Raising the Barbell Nutrition

Wouldn’t it feel good to wake up in the morning and feel in control of your day as opposed to feeling like your day and schedule were controlling you?


It’s not magic, but starting your day off with a consistent morning routine can do just that. Create a positive frame work to help you start the day off with filling your cup so in turn you have more positive energy to pour out.


A morning routine doesn’t have to take hours. I know we are all busy. Many of us already get up at the crack of dawn just to take care of our families and get to work. The beauty of a morning routine is that it is yours. It fulfills your needs and fits your lifestyle.


What does a morning routine look like? It can include all of the following or just a few of them.


✨morning meditation. Take 3-5 min for some guided meditation. Use an app like Headspace or Calm.


✨journaling. You can start by just writing what’s on your mind. Write down positive affirmations, reflections about previous events, 3 things you are grateful for, 3 goals you are going to achieve or 3 actions you are going to take each day to get you closer to those goals.


✨movement- if you workout in the morning you are covered. If not, start with just some stretches or mobility drills or yoga. Going for a walk first thing in the morning is great for helping wake up your body and improving your circadian rhythm.


✨ self improvement- spend some time learning something new, improving your mindset, doing a daily devotion or a reading self development book. This can be as short as reading 1 page of a book or even listening to a podcast or audiobook while you shower and get dressed or commute to work.


Make it your own. Find solutions that work for you. Listen to an audiobook while you walk, shorten the time of meditation or journaling. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Last, be consistent. Nothing works without consistency. Try it for 30 consecutive days, even weekends and see how you feel. Do your days start off more positive? Do you feel more in control of your day?


Do you already have a morning routine? If so, share it below! 👇🏼👇🏼

I’m all for stocking up on shelf stable foods during this time of craziness and uncertainty but don’t forget about all the fresh foods that are still available to us! The shelves at the grocery stores are bare, chips, crackers, cookies, canned soups all gone but the fruit and veggie section was well stocked.


The food you eat directly affects your health. Various fiber from fruits and veggies give us a healthy and diverse gut microbiome. A healthy gut microbiome increases our ability to fight off viruses and bacteria that enter our body. Eating a variety of fresh fruits and veggies also gives our body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and strong.


Everyone is scared right now. People are panicking and stressed. It’s literally the basic things that can keep you healthier during cold and flu season or COVID-19 outbreak.


1️⃣move your body daily. We don’t need to over do it but getting some form of daily movement and exercise can improve your immune system. Not going to the gym right now? Go for a walk or sign up for my at home workouts!


2️⃣ eat a variety of fresh produce with each meal. Reduce the amount of food you consume from a package.


3️⃣ get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep can reduce the immune system and stress on the body.


4️⃣ manage your stress. A stressed body is more susceptible to illness.


These things are basic but they are the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. Whether we want to lose weight, avoid sickness or improve our hormones these basics need to be in place. Need help with strategies on how to implement these basics and beyond for your life? Shoot me a DM. I love helping!


What are you stocking up on?

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There’s a truth about dieting that you might not want to hear.⁣
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It can help to take a break before you’ve reached your fat loss goal.⁣
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I know that might sound a little scary, especially if you believe it will make you will lose all your progress.⁣
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But I promise if you do it right, it can have many benefits.⁣
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Essentially, it gives you both a physical and mental reset, which can be really helpful if you’ve been eating in a deific for months on end while still trying to maintain an active lifestyle and be a functioning member of society, lol.⁣
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It’s easy to feel super motivated in the beginning, but once your energy levels start to decrease and your hunger and cravings increase, it’s no longer such a cake wake. ⁣
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Even worse, long periods of dieting can reduce your metabolic rate, make you lose your precious muscle mass, disrupt your sleep, and screw with your hormone levels. ⁣
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And the best way to prevent all of that from happening is to put your diet on pause for a week or two and bring your calories back up to maintenance levels.⁣
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Now here’s the catch. This is not a time to eat like an as***le. If you want to prevent any fat gain, you will absolutely have to keep things under control.⁣
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But if you do it right, it can be the very thing that will make fat loss feel easier and help you stay consistent over the long term.⁣
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Any time I’ve used diet breaks for myself or clients, the results have been favorable. And in most cases, weight remained stable or even came down a bit. And we were all ready to get after it again.⁣
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Which alternates periods of being in a deficit with periods of bringing your calories back up to maintenance.⁣⁣
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How often and for how long you need a break depends on the amount of time you’ve been dieting and how lean you are. You can diet hard for 2-4 weeks and then eat at maintenance for 1-2 weeks, or you can diet moderately for 11-14 days and eat at maintenance for 2-3 days.⁣⁣
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There’s no one size fits all approach, but I strongly encourage you to use this strategy if you’re feeling burn out from dieting or your results have come to a standstill. ⁣

You need a solid foundation of basics with nutrition if you want to see results. We can’t build a house without a solid foundation. Your nutrition is the same. The macros won’t matter, the supplements will be a waste of money and any fancy tactics you try like carb cycling or nutrient timing will be another frustrating attempt without the lasting results you want to see. .

It’s frustrating spinning your wheels, trying method after method trying to figure out what will finally work. Stick to the basics first and then build upon that. .

What are the basics? .

1️⃣ keep your food simple. Lean protein, starchy carbs and veggies for each meal. Complicated recipes are fun to switch things up but all you need are the basics. Keeping your food basic helps you get the nutrients you need without additional unnecessary calories. It’s easier to track if you track your food and most people are short on time these days. Simple food doesn’t take long to cook up saving you tons of time. Ditch the complicated recipes. Stick to what’s simple most of the time. .

2️⃣ plan ahead. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Know what you are going to eat each meal and grocery shop based on what you need for those meals. This ensures you have everything you need on hand. No excuses for ordering last min take out. If you track your macros, enter your food the night before. You have the ability to change portions as needed instead of tracking as you go hoping for the best. .

3️⃣ prioritize your protein. Most people come up short on protein and eat more carbs and fats than they need. It’s really easy to go over on carbs and fats. They are delicious together and send signals to our brain that we need more. Aim to balance your protein throughout the day if you are tracking. If you aren’t, get a handful or two of lean protein with each meal. .

4️⃣ eat during daylight hours. Our body is in tune with the rise and fall of the sun. We are designed to eat during daylight hours. Eating during the day will increase energy, help you make better choices and improve your circadian rhythm. .

5️⃣ limit you’re alcohol consumption and eating out at restaurants. Restaurants have huge portions and hidden calories. That’s not to say you should never eat out, but it shouldn’t be the routine. Alcohol disrupts deep sleep, hormones and often causes you to eat more. Eating your calories instead of drinking them will keep you better satiated, give you the nutrients your body needs and help you overall just feel better. .

6️⃣eat regular intervals throughout the day. Keeping calories low all day only to be ravenous at night is a recipe for binging on foods that don’t leave you feeling good and for low energy throughout the day. .

7️⃣stick to the same foods. This keeps things easy. Easy can create a better routine and habits that stick. When new habits are complicated, they becomes less sustainable long term. .

8️⃣ last, get some accountability. It could be a friend, partner, Facebook group or a coach. When we have some form of support and accountability we are much more likely to stick to our goals and find success. .

Do you do any of these? Have they been helpful for you? Let me know in the comments!

Are you working your face off in the gym and not seeing the body composition changes you were hoping for?


We can’t rely on just exercise alone- especially just cardio- to get us to our goals. Yes, exercise is important. It keeps our heart healthy and strong which in turn means more nutrients and oxygen carried throughout our body, strengthens joints, muscles and bones for increased longevity. It boosts mood and it can aid in body composition. But if you are relying on exercise alone to change your body, you will likely end up pretty frustrated.


Why? We actually don’t expend as much energy as we think during exercise. We can burn anywhere from 200-400 calories per session. Exercise like cardio tends to increase our appetite leaving us super hungry and often eating more than those “burned” calories.


Our body quickly adapts to exercise, especially cardio where it is more difficult to continue to progress the stimulus. Running 3 miles becomes easier as our body adapts. Our body is going to expend less energy to run that same 3 miles. We need to run more miles to continue to expend more energy. We don’t always have time or the energy for that!


Is your workout making you feel lethargic? If you are smoked after your workout and can’t get off the couch, your overall daily energy expenditure will go down.


If you have goals of body composition changes, you can’t rely on exercise alone to change your body. Making lifestyle changes such as prioritizing protein and veggies with each meal, not drinking your calories, making most of your meals at home, reducing your intake of prepackaged foods and drinking enough water 💦 are the big rocks that you should focus on. I’m not saying done exercise, I’m saying don’t just exercise and ignore your nutrition choices.


Audit how your workouts are making you feel. Are you more hungry? Are you tired? If so, consider pulling back or changing up your routine. Add in some weight lifting or resistance training to increase lean muscle and audit your nutrition habits.


If you aren’t sure where to start, send me a DM and let’s chat.

Listening to your body is a skill. We are so focused on the best exercise routine, best diet, best superfoods, listening to other people but we forget that our body knows what it needs. We stop listening to our hunger cues long ago when our parents (with the best of intentions) had us clean our plate at the dinner table despite our feelings of fullness or gagging on that soggy steamed spinach.

We push our bodies to exhaustion during HIIT training because our trainer told us it’s the best for fat loss.

We restrict food until our willpower breaks and we eat until our insides feel like they are going to explode because we are told to eat less.

We keep going back to keto even though we miss foods, and lack energy because it worked for us before and it’s working for your co worker Karen.

You heard all the best about going vegan but you are seeing less energy and more aches and pains since changing your habits.

Stop listening to what you SHOULD be doing. Start asking your body what YOU need! What worked for you a year ago may not be the best approach anymore. Your body has changed. Your lifestyle has changed. Your daily stress has changed. If an exercise doesn’t feel good, it’s ok to say this doesn’t feel good for me no matter what the benefits are. You wouldn’t tell someone who is allergic to avocados to continue eating them because they are such an amazing source of nutrients. Why would you continue to force your body to do something that doesn’t feel good just because you heard it can be beneficial?

Slow down and listen. Yes, we need to push to the brink of being uncomfortable to create positive adaptations in our body through nutrition and training but this doesn’t mean you need to feel like crap all the time or push through pain. You are the expert on YOU. There is no one size fits all training plan, rehab plan or diet. If you are working with someone that says there is only one way to do something, get a new coach ASAP. Who you work with should be helping you learn to listen to your body, not ignoring it.


📸 .mcqueen_tcm

You have your eyes set on a goal. You have a plan and it’s going great...then the weekend hits and you go out with friends. Friday and Saturday fun turn into going waaaay off plan. You feel horrible Sunday and promise to start over on Monday. This time you’ll stick to it!


Does this sound familiar? You want to be the person who goes out and doesn’t over do it, or the person who prioritizes feeling good long term over feeling good in the moment but you struggle to make those choices.


Next time you are struggling, think about a few things!


1️⃣ Do the things you value (feeling good, having energy, taking care of your body) align with what your prioritize (drinking and eating out on the regular, choosing Netflix over sleep, fast food over meal prep)?


2️⃣ Are the choices you are currently making helping you be the person you want to be? Are they working for you? Do they make you feel good?


3️⃣ If you continued to make the same choices what would your life look like?


4️⃣ If you successfully made different choices that you were wanting to make what would your life look like?


These questions might be uncomfortable but they are important to help you dig a bit deeper to not only find what is important to you but WHY these things are important to you.


When we can identify why we want to create change, it often becomes a bit easier to make the more difficult choices to get us where we want to be.


📸 .mcqueen_tcm

Why am I harping so much on sleep? Because it’s easy to blow off and it’s the one area most of my clients struggle with. When we are busy and stressed, it’s so easy to let this necessity go out the window. We think of it as a luxury but it is truly the one of the most important aspects of your health. It is so vital to our overall well-being that the WHO has listed shift work as a probable carcinogen.


Lack of sleep is tied to a decrease in quality and longevity of life, poor memory and it has even been linked to Alzheimer’s. 😳 We also see decreased productivity, poor energy and increased risk of depression and anxiety.


But, did you know it can also hinder your fat loss efforts?


A lack of sleep affects your brain and hormones and in turn, the lifestyles choices you make.

Increased hunger and decreased fullness, damped frontal cortex (poor decision making), increased stress hormones and decreased insulin sensitivity is a recipe for skipping your workouts, eating foods that don’t leave you feeling good and just saying screw it!


So, do yourself a favor, make it a priority to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night as a non negotiable (assuming your don’t have small babies). You will feel better, recover faster and have the benefit of increased health and immunity.


Think about that the next time you are staying up late watching Netflix or laying in bed scrolling on your phone! Get yo sleep!! 😴


Struggling with quality sleep? Go back and see my post on how to get better sleep.

Deadlifts are one of my favorite lifts! There are so many benefits to lifting weights that positively carry over to real life. If you have been wanting to learn how to lift weights but aren’t sure how to start, I know someone who loves helping people learn how to lift! 😉

https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-reasons-women-must-deadlift?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article3949

4 Reasons Women Must Deadlift | T Nation Deadlifts are great for women too. Not only do they make women lean and strong, they also correct posture issues common to females.

Sleep is one of the most important aspect of our health that most of us aren’t getting. If you want to improve brain health, energy, mood, body composition, performance and hormones, making quality sleep a priority is an absolute must! .

If you are having trouble winding down and actually getting some quality sleep, try these tips! .

1️⃣ turn off screens 1-2 hours before bed. The blue and green light waves emitted from devices tell our body it’s time to be awake and our body won’t produce the melatonin it should to help us sleep. If turning screens off isn’t possible, invest in some blue and green light blocking glasses and wear them 1-2 hours before bed. .

2️⃣ avoid consuming caffeine past 3pm. Don’t forget teas as well often contain caffeine. Even if you think it doesn’t affect your sleep, it likely does. .

3️⃣ eat some pistachios before bed! These little green nuts contain melatonin which is also produced by your body at night to help you sleep. .

4️⃣ reduce the temp in your room. Optimal sleeping temps are between 62-67 degrees. .

5️⃣cant shut your brain off? Brain dump all your thoughts on paper before bed. Write down 3 things you are grateful for and why! .

6️⃣ avoid eating large meals 2-3 hours before bed. Often digestion can interfere with deep sleep. However, eating some carbs as your last meal can help decrease cortisol levels and improve sleep. .

7️⃣ get your room pitch black! Even just a little light can interrupt melatonin production making sleep less restorative. .

8️⃣ meditate and/ or stretch before bed to help calm your body and mind. .

9️⃣ consider playing some white noise to filter out sounds that may wake you up. .

Questions? Let me know!! .
and.muscles.nutrition

Having a coach in different areas of my life has absolutely been a game changer. I am so happy to be a part of a growing industry, helping others create positive change in their lives!

Do you have a coach in any area of your life? Have you ever considered one?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/well/live/new-years-resolutions-health-fitness-coaching.html?utm_campaign=Kresser+Institute&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=82466400&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_EdvcnZVU8loqBDGvQvn6wIrFQtXNbL8pcLdEDr_WuHvMLJh2WKNubRwQXGY4nqAnGbPM_cS3JvV2AI3WupKh4Ji-V0A&_hsmi=82466134

Resolving to Be Coached The secret to sticking with your resolutions may be having a coach to help strategize and cheer you on.

I know self love is getting tossed around as the solution to everything these days. “You can’t truly love others until you love yourself.” “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” .

Those are great words but nobody follows up with HOW to learn to love yourself. Loving yourself doesn’t necessarily mean that you love everything about yourself everyday. It means that you accept yourself as you are right now in this moment and you know you are enough. Not when you lose 10lbs or when you can deadlift 2x your body weight or when you land that job. Right now I’m this moment, you accept yourself just as you are. It’s continuing to accept yourself though all of life’s stages and changes. It’s accepting and acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. .

How we love and accept ourselves affects how we show up in the world. How we interact with others, how we allow others to treat us and our energy that we put off into the world. .

I am running a FREE educational guided journey to explore self love and acceptance. .

What does this mean and what do you have to do? Commit to 4 weeks of daily journaling and taking a few Montfort mindfulness. Each week you will receive journal prompts that will challenge you to reflect and explore your relationship with yourself. You will reflect and being self awareness to lessons you may have learned and ways that you want to contours grow. .

At the end of your 4 weeks hopefully you will have a the beginning of a solid foundation to continue to build on as you create new awareness and habits around self talk, thoughts and self acceptance. .

I know I talk a lot about macros, food and fitness. I truly believe the work we do inside ourselves is just as important if not more so as the outside stuff. When we love and accept ourselves, we are better able to show up for ourselves and others. .

Do you want in?? Shoot me your email in my DMs to get started! I promise I won’t spam you or sell your info. I hate that stuff too! ❤️ .

Look, you can’t mess this up. The changes you are trying to make in your life, prioritizing your health, nutrition, fitness, YOU! We learn from our mistakes. It’s how we get good at something! We mess up at first and keep trying over and over and over again. Each time will be better but likely never perfect. And that’s 💯 ok!! .

When you wrap your head around that, you start to feel so much more free in so many areas of your life! .

I get it. You’re afraid to start something new because you are afraid of failing. What if I told you NOBODY is perfect 💯 of the time? We all get off track. Sometimes life gets the best of every single one of us. The difference between the ones who reach their goals and the ones who don’t? The ones who reach their goals learn from their set backs and get back up. .

Life happens. We are required to make so many decisions every single day. Sometimes we don’t always make the best decisions but that doesn’t mean we quit! .

If you didn’t have time to eat your balanced meals today or get your walk or workout in, that doesn’t mean you can’t try again tomorrow or quit working on building healthier habits. It’s just life. Pick back up where you left off and keep going. .

Take baby steps towards a life that makes you happier. That’s not perfection. It’s usually somewhere in the middle where you can roll with what life throws at you and just do your best to control the things you can and accept the things that you can’t. .

You can’t fail. There will never be a perfect time. Learn to take imperfect, messy action towards your goals and this time next year, you will be that much closer to where you want to be! . . 📸 by .mcqueen_bbp .

The #1 reason I hear my clients struggle on the weekends is due to lack of a schedule and planning. They are on point during the week out of necessity and then the weekend hits and the schedule goes out the window. It’s totally nice to be able to unwind and relax a bit, but don’t let it get to the point that you are floundering all weekend!


Here are 5 ways to set your weekend up to be a winner!


1️⃣ stick to a routine. I even go as far to set my alarm on weekends so I don’t sleep the morning away. On the days I sleep in too much, I’m actually MORE groggy and LESS motivated to get up and get going. Create a weekend schedule for yourself and stick to it!


2️⃣plan ahead. Plan some activity. If it’s a rest day from the gym, wake up with some light yoga, mobility or a walk. Plan your meals too! Just like during the week you know planning is key. The same goes for the weekend. Have protein and veggies on hand. Know what meals you are going to eat and when.


3️⃣ plan for your indulgences. We don’t need to swear off the things we love but planning them into our day can make the difference between eating all the donuts and spiraling to cookies, pizza, fries, etc and 1 donut 🍩 with a balanced breakfast of protein and veggies. Plan these “fun” foods into your day!


4️⃣ Set limits for things like food and alcohol. I will have 1 donut, or 2 alcoholic drinks but I won’t eat the fried food etc.


5️⃣ Plan activities that aren’t 100% centered around food. Brunch is fun, but see if your girlfriends want to go for a hike instead. Try an new activity like indoor rock climbing, ice skating or axe throwing! Sometimes it’s fun to break out of old habits and try new things!


Overall, the more self care we practice during the week, the less we feel like we need to live it up on the weekends. Creating more flexibility in your diet during the week, prioritizing sleep, implementing stress management techniques during the week are all ways to help improve planning and the feeling that you’re living for the weekend.


Questions? Want help navigating your habits and nutrition? DM me!

and.muscles.nutrition

There is one month left of 2019. How are you going to spend it? Are you putting off starting something new or lifestyle goals waiting to start in January?


Stop that mentality! I get it, you’re busy and December is insane. The thought of changing things now sounds impossible. But, you’re over complicating it!


Remember those past New Years Resolutions you made? How long did those last? Mid January, maybe February? You tried to change too much at once. You went from 0-100 and it was unsustainable. Instead think of where you currently are and where you want to be. Be in this for the long haul. What reasonable changes can you implement that can get you 1% closer to your goals?


If the last time you stepped foot in a gym was last January, start with committing to a 15min walk 3x per week. We all have time for 15 min each day.


In your nutrition you don’t have to give up sugar and everything you love for the rest of eternity. You can start small here too. Drink enough water everyday and commit to eating some protein and veggies with each meal. ADD things to your diet instead of focusing on what you need feel like you should remove.


Small changes are sustainable changes that you can stick to long term. They build on each other and don’t have to take over your life. There is never a good time. You will always have life events that you need to navigate around. What better time to learn how to handle new lifestyle choices and life then when you think you don’t have time?


If you start now, you will already have a head start to where you want to be come January. ❤️

and.muscles.nutrition


📸 by .mcqueen_bbp

Tracking your food and macros is a learning tool, not something you have to do forever.


You say that your grandmother never had to track her macros and it’s not natural. The easy access to highly palatable processed foods isn’t natural either. We have moved so far away from knowing what to feed our bodies and how to listen to them that maybe, sometimes we need to take to a tool such as tracking our intake for a period of time to learn how much we should be eating, what our food is made up of and what we should eat to help us feel our best.


Templates meal plans don’t teach us tools to use long term on how we should eat for OUR body and goals. They don’t teach us what maintenance calories looks like...and let me tell you, you CAN eat way more than you think you “should” be!


Food isn’t the enemy. Tracking isn’t bad. It can teach us flexibility and help us learn moderation. It can teach us that we don’t have to fear sugar, carbs or fat. It can teach us how to enjoy a cookie after dinner without binging, because a cookie doesn’t mean we are bad no more than a salad means that we are good.


Get rid of the shame and guilt around your food and mindset. Learn how to eat for your goals and the rest of your life.


Do you track your macros? What have you learned from tracking your food?