by Carol deLaski | Jan 15, 2017 | Sandie Lynch
Anyone who knows me, knows I love nature and the lessons we learn from it. One of my favorite pastimes is gardening and how it offers such great analogies for life. When a new year enters, a practice I have come to love is to review the closing year as a farmer would at harvest time; what crops to replant and asking if it’s time to plant something new. Keeping in mind this valuable proverb; ‘we reap what we sow, later than we sow, and more than we sow.’ I also use the nature analogy of “pruning” when reviewing my time and productivity. Life can get so busy with such great things, that productivity for any one thing suffers. Typically while gardening, I prune when a plant is healthy and thriving but it has taken up space where something else is trying to grow.
This year’s transition revealed that my priorities are changing and it was time to plant something new and do some pruning to create space for it to grow. My value to leave this earth with no regrets regularly prompts me to ensure my choices align with what is most important. The harsh reality is we all get the same amount of time to live life, therefore, periodic reprioritizing on how to fill this time is the only way to create space for planting the desired harvest. With this said, I want to share my decision for creating space for a few new crops.
Over the past few years, I have entered into a new relationship and have been working on developing my ATP Wellbeing business. Although, my time has been stretched with working a full-time career with the State (which I have held for 23 years), I love all the activities I am involved in. Last year I felt a nudge to step back from WWR to focus on my business. I made a few adjustments by stepping away from being Chief Financial Officer, but saw little progress in growing my new crops.
Those of you who regularly choose “One Word” for the year will relate to this. In September, I stepped into my new word “Rise.” I felt excited about the future and what it may hold for me. Ironically, as I was preparing the WWR Retreat in March by reading Brené Brown’s “Gifts of Imperfection” it occurred to me that I was not being BRAVE and/or willing to OWN and life my story. I realized I was actually afraid to step away from WWR further even though an inner voice was consistently nudging me to do just that. It was calling me to reprioritize my time and to create space to allow my new crops to grow.
As I read, this time as the voice spoke, I felt peace with this decision, just as it is time for a baby bird to take flight, I was ready to step into my BRAVING and anticipate my “Rise”! I feel “called” to make these changes for “space” and saying “yes” to what this may bring. Although I am not sure what this is yet. I just know that it is time to plant, prune, and let my new crops grow and step into my “Rise”!
It has been the absolute pleasure and blessing working as a founding coach with Wholistic Woman Retreats (WWR) for the past 7 years. The growth and inspiration I have received has been immeasurable. I am forever changed by being immersed in such a warm, encouraging, compassionate community created by the amazing coaches. This has been a “thriving” blessing in my life as well as, pure joy to frequently connect with so many like-minded women, seeing them grow and transform into who they are meant to be as they share their amazing gifts so fearlessly with the world.
Therefore, for now I will not be actively involved in WWR. I don’t know if this is forever or just for a time. I am blessed to receive the loving support of the remaining founding coaches and be offered an open door anytime I want to reconnect. This is such an amazing example of what is available for each person connecting with WWR.
What is your inner voice calling you to do with your time?
I would encourage you to connect with WWR and find your path to BRAVING!
Thank you always for your compassion and authentic connection while understanding my need to be BRAVE and Rise!
Sincerely yours,
Sandie
Today’s Author: Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age!
by Carol deLaski | Aug 29, 2016 | Health, Nutrition, Sandie Lynch
It seems like every few months a new diet hits the press promising fast weight loss, increased energy, and maybe even to fix all our health problems. As a Registered Dietitian, I have seen diets come and go over the years and the question that always enters my mind is, how long will this one be around?
Many times the diets are just too hard to follow or stick with over time, so individuals lose weight but eventually go off the diet and gain it all back with more. Earlier this year, U.S News & World Report published the “Best Diets” (http://health.usnews.com/best-diet ) as rated by a team of impressive experts (http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/experts) including physicians, nutritionists, and psychologists. These experts looked at the following criteria: how easy it is to follow, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its nutritional completeness, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease. From this report it appears most diets don’t work, at least long term. If you are considering following a popular diet, I recommend reviewing this report before you choose one.
The discouraging part of many of these diets is they do produce results, short term, but are very restrictive, and as individuals lose weight, they also lose lean body mass (muscle) – the very thing that maintains our metabolism, gives our body shape, and provides energy and power. As the individuals regain the weight, it’s all fat and the muscle is long gone… unless they are planning to rebuild it through regular a strength training program.
This “yo-yo” process is especially problematic as we grow older because it speeds up the natural loss of lean body mass that occurs with aging, leading us to feel weaker and older than we really are. So, how can we stop the weight loss, fat gain cycle? Below are 6 tried and true strategies that have worked for me and many of my clients to increase energy, keep the muscle, lose fat and keep it off.
- Say “No” to Diets: Many diets are restrictive or eliminate foods that are considered healthy with supporting studies that show these foods contribute to healthy outcomes and decreased chronic disease. Some of these foods include whole grains, dairy, and fruits. Of course if you have allergies it is best practice to avoid them.
- Eat a Balanced Diet: The best strategy is to eat a variety of foods in all food groups including lean meats, plant proteins such as peanut or almond butter, low fat dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and nuts and seeds. Avoid or at least limit processed foods that contain added salt, sugar, and fat.
- Eat smaller portions: Bottom line, most individuals gain weight because they eat is more than they burn. Just cutting back is a great first step. I learned a valuable strategy from one of my clients called the “80-20” rule – eat to feel 80% full by decreasing your portion by 20%. Don’t even put it on your plate to avoid the temptation to eat it.
- Avoid the Hunger Beast: The Hunger Beast is stronger than any will power. When we allow ourselves to get too hungry, no will power can stand. Eating a substantial snack between meals will help stand strong against temptation. Examples may be a mini bagel with natural peanut or almond butter, Greek yogurt with nuts, or garbanzo beans with Italian dressing, these snacks work great to take the hunger away until the next meal, making it possible to be in control of your choices.
- Eat Carbs to Spare Muscle: So many diets want us to believe carbohydrates are the enemy, when they are actually what helps spare our muscle when dieting. Typically, when losing weight, we lose fat, water, and muscle. When we eat low carbs, our body uses our protein for energy instead of using it to rebuild and spare our muscle. Best strategy is to eat a minimum of 125 to 150 gms of carbohydrates per day. Carbs don’t make us fat, over eating does. Most extremely lean body builders’ diets consist of 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat. There are also studies showing no significant differences in weight loss when macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat) percentages are adjusted between high protein/low carb to low fat/high carb. Overall studies show the primary contributing factor to weight loss is a calorie deficit.
- Pick a diet plan you can follow for life: No matter what diet you follow if you don’t like it or it is too hard to follow, it won’t work for you! Our brain needs to attach change with a positive to adhere to a diet. Otherwise, struggling will cause the brain to revert back to old habits. Therefore, gradually modify food choices and behaviors using the strategies above and move frequently to stay strong, energized, and healthy.
I would love to help you reach your goals and save you the frustration of following a diet to lose weight just to regain fat. ATP Fitness starting in September 2016 is focusing on “Eating for Energy” for the education theme. The group coaching following the exercise will review various diets, foods, and eating habits and their impact on weight, energy, and health. Learn more by contacting me at [email protected].
Today’s Author: Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age!
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by Carol deLaski | Jul 1, 2016 | Personal Development, Retreats, Sandie Lynch
Nature fascinates me. The perfection of it – with its amazing breath-taking scenic beauty, such as a morning sunrise or a sunset when the sun turns the clouds into a kaleidoscope of color, or the intense greenery that outlines a cool mountain stream.
Similarly, the human body also blows my mind with it’s amazing possibilities. Possibilities demonstrated by numerous individuals who have tested it past the imaginable; such as Ninja warriors, elite athletes, professional dancers, and meditators who control pain or blood flow.
I am none of these people but I am still amazed by how the body faithfully responds to our requests to change, learn, and heal. In my journey, what I have realized is that my body is a friend and not foe; even though there was a time when I would look into the mirror and hate the reflection starring back at me.
As I move through the second half of my life there is a passion within me to share the wisdom I have gained to love the skin I’m in. I call it living Well. Any one that knows me, knows that I love acronyms, and, to me, WELL stands for …
- W = Whole
- E = Energized
- L = Loving
- L = Life
I define Being Whole as a wellspring from within, where the body, heart, mind, and spirit work together in synergy for our greatest good. It begins with embracing hope for our best, and trusting that each day equips and moves us a little closer to our goal. It continues with believing there are no mistakes, just new opportunities to make a different choice. Each day we are a little wiser; no longer being the person we were yesterday because we have new knowledge, a new skill, a lesson learned on how to navigate toward our true ‘WELL’ self, and we do this in perfect divine timing. With this perspective, I AM whole for today and tomorrow I will be whole for tomorrow. We can lose our feeling of “wholeness” today when we focus on tomorrow. Embrace your wholeness today!
Getting Energized is recognizing the body is here to help, and not hinder, our journey. The body needs certain life nutrients to equip us. Many of us believe good nutrition, some exercise, and rest are essential for a healthy life. I have also come to believe having faith in the body’s design, it’s nature, is essential for transformation and living WELL. I have observed my body for 30 years, when I change my exercise, eat differently, or move in a new way, my body faithfully responds to every request; it can’t help but respond! Our body is constantly monitoring what we are asking it to do in order to provide us with the strength, power, or endurance we need for the task. For our bodies to provide this help, it lets us know what it needs to perform the request, such as more food, more training, more rest. Are you listening to the cues from your body? Are you asking it to move you to your best? If you are feeling uncomfortable in your body, are you listening to it or are you just telling it to get comfortable and accept where you are?
Loving-Life is about learning to see the world, and ourselves, through a lens of love. Focusing only on what is good, what is working, as well as being grateful for what we have, we celebrate the progress and success of others, and ourselves, no matter how small. Loving life asks us to focus on the positive, seeing every frustration, challenge, and maybe even failure as beneficial for moving us towards our best. Loving life requires us to avoid comparison when doing so robs our joy or self-confidence, but embracing it when it inspires us to try something new for our journey of living WELL!
I pray that you realize you, too, are on a journey of living WELL; it is not a destination that we reach yet this process is available for you to begin, or continue, today. I hope you will embrace it and be WELL!
If you would like support, guidance, or coaching on living WELL, please feel free to contact me for personal coaching. You may also register to attend the BE WELL Wholistic Woman Evening Retreat on July 27th, 2016, where we will be diving deeper into this philosophy, reviewing each essential nutrient for the body, and coaching the development of strategies to live WELL! I hope you decide to join us for a relaxing, educational, and fun evening retreat. Click here for details.
Today’s Author: Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age! Check out ATP Fitness to “Maximize” your 2016. Learn, practice, and embrace the strategies that will build Wholistic Wellbeing for life! Contact Sandie via email at [email protected]
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by Carol deLaski | Dec 10, 2015 | Fitness, Holidays, Sandie Lynch
The holidays are officially here with Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas music on the radio. I love this time of year and the opportunity to connect with friends and loved ones! There are more parties and celebrations with tons of good and delicious food.
The only problem is that with all this great food, there is the temptation to over eat and indulge. If you are like me, over indulgence may leave you feeling sluggish and not feeling your best. There may also be the concern with all the delicious food, the fear of putting on a few extra pounds contributing to feeling less than your best. The good news is that recent research shows that most people only gain a pound over the holidays. In years past, that number was more like a 5 to 8 pounds gained once January was here, so, we are either getting better about controlling our indulgence or what we eat at the holidays is not that different then what we eat normally.
Either way, for me the main focus is to move through the holidays feeling my best and experiencing more bliss with love, peace, joy and little stress. If this is important to you as well, here are a few strategies that I have used when attending holiday parties to avoid over indulgence that will leave you feeling less than your best
- Don’t obsess about it. When our mind is trying not to do something, it causes us to do the very thing we don’t want. For example, if I say, don’t think about the color red. Well, there we are trying to think about every color but red, but it is still obsessed with the color red. Same with food, when we try to “avoid” something, we obsess about it until we give in and usually over eat the very thing we are avoiding. So have a little and move on to eating something healthy. This is called intuitive eating.
- Eat a small meal before a party. There are usually a ton of choices at a party and most likely we want to try it all, so even taking very small bites can really add up the calories. When we go to a party hungry, we often take larger portion sizes than we need and end up over eating. Especially, if raised being conditioned to “clean” our plates. But when we are nutritionally satisfied, we are in greater control of portion sizes and better with cues to stop. Another strategy is to leave a little food on your plate, so your host does not feel the need to offer you more.
- Balance rich foods with something healthy. There are usually plenty of decadent desserts available at holiday parties. Try to take a smaller portion than normal by connecting with someone to share. Then before you give in to your mind screaming for more, balance it out with some fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables are packed with water, fiber, and nutrients which will not only add beneficial nutrients but will help wash away the taste that causes your mouth to be hungry for more. The fresh fruits and vegetables will also help fill you up and keep your intake with fewer calories.
- Drink water instead of your calories. Many holiday beverages are packed with calories, sugar and fat! Some popular favorites; Eggnog = 390 calories for 1 cup, Hot cocoa = 320 calories for 12 oz, a better option is a glass of wine = 125 – 150 calories. If you want to have a beverage and keep the calories to a minimum, “double fist” it. One hand has a glass of wine and the other holds your water; for every sip of wine you take, then take a drink of water. This also keeps your hands busy from grabbing extra food you may not need. Another idea is to mix the wine with sparkling or carbonated water for a spritzer. Water is always a great idea. It keeps you hydrated and keeps your digestive system moving which can become slow when eating rich foods.
- Keep moving for more muscle! Often during the holidays, our normal exercise regimen goes out the window. As the schedule gets hectic, the last thing you want to give up is movement. Not only does this help keep the stress hormones lower, but it keeps your muscles engaged to burn the extra calories. Even if you do over eat and gain weight, when challenging the muscles you may gain more muscle instead of fat. If so, this will aid in losing the weight faster when the eating patterns go back to normal. When we have more muscle or lean body mass, the body is more efficient in using our calories for energy instead of storing them somewhere we don’t want.
- Get plenty of rest: Rest is essential to keep our stress low, our hunger in check, and our mood more positive, exactly what we all need during the hectic pace during the holidays. Therefore, set your day up for success by planning what time you need to be in bed to wake up refreshed, renewed, and ready to make your holiday everything you want!
May you be blessed with love, joy, and peace this Holiday Season! Be Well, and Be Whole!
Would love to hear your tips for breezing through the holidays with ease!
Written by Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age!
Check out ATP Fitness to “Maximize” your 2016. Learn, practice, and embrace the strategies that will build Wholistic Wellbeing for life! Contact Sandie via email at [email protected]
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by Carol deLaski | Aug 5, 2015 | Change, Sandie Lynch
A few days ago some friends and I were discussing going back in time to teenage years. I confessed that I would never want to relive my younger years because of the growth and wisdom I now embrace. Long gone are the thoughts of not feeling I was enough! Now, I wake up every day feeling grateful and excited about who I am and what I share with the world. I am passionate about encouraging others to discard false beliefs that keep them quiet, feeling unworthy, and living small. I want people to live brave, bold, and full; being every bit of who they were created to be!
Just a short history of my journey. I grew up in a low-social economic home. My mom and dad were raised as farmers and were extremely hard workers. They refused to live with debt, therefore, we never bought a new car, expensive clothes, or had expensive toys. Growing up in an area where many of our neighbors had all the above, some kids can be cruel, condemning those who don’t have the latest and greatest and this is what happened to me. The result of this condemnation at an age too young to understand, I embraced numerous false lies.
As a child, I believed that my mom and dad were not good enough or smart enough to provide my sisters and me with nice things, and therefore thought that I too must be from the same mold. My favorite fairy tale was Cinderella because I believed that if I was pretty enough, my knight-in- shining armor would save me from my impoverished life. Unfortunately, as I grew older I struggled with my weight and so the dream and belief of being pretty enough was foiled. I worked so hard to be perfect… to be enough! Others would compliment me but deep inside my beliefs were that I would never be smart enough, good enough, or pretty enough…for something! I felt that no one would really like me if they knew the real me, therefore, I had to be someone else, someone who had it all together! I’m sure you can see how this turned out…not well…at least until I learned and believed the truth, that the only person I could be was me! I am now a firm believer that we attract into our lives what we believe we are and deserve. Looking back now it was like I was asking for people to manipulate, disrespect, and criticize me, because that is what I expected.
To shorten the story, on my 41st birthday I found myself separated from the love of my life and with no friends or family to remember my birthday. It was a sad, lonely, and desperate time, but out of it came a ray of hope and some valuable lessons that shaped me for a life full of passion to shout from the roof tops: each and every person is enough and has everything necessary and accessible to be complete!
If you struggle with similar false beliefs that keep you living small, here are a few strategies that transformed me; I pray that these move you from feeling “not enough” to realizing you are “COMPLETE!”
As we begin, I would like to share the definition of Complete: to have all the necessary or appropriate parts.
1. Embrace Uniqueness! There are no two people who are the same. Each of us has unique gifts and talents which we possess when we are born. Our experiences develop our talents into strengths that when applied makes our part of the world a better place. People in our lives are positively impacted when we invest our talents and strengths for the good of others. No other person can make the same impact in the exact same way. Trust that you make a difference!
2. There are No Mistakes! I’m sure all of us at one time or another could look back on our lives and shake our head and say, “That was really stupid!” There is a big difference between saying that and thinking, “I’m stupid!” I believe we are all on the journey of growing wisdom. We can only make our decisions based on the wisdom that we have in that particular moment. When we embrace each situation as the necessary “teacher” for our growing wisdom, we learn to look for the learning objective in each difficulty as research for our “Doctorate” in life!
3. Avoid Comparison! I (and everyone I know) am my own worst critic. We tend to always focus on what we don’t like about our lives, body, and/or self. Matters get even worse when we compare our lives or qualities to others we admire or want to emulate. We never measure up, because we are not supposed to! Going back to strategy one, we are unique, and our lives are not to be like anyone else’s. We are to create our own story; embrace and develop our gifts and talents into strengths to touch the lives around us.
4. Receive and Offer Grace and Forgiveness. When the critic inside shows up, review strategies 1, 2, and 3! When we learn how to provide grace and forgiveness to ourselves, it becomes easier to offer it to others. We are all on the same journey to feel and be complete and it makes it much more enjoyable when our company is supportive and encouraging verses judging and condemning…even if it is just yourself for now!
5. Share Your Gifts. We are made for connection! Research shows our bodies and lives thrive when we have positive social connection. Our level of stress decreases when we reach out to others in loving ways. When we share our gifts, talents, strengths and life lessons to serve, comfort, encourage, teach, and/or guide others for their greater good, a funny thing happens…we are the ones blessed by it. Pay attention to the things you share with others that expand your energy, joy, and fullness in your heart. These are the things the world needs, and only you in your unique way can give!
6. Live Fully Complete through Love. Each and every one of us has what we need to feel and live fully complete. Love is the key! Initially, love of self; by recognizing the amazing creation we are in all our uniqueness to serve and touch our part of the world! Our lives forever change those lives we touch. I know you are shaking your head at this last strategy thinking I’ve gone too far, but keep in mind one of the favorite Christmas movies played over and over every year is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” You are making your impact on the world right now. Start embracing that you are made fully complete when you accept, embrace, and share unconditional love with each unique soul you meet.
If you want to know more about how to live a full, joyous, and complete life, please contact me for a coaching series to help you live and Be Complete! If local to the Frederick, Maryland area, please join me and the Wholistic Woman Retreats community on Wednesday, August 26th 2015 at 5:30 pm for our ‘Be You’ Evening Retreat and an introduction to Be Complete. Click here for details.
Written by Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age! Check out ATP Fitness to “Maximize” your 2015. Learn, practice, and embrace the strategies that will build Wholistic Wellbeing for life! Contact Sandie via email at [email protected]
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by Carol deLaski | Jun 3, 2015 | Personal Development, Sandie Lynch
Hope is defined as a feeling that what is wanted can be had or achieved. Other definitions include…
to cherish a desire with anticipation
to desire with expectation of obtainment
to expect with confidence; trust
Typically when we use the word hope, we are talking about something we want to happen but there may be some varying level of doubt associated with it. We may not be 100% sure it will happen, right?
In certain aspects of life, we have greater hope for things to happen than we do in other areas. What causes the differences? Also, some individuals seem to embrace hope more readily than others. What may be some of the reasons for this? Is it experience, observation of others’ results and outcomes, or maybe even deep seated beliefs to bend one way or the other?
How do you find and build hope in your life? If you want some suggestions below are 10 steps to build and stay the course toward building hope and loving yourself healthy.
10 Steps to Build a Road to Hope
1. Acknowledge where you are and what may have been contributors to the situation.
2. Give yourself and maybe others in your life grace and forgiveness. We can’t change the past only our future.
3. Examine the contributors to the situation and choose the one you have control over and are willing to take responsibility to change.
4. Do research: read books, google, ask others what are some alternatives to get started on this one thing?
5. Pray for the Power of God to assist you with what you need! He already knows and will bring help when we ASK! Ask and you will receive!
6. Tell one or two people who you trust and know will be supportive, encouraging, and give a hand to lift you up when you stumble, because you will but the important part is to keep moving forward.
7. Live each day at a time and celebrate your successes. Note what didn’t work and make modifications and adjustments. It is a success to know what doesn’t work!
8. Remember, small changes make big differences.
9. Create a visual accountability monitoring tool that keeps your progress and accomplishments in front of you.
10. Along the way….Be Kind ALWAYS… to yourself, just as you would be to a friend asking for your help!
Here are some things to consider…
What is a situation in which you want to build hope?
What factors have contributed to the situation?
What is the one thing you are choosing to take responsibility to do differently?
Who will be your accountability partners?
When will you tell them and when will you get started on your Road to Hope?
We’d really love to hear your answers!
Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, hope is the first step in moving toward it! Grow your hope and keep moving…what you want will appear!
Written by Sandie Lynch MS, RDN, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, and Wholistic Wellbeing Coach. Owner and CEO of ATP Consultants, LLC. Sharing 5 Key Principles to Attain Top Performance in living your best life at any age!
Check out ATP Fitness to “Kick-Start” your 2015. Learn, practice, and embrace the strategies that will build Wholistic Wellbeing for life!
Contact Sandie at [email protected] to find out more!
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