Links:

*Website: https://www.betterhealthbyaccountability.com/

*Landing Page for Freebie: 5 tips to living your life like a normal person

(while still losing weight): https://mailchi.mp/7a19321b2678/eirqg8yry4

*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betterhealthbyaccountability/

*Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betterhealthbyaccountability

*TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@accountabilitycoachash?lang=en

*Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleycarlotta/

Get my weekly business tips here

Unknown Speaker  0:00

If you're a female entrepreneur and you're looking for community, encouragement and empowerment in your journey as a small business owner, this is the podcast for you. Tune in with me as we interview women from all over the world on different walks in their business journey. We'll hear about their highs and their lows, their struggles and successes. They'll share tips and tricks and tutorials on how to grow your business. So pull up a chair and turn the volume up as we share the nitty gritty of female entrepreneurship with no filters, no scripts, no judgment on the no mercy business podcast.

Unknown Speaker  0:49

Well, hello, everyone. Thank you for joining me once again, on the no mercy business podcast. This is your host, Emily Woodruff. And I have a special guest with us today. Ashley Carlotta is here. Why don't you tell us about your business, Ashley?

Unknown Speaker  1:03

Hi, Emily. Thanks so much for having me today. Yeah, so I am an accountability health coach. And I guide mostly women men too, but I guide people to lose weight in a sustainable way without dieting. And without feeling FOMO on their weight loss journey, for lack of a better word fear of missing out is what that means. Because I know a lot of times people start on these restricted diets, and they don't stick to them. So with my coaching, what I'm doing is I'm having my clients send me pictures of what they're eating. And I'm giving them suggestions and guidance along the way, helping them make sure that they're getting enough calories, not eating too many calories, and watching their macros and things like that. I also plan their workouts for them, if that's something that they want to have done, and I hold them accountable to get those workouts in. Without making excuses. I am sending reminders throughout the day, I am making sure that they're eating on some sort of a schedule, sending nudges to drink their water. And sometimes it also turns into like helping them make sure that they go to bed on time with a nudge in that area, you know, or maybe they want to be good about having a daily devotional or meditation in the morning. Really, I'm just the support system to make them make healthier choices. Because ultimately, that's that's what they want. And so yeah, that's my business in a nutshell.

Unknown Speaker  2:30

I love that. So when I first kind of read your bio, I thought it was all health focused, which is really cool. But it's really neat to hear about the, like you just said like a devotional or just daily reminders. I have a friend right now that I'm, I'm doing some things with some medical things in my personal life. And there's a certain thing that I'm not doing every day and I need to and she's like, I'll help you. I can do this great. She hasn't done it once. I knew what she meant, whatever.

Unknown Speaker  3:03

No, I'm telling you, do you have any friends? Or how many times and me and my friends like throughout the years have said, Okay, let's make sure that we don't have any sugar this week or something. And then by the time Thursday rolls around, they're like, Okay, I really want to go to happy hour like do you want to do and it's like, alright, let's throw in the towel. So it really does help to invest in somebody who's like, really going to keep you on track versus somebody who like, wants to make you feel good too. Because I can tell you that like if I tell my husband to be like, okay, don't let me have any ice cream for this week. And the moment he looks at me funny, like on Wednesday when I'm gonna be like, Ah, don't judge me. I'm your wife. You love me however I am.

Unknown Speaker  3:47

Yep, exactly. Exactly. Get it? So how how did you start to get involved with us? What is your backstory with it?

Unknown Speaker  3:57

Sure. So it kind of fell into place in a very natural, random way. I I have had body insecurities from like the age of six years old, where I like looked around me and I realized that like little girls were like a lot smaller and skinnier than me. And I had to put on a leotard and tights for this Nutcracker show. And I was crying and I was telling my mom I didn't want to go out there because I felt like I looked fat and from six years old that truly breaks my heart. I yo yo dieted through my teens and my adult years like in my 20s for sure. I was never satisfied with the way that I looked and I didn't know how to lose weight but again, like I said in the beginning I did it in a very restrictive way. So that by the time I got back to my goal of where I wanted to be like at my wedding, for example, well, then it just it got it came right back. Yeah. So after I had my My second child, meanwhile, let me back up for a second. So I was an accounting and tax professional for years. And all the personality tests and things that I would take because I love taking those tests and stuff it so yeah, you should be a life coach. And you know, you should work with people, I'm extroverted. But I was always sitting behind a desk doing taxes, but yeah, security for me. And at the time, I lived in California in the Bay Area, and I just, there was no risk factor to where I could be like, I'm just gonna quit my job and become a lifeguard right, sir. Plus, I didn't even know what that looked like. So anyway, after I had my second child, I had gained 50 pounds with each pregnancy, and I didn't lose it enough from the first, I was determined to figure this crap out. I was so tired of just not liking the way that I looked in the mirror. I was tired of going on another diet. And so what works for me is, I did have a friend that that actually held up to her part in this is I would send her like my food diary log at the end of the day, we would do it together. And we did that for a long time, because that was just a part of her daily life. Anyway, she was already at her goal and had maintained her goal for years. And so I just kind of started watching what she was doing. I started asking people a lot of questions. I think the problem was that I was never fully vulnerable about it. But once I started to say, I really don't know what I'm doing, like, what do you eat for lunch? You don't I mean, what snacks are you having in the afternoon, because clearly, I'm not choosing the right ones. Or I learned that you're not supposed to restrict before you go out to dinner, like that's the worst thing you can do. But a lot of us tried to like save up our calories because they're going out for a meal. So slowly, but surely, I lost the weight from those two pregnancies. And I just, I felt amazing this time, specifically, because I was incorporating the strength training, I was exercising regularly. And I had done it slow enough to where I felt like, I think I can actually manage it this time. And I did for two solid years, I maintained within like a three to four pound range, which I had never done in my life. Yeah. And then we had another baby, which was a choice I wanted to, but I find myself back at square one, like, Okay, I didn't gain as much weight. But I was like, you know, you just you gotta get back into the motions, and you got to get back to like reining it in. And

Unknown Speaker  7:28

so what I did is I had moved to Texas in the meantime, like as I had my third child, and I wasn't doing the accounting anymore, I had taken a break, and I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do next. So I posted my journey of my weight loss on Instagram, like every normal person, right? But I was like, You know what, if I want the ultimate accountability to actually do this, and not wait for Monday to like, just come around again, then I'm going to do this. So I was logging it. And people just started asking along my journey, what are you doing? What program are you doing? What are you eating? What workouts are you doing? And I was like, I'm not doing any program. Like I truly am just doing this the way that I know how I know what to do. I just wasn't doing it. And so having you all watch me is holding me accountable. And people were like, can you like, can you help me? Like, can you give me tips and stuff like that. And so I slowly but surely I started just like coaching people like friends on the side. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this might be able to become a business. So I started charging people a little bit. And as I saw that it was working. And I even started to have like repeat clients like they'd be with me for 12 weeks. And then you know, they'd go through a season of something, you know, there's things that happen in your life, you have a family member who dies, or you're going through a really hard parenting time or whatever it is, I saw them start to come back like no, really what works is having the support and the accountability to do it because I know what to do. So that's where this came into place better health by accountability. And I truly believe it's the missing piece for most people. I mean, there's nutrition guidance in there, obviously, and workout guidance, but for the most part, it's just having that angel on your shoulder that's there for you and not letting you quit because it's so easy to quit after like three days. Yeah. So that's my long story of how it came to fruition.

Unknown Speaker  9:20

No, it's great. It's important. It's good to hear the whole thing and it's, it makes it makes you more relatable and makes you feel like somebody that we've you know, might resonate with us a little bit but I'm sorry, I'm not getting my words out. Well tonight.

Unknown Speaker  9:35

Later and I'm on the same page as you it's like it's the end of the day, but we can fit this in

Unknown Speaker  9:40

today has been a base. So you work you work a lot with women, moms, entrepreneurs, that's kind of your specialty.

Unknown Speaker  9:50

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And it's just it I work with mostly people who have really busy schedules Whether it's through their work, or what their kids are doing both, and it just feels so overwhelming to them, if they've been out of this healthy lifestyle for so long that they need somebody to come in and be like, Alright, what do I do? Tell me what to do, you know, take the thinking out of it a little bit for me. Now, granted, I do make you think. But for the most part, it's just like, I try to make it easy for them so that they can do this. So they don't see oh, I have to go do an hour workout at the gym every single day. Like that's just not going to work for a lot of people. So if you can get 15 minutes and that you weren't doing yesterday, that's better than nothing. If you can maybe get a vegetable on your plate today that you didn't eat any yesterday. That's better than nothing, right? Sure.

Unknown Speaker  10:42

Yeah, for sure. So why don't you talk about how you see nutrition and fitness and how they affect your productivity and your mental wellness? And how that can look in your, your personal and business life?

Unknown Speaker  10:58

Yeah, so as women in general men too, but as women, we can be very emotional. And I don't mean that by Boothbay. Yeah, no, I know. But a lot of times we are eating, because we're trying to comfort ourselves in some area, sometimes we're celebrating, sometimes we're sad, sometimes we're depressed, right. And I have found that with productivity in not only just your business, but just in running your life, you know, we have to like plan our day. And all of those things like if you have a foggy mind, because you're eating just like crap. And by crap, I mean, that doesn't even necessarily mean eating like a bunch of us food or anything. But if you're not fueling your body properly, you are not going to be running like a well oiled machine when it comes to your thought processes and getting things done. And you're also just not going to feel strong. I know a lot of us want to have, you know, a firm or a muscular body composition. And if you're not lifting any weights, or you're not making time to go out and go for a walk and make time to breathe and take those breaks. Yeah. And you're just sitting because I don't know about for you, Emily, but like when you have your own business, it's like, you could always be doing something, oh, yeah, I had a to do list a mile long. And I could just keep adding to it. And I could choose not to get up and go to my workout, I could choose not to get up and fill up my water, or put together a lunch that really is probably only going to take me five minutes. But in my mind, it just seems like I have so much to do. Yeah, you will feel better, you will sleep better. And you will have more energy in the day, if you're taking care of yourself. And so that's why I just think it's so important. And me as an entrepreneur myself, I have to hold myself accountable to do those things and make sure that I'm asking myself, when I'm craving chocolate, or when I'm craving something like chips or things like that. It's I have to pause. I always suggest pausing. Why is it because you haven't had a good meal and a couple of hours? Is it because you're feeling an emotion, like and you're just really mad at your partner and you need to like call your friend or your mom or like take the roads or get in the bath or whatever it is right? Like, I can promise you that most of the time if you are binge eating, or you're gravitating to things such as like not just choosing one cookie, but six cookies. Because something else internally is going on, maybe you're really stressed at work. I know that was a trigger for me in the tax accounting office to like during those busy seasons. At the time, I used to just stop everything, it stopped my health journey, essentially because it's like, well, Work comes first and you get in the office at 7pm and I mean 7am And literally like I'd have to make myself leave to come home because the work Yes, for stops. But I always hated it because I knew I needed more balance in my life. But it was just the profession that I was in. So I did like I did have to start setting boundaries. I did have to start putting on my calendar from 11am to 1130 I'm walking I'm gonna go out and walk because I know I'm going to be here forever and I need to get some air. I mean and you know if you take breaks, you can come back feeling refreshed and get more work done. But if you're not you it's just you feel rundown and yeah, you know how it is? It's yeah, a lot. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  14:41

I so I have a regular nine to five job also. So I sit at a desk all day long today was I said today it was a day and it's because meeting started at eight o'clock and ran until the first one ended at almost 11 which is a really fun way to start your De Yeah. And then I had to listen to a recording from a meeting two days ago, that was two and a half hours long. I didn't get a lunch hour, and we had a bid do so we have all these things that I can't, I literally am not supposed to get up from my desk. I, you know, I wear like a smartwatch or whatever, and it'll buzz at me and tell me, Hey, you haven't moved in a while, then like, but I'm in a meeting and I'm, I'm checking bids, and I'm checking emails, and I literally can't do anything different. And then when I get little 10 minute bursts, I almost am like running down the hallways trying to like, I just have to move, I just have to do something, you know. So it's really difficult for that. And because I live so far from my house, or from my live so far from my work, I'm in the car for two extra hours every day. So I'm sitting, and it's just, it's so difficult. And then you get home. And it's like, well, I have all these things to do. But I know that I need to go for a walk or I know that I need to do this. And it's, I can just relate to this a lot.

Unknown Speaker  16:05

And you are so not alone. Like that's really a lot of us are living in that same world. And I understand like, it's an you got to go to work, and you got to get there and you got to sit in the car to get there. Right. Yeah. And it really is a lot. And that's why I believe in making things easy for you. Yeah, making sure that you know, like, for example, what protein filled lunch you're going to have, and you're going to make it easy. And you know, you're probably going to make that every single day. And that doesn't even need to be like meal prepped on Sunday, because that's not something I would ever do. I'm kind of more of a spontaneous, spontaneous person. But it's like, if you know, you're not gonna be able to get up for your desk for hours. And you might be stuck on a call or a meeting or whatever, you better believe you need to have like a drawer of like some nuts and some protein bars, or whatever. And you need to just be you know, I mean, we all need to eat, we all need to go to the bathroom. And it's like, you have to start setting those boundaries there too. And I'm not saying that you have to block out like full 30 minutes. Yeah, they're, even if that means that you're going and you're scarfing down your salad real quick, I hate that because I want you to be mindful of it. You know, you also need to make sure that you have snacks in the car so that when you come home, you're not like ravishing through the pantry or Yeah, picking up takeout that, you know is like not the best thing. But by then you're so burnt out, and you're hungry, and you're tired. And you don't want to think and so that's where I come in to really help you to be like, Okay, do you have some turkey meat in the fridge? Like, let's roll it up into a tortilla, put some fruit next to that and like call it a day for dinner? If like, if if that's what it is, if you don't have time to cook, you know? And yeah, I know it is. It's hard. If you're coming home and you're like, cool. I haven't worked out yet. And you're just but I can promise you that if you do again, even for a short amount of time, like a 10 minute strength video or something. You're all of a sudden, gonna have more energy to complete anything else that you need to do that evening. Yeah. But it's just about actually doing it in. Yeah, like, well, I'll do it tomorrow.

Unknown Speaker  18:11

Yeah, well, and in some other things I can kind of speak to a little bit is that so I have PCOS. So I fight with a lot of other things on top of my regular health struggles, you know, just dietary struggles and things but so I've been really trying to drink like a protein shake. I'm not somebody I don't like fruit. And I don't know if I am ready to put that on the internet. But I just I don't eat it. I just have never liked it. But if I can have a protein shake, I can guarantee that I get fruit every single day. And I eventually once I'm more consistent with it, I can start sneaking vegetables in there. And I can I've done this before, and I've lost tons of weight really fast really easily. And now. So here's the funny thing. We have kind of a small hobby farm. And we just got goats last week. Yeah, so now they're my goats too. So I have to go out there every single day, which seems like it's not a big commitment. It's really not that far. But it forces me to get out of the house. And I don't usually come home and just sit down. But it forces me to walk further. And to run around in the pen with the goats and let them climb on me and put you know, just the things that I do interacting with them. I already noticed a difference in just little things like that, you know, right? Yeah, like just the walk out there. I hit my step school during the week. And normally I come in like 800 Steps short of it like so I'm always close but now I do it every single day. And if nothing else, it just makes me like yeah, I can.

Unknown Speaker  19:53

Like I have a purpose and I have to go do something you know they need you to yeah I'm super cute. We work with a lot of clients that have PCOS. And it's even more important, I know you don't want to hear this. And I know you've heard it already, it's even more important to focus on your nutrition, making sure that you're having really balanced meals with enough protein, especially in the morning. So that's great if you can put all the fruit in that you can in there and get it in and granted you I mean, really like two servings of it, it's fine. Anyways, I would rather have more vegetables. Sometimes our clients find it helpful to be gluten free, when you have PCOS. Sometimes it works, sometimes others don't really see a difference. Yeah, unfortunately, it's just it is what it is weight loss is slower, it just and which is reason why you need to be even more consistent and not have it be a race, it's got to just be a lifestyle. And that doesn't mean that you don't have you know, a glass of wine in your piece of cake. And you don't have to be like so strict that. But you have to be consistent with it and you have to eat throughout the day. You can't go from nine to five and then be starving and have a huge meal after that. Like that's not how your body works. And not Yeah, your metabolism.

Unknown Speaker  21:17

Yeah. And then that is something for me personally, that I'm trying very hard to I'm trying really hard right now to add steps to my day. And because it's beautiful fall weather, we have really great weather right now. So and I'm, I'm Ginger skin so I don't love being in the sun in the summertime. So I usually will walk on my lunches. And that is super helpful for me. And then I'm trying to do like the shakes thing. And then shortly here, I'll add something else into it. But yeah, anyway, yeah, that's just me and my little journey. But what I don't think

Unknown Speaker  21:49

that's important, I think it's important to not change everything all at once. Because otherwise we won't stick to it, I think that it's good that you're choosing like, Okay, I'm doing this first, then I'm gonna add this in. And then when you're consistent with that, you can add another thing in.

Unknown Speaker  22:04

Yeah, and I know too, I know that winter is coming. So some of some of those habits will just naturally change because it's going to be like below zero, and the wind will hurt my face. And I don't want to be outside walking for that. So once hopefully by that point, I will be so used to it that it will feel natural for me to want to go downstairs and use our treadmill and you know, do it in other ways. But yeah, so for people who are not me, what are some other tweaks or some additions that you would suggest somebody add to their daily, your morning routine?

Unknown Speaker  22:37

Sure. I think it's important to not grab your phone first thing in the morning. I know for me, that's something I used to do. And I would stress myself out because then my kids needed me. But then I needed to respond to something and all of a sudden, like my mind was all worried and anxious. So I think getting up for me personally, I like to read a Bible verse of some kind. And I mean, when I say meditate on that, like, I'm literally talking like a minute, like, I'm not asking anybody to do like 20 minutes, but it's just like, think positively. You know, for me, I like to thank God for whatever it is that's going on in my life that's going well at that time. And then you know, a lot of times a little prayer will be like, alright, Lord, help me through this day. You know, I'm not a morning person. So a lot for me to get out of bed. Yeah, I think it is important to make sure that you're drinking enough water throughout the day, people just, they neglect that a lot. And the reason is, is one it can help speed up your metabolism, it's not going to make it go in like you know, a crazy way or anything like that. But it helps but it also makes you think about whether or not you're actually hungry or if you're just dehydrated. So I always drink a big cup of water before my cup of coffee in the morning. And I also recommend not just having coffee without having some kind of food with it as well. Because it can also it can be like acidic for your stomach and it's just it's good to pair with that and and just make sure to eat breakfast a lot of people do fasting. It's not wrong. It's just not what I teach my clients to do. Because I know for me like if my if I'm in a good routine, like if my stomach's not growling by 9am I know like something's off, right? Yeah. And making sure that you're not drinking too much alcohol. I know that's like a party pooper thing to say. But really, if you're drinking wine into the late hours of the night, yeah, and I just wake up feeling groggy and yucky. Right so watching that. But also in the morning. I just I really believe in just prepping somewhat for your day like I would I hate it sometimes when my clients are so rushed that it's like, okay, you made your kids lunches. You did all these things. You got them to school yet you left and you didn't bring any thing for yourself. Like, we have to treat ourselves like children too. And we have to take care of ourselves because we're needed in the world, whether or not you have kids or not, it's like to be just like a good human. You need to eat or else you're just gonna be an irritable angry person is

Unknown Speaker  25:16

so good. That's so good. That's so real. Because I'm sitting here like, Yep, I packed my husband his lunch most days, not, not every day. Do things for him, I make sure our kid has some of them before we get out the door and make sure everybody's got their bags. And then I'm like, Oh, crap, we're five minutes late, you know? And, okay, I guess I'll stop at the gas station and get something and it's just never, you know. I mean, I get like goldfish, so it's not like anything horrible, but it's not great. You know?

Unknown Speaker  25:45

Well, I mean, Goldfish are horrible, but they're definitely not feeling you. I can tell, you know, some goldfish. I'm going to be hungry in about 20 minutes after that.

Unknown Speaker  25:54

Yeah. No, that's great. So do you have any, this is just kind of a sidebar. But you mentioned having something like with your coffee, is there anything in particular that you would suggest?

Unknown Speaker  26:07

Yeah, so for my clients who get up, and they like to have a cup of coffee and not eat like a whole meal before going to the gym. For my early workouts, I usually recommend like having like a half of banana and a piece of toast, or just a handful of almonds, you could do a half of a protein bar, I just like you to get something in your system. Now, if you're not a, you know, morning work router, then I really would suggest trying to wait to have coffee until you're ready to eat your breakfast. And I feel like it goes together. So I mean, what am I favorite breakfast is is avocado toast, which is like so basic, right? But I do that a few things on the site. It's so good. It's so nice. Some people don't like avocado, and we can't really be friends if you

Unknown Speaker  26:54

don't like what's great.

Unknown Speaker  26:57

I also like to do oatmeal with berries, and I put like some collagen or protein powder in it too. Just what am I trying to put up a little bit beefy? Thank you. Yeah. And, um, Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese with berries are really good options. I mean, there's a lot like, even the I don't know if you've heard of the Kodiak brand, but they have that for pancakes and waffles like so you can eat what you want. You just have to make sure that it has protein in it. And I promise you that healthy food is good food, I think a lot of what to do. And we think like, Okay, I need to have spinach. And it's like, okay, yes, spinach is good. And yes, put it in a protein smoothie. That's another thing that you can have as you're drinking your coffee. But it doesn't have to be boring. And it doesn't have to be difficult, like I give my clients a lot of meal ideas and healthy recipes. And I can tell you that if it weren't easy, I wouldn't do it either. So I had to make it easy for myself. And you do have to make it a priority though. Like you the you do have to put some work in.

Unknown Speaker  28:00

Yeah, no, I think that's great. I think that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. This is really great. Where Where can our listeners find you online or connect with you?

Unknown Speaker  28:10

Yeah, well, my website is better health by accountability. You'll see me and my coaches on there, and it'll explain a little bit more about what we do. But go grab your freebie. It's like how to eat like a normal person without dieting and to lose weight. So go grab the freebie, but mostly I hang out on Instagram at Better health by accountability. And seriously, feel free to reach out and ask any questions. I'm on there a lot. And I like to chat so

Unknown Speaker  28:36

awesome. Well, thank you so much. I I really enjoyed this.

Unknown Speaker  28:41

Thanks, Emily. I really appreciate your time and you're doing a great job. Keep up the good work. Thanks.

Unknown Speaker  28:45

Thanks. Before we go, I just wanted to reach out real quick. A lot of you have talked about starting your own podcast and you're just not sure where to start. I wanted to let you know that Libsyn is an awesome platform. And right now they have a great deal for you to join if you use the code Woodruff WOD Are you Ff you can get in at a great rate and get started today. Feel free to shoot me an email or send me a message if you have any questions. I would love to walk you through starting on your own

Transcribed by https://otter.ai