In this tasty episode, Jill Hart interviews Coach Mack about her tantalizingly named business “Running with Bacon“, and her year-long coaching program, “Fit by BIT“. They discuss the importance of shifting the emphasis from weight loss to overall fitness and the positive impact this has on mental and physical well-being.
Discover more about Coach Mack at Running With Bacon
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Transcript
Transcript
Welcome to You World Order Showcase podcast. Today we are speaking with Mackenzie Hol-snak? She goes by Coach Mack.
She's laughing at me because I was really tentative about her last name.
It's like all the coaches I interview have these really interesting last names.
And I'm terrible.
At figuring out how to pronounce them.
So anyway, Mackenzie coach Mack, she has a website called running with bacon.
Year Long coaching program called fit by BIT and I love that because.
It's just about the.
Little changes that makes such a big difference.
In our lives.
And she's going to be talking about.
Getting fit not just like losing weight, cause you know, everybody thinks they're too fat.
Even the people.
That are really skinny are thinking.
I need to lose some weight and you're like, no, no, girl.
You need to gain some.
Maybe some muscle? So what?
Are your thoughts welcome to the show?
Well, thank you for having me.
I was really excited about this chat and everything that you're doing here.
So thank you very much and yeah, just as excited as you are about my fit by bit coaching program.
So it's my membership open all year round because I think that fitness is something that.
Once we get out of the weight loss mentality because it's out there everywhere, like you said, everybody thinks like, oh, I've got, you know, I could lose them here.
I could lose them there.
I don't like the way I look in this or that, but I think once the emphasis switches to fitness and feeling strong and capable and energetic and confident rather than.
Well, I have to.
Lose weight.
I think when that.
That switch is made.
I'm ready for you, you know, like I I know there are certain people who they only open their programs, you know, certain times of the year.
And and I get why, but I it was really important for me when I was starting out my coaching business that I had something available to meet people where they're at.
So whenever they're ready for me, I'm like, let's do this.
I got you.
We're going to make this happen.
So and yeah, my fit by bit program is exactly that, getting fit by bit and one of the major things that I coach are healthy.
Habits I have done, I can't even tell you how many hours and hours of research and reading and listening to podcasts on behavior change, and how our brain works.
And all of this stuff and.
Essentially, everything that we've been sold in traditional fitness and health and weight loss media.
Is like the exact opposite.
Of what we should be doing.
And so it's really everything that I.
See out there.
I'm like ohh no like cause it has.
A set up.
To fail, and then when people do come to me?
When they come to me and I'm like.
OK, like my first hurdle.
Is getting over everything that they've already been sold and then working on the stuff that actually does work.
So yeah, I think starting it off with the name fit by.
Bit helps a little bit.
You know, with the intro of the concept, but then yeah, there's just so much more unconditioned that goes into.
It as well.
I I couldn't agree with you more and I've.
I was.
I was telling you.
Before I've worked with other coaches who were in the fitness industry and the thing that universally surprised me is how many women think that methods that help men lose weight will work for them.
Just don't eat and and do a lot of cardio.
You know that may work for men.
It will never work for a woman.
Your body will just shut down and you'll gain weight even if you're just eating like.
One teeny tiny piece.
Of chicken meat.
Just how we work.
Yeah, I think it's frustrating.
We can watch, you know, husbands, boyfriends, even sons calls it like whoever friends that are men just.
Effortlessly lose weight, it seems.
And there's no shame in men's and women's bodies being different. That's OK we're designed.
Currently, what all that means is that what works for someone else may not work for us, and that's not just men and women, but that's somebody else might have a fantastic time cutting out carbs.
Well, I for one, I love carbs.
I love dessert.
I make dessert every single week, like just to try baking something new.
And I.
Personally think that if your diet which which?
Not I'm not.
Nutrition plan.
Necessarily referring.
Yeah, I'm not necessarily referring to the restrictive portion, but the way that you eat I think should be something that fits your lifestyle.
If you want to eat dessert once a week, if you hate vegetables like whatever, whatever your things are in life.
You should be able to find a lifestyle that accommodates that and still allows you to feel the way that you want to feel.
I don't think that there are like these.
Obviously, within reason you can't eat cheesecake for every meal every day and expect to, you know, feel a certain way.
I get that, but I mean within reason, because food is such a big part of life.
I love eating like I it's for part of culture and family get togethers and socializing and all the things.
And so if you cut out a huge aspect.
Of the food component, I think it's kind of like, well, what's the purpose then?
Like, I don't want to live that way and.
So I think there's definitely a moderation. Yeah, yeah. There's it's like, a happy medium. There's moderation. But, you know, there's there's just, it's like the 8020 rule, you know, be consistent, eat mostly good stuff.
And it's not sustainable.
80% of the time the other 20% have the cheesecake, you know, but make sure it's really good cheesecake. Don't just settle for like some, you know, crappy.
Fast food cheesecake.
I mean, unless.
And you may find there's there's other ways to prepare food.
You really want.
The cheesecake especially.
You can make cheesecake so it doesn't have any sugar in it, but it's still sweet.
Tastes Gray.
And gives you that luxurious feeling, like splurging, but you're really not doing any damage to your body.
The whole sugar thing in life is like.
It's awful. It's just.
Like poisoning generations.
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head too with the splurge, because if.
You splurge every day.
No longer like it's, it loses.
It's like the feel good and it loses the appeal because it's an all the time thing.
And so it's kind of again this the way that we've trained our brains to think about food and workouts and all things.
It's not necessarily the way that it's the healthiest that has you feeling your best and showing up the most fully for life, which is really ultimately what I help women do regardless of if they have weight loss goals or strength goals or whatever.
All of them want to be more present and show.
Up more fully.
Like be able to interact and play with their kids and be in the moment.
Rather than worrying about like, oh, let me get behind somebody in this picture because I don't wanna see how I look when the picture comes out.
You know, like that type of.
So yeah, I think I think there's just there's so much out there in today's world that is the exact opposite of what we should be thinking about and doing and worrying about.
And calorie counting and scales.
Those two things are just like, throw your scale out.
I think, yeah.
Figure out.
Use the measuring tape.
Yeah, I think there are so many, so many ways to measure progress.
Hi there.
And if you wanna use the scale, if you wanna track your calories, if you wanna weigh your food, go for it.
That's one aspect.
Love it where you can measure other things.
Like you said, a measuring tape.
Take pictures.
I love.
I have all of my clients.
I cannot encourage them.
Left to just like clockwork on the 1st of every month, take a picture.
You know in your sports bra and underwear or whatever, like bikini.
Whatever you want to take it in, but just have those pictures because you can see so much more than just whatever a number on a scale is telling you.
That's only one small part of it, but we get so caught up in our heads about what this number should.
Or shouldn't be.
That you could look fantastic in your clothes.
You could look fantastic naked you.
Like ohh you, but the number on the scale might be more than whatever you know.
Traditional media tells us it should be.
That shouldn't stop you from showing up a certain way or feeling good about your body, or feeling strong or capable.
Or all those.
Things like go Rock that who cares what the scale.
Says if you are comfortable and healthy and love the way that you feel in your body.
Let me just need.
It's allergy season.
We all get it.
Yeah, basic reason.
For the meat bed.
That's so true.
You know the the whole measuring things, everybody has their own way of doing it.
But I've seen photographs of, you know, before and afters, even just like.
Week to week you can see changes.
You can see it in your way your clothes fit.
And if you use a measuring.
Tape you you can.
1/2 an inch is really hard to see.
If you're not.
Really looking for it, but if you can see it on the measuring tape, it's like, wow, something really did happen.
And the other thing is that muscle weighs more than fat, and if you're working out and building muscle, it's the scale is going to lie to you.
Because it's not giving you true picture of what's happening with your body, where a camera or a measuring tape.
Will show you.
A different a different picture, a truer picture.
And I think consistency too, we underestimate that because I get people who they might weigh themselves, you know, sporadically it might be.
OK.
They weigh themselves today and then in six weeks and then in one week and then in 12 weeks.
And it's there's no consistency to it.
And so you may.
Just flop into weight.
Yourself on your heaviest day that you've been in the last three months and it goes right back down to normal.
You know, maybe you had some takeout last night, and so you retained a bunch of water and you haven't pooped yet that day.
I mean, who? Who knows?
There's all kinds of factors that go into it, but you see that number on the scale and it's like, oh, no, I need to lose this weight like.
You know, you go into panic mode.
When really it's just normal. Our weights fluctuate, mine goes up and down as much as £5.
A day so.
If I get myself at my heaviest during the day, that could be a real, you know, screw with my head.
If I was in that position where all I was worried about was the scale, so it it's and the same thing goes with pictures or measurements or things like that.
Consistency really is what matters most.
You know, do it at the either the you know regular intervals.
Same time of the day, the same methods that.
Type of stuff.
That's when you're gonna get most of your data, your good data.
If you're consistently doing it, not just on days that you remember, days that you're feeling good, or days that you're feeling bad for, that matter, don't measure on those days.
Yeah, those are the worst days. And we went on cycles are like 28 to 30 days long. Not every day of the month is.
The same for us.
We were just made that way.
Get over it.
It's some parts of the month.
Yes, I'm not OK.
You're gonna retain water? Yeah.
And that doesn't mean that you gained fat, and I think that's a a big distinction too that we get really hung up on of like, oh, I gained all this weight and it's like, yeah, but it's water weight.
You're just, you're bloated. You didn't gain £5 of fat over the course of the month because of your hormonal cycle, like differences in your hormone levels, you're just holding onto the water. So what?
Like you're not fatter.
You just.
And water raised.
Put the number on.
The scale. Yeah, go ahead.
£8 a gallon. That's a lot.
Yeah, yeah, I have some clients that their goal is to drink a gallon of water every day.
And I'm like, I mean, they're peeing.
A lot too.
But so eight, you know, like you can fluctuate so much just based on your hydration status, but again, we tend to equate numbers on.
The scale with.
Fat going up and down when really there's way, way more that goes into it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
There's muscle.
There's there is some fat, but it's not like everything.
And there's water and.
There's stuff that you're processing that you ate before you put.
It back. Yeah, yeah.
A lot of women get super constipated.
And that adds that adds weight.
It's not fat.
On its way out, but it just hasn't made it there yet, right?
So tell me about your.
Fascination with bacon?
Well, I love bacon.
I love to eat bacon.
I love to have it on as much as I can, quite honestly, but also, I just think so.
The reason that I that I named my company running with Bacon was just I wanted it to be something that's fun.
You know, I I'm this is no disrespect or no knock on, you know, fitness companies or gyms.
That have like these really ******** names like, you know, get tough gym or whatever.
Like, I just told me that, but I wanted it to just be something that people when they saw the name of my company, they were like oh.
That's really fun. Like let.
Me check that.
Out because to me, if it's not fun, if it's not something that you're drawn to, you're not gonna wanna do it.
You know, if I had to do this gross, grueling workout that sucked and made me want to puke every day, I wouldn't want to do it.
And the chances of me doing that day.
In and day out are.
Slim and so I aim to both in my coaching and the workouts that I do, all of the information that I put out there is to make it revolve something around fun because to me, taking care of yourself that.
Should be fun.
Like you should get.
To the point where you're like.
I want more this.
How do I get more of this feeling?
How do I?
Get the best care of myself so I can feel the best so I can think the best and be my most creative and all of these things.
It all revolves around how well or not well, you take care of yourself.
It affects not just our bodies but our minds, our emotions, our moods, our creativity, like our business savvy.
It impacts all of it and that's.
Just in the day.
To day.
And that's not even talking about like long.
Term and aging.
And all that, but just on the day-to-day, if you can find the fun and taking care of yourself.
Your life just by proxy by result gets more fun.
Because things get easier.
You know you can just get around easier.
You're more capable of doing things.
You can if you trip on a Lego from one of your kids, you know you're not, then injured for the next three weeks because your body is like, well, I got this.
We lift weights like I've been in this position before, so it's just it, all of it.
To me, it revolves around the fun parts.
Of life, whereas again traditionally I think exercise has been a punishment, diets have been a punishment, like it's just all been a really negative connotation and I wanted the very first impression that people got of me and my style and my coaching to be.
Like it's fun.
I want to do some more of that.
So not only do I love bacon, but I also it was pretty strategic in terms of the.
The the style that I wanted to convey and kind of the goal of my coaching.
I love it.
I love it.
So let's talk about your exercise.
Programs I know you give away a.
And exercise 4 workout routines.
How long are these routines?
Yeah. So I give away, it's on my website runningwithbacon.com/free plan and it's a free a free four week workout plan.
And so each workout is meant to be done.
You can do it from your home.
You could take it to the gym if you want, but they are some of my workouts, some YouTube workouts, some for my favorite apps, and then just like some cardio choices, you know, like go for a walk or go for a run.
But it's so it's this four week plan and each one is about 30 minutes.
You don't need any equipment to be able to.
Do it and I really just wanted it to be something that was the most kind of available thing for people to do because oftentimes we think if we wanna start a workout program, OK, I gotta sign up for a gym.
I gotta get some.
New sneakers.
I gotta get some cute clothes.
You know, I got all of this stuff.
The weeds and the fans and the this and the that.
Yeah, yeah.
And each each thing becomes a barrier and I'm.
Like Nope, you don't need any of that.
All you have to do is show up and press play.
And that's because we can create these mental blocks in our head of.
Like I'll have.
To do this whole list of things before I can even get moving.
I'm like, no, no, no, no.
Nope, we're not.
Doing any of that all I want.
You to do.
Is start moving.
That's the goal you don't need.
Anything else but yourself?
And be able to press play or.
Go for a walk that.
Is like the number one thing is just start moving.
It doesn't have to look a certain way or be a certain structure or anything like.
That but so.
I give away this free four week plan because you can, you know, there's hundreds if not thousands of workout plans on the Internet out.
There and the most thing that the most.
Makes it confusing.
Yeah, that's the most common thing that I get from women is like, well, which one should I do like?
How do I know if it's working?
What is it supposed to do?
You know all this stuff and that's.
Again in mind.
The whole goal is for us get moving. There isn't a it's not going to take you from lifting, you know £50 to 150. It's not gonna take you couch to 5K. It's just going to get you moving.
Every single day of the week.
Yeah, and it doesn't take a lot.
To see big changes, even if you just did.
Half the workout.
And everybody could find 15 minutes in their day somewhere to squeeze in something fun and.
That's cool.
Strength building and.
I choose to like.
Break mine up in the little segment.
Yeah. Yeah, no, I have. I'm I'm working with. I work with a few women. one-on-one and they oh, it never fails.
Out to little.
Weird things but.
I get when we first start working together.
All I ask of them is for 10 minutes a day, like you can walk, do yoga, do lifting, dancing your kitchen.
I don't care what it is, but 10 minutes is all I'm asking for and 99% of the time.
Well, what's that?
It's not going to be enough.
Like, that's not a workout.
That's not.
And I'm like, we're not aiming for all that we need to establish the habit.
We need you to just be doing something and then we can build on it and improve it and start getting more strategic and programming for your specific goals.
But until you have a habit in place, until you make it a priority to show up for 10 minutes.
Every single day.
I'm not going to write you this beautiful workout plan that you know could get you.
Like this goddess body, which I can do that.
But if you're not gonna.
Do it.
That's not gonna matter anyways.
So let's just.
Get clear that yes, you're ready to show up and do something every day.
We do that first.
That's the bit by bit because it's just little incremental changes and you know, diet goes the same way when you're eating.
You know you're not gonna give up everything because it's not sustainable if you don't get into habits of moving.
You're not going to do the harder things down the line, and it won't.
You know, once you get in the habit of of exercising regularly, it becomes your routine and you rearrange your life to get that thing done.
Like my husband and I walk.
3 miles a day in.
The summer, so he has.
To get up early so that we.
Can go for our walk.
It's our time together.
Yes, it is, though it's stuff like that that really does it's impactful and you don't realize the impact of it until you've been doing it.
And then you miss it and you're like.
Oh, my day.
I can't.
Feels a little funky because I didn't do that thing that makes me feel so good or things like that, but a lot of people are just they're sitting around waiting for the motivation to get started.
And it's like.
No, just get started and get some momentum.
And the motivation will happen.
And it.
And then, like you said, it just becomes part of your day.
And then when you don't?
It's like something's missing and that is when you know you've got that habit and you're on A roll.
Like, just keep going when you get to that point, that's when you start building and goal setting and doing all those things.
We laugh.
We call the the neighbors.
We live in Idaho, so it snows here.
And last winter we had like 5 feet of snow on.
On the banks.
It was piled up and.
It was. It was treacherous.
There were some days when it was just plain dangerous, but my husband and I, now that the weather's nice, we laugh with all the fair weather.
Walkers, we call them.
Were they when it was snow?
And ice.
So we get to.
Laugh and you get to meet your.
Neighbors and people in the neighborhood.
And we chased down.
A A wayward goat this morning.
I was actually talking not about goats, but meeting the neighbors because I have lived in my current neighborhood for almost 10 years now.
But it was only once we got a puppy almost a year ago that I actually met so many more people in the.
Her hood because our puppy has me out.
I mean, I walk her three times a day.
You know all that.
And so I.
Have met.
10 times as many people in the last year as I did in the first years that we lived here.
It was wild, but that's what being active like finding a reason to get outside and to move and to talk to people because that's another component.
That people forget about health and well-being is social aspects, so if you that's another reason why I love the fact that.
Fitbit is a community because.
Because oftentimes the group, like people who join my group, typically don't have that support system in their life who want to be active with them.
You know, they don't have a walking partner or a friend to say like, hey, let's go to the gym.
So they rely on on me in this community.
To be their support.
And be their motivation and accountability and all that.
And it's really cool in that regard.
Like you said, you're in Idaho.
Have clients.
From all over.
The world, and it's all people coming together to support each other on very similar journeys that you really don't find.
And in a local gym, as much as I love gyms, trust me, I'm I'm big fan.
But you get such different perspectives and experiences when it's people from all over.
I like to call it cooperation.
It's yeah.
It's it's competitive because, yes.
You know some people.
Are just competitive and by nature and.
But you can be in a group where everybody is winning.
MM.
It just feels so good.
And so you.
Can be happy for the person who's like suddenly dropped.
A dress size or.
Is hitting a new weight limit or?
There's just so many different things that come from being part of a fitness community.
It's it.
It's all about.
The whole of the individual, it's your mindset.
It's your, your.
It's the way you decide that you're going to nourish your body and not just like the food that you put in, but the preparation around the food and the shopping, I mean.
It's just like there's so many, so many parts.
Of of changing how you're deciding to live your life.
And really getting fit that it is changing your life, you you've decided that I'm going to make some small shifts that are going to.
Change the trajectory of.
The rest of my life and.
It's could be things.
Like when you're old.
You're less likely to have.
Health issues and it can save you.
You know, it's it's not free to be part of your community, but the money that you're investing in yourself to be part of a community that's worried of working on helping you be healthy.
Outweighs the cost.
Of having to be in long term care cause you're you have dementia which is type 3 diabetes and.
The and the wear and.
Tear in your relationships.
You know, being with somebody who's.
Ill all the time.
Super hard on the other person are the other people involved in their lives?
Yeah, it's something that is not very often talked about, but being a caretaker is a lot of work and a lot of my clients, I'd say actually most of them are moms.
And so they experience, you know, the selflessness, obviously.
Of taking care of.
And so it's the number one thing that I typically have to drill into their mindset of it is you can't be the best mom that you want to be if you yourself are not healthy and feeling good.
Same thing with your partner, with your relationships, whether that's with parents, friends, family, husbands, wives, you can't be the best spouse.
If you are not at your healthiest self you.
It's just they kind of go hand in hand that if you want to show up the best for the people that you love, you have to first show up for yourself and take good.
Care of yourself?
Because I promise you, if you are not working out if you are not eating food that makes you feel good, it is really hard to then consistently show up.
Well, and emotionally supportive and in a good headspace to take care of those around you and then.
Like you were saying, not to mention I like I personally.
When I'm old, I don't want to be a burden on my partner or my family and things like that.
I want to be the most independent that I can be for as long as I can be.
You know the difference between healthspan and lifespan.
I want them to like their end.
I want them to be side by side.
I don't want my life.
And you're right into the grave.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, and I think that we, especially as women, think of it as like, oh, I have to take care of everyone else.
1st that's that's not how it works.
If you take best the best care of yourself, then you can take better care of everyone else.
But if you run yourself into the ground, take care of everybody.
Else, they're gonna have to start taking care of you way sooner than you would like.
And I've seen it happen so many times.
You know the.
My circle of friends are are getting older and I know some that are super healthy and they have great lives and they're the relationships are really good and I know others that are they're wearing on the relationships that they have because they have so many needs.
And then they get into the cranky state where they think that they're still one way, but they really aren't, and everyone else can see it that they can't and it just.
Do what you can while you're young.
Hang on to that build muscle.
Yeah, like I, I, yeah.
Well, it's easy to build muscle because it.
Gets harder as you get older.
Well, yes it.
Yeah, I compare it a lot to, you know, people who have been in chronic pain or known people in chronic pain.
They often don't realize how you know negative that they have become, or just Moody that they become cranky, that they become, and then once they either get pain management or, you know, like get whatever kind.
Resolve the issue.
It's like they're totally different person and it's the same with us.
It does.
It's not necessarily chronic pain, but it might be chronic fatigue.
It might be you're.
You never sleep enough.
You're always tired.
You're emotionally drained or stressed or all those things so you don't.
You're not aware of yourself being short tempered or snappy at people are cranky and things like that.
Until then, maybe you've had.
A couple weeks to like.
Get it together, you know, rest and rejuvenate things like that.
And you're like.
That was just insane.
I was a totally different person than I am.
And like you said, everyone else around you can.
See it but.
If you're not self aware, if you're not realizing The Cave my ceiling, as long as I'm this tired and this stressed my ceiling for how good I'm gonna feel is right here.
But if I'm taking really good care of myself and doing all the things I know make me feel my best, then my ceiling goes way up and it's I'm just a much nicer.
Person to be.
It doesn't have to be all at once.
Just walk around your.
Anybody can do that takes you 1015 minutes at the most. Depends if you want to talk to people or not.
You know, make a make a better decision for the snack that you're going to have.
Because you're really hungry.
You know just.
Just that one, one decision.
One decision and then another decision.
And then you build on that, but all it.
Takes is a decision.
And I think that joining your group or something like that or working with you one-on-one can really help people.
Get that? Get that.
Initial momentum going and it's really all about just.
Taking the first step, making a decision.
Choosing you, I choose you.
I choose health for you.
Well tend to set it any.
Better myself.
So what's the one thing?
You want to leave the audience with.
Very similar message to actually to what you just said is to take that first step to get moving and it doesn't matter what it is.
It doesn't matter if it's the perfect workout.
If it's, you know, the best plan ever.
It doesn't matter.
All you have to do is start moving your body.
Consistently and I start all my clients with consistent movement before we even move on to anything food related, anything.
That we just get moving consistently because that it's an immediate game changer.
You get all the endorphins, all the feel good stuff you, you start sweating like you feel like you've done something, whereas you know if you eat.
A salad you're like.
Well, I don't feel any skinnier.
You know what I mean?
So, Mr.
Hanson, so I start.
And I'm just denying myself that cheeseburger.
So I put all my emphasis is on getting moving.
So if that's the one thing, if I could tell you where to start with just the easiest, simplest thing is just get moving somehow some way.
I started dancing lately.
I hadn't danced in in years, maybe even decades, but I just joined.
I had joined this group of people that every time we had a a weekend summit or something, we would dance.
When we came back after the breaks.
I was like, this is fun.
It feels good.
You know, just like 3 or 5 minutes.
Of of moving your body, who cares?
If you look funny.
It's just like get everybody.
Going it, it helps your lymphatic system because it it you need to move in order to move.
That part of your system around and yeah, and listen to music you like loud it makes.
You feel good?
Yes it does.
Yes it does.
I'm a big fan of dancing.
As well dance cardio.
Workouts are really good too.
You're curious.
Yeah, that doesn't have to be hard.
It just has to be fun.
Yep, just get moving.
Is that simple.
So tell them again how they can get your.
Free workout plan and how to.
Reach out to you and get.
In touch with maybe even join in your your group.
Yeah, so running with bacon is my website. Runningwithbacon.com/free plan is my free workout plan.
Bit by bit is the name of my membership.
I have a Facebook group like.
There's a whole bunch of stuff that goes along with it, but you can find me at Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, all the socials.
I'm running with bacon night.
I try to make it not.
Hard to find me.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.