If I wanted to lose excess body fat before the end of the year, here are 4 things I'd start right now

No one waits around until January 1st to set goals anymore, right?

I really love that we're embracing the fact that we can upgrade anything we want about ourselves at any time. With the holidays getting kicked off a week from today with Halloween, it's the perfect time of year to begin to make a change. It's empowering to go off script a bit plus you can make progress on your goals while reducing cravings ... which comes in very handy around your kids' Halloween haul, during Thanksgiving dessert or that Wednesday night holiday party in December.



I have no current fat loss goals but if I did, here are 4 things I'd start doing right away:

1. I'd skip the calorie obsession because it leads to overeating. When we pick meals based on them having a lower calorie count, we are not getting enough of the nutrients that actually turn off our hunger. Therefore, whether later that afternoon or night or a handful of days later on the weekend, we will end up overeating. Instead, I'd be ensuring that I was getting enough -- protein, fat and fiber -- at each meal. I'd want this to be at least 20-30g protein, 10-20g fat and 5-15g fiber per meal (3 meals a day ... maybe with an afternoon snack too). This would make me feel nice + satiated and stop the food obsession, cravings, endless hunger and overeating episodes that feel like a willpower issue but are really just a biological issue.

2. I'd make sure my workouts weren't non-existent, mostly cardio, random, or being phoned in. The way muscle mass helps us have so much more flexibility with our nutrition isn't being talked about enough! More muscle means better blood sugar balance, extra fat burning 24/7 (yes, even when being a sloth on the cough or sleeping), and a higher carbohydrate tolerance. More muscle improves both health and body composition goals. I'd do this by strength training 3-4 days a week, following a comprehensive plan that gets all muscle groups, repeating that same suite of workouts each week for 8-16 weeks or so (not randomly switching it up) and making sure the last few reps of each set feels hard to complete. And then I'd progressively overload by increasing something (reps, sets, resistance) over time. Cardio is great for health, but I would not prioritize that for fat loss goals.

3. I would indulge with intention. I wouldn't swear off any foods for fear of messing up my progress, but I would also have a serious convo with myself about the truth about my indulgences. Am I saying I don't indulge often but when I go out to eat I have a burger with both buns, fries, and a drink? Or some bread from the bread basket, pasta with my entree and a little dessert? Hot cocoa season is coming up. And cookies. And pie. How much alcohol am I drinking on the weekends? And weekdays? Do I indulge at every party, date night, event, holiday...? Once I had that hard convo with myself about my indulgences, I'd then make sure I kept my favorites in while reining things in a bit. It's not deprivation if you're choosing what you want most over what you want right now. It's just a choice and you get to make whichever one you want in each situation.

4. Movement. Knowing 15% (sometimes more!) of our metabolic rate is based on how much we're moving outside of workout time, I'd get creative about how to start moving more. Can I ask my employer for a standing desk or just doctor one up myself by stacking my laptop on a bunch of books? Can I take that call or meeting on a walk? Can I sit on the floor and stretch while watching TV instead of sinking into the couch? Can I plan to walk each morning or lunch break? And if the weather is bad, what's my backup plan? Maybe one of those walking pads or under-desk bikes? Can I plan some family fun on weekends that involves being active ... like a hike, playground games, or after dinner walk or bike ride with whoever wants to join? If fat loss was a goal, I'd definitely not skip out on this and make my metabolic rate 15% slower as a result.

What else? Well if you need some more help, you might be interested to know I'll be briefly opening up early enrollment for the January round of TRANSFORM: Body + Mind around Black Friday. This will come with early access so you will have the whole course and all the materials to be able to utilize all of it starting in November!



If you have some diagnoses you believe are making your fat loss goals trickier or could use some customization or extra accountability, 1:1 coaching might be more your flavor.



Oh and if fat loss isn't one of your goals, that list is still a great one if you "just" care about longevity and optimal health. ;-)



XO,
Tara

Fat loss: A learning series

You're a real catch... and I appreciate the heck out of you.

Just wrapped up another super-exciting launch at Tara Allen Health. One thing I typically do when I'm in 'launch mode' for that one week, several times a year is I tend to do more live videos on social media. My goals with this are 1, to share more context about what I do in the course and why I do it so differently. 2, I'm more present for those who have questions. And 3, I want to make sure that even if you and I never get to work together, you still have lots of actionable tips to implement on your own. If you're a TRANSFORM alum, these lives might serve as good reminders for you as well. ;-)



But maybe you missed them? So I wanted to drop them here in a blog this week. Feel free to select just the topics that sound interesting to you or listen to them all in order as a learning series. You don't need to stare at my face! Haha. Pop in some headphones and take me along on a walk, while you're doing housework or even just listen on your commute.



Only thing is ... all the talk about enrollment for TRANSFORM: Body + Mind being open is no longer applicable. Cart closed last week and we actually began yesterday. The next round will be in January though so don't feel like you missed out. You can now hop on the waitlist for that round if you'd like.



Ok, here we go ...


Episode 1. Is there more to the fat loss story than "eat less, exercise more"?

Episode 2. 6 things you're doing for weight loss that are backfiring

Episode 3. Fat loss goal of less than 10 lbs? Or want to “tone up”? Discussing 8 things specific to YOUR goals to keep in mind.

Episode 4. Fat loss goal of 10 lbs or more? Sharing 7 tips specific for you.

Episode 5. 7 reasons you’re giving yourself cravings and what to do about it.

Episode 6. The biggest mistake the weight loss industry is still making!


Hope this helps!


XO,
Tara

5 Unusual Tips for Fat Loss NOW

So you wanna lose some excess body fat?

(If you don't want to "lose weight" or "tone up" at all, then you might wanna skip this one and come party with us again next week.)




Summer seems to be the time when the planners are wishing their weight loss plan worked better ... or that the results stayed and the procrastinators are ready to do some crazy sh*t just to feel a little more confident this season in their shorts. As such, Summer happens to be a time when a lot of metabolic damage is done. Every 1200 calorie diet, Optavia, diet pills, daily bootcamp classes or running are all risk factors that unfortunately can lead to chronic disease and / or autoimmunity years and decades in the future ... plus weight loss resistance which is the exact opposite of what the goal was.



Luckily, we know more now and we can evolve our strategies accordingly (even though most people will be continuing to use misinformed and outdated tactics for way longer than I'd like to even imagine).



Fat loss happens best when we work within what we know to be optimal fat loss conditions. This means we're aiming to lose excess body fat but not more (not muscle mass or bone...) so it requires a specific pace. Go too fast and you're losing weight for sure, but not the kinda weight you want to be losing. Here are some tips:




1) Eat more at mealtimes. I know if you want to lose weight, you think a 350 calorie meal is superior to a 600 calorie meal. I'm not a fan of counting calories but to more easily paint this picture, stay with me here. If you eat the 350-calorie meals, 1 of 2 things will happen -- 1, you'll end up being so hungry later that night, on the weekend, on holidays, or vacations that you'll feel yourself losing control around food and overeating. Or if you're so darn stubborn and manage not to ever overeat, your metabolic rate will drop in order to compensate. This means your thyroid will probably become sluggish, you might feel colder, weak, fatigued, low libido, and you will begin gaining weight with much less calories than you used to. Your goal here is to eat meals big enough and balanced enough that they keep you nice and satiated for at least 4 hours.



2) Be mindful of blood sugar. Yes, energy in energy out matters for weight loss. Also true ... not all weight lost is the same. If you want to maximize FAT loss, you need to make sure you are not riding the blood sugar rollercoaster all day everyday. This means you eat fat, fiber and protein at every single meal. It means you keep carb intake moderate. It means you understand that it's best to not eat carbs alone (no bananas or coffee with sugar on your way out the door). It also means that you understand we have an upper limit to what we can use before it gets stored away as fat. Keep carbohydrate-containing meals to 25-35g net carbs if you're a woman (35-50g net carbs for most men). More than that and you'll likely be storing the extra as fat. A "healthy" acai bowl or green juice can often contain 50-100+ grams of carbs / sugar! "Healthy" can be deceiving. 



3) Pick up weights. Weightlifting burns more calories than cardio. "What Tara? I always heard it's the opposite!" Well yes, if you're looking at it in a short-sighted way. Cardio tends to burn more calories in that one exercise session compared to a similar length session of weightlifting. However, the extra calorie burn stops when you stop moving with cardio. Yet when you increase your muscle mass by strength training, your metabolic rate for THE ENTIRE DAY, NIGHT, AND EVEN REST DAYS is elevated. Keep your cardio in because you love your lungs and heart and being alive. But it's not a great exercise focus for fat loss goals. Strength training is.



4) Move your body. Walking isn't your exercise, but hopefully it's a different part of your days! We need our exercise (cardio, strength) and then we need our active lifestyle too (walking, gardening, dancing, yoga, playing tag with the kids or grandkids, standing while watching that live music or game, carrying groceries in..) By making the non-exercise parts of your day more active, you will notice a WAY bigger boost in your metabolic rate. 



5) Daily sunshine and grounding. When we have excess body fat stored up in an amount that's more than optimal health levels and want to do something about that, we need to be thinking about improving our energy usage. We lose fat when we use it up. We use it up when better and more quickly when the batteries of our cells -- our mitochondria -- are abundant and in great working order. Heat and cold exposure help with this, so there's a bonus tip. ;-P But also getting your skin to come in contact with the Earth everyday. Ideally for nice chunks of time as we're really evolved to be outdoors mostly, but anything is better than nothing! If you're currently inside all day, you can start by committing to 5 minutes outdoors, standing in the grass barefoot and go up from there. This "charges" your cell's batteries in a way that allows them to utilize more energy / fuel / food. Meaning, this will improve your metabolic health and help with fat loss efforts.



And a bonus bonus one that didn't make the list because it's not unusual is .... SLEEP. It's arguably the mosts important as it will influence all the rest.



Which of these are you already doing? Which will you be focusing on? Hope you found this helpful! Please note ... this is 1 tiny sliver of the types of things we discuss in much greater detail in my 28-day metabolism-boosting course, TRANSFORM: Body + Mind. The next round starts in September. If you're interested in learning more, check out this link and hop on the waitlist for any special offers and a discount code when the cart opens.



XO,
Tara

Healthy Summer Things

Summer time has me feeling all kinds of ways ....

Like I love it. But I hate mosquitos despite them loving me. And not a fan of ticks, either. And why is it so weird getting into a bathing suit for the first time every Summer?




I think often about how most of us grew up fearing the sun and yet one of the most beneficial things we can be doing for our health and body composition goals is ensuring that we're getting enough sun (but preventing harmful burns, of course).



Then there's the whole chlorine thing -- which I posted about recently right here.



And how can we leverage the fact that most of us are outdoors more often this time of year to help us build momentum on our goals? One way is by thinking about restructuring the water inside our body. Once again, for health AND body goals. Check this out.



Another great opportunity we have is to leverage temperature. Hot + humid outside? Go workout outside around sunrise or sunset and you've got your very own "infrared sauna" (we get natural infrared light through the sun around both sunrise and sunset). Then hop into a cold bath, shower, or baby pool filled with hose water and ice cubes. Boom. Contrast therapy!



I'm a big fan of the food that's in season now too! If you missed it, you can grab my 42-recipe Summer healthified dessert recipe e-cookbook, Sweet Surrender. 



Every season has its challenges. It's a regular showdown around here with those darn blood-sucking flying jerks. But each season also makes it a little easier to focus on our health and body goals in a slightly new way. What are you loving most about Summer?



XO,
Tara

How many carbs for weight loss / fat loss goals?

Carbs are controversial.

"Cut them out to lose weight. But then that messes with your thyroid and doesn't that affect weight loss?"



Let's chat ...



Carbohydrates are 1 of the 3 macronutrients we eat (the other 2 being protein and fat). They are ALL important and all behave a bit differently in our body. 



Carbohydrates and fat are predominantly used up as fuel for energy. Whatever extra we take in that's not used up will be stored as fat. This is a GREAT thing as it allows us to then use up some of our storage to be able to sleep without having to wake up to eat, to go several hours between meals, and allowed our ancestors to go long periods of time without eating during a famine.



Protein can be used as fuel if absolutely necessary, but isn't what our body prefers to do and isn't what happens for the most part. Protein is mostly used as building blocks to MAKE things (like muscle, collagen in our skin, etc.).



So back to carbs. We don't have much storage capacity for carbs but nearly limitless storage capacity for fat (our fat cells can both multiply as well as increase in size, individually). When we take in carbs, it appears in our bloodstream as it makes its way to the places that need it. If we have adequate muscle mass and challenge our muscles frequently through something like strength training, we would have depleted some of the glycogen (carb storage) in them so some of the carbs we just onboarded will go there so our muscles are topped off and ready for our next workout. Our brain uses some 'carbs' for fuel. Fun fact: our brain actually uses up quite a lot of our total energy every day! Our liver can store some glycogen (stored carbs) too. If those places were already full -- maybe because we're sedentary or eat too many carbs for our needs -- or if we onboarded more than we had available storage space for, the rest will be stored as fat.



So, if fat loss is a goal, getting your carb strategy dialed in IS really important. You'll also want to make sure you have your fat and protein strategy dialed in. I believe this shouldn't come with obsessive macro or calorie tracking. I'm always thinking about mental health and lifestyle enjoyment as well as physical health and I hope you are too!



But today's note is about carbs so let's get back to it.



Since too many carbs is definitely not a good idea for someone with fat loss goals, then should you just cut out ALL carbs to super-charge results?



NO! Not if you ask me. And since you did ask me :-P ....


Cutting out all carbs might be a great idea for some people sometimes as it can be an important part of their medical treatment plan (epilepsy, brain injury, etc.), but even then it's often not a permanent solution. For MOST people MOST of the time, cutting out all carbs will move you further away from your goals in the long run.



Carbohydrate-rich foods are often full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients ... many we know about but others that are sure to come out in the future. Meaning, there are probably lots of important nutrients we're getting through carb-rich foods that we aren't even aware of yet (so couldn't even think about just trying to replace in a supplement or something). Think: fruit, veggies, beans, certain fermented foods ...


Carbs taste great and most people who cut them out entirely end up feeling deprived and / or end up fearing them or losing control around them from time-to-time. We want a healthy relationship with food and our body.


Many carbohydrate foods are high in fiber, and that helps us to blunt the blood sugar spike, help us feel satiated, feed our microbiome, and aid in detoxification by keeping us more regular in the bathroom.


Going too low carb can inhibit thyroid function (making it harder to lose excess body fat), impact mood and interfere with sleep, due to the role it plays in certain neurotransmitter production.


If we don't consume carbs through our food, our body will convert some energy over to a form of carbs. So basically, no one ever actually goes without carbs. You either eat 'em or you make 'em.


And plus ... avocado toast is too tasty to be off the table!


So, how much is enough but not too much if your goal is fat loss (or "toning up")?


I recommend a baseline of 2 intentional carb servings per day for everyone. That means that's the floor. Start there. If you're very active, have a lot of muscle, are a man, are a tall woman, have hypothryoidism or elevated cortisol ... you will likely need to add at least another intentional carb serving. Maybe even more. Please note this is *highly* individualized! We're talking about fuel here. Some of you are 4-cylinder cars parked in your driveway all day. Some of you are gas-guzzlers drag racing almost all day. Wildly different gas budgets, right?? Similarly, carb intake needs will vary A LOT depending on your specific situation.



"What the heck is an intentional carb serving?"



I call them intentional carbs, well, intentionally. The reason is with this macro aware approach (rather than macro tracking), we're not thinking about your side of broccoli with dinner that had a couple of grams of carbs or your piece of cheese or handful of nuts that did too. When I say intentional carb serving, I mean you're sitting down to an actual serving of carbs. You're having a piece of bread, a piece of fruit, some beans and corn, a potato, a half a cup of pasta, etc. You can think of this as being about 25-35 grams of net carbohydrates at a sitting. Net carbs = total carbs minus fiber.


To avoid blood sugar spikes (which is something to be mindful of if you have fat loss goals or even just health optimization goals), you're going to want to have these servings of intentional carbs inside of a meal that also has plenty of protein, fat and fiber. 


So in summary ... have the bun with the burger and veggies. But maybe save the fries to have with another meal. At least most of the time. ;-)



XO,
Tara



P.S. If you haven't yet signed up for a previous round of TRANSFORM: Body + Mind, make sure you hop on the waitlist for the September round. We cover nutrition balance and fat loss in so much detail! 


P.P.S. I told you I'd update you on TRANSFORM: 1:1, so here goes: it's ready and the first group will be onboarding the rest of THIS week! Spots are always super limited with 1-on-1 coaching as it is customized to your unique needs, goals, injuries, health history, and a very high touch program with tons of accountability baked in, but the good news is I have current clients who were already working with me who are continually graduating out of their program. So if you are interested in 1-on-1 coaching, hop on the interested list! I'll reach out and provide some insight about availability and potential timing as well as answer any questions you may have. :-)

6 pack abs: busting all the myths

How do you "get a 6-pack"? Is that even a worthwhile goal?

Watch or listen to this 13-minute video to find out:

• Is it a smart goal?

• How do people reach this goal?

• What role does nutrition play?

• If crunches aren't the best way to challenge your abs (they're not!), how DO you work 'em?

• Why your fat loss efforts are actually increasing your belly fat.

I spilled the beans in my instagram stories last week that I mayyyy be scheming on a way to give you access to the TRANSFORM: Body + Mind 28-day metabolism-boosting course before the next official round in January. Make sure you join the waitlist if you haven't yet to be in the loop.


That's it for today!


XO,
Tara



P.S. Do you have fat loss, muscle-building, "toning up", or longevity goals? If so, you need to start getting my weekly newsletter. You can do that right here.

Nothing changes if nothing changes

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

You know that already, right?



In fact, there is probably a lot that you already know you could be doing to move closer to your goals. 



And you might even be frustrated by the very fact that you know things and still seem to have trouble implementing them on a consistent basis.



First of all, I want to let you know this is VERY common. Just knowing things does not build up the skills required to carry out these interventions. In fact, it's an entirely different part of the brain used for learning vs. implementing and staying consistent.



And here's the cycle I see repeat over and over with many people: Big goal, big motivation (at first), trying to change too many things at once with no reasonable long-term plan, sees no results or has too much difficulty staying consistent, gives up and feels down. Rinse and repeat - every Monday, every new season, every New Year...?



Does this resonate with you? It will for many people!




Check out my latest Workshop Wednesday video in which I discuss how the mismatch between your goals and your actions are blocking you from your results. The more you understand about the behind-the-scenes stuff happening in our brain and with our mindset, the more you will be able to take the wheel and make the lifestyle upgrades you have been trying to make.




XO,
Tara




P.S. January 1-on-1 coaching spots are filled, but I will have a few spots opening in February. If you are interested and ready to commit to a complete health, nutrition, and fitness transformation, leave a comment or email me: Tara@TaraAllenHealth.com and I will send you my calendar so you can schedule yourself for a free call to chat. Never any sales pressure (I don't play like that), but we need to both be sure that it's the right fit before moving forward. ;-)



P.P.S. We all have goals! I've been working on tilted inversions, wrist mobility, handstands, etc. And guess what? I kinda suck! Sucking at something is awesome....so much room to improve. I'd love to hear what you suck at and see if it's something I can help with. 

Fat loss is just ONE reason to optimize health...and not even the best one.

There are a million reasons to optimize your health…and fat loss is just one.


"But Tara, aren't you really into body love and body positivity and body neutrality…?"

YUP!

"But Tara, are you saying it's ok to want to lose excess body fat too?"

YUP!

"Ummm…is that confusing?"

Nope! I mean, typing this email in the third person in hopes that it's as entertaining to you as it is to me right now is a little confusing. But fully embracing body love / positivity / neutrality alongside believing wholeheartedly that we all have the right to choose whatever goals we want to work on for ourselves? That's not confusing to me in the least!

If you want to hear 12 minutes of my thoughts on the topic, check out this recent video.

Or, just understand that fat loss is just one of many reasons to optimize health. Fat loss is not particularly motivating either in the long-run. So, if you want to stay in the game for a while, you may want to consider chasing some additional goals. I just saved you the 12 minutes. You're welcome. :-D

If you fall in the camp of women that do have fat loss as a goal, but also would like to focus on feeling better, improving your energy, and living long enough to watch your grandkids drive your own kiddos crazy, leave me a comment. Tell me your goals. The simple act of writing them out and sharing them with someone (me!) will help you to get started.

XO,

Tara

Weight LOSS and weight GAIN require 95% of the same strategies!

Most people think that their weight LOSS goals or their weight GAIN goals are on opposite sides of the spectrum.

And while it's slightly true, in a health-first approach, the strategies to achieve any body goals - and improved health - are 95% identical!

Why? Well optimization is optimization. Being able to change some aspect of your body (such as losing excess body fat) requires a certain level of nourishment, a certain baseline of the foundations like sleep, and a buzzing metabolism.

If you're curious about how I can help one person lose weight and another person gain weight using a nearly identical approach, check out my latest Workshop Wednesday video that I recorded last week. In the video, I cover lots of the topics we address in both cases. If you're a go-getter, you're going to want to use these topics as a framework to develop your own plan!

If going at it alone has not been working - or not been lasting - I have a few spots open for my private, fully customized virtual coaching program opening up in August. If you are someone that likes to save money and time and get results, you have to check it out.

Do you know there are people that spend SO MUCH MONEY and TIME and EFFORT and still do not get the results they want?! Maybe you have been doing this too…I certainly did in the past. I can tell you first-hand that doctor appointments add up, meds add up, supplements, books, "quick fixes", unused memberships, lost time at work…it all becomes so expensive when we are not optimizing our health!

If you've been feeling like you're ready to improve your health, love your body, and impress the socks off of yourself, then check out all the details (yup…including prices) for my private, virtual coaching program.

And if you are feeling EXCITED about the possibilities for your future and want to make sure we are the right fit to work together, sign up for a free 15-minute call right here. We'll talk about your goals and figure out if I'm the person to help you - once and forever. ;-)

In good health,

Tara

Weight loss and GOOGLE! Huh?!?!

What do Google and weight loss have to do with each other?

You many be thinking, "Nothing!" But hear me out. ;-)


In a recent video workshop, I talk about exactly this - both literally and metaphorically. It's worth the watch (or listen) if you have been feeling a lack of motivation or direction lately in your healthy / weight loss journey.

Come join me inside my FREE, private facebook group for women looking to lose weight in a healthy + sustainable way for more resources, recipes, and video trainings!

In good health,

Tara

3 steps to crush sugar cravings and lose excess body fat

Imagine a life with no cravings!

No, wait…imagine what would happen to your body and your health if the sugar cravings could finally go away!

While there are no magic pills to make such a thing happen, there are definite steps you can take. In my latest Workshop Wednesday video, I shared 3 steps that will get to the root cause of your cravings and help you lose excess body fat. Consider this your road map to start taking action and seeing results!

If you're finding these videos helpful, hop onto my email list to ensure that you don’t miss them! I share healthified + delicious recipes (is there any other way though?!?), workouts, wellness and weight loss video trainings, and new opportunities over there - weekly! And P.S. you’ll receive a super-awesome welcome gift right away when you join. ;-)

CHECK OUT THE (10-min.) VIDEO RIGHT HERE:

Talk soon,

Tara

How often should you eat for weight loss?

Hey there,

If you are on a weight loss journey, you may be wondering how often you *should* be eating.

Is it 6 mini meals?

3 meals and 1 snack?

Three squares?

Check out my latest video to find out!  I'm also chatting about meal timing, frequency, metabolism, real foods, intermittent fasting, balancing meals, detoxing, and more.  :-)

Do you find these videos helpful?  Let me know!  Is there something else you'd like me to do a video on?  Drop that in the comments below!

In good health,

Tara

The 4 reasons you eat (yup, there are ONLY 4!)

“When it comes to losing weight, you MUST treat the cause...or the results will be temporary!”

— Tara

Here's the deal...diets are bandaids.  They are NOT getting to the root cause of why you are overweight.  They are NOT teaching you anything except for how to conform to someone else's rules for a set amount of time.  And?  The weight comes right back...and then some.

Boo!

But there's good news too...

There are ONLY 4 reasons why you ever eat.  You may eat for 2 or more of these reasons at a time, but it will ALWAYS fit into at least one of the following reasons:

1) Fuel.  You're physically hungry and want to fuel your body with healthy foods.  Cool!

2) Joy.  You want the pleasure of the way something tastes or the experience (social, usually).  This can be a glass of wine, some dark chocolate, or your favorite cupcake or ice cream.  There is a time and place for this in our lives.  Frequency of the indulgence should depend on your goals.

“Goals are dreams with a deadline. Treat them as such.”

— Tara

3) Distraction.  You really need a break or to veg out.  You think you deserve _______ (insert junk food here) because you've been working hard all week.  You find yourself at the bottom of a bag of chips and don't remember eating them all!  You will recognize this as feeling out-of-body - like you're in a fog while you're eating.

4) Numbing.  You're avoiding feeling sad, angry, bored, lonely, frustrated, stuck, powerless, etc.  This gets deep.  And, this one means that when you stop overeating, you will HAVE to start to accept feeling your feelings and not resisting them.  It takes us just as much energy to resist our feelings as it does to just feel them and carry on.  Wowza!  You will recognize this category as binge eating...lots of food in a small window of time.  It will feel as though it's out of your control.  But, it's not.  There's that good news I mentioned!

Once you become aware, things can start to change.  Awareness alone can be a powerful change agent.

Check out this live video I did on facebook last week all about this topic.

If you're feeling like you're ready for a change, let's make a change!  Consider me your tour guide.  Check out my customized, all-online (no appointments necessary), one-on-one coaching program - Pioneer Nutrition and Fitness Coaching.  ***This is only for those that are serious about making a change and who are ready to experience the added benefits of boosted energy, healthy emotions, and overall wellness that will come with their weight loss.

In good health,

Tara

P.S. Are you inside of my private facebook group yet?  If so, "see" you there!  If not, why not!? You will get a community of like-minded women, challenges to participate in if you wish, healthy recipes, and weekly workouts...all for FREE!  ;-)  Join us!

How to gain weight FAST (and what it means for your weight loss journey)

Hey there,

Sometimes when I get frustrated about lack of progress somewhere in my life, I think about how I could go about it a different way.  

Today, I'm sharing the secrets of people who want to gain weight FAST...so you can do the exact OPPOSITE and apply it to your successful weight loss journey.

Sound good?

It's a simple strategy, but that doesn't mean it's easy.  Are you up for the challenge?  Watch the video for details.  :-)

In good health,

Tara

15 small dietary tweaks to help you lose weight - Insider & Business Insider

Eek!  Ya know that feeling when you're so excited you wanna scream it from the rooftop?!?

I was featured TWICE in Insider and Business Insider this week.  The article is about small dietary tweaks you can make to help you lose some excess weight.  Check out my tips (the last two) about tea and bread.  :-)

You can read the article here.

I'd love to hear from you.  Have you tried implementing any of these tips already?  

In good health,

Tara

Quality PLUS Quantity for healthy fat loss

Hey there! 

[Thanks for rolling with the kiddos interrupting my live video!]  :-P  

Food quality PLUS food quantity is the secret sauce for healthy fat loss.

I'm NOT a believer in counting calories - at least not over the long-term.  I believe, in general, we could benefit from less stress surrounding food choices and body image.  However, it IS true that if you take in more energy (calories) than your body uses, you will gain weight.

Quality of nutrition is SUPER important!  Less chemicals and additives; more real & whole food.  That's what truly nourishes our bodies.

So, if you're looking for both HEALTH and FAT LOSS, the key comes from eating high quality foods in appropriate portion sizes for your body / activity level / hormones.

This is one of the topics that is customized specifically for you in my online program - Pioneer Nutrition & Fitness Coaching.  It is a 12-month program, with the option of committing to just the first 3 or 6 months if you're a get-my-toes-wet-first type of person.  

Instead of trying every single year to lose the fat, this program takes one year and since it's done in a lifestyle-changing & sustainable way, you'll have to find some new thing to obsess over every year for your New Years' resolution.  ;-)

Intrigued?  Ready to dive in?  Here's the link. 

In good health,

Tara