Can you trust everything you read about health and fitness online? On this episode of Tea with Tina, I unravel the complexities of being a conscious consumer of information, especially in the ever-evolving health and fitness landscape. Discover the pitfalls of polarized content and how easily trends can mislead you, like the notorious green tea pills for weight loss. Through my own experiences with hormonal imbalances and the nuances of medical diagnoses, I emphasize the critical need for context when evaluating health advice. Learn how to stay curious and skeptical to make well-informed decisions on your wellness journey.
Personalized fitness programs versus sweeping trends—what's really best for you? This episode breaks down how individual circumstances dictate the effectiveness of fitness routines. From the unique needs of a busy 40-year-old mother to a freer 20-year-old college student, I illustrate why one-size-fits-all approaches fall short. Join me as I recount a lively debate in a Facebook fitness group about the reliability of body scanners, highlighting that their utility hinges on your specific goals. Finally, I share actionable tips to simplify your fitness journey and reduce stress, encouraging listeners to share this episode to help expand our supportive community. Tune in and let's navigate together!
Can you trust everything you read about health and fitness online? On this episode of Tea with Tina, I unravel the complexities of being a conscious consumer of information, especially in the ever-evolving health and fitness landscape. Discover the pitfalls of polarized content and how easily trends can mislead you, like the notorious green tea pills for weight loss. Through my own experiences with hormonal imbalances and the nuances of medical diagnoses, I emphasize the critical need for context when evaluating health advice. Learn how to stay curious and skeptical to make well-informed decisions on your wellness journey.
Personalized fitness programs versus sweeping trends—what's really best for you? This episode breaks down how individual circumstances dictate the effectiveness of fitness routines. From the unique needs of a busy 40-year-old mother to a freer 20-year-old college student, I illustrate why one-size-fits-all approaches fall short. Join me as I recount a lively debate in a Facebook fitness group about the reliability of body scanners, highlighting that their utility hinges on your specific goals. Finally, I share actionable tips to simplify your fitness journey and reduce stress, encouraging listeners to share this episode to help expand our supportive community. Tune in and let's navigate together!
Welcome to the Tea with Tina, your favorite podcast, where we talk all things health, fitness, lifestyle and maybe a little bit of tea gets spilled.
Speaker 2:
We chat all about this in a super casual environment, so grab your beverage of choice, sit back, relax and enjoy.
Speaker 1:
relax and enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Tea with Tina. Today I was just batch recording some podcast episodes and it kind of brought about another idea. I'm gonna say that I am naturally more of a creative person, okay, so when I make my podcast episodes I have a general idea. Not always. Sometimes I'll record. If something comes to me right away, I'll record it in the moment, while it's fresh, but generally, like I was batch recording today, so I have like a topic and then I have literally a couple bullet points and then I just kind of go off from the bullet points Because, again, I'm a creative person. I let my energy flow, my individual opinions flow. I'm not very scripted. Energy flow, my individual opinions of flow. I'm not very scripted, I don't work well off of scripts.
Speaker 2:
So upon recording my last podcast episode, which was the sourdough bread one, it sparked a thought in me. Okay, because in that episode I talked a little bit more about forming opinions, you know, not viewing things as black and white, because I feel this is a big issue in our industry, in the fitness industry, especially with people who are trying to lose weight or attain a certain physique goal, when we scroll through TikTok and Instagram, like everything's so polarized because it gets attention and even I do this in my stuff, but I try to do it to grab your attention. But then when you actually are listening, you get the good stuff right. We sneak the pill in the peanut butter kind of deal right In a good way, because I know many amazing creators out there who have great messages and stories to be told, but people simply don't watch them because the algorithm doesn't give it to them. Because, like people don't find it interesting, you know it could be the right information, like somebody could be like I figured out how to cure cancer and if they applied it in a boring, non-sexy way, it could get overlooked. Isn't that crazy, right? So you have to figure out how to get people's attention and also deliver quality out how to get people's attention and also deliver quality. But often what I see is people just get people's attention for entertainment or they like cherry pick something because people love like finding little things, thinking it's going to solve all of their problems. Like in the episode that I was talking about sourdough bread. People kind of like well, like, sourdough bread's the only bread you know. Everything else has chemicals in it and pesticides and never eat any bread unless you make it at home and like it just got taken to this extreme right. So I just wanted to clear that up. So make sure to go listen to that one if you're interested in that. Um, but I, in this episode today, I wanted to more. So talk about again just being a more conscious consumer of information, continuing to be curious when you see things and don't take everything for face value, because it can be potentially dangerous. Right, it could leave you spinning your wheels. I'm sure, if you're listening right now, you are the victim of this.
Speaker 2:
I was the victim of this Fad diets. You know, I took green tea pills at Walmart because my friend took green tea pills. She lost 20 pounds and she didn't do anything differently and I was like, holy crap, I want to do that. So I bought these $10 green tea pills and then I had way too much caffeine, almost blacked out, had an anxiety attack, was sweating, felt sick. It was terrible, you know, from these green tea pills. And, no, I did not lose weight. So there's that, and I've done it with countless other things trendy supplements, clothes, you know. Workout items. You know. You think it's going to be the one thing that finally makes everything better. It's going to finally change you and it doesn't Okay, it doesn't right. Another important part of this is context. You might hear me chat about this a little bit, but I want to keep chatting about it. Context, context, context. Just you know, something can be right but maybe it's not right for you. Or somebody can say it's wrong but it could be right for you.
Speaker 2:
I see this in the medical field a lot like I know me with my wonky hormones, which I think it's it's coming to light a little bit more. You know, doctors used to be a lot more black and white with how they said things, but with my hormones they were all messed up and and even, for instance, a good example would be like with my thyroid. I believed that my periods were really, really wonky because of my thyroid. Like I feel like it made it worse, but they just thought I had PCOS polycystic ovarian syndrome. So I was always on birth control, but I feel like my cycles got better once I got medicated for my thyroid. But my doctor was like there's no way that you know, your period could be affected from your thyroid. It can cause irregular periods. It's just not widely studied. So my case would be something that and a lot of the hormonal things I'm experiencing is, you know, technically, you know, contextually, it could be true for me, but maybe not for the majority of people. And I feel like a lot of people are experiencing this, that you know they could be experiencing a symptom, a side effect, and I try to look at this with people who are struggling with weight loss like they could be experiencing something. But just because maybe the science says no, that's not possible, doesn't mean they can't be an outlier. Or like why, why, why can't it work for them? Like, context wise, you need to think this could be. You know I could be an outlier. Or maybe just because it works for everyone doesn't mean it's going to work for me, kind of mindset. So you always have to think when you're looking at something is this going to work for me?
Speaker 2:
The example that I always use for the fitness realm is like, let's say you're 40 and you have three kids and you see Betty Boop, who's 20, dancing around doing this crazy workout routine and there's no, no way you could do. But she's like it gives you great results. Like yeah, I'm sure it does give you great results if you do it. But you know karen over here, who's 40 with three kids and you know gets five hours of sleep at night, uh, cannot do this crazy high intensity two-hour training workout like she actually might go backwards contextually based off of her lack of sleep and and her energy level. So she's not going to get as much out of it as like a 20 year old who has all the free time in the world and no responsibilities and still lives at home and can do that long of a workout, right. But maybe Karen with three kids can do a nice 20 minute workout and get fantastic results, right. So not saying that the 20 year old workout is bad, betty Boop's workout is bad, but it's just not right for Karen with three kids. So again, that's.
Speaker 2:
That is the issue in the fitness industry and maybe I'm biased, but this is why people need to hire trainers if they're not self starting or self sufficient, because it does come down to context. When you tell me I'm really good at this and I take really good pride in this. When you give me your context of like this is how old I am, this is how busy I am, this is what I like to do. I'm very confident that I can create a workout program and a diet program that's going to fit your preferences. Now, sometimes there's a little bit of a trial and error period for a month or two to work out the kinks, but once we get it it's good. Like I've given people exercise snacks and they've seen progress where they do short bursts of workouts, like three minute workouts, three times a day. They see progress. I've made, you know, very limited equipment, very specific requirements for their workouts. They've seen progress. You know very like weird limiting factors as far as like injuries Maybe they get acid reflex with certain movements Saw great progress.
Speaker 2:
I take pride in really customizing my programs. If you're somebody who feels like you're, your unique situation in like every program you've taken like does not work for you, you need to hire me, shoot me a message below. There should be a little like ask me a question or send me a message, little link. Feel free to reach out to me because I bet I can help you. I'm so good at it and I love doing it. Okay, anyways, another thing I wanted to think about. Another thing I wanted to think about is I had this conversation.
Speaker 2:
I rarely engage in, like Facebook posts and stuff, but I did this one day. Sometimes I just engage with people to connect with people and leave comments, and I follow a lot of fitness Facebook groups and sometimes I'll offer up my advice if it feels suitable. And maybe like 100 people didn't answer the same way, right? Well, there's this one post that this it looked like a bikini competitor. She posted a very extreme post that, like, body scanners are garbage, you don't need them. They're so inaccurate, you know. Whatever and as somebody who has worked in a gym with a body scanner actually I use multiple ones and was actually certified in it on how to properly use it I offered up my advice.
Speaker 2:
And this goes around what I was talking about. You know it all comes down to context. I said I said that's a blanket statement. I said you know they may not be the most accurate, but that's like saying a scale's not accurate, you know. But if you use it consistently, you're going to see results. And I think something else that she put, because I don't remember exactly what she said. She was saying that like, oh, you can't see. You know, it's going to tell you you lost all this fat in like a short period of time. You're not going to see that in four weeks and I said well, no, I said really, I said at least eight to 12 weeks time, which would be up to about three months. I said even six to 12 months, like if you check back in, that's going to be enough time to see change, and we kind of got into this back and forth. She was so passionate Maybe again this is based if you listen to my sourdough bread podcast.
Speaker 2:
I talk about how our view of the world is shaped by our experiences. You know we never truly see a neutral view of the world, but the more, the more views we can see, the more open we are to seeing other perspectives, kind of clears takes the layers off to be able to see the world truly more for what it is. We're never going to be able to see it for 100% what it is because our personal experiences and opinions will always get in the way. But it still helps to put yourself in other people's shoes, and maybe she was a competitor. So I thought, you know, maybe she had some body image issues or she had clients that worked with body image issues. And I get that, let me.
Speaker 2:
This is again where context comes into play. I would never have somebody step on a body scale or scanner that had an eating disorder or is really like, obsessive about the numbers on the scale. No, that's stupid. Like, why would I? And I did. We got into it and I explained that and after I explained myself, she was kind of like oh okay, and people still don't like it. I think people still don't like when you're like. It depends, you know. But I was confident in my answer. I wasn't even doing it, to be right, I was just.
Speaker 2:
It just frustrated me that as a bikini competitor, she took such an extreme stance and she was claiming that you know, they judge her body by how it looks. They don't look at body fat percentage. But again, it's context, because when you're training, usually with a coach, everything relies off of numbers. Okay, like they're gonna be, like we need you at this body fat percentage, we need you to eat this much. Like. I don't care what she says. She did not intuitively tie it down to be a bikini competitor. She was using all the things that she says clients shouldn't use. So that kind of bothered me a little bit. Like, whatever her mind wanted to view, that's cool. But I didn't want people to be like. You know I'm never using a body scanner, like I think it could be helpful because I used it on myself.
Speaker 2:
And an instance where it's particularly helpful is that it can tell you, like, if you feel like you weigh the same and you've been working really hard, it can tell you if you lost fat and gained muscle. Now how accurate it is, I don't know, there's always a room for error, but I can tell you that it's helped a lot of my clients who have seen progress and lost inches and they're like, oh my God, the scale didn't go down. And then we're like oh, you gained the amount of muscle that you lost in fat. This is why the scale didn't bud peace. To their mind, it kind of confirms what has been happening. So it's a tool. It's a tool to either confirm or deny your progress.
Speaker 2:
And I will say there's been plenty of times that we've used that scale and it's not for everybody. I'm like this isn't right, like this situation doesn't seem right, like, based off of the data given, it just seems like it didn't work and it depends on the person. And another argument she said was well, you could have trained and you have inflammation, and what if you drank water? And like, again, I wasn't going to get into it, but being certified through to learn how to use this machine. That is one of the things we tell people Usually first thing in the morning. Preferably you can only drink water, we don't even want you to drink that much. No caffeine, no food in you. That is the best time to get these scans, and we would have people make appointments and come in first thing in the morning the best that they could to get the most accurate results Right. So, and there's a ton of different scanners. There's like a DEXA scan is probably going to be the most accurate and there's still a little bit of room of error there, I think within a couple percentage points.
Speaker 2:
But again, context, if you're not like an athlete and you don't need these specific sciency numbers, it doesn't matter. We're looking for like a general trend. Again, it's another tool that, if you're interested in seeing that, why not? Why not hop onto it and be like, oh, that's, that's cool. And then maybe you come back six months later and you go oh yeah, see, I have been gaining muscle and losing fat. This is cool to see. Like it's not the end of the world, like it's not, like they're evil and and I could see how people could maybe misuse them. But again, it comes with proper knowledge, proper context and all that stuff. So that that was the perfect example of what I was kind of talking about. And again another podcast episode for another time. But I could really get into it with bikini competitors, dude. I will just kind of finish the podcast episode with this. I've just been seeing this a lot. Episode with this. I've just been seeing this a lot.
Speaker 2:
So many of the fit women not all, but a lot of them, a lot of the fit women in this space that have the shredded physiques are competitors, which isn't bad, it's not. They work very hard for it and I can just tell. But they they market the bodies they worked for to lifestyle clients, which bothers me. That's what bothers me. That's like a bodybuilder taking steroids and saying and not disclosing it and saying if you do this workout program, you're gonna look like me. That's what bothers me, because that is false information and maybe they don't directly say that Like, if you follow these workouts, you're going to look like me.
Speaker 2:
But the way a competitor trains, because I find it very fascinating. I love the bodybuilding world, never want to do it, but I think it's very fascinating. The way they train and eat is so different from a lifestyle client you would not. The attention to detail they follow. They fill out daily check-in forms. They do posing classes to be able to manipulate their body and muscles to look a certain way from when they are relaxed right. They're pros in being able to change and shift their body. The way they eat their food is very meticulous. They often avoid um, they avoid gatherings. You know social gatherings, the, the supplements they're on. They spend thousands of dollars on coaches posing training supplements and it's cool. I love it.
Speaker 2:
I don't know how much of it's healthy because you're taking your body to an extreme. Now there's some coaches nowadays that take more of a healthy, holistic approach, but it's still a lot of stress on the body. I know a couple people were competing and a lot of them have had to push their shows back because it's just too much with their everyday lives. It's hard, right. So that's again what bothers me. It kind of comes back to the context of everything. These girls with these shredded physiques and they look so good and they're just like, yeah, girl, and they kind of preach generic fitness advice, right, but in your head. You're looking at that girl and you're thinking, if I follow the advice she's telling me, I'm going to look like her. But what they don't realize is all the stuff that goes into it, right? So again, that's also what bothers me and I see a lot of that in the fitness industry and again it just bothers me. So, yeah, so that's kind of where I'm going to wrap that up.
Speaker 2:
That was kind of a good little nugget to add in there. I hope this kind of helped. This is one of those more complex topics that get your brain thinking, but I think if you use this skill, it'll make your time in the health and fitness realm a little bit easier and not as stressful. But yeah, guys, I'm going to leave you with that, so I hope you have a great rest of your day. Keep listening to the Tea with Tina. We love to have you here. Feel free to share this episode with a friend if you found it helpful. That's how more people see and hear about this podcast, so I would love if you did that. And that is all for now. Bye.
