Category Archives: personaltrainer

Let’s get BACK to BASICS for Digestion & Absorption

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📌Back to basics- Digestion & absorption edition 🤓

It’s important to address these GI basics before thinking you need any advanced protocols.

The biggest culprits I see in my coaching practice is improper stress management, poor chewing and rushed eating! Focusing on these “low hanging fruit” lifestyle changes can make dramatic impacts!

Next is HCL insufficiency, bile salt insufficiency, enzyme insufficiency, and a lack of dietary fiber (Insoluble vs Soluble).
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Stomach acid is essential for proper digestion, especially protein and supports the absorption of essential nutrients, such as, Zinc, Copper, Iron, Calcium & B12. Not only does it help with digestion but it plays a vital role in protecting the body from harmful pathogens.
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Taking stomach acid suppressors, skipping meals and eating a low protein diet!⁣
✔️Start: Addressing chronic stress, eat a nutrient dense diet, improve your gut / brain connection with mindful eating practices. 🧘‍♀️
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Lack of digestive enzymes production which are vital to properly break down the food we eat, can lead to slower transit time and poor nutrient absorption. This can result in feelings of bloat, constipation, acid-reflux, and gas.
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Rushing your meals and slouching around after eating.⁣
✔️Start: Supporting stomach acid production, chew your food properly (20-30 Times) and address any underlining gut inflammation. ⁣
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Bile release is crucial for the emulsification of fats, so that they can then be properly broken down and absorbed. You won’t get the all the benefits of these healthy fats if they are not properly broken down. 🧈⁣
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Restricting fats or consuming too much of the wrong kind, like vegetable oils & fake butter⁣
✔️Start: Getting enough healthy fats in your diet and support stomach acid production
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Finally, a healthy and balanced gut flora supports our body to proper digest food and protects from harmful pathogens. 🙌🏻
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Complete digestion = more optimal nutrients! 🍽

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Interested in working together? Apply here for coaching!

Don’t skip your PRE and POST WORKOUT nutrition!

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Your workout may be where you “feel” like you’re getting results, but it’s actually proper nutrition + your workouts that plays a larger role in the results factor.

🍌Nutrient timing is purposely choosing foods around your workouts that will nourish and support your cells for the upcoming physical activity.

It was found that the net protein balance was greater when consuming the protein + carbs before exercise rather than post exercise.⁣

What does this mean?⁣
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You get a greater anabolic response (protein synthesis= growth) when consuming pre-workout nutrition compared to post workout nutrition. You get more amino acids into your muscles both during and after exercise when consuming pre-workout nutrition.⁣

💥 PRE-WORKOUT NUTRITION💥:

•Ideal pre-work meal is mostly carbohydrate based.

•20 minutes to 1 hour before exercise:

Simple carbohydrates from fruit like dates, raisins or banana, or a coconut water can give you quick energy. Or a small serving of yogurt with fresh fruit. My favorite is the adrenal elixir with some collagen. AIM for: 6 G protein & 35 g carbs minimum

•1 hour (or more) before exercise:

Complex carbs & simple carbs larger meal size & some fiber okay!

Examples: Oatmeal+ collagen with fresh fruit or greek yogurt, rice cake with jelly and dates, sweet potatoes and eggs with fruit.
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❓What about protein before workouts? There is evidence that consuming protein before a workout is beneficial, and while these recommendations include protein, you could increase the amount in your pre-workout meal–experiment with anywhere between 6-20 g and see what works for you!

❓What about eating a high fat meal before a workout? Fat is the most complex fuel for your body to break down and absorb, and while it’s important for overall health, I recommend consuming low-to moderate fat intake with your pre & post workout meals.

💪POST WORKOUT NUTRITION 💪

 Eating post workout within the right time frame following your workout plays a huge role in your recovery and training progress. And when it comes to fueling after exercise, I bet there’s little surprise that women are different than men. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re trying to maximize your recovery: 👇
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💪 Women’s metabolism comes back down to baseline within 90 minutes after exercise whereas men might take 3-18 hours, depending on the exercise.

💪 We need to eat protein (aim for 25-30 grams with 5-7 grams BCAAs) with a bit of carbohydrate as soon as possible after exercise – especially if you’re doing a depleting exercise like cardio. Ideally, aim to eat within 30-45 minutes after finishing your workout.

💪 If you delay calorie intake, you stay in a breakdown state. In short, your body won’t start repairing until you take in some food.

💪 Even if you eat enough in the rest of your day to meet what your body needs, not eating post-workout acts the same as not eating enough.

Fuel for what you’re doing, and fuel for the recovery that your body needs afterwards!

Now enrolling clients! Apply for coaching here!

Not medical advice.

Sources:
PMID: 11440894, 16896166,

Doi: 10.37527.2020.70.3.005

#preworkout#nutritioncoach#nutrition#snacks#fuelyourbody#carbs#carbsarelife#sugar#coconutwater#fruit#carbscarbscarbs#sportsnutrition#onlinepersonaltrainer#personaltrainer#fitness#fitfam#nasmcpt#nasmcertified#nutritionist#nourishyourbody#explorepage#explore#onlinecoach

What is body neutral fitness?

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Have you ever thought about WHY you are engaging in your fitness & nutrition routine?

🧠Intention is is a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. Intention involves mental activities such as planning and forethought.

Body Neutral Fitness is shifting the intention behind WHY you want to workout.

Instead of aesthetics being the main intention, the focus is more on how you want to FEEL and cultivating a more positive body image through developing body appreciation

It can be easy to fall into the trap of pointing out what you are insecure about, or hearing someone else do the same. But try to avoid this, or at least notice when you are doing it and how it makes you feel. Redirect the conversation to another topic

Body neutral fitness is about nourishing our bodies with foods full of vitamins and nutrients that you need, but also not depriving ourselves of delicious treats. We do not engaging in restrictive dieting behaviors.

Exercise is not meant to be a punishment. If your body needs a rest day, then give it a rest day. I work closely with my clients to build their programming with activities that they enjoy. More recreation, more walks and MORE FUN!

For me, I’ve spent years dieting and exercising to change my body and make her look a certain way. To be accepted. To be seen as worthy. 

I’ve torn down my old identity and entire sense of self and rebuilt a new version from the ashes of who I once was.

I’ve shared a bit about this process, how a lot of it revolved around SELF-ESTEEM and improving my concept of self.

Contrast can be an amazing teacher. When we experience things we do NOT want or like, it provides clarity and insight into what we DO want.

🌱You’ve got to CHOOSE growth 🔝
We can either go through life, or GROW through it. 🌱

Growth hurts. & it’s always worth it. It’s also never ending. 📈

Health is not a destination that you “arrive” to and stay. 📍

It’s a flowing, growing, shifting, seasonal journey. 🗺

This past year I’ve done some deep soul digging to rebuild my identity around fitness to be coming from a place of excitement and joy !

“The deeper your why, the higher you fly” 🦋

Ready to make the shift into Body neutral fitness? Apply for coaching HERE

Fitting in movement into your busy schedule

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#trainertips

✅ Schedule it in & Commit
When time is your biggest challenge when it comes to exercise, then knowing what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it is very important! At the beginning of each week, schedule your workouts like you schedule your meetings or appointments. Create a plan, know what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it, and commit! You can even have an alternative day to make up your workout if something does happen.

✅Morning or Earlier in the day workouts. Plan your workouts in the morning or during your lunch breaks. This way you dedicate that time for you before the day slips away. Being busy throughout the day usually leads to fatigue by the end of the day and can make commitments to workouts later in the day harder.

✅ Boost Your Daily Activities
Try giving some of your daily activities a boost to get your movement in. Take advantage of every situation. This can be parking a little farther from the grocery store, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking while chatting on the phone, or walking during meetings that you do not have to participate in.

✅ Change Your Mindset Around Movement
Movement should not be looked at as an activity that you dread or that takes over your life. We want to view movement as a GIFT to yourself not a chore. If you wake up and think “I don’t have time to workout today” you’re most likely not going to find the time to get it done. If you wake up thinking of it as a priority and how much better you’re going to feel after its done you are more likely to find the time.

✅ Make It Enjoyable
Do something that you actually enjoy. It’s easier to get something done when you like the activity. Focus on what makes you feel the best, helps you to reach your goals, and is rewarding for your mind and body.

What’s the #1 thing holding most back from their goals?

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Change of any kind intimidating and it may seem like you have a long way to go in achieving your goals…

Here are some tips for hacking consistency:

1️⃣Focus on 1-2 habits that you can easily commit to start. Get into the groove with them. Next, build one or two habits on top of those, this concept is called habit stacking.

Example: Two daily habits could be eating protein with almost every meal and getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Next you could focus on drinking water first thing before coffee and adding in a morning stretch routine.

Building on habits is what creates a routine.

A routine is what creates consistency. Consistency is what creates results.

This is why fad diets, 30 day challenges and 75 hard is a waste of your time. If it’s not based around your own individual health markers, lifestyle and goals, if it’s not teaching you about your own biofeedback and empowering you—You’re likely not gonna stick with it.

2️⃣Focus on what’s being added in and improved. Adding in more protein, more fruits and veggies, more movement etc. (not what’s being taken away or restrained.)

3️⃣However your path looks like on the journey to feeling better it should be rewarding and tied to deep personal meaning and intrinsic motivation.

4️⃣Self-Efficacy is the name of the game- building belief in oneself over time, creating a foundation of knowledge that is a sustainable lifestyle.

Consistency is everything— if what you’re currently doing is too difficult to stick with, it’s not YOU. It’s your approach.

Link for my 8 week foundations program ✌🏼💕

Why women who workout should NOT intermittent fast

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From a health standpoint, intermittent fasting is useful – especially for the general population who are not very active and struggling with metabolic diseases.

⚠️ However, if you’re adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise, you aren’t gaining any extra benefits.

❗️ In fact, if you’re a woman, adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise can be harmful to both your performance and your health. ❗️

💥 Women are more sensitive to kisspeptin, neuropeptide that’s responsible for sex hormones and endocrine and reproductive function. Diets such as intermittent fasting and keto disrupt kisspeptin production.

It comes down to kisspeptin, is a neuropeptide that’s responsible for sex hormones and endocrine and reproductive function, which also plays a significant role in maintaining healthy glucose levels, appetite regulation, and body composition. It’s also more sensitive in women than men. When it gets perturbed, our sex hormones aren’t produced and released the way we need them to be. 

Intermittent fasting and keto both disrupt kisspeptin production. When our brain perceives we have a deficiency in nutrients, especially carbohydrate, we have a marked reduction in kisspeptin stimulation, which not only increases our appetite, but also reduces our sensitivity to insulin. This is why research shows intermittent fasting is more likely to cause impaired glucose intolerance in women, but not men.

What happens when we layer exercise stress on top of the stress of denying our bodies an important fuel source? Stress hormones like cortisol rise even higher. As you keep increasing that stress, it keeps your sympathetic drive high and reduces your ability to relax. Your thyroid activity is depressed, which messes with your menstrual cycle. Your body also starts storing more belly fat.

So now you’re looking at disrupted menstrual cycles, higher anxiety and stress, impaired performance and often weight gain—pretty much the opposite of what you’re looking for!

The ketogenic diet has very similar effects on women athletes. We hear people rave about the increased mental focus with a keto diet. In men, yes. They have an increase in their parasympathetic (a.k.a. rest and digest) activity, so they can be more relaxed and present. In women, keto kicks up our sympathetic (a.k.a. fight or flight) drive, so we’re more anxious, more prone to being depressed, and we can’t sleep very well, which again hurts our hormonal health, performance, well being, and body composition.

Sometimes women will contend that these diets work so well for them. And they might for the first three months, because nearly any diet will yield some effects in the short term. The long term effects for women athletes, however, is endocrine dysfunction, increases in abdominal fat, more depression, and a backlash of subsequent fat gain.

Women athletes perform far better in a fed state. Women athletes need to eat. 

💥 The long term effects of intermittent fasting with exercise for women athletes is endocrine dysfunction, increases in abdominal fat, more depression, and subsequent fat gain.

Pretty much the opposite direction of your goals.

👇🏻LMK What’s your experience with IF?

SOURCE: https://www.drstacysims.com/

Resistance training with your monthly cycle

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Hey ladies🙋🏻‍♀️
Have you ever noticed that you feel different throughout the month during your workouts? 🏋🏻‍♀️

💥 MORE Energy? Stronger? Faster? Leaner?
🌧 Some days are you Less motivated? Experiencing More Fatigue? Gastric distress? Bloat?

It isn’t just in your head, as females, our body’s change week by week depending on where we are within our hormone cycle.

AND LADIES, your body doesn’t care how much you can deadlift or much rather prioritize strength and fat loss goals, when it is preparing to create a life. 💜

Here is what is going on during the the first two weeks of your cycle:

Follicular Phase (Days 1-14):

•Estrogen Increases
•Mood and Energy increase.
•More lean muscle mass
•Aerobic Capacity Increases.
•More Insulin sensitive.
•Strength and overall performance may increase.

This is when you can prioritize strength, power and explosive 🧨 training 💥! Heavy lifts, higher intensity workouts, all that jazz!

Here is what is going on during the different phases of your cycle:
Luteal Phase (Days 15-28):

•Estrogen decreases and Progesterone increases.
•Strength and overall performance may decrease a tad. (this is TEMPORARY).
•Fatigue and Mood may decrease
•Cravings might increase.
•Bloating and Water retention increase.
•Less Insulin Sensitive.

TLTR: When in the last two weeks of your cycle try more calming, restorative exercise like yoga, walking, hiking, accessory/mobility work during the second half.

This would be working WITH your physiology–not against it! 🤍

✌🏼Link in bio to apply for coaching

#onlinepersonaltrainer#fitness#trainwithyourcycle#onlinenutritioncoach
#womenshealth#hormones#fitness#womenarenotlittlemen
#fitness#womenshealth

Anti-diet culture is not the same thing as anti-dieting.

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Diet culture places value on our weight and size over our health. it promotes messaging that tells us what foods are “good” & what foods are “bad.” it glorifies restriction & willpower and ignores our wellbeing.⁣
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Diet culture is supported by a multi-billion dollar industry that pushes weight loss through every medium possible.⁣
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Diet culture tells both men & women that they are not small enough, strong enough, or lean enough. ⁣
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DIET CULTURE IS HARD TO IGNORE.⁣
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So, how can one be against diet culture but fine with a diet?⁣
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it starts with terminology >>⁣
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A DIET merely refers to the foods & drinks we habitually consume. a diet can be a specific, structured way of eating or just our normal daily intake.⁣
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The term “DIETING,” is often where the idea of weight loss comes into play. Dieting is (usually) used to describe eating with the purpose of losing weight, which requires a calorie deficit.⁣
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>> I am anti-diet culture because i believe that food is not meant to be associated with guilt and shame <<⁣
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I am anti-diet culture because i do not believe that reaching a specific weight, shape or size is ever more important than our physical or mental wellbeing. ⁣
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However, I do believe that it is ok to want to change your diet.⁣
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It is ok to have aesthetic goals, especially when we can learn to work towards them in a healthy & sustainable manner. ⁣
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It’s to want to shift from old negative eating patterns and thoughts to new behaviors that leave you fueled and healthy.⁣
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I believe that it is ok to want to look & feel your best & addressing your nutrition and relationship with food is often the best way to do so.⁣
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Your diet is not bad. restriction, shame, guilt, & obsession are 💥

Reposted from @klnutrition Be sure to give her a follow 🤎

#dietculturedropout#bodyneutrality#fitnessfriday#onlinenutritioncoach#onlinepersonaltrainer#onlinehealthcoach#newyorkfitness#nutritionist#nutritioncoach#dietculture#diet

Wellness Simplified Coaching with Meganmefit

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Megan offers an online fitness training program through Trainerize app, that involves movement screenings to address any muscle imbalances and individualized fitness programing specific to your goals, with detailed videos for demonstration, daily habit coaching, supplementation recommendations, weekly check-ins, mindset support & on-demand workout videos! everything you need for your success.

Nutritional Guidance-Megan uses a holistic approach to foods and Nutrition. Her philosophy is simple and easy to follow, by providing an education on how to nourish your body appropriately while enjoying your favorite foods. She reviews your food logs each week providing individualized guidance and support depending on your specific needs, creating an individualized Balanced nutrition program that is sustainable called Intentional nourishment. it is not about following “rules” or restrictions that create deprivation— we focus on creating healthy habits that facilitate lasting results.

I’ve been trying to find the words to market what I do with clients and while it’s an organic process that is unique to each individual, I believe the second slide describes the core elements of what we dive into together. 💕

This program has evolved so much since it launched in the the beginning of this year and I’m so proud of what we are accomplishing!

For more info check out my website http://www.Meganmefit.com &
my testimony highlight reel on profile to read more from past/current clients!

✌🏼Link to apply to coaching!

Industrial farming vs regenerative agriculture

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We’ve degraded the soil through industrial ag, turning millions of acres into dirt, not soil.

And growing food on dirt requires a lot of synthetic chemicals.

The more we implement these practices, & degrade soil biology, the more & more inputs we need to grow food.

External costs rise, profits of farmers dwindle, while the profits of agrochemical companies, like Bayer, rise.

These chemicals have severe environmental & human health consequences!

Intensive agriculture near the Mississippi River, for ex, has led to fertilizers leeching into the river, & ultimately the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a huge oxygen-deprived dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

A new report by USGS, National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project, reveals the presence of pesticides is widespread in U.S. rivers & streams, with almost 90% of water samples containing at least 5+ pesticides.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention says Americans now have an average of 43 different pesticides in their bloodstreams.

We can grow food without these nasty chemicals, but this requires working with nature & restoring the soil biology with regenerative agriculture practices.

Regenerative ag refers to a set of farming practices with the main goal of improving soil health. Some of these practices include holistic planned grazing, biodynamic farming, permaculture, agroforesty, silvopasture, integrated livestock crop management, & diverse cover cropping. The strategy selected for a given farm depends on the farmer’s goals & what makes sense to the farm’s ecosystem & location.

These practices leverage the power of photosynthesis to close the carbon cycle & restore the balance between carbon in the atmosphere & carbon stored in the soil.

In proper functioning soil, plants intake carbon from the atmosphere, convert it into sugars, & then pump some of the sugars through their roots to feed microorganisms that use the carbon to build soil.

In exchange for these sugars, the microorganisms (that are not “fed” & are killed off by industrial ag practices) send water & a wide array of nutrients back to the plant. A beautiful symbiotic relationship, how nature intended.

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