Abby

Oh, the things I wish someone would have told me when I started on this crazy journey. People ask me regularly how long I have been “dieting” and working out and taking supplements and everything else in between. I am pretty open about everything ranging from things I found that made me fail and things that have allowed me to find some success. I hope some of my experiences can help you out.

First lesson and the hardest to swallow… It takes longer then you think. Whatever your “it” is, it’s going to take longer. It’s going to be a hard-fought battle that will consume you, but it’s going to take longer then you thought.

Perfect does not exist. This one is more so on the nutrition side, not fitness. I hear you loud and clear when you want to go SO STRICT until you reach your goal, and you start out that way and then all the sudden something you’ve cut out hits those lips because you must have tripped and fallen into a tub of ice cream and NOW you’ve fallen off the bus and are left in the dust because you tried to be to HARDCORE. Chill out. Budget in some treats, know there is a time and place for treats and sweets but don’t set your self up for failure by trying to be perfect, just be consistent.

The other variables, like hormone profile, water, stress, and sleep have a greater impact on your success then your food and exercise. If your hormones are wild, and your not drinking enough water and your stress if High with no sleep, your body is in full on survival mode, there ain’t no way your body is giving up that extra fat, it needs it for protection.

Pictures are the BEST form of progress no matter how embarrassed you are taking them and sharing them. The scale doesn’t always move.

Health is far more important then abs. Health can mean many different things to everyone. For some that’s a weekly date night, higher body fat and increased strength, improved sleep, less pain medication, off diabetic meds, off antidepressants, the list goes on! Abs do NOT equal happiness.

Every diet will work if you follow it but how long can you follow it. You want to do keto and that’s fine but do you never want to eat carbs again? Do you think that’s really the problem? Colored containers, fancy shakes, pills, whatever steals your cash, you bet they all will work but for how long? I stand strongly by this because I have tried them, they are garbage. Keto has a time and place, but not like the market is showcasing.

Variety in your diet is important. Eating the same things over and over will lead to the same results as being super strict. You’ll get bored and when you do deviate from the plan it’s going to get ugly.

Be loud and be proud, but don’t be annoying. Just because something works for you and you have had great results does not make you the next expert. I do think its great to share and support one another but like mentioned above there are FAR more factors determining your success then what you eat when you eat and how you eat, so don’t be discouraged if the meal plan your friend gives you doesn’t work for you, it wasn’t meant for you.

It’s not easy, it can make you feel like a crazy person, but the more consistent you become the better it gets and you’ll make it to your goal.

Its probably taken you months, maybe even years before you finally bit the bullet to take control of your nutrition. Everyone starts for different reasons. Most start for weight loss, but the more I work with clients outside of the gym I am starting to work with populations who no longer feel “good”. To the world they aren’t overweight, they aren’t sick they look fine, on the inside they are screaming for help. They are sick and tired of literally being sick and tired all the time. They want to sleep more, have sex again, feel confident, become strong, and fix some damage done by trying all the fad diets flooding the market.

The excitement of having something new on the go starts to wear off, you see results but they are taking longer than you thought, family dinners start coming, weddings happen, and family holidays begin.

How do you deal with this?? Well, let’s explore some options.

The truth. While we might feel a bit embarrassed to say we aren’t happy with the way our clothes fit or that we aren’t feeling very energetic people will always respect you and usually take the truth the best. You might not want to tell your granny that you don’t want to eat her marshmallow salad because you’re working on your diet so that you can get your morning wood back but I think working on health will suffice. (If I just offered you, it’s just the truth)

Goals. Tell them your goals! Yo! If your goal is to be a badass competitor or runner or triathlete let them know that! If they don’t support your goals to better yourself then maybe you have bigger issues to talk about then passing up that white bun.

Self-care. We live in a world that we are supposed to feel like we are shitting rainbows and butterflies and if we admit that we aren’t and we are struggling with anxiety or depression and fixing your gut health is a much better option then pumping drugs into your body, these people will respect you and my guess they are going to become your biggest fans!

New friends or in-laws and you’re scared to go all crazy detailed on everything you’re trying to fix because you don’t want to sound like a train-wreck, stick with “I’m allergic” Seriously. I used this a lot! Someone offers you something you don’t like or can’t handle just say I’m allergic, nobody shames you and says “AWWW come on anaphylactic shock is super fun and exciting.”

At the end of the day, you do need to do what’s best for you. Your health and life should be a priority. Taking care of your health by choosing good quality foods is one of the best ways to enjoy a long life. I don’t understand why being healthy has become the minority, the weird or only for the weak, I do think over time more and more people will start to take control of their lives and diet and by then you’re going to be the expert and the support system. In defense to these people who we feel are trying to derail our progress they do honestly believe you look great, you come off as being healthy and your happy happy happy because chances are you lead them to believe that. Everyone wants to have what they want when they want it and it comes down to food choices, people think eating a pizza will make you happier than eating a chicken salad. People have labeled foods as fun and boring, and it really causes a stink for anyone who is health conscious. If your friends are always dragging you down, you might want to find some friends who want to live the same type of lifestyle that you want.

Just be honest. Embrace the process the fun and the ugly, it all pays off.

If you have been following my page for a while now I am sure you have noticed I have talked about being on a diet break or coming off of one, and it dawned on me that I have never really explained them.

If you are working on your nutrition and your working with a coach I am sure you have gone through some very different numbers, from reversing to fat loss, maintenance and performance, so where does the break fit it? Well, you see for everyone it can be different. For myself, I CrossFit therefore we have a pretty set season and offseason. I am what I like to call a beer league CrossFitter, meaning I’m not really any good at it but I enjoy competitions, but not too many. I do the Open in March, and usually only two other ones. One this year is at the end of July.

In working towards a better body composition LAST summer I did a cut, and then reversed out and then over Christmas took a small break and then leading up to the open I did performance/cut so chasing the unicorn. I say that because I really wasn’t concerned about the open I knew CanWest was always my goal. Through my diet break over Christmas and January, I would track macros but I would enjoy things I wouldn’t normally. For example, when I went out on date night I would have some bubbles or when I was snowboarding and hot tubbing I would have some drinks and enjoy some foods I wouldn’t normally have. But I was still tracking. This allowed me to go above my cutting numbers towards maintenance but also kept me going towards my goals. Once I was about 4 Weeks out from the open I got it together and went back to decent numbers with BIG refeed. This allowed me to train and work on body comp but also allowed me to compete in the open. As stated the open wasn’t my goal. Coming off the open I took a break from logging just eating good whole foods, and then once the qualifiers happened to tighten up, Qualified and then took a break.

Why do I take so many breaks? Well, that’s a great question. For my sanity. Hands down the number one reason is my mind needs it. I was completely run down from the open, run down from CanWest, new business start-ups and clients and just life. I always know to go at my diet from the viewpoint of still tracking but enjoying a little outside the lines for a couple weeks is much better than trying to be a superhero and go 100% all year round. I also find that when I am loose with my numbers I don’t actually venture far off maintenance which is perfect because I have created a new low body composition set point and my body does much better on holidays or from a date night.

Here are some major benefit I find from using Diet Breaks with my clients!

1. Sanity, again being on the same path for a long period of time can be hard so at the end of a reverse, I like to do it for a week.
2. Holidays and traveling. This works if you only take a couple vacations through the year. If you travel for work regularly I would not suggest a diet break but work towards finding some better numbers to work with.
3. After a competition and you need a little break and reset.
4. Feeling like your completely burnt out from it all. These ones can be tricky. Dieting and weight loss can be hard, so sometimes people will use a break as an excuse but you do need to understand diet breaks can push you back a bit in your goals and the periodization of your program.
5. Regrouping and moving on. At some point in time, people will throw there hands in the air and be ready to bail completely. I like to use these and say Yep go nuts because it’s quite funny to see in two-three days they are back and ready to get at it because they feel like shit. Their sleep went to the shitter, their recovery sucks and everything hurts. BOOM mission accomplished, you’re ready to go again!

So when should you use them? Like mentioned its different for everyone. I always use them after competitions and MAJOR holidays and that seems to help me stay on the path the rest of the 42 weeks of the year. You can’t let them be your excuse and they definitely won’t help you with progress on the scale but they might help you stick it out for the long haul!

Waking up day after day, feeling like shit, not wanting to go to work, the gym, tired all the time, hormonally speaking a disaster, and yet you haven’t started? Why not? I’m sure you have every reason, but let’s have some self-realization that your reasons are actually excuses. I get it. From, not having time, to not having the money, the motivation, the “nothing works”, it’s summer, it’s winter, I have a wedding, I have a vacation, the list of reasons to not start will continue to grow year after year. I’m telling you the best time it now. It sounds so simple, you just start. It really is that simple. It doesn’t need to be fancy but putting one foot in front of the next and getting going is the hardest part. The hardest part of working out is the drive to the gym. You literally have to drive there. You could just drive home, or stay home, but that drive there you have every reason to not go. Then you get there, and if your working with a coach or you goto the class you do it, and you feel better for it. So you go back, day after day you go back. All it took was a drive to the gym.

Next stop, drive to the grocery store. We all know those whole foods are much better than frozen, or packaged foods, so buy that, next, go home and cook it up and eat it. It literally is that simple. Starting your journey will small fixes like eating better will get the ball rolling. Next not happy with results, get help. Many think it’s to costly, well for most qualified coaches, your looking at $3-$4 dollars/day for the breakdown. So make your coffee at home, and your breakfast at home and done, there is your nutrition coach money…See how this works, I’m going to smash your excuses!

#1: Summer is here. Okay I get that, but lets talk about that, summer comes every year…Well, Kinda! I mean we live in Canada so that’s kinda a gift to have summer but what do you love about summer that you couldn’t have? Beers and hot dogs? Well you could work in a few beers and hot dogs, your not going to live off of them for heavens sake so lets say you go camping ALOT, well you could definitely control it and enjoy those things. I don’t know many that camp for 4 months straight and are ONLY going to pack that, so your coach could work with you on that! If you only ate hot dogs and beers a few times through the summer lets say 7 days out of 120 days, you’re sitting at a diet of 95-5, That’s damn good results. So put that into perspective, you have weddings? Stag parties? Grads, those tend to be one or two-day events, if you make a plan leading up to those events you are still going to be VERY successful.

#2: I don’t know how to cook healthy. YouTube and Google. Look up recipes, watch videos figure it out. Buy recipe books, or take a cooking class.

#3: YOLO: Do people say that anymore?? If your reading this Grandma it means “You only live once.” Absolutely, life is short but in the same breath you also could live a very long healthy happy life, but you’re going to need to put sometime into that. If I’m waking up every day not feeling like my best self whether its health-related or I’m not happy that I’m always trying to cover my body up with clothes that don’t flatter my body and make me feel confident, are you going to live a happy life? I don’t think so or you wouldn’t be following my page… you want to change, you’re just scared, that’s okay, So was I.

#4: I hate eating the same thing everyday. So don’t. We literally can have access to so many different types of foods. If you have food sensitivities and you need alternatives look them up, find them. For example, dairy. Look for some alternatives, almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, lactose free yogurt and ice cream. Options are out there you just have to find them. Don’t want to eat chicken every day, then don’t! OR do and find different ways to prepare them. Use different spices, and keep it changing up. Nobody that I know who is successful with long-term success eats the EXACT same thing every day.

#5: I’m busy. We are all busy. We are! We live in such a fast pace environment, the hustle is overwhelming, I do get that, but you need to eat. According to my quick google search, the average North American spends 1 hour and 40 minutes BROWSING social media throughout their day, you could take 10 minutes out to balance your macros and then it take about 2 minutes a meal to weight it and BAM you are finding time.

I could go on and on and if you’re still reading this, thank you. It doesn’t matter what stage of life you’re in, I can tell you its the perfect time to start. You will never have time you have to find it. You can’t have results and excuses. You deserve to be happy, day in a day out. Make yourself a priority and take control, wake up feeling energized and ready to take the world over, don’t go another day wishing for something you can change.

If you have been following along the past couple days on IG story you will see me using my blood glucose monitor A LOT, and really I haven’t gone into great detail as to why so here we go!

In the middle of March or so, I watched an interview with a guru of shredding down bodybuilder and fitness models and it was very interesting to learn his protocols. For example, he has clients and he has to reverse them up from the previous show, or they have been bulking or whatever you want to call it (I’m not all up on the lingo) and it’s times to cut weight for the next show. Well, we KNOW that losing body fat you have to start a calorie deficit so what he was doing before he would start active fat loss is get his clients to test his blood glucose. He found the optimal fasted range was 80-83mg/dl or Canadian conversion 4.4-4.7mmol/L. If they were slightly above (where I have been testing) they still weren’t bad but still not optimal for fat loss! Just to clarify, that fasted range would be first thing in the morning after you have not eaten all night. After you eat you do want your blood sugars to rise, so again if you have been following my progress you can see that part is already in a great range!

He would have them start with new protocols of dropping their carbs in half and putting those calories into their fats, so the calorie count would still remain the same. The goal here is NOT weight loss, it’s pre-weight loss Prep!

After watching the video I ran to the drug store and picked up my monitor and strips and started testing! The CrossFit open was going and I didn’t want to pull the trigger and try this out, and truthfully the whole process makes me a bit nervous so I have been putting it off until FINALLY I woke up Monday and said it’s time. I love carbs.

The reason I have been hesitant is that you CANNOT expect to train the same (intense CrossFit). You need to minimize stress on your body and let your body reset, so this week I am just working on my weightlifting fixes, and teaching spin. Next week I’m gone on holidays and we all know its much easier to eat higher fats and not train so hard and I’m still a healthy time away from my competition at the end of July!

A little bit of science for you. Why exactly is insulin important? Insulin is a hormone made in the body, the pancreas. Its job is to help turn blood sugar (glucose) into energy and whatever energy is not used it’s then stored in your muscles, fat cells and liver for later use. Unfortunately, if you are resistant or over consume you will store fat from the carbohydrates. Insulin resistance comes from consuming processed foods, high sugar foods, and high starch.

Possible Signs & Symptoms

• Extreme thirst or hunger
• Feeling hungry even after a meal
• Frequent or increased urination
• Tingling sensation in your hands or feet
• Feeling more tired than usual
• Frequent infections
• Inability to lose or gain weight
• Sugar cravings
• Acne
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome
• Urine contains odor
• Skin discoloration
• Evidence in blood work
• Fluid Retention and Swelling

**PLEASE NOTE*If you have any of these and your concerned you should TALK TO YOU DOCTOR!**

So your probably thinking well great now what! Well for me, I plan on continuing on a very low carb, high Fat and protein for the next two weeks or until I see the improvement I want to see and then I will bring my carbs back in so that I can function, train and recover and get ready for the Canwest games! I’m hoping that by committing to this reset that my body will start to utilize my carbs more efficiently and when I’m back to working on cutting some body fat, it will start coming off! I want to make it very very clear that this protocol is something that should be carried out after you have improved your diet, completed a reverse, smart training, good sleep habits, adequate water intakes and you’ve tried “it all” but the belly fat isn’t going. I don’t believe this should be your starting point when changing your lifestyle and diet habits.

As always I never implement a protocol I have not yet tried for myself or done some serious research into! I hope some of you reading this have a light bulb moment and start looking for answers as to why NO matter what you do, that stubborn belly fat just won’t leave! Good luck!

This seems to be the non-stop battle we all deal with. Calories are calories, right? Well yes, that is true. So why does it really matter where we get them from? Well, let me dive into this a bit. You have your macros, your days are trucking along and you eventually figure out, how to work in a donut, then you work in eating out, and then you’ve really figured our game out and before long your able to eat really crappy candy, and drink booze but your wondering why your not losing weight. I think at some point everyone goes through this and asks, why isn’t this working. So let’s backtrack a bit. I think we can all agree that fruit and veggies lean meats and starch are the BEST sources of energy and by far the best choices, but if Coach says eat 200g of carbs does it really matter if it’s coming from ketchup and fruit worms? Well, whats your goals?

9/10 clients are chasing the unicorn. They want the ripped bodies with the stellar performance. We know that it’s not possible to chase both. Ripped abs come from calorie deficits, and performance comes from calorie surplus… So where do you fit on that scale? If you are the 9/10 clients losing weight, I have yet to meet anyone who will tell you they got shredded eating ice cream and pizza. Yes, they might have had this once in a blue moon but if they have gone through a cut, A REAL cut they did not have that. Focusing on whole foods, real foods will provide your body with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. If you are needing to spend some time in the gym working-out your going to need to fuel your body correctly. Eating gummy bears and “crushing” your workout isn’t going to give you the results you want and it sure won’t give you the body composition your chasing.

WHY? Well, it all comes down to how our bodies metabolize our foods. Protein is not stored therefore we MUST ingest it daily! Making sure we have enough to fuel our muscles and repair and grow is essential for fat loss and performance. The more muscle mass we have the more calories we burn and the more “toned” we will look once the fat is gone. Strength training should be your best buddy when your working to lose body fat. (but that’s a whole different blog post)

Fats and carbs get stored. It’s as simple as that. If the carbs we consume contain large amounts of sugar when our body doesn’t use them it will just store it as fat! Choosing fruits and veggies, with some starch will always provide you with the best fuel options as well as health. Even eating a surplus of healthy fats will still be stored as fat.

So again ask yourself, where do you fall? If you are reverse dieting, focus on whole foods with the odd cheats here and there a 90-10 rule is great! If you’re in active fat loss you better be ready to give up cheat meals, pizza, booze, and be 100% all in! If you are in performance again you can go back to 90-10 diet without the booze, and if you’re in maintenance, your living the dream! You can sneak in those cheats, have some more flexibility and really just live life! Having a good understanding of your goals and the periodization of your nutrition program will really dictate what your able to do with the flexibility of your nutrition plan. Don’t forget, you HAVE to go through periodization with your nutrition, you can’t stay in one phase forever, we are constantly changing, our lives are constantly changing so we have to roll with it to have long-term success.

Anyone else feel a bit like a vampire when they walked outside and the sun was finally shining? Oh Man, it felt so weird but so amazing! It’s funny I don’t realize how much the sunshine really affects my mood! I love the sun and heat, and patio season! There is nothing better the patio drinks and food surrounded by good company! So, how will you survive this season and stay on track? Let me help you out!

Pick smart snacks and meals! Skip the deep-fried foods, layers of cheese, and avoid the dips! Pick foods that you have a good idea of how many calories are in them, and you still enjoy.

Choose lower-calorie cocktails! Go for vodka water, with a twist of lime! Try a margarita on the rocks vs the blended type that usually has lots of sugar! If you’re off the booze try a virgin Caesar, still refreshing but you don’t have to fall off your gains train!

Avoid eating while your drinking! Yes, I said it! Drinking while eating changes the way we metabolize our foods. If you’re going to drink alcohol while you eat I always recommend logging calories as half the calories under fats and the other half under carbs.

Avoid drinking while you’re eating so that you don’t slam the cocktails back, washing your foods down. It becomes easy to drink more then we had intended to if we are eating salty or spicy foods! Have your glass of wine before the meal and take enjoyment in the company yours with!

Eating out and enjoying the summer doesn’t have to be the reason you forget everything you have just worked so hard for. Take date night or a random night out with friends to kick back and relax but remember, if you do that 2-3 on the weekend you soon will notice things are not going in the direction you want! Lastly, if you’re really working hard to stick to the “plan” host the day on the deck, meet for coffee, pack your snacks and head to the beach. The best part of patio season is the company we are with so enjoy your company, you don’t need all the garbage to catch up with your friends!

Before starting with a client I have a pretty lengthy questionnaire that they need to fill you. It covers past habits and lifestyles, current exercise programs and routines. The very last question is: “What is holding you back from reaching your goal?” Most answers are the same, lack of knowledge, or lack of accountability. A few weeks into check-ins and things change.

Here are some common things I see happen and my best advice on how to fix or avoid this.

#1: Change of mindset. The moment you decided to try with a coach you were all drunk of the Kool-aid of this new body or new PR in the gym, once you started and saw that it might not come to quickly MAJOR attitude shift from, I’m excited and ready to, WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING? If this is you, remember things take time. Foundations need to be built, consistency needs to happen and stress needs to stay low. A bad attitude really can make or break your progress!

#2: People only focus on the scale. Yes, most of my client weigh themselves daily, but the weight is not what matters, whats happening to the weight is the important information. For example, if you are reverse dieting, therefore, eating more food, and your weight stays the same that’s a GOOD thing! If you have been dieting for a while and you get stuck at the same number that is also a good thing, you have created a new low set point. If you are up a couple pounds because of your menstrual cycle we can tell that your body likes to hang onto water and in a couple days life will continue! A scale is a tool, what really matters is your biofeedback, consistency and your progress photos!

#3: Lack of planning. If you’re new to counting macros You will not be able to eat and then log. You need to sit down, and meal plan the week or at least a couple of days, prolog your qualities into your logger and then follow your logger like a meal plan. Winging it will make you feel like your putting in the work but you’re missing the mark. It’s a hard cycle to break so start the habit from the start.

#4: Meal prep. All of the sudden there aren’t enough groceries in the fridge or people take your food. Lay out your foods and let your family or roommates know whats off limits. It’s not rude its part of your journey, don’t be shy about it!

#5: “I don’t have time” Well we all have time. We are all busy, we all work, we all volunteer we all ect…. But we have to MAKE the time. Prioritize your time, set a time to make your weekly grocery list, meal plan and then prep if you need to. Treat it like a job. Nobody ever got the results they wanted by eating out, eating on the fly and making it work. With experience, you will be able to do this a little more but from the start its not going to work. We all have time, you have to make it a priority.

#6: “Nothing is happening” “ I work so hard I haven’t cheated, I haven’t had any alcohol, but I’m not getting the results I want” I’m here to tell you this happens to everyone after a couple of months. If you just went the last 5, 10, 15 years eating very differently, living differently things are going to take time. If you have depressed your hormones, and you don’t sleep through the night, and you have constant stress and you refuse to drink the amount of water you should and take the vitamins recommend, it’s going to take a while. Everyone is different, no two people will get the exact same results at the exact same time. You have to stick it out every day. You have to put the work in and know that some of that work needs to be put into your stress management, sleep, and water. Consistency will pay off.

Last one!! Is the combination of all 6. For whatever reason, we can blame social media or the products or templates with catching names and quick promises but nutrition is a lifestyle, it’s not a quick fix, it’s not a walk in the park it’s more like a marriage. There are good times and bad times. You may have moments where you fall apart but getting back going and working through your problems and frustrations will give you your happily ever after you just have to be ready to stick with it. Talk about your goal, create a timeline, set mini goals if you need to, but have a plan and stick with it. I promise you nobody has ever said “Man I regret working on my lifestyle to become healthy and fit” It doesn’t happen, But I do hear a lot of “ I wish I would have just stuck with it” as they start over for the 10th time. Starting over is fine, just let the next time you start over, be the LAST time you start over!