Don’t be afraid of the F word!

There is a lot of talk about intermittent fasting these days, especially since so many celebrities are coming out and talking about their experiences with it. You may have seen Hoda and Jenna talking about it on the Today show or maybe you read about Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anniston - all the stars named Jennifer are doing it. Perhaps you have seen the recent medical research in the New England Journal of Medicine that just came out last week about the Johns Hopkins study.

In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, we have been practicing intermittent fasting for over four years as a community. It is by far the most popular strategy amongst my clients.

If you’re a fan of intermittent fasting, let me know in the comments!

Despite its growing popularity and the amazing benefits, there are a lot of people who are intimidated by the word fasting.

Today, I want to tell you why you don’t have to be afraid of F word.

When people hear the F word, they often react out of fear:

Fear that they will starve 

Fear that they will have to give up their coffee

Fear that they will have to give up their favorite breakfast foods

Fear that it will be too hard

Fear that they won’t have enough energy

But there is no reason to be afraid. 

First of all intermittent fasting is not about how much you eat, it’s about WHEN you eat. You will still eat all the food you’re supposed to, you will just do it in a smaller window of time. Everyone should be fasting daily for 12 hours, but you can adjust that protocol to increase the benefits by extending the fasting window to 16/8 or even 20/4. Intermittent fasting is an eating schedule and should be done with guidance from a certified coach because if not done properly, extended fasting can damage hormone health. 

When you practice intermittent fasting, your goal is to consume only water but you can have your coffee. There are some rules regarding the kind of coffee you can have during your fasting window, but you do not have to quit coffee to do intermittent fasting.

If you are like me and love breakfast, you do not have give up your favorite breakfast foods either. I usually break my fast between 11-12pm, and if I want protein pancakes and eggs, that’s what I have. It’s basically brunch. You can also have breakfast food for dinner if you want. Intermittent fasting will not change what you eat, just when you eat.

When you begin intermittent fasting, I recommend easing into it. I teach my new clients to fast for as long as they can with the goal being 16 hours. We follow the 16/8 protocol in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, but many clients start off doing 12/12 or 14/10 to give their bodies a chance to adjust. If you dive right into 16 hours, it might feel hard. It might also feel hard if you are not eating enough during your eating window. This is another reason I recommend trying intermittent fasting under the guidance of a certified coach. If you are fasting and under-eating, you could do damage to your hormones.

Once your body switches from being a sugar burner to a fat burner, you will have plenty of energy to get through your day and to get through your workout. The key is to eat enough, to eat the right foods, whole foods, and to ease into intermittent fasting.

If you would like to learn how to implement intermittent fasting, along with other nutritional strategies, my next group of the FASTer Way starts soon. 

When you register you will get immediate access to the materials until we will start prep week. In addition to intermittent fasting, you will learn about whole food nutrition, macro tracking and carb cycling. You will learn to pair your workouts to get the best results. I will show you how to eat more and workout less AND get results.

Let me know if you have any questions! If you have experience with IF, let me know in the comments.

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Carbs are not the enemy!

Yesterday I was really hoping to break my fast with an acai bowl, but our top two favorite places to get them were closed for the holiday - which I actually love! I love that the employees had the day to spend with family and friends.

So today, I am looking forward to getting that acai bowl!

Now I know some of you watching will be thinking that all those carbs are surely going to set me back or make me fat, and I know that there are tons of programs out there promoting the elimination of carbs to lose weight, but the truth is…carbs are not the enemy!

For too long we have been made to believe that carbs are bad but the truth is our bodies NEED carbohydrates in order to perform optimally.

Carbs are important to our overall hormone health, to our energy levels (especially the more active we are) and to our mood!

Now it is true that not all carbs are created equally. This is one of the biggest lessons my clients have to learn when they go through the FASTer Way with me.

Our body needs carbs, but it needs good carbs, complex carbs, so instead of eating mostly highly processed carbs like breads and pastas, cereals, soda, candy

Instead we should be eating fruits and veggies that are high in fiber, quinoa and rice, oats, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Our carbs should be real, whole foods.

In the FASTer Way, we do not believe in eliminating carbs. When we do that, we are lowering our overall calories and possibly under-eating, we are depriving our bodies of important nutrients, and causing our energy to be low and cravings high.

In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, we cycle our carbs which allows us to deplete our glycogen and tap into fat stores for fuel but then we rebuild our energy stores and protect our hormones by adding carbs back into our day.

Now, as much as I want to let you know that you need carbs in your life and if you have eliminated them I hope you will consider bringing them back…I also don’t want to leave the rest of you thinking that you have to completely eliminate cookies and ice cream and donuts from your life either. It’s about eating the right carbs, the good carbs most of the time and enjoying the occasional treat strategically that will help you reach your goals.

Remember to keep in mind that carbs are not the enemy. Some just happen to be healthier for you than others. If your goal is to lose weight, let me teach you how. Learn more about my next round of FASTer Way to Fat Loss by clicking here.

I will teach you how to eat the right amount of carbs, the right type of carbs and how to cycle your carbs for the best results.

If you have questions or concerns on this topic, let me know. I would love to chat with you more!

Now, I would love to know, what are your favorite carbs to fuel up on? 

GOOGLE Won’t Do That: How to Reach Your Goals in 2020!

It is crazy that we have wrapped up another year, another decade and are starting what I think will be an incredible year, and incredible decade!

This is the time of year that we start thinking about goals for the new year and setting resolutions. I know a lot of people set goals around health and wellness. That is what I have always done.

Today I want to share what I used to do before I found the FASTer Way to Fat Loss.

When it came to setting goals, this is what it looked like for me…I had goals to run X amount of miles, run X amount of races, or set a PR in the half marathon, 10K or whatever race I wanted to run better. I would include goals like I will eat healthier and get stronger this year.

My method for reaching those goals was to GOOGLE it. Maybe you do this too? Tell me in the comments. And if you do, kudos to you! You are thinking about your health and wellness and that is a GOOD thing!

So I would GOOGLE everything. I would Google training plans for running, speed workouts so I could be a faster runner, yoga for runners because I would be a better runner if I improved my mobility. I would Google healthy recipes because I had to eat healthy to be in good shape and to be a fit runner. I would Google strength workouts, so I could get stronger.

And it was all out there, it was FREE and it was at my finger tips.

The problem was I didn’t know how to put it all together properly. So instead of becoming a better, faster, stronger runner, I was injured a lot, my weight fluctuated up and down (and I didn't know why) and I did not get stronger.

I didn’t know what I was doing even though I thought I was doing all the right things.

I didn’t know that I was spending way too much time on cardio and not enough time on strength training.

I didn’t know that in order to get strong and build lean muscles, I needed to eat the right amount of foods.

I didn’t know that getting lean and staying fit relies a lot on eating at the right times.

These days people are GOOGLING all the same things I used to and information about intermittent fasting and carb cycling. They're searching for free meal plans on Pinterest.

And it’s all still out there and still FREE, but in order to get the best results, in order to get sustainable results, you need someone to show you how to use all of that information.

You need someone helping you implement intermittent fasting, so that you don’t damage your hormones. You need someone working with you on meal planning to make sure you are eating enough and not stressing your body by under-eating. You need a community to lean on and support you with motivation and guidance.

GOOGLE won’t do all that.

But the FASTer Way can!

My clients in the FASTer Way learn how to properly implement sustainable strategies and get daily one on one support and guidance from me. They get six weeks to practice putting all of the strategies to together to work with their everyday life. Because in order to be sustainable, it has to be something that they can successfully do ON THEIR OWN.

GOOGLE won’t do that.

You can learn more about my next round of FASTer Way by clicking here.

If you have questions or comments on this topic, leave them in the comments below. I love hearing from readers! And if you know someone else who is searching GOOGLE, I would love for you to share this post with them.

Happy New Year!

Self Care is More Than Just a Buzzword and 3 Simple Ways to Fit It In!

Self care is more than just a buzzword - it is essential to our overall good health.

Learn more about my next FASTer Way to Fat Loss group here.