408: Incorporating Fitness & Staying Motivated

408: Incorporating Fitness & Staying Motivated

Today was such a fun episode! It is part 2 of a 2 part listener Q&A episode! We had so much fun in episode 407 talking about parenting, raising healthy kids, staying engaged when you reach maintenance & vegan options for a fat loss breakfast. We also touched on inspiring others, strategies for women in menopause and my tiny house project.

Today we’re kicking off talking about fitness & exercise and then we dive into my aspirations for Primal, staying postive when life gets crazy & my advice for someone who wants a career in the health & weight loss space.

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Resources

404: Simple Decision Making Criteria

Breaking Barriers – Overcome Emotional Eating & Self-Sabotage

What Is Breaking Barriers
In today’s episode I mentioned that I created a list of my favorite products from Thrive Market. You can download it here.

In October 2019, our relationship with Thrive Market changed. They decided to put their marketing dollars in avenues outside of podcasting but we still think they’re a good choice if you’re looking to save money on health & personal care products.

How To Leave A Rating & Review (thank you!!!)

Going Tiny

I am going tiny. Literally. I’ve mentioned a few times on the podcast that I’m in the process of building a tiny house. If you have no idea what that means, check out this link.

Lots of you have reached out wanting to know more about the process & my decision to go tiny. It doesn’t seem like a particularly relevant podcast episode but I’m happy to share more about it here on the blog!

If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here

I’ve always been a bit of a minimalist. I don’t like clutter – I don’t like hanging on to things that I don’t use regularly & love. I don’t have a huge closet or big shoe collection.

After my divorce, I had less “stuff” than ever. In fact, if you were to open my kitchen drawers right now, you wouldn’t find more than 4 forks & I’m pretty sure I only have 1 knife.

In the process of paying off my debt, starting a business, losing a lot of weight & getting a divorce, I’ve realized that “stuff” brings me very little pleasure. Sure, there’s a rush of an initial purchase, but that high is almost always gone in a week or less.

I want to have fewer things and more experiences. I want to feel free to experience as much of life as I possibly can.

For me, going tiny is part of that realization.

Plus, building a custom tiny house will also help me save money. I’ve been renting for a couple years now and I pay an absurd amount each month for a relatively small place. I want to have fewer expenses so I can travel more!

It will also allow me to be pretty mobile. While I will not be able to tow my own tiny house due to it’s size, I can hire a trucking company to move it for me if I decide to relocate.

Here are some of the questions you’ve asked about my tiny house.

Are you worried about living in such a small space?

A little bit, because it’s so new, but not really. When I think about it, I basically live out of my living room & bedroom anyways. I spend very little time in other areas of my current apartment. Most importantly: if I hate it, I can sell it or rent it out. It doesn’t feel like a big risk.

What are you most excited about?

My tiny house is going to have a custom Murphy bed that, when not extended into the bed, will be a really cool desk. I’m also psyched about the kitchen. It’ll have a huge copper farmhouse sink, full appliances and big windows.

How big is it?

My tiny house is being custom built & will be 30 feet long and 10 ft wide. It will have a main floor master bedroom as well as 2 sleeping lofts.

Will you have a composting toilet?

Nope, a regular toilet.

Where will you put it? Are you buying land? Renting land?

Great question. I have no idea. I really need to decide, as it will be done in early January.

Will you be featured on a TV show about tiny homes?

No! That is so not my style. I’m just doing this for me.

Do people in your life think you’re crazy?

I’m sure. It probably has nothing to do with the tiny house decision. 🙂

I came down to Cape Cod late last night so I’m doing my workout from here. Fortunately, it’s not a barbell workout so I can do my scheduled workout while I’m here. Here’s what it looks like today:

“Annie Got Wrecked”
100 Double Unders, 50 AbMat Sit-ups, 200m Run
80 Double Unders, 40 AbMat Sit-ups, 200m Run
60 Double Unders, 30 AbMat Sit-ups, 200m Run
40 Double Unders, 20 AbMat Sit-ups, 200m Run
20 Double Unders, 10 AbMat Sit-ups, 200m Run

I always keep my jump rope in my car & I never leave home without a pair of sneakers, so even when I’m unexpectedly away, I can get in a great workout.

Honestly though, even if I didn’t have stuff in my car (I also keep a kettlebell in my car), I could totally make a workout happen with just my body weight, as I often do in hotels – burpees, pushups, body weight squats, etc.

On the food front:

Since I wasn’t home this morning, my food choices are a little different from normal. I had a packet of Artisana Coconut Butter while working & drinking coffee.

Around noon I went out for lunch & enjoyed a beautiful plate of charcuterie – just a light snack before dinner…

Then I went out for dinner and enjoyed a steak & salad before heading back home.

It’s really not hard to eat in a way that is aligned with your goals when you’re away from home. The key is to look for solutions instead of fixating on the problems!

Celebrating A Mindset Victory

Last night I looked at today’s workout and immediately thought: “Looks like a good day for a rest day!” I quickly started creating a story about how I could workout at home, how I have a lot of work to do, how that amount of running might irritate my knee. Basically, I started making a bunch of excuses. I started talking myself out of the workout.

It looked hard. Running. Box jumps. Pull-ups. Wall balls. More running.

Here’s the thing though: I didn’t need a day off. I just didn’t want to do a hard workout.

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I went to bed last night planning to workout at home today. In my head I was planning out a biking, kettlebell, burpee workout for my living room.

I woke up & didn’t go to the gym at my normal time.

As I waited for my chiropractor appointment, I thought: I’m avoiding this workout because it sounds hard and I don’t feel like working hard today.

BOOM.

A voice inside my head immediately responded: the thing you’re avoiding is the thing you need to do.

What I don’t want to do is what I must do.

I drove home, changed my clothes and went to the gym.

As I warmed up I kept repeating that in my head:

What I don’t want to do is what I must do.

What I resist because it feels hard is the very thing I need to embrace and commit to.

The workout was as hard as I thought it would be.

Kelen Helly

400m run

30 box jumps

30 wall balls

400m run

21 kettlebell swings

12 pullups

400m run

21 kettlebell swings

12 pullups

400m run

30 box jumps

30 wall balls

puke on the ground

Just kidding about the puking on the ground. I managed to avoid that.

As I worked through the WOD I kept telling myself, “You don’t need to stop, you just want to.

I’m SO glad I saw through my own bullshit and decided to go. Those are the kinds of mental victories that represent growth & change.

On the food front:

I was in the work zone this morning so I didn’t eat until after my workout which was around 2pm. I didn’t get hungry either, which is one of the awesome benefits of fasting. After my fast last week, I’m just not as hungry.

I did have a mega-meal post workout: my cabbage salad bowl with raw cabbage, bacon, eggs, walnuts and Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo.

Around 7pm I had a huge plate of spaghetti squash with ground beef in a marinara sauce with some goat cheese. Yum! So simple & so good!

 

Can You Handle It?

My former mentor inspired me again. I was fortunate to work with Mary Shenouda, The Paleo Chef, back in 2014 and even though it’s been a while since we last talked, she continues to inspire me.

If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here

She recently posted on Instagram, “Can you handle the solitude during the transition from meh to hell yeah?

It’s such a great question and I think it can be boiled down to:

Can you handle the transition?

Can you handle the hard part of your journey?

Can you hang long enough to do the work required to earn the reward?

For most of my life, I didn’t. I’m sure I could have, but I didn’t.

When I faced temptation, I gave in.

When the work got hard, I gave in.

When I was tired or emotional, I gave up.

The only thing worse than my attitude was my work ethic. My consistency. My commitment to myself & my goals. It just wasn’t there.

Success isn’t easy.

But the thing that we forget is even more important: failure isn’t easy, either.

The difference is, there’s no payoff in quitting.

Yes, creating success is hard. Sometimes it’s lonely. But it’s a road to somewhere worth being.

The same can’t be said for quitting.

Stop taking easy street. Stop giving up and giving in.

If it matters to you, put in the work and stop complaining about it.

I had to take my own medicine today.

I’m over 38 hours into my fast (I wrote about that yesterday) and I did not want to workout. I didn’t want to work, either. But I need to and it makes me feel better.

I’m not always going to go but I can’t let what I want now (to be lazy) get in the way of what I want most (to be fit, healthy, capable & energetic).

So, off to the gym I went for what was a very challenging workout. It didn’t look too bad on paper but after that 2nd round of deadlifts…ouch.

“Dead Ahead” 
4 Rounds:
21 Deadlifts
15 Box Jump Overs
9 Push Jerks

My legs were already a bit sore today & they will ABSOLUTELY be sore tomorrow!

Nothing to share about food today since I’m fasting!

Make it a great weekend!

Energy Is Created

Energy Is Created

“I just don’t have the energy…”

“I’m too tired to….”

These are statements I hear every day & they reflect an unfortunate misunderstanding about energy.

If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here

Energy is something we create, not something we wait for.

Unfortunately, while we talk about how little energy we have, we skip all the strategies that create energy.

Energy is created with good, quality nutrition from whole foods.

Energy is created from quality sleep.

Energy is created from exercise & movement.

Energy is created from hydration.

Energy is created from sunlight.

Energy is created from your thoughts and your words.

Energy is lost in poor nutrition.

Energy is lost in poor hydration.

Energy is lost in inadequate sleep.

Energy is lost in negativity & drama.

Energy is lost in being inactive.

Where do you need to make changes to create more energy?

Today, I created energy through movement. I worked out this morning & then walked to and from a local coffee shop to work for a few hours.

“Double or Nothing” 
3 Rounds:
150 Single Unders
50 Air Squats
15 Power Cleans (95/65)

What kept me sane in this workout was doing 10 air squats and then moving to the other side of the barbell for the other 10. It made it feel much more manageable. I did the same thing with the power cleans in sets of 5. It’s the little mental strategies that keep me in the game!

On the food front:

I was super hungry after this morning’s workout so I went to whole foods and got a super random meal of brussels sprouts, 2 harboiled eggs & a bunch of bacon.

Around 1pm I had some chicken soup (no rice or noodles) and then dinner was salmon & a fall vegetable medley. I love fall!

Happy Friday the 13th!

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