TAKING ACTION: ✅Share your weekly wins today! 🎉 We’ve talked about cortisol. We’ve talked about how healthy fats support cortisol. We’ve talked about strengths. We’ve talked about how carbs support both cortisol and strength. Today, however, all we’re talking about are our weekly wins and NSVs (non-scale victories)! 🎉 I have to throw this in there—celebrating your wins consistently and frequently can help reduce the effects of stress, which in turn can help with your overall cortisol. It may seem far-fetched, but celebrating small wins—whether daily or weekly—triggers dopamine release, which can counteract the effects of prolonged cortisol exposure. 💯 The good news is that YOU are in control of whether or not you decide to celebrate yourself. Celebrating your wins is a simple strategy you can adopt daily or weekly—and the payoff is well worth it. If you aren’t consistently celebrating your wins, I have to ask you—what are you waiting for? 🎉

TAKING ACTION: ✅VIP Clients: What is your favorite healthy fat to eat? Happy Tuesday, friends! it’s the perfect time to discuss how healthy fats impact cortisol. Foods like avocado are rich in healthy fats and potassium, which help stabilize blood sugar and support adrenal function, both of which are important for lowering cortisol. Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, help reduce inflammation and regulate cortisol. Other foods high in healthy fats like eggs, almonds, walnuts, and even dark chocolate are also beneficial. If you haven’t noticed, all of these foods fall under one category—whole-food nutrition. While I’ve given you several tips to support healthy cortisol levels, the truth is that your nutrition matters as much as anything else. 💯 Check out this website, full of healthy recipes to help with your cortisol balance efforts! 31+ Delicious Cortisol-Balancing Diet Recipes – Savorly Kitchen

TAKING ACTION: ✅Will you adopt today’s cortisol-balancing tip? Do you normally get morning sunlight within the first hour of waking? Today’s AM cortisol-balancing tip ☀️⬇️ Natural light in the morning signals your brain’s “master clock” through your eyes and tells your adrenal glands, “It’s daytime. Time to raise cortisol.” This follows your circadian rhythm (your body’s wake/sleep cycle). Your body naturally produces more cortisol in the hours before waking and into the morning. Your job is to embrace healthy habits that support this natural cycle! 🔄 Studies suggest it’s best to spend anywhere from 5-30 minutes in the morning sunlight (within the first hour of waking) for optimal benefits. This regular exposure trains your body to align hormone cycles, sleep timing, and energy patterns, which supports fat loss, mood, and recovery. ☀️UV exposure is much lower in the morning, and the health-related risks are much lower. You can also focus on getting sunlight in your eyes as opposed to on your body (though getting some on your body can also be beneficial). *WORKOUT IN COMMENTS*

TAKING ACTION: ✅New Clients: Skip straight to the bottom of this post and check out the ⭐️ NEW CLIENT INFO! The ⭐️ NEW CLIENT INFO at the bottom of each day’s post will be your go-to! ✅Which of the evening cortisol practices listed below do you need to implement into your lifestyle? Yesterday, I gave you some morning tips to help elevate your cortisol early in the day—when cortisol should be at its highest. As the day progresses, the goal is for our cortisol levels to lower as we prepare for sleep and recovery. The problem is that many people are struggling with chronically high cortisol (even at nighttime) due to stress, cell phone/artificial lighting, caffeine, etc. If you want to balance your cortisol rhythm naturally so it will work for you, here are some late afternoon/evening suggestions ⬇️ 😴Reduce amount of light exposure (overhead lighting, cell phones, and other devices, etc.) 😴Limit caffeine intake. If you go to sleep between 9:30-11:30 PM, it’s probably a good idea to stop consuming caffeine between 2:00-3:00 PM. 😴Limit stress (deep breathing is a very potent strategy that helps lower cortisol levels—which is why we’ve included breathwork into our programming this month) 😴Consume a small amount of starchy carbs a couple of hours before bedtime (rice, potatoes, yams…) Again, you may not be able to tackle all of these, but as with everything else, something is always better than nothing. 💯 Next week, we’ll take a deeper dive into each of these tips and also discuss why chronically high cortisol affects your ability to burn unwanted fat. Be sure to show up for yourself! **leg day workout in comments** ___________________________________________________ ⬇️⭐️NEW CLIENT INFO and TO-DO’s⭐️⬇️ You’re now part of a lifestyle that allows you to eat more while getting healthy and burning fat and crushing goals! Not only that, but we also enjoy TREAT DAY on Saturdays! I mean, is this the life or what? 😉 Feel free to enjoy your treat of choice (without a side of guilt)! One tip is to track your treat first, and work the rest of your day around it. This gives you some freedom while also keeping you within some boundaries.

The pics on the left are 6 years to the date of today This was not me at my heaviest. After covid in 2021 I developed long covid and spiraled both mentally and physically I literally could not walk and spent 90% of my days in a bed. Until the fall of 2022 and I decided to take back control of my life. I started small with giving up certain comfort sweets. Drinking less pop. Moving my body, 5 minute workouts is where I began. @Aleiah Barker believed in me before I started believing in myself and has always been there for me. Looking at these pics makes me cry, knowing I’ve kept this up for almost 4 years. And at the time of starting I just wanted to be able to play with my grandson, ( now I have 2) so find your deepest why and don’t give up I’ve made plenty of mistakes and learned so much in this journey. But I’m glad I stuck to it and never gave up. If I can do it, you can too :)