You want to look lean and strong and feel amazing and conquer any challenge that comes your way?
That means doing extremely unsexy, boring, basic, even tedious habits, you don’t want to do DAILY.
And I’m going to share 10 lessons I’ve learned to help you value and stay focused on the unsexy habits that lead to the sexiest of sexy results.
Starting with number 1 which is…
What you LIKE isn’t always what you NEED.
We like what is fun. What makes us feel good. What is comfortable.
This is often what we’re used to and what we’re doing currently.
But a new goal, a new phase of life, may dictate new habits that feel uncomfortable.
You have to embrace new habits to see a new result.
Success means some sacrifice.
To get a result that you like may mean doing some things you don’t enjoy as much.
You may not like brushing your teeth for example but you like not having cavities.
So step out of just seeking habits you like and instead take a look at your goals.
What is needed to be the person with those results?
Those habits you need drive you forward and often the longer we do them, the more we like them especially because they are a part of how we feel our most fabulous!
Lesson #2: You can only train as hard as you can recover from.
We talk about overtraining a ton. But a better way to truly address what is going on isn’t to think of it as just our training. Because it’s not.
We’re not overtraining so much as we’re under recovering.
We can do more in our workouts if our fueling, mobility work, sleep are all on point.
Too often we just adjust our training over taking a look at these other areas of our lifestyle.
So if you’re feeling burnt out or seeing your performance decline, start to look at how you’re recovering between sessions over just feeling like your workouts need to change.
Because one of the biggest reasons we start to feel like we’re under recovery is we aren’t fueling properly for performance or for recomp.
We’re so focused on eating less as we burn more calories that we sabotage our metabolic health.
Which brings me to lesson #3: Eat more for fat loss.
This can be a harder one to embrace as we constantly hear how weight loss is about calories in vs calories out.
Eat in a deficit to lose.
And while yes, a deficit is key, more isn’t better.
Slashing our calories lower doesn’t yield results faster.
It’s also often what leads to us quickly feeling deprived, restricted, miserable and like we don’t have the willpower to truly make lasting changes.
It’s why we may see the scale drop to start only to end up regaining more weight shortly after.
Create a small calorie deficit off of what you’re currently eating. Only even 100 calories to start.
This small change will be sustainable and while it won’t lead to the scale dropping 10lbs overnight, it will lead to you actually looking leaner and staying leaner while feeling fueled and energized.
Not to mention, you can’t stay in a calorie deficit forever!
Once you lose the weight, you do have to work to increase your calories and maintain your metabolic and muscle.
So you can’t just focus only on calories in vs out and starving yourself more.
It’s why macros really matter. Sucks but it is true.
And not only do they matter, but so often FEAR of one holds us back from making the changes we need.
Lesson #4: Don’t fear a macro.
Carbs won’t cause you to gain belly fat. Fat won’t make you fat either.
Yet too often I see one or the other of these macros demonized.
But if we fear carbs when we’re super active and slash them super low, we can not only end up feeling horrible but we can see ourselves gaining weight as our metabolism slows and we create thyroid issues.
And fearing eating enough fat can also have negative ramifications, sabotaging our hormonal health, metabolic rate and ultimately our body recomp.
We need a balance and we need to embrace that our balance with macros will shift not only as we progress toward our goals but as our body, activity level, workouts and even lifestyle evolve.
Want to build more muscle?
You may need to increase carbs from what you did to lose fat.
Going through menopause?
You may see yourself become more insulin resistant and need to increase fats.
Be open to evolution.
And that’s why Lesson #5 is Nothing is a set it and forget it lifestyle.
So often we start a diet or new program and instantly want to convince ourselves, “This is a lifestyle!”
But we won’t do one thing forever.
And while we want things to feel good and “sustainable” whenever possible to meet us where we are at, often to start changes don’t feel easy or like a lifestyle.
True changes that yield results aren’t often comfortable as we’re doing something we’ve never done.
And over time we will have to tweak and adjust further. Our body, needs, goals, lifestyle will all change therefore our diet and workouts will need to as well.
Even maintaining your results will mean adjusting your habits at times and setting little mini goals to keep you motivated.
So instead of searching for a forever fix, realize this is a forever process.
Constantly search for little ways to improve and set new goals to help yourself stay consistent with the habits.
And often when making changes it is hardest to embrace the ones that have the least obvious quick payoff…Like including that 3-part prehab process and mobility work daily.
So often we just want to get to the good stuff in our workout, especially when we’re short on time.
But a proper warm up is truly the secret to better results faster.
That’s why Lesson #6 is Do the boring mobility work DAILY.
Foam roll. Stretch. Activate.
Do this 3-part prehab process for even 5-10 minutes daily and you’ll be amazed at how much you keep those aches and pains at bay.
Too often we wait till things have added up to address them then are frustrated when we can’t train the way we want or see injuries holding us back.
The more we let the build up occur, the more we have to dig ourselves out of a hole.
Better to not dig ourselves the hole in the first place.
Prehab is better than rehab.
Do this 3-part process every warm up and even just a bonus 5-10 minutes on days off and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much you avoid sidelining yourself with aches and pains.
And if you’ve been blaming your AGE for you aches and pains?
Take a look at your mobility work.
This little bit of time committed consistently can help you move and feel your best…and even see better body recomp because you’re able to train intensely each and every session!
Then Lesson #7: Stop placing blame outside yourself.
You can’t control everything that happens.
And there will always be something you can’t do or don’t have.
There will always be life trying to get in the way.
But there is also ALWAYS a way to still move forward.
The key is accepting responsibility even when something isn’t your fault.
When we just blame our lack of results on something outside ourselves, we don’t focus on what we can still do to move forward.
Don’t have weights? You can still build muscle through other forms of progression.
Don’t have much time to meal prep? You can still find healthy restaurants or quick reheat options.
There is always a way if we focus on controlling what we can control to see opportunity in the options over just viewing everything as an obstacle.
Lesson #8: Don’t tie habits to your identity.
I mentioned in Lesson #5 that constantly tweaking and evolving is key.
This is easier said than done though as habits become routine and learned behaviors we don’t even realize we’re repeating at times.
Especially when we start to define ourselves in some of our habits and even find a community around a certain way of training or eating.
And while our habits do shape us, if we fully define ourselves by them we won’t let them shift as our body, needs or goals change.
This ultimately can lead to us feeling like we’re working super hard not to see progress…
Or we may even find ourselves sliding further and further away from our goals as we cling to what used to work.
Who we are constantly evolves. Allow your habits to change too.
Our identity shifting isn’t a bad thing – it’s growth.
And we should ALWAYS want to grow as that leads to us feeling and looking our most fabulous till our final day on this planet.
Lesson #9: Slow down to speed up.
When we want results as fast as possible, we often try to make as many changes at once as possible.
We adjust as many habits as we can.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Until life throws something at us where our best laid plans go sideways.
At times like this, often we end up doing nothing because we can’t be perfect.
But this all or nothing attitude keeps us stuck in a loop of constantly starting over to never really see progress snowball.
Instead we have to realize when inching forward is still forward.
Sometimes during busy times of year we can’t do 6 workouts in a week. Instead of doing nothing, do 3.
While this may not feel perfect, this slow down in our habits ultimately keeps us moving forward so in a month or even a year we’re way further along than we would have been otherwise!
And finally the key to it all…
Lesson #10: Track track track track track.
What gets measured gets managed.
Plain and simple.
Part of tracking is having that accurate picture of what we’re doing to adjust off of so we aren’t just guessing at what is and isn’t working.
But another part of tracking is that we have to have a clear plan in place to give us direction.
When you have your GPS and roadmap laid out, you can track your progress on your journey and see where you are at.
You can see if you’ve taken a wrong turn even to help yourself get back on course quicker.
But if you have no idea of what you’re doing or where you are, you’re always basically guessing at what works.
This is what leads to us feeling like we’re working super hard to get nowhere!
Direction drives us!
And the more we track, the easier we make it to constantly evolve our goals and make the lifestyle changes we need.
So track what you’re doing and embrace that constant habit evolution to continue to learn and grow and feel your most fabulous till your final day on this planet!
Ready to build your leanest, strongest body ever and feel your most fabulous?
Schedule a coaching consultation today!
