In this episode, Dr. Emily Kiberd, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner, talks about maintaining balance and setting achievable health goals for women with Hashimoto's disease.

She discusses the common push-and-pull feelings experienced at the start of a new year, compounded by lingering holiday energy. Dr. Kiberd shares her personal journey, which includes regular weightlifting, adequate steps, and protein intake, to highlight the importance of having clear goals. She emphasizes creating personalized plans for her clients, including specific workouts, dietary goals, and sleep patterns, to help them achieve better health without feeling overwhelmed.

Listeners are encouraged to use an adherence algorithm to identify their key daily actions to keep them grounded and healthy, rate their performance without overwhelm, and observe trends to build sustainable habits. Dr. Kiberd also touches on leveraging stress for growth and maintaining emotional neutrality to avoid burnout.

00:00 Introduction and New Year Reflections

01:14 Setting Goals and Avoiding Burnout

02:33 Customized Plans for Women with Hashimoto's

03:04 Daily Habits for a Strong Body and Clear Mind

07:33 A New Way of Tracking Progress and Accountability

14:17 Building Momentum Over Motivation

16:00 Conclusion and Next Steps

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Hello, beautiful ladies.

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This is Dr.

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Emily Kiberd of Thyroid Strong Podcast.

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I'm a chiropractor mother of two

Capricorn, and I help the Hashi ladies

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learn how to work out without the

burnout and get to the root cause

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of the Hashimoto so they can thrive,

be the most present, amazing mother,

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and feel like themselves again.

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And this time of year, we are

in the second week of January,

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and I feel like there's this.

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This push and pull, there's this push

to speed up 'cause it's New year,

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new you, everyone's back to work.

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And then there's this pull, this like

lagging energy from the holidays.

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And I am a Capricorn.

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Birthday is January 10th, and I

have three Capricorns in my family.

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So I'm the 10th, my son is the

12th, and my husband is the 13th.

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So after the New Year's, there's

all this energy to deliver on

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these birthday parties, um, or

just birthdays and make 'em, you

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know, make my people feel special.

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The people who are most important to me.

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And so that pull energy of almost

like working, like I'm walking

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through mud or molasses, that dragging

of that holiday energy lingers a

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couple weeks into the new year.

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I'm not gonna lie.

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And so I wanted to share, 'cause I

think there's some other women probably

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feeling that here, where, you know,

we set goals for ourselves and if you.

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Don't set goals is probably 'cause you

listened to my last podcast episode of

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why not to set goals, why I'm not setting

goals this year and what to do instead.

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And so with a lot of the women that

I work with one-on-one in my thyroid,

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strong functional medicine practice where

we are dialing in the basics, right?

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Getting your steps, hitting your

workouts, getting really clear on your

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calories and macros, dialing in your

sleep, regulating your nervous system

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so that you're calm and grounded.

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Those are basics and we are

addressing the root causes.

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That's what happens inside the functional

medicine practice and the women in there.

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Are looking to me for accountability.

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I am here to be their guide, to be

their sherpa, to hold them through

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the process because it can feel like

a lot when you're doing it all on your

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own, especially if you're a researcher

like me or my women that I work with.

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We like to read blogs and listen to

all the podcasts and watch all the

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Instagram, reels and TikTok videos.

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And then next thing you know.

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It's 2:00 AM You've gone down a spiral and

you're like, I just researched for four

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hours and I have no clarity on what to do.

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And so the women I work with,

it is a plan customized to them.

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These are the supplements you take,

these are the workouts that you do,

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and no two people get the same workout.

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These are the number of steps

you're gonna get, and no two people

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have the same number of steps.

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Here's your calories and macros.

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Some people are carb cycling, some

people are doing starch resistant carbs.

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Some people are pushing their

carbs early in the morning when

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we're more insulin resistant.

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Everyone gets a customized plan,

but the accountability piece.

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Is very essential.

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And so this is what I do, and I thought

I shared this with you because I

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think you can do this for yourself to

get back on track, to walk yourself

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towards that dream that you have for

your body, for your life, whether it

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is to lose weight, to have clarity

of your brain, and a crisp mind.

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And just like the neurons firing

when you say a sentence to feel

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really strong in your body.

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And so there are certain

things that need to happen for

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those things to happen, right?

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You need to lift weights minimum

two to three times a week.

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You need to get your steps.

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You need to hit your protein.

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You need to put yourself

to bed at a certain time.

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You need to be getting a certain

number of hours of deep sleep per

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night, one and a half to two hours

if you track on an oura ring.

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A lot of the women I work with are not

getting that, and you need to feel safe.

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Your body needs to feel safe and grounded,

and when there is stress, you lean into

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it and you leverage it to your advantage.

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Versus feeling like, oh, I'm

gonna run away from stress.

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I'm gonna avoid stress.

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I'm gonna go sit on my meditation cushion

and journal and get that stress out.

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What if you actually leverage

it to your advantage?

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as you're walking yourself

towards these goals for yourself.

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So I'll tell you my goals, okay?

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I wanna have a strong body.

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I wanna have a clear mind.

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I wanna have a big, open, present, heart.

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Essence and presence with my kids

and the family and my friends and

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those people I surround myself with.

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So strong, clear, and present.

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And so to do that, certain things need

to happen in my day to feel that way.

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And if these things do not get hit, I do

not feel strong and clear and present.

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And so these are the things for myself.

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I think if I share my own journey,

it will be more helpful to start to

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create clarity for your own journey.

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So I lift currently five

days a week because I have

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a goal of putting on muscle.

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Right now I'm in a little bit

of a bulk phase so that in the

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spring I can do a cut because I

want to physically change my body.

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I don't wanna just lose weight,

I don't wanna get smaller.

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I want to have more definition and tone.

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So I'm using the wintertime when I don't

have to put on a bikini and put on muscle.

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part of putting on muscle

is lifting weights.

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I don't have my women

lift five days a week.

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I typically have 'em

lift three days a week.

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But I'm at a different stage in

my journey than the women who

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are really kind of working their

way through the Hashi diagnosis.

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So that's one thing is

lifting consistently.

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Number two is I get a

certain number of steps.

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And I'm actually actively

working on this right now.

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So if I do not make an active plan

for my steps, I get about 4,500 steps

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a day, especially on the days where

I'm behind my computer and working.

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When I lived in New York City,

20 to 30,000 steps a day,

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that was like easy piece.

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That was like a no brainer,

just moving around the city.

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But now that I live in Boulder, Colorado,

and I work from home 4,500 steps, so I

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wanna try and hit eight to 10,000 steps.

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And so you obviously see there

is probably a 50% deficit

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there that I need to make up.

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So I'm actively trying to hit my steps.

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And if you think about it and you think,

oh, I gotta double my steps from 4,500

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to nine K, that can feel like a lot.

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But if you make it into bite-sized

chunks, it actually is more digestible.

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So 10 minutes of walking

is a thousand steps.

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I'm like, oh, that's not too bad.

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if I get 10 minutes, which is a thousand

steps every other hour of the day.

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I could hit nine K pretty easy, but

just that intention of getting on my

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walking pad 10 minutes every other hour.

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the third one I'm working on is

increasing my protein intake.

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So I would say for most of my

women, you wanna hit minimum

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30 grams of protein per meal.

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So let's call these the big rocks,

the big dial movers that are gonna

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walk you towards your goal, your

dream for yourself, and your day.

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They're your anchors.

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So if you have three, write them down.

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I just gave you my three lift weights,

hit my protein goals, get my steps.

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You could also add, and you can make

'em your big five if you want, if

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you're feeling ambitious, to put

yourself to bed a certain time.

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Like I'm in bed by 10

o'clock, lights out by 10 30.

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Because I know I need that much sleep

if I'm gonna wake up at six 30 to be

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present and clear and strong with my kids.

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You could also put on

nervous system regulation.

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You could put some sort of hydration

goal for yourself, so write down

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your big three or your big five.

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Or if you're driving in the car,

just say 'em out loud to yourself and

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then you are going to, at the end of

the day, on a scale of one to five.

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Rank yourself without shame, without

blame, without any emotional swinging.

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Just an observation, right?

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Emotional neutrality.

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Just like you look at

clouds passing in the sky.

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Like if you're laying in the sand

on the beach, which I'm kind of

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dreaming about right now 'cause

it's winter time in Colorado.

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you're just watching

clouds pass in the sky.

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You're not judging them, you're not

shaming them for being a certain shape.

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You're not blaming them for not moving

a certain way or a certain direction.

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So just rank those big anchors,

whether you wrote three or

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five on a scale of one to five.

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Five is you executed and you hit those

anchors like a boss, boom, boom, boom.

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One is, whew.

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None of those got hit.

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The effort wasn't great.

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I can do better.

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And obviously there's gonna

be some gray scale between in

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between the five and the one.

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And you just write down, I would print

up like a calendar from Canva or off the

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internet and on the calendar, just write

down what your number is for the day.

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So then we start to track over

time how well you executed on

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your anchors, on those big rocks.

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And so.

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If you're hitting a four or a five

consistently over a week period,

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and you're starting to feel better,

you start to see a correlation.

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If you're hitting a one or two or

three and it's consistent over the

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week and you're seeing, wow, I like

really didn't feel good last week, and

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instead of wondering was it what I ate?

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Was it that little piece of

gluten that got snuck in?

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Was it 'cause I went to bed too late?

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Was it 'cause I didn't hit my steps?

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Now our brain starts to spiral and we

start to ruminate and we start to get

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stuck in like a chronic stress cycle.

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But when we start to track and label,

okay, I was a four, I hit 7,000 steps.

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I almost hit my goal.

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I'm gonna try for another 10

minutes tomorrow to hit 8,000 steps.

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Then we can start to move through it

with emotional neutrality, there's

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less shaming, there's less blaming,

there's less like, Ugh, I suck.

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I'm giving up.

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I'm gonna start Monday.

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I'm gonna start in the

beginning of the year.

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There's less of that because you

know that you're showing up and doing

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the do little by little every day.

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And when you don't hit your mark and

you don't hit your big rocks or your

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anchors that ground you to make you feel

strong, clear and present, whatever those.

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Desires are for what you want your life

to be and how you wanna feel in your body

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and how you wanna move through the world.

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If it's a one, two, or three,

then you get to say, okay,

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this is where I can do better.

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And you just choose one of them

and you just do a little analysis.

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So if you went to bed at midnight

because you binge watch the new

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drop of the Pit with Noah Wiley.

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You know, you know what?

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I could watch that the next day

at a normal time instead of binge

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watching and staying up till midnight.

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Okay?

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So this is what I've been doing

with my women inside of the thyroid

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Strong functional medicine program.

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You create three to five, you

call 'em rocks or anchors.

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Things that bring you back to yourself,

make you feel good, that are not like.

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Like I gotta go do a but like a stool

sample and a big gut protocol, right?

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That feel, that can feel overwhelming.

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And the goal is to start to do a

little self-reflection analysis

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without creating too much overwhelm or

without too much emotional rumination.

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'cause basically you're just

giving yourself a number.

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You're tracking it on a calendar, and

you're looking for trends over time.

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And if you start to notice like, Hey, I

don't feel good, the mind can ruminate

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and be like, oh my God, was it that?

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Thing I ate at that random restaurant

that I went to that I like never eat out.

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Was it that I missed my workout three days

in a row, it will take out that rumination

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'cause that can send us into a spiral

and put us in a fight or flight state.

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That's sympathetic overdrive,

that nervous system dysregulation.

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And so when we start to label it

with emotional neutrality, when we

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start to track it without overwhelm,

seeing those trends will start to

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help us make moves and also help

us hold ourselves accountable.

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for women who are doing this in my

program, they send me a number each day.

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Usually it's the morning, like the

next morning, like, Hey, yesterday

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was a four, here's what I did.

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Great.

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Hey, yesterday was a two.

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Here's why and here's

what I'm gonna work on.

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And you just start to create this

accountability because I think

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a lot of times as women, we tell

ourselves I need to get motivated.

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I need to get motivated.

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I need to find that energy, even though

I feel like I'm trying to get water from

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a dry well of energy, but I'm gonna do

it and I'm going to buy a cute outfit

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or new shoes, or I say, I'm gonna do it.

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I'm gonna tell my partner,

and then it doesn't happen.

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And then we get bummed and then we.

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Get really down on ourselves.

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And then next thing you know,

we're like going to the pantry and

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looking for a whole bag of chip.

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So instead of going down that downward

spiral, can we start to move and

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train our body to just observe,

to give a quick little analysis

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without overwhelm to move through it.

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With emotional neutrality, you

can still feel all the feels.

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Life has a lot of feels,

but can we do it in a way.

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Where we're not shaming ourselves, I feel

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let's make 2026 the year

of not shaming ourselves.

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you write a number on a

calendar and you just observe.

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And then you start to observe trends.

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And then the next thing you know, the

thing that you wanted to be part of

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your identity and become your habit.

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Now.

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Has become a habit and

part of your identity.

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So for example, if someone told me em,

you're going to eat a breakfast and it's

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not gonna have 30 grams of protein, I

would be like, Nope, I'm not doing that.

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Like that's not even an option

because I know that when I hit 30

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grams of protein in the morning, my

energy is better, I feel stronger.

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My brain is clearer.

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It's, it's firing in all cylinders

and in turn, I have a big present

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heart for my kids to just hold

space for whatever comes up in them.

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So those habits that you're like,

okay, I'm gonna build that habit,

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I'm gonna lean into motivation.

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This is a way to build momentum.

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It's one thing to say it, and I've been

saying it to my thyroid, strong crew

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for a decade momentum over motivation.

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That motivation is like trying

to get water from a dry Well,

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you gotta lean in momentum.

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Lean into momentum.

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Baby steps every day.

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1% better every day.

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But now here's a way to have self

accountability, or if you've hired

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me to have me keep you accountable

and move through this process.

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Where habits that you're trying

to build start to become ingrained

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and become part of your identity.

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So try this for yourself.

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Write down three big rocks, three

things you wanna execute every day

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that you know is gonna make you feel

better and walk you to your goals.

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Then you're gonna rate yourself.

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Five is I hit those and execute like a

boss One is, that was a dumpster fire.

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I can do better.

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And here's where I can do better.

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And this is the action I'm

gonna take to do better.

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Write it down on calendar,

just each day a number.

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And then over time look for trends.

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And then also over time, notice,

hey, that week felt really good

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and every day was a four or five.

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And this, these are the action

steps I took to get myself there.

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I meal prepped, I put in my

calendar when I was gonna work out.

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I walked 10 minutes after every

meal, and I know that life gets busy.

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I have two kids run a business

and, feel like life is very busy.

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So I am right there with you.

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But here's a way to hold yourself

accountable and to have someone else

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me hold you accountable in a way that

doesn't feel overwhelming, like it doesn't

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feel like a big verbal dissertation.

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So try that out.

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And if you're like, Ooh,

I like this strategy.

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We have lots of strategies inside of

thyroid, strong functional medicine.

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This is just dialing in the basics

we haven't even talked about unless

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you've listened to past episodes, h

pylori, sibo, mold exposure, heavy metal

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toxicity, parasites, all those things.

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Those are the root causes.

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You have to dial in the basics,

which is what we're talking about.

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Sleep.

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How you're eating, how you're moving

your body, putting on muscle and

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regulating your nervous system for the

root cause piece to be more effective

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and more strategic and to actually work.

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if you're needing help with accountability

on the basics, or if you wanna get to

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the root causes of your Hashimoto's

so that you can feel better in your

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body, I have a link in the show notes.

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Can book a free call.

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We can chat for half an hour and see if

we're a good fit of working together.

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And if you love this episode, rate and

review on your favorite podcast, flat

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on your favorite podcast platform,

iTunes, Spotify, wherever you listen,

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and I will see you next week ladies.