Elemental Fitness, LLC

09/16/2022

”There’s this perception that fitness professionals just help you lose weight and that’s it. But a great fitness professional can help you improve your relationship with movement.”

I got to speak with Shape Magazine this week about building a healthy relationship with exercise and finding body-inclusive communities online.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing toxic fitness content, especially with the re-emergence of Y2K thinness trends. The good thing is—there are so many body inclusive communities out there to help support you.

Click the article below to read!

Fitness professionals break down what a healthy relationship with exercise looks like, plus the potential physical and mental impacts of an unhealthy relationship, including overtraining syndrome. They also share actionable tips that can help you heal your relationship with exercise.

09/05/2022

We’ve heard that we need to ✨add variety✨ to our meals to make sure we get all our nutrients in. I know I myself have said it to my clients many times.

But it can be hard to do that when so many foods give you the ick and you’re down to THREE safe foods that you can tolerate eating, especially when these foods aren’t known to be nutrient-dense.

I know that’s something I’ve worried about, as someone who can only tolerate a few foods right now and yet needs to eat enough to be able to strength train consistently.

If this is something you struggle with too, let’s set our minds at ease by remembering…

🥞 … that nutrition is cumulative. Our eating patterns make a difference over time (think months and years instead of hours and days).

🥞… that you can always scale back your activities to match your energy levels. If a strength session is too much right now, you can opt for a walk instead, or a small dance party at your desk.

🥞… that what matters is that you’re fed. Whether your safe foods are nutrient dense or not, they’re still there to keep you energized and nourished on tough days.

A self-compassionate approach is always better when dealing with stressful times. Guilt and anxiety only get in the way of us meeting our bodies’ needs.

Feel free to comment below with your safe foods, I’d love to know! Mine are currently Takis, ramen, tofu, string cheese, bananas, and cereal 🍜🧀🍌🥣

Disclaimer: the concept of “safe foods” has different meanings when referring to specific communities—for example, the ED recovery community has a different context for “safe foods.”

07/06/2022

“It’s good to know that I have options.”

This is what a client told me when we went talked about body respect and body positivity during one of our sessions.

Healing body image is an inner job, but if loving your body feels like an unattainable goal right now, know that you can still treat your body with compassion even if you can’t yet feel self-love.

Because however you feel about your body image today, body respect encourages us to shift our mindset from how we FEEL about our body to what we can DO for our body.

Body respect says that even on days when you don’t feel great about your body, your body is still worthy of having its basic needs met (nourishment, movement, connection, shelter, safety).

If you love your body right now, that’s amazing. But know that you can feel neutral about your body too, and still meet your body’s needs with kindness. You have OPTIONS.

It’s also a good thing to remember that the body positivity movement was created by q***r, fat, Black women & femmes in the 60’s with the goal of liberating marginalized bodies. A lot of the body positivity movement in the mainstream is a diluted version of those origins, often centering thinness into the narrative instead.

06/16/2022

I’ve lost track of how many people have told me they’re doing low-carb diets. And while everyone has their reasons (we respect body autonomy here), I’d like to tell you a little more about carbs and why they’re so unjustly demonized.

Carbohydrates are one of the THREE macronutrients our bodies need for us to feel great throughout the day, especially because they give us energy.

We hear about the importance of protein to build muscle and strength, but carbs play a role in that too. While studies suggest that low-carb diets that have plenty of protein won’t lead to muscle loss, the body’s long-term preferred use of carbs (glucose) for energy means that there’s more protein to spare for your body to use.

‼️ If you’re new to lifting or have been lifting consistently for a while, eating enough carbohydrates is helpful for building strength and muscle. Not only are carbs supplying plenty of energy, but they also help the body use protein for building tissues instead of fuel.

Many carbs are also great sources of fiber (yay 💩), prebiotics, and vitamins and minerals.

👉🏼 And before we panic about simple or “refined” carbohydrates, here’s a gentle reminder that there is no such thing as an empty calorie. Food isn’t just utilitarian and we’re not machines.

I like to tell my clients that ALL foods fit, which means that we can enjoy complex carbs (think veggies, fruits, whole grain pasta) and more refined carbs (fun foods) without shame or guilt.

Let’s normalize getting curious about food instead of demonizing it 🧇🥞🥒🥑🥭🍉🥨🥐🍳🍮🍩🍓🍌🍏🫔🥪

06/13/2022

🌻 Let’s make strength training and nutrition meaningful again—with ZERO toxic diet culture attached.

‼️ I am currently welcoming virtual coaching clients, with options for all budgets‼️

👉🏼 Link in bio for all my services/prices, or send me a DM to ask me all your questions

06/05/2022

I’ve been posting about Pride Prom for the past couple of months because I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm that I get to be a part of this beautiful, vibrant community and live as my most authentic self 🌈💙💗

🌻 Thanks to for planning this event! Viky, Martina, and Genesis are doing amazing work for body acceptance in the RGV

👗 provided the vintage dress and beautiful location

💄 did my makeup (she’s brilliant)

🥤 .freshh provided the hydration in this Texas heat!

💙 provided reproductive health information and care supplies

05/31/2022

With all the messages around food and nutrients, with so many fad diets appearing every year and all these “superfoods” being touted left and right, it may have you wondering what to even eat.

Food and supplement marketing has us worrying and stressing about specific nutrients and pH (another conversation for another day 🙄) and whatnot. Food is already expensive and often inaccessible for many people in this country, so why make it even more inaccessible and complicated?

So let’s talk about the basics. For individuals in the general population, I invite them to consider whether they’re meeting their basic energy needs to begin with. What does your consumption of the “big three” (fat, protein, carbs) look like on the daily, and is it enough to support your daily activities?

Examples of foods in these categories include:

🌰 Protein: animal meats, eggs, dairy, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds

🧈 Fat: plant + seed oils, butter, eggs, animal meats, cheeses, nuts and seeds

🥒 Carbs: grains, leafy greens, fruits, dairy, starchy root veg, herbs

👉🏼 Then once that’s taken care of, we can look at your micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), fiber intake, and then at the very end, supplements and hydration or nutrient timing strategies for performance.

🛑 Nutritional requirements vary based on your health status, so for special populations (elderly, pregnant, food allergies, vegans, immunocompromised, ill, recovering, injured, etc.) it is recommended they consult with their medical provider or registered dietitian about additional nutrition requirements.

All foods fit and all foods are important, so a hierarchy isn’t an ideal way to illustrate this, but it can highlight how much we underestimate the basics (protein, fat, produce) and how much we sweat the minutiae (certain expensive, often unnecessary supplements).

🥞 If you’re looking for additional nutrition support, send me a DM to find out more about my intuitive eating coaching services. I also offer support for people who want to find more plant-based meal/snack options but aren’t sure where to start. 🥞

05/27/2022

A couple of *healthy* reminders:

🌻 You don’t have to participate in toxic diet/fitness culture to reap the benefits of health-promoting habits. When we think about exercise and nutrition, a lot of us immediately picture counting macros, weighing food, spending 7 days a week at the gym and restricting ourselves from the foods we love and grew up with. But this isn’t wellness, it’s toxic fitness culture.

🌼 Toxic fitness culture tells us that there is only ONE way to practice fitness and only ONE body type that we can call “fit.” It tells us that we need to go to extremes or else our efforts are not good enough.

🏵 And that is simply not true. The most sustainable movement and nutrition practice involves ADDING things to your life that bring you joy, boost your mood, improve your sleep, and help you manage stress. That, to me, is the whole point of exercise.

🌻 So instead of an all-or-nothing mindset (“either I go all in or I don’t do anything”) think of what you can add, and add a little bit every week. (And hey, this is also how we get stronger—by adding a little bit of weight to our exercises each week)

👉🏼 if you’re looking for body-inclusive strength and nutrition support, DM me to find out how to get started ✨

05/13/2022

Why call it “sturdy” girl summer, of all things?

I’m sure other people have their reasons, but here’s mine: I feel like in these fitness/social media spaces, we’re encouraged to be strong and muscle-y, but ONLY if we put on muscle in “all the right places.”

This is another unrealistic body ideal that I see really trending right now, even in lifting spaces: growing your glutes, or growing your thighs, but keeping a flat stomach and an hourglass waist (specifically for women).

And the reality is, we don’t often get to pick and choose the ways our bodies will change (if they change). We’re not body wizards, and our bodies aren’t clay to be “sculpted.” As we lift and get progressively stronger, that strength looks different on every body, which is the way things should be (body diversity is a thing!)

I am not bashing people who want aesthetic goals, but for everyone who is tired of the ways diet culture has co-opted weightlifting, I get how frustrating it is to see the same old messages packaged differently.

That’s why I love the word “sturdy.” Because it emphasizes the joyful things your body gets to experience, like lifting heavy sh*t, running across the park during a cookout, eating good food after a long swim, and feeling sandy and exhausted from a beach day.

I am so ready for Sturdy Girl Summer.

05/02/2022

What would it feel like to say, my body is worthy, here and now?

Not when we finally lose the weight. Not when we finally start to “eat right” or move regularly. Not when we finally achieve that acceptable body that we think is going to make us happier.

But right now, in whatever form our body is in.

Sometimes, feeling positive about our bodies or accepting them is not yet accessible to us after a lifetime of being exposed to toxic diet culture.

But what we DO have access to practicing at this very moment is body RESPECT.

Practicing body respect can look like:

✅ Acknowledging that our bodies are worthy of having their basic needs met

✅ Wearing comfortable clothes instead of forcing our bodies into tight, ill-fitting clothes

✅ Getting curious about our bodies and the way they communicate their needs to us (our hunger and fullness cues, our rest/sleep needs, etc)

✅ Unfollowing toxic accounts that perpetuate diet culture in sneaky ways (detoxes, “clean” eating, getting “summer body ready,” and I could go on…)

✅ Noticing (without judgment) any negative self-talk we engage in throughout the day and noting what (if anything) triggers that negative self-talk

Practicing body respect can be a great starting point towards reframing our body image.

This weekend’s event hosted by reminded me that we’re all in different places on the body acceptance spectrum, and that it’s important to meet ourselves where we’re at and allow ourselves the same compassion and empathy we would give our best friends.

04/19/2022

So we know that strength training is beneficial for building and maintaining healthy bone and muscle mass.

But HOW and WHERE do we start?

Here are 5 tips to make the most out of strength training for bone and muscle health:

1️⃣ Lift weights that are “heavy enough” for you and increase the weight or challenge slowly over time. When we say “heavy enough” we mean having two reps left in the tank! So if you’re aiming for 8 squats, pick a weight you could do 10 squats with.

2️⃣ Eat enough protein, carbohydrates and fat to support muscle growth. A pattern I’ve noticed is people feeling guilty for constant snacking thinking they’re “eating too much.” But when we look at their daily meals, more often than not, they’re actually not eating enough, or not eating the foods that truly satisfy them. Enjoying your food and having it TASTE good is just as important as eating enough nutrients to support your body’s training and recovery.

3️⃣ Strength train at least 2-3 times per week for 30 minutes—consistency over extreme measures wins every time.

4️⃣ Train full-body movements that use multiple joints (i.e. push-ups, squats, deadlifts)

5️⃣ Do at least ONE daily thing that brings you joy to help you cope with stress. Life is too short to not do what makes you happy.

And if you want specific support and recommendations on how you can apply these five guidelines, my monthly membership Pancakes & Lift includes weekly guided workouts and nutrition support from a non-diet approach. Linkinbio to apply 🥞