Emily Lever Coaching Podcast

Emily Lever
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The Emily Lever Coaching Podcast is hosted by experienced fitness and nutrition coach Emily and her husband AJ Lever — both nurse practitioners — who bring honest, practical conversations to anyone looking for a more sustainable, grounded approach to health. Together, they break down realistic nutrition, efficient fitness, mindset shifts, and the "why" behind healthy habits, all through the lens of their clinical experience and years of coaching. With relatable stories, clear explanations, and zero guilt-driven advice, Emily and AJ offer supportive, sustainable strategies that fit into real-life schedules for parents, professionals, and anyone ready to feel better in their body and daily routine.

  1. 4d ago

    50. Fitness Wearables: How Accurate Are They?

    Wearables are everywhere, Apple Watches, Fitbits, Oura Rings, Garmins, WHOOP bands, but how much can you actually trust the data they give you? In this episode, we break down what these devices are really measuring, what they're merely calculating, and where the accuracy starts to fall apart. We cover step counting accuracy across devices, how optical heart rate sensors work, the massive variability in calorie burn estimates, and why sleep tracking caps out around 75% accuracy even on the most hyped devices. Along the way, we get into a lively debate about perceived exertion versus objective data, the dangers of letting a number dictate your meals or your training, and why one host's Apple Watch told her to "work out today" while she was mid-set on the leg press. The bottom line: let the data inform you, follow trends over absolute numbers, and always remember, you are not a number.   5 Key Takeaways Basic measurements are the most accurate. Steps and heart rate are directly measured by sensors, while sleep scores, recovery, and calorie burn rely on algorithms, meaning the more advanced the feature, the more room for error. Don't base your diet on your wearable's calorie estimates. Studies comparing wearables to lab-grade gas exchange equipment show massive variability, both over- and underestimating. Adjusting your meals around an estimated burn throws too many variables into a carefully planned nutrition approach. Follow trends, not absolute numbers. Whether it's steps, sleep, or heart rate, the change from your personal baseline is far more meaningful than the raw number. A dip in sleep consistency is a useful cue to investigate, the exact hours of "deep sleep" reported may not be accurate. Oura Ring significantly overestimates step count. One client saw 16,000 steps on her Oura Ring versus 10,000 on her Apple Watch, finger and hand movement inflates the count. If accurate step tracking matters to your goals, Apple Watch, Fitbit, or Garmin are better choices. Watch out for black-and-white thinking. A low recovery score doesn't mean you should skip training, and a poor sleep score doesn't mean the day is ruined. As one host's nursing school lesson put it: sure, the oxygen reads 70, but did you look at the patient? How you actually feel matters more than what the device says.   "These numbers and markers, they are a tool, but you are so much more complex than a tool. You are not a number." - Emily Connect with Emily and AJ: Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  2. Oct 19

    49. Decoding a menu: How to Eat Out Without Derailing Your Goals

    In this episode, Emily and AJ break down how to navigate restaurant menus without abandoning your nutrition goals. Rather than an all-or-nothing approach, they teach a practical framework, identify your protein source first, add vegetables, choose a carb, and account for hidden fats, so you can enjoy dining out as part of a consistent lifestyle. They also cover menu buzzwords, easy swaps, the truth about "healthy" salads, how alcohol affects hunger and fat burning, and why skipping meals or labeling foods as "good" or "bad" backfires.   5 Key Takeaways Build your plate from the menu in order: protein → vegetables → carbs → fats. Start by finding your protein source (chicken, steak, seafood, etc.), then look for a vegetable, then a grain or starch carb, and finally account for hidden fats from cooking methods and sauces. "Healthy" salads can be a trap. Dressing, cheese, nuts, and avocado can turn a salad into 2,000+ calories of fats. A California Cobb salad with bacon, buttermilk ranch, avocado, and seeds can easily exceed 1,000 calories — you might be better off eating a burger. Learn the menu buzzwords. Grilled, baked, roasted, or steamed generally means fewer hidden fats. Battered, breaded, fried, buttery, or creamy signals significantly more. Sweet chili, sweet & sour, and orange chicken indicate sugary, carb-heavy sauces. Don't skip meals to "save calories" before dining out. You'll arrive too hungry to make intentional choices and end up overordering appetizers, drinks, and dessert. Go in moderately hungry instead. Alcohol does more than add calories. It suppresses leptin (your fullness hormone), disrupts sleep quality, and suppresses fat oxidation — and the effects carry over into the next day, making it harder to stay on track.   "Foods do not have morals. There are no bad foods and there are no good foods. It is all how you use them and the portions that you consume them in." - AJ Connect with Emily and AJ: Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  3. Oct 12

    48. Strong for Life: Minimizing muscle loss with age

    Sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass and function, affects everyone as they get older, typically beginning in our late 30s to early 40s. In this episode, we break down why it happens, what's actually proven to combat it, and how to build a realistic plan that doesn't require living in the gym. From the role of resistance training, protein, and vitamin D, to why the scale is the wrong measuring stick for progress, this conversation covers everything you need to stay strong and functional for life.   5 Key Takeaways: Resistance training is the only proven intervention. There's no drug or medical treatment for sarcopenia, resistance training is the single thing studies consistently show works. Just 2–3 sessions per week is enough to see significant benefits, even if you're starting from scratch. It's not just about muscle, it's about function. Sarcopenia affects strength, balance, neuromuscular efficiency, and even cognitive function. The goal isn't just looking good; it's being able to get out of bed, climb stairs, and avoid falls as you age. Protein and vitamin D are non-negotiable. Aim for roughly 1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight, spread across meals. Vitamin D is essential for muscle protein synthesis, type II fast-twitch fiber function, and even reducing myostatin, the protein that actively blocks muscle growth. Stop obsessing over the scale. If you're resistance training, the scale is a poor progress marker since muscle weighs more than fat. Track your strength gains, physical function, and progress photos instead. Recovery must match the work. As you age, recovery takes longer, sleep quality often declines, and anabolic resistance increases. Training 6–7 days a week isn't the answer, progressive overload, adequate sleep, and intentional rest are what drive results. "Your body isn't going to build something or do something unless it has to adapt. So you need to give it something to adapt to." - AJ Connect with Emily and AJ: Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  4. Oct 5

    47. Stronger Miles: Why Runners Should Be Lifting Weights

    This week, we dive into why runners, and endurance athletes of all kinds, should be incorporating resistance training into their routines. We break down how lifting complements running by improving running economy, reducing injury risk, strengthening connective tissue, and building the muscular support your joints need to handle thousands of impacts per run. We also cover specific movements to prioritize, how to program lifting around your running schedule, and why strength training shouldn't compete with your endurance goals, it should support them.   5 Key Takeaways: Strength training improves running economy. Just like a fuel-efficient car uses less gas at the same speed, a stronger, more efficient runner expends less energy at the same pace, reducing stress on the body with every mile. Your muscles are your joints' shock absorbers. Stronger quads, hamstrings, and calves absorb impact that would otherwise go straight to your knees, ankles, and bones, think of muscle as a "sink for force" that protects your joints. Running is inherently unilateral. Since you're only on one foot at a time, single-leg resistance work (Bulgarian split squats, step-ups, single-leg RDLs, lunges) directly supports the movement pattern of running. Balance your training budget. You can't spend all your energy on lifting and expect to progress as a runner. A good ratio is 3–4 run sessions to 2 strength sessions, with thoughtful scheduling, don't crush a heavy leg day right before a long run. Target your resistance training to your sport. Runners should focus on squats, hinges (deadlifts, hip thrusts, kettlebell swings), calf work, and core, including rotational work, rather than following a generic bodybuilding split. "What if becoming stronger actually helps you run more efficiently, produce more force, you tolerate your training better, especially if you're doing something like really endurance, like an Ironman or a marathon. Your training is intense and takes a toll, so whatever you can do to help you tolerate and manage that better, and potentially reduce your risk of injuries." - AJ Connect with Emily and AJ Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  5. Sep 28

    46. Your Gut, Your Brain & Your Performance: The Science Behind the Connection (Part 2)

    In this episode, the Emily and AJ dig into the gut-brain connection, busting the myth that gut-produced serotonin directly controls your mood, and explaining how exercise redirects blood flow away from the GI tract, causing the nausea, cramping, and bathroom emergencies endurance athletes know all too well. They close out with practical guidance on tuning nutrition, hydration, and training around your body's individual GI responses rather than chasing a one-size-fits-all "perfect plan."   5 Key Takeaways: Your gut produces ~90% of your body's serotonin, but that serotonin can't cross the blood-brain barrier — so gut health doesn't directly "fix" your mood or depression the way people assume. Feeling better after improving gut health is likely an associative effect (better digestion, sleep, and energy), not a causative boost in brain serotonin. During intense or prolonged exercise, blood flow is diverted from the gut to the muscles, heart, and lungs — a process that can trigger nausea, cramping, bloating, and diarrhea in endurance athletes. GI distress during endurance sports is a "perfect storm" of heat, dehydration, physical bouncing, and hard-to-digest high-glycemic fuel (like gel packets) hitting a gut with minimal blood flow. There's no universal "perfect" nutrition plan — timing, food quality, and individual GI tolerance all matter, and the only way to dial it in is by testing how your own body responds.   "Remember that your body is a very intricate system, and you can't always isolate nutrition from stress. They truly go hand-in-hand, and you also can't isolate digestion from your nervous system. So if you're looking at it that way, you basically can't isolate performance from recovery either." - Emily Connect with Emily and AJ Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  6. Sep 21

    45. Your Gut, Your Brain & Your Performance: The Science Behind the Connection (Part 1)

    Ever felt butterflies before a big presentation, or a stomach-drop when you're stressed? That's not "all in your head", it's the gut-brain axis at work. In this episode, we break down the science of how your brain and gut constantly talk to each other through the enteric nervous system, the vagus nerve, and the HPA axis. We cover why blood flow matters for digestion, how stress and cortisol shape your gut health, and why everyone's stress response looks different, plus practical takeaways on eating around workouts and managing chronic stress for better digestion.   5 Key Takeaways The gut-brain connection is real and two-way. Your gut and brain constantly communicate through the enteric nervous system, vagus nerve, and hormone signalin, it's not "in your head," it's physiology. Everyone's stress response is unique. Some people get stomach butterflies, others get chest pain or nausea, your gut-brain connection shows up differently than someone else's, and that's normal. Blood flow timing affects digestion. During exercise, blood is diverted to your muscles; you need to wait for hunger cues (signaling blood flow has returned to your gut) before eating a full post-workout meal. Cortisol isn't the enemy, dysregulation is. Cortisol should rise and fall throughout the day and spike appropriately with stress; the real problem is when it stays chronically elevated (or chronically too low). Chronic stress blocks "rest and digest." Staying in sympathetic (fight-or-flight) mode prevents your parasympathetic system from supporting proper motility, secretion, and nutrient absorption.   "My point is recovery exists in all aspects of stress. Stress is actually a very positive thing. It's how we change. It's how we grow. It's just what we do afterwards to help recover from that in other forms."- Emily Connect with Emily and AJ Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  7. Sep 14

    44. Fad Diets: Why the "Next Big Thing" Usually Isn't the Answer

    Fad diets keep resurfacing because they promise fast, dramatic results but this episode breaks down why the "next big thing" almost never works long-term. From juice cleanses and detoxes to carnivore, no-carb, and intermittent fasting, we unpack the red flags to watch for and why sustainable, less-extreme habits beat short-term extremes every time.   5 Key Takeaways: Watch for red-flag language: words like "rapid," "detox," "hack," and "melt fat" signal marketing hype, not evidence-based nutrition. Cutting out entire food groups is rarely necessary: unless you have a diagnosed intolerance or allergy, foods like dairy, gluten, and carbs usually aren't the real problem; overall diet quality is. The scale isn't the whole story: rapid weight loss from juice cleanses or fasting is often just water, GI contents, and fat-soluble nutrients you're failing to absorb, not actual fat loss. Personal testimonials aren't proof: anecdotes from individuals (even licensed professionals) are not a substitute for clinical studies and meta-analyses. Sustainable beats extreme: small, consistent changes (adequate protein, mindful sugar intake, whole foods, strength training, realistic deficits) build habits that last, unlike short, miserable diet sprints.   "The problem with these fad diets is they teach you how to diet instead of how to live." Connect with Emily and AJ Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

  8. Sep 7

    43. All About Fiber: The Sh*t you should be eating more (Part 2)

    In this episode, two nutrition coaches, Emily and AJ, dig into fiber, why it matters, how to actually get more of it into everyday meals, and where they disagree on supplements. They cover easy ways to add fruits and veggies to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, then debate common fiber mistakes, including when (if ever) it's okay to lean on a fiber supplement instead of whole foods.   5 Key Takeaways: Aim to include a fruit or vegetable at every single meal,it's one of the simplest, highest-impact habits for health and fullness. Small swaps make fiber easy: add berries to yogurt, toss frozen peas or spinach into a bowl, or blend greens into sauces and smoothies. Increase fiber gradually (about 5 grams a day) rather than all at once to avoid digestive discomfort. Whole-food fiber sources are preferred, but fiber supplements have a place, especially for people with chronic constipation or those struggling to hit their goals through diet alone. Variety matters: eating the same "healthy" meals every day can leave gaps in fiber types and micronutrients, so mix up your sources. "You could have a really great meal plan where you're very consistent and you're only eating healthy foods, but if you eat the same exact thing for every breakfast and every lunch and every dinner, you're not gonna get a variety, and you're probably missing out on a lot of different types of fibers and/or different types of micronutrients if you are very regimented." - AJ Connect with Emily and AJ Website: https://www.emilylevercoaching.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bedellever/   References https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31377851/   Enjoyed the Episode? If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who's stuck in the start-over cycle. Your support helps more people find the podcast and build healthier habits that last. Until next time—keep showing up, stay consistent, and remember: small steps add up to big change.

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About

The Emily Lever Coaching Podcast is hosted by experienced fitness and nutrition coach Emily and her husband AJ Lever — both nurse practitioners — who bring honest, practical conversations to anyone looking for a more sustainable, grounded approach to health. Together, they break down realistic nutrition, efficient fitness, mindset shifts, and the "why" behind healthy habits, all through the lens of their clinical experience and years of coaching. With relatable stories, clear explanations, and zero guilt-driven advice, Emily and AJ offer supportive, sustainable strategies that fit into real-life schedules for parents, professionals, and anyone ready to feel better in their body and daily routine.

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