So it’s interesting the words that illicit not so favorable responses from people.

Like beginner for instance.

No one wants to be called a beginner, which I find amusing as I always want to own up to being a beginner at something. It means I have an excuse to suck at it.

Honestly I try to act like a beginner in most things because I feel I can always master something more or better.

But beginner is a word I’ve found many see as an insult.

And oddly enough, accountability is a word just like that.

A few times when messaging with people I’ve asked, “So are you looking for maybe more accountability and coaching?”

And I swear I could see their looks through my phone screen as I read their messages back that had some form of this laced in with everything else….

“I don’t need any accountability. I’m just not sure what to do but I’m very motivated and dedicated and don’t need someone to hold me accountable.”

They never called out the coaching.

Just the accountability part.

As if wanting outside accountability was a bad thing.

Shoot…I do my best to create outside accountability for myself in as many ways as possible.

I feel the more I have that outside accountability, since I don’t want to fail publicly the more I’ve guaranteed myself success.

I don’t see having extra accountability as me not being motivated or me needing help.

I see it as me caring so much I make sure I do everything in my power to succeed.

For me accountability is essential. Not something to dismiss. Or something that makes me less of a badass who can do everything all at once.

So as much as I’ve sort of avoided using this word with people, I want to take it back.

I want to share a few ways I personally hold myself accountable and believe it really is often the missing piece in our success no matter how driven, motivated, freaking badass rockstar we are….

#1: Plan Ahead

I’m definitely a checklist maker and a box checker off-er.

When I know I have something to mark complete, I’m going to make sure I do it.

I know if I have a plan I’m supposed to complete, I’m going to make myself stick to it.

If I have no clear plan in place, it is soooooo much easier to just skip the same habits a plan would hold me to.

Yup. That plan and knowing what I SHOULD be doing makes me do it.

Sometimes all we need to keep ourselves consistent and hold ourselves accountable is something pre-planned out. It helps us stick to the healthy habits and routines even on those busy days we wouldn’t do anything if there wasn’t something there sort of taunting us to do.

It’s why I pre-plan out meals at times when I know I’ll be busy and short on time even though I’m well versed in how to hit my ratios.

It’s why I never leave my workout progression programming till the day of but have it planned out at least a week in advance.

It’s not that I don’t give myself flexibility, and often have a plan b, but even then…I have a plan b already mapped out as I know SOMETHING is better than nothing.

But having a plan in place adds that extra personal accountability and it gives us a better way to even track results and know what is and isn’t working!

#2: Get Coaches For My Weak Points

It’s hard to believe it, but yes, even I have weak points. Ok I couldn’t resist that joke…which maybe is my biggest weak point…

But I think it’s key we have that outside perspective on things at times. That person to guide us and even highlight weakness, or strengths, that we didn’t know we have.

Honestly it can even be just fun to learn! And that accountability of knowing they are checking in on you and there for you to ask questions of if you get overwhelmed.

It’s not admitting weakness to “need” someone else.

Honestly it takes strength to recognize that you can go further with some support and guidance.

Not to mention when you know someone is checking in…well at least I find I do a little bit extra just so I know I can have something to report!

Plus it just helps you get out of your own way, looking at things the way you’ve always done!

#3: Share My Goals

This one honestly has been the hardest for me because I am more internally than externally motivated. I get very awkward turtle honestly with praise.

BUT I think making our goals public gives us extra incentive to not give up on them.

It definitely I think was the piece that pushed me to actually succeed at my first ever big photoshoot cut.

I let my clients even know what I was doing at the gym.

And when I saw them in classes or texted them about how they were doing, I didn’t want to have to report I’d slipped up or skipped anything.

We don’t like public failure.

It’s why often we DON’T want to share our goals.

But slip ups and mistakes aren’t failures. They are just a part of the ups and downs.

And having people that know your goals…well they aren’t going to judge your ups and downs. Honestly, they’ll probably give you the fist bump you need to keep moving forward and celebrate your small wins more than you do!

So between the desire NOT to fail publicly and the amazing support you’ll receive if you do share with those friends that share your vision…well that accountability may be just want you need to finally push past your sticking point!

#4: Set Appointments And Events

This can mean setting an end date to add motivation and accountability because you have a deadline that incentivizes you to start now and keep going or it can even be weekly events that you feel “obligated” to go to.

For the longest time I avoided setting personal coaching sessions or classes or such because I didn’t want a schedule. But I realized this was just a way mentally to let myself off the hook for actually committing to learning something new.

Because I wouldn’t miss something that A. Another person’s schedule would be impacted if I changed and B. I wouldn’t miss something that was pre-planned.

So I knew I would have to go. It was the ultimate accountability having that appointment.

And you can honestly do this with even your personal workouts and a google calendar alert.

The point is, knowing there is that set time you’re supposed to do something, especially if it can be with someone else, you are faaaar more likely to stick with that schedule.

Just make sure to pick someone equally motivated to stick with that routine so you aren’t a bad influence on each other!

#5 Get Other People Involved

This not only relates back to coaching and sharing your goals but also to #4, the appointments.

We often are more likely not to back out of things that impact someone else.

If you’re meeting a friend at the gym, you don’t want to mess up their day or schedule. You don’t want to hold them back.

If you have a private coaching sessions, you don’t want to negatively impact your coaches day.

Having other people involved supporting you and even holding you to your schedule can be key!

SUMMARY:

We all need accountability and the more forms of it the better. It means we care not that we aren’t internally driven.

Honestly, I see it as I’m so driven I want to guarantee my success.

So let’s make this word something positive. Accountability is KEY.

What do you do to hold yourself accountable?!

And if you’re ready to have that custom plan and outside accountability to build your leanest, strongest body no matter your age, here’s more on my 1:1 Coaching!

There is one thing I think really is what success boils down to and I want to share why I think this…

It actually came off of seeing a variety of responses to posts over the last week and thinking about the commonality in some of the responses across topics.

It’s always interesting to see how people interpret the videos and tips you put out.

I find it especially interesting the range of responses I get – from victims to victors.

The victors always pat themselves on the back for making changes. Finding a way forward.

The victims always use those same life situations to state why they can’t move forward.

And then even if they do pull out a positive, it’s linked to a comparison about how something isn’t as good now as it used to be.

Life happens.

Changes happen.

We lose ground. Lose momentum. Things slide.

But comparing to what was, does nothing to move you forward.

I won’t lie to you even.

You may NEVER get back there.

But you can still move forward.

I think that’s always what I want to focus on.

It’s always what the underlying message of “it’s not your age,” “you can come back stronger from injury,” “menopause doesn’t mean you’re doomed to never have the body you want”….really is.

It isn’t that with age your skin won’t change. Or that it doesn’t become harder to build and retain muscle.

It isn’t that with an injury you may not have to avoid certain movements, especially to start.

It isn’t with menopause that what used to work won’t work anymore.

BUT with all of these things, you can always improve your current situation to move and feel your best.

It may be DIFFERENT than what was. But things can ALWAYS get better if we choose to find a way forward no matter what.

Life constantly throws us events and situations that can easily be seen as obstacles. Because they are.

But ultimately we have the CHOICE to view them as opportunities instead.

Only when we do this can we ultimately move forward.

And honestly, this is the biggest secret I see of people who are successful and get results.

So if I could give you one tip that will allow you to start this mindset of moving forward, it would be…

STOP COMPARING TO WHAT WAS.

We can’t go back. We can’t change the past.

We can’t even focus on just doing a little less than what we were doing prior.

We need to focus on the here and now.

What results are you actually getting from your diet? What macros are you actually hitting?

Not working? Make a change. Just a small one.

Knee pain limiting your running?

Assess what is causing it. Put your running even on hold and focus on rebuilding that foundation.

Address the mobility issues. Activate those underactive muscles.

Then focus on rebuilding your mileage.

Find other fun activities you may even love as well as you do rebuild.

I know it’s easy to want to compare when you may NEVER be exactly what you once were, but life is evolving. Our best selves are ones that are just us moving forward from our current spot.

We talk about how comparison is the thief of joy when we compare to others, but honestly the comparison to some “idealized” time in our past is worse.

So just a reminder of a few things that help me when I find myself comparing that I think of…

1. Where are you currently?  (Reminding myself of even the obstacles I have to overcome but in a way I recognize the road ahead not see them as a reason not to move forward)
2. What’s one thing you want to improve right now? (What is my current situation and something that needs work? Not comparing to past fitness levels or situations. What’s one thing I can focus on to move forward today?)
3. What’s one small step forward you can take today? (Don’t base this off what you used to do. What is one thing based off of what you’re doing now you can change? Who cares if it used to work? If it is “good?” It’s not the system you need right now. It’s not based on the mindset you have right now. What can you change in your CURRENT situation to move forward?)

It’s always about that improvement mindset.

The idea that you just should give up because you aren’t what you once were…is that really how you want to spend these years?

Sure you might never be back at a specific point, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still view it as becoming your healthiest and happiest self in that you’re improving from where you are NOW.

Struggling With Your Age? These 5 Tips Will Help

I’ll admit, there is nothing I hate more than when someone asks my age on a photo…because I know their goal is to give themselves as an excuse as to why they can’t look that way.

They’ll say no they’re just curious or whatever, but I know…because I’ve done it myself.

And I get it. There are new challenges we face as we get older.

Changes we have to make.

But these changes don’t have to limit us. They just require us to shift how we are doing things.

Never give yourself the excuse to give up.

Because guess what? That doesn’t help you ever live your healthiest happiest life!

Not to mention, I have to admit that I pride myself on not only achieving something personally. I think what we can personally achieve honestly doesn’t even translate well to how we coach.

Now the fact that I can help CLIENTS achieve their goals? Well that is what matters! Being called the menopause whisperer may be one of my proudest life moments ever.!

Now what are 5 tips you can use to overcome the AGE hang up?

#1: Realize it’s often previous dieting practices adding up.

Often what we associated with age is simply build up over time.

It’s that we used to be able to “get away with something” that..well…we shouldn’t have tried to get away with.

Because it actually resulted in overload and injury.

And the sooner we stop those improper habits, the more we can avoid feeling like it’s our age adding up.

You need to re-train your body as soon as possible.

You need to add in that mobility work and proper warm up.

You need to stop the extreme deficits and restrictive diets.

Start focusing on the long-term success of your body!

#2: Avoid More Extreme Deficits

So as we get older, the struggle to lose weight becomes, well, more of a struggle.

Metabolic adaptations happen with age as it becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle to start with.

Plus, too often we’ve created metabolic adaptations through improper dieting practices that now cause us to gain weight while under eating.

Remember our body adapts to what we give it. It will find a way to function on fewer calories.

So when we create an extreme deficit we cause our body to adapt and function off of fewer calories not to mention we create hormonal imbalances that can even cause us to feel hungrier as our body learns to function off of less.

This leads to us gaining weight and even losing muscle.

It then makes it harder for us to lose more weight or even keep it off long term.

So the first scary step is actually to retrain our body to eat MORE before we create that deficit.

You need to restore hormonal balance. Teach your body to use more fuel. Give your body the fuel it needs to build muscle.

Only then can you actually create a deficit that will help you lose.

#3: Don’t fear a macro.

Too often when we try to lose weight we restrict whole food groups.

We cut out all of a macro, like say carbs, fearing they cause us to gain weight…especially because if we do eat more carbs after going low carb, we DO see that scale shift up.

But so often when we cut out a whole macro, we throw off our hormonal balance and we can even destroy the anabolic environment we need to build and retain muscle as we diet down or even as we get older.

So while we can strategically bump or lower a macro, we don’t want to demonize it. AND we need to realize that even occasionally favoring one or the other could be key.

Going low carb we CAN deplete glycogen stores to potentially expedite the process of using stored fat.

HOWEVER, this can backfire if we’re training intensely.

We may also find we usually go low carb, BUT strategically bump carbs at points to maintain balance and even benefit from the whoosh effect.

The key is NOT fearing a macro but realizing we can cycle them to our advantage!

#4: Realize more is not better – your workouts aren’t just to burn calories.

When we are struggling to see results, often we turn to doing more.

But trying to train harder as we eat less can not only backfire and cause further metabolic adaptations but it can lead to a lot of wasted effort!

We have to remember that the benefit of our workouts goes beyond calories burned.

Working out should be about doing something we love and learning to move well. It should be about building functional strength.

By focusing more on moving well and even building muscle, we help ourselves stay strong till our final day on this planet and even AVOID metabolic adaptations.

Focus on designing for the time you have. You can make even just 20 minutes work if you design strategically. And this can benefit you more than hours in the gym AND be sustainable!

And then don’t skip that mobility work! Learn to use muscles correctly to avoid aches and pains adding up!

#5: Focus on building muscle and strength training.

This can not only fuel the sports you love but help you avoid metabolic adaptations, injury and keep you functional strong till your final day on this planet.

Use it or lose it really is spot on.

So don’t just go for the highest calorie burning training you can or fear lifting heavy.

This is what keeps you young. It’s what helps you actually burn more calories at rest and look leaner!

SUMMARY

Yes changes happen to our body as we get older. But age is just a number. And at any age we can become our leanest, strongest selves.

Don’t just say you can’t because of a number.

Realize that often it’s just about learning what our body needs and reversing not so ideal habits we’ve ingrained in the past!

Often when we talk about creating a lifestyle with our diet, we act like we’re going to do one thing for the rest of our life.

Which is interesting because we don’t just do exactly the same workouts forever.

Heck, if you look at your current lifestyle it probably isn’t exactly the same as it was just even last season.

I know personally my schedule and even activity level slightly shifts from Summer to Winter.

So if our lifestyle is constantly adjusting and flowing, even due to family obligations and work, why would our diet ever stay exactly the same?

The thing is it shouldn’t.

Your diet should evolve over time as your needs and goals change. Your lifestyle should evolve as you get older.

Menopause will change things.

Injuries will change things.

This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. We just have to be open to the changes.

And it’s why creating a lifestyle doesn’t mean you’re doing one thing forever.

And honestly, it’s why I love teaching clients about macros.

No one macro ratio works for everyone. And even when you find ratios that work for you, they’re going to change and adjust.

But the key point is, you have a solid foundation off of which to build.

Macros is like having the house frame set up and laid out.

You can adjust the paint colors, the decorations inside, anything else you want whenever you need or want based on what you want at the time. But you have that solid foundation off of which to build and tweak to suit your needs.

So instead of running from macros and letting the learning process push you to seek out a quick fix, embrace the learning process knowing that it will give you that solid foundation off of which to create a true lifestyle.

Because a fad diet and quick fix isn’t that. It may get you fabulous results, but you can’t keep doing it often which is why you fall off.

Results don’t come from doing something then going back to old habits.

Results come from evolving as your needs and goals change.

And remember evolving doesn’t mean what you were doing was bad or wrong. But if systems are mismatched, you’re not going to see results from them even if they are good independently.

What worked for you when you were training hard 6 days a week for hours, may not work now when training 3 days a week.

What worked for you at 20, may not work for you at 60.

It doesn’t mean you’re doomed. But you have to meet yourself where you’re at. And that’s why I wanted to share these 3 tips to help!

1: Track what you’re doing.

I know everyone hates hearing this but what you measure, you can manage.

If you don’t truly know what you’re consuming, you can’t accurate adjust.

The only way to know what may be mismatched to your needs is to have a clear picture of your current lifestyle.

This isn’t judgement. It’s data so we can get the results we deserve.

Tracking isn’t about cutting out either.

Heck, so often with clients we actually need to ADD IN calories because they’re actually under fueling.

Tracking just gives us the power to truly adjust to have that solid foundation off of which to build.

2: Embrace Learning Why

It is easy to start defending what you’re doing, even when it isn’t working. But if it isn’t working, see opportunity in making a change.

To help yourself embrace the change, learn why it may be worth testing out.

If it does’t work, you can always go back to what you were doing. But you don’t know if a better system is out there if you don’t risk experimenting a little.

Just do your research. Learn how or why it may help in your situation.

This knowledge can make you truly embrace testing and implementing new habits that may seem scary.

And it even helps you understand when NOT to test something as, even though it may have helped your friend, the ratios or plans don’t match YOUR specific lifestyle even if they may have at another time even!

3: Set end dates.

I’ve mentioned this a lot recently but you want to have end dates to things. We don’t do well with forever and staying consistent.

When there are end dates, there is accountability. AND there is a chance to re-assess and adjust.

This can help us get more consistent because we don’t feel like we’ll be stuck doing something that isn’t working and end up jumping ship too soon.

It can also help us even plan in consciously to adjust when our lifestyle evolves so we aren’t using an outdate “system.”

But having end dates gives us times to learn and tweak and grow while remaining consistent.

SUMMARY:

Our needs and goals change. We have to be willing to evolve with them.

It’s even FUN to adjust workouts, try different ratios, experiment with new activities.

See changes as an opportunity instead of an obstacle.

Don’t get so frustrated repeating the same old systems that are outdated just because they used to work.