Get Your ‘Head’ In The Game!

Get your head in the game! Maybe not a literal sports game but the games of life, the games of health & fitness! Let’s be honest, people who are fed up with not fitting into their clothes or frustrated with how they look are usually looking for a quick fix to lose weight. The bottom line …

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How to Be the Best Version of YOU!

How to Be the Best Version of You! TODAY is the day to start living your very best life! Over and over we make mental declarations that ‘TODAY I am going to_______________’ what is it that prevents us from actually implementing!?  Let’s zone in on a few factors: Fear….Fear of change. Self-worth…..Not truly knowing our …

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Get Your ‘Head’ In The Game!How to Be the Best Version of YOU!

May 22

My 3 Phase Fat Loss Program… A Journey into YOU!

Categories:

Fat Loss Facts, Mindset, Nutrition

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My 3 Phase Fat Loss Program… A Journey into YOU!

journey with womean walking

If you are looking for a diet, you unfortunately came to the wrong place. If you are looking to change your life from the InsideOut you have arrived to the beginning of your health and fitness journey! WELCOME :)

So what does this all mean…diets vs. journey? There is a distinct difference in going on a diet and beginning a journey into a whole new life. Diets are meant to a new way of eating. They give you certain things to eat, at certain times, for a certain amount of time, they are designed to create weight loss with a start and an end. Almost anyone that sticks to any type of a diet will have some success. But, is this success long-term? Is this success sustainable? Here is where the drastic difference comes in. In my 3 phase fat loss journey you reveal YOUR true optimal health…HOW? By sitting in the ‘classroom of oneself’! This is not a ‘cookie cutter’ program, this is an inward journey to truly understand how your body works and what your body needs to function with no hunger, high energy, and no cravings! It is a specific type of weight loss…we address FAT LOSS!

Here are the 3 Phases that will allow you to achieve your BEST HEALTH!

Phase One: The 4 Week Balance: Weeks 1-4

In this phase we are looking to get rid of anything that might be stalling your fat loss efforts. There may be potential allergens in the food you currently consume. This phase is strict but the goal is specific…hormonal balance. It all starts with a full assessment on how your body burns, what is your metabolic profile? I also assess hormonal imbalances in both the brain and the gut. The importance of having a glimpse into what your hormones are up to is to give us a better understanding as to why you can’t stick to a diet long term, why your willpower continuously fails, and why you are living with hunger, energy slumps, and cravings! I will also assess your current diet. What foods may be causing an issue, what are your cravings, are you eating enough, are you eating the right types of foods? All of this is addressed so that I can establish your foundation and work from there. One of the most important aspects of this phase is to establish your emotional charge…YOUR WHY? Your PURPOSE!!! This is a critical factor in the fat loss lifestyle. It helps you stay focused. It enables you to make this journey much bigger than fitting in skinny jeans. When there is an established purpose you can guarantee the journey for health and fitness will be a success.

Your body is the best source of information. Things like alcohol, dairy, salt, and sugar are all removed. Carbohydrates are balanced, unlike the current American diet, by reducing the amount we consume. Intake of fat is balanced as well. The game changer here is balancing the hormones insulin and cortisol. Creating new habits in the way we think, how we deal with stress, quality food and quality exercise all play a part in balancing these two hormones. I can guarantee you will feel your body coming into balance. How? Normal stress that would take you over the edge doesn’t seem to get the better of you. The 4 o’clock energy slump disappears, and those crazy nighttime cravings are non-existent. Hunger is not an issue and food slowly but surely becomes information and medicine to the body and not an emotional attachment. By the end of the 4 Week Balance we want your HEC (hunger, energy, & cravings) balanced and fat loss occurring. When this happens we know we are ready to move onto Phase Two, The 4 Week Reveal!

Phase Two: The 4 Week Reveal: Weeks 5-9

In this phase we slowly start to add back certain foods and assess how our bodies respond. As soon as we feel “off” we can quickly confidently link it to something we ate. There is knowledge; we are in the know of our own bodies. This empowers us to make the best decision in any given situation. How do we achieve this? We monitor our HEC.  We also assess mindset. Mindset becomes a very powerful tool in this phase. The human brain is more than willing to make changes but usually at around 4-6 weeks the brain starts to seek it’s old habits. This is the phase that the brain tries to go back to certainty in order to conserve brainpower. We address this phase with a keen awareness of what our body needs. We stay mindful of old habits creeping back in, and we look to make changes in common routines that can trigger old habits. We do work on changing the way we talk to ourselves such as: “Ugh I hate the way these jeans look on me.” OR “Really? You would think after 5 weeks I wouldn’t have this stomach.” All of this negative talk adds a ton of stress to the body. So, we focus on turning it around and creating new language. Language that builds us up and encourages us to focus on the good that we are.  This phase gives us the opportunity to establish trust within ourselves. For some people it is the very first time they are truly listening to their body…it is an amazing time of awareness and gratitude!

The goal of this phase is to reveal what works for you and what doesn’t. It gives you a clear understanding on what foods do for you. Do foods leave you in balance or do certain foods leave you wanting and craving more? We will also discover your carbohydrate tipping point; how many carbs can your body tolerate and still maintain a balanced HEC and fat loss? We also discover your fat tipping point; how much fat does your body require to maintain your HEC and sustain fat loss? All of this is addressed and at the end of this phase these questions are answered. When you have a keen awareness on how your body functions and your HEC is in check you are ready for the final phase…The 4 Week Lifestyle!

Phase Three: The 4 Week Lifestyle: Weeks 9-12

In this phase we take everything we have learned and we start to establish a long-term lifestyle. We know what foods give us balance and we make those staples in our daily nutrition. We also know that there are foods we love but may leave us not so balanced, so we take this time to figure our where and when to fit those in so that we can enjoy them but not at a huge cost to our health. So, if you discovered that cheese upsets your stomach you can now go forward and choose to have cheese but only when it works for your life. You may say “if I have this cheese my stomach will be bloated for 2-3 days”, with this knowledge you can choose to have it or you may say, “It’s not worth it!” In the Lifestyle phase you discover that living this way is sustainable. You know how to go on vacation and maintain. Going to a restaurant is not anxiety producing because you know exactly how to navigate the menu. At this point of the program we address anything that needs to be fine-tuned: HEC, mindset, exercise, stress, sleep, and finally you receive your long-term nutrition plan. This is custom to your metabolic burner type and you can live this way forever!

In the end you truly reveal your true optimal health! Now you can understand why this is not a “diet” but journey into YOU! What you learn goes way beyond any food menu. You learn about carbs, protein, and fats…of course, but you learn so much more that allows this to become your new way of living…it actually becomes your way of THRIVING! By being a student in the classroom of YOU, you reveal what your body needs and you discover ways to give your body exactly what it needs; from quality food & exercise, to a mindset adjustment and restorative work. You learn to ‘address your stress’ and actually deal with what is emotionally tugging at you. You no longer find yourself in the kitchen eating with no purpose. You allow ‘mistakes’ to be opportunity for growth & knowledge. You allow all of this and more to come together and you begin to shine from the InsideOut!

Are you looking to make that long lasting change in your health & fitness? Contact me today I would love to guide your journey into your true optimal health…from the InsideOut!

In Health & Fitness

Maryalice :)

 

 

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May 08

3 Questions FAT LOSS ‘Lifestylers’ Stop Asking!

Categories:

Fat Loss Facts, Mindset

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Big question mark made from smaller question marks (rainbow colors)

It always amazes me when I talk to people; clients, friends, family…etc, we all want similar results with our health and fitness…we want to be healthy and fit!! So if we are so similar in wanting the same overall health, why is there such an extreme with people who live it out and people who yo-yo up and down? Let’s be real at the end of the day there are several factors but mindset seems to be a prevailing issue! Many people do not realize that the power of our thoughts can make or break us in any facet of life. If you believe in yourself you can make anything happen, if you have support you increase your chances, and if you have a strong purpose…well, then you are unstoppable. The messages that we send from our brain to the body are POWERFUL and we need to really take this into account when we are looking to make body changes. In the fat loss lifestyle we are very specific in how we go about making these changes; mindset is a critical component. Our goal is to always minimize stress. We are not out for perfection we are out to learn, embrace, and do the best we can with any given situation thrown our way.  We are in the classroom of oneself so to truly learn our bodies; how they function, what they need, and how we can provide for them so that they can operate at their full potential. You want to go on a diet? Anyone can do that and get temporary results, FOR SURE! Or do you want to embark on a journey that will allow you to live a long sustainable life hunger free, full of energy, and void of cravings? That my friend… is the joy of living the fat loss lifestyle. So if you are making the attempt to change your body and you find yourself with little to no success maybe it has something to do with your mindset.  Mindset is something that we all need to address and I find the clients who work through mindset issues are the most successful. My purpose in addressing mindset with clients is to give them a clear understanding that this is not a weight loss diet, this is a fat loss lifestyle that can be lived out forever…there is NO END! At first this can be quiet confusing because everyone comes to me with a number in their head, they want to be 125lbs, or 130lbs etc. but I quickly address this as it is not about a number it’s about revealing YOUR true healthy…this is about becoming the master of your own health and fitness long term…a huge difference from dieting! Want to know if you are a dieter? Here are some typical questions that dieters ask:

  1. Is this diet going to work for me? This is a typical dieter’s inquiry; they want to know will they get to the destination they are seeking…will they drop the “20lbs?” and get to 125lbs or 130lbs! Of course we all want results…we want to fit comfortably in our clothes and just feel good but that takes more than a destination, there is a process to this…a journey. When we look at body change we need to embrace the journey and respect the process. It takes time, introspection, and understanding. We can all follow a diet plan and lose weight but 9 out of 10 people will gain that weight back, and then some. It is not until we fully understand what works for our particular body that we will truly be able to keep the weight off long term.  Here at InsideOut Wellness I have clients practice asking questions like “What will work best for me to learn my body, practice those skills, and become the master of me!?” We are never done, we are always evolving and so is our fat loss lifestyle. If we embrace the process our mindset shifts from a destination focus to a journey focus. We are tenacious, resilient, and purpose driven which allows us to stay focused and in that change can occur.
  2. What kind of results does this diet usually give? We are all so different and even if the greatest diet in the world gave the greatest result to thousands of people that does NOT mean it will provide the same results for you. This is a typical question coming from the mindset that willpower, hard work and determination is all we need for success. In the end when we have expectations of this fabulous diet giving us amazing results because it worked for our cousin ‘Sally’…we are setting ourselves up for failure. We can’t predict results; no one can tell you how much weight or body fat you will lose. Everyone is so unique, which is another reason diets don’t work, you need to learn YOU. Again, what food works, what exercise works, and everything that does not work. Results come, but how we feel from the inside becomes so much more important than the number on the scale. When you are living hunger free, full of energy and void of cravings…this is living and believe me the fat loss will come, but this means so much more. Who wants to look good and feel like crap? We want all of it to come together…that is true optimum health! The fat loss lifestyler will ask: “How can I take this opportunity to really learn what works best for my body and what my true healthy is so that I can live healthy and strong for the long haul?” It’s about the whole body not just about getting into those skinny jeans…We are working from the inside so the outside can SHINE!
  3. How fast will it take before I start seeing the results I want? This is a great one…This is a BIG RED FLAG on lack of purpose…This is a dieter who wants to follow a plan, be told what to do and how to do it. Not by any fault of their own but just because they don’t realize there is so much more to being healthy.  Most people who are masters in their craft never focused on how long it would take them to “get there” they just sang, painted, cooked…They embraced the journey, enjoyed learning and took in as much information as possible so to reveal every aspect of their craft. Their passion and purpose was so clear, so emotionally attached to their heart and soul that they never reached a destination they continued to seek, learn, and embrace more and more about their artistry. Becoming a master just happened, it unfolded right before their eyes, and it all started with a passion…A PURPOSE! A fat loss lifestyler will go inward and ask: “What is my purpose and in this journey have I been true to that purpose? I just want to know more and more so what’s next?” It never ends; the fat loss lifestyle goes on and on. The beauty is it allows us to unfold right before our own eyes. Inside we feel vibrant, energetic, and healthy. On the outside we shine with happiness, confidence and a long lean strong look. Just like the singer, painter, and chef mastering their art, we are the artist of our body and when we embrace the journey of skillfully mastering ourselves that is when body change can occur!

So what questions are you asking yourself?  You may need to change things up in order to be successful. Start a journey into YOU by practicing, learning, and mastering the knowledge of YOU.

Stop being the dieter and start being the detective of your body.

Reveal your purpose, focus on practicing skills, and create your body change…be the artist behind the beautiful artwork of YOU from the InsideOut!  

Artist paining

Want to learn more about adopting the fat loss lifestyle?…Contact me today so that you can be the master of your body and learn all there is to know about YOU from the InsideOut!

In Health & Fitness,

Maryalice :)

 

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May 02

The 4 Big Rocks for FAT LOSS!

Categories:

Exercise, Fat Loss Facts, Nutrition

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The 4 Big Rocks of Fat Loss!

When addressing Fat Loss we are zoning in on a very specific weight loss. The way we go about losing fat is also very specific. When clients initially come to me, they often say “I am eating really healthy, I exercise daily (sometimes twice a day), and that scale will not budge!” The questions I ask my clients often surprise them as they focus more on lifestyle rather than scales and food.  Over the years we have all been taught to monitor our caloric intake. Food has really been a HUGE focus and I would never deny that food matters, calories matter but they are not the only factors; there are 4 Big Rocks that need to be understood to truly reach your optimal health. These 4 Big Rocks of Fat Loss are: Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep and Stress.  In order to understand these big rocks we need to be clear that the main focus is always keeping a nice ebb and flow between insulin and cortisol. When I say stress think cortisol, when I say insulin think sugar. When cortisol (stress) is too high insulin (sugar) will release to lower it. This goes on all day and when in balance this system works really well. It is when we push our bodies too far in any one or all 4 of the big rocks that we throw our system out of balance minimizing our chances for fat loss.

Let’s break this down:

We are what we eat

  1. Nutrition: It is very important to keep a clean diet…Clean? This is the latest word in the health & fitness industry, well maybe not the latest but it gets used a lot. What does clean actually mean? Clean nutrition is food that is intricately connected to the earth. Things like leafy greens, root vegetables, fruit, nuts, and lean proteins from chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, & fish etc.  The cleaner the food the better it will be for you. A good rule of thumb is if food needs to be opened its ‘clean factor’ is reduced. If we are consuming too many carbohydrates from packaged goods; pasta, cereals, breads, muffins, and so on we could possibly push insulin too far. When we eat carbohydrates a clear message is sent to insulin “release and help get blood sugar lowered.” If we eat excessive carbs we are asking way too much of insulin and it gets exhausted. The ramifications of this can be as severe as insulin resistance or this can be the answer to your frustration with the inability to lose fat. If our nutrition is 90% compliant meaning high protein, 8-10 servings of fruit and vegetables, 3 liters or more of water, healthy fats and balanced portions of carbohydrates fat loss can easily occur unless some of the other big rocks are not in place.
  2. Exerciser on treadmill
  3. Exercise: Quality workouts are key for fat loss success. I have had clients who tell me they are “killing it” in the gym, going for 2 hours per day,  moving from cardio classes to cardio machines and so on..I am exhausted just listening…This is not efficient or sustainable long term. IF you are young with no children of course the gym is a great place to hang out but what happens when you do get married and have children trust me, your partner will have nothing to do with those 2 hour sessions while they are home with a baby! Fat loss lifestyle thinks long term and if it’s not sustainable long term it needs to be adjusted. Of course we are not all intending to get married and or have children but seriously thinking long term do you really want to be in a gym for 2+ hours?! Better yet what if I told you 2 hours in a gym will not get you the fat loss results you are looking for? Again, if we overdo exercise the body will be in a state of stress, therefore cortisol will rise and insulin will respond to lower it. The problem in this scenario is it is not that nice ebb and flow, it is more like a person jumping off the seesaw when you are at the highest point…That never feels good :( For fat loss success we want short intense workouts that allow our stress hormones; adrenaline, catecholamines, and cortisol to be released in the company of testosterone and HGH for a short amount of time. This is the proper environment to get that fat released from the cell and into blood flow. Weight training, sprinting, high intense intervals that incorporate both weights and cardio are loaded with benefits for fat release. 20-30 minutes are all you need. The best part, these workouts are fast and effective for fat loss success and therefore sustainable. Sometimes less is more:)
  4. sleep
  5. Sleep: 8-10 hours is optimum. People who are lacking in sleep are placing the body in a state of stress, which one should automatically think increased cortisol!  They are also less likely to have energy to exercise, ward off hunger & cravings and their overall mindset will be manipulated. What do you think happens in this situation? Food choices will be anything fast and easy…think CARBS (insulin) Now we have the perfect situation for fat storage; cortisol in the company of insulin. When these hormones are together in high amounts it is energy sucking, fat storing, and an overall mess for our system. If you can’t seem to get your 8-10 hours try to take a 15-20 minute nap, studies have shown these to be very rejuvenating to the body. Sleep is critical and most people don’t take it serious enough.  Try to find time throughout the day or even make up for lost sleep on your weekends, in the end it all helps.
  6. stressed
  7. Stress: This is a really big rock! The fact is Americans live with  very high stress levels on a daily basis, so don’t expect me to say “You need to get rid of all the stress in your life.” The person that makes this possible will be extremely wealthy! So if we can’t rid our lives of stress permanently we need to discover ways to help manage it. One of the things I recommend to my clients is restorative work. There are two benefits to this; 1) After you finish your short intense workout you have worked so hard to release the fat from the fat cell and get it flowing through the blood. If you stop working out the released fat can actually be reabsorbed by the body never to be burned. Restorative work is where we actually burn the fat. Walking at a nice leisurely pace for 30-60 minutes post high intensity training is an extremely effective fat burner as it calms the stress hormones and brings the body back into balance. 2) Restorative walking, yoga, Tai Chi, massages, hot baths all help to calm the body which allows cortisol to be reduced and then insulin is not required so this too remains dormant. It allows for hormonal harmony which in the end allows for fat burning. Stress is a big factor and we all need to find ways to manage it better. Rest based living, where you actually take time each day to do restorative work is amazing at helping to reduce stress levels. Once stress becomes more manageable it is amazing the results.  I have seen clients achieve great fat loss success just on addressing this big rock.

So if your goal is fat loss we need to be very specific in our approach. It may not be the food you are eating; it may actually be what you are not eating. It may not be that you are not exercising but that you are exercising too much. You may have always thought sleep is not that important and you don’t need as much as the next person, in actuality this may be stunting your fat loss efforts. Finally, stress can be making your hunger, energy, and cravings a mess. If our HEC is not in check we need to look at all the 4 big rocks and see what adjustments can be made to truly reveal our optimal health. Yes, calories matter but hormones matter so more. Get these 4 big rocks in order and start discovering your true health from the InsideOut!

Want to tackle the Big Rocks in your life so you can reveal your true optimal health? Contact me today :)

In Health & Fitness,

Maryalice

 

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