Embracing a Holistic Approach to Health and Body Image with Alisha Carlson
In this inspiring episode of The You World Order Showcase Podcast, host Jill Hart speaks with Alisha Carlson, brain-based fitness and lifestyle coach and host of the Strong Her Way podcast. Alisha’s approach to health and fitness combines mindset and tangible actions, helping women heal their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. Her mission is to guide women in creating a healthy lifestyle that fits seamlessly into their busy lives without restrictive diets or obsessive calorie counting.
Shifting the Paradigm: From Body Fixing to Self-Love
Alisha’s journey in the world of fitness and health began with her own struggles with body image. Growing up in the 90s, she internalized society’s ideals about the “perfect” body. She shared that she constantly compared herself to her peers, feeling that her body didn’t fit the mold. This quest to “fix” her body eventually led her to dieting, running, and even participating in bodybuilding competitions.
However, even at her “best” weight, Alisha still felt that something was missing. This experience, along with her observations of how diet culture affects women, ultimately inspired her to take a different path. Now, Alisha’s coaching focuses on the belief that true health and happiness start from within, and that embracing one's body as it is leads to a more fulfilling, balanced life.
The Power of Mindset in Health and Wellness
Jill and Alisha delve into the power of mindset in achieving sustainable health. Alisha highlights that many people think health starts with what they eat or how much they exercise, but in reality, it starts in the mind. For years, Alisha herself believed that changing her body would change her happiness, but even at her leanest, she still felt dissatisfied. This realization led her to explore the root of these feelings and adopt a holistic approach.
Alisha emphasizes the importance of questioning societal norms around beauty and health. “Who says what’s beautiful or acceptable?” she asks. By teaching her clients to question these beliefs and uncover their origins, Alisha helps them redefine what health and happiness mean for them personally. This shift in mindset empowers her clients to embrace their bodies, which is a crucial first step in their journeys toward self-acceptance and true well-being.
Breaking Free from Diet Culture
Both Jill and Alisha discuss the pressures and misconceptions surrounding weight loss and dieting. Alisha points out that for many women, there’s a deep-seated fear of food due to diet culture. They are often conditioned to believe that the only way to be healthy or “good enough” is through strict calorie restrictions and rigorous exercise routines. This diet mentality, however, can lead to burnout, stress, and a toxic relationship with food and body image.
Instead of counting calories and restricting food intake, Alisha encourages her clients to focus on eating intuitively, nourishing their bodies with the right nutrients, and enjoying food without guilt. She notes that counting calories is rarely sustainable, and it often leads to an unhealthy cycle of deprivation and overindulgence. Instead, her coaching centers on mindful eating and self-compassion, helping women feel at ease with their bodies and food choices.
Building Strength and Health for Longevity
One of the major themes in this episode is the importance of building strength and focusing on long-term health, especially for women as they age. Alisha explains that many of her clients, particularly those who are postmenopausal, are at risk of osteoporosis and other health issues. She emphasizes that strength training is essential, not just for aesthetics, but for maintaining muscle mass, balance, and bone health as we age.
Alisha and Jill discuss how women’s bodies change over time and how important it is to adapt our health and fitness goals accordingly. Rather than striving to look the way they did in their twenties, Alisha encourages her clients to embrace their current bodies and prioritize functional health and strength. “It’s about building a life that you enjoy and feel proud of, without focusing on arbitrary beauty standards,” she explains.
Redefining Success and Embracing Self-Acceptance
A significant part of Alisha’s work involves helping women redefine what success looks like in their health journeys. For many, success has been narrowly defined by the number on the scale or fitting into a particular clothing size. Alisha helps her clients shift away from these limiting beliefs and instead focus on how they feel, their energy levels, and their overall well-being.
Alisha shares that when she herself moved away from the diet mentality, her mind became “a much quieter place.” Without the constant chatter of calorie counting and body dissatisfaction, she was able to enjoy life more fully and develop a healthier, more balanced relationship with food and fitness. This mental shift allows her clients to detach from societal pressures and embrace their unique journeys.
Health as a Journey, Not a Destination
Throughout the episode, Alisha and Jill stress the importance of seeing health as a continuous journey rather than a fixed destination. For Alisha, the ultimate goal is to help women feel at peace in their bodies and to create healthy lifestyles that are sustainable, enjoyable, and free from the constraints of diet culture. Her brain-based coaching approach combines tangible actions with a mindset shift, allowing her clients to make lasting changes in their lives.
Alisha’s philosophy is simple but powerful: when women are able to heal their relationships with food and body image, they unlock a new level of freedom. They no longer feel the need to control every aspect of their health obsessively. Instead, they learn to enjoy the process, celebrate their progress, and live in alignment with their values and desires.
Join Alisha on a Journey to Self-Acceptance and Health
Alisha Carlson’s work is about more than just physical health—it’s about empowering women to embrace who they are and redefine health on their terms. Her coaching and podcast provide inspiration, practical strategies, and a compassionate space for women to heal, grow, and thrive. By shifting the focus from weight loss to well-being, Alisha is helping women live fuller, more meaningful lives.
To learn more about Alisha’s approach to health and fitness, tune into her podcast, Strong Her Way, where she shares weekly insights, tips, and real-life strategies for achieving sustainable health. You can also connect with her on social media for daily inspiration and motivation.
Free lifestyle audit https://alishacarlson.com/clientform
Contact Alisha - http://alishacarlson.com
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Oh, here we are and welcome to the You world order showcase. Podcast. I'm your host, Jill Hart. And with us today is Alicia Carlson. She offers brain-based coaching for fitness, health, and lifestyle, which is a blend of tangible actions built on mindset work and a host.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and she is the Host of the strong, her way podcast where she offers weekly inspiration, motivation, practical tips and strategies for the busy woman to help you heal your relationship to food, your body and yourself while creating a healthy lifestyle that fits into the busyness of your life. Welcome to the show, Alicia. It's really great to have you here.
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::Alisha Carlson: Hi, Jill, thanks so much for having me.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I, I love your podcast.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I just have to put that out there right away. I I think it's so important that women
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: come
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: come to admire their bodies
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: for the miraculous pieces of art that they are.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and we.
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::Alisha Carlson: I would agree.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Told. We get this message throughout our lives. Maybe not everybody. But I certainly did that. You know your body is. There's something wrong with your body all the time, no matter
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: what you're doing, is either too fat, too thin, not working right.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: you just like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: says who.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, that's a great point. And I do think at least, it's been my experience in working with
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::Alisha Carlson: as many women as I have, but also just having conversations on other podcasts, or just.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, in casual conversation.
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::Alisha Carlson: a majority of women have definitely received that that same messaging and for the
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::Alisha Carlson: young girls or the young women, or the older women that have not. I would say that you are very blessed, very lucky to have grown up in a household and an environment that was so intentional about having different conversations that even all of the messaging that you received, or that you saw or heard in the outside world that that didn't really take hold, and
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, wasn't something that you ever thought or struggled with.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And it's not even and we'll get back to you know how you got started. But it's not even about.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: But like your weight. Necessarily.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I'm 1 of 3 girls, and I was always the tallest person in my family. I'm I was 5, 4, and 3 quarters at my tallest. I've shrunk since then, but
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I thought I was this giant human being.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I and I, my sisters, are all like 5 feet tall.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: but and my mom was 5 feet tall.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and you know there's always like, well, just get Jill to carry that. Get Jill to, you know. Reach that. And I thought I was just like,
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I just. I always felt uncomfortable in my body. I always weighed a lot more than they weighed, and I had these unrealistic expectations of what size I was supposed to fit in, because, you know, all the other females in my family. That's what size they were.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And I it would just like
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it wasn't intentional.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It was just the message that I got.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I I'm I'm now the shortest person.
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::Alisha Carlson: Funny how that works well, and I think I mean, I even see that a lot. And I like to watch people and kind of observe, and it is interesting sometimes, when we are looking at families, how you can see different body shapes and sizes, and some kind of mimic.
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::Alisha Carlson: more like the maternal side, some mimic more the paternal side, or even like generations up, so like looking at grandparents or aunts and uncles. And
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::Alisha Carlson: I think
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::Alisha Carlson: what I heard you describing is just that sense of being like other right? Like, okay, everybody else is kind of this size, or all the other women in my family
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::Alisha Carlson: or this height, you know. Maybe their builds were a little bit more similar. And so then there's me, and I don't seem to fit that. And so it's like, even if that wasn't explicitly said like.
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::Alisha Carlson: Oh, like, you know, you're taller, and that's bad, or you know, you weigh more than us because you're taller.
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::Alisha Carlson: We still somehow, like our brains. Still, kind of are looking at. Okay, what does everybody else look like?
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::Alisha Carlson: Where do I fit in that
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::Alisha Carlson: if I don't exactly fit that mold, then maybe there's something wrong with me and I think that's you know, something else that's so relatable to so many people probably listening to this. I know certainly
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::Alisha Carlson: that was something that I kind of looked at in my family as well. So.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And it's it's great if, like, I have a daughter who's 5, 8,
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: she's gorgeous. But
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: as she was getting taller I made specific a specific effort
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: to not let people tell her she was too tall.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Because, you know.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: people in society still do that to women.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: again says, who
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I look at some of some of the women out there.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: There's a famous cook
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I can't. Julia Childs. Julia Childs was like 6 4.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Her husband was a good foot shorter than her
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: just an amazing human being.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I I just
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I love her as an example of
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: you know. Size does not matter.
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::Alisha Carlson: And I think men receive similar messages. Although a lot of times, it's like the opposite of like, you know, if you're too, short, or if you're not big enough. And so
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::Alisha Carlson: I do think you know different cultures, different societies have different standards and expectations.
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::Alisha Carlson: But it is interesting, I think when you kind of slow down. And you're like, Okay, well, wait a minute. This is like how I've been operating under these expectations. But like you've said a couple of times says, who or like, where did that come from? And that actually is like.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, some of the key questions that I ask my clients a lot when things you know around their weight or their body. Come, come up. It's like, Okay, well, let's you know, is this something you want to explore a little bit more. Where did this come from? Where did you 1st hear this messaging?
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::Alisha Carlson: And when we really do kind of slow ourselves down and start kind of exploring that.
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::Alisha Carlson: Then we realized, maybe for the 1st time ever, that a lot of the things that we've just sort of thought and believed
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::Alisha Carlson: are actually kind of optional. And we can sort of poke holes in some of those and decide if we want to keep believing that and thinking that about ourselves and our bodies, or
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::Alisha Carlson: if perhaps we want to think about our bodies in a slightly different way.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, I love that. So do tell us your story. How did you get started doing all of this.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah. I think, you know, like so many coaches that I have talked to, it really has kind of stemmed from my own personal struggle, my own personal journey
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::Alisha Carlson: in the fitness arena and not unlike you, perhaps, or a lot of the other.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know men and women, but specifically connecting with the women here on this
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::Alisha Carlson: grew up thinking that there was a right way to have a body, and that I needed to look a specific way, and
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::Alisha Carlson: you know I was kind of growing up in the nineties
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::Alisha Carlson: where sort of that ideal body was kind of the long and the lean
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::Alisha Carlson: you know a lot of times you might attribute that to being the quote unquote Yoga body or Pilates body, or something like that.
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::Alisha Carlson: And you know I'm 5, 4.
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::Alisha Carlson: I will probably never be long and lean, because that's just not in my stature. And
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, then I think there's this other perception of, you know, being short, and but you have to be petite, and that not that was not necessarily me either.
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::Alisha Carlson: and unfortunately I did spend a lot of time.
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::Alisha Carlson: You know, as I was younger. Middle school, I think, is where it kind of started for me, picked up a little bit more in high school, and then just kind of kept gaining steam in this quest or this attempt really to fix my body and make it be more acceptable, or what I thought it was supposed to be according to society standards.
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::Alisha Carlson: and then you throw in what you overhear your grandma and your aunts talking about, or you know, maybe your mom.
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::Alisha Carlson: And it's like, okay, like.
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::Alisha Carlson: even if things are not being said directly to me.
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::Alisha Carlson: I'm getting the message loud and clear that there's something wrong with my body, kind of like you said, and always trying to fix it. And so you know, I would say I didn't really become like a serious dieter until I was out of high school in my early twenties. Really, especially around the time that I was getting married and
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::Alisha Carlson: wanted to look good going down the aisle wanted to feel good, and at the time I thought predominantly. The only way to do that was by losing weight.
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::Alisha Carlson: And
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::Alisha Carlson: so I went on that quest I started running. Which you know, there's, I think there's 2 sides to this story. One is the side that brought the struggle brought the pain that has ultimately kind of led to me, doing more of the grace based coaching the non diet you know more of like the holistic lifestyle
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::Alisha Carlson: and then there's the side of it where you know, fitness for me really did become an avenue
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::Alisha Carlson: to start challenging some of those limiting beliefs and stories that I had, and so
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::Alisha Carlson: I I don't think everything about it was bad, but certainly, you know, I took it to the extreme, and it did become an unhealthy obsession.
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::Alisha Carlson: Change, you know, changing my body, healthy eating, exercising all of that. And so started that journey in 2,007,
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::Alisha Carlson: started running, and then transitioned more into like bodybuilding competition. So I did. Some figure competing, or some figure shows there
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::Alisha Carlson: and then.
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::Alisha Carlson: That was about the time I started thinking about changing careers and moving more into the fitness space, so went back to school, got the degree, got out started coaching women from that very traditional perspective and mindset.
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::Alisha Carlson: That was very weight centered and not necessarily health centered or health focused.
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::Alisha Carlson: But then, you know. Again, in 2017 2018, there was this Aha moment that
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::Alisha Carlson: really kind of stopped me in my tracks and had me kind of questioning a lot of the approach that I was taking at the time and challenging a lot of those narratives, I think, in the fitness, space, and in the health space.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's. It's amazing to me all of the different ways people come at
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: being healthy.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: but it ultimately it it. It starts in your head.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and a lot of people think it starts in what you eat. But
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I don't. I don't really think so.
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::Alisha Carlson: I would agree with you, and unfortunately, I didn't learn that lesson until you know several years into my own fitness journey, because
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::Alisha Carlson: I think
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::Alisha Carlson: what is so relatable is that even at my lightest weight, even when I was the leanest. And I like maybe looked again. I'm using air quotes there looked the best that I'd ever looked.
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::Alisha Carlson: I still in my head thought.
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::Alisha Carlson: oh, I need to. I just need to tone this up a little bit more. I just need to, you know, work on this a little bit more, or work on that a little bit more. And so there never was a point where it was good enough, because the place that I started from in my brain was that I'm not good enough as I am right now, and so I carried that belief and that story about myself
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::Alisha Carlson: throughout. So it doesn't matter like you're saying what the physical outcome is. If you're still telling yourself that same cruddy story about your body, and so really flipping it and starting with changing the way that you're thinking about yourself
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::Alisha Carlson: and about food and about exercise and then making those changes. You're gonna be much happier.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, and doing things I think we're
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: that you enjoy, and not because you have to, so that you don't gain weight.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I I
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I personally have lived in that paradigm for
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: d
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: 60 years. I it just like
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: so much of my life was all about. Now I've got to lose weight. Now I've got to maintain this weight.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Oh, my God! I'm getting fat again!
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You know what
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: my body is, my body. I've reached the point at almost 65 that
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I consider myself a fertility goddess.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I embrace that body shape.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I honor it. I've had 5 kids.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I'm not worried about being skinny.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I don't really even want to be skinny at this point in my life. I think.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: as you get older, it's better to have a little bit of weight on your body. I'm not talking about obesity, but
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: The the way that you looked when you were maybe in your twenties or thirties is not the way you're gonna look when you're in your sixties, you need to have some some muscle mass, but you also need to have
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: a little bit of
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: of weight.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: because that's where your estrogen happens.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, the the topic around strength training and building muscle is huge, and I'm sure some of it's just the spaces that I'm hanging out in like that's a really big topic of conversation is, you know, focusing less on what the scale says, focusing less on just weight loss and really focusing on
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::Alisha Carlson: health and well-being and longevity into.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know well, into our sixties, seventies, eighties and beyond. And a lot of that is, it's maintaining muscle mass. It's maintaining strength, your balance, all of those kinds of things. And I think sometimes when we get so singularly focused on
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::Alisha Carlson: just what our bodies look like or just what the scale says.
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::Alisha Carlson: We kind of neglect some of these other things that are potentially not problems for us now, but could be problematic down the road, which is what I see in a lot of the
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::Alisha Carlson: older women that I'm working with now that are postmenopausal, a lot of
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::Alisha Carlson: osteoporosis, or right there on the brink of that.
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::Alisha Carlson: And so for them, it's more about. Okay. How do we keep it from crossing the line into osteoporosis. If you do have osteoporosis, how do we slow that down? And potentially, even.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, make it a little bit better.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: In the whole idea of calorie. Counting this restricted diets, I got to a point with my husband, where I told him, do not tell me, eat less exercise, more ever again in my life.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: For guys that works for women.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: especially women that are getting older.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It's it's a recipe for disaster
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it. There's so many other components, and your body, your hormones change, and your hormones are what drives fat on your body that it well, yeah, it's your hormones. If you're stressed, your hormones do one thing. If you're relaxed, they're going to do something else. If you're feeling good, they're going to do something else, and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and those all play into how your body is going to look. And it doesn't
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: have to be.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: It doesn't have to look. Anyway. I mean.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: it's going to look how it it's going to look when you're feeling good
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: eating right, and not restricting calories and eating the right kinds of food. There's so many people that don't get enough protein in their life. It's
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: crazy, and especially as you get older, you need more protein in your diet.
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::Alisha Carlson: yeah, the calorie conversation is an interesting one, because to some extent that balance does play a part in the number on the scale. And I think it's a little bit more complicated than like the example of just eating less and exercising more. There are definitely some more factors that go into that. And
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::Alisha Carlson: I think, unfortunately, what I see a lot in my clients is
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::Alisha Carlson: this fear of eating
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::Alisha Carlson: food because we've been so conditioned to think that
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::Alisha Carlson: you know the magic number, if you want to lose weight, is, you know, somewhere around 14 or 1,500 calories and
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::Alisha Carlson: for most people that's really barely enough above just what it takes to kind of keep your body running.
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::Alisha Carlson: You know, keeping the lights on, so to speak, and so. And then you factor in exercise. And you alluded to also the types of foods that you're eating play a role.
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::Alisha Carlson: And so yeah, I think, you know, I get pretty frustrated when that's the advice that's given is like, Oh, you're having a hard time losing weight. You just need to eat less and exercise more. I think that's a pretty simple
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::Alisha Carlson: and ignorant way to talk about it. And for women that have really had that experience of dieting.
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::Alisha Carlson: That's a miserable way to go through your life. And and to some, you know, at some point you're kind of like. Well, I can't do anymore. I can't eat any less. I can't exercise anymore to burn calories.
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::Alisha Carlson: and then it can feel like you
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::Alisha Carlson: have no other options.
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::Alisha Carlson: And then yes, there is absolutely that conversation around, just
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::Alisha Carlson: appreciating your body where it's at
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::Alisha Carlson: coming to a place of acceptance
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::Alisha Carlson: and kind of making peace with that.
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::Alisha Carlson: I think, starting. There is a great place to, you know. That's a great
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::Alisha Carlson: place to start to begin, because then that's going to really dictate and drive kind of the attitude that's that is driving your behaviors.
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::Alisha Carlson: And you're able to kind of unattach from the results. And so you're not in a hurry. You're enjoying the journey and the process a lot more. You're enjoying, maybe more of your life because you're not so mentally preoccupied with
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::Alisha Carlson: the calorie counting and the scale. And what does my body look like? And oh, my gosh! And that was one of the biggest, I think. Transformations that I noticed immediately
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::Alisha Carlson: when I kind of pivoted
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::Alisha Carlson: out of the diet. Mentality
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::Alisha Carlson: is, I was like, Oh, my gosh! My brain is such a quiet place now, like there's not this constant chatter with.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, what does my body look like? How much do I weigh? How much do I eat? And just thinking about food? And so that was huge.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah. And I think just giving yourself
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: the grace to appreciate who you are.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Just priceless.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So how do you work with women? And and what types of women do you have, like a certain type of women that you work.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: prefer to work with? Or is it all women.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yes, I do predominantly work with women. I have had a handful of men that I have worked with as well, I think just naturally kind of being able to connect to the lived experiences of women sometimes makes it easier because we can sort of share that. But what's been interesting is working with men, you realize, like, oh, they either are dealing with a lot of the same things that we are.
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::Alisha Carlson: Sometimes it just looks a little bit differently in terms of who I work with. I would say a majority of my clients tend to be working moms. So they're kind of juggling. You know they're in the middle of
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::Alisha Carlson: juggling life and trying to keep the house afloat and make sure the kids and their spouses are taken care of running their business or managing their career, and a lot of times their own personal health
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::Alisha Carlson: and well-being gets put to the back burner, or really gets put to the bottom of the list.
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::Alisha Carlson: and never quite.
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::Alisha Carlson: It's never quite making it to the calendar. In terms of age. I have worked with women, you know, as young as 14, and then through menopause
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::Alisha Carlson: and so, having kind of a wide experience there, I have appreciated working with women of all different ages and life stages
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::Alisha Carlson: because it is. You know, there is so much change that happens in our life, I mean, hormonally and physically, absolutely. But even just the seasons of life that we go through. And there's those subtle identity shifts that happen throughout. And so it's been really fun to kind of to be able to walk with young women
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::Alisha Carlson: moms that have kids that are graduating. And now they're kind of empty nesting. And it's Oh, my gosh! What do I do. Who am I to, you know, walking with them through their 1st pregnancy, or, you know, going through menopause and helping them kind of navigate some of that stuff.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You help them find
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: passions when it comes to exercise. Like I have
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: my dad's girlfriend. Okay, he's 88. She's 79. She loves pickleball. This woman still plays pickleball all the time, and
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: she's in great shape
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: for somebody who's almost 80.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: but it's because she found something she would really enjoy doing, and she does it all the time.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Do you help people get that kind of attachment to something that they can that will serve them their whole life.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yes, I do try to help plug people into finding ways of moving their body that
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::Alisha Carlson: fit within their interests, things that they like things that they would enjoy. And I am a huge proponent of resistance, training, and strength. Training. Walking, you know, is another great form of movement. It's something that almost everybody can do.
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::Alisha Carlson: You know, there's the hiking the biking. If you've got younger kids, you know, thinking, Okay, how can we maybe get some movement in as a family and going to the park and running around. And so I do believe that.
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::Alisha Carlson: you know, when we enjoy it, we are going to be more apt to do it, and I think sometimes it takes a little bit of time to grow an affinity towards something.
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::Alisha Carlson: And you know, kind of meeting people where they're at. It's like some people love a gym, and other people want to work out at their home.
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::Alisha Carlson: Some people really thrive in a class setting.
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::Alisha Carlson: And other people prefer to have the flexibility to be able to just get their workout or their exercise done
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::Alisha Carlson: whenever they can for me. Personally, I think it's good to have a variety. So having some weight bearing some resistance training, having some, you know, Cardio type stuff that you're doing, whether that's hiking, riding a bike, rowing.
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::Alisha Carlson: pickleball kind of falls in there or tennis, you know something like that. And then, of course, like maintaining some flexibility and some some mobility as well. So you know, it's kind of like having a diet. We want to have a wide variety of fruits and veggies. We want to have a wide variety of
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::Alisha Carlson: proteins and different things like that, so that we can make sure that we're covering as many bases nutritionally as we can. I think of it the same way when it comes to exercise and movement.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, I think those are really important important pieces in the whole
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: health journey.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: How do you work with your your clients? Is it in a group setting. Is it one on one? Does it.
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::Alisha Carlson: So I have. Yeah, I have both happening. I have all of it happening right now. So I do have some group sessions that I do in person.
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::Alisha Carlson: I have a group that I am doing online right now. It's more of like a fitness kickstart or a reset, so that one is 12 weeks.
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::Alisha Carlson: There's a workout program. There's some nutrition guides, and then you get access to me through voxer. So that's been kind of the 1st sort of online group stuff that I've done.
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::Alisha Carlson: Otherwise I also work with clients, one to one mostly. Virtually. However, I do have some clients that we will meet in person. Especially for personal training.
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::Alisha Carlson: It's nice to be able to have eyes on somebody. And okay, what's your form doing? How can we tweak that? But I also do personal training online. And that works as well. So like, I said, I'm doing at the moment. I'm doing a little bit of everything.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So I know that you offer a a fitness audit.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah. So I am offering a fitness audit. You could do it for a nutrition. Just really a lifestyle audit. So that's essentially where we would get on a call, and you're just going to kind of give me a rundown like, what's your sleep like? What's your nutrition like? How's movement and exercise. What about stress?
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::Alisha Carlson: You know? What are the current obstacles that you're facing? What's kind of keeping you from reaching your goals, whatever those might be. What have you tried in the past? And really just try to get a comprehensive picture of what's going on, so that I can give you my diagnosis and give you really my top, you know, 3 to 5 recommendations. To try to keep it simple. Keep it doable. Keep it something that people can do
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::Alisha Carlson: and then, once you kind of get started on some of those basics, then you can look at layering in and adding in, you know some additional pieces, but I think a lot of times there's so much information out there, we think to just get started. We have to change everything, and that usually doesn't work long term.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, especially, it's like stretching that rubber band. You can hold it out there for a while, but eventually it's gonna snap back.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, where it's gonna pull. Yeah, it's pulling you in or it's breaking. And then you're just kind of starting back at square one. So my goal is to make, you know, living a healthy lifestyle, something tangible, something doable.
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::Alisha Carlson: And you know, really focusing on that self compassion and that grace piece, because I think that's a huge component in helping people be successful. Long term.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, I think that is too.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So do you have any
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: like
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: tips that you want to leave the audience with?
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, I mean, I think you could essentially kind of just do a quick assessment, you know. Okay, where am I at fitness? Wise. Where am I at? Health? Wise?
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::Alisha Carlson: What are things that I want to be working out, you know, working on? I know the time that this airs. It's going to be, you know, will be maybe a few weeks after the New Year, and so maybe some of that motivation has wore off. But don't be discouraged, because, you know, every day is a chance to start again every moment. Every decision. Right? It's like, let's say you blow it at breakfast like
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::Alisha Carlson: lunch is the next best time to get back on track or to get back with it. And so you know, I think just setting some goals setting some targets for yourself.
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::Alisha Carlson: making them small and doable, and really almost too small. I think that's the the other thing is a lot of times, we think. Oh, you know, what would 5 min of walking do? Well, a lot of times. Once you get going for 5 min, you're like I could probably do another 5 min. I could do another 10 versus, okay, I have to walk every day for 30 min.
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::Alisha Carlson: and then we do 0 days.
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::Alisha Carlson: 5 min, 7 days a week would be 0 day, or, you know, 0 min any day of the week. So start small, make it doable. Meet yourself where you're at and really work on that mindset component, I think, 1st and foremost.
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::Alisha Carlson: and then, you know, start to take the action from there.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I think those are great great tips. I I know with the walking thing. I walk with my husband every day. I started
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: gosh! Years ago, just walking around the block.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: That was all I did. Now. We walk like 3 miles a day every day.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: unless it's below 1010 as our limit.
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::Alisha Carlson: Pretty cool. So kudos to you guys for even going. You know that far down.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: And and there can't be ice on the road, because I've fallen before, and I'm at that age where
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: falls are bad.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah meatball.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You don't want to be falling, so if there's ice on the road we don't walk. But other than that
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: we're walking, and and we may look at each other like, really don't want to get started. But once we get going, it's like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, we just do it. And we have a dog, so
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: he he's a handful of.
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::Alisha Carlson: Well, yeah, I mean, that's the other thing. You could get a dog. And then you're gonna be forced to walk. Walk your dog pretty much
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::Alisha Carlson: rain or shine every single day. Otherwise, yeah, they do get rowdy and rambunctious. I can always tell when my dogs need a walk. I'm like, okay.
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::Alisha Carlson: you've got too much energy right now.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah. And then there's resistance training because you got him on the leash and you just swim.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah. Switch. Arms.
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::Alisha Carlson: I wear them around my waist, so that I have both arms free, so that I can grab each of their leashes if I need to, and kind of keep them a little bit closer to me. So
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::Alisha Carlson: it's all about making it work for you.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, yeah, just the things we do
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: and walking, it has another benefit. And that's that you get to meet your neighbors and your community, because people recognize you on the road and they'll stop you in the grocery store and ask you why you didn't wave back.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Never mind.
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::Alisha Carlson: Sounds, like.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: You guys, a vehicle sounds like.
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::Alisha Carlson: That was a lived experience.
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::Alisha Carlson: It.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Really does happen to us all the time
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: we're talking. We're not paying attention to the cars going by on the road. They're frantically waving at us.
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::Alisha Carlson: Oh, my! Gosh! That's so funny!
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, why?
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::Alisha Carlson: Booking has huge benefits. That's a great place to start, if you are just getting started, is just get out and move find ways that you like moving, and do a little bit of it every day.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Yeah, I love that. So this has been an amazing conversation. I really appreciate you joining me, Alicia. What's the one thing you hope the audience takes away from the conversation.
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::Alisha Carlson: Oh, gosh, if I had to narrow it down. I think you know initially, it is just
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::Alisha Carlson: taking inventory, maybe, of
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::Alisha Carlson: how you are currently thinking about food and about your body or your weight, or what your body looks like or exercise, and really questioning those, I liken that a lot to going through a closet and sorting things to give away or get rid of and throw away.
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::Alisha Carlson: You know. Maybe some you want to keep, and you want to, just, you know, slightly look at it in a little bit of a different way. And you know, really begin to challenge some of those thoughts or those beliefs that don't serve you. That are maybe actually the things that are kind of keeping you stuck in that continual loop of
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::Alisha Carlson: starting a diet and then falling off and starting and falling off, and for me, you know. The 1st thing that I did
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::Alisha Carlson: that was so helpful was to just begin to look at food as neutral. So that doesn't mean that all foods are created equal, and have, you know, equal nutrients or nutrition.
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::Alisha Carlson: But taking the food labels off in terms of this is like a bad food, or this is a good food that really created a lot of freedom for me to look at food and make a decision of what to eat without being pulled
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::Alisha Carlson: in the direction of, like the bad foods and binging on those, and then restricting and beating myself up and feeling guilty. And so for me, that was the 1st step, and I think that's a great place to start, too, is just question it. And if you needed a place to start, just play around with looking at food as neutral.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: I really like that? That's good
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: kind of huge.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: So how do people get in touch with you?
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, you can shoot me an email, alicia@aliciacarlson.com if you want to connect with me directly. I'm also on Instagram at Alicia, Carlson underscore. And then, as you mentioned, I do have my own, podcast the strong her way. And that's on all major platforms. So you can definitely go and listen and
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::Alisha Carlson: kind of dig into some of these topics that we talked about here even more.
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::Alisha Carlson: But yeah, I would say, probably Instagram or my email are the 2 best places.
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::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist & Host of the You World Order Showcase Podcast: Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me today.
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::Alisha Carlson: Yeah, thank you so much, Jill, for having me.
