Overrated vs. Underrated Healthy Habits
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There are A LOT of health, nutrition, and fitness habits that, well to be honest with you, are completely overrated. We place so much focus and energy on these overrated habits and place little to ZERO on the habits that will actually make a drastic difference in the results we want to see. So in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I cut through all the overrated habits and dive deep into the highly underrated ones that will ACTUALLY make a difference.
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TRANSCRIPT:
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 dish 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 in, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Embrace Your Real Podcast. So grateful that you are here spending some time with me today. We have listeners all over the world, and I just want to take a moment and say thank you so much for taking time out of your day to tune in. Whether you're walking, you're jogging, you're cooking, you're cleaning, you're driving, you're working out, you're doing the dang thing. You're choosing to show up to prioritize yourself so that you can become the best possible version of yourself so that you can go and serve others in your best capacity.
Today, we're talking about overrated and underrated healthy habits. There are a lot of health and nutrition and fitness habits that, well to be honest with you, are completely overrated. We place so much focus and energy on these overrated habits and place little to none on the habits that actually make a drastic difference in the results that we want to see.
So in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I'm going to cut through all of the overrated habits and highly underrated habits that actually make a difference so that we can start pursuing our health and fitness goals in the absolute best and most effective way possible.
But before I dive in, I wanted to share this super sweet review. It comes from AGZemo1801. They say, "Favorite podcast. I started listening to you during lockdown last year when my mindset needed to shift and have been listening ever since. I loved your most recent episode about muscle building and really loved the tip that your clothes are supposed to fit you, not the other way around. Thank you for being a breath of fresh air to many."
Thank you so much. If you haven't tune in to that episode, they are talking about episode 151 Seven Things I Learned From Building More Muscle. So be sure to tune in to that episode. But I appreciate every single one of you guys taking the time to click that rate and review on Apple Podcast. It really does help us out in the podcast world as well as sharing the podcast with your friends and family. Be sure to do so. Let's dive right in to the episode.
Number one of the highly overrated healthy habits. Intermittent fasting or the keto diet, in my opinion, are very overrated. Now first of all, I'm not dissing these diets whatsoever. All I'm saying is that for the majority of people, these diets are not necessary for you to see results. Did you know that even intermittent fasting say that most women can't helpfully handle fasts longer than 12 hours on a regular basis. It actually messes with our hormones and can throw them off balance, which can actually trigger weight gain through uncontrollably eating, binging, et cetera because oftentimes when you are not eating for long periods of time, it can trigger someone to overeat, especially if they're trying to get X amount of calories in in a short eating window. And yes, that can cause weight gain, which is exactly what most people are trying not to do.
Did you know that even keto experts say that most women shouldn't stay in a state of ketosis for long periods of time? If it is something that a woman decides to do, they suggest cycling in and out of it, not living in it. This is also due to women's hormones being extremely sensitive because when one hormone gets thrown off balance, the rest of them do too. It's essentially like a domino effect.
Lastly, there are two things most women cannot sustain long term. They typically cannot commit to eating very little to zero carbs for the rest of their lives, and they can't commit to not eating after 7:00 PM for the rest of their lives. You guys know my motto. If you cannot see yourself doing it for one year, five years, or 10 years from now, then you typically should not be doing it in the first place.
Number two, low calorie and low carb are overrated. Both of these diets leave you undernourished and lacking energy. Now you may need to eat a lower calorie diet, depending on how much you are eating daily and what your activity levels are. But no one on this Earth should be eating a low calorie diet, like an extremely low calorie, caloric deficit diet. There's a huge difference between low calorie and lower calorie.
Lower calorie means you were previously giving your body more nourishment than it needed, and now you're reducing your caloric intact to match the amount that your nourishment of your body actually needs. Whereas low calorie like an extremely low caloric deficit means you are trying to eat as little as possible. I am here to remind you that your body needs calories to survive, and without them, you're not going to wreck havoc on your body, but your metabolism, your physical health, and your mental health. I don't want you to throw out an average amount of calories a woman needs daily because this so greatly varies depending on each woman, and I don't want you to copy and paste what I say.
So if you're curious about how many calories your body needs based on your activity level, your weight, your age, your height, all of those things, you can check out my free macro counting ebook. Go to www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook. I will link that in the show notes, but over there you will be able to calculate how much your body needs to sustain itself and that is a great measurement of how much your body needs again.
Remember that your body needs carbs. Your body thrives off of carbs. Again, you may not need to go on a low carb or zero carb diet. You may just need to go on a lower carb diet, depending on how many carbs you're currently eating, and what your goals are. There is a difference between cutting carbs out of your diet and ensuring you're giving your body enough of what it needs versus completely just eliminating them because you think that's the best route.
Here's the truth about low carb diets. When you see people who actually lose weight super fast on a low carb diet, typically what they're actually losing is water weight because eating carbs can trigger your body to retain water. So when you aren't eating as many carbs, your body isn't going to retain as much water. Initially, this will look like extreme weight loss, but in reality it's not real weight loss. Weight loss that is lasting and sustainable comes from nourishing your body with what it needs, not depriving it of what it needs.
Number three, fancy health foods and supplements are overrated. Now I know so many women who stress about the supplements they should be taking and what fancy health food they should be eating when they don't even have a solid foundation built for nutrition first. If you think about this, you build a house from the ground up. Before you can build anything in the house, you must lay the foundation first. There's so many people that are focusing so much on health foods and supplements, and they're trying to build a rooftop before they've even laid the foundation. It doesn't matter how much they'll try to build the roof, it's just not going to work because there's no foundation for the house.
So before you start looking at all of these fancy health food or supplements that you see advertised on Instagram or Facebook, please remember that it is so important to first focus on actually fueling your body for what it needs. Food is fuel. I always say this, I have talked about this for years and years. But supplements make less than a 5% difference in our overall transformation and the results that you get. So please remember that food and how much you're fueling your body with the amount of protein, the amount of carbs, the amount of fats, and yes, getting enough micro and macro nutrients in your diet, that is the most important. Before you get anything like turmeric or aswagandha or the berry powder or whatever the newest thing is that you are seeing, learning the basics, learning the foundation of nutrition first is way more important than just trying to go to the trendiest, newest supplement that you see advertised.
Okay. So now that you know what some of the most overrated health and fitness habits are that you need to stop focusing on, I want to focus on the most underrated habits that actually deserve your time, energy, and attention.
Number one, sleep. I always personally get at least eight hours of sleep every single night. It is a non-negotiable for me. There are countless reasons why I prioritize sleep so incredibly much. But the simple fact of the matter is that seeing the results that you want and having progress that you want to happen typically happens when your body is at rest. Because during workouts, you're breaking down your muscle. But it's when you are resting is when it's actually building and repairing itself. Plus, did you know that a lack of sleep can actually trigger food cravings, especially for starchy and fatty foods? Sometimes these food cravings that are driving you crazy are a sign that you simply need more sleep.
Lastly, a lack of sleep can actually trigger your body to store fat. There's a lot of complicated signs behind why this happens, and I don't want to confuse you with the details. But it's real, and you can eat all of the "right" foods in the right amounts and do all of the workouts, but if you are consistently not getting enough sleep, you might be struggling to lose the excess fat that you want simply because your body is not getting enough rest.
Now I know that there are some women in their seasons of life, especially with newborn babies and their life being crazy, that you just cannot prioritize eight hours of sleep every night. I want you to rest assured knowing that the best you can do is the best that you can do. Just do what you can with what you have. Prioritize the amount of sleep that you can. If that's four hour stretches or taking a nap or if that is six hour stretches, I just want to encourage you to try to prioritize sleep as much as possible, and know that there are pockets of time for you to rest and recover as well that's super important in repairing your muscles, especially if you are working out consistently, you're fueling your body optimally, and you're wanting to see results. Remember that the results actually typically happen when your body is at rest.
Number two, hydration. Water is required in the process of burning fat, which means without hydrating your body properly, you're not setting your body up for success. You want to build the body that you want but you're not giving your body what it needs in order to do so. Plus, many times when we're lacking energy and we think we need another cup of coffee, what we actually are lacking is hydration, and we just need eight to 12 ounces of water. Oftentimes we confuse hunger with thirst. We think we're hungry, but in reality our bodies are just thirsty. So we end up eating more food than our body needs, but if we stay on top of our hydration levels, typically you won't have to worry about confusing the two.
If you don't already know what a base amount of water intake that your body needs daily, take your weight. It can just be an average if you don't know your exact weight. Your weight in pounds and times that by .67 and that's going to be the amount of ounces that your body needs daily. Then for every 30 minutes, a vigorous activity, like actual workouts, things that you're putting a lot of time and effort into. Try to aim for another 10 to 12 ounces for every 30 additional minutes of activity. That's kind of a good basis for your amount of water daily.
But you guys, I cannot stress how much water plays such a huge role in hunger cues, in rest and recovery and overall just seeing the results you want. It sounds contradictory but when you start drinking water, yes, you might feel a little bloated because your body is not used to drinking that much water. But our bodies are so incredible. God made them so amazing and so adaptable. So if you stick with your water recommendation that I just told you that your body weight in pounds times .67 is the average amount of ounces your body needs daily. I promise you, you will feel so much better. Give your body a week or two weeks. Be consistent with it. Yes, you might have to go to the bathroom a little bit more, but I can guarantee that you will feel less bloated. You'll feel more energized, and overall you will likely feel less cravings throughout the day.
Number three, movement. You guys know I'm a firm believer that any kind of movement is amazing. I used to only think that proper gym workouts counted as movement, and I know that sounds crazy even saying it out loud. But I thought that if I didn't move my body inside the gym, whatever I did outside of it didn't count. But here's the thing, movement is movement. Any movement is better than no movement. Instead of overthinking the kind of movement that you should or shouldn't be doing, just get moving. It doesn't have to be that complicated.
This is actually one of the main reasons why I launched my Movement with Julie App because I realized that women overthink how they should and shouldn't be moving their bodies, and I wanted to make it simple. Because with my Movement with Julie App, all you have to do is open it up and follow along. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to question it. You get to see the video demonstrations. You know exactly how many reps, how long you should be doing it for. It is literally one of the easiest ways to get your body moving.
If you haven't already checked it out, I do have a free seven day trial. So be sure to go to movementwithjulie.com/about and you can read all about it. You can click and sign up for the free seven days inside the app, which is essentially a free week of workouts. So you can see how they're structured. You get full access to the full workouts or the 30 minute variations. It is time effective. It only requires your body weight, a pair or two of dumbbells, and a small space inside your house. You can literally get it done anytime, anywhere. It is so convenient. I will make sure to include that in the show notes below.
But please just remember that any kind of movement is enough, and the more that we give ourselves grace and the more that we celebrate movement in all shapes and forms, the more we'll be apt to want to move our bodies more throughout the day. This is something that I talk about inside The Movement with Julie exclusive Facebook group for all active subscribers. So many times I see women saying, "I didn't get to get The Movement with Julie App workout in today. But I did do pickle ball or I did go on a walk." They frame it in a way that's like, "Oh, I didn't get my workout in, so..." And I get it. Our human minds want to get a good workout in daily. But sometimes it's going to be a walk. Sometimes it's going to be pickle ball. Some days it's going to be both. You're going to be able to get a workout in and then maybe you can go on a walk with your friend or your family later on in the day.
Either way I just want to remind you that movement is amazing and all forms of movement are enough. So give yourself grace, strive to yes, achieve your goals and set some goals. So for me, my goal is to at least get four to five Movement with Julie App workouts in per week. I set that. I hold myself accountable to that. But there are days and weeks that that is just not going to happen, and that's okay. So I try to look for other forms of movement.
Number four, eating enough. For some apparent reason we love to celebrate eating as little as possible, and I tell you this because this was me for a decade plus of my life. I literally used to say, "I haven't eaten since 11:00 AM," and it was 9:00 PM. I would almost celebrate it. I would almost try to look for praise from other people or just myself. It's disgusting. That is not something to celebrate. What we should be praising and what we should be celebrating is eating enough. The coolest thing is when you are properly fueling your body, you are making your metabolism more efficient.
So the only way to make our metabolism more efficient is by fueling it properly and fueling it with enough food. When we eat as little as possible, you are just slowing down your metabolism for a lack of a better term, and once it slows down, you'll have to eat even less and less to see results. Your metabolism will match it. So it will slow down even more, causing you to yet again have to eat less and less. This tactic only makes your metabolism slower, which means that you can only eat less and less. No thank you. I would much rather eat more food and fuel my body to have a properly functioning metabolism. Can I get an amen to that?
You guys, for years of my life, I struggled with this, and it wasn't until I reversed dieted. I allowed my metabolism to adapt and slowly started to increase my caloric intake. Now I'm able to maintain my physique at 21 to 2200 calories per day, which is so insane to me because for years and years in college, I was eating 1100 calories, and my body was gaining because my metabolism was so shot from this constant lack of food and not eating enough.
Please remember that it is so important to properly fuel your body and to ensure that you are eating enough. That is something to celebrate.
Number five, have fun. We focus way too much time and energy on just losing weight or losing X amount of inches or trying to fit in this size pant. It is so important that we just have fun. Having fun is so much more worthy of our time and attention. But here's the thing, the more that we focus on losing weight, the harder the weight seems to become. Because the more we focus on having fun and just living our lives and yes, holding ourselves accountable to the goals and things that we have set. But just reminding ourselves that every single day is a blessing. The fact that we can move our bodies is an opportunity to honor our body and stop letting everything control our mind and just allow having fun to guide us in this. You will see that your body will naturally become what it's supposed to be.
Having fun with what you're eating, having fun with the way that you're moving, having fun with your family, having fun with your hobbies. When you focus on having fun, you'll most likely realize that the weight you think you need to lose is actually not weight you need to lose at all or you'll see that your body is naturally becoming what it's supposed to be. You'll learn along that process that the weight doesn't dictate your happiness, and it's incredible what can happen.
I've said this before but when I gained, yes, gained 40 pounds, I feel happier, healthier, and more competent than I ever have in my entire life. When I was 112 pounds at a 5'9" frame, I thought that losing more weight was going to make me more happy. So I strived for that for years and years and years of my life. I strived for that. First, I woke up and I was like, "What the heck am I doing? If I continue to go down this path, I'm going to shrivel into nothing, and I feel worthless. I feel like a zombie inside. I am tired all the time. I'm irritable." My hormones were out of whack. I didn't have a period. It was detrimental to my life. In that moment, I didn't think that gaining 40 pounds was going to make my happy because I had put so much emphasis on the weight and how much it correlates with happiness.
It wasn't until I let go of that and said, "Okay. I am just going to focus on fueling my body optimally, moving my body, having fun with it, remembering to give myself grace. Yes, there's going to be days that I slip up. Yes, there's going to be days that I have negative body image. But I'm going to continue forth on this journey." You guys, gaining 40 pounds was one of the absolute best things I've ever done in my life. Literally. So I just want to remind you that the weight doesn't always equate. In fact, the weight rarely ever equates to lasting happiness.
So those are the five things that I believe are so underrated, and I want you to check them off. I want you to ask yourself how you are doing in those five areas and ask yourselves what are the things that you're placing way too much emphasis on that you shouldn't be placing emphasis on and instead focusing on actual underrated healthy habits that are going to lead to seeing lasting results.
I am going to go through them one more time so that you can write them down. Number one, getting enough sleep. Number two, focusing on hydration and hydrating your body for what it needs. Number three, reminding yourself that all forms of movement are great. Just move your body. Stop putting movement in a box. Number four, eating enough food for your body needs. And number five, having fun. I promise you if you stick to these five things and you really put an emphasis on these five things in the next three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, you are going to notice a drastic change in the difference of your health, your mental health, your physical health, your progress, and your happiness.
Again, if you are unsure of how much your body needs to function optimally, I have that free ebook. So go to www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook. I will link it in the show notes. You can download that 39 plus page ebook and that is a great resource for you. Also, if you need some help with moving your body, you just want to follow a plan because you are 76% more likely to stick with something when you actually invest in a program or a plan to follow. Number two, if you need a plan, remember you are 67% more likely to follow through on a program and start seeing results if you commit yourself to something. I do have that free seven day trial inside Movement with Julie. You can go to www.movementwithjulie.com/about. You'll learn all about what is inside the app. You can sign up. You get your seven days completely free, which is essentially a free week of workouts. They're for you.
I hope that this podcast was helpful. I hope that you got something from it. I would love to hear your aha moments. So be sure to screenshot this, post it up on your story, tag me Julie A. Ledbetter. I love seeing what comes from these podcasts. Also, if you have a friend or a coworker or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out. You can send them the link in a text message. You can tag them. Whatever you need to do to ensure that they get this podcast in their ears listening. I appreciate you so, so much, and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.
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 are not already following me on the Gram, be sure to do so Julie A. 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 your real because you're worth it.