Looking at the Whole Picture of Health

By Debbie Potts

After twenty years of being a personal trainer, fitness instructor, coach, studio manager and a competitive athlete, I have concluded that fat loss, health and performance is not a result of only focusing on our exercise program or cutting calories. I personally found this to be the case in beginning of 2013 when I was in felt that I was in amazing shape after competition as a top age grouper in Ironman Canada in August (PR) then the 70.3 Ironman World Championship in September and then Ironman World Championship in October…then North Face 50k in December, Carlsbad Marathon in January then Chuckanut 50k trail race in February. Then boom…one day I in April 2013 I could not ride my bike down the road without total leg fatigue and low energy.  Overtraining and over racing endurance events are a type of stress on our body that is designed for short periods of exercise.

All I wanted to do is have a nap on the side of the road during my bike ride.  I was eating low carb but I would get instant headaches from certain foods and any fruit sugar.  My next clue something was wrong when suddenly in less than three months I had gained 30 pounds of fat! I went from a lean and fat athlete to feeling like an exhausted overweight, out of shape female. What a wakeup call for me… what on earth is happening to me?

People… I am here to spread the word that we can’t get results we are looking for by exercising more or eating less. We need to look at our stress levels during the day, slowing down and making time to smell the flowers. I was packing my days full from the morning I woke up at 3:45 am so I could carve out 30 minutes to respond to emails before my 5:15am clients arrived then train clients starting at 5:30 am to 11am then head to the pool or to my bike before returning to work for my “evening” shift until 7pm then back on the computer to work until bed at 9pm. I was burning the candles at both ends.

A picture of health…not on the inside.   I was doing my “bullet proof coffee” in the morning then eating a large lunch in the afternoon to keep me full for hours… resulting in my own unintentional intermittent fast every day. The end result for me? Stage three adrenal exhaustion.

…And I thought I was the perfect picture of a healthy competitive athlete: lean, fast and happy competing. Even though I have been a trainer and coach for 20 years, I didn’t feel that I was over-training or over-racing as I felt super fit and strong but instead I was breaking down my internal hormonal system. Fortunately I was learning more while I was in a coaching program called “Superhuman Coach” as I started to experience my fatigue and disrupted sleep. Soon adrenals, cortisol levels, hormone dysregulation, SNS, PNS and heart rate variability testing became a part of my daily vocabulary.

I didn’t realize I was “running from a lion” all day and every day.   My new journey began… and now I am on a mission to help others avoid adrenal fatigue and hormone dysregulation.

What about you? Are you trying to get lean by exercising more and eating fewer calories? Do you feel like you are “running from a lion” from the time you wake up until sundown? Then we need to look at the WHOLE picture of being healthy.  My journey has brought me to looking at ideal health from the inside and out with eight elements… what I call the “wholestic” approach.

So now let’s briefly review the eight elements that make up the “Wholestic” approach to fat loss, health and performance.

NUTRITION:　

What you should eat for your metabolic type?

Protein type, mixed type or carbohydrate type?

Eating real food and organic when possible.

EXERCISE:

•  Exercise that is best for you…not too much “HIIT”
• Measuring your HRV for recovery

SLEEP:

•  Sleep 7-9 hours per night solid sleep
• Sleep by 10pm until ideally 6am…without an alarm if possible!

STRESS:

•  Managing your stress levels and become aware of triggers
• Allow “rest and digest” time instead of “running from a lion” all day long.

MOVEMENT:

•  To get moving every day…your goal is to complete 10,000 steps per day
• Do not to sit longer than one hour at a time.

DIGESTION & GUT HEALTH:

• Being aware of our digestion and gut health symptoms as bloated belly, gas and indigestion
• Order the appropriate lab testing to get to root cause. Get lab results then be guided to over the correct healing supplements are beneficial.

HYDRATION:

•  Drinking clean water to thirst or recommended half your body weight in ounces of water per day.
• Adding a pinch of quality Himalayan sea salt in the morning if feeling dehydrated.

HAPPINESS:　　　　　　　

• Every day block off quiet time for yourself and enjoy the time alone!
• Make time for close friends and family at least once a month.

 

Debbie Potts is a twenty year veteran in the fitness industry and continues to grow as a trainer, coach and educator. You may contact Debbie Potts for more information on Wholestic Coaching, personal training and speaking at www.fitnessforwardstudio.com