7 Tips To Stay On Track For The Rest Of The Summer
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Have you ever found yourself torn between savouring summer treats and sticking to your health goals? We’ve all been there and it can be challenging trying to put the two together!
In this episode of The Embrace Your Real podcast, I'm opening up about my journey from stressing over diets and workouts to embracing a balanced, joyful approach to summer living. Listen in because I will share practical and simple tips on maintaining your macros while still enjoying the season's pleasures. Learn how to indulge mindfully and avoid the pitfalls of overconsumption, ensuring you create lasting memories without compromising your well-being!
I also discuss..
(00:00) Staying on Track During Summer
(08:12) Importance of Staying Hydrated in Summer
(09:37) Summer Wellness Tips and Strategies
(14:40) Mindful Eating During Social Gatherings
(19:18) Embracing Authentic Beauty and Confidence
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Follow me on Instagram: @juliealedbetter | @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Movement With Julie | App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/
Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Get my eBook: FREE Macro Counting Ebook
Amazon Storefront: Julie Ledbetter's Amazon Page
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human you're listening to Embrace Your Real With Me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I give you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go. [00:00:21]
[00:00:27] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Trail podcast. How is your summer going? Summer is in full swing. I love summer so much. It's one of my favorite seasons, and I'm sure so many of you guys are enjoying road trips, camping, vacation, pool days, barbecues, all of which are so much fun. But all of these things can really throw off your routine, am I right? Like summertime is a time to relax and not really a time for you to stress out about gaining weight or losing progress. Although it ends up being the time where we're thinking about that the most, which can distract us from living presently, creating these lasting memories and really enjoying our summer to the fullest. And so, before I dive into today's episode, I wanted to share. This reveal comes from Zacks. You gave a five star review and said you are living out your calling. Julie. Julie, what an inspiration you are to me and so many other women. You have encouraged me and have helped me feel so understood, known and have helped me remember how worthy I am. Despite what the scale says, I am moving more that I was not to lose weight, but to honor my body. I am eating better than I was before, not to lose weight, but to honor my body. I still have a long way to go, but I want to thank you for all that you do and all that you stand for. Keep doing your thing. It's helping a lot of people. I love this so much. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day. Every single time you guys leave a rating interview, I genuinely just smile and I'm like, oh, thank you Lord for this community. Like, I love it so much. I love all of my podcast listeners, and thank you for just taking time out of your day to send in their review. It helps so, so much. So if you could scooch over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating interview, it would genuinely mean the absolute world to me. Okay, so let's dive in and talk about staying on track for the rest of the summer. But first, I kind of want to paint a picture like, man, how I lived so many summers makes me really, really sad to think about because summer used to be filled with so much stress, so much anxiety, so much guilt, so much punishment. All of these things I would often times like I couldn't wait for summer to be over simply because I just wanted to get back into my boring routine. And that made me really sad because I love summer so much, I always have. I'm a summer baby, I'm about to have a summer baby, and I would just get so much anxiety about it simply because I was so out of my schedule. Or I would simply just like, skip all of the fun summer get togethers just so that I could stick to my boring routine like I lost out. Especially in my college years on so much summer sun like summer sun and summer fun. Simply because I was just obsessing over what I ate or what I might would eat, or what I would gain or what I wouldn't gain. Like all of these things were just flowing through my brain, and so I would just completely, like, dip out entirely and just stick to my boring routine. And then I'd feel miserable because I'm, like, everyone else is having so much fun. And here I am, like glued to the elliptical machine. It was exhausting. Like even thinking about it just makes me sad. And I know that some of you guys are still in this place. Maybe you find yourself in this place, maybe you weren't before, but now you are. And that's why I kind of just want to help you get outside of your mind, get outside, literally, and enjoy your freaking summer because we still have some summer left to enjoy. So let's get into some simple summer tips for staying on track while still enjoying yourself. Okay, number one is stick to your macros. I know this sounds like the worst advice because this is like exactly what you are struggling to do, but I think that there's a misunderstanding here, and staying on track doesn't mean that you have to be perfectly clean. Staying on track just means that you are enjoying yourself in moderation. Because when you stick to your macros, your protein, carbs, and fats that your body needs based on where you're at and what your goals are, you can still like, enjoy all of the foods that you love. Enjoy the drinks that you want as long as you are keeping it within moderation. Moderation is key here, right? I know moderation, that can be a slippery slope. And my advice to you is to allow yourself to have a glass or two of that wine. And if you still want more, challenge yourself and ask yourself, do I really need to drink that whole bottle? Like I had a glass, I had two glasses. Do I now really need to drink the rest of that bottle or allow yourself to have that piece of cake? But like, do you really need to have seconds? Do you really need to have third or fourth or fifth? Like allow yourself to have the plate of, you know, chips and salsa, but do you really need to have an entire bag like before you have more? Just ask yourself, is this something that I really need? Like, Will it make me feel good? Or is it just a decision that you know I am making right now and I later will regret because I'll just feel icky? I know for many people, when they start to kind of eat something that they love, they just can't stop. And if this is you, you need to remember that the 100th bite is not going to taste any different than like, the first or second, right? Right. Instead of just scarfing down whatever it is that you're eating, and then take second or third or fourth or fifth, like, I want you to slow down and enjoy the. That will fit comfortably within your daily allotment of macros. And remember that this isn't the last time that you're going to eat the chips and salsa. This isn't the last time that you're going to have cake. This isn't the last time that you're going to have a glass of wine. And so you don't need to eat or drink like it is, right. You'll have another opportunity, whether that's tomorrow, that's next week, that's next month. Something for me personally that has helped is to really plan ahead. So like most nights I will be eating like, you know. So for example, on Friday nights Joshua and I always have Texas Roadhouse. This is something that we've had for literally years before that it was Domino's Pizza, but Texas Roadhouse is our go to. It has been for years. It will likely continue to be, and it's something that I just plan around on Fridays. Right? I know on Fridays my carbs and fats are higher than they normally are for dinner time, and I just plan around that for my breakfast, my lunch, and my snacks prior to that. Whereas if I and just, you know, throughout the week, like on a normal like Wednesday night, I'm going to have a normal dinner. So I don't really need to plan extensively around that meal because I know that it's going to likely be a balance of protein, carbs and fats, whereas my Friday night is typically, you know, I still do have some protein, but I also have some carbs and fats that are higher than my normal dinner time. So again, just being mindful of that and planning ahead is so, so, so important. And also recognizing that moderation is key. This is not the last time that you are going to have that food. Number two on your body with movement in the morning and eat nourishing meals afterwards. Like this will really help set the tone for your day during the summertime. And oftentimes our schedule is all over the place. Like when you get done in the morning, you feel great and you're more likely to make decisions that will continue to making you feel good throughout the day. And this is also a great strategy for those of you who are kind of this all or nothing person like you've already worked out, you've tracked one meal, you feel good, you feel organized, you feel nourished. So why would you ruin that good feeling? One good decision will lead to another, which will lead to another. And this is just kind of in the same way that one bad decision will lead to another, to another. If you wake up and the first meal is a splurge, for lack of a better term, and you feel like you're totally flip flopped on your macros for the rest of the day, it's likely that you're going to throw in the towel and continue to splurge the rest of the day, which will just lead you to feeling this lack of energy. And it's overall not great in your body. So like I said, typically one good decision that will motivate you to make another good decision just is one poor decision triggers you to make other poor decisions. So let's say that you get off track during the day. At least you honored your body with movement. In the morning. You nourish your body with 1 or 2 meals in the beginning of the day. It's about what you do the majority of the time, not what you do all of the time. And that's important to recognize. Number three stay hydrated. Summertime is the easiest time to live in this constant state of dehydration, which is crazy because it's also the hottest. But our body simply just needs more water during the hot summer months, especially if you are outside or if you're doing activity more activity than normal. Why is this something important for staying on track? Well, did you know that your body actually cannot tell the difference between being thirsty or being hungry? And sometimes our feelings of thirst just present themselves as feeling hungry. So just because your stomach is growling doesn't mean that it's actually asking for food. It could just be asking for water. And I don't know about you, but on the weekends, it honestly always tends to be the hardest time for me to hold myself accountable to drinking my water goal. And so for me, just having literally my hydro jug glued to my side is one of the best ways for me to stay on track. If it's close to me and I see it within my eyesight where whatever I'm doing, if I see it, I'm more likely to reach for it. Also, you can put alarms on your phone. This is something that I do regularly, especially in the summertime. I put alarms on my phone. It's like, hey, stop, drop and drink ten or hey, stop, drop and drink 16. And that's just, you know, ten ounces of water, 16oz of water. And so in that moment when that alarm goes off on my phone, I stop, drop and drink. And it's a great way to just kind of hold you accountable throughout the day. Number four, find new recipes that are just as enjoyable but macro friendly. This is awesome and this is such an easy way to eat your favorite foods in moderation, like finding alternatives that are, you know, more macro friendly but are just as satisfying. There is, for example, there's this girl who was saying, she said I was drinking way too much wine and beer during the summers, and it just was not working for her goals. This is inside of my Macro Academy. It's simple online academy. And so she actually ended up finding some really good nonalcoholic craft beer that only had ten calories, and she honestly feels like she's enjoying a beer or two and she drinks them. Or I've had people just say, I didn't even recognize that I wasn't even necessarily craving beer. I was craving like seltzer, like I was craving like, bubbly. And so they swapped out, like the beer or what I. Here it is that they were drinking their soda, whether it was, you know, full sugar soda that had, you know, 50g of sugars, which is essentially 50g of carbs and like one can of coke. And they swapped it out for seltzer and they feel that they felt 100 times better. And two, they're also not giving up 50g of carbs for a drink. That is not going to leave them feeling satisfied. Another suggestion that someone said underneath that comment inside the macro kind of simple Facebook group, as she said, I will mix a half a cup of kombucha with a half a cup of sparkling water in a wine glass and enjoy that in place of wine. So again, just something that is a super simple replacement. Another thing for let's say for example, chips and salsa, right? Chips and salsa itself is not bad. You can absolutely have a plate of chips and salsa. But I have found that if you take a Joseph's lavish and you cut it up like chips, it's going to be three fourths less carbs and you actually thus can get even more. So if you want to do 2 or 3 Jarvis Joseph's lavish and cut them up, you're going to get three, 3 or 4 times the amount of chips and for less carbs. And so just those simple swaps can help so so much. Another thing that I've seen all over, which I don't have yet, but I want to get is the Ninja Creamy. It's the Ninja creamy ice cream maker, and it allows you to make, you know, like ice cream from protein powder fruit. Essentially, you can take whatever it is, like your protein shake or your smoothie, and you can turn it into ice cream, which is pretty cool. One one of the biggest drawbacks that I've seen people talk about this is that you just need to plan ahead. So keep that in mind. But if you are a fan of ice cream, especially in the summer months, and you want to get some sort of just like creamy ice cream esque, try the Ninja Creamy and, you know, TikTok, Pinterest. They are filled with recipes to help you with that as well. But again, just finding simple swaps and alternatives that will help you satisfy your craving. But you could likely get, you know, 2 or 3, sometimes four times the amount of food for even less than what you would have gotten with the regular food. Number five incorporate movement into your summer activities. So if you're struggling to stay consistent with your workouts during the summer months, try to find summer activities that get your body moving. Have a pool. Go for, you know, swim laps for five minutes every 30 minutes that you're, you know, outside. If you're loving the beautiful summer evenings, go for a walk. Start your day with a walk and your day with a walk. Try to be outside as much as you can. If you have a nearby lake, go paddleboarding. Go for a bike ride. Mow the lawn. Yes, it's still a workout. Yes, it's still considered movement. You know, take a long walk at the beach or at the lake or wherever you are. Go outside as much as you can. Not only will the fresh air help you, but the vitamin D is awesome for you as well. It's also also awesome for your mental health. Summertime is truly one of the best times. Also that you can really take your workouts outside. This is why I love, love, love dumbbell workouts because you can literally do them anywhere. If you have a pair or two of dumbbells, you can bring your bench outside. If you if you utilize a bench. If your workout utilizes a bench, if not, literally take your body and a few pairs of dumbbells outside and you can incorporate that outside on your porch, in your yard, at a park, wherever it is. Right? Like really just try to incorporate outside as much as possible. That is why I genuinely love the movement with Julia, because you can literally still get a strength training workout in outside, like in the comfort of your own backyard, or your front yard or porch or whatever it is. So if you want to learn more, you can go to sale. That's Sally, that movement with julia.com to gain access. You'll also find the link in the show notes as well. But trust me when I say you will feel so much better if you incorporate movement into your day to day. Try to commit to some sort of workout you know, 2 to 3 days a week for movement, strength training if possible. If you do the movement with Julia app, you could do lower body, upper body and full body or shoulders and glutes for your third workout. That's just going to set the tone for your day, and then really try to incorporate movement throughout the day and through other variety of like summer activities. Number six only eat and drink when you actually want to eat and drink, right? Something I find during the summer. Whether you're at a barbecue, you're lounging by the pool. You're just kind of enjoying the nice weather is that you always feel the need to munch on things, right? Like if people around you are eating, you feel the need that you need to eat that eat as well. And especially like at a barbecue, you're just snacking mindlessly. Just ask yourself, like, are you actually craving it? And if the answer is yes, okay, great, have a plateful and then ask yourself again, like, do I really need to go back for seconds right now? Or am I just doing this mindlessly again? Like if you are craving ice cream, go get it. Like go get a cone of ice cream, go get whatever it is, a bowl of ice cream. But do you really need to go back for seconds or do you really want it? Like if everyone else is having ice? And you're just not feeling it tonight. It's okay. Know that that opportunity will be there tomorrow. Know that that opportunity will be there this weekend. Don't always feel the need to just jump on it because everybody else is doing it. And that's one of the biggest things that I've just seen, like especially in the summertime. Someone else is doing it. Then you think you have to do it in that moment, and that's what can lead to just overindulgence and just not feeling your best. So just ask. Ask yourself, am I really craving this? Am I actually hungry? And I know it kind of sounds silly, but it's those simple questions that will help you stay on track. And last but not least, forget perfection. Like let go of your need to eat perfectly, of your need to crash your workout 4 or 5 six days a week. Like these. Things don't always have to happen during summertime. They won't always happen during summertime. Maybe during summer you're just in maintenance mode. You're not in body fat loss mode. Maybe during summer you're just focused on hitting your protein goals. Maybe during summer you're not going to count all of your macros for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Maybe you're just going to focus on counting your macros, breakfast and lunch. You know, maybe during the summertime you're going to scale back and do 30 minute workouts because you're doing other movement outside of your workouts. In terms of strength training, your movement with Julia, workouts like find what works for you, find what is sustainable for you this summer and stick with it. It's about being consistent, even if it's imperfect, right? This will always be better than trying to be perfect, but super inconsistent. I want you to focus on being consistent. Even if you're showing up and it's imperfect, you're showing up consistently. Being imperfect, that's going to be better than not showing up because you're trying to always be perfect, if that makes sense. Okay, let's recap. Number one. Stick to your macros. Number two, honor your body with movement in the morning and eat a nourishing meal afterwards. Number three stay hydrated. Number four find new recipes that are just as enjoyable but are macro friendly. Those simple swaps. Number five incorporate movement into your summer activities. Number six only eat and drink when you actually want to eat and drink, not just because everybody else is doing it. And last but not least, number seven forget perfection. Because at the end of the day, summer is a time to be happy, to create memories. And I want you to forget this perfectionism mindset that is holding you back from enjoying summertime. If you love this episode, I know you will also love and very OG episode. It's episode 24 seven Ways to Get Back on Track. I will link that in the show notes that you can easily go tune in to that, but please, please, please if you are wanting to learn how to properly fuel your body, even if that's. I just want to know, you know, protein or I'm curious about this macro counting thing. I want to learn a little bit more. I do have an online academy. It's called the Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. I will link it in the show notes. And then on the flip side for workouts, if you're looking for just dumbbell only workouts that utilize a few pair of dumbbells in a small space, check out my Movement Julie app. It's five brand new dumbbell only workouts that are released every single Saturday at 12 p.m. out and standard time and video demos for every single movement. An incredible community, thousands of women across the country, across the world that are doing these workouts. And I promise you, you will feel challenged, engaged, and you will start to feel this inner strength that you haven't felt before. So if you want to learn more about that, go to sale. That's Sally Dot movement with julie.com. But that is all that I have for today's episode. I hope that you found this helpful. I hope that something came out of it. And just remember, I want you to enjoy this summertime. I want you to find what is working for you. And I don't want you to feel like you have to be stuck to this boring summer routine, or this all or nothing mindset where you say, okay, I don't have any goals over the summer. I want you to find that balance. I want you to find that moderation. And I know that it is possible. I love you so much. I mean it, and I'll talk to you in the next one. [00:19:09]
[00:19:18] All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an a in the middle for that Daily Post workout. Real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace it real because you're worth it. [00:19:18]