Episode 17: Embracing Well-being in Motherhood with Special Guest Elena Nicole Certified Holistic Health and Life Coach

Kayla: Welcome everyone. Today, our guest is Elena. She is a certified health coach and life coach. She helps women who want to lose weight and or create a healthy lifestyle to do it in a realistic and sustainable way. She helps women develop habits and routines in the area of nutrition, mindset and movement that work for them, while helping them feel more empowered, confident and in control in both health and life. Welcome, elena. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today.

Elena: Yes, thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Kayla: Yes, and, of course, starting with our number one question, what is your definition of a balanced life?

Elena: That’s such a good question, such a big question, I feel like for me it’s finding time to work in all of the things that you find important in your life, in the right quantities for you, if that makes sense. So I think a lot of the times we think of balance as 50-50. And my perception of it is that it doesn’t have to be. It’s the quantities that work for you. I think of balanced meals or work-life balance. I think it’s identifying first what you want that to look like and then making it happen.

Kayla: Yeah, and it is such a big question, and one of the reasons why I do ask it is because everyone has their own version. They have their own version of balance, they have their own definition, they have their own values and I like being able to show the different ways people balance their own lives.

Elena: Yeah, absolutely, and that’s why I think for me, the longest time I did really think it had to be a perfect way or that way that maybe I heard someone else talk about or read something on. But I think after we’re willing to be more flexible with it and decide what that perfect way is for us, don’t want to be easier to create and also maintain. It’s kind of what I found in my own experience in that response too.

Kayla: So Absolutely, because we all have different needs, whether it is whether our life or our needs are similar to other people. If we’re trying to make our picture of a balanced life fit the way someone else is, we’re always going to come to some kind of how do you say like barrier, because that’s not working for us. But we’re just trying to make it fit because we’re quote, unquote, so like them.

Elena: Exactly, yeah, 100%, and like we don’t think like them. So it’s like I only think, too. When people are trying to, like you know, create a new habit or lose weight or whatever, it is like you can go online and you can download someone else’s plan, you can follow them for a week and like try to do what they do, but it’s likely going to be feel so hard because, like you said, we are not that person, we don’t think like that person. So we have to develop our own like, habits and identity to reach our own goal.

Kayla: And this often comes up. I mean, the comparison stuff comes up with everyone, but I especially see it really coming up when it comes to moms and when we’re looking on social media and the way other people are living their life or the way that people are showing up in social media. It can be really hard to look at someone’s life if he and think why can’t my life be that way, or why can’t I be that organized, or why can’t I have these things look so pristine, when the reality is is we don’t even know if that’s their reality for one and they may have extra help or they may just have different needs and wants.

Elena: Yeah, definitely. And I found myself in that place for so long and even still, like I’ll definitely have those thoughts come in and what I heard once I don’t remember where it was is to use like those moments of like inspiration, Like I don’t know why my mind goes to this time. I was at my sister’s house and she had just decorated and our house looked so nice and my house, like we don’t typically spend time on like decorating, Like we now have a new house and we have done that, but that’s the first time.

Elena: Like before, people used to come into my home like it didn’t matter when and they would say, did you just move in? Because we just never actually did that.

Elena: And I remember one time being in my sister’s house and it looked so nice, she had just decorated and all that, and I was like, oh my gosh, why can’t my house look like this, like just like you said? And I remember then thinking there because I had heard that it can. Like. I remember thinking to myself it can if I literally wanted to go home and put the work in and do whatever.

Elena: It’s helped to get there it could. It’s not that it can’t, it’s just that for me right then it clearly wasn’t a priority. So like that kind of shift there it was really helpful for me, like in all areas. And also looking at his inspiration, Like if she can do it, I can do it. You know, like there’s no reason I can’t, I just haven’t yet. So that that for me has been really helpful.

Kayla: I love that. Yes, use it as inspiration, because it’s true and what you just said before you recognize that that was something that you wanted. You hadn’t made it a priority. It may be sure in the back of your mind, like, oh yes, I would love to decorate the house, but until you were in someone else’s, in your sister’s home, and thought, oh, this looks so nice, this feels so great, I want something like this too. Instead of allowing jealousy or any of those emotions overtake you, you thought you know I could do this too. I should prioritize it.

Elena: Yeah, same thing with like. If you’re scrolling on Instagram and even me, I see like all the influencers, it’s like the app eating all the food and I’m like why can I do that? That’s like wait, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to either eat all those things that I know are going to leave me feeling good or I don’t want to eliminate my line trips or whatever it is Like. It’s the same exact thing and it helps me with that too.

Kayla: So yes, yes, and you know, segue into part of the reason why I brought you on here today was to talk on the topic of trying to make a health style, or a healthy lifestyle work for us as moms, because oftentimes I hear well, I can’t do it, I don’t have the time, I I’m just so exhausted, or I can’t cook, or I don’t know how to cook those things. How can moms start incorporating smaller steps to make something work for them?

Elena: Yeah. So that’s also like such a big question. But I think what it starts off with is kind of what we touched on a little bit earlier is like we have to figure out one, what we want, like what is our goal, what are we trying to work towards? And it’s super, super clear on that, because a lot of times, like we have this kind of vague idea, so it’s a lot harder for us to then put the steps in place to get there.

Elena: So that’s where, when I work with a client, or even if I’m just talking to a family or friend, I’m always like but what is your goal? Like what do you actually want out of life, out of health, and getting really specific there, and so like for a lot of people like I want to lose 10 pounds, I want my clothes to be better, whatever it is, but I also want them to think about what is like kind of your vision for your life when it comes to health.

Elena: And like I, always give the example, like for me it’s.

Elena: I want to feel my back every day, I want to wake up every day and then, like clothes are going to fit, like so it just gives you that really like crystal clear picture of what you’re working towards. And the reason I say it is so important to start with that is because when you come up against all of those life obstacles in the day to day because no matter what, whether we’re a mom, whether you know we’re not, we’re going to those challenges are going to come, no matter what but when you can reflect on like that vision that you created in the very beginning, it’s going to be so much easier to carry through, regardless of how busy you are.

Elena: So that’s like the first thing I always start with people and then, like the second piece is like kind of fits into the first, but like why truly do you really want it? And like we have to drill down really deep there to the point where when you say it that you’re like oh, that really resonates with me, like I want to get up right now and go exercise.

Elena: They’re like I want to get up right now and do something to work towards it. So like that takes work sometimes. Like people I always come to me and they’ll say like, well, I want to be healthy for my kids. They’re like my doctors said I need to do this. And I’m like, when you say that, how do you feel?

Elena: And they’re like I don’t know I’m not great and I’m like, okay, well, that’s like the fuel that is either going to push you forward or not. So it doesn’t sound like but that’s really going to be it. So we got to like dig a little deeper and figure out what it is. Mine really just goes back to that vision I shared and in the day to day I can ask myself, with all the choices that I go to make, like is this going to help me feel my best? Like then you can compare it against your goal and your why and that helps push you forward, no matter what. So I think, at the foundational level, like that’s where you really have to start.

Elena: And then the third thing that I’d say, before we get into like the specifics, I think is like we have to evaluate our priorities and this is a really hard one for mom, A lot of those that I talk to because we always want to put our kids and our family first.

Elena: And the thing is, if we do that, our kids and our family are always going to come first when it comes to our plans for the week or health. That’s totally fine, but I think it’s really important to acknowledge that going into it and I actually pushed that back on that a little bit, and I encourage moms that I work with to put themselves first, Because if we do not, if we are literally not carving out the time, whether it’s 20 minutes, a half hour, an hour, whatever it is, you know you stay or whatever your quantity looks like, you are not going to be able to show up in the best way for you and for everyone else and you’re not going to feel your best doing it either.

Elena: So I think that is such a key piece because, like you had said before, you know otherwise it’s like everyone’s like well, I have these plans, and then this person had soccer and I had to do this, and then there was this concert and I’m like wait.

Elena: but if you had decided your, if we decide our priorities, when all those things come up and there’s four of them that are literally the same time you’re working out every day or whatever it is, you can say, actually I’m only going to go to two of those this week because my priority is to get this done for me, and I know then I show up at my desk. So I think that is so key to identify first, because then when you get in it, you’re like, oh yeah, that’s right, I knew this was going to happen and I kind of have this plan in place.

Elena: So I think then getting into the specifics of it is it’s going to be different for everyone but picking a few small things that you want to get started with. So you know if it’s usually people know what they want to do. Like usually people say you know what I feel really good when I’m eating this, but I’ve done it before. It’s just hard to stick with, or something like that. So then we want to go right there, we want to zoom in on that and figure out all right, what are those challenges you’re facing around that specific thing?

Elena: Well, it’s hard to cook or I don’t know what recipes, where to find the recipes, or I can’t find the time. And you know, as a coach, that’s where I’m like I work with them to like less time solutions for every single one of those things, every single one. Now you, someone else listening to this, they can, you can do that on your own too. You know, like so say it. You had said something before. I don’t have the time, I think is what you said. So it’s like all right, it’s really dissect what you mean by that.

Elena: So like, okay, you want to cook like these five meals, and you’re saying you don’t have the time, what does that actually mean? Like you get home at seven and you know what does that look like? Because we can’t solve for it if we don’t know what the problem actually is. And I find when I start thinking of those conversations with people, typically we find that time isn’t really the issue. Most of the time it’s that well, it’s just you’ll hard take us easier. And when my kids eating chicken nuggets that I really want chicken nuggets, it’s like we figure out that there there’s always a way to make it work always.

Elena: And we usually figure out that the problem isn’t the problem. So that’s kind of like where you have to start. I have a lot of tangible tips and steps that can be helpful, but I think it is always going to go back to what is it that you’re working towards and what are you struggling with to identify which one of those is going to be the one you need, if that makes sense.

Kayla: Yes, yeah, yeah, because you have to start wherever your goal is yeah and wherever the reason why you want that goal is yeah, absolutely.

Elena: So, because I mean something that I always encourage too if it’s going back to the time thing, like I’m being into mindset, like and you had mentioned that in my bio like I, yes, it’s about the nutrition and it’s huge about the exercise, but if we’re not thinking in a way that’s going to help us actually do those things, it doesn’t matter how good your workout routine is or how good your meal plan is so something, when it comes to time, that I always like listen for when I’m working with people and you can do this on your own too is how are you literally thinking about and talking about the time that you have?

Kayla: Most of us are walking around like I don’t have any time.

Elena: I just don’t have time for this. I’m so busy. Oh my gosh, I’m going to get home at 8 o’clock.

Elena: That’s literally the pattern that we’re playing and our how, the story that we’re playing, and when we do that, we feel horrible, we feel anxious, we feel like we’re always behind, frustrated. All the things and feelings drive our actions. So we’re likely not going to be taking the actions that we actually want. So that’s like a great place to start. It’s start listening to that chatter, that buzz, that story you have about, whatever your struggle is, because if it’s really negative which most of ours are, we got to clean that up before we’re going to go anywhere. Otherwise we’re just going down that safe path that we’ve been on.

Kayla: Yeah, and just as an example, yesterday I caught myself there doing that exact same thing, except it was. I remember I was walking in the kitchen into the pantry and I yawned. I was like, oh, I’m so tired. And then I caught it. I was like, wait, yes, that might be true, but it’s more that I have low energy and there’s something I can do about that. I shifted it to something that I had some control over. I’m low energy.

Kayla: Exactly what can I do? Versus I feel like when you think I’m so tired, it’s more of well, there’s nothing you can do about that, you’re just tired, you can’t take a nap because you’re going to feel worse versus low energy. I feel gave me something to do about it. I could maybe do a stretching, I could take a walk, I could eat a snack that’s going to reenergize me, I could drink some tea. There were so many options when I flipped it.

Elena: Exactly, I love you said this, but always focusing on when you get to that point where you have a thought and then sometimes we’ll go to like, yeah, I’m prepared to do everything around here. I heard somebody call them negative thought magnets. If you have one they’re all coming to the party.

Elena: Yes, a good way to get yourself out of that is to go where you went. What can I do? What can I control? Always, there’s always something that we can do and we can control, whether it comes to something like that or when it comes to feeling like you have no time again. All right, what time do I have and what can I do at the time I have? Those are the two questions I always ask myself and always encourage people to think okay, great, my kid has activities to eat. Okay, but what can I do? Can I pack something? Can I make something that I’d be forced to make double dinners a night before?

Elena: That’s one of my tips that I do and always encourage people to do is, when you’re cooking dinner on Tuesday, make double, make triple. So you have Wednesdays, so you have Thursdays if you’re not going to be home Instead of.

Elena: I know a lot of people will do like five hours of meal prep on or not five hours I don’t know how many they do, because I don’t do that on a Sunday. It’s a long time If that works for you, amazing. One hour, two hours, whatever it is, but I have never been someone who has spent an entire day in my kitchen meal prepping. I could, but I don’t really prefer to.

Elena: So what I do instead is just cook double of everything and then I repurpose it creatively, like throughout the week. So you’re not really doing any extra work, you’re just cooking the same thing times two. Maybe you’re putting like, say, you’re cooking a sheet of chicken, like in the boiling it or whatever, in the oven, then maybe the second one you’re putting on completely different seasonings and like putting some like I don’t know onion or lemon on top.

Elena: So, it’s different if that’s something you prefer, but that’s like one thing that I always do. I always cook extra vegetables for them. I dinner, it turns into my lunch the next day, and sometimes I’ll put it even under eggs as like a breakfast. So again, like if you’re using that same amount of time but you’re getting three different, three different meals out of it. So again, just that way of thinking is the only way I ever got there, though. It’s like okay, but what could I do here? Hmm, yeah.

Kayla: So, yes, and that brings me to the quote that I saw on your website it was what we think about, we bring about, and I’ve heard different variations of this, but I really liked that one because it’s right yeah, what we think about, we bring about, and it’s so true what we focus on is what we’re going to continue seeing, because that’s what we’re focusing on.

Kayla: Because, our brain only can hold in so much information. So if it knows we want to focus on this, it’s going to sift and sort out everything else and only bring us those things to our attention.

Elena: Exactly. Yeah, our brain looks for. Another quote is our brain looks for evidence of what we believe to be true, which is exactly that you set out to. If you’re convincing yourself that you have no time and you cannot make it work, you are literally only going to see evidence all day long of how you cannot make it work and continue to like that self fulfilling prophecy. You’re going to continue just to go down that same exact spiral.

Elena: So all we have to do is break it, decide that we’re going to break that. Like you said, you’ve kept yourself in that thought. That is the very first step, and then it’s just acknowledge it. We don’t want to fight it that we have it, it’s fine, everybody gave it to us. Okay, cool, but it’s like now I’ll do what I want to think Now what it’s really like the starting point.

Kayla: Yeah, if you do look at your calendar and you see, but I really don’t have the time.

Elena: Is there a?

Kayla: way to make time Right? Are you looking at your calendar? Is there a way to look? Is there a way to make time? Are you actually using that time as it’s intended on your calendar or do you find yourself doing other things? That is wasting more of your time. I would get caught in like scrolling through social media or, oh, just one more show, just one more, and then I’ll get back to work, and I would find that would eat up so much of my time, especially the scrolling, because you don’t even realize, like how long, even if it’s just 15 minutes, 15 minute increments adds up so quickly and that’s where your time is going. If you actually track, if you’ve just set out to track your week hour by hour as much as possible, right, you will be surprised of where your time is actually going 100%, 100%.

Elena: Yeah, and that’s where, like, because you said, okay, 15 minutes, yeah, but two 15 minute little scrolls is a workout, like that’s. So two 15 minute scrolls is taking 30 minutes to plan your meals for the week. You probably don’t even need that much, honestly, and I don’t really even do a whole lot of meal planning and there’s a way that I have a guide that I’ll share that kind of breaks down what I actually do for my meal planning. But, or lack of but, yeah, so that it sounds like nothing, but I actually just recently made a conscious effort to stop like, doing scrolling so much throughout the day and I am amazed at how much time, how much additional time I have, even if they you’ve touched yourself, doing it like five times for five minutes, if you literally this is what I actually did when it was a little bit warmer. Now it’s getting a little bit cold, so it depends on the day.

Elena: If you literally decided to go for a five minute walk every time, that 25 minutes of walking, you just got back in your day, yeah, but if you really wanted to, you could scroll and walk. I don’t encourage it, don’t, but you could, you could do it. So, yes, I think that’s exactly it. Like looking at where you’re spending your time is huge. And that’s where it goes back to what I said earlier about priorities, because then we want to compare that to our priorities. Most of us don’t even think about how we want our week to look, how we want our day and our time to look. But then if you do go and do like some type of time audit and you look through it, I have never heard anyone say, oh yeah, I knew exactly where I was spending my time and I don’t have one extra second. I’ve never heard anybody say that if they actually do it.

Elena: So something that’s really been really helpful for me is kind of goes back to like that vision I said in the beginning, but like it’s more something I’ve been working on for my business but I originally did it for my health and like coming up with like a phrase of like who I want to be. So it’s like for me, I want to be the healthiest and like best version of myself. Every day I want to do more things that are getting me to be that and like right now I have something that’s like you know about being super successful like business owner, like as I get to my place where I want to be, and it’s like during the day when I catch myself doing any of those things. First we have to decide who want to have that intentional awareness and the second thing is Sam scrolling. I asked myself what is the most successful version of me? Do this, me doing this? Would a millionaire business owner be doing this? Heck, no, like absolutely not. They would not be sitting here, not even looking at what I’m scrolling through anymore.

Elena: And then they just like don’t want to do the thing, so scrolling. No, they wouldn’t. And you can do the same thing with your health, like whatever it is for you, like what’s the healthiest version of me?

Elena: be doing this right now and you get like an immediate answer Like they absolutely wouldn’t be having a third piece of pizza or a sixth cookie, Like they’d be like no, I don’t even want that. So that’s so helpful for me is like kind of putting myself in that position of the future for me and like making my choices from that place with that specific sentence or question.

Kayla: And it can make your choices happen so much easier if you’re just thinking about making the choices from the person you want to become, Because when you’re doing that it’s not even a thought you already know this person does this. This person wakes up and does their workout first thing in the morning because they know their kids have soccer and everything else in the evening and their workout will be always pushed Exactly.

Elena: Yeah, yeah and like the more you can make those choices now, the quicker you’re going to get there and the better you’re going to feel too, and that sometimes can help too, because sometimes I’ll hear from people that say well, I’m not seeing results. When I don’t see results right away, I want to give up.

Elena: And it’s like yeah, but if your end goal is to become the healthiest version of you, it’s not only about the results, it’s about 10 other things. And you’re still going to do that workout, even if you don’t have abs on Tuesday, when you start on Monday, because you’re working towards health, you’re not only working towards the number and towards the physical results. So that can help in so many ways, which is why we start out with it.

Kayla: Oh yeah, oh, that’s so interesting.

Kayla: We actually just had a con. My husband and I had a conversation about this last night, because he works out in in the evening, not evening after work.

Kayla: he gets off work at three, so he works out after work and I prefer to work out in the morning, just because I know things always come up. Well, there was things in the morning that were going on. So I was like, okay, I’ll shift my workouts this week to the afternoons. Once I’m done, I’ll go and work out. Of course, something came up. We we have a ranch and we have goats there. Well, the goats got out. They got out onto the neighbor’s property, so he had to go and figure out how to get them. We’ll find them first and then get them back to the ranch.

Kayla: Well, he is also like he thrives on routine. He wants things a certain way. In terms of this is when I work out and I don’t like to skip a workout, and he comes back and he goes. That was such a great time. I really enjoyed being able to just do that because I could. And one of the things he also said is I almost didn’t go because of my workout, but then I realized this is a lifestyle shift. One day doesn’t mean I’m starting over. One day just means one day out of my whole lifetime. That’s not going to throw me off, but we oftentimes get stuck on the one day oh well, I couldn’t make it that day and so we feel like we have to start over, when that starting over is just like this vicious cycle that we’ve created for ourselves where we can just keep going.

Kayla: We. We do it again the next day. Yes, 100%.

Elena: That’s exactly it. And, like I always say, like, move things, don’t remove things, which is exactly that. So, okay, he didn’t get his workout on Thursday, but so it’s going to Friday. You know, like it’s not a big deal and that’s like one of one of my kind of tips that I say is like stop striving for perfection and like focus Well, we hear this all the time like progress over perfection, but like putting it in kind of like that tangible way Okay, so five days. My goal of five days of working out one week didn’t happen, and it happened for, but I did for you know, like let go of that idea of like it has to be all or nothing or that it has to be perfect, because that is where so many of us get stuck and it keeps us from getting where we want to go. So I love that. That is exactly. It is a lifestyle. It’s about what we do every day, not just one day. That’s it, yeah.

Kayla: And exercise and healthy living is not just about our physical health, it’s also about our mental health. And for him, if he would have gone to the gym like his normal routine cause for he would have been just so anxious about where the goats were it was he going to lose them? Was he going to be able to find them if he went a different day?

Kayla: So, in reality, he did what was best for him in that moment. No, he didn’t work out, but he went into something that was going to be better for his mental health in that moment.

Elena: Yeah, yeah, and I think where, where we get in trouble or some of us do is like okay, so that happens. So he makes that choice to go take care of the goats For most of us it’s probably not the goats, but it’s anything else, probably the kids and then we have that thought right after that’s something like well, I blew it now, or well, I should start a sprint in January. And it’s in that exact moment that, when we hear that thought and the first step is what starting to pay attention to those that thought is to shift it, to think about it and decide and think like is this really what I want? Like, does that resonate with my vision and what I want? No, so you just change, you have to work on changing it in that moment. And that is how we start again, breaking that cycle. Yeah, yeah, and I think too, like when we find, if we find ourselves in like more of those situations, then like there’s always going to be what’s the word?

Elena: exceptions, like, for example, your situation, like with the goats, like but, if, every single day, you start noticing that something is getting in the way of your routine, then I feel like that’s a time, let’s say, for a week straight, it’s like, oh, this happened and this happened and this happened. It’s like so, like that’s been a time that you really have to step back and evaluate all of it again, because it’s like are my priorities still the same? Am I really trying to fit, you know, something in a spot that just it’s not, where it’s not going to work? What? And then again that’s those questions what can I do to make this work in the best way for, like, me and my family? So it does feel better overall to think sometimes we really do have to be honest with ourselves. If it’s like an everyday thing, after a while it’s like okay, wait, what’s happening here? Like, am I just deciding not to do it? Are these things really exceptions? Like what is it?

Kayla: One thing that I also often hear is people complain, or will have a complaint, about the food that they’re eating, in terms of living a healthy lifestyle, like they have this vision that eating healthy is eating bland, when that’s not the case. And I was looking at your blog and you have some oh my gosh, delicious looking recipes on your website. I think one was the, the broiled salmon, and it was like the salmon you’ll ever have. I was like, oh my gosh, I need to cook that. And it just made my mouth water.

Elena: Yeah, and that’s again like I would have never found those recipes if I was stuck in, for eating healthy is boring and like I grew up in the 90s we’re eating healthy was kind of bland and boring, Like where we ate, you know, the little 100 calorie pack of like oh yeah.

Elena: And like I love that you said that, because it’s so not the case. And I get so excited when I make a recipe at home that is with all this like whole food, real ingredients, and it’s better than when I get out, and that happens all the time because I can control what I put on it, how I season it, and salmon is such a great example. I don’t even order salmon out anyone because we make it so good at home. We have a few different variations and it’s like yes, you can make. You can make food, and sometimes I hate even saying the word healthy because I feel like we just get this idea of bland and boring in our head. But it’s more like it’s food that fuels you.

Elena: I heard the other day like food that loves you back and that’s what it is. Oh, I love that. I think it was I’m probably going to say the wrong person. I think it’s Daniel, dr Daniel, amen. I’m not sure exactly that’s right name, but he does a lot of studying on the brain and like how your brain like obviously affects everything else, like your health and everything, and he was saying like yeah, and a big piece of the way you eat. And he was saying like go for food that loves you back.

Elena: So like thinking I think in those terms maybe if you have that, that like relation in your head, healthy is awful, you can start looking at it in a different way because then you’ll be more open to it. But oh my gosh, yes, you know I cook like chicken wings and steak and salmon and and all sorts of bowls and salads. If you don’t eat, totally fine. There’s a million options for that too. And, yes it you can make really good food that also loves you back, fuel view and just you feel really good after eating. It gives you energy, reduces inflammation, all the things. So it’s really a win win. I look at it, it’s just a practice, it’s getting in the habit.

Kayla: Yeah yeah and getting in the habit to looking outside the protein or the food itself, because I think a lot of people get stuck on oh, but I’m eating this over and over again. But you can recreate those things with seasonings or sauces or dressings. There’s so many ways to transform a single protein so that you can make it different. Like you said earlier, make it into different meals throughout your week. But do yourself a favor, save yourself some time. And just you can batch cook some of these things, yeah and I also will offer too.

Elena: That I like to say is if we can get good at something being boring, we can do it no matter what. So it’s like in the beginning it’s okay to let it be a little boring and like, if you think about like brushing your teeth, we don’t wake up and say I did this yesterday, this youth base is so boring. No, we do it because it’s like we want the end goal. So, like in the beginning, I think that’s totally fine. If you’re like no, you know what, for 30 days I want to do this. And then like not, I don’t mean like in that the thing, the 30 days you’re done, but I mean like say you want to set a time for yourself, for yourself, just to like go through it, I think it’s totally fine.

Elena: Say, maybe you do give yourself your set meal plan and you stick with it, because the thing is your butt, the focus is on building that skill, the consistency and, like maintaining that momentum. So it’s like, yes, we can change it up, change all the varieties up, and that’s what I do.

Elena: Talk about a lot of recipes and things like that. However, then when we get to the day where it’s eight o’clock and we just got home and we don’t have a fun salmon recipe, it’s another reason that we’ll give ourselves to throw it all out the window. So I do say like, keep it simple, don’t overcomplicate it. It’s okay if sometimes it feels a little boring. We can give pleasure and excitement from other areas of our life and food.

Elena: And like I, think sometimes we forget that too. Like, I love food, I love to go out to eat. However, I think again it goes back to the balance, like, if we keep it simple and don’t overcomplicate it some of the time, then we have a couple of days where we have time where, like you know what, I’m gonna cook something fun today. That’s a great time to do it. I feel like if we think every single night we need a gourmet, perfect, amazing meal, then sometimes we can be setting ourselves up for failure versus success.

Kayla: And that’s where we had found ourselves. We hated having to, like, cut up the chicken and stand at the stove top as we cooked it. So then we found that air frying for us was so much easier because we could just throw it in there, forget about it and do other things during that time that we would rather be doing than standing at the kitchen stove.

Elena: Yeah, yeah, exactly Like experimenting find different ways that it worked. That worked for you for sure. Yeah, I think that’s great. I love it.

Kayla: Mm-hmm. Yeah, or I mean also doing just different veggies too and throwing that in, because that can change your meal as well.

Elena: Yeah, 100% like changing up. So for me, the way I look at it and teach it typically is like following a general meal template. So it’s like usually it’s like half your plate is like some type of green vegetable like Christopher’s vegetable, any type and you can change those up as much as you want. A quarter of your plate usually, ish, I encourage it to be like a clean protein source of some kind, Whatever it is you eat and you like like meat, chicken, salmon, beef, ground turkey, eggs, you know, tofu, whatever it is that you eat and your body does well with. And then the other quarter of the plate is like a starch. So sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, if you do well with like unprofessional grains, like anything that is actually gonna give you that starch.

Elena: I have a full like macronutrient breakdown on my website too.

Elena: So if anybody’s like I don’t know what you’re talking about, you can literally like get this template and the breakdown of it.

Elena: So that’s where I love following that, because it gives you that opportunity to literally like mix and match and play around with that in millions of different ways, probably, Like you can do it by making a smoothie with that stuff you know it’s not gonna be a sweet potato, broccoli and chicken.

Elena: You’re not gonna get a smoothie on that, so you can put in other things that are gonna fit that exact template. If you can make 10 different smoothies with that template, then for lunch you can do the exact same thing, you know, with some of your leftovers or whatever you decide to do for lunch, and same with dinner. So, yeah, changing up the veggies. The other really easy way to do it is again like changing up your healthy fat or your seasoning. That’s what I forgot to mention healthy fat, always to like two tablespoons or so with every meal so you can make like a fun sauce or make one that you use for the entire week that sits in your fridge. You know, olive oil, like olive oil and seasoning can make things taste really good, Like I feel like people are.

Elena: Some people are so afraid of fat and salt and I’m like, no, just don’t overdo it. That’s it, like we just don’t overdo it. So, yeah, I think the template gives you a lot of flexibility and a way to make it work. Anywhere, like I’ve eaten truly, this sounds crazy, but I’m at gas station and at that food place and the airport, simply following like a general template. I’m like, okay, I need my protein, I need some sort of fruit or vegetables and I need healthy fat Three things that I can grab real quick anywhere and I’m good to go.

Kayla: So yeah, that is the key. It’s creating something that is so flexible you can do it anywhere.

Elena: Yeah, exactly. And then also going back to like what we talked about for managing your mind around it too, when you start hearing those box creep in that are like no, I’m on vacation or no, I’m at the airport, Like I don’t have to do this. It’s like no, we don’t have to, but we want to. So I think that’s the other side of it. It’s like the actual tactical stuff of what we need to do to literally reach our health holders with the weight. And then also the other side is like the mind management to get you to do it.

Kayla: And I think that’s where that choose the food that loves you back can really come in, Because, yes, you’re on vacation, but how are you gonna like? Are you gonna feel good about Not about yourself but is your body gonna be physically feeling well the next day? After you’ve just like thrown a bunch of stuff that you don’t normally eat into it, and that’s not to say you can’t enjoy certain things ever Again. It’s just being conscious of what you’re putting in your body and how it makes you feel.

Elena: Yep, and how much too. Like, maybe one night you’re deciding that you literally are eating something that isn’t you know, doesn’t have a different element, but you’re like, no, this sounds amazing, I’m gonna have it, but how much of it? Do you wanna have thinking about how you’re gonna feel an hour later, in the next morning? Yes, that’s so true. I love that.

Elena: A couple of years ago I decided to because before that point I was any time I went on vacation, any time I went to visit family, it was like all best for us. Like when I get there, the point I get, come home, I do whatever I want, eat everything and as much as I wanted, actually probably more than several years ago. But and then we went on a vacation Like I remember the first one very distinctly that I’m like you know what, I’m actually gonna keep most of my healthy habits during this trip and I’m just gonna sprinkle in, like you had said, like I’m going out to dinner, I’m gonna pick a couple things that maybe aren’t like necessarily exactly the you know the food that fuels me or whatever it is.

Elena: But I’m gonna mix it in and that trip. I felt so much better the entire time and when I got back and like mentally, physically and emotionally, of course, because if you eat something, your stomach hurts, you’re full, you’re uncomfortable and it’s like especially if you’re on like a beach vacation not only about like how I look, but like oh, I don’t want to put on, like you know, a bathing suit and a cover up if I’m like feeling horrible. You know what I mean.

Kayla: So it’s like if you’re all feeling bloated and have heartburn after because you ate some red sauce that didn’t sit well with you.

Elena: Yeah, and I think it’s sometimes too questioning, like we say, well, I want to enjoy it. And it’s like sometimes questioning do we, are we really enjoying the things that we say? We ask, like do we really enjoy six glasses of wine? I don’t know. I think we enjoy one or two, maybe when it gets to six that’s really questionable. So I think it’s like questioning that piece of it too for ourselves, and like being a little bit like on to our brain that’s feeding us these things. That aren’t always true.

Kayla: Mm-hmm, and sometimes even recognizing why am I choosing this over something else? So sometimes I will remember things that taste good from childhood. I’m like, ooh, that sounds really good, let me get one. And so one day it was one night, I don’t know what we were doing my husband and I went through the McDonald’s drive-thru and I was like, ooh, a McFlurry sounds so good. And I took like two bites and I’m like, ooh, this is not how I remembered. I’m gonna stop eating this because this is not good.

Kayla: This is not what I wanted, and it was just having that in mind. I didn’t have to keep eating it just because I bought it.

Kayla: You know, my husband always says I’ve never met a sweet, I’ve never I didn’t like. So he can eat it or whatever. But sometimes we’re thinking something’s gonna taste so good or we’re like we keep eating because we’re like we’re waiting for it to taste so good. But if you eat something and it’s not tasting good to you, you don’t have to keep eating it. Go and choose something else Like no, mcflurry’s don’t sit well with me. That was a childhood thing, because as children we like blander things.

Kayla: I like things to be flavorful and taste good. If I’m gonna eat something, I want it to taste good 100%.

Elena: I have this like mindful eating tip that’s love it or leave it, and it’s exactly what you said. And I like to bring that up around a lot around the holidays because I like Christmas, I love cookies and like when I go to holiday parties there’s always so many desserts and like I used to like fill a plate full of them and just eat them because they’re sweets and desserts. With holidays I can do that. Well, no, because if they’re not tasting good, they’re not gonna be feeling good. Obviously, because it’s just full of sugar and like flour. Why are we truly eating it? Like if you actually asked yourself that question, like you had said, it doesn’t taste good and it’s not gonna be feeling good. There is literally no reason to continue eating it other than it’s comfortable.

Elena: You’re sitting there and it’s going in your mouth and you have to, like you know, stop doing that. So yeah, I love that and I think that comes from a place, too, of like loving yourself and like valuing yourself enough that you care to do that and you’re okay like setting that boundary and also like having those standards too. You know, I’ve heard that same thing like, oh boy, it’s okay. Like you know, it’s fine, it’s a fine cookie, and I’m like, but do we need a fine cookie? Like I don’t know, maybe you do, but for me, like I want it to be the best if it’s gonna be something. But yeah, totally agree.

Kayla: Yeah, yeah, I want to fully enjoy that cookie like a chocolate a salted chocolate chip cookie. Like that’s what I want, Not just a regular Yep Blend chocolate chip cookie. Exactly.

Elena: And I like, equated to you know, anything else, like if you’re going shopping, like clothes shopping, you’re not gonna go and spend $50 on a shirt. That’s like okay, like well, I might wear it. No, you would never do that because it’s literally like you’re seeing money go out and it’s like the same thing, like question is it worth it?

Kayla: for like all the reasons, not just you know, because you’re sitting there and it’s in your hands, so yeah, yeah, we are starting to run a little bit low on time, but I wanted to also talk about in terms of choosing routines and workouts that work for you and so, for example, for me. I absolutely hate cardio.

Kayla: I don’t like it. I’ve never been able to commit to it, but I love doing weight training, so that’s what I do. That’s my workout routine. I’ll do like five minutes of cardio on the stepper, but that’s it. That’s the extent of my cardio is five minutes on the stepper, maybe two or three times a week, but I, I don’t know, I don’t know what I’m doing Three times a week. But I, I love weight training and I think, partially, we get stuck in. Oh, we need to do this when in reality, you need to choose something that works for you, that you’re going to be able to commit to.

Elena: Yes, I completely agree with that, and I think you’ll know if it’s working for you and if it’s helping you reach your goals. Like follow it consistently for a certain amount of time and then evaluate. So I think, yes, like finding something that’s efficient and effective and enjoyable is key. And then also picking times, like we talked about earlier, that are going to be the least likely to get interrupted and for most of us, most of us moms, unfortunately it’s first thing in the morning and that’s what I hear. A lot of people don’t want to wake up and it’s like once you do it, once you do it and you start to make it a habit, it’s honestly like easier to do than not to do. So I would say, like those two things going hand in hand, like that’s like just a, it’s like a recipe for success. It’s magical once you can get those things to work for you and you feel so good when you’re done with it.

Elena: For sure, but, yeah, not everybody has to do the same workout. And like there’s always these trends, you know, like there was recently like that I can’t remember something 31330, I don’t remember what it was. It was like walking on an incline, not holding on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 13, 13 inclines, three speeds, that’s what it was. And I was like it was like this trend going everywhere, that like you’ll go this way, blah, blah, blah, and it’s like, no, it’s just another like workout, I’ll try and do it if it sounds fun. Great working in your routine.

Elena: But it is not the only way to be all end all for, like health or weight loss success for sure, I think more like you said, the key is finding the things that you enjoy. Yes, it’s great to work in a resistance training, some type of cardiovascular activity. You know the balance of those two can be really effective. But that can look like anything. It can also just look like walking. We’re getting a lot of steps in throughout the day, like setting a step goal for yourself. Maybe you’re at a certain number. Try to double it, like so it does not have to be.

Elena: And I actually made that shift. I used to do a lot of HIIT training. I intense the interval training. I used to go to a point where like just didn’t feel good anymore. It just literally didn’t feel good to me anymore. I also used to do a lot of heavyweight training and that just didn’t feel right for me anymore.

Elena: So I kind of shifted more to now I do a ton of walking and I love it because I do some of the gym and then throughout the day I do like it’s my creativity going during the day, when I’m like kind of feeling like I’ve been staring at a computer for too long, I can actually come up with content ideas as I walk, I also think of it sometimes as like a moving meditation, by turn all my electronics off. So many benefits. And now I do more of like lower weight, high repetition, strength training and it’s working so well for me and it’s so much easier for me to stick to it and it’s easier for me to get myself up to the gym at five am or five 30 am when I go, because it’s like, oh yeah, I’m kind of looking forward to that. So, yeah, I think that’s so key.

Kayla: Yeah, it’s so much easier to stay committed and motivated on something when it’s something that you actually enjoy and not dreading. I used to also do the hit and it worked for a little bit, but then I remember I started like dreading, like I was forcing myself to do this and I I hate forcing myself to do anything but like that’s what the feeling I was getting versus the routine I am in. Now I don’t feel like I’m forcing myself. I look forward to going and spending that time just on myself.

Elena: Yeah, and I think it’s so important to still make sure it’s challenging for us. So we’re continuing to grow and evolve, but challenging in a good way, like it doesn’t feel awful every day. So I think that’s really important. And then what was the other thing I was going to say? I don’t know what left me. I think maybe it was just that we’re not going to be motivated every day, like that’s totally normal, totally normal.

Elena: But as long as we have that commitment and everything else we talked about earlier on, like you can use that here too. Like thinking about that vision, how am I going to feel what I’m done? Like all of those things can really drive you to do it. And then also, like going back to you know those questions we were thinking about talking about earlier too. Like so you wake up and you don’t feel like going, you’re dreading it and all the things. You know some things I like to ask myself as but we’re not going to be motivated. So what do I feel like doing today? What would make this sound better? Sometimes it’s listening to a podcast that I’ve been waiting for, or you know something new on YouTube, whatever it is. That will actually be like okay, you know what?

Elena: I can go, walk and listen to this and it gets me there, and then I’m in the zone.

Kayla: So yeah, yeah, listening to podcasts is always one of my favorite things to do on a walk.

Elena: Yes, yes me too, me too.

Kayla: Yeah, so how about you talk a little bit more about the services you offer, the people that you really enjoy working with? And if someone does want to work with you, what is the best way of getting in contact with you?

Elena: Absolutely so. The best way to get in, get a hold of me, is either through any of my social pages, but I’ll see Instagram because I’m pretty active on there and that my handle is at Elena E-L-E-N-A Nicole Health. My website is the same it’s ElenaNapoleHealthcom. You can go to either of those. I always do a free strategy session to get started, where we literally just talk about where you at, what are you struggling with, where do you want to go and start to kind of get a roadmap, a roadmap built out for you to see like what that could actually look like.

Elena: So, regardless of if we continue to working together, or not you leave the call with something I would love to work with you, but either way, you’re going to get value out of it and the women I mainly work with are we can talk about in the beginning, but someone who really wants to create a healthy lifestyle for themselves, that consistent, healthy lifestyle. But they’re feeling like they’re struggling at certain points or just stuck and they like get to a certain point or doing really good that’s what I hear all the time and then you just kind of follow off to something. A life event happens that we feel like sometimes there’s like a circumstance or situation that’s outside of our control, that is keeping us from getting what we feel like should be in our control, like reaching our goals, losing the weight. That is the person that I absolutely love to help, because that was me and that’s been most of my clients.

Elena: I have two main ways of working with me, although I’m always customizing things for people. One would be you can do one off, one on one session, so say we do that strategy session and you’re like okay, I’d love to see, like, what this looks like. You know, taking them to the next step, we can set up another call. Or I have my main signature program with, which is my healthy intent program, and basically I help you lose weight loss physicals, or if I help you lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, a very healthy, sustainable way that you can truly maintain for life.

Elena: If you’re going to learn to build a lot of these skills and learn the tools and strategies we’ve talked about in today’s call, you know, getting that consistency, getting that momentum, how do we overcome all of the life things? Those are the things you and I are truly going to work on together in that program. So you’re going to leave it, you know, feeling really confident, really clear in how to reach your health goals and likely have gotten there already. But the best thing is you can apply those things you’re going to learn to all areas of your life business, relationships, parenting, all of it. So I think I

Elena: did. I answer all the questions. Yes, you did. Okay, cool, perfect.

Kayla: And we will link all of that stuff up on the show notes. So if you’re driving, don’t worry about trying to write that down.

Elena: Yeah, and I do, if it’s okay for me to include that as well as I do have a guide that’s all about it to a free ebook. It’s making time for health for busy moms has a lot of the things we talked about today. You know some different ways to work and exercise. I think it’s like 10 tangible tips that you can take and apply into your own life to make it work with the time that you do have.

Kayla: Perfect. Thank you so much, Elena.

Elena: You’re welcome.

Kayla: And for giving us your time. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Elena: Yes, me too. Thank you so much for having me.