Working On Yourself: Why this time will always be the most valuable in your life

Do you find that the more caught up in life you, the less you have the chance to work on yourself? Maybe you haven’t thought about it much. Perhaps you are someone who plans out the logistics of your day and as the day goes on check things off the list. You go to meetings or work, you respond to emails, go to the gym, and catch up with an old friend. If you think of it these things are work (or to you a task). You are expending energy planning, coordinating, and doing. Now it’s time to ask yourself; What are you doing to recharge yourself or fill up that energy tank?

Working on yourself is the most important thing you can do to better your life. What would you do if you had zero responsibility for a day. I like to think of this as “free time”. The free time we had in preschool where we got to do whatever we wanted for 30 minutes. You could play house, read, color, listen to music, take a nap, etc. It’s super important for you to plan out “free time” in your busy schedule. This time can be 20 minutes to 6 hours. It’s totally your call, but just be in tune with yourself to know how much you need to allot for yourself. You can go on a walk and listen to music, sit in a bath drinking wine, watch a movie, go get a mani/pedi, or whatever else you feel like doing. Be sure during this free time you aren’t working on anything. No instagram posts, no emailing, no taking calls, no texting friends; this is YOUR time. Once you take this time for yourself recharge, you will be full of energy to do the things you love doing all week/weekend long. 

I encourage you to plan out some interruption-free free time in to your weekly plans. Tell me what you plan on doing, and how you felt afterwards. It’s truly a great way to reset and recharge.

Cheers to the weekend.

Get Your Metabolism Back On Track!

Earlier this week, I discussed the symptoms you should look out for if you feel like you have done some damage to your Metabolism. Today, I want to share how to get your metabolism back on track.

1. Reverse Dieting: What is it? Reverse dieting is used as a technique to restore your metabolic rate. It's a progressive way for you to start adding calories back in to your diet. When reverse dieting, you should start by adding in about 5% more calories weekly, which equates to about 50-100 calories more per day. If you feel good after a week of adding in calories, you can add 50-100 more the following week. How long you need to reverse diet totally depends on how little you were eating & how long you were dieting for. The point is to get your body out of depletion and restore your body with nutrients. You gain energy, strength, speed up your metabolism, and see great results! Once you reverse diet for a few weeks and are at a place where you are maintaining your weight, then you can start tweaking your diet again - either continue slowly adding or decreasing calories.

2. Build More Muscle:

Strength train - you will speed up your metabolism. Switch up your routine every 4-6 weeks (change the sets, reps, weight and rest time).  Building lean muscle doesn't mean you will get bulky (men have 10 times the testosterone we do, so it's nearly impossible for us to bulk up unless we are eating crazy amounts). You can speed up your metabolism by 5 times if you build lean muscle. Muscle burns 5 and a half times more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have the more your metabolism allows you to eat. Girls often say, "well I eat less than her, why is she smaller than me?" Truthfully, she has a faster metabolism than you because she eats enough!

3. Recover fully from workouts:

Do I have to explain this? Stop wrecking yourself in the gym without stretching, recovering, or treating your injuries. Hydrate before and after, and fuel yourself properly! Think about your caloric intake both in terms of your resting metabolic rate and expended energy from workouts.  For example: if your resting metabolic rate is 1,500 calories and you burn 500 calories in your workout, then you need to eat 2,000 that day to simply maintain your weight. Make sure you SLEEP, because this will allow your body to recover and repair.  If you don't sleep enough, you won't recover properly.

4. Supplement:

I love Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). They can help speed up muscle recovery and growth.  If you drink BCAAs in the morning and at night, studies have shown less hunger, higher calorie expenditure, and direct the energy being used to fat stores rather than eating up muscle.

5. Get blood work done:

If you have more of the severe symptoms listed in last weeks' newsletter, then definitely go to the doctor and have blood work done. Your doctor can check on your thyroid to see if it's too fast (hyper) or too slow (hypo), your testosterone levels (help build muscle & speed metabolism), and Leptin (satiety hormone). You might need a medication for a little while to regulate hormone function.

If you feel like you have done metabolic damage, you need to take yourself out of the routine you are in. Is it truly balanced and getting you to your goals? If not, let's switch things up!

Prioritize Sleep: Sleep is more important then you think

Yesterday I was exhausted. I'm not one of those people who always says "I'm exhausted"; when I say it, I mean it. For the last few months I've taken on everything I can and more. A full time job, starting my own business, personal styling, and blogging. On top of that I workout 1-2 hours daily, like to spend time with friends, and have some "me time". I have been really bad about getting enough sleep. I have probably averaged about 5.5 hours a night for the last month. If you have read about my "musties" here you know sleep is essential for my personal health.

How much sleep do we need?

8 hours is ideal.

Does sleep effect my weight?

Yes, when Cortisol(stress hormone) levels  are high you are more likely to store body fat. Studies also show you are more likely to eat more when sleep deprived. You are also more likely to find inflammation in your body or bloating when you don't get enough sleep.

Can I lose muscle if I'm not sleeping enough? 

Yes. Protein synthesis happens when you are sleeping. If you don't get enough sleep, you can experience muscle atrophy, and decreased levels of testosterone (which we all need to build lean muscle and a fast metabolism).

Can I recover from workouts without sleep? 

You don’t get stronger, faster, and fitter during a workout. You get stronger, faster, and fitter after your workout while recovering. This includes nutrition, rest, sleep, and hands on work (mobility, stretching, massage).

What else is making it hard to get 8 hours?

Stress. If you are stressed you are less likely to get 8 hours of sleep, which also inhibits recovery. When you exercise you essentially put your body in a stress state. If you are stressed outside of your workouts your tissues won't recover as quickly.

What does this all mean? I'm too busy to sleep! 

You need to prioritize sleep just like you would your nutrition or workouts. Always put your health and happiness first.