Welcome to VFit’s First Friday’s Wellness Cafe Series

With a stacked trainer team with a wide variety of expertise, it just makes sense to have collaborations as many of us have shared expertise and passion beyond leading VFit Studio online workouts.

It’s with this in mind that the VFit Studio First Friday’s Wellness Cafe came to life – with our first session held on Friday, February 5th.

Lauren is a seasoned dietician and I’ve been working with clients the last year as a nutrition coach and we have so much we want to share and be a resource for our members.

Up above we’ve shared the full recording of our first session. Below are our talking points and some brief questions and answers we fielded from our first session.

To begin – we’re all members of an active online community like VFit Studio to become better versions of ourselves and our dedication comes through on that cause with every check in we make.

You can get all the check ins in the world, but if you aren’t balancing your 7 pillars of wellness, your mind, body, and spirt will be off balance.

We wanted to created a forum where we can help address the food pillar and nutrition in a special monthly series to help serve as resource for members.

Together, Lauren and I want to help the team look at food as fuel, and to help transition that mindset about ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ food, to how the food makes us feel.

Let go of that idea of diets and restriction, it’s proven again and again those simply are not sustainable and often cause more harm than good in the long term.

Are you viewing your food as fuel and helping your body build muscle mass and have sustained energy stores?

It’s important to be mindful of what you choose to eat, how your body will use that fuel, and how that will impact not just your workouts, but your energy level, your sleep, your mood, etc.

We want you to feel comfortable and enjoy having your cake and eating it too, while being mindful of the balance of what food you choose to eat throughout each day.

One classic nutrition rule of thumb is to work on the 80/20 rule, or another ratio that may fit better with your lifestyle and objectives. Basically, you work to eat well and heathfully 80% of the time, and let yourself induldge and have – and enjoy with no guilt – the other 20% of the time. Now this scale may be different numbers for some but the key takeaway here is that you eat well mos tof the time, and when you don’t, you enjoy it, but then you move on! You don’t let one cookie turn into 10, or cookies for dinner every day of the week. But eat that cookie if that’s what you want and let yourself enjoy it. If you are just starting out trying to eat more healthfully you can work in a ratio that is more reasonable to start and then slowly build on the healtheir number until you feel you’ve found balance and your body is performing how you want it to.

Looking at the ‘classic numbers’ related to your body like BMI and the scale are doing yourself a disserve. BMI does not take into account a whole host of factors including muscle mass (bmi doesn’t acct for muscle vs fat), genetics, sex, etc.

And the scale … now that’s the BIG ONE. Here’s where Lauren comes in and gives a talk that every person needs to listen in (or read) and let sink in:

Break Up with Your Scale

From Lauren:

“I have a Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating, anti-diet (not anti-health), body diverse, body positive – approach to wellness. There are no strict food rules, beauty ideals, or extreme measures. I focus on self-acceptance, self- compassion, nourishing and moving in ways that creates a better life for yourself.

How often do you weigh yourself? Do you rely on the scale to dictate your body’s needs?  Does it dictate your food choices or how much you exercise? Does it dictate your mood? How you feel about yourself? What benefits does the scale bring you?

When you treat your body like a problem, you carry blame and shame, which results in avoiding behaviors instead of approaching positive changes. It’s not your body that needs to get rid of the weight, it’s your mind. One of the first steps is to get rid of dieter’s tools that are not serving you.

False measurements of health such as ideal body weight and BMI have led us to believe that we need to be a certain number of pounds to be healthy, and that a lower weight equals health, which simply isn’t true. You may think you’ll feel better when you lose the weight or look differently, but where did you get that idea? Studies have shown that improvements in psychological well-being associated with weight loss are just as temporary as the pounds lost and regained (which they will for 95% of people). The good feelings diminish with regained weight and existing issues of self-worth return.

A focus on weight loss and dieting only keep you stuck in the belief that your weight is a measure of who you are. Your weight, your body, is not you – and your worth is not tied to your weight. 

True health means nourishing your body, moving it in ways that you enjoy, speaking kindly to yourself, getting sleep, having social connections, and so much more. It is not punishing yourself with extreme diets or exercise to fit into an unrealistic ideal.

What happens on the scale?

In one moment, hopes and desperation combine to form a daily drama that will ultimately shape what mood you’ll be in for the day.

Ironically, a good or bad scale number can both trigger overeating.

The scale ritual sabotages mind and body efforts; one moment devalue days, weeks, and even months of progress. Focusing on the scale or your weight immediately introduces an external factor, creating a wedge between your inner wisdom and eating choices.

What if you were feeling your best, but the number didn’t reflect what you thought it should – would you stop all of your positive behaviors?

The scale does not reflect body composition, genetics, body type, activity level or your overall well-being. Deifying the scale to give you the power to feel good or bad about yourself is falling prey to the influence of false facts. Water, hormones, and diet all cause daily fluctuations.

Weighing in on the scale only serves to keep you focused on your weight; it doesn’t help with the process of getting back in touch with your intuitive eating, what feels good to you, and what matters in life more than how much you weigh.

Take away tip: Get rid of dieter’s tools such fitness trackers and apps that count calorie counters, points, or macros.

What of this information resonates with you? What can you do?

Detox yourself from dieting and appearance focused influences that don’t make you feel good or don’t help you cultivate a better life. Break up with your old ways and set up a clean slate.

Lauren Ferrara – registered dietician

1. Break up with your scale – Write a note and paste it on there “I love myself more than you.”

2. TOSS IT.”

At the end of the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe, we took up a few questions from those in attendance and have shared some brief answers here. It is recommended that you consult with your doctor, a registered dietitian, or certified nutrition coach before making drastic changes to your eating behavior.

If you’d like to learn more about the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe series, you you can email Maria directly. VFit Studio runs wellness resets focused on the 7 pillars of wellness each quarter, with group nutrition coaching sessions led by Maria beforehand. Lauren is available for one-on-one nutriton sessions and you can book a complimentary 15 minute discovery call with her here, as space allows.

Questions & Answers

What is Intermitent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. There may be some benefits to this eating style, and works well for some people, but ultimatey it restricts your eating window so you have to see if it is a good fit for you.

What is protein and how much should you have?

Protein is involved in almost every structural and functional component of the body. Protein can be found in meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, soy, and beans. The recommended dietary allowance for protein is 0.5-0.7 grams/pound of body weight for recreational exercisers and up to 0.7-0.8 g/pound for athletes. Adequate protein is consumed in most American diets, but vegetarian or vegan diets may need some more support to make sure enough protein is consumed from non-meat sources. Protein supplements are also available, but natural sources are preferred.

What is collagen and should I be having it?

Collagen is a protein full of the amino acids which helps maintain and repair your skin, tendons, bones, and joints. Production slows down as we age, resulting in loss of skin elasticity, dry skin, wrinkles, less flexible tendons and joints. Collagen can be found in powdered form or bone broth so explore what works for you. It can be a good addition to any diet to help with muscle recovery and increased protein intake, but like all supplements, it may not be for everyone.

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