Hey Hey Hey!!!
It’s February and the month is known for LOVE. LOVE is in the air!
So what does love mean to you? We obviously love our family. We love chocolate. We love summer time, we love the five minutes we have to ourselves. We love the times when we can poop in peace without a child(ren) interrupting us to open their snack. But when was the last time you loved yourself? I ponder the things that I do for myself, or lack thereof. I have found that its more than just taking a hot bath after a long day or getting a pedicure. Although those are great at the moment, it’s sometimes not enough. When we love ourselves, we do things for ourselves that may not be that pleasant but it proves to us that we care about US. That means going to the doctors office to have something looked at. As some of my fellow clients know, I have had some stomach issues that I have chosen to ignore because I don’t want to deal with it. I brush it aside to concentrate on my family or the business. But what does ignoring the issue do for me? I hate going to the doctors. It feels like an impending doom and I am scared to face it. It’s easier to push it under the rug and pretend that it doesn’t exist. In the meantime, my own child does her best to help me by grabbing my Pepto and setting up a “bed” on the floor so that my tummy would feel better. It started to affect my relationship with me family and how my daughter viewed me. Not because she thought I was weak or anything, but she was worried. So to bring the point up, we need to love ourselves in ways that isn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. Other examples are if you are experiencing leaking when you sneeze, cough, or laugh, and just keep pushing it aside, how is that helping you? What about painful sex? Why would we go through life having painful sex?!! I know it can be hard to admit that there is something wrong and yes it will take work to remedy that. But how bad does it have to be in order for us to seek help? There IS help out there! So we need to take a deep breathe and ask for help. Let’s love ourselves a little more to show our children that its ok to accept help.
UPDATES:
Recently I hooked up with Marie at Convergence Coworking to check out her space on Lake Shore. She purchased a really cool 200 year old house that she rents out to entrepreneurs. But her space can be used for meet ups, business meetings and seminars! I am happy to report that we have our first in person seminar set up for April 29th from 2-4pm!! I hope that these seminars will be a staple in my practice. These seminars will cover issues with not only common pelvic floor problems but what to expect during pregnancy and after delivery. We are sent on a merry way after we pop out that baby and have no idea what we are in for! I know I was pretty lost on what to expect after I delivered Quilla. I had a traumatic recovery and no one warned me of the physical changes that my body went through. We can also invite lactation consultants, pelvic floor physical therapists, counselors, ANYONE at our fingertips! So I am very excited that Marie and I connected and hope that this will be a great symbiotic relationship for our community. So if you are a business owner in need of some local office space to work, make sure to hit her up! Her contact information is below. Tickets will be available for purchase this month so be sure to check out my website to purchase.
Marie Rachelle
4900 Lake Shore Rd
Hamburg NY
(716) 383-0547
www.convergencecoworking.com
TIP OF THE MONTH
Do you suffer from knee pain? Guess what, that means that your hips might be weak. After Quilla was born, I had some gnarly knee pain that just wouldn’t go away. I tried resting, icing, heat, stretching, all.of.it. Nothing was helping. So naturally I saw the doctor. Right off the bat, he asked “are you recently postpartum?” I just looked at him and said, “yes, but what does that have anything to do with my knees!!?” He then explained that when we are pregnant our hips move and stretch. This in turn stretches and weakens our hip muscles. We also produce relaxin in our system during pregnancy which helps all of our tendons and muscles stretch to accommodate baby. Because of that, our body “weakens” and cannot support our knees. So the first thing we do is start to strengthen our hips in a way that doesn’t make our knees worse. If you purchase my take home 6 Week Return to Fitness program, a lot of the exercises are hip and core oriented. This will help prevent that dreaded knee pain! Below is a list of great exercises that you can do at home to help with strengthening your hips and core.
Clamshells
Banded side steps
Donkey Kicks
Cossack Squats
Side Step Ups
Ball Squeezes
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
Marinated Chicken breasts with bacon Brussel sprouts and sweet butternut squash.
As you can see, this has TWO veggie servings! One of the things you would learn is that not all veggies are created equal and can be considered a starch. So this one is super tangy and tasty. Plus you get to have bacon grease……..everything is better with bacon.
Marinate chicken thighs in oregano, sherry wine, salt & pepper for at least one hour. I do not like to use oil to marinate even though fat is flavor. There is already a high volume of fat in this meal.
While chicken is chilling, slice your brussels into bite size pieces and place in a bow. Now I am from the south so I always have bacon grease on hand. If you do not have bacon, do not sweat it! Using something like garlic oil, walnut oil, almond oil, or just plain old olive oil will be fine. Be sure to measure your oils! A little goes along way. No more than 2 tablespoons!! Toss the brussels with your s&p and garlic powder and set aside. I like to let the salt draw out some of the moisture in the brussels so that they can get a little crispy.
Cut butternut squash into bite size pieces. I usually buy the family pack from Wegmans because I am terrified I’m going to chop my finger off while prepping. Toss your squash with honey, cinnamon, a dash of salt and a touch of nut oil.
I love my air fryer so I will usually do the butternut squash in the oven and save the brussels for the air fryer. Cook the squash at 350 degrees for at least 20 minutes until fork tender. The brussels I put in at 400 and 9 minutes (give or take a few minutes depending on the size of the brussels) The brussels should have some brown crispy edges.
**Before grilling you chicken breast, be sure to spray with cooking spray to keep from sticking since we did not marinate in any oil.
Servings:
4oz of grilled chicken breast
1 cup of Brussel sprouts
1/2 cup of butternut squash.
One last note and I will leave you alone lol. I need your help spreading the word about what I do. Women NEED HELP in their aftercare from pregnancy. If you have worked with me, please leave a review on my Google page or write something up so that I can post on my website. If you have not worked with me yet, be sure to at least stop by the gym to introduce yourself. My job is not just to train ladies. It is to support you through this transition in life. Just like we hire doulas and midwives, we need someone to help navigate our new bodies. I want you to be able to enjoy your gym and do what you love. I want you to feel confident in your new and beautiful body. I want to be apart of that support group that you deserve. If you have a friend that would like to be on the mailing list, hit me up and we can get them added!!
Love and wellness to you all. Go and lift all heavy things
Sincerely
Coach Lindsay
The Wellness Barn and Fitness