From that point instead of saying, “oh it’s my hormones, I am in my late 30s now”, but instead I thought that this just means that I have to go harder, I have to start crushing it more.

Within the same year, I went to my gynecologist, and they noticed I had some fibroids which we took as why my stomach was distended.  I thought ok, yes, I have the answer now!  But instead, the answer they gave me was I had to have a traditional hysterectomy.  I would have to be out of work for 8-12 weeks and at the time I was just starting my own personal training business. I couldn’t go that long without getting paid. At the time it was casually mentioned that it could be done laparoscopically which would only have me out of work for 30 days. This was a much better option for!

During this time when we were trying to figure out my surgery, the doctors wanted to put me on a hormone medication, Lupron, and I was told that it could cause me to gain up to 30 pounds.  Guys, I was 35, I did NOT know what menopause was, I knew nothing about it, and I also knew NOTHING about this drug they wanted me to go on. After being my own advocate I finally found a doctor that agreed to do the surgery laparoscopically.

I thought that this would solve ALL my problems.  Three months later I still had a belly.
So, my belly wasn’t just fibroids, it was my hormones!  During that 4 weeks I couldn’t work and workout, it caused me to do some reflection.  This caused me to sit back and look at where I was spending all my time and how stressed out, I was.  In my post operative checkup, I shared with my doctor that I was still feeling bloated and said I am still 10 pounds heavier.

She told me to stop eating sandwiches. Ladies… I knew this wasn’t it because I ate clean, I didn’t eat sandwiches…  So, I doubled down at the gym and got even stricter with my food, and 12 months later I was now up, 20 pounds. Something was wrong. I couldn’t eat cleaner or workout harder. What the HELL was going on with my body and why was this happening to me? There had to be something more, I wasn’t about to begin gaining 10 pounds every year and be okay with that!

I did research and found some good mentors. It wasn’t about my nutrition, or my exercise.  Part of the reason I was gaining weight was that I wasn’t sleeping. (I slept maybe 6 hours.) I was stressed, I was building a business and I wanted it to be successful overnight! I couldn’t work out the way I used to! I had to say that I can’t work out any harder, I have to figure out how to work SMARTER!

Again, I dove into the research and the research showed it wasn’t about the duration of the workout.  If I want something different, I have to do different things. My 2-hour workouts were driving my hunger and my cravings.  Trying to squeeze them into my already hectic schedule led to complete and utter BURN OUT. I didn’t like the gym anymore.

I had to think of a way to use my metabolism to change my body composition. How can I use my hormones to work with me, not against me!

My workouts went from 2 hours to 30-45 minutes max. (If I do a 2-hour workout, it’s because I was messing around on my phone or running my mouth! LOL!) If you are making this change, go from 2 hours to [1:45], then 90 minutes. Break it down by 15-minute increments.  Then you can start to say it’s the INTENSITY that creates the workout not the DURATION.

Listen to your body. Green day, red day, yellow day.  What does your body feel like for that day? My non-negotiable is 3 days a week of 30 minutes of activity. I try to prioritize strength training, and this all depends on how I am feeling that day. Mobility work? A walk? Strength training? It all depends on that day and how my body is feeling.

The next place I looked was my food.  I needed to hire someone because clearly a coach is their own worst coach. We don’t see our blind spots. Changing my food was one of the hardest things I did.  My hormones were a hot mess at this point. (Hindsight 20/20 my hormones have been knocking on the door for decades!) My doctor wasn’t helping me at this point, so I looked into a functional medicine doctor.  She knew my body needed to recover and rest. It takes time and I knew that I had done this to my body for SO long that it was going to take a while to change working with this doctor.

I couldn’t expect a light switch to go on – it was more of a dimmer switch.  I also couldn’t supplement myself out of this, and I couldn’t prescribe my lifestyle. I needed to look at my lifestyle and make lifestyle changes!

I had to change my lifestyle and really look at it and what I was doing.
●      I had to get better sleep.
●      I had to stop being a stress ball! – I really had to change my mindset to manage my stress.
●      I had to stop and say, I can only control what I can control.
●      I whittled down my to-do list
●      I gave myself small mini goals and stopped trying to do ALL the things.
●      I had to work on healing my gut, it was such a mess!
●      Then we worked on balancing my blood sugar. I was insulin resistant from all of the yo-yo dieting throughout the years.
●      I worked on moderation.
●      I had to stop being so rigid and resistant as to how things had to look and work.
●      I looked at how I was managing my time.
●      I looked at the roadblocks I was setting for myself and how I could break through them.
●      I had to start letting things go and not hold on to everything!
●      I had to create boundaries.
●      I just had to release something.. I had to say that this can be easy, it won’t be fast but it can be easier than I am making it to be.

The 2 biggest things I had to work on in that list that was the biggest challenge was sleep and being less stressed.   At this point I was so burnt… LITERALLY burnt to a crisp. I just wanted this to be over and done with. This was a process… over several years of working through.

I am still working on my blood sugar; I am still finding the right balance of food for me. I went away from eating 5 meals a day that was too much.  I started pushing back meals until I was actually hungry. I had to stop eating by the clock. I had to expand on opening up my diet and have more fasting throughout the day.

Through this process, I knew where I could short circuit and where it happened.
1. We are going to look at your gut.
2. What do your choices look like?
3. What does your exercise look like?
4. What does your commitment look like to your nutrition?
5. Are you a stress ball? Are you sleeping?
6. You have to answer these things. I call it the 3 C’s
a. You have to understand your choices nutritionally & workout wise.
b. Then you have to come up with a code of conduct that you are going to hold yourself too. Not some diet that tells you to do AB&C.
c. What can you do, what are you willing to do to be consistent?
I knew I had to make a change, I couldn’t continue to eat like I was, workout like I was, stress like I was! If I wanted change, I HAD to make changes, I couldn’t sit back and wait for it to naturally happen.

I wanted to share this with you, so you knew where I was coming from and what I was doing.  One of the hallmarks for my changes was that I went on a vacation, and I didn’t want to be that girl worrying about everything! So, I did a little experiment.  For 30 days I was only working out 3 days a week, 30 minutes or less.  I focused on just making sure I added vegetables and protein but didn’t go crazy! And I focused on SLEEPING! After the 30 days I was ONLY up 2 pounds and I honestly think that was just bloating from flying and poop! LOL

Ladies, I was an idiot thinking it was go big or go home for so many years! Let me be the first to tell you that go big or go home is going to bury you. You are going to keep looking in the mirror say IF ONLY. If I only did this…  If you only make 1 change… If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, something has to change!! You can make that change ladies; I know you have it in you! If I was able to do it, then I know that anyone can!

LINKS

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

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

Website:

Home

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

Cracking The Belly Fat Code MASTERCLASS:
https://www.fitgirlmagic.com/crackingbfc_fall22/

The post How I Improved My Menopause Story appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

The post Three Powerful Tips for Women Over 40 Who Want to Make a Change appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Cassy has been active duty in the United States Navy, serving our country for 18 years! And when you are in the military, you have to be fit and in height and weight standards, meaning every 6ish months you are “weighed in”.  As a woman in the military, it is challenging! There aren’t really any good resources out there to guide you in the right direction and all of a sudden you have a weigh-in and you are 5-10 pounds over your max. This puts a ton of stress on you and it just wasn’t good for our bodies, hormones, stress levels, and the list goes on and on.

“I spent a long time in that position where I just didn’t know what to eat and fuel my body to match my fitness routines and my fitness goals.” That is how Cassy started working with Kathy Savage and myself.  She wanted to fuel her body the right way, get back to running and not stress out twice a year to “make weight”.

But guess what?  In the last year, she has been able to turn her mindset around and made a lot of progress where she wanted to!  Cassy had to start to put herself first, her needs first, and try new things!  Even if it meant just a 15-minute walk on a given day. Some days you have to think about yourself in a different way where you actually stop and think about yourself.  Stop thinking about not doing enough… That mindset doesn’t serve you!  Because what you do is you end up burning out!

In our mind, we get caught up in how it SHOULD look and there are 2 directions you can go.  1) If I cannot get that 2-hour workout in, then I might as well not go.  2) Or I go, and I push my body to do what it’s not ready to do at that moment. A great mindset shift is just saying, “Wow, Monday isn’t a good day for me, but it’s only Monday, and here are the other days I KNOW I can go to the gym instead.”

Like… my Red, Yellow & Green days. This is a prime example of this.
“I started to incorporate your red, yellow, and green days and it really puts things into perspective.  This helped me out a lot because it removed that extra unnecessary stress of not doing a 2-hour workout or that extra sheet!” (You can listen to this episode where I talked all about this in the links below the blog!)

● Red Day: I just am not feeling it, mentally or physically your body is saying nope.. Or you are injured or sick.
● Yellow day: You feel a little better.  You know you won’t crush it but can do something for your body.
● Green day: You are just feeling it. Ready to rumble and get after this!!

It’s so important to have a positive attitude, and positive mindset, and 9 times out of 10 you are going to do more than you think you can!  We all want to leap tall buildings in a single bound… But it’s a step-by-step process.  Acknowledge that you made a conscious choice, a good decision, and build on that next time. We have to acknowledge that.  We base everything on results, and we want instantaneous results.  Those are results, that you made small decisions that you wouldn’t normally make otherwise! Remember that one small step is better than no steps at all!

“As human beings, we want to succeed but as soon as something gets uncomfortable or doesn’t feel right, we back off instead of trying to push through it. I always tell people that fitness concepts are extrapolated to so many different areas of our lives. When I started goal setting in fitness, it taught me that I can goal set them in other areas of my life and I could make the goals!  It’s incredible what you can do when you just change or shift your mind to think of things in a different way, instead of thinking like this is the way and it will never change.”

Diet culture teaches us to get very linear.  If we do these 3 things, we will get this as the end result.  But it’s not that easy.  Everyone has a different physiological response and diet history! We are not a square and do not fit in a cute box.  No one person is the same and no one person will have the same results.

What are some of the results you have seen by working with me?
Mindset a lot! That is a huge one. Having a strong mind and a good solid foundation is a springboard to everything else!  I made progress on the weight goals and headed in that direction and continued to go that way.  The knowledge you give to us and the tools and resources regarding nutrition and sleep were paramount.  You are so invested in each individual person that you are not treating people as if they are the same as everyone else.  It’s very individualized!

It is nice to work with someone like that because I want to be treated like an individual because that is who I am.  And you don’t always get that with every coach.  I don’t want my protocol to be the same as someone else’s because we are not made out of a cookie cutter mold.

I also love getting the fresh ideas from the normal everyday cooking with the recipe packs and it’s not a specific meal plan!  There are so many different things to make and eat and it doesn’t get boring!  It helps me out tremendously to have more ideas!

The tools and little nuggets of information you give us is something we cannot get everywhere or from anyone.  You have years of experience working with so many women, it’s really nice to work with someone with your wealth of knowledge.  I love everything you give us… If I ever need customization of something you are there, you are the person!  You really do care about the people, it’s not just about numbers and how successful your clients are, you just want them to feel good in their bodies and enjoy life!

Would you say to anyone listening that I would be a great coach to have?
Of course!  If you are feeling lost and looking for someone where you can get direction and guidance, then Kim is the coach for you.

LINKS

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

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

Website:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/

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

Podcast Creating A Sustainable Healthy Life Over 40:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/creating-a-sustainable-healthy-life-over-40/

Podcast What Brings You Joy:
https://kimbarnesjefferson.com/what-brings-you-joy/

The post Client Testimonial| Are You Done Feeling Like You Should? appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

What do I mean by flexible dieting’ Typically, we’ve been programmed that in order to lose weight, get fit, get healthy, we have to follow some particular program be it Keto, Weight Watchers, Whole30, Paleo. There’s some formalized blueprint program that I’ve got to follow if I want to have any results.

Recently my sister posted on Facebook that she lost 50 pounds and all the comments were, “Girl, what did you do'” And everyone wanted to know what the Holy Grail was, and basically she was like, “Well, my Holy Grail was I stopped drinking wine every night and I started moving my body.” What diet is that’ Is that the Kendra’ That’s basics for me, as a fitness professional that is fitness 101 – stop eating crap and move your body. Oh my god, I could write a whole book and make millions on that, it’s not rocket science. 

Break Up With The Plan

My concept of flexible dieting is that you get to break up with “the plan”. You’ve been marketed to for years, decades about “the plan”. I was recently listening to a podcast All About Fat, and the woman spent five years researching fat, and what I mean by fat is I’m talking about body fat, fat in foods, anything that has to do with fat she spent five years studying it and breaking it down.

If you have looked at any history, if you go back in colonial times if someone was fat, they were wealthy. Fat was something to be aspired to. If we also look back into the 50s and 60s it was very aspirational to be curvy. And then at some point someone said, “You need to be a size two, weigh three pounds and eat grapes all day.” And we all got obsessed with dieting. Which leds us to where we are today obsessed with what “diet” program and what plan are you following.

This is what I know – you can follow a plan until the plan doesn’t work, and the plan doesn’t work for a myriad of reasons. This is where flexible dieting comes in. Let me just back up, let’s first do vocabulary.

When I talk about diet, I don’t mean a plan, that’s not what I mean. When I say diet, I’m talking about what you physically put into your mouth, what you are eating; that’s what I’m calling a diet. And so, we need to look at what we’re currently eating before we can make an assessment. It’s like if I were to go to the doctor and say, “These are my symptoms”, that’s exactly what your diet is. Your diet shows me what you are currently eating, because for the most part most of the women I work with eat pretty good. What I mean is you’re eating probably about 70%, and all it takes is a few minor tweaks and you’re going to start to see some of the results.
Pulp Fiction Diet

And we all know the foods that we should be eating a little less of, and we know the foods we should be eating a little more of; that’s not the problem. The problem is we feel like we need to follow this particular train track and this train track is going to lead us to the glory land, the diet mecca.

Have you ever see the movie, Pulp Fiction‘ If you haven’t seen the movie, two guys are looking for this suitcase, and you don’t really know what’s in the suitcase but every time you see the suitcase open it has this glow. And that’s what people are searching for. They’re searching for their diet Pulp Fiction. They’re looking for that glow, that feeling that’s just going to be like, “I made it.” And then guess what’

When you’ve made it, you’ve got to sustain it’ That’s where people fall down and that’s where flexible dieting comes in, because flexible dieting is sustainable, flexible dieting is about you. I got some questions for you to answer when you look at a plan or a program. Don’t go for what’s popular. Right now, everyone’s on Keto for days. But for some people eating that much fat is too much; eating that little carb may make you feel like someone ran over you and then backed up three times.

Question Yourself

How do you eat’
What are the foods that you like to eat’
What’s your lifestyle’

Because if it’s something that requires you to cook and you’re just like, “That’s not about me”, what’s your budget’ Are you having to buy all these magical elixirs, are you going to have to buy high-end things’ What does it look like’ And how long can you see yourself doing this’

About two years ago I had to go vegan and it was mainly just to clean up my hormones.

I knew it was short-term, but for me

I knew that lifestyle wasn’t sustainable.

I knew I could do it for six months.

I knew that I could totally gut this out for six months. But could I do this for the next 60 years’ Oh, hell no! Because for me it was a lot of cooking, and I cook, but I don’t want to have to cook every single meal. And I don’t like tofu, so to go out, it was always like you’re vegan; tofu. No. There’s more to life than tofu for vegans. 🤯

So, I need you to answer those questions and be honest with yourself. I want you to look at things as, “Could I do this for the next year’ Could I do this for the next five years’ Could I do this for the next 10 years'” And if you say no, then that’s not the plan for you. 

The All or Nothing Approach

You have to decide what your approach is. When I say, “Hey, what’s your approach'” many people will tell me, “I’m just all or nothing. I’m either on it, or I’m off it.” And I’m like, “How has that served you'” When you are so gung-ho like, “I got to be on this train track to the diet destination, or I’m just sitting on the couch with a straw and a bottle of wine, pass the Ho-Hos and the Goldfish, how has that lifestyle served you where you’re like hardcore, no core, hardcore, no core’

Wouldn’t you want it to be different’

Because I see it, I see it in your faces, I hear it in your voices when you’re just like, “I can’t anymore. I want to be able to go on vacation, I want to be able to walk into my closet, and not stress that those pair pants from last spring are going to fit over my ass.” I want you to have that confidence like, “I’m going to my closet and anything in here is going to fit my ass.”

Think about the potential, how hard is it going be’ How much weight are you trying to lose’ Will you have to give up foods that you love’ What will you need to sustain this’ And what are the thoughts that you have as you are reading through the do’s and the don’ts, what are your thoughts’ Because at the end of the day a lot of people are knowledge brokers, they can take in all the knowledge, they can listen to information, they can listen to podcasts, they can watch all the YouTube videos and take all the notes, analyze till next Thursday, but still not take the action. 

The action is where the rubber meets the road, and until I actually take that big step back and I analyze what I am doing and then decide where I want to go, I can’t take action. And I find that a lot of people, and I’ve talked about this, you’ve got to set goals, and you have to be not afraid to set goals because I get it, you may have disappointed yourself in the past.

Have I hit every goal I’ve ever set’ Heck no, not at all. But I know the pain of me being in the same place again and again and again and running into the same wall over and over again, bugs the fuck out of me. And I don’t want to be in that position, so whenever I do miss my goal, I ask myself why, and I don’t beat myself up, I give myself the grace and I say, “Did I bite off more than I could chew’ Was there something else going on in my life that I couldn’t give it the focus’ And I try to give myself that grace, give myself that space to focus.

Work the Plan

Back in the day I will admit I’d be like, “You suck, you’re stupid, you can’t ever do it.” And where did that get me’ Nowhere. So, I took a step back. If you can’t take that step back, that’s why you work with a coach or an accountability partner because they could be that third party to be like, “Okay girl, here’s where you give yourself that grace. Here’s where you give yourself that space, that time so that you can do a CSI.”

You’ve watched the show – they come in, dead body on the floor, and they piece together, “Okay, the broken lamp, so she must have fallen here, someone must have walked in there.” We all know, and that’s what you do. Before you get into action you kind of say, “This is where I’ve been, this is where I want to go, and we’re going to piece together the plan in order for you to get there.” But I don’t want you to just plan the plan, I want you to plan to say, “I got to move my tushy.”

On a Scale of 1 to 10…

Here is where I like to keep it simple; I like to make my action plan really simple. So, for me to assess where you are, for me to assess where I am, is what I’m currently eating, my diet, am I hungry’ On a scale of one to ten where ten means I’m going to eat my arm to zero being I’m stuffed to the gills, where am I’ The second thing is how is my energy’ Do I feel like woo-hoo all day long, or do I feel like I’m crashing and burning’ Do I feel like I’m always wanting to take a nap’ Am I living off of coffee’ Where am I’ And the same thing, zero meaning I’m bouncing off the walls; ten meaning I’m almost at a coma. Where are you when it comes to your energy’ And then cravings, are you in the place that you’re craving’ Zero being like every craving is knocking on the door and you’re white-knuckling it; ten, what cravings’ I don’t know what those are, I don’t have any. 

Those are the first three questions that I ask, then I go into non-food questions. Sleep, are you sleeping’ And are you getting quality sleep’ Some people will tell me, “Yeah, I sleep six hours.” But then they’ll tell me, “Well, I go to the bathroom and then I’m up for an hour after I go to the bathroom, or I toss and turn so I’m not really getting a good night’s sleep.” Are you moving’ I’ve talked about this before. I wear a Fitbit because I really want to make sure that I’m getting in my 10,000 steps, so are you’ Some people work out and then they sit at the desk all day long and that’s it, their only movement is to get up and go to the bathroom. Are you moving’ And then what’s your stress level’ Are you like again on that zero to ten, zero meaning people are like, “Girl, are you alive'” to like, “You’re running around with your hair on fire.” Where are you’ Because all of these factors will weigh heavily into what you’re taking in for your diet. 

And if you noticed, most of my questions weren’t about are you eating this superfood’ Are you eating that vegetable’ It wasn’t about that. It’s like in this moment in time, is what you’re eating serving you based on this base level of criteria’ And I’ve seen it all over the interwebs, and you see it too, the questions like, “What’s the best fat burning food’ What’s the best sugar-free food’ How do you feel about protein ice cream’ How do I feel about [insert the question]'”

Do those questions inspire you to take action’ Or do they ask you to ask more questions and not take the action’ That’s the question I have for you. If my questions do not inspire, then I need to ask better questions. My boyfriend, Tony Robbins, always says ask better questions and you’ll get better answers. 

Get Into Action

When I’m in that action phase I’m all about what is it going to take for me to move my feet’ What is it going to take for me to go from what I know I want to where I want to go’ And then I’ve got to say, “What are the results’ Is my current diet yielding my results'” If my goal is to lose my belly, boost my booty, have more energy, dump my cravings, is what I’m eating doing that’ For me, I was eating clean for years. If you looked at my nutrition you’d be like, “Oh my gosh, you eat great.” And I was eating great, but for some reason I hit a plateau, I hit a wall and I couldn’t do more.

We all go on vacation and you want to take off those last few pounds before you go on vacation, and that was me, I just wanted to get a little tighter, and for some reason I’m like, “I can’t do it.” And I had someone look over my shoulder, I was like, “What am I doing wrong'” Because for yourself you can’t be the voice of reason because you’re like, “I’m awesome, I’m doing amazing.” Or you’re like, “I suck, I’m doing horrible.” You can’t have that middle ground like, “Well girl, this is what you need to do.” Most of us can’t do that with ourselves.

So, I had a third party look over my shoulder, and for the most part I was eating great, but I was eating too much for what I was doing, so I needed to tweak some of my choices. And that’s what I find with a lot of clients is that they need to tweak some of their choices, so maybe it’s not having two chia waffles, there’s nothing wrong with chia waffles, they’re great, but maybe instead of having two in a meal you bring it down to one and you add in some cottage cheese. It’s those kinds of yin and yang, that give and take of that.

If you noticed, I didn’t follow a plan, I had to step back and had to be flexible in my approach. So, it was like focus on making sure that my choices weren’t over the top. And when you break up with the right and the wrong and you see what foods feel right for you.

What’s Good For the Goose…

I believe I’ve talked about this before, but just in case – I’ve had a client who’s like, “I’m just starting to feel bloated and just horrible after I eat.” And I said, “That could be anything, so what I need for you to do is keep a log, and every time you feel bloated, I’d love for you to write down when. Every time you eat a meal, I just want you to just ask the question, “Do I feel bloated'” Over the course of a few weeks she was logging, and she found out that it was coconut oil. You read all over the interwebs, coconut oil is thebomb.com and three times on Sunday. But for her coconut oil wasn’t thebomb.com. For some reason there was something in coconut oil and her that no bueno.

So think about if I break up with the good food/bad food list and just focus on how I feel. For me, I can’t eat eggs. Scrambled egg whites, if I were to eat scrambled egg whites, I’m like, “So, what’s next'” 20 minutes later I’m like, “And what’s next'” It’s the ultimate protein, super healthy, there’s nothing wrong with egg whites; they just don’t do anything for me. Other people they’re like, “Oh my god, egg whites, I love them. I can make out with them.” But for me I’m like, “Yeah, I’m good, I’ll pass.” And I want to like them, but my body just metabolizes them too fast then my next meal needs to be like almost immediate.

Track Your Progress

If you aren’t tracking your food, start tracking. I know it’s a pain in the rump shaker, but the beauty of nowadays is that there are apps on your phone, hand write it, just keep it simple. And if you need a third party to look over your shoulder and see what’s going on, hit me up. You can always find me her and shoot me an email.

The reason why many of us follow a plan versus kind of taking the approach I talked about, seeing what our diet is and figuring out where the extras are, because most of us have extras that we can start to curtail back, we also can look and see if there are things that we should add in.

Most people probably aren’t eating as many vegetables as they should be, or aren’t eating as many good fats, or probably aren’t getting in as much protein as they should. But what happens is we all want certainty, we want to know that if I do what you say it’s going to work like a charm, it’s going to work as advertised, and unfortunately with nutrition we’re all bio individuals, what’s going to work for me isn’t going to work for the guy that just walked by on the street, that isn’t going to work for the woman who is walking next to me. We all have different needs and different tweaks that need to be made in order to satisfy our own individual metabolism.

So, the certainty I give you is that if you take the time to figure out how your body works, you’ll never diet a day in your life; I know that for certain. So, what you need to do is explore the alternatives to dieting, because certainty, as I’ve said before, comes from asking better questions, and the better questions aren’t the good food/bad food list, or “Can I have this'” list.

We are all grown ass women. And I want you to think about whatever program you’re looking at, can you afford it for a long period of time, not just for 30 days, not just for 10 days, can you afford it for a year’ Does this limit you’ Do you have negotiability in it’ I know for me I have one non-negotiable, actually two non-negotiables in my nutrition. My one non-negotiable is I will fist fight you over coffee. I’m just not going to give that up. I’m going to have coffee, and if my results slow because I’m having coffee, so be it. The second thing is I want to at least be able to once a week go out to dinner and not eat like a jerk, but go out and not be like, “Does it have this in it'”, not interrogate the chef and pretty much go in the kitchen and make my own meal, because been there, done that, and I don’t want that t-shirt anymore. Those are my two non-negotiables.

Unconventional Switch Up

When I first started this whole flexible dieting, I was like that’s what I’m going to build my nutrition around. And then I said those are my fun things that’s going to make my life sane. Then I said, “What is nutritionally going to help me long-term'” And one of the things nutritionally I put in there was that I wanted to make sure I got in all my vegetables, and so in order to get all my vegetables, every single day I have a giant salad right. And that salad always varies depending on the season. So, I change the salad green that I use.

I change up if it’s carrots or if it’s cabbage or it’s red cabbage. Sometimes I have broccoli slaw. I always make sure that there’s something new in the mix every single week to give myself that variety I need, but I’m also getting a ton of vegetables in there.

I want you to think about as you kind of try to wrap your head around this whole flexible dieting, what are the things that aren’t on everyone’s diet list’ So, maybe you need to have two squares of chocolate every day. Maybe once a week you need to have a mocha from your favorite coffee shop. I don’t know what it is, but we all need to have those one or two things that keep us sane.

Then, we need to have that balance, that moderation. We need to have that one or two things that you know are healthy and sustainable. My salad – I can have a salad anywhere on this planet, maybe Antarctica might be a stretch, but most places on this planet I can go in and order a salad with some type of protein on it and be happy as a clam. So, I want you to think about that. 

And also, as you’re looking at nutrition, are you somebody that’s going to meal prep’ Or do you have to meal prep, or can you pull together pieces to create that meal prep program’ And does it require a certain amount of workouts’ There is this new workout, I can’t remember the name of it, and someone was asking about it where it requires you to work out two times a day for 45 minutes each round, so for 90 minutes. Well, back in the day I used to work out two hours, that was my bare minimum, and if I didn’t work out two hours, why work out’ But now I’m like, “45 minutes two times a day, oh kill me.” That’s just not in my wheelhouse. I can give you 45 minutes, no problem, but 45 minutes two times a day, oh heck no, that ain’t happening.

So, I need you to be honest with yourself, and I’m not talking like 30 days. Who can’t do anything for 30 days’ I’m saying give me a year. Look at it on a long horizon and look for a year, and if you’re ready for an alternative to diet, ready to really look at this flexibility, I’ve created a report, The Four Alternatives to Dieting, you can find that on my website it’s . 

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You DECIDE which action to take.

The key is to plan it at least one day in advance.If the actions you take had the potential to help you earn more money, lose weight, build stronger relationships or just help you to feel better about yourself.

Imagine how that could change your life.

You see it’s possible to do just that. You take your daily actions and apply it to your goals.

Here is where you come up with a set of actions that you want to accomplish. Each night brainstorm about the actions you’ll take the next day.

Instead of doing this daily, you could also plan your actions weekly.

I like to take a look at my goals every month and make a big plan and then break it down weekly.

For me this is how I continue to take committed to taking action. Committed daily action is the most important aspect.

To get where you want to go setting up a system of taking daily actions, will begin to become second nature over time. In the beginning it will feel a little weird and awkward, you may miss a day or two. Just try to get back to taking actions the next day.

You could also set up themes for particular weeks. For instance, suppose you are trying to eat more veggies. You could set aside the first day to find recipes. The next day can be dedicated to prepping the veggies.  You could do this for a full month if you think you need that much time.

You don’t have to take major actions all the time. It could be something simple, like trying a new class at the gym, drinking one more glass of water or setting a bedtime. The awesome thing about this method is you get to decide what actions to take.

You may argue that this is simply goal setting with tasks and you would be partially correct in thinking that. However, this is more simplistic as helps you to devise a day-to-day action plan.

The key is not to get too hung up on the details. By simplifying it down to daily actions, you will accomplish what you desire.

These are the types of techniques I will be sharing at my Summer Mastermind program.  Will you join me‘

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Here’s a guy who was born in a small Austrian village speaking no English. Decided he wanted to become a world-class bodybuilder. Back then he was a scrawny guy so people didn’t take him to seriously.

He proved them all wrong. Became huge and moved to LA on a sponsorship from a bodybuilding magazine. Once you came to America he learned to English, started a business that made him rich and went on to win more bodybuilding competitions than anyone in the history of the sport.

Already more success than anyone in his villiage thought he’d ever be, he decided he wanted to become the next big action star. With a thick accent, that cards weren’t exactly stacked in his favor.

Fastforward to Arnold becoming one of the highest paid actor of all time. (Now who doesn’t try to mimic his accent “I’ll be back”.)

And you can guess what they all said when he decided he wanted to get into politics…

This amazing life ALL start from BODYBUILDING…

What You Learn From Getting Fit

Sure you get a great physique and when you are not only looking strong, your confidence increases your confidence and feel inspired to take action.

Getting fit also teaches you something much more valuable: which is the value of sticking at something until your goals become manifest. When you work out, you are forced to go to the gym every single day no matter how you feel in order to train. It was my fitness journey that helped me realized anything was possible if I took consistent action. Each week I would set mini goals and hit them. The more goals I hit the more I noticed my physique changing. The more my physique changed the more my confidence grew just like Arnold.

When I was competing I was always think of the other competitors who were already up and at the gym. It was that got me out of bed on a snowy day.

Will you have bad days’ Sure. But you’ll also have good ones and so you need to keep plugging away nonetheless.

Getting fit teaches you iron determination and gives you the drive you need to stick to any goal. Ultimately it teaches you how to make things happen and this is incredibly powerful.

Exercise for Those With Big Plans

So if you want to succeed in life you need to become fit like Arnold’ No, but if you have big ambitions then it pays to start getting fit so that you’ll start learning how to go after the things you really want and making them happen.

Plus exercise will help improve your health, your brain power and your mood. Want to start making massive changes in your life, then the gym is one of the best places to start.

PS. Finally! Discover what’s keeping you from getting the body (and life) you deserve. Take the FREE Quiz now

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