Lindsay: Welcome to the Lifting Lindsay podcast.
I'm just gonna start today's podcast on a really good note.
A lot of you have been following along with our IVF journey, and I'm happy to
report that we are now six weeks pregnant.
So this is so exciting.
I've had five miscarriages and so we are kind of proceeding, people usually
say like cautiously optimistic, but I want to be optimistically cautious.
Like, I wanna lead with optimism here.
Like, we are really excited and I'm just.
I'm just hoping it works out, obviously, right.
It's funny because every single day I am nauseous.
It's actually had an impact on, my food because I'm not eating as much.
I've actually lost a few pounds the past two weeks.
Because I just don't like, feel like eating anything.
So I've been trying to stay as much as I can on routine, and then
I am just being flexible, right?
This is a beautiful time period where my focus in, in life is, is it just shifts.
And I love that, like, I'm not going to be going to the gym over the next,
I mean, I am gonna be going to the gym.
Calm down.
I know you are worried.
I know that was a big scare.
Don't worry.
Still going to the gym.
But, but my reason for going to the gym is totally different, right?
I mean, well, not so much actually.
I feel like through the years, my reasoning for showing up
at the gym has just changed.
It was originally right,
i, I felt so uncomfortable and I didn't like what I was seeing in, in the mirror,
and I just didn't feel comfortable.
I didn't feel myself, and I loved myself.
I was trying to be the best person I could be in all these other aspects,
but, but I noticed that there was just this opportunity for growth
in, or maybe for shrinking down for not continuing to grow, right?
I had put on a lot of weight.
So I, um, originally getting into the gym was about the look the longer that I lift,
actually the less it is about the look.
And especially over the past few years, there's just been this shift of, I just
show up now because I love feeling strong.
I love challenging myself every single day.
Knowing that I can do hard things.
You know, some people do like the whole, I'm gonna freeze my booty
off and hop in that cold bath.
I go to the gym and push to failure and push into the pain.
I love being able to almost daily, five times a week, being able to immediately,
go to the gym first thing in the morning and then immediately check off
that list of, I've done a hard thing.
' cause as much fun as the gym is, I challenge myself.
I push myself.
In fact, it's when, when I show up and don't.
It doesn't, it's not the same thing.
It's not the same reward as I'm walking out.
It's usually there's a little piece of me saying, you, you held back, um, you
held yourself back a little bit more.
Right?
But anyways, as you know, the next nine months, it's all
about taking care of myself.
It's all about showing up for that gym therapy.
Pushing myself, uh, smart but hard.
And also there have been some great positive things that, that
we now know women who lift, who work out during pregnancies.
There's huge lasting benefits of health to the child.
Like, this isn't just about you.
This isn't about, this isn't about the way I look the next five, nine months.
It's not about a six pack.
It's not about staying lean, it's not about any of that because it can't
be and I'm going to push in, and I'm not saying that this isn't hard,
but I'm gonna push in and be more mentally flexible and allow my body
to change and embrace it and love it.
And it's gonna be, it's, it's gonna be wonderful.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie, there's a little bit of like, it's kind of
hard to see the changes that come.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it and say that doesn't exist and I'm not more
human than I would like to be, maybe.
Um, but what a great opportunity to practice
just allowing my body to change and still love what it can
do and thrive off of that.
So, um, I'm actually going to have another podcast, not today, but I am gonna have
another podcast where I do talk about training during pregnancy, I should say.
Adjustments I may or may not make, per the individual, nutrition,
all of that jazz.
Okay.
I am actually gonna, um, open up the discussion when I announce on.
Instagram that I'm pregnant, I'm gonna open up and ask what questions
people have so I can put together a really good quality show for you.
But today I actually wanted to talk a little bit more about, how
I went on a vacation for seven days and gained only one pound.
The scale went up.
One pound.
And whether that's water, weight, body, va, I don't care.
I'm not gonna say there.
Well, let's decide and decipher.
Let's waste all of our mental energy on who cares.
Who cares?
Went up a pound.
Now a lot of you are thinking, oh, that's nothing.
Yeah, you're right.
And that's exactly why I'm sharing this because it, it's nothing.
And so I want to walk you guys through like why is it that I can go.
To an all inclusive resort.
All you can eat for seven days and only gain one pound.
So I'm gonna break that down for you.
Now, before we get into that, I do wanna share one thing
that I think is really funny.
So on the 25th of January, we did the transfer, and then we had two
days that are called the Princess days, where you just take it easy.
Then right after that we hopped on a plane and went to Mexico.
We stayed at an island called, it's.
I didn't even think about.
I didn't know much about this island.
I just found this resort that seemed like an amazing place to go to post
transfer, where I could just relax and not have to worry about anything.
Not even like where we're going for dinner.
Like I just wanted to enjoy a good book in the sun, 'cause Utah is freezing.
That's all.
So we booked this place on is Islam.
Well it was really, really funny because when we get there, we're talking to one of
the waiters and I really like, history.
I really love history, actually.
Side note, for many years I wanted to be a history professor.
I do love history anyways, so, um, I love going to ruins.
I love getting tours and just like just taking it all in.
So we had gone to, um.
And when we first landed, we stayed in Cancun for two days, so
we could go there to those ruins.
And then we went to Islam and I had heard that there were ruins
there and I didn't know much about him, so I was really excited to go.
So we were talking to our waiter and I thought this was so funny.
I, he's like, what are you guys doing today?
And I'm like, well, we're gonna go to the ruins on the north island and,
or excuse me, the south of the, uh.
The south of the island was just beautiful and he was like, oh, be careful.
Those ruins are the ruins of the goddess of fertility.
And me and Alex looked at each other and we just burst out laughing.
We, it was the funniest thing ever.
So we went there and if they allowed you to touch the ruins,
I would've like rubbed all over.
But instead we just got a picture next to this statue of the goddess
of fragility, and it was awesome.
We loved it.
So anyway.
But we had seven days at this all-inclusive resort.
Even in CAN in Cancun.
We stayed in all-inclusive.
So when I tell people like, I gained one pound, and they're like, what?
That's wild.
If I were to go, I would gain 10 pounds.
I'm like, well, let's, let's talk about this.
Let's actually talk about this.
Um, how is it that I can go on vacation for seven days at an all inclusive all you
cane resort and only gain one pound only?
See, the scale barely fluctuate.
In fact, make kind of a normal fluctuation because when I go, or
when I weigh myself, like every day.
That's actually something pretty normal.
I'll see fluctuations of one, one and a half, maybe two
pounds depending on things.
That's totally normal.
So really, how could my body composition stay the same?
And a lot of people will be like, well, you just, you just
can eat whatever you want.
And I can't, I can't eat whatever I want.
Um, I disagree because I have done builds.
If I go into a calorie surplus, I gain weight just like anybody else.
So let me, I have written down a few bullets that I really wanna talk
about, and Alex even, I mean, he's a 210 pound guy and he's pretty tall.
He's six three, he gained two and a half pounds.
So how is it that we go?
Do we just not eat anything?
Should we just fast all day long?
I mean, what is this?
So I wanna go over a few things with you.
At an all-inclusive resort, people usually drink a lot more than they do at home.
I don't drink alcohol, so that immediately cuts out all of the calories from alcohol.
In fact, I would just strongly encourage those of you who really want to focus on
gaining muscle, maintaining muscle, that's something that you might want to start
considering is not aligned with your goals because alcohol can blunt hypertrophy.
So if your goals are to like body recomp, any of that, then lowering
that is going to be the best.
Lowering your, your alcohol consumption is going to be the best option.
Another thing too is peri and post menopause, It is a period of time
when the body is shifting and we are experiencing all sorts of things.
Disruption to sleep, you know, tiredness, night sweats, all of these things and
alcohol will make all of that worse.
So I would just, I wanna plant that seed in your, in your brain to just kind of
be thinking about maybe how can I lower my alcohol consumption, even if I'm not
going on vacation, just lower it or, maybe cut it out, cut it out altogether.
Maybe that's actually the best thing for you.
So I don't drink alcohol and I don't really consume calorie
drinks, so I stick with water.
I was drinking a ton of water there.
And I was also drinking some zero calorie soda, so that's kind of nice
that I don't have to worry about that.
The other thing was I, I teach a mindful eating course mindful, and I
follow the principles that are in that course now, even if I can't control.
the amount of protein and calories and all of that.
I have worked hard and become aware, and I teach the hunger and fullness scale.
Now, in the notes, I am going to provide a PDF so that you can print
this off and you can look at it and just start thinking about it.
Just keep it in the back of your mind, you know.
We really do have this, this degree of hunger and fullness, and if we can
become more aware, even on vacation, even without being able to weigh your
food, you can still maintain your body composition and enjoy yourself.
Doesn't mean that you get to eat all of the food, but you can still eat
the food you want while using this hunger and fullness scale to give you
certain constraints to help you so you can enjoy, but also you're not
consuming all and everything in sight,
right?
So there's a few things on it.
Now.
The scale is from zero.
Two 10.
So from zero to five, this is kind of the hunger section of this scale.
And if you pull it up right now, you can kind of see what I'm talking about.
So zero is like you are totally empty, maybe even feeling dizzy or nauseous.
You are just starving.
And sometimes people will get really bloated and not be able to
eat if they put it off too much.
And if they do, they can then finally eat.
They're just so uncomfortable they don't even enjoy it.
'cause they've allowed themselves to get so.
Hungry, and then one on the scale is you're rather ravenous, you're irritable.
Maybe you're getting a headache, but you're just like, okay, now I'm starving.
Now the problem is, well, I, I won't jump into this too quickly.
Two is you're very hungry.
You belly's growling.
You are bellies growling.
You're really eager, eager to eat.
Three is.
You're, you have an empty feeling, you're hungry.
You're ready to eat.
You could eat something, right?
Four is, you're starting to get the first signs of being hunger
hungry, meaning you're kind of starting to think about it like, oh.
Kinda getting hungry.
What should I eat?
You're not starving, you're not ravenous.
It's just like, oh, maybe in like a half an hour or so I'll eat something.
What?
What should I eat?
You're kind of that type of thing.
And then five is neutral.
You're not hungry, you're not full, not really thinking
about it, you're just neutral.
Okay, so we're gonna focus on this side of the spectrum for
right now, this side of the scale.
So if you allow yourself to get too hungry,
it is going to have really negative impacts in that you will enter a very
emotional state where you have to eat and it, it makes you feel like you
have to eat really, really fast, so you end up eating more than you normally
would because you're eating so quickly.
Also because you're so hungry, you're going to be making very, very emotional
based, like, versus No, I'm being mindful I can still have a balanced meal.
It's like, no, no, no, just gimme anything.
The whole bag of chips, I will down the whole bag of chips.
So it's like, okay, well that was, hmm.
Probably not the best.
Right?
Um, 'cause then you're left with like all this guilt.
Maybe you over, well, you did overeat, kind of feeling sick, just
body-wise, but also not feeling like you made the best choice mentally.
So it kind of puts you physically and mentally in a bad state.
So where you want to allow yourself to get to is usually at a three where
you're like, okay, I am, I'm empty.
Feeling hungry.
I'm ready to eat.
But you haven't entered that emotional I have to eat and I have to eat all
of it, and I have to eat it right now.
A lot of times when people are trying to restrict food because they look at food
as bad and, and food as gaining weight.
They restrict and error on the side of, and I have to be starving.
'cause then if I'm starving, that means I'm going to lose weight.
But it also means you're going to make the worst food decisions possible.
When we eat at around a three on the scale is when we are
able, we're more self-aware.
We can eat slower.
And on vacation, I will order exactly what I want.
I'm not really concerned about how do I get my protein.
I really, really need my protein and is this gonna be, does
this protein have extra fat?
Or how much protein is this?
And I need to hit my look.
I'm on vacation for a week, I'm gonna be fine.
So I will go into a restaurant.
I'm like, oh yeah, I, the fettuccine Alfredo sounds great.
I'm only at a three.
Um, on this scale.
So that looks good.
It looks yummy.
I, because I'm not super emotional, um, because I haven't allowed myself to get
too starving, I'm still able to enjoy, eat slow, make it about connection
and communication with my husband.
And then when I get to about a seven on fullness, I can stop.
You know, if you let yourself get too hungry and you are in that emotional
state, you usually can't stop because you have gotten so restrictive, um, and
so hungry that you usually can't stop.
Um, so let's now go more into the fullness side of the scale, because between six and
10 now we're kind of moving into fullness.
So six is you're beginning to feel full.
Now it takes time for your body to realize that it's approaching, getting full.
So that's why you should eat slowly.
That is really one of the most critical and important parts of
mindful eating is you are present.
You're not watching TV and eating at the same time.
You are eating and you are just eating.
It's like maybe you're having a conversation with your husband, nothing
that's going to kind of have you leave.
Eating like mentally.
Does that make sense?
If you, if you're watching TV show mentally, you can kind of like leave
where you're at right now and all of a sudden you look down and you're like, oh,
how did the whole bag of M and MSS go?
Right?
How did they go away?
Well, you ate them, but the sad thing is, is you weren't even able
to enjoy them because mentally you were watching a show, right?
Um, so key components of mindful eating are your present and you eat.
Slowly to give your ti your body time to send signals of being full.
Now, seven, you are comfortably full.
Eight, you are very full.
You're starting to slightly feel uncomfortable.
Nine is you are stuffed.
You're feeling like your clothes are too tight.
You have to unbutton like it's uncomfortable.
10 is you feel painfully sick.
Just way, way, way too full.
So the sweet spot, I've taught this before if you haven't listened to my
Mindful Eating podcast, I would really suggest you going through all of them.
And I also have a course on it that I'll share a link to in the notes.
That Mindful Eating course everybody who's on my training app has access
to that in the membership site, but we really wanna stay between
three and seven, even on vacation.
That's just kind of like a comfortable place.
That's what I, that's what I wanna do.
I want to enjoy myself.
I'm not worried about the protein, but I'm, I'm, I want to order what I want to.
But I still like listen to my body and respect my body, and I'm not
going to just stuff myself sick.
I stop at a seven when I'm comfortably full.
Another thing too is that I really wanna bring up.
Leading up to the vacation, I wasn't in a calorie deficit,
and a lot of people do that.
They're like, oh, I'm going to Cancun.
I better get into a cut, drop all this weight, and then arrive here like 10
pounds lighter, and then I can just
eat everything in sight.
That it is a, it is a very real thing that people do that so they restrict leading
up to it and then they binge on it.
Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with do, like somebody
wanting to lean down for a vacation.
Not at all, but it is important to understand.
That if you restrict your calories, especially excessively, um, you go into
a really deep cut, there are changes to your hunger and satisfaction cue.
There are changes there are, they alter, it actually takes longer
to feel full and satisfied.
So the likelihood of you over sheet shooting and eating too much, eating
past maintenance is way higher.
So if you go into it in that state, you do have a likelihood of overeating also.
You're going into it pretty depleted.
When you go into a cut, oftentimes, especially an aggressive one, your
muscles will use up a lot of its fuel, the glycogen, and you'll
just be in a depleted state.
Even the, so the amount of like water and glucose being stored in your tissue
is, is lower, and then you go and you eat a whole bunch and the weight goes up.
Well, that's normal even if you didn't go on vacation.
But now you're in an environment where you restricted and are stepping
in and it's almost this invitation to binge so, so sometimes it can
be kind of like this perfect storm.
You were restricting too much.
Some people do this more than others, right, because they feel like
they are restricting, restricting, restricting, obsessing about fat loss.
And then they move into a vacation where it's like, well, this vacation is only
seven days, so I have to eat everything, all of it, because they go from,
they've been living in scarcity mindset.
Well, scarcity mindset.
I've talked about this a lot.
But it shows up really bad when you've just been in this steep diet and you're
restricting, restricting, restricting.
And then you move into all of these options and it's almost
like this scarcity mindset.
Pushes you towards overeating because you're like, I, you know, the whole
idea between scarcity and abundance is scarcity is this idea that's been created
in the mind that resources are scarce.
So then when we see the resources where they're available, we will overeat, we
will binge because it's our body saying, oh, we have to eat it all because we only
get it for this short period of time.
It's a scarce resource, so we better get as much as we can of it.
And obviously we're not sitting there thinking, Hmm, like all
this is Scar, a scarce resource, I'm going to eat all this.
Uh, these are things that, that just kind of happen naturally as we've
been living in this scarcity mindset.
So all of these things can kind of lead to this perfect storm.
When you move into a.
You know, vacation, you are just highly restrictive.
Now, some women can come out of that restriction pretty well.
Some women even choose, and I've done this with clients, that what we
do is actually two weeks before the vacation, we kind of, we will relieve
that, we'll get them out of the diet the two weeks prior to the vacation.
So for those two weeks, they're sitting relatively at maintenance,
allowing, um, they're, you know, hunger, satisfaction, all of that to kind of those
signaling and, uh, hormones to kind of.
Begin to regulate more and then when they leave for this vacation,
it's not from like this, um, this place of I can't have anything to
now I have to have everything right.
So sometimes just how we can set it up can prevent that sometimes just
being aware of what's going on, our on in our brain can prevent that.
So that's a huge one, guys.
I did not go into this vacation in a diet.
I was just at maintenance because that's where I live majority of my time.
I went in there at maintenance,
all of these things were regulated.
It was way easier for me to use this scale because of that.
And I also went in there with the mindset of this food is just food.
Like it, it will be there tomorrow.
It's really okay.
I don't have to eat everything immediately.
So if you have experienced that on vacation where you gain 10 pounds,
what a wonderful red flag that there's some opportunity for us to get to
know, to look inside of ourselves a bit more and realize that maybe our
relationship with food fitness isn't
as healthy as we think because you actually shouldn't be
gaining 10 pounds on vacation.
I'm not talking about like water weight fluctuations that that may be happening
due to flights and stuff like that.
I'm saying like, you should not be putting on 10 pounds of body fat on a vacation.
That should not be the norm.
It is a red flag that maybe you live in restriction way too much and because you
constantly are in a state of restriction and thinking about it and thinking
about fat loss, when you actually go on vacation, you, you can't be healthy
with food and just eat till satisfied.
You have to stuff yourself because it's now or never, but it's not now or never.
But the reason why you feel that way is because you live
in scarcity every single day.
So the real reason why I didn't gain very much, anything on vacation.
I, my body recomp was the same.
Yes.
I, went to the gym.
Actually, when me and Alex go on vacations together, I usually,
we, we love going to the gym.
It's an enjoying thing.
Like we go, we love working out together and just having fun and it's so enjoyable.
When we go with our kids, we don't really go to the gym, but when
it's just me and Alex, we love it.
So yes, I did that.
Yes, I'm an active person.
I was walking around the island, I was getting like nine, 10,000 steps still.
I, I can't just sit for like five hours.
So I'm very active.
I love moving.
So we were walking around a lot, seeing things, right.
So yes, that's true, but no, it was not because, well, it's just genetics.
And Lindsay can eat whatever she wants.
No.
It was because I have this, this healthy mindset around food that
I have cultivated over time.
Now, I haven't always had this.
I remember doing a cut one time that was probably.
The steepest cut I've ever done.
I really wanted to know what it felt like to prep for a show,
but I didn't wanna do the show.
So I, you know, it's the lowest my body fat's ever been.
Um, I could have stepped up on stage, like that's how stage lean I was.
I did a photo photo shoot Instead.
Even the photographer told me, you're leaner than most women who come and do
a photo shoot right before their show.
He's like, you got really lean.
And the consequences of that, there are consequences.
Was it cool to visit it?
Yeah.
Did I have to put in some work to maintain a healthy relationship
with food and body after that?
Yes.
I was talking at the gym with a, a woman named Amy Abs.
By Amy actually, but she goes to my gym, so I know her as Amy, you
may follow her on Instagram.
But we were talking about that, she prepped for a show and she said,
once you get that lean, it forever changes the way you view your body.
Now you can determine how though, but it will, it will, it it.
You cannot be that lean and not remember.
Oh, I remember when I was that lean.
Now how the story you tell yourself afterwards is what determines everything.
It determines whether you are mentally healthy or not, right?
Some women tell this themselves the story of.
That's when I looked the best.
If I could just get back there again, if I just lived there, then I'd be happy.
Then I would be, fill in the blank.
Whatever thing is going to fill this gap in your heart.
Right.
But the, the truth is like, it really is the story you tell yourself.
And, and me and Amy, we weren't talking about that necessarily, but
she was just saying, yeah, it, it has forever changed my view of my body.
Because once you achieve that, once you get that lean and people will be like,
oh, you're so lean, you're so shredded.
And it's hard not to be like, oh, this is nothing compared Right.
But we still have the opportunity to tell ourselves a new story.
And there are a ton of women who do shows and they come out
of it very mentally unhealthy.
There's a lot of sex hormone fluctuations that happen post, especially if you have
gone with a coach that, doesn't really care and doesn't, isn't very educated.
They don't know how to prepare you mentally and emotionally.
I.
And it can really throw you for a loop and harm you.
If you're thinking about doing a show, just be so cautious about who you hire.
And if they cannot admit that it, that post show, you need a recovery
period where both mentally and physically, they're not a good
coach if they cannot admit that.
Because those who have been in it for a while know that no post it's hard.
So anyways, I, I remember, um, getting really, really lean and
then afterwards just being like, oh, this, I'm not very lean.
I, I've lost my leanness.
And it was so good for me to get a message from my friend who had
also done shows and she said.
This is a little bit of body dysmorphia.
You're, you're still too lean, you're still show lean right now.
And that was really good to get that feedback.
'cause I'm like, oh, thank you.
Thank you for pulling me out of that.
Maybe I'll do a full episode on that.
But I've also seen that with women who are really excited.
They're not doing a show.
They're not even getting lean enough to do a show, but they're leaning out a
lot more and they're so, so, so excited.
But then something happens and they realize my life is out of balance.
I need to reign it back.
And when they pull back, they end up putting on a little weight and they.
Kind of come to this realization.
Some of them don't, but it is an opportunity to come to a realization
that one, the body that you are striving so hard to get to maybe
actually isn't where you can mentally healthy healthily maintain.
So in my mind I have this kind of vision of this woman.
She has a before and an after pitcher, right before she's overweight,
uncomfortable, and then she has an after pitcher and she's really
lean, probably athletically lean.
Maybe you can see a six pack, but happiness for her
actually might be somewhere
in between those two and not necessarily that depleted state of bottom of the cut.
She's lost, you know, 25 pounds and that's like she can see her AB or or so
just athletic and lean and loving it.
That's wonderful.
But maybe actually where she's gonna thrive is after her reverse,
she's put on five pounds and that's actually where true maintenance
and, and thriving lands for her.
I want you to think about that.
I mean, they may, that may not apply to all of you, but it may
apply to many of you that that happiness is actually, it's not.
In either one of those extremes.
Maybe it's somewhere a little bit, you know, further, maybe not the
25 pounds, but maybe the 20 pounds.
Weight loss is actually where you maintain your health mentally and physically.
So just that invitation, when we get to that healthy life and we are able
to maintain that really, really well.
Then going on vacation.
This idea of putting on 10 pounds, that's a huge red flag that there's probably
still some level of restriction that you're sitting too deeply in, and there's
still some work that needs to be done.
Now, I don't want anybody to get down on themselves about that.
The idea that work, that there's still some work that needs to
be done is not a bad thing.
It's just an opportunity.
Look at it as that.
Take it or leave it.
It's an opportunity.
It's not a threat to your value as a person, it's just an opportunity for
growth to actually acquire, like bring in more joy and happiness into your life.
Anyways, I was so excited to share that we're pregnant.
I'm so excited to share like mentally ways that we can make sure that
we're healthy and that we can combat this idea of, oh, when I go on, you
know, a vacation I put on 10 pounds.
Well, why is that?
Maybe let's do a deep dive here.
So hopefully this podcast has really helped
maybe just open up, maybe not all of it's applied to, but just opened
up your eyes on maybe areas of opportunity that, uh, you can grow in.
Anyways, you guys have a wonderful week.
If you have any questions, um, I'm always open to answer questions you can
DM me at lifting Lindsay on Instagram.
Have a wonderful week.