Making FIT Work

Should You Meal Prep? Or is meal prepping necessary to succeed? The answer is undoubtedly, Yes! Preparation is key and the more you can prepare in advance, the less stressed you will feel on a day-to-day basis when trying to figure out what to eat. With that being said, the degree to which you meal prep is what will make or break this process for you.

So here are a few questions to help you decide how much meal prepping you need to do in order to eliminate stress and help you feel successful.

1. Are you ok with eating the same thing every day? If your answer is a BIG N-O, then you may want to re-consider batch prepping where you would make 5 portions of the same meal. In this instance, you may be better off prepping to 3 meals out of 5 for the week, maybe using leftovers on the other days, etc.

2. Which meals do you need the most help with? Are you constantly running out of the house in the morning? If so, maybe prepping your smoothies in advance or baking some egg muffins would be helpful. If figuring out what's for dinner each night feels stressful then maybe it's best you focus your energy on roasting some vegetables or your side dishes in advance.

3. Do you enjoy cooking? This is a big one! If you hate cooking (like I do) then you'll want to keep the process of meal prepping quick and simple as to avoid dreading it each week. You might be best at prepping salads or wraps to-go.

The important thing to remember is that a little preparation can go a long way. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen. In fact, a client recently shared with me that she dedicates one hour every Sunday to meal prepping, that's it! Another client shared how she commits to making one crockpot meal each week that will easily provide her with a few servings to be used at either lunch or dinner throughout the week.

Here are some of my personal recommendations... - Prep the thing(s) that take the longest to make. For example, baking sweet potatoes, roasting vegetables, etc. Get these things off of your plate for the week. - Prep your protein. If I'm short on time, I will focus on making sure I have good protein sources ready for the week....grilled chicken or steak, hard-boiled eggs, etc. These things are quick and easy to make but are essential to make sure I'm getting a sufficient amount of protein at every meal. - Have back-ups. I always make sure to have things like frozen veggies or rice that can be added to any of my protein sources in a pinch. - Meal prep at your convenience. Who says meal prepping needs to be done on Sundays?? I personally love meal prepping when I am in full-on grocery mode. For example, I will turn on the air fryer and start chopping up vegetables as I am unpacking them from my grocery store run. It's on my mind and just makes sense for me.

As always we hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook or on Instagram at @fitwith_nina. Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

On this episode of Making FIT Work, I chat with my colleague Ami Patrick about all things plant-based nutrition. Ami is Owner of Embody Health & Wellness out of Lewiston NY, and has been a certified coach in the industry for over 10 years.

Ami is my personal go-to when it comes to plant-based nutrition, so I wanted to have her on to not only talk about the benefits but also to address some of the myths that come along with plant-based eating, along with some easy ways to add more veggies and less meat to your diet.

We started this episode by unpacking how over the last several years being plant-based has become a bit trendy which is both a good and bad thing. On one hand, it's great that people are becoming more aware of its benefits but on the other hand, like all things "diet culture" it ends up coming with an ALL or NOTHING attitude. You're either a vegan or vegetarian or you're a carnivore! Ami and I both agree that this is not the way to approach any type of nutrition plan.

Some of the things we address specifically on this episode are….

1. Reasons for choosing a more plant-based lifestyle.
2. Overall health benefits of a whole foods/plant-focused nutrition plan.
3. How to incorporate more plant-based nutrition into your overall diet without completely giving up meat.
4. Plant-based foods that are high in protein
5. Some of Ami's favorite plant-based supplements, along with a discount code!

If you want to learn more about eating or just adding more plant-powered foods to your diet, you can find Ami Patrick on IG at, EmbodyHealthLewiston, where she is always sharing some of her favorite plant-based treats and recipes.

Also, if you're looking for the best plant-based protein powder Ami recommends the options at www.LivBody.com Be sure to use coupon code: LivEmbody for 20% OFF.

As always I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook, or on Instagram at FITwith_Nina

Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

What is best for weight loss? Should you do more cardio or pick up the weights. You can probably find an answer on the internet to honestly support whichever you'd prefer. And, if you've been following me for any amount of time online you may already know my answer. Personally, I love strength training. I love the way it makes me feel and look. But outside of my personal opinion, strength training gives clients more bang for their buck. No matter what any of my client's goals are, they are always going to benefit from building strength. That's the beautiful thing about strength training… it's not one-dimensional.

Want to lose weight? Strength training

Want to tone up? Strength training

Want to work on balance? Strength training

Want to increase bone density? You got it! Strength training is the answer.

Want to get faster, stronger, etc.? Pick up the weights

Now the real question is, how should you strength train? Should you be focusing on single muscle groups, full-body circuits, high reps, low reps, etc.? That's where your overall goals come into play, along with how much time you have to dedicate to each of your workout sessions.

In an ideal world, we would all be strength training 3-4x/week and doing cardio 2-3x/week, but most of us just don't have that kind of time. And I am by no means saying that cardio is bad for you and you should avoid it at all costs but what I am saying is that you are going to reap more benefits with strength training.

What tends to happen when people focus on cardio only is that at first you do see results but over time your metabolism catches on, starts to adapt, and then suddenly you've hit a plateau. Suddenly you are left wondering why you still feel like you're burning major calories with long intense cardio sessions but your overall progress has stalled.

Whereas the opposite happens with strength training, you may not see immediate results with strength training 3x/week, however, it helps build a more efficient metabolism long-term which means you won't quickly hit that frustrating plateau and will also be left with what feels like more flexible nutrition habits. In the long run, whether the goal is weight loss or not, you should focus on building a flexible metabolism and the only way to do that is through strength training.

Also, I can't speak enough about what strength training does for your confidence. I can personally attest to weighing 135lbs and feeling awesome, and weighing that same amount and feel like absolute crap. The difference is in strength training.

This is another reason why I like to focus on tracking client progress through measurements and progress photos rather than just the scale. The scale doesn't tell the whole story. I have seen many clients stay at the same weight while decreasing overall inches and changing their body composition.

If you're looking for the best of both worlds, I personally love what I like to call Lift & HIIT. This is my signature online group training program and it is essentially 90% strength training and 10% HIIT intervals, giving clients a nice mix of heavy strength training to build lean muscle and cardio intervals to maximize the calorie burn in a short 30-40min session.

As always I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook, or on Instagram at @fitwith_nina.

Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

Today I chatted with Nicole Grace, creator of Cultivate Wellness - workplace and community wellbeing programs. Nicole and I have known each other for quite some time and was one of the people who initially inspired me to start working in the fitness industry.

Although Nicole was never an athlete growing up, she took an interest in group fitness pretty early on and has been working in the fitness industry in some way, shape, or form either part-time or full-time for over 25 years.

Quick Back Story: I used to work for Nicole at a local non-profit straight out of college, and one day I remember her sort of running in and apologizing for being a few minutes late because she had just come from teaching a class at a nearby gym. I was in awe, that 1. She got up that early to exercise and 2. that this was something she got paid to do. I asked her to tell me more about how she got certified, how she got the job, etc. And, as they say….the rest is history!

So a big Thanks to Nicole Grace, who introduced me to the idea of teaching group fitness.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, where I realized Nicole had transitioned from an instructor to Life Coach and is now the Creator of Cultivate Wellness. Nicole's passion for positive psychology and human behavior paired with her natural tendency to inspire & motivate others brought her to this place where she wanted to help people move forward in all aspects of their lives. As one of Nicole's personal clients, I can't attest enough to how much our work together has not only helped me personally but also professionally as I have used some of those mindset principles with my 1:1 clients in order to help them move towards their health and fitness goals.

We started off by unpacking what it means to be healthy and how fitness is a small part of that big picture. I asked Nicole what she thought her top 3 dial movers are for helping clients become more mindful so that they can achieve overall wellbeing, and here's what she said.

1. Self-Awareness: Being self-aware of how your body feels throughout the day, being aware of how you feel after a workout, etc. Nicole recommends stopping & pausing. Take a second to stop and think about what you're feeling, where you're feeling it physically and/or emotionally.

This led to a conversation around the word "busy" and how as a society being busy and overworked has somehow become a badge of honor. That the goal in life should be to be crazy, busy….so crazy busy, you just don't have time for anything else. Which ironically ends up giving the word "busy" a negative connotation.

1. Discover your limiting beliefs. For example, saying things like…"I'm not strong enough. I don't have time. I can't XYZ" Using phrases that hold you back from being able to achieve something. We use these limiting beliefs to stop us from getting uncomfortable and trying. Nicole suggests adding the word "yet" to the end of your limiting belief. For instance, "I'm not strong enough yet."

According to Nicole, we (humans) are wired for negative bias. We are wired to think negatively before thinking positively. Crazy, right?! The good news is, we can definitely rewire our brains to look at things from a different perspective. "Your body follows what your mind tells it to do."

Other words contributing to limiting beliefs about yourself are the infamous phrases that start with…

"I CAN'T…" and "I SHOULD…" and "I USE TO…" If you find yourself using this more often than not, consider asking yourself if you truly can't or just won't. There is a huge difference between not being able to do something and not being willing to do something. Phrases starting with "I should and/ or I use to" keeps you thinking about the past and things that you can no longer control or change. Nicole stresses that these phrases are most likely holding you back and stuck rather than focusing on the today, the person you are today, and what that person needs now to get where they want to go.

1. Find things you love. Find a type of exercise that feels good to you. Engage in things that re-energize you rather than draining your energy.

Before wrapping things up I had to ask if you could give your 30-year-old self some advice what would it be? "Cut yourself some slack, give yourself a break," Nicole says. Nicole mentions that when you start to hit those milestone birthdays like 40 and 50, you start to shed some emotional weight by not caring so much about what others think of you. You start to realize how exhausting it is to care so much about what others think about you and where you are in your life, and she personally wishes she shed that weight earlier in life. Your thirties are such a great time to discover what truly makes you happy, so focus on that.

Focus on living in the moment because we can't change the past and the future is unknown.

If you want to learn more about how Nicole builds mindful-based wellness programs for organizations to learn how to manage stress, build resilience and increase productivity you can email her directly at [email protected] or visit www.cultivatewellnessri.com.

You can also find her on all social media platforms;

https://www.instagram.com/nicolegcultivatewellness/

https://www.facebook.com/cultivatewellnessri

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-gracecw/

As always, I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook or on Instagram at @fitwith_nina.

Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

This particular question and topic came from a member of the Making FIT Work community, and to be honest it comes up a lot! I kind of feel bad for fruit, lol. In recent years it's been painted as this little sneaky devil that is hiding all things sugar that must be the culprit of our stalled progress or weight loss.

People seem to be particularly concerned with which fruits are ok? How much of it can they have? And should they avoid it at night?

So let's start with is Fruit ok? YES! Of course, it is. And, yes I know it has sugar in it but so do cookies, ice cream, muffins, etc. and if we're truly being honest with ourselves and looking back at our eating habits over the last 3-12 months, can you honestly say that fruit is the thing that got you to the place where you are now? The very honest answer is almost for certain, NO.

And if fruit is not the thing that got you here, it's probably not the thing that is holding you back!

With that being said, of course, it is possible to overconsume foods that are healthy for you as well. In the end, if weight loss is the goal there does need to be a calorie deficit. So although it is possible to overconsume fruit, in over 12 years of working in this industry I have only ever ONCE told a client to cut back on the amount of fruit he was consuming. But that was because there was no balance. He was consuming fruit upwards of 5-6x/day with no vegetables.

So in this particular case, the goal was to replace some of the fruit servings with vegetable servings for a more well-rounded and nutritious diet.

Some fruits definitely carry a higher source of nutritional value for instance;

• Berries are very high in antioxidants
• Nectarines & Peaches have a high source of potassium
• Apples, Grapefruit & Kiwi are great sources of fiber

Now that we got that cleared up, let's talk about where this idea came from anyway. How and Why did fruit become the bad guy? Personally, I feel like this idea trickled down from the level of elite fitness professionals or athletes. Those who are competing at a level where it is necessary to get down to an extreme level of leanness that is unmaintainable for the long-term, and then decide that it is a good idea to share their meal plan or their "how-to's" with the rest of the world.

Of course, getting into competition or photoshoot shape means dialing back to the necessities and cutting out any and all sugars for a short period of time. But unless you are at a point in your fitness journey where you are trying to dramatically decrease your body fat to this degree, you don't need to worry about fruit hindering your progress.

Instead aim to eliminate the processed sugars in your diet first before hating on good ole fruit.

As always I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook or on Instagram at @fitwith_nina.

Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

Structure, Preparation & Mom-Guilt

Today on Making FIT Work, I chat with Laurie Dionisio, who works full-time as a Speech-Language Pathologist, has two kids at two different schools, is an avid CrossFitter and mind/body blogger. Laurie loves structure and routine and attributes being consistent with her health and fitness to building a set routine for herself throughout the years. Although she was never an athlete growing up, that didn't stop her from dabbling around at the gym in college. And as she has evolved and grown, so has her love and overall knowledge about health and fitness, helping her create a routine that feels good for her.

What I love is that Laurie talks about how even though she would prefer to stick to a very set schedule week in and week out, she also realizes that life happens, and to live a strong, healthy life consistently...you need to be able to roll with the punches and be a little flexible. And this is something that is not intuitive and definitely takes reminding. So here's your friendly reminder to be good to yourself! ;)

From Wii Fit to building an at-home gym, her workouts looked and felt like they surely changed over time. It wasn't until about 5 years ago, when she was introduced to CrossFit that she could take her workouts to the next level.

But before we unpack that, I loved and really connected with the fact that she mentioned getting a trial membership to the local box felt like she was being permitted to go and take time to focus on that. I think every mom can relate to that. We know it's important to take care of ourselves and take care of ourselves, which means we have to spend some time away from our children. And that's hard! Mom-guilt is real, and sometimes you do need your significant other to validate that for you. To remind you that you have their support to do things that make you feel good, even if it means more time away from the kids. A big thanks to Laurie for sharing that aspect of her journey!

Now let's get back to fitness….her trial membership at CrossFit Dartmouth was a humbling and eye-opening experience that allowed her to take her fitness to another level. The ability to be coached and pushed by someone else rather than relying on her own physical and mental limitations as you do when participating in group fitness classes was everything she didn't know she needed.

Since then, she has been committed to her CrossFit workouts and schedules 3x/week. She goes on to also thank her husband for understanding and being respectful of her need to move her body and allowing her the space to get out of the house for an additional 3 hours/week. Mamas! Just a reminder….you deserve that time. Take it!

We shared stories on mom-guilt, what it feels like and why we hope more women will realize that although those feelings are strong and real, we need to fight the urge to let it hold us back.

As we all know, fitness is only half the battle! So what's the key to making it all work? Laurie says, "Preparation is 100% of my success." Although Laurie spends a good amount of time meal prepping every Sunday, the amount of aggravation it saves her throughout the week makes all the difference and is totally worth it.

One of her big takeaways is that all of it (health and fitness) "is a learning process, and evolves" She recommends not trying to do it all at once. Pick something that feels easy at first and focus on that…." taking small bites of the apple."

We end this episode with Laurie encouraging and reminding all of us that we get one life & one body...treat it well!

Although we didn't have enough time to dive into it today, Laurie has an amazing blog that I have enjoyed reading called Chose The Light Side, which I encourage you to check out. http://choosethelightside.blogspot.com/

As always, we hope that you found this episode to be helpful and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook or Instagram at @fitwith_nina. Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!

Mindless snacking. You know you're not hungry, yet here you are anyway...snacking away! You know this is the thing holding you back from feeling the way you want to feel but it just keeps happening, so how do you stop it? This topic suggestion came from a member of our Making FIT Community. Here are some questions I would recommend asking yourself…. What did you have for dinner? Were you satisfied with that meal? Was it protein-packed? Protein plays a huge part in feeling satiated. So you may be full but if you are not satisfied you might find yourself still raiding the pantry afterward for no good reason other than you are looking for something else to hit the spot for you. Instead of trying to figure out how to stop mindless snacking, try to look at what is happening prior to snacking. Is this mindless snacking happening every night? Or perhaps just on the nights that your dinner is lacking a substantial amount of protein. If so, then try supplementing by drinking a protein shake to get your mind off of snacking. If a lack of protein is not the reason, then you may want to ask yourself if you are just feeling stressed or tired? If you're feeling tired/low energy then the easiest solution is….go to bed & get more sleep! We could all use more sleep. :) Try to avoid using snacking as a way to keep you up so that you can stay up later. If you think the answer is stress-related then stay tuned as well be un-packing the depths of stress eating on this podcast soon! Until next time friends, much love! P.S. I would love to connect with you on IG or TikTok at @fitwith_nina or you can request to join our Making FIT Work Community of Facebook. I would love to hear any of your topic suggestions.

This episode is a little controversial as we are going to dive into the topic of DIETS! Do they work? Should you do one? And the answer is YES, they do work. Of course, diets work. You can easily jump onto the internet and find hundreds of thousands of testimonials and transformation pics from people who have proved that diets do in fact work.

But the reason most of us fall short when it comes to following a specific diet like Paleo, Keto, Octavia, Weight Watchers, etc. is that we expect it to be our end-all, be-all solution to health and happiness. Most people approach a diet with this fixed mindset of "once I lose X pounds, I'll be happy" and they rely on the diet and scale to do that for them.

I think if we took a step back and started looking at diets with more of an open mind and eyes, that they could most certainly work to our advantage. Diets can be helpful if you use them as a tool rather than your absolute solution. Most diets are super restrictive and rigid which makes it impossible to stick to for the long-term, which is why most people are constantly on and off the diet roller coaster. But instead of blaming the diet, we put the blame on ourselves for "failing" at it and not being consistent enough or not having the willpower to stick to it, etc.

Most diets do work for the short-term because for the short-term it can be easy to stick to a lot of rules but in the long run...we are human and need to live our lives and need to figure out how to do so without being so restrictive and rigid. And yet, I totally understand the desire to start a diet even if it does feel restrictive because when you're in a place of not knowing where or how to get started, diets provide guidelines and structure that feel helpful. They tell you what to do, and take the guesswork out of the equation for you. I get that.

So when I talk about using a diet tool, what I mean is go in with an open mind. Don't just buy some random meal plan online but instead, do the research - join a community, look for recipes before deciding whether or not this might work for you. Take the people within your household into consideration. Are you going on this diet alone? If not, how will you handle family dinner time? Can the recipes within this diet easily be modified for others? Do the meals within this new diet structure require a lot of prep and cook time? If so, does that work for your lifestyle?

These are all questions you should be taking into consideration before deciding on whether a particular diet will be beneficial for you.

And if you still decided to go the route of following a fad diet, my number one piece of advice is to….LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! Take notes. How are you truly feeling both physically and mentally? We tend to use the scale as our one deciding factor on whether or not a diet is "working" but what you should really be looking for are things like…

How are you sleeping at night?

Do you have more or less energy?

What is your hunger level throughout the day?

Have your cravings decreased?

And based on that information, you should be tweaking your diet to make it work for you in the long term. What are some of the things that are feeling good for you, and easy to maintain with this particular diet? And what are some of the things that you are struggling with and why?

I'll leave you with a personal example, about 4 years ago I tried my hands at the Keto Diet. I did it for a solid three months and felt great...more energy and leaner. However, although great results for the short-term I knew that this diet would not align with my lifestyle for the long term because quite frankly, I'm not willing to give up things like pizza, popcorn and beer (just to name a few) forever in order to stay a little leaner. However, I did learn that I most certainly do feel better on a lower carb, higher fat diet and continue to eat that way now 80% of the time. Is it Keto? NO. But it did help me find a more balanced "diet" that feels good for me while also fitting with my lifestyle. Yes. And, that's the goal. I didn't fail at the Keto diet. I learned from it.

If you do decide to go the route of following a fad diet, I hope you find this to be insightful. But if you've had enough with the diet roller coaster and need help finding a way of eating that feels good to you, I would love to help! You can contact me via my website, at www.fit-with-Nina.com or feel free to email me directly at [email protected].

A lot has changed over the last couple of years for Traci and yet she always seems to stay so consistent with her workouts no matter what and is a personal inspiration of mine. So today I asked Traci to share about her personal experience with exercise, how she came to love fitness and how she personally stays motivated and consistent in her routine.

Although Traci was a soccer and track athlete through high school she essentially stopped working out in her college years and didn't catch the fitness bug again until she found herself living in the Mid-West without friends or family. Insert weekend road races that ended in good food and drink tickets. :)

What started off as something to just fill her time and meet new people, ended in a newfound love for running. And although how and what she did for exercise evolved over time, she has stayed consistent since then.

Traci talks a little bit about the different types of motivation: intrinsic vs. extrinsic and how recognizing which one she is has played a big part in helping her stay the course.

For example, once she was introduced to a local studio where she got into strength training she started to feel accountable not only to herself but to the other people within her session. Once the pandemic hit, she knew she needed to find another way to find another group or community that she could feel a part of - even virtually.

"Fitness is a journey...when you have someone else who's also interested in your journey, you'll be more successful"

Fitness is a journey and that journey comes with ebbs and flows. For Traci, it became evident after children that her workout time was about so much more than just getting in physical movement but also about creating that emotional space and managing overall stress while also being a strong role model for her young girls.

And this is what helps her stay the course now. It's about how she's going to feel by starting her day with a workout versus NOT starting her day with a workout. It's about showing up for the other people within her online fitness community. And it's also about giving herself the permission to do a half of a workout or even sleep in if that's truly what her body needs that day.

"You just need to move forward one day at a time."

Traci's Biggest Tips for getting & staying motivated:

1. Don't set yourself up to fail. Look at your schedule realistically.
2. Put in the effort!
3. Be flexible. Be flexible with what fitness means to you. It doesn't have to be a long intense workout, it can be just moving more, etc.
4. Find a friend! Find an accountability buddy.

If you are looking for a fitness community to join and help hold you accountable on your journey, we would love to have you in our Making FIT Work private community on Facebook. Be strong, be healthy, be happy.