SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome to Git BuildFit, where we're not just building bodies, we're building confidence, consistency, and the life we love. I'm Abby Stark, a mom, nurse, and fitness lover with a passive helpful moment. If you've ever wanted to start your fitness training but didn't know where to begin, or you're tired of starting over every Monday, you're in the right place. Here we build holistic fitness and habits that actually fit your life. We talk about how to start, how to keep going, and how to stay consistent when life gets messy. Because the first fit, you're capable of so much more than you think. Sometimes you just need the tools, the strategy, and a little support to prove it to yourself. And around here, we do not take eat. So grab your caffeine, place up your sneakers, and let's build strength, confidence, and a life you feel amazing in. Hello everyone. Welcome back to Get Built Babe. I'm super happy to have you back again. And I'm super excited to introduce our guest today. Her name is Rachel Taylor. She has a degree in nutrition. Uh, she's a certified personal trainer, a health coach, and also a mom. So, Rachel, welcome to the show. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

I'm super excited to be here. I love, love, love chatting about all of these things, all of the things related to fitness and nutrition. So I'm excited to chat.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Oh my gosh, me too. And I'm so glad you're here. You're exactly the person that I want to talk and learn from. Rachel, I want to get to know you a little bit better. I saw on your social platforms that you've expressed that fitness and nutrition has not only changed you physically, but it's also given you a mental and emotional transformation. Do you mind sharing more about your story? Ah, sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I grew up with four brothers, three of them older than me and one younger. And unfortunately, they were exceptional athletes. So I tried to keep up in every way I could. I played competitive soccer the majority of my life. And so exercise was always a big part of my life, I would say. And it was built into my life. But I remember the food relationship not being so great from a pretty young age. I remember developing some pretty strong body image issues, I guess you could say, around 11 or 12. Distinct, vivid memories of like sitting at the table and having massive amounts of food guilt for what I ate and afraid of putting on weight and getting fat so young. And then that just kind of amplified as I entered high school. I like started to really compare my body to other girls. I started dating and I was just so afraid of getting fat and didn't like the way my legs looked. I remember being really um self-conscious about the cellulite on my legs. And just like normal girl stuff, but I feel like it was a little amplified. I was tracking my food through high school, which is just kind of weird for a high school kid, especially one that was as active as I was. I would say my relationship with food was really fear-based. That being said, I loved learning about what was good for my body and anatomy and physiology and all of that, and really enjoyed working out. But definitely the relationship with food was pretty negative. It wasn't about what my body could do and how strong I could be. It was all about shrinking and becoming attractive and fitting in and yeah, a lot of body hate, I would say. Not good stuff. And then uh I graduated high school, fast forward to college, and I'd heard about this freshman 15. And I wasn't playing soccer anymore after high school. And so I knew that exercise wasn't gonna be like built-in to every day for the first time in my life. And I was afraid. I was really afraid I was going to be, you know, one of these freshmen that put on a lot of weight and stuff. And so I set up a workout routine for myself. I started building my own workouts, and I would work out in this tiny little room in uh my apartment complex at college and just have a treadmill and an old bull flex, if you know what that is, and uh kind of pull apart. And I was just doing like P90X workouts my brothers would do basically like crunches and pull-ups and push-ups. I didn't do a pull-up then, but anything that caused a lot of pain and made me feel like I was working hard. But I had fun building those workouts and I even built some for friends and my sister-in-law at the time. But yeah, I just found that it didn't matter how much exercise I did, I still didn't like how I looked, and I still did not have a great relationship with food and my body. And then fast forward, I decided to serve a church mission for my church, which was like crazy for me, never planned on that. And the fear just like amplified even from there of like, oh my gosh, what if I put on weight because I won't have access to a gym and I won't have a lot of time to work out, and what if my companion doesn't want to? And so I remember sitting down and I built this entire missionary workout program on index cards, front and back that I could flip through. And I used it religiously for my mission every day, got teased by the other tasters. But it wasn't coming from a place of I want to care for my body and stay healthy. It was coming from a place of I'm so afraid of what will happen if I don't. I came home from my mission, and that was about I would have been the beginning of 2019. And wow, I struggled when I got home. And anyone who knows me knows I'm a perfectionist and all in on things. And so coming home, I was like a fish out of water and I really, really struggled uh mentally. And there was a boy I dated before my mission, and we wrote through our missions, came home, didn't work out. I was heartbroken. And my parents were going through something really hard, and my family was just not recognizable or like a safe place to land. And then to towel that off, COVID hit, and I was just like a string of things that just led me to a place of not great. Um, I was not in a good place with my own like self-worth, self-confidence, and just struggling. And so I ended up in a really unhealthy marriage that was kind of rushed due to COVID. And uh fast forward several months to a year, I really recognized myself. The only way I can really describe it is like I felt like the real Rachel was inside me somewhere, screaming in a voice of like, hey, this isn't what you want, this isn't okay, do this, do this, don't do this. And I just feel like whoever was controlling my body, this version of me, just held like hello and was just like pushing her down, suffocating her further. And so I just started to really not recognize myself anymore. I just thought that the life I was living in was what I was worthy of, and I just needed to suck it up and be happy. There came a point where I was having panic attacks. I was so anxious. I was so unhappy and had tried several things to feel better and nothing was working. And I just remembered when I exercised, I seemed to feel happier. And if anything, I just want to like how I look a little bit more, like my body image. And so maybe I'll start doing that again. I had stopped for a long time since my mission because it was such a negative thing, and I recognized it was a negative thing for me, but I didn't realize that it was like how I was doing it that was so negative. And I bought this program online for this TDF document that I downloaded, and it had a 12-week program of 30-minute workouts I would do four days a week. And I committed to doing it. I'm like 30 minutes, okay. I might have to take breaks, I might not be able to get through all of it, but I'm gonna do it. And so I did it. And I remember counting down the minutes on so many of the workouts and it being so hard. But by the end of the 12 weeks, I found myself in the gym, going to group fitness classes. I found myself after that starting to explore strength training in the weight section. It just slowly, not even slowly, I would say quickly lit this fire. And those were, you know, things that you could see. But what was happening underneath was just like waking up. I felt like I was finally becoming the person I wanted to be. I felt like I had a vision of who I wanted to be and was finally chasing her. And unfortunately, the more confident I became and the better I felt emotionally, the worse that marriage got. And so months later, I did something I never ever thought would happen. I left him and left that marriage, and it was terrifying. But little did I know, on the other side of that was so much joy. The story has a heavy ending. I met my wonderful husband very quickly after that. And we've been together about five years, and we have two beautiful, amazing daughters. And life is amazing. It's amazing, and I really owe it all to taking care of myself, you know, transformed me to be able to really take control of my life and become the best version of myself. My favorite quote of all time, it says, give the world what's best of you, not what's left of you. And I feel like that's what exercise has allowed me to do and nutrition and learning all these protocols and health and fitness things now is it enables me to show up as the mom I want to be, chase my dreams, pursue passions, and just soak all of the joy out of life. So that's my goal with coaching clients several years ago and have watched them catch that same fire. And it's so fun. And I love talking about all of this because it's the most important thing we can do. Take care of ourselves so that we can experience life.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Rachel, your story really was inspiring me. And it opened my eyes. How much good taking care of your body can do for your entire life. I love how you took that and turned it into a strength and that it changed your life for the better. Thank you so much for sharing that story. I'm not rare, right? I'm sure you have similar experiences. It makes you a better mom, makes you a better person, right? Yes, absolutely. My experience has looked like I've always had such terrible anxiety. And the last thing I have ever wanted was to be on meds. Meds have helped a lot of people, but it's just something I didn't want. And therapy was effective for me, but I still didn't want to go to therapy all the time. And then I noticed when I took the time to exercise at least a little bit every single day, my anxiety would come so down. And I was able to manage it so much better. I basically had to prioritize uh exercise every day for at the very least my mental health. And it's kind of grown from there, from one passion to another. But I'm with you there. Oh, it's your medicine. Yeah, I love that. Yes, it is. If there's another woman out there who's going through something kind of similar to what we all go through, she's feeling like she needs a change, but is feeling overwhelmed because the fitness industry is huge. It's macros, gym, pilates, depths, all the things can be so overwhelming. What would you recommend is the best place to start?

SPEAKER_02 10:30

I don't know if this is the answer everyone wants to hear. Um, it's so loud. And I I would say first, a reminder to everyone and myself that the more complicated the industry makes it, the more they have to sell you, right? And that's the motivation behind making it complex. It really is simple. Move your body in ways that you enjoy and do it consistently. Our bodies were built to move. And I totally relate with all the women that feel overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed. But my answer isn't really a specific format of exercise. My answer is to do the one that you will do. Because ultimately that's going to be the best for you. Whatever you can be consistent at and that you love and enjoy, it's going to do well for you. There's pros and cons to certain formats of exercise. And if you have specific goals in mind, like I really want to lose some body fat or I really want to build muscle, or I really want to have less joint pain. Obviously, there's different modalities that can help you with that, like Pilates versus yoga versus strength training versus running. But I would say for most women out there, pick the one that you'll do and stick with it. And that you enjoy. And then yeah, if you feel like you want to go try other stuff, do that. More variety, the better. And I would say pick the one that's the least overwhelming to start. And maybe even the one that you have had success with in the past. Those are big ones because anything you can do to eliminate that friction of starting, you know, that makes it sound hard. If it's sounding overwhelming, it's because you're taking too big of a step. So how can we make a smaller step in that direction? So if it's, hey, I know I should be strength training and I should be walking, or I really want to do a high rocks race, or all of that, but all of that feels overwhelming to the point where it's paralyzing and you don't start, that doesn't do any good. So taking a step back and thinking what's the smallest step that I can take in this direction and is something that sounds fun to me is probably what I would say.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I love that because I feel like if you're doing the thing you love, it will be more sustainable for you. You'll be able to be more consistent because you enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

And like if you want to explore the stuff as you can go in, please do that. And for most of us, I mean, I would say strength training is exceptional.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

But I I think that whatever mode of exercise you will do, do that one.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Oh, I'm with you there. I am super biased on the strength training for multiple different reasons. But I do agree it's so much better to move your body and do some form of exercise that you enjoy than to not do anything at all. What are some realistic habits that busy moms can do to help them stay consistent, especially when they've are are so limited on time with their children? What would you recommend? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Yeah. Time is a valuable resource as a mom. And it just limits every kid you have. Or I had kids that had so much time. So much done in the world. Um, right? But yeah, you don't have time as a mom. And honestly, especially if you're just getting started, the idea of having to do a five-step process of getting there is so hard. But 30 minutes, you can absolutely be effective in 30 minutes long term. You don't even ever have to like grow beyond that if you don't want to to be effective. I would say probably for most moms, and especially if you're just getting started, the best thing to do would be to follow a program. Find a really great program and follow that. Because if it takes you more than two minutes to start something and get into it, then oftentimes we don't get to it. We don't do it. So when you're first getting started, and if you're following a program, really all you have to do is get dressed and walk out to the front room or walk over to your weights or whatever. And then you can hit play or you can start it on your app on your phone and go. And what it does is it takes out all of the excuses. It takes out excess time and emotional energy because now whoever's programming your workouts is thinking about what exercises to select and how long to do them for and rest time and it's calculating all those things for you. You want to pick a quality program. And when I say that, I mean picking a program that focuses on strength, not just feeling the burn for an hour long that we're really training muscles in repeated movements over time, even repeating workouts over time, so that you can master them and progress. Picking a program, I think, is an excellent place to start for most moms. And you can even hang out there forever. Had you ever tried any workout programs? Have you had any experiences with those? I'm curious.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yes, I have currently my absolute favorite program is Sadie Active. And then I've also done Madeline Moves. Oh, yeah, I've heard of that one. Okay, cool. Yep. I did her pregnancy and postpartum programs and loved them. And then before I got into a program that was consistent, I would print off workouts from Kayla It sign. That was like probably the first type of programming I ever did. And then I kind of pivoted from there.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

When I first started, I did uh Sarah's Day is the Instagram footage. She has a lean out at home program and it was like a 30-minute time, but that was what I started with. And I loved it and learned so much. And I didn't have to have any equipment at all. You didn't have to have a mat. And I just had to start and press play and went from there. Yeah. And then you can progress past that if you want, like you said, or as your goals change, you can do different stuff. But since doing that program, I was like, I want to build my own. And so I have a printable PDF document that is like a six to 12 week program that you can just follow along and do for a very, very beginner-friendly at home, no equipment type situation. But I think whatever program you pick to get started, as long as you're trying to pick a quality one, obviously, it's a great place to start. Absolutely, absolutely awesome place to start and follow and can be a lifelong solution for moms.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Absolutely. Oh, we will definitely attach your link because your program sounds perfect, especially for moms. Now for sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

I can't tell you the amount of workouts I've done in the front room surrounded by toys with a kid climbing on my back. You can do it, moms. It counts. Every effort you make, it counts. Even if the 30 minutes is broken up into two-minute increments as you're soothing a child, it counts.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yes, it totally, definitely counts. And let me add to you why it counts and and then how you can know it counts. I would say pay attention to how you feel when you very first start like week one of the program, whatever thing you choose, pay attention to how you feel. Tell yourself you're gonna stick to it for even just two to three weeks, and then come back to how you feel at the end of week three or four. And I promise you, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel. You'll feel a little bit stronger, you'll notice your endurance is a little bit better, you'll notice the difference. And I have to say that because for me being a mom, my husband works super early. There's no going to the gym in the morning. And so I've been doing home workouts and I've slowly collected my home gym off of Facebook Marketplace. And for the longest time, I honestly kind of thought that what I was doing wasn't really doing anything because it was hard to tell how my strength was doing because I was so limited on machines and various things, right? And this year I signed up for a lot of different races. I'm actually doing the high rocks tomorrow. And I was really unsure going into the training, how it was going to be because I was like, I'm only doing home workouts. Well, I was completely floored at how much I was able to do and how quickly I built strength. And I knew it was because I had that base from the home workouts. So they pay off, I promise. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Oh, and in some ways better. After going to the gym for a year or whatever, consistently, all I have to be at a hotel or on a trip or something. And I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna do less home workout real quick on vacation or whatever and not have any equipment. And that workout will leave me sore for three days.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Like it is different.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Your amount of full body engagement that those home workouts take, as you're incorporating planks and all sorts of things, you are not leaving any gains on the table. You are absolutely being effective.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Oh, I love that. And it's so reassuring to know that it's not wasted, that it's going somewhere. Speaking about lifting weights, that is a common misconception amongst women that if they lift weights, they're gonna get bulky. But what is the truth about strength training?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

I heard something the other day. It was really funny. It was like mom on social media, and she was like, you know how moms are scared of getting bulky because they lift weights? Wouldn't we all be so ripped if that was true because we carry our babies around everywhere we go? But I just thought that was funny because I'm like, it's so true. You're doing strength all the time as a mom. All the time. The imagine is that like one kid in a car seat while I'm doing a squat and picking a toy up or loading the dishwasher with a kid in one arm. Moms are strong. But uh the point is that no, the science does not back that at all. I promise you, I promise you, you will not get bulky strength training. I think that's why so many moms chase like I want to be toned, I don't want to lift weights. But the honest truth is that toning doesn't exist. There's no form of exercise that is able to create tone. The reality is that you have to shed body fat and you have to put on muscle mass to get a toned look. And you can only put on muscle mass or tighten the skin underneath, you know, give that tight look, firm look through building muscle. And building muscle happens by training it to failure, by lifting weights, doing things that challenge that muscle and require it to break down and then build again. There's nothing inherent about lifting weights that causes you to get bulky. All it's going to do is build muscle underneath. Also, that process wouldn't happen very fast. I've been strength training for about seven years now. I'm a perfectionist. I I try to do every single thing right. And I am still underimpressed at my level of muscle tone. You know, so like if you're getting bulky, girl, like tell me what you're doing. But it's not, it's not happening. Um, yeah, I know that we're gonna happen. This one gets me a little fired up, as you can tell. But I promise you won't be bulky. All it'll do is make you feel better. Can I share like my favorite thing about strength training with you?

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

So, with my background of like fear of food, I guess you could say, I was always in this mindset of how can I restrict food and exercise more. Exercising more was never the hard part for me. I I kind of liked the pain, I guess. I don't know. I I've always loved that. But the food part was always really hard for me. And so I just thought I was trapped in this loop of the rest of my life. I'm going to have to restrict what I ate. And I just have to get good at that. I just have to get good at restricting what I eat. I gotta get better willpower. I gotta find ways to cut calories in the meals that I like. And that's just discouraging for most people and for me. What I love, love, love about strength training is this postpartum with my babes, I was breastfeeding, right? And I was just tracking my food for fun, just to kind of like see what I was eating roughly. And strength training. I was eating about 3,200 calories a day. 3,200. I was eating 1,500 in high school. And I wasn't putting on a single pound of fat. Do you know why? Because muscle's so cool. When we strength train and we build muscle, what happens is you're creating all these millions of little factory workers in that muscle tissue, right? Those cells. And they all have to be fed just to exist, right? The more muscle that you build, The more factory workers you have that have to be fed, your demand for energy for calories goes up. Because you're not just feeding your regular systems, like your organs and all that stuff, but you're also having to feed these additional muscle cells. The more muscle you have, the more you get to eat without storing body fat. So for a food lover like me that hates restricting, it's so cool that I can strength train and build attractive muscle and it's fun. It translates to a higher metabolic rate, a boost in my metabolism that I'll be able to keep and maintain as I age. I feel like that's the secret that most women don't know. You don't have to eat 1500 calories the rest of your life. If you want to strength train, you can boost your metabolic rate and you can enjoy food and quiet that food noise.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

I uh love that you shared that because I don't think enough people understand that. Me personally, I'm on the food loving side where I'm like, I want to eat all the good food as much as I can. But I think that's really reassuring that the more muscle you build, the more you can eat, and it's gonna go to your muscles. And the other thing to add, the muscles continue to burn those calories and eat those calories throughout the day. It's not just during your workout. You do 30 minutes of work and then your body takes care of the rest, the rest of the day. So true.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Yeah, and you have more energy the rest of the day and all the other good things that come with it. But I think most people think that in order to build muscle, they just have to exercise and work out really hard at the gym. They have to strengthen train really heavy, and that that's where they build muscle. We build muscle at the gym. But I think what I wish most women knew is that at the gym, and when you're training really hard, you're breaking down muscle. You're injuring your muscle at the gym. You're creating the stimulus to tell your body to communicate with it, hey, I want to build muscle here essentially. Get stronger for next time. But what actually like prompts the muscle building is everything you do in that next 24 to 48 hours and what you eat. And that's where this big push for protein has come from, is that this understanding that we can break down the muscles at the gym, but you're only going to injure yourself or continue to break muscle down and stay in a stressed state unless you come home and then feed your body protein, which ultimately is the building blocks that those muscles need to get stronger. It's the materials that it has to have to get stronger. So if you don't build muscle at the gym, you break it down and then you come home and you build muscle on your rest days.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

By such a good perspective to put that in how it works to build the muscles. And okay, so speaking of protein, that's another big fad going on is eating high protein. And I'm noticing at the store there's protein Doritos. How do we actually eat a high protein diet? What actually matters? What doesn't matter?

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Don't eat the high protein Twinkies. No, but really, like literally, like so many foods are like, okay, it's just like when fat became not okay. It was like everything's low fat. Everything's marketed as low fat. And then you had a rise in diabetes. Everything's low sugar, sugar-free. Protein is definitely necessary for muscle growth. Cool thing about protein is if you are trying to lose body fat, protein's gonna give you the best bang for your buck because as you consume protein, it's hard for your body to break down and it's slow as you digest it. With it being slow, it's gonna keep you full longer because essentially it's not gonna empty through your system as quick. And it's gonna help you stay full longer. And then the other cool thing is what they call the thermic effect of food. Because it takes your body work to break down protein, and that work equates to burning off calories. So if you eat a hundred calories of pure protein, the research says about 20% of that, you're going to burn off just in digesting that protein. So you actually only like 80 calories from protein. So protein is really cool for weight loss. It's also really cool for building muscle, it supports healthy hormones. That's why protein is such a positive thing that we've learned about. But I would just be weary of protein healthy recipe and it's like four tablespoons of maple syrup. But there's protein powder in there, so it's okay. Or a Twinkie at the grocery store that was labeled high protein because they put some in there. Most of the time, if it's got a label on it that says high protein, it's probably packed with a bunch of junk ingredients, fillers, and sugar, and not a substantial amount of protein to actually trigger your body to build muscle. That being said, I would just say a clean rule of thumb is to just stick to the basics, stick to the things like protein that can be found in nature, stick to meat, dairy if you can tolerate it, eggs, seeds can be really, really cool and really good for you. Those things are gonna give you definitely the greatest results and the least amount of digestive issues. Because also a lot of those protein back products, if they are lower sugar, have a lot of what we're learning to be ingredients that could be really not great for the gut and gut health. And so a lot of times if you're consuming a lot of those, you're gonna have some gastric issues, stomach stuff. High protein is great. Protein is great. Definitely prioritize your protein. But I would try to do it from sources that your great-great-grandma would recognize as a protein source.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Yes, I try to think, okay, how much processing did this item have to go through before it got to me? And the least amount of processing, the better. But you gotta be smart about how you do it because there's a lot of trends and marketing and junk out there for sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

And again, the more complicated they may get, the more you just okay, whatever, that's probably high protein and put it in your cart, unfortunately. So it works. It really does work. I like what you said. Focus on things that are as least processed as possible. Whole ingredients, those are really good ways to ensure that you're getting quality protein.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Absolutely. What would you recommend to somebody who is looking to implement uh uh a simple program, eat a little bit more protein? What would you recommend to someone to consistently maintain these habits throughout the rest of their life rather than over the next two weeks?

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I love that you added that over the next two weeks. Baby steps, baby, baby steps, small wins. Over time, those steps get bigger, but starting with baby steps is important. One of the most incredible books I've ever read is called Atomic Habits. Have you ever read Atomic Habits by James Clare? Do you know what that one is? So I haven't read the book, but I know the book and I know who that guy is. He is incredible. Oh my gosh. His book is amazing. I love Atomic Habits because what it does is it teaches powerful tips if you want to build a new habit. He talks about the things that you can do. So making it obvious, making it attractive, making it easy, and making it satisfying. And essentially the main idea is that if you want to build a new habit, make it as frictionless as possible, kind of like what we've been talking about. But if I had a young mom sitting in front of me and she was like, Okay, I want to start eating protein because I want to start exercising, I would tell her to look at her life currently and maybe pick one of those things to focus on and then break it down into how can we build a plan using these tactics from his book and other things we've learned where we want to make it easy. So, for instance, let's give an example of a mom that wants to start exercising more. So, how are we gonna make it easy? A way that she could make it easy is by eliminating any sort of friction. So, choosing to follow a program is some way that's gonna make it really, really easy for her. Make it obvious would mean we want some sort of visual cue or adding it to her current routine in another easy way. So if we want it to be easy for her, we can look at some things that she's already doing and start essentially habit stacking. So let's say that we know that usually around 3 p.m., she is exhausted after nap time. And so the likelihood of her doing it later in the evening, probably not very high. But we do know that 10:30 a.m. she turns on Miss Rachel for the kids for about 30 minutes because that's just their time before nap time. That would do, they do a snack and they watch Miss Rachel. We love Miss Rachel at my house. That is already a 30-minute window that she does consistently that she could then capitalize on and choose to be her easy window to exercise. And then she can follow a program that she really likes that sounds fun to her and that makes it attractive, right? Like, I really, really, really like this influencer. So I'm gonna follow her program. That sounds fun to me. And then making it obvious would be like, I'm gonna have some sort of timer set on my phone or some sort of visual in the house that prompts me. Obvious means in front of you, basically. And they make it satisfying. So maybe something we could do for her program would be like, okay, if she finishes week three and she's been consistent all the way through, she gets to buy a new workout outfit or something like that. There's some level of let's make it satisfying. It doesn't have to be a reward. Something as silly as watching the Apple Watch ring clothes is shown in research to be satisfying enough to continue a behavior. So it doesn't have to be something grand. You don't have to go beg your husband for money to buy a new workout outfit. But the idea is how can we practice these principles of taking what we're already doing and creating a plan for her that is easy, attractive, obvious, and satisfying. So that's what I try to do with my clients. And then the other thing I would say about that is get very clear on your why. Sometimes we think, I am gonna start exercising because I have a trip in two months where we're gonna go on a cruise and I'm gonna be a swimsuit. And so I gotta start exercising. I'll tell you right now, that client never made it consistently to the gym and did not become a lifelong gym goer. It's gotta be a deeper why that's connected to a strong core value that you have. So for me, when I started, and I've looked back at this a lot, what was unique about that time that I started that workout program that made it so it's stuck and it will be the rest of my life. I will continue to be the person that takes care of my body. And that why was I just wanted to be stronger and confident looking at the woman in the mirror. And that was so integral to me. I wanted to be that woman. And so for me, that was my why. But I've seen moms have the why of I don't want my kid to grow up and feel as tired as I am or have anxiety like I do. I want them to learn that this can be something that can help them manage anxiety. There can be so, so many different whys. But putting some serious thought into what's your why? Why are you doing it? And then staying clear on that, it will help you create the plan that will stick to. Because if you're creating a plan to look good in a swimsuit, it's not gonna work. But if you're creating a plan so that you can be the mom you want to be, and it's very clear to you that you're not her yet, you're gonna create a plan that lines up with that and you're gonna be motivated to do it. And even when you're not motivated on your worst day, you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

What about for you? What's your why? Well, first off, I just want to say I love having a why that is a deep core value because that is so rich, and that's what's gonna actually bring someone results. It's not superficial, it's deep and meaningful to you. My why, I would say my mental health was probably my very first thing in college. I just did exercise classes with my mom because I just needed someone to hold me accountable, and I knew I needed something to keep my sanity. I was in nursing school, and nursing school is not for the week. I knew that if I was gonna get through it, I had to take care of myself, even if it was just 30 minutes a day. And I attribute getting through nursing school and being able to stay collected and organized to exercising every day. So I would say my biggest why started with my mental health, and it's kind of shifted to motherhood and teaching my daughter. I want to be a mom who has the energy to play with my daughter, and I want to be the mom who is able to participate in activities with my daughter. I hope to take her hiking and biking and swimming, and I want to be able to do all that with her. And not only that, but I want her to grow up knowing how to take care of herself and to feel her best self. So I feel like my why has kind of been adjusting over the last two years, but it's really to take care of myself and then to teach my daughter how to do the same. That is so cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Oh, I love that. As you were saying, being the mom that can jump in. The amount of pride I feel in myself when I'm the cool mom that goes down the slide with my kid, climbs up the playground and goes down the slide. I'm like, yeah, my kids are gonna remember this. It's a core value I have. I want to be the mom that is in those childhood memories with them. Like my mom got in there and did it with me and made it normal to continue to play as an adult. And so I love that. I love that your why has changed and also grown, and maybe they're both there.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

And I think that makes it just more powerful. I would totally agree. And I think that's what's kept me consistent over the years and help helped me to feel a lot more confidence in myself through different phases of life because especially if you're our mom, you've gone through pregnancy, you've gone through postpartum, and it can be kind of hard to see your body change like that. But I feel like knowing how to eat right and how to exercise has been my fallback. Those are great whys. I think a lot of us have some similar ones. Yeah. So, you know, if you can identify that, it really fuels you in the right direction. So, speaking of moms and taking care of ourselves, sleep is a big deal. And I have noticed through your socials that you've um been a big advocate for getting adequate sleep. So I wanted to ask, why are you such an advocate for good sleep? And what would you recommend for moms who are kind of going through the thick of it and not getting good sleep right now?

SPEAKER_02 35:58

First off, moms, I see you. I'm there. I've got an 11 month old that is nowhere near sleeping through the night. It's so hard. But the information I've learned about sleep is actually extremely encouraging. One, we were built to be moms and our body handles it incredibly well. It's very cool. But two, it's not so much the amount of hours you get. It really is about the quality of your sleep. And so I can tell you some things that improve that quality. I have a postpartum guide that uh I have on my socials as well. That like as I've been in the thick of it with my kids, I have like perfected it and worked through it, done all the research while I'm nursing my babies at 2 a.m., really kind of dialed it in because I am not patient and the postpartum period is really hard. So I wanted to make sure I was doing everything right. And so I've kind of done all the digging, put it all together, and then cut the fluff and given it to clients. In that we have the really rough night protocols, is what we call it. And these are things that are totally backed by science that I have practiced too that really, really move the needle and help to ensure that you're getting quality sleep. And even like if you're breastfeeding, there's some cool benefits for baby's sleep too. So the main thing is getting outside in the morning, so hard to start doing, but so integral. And by getting outside in the morning, what you're doing is you're setting that clock. You're setting that internal clock for your body. I know you've been the mom and you've been here where it's 3 a.m. and your body's like, what day is it? Those postpartum weeks just blend together and your body is so lost. You're just tired all the time. But then you lay down to sleep and you can't sleep, or you have anxiety because you know the baby's gonna wake up like it's in there. And then you're like a year out from postpartum and you're just starting to learn how to regulate the cycles. By getting out in the morning, what you're doing is a really cool thing. You're gonna have your body spike cortisol early in the morning, which is a good thing when it's done at the right time, and essentially tell your body, okay, 14, 15 hours from now, I want you to start releasing melatonin for sleep. And what's cool about that, if you are breastfeeding, baby, some of that melatonin production comes through your milk to your baby. So by you getting out in the morning and even getting your baby out there with you and getting sun in your eyes, you are increasing your chances of your little one sleeping and you getting quality deep rest. So get out in the mornings and whenever you can, even if it's overcast. And that's a big thing you can do. The number two thing I would say is drinking some electrolytes, especially if you're in the postpartum period. You get very dehydrated overnight from your body does in producing milk. And so waking up and the first thing you do, walk in the kitchen, get a drink of water, a glass of water, and with your, you know, a little bit of sea salt or whatever electrolyte drink you like to buy, and then take it outside and drink it on the porch. That's a sure way to set your day up for as much energy, a better mood, and restful sleep that night. Those are some things you can do. And then the other two things are prioritize protein. The more tired that you are, the crappier your sleep was, the more your body is going to beg for quick energy. And that quick energy is gonna come in the form of carbs and sugar. So your body all day long is gonna scream for those things if you don't feed it protein first. So that first meal of the day, set yourself upright, eat a good amount of protein, and maybe try to limit those quick carbs until a little bit later in the day. And you're gonna find that you have more energy, less brain fog, and can tackle the day much better. And then the last like little quick tip I have is this really cool practice. It's called NSDR or Yoga Nidra. And it's a form of, I guess you could say, meditation game changer. It's amazing. You can search in Spotify NSDR, and there's several of those in Yoga Nidras that pop up. And what they are is it's like a breathing practice that you can do that has been like proven that's slow wave breathing to fight off a lot of the negative consequences of too little sleep. And there's a really cool hormone cascade that can happen. But doing that 10-minute breathing practice, you don't even have to sleep, is going to do so much for you in terms of restoring clarity mood. It's amazing. I still do it. And also, if you're like me and you lay down at night with a baby, and as soon as your head hits the pillow, you're anxious because you know they're gonna wake up, or you're like one of those people that has a hard time sleeping, and so you're feeling anxiety about another night of that, tossing, turning, or struggling. The coolest thing is that I turn on my NSDR and I listen to that to fall asleep most nights. And what it does is allows you to just focus on something else, put your focus into something because it's a guided practice. And then most of the time you end up slowly drifting off to incredible sleep, anyways. Yeah, I would say do those things. And remember that exercise does offset a lot of the negative consequences of getting too little sleep. So as long as you're not getting less than five hours of sleep fragmented in the night, I would recommend still pushing through and doing some form of exercise. It's really going to help. It's not going to hurt.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

That is so awesome. I actually did not know any of that. The morning light, the electrolytes, okay, maybe a little bit on the protein side, but then the exercise that actually benefits your body with little sleep still. That is really incredible. I did not know that. And I'm not gonna lie, that gives me a lot of hope for my future.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

It's helped me so much, especially the second postpartum versus the first one, knowing those protocols. It's been a game changer and a necessity with another colour.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Oh, absolutely. This whole session has been so informative and honestly really inspiring and encouraging. If you could give a woman one piece of nutrition or fitness advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 41:40

I think the biggest thing I would say is that your willpower is not the issue. Nobody has insane willpower and then other people are weak. I think the difference is that you just haven't found the right plan yet. So get really curious and get really creative until you find what works for you and you can create a plan that you really love and that you're excited to follow. And then you'll be successful. Because I really feel like we can just beat ourselves up over the coals all day long. Why can't I stop doing this? Or why is it so hard to do this? Your willpower isn't the issue. In my experience and my personal experience, not just with clients. If you instead decide to get curious and really go, okay, why didn't that work for me? And then try to think of alternative solutions, you're eventually going to create a plan that you really love and enjoy and be successful. So don't beat yourself up. Oh my gosh, moms, you're doing so much, the hardest job ever. I could get emotional. It is so hard. And most of us are surviving on a good day. But you can do it. You can do it. You can take care of your body and you can show your kids how to do the same and show up every day, choosing to not survive, choosing to thrive and soak up every day that you have. And that comes from finding the right plan and beating yourself as up isn't going to get you anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

Give yourself so much more credit than you do on the daily because you deserve it and you are capable of so much more than you realize. Rachel just taught us now that you can get through those tough nights and still exercise and have the results you want. That's so incredible. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

I've had so much fun chatting with you. I really have. It's so fun to talk with another mom about these things.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Oh, me too. Rachel, where can people find you if they want to work with you, if they want to talk with you, follow your information? How can they contact you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

I'm mostly on Instagram, by dot Rachel Taylor. Most of my Instagram platform is just educating and simplifying um tools so that moms can feel their best and show up their best. And I really focus on high impact protocols, not little tiki-tacky things, but really the things that move the needle in helping you feel good and get the body comp results that you want. And then my link in my bio has all the things we've talked about today in my programs and things like that. And you can always reach out to me too for help for anything. I love talking about this stuff and working with moms. So please feel free to send me over a DM anytime and I will respond to that.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

That sounds great. I'll provide all your links in the show notes and how to contact you in the show notes. Clearly, Rachel, you are so knowledgeable and so passionate about this topic. It has been such a pleasure talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

You too. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Thank you so much for hanging out with me on GitFill Babe. If you know someone who would be an amazing guest for the podcast, or maybe that person is you, and do you have knowledge, experience, or story you would love to share, reach out to me through the link in the show notes or send me a DM on Instagram or TikTok. If you love this episode, please share it with your girlfriends, your sisters, your mom, and anyone else who's ready to do more for themselves. And then join me on social media at GitFilt Bay. Let's do the hard thing together. I want to see your progress and celebrate with you. Because after all, consistency will take you farther than perfection ever could. See you next time, babe. Hey babe. Quick reminder though I am a nurse, this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. This does not replace the advice of a licensed healthcare professional. Take what serves you, do what's best for your body, and always seek professional guidance when needed.