Category: Fitness

Smash Your Scale!

September 1, 2017 / tylerk / 0 Comments

One of the first questions we ever get asked when we are starting our health journey, filling out paperwork, going to the doctor, etc. is “How much do you weigh?”

This is such a loaded question. Especially for women.

There is such a negative stigma on certain weights & there is so so much pressure for women to be a certain weight. We are constantly being reminded about it from our doctors, the media, our friends, our trainers, etc. Many of us have scales in our bathrooms that we step on on a daily basis.

One of the biggest challenges I give my clients at the beginning of our work together is to stop weighing themselves all the time. To get rid of the scale or better yet – smash it! Especially for those who are constantly focused on making sure that a certain number shows up on that scale every day.

There is way too much focus put on reaching a certain number that we really stress ourselves out. As we have talked about before, when we put ourselves into a stressed state, it can completely reverse any healthy habits you are working on.

When we are in a stressed state, our body produces extra hormones that store fat, our metabolism won’t work correctly and we will end up storing weight, our blood pressure goes up, and so much more.

So, I challenge you to smash your scale and to stop using your weight as an indicator of whether or not you are being healthy. Instead of focusing on the number on the scale, start focusing on how your energy level is. Focus on what healthy habits you are adding into your daily routine. Focus on eating foods that you love and that your body will also love. Focus on moving your body. Focus on feeding your body with self-love and positive thoughts & energy.

If you aren’t comfortable with getting rid of your scale, how about reducing the number of times you weigh yourself. And don’t forget that when you are starting a journey to health, you will oftentimes gain weight at the beginning & you will fluctuate a lot along the way. So many things play into that number on the scale (gaining muscle, water retention, hormones). Don’t be afraid to smash the scale & start measuring the facts that really matter.

Move Your Body

August 7, 2017 / tylerk / 0 Comments

Have you ever told yourself when you want to lose a few pounds that you had better start exercising more?

The idea of exercise has turned into prescription of sorts and over time, it has actually become counterproductive and out of balance. We have been taught that in order to lose weight, we need to kill ourselves in our workouts. That we have to hit the treadmill for an hour a day. That we need to run or walk until we’ve hit the calories that we need to. That the only way to lose weight is to hire a personal trainer that will run us to the ground with burpees, sit-ups & Crossfit challenges. This kind of thinking has been engrained into our heads.

The reality is that when we over-exercise, we physically and mentally put our bodies into a stressed state. In this state of physiologic stress response, our bodies produce extra cortisol and insulin. When these hormones are produced in excess it actually signals the body to not build muscle, but to store fat. Thus, not losing weight, but storing it!

Some people thrive on intense exercise. They enjoy it & it’s a fun challenge for them. Others are only doing it to burn calories and are hating every minute of it. If this is you, then listen to your body! If you have any negative emotions towards intense exercise, then you are at more risk for having emotional stress during exercise and thus more adverse effects.

Instead, think about other ways you can move your body that you actually enjoy. There are so many possibilities! Hiking, yoga, sports, fast walking, etc. Think about it…our ancestors weren’t pumping iron & sprinting on treadmills everyday. Their life contained other forms of exercise. Yours can, too!

Even adding little things to your day will help reach your movement goal…parking further away, riding your bike instead of driving, stretching breaks, taking the stairs, all these little things add up!

Focus on moving your body instead of this definition of ‘exercise’ we have created.

Move your body, put yourself into a happy state, this is where weight loss will begin.

99 workout challenge

September 18, 2015 / tylerk / 0 Comments

Are you getting into a rut with your workout routine? Need a change? A new challenge? Try this 99 workout this weekend!

It’s a completely bodyweight-based workout. So, no equipment needed and you can do it anywhere! It’s a total body workout that will get you burning a ton of calories. I also love it because it is very simple and easy to remember.

All you have to do is:

Set 1: 99 jumping jacks, 99 crunches, 99 second wall sit, 99 leg lifts, 9 push-ups
Set 2: 88 jumping jacks, 88 crunches, 88 second wall sit, 88 leg lifts, 8 push-ups
Set 3: 77 jumping jacks, 77 crunches, 77 second wall sit, 77 leg lifts, 7 push-ups
Set 4: 66 jumping jacks, 66 crunches, 66 second wall sit, 66 leg lifts, 6 push-ups
Set 5: 55 jumping jacks, 55 crunches, 55 second wall sit, 55 leg lifts, 5 push-ups
Set 6: 44 jumping jacks, 44 crunches, 44 second wall sit, 44 leg lifts, 4 push-ups
Set 7: 33 jumping jacks, 33 crunches, 33 second wall sit, 33 leg lifts, 3 push-ups
Set 8: 22 jumping jacks, 22 crunches, 22 second wall sit, 22 leg lifts, 2 push-ups
Set 9: 11 minute run

It does take a while to get through the whole thing, but I promise you will feel so accomplished when you complete it! And, if you can’t get through it all, that’s okay! Just keep trying until you can make it all the way through.

Try it out this weekend!!

Why mbodie?

April 18, 2015 / tylerk / 0 Comments

I had the honor of working with Marc David at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating in 2014. His favorite word was ’embody’ and it really became the underlying theme of his program.

We spend a lot of time working on our ‘body’. But, we often forget that our bodies are the embodiment of everything we put into them. Food. Effort. Emotions. Thoughts. Energy.

Look at the definition:

Embody

to give a concrete form to; express, personify, or exemplify in concrete form:
to embody an idea.
to provide with a body; incarnate; make corporeal:
to embody a spirit.
to collect into or include in a body; organize; incorporate.
to embrace or comprise.

As much as we obsess over our bodies, we also know we can’t take it with us. Most of us won’t be remembered for our physical form, but rather for the characters we choose to embody.

That’s why I’ve named my business mbodie – because we are what we embody. And, we choose.

I love this quote by Epictetus…

Don’t explain your philosophy, embody it.”

Something worth thinking about. What do you want to embody?

Peace and love,

Tyler

How did we get here?

April 18, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Hi, my name is Tyler Smith. Thank you for visiting my site!

I am so excited to be part of your journey to understanding fitness, nutrition and what you truly need to live a fit, healthy and energized life.

And, thought you might enjoy hearing a bit about my own journey and why I’ve dedicated my life to helping people transform their health.

I guess you could say I have always been drawn to the health and fitness world. I played team sports like volleyball, lacrosse and basketball growing up, and always admired my coaches.

My love of fitness grew over the years. And, the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.

I got certified as a Personal Trainer while I was still in high school and have been training ever since.

I went on to study nutrition in college with the goal of becoming a Registered Dietitian.

It was during that time that I discovered how much food companies influence nutrition education in our country and how little nutrition education our medical professionals receive.

This led to a whole new path for me.

The more I learned about the disconnect between the health industry and the food industry, the more I realized why we have so many health and weight issues. And, why you can’t just workout and have the ‘perfect body’.

I knew that if more people had this information and understood how nutrition works, they could avoid so many of today’s most common health issues and get much more amazing results from their workouts.

But, there is so much conflicting nutrition information out there. How do you figure out the truth? How do you know if the nutrition bar you picked up at the gym is truly healthy? Or whether it’s just there to keep you coming back?

That’s why what I teach my clients is so important. So they can answer those questions for themselves.

We are all on the quest for the ‘perfect diet’ and ‘perfect exercise program’, but it’s so confusing out there. To top it off, we each have very different fitness and dietary needs.

The only way to find what is ‘perfect’ for you is to get to know your own body.

Together we will create a workout program you LOVE, eating foods you LOVE, and living a lifestyle you LOVE! So you not only look healthy & fit, you will mbodie health & fitness.

Book An INTRO SESSION NOW!