Warning – you have to face your reality, answer to yourself truthfully and believe in your actions.
Does the Sprint for your best body continue to get in the way with your ability to live your best life? This is not a sprint. Consistency always wins the lifestyle.
Living fit does not mean sacrifice, deprivation or restriction. It also does not have qualifications to start. Your healthiest lifestyle will welcome you with open arms whenever you decide to start, continue or progress. There is no age limit, no weight restriction, no past experiences necessary and there is also no limit to what you can do when you feel your best.
If you constantly strive for ‘better than’ you will miss the ability to achieve ‘your best’.
If you live your life to achieve someone else’s results, you will never experience living to your full potential.
Your goals are unique to you and whatever your reason/goal or aspiration might be, the point here is that you started. You know you want your future self to be better. Amazing choice and congratulations!
As we have started this lifestyle together, we have touched on getting started, setting goals, conquering social temptations and common excuses…but are you still on your healthiest lifestyle path? Has a quick fix along the way appealed to you? Have you seen someone else’s results and wished they were yours? Have you made excuses for yourself for others’ successes? ‘That person must not enjoy food’ or ‘that lady has never had kids’ or ‘that person is young and has all the time in the world to workout’ or ‘that person is self absorbed and superficial’. These are some common misconceptions that come to our minds when we see someone we compare ourselves to doing ‘life’ better than us.
Reality Check - It’s ok to have moments of doubt and to want the best life for yourself, but do not want your best life in spite of someone else or judge others best life as a result of nothing less than hard work. We do not have control over anyone’s situation but our own.
Money, beauty, fit bodies, confidence…this all takes work. Envy is not a good look on anyone. Realize that there is enough room in this world for us all to be successful. The success and happiness that comes when you stop paying attention to the noise and image everyone around you is trying to sell, you become your most successful self and start living your healthiest lifestyle.
So Holly, how do we can stop dieting and start living?
The answer is easy:
We stop dieting and we START LIVING!
Unfortunately, we associate looking our best with success, celebrations and trips. We want to look good, wear the trending fashions, rock a bikini…we usually see our best selves as thinner/smaller size. With this perceived ‘success’, others will often congratulate you on shrinking a size or two and ask you for advice so they too can achieve this same ‘success’.
It is unfortunate that visually we succeed to others first and the thought of FEELING our best comes second. Don’t get me wrong, compliments give everyone swagger and help us move on with our days in a positive manner, carrying that energy forward, but to set ourselves apart from the sprint (body first) and set ourselves up for lifestyle (consistency – mind heart and body), our achievements must start internally. A healthy mind and heart results in a strong, confident and beautiful body that will carry you forward through every new adventure that comes your way.
You see, when we solely set a goal in body, we set ourselves up for short-term results, but do not educate ourselves for long term success. We are each uniquely capable of living fit each day, but the method to get there unique with our vision of a successful lifestyle.
Why the sprint (body first) is not conducive to living our healthiest Lifestyle (consistency – mind heart and body):
Body first – usually weight loss. We set the goal when we book the trip/celebration/summer is upon us, usually 2-3 months. We train torturously, slave to a diet – which, by the way, diet is always temporary – to achieve the goal or close to it….the months go by and we are either at or close to goal, but it is irrelevant because the trip or occasion is upon us and we are excited to spend the next week ruining the foundation we have just laid. Most of us don’t realize that ignorance is not bliss and months of hard work can and will be ruined if you choose to forego everything you have worked for leading up to it. We usually justify our holiday actions with memories of fitness torture and months of starvation…and holiday actions usually mean celebrating by going off plan, eating and drinking whatever we want for a week straight and never seeing the sites of the hotel gym and the only time we exert ourselves with a swim is to swim up to the pool bar for a refill.
Ummm…was it worth it? Saying goodbye to all healthy habits that got you to your ‘bikini body’ for a week is like celebrating sobriety by getting drunk. Hypocritical if you ask me. When we chose to face reality and start our fitness routine again, we usually feel as though we have failed. All torture is forever linked with fitness and dieting and all fun times are linked with ignorance and vacation. Another reality check. We do not live on vacation, nor should we want to associate happiness with reckless behavior.
How do we stop this cycle?
To stop the sprint for results with the reward of ruin, set yourself up for a consistent lifestyle of health and happiness and living this life to it’s fullest!
- Set the goal to live your healthiest lifestyle. Start realizing your own goals and achievements and enjoying your hard work paying off for life.
- Stop dieting 4-6 times out of the year with periods of ignorance, causing havoc to your health in the long run and setting yourself up for a harder road to success the next time you decide to commit.
- Get used to temptation, if you choose to see these things as tempting, you will subconsciously tell yourself that you want what you can’t have…but do you really want it?
- Decide what it is you want out of yourself.
Change your mindset to change your life by asking yourself the right questions:
? What in your life is great right now?
The other morning I was upset with the weather and when I walked out to the kitchen and expressed my look of disappointment to my husband, he instantly said; ‘you are not asking yourself the right questions. What in your life is great right now? ‘ Although this is not what I wanted to hear, it made me think positively and absolutely. Why cry about the things that are not in our control?
Choose to focus on the great and by doing this, you continue to make great things happen. It is my choice.
? What in your life is hindering your success?
To succeed in change, we must clear out the distractions, the temptations, the things that we allow to get in our way when we are venturing for success. Take control of what is in your life and set yourself up for success.
? What do I want?
This is a big one. Your actions today, must align with the results you want. You will not fail if you choose to succeed. Your success may look different than originally forecasted, but you always succeed in progressing towards what you were meant to receive.
? Am I prepared to accept success?
Resentment is a form of guilt felt when potential is not realized. Your success may result in resentment from others. You must prepare yourself for this. Accept this and do not apologize for your success. Wish success to others and move forward.
One day I was listening to inspirational talks on my soundcloud while doing a headstand and I’m not sure if the fact that I was upside down is the reason this quote has stuck with me; ‘all hate is formed from unrealized potential’. This is so true! We are all where we are supposed to be at this exact moment, to choose change and to move in a positive direction, we must accept responsibility and act positively. We are all capable of realizing our potential. It’s as simple as that!
So here are your quick fixes to rock a banging body, a beautiful smile, a positive attitude and a successful life for days and years to come. The truth is there is nothing quick about them. They take work, consistency and confidence but are achievable to everyone that chooses to accept them whenever and wherever that may be:
Choose your success.
Change your mindset.
Clear the clutter.
Accept responsibility
Educate yourself on how you feel when you achieve.
When we live our healthiest in Mind Heart and Body, our transformations become so much more than losing inches, weight loss, self-deprivation to achieve a number and rewarding ourselves with gluttony and ignorance.
Once you answer the above, do not try to accomplish this lifestyle alone; it takes a team.
Do not ask for acceptance, demand support by making this decision for you and not expecting it to be easy. There will be bad days, there will be weak days, there will be self-doubt, there will be external doubt.
You can overcome anything you choose to if you decide that you are worth it.
The best decision I made was to stop taking everything into my own hands. I started working with an mhbworld.com coach and found out how effective it is to work with someone that has my best interests in mind and who has and continues to educate me on living life! We continue to discover what it means for me to achieve anything I want and to live my life as though it is a new adventure every day! I love this lifestyle and every accomplishment, achievement and ability to inspire that comes along with living it. I stopped thinking that I did not deserve it, I stopped asking for acceptance, I started believing that I was capable and I know that whatever my day throws my way, I can get through it on the sunny side of it. I carry this forward and wish it to you.
I know you may have thought that this article would be a ‘how to’ on what to eat to get fit and ripped and to lose the belly fat, but the truth to living your best is accepting the ability to educate yourself, to use the resources available to all of us and to start acting responsibly. The information is out there and we are all privy to the knowledge of what living ‘our healthiest’ means to each and every one of us.
I hope that this blog post has helped you realize your potential and I am excited to continue this lifestyle with you all!
Xoxo Holly Barker