Episode 10 - What it means to be a Fitlandian?
What does it mean to be a Fitlandian?
In unsettling times of change it’s more important than ever to pause, take a breath, and re-orient yourself. Change of any kind can feel overwhelming at times, but the power of gratitude is a way to ground ourselves and find the power, will, and strength to carry on. As we gear up for the holidays and enjoy this season of thankfulness, it’s a perfect time to focus on gratitude and be appreciative of what we have around us.
“At Fitlandia, we genuinely believe that gratitude is the foundation of any change.” - Christa King
According to this study done by two psychologists, people who kept daily recordings of gratitude had higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. Additionally, this article by Shape Magazine discusses how gratitude can bring you more energy, increased happiness, and more restful sleep. t follows that if you wake up more refreshed and energized then you’ll be more determined to be fit and healthy. It’s all connected.
That’s what this gratitude Mind Zoning® is all about, tapping into the power of the mind and giving you that determination, gratitude, and thankfulness to help you reach your wellness goals. In this episode Christa take you on a four-part meditation:
You don’t have to be “good” at meditation, this is simply a relaxing method to help you along your fitness journey and aid you with making a healthy lifestyle change. Just let your mind follow the voice and allow yourself to take this step in your fitness journey.
We end with a deep cleansing breath to fully-absorb all of our gratitude and move back into our day. Gratefulness can be a powerful motivator, and using it as a tool in your fitness journey will be important in the future.
On the eighth episode of the Fitlandia Podcast Christa welcomes Andrew Arredondo for a talk about the power of intention. Andrew is a gym owner, personal trainer, and coach with 8 years of experience in the industry. After interning at a physical therapy center he landed a job as a personal trainer at a private gym and he knew instantly that owning a gym was what he wanted to do. A year later he started renting space and building his own clientele as an independent contractor and officially opened his doors by starting his facility FIT.
Moving onto the topic at hand, the two discuss New Year’s Resolutions and the beauty of our culture’s collective intention for change. At the same time, Resolutions feel like something we “need” to have, and as a result, are often something that people go through the motions with. If there’s nothing deep behind it then it will wither away. Andrew says if there’s something deeper then people will be far more likely to change.
It’s not enough for your goal to be “look better,” if you look deeper and ask yourself “why?” you see that’s about confidence. If you look deeper at that you’ll see that may be about being appealing to a specific person. Asking yourself these questions and drilling deep to find your true motivating factor is an incredibly important part of the fitness journey and can serve as a major stumbling block for someone, especially as they jump into New Year’s Resolutions.
Even with self-belief and desire to change, negativity and discouragement still serve as stumbling blocks. Andrew and Christa also touch on the idea that fitness and health isn’t a short-term solution, but a journey. Because resolutions are framed in terms of results, hitting a numeric end goal is viewed as success when it really should be an ongoing process.
Christa and Andrew go on to outline two indicators of someone’s ability to reach and maintain their goals. One is having a strong desire for change. Figuring out those “why’s” and keep asking yourself what’s the deeper connection that you have with them. The second is belief in change. Giving your brain a new blueprint and telling yourself that you can achieve that is vital to your own success.
“The starting point for all achievement is desire” - Napoleon Hill
On this episode, Christa talks to her friend Abi Barnett about her personal fitness journey. When Abi set out on her journey she discovered she was very set in her ways. She’d had “fit” friends, but always thought it was hard work. She’d try to eat healthy, but would only last a few days before saying ‘forget it’ and going back to McDonald’s. Sound familiar?
After “eating her way through Europe” with two weeks of champagne, pastries, and beautiful food Abi decided to join in on one of Fitlandia’s Month-long detoxes. Food is a beautiful way to celebrate, but the detoxes are about balance and stepping back from the patterns that we dig ourselves into. Because she’s a clarinetist Abi is incredibly disciplined, and once the switch is flipped she’s fully into it. She approached the detox wanting to achieve 100% perfection and not mess a single thing up.
Abi recounts a few anecdotes about the first few days of her detox, but she ended up finding her own path and loving it so much she’s still doing it. She went from eating six bars of chocolate a day (literally) to drinking water while out with friends at the pub. She’s a prime example of how healthy a simple reset can be for our fitness. Abi was able to break out of her reliance on processed foods and cut herself off entirely to the point where she doesn’t even think of them.
By the end of the episode, both Christa and Abi agree that many people are turned off of detoxes because people often frame them in terms of deprivation. They go on to say that life is still about balance. If you’re in Paris and have a once in a lifetime chance to eat a world-class pastry eat the pastry.
“You’ve still got to have a life. We’re doing this to have a better quality of life, but if we’re depriving ourselves when we go to somewhere nice... we have to allow ourselves that experience and be able to go back to normal after.” - Abi Barnett
Abi’s final piece of advice is to not put up barriers. She wouldn’t have found this new healthier lifestyle if it wasn’t for the Fitlandia detox. Sure the first few days were rocky, but she came out the other side committed to an entirely new approach to health.
On this episode Christa welcomes Vonie Kalich who is a life coach and fitness professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry. Vonie Kalich discusses NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) which encompases our words, thoughts, actions, and how we operate throughout our day.
Only a small percentage of people are able to reach and attain their goals because they haven’t changed their mental behavior. As children we take in everything, we’re a sponge. We absorb all the positive and the negative. If you spill a glass of milk and are reprimanded, you’ll take that in and it will become a negative belief about yourself being clumsy. People end up developing negative mind patterns, through millions of experiences like this and NLP is about changing those patterns and shifting us from “I could go to the gym” to “I can go to the gym” to “I will do it.”
She uses a mantra of “Clean, Clear, Delete” which she often uses when her clients say something negative. Catching discouragement and negative thought patterns is the first step to repositioning them, and those are the first steps toward a healthy mind and body. It seems so simple, but it’s also hard to recognize until someone points it out. That negative self-talk can keep us defeated and serve as the primary roadblock to achieving our first healthy steps.
“This is how I feel. Becomes this is how I wanna feel.” - Vonie Kalich
If you can feel positive about what you’re trying to do, it will make it so you’re not trying anymore. Bringing positivity to it will bring in the action that you’re trying to accomplish. Vonie goes on to describe several NLP exercises that she uses with clients and offers a few recommendations for combating negative thoughts and emotions.
Nicole Anderson joins Christa this week to discuss her fitness journey and the impact that a corporate lifestyle has on health. Hailing from the Digital marketing space, Nicole reached her unhealthiest point about a year ago as genetics and stress intersected. She searched for a way to change knowing that most dieting platforms simply offer short-term solutions. She jumped into Crossfit knowing nothing about it and ended up losing 55 pounds through that program and coaching from gym’s owner. That community pushed her and she found a way to make that work with her hectic schedule.
“I found a way to make myself and my health a priority and still manage my job.” - Nicole Anderson
As her health was improving she was simultaneously reaching a wall in her career. Through this weight loss experience and Crossfit she discovered that health, fitness, and helping others was her passion. After a moment of realization she realized she needed change. She’d been doing the same job for 18 years. She didn’t just need to change her job, she needed to change her career. She left her corporate job and is currently in the process of launching her new health coaching career to help people become their best selves. Her goal is to help others overcome their roadblocks the same way that she did.
“You are three times more likely to achieve and maintain your goals when you’re connected with a community.”
It’s about putting an end to dieting. Whatever form that may take. You’re creating a lifestyle, you’re figuring out what works best for your body, and what works for each person will be different. In addition to her work/life imbalance, Nicole’s change was brought on after being diagnosed with genetic high cholesterol. Her rock bottom point was when she realized she hated having her picture taken because it meant she had to look at herself, and once she brushed the point of needing the seat belt extender on a plane she knew it was time for a change.
That diagnosis combined with her desire for a physical change made her decide that it was time to be proactive rather than reactive. She took a look at her eating habits, got into Crossfit and gradually eased into her new lifestyle. After realizing she was addicted to sugar she borrowed a mantra from Jillian Michaels “Will this bring me closer to my goal, or further away?” which went on to help Nicole combat the lure of sweets. She also touches base on how much our culture values independence but says do not be afraid to ask for help. Trying to do everything yourself leads to burnout, and the beautiful thing about us is that we are willing to help each other out no matter what form that takes.
Keep an eye out for Nicole’s business Born To Fly within the next month and on the Fitlandia website as one of our expert practitioners.
Today Christa welcomes expert practitioner Dr. Jerome Craig to discuss nutritional Ketosis. Before jumping into the topic Dr. Craig discusses his profession and what it means to be a functional medicine practitioner. He explains functional medicine as getting to the root cause of something. Instead of treating a condition, he looks for the root cause which can range from nutrition, lifestyle, genetics, and more.
Dr. Jerome Craig defines Nutritional Ketosis as switching yourself from being a sugar burner (which most of us are) to a fat burner. He says many people misunderstand this as being low-carb or high-fat, (and while those are true to some extent) he says nutritional ketosis is more about switching to a state where you’re burning fat as your primary fuel and creating ketones that will fuel the brain and the body.
Many of us lean on carbs as a primary fuel because they’re accessible and fast, but nutritional ketosis is about switching our body over (which obviously doesn’t happen overnight). It’s about going from burning carbs to burning our fat stores. Dr. Jerome Craig cites Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dom D’Agostino as two major champions of Ketosis who have been bringing the concept more mainstream. Additionally, Jimmy Moore has been a long-time advocate of ketosis and its positive health benefits for people with type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile other scientists are using Ketosis to combat dementia, cognitive degeneration, and even certain types of cancer.
For the average person Ketosis has many benefits including easier digestion, sleeping better, increased energy, and resetting our microbiomes which reduces (or eliminates) many of our cravings. Those positive results don’t come immediately, and require some build-up to get to, but Dr. Craig goes onto say that “there’s no such thing as failure if you learn.” One thing he cautions about ketosis (as with all fitness) is to avoid comparing yourself to others. Results vary, and everyone’s body reacts differently, so there is no set path.
When discussing the downsides of ketosis, Dr. Jerome Craig explains that often people think to get into ketosis that they have to eat fatty foods which means that they lose out on a lot of other foods that are healthy for us like veggies and fruit. He also says that the transition from carb-burning to ketosis results in losing water weight and minerals, which if not properly paired with vegetables, can result in muscle cramps and digestive problems.
In the end it all depends on the person and their goals, but Ketosis is a viable nutritional plan for someone starting their weight loss journey. If you want to learn more about the details of ketosis check out the full podcast below.
On the third episode of the Fitlandia Podcast Christa welcomes her first guest, Shauna Dexter-Lowe. While Shauna didn’t have a single “ah-ha” moment, her fitness journey began after seeing the progress of a family member and being inspired by that journey. With a focus on diet and nutrition initially, she set out with an easy goal: to cut fast food. Shauna went on to admit that her initial inspiration was also vanity. But she says that as her journey progressed the health benefits also became apparent.
“Get healthy on purpose, lose weight on accident” - Dr. Jerome Craig
Starting with a simple journey around the block (literally) Shauna created a self-competition and slowly began adding street after street until she was able to walk miles without losing her breath. She found the motivation to exercise within herself and kept competing with herself.
Shauna also touches on the shifts that come with weight loss including how you perceive yourself, and worrying about keeping the motivation to stay on top of her exercise and not fall back into old habits. There’s a lot of acceptance that comes with this lifestyle shift. Going through the process of accepting a new me, a way of eating, and a new mindset.
Instead of relying on a sugar, carbs, or alcohol as a crutch, Shauna views exercise and her health as a motivation factor because it’s something she can control. Even when everything else is chaotic, her health is something that she can control and it becomes comforting. She also admits that shift definitely doesn’t happen overnight. It’s as much about getting through the hard days as it is having a way to tackle them.
Later on the two discuss the obstacles of nutrition including peer pressure to “let loose” and indulge every once in awhile. Shauna discusses how supportive and encouraging her family has been for her journey and how her journey has actually led her to feel more connected because now she can join in with them on activities. Her biggest obstacle has been simple dinners with extended family, but just knowing where you're going and a little bit of planning goes a long way to combat that.
In this episode of the Fitlandia Podcast we introduce you to the process of Mind Zoning®. Mind Zoning® is like hypnosis or meditation for weight loss and serves to reorient negative thought patterns in your brain. Those negative thoughts are self-reinforcing, so if you keep putting off exercise because you’re too busy, then you’ll take it out on yourself and keep digging that hole deeper. The brain takes the well-worn path, and often that path involves managing stress with sugar, alcohol, and carbs in order to soothe. Mind Zoning® is what makes Fitlandia unique and serves as the first step in our member’s fitness journey. Rewriting these negative thoughts allows you to stop dieting, embrace the power of positivity, and make a healthy lifestyle change.
There are two types of thought patterns: ones that you’re consciously aware of (I need to get groceries today) and ones that happen subconsciously (like tying your shoe). 90% of our behavior is driven by the subconscious mind. These patterns are developed over the course of our lives, and the more you repeat an activity or hold onto a thought, the deeper the path in our brain. So we’ve spent our entire lives reinforcing these activities and connections. Dieting doesn’t work, because it forces you to change your short-term behavior my eating differently, eating less, or exercising more. We focus on the mind first and lead up to these changes.
Mind Zoning® is about creating a new path in your brain. One that combats stress and negative emotion with exercise, not food. This particular Mind Zoning® is called “The New You Now.” In it you will take 20 minutes to close your eyes, relax, and visualize your future self. Everything from their physique to their posture, and energy. What will it take to become that person?
Giving yourself this mental blueprint is an important step in your fitness journey. This holistic exercise will use your mind to lose weight and help you figure out what needs to be done. The Mind Zoning® is broken down into four parts:
You don’t have to be “good” at meditation, this is simply a relaxing recording to help you along your fitness journey and aid you with making a healthy lifestyle change. Just let your mind follow the voices and embark on this first step in your fitness journey.
On this inaugural episode of the Fitlandia Podcast, Christa King shares her personal fitness journey, tells you what to expect from the show each week, and how you can put an end to dieting. Christa’s story serves as a prime example of how our environment, negative emotions, and life stressors can create a self-reinforcing process of unhealthy patterns. Her story is also an example of how making a healthy lifestyle change and the power of positivity can end the cycle of yo-yo dieting and result in permanent weight loss.
Over the coming weeks, The Fitlandia Podcast will serve as a platform for others to tell their personal fitness journey. It’s a place for fitness tips, weight loss strategies, and motivation. Fitlandia provides the tools to engage the power of your mind and change.