This is a special, random, unexpected mini-sode. Today, in fact, just a few minutes ago, my girlfriend Ella from On Air with Ella called to ask me about ASCEND.
When I picked up the call she said “I’m recording us” which was totally fine because we’ve had about a million casual conversations where after the fact we’ve thought – hey, that was some deep stuff. That could have been a podcast! Warning: because this was just a casual chat and we weren’t thinking of it as a podcast, I do cuss. Sorry ’bout it! This episode is marked explicit.
While today wasn’t deep, we still wanted to share with you our chat about ASCEND Boston, what it is and Ella joining the party for a special workshop!
I don’t usually drop Friday episodes but this is a short one and I really hope we’ll see you at ASCEND. Click here to get your tickets or read more below!
I really, really, really wanted to change. I wanted to be healthy, lean, confident, energetic, fit & sexy.
But, I wasn’t doing the work.
I wanted it more than anything. I really did. But, in moments of temptation, emotion, fatigue or any number of other things, I’d turn to excuses like, “I’ll start tomorrow” or “just one last hurrah to get it out of my system”.
Then of course I’d wonder, “Why do I suck? What is wrong with me? What’s it gonna take? Will I ever do it?”
After losing nearly half my body weight and shocking myself more than anyone else with my determination & persistence, I knew I had to help people like me.
It really wasn’t just about weight loss because to be honest, my weight wasn’t the only reason I had this “why do I suck?” feeling.
For a long time, I felt the same way about my finances. I was in debt. I was making decent money at my job but it was all spoken for before it hit my bank account each week because I owed on student loans, credit cards, a mortgage, car payments and a million other things.
I desperately wanted to be able to enjoy my money and find a way out of debt but I continued to buy clothes I didn’t need and coffees that were 4 times the cost it would be to make at home.
So with well over 100 lbs lost and nearly 130K in debt paid off, I knew I had to help others fight the fight. But HOW?
I’ve done a lot of things. Primal Potential is 3 years old and it’s helped hundreds of people with the Fat Loss Fast Tracks, the podcast, blogs, emails, Breaking Barriers & Carb Strategies.
BUT. It’s not enough. It’s not making the impact I know needs to be made. It’s not making the impact I know I’m here to make.
I knew that there were still hundreds, if not thousands of people who were inspired by the content but haven’t taken the steps to make meaningful change in their lives.
I had to do more. What’s the next evolution? But what? And how? How do I reach them?
ASCEND is how. It cuts through all the crap, rhetoric & theory and helps ME get to YOU. It’s for you and about you. It’s about actively MOVING to the next level of life & achievement. Right there. Right then. Together.
Last year, after feeling like I could only help so much with the podcast, I decided to host a live weekend even in Nashville Tennessee. I remember telling people, “I promise, it will change your life“.
A few days before the event in Nashville, one of my clients emailed me. She had been explaining to her young daughter that she was going on a trip to see Elizabeth Benton. Her daughter replied, “Because she’s going to change your life, right?”
Gulp. No friggin’ pressure! I remember talking on the phone with my mom last night and recounting the story to her. She flatly replied, “Well, you told them you would.”
As many of those original ASCEND attendees sign up for our second weekend event this November, I know they got what they came for, I know I did as I promised and here’s the best part.
ASCEND Boston will be even better. I am 10000000% certain of that. I was nervous going to ASCEND last year but this year I am just over-the-moon-excited.
Like I said, there’s only so much I can do on the podcast. We can’t dive deep into YOU. I can’t talk to YOU about your excuses and what’s really behind them. I can at ASCEND.
On the podcast, I can’t carve out the time for you to REALLY connect with yourself, what you want and what needs to change for you to get it. I can at ASCEND.
On the podcast, I can’t sit down with you and say “there’s a lot more behind what you’re saying is hard. Let’s power through that now. Let’s set you free from that.” I can at ASCEND.
I got so, so excited today while I was working on ASCEND. See, I’ve committed a minimum of 1 hour every single day, 7 days a week, between now and ASCEND in November to work on NEW breakthrough topics & challenges to share. As I sat for my hour today I thought, “I think this is my favorite one ever!!! I wish it was November already…” But I know that by then I’ll have 2 solid days worth of new & insanely powerful topics and challenges for us to go through together and I’ll be just as excited to explore each one with you.
I say with confidence & excitement: ASCEND will change your life.
And and I’m almost as excited that today is the day I get to invite you!
ASCEND tickets are now on sale! There is tons of information below including what, where, why, how much & what else! Just don’t forget: there are only a total of 80 tickets available for the event.
If you KNOW you need to be there and have heard how spectacular last year was, head to this link now to buy your ticket: http://primalpotential.com/ascendboston/
If you need to know more, I’ve got your back. Let’s cover all our bases.
You can listen to my thoughts, excitement and objectives in this voice note
You can read through some FAQs below.
When?
November 3rd & 4th in Cambridge, MA (just a stone’s throw outside of Boston, right along the beautiful Charles River) There will also be a casual meet up with food & drinks on Thursday night November 2nd. Sessions will start at 8am Friday November 3rd so make sure you’re there by then!
Where?
The Courtyard by Marriott Boston-Cambridge in Cambridge, MA just minutes from Harvard Square.
How much?
Tickets are $597. It was important for me to lower the price from last year when tickets were between $797 and $979. This year I challenged myself to give more to more people for less money. It’s about impact, for me. Not income.
What does the price include?
Go here for more info (but read the rest first in case I cover another one of your questions).
Is ASCEND a weight loss event?
No, it is not, though it will absolutely help you take ANY goal, including weight loss, to the next level. This is about you, getting what you want, and figuring out how to not let previous obstacles & roadblocks stand in your way anymore.
How is ASCEND different from what I talk about in the podcast?
The podcast is general. The podcast isn’t about YOU. The podcast doesn’t allow for personalized attention and activities. It’s information. ASCEND is investigation. Personal investigation and a concentrated focus on YOU.
If you have any questions and you’ve reviewed all the above information (and links), don’t hesitate to reach out! I’m happy to chat it through with you!
I really hope to hang out with you in Boston in November! Here’s that link again to learn more about what’s included in the ticket price & to purchase your tickets.
Please note that tickets are non-refundable & non-transferrable. Fortunately, you will not regret attending this event. It might be the best weekend of your year! 🙂
Let’s talk nuts. First, the title here isn’t a typo. You are nuts.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, click here to listen on my Anchor channel. Please note that Anchor is not my podcast – it’s a short-form audio only casual content channel where I share daily thoughts, challenges & answer your questions.
I’m gonna keep this part short. If you aren’t happy with your life but you aren’t creating change, you’re nuts.
One of the most powerful and transformative quotes I’ve ever heard is from the poet Rumi:
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
Is change easy? No. But is being unhappy easy?
No!
Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.
I was in a habit of eating fast food & Hostess cupcakes. I was in a habit of getting snacks from the vending machine and overeating daily.
The choices were easy because they were familiar but my life was not easy. It was agonizing. I was miserable.
Changing my choices was hard, but certainly not harder than being unhappy and feeling hopeless.
It’s perspective, my friends.
If you aren’t happy but you choose comfortable and easy over amazing & hard – you are nuts.
You are in control. Progress is worth it.
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
Focus JUST FOR TODAY on what you can do to move towards your goals and do the damn thing!
Ok…
Let’s talk about my nuts.
Actual nuts. I get a lot of questions about nuts. Are they fat? Are they protein? Carbs. It depends. First of all, peanuts are actually legumes – part of the bean family. They aren’t nuts.
The rest of the true nuts (tree nuts) – almonds, cashews, macadamias, etc – differ greatly in their nutrient composition.
Cashews, for example, are higher in carbohydrate than almonds.
Almonds are higher in carbohydrate than macadamia nuts.
Macadamia nuts have more fat.
Here’s an awesome chart I’ve borrowed from almonds.com to give you a sense of how various 1-ounce servings of nuts compare.
Know what nut isn’t on this chart? You might not have ever heard of it: pili nuts. They’re suuuuper tasty. Of all tree nuts, they have the lowest carbs and the highest fat. They’re also a great source of magnesium. We’re talking only 1g of carbohydrate and a whopping 24 grams of fat per serving.
Don’t go nuts with them though! Pun intended. They’re a hefty dose of fat so take it easy.
Wanna talk about today’s workout? I’m excited to say that I did wall balls – my first time squatting in a few weeks and it felt pretty good.
2 RFT
25 deadlifts
50 wall balls
50 cal bike
Not having squatted in a while, my quads definitely had a hard time adjusting to the wall balls but I pushed through, gave 100% effort and feel really proud of the workout. I made time to foam roll & ice right afterwards just to make sure I’m not aggravating my knee. Since I tested it out today, I’ll go back to babying it for a few days.
On the food front:
I didn’t really eat last night’s dinner. I made it but wasn’t too hungry so I put it back in the fridge and had it for breakfast this morning.
Around 1pm I had 1/4 cup of those pili nuts – nom nom nom. Then, I did the classiest thing of the day and prepped dinner to bring to a restaurant. Yup, I’m headed out to watch the first Patriots pre-season game at a bar and I’m brining my own meal.
Is it allowed? No. Will they throw me out? Probably not. If they tell me to put it away, I will, but I don’t think they’ll say anything.
I’m making up my cabbage salad bowl with raw shredded cabbage, hardboiled egg, avocado & bacon and taking it on the road with me.
Could I order fish & veggies at the bar? Or a burger without the bun? Of course. But it wouldn’t be as tasty or filling as my cabbage salad bowl so I choose that!
Make it a great day! Make choices that make you proud.
Dating & fat loss. We are going there today. Whether you are married, dating or single, this episode will tackle mindsets & strategies for staying true to your goals regardless of what people in your life eat or choose.
The reality is: no matter who you are with or what anyone around you chooses, you are always 100% in control of what you put in your mouth, how much & when.
Does this make it easy to make progress towards your goals when people are around you are indulging? Nope. But this is life.
I think it’s a huge asset to have people in your life who eat differently than you do. It’s an incredible opportunity to practice and become resilient.
I’m excited to talk about how I approach difficult situations, how I say no, when I indulge and how I strike balance between social eating situations and my goals.
If you have questions or strategies, please share them in the comments below!
If you want different results, you’re going to have to make different choices. You’ll reach a point where your current choices take you as far as they can & if you want to go further, you’ve got to push harder or work smarter.
You cannot go to the gym every day & do the same workout with the same weights and expect your body to continue to change. It won’t. The same is true in all other areas of growth & improvement.
If you want to change, you have to push.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, click here to listen on my Anchor channel. Please note that Anchor is NOT my podcast, it’s just more personal, short-form audio content.
During my workout this morning, my coach instructed us all to use a kettlebell heavier than the weight we would normally choose. I selected the 53 lb kettlebell.
Why go heavier? Because it’s the only way you move from where you are to where you want to be. You have to push. You have to continue to try harder and do more.
This is true in life as well as fitness.
You can’t respond to temptations the way you always have & expect to make progress.
You can’t proceed with the same level of (in)consistency & expect to get somewhere new.
You can’t continue to make excuses & exceptions with the same frequency and move to the next level of your life and potential.
It won’t happen.
Just like you have to go at little faster on your run and lift a little heavier during your workout, you’ve got to push yourself in your daily choices & decisions.
How can you push yourself more today? How can you push yourself more this week? How can you intentionally move yourself to the next level?
What does that look like for you?
For me, this takes all forms. Right now it’s in cutting out dairy. That’s a way I push my nutrition choices. Often it’s by pushing to new limits at the gym.
Don’t settle. You have to push.
Intentionally seek out ways to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. That’s where growth comes from.
That kettlebell workout was a doozy! I had to modify due to my knee injury but I’m making progress each day!
Here’s how it went:
15-10-5
Kettlebell swings
Toes to bar
57 cal bike ride (legs only/no arms)
5-10-15
Kettlebell swings
Toes to bar
My shoulders were absolutely smoked afterwards! It was a great workout.
On the food front:
The weather is so beautiful in New England right now and I’ve been obsessed with my no-cooking-required cabbage salad bowl. After months of primarily Paleo Power Meals I’m glad to have this fave back in my life!
You’ve heard me mention it the last few days but I’ll say it again: raw red & green shredded cabbage, hardboiled egg, bacon & avocado. That was brunch. So filling & nutrient rich!
Want to know my hack? I hate cooking bacon. It takes too long – and don’t tell me to microwave it – I don’t like microwaves. But I’ll go to the breakfast bar at Whole Foods and because it’s based on weight, you get a crazy great deal on cooked bacon! I’ll get enough for a few days. Makes my life easier and it’s cheaper than buying it raw and certainly easier than cooking!
Dinner was a modification of the brunch bowl -heavier on the veggies, lighter on the fat. I added brussels sprouts (sautéed in ghee) to the cabbage and went lighter on the bacon & egg. So filling and super delish!
Make today amazing. Life is short & you deserve your best.
Sometimes I’m in a funk. Whether it’s hormones, circumstances, fatigue, my own negative thoughts or a combination, the funk feels very real. In the past, I’d let the funk win. It would suck me in, I’d feed into it with my thoughts, words & actions and it would become quite powerful (read: destructive). I felt like I was a victim of the funk. It felt paralyzing – like the funk itself prevented me from moving towards my goals.
You cannot wait for it to pass while you sit in it. You have to choose your way out of it, one small, simple choice at a time.
When we feel down, unmotivated, frustrated, emotional, depressed, or anything along the spectrum of feelings that discourage us from taking action towards our goals, we have two choices.
Fuel the funk with inaction, negative thoughts and perseverating on problems & emotion.
Choose our way out of it. Create a new state through action.
I completely understand that the last thing you want to do when you’re in a funk is eat a fat loss friendly meal or go to the gym. While those are options, they aren’t the only options. I like to simplify this by asking myself, “What is one action I can take right now to move out of this funk?”
Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a shower. Sometimes it’s as easy as putting on my favorite song. Other times it’s sitting outside for 10 minutes or reading a few pages of a motivational book.
I love keeping motivational books on hand, full of underlines, highlights and notes. When I’m feeling down, a few minutes with one of these books makes a huge difference. My go-tos include:
No matter how you look at it: action is the antidote. We are always one choice away from feeling better. Every single moment is a blank slate and every choice is a chance to advance in the direction of your goals.
Today’s workout made me happy. It was solo (not at the gym) and pain free.
EMOM 21
12 cal bike
8 burpees
12 pushups
It was just enough to push me with enough rest to allow me to bring 110% effort to each minute. Workouts are what you make them. I always want to bring my total effort and not sandbag.
On the food front:
I planned to fast today but I didn’t. The decision to fast was a mental one, not a physical one – to remind myself that hunger comes and goes in waves and I am strong enough and aware enough to ride them out.
However, I made the conscious choice to have one large meal around 4pm and I feel good about that. I was feeling tired and unfocused and I wanted to feel energized and focused. The meal definitely did that for me!
In my Oxo Salad Chopper I combined raw red & green shredded cabbage with half an avocado, 2 hardboiled eggs, 2 slices of bacon and a drizzle of macadamia nut oil. Carbs from the cabbage & avocado, protein from the eggs, fat from the eggs, bacon, avocado & oil.
