Fitness is constantly evolving. Over the past 80 years, we have gone through a variety of fitness phases, some of which laid the foundation for modern-day exercise routines. Let’s take a walk through some of the most popular fitness trends over the decades!
Thanks to the website Exercise 360 for compiling this list! https://wellness360magazine.com/butternut-squash/
1940s — Stretching
Exercise for women in the 1940s was characterized by stretching.
1950s – Hula Hoop
The hula hoop was a toy trend that caught fire the moment it hit America. More than 400,000 were sold by 1957! Granted, it was classified as a toy when it first hit stores, but hula hooping for 30 minutes can be a great full-body workout. Nowadays, adults can use a weighted hula hoop as opposed to a plastic one if they want to feel the burn!
1960s – Vibrating Belt
It seemed to be a widespread belief in the ’60s that you could jiggle away unwanted fat. The machine originally gained popularity in the early 1900s, but had a big comeback in the ‘60s. You would loop a wide belt around any area problem area, turn it on and bam! Your fat would magically “melt” off. The vibrations were supposed to mimic a massage. At the time, massages were believed to cure fatigue, remove toxins, increase muscle tone and improve circulation. No sweat, no problem! Except that it did not really work. People eventually came to realize this, and the vibrating belt faded away.
1970s – Jazzercise
The ’70s brought in a new, high-intensity form of exercise called Jazzercise, which is still practiced today (although not as widely). Jazzercise is a mix of jazz dance (no surprise there), ballet, Pilates, yoga and kickboxing. The routines are usually set to a popular song of the instructor’s choice. This trend was the beginning of choreographed exercise set to music.
1980s – Aerobics
Aerobics sprung up as a spinoff of Jazzercise. While the two exercises are similar, aerobics is less of a dance routine than Jazzercise. It was originally invented in the ‘60s, but it was not put on the map until Jane Fonda came out with a book and aerobics workout tapes. The dance moves used were mixed in with fitness movements, like elevating knees or marching in place. Aerobics became a workout empire and inspired many different spin-offs, such as water aerobics and step aerobics.
You can still track down Cindy Crawford’s “Shape Your Body” on VHS (the vintage tapes continue to float around on eBay), but luckily, there’s also an unsanctioned one-hour-long compilation of Crawford’s 1992 workout series on YouTube, uploaded by an avid fan named Olesya. The video, which is slightly over one-and-a-half hours long, boasts over 1.1 million views. In it, Crawford works out with her trainer Radu, a compact Romanian man, doing twists and push-ups in a variety of locations including an exposed-brick New York City studio, a Hamptons beach, and a roof with water towers in the distance.
Renee: I remember doing this in our first apartments and in our very first home. Me and Cindy and Radu!
1990s – Tae Bo
Karate master Billy Banks took over the fitness world in the ’90s. He created Tae Bo, a high-intensity cardio workout that combines martial arts, boxing, dancing and hip-hop beats. At the height of its popularity, over 500 million Tae Bo videos were sold.
1990s – Spinning
Johnny Goldberg was a cyclist and personal trainer from South Africa who moved to the United States. One night, he was riding his bike and almost got hit by a passing car. From this scare, he got the idea to move cycling indoors. Goldberg began teaching spinning classes in 1990 and it was the beginning of a workout revolution. With the addition of upbeat music, Soul Cycle was born. Fast forward to modern day where spinning classes can be found at almost every gym.
Renee’s spin class debacle.
2000s – Zumba & P90-X
Building on past dance-inspired workouts, Zumba emerged as a Latin-inspired workout. This fitness style mixes salsa, tango, bachata and flamenco dance styles to upbeat Latin or pop music. Zumba classes can be found in most gyms, and the exercise is popular in 180 countries worldwide.
Renee: Bonnie, we’ve done Zumba! (Skating rink in early 20-teens)
2010s – CrossFit
CrossFit was born in 2000 by Greg Glassman. Glassman was a gymnast who wanted to get stronger in multiple sports and exercises. CrossFit focuses on conquering obstacles and training the whole body. It is a mixture of gymnastics, weightlifting, pullups and calisthenics. The first CrossFit gym originated in Santa Cruz, California. Now, there are thousands of CrossFit gyms and trainers across the country and a huge community has formed around the fitness trend. There are even athletic competitions focused on the exercise style, like the CrossFit Games and, more locally, The Swamp Challenge.
Cookeville, TN is the CrossFit capital of the world. CrossFit Mayhem is a gym where people relocate from all over the world to work out and train under the direction of Rich Froning, 4x “Fittest Man on Earth” in the 2010s.
2020s – HIIT… Pelaton
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. While this type of exercise has been popular for years, it has really taken off in 2020 due to COVID-19. Since gyms shut down for a short amount of time, gym junkies had to figure out how to get their workouts in at home. HIIT is the perfect at-home workout, most of the time calling for no extra weights or equipment. Plus, a lot of HIIT workouts have become available online for free, making them a very affordable way to break a sweat!
Trendy workouts always pop up in an attempt to keep things interesting and inspire people to move (here for that!), but some add up to little more than pricey toys or memberships you never use. To cut through the noise, we want to welcome long-time listener, exercise coach, and mom of two, Hannah Skelley!
Welcome Hannah.
Tell the listeners about yourself. (Bio here: education, marriage, kids, experience in golf, fitness etc. Whatever you’d like to say!)
-Hannah Skelley, born and raised in Middle Tennessee, currently lives in Murfreesboro. Married to Ryan, 2 boys, Griffin (2.5) and Grayson (9 months).
-I attended Freed-Hardeman University where I was on a golf scholarship and played college golf for all 4 years. Also studied Spanish and secondary education.
-Always been very into athletics and super competitive (in every area of life) – softball, basketball, volleyball. Dad coached all my sports. Big UT fans at home growing up. Dad was a golfer and I would go out some with him in MS. I decided to try out for the HS team and made it, realized I had potential to be good, so I quit all my other sports and decided to focus on golf for the remainder of my HS career.
-Post college I taught Spanish at a middle school (3 years) and high school (1 year) and coached the golf teams. I got pretty burnt out of golf during college because of the demands of classes and playing a sport, but when I started coaching school teams I was brought back to my passion and love of the game and decided to further my knowledge with the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). I completed 2 levels of their Teacher Education Program, played in a Player Ability Test, and earned class B status of the LPGA.
-Not a playing professional – I’m a teaching professional!
-During Covid I left education and took a job with The Grove as their golf professional for ladies and juniors instruction. I worked there coaching golf and doing all the golf things until this past November when I was on maternity leave and decided to step back from the golf industry for a while to be home with my babies more!
Did you do any of those trendy exercises? (You weren’t born when most of them were popular!) 😂
Did jazzercise class with my mom one time when I was a kid! LOL Also did the Tae Bo DVDs sometimes with my mom when I was a kid. She LOVED the BeachBody DVDs with Chalene Johnson so I remember doing those a lot with her. I even did them on my own sometimes in high school. I’m a horrible dancer so I never got into Zumba or any other classes that involved dancing.
CrossFit – post college I was really craving something competitive. I tried some classes at Gold’s Gym, but they just weren’t cutting it for me. I got into hot yoga which was a very different change of pace for me. I enjoyed it, but I knew something was still missing. When I met Ryan, he was already really into CrossFit and plugged in at a gym here. He was pretty up front that it wasn’t a deal breaker to him if I didn’t do CrossFit with him, but it was a big part of his life. I gave it a go one time and was hooked ever since. I’d say the type of CrossFit I do though is more functional bodybuilding. No flipping tires or anything crazy. I picked up a lot of the movements quickly, but was never dominating the scene. It was just what I needed for competition and the mental and physical challenge that I was used to with playing a sport at such a high level.
Do you have a “worldview” for exercise? You know I love to ask the “what it’s for” question… So if we’re living in physical bodies that contain a soul/spirit, what does that mean for how we treat our bodies?
I’d say growing up I definitely valued that I had a body that was athletic and strong, per se. I enjoyed being one of the fastest kids, being able to catch and throw any ball I touched, etc. As I got into college, I unfortunately started feeling more of the pressure to look and be a certain way physically for acceptance. That kind of led into a decade or longer of feeling the guilt and shame to exercise to stay “fit” so I would be accepted. It wasn’t until after I had our first son Griffin that I realized it was a pretty unhealthy obsession with looking a certain way, fitting into the “CrossFit strong and muscular” culture, on top of feeling the pressure to bounce back after having the baby and lose the baby weight as fast as possible. I was reading a book with our small group at the time called Risen Motherhood and there was a chapter about our postpartum bodies and something kind of clicked in my head. I realized that my boys won’t care about the way I look, my husband married me for who I am, not how much weight I can lift, and my friends and family love me regardless of my athletic ability, speed, stamina, etc. I had a mental shift that this body is meant to be healthy because it’s a temple of God. So I had to redefine my why a little bit. Now my “WHY” is: to be able to run, play, and exhaust my boys (I don’t want them exhausting me), to be able to grow old in strength, to be able to pick both boys up in my arms and carry them if I need to, to be able to sleep well at night, to have energy to do my job (at home and outside the home) during the day, to bond and connect with my husband and family, and probably most importantly, because God blessed me with a body that is strong and capable of many things, so I want to honor that and steward this body well. Ryan and I really want our boys to know that we value fitness in this home because of those things, not because it’s cool to be strong or you need to look a certain way to have friends.
In her book, Love Thy Body, Nancy Pearcey challenges the dualistic worldview that separates body from personhood. She argues for a holistic understanding that affirms the intrinsic dignity of the human body as integral to personal identity.
In an interview with Sean McDowell, she said:
After the rise of modern science, many people decided that the only reliable knowledge is empirical facts. Things like morality and theology were reduced to private, subjective preferences—personal values. We can visualize the fact/value split using the image of two stories in a building: In the lower story are objective facts; in the upper story are subjective values.
The fact/value split is one of the greatest barriers to presenting Christian truth today, and it’s the topic of my book Total Truth. In Love Thy Body, I show how the same split affects issues of our physical bodies
…No one really denies that biologically, physiologically, chromosomally, and anatomically, males and females are counterparts to one another. That’s how the human sexual and reproductive system is designed. When we wonder Why the structure of my body informs my identity, we take a profoundly disrespectful view of the body. The implication is that what counts is not whether I am biologically male or female (lower story) but solely my mind, feelings, and desires (upper story). The body/person split has a fragmenting, self-alienating effect on the human personality.
Those who defend a biblical view of sexuality are not relying on a few scattered Bible verses. They accept a teleological worldview in which the structure of the universe—including our bodies—reflects a divine purpose. The biblical ethic heals self-alienation and leads to a wholistic integration of personality.
https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/what-does-it-mean-to-love-thy-body-interview-with-author-nancy-pearcey
In his book, What God Has to Say about Our Bodies, author, Sam Allberry, has three categories to help explain how the Gospel is Good News for our Physical Selves.
He says our bodies are created, broken, and redeemed.
At the center of the Christian faith is the belief that by coming to earth as one of us, Christ could die for our sins, rise to new life, bring us into fellowship with God, and begin the process of putting right all that’s gone wrong. But at the center of that claim, tucked away where we don’t always see it, is the notion that to become one of us, Jesus had to become flesh. To become a human person, he needed to become a human body.
Become a body, not simply don one for a few years. He could, in theory, have turned up as a ready-made 30 yr old male, prepared to immediately gather his disciples, teach about God’s kingdom, and head to the cross. But really becoming one of us took more. To truly become human, Jesus needed to become a fetus in the womb, a baby in a cot, a toddler stumbling about as he learned to walk, a teenager going through puberty, a fully grown man. It wasn’t enough to have a body. He needed to truly be one.
…After his death he was raised bodily. And after his resurrection he returned to his Father in heaven, also bodily. When he ascended into heaven, he didn’t ditch his humanity like a space shuttle ditches its booster rockets (to borrow a phrase from NT Wright). Becoming human at Christmas was not meant to be reversible. It was permanent. There is now a human body sitting at the right hand of God the Father at the very center of heaven.
Bodies matter.
How did you get into the fitness and exercise world?
Mentioned above a little bit about how I got into athletics and fitness, specifically CrossFit. When I started working at the Grove I got a certification in 2020 called TPI (Titleist Performance Institute). I did Level I at that time and it’s a certification that allows me to do 16 physical screens on someone’s body and assess how their body relates to the golf swing. Ideally, you are able to pass all 16 screens, but if you fail one you could have a limitation in your neck, hips, shoulders, etc. It could be a strength issue like in the core/glutes. This assessment tells me swing characteristics that you may have that aren’t ideal and could eventually cause harm or damage to your body. So I began teaching the golf swing from a very physical perspective as far as how the body moves, not so much the biomechanics of the swing itself. If your body can’t move in a certain way then the biomechanics are only going so far with you. I tried to help folks get their body moving more efficiently first and then we could work on the golf swing. Then a few months later I got my Junior Level II through TPI which is long-term athletic development for kids. Basically it’s a training that sets kids up to become elite athletes by the time they’re college age. And it starts with things you can be doing with your kids when they’re little bitty, like crawling little bitty! In spring 2023 I completed another level of TPI called Fitness Level II. This is where I really got a spark and interest in hey this is something I’m pretty good at and could actually begin writing workouts for folks using these programs. In that certification it breaks down everything you’d want to know about powerlifting, stretching, taking people through training programs, diet and nutrition, and a lot more. It even had a whole section on working with women and their menstrual cycles because there’s a whole science behind that, too. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed having folks that I can work with and help train so that they can move their bodies better, be better golfers, move more efficiently, work on gaining strength, or just helping people eat better.
Have you ever struggled with loving your body? What advice would you give a mom who hates some part of her body?
Ha! I mentioned this earlier about my postpartum struggles. I struggled really bad with my pregnancy with Griffin. Gaining the weight was hard for me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to lose it again, how much weight was I going to gain, would my body even look like my body afterwards? So many questions and it just sent me into a spiral. I was weighing all my food, counting macros to eat the recommended amount for pregnancy based on trimester, it was a whole ordeal and very unhealthy. My OB (who I love and adore!) even prescribed anxiety medicine and recommended coming off at 34 weeks. I felt like that wasn’t the best for my body so I just basically turned it over to God and through many, many discussions with other moms I just decided that the weight I gain, I gain and I’ll do my best to lose it however long it takes me. Some advice people gave me was “It took you 9 months to grow this baby and gain the weight, you’re not going to lose it all overnight.” Really that was pretty helpful for me to remember that it’s ok if it was a process to lose it because it was a process to gain it. Once I hit around 30 weeks I think I kind of settled into loving my pregnant body, but it was a very hard pill to swallow. My second pregnancy was much better for me mentally and I didn’t stress at all. I think the shift was recognizing an identity outside of the way I look. So much of my identity was performance based. I was losing so much about myself physically that I just didn’t know how I’d ever bounce back and who could love me if I can’t be the athlete I’ve always been??? (joking). So the advice I’d give is show yourself grace. Understand your identity in Christ and know that people love you for who you are, not what you can do or the way you look. Most importantly, for new mamas, you truly are the whole world to those tiny humans. They don’t care if you have makeup, are showered, have extra weight, or look like a model. They care if you show up, show love, cuddle them, laugh with them, share joy and happiness, make them feel secure. You’ll make a bigger impact by showing them how much you LOVE your body that God gave you, no matter how it looks or imperfect you think it is. It is so important that little ones see us modeling healthy perspectives of our bodies.
Exercise During Pregnancy
Talked to a doula friend about this. General guidelines are: if you have been doing it regularly BEFORE pregnancy, you can continue. When in doubt, ask your provider.
But I asked specifically about hot yoga/pilates. She said she’d be extremely cautious about it. Many OBs say it’s a NO-GO b/c the core of your body heats up so much, and it’s best to avoid twists and lying on your belly. For the first trimester, best to just skip it. You can add other classes to your routine if you must, or just do regular yoga. In the 2nd trimester, your blood volume is increasing rapidly , and this is the time that a lot of moms faint when they get hot–too hot in the shower, e.g.,–and dehydrate more quickly. By 3rd trimester, it can already be harder to breathe as baby crowds your organs… it would likely be miserable by then.
If you are going to do hot anything, check with doc first and stay on top of hydration with electrolytes and minerals daily and drinking close to your weight in oz as well as eating close to your body weight in protein (in oz).
Losing Pregnancy Weight
The Mayo Clinic’s website notes that if you begin your pregnancy at a healthy weight, you should gain between 25-35 pounds during pregnancy. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can increase your risk of postpartum weight retention.
Despite what magazines and celebrity stories would have you believe, losing weight after pregnancy takes time.
I gained 40+ with BOTH pregnancies!! Both postpartum periods I LOST to under my pre-baby weight.
What are the physical benefits of exercise? Can even a little bit provide benefits? Can you break it up in little chunks of 5-10 minutes throughout the day?
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend adults get at least 2.5-5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise or 1.25-2.5 hours of vigorous exercise each week, or a combination of both, and participate in two or more days a week of strength-based activities.
Controls Weight
Disease prevention
Mood/Emotions
Boosts Energy
Better Sleep
Fun/Social
Really all you need is 3x a week with 15-20 minutes of HIIT training to see and feel a difference. Walking daily for 20-30 minutes is another great option if HIIT isn’t your style.
Are there soul/spirit benefits? (I’m thinking mental and emotional here, too.)
Renee: I know I exercised for the soul/spirit benefits when I was a new mom. The stress and post-partum depression were so much. I had cortisol coursing through my veins 24/7! I would hop on the elliptical machine and go hard to the point of exhaustion. I could FEEL the anxiety leave my body, but I had to work to get there.
Bonnie: You wouldn’t know to look @ me, but I was with a personal trainer for a good while. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, when aerobics and jogging were the big things, I took little notice. Why? I was busy every weekend doing physical labor at a horse farm. At 13 & 14 I was lifting 50# feed bags, shoveling sand by the trailer-load and hauling heavy fence pieces in the FL sun. Then, I’d ride horses every chance I got. My play was the work. Many of us have lost that way of life–living on a farm, hoeing rows, tossing hay bales, carrying buckets of water,… so we had to invent more artificial, simulated sorts of exercise like we’ve listed. It’s not a way of life anymore. I still do the outside work at my house. I’m still tossing hay bales & carrying water, mulching and bending in the garden. Do I look like a willowy 20 yr old? No, but that’s not really my focus. At 55, that’s probably in the rear view along with my 20/20 vision and my menstrual cycle, but that’s cool. A lot of people don’t get to live to this age and I’m happy to be able to do the things I do and feel the kind of tired that makes you by the end of the day.
If I don’t get my workout in everyone needs to watch out because angry Hannah comes out. When I started CrossFit it was very much for the competition, the drive, challenge, and chase of being strong like these crazy fit girls you see on Instagram. That was 7 years ago. In the last 2-3 years, since having kids and actually going to the gym is too hard for me, I workout at home and my workouts rarely take longer than 30 minutes. It’s just enough to get my heart rate up, sweat, and make me a little sore. I equate my workouts to hygiene like brushing my teeth. It’s necessary for me to feel good, it helps me be nice to people, it gives me more patience with my little people at home, I’m kinder to Ryan, and I have all the happy chemicals in my brain when I’m done that help me deal with stress better. Also, I knew working out for me in the PP period would be huge because I already have a disposition to anxiety and so I made it a point about 2-3 weeks PP to start moving my body slowly. I have a coach that writes my workouts so he helped me ease back into my regimen, but it was pretty important to me to stay active in those first few weeks so I wouldn’t be as susceptible to PPD.
What do you recommend new moms to do after baby comes to feel good and stay healthy?
First of all, staying hydrated is probably the most important thing to remember when you’re newly PP. Keep water on you at all times. We all feel better, sleep better, and recover better when we are hydrated. We are supposed to drink ½ our body weight in oz of water every day. TPI recommends that you drink 25% of your recommended water intake first thing in the morning (even before coffee!!) because you wake up in a dehydrated state. So if you’re 150lbs, you need 75oz of water a day with roughly 18-19oz of water first thing in the morning. Drinking electrolytes once a day is a great idea, too. If you’re nursing, have your husband get up in the middle of the night with you and fill your water up and bring to you while you nurse. Use a cup with a straw so it’s more “hands free”. When your body feels ready, start with some EASY movement (walking, light yoga, stretching). Dieting is not recommended while breastfeeding, but if you want to watch what you eat, shoot for hitting a protein goal every day and consuming enough fat. Protein keeps you satiated longer and fat helps with milk production. So focusing on just those two macronutrients would go a long way for nutrition! For me, talking to Ryan and communicating with him about my needs was huge. If I was having an off day, I’d let him know (I still try to do that haha). Sometimes he knows that he’s gotta be on baby duty so I can get my workout in. There were a few days my sister would come over when Griffin was born and just keep an eye on him so I could workout. Sometimes, my self care looked like going for a drive in the car alone with a latte. That is absolutely ok for mental health!! When Grayson was born, I had a better idea of what I needed mentally and physically for me to remain healthy and that was just 20 minutes of sweating. Sometimes I just rode the bike for 20 minutes to get my heart rate up and sweat a little and that was enough. Find what works for you and make it a routine and a NON-NEGOTIABLE!!
In one 2015 study, 75 percent of women were heavier 1 year after giving birth than they had been before pregnancy. Of these women, 47 percent were at least 10 pounds heavier at the 1-year mark, and 25 percent had kept on 20 more pounds.
Nearly half of all pregnant women gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, according to the CDC
The consequences of keeping on some of this extra weight after pregnancy include:
- increased risk of being overweight
- heightened risk of diabetes and heart disease
- greater risk of complications during pregnancy
- higher health risks for women with gestational diabetes
What do you think about exercising inside vs outside?
If I can exercise outside, I do it. No questions asked. I drag all my equipment out in my driveway and make it happen. Something about the sun and fresh air just makes it so much better. However, if it’s 5am, I’m not going outside haha. Also, I don’t always go outside if I have both kids at home trying to workout – easier to just let them play in the bonus room while I workout because we don’t have a fenced in yard or anything.
Renee: If you have ever been to China, it will probably have struck you: Chinese people love physical activities outdoors and especially in parks. Outdoor Fitness is everywhere!
There are parks everywhere with ADULT playgrounds. Kids, parents, and grandparents were all out there, using swings, monkey bars and more. No matter where you go, you will most likely witness a show that is quite unusual. People meet in the morning to do Tai Chi, fitness, volleyball, dance and a whole host of other sports of all kinds.
Unlike in our country, people are not ashamed to dance, jump, move… in public. And there is no need to be a pro… everyone is welcome! All you have to do is get out of your house and go to the park. Then to get into a group and enjoy this quite unusual sports session!
Part of this idea, I think, is that they understand the benefits of grounding:
The concept of “grounding” or “earthing” is an interesting one. On the surface it seems simple and rather intuitive: humans need to connect physically with the Earth to optimize our health. To ground you simply place your skin (usually feet or hands) in direct contact with the Earth (like natural grass, dirt or sand–no artificial surfaces). The health benefits of stepping away from our busy lives to move our bodies, get fresh air and sunlight and be in nature are proven and widely accepted. Fledgling research adds another fascinating potential benefit of this practice that Morgan and I discuss in this short five minute video.
Humans are just big ole piles of atoms. Electrons are critical components of our atoms. Electron balance can impact our health (i.e. too many electrons or too few electrons can be problematic leading to decline in cell function, inflammation and disease). Grounding can allow for the transfer of electrons to and from the Earth. By gaining electrons, we can gain energy and information to support a balanced cell. Next time you feel depleted, inflamed, in pain or anxious, consider grounding and see how you feel.
What about eating habits? What are some good tips for busy moms to eat wisely? Is it really individual to the person? I know I’ve heard that some people do well with low carb, some with intermittent fasting, some with high protein etc. What say you?
Eating is such a touchy subject I think. Ryan and I are macro counters. Macronutrients are protein, fats, and carbs. We used a program called RP Strength back in 2020 and has such great success we haven’t really veered from it. I even purchased their breastfeeding plan in September after I had Grayson. We don’t love the idea of a diet and having “no-no” foods. I like for everything to be on the table. So that’s why macro-counting is a good option for us. If it fits the macros, we eat it. When I’m being really disciplined, I shoot my bodyweight in grams of protein daily, around 50g of fat and about 120-150g of carbs. This is broken up over 4 meals usually (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner). Ryan and I have meal prepped for long enough now that we don’t really need to weigh much food anymore, but when we started it was a tedious process. It took a while to find out what foods fit the macros, then you had to weigh it out to make it match up for what you needed at that meal, etc. Headache and not realistic for a busy mom! Now, my biggest goal is just eat enough protein. I try to eat around 30g at every meal and I drink a protein shake every day, too.
I really do think it is individual to the person. Some people’s bodies just do better gluten free, dairy free, etc. Some people respond better to low carb, high fat (keto). I think it’s a matter of trying a few things or just being consistent with one to see if it works for you. For Ryan and I, the high protein diet is a good option for us because we are strength training so regularly. High protein foods are necessary for muscle massing. Ryan also does intermittent fasting in the mornings, but he hates breakfast so that was a good way for him to get out of having to make a breakfast every day hahah he still eats the same number of macros every day, he just starts his meals at 1pm!
For busy moms, don’t skip breakfast. Sit down and eat with your kids if you can. Meal prep some breakfast sandwiches and throw them in the microwave. Make a nutrient packed smoothie with greens, protein, fruit, chia and flax seed, honey, etc. There’s really no excuse to skip out on a breakfast. Sometimes life is busy and you miss a lunch or snack or something, but breakfast, to me, is a non-negotiable every day. Even if it’s just a banana, a larabar and a protein shake in the car on the way. I do want to say that I have sold products like Isagenix in the past and I think they are a great option for busy moms. However, you can’t live on a protein shake the rest of your life. If you choose to do a meal plan or 30 day program or something that requires you to rely on shakes for all your nutrients, don’t make that your habit. Get your nutrients from fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. Have someone how to coach you how to eat and find a lifestyle that works for you. Food is too good to rely on a shake for your meals for forever!
What would you tell a reluctant listener? The one who doesn’t LOVE exercising or feels overwhelmed by changing how she eats?
Exercise can look different for everyone. Walking, yoga, rock climbing, hiking, stretching, CrossFit, triathlons, golfing, pickup basketball, running in the yard with your kids, etc. Those are all forms of exercise! Don’t feel like “Well if I don’t go join a CrossFit gym I’ll never be strong.” Or “if I don’t pay for private coaching from someone I won’t see results”. That’s just not true. There are THOUSANDS of videos on YoutTube for dancing, stretching, 10 minute at home workout, apps you can download that will take you through a 2-week, 4-week, or 10-week program. The possibilities are endless. Get an accountability partner and just start! Remember, exercise should be FUN!!!!! If you don’t enjoy it, find something else to do!!!
If you feel overwhelmed with eating, start with one meal a day. Make it a point to prioritize your breakfasts for 2 weeks. Then, add lunch and focus on that for 2 weeks. Then add a healthy, macro-balanced snack, or two. Then focus on dinner. Those are just suggestions. I never recommend someone starting from scratch to just jump in and decide I’m going to exercise every day and eat healthy all 3 meals starting tomorrow! That’s a big commitment and very overwhelming. Start with one or the other. When you have it conquered or pretty close, add in the other half of it. And just so you know, weight loss is about 80% diet. You can workout all you want, but if your eating habits are not great, you may not see the results you want as fast as you’d like. 😉
Conclusion
CS Lewis puts it this way:
Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body–which believes that matter is good, that God Himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in Heaven and is going to be an essential part of our happiness, our beauty, and our energy.