NEVER GIVE UP!

So it’s that’s time of year again, where we reflect back on the goals of last year and check off the ones we completed and the ones we didn’t complete. And as we scroll through the list and see “weight loss” on there, and again unable to check it off completely we are left feeling discouraged, annoyed and even hopless.

Now, I have been able to overcome the hold that food once had on me. It was hard... very, and it took time...a lot of it...and it took longer than I wanted it too. However I did not give up!

Now as I scroll through my list from last year and begin to smile as I check off the goals from last year that I have been successful with, I come to a screeching hault as I was faced with the SAME GOAL THAT HAS BEEN ON THERE FOR OVER 7 YEARS NOW. At this point I am feeling discouraged and frustrated that I am unable to put a big check next to it once and for all. This goal is to stop picking my nails. An annoying habit I have purposefully tried to overcome for some time now. It got to the point at the end of 2017 that I thought...maybe I just cannot do it. Maybe I’m going to have to accept that it’s just too hard to for me to do? I doubted my ability to do it because I have tried and tried so many times in the past. It was as if I almost gave up, and ALMOST accepted that it was going to be a part of me, which was kind of a foreign idea to me.... But I had felt hopeless and discouraged. The feeling I am sure a lot of you can relate to as you scroll through your list and are unable to check off “weight loss”. I know...I totally get it!

Now after I allowed that hopeless feeling to pass and not fester and build up, I decided that I WILL NOT GIVE UP! If I can overcome an addiction to food I can certainly overcome nail biting! So I adamently added it to my 2018 list of goals for the year, and decided to focus on it yet again. I’m happy to say it’s day 16 and I haven’t picked once! More info on how this miracle has taken place in next month’s blog...

Also what I noticed about people who WANT to lose weight, a lot of them don’t give up either. I recently offered a weight loss challenge at the gym I work at, and I had people reach out to me about joining that have been looking to check “weight loss” off their New Years resolutions list once and for all, despite having it on their there year after year...they haven’t given up either! They don’t give in to the feeling of being discouraged and unhappy, but they rev themselves up yet again for another try at hoping to make that final check...next to the goal: ✔️“lose weight”.

That’s the key to being able to achieve anything...never giving up...despite the odds...despite the difficulty...despite the bad feelings...and despite having failed in the past. So I commend those of you who have added to your list this year...”lose weight” and haven’t given up on yourself!!

OVERCOMING A PLATEAU

For all you blog readers that have been or are currently on a lifestyle change to lose weight, you most likely dread that word “plateau.” I know I would if I was in a season of weight loss as well.

We receive emails on a regular basis or have conversations with people who are on a weight loss plan and have hit a plateau, and everyone wants to know what’s the best way to break or avoid a plateau!

When it comes to diet and exercise there are several ways; cut out a snack, increase cardio time, amongst others which we don’t have the time to get into right now. However being a trainer for 10+ years now, what I have noticed is that sharing the diet and exercise plateau breakers with some clients isn’t the only thing they need in order to move forward in their weight loss journey. They had the information but for some reason had a difficult time fully implementing it. That left me scratching my head and wondering, what else needs to be done to help clients continue on their journey of weight loss, and get them UNstuck.

QUESTION...

Have you ever heard that saying: if you THINK you CAN or you THINK you CANT, either way you are right. Well I realize now there is a lot, we’ll 100% truth to that.

After experiencing a few clients being stuck in a plateau, what I started to do was find out how they think, by asking them questions. Sure enough they were experiencing thoughts that were causing them to sabotage their success. Let me give you an example. One client dealt with the need to feel she had to please people, so when offered some home cooked food that could sabotage her weight loss that week, she didn’t feel she could say no, and would eat it even though she didn’t want to. So the root of the problem is lack of self confidence, and the unhealthy need of pleasing others to feel good about herself.

So the solution to this problem is working with the client on building up their self worth, value, and self esteem apart from pleasing someone in that moment. As that builds they will be able to politely decline what they do NOT want to eat.

Of course this takes time to do, but in the end the client will not only get to their goal weight, they will be able to maintain what they have lost because they will have delt with the unhealthy sabotaging thinking that had left them feeling stuck, insecure, and unhappy.

So, in conclusion, a plateau breaker is not just trying to add in more exercise, it could be anazlying and changing your thoughts and ways of operating in a relationship, and building and establishing your self worth, which is by far one of the great accomplishments someone could achieve.

HOW DO YOU TREAT YOURSELF?

HOW DO YOU TREAT YOURSELF?

So being a personal trainer I have several clients that come in that want to lose weight. And it would be an ideal world if all I had to do was give them a diet to follow, prescribe a little exercise and boom...within weeks or months they have reached their life long goal!! My job would be easy, yet slightly boring, and their life would be complete. If that was the case...every client would succeed 100% of the time, the first time around and the rest would be history!! However giving them the knowledge, having them implement it, and pushing them through a workout just isn't enough. WHY? WHY isn't it enough?

I'm so glad you asked! Because we all come from different places with different experiences and most of us come from a place where we have faced challenges, rejections, hurts and pains. And because of those challenges and pains, life can be hard without the cookie, cake, or pasta we so enjoy.

One thing I often ask clients is: "How do you talk to and treat yourself"?

Do you call yourself and idiot for making a simple mistake? Do you extend grace in a time of hurt? Do you encourage yourself when your feeling down? Do you call yourself a failure when you don't meet the expectation? Do you invalidate yourself when your struggling? Or do you treat yourself as you would a dear friend?

I AM VALUABLE...

So many of my clients along with myself are guilty of mistreating themselves. However what I have learned was this...I am valuable enough to treat myself with the love and respect I deserve. If your friend continued to call you an idiot for a simple mistakes I vouge to say you may reconsider that friendship and possibly drop them as a friend all together.

So why is it ok to talk to ourselves like that but we wouldn't be ok with others talking to us in that manner. AND...we would never talk to our friends in that manner.

So, seeing as how you guys are smarter than this, let's look to make a change. One way to begin making the adjustment is: When your struggling with a situation look to build up and encourage yourself, when you feel rejected remind yourself of what a great person you are, and when your hurting look to validate and understand yourself.

Now this isn't the answer to weight loss but as you begin to develop a closer more loving relationship with yourself by implanting these valuable tools you will WANT to care for yourself and not ingest the foods that, although they taste delicious, have a list of ingredients a mile long and you cannot even pronounce half the words. You will take the time to drink the water you know you so desperately need, do a workout, go for a walk, buy something nice for yourself, and begin to take time for yourself and great care for yourself.

So take a minute and begin to think of that inner dialogue and make sure it's infested with love and respect, and as you do you will make the right decisions for yourself and your body.