Tips to Stay on Track this Labor Day Weekend

Hi everyone! 

Labor Day is right around the corner and the end of summer parties are too. 

Raise your hand if you have big plans for the weekend? 

It can be easy to fill up on junk food and alcohol and desserts. 

So how can you enjoy your good-bye to summer party without throwing in the towel on your healthy habits?

Here’s the deal…you do not have to go into your weekend with an all or nothing attitude. You CAN have fun, stay healthy and STILL enjoy your weekend!

Here’s how:

1. exercise - if you know you are going to splurge, start off with a great workout. Get a good workout done and get the furnace going. If you do a good workout, your body will be in fat burning mode through out your day.

2. save your calories - if you know that you are going to an afternoon or evening party, try breaking your fast later in the day. This means you can enjoy al the yummy food during the party without worrying that you are eating too much.

3. bring your own dish - there are so many amazing recipes you can serve (or bring) that the entire crowd will love! You don't have to sacrifice flavor or your desserts to stay healthy and still enjoy your holiday weekend.

Remember, living a healthy lifestyle means we know how balance our choices. The majority of the time, eat spot on and healthy! But make time to enjoy a treat, dessert, special meal or a drink! When you eat like this, you don't feel deprived! It's all about moderation!  Know when enough is enough!

If you need help building healthy habits, I would love for you to join my next round of FASTer Way to Fat Loss starting SEPT 16 - learn more here.

As always, if you have a question leave it in the comments below!

FWTFL Chocolate Coconut Fat Bombs

On low carb days, people often think about and focus on consuming meats, poultry, fish and veggies. There is room for smart treats though, too. 

Since our carb intake is reduced, to make up for those calories and hit our daily goal, we must increase and consume healthy fats. If you are craving something sweet and chocolatey, try this yummy recipe on your next low carb day.

FWTFL Chocolate Coconut Fat Bombs

Ingredients

• 6 T coconut Oil

• 3 T PB

• 3 T cocoa

• 2 T stevia

Instructions:

Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan.

Add the other ingredients and mix well. Do not boil.

Pour into molds and freeze until solid.

Pop out of molds and store in the freezer or refrigerator.

I have been asked to share the silicone mold I use. Here is a link to amazon.

Nutrition (varies per ingredient brands): 1 candy approx. 88 cals / 9.1g fat / 1.1g net carbs / 0.9g protein

They make a great sweet treat on low carb day, especially after a high intensity workout!

The One Thing to Do If You Want to Lose Fat

Hey everyone! I am so excited to jump on here today and talk to you about nutrition and fitness and the one mistake that I see so many people making when they are trying to change their body composition and lose weight. I made this same mistake but now I know what to do and I want to share that information with YOU.

Thank you so much for reading! Today I am going to tell you what you need to do to start seeing progress whether you are trying to lose body fat and change your body composition or build muscle and see more definition. If you know someone else who is in this situation, please share this blog post with them right now because I want everyone to know the easy way to start seeing results.

So, if you are trying to lose fat and change your body composition, and feel like nothing you do is working, please keep reading.

This is what I see happening all around me…especially this time of year when everyone is thinking about resolutions. I see this time and time again. And trust me, I was the same way.

People want to lose weight (lose fat) and fit into their clothes again and feel better wearing their clothes. They are tired of feeling flabby and uncomfortable. They’re frustrated with belly fat that won’t go away. People want to look good and feel good. We all do!

The first thing they do is start working out…signing up for gym memberships, taking fitness classes three and four times a week. They start working out more and more and more. Some of these people even do two workouts in one day, or maybe three. They are 100% focused on burning as many calories as possible because they believe they need to burn more than they eat.

In addition to that, people start eating “healthy” – maybe they decide that skipping a meal and cutting back on calories is the answer. Some people will cut out carbs completely. These people will see results, at first, but then it gets harder and harder to live on cutting calories and eliminating an entire macronutrient. 

These people get tired of working out more and more and more and eating less and less and less. Eventually their fitness and “healthy” eating plan falls apart and they lose the progress that was made. Frankly, they are too tired to keep up that crazy plan.

If this is you or someone you know, then I have the answer for you.

You have to look at food first. If you want to change your body composition and lose fat, you have to look at what you are eating.

In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® we do three things to make nutrition the focus:

1.     Focus on macros -> eating enough of the right foods -> Carbs, Fats, Proteins & enough calories!!

2.     We make whole foods our primary source - if it comes from the ground or a mother, eat it!

3.     We cycle our carbs - this gives us the benefits of low carb without completely eliminating a macronutrient!

If you are not tracking your food, then you really don’t KNOW what or how much you are eating.

When you start tracking your food, you will see exactly what you are eating and exactly how much you are eating. And you will probably learn that you are NOT eating enough and you are not eating the right foods. 

Even if you think you are, if you are not seeing the progress you want, you are not.

Grab your phones, download a food tracking app like MyFitnessPal and start tracking your food. And don’t set your calories at something crazy low like 1200. Anything under 1500 is probably under-eating for most of us.

But start logging your food, I’ve said this before and I will say it again, log all of your meals, your snacks, the ingredients in your recipes…log it all and track it all. Then see what your day looks like. If you are not eating 50% carbs, 30% healthy fats and 20% protein, then you need to change the way you eat to get the results that you want. 

It’s that simple. Eat the right amount of the right foods and your body will respond.

Without doing a single workout.

Focus on the food first!

I can walk you through this process when you join my next round of FASTer Way to Fat Loss®. We start prepping on DEC 31. 

Thanks for reading everyone. If you did, leave me a comment or hit that share button and let your family and friends know how to avoid making the one mistake that will keep them from getting the results they want.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your dream body!

It's low carb day and that means one of my favorite cardio workouts, but first I wanted to talk a little about motivation.

Yesterday I shared a post on social media that said Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they worked on it every single day!

That’s what I want you to remember when you are working toward your dream body. You have to work on it Every. Single. Day.

I don’t mean you have to work out every single day, but you do have to make choices that will help you get to your goal every single day.

In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® we emphasize that you if you follow our plan, a combination of straightforward nutrition and effective workouts, you will burn fat FAST. You will see big changes in your body composition FAST.

But it still takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your dream body after just one day of sticking to healthy choices. You have to start and then you have to be consistent.

You have to eat whole foods every day. You have to move every day. You have to engage with others who have a similar goal every day! In other words, you have to work at it every single day until you reach your goal.

They say it takes about 2 months to develop a new habit. If you are consistent for 2 months, you can train your body to burn fat, you can remove all the junk from your body and you can build up the mental grit to make living a healthy lifestyle, like the FASTer Way to Fat Loss®, your new habit!

I hope I’ve motivated you this morning to make healthy choices! Let me know if I have in the comments!

My waitlist is open for my next round of FASTer Way to Fat Loss®. Click here for more info, including FREE guides you can download.

What is FASTer Way to Fat Loss®? - Online Bootcamp

This is the first post in my series What is FASTer Way to Fat Loss®? with a focus on what to expect from the premier online bootcamp.

FASTer Way to Fat Loss®  Online Bootcamp

• It's a six week online program where you learn to create a healthy lifestyle and to effectively burn fat through cutting edge strategies (intermittent fasting, carb cycling, tracking macros).

• The bootcamp classroom is a private Facebook group (or email), a private website portal, LIVE online training calls, videos, podcasts, and My Fitness Pal.

• Daily instruction and accountability are provided in the private Facebook group.

• You access program information through a private website portal. In the portal you receive a comprehensive program guide, daily eating schedule and workouts for the six weeks and sample recipes. **There is no meal plan. 

• You learn the strategies through online readings, LIVE video training sessions and podcasts.

• You use My Fitness Pal to track your food consumption and learn to eat the right macros, at the right time, for the right reasons.

The goal of an online bootcamp is to allow people from all over the world to meet in an online classroom, learn together and support each other.

Learn more about my next round here.

Coming up next, I will discuss the elements of carb cycling and how it is used in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® program.

How to Avoid the Holiday 15

This is the time of year that a lot of people look forward to. All of the end of the year holidays...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s. People are getting together with family and friends, having all the yummy foods and treats and drinks and dealing with stress.

Wait, what?

The end of the year holidays stress a lot of people out because they are worried about over-eating, over-indulging and gaining weight! The reality is, most people will over-indulge and over-eat during the holidays and see some weight gain.

It doesn't have to be that way!

Here are my tips to avoid gaining the Holiday 15:

1. Drink lots of water - doing this fills your belly up and reduces the chance that you'll confuse the hydration signal and the hunger signal.

2. Start your day with some exercise - go for a walk, do a 20 minute elliptical, do anything that gets you moving. This will set you up to continue making healthy choices throughout the day (don’t want that workout to go to waste, right?)

3. Don’t accept any leftovers. Seriously! No matter how good it was or if it’s your aunt’s most amazing and delicious cheese ball…leave it behind. Out of sight, out of mind. You can’t overeat food that you don’t have, am I right?

4. Try intermittent fasting - try eating during a set window of time, say 8 or 10 hours. Not only will this kick start your body’s own natural fat burning process, but people who do intermittent fasting tend to eat less during their set eating window.

5. Finally, if you really want to head into the holidays without a worry in the world when it comes to eating and not eating, join my next round FASTer Way to Fat Loss® online bootcamp. I will equip you with the strategies you need to enjoy all the holiday food and treats and instead of gaining a Holiday 15, you could be on your way to losing a Holiday 15!

To sign up for my next round or check out what it’s all about -> click here

Sleep is Important to Burn Fat

There are a lot of factors that affect our body's ability to effectively burn fat and sleeping well is one of them. Not sleeping enough can reduce and undo the benefits of good nutrition and exercise, which is why rest is the second most important part of the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® program.

Here are some reasons that getting a good night's sleep is important:

1. Lower cortisol levels - when your body is sleep deprived it produces more of the stress hormone, cortisol. Higher cortisol levels can cause the body to store fat and increase the hunger hormone.

2. Increased motivation - poor sleep or not enough sleep leaves you feeling exhausted, dazed, even a little grumpy. Any motivation you had to reach for good food choices or to take time for exercise goes out the window.

3. Managed hunger hormones - Those who get adequate sleep tend to eat fewer calories than those who don't. Sleep deprivation disrupts the daily fluctuations in appetite hormones and is believed to cause poor appetite regulation. This includes higher levels of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates appetite, and reduced levels of leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite.

4. Reduced insulin sensitivity - lack of quality sleep can affect insulin levels. When insulin levels are off, your body will start to store fat instead of burn it.

When you cut back in sleep, you also cut back the amount of fat loss you can lose by half.

Try these tips for better sleep:

1. Do your workout at least 3 hours before bedtime. Physical activity promotes deep sleep, but too close to bedtime can stimulate the body and keep you awake.

2. Reduce your screen time. Playing on your phone or laptop, watching television can prevent the body from producing the sleep hormone, melatonin.

3. Create a sleep sanctuary. Dark and cool rooms promote better sleep. Use black out curtains, cover the glow on your digital clock, wear a sleep mask to block out light. Decrease the temperature in the room you sleep in to signal the body that it is time to go to sleep.

4. Eat whole foods. What you eat throughout the day can promote better sleep. Avoiding processed foods will help you fall asleep and stay asleep longer. Consuming proteins, healthy fats and complex carbs will promote the fat burning process and muscle growth while you sleep.

So, in addition to making good food choices and exercising daily, getting enough sleep is important for fat loss and our overall health.

See information on my next round of FASTer Way to Fat Loss® here.

No More Scales: Why You Should Stop Using a Scale to Measure Progress

I'm going to share an idea that may sound really, really crazy, but I think you should get rid of your scale!

Let me tell you why:

1. Your scale doesn't tell the whole story. Fat loss and weight loss are not equal ---> fat takes up a lot more room. When you lose 5 pounds, it looks like you lost A LOT more because the space that fat takes up is significant.

2. Weight fluctuations are normal. As we lose fat, our fat cells fill up with water. It's a last ditch effort to stay in our body. This can actually cause a temporary weight GAIN. Once the water leaves the cells our weight will drop. Over time (like during a FASTer Way to Fat Loss® journey) this will happen repeatedly.

3. The number can be misleading. It can tell some people they are healthy when they are not. It tells other people they are unhealthy when they are. Progress should be measured by how we look and FEEL, NOT by a number on the scale.

4. There are other ways to measure your progress. You'll be much happier if you focus on the right measure of your progress, like your body measurements, your before and after photos, your blood work, energy levels, sleep and mood. All of these are much better measurements of your health and wellness than a number on a scale.

If your clothes are looser and fitting well, if you're sleeping well and have lots of energy to do the things you want, then why does a number on the scale need to be the main measure of your progress? It shouldn't.

Now, go toss out that scale and tell your friends and family to do the same!

Leave a comment if you did it.

Tips for Successful Low Carb Days

Low carb diets are a strategic way to teach our bodies to burn stored fat. When consuming fewer grams of carbs throughout the day, our bodies deplete of glycogen and reach to stored fat for energy.

Most people starting a low carb diet for the first time will struggle in the beginning and sometimes feel withdrawal like symptoms (headache, puffiness), especially if they are coming from a high carb, high processed food diet. This is caused by the transition our bodies go through while going from a sugar burner to a fat burner and adjusting to a new eating cycle.

Here are some tips for a successful low carb day:

1. Plan your meals - If you have an idea of what you are going to eat throughout the day, go ahead and log it into My Fitness Pal and check your nutrient goals. This is a great way to make sure you don't exceed your carb intake goal and lets you see where you need to make adjustments.

2. Have low carb snacks ready - Snacks are often the culprit when exceeding low carb goals. Plan your low carb snacks and have them on hand so you don't have to think about it. Nuts, raw veggies, jerky, even a protein shake are great low carb snack ideas.

3. Drink plenty of water - Avoid carb loaded drinks and instead drink lots of water. Staying hydrated will prevent cravings and help flush the body as it processes all the protein and healthy fats you are consuming during your eating window.

4. Vary your foods - It's good to have go-to protein choices, but keep it interesting by mixing in different proteins. Instead of always going for the chicken recipes, try fish, sausage, pork. Also, try preparing foods in new ways, like mashed or riced cauliflower!

5. Consume healthy fats - Healthy fats like fish, nuts, avocado, oils, will help you feel full and will help you reach your calorie goal for the day. Healthy fats have more calories per gram than protein and carbs.

Consuming an intentional low carb diet will help turn our bodies into fat burning machines. In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® program we cycle low carb days and regular carb days. Click here to learn more about my bootcamps and I will show you how to pair workouts with low carb days for optimal results!

5 Reasons NOT to Skip Leg Day!

Saturday's are leg day around here and in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® program we work them pretty hard!

If you are still wondering why "never miss a leg day" is a big deal, check out these 5 reasons why you shouldn't forget to train your lower body once a week.

Leg Day - 5 reasons it’s important

1. Core and cardio - leg exercises are compound movements which mean you work multiple muscle groups and get your heart rate up

2. Better performance - strong legs mean better balance and stability during all of your activities.

3. Fat loss - training the largest muscle group means using more energy which comes from stored fat

4. Prevent back pain - strong glutes, hip flexors, quads and hamstrings keep you stabilized and will help prevent back injuries

5. Look great - toned and strong legs are sexy!

If you'd like to see some leg day exercises, follow me on IG (here) or join my FASTer Way To FASTer Way to Fat Loss® bootcamp. Get more details and a FREE starter kit here!

3 Intermittent Fasting Tips

Intermittent fasting has become a health and fitness industry buzz word but there's a good reason for that: it works! 

What is it? intermittent fasting is an eating schedule that alternates between a FASTED state and a FED state during a defined time period. The point of using IF is to extend your fasting window to force your body to rely on stored fat for energy.

People are often skeptical when they hear the term intermittent fasting, however I want you to know that it is an effective practice that will help your body burn fat. I've been implementing IF for over two years and feel amazing.

Here are three intermittent fasting tips that you can do to start using this strategy today!

1. Try shortening your eating window. You don't have to jump into a 16 hour fast right away. Just try something that feels doable for you. Start with a 12 hour fast, see how that feels. When you are ready, try bumping up to 14 or even 16 hours of fasting. 

2. Drink plenty of water! Staying hydrated, especially during your fasting window, is very important. Start each day with a large glass of water (or two!) and keep drinking all day. It's also ok to drink black coffee, herbal teas and BCAAs during your fast. 

3. Focus on whole foods. Break your fast with a healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates and good fats. Eating whole foods fuels our body properly, prepares our body to function optimally and fills our body with appropriate macronutrients and micronutrients to sustain our fasting period.

I fully believe in the benefits of this lifestyle and encourage you to give it a try!

Let me know if you do in the comments below :)