I am not a proponent of taking prescription medications. In fact, my entire career, mission, purpose, journey, etc,  is about helping individuals get off their medication by creating health from the inside out through clean nutrition, movement, and through empowering the mind. So why am I asking you to take your MEDS today? 

Last week, I was sitting down to create plan to keep me focused and to make sure I get done what needs to be done during my husband's deployment.  It's way too easy to get wrapped up in reacting to life, instead of being proactive to life. So, I sat down and created a calendar on a piece of paper for the number of days that he will be deployed for.  In each daily box is four letters.  M.E.D.S.  What it boils down to, are the four things that I need to do daily, so that I don't forget to take care of me, during, not only this deployment, but through this holiday season, and new year.  

These are the four things that I need to do...

For as long as I can remember, I would describe nutrition  to my clients  using a continuum.  The  example I would use is: "In the ideal nutrition world, you would choose the organic apple.  If you can't do the organic apple, then choose the conventional apple.  The conventional apple is still better than the candied apple."  Everything worked along that continuum, and you would just aim to get the best you could, at that time, in that place.  Of course the candy apple isn't a health food, and I don't recommend eating them, but you get the idea.  The conventional apple, while not the best, is still better than the candy apple.  The same thing would go for a potato: choose an organic sweet potato first and the  conventional sweet potato as your second choice.  Both would all be better than the french fried potato.

But there is a slight hiccup in my theory, and now, I cannot use that example for all fruits and veggies, like...

This week, I want to share with you what happened to me when I stopped monitoring my coffee shop (budget) behavior!

Here's a little back story: Last month, our TBP wellness practice was to manage what we monitor.  When you know better, you do better. So if there's a behavior you are thinking of  changing, the first step is to monitor it in order to decide if it's worth changing or not.  I chose to monitor the amount of money I spent at the coffee shop.  

At the end of the month, I deemed the amount of money I spent at the coffee shop to be appropriate, and that I did NOT need to make any behavior changes.  Fast forward to this month, and I have already spent double(ish) what I did last month when I was monitoring! And we still have 9 days left in the month!  

DID I SPEND LESS BECAUSE I WAS MONITORING THE BEHAVIOR LAST MONTH? OR DID I START SPENDING MORE BECAUSE I WAS NO LONGER MONITORING AND TRACKING? 

Do you have chronically tight hips like I do? (I swear it's from years of marathon running).  If so, try out this exercise that I call the "Gator Step with a Twist."  

In the video above, I describe how you can do this exercise as both a stretch, or an active warmup/mobility movement.  Give it a try and let me know how it feels!

-Abby

If you're like me, sometimes you need as much motivation as you can get to fit in a workout.  Let me share with you one of my secret weapons that works like a charm (most of the time).  Here it goes:

Super simple. I don't get to shower until I've gotten in my workout!  I don't know about you, but once I shower, there's no way I'm going to get in a workout. I sweat like a beast and would have to shower again! And who's got time for that?  So, if I'm going to workout, I do it before a shower. 

Let's say, for example, I have a meeting, or an event to attend, and I know I need to shower before it. I tell myself that I have to get in my workout BEFORE that shower! So, if showering for you is a daily ritual (I hope it is), then this is the opportunity to make exercise a daily ritual.  

If it's a rest day, I don't use this rule, as I embrace the rest and shower whenever I want. But on the other 5-6 days of the week, I absolutely schedule my workouts...

Let's chat for a moment today about why we should NEVER exercise to "work off" the food we eat.  I'm going to start right off by saying that the mindset of doing that is one of punishment.  You're using exercise as a punishment for eating the food.  No wonder exercise gets such a bad reputation and has such a bad PR problem! 

For years, I thought of exercise as simply a means to (try to) control my weight.  I would use the exercise machines and furiously watch the calorie counters on them to see if I burned enough to make up for the ice cream, or snack I ate.  Funnily enough, it never worked. (big surprise).  

Let's change our thinking from using exercise as a means to burn calories, to a tool that helps us feel better.  Exercise is medicine for our bodies, it's not a punishment for the food we eat.  Plus, when you stop exercising, you actually burn even more calories due to the post exercise "burn." So, calories from...

Have you ever been super low on energy? (trick question, because I already know that the answer is YES! OF COURSE!) So, I want to share with you just one way you can get out of a low energy funk, super fast!

For the past 3-4 days, I'd been super low on energy. I didn't have the drive to get anything that wasn't essential done.  I had no desire to exercise either.   So, for a few days, I honored that desire for rest, and let my body have it.  

But, when the low energy continued beyond 2-3 days, I knew something wasn't right. Was my body just totally fatigued? Was it sluggish from eating out while on vacation the previous week? Was the low energy psychological?   I knew my body needed exercise, because I usually start going crazy if I don't get exercise (aka: movement) in after a couple days. But I just had no desire to exercise.  

So, I reached back in my TBP wellness resource arsenal (in the Trainer In Your Back Pocket membership, there is...

Have you ever had a nagging injury that just wouldn't go away? Well, they say "nothing changes if nothing changes," and "they" are right.  Back when I first began running as a casual form of exercise during college, I thought running was just a natural thing.  I didn't know that there was actually a right way and a "not so right" way for the human body to run.  And in order to discover the answer to my nagging injury, I had to make a change in my running form.

The body is built as a machine with parts that stack and depend on other parts. When one part doesn't work right, then the surrounding parts have to pick up the slack. Eventually they get tired of picking up the slack (as I am sure you would get tired of always picking up the slack for one of your co-workers, right?!)   So they stop helping. When that happens, injuries happen and things just stop flowing right.  

Let me share with you my story of how achilles tendinitis bothered...

I'm going to get a little personal today in my story of why showering was painful for 8 months after having a baby.  But what's more important than telling you about the pain I experienced, is the WHY I let it happen . Most people would call me crazy. In fact, I think I called myself crazy (or in fact was crazy) during this time.  But in this week's Tuesday at 2 TBP Talk on Facebook Live, I share with you my story of why my WHY was greater than my WANT.  

For any change you're trying to make in your life, be it exercise habits, nutrition goals, morning routines, whatever it may be, you have to realize that just wanting the change isn't enough.  Wants get tested all the time. They get tested until you quit.  You quit when your why is no longer stronger than your want.  So, take a moment this week to really truly sit down and think about WHY it is you want to make a change in your life. 

Take a listen in, and let me share my personal story of 8...

When it comes to posture, we can all agree that it seems to be getting worse and worse, going right along with our sedentary lifestyle of sitting too much, looking down at phones, and lack of proper musculature on our backside. 

So, I wanted to share this small tip with you that you can implement RIGHT NOW, as you sit there reading this.