Strong & Simple Podcast

8 Tips for Navigating Holiday Events

Hey Strong and Simple peeps! Bringing you an episode after this long hiatus that is actually a recording from Michelle for her Countdown to 2024 Challenge folks last weekend. Thought this could help all of you too, so wanted to share! If this episode is helpful to you, please share with your friends and family and on your social media!  We have some amazing episodes loading for 2024, so if you've missed us, don't worry, we're coming back! If you're interested in jumping into the challenge, we have 3 more weeks to go!  Find out all the details ⁠HERE⁠ [https://www.michellefarrellcoaching.com/holiday-challenge] ------------------- From the Countdown to 2024 Challenge: It's the first weekend of December and that means we are really ramping up to a solid month of quite likely nonstop holiday gatherings; with family, with friends, and even with co-workers. I used spend the holidays (and most other days TBH) white knuckling my way around food. Starving before events or dinners to save up calorie for the big meals and then ending up feeling full of shame at my lack of "will power" around foods when I eventually overate and stuffed myself - because I was so damn hungry! I would eventually find myself mindlessly grazing or full on binging on foods I thought were off limit foods that I restricted from myself. This would then lead back into a restriction cycle and so on until I just knew something had to give. And the thing that gave was letting go of dieting and a never ending pursuit of intentional weight loss. Shedding, unpacking, and unlearning years of diet messaging, disordered patterns of eating and binge eating tendencies is not an overnight task. It is an ongoing practice and learning experience to let go of perfectionism and treat yourself with compassion and care as opposed to punishment and shame. So what if you are new to this? What if this holiday season is the first one or even the first time you are wanting to stop the cycle and shift to an intuitive, mindful and compassionate relationship with food? First, pat yourself on your back, because you’re here for the countdown to 2024 challenge - which is already a great step to supporting yourself not falling into the holiday diet cycle! The most important thing is to be patient with yourself and remind yourself this is a practice and it is not about perfection. In fact, one of the reasons it is so hard to shift away from diets is because we have been so conditioned to follow a concrete set of rules that we can feel quite untethered and even dysregulated without the hard core structure of a diet. We can find it hard to trust ourselves and our bodies. To help you with some structure and guidance, I have jotted down 8 tips to support you as you navigate the next few weeks (and beyond.). There is no stop date this - because it is a practice for life. And again, these are suggestions - there is no right or wrong!

To Take the Rest Day.... or Not?

Some days we just don't feel like exercising - this is totally normal! But how do we find that line between recognizing when we should be taking a rest day, when we should just do the thing and the days when we just check the box. Because we are surrounded by so much toxicity in the fitness world we can often feel guilt and shame when we take a day off - even when we're sick! In this episode, Michelle shares a recent experience with triaging whether to take a rest day or just go and do the thing! She disusses: * the difference between movement, working out, and training * Why "motivation" is often missing when it comes to wanting to workout or train * Why action is more important than motivation, especially when we have specific goals we are working towards * Questions to ask yourself on days when you don't feel like working out/training * Reasons you SHOULD rest and recover * Reasons why you might want to just go ahead and train - even if you don't feel like it. Like most things, there is so much nuance and grey when it comes to this topic, even though social media wants to polarize it. Ultimately, to work out or not is your choice, but having strategies to navigate towards a place of empowerment not shame or punishment based decision making can happen!

How to Spot the MLM Pitch

MLMs are sneaky and it can be hard to tell you're about to get pitched before it happens. In this minisode, Marissa shares some things to look out for to hel you avoid that awkward moment when you have to tell someone you may or may not know that you're not interested.

What Happens When We Leave the Running Gadgets and Expectations Behind?

Technology and having an event to train for can be so useful when helping us reach our fitness and wellness goals. But at some point, it can also become something we overly rely on and forget how to actually connect with our bodies. As someone who loves data, Michelle shares her experiences with leaving expectations and data at the door on some of her running sessions the past year and how this has made the process of running and heading out for these sessions more enjoyable and more sustainable to be consistent with because of removing the pressure to hit a deadline or milestones. If you are feeling in a slump with running or other forms of movement, it might be worth a shot to give yourself a break from the data and the outcome of an event or race too!

The Diet Noom Gave a Bad Review To

Michelle and Marissa are back after a longer than expected hiatus and are digging in deep with the ChiroThin diet; a diet that only licensed chiropractors are allowed to purchase form the company and then sell back to their patients. In this episode we explore: * The components of the ChiroThin diet and why it's still just lipstick on a pig * The importance of actually eating enough, calories and protein, especially as we age to maintain and build lean muscle mass * The big lie of "just lose weight for your health" when the method to lose weight is not promoting healthy behaviors * What are some health promoting behavior that could lead to weight/fat loss (that ChiroThin leaves out!) And more! Please note, in the episode Michelle and Marissa discuss calculating grams of protein in a serving of food. As certified nutrition coaches, both DO know how to determine this which is why the part of the episode that we have kept in is so funny. Please enjoy our ridiculousness.