Love Thyself

I gave a bit of a breakdown on the podcast about this, but I’ve learned a GREAT DEAL in the last few years about work-outs for women, especially women who have PCOS or perhaps are looking to regulate hormones. Listen, I'm not a doctor. But Alisa Vitti is and you NEED to listen to my podcast with her about hormones. Yes, I cry. I’ve spent YEARS fasting and forcing myself to do EXCRUCIATING workouts - running (hate it), Barry’s (totally great but I was going EVERYDAY with no results) and HIIT workouts. For years I was tired and not losing weight, and then a few years ago I was having a very hard time conceiving. THIS episode breaks down the science and research. And THIS episode is a bit deeper into what I’ve been doing in terms of food, stress, managing PCOS, but I thought I would break down the workouts I’ve been doing here. 

OK so first of all. Less is more. We are chill, we are calm, we are not spiking cortisol. My true happy place/therapy is hot yoga. It’s torture at first. But once you get used to the heat and can focus on form, it is absolutely intoxicating. I get butterflies in my stomach on the drive there. A regs yoga class is heaven but if you want to step it up, at Hot 8 Yoga there’s a barre class and I do that two days a week. I also work with Laura from The Baby Body. What an incredible resource. We do weights over zoom or I follow her class. We also use my Tonal which, in my opinion, is the absolute best product there is. It’s complete and total personal training at home. I know it’s expensive, but you're paying a monthly fee toward a machine that you own and can re-sell. So if you're already paying for training or classes it’s worth it. Otherwise there are endless classes on YouTube! I always google PCOS friendly or just search for a strength training class. Make sure it’s slow and steady and the weights are heavy enough!! If you want extra points, rebounding helps remove excess cortisol and therefore regulates hormones and can actually help maintain collagen production!

The real game changer, which is FREE, is just going on a walk. It is also, oddly enough, the hardest thing for me. I find myself putting on a podcast or getting on the phone right away, but don’t. A quiet walk is unparalleled. Every doctor of every sort who has been on the podcast, when asked what’s the best/easiest way to improve quality of life, have all said to go on a walk.