Today Kylie and Kara are discussing the biofeedback they use to measure the progress and success of their clients. Many people don’t understand that working with a coach to reach your health and fitness goals goes beyond photos, weight, and measurements -- there are a lot of different factors that a good coach will assess to make decisions regarding protocols. In this episode, your hosts dive into some of those factors, and why they are important. 

Biofeedback is a fancy way of describing how your body responds to stimuli. Coaches use it as a way to measure what is working in your routine and what maybe needs to change for the best results. Biofeedback can also include things like mental health and stress levels to create data points that inform your individualized program.

The main areas Kara and Kylie address are:

• Hunger 
• Stress
• Sleep 
• Energy
• Recovery 
• Digestion
• Mood/Focus 
• Libido 
• Blood Glucose 
• Resting Heart Rate

To learn more about why these areas matter in your fitness and health journey, as well as what your coach may be looking for, be sure to give this episode a listen! 

Connect with Kylie: www.Instagram.com/kylie_uplifts 

Connect with Kara: www.Instagram.com/karagoss_rd 

Join Kylie’s Free Facebook Group: www.Facebook.com/groups/liftuplift 

Join Kara’s Free Facebook Group: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/523529175060599/

Today, Kara and Kylie get vulnerable with you and discuss where they are in their own health journeys, along with how they deal with the mental strain of showing up as authority figures for others while dealing with their own issues.

In January, Kara began a hormonal re-balancing journey as she left birth control behind. Seven months later, she is still on that path. Although Kara has spent a lot of time working on her mindset and attitude toward her own body, there are still days where it is hard to love herself.

Now, with advice from her own coaches and mentors, Kara is embarking on a new plan to get her body back into balance.

Kylie has had trouble adjusting to life after her recent competition. It’s been 6-12 months of highly calculated, non-negotiable factors that have clashed with huge transitions in her personal life. There hasn’t been time to process all that she’s been through. Coming out of her show, she struggled initially with adherence and feelings of guilt during the beginning of her reverse dieting phase. Old patterns of binging and self-sabotage began to appear, and Kylie felt lost. With help from Kara and their coach Jon, Kylie is on a new path of intuitive eating. The strain of being perfect all of the time as a competitor had been taking a huge toll that she couldn’t see in the moment -- both on herself and those closest to her.

There is no shame in struggling. Life, and fitness, is full of different phases and different obstacles. It’s important to be accepting of whichever part of the journey you are in, and most importantly, to not be afraid to reach out for help.

Connect with Kylie: www.Instagram.com/kylie_uplifts 

Connect with Kara: www.Instagram.com/karagoss_rd 

Join Kylie’s Free Facebook Group: www.Facebook.com/groups/liftuplift 

Join Kara’s Free Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/523529175060599/

Today, Kara and Kylie address one of the most important, and often most misunderstood, topics on the podcast so far: reverse dieting. What is it? Who is it for? Why is it beneficial? Why would you want to diet in reverse?

For someone that has experienced metabolic decline, down regulation of crucial hormones, or other effects of dieting or under eating, reverse dieting is the process of gradually adding calories in to upregulate your metabolism. If you have been dieting too low, or for too long, you may notice it’s harder to lose fat and build muscle. You will likely hit a plateau because your body adapts. The only way to keep driving change is to keep dropping caloric intake and increasing output. Your hormonal functions can be drastically affected: thyroid, sex drive, and menstrual cycles can all be negatively affected and down regulated by under eating.

You need an exit strategy to help you maintain your weight, or to be able to make more progress in a future dieting phase, in a healthy way. The purpose of reverse dieting isn’t weight loss, but to reach your new maintenance level. The physical/weight-related results throughout a reverse diet vary per individual, and Kara and Kylie address each of the possibilities, and most importantly, all of the positive effects the reverse diet will have on your internal health and quality of life.

Connect with Kylie: www.Instagram.com/kylie_uplifts 

Connect with Kara: www.Instagram.com/karagoss_rd 

Join Kylie’s Free Facebook Group: www.Facebook.com/groups/liftuplift 

Join Kara’s Free Facebook Group: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/523529175060599/

This week, Kara and Kylie address three things that they see being overcomplicated in the pursuit of a health and/or fitness goal.

The first and most commonly overcomplicated thing is food. What foods do I eat to meet my macros? What recipes should I be cooking? These are questions that pop up time and time again. 

The second overcomplicated thing is workout plans. The basics do work; you don’t need booty bands and HIIT routines for your workout to be effective. workouts to “confuse” your muscles. So, what do you need then? 

The final overcomplication is meal timing. Meal timing is important for specific aspects of your routine, but you should not be stressing about how many meals you are having, the size of them, or even when you are eating. What should you actually focus on? 

The answers to these questions and guidance on keeping it simple and effective are inside! 

Connect with Kylie: www.Instagram.com/kylie_uplifts 

Connect with Kara: www.Instagram.com/karagoss_rd 

Join Kylie’s Free Facebook Group: www.Facebook.com/groups/liftuplift 

Join Kara’s Free Facebook Group: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/523529175060599/

Today, Kara and Kylie dive deep into trying versus doing. People underestimate the power of words and just how often the phrase “I’m trying” pops up in their vocabulary. It’s easy to become comfortable “trying” over actually taking the messy action and doing the things that need done to make advancements. Many people may not even realize that the “trying” mindset is holding them back – trying is good, right? Well… you can be trying, but it is so much different than actually doing the work.

Kara and Kylie are here to give you strategies to help examine what you are and are not doing to reach the goal, and how you can spend more time doing versus trying. Remember, taking messy action is better than staying stuck.

Kara and Kylie are welcoming Josh Levine, online coach and muscle-building mentor, back to the show. Fresh off of a weekend together with other members of their coaching community at the IMPACT event, Kara, Kylie, and Josh discuss the importance of muscle and why muscle matters -- even in your fat loss goals.

Many people, women in particular, are just seeking weight loss and fear “getting bulky” with muscle building. It is important to understand that having muscle on your body is actually what helps you achieve that “beach body” you desire. Lean muscle is the framework for that aesthetic. Beyond appearance, muscle-building is also important to build strength for your health and life. The stronger you are, the safer you are, and if you maintain that strength, it is a skill you will use over and over again throughout your entire life.

As Kara and Kylie frequently remind listeners, fat loss should just be one small phase in your journey – you should not be dieting all-year-round. You need to have phases of eating enough to promote muscle growth. Not only will this level up your physique in future dieting phases, but it will also improve your insulin resistance, bone mineral density, and blood glucose levels.

Connect with Josh:

Podcast: Struggle to Strength

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlevinefitness/

In today’s episode, after catching up on their last few weeks of adventures and Kylie’s show,  Kara and Kylie provide tips and guidance for maintaining your progress while traveling. As the world re-opens this year, more and more vacation and travel plans are happening! With that, typically comes worry about sticking to plans and reaching fitness goals. Kara and Kylie dive into how to prepare yourself for traveling so that you can continue on the path to your goals.

Mindset is everything. If you go into a situation doubting yourself or saying you will “try,” you are much more likely to fail. Instead, approach it with the mindset of “I will do this.” You have to make a conscious and intentional choice. Vacations are meant to be fun and low-stress; you don’t need to be hyper-focused on your plan, but at the same time, that doesn’t mean just giving up and going all-out on everything. Find a healthy balance that works for you.

In this episode, you’ll receive a ton of insight on exactly how to choose what that balance is for you and how to execute it successfully!

In today’s episode, Kara and Kylie are talking to Jon Childress, a competitive bodybuilder and the Head Coach/Owner of Childress Fitness. Similar to last week’s episode, Jon provides a look behind the curtain to the men’s side of the competitive bodybuilding world.

Growing up, Jon played sports in high school and enjoyed competitive events. Soon after leaving high school, Jon made some poor choices and ended up homeless for 6 months. Later, he ended up in Indiana and fell in love with fitness again. He started his fitness return with CrossFit before moving on to take up bodybuilding and coaching. He is a true example of overcoming adversity and beating the odds to succeed.

During the recording of this episode, it’s peak week for competition day for both Jon and Kylie. Together, they also outline what this means and what this looks like for each of them!

As a bonus, enjoy some fun facts and laughs from Jon’s time as a server at Olive Garden! We hope this episode provides some awesome value to you whether you intend to compete or not -- there is a ton of wisdom regarding pursuing your goals inside and outside of fitness inside. 

Find out more about Jon:

Website: https://www.childressfitness.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathonchildress_/?hl=en

In today’s episode, Kara and Kylie differentiate between bodybuilding and lifestyle fitness goals. A lot of aspects from bodybuilding can be applied to your general health and fitness goals, but it is important to remember that it is an extreme sport. In bodybuilding, “contest prep” is a specific period of weeks/months leading up to your show. In prep, a competitor must be 100% on track with every variable 24/7. On average, most competition preps are 12-24 weeks long.

It is important to remember that everyone is vastly different, and that plans are tailored to the individual and their end goal. Remember that a bodybuilder’s plan is going to be way different from a long-term lifestyle plan. You don’t want to push your body too hard in a direction that won’t be beneficial in the long term; it’s all about having a sustainable routine.

Bodybuilders have a timeline, and they are pushing themselves to the limit every day for up to six months. They are also working extremely hard, and stay on top of their goals outside of their prep/in “off-season” as well. Consistency is key in reaching your goals, and so is being realistic with your timelines and expectations of results.

Kylie competes in the bikini division of the NPC (National Physique Committee) competitions. The criteria for judging includes muscularity, conditioning, symmetry and balance, as well as overall presentation (posing, beauty appearance, etc).

Bodybuilding is a practice that requires incredible dedication and hard work. It can be an outlet for those with struggles you can’t see and help them build healthier coping strategies. Even if you just have generalized health/fitness goals, there is a lot you can learn from the mindset of a bodybuilder.

Kara and Kylie are talking about self-sabotage and The Upper Limit Theory in this week’s episode. 

If you have ever felt guilty about being the smartest person in the class or had a great day only to ruin it later with negative thoughts, you are falling prey to self-sabotage and The Upper Limit Theory. We say that we want to be happy, but when we get close to it, we sabotage ourselves because we don’t actually believe it’s possible.

This comes from many different feelings and learnings. It can come from fear, self-doubt, or our ego setting off the fear of the unknown. You need to know your potential and lean into it. It can also come from your need to stay in a comfort zone. Then there’s the things we are taught by the media, often with the words “I’ll be happy when.” There’s always something to chase, whether it’s the perfect body or the perfect job.

Both Kara and Kylie have experience with self-sabotage and still struggle with it sometimes. It’s an ongoing learning and awareness process, and likely always will be. It’s important to recognize these self-limiting beliefs in your own journey so that you can work to control them rather than letting them control you.