Are You Ready to Stick to a Fitness/Nutrition Plan?

Hello friends!

Welcome back to this week's episode of It Takes Grit!

Before we get started today, I want to share that we have incredible guests lined up, so make sure that you are subscribed on YouTube, iTunes, or Spotify to make sure that you have this podcast saved so you don’t miss out. These amazing guests will share their stories, testimonials, tips, and tricks on how they've got to where they are today. Remember — that’s what this podcast is all about.

It's about the grit that you need to close that gap between where you are right now and where you want to go. In this episode, we're going to talk about fitness and nutrition and how to stay on track. Everybody gets excited at the beginning of the year in January, and everyone’s fired up and ready to go — then something happens and we start to taper off. I'm going to share with you the five areas that help me focus on what I want to achieve to stay organized and on-track.

Before I jump into the episode, I wanted to share that my own journey with learning how to stick to a fitness and nutrition plan hasn’t been a smooth one. I used to be all over the place, and even now sometimes I can still slip and be a little bit of a hot mess, but I've figured things out and created structure into my plan. I realized the other day while preparing for this podcast — we always talk about why we want to be healthy and follow a nutrition plan and exercise. I'm going to switch that thinking to offer you another perspective today in case you’re one of the people struggling with why.

Let's get started with the five steps to help you stick to your fitness and nutrition plan !

#1: Who Do You Want to Be?

Forget about you in a year’s time — let's just think about you for this month in which you’re currently reading this post. Think about who you want to be this month — Just the next 30 days — it can help you stick to your plan. Here are some points to ponder:

Do you want to be somebody who shows up for the workouts?
Do you want to be someone who eats right and feeds your body great nutrition?
Do you want to be someone who stays hydrated?
Do you want to be somebody who has good energy?
Do you want to be someone who does your meditation?

Write down your answers to these questions, and get specific about the type of person that you want to be. If you answered “yes” to all of the above then you're already halfway there! But be honest with yourself, and if you aren’t someone who wants to work out and eat healthy (yet!), then it's going to be very hard to think about sticking to a nutrition and fitness plan long term. This is why focusing on the next month helps make the adjustment easier. Half the battle is getting excited about being the person that moves their body every day for improved energy levels. As long as you have that desire in you and you're emotionally connected to the person that you want to become, it's going to be much easier for you to stay on track.

Take a moment to think about that right now, and write down what type of person you want to be. Remember, when you're really clear about something, you are more likely to take action. When you take more action, you get more results. When you have more results, you build more belief!

To kickstart your desire into action, why not click the link to join our Five Day Better You Program where you can find out more about a customized plan for you. It's five videos from me, plus you connect with your coach each day to discuss what you're learning, what you're seeing, what you're hearing, and what you're feeling, and then they'll create a customized nutrition plan just for you. If you decide that you want to keep going, they're going to be there to support you every single step of the way.

Let’s look at step number two.

#2: How Do You Treat Your Body?

I believe in treating our bodies like gold, which means paying close attention to what we eat over the course of a week instead of just meal to meal. As an example, the only time that I typically have a dessert or alcohol is when I go out for dinner — which is maybe once a week or once every two weeks. I typically share a dessert with somebody and I might have one drink — you guys know how much I love my prosecco or a margarita!

I don’t have any dessert at home. In fact, I don’t even keep any chocolate in the house because if I do, it's going to get demolished! Even if you guys have kids, are you really sure that you want to be feeding your kids that kind of food? What you feed your body is just as important as what you feed your kid's or your partner's body.

Jim Rohn says, “Look after your body, it's the only place that you have to live.” That's such an important thing to remember when you ask yourself, “How am I treating my own body?”

This is not about limiting yourself or saying you can’t eat certain foods at all — everything in moderation, as long as you’re making sure you feed your body nutritious foods throughout the week like a protein shake, maybe some aloe tea, and getting your vitamins through your supplements and through good nutrition.

Remember, treating your body like gold and feeding your body good nutrition means you will have more energy, feel lighter, and live happier. By paying close attention to this in the short term, your good choices will start to quickly add up and turn into your routine. I also recommend sitting down in the evenings to enjoy dinner with your significant other or your family to create a healthy and enjoyable experience.

Let’s look at the next step.

#3: Making the Routine to Fit Your Schedule

I often hear people talking about how they’re too busy to work out or make themselves breakfast — or even too busy to make snacks! It’s time to switch the mindset because our minds and bodies are the most important things we need to schedule time for to look after and keep healthy.

I plan my month out and make sure everything, including my workouts and meal prepping, is in my diary so I know exactly what I need to do and when. That way, I’m removing any guesswork, and I simply follow the plan!

By getting organized like this, you set yourself up for success and make it easier to stay on track with not only your routine but also things like your business or even your relationships. By scheduling them in your calendar and having a solid plan, you are more likely to take action.

By doing this, you ultimately end up creating a list of what you need for our next step.

#4: Make Things Non-Negotiables

One of my non-negotiables is moving my body for 30 minutes every day, whether it's going for a walk, taking the dogs out, or stretching.

In two years’ time, you don’t want to be suffering from a disease or something that’s a direct result of not taking care of yourself. We want you to be the healthiest and happiest you can be now and in the future — and that will make making things like meal planning and exercise part of your non-negotiable things to do.

I recommend writing a list of what your non-negotiables are. Here are some of mine:

Having breakfast every day
Working out
Meditation

What are your non-negotiables, and how will you fit them into your schedule?

Let’s jump into the final step.

#5: What Are You Getting Excited About?

Do you get excited about training and food? What exercises are you most excited about, and which foods can you not wait to eat again? If you have things in your life that just don’t fill you with excitement, what do you think will happen? It makes it harder and harder for you to keep building momentum on your quest to build a sustainable habit and lifestyle. This is where we can use language in the early stages to help our brains — keep telling yourself, “I'm excited to work out! I'm excited to show up! I'm excited to fuel my body with the best nutrition! I'm excited to cook healthy food! I'm excited to share that with other people! I'm excited to do this!”

Get excited about the person you’re going to become by sticking to your nutrition and fitness plan. Think about the outcome, and remember we started with “Who do you want to be?”

Now we’ve come full circle finishing with, “What are you excited about?” I'm sure you're excited about becoming the person you envision.All the other steps we spoke about in the middle, that's the work to get there!

Implement the things we’ve spoken about to create your results with no judgment and no focus on where you're at right now — the focus is about moving forward and learning from the past with what worked and what didn't work.

Think about the people you're going to inspire with that self-discipline you cultivate inside of yourself to get the results that you want. As you create more action, you generate more belief, and you’ll become more confident. Now, you’re in a fantastic circle that propels you to keep taking more action and continuing to feel your best. I'm excited to see the results from your transformations as you build your healthy routines around nutrition and fitness — and who knows? Maybe you’ll start holding a plank for five to six minutes! Whatever your goal is, tracking your progress and seeing it helps you stay excited about what you’re doing. It also gives you a great base to figure out what you enjoy, what’s working, what’s not working, and keep showing up with a schedule that you can always redefine as you progress.

Keep pushing yourself to get better and evolve.

A Glimpse into Rebecca’s Day

I thought I would share what my day looks like to give you an example of what you can aim for.

First, I start every day with a jug of lemon water to stay hydrated before I have my first protein shake full of vitamins and minerals. Next, I'll have a mid-morning snack — and here’s a hot tip: I order everything from Instacart, and they can only deliver what you click on! If it’s not in my nutrition plan it’s not in my basket. And best of all? I just have to click reorder for the next time.

My healthy snacks of choice are:

Cottage cheese
Boiled eggs
Greek yogurt
Avocado on toast with some scrambled egg
Fruits like blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (lower in sugar and higher in antioxidants)

Next is lunch, and here’s a great way to visualize how much you need of each food group — the palm of your hand is the amount of protein, bring your hands together for a scoop full of vegetables, and a fist represents your complex carbs. I'm a pescatarian, so I either have tuna, salmon, or tofu as my protein together with some sweet potatoes and some salad.

Then, I have another protein snack a couple of hours afterward, making sure I'm eating every two to three hours to fuel my brain and body, and lastly for dinner, I follow the same process as lunch — just choosing different proteins, vegetables, and greens.

I keep it really simple and focus on feeding my body good nutrition, and this is how I’ve structured the plan we give you on the Five Day Better You Program.

Working out is a very different story because sometimes I get my workouts with you guys when we have live events or I’m recording a new video. I like to stretch, so I enjoy hot yoga a couple of times a week. I've got 20-pound weights at home if the gym is closed. Otherwise, I enjoy going to the gym to use the squat rack and other equipment.

We're doing live workouts every Saturday on the YouTube channel, 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time, so put that in your schedule! I plan my whole month ahead so I know when I'm going to work out, what I'm doing, where I'm going, where I need to be, and what my goals are.

Closing Thoughts (And Don’t Forget to Download the BTES App!)

Thank you so much for joining me today on the It Takes Grit! podcast. I hope this was valuable for you. Share it with somebody who needs a little inspiration, and who knows? Maybe you can be that vehicle for somebody right now and help them change their perspective to start getting great results.

I would love to hear from you — let me know which step you found most useful, and tag me on Instagram @rebeccalouisefitness, or watch the full video on my YouTube channel, then just give us a little note below to tell us which one you’re working on first!

If you’d like to take the next step on your journey, head on over to rebeccalouisecoaching.com, and if you want us to walk you step by step through the process, download the BTES App and let us take your health to the next level!