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#75 - Chelsea Pullinger: the empowerment of a sustainable healthy lifestyle
848 Plays1 year ago
In this episode I chat with online coach Chelsea Pullinger. We both share a very similar mindset when it comes to health and fitness - sustainability!!
We have a fab conversation about:
-sustainable weight loss
-lifestyle habits outside the gym
-having a strong why
-how to deal with challenges
-self-love vs goals
-strength training
-planning and prepping
If you'd like to connect with Chelsea you will find her on Instagram @evolvewithchelsea
Music by LiQWYD Free download: hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb Promoted by FreeMusicPromo 📷 / @freemusicpromo1
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Praise
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast. So in today's episode, I interviewed Chelsea Pullinger and she is a fantastic, fantastic human who has ah so much insight and so much depth, which can be hard sometimes to find in a coach. and we have the most amazing conversation around a sustainable healthy lifestyle and the empowerment that that
Self-Belief and Growth Mindset
00:00:36
Speaker
brings. We talk about self-belief and how we build our self-confidence, about perfectionism and all or nothing mindset and how harmful that can be. We talk about sustainable weight loss.
00:00:49
Speaker
We talk about the habits that we need to put in place for sustainable weight loss and a sustainable healthy lifestyle. We talk about what or why. So and why it's important to have a strong why for our journey and how we discover that. And we talk about having the mindset, I suppose, a growth mindset of, you know, overcoming challenges and how it challenges are opportunities to
Benefits of Strength Training
00:01:15
Speaker
learn. We talk in depth then at the end, particularly towards the end of the podcast about lifting weights and strength training, why it's important best to implement it into our lifestyles and what we actually get from it more so than just, you know, ticking the boxes of why why it's healthy and important. and We go much deeper. I think you're really going to enjoy this episode.
00:01:39
Speaker
Chelsea is is a coach with a lot of depth and I will share her Instagram handle in the show notes so that you can check her out afterwards and I think you're going to get a lot from this episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
00:01:57
Speaker
Chelsea, welcome to the podcast.
Coaching Philosophy on Sustainable Weight Loss
00:01:59
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me, looking forward to it. Yeah, looking forward to this conversation because this is long overdue because we did have it scheduled a long time ago and then I was like in like overwhelm mode and and everything took a back seat. So and we had to reschedule and get back to getting back to the podcast schedule now, which is and great. So I suppose for anyone who doesn't know anything about you, do you want to share a bit about your background, a bit about you and what you do, I suppose? Absolutely. Well, my name's Chelsea and I own a Evolve with Chelsea. And pretty much what I do is I coach women to achieve weight loss, but it ends up being so much more, more than that, because ultimately it's all good while losing weight. But the real challenge is learning how to maintain it. Um, and that comes, you know, with changes in mindset, changes in overall habits. And ultimately I want to help women create a lifestyle that they fucking love and they can see themselves living forever.
00:02:53
Speaker
not just some, you know, six week quick fix type thing, which I think, you know, a lot of women have been chained to like the old dieting rules where it was super restrictive and often made them miserable. And like my mission is to help women see that that isn't the way to achieve healthy, maintainable weight loss. And actually, it doesn't have to be miserable. It doesn't have to suck the life out of you and you can actually live your life and get results. So that's how I help women. Amazing. Okay. So that is what you do. So tell us a little bit about your story. What's what's your story and from where you started to where you are now, let's say, because obviously you're in the UK, but your accent tells us differently. So tell us a little bit about you, your fitness journey, your
00:03:35
Speaker
even just your your career journey to here?
Chelsea's Journey: Australia to the UK
00:03:37
Speaker
100%. So eight years ago, I moved to the UK. Because even though I don't leave with it, I am half English, my dad's originally from here. So my granny's over here. And I thought, you know, I had no commitments in Australia, let's just come on over, see what it's about. If I like it, i'll like I'll stay. If I don't like it, I'll go back home. Obviously, I must like it because I'm still here eight years late and I've got my city. It's like you're the opposite to us. All all Irish and English people like emigrate to Australia for the sunshine. We're like, please, we want to live over here. Whereas you're like, you enjoy the the dull English.
00:04:11
Speaker
whether and I wouldn't say I bloody enjoy a day like honestly when there's a sunny day I'm like it just brightens up your mood so I think that's definitely one of the things that I miss from home but back where I come from it is so so human and hot like legit it'll be eight o'clock in the morning you've had a shower and then you just sweat and bricks you know um so summer here is actually really nice which is probably I guess well I guess is one of the reasons I stayed um But ultimately, like kind of what got me into like where I am now is I moved over to the UK, I did loads of different things and then COVID hit.
Overcoming Personal Struggles Before COVID
00:04:46
Speaker
But before that, if I'm being really honest, like I was always into fitness. um And I always thought that I kind of wanted to do PT right. But
00:04:54
Speaker
I loved to party. I used to go every weekend and with my friends have fun. And obviously the party lifestyle didn't quite match up with, you know, the health, you know, fitness lifestyle. So I kind of put that on a back burner for like a long time. And then ultimately COVID hit. um And to be honest with you, even when I was in the UK, like the habits that I was following outside of the gym didn't didn't match up. Like I i was still partying a hell of a lot. I wasn't looking after my mental health. My confidence was like legit in the gutter. My self belief wasn't there. um But the thing is, is that like on the outside, nobody would have realized that because I never obviously showed that side of me. However, like internally, like that's how I felt.
00:05:40
Speaker
um But then COVID hit and I was actually working for um some property developers where I live.
Career Shift to Personal Training
00:05:47
Speaker
And, you know, I actually hated that job so much. Like we had to door knock. um Let's just say that the way they did things, I didn't agree with the way they did things, but I also had no other option. Like I needed to work and I was getting paid. So I thought just leave it. But it got to the point that I actually went back to Australia for Christmas. um This is just before COVID hit. And I remember being in Australia and I didn't want to come back to the UK because I fucking hated my life. like I hated my job. I wasn't happy with myself. I wasn't happy how things were turning out. And I remember speaking to one of my friends and she's like, don't go back. She's like, ah like come and live with me um and like you don't have to go back to the UK. But obviously, my life was there. My grandma was there, everything. So I had to.
00:06:29
Speaker
So even though I didn't want to, I went back to the UK um and then COVID hit and the boss actually called and obviously we weren't supposed to go into the office or anything. And he called me and said, we don't care what the government says, we want you back in the office and if you don't come back into the office, then you're going to get fired. Like literally, that's how he put it to me. I remember that i remember the morning and him talking to me. And I was just like, okay, and then I kind of hung up. And that was literally the moment I was like, nah, I'm not doing this shit anymore. I'm like, I'm not going back to work for them. And that's literally when I decided, right, I'm, if I'm going to quit my job, I'm going to do my PT course.
COVID's Impact on Career and Self-Improvement
00:07:05
Speaker
And I'm going to just smash it out, like the whole of, you know, COVID for as long as like what I thought maybe we would be in it for. um And I'll just go and get a job doing whatever else in the meantime, because like, I guess that was like, is it the camel that break yeah the straw that break the camel? I try and say analogies, but I'm pretty shit at it if I'm honest. So if you hear some throughout our conversation, you may have to disregard them. um So yeah, that happened and I worked every single day. Like, it ah I remember I was actually with one of my housemates and like he often would say like, you're gonna take a break. But in my mind, I thought
00:07:40
Speaker
If I've quit my job in a time where so many people have lost their job and they didn't want to, like I had to make the fuck and most of this and I had to make it work. So that's why I made sure that by the time gyms opened, I wanted to have like as much of my qualification done as possible. So that I could legit hit the ground running as soon as they opened. And I think that moment was probably like the, like, I feel bad saying this, but for a lot of people, COVID probably was one of the worst things to happen to them. For me, it was literally like the best thing to happen to me because ultimately, it allowed me to move into a career that I absolutely love. Like I feel grateful to say that every day I wake up and I fucking love what I do. um But what COVID actually also did for me is because I was still partying a lot and obviously not looking after myself and recognizing kind of how much deeper work I probably need to do on myself to improve my confidence and my self belief and I guess kind of, you know, work on you know, all limiting to beliefs and things that have happened in the past, it slowed me down.
Importance of Self-Reflection During Lockdown
00:08:44
Speaker
And it allowed me that time to start doing that deeper work on myself and, you know, not following going out and partying and all that all that all the time. And it it was a time where I was ah like, I was able to work on myself to get myself to the point that I am now. And I think without COVID,
00:09:01
Speaker
I potentially wouldn't have done my PT course and I potentially may still be in that state of mind where my confidence was in the gutter and I wasn't happy at all with how my life was turning out. So sorry for the long winded answer, but that's kind of how how I got to where I am now, so to speak. Yeah, no, that's a really, yeah, really, really good and background. and And I like I can totally relate to the whole COVID thing as well. And just, you know, like it obviously it was a terrible time for a lot of people and a lot of people lost people. But for me, it was it was it was a pinnacle moment in my life, really, where everything changed. And I like myself, yourself, we're not the only people that there's a lot of people I've talked to who the turning point in their lives has has been COVID. And, um,
00:09:46
Speaker
I think it was it was having this the space to think clearly. It was the you know was for the first time and lovely how the universe just worked out for you where it was like, you didn't even need to make that decision on that job. That that decision was made for you. It was like, okay, right. Well, I'm not going in there, so that's that. I'm forced. But what what really struck me and what you said there about that time is your drive to get your course done.
Finding Motivation in Fitness Journeys
00:10:12
Speaker
And like that is like literally the definition of a strong why. So like you know I'm sure when you're working with clients, similar to myself, that it's really important when you're on the fitness journey, health journey, weight loss journey, you need a strong why.
00:10:25
Speaker
And something that is going to drag you out of bed when you don't feel like it, that's going to make you push you forward to do the thing. And you had that by the the I've quit my job, a lot of people de can't, a lot of people want to work and can't. I'm going to make this work and that drive and that was similar for me as well. It was like, I was teaching and I was PTing at the same time and and I had kids and it was, it was like, I think you might be actually feeling the full effects of the tiredness of it all now that it's all stopped. Like, but, um, but i now I look back and like, I don't know how I did that, but it's because I wanted it so much. I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to get out of teaching. And I think when you have a strong way.
00:11:06
Speaker
It's amazing what you can achieve, 100%. And I think, you know, maybe for some people, and especially our clients who have, you know, these weight loss goals or you know, goals that they want to achieve, if they don't understand the real reason, like, behind why they need to be doing like the habits or the things they need you to get there, then that's when it becomes easier for them to give up. And something I actually say to my clients, and it like again, i'm I'm very much big on the mindset side with all of my clients because I personally think that
00:11:38
Speaker
until you rewire your mindset, and until you really delve into the why behind you doing these things, um and the real meaning of it, then I don't think, well, I think the process is a lot harder, um and it's a lot easier to kind of give up. So with my clients, I often say like, you need to be looking at the long picture of like potentially, you know, why your strength training or why we should be having a healthy diet and you know getting movement in every day, not from just a weight loss point of view, like what is the real reason you're doing it, you know, with strength training, so that I often say to them, ah the thing is, I'm quite like i'm casual when I speak to my clients, like what you see is what you get. But like I say to them ah like it like this, is that your strength training is going to help reduce the chances of you
00:12:22
Speaker
being put into a care home too early and having someone to wipe your ass, you know, like things like that. And you know, having a good diet isn't just about focusing on weight loss and sticking to calories. It's about making sure that you are like staying as healthy as possible for as long as possible so they so that you can increase your longevity. um Or like ultimately, you're not just trying to lose weight, because I think sometimes, this is my personal opinion is that I think sometimes weight loss can be a surface level goal. And I'm not saying that it's not important to my clients or to other women, it is. But I think underneath that, there's other goals or there's other things that they really want to achieve, like improving their confidence and getting that self belief back and just feeling capable that they have what it takes to create a lifestyle that they are happy with and they want to live forever. um So I think mindset is like a massive thing and understanding your why is super important as well.
00:13:17
Speaker
I think that is literally the difference between someone who achieves their goal and someone who can't and is stuck in that vicious cycle. And and I don't mean it in you know a judgmental way. I'm literally just stating facts.
Mindset and 'Why' in Weight Loss
00:13:32
Speaker
So if someone who's listening to this is you know someone who just cannot see two guess i cannot seem to to kind of get ahead on their journey and to make progress, I think it's it I think a huge part of this is really that we haven't dug deep. like you know when When clients start with me and they fill out the the client information form, what is your goal?
00:13:54
Speaker
I could tell you, like, the nine times out of 10, people will say lose weight, lose weight, or lose, and they might have a specific amount of weight, and they might have an occasion, like, that's usually it, which is fine. And what, and that, and that there's nothing wrong with that, starting that, like, because it's better than nothing, like, you know, needing to change for health reasons and not not wanting to or not, you know, like, so the fact the fact that you have approached a coach and you want to lose weight, that, like, that's a really, really good start. Presuming that, you know, that there's weight to be lost and you're not, you know, you're losing weight and you you really, like, it will be unhealthy to do so. So presuming that it's healthy to do so, it's okay to start your journey. Like I started my fitness journey. I just wanted to look, I wasn't even like to lose weight. I wanted to lose it weight, but I wanted to just look good. That was my reason initially.
00:14:42
Speaker
she'd Like, my God, it hasn't changed. Like, but that's, you don't need to have the most, have it have your wife figured out, but it's on the journey. The clients that are willing to dig deep and really question, you know, when they, cause when they hit an obstacle, cause you're going to hit an obstacle, like, and like probably within the first two or three weeks, like we all do. yeah And it's how, it's what, what we start to learn about ourselves a long way. This is like you said, mindset work is so important and some people will achieve their goals. despite not doing mindset work, but they're accidentally doing the things that need to be done. But a lot of us won't accidentally do it. And that's why we don't make progress. And I just think that that's, it's such a huge part of it. Have you heard of the five whys um my exercise? Now, what is it? Yeah, so basically it's around this. so you know you like you Just say like a client starts with you and they say, i am like you say, what is your goal? And they're like, I want to lose away i want to lose weight. And then you ask, one so dont no you you don't ask them, like you don't put the ones, but you give them this exercise to do journaling wise. So they have to ask themselves, why do I want to lose weight? And then they put down an and they might put down an answer because
00:15:50
Speaker
I have three stone to lose. Why do you have threestones why do you want to lose three stone? It ends up digging up digging off things. It might be like, I don't have enough energy to run around after my kids. I'm out of breath when I go up the stairs. ah you know and why yeah Why is that important that you change that? and You keep digging, you do it like about five times and then you get to the real reason of like you know I want to be around to to see my kids grow up and I want to have loads of... like One of but mine would be like, when my kids are grown up I want to be like fit able and strong so I can go off and have loads of adventures like after raising my kids you know what I mean but you don't like when you're starting off like and you're so busy and you're so stressed and you're you know there's so much going on you don't know what your deep debt it's so it's so
00:16:35
Speaker
hidden by everything else that you have to fucking deal with on a daily basis. But doing like that five wise exercise, I didn't explain it very well. But and it is really, it is really and it's amazing what you'll come up with. And so I think sometimes people aren't ready for it straight away. It it takes a little bit of time. Agree. I think reflection is massive because we live in a world that is such a rat race. And we're constantly just like, going through each day and something, you know, I encourage my clients to do is like, you know, if they if they say that they have struggled with something in particular, I actually in one of my check ins I asked them to because we look at
00:17:08
Speaker
struggles or challenges as opportunities to learn. Like that's all they are. It's not a bad thing. It's just an opportunity to learn. And even in my check ins, I asked them though, I say, you know, what did you um struggle with this week? And then underneath that I said, like, what can you learn from this situation? And a lot of what I do um is asking questions back to them. They'll say they struggle with something and then I'll ask questions back. because I'm not just going to tell them what to do. I want them to figure out why they think this certain thing happened and what they think they can do about it. Because ultimately the end goal is like for them to be able to feel so in control of the decisions they're making independently and not have to rely on someone to give them the answers all the time, because that is how they're going to be successful at long term weight loss. And I often will ask my clients and they come on board is that, you know, what do you want your life to look like in 12 months time, five years time, like not just six weeks.
00:18:02
Speaker
um And, you know, a lot of the stuff that comes up in our conversations um involves having to do the deeper work and get to the bottom of it. And I say it's fucking uncomfortable, because there's a lot of things that as individuals, maybe we don't want to delve into because of our ego, because we don't really want to come to terms with what's actually happening. But I honestly believe until you get to the root cause of a potential struggle or maybe something that you're dealing with, you're never fully going to be able to either resolve it or learn how to manage it. And do you know what, doing that deeper work, it's like a weight has lifted off your shoulders. And the thing is, is um just quickly, the other week I had a call with my mentor and I got into the call and I felt I'd been feeling really upset. um
00:18:49
Speaker
And I didn't really know why. And then she really put me on the spot. She was like, let's, let's not do anything else. Let's delve into this. And I actually started bawling my eyes out on the call. And I and don't cry in front of everyone. And I felt really stupid. And then I'm like, I'm so sorry, blah, blah, blah. She's like, no, like, let's delve into it, etc. And the thing is, is that When I got off the call and the conversation that came about, what I reflected on is I could have easily just said, I'm just a bit upset and then moved on with my day. But I literally sat there on my own for like five, 10 minutes. And my issue, I realized that I was always trying to improve. I was always trying to change things in the back end because
00:19:24
Speaker
well, I thought that's what I had to do to be successful and you know grow a successful business. And what i actually what actually came from reflecting and delving into the deeper work, which is uncomfortable, is that i I was trying to do all those things because I was trying to prove to myself that I was good enough um and that I was good enough to be a coach. And I think since I made that like realization, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I've been able to show up so much, so much more authentically without trying to be perfect and trying to change all these things. And do you know what, if I hadn't given myself that space to sit down and actually think about why did I just break down in front of my mentor,
00:20:04
Speaker
and cry because I thought that I felt, you know, just, I didn't, I didn't really at that time delve into it. And then I did. And then now that I've realized that why I was trying to change things in my business wasn't actually from, you know, a positive point of view, it was from old limiting beliefs that I'd held about myself, trying to prove that I was the hardest worker in the room. I've now just, I don't know, I've just feel happy in these last two weeks, because I'm like, I am good enough. Do you know what I mean? I don't have to keep changing things to be a certain person. All my clients are happy with my service and what I bring to the table and that's actually enough. I don't need to keep changing all these things in order to move forward.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah that's which it's such a valuable insight and I think isn't that such a hard thing to get right for all of us no matter what our goals are that being enough and knowing that as you are is enough and showing up as yourself is not only like enough I kind of feel like it's your responsibility to show up like it's literally what you're here for to show up as you are, as you know as you're intended to be here and contribute to the world with who you are. like that's what it's That's literally what it's all about. and and But if you have goals this is so it's you know that if you have goals, and this is why the deep work is so important because the goals need to be for the right reasons. Any starting point is fine. and Then as you do the deep work, you figure out a little bit more as you go. and A goal I've discovered over the years,
00:21:38
Speaker
All proper goals are feelings. It's, it's to feel a certain way, but yet I'd like it's to hold onto that. I am enough as I am and I love myself as I am, but I also want to make improvements to my health or my body or my fitness or my business or
Recognizing Small Victories
00:21:54
Speaker
whatever. Like that it's okay to strive for more. But it's important to, this is also why it's important to appreciate, to reflect, as you said. So reflecting on the challenges, but also reflecting, doing regular journaling where you're actually writing a list of everything you thought you're fucking proud of that you've achieved so far, because our brains have this way of adapting and we forget.
00:22:14
Speaker
that we used to wake up in the middle of the night to eat. And then we don't do that anymore. Or we used to get out of breath walking to the end of the road and now we walk five kilometers a day. You know what I mean? These things are we forget. And so it's so important to reflect regularly and rewrite that list, not just reread it, re-fucking write it so that we remember. I think celebrating wins big or small. It doesn't matter how small or big you think they are, like a win as a fucking win and you celebrate it because when you can recognize these little wins, like at the time, I think a lot of women, you know, something as simple as being, you know, able to hit your step target for seven days a week when, you know, just so you were able to hit 7,000 steps, whereas before you wouldn't even consider hitting three, like
00:23:01
Speaker
at the time, I think little wins don't feel like they make a big impact to some women on their journey. But you know, when you look back six months down the line, you think holy fuck, yep, that's one of the reasons that it's got to me to to where I am. And I believe that recognizing those wins, um it ignites like that self belief in yourself and it um improves your confidence because when you're ticking these little things off, which maybe you once thought you never could like, that is improving your confidence, that's improving your belief and feeling like, actually, hey, you know what, I i can do this, i I am capable of achieving my goals and getting to the point of feeling happy, healthy and confident in who I am. But
00:23:42
Speaker
If you don't recognise those things, you're going to make yourself believe that you're not making any progress or you're not getting anywhere. And I've shared about this to my bloody clients, you know, sometimes they just disregard these small things. And I'm like, I don't freaking think so, mate. Like, this is a win's a win and you celebrate it because that's what's going to improve your confidence and get into where you want to be. Yeah. And the thing is, sustainable weight loss. takes time. It is literally consistency and patience. A lot of fucking patience because it's slow and steady and the little wins are important. But building that, like you said, building that evidence that you can do this and, you know, regularly reflecting. And not only can you do it, when you turn them around and realize, holy shit, I am doing it. I'm in the middle of doing it. And when you're in something, it's so, and that's why a coach is so helpful. and When you're in something, it's very hard to see clearly.
00:24:34
Speaker
it's like think about like when you're in a place when you're traveling from A to B it's um it's so much clearer when you're looking at it on the map but when you're actually there in on the journey it's not the same and it's it can be very hard to recognize that and that's yeah. It is a, um I love my mottos, right? I live by them. And a motto that we use is you cannot get to the outcome without the process.
Patience and Consistency in Weight Loss
00:25:00
Speaker
And I will, I often encourage women to, and I know it's hard because, you know, you have this goal of achieving just say a weight loss goal or fitting into dress or whatever it is. And that's exciting. And you really want to get there.
00:25:14
Speaker
But um i ah I will say to my clients, I know that's important to you, but you're not going to get there without the process. So instead of focusing on that, you need to focus on on what you have to do on a day-to-day basis. And I know it seems a bit boring sometimes and a bit repetitive, but at the end of the day, that's what you have to do to get where you want to be. And there's no way to change that. And like you said, like long-term weight loss is slower. Like it sounds boring because you get all these bloody fad diets and shit out there that offer these amazing results really quickly. And of course humans want instant gratification. We want results quick. So that's what, you know, women tend to go for. And it's not their fault. It's the fricking marketing of them. But the reality is if you want to achieve long-term weight loss and create a lifestyle that you literally can see yourself living forever, because ultimately that is what, that is the aim here.
00:26:01
Speaker
you know, if you if you want to be happy, etc, then it does take fucking time. But any any, you know, important goal to you is worth waiting for if it means you get there in the end. um And you can maintain it because no woman wants to lose weight and then put it back on. And the thing is, if you want to get to that point and be able to maintain it, then you have to do the work in the middle, which does take longer, which is hard, which is so up and down like any journey. But when you finally like when you push through those hard moments, and you finally get there, you will be so fucking proud of yourself for not give it up and for just pushing through, you know. um And that's, yeah, what what I think. Yeah, and I think
00:26:40
Speaker
people think that it's going to be easy and or not that it's going to be easy but that it will be smooth and what I try and and communicate with clients is like Everyone has, like nobody, there is no smooth journey to long-term sustainable weight loss. There's going to be shit happening. Like our lives are messy, our lives are chaotic, our lives are up and down. There's really good times, really bad times, really, lots of really boring times. And your weight loss journey is going to reflect that. And it's the giving up on yourself part or the impatience part that is why you don't get there. And that's a like,
00:27:19
Speaker
getting there quick, then there's nothing worse than that anxiety you're trying to keep, but being like, oh, I was, oh, I was so skinny there last summer. And then, oh, I don't know what happened. I went to the holidays and I never like lost track of it. You know, it's like, it's happened to us all. And it's, it's just moving away. Like getting there quick is not going to make you happy, but yes, the habits are repetitive. Yes. You need to go for your walk every day. Yes. You need to drink your water. Yeah. You need to bedtime. Yeah. You need to, you know, track your calories. If you're well, you know, you need to be in a calorie deficit, however you're choosing to maintain it too. obtain that. The habits, the physical habits are yeah are repetitive. But the self development work you do, the mindset work, that's where you're going to get your thrills. hundred percent That's the difference. So if you you know if you do it right, and you dive into the mindset work, and you discover stuff about yourself, and you work with a coach on this, it it can be the most it is the most empowering journey. Because like you said, as a coach, rather than telling someone, so I don't do meal plans,
00:28:16
Speaker
Like I will do a meal plan and like eat it. People sometimes will ask me for meal plan. we We do kind of like meal plan examples being like, you know, take some inspiration. That's totally fine. But like you will not be given a meal plan with me because that's not solving the problem. And as a coach asking clients questions and what, what would you like to do in this situation? And you know, making decisions together as well. It means that when you reach your goal, it's you like clients will be like, Oh my God, Kate, thank you so much. I'm like, you did it. Hmm. You did it, like, it and because ah I can't do it for someone, I can give advice, but there's only, so it's the same, like, ah and I think I get this from teaching as well. Standing on top of a classroom talking to a load of kids, the percentage of the information they're actually gonna take in is fuck all. Kids learn by doing and by solving their own problems, they learn by play. And and the same is true of adults, like we learn by getting in there, trying things.
00:29:15
Speaker
reflecting, reassessing, changing direction and going again and and that's how we learn and but it's the problem is we have all these limiting beliefs that we've built up through whatever trauma is in our past and we all have trauma whether it's someone being mean to us on the schoolyard or whether it's you know something way worse like loss and grief there's there's trauma there for everyone and the the reason my kids are so much more receptive is because they haven't been fucked up yet, most of them. So we're just a little bit more, we're just like fucked up children, basically. And and we need to, yeah, we it's what we need to learn by doing. So a plan, or like a perfect plan is not going to work, you're gonna have to get your hands dirty. No, I
00:29:59
Speaker
don't believe perfect exists at all. It doesn't matter what social media says to like shows us and portrays to us. No freaking woman on this earth is perfect. Everyone has shit going on, but that is actually the normal. And when you can learn how to you know um incorporate habits and eat a healthy diet and exercise into your imperfect life, which is normal, that's when you will see results that last. Because you learn, you have to learn how to manage all these things whilst you're living your life whilst it's chaotic and shit's hit in the fan. Because when you can learn to manage it throughout that, like I i feel like that's when the the journey becomes easy. I'm not saying it's easy, but it becomes easier because
00:30:40
Speaker
you know, as any like challenge arises, it's not a bad thing, you just, you have to take the time to learn from it, because it will pop up again. And, you know, if you learn from it, then maybe you are better able to manage it next time, maybe you're not. And like, that's okay. But the thing is, you won't ever get confident in having the tools in the back of your mind to potentially be able to manage it.
Handling Setbacks and Moving Forward
00:31:01
Speaker
If you don't do the deeper work and reflect and what I, you know, with my clients, I kind of try and cut away a lot of the bullshit and I know it's not easy for everyone to take the emotion out of things, but um a phrase that I get my clients to ask themselves, which sounds so stupid, I know, this is my issue with analogies, is that if they've gone over their calories or like had a shit week or whatever it is, I get them to ask them like, did any baby lambs die? And the reason I get them to ask this question is because
00:31:33
Speaker
obviously the answer is going to be no. And it's supposed to bring them back to the present moment because often, you know, when shit doesn't go to plan, we we get these feelings of guilt and frustration and we feel like a bad person. And then this leads to us thinking, shit, I've ruined my diet, and I'm never going to be able to achieve my weight loss goals. And it's just gone from just going over your calories to never achieving your weight loss goals. So like for me to get like asking them to ask that question to themselves, It's about bringing ah like yourself back to the present moment. And you know if someone pops in the group, like I had a shit weekend with diet, et cetera, I don't say this to invalidate how they're feeling because you know how they feel is valid. But I'm like, well, you have two options here. You can sit and dwell and stay in where like the current position you are in, which is you're not feeling great about you know your habits, et cetera, on the weekend.
00:32:24
Speaker
Or you can fucking get out the next day, get back on track and just continue on with your habits and routine. Like, it's not me. um I don't know how to say it like it's not me. not like like I said, not validating what they feel or and anything like that, but sometimes I think they just need the fucking bullshit taken away from them and like just black and white. You either get up the next day and you try again or you don't, you feel like shit. And for some, I know that's not always the the case, obviously, you know, that everyone's so individual, but sometimes that's all it takes is someone just giving them a black and white bloody answer and say, you choose what you want to do. And then let's be honest, they all say, right, I'm just going to get back up the next day and try again. And then they do and they realize, fuck, it actually wasn't as hard as what I thought it would be.
Maintaining Fitness Goals and Perspective
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah. And I think sometimes as well in that it's the reassurance, you know, that you kind of spiral in your mind. You're like, Oh my God, i'm such a failure. I keep doing this. Here I go again. I failed at another diet. I'm not going to be able to, I can't do this. And then you talk to your coach and they're like, it's okay. You know, if the shit happens, like what it happens to us all, let's just draw a line in the sand and get back to it. And then it's like, Oh. And then ah then the client is less afraid to check in. And like at the minute I'm having a fucking disaster. I'm supposed to be like doing a little mini diet for my holiday and going away in a few weeks. And like I just, the past two weeks, I've been a fucking disaster. And like I'm checking in with my coach and I'm like, I'm sorry. I know. Okay. I know what I need to do. I don't know why it's not happening. Need to do a little bit of self-reflection. I have some ideas why it's not happening. Um,
00:33:56
Speaker
It happens to us all, and it's but it's um but also the spiral of, I can't do this. like like So the fact that I've had a few weeks where I've just burnt out, have ah had a lot of other things going on in life, and it's been difficult to get to the gym when I needed to, it's been difficult to stick to my calories, it's whatever, has spiraled from, oh, I'm having a bad couple of weeks too. I don't know if I can do this photo shoot in November. It's like, what? You need a holiday. Calm down. I want you to be back from your holiday at the end of June. And then you still have months and months and months. So it's amazing. So all of our brains do this. And it's being able to gain the perspective and have someone to offer perspective to you that it's like, yes, your feelings are valid.
00:34:41
Speaker
And it's it's it's totally normal to feel overwhelmed, to feel stressed, to feel burnt out. And yes, something needs to be done about that in order to move forward, but also to be able to laugh it off and be like. Yeah, something's got to give and it just happened to be me tracking my calories this week. Sorry. What am I going to do? I didn't kill anyone. You know what I mean? It's at the end of the day. It's like, yeah, okay. I'm slowing down my goal a little bit, but what's the fucking rush? If I can get to the bottom of this. So then it's like, I know, like I know that if I want to push forward with this like photo shoot, if I, like but if I want to get leaner, and then I might choose not to. And I had, I had a breakthrough at my coach as well, where it was like,
00:35:19
Speaker
Why can't I just step into a gym tomorrow and do a photo shoot as I am and celebrate as I am? And I'm like, of course I can. And you know what? She was never putting any pressure on me, but it was like, I was putting pressure on myself because you see all this bullshit online at the minute of all this photo shoots and this really leading people. I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? I don't want to look like that. That's not who I am. That's not what I believe in. And it's like, yeah, I can tie it down a bit for my holiday. So I feel, it feel a little like, ah especially after doing a building phase, I was feeling quite sluggish. So I just want to lose a little excess body fat. I'm not looking to look like that. So calm down, Kate, you can definitely do your photo shoot. And you kind of have to laugh at yourself a little bit then when you're when because your mind spirals. And and knowing I think when you get to that point of overwhelm that it doesn't mean that you can't reach your goals and you have to give everything up. It just means it's it's time to slow down, maybe take a step back. What needs to give and this is where the reflection and I get clients like I don't know how I don't know what I should be journaling. That's what you should be journaling. Yeah.
00:36:15
Speaker
that's like, that's what I need to be journaling. I'm like, okay, why am I so so overwhelmed? Something's got to give her I'm going to burn out. What will that? No, I'm not too worried because I'm like, I'm going on holidays in a few weeks. I will have switch off time. And I know once I've switched off time, I will have clarity as to how things need to go when I get back. um And I think a lot of us like that, but like at week to week, it's like, If you're making like, you know that, I feel like I'm repeating this quote a lot, you know, the Einstein quote, and definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. If you're in the same cycle, something's got to change. Nothing changes if nothing changes. And it's about taking the time to reflect, to figure out what that is. And that might take time, but that's okay.
Addressing Deeper Issues in Weight Loss Goals
00:36:59
Speaker
that's it. And it will, it does take time. um Because, you know, a lot of the women we probably work with have tried a million and one diets in the past. And unfortunately, the diets have found them because of silly rules. And so they've, you know, they've been led to believe that there's a certain way to do weight loss. And I think that often contributes to um you know, I guess what they what they feel it takes to lose weight. But the thing is that I don't think there's like a one size fits all for everyone. And, you know, what someone's idea of their ultimate weight loss goals are can be very different to someone else's. And it's not to say one's right or wrong. I mean, at the end of the day, like, you can lose all the weight in the fucking world. But if you don't do the deeper work, and you don't work on yourself, and, you know, figure out how you can become internally happy with who you are as a person and the life you create, then
00:37:50
Speaker
you'll lose the weight, you'll just be a fucking smaller person, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be happy. And that's why, you know, I love delving deeper with my clients into, you know, the real reasons why, but they do things and, you know, how we can improve their confidence. And like, for me, like, what I absolutely love is like, seeing my clients self belief and proof, because I know that was once something that I struggle with incredibly, not believe myself and not feeling good enough just to do, you know, reach my goals. And I remember how crippling that felt. And that would often hold me back from doing certain things. And now, like I've been able to overcome that and just fucking feel the fear and do things anyway, like it just
00:38:34
Speaker
it's such an amazing feeling to be able to believe in yourself that you're capable of doing the things you set out. So when I see these little breakthrough moments with my clients, it's like, I feel like I say that all the time, I feel like a proud mom, like sometimes I feel like I could actually cry because I know how important it is to them not. And that's got nothing to do with weight loss, but just in them feeling happy in themselves and you know, yeah feeling every day when they wake up that like, that they're creating the life they want, and they're capable of reaching their goals, not just weight loss, but bloody any goal they set out. And I think um it's so important to be able to help women work on not just weight loss, but their confidence and self belief, so they can create a happy, healthy life that they fucking love.
Habits Becoming Second Nature
00:39:20
Speaker
And my favorite thing is when clients, the habits that they've put, they've worked so hard to put in place become second nature. So like if a client has had a really busy week and they've they've gotten in the habit of getting their daily walk in and there's a few days where they don't get their walk in and that used to be really hard for them to get the walk in. And then they're like, I'm fucking raging because I never got my walk in and like ruined my whole day, like, and I really missed it. You know, and then I'm like, yes. Now we're on the right track because it's intrinsic you want to walk because it makes you feel good and or like you know if a client goes for a weekend away like the first thing i'll do for a client seven a weekend away i'm like. Don't you fucking dare feel guilty or stressed about food you go and you relax and you enjoy your weekend away unless you're away every weekend that we need to put some boundaries in place but if it's it like what do we all work so hard for if you can't go away on a holiday or long weekend.
00:40:07
Speaker
But what I love is when a client comes back from a weekend away and they're like, I'm so excited to get back to my healthy habits. And at the end a lot of them when they check check in with me would be like, oh, when I was away, I still went for a walk every day and I drank loads of water and I had protein with every meal when there was probably some vegetables on my plate. So basically you kind of kept things, you might've had a few extra drinks and desserts and um didn't track your calories, but everything else is the same. because Yeah. And I love that. It's like they look forward to getting back into their their routine. And then it's like, you know, you're on the right track then.
00:40:40
Speaker
100%. I actually had a message from one of one of my clients the other day and she'd never done weights before and now she fucking loves it. Like she had to skip a weight section and she was devo because she couldn't do it. And I'm like, it's just incredible to see those changes. And you know, you'll go through weeks where you can't be fucked to do things and you don't tick off habits and stuff. But just because you go through that week doesn't mean it's a permanent thing that you've lost, you've lost your will to stick to your habits and you're gonna fall off track forever. Like It's just a week, you know, we all go through it. I know I do. And it's like, when you can say that you look forward to your weight training, or you're excited to get back into your habits, it I think it shows that they understand, they understand how those things make them feel in a really good way that impacts their life positively.
Starting Fitness with Simple Habits
00:41:26
Speaker
And that's like you said, when it's like the light bulb moment for them that it's not just a phase and that's even weight training, I'm like,
00:41:33
Speaker
to all my clients. I'm like, you're not just weight training. I mean, weight training has fuck all impact on your weight loss journey anyway. But I'm like, you all will be weight training for the rest of your life. I hope you expect that. Like that's what I say to my clients. And when they can notice the the impact it does have on their life, I think that's, that's when it becomes less of a chore and more something that they, I guess, and enjoy doing or want to do. Yeah, definitely. And yeah, I will say to clients, don't ever put anything in place to lose weight that you're not willing to do forever.
00:42:05
Speaker
except for your tracking of your calories. That's our tool that we use to to get there and it's and it's a skill that you'll build and you can you can dip in and out of it. and But everything else, your walks, your workouts, you know if you hate fucking hate your home workouts or you fucking hate the style of training you're doing, find another one. There's something for everyone. and like you You made a really good point there that a weight loss journey looks different on anyone. Because I do want to ask you have like, you know, someone listening might be like, okay, you're talking about all these habits, what habits are we talking about? And and I know this journey, like you said, you know, it looks different on ah on everyone. And it's so true. What what should someone do a little bit more than what you're you're currently doing?
00:42:49
Speaker
is genuine genuinely, probably enough. So if you're somebody who doesn't walk at all, getting out for a little walk, 10 minute walk, it's gonna be a huge difference. If you're someone who doesn't eat any vegetables, eating but a bit of vegetables is gonna make a huge difference. and And so the quantity and the intensity of what you're doing is going to depend person to person. But let's talk about basic habits, someone listening to me like, okay, this all sounds great. Where do I start? What kind of habits are we talking? So with all my clients, I will get them to have some form of movement in the day. Now, some love a step target and some can hit 7,000 steps, no worries, okay? But I actually had a client who works ah in the ambulance and does shifts. So setting her a target of 7,000 was fucking stupid. like i just There's no point in her doing that because she knows she can't reach it. So instead, she she set a step target of 2,000. Now, there's no right or wrong because at the end of the day, the reason that we set that target was because
00:43:41
Speaker
I wanted her to feel like she could tick that off, which she was able to to build her confidence up. um So I think and you don't have to look at like steps like, you know, yes, you don't have to look at steps necessarily, it could be simply just going out for like a 30 minute walk. not just from a weight loss point of view, but for your mental health and, you know, to reduce the aches and pains and shit that happens because we're always sitting down. um I encourage my clients to drink water again, some people can smash it out of the park two and a half liters, some can manage a litre. That's something I asked them to do and protein like again, some people hit protein targets and follow calories, whereas some of my clients follow a habit based approach and
00:44:23
Speaker
their aim is just to make sure they get, you know, a portion of protein um within each of their meals, you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So they're some of the habits that, you know, my my clients follow, I guess, on a daily basis. so right Yeah, definitely. And just those fundamentals, yeah, talking protein, sort of just trying to be a protein water steps, like real fundamentals, another one that I would really put, like, I will put as like, number one, is sleep. yeah like People are like, what supplements should I be taking? Seven to nine hours sleep are the supplements you should be taking. Literally will solve so much of your problems. Now I know there's moms with small kids, it's not always possible.
Confidence and Discipline Through Strength Training
00:45:06
Speaker
and and you know Stress can play a huge part on sleep. so If sleep is being disturbed because of stress, the stress needs to be addressed as well.
00:45:14
Speaker
and so Yeah, it gets more complicated with sleep. um Another one then, I suppose, yeah, I suppose, what what tell me where resistance training plays a part in a healthy lifestyle for you. For me personally, for my clients. and Well, for you personally, I suppose, and then how that would reflect out on your clients. And so I actually did a post on this yesterday and I admit I used to train to change my body shape. Like that's probably one of the only reason I trained initially to change my body shape. um But what I've come to realize is the immense
00:45:50
Speaker
like confidence, it gives you knowing that you're looking after your body and knowing that like you're, you're becoming your like ultimate strong empowered self. um And the reason I say that is because and this is what I often say to my clients is that I know for some women, it's like, like they'll lift a weight right that they didn't think was possible. And maybe to them, it's like, Oh, I just lifted a heavier weight. And I'm like, it goes fucking far beyond just lifting a heavy weight. Like, you thought you couldn't lift that weight, you were scared to lift that weight, you probably like didn't think it was possible. And then you've just fucking did it. You've surprised yourself. And to me, for my clients, it ignites that self belief in them. And I think, um and this is also how kind of it's impacted me is that
00:46:34
Speaker
they once thought it was impossible to do lift this weight, let's just say, if if they were holding themselves back in the gym and lifting that weight, like, but now they've just surprised themselves and been able to lift this weight they never thought was possible. Like what other areas of their life like, can they start looking more into where potentially they're holding themselves back because they think they can't do it. And So in terms of like, I know, I know that sounds a bit corny. And I don't know if that makes any sense to you. um But for me, I think lifting weights isn't just about lifting, literally lifting the weight. It's about doing something you once thought was you would never be able to do. And then looking at other areas of your life where you think maybe there's other areas I'm holding myself back because, ah you know, I've got these limited beliefs. But if I could lift that weight that I fucking thought was impossible, then maybe I can do this other thing that I thought was impossible.
00:47:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, I totally relate to that. And I think that kind of happened to me. It was like, with fitness, it was like, wow, this is like, like what else can I do? This is amazing. like that i'm i'm like And that the feeling of of pride in yourself. And that doesn't even need to be like heavyweights. like and Another thing I think is really important with strength training, particularly if you're, you know, if you're in a class based gym, you know, when there's other people lifting around you, do not compare yourself to someone else. It is literally you improving on you. And not in it, not because you hate who you are. It's just been like, Holy shit, look what I can do. I wonder what what else I can do. on Yeah. And like it just, it's it's amazing. It really does. And I don't think that's corny at all. It really does give that empowerment. And I think so many people are missing out by not having it as well. I think
00:48:16
Speaker
it's and But also I think for me, something that strength training teaches, which and spills into other areas of our lives is discipline. And ah again, I feel like I'm talking about discipline a lot lately. And I feel like I want a new word for discipline, because I don't like the word discipline, probably from the teaching background, I just feel like it sounds very kind of ah authoritarian. But and it is but it it does teach you discipline. It's like, okay, I know that. And I think as like a lot of my clients are my age and older, As we get older, we realize how much how important it is. i am We start to feel the aches and pains, and and or you know we're starting to gain body fat. We're not losing weight as easily as we used to, and we know that the answer is strength training. So that that gives a pretty strong why. But then it's the knowing that what you have to do, having a good program,
00:49:04
Speaker
and going and actually getting it done because it's important. and But the discipline as well of work of working through a set that fucking burns and doing it anyway because you're pushing yourself to that point that you're like, I can't do this anymore. And that teaches a lot as well and the showing up and the repetition of it and the fact that a good strength program shouldn't be changing every week, you should be doing the same workouts over and over again for at least eight weeks. And and I think that discipline then just it's built into other have other habits and other areas of your life. And so you come out of the gym feeling really, really empowered. And so initially, I suppose it's probably discipline and then after a while it becomes and it becomes I'm going because I know I'm gonna feel amazing afterwards. And you chase that feeling.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think like for me personally now, strength training is non negotiable. It's like brushing my teeth. That I, you know, I'll be honest, one out of my three sessions a week, I actually feel motivated to do the other two generally can't be fucked. But I know that when I get in there, when I finish, I'll feel better for it. And I think strength training teaches women to, you know, I guess, um look at the long term goal, um or look at how their future self will be. And what I mean by that is that ultimately, you can't, as obviously we get older, the ah bone density decreases, our ability to maintain muscle decreases. So, you know, when we're strength training, we are making sure that we set our future self up. um
00:50:39
Speaker
to be as strong as possible in that moment, if if that makes sense. Because like I'm training now as a non-negotiable, and I'm holding on to the fact that me being disciplined now is going to make sure that my life in 20 years time, um you know I'm hopefully not ridden with injury riddled with injuries and can you know um carry the bloody shopping out of the car and um you know reach for things or sit down on the floor. And I'm thinking, you know, doing all this work based on how potentially I may feel in 20 years time. and And I think that does show discipline, like you were saying as well, because you're not just looking at the short term benefits, you you are really doing all these things for how you know, you're going to be in the future and your future self. And ultimately, we're always evolving. um And I don't ever think we get to our most um our best self, our pinnacle self, if that makes sense, because I think
00:51:35
Speaker
as you know, as life goes by and stuff like that, we we should be constantly evolving every single day. And we should be becoming or working towards becoming an even better version as we go through different phases of our life. But I mean, I'm an advocate for strength training, I fucking love it. And I think like, I always say like, you never ever too old to start, like, do not use that as a bloody excuse not to get started. Because majority of the women who potentially may be in the start and they're, you know, 40s or 50s or 60s, literally love it and wish they fucking started 20 years ago or, you know, 10 years ago or whatever it is. um So I think it's really important to know that you're never ever too old to start strength training. Definitely not. I have my mom in the gym. And well, she actually broke her arm recently. Not not with not in the gym with me, don't worry.
00:52:23
Speaker
but and so she's a little out of action now she's doing physio work and stuff but she's been in the gym and she's 66 and she is loving it like and she so when she broke her arm she's like i won't be able to go to the gym anymore and i was like this is and i would never have thought of her as a gym goer um so like she comes and she does two sessions a week definitely not and like and she's noticed a huge difference in her you know in her strength and her everyday stuff. so like that's totally and I think sometimes it can be hard to project forward, especially when we're busy with small kids and you know whatever, but it like it it it is important. and but not It's not even just you know that yeah like the old the old people gains that we get, which is what is most it it is what's most important.
00:53:04
Speaker
It's also the, um, the rate of, you know, muscle loss as we, you know, we're losing muscle, but it's not like, and this is where I think I was talking about this of the other day where people make the mistake. It's like, it's not just the case that you're losing, you're like, you might be like, Oh, I don't care about being strong. I don't care if I'm losing muscle. It's not, it's, it's also the case that that muscle's being replaced with body fat. So this is middle age spread. So, you know, you're losing muscle and in, in place of that muscle is going body fat, which also means then it gets harder to lose weight because your, your, your basal metabolic rate is going to be lower. And when you decide, Oh God, I've gained two stone, I need to lose some weight.
00:53:42
Speaker
it's harder to do and you have to eat less calories because you've got less muscle on your body so it's really worth preserving what you have and then starting to to build a little bit of muscle get a little bit stronger as you're losing body fat so like and also and let's just put it on the table If you're strength training regularly, you are going to look better too. to there And it's okay to want to look at look better. You know, you will get, you will dig deeper and into the other things, but it is also nice to, you know, be able to wear a sleeveless top and not be self-conscious about your arms. Or, you know, to be able to wear a pair of shorts again and maybe have more shorts in years. Little things like that can make a huge difference. so And, you know, we're going out, you know, going out in the night out and
00:54:24
Speaker
and feeling good in your clothes and not feeling self-conscious, or the amount of women that I've spoken to that are like, I'm wearing clothes that I haven't worn and in years. That's a really nice feeling. And people sometimes, you know, don't vocalize that and it's seen as shallow a but if to look a certain way, but like looking a certain way again, always stems back to feeling a certain way. 100%. And like you said, like, you're allowed to have goals where you do just want to look good and close, but as long as it's being paired with like that, like deeper inner work as well. um And ultimately, like I know, muscle building is toning up. I mean, in what a lot of people refer to as toning up is building muscle. And the thing is, if you want to create shape in your body, which you when I speak to most women, they they would like to then that involves strength training. um And just losing weight, and no strength training won't give you the same outcome.
00:55:14
Speaker
um So if you want to like the best of both worlds to lose a bit of fat and shape up your body, then you need to be bloody strength training and you don't need to be strength training five days a week like I trained six, three, six, no, I don't train six days a week. yeah I trained three days a week. And I used to try and put more in, but honestly, I don't want to be in the gym five days a week for, you know, however long, like, it just doesn't suit my lifestyle. And I think maybe some women can think when they're starting, like, ah this journey is that right, I've got to go frickin hard, I got to be in there five days a week.
00:55:45
Speaker
But what ah often ends up happening is, and I know I used to do this myself, is because I know I have five training sessions to do, by the third, I'm kind of showing up half ass because I know I still have two more and I want to preserve my energy. Whereas you're far better off sticking to just say three, going in there, smashing it. And ultimately, I think you look, well, this is my experience. I look forward to my sessions a hell of a lot more because it means I'm only in the gym three hours a week. And I know that when I go in there, I need to fucking make the most of that hour and train with intensity um to make sure I'm getting the most out of it. But you don't need to be training five, six days a week. And for most women, like six days a week is too much anyway, because i I don't think they would be putting, you know, as much effort into all the sessions if knowing they have six times to get to the gym or try and fit.
00:56:34
Speaker
I also think it's going to be counterproductive because you're not actually going to build muscle because muscle builds while you're resting. So you need rest days. So I would argue that nobody should be strength training more than four days a week, yeah in my personal opinion, but like also just from, you know, anything that, any knowledge that I would have, I would think, you know, the four days a week tops. Like, you know, you need your your muscles need time to recover, to grow and to heal and to grow. but i But I'm so glad that you said that about the three days a week, because this is something that I've only just switched to myself. So I have been training four days a week for a long time now.
00:57:08
Speaker
and Mainly because I loved training and I had the time to do so. And I prioritized it, but it has got to the stage where I don't have the time anymore. I am beginning to resent it or I find I'd only get three sessions done in the week instead of four. So I'd feel like I had to kind of failed, not failed, but yet like that I hadn't completed my week properly. And then I'm starting the week off in the next workout and just, it was, it was bothering me. and And so I've actually reduced down to a three day training week, just the past
00:57:39
Speaker
two weeks. And um I'm really excited about it. And I think it's a really good point that you said like it. I'm like, okay, I have three hours when I'm here. Well, I usually have probably about an hour and a half in the gym, but whatever. I've got three gym sessions a week. I have no, like like, I can fit that into my week, and I need to be fully present. Like you said, give it my all. And just like, this is me time. And it's not rushed. And it's not like resenting having to go on a Sunday morning and when I don't want to go. Like it's like, these are my three and it and no matter what comes up in the week, there's a there's plenty of space in the week to readjust those. So ah yeah I'm literally going to be in the gym training three days a week is all.
00:58:17
Speaker
And the only, like, and I don't do cardio at the minute, the only cardio I do is walking. I walk and I lift weights. And that's what I promote because it's what I enjoy. um And I think if you can get a good brisk walk going, you're exercising your heart, I think if you enjoy other forms of cardio, like cycling or running or swimming, then absolutely we will include it in your program. But for most of us, like if we can get out for a walk and we can get our strength training done, we're keeping fit, we're keeping strong and it's it's enough. So anyone listening, who might ah might not have time and you're like three days a week, there's no way up for three days a week. You don't need to train three days a week. Train like ideally, I think someone starting out if you can get to two strength sessions in a week is is going to be ideal starting out and if you really love it, we can add in a third as we go if you have the time. If you're so fucking busy, and you can literally only fit one in, do one. It's gonna be helpful a hell of a lot better than doing none.
00:59:08
Speaker
Absolutely. And also I think with the strength training is like, I know there's a lot of women who are super busy, who have kids and so many responsibilities to take into consideration. But I think it often doesn't come down to the fact that you like I'm gonna say this but I hope it comes across right it's not that you don't have it's not a case of not having time it's a case of that you you need to find time throughout your week to do it and the thing is you don't have to do an hour and a half workouts honestly something simple it's like 15 20 minutes you know in the comfort of your own home just moving that body potentially lifting some dumbbells etc it does wonders for you like it increases like those happy endorphins etc but
00:59:51
Speaker
even like the habits and like your nutrition and the strength training, like all this shit doesn't happen just by chance. Do you know what I mean? Like, you have to find the time to be able to do these things. And when I say that, it's not that you have to dedicate two hours to fucking meal prepping on a Sunday, or like I said, two hours in the gym, it's like finding the time that suits you based on your own time constraints. But you have to do that. Otherwise, you know, you you won't receive the benefits from it, if that makes sense. Yeah, definitely. And I think you need, you know, so like planning and being organized is the most, it's to be honest, it's kind of behaving like a grown up really, being organized, planning, like, ask anyone listening to this, ask yourself, how how long are you spending at night time watching Netflix, or whatever you're watching? What time are you staying up until? What time do you get up at in the morning to get the kids out the door for school? Is it literally just in the nick of time? Could you go to bed? Could you take an hour back from the evening?
01:00:49
Speaker
go to bed earlier and get up an hour earlier and do your homework out before the kids get up. It's an option. Maybe like, no fucking way. I'm not a morning person. That's fine. Would you do an evening workout when the kids go to bed before you sit down to watch Netflix? You know what I mean? Fit it in, schedule it in, make it non-negotiable and and Yeah, like it just it just needs to it it needs to be prioritised and it doesn't need to be all or nothing. oh And I think you're right, planning and prepping every single week is necessary you know in order to get all of this started. If you want to fit everything in, if you want to feel organised and not stressed and overwhelmed throughout the week and then
01:01:26
Speaker
if you don't want to feel guilty as shit because you know you didn't organize when you could do your workouts or you didn't worry about you know doing your grocery shop, like you have to be planning on the weekends. There's no doubt about it. and I think everybody can take 10 minutes, 15 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday and just do a little bit of a jot down of a plan of thinking, right could i could I do my workout here or what few bits do I need to get to the grocery from the grocery stores in order to make sure that I feel in control of my diet? Like it takes li it doesn't have to be fucking in depth. But even just jotting something down on paper, or popping it into your calendar takes what 15 to 20 minutes on Sunday or Sunday? Majority of women would have that because you know, that we tend to scroll and just sit in front of Netflix and things like that. um And I I hope that doesn't sound harsh, but I do think like these are the things you have to do, you have to choose your hard, right? Yes, it's it might seem a bit like hard to sit down and plan your meals or do your grocery shop or whatever it is. But what's harder is when you enter the new week feeling disorganized, stressed and overwhelmed as fuck, because you didn't take 15 minutes out of your weekend just to jot a few things down.
01:02:33
Speaker
Yeah. um And I think I'm a firm believer that like organization and planning equals freedom. Like people think it's it's boring and it's because like it it restricts you. It doesn't, it does the opposite. And I also think that some people think that they're just not an organized person. It's something that it's a skill. Everyone can be organized and it's not spending hours and having all these fancy planners or whatever. It's like literally what's happening next week? What are we having for dinner Monday to Friday? And when am I going for my walks? When am I going for my workouts? And that's fucking it. Like, and, and also, yes.
01:03:05
Speaker
anyone listening, look at your screen time. What is your screen time on your phone? How long are you spending scrolling? And there's nothing wrong with scrolling if you enjoy scrolling. But before you do that, schedule that time in the evening, what before you start scrolling, habit stack this, get your calories tracked the night before for the day ahead. I don't know, like I'm trying to stick to 1900 calories and I'm struggling at the minute. And 1900 calories quite a lot for a calorie deficit. But I don't know how anyone could go into a day not having it planned when they're trying to stick to a calorie deficit. Like how? I would literally be end up not having enough calories left for dinner. Like, and then like, let alone my evening chocolate that I like to have. It's like, be organized. It'll give you the freedom. It'll make it so much more enjoyable, not just with tracking, with exercising, with everything. i Anyway, look to finish up. Last my last question. and What does the word health mean to you?
01:03:57
Speaker
What does the word health mean to me? I was having to think about this and I think it's... just being able to kind of get up every day and like feel happy in who you are and your own skin and the life that you're creating and ah health will look different like as you know, to every single person and there's no right or wrong. um But at the end of the day, health is just if you know you're looking after yourself, if you know you're eating a healthy diet and training and you know, doing your best ah um to make sure you look after yourself, then
01:04:30
Speaker
That's, that's health, I think. Yeah, I love that. I love how simple that is because people are over complicated all the time. Just yeah, ticking away at it really, isn't it? Yeah, I think that's, it doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to be bloody in the best shape of your life or skinny as fuck or doing all these things like ah health is just waking up every day and feeling pretty happy and who you are and the habits that you follow and that you trust that the lifestyle that you're creating is going to make you feel happy and content. Love it. and Chelsea, thank you so much for coming on and having a chat with me today. and I think this has been so beneficial and I think and the ladies listening will, sorry, the ladies and men listening. and I get in trouble for that sometimes when I say ladies, are like you know like men listen to you too. I'm like, I'm sorry. But I think there's so much benefit for for the listeners. and If anyone wants to check you out, where is the best place to find you? ah It's at Evolve with Chelsea on yeah Instagram and Facebook. Perfect. And Chelsea, thanks so much. I will talk to you soon. Thank you so much.
01:05:42
Speaker
I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. It really means so much to me that there are people out there actually listening and to what I have to say and to the conversations that I'm having with others. So thank you so much. If you are enjoying the podcast, could you please make sure that you are subscribed? And if not, if you could hit that subscribe button, it really does make that much of a difference. Also, if you would like to leave a review on any of the episodes that you listen to, that you particularly enjoy, I would love to hear what you have to say. And also, if there's an episode that you've enjoyed, please do share it on your social media, in your WhatsApp groups, with your friends. If you're sharing it on your stories, please tag myself in it and whoever I'm interviewing, this it would be greatly appreciated.
01:06:25
Speaker
Also, if you're interested in working with me and my wonderful team, please do you contact me about applying for coaching. So you can contact me, Kate Hamilton-Hell at gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all Kate Hamilton-Hell. And you will be able to apply for coaching. We can organize to have a chat and see if it's a good fit for you and get you moving towards your goals.