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January was Thyroid Awareness month.
February is Heart Health month. March is Nutrition Awareness month. …all three playing a significant role in my life... My mom had thyroid issues for well over 50 years. She didn’t talk much about it until I was diagnosed Hashimoto’s over 12 years ago. Everything she had been feeling in her body made sense to me now.
Overtime, she developed type 2 diabetes. Many things could have contributed such as a crappy food choices, emotional eating and minimal exercise. She did her normal activities of daily living…yard work, cleaned house, walked from time to time and of course she got a lot of walking from going to yard sales every weekend! …But studies have found that diabetes and thyroid disorders tend to coexist in patients. Both conditions involve a dysfunction of the endocrine system. Thyroid disorders can have a major impact on glucose control, and untreated thyroid disorders affect the management of diabetes in patients. Both diabetes and thyroid disorder can increase the risk of heart disease, heart attack, clogged blood vessels (atherosclerosis), and high blood pressure. Something that mom would soon find to be true. …December 29, 2006 she had a heart attack. Days before, she looked tired and worn out but we all assumed she was working too much…because she was. She was up in the middle of the night throwing up but went back to bed not understanding why…maybe something she ate. When she got up to shower that morning, she experienced the classic symptoms of a heart attack and was able to call and get help. She was lucky. She had over 90% blockage that was treated with a couple of stents. That was a wake-up call for her. For all of us. She was committed to make her health a priority. She was ready to do to what it takes. I worked with her for 6 months walking daily, adjusting her meal plan and watching her commit to never feeling that pain ever again. She lost 30 pounds during that time and her cardiologist said she was one of his star pupils. She was full of energy. She felt amazing and like her “old self” again… But sometime shortly after that, her primary care doctor adjusted her thyroid medication. Her energy decreased Her brain fog started to come back She was tired and focused what energy she did have on her work. Her weight started to come back …and then was back to old habits. The stressors of life continued to weigh on her also. She continued to try. I tried. It was beyond frustrating. There was so much that we still didn’t know. We were able to spend just over 7 more years with her before she passed away of a stroke. As I take a bird eye view from those years, I can see what pieces of the complex puzzle needed to be put where. And perhaps that’s even more frustrating. But I channel that into uncovering the layers and helping others… What do we need to uncover so that we can start building a new foundation?
Love your heart. Love the women in your life. Get informed. Do not think it could not possibly be you… The truth is heart disease impacts ONE IN THREE WOMEN… So if it isn’t you, look to your left then look to your right- And start talking about it Because it’s largely PREVENTABLE Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca
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Answer: Yes. Maybe. Not always, for everyone.
In a study at Penn State University, researchers asked 186 women who they classified as “overweight” or “obese” to rank the “foods you can’t resist and find hard to stop eating.” The foods that most frequently topped the participants’ lists:
Most people know their problem foods. Mine is chips. But asking you to officially identify them can help improve awareness and reveal patterns. And that can lead to more effective strategies for managing your intake. To start, make a list. But for deeper insights, fill out the Yale Food Addiction Scale Worksheet. It’ll not only help you better understand challenges, it can be enlightening, too. Tasty foods are likely to be eaten. No matter how much willpower you have, it’s natural to grab the easiest and most tempting food options, especially when you’re tired, stressed, or ravenous. So it’s helpful to remember if a food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate will eventually eat it. This doesn’t just pertain to problem foods; it also applies to the foods we should eat frequently. Get those foods prepped and ready-to-eat—so they’re as convenient as packaged snacks. Or put another way:
There are no “bad” foods. I’d rather not categorize foods as “good” or “bad.” That can teach people to moralize food choices, causing them to literally feel like a bad person for eating the “wrong” foods. Who needs more guilt and shame in life? There’s a subtle difference between demonizing a food and merely abstaining from it because you know you tend to overeat it. I challenge you to think differently. Instead of universal “good” and “bad” foods, build a personalized list of their red, yellow, and green light foods. Red light foods These are foods that present such a difficult challenge for you that they just aren’t worth the struggle. Red light foods may not work for you because:
Yellow light foods Maybe you can eat a little bit of these and stop, or you can eat them under control at a restaurant with others but not at home alone. Green light foods These are nutritious and make your body and mind feel good. You can eat them normally, slowly, and in reasonable amounts. Whole foods usually make up most of this list. This helps with being able to eat things in moderation and more importantly, not feel guilty. I hope this is helpful for you as your continue your journey towards health and wellness. Enrollment is still open for our next group of Recommit to YOU in 42 that begins on February 1st! If you have been wanting to recommit to yourself and want to know more of what that looks like, message me, I’d be happy jump on a discovery call with you to see if you are a good fit for this program. Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca The world is pretty uncontrollable. We are all very well aware of that by now!
We can’t control the outcome. But we can control the behaviors that lead to the outcome we want. Outcomes are WHAT you want. But outcomes don't tell you what to do. Behaviors are HOW you'll get there. Behavior goals give you an action plan. If you want to make big changes, you have to take small, consistent daily actions. If we’re talking about a health based goal, say fitness or weight loss, we usually have those outcome goals already brewing in our minds. …and more often than not, that’s where they stay. We often think we’ll have to completely overhaul our lives to reach those outcome goals, so what usually happens? We get stuck Overwhelmed Frustrated Give up So instead of setting “outcome goals”, set “behavior goals”. I’ve called behavior goals my 5 to Thrive or High Yielding Tasks but essentially all of the behavior goals are a commitment to do a specific set of actions or tasks that lead to the outcome you want. They are:
Again: You can’t control the outcome. But you can control the behaviors that, when done consistently, will move you in the right direction. Focus on the process, not the outcome. If you’d like to work on your 5 to Thrive so that you can recommit to yourself fully, send me a message, I’d love to help! Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca It’s been so beautiful outside and I’ve been enjoying my afternoon walks with my girls.
This year has been flying by, especially for as strange as this year has been, and it’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day. Sometimes we get off track and sometimes we find that our original goals we set our for ourselves no longer speak to us. Whatever your situation may be, this is a great opportunity to step back and see how you’re doing. This will challenge us to evaluate important areas of our life, refocus and recommit. We have so many areas of our lives that we want to improve upon, it’s often difficult to keep them all balanced. Have you ever done really great at an exercise program, like you’re killing it in the gym, but just couldn’t get the eating right? Or your nutrition is on point but you haven’t worked out in weeks. Or even something a little more personal that you’re contributing energy, love and time into but keep putting yourself on the back burner. So how do we Recommit? Well that all depends on your initial goals but here is how I simplify and break it down to achieve mine (not to be confused with EASY, it still requires EFFORT).
Keep it simple and consistent. I hope this helps you Recommit to YOU and not lose sight of your goals and what you want out of life! If you need help pinpointing what your non-negotiables or HYT are, let's chat! Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca Transitioning from one life event to another can be a glorious event.
It can also be scary, frustrating, and unsure. Going to college Getting married Having children Changing careers Death of a loved one Children leaving the nest Before I officially left my day job after 20+ years, I was on a leave of absence for over a year dealing with an injury. As I was taking care of myself physically, mentally and emotionally I was struggling with “who am I” without that part of my life... ...Attaching my identity to what I could do physically. Forgetting that I’ve also been a coach for the last 14 years. I felt rather lost and numb for a while during that time. Like things were just up in the air and I couldn’t do anything “until”... “Until” can be a dangerous word. It can keep you hostage from what you really want. Perhaps it’s from fear of the unknown Perhaps it’s your own self-doubt of what you what to do Perhaps it’s waiting for that perfect time “When I lose 10 pounds then...” “When this virus is over then...” “Once the kids are grown then...” “Once I get this job then...” I had to recommit to myself every single day. Working hard to change the story I kept telling myself. Stories that had been on repeat for as long as I can remember. Changing the actions, habits and behaviors that kept me in that negative loop. Taking it back to basics like I mentioned yesterday. Deciding what I really wanted. Planning out the steps to do it. And now that I am “here,” the work isn’t over. As my mom always said “there is always work to be done.” Be your own greatest project Please don’t hesitate to message me privately if you want to chat I’m thrilled to begin enrollment for my newly updated program Recommit to YOU starting Thursday October 1st. We’ll wrap up December 30th just in time to start the New Year off right. Intrigued? Curious? Wanna know more? Leave me a message, read it here or simply wait for more posts. Because more detailed posts are coming :) Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca You’re here because you know you need a different solution.
Maybe you’ve tried 5, 10, 20 diets or exercise programs over the last decade and you are sick and tired of rules, obsession and thinking about food constantly. Maybe you’ve gathered so much information about nutrition and exercise programs that you feel paralyzed and scared you are messing everything up every second, so you throw up your hands and say, screw it, why bother, and just do whatever, whenever. Maybe you’ve had some major life changes and have continued to put yourself on the backburner for so long thinking “one day, I’ll get myself together.” Look, I get it. In 2014, that was me. I had just lost my mom, was running on fumes with taking care of my family, working at my day job and then headed right to my studio for the rest of the day. I’d average about 65 working hours per week and even though health was what I taught, I was white knuckling my way through, trying to regain some sort of control of my life. The things that were “working” in the beginning to even maintain a healthy lifestyle weren’t working anymore and I was EXHAUSTED from trying to do everything perfectly with my nutrition and exercise. And I said to myself, “Okay Becs, this is it. You have to learn how to balance this out, like…forever, what does THAT even look like?” And I was hesitant! Hesitant to try anything different, even though clearly the weekly push and grind cycle I was in was NOT working. I mean, I would tell myself, “you know what to do, you just need to do it.” Every Monday I’d wake up feeling like “I’ve got this,” only to find myself in the same self-sabotaging habits and behaviors by the end of the week. And the negative self-talk and berating … never worked. Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Well, I had to finally look and the mirror and see that that was me. As stubborn as I was, I needed a new solution. I was so dang overwhelmed… and I wouldn’t even admit WHY So, I started slowly started focusing on what I needed to do I started slowly showing myself kindness and moving on after certain setbacks. I started practicing mindfulness and abundance around food and TIME. I started being kind to myself when my body wasn’t ready to what “I used to do.” And the thing I was hesitant of happening—not getting on track and losing control!--did not happen. I found that I could trust myself with LESS, that less gave me more. That I could handle any situation anytime. And guess what, that situation DID happen when I got injured November 2017. And I had reapply all of these same lessons again. And over the course of these last 3 years, I became someone who finally experienced balance in all things food, movement and time freedom, even more so from when I started the OG Recommit to YOU program years ago. Things feeling automated. Easy. Enjoyable. Moderation. Simplicity and consistency. And thus, Recommit to YOU 2.0 was born. I reverse engineered my own process and worked with hundreds of women and other coaches who have helped adapt and adjust the program and now I’m excited to bring you Recommit to YOU 2.0. It truly is liberating if you have the courage to try a new way. It’s changed the lives of so many women over the last 6 years and I want you to experience it, too. I hope you join us. We start October 1st. Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca The first time I realized I needed to recommit to myself was after I got married. We had been having a blast during our first year together and I had gained quite a bit of weight. I had been super active before we met and nights of going out with a few alcoholic drinks and junk food were adding up.
I went from 11% body fat to 28% … and I was devastated! I remember looking at my body in the mirror and not recognizing myself. Now, admittedly, this was an easy turn around for me. I set my mind to “getting my body back,” and I did. What I didn’t know, was just after I “got my body back,” I was going to have to recommit to myself again. Yup, I was pregnant. This time, it wasn’t an easy turn around. Our little Sophie came a month early via an emergency C-section but recovering from that wasn’t the biggest issue. My thyroid went all kinds of crazy and it took 3 years to get back to feeling somewhat “normal.” Recommitting to myself was on a whole new level but eventually, I felt back on top and even competed in various events like returning to figure competitions, Spartan races, 5k’s and even a triathlon. But again, as things would turn out that wouldn’t last long. Just as I found my rhythm again, life would knock me on my ass with the death of my mom. Life stopped. There are no words to describe the excruciating heartbreak... And this is where recommitting to myself would be the biggest test. I know mom would never want me to fall into a depression. I know she would never want me to lose sight of who I was or the intentions I set for myself and our little family. And believe me, I was headed that way So my solution? Recommit EVERYDAY. Especially on the days when we just want to push it all away and hide under the blankets. That’s it. Because over 16 years later and 6 years into teaching Recommit to YOU, I’m grateful for all of those experiences as it has allowed me to grow and evolve. In the Recommit to YOU Coaching – open now through Friday – I’ll be teaching you what that looks like in practice, how to recommit to you each and every time something throws you off track, how to understand your own limiting beliefs that keep you stuck, and how to bring movement and nutrition into balance. I’ll be sharing exactly WHY it is actually not hard, it’s literally the opposite of what we keep repeating and telling ourselves. If you know me at all, you know my entire goal in life is balance and simplicity. I want to be able to spend energy on the things that are important to me and I definitely do not want to spend energy on stressing about how to fit everything in or what I’m going to do the next time something comes up. Because as we all know, something always comes up. Let’s make things easier so you have the time and mental energy to spend on what you care about. Enrollment ends this Friday September 11th, and we start Monday. It will change your life, I promise. Happy to answer any questions you’ve got! Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca If you didn’t know this about me already, I’ve been in the Todd Durkin Mastermind Group for several years now collaborating and coaching with other fitness business professionals from around the world. It’s been a life changing experience and have built relationships with amazing fire breathing dragons who I call my family.
And right now we are all in a friendly MyZone competition. MyZone is a heart rate monitoring device that connects to your phone, allows you to see other people’s stats on heart rate, calories burned and MEPS earned (MyZone effort points, rewarding effort rather than fitness). You can also form challenges and section them off into teams which is what we’re doing right now. The majority of these people are machines! I used to be a machine! When I was at my day job, my nicknames varied between “machine,” “Becca the board killer,” “workhorse,” “the boss,” etc. If you know my recent aliments, I certainly don’t feel like a machine but very happy with my improvements. Here’s the message I want to deliver. It’s YOU vs. YOU. I am not the same person I used to be physically. Nobody is really. Some people make a radical shift in their mindset and change their appearance and strength and that is always awesome to see. It’s important for me to address this because there seems to be an almost depressive state people get into when they think back of what they “used to do” to the point that they give up completely. I’m going to do my Al Bundy reflection for a moment. I used to be a nationally ranked BMX competitor, state champion in my age group, figure competitor, and even competed in a triathlon not knowing how to swim and obstacle course Spartan Races. I would pride myself of how hard I could work at my day job then come home and kill it in my workouts and then the back yard. There is nothing greater than that sense of accomplishment. BUT!! Here’s the lesson from the message. It’s one of my core values and that’s to keep climbing. We have to keep moving that needle 2mm each day to the direction we want to go. And we have to keep celebrating the small wins! We have to keep getting up and doing even the smallest movements, any movements even if we don’t feel like it. Some days we have to get up and recommit to ourselves every single day. Maybe it’s because we’re tired, or sore, or not feeling well, or even if we just don’t want to and have become disenchanted with moving our bodies. Some days it’s easy and some days it can feel like a never ending battle to just get moving. I get it. I seriously do. I know I physically cannot do what I used to do and I’m totally ok with that and accept it fully. What I would not accept of myself is if I just gave up. If I stopped finding ways that my body could still benefit from and feel good with. We are our own test subjects and if something isn’t working we need to keep going until we find something that does. I get told almost on a daily basis from my students that I make things look easy. I take this as a compliment but also remind my students it’s my job to show the correct form so they know what to look for, feel and expect and to modify if needed. If I had trouble showing the correct form and couldn’t do it, it would be very unprofessional of me to expect my students to do it correctly if I couldn’t. So if you’re having that negative self-talk about comparing yourself to someone else or to what you used to be, take a breath and ask yourself what are the small steps you can do to keep moving forward? Focusing on those small imperfect wins add up and create a compound effect. Trust me, I’m also a recovering perfectionist. Imperfection action beats perfect inaction. As my coach Todd says, “Ready, fire, aim. If you wait to aim you’ll never fire.” What can you do to Recommit to YOU? Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca P.S. If you’re ready to recommit to you, I have a few open times for virtual training. Since COVID entered out lives, I have been training all online!! It has been wonderful to be able to continue to provide exercise, nutrition and mindset work for my students in this platform. Send me a message if this sounds like something you’re ready for! Most people feel that I may judge them for not eating perfectly. They are afraid to share with me what they've been eating.
Most people assume that I eat perfectly at every meal. Perfectionism almost ruined me with the expectations I set for myself. I’ve learned over the years through my own dieting adventures - DON’T TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM ME! Isn’t it crazy how once we’re told we can’t have something we want it more? One thing that has helped me over the years when it comes to food is having my non-negotiables in place. For instance: if I’m going to have a meal that’s typically known as a “cheat meal” you better believe I’m going to make it worth it. I firmly believe in moderation but what does that mean and how do we GET there? Because we all know we need to eat right but if we know this then why do 90% of all dieters regain their weight? I’m on my own journey right now. Slowly working my way back from an injury. We need to start with a beginners mindset even if we “know” what to do. Slowly building habits to get you on the right track so you’re not derailed with an all or nothing approach. Slowly adding in exercises to see how your body responds. Making sure you’re eating healthy the majority of the time so that you can enjoy something delicious once and awhile. Holding the vision of what you want to achieve Trust the process even if it is slow. Run your own race. What worked for your cousin losing a million pounds in 6 weeks is more than likely not your race. Commit to today in taking the steps you need to be consistent. Enjoy the little things once and awhile Let me know if this resonates with you and want to schedule a call if you seem to be in the same cycle. Nourish your purpose now, Rebecca A little tough love today...
I asked a question yesterday in my private Facebook group: Is it MORE important to change diet and exercise or behavior patterns? For several weeks I’ve been sharing A LOT about mindset. It all ties in to this- Where the mind flows the body goes. You all have one thing in common. You’ve come to me one way or another for fitness and nutrition coaching. But none of that matters. Why? Because mindset matters most. In everything we do. Take weight loss for example: It's not just "I want to lose weight."
And this is no way meant to be rude, disrespectful or condescending at all. This is the exact language I’ve heard from so many women over the last 15 years. So let me ask… how is that working for you? It’s an honest question that, if you are still struggling with achieving your goals, maybe we need to be honest and get real with. Because here’s the thing, and I’ve seen this over and over again throughout my career in the fitness industry. Instead of playing the long game and making themselves a priority, every single day, people will jump to the next program. And then when that one doesn’t work, they move on to the next program, gym or trainer. And when that doesn’t work they move on again. Over time, a narrative, a story has built up in their heads that they’re a failure, and that nothing will work so why bother, that they will always be this way. Their unconscious narrative has given up before they even begin. Here is where everything that I’ve been talking about comes into the picture.
Because the story you tell is the truth you know. You don’t know what you don’t know. My coach said this today that completely resonated with me and I hope it does with you too, “Your success in anything is positively and absolutely guaranteed unless or until you get in the way.” Hold the vision Trust the process Commit to the day Nourish your purpose now Mad love for you all Reach out if this resonates with you and you’re ready to learn how to change the story you’ve been telling yourself. Rebecca |
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