Episode 27: Little Tweaks Make A Big Difference

Ever feel like you’re trying REALLY hard to get results and yet it’s not happening? You may be putting all of your effort focusing on the wrong things. Getting the results you want doesn’t always mean pushing harder. If you’re not getting the results you want or it feels really hard, it’s time to take a step back to make sure you’re addressing what really matters. In this episode, I talk about why focusing on calories may be getting in the way of getting the results you want and little tweaks you can start making today to feel better physically and mentally!

Ready to start making simple changes, here’s where you can start:

• Sign up for my free One Month Life Boost Challenge
• Get a free copy of my Life Boost Troubleshoot Guide
• Schedule a complimentary one hour walk and talk!

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn!
Learn more about how I can help you here!
I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Music: “Play Thing” by Ketsa
From Free Music Archive

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. I am a certified health and life coach, not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Please consult with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your physical or mental health routines. If you are experiencing a crisis, seek help from a qualified professional or contact emergency services.

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! 

To learn more about my approach and the programs and free resources available to support you, visit my website: www.lifeboost.today

I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Transcript

0:01

Hey life booster. This is Dr. Amelia health coach and veterinarian here to help you ditch yo-yo dieting people, pleasing and perfectionism by breaking the norm and living a life that energizes you from within. So I am feeling hyper and happy this morning. I just finished a really great lower body workout that I kinda made up myself. and it was one where I just felt like my glutes were so engaged and. Getting stronger. And if you've listened to some of my other podcasts, you may know that some of my favorite workout moves or exercises tend to be lower body focused. I just enjoy them more. Um, it's also an area that I'm always working on, really working on balancing and making sure that like all of the muscle is firing appropriately for stress. And, so just to give you a heads up, this is not, this is not a talk about strength workouts specifically, but it is about how a little tweaks can make a big difference. So back to what I was saying, I. Really liked to do lower body strength workouts. Mainly because I suffered with a lot of hip and glute imbalances and I used to just be. Like I ran every single day and, um, it didn't really do any other strength training. I didn't do yoga or anything. I just loved to run. I still absolutely love running, but I have learned that balance is a good thing. I've learned that in many areas of life. so I initially, only running hard every single day. Led me to. Like quite literally crash and burn. And like, ultimately I ran a marathon, even though I was having huge knee pain and it band issues. but you know, I had set that goal and I'm stubborn when that happens and I didn't really mind that it hurt a little bit as long as I could physically run. So I did the marathon and my body responded by saying. You know what we tried to tell you to slow down and you didn't listen, you ran a freaking marathon. So now this is. How you're going to pay for that. And, I could not run after and I could barely walk. I was like lumping at the walk, so message received body. that led me to really not be able to run for like at least a year. And I tried all sorts of things. Um, eventually acupuncture helped me and I was forced to learn the value of flexibility in yoga and. Strength training and balance. So now that is one of the reasons why I'm always really interested in, glute strength is because that is just at the core of. Just experiencing life in a comfortable way and being able to run. And I'm still really working on just making sure that my muscles are very balanced before I, start to think about adding back mileage with running right now. I just go for like a couple mile run sometimes. the other reason that I like lower body workouts is because it's for vanity reasons. I mean, Like to have glutes that look good on her strong. So, um, it's really a win-win. So with the glue strengthening, there's a common thing that a lot of people, I think experience, cause we just sit so much and like our hip flexors are really tight, that we're not really getting all of our muscle fibers. Firing the right way. And our glutes aren't really working optimally. And so what I've experienced before is that you can be doing the work and putting in a lot of effort and doing the glute exercises and moves. And yet really not seeing my. In terms of results. And that can be super frustrating. And that is because like, if you're not. Engaging the muscles that you want or if there are imbalances that is going to prevent you from achieving your goals, even though you're working really hard. And so what I have continued to discover, it's an area that I'm always researching and looking for new ways of engaging, like. And doing the best exercises. There are really small tweaks that make all the difference. And recently I found her name is Alison Marie. Um, I think on Instagram, she's Alison Marie PhD. And she has a lot of really awesome videos on, activating different muscles that are helpful for running. And she had the. Seven day glute accelerator program with some super helpful videos that just, they were little exercises that really made a huge difference in terms of like helping to really, lengthen the muscle during exercises, at the hinge that was something kind of new where it's not when you're flexing the muscle, but. Um, like for example, when you're down in a squat or if you're hindering, like really focusing on stretching, that muscle really helps you to be able to contract it better after. So that was super helpful. And then there were also some rotating moves that really helped me so much. And so I created my hone little variation of a Bulgarian split squat that included some of those. And, it was just a great one. So that just got me thinking about, how exciting it is that sometimes it truly is just like the smallest tweak cut that can make the biggest difference. I can relate to just always thinking, well, I just have to work harder if I want to get these results. but that's not always the case. And this is a great example of if I was just putting more and more weight and thinking, that that's what I had to do or working out harder really, that would just end up getting me burnt out and injured and not helping me to achieve my goals. And the same thing works when it comes to weight loss school. All right. And your energy and having enough energy for your crazy life. And that's the big thing I see so many people just working. So. Hard. Like you're trying everything. You're meticulously counting calories. You're trying every single diet, you're killing yourself at the gym and you're not getting results. Like you're still exhausted. And then you have no energy to keep up because like life gets stressful. That's just, it's a horrible cycle. Stuck in when you're just like I've, I've tried and I'm exhausted. And I don't know what else to do. That's when it really is about slowing down a little bit and looking at what you're doing and why it might not be working and how you can make some tweaks. So, when are you are just focusing on calories in calories out that is like just continuing to add more and more weight when you aren't doing the exercise right in the first place. When you're not even engaging the muscles that you want to be strengthening. You can be consuming the same amount of calories. And if you make tweaks to your meals, for example, your breakfast, then you will. Experience a massive transformation in the way that your body is responding to those calories, because we are not this little like closed system in a lab where all that matters is the calories as measured by like when you are burning something the. Amount of calories. It takes in order to increase the water temperature by a degree. So like what part of that sounds like your body, right? Like the, that may be the only thing that is getting measured in a laboratory, but our bodies respond to calories in a much different way because it's not just like this. Little calorie that's coming in, it's in the form of food. And that food comes with fiber, protein, fat sugars, and all of those things, our body responds to in a different way, like their gut microbes digest them differently. Some of that is food for them. Some of it is really bad and encouraging the bad guys that we don't want. Our hormones respond in a different way. These are different building blocks and molecules for our body. And to pretend that those calories all have the exact same impact on our body is completely flawed. That is incorrect. It not only impacts your weight, but it impacts the way that you feel physically and mentally, and it influences and can be the difference between just having to white, knuckle it and rely on willpower when you're just focusing on calories or finally completely feeling in control and confident and satisfied and energized because the food that you're putting into your body. Giving you what you need. So even if you are eating the same amount of calories, if you tweak what those calories are for your breakfast, so that your blood sugar is stable and you don't experience a huge spike and crash, you will start to get results. You will start to experience. Physically and mentally changes that feel really amazing. And that's even if you're consuming the same amount of calories, that's what I want to really help you to see. I know that our society has just drilled in you that it's all about calories and that that's what it takes and that you have to just try harder and harder and that if you're not getting the. Then you're lazy or you just don't have enough discipline and willpower or motivation. That's not true if you're not getting results and you're working hard or it just feels like it's way too intimidating because you've tried so many times and you just haven't been able to get results. I promise. It's not you it's just that you've been doing what you've been told that what our society has been telling you, and that has not been the right. That's not, it has not been what your body actually needs. So little tweaks make a big difference. One thing that is on my mind right now is blood sugar, because I have a continuous glucose monitor right now, which is a really awesome tool for learning more about my body right now I can in real time, see exactly what my blood sugar is doing in response to food, sleep stress. The order that I'm eating things, it's just a really cool tool. And I'm also reading another book on blood sugar. Called the glucose revolution. I'm constantly reading about. Blood sugar and levels. Health is another really great resource. They do a lot with continuous glucose monitors. It's just a really an exciting area. And I truly think that every single person should at least once use a continuous glucose monitor. They last for two weeks. In order to see what your blood sugar is doing throughout the day. I think that if everybody did that, just like, as part of your annual exam, we would be able to dramatically decrease the rate of diabetes and prediabetes in this country. It would be so easy. So. Blood sugar regulation is really key because if you are experiencing low energy, if you tend to be absolutely starving, shortly after eating a meal, if you experienced mood swings, if you. Really working on trying to lose weight and you're just, it nothing's working. if you experience intense sugar cravings, if you sometimes get light headed, if you haven't had a snack or you feel like you just have to like constantly snack throughout the day in order to have enough energy, if you always need coffee in the afternoon, if any of those things sound familiar. Then there's a really good chance your blood sugar is going on a roller coaster ride throughout the day. And that is not serving. Because if every time you're eating your blood sugars, having a huge spike and then a crash, that is what is going to mess up your hormones. It's going to put your body in fat storage mode. If you're constantly having, your body release insulin, it's going to make it so that You're not getting the satiety, feelings, and you're just always feeling like you need more calories. it's really just not gonna set you up for success. Unfortunately, the breakfasts that are the norm in this country. Are a great way of totally spiking your blood sugar and causing a massive crash. And that doesn't just influence your morning. That impacts the way that your blood sugar responds to your other meals that day. And that is just setting you up for a day of intense sugar cravings. And. being hungry and just feeling like you have to rely on willpower in order to adhere to a diet. So let's think about some of the common breakfasts bagels, cereal cereal, usually with like low fat or skim milk. donuts, really carb heavy. Breakfasts with a side of sugar often, that is just going to not give you any stable blood sugar at all. Versus if you made a tweak to your breakfast, you could really decrease your blood sugar spike, and that would dramatically influence the way that you felt throughout the day. So what can you do really? Prioritizing vegetables is the key to helping your blood sugar to be stable. It's also great for your gut health. If having veggies at breakfast makes you uncomfortable. Um, I would say. Urge you to explore that and give it a try. but really prioritizing protein and healthy fats in your meals also are going to be hugely hot. So if you are really trying more for the savory back breakfast, like an egg mug. So I've talked about this before, but if you just spray a little mug, put an egg, or two in there, put like a tablespoon of water, microwave it for a minute, scramble it up. You're good to go. You can add some salsa, add some avocado. That's going to be an amazing brand. Um, is that keel bread or I guess as the way you. Um, with avocado or peanut butter that would probably be good for you if you wanted to have like some smoked salmon, on some greens with some avocado, just playing around, you can even just like have some leftovers if you've had like some chicken or veggies, that type of thing. If you had something like that for breakfast. Well, you would notice a massive change and your energy and your cravings throughout the day. You'd also just, your brain would be so much more focused If even that sounds hard. in this book that I'm reading. glucose revolution. She talks about a really cool hack and with experimenting with my continuous glucose monitor, I can see as well that that does work, is that if you change the order that you're eating food, you can decrease the spike in blood sugar. So if you eat veggies first and then you have your. Protein and healthy fats. And then you have carbs at the end. You'll have a much lower blood sugar spike than if you were to. the carbs first. So if you are wanting to have a donut, if you could have at least some eggs, maybe some avocado or extra Virgin olive oil, or if you could have like some greens dressed with some extra Virgin olive oil, something before you had the donut, if you could. Add something then that could have an amazing impact. And then you're also adding some plants again, great for gut health. So that is something where at the very least, in terms of small changes, if you're just changing the order that you're eating things, that alone could have a huge impact on how you feel throughout the day. Now. I had another amazing way of helping to stabilize your blood sugar would be to go for a walk after you eat. that is such a simple thing. Like, even if you're getting out for 10 minutes, um, you know, like ideally it would be 30, but even if you're moving at all, um, after then that can also dramatically decrease the spike in. Sugar, and that would have an amazing impact in your day. So just little things that you can add that aren't necessarily, super hard, but we'll just help you start getting results. because your body needs a break from insulin and it needs a break to be able to start burning some of the, glucose that gets stored as. So that your body goes into fat burning mode. and you also with stable blood sugar are just going to, finally be feeling satisfied and your sugar cravings are going to disappear. So it's just a magical domino effect there. Now, if you are feeling overwhelmed and you just want to test out like some little. Swaps or little tweaks that could have a really huge impact on the results that you're getting. Here are three options for you. One is, starting may. I'm going to have a free one month life boost challenge. And it is specifically for if you have a crazy busy life and you just need something super simple, you just need somebody to show you. That you can in fact, make healthy changes even when life is insane. So what I'll do is every week, I'll just send you one thing to focus on that's gonna make a huge impact and it's going to be easy. Okay. So that's the first option that you can sign up for. You can either use the link in the caption, or you can find a link on my, link tree. So if you follow the link in my bio on Instagram, at life boost with. The next thing that you can do. And I strongly recommend is to use my free life boost, troubleshoot guide. It's just seven days of simple exercises. That's going to help you to look at the three life boost BS and the three life boost ELs. So the life boost bees are. Belly meaning gut health and brain. Those are the three things that if you're not getting the results you want, at least one of those is absolutely getting in the way and I'll help you figure out which one that is. We'll also look at the three life boosts, ELs. Those are the things that are key for creating sustainable results. That's love, you have to love what you're doing and the way it's making you feel lifestyle. It has to fit in and be easy and doable for your life. And long-term or all about long-term results, right? So the life boost troubleshoot guide is an amazing way to get you to really look at your life and to gain clarity on what you need to do next. Finally, I am doing walk and talks. So if you just need somebody to talk to about where you're feeling stuck, if you want to. Have me help you troubleshoot and to give you a simple thing, in a very customized way, and you literally, and figuratively want to move forward. You can set up a call. We'll talk on the phone while we both go for a walk together and I will help you to figure out exactly what you can do. A little tweak to start getting results. So. Reach out to me. If you want any of those, I'll leave links in the caption as well. You can find links in my bio on Instagram. Okay. Little tweaks, make all the difference. I promise. Cheers to your inevitable health, happiness, and success.