Let's break down the basics first, shall we?

What is Intuitive Eating?

IE is a non diet, weight inclusive, and researched backed self care eating framework that revolves around 10 principles. The principles work by either cultivating or removing obstacles to body awareness. It recognizes that a person's relationship to food is just as important- if not more- than what a person actually eats.

Intuitive Eating honors your health by teaching you how to learn and respond to your own body’s cues- instead of the outside noise from the diet and wellness industry.

Where did IE even come from?

The year was 1995 (although the idea of eating intuitively as a concept started around 1970)...

Dieticians Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDERD-S and Elyse Resch, MS, RDS, CEDS-S were both working as nutritionists, helping clients to lose weight.  After several years in the business, they began noticing how all the weight loss methods they were using weren’t working.  And that the...

Certain movements don’t get enough credit when it comes to strength gains.

The big moves- like squats and deadlifts- are stars for a reason; they’re fundamental patterns that create full body strength.

But you know what helps with ALL those movements?  Ground based movements like the ones in Animal Flow…let’s discuss.

What is Animal Flow?

 It’s a system of movement- created by long time certified personal trainer Mike Fitch- that uses bodyweight ground based movements used in yoga, calisthenics, and gymnastics.  Although the moves themselves aren’t always unique, the system is; each movement is given an animal name that resembles its movements.  This makes them easier to remember, and allows for easier programming when used in a flow.

It’s broken down further into six components that each serve a particular purpose:

1. Wrist Mobilization exercises to prepare hands and wrists for all the ground work ahead.
2. ...

In the early days of my training career, I sold body dreams. 

I truly believed that I was helping people live a healthier life, that losing weight was the answer.

Because that’s what I was taught as a new trainer- a new trainer who had long recovered from both anorexia and bulimia, but was in the throes of living a ‘clean’ lifestyle.

Because surely that’s what it means to be healthy, right?

Fast forward many years later- and tons of psychological therapy, experiences coaching hundreds of human bodies, and an un-education in fitness- and I now know how to support humans in their health.

Through all this, I can admit what other trainers won’t, because they are either in a disordered relationship with their own food and fitness, they’re happy making money off your 'failures', or they haven't educated themselves on the methods they sell; diets don’t work, weight loss isn’t health, and there’s a LOT of misinformation when it...

If you've ever wondered what kind of experience an anti diet fitness coach provides, I got you.

When we work together, I do:

Meet you right where you’re at, and build programs that are progressive, challenging, and specific to your goals and needs
Support your development of a regular exercise routine, but also honoring the rest you need
Break down your ‘why’ for exercising and get clear on the way diet culture has shaped your relationship with movement
Check in via text and phone each week to dig deeper on ANY issue shared that’s affecting your health
Provide feedback on form and proper exercise technique
Give you support in gentle nutrition if you need it (what’s what when it comes to fat, fiber, protein-education without rules)
Support your journey with Intuitive Eating

Things I DON’T do when we work together:

Take measurements, weight, or ask for before or after pics
Put you on a meal ‘plan’ or ‘program’
Teach you hacks to...

The current 4 month block that my group folks are working through is focused on both POWER and BALANCE.

We're in the first month- and we starting off strong as we always do.

Because even though this is a non diet training program, that doesn't means we don't train hard. 

It's just our focus is different.  

We honor not just our food needs and desires, but our energy and mental health needs.

All without focusing on aesthetics or changing the magic that is our unique selves.

And we always have a purpose and a goal.

It just doesn't have anything to do with how we look, and everything to do with how we feel.

DOORS OPEN AGAIN IN MAY 2023.  QUESTIONS? Email me at: [email protected]

Sharing a swing variation- 2 of 3 that we worked on this month- that builds power, strength, and works on balance.

The second variation that you see adds some glute and quad strength, while opening up that hip and increasing range of motion in your ankles.

Want...

I recently came across this pic from December 11 years ago, and it made me sad.

Sad because it’s probably 1 of maybe 3 pictures of me pregnant- and I don’t think I have a single one from my first pregnancy with my daughter.

Sad because I focused so much more on what I DIDN’T like about my body back then, instead of what it was amazingly and incredibly creating.

Sad because although I didn’t enjoy being pregnant (like AT ALL), it was a really special time for my husband and I. Especially that first pregnancy that was a struggle to create, when it was just us and we had no idea how our lives would change.

Sad because the woman behind the camera is gone now, and although I have so many pics of her and her grandbabies, I have so few of her and I during these times.  Of the memories of how much she loved both me and these kids, from the very moment they were created.

All that to say...

Take the pic.

Body image messes with you, makes you believe...

I took a hike with my daughter and her friend recently.

And yup, we talked about fitness, food, and some of the misinformation about both out there (obvi).

They asked me about some of the stuff they see on social- ‘can you get rid of hip dips?’- to the consistent talk about calories in calories out.

When we came across a group of older woman having a snack break- who commented about hiking SO they could eat- we talked about never needing to earn your food.

And because they got weighed in gym class and sent home with a BMI report card last year, I know what messages they’re getting there (my son is currently watching ’Super Size Me’ in health class and every day is a debrief of that bullshit. If you don’t know how harmful that movie is @maintenancephase) has a fantastic episode that breaks it all down).

Your children, your nieces and nephews, your friends kids- they are paying attention.

Not just to how you talk about food, but what YOUR...

Recently I’ve been thinking about all the ways I used to eat, train, coach, and well, just be.  All in the name of ‘health’.  Here’s just a few…

 -Make sure every workout is at least an 8 out of 10 on the challenge scale

 -Only do yoga if it’s power yoga

 -Keep foods out of the house that I think I should avoid

 -Get up for a workout even if I had a horrible nights sleep

 -Make sure every lunch and dinner has veggies

 -Do cardio 3-4xs week

 -Always portion my food less than my male partners

 -Try to make my body look like it did when I was 20

The not so secret secret of the fitness industry is a large percentage of fitness professionals  have eating disorders and/or body image issues. 

 And it’s absolutely true that I became a trainer as a means to ‘manage’ my own disordered eating.

 And even though it been years since I had last I binged or started...

Being sore after a workout is a sign that you're doing something new, moving in a different way, or you've increased your weight...and that your body hasn't adapted to the movements you're doing.

The actual point of exercising?

To ADAPT TO THE MOVEMENTS YOU'RE DOING.

And if you're constantly switching up your workouts, your body is constantly being challenged by something new.

If you're being challenged with something new every workout, you won't get the opportunity to get good at the thing, to adapt.

I say all this as someone who chased soreness for years- and who taught fitness to others who also wanted the satisfaction they felt leaving a class completely spent.

And yes, I still love to be challenged.  By how heavy a weight is to move, by moving it in a challenging way, and by feeling my heart beat hard and fast.

But now, I understand how it all works.  

And my assignment has changed.

One that doesn't involve pushing myself in my workout so much that I have nothing...