March 27, 2024

Fall in Love with Fitness with Sherry Shaban [Ep. 88]

Fall in Love with Fitness with Sherry Shaban [Ep. 88]

Are you in love with your fitness routine? 

Many of us feel like exercise is something that SHOULD be done or is done to punish ourselves, or maybe even to earn our food. 

If we could actually fall in love with it, what would that look like? 

Osteopath and personal trainer Sherry Shaban joins me today to discuss just that. She went from being hit by a car, 2 back surgeries and told never to run again to personal trainer and weight lifter. She and I discuss short term and long term benefits to exercise as well as how to think in order to actually love it! 

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More from Sherry Shaban:

About Sherry:

Sherry Shaban, an extraordinary fitness and life coach who’s battled back from the brink of paralysis to transform not only her body but her entire outlook on life. 

Sherry will challenge your conventional wisdom on dieting and fitness as we look at why diets fail, and what you can do differently. We are unpacking the nuances of ‘transformation’ versus ‘results,’ and how you can move from a life of limitations to one of endless possibilities. From the role of intuitive eating to overcoming chronic pain to the habits that define successful “athletes” in all walks of life, this is a holistic conversation about optimizing your performance from the inside out.

Sherry Shaban is an osteopath and an anti-diet health and life coach from Montreal, Qc. She is the founder of the Fall in Love with Fitness Podcast, the HIIT Decks™ App, and Make Peace with Food™, the leaders in an anti-Diet approach that rewires the brain’s relationship with food to naturally release bodyweight struggles forever.

With over 23 years of experience in the fitness industry, Sherry is a renowned expert in the most challenging weight loss cases and has helped thousands of people worldwide transform their health and fitness using her revolutionary method to rewire the brain, release self-sabotaging limiting beliefs, and patterns, and fall in love with fitness so that weight loss becomes easy, predictable, and enjoyable.

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Transcript

Lisa:

This is the Eat Well, Think Well, Live well podcast, I'm Lisa Salsbury, and this is episode 88 fall in love with fitness with Sherry Shaban. Sherry is delightful and so knowledgeable on all things fitness. You are going to love this episode. If you have ever thought in the past that exercise as a punishment or a requirement to get thin or a. Necessary evil in order to. Shrink your body. There's so much that we talk about today that is in regards to having gratitude and generosity for the body that we have been given. And for all the things that it actually can do. Sherry tells her story of going from being hit by a car and having two back surgeries to the body that she has today, which is very functional, has had children and gets her around to all of the things that she wants to do is very fit. So I appreciate. her time and energy on this podcast. Enjoy Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food. I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury. I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter. I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating. back to the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast. I'm delighted to have Sherry Chabon here. She's a health and life coach, osteopath, certified trainer, all the things in her title. So, so thrilled to have her. She is the hostess of fall in love with fitness podcast. And we got together on her podcast with, Her interviewing me and so just like to do this swap here. So I'm really, really thrilled to be talking with her today. I'm going to talk about all things fitness. Welcome Sherry. So happy to have you.


Sherry:

Thank you so much, Lisa. Happy to reconnect with you again.


Lisa:

We also of course connect because we get to see each other's videos. We have the same hair. So. We suffer the same plights on these rainy days. It's rainy here, so it's, um, it's a nice, frizzy day again for me. So, um, first of all, why don't you tell us a little bit about your story, your background, how you came to the work that you do? Oh,


Sherry:

Yeah, sure. Thanks so much. So I actually got into the health and fitness space a little bit by accident. And really, my background was actually in chemistry before I transitioned into health and fitness. And I guess my journey actually starts when I was 16 years old. And at that time I was really heavily into sports. I was a child athlete and growing up even just in elementary school. I remember always competing against the boys to do more pushups than them to outrun them. And then by the time I got into high school, I was in varsity sports and MVP of most of the sports that I did participate in. And so when I was in, when I was 16 years old, I was actually in boarding school and I remember this day and I will never forget the day actually, where I went downtown to buy Pearl Jam tickets with my roommate because they were coming to town. And so we had to rush back to check in on campus at the right time because there are consequences when you check in late. And so we were trying to catch the bus. And I see the bus taking off from, from the bus stop. And so I run across the street and then the next thing that I remember is waking up in the hospital. And so my roommate, yeah, so my roommate told me I was hit by a car. In fact, I was launched all the way to the opposite side of the street, opposite side of the sidewalk. And when I first came to because apparently I was unconscious and back then they didn't really diagnose head injuries and concussions But I had blanked out for I guess a little while but when I first woke up all I had were abrasions on my face My knees were sore. My body was a bit sore and I didn't really realize the extent of my injury But when I did come back to basketball practice a couple weeks later, I started to experience a pain in my glutes And then it progressively went down my leg up until the point where it was so hard to walk uphill I couldn't sit anymore for a long time. I couldn't even shower on my own And so at that point I went back home where I met up with my parents and I went to go see a doctor And I had my first surgery on my back and at that moment. I was actually so told I was never allowed to play sports again


Lisa:

Oh, heartbreaking.


Sherry:

It was very heartbreaking. It was one bitter pill to swallow was the hardest news I ever ever received in my life And I remember even slamming my fists so hard on the table and doctor's table Just so incredibly upset to hear that I wasn't ever allowed to play sports again And so I actually did listen to this advice for a long time They put me on pain medication and they told me Likely in the future, if ever I were to become pregnant, then I'd have to be super careful because that would create more issues with my back. And that was true later on. However, I, I listened to doctor's advice and then slowly found myself hanging out with a very different crowd. I was no longer the athlete so it was hard to be in that environment and so I started to hang out with the party people and I started to pick up habits that really did not align with who I was. And so in my early 20s, one day I had this massive aha moment. I just woke up one morning, just not able to recognize myself, really, really disappointed. And I would have to say the word is probably self loathing of who I had become. And so it was actually at this moment where I decided, you know what, I'm going to sign up at the local gym. And so that day when I signed up at the local gym, I was actually doing my master's degree in chemistry at McGill University here in Montreal. And when I, when I signed up at the gym, that was a new experience for me. I had played sports in the past. I played team sports, but I'd never actually been in a gym to train and to be even intentional around what I was doing. And so all I could do is just copy people around me. And so I'd copy exercises. I didn't know what they were for, but I stayed consistent. And after a few months, my back pain was gone. I was able to come off of pain medication and that was the turning point of my life. I bought a treadmill. I started running. The doctors had said I can only do like walking on a treadmill, but here I am running. And eventually I was able to start running outside. So I was able to. Run for a full hour out outdoors. And then it was at this point where I decided, okay, this is my life's calling, like this is my mission. I am here to help women overcome obstacles. Because if I was able to do this, if I had a massive injury where I was told I would never be able to use my body in the way that I wanted to, but I was able to strengthen my body, then I wanted to help. others also overcome obstacles, whether that was limiting beliefs, whether that was a struggle with a disease, whether that was a condition or an injury like I had experienced, or even a struggle with releasing weight. And so that's really where I went back to school and dropped out of the chemistry degree, got a new degree in exercise science. I became a certified athletic therapist. I took every single type of course that I could about nutrition and fitness and every type of training and biomechanics and injury prevention. And then I also eventually became an osteopath and that's really how the journey started.


Lisa:

Okay. Wow. That's crazy. At first I thought you were going to say you got hit by the actual bus, but I'm glad it was just a car.


Sherry:

Thank goodness.


Lisa:

Um, so would you say that when you first went back to the gym that your recovery then with the back pain was attributed to building muscle?


Sherry:

Yeah, absolutely. And, and then I also want to point out, Lisa, when I did go back to the gym, um, I still was experiencing a lot of back pain. And so I, I didn't go in there the first day, you know, dead lifting a bus, right? I was really, really listening to my body. I was very, very intuitive with, with my body, especially, um, That pain, because I learned to recognize the difference between good pain and bad pain and really real pain and fake pain. And so I'll always refer to fake pain as pain that goes away when you stop activity, right? So we could run and it feels uncomfortable, but the moment we stop, it's gone, right? Whereas real pain is the pain that's persistent. It's always there. It's keeping us up at night, no matter how we try to reposition ourselves. It's always there. And so that was sort of what I was listening into as my cues in terms of how much I could actually push myself. And of course I started really light and then progressed over time.


Lisa:

Um, that's, that's impressive too, because when we just decide to heal our bodies on our own, you know, it's a lot of work and sometimes can be scary to go against doctor's orders. And of course we're not, well, I was about to say we're not doctors. Sherry's a doctor. Um, I'm not. So, um, you know, be, be aware and listen to what she's saying about listening to your body. So don't just, Um, take this as the permission to just ignore everything that they've told you, right? But somehow fitness can be therapeutic and we can use the benefits of fitness beyond just the shape of our body and meaning. To change it. It's fitness can be more than just to shrink our body and we can transform the way we think about fitness and, you know, using movement for other reasons than just shrinking. So let's talk a little bit about that. The benefits of fitness, your podcast, like I said, in the beginning is called fall in love with fitness. How can we do that? What I'm thinking of here is how many times I've been in an exercise class or heard a trainer say things about punishing our bodies for specifically what we ate or, telling us how hard and terrible this is. I just think we have a lot of messaging about how exercise does feel terrible and, you know, we can't walk the next day and how do we fall in love with such a thing?


Sherry:

That's such a great question and that's actually something we don't fall in love with and really falling in love with fitness is really falling in love with yourself and it's falling in love with the journey more specifically. And when we do look at let's say nutrition in general, I'm not going to say diets necessarily but nutrition in general and exercise We generally use those two modalities to change the way we look because we feel like we're flawed in some way And not only that but we actually use those two modalities to change the way we look and it comes from a place of massive self judgment So it does actually become a form of punishment We wake up in the morning, we do our regular routine of negative self talk in front of the mirror. We weigh ourselves. We're disappointed with what we see and then we make a commitment that we have to make a change in our body. And so we suffer through fitness. We suffer through exercise. We suffer through nutrition because we actually are trying to punish ourselves for not being okay with who we are and how we look. And so.


Lisa:

I call hating ourselves thin, which just doesn't work for very long.


Sherry:

good. I love this term, right? It doesn't work very long because you are actually creating massive resistance in the body. And so. When our thoughts are oh my god, I'm so ugly. I'm so gross. I'm so disgusting. I hate my body I am the f word. This is the one word Lisa that I have a hard time saying f a t this word I don't say I can say the other word but this word The one word I don't say and I told my girls we don't say this one word at home We don't call the dogs that we don't call other people that but when that is our dialogue our self dialogue Then what we actually do is we trigger the nervous system to prepare to fight Or to flee, which is what's called sympathetic nervous state. So, back in the day when we were tribe animals, and we were actually living in tribes, whenever we would get attacked by, let's say, another tribe, that's stole our food or created havoc, we would have that sense of fight or flight. We would have that sense of needing to survive. And so what we would actually do with that alarm system that we just turned on is we would migrate to the next tribe. So we would move and this, again, this, this message that we receive from actually not enjoying the exercise. And coupling that with negative self talk what ends up happening is our body actually works against us Not with us because the body thinks that we are in survival mode, which I call protection mode But when our body's in this place what it's actually going to do is it's going to store more energy It's going to store more body fat It's going to get us to want to eat more food by creating more cravings for us, and then it's going to make movement feel so heavy. It's gonna be heavy to get off the couch. It's gonna be heavy to move, right? And so when we use diet and exercise in a way to punish ourselves, not from a place of self love, then we are immediately triggering that sympathetic nervous state. However, when we're able to lovingly Lovingly choose the foods that resonate with us that align with us that make us feel amazing that give us so much energy That cooperate with our bodies and we are choosing different types of exercises That we resonate with that. We enjoy we actually put the body in more of a parasympathetic state And so the body learns to work with us It has no need to be in this alert state where it's needing to protect itself And so to make a super long story short the way that we can fall in love with food Fitness is really to understand that. It's all about identity. It's all about actually how we are perceiving fitness. And so I use the word athlete often, and I get actually a lot of kickback from using the word athlete. You'll hear this on my podcast. This is how I refer to all of my clients. I don't call them my clients. I call them my athletes because an athlete is a mindset. An athlete is not a person who gets paid millions of dollars to play a professional sport and be on TV. An athlete is a person who's focused on the exercise or actually the training and focused on performance. The athlete Eat something to help them feel their performance. They choose particular foods to help them recover from their training. They choose particular foods to help improve their sleep quality. So it's not about calories. It's not about what is this going to do in terms of how it's going to look on the scale. But it's more around how is this going to actually improve my performance. How is that going to impact how I'm going to show up the next morning. An athlete will turn away a night. Of partying because they have a big training the next morning and so when we get into the athletic mindset It's no longer about how much we're gonna weigh or how we look if you look at any athlete on the planet that you follow And i've a few that I follow and conor mcgregor is one of them Okay, he's got a very strong mindset really hyper focused on outcome and really really certain about that outcome by the way But if you look at any athlete and you look at their body their body is a byproduct of what they're doing Right. It's not that they're, that is their primary goal. They're not trying to cut calories and they're not, they're not trying to lift weights so that they can transform their body. They're doing that all for performance. And so the moment that we release this expectation on an outcome and we don't think about this being almost a monetary exchange, I'm going to, Restrict my calories 300 calories a day so that I can release X number of pounds by this time or I'm going to go for a run every day or a walk every day because I want to release X number of pounds. Instead, if we actually get into falling in love with the process, falling in love with ourselves, more importantly, and committing to things, focusing 24 hours at a time, what ends up happening is we stay consistent. And then the side effect of staying consistent is the result that we actually always wanted.


Lisa:

And so would you say that when you have that focus on performance, cause I, I love thinking of that they're doing their training and fueling their body so that they perform in such a way in their sport. So I'm thinking, okay, what is my sport? What do I want to do in performance? Well, short term. I want to easily be able to go up the stairs and, you know, navigate my day, but long term my performance to me looks like keeping up with my grandchildren, which means getting on and off the floor, which means being able to carry my own luggage to, you know, get on an airplane and go to where they are because. I don't have grandchildren yet, as my listeners know, but, they know I plan to live to a hundred and that one of my main goals is to be an influence for good on my grandchildren. And so, to me, that is the focus. That's my performance. Would you agree?


Sherry:

Oh my goodness. So good. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's, that is how connected we can become to what it is we're trying to achieve, right? Instead of getting into the shoulds of all of it, right? Because I should be this size or I should release this number. I guess I could, I should, right? There's all these musts and shoulds and these high expectations that we place on ourselves again to look a certain way to change our body. But if we get into the, why is this really important? Like, what is my desire? Behind me staying consistent and it is as beautiful and deep as you shared Lisa, which is I want to go up and down the stairs without Without catching without losing my breath, right? And so when I first came back to the gym, my first goal was I want to be strong. I want to be stable. My whole life revolved around my back. I couldn't sit in a chair for so long. I even had to choose what kind of car I was going to sit in because I remember I sat in a Jeep one time and that was super bouncy and then I had back pain for a week. If I would go to a social event, I'd always have to ask the host Is there a place for me to lie down at some point because I can't sit for too long. So that was my world. And so my intention and the reason why I wanted to come back to the gym, yes, there was a loss of identity. But I had, I had at one point in my life, needed somebody to take me to the bathroom, to bring me up the stairs, to help me bathe. And I just wanted to be so empowered in my ability to do all of these things for myself. That was my why. In fact, it's still my why. And it'll always be my why. And I, I get a lot of, of, always these questions of, Sherry, how did you get your six pack and your anti diet? Well, the reason that I got it is because I really focused on becoming strong so I wouldn't have to rely on anybody to help me do anything. And as a result of being consistent for so many years, even having kids and, and having multiple other injuries in the process and other things happening and major illnesses and pneumonias and all the things, I still stayed consistent. And then the side effect of that is the body that everybody's trying to always achieve, right? It's like focusing on. The money, but not what you're actually doing to service people. You start a business. All you're focusing on is how much money I can make versus what is that I'm actually going to do in my business. And how can I actually impact people?


Lisa:

I love your story and I think it's really amazing that you were able to like get, you know, go from that really incapacitated state really as at especially such a young age. That's like crazy. I'm curious, though, if you could give me some examples of maybe some of your clients, obviously, without, you know, giving their names or whatever. I like to hear other reasons I know mine, which is long term. A lot of times I tell my clients, we've got to have short term reasons too. Like sometimes when we're faced with that, you know, pan of Rice Krispie treats, thinking about our grandchildren is just too far away. I'm only 48. I have one married child. He's been married for three weeks. I have no grandchildren on the horizon, really, you know, it's not coming anytime soon. And so it feels very distant. And so I like to sometimes bring the focus back. And a lot of times with nutrition, I'm telling my clients, how are you going to feel in an hour? How is your bloating going to be? How are you going to sleep? because sometimes when we overeat, we're not sleeping well, we wake up, you know, feeling yucky or, you know, and I'm talking specifically about like a lot of digestive symptoms that will occur with nutrition, but with exercise, what are some more, a little more short term reasons like for performance? It just sometimes feels like. It takes so long to transform the body. It takes so long, you know, like I've been doing deadlifts for a long time and just starting to feel like, I don't know, maybe my butt's a little bigger. That's fun. But wow, it's been five years since I learned how to properly deadlift. You know what I mean? What, so maybe some examples from your clients reasons that they, that they give.


Sherry:

Yeah. So, so there's, there's short term benefits, of course, to exercise and some of that. I mean, the immediate change that we can see is a change in our mood and that in itself is oftentimes enough to stay, to stay committed. And so. Change in the mood better sleep a lot of what you shared actually in terms of the short term benefits of focusing on nutrition We can actually experience that also with exercise. It actually does help us reduce bloating So when we go for a walk, for example We don't realize that our kidneys are sitting on our psoas and as we're walking there is a pumping action that happens Where the kidneys are pumping and then also detoxifying the body. And so there is of course improved circulation. It's a form of meditation as well when we exercise. It's a great way to stay in the present moment and to disconnect. It's a great way to overcome stress. And that's how we always feel better after we exercise. There's all these endorphins that are released in the moment. And so we can sit again and share all of these benefits and, and focus on them and make them a goal. But here's the thing. What we're actually still doing from my perspective is doing an exercise or committing to an exercise in exchange for something else. And what I always like to share with my athletes is that if we actually apply the act of generosity on everything we do, when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to fitness, we're actually gonna have so much more fun with it. And so what is generosity? Generosity is giving without, without an expectation to receive. Right. So when I eat a salad, I don't, I don't have an attachment to that. There's no expectation on that. It's not because I need to release weight. It's not because I hope something will happen. It's really because I want to generously give to my body. And so if I can


Lisa:

Okay, wait, stop, stop. That was amazing. Okay, I just wanna reiterate that. We don't eat a salad because we think I'm gonna eat this and then my body will do something for me like release weight. I'm gonna eat this salad because I want to care for my body in that way. So good. Okay, carry on. I just wanted to really emphasize that. That was so good. Okay.


Sherry:

Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and it's a very different way, Lisa, to look at nutrition and fitness because no one, nobody really talks about that. Everyone's like, okay, if you, if you go into calorie deficit deficit for two weeks, then this is going to happen. And if you walk every single day, then that's going to happen. And so everything that we do in terms of health and fitness generally is attached to a particular expectation of an outcome. I'm going to do this because I want that to happen. And


Lisa:

And then when that doesn't happen, then you're like, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with my body? Like probably nothing, by the way. And that's the fastest way to get nowhere is to be like, there's probably something wrong with me.


Sherry:

Right. Right. And so when we can become generous and really generosity is aligning with who you are, right? When I brush my teeth every day, I'm not thinking about, okay, I better get a brush my teeth so I don't have cavities. It just becomes an act of generosity, right? If I decide to, let's say weed out toxic people from my life, it's because this is a very generous act. If we can start to look at all of our life and think about how we can become generous. Which is giving just love without expecting anything in return and then make our fitness rituals Also about generosity again focusing on how generous can I be to myself 24 hours at a time? there is going to be an outcome from that by Right by accident without even forcing it. It's just going to happen naturally and so again getting into this this place of generosity has everything to do with identity and so one of the things that we can maybe Think about to help us shift into that place is instead of focusing on a goal on a particular outcome. And this is sort of how I coach too, is I get away from these, these big goals because these big goals, again, they just, they just teach us to focus on an outcome, but not really teach us how to create a strategy or to create, let's say, a system to consistently attain that goal. And so instead of, let's say, focusing on. Releasing 30 pounds, we could then maybe reframe the goal and say, well, who do I have to become to be the person who's 30 pounds lighter?


Lisa:

Yes. So good.


Sherry:

And now as I get into all these habits, right? And maybe by modeling other people, maybe by Asking people who I admire what they do in the morning What are their rituals and I start adding in one habit at a time I will generously be giving all these habits to myself and what will happen is The side effect of incorporating all these habits into my day to day life is going to be again, the results that I want in my physical body.


Lisa:

I love it. Okay. This sounds a lot like, um, the term I've heard you use being an intuitive mover. So just like we have talked about being intuitive with our eating and what that means, is this, how you become that intuitive mover? Tell us about that.


Sherry:

Yeah, absolutely. So when we are wanting to become an intuited eater, number one, we're going to harness the practice of generosity as we spoke about. And then the other practice that we're going to harness is patience. And this is one that's very, very challenging for, for many of us, because when we are patient, what we're also being is incredibly trusting in ourselves and trusting in the process. And so that means that there, like you were saying, Lisa, we can follow a plan. To the T and then still not get the results that we want, but if we have the practice of patience, then with that faith, with that sense of knowing we can stay committed and then allow ourselves to stay also consistent over time and so becoming intuitive then with the practice of generosity and with the practice of patience really allows us to understand that we have a different 100 percent every single day. And so in order for us to get results, it is consistency over time. So consistency over time is what gives us results, which means that if I consistently. Go for a walk every single day over time. I'll have a result And that also means that if I consistently do something that doesn't serve me Then i'll also get a result that maybe i'm not so happy about And so what that means is if I do one workout and I think we can all agree if I do one workout a month Let's say I won't get a result and if I end up having let's say an unwanted eating behavior and an episode that happened That month I also won't get a result from it. It's any time that we are Consistently doing something that's going to give us a result and so when we can step into that when we can accept that and take that on As we become an intuitive mover, we also acknowledge that every single day our energy levels will change. And so if I can respect my energy levels within that 24 hour period, of course, being super honest with myself, I have to be super in tune with myself. Is it my mind that's telling me that I don't want to, or I can't, or is it my body? Right. But that's what we want to do. And same thing with nutrition. We don't want to listen to what the mind, is the mind hungry or is the body hungry? And so we can start to differentiate these cues. Based again on just that consistency and, and it's a relationship, right? So the first time that you try to listen to your body, it's going to be a bit challenging. And so you have to give it time. You have to be patient. And the same thing with movement. You have to be patient because you'll start to pick that up. And so what that essentially means in the way that my training looks, there are days where I'll, I'll run in the morning and I'll work out in the evening. And I can do that because I have a lot of energy that day. And that just feels right. There are other days where my body just wants a 10 minute yoga flow, and that's also okay. And so that was my 100 percent for the day. And so when you allow for that, then there's always flexibility. There's always adaptability. There's never this sense of failure. You never feel disappointed in yourself because you're just honoring your body and you're honoring what you can do. And again, it helps you stay consistent. And that's how over time you're going to get the results that you want. And more importantly, you're going to


Lisa:

Yeah. Keeping them. That's, that's also such a big issue because once we build a habit, sometimes it's easy to let it go. If it's new. I noticed for me, when I saw this term intuitive mover kind of, for me, it felt like how on many, many days, especially in this last year, I've noticed I prefer to move. Over not moving it's just been interesting to me as I've looked back on how exercise has changed for me. I don't know why it's just been in this last year because I've been fairly consistent on the routine that I'm currently on. but I just have noticed that even on days where I typically in the past might have said, I don't really have time or, we're traveling today. So it doesn't make sense for me to get up early and do that workout. I have noticed that I prefer to get up early, get that workout in or forego something else. Just say, you know, I'll just. I'll just figure out that later and I'm going to get that movement in even just 30 minutes. It's not like I'm, you know, at the gym for an hour and a half. Having that movement in the day, especially on a day where there's going to be a lot of sitting like with travel has really helped with my stress level. Um, Knowing if I'm going to be in a stressful situation with certain relationships or people I might be with, getting in a walk in the morning, getting something in has really made a big difference to me. And I feel like that, for me, is also what is defining myself as an intuitive mover, where I feel like. I need to move for my mood. This is actually going to help me more than it's going to be a problem in my schedule. I used to always think it's like a problem in my schedule, a task to check off. But once I realized this is a benefit I can't go without, that has been a big shift for me.


Sherry:

Yeah. So good. And, and that's the thing too, is, is as we're talking about intuitive eating, we're really getting into how things make us feel. Right. If I eat six donuts, I'm going to feel one way. And if I eat an apple and some peanut butter and a snack made out of whole foods, I'm going to feel a completely different way. And so when we can get into the feeling of things and really start to choose based on how things make us feel, then again, that becomes a very, very different relationship with exercise. And so similar to you, Lisa, I mean, I've had surgery on my back twice. I had a second surgery in 2012 where I was Almost, um, almost that paralysis. I was a couple of millimeters away, but similar to you, I actually feel back pain if I don't move. So my intention to move has everything to do with again, how, how I feel and, and that movement, by the way, is, is like a walk. Like I take my dogs for a walk and, and we, we cannot underestimate the power of walking. It is one of the most amazing forms of exercises. And, and please, like I hear this often and people always say it's not enough and I'm only walking. And, but it's, it's a very, very powerful exercise, um, to actually incorporate into, into our daily habits.


Lisa:

For sure. I was just going to say, when I have clients come to me that aren't exercising at all yet, I'm like, for sure, let's start with walking. And they always want to say, well, shouldn't I, shouldn't I do more? Like, no, start with walking. If you're already moving, you might, you know, do something a little more intense, but if you're not moving at all, start with walking. And if you're, if you're doing other exercise, but don't have a regular walking routine, That's so important to add in.


Sherry:

so good. So good. And there's that word should again, right? A lot of times we're committing to things because we feel like we should do it. We heard that we should write and, and you know, they, they recommend this many servings of this and, and we should get moderate exercise this many times a week. And if we're following all these shoulds, we can't be intuitive, right? And so that's why we have to really get in, get into the body, get out of the mind and get into the body.


Lisa:

good. Okay. I love this conversation. Thank you so much. Is there anything that we missed you want to add in with falling in love with fitness?


Sherry:

Yeah, absolutely. One thing I love to share is that it's never too late. So no matter what age you are, no matter how far gone you feel that you are, it's never too late. And I'm sure Lisa can attest to this, that at whatever age you decide to start your journey, everything is possible. If you commit to yourself in a very loving way, everything is possible. And I've seen the most amazing transformations in people in their 50s and 60s and 70s and hopefully beyond. And so all this to say is if you're ready to start, Remember, it's 1 percent better every single day. Don't think about what you should do. Think about what resonates with you. Choose that one thing to start with that you feel comfortable with, that you know 100 percent that you can commit to. You always have so much time to add on more stuff, to add on intensity, but first, before you add on the intensity, establish consistency. Consistency first, then intensity.


Lisa:

Perfect. Thank you so much, Terry. Why don't you tell people where they can find you online? I know you live in Montreal, but they're probably not coming up there. So


Sherry:

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram. The handle is at Sherry Shaban fitness. And then I also work with women who really are struggling with unwanted eating behavior. So this is binge eating, emotional eating, stress eating. And if you're in that place where you're really ready to make a change in your health, I would really recommend to address this behavior first before you start making any changes around nutrition. And I have a free download for you if you'd like and want to start your. journey to overcome unwanted eating behavior. And you can grab that at make peace with food. com.


Lisa:

perfect. And we'll put those links in the show notes. Of course. Thanks again for being here.


Sherry:

Thank you, Lisa. That was great.


Lisa:

If this episode has helped you in any way, all I ask is for you to share it, share it with one friend or share it on your social media tag me, and I'll give you a shout out. I'd also love for you to leave a five-star rating on apple and Spotify and review the show on apple podcasts. Have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the eat. Well think. Well live well podcast.

 

Sherry Shaban Profile Photo

Sherry Shaban

Coach

Sherry Shaban, an extraordinary fitness and life coach who’s battled back from the brink of paralysis to transform not only her body but her entire outlook on life.

Sherry will challenge your conventional wisdom on dieting and fitness as we look at why diets fail, and what you can do differently. We are unpacking the nuances of ‘transformation’ versus ‘results,’ and how you can move from a life of limitations to one of endless possibilities. From the role of intuitive eating to overcoming chronic pain to the habits that define successful “athletes” in all walks of life, this is a holistic conversation about optimizing your performance from the inside out.

Sherry Shaban is an osteopath and an anti-diet health and life coach from Montreal, Qc. She is the founder of the Fall in Love with Fitness Podcast, the HIIT Decks™ App, and Make Peace with Food™, the leaders in an anti-Diet approach that rewires the brain’s relationship with food to naturally release bodyweight struggles forever.

With over 23 years of experience in the fitness industry, Sherry is a renowned expert in the most challenging weight loss cases and has helped thousands of people worldwide transform their health and fitness using her revolutionary method to rewire the brain, release self-sabotaging limiting beliefs, and patterns, and fall in love with fitness so that weight loss becomes easy, predictable, and enjoyable.