The all or nothing mindset with nutrition or exercise is probably the number one reason
why people end up working with a coach is I think we can all relate to that, you know,
we're picking something.
We think this is the new trend or we're trying to do something really, really extreme because
we think that we need this jumpstart to get us motivated on things.
And then we end up sticking to it for five days and then the weekend comes and you know,
you have a life event come up whether it's a birthday party or an overalls night out
and you're like well now I ruined my whole diet so now I have to start again on Monday
and we take the whole weekend off and that's what I call the yo-yo dieting cycle.
And my job as a coach is to help you really ID what are these moments in our lives that
are a part of our plan and a part of our life.
How do we incorporate them in a reasonable manner and knowing that it's okay to actually
have off days, multiple days in a row for things like vacations and things like that
and how we just kind of make them a part of our plan versus failing.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Life Snacks Lesson Plan.
I'm Rachel and I started this podcast during my 29th and last year as a high school teacher.
Goal of my work with Life Snacks Lesson Plan as well as my live and learn Patreon is to
create a connection where we are all teachers.
We all have lessons and stories to share that can help others.
I'm so fortunate to be able to extend the four walls of my previous classroom to an
unlimited audience where we can all learn from each other and my guests are some of
the most inspirational people with the best stories and lessons I know which is why I
want to share them with you.
Their words are something everyone should hear.
It is my hope that you are able to take away something from each episode to apply to your
own life whether that be a career search, path to a more fulfilling life or new ideas
on current topics.
I'm really excited to introduce to you today someone who has come into my life just within
the last year, actually probably six months.
I'm always on some sort of fitness or wellness journey as those of you who know me know and
have had a couple different coaches and paths and followed my current coach who's our guest
today, Megan, for a while and just really enjoyed her honest approach and realistic approach
for busy people to wellness.
And so today on the podcast we have Megan Grimord and I will let her talk a little bit
more specifically about her background.
Well, thanks for having me, Rachel.
I'm excited to be on here.
What's a little bit about me is I have been doing nutrition coaching for a little over
four years now.
Really I started this as a way to just help.
I wanted to make sure that people had resources like you mentioned have realistic expectations
to what health and wellness is because many of us don't have that education or background
and we struggle a lot with it and being a wife and a new mom being able to navigate all
of that can be very, very burdensome for women specifically that tends to be who I coach
more of but also males as well.
How do I navigate my life as a father, as a husband and being able to provide those resources?
I am Nazin certified in nutrition coaching and then I do have certifications in physical
fitness as well.
So it brings me a lot of joy to be able to help people build a better foundation for
their lives.
Okay, thank you.
I was just realizing while you were talking that I think you're my first guest who's
not a former student of mine and is not a retired or current educator, you know, teacher
in the classroom at school and I have a very good reason for obviously bringing Megan here
today because we're all teachers and I'm learning from her and I just know that she's going
to teach you so many good things.
But that just dawned on me that life's next lesson plan has a lot of either former students
or teachers and when I thought about bringing Megan on my whole mindset was that I know
she has a lot to teach other people because she's taught me.
So because this podcast typically has some school stories in it, I did ask Megan to think
about a funny or memorable high school or college story.
So I'm sure Megan did her homework, right?
Yeah, to do my homework.
So for me, like I was in high school, I was pretty introverted and then in college, I
actually worked full time so I didn't live on campus.
So like my college life was not as thrilling as many other people's.
A lot of my stuff had to do with managing a tanning salon and dealing with employees
that came in from having wild college times.
But as far as high school goes, I was more of a theater kid so I think for me, one of
my most memorable things was just being around people who are willing to put themselves out
there and high school, you do spend so much time about being worried about what are other
people thinking about you and you kind of get that stigma in that group of being the
people who are judged anyways.
So just being around people wanting to be on stage and be dramatic, you really just got
to be 100% around those people, which was always the best part for me.
And then I was always a kid who worked too.
So then I went off to my two other jobs working in the mall and I didn't have a lot of time
eating trouble and when your parents are both police officers, nobody invites that kid into
anything.
So I was very more introverted and didn't get into too many wild things.
But this is your reminder, you know, if you're in high school and you don't necessarily feel
like you fit in 100%, you're going to find your calling down the road and you find your
people, you create your own little tribe along the way.
Exactly right.
Wow, that's so interesting.
Two parents in law enforcement.
Yeah.
That would be a damper on the social life a little bit.
Okay.
So you worked a lot and so when you were kind of, we always talk about like mapping out
your career path or your next chapter.
So how did that look for you from your college days and beyond?
Yeah, so college, I actually ended up in an internship with Target, which was fantastic.
Again, being someone who was working full time, Target did have at the time an amazing
intern program where they would allow you to work full time and you would essentially
go into the management role that you would be fulfilling once you graduate.
And that kind of became my plan.
I went into school for business marketing, which I found super fascinating with emphasizing
consumer behavior.
I was going to, you know, I wanted to be a buyer, but Target kind of swayed me with
a really good paycheck and a really great opportunity.
And the goal from that on was you're actually really good at this.
So they kind of put me on the fast track for store management.
So I started as what they call an executive team lead and I was an assistant manager
of the store.
So I was working crazy hours all the time and kind of realized, especially as I got more
serious in my relationship and things were going on with my family that I couldn't keep
doing it.
It was killing my relationships and my friendships.
I was run down all the time.
I was not healthy.
I was getting sick constantly.
So I tried a few other jobs.
I was a, in his high sales rep from one company that I left to actually do some marketing,
do some digital marketing, got fired from that job because as Rachel knows, is being
a part of my community now, I'm not great at proofreading.
And when you put stuff out in print, they expect that to be happening.
So a couple of missteps there and I ended up losing my job the year that my husband
and I were getting married and we bought a house.
It was not a great time to be unemployed, but I was really digging in a lot of myself
and I was doing a lot of self-improvement during that time, sort of falling in love with group
fitness and found my current job, which is still an inside sales rep job, but it's with
a company that's so flexible that it allowed me to start getting some certifications and
nutrition and in different group coaching avenues and really just found a passion for
being able to help people.
So when we talk about planning out your life, you know, it's okay if it doesn't go exactly
to planning there, it's okay to test the waters on things and it is scary to get fired from
a job.
I'm very, very terrifying, not something as someone who qualified themselves as a hard
worker their whole life.
I never thought they would be in the position to do, but it led me to a path that allows
me to do something that I'm very passionate about that I normally wouldn't, I don't think
I would ever pursue and I just kept following a paycheck or following my degree as it was
and really just taking the time to work on myself.
So a little bit of an orthodox path to now owning my own business, which is incredibly
rewarding.
Yeah, right.
So you kind of have that daytime job right now and then you have this constant kind of
realm the clock job of coaching other people.
Okay.
And obviously you're a newish mom too.
So a lot of balls in the air and she does it definitely with grace and a positive attitude.
So because obviously coaching is a passion of yours, it is also a job, but it's definitely
a passion.
What fuels you as a coach?
What kind of highlights keep you going in that part of your life?
Something highlights for me as a coach is number one, you know, having someone who's
open to actually taking action, but having someone who's willing to take feedback is
always great.
But the biggest thing is, you know, when you actually don't need me anymore, that's that
really cool moment.
And I think as a teacher, you can understand that is when you start to see things click
for kids where they just don't need as much guidance anymore and you can see the trajectory
that they're on, it means that you have built consistency in your life and you have built
the discipline necessary to be successful.
So we've worked on relationship with food a lot or, you know, you're able to hold yourself
accountable and know that you won't go out and binge anymore, that you can go out and
have a nice meal and enjoy it and not have any guilt around it.
Those days are huge, getting those messages from clients and just knowing that you're
committed to the work and the feeling of food freedom and it's something that I wish for
everyone to feel.
So the first-ever client that I had experienced that was, that was the day that I was like,
I know that I'm doing the right thing.
The other highlight for me is if there's a significant health issue that we're going
to improve through this, I have one client who actually was told they wouldn't have survived
a heart attack that they had while they were working with me had they probably not turned
their life around earlier in the year.
And knowing that, you know, they were on a trajectory, you know, it was a freak accident
that happened when it did, but they were on a dangerous trajectory and we were able to
improve the quality of life and their recovery has been phenomenal.
Doctors have given them nothing but kudos for how well they've been able to rebound
from that heart attack and essentially live life as normal afterwards.
So those two things are, you know, when quality of life is improved, either it be emotional
around food or genuinely physical is huge.
Definitely. So in the time that you found, you know, found this new path and have been
doing your coaching for four years, do you have someone who stands out in your mind as
a mentor or someone who's guided you, who you look up to?
I actually have a really great friend and coach named Josh who came to me.
I'm a partner at the company called First Form and, you know, I'm sure he was assigned
to me at one point, but he was one of the first people that really poured belief into
me as a coach.
You know, when I first started doing this, it was more like, yeah, it would be cool if,
you know, I could help a couple of people.
And he was like, you can help a lot of people if that's truly what you want to do.
He also helped me a ton with my headspace around changing my perspective on how emotions
should not be dictating how we act on a day-to-day basis.
And as a new mother, that is something that honestly helped so much in my postpartum because
it was actually able to help me identify when I was going through depression and anxiety
because I had worked so much on my mental space prior to becoming a mom that I was able
to see a lot of the red flags that this isn't how I normally think.
So working alongside of him, who's also coached a lot of people, used to be a nutrition coach
himself, just helped me a ton.
And I think that's what a lot of us need.
I often tell people like, you don't really need a nutrition plan, but you need somebody
there to walk you through the hard days.
You need somebody to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself because so much
of it happens so much more mentally than anywhere else.
We all kind of know what we need to do, but having that background buffer, that person
that has your back and isn't going to make you feel guilty or horrible about it is so
key.
And I hope to everyone to have people like that in their life because there's nothing
more truly rewarding than having someone who can tell you, like, no, you're really
actually great at this and you're going to help other people.
And you can do those things that you want to do.
And again, bringing it back full circle to teaching, that's a lot of what you and your
colleagues and a lot of other people on your podcast do.
They instill belief in people every day.
Yeah.
And that's definitely been really helpful for me and why I wanted to bring you on here,
especially at this time of the year because we just, you know, we had a new year.
Some people do resolutions.
We also, before we're even to the end of the first month of a new year, we have what's,
you know, National Quitters Day or whatever they call it, where by that point that has
already happened this month in January, I think it's like around the 17th or something
or like that, that people have already given up on their resolutions and the gyms start
to thin out a little bit.
And so I think that's, you know, why I wanted to have you here early in the year to talk
to us.
It's more about the mindset part of it.
And we are going to have hard days and we are going to fight emotional battles.
And I'm sure just about everybody has felt that in their life and they need some tips
and someone in their corner to talk about that.
So maybe that kind of segues us into some of your goals for this part of your life and
helping others.
So can you talk a little bit about kind of the specific goals you have in your role as
a coach?
Yeah.
When I started coaching, they always say you can, you can best teach or best help the person
you once were.
And for me, that was relationships around food and exercise.
And I've kind of found my niche in that, if you will, because we all have that guilt that
piles onto us, the negative self-talk that kind of lives in a loop in our head over and
over again.
And that draining feeling that we just don't have control over certain things in our lives.
And my goal was to number one, create an affordable coaching plan because like I said, when I
started on my journey, I had lost my job.
So being able to find something that is very reasonably priced that you can invest in the
whole package of it and not feel like you have to scrimp here to actually find wellness
was super important to me.
But also for anyone who is willing to put in the work, know that they can get the support
that they need to succeed.
And part of that, you know, part of this chapter in my life is to continue to grow
GMG so it can be my full-time focus and I can reach more lives.
Whether that be through the free Facebook community where you can pick up tips and tricks
on a daily basis and connect with other people or if it is through one-on-one coaching where
you can actually dive into a lot of that mental habit change with me.
Rachel knows too when you coach with me, you get access to messaging me at any time.
So it can be a situation where you're struggling over the weekend and you're getting into this
habit of kind of doing whatever you want again and you're kind of repeating these same things
and you can shoot me a message and say, hey, again, like I'm really trying to work through
how do I balance all of these social things going on this weekend and we can come up with
a game plan in real time now within reason because again, I am a full-time mother as
well.
So I always ask clients to give me 24 hours to respond and things, but at least you're
in contact with someone who can help you either if I'm in the app right away or can at least
help you reflect on that afterwards and really dig in and do the bigger picture of, oh, I
just can't follow this diet to, no, I can work through this.
And even though I wasn't perfect this weekend, Megan's going to help me take knowledge from
this weekend and apply it into next weekend.
So I don't feel these same things again.
Yeah, that is definitely a great feature of what you offer.
And while we're on the topic of what you offer because you already mentioned the Facebook
group, obviously I am going to have all of Megan's information in the show notes beneath
here.
But as she mentioned, normally I have now a commercial spot for joining Megan and I'm
not going to play her commercial during her episode, so I think we'll just talk about
it now.
But there is the free Team MG Facebook group.
And then what are some other ways that they can get in touch with you?
Again, I'll have those listed down below.
But while we're kind of on that topic and before we get into today's lesson, maybe we
can talk a little bit too about the Facebook group.
I know obviously I'm in it and she has education there every day.
She also has her own app where you get literally a video every morning from Megan talking about
a topic for the day.
So do you want to talk a little bit more about those two features and then anything else
that clients would get?
Yes, absolutely.
So the Team MG Facebook group is free as Rachel mentioned and Rachel is a part of it.
She posts on Saturdays for me.
We do Selfie Saturday, which I greatly appreciate.
Just kind of encourage weekend movement and a lot of different fun things like that throughout
the week.
And then I do have my own coaching app and you can get all of the details on that on
my website at team-mg.com.
And again, Rachel said she would link that for you, but that will break down the different
package offerings.
For all of Rachel's listeners, I do have a discount code, which is lessonplan10.
And any premium coaching services, which includes Zoom calls with me on either a monthly or
weekly basis, you will get an additional $10 off.
So that is for the, I believe we said that for the first month.
So you can take advantage of that.
But when you coach with me in the app, I have different tiers.
So whatever works best for you and your budget, I have three different tiers and the level
of support that you need.
If you just need someone to check in with you, I have a really basic plan that includes
workouts and a personalized macro nutrition plan.
And then I also have options where you hop on a Zoom call with me either monthly or weekly.
So we can actually get the time to deeper connect on things that you are struggling with.
If you're someone who just needs that extra layer of accountability, those weekly calls
are really crucial, especially if you're just struggling and creating new habits or feeling
overwhelmed with where does my focus need to be right now.
That can be really huge.
So those are offerings there.
And then I do offer customized workout programs as well that launched that can be found on
my website and all of that gets programmed into the team MG app for you.
So it's easy to follow along.
So you know, whatever level you need, I offer it and I'd like to say I offer at a very,
very competitive pricing comparison to a lot of other trainers and coaches.
Yes, definitely.
I am saving money having switched from my previous coach to Megan.
And another thing, because I can smell it upstairs while we're recording this is I have
a new recipe.
Megan offers a lot of high protein recipes.
I'm trying the chicken Parmesan soup.
It's in my crock pot.
I can smell it.
Haven't tried this recipe yet, but she has a ton of recipes in there as well in the Facebook
group.
And then she has a high protein recipe meal guide as well.
And then when you are entering and tracking your food in the app, you can enter those
meals as well easily and it'll, you know, track all your macros and calories and everything.
But I'm smelling it and I'm getting excited for dinner.
It's a down the stable in our house.
And even me see our, our soon to be one year old enjoys chicken Parmesan soup.
So it's family friendly.
Okay, that's awesome.
So we're going to take a little break and then when we come back, Megan is going to
share her lesson with us.
During our break time, it is ask the teacher anything time.
So I've pulled out a question here that I got about the craziest call you received from
a parent.
And again, after 29 years, I can't say that there were that many, but I will say that
most of the craziest things involving parents were in the last 11 years of my career because
they always had to do with the yearbook.
It was never about like what I was teaching in my English classes.
It was always these, I'll just call them kind of ridiculous requests or reactions to the
yearbook.
For example, one year I had a parent who wanted me to, well, actually she wanted to come in
and approve every single page that her child was on because she had a child in a previous
year whose name was misspelled and wanted to be sure that the child's name on every page
that they're on was going to be spelled correctly.
Yeah, I was definitely called a few names regarding the yearbook.
I know I was called incompetent for like a misspelling.
Definitely some interesting requests when it came to the yearbook and always without
fail every year.
Senior pictures were always due either December 1st or December 2nd.
Every year I get calls in May saying, can I still submit my child's senior picture?
And the yearbooks are delivered at the end of May.
So yeah, definitely without fail.
It was always stories having to do with the yearbook that were typically the craziest.
Welcome back.
So I'm excited to get into Megan's lesson.
The whole reason that I brought her here today because I think she's so good at coaching
mindset and that is for me and I think a lot of people that I know it is a big part of
the battle when you are dealing with food.
So she's going to talk today about the all or nothing mindset and also again some of
her resources that she'll have available in the show notes for us.
The all or nothing mindset with nutrition or exercise is probably the number one reason
why people end up working with a coach is I think we can all relate to that.
We're picking something.
We think this is the new trend or we're trying to do something really, really extreme because
we think that we need this jump start to get us motivated on things.
And then we end up sticking to it for five days and then the weekend comes and you have
a life event come up whether it's a birthday party or a girl's night out and you're like,
well, now I ruined my whole diet.
So now I have to start again on Monday and we take the whole weekend off and that's what
I call the yo-yo dieting cycle.
And my job as a coach is to help you really ID what are these moments in our lives that
are a part of our plan and a part of our life.
How do we incorporate them in a reasonable manner and knowing that it's okay to actually
have off days, multiple days in a row for things like vacations and things like that
and how we just kind of make them a part of our plan versus failing our plan.
And that does come with the acceptance of we are not perfect, diets are not meant to
be perfect.
And when you actually think about diet and you look it up in the dictionary is something
that we consume on a consistent and regular basis.
It's something that should be happening ongoing forever and ever.
And that's what I want people to be able to build in their lives.
So one thing that I really like to have people do when they start working with me is number
one, I like them to just start tracking their food and starting to remove some of the judgment
from that, learning how to use a food scale, understanding appropriate portion sizes and
really seeing where is my nutrition coming from, how am I fueling my body on a day to
day basis.
That's kind of the basics of when I start with people because I do want them to remove
past judgment and past calories are these bad things and we shouldn't consume them.
And just kind of help people organize their food a little bit more where it is our focus
seem to be swapping in more protein dense things, building those sorts of habits first.
And then from there, once we have a good routine down and along the way, I like to introduce
something called a consistency calendar.
And this is something that I will have that I will work with clients on where we set in
some cases, it's just one very specific thing if we have a lot of work to do.
But in most cases, it's three to five items that we are working on incorporating into our
day every single day.
And some examples of these things would be like a walk every single day, we're going
to walk for X amount of minutes every day, or we're going to have a step target.
Another one would be just hitting your protein, not really worrying about the calorie side
of things or even in some cases, it's just tracking with honesty to again, remove some
of that food guilt and some of that fear around calories and just seeing our plates
on a day to day basis.
And we will have these habits and I will actually put them on their dashboard in the app that
they can check off every single day.
And every day that they complete their tasks that we are focused on, they get to put an
X on their day as a complete.
And then on the days that they don't do it, they put an O. And along with that, what I
have them do is I have them look at these next like 30 days or in some cases all, you
know, when we do the accountability groups, we'll do up to eight weeks at a time for you
to really build some consistency.
You're going to map out the days that I like, but I call your special life days, whether
that's a vacation, because we work very hard for vacation, we should enjoy it.
Or if it's a special birthday party, my daughter turns one this upcoming weekend, so I'm not
tracking that day, I'm not worried about that.
And how we can actually map that out and look at, you know, we don't get so overwhelmed
with, oh, I have all of these things that are getting in my way and my goals.
It's more of, oh, I have all of these things that are a part of my goals.
And if I can be consistent for the 20 or so days around these events, that's actually a
really good chunk of time.
And that's a really good chunk to move myself forward.
So it's very eye-opening for clients when you do that.
And then at the end of it, you do have this really great visual of what does my consistency
actually look like with the habits that I'm trying to create.
And if your consistency is crap, that's okay.
That shows us where we need to continue to create improvement.
But it also allows you to be like, well, this isn't why, this is why I'm not losing the
weight or this is why I'm not gaining the strength in the gym or performing as well.
Because I'm not focused on the things that I need to be on a consistent enough basis.
And then that's how I know with clients, we either need to again, simplify things down
a little bit more going into the next 30 days, or we just need to continue to grind away
at these things until they become good habits.
And truthfully, when I do this with people, I see really like the first month is sometimes
rocky, especially if you've never tracked your food before or were really working on basic
things. But by that second month, which is usually around like that six to eight week
mark is where people really start getting the ball rolling.
And they get really excited because for the first time in their life, they haven't stopped
something and started again.
They've just continued to go.
And then that's where we start to actually see changes in our body, changes in our clothing.
Our mental state gets better because we now have the confidence that we can stick to things
and we don't have to be perfect at them.
So that's really kind of my number one thing for people is to simplify things down and number
one, like be okay with learning.
That's the whole when I start with people learning how to track your food.
This is a learning process.
This is no different than being back in school, learning math for the first time and having
to figure out those equations.
And the first couple of weeks are really rough because you don't understand how those pieces
all work together.
But by the time you're taking the test, as long as you've continued to do the homework
throughout that period of the course, you figure it out and you're able to pass the
test and you're able to keep moving forward.
It's the same thing here.
And that's really what I try to instill in people is that we just, we have to be okay
with learning, we have to be okay with building the consistency, and then that's where the
true diet and lifestyle starts.
I know to speak to this point that Megan is making about just mindset all or nothing,
she offers accountability groups in her coaching as well.
And the first time that I joined an accountability group, we had our trackers and we had, you
know, a certain number of things per day that we were working on.
And if we hit our protein and stayed under our calories, we got a little checkmark, but
we would see each other's calendars.
And she told us that what we needed to do was mark off the days that she was explaining.
And she shared her calendar with us.
And that month she was going on a trip.
And I remember thinking, wow, she allows herself days off or she's fine not being perfect
on those days.
We can really do that.
And I think too, there's that idea of if you have a, I don't know, piece of dark chocolate
or something on a day, then it's like, well, then I might as well eat cake and I might
as well eat a cheeseburger and I might as well, it's like the spiral.
And I just learned so much about like, okay, I'm going on a vacation for three days, I'm
going to enjoy it.
And then when I come home, I'm just going to get right back where I was.
And it's like, that's okay.
I think so many of us are just like, I have to do this for eight weeks and I can't have
any mistakes.
And it's like, well, no wonder people don't stick with that because you don't allow yourself,
you know, any mistakes or any grace.
And when I saw other people who had had success were like, yeah, this is just what we do.
It was like she said, so freeing for me.
And I think also seeing it because I could see her calendar, I could see other people's
calendars and this was all part of just this kind of private accountability group that
I chose to be in.
But that really helped me a lot with this kind of all or nothing thinking.
So that's just another aspect of what Megan does.
So awesome that we have Megan here to give us homework.
So of course, I think I have an idea of what she's going to suggest for kind of baby steps
if you want to apply some of her principles to your life and see how that goes for you.
So can you give us a few action steps for homework that we can try out?
Absolutely.
So I did include a consistency calendar for you guys.
And what I would encourage you to do is coming up with, again, if you're a very beginner,
one, one habit to track for 30 days.
If you've been on a fitness journey, I'm pretty familiar with nutrition, whatever
it is that you're working on, you can do up to three or five, but coming up with those
simple things to actually track your consistency on over a period of 30 days.
So some of the things that come to top of mind for people who are just getting started
when it comes to exercise, my number one is always a walking goal because it is something
that is accessible to everyone.
You can get outside.
You can, most of us have access to safe areas to walk or have the ability to go to a gym
or have a treadmill, et cetera.
So walking is always a great one.
From there, a little bit more of an advanced would be an actual step goal that you can
have on your calendar as well.
And then the other one that I always, always encourage is resistance training for a healthy
skeletal muscle tissue.
And this is where I don't want you to get too bogged down in the nuance of what type
of weight training do I have to do.
It can be simple as using your body weight, doing a simple circuit at home.
If you're a beginner to getting into exercise, and if you message me at all, I'm happy to
give you something simple like that to follow.
Or it can be actual programming that you can follow along with.
And there's so many resources out there for that as well, including my services and my
app.
So those are the exercise realm of things that I always tell people.
Those are the ones that you would like to, would likely target first because they're
going to be the things that we can do most easily.
And they are the things that are going to move the needle for us in the right direction.
When it comes to nutrition, a couple of habits that I come to mind is invest in a food scale
and just start weighing things.
Like start learning portion sizes of things so that you have those good visuals.
And that's something that's a skill that you can take with you out into the real world.
When you're at restaurants, you can get a better understanding of what is it that I'm
intaking.
Another one could be just learning how to track your food.
There are a ton of free trackers out there that you can just play around into initially
get started.
Or if you want help, again, I'm happy to help in that realm.
My clients all get a nutrition tracker in the app.
But check your food.
Understand where your nutrients are coming from.
And then if you are past that point and you're like, nope, I understand calories, all that
stuff, a protein goal.
One gram per pound of ideal body weight is what you want to shoot for on a day to day
basis.
And adding more nutrients into your diet.
Great place to start is a protein forward meal with, you know, let's include one to
two fruits and vegetables at each meal, which is also end of ironing because that is the
requirements for my daughter's daycare lunches.
So there has to be at least two fruits or vegetables.
There has to be a protein source and a grain.
We don't demonize carbs here.
But you know, just kind of doing those simple things.
So those are a couple of basics that come to mind for me for someone who is just getting
started into that moderate range of wanting to improve their exercise habits and their
nutritional habits.
And then the last one that always is an easy, easy one.
If you're just feeling overwhelmed in general and you don't really know where to start,
let's drink some water.
Let's start drinking some water.
I always tell people 60 ounces is a great starting place.
Ideally, I like to see people out around 100 ounces a day.
But if you aren't a water drinker, 60 is a great place to start without having to use
the bathroom every 20 minutes.
So start with 60 if you're not a water drinker.
And if you are a water drinker, take a second to see how much you're actually drinking.
Track it.
See if you're reaching that 100 ounce range for a couple of days.
So when they, let's say they choose a step goal, that's where they're going to start.
And they have the 30 day tracker.
So on the days that they meet that, let's say, 10,000 step goal, they give themselves
like a check mark or something and it's a visual way then to look at kind of the week
and then the month.
Yes, exactly.
So you hit your goal, you give yourself the check.
And then that way you can, you can look back at it and be like, well, I only missed three
days.
In the past, that first day that I missed, I would have said, oh, well, I have to wait
again until Monday.
But Megan said I just have to keep going and keep tracking it.
And wow, like I hit way more than I thought that I could.
If I would have just kept starting and stopping because I thought I had to do it perfectly
for the entire 30 days.
Yeah, that's so powerful.
And then if they hit that consistently, that one goal of having the step goal, then they
can add the water goal.
And then, you know, if you hit both of them on the day, then you get a check and just kind
of move from there.
Absolutely.
And the one thing that I would encourage too is as something just becomes a part of your
life where you don't have to think about it, remove it from your list and replace it with
something else.
And this is also something that, you know, you can call it what you will, daily task list,
power list is one of the industry terms.
And they're not negotiables for the day.
And that's what you, that's the standard that you hold yourself to on a day to day basis.
And eventually you're doing these things with, without even thinking about it.
And they just become a part of your life.
And that really is the end goal.
Again, when we start thinking about diet and exercise, we want to think about it as something
that we can do on a consistent basis forever and ever versus something that we do very
temporarily to get in a certain pair of pants.
And then we go back into all of our bad habits and get us right back to where we were.
Right.
And so that is part of what you would see working with Megan is literally, pfft, any
weather she's out there, or if the weather is decent, she's got her baby strapped to
the front of her with the dogs.
And she's out walking.
And if she's in a meeting sometimes with you, she's on her walking pad.
And she absolutely is the role model that, you know, you say, okay, if she can do it
with a baby strapped to her chest or in zero degree weather with two dogs, I can do it
too.
And accountability and support together always makes such a big difference.
And so for me, I know I'm in a bit of a rut right now with this whole podcasting thing
and working full time.
But then I think of Megan and I'm like, okay, you can go, you know, now I learned how to
type in a Google doc using audio transcription while on my treadmill.
So no excuses, right?
I tried to now, like if I'm going to be doing something, can I do it while I am walking?
So Megan definitely walks the talk.
And I think that just that whole mindset of not every day has to be perfect is really
helpful.
So I appreciate you being here today to share that message with us.
Well, thanks for allowing me to spread the word.
Going to create a less perfect German society.
There you go.
Yes, we need that.
Thank you.
I hope you found Megan's views on how to get in the right mindset to maintain healthy habits
helpful.
Next episode, I'll be back with a new lesson and more takeaways to apply to your classroom
or to your life.
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