I am thrilled to dive into this topic with you all today, because I am sharing the one key thing that most people don’t discuss, which will finally get you out of that start-stop cycle of insanity and living a healthy lifestyle. So, if you are tired of starting and stopping and serious about losing that weight or changing your body and your health, then this is for you!
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Before we jump into the nitty-gritty, let’s acknowledge that embarking on a healthy lifestyle is not something you complete in a few weeks or days – it’s a lifelong commitment to your well-being. And at the heart of this commitment lies the power of your mindset. Changing your body, whether it is losing fat or gaining muscle, is 20% exercise, 80% nutrition and 100% mindset. 99% of the time, people start on a diet or exercise plan and completely overlook or simply don’t know how to take the first steps to get their mind in the game. So, today, we are digging into the following strategies:
- Clarify your intentions.
- Set clear, specific goals.
- Commit.
Before I finally got established in my healthy lifestyle, I spent years in what I call the start-stop cycle of insanity. ‘What the heck is that?’ you may be asking yourself? It is when you build up a strong enough will or desire to do the thing you have been wanting to do, in this case weight loss. You know what program you are going to follow; you have your workout space set up or your gym membership ready and you have your food for your diet. You start strong, motivation is high. Those first few days are amazing. You rocked your workout, you stayed on track with food, you are killlin it.
Then that bad day at work, the fight with your significant other, the family drama, whatever it is, that life thing happens and it throws you off. Whether it is indulging in that pint of ice cream, drinking a bottle of wine, skipping your workouts or all of the above (not that I know), you feel defeated. Next starts the negative internal dialogue about how you blew it again and you just can’t do it and how you failed. You may try and get yourself back on track and get back at it, but that wind that was in your sails in the beginning seems to have moved on to someone else’s sails. It may be weeks, month, or years before you muster up what it takes to get back at it. This is the start-stop cycle of insanity and I spent years doing this to myself.
Somewhere in the process of this craziness I would decide it must’ve been the program, and in some ways that could be the case, like if it isn’t something sustainable for me. But that aside, it isn’t usually the what we are doing, it is what is at the root of what makes us allow ourselves to get derailed in the first place. Now all of that is a whole separate process of inner work and it is truly the key to staying with a healthy lifestyle long term. However, it is far too much to cover in a podcast episode, but it is a core component of many of my programs. Check out the links in the episode description or my bios on social media to find out how you can work with me.
In addition to getting at these root causes, is getting our mindset in place before we start on any endeavor, including losing weight or starting a healthy lifestyle. So, let’s get into the three key strategies for establishing a mindset that is going to help you end the start-stop cycle of insanity and start living a healthy lifestyle.
- Clarify your intentions.
Now, I have a whole module on this with a workbook in my Phoenix Rising programs, but here is the simple breakdown you can use. First, understand the different between an intention and a goal. Now you need both of them, but there is a subtle difference. Think of it like this: the goal is the destination, you are the car, and the intention is the gas. The intention is really the vision, the dream, the feeling tied to achieving the goal.
A great way to tap into this is to spend a few minutes visualizing yourself in your goal body. What are you wearing? How are you feeling? Another way to get at this is to stat with what you are fed up with? What are you ready to drop? Maybe it is hating going shopping, avoiding pictures, avoiding the mirror. Whatever it is, you can start with these and then write them in the opposite. SO, for example, I want to enjoy clothes shopping again.
Spend some time writing these out. Whatever you have at the end is your list of intentions. These are the reasons you are doing this, the reasons you want to start the healthy lifestyle. The healthy lifestyle is just the mechanism that will help you realize the goal. - Set clear, specific goals.
As I mentioned before, intentions are the gas and the goal is the destination. Yu have to know the destination if you want to get there. It can’t be vague, like I want to do better at exercising consistently, or I need to eat better. These are habits and behaviors that help, but they aren’t goals. A goal is clear and specific, like I want to lost 20 pounds and reach 20% body fat, or I want to wear a size 6 and achieve my best health. Write 1-2 goals. I suggest your end goal, which is long term and a goal for your first month to 6 weeks.
Write them down and put them where you can see them. Read them often. Speak them aloud to yourself. Make a song out of them if you want to, just know them and repeat them often. Start them off with the following words “I am so happy and grateful now that…” This is how you change your brain, literally, and get your subconscious mind helping you reach the goal. - Commit
Now that you have your intentions and goals in place, it’s time for the magic ingredient – commitment. Making a promise to yourself and keeping it is where the rubber meets the road. Do what you say you are going to do. Honor the commitment you make to yourself and watch the amazing ways all other areas of your life start to change and shift.
A tip that is going to help with long term success is to remember this is a process of change. You are changing yourself. All the components of a healthy lifestyle require changes in thinking, inner dialogue, behaviors, and habits. This does not happen overnight, and you will quickly overwhelm yourself if you try and change all of it at once. It requires making incremental changes, 1-3 at a time, over time. Start small and gradually build up. Consistency trumps intensity. If you commit to a 30-minute walk every day, stick to it. Once you have been consistent with that for a month to 6 weeks, implement the next change, perhaps cutting soda or increasing water intake. As you build this commitment muscle, you’ll find it easier to take on more challenges.
Weight loss or body transformation is a process of internal change more than it is a process of external change. Most of the programs out there focus solely on the habits or strategies to change the external. Starting with the internal is the key to succeeding and sustaining a healthy lifestyle. I have created an amazing bundle designed to help you with this critical first step in starting your journey. It is called the Clarify, Commit, Crush it! Bundle. It is worth over $1,500 and I am offering it for $87.
As mentioned earlier, I am also offering a FREE 30-day program right now. You will get access to my trainer app, with 30 days of at home or gym workouts, a nutrition plan, and Facebook community for support and accountability. You also get a FREE transformation session with me to develop your unique plan to get you to your goals.
So, that is all I have for today. I really hope this has given you some insight as to how to end that start-stop cycle of insanity and start creating a healthy lifestyle you can sustain. Thank you for stopping by!