Monthly Q&A

Staple bulk Items and/or meals for easy to prep basic meals?

We’re all busy, no matter what our story. Whether you’re a full-time working parent or working and finishing you masters at the same time, our schedules are tight so being prepared will be one of your biggest keys to not feeling so overwhelmed all the time.

My advice here?

1.     Keep your grocery list on hand/on your phone and add to it when you run out of staples.

2.     Always have your fridge, pantry and freezer stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, healthy snack options, sources of protein, cheese, wraps, etc.

3.     Pre-cut your vegetables after your grocery shop and store them in an airtight container in your fridge. This will shave down cook time later.

4.     Pre-cook/prepare items like rice, pastas, overnight oats, hard boiled eggs, homemade muffins, low sugar cookies and store them in you fridge or freezer for the week ahead.

5.     Keep your meals simple and consistent during the day. The more you try and switch it up, the more overwhelmed you’ll be.

6.     Plan plan plan! We typically know what our weeks will look like a few days prior, so plan our your meals and pick one day of the week to gather everything you need.

Why do you think people rebound from “dieting” or trying to lose weight?

While I can’t speak for everyone, I can speak for a very large population and 99.9% of what our clients went through before working with us at Collective Performance.

Most “diet plans or programs” don’t prepare you for the real world. They keep you in a box for “X” amount of time and typically tell you to cut something out (carbs, alcohol, fruit, social events, etc, ect) and slap you with a well thought out plan. Now while that will help for a very short period, what happens after those 30/60/90 days? What did you learn?

·      Did you learn how to deal with stressful work weeks and how to NOT through everything into the fuck it bucket?

·      What about the days when you just weren’t “motivated” enough?

·      How about your upcoming holidays? Do you know how to navigate through those?

·      How many workouts did they put you through that either had you feeling exhausted or failing because you didn’t have the time to complete them?

See where I’m going with this? Quick fixes are just that, quick. They aren’t sustainable and don’t consider you or your environment. We need to stop thinking transactionally and start looking at the bigger picture.

What do you look forward to most post-partum?

Movement! Oy, what a different pregnancy this one was compared to my first! I was fortunate enough to be active for the first 2 trimesters but come mid-third, things changed rapidly. Health wise, nothing! I will say this, I am very lucky to experience yet another healthy pregnancy with zero complications, but physically speaking, it’s been a slight challenge these last 2 months. I did what I could (light walks, swimming, and paddle boarding) but now I’m at the point where walking or even trying to play with my son is too much for my pubic symphysis pain. I already have Ed writing me a training program and I plan to walk every day for minimum an hour again. Thinking about it makes me giddy!

ps- I also very much look forward to an old fashioned and glass of rose

How much protein should I be having?

The answer to that depends on age, gender and size but typically speaking you should be having a minimum 20-25 grams of protein per meal. If you struggle to get enough in, try adding in a shake/smoothie with a good quality protein powder. One scoop should give you anywhere between 18-25grams.

Favourite snacks to have on hand?

·      Anything home baked – this way I control the quality of ingredients and its sugar content

·      Air popped popcorn ( I try to avoid ones with canola, sunflower or grapeseed oil)

·      Fruit

·      Veggies

·      Rice cakes w/ either avocado & nutritional yeast or peanut butter

·      Smoothies

·      Pepperoni sticks

·      Olives

Why aren’t you and Ed married?

We move at our own pace. It’ll happen when it happens. And if it does preferably in Paris on a rooftop patio and then a simple, but delicious meal full or bread and salted butter with whoever wants to join ;)