5 tips to get ready for summer over 40

Today we’re talking about summer my favorite season! And NOO it is not a little too early to be talking about summer ladies!!  Let me ask you, what is your first thought when it comes to summer? Is it oh…? I have to lose weight! Then followed by … “If I do this juice cleanse for 9 days, I am going to look fabulous”!  Here is the thing though, this isn’t how it works! ESPECIALLY if you are a Debbie Dieter who has been dieting for YEARS, then, in that case, your body is going to give you the MIDDLE FINGER! So instead… Let’s take a big step back and really think about, what does it really mean to get your body ready for summer?? 

The term, “getting summer ready” doesn’t always necessarily mean losing weight, it could just mean that by the time summer rolls around, you may want to reduce your weight a little to feel more comfortable and confident in those dresses and shorts.
Summer is another time to come to Jesus and say, what does my time look like? What does my food look like?  For some people that is a time where there is more food and maybe even more alcohol. AND MAYBE exercise goes down because of traveling a lot more.  You just want to feel comfortable in what we are wearing, show a little more skin and just feel good!  Am I right??

So.. let’s dive into the 5 MISTAKES that seem to trip people up when it comes to getting “summer ready” and I have some super helpful steps for you to take to avoid those mistakes!

One: Not starting early enough.
You can’t always be sprinting to the finish line.  And what I see ALL the time is that you don’t give yourself enough time to get to where you want to be.  Not sure who needs to hear this but our bodies ARE NOT Amazon Prime. You are not alone if you think that if you don’t see a change happen by Tuesday, you’re PISSED!

LADIES! It takes 90 days to see a visible difference and for people to sit up and notice! In the first month, maybe your face gets a little slimmer, and maybe your belly gets a little smaller. By the second month, your friends and family start to notice. And by the third month, the whole neighborhood noticed that you have lost weight. I want you to think about giving yourself this nice big timeline so it’s not a struggle, it’s not a sufferfest.  Instead of reducing everything, I am going to start looking at what can I add? Can I add more vegetables? What CAN I DO? What is happening right now?  When clients first come to me the thing I notice the most is that they aren’t eating enough vegetables..  (so, this is a huge one to add! Green vegetables, fibrous, staying power!)

Then, create a workout schedule you can ACTUALLY stick with! Come up with a schedule that feels doable for you. Put it on the calendar and treat it like an appointment; you can’t break it.  And I highly recommend using the Good, Better, Best method with your workout days.  What is a good option, better or the best? For me, a good week is 3 workout days, better is 4 days, best is 5 and I have to learn to be okay with that if something comes up and I cannot do all 5 days.  Learn to honor the season that you are in right now.  Workouts are purposeful! (Check out this podcastpodcasthttps://kimbarnesjefferson.com/what-is-the-perfect-workout-plan-for-women-over-40/

Two: We don’t track our progress.
What gets done gets measured.  So many women blindly go into weight loss. But what you need to do is really get into a workout that is going to work for YOU! Not Suzy next door. Track your progress so you know what is going on.  So many people don’t know what they are eating or how they are working out or what they are doing in the gym.

So…. Write it down!!  If you are looking at a change, you have to know what is going on.
If you don’t track, how do you know what you are doing?  What gets measured gets managed.  This goes for workouts too. How many times do I go to the gym? What am I doing at the gym? Write it all down, at least for a little while so you can get into the swing of things and adjust as you see accordingly.

Three: Not having a plan.
Okay, this is not hard. Let’s make it really simple for us! There are ONLY 2 parts of a plan.

1) Does the plan fit into my life? It has to fit into your life!!!!  Are you ok with 3 days a week? Or can you figure out how to workout at home if you can’t go to the gym?
2) Does it fit into the season of your life? What is going on this season or the next?  We all have those seasons in our life where things are just a little out of control that we have to learn to bring back our assumptions.

Also, ladies… You have to ACTUALLY be excited for the plan!  It also has to work for your life and be sustainable.  This is what I call my REPS formula and all my ladies go through it!
1)    Is it Realistic?
2)    Are you Excited for it?
3)    Can you Plan for your life?
4)    Is it Sustainable for more than 30 days?
When you work in a short-term way, I am trying to set you up for success. I don’t work with anyone for less than 12 weeks.  Can you repeat that 12 week cycle or I know how to tweak it based on what is going on in my life?

Four: Not pacing yourself.
Rome wasn’t built overnight.  Your body is not built in a day!  It’s built habit by habit, routine by routine, consistency by consistency. That is where we are going to make the changes!  And I know that is not sexy….  But how long have you really been working on your own weight loss; a little more time isn’t going to hurt. Because though it may have taken a little longer than you wished for, what you have now is sustainable!!!  You can’t beat your body into submission.  You have to try and find our own pace.

Pick our pace and make peace with it.  What is going on in your current life and if I look ahead can I plan.  Pace yourself like a marathon. Not like a sprint!!

Five: Focusing on the wrong things.
This is what I like to call, “majoring in the minors!” Imagine we have a glass cylinder, and we fill it with big rocks.  It starts to get fuller. Then we put small pebbles and it starts to get even fuller.  Then we add water, and it fills our container! When we put in the big rocks it fills our container right up, those are called our BIG DIAL MOVERS. So, I want to focus on THOSE big rocks!

Big rocks are nutrition. 80% of our nutrition should be healthy – quality food.  Anything that can grow, you pluck it, it swims and runs on the ground is good to go!

Next big rock, exercise.  I would like to see at minimum, 2 days of strength training.  As women over 40 we are fighting the natural progression our muscles start to disintegrate.  We want to make sure by the time we are 80 we can pick up a gallon of milk or get off the toilet without assistance.

Next rock is sleep.  I want to make sure you are sleeping.  At least 7 hours of sleep!! And for many of you it’s a challenge. I GET THAT. What does your bedtime routine look like? Do you have revenge at bedtime? Let’s talk about that and get you on the right track to a better night’s sleep!

The other rock is stress! Many of us are stressed to the max!! We are running like crazy, worried about finding the perfect food and perfect this or that.  There is no perfect. Perfect ain’t coming!  That is why I say the good, better, best to help break me from perfection.

MINDSET is ALSO a boulder! Working on that mindset of letting go of the comparison of what you could do in your 20’s and 30’s. Letting go of the comparison of what Sally and Jimmy can do and focus on what you can do!  What can you be consistent with?? It’s not about what we can do ALLL the time.  Start to say, what are the areas that need a little more work?

Now this.. This is a little added bonus number. Self-care!  Self-care Isn’t about manis and pedis.  For me it is a nice walk – unplug time.  Alone listening to a podcast without distractions. Spend time with people who make you happy!  Read a good book. Create a DONE list! All amazing forms of self-care that your mind and body will thank you for.

These are the 5 things that seem to be keeping people from hitting their goals this summer!  We start focusing on the wrong things. If you aren’t seeing visible results, we have to look at something. If you are doing the same thing and we aren’t getting results, we have to look at, is your process broken? Your diet should be the main focus of your efforts, 80% of your results are going to come from your nutrition. Cleaning up your diet!
●      Eating too much processed food?
●      Eating too much sugar?
●      Not enough vegetables?
●      Not enough protein?
●      Not Enough water daily?
●      Focus on what you can add.

These 5 mistakes can slow down your progress and that is what makes so many of you quit. You put in all this effort and don’t see any results on the back side. Right??  There are unintentional errors that will keep tripping you up.

If you want to avoid these summer mistakes, focus on what I am talking about!  And download my little handout that has all of these 5 things to keep on hand for you to help you focus on them! (Grab that handout HERE) Which ones do you want to focus on first!

Keep this list with you now, start now. Start tracking your process, creating your plan and focusing on things that really move your dial! If you need help, shoot me an email or find me on IG and Facebook and let me help you get started!

LINKS

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/kimbarnesjeffersoncoach

Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic/

Website:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/

Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fit-girl-magic-healthy-living-for-women-over-40/id1476883661

What Is The Perfect Workout Plan For Women Over 40 Podcast:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/what-is-the-perfect-workout-plan-for-women-over-40/

5 Summer Body Tips:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.lpages.co/5-summer-body-tips/