Does This Sound Like You?!

“I am in a calorie deficit but not losing weight.”

“Is there an easier way to reach my health goal without counting calories?”

“My health journey is becoming a major chore for me. I can’t do this anymore. I give up!”

Do any of these statements sound like you? Don’t worry – you are not alone! If I could put a number to it, about 75% of my clients walk into my office describing all the same issues. Basically putting in all the work and not seeing any results. And getting frustrated by it. 

The good news is, there is an easier way to achieve your goals. Believe me, I have been in your shoes and know exactly how you feel. Within the last three years I have gained about 15 pounds, yet I feel like my workouts and nutrition are more on par than they have been in years prior. My body feels stronger, but I look so much bigger. My stomach isn’t shrinking. I know that feeling of discouragement. 

I decided to take a step back and analyze what in the heck is going on. I’m doing it all, maybe not 100% perfect (I mean come on, who can be perfect all the time?!) but I’m doing it! Consistently. 

With my own journey I realized there are 6 key factors to achieving optimal health and reaching those goals for good. 

I call them the STRONG Health Principles: Strength & Movement, Tasty Food & Drinks, Rest & Rejuvenate, Optimism, Nutrient-Rich, and Gratitude. Each of the factors listed below is the reason for creating these principles:

Factor #1: Not Focusing on the Right Exercise Goal

We all know that movement and exercise is good for us, physically and mentally. The question is, which type of exercise is best? My answer to that question is: 

Quality movement that you can do consistently.

Yes, it’s that simple. Quality over quantity (unless of course you like to train for marathons), and something you know you can do every day without fail. That’s not to say strength is better than cardio, or visa versa, because they are both very helpful for your health. They just do different things.

Strength helps build lean muscle. Lean muscle helps improve body composition, increase coordination, reduce risk of falls when we get old and wobbly, and burns energy at rest. Strength can easily be incorporated by doing a 10 minute core video or attending a 60-minute bootcamp class. All strength is good strength.

Cardio has different benefits in that it helps with cardiovascular health, improves blood flow, and can also improve body composition. The kick is, there are different types of cardio:

• Low Impact: Leisurely exercise that uses fat primarily as fuel
  • Walking, leisurely bike ride, swimming
• Medium Impact: Moderate intensity cardio that utilizes carbohydrates for fuel
  • Running, jogging, mountain biking, hiking
• High Impact: High intensity cardio that utilizes carbohydrates for fuel
  • HIIT classes, sprint intervals, tempo runs, long endurance runs or bike rides

The basic formula I recommend for anyone is:

2-3 Days Strength Training + Daily Low Impact Movement

If you want to step it up a notch, incorporate an extra 1-2 days of moderate to high intensity training! What matters here is you do something you enjoy and can do consistently. 

Factor #2: Eating Foods You Hate Because the “Diet” Says So

This is one of the reasons diets don’t work. If I were to tell you all you could eat was broccoli to lose weight, but you hate broccoli, how long are you going to stick with that diet? Probably not very long.

When we incorporate our favorite foods and make them fun and tasty, we have a lot more chance of sticking to our changes! For example, if you really dislike salads but you want to get in more veggies, guess what? There are so many ways to eat them! Smoothies, sauteed, steamed, roasted, you name it. You just have to work with your preferences then fill in the gaps.

It’s the same for getting enough hydration. Of course we all know the benefits of getting in proper hydration. Some people can do this, easy peasy, but others have trouble because they don’t enjoy plain water. No big deal! If that’s the case, make your drinks more flavorful with fruit infusion or electrolytes. Make it enjoyable. If we don’t enjoy it, we won’t stick with it.

Factor #3: Not Catching Enough Zzzz’s OR Filling Your Cup

Sleep is so important, we all know that. But sometimes I don’t think we believe it. I have seen clients in the past who are doing all the things: working out consistently, eating nutrient-rich foods, and managing stress. However, the missing piece is sleep, and thus we start to see a decline in progress.

If you’re stuck in a rut and feeling exhausted or burnt out, it’s time to rest. Take a full week off and focus on quality sleep and rest. Sometimes the metabolism needs a nice reset to start working again. 

The other piece of the rest puzzle is making time to fill your cup. What does that mean? Doing things you enjoy every day! Reading books, shopping, grabbing coffee with a friend, watching your favorite television show, weekly massages, you name it. You know what fills your cup, and as you’ve probably heard before if our cup is empty, we won’t have the energy to keep moving forward. 

Sometimes the answer to why you aren’t seeing progress is as simple as not getting enough rest or filling your cup.

Factor #4: Having A “Fixed” Versus “Growth” Mindset With Your Goals

Health goals are not a pass or fail. Period. If you think of them like that, you will never be satisfied with your journey. On a personal note, I feel this is etched into us when we go to school. We take a test, and we either pass or fail it. If we fail, we don’t pass. If we don’t pass, we don’t move on, etc. This is what’s called a fixed mindset.

Most people have a fixed mindset when they first set foot in my office. They have “failed their diets every time and need help.” News flash – no one is judging your pass or fail rate for your diet history. Instead, I like to help my clients rethink this phrase.

Failure = Feedback. 

Failing isn’t a grade. Failing a diet doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of reaching your goals. Failing is just feedback that the method you tried didn’t work for you. Really, no diet is set up for success because you either get through it or you don’t. But that does not determine your ability to get to your goal.

I help clients switch from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, where I help them learn from their past diets and reward themselves for the milestones they have achieved. I also help them focus on the process to reach their goals instead of just focusing on the outcome. If we don’t enjoy the process, we will reach our goal and go back to square one. But if we find a process that’s fun and keeps you motivated, it will be easier to stick with it for life and maintain those goals for good!

Factor #5: Focusing Too Much On Food Quantity Versus Quality

You will see this debate over and over and over again. Is counting calories better than focusing on food quality? In my opinion, quality is more important than quantity. Why?

Think of your metabolism like a fire. Fire needs wood to burn. The metabolism is similar, in that it needs fuel to keep “burning”. The fuel for your metabolism is calories, which is a fancy term for energy. So if you cut the energy intake too low, your metabolism actually slows down which can alter the progress of your goals. Thus, if we focus too much on the number, we are at risk of under providing fuel for our metabolism.

Cue in focusing on food quality. Getting in plenty of protein, fiber from complex carbs, and healthy fats is the formula. If you aren’t seeing changes to your body, take this non diet approach and focus on the quality of your meals, not the quantity. Toss the food scale and start thinking about filling half your plate with veggies, ¼ of it with complex carbs, a little serving of fats, and ¼ of it with protein.

Factor #6: Not Appreciating Your Body For What It Does For You

I remember sitting in Anatomy & Physiology class in college and thinking “Holy crap…the body is SO smart.” You guys, this is so important to recognize. Your body is so stinking smart and does a ton of things behind the scenes to keep you alive! Any time the body is overworked or distracted by something inside the body, of course it’s not going to prioritize how you look on the outside. It’s prioritizing what your body is doing on the inside so you don’t…well…die!

When we take a moment to actually appreciate our bodies for what they do for us, we learn so much and become much more connected. It sounds corny, I know, but if you truly write out a few gratitude statements specifically for your health and body, it can do wonders to how you perceive yourself and make it so much easier to reach your goals. 

Having gratitude also affects how you view yourself. I once learned from a body image practitioner course how you actually think about yourself affects how you physically view yourself. What does this mean? If you compliment yourself daily and focus on the good things you see, you will visually see yourself in a more positive light. On the flip side, if you focus on hating all the little things about you, you will physically see yourself in poor body image.

Key takeaways 

You can end the cycle of not seeing long-term progress. I did it with my STRONG Health Principles, and I know you can do it too. If you’re ready to take a leap of faith and focus on becoming your strongest self inside and out, enroll in my STRONG Health Program today!