Where do i start? making health & fitness changes
There is only 1 thing that I really believe is worth cutting out of your life completely:
The decision to diet, cleanse, detox, or severely limit/restrict your food.
In other words, ways of eating that you cannot sustain over time, methods that involve replacing real food with a substitute (no thank you, meal replacement shakes), or cutting out foods or entire food groups (not including approaches put in place for medical purposes or specific conditions).
The more extreme and faster you try to make a change, the more likely it won’t last (think about a rubber band… what happens if you stretch it too far, too quickly…snap).
In my experience, it is the smallest and most underwhelming changes that are carried out long term that end up being the best ones with the greatest results.
I failed time and time again with this restrictive approach and diet mentality before realizing a few things.
IT WASN’T MY FAULT THAT IT DIDN’T WORK
It was never going to help me in the way I thought it was supposed to.
And…I was so damn miserable and tired of it. I knew I needed to try something different.
Instead of the classic overnight life overhaul, I decided I was going to try actually understanding what my body needed, learn more about nutrition, health, & exercise, and give myself FULL permission to take baby steps to move in the right direction.
5 years later and this mentality has continued to serve me and the women that I have worked with FAR better than adopting some rigid rule(s) and being tortured day in and day out trying to stick to them.
I don’t like any hard and fast rules because even if there are “best practices” in nutrition & health, what good are they if they go against your values or preferences, or just don’t align with your life?
It doesn’t have to be black and white, all or nothing. The goal isn’t to be perfect.
Need some ideas?
Focus on what you can ADD to your life.
Nutrition Habit Ideas:
The restrictive mindset when trying to change creates a negative environment where your brain (and therefor body) perceives deprivation and will push back.
Instead, let’s focus on nourishing it and taking care of it, rather than punishing it in order to try to force change.
This approach will always win long term and your mind, body, and future self will thank you for it.
Movement Habit Ideas:
Whether or not you are someone who exercises regularly, there is so much to gain by just trying to get more movement in your day to day life (walk more, take the stairs, participating in activities that you enjoy - sports, hiking, biking, etc.).
I do believe that strength training offers tremendous benefits to everybody and it is possible for anyone to make it a part of their routine (although it may look different for different people).
You have to be ready and willing to take that step and if you aren’t right now, that is OK!
You can get there but perhaps there are a few steps to take before that.
Just build off where you are NOW.
It doesn’t matter how small that first step is. It just matters that you take it, and you can stick to it.
These are just some ideas but the goal of any addition you make is to help you get just one step further in the direction you want to go and get the ball rolling (because honestly that is often the hardest part).
Once you see that you can stick to these small changes as you are making them a normal part of your day, it becomes so much easier to continue to build on them and you realize that hey…
“I CAN DO THIS.”
That feeling of success is so empowering and can be the driving factor to keeping you going down this road.
So you can make this your own? Pick 1-2 things you can work on.
Chose your first step(s). Ask yourself, “do I feel 110% percent sure that I can commit to this habit for the next month?”
If the answer is anything but the most confident YES, then cut the habit in half. Make it smaller. There is literally no starting point too small.
Just get the ball rolling and trust the process.
LET’S CONNECT!
Interested in getting started with health coaching or personalized programming?
Book your FREE discovery call with me and I’d love to chat and get to know you better!
