High Intensity Hybrid Training

Egg and Veggie Bento Box

A take on the Starbucks Bento Boxes, you’ll find this in the deli section of your local grocery store.

This one has a bit of everything:

✅ hardboiled egg - protein & fat
✅ cheese - fat & carb (with a tiny bit of protein)
✅ chicken - protein & fat
✅ veggies - carb
✅ hummus - fat & carb (w/ a tiny bit of protein)

And the bonus? Everything can be eaten finger food style!

Tradeoffs…

Similar to Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction), making a choice in life directly impacts something else.

Said another way, when you say “yes” to one thing, it means you’re saying “no” to something else. And, vice versa.

For example, you decide you want to start exercising regularly. Doing so will require things in other areas of your life to change.

Similarly, you decide that exercising is not a priority for you. Given all of the proven benefits of exercise, choosing not to exercise regularly will impact your ability to experience those benefits.

So, what are you willing to exchange, or trade off, in order to accomplish any goal that you set for yourself?

Netflix? Social media? Work? Time with friends &/or family? Money to pay a coach? Eating out/going to the bar less frequently?

This strategy works with every decision you might make in life:

Should I start eating better?
Should I get married?
Should I have kids?
Should I learn to play an instrument?
Should I volunteer for XYZ organization?
Should I read Pride & Prejudice?
Should I go on a trip to Bali?
Should I buy a house?

Tradeoffs are everywhere. If you want to see change, something’s gotta change. That may extend to the people you surround yourself with, the podcasts you listen to, the books you read, the amount of time you spend in front of the TV/diving into YouTube, the way you speak to yourself in your head, the reasons/excuses you default to instead of getting s**t done.

Making adult choices is one of the secrets to a rewarding, fulfilling, accomplished life. And, making adult choices is at the core of self care.

🧡 Keep coming forward - Coach K

You may have come across posts about what coaches or athletes eat in a day. There are both upsides and downsides of these posts.

The upsides:
👍🏼 They give you meal & snack ideas.
👍🏼 They give people who regularly restrict food permission to not only include a variety of foods in their diet, but also permission to eat at a level that supports their activity levels.

The downsides:

👎🏼 You don’t know what level of activity that person you follow on social media has. As such, they may be eating more food or less food than you need to eat each day.
You don’t know what food biases, disordered eating, or relationship with food that person has. You could fall prey to these same problematic things by doing what they do.

Unless you have experience in fiddling with your food intake & exercise output, as well as understanding your own relationship with food, your best bet, instead of copying a random person on social media, is to work with someone who can individualize your nutrition & exercise plan to best suit your needs, lifestyle, & activity level.

Need help with this? 🔗 Link in profile to get started!

🧡 Keep coming forward - Coach K

⚙️It grinds my gears that, in order for many folks to consider my services, I need to make promises I can’t keep.

People want quick fixes - which I can do - but they don’t align with my values, & don’t reflect the work I do with my clients. If I were to take the lose-10lb-by-Sept-Long route, I would send folks off on the last long weekend of their summer, knowing I set them up for failure instead of success. Knowing that I am asking them to fly solo w/o the tools to navigate the flight.

And, the reason people want quick fixes is (largely) not their fault! (I put “largely” in (), because there is always a bit of ownership on each side of every story 😉).

THIS is one of the giant reasons that I really struggle with the whole concept of “diet culture.” Diet culture looks like many things, but diet culture also says that all nutrition coaches are out to make everyone skinny, & concurrently mess with their mental health. Diet culture says that all nutrition coaches must subscribe to promising quick fat loss results in order to make a career out of coaching. So, folks either shy away from working with quality nutrition coaches like moi, & do nothing to become healthier, or they jump to the cheap, fake promises of quick & easy fat loss 😠

This is not how I envision using my helper personality for the remainder of my days. I am beyond grateful for current & past clients who trust(ed) in me, & the process of cultivating sustainable habits, digging deep (because it’s almost always more than just about the food), flipping mindset scripts, & learning as we go. And, although the message of making a career out of accomplishing a client’s goals in other ways comes to me loud & clear on a regular basis, I will not go there.

The reality is, whether you’re looking for sustained fat loss, muscle gain, or improving health markers, it will take time. More time for some than others. Plus, it takes work. If anyone tells you it will be quick & easy, they are lying to you. I am ready, willing, & able to be your guide as you make your way through that work & time.

But, not if you want a quick fix.

🧡 Keep coming forward - Coach K

Where are my empty-nesters at? 🙋🏻‍♀️

Do you find it tough to make meals just for you, or just for you & your partner? I feel that!

Here’s how I combat the, “UGH - I just don’t feel like cooking for one person” blues 😰

Once every 2-3 weeks, I order a from meal prep service like Hello Fresh. It saves me money on produce that otherwise goes bad, & saves me time on grocery shopping. It also saves me money & calories from eating out too frequently, & helps me stay focused on my nutrition goals (makes sure I eat veggies regularly 👀).

I can usually make 3-4 meals out of each 2 serving meal I get, & I freeze the leftovers to use on the weeks I don’t order from the service, or for days when I don’t feel like cooking. I do find I need to tweak some of the recipes to meet my needs:

➡️ Use cooking spray vs adding oil in order to reduce fats
➡️ Add more protein than what comes with the meal
➡️ Swap out sour cream with Greek yogurt to reduce fat & increase protein
➡️ Use Splenda instead of sugar to reduce carbs

On the weeks I don’t order from Hello Fresh, I order from Inspired Go, a pre-prepped salad service. I add a protein, & make 2 servings out of each salad. Add a starchy carb like quinoa or a side of bread, & you have a really well rounded, high nutrient dense meal!

There are lots of meal prep companies out there, & most of them have trial offers, so try a few to see which one suits you best!

What are your secrets for your empty-nester meal plan? Comment below!

🧡 Keep coming forward - Coach K