TAKE ACTION
a
M
TAKE ACTION
FHP 430 – Fast vs. Sustainable

FHP 430 – Fast vs. Sustainable

by | Jul 26, 2022 | podcast

I think something we too often like to gloss over is the sacrifices and challenges involved in achieving results.

Getting a new and better result, making a change is NOT easy.

Even something that eventually feels sustainable can be hard to start because it isn’t instinctual. It isn’t what we’ve always done.

So when I work with a client I like to discuss the options in how we move forward.

While I don’t believe in fad diets or quick fixes, I do believe we have a choice in the speed of our results…

And how fast we choose to move forward toward a goal is dependent on how much we are willing to go all in, embrace change and make sacrifices.

While everything in our program needs to be focused on the basics of macros and a clear workout progression IF we want to create sustainable habits we can adjust as we transition to maintaining our results, how we dial in our programming off of these foundational things at any given time can shift based on how quickly we want to make progress vs how much we want to really just create something that’s a lifestyle.

So basically what I’m telling you is…

If you want something that really feels like a lifestyle right from the start, you’ve got to be prepared for results to take longer to build.

However, if you are willing to go to the faster side of this sustainable continuum, you can see results faster…you just have to be ready to make more sacrifices. You have to be ready to be more “perfect” and precise for awhile.

You almost have to be ready to overcorrect to then slowly come back to more of a lifestyle as you reach your goals or even need a break.

And then you have to recognize you may adjust over time. You may be more motivated at points to push harder. Or you may need to back off because other things in your life take priority.

And this isn’t a bad thing.

But it’s key we constantly assess what we need to realize that WE control how fast we go or how much we focus on just that lifestyle balance.

We also have to recognize that we can’t necessarily have both all of the time!

That’s why I wanted to share some things I discuss with clients so we can determine what they need or truly want in terms of results vs. the habits they are willing to commit to.

And again…just remember, once you understand this balance, you can choose to change at any time. You may have an event you’re willing to do more to feel and look a certain way for.

Or you may have too much going on right now and need to back off. No right or wrong but we want to know the “cost” of any decision we make.

1: Know thyself!

The biggest thing to first consider is who you are and what has derailed you in the past.

Do you tend to get too gung-ho to start and ultimately derail yourself with too much restriction?

If this is the case, maybe ease in. Start with more of a lifestyle balance and, as you adjust, maybe then consider periods to kickstart things.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with strict macro ratios or 6 days a week of training. Start with something more manageable. Maybe even just tracking. But allow yourself to make the transition in easier by breaking things down so the changes become innate before you build further.

However, if you know you’re a person who will give up if results don’t happen fast enough to start, maybe you consider jumping in with more of a cut ratio or more dramatic change to ease up a bit after you’ve built that momentum.

Maybe you do habits that you know aren’t fully sustainable with a game plan to transition progressions or ratios as you settle in and see progress happening.

The key is assessing you and knowing what will help you settle into changes and stick with things.

2: Know you’re going to adjust.

Creating a lifestyle doesn’t mean doing one thing the rest of your life. You can have periods you’re more intense and times you’re less intense. And if you feel motivated, use it.

If you don’t feel motivated, also don’t be afraid to give yourself that strategic break or transition to minimums.

We have to remember that part of what leads to lasting results is sometimes embracing the ebbs and flows and even accepting minimums.

The more you allow yourself breaks at points, often the more we can capitalize on those times we are motivated because we are fully charged to go.

But this is also why it is key we embrace the learning process. When we understand macros, we can adjust ratios to be more dialed in or even more maintenance. We can know how we’re truly fueling to adjust.

Same goes for workouts. We can know what is or isn’t working and even tweak our schedule to work for different realistic schedules based on what our lifestyle is at that point. But when you think through how you’re programming, you can truly adjust for the time you have so you keep moving forward.

The key is not ignoring our mindset so we can even plan ahead and adjust accordingly so we don’t just fall off!

3: Remind yourself of your decision.

We always want results faster. But I think reminding ourselves of the sacrifices involved in going faster can be key if we’ve chosen NOT to implement all of the habits that are needed.

I think at times we need to remind ourselves we COULD go faster, but we’ve chosen something more based on a lifestyle.

I think it’s key to remind ourselves it is our CHOICE because it also allows us to reassess if we want to get results faster. We can CHANGE our decision.

Too often with lifestyle changes, with trying to reach a goal, we act like things are done to us. This takes away our control and makes us feel like we’re suffering more.

Realizing that we are “inflicting” these things on ourselves can often be helpful. Because then we can change things if we need!

Just remember you can change at any point. Remind yourself of why you’ve chosen the habits you have and why they relate to the speed of progress you’re going to make!

4: Plan end dates and cycles.

Honestly, it may even be best to plan in set cuts. To plan in set times you’re going to do a diet break or even just maintain. It can make things easier when you know you have an end date.

It can be helpful to allow you to know you won’t have to “suffer” with more sacrifices forever.

It can even allow you to embrace different times in your life where you may have more or less time to commit. It can also help you capitalize on motivation when it strikes to use bigger events to drive forward and make more sacrifices while also allowing you to embrace those times you can’t do as much because you can see them as the breaks you need.

But don’t be afraid to even look at your overall year and plan in times you know you can bring that intensity while also recognizing times you may have to strategically back off. I think knowing there will be times you get a break can motivate us to do more during the more ideal times we have!

We don’t do well with suffering indefinitely and driving forward faster does mean more sacrifice!

SUMMARY:

Remember we have some choice in how fast we get results. And while we shouldn’t turn to crash diets and need to focus on those fundamentals, we can choose to make more sacrifices or focus more on the lifestyle balance based on how quickly we want results.

And we can change our focus over time…but it’s key we’re constantly assessing to adjust based on what we need and what is possible at that time!

Want A Strong Back? (Do This Back Exercise!)

Want A Strong Back? (Do This Back Exercise!)

by | Jul 24, 2022 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

Too often we waste exercises by not actually working the muscles intended.

And then we wonder why we aren’t seeing the results we want.

But we have to remember that if we don’t feel the correct muscles working, those muscles aren’t reaping the benefits.

For example, if you feel your lower back during ab work, your lower back is what is being worked, not your abs. So all of that ab work isn’t going to pay off the way you’d like.

And it may even result in injury as your lower back becomes overworked and overloaded. This can even lead to your lower back engaging when it shouldn’t in other compound moves and lifts.

So not only is the muscle group we want benefiting NOT benefiting, but we may be creating recruitment patterns that can lead to other issues and injury.

The same thing goes for those back exercises you’re including in your workouts.

Tend to feel your neck or shoulders or even your biceps working instead of your upper back during rows or pull ups?

Struggling to feel like all of that back strengthening work is leading to the results you want, like improving your pull ups so you can do that first full one?

Then you need to make sure your back is actually what is powering your pulling moves.

And if it isn’t, you need to potentially modify so your arms can’t compensate.

You need to start by addressing your scapular mobility and stability to actually get your back powering the pull!

That’s why I love this amazing move – The Back Shrug.

While we need to include mobility work and that full prehab process of foam rolling, stretching and activation in our warm up routine, we can’t out mobility work improper movement and recruitment patterns when we lift.

It’s why we need to be intentional with moves and see every exercise as a a chance to assess.

And it’s why, when the correct muscles aren’t working, we sometimes need to modify moves and even try other variations to improve that mind-body connection.

It’s why if you struggle with with using your back during rowing, you may want to switch to the Back Shrug to start focusing on that scapular retraction to engage your back and power the pull.

How Do You Do The Back Shrug:

This move boils the row down to just that initial scapular movement to learn to control that back engagement.

When you row, the movement should start because you’re you’re drawing your shoulder blade toward your spine to use your back to pull.

This movement isolates just this component of the row, removing any elbow flexion that may lead to us compensating and using our bicep instead.

Too often with rows, we end up performing a bicep curl, curling our wrist in toward our chest over driving the elbow down and back as our shoulder blade moves toward our spine.

That’s why focusing on just that scapular movement to start can be key.

To do the Back Shrug, hold a dumbbell in each hand and hinge over standing with your feet about hip-width apart.

Let your arms hang down and unshrug your shoulders while keeping a neutral spine. Make sure you’ve hinged over to load your glutes while keeping your knees soft.

From this bent over position, you are going to try to pinch your shoulder blades together while letting your arms hang down.

Draw your shoulder blades toward your spine. Don’t just shrug your shoulders. Focus on that scapular movement.

Do not bend your elbows or start to row.

Just pinch the shoulder blades together, pausing, then relaxing the weights back toward the ground. Do not shrug your shoulders up toward your ears as you retract!

You will be able to add weight as you can fully control and feel the movement on both sides.

This is a small movement. Don’t try to make it bigger by standing up or bending your arms. Make sure to keep your neck long. Your only focus is on drawing the shoulder blades toward your spine then relaxing them away. Even pause as you do the pinch over rushing.

Variations:

There are so many ways you can then vary this move based on the types of rows you general include in your training and even the other muscles you want to target and tools you have available.

You could do this with a band instead of dumbbells. Or even off a suspension trainer. All of these are great to include to prep your body to row using these different tools and postures.

Because we can struggle with that scapular retraction in different positions, it can be key to include a diversity to make sure we’re initiating those rows with our back.

And if you find you struggle even with proper mobility and strength on one side, you can even make this movement a unilateral exercise, working only one side at a time or even doing rounds or reps on only one side.

If you don’t have any equipment, you can even do a unilateral variation called the Single Arm Scapular Push Up. This is great as an activation move in your warm up before any strength work even.

But as you really work to translate that activation to the full row with weight, consider the these variations to prep the body to initial that pull with that proper scapular movement.

SUMMARY:

Moves are only as good as their implementation. And if we want to get the full benefit of an exercise, we need to make sure we’re actually engaging the correct muscles to power the movement.

If you’ve struggled with feeling your back during rowing exercises, try this scapular retraction focused back exercise to really isolate and work on that initial back engagement.

It can easily be included as part of your accessory work for a few rounds of 10-15 reps! Focus on that scapular movement over just going heavy, but don’t be afraid to progress the movement by adding loads as you can truly control that retraction!

For more amazing videos and tips, subscribe to my YouTube:

–> Redefining Strength On YouTube

FHP429 – Oversell The NEgative

FHP429 – Oversell The NEgative

by | Jul 19, 2022 | podcast

Often when we start a new program, we tell ourselves it’s going to be THE THING. The lifestyle change we’ve been looking for.

We tell ourselves it’s going to be easy and magical (ok maybe not the magical part).

Heck maybe we’ve even been convinced of this by friends who claim it was soooo easy to do and the BEST thing they’ve ever done.

We can even manage to convince ourselves there won’t be struggles.

But this is exactly the OPPOSITE of what we should be doing.

It’s honestly what often sets us up for failure.

Because if we think or believe that a change should be easy? We’ll only end up super frustrated and overwhelmed when it isn’t.

Which 98% of the time…IT ISN’T!

Something almost always comes up.

And when it does, if we’ve told ourselves things SHOULD be easy?

We’ll feel like there is something wrong with us because it isn’t, especially if we’ve been told it was easy for someone else.

We have to realize instead that there will ALWAYS be set backs and hiccups and mistakes.

And that often when someone is LOOKING BACK and saying it was easy, even they encountered struggles when first starting out.

So instead of trying to convince yourself that the process will be easy, OVERSELL THE NEGATIVE.

That sounds…well…negative but it is the best way to set yourself up for success.

Because if you recognize that the changes WILL be hard…that there WILL be setbacks…that life WILL try to get in the way…

You’ll be ready for it when it happens.

And being prepared makes it so much easier to embrace the hard.

The more we even slightly “oversell” the negative, the more we can make the hard times even feel…well…easy because they aren’t as bad as we expected.

So as you’re starting to make changes in this program, don’t try to gloss over the challenges that will arise.

Instead prepare yourself for them admitting there will be struggles.

Oversell that negative to prepare yourself!

Take some time right now to think of a few problems you could see popping up…

If you aren’t sure of what may be the hold up or hiccup, consider what has caused you to fall off of programs in the past.

Will life try to get in the way? Will you get so busy you can’t stay consistent with your workouts?

Will you struggle to track? Will it be hard to stop snacking?

What struggles have derailed you before so you can recognize they may pop up again to try to hold you back?!

Here are 4 big points to consider and make notes on…

What’s been the biggest challenge for you in the past when it comes to being consistent with a program?

What’s been the biggest workout struggle for you? consistency or making time for it?

What’s been the biggest struggle for you in terms of adjusting your nutrition? Have you struggled to track?

What makes you the most nervous about this program? What do you think will be the hardest part?

SUMMARY:

Plan for the worst! It will help you better handle hiccups and issues when they arise.

INTERMITTENT FASTING – Yay or Nay?

INTERMITTENT FASTING – Yay or Nay?

by | Jul 17, 2022 | Blog, Diet

I actually personally don’t consider Intermittent Fasting to be a “diet.”

It’s a meal timing. One that can be used with a variety of dietary preferences and macro breakdowns.

You can be Keto and use it. Or high carb and use it.

And it’s actually personally a meal timing strategy I’ve found not only useful but freeing over the years.

But as much as I personally enjoy it and find it to be a useful learning experience for many of my clients even if they don’t stick with it long-term, I don’t believe that Intermittent Fasting is right for everyone.

That’s why I want to discuss what Intermittent Fasting is and when and who may benefit from it so you can decide if it is right for you.

Because from our meal timing to our calorie intakes to our macro breakdown, the systems all have to work together to get us results.

And we have to be willing to adjust and change as our needs and goals change over time.

You may even find that things like Intermittent Fasting work for you to reach certain goals but fight against you when your goals or lifestyle change.

And we can’t be so married to something we aren’t open to shifting!

So before I dive into whether IF is right for you, I want to give a bit of background on what it is…

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

There are a few different types of Intermittent Fasting:
– Time Restricted Eating – A daily set eating window
– The 5:2 Method – Two days of a 500 calorie cap
– 24 Hour Fasts – Once to twice a week of a full 24 hour fast.

Basically Intermittent Fasting is restricting when you eat.

While there are different length fasts you can include, a very common form of IF is the 16/8 time restricted fast.

You will fast for 16 hours and then have an 8 hour eating window.

For many, this is really just skipping breakfast.

While technically you can skip any meal, the key is that you’re keeping all your meals into a specific shortened window each and every day.

If you do one of the other set ups, you may have a calorie allotment or full day you aren’t eating over just skipping a meal.

So Why Is Intermittent Fasting So Popular? What Are The Benefits?

Intermittent Fasting has gained mainstream attention over the years as not only a great thing to do for your health but also for fat loss.

And part of the reason why it became so popular is because people claimed you didn’t have to change what you were eating at all to see results.

You just had to ONLY eat within this set window and POOF magically the weight would melt off.

And having a set eating window does to some extent often help people get started losing weight – it creates a calorie deficit for many without them having to track just like cutting out a food group can often do with other forms of dieting.

It can help cut out mindless snacking and when you are restricted to only a set amount of time, it is easier to fill up when eating your daily calorie intake in a condensed period.

Plus for many it can feel more satisfying when in a calorie deficit to have this bigger meals over more frequent snacking. You can slightly get that “eat till you’re full” feeling.

Not to mention there simply isn’t as much meal planning to do which can make it easier to stick with the healthy habits.

So many find the simple lifestyle change sustainable while leading to the habits they need to lose weight.

From a more “scientific” perspective of why some believe IF to be so helpful for weight loss….

It is argued that it can promote stronger insulin sensitivity and increased growth hormone secretion – both of which also can help with gaining muscle, which in turn leads to better fat loss results.

The more we are able to focus on muscle mass retention, the less metabolic adaptations we suffer from as we lose weight. Muscle mass is metabolically costly, meaning it needs a lot of energy to be maintained.

In a deficit, we can often end up using muscle mass for fuel, especially if the deficit is too great.

So by promoting an anabolic environment we can prevent metabolic adaptations and burn more calorie at rest by promoting better muscle mass mention and growth!

It can also lead to better fat burning results, especially when at the end of a longer fast, part of why that 12-18 hours is recommended for IF. Some even argue it is especially helpful when you have that last little bit you want to lose off of stubborn areas.

The argument for this is that the low insulin levels reached during a fast, and the more time spent in this low insulin state, equates to a great time spent where fat can be mobilized from stubborn areas. And this state is different than the one seen with a low carb diet because triglycerides inhibit HSL or hormone sensitive lipase in a similar manner to insulin. HSL is basically activated to shuttle the fat out of the cell to be burned off.

But because of this fatty acid mobilization and the fact that some studies have shown fasting to increase specifically abdominal subcutaneous blood flow, the argument has been made that IF can promote better stubborn belly fat loss as well. Which may be a reason for women especially during menopause to consider trying IF while dialing in their macros as estrogen levels decreasing during menopause can lead to more stubborn belly fat accumulating.

And while many turn to fasting for the weight loss benefits, other benefits people tout with fasting include….

* Reduces your risk for cancer.
* Decreases triglycerides and LDL as well as cholesterol and inflammation markers.
* Reduces blood pressure.
* Improves cardiovascular function.
* Improves your brain functioning and can even help prevent conditions such as Parkinson’s, Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

But as we know, nothing is a magic pill.

And part of the benefits often associated with fasting studies have shown may be achieved by simply creating a deficit and then maintaining a healthy weight overall regardless of your meal timing.

We have to remember that one size doesn’t fit all….

So….What Are The Downsides?

Now a downside is NOT that your muscle will melt off if you miss a meal.

And you do NOT need to eat every two hours and 6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism humming.

And no, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day and you’re doomed if you skip it.

So in terms of huge negative consequences from fasting, I just don’t really see that there are any, especially when it comes to weight loss.

But that still does NOT mean it is a magic pill or right for you.

You can’t just eat whatever you want in whatever quantity you want just because you are only eating in a set window.

Macros and calories still matter.

If you dial those in, any meal timing that fits your lifestyle is going to work.

Forcing a meal timing that doesn’t fit your schedule or lifestyle will backfire no matter how magical it is even touted to be.

And that’s all too often the main reason why Intermittent Fasting doesn’t work for people.

They’re forcing a meal timing that isn’t realistic or sustainable for them and then they don’t know how to truly dial in their nutrition to match their needs and goals when they take out the restriction of an eating window.

If you train first thing in the morning, trying to fast until the afternoon probably won’t work out. And while you can make your eating window earlier, many don’t find that lifestyle sustainable as it means you’re eating dinner earlier than you’d like to maintain.

For others fasting ultimately results in overeating. They become so hungry they end up overeating even though it’s during a set window. And they find that their cravings increase.

So if you aren’t finding that fasting makes your life EASIER, there is no point in doing it. Especially because you can simply achieve the same benefits through a calorie deficit and by dialing in your macros.

And if fat loss isn’t your goal, fasting may NOT be the ideal meal schedule, especially if you aren’t training late enough in the day to break your fast before your workout.

While fasted training can potentially help our fat loss efforts, it may backfire when we are trying to gain muscle.

Having full glycogen stores to create that anabolic environment and help your body repair and rebuild can be key, especially if you’re a hard gainer or advanced lifter who won’t see those newbie gains. Gaining muscle is a slow process and for many of us it requires really creating the right environment and having fuel readily available.

Not to mention fasting may mean your energy levels are lower than ideal so you can’t push your training in the gym as hard as you’d like to create that progressive overload.

Now that being said, many will still love IF even while trying to build muscle.

So now the question is….

Should You Do Intermittent Fasting?

There are two main reasons I most often use it with clients:

1. To help them better understand their true hunger cues because so often we just get USED to eating at set times over really understanding what our body is telling us.
2. To work around their schedule to make hitting their macros and feeling full and satisfied easier.

If this meal timing feels right for you, great. Use it.

Everything we include in our lifestyle should be focused on our needs and goals.

And for many of us, fasting allows us to eat when we are hungry and maintain the macros and calories we need to feel fueled while seeing results.

It gives us a freedom to adjust our meals around whatever works even that day.

But whatever your fitness goal, no meal schedule is going to get you results if your calories and macros aren’t in line with your needs and goals.

You still need to focus on overall macros and calories for the day. If those aren’t in line, you’re not going to see results PERIOD.

You can still overeat eating within a small window.

So it isn’t some magic fat loss fix.

Not to mention, if your goal is gaining muscle, and you’ve found you’re really struggling, sticking with IF no matter how much you loved it for fat loss, may work against you.

Change requires change and you may find you need to adjust your meal timing to help make sure you’re creating that anabolic environment.

While this could just mean a pre-workout meal to break your fast instead of eating first thing after, you may find you do need to swap to a longer eating window and more meals.

The key is finding what works for your current needs and goals!

And ladies, you may find you respond differently to IF than you men do.

Studies have shown potentially fewer benefits from IF for women, and even more adverse effects in terms of adrenal stress and even muscle mass loss in pre-menopausal women.

So it may be good, if you aren’t naturally a meal skipper, to start with a shorter fast and only build up to a longer length if it feels right.

However, for females, because of the changes we go through in menopause, Intermittent Fasting may become a more useful tool as we get older. Because we can develop insulin resistance during menopause and lower estrogen levels can lead to more belly fat being gained, IF may be a nice complement to changes in our macros to help us avoid that dreaded menopausal weight gain.

SUMMARY:

The key with IF is to realize that our meal timing needs to match our needs and goals. Experiment to find what feels best for you. But realize results come from all systems being dialed in focused on what you need. And that meals your meal timing, calories and macros all need to work together and you need to be willing to adjust over time!

Ready to create the perfect lifestyle for YOUR needs and goals?

–> Follow These 3 Steps…

FHP 428 – 6 Things That Hold You Back From Achieving Lasting ResultS

FHP 428 – 6 Things That Hold You Back From Achieving Lasting ResultS

by | Jul 12, 2022 | podcast

Honestly the more we want overnight results, the less likely we are to truly see the results we want and deserve.

Fad diet results often not only aren’t real results, but they aren’t lasting results because we haven’t truly created sustainable habit changes.

So as much as I know we all want results yesterday, we have to get ready to make some true lifestyle changes if we want to see the amazing results we deserve.

That’s why I wanted to share 6 things that often hold us back from truly reaching our goals…

1: Trying to out exercise and out diet time.

The more we try to do more to get results faster, often the less sustainable the habits are and the quicker we burn ourselves out.

Sure we may see slightly faster results, but often we just waste a ton of effort spinning our wheels.

Because the simple fact of the matter is, we can’t out exercise or out diet time and often results need time to build.

Plus we have to go through a learning process to realize what our body truly needs.

Instead of trying to do more short term, focus on the small changes you can create to build.

Too often we simply overestimate what we can do short term, while underestimating what we can accomplish long term with consistency.

So find ways to help yourself get consistent and realize that build is truly needed.

And by doing more often we just sabotage our own consistency making ourselves run out of self control and willpower so we fall off our plan.

2: Not taking pictures and measurements and recognizing the progress along the way.

This may even mean tracking your pace for your race or anything else that is focused on your goal.

But too often we just see our end goal and we just see how far we still are from it.

If we want to make progress forward and keep ourselves focused though, we need to recognize the changes along the way AND we need to track different types of progress.

With weight loss, don’t just use the scale. Measure. Take pictures.

Even focus on performance goals along the way that you know will help you stay consistent in your training.

Find ways of measuring and showing yourself progress in ways that you can celebrate daily and even weekly.

As cliche as it is, even find ways to celebrate consistency in habits as we know those things done daily will build as unsexy as they may be!

3: Not reminding yourself of how long it took you to gain/how long you’ve been NOT at your ideal.

We often didn’t get into your current position overnight, and we won’t correct it overnight either.

I think often it is even key we recognize how long we’ve been struggling to give ourselves perspective when we wish results would happen faster.

We have to remember that the longer we’ve been away from our goal, the longer it will take to get back there as our body doesn’t like change. Our body thinks where it is at is normal and best.

So the longer we’ve been at this “normal” the more our body will fight changes, even if they are good changes.

It can even be good to set out a calendar or chart that reminds you of how short, in comparison, you’ve been working at a goal. Sometimes seeing the visual reminds us to appreciate the gains we’ve truly seen in a shorter time!

4: Trying to avoid the hard.

The more we look for a quick fix, the more we set ourselves up for a lot of wasted time and effort and huge ups and downs.

Sure you may see results initially but that Keto diet working for you that you ultimately can’t sustain is just you wasting time and effort avoiding the true learning process.

I know everyone loves to hate on macros but macros are the dieting fundamentals.

I know people want workouts of the day, but progressions show you the build so you can track what is and isn’t working.
Stop searching for the new sexy thing. Go back to basics. Seek to really learn about your lifestyle and how you mentally and physically respond to changes.

The more we can stay focused on who we are and the goals we have, the more we can make 1% improvements that truly add up.

So as hard and as sucky and as frustrating as it can be to be BAD at something new, stop trying to find a way around the hard. Embrace it and head right into it! You’ll ultimately get there faster!

5: Not tracking.

What we measure, we can manage.

When you track, you have accurate data to make changes. You don’t have to guess or wonder at what is or isn’t working.

Emotions can’t win out and make you “feel” like you aren’t making progress when changes are actually happening.
Data is objective and allows us to make changes.

That tracker isn’t telling you to feel guilty. It isn’t telling you to restrict. It’s telling you what YOU are doing so you can make changes and feel your best.

So remember data is power. It is the power to truly adjust what is going on in your life in a sustainable way vs letting feelings sabotage you or having to arbitrarily restrict.

The more data you have, the more you can learn what you need to even be able to be looser with tracking as you maintain your results.

Tracking can then be a tool we can return to whenever we need that push back toward a goal.

6: Believing results are all about discipline.

So often people will comment on my photos about my discipline. And while discipline is key to success, I think too often we try to overly rely on it and that is why we fail.

We try to out discipline life. We try to out discipline our needs. We pretend discipline is just infinite for some and it isn’t.
Self control is a gas tank that can become depleted very easily throughout the day.

And while discipline is having the habits a bit more ingrained so we replicate them at times when we don’t even want to, too often we try to force so many habits we can’t create that discipline with them before motivation fades.

Instead of trying to create all of these restrictions and massive changes, make small improvements.

Focus on who you truly are. The more you know yourself, the more you can work with your personal freakdom and lifestyle to make the healthiest version of your personal lifestyle.

The more you can base changes off of your current lifestyle, the less discipline you’ll need to use to replicate them and the more you’ll truly be able to build that new lifestyle that you need.

Because we do have to create changes that last to maintain our results. We have to realize we can’t go back to what we were doing BUT also that maintaining often doesn’t just mean doing what we did to get to a goal.
So focus on learning. Focus on improving daily. Focus on small habits. Those will allow you to build momentum and ingrain them so you don’t have to feel like you’re out disciplining life and what you want to do in life to ENJOY it.

SUMMARY:

Remember changes will not happen overnight. And the more we focus on who we are and what we need and make those 1% improvements the better our long-term results will be.
We all want results yesterday, but we need to take ownership of our journey and embrace TIME if we truly want to succeed!