When A Fitness & Nutrition Expert Gains Weight, This Is What They Do

By
Connie Trowbridge

I’ve been enjoying every moment of every holiday party, eating all the cookies, having all the drinks, pretty much enjoying #AllTheFood.

I have no regrets and will be doing it all over again next holiday season. I wouldn’t trade the memories and fun I had decorating gingerbread cookies with my daughter, or celebrating our 26 acts of kindness over dinner and drinks for any number on the scale.

The number doesn’t matter, how I FEEL is what matters most.

This post is here to provide you with actionable steps you can take to feel better now, and a side effect of these steps happens to be weight loss. I wanted to share these tools with you in case you’re feeling like I am right now – kind of tired, bloated and uncomfortable. I definitely don’t have as much energy as normal. My sleep is a little wonky. I’m getting more breakouts than usual. My periods are a bit more painful and so on.

Can you relate?

As delicious as all of the food is, eventually it adds up and starts to affect our body in not-so-great-ways, such as slowing down our metabolism, decreasing our quality of sleep, causing brain fog and lack of motivation, and messing up our hormones.

But it’s the holidays. It happens to all of us.

So now, I want to share with you three steps that I will be taking not just to shed the excess holiday weight, but to supercharge my metabolism, get my energy back,  and overall, FEEL good all day long.

These steps are an act of self-love.

It’s my way of saying “thank you” to my body for putting up with all of my holiday indulgences.

Let’s begin!

1. Use Appreciation To Lose Weight.

Every morning, I write down three things I appreciate about my body. I know this step sounds like it would be useless and pointless, especially if you’ve been conditioned to believe that the only way to lose weight is to diet and exercise like a madwoman.

Let me tell you something…your body is an incredible vessel, here to carry you throughout your life. No matter what you put it through, it STILL gets you up in the morning! No matter how many hateful comments you make towards it, how often you pinch your fat, or how many self-deprecating thoughts you have about your body, it STILL keeps your heart beating. It still keeps you alive and functioning.

When you appreciate the body you have now, exactly as it is, a shift occurs inside of you. When you appreciate your body, you’ll start to operate from a place of caring about it, instead of hating it and seeing it as not good enough. When you care about your body, you’ll be inspired to take action that is aligned with valuing it. You’ll start to want to go for a walk, instead of sitting on the couch all day. You’ll be inspired to add more movement during the day. Or maybe you’ll make certain nutrition choices that help you feel like you’re doing something good for your body, versus making choices that make you feel guilty or regretful.

Do not disregard this step! It is the most POWERFUL and effective step of all the three tips! If you only did one, let it be this one.

I like to remind my clients that taking action from a place of love and care is way more powerful, than taking action from a place of hate and disappointment.

Action Step: Every morning, write down three things that you appreciate and are grateful about your body. FEEL that appreciation, sit in that appreciation for a moment or two. Let it encompass you. Throughout the day, whenever you catch yourself saying negative things about your body, or comparing it to someone else, stop. Notice what you’re doing, and immediately start to think of things you appreciate about it. This will create a shift in your mindset that helps you make choices that are aligned with a happy and healthy body.

2. Start Your Morning With Protein

Food cravings are the worst! They hit us, and we can’t help but eat everything in sight. This leads to making choices that we normally wouldn’t. During this season, we’re consuming large amounts of sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and chemicals. All things that cause us to become addicted and have major food cravings.

Fear not! You can use protein to reset your cravings, reduce and even eliminate them.

Before I get to the action step, let me quickly explain why food cravings happen in the first place.

Our blood sugar levels will determine the intensity of our food cravings. If your blood sugar level crashes, all of the sudden, you’ll be starving, moody and in need of sugary carbs and caffeine. By maintaining your blood sugar levels balanced, you eliminate this crash and the cravings.

Action Step: Stop the cravings from happening, by starting your day with protein. Studies show that starting your day with a healthy protein such as eggs, nuts, seeds, or a quality protein shake, may help you lose weight by reducing cravings, and decreasing your appetite. For breakfast, make sure to eat a protein-rich meal.

3. Support Your Thyroid

One of the hormones that is responsible for burning fat is your thyroid.

Your thyroid is responsible for your metabolism.

Guess what your thyroid needs in order to work and help you burn fat as optimally as possible?

That’s right, FAT! Healthy fats to be exact!

Ya gotta eat fat to burn fat!

Obviously, you want your thyroid to work as perfectly as it can, so your metabolism is revved up and burns more fat.

My favorite thyroid supporter is coconut oil. Coconut oil is full of lauric acid which is a mega thyroid booster! If your thyroid is boosted, guess what else will be boosted as well? That’s right! Your metabolism!

Action Step: To get the most bang for your buck, take 1 tbsp of coconut oil, and add a pinch of sea salt to it. How you consume this, is entirely up to you. Add it to smoothies, hot drinks, or even just chew it up good. Do this twice a day, in-between meals for a metabolism, thyroid, and energy boost!

 

Connie Trowbridge
Latest posts by Connie Trowbridge (see all)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR