Karyn and I had a completion of the Weight Loss Intensive private session earlier, and I thought it would be helpful to record a quick interview to share your experience.

Nadya: Let's jump right into the first question. Before you started the program, what was your main struggle or challenge?

Karyn: My main struggle was that I had been gaining weight over the past 5 to 10 years, partly due to some health issues and also just with age. I had tried various things in the past, but I couldn't stay consistent with anything. I had the knowledge of what I should do, but I struggled with follow-through. I had lots of knowledge but no action.

Nadya: Thank you for sharing that. So, what made you decide to join the program and how has it been working for you so far?

Karyn: I reflected on what I needed and how I could be more intentional and accountable. I realized that having a personal coach who could keep me accountable and help me set goals was important. My sister,...

Just went to the bathroom? Hold your squat for 30 sec or do two push ups on the wall?

Too busy to exercise? In this message we won't talk about a scheduled exercising, like alocating 30 min at a specific time. 

Instead, we will talk about how to squeeze any kind of movement into the flow of your day and how to start so small that it easy to develop the habit of fitting in exercise a minutes or two at a time. 

This technique is good for those who:

• Need to just get started exercising
• Too busy to exercise during the day
• Too tired  to exercise in the evening 
• Family demands get in the way of exercising 
• Fell off the track for a while and need to restart
• Just simply ain't feeling like it

Ready to be amazed how easy it is to succeed?

Step 1. Go tiny. 

We often want all or none. We start,  then it's hard to keep up, we stop and feel guilty for quitting. 

Let's make an agreement once and for all: something is better than...

Strength, balance, fitness, fun and time saving! 

 Let’s take a tour of what happens in every one of my fitness classes, regardless of the level of intensity.

And, by the way, this is the same structure I use whether you are a private client, join a live group class, or work out to a recording on your own.

Let's dive into the three major parts of the class:

Part 1. Warm up with dynamic stretching to increase mobility, joint range of motion, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory readiness. Simply put, you are now ready for a safe workout. We do this portion for about two minutes.

Part 2. The main workout is a functional exercise routine to ensure body confidence in daily life by increasing our muscular strength and cardiovascular fitness. This portion is usually about 15 to 25 minutes depending on the class.

1-min Plank (for levels 2 and 3 with modifications shown) to finish the class together as a group. 

Part 3....

 

If I can run a full marathon, you can live a full life!

 

Today, I will share my fitness journey from being the worst in PE at school to the success I have now.

 

You don't have to have talent in order to grow and succeed. 

 

My worst memories of PE at school were when I was between 11 and 17 years old. Cross-country skiing badly with lots of sweat and struggle, not a single push-up, three sit-ups max. When I was running two kilometers around the stadium I thought I would die. At volleyball, I would run or hide from the ball. At basketball, a big kid jumped over me and I fell. I still feel the planted-face-on-the-floor embarrassment. 

Trust me, it was embarrassing. I was bullied over my physical weaknesses.

 

Around 2015, I was already in the U.S., and my friend suggested to join her for a run. Amazingly, I had actually started a consistent workout routine and wanted to add running to it. So, I joined her. The problem was, every time I...

How do we deal with comfort eating?

"I am stressed, I eat. I am stressed more, I eat more."

"I love sweets."

"When I eat, I can't stop."

Many of us are aware of the emotional eating struggle and the devastating health challenges it brings along with it. But we don't seem to be able to stop it. Why? 

Here's the problem, HABITS,  

Our urge to go to the refrigerator to find comfort foods that will make us feel better takes over. Why? Because that is what we have known for so long and is intimately familiar to our minds. It is habitual. You literally are addicted to this behavior loop. 

Then we end up paying the price for a brief moment of pleasure. Each of those moments accumulates into inevitable excess weight, inflammation, aches and pains, and disappointment in ourselves. 

Most of the time it isn't even about the food. It's about an emotion, a feeling we're trying to soothe WITH the food. 

And...

In this message, I share with you how to connect with source of emotional eating by doing this one thing.

Many of our habitual patterns, including eating, come from our childhood. In this blog post I shared how the smell of fried cabbage and pancakes remind me of mom standing in the kitchen on Saturday night while i am watching Chip and Dale to the rescue. It simply reminds me of my mom's love. So it's natural to my body, when I am stressed, to want fried and sweet food. 

Can you think of childhood memories connected with food experiences and accompanying emotions?

• Who was in the picture? It might be someone you care about, for example,  a family member. 
•  What was the food? Can you think of that foods sensual qualities: texture, smell, taste, color, temperature.?
• How old were you? It might be the 5 year old you or younger you.
• What was the emotion and feeling associated with it? Think about love, safety, care.
• How does it reflect...

There is a difference between QUALITY TIME and FOOD TIME with ourselves and loved ones.

We often collapse these two into one. Why is that? Why do we eat foods that we know are not healthy for us? Knowing that we still feel the impulse to do it. Then we feel guilty about it and a vicious cycle continues. It is so deeply ingrained in our psyche. It has become a tradition or memory that we feel emotionally connected to. 

What if it were true when we tap into the origin of 'comfort' foods, we could tap into how to change the patterns that don't serve us? What if this is the way out of old habits with unhealthy comfort foods and into a new and better definition of comfort, and food?

How did the whole thing with family traditions and food start? 

When was the first time you remember you felt connected with your family at the dinner table? 

A Vicious Cycle

I was 5. My mom was cooking cabbage.  I was watching Chip and Dale To The Rescue. Remember...

When was the last time you shared your story in order to inspire and touch someone's heart?  Maybe that isn’t easy because you are still going through it. And, you still choose to share it in hopes of inspiring and motivating others?

I am here to encourage you and say it's time to share your story. Its time to share it in a way you have not done before. And in this journey, the clarity of why we do what we do is born. Consider your life a perfectly written novel and to tell your story from that perspective.

Here is the formula for "The Story of My Life" Novel. 

I invite you to do your own.

Step 1. Take your age. 

Step 2. Divide it by 10. 

Step 3. Multiply by 2. 

As a result, you will have  5 chapters of your life, plus a what’s next chapter. 

Here is my formula:  I'm 44, so each of my chapters are 8.8 years. 

The 1st chapter of my life is through age 9, the next chapter to 18, then 18 to 27, 27 to 36,...

How do I know my purpose? How do I know my true big Why? How do I know what's really true for me? How do I know if my gut is telling me the truth? 

And what if I know my why but how can I find the strength, confidence, and tenacity to keep going and not give up? How do I know I am strong enough?

When I sent you a survey last week asking what's important to you after 40, some of you mentioned finding purpose after becoming an empty nester and during retirement. 

Your answers inspired me to take a deeper look at my own life. And even though I am only 44, I am starting to ponder the same questions.

By the way, these and more topics we will be covering in the upcoming training "Healthy After 40" on March 24th, Friday 10:30am-12pm CST.

We will cover these five points:

1. How to be consistent with healthy habits  
2. Prevention of age-related degeneration
3. How to find purpose as an empty nester or in retirement 
4. Safe exercise for limited ...

Wouldn't It be nice to be energetic and positive most of the time? Wouldn't it be good to wake up in the morning feeling positive?

Instead, we hit the snooze button, maybe thinking about the daunting day ahead of us.

We do this day after day, week after week, month after month, and the years go by. We feel worthless and lacking. We blame ourselves and give up. 

Yet we do want a better, happier life and healthier stronger body.  

So here is our choice: we either keep hitting the snooze button and wishing the day away OR we get up and activate! It's simply our choice. 

So once again, I want to reflect on my personal experience.  When I wake up in the morning on  most days, don’t ask me questions,  don’t talk to me, don’t try to engage me in anything.  I don't wanna talk. I don't wanna smile, I think. I don't wanna be active.  I just want quiet. 

And yet you do know me as a bundle of energy,...