Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thought leader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we don't just talk tech. We unlock the strategies, stories, and mindset shifts to stay secure, lead boldly, and thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcome back to the Adaptive Mindset, and I'm really, really happy to have with me today, Shar Cheung Shar is a certified macro nutrition coach and hormone health educator. She helps a wide range of people, specifically high-achieving women. She does so much more. It's incredible. I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to meet with you today, Star, and I know our audience is going to love this Yeah. Thank you so much, Brett. I'm super excited to share my journey because even before, you know, we started recording this, we were just kind of chit-chatting there and we have a lot more in common than I think we both originally thought. So I'm really excited just to go into that and share what I can to help I know it, and just with what I've, my mind is racing with questions for you. And most of my listeners know that I've been on a personal transformation story, and a lot of the success I've had was not only with the decision that I had for putting myself first, but was macros. And I've yo-yoed before on my personal transformation, but I've had success before with macros, and I know macros, it's where it's at. And I would love for you to share with our audience what that all means and how that's impactful and how that can help. Yeah, for sure. So I'll go back to kind of almost my origin story, Brett, where it was in June of 2020. I remember waking up. And at that point, I was still working as an IT project management consultant. And we had just worked this like major project where we worked a lot of hours. And so, you know, at that point, I was sacrificing my health. I wasn't there for a lot of my kids activities. Like, I just wasn't taking care of myself. And I found myself at my highest weight. And I was like, what am I doing wrong? Because I thought I was doing all the right things, even though I knew kind of in the back of my head, I wasn't really taking care of myself. And that's where I stumbled across like macro nutrition and this coach. And at the time I had no idea what macros were. And so for those that are listening or watching this, macros is basically the calories that are in your food and it makes up the calories in your food. So your calories are broken down into protein, carbs, and fats, and it's having the right balance to support your lifestyle. So at that point, um, I was barely eating. I was having coffee for breakfast. I was having all these crazy mood swings. I was just, you know, be really irritable. I had no idea how much my mood and my energy was impacted by the lack of nutrition. And so I learned about, I hired this coach, learned about macros, absolutely loved it. And I started just helping my friends on the side as I was still an IT project manager. and then they were getting results. And I just wanted to know more about it. So I went and got my certification and, you know, a friend of mine, she's like, why don't you do this as a business? And I'm like, you know what? I can't do this as a business. I just want to do it for fun. You know, it's, it's, it's whatever. And then fast forward. So that was in 2020, fast forward to 2021. I hit burnout in my IT project management job. And my husband was talking to me about, hey, Char, you should quit, like, you know, like, we can see you're so stressed. And I just couldn't see myself quitting. But I think that conversation then led me to the decision, like I had to make a change. You know, I was still kind of sacrificing my health at that point. And I decided to walk away from a six figure multi-year extension on my contract. So I finished the project I was doing for them. We were just implementing some automation, some AI automation inside this company. And then I chose to walk away three months later after I wrapped up that project. So that's kind of a long story of how I kind of got here was kind of based on my own journey and then wanting to help others. And I think that pushed to, to realizing that I could no longer, I was no longer fulfilled in my it position. I, but I felt so fulfilled in helping other women who have struggled just like myself, because I had no idea how important macro nutrition was. So I lost 25 pounds and I've been able to maintain that. And you've lost a significant amount as well, but it's more, the journey I find is more about the weight release. It's, it's more about finding like a new identity. for Yeah. A hundred percent. And it's interesting. As you told that story, there was, there was that doubt and that fear. I think that you may have had at the time when your friend said, Hey, sure you should do this. And in a way the universe was conspiring. Conspiring is not the right word, but the universe was setting you up to help people. to fulfill that. And it took a little bit of a journey until you realize that this So how did you embrace that, that there was that doubt, that doubt to go after it? Was there shifts in your mindset and the journey of overcoming these limiting beliefs? That's part of what we talk about here is that building that identity Yeah, for sure. And I think we're always overcoming that next level of uncomfortableness. So, you know, one of the best decisions I made is I knew I was transitioning from corporate to entrepreneurship. And I said to myself, I'm like, I don't want to do this alone. So I found a local business coach to work with. And I've maintained a lot of those relationships inside that cohort where we're still keeping each other accountable. So I feel like don't do it alone. It's one thing. It's hard because you go, I went from like, making quite a bit of money to like, I don't know when I'm going to get my next client in, but I felt so aligned and it doesn't necessarily, and you know what the beauty of it, it doesn't really feel like work. Like I absolutely love what I do. So I get to wake up every morning and do it at a pace that I love. You know, it took me a while to get over that eight to five mentality or like you know, working in through the evening. Cause I went from like working 68 hour weeks to like having flexibility in the job. So I'm more present with my kids and that transition, that eight to five to like allowing myself to not always have to be on that took a long time to like, to transition into. And I don't know if I can say it was a specific thoughts. I just, I think it was just allowing myself that permission to just be, be quiet because yeah it's hard and i can relate to that what your journey in so many ways because when i was working in corporate it before i i started adaptive i was working 60 hour weeks and i'm always on and in fact i'm still always on up until a couple years ago until you get that shift and say, hey, no, I'm going to prioritize me, prioritize this. And so you went from 60 hours and I would probably argue that there may have been 70 or Yeah. As a project manager, you're always juggling like all the different teams and the balls and Yeah. And now you look at that and you say, It's Okay. You know what Jim says. Jim says, when you work, work. When you're in the shower, be in the shower. When you play, play. Don't mix the two. And I suspect you may have been mixing the two, because I know I was. Oh, for sure. For sure. Yep. And then when you go to that moment where you didn't know, what do I do? And there's that quietness, it's an adjustment and just being able to, that biggest gift I think you gave is being able to be quiet, to be present with your family. You have two beautiful children from what you told me before we started. And so that's such a big pivotal moment. And now in what you do, you get to help people in your in your coaching program to empower them to become the best versions of them and you're leading by example too just in your own personal story yeah sometimes I don't believe it myself because I grew up in a small town of like, like not a lot of people. Right. And, you know, for the women that come to me and they share with me how much their lives have changed because of what I've taught them, like, I'm like really like little, little me, like, I don't think of myself as like anybody special. I've just, figured it out and now I love helping other women figure it out and it just brings me so much joy and more so it's about also teaching our kids because at first you know when I hired my coach it was for the for the weight release my husband and I had we had a one-way ticket to Beijing and we were planning to go take the kids out of school and fly and and just figure things out and just enjoy life for a little bit. but then COVID hit, so that kind of changed things. And so I had hired that coach specifically to lose some weight, to release some weight prior to that trip, not realizing, you know, the greater impact that journey had, not only for myself, but for my kids as well, because they saw me restrict myself a lot in my food choices, meaning like I wouldn't have birthday cake at their birthdays, right? Because I thought it was bad for me, or if I did, I would like, do extra cardio to make up for it. It was just these decisions, right? And the one story that stuck with me is, and maybe people can relate, I was doing keto where you don't eat carbs and we were at a party and my son, who was six years old at the time, he's like, oh, mom, why don't you have some fruit? Because he had heard that we're doing keto, we can't have carbs. And I said to him, and I I looked down and I'm like, oh, well, honey, there's carbs and fruit and I can't have carbs because I'm doing a special diet. And he's like, well, if carbs are so bad for you, why are they giving them, why are you giving them to me? And then I was like, wow, like the kids watch, right. And they pay attention. So then it was like, that was another, you know, kind of awareness for me to like, okay, I need to change. Cause I want, I don't want my kids to grow up with the same struggles I did around food. Um, so which is, it's just been, You know, everything that you said earlier, you know, how the universe was kind of pointing me in this direction. When I look back, I'm like, man, like Sometimes trying to drag you along your comments are no matter what, no matter what. And so I need you to help Yeah. Sometimes you like just do it. I did it scared and I did it. Like I figured it out Yeah. Well, that's the best way though. Execution. Yeah. And so many times in life. And I'm sure along the way, even before you were letting fear be in the driver's seat. And I've learned to put fear in the passenger seat and sometimes in the back seat. And I can relate because I'm in this pivotal moment where I I've had a lot of courage to have my own evolution where I've gone. And this past Friday, I was meeting with my coach, a long time coach and, and accountability partner. And, and it was time to stop lying to myself. And so I want to bring this back to you. You talked about the importance of coaching and accountability partners. Could you share with our audience how that's worked for you in other ways that you, do you have an accountability group as well or Yeah. So I have, I have actually numerous accountability groups depending on what it is. Right. And I think, I think it's almost important to have different ones depending on what you need to be accountable for. So I have ones like with my business, actually have a few within my business that keep me accountable. depending on what we're doing, you know, um, and then within my programs, I definitely have accountability because we do, we do group coaching calls. Um, and we also do one-on-one check-ins. So it's almost like the hybrid where I give you more feedback on your food choices and everything as well. But I think having that accountability really helps you, you know, lean in when you feel like, you failed or you feel like you've fallen off the wagon and they can actually help you kind of point out the wins that they see along the way too. Because a lot of times I feel we focus too narrowly and we, we might just take like one incident out of the whole week and, and just chalk it up as to a failure, just based on like a 1% of the whole week overall. So it's just really helping people realize, you know, All the small steps will reward the biggest impact in the Sometimes I think as people, we're really too hard on ourselves and we don't really celebrate those small wins where we are today. I don't know why I'm thinking about this, but when you were talking about what you just shared, I don't know if you remember the song by Tub You know, when you get back down, when you get down, get up and have and have grace. On yourself. It's it's, it was not a And I'm sure you have had people in your coaching program that maybe have been a little too hard on themselves, but they have forgot to celebrate the wins to where they are today. Hey, it's a temporary setback Yeah, exactly. And, and. You know, it's as a coach, it's your job to kind of point out those smaller things that they're doing over time that really are going to make the biggest impact. And I just recently had that, that exact conversation with the client of mine. Cause she's like, cause every, every week when they do their check-ins with me, we talk about. what was your win? And she was struggling to find a win. And so as your coach, like, well, this is like, I know you're having a hard time seeing this, but from my, my perspective, this is the woman that I'm seeing. Like I'm seeing a woman that's prioritizing Like it's all those small little habits that she's doing over time that leads to the biggest thing, but she was- And taking for granted for where she was, Yes. Yes. Yeah. And that's why it's like this whole, it's like an evolution, your journey. Right. And it's not, it's not really about the number on the scale at the end of the day, it's, it's what you're doing every day. And that number on the scale or interest loss, that's, that's like the, that's the outcome, but As opposed to what the mindset and to take it The identity that you're, that you always were meant to be. Yeah. Like there's that identity who you were before. And for whatever reason, that person wasn't embracing who they were. Cause I even know for myself that identity for, for the father that wouldn't take his children to the park. That was only a five minute walk because he'd be out of breath. you know, there's that identity, no, I can go. And setting the example, like you said, for your children, with the, when you were talking about the fruit and the sugars, so. Yes, yeah, yeah. So, Have you ever had this pivotal moment with a client that you were just so proud of that maybe there's something Oh, there's a lot of them. I think the most common one, because this is where 90% of my clientele fall into, is that they're not eating enough. And so a lot of them, they come to me, they have brain fog, low energy, they're just really tired all the time. And in their minds, they're gaining weight. And in their minds, they feel like they are eating too much because they're continuing to gain weight. But as women age, our hormones are fluctuating and that can really impact the rate of what, you know, the weight that we can release. And, you know, if we're under eating, our body adapts to that. Plus we're going through all these hormonal changes. It's like, I call it the perfect hormonal shit storm that we're under. You should This is how serious nutrition is, but we overlook it. And most women think that they're already overeating because we as women equate, I think everybody actually equates eating Yes. But I was in the same boat because I was like eating 1200 calories and exercising a shit ton. And the weight kept going on. I'm like, this doesn't make sense, but it's so much more than just calories in calories out. There's so much happening behind the scenes. So back to your question about what are some of the pivotal moments? It's those women that lean in and trust the process because it is a lot of mindset work to tell somebody you need to eat more in order to Yes. And so, you know, I coached them through nutritional periodization, which if you're familiar with macros, it's basically the phases between recovery, you know, fat loss and maintenance. And it's cycling through those phases for sustainable fat loss and ensuring that you're giving your body a break from fat loss. So that's where, where most women fail is we, We're just trying to push fat loss so fast, like it's Amazon Prime I made my order and I expect it by Friday. And the analogy in this world is I made my Yes. But the women that are done with the quick fixes and they just want something sustainable embrace. everything that I talk about, like I talk about nutritional periodization, importance of macros, like how to fuel yourself properly. The ones that come back like two, three years later after working with me and give me their progress updates, like that really touches the heart too, because I'm just like, you're actually trusting it and you're actually doing it. Like, and they're like, this shit works. I'm like, I know, but most women give up too soon. Right. So, you know, it's, I always say it's a one year transformation program with a six month commitment because it's, it's, going to take you longer than any six week challenge or, or 12 weeks, even So, well, it's an identity program and identity shift and a belief. And, and I think, well, I know a lot of times in society, we want the quick fix and, and, and we don't allow ourselves to fully commit and then pressure comes up, like being, I'm a father of five, I know you're a mother of two and you're dealing with so many different women with so many different life truths and challenges. And I know for me, when I have something that's impacting me, I'm a stress eater. And so there's that aspect that you have to work with, with, you know, mothers and grandmothers and people that are professionals. You have all aspects of that, that you're helping people build I shared, just fun fact with Char, I shared about how impactful the power of mowing was before Yeah, we live on an acreage. We've been here for two summers now. Yeah, two or three summers We love it. You could probably build something in your coaching program, the power of mowing to help with the macros, right? Yeah, for sure. Well, even tracking macros can be tricky. I always say, give yourself four to six weeks before you get the hang of tracking macros. You know, I really empower women to create their own meals that they enjoy. I don't necessarily give meal plans. I give like a meal plan kind of sample, but what I find with meal plans, I don't teach anybody anything. Um, you know, it's, you know, so when you go out to a restaurant or when you go out to a friend, you're, you're more timid or you're more scared to make those food choices. Cause you're, you're not in control of making it and it's off It's off plan. So, you know, I really teach simple frameworks so that you can easily implement it in because like I'm busy, you've got five kids and we don't have a lot of time when it comes to like prepping food and all that. Like I love cooking, but I don't have that luxury anymore, you know, being with kids in competitive sports. So. It's really about implementing simple strategies so that you still feel good about your day, even if you didn't do everything that So you have macro hacks when you're giving them that example. You're teaching them. how to build. I know when I travel, what I do for a hack, especially the first day, I'll meal prep and bring my food with me on the plane and then find, because I've learned how to build, I'll go to the grocery store and buy what I need or order what is macro approved as best as I can. Because I'm nowhere near where you are, but because I've had teachers in the past, you learn how to build that. So that's great you're incorporating that with your clients and the people that you're inspiring, because that's the real journey. what happens after, you know, two years or three years from now, you've educated them so that they're prepared. They're good. I know this is not going to sound right, but It's true. It's true. They are. Yeah. Yeah. But still a flexibility of still enjoying life. Right. Because they all came from a place of restriction. And so like 90% of the women I work with are under eating. So it's just, you know, unlearning what we've been taught over the years about what it takes to lose fat and So I want to ask you this question because it was asked to me recently and I'm just curious what you would say. So if you could go back to the the shower before that was working the 60 plus hours a week and was just tiptoeing into this new version of you and you could see where you were at today. What would you say to Oh yeah. Okay. That's a good, that's a good, uh, question. I think I would tell myself relax. Yeah. and Let me tell you, because, you know, there's, as an entrepreneur, there's what people see on social media. And so many people had said, Oh, you know, you're crushing it, you're crushing it. And in behind the scenes, I'm just like, Like I haven't had a new client in like three months, you know, like I have my core clients that I serve, but I haven't had a new client for three months. They don't like nobody viewing in kind of sees that. So there's a lot of pressure that you feel kind of in behind the scenes that I would compare. A lot of my self-worth to what I was making at that time as a coach to what I was making as an, as an it consultant. And so I felt like I was never successful based on like a financial number. So I think if I could go back is I would have like now I know a lot about my self-worth and I've redefined that but I didn't do that until like just recently. So if I could go back, have that conversation, I would prioritize like what does it mean to Yes, and had that grace and permission to enjoy it too, and not be so tied to an outcome. So flipping that for a second, the shah from before, and she sees the shah today, Like I feel I've come out of my shell in so many ways that yeah. Looking back, I would have never thought I've put myself in places like And there's the interesting thing because there's that mindset shift of knowing where we are and where we're going. Isn't it interesting when we stop and think for a second, the shower five years from now. If you could see where she's going to be five years from now, and then you look back and do the same thing. I just get excited when I just started thinking about this in my own journey and what an incredible shift. can do and I want to encourage you to think about the shah that's coming because the shah that's here today is incredible but there's that other layer that we just keep going 10x-ing ourselves and for the listeners There's that version of you, too, that we're all striving to. And we just need to keep pushing and doing that. And I think I'm getting curious about the areas where you might be feeling some resistance. Like, why do you feel so resistant? Even like going back to when I first started seeing my stories to where I'm at now, like I used to record my stories about a hundred times before I post them on social media, you know, I'm so much more comfortable now. And it just, just keep pushing, put in the reps and, and like the universe will I bet you can record a reel or something right now and just, and, and, and just let it go. And you're okay with it. Most of the time. But the old version, stop, record, stop, record, stop, Yeah. It's, it's interesting how that goes, but you, you put the reps in it. It's, it's sort of like the, um, there's this story that Zig Ziglar shared with the lumberjack, uh, his output declined. He was doing incredible amount of output. And, and then all of a sudden the production went down and, and when he stopped and asked lumberjack, what happened, what's your, what's changed. Well, before he used to spend that 10 minutes every day before he started sharpening his ax and sometimes in life. We look for the quick win and we look to cut corners and we forget to sharpen our ax, whatever that is, whatever that symbolizes for us. And you just kept sharpening your ax because you put it in all the reps of recording and you're so much more confident and aware of who you are today than where you were before that, so putting the reps in are so critical. So what's the most impactful thing you can share with our audience, for the audience you serve and the men too, in terms of what you've learned from macros? Is there anything else you can share that you'd like to Yeah, I think having awareness of your current eating habits. So I always suggest like everybody to track their food intake. You know I say two weeks is like a great baseline data just to bring some awareness and then from there you kind of know what you need to tweak because oftentimes we think we need to do these big drastic changes to see. results. And a lot of times we just want to tweak what we're already doing. So if you have that baseline, you'll know where to tweak. And so prioritize protein throughout the day. So having a protein at every meal, I would say anywhere between 25 to 35 grams at each meal and have breakfast. You guys don't skip breakfast. Coffee doesn't count. Okay. There's ways that you don't have to track. So it's like a macro balance plate where you kind of look at your plate. So You know, a quarter of it is a protein, a quarter of it is a carb, and then half of your plate are like fruits and vegetables. Right. Um, so protein and just eating regularly throughout the day, especially for women as well, to help regulate our blood sugar. Cause as our estrogen levels decrease, we start to have some insulin resistance. So regularly eating and daily movement, like 7,000 steps a day is So, so key. So many of us are walking around dehydrated. So, so I have my protein shake here, but, but because this is not on video, I I'm guilty. I I've been holding up a diet Pepsi. But it's okay, I allow myself, there's no sugar, I'm okay with that. But it's funny that so many times we think it's okay, especially busy entrepreneurs and busy people, professionals, we think, oh, I gotta make breakfast. But you can still be successful in macros and just doing meal prep. For me, you can meal prep. I love overnight oats. I make three batches of overnight oats. And I can just grab it because it works for me. Is it exciting all the time? People say you're eating the same thing. Yeah, I can mix it up, but that is just so convenient. I can just do it. So there's hacks that you can do and ensure breakfast Yeah, what you're talking about there, Brett, the meal prepping and planning inside my group, we call it the 10 minute Sunday quickie. And it's not with your partner. You take 10 minutes on your Sunday to plan your week. And maybe prep one or two things. So this week too, Brett, I have, I made cinnamon bun overnight oats, and then I add chopped walnuts and maybe some like chopped fruit to it to increase the macros. And it's like, I've got breakfast for the next four or five days. And then it's really simple. So, and that really only took 10 minutes. So everybody's welcome to do the 10 minute Sunday That's a good takeaway because everybody's got 10 minutes. And I always say this, like with my, I have a mastermind group that I'm in with the cybersecurity business I'm in. And we, every couple of months, we have a deep dive on each other's business. And it takes up a good part of a Monday and Tuesday. But I like to get my 10,000 steps in. And you said something that really connects with me. You mentioned about getting 7,000 steps. And when I first started my own transformation journey, I didn't get the 10,000 steps in at first, but everybody has 10 minutes. Everybody has 20. And if we say that, that we don't, kind of lying to ourselves, And I'm just calling myself out on that. Cause I used to say that, but I'll go for 10 minutes or 20 minutes after the children get on the bus 20 minute walk around the neighborhood. And then I'll do it again, a couple of times in the day. If I don't have the time to go for that long walk that I enjoy them. So, but there's there, everybody always has 10 minutes, 10 minute quickie, 10 minute walk. Yeah, right. We do. That's all. It's all it takes. But oftentimes when we embark on these journeys, we're trying to do way too much. And we forget about just do So simplicity scales. Yeah. So sharp. Do you have anything? What's Oh, for sure. So I'm on social media platforms under Designed by Char, so S-H-A-R, and it's on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. And if you message me the word guide, I actually have like a fat loss, um, blueprint that talks about, you know, what your macro breakdown should be. It talks about nutritional periodization and that's, which is kind of your sustainable fat loss kind of blueprint. Cause I just want everybody to understand this so that. you know, when they join programs, because I find a lot of women join these challenges thinking that's going to be the next answer to their solution. If those programs don't include these like key things, like go a different way because you're just wasting your money. Sorry, but it's honestly the truth. And I feel like I've been duped by a lot of those challenges, too, out there. And it's it's sad, but the fitness and diet industry is so saturated and there's a lot to weed through. I find, you know, we're, we gravitate towards the quick fixes. So just be cautious, I think, and this guide will help you make that decision. Cause I just want you to make the best decision for, I believe in you and I know your intention. And I always believe when I, when I help people with their cyber and other things, my intention is to give information to empower people. And if I've done that, and even if when people don't choose to work with me, at least I've empowered them to be more aware of their cyber and other aspects I talk about. And what you're doing with offering that guide, your intention is to help people, but equally so everyone, for those that are listening, I really want you to encourage you to follow Char. Her content is amazing and you will go away with being better. informed and inspired by watching her Instagram. It's well Yeah. Thank you. It's amazing. And the other thing that I would really love to hear from our audience, if this Shar has shared so many great things and the biggest way you could repay Shar and myself, I said a few It was amazing. I'm almost going into my Donald Trump impression here, but I'll spare you all that. Please consider sharing this episode with someone that you know you can help. even the words like the words what Shara's shared might be someone you know that's struggling or or just needs to be inspired and by sharing this episode you do your your part in the world to help someone and that's ultimately what we're all here to do so. Please love to hear that. And if you have, please reach out to Char. I'm really thankful that we had this conversation. I didn't realize we had so many similarities to begin with, and it was such It was. It was so fun. Thank you so much, Brett, for having me. It Thanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. 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