I started my blog 5 years ago to share my journey with my friends and family. For a long time it was just that, a way to share what was happening in my life with the people I love. After a while though, it grew, and people outside my little circle found their way here. I love that what I’m saying resonates with so many people!
As my readership has grown, people have asked me to offer coaching. I’ve tried a couple times to figure out how to incorporate private coaching, but it just hasn’t worked. I have two jobs, kids with busy schedules, a household to manage and a marriage to keep healthy! I never intended this blog as a business, and at this point I’m simply not able to meet the time demands of coaching. A time may come in the future when I’m able to effectively offer this service, but for now I’ve had to be honest with myself that it doesn’t work with all my other responsibilities. The demand is there though, I get requests daily, so I have put together a couple resources for people in lieu of coaching services.
First, my ebooks and workout programs. I’ve written several workout programs for people at various levels of fitness, including one for absolute beginners. I’ve priced them very reasonably to keep them accessible. I also have an eBook called ‘Taking Up Space’ that is my guide to healing your body image and eating to support a healthy weight. You can check out all these programs by clicking here.
I also have two facebook groups dedicated to supporting these programs. The ‘First 100 Days‘ group is rather quiet, but if you have a question or concern about the program, it’ll be addressed there. My ‘Eating the Food‘ group is HUGE, and very active. There you will find support from people who’ve been through what you’re going through and can throw you a rope to help you find your way. I stay active in both groups to answer as many questions as I can, and there are many wise people who help me do that there. Please join us!
I get dozens, sometimes even hundreds of questions every day on my blog, on my facebook pages and facebook groups, and via email. There’s no way for me to answer every single one of them, so I’ve done my best to gather wise and experienced people together to help support those with questions. I appreciate all the support I have received, and am hoping to help this community grow in healthy ways. Thank YOU for helping me with that!
If you’re in the Bay Area, you can find me teaching classes at Body Techniques in Alameda.
Body Techniques Class Schedule
Sunday at 10:30 am
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
I offer one-on-one and group personal training at the Downtown Oakland YMCA.
I also offer swedish, sports, deep tissue and trigger point massage at Body Techniques. You can schedule an appointment online, or by calling 510.864.9339.
I just found your website a few weeks ago and haven’t read the entire archives, but want to both comment and submit a question. First, I have been on an 15 month journey toward better health, and find your blog empowering, I love your philosophies regarding food. I am still reading about the fitness component to gokaleo and will implement those components over time.
My question is how do these philosophies apply to men. I appreciate that your blog is so focused on supporting strong women and improving female health and body image. I have a husband that has similar weight struggles and always seems to go for the fad diet solution- no carb, juice fast, you name it, he’s tried it. He can’t seem to understand what this does to his metabolism or that it doesn’t support long term weight loss. And, no, he doesn’t make the connection that if he eats like me, he will have similar results. I understand most of your research and all of your first hand experience is with women, so if you could even direct me to a resource with the same philosophies, but with a male perspective, I would appreciate it.
Very respectable of you to avoid spreading yourself too thin. You take up less space that way, and it’s a mistake far, far too many women make. Good on ya, Amber!!
Hi Amber, I’m reading your book now and loving everything about it. I’m trying to get my Mom to read it as well. I’ve tried for some time now to encourage my Mom to have a healthier relationship with food. One argument she consistently gives me is that because of her age and being post-menopause that she needs less calories. She was excited to report that her doctor gave her ‘permission’ to eat more. Going from her average 900 calories a day to 1200. UGH!!! She runs 3 miles a day and is now incorporating light strength training. Do you have any suggestions or have you done any research on the differences in required caloric intake pre versus post menopause? I can’t believe it would be so different. I will continue to encourage her to read your book.
Hi Amber,
I just read your book. It has really put me at ease and given me confidence that I can be successful. Thank you! I do have one question… I have a small separation due to diastasis recti. I know crunches and planks are not good for me to do. But, do you know of any resistance moves I should avoid? I want to get back in the saddle, but don’t want to make my diastasis bigger. Thanks!
Hi Amber,
You should consider charging for a Skype session or something like that. I feel bad asking you any questions on your blog, because you should be compensated.
I don’t live in the Bay Area, I so would pay to see you! And I don’t like paying for anything.
Thank you so much – love what you’re doing here, very inspirational. I’m co-facilitating a plant based cleanse right now and am finding a lot of my assumptions being challenged (assumptions I hadn’t even realized I was making). The title of your ebook is right in line with my question of why do women desire to be so small? to shrink away into nothingness… rather than focus on what we gain and add to enrich our lives by eating healthy & training our bodies. In my 20′s I heard a woman call herself an “instinctavor”, she too didn’t subscribe to any particular dogma when it came to food, she simply ate what felt right. I love that! Of course if one is addicted to fast food and the instant gratification that comes from eating it they might be somewhat disconnected from their instincts… Anyway, I ramble. Thanks again.
Laura
A friend referred me to you yesterday. She mentioned seeing a very useful calorie/activity/intake/body-type converter on your site, I haven’t found it yet (but have found all sorts of other interesting posts!). Does this sound familiar?
Please could you share the link?
Thank you
Laura
Hi Laura, here it is:
http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
Let’s team up ! I am almost convinced I am a nineteen year old version of you!
Hi,
I paid for your online service for workout and has received nothing so far.
Hi Archna! Sorry about that. Can you email me at amber@gokaleo.com and I can figure out what happened?
Hi Amber!
I have been following you on FB for a while, as well as heavier weights & more halthy calories into my lifestyle. Today I was once again reminded by the Univere on why it’s so important to be strong…
My clients’ house I was watching has a solid wooden garage door, weighing around 500 pounds. The power went out this morning, thus no garage door opener. In order to get out & get to my business on time I had to manually open & close this beast of a garage door. Had I not been lifting heavier weights & maintaining a healthy body,
Hi Amber. I just read your post on Facebook about how your diet helped you get rid of your panic attacks. I suffer terribly from anxiety/panic attacks, have for the past 13 years. I refuse to take medication for it and would love to learn a natural way to get rid of them.
I would love it if you could pass on some advice on how you managed to overcome yours. You can email me directly if you wish. Thank you so much and I love following your page!
I feel you! You might want to go to my blog and read what I wrote about panic attacks.
I discovered your site a few weeks ago and have really enjoyed it. Over the past 10 years or so I’ve definitely become a yo-yo dieter, something I never thought I’d do. I’ve done HCG…twice, and am currently seeing a doctor for weight loss. I tried a paleo/primal approach for the past year, and just continued to gain. Nothing I’ve been doing seems to work for me. That being said, on the doc’s plan, I’m losing again, which is exciting. I’m eating fairly clean, focusing on good, whole foods, not necessarily carb restricting (as suggested by doc), working out daily but not to excess. The main thing I’m doing is staying within the LOW calorie range. They told me 1000-1200. Based on all the research I’ve done over the years, I increased that to 1200-1500. So, it’s working, but I’m living in fear that I’m completely screwing up my metabolism and will be forced to eat 1200 cal/day for the rest of my life!! I expressed my concerns and was shown that my BMR was about 1580…so then 1200 seems reasonable. Sorry this is so long, I’m just afraid of what I’m doing to my body, I want to reach a healthy wait once and FOR ALL. Just curious what you think of these restrictions, based on my current BMR (which was taken by a machine that shot little pulses through my body, measure lean mass, body fat, etc..).
I just wanted to say thank you for your blog and facebook page! I started my weight loss journey a year ago when I hit my top end weight. I had always said if I hit 200 pounds that will be it I will I have to change something. I grew up feeling and being told I was fat, always on the verge of an eating disorder. Though looking back at old photos I now realize I was quite thin. In college when my health got even worse I put on a lot of weight and since then my as my health has gone up and down so has my weight. After a really bad year in my life I hit 206 lbs. I started focusing on my food choices then started using an app on my phone and got my calories down to 1,200 a day. I got down to 183lbs. doing this. My doctor told me I really need to lose even more. She suggested I try the Hcg diet and I did my first round and lost 13 pounds. I kept going on and off this diet from last august until a month ago. My weight loss started to slow down and I started to gain. So I decided in April to take a longer beak give my body more food and exercise more. My body loved it! I was feeling good, lots of energy and putting on lots of muscle. But I saw the scales creeping up and panicked. At the end of June I decided to diet again. Even though others were telling me how good I looked and saying I must have lost more. Big mistake, I started to pass out get weak and lost all my energy. I had to stop the diet. I have spent the next month spiraling out of control food wise. Now I am doing better and that’s is in part due to you. I found you site and a few others and I has helped me get past the whole dieting and scale and weighing mentality. Past the whole instant weigh loss mentality. I have stopped trying to cut my calories way back, forgiving myself or not beating myself up for eating what I want, enabling me to make better diet choices, and have a healthy mentality about food and I have stopped weighing my self. I am focus on getting stronger and healthier not on my weight. So I wanted to say thank you!
ok, now i am going to start following your blog. you had me fired up yesterday when you stated that all of the diet gurus say that carbs are the devil, when you didn’t specifiy the carbs. yes i cut out all of my grains and processed foods out and amazing, i feel fabulous. vegetables and fruits are the main part of my cooking and i throw in a little meat, some days i do go meet free. i am slowly adding more exercise back in to my lifestyle. eating clean and feeling good. yes there have been a few hiccups here and there. so keep up the good work!!! Thanks, Andie
Hi, been a while since I asked any questions. So now I’m back and ready to move forward. How do I get a password for the Lifting ll
Thanks so much.
Hey Amber…love your site! Question…you have mentioned that you have some favorite veg’n cookbooks or even perhaps sites? I am specifically looking to get out of my veggie rut….I need to get more creative with my veggie sides! Unfortunately, I can’t eat dairy, eggs, gluten or wheat…so I don’t want to get a cookbook that is focused on that…just veggie side dishes. Can you point me in the right direction? Much appreciated if you can! I love your blog…keep it up and thank you for being so inspiring!!!!!
Amber,have a friend who has recommended ”Diatomaetous Earth”",.Your thoughts on this product,?
Hi Amber,
Your story is so inspiring – thank you for sharing it! We are the same height, but I carry an extra 20lbs (at least!). I am 47 and had pretty much given up until I found your site. You have recharged my attitude! Thanks!
I am anxious to start your green smoothies and I already order org. fruit/veg from a site http://www.azurestandard.com. They carry SunWarrior natural, raw, vegan protein powder https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/9860/ Do you know anything about this one (taste/quality)? I know nothing about protein powders, no matter what the source. I think I have a long learning curve ahead of me. I only ask b/c it is about 1/2 the price of the one you like. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Terri
Sun Warrior is great! I haven’t tasted it, but from what I’ve head and just looking at the ingredients, I’d totally use it!
I just found your website and it is amazing! I saw this question about Sun Warrior and thought I would add my opinion. I love it! It is what I use daily. I have it for breakfast with my quinoa and then again at least twice more in a green smoothie. You will love Sun Warrior Terri!
Thanks for the recommendation, Sara! And welcome, I’m glad you found your way here!
With reference to the avrdet placed in The Workplace , Pretoria News, 18 August 2010, i would like to submit CV. I’ve been trying the fax no. 0822347290 but it returns a transmission no answer, fail, busy’ please advise.Thank you and regardsPenny
Amber, your story is so inspiring!!!! I always wanted to be able to do unassisted pull ups. I would love to follow your program you post on facebook, but I don’t belong to a gym. Is it possible to effectively weight train if you dont’ go to the gym (using your own body weight, perhaps)? What would you suggest?
Thank you,
Olga
You can get a GREAT workout at home using just your bodyweight! The key is balancing each workout with an upper body push (like pushups), an upper body pull (like inverted rows using a table or low doorway pullup bar) and a lower body move like squats, step ups or lunges. Wearing a heavy backpack makes all those exercises harder. Check out my youtube channel, I have a playlist of just bodyweight exercises, and have started posting bodyweight workout videos once or twice a week. There are also lots of bodyweight workouts on the ‘Fitness’ page here on my blog. Hope that helps!
Ps, thanks for the wonderful feedback!
Great blog! I’ve read only just a bit and already my self-motivation is benefitting from your story! And you look great.
Hope I make it there too, I’m starting today!
Hi Amber, would you ever consider going way back…way back to your earliest thought processes when you first began this journey (mentally, financially, time management-wise in regards to children/husband, friendship tending…if there was even time for it, et.al.)? Also, perhaps listing food products you swapped with what you WERE eating/preparing for meals for the family, and for yourself? Stores you shopped, restaurant/bar food/drink considerations when you went out? I know it would be a HUGE endeavor, but so helpful for those of us still “on the couch” :0)
That’s a great idea Jalyn. It will be my next blog post. Stay tuned!