Hey, sister! Welcome back to a Taylored Adventure to Happiness. If you are new, welcome! If you are a regular, I love ya, I love ya, I love ya!
When it comes to food and the holidays, what is your first thought? Are you overwhelmed and ready to ditch all your routines because there will be so many parties? Do you start planning your cheat meals, so they line up with all the parties? No matter what time of year it is, food makes up a big portion of our lives. But, sister, it doesn’t have to control you or stress you out!
I know because I used to be an emotional eater. Whenever I was stressed or felt out of control, I turned to food. Now, I enjoy food and try all the yummy things, including dessert, even when I’m traveling, but I don’t do so impulsively or have a bad day. I enjoy all the yummy food because it’s yummy. And, I don’t spend hours a day in the gym trying to keep my figure or make up for all the extra calories I ate.
After one of my many trips last year, my DMs were flooded with the question, “How do you stay healthy?” So, I shared eight unconventional tips that help me stay fit while not robbing me of my life. With the holidays literally upon us, I thought it would be a good time to share this message again for two reasons.
One, because you were made to enjoy life — all of it, including food! The purpose of food is to give you energy and joy, not control you and keep you in fear. Secondly, because restricting diets and super long workouts are rarely the solution. Compassion, grace, and love will do more for your self-esteem and waist-line than following strict programs ever will.
If you’re ready to trade calorie-counting and long workouts for a loving and intentional approach to food and fitness, this is the post you’ve been looking for. In today’s post, I’ll reveal what emotional eating is and how to identify its root in your life. You’ll also learn a mantra I use to care for my physical and emotional wellness. Finally, I’ll tell you what my typical meal plan and personal workout program look like.
Let’s dive in, sister!
My Fitness Journey
I grew up playing lacrosse and being a competitive cheerleader. I stayed active in college, but that turned into lifting bottles of liquor to my mouth — if you know what I mean. In my early adulthood, I started lifting. That’s when I became skinny-fat. It’s also around that time that I put myself into anger management (you can learn more about that here).
Shortly after being in anger management, I knew I needed to shift my body’s energy to a more positive place. This was also a recommendation from my counselor. So, I joined a gym and quickly saw results. I started putting on lean muscle and getting strong. It was really fucking fun! From there, I got into the world of fitness competitions. If you’re familiar with that world, you’d want to know I competed in the NPC bikini division and got first place at my first show. I was hooked!
For the next few years, I trained, competed, and won trophies. I competed in about eight shows and placed first, second, or third at all of them. That chapter of my life was an absolute blast. During that time, I grew my first business, which was all fitness related. Eventually, I lost my zeal for working out and competing. I kept showing up on social media and posting fitness related videos because that’s what I was known for and how I made an income, but my heart wasn’t in it.
Finally, about three years ago now, I transitioned my business to what I do today. As I followed my soul’s calling into money-mindset coaching and all things spiritual, I realized that my nutrition and fitness routine needed something different, too. All the different and new strategies I gathered are what I will share with you in the rest of this post!
Before we get to those, I want you to know that your first thing doesn’t have to be your forever thing. There is no rule that says you cannot change and do something different. I would never wish to erase the years I spent building a fitness business, counting macros, and competing. I’m grateful for all those years, the lessons I learned, and the courage I exercised when I let them go so I could do what I do today.
Sister, whatever journey you’re on — building a business, counting-calories, or practicing yoga — know that you’re allowed to love it, get tired of it, or do something different. What’s important is that you get present with yourself to know how you feel about where you are. From that place of awareness, you can choose the next step to become your most elevated self!
Decide How You’re Going to Speak to Yourself
This is actually a tool I learned from one of my dear friends. One day, she shared that her morning routine includes a positive mantra that she speaks over her body. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was fucking gold and something I would be adding to my morning routine.
Ever since, I write a list of gratitudes when I wake up, and then I repeat the mantra I learned from her, “I am stronger. I am healthier. I am more energized, lean, and motivated than I was yesterday.” How powerful is that?
Here’s a question you might be thinking: Do I say, “I am stronger, healthier, leaner, and more motivated than I was yesterday,” even when I don’t feel it? Yes! Absolutely, yes, because the words we say to ourselves have power. If I wake up in the morning and say (or think), “I feel so fat. I feel lethargic. Ah, look at the cellulite on my ass. Why does my stomach have to hang over my shorts?! God, I hate my body!” I just affirmed all those negative things in my mind and body.
Remember, “Where our attention goes, energy flows.” So what we say about our body tells our mind how our body is going to be. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about this when it comes to money. It’s the same thing with our bodies — the same fucking thing. Our cells react to how we speak to them.
Our cells are alive. They’re fucking alive! And what we say to them is what they make happen. So, if you wake up complaining about your body, your cells are going to be like, “I hear low vibrations. That must be what we’re supposed to make happen. Let’s get on it!” But if you say something positive and high-vibe, your cells are going to be like, “I hear those high-vibes, let’s bring up the energy!”
One of the reasons what we focus on and say to ourselves holds power is because it triggers our subconscious mind. When our subconscious mind is triggered, it sets out to match the results we said or were thinking. When you say, “I’m so fat and bloated,” your subconscious mind looks for ways to keep you in that state, like reaching for a cookie. You might not be intentionally reaching for the cookie because you feel bloated, but that’s what’s happening in your mind.
So, if you say, “I am stronger, healthier, leaner, and more motivated than I was yesterday,” your subconscious mind is going to find ways to get you in that state and keep you there. With this mantra, you can override how you naturally feel and lead yourself into a healthier, happier place. Will it happen overnight? No, but day after day of confirming to your subconscious that you are a better version than you were yesterday will set your mind on a track to make it happen!
Decide who and how you want to be, then speak that version of yourself into existence.
What Is Emotional Eating?
When I hit rock bottom years ago, I put myself into overeaters anonymous and anger management. I was literally eating my feelings away. I didn’t know how to communicate safely or share my feelings. At the time, I was with someone who would gaslight me and turn all my emotions back on me whenever I shared how I felt. If I was going through something, I felt like I was bad, wrong, or crazy. As a result, I was leaning into food to comfort me. I was using food to give myself a hug or boost of dopamine I so desperately craved.
When we’re turning to food for comfort or happiness, we tend to come from a place of stress and tension. In other words, everything is tight — stomach, intestines, complete digestive system. This is important because our gut is our second brain. What goes on in our gut and digestive tract — healthy bacteria, nutrient absorption, bowel movements — significantly impacts our hormones, mental clarity, reasoning, and mood.
This means that when you are stressed, your stomach is in knots. In other words, your digestive tract is not going to work right. High-stress moments are when we tend to reach for sweets and carbs. Let’s say you’re stressed, and you eat a cookie. Your body will process that in a stressed-out manner, which leads to digestive issues like bloating, cramps, and gas. That’s why, after you emotionally eat, you often feel sick and uncomfortable.
One Step You Can Take Toward Healing Emotional Eating
If you want to heal from emotional eating, one of the first things you need to do is identify the root of your behavior. Are you stuffing away your feelings because you don’t feel safe to share them? Are you sitting in shame for parts of life feeling hard? What are you avoiding by reaching for the food?
At one of my Ultimate Girls Weekends, we discussed this really powerful analogy related to emotional eating that I want to share with you. Think about why a form of love that you craved from your mom but didn’t receive? I’m not saying she didn’t love you, but maybe there was a specific way you wished she had loved you that she didn’t.
In my case, my mom loved me, and today we have a phenomenal relationship. We’re super close. But she grew up in a German family. Traditionally, Germans are stoic and don’t show a lot of emotions. So, my mom didn’t grow up being cuddled, hugged, or kissed. As a mother, she didn’t show that kind of affection to me as a kid. Not because she didn’t love me, but because she didn’t think about expressing her love that way or didn’t know how.
I now know that turning to food was my way of compensating for the kind of love I desired. So, what was the love that you were seeking from your mom that you never got? And how have you been compensating? I think asking yourself this question in relation to the love you received from your mom is important because they are the individual who feeds and nourishes us from infancy. That’s why we often connect food to comfort — maternal figures are the ones who often comfort us.
My Typical Meal Plan and Personal Workout Program
I am a creature of habit. I love structure and habits. It just makes my life really easy. And I love for my life to be easy. So, my routines aren’t super fancy. They’re simple, easily replicable, and get the job done.
My Fitness Routine
When I wake up in the morning, I repeat my mantra and walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I do this for two reasons. One to get my blood flowing, oxygen circulating, and brain working. Secondly, so that I can be at the top of my game and serve with my whole heart. I go straight from this walk into all my creative projects for my business — recording the podcast, writing social media posts, and crafting course content.
Later in the afternoon, I’ll lift weights. Twice a week, I do legs, once a week, I do a shoulder day, and the fourth day usually focuses on back muscles. I don’t lift for hours, just 30-40 minutes. On the fifth day, I’ll do yoga or Pilates — whatever feels good to me that day. The goal is to move my body intentionally. And, no joke, I feel more in shape now than when I was competition-thin and shredded.
My Nutrition Routine
My current nutrition plan is super simple compared to when I was competing. All day long, I drink water — TONS of water! My first meal of the day is a smoothie with fruit, spinach, and a scoop or two of collagen. I have that around 10:30 AM. My second meal of the day is four open-faced Nutella sandwiches — I’m serious! Why not eat the things you love for a meal?! I usually have some banana chips, cashews, raisins, or a protein bar for a snack.
Before I go to the gym, I’ll often eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When I get back, I have my infamous spinach salad: dried and seasoned chickpeas, goat cheese, chopped up spinach, diced strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, some seeds, and dressing. If I feel like I need a little something extra that day, I’ll add some chicken, but that’s not very often.
On the weekend, Johnny and I go all out. We get pizza or dessert, and we have fun. We enjoy ourselves and don’t worry about it because we know that we will get back to our routine on Monday!
If there’s one thing you take away from this, let it be simplicity. The longer I pursue health and wellness, the more convinced I am that the simplest and easily adhered to plans are the best. Remember, we feed our bodies and invest in fitness to show up as our best selves. Sister, a truly effective health and wellness strategy is one that you stick to over the long haul and helps you feel good physically and mentally. Got it?
Why You Need to Listen to This Podcast Episode Today…
There you have it, the highly requested tips on how I stay fit and healthy whether I’m working from home and traveling. I sincerely hope you learned some unique and valuable tips to add to your routines. If you did, make sure you listen to the whole podcast episode, where I shared a total of eight tips. I tried to share the most unique and applicable tips here; otherwise, this post would be close to 20 pages long.
Whether you get time to listen to that episode or not, remember, you are here to live out your purpose in this world. To do that, you’ve got to keep your vessel happy and healthy. Sister, that all starts with how you think about yourself and the way you talk to yourself. If you shift that one area of your life to a positive and empowered place, I promise you, the results will come.
If you loved this message, please share it with a friend. That literally is the best way you can say “thank you” to me — helping me get this message into the hands of more marvelous women. You can take a screenshot of this and share it on Instagram. Tag me, @iamtaylorsimpson, and let me know what your number one takeaway is and how you’re going to apply it!
Here’s to becoming healthier, leaner, stronger, wealthier, and more energized than we were yesterday! Until next time, remember to choose happiness because, well, why the fuck not?
Key Takeaways:
+ Magic smoothie recipe
+ Taylor’s fitness journey
+ Being weird with your partner
+ Your “why”
+ A powerful mantra
+ Our cells are alive
+ How are you going to speak to yourself in the morning?
+ Emotional eating
+ Finding the root of it all
+ Working out with love
+ Thanking your body
+ Intuitive eating
+ Trusting yourself
+ Intermittent fasting
+ Saying grace and setting an intention on your food
+ Enjoy that chocolate cake
+ Bye-bye guilt
+ Give yourself extra grace and love!
+ Taylor’s workout routine!
+ Taylor’s food during the day
+ The infamous spinach salad
Standout Quotes:
“I’m stronger. I’m healthier. I’m leaner. I’m more energized and more motivated than I was yesterday.”
“Are you treating your body like a Porsche or like a junky car?”
“When you listen to our body, it listens to us.”
