I’m sitting in the airport in Greensboro, NC waiting for my flight home. I flew down here on Thursday to meet up with my friend Elizabeth of Primal Potential.
Elizabeth and I just launched our first project together, a fat loss mastermind course (Lean Potential) that focuses on implementing healthy habits for fat loss, and it’s been going great! We wanted to get together to do a bit more work on the course, and to go over some of the challenges we’ve faced over the first few weeks with not only the women we work with in Lean Potential, but also our individual clients.
Not surprising, the same themes kept popping up. A lot of our clients are facing the same exact struggles that both of us have faced in the past. Things like the “all or nothing” mindset, wanting to follow a specific meal plan, focusing on perfection instead of progress, wanting the quick fix, and feeling like there is a magic bullet out there and they just haven’t found it yet.
I posted this photo of one of my online coaching clients on my Facebook page last week.
After I posted this, she told me she got quite a few messages and emails from women (who knew it was her) asking her what she did. How did she change her body so much, what was she eating, how many days did she exercise or drink wine etc…I actually got quite a few emails myself – FROM CLIENTS – asking me what I was having her do!!! Like I was holding out on them. But the truth is, she didn’t do anything different than what I suggest to all of my clients. She just DID it. Consistently.
I totally get wanting to know how other people reach their goals, I think that it can be very motivating! But I also think it becomes a problem when we try to do what “she” did because it got her results, or we think that she did something magical to help get her there.
One thing that I want to mention about these pictures is that they were taken a YEAR apart. ONE YEAR. It’s not like she started a “diet” and then stopped. She made sustainable lifestyle changes that made her progress feel effortless. Those small, consistent choices added up to big results. There ARE no short-cuts. There is no magic formula….and what works for one person, may not work for the next. Period.
I find that we spend so much time trying to find the “perfect” plan, or not really believing that slow and steady really DOES work in the long-run (or not being patient enough to actually give it a solid chance) that we waste such valuable time searching for more information or jumping around from diet to diet. Time we could be spending focusing on ourselves. Figuring out our own routine, our own plan, what WE love. We want fast results, so we aim for perfection. When we can be perfect, we say “screw it” and give up, then we look for the most restrictive plan to start (or try what worked for someone else) and vow to be “better” on Monday.
And the cycle starts all over again.
If you find yourself in this cycle, a cycle that I was in for a very long time, just ask yourself a couple questions:
1. have you gotten results that you were able to maintain?
and
2. are you HAPPY?
I know for myself, this cycle left me feeling completely out of control, obsessed with food and exercise, and stuck in the comparison trap. BIG TIME.
I was always looking out “there” for someone to tell me what would work for me, instead of trusting MYSELF, being patient, and eating and exercising in a way that I actually LIKED. I had to stop wanting for someone to give me the answers and start doing the work on myself.
Take the time to create your OWN fat loss formula. Be patient. Know that you KNOW enough. It’s time to take action. Consistent imperfect action 🙂
For more on our thoughts on the “all or nothing” mindset and what we do to get ourselves out of it, check out the podcast here!
PS:
My online coaching group is currently closed BUT – I’ll be running another 15 Day Challenge beginning on Monday 4/27, which is a great intro into the group and how online training works….Just FYI, this is NOT a diet, it’s NOT a quick-fix. It’s a jump-start in creating healthy habits and getting you OUT of the all-or-nothing mindset. For more info, get your name on the wait list here!