Autumn Calabrese is a literal powerhouse, and the most viewed “Super Trainer” on the Beachbody On Demand platform with over 140 MILLION views. She’s a nutrition expert and holistic health coach who has written books, hosted shows, and has helped thousands of people become their best, happiest, and healthiest selves through dedication, motivation, and sweat. She has incredible insight about how we all can improve our fitness while having fun and living without restrictions!
Why you shouldn’t make restrictions part of your weight loss plan:
“Any time you start to restrict or deprive yourself, you’re setting yourself up to not be able to follow through. The second you’re told you can’t have something, it’s all we think about. It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m never having chocolate again and then the only thing we think about is, oh, I want chocolate, I want chocolate, I want chocolate.’ I don’t think that’s what life is about. We want to enjoy life and we also want to feel really good and live disease free as long and as much as possible. So, it’s finding the balance between all of that.”
How to set realistic weight loss goals that you can achieve:
“I think the first thing is, when you set that goal for yourself you need to really define that goal. It’s not, ‘I’m going to lose weight.’ It’s how much weight, and are you giving yourself a realistic time frame to do it in. And then are you defining those actionable steps and then implementing them. A lot of people will say, ‘Well my New Year’s resolution is to lose weight.’ But they don’t identify the ‘why’ behind it. And when you (identify the why) you’ll go deeper into the reasoning behind it, and it won’t just be ‘I want a six-pack (of abs).”
How to take away your personal feelings about food:
“That is the most important thing you can do, and I also think it’s the hardest thing. I don’t know if anybody has mastered it. I know that I haven’t mastered it. We use food to celebrate; there’s food when we’re in mourning; food is a part of daily fun. (We say) ‘Okay, I’m going to go to dinner with friends, I’m going to have drinks with friends, I’m going to have game night.’ Food is everywhere, all the time and it’s really hard not to attach emotion to it. But, at least you can become aware of the emotion that you’re having.”
The main takeaway from her bestselling book “Fixate”:
“There’s a common misconception that if you’re- eating healthy food it’s going to be bland, it’s going to be boring, you’re not going to be satiated, you’re going to be hungry all the time, and all of a sudden you start making these recipes (from the book) and you’re like, ‘This is great. I can have meatloaf, I can have burgers, I can have fries, I can have pizza. And I can do it in a way that’s delicious.”
On the mindset of starting Autumn’s fitness program:
“Give yourself some grace to not be perfect on day one. The workouts happen in minute long intervals. Give yourself the space to not last for the full minute and be perfectly okay with that, because it’s just your day one. I tell people all the time, ‘When you’re watching the program and I’m on the screen, and my background cast is on the screen, it is not our day one. … so don’t compare yourself.”