Hi hi! Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? The girls have a sleepover, back-to-back birthday parties, and I’m teaching a barre class. I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend ahead. 🙂
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I love hearing about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.
Life/random:
We went to Phoenix last weekend for a Wing awards ceremony. I love little getaways to Phoenix because it’s super close, and they have amazing shopping, restaurants, and new spots to check out.
I mentioned that my dress from RTR was a fail, but lulus saved the day.
(I’m LOVING RTR Unlimited for everyday things, but I need to remember that for formal events, the sizing from lulus is always consistent.)
We went to the event, which was gorgeous and gave us the chance to catch up with friends we haven’t seen in years. While we were at the ceremony, the girls were upstairs in our hotel room with our babysitter, enjoying room service and living their best lives.
The next morning, we went on a hike at Camelback Mountain via Echo Trail. I didn’t bring any of our gear since it was a one-night trip, but should have absolutely brought hiking shoes and the girls’ Camelbacks. They always surprise me because they NEVER want to stop or turn around, but we had to persuade them to turn back when it got very steep and we were in regular sneakers. We’ll absolutely go back to this one!
We also went to Pangea Land of the Dinosaurs mostly because I hate dinosaurs and the girls get a kick out of it. 10/10 do not recommend. The ticket prices were very high for such a small exhibit and it was minimally impressive (and not even scary for me lol).
We got Flower Child on the way home (the best!!!) and still had the rest of Sunday evening to catch up on life and chill.
Fashion + beauty:
Do you have plans next Wednesday night? Join us for a Beautycounter Galentine’s Zoom event! We’ll sharing our fave products and LOTS of amazing prizes up for grabs. Let me know if you can make it and I’ll send over the Zoom info. We’d love to see you there!
LOVE these Beyond Yoga sets. The fabric is insanely soft and I like the material even better than lululemon align. (The tank is supposed to be crop, but when you are a short person with a short torso, it ends up looking like a leotard situation, but I still like it.)
Maisey’s coat has been dry and itchy, so I ordered this omega oil from Thrive Market. (<— my link gets you 40% off your first order.) The funny thing is that I didn’t think the dogs would like the flavor – I thought I might need to pair it with something else- but they go bonkers for it. They eat it straight-up! I’m hoping it helps, but if you use a dog food that helps with itchiness and shiny coats, please spread the love in the comments section.
I’m also exploring the idea of making some of the dogs’ food here at home if you have any resources!
Today we’re going to tell you exactly how to restart your fitness journey.
Whether this is the first time you’ve had to “respawn” or the 50th, you’re in the right place.
We help folks restart their exercise or nutrition routines as part of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program…and we’re really freaking good at it! Today, we’ll share with you the same strategies we deploy with them.
Look at your list: this is a combination of variables that don’t work for your lifestyle.
IMPORTANT POINT: Learning from the millions of people that have come through Nerd Fitness over the past decade, my guess is that your experiment didn’t work out for one of two reasons:
#1) Your goals were too vague:
“I should exercise more this year” – For how long? How often? What kind of exercise?
#2) You tried to change ALL the things:
Eat 1,800 calories a day – instead of your normal 3,000.
Go running 5 days a week – when you don’t exercise at all now.
Get 8 hours of sleep a night – when a normal night is 5.
So instead of turning your Fitness Switch “Off” from this unrealistic pace, maybe you just turn it down to a “5” so you can keep going:
STEP 3: CHANGE A VARIABLE IN YOUR EXPERIMENT
You’re reading this guide, which would lead me to believe you’re interested in trying again to lose weight and get in shape.
To avoid getting the same results, we need to change the variables in the experiment to try and get different results.
You know…
For your next attempt consider adjusting one of the following variables.
Remember, any good experiment has accurate measurements for their changing factors! You don’t just put “some uranium” in a nuclear reactor. You know the exact amount.
We need to be exact with your variables.
Let me give you some suggestions:
#1) Change the exercise variable:
Did you actually enjoy the exercise you attempted? If you discovered that you hate running, great! Never do that again. “Exercise sucks,” so I would pick something you actually enjoy.
#2) Try a substitution rather than addition:
ADDING a brand new exercise routine into a busy schedule can be really challenging. Fortunately, you can focus on substituting or adding in a way that doesn’t take up more time: nutrition! How you eat is 80-90% of the weight-loss equation, and you’re already eating every day. So focus on substituting a vegetable for fries once a week, or swapping sparkling water for soda. You can also keep a food journal and change up your breakfast twice a week.
#3) Adjust your “win scenario”:
I get it. You were able to train in your home gym for the first few weeks of this year, going for at least an hour.
But THEN…work got busy. And you only had 30 minutes, which wasn’t enough time to get through your workout. So why not set the win scenario at “30 minutes,” or “15 minutes,” or just “1 exercise”? Lower the bar!
This is a 10-year journey we’re on here, so the exercise itself is not nearly as important as building a routine of working out that fits into your life. Lower the bar for what a “win” scenario is.
Example: if you roll out your yoga mat for 1 set of 1 exercise, it counts as a win. Doesn’t matter if did a full hour workout or just a 5 minute set of push-ups.
It all counts.
Remember, we just don’t want your Fitness Dial hitting “0.”
STEP 4: RESPAWN, GET BACK IN THE FIGHT
When you play a challenging video game, you’re going to die. A lot. (I died literally thousands when playing Hollow Knight, one of my favorite games in recent memory).
What happens after you die in a game?
You respawn, and try again!
You’ve learned a new tactic or pattern. You have a new technique. You’ve uncovered a secret. Or you’ve just gotten better. So you try, again.
And again.
And again.
And when you finally succeed?
Nirvana. Adulation. Pure joy.
There’s no shame in failing when it comes to weight loss. We have hundreds of stories of people who kept failing, but kept reading and trying, and then finally – something clicked.
Focus on building the routine by making the ‘win scenario’ super small.
Write down your plan, and start executing.
STEP 5: SUPERCHARGE YOUR RESULTS
I know hacking your experiments to get better data isn’t exactly “scientifically smart” or “morally responsible,” but I’m the one writing this guide and I have more important stuff to say. So you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
Once you start your new experiment, here’s how you can stack the deck in your favor:
#1) Write everything down. Write down your workouts. Write down what you eat. Treat it like a science experiment, and you’re collecting data! Plan ahead. Be PRO-active (“I will do Strength Training Workout A at 4pm and tonight I’ll have roasted chicken and bacon-wrapped asparagus) instead of RE-active (“What should I do for exercise right now?” and “Ah, what’s for dinner? Oooh, Burger King!”)
Coach Staci provides some additional tips in the video How a Journal Can Help Us Make Our Goals:
#2) Recruit allies to your team. Don’t go this alone, as you’re more likely to succeed based on the people you spend time with and hang around. So recruit allies. Start spending more time with healthy people that empower you (even virtually), rather than unhealthy people that enable you and drag you down. Join a running group online. Find a lifting “accountabilibuddy,” or someone you can check in with.
#3) Hire a professional.
There are two types of coaches worth the investment:
An in-person trainer if you are looking to supercharge your form on specific exercises like Olympic lifts, squats, deadlifts, etc. An in-person trainer can be good for people that need the accountability of somebody they’ve paid to meet them in the gym. Although to be honest, with the ongoing pandemic, gym availability and safety can be hit or miss.
An online coach that represents mobile, worldwide accountability. I’ve had a coach for 7A years and it’s changed my life. Knowing that I have a workout and nutrition strategy to follow each day is game-changing.
As Coach Matt explains below, sometimes “outsourcing” help can be a real game-changer when trying to get in shape (or back in shape):
GET BACK IN THE FIGHT
An old mandrill named Rafiki once taught me: “Yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.”
Okay maybe he taught that to Simba in The Lion King, but I too learned the same lesson:
TO RECAP:
#1) Forgive yourself. You wouldn’t talk to somebody else the way you talk to yourself. So have some freaking compassion! You’re trying.
#2) Identify what experiment you JUST tried. Write down what you believe went wrong over the past few weeks. Congrats – you found a strategy that doesn’t work.
#3) Pick a new path, try a different variable. A good scientist meticulously tracks their data and writes down their hypothesis. I would change one of the following:
Nutrition: change less. If you couldn’t stick with a diet for 3 weeks, it was too restrictive. Try a different path. For help, check out our Guide to Healthy Eating. It’s designed to build on one small tiny improvement over time.
Win scenario: don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.”
#4) And then try again.
Oh, and for #5 (“Supercharge your results”), I have two perfect ways to help you respawn today:
A) If you want step-by-step guidanceon how to lose weight, eat better, and get stronger, check out our killer1-on-1 coaching program.
Many of our clients kept respawning for years, and it was only when working with a trained professional that they finally learned how to maintain progress.
B) If you want an exact blueprint for getting in shape, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Plus, there’s a nice shiny button you can press so you can respawn in our app whenever you want! No judgement, restart whenever.
Sharing a dairy-free and gluten-free recipe for Mediterranean egg bites. Try this as a high-protein meal prep option!
Hey hey! How’s the week going? I hope you’re having a great one so far! It’s been busy as usual – lots of amazing discovery calls for our new nutrition program – but I’m looking forward to some weekend fun with the crew. 🙂
For today’s post, I’m excited to share a recipe that we’ve all been enjoying lately: Mediterranean egg bites. I made a batch as part of meal prep and they made amazing quick breakfast and lunchtime staples. (I love them in a Siete almond flour tortilla!) They freeze beautifully and the kids loved them, too.
(I would be happy to say that Maisey didn’t try any of these, but she might have stolen one or four from the countertop.)
When I have a savory and protein-packed breakfast, I feel more satisfied throughout the morning and don’t feel like I crave sweets or sugar as much throughout the day. This is a great meal idea for metabolic flexibility and you could just enjoy the egg bites first before heading into fruit or oatmeal as a full breakfast.
Mediterranean egg bites (gluten-free and dairy-free)
Ingredients:
– 3 cloves of minced garlic
– 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
– 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
– 6 whole eggs
– 1/4 cup almond milk
– 1/4 cup gluten-free all purpose baking flour
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
– 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
– 1/3 cup kalamata olives
– 1/3 cup grated vegan parmesan (I LOVE Violife)
– Avocado oil for greasing the muffin tins
Instructions:
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 12 standard muffin tin with avocado oil.
Step 2:
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and then gently stir in the remaining ingredients.
Step 3:
Evenly distribute the mix into the 12 muffin spots in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and set.
Step 4:
Cool completely before serving, otherwise they get stuck in the muffin tin.
Tips for freezing egg muffins:
– Make sure to let them cool completely before freezing. Once they reach room temperature, gently remove from the muffin tin and place into a resealable Ziploc bag before freezing.
– To reheat, just pop them onto a glass plate and microwave for about 20 seconds.
How to customize egg bites:
– This recipe is super flexible and easy to customize depending on your family’s preferences.
– Feel free to add in basil, mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers, anything you like! Just made sure that you have 2/3 cup add-in ingredients – otherwise the egg to add-in ratio will be off.
– If you don’t have parmesan and want to use another cheese, try adding in 1/3 cup feta. I didn’t use the Violife feta to this recipe before it tends to get a little watery when it bakes.
Another tip:
You CAN use muffin tin liners but I find that with egg bites, it tends to make them a little soggy. The best method I’ve tried is to use a greased muffin tin and let them cool before serving.
Here’s the full recipe if you’d like to give them a whirl!
Sharing a dairy-free and gluten-free recipe for Mediterranean egg bites. Try this as a high-protein meal prep option!
Author:Gina Harney // The Fitnessista
Ingredients
– 3 cloves of minced garlic
– 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
– 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
– 6 whole eggs
– 1/4 cup almond milk
– 1/4 cup gluten-free all purpose baking flour
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
– 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
– 1/3 cup kalamata olives
– 1/3 cup grated vegan parmesan (I LOVE Violife)
– Avocado oil for greasing the muffin tins
Instructions
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 12 standard muffin tin with avocado oil.
Step 2:
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and then gently stir in the remaining ingredients.
Step 3:
Evenly distribute the mix into the 12 muffin spots in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and set.
Step 4:
Cool completely before serving, otherwise they get stuck in the muffin tin.
xoxo
Gina
More of my favorite prep-ahead breakfast options:
The original breakfast cookie! The girls and I had these for weekday breakfasts last week and they were a huge hit. (I mean, anything is a hit when it has a chocolate chip smiley face.)
Sharing some fitness tips for busy moms today. SO many of us are juggling work, kids, life, and it can feel overwhelming.
Hi friends! How’s the week treating ya? I have 1:1 client calls all day today and am excited to meet up with a friend for a morning workout.
For today’s post, I wanted to put together a roundup of tips for my busy mom friends out there. I know that my mama friends have to think about so many things and juggle a variety of tasks throughout the week, and it can be hard for moms to focus on their own self-care and fitness.
In today’s post, I’m sharing some practical tips on how to make fitness a part of life despite busy schedules.
Fitness Tips For Busy Moms
Wake up early… if you can
For my friends out there who can be early birds, this is your time to shine. For all of my friends who are fellow night owls, this one may not work so well. This also may not work if your sleep quality is terrible, or you’re up frequently throughout the night feeding, changing diapers, or comforting from bad dreams. I’m a big believer that sleep ALWAYS wins. If you’re exhausted, take the time to rest and recover. If you try to power though a workout (particularly something high intensity), it’s only going to spike your cortisol, make you feel more stressed, and chances are that you won’t have a great workout, anyway.
If you’re sleeping well throughout the night and enjoy making time for fitness in the am, set your alarm before the kids are awake. It can be pretty amazing to crush your workout early in the morning before the crew is up.
Break up your workouts
Don’t be afraid to split up your workouts into multiple time blocks throughout the day. Before I had kids, I had a mentality that if it wasn’t a full hour workout that left me sweating from my eyeballs, it didn’t count. Little bits of movement throughout the day absolutely add up. You could split your workout into 10-minute blocks: 10 minutes of strength training, 10 minutes of cardio, 10 minutes of core work and stretching for 30 minutes of total exercise time.
I share more ideas on how to do this in this post. It’s also important to note here that overall daily movement is HUGE and it’s a pretty active time of life when you’re chasing a crawling toddler around the house all day.
Stay flexible
Something that helped me dramatically in ALL aspects of child raising: drop your expectations. If you have high expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I went into each walk with the stroller knowing it could either last an hour, or 5 minutes. I was mentally ready for any situation. 😉 Don’t be afraid to switch things up as needed, and to shift and adjust plans depending on what’s going on.
Don’t be afraid to include the kids
I used to think that working out had to be a thing I did solo, away from the crew. I didn’t want the kids to think I was ignoring them. And then the world shut down. I switched to home workouts for over a year, and for a vast majority of that time, the kids were home with me. I quickly learned that they LOVED joining in for streaming yoga, kickboxing, and dance cardio classes. And then when they got bored, they’d go find from toys to play with, a coloring book, or LEGO set.
Now, I’m always happy when the kids see me taking time for a short On Demand or garage strength training workout. They see me taking time for myself to do something that makes me feel good, and I’m glad to set that example.
(The BEST lil hiking buddies)
Hydrate
It’s easy to underestimate the importance of hydration, especially when you’re busy with kiddos. Aim to drink at least half your bodyweight in ounces each day. (For example, if you weight 160 lbs, aim for 80oz of water.) Have a water bottle you love and can with you throughout the day. Adequate hydration can have a positive impact on our skin, hunger levels, digestion, immune function, and metabolism. Bottoms up, buttercup!
Ask for help
It’s SO hard to ask for help, but always worth it. You don’t have to do everything on your own. Ask your partner if they’d mind watching the kid(dos) while you catch a workout class, a long walk, or take a nap. 😉 If you have the resources to hire an occasional babysitter, if can give you an opportunity and space to do things you may not be able to otherwise.
Plan ahead
I’m a huge fan of planning ahead, with the expectation that plan B or Plan Q might need to occur. Take some time each week to set a rough schedule, outline priorities, and see what workouts you can plan in advance. (Even if you don’t have a set time, you could put something like “am walk” so you know you’ll go for a walk sometime in the morning.)
Plan any meals you can in advance
It’s always tricky to open the fridge and see a ton of ingredients, but no actual meals. Take some time to plan out meals each week, even if it’s just some breakfast staples (hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, etc), lunch staples (salads, soups) and dinners. If you need help with your meal planning game, I have a free download here with my method, plus a weekly planner and bonus recipes.
Meal prep over the weekend
Take some time over the weekend to set yourself up for success. I love to chop some veggies each week (big sheet pans of roasted veggies to add to scrambles, wraps, and salads), proteins (eggs, chicken breasts, turkey meatballs, etc) and batch-cook grains, like brown rice or baked oatmeal. Figure out which staples you love to have on hand, and take an hour or so to prep some faves for the week ahead.
Opt for convenience options as needed
Anything you can do to make your life easier: dooooooo it. If you can’t find time to batch cook chicken, buy the chicken that’s already cooked and sliced. No time to hard-boil eggs? Buy the ones already boiled and peeled. Don’t want to chop a bunch of veggies? Go for pre-chopped. See which staples you’d love to have but don’t have time to make, and treat yourself to the already-prepped versions.
Create a routine that makes you feel excited
It’s SO much easier to stay motivated and consistent when you have a routine you truly enjoy. You should look forward to your workouts and eats — if you don’t, it will be so much harder to stick with it for the long haul. If you’re feeling blah about your routine and want to try something new, join us for Fit Team! LOTS of group accountability and the workouts are fire.
Have grace and remember that it’s a short amount of time
Remember that it’s ok for your relationship with fitness and your priorities to change after having kids.
I feel like the gym used to be a huge part of my life – I was training and teaching constantly – and now, it’s something I’m IN, OUT and DONE. I take a very limited amount of in-person clients and only currently teach two classes per week. I don’t want to miss out on adventures with the kids, so I’ve learned to make my personal fitness routine very short and effective.
Your fitness mojo will ebb and flow over time, and that’s ok!
If your goal is to lose weight or lose body fat after babies, remember that slow and steady always wins. Give yourself time and focus on slow and sustainable habits. If you’re postpartum, focus on healing your body; it’s been through a huge athletic event.
If you’re in a part of life where you’re like “This is not a huge priority for me right now,” give yourself grace. Instead, aim for movement throughout the day (walks, stretching) and nutrition that energizes you. Nap when you can, enjoy the snuggles, and know that it goes super quickly. Liv is 10 and I can’t even believe it.
So tell me, friends: any fitness tips you can share for busy moms? You always have such great ideas.
How has your relationship with fitness changed since having kids?
This 20-minute barre burner targets the muscles in your lower body and core, and will light.them.up. Check it out below and lemme know if you try it!
Hey hey!
For today’s post, I have an all-new barre workout for you! This one is short – perfect to squeeze in a quick afternoon workout – but spicy. This lower body barre workout with weights will target the muscles in your lower body, particularly your quads, inner thighs, booty, and core.
Print Recipe
