Summer Shares, PFF-style

I was only planning on posting a couple of recipes for you this week.

But I was really zoned in and suddenly I had 27 recipes in a PDF. So… here we are.

I’m calling it Summer Shares, because these are the recipes you’ll want to share. With your friends. Your family. The backyard BBQ. That party where you know there won’t be a single decent protein option in sight. (You know the one. Potato salad, soda, and four kinds of cookies.)

These meals are all PFF-style (protein, fat, fiber), built for real humans who want to feel amazing, look lean and strong, and not undo all their progress every time they say yes to summer fun.

Each recipe has:
✅ At least 30g of protein
✅ 10–20g of healthy fats
✅ 5g+ fiber
✅ And under 35g net carbs (so blood sugar stays happy too)

There are plant-based options, lots of omnivore ones, and most importantly ... nothing boring! Zero chicken breast-on-sad-lettuce vibes. Pinky swear.

I made this for you because I care deeply about your metabolism, your energy, your goals, and your ability to show up to a cookout without panic-Goggling “healthy things to bring to a barbecue.”



So here it is. My surprise gift to you.

Now if you want more where that came from…

Join us in The Metabolic Edge!

We’ve got:
• Brand new meal guides + recipe collections every single month
• All your strength workouts
• Fat loss, longevity, and women’s health workshops (with some amazing guest experts)
• A complete self-paced metabolism course
• And a community of the most supportive, magnetic women who are all on this journey with you

You can chat with them, exchange tips, or just be a fly on the wall. Whatever you prefer. It’s $59/month. Cancel yourself anytime (b/c I don't believe in jumping through hoops when I want out of a subscription either).



We're all about to have our most vibrant summers ever ... and we’d really love to have you join us!

Click here to learn more and join The Metabolic Edge

XO,
Tara


P.S. If you make any of the recipes this weekend, tag me on Instagram or send a pic. I want to see what you create (and drool over it, obviously)!

Healthify My Summer: A Guide

We're going away soon.

Have you been following along up in Instagram stories? I've been sharing some BTS of my crazy ordering / packing / planning for this road trip. And as I've been doing that -- and getting excited about some other Summer fun we have planned like concerts, beach days, baseball games, BBQs, outdoor movies -- I decided to make a guide in case you have some of those things on the calendar for the rest of this Summer too.



Check out THIS GUIDE and then make it YOURS. Follow the suggestions that work for you and ignore the ones that don't. Summer is meant to be fun and we don't need to feel like garbage or slip away from our goals on the other side of those memories.



Summer on,
Tara





P.S. If you would like targeted help with your goals, fill out this 1:1 coaching interest form. I'll get back to you shortly to make sure we're a great fit to work together, chat more about what to expect, and let you know when my next available start date is.

5 Unusual Tips for Fat Loss NOW

So you wanna lose some excess body fat?

(If you don't want to "lose weight" or "tone up" at all, then you might wanna skip this one and come party with us again next week.)




Summer seems to be the time when the planners are wishing their weight loss plan worked better ... or that the results stayed and the procrastinators are ready to do some crazy sh*t just to feel a little more confident this season in their shorts. As such, Summer happens to be a time when a lot of metabolic damage is done. Every 1200 calorie diet, Optavia, diet pills, daily bootcamp classes or running are all risk factors that unfortunately can lead to chronic disease and / or autoimmunity years and decades in the future ... plus weight loss resistance which is the exact opposite of what the goal was.



Luckily, we know more now and we can evolve our strategies accordingly (even though most people will be continuing to use misinformed and outdated tactics for way longer than I'd like to even imagine).



Fat loss happens best when we work within what we know to be optimal fat loss conditions. This means we're aiming to lose excess body fat but not more (not muscle mass or bone...) so it requires a specific pace. Go too fast and you're losing weight for sure, but not the kinda weight you want to be losing. Here are some tips:




1) Eat more at mealtimes. I know if you want to lose weight, you think a 350 calorie meal is superior to a 600 calorie meal. I'm not a fan of counting calories but to more easily paint this picture, stay with me here. If you eat the 350-calorie meals, 1 of 2 things will happen -- 1, you'll end up being so hungry later that night, on the weekend, on holidays, or vacations that you'll feel yourself losing control around food and overeating. Or if you're so darn stubborn and manage not to ever overeat, your metabolic rate will drop in order to compensate. This means your thyroid will probably become sluggish, you might feel colder, weak, fatigued, low libido, and you will begin gaining weight with much less calories than you used to. Your goal here is to eat meals big enough and balanced enough that they keep you nice and satiated for at least 4 hours.



2) Be mindful of blood sugar. Yes, energy in energy out matters for weight loss. Also true ... not all weight lost is the same. If you want to maximize FAT loss, you need to make sure you are not riding the blood sugar rollercoaster all day everyday. This means you eat fat, fiber and protein at every single meal. It means you keep carb intake moderate. It means you understand that it's best to not eat carbs alone (no bananas or coffee with sugar on your way out the door). It also means that you understand we have an upper limit to what we can use before it gets stored away as fat. Keep carbohydrate-containing meals to 25-35g net carbs if you're a woman (35-50g net carbs for most men). More than that and you'll likely be storing the extra as fat. A "healthy" acai bowl or green juice can often contain 50-100+ grams of carbs / sugar! "Healthy" can be deceiving. 



3) Pick up weights. Weightlifting burns more calories than cardio. "What Tara? I always heard it's the opposite!" Well yes, if you're looking at it in a short-sighted way. Cardio tends to burn more calories in that one exercise session compared to a similar length session of weightlifting. However, the extra calorie burn stops when you stop moving with cardio. Yet when you increase your muscle mass by strength training, your metabolic rate for THE ENTIRE DAY, NIGHT, AND EVEN REST DAYS is elevated. Keep your cardio in because you love your lungs and heart and being alive. But it's not a great exercise focus for fat loss goals. Strength training is.



4) Move your body. Walking isn't your exercise, but hopefully it's a different part of your days! We need our exercise (cardio, strength) and then we need our active lifestyle too (walking, gardening, dancing, yoga, playing tag with the kids or grandkids, standing while watching that live music or game, carrying groceries in..) By making the non-exercise parts of your day more active, you will notice a WAY bigger boost in your metabolic rate. 



5) Daily sunshine and grounding. When we have excess body fat stored up in an amount that's more than optimal health levels and want to do something about that, we need to be thinking about improving our energy usage. We lose fat when we use it up. We use it up when better and more quickly when the batteries of our cells -- our mitochondria -- are abundant and in great working order. Heat and cold exposure help with this, so there's a bonus tip. ;-P But also getting your skin to come in contact with the Earth everyday. Ideally for nice chunks of time as we're really evolved to be outdoors mostly, but anything is better than nothing! If you're currently inside all day, you can start by committing to 5 minutes outdoors, standing in the grass barefoot and go up from there. This "charges" your cell's batteries in a way that allows them to utilize more energy / fuel / food. Meaning, this will improve your metabolic health and help with fat loss efforts.



And a bonus bonus one that didn't make the list because it's not unusual is .... SLEEP. It's arguably the mosts important as it will influence all the rest.



Which of these are you already doing? Which will you be focusing on? Hope you found this helpful! Please note ... this is 1 tiny sliver of the types of things we discuss in much greater detail in my 28-day metabolism-boosting course, TRANSFORM: Body + Mind. The next round starts in September. If you're interested in learning more, check out this link and hop on the waitlist for any special offers and a discount code when the cart opens.



XO,
Tara