TAKING ACTION: ✅Everyone comment MINDSET below if you’re ready to pour into your brain health and discipline this week! Also, share one main goal you have for this week! ⬇️ we’ve covered both strength and cortisol in depth this month, and this week, I want to talk to everyone here about the most important topic of all—your mindset. Most people can lose weight temporarily. Most people can diet temporarily. Most people can exercise temporarily. As you’ve learned, however, temporary doesn’t cut it. One reason our efforts end up as temporary is due to the fact that most popular diets approach fat loss completely wrong. Most diets aren’t sustainable. With that said, another reason our efforts end up as temporary is that most people don’t work on their mindsets along the way—and in case it isn’t obvious by now, mindset is everything if you want long-term, sustainable results. 💯 With September quickly approaching, the goal is to buckle down during this season before the holiday season arrives. What you do now will impact your efforts and mindset during the holidays. Now is the time, friends. Now is the time. Let’s go. 🔥

TAKING ACTION: ✅New Clients: Skip straight to the bottom of this post and check out the ⭐️ NEW CLIENT INFO! ✅VIP Clients: Tell us one stress-reducing tip you practice and find beneficial! Let’s share today! If we’re going to talk about cortisol, we have to talk about stress… It’s important to know that some stress (short-term) can actually be beneficial for you. Things like exercise, riding a roller coaster, or even intermittent fasting offer short-term stress that can add to your life. Unfortunately, chronic stress elevates long-term high cortisol levels, which we already know leads to chronic health issues, sleep problems, and yes, the inability to burn unwanted fat. While we can’t eliminate all stress, the goal is to find natural strategies to reduce stress—especially in the evenings when we want our cortisol levels to be lower. Check out this great article with tips on how to quickly reduce stress ⬇️ How to relieve stress quickly (in 10 minutes or less) — Calm Blog ___________________________________________________ ⬇️⭐️NEW CLIENT INFO and TO-DO’s⭐️⬇️ Today, I want to know which of our foundational strategies you are feeling most comfortable with? Which one (or ones) are beginning to feel like second nature for you? The good news is that they will all begin to feel like second nature soon. You’re doing the things. You’re changing your life. 💯 🚀 Intermittent fasting 🚀 Whole-food nutrition 🚀 Weekly workouts ⭐️Before we wrap up, I want to discuss one more important thing—the difference between weight loss and fat loss. There’s a difference. Weight loss refers to a reduction in overall body weight, which can include fat, muscle, water, or other tissues. Fat loss specifically targets the reduction of body fat while aiming to preserve muscle mass. Weight loss can occur quickly through methods like dehydration or extreme dieting, but fat loss is typically slower and requires a combination of proper nutrition and exercise. Focusing on fat loss rather than just weight loss promotes better health and body composition. Weight loss is irrelevant without considering your fat percentage. We want fat loss—and that’s another reason I encourage you to stay off the scale. The scale can’t measure your fat loss. 👌

TAKING ACTION: ✅Share your weekly wins today! 🎉 We’ve talked about cortisol. We’ve talked about how healthy fats support cortisol. We’ve talked about strengths. We’ve talked about how carbs support both cortisol and strength. Today, however, all we’re talking about are our weekly wins and NSVs (non-scale victories)! 🎉 I have to throw this in there—celebrating your wins consistently and frequently can help reduce the effects of stress, which in turn can help with your overall cortisol. It may seem far-fetched, but celebrating small wins—whether daily or weekly—triggers dopamine release, which can counteract the effects of prolonged cortisol exposure. 💯 The good news is that YOU are in control of whether or not you decide to celebrate yourself. Celebrating your wins is a simple strategy you can adopt daily or weekly—and the payoff is well worth it. If you aren’t consistently celebrating your wins, I have to ask you—what are you waiting for? 🎉

TAKING ACTION: ✅New Clients: Skip straight to the bottom of this post and check out the ⭐️ NEW CLIENT INFO! ✅Share your weekly wins today! 🎉 It’s Friday, friends, and you know what that means—it’s time to celebrate ourselves and one another! 🎉 Before we celebrate, however, let’s briefly talk about another cortisol-balancing technique that helps to lower cortisol during times of stress—breath work. We’ve added breathwork exercises to our Monday and Thursday programming, but the truth is that any stressful time is a good time to use your breath. Here is a quick technique you can implement any time ⬇️ Inhale deeply through your nose until your lungs fill up with air. Once you’re at the top, take one more quick inhale (almost like an extra inhale burst). Slowly exhale with your mouth open and allow for the exhale to activate your vocal cords (making the “Ahhhhhh” sound). Repeat 2-4 times. This breathing pattern emphasizes the exhale, which stimulates the vagus nerve and reinforces parasympathetic dominance—telling your body, “It’s safe to relax now.” This triggers a drop in cortisol and helps reset your stress response. You’re welcome. 😉 Now that we’ve all destressed, let’s get fired up and celebrate by sharing our weekly wins below! 🎉 __________________________________________________ ⬇️⭐️NEW CLIENT INFO and TO-DO’s⭐️⬇️ You made it to Friday, friends—and you know what that means! It means today, you get to celebrate your non-scale victories- or NSVs! It doesn’t matter if your NSV is big or small—we celebrate them all! 🎉 Speaking of, last week I promised you I’d explain a little more about the science behind why we celebrate small wins. Yes, we do it for fun, but we also carve out time each week for celebrating because science says that by doing so, your brain literally changes! You see, every time you celebrate a win (again, it doesn’t matter what size), your brain releases dopamine (a feel-good chemical). You feel good, and your brain says, “I want to feel that way again”! This process is what motivates you to keep going—because your brain knows it wants to feel good again and again! That’s exactly why we make celebrating ourselves a weekly call to action. When you celebrate consistently, you change over time. Hey, I didn’t say it. Science did! 😉

TAKING ACTION: ✅Will you adopt today’s cortisol-balancing tip? Do you normally get morning sunlight within the first hour of waking? Today’s AM cortisol-balancing tip ☀️⬇️ Natural light in the morning signals your brain’s “master clock” through your eyes and tells your adrenal glands, “It’s daytime. Time to raise cortisol.” This follows your circadian rhythm (your body’s wake/sleep cycle). Your body naturally produces more cortisol in the hours before waking and into the morning. Your job is to embrace healthy habits that support this natural cycle! 🔄 Studies suggest it’s best to spend anywhere from 5-30 minutes in the morning sunlight (within the first hour of waking) for optimal benefits. This regular exposure trains your body to align hormone cycles, sleep timing, and energy patterns, which supports fat loss, mood, and recovery. ☀️UV exposure is much lower in the morning, and the health-related risks are much lower. You can also focus on getting sunlight in your eyes as opposed to on your body (though getting some on your body can also be beneficial). *WORKOUT IN COMMENTS*