#56 - Basic Steps To Take Now, That'll Get You A Head Start After Summer

Johan Vesters: 0:32

What's up, guys? Welcome back to Talking Nutrition episode 56. Today, I was just telling Christina, we're almost a year in to the podcast. We got our anniversary episode coming up in just about three to three weeks I think. Which I feel like we've been doing well. The more I look into stuff, podcasting, those kind of things. I was here like, you know, most people don't make it past like five episodes, whatever it is, like, I don't know. We're still here. So really? Yeah, maybe it's not five but like, very low number. So.

Kristine Andali: 1:04

Yeah, and just like comparing how we did he like the first episode today now?

Johan Vesters: 1:12

Oh, 100%. It's crazy. Those

Kristine Andali: 1:14

first few episodes are like,

Johan Vesters: 1:17

yeah, no. It's it's funny too, though. Like, it's the same with content and everything. Because you look back hammock? Yeah. Sounds like you know, super awkward or whatever. They always grow still. And we still are. So it's cool. Oh, now with this summer, right? We're in the middle of summer. It's a bit of a weird time. A lot of people are still kind of like waiting. So let's talk about that. Because I think, you know, with August, maybe September coming up, people going back to school, work, whatever the trips are done, we're going back to a little bit more of a normal kind of season, where we might be cutting, we might be bulking whatever. What should we do kind of like in the meantime, because I think people are still waiting for that moment. It's kind of like, okay, I've got summer and then then I'll start again, I think we could still do some stuff, you know, because it's all about like getting a headstart, instead of not doing anything. We could already do at least something without being very strict or diligent with our trician. It kind of like set yourself up for success, because we don't really want to figure things out, if we're trying to get started with like a cot, for example. So wanted to kind of tie this back into Season Two of nutrition once again, that we talked about recently. But the thing that we do kind of like, why don't we get someone started, you know. But before we get into the episode, Kristine, you have any updates?

Kristine Andali: 2:46

Yeah, so this is the last week of K training. So it was kind of like a bittersweet thing. I also now have a mental health professional on Kay nutrition. Her name is Anna Kennedy, and she is in freaking fantastic. My clients love her. So what we've done is like we've, we've figured out okay, any new clients that come on, they get a free discovery call with her. And then from there, they get like significant discount rates that you really like would be hard to find outside of, you know, just a normal guy going and going going to get therapy somewhere like rates are typically pretty freakin high. Especially if you don't have insurance. So we really tried to work on that and come up with a price where it wouldn't be like adding too much, you know, because clients are already paying for my nutrition coaching. So anyways, I'm really, really excited about that, she's going to be doing some, like guest speaker stuff for the clients and then we have a community space, so she's going to be in there as well. So that's really exciting. I'm excited for that. And then actually on Friday, I have a call with a potential assistant coach that I might be bringing on I'm finally just like handing over the rage a little bit, which is hard because you know, it's like your business and you do things a certain way and you talk to people a certain way and so it's nerve wracking, but at the same time it's it's necessary that being said, She's has been a nutrition coach for a long time and she's actually been my client for about six or so months right now. Which I really like because she knows how I read things you know how my coaching style all of that so I'm really looking forward to just seeing if it works if it doesn't, it is what it is. But that potentially happening soon. What else feel like that's it right now. Cool.

Johan Vesters: 5:27

So it's good. That's exciting to you to grow right? It's cool to bring people in and I think especially having so on On the mental health side of things, you know, to to help people, they're just huge because of me, you and me get this all the time. It's like, some check ins almost turned into like a therapy session, which we can't really do anyway. But like big time, people really share a lot of stuff, you know, which is great, because they also need someone to talk to you. But you know, at some point, we also need to kind of refer our than how great is it just to have someone in your, in your network and on super cool?

Kristine Andali: 6:00

Yes, it's awesome. Yeah.

Johan Vesters: 6:05

That's super good. Cool. Yeah, I just got back from our trip, right. So last Tuesday evening, we got back a great time. Other than my first day, like, legit, we got home, I got so sick. The first day, it was just going, like crazy fever. My resting heart rate was like 85. I saw it on my whoop data, right. So my respiratory rate was like, way up, I had like crazy fever as well. So that first day, I was just in bed. But then after that, so we got to catch up. Um, got to it again. See my friends family was great time. But then getting back into work now is a lot to catch up with, you know, it's been quite the building season this year so far. And you know, q3 is going to be exact same q4, fun fact, we're actually going to try and bring someone in as well. So we're kind of like working on that stuff now. Right, trying to get people on. Ky wise, we're pretty much kept pretty soon, which is really cool. So we'll be started with a waiting list. At some point, maybe this quarter, which is coming now. It's it's a good place to be in, and we could just focus on our clients, you know? Yeah. But again, you know, getting getting out of that vacation mode back into work. Take a couple days to Karaganda to you, you know,

Kristine Andali: 7:23

it's hard.

Johan Vesters: 7:26

Like you were saying just now to like, it's like, the longer you kind of take a break, the harder it gets. And, I mean, it was like a week ish we could have, but I haven't had that much time off since you know, 2020. So it's kind of like weird, you know? But okay, yeah, we're back ed. So, today's topic, right, so getting getting a head start for for after summer, because I've had these chats with a bunch of people now, in our group coaching programme in the free group. My one on one clients, like, we have so many different things going on, then we simply cannot look at you know, summer as the exact same as, like, let's say September or, you know, any month when most people are just kind of like working doing your thing. Maybe we got some stuff during the weekends, but we are able to do like a cut, for example, or in bulk. So with your clients currently, Kristine, how do you gotta go about that? Like, what do you what do you do? It's gotta like before going into summer? What do you say? Going into it? Kind of like setting them up with the right expectations? getting them ready for after summer, if that makes sense?

Kristine Andali: 9:06

Well I, you know, ideally, like, like, I understand the concept of like, you know, summers going to look different and whatnot, but I do like them to be in a place where like, these events and whatnot isn't something that throws them way off track, no matter what season it is. So we work on that throughout the whole coaching process, you know, from the very beginning to not have the seasons completely throw them off. So I, you know, I feel like that's, I don't necessarily like say things, it's just stuff that were cut, that's always like a work in progress for people and how they specifically handle situations. You know, if it's different situations, I guess, depending on on depending on what they're going into. So I wouldn't say that I have this thing that I just like say to people, I feel like it's so it's so individual, and based on what events they have and how we're going to handle those events in you know, per person per client. Um, that being said, like, for the Gen pop that aren't my clients if you're feeling off, you know, this summer was, you know, maybe you, you feel like you went a little overboard and you have these specific things that you want to get back on track. I would say okay, whatever. What are the specific things you want to be doing by x time? So if it's like, September or you know, August, September, you want to be doing x by that time, what are the small steps that we can start to be doing start now, so that you're at that point when you get there. So if it's like, I want to meal prepping every single week, or I want to be doing, you know, training X, you know, whatever it is, whatever you want, okay, how can we take those small steps down? So if you want to be meal prepping? Okay, can we do that like once a week right now or once every other week? Or like, just start to get that momentum going? That's what you know, I would recommend right now. Yeah. Or if you want to slow slow down on, like, the drinking or something. Okay. Where do you want to be in September? Where are you at now? Can we take like, even like, couple steps forward from that, if you're having 20 drinks a week? Can we knock it down to like, 15? And eventually get to that point? In August and September?

Johan Vesters: 12:09

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's hard. It's gonna depend to what people at, I think, people who have been working with for a while we're good, like, they know, you know, like, it's, it's the same thing really, as a weekend or evening outs, like, anything that's like, outside of the usual day to day, we got them ready for that. And it's a process like you said, you know, you try something, and maybe it worked. Awesome. Maybe not, okay, try something else. But it's an ongoing thing. What I noticed now, with people who, like, let's say, started in June, for example, May June, we're still trying to, like, get them ready for those moments, we're still kind of like, just getting into that process. And then it's kind of like, Okay, should I be tracking should not be tracking? You know, do I take a break, we always plan our way, you know, for our phases, so that they're not going to be dieting, at least during that trip, right. But those are all important things who do work through and this maybe just also, just generally, for every client listening? Like, it's, it is a different time, but you're still gonna show up, you know, and there's gonna be weeks where we're not gonna be tracking as great. But we still want to at least check in and have a plan going into it. I think for the people just starting out, it's, it's a little bit more difficult maybe, to see that because we do approach things differently. It's not just, Hey, these are your macros calories wherever your meal plan. And if you go on vacation, or you can't follow it, well, that's up to you like not like, these are things that we got to work on, you know. But either way, I think there's always something we can do. Right? And this, this is the same for the person starting out, or the client or like anyone, really. But there's always something we can do. Because the habits that we're going to have to rely on long term. We always need to meet Oh, and at again, like you said, the meal prep and those kind of things. I think those are great. Because let's say you do want to start cutting in September, because I feel like that's a month where a lot of people are going to you know, or like August, September, maybe you kind of want to do a little bit of pre work already. Which can be now a thing with Yeah.

Kristine Andali: 14:26

Yeah. Because so a lot of people will potentially have, you know, gone a little crazy during summer, right? Then it comes to September, and they're like, oh my gosh, like now we have to go to the extreme, right? So they go into this extreme diet, whatever it is. And then that's very short lived. And it's very, very hard to go from like, okay, we're over eating or drinking a lot, a lot to like, keto, right, or like, you start that so hard mentally, like, mentally, physically, all of that. Whereas if you were to just start to take like small steps now, and it's okay, if you overdid summer, like, but let's do something different this time, instead of going to like this extreme of doing a crazy diet, because you felt like you overdid it, let's try something different and start to, you know, implement these small changes in these small actions now. And then if you do want to go into some sort of, you know, fat loss phase or whatever, now that transition is going to be so much more easier for you, versus like, over eating, drinking all the way to the point where now it's like one day that next you're going to just go into this like crazy diet, right? Obviously, if you don't know what to do with like a fat loss phase I'd cut, like a proper sustained more sustainable diet, I recommend coke. But if you if that's not, you know, financially doable for you, then I do recommend just starting with these small things and you'll see changes with that alone. And then maybe you get to that September point and you're just like, oh man, like I don't, I really don't even feel like I need to do anything crazy. And you just continue with these, these habits that you've started. And that's gonna be such an A, yeah, it's a longer period of time, but it's going to be so much more. It seems so much easier for you and not so stressful, both from like a mental and physical standpoint.

Johan Vesters: 16:46

Because I think if you do it that way, one, you have some habits in place already, that otherwise you would have have had to build anyway. Done. So that I was like September maybe turns into like October, for example. Once you know, when you when you get to a point where you start losing weight, for example, actually seeing results. So there's Dad, you're billing to habits. Yeah, you're also better off kind of like towards the end of the summer. Because if you drink your water and you eat your fruits, veggies, for example, or you start getting more active, or you start eating more protein, if you do that now, you're already going to see some results, I think, even if that's just the only change, right? Even just pro totally. So you gotta be better off, you gotta be feeling more full as well. So, all this stuff, it sounds very basic, and we talk about it all the time. But like, it is the stuff that you need to work on anyway, you got results, no matter what you're

Kristine Andali: 17:45

gonna do, and those doing it that way. Well then set my webcam is having a seizure. It keeps like moving. Uh huh. Yeah. Those those things that you you know, start to implement now. You create like Johan said, you're creating a habit, which those other diets don't, you're not creating any habits. That's why you stay in this like cycle, right? Where it's like, summer goes crazy. I die. And I gave my way back and all sudden, you know, then we're back into summer and I'm here again, summer goes crazy. Where is if you just started to implement these small changes now. If your summer next summer will more than likely be way easier for you and you will not go off the rails like you feel like you you do every summer because you now you have these tools are in place to keep you disciplined, more disciplined. Still, you know, you can loosen the grip a little bit like that's fine. Like there's so many events and stuff that go on in the summer, where you can have these now habits and these tools in your back pocket to lean back on.

Johan Vesters: 19:01

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, again, I just got home from our trip, I got home lighter than when I left. And of course, I've been doing this a little bit longer than some other people but like, I always came from somewhere where that wasn't the case, you know, but it's just so nice to be able to get to have those skills to fall back on, you know, like, you have your habits you are able to dialled in, and if you need to write, I went on my trip, stop tracking the track anything, right? I just focus on protein, water. Some steps, right, there was actually a little bit less than expected or planned. And, you know, just focus on whole foods and stuff. And just enjoyed we had a couple of meals that were quite big with friends, you know, and then the rest of it just kind of chill. And it's totally doable, right? Yeah. So it's actually quite simple. But getting to that point is maybe not, but changing your habits and learning how to do that. And that's obviously the hard part. So want people to know that it is a process and that you can do something at least because, again, this summer, you could already see some progress next summer, like Kristine said, even more, maybe a couple of years down the road, right? Maybe even just one year down the road, like you got to be in a place where you don't have to worry and stress about you know, summer because it's not completely like this all or nothing thing, man, because again, like it is a different scenario. Totally Right. Like I don't want people to be cutting when they're going on vacation in Spain or something. And we don't like we planned for that. But of course we also don't want that to be like a reason to have like what, okay, you don't know rolls, whatever. And then before you know it just a couple of weeks later, you're like up 510 kilos, whatever. It happens really quickly.

Kristine Andali: 20:59

And Yeah, which, which I think, is a kind of good segue into how we go about things when bringing on a client, because this is what we're setting the client up for down the road. So we wanted to just talk a little bit about what we do when we bring a client on, like those first initial that whatever, few months. So when someone applies to my coaching, I, I am very, very open and transparent, right off the bat about what my coaching looks like, because like, There's no quick fixes, nothing like that here. I bring a client on, and we work on the fundamentals, we work on the foundation, building a solid foundation, before anything. And it's all it's like that with anyone, even if someone comes to me, and they're, they've already got these things in place, I will still have them do that for like, a month or so. Because Oh, me, you know, I want Yeah, show me first of all, and secondly, there's things that I've had people who have been very dialled in, and that first month, you know, there's things that pop up for them, where they maybe didn't realise they were like, not handling, well, I guess. Or if there was like an all or nothing mindset, or like, you know, things like that popping up. And they're like, wow, like, this is really opened up my eyes. Now like, and this is why we spend time doing this first, before we even think about going into like any sort of fat loss phase. And not everyone is here for fat loss phase, like there are people just that want to work on the foundations and, or the fundamentals. And we do that, but I do that with everyone no matter what. And I tell people that right off the bat, I'm like, we are working on the basics, we are working on getting you in a routine, you know what, depending on what your schedule looks like, having you you know, have a better understanding and how to handle events and situations that pop up or like really stressful weeks, or whatever that is, I want you to be equipped with the tools to be able to handle those situations down the road, when we're not together. It is not just about right now, like if you want this to be a lifelong thing, and lifelong change in success, these are the things that we have to get in place first, and I care about like lights. Like, if they want to lose fat right now they're not ready to lose fat right now, I'm not gonna put them into a fat loss phase if they have a bunch of other things to to focus on first. So you know, I always get that radar on the table, and let them know, like, this is what this looks like. If this isn't for you, like that's okay, I understand I'm not going to be the coach for everyone. But just setting those expectations right from the right from the top is what I do at work that's we lay the foundation first period.

Johan Vesters: 24:30

Yeah, it has to happen, you know, but we got to do the pre work. And there's, there's often so many things again, like I keep mentioning fat loss, but that's just because most people have those coals with us as well. But either way, like, we're not going to start you there. Right? Some people I've started at like, almost like a maintenance minus kind of, because there are people who can benefit from losing weight ASAP Hana, if we're looking at 50 plus pounds, right?

Kristine Andali: 25:02

We do work on you, you still you focus on the basics, like exactly quality movement, and not even in that mindset of fat loss yet. Yeah. And yes, you could, that the, it can be a byproduct of what you're doing. But it's still they don't have those tools in place. And maybe that's why they are there for sure where they are now. So those those those basics are, what are going to create that success there. Even if we're not focusing on fat loss, for sure.

Johan Vesters: 25:33

Because that is what to tell him to like, hey, you know, this is what I'm gonna do this guy like one of one, one exception we'll make we'll we'll put them a little bit lower. See how he responds. And then I'm gonna say hey, either way, like whatever happens these are your targets for now. And we're not going to change anything until we are consistently their wedding, our proteins, food quality and those kind of things. A lot of times you see things are moving right and often for quite a while and then it's like okay, cool, like We're in a good spot. Are we ready? Yes. Okay, then we will get into planning. But this is also something we have set up in kind of like our order of, you know, the onboarding process, which is really six weeks after that food diary, right, we want to see where they're at food quality, food intake, just overall amounts, seeing what they're struggling with. But after the foundations, right, making sure that they actually understand nutrition, because you know, as well, there's so much information out there. And that's so confusing for people. Like what educate them, make sure okay, we're able to actually be flexible, like, be flexible with our nutrition, right? You apply to a 20 rule, we say, Oh, we do. We start planning, right, the full day of eating, so that always have something to fall back on. And then we also create their periodization plan, like that's, I think, week for now. Because we move things around a little bit, week four, then we start building out their plan, because then we also kind of know, okay, these are still some things we got to work on. These are some things we could already get into. And then we have special scenarios, a little bit of supplementation, too. But again, it's a process, right, that's, that's a six week process. Usually, after four weeks, I'd say for the majority of the people, we can start cutting, but to our people where we don't, you know, I really want you to first hit your targets. Because if we're super inconsistent, and we're all over the place, for whatever reason that is, we got to work on that, because we're not going to be able to adjust from that inconsistent place, you know what I mean? And,

Kristine Andali: 27:34

exactly,

Johan Vesters: 27:36

this is also something we can already get into right, right now, or over summer, is working on some of those basics, making sure that maybe some of that stuff is already covered. Hey, if you already know for yourself, I'd like to start cutting or like to start bulking or whatever it is, after summer, you're probably not going to have like special, you know, meat, you know, evenings out, and those kind of things like special scenarios, every single day. Maybe just track your food, like a couple days a week. We just protein or what tried to already work towards that, you know, like, eat some more whole foods, like all that stuff needs to be worked on anyway. And that's what we do with everyone as well. And I remember having a talk with someone the past year like you know, like this before us are bringing this up like Rajesh, the path he should we all learn but he's like, you know, week three, I think it was he's like, Yeah, I'm not very happy with the you know, the fact that I haven't lost any body fat yet. About Okay. Three weeks in. Like, this is not some lose weight quickly, kind of thing. You know what I mean? This is not something where, hey, we sign up and we say, okay, cool. You want to lose weight? Let's jump into withdrawal from a calorie diet or so you know?

Kristine Andali: 28:51

Yeah, that's why you so matter of fact, like, right off it? Yeah. Like I literally, literally say to them like this. This is not a quick fix programme. We will focus on fat loss when the time is right. But this year, I say I say anywhere from like, I have it written in the thing. Yeah, anywhere from like six to 10 weeks, maybe longer is exactly what I have written. Before we move into that next phase. So yeah, yeah, really, like they need to really understand, you know, the expectation and what they're what they're coming into, I think that's social part.

Johan Vesters: 29:35

Yeah, because MLB with anyone really, because, like, you know, when we did the giveaway, last one. And we, we talked to a bunch of people, I really got a lot of stories from people where it was quite worrying, right, like they've tried multiple programmes or coaches and those kind of things. And then it's like, well, you know, it was just the targets, and I got put on 12 on the calories. But they never got to work through soft, they never got to first actually built a foundation. Yeah, they never even like knew about food choices, or you know, anything like that. Because they were just supposed to follow calories. And that was it. Some people, you know, were just told to try again, if they didn't hit their targets, but there was never kind of like that, figuring out why they were not able to, and ended up being alive, kind of like the mindset side of things. That now all of a sudden we do get to work through and now that you see results because of that, like, you want to take your time, you know, and I think this is something to to remember, too, that if we have been struggling for multiple years. You're not going to see a whole lot in a couple of weeks. Right? We can get you

Kristine Andali: 30:45

you're not gonna see like the people I say this to clients all the time. Like how long have you actually been doing this? Yeah, and like the other the other guy like you bring awareness around it, right? Like, yeah, how long have you been emotionally eating or overeating. And, you know, one of my clients said my whole life. And I said, Okay, this isn't gonna be undone in 12 weeks. That's just, that's the facts. It can improve, yes, like, we're working on improving that over the 12 weeks. But it's not just going to be be fixed in that period of time. And it is quite literally human nature to fall back into old habits. But to have that awareness, so Okay, have the awareness. And then this is where those tools and habits come into play, right? You've built the habit, it's normal to fall back into them sometimes. But now you're like, okay, like this has happened. I, I have identified like, I falling back into the, these old habits, now I have these tools in my back pocket to get me back on to, you know, more successful path in that, whether that's small action or big action, whatever. So yeah, it's, it's so important to have these habits in place. I can't emphasise that enough.

Johan Vesters: 32:08

I always say there's a die before to die them. Here's the diet after the diet. Without a diet before the diet, the results are gonna suck without the diet after the diet, or it's not gonna last. Because you also need to maintain it. So you gotta get ready. Right, can just jump in. I mean, some people can see some results, but like, usually, it's not going to last. So you want to make sure that you're actually ready. And this is where your coach can help you, you know, because as human beings, we're probably going to tell ourselves like, and I'm good to go kind of thing. Hey, your coach might be like, I don't think not yet. Maybe. Or maybe they agree. And that's all great. We want to make sure that you're actually good to go. That'd be set. Let's let's try to stick to our 30 minute episode. Is there anything else that you wanted to share with us, Kristine this week?

Kristine Andali: 33:03

No, I think that's it.

Johan Vesters: 33:05

You have any plans the rest of the summer?

Kristine Andali: 33:07

Oh, we're going to Colorado in August. We're going to Crested Butte for like our honeymoon. And the first day we're staying in a yurt, you know what a yurt is?

Johan Vesters: 33:19

no?

Kristine Andali: 33:20

So it's like this white. It's almost it's like a glamping experience where it's all Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah, white light tent. So we're staying in one of those that first night and then we got a really, really cute Airbnb. And Crested Butte that doesn't have a TV or anything and like it's just like surrounded by mountains. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to have coffee on the patio.

Johan Vesters: 33:51

That sounds great. That sounds awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So as well, yeah. Cool. Yeah. I'm gonna go back to catching up on stuff. Huh? Good to see you again. Well, I will catch up in a couple of weeks for seen. And to the lesser, I'll talk to you next week.