00;00;15;18 - 00;00;41;09
Speaker 1
Welcome back, beautiful people, to another episode of Redefined. Beautiful. I'm your host, Faith. And today I'm sharing with you eight unexpected lessons I learned on my Fitness journey. Now, on any fitness journey, you're going to learn some of the tips and tricks of the trade. Some of those kind of more standard lessons you're going to learn along the way, like what works for your body, What kind of workout routine you like, how to eat better.
00;00;41;21 - 00;00;59;22
Speaker 1
But there's also a lot of other lessons you can be learning along the way. And sometimes you might actually even miss them if you're not paying attention. So today I want to share with you eight lessons that I learned. And these were very unexpected, but super, super powerful. And they are what has made the difference in my journey.
00;00;59;28 - 00;01;25;19
Speaker 1
Just really honing into these. So first step. One lesson I learned is that not everyone will support you or understand your journey. So when you start a fitness and healthy lifestyle, a lot of times people might say, Well, you don't need to change anything about you. And while that may be true appearance wise, it's not always about what's on the outside that needs a little fixing.
00;01;25;29 - 00;01;46;29
Speaker 1
So sometimes it's those things that people don't see, so they don't understand why you want to start. But fitness really isn't just so surface level. It isn't about being this certain size. And a lot of times, yes, you start the journey because that's what you want to see change. But a lot of times it's a lot more within than people realize.
00;01;47;14 - 00;02;05;18
Speaker 1
So a lot of times people might not understand, but they also might not support. And sometimes that can be hard because when you're surrounded by people and they're not really helping you. So if you want to be workout, you know, five days a week and your spouse is constantly saying, Oh, well, you can miss this one, you can miss this one.
00;02;05;27 - 00;02;24;10
Speaker 1
And whether they realize it or not, it's not really supporting what the goals you have for yourself when they're constantly trying to pull you away from those things that you're trying to do. Now, that's not to say that sometimes maybe you are committed too much to a program. If you're saying you want to work out seven days a week and your spouse feels like they don't have time with you.
00;02;24;18 - 00;02;54;17
Speaker 1
That can also cause some rough edge. So make sure that when you're setting these goals and really giving yourself to a program that you're taking into account those around you and making sure that you're still making time for your personal life. Second lesson I learned was fail and fail often. And I think this is a great lesson. No matter what part of your life you're in, whether you're starting the company, whether you're starting a new career, and then ultimately starting a fitness journey, be open to failing.
00;02;54;17 - 00;03;17;02
Speaker 1
Because when we fail, that's when we learn. If we're never failing, we're never stepping outside of our comfort zone. If we're never going past that fear of failing and trying new things, we're never going to be learning. We're just going to be at a steady state. So don't be afraid to fail and be okay with failing. Often I know just in us that's not something we want to do.
00;03;17;08 - 00;03;33;16
Speaker 1
But I promise you there will be lessons to be learned along the way. If you allow yourself to give in to that fear and really try new things and then ultimately be okay if they don't work out. And that's going to happen. And sometimes on our fitness journey, we're doing all the things and then we have a setback.
00;03;33;22 - 00;03;53;19
Speaker 1
Something happens in life and we feel like we're failing because we're not able to commit to the program that we have chosen for ourselves. And that, to me, isn't a failure. That's just a step back. And sometimes those are good, too, because it gives us a chance to evaluate what we're doing, what we're pouring ourselves into. And so sometimes it's just a good time to reflect.
00;03;53;19 - 00;04;31;18
Speaker 1
But that doesn't mean you're failing just because you're being pulled in different directions from time to time. The third lesson I learned was my body image was attached to my past trauma, and I feel like that is true for a lot of people. But we don't realize that. A lot of times we give that feeling of we want control over things in our life and one of the things that oftentimes someone finds controlling is their fitness journey, whether that be what they're eating, how much they're working out, you know, all these things that they're devoting themselves to that they're seeing changes for.
00;04;32;00 - 00;05;01;03
Speaker 1
That's where we're saying we're in control. And a lot of times we want that control because of things that happened in our past that controlled us for so long. We wanted some control over it. For me personally, when I was younger, I had a eating disorder and to me it was about control. But as I got older and I really got into fitness and I got to a good place, I realized I was just holding onto things that happened in my past and not giving them the attention they deserved.
00;05;01;11 - 00;05;27;00
Speaker 1
I thought I needed to change the way my body looked so people could love me. And I feel like that happens to a lot of people. We feel like we are incapable of love and connection and all those things that we want so badly as a person that oftentimes we're like, If I just get to a certain way, if I just get to this certain image, then people are going to love me and then I'll love myself.
00;05;27;00 - 00;06;12;11
Speaker 1
And we think that that's where things are headed. But really, a lot of times what we're not realizing, it's not that I wasn't pretty enough to be loved, it was that I was shown love a different way, and I couldn't understand why the things were happening that were happening. And so once I dived into my fitness journey and really just kind of got this inner love for myself and this confidence and started to trust myself and the things that I was feeling, I was able to kind of unpack my past and realize where a lot of, you know, my eating disorder stemmed from and that feeling of needing to be loved and validated that kind
00;06;12;11 - 00;06;35;04
Speaker 1
of follow me through life was still stemming from being a child. So I was really able to unpack a lot and just walking through my fitness journey and just kind of really unpacking where everything was coming from and just really breaking down that more inward health that we don't tend to hear about as much. So mental health is just as important as physical health.
00;06;35;11 - 00;07;06;08
Speaker 1
And when we can really tie those two together, that's where the big change is going to happen. Another lesson that I learned was capable i.t over appearance. So what i was able to be capable of was a much better indicator of my progress. While yes, appearance is typically that first thing that's going to be that driving factor that starts your journey, but it's not what usually keeps you there because the deeper you get into your journey, you realize that you probably aren't as happy as you thought you'd be when you weighed X amount.
00;07;06;16 - 00;07;32;09
Speaker 1
You're not as happy as you thought you'd be when you can now fit in a size two. Because again, we weren't unpacking those things within you that were really holding you back and that you were tying your self-worth to. So think about things in a non-monetary way as far as I get really caught up in this numbers in general, as people, I feel like we just need numbers to to formulate progress no matter what area of life we're working on.
00;07;32;18 - 00;07;59;13
Speaker 1
So when you kind of take that out of it and see what you're capable of over time, how long can you hold a plank? How long can you run, How fast can you run? Start to look at those things, how much stronger you're getting, how your endurance is improving versus how your overall looking. Because when you're working on these things, the appearance will come, the getting comfortable with who you are will come with those things.
00;07;59;21 - 00;08;19;25
Speaker 1
But we just got to take that focus away. Stop giving the scale and your appearance so much control over who you are and how you're able to live your life, because that shouldn't be every last thought you have throughout the day is Do I look good enough? Are people accepting of who I am? Because a lot of times it's very surface level.
00;08;19;25 - 00;08;35;11
Speaker 1
If you think someone's going to accept you because you've got a small window, you're like, Either they're not like me, they're not going to like me. But once a person gets to know somebody, no one really is paying attention to that appearance. So we just put so much emphasis on it when really there's so much more going on.
00;08;35;11 - 00;08;52;23
Speaker 1
So whenever I was able to step away and for me, I needed that visual, I got down to £114 and I realized that was not my happy number. Now I'm at a point where I don't care what the scale says, but I do care about how I'm feeling. And a lot of times I'm able to now say, okay, how am I feeling about myself today?
00;08;52;24 - 00;09;15;08
Speaker 1
How over the past couple of weeks, how is my fitness journey been kind of going? Am I been getting to workouts? Have I been eating what to me is well balanced? I don't like to say healthy and unhealthy. I really want that idea of, well, balance because all the healthy and unhealthy is very relative to each person in the day.
00;09;15;09 - 00;09;48;06
Speaker 1
So for someone to say, well, that's not healthy food, that's also not fair because food is supposed to be fuel and we need to stop giving it so much more power. Again, just like the scale that we have power, we oftentimes give food a lot of power as well. All right. Another big one. And before I even say it, I'm going to tell you this is the number one question I think I get almost on a weekly basis, whether that be from a client, from friends, family who just wants to ask me, how do you stay so motivated?
00;09;48;09 - 00;10;09;10
Speaker 1
And I think that is such a loaded question because I will just be bluntly honest here. No one is motivated all the time. I mean, if somebody says that they're motivated all the time, they are lying to you, whether it be your job, your family, your workout, routine, motivation ebbs and flows. It is never going to be a consistent stream.
00;10;09;23 - 00;10;34;02
Speaker 1
So instead of saying, okay, I'm going to let motivation drive this train, we need to let discipline take over. Because if you had the discipline to stick with something again, whether that be a job, a workout program, eating well-balanced, if you have the discipline, no matter what your mental state is, you're going to be more likely to stick with what you have set out for yourself.
00;10;34;10 - 00;10;52;05
Speaker 1
If you're saying, Hey, I might not be 100% into it today, but I'm going to show up today because I am disciplined, even if I can't give it 100%, I'm still showing up for me and getting done what I need to get done. And then we're just going to work on the rest. So you need to tap into your discipline.
00;10;52;05 - 00;11;09;09
Speaker 1
What is worth it for you? Because if it's not worth it for you, well, you're not going to be disciplined to do it and you're surely not going to be motivated to do it. So you've got to find things that are going to be actual, tangible things to say. For an example, your job, your discipline is your paycheck.
00;11;09;09 - 00;11;36;06
Speaker 1
You know that your your paycheck is coming based on you showing up and doing the work. You are now disciplined to make sure that you show up and do your job. Same with working out or eating well-balanced. If you make it a priority and say and really constantly remind yourself that the end goal here is to live a longer, healthier life where you can keep up and do all the things that your family and your friends.
00;11;36;06 - 00;11;56;00
Speaker 1
And then it trickles down to grandkids and all that. So you can be as healthy as possible. So you can be doing all these things for as long as possible. When you attach that to your overall reward for sticking to it, discipline can really be the big difference there because it's going to continue to remind you. I'm showing it for me because I want this.
00;11;56;00 - 00;12;14;12
Speaker 1
I'm showing up for me. I can do this. Discipline is going to push you through those days that are really hard. So that's not to say every day you're going to be able to just show up because you're so disciplined. But it's going to push you through more often than not. Now, another lesson I learned was Teamwork makes the dream work.
00;12;14;13 - 00;12;38;14
Speaker 1
Now this can be many different things. I'm not saying you need a workout partner. I'm not saying your family has to be on the same wherever meals you're trying to plan. However, I do recommend that you eat. You make your family eat the way that you eat, that you all eat well-balanced. Because I am a firm believer that making separate meals is not sustainable.
00;12;38;29 - 00;12;59;08
Speaker 1
And who gets the short end of that? You. Because now you have you are now the person that has to make two different meals and it really honestly creates a bad kind of connotation with your family saying you don't like this, you can just eat whatever you want. In reality, we want to kind of get people into this idea of let's try things.
00;12;59;19 - 00;13;17;04
Speaker 1
That's not to say you're going to like everything, but at least if you're trying different things, then you're learning what you do. Like you're being open minded and you're really you're opening yourself up to just try different things and explore what it is you truly like. Because a lot of times I'm guilty of it too. Obviously I don't like that.
00;13;17;14 - 00;13;33;28
Speaker 1
And then I'm like, Actually, I don't know if I've ever tried it more often than that. When I say teamwork makes the dream work, find your tribe, find your people. I know I have already said, you know, kind of on those first things was, not everyone's going to support you. Now everyone's going to understand your journey, and that's okay.
00;13;34;05 - 00;13;53;02
Speaker 1
But you definitely want to surround your yourself with people that are going to support you. Now, doesn't mean everyone in your your circle is going to support you, but you need those go to people that you can say, Hey, this is where I'm at with this. I need a little pep talk. Sometimes that is having a personal trainer or self-help coach or whatever the case may be.
00;13;53;08 - 00;14;14;15
Speaker 1
Sometimes that's just being part of a community who is there to support you, who when you say, this is what I'm struggling with, and they say, Oh my gosh, me too. Or you say, I'm struggling with this. And they're like, I've been there. This is what helped me to find that community, that that group of people that's going to be your core people that really helped drive home this new lifestyle.
00;14;14;15 - 00;14;34;04
Speaker 1
Because when I say fitness journey, fitness journey, it doesn't have an end date, it doesn't expire. It is something that continues to go on and on and on as long as you're pouring into it and your journey is going to change based on different times of your life, and that is perfectly fine. But find people that are going to support you no matter which part of that you're in.
00;14;34;04 - 00;15;08;00
Speaker 1
And sometimes people might not be able to support you by joining you, but that doesn't mean that they can't support you in what you're doing and kind of continuing to encourage you to keep going forward. Now, another big thing that I learned and continue to work on daily is learning to forgive my past and present self. So all the things that I have done to myself in the past and things that I still currently do to myself on a daily basis, I've got to learn to forgive myself because if I don't forgive myself, I can't really truly move forward with this journey.
00;15;08;00 - 00;15;34;26
Speaker 1
I can't be accepting of this person I am now. If I can't appreciate and forgive myself for the past versions of myself. So sometimes you do need that kind of reminder to say, Hey, Faith, you had had an eating disorder and that's okay. And I'm sorry that I put you through those things and and kind of go ahead and give give it the space it needs so you can move on.
00;15;34;26 - 00;15;52;08
Speaker 1
Because if you don't ever address it, you know, it kind of goes back to where I said my body image was attached to my past trauma coming back to that, if you never unpack it, you're constantly in the state of this unforgiveness and you just you hold a lot more weight than you realize when you hold on to stuff like that.
00;15;52;08 - 00;16;14;07
Speaker 1
So I've learned to forgive my past self, but I'm also forgiving myself in the present because there are times where I'll put on something and I'm like, Oh, that doesn't look good. And then I have to stop and remind myself that that wasn't kind. I wasn't speaking kindly to myself. And while that outfit might not have been suitable for my body, that doesn't mean that I personally look bad.
00;16;14;16 - 00;16;33;25
Speaker 1
It's just that maybe that doesn't look the best on me. But I've got again, tell myself, Hey, I'm. I am sorry that I am in that headspace right now, but you've got to learn to forgive yourself for the way that we treat ourselves in the past and the present, because that's going to make a big difference in our future selves.
00;16;33;25 - 00;17;05;02
Speaker 1
So learning to forgive. If you take nothing else from this, learn to forgive yourself and the things that you've done to yourself in the past so you can move forward. And the last one I want to leave you with is consistency over perfection. I know a lot of people, myself included. I'm a little type-A sometimes, but that whole mentality of all in or nothing is so detrimental because this is meant to be a lifestyle change, not just a means to an end.
00;17;05;02 - 00;17;23;19
Speaker 1
A quick fix. Like once I get to a certain way, I'm going to be done being healthy. Well, that doesn't make any sense because if you want to continue to be healthy, you've got to continue to work on this journey. And a lot of that is going to take place inside of you. It's in it's within, not these external things that we tend to.
00;17;23;28 - 00;17;40;26
Speaker 1
They kind of get us there. But really the true journey, the real lifestyle change comes from within. So we want to be consistent. We want to say, you know, if my goal is to show up for five workouts now, if you're someone who says you want to show up for seven workouts, you've already kind of set yourself up for failure.
00;17;41;04 - 00;17;58;15
Speaker 1
So I would like to shoot small. And if you if you get a little bit above the median, then you're doing great. But if you're somebody who says, I need a workout seven days a week and you're only realistically able to show up for three, how much pressure does that put on you? And you're constantly feeling like you're failing in reality.
00;17;58;15 - 00;18;17;06
Speaker 1
You've just set yourself up for just something that you cannot achieve. So we want to be consistent, but we also want to be realistic. And in that consistency, we want to say we want to work out four times a week, great, We're going to work out four times a week. We want to eat at home well-balanced meals five days a week.
00;18;17;19 - 00;18;35;21
Speaker 1
Great. These are great things. These are pretty attainable. Now, where the consistency comes in over the perfection is okay, so I want for workouts, but my family wants to do something on Friday night and I've only hit three workouts. Where can we what can we do? That is going to be a workout that I can do with my family.
00;18;35;21 - 00;19;00;24
Speaker 1
So trampoline park, going skating, there are other things you can do. We get this idea of a workout is only you can only check that box if it's that very standard, I'm going to the gym, I'm working out. That's it. And that's not what workout and fitness is, is truly about. It's about finding other ways to get in movement because you really want to get in some form of movement every day if possible.
00;19;00;24 - 00;19;22;29
Speaker 1
And sometimes that looks like a walk, sometimes that looks like an hour in the gym, but not always. So be willing to adjust and still stay consistent. We don't have to be perfect and get out of that mindset of, okay, if I'm already eating bad, I might as well not exercise or mardy eating bad on Friday. I'll just wait till Monday to eat better.
00;19;23;14 - 00;19;45;22
Speaker 1
Stop having that mentality and say, okay, well I indulged in this, but I'm going to also workout tonight so it's not a big deal. Have a better mindset. Be willing to say consistent again that discipline is going to come into play. You do need to set up some realistic goals so you can be disciplined to stick with them so you can be consistent.
00;19;46;01 - 00;20;11;10
Speaker 1
And then we just have to get out of that mindset of every week is going to be perfect. If it's not perfect, I'm not doing enough. I'm not good enough because it just comes back to again, you feeling like you're not good enough. And a lot of that is going to be those internal battles. And while it's so easy to see change on the outside, we forget that the most change that really is going to be the biggest difference is what's happening on the inside.
00;20;11;17 - 00;20;32;29
Speaker 1
And those inside things are what is going to make your journey successful, sustainable and lifelong. So I hope you found this helpful. Guys. If you did, I would love if you would subscribe to this podcast and like and leave a review, that would be super helpful. This is a great way for others to find us, and I thank you guys so much for being here.
00;20;33;07 - 00;20;48;03
Speaker 1
And until next ten, stay beautiful.
