Ian Estabrook

How to Manage Your Weight for Life

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to a sweeping new study.

I’ve lost 100lbs. and kept it off for over 17 years.

I’ve also struggled with obesity at different points in my life, so headlines like these are personal.

Look, being obese sucked. I hated how I looked and felt.

I couldn’t play sports with my friends. I couldn’t wear clothes I liked. I couldn’t go anywhere without feeling peoples’ lingering, judgemental stares.

My family doctor told me if I didn’t change, I was going to live a short, sick, painful life. Talk about a wakeup call.

So, at 16 years old, I committed to prioritizing my health… but with an “all or nothing” approach:

🥗 I only ate food I prepared myself
🏋‍♂️ I worked out 5 days a week
💊 I took supplements to fill gaps in my diet
⛔ I said “no” to social events so I could stay “on the plan”

I lost 100lbs. by the time I turned 17.

I thought I “beat” obesity and had all the tools and discipline necessary to stay fit for life.

Then, after joining Google in 2014, my whole life changed:

😵 I started a high-stress job
🏡 I moved away from home and familiar environments
👥 I had a new social circle and schedule
🍩 I was surrounded by unlimited free food

The factors I consider when I work with my clients – their physical, mental, emotional, relational, environmental, and existential circumstances – all changed.

So, I turned to an old coping pattern to manage it: food.

By 2017, I was over 250lbs., depressed, and on track to be the heaviest I’d ever been.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked myself. “You know what to do. Just fucking do it!”

For those struggling with obesity, it’s common for us – and society – to blame our circumstances on personal failures: we aren’t disciplined enough. We aren’t gifted. We don’t work hard enough.

Yet according to the study in The New York Times,

“Obesity comes from genetic, physiological, and environmental interactions. It’s not the fault of any one individual who has the disease.”

Many things influence our ability to manage our weight. It’s NOT all our fault.

Regaining half the weight I initially lost forced me to reflect on what I knew, what I believed, and how I thought about health.

Thankfully, after earning certifications in nutrition and coaching through Precision Nutrition, I learned a new approach.

By putting the same tools and practices I use with my coaching clients to work for myself, I managed to lose the weight I regained. I’ve kept it off since 2019.

My experiences managing my weight are why I’m so passionate about helping people improve their health.

I know what it’s like to feel lost, overwhelmed, and hopeless – to think you’ll never live a healthy, happy life.

I’m here to tell you that you can.

I work every day to ensure that’s what my clients have when we finish working together.

If you’re struggling with your weight or practicing healthy habits, please know I see you. I understand you. And I’m here to help if you need it.

You aren’t alone. We can do this together.

Love you lots,

❤️ Ian

P.S. If you’re struggling with your health and need to talk to someone who understands, schedule time to connect with me. I’m looking forward to helping you live a healthier, happier, more balance life. Chat soon.

4 Ways to Reduce Your Stress Today

Before we dive in: my free consultation spots are filling up fast. If you’ve been on the fence about talking with a coach to improve your health and lower your stress, reserve your spot here before they fill up.

Cool? Cool. Let’s get to today’s tips.

I was chatting with my friend Lizzie the other week when she asked me if I had any tips on how to effectively manage stress. (If you’re interested in public speaking, check her out at Unscripted Speech).

Specifically, she was interested in reducing stress during high-pressure moments, like public speaking.

If you work in tech, marketing, or sales, this is probably pretty relatable.

Hell, at Google, I regularly present to rooms of 10-20 people, and I once co-hosted a conference where I spoke to over 800 people at once!

How can we better manage our stress in these scenarios?

In my experience, it starts way before you begin clearing your throat and grabbing your speaker notes. In my coaching practice, this is called the “thing before the thing”.

You THINK you need tips or tricks in the moment to accomplish something, but in reality, it’s the sum of things that came BEFORE it that make it possible.

In the case of managing your stress – whether for life in general or up on stage – the “things before the thing” are what I help people do consistently to improve their health:

Sleep

Nutrition

Movement and Exercise

Active Stress Management

Here’s how you can use these things to better manage your stress:

Sleep

Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, or a daily nap if that isn’t possible. This is the MOST important thing that can help you lower your stress and perform better, whether that’s in the gym or in a presentation.

Nutrition

Eating mostly whole, minimally-processed foods – including lots of lean protein, veggies, fruits, and whole grains – with each meal. Along with sleep, a healthy diet helps fuel your body and brain to perform well.

Movement and Exercise

This includes activities like strength training and cardio, as well as moving more overall: going for walks, stretching, playing sports, and taking the stairs. Movement not only helps get us fitter – it also improves our brain health, learning and memory capabilities, and lowers our stress.

Active Stress Management

Sleep is the ultimate recovery and stress management tool we have, but there’s more we can do: meditation, social connection, hobbies, gratitude, and maintaining healthy boundaries at work and in your social life all help keep our stress in check.

If you practice the above 4 areas consistently, you’ll build the resilience to nail whatever life throws at you, whether that’s a hard workout, a high workload, or a big presentation.

And if you’re struggling to do these stress management practices consistently and need some help, reply to this email telling me which one you wanna work on and let’s get you feeling better together.

Love you lots – have a great weekend!

Ian

P.S. Need help reducing your stress? I’m currently offering free, 30 minute consultations to help you build habits for a healthier, more balanced and productive lifestyle. Reserve your spot here before they fill up.

3 Tips to Make Exercise a Habit

“I’m too busy to exercise.”

I totally get it. I’m busy, too.

But the payoff we get from exercise makes finding the time worth it (message me if you need help reviewing your schedule to find time).

Here’s how to balance exercise with a busy schedule:

Focus on “compound” exercises.

These are exercises that work multiple muscles at the same time:

A push up works your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
A pull up workouts your back, biceps, and core.
The deadlifts I’m doing in the video below work my back, glutes, hamstrings, core, and forearms.

Compound exercises give you a better return on your time investment.

You don’t need tons of exercises, sets, and reps.

A workout consisting of two compound exercises for 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps – where the last 1-2 reps are challenging but doable – can be all you need for improving your health and fitness.

You don’t need to train every day, either.

2 workouts a week is sufficient to build strength, burn body fat, and improve your overall health. Start there and add more if your schedule allows.

Hope this helps. Go smash a workout today.

Love you lots,

Ian

P.S. Need help finding time in YOUR schedule to exercise? I’m currently offering free, 30 minute consultations to help you build habits for a healthier, more balanced and productive lifestyle. Reserve your spot here before they fill up.

One Change, Many Results

In my coaching program, my clients learn how to make sustainable, lasting change for their health and stress management. They do this by building one skill at a time, which eventually compounds into their whole lifestyles changing for the better.

Shabbir Jasden is a good example of this.

Shabbir isn’t a client of mine – he simply shared a goal he wanted to achieve with me and we started chatting about it.

“I want to do something like waking up early to pray and go for a short run,” he told me.

Like many of you reading, Shabbir’s a hard working, capable guy. He’s thoughtful, strategic, and can execute at a high level. But long nights and a busy work schedule meant he went to bed late each day, leaving little time for exercise.

We explored how he’d like things to be different, anticipated challenges and how to overcome them, and found opportunities to start taking action to make change. We built a plan based on his schedule and made sure it was doable.

“Waking up earlier would have immense value for me, since I will be able to pray on time and also take care of my health,” Shabbir said.

I checked in a few weeks later to see how things were going. Clearly, Shabbir was busy crushing it:

He’s getting more consistent, quality sleep
He’s waking up earlier and going for runs
He’s confident he can maintain it, meaning he’s found a way to balance his health and work

That’s a whole lotta awesome change in just a few short weeks. Notice how, by making one small change, he was able to reap multiple benefits at once.

Shabbir’s in the “driver’s seat” for his health now. I acted as his “co-pilot,” offering the same guidance and accountability I offer clients in my coaching program.

Join me in showing Shabbir some love today. He did the hard work and genuinely deserves it. Simply reply to this email and I’ll share your feedback with him.

If you’re like Shabbir and ready to make positive, sustainable changes for your health, send me a message with what you’d like to achieve and let’s get started.

Love you lots,

Ian

P.S. I’m currently offering free, 30 minute consultations to help you build habits for a healthier, more balanced and productive lifestyle. Reserve your spot here before they fill up.

One Key to Happiness

Wanna start your week feeling happier?

Exercise is your key.

We all know exercise is good for our bodies: it helps build muscle, burn body fat, strengthen our bones, and improve our mobility.

You’ve also probably experienced how exercise makes you feel good mentally: lower stress after the gym, more focus during your day… you’re just a generally more awesome “you” after a workout.

But… How does it do that?

Inspired by a chat I was having with a colleague a few weeks ago about the connection between physical and mental health, here’s how exercise not only makes us healthier, but also makes us happier:

1) Exercise Improves our Mood

If you’ve ever listened to Andrew Huberman or similar health and wellness podcasts, you’ve probably heard them mention serotonin. This cool little neurotransmitter – a chemical that allows your brain’s neurons to talk with each other – is responsible for influencing everything from our moods to our learning and memory.

The key: Exercise boosts the production of serotonin, helping us feel good and perform well mentally.

2) Exercise Boosts our Endorphins

Have you ever experienced a “runner’s high?” You know, that feeling of lightness and pleasure after pushing the pace for a while? You can thank endorphins – a hormone made in your brain that helps block feelings of pain, lowers your stress, and improves your mood. They’re a nice “one-two punch” alongside serotonin for how exercise helps us feel good.

The key: Exercise boosts endorphins, helping reduce our sensation of physical and mental pain, and manage our stress.

3) Exercise Reduces our Inflammation

Inflammation gets a bad wrap, but it’s actually a natural response by your body to things like fighting infections and promoting healing. Ever experienced swelling after an injury? That’s inflammation doing its job to help you heal. If it’s short-term and specific, inflammation isn’t bad.

The bad stuff starts to happen when inflammation is CHRONIC – meaning it’s long-lasting and not addressing anything specific in your body. Prolonged, unmanaged stress can cause chronic inflammation and increase the risk of many diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, and even depression.

The key: Exercise helps lower inflammation, which in turn helps lower the risk of many conditions and diseases.

4) Exercise Lowers our Stress

Finally, we’ve all probably experienced the stress-relieving effects of a hard workout. You walk in the gym stressing about your to-do list, and you leave feeling relaxed and happy.

Exercise lowers our stress by not only boosting serotonin and endorphins, like we saw above, but also by lowering inflammation, which has been linked to stress and depression. Several studies have found exercise to be an effective, complementary treatment for depression.

The key: If you’re feeling stressed, hit the gym. I guarantee you’ll feel better. If you need help building an exercise habit, just reach out and I’ll help get ya started.

Have a happy, healthy week, ya’ll. Go get some exercise!

Love ya lots,

Ian

3 Steps to an Awesome Weekend

It’s been a hell of a week.

Here are 3 seps to have an awesome weekend:

Have something to look forward to next week.

Book a free, 30 minute chat with me so you know you’ll be doing something good for your health and stress management.

Do that here: https://forms.gle/Vv1bVytFqF5VrKCv5

Get some exercise.

I just got back from the gym and feel great. Chin ups, dumbbell bench presses, lunges, and step ups have set me up for a strong weekend.

Experience joy.

Spend time with loved ones or on a hobby that you enjoy. Ideally both.

Love you lots. Go have an awesome weekend.

Ian

How to Make Stress Your “Superpower”

So… things are a little stressful these days.

Global uncertainty, polarizing opinions, an inifinite feed of doomscrolling… there’s no shortage of ways to stress out.

But what if we could turn our stress into a superpower: something that builds us UP instead of breaking us DOWN?

It all starts with changing how we think about it.

Researchers at Stanford wanted to know whether HOW we think about stress could change its effects on us.

In other words, could we go from someone who thinks, “Stress is terrible!” to someone who thinks, “Stress helps make me stronger!”

The results?

When participants changed HOW they thought about stress – seeing it as an opportunity to grow, welcoming it in their lives, and thinking about how it could benefit instead of hinder them – they IMPROVED their physical and mental health.

That’s pretty cool.

Quick note: not all stress is bad. In fact, humans NEED stress in order to grow and adapt. The key lies in its intensity and duration.

If we’re too stressed for too long, it breaks us down. In those cases, we need to meet stress with enough recovery, in order to bring us back to – or ideally above – our “baseline,” so we can perform well in different areas of our life.

On the flip side, if the stress we experience is short-term and challenges our capabilities just enough, we’re able to endure and grow from it, raising our “baseline” and improving our health over time.

In summary: stress is a part of being human, and we can choose our mindset around it – ideally in a way that helps us.

That’s good news for us. There’s a ton we can’t control in the world, but we CAN control our mindset, which influences our actions.

Here’s what I’m gonna try, based on this:

When I’m stressed, I’ll take a moment to get curious, instead of just reacting to it.
I’ll try to reframe my usual stressors in a positive way; for example, if work gets busy, I’ll tell myself, “This is an opportunity to improve my time management and prioritization skills.”
I’ll pay extra attention to my go-to recovery activities so I can maintain a strong baseline: in bed by 9:30pm, 10 minutes of meditation, and a daily walk outside.

Cool – now it’s YOUR turn stress into a superpower.

Let’s connect in my free, 30 minute consultation and build your personalized recovery strategy together.

Book yours here.

Let’s help you go from surviving to thriving.

Love you lots,

❤ Ian

How Imperfection Makes You Healthier

Want to build strong, lasting health for life?

Don’t try to be “perfect” with your exercise routine or diet.

Trying to be perfect means if something goes wrong – and it will – you’re likely to get frustrated and give up. As a result, your consistency with healthy behaviors looks like this:

100% → 0%
100% → 0%
100% → 0%

Starting, then stopping. Pushing the pedal to the metal, then grinding to a screeching halt.

Luckily, there’s a better way: “imperfect.”

By embracing imperfect, you give yourself permission to keep going – even when setbacks inevitably happen. Suddenly, your consistency with healthy behaviors looks like this:

80% → 85%
85% →75%
75% → 90%

Ebbing and flowing, but always taking action.

And there’s a bonus: by embracing imperfection and all its setbacks, you give yourself the opportunity to build the skills and resilience to overcome them.

You know what that’s useful for?

Life.

This is why focusing on progress – not perfection – is a core pillar of my coaching program. It’s why my clients get results and build skills to manage their health for the rest of their lives.

Remember: you don’t need to be perfect to build strong, lasting health.

Imperfect works better in the long run.

Love you lots. Have a great day.

❤ Ian

P.S. My coaching program is officially OPEN! Register your interest and reserve your spot here.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Try This.

Recently, I met with a client of mine in the marketing and tech industry who was feeling overwhelmed.

🌴 Her last vacation proved to be anything but restful.
💻 Her work environment has become more stressful and ambiguous.
😐 She feels “stuck” in her personal and professional life.

As a result, her mental and physical health are in a rough patch.

Interestingly, she mentioned that she felt like she should “push herself” to get back on track.

That may strike you as odd given where her physical and mental health are right now, but ya know what?

Her experiences and thought processes are NORMAL – especially for clients I work with in the tech industry.

I should know: I’ve worked in tech for over a decade. I understand how we think and what our lifestyles are like!

We’re ambitious, we’re measured, and we love to optimize everything – from our projects to our health metrics. We wear WHOOPs, we ship code, and we drive business growth. When we hit a roadblock, damnit, we find a way around it!

That’s all fine and good when… well, everything is all fine and good.

The reality is, making time to exercise, invest in rest and recovery, and eat healthy meals regularly feels downright impossible when you’re overwhelmed.

What “works” when your stress is low usually doesn’t work during when your stress is high.

It’s okay – and dare I say better – to adjust your workouts, nutrition, and recovery to fit your CURRENT circumstances. Not your ideal ones. Not the ones that COULD work if a few meetings get cancelled this week and maybe this project wraps up and… you get the picture.

In fact, you’ll probably be doing MORE for your health by relaxing your expectations when stress is high, rather than trying to force your “normal” routine to work.

As for my client, we agreed she would do LESS over the next few weeks in her program – not more.

We removed 3 things from her daily habits and zeroed in on the ones that will make the biggest difference in helping her rest, recover, and get back to baseline.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t try to do more to get yourself out of it.

Figure out how to get MORE out of LESS until you’re back to normal.

Hope this helps. Have a great week.

Love you lots,

❤ Ian

Could This Change Everything About How You Eat?

My coaching program is officially OPEN! Register your interest and reserve your spot here.

Yesterday, I talked about how consuming “junk food” intentionally can actually BENEFIT your health.

Here’s how to make it work for you…

First, let’s get something straight: we’re NOT going to ban foods you love.

That’ll just leave you feeling grumpy, deprived, and reaching for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s to take the edge off (trust me, I’ve been there).

Instead, we’re going to embrace eating everything in moderation.

Think of this as the middle ground between “all or nothing” restriction and “EAT ALL OF THE THINGS!”

In my coaching program, I call this approach the “abundance mentality.”

Instead of REMOVING things you love, we focus on ADDING more good stuff, like lean proteins, fruits and veggies, and healthy fats – while saving room for foods you enjoy.

Here’s how it works for my clients:

They focus on eating most of their calories from minimally-processed whole foods. Again, think lean proteins, fruits and veggies, and healthy fats.
The remaining calories are “discretionary.” These can be pizza, wine, chocolate… anything that feeds their soul.

Here’s how this worked for a former client of mine from Russia who works in tech:

For her, it’s tradition to eat a few squares of chocolate with her evening tea.

This helps her feel connected to her culture, her identity, and unwind with her partner in the evening.

Can you see how eating chocolate actually BENEFITS her health in this case?

Now, imagine if I said, “Chocolate? Are you kidding me! That’s bad for you! You aren’t allowed to eat chocolate!”

Her health would actually SUFFER, because we wouldn’t just be taking away a little chocolate – we’d be removing a ritual with a loved one that’s important to her identity.

That’s not how we roll in my coaching program. We tailor the program to YOU.

Instead, we focused on adding more whole foods to her diet, which improved the quality of her meals, helped her build mindful eating skills, and fuelled her active lifestyle at work and in her social circles.

This not only let her enjoy her chocolate and tea ritual, but also helped her do so guilt-free. No more stressing about eating “junk food” or “messing up her diet.”

Today, think about the foods you love and can’t live without. How can you intentionally include them into your lifestyle and eat them in moderation?

If you need help figuring it out, hit reply and let’s work together on it.

Ready to make a bigger change for your health? Do you want to have more energy, eat and move well consistently, and feel grounded and in-control of your life? Sign up for my newsletter for strategies like these, or reach out for one-on-one coaching to get a personalized program tailored to your unique life and circumstances.

Have a great weekend!

Ian