scallops and salad

Friday Evening: Best meal of the week. No question. My mom chose an Italian restaurant, so if you’re thinking you can’t make good decisions at an Italian place, you’re wrong! We got an incredible appetizer of burrata cheese with asparagus, crispy guanciale (think: super fancy, crispy bacon) and rosemary brown butter. It came with beautiful toasted, buttered bread but I passed on that. Mom and Debi said it was wonderful but I’ll be honest – the cheese was so dang good I absolutely didn’t feel like I was missing out. For my entree I ordered a filet that came with pancetta-brussels sprouts slaw and fingerling potatoes. I asked the server if I could skip the potatoes and have double veggies and she was more than happy to oblige. They usually are! Remember: don’t be afraid to ask. Insanely good meal!

6-cheese app with broccoli7-steak with brussels

Evening Snackage: As we watched Scandal (a day late) I had two small handfuls of almonds. Debi and her roommate had a few drinks and some homemade brownies but I just reminded myself of my goals and enjoyed their company.

Saturday Morning: Up early again! I enjoyed a few cups of coffee while Debi slept and I worked. We went to the gym for another great workout and bought a Quest bar for breakfast. Coconut cashew, again.

Saturday Afternoon: Made lunch at Debi’s apartment before heading to meet mom again. Lunch was super simple – leftover burgers and brussels from a couple nights before with added scrambled eggs and veggies.

8-egg scramble with tomatoes and carrots

Saturday Evening: Yay for family time! We headed to my aunt’s house for her birthday and a Mexican feast ensued! I was thrilled they were having Mexican because I had a million options! I was pretty hungry so I shamelessly munched on baby carrots instead of the chips and salsa until dinner. Then I piled my plate high with shredded chicken, ground beef, guacamole, salsa, green peppers and tomatoes. I was too busy enjoying their hysterical company to take a picture.

No shame in my game: While plating everyone’s cake I took a small forkful of icing to see how it was. Not worth the indulgence, for me. Then my aunt gave us all goody bags (adult style: patron and chocolate) and I ate two of the ghirardelli squares while driving into Boston that night.

Sunday Morning: Mom and I walked for about an hour before we finally found coffee. We walked for another 30-45 minutes to a brunch spot where I happily got an omelet and some bacon. Of course there were pastries and donuts but it’s easy to find fat loss friendly choices.

9-omelette-and-bacon

Sunday Afternoon: We spent a good 4 hours walking through downtown Boston and ended up at a pastry spot in the North End. If I’m gonna indulge, this is the chance, right? I found this amazing looking profiterole and mom bought it for me. I was totally willing to eat the whole thing but I figured I’d try a bite and then see how I felt. It was amazing. Creamy, delicious, totally amazing. But you know what? That bite was good enough. This is SUCH a major departure from how I used to eat! Normally I’d have devoured the whole thing because it was there, even if I was full or even if it wasn’t worth it. This time, just one bite and then the rest sat untouched in front of me for over an hour while we talked. The waitress came and carried it away and I was 100% ok with that. Happy kid, happy kid. That’s major progress from my old self.

10-dessert

We got back to the hotel and had some downtime. I called the lobby to see what floor the fitness center was on. Oh, it’s closed for construction but there is a Boston Sports Center 10 minutes from here. So, I laced up my wet sneakers and walked to the gym.

If you want to find a way, you’ll find a way. If you want to find an excuse, you’ll find an excuse. You get what you seek. I enjoyed the heck out of my trip. I ate great food and I got in several great workouts. They aren’t mutually exclusive, guys.

My message is this, friends: Can you go on vacation and eat whatever you want? Of course you can. I’m not saying you need to turn down ANYTHING. However, I stayed true to my goals very easily on this trip and it didn’t influence my enjoyment factor one iota. In fact, I think it probably raised it because I wasn’t feeling bloated, stuffed, tired or disappointed in myself. It’s not as hard as you think it is. It’s just not. You get what you seek.

Ep 020: Efficient Exercise for Weight Loss with Shawn Stevenson

Episode 017: Alcohol & Fat Loss – Can You Have Both?

In this episode we’re talking about alcohol and fat loss & if you can have both! We talk about how alcohol impacts metabolism, how it can increase your likelihood of being in fat-storage mode but we also talk about becoming aware of how alcohol impacts YOU in a unique way. Does alcohol increase your cravings? Does it make you bloated? Finally, we go into practical implementation strategies for how to enjoy alcohol without trashing your fat loss goals.

Listen Now!

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The Problem: Alcohol is a slippery slope for making people seeking fat loss. It’s all fun and games ’til the beer/wine/liquor hits the scene! Not only does alcohol take metabolic priority – inhibiting fat burning and moving food digestion to the back of the priority list – but it impairs our decision making and self control. Not only does alcohol not contain any nutrients of its own, but it can impair your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and vitamins from the food you eat. Alcohol irritates your gastrointestinal tract, and can damage your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, vitamins and minerals from the food you eat.

So, is it possible to enjoy alcohol and still see fat loss results? Rest easy. Yes, it is.

The Solution: Before you commit to changing – or not changing – your alcohol habits, I would challenge you to focus on AWARENESS for a couple weeks. A lot of times our behaviors when we’re drinking or our feelings in the following days are subconscious and we aren’t even aware of them. Start to pay attention to your response to alcohol, including:

  • If drinking impacts your food choices
  • Does drinking impact your exercise performance in the days afterward?
  • What impact does it have on your energy levels? Your sleep? Your focus? Your motivation?
  • Do you feel bloated after you drink?
  • Do you crave more sweets when you’re drinking or in the days after?

Practical Implementation: Consider adopting one or more of these success strategies. The key is to find the one (or more) that work for YOU. Everyone is different.

  • Carbs OR alcohol – Choose one of the other, not both. This will impact the fat storing potential of your drinking
  • Watch out for gluten in beers – beer is commonly produced from wheat products and is often pretty dang high in both gluten AND sugars – it can have a significant impact on your blood sugar levels. Remember that managing your blood sugar is a major part of staying in fat burning mode and staying out of fat storing mode.
  • Wine – opt for bolder, less sweet wines.
  • Liquor – choose clear liquors and avoid mixers (adding fruit juice or soda compounds the fat storing potential)
  • Drink lots of water to help support the excretion of your biproducts of alcohol metabolism
  • Eat lots of fruit & veggies the following day, or take a multivitamin, to replace the nutrients commonly depleted during alcohol metabolism
  • Don’t use food or alcohol as a means of stress relief or escape

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