Robyn Spurr

Personal Health and Weight Loss Coaching For Women

Coaching Tools

By

Find Your Balance: Practical Tips for Moderate Drinking

What Does it Mean to Drink in Moderation?

When it comes to alcohol, moderation is key. The CDC defines moderate drinking as no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. Here’s what that looks like in practical terms:

  • 12 oz of regular beer
  • 5 oz of wine
  • 1.5 oz of 80-proof distilled spirits

This translates to 7 drinks per week for women and 14 for men. Important note: downing all these drinks in one sitting is binge drinking and comes with serious health risks.

Signs You’re a Moderate Drinker

It’s easy for moderate drinking to slip into more hazardous patterns, but if you see yourself in the following points, you’re probably doing just fine:

1. Adherence to CDC Benchmarks

  • Staying within the CDC’s limits is a great start. But remember, moderation can be subjective. If you find that even fewer drinks start to negatively impact your health or energy levels, adjust accordingly.

2. Alcohol Doesn’t Interfere with Wellness Goals

Your physical and mental health should come first. For instance:

  • You don’t skip workouts due to hangovers.
  • You don’t rely on alcohol to cope with stress or sadness.

3. Resisting Peer Pressure

  • Social situations often involve alcohol, but a true moderate drinker can enjoy social drinking without going overboard. If you plan for two drinks on a night out, you stick to that plan, knowing more would affect you negatively.

4. Maintaining Target Weight

  • Alcohol can pack on the pounds, especially with high-calorie drinks like cocktails. Research suggests that moderate drinking typically doesn’t lead to weight gain over short periods, unlike heavy drinking.

How to Maintain Moderate Drinking Habits

Do you feel like it’s time to reign in drinking? Here are some tips to help you stay in the moderate zone:

1. Set Daily or Weekly Drinking Limits

Plan your alcohol consumption just like you plan other aspects of your life. Setting goals, like limiting yourself to 7 drinks a week, can really help keep your drinking in check.

An app like Sunnyside can be a game-changer for this. It lets you set personalized drinking limits, track your intake, and sends you daily reminders. Plus, it provides weekly progress reports, so you can see how well you’re sticking to your moderation goals.

I’ve recommended this app to numerous clients and use it myself to stay accountable and motivated to maintain healthy drinking habits.

2. Maintain Healthy Habits

Healthy habits can prevent drinking from becoming a default response to stress or boredom. Identify your triggers and consciously choose alternatives, like exercise or a relaxing hobby.

3. Have Non-Alcoholic Alternatives

Keep a variety of non-alcoholic drinks on hand. The market for these beverages is growing, and there are plenty of satisfying options that can help you stick to your moderation goals without piling on the calories. One of my personal favorites is light tonic water with a squeeze of fresh lime. It’s refreshing and keeps things interesting without the alcohol.

Moderate drinking is about finding balance and ensuring that alcohol enhances your life without causing harm. By understanding what moderate drinking looks like and adopting strategies to maintain it, you can enjoy alcohol responsibly while prioritizing your overall health and well-being.

Sources:

1. [CDC Guidelines on Alcohol Consumption](https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/moderate-drinking.htm)

2. [Study on Alcohol Consumption and Weight Gain](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22129548/)

3. [American Board of Family Medicine Study](https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/1/43)

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one health coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE

By

Beyond Calories: Understanding Your Eating Habits Through Journaling

Let’s chat about something we often overlook when embarking on a journey to transform our nutrition habits: understanding our current eating habits, patterns, and behaviors.

So, here’s the deal: one of the best ways to get in tune with what we eat is through journaling. Yup, that’s right—scribbling down everything we munch on. It might sound old-school, but trust me, it’s a game-changer!

Now, there are loads of ways to go about journaling. You could dive into easy-to-use apps like Ate (my go-to with clients), jot stuff down in your phone’s notes, or simply use pen and paper. The trick? Stay consistent. Research shows that individuals who maintain food journals are more likely to achieve their weight loss goals.

Think of journaling as your personal food detective mission. You’re not just logging meals; you’re uncovering patterns, decoding triggers, and getting to the root of why you eat what you eat.

But here’s the kicker: journaling isn’t just about data. It’s also about hitting pause before eating. We’re all guilty of rushing through meals, treating them like another task to check off. Journaling reminds us to slow down, savor each bite, and be mindful of our eating habits.

When trying to lose weight, your food diary becomes your ally. It helps pinpoint where you can tweak portion sizes or cut back on processed stuff. And hey, if maintenance is more your vibe, your journal becomes a trusty sidekick, keeping you steady during life’s ups and downs.

And here’s the best part: you don’t have to commit to journaling forever. Try shorter bursts, like a month, to dig into your food habits. Pick a style that suits you—tech-savvy apps or good ol’ pen and paper. And remember, this isn’t about judgment; it’s about growth.

Oh, and one last thing: going on this nutrition journey doesn’t have to be a solo gig. Research shows that having a buddy or hiring a coach can seriously amp up your success. So, don’t be shy about roping in a friend or seeking expert support along the way!

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one health coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE

By

Hacking Instant Gratification: Strategies for Lasting Behavioral Change

Have you ever found wisdom in unexpected places? For this post, it came in the form of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – a favorite from my childhood. Together with my best friend Jaimee, we practically memorized every line and melody.

Do you remember Veruca Salt?

🎶 Pink macaroons and a million balloons and performing baboons and – give it to me. NOW! 🎶

Veruca Salt embodies our primal inclination for instant gratification – a trait deeply ingrained in human nature. This impulse, honed over our evolutionary history, once ensured our survival.

Instant gratification, as a survival mechanism, played a crucial role in human evolution by ensuring immediate fulfillment of essential needs for survival. In the ancestral environment, resources such as food, water, and shelter were often scarce and unpredictable. Therefore, humans developed instincts to prioritize immediate rewards to satisfy these basic needs and increase their chances of survival.

While modern society provides abundant resources and opportunities, our instinctual drive for instant gratification remains deeply ingrained, influencing various aspects of our behavior and decision-making.

Our brains aren’t wired to prioritize long-term health; survival and instant satisfaction reign supreme. As Dan Harris eloquently put it, “We are not naturally inclined to do things like exercise or eat healthy or get enough sleep… because it’s not the mind that was bequeathed to us by millennia of evolution.”

Does this mean we’re destined for defeat? Should we abandon our pursuit of better health? Absolutely not. While we can’t change our brain’s wiring, we can alter our approach to behavioral change.

The primary reason we struggle to adopt lasting change is our penchant for giving up too soon. We crave immediate results, unwilling to endure the journey of transformation. But let’s pause and ponder: What’s the rush?

Let’s say you’re 40 years old and it takes you three years to build several healthier habits into your life. Would you do it? If you live until 85, that’s 42 years of healthier living!

Here’s the winning formula for hacking our inclination towards instant gratification:

1. Focus on one habit at a time – simplicity is key.

2. Persist until it becomes second nature, regardless of the timeline.

3. Embrace the journey – find joy in progress and resilience in setbacks.

Just as we cheer on toddlers learning to walk, let’s extend the same compassion to ourselves on our health journey.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one health coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE

By Leave a Comment

Mastering Habits: The Art of Starting Small

Embarking on a journey to establish new habits can often be challenging, especially when faced with the overwhelming prospect of change. At times, the inertia of daily routines can seem insurmountable. But fear not – breaking down a habit into small, manageable steps can be the key to overcoming this initial hurdle.

In this blog post, I introduce the Habit Breakdown worksheet, a tool designed to guide you through the process of cultivating positive habits with ease.

Understanding the Habit Breakdown Worksheet:

The Habit Breakdown worksheet serves as a valuable companion on your quest to establish and sustain new habits. The fundamental approach is to dissect a habit into five simple steps, with each step progressively building upon the previous one. Here’s a breakdown of the main points:

1. Break the habit into five steps, starting with a very easy step:

Begin by identifying a habit you want to cultivate. Instead of overwhelming yourself with the entire habit, break it down into five manageable steps. Start with an incredibly easy first step, making the initial commitment more attainable.

2. Complete step 1 every day, making it a solid habit:

Consistency is key. Focus on mastering the first step until it becomes second nature. By turning it into a solid daily habit, you’re setting the foundation for larger changes down the line.

3. Once a step becomes a habit, build upon it by adding the next step:

Once the initial step feels like second nature, it’s time to level up. Gradually add the next step in the sequence, building upon the foundation you’ve already established.

Practical Example:

Let’s take the example of aiming to incorporate daily exercise into your routine. If the prospect of a full workout seems overwhelming, you can start with the first step – changing into exercise clothes every day. As this becomes a habit, you can progressively build upon it by adding small exercises until you reach your ultimate goal.

Why the Habit Breakdown Method?

Breaking down a habit into smaller steps makes the entire process more manageable both mentally and practically.

Embarking on a journey to establish new habits doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. The Habit Breakdown worksheet empowers you to start small, build consistency, and gradually progress toward your desired habits. By embracing this method, you’re not only making change more achievable but also laying the foundation for a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle.

💙 Robyn

Interested in a one-on-one health coaching relationship with me? It would be an honor to work with you if and when the time feels right.

To learn more about Personal Health Coaching click HERE. 

To schedule a Discovery Session click HERE.