What does it look like when things are DIALED IN?

When things are considered to be “dialed in” your life flows well, you feel good and are proud of your daily habits. This means work, family, and all of your other personal commitments are made a priority and are well-organized. You may be wondering how this impacts your self-care, in particular, things like consistent healthy eating and exercise? 

When things are dialed in, you may find it effortless to get to the gym regularly, grocery shop for healthy foods, do some meal prep, and eat those healthy foods on a consistent basis. 

That DIALED IN feeling is AWESOME. 

If you are feeling DIALED IN, make a list of what that looks like for you. 

We often worry about life stressors and the impact this has on their health. If you are feeling DIALED IN, it's time to explore ways to maintain that level of wellness. 

Challenge yourself to take a minute to explore what it looks like when your dial is turned down. Very much the opposite to that DIALED IN feeling, when you're stressed you may isolate yourself, find yourself wanting to avoid gatherings, wear baggier clothes, eat unhealthier foods or beverages, and it takes much more effort to participate in healthy activities that once felt effortless. 

Challenge yourself to look at some of these DIALED IN vs NOT SO DIALED IN patterns for yourself. What have DIALED IN patterns looked like for you, what worked, and what didn’t work to help you stay engaged in your health and wellness goals? 

Here’s an example of a
DIALED IN vs NOT SO DIALED IN
list

Remember that your brain loves patterns, routine and comfort. It is easy to resort to behaviors that feel comforting and familiar when we get stressed. It’s easy to resort to things on your NOT SO DIALED IN list when stress hits. Each time you try a new behavior, you are working on changing your brain. 
The challenge lies in recognizing our patterns, and then challenging our ability to participate in behaviors that help us become more DIALED IN, choosing things on that DIALED IN list, even when we are lacking motivation to do so. Practicing new behaviors - the opposite action to emotion- helps to create new healthy patterns and routines and can increase our likelihood of having a happier and healthier end of 2020. 

The next time you feel like your dial is starting to turn down and you are resorting to items found on your NOT SO DIALED IN list, pull out your DIALED IN list and challenge yourself to participate in just one of those behaviors. Treat yourself well, even when you don’t feel like it. 

There is a great sense of accomplishment when you sit back and realize that you were tough enough to not fall back on old patterns that derail your health and wellness goals. By changing the way you think and react to stress, you may find that you are less stressed and happier.

If you need some help TURNING THE DIAL the time is now to book your free appointment with a coach using this link:

Studies have found that most people’s nutrition is significantly different over the weekends versus their week days. One study found that 19-50 year olds consumed, on average, 115 kcals more each weekend day. In a given year, that adds up to 17,940 additional calories or about 5#. 

With sunny days, free hours to get together with friends and families, weddings and birthday, and all other social activities upon us, we can find ways to enjoy our time mindfully! 

Lets talk about navigating your nights out, specifically looking at 4 settings you may find yourself in. 

Scenario #1- Sit Down Restaurant 
SKIP THE EXTRAS: Appetizers can easily contain up to 800+ calories! That is more than an entire meal! An easy way to stay mindful of caloric intake is to opt out of ordering apps! 

STICK WITH WATER: Sugar sweetened beverages (including artificially sweetened drinks) increase risk of weight gain, diabetes, gout, tooth decay, and more. Choosing water is a great way to limit sugar intake at meals and will help to suppress hunger, allowing you to stay mindful.

KEEP IT SIMPLE: Stick to the plate method and use your hands as an easy portion guide. Don’t shy away from asking for a box to hide the extra food! 

Scenario #2- Fast Food
GET PROTEIN: Think about your lean sources of protein such as prawn, chicken, and fish. Find items that highlight those ingredients. 

GRILLED OVER FRIED: Choosing grilled options is an easy way to minimize calories as well as fat. 

CHOOSE BETTER SIDES: Over the years, fast food places have made an effort to offer additional sides that highlight a lighter caloric intake. These sides include fruits, yogurts, veggies, and salads. If you stick with traditional sides like fries, order a kids size! 

Scenario #3- Mamak
CHOOSE THE BEST OPTION, NOT THE FIRST: Before you decide on a mamak option, be sure to check out all the options and choose one with easy staples that focus on protein, vegetables, and mindful portions sizes.

EAT WITH A FORK: Eating with a fork allows you to fill up on the nutrient packed filling rather than the carb loaded vehicle. An observation found that simply choosing a fork cut out close to 300 calories and 33 grams of carbohydrates. 

EAT AWAY FROM THE STALL: The most important thing you can do to assure you are following your natural patterns of hunger and fullness is to T U N E  into them. Removing yourself from distractions will allow you to be more mindful leading to proper portion sizes.

Scenario #4- Parties
START THE DAY RIGHT: We know that when it comes to these types of events, we often have less control over our food options. Focusing our breakfast and lunch to aim for lean protein and vegetables with less fat is always a great way to stay balanced and leave a little extra wiggle room to enjoy the night. 

MAKE A PLATE: Not making a plate and picking off the appetizer or dessert table can lead to mindless overconsumption. Simply put, when the food is within reach, you are more likely to consume it. 

RETHINK YOUR DRINK: We want to stick with simple drinks that are not loaded with sugar and remember to keep a 1 to 1 ratio with water. This will slow down the alcohol consumption while minimizing its dehydration effects on the body! Clear liquors, light beer, red wine and cocktails with soda water are great options. 

Now, enjoy your weekend!

​Let’s face it. Change is HARD. It’s also almost ALWAYS necessary in order to see progress. Here are 3 ways to help you dig deep and inspire change!

#1 - Make yourself feel something! Dig deep and find an emotional connection to your goal by doing the work to find your WHY. Unfortunately knowing something isn’t enough to make you want to change. You need to make yourself FEEL something. During our athlete strategy sessions and nutrition consultations, we help you zero in on and remind you constantly of your WHY, to help inspire change. 

#2 - Focus on progress, no matter how small. Here at FitLah Health and Wellness and CrossFit Lah we have many different ways to track your progress beyond your at-home scale. We focus on energy levels, how clothing fits, how workouts feel, overall mood, digestion - and so much more. Having a coach highlight consistent small wins creates happiness leaving our athletes wanting more!

#3 - Find like-minded people striving towards similar goals. They say we’re the sum of the 5 people we spend the most time with, are they lifting you up and helping motivate you? Or the opposite. Find your people and keep them close! 

 Let us help you make a change!

For many of us, mornings and breakfast time are a challenging time of the day. Either we aren’t hungry, we don’t know what to eat, we fall in the trap of eating the same thing day after day and get bored with the lack of variety, or we are too busy for a healthy meal.

Why are we writing about breakfast?
 
Looking at literature, many sources consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day citing that people who eat breakfast have improved concentration, improved weight management, are less likely to overeat later in the day, and have more favorable cholesterol levels when compared to those that don’t eat breakfast. 

But… where do you start to make a healthy breakfast part of your daily routine?

We are here to help you with 5 tips to make breakfast a healthy habit:

Many people have read the book “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey (if you havent already we recommend it!) In this book, Covey discusses habits that lead people to attain their goals. Definitely check out this book to learn more about these 7 habits. 

In this letter, we wanted to share with you 5 habits of some of most successful athletes surrounding nutrition. We believe that by working these healthy habits, you can stay on track with achieving your health and fitness goals. 

Habit 1: Eat a healthy breakfast- one that is balanced with healthy sources of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Literature suggests that people who eat breakfast tend to have an easier time controlling their calorie intake and managing their weight. One idea as to why this is true is that if you don’t eat breakfast, you may be more prone to hunger and overeating or snacking on unfavorable foods later in the day. Examples of a healthy balanced breakfast include the egg muffins and some Amish Oatmeal topped with a few almonds. 

Habit 2: Eat your veggies: Veggies provide bulk to your diet without a lot of calories, and help fill you up while providing you with many healthy vitamins and minerals. Challenge yourself to eat more veggies. Ideas for eating your veggies throughout the day include spinach to a breakfast smoothie, making salads, a stir fry, or adding them to soups. Another way to eat more veggies is to add them to your 3 compartment containers when you meal prep.

Habit 3:  Eat whole grains like brown rice and oatmeal. Whole grains contain fiber and therefore add bulk to your diet, helping with satiety or that feeling of fullness. They are lower energy density than other refined grains like white bread and white rice.

Habit 4: Eat healthy fats - eating a healthy amount of quality sources of fat has less to do with weight gain than people think. Healthy fats are important to include in a balanced diet especially when you exercise. Examples include using olive oil for a salad dressing or when cooking food, topping foods with a little avocado or guacamole, and snacking on a small portion of nuts. Fats are nutrient-dense, and eating a small amount of them helps us feel full. 

Habit 5: Exercise- Aim for 30 minutes of activity most days of the week. If you are new to exercise, start slowly. Consider moving in 10-minute increments and gradually build from there. Schedule it in your day, involve an accountability partner, and find a variety of activities so it doesn’t get boring. Whatever you do for activity, give yourself some time each day to just move. 

Other healthy behaviors that are common amongst some of our most successful athletes that you can consider adopting to help you achieve your body composition goals include keeping a food log, tracking your activity, gradually increasing your activity level from 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day, eating and prepping real - non processed foods, and setting short and long term goals for the changes you want to achieve. 

Our advice: Schedule a free intro with the nutrition coaches to talk about coming up with an individualized plan to focus on adopting one healthy behavior at a time, and making those part of your foundation. Over time, these small changes add up to big success. ​

One thing that “diet culture” has taught us is to fear hunger. Whether it is an ad for the latest appetite suppressant, or the readily available snacks to prevent from ever being hungry-the message is the same: it is NOT ok to be hungry.  As we start to talk more about mindful eating, let’s discuss 3 reasons why feeling hungry is a good thing:

Our bodies naturally regulate their caloric needs each day. We get a signal when our bodies need more calories, a hunger cue.  If you learn to respond to this cue with the appropriate response (ie you eat) and learn to stop eating when you are full, you will be giving your body exactly how many calories it needs. 

Your hunger cues can let you know if you are eating enough at each meal, and also if you are eating in the correct balance.  If you find yourself feeling hungry 2 hours after you ate lunch, perhaps you didn’t eat enough at lunch, or maybe you didn’t eat in the proper balance (plate method!)

If you are NOT feeling hungry 4-5 hours after you ate, that can be a signal that you overate at your previous meal.  If you are dialed into what true hunger feels like, it can help you learn how to stop eating when you’re full as well.

The first step to beginning to eat according to your hunger cues is to build awareness of what it feels like to be hungry, and to be ok with that feeling. Hunger is NOT an emergency, it is just your body’s way of letting you know that it’s ready for some more fuel.
 
If you would like to learn more about this lifelong solution to weight management 

Why is it SO hard to lose weight?

​How many times do you ask yourself this question?

Anyone with a weight loss goal, who is working hard on establishing healthy habits, and trying to decrease the frequency of making unhealthy choices knows that losing weight takes time! 

By now, you’ve likely heard our nutrition coaching staff say that progress is rarely a straight line and that your weight loss journey is going to take a long term approach to dial things in. This long term approach takes much dedication and patience on your part. Paying attention to nutrition and taking the time to learn healthy habits to keep the weight off and be healthy across your lifespan is tough, but rewarding work. 

As nutrition coaches, we work with clients at various points in their journey. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to improve their nutrition. While losing weight is not a goal for everyone, losing weight and lowering body fat is the most common goal we hear. Many people acknowledge that they need an accountability partner to help lose weight because they encounter some all too common roadblocks during their weight loss journey.

Let's take a look at 3 of the most common roadblocks to lose weight:

Looking for quick fixes or following fad diets - 
It is often really tempting to follow a diet that you have heard has worked for someone else, which has led to a rapid weight loss. What you don’t know about this is that often these quick fixes or fad diets are super restrictive and are tough to sustain, leading to the regaining of weight. 

There is no one size fits all approach to weight loss. The benefit of meeting with a nutrition coach is that we work with you to come up with an individualized plan that fits your lifestyle. We also teach you to layer healthy habits over time and communicate with you regularly regarding strategies to stay on track with your goals. 

Not paying attention to what is going into our beverages - 
So many times, we look at incorporating lots of healthy foods in our diet when we are trying to lose weight, but we forget to pay attention to what we are drinking. Things like sugary coffee beverages, regular soda, and fruit juices are packed with sugar and extra calories that can stand in the way of our weight loss goals. 

Our nutrition coaches help to educate you about these commonly overlooked roadblocks, teach you the importance of logging, and help you learn to read food and beverage labels. These tactics will help you make a more informed decision about these types of items and see how drinking these beverages affect your goal attainment.  

Going all in and making too many changes at once - 
Weight loss is a marathon and not a sprint. There is a tendency to want to make too many changes all at once in order to meet our goals sooner. What we see is that this is WAY too overwhelming, and people aren’t investing the time it takes to make healthy habits part of their foundation. 

You may hear your coach say that there is a 3-month minimum time commitment required when entering a nutrition program. This is not to be mean, but rather help you achieve your goals by truly taking the time to learn healthy habits and avoid the temptation to make too many changes all at once. 

If you are looking to get some help with overcoming your own roadblocks on your weight loss journey, the nutrition coaching staff is here to help you be an accountability partner to achieve these goals. 

Have you ever gotten home from a long day at work and found yourself down a whole bag of crisps or sleeve of cookies? Maybe after your long day with the kids you sit down and relax with a little mindless binge on Netflix and automatically turn into a bottomless pit that eats through the pantry like the Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar? Raise your hand, because we have all been there! 

In general, if you’re not hungry, you’re emotionally eating! According to research, a high boredom task increases the desire to snack and it was proposed that increases in eating may be used as an attempt to distract from an experience, in this case being bored or stressed! We often see this while sitting in front of the TV or computer, when feeling stressed about an upcoming deadline, or simply needing a mental break from certain tasks like writing emails. What situations do you find yourself snacking more even though you aren’t hungry? Did you take the time to check in with yourself first? 

Just because boredom or stress eating is common, it does NOT mean we have to keep doing it! Here are 5 strategies to help you overcome this habit: 

Fix your mindset 
This is KEY! Instead of thinking thoughts associated with a negative emotion, try turning it positive. Instead of “this is boring” or “this is awful, I hate answering emails all day”, try asking yourself “how can I make this more enjoyable” or thinking, “Everyone has to do some tasks they don’t want to do in life, this is just one of those for me!” While this may seem small, changing negative emotions to positive just by mindset will make a world of difference! 

Closet Cleanout
Out of sight, out of mind! Don’t allow your junk food to be so easily available. Choose to get rid of them, place them in high cabinets, or even the freezer!

Change Up Your Routine
Winding down with TV at the end of the day? Decide how many episodes you are going to watch and think about setting an alarm. Rather than snacking, bring a water or seltzer to keep your hand busy. Getting more bored? Move to a different, more stimulating task. 

Learn Your Hunger & Fullness Cues
Take the time to check in with yourself and evaluate if you are truly hungry or just bored! Don’t eat until you’re full and SLOW DOWN! It takes time for your brain to get the signal from your stomach that you’ve had enough. 

Practice Mindful Stress Management
This is as easy as remembering “STOP”! Slow down, Take a breath, Observe how you are feeling/thinking and why, Proceed while considering multiple possibilities. 

Stress and boredom eating can create a cycle of continued negative self-talk, thoughts, and feelings. Keep these 5 strategies in mind the next time you feel overwhelmed or sit down to unwind in front of the TV. If you are looking for more guidance to create a better mindset and healthy habits, schedule a time to speak with our nutrition coach to help you find the path to success!

So you hear about these three little things called “macros” by surfing the web, social media, or even from someone in your social circle. Macronutrients aka macros are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats- these are the three main sources of calories consumed. Let’s start with a bit of information about each macro. 

Proteins are typically things like meat but also come from a variety of other sources. Proteins provide our body’s structure & components of enzymes, regulate body function & immune system health, and aids in hormone regulation. Calories from protein should comprise about 30% of our daily calorie intake. 

Carbohydrates vary depending on the source, but these are things like fruit, sugar, vegetables, and much more. Carbohydrates aka Carbs are our body’s main source of fuel. Carbs keep protein from being used as energy and aids in the oxidation (breakdown) of fat. Calories from carbohydrates should comprise no more than 40% of our daily calorie intake

Fats come from plant and animal-based sources. Fats are a component of our membranes, aids in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and is used as a source of energy. Calories from fat should comprise about 30% of our daily calorie intake.

Now that you know a bit more about them - should you be counting them and what does that mean? Macro counting is calorie counting, but with more specific targets to stay within a certain range of each macro. These numbers are determined in various ways but the main idea behind them is calories in vs calories out. In order to lose weight, you need to expend more energy than you consume.

Let’s move on to the most important question--should you be counting macros? For most people, logging food and counting macros will provide them with the guidance they need to meet their long term goals, but it isn’t always the best solution for everyone. Here are a few things to consider:

Does it fit in your current lifestyle? 

Do you want to weigh and measure the foods in order to log them?

Do you need the added level of accountability?

Can you consistently log everything you consume every single day?

If logging your food doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, then it probably isn’t. Here are a few things we look for in clients before asking them to log food:

 - Consistently eating vegetables
 - Eating every 3-4 hours
 - Has a good daily routine and can easily add this task (as far as time in concerned)
 - Is cooking and preparing at least 50-60% of their meals at home.

Do a quick self-analysis by answering these questions to determine whether or not you think macro counting is ideal for you.

Not sure or want to get more help? Just book a free intro and let one of our experienced nutrition coaches guide you to the right answer for you and your goals!

The CrossFit Lah Team