Let’s Talk About Perimenopause

I've been openly talking about peri menopause with my clients and on my socials, not only because I am taking my second Menopause Health and Fitness Specialist Course, but because this is my life now- my niche and because I am 46 and entering mid life.

Perimenopause is the period leading up to menopause. Menopause is reached when you haven’t had a period for 12 months. So when people say ‘I’m going through menopause’ what they really mean is ‘I’m going through this cluster-fuck called peri-menopause, which will hopefully lead to actual menopause, swiftly.’ 

When I tell people that I am in mid-life they exclaim ‘but, you’re too young for that!’, which isn’t true.
At 46, I am well within the age category to be in this stage of life.

Peri-menopause starts as early as our late 30’s and the average age in the US and Canada to reach actual menopause is 51. I have a friend and colleague who at 36 is in early menopause.

For many of my ladies, one of the most dramatic symptoms they have reported this far are erratic AF periods

One client reported a cycle that was 13 days long. Good times!

Other symptoms are heavier than usual periods, for me my cycle is shorter- 21-28 days vs 28 days last year. Nothing crazy, but just something to pay attention to.

Feeling hotter than normal???
Look, you ladies are always ‘hawt’ AF, but I mean, you feel like you’re running hot. You will experience this randomly in Peri. 

Night sweats where you want to keep the windows open, then you’re fucking freezing. Repeat until it’s time to get up d your PJ’s are actually damp with sweat.

Once women hit the menopausal transition, sleep really takes a dive. As your hormones decline, sleep is disrupted-including trouble falling asleep and frequent awakening.

Different body fat distribution. Many will complain their waist is thicker than it was 5 years ago. 

Other people report wild mood swings, appetite changes, depression, anxiety and the list goes on and on. But that doesn't mean we can't change your body comp again in midlife. 
 

I can't stop ageing but I can slow the effect of ageing down by optimizing my sleep, managing my stress and nourishing my body.

I can fuel myself with the appropriate amount of calories that satisfy my body and soul.

I can focus on building and preserving as much lean muscle mass as possible.

I can move more to offset all the sitting on my ass I do each day.

It's all a work in progress!

And this is the message that needs to be shared with all of my clients.

Instead of mindlessly blaming hormones, let's focus on the things that can be controlled, improved, worked on.

Instead of you feeling like you are a slave to the internal workings of your body, I want to help you be proactive and empowered with evidence based knowledge. ** this is why I took this course.

Instead of a woman expecting to maintain or chase down the same body shape and body fat percentage of her 20yr old self, lI want to help her be compassionate towards her midlife body.

I know it can be difficult to get these messages across; some clients aren't ready for it, nor are they wanting to accept responsibility.

But they need to know the truth of it.

And it's my job to lead them there.

I take responsibility for managing this situation in mid life with the appropriate lifestyle choices to create the best hormonal environment possible.

If you are struggling, you don't have to do it alone. I can help.

Your Coach,

Deanna 

Today’s gonna be a good day because my dress is very twirly AND has pockets. :)

A Different Result Starts With a Different Choice

Wanna know how I do it all?

I don’t.

I outsource.

I have, like most, a never ending "to-do" list, but fly by the seat of my pants almost always. Blinders on, and I am only ever focused on “What’s next?” The ONE thing in front of me and nothing but. I want every client in front of me to have my full attention as they should. ( be where your feet are)

I also don’t spend hours at the gym or cooking in the kitchen. Because, priorities.

That doesn’t make me lazy, nor does it mean I don’t care about moving my body in ways that feel good and make me feel strong; and also fueling my body with foods I love eating and that support my goals. ( including wine and dark chocolate)

I would actually say in fact, my health is my No. 1 priority because feeling well physically translates to other areas of our life, like our careers and our relationships.

It means that I am all for working smarter and not HARDER ( no matter what my last name is! lol)

I set my NON-NEGOTIABLES -anchor actions and no matter what, if I hit those then I feel relaxed about a few extra bites of this or a sip of that.

I automate. Yes, I know, I am single and childless but through trial and error I have identified shortcuts that make my life easier AND achieve the SAME desired outcome with less effort (i.e. time + energy). In doing so, my energy and focus will be freed up for other, more important things.

- hired a housekeeper once a month for a deep clean

- have outsourced cooking ( meal prep company and my client Mike!)

- have someone else write my own training programs so I can just go into the gym and execute

- have someone blow out my hair once a week so I can just toss it up and go.

I have let go of trying to control everything, and boy has that allowed me so much ease.

If I can do it, you can too.

“It’s never too late to start over. If you weren’t happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don’t stay stuck. Do better.”

A different result starts with a different choice.

Stay open, don’t be afraid to ask for help and realize that no matter how independent you are .... you were not meant to do this life alone. Building a brand, a business or a body requires you to stand the the shoulders of giants.

Feeling stuck with where you’re at, but also overwhelmed with where to start in terms of getting unstuck? Nutrition, workouts, mindset... I got you.

Coach D. x

Are You Leaving Gains Behind? 🫤

Question: How do I make sure my training is returning the most lean muscle and performance gains possible?

This is where progressive overload comes into play!

So, what is it and how do we do it?

Progressive Overload is the use of progressive increases in work (week to week, or month to month in the advanced) to force your body to adapt and overcome new stressors. Your body is a master of adaptation. Over time, your body adjusts to the stresses of your exercise regimen. By presenting the right types of new stressors, your body responds by becoming stronger and building lean muscle.
 
There are a few strategies we can use to increase work:

1. Increase load: add weight or resistance (my preferred method in most cases)

2. Increase intensity: lift more explosively, move faster/quicker, decrease time to completion

3. Increase volume: add reps, sets, an additional exercise, increase distance or time worked

4. Increase density: more work in the same time

5. Increase frequency: either daily or weekly

Very simply put, it's challenging your body more, over time.

This is why changing the exercises in a program too often is suboptimal and may yield LESS physique and strength gains.  

The longer you stick to a program, the easier it is to make gains…assuming you are using progressive overload in some fashion.  This is also why it is critical to keep a log of your workouts.

To prevent stalls, you will see if you are my client we focus on increasing load (weight moved) within prescribed rep/set ranges whenever possible, while working 1-2 reps away from failure. Essentially, we continually lift more weight week-to-week as we are able, within the rep ranges and intensity prescribed.

In other programs you may see weekly increases in volume, but this comes with downsides. This may ultimately lead to burn-out and is more appropriate in overreaching phases rather than as the meat and potatoes of your work.  Maximum volume does not necessarily mean optimal for progress.

When increasing load is not an option, like many of my clients who train at home with limited weights, I feel that switching over to volume progression is certainly a solid idea (or when increasing training volume for newbie lifters). The current state of hypertrophy research states: "load progression should occur to maintain a specific loading zone. This ensures the stimulus 'keeps pace' with adaptations".

Since it's the best way to progress, that's what we use!

I'll give you an example from one of my client’s training logs:  she’s been doing box squats in her current training cycle. When she started, she was doing 5x5 and her top set was at about 115lbs.

She went from this:
65x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x5, 115x5
To this (over time, not a single week):
75x5, 95 x5, 115x5, 125x5, 135x5

Note that not every set needs to be heavier than the previous set.  If you are continually shooting for a certain intensity (such as the 1RIR I discussed earlier), you may find you fatigue towards the later sets.

This is perfectly fine.  If you have to drop weight in a subsequent set to maintain the proper intensity, there is no issue there. That’s normal.  Even if you simply increased weight in your second set compared to the week before, well you lifted more weight this week overall than last week.

Heavier weight in just one set still means Progressive Overload.

One other thing to understand is that the more experienced you are with lifting, the less often you will be able to add weight (also the later exercises in a training day progress more slowly than earlier).  In the beginning, you may be able to lift heavier weights every single week.  When you become more advanced, changes in weight you lift will be seen over multiple month scales, rather than extremely often.  This is also normal, and expected.

Final verdict?  Keep a training journal that tracks the weight you use on every set of every lift you do.  Continually try to increase the load lifted each week, understanding that you should be working within roughly 1-3 reps away from failure.

Learn to progress in this manner, and you will continue to see some supercharged gains! 

Consistency is the secret sauce. 

Need a program and a coach to help you show up?

If you haven't already joined my online program and you want to, message me back and I will get you signed up - you can hop into October’s block and sail into November with us.

I give you everything you need to maximize your results while being efficient with your time and equipment:

* Be as efficient as possible with your workouts


* Train at home or at the gym


* Have all the reps, sets, rest etc. taken care of


* Have access to exercise videos
* Have your form critiqued by me personally


* I tweak things just enough so you don’t get bored

My job is to help you be more efficient in the gym and get better results in less time while understanding this whole “fitness” thing a lot better.
 
I believe in you, do you? 

Coach D.

Sources: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, CSCS, CSPS, CPT, FNSCA

Banana Bread for Breakfast? YES PLEASE!

Hi Deanna

This was my breakfast this morning.  

Well, plus a couple of cups of coffee and a protein shake, as per usual! ** protein is a must for me at every meal and coffee is unicorn magic! 

1 slice of Banana Bread topped with peanut butter from the Good Earth Coffeehouse in my building. 

And it was GOOD.  I ate most of it - just enough to satisfy me. It reminds me of Mom's baking. So yummy.

Shortly after, I thought, “I need to go work out today!”  But it wasn’t because I felt guilty, or felt the need to ‘burn off the calories,’ I just felt the urge to move, to exert myself, and to get that awesome feeling that follows a solid session with the iron.

Because, let’s be honest, I’m NOT jumping on a treadmill today—I’m hitting the weights, because that’s my happy place.

I'm sharing this with you for a few reasons.  

First, I'm not a perfect eater, and I don't ever want to portray myself as someone who always 'eats clean' and never indulges.  That would be both a blatant lie and incredibly unhelpful to my clients --you all don't need more of the same, unattainable, unsustainable garbage thrown at you.  
 

I'm practical and honest, and someone who is ALWAYS  searching for ways to make a healthiER, livable diet and lifestyle accessible to all those around me (well, at least those who are interested in making those changes, too).
 

Second, I don't exercise to earn or burn off my food.  I exercise to relieve stress and anxiety, to be strong, to build and maintain muscle, and because it just feels right for me.  
 

Strength training, sprinting and leisure walking all contribute to my quality of life.  Being physically active makes me feel more alive, more vital, and just generally calmer and happier--and it's those outcomes, more than any of the aesthetic outcomes, that matter most to me.  
 

It's also THOSE outcomes that I have the deepest, strongest desire for others to experience in their own lives as well, because I know that feeling better about one's body and in one's body make the biggest difference in a person's quality of life.  
 

Being physically strong and active can make the BIGGEST difference in a person's life--both in the short- and long-run.  It boosts our happy, feel-good hormones, helps our brains continue to grow and function optimally (seriously, go work out before a test or any harder mental task, and you'll feel the difference), helps us stand taller and feel stronger, and ultimately adds to our independence as we age.  
 

Truly, being able to get up from the floor without assistance, tie our own shoes, and get up off the toilet without needing help--all really BIG things, when you think about them.  
 

And those 'far-off' things aren't always super motivating in the short-term sense, but they're still important things to tuck into the back of your brain for those days when you wonder, 'why does it matter if I do those squats??'

I'll hop off my soapbox now ;)

Long story short, I'm heading to the apartment gym as soon as I hit 'send' here because I know lifting weights will feel good, will help me manage the stress and restlessness I feel creeping in today, and will add to my long-term strength development.  Every little bit counts!

The takeaways I hope I'm giving you are:

1.  Enjoy your treats without guilt.  

One way to do this is to eat only the things you REALLY enjoy, and to have just enough to satisfy your tastebuds, not binge on them.  It's the 'minimum effective dose' practice I've been using successfully for several years now that helps me enjoy treats without overdoing it OR feeling deprived. #moderation365 anyone? ;)

2.  Avoid equating exercise with 'earning or burning' off food. I wrote more about that here:

It's a sure-fire way to create a negative association with exercise and to miss out on all the OTHER huge benefits of being active and exercising.

3.  Get in those movement sessions that make YOU feel good.

I hit the IRON because that's my happy place.  Equally good are doing yoga, going for a walk, going to a spin or aerobics class, and a host of other activities that you might enjoy.  Especially during the long, cold winter months, it's important to get moving doing things that you enjoy and that make YOU feel really good.

I am so excited to be here in this space helping burned out dieters and over exercisers find peace with food and movement.

Let me know if this was helpful.

Deanna- banana-"bread"...

 x

10 Years Later....

A different kind of before and after!

Sans tan, almost the same physique/weight in each photo. BUT, completely different LIFESTYLE!

10 years ago I was harming myself with extreme exercise and restricted diet protocols. I would train 7 days a week for up to 3 hours living on 1100 calories. ( well I would hardly call it living)

I would body check 1000x a day and my anxiety, sleep and stress was at an all time high.

How did I stop the extreme body obsession?

I got help. {full stop}

You can’t fix what you don’t understand.

Where your mind goes, your body and your behavior will follow.

I quit beating myself up over eating “forbidden” foods - in fact, I removed the good vs. bad food dichotomy from my mind.

Every time I workout now it's because I want to and I'm excited about it. It's the exact opposite of the hardcore gym schedule or training programs I used to keep. I would miss someone's funeral if it was going to interfere with my workout. I would drive through blizzards to get to the gym. I'm so not that person anymore.

It occurred to me that this FREEDOM is only what happens when you uncouple food from exercise. Part of the reason I was so hellbent on sticking to my workouts is that I felt like I was earning my food.

There was never enough food. No way I wanted to eat less, therefore I couldn't workout less, or so went my screwy logic.

Food doesn't even enter into it now. When I take a few days off training, I eat the same way I always eat - what I want, when I'm hungry. I always feel my best when I lean into balanced good nutrition, but that still includes wine and dark chocolate and Wednesday night I enjoyed some chicken fingers at a pub with a friend.

There is no, "Oh, you didn't workout today. No chocolate for you.” Diet culture does that to us, fitness magazines, social media, all the little charts showing how long you have to run on a treadmill to burn off a cookie.

The whole notion is ridiculous. Your body is so much smarter than that. My body is in maintenance and this is where I am able to live my best life.

Today here are the things that I keep in mind:

I hardly think about food anymore, my social life is thriving, I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I rock 70lb dumbbell rows like nobody’s business, I can do 10 unassisted pullups, and I have a really strong core.

I leisure walk daily, sleep my ass off and eat #Moderation365.

My quality of life is great, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.

I’m very grateful today for simply existing— to be able to be silly, laugh, and make connections with so many beautiful souls on this planet.

At the moment, I have and STILL work with women who lose and gain 15, 20, 40 pounds in a year depending on if they are restricting or rebounding.

This is why #moderation365 is the only nutrition philosophy I fully support and endorse. I want to encourage all of my clients to eat to satisfaction at every, every damn day and watch how their appetite calms and feels reasonable since we are not overdoing exercise or restricting our food.

If you resonate with my story- and you ready to get your life back, LMK

Virtual Coaching Is Here To Stay!

If you’ve never worked with a virtual fitness trainer before, you may have questions. You may want to know: do I have enough equipment? is coaching over Zoom effective? Will I feel motivated training at home?⁠
⁠
Because many of my clients are beginners or are re-starting a structured exercise program after taking a hiatus, they usually have enough equipment. If anything, we use props (everyday items found in most homes) as we ease our way into bodyweight exercises and then add external resistance only when/if desired.⁠
⁠
I train 50% of my clients exclusively virtually so I am constantly learning how to effectively and efficiently coach my clients with hands-off cues. While I always demonstrate how to perform an exercise, I must also be clear and creative with my verbal cues and the use of props to help guide my clients to make their own adjustments. This allows them to be in control of their movement and express where they need more (or less) coaching from me so that they can learn what works for them and truly own the exercise.⁠
⁠
Regardless of *where* we train, we must first get very clear on *why* we train. Ask yourself what it is that you truly want to feel/perform/accomplish with exercise. Your fitness program is meant to serve you and your goals, not the other way around.⁠ If you want to work with me 1-1 virtually, you can apply here and I will contact you right away to book a 15 min free consult!

Your coach,

Deanna

4 tips to quit overeating on the weekend

"Deanna I want to stop dieting and start eating moderately, but every weekend when I go out to restaurants I can’t stop myself from eating until I am stuffed. I feel sick to my stomach too. I also can't say no to desserts at parties either! HELP! How do I stop? "

- DM from a woman called Naomi.

We all can relate to Naomi. If any of you have been on a diet, you usually are counting down the days until you can let loose around food again. Here are some tips to stop the restrict- binge cycle.

Tip # 1 - Don’t diet.

You need to stop following rules and start creating frameworks around how you eat.

The old rules of dieting keep us stuck. On or off the "diet" wagon. Cutting sugar, alcohol, and carbs leads to a deprivation mindset.

Dieting during the week sets you up for bingeing on weekends. It increases the intensity with food by putting you into a scarcity mindset.

Refrain from setting foods as off limits, from labeling any foods as good or bad.

Commit to focusing on eating foods that make you feel good physically (no being stuffed, bloated, overfed) and emotionally (no guilt, regret).

Prioritize nutrition but always be in a state of permission with food, especially the foods you enjoy

Tip # 2 - Feed yourself!

When dieters/former dieters know there will be extra food around, they tend to think in terms of math and calories - skipping meals, eating less, “saving room”.

The best thing you can do to ward off cravings and overeating is to feed yourself nutritious food at regular intervals.

Being near extra sweets while you’re hungry will of course lead you to eating with abandon. If you are making sure to eat enough during breakfast, lunch and dinner, this will help you stay mindful with your hunger cues. There is a difference between fighting hunger and feeling hunger. . I like to try and eat protein and veggies at each meal, and then stay mindful around any "trigger" food.

Tip # 3 - Permission

Allow yourself to have what you want with full permission. If you can’t stop eating it, it’s time to question what’s actually going on - are there emotions to deal with? Are you eating enough? Do you know you can have more tomorrow, and the next day, without guilt? No need to eat it all right now, as cookies, chips and chocolate are available all year round. Most of us only register 2 levels of hunger: starving or stuffed. Mindfulness cuts to the middle of that spectrum and helps you tune into the nuances in how your body’s feeling and what it wants. I have a Instagram post that digs into the difference between hunger and cravings: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIv0C9EA8D8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Tip # 4 - Healthy Boundaries

Ask yourself, if this weren’t here, would I feel like I was missing out or restricted without it? In the Moderation365 curriculum we call this situational eating.

Even in a state of permission, it’s ok to have boundaries. If you don’t feel restricted and like you’re missing out, it’s ok to throw the cookies and squares away or give them away. It’s ok to put the Christmas baking in containers and freeze them where they are not in sight for you to grab every time you walk by the kitchen.

Let me know if you need to reach out for more information on how to eat #Moderation365. I am here to help.

Coach Deanna

When Weight Gain Is Necessary To Restore Health

Gaining weight is difficult emotionally and physically, but sometimes it’s necessary for us to bring back our health.

I used to compete in a sport which only scored you on how you looked. So, learning to detach my sense of self-worth from my body and re-attach it to who I am as a person was an extremely hard process. I had to remind myself that even if I started to look different, it doesn’t mean I looked worse I had body dysmorphia.

This is really hard for most people to believe while it’s happening, because it usually doesn’t become apparent until far later on. For me, I had to constantly remind myself that I couldn’t trust my perception of myself in the mirror. It took years for me to look back and realize that at times when I felt “chubby,” I was still very lean. I can see that now, but at the time I had a totally different perspective.

To fully heal I had to do the following:

1. STOP WEIGHING MYSELF.

The number on it means nothing. A scale can’t tell you how you feel or when you’ve reached true health. Scales are all different, and most of them are inaccurate anyways. Don’t let a piece of metal define your self-worth. Scales really do nothing but increase anxiety and cortisol levels.

2. Throw /give away clothes that no longer fit me.

Trying to squeeze into clothes that aren’t your size is uncomfortable and looks much worse than wearing clothes that fit you. Wearing clothes that are too tight and uncomfortable just make you constantly aware of your body throughout the day. There is nothing wrong with wearing a bigger size than you used to. If anything, it’s a good sign that you’re making progress. Guess what? No one else knows or cares about the number on the tag. What they might notice, though, is if you’re acting self-conscious and uncomfortable in whatever you’re wearing.

3. Stop measuring and counting.

All numbers – just stop. No calories, macros, ounces, sizes, pounds, etc. Numbers should not control you. #moderation365 allowed me to relearn hunger and fullness cues, and I will never go back.

4. Stop looking in the mirror so often.

I realized that I used to look in the mirror a lot. Every time I passed a mirror, I analyzed myself. I body checked constantly.

This is a very important habit to break.

5. Stop looking at old photos of myself at my leanest.

It’s easy to look at old pictures and romanticize the past. Guess what, though? We can’t move backward, and you probably weren’t as happy in that photo as you’re imagining you were. Doing whatever you were doing then is what got you to the place you’re in now.

6. Stop looking at so many photos of other people! This means spending less time on social media and unfollowing people who post a lot of photos of themselves and trigger you to compare yourself to them.

Photos are highlight reels, taken when people look and feel their best. It is ridiculous to compare yourself to another person’s body, because no matter what, it is physically impossible for you to look exactly like that person.

7. I focused on loving how I wanted to FEEL!

Think about how lucky you are that your “prescription” for health is to CHILL OUT. Eat more food. Relax. Lay off the workouts. Walk more. There are a lot of people out there who are told they have to RESTRICT more to get healthier, but my path to health was the OPPOSITE!

You have permission to free yourself – don’t fight that! Embrace it! Eat the food! Ditch the workouts you dread! Relax!

I am happy to have added 15lb to my body frame in exchange for NEVER having to go back to the food obsession I used to have in addition to the extreme anxiety around gaining weight. Healthy mind AND body > weighing 15lb less.

I hope this was helpful to even one person out there.

If you need help to quit dieting, I am here to support you.

The #Moderation365 Method

You KNOW you need to do something different. You're finding yourself being ‘good’ all day or all week only to give in at night or on the weekend?

You're spending hours and hours in the gym and you feel like you're doing everything right, but still aren’t seeing the progress you want to find a way to achieve a healthy body composition without the obsession...

You have (now or in the past) turned to templated diet programs, fads, MLMs, meal plans, macro calculators, food trackers, etc to try to figure out how much and what to eat...

You're tired of diet plans that feel restrictive, complicated, and/or unsustainable...You're frustrated with all the conflicting and/or wrong information out there in “internetland”...

You're dealing with other issues like menstrual cycle irregularities, frequent injuries, plateau with strength gains, poor sleep, low energy, poor focus, loss of sex drive, or obsessing about your next meal...That voice in your head is saying “there has to be a better way…”

Maybe you feel like just giving up, because this whole nutrition thing is too damn complicated and overwhelming! But you know you can't keep spinning your wheels, and I don’t blame you! Not seeing results sucks. And seeing other women having success and looking so good can be frustrating, especially when you’re working your ass off!

We can’t rely on sheer willpower and a life of white knuckling every nutrition decision. Because at some point it won’t be enough.

What if I told you there was a way to honour your cravings, enjoy your meals and feel totally at ease and in control of any food situation?

#Moderation365 is the way. And I can show you how.

The #Moderation365 Method (@moderation365) • Instagram photos and videos

The Moderation365 method philosophy is intended to put an end to food obsession and the roller coaster of dieting. My fitness & nutrition philosophy has always been nothing extreme and “everything in moderation”.

There is so much to experience & enjoy in life, that we do not want to spend HOURS training in the gym or miss out on the wine and chocolate. I decided to take the Moderation365 course because it fits with my philosophy. There is NO elimination of food groups, or foods. It is all about learning how to listen to your body, enjoying moderate amounts of food & discovering what feeling satisfied is. Sometimes, easier said than done, I know. This is a process and if you trust in the process the results will be sustainable for life. This is what you can expect from Moderation365.

Upon enrollment, you'll complete a quickie assessment and within a couple days, I will be reaching out to welcome you and get you connected to begin the coaching process.

Communication will be via WhatsApp and email.

Your coaching will include:

6 weeks of weekly 1:1 phone calls with me, scheduled for a time that is convenient for you, to work through the week's lesson and help you troubleshoot on the fly what's working for you

Ongoing communication with me between calls to make sure things are going well, and if they aren't, not to be hard on you (lol) but instead to troubleshoot something that will work better. <--THIS is why I'm a huge fan of 1:1 coaching because honestly, if something isn't working, we change it in real time!

Access to the #Moderation365 coaching materials, which include an initial assessment, worksheets to complete, trackers and templates for implementing the exercises and practices I am going to teach you -- each week, I will be introducing a new nutrition concept and helping lower the barrier of entry for you so that you can actually do it.

Regular check-ins on how you're doing with the new behaviors and troubleshooting if needed. This program is the OPPOSITE of a rigid meal plan or strict food lists. I will be providing ideas, inspiration and most importantly, the tactical tools to make sure you can actually do this, and are successful.

I am not only certified in the #Moderation365 nutrition methodology, but know from experience I am a action oriented coach, which as you know is a specific skill set on it's own.

Being that I have gone through this whole process I hold empathy, understanding, validate your feelings, will motivate and most importantly, I have undergone my own nutrition transformation so I promise you, I know how you feel.

We will work together to tease out your specific nutrition formula, what will work for you long-term and based on your goal: fat loss, muscle gain, moderation and mindfulness, balance and more.

Let's do this!

Copyright The #Moderation365 Method

Do you need to workout SMARTER not HARDER?

You may think with the last name {Harder}- I would be the first one to preach “GO HARD OR GO HOME”
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Although, yes, I do pride myself on being a hard worker, and “easy is earned “, there are times when working harder is actually what was keeping me stuck.
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It’s true that most women have multiple competing priorities including: managing a home, work life, raising children, social media, confusion around female training (lack of or TOO MUCH education/misinformation, physical barriers (eg Pre-Post Natal, peri menopause /menopause), time constraints, unrealistic expectations and don’t forget training myths like “weightlifting makes you look like a man etc)...
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Now enter that "not good enough” self talk when we are also being told we just need to “work harder” if we aren’t getting the results we are chase.
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Not losing fat? Work harder.
Not getting stronger? Work harder.
Not gaining muscle? Work harder.
Not sweating? Work harder.
Not sore? Work harder.
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We KNOW how to work hard. It’s all we have ever been taught to do.

Work hard.
Be strong.
Hold it down.
Stay resilient.
Be grateful.
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The problem with this, is that when we add hard intense training into an already stressful lifestyle (poor sleep, poor nutrition mental health issues), often we see problems escalate.
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When it comes to getting results with our training goals, we DON’T need to work harder- we need to work SMARTER and start to work WITH our bodies, rather than against them.
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We need to look at the entire lifestyle. We need to address stress management, thoughts/beliefs around training and nutrition, environment (support systems/stressors), sleep routines, hormones, nutritional foundations, daily movement and THEN training (stop asking about things like supplements, fasted cardio, meal timing etc. these things are a huge waste of your time and energy if you haven’t mastered the basics first).
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Often this comes down to us taking RADICAL Responsibility for our health.
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Making sure you manage your stress levels by prioritizing sleep, nutrition, setting boundaries etc.
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Checking the above list off BEFORE you even start to add more workouts.