#Health #wellness #intuitive The top mistakes we make when it comes to weight loss!

Hello and welcome to The Power of Healing Your Energy Show. This show is all about your unconditional love, your your light, your intuition, your soul's purpose. And depression and anxiety are a side effect of not living your life intuitively, not trusting your gut, the lost connections with your higher self and others. So let's go higher and feel deeper. And this is episode 43, and it's all about the power of Simone Lavelle. And we're going to be talking about the top mistakes we make when it comes to weight loss. And it's amazing You know, booking this months ago, we had no idea we would be in this situation, but I'm starting to see this more and more. I don't know about you, but, you know, put a lock on my refrigerator and why am I eating this? And I feel like I'm overeating and I don't know what to do for exercise and I feel stuck. I feel lost. I feel so many things. Just a little bit about Simone. She's been a health coach for over 21 years. And she helps women transform from the inside out to become the best version of themselves by giving them the tools and roadmap to achieve their fat loss and body goals. And she teaches her clients how to eat the right food at the right time for the right reasons so that they release weight and keep it off forever without dieting and depriving themselves. All right. And yes, thank you. Welcome everyone. I'm Christine with 24 Karat Healing. I'm your spiritual medium, intuitive energy coach, and old soul healer. And here is Simone, and welcome to the show.

Thanks, Christine. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

We're so happy to have you. And you're, you're in Vancouver, right?

Yep, in Vancouver, London.

Okay, good. All right, beautiful. And I'm sure it's lovely out there.

Well, nice rainy day today, but we have— we've had some hot weather, so we can't complain right now. We're pretty happy.

Absolutely. So yeah, just as I had mentioned, I mean, come on guys, I know you have questions about food. I thought it was really interesting that in, in part of your bio, teaching your client— I saw a lot of things— right food at the right time for the right reasons. So now that we're in this incubation period, I don't know about you, but I find I've been, you know, like, okay, I'm not eating that anymore, or Why am I eating this? Or, you know, I feel like there's a lot of, what's the word? It's emotional. It could be boredom. It's what are you finding for clients right now?

Yeah, what I'm hearing a lot of is people are struggling with emotional eating for sure. Staying out of the kitchen, right? Because the kitchen's there and the fridge is there all day long, which is different to what we've been used to, right? If we're going to work, we're packing our lunch, right? We have snacks, we're going out for snacks and dinners. And so now the fridge is there all the time. Plus we're baking with our kids. Those of us who have kids, Christine J Gold, all she wants to do all day long is bake. And that's when we first started with COVID we were baking every single day. And I'm the first one to tell you, if there are cookies in my house, I'm going to be eating those cookies and I don't stop at one or two. So my first tip is if the cookies are baked, give them away. Have your kids have one as a snack, freeze them. That's another option. But don't have them lying around because it's just, it's gonna lead to that binge eating, emotional eating, boredom eating, numbing, right? A lot of us are struggling with what's going on right now and depression can be setting in. Food makes us feel good. There's actual foods that make us feel good and it's not in our heads. So for example, chocolate, chocolate actually has an ingredient that releases dopamine in our brain, which makes us feel good. This is the feel-good hormone. It's kind of crazy. It's not in our head that these foods are making us feel better. So, you know, but they only make us feel better temporarily.

Yeah, it's interesting you say chocolate. I was— it's like you read my mind. I have chocolate every night. I'm like, oh, I was just talking to my partner about that. I'm like, I have a problem.

Well, here's the thing. I mean, when it becomes an addiction, when it's something that we're having every single day and we're needing it, that's not healthy. You know, if the chocolate is loaded with sugar, that's not a good idea either. So there is actually great chocolate. And that's, you know, something that's over 80%.

Yes.

If you're not quite there yet, you can work towards it, I promise. And it's having 1 or 2 squares And the great thing about chocolate is there's a fat-burning quality to it. So, but only after 80%.

Yes.

And without sugar. So, and it's still calories. So you only want to have 1 or 2 squares and stop right there.

Okay. No, I get it. I'm at 70%, but yeah, I got to stop it. I do. Okay. I got it. So, yes.

And then, you know, to answer your question, like another thing that I'm seeing a lot of people struggle with right now is that they are emotional eating, they're binge eating, and then they starve themselves. The next day they're left with feelings of remorse, guilt, and shame, and they go into periods of starvation. So, and I hear this all the time. Just the other day I was having a conversation with my neighbor and she's like, oh my gosh, Simone, you're in nutrition. Well, you're going to be so proud of me. Today I skipped breakfast. I had a small salad for lunch. I didn't have any snacks. And then by the time 4 or 5 PM rolled around, you know, the kids' snacks were lying around. So I started to snack on those. And well, I was quite hungry by the time dinner rolled around later. So I had a really large meal. But for the most part, I was really good in my day. Right. And here's the problem is most people do not eat enough and they're skipping meals. And we've been taught over the years that this is how we can lose weight. We've been taught that we need to eat less and exercise more, and this could not be further from the truth. Here's the problem with that. When you are skipping meals or eating less, you're going to send your body into something called starvation mode. And in starvation mode, your body is going to panic. It doesn't know when to expect the next meal. And it starts to store any calories that it's getting and it starts to store those calories as fat. So if fat loss is your goal, this is going to make things impossible.

Yeah, it's like an imbalance. It can't find its footing. It can't. We were just talking about balance and center.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. You want to find that balance. And in terms of our health. So, I mean, fat loss aside, in terms of our health, if we are restricting the amount of calories in our day, this is going to lead to adrenal fatigue and a damaged thyroid, which is also going to make fat loss impossible because if your organs are not functioning well, you will, you will find fat loss challenging, if not impossible, but your body's going to start breaking down because you're not feeding it.

Yeah. That like eating from the inside out in a way. Yeah.

And I see a lot of people really struggle with this, especially women, I'd say, because we have this ingrained in the back of our heads that if we need to lose to lose weight, we need to eat less. And intuitively it sounds right, right? Like, okay, so food is making us fat. So let's just reduce the amount of food we're eating and then we'll, we'll reduce the amount of fat. But it just doesn't work like that. So that's the first thing that happens is starvation mode and your body starts to store those calories as fat. And then the second thing that happens is insulin dysfunction in your body. So basically, layman's terms, when you skip meals or you're not eating enough, you're going to spike your blood sugar levels and you're going to cause your body to release insulin. If you do this too many times, it's going to cause insulin resistance. And why this is important is if you have insulin resistance in your body, it's going to make fat loss impossible. It's going to cause diseases like diabetes. And the reason for that is insulin is our anabolic hormone that controls our metabolism. So if Phallus is your goal. We want to make sure that we're boosting our metabolism and taking care of that anabolic hormone. So we never ever want to face insulin resistance in our bodies.

Hmm, definitely. So insulin, I mean, that, you know, type or diabetes is, I don't want to say it's an epidemic, but it seems to be the norm. So how does someone keep their insulin levels even throughout the day? Level. Yeah, balanced.

Balance. That's such a great question. Well, first of all, by eating enough, right? So you, when you're introducing me, you said eating the right food at the right time for the right reasons. So we need to, first of all, be eating the right food. So something we do in my program is we determine how many calories you should be having, not because we're a calorie counting program, but because we take those calories and then use them as a framework to determine your macronutrients. Now, really simply, and I don't want anyone to get here like, macro what? Macronutrients are really simply your protein, your carbohydrates, and your fat. So in each meal, you want to have a balance of protein. So like lean meats, chicken, fish, tofu, and then carbs. So those are your grains, good grains, right? Like oats, quinoa, and then your fruit and vegetables. Those are carbs as well. A lot of people don't know that, that fruit and vegetables are carbs. So those are super important, especially now in order to boost immune systems. We should be having a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. And then the third one is fat. Now, a lot of people are like, fat? What? Especially if you grew up in the '80s, like everything was fat-free and a lot of people are afraid of fat. No, we need fat in order to trigger fat storages in our body and burn more fat. But A little bit goes a long way. So in Field for Fat Loss, we keep things very balanced and a little bit of fat goes a long way. We don't exercise anything like extreme fat increases and low carb levels. We find that that is not optimal for long-term success.

Yeah, I remember that, you know, the low fat, it was just, you know, and people didn't realize they would actually eat more. Yes, because nothing was— nothing— you weren't filling anything. You were just— it was empty. You might as well just have eaten air, I guess.

Or yeah, and a lot of those foods are loaded with chemicals like aspartame, sucralose, sorbitol, right? So those are your artificial sweeteners because they need to make the food taste good. When you take the fat out, it doesn't taste good. So they add all these chemicals and artificial ingredients into the So my number one tip for everybody watching this today is make sure you're never, ever buying zero fat anything. So yogurt should never be 0%. Same with your milk. Same with any dairy products. I always tell my clients, you know, we don't have sugar for the first 30 days in Feel for Fatt Loss, but I would rather you had a full can of Coke, a regular can of Coke with, I think it's like 8 teaspoons of sugar in it.

Yes.

A Coke Zero. Which, right, or a Diet Pepsi or anything like that, because it's loaded with those chemicals that are going to be just detrimental to your health. And the other interesting thing about those artificial sweeteners, they found that they've actually made you crave more sweets. So they're just, they're just bad news. Stay away. But that's like my number one best tip for you today is—

That's a great tip. Yeah.

Don't ever go for anything 0%.

And if you can't pronounce it, and I— wasn't it another rule is if it had more than 4 ingredients, or, you know, then it's okay, but if it has a million ingredients, why are you eating it?

Like, no, I, I— my rule is like 5 ingredients or less, but I love one-ingredient items, right? Like, I love, um, apple. Avocado oil, right? Tofu. These are one-ingredient items. Beyond Burgers. I have to talk about Beyond Burgers and I hate to throw anybody under the bus.

I know what you're going to say, but go ahead and tell us.

Well, there's so many people, you know, that are going more vegan right now. I'm like 99% plant-based. But when Beyond Burgers came on the scene, everyone's like, okay, well, now I have options. And unfortunately, you go to look at the back of of the label and it's like, oh my gosh, you can't pronounce half of the ingredients. The ingredients go on and on forever. And the second ingredient, which means that it's used in large quantities, is canola oil, which is super toxic. So I think that would be my next tip is anything, any packaged food that you look at, like always, always read your labels. But if you see canola oil in there, put it right back on the shelf. Do not get it. It is absolutely toxic and it's found to be detrimental to your health.

Wow, okay, and then palm oil too, I've heard stuff about palm oil.

Yeah, the best oils I find to go for, I think the reason why palm oil isn't optimal is because it denatures at high heat, whereas canola oil, it not only does that, but it's the way, it's an artificial oil. Here comes a kitty.

Yeah, he wants to get in the show, I get it, it's the kitty shot, it's all good.

I started listing food, right? I said the word food and he thinks that it's time to eat.

It's snack time. What's his name?

This is Romeo.

Oh, Romeo.

A total Romeo. He's a lover.

Yeah, I can see that.

So the best oils to use when cooking are avocado oil and coconut oil because they don't denature at high heat. So especially if you're cranking up the heat when cooking, those are the best. So avocado oil, coconut oil. For raw, olive oil is amazing. So I put olive oil on all my dressings. You can still use olive oil when cooking, you just don't want to crank up the heat because that's going to denature and then be really toxic on your body.

Oh, good tips. I love coconut oil. I use it for hair, skin, everything. I just want to say hello to everyone watching. Let us know you're here, where you're from, if this is your first time, if you have questions about food, what to eat, what not to eat. If you're struggling, we're all here for you because I, yeah, I hear you, I feel you. I just talked about chocolate, we just talked about, you know, the right oils. And lovely Danielle's joining us and she's asking, she's trying to shift to a plant-based diet. I thought Beyond Burgers were healthy.

I'm sorry, Danielle, I'm so sorry. I know, you know what, we have so many people in our Community that believe this, right? We're taught— and I think this is the thing. Maybe my third tip is like, question everything, right? Don't just blindly grab something because it's plant-based. There are so many ingredients or products on the market that are plant-based, but they're not great for you. So, so again, I am like 99% plant-based and I say 99% because I still eat a little bit of fish, maybe like once a week, once every two weeks. I have some shrimp or some cod that I still love and miss. But you can absolutely have a very successful time going plant-based but eating whole foods. So what do I mean by that? Well, getting the majority of your food from, again, carbs. So those, those vegetables, fruit, good starches, right? Those fats. And then when it comes to protein, I'm a huge fan of tofu, tempeh, edamame. Those are probably your most solid proteins. Again, like we've been taught that tofu is bad, it will increase your estrogen levels because it's got plant estrogens in it. That study, by the way, was done on rats and rats do not metabolize food the same way that we do. So it's actually completely invalid. And tofu has been found to be a superfood and to have a ton of health benefits. So those are my go-tos always, is tofu, tempeh, edamame if you are going more plant-based for your protein content. And of course there's other things, you know, like chickpeas and beans. You have a protein content, but they're more of a carb. And so this is where those balancing of those carbs, or sorry, balancing our macros comes into play and is really important. And it's definitely a little bit trickier when you're going more plant-based, but it's It definitely can be done.

Yeah. And I mean, I've made my own, well, if you want to call them Beyond Meat burgers, there are recipes out there. So maybe it's a good time to get in there and have some fun.

Yeah. You know what? I have an edamame burger. I call it the Green Machine Burger, and it's made from edamame. And it is so tasty. It is so good. And it's loaded with protein.

Yeah, because, you know, the protein and the fiber component are vital to— are they not— to keeping your insulin levels balanced, but then keeping you full.

Keeping you full, yes, yeah, that's absolutely true. And fiber, most people are not eating enough fiber, or they're getting fiber, they think they're getting fiber from things like fortified fiber cereals, right, fiber-fortified cereals, which are not really fiber-fortified whatsoever, right? So again, we need to be questioning that. The best ways to get your fiber, I mean, chia seeds are like one of the highest for fiber. Chickpeas, also super high. I think you get like 16 grams of fiber per cup for chickpeas, which is huge. And for women, you want to be getting anywhere from 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day, and men, it's 38 grams and higher than— maybe 38 to 42. I can't remember exactly what the men's are, but women, 25 to 35, and most people are under that 25-gram mark.

Absolutely, I believe it. I like flaxseed and hemp and chia. Those seem to be the I put in, you know, a lot of things with my yogurt or with my oatmeal or whatever, smoothies. I try to, yeah, I'm very conscious of the fiber aspect. Yeah, so we're, you know, talking about, you know, what to eat, what not to eat, and you have like, what are the top mistakes? I mean, we covered a few of them. Did you have, were there any more?

Well, one thing that I do want to mention, going back to that starvation mode, so You know, again, a lot of us are skipping those meals right now and then we're finding ourselves throughout the day, we're skipping those meals and then we're finding ourselves like in the kitchen at night and we're just like, right? Ravaging. Yeah. And what's happening there, and I think when I explain this, it will make you understand it a bit more. And I feel like when we understand things, we become more aware of them. Right. And so what's happening is that because your body is in starvation mode, It is searching for the sugariest, carbiest treat. Your cravings are going to hit the roof and our bodies are really smart. It is basically saying, OK, I don't know when I'm going to expect my next meal, so I am going to search for that calorie-loaded treat right now to get my calories up to where they need to be.

Yeah.

So this is why, like, if you are finding that you're you know, near the fridge at night, especially look back at your day and ask yourself, did you eat every 2 to 2.5 hours?

Yeah, that's important.

That's really important.

Yeah.

And that's also going to balance your blood sugar levels in a big way. And so this is an easy fix, right? Like, these are easy fixes. We can reverse all of this by eating the right food. So those quality macros at the right time. So every 2 to 2.5 hours, telling our body that food is coming in. So that gets your body out of starvation mode. You're basically every time time you eat, every 2 to 2.5 hours, and that's breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, you're telling your body that food is coming in and it is going to relax and stop storing those calories and stop storing those calories as fat.

Yeah, no, and I love, you know, the 2 to 3, because I know myself, I mean, and people always ask me, why do you have snacks in the car? Why do you have snacks in your office? Like, you always have— I'm like, because I know if I don't, then I'm going to like eat whatever I find because I'm so hungry. So I've, I've made boundaries, I have boundaries, I know what works, and, and there's no way you can skip a meal. And then with the water too, like a lot of times it'd be like, well, am I hungry or am I thirsty?

Yeah, and that's, that's— water is another big thing. I mean, first of all, that's like my biggest tip that when I start a new group off in my program, my first tip to them before I say anything else is I want to get your water intake up because most of us are walking around and we're super dehydrated. There, she has you drink.

My turmeric water.

But yeah, even better. That's so good for your immune system. Yeah. So most of us are walking around, we're so dehydrated. And a few things are gonna happen when you're dehydrated. Same thing as when you're in starvation mode. When you don't drink enough, your body's like, "I don't know when I'm gonna expect my next bit of water. I'm gonna hold onto any water that I have." Ah, okay. Right? And so this is that water retention and that bloatedness that we get is generally because we are dehydrated and we're not drinking. So we gotta drink and tell our bodies that the water is coming in and then it stops, it stops holding on to it. It's also the best way to cleanse our bodies. And, you know, it's so crazy because it's so simple, right? And it's free. This is free.

It's free. And you can put fruit in it. You can put spices. You can make like a cold brew tea with it and just, you know, you can play with your water.

And that's like actually my— the other day on Instagram, I put a recipe up an infused water recipe. So, and that's like my favorite, favorite tip because I hear from so many people that I hate the taste of water, which I get, it's tasteless, right? But you can make it, like you said, you can play with it and make it taste so good. You can put berries in it, you could put mint in it, any herbs, basil is great, cucumber, cucumber. You know how they say put cucumber on your eyes to, de-puff them. Yes, it's true. It's not an old wives' tale. There is an ingredient in cucumber that does de-puff, and it actually works on the inside as well. So cucumber is one of the best ways to de-bloat your stomach, and it works in infused water. So what you want to do is cut up a few pieces of cucumber. You can add some mint, mince, or basil. Any herb will also work to cleanse the blood. And you put it in the fridge overnight and you've got a perfect infused water. So simple, it makes it taste so good and it's gonna encourage you to drink.

Yeah, and I've been experimenting, like I make a firesider, that's a whole nother show. And then I make a switchel and everyone's like, what's that? I'm like, they drank that stuff in the 1800s and it's the same idea. It's brewed tea, like, green tea, black tea, apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, and lemon or lime or both.

I love that.

I put it in a Mason jar and I take a shot every day of it. I just—

that's amazing. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of elixirs, and one of the ingredients you just mentioned was apple cider vinegar, which is incredible, by the way. So I have an apple cider vinegar elixir that I have in the morning, and then I have it teaspoon of it 30 minutes before every meal, and this works to break down your carbs, your protein, and your fat. So it's an incredible, incredible ingredient.

And it is— yeah, wow, we're making all these, you know, tinctures and elixirs and all these fun drinks, water. We're a lot of playing around. I guess people are really going to find out what they like, what works for them. And maybe find some new things, 'cause stuff that's not working over them, for them, but—

I think this is such a, like, a great opportunity right now, right? I mean, we are at home, so we might as well use this time to make some of those elixirs like you talked about, make the infused waters, learn about food, and start playing with recipes, balancing our macros, like, learn this stuff now, start meal prepping. Meal prepping is like a game changer. I cannot talk about it enough.

I was gonna ask about meal prep because I bet you if you prep a whole bunch of things and you don't have certain trigger foods, if you want to call them, in the house, then you haven't— there's no excuse.

It's 100% true. And this is my program actually started as a meal prep program and then it became something else. But I'm such a fan because it gets you super organized and like, imagine you get to your Monday and your entire week is prepped, ready to go, everything is pre-portioned. So you've already done the math and the legwork to figure out exactly how many calories and calories for carbs, protein, fat, right? For every single meal, for every single snack. And it's done. When you have that in your fridge, you're way less likely to grab stuff here and there, right? Like you're just, you're going to grab what you've made and eat it. So that's been a game changer for so many people in our Community. And I really recommend it. And right now it's perfect time to do some meal prep and freeze prep so that when we do go back to work, that it's, it's done, it's there. And we've also learned the tools.

Yeah, I know, I love that. And it's funny, it was like you were in my house today because I had mentioned my partner. I'm like, because he had made something and I'm like, well, if we made a little bit more, then we could have spread this out through the week. I said, I think we need to start getting into planning meals, then we're not duplicating ourselves.

Or, yeah, and yeah, they're trying to save money right now, and you know, we don't want to be wasting food. And that's like my— what I hate most is—

oh, me too. I, I, I have a story about my sister. And anyways, well, it like—

yeah, throw out like a head of lettuce because it's gone bad. I'm like, No. So I'm a big fan of deciding on your menu, then grocery shopping and getting into a routine with this, right? So it's like decide on your menu by Friday, go grocery shopping by Saturday, meal prep by Sunday, and you're done. You're ready for your week, right? And it really comes down to building these habits that just become part of your routine. It's like brushing your teeth after a while, right? Like, do you remember when you first had to learn how to brush your teeth? I have a 6-year-old, so like a couple of years ago I was teaching her and like she hated it, right? And refused.

And—

but now it's a habit and she just does. And so all of these things can become habits that you just do each and every single day, each and every single week, and, and it just makes your life so much easier. It gets you into an organized, um, manner so that you can really sit back and enjoy your life and not have to stress about like what you're going to have for dinner each day.

Yeah, that— because then it I don't know, it just seems to kind of go out the window in a way. It's like, oh, we'll just grab whatever, right? So you're talking about like right time to eat. What are you saying? Certain foods should be eaten at certain times of the day or like to help with your metabolism or— No, I'm just curious.

No, in terms of calories, one tip that I do give is we have a, a larger breakfast. I find that that sets people up in a really good way for the rest of the day. There's a lot of questions out there and a lot of questions I get about intermittent fasting. I played with intermittent fasting myself. We also had our Community on it for a period of time about 2 years ago, and I found very mixed results with intermittent fasting, and I did not feel good while doing it. I have found way better results personally. I've released 65 pounds Wow. And I've also now have a community that have, you know, they're all at their goal weight and maintaining it. And that's like, at the end of the day, that's my number one goal. I'm not in the— I'm not interested in getting you to lose weight and then gain it back later. I want you to release this weight. And I use the word release because when you lose something, like you lose your keys, you're trying to find it again, right? But when it comes to weight, I don't want you to find it again. You're releasing that weight and you're keeping it off forever, never to look for it again. And this is the problem with these, these diets on the market. Most of them are based on restricted calories, restricted calories, and you get into this yo-yo dieting. So you lose a little bit of weight, but because you can't sustain the diet, you end the diet and you put all that weight back on plus more. And now you're on to the next diet. Right. And so we have this population of especially women, but definitely men as well, but especially women who are so frustrated because they've been on one diet after another and they have lost a little weight, put it all back on plus more. So now they're up 10 pounds and then next diet they're up 20 pounds and then 30 and soon it's like 45 pounds later and they're like, what is going on? I was eating well, you know, I don't understand. But it's because most of these diets are based on calorie restriction. So eating less, working out more, which is just a recipe for disaster in terms of our health, but especially when it comes to fat loss.

Absolutely. And yeah, it's, it's balancing all points like mind, body, spirit. They all work together. And, you know, you said you, you shed 65 pounds?

65 pounds.

Wow.

I've been a Coach for 23 years now. Actually, I'm like really aging myself.

You don't look it. You look 20.

It's all good. I will be 40 next month. But, you know, I, I had like a pretty good, you know, in my 20s I was, you know, eating well, like well enough. I was a coach and I knew the basics. But I think in your 20s you can do anything. And then when I was 33, I had my daughter and I gained 65 pounds during pregnancy.

I feel you. Yeah.

And then after she came, I continued to gain weight. And I was really frustrated. I'm like, and really out of alignment, you know, talk about like alignment and balance. Here I was a coach telling my clients what to do, but I couldn't do it myself.

Okay.

And I also was extremely exhausted with a newborn. And I needed to find a plan that was going to work for a busy mom or a busy professional, someone who doesn't have the time or the luxury or a 20-year-old body that's just going to snap back. Right. So that led me to create Feel for Fat Loss, actually, and have a system. So build these habits so that you have a system in place when it comes to your food.

Yeah, yeah. And that, that's, that's amazing. Now you're, you're walking, you know, you've done the work. So people are like, oh, she's done. Okay, let's— and I actually, you know, took a look at your, your Facebook page and, and your Instagram pages and saw some of your clients before and after. It's like, wow. And wearing bikinis too. It's like, oh, look at you.

And you know what? I get so many clients who are like, they refuse to take their photos, right? And I'm like, don't worry, I'll never ever share your information. It's completely private. But my goal is that by the end of this program, you're going to want to flaunt yourself in that bikini. And so many of them end the program and they're like, here I am, I'm in that bikini and I'm so excited. And there's, I want to say there's no shame in wanting to release weight. There's no shame in, in wanting to look and feel your best, because when you look and feel your best, you are in alignment with your true self and you are able to achieve anything. It's amazing. You, you vibrate at a completely different energy. I know when I was 65 pounds heavier, my gosh, I was depressed. I, my health was terrible. Um, I felt like my, my life, my relationship relationships, my business, everything was completely falling apart. And when I got to my best self and looking and feeling my best, that's when things really started to open up for me. And now I get to help my clients do the same thing. So it really is a mind, body, soul transformation when you optimize your health and you optimize your fat loss.

It is. And you know what? I'm putting it out there because I have lost 100 pounds twice in my life.

So you know what? I didn't know that.

I have, and the last time that was 5 years ago and I have kept it off. So you know what? You have to take the first step and love yourself. I think that's the most important. And it's not about a number or the size of your pants. It's what makes you feel good. Because when you can move without breathing heavy or dying or whatever it is, because I remember that I couldn't even go up flights of stairs and I'm like, whoo, I'm winded already. I just went for an hour walk today and I was going up, you know, hills like this, no problem, it was great.

So, and that's right, like, aren't you a different person?

I am, and I want to be— grow— I want to, you know, live to 100 and still be running or whatever. I want to age gracefully. I don't I don't want to become decrepit and—

Yeah, yeah, we have a client in our community. Her mom is severely obese and she's in a wheelchair. And I asked this lady in my community, what is your why? Like, what is your why for wanting to release this weight? And she said, well, I don't want to be like my mom and genetics, right? I don't want to be like my mom, a grandma who can't play with her kids, obese in a wheelchair, you know, in her 70s. Like, so when you have that why, and I think this would be like my big, big, big, big tip today is like, why?

Yes.

Like, what is that reason? And it shouldn't be that number on the scale, that— because once you get there, it's so arbitrary. It doesn't matter. You know, have that why be bigger than anything. It's to be the best role model to your kids. Maybe that was mine. You know, I wanted to show my daughter that I'm in control of my life, and I'm going to start with being in control of my food. I'm not going to let my food control me, which it was, right? Like, donuts and muffins were telling me to eat them.

Yeah, they've got little mouths. No kidding.

It's like right here, like, eat me, eat me. You know, like, I, I wanted to show her that, like, you You can be in control of your body, your food, your thoughts, your mind, everything. And I wanted to be this role model that like, you know, walks the walk. And so what is your why? I think that is like such a powerful question and a really great place to start. If you want to optimize your health, if you want to lose weight, any of that, what is going to drive you each and every single day and get you closer to your goals?

Yes. And, you know, I know there's some of you watching. Do you have any struggles? Like, what's your struggle? Struggles, guys, even on the replay, you know, comment below and let's share because you're— I'm sure you're not the only one and we're all here to support each other. We're all going through something. So I mean, the whole premise of this show is to share and connect and collaborate, um, you know, open up this conversation and normalize it, you know, like, um, let's talk about the struggles around the scale, like, you know, and for me it was protection. Absolutely for protection. I knew that. Now I know that, but for other people it might be something else. But I do see, I mean, would you say that is for a lot of clients, just it's a form of protection?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like just having an extra layer, right? Is that what you mean?

Yeah.

Yeah. You just feel comfortable.

Yes.

Yeah, I would say. And so there's stuff, you know, to, to— I think, like you said, love, loving yourself first, right? Learn to love yourself first and know that you are worth it. Um, and one big thing that we do in our community is mindset exercises. So looking in the mirror and saying, I love you, Simone, like, I love you. Uh, you know, because how many times do we say to ourselves, like, oh, you're not You can never do that. I hate you. You're ugly. Your thighs are too big, right? Like, we are horrible to ourselves.

Yeah, I would agree.

And this will never, ever help us with anything. I mean, you talk to your body like that and your body will listen to you, you know? And we have to change our mindsets and we have to— I think you nailed it, actually, by saying we need to love ourselves ourselves first. And daily mantras are important, like looking in the mirror and saying, "You got this. I got this. I can do this. I'm capable of this. She did it. She lost 100 pounds twice in her life. I can lose 45." Yeah. You know, if she can do it, I can as well. And really supporting one another. I see a lot of people really who are judgmental and compare themselves to one another.

Oh gosh. Yeah, that seems to be a disease.

It is, and you know, we need to stop doing that because we got to focus on our journey and our journey alone when it comes to our goals and not look around and be like, you know, she— and get upset. Okay, she lost 10 pounds. How come I can't do it? You know, every time we have that negative energy, it's going to be impossible to see our goals. We have to support one another. And when you do that, you know, this is a whole nother layer, but you're going to be like sending it out to the universe. You can do it too.

Absolutely. And, and knowing that, you know, you are worth it. Like, it's— Danielle brought up a very good point, self-worth. Like I had mentioned, there is a worthiness epidemic in this, in this world, um, and it started a long time ago somewhere, right? So, and it numbs and it raises her anxiety. Okay, yeah.

Oh my gosh, I want you to know that you are not alone.

She is so beautiful. I met with her on Saturday through, you know, online, and we had a quick chat. Her energy is beautiful. She is a nurse as well, so she gives a lot to other people. So now it's time for you to give you, you, you the biggest gift.

Yeah, yeah. Start with that mantra, looking in the mirror, like, look yourself in the eyes, in the mirror. Do you know how hard that is to do, by the way? To look yourself in the mirror, in the eyes. Most of us can't do it, but I want you to try and say, I love you. I love you. I love your hair. I love your eyes. I do this with my daughter. She's 6, and I'm like, I am going to make sure that she does not struggle the same way I struggled, because I struggled with self-worth too, my whole life. You know, I, I think it comes from my parents, and they were busy in the '80s, right? Like, they weren't home. I was raised by a nanny. I mean, It's just like it starts in childhood. Yes. Maybe uncovering that a little bit will be helpful, but know that like you can love yourself and that you are worthy. And Danielle, you're helping people. You're a nurse. Oh my gosh, you're on the front lines right now. You are so worthy. Like, right? If there's anyone who is worthy right now, it is you.

Yes. Yeah, we're sending lots of love to you and blessings and healings and, and reach out. You know, we're, we're a big community, but I guess the other part is how much are you getting up outside. I guess I, I don't want to forget that we need our vitamin D, we need the nature, we need the grounding, we need to move our bodies every day. So what, what do you recommend? I mean, I've been hearing 20 minutes a day. Does that—

well, I really love, first of all, that you have the Power of Healing Your Energy and like the forest in the background. I almost feel like healing me right now because I love, I love nature and I love the forest, I love trees, and they actually give off feel-good chemicals that are going to benefit our health and are cancer-fighting too. So definitely getting out for a walk, as at the very minimum, getting out for a walk. When it comes to workouts, we're very strategic about this in our Community, but my like number one tip when it comes to moving is just move. Move with intention. Intentionality. So, you know, something you can do right now is set yourself a schedule for the week and try and get something in every single day. Before COVID I would always tell my clients, focus on your food first, get your food 100% dialed in, and then add fitness in.

Yes.

Because I want— because I know that you're going to see the best results from your food first, and then your workouts are going to work to give you a whole nother level. However, right now in COVID, because we are moving less than ever before, we need to make sure we are moving every single day. And I would say at minimum 20 minutes a day, whether that's a walk, a jog, a run, a strength workout. So my best tip is when you are working out is, is move your body cardio-wise and also strength-wise. So that doesn't necessarily mean lifting weights, but it could mean push-ups, squats, lunges.

I like planks.

Planks are amazing. Planks are amazing. You know that because it's an isometric hold, so you're actually going to build strength faster than a movement exercise. So yeah, and it's great for your core. So, you know, whether it's, it's yoga, Pilates, um, there are many different ways to get strength in there, but definitely a combination of cardio and strength will give you the best results, will give you the best results fat-burning-wise, but also they're gonna increase your feel-good hormones. And right now we need to be increasing our feel-good hormones more than— we do!

And get up and dance, come on everybody!

Yeah, yeah, you work out, you're gonna be releasing dopamine in your brain and you're gonna be increasing your serotonin serotonin levels. And this is gonna give you that natural high. So you don't have to get high from that glass of wine, right? Or something else that is gonna potentially make you feel worse the next day, right? You can get this natural high from your workouts and it's going to set you up with a day of so much positivity, which I think right now we all need. I actually think that workouts can save us all right now.

Absolutely. Music, moving, workouts, nature, and then That also will help you sleep because if you're saying I can't fall asleep, well, you need to look at what you're doing during the day, what you're feeding your mind, body, and spirit.

Yeah, 100%.

If you're on your phone all day or your computer, yeah, you gotta have some boundaries. And I know, I mean, I'm online, you're online.

Gosh, my—

Yeah, we all struggle.

My daughter begs for the iPad.

Yeah, my nieces and nephews are like that too. —just wow.

Yeah, it's crazy. But here's the thing, I get a lot of questions from moms in particular about workouts, like, oh, my kids are at home, I can't work out. You know what, my best tip around that is involve your kids in the workout. You just said have a dance party, put some music on, even if it has to be like, you know, a Disney classic. Get dancing with your kids and get them jumping around, or go for a scavenger hunt outside. I think that's a really great— like, I printed out on Pinterest the scavenger hunt of like, we gotta find one pine cone, we gotta— okay, cool, check it off as we go. Otherwise, she doesn't even want to go outside. She's like, I don't want to go for a walk, I'd rather stay inside and bake. She's a real homebody. But scavenger hunt, she's a huge fan of. That way she's moving, she's getting that fresh air, she's not on the iPad, right? So we can do this with our kids too. Also, one other thing is I tell Shelby Hey Shelby, I'm gonna— Mommy needs to get her workout in today. I'm gonna be doing an arms workout today. You might want to join me. You can try some of the moves. But if you don't, please know that I need my workout. I'm gonna be a way better mama, a way more present mama, and a happier if I'm getting my workout in. And she's like, okay, and she goes upstairs and, you know, plays some music on her own and plays with her dolls, and it's all good. But I think, you know, being a mom right now or a dad and you're trapped at home with your kids and you're like, I don't have time to exercise. We have to make that time to get movement in, get outside with them or let them know that you need to get your workout in and try and involve them if you can. Either way, you're role modeling really good behavior, right? Like your kids see you work out. They're seeing like when you're a good role model, they are now seeing that this is like something that they should be doing. As part of their day, and it's going to stick with them. It will, right? It may not be something that they do in their teens, but in their 20s, there might be questioning, oh, okay, well, you know, Mom always got her workout in and she was in good spirits, and, you know, she was fit. So, right? And that was something— absolutely— me from my parents. So there was some bad role modeling from my parents, but there was some really good role modeling, and, and they were avid exercisers, and that is something that stuck with me.

Yeah, that's— those are great tips. I, I love it. I mean, we could probably chat for hours. So where— how— the best way to get a hold of you? I did leave your, your links. You've got your website. We can find you on Instagram, and that's through Simone.

Yeah, I can also, um, give you my free guide if you would like. In my free guide, I have a like a sample day. So this is where there's a grocery shopping list. There's a sample day of like what time to eat and what to eat. There's some recipes in there. And I feel like if you have one good day, you're way more likely to have another good day, right? You're like, ah, I feel good. And, you know, I have energy and that recipe was really good. So the next day you're going to be like, okay, I'm going to do this again. And it's like, this is how you slowly build those habits. And then one week later you're like, okay, I got to do this for another week. And soon enough it becomes a month or 3 months. And so it starts with one day. And so that's really what my guide is about, is starting with one day, have a really good solid day. And that's, you know, going to build that momentum to carry you through for the rest of the week.

Absolutely. So what's the best way to get that guide? Is it through your website or email?

Yeah, it's in, um, my Instagram.

Okay, I've got, I've got the link here, so I'll just put it in. Okay, perfect. All right, instagram.com. I'm just gonna put it in for you. Yeah, yeah, perfect.

Thank you. And I— you're welcome. Enjoy that. And if you have any questions for me, please feel free to reach out to me. And, um, yeah, start with one day. I think this is the way to—

to one day, not, you know, oh, 6 months, or in the past, or the future. Presence. Like, you've got the time, guys. Even if you are working, things are— things, you know, there's time. This is— this time is vital. This is the greatest time of our lives, no matter how you look at it.

Yeah, I think we will eventually look back and be like, okay, that was an opportunity. Absolutely.

So don't miss it. And I want to thank you, Simone, for your beautiful energy and all your inspiration and tips. I mean, she has got a plethora of information. I've left all her links. You go check out her Instagram page, go check out her website, and you're going to see why, you know, everyone is, is flocking to Simone.. And Danielle is just thanking us so much. And thank you, Danielle, for being here and sharing with us. We love you. Yeah. And take care of yourself. Keep in touch. If you guys have comments, feel free to reach out. And hey guys, I want to wish you love, light, and blessings. And please remember, healing begins where the ego ends. Take care.