While sharing Christmas with my fiance’s family I got into a good discussion with her sister in law about the upcoming year.
“I really need to get past the holidays and prioritize my health again,” she said.
I asked her, “what does that mean for you?”
She went on to share that she doesn’t feel good in her body and and her mind.
- Brain fog.
- Lower self esteem/confidence.
- Fatigue.
- 20-30lbs+ overweight.
- Skipping breakfast.
- Irritable.
- No exercise.
- GI distress.
- All carbohydrate diet.
And on top of it all, “I barely drink enough water, maybe 2 cups a day.”
Ashley lives in Boston with her husband and 3 year old daughter. She’s a stay at home with her busy little one.
She went on “I have a rower at home I just need to start using the thing.”
As she was describing her struggles and pain points, advice flies out at her from other family members. From love of course yet I know this all too well.
She’s struggling and these little nuggets of advice feel difficult to implement and lead to overwhelm and not actually doing them at all.
These struggles are ones I actually hear quite often when I meet people in our consultation process.
Sedentary Lifestyle: A tendency to prioritize convenience over physical activity, leading to prolonged periods of inactivity and difficulty integrating exercise into daily routines.
Nutritional Choices: Frequent reliance on processed foods and unhealthy snacks, leading to poor dietary habits, irregular meal patterns, and an overall lack of balanced nutrition.
Inadequate Hydration: Consistently failing to drink enough water, often resulting in dehydration, fatigue, and diminished cognitive function.
Time Management and Prioritization: Struggling to create time for self-care amidst busy schedules, leading to the neglect of personal health in favor of other responsibilities.
Mental Barriers: Battling negative self-talk, stress, and anxiety, which undermine drive and personal motivation, further creating a cycle of unhealthy habits and poor self-image.
All these stack and stack and stack, leading us to not feel good in or about who we are.
And nothing changes, until we change.
Knowing what Ashley was up against, I remained curious and kept asking her questions.
I also wanted to gauge, did she know how to create progress, small wins and momentum?
Because all the things she shared that she and the average person face can certainly feel overwhelming, which could prevent her from acting all together.
Knowing she had little time, a small child she was watching around the clock and the way she was speaking, Ashley sounded unsure of where to start and what to actually implement.
Asking permission: I asked her – would you be open if I shared some thoughts with you that might be helpful and easy to implement?
She was all ears.
Here’s some simple advice I gave Ashley:
Make everything simple and winnable.
You’ve got a lot on your plate, if we make healthy lifestyle changes too challenging they will feel overwhelming and stack on our already stacked plate and set us up to fail and either not do or give up quickly.
- The easiest place to begin feeling better is drinking more water. How can I commit to that? Is it buying a water bottle and ensuring I drink 2 full servings of it within the day? The win is completing 2 within the day. It’s doable versus some complex math problem for you weighing ½ your bodyweight in ounces every time adding all these steps on top of 47 other things you must do. Drink 2 bottles. Start there.
- Protein. Protein is going to be your biggest domino in regards to your nutrition.
I educated Ashely briefly on how the recipe for feeling the way she was…
No exercise + poor diet that is all energy storing and not being used = feeling crappy and gaining unwanted weight. Riding the insulin waves and crashes of constant up and down. She nodded right along.
Now to immediately change her diet all together, might be too much right now.
To put this massive task of meal prep, in my opinion is a daunting first step.
We need easy wins that create momentum. That show us it’s possible and get us feeling good.
If we began to just focus on adding protein at each meal, eat it first it’s the start she needs.
We talked about the benefits of how it will fill up your stomach, so you’ll eat less carbs, you’ll feel better, have more and sustained energy and it will help your muscles and bones stay strong to play with Vivi and do all the things you need to do daily.
I did tell her, a long term goal is to get 80-100% of bodyweight in protein a day.
For now, all we want to do is focus on just adding it in, eating it first and have it at every meal.
- The Exercise. We need to make your return to working out – easy to implement, achievable and winnable. You have had a long layoff. Here’s what I suggested.
Commit to 3 days a week, 10 minutes total – on the rower.
Accumulate that 10 minutes HOWEVER you like and need to .
ie: 10 random 1 minute row sessions throughout your day – between vacuuming, dishes, and playing with Vivi her daughter. Done.
2 x 5 minutes. Done.
She’s down for a nap and you can get all 10 minutes in? Even better.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s just about being doable.
It doesn’t have to be hard, and honestly, to start, it shouldn’t be. It’s just about starting and moving.
10 minutes however you can accumulate it – 3x a week.
If the weekends when your hubby is home are even better places for you to stack 2 days great.
Just start.
That was it. There was a lot more we discussed, but like many others, Ashley just needs momentum.
She needed easy things she could wrap her mind around and implement without it being overly complicated, stressful or too much too soon.
Down the line – will added core work, meal prep and more water be beneficial? Absolutely.
Give it all to her now and all the things we “should” be doing can stop us in our tracks and naturally we stick with the easy path – no daily exercise, quick, cheap, unhealthy eating and skipping meals and our health, body and mind suffer.
Where like Ashely can you simplify an area you want to improve and make it winnable and just start to create momentum?
Quick Story of How I used this method to get back on track:
For me – I fell off my morning reading, journaling and self care practice routine after our annual family trip to Florida in early December.
I found myself struggling to “get back into” that mode.
I gave myself grace with the transition coming out of vacation and the upcoming holidays, yet just like my guidance to Ashley – I made a commitment to get back to it.
It’s how and when I feel best.
So how did I do it?
Instead of “I must read 15-20 min and journal 750 words…” like I had been doing – I removed the musts – and said – get any amount of reading in, and any amount of writing. Just start.
I would have 2 good days, then miss a day.
Imperfect at best.
All good though. Keep going. Build the momentum.
And each day and week I kept building momentum to now I am fully back to reading 15-20+ min and journaling 750+ words on 750words.com
We all fall off.
We all lose steam, momentum and make choices that steer us off what we know as the optimal path.
The longer we’re off, the HARDER it is to find what feeling good feels like.
I completely understand that.
Hope does not need to be lost, you can feel good again, even better than you are now or once knew.
Make it winnable – and just start!
Coach Shawn
Need help?
If you need help – support and a coach to guide you through to a healthier lifestyle and movement practice – to feeling good again, looking and feeling your best
Book a consultation. Let’s get together and talk.
Deciding enough is enough is how it begins.
Next, a no stress conversation is where you create momentum.
Create momentum for yourself here:www.railroadcrossfit.com