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Fuel Your Strength

The Fuel Your Strength podcast is all about helping women who lift weights get stronger, fuel themselves (without counting every bite of food), perform better in and out of the gym, and take up space. Strength nutrition strategist and weight lifting coach Steph Gaudreau shares how lifting weights is a catalyst for a more expansive life and how to challenge the status quo around nutrition and fitness. This weekly show brings you discussion about building strength without obsessing about food and exercise, lifting weights, food psychology, and more. You'll learn how to eat, train, recover, listen to your body, and step into your strength.
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Now displaying: Page 4
Aug 24, 2021

How many times have you told yourself you’re too old or it’s too late to get started on something? The idea of starting a new athletic pursuit after 40 seems impossible to many people, but there are so many people out there proving every day that it can be reality.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready to Explore Your Athletic Potential, You Should:

  1. Redefine what athlete means to you
  2. Stop waiting to become perfect or elite
  3. Get out of your comfort zone 
  4. Focus on activities that light you up inside

Live Agelessly With Robin Legat

One of those people is Robin Legat, a badass obstacle racer who helps women over 40 explore their athletic potential, gain confidence, and overcome life's obstacles. Robin is passionate about helping women live agelessly by sharing her wisdom and preparing women to run their best obstacle race. She believes that exploring your athletic potential at every age can help everyone expand their lives.

What Is an Athlete?

To Robin, being an athlete means having a body that is moved with intention and is tested from time to time. That's it! You do not need to be perfect or elite to get started. Once you can find an activity that you enjoy, the fire you get from that feeling will continue to motivate you. 

Being able to accomplish something that you never thought you would be able to do can give you joy that affects more than just your fitness but really impacts your whole life. You just have to be willing to show up at the start line.

You Don’t Need to Be Perfect, You Just Need to Show Up

When you gain the confidence to put yourself out there and participate in an experience, you can still feel your ‘superhero’ moment even if you don't do it perfectly. While your preferences of which activities you engage with may shift throughout the different seasons in your life, the positive benefits you can get from pushing yourself out of your comfort zone can be life-changing. 

By redefining the rewards and benefits that come from taking on challenges, you can gain the confidence to overcome life's obstacles and explore your athletic potential at any age.

Are you ready to run your first obstacle course race after listening to this episode? Share what you loved most about Robin’s approach to fitness over 40 with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How Robin went from a ‘non-athlete’ to a roller derby star and obstacle course racer (11:44)
  • Tips for redefining what an ‘athlete’ is in order to see yourself in a more expansive way (20:15)
  • Why it is okay to recognize which training lights you up inside and which training is not for you right now (25:47)
  • The top 3 things you need to know about obstacle course racing (30:24)
  • The importance of strength training when obstacle racing (34:55)

Quotes

“One of the things I am trying to break down in my little corner is the rewards and the benefits that come from taking on challenges such as obstacle races, that’s just one example, but the rewards and challenges that come from stepping beyond your comfort zone, taking on new challenges, and discovering your ability to do things you never thought you could.” (11:19)

“Obstacle racing is a lot of being a grown-up kid. You are doing monkey bars, and rope climbs and crawling in mud, kid stuff. And we forget that. We lose track of that and forget how fun that side of ourselves can be, and you can access that at any age if you want to.” (19:36)

“That's why I love helping women, particularly women over 40, find that thing that lights them up. Because that can be life-changing in regards to your relationship with exercise and training and how you view yourself as an athlete.” (25:44)

“All that other stuff does not matter. You need to have the ability to show up to that start line, just like I needed to have that ability to show up to my first roller derby practice. So know that you can get from the start line to finish line.” (30:26)

“When you see you just did something, that you have never done, that you didn’t think you could ever do, that's an amazing feeling that permeates into all areas of your life. And that’s why I want to reach women over 40.” (41:30)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Robin Legat Website

Seasoned Athlete Podcast

Seasoned Athlete Live: Start Line Strong

Follow Robin on Instagram | Facebook

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 319: Why Fitspo Needs To Die

 

Aug 17, 2021

If you struggle with staying motivated when engaging with exercise, you are not alone. Starting a fitness plan is very exciting initially, but when reality sets in about the amount of time it can take to see results, especially as our bodies change through the different phases of life, it can be a bit disheartening. This is why I have brought the ultimate motivator, Christa Shelton, to the show today.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Get Clear On Your Fitness Motivation, You Should: 

  1. Adapt your training schedule to where your body is at right now in this phase of your life
  2. Get clear on why you want to accomplish a goal and if it is coming from yourself or outside conditioning
  3. Harness the confidence you get from strength training into all areas of your life

For The Love of Motivation

Christa is a certified personal trainer and behavioral change specialist who is passionate about helping her clients use motivation as a vehicle for long-term success. She loves helping women in mid-life feel confident with their movement practices and get to the ‘why’ behind their goals. She has combined her enthusiasm for fitness and her love of motivating people into a purpose that serves her clients, herself, and her community.

Feeling Confident in Movement at Every Age

When getting back into fitness, especially if some years have passed since the last time we engaged with that exercise, we all tend to compare what we can do now to what we could do back then. But the truth is, how you are training now should be different than how you were training 5 or 10 years ago because your body needs different things. By being tuned into what your body is saying to you, you can get over the barriers of movement and learn to embrace the changes your body is going through.

Know Your "Why"

The best way to stay motivated is to be confident in the ‘why’ behind your goal. Christa uses strength training as a gateway to getting into your internal mindset and figuring out what each unique person needs at that moment. 

When you can own and feel good about your intentions and feel secure in what your body can do, that confidence translates into all areas of your life. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be strong. While the definition of the word strong may change from person to person, the positivity that comes from feeling assured in your body's abilities is universal.

Are you ready to stop procrastinating and start using your mindset to fuel your motivation? Share what you loved most about Christa’s approach with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Common fears and barriers surrounding women holding women back from getting started on a fitness journey (14:06)
  • How to address the changes in your body mid-life and adapt your training program accordingly (22:54)
  • The role of mindset and listening to your body when doing any type of training (25:21)
  • Tips for overcoming your mindset challenges when it comes to strength training (28:51)
  • How strength training can help you tap into your motivation and create inner transformation (36:45)

Quotes

“Because I am walking this journey, it really compelled me to really immerse myself in how we are looking at aging and how we are feeling about our bodies as we age. And that's really what made me want to make the shift to really focus here.” (8:39)

“Generally speaking, it still takes work and time to build muscle. So to think you could go from where you are to somehow ever get to ‘The Rock’ or anywhere near that is in itself a huge misconception.” (18:40)

“I am very much more the type of trainer that is going to talk to you about how you are feeling, specifically that day when I see you, and then we are going to move according to that.” (23:44)

“Getting down deep and relating to people on a human level is not something that I feel is really talked about as much as it should be for people coming into this work. Because when you are dealing with people's bodies, I feel that that is a very personal space, and it needs to be treated with the utmost respect.” (27:46)

“What are your motivations behind the things that you do? I think it is important to dig into that so that you can really understand if your motivation for doing something is based on conditioning and messaging that you have been getting... or is it something that you have a clear mindset about this approach and why you feel it is important.” (32:23)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Coaching With Christa Website

Follow Christa on Instagram

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 239: Demystifying Menopause Fitness & Nutrition with Amanda Thebe 

LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

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Aug 10, 2021

The constant pursuit of shrinking your body can have major costs on your life. Instead of listening to what external validation tells you, you can listen to what your body needs and start validating yourself from the inside out.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready To Take A New Approach To Diet and Exercise, You Should:

  1. Shift your goals from aesthetic based to ability based
  2. Reject the notion that you have to limit your dietary intake to what external sources tell you
  3. Learn to listen to what your body is telling you

The Impact of Searching for External Validation

Deanna Harder has been involved in the fitness industry in some way or another since the age of 16. She used sports such as figure skating and bodybuilding to stay lean and stay compliant because of her previous disordered eating. It wasn't until she got a speeding ticket on the way home because she was so eager to get home and finally eat a handful of almonds that her compliance to the sport had taken over her whole life. Now, she works with women to help them shift their mindset, validate themselves, and quit the all-or-nothing mentality.

How Is Your Mentality Serving You?

Aesthetic-based sports and physique-based competitions played into Deanna’s desire to get smaller and perform harder. She didn't realize that she was starving her body of the nutrients it needed and using validation from others to justify her all-or-nothing mentality. 

It wasn't until the age of 40 that she sought help for her exercise compulsion and eating disorders, which is why she is so passionate about helping other women make the change that she did and live better for it.

Learn to Trust Yourself Again

When coming from a place of restriction and diet culture, it can be scary to navigate the middle, learn about moderate eating, and eat for satisfaction. While it will take some internal work to remember how to trust yourself when it comes to food and exercise, Deanna knows deep down that those intuitive powers reside in all of us.

The more you learn to trust yourself, listen internally and stay mindful, the easier it gets to listen to what your body is saying to you. It is fascinating what you can discover about yourself when you tap into what you have ignored for so long, but Deanna is confident that if you can make that jump into the unknown, you will forever be happy that you did.

Are you ready to start taking the steps and shift your goals from aesthetic-based to do-based? Share what you resonated most with Deanna’s story with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How aesthetic sports culture lead Deanna to the work she is doing today (8:18)
  • The moment Deanna realized that her mindset and beliefs were not healthy (17:22)
  • Why the attention someone receives ‘before’ or ‘after’ plays into diet culture (21:35)
  • Challenges that are faced when changing your perspective on physique based goals (25:46)
  • What is the #greatdietdisruption and how you can become involved (32:54)
  • Tips if you want to shift away from an aesthetic based goal to a do-based goal (36:13)

Quotes

“Those who didn't have such a great experience have a completely different story. So not all of it is bad, but for me in particular, it was not a smart idea to use that sport as a goal because I already had suffered from body image and eating disorders previously before I entered my first competition.” (9:41)

“There were so many times that I really should have stopped, but I didn't. The obsessiveness was more powerful than anything I could have controlled at that time.” (19:48)

“It was only when I went to eating disorder counseling and stopped competing that I started validating myself. And it was a game-changer.” (23:52)

“My poor body was going through hell, and I didn't listen until I had had enough. And I think until you have had enough, you can't help anybody, until they are ready, and I was finally ready.” (31:08)

“The ultimate form of control is trust. And the control isn't working anymore. So if it is not working anymore, what are you getting out of it?” (36:24)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Deanna Harder Website

Deanna Harder Online Coaching Programs

Moderation 365 Certification

Follow Deanna on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 342: Fitness Trackers and Listening to Your Body

LTYB 219: How To Lead With Purpose & Positivity with Jill Coleman

Aug 3, 2021

Do you struggle with the concept of giving yourself permission to do or not do the things you really want? Like taking a rest day, sleeping in, eating enough to nourish your body, or setting boundaries and saying no? You are not alone in this struggle. However, when you can give yourself the radical permission you deserve, you can take care of yourself and those you love in a transformative new way.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Allow Yourself Radical Permission, You Should:

  1. Stop the search for external validation and start listening to your own inner expert
  2. Never abandon yourself by consciously choosing to live more expansively
  3. Create compassion and self-compassion so that you can connect to the rest of humanity
  4. Give yourself permission to set boundaries and say no to others, society, and yourself

Compassion Warrior Hayden Dawes

Hayden Dawes is a social worker, therapist, researcher, speaker, and self-proclaimed ‘Compassion Warrior’ passionate about helping people give themselves permission, do what they want to do, and reclaim their power. Hayden has harnessed his past to examine our social systems and find a way to help people connect to the larger community of humanity.

Writing Your Own Permission Slip

Many of us are used to seeking permission from an external source, such as a teacher, coach, parent, partner, or boss. Have you ever considered that you have the power to write your own permission slip? A permission slip is an opportunity to come back to yourself and ensure that you are not abandoning yourself whatever you decide to do or not do. 

By raising your permission consciousness over time, you can lean into self-compassion and choose to live more expansive and open lives.

Creating Self-Compassion Through Radical Permission

Being compassionate and giving yourself permission can feel scary and vulnerable. While being your authentic self can feel like a risk, it is the only way that you will become connected to the larger community of humanity. 

Some people believe that giving themselves compassion will end their accountability or dedication. This is not the case! Hayden wants you to know that there is space for both, and by practicing coming back to the expert within yourself, you can sustain yourself through self-compassion and radical permission.

Are you ready to start listening to your body and giving yourself the permission you have been longing for? Share what you loved most about Hayden’s vision with me in the comments on the episode page.

 

In This Episode

  • Learn about ‘Petty Tuesday’ and how it relates to work being done in the world (6:30)
  • Why people who have marginalized identities have a hard time giving themselves permission (15:27)
  • Ways that you can begin the process of giving yourself more radical permission (23:30)
  • How to give yourself compassion without giving up on your discipline (28:30)
  • Discover how self-compassion and radical permission are woven together as a practice (33:35)
  • Tips for allowing yourself permission to set boundaries and say no sometimes (38:41)

Quotes

“I really use it as an invitation for everyone to air our their grievance in a way that can be really healthy. Because in a lot of ways, if we don’t, it will work its way out in other ways that really aren’t as healthy.” (8:08)

“I try to use my work first and foremost to help myself so that I can help others help themselves. It’s a reciprocal, bidirectional relationship.” (14:12)

“A permission slip is an opportunity to come back to yourself and not abandon yourself. Because whether that coach, that teacher, that doctor, your partner is for you on the other side of the thing you decided to do or not do, I would hope that you haven’t abandoned yourself.” (20:23)

“There is enough space for accountability and self-compassion.” (29:20)

“When your parents gave you a permission slip to go on a field trip, most people wanted to go, but I’m sure if you didn’t go, it probably wouldn’t be the worst thing ever. So let’s just take the pressure off of everything.”  (37:47)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Hayden Dawes Website

Follow Hayden on Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Johari Window

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 305: Using Body Language To Understand Yourself and Others Better with Tiff Lee

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Jul 27, 2021

Christina Malone has been an athlete in a larger body for her whole life. When she found the sport of powerlifting, she used what she had been told would hold her back for her entire life as a positive attribute. Christina is dedicated to helping others who are hurting, stuck in the cycle of diet culture and body negativity by learning to love themselves and fight for body diversity and acceptance in the fitness industry.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Live Your Fullest Life You Should:

  1. Accept that your value has nothing to do with what you see in the mirror 
  2. Stop feeling responsible for other people's reactions to you and your body
  3. Find a fitness routine that focuses on what your body feels good doing
  4. Advocate for your health and your options at every size

Fitness as a Big-Bodied Person

Christina is a state-record holder and national-level athlete in the sport of powerlifting, a body inclusivity coach and speaker, and happens to be in a larger body. Her passion is finding ways to help other people find peace with their bodies, learning to appreciate everything they are, and how to be in fitness as a big-bodied person. She is powerful and raw and here today to share how picking up a barbell has helped her feel more at home in the gym and her body.

The Power of Powerlifting

At one point in her life, Christina was using exercise to punish her body for being the size that it was. That was before she fell in love with the technique of powerlifting and how it made her body feel. Powerlifting allowed her internal perspective about her body size to shift, which was a life-changing experience for an athlete in a bigger body. Instead of being told that her weight was going to hold her back, powerlifting allowed Christina to harness her energy on learning to come home to her body’s purpose.

Other People’s Comfort Is Not Your Responsibility

While the conversations and attitudes towards body diversity and body acceptance in the fitness industry are changing, we still have a long way to go. Just as we have accepted height differences and race differences in the fitness industry, Christina believes that we also have to accept body size differences. What you look like in the mirror has nothing to do with your value, worth, or ability. 

It is not your responsibility to make others feel comfortable around your body. Everyone’s body is different, and when we are able to accept others regardless of what diet culture and body negativity tell us, we can break down the barriers of the fitness industry and explore fitness with freedom.

Are you ready to start living your fullest life? Share what part of Christina’s story resonated with you most with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • The lifts that are involved in powerlifting and how it is specifically unique (8:50)
  • Which practices can help you get into the right mental space to perform (13:42)
  • Why body diversity awareness in fitness and sports is important, especially now (21:51)
  • How the industry is changing in relation to conversations around body acceptance and bigger bodies (29:47)
  • What it is like navigating the medical system as a plus-size athlete and woman (34:20)

Quotes

“[Powerlifting] is really the only sport I have ever done that I am not sitting there saying ‘hey I am big, but…’, it’s ‘hey, I am big, and…’.”  (8:25)

“When I weight lift and when I am powerlifting, it’s me, it’s the bar, and it’s the plates on the bar. And nothing else exists for me outside of that platform, the judge in front of me, and what I need to execute on the platform.” (14:12)

“You could take 100 or 200 people and give them the exact same diet and the exact same exercise routine, and they could have a similar background, and they would still come out of it looking different. And that is just inherent, that everyone’s body is going to be different.”  (23:47)

“We are at that point, where how do we go from accepting and valuing bigger bodies that are athletic to accepting bigger bodies without needing that modifier. And how do we become compassionate to all persons, because you exist in the world and you deserve to be treated with a certain amount of humanity, and I think that is a bit lost unfortunately with a lot of bigger-bodied people.” (31:25)

“For me, living my fullest life means living up every single part of my life and reaching out to the very edges of everything that I could be, and not saying no to opportunities or to things because I doubt myself or it’s something that you ‘shouldn’t do’.” (40:53)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Christina Malone Website

Follow Christina on Instagram | Twitter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 335: Breaking the Body Stereotype with Amanda LaCount

LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship to Exercise

LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene

 

Jul 20, 2021

Have you felt like there is a misalignment between your strength goals and what society tells you your goals should be? So often the fitness industry is focused on shrinking your body, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Health at Every Size movement is a prime example of your ability to work with what you have to be the best possible version of yourself each and every day.

Key Takeaways

If You Want to Embrace Health at Every Size, You Should:

  1. Create fitness goals that have nothing to do with your size
  2. Find a form of fitness that you enjoy and brings you happiness
  3. Focus on what you are gaining, not what you are losing

Becoming The Best Version of Yourself

Stacey Sorgen felt that misalignment first hand. When working to become a personal trainer, Stacey felt like she had to shrink herself to be taken seriously in the industry. Finally, Stacey said enough is enough and has found great success helping people of every size and shape work towards their goals that have nothing to do with the number on the scale.

Making Fitness Accessible

Society tells us that being a larger person is the worst thing that can be done to you. Stacey is here to tell you that that is absolutely not true. The Health at Every Size movement is all about making fitness more approachable and accessible for as many people as possible. 

Because the truth is, there is nothing wrong with the size of your body, and you can become the healthiest version of yourself without focusing on becoming smaller.

It’s Not About Shrinking Your Body

When you use fitness as a tool to expand your strength, confidence, and ability, instead of contracting our bodies to fit a certain mold, you gain the ability to advocate for your needs. Instead of using fitness as a means to an end, Stacey wants you to enjoy what you are doing and focus on what you are gaining, not what you are losing. 

Fitness is about so much more than shrinking your body, and with the right perspective, you too can find health at any size.

Are you ready to set some fitness goals that have nothing to do with the number on the scale? Share how you are embracing Health at Every Size with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Learn what Health at Every Size means and the main core values of the philosophy (5:41)
  • How to maintain a sense of independence in an all-consuming diet-culture industry (13:32)
  • Addressing the concern troll mentality and the misconception of Healthy at Every Size (17:18)
  • Tips for reframing the narrative around fitness and movement (23:08)
  • What to do if you are ready to do something different but are reluctant to put yourself back out there (32:26)

Quotes

“It’s kind of a revolution of discovering that we can learn to respect or accept our bodies where they are at and do the best that we can with what we have in this moment now.” (7:16)

“We can be larger people, and still be strong, still be active, still be fit, still be any of the things you want to be at the size that you are in your body today.” (10:50)

“If we do not support and love all people, how can all people support and love themselves?”  (18:41)

“As soon as you hit a plateau, if you are focused on contraction, there is only so far you can go. But the other direction, it’s like the sky is the limit, you can really do anything.” (27:52)

“We are always focused on everyone else. But that hour or that hour and a half or that fifteen minutes, focus on yourself and get out of it what you need out of it.” (35:22)

Featured on the Show

Join the Group Strength Nutrition Program Waitlist Here

Register for the Summer Strength Camp Here

Stacey Sorgen Website

The Anxious Entrepreneurs Podcast

Follow Stacey on Instagram

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 335: Breaking the Body Stereotype with Amanda LaCount

LTYB 314: How To Set Health Goals Beyond the Scale with Steph Dodier

LTYB 273: Opting Out Of Diet Culture with Naomi Katz

 

Jul 13, 2021

Recently I decided to welcome back a wearable fitness tracker into my life after a decade-long break from one. This topic brought up a lot of questions for me. While the decision to stop or start wearing a tracker is very personal, I want to bring to light a few of the questions that have surfaced for me in the hopes that they can help you out when making this call for yourself.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Considering Stopping, Or Starting, Using a Fitness Tracker, You Should:

  1. Examine the pros and cons of fitness trackers and how they play into your personal relationship with your body
  2. Find a tracker that suits your lifestyle and provides you with the data you are curious about
  3. Keep listening to the signals of your body as your guide to what your body needs

Getting Curious About Your Body Patterns

It took me over ten years to get to the place where I am confident enough to listen to my body signals to be curious about the patterns and trends that a wearable fitness tracker can provide. 

How my recovery is correlating with my heart rate variability, menstrual cycle, and fatigue are incredibly interesting to me. The key is to not be so reliant on these numbers that you stop listening to your body and only listen to the numbers on an app.

It’s All About Balance

Wearing a fitness tracker is an incredibly personal decision and depends on your ability to combine the data from a tracker with the signals your body is sending you. While most of us don't have the same relationship to data, such as heart rate variability, as we do to the numbers on the scale, it is still something to be sensitive to. 

An app can never tell you everything that is going on in your body. The question is, does the data from a fitness tracker help you reinforce the way your body feels, or distract you from it?

How do you feel about your relationship with fitness trackers? Do you believe they are diet culture? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Why I decided to start using a wearable fitness tracker again (4:48)
  • The pros and cons I see when using a fitness tracker (9:10)
  • How to deal with fitness trackers if you have an all-or-nothing personality (20:38)
  • Which tracker I am using currently and why I personally like it (23:42)
  • Explore if fitness trackers are in fact a part of diet culture (29:04)

Quotes

“I am not in an all-or-nothing situation with training anymore, I am able to really listen to my body, but I am curious about bringing some sort of fitness tracker back into my life.” (8:37)

“I am not here to present my argument necessarily for or against, but if it is something that you have kind of been thinking about, maybe these will be some interesting points.” (14:34)

“There is a tendency to become too reliant sometimes on external trackers at the expense of also developing a sense of what your training and recovery feel like overall so that you get to know your body a lot more intimately.” (19:27)

“If you have started looking at data, do you sort of tune out what your body is telling you? Or are you looking where they overlap and using both to make decisions? Or can one help you make decisions about the other? Can having data help you connect to how your body is feeling? In some cases, potentially yes, but it is really about you individually.” (23:20)

“I don't think fitness trackers are in the same league as the scale and tracking body weight. However, could they potentially become an issue for some people? Potentially. So this is where it is really important to know yourself.” (32:18)

Featured on the Show

 

Join the Waitlist for my Group Strength Nutrition Coaching Program Here

Get a Free Month of the Whoop Tracker Here

Follow Steph on Instagram

Steph Gaudreau Website

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LTYB 336: Bathroom Scale Real Talk You Need To Hear

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Jul 6, 2021

Having tougher body image days is perfectly normal. Yes, even when you’re actively working on your mental and physical health. Yes, even when you’re strength training every day. Let’s look at how we can start being kinder to ourselves when these thoughts happen.

Key Takeaways

How to Work Through Negative Body Thoughts

  1. Journal it Out: Mentally backtrack in your day, or the day before, to see what, if anything, influenced that event.
  2. Check-in with Yourself: Is there a basic need you’re not meeting for yourself?
  3. Understand your Menstrual Cycle: Your cycle can impact your mood and how you feel about your body
  4. Practice Gratitude: Especially when you’re feeling challenging ways about your body

Body Image Issues Impact Everyone

Challenging and negative thoughts about your body are perfectly normal. They’re not pleasant or productive, but please let me reassure you that they’re absolutely normal. We all experience them, even when we’re actively working on our positive mental and physical health.

It’s not realistic to never have a negative thought about your body. And that’s okay. Working towards some form of body neutrality is a journey, not a destination.

Working Through a Negative Body Image

When you do have negative or challenging thoughts about your body, it’s important to try to get to the root cause of these thoughts. First, take some time to journal out what might have influenced these thoughts throughout the last day or two.

You might also be neglecting one of your basic needs. When was the last time you ate or drank water? Are you getting enough sleep? 

For longer-term solutions, start tracking your menstrual cycle as your cycle has an impact on how you feel mentally and towards yourself. Finally, take up a daily gratitude practice to help shift your entire perspective.

How do you currently feel about your own body image? What struggles have you gone through? Share your experiences with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Why it’s normal to have challenging thoughts about your body [6:00]
  • Why it’s not realistic to expect to never have a challenging thought about your body [7:45]
  • The importance of body neutrality [13:00]
  • You deserve to eat. Make sure you’re eating regularly [33:30]
  • Why you should track your menstrual cycle [24:00]
  • How challenging yourself with practicing gratitude can help shift your perspective [27:45]

Quotes

“It is still normal to have challenging thoughts about your body. You’re not failing or doing this wrong if you still have those doubts, negative self-talk, or aren’t at body neutrality or beyond to body liberation, or wherever you are on that spectrum.” [6:28]

“By thinking or expecting that we’re never going to have the negative thought or the challenging feeling ever again, we’re actually setting ourselves up for not being as adept or experienced with getting through those challenging thoughts or feelings.” [9:45]

“You need to eat. We need to eat. When you’re running on low energy, your blood sugar is really low, and you’re hangry, your mood is affected. You’re feeling mentally foggy, more anxious, and on edge. Food is essential.” [20:03]

“Gratitude is a muscle that you have to practice. Yes, you can feel these ways about yourself, you can feel down, sad, grief. All of those emotions are normal. At the same time, you can challenge yourself to give even a little bit of gratitude, just a little bit. It can be both - and.” [27:18]

“It’s okay for those negative body thoughts to pop up, even at positive times in our life. They probably will. Working on that resilience, instead of walking around on eggshells, is ultimately what makes you more resilient, more able to unlearn the things that aren’t serving you, and lean into what it’s like to be on this journey. It’s never going to be perfect but it is so worthwhile.” [31:31]

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LTYB 332: Dealing with Negative Body Image w/ Beauty Redefined

Jun 29, 2021

There are six common questions I hear all the time about lifting weights. So, I decided to put them into an episode with some simple answers for you so that you have a resource that you can come back to time and time again. If you are looking for answers to common questions I hear about strength training; this is the episode for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Embrace The Benefits of Strength Training, You Should: 

  1. Realize that what is ‘heavy’ is different for each person, and you should focus on adding enough of a load that is challenging for you
  2. Create goals that are focused on what your body can do, not the number on the bathroom scale
  3. Take care of your body through generous recovery time and exercises that do not involve weights

It’s All Relative

Questions like ‘am I lifting heavy enough?’, ‘am I too old to start lifting weights?’, or ‘how soon can I expect to see results?’, are very nuanced. The short answer is, everybody’s body is different and will look different even if doing the same exercise. 

It is about finding a combination of weight lifting and other exercises that feel right for your unique body. What is ‘heavy’ is relative to each person and can change over time. Consistency and progressive overload are the keys to a long game mentality needed when strength training.

The Many Benefits of Strength Training

I know for sure that strength training can give you something to think about besides shrinking your body. Having goals that are only focused on achieving a certain number on the scale or an aesthetic look are not sustainable. 

Lifting weights can help you stop focusing on the scale, promote healthy muscle mass, improve your bone density, and boost your metabolism. These are goals that can have a huge impact on your overall health but cannot be measured by the number on the scale. Strength training can help you reconnect with a sense of what your body can do, not what it looks like.

Have you ever asked one of these common questions? How did my answer hold up to what you have been told in the past? Share your experiences with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How to know if you are lifting heavy enough (3:40)
  • How often you should be lifting every week (7:29)
  • How to know if lifting weights will help you feel better about yourself (9:53)
  • Why you should still consider lifting weights even if you do other sports (14:17)
  • Why it is never too late to start lifting weights (17:52)
  • How long it will take for you to experience results (22:20)

Quotes

“Generally speaking, you want to think about grooving in the main functional movement patterns, which are push, pull, hinge, squat, and weighted carries; those are what the Made Strong program is built off of.” (8:24)

“Lifting weights gives you something besides shrinking your body, or the bathroom scale, to focus on.” (11:59)

“If you lift weights two or three times a week, it will make you better at that sport, period.” (15:07)

“To efficiently build and maintain your muscle and bones and keep your metabolism humming along… the answer is lift weights.” (21:52)

“Please focus on some kind of goal that goes beyond what you weigh or exactly having some kind of aesthetic look. Because it is going to be far easier to sustain your work towards what you can do, or developing a new skill, or building your strength in a specific lift, it’s going to be a lot more motivating and a lot easier to stick to that than when you are not seeing the number on the scale go in the direction that you want it to go.” (26:26)

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LTYB 332: 3 Mistakes Keeping You From Getting Stronger In The Gym

LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked

Jun 22, 2021

The general narrative in the fitness world says that by getting into shape, you will get smaller. In reality, there are so many other ways to measure your fitness that have nothing to do with the size of your body. ‘Getting In Shape’ really has no concrete meaning, and it's time we stop equating fitness with a specific look.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Dig Deeper Into The Problem With ‘Getting in Shape’, You Should:

  1. Challenge those in the fitness space to stop defining fitness as ‘a look’
  2. Focus on the benefits of training that have nothing to do with your body size
  3. Work to include marginalized bodies into the wellness space for the greater benefit of everyone

Fitness Is Not a ‘Look’

Fitness doesn't have a specific look. Instead, it is your ability to do a task. Simple as that. Working out and ‘getting in shape’ simply to get smaller is not sustainable, and the companies or trainers that guarantee that your body will get smaller are not acknowledging all of the other things out of our control that go into fitness, and all of the other benefits of getting stronger and healthier. Your size does not equal your health and has no reflection on how fit or how unfit a person is.

How To Stop Comparing and Start Representing

If we compare ourselves to the highest performing human specimens participating in an activity, is that an accurate representation of all the people who engage with that activity? By comparing ourselves to the top athletes in the world, we are doing a disservice to the people out there who want to engage with a certain type of fitness but don't see anyone who looks like them being represented.

The idea that fit bodies have to look a certain way stops people from engaging with those pursuits and perpetuates the stereotype that fitness is a certain look and only people who look like that can be deemed ‘in shape’. By challenging these narratives and making fitness available to people who don't fit the conventional ‘fitspo’ version of health, we can break down these assumptions and, in turn, make ‘getting in shape’ more beneficial for everyone.

What stood out most to you from this episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Why ‘getting in shape’ really means nothing (4:12)
  • How I want to challenge the fitness space to focus on fitness as an ability and not a look (10:35)
  • Addressing the fit bias and fit shaming I see online (14:40)
  • The benefits of strength training that have nothing to do with how you look (21:50)
  • Why I don’t like to promise anybody that ‘getting in shape’ is going to look a certain way (27:53)

Quotes

“Getting in shape when used to mean getting fit is a huge problem because physical fitness isn't a look, it's not a look.” (7:14)

“Strength training can give you a new lease on life because you get to focus on what your body can do, not just on what it looks like.” (15:34)

“I can think of so many people who are not fitting the ‘thin fitspo’ gently toned but not too muscular body who are fit as fuck! Fit as fuck for what they do. And that to me is a cause for applause.” (19:50)

“We have to be able to tease apart fitness from overall health and wellbeing. If we think health is multifactorial and influenced by so many things out of our control, we have to be able to tease apart fitness from health and from weight.” (24:44)

“I hope that this podcast gives you some seeds of ideas to ask or to bring up with that potential personal trainer that you want to work within your city, or that potential email that you open up… what does the person or the company promising to you? What other ways are there going to be to see how your fitness has changed and improved?” (32:01)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 335: Breaking the Body Stereotype with Amanda LaCount

LTYB 324: Is It Wrong To Want To Lose Weight? 

LTYB 319: Why Fitspo Needs To Die

LTYB 025: Master the Art of Self Love with Noelle Tarr

Jun 15, 2021

If you are someone who is not strength training yet or are looking to get back into activity, you might be nervous. Getting back into movement in a way that keeps you safe and healthy starts with understanding your foundation and finding mobility practices that meet you where you are now.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Encourage Mobility, Representation, and Justice In The Fitness Space, You Should:

  1. Get assessed to find out where your body is at and what mobility practices could benefit you
  2. Stop viewing mobility practices as an optional extra and start including them in your daily routine
  3. Work to view people in the fitness space as whole people, not just exercise machines
  4. Seek out voices other than your own to find out how you can increase representation in the fitness space

Taking Care Of Yourself as a Whole Person

Rich Thurman, better known as Coach RT3, is a mobility specialist who is passionate about sharing his experiences as a black man in the fitness industry and advocating for coaching in a way that takes care of your body, mind, and spirit as one whole person. 

Rich knows that mobility practices are not an optional extra but something that helps you get better at what you are trying to do and is here today to share how mobility, inclusivity, and representation intersect in the fitness space.

Investing In Yourself Through Mobility Practices

Mobility is the best investment you can make for yourself. By giving time to mobility practices that will improve your longevity, and preserve, improve, and enhance your ability to do the things you love longer, you will save yourself the necessity to give it up later. 

Something as simple as preparation can help you create strength in the realms you may not have strength in anymore, save you from injury, and help you find a workout that fits your body's strengths and shortcomings. Mobility practices are the key to move better, feel better, and ultimately do more for longer.

Representation Is Power

For too long, underrepresented people in the fitness space, such as Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ persons, have been burying themselves to make other people feel comfortable. Rich is here to say no more to that and encourage organizations, coaches, trainers, and anyone involved in the fitness space to do the work, become aware, and take steps to view someone as a whole person. 

Instead of assuming the needs of others and pushing that agenda, Rich wants to challenge you to work to improve yourself, learn about your community, and recognize the intersections between identity, representation, and fitness. It is only by working to be better, that we can include the voices that have been marginalized for too long and lift up our fellow humans.

Are you ready to give yourself the gift of time through mobility practices? How do you work to stand up for your fellow humans in the fitness space? Share your thoughts about Rich’s perspective with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Why mobility is an important piece to getting active again that a lot of people skip over (6:16)
  • Tips for tackling mobility as part of your overall training program (21:35)
  • The role of social justice when it comes to the experience of being in the fitness industry (31:07)
  • How walking away from certification bodies can be liberating, challenging, and transformative (38:43)
  • The importance of mental health and representation when coaching a whole person (44:32)

Quotes

“When we look at training mobility, and why it's important, it's more along the lines of preparing your body for the things that you want to do.” (10:02)

“You can spend the time now, or you can give up the time later. There are only really 2 options. So when we create more room for the things that we love, we are basically creating more time.” (22:31)

“Peripherally, all of the wealth that came as a peripheral means of those bodies, the bodies of my ancestors who survived this ordeal, to make me possible, that is carried inside of me.” (33:07)

“The onus is not on us to find out when these things happen, the onus is on the organization to say ‘this is what we want, this is what we would like, can we find the people who are doing good work within our organization who have paid us money and maintained our certification, can we find those people?’.” (41:34)

“These conversations need to be had throughout all of these organizations and need to be commonplace. Because we need to know how to best serve the people we are working with, the people in front of us.” (48:01)

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LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked

LTYB 143: Inclusivity & Social Justice In Health & Fitness with Dr. Tee Williams

 

Jun 8, 2021

Have you ever considered that at some point, an obsession with healthy eating can turn unhealthy? Many of us struggle to understand what healthy eating really is and where it crosses the line into an unhealthy preoccupation. This is why I have brought my guest, Mimi Cole, onto the show today. Please be aware there is a trigger warning for weight loss and eating disorders in this episode.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready To Reexamine Your Relationship With Food and Your Body, You Should:

  1. Start viewing food as neutral and not inherently good or bad
  2. Be real about your mindset when it comes to the foods you are eating
  3. Remind yourself what you are working towards and what you are living for
  4. Use mirror work to confront yourself when you feel uncomfortable about your body

What Is Healthy Eating? With Mimi Cole

Mimi is a graduate student currently working on her Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. She is the host of the Lovely Becoming Podcast and specializes in learning about disordered eating and eating disorders. Mimi knows firsthand the issues that those with eating disorders face, which is why she is passionate about breaking down stereotypes, meeting others with compassion, and helping people break out of the labels that surround these topics.

There Are No ‘Bad or Good’ Foods

Clean eating culture is intertwined with many nuanced topics such as fatphobia, orthorexia, and weight-centric care. The clean eating industry wants you to label your food choices as ‘bad or good’, which inherently misses what the fluidity of humanity really is. 

By unlearning what diet culture has taught us, we can start to get curious about the dichotomy of the rules of food and begin to view food as neutral. When we understand that food does have to fit into the binary of ‘good and bad’, ‘healthy and unhealthy’, or ‘clean and guilty’, you can give yourself permission to follow your humanity.

Using Your Values as an Anchor

Society tells us that certain eating disorders are only applicable to certain body types. In reality, it is about the mindset of a person, not the size of their body, that determines their relationship with food. We need to do a better job of breaking these labels down and expanding these definitions to include every body.

Mimi suggests getting clear on your values to anchor you when you may feel discomfort about your body. Working on your body really means working on your body image, your perspective, and how you feel about your body. By reminding yourself what you are working towards and what you are living for, you can live a life more aligned with your values and stop focusing on all of the restraints that come with food.

Which of Mimi’s truth bombs today shocked you the most? What piece of her advice are you going to put into practice first? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

  • The inspiration that encouraged Mimi to embark on her current career path (9:39)
  • Why the term ‘clean eating’ is problematic and why it is so difficult to confront that uncomfortability (15:22)
  • Advice for those who are ready to break past their diet culture labels but are worried about the repercussions (18:06)
  • Breaking the stereotype around what someone with an eating disorder looks like (23:56)
  • A new perspective on how to get your body ready for summer (31:11)

Quotes

“It doesn't have to be either ‘this or that’, I think there is a lot of nuance to nutrition.” (8:29)

“It's a lot more subtle than we think it is, and I think it's a lot more intertwined with this clean eating culture. And so sometimes that push back where we say ‘I just want to eat healthy’ is really tied to different systems like fat-phobia and weight-centric care, and sometimes it looks like it's a healthy thing, and it sounds like it, but it's not really.” (13:25)

“There are some people that might say, ‘if you are going to be anti-diet, you need to do it all right now’. And I think I take on a slower approach where when we are unlearning it takes time and intentionality, and a lot of compassion for where we are at and meeting people where they are.” (22:20)

“Working on your body for summer means learning how to nourish it, learning how to accept it and collate the distress around it, learning how to put on a swimsuit and work towards your values of enjoying time with friends, enjoying time with loved ones and family members, and being able to move towards your values when you feel uncomfortable in your body.” (31:54)

“Moving towards a value doesn't necessarily mean moving you away from things you don't want to experience. So there is not necessarily less fear, but it means with that fear I can move towards those values.” (35:06)

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LTYB 275: The Anti-Diet Approach to Eating with Evelyn Tribole

Jun 1, 2021

Your morning ritual can set the tone for your entire day. Getting up and immediately getting onto the scale can determine whether you will have a good day or a bad day. If you used to do that, or maybe you still do, I want to share five truths with you about the bathroom scale and why you should consider ditching or reducing that habit.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready To Get Real With Your Scale You Should:

  1. Stop equating weight and health
  2. Focus on healthy for you habits
  3. Create a goal for yourself that has nothing to do with your weight
  4. Track things other than your weight or calorie intake

Weight Does Not Equal Health

If you keep saying, ‘I just wanted to hop on the scale and see’, and there is an underlying sense of dread there, or the number you see is going to have the potential to wreck or elevate your day, wait. 

You don't have to throw your scale out the window today. But, by taking baby steps of cutting back your reliance and focus on the scale, you will realize that the deep sense of self-worth you have always had is not reliant on the number you see on the scale. Having a full, healthy, and happy life is so much more important than the ‘ideal’ number we want to see on the scale, and when you are able to accept that, the whole world opens up.

You Can Only Control Your Habits, Not the Scale

Your health is so much more multifaceted than the number you see on the scale. Your mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health play just as important of a role in your overall health as your physical body does. Even though you may be doing things in a health-promoting way, such as eating more vegetables or getting more fresh air, focusing on the number on the scale changing is not what you should be relying on for ‘results’.

The truth is, we are not in control of the number on the scale. What we are in control of is health-promoting habits that can lead to a healthier life, regardless of what the scale says.

Have you ever considered your relationship with your bathroom scale? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Why your weight does not definitively equal your health (5:24)
  • What to do if you are getting frustrated by the number you see on the scale (10:08)
  • How to untrain your brain from thinking that weight loss is a behavior (15:51)
  • Why the scale is not always a ‘neutral tool’ for everybody (21:47)
  • Three basic things that you can focus on instead of the scale (27:10)

Quotes

“We have been taught that weight causes health, and that is not the case.” (6:51)

“Weight loss is not a behavior. I will say that again, weight loss is not a behavior.” (16:04)

“If you want peace of mind, and you want your brain space back, focus on healthy habits. Focus on healthy-for-you habits. When you stay hyper-focused on weight loss, this is where you miss body signals; this is where you miss other indicators of your health, for example, your mental health. This is where you miss the consistency that is required to perhaps improve your health over a long period of time.” (17:41)

“It might take years of consistent healing and redefining your beliefs, getting to the root of your beliefs, finding other things to focus on. Really just going through the ebbs and the flows and the ups and the downs of your relationship with your body and food and body image, to get to the point where the scale is a ‘neutral tool’.” (23:34)

“It is very uncommon that someone can just snap their fingers and suddenly see the scale as a neutral tool.” (24:50)

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LTYB 314: How To Set Health Goals Beyond the Scale with Steph Dodier

LTYB 324: Is It Wrong To Want To Lose Weight?

May 25, 2021

Ever since a dance studio director told Amanda LaCount that she could not participate due to her body size, she has been on a mission to break the stereotype and promote body positivity and the belief that any body can be a dancer's body. So if you are feeling like you are ready to get back out there and start moving your body but are nervous about what other people might think, this is the episode for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Break The Stereotype You Should:

  1. Start moving your body in a way that feels good to you
  2. Stop listening to the haters and find a way to push through the negative comments
  3. Remember that everyone is focusing on themselves, and you have nothing to be self-conscious about
  4. Work to lift up marginalized voices in the entertainment you consume

Doing What You Love with Amanda LaCount

Rihanna follows her on Instagram; she has danced with Lady Gaga in her Stupid Love music video and danced with Lizzo at Coachella. She has also danced with Meghan Trainor and Katy Perry, was the first plus-sized Disney mermaid, and has partnered with international brands to bring body inclusivity to the forefront. Amanda LaCount is making huge waves in the world of entertainment and is working day by day to #breakthestereotype.

Don't Let The ‘Haters’ Get You Down

Amanda has been dancing since she was 2 years old, but it hasn't come without her fair share of setbacks. ‘Haters’ have often made Amanda feel like she didn't belong in a world where your appearance means way more than it should. But Amanda never let that stop her and has developed her own way to move past the mean comments and embrace what she truly loves to do. 

Amanda believes that your body should not play a role in what job you get or how qualified people assume you are, and she wants to inspire people to do what they love regardless of any stereotypes you may or may not fit into.

#breakthestereotype

The hashtag #breakthestereotype is Amanda’s way to make change actionable. What started as something just for her has turned into a global movement on social media. Amanda wants other people to know that you don't have to be perfect, skinny, or tall to ‘make it’ in your chosen field. All it takes is hard work, dedication, and the right attitude. 

Working to promote inclusivity and body positivity in the dance world and entertainment space, Amanda, and her famous friends, are working to break the stereotype piece by piece.

Are you ready to #breakthestereotype and get out there and start moving your body in a way that is fun and enjoyable for you? Share what you loved most about Amanda’s story with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How to get over the haters and push through negative comments (9:12)
  • Gain a peek inside the dance world and the expectations to conform to a certain body type (13:45)
  • Why the #breakthestereotype hashtag was created (18:10)
  • The importance of representation in the dance world and entertainment industry (23:57)
  • Some of Amanda’s proudest moments and coolest experiences (29:29)
  • Advice for those who want to get started moving their body through dance (33:15)

Quotes

“There is no point in feeling bad for yourself, that's only going to hurt you at the end of the day.” (11:26)

“I just don’t want my body to be part of the discussion, I want my dancing to speak for itself.” (15:19)

“I came up with ‘breaking the stereotype’ because that's what I do, and that's what I am doing still.” (19:44)

“What I want to see is more fat people, or fat films, or fat movies, that are positive and show the beautiful parts of being a plus-size person and show how strong we are and how beautiful we are.” (26:12)

“Stop caring so much about what other people think or have to say. At the end of the day, if it makes you happy, that's all that matters.” (34:12)

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LTYB 311: Reclaiming Your Spark By Honoring Your Swagger with Anniedi Essien

LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day In Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

May 18, 2021

Have you ever considered how much more we as women could get done if we chose to lift each other up instead of getting caught up in comparison traps, jealousy, and the feeling of ‘not enoughness’? It has been famously said that comparison is the thief of joy, but becoming aware of how you compare yourself to yourself and to other women online and in real life can be a hard nut to crack.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Become A Strong Woman Who Lifts Up Other Strong Women, You Should:

  1. Find a coach or a trainer who knows how to support women in all aspects of their lives
  2. Stop focusing on jealousy and comparison by getting curious about your unique values and goals
  3. Notice, name, and normalize your emotions
  4. Take small steps every day to amplify other women's voices and help lift them up

Strong Women Lift Eachother Up with Molly Galbraith

Molly Galbraith has been a coach in the fitness industry for over 17 years. It became clear to her early on how underserved women were in health and fitness, which is why she co-founded Girls Gone Strong almost ten years ago. Her new book, Strong Women Lift Each Other Up, helps women overcome their own personal struggles with comparison, jealousy, body image, and competition to feel strong, confident, and empowered in their body while supporting other women to feel the same.

Getting Out Of The Comparison Trap

Molly believes that when you know better, you do better. This is why she has dedicated herself and her new book to help women improve all areas of their lives. Everything from teaching coaches what they need to know in order to better serve women to helping women get out of the comparison trap by noticing, naming, and normalizing their emotions act as foundational tools necessary to help lift women up in everyday life. By getting radically clear on your values and getting curious about how we can support other women, revolutionary change is possible.

The Ripple Effect

In a world where women's voices are often drowned out, and it's challenging to be heard, amplifying other women's voices can go a long way. The ripple effect that can be created through women empowering women isn't always obvious, but it can play a huge role in bringing the values we want to see into the world. 

You don't need a lot of resources, money, or a big network to lift up other women in your life. All it takes are small, simple steps that can help you feel stronger and help strengthen the women around you. Lifting up all women is a group effort, but the ramifications can change the world as we know it.

Are you ready to get away from your comparison traps and scarcity mindset and embrace the beautiful possibilities that come from being a strong woman who lifts up other strong women? Share one way you are working to actively lift up other women in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

  • What made Molly start GGS and help create a community of strong women (5:54)
  • The reason that Molly’s new book was needed for our current strength landscape (19:40)
  • Tips for getting over your comparison traps and scarcity mindset once and for all (25:07)
    Why identifying your core values and what truly makes you happy can be a gamechanger (30:49)
  • Simple ways that you can lift women up in the world regardless of your time or resources (34:05)

Quotes

“We believe that when women feel strong, confident and empowered in our lives and bodies, that we can change the world.” (4:30)

“Coaches and trainers, we are on the front lines of such important conversations with our clients. And I truly believe that we have the power to impact women's lives positively more than almost anyone else in their life.” (15:17)

“I envisioned a world that I wanted to see for women and saw that it wasn't our reality. I wanted to see a world where all women and girls get the support and opportunities they need to thrive and succeed. Where women believe that we are enough just as we are and that we are actually happy to see other women succeed because we know there is enough success to go around. And I wanted to see a world where there was an equitable presentation of all women in important places where decisions are made, and that is not our current reality.” (22:00)

“Taking the time to identify my values has just been life-changing. It has allowed me to feel so steadfast in the decisions that I make.” (31:03)

“We have the opportunity to massively lift people up and create huge ripple effects through very small actions, and I want people to know and feel empowered by those possibilities.” (38:42)

Featured on the Show

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Molly Galbraith Website

Girls Gone Strong Website

Strong Women Lift Eachother Up by Molly Galbraith

Follow Molly on Instagram | Facebook 

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 147: The Importance Of Feeling At Home In Your Body with Molly Galbraith

May 11, 2021

Have you found yourself falling into fitness comparisons not only with the people around you or that you know but in comparison with yourself and what you used to be able to do? If you are struggling with this concept or keep challenging the idea of coming back to exercise because you worry you won't be at the place you left off, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Stop Falling Into Fitness Comparisons, You Should:

  1. Let go of your ‘all or nothing’ mentality
  2. Choose movement practices that bring you joy
  3. Work towards developing a set of skills rather than a specific outcome
  4. Redefine your fitness goals and focus on mental and physical flexibility

Letting Go Of Comparison-itis with Craig Zielinski

Craig Zielinski is a USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach, a repeated LTYB guest, and my loving husband. Throughout the course of the pandemic, Craig came face to face with his ‘all or nothing' mentality and found a way to get over his ‘Comparison-itis’. Today he is here to share his story about how to get over your fear of judgment from others or yourself and start enjoying moving your body again.

Get Out Of The ‘All Or Nothing’ Mentality

For many people, their fitness identity in the past was tied to the exercise routines we used to do that are more often than not based on equipment that we simply don't have access to during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Craig originally got caught up in the ‘all or nothing’ funk, he realized that a lot of his reasoning was unreasonable and started to choose exercises that were based more on having a good time and making the best of what we had, rather than training super hard. Instead of engaging in movements that were comparison-based, Craig learned to focus on building his ‘skill tree’.

You Don't Have to Specialize to Succeed

The way that diet and fitness culture convince us that we have to specialize in one certain thing, even if it makes us miserable, is simply not true. When you are able to get back to the basics as Craig did, you can develop multiple skills and focus on the process than the all-illusive outcome.

You never know where any exercise will lead or take you, so the point is to be open to trying new things during this time of uncertainty and continually check on what feels right for you. Looking for fun, developing new skills, and being flexible about what fitness is can help you enjoy different areas of your life and get back into the movement mentality without all that added pressure.

What activity are you excited to get back into the routine of? How are you going to find healthy ways to limit your comparison-itis mentality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How the Covid-19 pandemic affected the way in which Craig trains (5:56)
  • Tips for navigating the ‘all or nothing’ funk by choosing exercises that you feel are fun (12:20)
  • Why you should stick to the basics when it comes to reintroducing yourself to movement practices (30:11)
  • The issue with training for a competition and why Craig chooses to direct his fitness goals elsewhere (33:30)
  • How to redefine your process to get closer to your fitness goals given the current circumstances (35:32)

Quotes

“I, for the longest time, could not get my head around what on Earth to do with myself [with Covid restrictions], so the answer was, in classic ‘all or nothing style’, was to do nothing.” (9:53)

“The problem created by returning to training and doing the same thing and being all dejected about how I have lost strength or capacity is by doing training that is adjacent to the training that I did, and as also something that is fun and I enjoyed while I would do it. And the cool part is that because it is adjacent to the training that I used to do, I have got developed skills so I won't feel like a complete novice and just give up.” (21:25)

“It is really basic, and it is a lot of fun. And it also, when you think about it really, it is more a skill tree.” (30:28)

“We are told that we have to specialize in everything, and we end up plowing the same furrow, and that is just not very interesting. And there is also no point in doing that, it's not very fulfilling, at least for me. Being a specialist in one thing is my worst nightmare, but that was kind of what I did in the gym if you think about it.” (31:52)

“The importance of developing what you can do as a project, is much greater than whatever the conclusion of the project is, right? (36:56)

Featured on the Show

Join the Tune-In Membership Here

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Rogue Fitness Website

Magic Carpet Sled

The EmPack Website

The McGill Big 3 for Core Stability

Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

The 5 Main Movement Patterns of Functional Movement Reel

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 165: How To Adapt Strength Training To Your Menstrual Cycle with Craig Zielinski

LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked

LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

May 4, 2021

Have you been spending a few workouts a week lifting weights and trying to eat healthily but are still not seeing the results you are hoping for? There are three main common reasons that I hear over and over again in the community that is keeping you from seeing the results you want from your strength training efforts. The good news? They are easy to fix once you have empowered yourself with the knowledge and mindset shifts to do so!

Key Takeaways

If You Want To See The Results You Are Looking For From Strength Training You Should:

  1. Stop being afraid of calories, and under fueling yourself, and start giving your body the energy it needs to fuel itself
  2. Manage your stress to recovery ratio to give your body the time it needs to recover
  3. Improve your movement patterns and tissue outside of the gym so that you can avoid chronic injuries inside the gym

Eating Less and Moving More Is Not the Answer

A lot of us have a negative association with the word ‘calories’ because of diet culture. We have been told to put an emphasis on ‘eating less and moving more’, but that is not the magic cure. Your body needs fuel to move, and when you restrict that fuel, it can kill your energy and open you up to chronic energy. 

All three of these topics, under-fueling, not managing your stress to recovery ratio, and not looking for ways to improve your movement patterns and tissue outside of the gym, have a huge impact on the results you see inside of the gym.

Results Need an Active Listener

Listening to your body is all about tuning into the signals that your body is sending you instead of ignoring them. If you are under a lot of stress, are not eating healthy foods or enough foods, or not prioritizing your sleep, it will all show up when you start to lift those weights. 

While every exercise has its own risks, you can see the results you are looking for when it comes to strength training, but only if you are giving your body what it needs to succeed. Listening to your body, fueling it the right way, managing your stress to recovery ratio, and improving your movement patterns are the ways to help you achieve the results you are looking for in a healthy and safe way.

Which one of these common mistakes rang the most true for you? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • The number one most common mistake I see over and over again when strength training (4:52)
  • Why not eating enough creates the perfect storm to decrease your motivation to move (7:55)
  • General ways to improve the way you think about food and get on track to make sure you are not under eating (12:08)
  • How an inadequate amount of recovery time and your overall stress ratio can impact your results (16:12)
  • The role of chronic injury when reducing the results you see from strength training (23:21)

Quotes

“If you are making this mistake, nobody is here to blame you. This isn't something to feel bad about, this isn't something to feel shameful for, it's a piece of information to take and tuck into your back pocket and be more mindful and aware of what you are doing in your daily life.” (4:38)

“There is oftentimes a lot of negative self-talk or feeling like you are broken, or wrong, or bad, for your body physiologically responding in the way that it does. And a lot of that can be staved off by eating enough food and eating more consistently and introducing what I would call more of a relative balance of macronutrients.” (15:45)

“What is to be aware of is, if you are not getting the results from your strength training that you want, is to take a look at how much other, especially higher intensity movements or exercise, relative to all of the other stress that is going on in your life.” (20:05)

“If you are dealing with injuries or you are dealing with the effects of ‘life-ing’ and moving through life with these movement patterns, it is really important that you become aware of that and you work on them, and you start to become more tuned in to the signals your body is sending you.” (31:08)

“If you are a woman who wants to get stronger and is lifting weights, you want your energy to increase, and you want to see performance in the gym, I am going to be here to help you do that.” (33:21)

Featured on the Show

Join the Tune-In Membership Here

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Work With Me

Join my Texting Squad at 619-313-5948

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

Apr 27, 2021

When I look back at all of the work I have done over the years, it all comes back to the lightbulb moment where strength training helped me stop focusing on using exercise solely as a tool to make my body smaller. Strength training was the #1 thing that helped me make a shift in my life to having a better relationship with exercise, and in turn, my body and mind.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Improve Your Relationship With Exercise Through Strength Training, You Should:

  1. Let go of the preconceived notions you have around functional fitness and strength training
  2. Try and focus on the benefits of strength training that have nothing to do with making your body smaller
  3. Stop making your worth conditional and start shifting how you

Finding the Freedom To Have Fun With Exercise

Having a free, fun, and filling relationship with movement can be a life-changing topic for some folks. I am feeling a sense in the community of people ready to get started or get started again on moving their body and improving their relationship with exercise. 

While the way you relate to your body is a constantly evolving notion, strength training can help heal your dysfunctional relationship with exercise and give you the freedom to shift how you relate to exercise and your body. By giving yourself the space to enjoy exercise, you can stop being preoccupied with the notions diet culture has been feeding you and start breaking down the walls around you.

The Many Benefits of Strength Training

Lots of people view those who are interested in strength training or functional fitness as ‘meatheads’ or bodybuilders. This couldn't be further from the truth, as strength training has so many benefits, including improving your bone mineral density and blood glucose control, increasing your energy and metabolism, giving your more balance and stability, and enhancing your mood while decreasing your anxiety. 

In addition to those fact-based benefits, strength training can help you stop viewing your worth as conditional and help you focus on what your body can do rather than how to make it smaller.

Are you ready to have a better relationship with exercise? Have you ever considered or experienced the many benefits of strength training? Share your experience with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Addressing the stereotypes that have come to surround functional fitness (4:36)
  • Why strength training was critical on my journey to improving my relationship with food (9:41)
  • The benefits of strength training and what to do if you feel called to get back to the weights (18:50)
  • How strength training can act as a stepping stone to the way you relate to yourself and your body (22:15)
  • Practical ways to improve your overall health through strength training and implement it into your daily life (26:23)

Quotes

“Functional movement is not just about competing at an elite level. If that’s your jam, that’s cool with me. If it’s not your jam, you might think ‘well functional movement, functional strength training, isn’t for me’. And I am here to tell you that that could be further from the truth.” (6:17)

“For me, exercise for so long was a way to shrink my body, control the size of my body, and try to become smaller. And that was the only thing that I really got out of exercise or the only reason I approached exercise.” (11:35)

“For me, strength training, in general, was the thing, the stepping stone, that allowed me to get on a better path with how I related to exercise, and then by default, my body.” (17:13)

“When I think back to all of the work I have done over the years, it always comes back to that. To that moment or that period of time where I learned to focus for once in my fucking life, on something else other than shrinking my body.” (24:47)

“You don't have to be a bodybuilder, you don't need to be a competitive level lifter to get the benefits of this, and you don't have to squat 400 pounds.” (29:47)

Featured on the Show

Food Freedom Mini-Course

Made Strong Program

The 5 Main Movement Patterns of Functional Movement Reel

Shit That People Say To Women About Strength Training Reel

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 323: Why I’m Not Paleo Anymore

Apr 20, 2021

Society has taught us that emotional eating is bad, and we should punish and restrict ourselves for it. The issue with emotional eating is when we use food as our only tool to cope or celebrate, but it can be part of a normal and healthy way to communicate with our bodies. The truth is, sometimes your body needs to eat emotionally, but it is up to you to distinguish when you are emotionally eating for good and when you are using it as a crutch. Tapping can help you lean into this intuitively so that you can shift your focus away from restriction and towards listening to what your body needs.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Try Tapping To Resolve Your Emotional Eating You Should:

  1. Shift your focus away from emotional eating being ‘bad’ and deconstruct what diet culture has taught you
  2. Become aware of the reason you are emotionally eating and start to trust the signals your body is sending to you
  3. Hold space for your goals, intentions, and what you truly want out of your relationship with food
  4. Practice tapping regularly to clear your anxiety and fear and address your unresolved issues around food

Emotional Eating Isn’t Always Bad

Jason Winters is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Intuitive Eating Coach, and Gold-Standard Emotional Freedom Techniques Coach. After overcoming his own battle with disordered eating, Jason pursued his passion to serve women and men still suffering from the emotional eating cycle. Now, Jason is on a mission to help empower and free you from the chains of emotional eating, diet culture, food obsession, and body hatred so that you can live your best life possible.

How To Get Clear on What You Really Want

The path of intuitive eating has changed many lives, including Jason’s, but that doesn't mean it comes without its fair share of struggles. Society has forced us to lose our ability to trust ourselves and what the right path for us is, which is why it is so important to get clear on what you are doing, what is working for you, and what isn't. 

The first step is identifying what you really want out of your life. By holding space for your goals and intentions and doing it on your own terms, you can address your unresolved issues, learn how to acknowledge the negativity you are feeling, and most importantly, let it go.

The Beautiful Marriage Between Tapping, Emotional Eating, and Intuitive Eating

EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique, is a powerful stress-relieving technique that combines Chinese acupuncture with modern psychology to address the fear of rejecting diet culture and guide you towards a more intuitive relationship with food. 

Emotional eating, intuitive eating, and tapping come together beautifully because they help you break down the fear, stress, and anxiety you may be feeling and clear out your emotions. Tapping can help you process your energy and help you feel lighter and more equipped to handle the anxiety and negativity plaguing you. By learning how to better understand your emotions, you can take back the control that diet culture has stripped you of and start listening to what your body needs.

Have you ever tried tapping? How has it helped you on your intuitive eating or emotional eating journey? Share which of Jason’s nuggets of wisdom touched you the most with us in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Breaking down all of the stigma surrounding emotional eating (5:12)
  • The first thing that you should do when you want to change your relationship with food (13:56)
  • Learn from a brief synopsis of EFT and tapping and why it is used (18:46)
  • Why the marriage of tapping and your intuitive eating journey is so powerful and important (23:44)
  • Engage in the short tapping session along with Jason and Steph (32:36)

Quotes

“To shift that normal behavior around food, and to then demonize it and to shame people for engaging in it, it is a restriction of something that you want and that you need. And then it just turns emotional eating into a theme.” (7:14)

“What do you really want? I think that's the biggest thing is identifying what you want, and getting quiet enough to hear the answer of what you really want. Because intuitive eating, and intuitive exercise, and having an intuitive lifestyle, it is really about you.” (17:42)

“Tapping allows you to come out of control and more into choice. And the way that that happens is when you are tapping on these specific points, you are breaking down the fear.”  (25:18)

“It's not just what we put in our mouth, it is our belief system. We are in choice, our affirmations you chose. So if you use someone else's affirmation, make sure it rings true for you, make sure it is your choice.” (31:40)

“When we are repeating or you are hearing these statements being made, this anxiety, this anxiety, this anxiety, you are addressing your specific anxiety, I am addressing mine, but we are all working together.” (41:52)

Featured on the Show

Food Freedom Mini-Course

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Food Freedom Tapping Worksheet

Jason Winters Website

EFT: Tapping to End Chronic Emotional Eating Facebook Group

Follow Jason on Instagram | Facebook

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 278: Energy Tips For Empaths & Highly Sensitive People

LTYB 284: How Neuroscience Can Help You Listen To Your Body with Alyssa Chang

LTYB 290: Start Living Your Life By Design with Rai Henry

Apr 13, 2021

Listening to your body doesn't happen through a magic pill or a one-size-fits-all answer. It is about leaning into your self-trust and learning to embrace what makes you uniquely you. But how do we actually do that in a practical, hands-on way? The concept of self-trust is an all-encompassing one that considers a lot of different parts about who you are as a person, which is why it is essential to have the proper framework when diving into these topics.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Looking To Build Self-Trust You Should:

  1. Work on building up your consciousness, care, and compassion habits
  2. Acknowledge your privileges and how you can use them to help others in your community
  3. Lean into courage by questioning the things in your life that you may do out of habit

Learn How To Build Self-Trust with Shohreh Davoodi

Shohreh Davoodi is a self-trust coach who created her Three Pillars of Self-Trust Framework to help women overcome fear and self-doubt and become brave by conjuring up the courage inside of them. Her framework combines the three main pillars of self-trust, consciousness practices, care practices, and courage practices so that you can figure out who you are and what you value.

The Three Pillars of Self-Trust

The first step of self-trust is consciousness. This means having the awareness of the things in your life that you want to change, what is working for you in your life and what isn’t, and why. This usually deals with the systems in place in our society that are causing self-doubt, that really has nothing to do with you as an individual. 

Next comes care practices. While we all know the importance of self-care, Shohreh takes it a step further and includes principles such as intuitive eating, intentional movement, sleep, and organization all as ways that you can care for yourself and let your body know that it can trust you to listen and take care of it. 

The final piece of the puzzle is courage. Engaging with issues such as activism, setting boundaries, and having a more value-driven life are all ways that you can reconnect with your head, heart, and body, to do the things that make you feel good.

It Takes a Village That Stands Together To See Real Change

In order to engage more authentically with your own self-trust, you need to dive deep and look some scary stuff in the eye. We cannot self-trust our way into community liberation. It takes better community care and systemic changes so that everybody can have self-trust and a better relationship to food and their bodies. 

There is no one right way to engage with these practices. By being more understanding and compassionate to the people around you, being in a community that lets you know that you are not alone, and dropping into your body in a time-sensitive way that feels good for you are the best ways to take steps to move closer to deeper self-trust.

What is one way that you are going to lean into your courage and let your body know that it can trust you? Share which of Shohreh’s tips you're going to integrate into your routine with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • How the mentality of siloing everything you do is getting in the way of your ability to access body trust (9:12)
  • Explore the three pillars of self-trust and the different parts of who you are that you need to consider (13:43)
  • The role of marginalization and consciousness that play into the wellness space (19:32)
  • Recommendations for advocating for the internal and external need for change on a systemic level (24:42)
  • How to establish trust within your body through introspective awareness (27:55)

Quotes

“My niche is self-trust, but self-trust really encompasses so many different topics and ideas and ways of being in the world. So I can't just talk about self-trust, in talking about self-trust I have to talk about so many other things.” (11:10)

“Each of these pillars are important and can stand on their own, but they are most powerful when they bridge together. And that is the foundation of self-trust for an individual.” (15:01)

“Almost all of us have privileges in some places, even marginalized folks have privileges in some areas. So we can’t look at the marginalization without also looking at the privilege and how we contribute, knowingly or unknowingly, to the advancement of these systems.” (21:03)

“So often when someone is struggling to trust their own body, it is actually because they have gotten messages about bodies like theirs, and what a body like theirs should be or should look like or should feel like.” (32:06)

“For everyone who is interested in building more self-trust, the key to doing that is that you have to get to know you and what you want and what you value.” (35:08)

Featured on the Show

Food Freedom Mini-Course

Strength Workout Mini-Course

Follow Your Arrow Membership Program

Shohreh Davoodi Website

One-On-One Coaching with Shohreh

Conjuring Up Courage Podcast

Follow Shohreh on Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Related Episodes

LTYB 305: Using Body Language To Understand Yourself and Others Better with Tiff Lee

LTYB 262: How To See Value Outside Your Body & Overcome Self-Doubt with Summer Innanen

Apr 6, 2021

Recently I was asked about the place that alcohol has when connecting to your inner intuitive eater. Thinking about alcohol use in the context of connecting to your body and healing your relationship with food is intensely personal, which is why I want to share my perspective with you as someone who has been a non-drinker for 5 years and also as an intuitive eating and nutrition counselor.

If you are struggling with substance abuse or are concerned about your relationship with alcohol, please contact 1-800-662-HELP. This episode contains my personal thoughts about alcohol, but at the end of the day, you have the freedom and autonomy to do whatever feels right for you. If you are struggling with substance abuse, please know there is support out there for you, and change is possible.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Explore Your Relationship With Alcohol and Intuitive Eating You Should:

  1. Stop being afraid that you are going to want to binge drink if you decide to limit your alcohol intake
  2. Notice your personal relationship with drinking and assess how it makes you feel 
  3. Reach out for support and make the decision that feels right to you in your own intuitive eating journey

The Difference Between Food and Alcohol

A common misconception is that food is addictive. In reality, the food ‘addiction’ you may be familiar with is a result of restriction and the binge eating that follows. Alcohol is different from food in this way. Reducing the amount you are drinking will not cause the majority of people to binge drink because alcohol is not required for survival like food is. Often people are reluctant to cut out alcohol because they are worried they will crave it all the time. Binge drinking and binge eating have different mechanisms and experiences, and it is crucial to understand how restriction with food differs from simply choosing not to engage with alcohol.

It’s Your Personal Journey, No One Else’s

A lot of people are concerned about doing intuitive eating ‘right’. Intuitive eating is not a set of yes or no rules, it is a set of personal guidelines, and your relationship with alcohol is included in that. I want you to use intuitive eating principles to ask yourself the tough questions and help you gain clarity on your personal experience with alcohol. Do you have a diet mentality when you are drinking? Are you drinking mindfully? Is alcohol your primary coping strategy? 

By noticing your relationship with alcohol and assessing it, you can understand your own unique relationship to alcohol and if it fits into your intuitive eating journey.

Which of the questions I posed to you today got you thinking? How does your relationship with alcohol fit into your version of intuitive eating? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

  • Exploring my personal relationship with alcohol use and intuitive eating (3:30)
  • How to approach assessing and analyzing your own relationship with drinking (8:16)
  • Understanding the connection between restriction and bingeing when it comes to food and alcohol (10:34)
  • Tips for using the principles of intuitive eating when thinking about alcohol (17:40)
  • Why you should analyze the emotional coping aspect of your relationship with food and alcohol (21:30)

Quotes

“There are a lot of questions that come up for people with regard to understanding how restricting food works or bingeing on food works, and how restricting alcohol and binge drinking works, and the fact that those aren’t necessarily the same thing.” (8:01)

“A lot of people will notice that if they start to cut down on their drinking, or they stop drinking altogether, they often don't notice an increased desire or preoccupation with drinking.” (13:11)

“You may decide that you are making peace with food over here, but when it comes to alcohol, if you realize that you are not enjoying it, that your relationship with it isn’t super great, you would rather just take it out for a while, its okay to remove it from your environment!” (15:42)

“It’s worth considering how these different principles of intuitive eating can apply to your relationship with alcohol and your drinking habits and know that the answers are going to be different for everybody.” (24:03)

“I hope that this show has given you some questions to ask yourself. I can’t promise that it is perfect, I can’t promise that my thoughts here are going to be exactly applicable to you. But I think it is really important to go through the questions that I raised in this show and to think about things on a really personal level for yourself.” (27:40)

Featured on the Show

Food Freedom Mini-Course

Overcome Emotional Eating Workshop

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

 

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LTYB 114: Alcohol + Social Pressure

LTYB 205: The Great Big Sober Secret with Veronica Valli

LTYB 326: Your Body’s Changed During the Pandemic… Now What? With Evelyn Tribole

Mar 30, 2021

Has it been a while since you've worked out, but you have a newly found motivation to get going? Are you diving into a fitness program only to be so sore afterward that it does not feel like it was worth it? Getting back into exercise after the crazy year we had is a great thing, but it needs to be approached in the right way to make sure it is sustainable for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Get Back into Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked, You Should: 

  1. Commit to a daily movement practice rather than a super intense workout that hurts your body for the rest of the week
  2. Modulate both the intensity of your workout and the volume to meet yourself where you are at
  3. Take care of your tissues and allow for proper recovery to avoid getting hurt

Ditch The ‘All or Nothing’ Mentality

When getting back into movement and working out, the first step is to get rid of the ‘all or nothing’ mindset that fitness culture has ingrained in us. Instead of going so hard once a week that you have to ‘toilet trust fall’ for the rest of the week, focusing on a daily movement practice is a much more sustainable and enjoyable way to ease yourself back into exercise.

Your body needs support when getting back into movement, which is why you need to integrate taking care of yourself into your daily routine. If you are ready to get reacquainted with a daily commitment to move your body, however, that looks and feels for you, a sustainable approach is the best way to honor your body's signals.

Start Where You Are Now

We are coming out of a whole year of the world being flipped upside down. The amount of stress you have been under, your daily routine, and your sleep can all affect how ready your body is to get active again. The high-intensity workouts that you may have done in the past might not suit your body's current needs. 

It is essential that you modulate your intensity and volume of workouts and listen to the signals your body is sending you to properly heal your tissues and address the issues you are feeling. By listening to your body and taking the time to properly recover, you can get active again without wrecking yourself so that you can be more consistent, enjoy the benefits of your workout, and have fun while still challenging yourself.

Physical activity can be a fun, challenging, and positive experience if you approach it the right way. By shifting your mindset away from the ‘all or nothing’ mentality, modulating your intensity and volume, and focusing on your tissue recovery through nutrition and awareness, you can harness your good intentions and get active again.

Are you ready to take your motivation to get active again and implement it in a safe, healthy, and fun way? Share what your daily movement commitment is with me in the comments section on the episode page.

 

In This Episode

  • Why you should focus on a daily commitment to move your body rather than ‘going hard’ (7:44)
  • The importance of modulating your intensity and volume when getting back into movement (11:01)
  • How to take care of your tissues and think about your recovery as you start to move more (17:12)
  • What to think about when listening to your bodies signals in order to get more active again (21:58)
  • Resources and recommendations to help you get active again and meet yourself where you are at (23:20)

 

Quotes

“I want you to start thinking about movement being more of a daily commitment instead of a once-a-week smash fest which then you can't move for the next five days and your body is so painfully sore that every step you take feels super painful.” (9:02)

“We have been taught by fitness culture in general that if it is not intensity level 10, that it was no good and we got no benefit from it. Which is absolutely not true.” (12:10)

“You need to think about what is leading up to me getting more active again and are there things I should probably deal with with my body?” (21:08)

“What I am seeing a lot in the community is still an under-eating situation. It's like an under-eating, under-recovery situation, and that is not going to help with your recovery.” (28:29)

“Recovery is a part of the process, and if you are coming out of a period of less activity, it might be something you need to think a little bit more about.” (30:06)

 

Featured on the Show

Food Freedom Mini-Course

Join the CORE 4 Program Waitlist

Doc Jen Fit Website

The Ready State Website

Rom Wod Website

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

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Mar 23, 2021

We are now over one year into the global pandemic. While there is a sense of excitement and hope around seeing friends and loved ones who we have been absent from this past year, there is also a lot of anxiety around seeing people after your body has changed. Today the living legend Evelyn Tribole is here to share some of her best advice on these topics and help you navigate the world and your body in a post-pandemic situation.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Anxious About How Your Body Has Changed Throughout The Pandemic, You Should:

  1. Set boundaries within your bandwidth to focus on things other than bodies with relationships that may have been built on diet culture
  2. Embrace the opportunity to change the narrative and establish new social norms
  3. Normalize that it is okay to not be productive and just to survive

You Are More Than a Body

Nobody in the world has more experience in intuitive eating and the anti-diet space than Evelyn Tribole. Co-creator of the Intuitive Eating Framework, which was introduced into the world 25+ years ago, Evelyn is a wealth of wisdom when it comes to connecting and honoring our bodies.

Surviving Is Something To Be Proud Of

The first thing Evelyn wants you to remember is that regardless of your body changing over the last year, your body also survived a pandemic, which is an amazing accomplishment. As we start to navigate the new social norms, it is an opportunity for us to change the narrative and move past the body objectification that has been a toxic part of our culture.

You are so much more than a body. When it comes time to reconnect with those we have not seen in a while, it is essential to set boundaries within your bandwidth and focus on the connection we have been missing from others, not the judgment of other people’s bodies. By being consistent and reinforcing your boundaries around conversation, you can normalize the accomplishment of simply surviving the global pandemic.

Being Kind To Your Body Going Forward

When was the last time you asked yourself if you have been kind to your body on a biological level? While it is instinctual to use food restriction as a means of control when so much of our world is out of our control, dishonoring your hunger through restriction disrupts your cells on a biological level and ruins their trust in you. Being consistently kind to your body in acts of predictable nourishment can help you cultivate trust between you and your cells. 

Diet culture tells us that we need to outsource our nutrition decisions. Evelyn wants you to challenge yourself instead to tune in to how your body responds, which can be a beautiful adventure. You can stop the legacy of diet culture at your own kitchen table and take back some of the agency and hope we have been missing to bring your family and community into a healthier and more supportive post-pandemic world. 

How do you feel about the potential to see people again and reestablish connections once it is safe to do so? Which of Evelyn’s tips are you going to integrate to ease your anxiety and nourish your body with consistency? Share your thoughts on how your body has changed throughout the pandemic with me in the comments section of the episode page

 

In This Episode

  • Addressing the anxiety of seeing people after your body has changed throughout the pandemic (7:20)
  • How to move out of the backswing of ‘fuck it all eating’ when struggling with control issues (17:29)
  • Why the diet culture industry co-opting the word ‘intuitive eating’ is intensely problematic (24:50)
  • The importance of looking at the legacy of body lineage in your family of origin (30:55)
  • What you can expect to see in Evelyn’s new book and which book you should dive into first (34:41)

 

Quotes

“Looking at yourself and that there might need to be some grieving that needs to take place. For this relationship and how it used to be, grieving for the time spent in pursuit of things that are no longer serving you, that you have found actually hurt and harm you. There might be anger with that, there might be sadness with that. And it is giving yourself the space and time for that.” (14:04)

“Our biology has a mind of its own, and it disrupts trust every time you mess with hunger.” (20:05)

“They can say all these sweet words of compassion and self-love, but at the end of the day, if you are still cutting your calories, your cells at a biological level are going to have a reaction to that.” (27:52)

“Intuitive eating is not pass or fail, it is a journey of learning and discovery.” (38:15)

“You need to go through the wobble to discover the connection with your body. I can guide you to some practices to help you figure it out, but it is going to take you connecting and checking in.” (45:16)

 

Featured on the Show

Enroll in the Free Food Freedom Mini-Course Here

Intuitive Eating for Every Day by Evelyn Tribole

Intuitive Eating 4th Edition by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch, and Tracy Tylka

Join the Intuitive Eating Online Community Here

Follow Evelyn on Instagram

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

 

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LTYB 275: The Anti-Diet Approach To Eating with Evelyn Tribole

Mar 16, 2021

One of the most common questions I receive is how to actually put intuitive eating practice into your real life. We can often get hung up on the rules and restrictions of diet culture that we feel lost without them and unsure of how to move forward on our intuitive eating journey. Today I am here to give you practical advice for implementing intuitive eating into your everyday life.

Key Takeaways

If you are looking to include the practice of intuitive eating into your life you should:

  1. Relearn how to listen to your body and brains signals instead of outsourcing your decisions
  2. Become more mindful about the way you are eating and separate from your food distractions 
  3. Tackle one intuitive eating principle at a time and find a solid support network to help you through them
  4. Plan your meals in a way that serves and excites you and will fit into your regular life with ease

You Were Born an Intuitive Eater

Intuitive eating may sound simple, but it’s not easy. In short, intuitive eating is just eating! You were born an intuitive eater, sensing when you are hungry and what satisfaction feels like. However, the way you have been socialized has shaped how you interact with food, to the point where many of us don’t know how to trust and listen to both our brains and our bodies.

Intuitive eating is about simplifying your eating habits and guidelines so that you can find the overlap between listening to your brain and your body to make intuitive eating decisions.

Practical Advice for Implementing Intuitive Eating in Your Life

Building healthy habits is the key to changing your internal landscape when it comes to food and learning to listen to your body’s signals. You don’t need to be mindful 100% of the time, but even a small amount of awareness can be powerful when embracing intuitive eating. 

Starting from a place of mindfulness, taking it one principle at a time, and planning your meals in a way that fits in with your lifestyle are all great ways to start checking in with yourself and selecting your food choices based on a more internal approach.

Which of my tips have you tried? What have you noticed? Share your thoughts and experiences with me in the comments on the episode page.

 

In This Episode

  • Why you need to unlearn what you have been taught about food and get back to basics (3:48)
  • How I choose to define and explain intuitive eating to others (9:07)
  • Tips for changing the framework in which you interact with food on a daily basis (16:25)
  • How to make intuitive eating more practical for your everyday life (20:55)
  • Cooking advice to help you simplify your eating and make intuitive eating work for your schedule (29:18)

 

Quotes

“We have become so accustomed to interacting with food in that way, that when we present intuitive eating as eating without all of the rules, and restrictions, and regulations, and calculations, and computations, and logging, and everything, it kind of breaks your brain a little bit.” (6:08)

“Here is how I sum up intuitive eating. It is where you use both your brain and your body to decide what to eat.” (10:29)

“In mindful eating, what we are really trying to do is to build awareness of what we are doing, because a lot of our eating is very automatic.” (22:53)

“You are not a short-order cook… and you shouldn’t have to be one in order to make intuitive eating work for you. Remember we are trying to simplify things.” (30:47)

“It is okay to repeat meals, it is okay to use convenience items, it is okay to use dry goods from your pantry, it’s okay to use frozen foods. We have to let go of some of the stigmas around that stuff.” (35:41)

 

Featured on the Show

Join the Tune In Membership Here

Mindful Eating Tool

Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

 

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LTYB 324: Is It Wrong To Want To Lose Weight?

Mar 9, 2021

We have been told for our whole lives that our weight equals health which equals our worth. Have you ever stopped to ponder how this diet culture mentality has been engrained into our relationship with our bodies and our health? Just because diet culture tells us that thinner equals healthier, it does not mean it is the truth.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Start Asking Yourself The Important Questions, You Should:

  1. Acknowledge what your relationship with the scale is like and how it is serving you
  2. Shift your focus away from weight loss and towards the many other benefits of gaining health
  3. Ask yourself what expectation you are comparing yourself too and when it is going to be enough
  4. Focus on how you want to feel and the additions health gains will bring to your life

Fuck the Scale

I used to let the number I saw on the scale completely dictate if I had a bad day or a good day. Like so many women out there, I had a toxic relationship with the scale, and I thought that if I could achieve my ‘goal’, I would be happy. This obsession extended into how I viewed other people, and I was buying into the story that intentional weight loss via restriction was the only path.

Weight loss can be a beneficial byproduct of improving your health, but it is not the only measure that matters. Gaining health is about feeling better in your body at whatever size, instead of the number on the scale.

How To Find Sustainable Health

When people prioritize their health, they often assume that it is the weight loss that makes them feel better. In reality, it is the habits, behaviors, and changes you are making in your life that make you feel better, and weight loss can sometimes be a byproduct of those healthy habits. 

It is not inherently wrong to want to change your body; you have the autonomy to do what feels right for you. But to make health changes work for you, think about how you can stay focused, how you want to feel, your deeper why, and the habits you can commit to consistently. Instead of forcing yourself to stay motivated based on the number on your scale, focus on how you want to feel in your body, and you can gain truly sustainable health.

What did you think when you read the title of today’s podcast? Share your gut reaction with me in the comments on the episode page.

 

In This Episode

  • Why the way our society views body weight leads to us judging other people (8:33)
  • All of the ways that improving your health can make you feel better without weight loss (11:20)
  • How to ask yourself what you are truly seeking and when it is going to be enough (15:45)
  • What to do if you want to make body changes in a way that feels right for you (23:30)
  • Questions to ask yourself to start unraveling the nuances of wanting to lose weight (28:30)

 

Quotes

“When I criticize the diet industry and diet culture, I am not criticizing the individual dieter, the person who goes on the diet. Because they are simply trying to exist in a system that is constantly reinforcing that weight loss is ‘the path’.” (10:41)

“It's not even normal in our world to think about 'well, what else is there besides weight loss?’ because that is the only thing that is ever presented to us from the diet industry.” (15:22)

“There are often times lots of changes that people were making, but they go back to it being the weight loss that helped them feel better. When in fact, a lot of the time it was the behaviors and habits they had changed that were actually making them feel better and improving their quality of life.” (23:01)

“We need to connect to how we want to feel because feelings drive actions.” (25:26)

“We need to consider that when we gain health, weight loss is sometimes, but not always, an outcome. And losing weight doesn't always automatically confer better health.” (35:57)

 

Featured on the Show

Join the Tune In Membership Here

1-1 Intuitive Eating Coaching

Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here!

Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

 

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LTYB 304: What is Gentle Nutrition? (Intuitive Eating Principle 10)

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