Q&A with 2022 Dialed Health Shred Winner Sierra

In this Q&A, we ask our 2022 Dialed Health Shred winner (1 of 2), Sierra, questions on how she saw such amazing results! For those of you who do not know, the Dialed Health Shred is a challenge we had in January. For the entire month, you commit to counting your macros, performing strength training workouts, and crushing it on your bike. The goal is to not only lose weight but to also lose inches.

Sierra lost a total of 9.4 pounds and 7.5 inches. How crazy is that?! In this Q&A, we get some insight into her habits and mindset that led her to these killer results.

Sierra is a PICU RN who decided to pursue Enduro MTB racing and we had a blast chatting with her!

What does your normal day-to-day look like?

I work four 12-hour days as a PICU RN. I’m on my feet all day long, running from one thing to the next, and come home absolutely exhausted. While I’m at work, it’s intense and stressful and while I’m not at work, I have a family, with 3 stepchildren, who I need to take care of and prioritize.

How were you able to stay on track with training with a schedule like that?

On the days I worked, I had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get my training in. Getting on your trainer that earlier is hard to do most of the time, but if you want to see results, you need to make some sacrifices, and this was one of them for me. Training isn’t always going to be comfortable, but it’s what needs to be done for me to reach my goals.

Plus, if I didn’t wake up at that time, then I may or may not get my training in depending on what time I get home from work and what’s going on with my family. I also found that training at night made it a lot harder for me to sleep at night, which would affect my training the next day.

How were you able to stay on track with nutrition?

I personally prefer to eat five meals a day. With being on my feet and running around all day long, I have found this is the perfect amount for me in order to feel fueled throughout my entire day.

Although, cooking five meals a day takes a lot of time. Instead, I meal prep once a week. This typically will take me around 4 hours to get all the meals I need prepared (5 meals a day x 5 days a week = 25 meals that need to be prepped).

If I have meals prepped, then I know there is no way I won’t stay on track during the week.

Did you have any obstacles that arose during the shred and how did you navigate through it?

I had two large obstacles during the shred

The first big obstacle was getting COVID. I wasn’t able to train as hard as I would have liked. I listened to my body and the intensity I could handle and did workouts based on that. I had to skip workouts and some days I just did mobility workouts.

It was out of my hands and I had no other choice but to just do the best I could and be okay with that. I realized the important thing was to just stay consistent with my nutrition and get back to the workouts as soon as I could.

The second option was a Bachelorette party at an all-inclusive resort. We got unlimited food and unlimited drinks, which made staying on track extremely difficult.

With the food, I did my best to eyeball everything and to load up on protein. Obviously, I didn’t know the macros of everything that I was eating, so I took the mindset off, “I will try my best and just be okay with not being perfect.”

With the alcohol, I had a few hacks. Most often, I would drink sparkling water with lime to make it look like I had a drink in hand so no one would bother me. Other times, I would order the round of shots so the bartender would give me a water shot, or I would just toss my drink in the bushes.

With training, I stayed extremely consistent. I would wake up every morning to go for a run and hit the gym on training days. I liked doing this first thing so no matter what happened in the day, I at least knew I got my training in.

What is your number one piece of advice for someone who wants to do the shred?

If you really want something there really isn't any excuse, you’re just going to do it no matter what obstacle comes up. There are a lot of things in life that come up out of nowhere, as well as a lot of little things, but if you really want something, this doesn’t matter. I've had people say, “I just can't do it”, or “I don't have enough time”. To me, this means that they don’t want it badly enough, because if they did, these wouldn’t be excuses.

I have people who ask me how I do it and I tell them that I can help them achieve the same goals because it's not rocket science. It's a simple formula. The hardest part is the commitment part and most people don't want to compromise things that make them feel good or things that they've done, or they're used to doing because it is uncomfortable.

To reach your goals, you need to commit and stay committed.

Want to hear from our other Dialed Health Shred winner? Check out episode 112: 🏅 Real Hacks for Staying Consistent and Seeing Massive Results [Dialed Health Shred Winners]