Fitness Classes
I had a great workout yesterday. My thigh muscles are a bit sore but not too bad. Thank you!!! – Gabi E.
Love your class!! – Nanette W.
Nutrition Coaching
Thank you Melanie! This has been a wonderful program! I learned so much and changed in ways I never expected.
It helped in unexpected ways which was interesting. I thought I just wanted someone to tell me what to eat and when to eat it which of course hasn’t worked in the past. But it turns out I don’t like people telling me what to do or giving me unwanted advice, LOL. What Really helped me was all of the different options and different methods for changing the way I think about food. And now I’m more focused on making healthy meals and adding things to meals like veggies instead of avoiding things. And I’ve learned that I can change habits without it killing me, haha.
Two of the biggest things for me were eating less and then stopping and waiting to see if I really needed more. It’s a simple lesson that I’ve heard 1 million times but I don’t know why it never worked before and now it did. The other was getting out in the sunshine every day. That has made a huge difference in my outlook, giving me more exercise, and helped me sleep. Also, larger breakfasts and more nutritious breakfasts really helped me eat much less at lunch. It’s counterintuitive but it really worked.
Learning to eat so that you can get up and still be energetic was the biggest thing for me. Also having protein and grains in meals. I always viewed grains as the enemy and I still eat them sparingly but they are satiating. Seeing your meals was also beneficial. You ate like a normal person! The funny thing is I never thought I’d be satisfied with a 5 pound loss but I feel like now I know what to do and it’s not hard to do and I can keep losing. Thanks for a great program!
One of the most beneficial things was having you list the positive changes I made each week because I never really focused on those or paid attention. Focusing on wins felt amazing. Also, the posts about food thoughts were very helpful.
So I got tired of photographing my food and posting, but I have been paying attention to what I eat. This weekend I was at the beach for three days. I focused on fruits and vegetables and walking and besides having an amazing time I was down 2 pounds when I returned!
Thanks Melanie! I stayed exactly the same weight so although my goal was loss, I think I’ve managed not to slowly gain so my next goal will be to actually lose:) eating cleaner, and smaller portions and also no guilt when I eat more or have treats. Feels more healthy of a mindset for sure.
So, reflecting on what’s been helpful for me from the past 8 weeks, I think one of the biggest things was the weekly review. Just having a scheduled time to talk to Melanie and review how the last week had gone and re-up my intentions for the coming week I think was immensely positive. So I’m going to keep that going, just talking to myself 🙂
This last week it was “over” so I totally slipped up on photographing my meals, and I noticed by yesterday that I was falling back into the old habit of grabbing one thing and “snacking”, instead of putting together a well rounded plate.
Those well-rounded plates, where I serve up everything I’m going to eat before I sit down with (rather than grazing my way through the kitchen) really helped me feel like I was eating like a normal person, and also have a much better idea of how much I’m *actually* eating from day to day. Since taking photos of things helped with that, I’m going to try to continue with that, just for the sake of having a record, and _knowing that I’m going to have a record_, even if it’s not public!
Another thing about rounding out my snacks that really surprised me was what adding some whole grains did for me. I’d gotten into the mentality that grains and carbs were bad for me, and I used to mostly try to avoid grains of all kinds. But adding a little bit of whole grain regularly made my food a lot more satiating. When I’d just eat a spoonful of peanut butter, I’d go back and eat 3 more big spoonfuls within a half an hour. But if I add a piece of toast, and some carrots to that, maybe a small scoop of cottage cheese, then I’d feel satiated the first time, and not end up eating like half a cup of peanut butter.
I now have a nice arsenal of small habits and behaviors that I know I like, and that I also feel confident help me with having reasonable hunger and “eating like a normal person”, instead of worrying about what i’m eating, and going on weird cycles of fasts and things. (There is definitely growing evidence that intermittent fasting probably has some health benefits etc etc, but when I’m doing it I feel guilty! and embarrassed to tell people about it, so probably that alone is a sign that it’s not great *for me*). So I can look through that toolkit (at my weekly review!) and know that I have things to tweak to help me move in the right direction. And because of that I’m optimistic that things are going to continue to get better, and I’m going to keep practicing these things and getting better at them with time.
Working with Melanie helped to change my mindset from diet mentality to feeling content with little changes that lead to those results over time.
Incentive Programs
“Super fun event. It’s got me all jazzed to keep my routine going. I’m just sorry I didn’t sign up last year.”
“Thanks, really fun challenge this year!”
“We love it! It’s super helpful for me in December because I literally just want to curl in a ball and do nothing.”
“Thank you Melanie! This was really fun and I definitely moved more than I would have without the nudge.”
“Great work everyone, thanks again Mel for an awesome challenge!”
“Congratulations to all the winners!! Thank you Mel for organizing this, it was fun and I learned a lot about time management and what works for me exercise-wise. I’m bummed I only lost 1 lb over the course of 1 month, but it’s a start and I’ll keep at it! I’ll also chalk up the not losing weight to the holidays, too many good treats to pass up.”
“I didn’t lose any weight but perhaps gained less with all the chocolates I ate and more importantly, I felt great and had less aches and pains! Exercise is worth it just for itself.”
“My clothes fit a LITTLE better, and my energy level has improved. I appreciate the words, motivating me to the end!”
“I’m feeling slightly less motivated to take the dog on a walk today because it won’t “count” and I won’t have a group of people to feel accountable to.” (day after challenge ended)
“Great competition! Thanks for your hard work!”
“Loved the help to keep it varied.”
“I liked the split. It challenged me to think about whole body.”
“Very helpful, otherwise I would probably only do steady.”
“Thanks again Melanie for running this contest, hope everyone can keep their momentum going into 2019!”
Regarding the 3 workout types; steady, intense, restorative:
“I think it worked out being a pretty good idea… I would never have done as much restorative or intense if it wasn’t required and I’m glad I did.”
MelzaFit Training 