Here's the original preface of The Lie in Weight. Should I keep going?

I’d love your opinion.

Please take care reading this. Toxic diet culture features heavily.

“Are you on a crash diet, Lou? I heard you were dieting to get skinny!”

English class, 1996 and I was sixteen years old. One of the popular, cool girls in my class who I was surprised even knew my name, hurled these words at the top of her lungs in my direction. She laughed, and then so did everyone else. I was mortified.

“Well, are ya?” She called over again.

“No” my voice squeaked.

More laughter.

No, I’m not on a crash diet, because I’ve been dieting since I was ten. I’m actually an expert on dieting..

That’s what I wanted to say to her. As if me being proud of that fact would help me suddenly become cool or respected or even at the very least, not bullied like I had been for most of my senior high school years.

You couldn’t really say I was especially fat back then. Just bigger than most. Heavier than most. While other girls, with their long tanned legs and short uniform dresses were lithe and slender, I was pasty white with a roundish tummy and dull brown hair. Genetics had made me a sort of plump individual and I hated it.

The acceptance I was searching for, wasn’t really from others. I’d made my peace with never attaining a cool status at school. My friends and I were all losers and had reputations for being the bad kids, and so by the time I left high school, I didn’t really care about what people thought of me. The only acceptance I was looking for was from the scale.

As I walked through the school gates for the last time, I made a promise to myself to transform into the slimmest and lightest version of me I could be, and when I did, that’s when I’d be happy.

Spoiler alert.. I got there, and I wasn’t and I don’t think I’m alone.

You too?

People often said to me when I reached my 40’s I would care a lot less about things that I was unable to change. And for me that’s turned out to be true. But also, why did I wait till now? I’m 43, and if when I started being really concerned about my body and my weight some 30 years ago, I’d have been able to make the choice to enjoy my childhood instead of worrying about my body. Who knows what sort of things I could have done in that timeframe instead.

By my very guesstimate calculations the time I spent tugging at ill-fitting clothes, standing on the scales wishing for a different number, tapping at my chin as an exercise to tone up, and even punching myself in the stomach – yes I did that for a long time because I thought the reflex would help me have a flatter torso. Even the amount of money I’ve spent on diet books, programmes, and apps. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

But my loss can be your gain. Even if you are my age or older and reading this book willing and wishing back a lifetime of body hangup stress, it’s actually never too late to take a breath and just let go of all of it.

You know we’ve been flooded with diet messages forever. And now the industry has seen some of us fighting back, the’ve switched it to wellness initiatives. Don’t be fooled. They don’t care about your health. They care about selling you the same toxic crap we’ve had rammed down our throats, but rolled in wellness glitter.

It is my aim for this book to help you see clearly. To help you not only learn, but actively believe that size does not equal health. I want you to feel strong in your resolve against this toxic culture of weighing less.

If it’s health you want, I’ll show you how to improve yours with ideas and behaviours that will push the needle in the right direction. I’ll help you discover the joy in exercise, in eating, and in feeling good about yourself again.

We’re just here with this one life and I hope by reading this book, you’ll regain the purpose of yours and share what you learn with others. Let that be your legacy, and not this pursuit of thinness we’ve inherited along the way.

You can do this. And I believe in you.

Thanks for reading this newsletter. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Twitter here, and instagram here.

Lou xx

Because I am a massive nerd1, I love reading peer reviewed studies, randomised control group results, and information about drug trials. Medical journals are my jam. And so when PN created a summary subscription where they would take big complex nutrition and health studies, and break them down to lay person results, I signed up straight away. The papers I get summaries of bring me joy. It’s my intention to share more of what I learn through these summaries.

This time, the joy delivered to me was on one of my favourite topics.

“People who hold scientifically contrarian views are most likely to overestimate their factual knowledge of the subject”

We’ve probably all known that, but a peer reviewed study to prove2 that many of the self appointed health gurus are actually full of shit is just the chef’s kiss isn’t it?

Dunning-Kruger all over the show, and not the good, humble kind.

It’s one thing to talk a big game and quite another to profit from it. Taking cash from vulnerable people who can ill afford it, especially in the name of health, is a deplorable practice. There’s a reason why the wellness industry is a billion dollar one, eh.

It’s extremely unregulated. Anyone can print out a business card and sell you a bunch of bollocks and it’s always the vulnerable caught out. Exhausted and nervous new parents. Plus size community. Young and impressionable.

You don’t see these nimrod health people selling skinny shit tea to a dietitian.

You don’t see squeaky insta fitness people teaching corrective exercise to a physiotherapist.

They only target people who don’t know any better and it gives all the awesome people and coaches out there, with qualifications, experience, and expertise, those who genuinely want to help, a bad rap and it sucks.

Just today, I saw on Facebook that someone has spent money via Meta to advertise an exercise and nutrition programme for high functioning women. What’s a high functioning woman? Am I high functioning? No one on the post was asking that question or any other question about the qualifications of this person or what the programme was really about. All the questions were around the cost of the programme. “How much is this?” “Please tell us the cost”

People through no fault of their own see a hollow solution to a problem they identify with, and want to throw their money at it, to fix it, to hopefully improve their situation, regardless of what surplus funds the may or may not have.

People who sell rubbish to vulnerable people are deplorable and their business model sucks.

Do better business modelling, deplorable people!

And on the topic of dollar dollar bills..

Let’s get open and honest with y’all.

I wanted to say thank you to the person who despite my warnings of an unpredictable newsletter, upped their subscription to a paid one.

I restarted my newsletter with fewer rules. I wanted a place to share my thoughts, and to practice my writing so I can finally get my book finished. I want to draw attention to things like perimenopause and its related issues. I want to share what things make my life easier and better and healthier in the hope that some of these things might work for you, too. At the end of the day, don’t we all just want to feel good, and rested and happy?

I have a full time job, but 90% of the people who write on Substack, subscriptions are their income. I switched on the ability to pay for a subscription to this newsletter if you want to, because overall, normalising the practice of paying for content is important to me. Paying writers like Emily Writes, and Danz, others who put their heart and soul into their Substack should be paid for their work. Just my two cents on it.

Thanks for reading this newsletter. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Twitter here, and instagram here.

Lou xx

Earlier this week / last week - I don’t know exactly when, I had an email from a fabulous new pal of ours - Jane (not their real name but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say their name, so Jane it is.)

Jane asked me (more or less) “Hey.. do you talk much about fitness for ADHD people as I think I’d get some benefit out of it.”

And I thought it was a really good idea to talk about ADHD, because as someone with this condition (err, is it a condition? I dunno, but you know what I mean) I must chase the dopamine with literally everything I do that needs to be done. Otherwise the thing doesn’t get done and I just feel bad about not doing the thing. But not bad enough to go and do the thing. Ahh, it’s complex!

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And then the epiphany happened - entirely down to Jane giving me a nudge about it.

What if everyone, regardless of whether they have ADHD or not.. like, what if we all chased the dopamine when it comes to food and fitness and things that are generally “good” for us?

Would that get us off the couch and moving, and would it help us choose nutritionally dense foods more often, rather than the nutritionally loose foods?

Like that awful fitness test I said was a good idea to do last time I emailed you.. did you actually do it? I started it. I did the squats, and then I stopped because the second exercise was just not interesting enough for me to want to do. So I didn’t. And I did a wall sit but honestly, I gave the whole test itself a really half baked effort because it was boring and uninteresting. The result is a terrible metric to measure my results and it was a terrible idea. I’m sorry about that.

Did you find it terrible too? Did you take one look at it and then maybe groaned a bit to yourself. Did you wonder how you could avoid the fitness test but still follow more or less what I’m doing to get my fitness and food back on track?

I hope you did. If the test or even the idea of it did not bring you joy, I hope you just chose not to do it, rather than slog your way through something awful.

The reason we find it hard to get started is because sometimes getting started where fitness and food is concerned generally means feeling pain from exercise, and restriction from eating “nice” foods. And those things are not fun or interesting or a source of dopamine. So we don’t want to do them. But, we might try to do those things because we’ve been told that if we do we will be rewarded with health. But the longevity isn’t there. And it doesn’t take much for us to drop the habit, and then feel like nothing works.

And so, instead of doing what we think we should be doing, starting, and then ultimately failing and feeling like crap because of it, what if we all chased the dopamine instead? And what if we accepted failure as part of this thing, and chose not to fear it?

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Here’s what gives me a buzz with food and fitness. Could any of these things work for you?

Eating the ‘wrong thing’ at meal times
- Salad, dinner leftovers etc for breakfast is a great way to get more nutrients in.
- Dessert first hits differently and means you can slow down on eating other things as you’re not rushing through the salad to get to the sweet reward.
- Changing up the times we usually eat - it’s ok to eat ‘lunch’ at 11am if you’re hungry. Pay attention to your body cues and eat intuitively instead of the acceptable times we’ve been told is right.

And for fitness..
- Use gym time as a social time with friends and have a laugh rather than working out till you’re exhausted.
- Do exercises and movement that you don’t normally, like for me, I use machines that are not in my normal circuits, or I try different exercises that I haven’t tried before and the goal is to see if I can actually do these exercises rather than trying to get a sweat or a muscle failure out of them.
- Exercise while watching Netflix, like squats or static lunges. I call this type of movement exercise snacks, because they are small and frequent. It’s still movement and it’s still important for us to feel good.

And you know, if none of those things appeal, there are loads of other things to try. Seriously, there is an abundance of ideas.

Take guidance from your own lived experience. It will tell you what works, or rather what doesn’t work to get you moving your body and eating better.

That’s the beauty of starting over. It’s kind of limitless. You can just keep trying until you find the thing that will give you the dopamine hit you need to be successful. There is no end date on trying, until you stop, of course.

Thanks for reading through my email - Fitness at any size. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Facebook here, Twitter here, and Instagram here, and here.

To subscribe to this email please click the orange button below and at the top of the page. I am grateful for your financial support of my work with a paid subscription.

Lou xx

I thought I’d give it a bit of time before I started writing to you about my do over of nutrition and fitness. And I’m glad I did, because my excellent friend Tara from Allergic to Sugar gave me my first tip.

“Go and inhale everything James Clear who wrote that book Atomic Habits has to say”

She didn’t really use those exact words, but that was the gist, more or less. I have James Clear’s book, and I’ve sort of read it, but also, having ADHD means I chase the dopamine. And unfortunately, even though James’ book is excellent, it’s not enough of a dopamine hit for me and it seems like hard work. So.

I said this to her (more or less) and she said back (more or less) “NO Lou, go and have a look at his free 30 day habit course. It’s an email a day and he tells you exactly what to do - it’s good!”

So I did that, and holy smokes pals, so far, what I’ve read, is really good! James breaks things down in a way that is just a bit more accessible for people who just can’t seem to get started or who fail after a while.

That might be you? It’s definitely me. And I’ll tell you right now, dear pals, that if someone with fitness and nutrition qualifications can lose the way and have to get back up on the old horse a bit, then it’s quite alright and normal for it to happen to people without that training or insight. So give yourself a break, and just do what you can. Tiny steps. Read James Clear. You’ll be grand with just a tiny bit of effort or a mammoth amount on the days you can.

On with the show.

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Eating.

Today I want to talk about food and eating because honestly, after lockdown I have been eating appallingly for my own standard, and I need to get back to eating properly again.

Not a diet, not any kind of restriction - that’s just not how I roll. But I know I’ve been eating a lot of nutritionally loose food over lockdown and before that, so it’s time to tighten it all up and get back on track.

Why do I want this? I know I feel good when I eat properly. I know I have a better energy source when I eat properly, and I know that lollies and other quick fixes make me feel awful most of the time, so that’s my driver.

Most of us don’t eat enough food. When we consider trying to eat better, our natural default is to eat less and move more.

Moving more is always a good idea - I am firmly in that camp. But we need to knock eating less on the head, because it is silly and it doesn’t work.

You know who it works for?

People who have other people to cook their nutritionally balanced meals, people who have help at home to look after kids, pets, clean the house, yada yada. Probably other people, but not me.

At one point the powers of the nutrition board wanted to make 5+ a day into 8+ a day and back then when that was all on the table, I thought smugly to myself. Easy. Bring it on. Why stop at 8. Let’s do 10.

What a smug prick I was.

I laugh at that, because today my pals, was the first day of eating a pile of veggies for lunch. And I can’t remember the last time I did it. I’m not sure that I ate veggies more than a few times throughout all of lockdown. For me that is appalling.

And so now I’m rectifying it and this here is my lunch from today. It’s a cottage pie with a kumara salad on top. It’s nutritionally dense across micro and macros, and a decent serving size so that I won’t have a perceived need to eat snack food loose on nutrients that actually do me no favours. And while it does look a little suspish because my plating skills sit at approximately zero, it was so good.

It’s weird when we think about eating healthier or better or whatever, most of the time our first thought to achieve that is to eat less. So we do that, and maybe we last a day or two of eating less. But soon enough hunger kicks in, and we don’t want to go and eat a second meal, do we? Even though we probably could because starrrrving. So we just go and get a square of chocolate. Or a slice of something, or a go of the lolly jar, or something that looks small and insignificant that hopefully will distract us from the hunger. Something to take the edge off. But it doesn’t work, and before we know it we’ve had far more than we intended to, and feel sick or yuck or a mix of the two.

We shoulda just had two meals. That would have worked.

This is not an attack on snacks. Not an attack on sugar either.

It is an attack on not eating properly in the first place because we’ve read somewhere or been conditioned to think that eating healthy means eating less.

Eat more, nutritionally dense food to feel satisfied, but more importantly, to be nourished.

Nourished = good health.

Is this the start of an intuitive eating bent I’m going on?

I think it is. And that’s good. When we listen to our intuition on a whole raft of other things, it usually pans out in a positive way. Usually.

Give it a try? The worst that can happen is that you’re not hungry.

Sounds good to me!

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Exercise

Laugh. Out. Loud.

Aside from taking the dog for a walk, and to be fair, my husband does that mostly because I don’t feel that safe being pulled around the neighbourhood when it’s dark out, aside from all of that, my exercise has not gone so well.

Here’s why.

LA LA LA LEVEL TWO AT THE GYM IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Sing that however you like.

There’s just 50 spaces in our gym during a 90 minute session. You gotta book. The spots go within seconds of becoming available. But also, there are PT’s working at the gym who rely on being able to get their clients a spot so they can earn a living. And having worked at our local gym as a PT, I know most of them, most are mates, and I will not take up a spot to exercise that a PT client could be taking.

The gym is enjoyable exercise for me, but until level 1, it’s not going to be my hangout.

And it’s fine. Nothing disastrous is going to happen because I shoved my gym habit out a week or two.

I wanted to do a fitness test on myself anyway. Just to see where my new starting point would be.

Do you want to do that, too? Cool. I’ll post my results next email. Read on for a test to try at home.

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Fitness test to try at home

Thankfully not a beep test. This is an AMRAP - As many rounds as possible. Set a timer on your phone for 1 minute and write down how many of the following exercises you can do in 1 minute. Each exercise is a round and you can do all of them or pick ones you’re able to do. Or you know, choose your own exercises. You’re free, there. And then, in a few weeks - I quite like six weeks as a start, do the test again and see if you can do more.

Squat

Get down on the floor, lie prone on your tummy, and then get back up again

Wall sit (measure how many seconds you can sit for)

Lunges (static, forward, backward, whatever you like)

The point of a fitness test is so you have a benchmark to measure success from. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether your fitness is improving because you don’t often notice it. This way, you can know for sure of any improvements and better yet, celebrate them.

Have an enjoyable week, pals. I’ll see you next time!

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Thanks for reading through my email - Fitness at any size. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Facebook here, Twitter here, and Instagram here, and here.

To subscribe to this email please click the orange button below and at the top of the page. I am grateful for your financial support of my work with a paid subscription.

Lou xx

Today' I wanted to chat to you about exercise, because a friend in the industry said to me that they really liked my emails but as of late there was literally no exercise content, and what was up with that.

Were you wondering where that was too?

The short answer is that while I wasn’t doing as much training myself, it kinda became an out of sight out of mind thing. So I’m going to rectify that with an entire email dedicated to fitness and not much else.

Someone else asked where the recipes went, and I had no good answer for that, so I’ll go back to including those. And then a third person asked where my book was. Man I laughed. Do you remember that? About six months ago I decided to write a book about fitness and coaching and food and life as a fat personal trainer. And then my ADHD took over and I got very bored with it and decided to just not do that anymore.

I also have some half designed merch that seemed like a good idea at the time. All these things I start and never finish. Is that you too? Le sigh.

On with the show.

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Regular exercise is good for us.

That’s not a secret and most people know about it. But just hearing the words “exercise is good” is not usually enough to want to make us sign up at a gym or move our bodies in other ways, regularly. If exercise and moving our body is not something that comes naturally or is that enjoyable for us, we’re gonna need some more convincing.

Last month I wrote about goals and how much they suck. My position on that hasn’t changed. I still don’t believe people should set unachievable fitness goals merely because a personal trainer told them they had to.

However.

My whole desire for studying and getting into the fitness and food industry to begin with was to help people see how they could access regular exercise, because it is a good thing to move our bodies, and if we are on a quest towards health (whatever you define that as) then exercise should be a decent sized chunk of how you go about that.

One thing I want to make absolutely clear, is that athleticism is genetic. I don’t want anyone thinking icky thoughts of being lazy or whatever if you don’t absolutely love exercise. It’s not for everyone, and the joy of exercise is given to you from your parents, and their parents and so on. Regardless, if improving health is on our agenda, we need to find ways to make it enjoyable or at least tolerable. I’ll come to some ideas of that a bit further on.

But why?

Get a healthier heart

There is no one on this planet who doesn’t need a healthier heart. If you exercise regularly, you are training your heart to beat slower and stronger so it needs less oxygen to function well. This causes your arteries to get springier, so they push your blood along better; and this helps your levels of "good" HDL cholesterol go up.

Improve your brain health

It seems to be that our brain loves it when we exercise. Studies show that exercise can help with improving the blues - you know those days where you just can’t be arsed doing anything? If you get those feelings and don’t want to, moving your body on a regular basis can help with that. This study summary also talks about how exercise helps people unwell with depression.

What about chronic illness?

Depends on the illness. But there have been multiple studies that talk about the benefits of exercise to people who are unwell. Mostly in a sense of “feeling better or feeling positive” and while this is not the platform for me to spout shit about things I don’t know enough about, I can tell you that in the study summary that links to peer reviewed research, people with diabetes and people with types of cancers were in the group of people who felt better with regular exercise.

Ok then, how?

If you have never exercised before, it can be tricky to understand how to find your starting point. As a personal trainer I would say start with an activity that takes five minutes. That could be a walk down the road, or getting off the bus a stop further from home. It might be 5 minutes in the garden yanking up a few weeds. Dancing up a storm to 90’s bangers in your living room. Exercise does not have to be this prescribed thing with specific movements.

For people with a bit more experience, your starting point might look like some squats for lunges at home - or any other exercise you enjoy for 10-15 minutes or more. Have a read of this email I sent y’all on exercise snacks. Exercise snacks makes it quite easy to do just a little bit of exercise, in short spaces of time.

And then, for people who are a bit like me. Lots of experience but perhaps not moving as much as they used to. Figure out why you don’t go to your gym anymore and rectify it so you’re at a better gym, or you’ve made peace with it and get back into what you were doing before you stopped. The irony that I am emailing you all about a thing that I am currently coaching myself through is not lost on me.

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What else?

And if you’re really stuck for ideas on how to get moving, here’s a list of ideas to get moving that I stole from Harvard Health Publishing at Harvard Medical School. I only took the good ones, there were plenty full of weight talk and we’re just not about that.

Walking from the farthest corner of the car park

Walk to the next bus stop. 

During your bus or train trip, stand and don't hold on too tightly. You'll improve your sense of balance and build up your "core" back and abdominal muscles.

Get into the swing of it. Swinging your arms when you walk will help you reach a brisk pace.

Soccer parents can circle the field several times during a game and not miss a single play of their child.

Adopt someone as your walking, jogging, or biking buddy. 

That buddy might have four legs. Several studies have shown that dog owners are encouraged by their dog to move a bit more

Climbing on the jungle gym (be careful!) and swinging on a swing will strengthen muscles and bones.

Exercise doesn't have to be done in a straight line. Dancing can get your heart going and helps with balance. Dance classes tend to have lower dropout rates than gyms. Or just turn up the volume at home and boogie.

Wash and dry the dishes by hand. The drying alone is a mini-workout for the arms.

Swimming is great exercise if you have arthritis because the water supports your joints. The humid air around a pool sometimes makes breathing more comfortable for people with lung problems.

Even people who can't, or don't like to swim can get a good workout by walking through the water. Try walking fast, and you'll get cardiovascular benefits. Walking in water is a great way to rehabilitate if you're recovering from an injury and certain types of surgery because the water acts as a spotter, holding you up.

Stand up when you're on the phone. Breaking up long periods of sitting has metabolic benefits. Even standing for a minute or two can help.

Grow a garden. No matter how green the thumb, the digging, the planting, the weeding, and the picking will ramp up your activity level and exercise sundry muscles. (Easier said than done! All my attempts turn to crap!)

Lemon, coconut & chia seed muffins.

These muffins are delicious as they are, but when I made them last I didn’t have coconut flour so I used regular flour but added a bit shy of 1 cup instead. I also didn’t have coconut oil so I used butter at the same ratio and they turned out just fine/

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Thanks for reading through my email - Fitness at any size. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Facebook here, Twitter here, and Instagram here, and here.

To subscribe to this email please click the orange button below and at the top of the page. I am grateful for your financial support of my work with a paid subscription.

Lou xx

I still haven’t been back to the gym. Not for work, and not even for training. And I’m wondering why this is. It’s been over two months now, and I should have no hesitation in going back, because I like working out, and moving my body, but for some reason, I’m finding plenty of other things to do instead. I mean, we got a puppy, and so I’m spending a fair chunk of my time with him. He’s a German Shepherd and his name is Luka and he’s very cute and sweet.

Doggo and gym aside, I wanted to write to you to remind you that with everything you see and read about health being very important, it’s only important if you say it is. Many a drop kick insta-famous personal trainer will say otherwise, and maybe even try make you feel like shit about your decisions, and I’m here to give you advice you didn’t ask for that is - don’t let it or them or whoever make you second guess yourself about what you want for your life.

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If you want to exercise vigorously (great word!) every day, twice a day, all day even, please go ahead and do all of that. If you like an occasional walk in the evening, do that. If dancing up a storm in a community hall with your mates (aka Shut Up and Dance) makes you happy, go ahead and do that. If sitting on your bum on the couch and getting good quality rest, relaxation, me-time etc is your jam, then that’s what you need to do. Without question.

Exercise is excellent for a lot of things. It can make you feel bloody amazing, it can help your body to become very strong, it can help you be flexible, it can help you have very good mobility when you are very old. But does it give you the tick for “getting healthy”?

No.

Because “getting healthy” is made up of so many things. And after we’ve made the decision to “get healthy” in order to succeed, we kinda need to know what success looks like. We’ve been conditioned to think in the first instance that losing weight is what makes us healthy. And that exercise is for weight loss. And eating less is for weight loss. And when we put all those things together, voila! We have good health.

But what about stress? Lack of sleep? Dehydration? Malnourishment?

What about mental wellbeing?

We can exercise all we want and eat all the fresh produce we can get our hands on, but if our mental health is up the wazoo, no amount of hard core exercise and leafy greens are going to help us there.

So instead of the knee jerk reaction of “losing weight” meaning health (which it doesn’t) perhaps we can slow it down and actually assess what getting healthy looks like. Perhaps start with your GP, and some blood tests. Have you been to the dentist recently? Are your cervical smears up to date? Any weird lumps and bumps you need to get an opinion on?

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These things are what can actually give you a read on your health. And usually, a plan on how to address them.

Exercise and eating nutritious food is good for us - there’s a tonne of studies that say so. But they aren’t the only things. Managing your stress levels and getting good sleep are so important but are often forgotten.

I know this is confronting and a bit bloody weird coming from a personal trainer. It’s my business to encourage people to exercise as a first priority, to chuck a bit of weight around and get sweaty a few times a week. And I’m still very much here for those things as I believe the benefits of exercise can’t be ignored, but we’ve got to want to exercise first and by finding the thing that you enjoy doing, well that’s when you’re going to get whatever results you are looking for.

And on the topic of achieving health in whatever way it presents itself. You don’t owe it to anyone. Fat people get a raw deal. We’re expected to do more than the average thinner joe to achieve health. That we’re somehow a drain on the DHB if we don’t toe the thin line. Yet we aren’t ever pointing the finger on people who do cost the country sizeable medical bills.

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Those who drink and drive. Those who do extreme sports and screw themselves up. People who don’t assess a wet bathroom floor and bust their neck, back, whatever. There’s risk of costing the DHB for everyone who wakes up in the morning, and so this constant pressure for fat people to get in the gym and lose some weight because health costs? Get real. Size doesn’t equal health, it never has, and it won’t ever in the future. So bozo moronic trainers (yeah I bet you know who I’m talking about) need to quit talking about things they are not qualified to talk about and mind their own business.

Bloody dorks.

For me personally, I will be back in the gym, probably tonight. My tennis lessons are starting up again on Monday, and I have that sweet little LukaPup to take care of - my approach to exercise works for me in doing what I enjoy.

Thank you Sweaty Pals.. you’re a dream team of folks and I just love ya! Have a wonderful weekend, and remember you can flick me a message anytime by replying to this email.

Lou xxx

It was weird actually because when I started this Substack site I had SO MUCH TO SAY. And I loved writing for you all so much, sometimes I wrote two and three times each week because I couldn’t possibly wait to tell you how excited I was about a topic.

But then one day as I hit send (of my last email) I had a mild, existential crisis shortly afterwards. And the hit was like a sack of bricks.

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It occurred to me that I was a fat personal trainer. Yeah no shit, Lou, I hear you say.

I wasn’t deluded about my fat body. In fact, before now, I celebrated my diversity in the fitness industry. But it dawned on me that all of my colleagues were thin, and were working so hard with their clients to help them not look like me. Not be my size. The size of my body and what I looked like was essentially enemy number one.

And I don’t know why, but that thought floored me a bit. It’s not like I haven’t heard or seen it all before. I mean for goodness sake, we only have images of thin people up on the walls of our gym. They all look quite angry, too, which is also something I never understood, but I’ll save that for another day.

Anyway, while the flooring feeling was happening I struggled to find where I belonged in the gym as a working professional. And following that came a bit of a spiral of shitty thoughts that actually, I am out of my mind for thinking that I could be fat and a personal trainer.

Holy shit, Lou. What the hell? You’ve done some bloody weird shit in your life, but this kinda tops it. And I thought back to all the awkward times in my 2 year PT career. Because that’s what you do, right? Your brain can’t recall where your car keys are, but it sure as shit can haul up memories of red hot humiliation.

The time a lecturer said “we all know what a fat person’s goals are when they walk into the gym” and it felt like everyone had their eyes on me.

Another time learning all about Turkish Get Ups. Holy smokes, readers, that was a trip. If you’re not familiar with the exercise, google it. Your mind will be blown when you try and find the relevance of this exercise for regular people coming into the gym.

My brain is exceptional at bringing these memories back. A few more came through. Same sort of humiliation. Good times.

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And so it was a relief my old mate ADHD brain had got bored of those memories and decided to give me a bloody good talking to and it came up with these three things:

1. Fitness is for everyone. Everyone. No exceptions.

2. Fat people can be trainers. Sure they will probably be a lone wolf on the gym floor amongst a sea of thin trainers, but it’s ok. We can still exist and work, and be useful to our clients.

3. Fat people can do hard things. We all can, regardless of body size. But as I’ve written about before, everything is harder for fat people. Regardless, we will press on, because we can.

And so it was at this point, the end of March 2021, and I was due for elective surgery to take care of a hereditary issue. I would need 2 months post-op to heal, and couldn’t lift anything more than 5kgs, so I took a break from the gym, from Sweaty Pals, from everything. I had my surgery, I recovered really well (because again, fat people can have surgery and recover really well) and I am now at the eve of my return to the gym; my two months is up.

Except it isn’t. Because tomorrow, I’m not going back. Not yet anyway.

Truth be told, I actually don’t know what I’m going to do with Sweaty Pals or my career in personal training.

The main purpose was to help women like me find a way to move their body in a joyful way. Does that look like a 30 minute session in a gym?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I know I still have lived experience and professional experience, and knowledge that I can share. And some of it might be really really good, and really useful. It might be the nudge you need to change how you move. So it isn’t awful anymore. And actually might be fun.

That stuff I’ll share will be coming in these emails. Maybe not every week, but as often as I can. You can subscribe to the free version, or support my writing with a paid sub which has a few extra bits and pieces in it.

Thank you for reading, I hope you stick around, and please, anytime you like, drop me a line lou@sweatypals.nz.

Lou xx

I wanted to have a yarn about exercise snacking. Have you heard of it?

Aside from having a great name - snacks rule! Exercise snacking is an excellent choice for people very new to moving, those in rehab from an injury, people who are mostly recovered from a cold or similar but can’t exercise around people.. so many reasons.

But what is it?

Exercise snacks are simple 10-12 reps exercises done at home or work for a couple of minutes, a few times a day, instead of a 30-45 minute daily workout at a gym or outside.

For those improving mobility or their range of motion, it could be a few on the spot exercises while waiting for the kettle to boil, or for lunch to heat up. You could set a timer for every 90 minutes, reminding you to stand up and do a few exercises or a simple yoga flow, or a muscle stretch. Or even a short walk to the end of your driveway or maybe your street if it’s a short one?

For experienced exercisers at home, you can try burpees or pushups or squat jumps or or .. the list is endless.

In my last email I shared about doing what you can do in the time you have where exercise is concerned. Meaning that 15 minutes of moving is far greater than skipping exercise entirely because you don’t have a full hour spare. Exercise Snacking is here for that.

Here are my favourite ones for beginners:

Squats
Lunges
Step ups if you have steps, or just lifting your foot to a low sofa and then alternating with the other foot
Push ups against the wall or a kitchen bench
Toe tap crunches

If you’re slightly more advanced try:

Squat or lunge jumps - watch your form, and wear some good shoes for these.
Pushups from the floor
Mountain climbers
Walk outs
Burpees

Remember all we’re doing is moving for a short amount of time a few times a day. So it might be that you do 10 of any of the mentioned exercises - less if you’re injured or recovering. It really is about the dial. I waffle on and on to my poor clients about this. The dial is for you to acknowledge how you’re feeling when you exercise. Turn it up for those burpees if you can, but absolutely feel free to do a set of squats and leave it at that. Or nothing at all! I always point my new clients to our massage chairs in the gym, as walking through the doors of the gym when you really don’t want it is hard enough. Reward it with ten minutes in the massage chair and head home. You might feel up to staying and doing a bit more after ten minutes space to clear your head.

Give it a go. Exercise is not about going from 0 to 100 in a day. Build up to it slowly.

Protein shakes, pre workout, bcaa.. huh?

To supplement or not to supplement. Let’s be clear. Just because you have started to exercise and maybe even lift some weights, heavy ones, doesn’t mean you need to go crazy at SprintFit and buy all the things. I love SprintFit - it’s where I get my supplements from, but before you start adding to cart, here’s what a few of those things do so you can make a good assessment as to whether you need them.

Protein
Protein helps to repair and grow muscles. It’s good for our organs, skin and nails. It’s a little bit of an energy source, but mostly it’s about repair. Most people can get enough protein from their food, and actually that’s probably better for you. Certainly in terms of time and cost.

Protein is available in plentiful sources both animal and plant, and not just meat. Dairy is a great source as is hemp or soy, legumes, chickpeas.. so many sources.

However, if you are quite sure that you aren’t getting enough, a supplement might be useful. The fall down here, is that people start at a gym and see some of our experienced exercisers at the gym smashing a shake back or a brightly coloured fluid in their drink bottles and think they need to do this also.

Not really. If you are just starting out with exercise, eating a balanced diet, and probably exercising 3 times a week, you’re good. If you’re not sure, a way to work out is to multiply 0.8 grams (of protein) by your bodyweight in kilograms to find out how much you should be eating and then take a look at the food you eat to make sure. It isn’t an exact science, but it’s a good enough estimate. I don’t really care much for scale weight, but in this case of using bodyweight to figure out your protein needs, well it’s taking a stab in the dark on how much muscle you have that potentially needs repairing or maintaining at the least. Don’t read too much into this, if you’re like me and haven’t weighed yourself in years and don’t intend to (definitely me) then just have a guess and you’re golden.

On the flip side of this, if you are exercising in a moderate to significant style of 5 times plus a week, an extra bit of protein will be useful. This blog isn’t going to cut it as far as information goes, so message me directly and I’ll send you on to the right people.

Pre workout
Pre workout exists to give you a boost of energy to get through a challenging workout. For the past 20-odd years that I have been working out (on and definitely off) the first time I tried a pre workout supplement was this year when I started to lift some considerably heavy weights. I’ve always knocked back a bit of coffee beforehand but it was actually my wonderful gal pal Vicky (she is a trainer at CityFitness too and a powerlifter coach), anyway, she mixed up an extremely bright blue drink prior to one of our workout sessions to see if it would perk me up to be able to lift a bit heavier.

I have no evidence to suggest it works. My personal experience is that I was able to lift heavy afterwards, but is it psychosomatic for someone like me (not a powerlifter or competitive athlete)? Maybe? However I see results whenever I do take it which to be honest is not every work out. I’m not convinced it is a good supplement to take every single workout, but I’d take it before my sessions with my trainer, lift sessions with Vicky, and that’s it. Not when I am training by myself, and not when I’m doing cardio.

BCAA
BCAA’s are branched chain amino acids are essential amino acids, because our body cannot make them, they need to be ingested through food or supplements. For beginners of exercise I am super skeptical of their usefulness, but for those going a bit harder, then sure. Maybe. Ahhh, it’s difficult because some people rate them and some don’t. Honestly, I’d rather take vitamin supplements than BCAAs. But if you’re starting to rack up some weights, heading towards more powerlifting type exercises, you’d take BCAA’s in the middle of your workout. Chuck some in your water bottle. It’s quite next level.

The one thing gym goers should always do every single time they exercise…

Wipe your machines, weights, equipment down. Every time.

That’s it. That’s the thing to remember. I am hilarious!

(But also, please do this, thanks so much)

This little space used to house a recipe I’ve tried, but I’ve left it out this time. If you’re missing the recipe, let me know and I’ll reinstate it next week. Or let’s be honest, the next time I put one of this novels out!

Exercise to try - walking burpee!

If you follow me on twitter - a lot of my anti-diet, your body is normal, don’t sweat it rants are there. One thing I talked about last week was the reason people generally don’t like burpees. It’s because burpees are actually an advanced exercise. Your PE teacher at school shouldn’t have forced you to do them. Your trainer shouldn’t be getting you to do burpees when you are new to exercise and the gym. Burpees hurt an unconditioned body. Same with box jumps, but that’s another story. If you are mildly curious about burpees, or it’s something that you’ve wanted to be able to do, here’s how you get started with conditioning (practice) so you can do them.

1) Get your squat on - the lower the better. Incorporate a set of ten squats into your day several times (see exercise snacking above) Try putting your hands on the floor as if you were to hop back, but don’t actually. After that, rise up to your starting position, and do it again.

2) Once you’ve gotten really good at low squats, so you can put your hands on the floor. Try a burpee walk out. Here is a video with both a burpee walk out and an easier modification before that.

There’s no hopping or jumping or anything particularly dynamic about this move and you can go as fast or as slow as you like. Try one. If it wasn’t bad, do a couple more. Try not to go overboard though. Any questions on this, let me know, I quite like burpees but since I left F45 I haven’t done many at all. Time to get practicing and get my fitness up!

Thanks for reading through my email - Fitness at any size. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Facebook here, Twitter here, or visit my website Sweaty Pals online here. To subscribe to this email please click the orange button at the top of the page. You can also book me to help with your exercise in the gym or online via my app here. I have a few spots left for one on one coaching, and there’s always room on my app if you live outside of North Wellington.

Lou xx

Covid-19, changes to levels, and general talk about clusters messes with my mental health in ways I cannot accurately define.

Going back up to level 2 for us and level 3 lockdown for Auckland was a shock. Even though we’d been warned it was a matter of when not if covid returned, in order to cope properly last time, I think I had told myself that we were safe now. Things were going back to the normal I recognised. Time to tidy up the economy by spending money if we had it, and getting help if we didn’t. And so with the new announcement, somewhat late at night and delivered with urgency, my core was shook - and not in a good way from doing a bunch of toe tap crunches - more on that further down. What happened was an inability for me to do all the things I enjoyed. Writing these emails, gives me a lot of joy, but I just couldn’t. It felt frivolous and silly. The country was once again in defence mode against bloody Covid, and I didn’t know what to do.

And so, three weeks later, after time with my therapist and my GP, I’m starting to come back to life a little. And see purpose in my work and what I do here.

Thanks for sticking around to wait for me to sort things out - I really appreciate it. Anyway, on with the show - this week’s email is ten things to make your workouts better, and I challenge whether zucchini belongs in banana bread.

Ten things to make your workouts better

Take what you like from this list of reckons.. there’s plenty more where this came from, too!

Sleep is the queen of achieving goals. Get some good sleep, allow your body the chance to heal and repair after a busy day or workout, and watch the changes happen.

The last two reps of your set of exercises is where the magic happens. If your workout sheet says ten reps, and you have gas in the tank for a couple more, do a couple more after that. Getting to failure or as close to it as you can, helps to build muscle more effectively, burn up any body fat you don’t need or want quicker, and keep you doing those things long after you’ve finished your workout.

Drink your water and be consistent with it. Exercising on a dehydrated body is pointless. Your muscles are damned thirsty things, and work way better under water than dried out like beef jerky.

Push yourself. Do more. If you think you can’t, you’re wrong and I know you can. I’ve seen it in so many of my clients. From ones who start off not wanting to join a gym to bench pressing within weeks. Clients who only want to do cardio, to then deadlifting 30kgs on a platform. You can do it. You absolutely can. I will hold your hand. You just need to ask.

Don’t be afraid of your sweat. It’s normal, and natural, and healthy. Don’t apologise for it. Use a sweat towel to sit or lie on, and clean it up afterwards. I promise you, it’s ok.

Do what you can do in the time you have. Having an hour spare each workout day is quite rare if you’re a busy person. And if you define a workout as being one hour in the gym, you’ll never get there. Come to the gym if you have 10 or 20 minutes spare to exercise. Do one set or three. Don’t do anything and sit in the massage chairs for a bit. Define the success of your workout after you have done it. And if success is coming through the doors only to turn around and leave again a few minutes later, that is much better than not coming in and putting it off till tomorrow.

Ask for help. If you’re concerned you’re doing an exercise wrong, find someone in a branded gym shirt and ask them to help you. Book in for an orientation at your gym. Hire a personal trainer for one or two sessions to get you started. There’s always a deal to be had at the gym and lots of free help, too.

Eat well. You can’t expect to exercise well on an empty stomach, or on an overly full stomach for that matter. You don’t have to count calories or track your macros if you don’t want to. I don’t. But I also don’t eat like an asshole either. I eat whatever I want, slowly, to 80% full. That way, I’m allowing my brain and stomach to catch up with each other so I don’t feel awful from eating too much.

Protein is key. Get some good quality, lean protein into your diet if you can. This helps repair your muscles, and gives you energy for your next workout. If you can’t get a lean protein source from your food, feel free to try a protein supplement like a powder in a shake. Pea protein, hemp protein, whey protein - it really doesn’t matter, whatever you like best is the one that’s right for you. I’ll write more about this topic next week.

Enjoy your exercise or do something else. If you do not like running on a treadmill, don’t do it. Find a different cardiovascular exercise. There are so many to try. Same goes for weights. If lifting very heavy weights is your bag, do that. If not, find another type of resistance training. Enjoying your exercise is the best way to stick at it. Give everything a fair go, and make your own mind up. I hate crunches (except toe-taps) and so I do other exercises to strengthen my core. It’s gotta be at least mildly fun otherwise you’ll dread it and end up donating to your gym, and no one wants that.

Recipe of the week - Zucchini banana bread

Does Zucchini belong in banana bread? Honestly I just don’t know. Banana is a definite contender. But some of my parent friends are worried their kids are not getting enough zucchini in their diets and well, my dietitian friend popped this recipe through to me, and so here it is. I’ll be honest, because that’s me - opinionated and honest as the day is long. My idea of banana bread actually contains banana and Hershey’s kisses melted through it. Not zucchini. And if I’m double honest I’m on the fence about oat flour. But doing it this way means less gluten - not completely gluten free because oat flour is usually processed in the same place the wheat flour is. I reckon if you have a go-to gluten free flour just use that. Look, it’s good for the school bake sale, right? And it doesn’t taste half bad. There’s still bits of green in it that your observant fussy kids will highlight to you. But the happy oblivious children will be cool with it.

Exercise of the week - Hooks

Boxing is one of my favourite things to do for exercise. I usually train each Monday morning boxing with my trainer and boxing is a great exercise for anyone who can move their arms. Watch the video (sorry it’s a dude again) of this move which is a high hook. If you can’t get your arms that high up, drop them down for a low hook instead. Pivot on your toes to really engage your core with a twist to your torso. This is great for shoulders and back and arms too. It is also a great cardio workout if you really go to town on it.

Thanks for reading through my email - Fitness at any size. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Facebook here, Twitter here, or visit my website Sweaty Pals online here. To subscribe to this email please click the orange button at the top of the page. You can also book me to help with your exercise in the gym or online via my app here. I have a few spots left for one on one coaching, and there’s always room on my app if you live outside of North Wellington.

Lou xx