My Story ~ The Reality Of Weight Loss

I lost 47.75lbs in 22 weeks << headline number one

BUT I’d Put On 56lbs (ish) Running A Digital Business 😱

PLEASE DON’T MISS THE MESSAGE OF THIS ONE IN THE HEADLINE

Yeah, I was a skinny mini after the birth of my first child, I worked hard to get rid of the weight and to get back into my body groove.

Whilst my little lady was just a toddler I became self employed. My first self employed role was very active so initially the baby weight shifted.

Now WTF has this got to to do with running a business.

I then began to craft & create a digital business. I became a student of all things business.

I heard people talk about YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH and I thought “ah, it’s alright for you because you’ve got your business shit together ~ I’ll get back onto my fitness when……..”

I became a slave to my desk (**not good by the way) and I got out of the habit and routine and perhaps even got a bit lazy.

I Had Every BS Excuse In The Book

I told myself stories about when I’d get back to it and made up BS excuses to get away with it.

I don’t have time.   I have a business to run, a house to keep ticking over, the school run to do, kids to look after – BS!!!  I do have time to exercise and my health IS important.

It’ll stop me cracking on with my work and I’ll get “behind.”  BS!! One that I always say to my gorgeous Rockstars is behind what exactly?  What is the mystical thing you’re behind?  The truth is I am more creative and my mindset shifts have made a huge difference in how I’m running my business.

I’m too fat to……………. The one that I put in there at the very beginning was run.  I’ll be able to start running again when I’ve lost some weight, when I’ve made a stack of changes etc.  The truth was, before I had kids I loved running and the running helped all areas of my journey.  From mindset and proving that I could overcome the stories I was telling myself to leaning up and feeling hugely empowered.  I’m not advocating you have to run.  My thang is move yo ass in whatever way works for you and incorporate activity that lights you up.

I am not prepared to make excuses and with everything in life & business I make an active choice to be ALL IN. Just going through the motions doesn’t work.

Where are you making excuses?

Where are you giving the whole “it’s alright for them because….” (p.s. I’ve got a podcast on this one if you want to listen in ~ just shout up and I’ll get you to the link).

Sometimes you need a little help to overcome your own BS. Don’t struggle alone, self awareness and the right support will get you moving (whether that’s in business or moving your butt).

So, what did I actually do??

What I Did

Hydration

HUGE!! I know you know.  I knew.  I just wasn’t doing it.  I’d live on crappy liquids that weren’t supporting my health.  I was one capable but very dehydrated Rockstar.  When you’re hydrated you have a shit tonne more energy.  When you’re hydrated you feel better.  When you’re hydrated your skin’s better.  When you’re hydrated your brain functions better.  When you’re hydrated you have more clarity.

In order to not just KNOW that I should drink water and start to actually bloody execute it I enlisted the help of a 1 litre bottle.  I know that if I have a drink close by then I drink it.  I now make sure that I’ve a 1 litre bottle of water with me and without exception I do at least 2 of those throughout a day.

Nutrition 

Again, yeah yeah ~ I know.  This time I decided that I wanted to educate myself more.  I wasn’t going to have syns and banned food.  I was going to get to know what works for me and how I eat.

This journey wasn’t about purely weight loss.  I wanted to get fitter and healthier and I KNEW that a by product of that would be that I’d shed a bit of weight and tone up.

We all know the equation when it comes to weight loss.  Calories in – calories burned.  If it’s a deficit then you shed a little weight, if it’s not then you don’t and if there’s a surplus you gain a bit of weight.

I used the app ~ My Fitness Pal to start track when was going in and to educate myself about the nutrition I was giving my body.

Exercise

Aka move your butt.  For me, I’ve rekindled my love for running.  Don’t get me wrong, at first it was fucking hard.  I mean really hard.  It felt difficult, it felt heavy, it was a shuffle at best but persevering with it has REALLY paid off.  I also go swimming, I do strength sessions in the gym, I walk much more, I’m generally more active day to day.

That which is tracked improves and I’m always looking to get my steps in each and every day.

I am a huge advocate of moving your body in a way that you enjoy.  There’s no one exercise that you MUST do.

It’s also about making sure you don’t set yourself up to fail (the same with all the elements).  You don’t simply give up if you miss a day.  You won’t always want to do it.  Sometimes you’ll do it because you know you’ll feel stacks better after you have.  I’ve never regretted a work out that I’ve done.

But Here’s Some Of The Most Important Changes

🌟 TAKE WHAT YOU KNOW TO FIND OUT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW 🌟

This is a one liner that mini me uses (I presume it’s one from figuring out problems from school). I’d been trying to get fit for a little while but I wasn’t quite hitting it.

It was time to – take what I already know to find out the answers I was saying that I didn’t know.

I know business and I decided to implement lots of principles from my professional life into my journey.

① I KNOW how I work best. I know my personality and I know the things that stop me and hold me back. My self awareness is very high. I know I get bored easily so one sort of excercise wasn’t going to cut it for me. I know that it’s easier not to when it comes to working out. I know how to manage my time and motivate myself.

② I know I work well with an overarching structure but freedom to be creative within that structure

③ I know that I have all or nothing tendencies

I can work with that self awareness and implement it into life as well as business (that was an epiphany 💡 and a lightbulb moment).

🌟 PLANNING 🌟

I work best with an overarching plan which is variable and takes into account my need to try new things and different environments. A very steady routine doesn’t suit me.

🌟 YOU CAN’T BE HALF ARSED – YOU HAVE TO HAVE ALL OF YOUR ARSE IN 🌟

I’d tried to implement lifestyle changes last year but I was totally half arsed. I was therefore wasting my time. I’d see little improvements but nothing that would motivate me and I would soon give up.

Which moves us nicely into……

🌟 PATIENCE 🌟

Not my strongest virtue BUT it’s important in life and business that you keep showing up (full arsed) and doing your thing). It takes time. It’s not starting point to goal destination in seconds.

🌟 THAT WHICH IS TRACKED WILL BE IMPROVED🌟

When you don’t lie to yourself, when you write things down, when you set goals and track your action you make progress.

🌟 CELEBRATE HOW FAR YOU’VE COME 🌟

I can see my data, I can see that stats and in my fitness journey I can also see a physical representation of how far I’ve come.

Look at ways you can implement that within your business and life.

We never give ourselves credit for how far we’ve come.

🌟 YOU CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO 🌟

Once you rip away the stories and the bullshit you’re telling yourself you are just as able and capable as anyone else.

🌟 MINDSET IS THE BIGGEST GAME CHANGER – ALWAYS 🌟

As Henry Ford said – whether you think you can or you think you can’t – YOU’RE RIGHT.

I hope there’s a few little lessons in there that can support you today.

This isn’t about weight loss.

This isn’t about “eeee look at how well I’m doing”

I hope this will inspire you to be happy to accept where you are right now and know that you’re reality (even over a relatively short space of time) can be incredibly different.