Teri has been in the health and wellness industry for 25 years now, but it wasn’t until about 15 years ago when she had health problems that her path of healing lead her to taking a more holistic approach, combining both Eastern and Western Medicines to help her reach a place in her life and her health, where she could feel better and whole again. This journey opened up a world of understanding us as more than just a mechanical being and physical being and realizing we are ENERGY as well.

She found the bigger picture. Where HOW we eat, not just what we eat, and our lifestyle plays a much larger role in our health then we realize.

Since then, she has healed from her health issues and expanded her wealth of knowledge to now helping others find other sustainable ways of living so that they are able to heal as well. Teri found that by looking at things in a holistic perspective, she was able to find that it’s not about should-haves, it’s about looking at food and health, and how can I create a lifestyle that I can do with my everyday choices. It is about a happier and healthier sense of WELL BEING.

Okay, so for years we are being told, you can and can’t eat this, this isn’t good for you, eat more protein, eat more vegetables, eat fewer carbs, and the list goes on and on. And that healthy relationship with food dissipates till we are left with just with what we are eating and not really paying attention to how we eat. At that point, it turns into an unhealthy relationship with food, and we become rigid in our ways, and it spills out onto this rigid mindset. Basically, HOW we do food is HOW we do life! It is literally just a reflection of who you are. And this is where we have to change how we eat and be mindful of our food in order to change who we want to become on the outside.

When you jump into talking about food, you have to know that this goes way deeper than just calorie counting, diet culture, body image, weight, and tying yourself worth to the relationship you have with food. Yes, that is all a part of the conversation, but a lot of us are not flexible and open about our food. We may think that we are, but in reality, you really aren’t! If you are really particular about what you eat, when you eat, you are super structured, what you like or don’t like… THAT is not being flexible.

In order to stimulate change within ourselves and look at food in a new way on how it can heal our bodies, we have to be open to trying NEW things. And this includes NEW foods, eating when you are hungry versus when the clock says it’s time to eat, and try new experiences! Raise your hand if you like what is familiar, what makes you feel safe and grounded. Yup! But life is supposed to be an evolving art, so you have to keep putting yourself in that space of newness.

But HOW do I get around eating the same thing all the time’

HOW can I add this newness and variety into my life when it comes to food’ And one way to do it, is to eat like we used to, around the seasons. Now you are wondering, what does that even mean.. Well, it simply means eat what would be growing around you during that season. What would be harvested then or available to eat’ It helps you and your bodies energy to become aligned with nature, it gives you a guideline of foods, and you are never giving things up, you are just eating it seasonally. It means that its “not the time for that food” not “no you can’t eat that”.

What does food do to our bodies when we eat’

If we do not feel grounded and centered within ourselves, we tend to turn towards food that is the one thing easily accessible that we CAN CONTROL. And when we eat to feel better, it sends off these certain hormones and different neurotransmitters that help us feel centered and grounded in our life. Each time you eat, it slows down your vibration so that you feel a sense of centering, so every time someone takes in a little bit of food, it slows the vibration within our bodies that allows us to feel a sense of comfort and safety even if it’s just a temporary little blib… So that’s why people like to eat all day long as you know, six meals a day or grazing all day.

{which this doesn’t have any type of scientific backing for like weight loss, but it helps people feel that constant goodness all day from eating.}

Our bodies were not meant to eat all day long. Our bodies are meant to eat, digest the food we just ate and go along with this entire process within our bodies that has to take place while we are NOT EATING. Then we wait for those hunger cues, that my brain is saying okay, you are ready to eat now, long AFTER it has already become satisfied. Just understanding those hunger cues, allowing yourself to feel satisfied with that meal and ENJOY every single bite, will help to take food out of the picture as that temporary comfort. But you have to make sure you stop worrying about whether the foods are good or bad!

To get to this, we have to FEEL GROUNDED within ourselves and when I say grounded, I mean to feel a sense of home within yourself. This sense of grounding comes from our Root Chakra which is the Chakra of stability, security and our basic needs.
● Do you feel centered, safe in your own skin’
● When you wake up do you feel a sense of inner peace’
● Do you feel comfortable in your own skin and body’

When you become all of the above then it will take your mindset and make it more flexible! Yes! See, it all goes together!! Better mindset, more flexibility! When you are open to this life, you’re going to be flowing, kinder, and friendlier when you feel centered and grounded. You then show up as the best version of yourself!!

But when you are not mindful and grounded, you are going at life fearfully, worried about what can happen, sizing people up, become US VS THEM. And you feel like you are not on the same team as other people!

So, tell me, which would you rather be’ Grounded and centered or being on the defense all day every day’ Below is a great example..

“Outside is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside.” If you were to walk out into the world, and just think everyone you meet is super rude and crazy, you’re going to meet every rude and crazy person, because they’re there!!! But if you walk out and you’re like, oh shoot! Everyone is so nice here, then you’re going to meet the friendliest people because that’s what you’re placing your attention on!
So that’s part of the inner work of shifting your mindset, shifting your belief systems. And that starts with doing different meditative practices, doing different mindfulness practices, and you can actually use the way that you eat to initiate that.

1. Stop eating on the go; SLOW down and really see your food and connect with it. You WANT to feel that satisfaction and you WANT to feel full.
2. Don’t worry just about how much protein or calories are on your plate. These things are so insignificant right now when we talk about food.
3. Show up to your meals and be aware of what you are eating!
4. Connect with it. EAT while you are EATING with little to no distractions.
5. Our bodies do not communicate fullness for about 20 minutes, so if you are woofing down food in 5 minutes, chances are you are still going to continue to feel hungry, and then you are going to feel heavy!
6. Try and relax and not eat when you are stressed. Try and lower your stress levels as much as possible because it affects your body negatively no matter how healthy the food is you are eating. It stresses out your nervous system and changes are, those good foods don’t even really “get in”.

“Yes, you might be eating the right macronutrients, you might be eating all the right “great foods”, but if you are stressed as fuck and you are not sleeping, it doesn’t matter!!”

Our bodies are always trying to communicate with us. Whether in different emotions that show up during the day, or thought processes, or acid reflux, or gas and bloating, aches and pains, headaches, sciatica. Whenever it shows up, those are the subtle messages from the body saying, “Hey, what we are doing is not exactly working and we need to reset.” And instead of throwing a band aid on it and trying to cover it up with some Advil, we have to stop and get to the root. When you get to the root that’s how you become grounded and if you’re grounded, you will be healthy.

● Stop putting so much pressure on ourselves.
● SLOW down and stop multitasking. (you would be surprised at what more you can accomplish when you actually stop and do one thing at a time)
● Pick 3 things a day that you want to do and do them! Doesn’t have to be big things, can be small. But write them down and knock them off your list and you will feel freaking amazing and you got that shit done!
● We will always have a “TO DO List” but be sure to give yourself some REST!
○ Work
○ Play
○ Action
○ REST
○ And find a balance between them!

You are probably wondering, what does this have to do with FITNESS!’

Girl, how you do ANYTHING is how you do EVERYTHING!! In order for us to feel healthy, move forward and feel happy, it asks us to look at the way we do everything. And the food is JUST ONE of the pathways to get you there.

After I started this business and talked to more and more people, I realized that it wasn’t just me telling my clients about bicep curls. It was looking at their whole lives and helping them realize how I can help them to make time for themselves.

It is that holistic perspective. It’s looking at someone as wholeness for all that you are. And when we only look at someone doing bicep curls, and we’re only looking at how much protein they had, or how many calories they have, and putting it in a spreadsheet… We are completely missing who they are as a dynamic being! And that’s why all those different processes don’t lead to healing and thriving because they’re just small little snippets in the bigger picture! It has to be about living this lifestyle, and It’s about welcoming a newness into your life all the time.

Let’s talk chakras!!

Chakras are energy centers in your body that are behind your biology or physical being. There are 7 main ones that go up through the spinal cord to the crown of our head and each one is associated with a different organ and system. Each one of these 7 energy centers have a different vibration, and they each impact different parts of our bodies. In order for us to have coherence or health inside our body, it’s about finding balance within these energy systems, that then makes our physiology balance or our physical body healthy.

Teri specializes in chakras and how we use foods to help bolster some of the chakras where they need it. When you take in certain foods that have particular qualities, it helps to nurture the mindset, not just the physical aspect of you. And she talks about this all in her book, The Hidden Messages in Food which goes much deeper into foods and Chakras, what foods will do for which Chakra and how to tell when they are out of balance and the foods that will help re-align it.

As my followers know, each episode on my podcast, I ask my guest, “What makes you feel magical.” and Teri’s response gave me all the feels!  “What makes me feel magical is when I feel completely connected to the universe. When I feel synchronicities in life, when I feel aligned with life, the feeling of love and openness, and when things effortlessly unfold for me. Life is all about energy and the less calculating you do on the physical essence; the more surprises and goodness can come to you.”

“When we place ourselves in a space of that openness, all of that is drawn to us and yeah, it’s sounds a little woo, but it makes me feel connected to my soul, which just makes me show up as my best version of myself.”
-Teri Mosey

If you want to learn more about Teri and think that this is in alignment with you and how you are feeling, be sure to check out her book. Or you can check out her 8-week Heal and Thrive Program, to work more extensively with her. You can also find Teri over on her website and on social through Facebook and LinkedIn .

(these are all linked above, but here they are again)
Website link – https://www.terimosey.com/
Link to book – https://www.terimosey.com/the-hidden-messages-in-food-book
Link to course – https://www.terimosey.com/heal-and-thrive-program
Link to socials – https://www.facebook.com/Teri-Mosey-Holistic-Health-and-Wellness-1573651989586202/

The post Apply These Tips To Master Your Nutrition appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

When I first start working with my clients to come up with a vision. It my job as a coach to help you see the importance of creating that vision. Now, here’s where beliefs come in. I work with women over 40 and some of them say to me, Girl, I’ve been dieting since I’ve been 15. How do I finally, break free’ Vision is a challenge for them, because for as long as they’ve been dieting, they know where they want to be. I get the frustration. I’ve been in that place where you want what you want, and you want it right frickin’ now.  

Now is the time for you to stop for 10 hot minutes and draw up a blueprint of where you want to be. DREAM BIG! Do you remember when you were a kid you dreamed so easily and no one told you your dream was crazy or impossible. Somewhere along the way though we started to believe that not everything is possible, and we can’t do it all. I’m going to start chipping away at that belief.

Not sure how to create one, I’ve mapped out the blueprint right here.  Click here to grab your copy 

Why Is A Vision’

A vision is what helps you set your priorities. So many women jump around from goal to goal and never really settle on one thing. When you don’t settle on something you can’t see progress and when you don’t see progress you get frustrated and you stop, or you are off seeking something else.  

To avoid that frustration keep it simple, though not often easy question.

How do YOU define success’

What does an ideal day look like for you’

Can you sustain that and live a happy life without that roller coaster that many of us have gone through‘ 

This vision helps you really stay focused on what matters most to us. It helps you define your why. My vision is I believe every woman should feel comfortable in their body.  

The best part about having a vision is that once you have a plan in place, you start to create this movie in your mind, and your brain starts to think, “I’m that girl who just knows what to do.” It makes you ask yourself things like, “What is the one small step I could take right now and feel like I can do that for the next week, next 30 days'”  Think big then bring it back to at least one small step you can take. 

 From there you focus in on your motivation. Maybe your why is that you want to be able to go into your closet and wear whatever the hell you want to wear. Awesome! But is that enough to motivate you’ When it’s freezing cold or raining outside, is wearing what you want to wear going to get you out of bed and to the gym’ And I’m not going to want to get out of bed and go to the grocery store. Is that enough’  I’ve been very honest with anyone who asked, there are mornings when the alarm clock goes off at quarter five, and I was like, sweet Georgia Brown. Not today. Sometimes what motivates you is your overall goal. Other times, it’s being accountable to someone else, someone that you don’t want to disappoint, who will hold your feet to the fire, and won’t cave when you start to bat your eyes and throw a pity party.  

 So now, you know your why and what motivates you, but do you know what to do if you run into a challenge’ It’s inevitable that somewhere, sometime along your journey, life is going to happen. We all have challenges. I want you to think about what could come up — childcare, work, spouses, other family members, sickness, etc. What are the obstacles that can come up’ Then, start thinking of plan B’s. Put contingency plans in place so when something goes wrong, you don’t get stuck in it. You always have a direction that you can move next whether that’s putting one foot in front of the other or you need to pivot to make progress.  

Using the action guide and planning out a blueprint for your vision is a great first step to reaching your goals. To gain and keep momentum, take the time to define your why, find your motivation, and tune in to the Fit Girl Magic Podcast.  

Want to learn more — listen to the Fit Girl Magic podcast.

The post Creating A Wellness Vision That Gets Results appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Kristie is a professional photographer who shares raw stories of regular women on social media in The Soul Project. Through this project she has found an alignment of all her passions and her purpose in a way that provides her with self care and empowers women everywhere. One of the big topics that she covers is comparison.

It’s something we all struggle with at different points in our lives whether it’s in our health and fitness, motherhood, relationships and/or our careers. Kristie says there are many times she’s had the thought after looking at another photographer’s works, “they” must be doing better than me.

We’ve all done it. Looked at an Instagram or Facebook post and said “man, she’s got it going on and I’m sitting here with NOTHING! In this world of curated perfection on social media its really easy to get down on yourself.

Because of her own feelings, she wanted to create something that would ease those feelings. Not only for herself but for other women as well. “Reading about someone who struggled with something, the first thing that happens is, you create a little more compassion for that person.” You begin to think to yourself “me too” and then we allow ourselves a little more grace in our own life.

You see that there is someone else out there that is just a fragile as you are. Makes you feel like everything is okay, we all have bumps and bruises. Seeing other women having the same struggles as you do opens the door to real connection. In this world of social media one of things that are really missing is “social” media.

Compassion is just one of the benefits of her project though. Once you start feeling compassion it’s pretty easy to start to opening the door to self-love. Seeing others be vulnerable we begin to stop thinking that everyone else has it together at we’re the ONLY hot mess on the planet.

“Only when we’re showing up with some self love, can we make real connections with ourselves. Otherwise, you’re showing up as who _____ wants you to be and who ___  thinks _____ wants. With al little self-love with have the confidence to show up as ourselves, this new found courage helps others see you for who you are,” Kristie explains.

Many of us have compassion for our friends. You have compassion for your kids, your family, but what about compassion for ourselves. Come admit it, we all get in line first to beat the shit out of ourselves. Through the Soul Project, Kristie helps women realize that their trauma is their trauma. Everyone has a story. But sometimes we don’t even realize what the stories are that we’re telling ourselves until we write it down and think about why they are what they are. This is the beginning of offering yourself compassion — understanding your own story.

What makes you happy’ What are the ingredients to a healthy relationship to you’ What is success’ What is happiness’ Whatever your answers are, “you’re not alone. 100% I have found whatever your struggle or insecurity is, there is someone out there with the same thing. So just say it out loud, let it go, no one really gives a shit that much. And that is like liberating.”

“Working on your fitness is an ongoing thing and it’s socially acceptable to do it publicly,” Kristie goes on to say. But emotional health maintenance is not yet as socially acceptable, and women tend to hide their issues thinking that if they ignore it long enough it will go away. (Hint: It won’t!)

So, the Soul Project is about making it socially acceptable to work on our emotional wellness as a preventative measure by sharing stories of similar women, helping to create a bridge of connection. Kristie says,  “I’m just trying to provide a platform for the regular woman to come and start that healing process.” Brene Brown said, “Shame dies when stories are told in safe places.” In essence, that is The Soul Project.

When you start to face your own insecurities and live life through a lens of compassion and self-love, you begin to see that some of the problems you have with people are not really about the other person at all. Sometimes, it’s a matter of your own insecurities or some part of yourself that you haven’t owned that being triggered by the personality of the other person. Knowing this you can begin to release your judgment of them and understand that they probably aren’t judging you either. Sometimes, it’s not about you; “we need to step back a little bit and give each other space to be ourselves,” Kristie advises.

In all of this remember that by offering compassion to others and love to yourself, you open yourself to real connections without the judgment. Yes, you may see someone’s “perfect life” on social media but remember that’s literally a highlight reel. As Kristie, said in our conversation, “It’s not everyone’s full picture; there was always stuff behind it. We just immediately assume that the highlights are all stitched together and that like that person’s, [life] must be perfect. Right'” It’s natural for us to want to share the good things and that’s okay. But we need more conversation with an understand that there’s more behind the scenes than what you see on someone’s social media feed.  The Soul Project is the beginning of that conversation.

If you want to learn more about The Soul Project, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and head over to The Fit Girl Magic Podcast and listen in on my conversation with Kristie Dean.

Links
The Soul Project thesoulproject.co
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thesoulprojectstories
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thesoulprojectstories/

The post How To Start Keeping It Real appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Why does Cindy feel so strongly about this’ After taking the pill for four years, Cindy had to have ovarian removal surgery. After that she decided it was time to take control of her reproductive health and has dedicated her life to helping other women do the same.

Many of us started the pill in our teens and, so, have been on it for years. Then when we’re ready to start a family, it’s not as simple as just stopping the pill like they told us. Cindy shed light on the issue with this little tidbit:

“It’s a four month process because it takes about 100 days for you to have healthier eggs and…to cycle out [the pill]. Or to start having a healthier reproductive system, healthier cycles, healthier habits in order for that to function optimally, whether you want to have kids or not.”

So give your body time to adjust. It’s been through a lot and it needs time to get back to its true normal.

Beyond discussing reproductive health, during our conversation I asked for some of the signs that the pill might not be for me. Quickly Cindy responded, “Trust your gut.” We all know women’s intuition is the real deal but so often we trust our doctors more than we trust ourselves. If something feels off, trust that feeling and get it checked out. You have to be an advocate for your own health.

One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation is that when it comes to your health, it’s okay to be pushy. It’s your health. In this day and age, our doctors spend limited time with us. Go in informed, knowing the questions that you want to ask, and spend the time with them getting your needs met.

For more on the pill and being your own advocate, listen to the Fit Girl Magic Podcast.

Links:

Dr. Bright’s Book: https://amzn.to/2OXjmqi
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/howlathewomb
Website https://cindyluquin.com/
Bri Braggs: https://www.instagram.com/fertilealchemy

The post The Ugly Truth About The Pill appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

One of the worst things I hear people say is I’m going to start ______. Monday, next month, after vacation, September 1st. There’s any number of ways you can fill in that blank. But the first step to beating the end of year slump is to ditch the start date. JUST START!

It’s time to break free of the start date. You’re done with that BS!

When you do start, don’t start from a place of deprivation.  As soon as you say you can’t have something, Sweet Georgia Brown, that’s all you think about, and it could be good food or bad food.

Back in the day when I was competing, as I got closer to my show you had different food choices, and one of my choices was I couldn’t have apples. I was at Marshalls randomly shopping and this woman was eating an apple and I was like, “I just want that apple. The apple sounds so delicious, that apple looks so delicious. I just want that 🤬apple.”

And it’s a “good” food, think about when you tell yourself you can’t have a brownie or you tell yourself whatever you tell yourself you can’t have, everywhere you look everyone is eating a brownie or everyone is eating a candy bar, everyone is eating something you told yourself that you couldn’t have, and that absolutely sucks. Let’s just stop putting things on the “do not eat list” because it’s just setting yourself up for failure.

So many people tell me, “I don’t have willpower”, or they try to white-knuckle it. And this is what I know – when you try to white-knuckle it, if you say you wanted chocolate, you wake up and you’re, “God, I have a hankering for chocolate.” And you tell yourself, “No, I’m not going to have chocolate, I’m on this diet, I’m not going to have chocolate. Chocolate is BAD” Then you go all day with chocolate on the brain, and your willpower battery is just slowly ticking down, tick, tick, tick.

Think about your cell phone battery, all day long your cell phone battery just goes. You’re doing great, you’re doing great and then you look and you’re like, “How did I get to 20% of battery power'” That’s how your willpower goes, and when you hit that 20% you’re like, “Ugh, I’m going over there and I’m going headfirst into whatever chocolate you can find, because I absolutely need it.” And then you go there and then you feel guilty. Where if you gave in to say maybe one square of chocolate, it gave you the satisfaction that you needed, and you probably would have moved on with your day.

But over the course of the day you romanticized this chocolate and how amazing it was going to be, but then you’re like, “I can’t”, the guilt, the shame, the blame all came through, but if you just sit with it for five minutes like, “I need to scratch this itch”, and just scratch that itch without any guilt, without any shame.

That leads me into stress. One of the biggest triggers that I hear from a lot of my clients, I see it on the interwebs, stress. There are people who fall into two camps, there are the, “I’m so stressed out, give me all the food” or, “I’m so stressed out, I can’t even think about eating right now” but once that stressful situation is over, they’re starving and they’re like, “Feed me.”

I’ve done a whole episode on stress, listen to it right here https://link.chtbl.com/jb4vxP3Z On this episode we talked about better ways to manage your stress, and Nikki Stansbury was awesome about talking about her chaos model modality. You want you to listen it, it helps you to really own and recognize that stress can derail you. Stress is not only food-wise, but just your energy. When you are stressed out, the thought of working out might not even occur to you, when you’re stressed out your body just gets so inflamed that you look at yourself and you’re like, “I’m doing all the right things and I’m just not seeing any results.” It’s the stress.

And one of the biggest things about stress is that it can be a tough nut to crack, and I’m telling you this from a recovering stress ball. I lived with Tums and Advil and wine those were like the Holy Trinity for me, and I had a headache pretty much every day, my stomach was always topsy-turvy, and the wine just made the day go away, and eventually I had to deal with my stress.

These are the types of things we talk about in the Fit Girl Magic Society. I work with my clients, it’s like how do we decide if it’s something that I’m going to actually do versus something that I’m actually turning into a habit’ I want you to think it’s not this overnight thing.

Listen to Fit Girl Magic Podcast to learn more about beating the year end slump.

The post Easy Ways to CRUSH the Year End Slump appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Let’s start at the very beginning. Why should we exercise’ Well, besides helping you lose weight, exercising is good for your overall health. Working out can yield big benefits like decreasing blood pressure, diabetes risks and helping you to stay mobile for the long term. For women in their 40s  exercise helps with hormonal balance and helps you relieve your stress.

There’s an old saying: ” exercise is king; nutrition is queen.” If you begin to exercise thinking this is the fastest way to lose weight is to exercise more and eat less, let me be the first to tell you that, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Denying yourself food and ramping up exercise is the quickest way to create cravings that will derail your plans. Instead, there are three things you need to focus on.

1. Protein – I’m not saying bacon and eggs for breakfast. I’m talking about a quality protein, like fish, lean chicken, lean cuts of beef, eggs. The beauty about protein, it’s very filling so you’re not going to feel like you’re eating like a bird, it’s very satiating. Make sure you get 30 grams of protein per meal.
2. Vitamin D – with all the sunscreen and bug spray we use these days, we’re blocking out the vitamin D from the sun. This also plays a part in our muscle loss. Ask your doctor to check your levels and see what, if anything, you need.
3. Omega-3 – This help with inflammation. Yes, you can just take a pill, but good fat oils are so much better! I want you to think any oil with the exception of sunflower, safflower, corn vegetable, soy. Any grocery store you go to there will be a whole selection, as long as you don’t pick any of those five oils, I just named you’re good, rock on with your bad self.

The best way to maintain your success is to combine exercise and nutrition.

Plus follow these steps:

Make a choice – What am I going to do and how many days a week can I honestly commit’

Start simple – A simple walk is a good place to start. Just get moving! 15 minutes of something

Make it a routine – Routine is a big part of the Fit Girl Magic Formula. It all starts with having great habits that builds into a routine that builds into consistency, and that’s what ultimately gives you the results.

Be courageous –  I get it, you might have tried in the past and you failed miserably. Or maybe you did too much too soon and you just kind of went balls to the wall and then you got injured and then you just stopped. Okay, you found something that didn’t work; now let’s try something else.

The tactical for beginners

Start working out anywhere from two to three times a week. Do a full body exercise and work your big muscle groups. That’s squatting, doing push-ups, doing some bent over rows. Throw in some biceps and triceps.

Now, I know some people out there have some type of constraints – hip/knee replacements, somewhere on their body is an arthritic joint, that’s fine. What I’m saying is you can work around those potential injuries/limitations. I don’t want you to be your injury/disease. I want you to be what you can be in spite of your injury/disease. I had a client who had two knee replacements at the same time. She did upper body exercises. She was still walking on crutches, walking with a walker, but she did upper body exercises.  When an injury or disease hit you are going to work with what you’ve got, and you’ll work around the injury or the limitation depending on whatever the heck it is.

My goal is to make the information that you get from me, that you get from the Fit Girl Magic podcast to be as simple, sustainable and easy to digest as possible, because guess what’ It doesn’t need to be complicated. When it’s too complicated you either 1. Don’t do it or 2. Go too hard to fast.

So where can you start today that you can maintain for a better future’

Links
Now You Can Discover Secret Ways To Stop Stressing That You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else 

The post Secrets To Beginning Exercise Quickly And Efficiently appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

As a health coach I’m always curious about what’s holding people back. When I ask “what keeps you from staying the course when it comes to getting healthy and fit’” the number one answer I get is discipline. You know, “If I had more discipline…” People talk about discipline like it’s something I could swing by Target and pick up. After years of working to get people on track, I found that the truth is, they lack great habits, not willpower or discipline.

Let’s get really clinical right now and define willpower it’s defined as the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to make long term goals

And in all my research, I found that you are not born with a certain amount of willpower. It’s just not even something that’s in our DNA, you know. I believe willpower is a battery. And I believe that it can be this long lasting battery or could go as quickly as your iPhone battery goes, it all depends on you and the situations that you put yourself into.

Willpower is fueled by strong habits and routines, and you know how I feel about habits and routines. If you want to get a little of that fit girl magic, you have to focus on having great habits, because those habits will become routines that build consistency, and that consistency will give you results.

Building great habits, this building great willpower, this building discipline, it’s like building a muscle. People say, “I just don’t have it.” No, you just haven’t built that muscle. You can be as weak as a kitten but over time, you can be as strong as the Hulk with the right guidance.

It’s really easy to burn out that willpower, and how do you do it’ And the biggest thing I see over and over and over again is that people take on too much. You want to do everything at once to reach some arbitrary goals. Watching my client fumble through this, I saw that they didn’t really want to define their goals in specific. Listen up, if you don’t you define your goal, you are for sure going to not hit it.  The truth is, you’re afraid that your willpower, your discipline isn’t going to cut it. Because somewhere in that space between starting something with that bullish enthusiasm and depending on your willpower battery, that is a pretty hard space to maintain.

Your Past Behavior

So, here’s where I want you to take a look at your past behavior. Whenever you start a thing, have you gone from zero to 60′ And how’s that worked out for you’ Even if you think so, I want you to know you have not failed. You’ve just found a route that doesn’t work. Life lesson, don’t go that way.

That’s what I want you to think about when you started super-fast. For me when I start super fast, I crash and burn, I burned myself right the  FUCK out. And that’s where I want you to be honest with yourself and say, you know, is working out six days a week a long term reality for me’ Or am I more likely to hit it three times a week’ But if I tell myself, I’m going to do three, and I consistently hit three, do I feel awesome’ Or is it when I tell myself it’s going to be seven and I always hit three, I feel like a failure.

I believe in good, better, and best goals.

That’s how I always set my goals. Let’s us working out in this example. I look at my schedule and  I’m going to say my good goal is three, better is four, and my best goal is five days. Then, I’m just going to track it I’m going to see where I ended up. And when I have those good, better best, that gives me that wiggle room. Maybe your kid got sick, maybe you got a flat tire, whatever it is you are giving yourself the out, but not in a way that makes me feel like crap. You giving yourself, an okay pass. You’ve only told yourself four days. You missed today. But you and will can go tomorrow.

The other thing about willpower is that you have to have a plan, because without it, that’s when your willpower drains. I said willpower is a battery. So, if I don’t go into the day with a plan, then I just let things happen. Without a plan, my willpower battery starts to drain as I’m trying to make too many decisions. Emotions start to take over and then we look at ourselves in the mirror and say nothing went the way I wanted it to go. Your emotions override everything so you can’t make a rational decision.

If I had a plan, all these emotions can go out the door because I can come back to my plan to get me back on course because the plan is my life raft, my life preserver. The plan is what’s going to keep me going.

Like I said, stuff is going to happen. It always does. And you’re going to try, you’re going to fall, it could be your fault could be someone else’s fault. But let’s stop with the shame and blame all of that the guilt. And give yourself grace and say, you know what shit happens, this is what I’m going to do now. I want you to give yourself that grace, like whoops, that curve just popped out of nowhere.

If you really want to succeed with your newfound discipline

I’ve got three action items for you.

One, find the support you need. Who is going to be that person when your willpower battery starts to fall apart’

Two, I want you to write down what it is that you want to achieve so you know exactly where you want to go.

Finally, post it everywhere so that you can see it over the next 30 to 90 days. Let it be a constant reminder to you as you make your way to your vision.

If you want to know about building up your discipline instead of relying on your willpower, check out the join the Fit Girl Magic Society.

Links  Fit Girl Magic, Facebook Group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic/  

Email: squadleader@kimbarnesjefferson.com

Facebook: Kim Barnes Jefferson, Coach https://www.facebook.com/FabFitSquad/

Instagram —  https://www.instagram.com/kimjeffersoncoach/  

The post To Women Who Want To Learn Healthy Discipline appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

It got me thinking that our bodies are like that drawbridge. Throwing out bells and warning signals we don’t recognize because we either don’t pay attention or we’re too busy to notice. We kind of push through that warning signal until literally the drawbridge is right in front of us and we fall down.

I had a wonderful conversation with Jenn Pipe from Self-Esteem Through Art and we explored our culture of busyness and the trouble it causes. Much like my realization with the train, Jenn believes that in a culture bred for busy, we get so caught up in our cycle of over-productive that we miss the signals even when they’re right in front of us.
“If you think of [your body] like any other living creature or any other technological advance, everything needs time to rest. Nature needs time to rest; we have to reboot our computers and do updates on that; we have to fill our gas tank in our car.” Jenn said early in our conversation. In the same way, we need to nurture ourselves with good healthy things, including a reset.

But as a collective, we all seem to be hell-bent on trying to be the busiest. We see or hear the signals but we’re in a race to the see who’s better at being busy. The busiest person with the longest to-do list who reaches burnout first wins.

Jenn’s on a mission to “relay the message and just say there’s a different way, we don’t have to live this way. ” We have to stop settling for our own excuses. I couldn’t agree more. Busy is our protection. I feel like busy keeps us from trying to be successful. If I’m always moving, I don’t have to stop and put tick marks to show what the hell I’ve done.

Jenn has gotten over her need to be busy and created her own system for success, which she doesn’t base on income or status, and she doesn’t have to grind for. It’s simply based on five core feelings that keep her centered and mindful.

1. Love. “If I’m not acting in love, surrounded by love, being loved, that’s not working.”
2. Creativity: “That encompasses art-based activities and also creative thought, like thinking outside of the box not taking someone else’s word for it. Doing the research, excavating, digging deeper.”
3. Connectedness: “I love to be connected to other people and communities”
4. Vitality: “I want to feel good in my own skin.”
5. Joy: “I want to be laughing. I want to be giggling, I want to be having a really good time. If I’m not feeling those things whether it’s in my job, in my marriage, in my personal life, I know something is not right.”

For Jenn that’s the ultimate measure of success. And she does it without getting wrapped up in a need for perfection. As an artist, she doesn’t believe in it.

“A lot of clients and a lot of people that come through my studio space and they’re so uncomfortable with the concept of the shitty first draft; it’s always perfection or nothing,” she says. “I have shitty fifth drafts and 15th drafts, but every time you go through the process it gets a little bit easier, and it’s the same way with taking care of yourself and coming up with a program and a plan that works for you in terms of health and wellness.”

If this culture is bred in busyness, it’s clothed in perfection. The need to be perfect is like an armor used to keep the world at bay. It blocks out criticism, ensures that the world only sees our best side, and creates labels that we can’t shake off. It tells us what we can and can’t do, what we are and what we are not.

Jenn is dismantling these beliefs through her unique combination of art and empowerment.  “You’re going to react to that canvas the way you react to any other roadblock or bump in the road or difficult tasks. So, I get to see that stuff. If I’m giving someone a journaling prompt and they’re having a hard time working through that, I’m getting to see the inner workings of what’s going on with them, and that’s the launching off point for the work we do.”

Through art, she is able to see how people approach decision making.  “ Even the simple act of someone saying back to me, “I’m not an artist, I would never take any of your classes”, that in itself is a breadcrumb because you’ve labeled yourself a certain way and you’re not open to being someone else or doing something new to get a different result.”

Using her own unique methods, Jenn is able to help her clients change their reaction to the canvas. Once they break through that, they can begin to change the patterns in other parts of their lives as well. They become more mindful of the thoughts in their heads, the words from their mouths and the food they put in their bodies. They release themselves from the labels, free themselves from the hamster wheel, a figure out their own definition of success.

There is so much more to this conversation on the Fit Girl Magic Podcast. Jenn Pipe was dropping nuggets of wisdom through the entire conversation. Go check it out, then let me know how you approach a canvas down in the comments.

Links
Emotional Eating Episode

Desire Map by Danielle Laporte:
Socials
Facebook: Jennifer Pipe

Facebook Business Page

Instagram: @jennpipe 

Wanderlust

The post A New Way To Create Success appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Micro Habits Lead To Consistency

What are micro habits’ They are tiny little habits that you create that are repeatable. Like all habits, they are the glue, the foundation for any successful and lasting change. They are going to help you create continuous momentum. That’s one of the few things I can guarantee is that if you take it slow, you do these small incremental steps, success is yours.

Think about a snowstorm. Here in New England we have snowstorms, and we don’t get 30 inches of snow in an hour, we get an inch of snow an hour, so that amount over 30 hours, that amount over a few days, that builds up to snow. Five years ago, six years ago we hit 100 inches of snow. That 100 inches of snow didn’t happen overnight; it took a month for us to get to a hundred inches of snow.

It’s these little things that add up over time that is going to give you the results that you want, and the results come from consistency.

Let it be easy

Why do you want these incremental changes’ It’s easier to start. I hear a lot of excuses when it comes to starting now. “In order to get healthy and fit maybe I need to get a gym membership, so that means I have to shop around, so that pushes my starting working out off.” Or “I have to get new sneakers.” Or, “I have to wait till Monday because I can’t go to the grocery store till Saturday or Sunday, blah, blah, blah, blah. When you pick a small change, you can start it right now.

Let’s just make it simple. I’m going to use my real example – I wanted to get back into meditation; I lost the habit and now I want to get back. I can set this big goal like meditating for 20 minutes, but instead I’m starting small. I used to be up to 20/30 minutes, but you know what, let me own where I am right now. Five minutes. I’ve been doing it and it feels great.

For you the big goal might be following the Whole30” or doing Paleo or Keto. That’s a lot of change all at once, so then you crash and burn. So, you start small – maybe it’s you saying to yourself, “I’m going to drink one less cup of coffee,” or “Maybe I’m going to drink one more glass of water.” They key is to start small.

Here’s the kicker. Five minutes passes by quickly and I think to myself, ” Oh, five minutes have already passed. Maybe I should up it.” Nope. I’ve only been doing it for three days; I’m not going to push myself. I’m going to say stick with it, five minutes for 30 days, and if I can sustain that then I can take the leap.

Start Simply. Simply Start.

The other thing I like about micro habits is they are fearless, painless really. I don’t have to rearrange my whole life when I make small goals. It’s not badass but it’s more than you’re doing right now. It’s those incremental steps. Start simple; it’s that simple.

When I was trying to start small with my food my weakness was DaVinci syrups. I used to always have it in my coffee, it was heavenly. My favorite was the gingerbread — yum, yum gimme some year-round. But I was trying to cut back on my sugar intake and they do make it sugar-free, but I wanted to cut back on my Splenda intake, too,but it wasn’t an overnight thing. I have two cups of coffee per day so I started just having it in every other cup. Then, I turned to having it every other day, to only on the weekends, just on Sunday, and eventually it was once a month. I haven’t had DaVinci’s in about three or four years. Now, am I sugar-free’ No. Will I ever be sugar-free’ Hell no. But I made a small step in the direction I wanted to go.

That’s where I want you to start. When you take these little small baby steps you don’t have to think about all the things. You can go nice and small and feel more in control. You’ll feel that you can manage things way better and with less stress.

Half-assed but motivated

The final piece to micro habits is to stay motivated. You have to keep the motivation going. Motivation dwindles down just like willpower when you’re trying to do “all the things.” There is an episode of The Simpsons, (if you don’t know, he works at a nuclear power plant) and Homer Simpson’s boss says, “I’m sick of you guys half-assing it around here. We’re going to start using our whole ass.” Here is where I want you to half-ass it, here is where I want you to take off the ‘all the things’ hat and say, “What is 50%’ Here is my list of 100%, what would get me 50%'” And do that. And if you feel like you’re stumbling with that 50%, scale it back.

I’m an A++ personality, and the best thing I heard was… I always want the A+, who doesn’t’ I want to be the gold star, the teacher’s pet. But what if instead I went for the B+’ It’s still passing, it’s still pretty outstanding, but it’s not stressing me out, it’s not making me cuckoo for cocoa puffs. It’s keeping me on pace, it’s keeping me sane.

What I want to do is give you a little structure for you to start kind of making this on for yourself. I want this to be actionable for you. The big thing is you’ve got to make a choice. What is it that you want to change’ It could be several things, just brainstorm, just sit down and write it all down. Then figure out what are the challenges around that’

A simple thing to start with is water. I’ve been giving you the example of meditation, but I want to give you something a lot of my clients come to me about. They often say that they want to drink more water. One of the big things I tell people about water is habits sometimes need triggers. The trigger could be maybe you drink a glass of water when you first get up, maybe you drink a glass of water when you first get to work, maybe you drink a glass of water before lunch, maybe you drink a glass of water before dinner. But you find some interval, something you do on a regular basis that you will always do that will remind you to drink the water. You could also set alarms on your phone to drink the water.

But that’s how it all starts, it’s those little habits. If you’re ready to embrace the new you, create some micro habits. Then drop me a comment. I want to know what’s your new micro habit. I look forward to hearing about it.

The post Want Big Results Build Small Healthy Habits appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

1. Decide what it is that you want. Pick one thing because that way you stay focused. Pick that goal and I’m going to see it through to the end. Whether it’s “I want to run a marathon,” be it “I want to start a business,” be it “I want to find a relationship.” Whatever it is, this applies to all, but I’m going to focus in on fitness because that’s what I do. So for instance, if I told myself I was going to lose my muffin top, is that something I’m going to stick with’

2. Get clear. What is it that clearly defines what you want’ What do I have to do to get rid of that muffin top’ And trust me, it isn’t a thousand abs a day. This is like punching the address into GPS so that you know… you’re like, “We’re going to 123 Main Street. We’re going to Lose That Muffin Top Village; that’s where we’re going.”

3. Make a Connection. Once I have my GPS locked and loaded then I have to connect to that goal. I want you to think about what it is that you want, so if I want to lose that muffin top, I want to be so connected and say, “Why do I want this'” Because it’s your why. Your why is you own internal motivation. We can’t always look for external motivation because it’s short-lived. Unless you hire someone, who lives with you or you have an amazing live-in support system like a spouse, kid, whatever, you need that internal motivation to get you going. So, for trying to lose my muffin top I’d say, “I don’t want to lay down on my bed to stuff myself into it’ I want to be able to like look in the mirror and be like, ‘How you doing” to myself.” External accountability is awesome, but internal motivation is key and that is your why.

4. It takes Commitment. This is where you put your money where your mouth is. Here is where you write out your initial plan, and not this rigid structured plan but a plan with flexibility. Take some time to think about what are your non-negotiables. Everyone has those non-negotiables. Maybe for you it might be you need to have a glass of wine every night, but I’m going to tell you, keep those non-negotiables in and there might be some wiggle room if you’re not hitting your goals, but always decide that what are your non-negotiables.

To help you keep your commitment, find a support system. Do you need someone who is going to help you map this out’ Are you going to need someone who is going to help hold you accountable to what you’ve just written out as your non-negotiables’ And what does commitment look like for you’ Some people are commitment-phobe, some people are afraid of failure or success.

5. Have the courage to change. Here’s where a lot of people get stuck. You might have got clear, you might have made the decision, you might have found your why, and you might be like, “Yep, I’m ready.” And then you’re ready until stuff gets hard, and stuff is going to get hard, stuff is going to get unclear, stuff is going to get messy, because I know that for many people at this age we’ve been on umpteen diets, we’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the shaker bottle for it.

6. Then create new habits. I’m big on habits because habits will keep you going. It’s stronger than just having a plan, it’s stronger than willpower, it’s stronger than discipline. When you create a habit, it’s going to last. One of the habits that I’ve created over the last year is I wanted to increase my water or make my water more consistent, and like I said, I have coffee, so I have my first cup of coffee and then I have a glass of water. And once I have that glass of water then I can have my second cup of coffee. I teach group fitness classes and so I fill up my water bottle during the group fitness class and then I make sure that I drink that whole bottle of water either by the time class is over or by the time I get home of teaching that class, so two triggers that force me to drink water.

7. Be consistent. In Pulp Fiction, Samuel Jackson and John Travolta are looking for this… I think it’s a either a box or briefcase, I can’t remember, but every time they come across it or someone comes across it, they open it up and there’s this giant glow. Well that glow is consistency, that’s what we’re always looking for because when we get to that point where we’re doing things on a consistent level, boom, bang, boom, results are not far behind.

The bulk of the framework is about staying in control rather than having a diet or the struggle to diet control you. And what I love about the framework is that it doesn’t cause me to suffer or struggle, because been there, done that and that just stinks, it stinks, and no one wants to do that.

I’d love your feedback. I want to hear what you think about the framework and if it’s something that can help center you when you feel like you’re spinning out of control. Let me know.

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