Let’s dive into a juicy Q&A episode, shall we? In this episode, I’m covering a few of your questions, including if endurance running is bad for fat loss, how I stay slim eating the foods I do, dealing with partners who eat faster than us, food freedom with food restrictions, and more!
Feedback? Questions? Comments? Head on over to Instagram and let me know in my DMs!
FREE TRAINING
COURSES
Let’s dive into a juicy Q&A episode, shall we? In this episode, I’m covering a few of your questions, including if endurance running is bad for fat loss, how I stay slim eating the foods I do, dealing with partners who eat faster than us, food freedom with food restrictions, and more!
Feedback? Questions? Comments? Head on over to Instagram and let me know in my DMs!
FREE TRAINING
COURSES
[00:00:00] Welcome back to the podcast. Everybody, we have a Q and a episode for today. Quick little life recap. I came back from Austin. I was there last weekend with some of my college girlfriends who. It's so fun being with people who've been with you for so long. So I've known them since I was like 18 years old. And those relationships are so special because they've seen you. In so many different phases, your darkest places, your highest places.
It's just a very special bond. They're like sisters. So it was very lovely spending time with them. And it's also interesting. We all just like to spend time differently now, you know, back in college, we're all kind of on the party train and I very much do not drink much. Um, and I don't give one shit what anyone else does at all. It's just when it comes to sleep, all four of us for sharing a hotel room and it's fun, you know, for a couple of nights, but I realized that two nights is my max.
I can withstand [00:01:00] almost anything for two nights, but beyond that, Um, I start to get pretty run down. So. It's good. I just learned my limits, but it was so good to see them. It just fills up my soul so much. And I need to go back to Austin because we honestly were just so focused on just eating and hanging out with each other that we, I didn't really see the town. And so I really want to go out and explore it more again.
And then we also were there for a cold spell. So we'd like to go and it's a little bit warmer. It'd be interesting to see if I'd be able to tolerate the summer there. Cause it seems like such a fun place to live, but. We'll see. And we shall see, I'm really releasing control on where my life goes in a lot of ways.
I feel like I was just controlling, trying to control everything in terms of the trajectory. Of my life. And as we know, the more we control things, the oftentimes the worst they become, the more confused we become. And that was the case for me. So. Alas. There [00:02:00] we are. Now I asked on Instagram. If you guys have any questions that you want me to answer in today's. Podcast episode. So let's go ahead and get into those. And we have some personal, some health-related fat loss related.
They all run the gamut. Now let's talk about this. So have some questions about exercise. So one of them. Is this type of yoga suitable. So like yoga sculpt. And then other questions about, I love to run long distances, but can not prevent fat loss. So here's the thing. And this is so important. Understand, I talk about this a lot on tech talk. There is not one specific type of exercise that is going to prevent weight loss. And there's this rhetoric about cortisol being the devil, being scary is really making people. Miss the mark, when it comes to what truly matters with fat loss, which is why I'm so passionate about. What I [00:03:00] teach you guys inside of sustainably lean academy, because I want you to have informed consent part of what makes women so neurotic about their bodies is they don't understand what actually moves the needle, how your body works. I felt so crazy about my body because I didn't know how it works.
That was just a small sliver of the pie. I also cover that inside of food, freedom evolution, because you need to unlearn misinformation and learn the truth. But when it comes to. Let's start with Pilates. There's nothing magical about Pilates and yoga. And when people say, well, I just don't want to stress my body out too much.
If you're stressing your body out too much, you will know. You need to start making decisions. I invite you rather to make decisions when it comes to your body, you with your body, instead of just trying to logic your way through things, the brain makes mistakes all the time, especially when it's filled with misinformation. Which all of ours have been over the years, diet health, wellness, fitness, [00:04:00] misinformation.
So instead of saying, how can I out logic my body? I want you to start tuning into your body and saying, how does this make me feel? Is my body showing signs of too much stress, pay attention to your biofeedback digestion, mood, energy sleep, menstrual cycle, et cetera. Those things, and it's not always about stress, but those can be a very good indication as to, Hey. This isn't working for me. So start to pay attention to that.
So in short, if you love to wrong to excuse me, run long distances or you love to do hit classes, circuit classes, whatever it is. You can absolutely do those things. Just make sure you are recovering. Properly. That's the other side of the equation. If you want to work hard and push your body hard, you also need to give it ample rest recovery and food. [00:05:00] Your body's a living organism at a certain point, it's going to start to shut things down. Downgrades certain systems in your body in order to protect you. That's its job. So think of your body as. An organism in nature, its own little ecosystem because it is, it's not, you know, um, A robot made of metal. And that will make things a lot easier as you think about these questions. So you can absolutely do these things.
None of these things will inherently prevent weight loss. Don't be afraid to stress yourself. Do be very mindful of allowing your body to rest and recover.
Okay. Do you know if I can take ashwagandha while breastfeeding? I do not know. I do not know that is something and questions like that. I would honestly, I think people have to become a little too comfortable. Asking people on mine, these questions, when someone who would be a practitioner, your medical doctor would probably be better suited when it comes to. Questions about pregnancy health [00:06:00] conditions, et cetera.
I listened to hunger and fullness cues, but get a little hungry right before bed.
What should I do? Okay. I get this question too. I got a lot of these questions. I get really hungry right before my period. What should I do? This is something I want to challenge you guys with. Why do you feel like hunger is bad?
Sit with that. Why is getting more hungry than usual? Why do you automatically label that as something that needs to be fixed? As a bad thing. Your body's hungry. You can feed it. That is mentality. And this indicates to me when women are in this head space of being fearful of their body, shifting. Or, oh my gosh, my body is doing something that's outside of the norm.
If that sends you into a spiral of wanting to fix and control. I would encourage you to work on your relationship with food in your body. There's a. An element of perfectionism and control and lack of trust there that these questions indicate. And by the way, when I answer all these things, [00:07:00] I've been this person. I spent a lot of time here.
And this is where a lot of my clients start. They go through food, freedom, evolution, and then transition if they want to, into, to fat loss. But if you're here concerned about the signals your body's giving you, which are very normal, that's like saying I have to pee before bed. What do I do? We go to the bathroom. It's a normal. Function of your body, your body's going to get hungry.
It's not always going to be the same every day. And I think with the popularity of people tracking their food and thinking they have to eat the same exact amount of food every single day. That's not how our bodies work. They're fluctuating, especially as women throughout our cycles, our body temperature. If you are ovulating. You will notice an increase in body temperature. During your luteal phase after you ovulate. If you're tracking your temperature, this will be really easy for you to see.
And oftentimes what we noticed with that is an increase in hunger. This is normal. [00:08:00] It's typically. You know, there's going to be outliers to this for sure. But on average, around two to 300 calories more a day. Is what a lot of women experience. I just simply go based off my hunger and fullness cues. I don't fight it.
I don't white knuckle it. I don't try and control it. And this is the element of trust. So many women need to build trust. With their bodies. Instead of spiraling into fear and control. So if you are here thinking there's something wrong with me, when I get hungry, how do I control it? White knuckle. It. Stop it from happening. I would invite you. To work on developing more trust with yourself and with your body.
Counting helps me eat enough during the day.
I feel guilty doing it because of the stigma. Okay. So when it comes to tracking, there's nothing wrong with tracking your food. It's about how it suits you. And this is another element of trust. If you guys are noticing a theme [00:09:00] here, I want you guys to focus on tuning out what everyone else tells you, you should do. I should track. I should not track. I should want to lose weight.
I should never want to lose weight. And instead say, who am I, what do I want? What do I value? What feels good? And right to me, This is the cornerstone of all of my work. Instead of FFE and bringing you back home to yourself. That's what it is. That's what a healthy relationship with food is, is bringing you back home to yourself. In our world. Treating yourself really well, bringing you back home into your own body and a big part of this is you learning to call the shots for yourself for your own life, for your own body.
The way you move, the way you eat. This is step one. If you guys don't have this down. Then you need to start. There. Adding on trying to lose weight from a place where you feel. This essentially insecurity, right? A lack [00:10:00] of confidence in making these decisions for yourself. That's where we need to start.
Otherwise, you're going to add on a. Pile of shit. But the intentional weight loss, intentional fat loss on a very shaky foundation. And you're going to have a very hard time maintaining the results without going insane.
So if you want to count. Anything. Count away. My friend. Just because I. Don't enjoy data when it comes to food and wellness. That's just not how I prefer to live my life. Nothing against it. They've gone been periods where I have. Done it. Not full send, but even if you do it full sign, who gives a shit everyone's personality is different.
Everyone enjoys different things. If you want to track. Track. If that's what makes you feel nourished and good, and you have fun with it by all means. The same time. Don't listen to people who tell you that's the best way. The only way. Everyone's views. If they're just telling you the way to do it, that they do it. That's a very myopic way to look at things. [00:11:00] And it's small minded way to look at things. I say that lovingly. But again, I've been that person too. It's usually a sign that that person has not actually worked with individuals. If someone says there's only one way to do things, they haven't worked as clients. I haven't worked with people because you quickly realize, oh, not everyone is like me. And there's not one way to do things you can be successful in so many different ways. So rock on. Okay.
I love this question. How do you eat everything you post and stay slim. If it's a calorie deficit, do you eat half? So it does come down to calories. And the reason I show. So the bulk of my diet is whole nutrient dense foods. And what one person is going to look at this, like this individual. He is looking at some of the foods I eat and might say, oh my gosh, that's so indulgent.
Well, someone else would be like, that's like super healthy and does not look indulgent at all. So it's. Going to be. In the eye of the beholder in [00:12:00] some ways. And at the same time, I do show foods like going out to dinner. Those are a very small percentage of the meals that I eat. If you see me posting things like short ribs and Margheritas, and the things that I tend to eat when I'm out to dinner. I'm not cooking those elaborate meals on my own. I eat, tend to eat more of the same things. Week to week, day to day because I really enjoy them. They're easy and they make me feel good.
And that's kind of the magical combo. Most people, I think it's the same 10 meals that you eat over and over again. Which is just, who has the time. I mean, unless you're like a, a Schaeffer food. Blogger recipe, creator or whatever. Most people are not cooking new things up all the time. And that's very, very normal. So I, we all tend to eat the same things on repeat. And I show both of them. I [00:13:00] show the things that I eat frequently.
And I also show the things that I eat infrequently. Portion control is a part of that. I very rarely overeat. Sometimes I do consciously because it's just so damn good. And I want to. But that's a very rare occurrence for me. I just don't enjoy the feeling of being really stuffed. So portions absolutely play a part in that.
And I also like to show myself. Eating things that are outside of the typical norm of quote-unquote clean, whatever eating you want to say, because that was so mind blowing for me. I remember it clear as day when I was in college. And I saw a food blogger that I was following at the time she was so fit. And she and healthy and vibrant and. This is after she lost weight. She was eating croissants and I saw her eating breakfast sandwiches.
And at that time I was so avoidant of bread [00:14:00] and anything white in anything processed anything. God forbid with the. An ingredient I couldn't pronounce and it blew my fucking mind. And it was so important for me to see that. Because it completely blew out the water, any preconceived notions I had that were completely misinformed by the way, about how. Body composition works about how health works about how it all works. So in summary to answer this question. I eat a moderate, balanced diet.
That's very nutrient dense. The vast majority of the time, probably 80 to 90% of the time. I do. I eat according to my hunger and fullness cues, 90, 95% of the time. And I do eat a lot of more of those fun foods, but just in smaller portion sizes. And that will look different to every single person. So, what I do is not necessarily what you should do, and it's also important to understand this season that you're in. When I was working on my relationship with food, it was really important [00:15:00] for me to eat more of the processed foods. Because I was working on trusting myself. And eliminating guilt and shame while eating those things.
So I ate more of those and then eventually the appeal were off where I was like, okay, I can have these whenever we want. I get it. I'm no longer interested in having these things all the time. And then if I'm at a fat loss phase, for example, I will have less of those intentionally. And then when I'm in a maintenance phase, just living my life of moderation, I'll have a little bit more. So it's important to know what season you're in, put your blinders on and stop comparing yourself to what other people are doing. But if you're saying, how does someone eat processed foods and stay slim?
That would be an indication to me that there's a gap and understanding of how fat loss, weight, maintenance, et cetera, actually works. And, or you're comparing your harvest to somebody else.
Let see. How do you suggest those who need some food restrictions due to health? Manage [00:16:00] this? It's actually a bonus I have inside of food. Freedom evolution. Um, food freedom with food intolerances and. It's a very fair question.
The thing that most people perceive when they think of a healthy relationship with food or food, freedom is just eating every single thing that they had, the slightest desire to eat. And that's really missing the mark. So. A healthy relationship with food. A massive cornerstone of that is treating your body with respect. Doing right by yourself. So if I were to just eat donuts all the time, because I just feel like it. Sure what I had the craving.
If they were in front of me. To eat them all the time. Maybe. But there are plenty of other things that I want to do all the time that I don't do because I'm an adult and I have to practice restraint because they care about myself. And this is huge for let's say me and my business as an example. I work for myself.
I [00:17:00] have to practice her straight. I can't just sit on the couch and watch TV all day, because that would really, really suck for future me. That would be doing myself a massive disservice that wouldn't actually be taking care of myself. So w when you're working in your relationship with food, what I want you guys to think of is. What is taking really good care of myself.
Look like emotionally, right? This is important. If you're an emotional eater. What does taking really good care of my body look like having respect for my body. This means you have to develop a relationship with your body. So when it comes to food intolerances, Rather than viewing it through the lens of, oh, I'm restricting myself view it.
I'm taking really good care of myself. I'm not eating this thing because I care about my body and I want to take really good care of it. And the better my body feels better. My mind feels better. My mind feels. But I can show up in other areas of my life, the quality of my life improves.
This is why. When, for example, when I was in Austin last [00:18:00] weekend, I didn't drink very much because I know that doesn't actually make me feel very good. So sure it could have been a fun thing in the moment, which I'd done all the time in the past. And then my priorities changed. And I know that future me would not benefit from that. And it's not actually taking really good care of myself because then my physical health would suffer.
My mental health would suffer. And then I wouldn't be able to do the other things in life that I really enjoy that make me feel good. So I go on a downward spiral instead of an upward spiral. So if you can just shift the frame at which you're looking at it from one of restriction to one of self-care and self-respect, that really helps when it comes to not being able to do things or choosing not to eat or ingest or drink, whatever it is, certain things. Because it doesn't suit your body.
Um, how do you deal with a partner who eats a ton and very fast?
This is important too. Again, all of these questions are so great because they just [00:19:00] highlight how important it is to have these foundational pieces before you're worried about fat loss for even consider intentional fat loss. These are key components of just living a good life with food and wellness that every person needs to have down.
Pat. Before focusing on intentional weight loss, because these things are going to send you into chaos. Confusion. You're going to be shaky as hell. So this indicates that you are being influenced by what other people are doing. Right. Plain and simple. So if someone is eating very fast around you, that's okay. You just focused on your own plate. That has nothing to do with you. If someone is drinking. I hear this all the time with alcohol.
Well, I ended up drinking more because they're drinking more. Who gives a shit, what they're doing. It does not matter. At all.
I want you to turn your attention away from other people's plates and just solely focused on your body. The more you're focused on, but they're eating. How they're [00:20:00] eating. The less you're focused on how you need to be eating. What feels good in your body. You're missing your cues. And I know that this can be challenging and it's really just a habit shift. I want you to constantly redirect your focus away from outside. And focus it. Inward into your body, especially if you're not familiar with your hunger and fullness cues, this is really important.
Eat your meals as undistracted as possible.
And if you notice your eyes veering to what other women are eating at the table or what your partner is eating, how fast. Just notice it. And gently guide your attention back to your own plate in your own body. And that will really help you focus on learning what feels best to you. And it will habituate over time that this is how I do things.
It doesn't matter what other people are doing. I don't let them influence me. I'm the one who decides what works for me. And what does it. Okay. So again, all of these things, these questions are really great [00:21:00] questions and they need to come first and foremost before you guys are worried about that loss. And. If you are there, you're realizing which I hope so many are because 90% of the women in my audience really need to focus on their relationship with food first. Is I have a free training, four step framework to stop obsessing about food.
Plus the top three mistakes women make that I see most often and I made them all to. That is linked in the show notes below. And you can also just choose to jump right into food, freedom evolution, the course, which is in the show notes below as well. Okay. So those are the big questions that I wanted to address on this episode.
I know it was a shorter one. I'm trying to get a little bit shorter snappier podcast episodes. I just, you guys can get what you need. I try not to be too, too wordy. Although I know that is in the eye of the beholder, for sure. So hopefully [00:22:00] this gave you guys some solid takeaways would love to hear feedback.
If you have any other questions, I like the Q and a episodes. It allows me to connect with you guys directly. Get your questions answered. Feel free to hop on over to Instagram and my DMS. And let me know, and I will see you guys in the next episode.