Healthy Living Without Sacrificing your Quality of Life (or missing out on the Holiday treats)

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Welcome to the wealth and wellness podcast with

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me Kaylie Bob air. I specialize in helping people to achieve

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their financial goals. I have a love for all things numbers, and

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I'm passionate about financial literacy. My goal is to spark

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healthy and positive conversations around wealth and

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investment, and create a world where nobody is limited by their

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financial situation. But wealth is just one piece of the

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equation of living our best lives. So join me as we explore

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both wealth and wellness topics. From your net worth to your self

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worth. Get ready to take confident action. Hello, this is

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Kaylee. And thank you so much for listening in to this episode

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of the wealth and wellness Podcast. I'm really excited for

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today's episode, I haven't had an episode like this yet, which

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is shocking to me. It's very important. So I'm glad we're

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doing it now. And I think the timing is very good with the

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holidays coming up, the new year coming up. And a lot of people

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have fitness goals, nutrition goals, health goals. So that's

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all about what we're talking about today. And we're joined by

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special guest for this. So today we're joined by Esther advant

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did I see your last name right? Event event.

Esther Avant: 00:01:29

And so when I started dating the family to

Esther Avant: 00:01:31

Okay, event,

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Esther is a certified sports nutritionist, a

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nutrition coach and personal trainer, and owner of EA

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coaching. She has a degree in Exercise Science 15 years of

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hands on experience in the fitness and wellness industry.

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And she specializes in helping women lose weight for the last

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time without sacrificing their quality of life or health. I

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love that I love that focus too on working with women. That's

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definitely what I do in my goal as well when it comes to the

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wealth side of things. So that's very important for me. So just

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to get started, Esther, can you share a little bit about

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yourself? And maybe what brought you to do the work you're doing?

Unknown: 00:02:19

Yeah, great question. So I kind of fell into this

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field gradually, when I was in high school and trying to you

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know, pick a future, I had really gotten into exercising.

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And I was like, Well, if I can get paid to do that all day,

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let's do that. So that's kind of what led to my degree, I started

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personal training in college. And then it was like, kind of

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each step of my career made me realize how little I knew, and

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how much more I needed to learn to really help my clients to the

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best of my ability. So you know, I started off, I had this

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exercise background, and I realized just how important

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nutrition piece was. And then once I had a good handle on both

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of those, I realized how important psychology and

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behavior change was to actually be able to take that information

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and help someone change their lives with it. So that's kind of

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what I consider the trifecta is the exercise the nutrition, the,

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you know, sort of mindset work. And that's, that's what led me

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to, I guess, ultimately, this, this business that I own, when I

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met my husband was when I first started started entertaining the

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idea of owning my own business. He's in the military. And I'd

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been previously working for other people in gyms and various

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locations. And I was like, every time we move for his job, I

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don't want to be starting over. So why don't I just do it on my

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own, and that over time has evolved into what VA coaching is

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now with an entire team of coaches working with our clients

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and a variety of coaching options, which just blows my

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mind how, how much it's grown in the last few years.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:04:04

I love that. Yeah. Being that yeah, we're

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virtual, you can do it from anywhere that's fabulous. And to

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be able to kind of assist people from anywhere is wonderful. I

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love that too, about that holistic approach, like bringing

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together the different pieces because we often kind of take it

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as a, you know, one thing, it's like, Okay, I'm going to commit

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to exercising, okay, I'm going to commit to changing, you know,

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my nutrition or my diet or, and so bringing that all together

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and even the mindset piece, like you said, it's so important, I

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think. So it is that holistic view of things. It's not just

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kind of focusing Ultra focusing on one thing it sounds like

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which I think is great important. That's probably part

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of that, that maintenance piece that's really important and in

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the messaging of what you do have that ongoing and keeping

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that quality of life. So, again, I love this for the New Year

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topic. It's often the time So like over the holidays, maybe

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people kind of feel like they get off track and sort of

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indulge in all sorts of things. And then come January, it's like

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this reset point. And oftentimes it's people are ready to go.

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It's, you know, fitness goals and what they want to accomplish

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with weight goals or things like that. Can you tell us maybe some

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of the biggest struggles you see, especially in regards to

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that, like that consistency, that maintenance? Because we're

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kind of coming up to that period where it does really, I think,

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resonate with people. And it's a big part of like, yeah, people's

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New Year's resolutions and goals and things like that.

Unknown: 00:05:36

Yeah, there were a few things that came up actually did

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an event in November for my community about the biggest

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challenges of the holiday season. And asked my audience

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prior to that, you know, what, what do you struggle with, and

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there were a couple of kind of overarching themes that came up.

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One was learning how to strike a balance where a lot of women and

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aware kind of Yo yo, dieting and weight comes from, is feeling

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like the two options are either you say no to everything that

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you enjoy, and that tastes good. And you know, right now, that

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would mean no cookies, no alcohol, no phone, cocktails,

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none of that stuff, or you eat and drink all of it. Until you

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know until you get so disgusted by yourself, and then you swear

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off it. And that most of us kind of have that pendulum swinging

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back and forth. So one of the biggest struggles that came up

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is finding balance between those two things where you are able to

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indulge in the things that you really enjoy, without going so

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far overboard, that you're making yourself miserable. So

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that was one of the biggest things another was communication

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and being able to convey boundaries to people around you

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just kind of being out of routine in general. And not

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necessarily feeling comfortable saying to your house guests,

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make yourself breakfast, I'm going to do my workout. Or when

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you're staying with a family member, or Oh, don't you know,

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I'm going to I'm just gonna excuse myself for a little bit,

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I'm gonna go for a walk or whatever it is just kind of

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letting going with the flow a little bit too much, and not

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kind of putting your foot down saying, hey, you know what, this

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is what I need to feel my best. So I'm going to speak my piece

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and just kind of tell the people around me, this is this is what

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I'm gonna do, or this is what I need help with, even though

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those same people are the ones who love you more than anything,

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and, of course, want you to be happy and do what you need to do

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to be healthy, and, and all of that. So that was another one.

Unknown: 00:07:46

And then just kind of general consistency is tough being

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thrown out of routine, whether it's because you're traveling or

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on vacation, or you have people staying with you just the kids

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are home, it's hard to keep doing the things when they're

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disrupted in some way. So figuring out how can I create

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some routine and some normalcy even in the midst of kind of

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what feels like chaos? So can you anchor yourself to a couple

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of familiar things each day? Can you eat a normal breakfast? Or

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can you get up and go for a walk or do some form of light

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movement, just to kind of set your intention for the day

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started off on the right foot and kind of help you stay

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focused on your goals throughout it, some of those simple things

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can make a huge difference. And then I think the final thing is,

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we kind of let the holiday season all just kind of get

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jumbled together. And basically everything from like Halloween

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through New Year's kind of gets thrown into the holidays, when

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in reality, and we actually did a planning event about this in

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my client community, actually sitting down with your calendar

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and mapping out how many special or unusual days do I have in

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this period of time. Because those as like isolated meals or

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days are really pretty insignificant. It's the fact

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that we let the day before Thanksgiving, through the end of

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the week become one kind of big eating fest, or we let

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everything from mid December through New Year's become eating

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and drinking, eating and drinking centric, as opposed to

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saying, okay, cool. I'm going to indulge on those actually

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genuinely special meals. And there's the time I'm just going

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to be normal would would make so many of us so much more

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successful.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:09:29

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, those are great

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reminders. And yeah, I like the idea to have the boundary one.

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And I just never even dawned on me. But you're right when you're

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in kind of environments that you're not used to you just sort

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of think that it's yeah, you kind of just mold into their

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routines or do what you do or do less and just Yeah, saying hey,

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you know, normally I go for a walk normally I do my exercise,

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so I'm going to go do that. There's nothing wrong with that.

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But it's it's almost just we're thrown off course a little bit

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so I love exactly reminder of boundaries. That's a really good

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one for people. Um, what about for those of us who feel like

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the topics of weight loss, nutrition are overwhelming or

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confusing. There's just, there's so much information out there.

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And information is great. But I feel like sometimes it's

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conflicting. And then you know, you get all sort of your head is

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spiraling of okay, which is which and what should I follow?

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And? And then yeah, you might just be like, Man, or I don't

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even know. So I'm just not even going to bother. So what are

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your thoughts or advice for that for people that feel that

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overwhelmingness confusion when it comes to these topics,

Unknown: 00:10:38

you're so right, and that's something I hear so often

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is, you know, a genuine desire to learn and to do better. And

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then there's just so much information, like you said, a

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lot of conflicting, that the last thing you want to do is get

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started with the wrong thing. So you'll almost be like, well,

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until I know what the right thing is to do, I shouldn't do

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anything, I should just keep researching. And then you find

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yourself just kind of spinning your wheels, month after month

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not doing anything. So one piece of advice I would give is to,

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you know, potentially limit your exposure to all of that noise.

Unknown: 00:11:14

Because with social media and with, you know, search engines,

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you can have trillions of, you know, pieces of information at

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your fingertips within seconds. And if that's what you've been

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doing, and you're feeling overwhelmed, just block all that

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out and kind of ask yourself, what do I know to be true? What

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what changes do I know that I could make to my lifestyle right

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now, that would be a step in the right direction. And usually,

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when you're not distracted by all that stuff, you do have a

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pretty good idea. Most of us know, I could probably be eating

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more fruits and veggies, I could probably eat fewer things that

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are totally processed and packaged, and you know, calorie

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dense, but nutrient void, I could probably drink more water,

Unknown: 00:11:59

I could walk more, I could sleep better. The basics like that are

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the majority of where results come from. So I always suggest,

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start with kind of the low hanging fruit first, wherever

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you feel like you personally can wrap your head around making a

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change, if that's getting a simple step counter and saying

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okay, right now I work 2000 steps a day. This next week, I'm

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working getting to 3000, whatever you do in the

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beginning, is a great step. Because what you really want to

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do is just build some momentum, and collect some wins under your

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belt and start to feel like you are making a little bit of

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progress. And like you're taking action and it's working. So once

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you've done some of that some of that really simple stuff, then

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you've built a little bit of confidence in yourself, you've

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proven to yourself that you can set a goal and follow through on

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it. So then it's not that much harder to say, You know what,

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this feels a little bit like a bigger a bigger undertaking. But

Unknown: 00:12:57

I'm confident I can do it. Because look at this other stuff

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I've done. So then maybe you start tackling, doing a little

Unknown: 00:13:02

bit of meal planning or meal prep. And that in and of itself,

Unknown: 00:13:06

I think can be an overwhelming thing because you kind of think,

Unknown: 00:13:08

oh, I need all these recipes. And I need all this Tupperware

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and all this time. But I just like to think of it as where do

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you find yourself struggling during the week? And what could

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you do in advance to make that part of your life easier. So it

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could be as simple as every late afternoon, I eat way too many

Unknown: 00:13:30

snacks. So okay, then the on Sunday afternoon proportion,

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your week's worth of snacks. And anything that is not in those

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you know, individual servings, put it out of sight hard to

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reach somewhere that it's not really going to be on your

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radar. So that when you get snacky at that time you go into

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the pantry, you've got your bag, you have built in portion

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control, you've set yourself up to overcome that recurring

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obstacle. Maybe it's that you are in such a rush with getting

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everybody out the door in the morning, that breakfast is an

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afterthought or it's a Starbucks, you know, muffin with

Unknown: 00:14:04

your coffee or whatever. But just kind of seeing where is my

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current routine, you know, kind of at odds with my my longer

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term goal. And what could I do in advance to not be struggling

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with that anymore? That's really all it ever has to be. And it

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will look different for everybody. But I think really

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the key is just get out of your own way. Just start somewhere

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don't make it this like grandiose. Okay, today is the

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day we change everything. But like, hey, today's the day I

Unknown: 00:14:31

start with a glass of water. And I'll do that this week and next

Unknown: 00:14:35

week. I'm gonna build on it.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:14:37

Yeah, I love that. And there's so much that

Kalee Boisvert: 00:14:39

rings true with what you say in the health space that goes to

Kalee Boisvert: 00:14:45

like the wealth side of things and I'm like that's what I was

Kalee Boisvert: 00:14:47

doing your podcast recording today and one of my ideas was

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get out of your own way and so very similar, which I love and I

Kalee Boisvert: 00:14:55

can kind of see the similarities but that idea of yeah Like

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:00

shutting out the noise, which seems very counterintuitive at

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:03

first, like what I'm not supposed to be, you know,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:06

hearing all this and seeing the newest, the latest trends and

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:09

ideas. But you're right, that's gonna give us an opportunity to

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go in inside and go, you know, into ourselves and be like, Hey,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:19

I know like, there are those things inside, you know, you're

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:21

like, I don't drink enough water like I can tell this week, you

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:25

know, it's been a busy week, and I haven't been going to grab

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:29

more water and just go, go go like we, we do know these

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:32

things. So it's like quieting the noise, gives us the

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:35

opportunity to go inside, like you said, kind of go internally

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:40

and check in with ourselves. But yeah, the noise gets us all in

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:44

a, you know, a fury of okay, I'm supposed to do this, I should do

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:48

that. Or I should be doing this as none. And it Yeah, it's a it

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:51

feels overwhelming. It gets, you know, a little bit scary. And

Kalee Boisvert: 00:15:55

it's like, I that's too much. I'll do that later.

Unknown: 00:15:59

Exactly. And I think you're right, there are so many

Unknown: 00:16:01

similarities between health and nutrition, especially, and

Unknown: 00:16:06

finances. And I think, you know, to speak to finances a little

Unknown: 00:16:10

bit. It's very similar to somebody who's saying, Okay, I

Unknown: 00:16:13

want to save X amount of money, I have this big purchase that I

Unknown: 00:16:17

want. And I need to save money. And then like pulling your hair

Unknown: 00:16:21

out over? Well, you know, what do we have to cut out? And what

Unknown: 00:16:25

should I put it in? And like, what are we in visionary

Unknown: 00:16:26

investors? And instead of just saying, like, let me take a look

Unknown: 00:16:31

at my current, like, Where's my money currently going? And where

Unknown: 00:16:36

could I cut some things that I don't really need? Where am I

Unknown: 00:16:39

kind of spending frivolously? And why don't I let my first

Unknown: 00:16:42

step just be to save that money? And see that number growing a

Unknown: 00:16:48

little bit? And that's kind of that's getting the wins under

Unknown: 00:16:51

your belt? Then you say, oh, you know what I'm capable of saving?

Unknown: 00:16:54

Now, let me see, would it would it be helpful to be a little

Unknown: 00:16:58

more strategic about it? Or you know, what, what's the next

Unknown: 00:17:00

step, but like, just start, just start somewhere proves yourself,

Unknown: 00:17:04

you can do it. And then you know, your next step will almost

Unknown: 00:17:07

kind of like reveal itself for you.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:09

Yeah, exactly. Like it's at any action, like

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:11

you said, is positive, it's going to lead to results. It's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:14

momentum. Maybe you see, oh, you know, you're supposed to get

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:17

10,000 steps a day, or whatever you hear or read. And then

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:20

you're like, oh, my gosh, I only get like, 1000. I've been

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:24

getting on average, well, I'm not even close. And you're just

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:26

kind of throw your arms up in the air. But it's like, Okay,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:28

what if I just like you said, what if I try to double that

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:31

number? What if I try? Yeah, and then the following week, or the

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:35

following month, I make a goal, or I'm intentional about saying,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:39

Hey, I'm going to bring that up even higher, and then it's not

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:41

that overwhelming, like, oh, I have to go from 1000 to 10,000.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:46

overnight. It's how can I gradually incorporate it where

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:50

it's realistic. And it's something I can maintain and do

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:54

because Anything's better than nothing, whether you find that

Kalee Boisvert: 00:17:57

you can get up to that one that amount you want but you've

Kalee Boisvert: 00:18:00

doubled, doubled or tripled, from where you were come that's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:18:03

still making a difference. That's, that's progress.

Unknown: 00:18:07

Exactly. And I think I just I love the the financial

Unknown: 00:18:10

comparisons, because that I feel like it's like saying, in one to

Unknown: 00:18:13

lose, you know, a significant amount of weight is like saying,

Unknown: 00:18:16

I want to save, you know, $10,000 this year, sometimes

Unknown: 00:18:20

when, of course, you want to have that ultimate goal. But if

Unknown: 00:18:23

that's all you're focusing on, you're never going to start

Unknown: 00:18:25

thinking about what steps are going to get me there. You're

Unknown: 00:18:28

just going to keep telling yourself month after month, I

Unknown: 00:18:29

need to save 10 grand oh, I need to save 10 grand it was like,

Unknown: 00:18:32

well, but how? And unless you start to break it down and

Unknown: 00:18:36

figure out, Okay, do I want this to be linear, where each month

Unknown: 00:18:40

I'm saving the same? If so, that's this much per month, this

Unknown: 00:18:44

much per week, where's that going to come from? You need to

Unknown: 00:18:47

break it down into the actual actionable pieces. And a lot of

Unknown: 00:18:51

us on you know, health front will just focus on wanting to

Unknown: 00:18:55

lose a certain amount of weight and kind of get on the scale.

Unknown: 00:18:58

Right? How I lost it yet. How come I haven't. And in reality,

Unknown: 00:19:04

you need to kind of break that down further into, you know,

Unknown: 00:19:07

what does that look like monthly was lifted weekly. But then more

Unknown: 00:19:10

importantly, what am I going to do to make that happen? It's not

Unknown: 00:19:13

gonna happen to me, because it hasn't happened yet. So what am

Unknown: 00:19:16

I willing to change in order for that to become the reality?

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:19

Yeah, yeah. And that's sometimes, you know,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:21

sacrifices have to be made. I was saying that to podcast, it's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:25

people build wealth and doing so they make sacrifices, like it's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:29

not that they just get to, you know, continue as is and

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:31

everything's grand, and they get to go on every vacation and trip

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:35

and buy everything they want. There's moments where they have

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:37

to say, Hey, do I want this more? Or do I want to, you know,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:41

work towards that goal more and make those sacrifices so, you

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:45

know, those moments happen and it's more of a it's a decision

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:49

of, you know, which do I want more and which is more important

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:52

to me, so those are going to happen as well. Um, what about

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:56

what it feels like? Like when it comes to dieting and you

Kalee Boisvert: 00:19:59

mentioned kind of yo yo dieting? And what if it feels like, you

Kalee Boisvert: 00:20:03

know, it feels like it's a forever thing like if a woman or

Kalee Boisvert: 00:20:06

a person just feels like, well, I'm only going to be able to

Kalee Boisvert: 00:20:09

achieve that weight or keep it off or do these things if,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:20:13

basically, I'm on a diet for the rest of my life. And and I

Kalee Boisvert: 00:20:16

guess, you know, that's not really a fun feel.

Unknown: 00:20:20

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that's where a lot of the

Unknown: 00:20:29

information around weight loss is lacking a lot of programs, a

Unknown: 00:20:34

lot of information you'll find is really geared towards losing

Unknown: 00:20:40

weight as fast as possible. And it's not geared towards setting

Unknown: 00:20:45

you up for successful maintenance. Looking

Unknown: 00:20:48

statistically, the overwhelming majority of people who lose

Unknown: 00:20:52

weight will regain it, it's a very small minority who keep it

Unknown: 00:20:56

off a year, five years, 10 years down the road, which is really

Unknown: 00:21:01

kind of a sobering statistic. And I don't say it to be

Unknown: 00:21:05

discouraging, or make you feel like, well, why why even bother

Unknown: 00:21:07

trying, if it's, you know, it's not gonna stick. But to try to

Unknown: 00:21:11

convey that taking the same approach over and over again, is

Unknown: 00:21:16

not going to suddenly work this next time. The reason that most

Unknown: 00:21:21

people who lose weight have a hard time keeping it off is

Unknown: 00:21:23

because the approach that they took to lose, it wasn't

Unknown: 00:21:27

sustainable, or healthy, or realistic, long term. And most

Unknown: 00:21:31

people are very capable of doing something in the short term, we

Unknown: 00:21:37

can all kind of wrap our heads around being committed for 30

Unknown: 00:21:40

days or a few months or things like that. But it's almost like

Unknown: 00:21:44

when you have that end date in mind, you're just kind of

Unknown: 00:21:48

focusing on the end date of oh, I can kind of go back to normal

Unknown: 00:21:52

after that. And that's where the audio comes from, is you make

Unknown: 00:21:55

all these sacrifices for a short period of time, and you haven't

Unknown: 00:21:59

made sustainable habit changes. So you then revert right back to

Unknown: 00:22:05

what you did and just kind of bounced back and forth. So the

Unknown: 00:22:09

key, I think, is to lose the weight in a way that is

Unknown: 00:22:15

preparing you for maintenance. Because at the end of the day,

Unknown: 00:22:20

no matter how long it takes you to lose the weight, or how long

Unknown: 00:22:22

you've been struggling with the weight, odds are, you have many

Unknown: 00:22:24

more years of maintenance ahead of you than you do of weight

Unknown: 00:22:28

loss. So the thing to be preparing for is that, and what

Unknown: 00:22:35

we try to help our clients do is realize that losing doesn't need

Unknown: 00:22:40

to feel miserable. It doesn't need to be this giant of people,

Unknown: 00:22:45

like you said, Of course, there are sacrifices, you're going to

Unknown: 00:22:47

have to choose your long term goal instead of the short term

Unknown: 00:22:50

gratification. But when you lose it in a way that you're not

Unknown: 00:22:55

eliminating certain foods, or food groups, or you're not

Unknown: 00:22:57

feeling very restricted, you're not over exercising, when you're

Unknown: 00:23:00

making changes that work with your lifestyle. Yes, the day to

Unknown: 00:23:06

day results may be slower than what you've done in the past.

Unknown: 00:23:10

But you're not gonna you're not gonna lose it and gain and lose

Unknown: 00:23:12

and gain it. So ultimately, it's a lot faster. So that's, that's

Unknown: 00:23:17

the biggest thing is if you are doing something that you feel

Unknown: 00:23:21

like you're counting down until you can stop. That's kind of a

Unknown: 00:23:25

red flag. And I think sometimes there's some confusion about

Unknown: 00:23:30

something being sustainable and something feeling totally

Unknown: 00:23:33

effortless. Of course, when you're making changes, and when

Unknown: 00:23:37

you're learning new things, there's going to be some

Unknown: 00:23:38

discomfort, there's going to be that learning curve where it

Unknown: 00:23:41

doesn't feel natural yet, and you would prefer to do it the

Unknown: 00:23:44

old way. So you do need to kind of get yourself over that hump

Unknown: 00:23:47

and be committed to learning in the process. And that's what we

Unknown: 00:23:52

talk to clients a lot about is seeing things as tools and as

Unknown: 00:23:58

skills and learning experiences. To take with them. For example,

Unknown: 00:24:03

food tracking, I, I think of it as very similar to a financial

Unknown: 00:24:08

budget, you can pull up your bank record, and you can see

Unknown: 00:24:10

where's my money going? With a food log, you can pull that up

Unknown: 00:24:14

and see where is my food budget going, where my calorie is being

Unknown: 00:24:17

spent. And from there, you can figure out what choices will,

Unknown: 00:24:21

you know, be a better way to use your budget, which foods maybe

Unknown: 00:24:26

don't make you feel your best, how they all can fit within it.

Unknown: 00:24:29

It's a really eye opening tool, but a lot of people use it as a

Unknown: 00:24:32

crutch or as a punishment or as busy work. So we really work on

Unknown: 00:24:37

what do you need to learn so that the behavior, the changes

Unknown: 00:24:42

that you make day to day stick, even when you aren't using that

Unknown: 00:24:45

tool anymore? And I think that's ultimately the most important

Unknown: 00:24:48

thing is if you can kind of ingrain those things in your

Unknown: 00:24:50

head if you can identify your macronutrients, if you can see

Unknown: 00:24:55

portions and estimate them relatively easily. If you can

Unknown: 00:24:58

stop thinking about foods as being Good or being bad, you're

Unknown: 00:25:01

going to be so much more successful at maintaining even

Unknown: 00:25:03

when you're not, you know, being super focused on not gaining.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:09

Yeah, I love all that, that you said and that,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:12

that maintenance and that being then the goal and the important

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:15

part, not just the number loss in and then the part of the red

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:21

flag being Yeah, if you're like just counting down the days of

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:24

like, oh, I can't wait, I only have one more week of, you know,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:28

not doing this or having to do that, then. Yeah, it's probably

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:31

there's been a bit too much sacrifice or too much push that

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:35

you're not going to be able to it's not a maintaining thing,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:39

then it's probably it's more that you're torturing. And we

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:43

don't want that. Um, yeah. What are some then like realistic

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:48

habits that people can incorporate? You know, now, like

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:53

right now. I mean, we're in December right now. holidays are

Kalee Boisvert: 00:25:57

coming. There's lots of, you know, food to be eaten and

Kalee Boisvert: 00:26:00

alcohol to be drink and whatnot and temptations and things like

Kalee Boisvert: 00:26:04

that. Maybe what are some realistic habits that people can

Kalee Boisvert: 00:26:08

incorporate right now that could make could make a difference or

Kalee Boisvert: 00:26:12

help with this? You know, the maintenance and whatnot that we

Kalee Boisvert: 00:26:15

talked about?

Unknown: 00:26:16

Yeah, that's a great question. And I think you're

Unknown: 00:26:18

right that this time of year is the advice that I give is a

Unknown: 00:26:22

little bit different than I might different time of year, I

Unknown: 00:26:24

think there is a an absolute time and place for things like

Unknown: 00:26:28

food tracking and understanding the numbers and kind of the

Unknown: 00:26:32

science of weight loss. I think that's where most people are

Unknown: 00:26:36

willing to go in kind of the January frame of mind to where

Unknown: 00:26:39

you want to kind of make it a priority. Again, this time of

Unknown: 00:26:41

year is more so trying to keep the train on the tracks a little

Unknown: 00:26:45

bit and kind of just not go as overboard, as maybe you have in

Unknown: 00:26:48

the past. So I have two pieces of advice for that. One is

Unknown: 00:26:55

learning and practicing mindful eating, which I think is a

Unknown: 00:26:59

little bit of a cliche term, or even maybe just kind of a vague

Unknown: 00:27:03

term. By that I mean, actually paying attention when you're

Unknown: 00:27:07

eating, I think most of us are probably guilty, every so often,

Unknown: 00:27:12

of eating, you know, quote, unquote, meal, like standing in

Unknown: 00:27:17

front of the open fridge door, or over the sink, or just kind

Unknown: 00:27:20

of shoving some food into your face running between thing and

Unknown: 00:27:24

other things. And when that's how you're eating, you're not

Unknown: 00:27:27

enjoying the food at all, you're not tasting it, it's not feeling

Unknown: 00:27:30

satisfying. So one of the easiest things you can do,

Unknown: 00:27:33

especially if you're at a party or something like that, where

Unknown: 00:27:36

there's just like food everywhere, is when you're

Unknown: 00:27:38

eating, really pay attention to what you're eating, how it

Unknown: 00:27:43

tastes, how much you're enjoying it, how satisfied you're

Unknown: 00:27:47

feeling. It's much easier to do when you're sitting at a table.

Unknown: 00:27:50

And just implementing very small things like putting your fork

Unknown: 00:27:54

down in between bites, or looking around at like, who is

Unknown: 00:27:58

the slowest eater at the table, which is usually the same person

Unknown: 00:28:00

who's talking the most, and trying to match their pace.

Unknown: 00:28:03

Because when you slow down, you're you're much more likely

Unknown: 00:28:06

to tune into when you start to get full, instead of just eating

Unknown: 00:28:11

until it's gone and be like, Oh, that was too much. So things

Unknown: 00:28:14

like that just paying more attention, putting your food on

Unknown: 00:28:17

a plate, sitting down to eat it without distractions, not on

Unknown: 00:28:20

your phone, not watching TV, making it the focal point is a

Unknown: 00:28:25

total game changer, you will really get so much more

Unknown: 00:28:28

enjoyment out of your food. And you'll probably be satisfied

Unknown: 00:28:32

with less than you think. And you especially with things like

Unknown: 00:28:34

desserts that are usually very rich. And you may eat to the

Unknown: 00:28:38

point of not feeling well. When you're paying attention, you

Unknown: 00:28:41

might find it two, three bytes is really all you need. And

Unknown: 00:28:44

after that, it doesn't taste as good anymore. And that's when

Unknown: 00:28:46

you're like, Okay, that's enough. So that's one is kind of

Unknown: 00:28:50

leaning into that sort of intangible stuff that can make a

Unknown: 00:28:53

big difference. And the second one is to go into events or

Unknown: 00:28:59

occasions with a plan.

Unknown: 00:29:02

I think a lot of times we tell ourselves that we have no idea

Unknown: 00:29:08

what to expect from something, oh, I'm going to so and so's

Unknown: 00:29:10

house for the first time I have no idea what foods will be there

Unknown: 00:29:12

or you know what to expect. So it's just kind of a total

Unknown: 00:29:16

crapshoot. You may not have been in this exact position before,

Unknown: 00:29:20

can guess relatively well. There's going to be alcohol,

Unknown: 00:29:23

there are going to be some appetizers, desserts entrees

Unknown: 00:29:26

like you can piece together a pretty good guess at what it's

Unknown: 00:29:28

gonna look like. So, kind of visualize yourself in that

Unknown: 00:29:33

position and think about what are the very similar to like

Unknown: 00:29:36

what I was saying about meal planning. Just anticipate what

Unknown: 00:29:39

are the things that in similar scenarios have tripped me up

Unknown: 00:29:41

before? Is it that the booze is flowing? And I just keep saying

Unknown: 00:29:45

yes to it? Is it that I always hover around the appetizer

Unknown: 00:29:48

table? Start kind of picturing yourself in the in the moment

Unknown: 00:29:52

and thinking what could I do differently? Could I do

Unknown: 00:29:57

something as simple as just giving myself a drink limit?

Unknown: 00:30:00

could I tell myself that when you know that I will pick two

Unknown: 00:30:04

appetizers before we eat, and then you know, I'll wait until

Unknown: 00:30:08

dinner. Basically, just pre commit yourself to the choices

Unknown: 00:30:13

that you want to make. In the moment, I like to think about

Unknown: 00:30:16

our brains as having kind of an operating system like a computer

Unknown: 00:30:20

does. And you make yourself basically like an if then

Unknown: 00:30:24

statement. So if someone offers me a third glass of wine, then I

Unknown: 00:30:30

will say, No thank you and have a water instead, it doesn't

Unknown: 00:30:32

really matter what the thing is. But you just don't want to wait

Unknown: 00:30:34

until you're in the moment. And then tried to make you know,

Unknown: 00:30:38

what would be the the choice that to better align with your

Unknown: 00:30:41

goals. Once you once you're in the moment, you're probably the

Unknown: 00:30:45

easiest thing is going to be to do what you've always done. So

Unknown: 00:30:47

you need to have come up with a different plan. And then in the

Unknown: 00:30:51

moment, you just need to decide No, I already made made this

Unknown: 00:30:54

decision, don't go back and negotiate on this topic you've

Unknown: 00:30:56

already decided. So it does take a little bit of discipline to

Unknown: 00:30:59

then follow through on it. But that's where the visualization

Unknown: 00:31:02

really comes through is like, you know, close your eyes

Unknown: 00:31:05

picture who's going to be there, what it's going to look like,

Unknown: 00:31:07

and picture yourself doing the thing you said you were going to

Unknown: 00:31:10

do, and how good it feels to make yourself proud. And to walk

Unknown: 00:31:14

out that evening, having done exactly what you said, you're

Unknown: 00:31:16

gonna do. That sort of practice can go a long way so that you're

Unknown: 00:31:21

not caught off guard. And very much like we were talking about

Unknown: 00:31:25

earlier with collecting wins. Once you prove to yourself that

Unknown: 00:31:29

you can go into a situation like that, and behave differently

Unknown: 00:31:33

than you have in the past. It just kind of triggers something

Unknown: 00:31:36

in you where you're just like, Okay, if I did that, if I did it

Unknown: 00:31:39

once I can do it again. And then you can kind of kind of have

Unknown: 00:31:42

that momentum going into future events.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:31:45

Absolutely. Very, yeah, it's empowering.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:31:47

Like, once you have that when it's like, Yes, I got this, I

Kalee Boisvert: 00:31:50

can do this. I don't have to like dread the Oh, I'm gonna be

Kalee Boisvert: 00:31:54

like, everything on the planet, and it's just not gonna feel

Kalee Boisvert: 00:31:57

good the next day?

Unknown: 00:31:58

Yes, power is a perfect word. Yeah. And it's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:02

things you said, I'm like, Oh, these makes sense.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:04

Like, putting it on a plate? Because I'm the one you know,

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:06

you're hovering around the table, and you're grabbing

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:08

things here and there. And you're like, how many of these

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:10

have I eaten? Like, if I would have had on a plate? I'd

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:13

probably have a better sense of it. But because I haven't you're

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:16

like kind of lying to yourself, or in denial? How much you've

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:19

actually been eating? Which, yeah, it gets a little bit

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:22

scary. So those are amazing ideas. Very relevant for the

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:26

holidays. I think that's fabulous. And just yeah, in for

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:30

sake of time, um, maybe can we chat a little bit about? What

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:36

does it what does it entail to work with like a coach like

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:38

yourself? So your company is EA coaching? What does that mean to

Kalee Boisvert: 00:32:42

work with? a weight loss coach or nutrition coach? Or?

Unknown: 00:32:47

Yeah, great question. So part of what I think makes a

Unknown: 00:32:51

coaching unique is that we do provide that multifaceted,

Unknown: 00:32:55

really comprehensive approach to health and weight loss. And I

Unknown: 00:33:01

think that's really the key to success. There's a lot of

Unknown: 00:33:03

programs or if you know, you've worked with a personal trainer,

Unknown: 00:33:05

you're getting the exercise, if you work with the just kind of

Unknown: 00:33:10

nutrition specialists, you're getting that piece of it, if

Unknown: 00:33:12

you're working with a, you know, a life coach, you're getting the

Unknown: 00:33:16

mindset piece of it, but it's rare to find all of it under one

Unknown: 00:33:19

roof. And all that is happening, you know, under this one body.

Unknown: 00:33:23

So I think it's important to compare that one stop shop where

Unknown: 00:33:26

you can talk about all of those things, and your coach isn't

Unknown: 00:33:29

going to respond with like, well, that's outside my

Unknown: 00:33:31

wheelhouse. I don't know that we can really look at you as a

Unknown: 00:33:34

whole person and how everything is so interconnected. So our

Unknown: 00:33:37

premier coaching is one on one, and is really a deep dive into

Unknown: 00:33:41

all of those things. We provide the exercise programming,

Unknown: 00:33:43

nutrition protocols, weekly coaching to kind of implement

Unknown: 00:33:47

the stuff go over any of the mindset issues and things like

Unknown: 00:33:50

that we have a curriculum of trainings that go along with it

Unknown: 00:33:53

group coaching calls. And then we have a couple of other

Unknown: 00:33:57

options that are a group program, which is more focused

Unknown: 00:34:01

on the nutrition and exercise basics, which is perfect for

Unknown: 00:34:04

someone who maybe is feeling overwhelmed, and it's like I do

Unknown: 00:34:06

this research. And then I just spin my wheels and wants like a

Unknown: 00:34:09

very clear cut. Let's start here. Let's do this next. These

Unknown: 00:34:12

are the we call them the big rocks. These are the things that

Unknown: 00:34:14

matter most master these and you'll be good to go. And then

Unknown: 00:34:18

we have a self guided weight loss mindset mastery course,

Unknown: 00:34:22

which is really geared towards the woman who feels like I know

Unknown: 00:34:27

what to do. I just like we were saying earlier, I just can't get

Unknown: 00:34:30

out of my own way. I'm sabotaging myself, I'm comparing

Unknown: 00:34:34

myself to other people. I feel like I don't believe that I'm

Unknown: 00:34:38

ever going to be successful. I have this black and white

Unknown: 00:34:40

mentality. So it really dives into the mental component of get

Unknown: 00:34:44

your mind right and then everything else is gonna fall

Unknown: 00:34:46

into place after that.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:34:49

Okay, I love it. So there's a few different

Kalee Boisvert: 00:34:51

approaches and it's very dependent on the person so it's

Kalee Boisvert: 00:34:54

great. There's a lot of variety there depending on what you're

Kalee Boisvert: 00:34:56

looking for. What works well for you if based on your Your Life

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:00

schedule and things like that. So for people to find more about

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:04

your programs or to reach out to you, what's the best way for

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:07

them to do that?

Unknown: 00:35:08

Yeah, so I'm on Instagram Esther event, I

Unknown: 00:35:11

assuming no, in your show notes, you'll have the spelling. So I'm

Unknown: 00:35:15

on Instagram, I'm on Facebook, I run a group, a free group called

Unknown: 00:35:20

Live diet free that you can probably find, you can also just

Unknown: 00:35:22

send me a friend request to Esther event. And my website is

Unknown: 00:35:27

Esther avon.com.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:28

Perfect. Okay, I'll have all those in the show

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:30

notes. I love that definitely reach out to Esther because

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:33

that's there's a lot of things here. I'm like, Yeah, this is

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:36

amazing. I haven't really given a lot of thought to this in my

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:38

own life. And this is all really resonating. And it makes sense.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:42

And I love that I love the whole holistic approach you do as

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:45

well, which is wonderful. So thank you so much, Esther, for

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:49

being here today. She had a cold and she still went through with

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:53

it. She talked with us, she gave us lots of good tips. So I

Kalee Boisvert: 00:35:56

really appreciate that. Esther, thank you so much. For all these

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:00

very great tips that you've shared with us. I know listeners

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:02

are going to get a lot of value out of

Unknown: 00:36:04

this. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. It's

Unknown: 00:36:06

been my pleasure. All

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:07

right. So thank you so much. Thank you everyone

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:09

for tuning into this episode, and I will catch you on next

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:12

week's episode. All right, bye for now.

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:23

I hope you found value in this episode. And because I'm such a

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:26

proponent of taking confident action, I want to pose a

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:29

question to you the listener. What is one action that you feel

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:34

inspired to take after listening to today's episode? If you enjoy

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:39

listening, please subscribe and share with your friends and

Kalee Boisvert: 00:36:41

family. Thank you so much and I will catch you next time