Don't Get Lazy THIS FALL!!

 

September is in mid swing and ahhh a breath of fresh air or fall air I should say!!!  I have noticed everywhere that I go the last thing people are thinking about is their health and fitness.  Everyone is talking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Hot Chocolate, Pizza and football party food.  Our families schedules are just jammed full of running errands, being the taxi driver for our kids activities and still trying to maintain our job, our home and our personal sanity.  So if you are like me, the first thing to go is my sanity when life gets crazy!  Thank goodness I have a good fitness and health routine going because that is the last thing that I would give up.  But maybe that isn't the case for you.  Maybe you are the person that rationalizes that you are not important or that we should sacrifice ourselves for our kids.  I have to say that while that sounds so humbling, you are actually doing them a great disservice.  Think about it.  When you don't take care of yourself what happens?

You feel gross in your clothes, your muffin top hangs over your pants, you are tired, your hair and skin feels blah.  You become irritable because you are not happy with how you look and feel and in turn you take it out on your kids. Then fast forward 10-20 years.  Your kids are grown, maybe grandchildren and you want to play with your grandkids but a lifetime of poor eating habits and being overweight have wrecked your body.  You now have sore joints, high blood pressure and cholesterol.  You are easily winded and your metabolism is slowing!  Now what if you would of made the changes now?  Would you be able to keep up with those grandkids or even just spend time doing fun activities with the ones that you love?  Most likely the situation would be different if you made different choices now!!!

But WAIT you say!!!!  I don't have money to eat healthy!  It's so expensive and I have to cook 2 meals!!!  I don't have money to buy Shakes!  I don't want to drink my food!  I don't like to cook!  I don't have time to cook!  I'm afraid this will be another thing that I sign up for and FAIL!!!  I just don't want to do it!

STOP for one minute and think about the residual benefits of leading a healthy life!!!  I know for me I want to be around for my kids and I want to teach them how to be healthy.  It's time for me to think about my family too!  It's not just about you, it's about everyone that you come into contact with on a daily basis.

It's crazy to think that 1 person (YOU) can have such a positive influence on others!!!  So instead of thinking about yourself and all that YOU have to DO...think about everyone else that NEEDS you to BE HEALTHY and STRONG too!!!!
I want to teach you how to make being healthy a lifestyle.  So starting on October 3rd, for 30 days I am going to teach you how to make a meal plan, how to make healthy choices, find substitutes for the things that you love, learn new recipes, little tips on how to pack a cooler when you have endless activities and responsibilities.  Tackle the holidays, parties, social events and more with all the support you need from me!  Online closed accountability group where we will set goals that are realistic to your needs. Contact me for more information on how you can be enrolled in my 30 Day Clean Eating and Shakeology Support Group!  I promise you that it's way more than a bag of Shakeology!  It's your LIFE!!!!  It's the start of a new you!!!

Renee Smith

Independent Diamond BeachBody Coach

How to Improve Motivation

Something that lately I feel like I come across over and over is that people start out strong in their health and fitness journey even their Beachbody business but then they lose steam.  They struggle to be successful and really reach their goals. 

Maybe you've felt the same way. Maybe you've struggled to eat better, workout more, or take care of yourself in a way that creates hurdles that prevent you from living the life you want. Maybe you don’t know any other reality.

I spent a lot of time figuring out what had changed for these people. How they went from living off of motivation to one searching for sources. And what I discovered wasn't groundbreaking, but it was something often overlooked.
What will make the difference?

Find what makes you happy. This is the real secret to motivation.

If you struggle with motivation--and we all do on some level or in passing moments--it's important that you put your role in this world into context. That's why I recommend making declarations that acknowledge your deficits and areas where you'd like to improve.

Most of us settle in life. Settle for what's easy. Settle for what's convenient. Or settle for the only reality that we know. Improving motivation means changing that reality and becoming aware that there’s more in life that you want.
Here are 10 simple strategies that can help with your awareness:

1. Write 5 things you want to improve
2. Create a list of what you love--and then assess how many of those items are actually part of your life
3. Email your friends and share your goals that you haven't achieved
4. Set deadlines for personal, non-work-related goals
5. Ask your friends to list off areas in your life that you overlook
6. Visit your doctor and ask for a thorough physical of your health
7. Take a “before” picture of yourself
8. Set a challenge--it could be anything or join my next 12 week challenge.
9. Plan out a list of future goals for your career, health, and social life
10. Make a bucket list

There are an endless number of ways to create motivation. All of them revolve around a simple mindset: Pursuing the life you want. But creating a list is just the start. From here, most people typically take the wrong approach.
They condemn themselves for the existence they created; place undue pressure and stress on achieving these goals. This is not a sustainable way to stay motivated. After all, stress is the poison--not the elixir. You should be moving towards mastery, not masochism.
So what should you do you do with your awareness?

First, realize that motivation is individualistic in every sense because it’s ultimately driven by one of two things: fear or happiness. Both work, but I prefer to focus on the latter.

When you find what's missing (by using any of the strategies above or others), don't focus on the negative. Research has shown that unhappiness and rejection is the quickest way to kill your motivation, not ignite new life.

So stop making yourself feel bad. You're human. You're going to have some bad days. Instead, identify all of the positives that can result from making a change. The joy you'll feel when you look in the mirror. The extra time you'll be able to spend with your kids. The desserts that you want to enjoy without guilt or fear of the harm it might do to your overweight body. The thrill of crossing an item of your bucket list. It can be anything.
You must identify the aspects that make you feel better, and then identify the steps that will allow you to include them in your life. When you are happy, you are motivated. I realize that this can be difficult as some things in life that make you happy might not be "good for you." Create a fine line between the two and find a balance.

Feeding my natural drive, in turn, made me more motivated to improve in the other areas of my life. It's a self-perpetuating process.

Life is about happiness and fulfillment. In fitness and health we oftentimes lose sight of that because we try forcing actions--like going to the gym or eating well--that feel like a burden, rather than patiently creating habits.

It's much more effective to create a world where every action--in and of itself--is an achievement. This is about building positive habits, feeling good about your life, and taking a step in the right direction. The more steps you take, the better you'll feel and the more motivation you'll have.

The sooner your life carries less burden and is more driven by an internal desire to be happy, you'll find that your motivation--and your life--will improve in more ways than you ever imagined.

Renee Smith

Independent Diamond BeachBody Coach

Striving for Progress NOT Perfection

It is so easy to get caught up in the super model bodies out there.  I encourage you to measure your own progress each month through pictures and measurements and gauge your progress based on that.  Comparing yourself to others makes us feel defeated and downplays your success!!!  Give yourself credit for coming this far!  Making healthy choices are hard and your efforts should be celebrated.  Especially when we live in a world of fast food and drive thru's.  I am celebrating the fact that I haven't seen my abs in years, but I'm starting to see definition again...after 4 kids!!!!  It's all about celebrating the non scale victories, the fact that you went down a pant size that you can do more push ups than last week, that you tried Quinoa and LIKED it or that you have gotten up to exercise 5 out of 7 days last week! 
No one, I MEAN NO ONE is PERFECT!!!  Everyone has slip ups and falls off track every once in awhile.  We are normal and human but the key to being successful in your weight loss is to have more good days than bad days.  I sometimes get out my calendar and put an X for every bad day and a smiley face for every good day! Then at the end of each week reflect on the choices you make!  How can you make next week better!!  Identify where your slip ups were?  Were they due to emotional eating, binging, cravings, social events or lack of planning?  Then, be proactive at creating a better plan of attack!!

Remember that your weight loss journey is not a SPRINT it's a MARATHON of creating a new lifestyle for you and your family!!!

 

 

Renee Smith

Independent Diamond BeachBody Coach