Live Your Personal Best - Workout Motivation and Healthy Living For Current and Former Athletes

34. Always Striving Towards That “After” Picture? Here’s Why It’s Hindering Your Progress (Part 1 of 2)

How often do you scroll through Instagram clicking people’s before and after pictures and wishing you could see those same results? You start to feel like you’ll never get to your “after” stage and compare yourself without knowing anything about how they got there. How would we feel if we started looking at our own progress, not someone else’s? 

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I have Jess, a college student, fitness instructor, and a retired dancer. She has undergone through many stages of her fitness journey from a confident dancer, to an unhealthy body comparing mindset to now helping others achieve their fitness goals. 

 

Listen in to learn how to stop comparing your fitness journey and only focus on what you can achieve.  

Key Takeaways: 

• The mental unhealthiness and damage of before and after pictures.  
• How different body types adapt to fitness and physical activities. 
• How to lead from the fort- having the courage to stop comparing your body and instead help others with their fitness goals. 
• Learning to show up consistently and develop a workout routine to notice the difference in your body.  

Episode Timeline: 

• [2:10] Jess explains why she retired from dancing and the events that led to some confidence issues. 
• [9:11] How Jess changed her mindset from comparing her body daily to having a goal of helping others.  

Quotes: 

• “Transformational photos are actually not helpful because it’s saying there’s something fundamentally wrong with you before and something fundamentally better after.” [8:11] 
• “If I want to help other people, I need to help myself first, I need to change from within.” [13:18] 

• “Whatever it is for you that you actually enjoy, find out and then go do it because life’s too short to do exercise that you don’t like.” [19:09] 

 

Connect with Jess to take a class!! https://www.instagram.com/jesstakimotofitness/  

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33. Late-Night Cravings? Here's How to Snack Without the Guilt

What if I told you, you can can give into your late-night cravings? You can eat the snacks AND not feel guilty. What’s your reason for late-night snacking? Is it hunger, bad habits, or just mindlessness? There are many scientific reasons why you always find yourself in the middle of the night searching for snacks. But it all comes down to having health and fitness goals and a plan because there’s actually no right or wrong night time snack.  

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I have Paige, a retired Division I athlete who is now a registered dietician in central Pennsylvania. She works at a local long-term care facility where she helps residents enjoy food and tailor nutrition plans to meet their medical needs. 

 

Listen in to learn why a heavy snack filled with protein might be a better late-night snack than empty calories that will only leave you hungrier. You will also learn the importance of having goals and a plan to help you manage how you snack.  

 

Key Takeaways: 

• The importance of having a ‘why’ to help you make healthier choices to reduce your struggles and be motivated towards good decisions. 
• How stress and the goings of the day increase your food cravings at night. 
• Why night time snacking depends on your goals and what’s best for you. 
• Learning to get out of the ‘night-time snacking’ toxic mindset for long-term health goals. 
• Eating a late dinner versus snacking at night- choosing what’s best for your long-term goals. 

• The benefits of including proteins and fiber in your late-night snack to make you feel full for longer. 
• Questions you need to ask yourself to stop snacking at night plus the benefits of starting small in your journey.   

Episode Timeline: 

• [3:39] Paige narrates her journey growing up an athlete which drove her to a dietitian career plus her struggles with fitness.  
• [9:14] Understanding the science and the reasons behind food cravings at night. 

• [16:21] Why some people find it easier to eat a late dinner than snacking while others find late-night snacking easier for portion control.  
• [19:46] Paige names some of the healthy snacks to take at night without ruining any of your goals.  
• [25:06] The steps to take to stop taking late-night snacks.  

Quotes: 

• “It’s not the end of the world if a person snacks at night every now and then.”- Paige [14:46] 

• “Every day is different and it’s important to plan accordingly and most importantly listen to your body and how hungry you are.”- Paige [19:11] 
• “If you know you’re going to be snacking, and you’re hungry, you have to be planning and having a better choice that’s going to be more satisfying than those empty calories.”- Paige [23:31] 
• “There’s no right or wrong night time snack, it’s just got to be something that’s in line with your goals.”- Paige [24:07] 

 

Reach out to Paige for all your dietitian needs: paigevalentikrd@gmail.com 

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32. The Power of Radical Self-Love #FITLIT

Society has set body and beauty standards that women slowly acquire as we transform from girls to women. We, however, can challenge these set standards by making a radical individual change towards self-love and acceptance. 

 

In this episode, I discuss the highlights of Sonya Renee Taylor’s book The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love which talks about the process of self-love. It talks about how your relationship with yourself affects how you relate to others and how to stop body hate by eliminating the idea of an ideal body image. 

 

Listen in to learn some ways that you unknowingly show hate to your body and how to start improving it.  

 

Key Takeaways: 

• Why we need radical change to challenge set societal standards on body hate that we acquire as we grow up. 
• How comparing yourself with others affects your relationship with them and yourself.  
• The process of learning to love your body without putting yourself on the pedestal of an ideal body. 
• How women are controlled through body image trends to keep them buying into products and ideas. 
• Learning how to take small self-acceptance steps to heal your relationships at an individual level.  

Episode Timeline: 

• [4:46] How this book is bringing awareness on how we’re made to cover ‘bad parts’ of our bodies. 
• [8:07] The shame of feeling ashamed about your body and how to get rid of it.  
• [9:33] How media consumption makes it hard for you to love your body.  

Quotes: 

• “Our relationships with our own bodies inform our relationships with others.”- Sonya Renee [6:22] 
• “A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession with female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience.”- Sonya Renee [10:26] 

 

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31. How To Break Your Performance Mindset to Achieve Your Long Term Goals

Fitness is great and what we strive towards but, it is not the only aspect of your physical health. Often when we focus on performance we prioritize fitness over anything else when all aspects of your health should be balanced out. There are many unhealthy ways to be fit like putting all your physical health efforts into performance and neglecting other aspects like nutrition, mental health, and sleep. 

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I dive deep into the topic of performance mindset and how you can work towards breaking it. It does your body no good if your only focus is performance yet fail to eat right or get enough rest if physical fitness is your long-term goal. 

 

Listen in to learn the importance of letting go of unhealthy fitness behaviors and embrace balance instead. 

 

Key Takeaways: 

• Why your mindset and purpose need to shift when you shift from athletic performance to fitness exercise. 
• Defining fitness as performing a certain task to stay in shape and health as a person’s state of overall wellbeing. 
• The many different aspects of physical health which includes fitness. 
• The many unhealthy ways to be fit- being fit doesn’t translate to being physically healthy. 
• How to give yourself grace and freedom by letting go of performance and looking at other aspects of physical health.  

• Learning how to balance all aspects of your health without performance.  

Episode Timeline: 

• [6:14] Why fitness can hurt your physical health- fitness doesn’t automatically translate to health. 
• [7:37] Why you don’t need to max on your fitness especially if you’re disregarding everything else.  
• [11:15] How to do less at the gym and still improve your health by observing your other health aspects. 

Quotes: 

• “That’s why we can’t say the blankest statement of ‘if you’re fit, you’re healthy’ because there are a lot of unhealthy ways to be fit. [6:55] 
• “Performance is just very top of the pyramid that isn’t even needed for physical health.” [9:10] 

 

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30. Is Your Bloating Normal? How Gut Health Affects Your Overall Health

Gut problems are a common problem- sometimes you have it and don’t even know. Everyone experiences some level of bloating and digestive discomfort but how do you know if yours is a normal amount? 

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I invite Julie over to talk about gut health. Julie is a nurse practitioner and wellness expert specializing in gut health and GI-MAP testing. She educates people on the importance of having a healthy gut and how to beat sugar addiction without sacrificing the foods you love. 

 

Listen in to learn the reasons why your gut might be unhealthy and the steps you need to take to start healing it. You will also learn why swapping processed foods with healthy whole foods is important in ensuring your long-term general health.  

 

Key Takeaways: 

• The connection between your gut and your immune system and brain. 
• The role of microbiome in estrogen levels and how not digesting fats can lead to hormonal imbalance. 
• How the gut leads to the inability to lose weight and skin problems. 
• How ‘bad’ food, stress, and medication affects the functionality of your gut and lead to its poor health. 
• How to improve your gut health with probiotic fiber foods and cutting down on gluten, sugar, and dairy. 
• Learning how to start the process of simple food swaps as a way to shift to what is good for your gut. 
• Understanding leaky gas, how it affects your body, and how it can be healed.   
• The importance of digestive enzymes in helping your gut to digest food and absorb nutrients. 

Episode Timeline: 

• [2:45] Gut microbiome and the importance of balancing the good and bad gut bacteria.  

• [4:04] Julie narrates her struggles with gut health and how her recovery led her to help others.  
• [13:32] Julie shares three reasons that lead to poor gut health.  
• [20:14] The effects of sugar in your gut health- inflammation and feeding off the bad bacteria.  
• [26:27] Leaky gut/ intestinal permeability- how it happens and can be healed. 
• [33:50] Julie shares the services she offers to help people improve their gut health. 

Quotes: 

• “It’s not about sacrificing the foods that you love; it’s just about upgrading the foods that you love.” -Julie [19:40] 
• “Digestive enzymes would be a very easy thing to try that people could get some really good almost immediate results.” [32:01] 

 

Find out more about Julie:

www.juliedavey.com 

https://www.instagram.com/juliedaveynp/ 

 

Connect on IG: https://bit.ly/3f5fGxs

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29: Make This Shift When Your Fitness Goals Aren’t Working

Don’t let your fitness goals leave you feeling defeated.  A healthy lifestyle should mean a more active and self-care lifestyle which is something that goals often fail to help us achieve. I lived with goals during my college athlete days and always felt like I was in a constant state of failure even though I was doing everything right and working hard. What changed my life though, was setting intentions and affirmations.

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I talk about why I hate goals and instead prefer intentions and affirmations when working towards a healthy lifestyle. It is important to have continuous habits that help you grow, become confident, and feel positive about your actions.

 

Listen in to learn how to set powerful yet doable small intentions through positive affirmations.

 

Key Takeaways:

• Some goals have no clear end- setting up frequency goals does not work since a healthy lifestyle should be a lifestyle.

• Goals often lead to an all or nothing mindset which brings in guilt instead of the intended confidence.

• Constant state of failure- you could be doing everything right, but not reaching your goals makes you feel like a failure.

• Why success is not a sum of all our goals because there’s no success in a healthy lifestyle.

• How to reframe success and start thinking of growth which is about continuous habits.

• The power of positive affirmations in accomplishing the intentions you set for yourself.

• The importance of writing and repeating your affirmations.

 

Episode Timeline:

• [7:09] The three reasons why no goals were working for me.  

• [14:22] How to have intentions through affirmations which is in the positive present tense.

• [18:58] The importance of writing down your affirmations.

 

Quotes:

• “We can’t say that our success is a sum of all of these goals because there’s not really success in a healthy lifestyle.” [13:20]

• “Set an intention, create an affirmation, and you’ll start to see change there.” [20:47]

 

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28 - Too Busy For Meditation? With These Tools It’s Easier Than You Think

Have you been wanting to start meditating but you simply don’t know how? Maybe you’re scared your noisy head is going to stop you or you’re too busy to find the time. Meditation is a great tool that brings awareness to our emotions and you can see the benefits by practicing just a few minutes a day.

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I have Eva of the Healthy Sexy Strong Podcast over to talk about meditation for beginners. Eva is a podcast show host, a certified integrative nutrition health coach, personal trainer, and mindfulness and meditation teacher. She empowers women to heal the relationships with themselves so they can understand why and how that’s the foundation of their food image and extreme struggles.

 

Listen in to learn how meditation helps you control your thoughts and emotions when done with consistency. You will also learn how to start meditating and the type of meditation that is good for you.

 

Key Takeaways:

• How meditation is a state of awareness that brings about positive feelings and emotions.

• How meditation helps observe, understand, and control your thoughts and feelings in the long term.

• Why you should start with focus meditation and move on to other types of meditation.  

• How the love and kindness meditation helps you love and be kind to yourself and then spread it to the world.

• Learn to start meditation by doing whatever makes you feel good in a simple way.

• The importance of consistency with your meditation to make it part of you.

 

Episode Timeline:

• [2:48] Eva shares her story of how she went from a burned down corporate job to finding healing in mindfulness and meditation.

• [8:42] How to start meditation simply with your breath.

• [14:55] She explains how she does her meditation with intention and without judgment.

• [18:00] Learn about the different types of meditation.

• [21:09] The love and kindness meditation- loving yourself to spread the love to others.

• [23:00] How to start doing meditation with consistency.

 

Quotes:

• “The point of meditation is not to turn off your thoughts or your feelings or to control anything, you’re simply learning to observe them without judgment.”- Eva [9:12]

• “Meditation is going to help you focus, and it’s going to increase your mental awareness so that you can be more productive, more creative, and more mindful.”- Eva [9:39]

• “The only thing that really truly matters when you’re meditating is your intention and your willingness to want to do it.”- Eva [24:40]

 

Eva's free meditation quiz: https://www.eva.fit/quiz 

Connect with Eva: https://www.instagram.com/itsevarodriguez/ 

 

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27 - Stop The Obsession - How to Mindfully Manage Your Weight Loss

Did you know that we tend to micromanage what we can control? And since we are made to believe that we can control how we weigh, we do whatever we can to micromanage it. So, are you micromanaging your weight loss in an unhealthy way? Constantly stressing about small eating decisions that can be a distraction from other things.

 

In this episode of Girls Gone Healthy, I talk about weight loss control and how we use it as a distraction from other things. It is important to understand that extreme micromanaging of weight loss can turn unhealthy.

 

Listen in to learn how you can lose weight in a mindful way and with intention from a god solid place.

 

Key Takeaways:

• How to see weight loss as your friend and not a distraction.

• Why micromanaging weight loss becomes unhealthy.

• Becoming mindful of your ‘why’ when it comes to weight loss.

• Stop manipulating your body by taking it out on yourself.

 

Episode Timeline:

• [1:55] How weight loss is put in our control when it shouldn’t.

• [6:56] Learning how not to take it out on yourself by manipulating and controlling your body.

 

Quotes:

• “Never let your body be something that you’re trying to manipulate and control.” [6:43]

• “Just because something is out of your control, doesn’t mean that you need a distraction from it.” [7:08]

 

 

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26 - Can Fitness Help You Achieve Your Bigger Life Goals? Use These Strategies and It Can

Umama Kibria got started in fitness to test her confidence and meet new people and along her journey has realized just how important a fitness community is in holding you accountable and reach your goals. She is the ultimate fitness community builder and speaks on this episode about how committing to fitness deepens your relationships and builds trust with yourself. 

 

 

Umama Kibria is the savvy startup Co-Founder and CEO behind SweatPack and the personal fitness brand, smallandstrong.fit. As an honored Forbes 30 under 30 leader. She’s made an impact in fitness, technology, and community building with her passion. 

 

We talk about what drove Umama to build Sweatpack, an app that matches people with sports leagues, teams, and other people with similar fitness goals. We also talk about why she believes that including fitness in your life will make you a better entrepreneur and teaches you to commit to yourself. Also, why paying attention to who you surround yourself with is so important and how to go about improving your community. 

 

 

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Get connected with Umama: https://www.instagram.com/smallandstrong.co/ 

https://www.instagram.com/teamsweatpack/ 

 

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25 - From Hangover to Workout - 3 Steps That Will Get You From the Couch to the Gym

Where do you find the motivation to workout? How can I go from laying on the couch to getting my butt to the gym? 

 

When things get in the way of our plan (cough cough a hangover) it can be hard to find fitness motivation. Don’t let changes keep you from your plan. Start with the first simplest step. Listen to today’s episode to find out what I mean by start with the first simplest step and how you can use these techniques for getting into a workout routine and habit, no matter how quickly Monday mornings seem to come up. 

 

 

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