1. Morning Workouts
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Rise and exercise is Nathalia’s strategy. “One thing I do everyday to keep some sense of normalcy is to train every morning as soon as I wake up. I ask my husband to keep the kids while I train, and that makes a good start of the day,” she told Better Bodies.
2. 20 Minute Workouts
Nathalia recommends slipping in short workouts when you can. “My best advice is to schedule the workout but not obsess over it, because with kids, life always happens… Even if you can just get 20 mins in, remember that it is still better than nothing,” she says, recommending the following routine:
4 Rounds
20 (Each Leg) Banded Kickback
20 Banded Dumbbell Squat
20 Banded Single Leg Scattered Deadlift
30 Secs Banded Side To Side Shuffle Jump
15 (Each Leg) Banded Alternating Forward Lunge
3. Being Her Own Superhero
“Growing up, I didn’t feel like anyone was going to come and ‘save me’…From being given the scraps from the adults’ plates to being told I was the second-best option by the very people I looked up to, I felt powerless and small. Working on my body gave me a sense of control when I had so little of it in other areas of my life. Nobody in my family believed that spending money on a gym was “worth it,” so at 14, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I saved up my allowance for six weeks just to pay for one month of gym membership.- and did so repeatedly for months. This meant I could only go to the gym every other month, but I made it work. I wanted to be in sports, too, but that cost money—something that wasn’t prioritized in my house. Sports were the first to go whenever things got financially tough. So, I looked for options that were free and joined a nearby club. I ended up swimming for over a decade—not because I loved it, but because it was my only opportunity to be involved in sports as a child and teenager. I’m not sharing these stories for pity or praise. I’m sharing them to show you that: The unkind things others do to you don’t define you—they define them. Use these experiences as lessons to rise above. You can be the first in your family to do something great. Their path doesn’t have to define yours. If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way. Finally, STOP waiting for someone to come and save you when you have the chance every day to save yourself! Become your own damn superhero!🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️🦸🏻♀️,” she wrote in a post.
4. Controlling What She Can
“PCOS, ADHD, 2 kids in 14 months, a transatlantic move w/ 2 small kids, 40yo, likely perimenopausal, no family help nearby, working full-time, Immigrant, daughter of a single mom, SA as a child…These are all things that I could use to define me. Or to justify as to why I can’t accomplish ‘x, y or z’. But, the truth is that the moment I use things outside my control to justify a lack of progress or results, I am removing my agency. I can’t control my health conditions, I can’t control what happened to me as a child, and I can’t control aging,” she wrote in another post. “I find it so disempowering and quite sad to use uncontrollable variables as a reason to not work towards something. Focusing on the things we CAN control: activity, the food we eat, what content we consume, how much water we drink… is an empowering experience, it gives us agency over the outcome. Life is made of choices, and focusing on the variables we can’t control is to be making a daily choice to be a victim. Everyone has challenges (some more than others), so let’s make the daily choice to focus on what we can control and let go of what we can’t!”
5. What She Eats in a Day
Nathalie detailed her diet to Muscle & Fitness.
Meal 1 : 5 Egg whites, 1 cup oats, 1 ½ cup Berries
Meal 2: 5 oz Salmon, 1 cup Steamed broccoli, 4 oz Sweet potato, 1 Apple
Meal 3: 5 oz Chicken breast, 1 cup Steamed vegetables, 1 Wholewheat tortilla wrap ( up to 15g of carbs per wrap), 1 Banana
Meal 4: 1 Nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 1.5 oz Raw almonds (roughly a handful)