CONSISTENT by Primal Potential

Totally random episode here! So random it doesn't even get a number or official show notes! Take a listen to this short episode I recorded while pacing in my living room with my new thoughts on all or nothing thinking and what yoga taught me about the on/off approach to nutrition & fitness.

I'm sure you've heard that comparison is the thief of joy yet most of us manufacture insecurity & shame by comparing ourselves to others.

In today's episode we're talking about why it's so important to keep your eyes on your own work but also HOW to do it. It seems like we almost automatically compare ourselves to others.

Plus, when we stop comparing and pay attention to ourselves, we are often confronted by negative thinking & judgement.

http://primalpotential.com/eyes-on-your-own-work/

In today's episode, I explain the dangers of comparing yourself to other people. Frankly, they have NOTHING to do with you and your journey.

See, when we focus our attention on other people, we can't be focused on ourselves and the opportunities in front of us to grow, improve and take action.

The only journey that matters is your journey. Any time or energy spent on someone else's journey is time wasted.

One of the reasons we focus on others is because we aren't comfortable focusing on ourselves.

When we focus on ourselves and our journey, we often face negativity, shame and judgement.

It feels far more comfortable to judge others than to judge ourselves and face our own challenges.

First, it's dangerous to look away from your own journey.

Second, if you change your attitude about yourself & your journey, you will dramatically change your trajectory.

You must keep your eyes on your own work and you must improve your perspective about your journey.

Don't miss today's episode for HOW to change your perspective on your journey.

I get lots of questions about the coconut butter I eat & where to get it. Here's the brand I buy.

The first 3 episodes reflecting on lessons learned about life & fat loss through yoga can be found here, here and here.

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!

If you feel stuck, frustrated, confused or like you aren't seeing the progress you want, don't miss these 5 dietary changes for faster results.

The key to today's episode lies in not seeking new information but in measuring your own consistent implementation of what you already know but aren't yet doing.

http://primalpotential.com/246-5-dietary-changes-for-faster-results/

Often, we sift through information evaluating what we know instead of what we're consistently doing.

If we know something already, we gloss over it, whether we're consistently doing it or not.

Today that stops. As you listen to these 5 dietary changes for faster results, I don't want you thinking of what you know or what you don't, I want you evaluating what you're doing consistently and what you're not.

As you hear each strategy, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I doing this?
• Am I doing it consistently?
• Is there room for improvement?
• How will I implement those improvements today?
• How can I practice consistency with that improvement?

While there are dozens of dietary changes you could make to accelerate your fat loss progress or improve your body composition, today we're talking about the following:

1. Stay off the hot mess express blood sugar roller coaster (especially in the morning)
2. Slow down on the sweets (the more sweet you eat, the more sweet you crave - this is true whether it's a "healthy" sweet or not)
3. Dial back on dairy (for more on dairy and fat loss, listen to episode 25 and 128)
4. Limit labels - how much of the food you consume has a nutrition facts label and added ingredients? Do an inventory of the % of your intake that comes from something with a label and strive for an improvement. Eat more foods that have no label and eat fewer foods with labels.
5. Stop snacking - snacking is often out of boredom/habit or because your meals aren't satisfying you for long enough. Either improve the composition of your meals so they satisfy you for longer (adding more non-starchy veggies, protein or whole-food fats) or increase awareness of when you're eating when not hungry.

Q&A 6: How To Make Breakfast A Fat Burning Meal

Episode 115: More on Breakfast

Fat Loss Friendly Lunches

Fat Loss Friendly Snacks

Episode 007: Carb Timing

Episode 025: Pros & Cons of Dairy

Episode 128: Is Dairy Slowing Your Progress

E-Course: Carb Strategies for Sustainable Fat Loss

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!

I don't know about you, but I used to think that people who reached their goals simply had something I didn't have.

They had more motivation.

More self-discipline.

Better genes.

Whatever they had that made them successful, I just didn't have it.

I was wrong. And if you think that way, you are too.

In today's episode, I want to talk about how successful people think. I want to look at how successful people respond to things that might be a real challenge to you - temptation, setbacks, frustrations - so that you can stop letting those things stop you.

Today is about figuring out how to turn your stop signs into starting lines.

http://primalpotential.com/245-how-successful-people-think/

There are two ways to approach your choices:

• You can blame them on other people and circumstances outside your control (work, time, etc)
• You can acknowledge that you are totally in control of every choice you make

How successful people think: No matter what happens around them, they acknowledge that they are in control of what they choose and how they think

Everyone faces temptation. Whether the temptation is to hit the snooze button, skip your workout, grab a biscuit at the drive through or have the second glass of wine, we all have temptations.

When you "zoom in" on the temptation, locking in like a laser beam on whatever tempts you, you're less likely to overcome it.

How successful people think: They "zoom out" when facing temptation. They see that there are two things - what they want most & what they want now. They ask an answer the question, "If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?"

Everyone encounters setbacks. Things don't go according to plan. You drop the ball. You don't get the results you want.

If you focus on the setback, and you harp on what went wrong and how you've failed, you're bound to feel defeated and far less likely to make progress & overcome it.

How successful people think: They look for the lesson. Instead of settling for the setback, they're seeking a solution. They don't focus on what went wrong but rather they look for the next right move.

Remember that if you aren't getting the results you want, add more effort.

You will get out of life what you put into it.

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!

Life can be very hard. Many of deal with far too many negative emotions. We get frustrated, we feel lonely, overwhelmed, angry, sad. We focus on fear of the future and shame around the past.

Instead of helping you improve your responses to negative emotions, today's episode will help you overcome negative emotion. Yup, put it behind you. Let it go.

Because honestly, the ROI (return on investment) of letting go of this negativity is far greater than the ROI of practicing a better reaction to it.

If you found this episode helpful, I think you'll really enjoy my self-guided e-course, Breaking Barriers, which is all about overcoming emotional eating, negativity & self-limiting beliefs.

http://primalpotential.com/244-overcome-negative-emotion/

Let's get back to the basics of metabolism to help you figure out why you aren't losing weight and what you can do about it!

I recently shared with you guys that episode 240 was one of my favorites - we were talking about how your body allows or disallows fat burning and what you can do to control this cellular & hormonal signaling.

Understanding these concepts is really the key to figuring out why you aren't losing weight or why you're always hungry or why you can't get your cravings under control. After that episode, some of you shared that it went a little over your head.

Since this is your show, that's not okay with me! I want every episode to be FOR YOU so we're breaking it down today to ensure that everyone understands these important basics of why you gain weight, why you aren't losing weight and what you can do about it.

http://primalpotential.com/243-metabolism-101-why-you-arent-losing-weight/

If you want the detailed science & technical explanations, I've linked to a bunch of those episodes below in the Resources section. Or, you can check out my comprehensive course on Carbohydrate Strategies for Sustainable Fat Loss.

But for today's episode, I want to simplify, perhaps even over-simplify, the process that takes place when we eat and how it addresses why you aren't losing weight.

Just because you don't get immediate feedback when you eat, that doesn't mean the food you eat has no impact.

Just because your jeans aren't tighter immediately after eating cookies or looser immediately after eating a salad doesn't mean the choice had no impact on your rate of fat storage or fat burning.

In fact, I would argue that both choices impact fat burning & fat storage, you just don't immediately see or feel the impact.

Every time you eat, a conversation begins inside your body.

The fuel you consume each time you eat triggers hormones & enzymes to spring into action and consider what should be done with the fuel, if it should be burned, if it should be stored and where it should be stored.

The answers depend on what you ate, how much you ate, if you needed to eat and what you've eaten in the recent past.

In order to respond to & process the fuel you've consumed, your body begins by breaking it down into it's simplest parts. Without first breaking it down, it would be too large to travel through the body.

Only in it's smallest parts can it get into and out of cells to be stored or used as fuel.

In the case of carbohydrates (whether they are from bread, pasta, oats, cookies, crackers, potatoes or fruit), the simplest parts are small, singular sugars.

The conversation in the body changes when the simple sugars hit the blood stream.

Your body must respond immediately because sugar hanging out in the blood stream for too long can be toxic.

Your body sends out signals "blood sugar has risen beyond a stable level! All available personnel come help clear it out"

Metabolizing sugar takes priority because it is toxic.

The primary responder to this blood sugar situation is the hormone insulin.

You see, sugar isn't allowed to roam freely through the body. It requires a chaperone.

The chaperone charged with ushering sugar out of the blood to be burned or stored is insulin.

Insulin is a storage hormone. Insulin begins a conversation with the body which goes like this:

"Please stop all fuel breakdown activities, including fat burning. We have a fuel excess situation and while I'm dealing with the excess, do not break down any more fuel. We are now in storage mode."

This signaling from insulin stops fat burning and initiates storage mode.

But that's not the only signal from insulin.

As I explained in more technical terms in episode 240, when insulin is chronically elevated and running the show due to overeating or consuming too many sugars & starches, it siphons off too much fuel and shuttles it to the fat tissue.

• Insulin is preferential to fat storage versus muscle storage
• Insulin diverts fuel to the fat tissue and decreases delivery to the muscle tissue
• Insulin slows fat burning
• Insulin triggers the creation of new fat cells so there are ample storage sites available

In today's episode I talk about simple changes we can make to help control insulin and spend more time in fat burning mode and less time in fat storing mode. Make sure to listen to the full episode!

Carb Strategies for Sustainable Fat Loss - Course

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

Carb Timing for Fat Loss

Carb Spillover (And How To Stop It)

Carb Tolerance

Understanding Insulin

Golden Rules of Carbs & Fat Loss

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!

I'm coming at you with another Motivational Minisode, tough love style!

We're talking about indulgences - the repetitive food & drink choices that are keeping you from your goals.

Here's the thing: despite the fact that you keep choosing them, they're almost never worth it.

Sure, you're in the habit of giving in to temptation, cravings & social pressure so it's easy to say "yes" than "no".

But it's not worth what you're giving up in favor of a minute or two of indulgence.

This minisode is going to bring the tough love to help you do the work, invest the effort and finally leave the excuses behind.

http://primalpotential.com/242-tough-love-almost-never-worth-it/

Do you find yourself making promises to eat healthy or workout, only to talk yourself out of it hours or days later? I used to do that all the time & it left me feeling frustrated and prevented me from making the progress I wanted desperately!

In today's episode I want to help you stop breaking promises you've made to yourself!

You cannot reach your goals if you are constantly talking yourself out of taking the steps to achieve them. Every choice you make leads you somewhere, either closer to or further from your goals.

http://primalpotential.com/241-stop-breaking-promises/

I am SO pumped about today's Book Club episode! This might be one of my very favorite podcast episodes! Today we're diving into the book "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes.

In this book you'll learn what drives insatiable hunger, what decreases satiety, makes us feel tired and unmotivated and what triggers us to store more fat than we should (and burn less fat than we should).

The book is definitely worth the read and Taubes goes deep into both history & science. But don't worry, if you don't have the time or desire to go through the whole book, I want to share the highlights with you today!

I really think this episode is a game changer packed with super helpful information about how we can store less fat and burn more fat!

http://primalpotential.com/240-why-we-get-fat/

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

Carb Timing for Fat Loss

Carb Spillover (And How To Stop It)

Carb Tolerance

Understanding Insulin

Golden Rules of Carbs & Fat Loss

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!

If you are looking to take your motivation, consistency or progress to the next level, today's podcast is full of ways to do just that! If you need help setting expectations that are ambitious enough without setting you up for disappointment or failure, you don't want to miss this episode!

A huge part of success in any goal is improving your responses to temptation, frustration, setbacks or emotion.

I'll be sharing lessons I've learned in my new yoga practice to help you set appropriate expectations, avoid comparison, build consistency and fast track your results.

http://primalpotential.com/239-setting-expectations/

As I've recently shared on the podcast, after being diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and some stress-related health challenges, I'm making some changes in both my diet & lifestyle to help my body heal.

One of those changes is yoga. I am not a yogi, I do not like group exercise, but I've taken on a legitimate mental, physical and logistical challenge:

45 yoga classes in 45 days.

I've walked out of every single class so far feeling like I've learned something beyond the mat, beyond the yoga pose, and I'm planning to share those lessons with you each week for the next 45 days.

So, I'm two weeks into my yoga challenge and I've learned some good stuff!

In life, more often than not, when we experience tension, frustration, emotion, anxiety or temptation, we react, respond and make things worse.

We do the opposite of returning to stillness.

We kick up a frenzy. We panic. We perseverate. We worry.

Instead of saying to ourselves, "Wait, slow down, take a breath, be still, don't react", we eat. We distract ourselves with food. We yell. We make snarky comments, we withdraw. We manufacture drama.

We are an instant gratification society and unfortunately that means we feel like every thing must be reacted and it must be reacted to NOW.

This idea of "come right back to stillness" can be a game changer no matter what your goal is.

When you feel rattled, return to stillness. Don't react. Slow down, be still and understand that often times, the best response is no response.

However, you can't return to a place you don't know. If you don't know what stillness is or where to find it, you can't go there when you need it most.

You need to practice moments of stillness so you understand where to go instead of reacting. You can practice by meditating, praying, journaling or simply focusing on your breath.

You can practice for 30 seconds or 30 minutes, just practice.

It's easy to set your expectations and standards based on other people. It's easy to look to someone who is further along than you are and decide that you need to perform at their level.

Don't.

In yoga, striving to match the practice of someone who is more advanced doesn't mean that you're a motivated hero, it means that you're likely to get hurt and set yourself back.

In fat loss & fitness, setting expectations based on someone who is further along than you are could mean setting yourself to feel not good enough, to feel defeated, overwhelmed and then give up.

Set your standards and expectations based on YOU.

The fact that I am practicing yoga every day for 45 days makes it really easy to see my improvements.

Since my last class was just yesterday, when I sit in class today I can easily see what is different and better from the day before.

The daily practice allows me to see my improvements and my progress. If I was going once or twice a week, not only would I probably not make progress as quickly, I wouldn't recognize as easily.

Both making progress and being able to recognize and observe and notice the progress you make – it's so motivating! And it drives the desire to continue practice and then you get into what I call the cycle of accelerated returns.

The same is true with consistency in improving your food choices or consistency in your workout routine.

When you are inconsistent, you're robbing yourself in multiple ways. #1,

1. You don't make progress as quickly, of course
2. You aren't as aware of progress you do make

If you reject temptation every single day, it's gets easier and easier and you have a closer comparison to have it felt yesterday to be able to recognize that it's easier today.

Build consistency. Practice every single day.

Oftentimes, after hearing the same message a dozen or more times, a client will excitedly say to me, "I know you've said that a million times but I finally get it! It clicked today!"

We have a natural tendency to tune out when we think we know or understand something. We don't listen with full attention to concepts we're familiar with.

However, we only retain about 40% of the information we hear (and that's when we're giving our full attention!)

Therefore, don't let your ego get in the way of your progress.

Continue to listen for that one piece you didn't hear last time that could be the thing you need to move you forward.

I'm really excited about the mental & emotional lessons I'm learning on the mat & I'm excited to keep sharing them with you!

Fall 2016 Fat Loss Fast Track

Join me at ASCEND in Nashville!

If you find the Primal Potential podcast help, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a minute to leave a rating & review! That helps show platforms display my podcast to new listeners! Thank you so much for your support! I can't tell you how valuable it is!