Tara Garrison: Keto Scams, Lifting & Intermittent Fasting for Women

 
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Have you tried eating low carb yet?

How did it go?

Many people get incredible results by kicking out all the processed junk, sugar, and by dialing down the carbs, but I’m going to be honest with you, I love carbs.

After my hard workouts, after my runs up the mountains, there’s definitely a place for good carbs like wild rice, quinoa, sweet potato, old school sourdough, even some treats every once in a while.

Carbs can be our friends too.

So how do we scale our intake of fat, protein, and carbs, to achieve our ideal body composition?

Today, we’re here with a perfect person to talk about it, the wonderful and talented, Tara Garrison.

Tara is a mother of 4, and certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and mindset coach who helps high performers, including celebrities, professional athletes, and top executives optimize their health.

In today’s episode, we’re chatting about:

• How lifting weights makes everything easier
• Why you should do keto but not forever
• Intermittent fasting from a woman’s perspective
• Changing your mindset from a restrictive mindset to an abundance mindset
• And tons more…

Tara Garrison: Keto Coach & Personal Trainer

Hey, folks. Welcome back to the show. 

Today, we’re here with our friend, Tara Garrison, a celebrity coach, nutritionist, and personal trainer, who hosts two podcasts including Inside Out Health and the Kick-Ass Life Podcast with our dear friend, Elle Russ. 

Tara is the proud mom of 4, an avid weightlifter, Boston marathoner, and she thinks you should try keto, but not forever. 

Thanks for joining us today, Tara.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Abel: So much to dig into, but let’s start with what we were just chatting about a little bit before we started recording, which is, you’re coming at this in the past few years, building a business essentially from scratch. 

And we were talking about how, especially, starting blogging in the late 2008, 2009, and then blogging RSS turns to podcasting and then video. 

You are all over Instagram, crushing it, having a lot of fun with these new technologies.

But how do you stand out in a market that’s always changing, in a health space that’s full of scams and full of nonsense? 

How do you build a business and really get out there right now? 

You know what? I think it’s all about connecting to your heart, and every single time I post any content, I ask…

I’m a very intuitive person, I feel very connected to a divine intelligence that’s guiding me on this path, so it’s really, for me, honestly, it’s not really about me.

Every single time I post, I ask, “What do they need?”

“What do they need?” and something will come in.

And so when I’m in that space, in that heart space, I feel that is not only going to be received by people who need to hear that message, but also, it’s like you can feel the genuineness, you can feel the love.

Now, sometimes maybe it’s tough love.

I definitely venture into that realm a little bit, that’s just kind of my personality.

But I think right now, people have kind of had it with the fake, they’ve kind of had it with the perfect.

I don’t think anyone’s really buying that so much anymore.

I think we’ve all increased our awareness and intelligence of being able to read through things on the internet and we’ve all gotten a little more skilled at this.

So it’s like, “Ugh, something doesn’t feel right. Something feels yucky. Something doesn’t feel congruent.”

You can feel that.

And so I really do think being genuine is the new way, just completely being real.

Nobody wants fake, and so that’s what I just try to do is, “I’m not going to tell you it’s going to be easy. It’s not going to be easy. But here’s some cool hacks and cool stuff we figured out of how you can actually do it if you want to.”

But yeah, I think just being real and having respect and love for my audience, that’s what I try to build everything on.

Like, “What would I want to know? If I were looking to me for advice, what would be helpful?”

And when you come at it in that heart of service, that’s how you stand out, is you just serve, and you love, and you respect your audience.

Abel: But that doesn’t mean playing it safe and biting your tongue all the time. Sometimes it does.

No, no.

Abel: Sometimes it does, but I was going through your Instagram and one of them says like, “You’re going to die. I’m sorry to tell you this,” or whatever, “but here’s a reminder.” 

And it’s just such great context right now.

I know. I thought, “Oh gosh, with corona and everything, everyone’s already afraid of this, and I’m just going to like… ”

Sometimes I feel like the ADHD kid that’s just sticking my finger in the wound and pushing it a little bit.

But really, my aim in that is, I don’t want to have regrets. And I see fear.

I see so much fear in people. I see this overwhelming, “I’m going to play safe.”

This is before coronavirus and any of that. Whether it’s your job or your career, your relationships.

It’s like, “Well, this is about as good as it’s going to get, probably. So let me limit myself and stay right here and keep it safe.”

And I can’t live that life.

I lived that life. I can’t live that life anymore.

Doing it Wrong and Figuring it Out

Abel: Yeah, and the rug gets pulled out from underneath you whether you like it or not. Whether you accept it or not, and see it or not, it happens. 

It happens to everybody and we need to adapt, we need to build that as a skill. 

What some people may not know about you, and when they see Instagram profiles with just abs, and muscles, and stuff like that, they don’t realize that a lot of us, not all of us, but a lot of us in the health space, are really here because we were doing it wrong for a while and not getting results, and really worried about it, and kind of obsessed with it.

And then once we figured it out, we couldn’t help but tell everybody.

Oh, Abel, you don’t even know.

I was just talking to my friend about this in the health space last night and he was like, jaw to the floor, because he’s like, “I forget that you lived that life, Tara. I forget.”

As an adult, not that long ago, I was living that- eat McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King.

Like, “Hey, it’s 10 o’clock at night. I’m kind of hungry, let’s go get some Taco Bell,” and macaroni and cheese with my kids, and peanut butter and jelly.

And grilled cheese was a great lunch on white bread. And I lived that life. Shortbread or cookies made with Crisco, all of it.

Abel: And it’s like, sometimes when I’m coming at people and I’m talking about pasture-raised, and regenerative agriculture, and food quality, and I think sometimes it can come across maybe a little nerdy. 

It’s like, “Wow, Tara’s really into this stuff.”

But the reason I am is because, for me, changing that lead to a personal awakening.

It completely put me in my path.

And so, yeah, I know what it’s like to be poor, I know what it’s like to just not get it.

I know what it feels like to spin your wheels and be like, “Gosh, I wish I could just afford some famous personal trainer to just come live in my house and just whack the cookie out of my hand.”

I know all of those feelings. It’s so frustrating.

And you’re right, once you figure it out, and of course it’s kind of messy because you get a little… For me, anyway, I got a little obsessed.

Abel: True.

Went maybe a little too hard, and then you gain wisdom, you gain insights, and now to be able to share that with people.

I was going to be a Spanish teacher, and I love Spanish, and I love teaching.

Abel: No way.

Yeah, yeah, I have a degree in Spanish.

Abel: Wow.

That was my original life path, but this was so meaningful to me that I just was like, “I can not.”

I found my purpose, I found my mission, and that’s helping people live their best life, live an unlimited life through optimizing their health, and I know you’ve experienced that, too.

It's unbelievable how much it can impact your day-to-day when you get healthy on the inside. @coachtarag Share on X

Abel: Yeah. It’s like an energy multiplier, instead of just dragging all the time, feeling like you’re hungover all the time. 

Once you remember what it’s like to feel not hungover and actually healthful and full of vitality and energy, it’s like nobody can stop you. 

Even if they put all these obstacles there.

Seriously.

Abel: You’re going to get around. You’re not going to come up with excuses, and you build this momentum. 

And I think a lot of that, too, is like, if you carry muscle, and I know you’re into lifting and running at the same time, which is a great combo that I’m also into, that gets a lot of flack. 

Gets a lot of flack for some reason.

Oh yeah.

How Lifting Weights Makes Everything Easier

Abel: I’m not sure exactly why. 

But once you carry muscle in the right places, your posture changes, your confidence changes.

You get more energy, and that’s so important. It’s a cascade.

Oh, yeah. It’s funny you say that about lifting and running, because I actually used to have another Instagram account that I stupidly deleted, but…

Well, that’s another story for another time.

But I had built this thing to 30,000 followers back when it was easier to build an audience.

It’s a little harder now, but it was called Lift and Run.

And I started that account because as I was getting into bodybuilding, everyone was like, “Don’t run. You’re going to run off all your gains.”

And in the running community, they’re like, “Don’t lift. You’re going to get so heavy.”

And so they’re these very headbutty areas of fitness.

And I was like, “Wait a minute. All I know is I’ve been running a long time.”

And of course, I was overweight when I was running.

I hadn’t fixed nutrition, I hadn’t picked up lifting, but as soon as I got that lifting piece on point…

I mean, I qualified for the Boston Marathon with 17 minutes to spare or something.

I had failed at it over and over.

And in my lifting workouts, I was unstoppable because of the cardio.

So I just want to be a voice for anybody. I know there’s people out there like you who have kind of figured this out, too.

But I think they go so beautifully together, because your power output is so much higher on your runs, and then your cardio conditioning is so good for your lifting.

It’s kind of awesome.

Abel: I stopped getting hurt. I stopped having recurring injuries and my form improved, too. 

Yes, when I was lighter, that’s better for really long endurance events. 

You don’t want to be carrying too much muscle. 

But at the same time, you have to ask, “Why are you doing this? Are you doing this so you can run really far?” 

Like, “Is that the whole plan for the rest of your life or your fitness?” 

Or, “Is there something bigger going on?” 

And wear and tear is something that definitely you have to acknowledge at some point.

Injuries add up over time and they come back to haunt you. Wear and tear is a real thing.

You have to honor your body, but the way that I like to see it is cross-training.

You have to honor your body. Share on X

Totally.

Abel: Would you rather just be able to run at the same moderate pace for 30 or 50 miles? 

Or would you like to be able to run away from a predator, be able to lift things when something’s about to fall on your kids? 

And are you ready to do the work that it takes when you live on the road or when there’s a wildfire and you have to evacuate? 

These are survival skills at some point, and we’re kind of training to adapt, to be stronger, I think, and to be more cross-trained. 

To me, looking from the outside in, it seems like that’s what you’re doing. 

You’re kind of dabbling in the edges, figuring out body composition, performance, how you can balance those things. 

And there’s a lot to learn there if you put in the work, and you’re willing to make some mistakes and be honest about them.

Oh, yeah, big time. Hearing you talk about that, I’ve trained many people who are ultra-marathoners, they love that.

Keto works great for them.

For me, even as a marathon runner, I am a pedal to the metal kind of person.

I say, I have two modes, asleep and fast.

I don’t know, it’s just how I operate.

And for me, even in my marathons, I mean, I am pushing.

One of my miles, I would wear a Garmin. I’m kind of aligned with Mark Sisson on the… I’m a little bit anti-technology because sometimes I feel like that feedback that’s coming from something outside of me can actually limit me.

Abel: Yep.

So I like to see it after, but I don’t like to see it during the race.

Abel: That makes sense.

And so I have my mile splits.

I mean, in one of my mile splits, I was doing a five-something pace in a marathon, a 26-mile marathon, and I’m not light, I’m 150 pounds.

So I think this is actually really interesting because as far as a marathon runner woman goes, I’m kind of heavy, but I have a lot of muscle and I train for power.

And so I can maintain a fast pace for a long time because of that, because a lot of my weight is functional weight.

It’s not like, I’m not just carrying around body fat, I’m 15% body fat.

A lot of it is, it’s pushing me. That weight is working for me, not holding me down.

Abel: Dude, that is such a great point, because when you think about running and biomechanics, it’s mostly like, the way that I like to think about it is like a kangaroo that’s bouncing off of its tendons, essentially. 

It’s using all of its momentum with its muscles to propel itself forward instead of fat, which would be like wearing water bags.

Hanging…

Abel: Holding you back the whole time.

How to Be Keto… Sometimes

Right. Totally, yeah. So it translates really well.

But because I push so fast, for me, some carbohydrates.

I did keto, I ran Boston in ketosis.

I’ve experimented with all that and I am an advocate of the ketogenic diet. I’m definitely not a zealot.

I’m not in ketosis all the time but for me, having some carbohydrates to fuel those runs, it’s pretty awesome because I’m fat-adapted.

If I run out of fuel, it’s no problem. I will just start making ketones.

I can switch over all good, but ideally, I love, because I’m going at such a high output, it’s kind of like, “What’s your operating system? What are you trying to do with it.”

And it’s being intelligent and playing with it, like you said.

It’s easy, I think, especially with keto people, I think it’s easy for us to be like, “I’m a keto person,” and now your identity is wrapped up into it.

You just pigeonholed yourself into it and you’re like, “I have to be keto.”

And it’s like, “Hold on.”

But keto is awesome.

No one is saying it’s not awesome, but let’s see.

Let’s just dabble out of that a little bit and play with some things and see how you do.

So for me, I love being low-carb. Low-carb works amazing for me.

It’s not keto, but it’s pretty low in carbohydrates.

It’s enough to fuel performance. It’s enough for me to go pedal to the metal, but still feel awesome and have good brain power and all that.

So, yeah, it just fits.

Abel: Yeah. I’m with you there.

I mean, I’d go crazy if I couldn’t have my Boston cream pie and my cheesecake. 

And we polished off two of those. 

Actually, a little bit of Boston cream pie’s left, but my birthday was last week. 

And it’s like, “Yeah, I want to celebrate that.” 

One of the best things about doing endurance events, for me, anyway, is the education of bonking, running out of glycogen when you’re not well adapted to do so. 

But it’s kind of like an extra gear. 

It’s like working on this whole extra gear that you have when you’re able to burn fat, especially when you’re pushing yourself, when you don’t need that extra fuel, or at least, you’re not reliant on it. 

And you train that way.

Right.

Abel: You start training fasted. That really started to help me, such that when you do have that little bit of sugar.

For me, it’s a Manuka honey drop.

I’ll bring one on my run and it’s like, just the best thing ever. Rainbows everywhere, butterflies, I’m feeling like a hero. 

It’s so delicious, it’s the most sugar I’ve had all day.

But if you actually have a sweet potato, or if you have some real carbs before or around the time of your real training, there’s nothing wrong with that. 

That, you burn it off. 

When you understand the way that your body works and the different abilities it has, and that you can kind of nurture to burn these different fuels.

Then you can start using them to build muscle post-workout, when glucose and storing glycogen once again can be useful. 

And when, if you’re just like hardcore keto and you’re avoiding all carbs, because carbs are bad, you kind of miss out on that.

And a lot of people start dragging over the course of time if they don’t replenish themselves in some way.

Yeah, I’ve played with it all over the place, and for me, this is how I look at it.

I just had a continuous glucose monitor, and Nutrisense sent that out to me and I was playing with.

When I turn people on keto, I’m like, “Just walk. Just walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.”

Abel: Yeah.

Walking is amazing with keto. It’s running off fat oxidation, you’re running off fat.

Yay! It’s a match made in heaven.

So I was interested to see what would happen with my blood sugar.

Walking, my blood sugar’s usually in the upper 80s.

That was good to see too, it’s kind of cool to do these little experiments on yourself.

And I was like, “Okay, good. My blood sugar regulation’s good.”

When I would run, and it was a very typical pace for me, something like just under 7-minute mile run, around a seven-minute mile.

My glucose shot up from the upper 80s to 120, just from running.

Abel: Yeah, that happened to me, too.

Yeah, and so… And I share that because it’s like, “Okay, cool, so my liver or my muscles are both, are dumping glucose back into my bloodstream to fuel this performance, to make ATP.”

And when you think about it that way, if you think of your liver and muscles as like these buckets that are dumping out because you’re actually doing stuff to make your body do that, that’s the key.

Are you actually doing that kind of stuff? Well, now you’ve got these little sponges, your liver and your muscles are your little sponges that absorb carbs.

Sometimes I call them calorie absorbers for women to help them want to build muscle.

Abel: Yeah, totally.

But these little carb absorbers, and when you empty out that bucket, you activate GLUT-4 transporters, these little glucose transporters, that just pool carbs right back in.

So to me, it makes so much sense.

It’s like, go eat some carbs after that workout, refuel, and then the next time, you’ve got them ready to go, you’ve got your little jet packs all loaded up for your next run.

Abel: Yeah, yeah, totally.

So I love to kind of look at it that way, and it removes guilt or weird mentalities towards carbohydrates.

That’s one thing about diving in and learning about your body, because then you know how to manipulate things.

You know what to do for optimal performance, instead of just being like, “I have no idea how any of this works. This is just, I’ll just crapshoot it all the time.”

So yeah, it’s been fun to geek out on self-experimenting, and with clients on carbs and fats, and when you need them and when you don’t.

Abel: Yeah. When I first was doing the marathoning and running, I was following the running magazines and what doctors say, all that Gatorade and lots of carbs. 

So don’t get the impression that that’s what you need, or you need 400 grams of carbs, or like all this sugar syrup or whatever to get you through.

No.

Abel: Or to replenish. That’s not what we’re talking about at all. 

I always run fasted, always fasted.

I always run fasted, always fasted. @coachtarag Share on X

For me, it’s not until after, even a marathon. Maybe if I have ketones, if that’s accessible to me, I will use ketones, or sometimes it may be just an electrolyte drink.

But oh man, I love running fasted.

And then afterwards, sure. Am I going to have my sweet potato and whatever?

Yep, yep, oh yeah. Yeah, I definitely am not advocating that whole, I did the goo…

Abel: Yeah, me too.

The goo, then the waffles, then all the carbs. But that’s not… That was definitely not optimum performance for me at all.

Abel: No, what happened to me is, I got sick. 

I would run a marathon or whatever, and then I would be sick for three days, or a week, or I’d just feel like I had the flu.

But as soon as I got rid of all of that sugar, especially the low-quality stuff.

If you’re running that much, a lot of times you’re just eating for calories and your hunger doesn’t work anymore because you’re running a lot, or in binge mode. 

It’s those two when you’re running, when you’re putting in that many miles, when you’re fueling with sugar and running that many miles.

So it’s important to recognize that the refueling of your body, you’re going to be best served by using real food.

If they are supplements, they need to be clean, well-formulated, not full of junk.

Don’t go for processed food, because your immune system will take a hit and then you can’t train because you’re sick.

Yep, exactly.

And it’s not even just, speaking of the processed food and things like that, it’s not even just that.

Maybe that’s inflammatory and that’s going to hold you back.

It’s also what you’re missing because you’re only going to eat so much in a day, this is how I like to look at it, instead of this limited like, “Can’t have that, can’t have that.”

It’s like, no, you only have a certain amount of food that your body is going to allow you to eat in a day, maximize it.

We’re so lucky, we have the ability to eat better than royalty.

We're so lucky, we have the ability to eat better than royalty. @coachtarag Share on X

In times past, we would have dreamed of having access to the kind of nutrition we can have going down the street to whatever little somewhat healthy grocery store.

And so it really is in our power to choose to fill those calories with as much maximal nutrition as we possibly can.

And when you’re eating even, I have so many bars and cookies from keto companies and all that, and I really appreciate it.

Trust me, when 1 o’clock rolls around and I’m really hungry. I’m like “Mmmm cookies, and bars, and coffee, sound amazing.”

But its like “No.”

The way I approach nutrition for me is, I call it being my own mom.

I have four kids. And what would I tell them?

“Hey, mom. Can we have candy bars for dinner?”

Sometimes I let my kids have treats.

“After you eat your real food,” is what I would tell them.

So for me, I do the same thing.

It’s like after you eat your real food, go make a salad, go make some vegetables, and then you can have your keto cookie or whatever.

So that I’m maximizing the nutrition that I put in my body.

Keto Snack or Keto Scam?

Abel: Right. Well, and you have a great post too about some of the keto scams. 

I’ve never seen a dietary framework for fat or whatever you want to call it, take over the internet and social media like keto did. 

And then all of the just like slapping “keto” under these honey sugar-covered bars and having zero accountability is insane. 

But anyway, just like if you could run on some of the keto scams, that would be really entertaining, I think.

Oh, okay. Yes, please. Thank you for the platform here. Okay.

Abel: Of course.

Let’s talk. So one thing that really drives me crazy are these keto fat burner pills.

Guys, if you’re listening to this, please, let me explain to you what these are.

So, ketones in their powdered form is called beta-hydroxybutyrate.

So you can buy a pack from Pruvit or some of these companies for like… I don’t know what it is, maybe six, seven bucks.

So, they’re kind of expensive, but they’re amazing, and you will get 10 to 12 grams of ketones in a serving, okay, 10 to 12 grams.

Now, these little fat burner pills, that’s what they have in them, usually, and they’ll have 500 milligrams, so half of a gram.

And they’re telling you like, “Burn fat, melt fat,” and all this, and it’s literally… It’s not doing anything.

It’s not even close to a clinical dose to even raise your blood ketones at all.

It is just garbage, and… I mean, it even got to the point, Abel, that I don’t know if you knew this, but they said, it was on Shark Tank, I kept hearing this flown around.

I’m like, “Who are these ketone people on Shark Tank?”

That didn’t happen. It was all a lie. It’s just all marketing lies.

They took some ladies that were doing some sort of children’s business on Shark Tank, took their pictures, put it on all these websites.

They had Drew Carey and all these celebrities that they said lost… I mean, just total lies, complete fabrication, and there’s a bunch.

There’s 20 different names for the same garbage product.

So here’s the thing: Ketones don’t melt your fat off. Okay?

So here's the thing. Ketones don't melt your fat off. Okay? @coachtarag Share on X

Abel: Thank you for saying that.

I don’t know how else to say it on a more basic level, “You don’t drink or eat ketones to burn fat.”

That’s not how it works.

So it says like, “Burns your fat.”

It’s like, “Oh, that’s such a shady slimy way of putting it.”

So just if you’re listening and you’re not familiar with what happens is when you go into a state of ketosis, your body will turn your own body fat into ketones, but you have to do that yourself.

You don’t… You can drink ketones for brain performance and energy and stuff when you’re on keto, but it’s not going in and melting your fat off.

So that’s a big one.

The other one that really bugs me is I’ll see a lot on these kind of tabloid-y check-stand magazines specifically for women.

And they will target women with hypothyroidism like crazy, which really bugs me because anybody who has hypothyroidism knows that it’s really difficult to lose weight.

It’s just like you don’t change anything, and all of a sudden you weigh 30, 40 pounds more.

And you’re like, “What the heck? I hardly eat anything.”

And stuff is… It’s difficult. It’s a journey of healing.

And I saw one once, I was so angry.

It got a lot of traction on social because I was so mad, but it was fat bombs.

Fat bombs are like butter and cocoa butter or whatever… Coconut oil and cocoa butter.

And they were like saying… They said some… I wish I had the actual statistic.

It said something like, “You could lose up to 27 pounds in a week by eating fat bombs.”

Okay. That’s super infuriating for hypothyroid ladies.

I was like, “Oh, wow. Tell me your secrets.”

So, yeah.

There are plenty of people in the health industry, unfortunately, who will prey on your insecurities like crazy to take your money. 

So, it’s up to us to get educated.

And then, of course, follow people that you trust, really, really trust that you know are not just trying to sell you stuff and you get your information there.

Abel: And also, there’s another piece of this where if you’re being sold something where it says, 

“It will take zero work. It will take zero effort, I will do this for you. This pill will do this for you.” 

It’s not. It’s a lie. It’s a fiction, but this is marketing, very effective marketing. 

Anyone on social media knows that that’s the marketing that works. 

People are making millions and we’re sicker and in the worst shape ever as Americans, and increasingly the world.

So I think it’s so important to… For me and for you, I think we’re kind of the type A obsessive go-getters where if you tell us to do this thing and all it’s going to take is some work to do it, and then you get this result.

Then we’re going to do it and chase that result. 

Oh, yeah, I’m in.

Why Women Need to Push Past Cardio

Abel: Yeah, we’re going to do it. And for me, learning how to play guitar, learning how to sing with the correct mechanics and all these things, learning how to run correctly, lifting, all of these require that, nutrition especially. 

And so going through that stage of saying, 

“Okay. I’m going to make this a priority, maybe a little obsession, depending on your personality type. 

I’m going to make this my thing for a while and go through the step of education that I know I need,” because it’s a mess out there. 

There’s too much misinformation. No one knows what they’re talking about in the general scheme of things. 

But once you go into people’s body of work, you go deep on their channels or you go deep into what they’ve written or the research, or you just team up with someone who you’re working with who gets it, who can help lead you in the right direction.

You start putting some sound nutritional advice into action with a bit of cardio and some intelligent resistance training, and that’s how transformations happen. 

And once you understand those things, once you kind of know how to ride a bike, you don’t forget. 

You can put it back into action. You can get in good bike riding shape again whenever you want to. 

Yup, that’s exactly right. And I’m glad you hit on a little bit of intelligent resistance training, because I know at least for women, specifically, it is almost only cardio.

It’s just like even the workout classes you go to, they’re just cardio.

You’re just bouncing around and I think women get very obsessed with this mentality of burn calories, because what’s pushed for women is to be skinny.

Guys kind of fall in this trap too, but it’s way more prevalent with women, and it’s like… So I’m just being real.

Sometimes I’m at the gym and I’m looking around at all the women who are lifting weights and they look phenomenal.

And then I’m looking into the cardio class and everyone’s overweight.

And not everyone, but it’s a pretty typical scenario, and I just want to go on there and be like,

“Guys, guys. Come out here. You can actually not work as hard. Take a break and all your dreams will come true.”

Resistance training really, truly, once you can learn that… And it is a skill to learn.

I hated resistance training when I first started.

I hated resistance training when I first started. @coachtarag Share on X

When I say… If you don’t know, I mean weight lifting.

For me, I was a brat, really. I feel bad for my ex-husband.

I was a total brat face and I was like, “I hate this.”

I had been a lifelong runner, my mom was a runner, so I grew up as a kid going to the track with her and just running.

So I was comfortable with running, and I love that sweaty burn and the calorie burn.

And I’d go into weightlifting and just like, “I hate this. I don’t feel anything, I don’t know what I’m doing, I feel self-conscious.”

I went through all of that, and I share this just for anybody, if you haven’t gotten into this yet, get over yourself.

That is my biggest piece of advice is get over yourself and get it done. 

Nobody cares, everyone isn’t watching you, they don’t care if you’re doing stuff “wrong”.

I’m a trainer, I’ve done a lot of advanced courses and certifications, I see people on there that don’t know what they’re doing, I don’t care.

I’m like, “Good for you being in here. Let’s go, let’s just keep learning, and keep going, and keep growing, you’ll get better at it.”

And I feel like everything that everybody wants to happen to their body is on the other side of getting good at weightlifting, I really do.

I really do believe that because our sedentary lifestyles that we live just are not conducive to a hormone cascade that’s going to be favorable for body composition.

So going into the gym once a day and releasing some growth hormone, for guys, increasing testosterone, girls, women too, a little bit, getting more insulin-sensitive, regulating your leptin, which helps you be more satiated.

All of those hormones that shift when you can go in there and weight lift a little bit gives you what you want.

So I can’t advocate that enough.

Abel: And aging, to a large degree, is loss of muscle size and strength. 

So one of the most compelling things to me, the image of marbled meat, which is literally what happens when you start losing muscles and getting a little soft.

Your muscles, ribbons of fat going through them, and that’s why they don’t work so well, and that’s why you’re carrying extra weight. 

Fat goes a lot of other places too, but just the image of muscle atrophy to me is so grim that it makes me want to maintain strength as long as I can. 

It means one of the… Our fitness used to be so much better and it wasn’t thought of as fitness.

I’m thinking back to my grandmother who recently died at 97, but lived a long, healthy life on a farm, broke, without even running water for a lot of it, but literally carrying logs, and carrying children around, and working with the animals, and if she had to… 

I’m sure if you threw monkey bars at her, she’d be able to go. 

And most people today would not be able to hang, push themselves, pull themselves, and if you lose that ability to outrun a predator, nature kind of gets rid of you one way or another. 

Usually, with a predator out in nature, we live in the middle of nowhere in Colorado with coyotes and mountain lions and stuff, and they go after the ones that can’t run anymore, the ones that are out of sync with nature.

And so many of us are now, and we see that as normal, that you can barely get out of your car, that you can’t run, and some people can’t even really walk. 

And we’re talking about people who are middle-aged or even relatively young, so it’s so important that people recognize that having strength isn’t something that you should fear or something that you should kind of shy away from, as attractive and fun as some of the more cardio-based exercises can be. 

My mom has been hypothyroid for many years, a holistic nurse practitioner. 

She loves Zumba and she’s doing that for many years, many, many years. But if you just add a kettlebell or a few…

A little bit.

Abel: Just a little bit or a few free weight exercises, something that builds strength in your back and your muscles and helps your posture, it’s amazing the results you can get. 

One of your most recent posts talked about arms and I thought it was so interesting because you talked about the muscle pump, and just like how jacked you look when you’re working out, lifting heavy.

But then after that, once the pump goes away, you just look toned and that’s what women tend to be after, but they don’t realize that’s how you get there.

Yeah, yeah. And this will be me, you’ll get a little taste of how I can be kind of brutally harsh sometimes, but this is what I do.

So one of the things I hear a lot from women is… I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard this.

This is how it will go. “You look great. I don’t want to have a lot of muscle, I just want a little bit of tone.”

And I’m like, “Oh, so you don’t have a… ” I’ll give them crap. I’m like, “Oh, so you don’t want to be as muscular as me?”

I’m like, “Good luck. I want to see you try.”

I’ll give them crap about it, because what they don’t realize is how many years it takes and how my life kind of revolves around fitness.

Let’s be real, I’m a trainer, it’s what I do professionally.

And not only that, but I love it.

I go to sleep at night like, “Yay. As soon as I wake up, I can go work out.”

It’s recess to me, I just.

It gets my brain going, I got my music going, is just like it’s so fun.

Other than that I’m sitting at home working, so I can’t wait to go back in the morning.

And what women I think don’t realize is if you approach it with this kind of half and half out like, well, I’m just going to kind of go through the motions here because I don’t want to get too bulky, I don’t want to get…

You’re not going, you’re not going to get anything.

You’re not going to create a stimulus in your body that says, oh, my gosh that was so hard that I need to now grow more muscles so I can do that next time.

If you’re just kind of going through the motions talking to your girlfriend next to you while you pump a weight that you’re barely even focusing on, what you’re doing, you’re not going to create a stimulus for growth.

And the crappy thing about that is that now when you go eat afterwards, you didn’t require…

You didn’t make all those metabolic miraculous things happen in your body that will then allow you to eat more carbs and feel…

Have growth hormone release and burn more fat and build muscle, you didn’t create stimulus so you got to get in there and you have to go at it as hard as you can.

It doesn’t have to be a long workout but the stimulus, I say get the stimulus and get out of there, that’s it.

You don’t have to run yourself in the ground, you just need to go intense and hard enough for a minute that you’re like,

“Holy smoke, that was oh, okay, got it.”

And if you get a little sore, good, that’s good, that’s a good sign you created that stimulus and that’s it.

So, I just like to say, if you want toned arms, my arms right now don’t look like giant muscle woman arms.

They’ve just got a little bit of tone to them but I have a lot of muscle in there.

So, you’ve got to be willing I think, I guess I’m speaking to women a lot here but men can take from it too, you’re going to look amazing.

You’re going to look very jacked, very muscular in the gym but then when you get home an hour later you’re going to just look like a normal person with a teeny-tiny bit of muscle tone.

Abel: Yeah, that’s another whole piece of this that I think is so important that people realize. 

When you see pictures of a lot of the trainers out there, a lot of people on Instagram or whatever you’re seeing them with a muscle pump most of the time, male or female. 

You’re seeing them with a muscle pump and what that is, is when you work out really hard you get all this new blood to your muscles.

You swell by about 30%, you look a third bigger than you otherwise were. 

You look jacked but it only lasts for a few minutes, it’s only a few minutes while you’re working those muscles out.

And then after you’ve reached that, you can’t be walking around like that, that would be terrible.

You wouldn’t want to, that’s not how it works but we live real lives to about 30% smaller than a lot of us might appear. 

And that’s another just thing that people who aren’t training that way or taking pictures before and after might not really connect the dots there. 

But it’s so important to recognize because you don’t want to think that someone is a freak of nature that you could never attain because you’re seeing such a snapshot and it’s not that it’s dishonest necessarily.

But if you don’t know that that’s what’s going on then you could easily get the wrong idea.

Yeah, I think that’s really awesome for people to realize that because it took me a while.

Actually, funny story, the first time I ever got swole I had no idea what the word swole meant, I was like…

So I was just getting into lifting, I was married at the time and I told my husband I was like, my arm feels like… It feels like all puffy, big…

Abel: Right, it’s going to explode or something.

He was like, “Oh, you got swole,” I was like, “Wait, what?” this is a foreign language to me back then.

And yeah, I think that it’s good, it’s good information for people to have to understand that maybe you follow some fitness person and they keep posting their selfie after their workout and you’re like,

“Yeah, you always look like that.” And I’m like, ”No, they’re posting that because they don’t always look like that and no muscles.”

Yeah man, look at me right now I can look awesome but it is very, very temporary.

So, I think if more of us can post pictures of us at work with a t-shirt on in the middle of the day, probably it’ll give people a little better glimpse of what’s going on in real life.

Abel: But it’s also a great cue that you’re working out effectively because you don’t or at least I don’t get the same type of swole if I’m out running. 

If I’m really doing hills, sprinting hard I might but if you’re doing the cardio bunny thing and not really challenging yourself, you’re not getting that stimulus response. 

And when you look at the research of just people working out for long periods of time at the same pace compared to varied exercises at various different speeds and intensities, the varied one wins every time.

Oh, yeah for sure.

Training Your Nervous System for Strength

Abel: It’s so important and there are kind of two pieces of this where you have the underlying… 

That’s why the running lift, I love that concept where you have the baseline cardio which you just can’t ignore. 

You don’t want to just do that, and there are pros and cons or whatever. 

But you need some of that, but you also have to combine that with a varied intensity resistance training, really challenging yourself, getting swole, meeting that threshold type thing so you get that adaptation. 

And that is the piece that almost everyone is missing who’s not getting results.

Yeah, I completely agree and then also even within weight training it’s important…

I think a lot of people don’t understand the difference between training the nervous system for strength and also training the muscles for growth, which is hypertrophy.

So going back to what you were saying about your grandma, I love that analogy because there’s…

Research has shown that everybody knows about the Harvard study that showed that the key to longevity was the quality of your relationships but when it comes to physical, the physical body, the number one indicator of longevity is strength.

And specifically a lot of research has looked at grip strength.

And so I remember my grandma not being able to open any jars.

I think a lot of people can relate to that, grandma couldn’t open the jars and maybe there’s some arthritis there I’m not sure.

But also just not being able to turn on your nervous system enough to grip, to me it makes complete sense.

If you look at the nervous system as your electrical system it’s like hey, your lights are going out, your electrical system is dimming.

So it’s so important when we’re resistance training the way you train your nervous system is heavier, like low reps maybe two, three, every once in a while go a little heavier.

You want someone to see what you can do, to see what you can do, to see what you got.

We like to go in there, I’m like, “I curl 15 pounds for five years straight.”

That is what I do.

So maybe one time grab a 25 and see if you can bicep curl a 25 pound for two reps.

Just go really fast at it and that’s really cool to do, too.

And then of course the hypertrophy is more like there where you’re just pumping and pumping and pumping to fill and you can’t go anymore and that’s great for your muscles.

So, it’s fun to really dive into what am I training here, what am I upregulating inside my body, I think that’s…

For me, I just think it’s incredibly fun, and I think every human being can get to that, whether you’re a health professional or not.

It’s like, “Do you wanna upgrade your insights?”

“That’s cool. Yes, yes, please, I’ll take that.”

I want to upgrade my insight so I can be freaking limitless and do whatever I want to do with my body.

So yeah, it’s fun to dive into the different methodologies too, I’d just like to share that.

Abel: Yeah, and then one of the things that I like training is, “Go.” 

It’s like go from pretty much zero… 

I used to do sprints, I used to do tramps and stuff like that, and I think I’ve got my little deadlift spot right here.

It’s the same thing where you’re going from just like, “Oh my god, am I really about to do this? Am I really about to sprint? Am I really about to lift this weight? Can I do that?” 

And it’s like, “Go,” and you do it. And that… People don’t train that anymore, that’s what sports are, a lot of… 

It doesn’t matter which sport it is, it’s like, “Go.” 

And you have to do whatever. 

But over time, a lot of us, especially as adults, we just lose the ability to do that.

And I think that affects our nervous system and our brain much more than people realize.

Yep. Big time, I do sprints too, and it is, it’s that little moment of…

It’s kind of a sacred moment with yourself, honestly, because all of the power is generated from the inside.

And I think, honestly, I do ’em in the gym.

I know that a lot of people probably don’t have the courage to…

My turf area is in the middle of the gym, it is literally like,

“Hi, I am on a stage right now, but the entire gym is going to watch me sprint right now, but I don’t care.”

And part of the reason I do it too, is I’m hoping to encourage other people to have the courage to put themselves out there, because when I first started, I’m like,

“I don’t know how to sprint, I’m an endurance athlete, I’m just figuring this out as I go.”

And I’ll do ladder drills and things like that, and it’s that same thing where it’s like you have to challenge your mind.

But not just for coordination, but also to see how much effort you are going to put into something and it is completely up to you.

And that’s a really cool sacred moment to have with yourself.

So, I don’t know, if you’re listening to this and you haven’t ever jumped onto a box, or for me, the first time I did a box jump, it was onto my bottom step.

I realized I hadn’t jumped with both feet onto something since I was like a little kid.

I was like, “I don’t even know if I can jump,” as hard as that is, and I did it and I was like, “Okay, I can… That was easy. Oh, maybe I can do two steps, maybe I can do three steps.”

And then I just became a jumping fanatic.

And it’s that same thing I encourage anybody listening, if there’s something that you haven’t done a long time, maybe it’s trying to go across monkey bars or jump, or can you even hang off of a bar and do a slow pull up-down, not even the one up, try those things for yourself.

Get in touch with the little kid inside you again, who used to try stuff like that.

You did, even if you can’t remember it, and have that little moment of like, “I’m going to run as fast as I can, watch me.”

It’s so good for longevity, and it’s also, there’s just something very empowering about it too.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Gym

Abel: Yeah, and I think that there’s this… 

Everyone kind of feels, especially if you’re a newbie in the gym or you haven’t lifted before, you don’t know the exercises. 

Even the totally shredded, jacked people in the gym have felt that before. 

They know how deeply uncomfortable it is to not know what you’re doing, to make mistakes, to have poor form, we have all been there.

Totally.

Abel: And especially the people who are training the most, they’re constantly making mistakes. 

And I’m always impressed almost 100% of the time by how helpful and nice and open a lot of these people are, who are like the gym rats who get it over there lifting weights. 

They’re not going to punch you in the face if you don’t do a deadlift correctly.

They’re going to probably leave you alone and just have an angry face because they’re working out hard, they’re focused, they’re not mad at you. 

They’re in good intent, but some of them are just so helpful and generous and they want to help you get to wherever you wanna go. 

And that’s a really inspiring thing, and you can make some great friends that way.

Definitely. And don’t be afraid to ask.

For me I always am like, I don’t want to go solicit advice to someone and cause them to feel like,

“Wow, she was watching me do that and thought it was so wrong that she felt she had to come over.”

So, I’m not going to do that, but if somebody were to come up to me and say like, “Hey, can you show me how to do that?”

I mean, they would make my day.

I would love to, I’m like, “Oh, let me tell you this awesome tip that I had to fly to Tampa, Florida, and take this whole course just to learn and I can just teach you right now.”

It’s like, “Yes, let me tell you.”

So, yeah, don’t be afraid to ask.

I know for me, I was… Deadlifts was one that I was just… I would just watch people, I’m like, “What… What is the point of that? And how are they doing it?”

And it totally eluded me.

I’m looking it up online, I’m like, “That looks so intimidating. They’re picking up this huge heavy bar,” it’s like, “Just ask.”

I finally just started to kind of meet people and ask, and man, I actually learned a lot of amazing tips before even became a trainer just from awesome people helping out so that’s…

I love that you’re saying that because I think that…

We call it gymtimidation, and a lot of people, they won’t go to the gym purely because of this.

And my Bridie side says, “Get over yourself, because your egos get in the way of what you really want for yourself in your life.”

But also know that one, nobody’s really watching you as much as they think that you are…

That you think they are, and two, that people will help you if you ask. So yeah.

Abel: Yeah, and it’s a really just generous, for the most part, open community of people who care about this. 

And that’s why they’re there, because they’re passionate about it, they’ve dedicated a lot of their time and attention.

Totally.

Abel: And just kind of like hobby-quarter to this area, and they want to share that with you. You’re one of them. 

And I think more than ever, that’s what we need from each other and with each other, is that sort of connection, that give and take, learning, exchanging ideas. 

Because it’s one thing to read about health and nutrition in a book, it’s another thing to know the guy who got down to 3% body fat.

And knowing that he woke up, he had some black coffee and he did some just like really easy cardio on pretty much every day.

And then he went and lifted really hard, and that’s what he did, and that’s what worked. 

It’s like super powerful knowing just… Maybe just one, but certainly a handful of those people and you’re like, 

“Wow. That broke my brain. Maybe I can do that.”

Yup. And just the environment of people that you’re putting yourself around a lot will affect you.

For me, let’s say, I’m growing my business right now.

I want to be around people who are also business-minded, and entrepreneurs, and growing their business, because if I’m not, I miss out on all this stimulus, all these ideas, all these insights.

Whereas it’s the same thing with fitness.

Just get in there, just be around it, because it’s going to keep you motivated, keep you inspired.

You’re just like, “Okay, cool. That guy is super fit and I see him here every freaking day. Noted, noted.”

That’s how this thing works.

So putting yourself in an environment for wins is also a really big key to success.

Abel: Yeah, totally. And also, I don’t want to say that the ripped guy or gal at the gym totally gets it, just because they look one way. 

Don’t think that that’s also how it works. It’s some combination…

That’s true. That’s very true.

Abel: Of reading the books, and knowing the right people, and having that give and take relationship. 

And one of the most valuable ones I think in the world of fitness now too, is that we are able to interact virtually. 

We’re able to interact no matter where we are so we can find our people. 

We can find the people who share these areas of interest.

And even just the shared interest of wanting to get better, of wanting to improve and keep training is kind of enough just to be a group of people who are going to survive whatever we’re up against because that’s what it instills in you. 

That’s what hard training is for, is not when you’re wearing your gym clothes and everything’s perfect, and you’re ready to do your heaviest lift, but when you’re totally out of gas, and you’re really stressed, and something horrible just happened, that’s when you want to be ready.

And that’s what we’re all training for, and it’s kind of happening around us in small ways and big ways, no matter where we are. 

So, I think it’s going to be more important than ever for us really to be generous with each other and a little bit fearless too, just getting in touch.

Because, like we were saying in the gym, coming up to the people who look intimidating is usually way less intimidating than you think it is, and it’s similar online. 

I’ve made so many relationships, like we were introduced by Elle Russ who’s a wonderful person, introduced me to a number of wonderful people, but also, just shoot someone a DM, shoot them an email. 

I’ve made so many new friends in a bunch of different countries recently, just that way. 

So even if you are kind of the introverted type, which I am too, go for it. 

Get in touch with people.

We need to find our people and work through this together. Share on X

Yeah, absolutely, and I think events too.

When those start happening again, for me, that has just completely changed my life.

A lot of my closest friends don’t even live in Utah where I live.

They live in Austin, or Washington, or California, and we just see each other at health events so much.

They really are just my homies, my friends, and it’s amazing to get out into those circles of people.

And there’s really, if you don’t have the physical ability, you can’t afford it, or you just don’t have time or whatever, you’re right, you can find those communities online now, and it’s amazing.

You could be in some small town of 75 people or something, but you can still have a whole community of like-minded people because of the internet, and I think that’s amazing.

I think it’s amazing.

Advice for Fitness in a Time Crunch

Abel: That’s very cool. Well, we’re coming up on time, but I want to make sure, especially being a parent of four kids, there are many unique challenges. 

There are so many people who use it as an excuse not to be in shape or not to have their health or whatever.

So, how do you reframe that with the people that you work with and what advice do you have for those who have a lot of little ones running around? 

Yeah. I’ll tell you what, so I’m a single mom and I used to be a stay-at-home mom.

And when I was a stay-at-home mom, what I find interesting is that’s when I would use the kids as an excuse of the reason why I couldn’t go to the gym, and I was mad all the time.

I was resentful, and just, I felt overwhelmed, run down.

And now, I get up really early, I do. I get up at 5:00 and I go…

Granted, my daughter’s old enough to babysit, so that’s helpful, for sure.

If you have babies, I feel that you’re going to have to be with someone else now if you’re up all night.

But more power to you if you’re actually doing that, but for me now, I just get up early and go because I know that I will show up better for them all day when I’m happy.

When my cup is filled, now I’m in a place of empowerment, now I’m in a place of teaching, instead of being like,

“Oh, I’m a victim of my life and I have to sacrifice everything for you guys.”

That’s how you build resentment, at least for me, and it’s easy to find reasons to bail, running has taught me that.

And sometimes when I don’t feel like being in the middle of that run, I will find every excuse of like,

“Oh, you forgot your water thing in the car. Go get it,” or, “Oh, you should just do walk intervals today. It feels like a walk interval today.”

You’ll find these reasons to bail and kids are a really easy one, because it’s a very noble and worthy reason to not take care of self, it feels like.

But it’s not true, and for me, I want them to see, I know that kids will do as I do what they see and not what I’m telling them.

So if I’m feeding them McDonald’s all day and sitting around watching TV, that’s going to be normal for them.

That’s going to feel like normal life to them when they become adults, and then they’re going to have to figure their crap out.

But if they see that I prioritize healthy food for the most part… We still eat pizza and donuts sometimes.

I’m not a total strict person, but for the most part, yeah, we eat real good quality food.

And they see me go to the gym every day.

They know that’s part of my life, and I’m unapologetic about it, and I think that that’s how I want them… That’s what I hope.

They can do whatever they want, but I hope that they at least see what’s possible for them no matter what life circumstances they’re in.

Abel: Yeah, and it’s so interesting, because for me, it’s always just being raised one way, rebelling against it, then rebelling against that, and for everyone’s journey, that’s kind of a piece of it. 

But if I hadn’t been raised eating backyard vegetables with a family tradition from my grandmother, both sides of the family to some degree, pass down different things.

And we had family dinners, and it was fresh food. 

And even though I went and ate a bunch of tacos, and hamburgers, and pizza, and all the rest of it in college, I wouldn’t be standing here today if my mom and my dad and our extended family hadn’t been such a great example.

But also the other people in the community who were great athletes, who were running miles at 4:30 or whatever in my tiny little town. 

I was like, “Wow, who is this guy? How did he do that?” 

Look for those local heroes, meet those people, and respect that we all… 

We have our own ways of dealing with this, and maintaining our strength, and fortitude throughout all of this. 

And there are different ways of coping too, but if you channel them in a positive direction, then you can come out of all of this better instead of worse, your kids too.

Yeah, definitely. And I invite them, we go on… I have a lake by my house that we walk around and it’s like, “Who wants to come?”

And it’s this fun little date with mom where you get to walk around the lake.

So, you can do things like that too and have them come.

I don’t bring them to the gym with me that much, because it’s kind of one of those “Rebel against Mom, I wanna do it my way,” and go into victim mode and Mom’s correcting me.

So they lift with their dad a little more.

He does it better than I do, but we’ll do ladder drills or fun things like that, and that’s really fun as well, to just invite them to at least walk with you.

Anybody can do that.

You can take your baby, you can take your toddler in a stroller, or older kids can walk, so there’s really no reason you can’t move every day, whether you have kids or not.

Where to Find Tara Garrison

Abel: Yeah, totally. Well, right on. Tara, before we go, please tell folks where they can find your work and what you’re working on next.

Yeah. Thanks, Abel.

So my website is coachtaragarrison.com.

And then I’m on Instagram most, that’s where you can find me all the time, stories, I’m very active on there.

So, on Instagram that’s just @CoachTaraGarrison.

On Twitter @CoachTaraG, and on iTunes, YouTube, and Pinterest.

And yeah, for coaching, my biggest thing is HIGHER: Women Who Rise, so I coach women and there we do mindset, and training, and nutrition, and it’s incredible.

So, that’s what I’m all about.

And then with my Keto In & Out Membership I walk you through doing keto, but not forever. Each month, you will get a new meal plan and training plan with six months of keto and six months of low carb.

And next year I start retreats. So hopefully, we can do retreats without COVID ruining everything, but that’s where things are headed for me.

And then I host the Inside Out Health podcast, and co-host the Kick Ass Life podcast with Elle Russ.

Abel: Awesome, Tara. Well, I encourage everyone out there, if you haven’t seen Tara’s work or if you’re on Instagram, definitely check out her channel. 

It’s very entertaining. There’s a lot to learn there, and your example is so powerful right now. 

I wish we could clone you thousands of times, but hopefully that’s what we’re doing by spreading this message. 

So I’m looking forward to our next chat.

Thank you so much, Abel. Thank you. It was so fun.

Before You Go…

Here’s a note that came in, from Lisa. She says:

“Hi Abel and Alyson!

I tried The Wild Diet a few years ago and foolishly stopped. Now I’m suffering with insulin resistance and constant yo-yo ing and fatigue.

I am going to do this to goal and beyond this time.

I am 46  years old and have officially been obese since my son was born 23 years ago, with weight loss of 20 pounds every year lost and 5 gained.

I just thought I’d hit reply just in case you wanted to respond. I will be doing this on my own with a steady yoga and strength training program in place due to burnt out adrenals.

Hiit workouts leave me laid up for days after although I truly love kickboxing and kettlebells. Welp. Thats me in a nutshell.

I’m crazy determined and stubborn yet this is my last life’s personal hurdle. I would love to lose 60 pounds by years end…from my mouth to Jah’s ears!!”

– Lisa

Lisa, thank you so much for getting in touch and for this note. We’re happy to help you here.

There are a few things that it sounds like you’re doing right.

When your adrenals are shot, when you’re totally stressed out, especially if you have a lot of stubborn weight and you’re dealing with a lot of this stress, then you don’t want to be gunning it.

You don’t want to be doing those super intense all the time workouts, where you’re going through these suffer fest type deals.

But every once in a while, doing some HIIT workouts and kickboxing, kettlebell, those sorts of things, as long as you don’t go redlining it the whole time, there’s still a place for some of that, too.

But it’s really good for you to be patient with yourself, try to go low and slow.

Don’t go for those quick results, that usually gets most people in trouble.

If you want results, you have to be prepared to keep your eye on your health for the rest of your life and make it a priority.

Make your fitness a priority, as well. Consider that a survival skill.

If you have any sort of athletic training built into your life, then nutrition becomes important, so it’s really a holistic thing, that you have to get in line and set up for yourself through habits over time.

And so, you just can’t get these quick results or expect them most of the time. It’s really the long game that you should be playing here.

So good on you, Lisa, for setting that up.

Many people are dealing with insulin resistance, with all sorts of metabolic dysfunction, so the more that you can set up quality eating in your life, make sure you have that solid source of real and whole foods, not the Amazon kind of Whole Foods, the actual foods from nature, raised as nature intended, both from the plant and animal kingdoms.

It’s so important to make that a priority.

So instead of doing the super hard core training all the time—redlining type workouts, with kickboxing and kettlebells and power lifts—yes, that’s great that you’re setting up some yoga and also keeping a bit of strength training.

Strength training doesn’t have to look totally insane. It doesn’t have to be over the line every time.

In fact, just doing a little bit of lifting, a little bit of resistance training, or pushing, pulling with weight, can help keep your bones strong.

It can help protect your muscles, especially as you age.

This is so important not just for your health and your mobility, but also for your metabolism.

The more muscle you’re carrying, even kind of the invisible kind that’s on your posterior chain or in your back or your legs, that’s wonderfully active, metabolically speaking, and will help keep you healthy for the rest of your life as long as you keep it.

A little bit goes a long way. Good on you for dialing down the intensity and focusing on nutrition, Lisa.

So how about you?

If you want to get in touch, don’t forget to send me a message on your platform of choice.

I may be a bit buried on some of them, but you can still find me.

But the easiest way to find me, you can sign up for our newsletter, and I’ll send you a free Quick Start Guide and 7-Day Meal Plan.

What did you think of this interview with Tara Garrison? Drop a comment below to share your thoughts!

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