One of the biggest non-scale victories I have noticed since starting my health journey is how many of you are also joining in! I take it as a huge compliment, and it is SO AWESOME to watch the ripple effect!!! Watching you guys be inspired to action is just as satisfying to me as watching my own progress emerge! It’s at the center of the mission of why I wanted to start this blog in the first place. I don’t want you to just be a spectator in my journey – I want you to be inspired to come along for the ride!
Being the best version of yourself doesn’t require a grand start. As one of my favorite authors of all-time, Lara Casey, says ‘There is nothing magical about January 1st.’ You don’t need a new year to gain momentum towards your goals. All you need is a new mindset, which is possible for anyone in any given moment! We all have the capability within us to change our identity and habits through one action at a time.
“Your habits shape your identity, and your identity shapes your habits.”
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
An action (or lack of action) is a decision, and every decision you make each day among millions of choices has a very real impact on your quality of life. Taking charge of your health is the greatest investment you can make for yourself. Preventative health does not nearly get enough attention that it fully deserves. In a world full of fit influencers and endless diet schemes, we still face an obesity crisis. Why? Because we are searching for the wrong things. We are looking for a quick fix or a “hack” or a “victory diet” to lose weight quickly without a lot of hard work or changes in our lifestyle . But without a true change in our relationship to food and exercise, we are doomed to repeat the cycle again and again.
As the old adage goes, you can’t outrun a bad diet. This is one of the HARDEST lessons it took me years of repeated failure to learn. I would do hours of cardio and still not lose a single lb. In fact, I GAINED weight. Why? Because after that hour of cardio was up, I would immediately pull up to Starbucks, and then later eat fast food at least one time a day (if not more)! In other words, I spent the remaining 15 hours of the day sabotaging all of my hard work. The next day, it would be harder to find motivation to workout, and I couldn’t work nearly as hard because I didn’t have the proper energy. I didn’t have the proper energy because I was not fueling my body with the right foods. The cardio made me super hungry, and I would reach for processed foods/carbs. And the vicious cycle would continue.
It wasn’t until I changed my relationship with food that I started seeing results. I hired an amazing nutritionist who patiently listened to every excuse I hurled her way. We came up with action steps, and even though there were many months I failed to follow the plan, she took in my testimony and data without judgement, and we kept tweaking the plan accordingly. Having gone on her own health journey, my nutritionist understood that this process takes TIME, and doesn’t happen overnight. Because identity change doesn’t occur overnight. It takes a lot of time and action steps to build that trust in ourselves, and undo the lies and excuses we tell ourselves on a daily basis. That is such a huge component of a sustainable health journey.
My hope for you is that you will evaluate what you currently tell yourself about ‘who you are’, and what behaviors don’t align with who YOU want to become. THAT is what makes your journey unique and special! Once you build that self awareness, I ultimately hope that you will give yourself the time and patience to become the person that you deserve to be. Not only for yourself, but also for your family and those that depend on you.
You don’t have to do the same exact things I do to get results. In fact, you can do the exact same things and see no results. You could see better results. There are many methods (both healthy and unfortunately unhealthy) to get results. But results, while motivating, aren’t a good marker for whether you have ‘arrived’ in your journey. All habits and results I am tracking are a product of specific action steps I have meticulously laid out based on the identity I seek to shape in my own life. We are all unique with our own set of identities shaped by the world around us. Our physical appearance doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of who we truly are. Please use this blog for inspiration, but adapt them in a way that suits your own lifestyle! I am cheering you on, kettlebelles (and kettlefellows!)
2021 by the Numbers:
Days Without Starbucks: 84 (+2 days from 2020)
Days Track All Food Intake: 84
Workouts Completed: 66
Alcohol Drinks Consumed this Year: 3
Fast Food Meals Consumed: 12 (<5% of meals consumed this year)
Money Saved so Far this Year: $876*
Lbs Lost this Year: 27.3 lbs
Lbs Left to my Goal: 41.2 lbs
*Assumes $12/meal eating out 4x/wk and based on previous purchasing history of $100/mo at Starbucks.
Amazing post as always, Stacy! I REALLY love the bottom data points too – it’s fun reading not only the health benefits of your journey but how it has affected other areas of your life (like your finances!). Keep up the great work – you are such an inspiration to many!