Unlocking the Secrets to Thriving Beyond the Scale #Replay

Every morning, the scale delivered a verdict that could make or break my day. But what if the key to a healthier, happier you lies beyond those digits glaring up at you?  In our latest heart-to-heart, I'll recount my personal revolution, from battling the scale's tyranny to embracing the liberating power of self-care. You'll journey with me through the trials of reshaping not just my body, but also my mindset, as we explore how clothing fit and overall well-being are the true harbingers of progress.

Strap in for a candid discussion about the often overlooked pillars of a successful health transformation. Discover how the serenity of sleep, measured with my trusty Oura ring, and the strength forged in the gym became my sanctuary amidst the chaos of motherhood and a demanding job. I'll share the surprising revelations from a continuous blood glucose monitor that turned my eating habits on their head, and the empowering realization that strength training was the missing piece in my fitness puzzle. So, forget the scale and join me on a journey to uncover the wealth of vitality waiting to be unlocked within you.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

Hey there and welcome to the Hot Mess Mom health podcast. I'm your host, rebecca Santos, a wife, working mom of two littles, certified health coach and self-proclaimed Hot Mess Mom. Do you find yourself on the perpetual struggle bus, trying to juggle it all and your health is the last thing on the to-do list? But you feel like crap. I can relate because I've been there. The reality is, you can get healthy and it doesn't have to be overwhelming. If you're looking for some education, inspiration, accountability, a kick in the pants or I'm not going to lie some tough love, you're in the right place. So pull up a seat, grab a nice coffee and join me on this journey to better health. Hi there and welcome to another episode of Hot Mess Mom Health. I'm so excited to have you guys here and I have a really great episode planned out. I hope you guys are all doing well and you're feeling great. It's summer, so a lot of good time to get outside and enjoy everything with your family. So I hope you guys are just. You hope you had a great 4th of July weekend and I hope that you guys have some exciting stuff planned for summer. So let's get into the episode.

Speaker 1 1:21

Today I wanted to talk about five reasons why I think I wasn't losing weight for a long time, and I'd like to start with a disclaimer that I wholeheartedly believe that losing weight is not the best way to start a health journey, but I also know that a lot of people do, and I've done it myself. So I thought going back and reliving kind of things that I struggled with and that I wish I knew or I wish I did differently from the beginning may help some of you out there. So I hope that you guys get something a little nugget or two out of this episode and you can use it to positively motivate you to move in a good direction. So the first thing that I think that I did wrong in the beginning and did it for many, many years, actually even until I did it last year was obsessed with the scale, and to the point where every single morning it was the first thing I did. So I think that I had an unhealthy relationship with the scale. I think that you can have an okay relationship with the scale, but using it as a guide every single day, it really can do something to your mood, right? Because women, with our cycles, our weight is fluctuating throughout the month and it really used to put me in a piss poor attitude in the morning. If that scale went up at all, even if it was a point two, I was in a horrible mood and I think that it really just set the stage for all of my food choices for the day, my motivation to want to work out and everything, and I think it started in the morning with that scale. So I was a slave to the scale and I really think it completely changed my entire day.

Speaker 1 3:17

Almost every day for years, especially after I had my daughter, I was very fixated on the number and I definitely not helped the attitude towards the scale because obviously you have a baby, I was breastfeeding, you're going through so many hormonal changes and although I was five foot tall I was not was. I am five foot tall I Put on a ton of weight with my daughter. I was like a weeble wobble. I think I put 65 70 pounds on and I'm five foot tall, so there's not a lot of places for it to go. So it was. It destroyed me a little bit when I had my final weigh in at the OBGYN, like crushed me as like oh my god, like I way too much Ben and Jerry's, which that's fine, it was done with.

Speaker 1 4:01

But I knew that my health journey back to where I was and to be a better version of myself Was going to take a lot of work. So I became fixated on it and I really Stressed out and it was very unhealthy. So I I believe that that was a mistake that I made. I think maybe a better choice would have been once every two weeks, maybe twice a month, just to kind of see you know what was going on with my body. But to be honest, I Recently, in the last year, have weighed myself less and I feel better about myself. My clothes fit better. So I don't even know what the scale says half the time anymore, but I know it's. It doesn't really matter because I know my clothes fit better. So I actually think that using your clothes is a better gauge because, ultimately, if you're shedding body fat which is really what everyone wants to do, I don't think it's actually shedding the weight. It's more about the body fat and getting leaner. Even if you weigh the same and you're working out and you're eating better, you will get trimmer. So I know for me, my clothes are fitting better and usually, if they start getting tighter, we have a problem. So I don't really need to know what the number on the scale is, because it definitely does something to my psyche and, being five foot tall, there's not a lot of wiggle room here. So If I see a pound or two I start freaking out in my mind and sometimes it would. It would to the point where I'd stand in my Closet.

Speaker 1 5:29

I don't know if some of you can relate to this where you know you've gotten on the scale and you're kind of upset or depressed a little bit and none of your clothes fit that day, Just nothing looks good. It just sets you down a negative spiral. So I'm sure there's plenty of you out there like I go go in your closet and like nothing looks good, nothing fits, everything's tight and it's like a trickle effect because it's all this negativity. Then you maybe don't make a great food choice and you don't work out that night because you're just disgusted. And trust me, I've been there. So I think let's ditch the scale and let's use our clothes as a better guide. Let's not even weigh ourselves. I don't. I really haven't weighed myself in a couple months I. It's actually quite freeing, if you want me to be honest, it's in my bathroom. I don't get on it. My kids play with it more than anything, and I think that was a mistake that I made early on. So I hope that maybe somebody out there can ditch the scale and Just start their day at a better place, because I know I started mine negatively too many times.

Speaker 1 6:28

Okay, so my second thing that I think I did wrong was not listening to my body, and what I mean by that is Not realizing how much, how bad I actually felt. So going through the motions, especially when I was, you know, a mom with Bianca, when I had, after I had, my first son, who's seven I Like getting back to normal, didn't feel it wasn't as hard. Maybe I was younger and my body was in better shape. Before my son I was running half marathons. After my son I didn't work out for the whole four years before I got pregnant or three years before I got pregnant with my daughter, so my body was definitely not in any shape really to be rebounding quickly.

Speaker 1 7:15

So I I didn't listen right, like I was getting on the scale, I was obsessing about my number and weight on the scale and I was stressing out about breastfeeding, which a lot of moms do, and I wasn't taking a minute to really realize how crappy I felt and I wasn't fueling my body properly. I was kind of just eating on the run, eating in between things, which I know a lot of us do as new moms. However, everything I was consuming was making me feel worse and I wasn't acknowledging it or listening to it or anything like that, and my daughter ended up having a lot of puking spells and they thought it was dairy. So then I removed dairy and not even really acknowledging how removing that dairy made me feel like I actually felt good, and then also just realizing, obviously, as a mom, you're not getting enough sleep, but really trying to prioritize that, like when the baby slept, I should have been sleeping, not listening to those cues that my body was giving me that like, hey, you're gonna fall over soon if you don't listen to me.

Speaker 1 8:18

And not even as a new mom, but even before, like when I was in college, just not really understanding how, like just taking a notice to how my body actually is operating. You know, I used to work out obsessively in high school. I wasn't acknowledging the fact that my body was just exhausted and weak and just really really taking a second to understand that, hey, you're like, hey, your body's screaming. It kinda needs you to either slow down, it needs you to eat better, it needs you to get more sleep, whatever it may be. But I think that's a big mistake. I've taken away from my years of chronic dieting and not listening to my body is that you really need to stop and if something doesn't feel right, something's not, you really don't feel like you're operating on all your cylinders or you feel super crappy. Take notice of that, whether you need to go speak to a doctor or you need to tweak how you're eating or you just kinda know like I need to get somewhere sleep, whatever it is. I know that I neglected taking. Taking just stock and acknowledging how my body is operating and feeling, I think is a big thing that you can do to help yourself in, you know, losing weight if that is your ultimate goal in the beginning.

Speaker 1 9:34

Number three is not addressing how much stress I'm under and how much sleep I'm getting. So I know I talked a little bit about the sleep a few minutes ago, but I know, for years being in college and then starting a job, having kids, stress, stress, stress, stress, stress and this is something I'm still working on today, but and I know we talked about meditation in another episode, but there is legit when you are under stress, your body cannot deal with other things that it has to deal with, and I battle with stress. I battle with it a lot. I have a high stress job. I think being a mom is high stress. Being in life in general is high stress, and I just think that we all have to do a better job of managing that stress and getting enough sleep. There is like not enough that can be said about getting a good night's sleep. I know we're all trying to burn both ends, but you have to get your good rest. You have to get sleep.

Speaker 1 10:32

I actually wear an aura ring that tells me how I'm sleeping and it's been a great tool in realizing that I really do, as a person, need eight hours of sleep to be fully functional. Maybe others can go on less, but I know for me and this has really proven it to me I need eight hours and it's not negotiable most of the time and obviously there's exclusions to every rule, but for me that eight hours of sleep is where I need to be to be able to be there for my kids fully functioning, to be able to get a good workout in for the day, to make good food choices, to be positive. It's just. It puts me in a better mood, my spirits are lifted, and when I don't, if there's a night where we're either out late or it's just a weekend and things go crazy and I have to wake up super early for work, then if I get five hours, I'm a mess, like a bigger mess than I normally am, so the hot mess gets elevated here. If you can only imagine that I need my sleep, and I think most women need way more sleep than they're getting, so I don't know if you know there's other tools besides an oar ring. I think Fitbits do your sleep, I think Apple Watches may, even now, but I highly recommend really taking some knowledge into your sleep patterns and are you getting the right amount of sleep, are you getting the right kinds of sleep? And looking at patterns over time, because everyone's going to need a different amount, although I think eight hours plus is a good spot, but some people may be fully functioning on less than that and their bodies are fine. Everyone of us is different, so that's definitely something that I should have prioritized earlier. I think I've had the oar ring for about two years now, but I wish I had it sooner, Honestly. Like it doesn't leave my body, it tells me my steps and then it monitors my sleep every night and I think it's an invaluable tool for me and my health journey.

Speaker 1 12:20

Now back to the stress part of that. It's a daily struggle for me. I know it is for a lot of people with the lives that we're leading and all the things that we have going on, but I know, when I'm managing it better how I'm functioning and really it has helped me get to the point where I'm getting leaner, I'm feeling more fit and strong and I think managing my stress probably has been that one thing that has really lit the fire in my body where I don't know how else to explain it. I've seen a major shift with the more mindfulness things that I'm doing, with the more meditations that I'm doing, with things that I'm consciously doing every day to manage my stress. I've seen the most gains in my composition and how I feel and my mood than anything else that I've tried, honestly. So I can't stress enough.

Speaker 1 13:12

I know I've done a whole episode on meditation. I know there's other tools. There's journaling, there's tons of different mindful techniques, there's all kinds of ways, even just taking a bath detoxing from the day sitting in your thoughts. I know I need to do better at this. It's something that I'm working on and I hope to bring you guys some experts that have some tips and tricks on this, because I think us moms need all the detox and destressors of life that we can get our hands on. So I'm going to try to bring you as many good experts on that as I possibly can, because, selfishly, I need that the most. So I know so many of you can relate to the fact that we are just under so much stress and we just need ways to deal with it better. And I think that if one of your health goals is to lose weight, that could be a major block and, like I said, that is I think the most powerful thing that I've seen recently is really taking stock in my stress levels and trying to reduce it no matter what. All right.

Speaker 1 14:12

So number four, the fourth reason why I think that I was not losing weight and working, you know, getting towards my health goals sooner was not adding strength, strength training to my routine. So you know, after I had Bianca she is three, a little over three right now I didn't even start working out until honestly, like I guess she was 18 months maybe and I started working out again. I just really didn't feel like I had the energy before then and I had not really worked out between my two children. So, honestly, my body was just a blob, it was just. It was a struggle bus, completely Like. Doing a sit up was like somebody was going to put a knife in my abdomen. It just was horrible. So I started working out, really, you know, doing mainly cardio, going for runs on my treadmill and just doing like little workout videos that were mainly cardio based. And I used to go to the gym. I was like a complete gym rat. I would lift weights, heavy weights. I enjoyed it. I didn't really think that that was going to be something that I would get back into but honestly, again, it's one of those things I wish.

Key Factors for Successful Weight Loss

Speaker 1 15:24

From day one when I started to reintroduce exercise into my life you know, being a runner and riding my exercise bike in my room when I was a teenager I got stuck into the chronic cardio habits and I think, as women, it's something that our society, that we see it's just cardio, cardio, cardio calories and calories out, burn the calories and ultimately, you cannot work. You cannot Work out enough to get yourself lean enough if you're not eating the right things and you're not feeling your body properly, and I've always known that. However, it's so easy to get caught into the cardio routines and it does feel good to sweat and it feels like you're accomplishing stuff when you see the calories being burnt, so I get it right. But when I started introducing strength training into my routine so a little bit of a backstory I got a Peloton in October of 2020. I'm completely obsessed with it. By the way, I think it was one of the best investments I've ever made in my life. But, as a sidebar to that, no matter what you do, no matter what if it's beach body videos, if it's YouTube workout videos, if it's going to a local running group or whatever it is If you're doing something like cardio base and it makes you feel good, because when I first got my Peloton, I was only cycling, cycle, cycle, cycle and it was great and I loved it and it got me in a routine. So what I will say is cardio got me into a routine, which is amazing.

Speaker 1 16:49

However, the missing link to get to any goal that I was having because I was not seeing the results. I was not Feeling like I was getting anywhere with my health journey and how getting leaner. I started introducing and doing a lot of their strength training routines, and I wasn't doing heavy weights, I was doing you know five, some 10 pound dumbbells for some leg exercises. But I started noticing, like within a month, that I started feeling stronger, like not that I was getting ripped by any stretch of the imagination, but I just started feeling like, oh, my goodness, there's a little bit of muscle here that hasn't been here in seven years, holy crap. So After I started introducing some light weights, then I started doing heavier weights and then doing more strength training and trying to implement some yoga and some other different things so that my body wasn't stuck in this chronic cardio Habit that I was in and then I've done before.

Speaker 1 17:44

So I think that I I wish from day one I had introduced strength training, even if it was a small weight, light weights and just minimal weighted exercises. I wish that was something that I implemented from day one. And now I've invested in a tonal and so far it's been amazing and no, I'm not getting paid from tonal or Peloton for any of this, but I am super obsessed with the two of them. I've only had a tonal for about a month and I have seen such a transformation in my body in just 30 days that I am Just so excited to see where this is gonna take me. But again, I know it's part of the journey. It's not one thing, it's all the pieces put together and I think that strength training seek part is the secret sauce To kind of making all the other parts work together and to really help you catapult to where you want your goals, where you want to be with your goals. So that was number four, introducing strength training.

Speaker 1 18:40

So for anybody out there that can relate to being stuck in that chronic cardio cycle, I highly recommend introducing some type of weight, no matter what it is. Even if you go invest in yourself with two, five pound dumbbells or Lift milk cartons, just doing something of weight-bearing activity for your body, it's really healthy for you, it's great for your bones, it will make you feel stronger and there's nothing that makes you feel more confident than feeling strong. I wholeheartedly believe that when you are just feeling like weak and you're feeling crappy. It doesn't make you feel confident, it just doesn't. And I think that we all need that little Confident boost in our lives. Right now, with everything going on that's so crazy and being moms and trying to raise littles, we need all the confidence we can get to get through the days. And heck, who doesn't want to feel strong? Right, all right, am I? Fifth?

Speaker 1 19:32

Fifth reason why I think I struggled with weight probably for years, and it wasn't till recently that I really understood was how carb sensitive my body really is, and this. This is something that was really shocking and mind blowing to me. But about a year ago maybe, maybe a little less I decided that I wanted to wear a continuous blood glucose monitor, which I know maybe some of you guys out there are going to think this girl is bonkers, but I, you know, trying to learn my body, becoming a health coach and just taking a deeper dive into all this health stuff really made me curious. I wanted to know how my body was reacting to certain foods and, honestly, it opened my eyes. It opened my eyes so much because so many foods that I was eating were not really good for my body and maybe they would be good for yours, but there's really no way to tell unless you're monitoring it and I'm not a diabetic, I know you know continuous glucose monitors are, you know, typically for diabetics, for type one or type two diabetics.

Speaker 1 20:40

I went through a company called Nutrisense, again not sponsored by them whatsoever. I just decided to invest in myself and I wanted to monitor it for a couple months and it was so shocking to me that things that I was eating on a consistent basis were really not great for my body, and it's scary to me to think that I would have just continued eating those things even though they were not really great for my body. They would spike my blood sugar my blood sugar, would say, spiked for hours and then, dependent upon what time I ate them, it could be better or worse, and just really honing in on my nutrition and what I was eating. So I couldn't say enough good things about that as well. If you're curious and again, not being paid or sponsored by Nutrisense whatsoever, but I think it's a really great tool you can use your flex spending dollars towards it, which is what I did.

Speaker 1 21:28

To me, it was worth every penny of an investment to really understand what was happening to my body, and it gave me that knowledge and the tools in my tool bag to really understand how to take what I was eating, make better choices for my body and learn that how I'm fueling my body with those certain foods. It was an exact signal to how I was going to feel. So I can't say to anybody enough if you're in that mode where you've tried all the different diets, you think you're eating the right things and nothing seems to be working, I would highly recommend investing in a Nutrisense, even if it was just for their two week program. You just eat what you typically eat for those two weeks and you will get so much information out of that that it will completely change how you look at what you eat and when you eat it and how you eat it and why you eat it.

Speaker 1 22:21

Okay, so let's recap the five reasons that I think that I wasn't losing weight for a really long time. Number one being a slave to the scale and letting the scale dictate how I felt for the day. Number two not listening to my body enough and feeling the cues and really paying attention to how I was feeling. Number three not addressing stress and sleep Still working on that one, ladies. Number four not adding strength training to my workouts early on. I think this is key and I really wish that I did it sooner. Number five not understanding how carb sensitive my body was and I can't stress enough that using the Nutrisense Glucose Monitor has completely changed how I look at food I hope that somebody was able to capture something from this episode that may help them earlier on in their journey and not have to struggle as long as I did with some of these things.

Speaker 1 23:19

Thanks so much for tuning in and next week I'm so excited to share with you guys my second interview with an amazing mom. Talk to you guys next week. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this episode of Hot Mess Mom Health. If you love this episode, please leave me an iTunes review. It would mean the world to me and it would help me get the word out about helping other moms reclaim their health. Thank you so much.