Everyday we are either working toward our goals or moving farther away from them.

And while I don’t think we can always be focused on the future, and immediate gratification will at times “sabotage” our long-term goals and focus, I think recognizing that every day is building our future result…

That your situation today is a result of your past hustle…

Is super key.

Because so often we stress perfection when we start a new program. We get up in a 21 day or even 6 week SPRINT….only to burn ourselves out with the habits so we can’t keep moving forward.

Instead we need to focus on those small habit changes. The ways we can make 1% improvements.

The ways we can be BETTER THAN we would have been in the same situation before.

Because every day we are technically building and moving forward or taking that step back.

And step backs are GOING to happen.

But we have to recognize that, in life, there is no starting over.

So how fast we get results will also be impacted by those steps….in either direction.

That’s why that TODAY, right now, as you plan for tomorrow…as you choose between trying to be perfect and rely on willpower over making small changes to constantly learn and grow, you have to recognize that every day you are making the choice about which direction you will move in.

And if you fall down? If you slip up, while that one event may have moved you away from your goal, the power you give that situation can impact future days.

And those days again are either moving you forward or setting you back.

Results come from what we consistently do. From how we learn and move forward.

And again…There is NO STARTING OVER.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips I use to help myself find ways to always move forward even on those days that feel like you’ve taken that step back.

Tip #1: Learn.

Every situation is a learning experience. And as humans, we will not handle every new situation correctly.

Not to mention, emotions will get the better of us at times.

But everything that happens can be a positive learning experience even when the actual situation…well…sucks!

Everything in life is really impacted by our perspective, by our perception of events.

So even when you have a day you feel sets you back – you missed your workout, you ate off plan – you can either choose to let that impact future days negatively OR you can learn from it so tomorrow is better.

Failures can often be amazing learning experiences that teach us things that can rocket us forward.

But we have to choose to learn from them instead of beating ourselves up about them.

So every chance you can, reflect and learn.

Don’t just try to gloss over bad times, forget failures. Own them and learn from them!

Tip #2: Stop trying to be perfect.

We rely on motivation and willpower because we are trying to be perfect.

But guess what?

You’re human so you’re therefore FLAWED.

Perfection isn’t in our DNA.

Stop trying to do more. Stop trying to do things perfectly.

A. Perfect doesn’t exist.
B. There is no true definition of perfect.

What is perfect “clean” eating?

What is a “perfect” workout routine?

No one agrees.

And the more you try to pressure some arbitrary standard of perfect, the more you’ll actually hold yourself back from creating the perfect or BEST plan for you.

Focus on improvements.

Focus on changes based on meeting yourself where you are at.

Motivation and willpower are things we rely on to do more than we are truly often capable of…especially long term.

Results come from creating even minimums we can repeat at times we don’t want to do anything.

So focus on doing the minimum at times. It’s not sexy, but it’s what truly builds.

Tip #3: Meet yourself where you are at.

The perfect plan for you is created by meeting yourself where you are at RIGHT NOW.

And I mention the “RIGHT NOW,” because often we compare our current selves to our past selves or our ideal selves.

But none of that really matters if we want to move forward from our current spot.

You could beat yourself up about where you used to be or could be…you could create a plan based on what “used to work,” but none of that will actually move you forward.

We move forward by focusing on where we are at currently to then create an accurate road map to our end destination.

I mean think about if you’re driving to a location…you don’t start your route based on where you could be or where you used to live!?

NOPE!

You set the start of your route based on where you are now.

The best plans have to meet us where we are at.

So don’t even just do “less” if you’re coming back from injury.

Don’t even just jump into a macro ratio that worked in the past.

Assess where you are RIGHT NOW and adjust off of that!

SUMMARY:

Your future self is based off of what you do today, tomorrow, the next day…not to mention every day that has come before today.

We can’t go back and change the past, we can’t start over.

But we can see the opportunity in each day being a chance to move forward.

One small thing, a 1% improvement daily, weekly, monthly, yearly will pay off.

So focus on how you can make those small tweaks, learn from each experience, to try to move forward!

There is nothing better than going on vacation. But it is often where we feel like we sabotage our results and our diet and exercise routines go to die.

I wanted to share 7 tips to help you stay on track while you travel so you can keep moving forward toward your weight loss goals. However, I also want to mention that I believe vacations can, and should, be a time to relax and enjoy. Diets often fail because we force restriction at times when we do need to embrace a balance.

We end up not really being able to diet on vacation while also not really allowing ourselves to relax. And this ultimately backfires.

However, if you travel for work or just travel often and want to find the lifestyle balance right for you, these tips can help you stay consistent with your macros and your workouts while not at home!

Do not feel guilty about not using every time you travel as an excuse to splurge. I know sometimes our friends or family can make us feel awkward for caring, but we need to stay focused on what also makes us happy in our progress toward our goals!

Because we can’t just always make the excuse that this is a once in a lifetime experience if we’re traveling all the time!

So what are the 7 travel hacks to help you stay on track?

#1: Save calories.

I hate saying it this way but it is also the SIMPLEST way to state it…sometimes when on vacation if you know there is going to be a bigger meal or even cocktails at dinner, things you’ll want to enjoy, you want to “save” calories for that meal.

This means you will want to focus on eating lighter, and even increase your protein intake earlier in the day. This can help you find that balance so you don’t go into a huge surplus and you even hit some macro minimums you set.

And while a longer fast can also be an option if you do intermittent fasting already, please don’t turn saving calories into starving yourself or you’ll end up overeating at that later meal.

Just think about going lighter with a protein focus earlier in the day to strike a balance!

#2: Find a few restaurants in the area for go-to healthy meals.

When on vacation, it can be fun to try local spots. And depending on where you’re traveling to, there may be some great local places with super macro friendly meals. Or even meals they can tell you the portions on. Many restaurants even list macros on their website so it never hurts to check.

If you can’t find the nutritional info, even try logging something similar to get an idea of macros. You can often find recipes online that give you an idea of the breakdown.

Also, look for chain restaurants. While yes, we want the best quality fuel, many chains do have nutritional info listed on their website. And if you find a dish or two that really works for you at those places, it can be easy to use that any time you travel as that chain may be everywhere!

But planning ahead to have some options to strike that balance can be key and let you play around with logging the meal to hit any calorie intake or macros you’ve set.

#3: Bring protein powder.

Supplements are supplemental, but protein powder is one of the best things to have with you when you’re on the go as it is generally easier to snack on carbs and fats and harder to eat easy, not refrigerated, protein options.

With a protein powder, you can keep it in your backpack or purse and be able to mix it in a water bottle, coffee or even anything quick you can pick up from the store.

Such an easy way to increase your protein and even save those carbs and fats for that later meal you don’t have as much control over with the family or co-workers.

#4: Don’t buy bulk snacks.

Often when we go on a trip, we buy snacks at the airport. And a bigger bag than we should eat in one serving.

Or we buy snacks for the hotel room or AirBnB for our family even.

And while it can be helpful to have snacks if we don’t know when we will get to eat or if the meals provided us will really work for us, we need to be conscious to not just have extra around as it will be tempting to eat it when you aren’t even hungry!

It’s easy to mindless nibble and let those calories add up.

So be strategic with your snacks especially if you’ll have them around you all the time! Even portion out things so you aren’t as tempted to keep snacking!

#5: Plan in short workouts.

Instead of trying to force yourself to maintain the same routine you would at home, plan in some workouts you can get in even in your hotel room if you’re super short on time.

That plan to do something may lead to you doing more if you can find a gym or end up with more time. Not to mention often you can find gyms with quick class options if that will help with accountability to get moving!

But simply doing something will also keep you in a routine and habit and mentally make you feel good.

And often when we stay consistent with one habit, we want to stay consistent with others!

So even if it is a 5 minute mobility routine so you feel good when you get back home to train hard, the consistency will pay off…and even reverse some of the aches and pains we get from travel postures!

#6: Get out and walk!

Even if you can’t workout, often you will have little breaks in the day where you can get out and walk.

Not only is this a great way to stop mindless snacking, but it does get you moving and can even allow you to explore the area more!

Even if it is just to get a coffee or grab food, try to move as much as you can during the day! Finding ways to be more active will even help you want to do the other healthy habits and routines you want to maintain.

#7: Increase your intensity AROUND the trip.

In preparation of your trip, it’s not a bad idea to occasionally go a bit more intense with your programming prior, especially so you could even use the trip as a de-load workout week or recovery week.

This may be a time too you are slightly more aggressive prior with the calorie deficit, not extreme but aggressive, and also using more intensive cut macro ratios over easier ratios to hit.

You can then move to minimums on your trip, tracking to stay even just accountable.

And then when you come back, you may go back into things with a bit more intensity even just in your macros before relaxing back into something you can fully be consistent with.

This 1 week before and after just can help with damage control and also mentally make us feel balanced when being a little less conscious of those healthy habits while traveling.

SUMMARY:

Remember vacations shouldn’t the time you stress about your diet, but finding a balance especially when we travel more often can be key!

Focus on doing the minimum even just to maintain those results so you can continue to build when you are back home and in your element!

I’m horrible with internet slang, acronyms, phrases…whatever.

The first time someone posted TLDR I had to google it.

I thought of this the other day when my managers and I were talking about abbreviations and acronyms and lingo that may be helpful to make a list of.

I made the joke about how I’m so bad with knowing what those things are…

And I mentioned to Michelle, my lead Dietitian, the first time I saw TLDR.

She Googled it the second I mentioned it as she didn’t know either.

Anyway, why am I rambling on about this TLDR…and for those of you about to Google it, it is Too Long Didn’t Read….?

Because the first time I saw it, it was commented on one of my blog posts.

And seeing it oddly made me sadder and madder than any troll comment I could have gotten at the time.

I wasn’t mad because my articles are freaking fabulous and they were missing out but because they were holding themselves back.

I was honestly sad for them.

Because in their search for a quick answer, a fast fix, simply WHAT TO DO, they were missing out on the part that would actually allow them to find something that works for them…

Something that lead to lasting results…

The WHY behind the systems so they could implement them correctly.

They weren’t open to learning.

And their desire to just be told what to do quickly, was probably what kept them working really hard without seeing results….wasting far more time putting in pointless effort than it would have taken them to just embrace the learning and read the post.

I bring this up because I know I’ve even been guilty of this….

Skipping around an article, course or program to pull what I think I need.

To pull out the actions I can take.

Not always realizing the details and nuance and double checks that are included between what I’ve skipped around to.

But I can tell you this is also often what leads to us not getting the results the article or program or video promised.

It leads to us wasting time on even potentially a component of the system that has no benefit on it’s own.

It leads to us ending up with a slightly…well…off or disappointing result.

It’s honestly like trying to put together IKEA furniture without following the steps…especially if you’re Ryan.

You end up with one shelf upside down.

What may feel like pointless details is often the information you need to implement a system correctly – to fully understand it.

What may feel like pointless fluff is often the mindset shift you need to make so the habits and actions stick.

What may seem like pointless education is often the information we need to make sure the system is right for us, teaching us how to adjust based on our needs and goals.

What may seem LONG and not the actual “good stuff” is often what makes the good stuff work.

Systems work together.

Forget or ignore one piece and it may seemingly come together only to fall apart the second you stack books on the shelves….

Take the time now to learn.

Realize it can save you a lot of time in the future undoing what you’ve done because you didn’t take the time to put it together correctly in the first place….

So next time you want to find a solution and start a new program I would recommend you do read and listen to every component…

Breaking down how I try to approach taking on a new program and truly LEARNING how to do things correctly the first time….

1. Start at the beginning and don’t skip around unless there are directions directing you to follow a specific path based on your goals. And even then, go back and check out the parts you may have skipped as you dial in the other components.
2. Really seek to understand the details BEFORE you take action.
3. Pay attention to the details in the instructions. Don’t ignore the nuance or details that you deem “unimportant.”
4. Focus on not only the actions but how those actions work together to create the system.
5. Track your implementation to make sure you truly are following the steps so you can assess how everything works.

SUMMARY:

If you want to truly know if something works, you have to embrace every part. You have to take the time to learn over just skipping over things to get going.

While we all want to start immediately and take action, sometimes the most important action is simply reading and watching through everything to understand what we will need to do!

You’ve reached your goal…Now what?

Now comes oddly the hardest part…MAINTAINING YOUR RESULTS!

And maintenance is hard because it’s a new process in and of itself.

You can’t keep doing what you did to get to your goal – you can’t stay in a deficit forever.

And you can’t go back to what you were doing prior.

Old habits will just lead to you losing everything you’ve worked hard for.

Soooo, what do you do?

Here are 4 tips to help…

#1: Realize that maintaining itself has cycles.

We don’t do one thing forever.

Mentally I don’t think we could handle that.

Plus, there will always be mini goals, ebbs and flows, we need to adjust and tweak to work toward.

There will be times you don’t care as much and hit minimums and get lax.

There will be times you want to look extra fabulous on vacation and dial in those macros for more of a cut.

There will be times you want to lift more. Train for a marathon. Or simply feel in shape.

There will be times you’re out with an injury or surgery or child birth.

There will be times you’re stressed. 

And there will be times you’re super motivated.

The key thing is to realize you can tweak based on any goals you have and even the lifestyle you want or need to work around at that time.

The key is to give yourself mini cycles and end dates and have clear goals for your workouts to keep you motivated.

#2: Be patient with yourself as you transition and retrain your body to eat more.

You have to slowly transition from a deficit to more of maintenance calories.

You will slowly need to increase as you retrain your body to use the increased calories.And you will slowly adjust ratios as well.

Doing one thing at a time can be key. Whether you’re slowly increasing over the weeks 100 calories at a time or first going to more even macros, you want to find more sustainable ways of fueling.

And even then realize you may at time do short cuts with a small deficit. Short muscle building phases with a small surplus.

You may give yourself protein minimums to stay consistent enough or increase your protein for a little cut with set ratios to get ready for that beach vacation.

But you need to start retraining your body to use more calories which is a slow process while also finding a balance to work in more foods you love!

#3: Don’t freak if the scale fluctuates.

There will be times as you learn to maintain that you do gain. Especially to start.

Your glycogen stores will now be constantly full over depleted. So you have to be aware that maintaining may mean a gain of a few pounds to start but it shouldn’t just continue. 

You may also see bigger fluctuations from cheat days or lack of sleep as your body does fight against staying down.

But over time, with patience, you will create that new set point.

And as you maintain for longer, you will find it is easier and easier to stay down and you have more flexibility.

But just realize you can’t restrict or stay super motivated forever, so you need those breaks where you do the minimum. 

Be patient as you cycle learning what feels best. 

And at the slightest gain don’t go back into that deficit. Watch your data but realize that little fluctuations will help.

By tracking you WILL catch anything before you lose progress.

#4: Don’t stop tracking.

It’s tempting to start stringing together workouts based on how you feel. It’s tempting to stop tracking or at least not measuring everything.

But this is a quick backslide into old habits.

Especially because we feel good.

So as you first are retraining your body to eat more and trying to create that new set point, to even help yourself trust the process when the scale does increase slightly, MEASURE AND TRACK EVERYTHING.

Once you’ve maintained for a few months, you may just do tracking check ins if you feel or hit minimums, but give yourself time to really understand what you need to maintain.

Do NOT stop tracking and realize that using it to check in is also a good way to hold yourself accountable!

SUMMARY:

It is key we prepare for maintaining and realize that maintenance is a process. Our habits, lifestyles and goals are constantly evolving. We will never fully do one thing forever. But through macros and clear progressions we can tweak as we need.

So realize that learning to maintain takes time and you will have cycles.

But recognize it is a process and journey in and of itself!

As kids some of us loved asking WHY…like annoyingly so.

Ok…we were asking it often more JUST to be annoying, but still…as kids there is a curiosity there to understand more of our world.

But at a certain age, we stop….we stop assessing and being as curious.

However, as annoying as constantly being asked WHY is, we need to embrace our inner child more if we want to learn and grow.

If we want to overcome our own self limiting beliefs and doubts, if we want to break free of the self imposed limitations and negative mindsets, we need to start asking ourselves WHY.

Think about it, how often do you ask yourself WHY you have a specific belief?

How often do you ask yourself, WHY you believe something is a certain way?

How often have you asked yourself WHY you feel you’re good or bad at something?

Why you like or dislike things?

Why you’ve succeed or failed at certain activities or ventures?

Why you are willing or unwilling to do certain things?

Why you even expect certain results.

Think about all of the times we make statements, especially in opposition to making a change, yet never really question WHY.

We just accept things as fact and never dig any deeper.

Kind of interesting when you think about all of the things you’ve never really questioned or assessed.

We either just rule things out or even condemn ourselves for actions without really assessing WHY they happen.

We just even think there is something wrong with us at times…

Like think about eating out of stress.

We’ve all probably done it…

And usually we just feel guilty, which leads to us eating more or even falling off or giving up on our program completely.

But when was the last time you asked yourself WHY you did it?

Why did it happen?

Why did you feel the need to eat out of stress?

Why couldn’t you stop yourself?

Why do you even feel guilty when you’re a human and we’ve all been there?

And of course not just asking WHY but even WHAT you could do to change those things.

What could you do next time to stop or change the behavior?

What could you do to help yourself move forward now?

To often we don’t pause and assess to learn.

And getting in the habit of learning to ask WHY can help us do that.

It can help us overcome false beliefs about ourselves that hold us back.

Like you saying you can’t do something…

Why?

When was the last time you actually tested this or worked to improve at it?

Or you saying you’re too old…

Why does getting older have to stop you?

Why do you believe that age has anything to do with what you’re experiencing? Couldn’t it be other lifestyle factors adding up?

Or even saying you don’t have the time or any number of excuses…

Why can’t you make the time?

Why can’t you work around your schedule?

Why can’t you do something small instead?

Instead of questioning our belief, our excuses or even realizing our priorities, we make statements and hold ourselves back.

Or believing that a certain habit or routine is something specific…

Like for example tracking macros…

Why do you think it is restrictive?

What made it restrictive in the past so you can avoid that now?

Or Keto…

Why didn’t it work for you before?

Because you cut out carbs?

Why did cutting out carbs make it hard? Was it really cutting out the carbs or simply the restriction in general? Telling yourself you can’t have something?

While it may seem unimportant to dive into exactly what it was that sabotaged you, it can truly make all the difference.

Because it being just that you cut out carbs is very different than that it triggered a restrictive mindset as seemingly small a difference as that may seem.

With one just learning to balance in the carbs may be key. With the other you may find any diet that eliminates ANYTHING or simply tells you NOT to include something will make you obsess over it.

The key is in breaking things down to understand the nuance in our feelings, thoughts and actions.

Start QUESTIONING yourself and your beliefs.

BE CURIOUS.

Be that annoying kid to yourself and ask yourself WHY far too many times if you feel yourself resisting a change or believing something negative about yourself.

The more we can dive into the WHY behind things, the more we can truly learn what we need and give ourselves the opportunity to make changes and succeed.

There is more nuance to life than we often realize or take the time to recognize.

But the more we ask why the more we can see the shades of grey that really exist and give ourselves the best chance to improve daily!

So this week, take a second to assess a few beliefs you have about yourself. Take a second to look at habits and changes you’ve resisted. Take a look at excuses you’ve made….

And ask yourself WHY you believe or feel or think these things!

And don’t just stop at one. Really annoyingly dive in!

I was one of these people…

So I always sympathize with this comment, “I’ll workout all day. It’s just so hard to change my diet.”

Or…

“I can train hard. I just can’t change my diet. I love food too much.”

The thing is…

We CAN change our diet.

And yes, we all know we just aren’t “willing” to or we don’t “want” to….

But what we don’t realize is that training is NOT easy.

We’ve just become comfortable being uncomfortable in that way.

Realizing that was oddly eye opening for me.

Because A. It made me truly recognize that many people do NOT like training. I’ve just developed a comfort zone that includes it.

And B. Even with training there are still things I’m not comfortable doing…often new skills I’m not good at. And when you start to assess moves or tools or such you won’t include and often scoff at even, you’ll start to see where your comfort zone ENDS.

Basically what we’ve got to recognize is that dietary adjustments are possible…they’re just outside our comfort zone.

So how do we learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable with dietary adjustments?

And I think that it starts with how we approach changes…

First…Realize that when you push too much, you rebel more. Assess the mindsets that make you resistant.

So often when we make a ton of changes and mentally can’t handle them, we then start to associate those habits with that negativity. They become one in the same.

Like tracking.

When we only track to seriously restrict, when we feel super hungry and miserable tracking, we believe tracking is restrictive.

Realizing we will associate the habit with our mindset and that can 100% color things, A. We want to assess why we don’t like habits. But B. We want to break those mindsets around them and find new ways to implement them.

Like tracking.

Start tracking without making changes.

It will be eye opening and you’ll see you can actually make sustainable changes. You’ll start to learn. You won’t just be cutting out or restricting.

You can even learn to ADD IN foods you love more.

But the key is making small changes and assessing the mindsets behind the changes when we are resistant.

Second…Start by making changes that are closer to your current comfort zone.

Usually super different things, things that seem to threaten our lifestyle will be further from our comfort zone.

And we will be more likely to come up with excuses to resist making those changes.

So start with things closer to your comfort zone. Start with changes that seem easier.

Associate those changes with creating MORE of the lifestyle you enjoy.

Like maybe you know you need to boost your protein, but the idea of figuring out changes to your meals is overwhelming. But you’re also really into fueling your workouts and so much want to see gains from them.

Just add in a post workout protein shake!

It may be a small change but it can easily be linked to habits you enjoy and the lifestyle you’re living.

And as you see results from the small changes and feel better, you’ll start to want to make more.

Too often we make these massive changes that pull us outside our comfort zone only for us to run back into it.

Instead we almost need to keep expanding our comfort zone so little at a time we don’t almost even fully realize it’s moving. And as we get comfortable even challenging ourselves in these new ways, we’ll find it easier to do more!

Third…Own the awkward.

Sometimes I think we try to downplay how uncomfortable change is. But instead we need to really recognize it and own it.

When we can admit something is going to be hard, there will be challenges, it’s going to suck, it’s almost easier to embrace the hard.

Instead often we try to downplay things and say it will be easy, it’s no big deal…but then when it doesn’t feel that way, it almost leads to us rebelling more.

I like to remind myself to own the awkward.

Embrace the learning process.

Realize I’m going to suck at things before I get better.

Even the master was once the beginner.

Recognize the challenges you will face. Recognize that the journey will NOT feel good at points.

This can help you lower your defenses and get more comfortable being uncomfortable.

SUMMARY:

Remember changes are hard. And especially diet changes that we’ve never really tried to make that “threaten” our current lifestyle balance.

Remember we’ve created the comfort zone we are in and at any time we can expand it BUT it takes a conscious effort!