I created my own successful Wellness Program How you can do it

We make it way too hard. Fitness, nutrition, wellness, being our best selves. We get it all wrong and we make it too hard. My hope is that this article will greatly simplify it for you and break down some of the wrong thinking we’ve had about being a certain weight or being “in shape” or having a desirable figure or whatever our goal is to be a better version of yourself. In fact, it’s gotten so complicated that most people just give up. I get it, I did too. But then I completely changed the way I looked at health and fitness and so far it’s made all the difference. Here are some key things that can help you change your thinking and achieve your goals. The end state you desire is not out of your reach at all, in fact it is so achievable it’s ridiculous. Let’s go.

1.     Stop Counting Calories. It’s a waste of time. Every calorie tracker is wrong. The amount of calories in the food you are eating have to match exactly the food that it’s in the app you are using- the ounces, the ingredients, etc. And those calories are based on an average person. What is average? Are you average? No. 80% of us are not. Also, if you count calories you are doing it so that you can hit the daily maximum amount of what you are allowed because your brain doesn’t like to be restricted. So, if you are on a 1200 calorie diet you will end the day at 1200 but the problem is that your calorie tracker was off by 200 calories, and you actually ate 1400. So tomorrow when you get on the scale, you will feel defeated because you didn’t lose the weight you wanted to, and the self-hatred will kick in and you still start to believe that you “just can’t lose weight”. This is a 100% lie. The tools you are using are broken. So, stop. You can do this. Here is what I subscribe to do instead. Eat basic foods without a lot of ingredients if you want to shed pounds. Your smoothie should not have more than 1-2 fruits in it. Do not add nuts. If you added protein powder do not also add peanut butter. Every ingredient you add to a smoothie adds about an additional 100 calories. Focus on 4 ingredients at the most. Keep it simple. Your morning oatmeal- same thing. Do not add a lot of nuts and not a lot of honey or maple syrup. A little bit goes a long way. Salads should be loaded with veggies and just a little seeds and salad dressing. Dinner should be a protein and vegetable. If you make a taco, make the protein the main ingredient and everything else is just a small amount. Steak strips with a little bit of shredded cheese is fantastic. And most of all, what is important is what you stop doing. Stop going to fast food altogether. Say goodbye to French fries. Learn to hate them. Your snack foods - say goodbye. Learn to hate them. They are not serving you. Fall in love with eating healthy. And my one last piece of advice on eating that you might not like but you need to trust me on this because it is key. For the first month, learn to accept hunger pains every day. They do not mean your body needs something. They mean your body is throwing a 2-year-old temper tantrum because it’s not getting its way. View it that way. You are in Walmart and your 2-year-old has decided to lay down on the floor and scream because you wouldn’t or couldn’t buy what he or she wanted in that moment. You are determined to not let them have what they want so that they stop throwing tantrums. Your body is being a spoiled toddler. Let it throw its fit but don’t give it what it wants, and over time it will stop. And you will have won. You aren’t going hungry. You are breaking deeply ingrained habits.

2.     For the first month, do not weigh yourself. I know, you’re on a weight loss journey. So why would I say to not weigh yourself? Don’t you need motivation? Don’t you need to track your progress? No, you don’t. What is your end goal? Lose weight? Why? So that once you do you can go back to eating what you want to? You’ve already failed before you even started if that’s what you think. If you want to lose weight and keep it off then everything I said in Step 1 is now your new normal for the rest of your life. If you need to pause now and think about this for a moment I understand. Take your time. You see, a healthy weight requires a healthy lifestyle. You can’t go on a program, lose the weight, cheer your success, then go right back to eating donuts and enchiladas. It just doesn’t work like that. You know that doesn’t work. And after the program you won’t have any idea how to even eat healthy. But if you change the way you eat and that allows you to lose weight, then you’ve got healthy habits for a lifetime and you can allow your weight and your figure to ebb and flow how you want it to. Under your control. You can have a donut or an enchilada because you’ll know how to go back to healthy eating the next day and keep things under control. So, losing weight and looking good are better measured by a look in the mirror rather than using the scale. Do you like what you see in the mirror? No? Then keep working. You can get the scale out after a month and see how much weight you’ve lost if you want to. Because honestly, you will lose at least 20 pounds before the mirror tells you you’ve made any progress at all. Trust me on that one. The mirror is far more brutal of a coach than the scale. But the scale will give you a false sense of progress. Use it sparingly.

3.     Learn to accept pain. This is a big one. But think of it this way. If you are working out and your muscles are sore every day, then you know you are giving it all you’ve got. That should be a reassuring feeling to you. You should lay in bed at night, feeling how sore your thighs are and say “I am a beast! I crushed it today!” It will be hard in the beginning to continue to exercise when you are sore but use every means you can to eleveate the soreness- sit in the hot tub at the gym, use some Biofreeze at night, stretch as much as possible, massage your muscles, stretch and stretch and stretch. And give yourself a lot of grace. Ease into the workouts on the days you are sore. But do it and don’t quit.

4.     Learn to not be a quitter. I know this sounds obvious. Pivoting off of #3, it is essential to create something that works for you that allows you to stay consistent. Consistency is key and that is no lie. Do not skip a day. Do not accept any excuses from your brain that loves to trick you into taking a day off. When an excuse comes, chop it half like a ninja. Say NO! If you are having a tough day, you don’t have to crush your workout that day but you do have to show up. Just show up, and let the endorphins do the rest from there. You will meet yourself at the gym. You will arrive and your determined self will take it from there. Trust me. It works every time. But you have to win the mental game. Watch or listen to podcasts on mental toughness. I do this on a daily basis and it gives me a lot of encouragement. There are lot of them out there, just pick a few that motivate you and help you become mentally fit. Remember this is a total fitness journey.  This includes your mind! Mental toughness is a skill that will help you in so many other areas of your life. We have lost our ability be mentally tough and I think it’s such a tragedy that it is viewed negatively. We could accomplish so much if we just learn to be uncomfortable when acquiring the things we want. Learn methods that work for you. You are stronger than you think. Have a mental conversation with yourself, encourage yourself, say a dozen things about you that are fabulous. Juice up on positivity. It is so critical to your success.

5.     Treat each day as Day One. What you did or didn’t do yesterday no longer matters. If you slacked off, let it go but have a better mindset for today. Hit the reset button and say “today I am refocused to achieve my goals.” Have a daily checklist of what you want to accomplish, and each day turn the page from yesterday to today and start your checklist over again. Do this first thing in the morning and start crossing things off the list. Your goal each day is get a score of 100. Everything else is failure. Be hard on yourself. Take your checklist seriously. If you skipped one thing on the list, give yourself a failing grade at the end of the day. Breathe. I know, I get it. I can hear Moms everywhere screaming at me. I do know what you are up against. I do. But you are the one that created the list, not me. You created it based on what you thought you could do each day. So choose it wisely. You want it to be difficult enough that you reach your end goals. You also want it to be achievable enough that you gain momentum. But from there, be tough on yourself. Don’t give yourself a single participation prize. If you want to change your life, you have to get serious. Don’t let yourself off the hook. For one day.

6.     Create a daily checklist that is balanced. Body, mind, soul, heart. You have to feed the whole thing. You can’t get your body right if your mind isn’t right. If you have self-hatred towards yourself, you will quit your workouts. You just will. You will sabotage everything. Start your day with the right mindset through meditation and affirmations. Meditate in a quiet space alone in your home and speak your affirmations about who you want to be that day while you are getting ready, while you are driving the kids to school or driving to the gym. Write them down if you can. Review them before you go to bed. Feed your soul things that are nourishing. This is where the podcasts can come in. You need encouragement if you are going to transform. Give yourself some information to help you on the journey. Lastly, your heart has to be engaged in the process as well. Be kind and loving to yourself and others while you are on the journey of transformation. So make sure your daily checklist includes physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional exercises every day. Achievable goals that allow you to grow more and more each day. Your journal will be for what you learn along the way and for when you start to feel good about you’ve accomplished.

The goal of creating your own program is to ensure that you are subscribing to something that will work for you so that you don’t quit. It’s easy to sign up for a program that someone else created but this is a big part of why we don’t continue with it. It doesn’t suit us, it doesn’t suit our personality. It isn’t always about being inherently lazy. We have to enjoy the things we doing to some degree or else we’ll find a reason not to continue. Give yourself time to experiment with different things, change up your checklist and go easier or harder on yourself based on how you feel. And most of all, enjoy the journey along the way. So far I’ve lost 20 lbs doing the daily checklist method, not eating fast food, walking more, and eating simple. I have a goal to get fit and look good and I’m on my way there. I hope you reach your goals too!