How am I the StressLess FatLoss person??

StressLess EXPERT....

Are you a friend or family member? Do you know me well? Have you simply MET me? Then you may either be thinking one of two things:

1) that I'm the wrong person to create a program about stressing less

or

2) I'm the PERFECT person to create a program focused on Stressing Less and balancing your life.

I'm going to go with 1, for obvious reasons, but I'll let you know why it's 2.  

I was BORN to stress. I was a month early when I was born, just because, no other complications leading to it...I simply NEEDED to come early because I was worried I might miss something (at least that's my personal theory). And so it continued...  I always worried about things. Being late, being the first asleep at parties (so I was always the last), worried about what my sister was doing, worried about what was for dinner at breakfast, worried about fire escape routes while falling asleep, worried I'd miss something important, making things important that weren't!  The list goes on...

I even got made fun of in college by a roommate/god friend (so it was lovingly yet he made a point) for putting on my schedule "brush teeth at 7:35am" "brush hair at 8:02am"  "walk out door at 8:16am"....

I feel this quality helped me thrive in my corporate career. I was always on time, aka early, I sent in projects on time, I finished work early, I expected the same from people I worked with and I got things DONE. I excelled and got promoted on track as I had planned.

Then I became a MOM....and that "great quality" that I thrived on started to not work so well. Stressing about baby falling...but falling ON something, splitting her head, breaking a bone from a tiny tumble, envisioning her choking on an entire chicken bone (um, not a dog, and I don't even eat chicken on a bone!), all very irrational. Naptime had to be done at the EXACT minute, on the minute. Bedtime had to be perfect, the same routine every time, at the right time.  Needless to say, I stressed about everything.   

Add myself into the equation, my routine, my workout, my nutrition and health, my work, my clients...and it was/is a disaster. Stress rules me.

Therapy (and my husband, who is the epitome of relaxed and "stressless") taught me that I need to control it or it controls me.

Born from my own life came the StressLess FatLoss program...using it helped me not worry about food or fitness during times of heightened-stress or during really busy and fun-filled times in life. It helped me drop some stress related fat gain without over-stressing my body and BALANCING my hormones to do so.  It also helps me maintain my health and fitness during those busy times that would make it too stressful for me to fit in my hour-long, but needed, lifting workouts.

Did you know that the much desired, long workouts can actually be counterproductive for hormone balancing and stress also? So taking a step back, letting go (Let it go...let it go...  #girlmom) is necessary, though hard, for your health (and fat loss!).

Join me in getting happier and healthier while LEARNING to balance yourself, your nutrition and your fitness...whatever that means to YOU., in YOUR life.  

My body as a trainer. Perfection is not happiness...do not be fooled.

Happiness > perfection

Here it is.

Me, no make up, no flex, no filter, no visible abs, after eating chips and drinking proseco....just me and my family. And yes, I'm a trainer. I study a lot, I read a lot, I love the science behind body and health, I love what I do, helping people be healthy. ⠀

     

I've been lean, I've placed 1st on stage (I own a sword!! see it below.), I've had abs, I've had delts that pop and glutes, I've also missed my husband and kids because I trained early and late, and missed mass quantities of food, wine, and pancakes just because my kid wanted a mommy-and-me date (and not trying to make them "fit my macros").⠀

⠀

But I've been on vacation a month now, I didn't have to workout to get to my "vacation body". This is me before vacation, on vacation and maybe even after vacation if I so choose. It's my lifestyle, I don't want

or need to be in pictures or on stage or have visible abs to be me anymore (and I did, don't get me wrong..been there, done that).⠀

Everyone should reach their "potential" at some point if they want. But my potential is being around for my kids, being happy, being there for my clients and understanding that having that wine, that cheese or that veggie...is because it fits my lifestyle of happy, healthy and balanced.⠀

 StressLess FatLossis what gets me through the busy days. I love lifting but sometimes I just need to focus on health.

BALANCE IS PERFECTION

HIIT&Dairy and...ACNE?

Many know, I've talked about it (reluctantly) before. I have had bad acne since college. Like, can't smile because it hurts, feel like a monster, needles in the face type.  I had a great doc in college and about 12 years ago they suggested it was my iodine sensitivity and refined sugars...wasn't going to work longterm for me.  I needed more answers and when I found out I had celiac it got better, not 100%, but better. I also found out that dairy can cause it...but what was worse, and true for me, dairy and celiac plus lifestyle together made for the perfect storm.  But guess how I've been able to eat some dairy here and there and be ok for a few months now. And I contribute my change to the HIIT workouts of my StressLess FatLoss workouts plus... some nutrition limits:

I'm always searching for things to help me keep my protein in my shaker cup and cheese on my plate!

I began my own workouts to the StressLess FatLoss program back in March, and over this last year I've been telling everyone who asks that I haven't had a breakout let alone an injection in my face since...March. It JUST dawned on me. My health turned around all at the same time....and I haven't looked back. Until now.

I love proof, mostly scientific proof, not just anecdotal proof form bloggers...so I did some research. And it all ended up with insulin and mTOR.  (Muscle building and acne linked by this protein activated gene?)

Dairy and acne:
Many of us have heard and read that dairy causes acne, and that's not wrong, but as I said, I want to keep the dairy in my day and if I can at least find a limit for my gut to be ok, then I can also find a way to not get acne either.

"Acne should be regarded as an mTor-driven disease of civilization, like obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer induced by the western diet." - Pubmed.gov, Department of Dermatology, University of Osnabruuk, Germany

Casein is a protein in dairy (the other is whey) and many believe casein is the root of most people's problems with dairy. But I'm like a 2 year old so I asked why? Well, casein has been found to potentially cause inflammation in some people.  But it also stimulates insulin and mTOR is activated by insulin.  mTOR also activagtes sebum, keratin and inflammation.  This becomes a problem with its OVERACTIVATED. --Guess what else is caused by over-activated mTOR, PCOS and diabetes (Dr. Lara Briden (www.larabriden.com/insight-into-acne-dairy-sugar/) .
SO, it turns out insulin response to dairy, combined with inflammation response to dairy may be what causes the acne...therefore, you may actually be able to find your own limit of dairy intake if you really want to test it.

"Giving up all dairy can work but not for all. And it is really the type of casein (casein A)" - Dr. Lara Briden

Which is probably why I've seen success when cutting and limiting (it varies) dairy, not all animal milk is created equal, I eat goat cheese like it's going out of style, it has a different type of casein protein than typical American cow's milk (namely, holstein cows).   I think two shakes a week and I've been ok both in the gut and on the skin. 2 shakes have not over-activated my insulin or inflammation response too much yet to cause problems. But I'm always testing it.

...So now how can we workout without over-activating mTOR?

Workouts and acne:
Sweat does not help acne...sufferers know this! But we still need to workout right? Solution: we can choose the RIGHT workout for acne sufferers.

You've read about the HIIT workouts of StressLess FatLoss and how they help balance your hormones; female, hunger and stress. But there's more to HIIT than that, it's about the specific hormones that are activated while doing HIIT, and afterwards.  Fitness pros like HIIT because it activates mTOR (can activate muscle cell growth), it's quick and it builds muscle and burns fat nearly simultaneously.  Long duration workouts increase cortisol, we don't want that if we're trying to lose fat (or cut acne). But elevated cortisol also inhibits mTOR...hense why HIIT is loved so much, because it'll activate the mTOR after the workout is over.

But when it comes to acne don't we want mTOR inhibited? Yes, but we still need it.  HIIT makes mTOR activate later when the workout is over and for a shorter amount of time, unlike long bouts of cardio.  So we do a HIIT workout which keeps cortisol lower and helps grow muscles...and doesn't cause long term exposure to mTOR so acne can be kept at bay.

My conclusion:
Everything you do affects your body and your acne... and what I found in my weeks of research are good evidence..but dairy is the factor that is DIFFERENT for EVERYONE (and one thing we love to eat..but don't NEED to *stay tuned for the why blog on that one).
Hiit is so much more effective for fitness and health but it can also be effective in controlling your acne based on the hormone response.  Dairy can be an inflammatory agent  and affect hormones (insulin) as well, so you'll need to decided what your own limit on protein powder is and go from there. Both HIIT and Dairy consumption will affect your body and it's really a personal decision as to how much of each  you can tolerate!