How to take control of your fitness one step at a time.

It’s likely that at some point in time, we have all desired to improve our health and fitness but have no clue where to start. If you’re like me, you’ve gone to Pinterest or Google only to be bombarded by 50 million things you should stop doing and 50 million things you should start doing TODAY. The thought of altering your entire lifestyle overnight seems overwhelming. So, you pick a handful of things that you decide to change and do your best for a few days, making half attempts at some and going 100% on others. This is what leads to burnout. You see, when you can’t give every effort 100%, you are more likely to miss the mark on some of your goals which ends up making you feel like you’ve failed before you’ve really even started. How do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME.

Easier said than done, I know. Like I said, I’ve read plenty of “Get Fit in the New Year” blogs and pinned endless “healthy recipes”, only to continue on in my chocolate-chip-cookie-eating ways.

However, I fully believe that this mindset is exactly what helped me stick with the healthy changes that I was making last year. Step by step, one by one, I formulated an army of healthy habits that became second nature, each working together to help me reach my goals. And because I took it in steps (a.k.a. small bites)….THEY STUCK and then others (like my mom and sister) started to join me.

So what are those steps? Well lucky for you, I want to help others achieve their health goals so I’m going to share them with you! ;)

First - I made the conscious decision that something needed to change. That’s it! That’s the first step. So if you’ve read down this far, maybe you’ve already taken your first step!

Second - I gave thought to what I had been doing (going to the gym a few times a week, spending most of my time on the treadmill and stair stepper while doing my best-ish to eat healthy when it was convenient for me...I mean if chips and dip were present, it wasn’t convenient), and how that needed to change. I hated the gym. It was cold, it was smelly, it was dirty, no one was there to teach me what proper form was or what combination moves were most effective, and it was a huge time-suck.

Third - I decided to go out on a limb and try at-home workouts because hey, what did I have to lose (except a few pounds), so I signed up and chose which program I wanted to do first.

Fourth - I pressed play on the workouts and didn’t force myself to stick to a strict schedule that I didn’t feel like I could maintain. No trainer would probably ever endorse that mindset...sorry! But it’s the truth. If it feels too hard and too overwhelming straight out of the gate, the chances that you stick with it are not that great. If you are the kind of person who can do that, then good for you! I was not. I took the workouts at my own pace starting out, and worked out approximately 4 times per week.

Fifth - Once I grew accustomed to the workouts and the time commitment a few times a week, I decided to take the next step by following the timeline of the program and working out every single day. This was the first time I had ever done this, so the challenge was fun and once I developed a streak, I didn’t want to stop!

Sixth - After I was comfortable and accustomed to my new workout routine, that is when I decided to implement nutrition changes! I used the nutrition education resources that came with my at-home workouts, and I started learning about how to properly fuel my body for the hard work that it was doing every day in the workouts. Since I was going all in with the fitness, I didn’t want to cheat myself on any of the results that I had the potential to achieve because of my lack of nutrition.

Seventh - I practiced these new habits daily, even when it was hard because the trainer in the workouts taught me that the key to success is not motivation; the key to success is consistency. Doing the hard things even when you don’t want to. That is where you prove to yourself that you have the power to change.

Eighth - Over time, these daily habits became my new lifestyle, and it was like second nature! By this time, it wasn’t nearly as hard to ignore the pile of donuts or choose carrots instead of chips because I had formed these habits that were getting me results I had never seen before!

Now, just over a year later, I am in a totally different place when it comes to nutrition and exercise. I don’t allow food to have power over me, I get to make those choices. I don’t see moving my body as a punishment or a necessity to undo anything that I ate; I see it as an opportunity to take full advantage of my physical abilities and grow stronger.

I am in no way a fitness expert with crazy secrets and diet pills. I’ve just done this work on myself over the last year and it paid off big time! Don’t be overwhelmed by what lies ahead of you, but instead focus on where you are now and what you can change in this moment. If you are ready to take your first (or second or third) step to becoming healthier, let me help you! Email me, text me, slide into my dm’s, or send me a handwritten letter. Besides...what do you have to lose?! ;)