Happy Christmas week babe! The holiday season seriously flew by so fast. Enjoy the holidays, soak up the time with family and friends and don’t stress about the small stuff. This week is all about relaxing and enjoying!
As always, we’re always ready for the next challenge and that’s why you CAN’T miss out on the LSF 30! It’s a brand new challenge and seriously, there is no better way to start the New Year. Join us and know that you have a plan for 2021 – there’s no better feeling.
The LSF 30 Challenge
Get ready for the new year! Over the next 30 days, we’re going to sweat it out, start the year with clean nutrition and get in lots of acts of self care during the brand new LSF 30 Challenge! This challenge is completely free and gives you 30 days of workouts, recipes and a 2 day detox, and tons of self care ideas! Get ready to kick off 2021 right! Want more details? Check out the LSF 30 blog post to learn more and sign up!
Start this new year workout routine and get ready to see change!
Access the Free Daily 10 in the LSF app! Download on your itunes or google play stores.
#LSFFeelinYourselfFriday: Hello, 2021! Let’s start the new year off right: 100 BURPEES!…JK Drink an extra glass of water today!
2021 is coming and we have all the deets on how to begin your fitness journey! If you’re just starting out, or even if you need a little push to get you going again, this new blog has everything you need to know. Sometimes having a plan spelled out for you step by step is the best way to jump in and just START. Check it out!
#LSFRollCall Happy Day 1 of the LSF 30 Challenge! Breathe in something you want to conquer this challenge and breathe out anything holding you back! Share on IG
If you’re celebrating this week, I’m sending you wishes for a holly, jolly, very merry, happy, healthy Christmas.
I’m looking forward to enjoying the next couple of days with the fam (the Pilot is home for the first time in 3 years!!!!), watching Christmas Story on repeat, and rejoicing in the fact that we have zero distance learning classes and assignments to manage. 😉 I hope you have a lovely weekend! I’ll be back to regular blogging action on Monday (with the winner of the favorite things giveaway!).
Thank you so much for being here and hope you have a wonderful day.
Merry Christmas Eve! As we are getting ready for NYE next week, it’s time to really get our holiday cheer on – because, Holy Christmas! We all need a little jingle juice about now. The year that was 2020 is finally finito. And you bet we’re gonna toast that sh*t show right into our rearview mirror.
To celebrate, we have concocted an amazing holiday cocktail recipe that’s low in sugar but, oh so high in spirit! After your first sip, we think it’s likely to become a holiday tradition in your home! Our holiday cocktail recipe for ‘Merry and Bright Cocktail’ is both sweet and savory and will be the only thing you need in your hand when you’re opening presents—on Christmas Eve or even the next morning. (Sure, have yourself a boozy little Christmas! No judging!) And then whip up another batch to toast the New Year!
Our low-sugar beverage stars an unexpected ingredient: rosemary. This herb kinda looks a bit like teeny tiny pine needles, so it’s super festive ‘fir’ a holiday cocktail recipe. Also using monkfruit sweetner is so much healthier (I’ll admit, I kinda laugh every time I see the word ‘monkfruit.’ I mean, are they grown in a monestary? Lol.) Jokes aside, monkfruit is one of our fave low-calorie sweeteners used in foods and beverages as a great way to cut back on sugar consumption. It‘s so naturally sweet, you won’t be able to tell the diff. As we’ve said before, too much sugar leads to diabetes and obesity. Def something to avoid. We also include a little cranberry and lemon juice to even things out, and Viola! Let Yuletide commence.
Don’t forget Appetizers!
Oh and hey, if you’re really looking to keep the party going, how about serving some yummy appetizers? We got you covered with a plethora of delish finger food for the ultimate New Year’s Eve bash. We have some great healthy appetizers to choose from, like this sumptuous Stuffed Mushroom dish or this guilt-free Grain-Free Avocado Hummus Quesadilla Recipe! Here’s a link to some more easy appetizer recipes we have in the LSF Blog. (or get our Holiday Survival Guide and Recipe Book because some of the featured recipes are great to make all year-’round!)
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with friends and family! And please don’t forget to social distance so *yule* have a healthy start to 2021!
Merry and Bright Holiday cocktail
Ingredients:
3/4oz simple syrup (I love using liquid monkfruit sweetner!)
Sprig of rosemary
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz cranberry juice
1oz gin or alcohol of your choice
Directions:
Add everything into a shaker with ice
Shake it up!
Strain into festive glass
Top with dry champagne
Add more rosemary and cranberries to garnish and enjoy!
2021 is just a little bit away! I can hardly believe it. This year has felt LONG and I’m super ready for the fresh start.
I always feel this way about the new year, honestly. I love the chance to start totally new! It just feels like the perfect time to break bad habits and start making changes that will improve yourself or your life. I mean, that’s what New Year’s resolutions are all about, right?
What are you resolving to do next year, girl? If you’re thinking about working on your physical health, you are NOT alone. So many of the most popular New Year’s resolutions are about fitness. In fact, exercising more is the most common resolution out there, and losing weight and eating more healthily rank in the top four, too.
If fitness is a priority for you next year, I’ve got great news! We’re launching a 30 Challenge to help you start and stick with your 2021 fitness journey.
Finding what works for your fitness
The thing about New Year’s resolutions is that people usually don’t keep them for very long. No, seriously. Resolutions are pretty much a recipe for failure. Most people break their resolution by January 12. Yep, you read that right: just 12 days!
But it takes a while to make a habit. 12 days is def not enough!
When I was starting my fitness journey, it was all about sticking with it. It’s really hard at first, but I swear, it gets easier! Every day you stay on track is another day of progress, and the next day it’s a little less hard. Your cravings start to fade and you get in a routine of healthy habits.
I’ve designed the 30 Challenge (and all of our LSF challenges, workouts, etc.) from my own experience. I know what works because I spent years figuring out what doesn’t!
Don’t believe me? I’ve lived this thing, babe. Check out my story to find out how I lost 45 pounds — and have kept it off for years.
It’s really about staying the course. And I can help you do it!
That’s why we’ve got our 30 Challenge lined up for you. This is 30 days of hard-core focus on your fitness goals, and if you pull it off, you’ll get another 30 days of support!
Here’s how it works:
Start your year right with our 30 Challenge
Sign up for our 30 Challenge and we’re giving you 30 free days of the LSF Premium App. With 30 days of access, you get great workouts every day, reminders to stay on track, and a ton of support.
Plus, if you complete 30 days of sticking with the app, we’ll give you another 30 days of Premium access for FREE. Yep, that means 60 days of the app for free to help you jumpstart your fitness journey and, much more importantly, stick with it!
Once you’re two months in, you should have a groove going. All you need to do at that point is maintain your momentum and keep slaying your #goals!
But that’s not all! If you sign up for our 30 Challenge, we’ll also give you a free two-day detox to start the year, plus you’ll be entered to win our prizes. We’re giving away 15 mystery prizes, and the grand prize winner will get $2,500 cash. Pretty sweet, right?
Plus, you’ll be doing this challenge with our #TeamLSF community! There are so many amazing women focused on their fitness ready to support you. Jump in with us on Instagram to see what we’re all about — and to meet some great women who’ve made it a priority to take care of themselves.
In my experience, there are some key pieces that make a big difference when you’re trying to get healthier. I know there are about a billion diet and exercise plans out there, and each of them promises something different. But at the end of the day, you need just three things for a successful fitness journey:
A workout routine.
This is what the LSF app is all about! Seriously, we have SO MANY great workouts queued up for you in there. And we’ll give you guidance so you know what to do, when, too. Basically, the app is like a personal trainer to show you exactly how to start working out. It will help you get stronger and leaner and you can use it to get in a workout wherever you are whenever you have time!
Good nutrition.
Working out is a huge part of the fitness journey, obv. But I’ve gotta be honest: you won’t really see results unless you change the way you eat, too. This DOES NOT mean starving yourself, though. I’ve created a ton of meal plans to give you weeks and weeks of easy, nutritious, and, most importantly, delicious meals and snacks! You’ll be surprised how tasty eating healthy can be.
Accountability and support.
It’s so stinking hard to change your fitness on your own. Getting friends involved makes a HUGE difference. With our LSF community, you get people to encourage you every step of the way. Feeling a little lazy? We can help pump you up! Seriously, the support you need is right here, waiting.
2021 is calling, babe! Join us for the 30 Challenge and plug in with #TeamLSF to crush your fitness goals in the year ahead!
That means there are a ton of things that affect why you’ve gained weight over the past decade(s) and why you struggle to lose it:
Genetics
Age
Biological sex
Stress level
Home environment
Mental health
Activity level
Nutrition
All of these things play a factor in what you look like and how healthy you are. Despite these various factors, I’ve seen a common thread in people who build healthy habits and stick with them:
A Groot Mindset.
Let’s get nerdy for a second (you’re reading Nerd Fitness after all). I assume you’re familiar with Groot, the tree-like superhero from Guardians of the Galaxy. He can grow and change his shape to suit the situation.
He also only says, “I am Groot,” but that’s less applicable here.
HOW TO BUILD A GROWTH MINDSET LIKE GROOT:
Unhealthy Person: “I have a hectic job. My parents are overweight. There’s a pandemic going on. I have children. I have a slow metabolism. I’m never going to be able to lose weight. This plan won’t work for me because [excuse to let myself off the hook]. I’m the out of shape guy/gal and that’s all there is to it.”
Habit Building Badass: “I have a hectic job. My parents are overweight. There’s a pandemic going on. I have children. Soooo….How can I make this work for me in my situation? I know people like me have lost weight, which is a great sign. I refuse to accept that I am a lost cause. I am Groot.”
Even if it isn’t your fault where you are, if you can accept that it’s your personal responsibility to deal with it then you’re taking a huge first step.
We all have emotional, visceral responses to what we see in the mirror or how we feel when we wake up.
We need to cut through the emotion and get to the truth: we alone are responsible for our fate, and that means we alone can fix it.
Like Groot, you can change and grow.
And dance.
You’ll learn that your excuses are moot – if busier, poorer, older, and more overweight people than you can get in shape, you can too.
And yep, people have even got in shape during our current Apolocalyse Simulator.
So, decide TODAY that this year you are “a healthy, habit-building badass” and then simply do the things that perpetually healthy nerds do.
With each meal or each decision, ask yourself “what would a healthy person do?” And then do that.
2. Know Your “Big Why”.
The road to perpetual weight loss and healthiness is fraught with peril.
Even the best-laid plans and New Years Resolutions will end up in a ditch on the side of the road unless you have a damn good reason.
After all, life gets busy and it’s Taco Tuesday and a new video game just came out and schools are closed and you just don’t feel like exercising and it’s cold.
There will ALWAYS be something.
You will never NOT be busy.
That perseverance will form from a damn good answer to the question: “Why?”
Not just “Because I need to lose weight,” but 2-3 levels deeper:
WHY do you want to lose weight?
What will losing weight mean for your life or happiness?
What will you be able to do thanks to that weight loss?
That’s the motivation and answer you need to be reminded of to persevere over the next few months.
If your answer is: “I’m here because my doctor/wife/husband thinks I should lose weight. I know I should exercise more and do more,” you are doomed. You will give up at the first sign of adversity.
Compare this to the raw, deep, honest answers we get from NF Coaching Clients when we ask about their “Big WHY”:
“I’m here because my dad died of a heart attack at age 45, and I don’t want my kids growing up without a father like I did.”
“I’m here because I want my husband/wife to look at me the way he/she used to, and I want us to grow old together.”
“I’m here because I just got dumped and I want to get healthy so I can start dating again. I don’t want people swiping left on my photos anymore.”
“I’m here because I want to look in the mirror and be proud of what I see. I want to stop hiding behind others in photographs.”
Why are you here? Why do you want to build healthy habits?
Write down your Great Big Why – and go deep, my friend. Way down. And ask yourself “Why?” to the answer of each of your questions until you get to the root of your reason for being here.
Once you write that answer down, hang it up somewhere you can see it every day: fridge, home office, bathroom mirror. Accept responsibility for your current situation, be compassionate that you’re in a tough spot, and then ALSO accept that you CAN change, and your identity can change with small wins that prove it.
3. don’t go on a diet. adjust Your nutrition.
Perpetually unhealthy people have a love/hate relationship with diets.
Mostly hate.
They go on diets all the time – especially in early January, and then they go off diets. And then they go on another diet. And then they find another diet that’s supposed to promise even faster, easier weight loss, so they switch to that one.
Unhealthy people get dieting wrong from the start, and this is what dooms them.
Unhealthy people go on a diet for a month or two, and they can’t wait to go back to “eating normally.”
The problem is that their “eating normally” is the reason why they’re overweight in the first place.
They go Keto for a month and have success, then fall off…then go Paleo for 6 weeks and lose 40 pounds, and then fall off…then they do a cleanse for 30 days and drop 2 pant sizes, and then fall off…
Temporary changes to one’s eating results in temporary results to one’s weight and physique.
Like an addict chasing the next high, somebody consistently has to chase the next diet because their normal eating is the problem in the first place!
Starvation, eliminating favorite foods, and trying to use willpower to avoid candy and sweets is a terrible strategy. So stop doing it.
No wonder people abandon diets as soon as they start them; they think, “If this is what it takes to be skinny, I’d rather stay out of shape and happy.”
This year, make a pledge to NOT go on a diet.
Instead, come to terms with this: “My concept of ‘normal eating’ is broken, which means that needs to change permanently in order for me to get healthy permanently.”
Think about that for a second.
If you “never get to be done” with your nutrition, and you can’t go back to how you were eating before, then the ONLY way permanent success happens is if you actually enjoy your new “normal.”
Stop going on diets!
No more diet pills, cleanses, or crazy 30-day strategies.
Nothing you do can be temporary, or the results will be temporary.
Instead, you are going to make deliberate, incremental permanent changes to your daily nutrition, slowly, over a period of many months.
If you are afraid of giving up something, don’t! Make unhealthy foods more of a treat and less of a daily indulgence:
If giving up soda forever is scary, slowly cut back from 12 a day down to one a day.
If giving up pasta forever sounds like a life not worth living, learn about portion sizes and make it an experience (only at restaurants, for example).
When you think about getting healthy this year, think in terms of days and years, not weeks and months:
Know that it took years for you to get to your current physique, and it’s going to take months if not years to correct it. This means you HAVE to enjoy the journey.
Once you accept that you never get to be “done,” you can start picking small adjustments or changes that won’t scare you away from adhering to your plan.
4.know what’s in the food You eat.
Did you know that when it comes to weight loss, your nutrition choices will account for 90% of your success or failure?
Tattoo this on your forehead. Hire somebody to skywrite it above your home every day. Pay somebody to call you every morning and remind you of this fact.
Whatever it takes to get you to realize that changing your eating habits will be the fastest (and only) path to weight loss in 2021.
And it starts by educating yourself about your food.
Make a habit of knowing what’s in the food you eat!
Whether it’s portion control, calorie counting, tracking macros, or even keeping a food journal, it’s important to have a rough idea of the total calories and nutritional breakdown of the food you consume regularly.
After all, GI Joe tells us that “Knowing is half the battle!”
The other half is lasers:
With each meal tracked, these habits add up to knowing what needs to happen every day for you to get healthy.
Once you know how many calories you should be eating every day, you can start to make more informed decisions on foods that fill you up but are low in calories:
Spoiler alert: as we point out in our healthy eating guide, it’s healthy protein, fruits, veggies, and correct portions of healthy carbs.
It’ll come together and look sort of like this:
Plus, once you learn to read a nutrition label, you can start to avoid marketing hype and buzzwords and focus on the actual product!
For example, here are two different beverages:
Coca-Cola (20 oz): 240 calories, 65 g of carbs (65 g of sugar)
Naked Juice Green Machine (15 oz): 270 calories, 63 g of carbs (55 g of sugar)
Look at those two things above: one is a can of cola that you know is bad for you, the other is marketed as a “healthy beverage.”
Neither one is great for you, and the calories must be accounted for in your daily intake.
Learn about the food you’re eating. You’re an adult, you can take 3 minutes and Google it.
Once you know the composition of your meals, you can start to make subtle adjustments or change quantities over time as you start to approach a healthier weight.
Be okay with “good enough” to start, and get more accurate as time goes on.
Don’t overthink this: Write down what you eat every day for a week. If your weight isn’t changing, adjust down total calories, and minimize sugar consumption and see how your weight changes.
Make small adjustments over time and see how your body responds.
Speaking of goals…
5. Use Blueprints and Blocks to Create Goals.
Perpetually unhealthy people say things like “I’m going to exercise more this year!”
Goals like this are cloudy with no real markers for success.
With no beacon guiding them, perpetually unhealthy people don’t know if they’re on track, and there’s no accountability if they don’t succeed. These goals get tossed in the abandoned pile next to goals like “I’m gonna start flossing!”
Compare this to what you’re going to do in 2021:
Pick a reachable blueprint to follow: an outcome-based goal.
Place the blocks to build that blueprint: a habit-based goal.
Let’s see this in action: “I want to lose X amount of weight by X date.”
With a very specific goal and a specific timeline, we can work backward to calculate how much weight we need to lose each week to build that blueprint: our target weight.
Once you know where you want to be a year from now – you can then just focus on what you need to do TODAY.
EXAMPLE: I want to lose 50 pounds by December 31st, 2021.
Okay, if it’s January 1st, that’s roughly one pound per week. So then, what needs to happen each day to help us reach that goal? Let’s focus there.
Focusing on the habit (“today I’m going to drink only one soda instead of 3, and have one vegetable“) allows you to not get overwhelmed at the big picture.
In Minecraft terms, once you have the blueprints for a replica of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings, all you have to focus on is placing the next block in the right place. And then repeat!
Eventually, you’ll have Rivendell:
Here’s a real-life example of this block-placing mentality:
“My goal is to reach my goal weight of 150 pounds by December 1st, 2021, so I will eat one vegetable every day, and I will strength train for 30 minutes, two days per week. On other days, I’ll go for a 10-minute walk.”
What happens when you do this: you stop worrying about the outcome, and instead JUST focus on the habit you have to do today.
It allows you to very easily answer the question: “Yes, I placed the block” or “no, I did not place the block.”
You either ate a vegetable today or you didn’t.
You either exercised for 30 minutes today or you didn’t.
Make sure you are picking a blueprint that you can build (it’s not TOO unrealistic), and keep things simple. A target weight loss goal of 1 pound per week is reasonable and sustainable. Remember that the focus should be on SUSTAINABLE progress – not “progress at any cost.”
Once you start reaching goals, you can create more complex plans.
They run on a treadmill because they think they should, but they hate it, and they never want to go back. Or they get dragged to some virtual fitness class and pretend they lost their internet connection to turn it off.
While they do their best to build the habit, they’re so unhappy and unexcited about the exercise that the habit never sticks. They only exercise until they reach a goal and then they stop. Ugh. Temporary changes = temporary results!
You don’t have to exercise in a way that you hate.
Pick the kind of exercise that makes you come alive. Don’t have that form of exercise yet? Try new things!
Especially the stuff that doesn’t feel like exercise.
Nutrition is 90% of the battle, so the exercise can be something that you enjoy, that reminds you to make better food choices so your efforts don’t go to waste.
Have a specific physique in mind (six-pack, toned arms, a better butt, broader chest, etc.)?Build the body you want and get hooked on improvement: “I can’t wait to go work out and find out how much stronger I got today compared to last week.”
When it comes down to our health, we can invest in three ways:
Time
Effort
Money
Healthy habit-building badasses know this and prioritize accordingly: they know investing in their health is the best decision they can make for the long term. So they decide what’s the correct balance of time, effort, and money to use for that investment.
Your health is an investment, just like your net worth:
If you want to devote your effort and time to building your own workouts, crafting your own meal plans, and keeping yourself accountable, that’s awesome! I did this for myself for years.
You might decide to outsource your programming to a coach, recruit an accountability partner, or buy into a program that creates your workouts and nutrition for you.
Either way, this is a months or years-long process that requires discipline! Every day you get a tiny bit better compounds upon the day before and builds you a big nest egg (read: a great physique) that will keep you wealthy (read: healthy) for decades and decades.
We’ve had thousands of people who read all the free content on Nerd Fitness for years with no results, because they never invested in themselves.
However, the second they finally invested in themselves by hiring a 1-on-1 coach, they took action and lost weight within months. The same is true for our self-paced adventure Nerd Fitness Journey (a part of NF Prime).
Why?
Because we VALUE what we pay for and invest in, making us more likely to actually do the damn thing. And we don’t value what we get for free or take for granted.
Unhealthy people don’t look at all of this stuff rationally – they complain about spending 99 cents on an iPhone app that could dramatically improve the quality of their life, and then gladly spend $6 on a sugary Starbucks beverage each morning without a second thought.
People email me all the time asking, “Why should I pay for a course when there is free information online?”
Welp, there has been free information online for decades – has it gotten you in shape yet? Maybe there’s a point to investing in yourself!
Many people – myself included – will gladly pay for somebody to cut through all of the noise and bad information to deliverONLYthe right information that they need to read or hear.
Your money, your time, and your effort are all limited resources: how you choose to spend each of them tells me a lot about your priorities.
Personally, I gladly pay hundreds of dollars every month for my own online fitness coach, and have done so since 2014.
Many probably think I’m crazy and that this is a waste of money (“just do your own workouts!”), but I feel that it’s the best money I spend every month, and it’s why I’ve prioritized it over other expenses.
I’m not just paying for a workout plan in an excel document.
I am paying for accountability from somebody who is checking in on me, expertise from a trained professional who can spot my weaknesses, and the knowledge that I’ll actually do the workout because I’m spending my hard-earned money on it.
It’s not what you say is a priority, it’s what you spend your time or money on that’s a priority.
Prioritize your money and time on the best stuff, even at the expense of other creature comforts, and you’re more likely to get in shape because you’ll actually care about it.
Answer these questions:
How much money do you spend on your health?
How much time and effort do you devote to creating your workouts or fine-tuning your nutrition?
Have you ever hired a coach or paid for an online course?
Do you buy apps or software that makes your life easier, or do you try to get by with free stuff that you know you won’t actually use?
Sometimes spending money is the best investment you can make in yourself – because you KNOW that the free option is something you won’t stick with!
Although you have a small room with weights in your apartment complex, pay money to join an outdoor class in a park because you hate working out alone. If you know people are counting on you to show up, you’ll more likley work out.
Pre-pay for 20 personal trainer sessions (virtual is okay) – if you’ve already paid for it and scheduled the workouts, you’ll actually DO IT.
Don’t have time to cut up vegetables? Buy them pre-prepared. Expensive? Maybe, but worth the price if it gets you to eat more veggies.
Decide what to sacrifice. It might mean you have to skip movies out or cancel your cable to prioritize a healthy meal service or buy more cookbooks so you never get bored with cooking new healthy meals.
Start thinking about this from a different perspective:
You’re not buying a fitness course or a trainer or an overpriced salad (that you would never make for yourself anyways).
You’re not just hiring a coach that prescribes you a workout that you could have found for free on the internet.
You’re investing in your future and purchasing accountability and expertise and momentum.
If you are looking for that expert guidance, accountability, and peace of mind that you’re training the right way for your goals, schedule a free consultation with Team NF to learn about our coaching program today!
8. Go All In On Momentum.
Remember that Isaac Newton guy?
“An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted on by another force.”
This is called “inertia,” and nothing could be more applicable when it comes to your health.
Unhealthy people have a LOT of inertia to overcome when they are trying to build healthy habits and get in shape:
Their body is used to sitting on a couch and eating junk food, which means the habit of exercise is agonizing. They have to convince themselves to get off the couch and go out into the wilderness. Eating vegetables and healthy food sucks compared to their normal comfort food.
But they use max effort to do these things a few times, and momentum starts to shift away from unhealthy and towards healthy.
And that’s when things fall apart.
Their kid gets sick or they work late and they miss a workout. Not the end of the world, right? But then it snows the next day, and one missed workout day becomes two, which becomes a month in the blink of an eye.
And they’re back to square one.
We are going to focus instead on cultivating and protecting momentum.
Perpetual health doesn’t happen in days, or with a few decisions. It takes months (or more likely, years) of consistent effort.
And shit happens.
Pandemics. Kids. Work. Life.
It’s more than just “missing a workout.” It’s killing your momentum, and momentum is crucial to long term health.
So focus on doing whatever you can to build momentum quickly and maintain it.
Momentum is crucial to being perpetually healthy. So you need to protect it with your life.
Exercising 4 days per week without fail. Yes, even on holidays. Yup, even if it’s only push-ups for 5 minutes.
Going for a morning walk every single day, even when it’s snowing.
Scheduling workouts for early Saturday morning with a virtual trainer so you won’t drink like a fish Friday night.
Putting your workouts in your calendar. Have a friend give $50 of your money to a cause you hate every time you miss a workout.
Which means you should be following my favorite rule: never miss two in a row.
Two missed workouts quickly becomes 30 in the blink of an eye. Two bad meals quickly becomes a week of pizza and Chinese food.
So “never two in a row!” – never eat two bad meals in a row, never miss a workout two days in a row.
If you miss a workout, that next day is suddenly the most important workout of your life. Do whatever you need to do to get to the gym!
If you eat a bad meal, that’s fine! Enjoy it. But that next meal is suddenly the most important meal of your life! Do whatever you need to do to eat a dang vegetable!
9. Know Your Kryptonite.
I want to share an important quote from the late, great physicist Richard Feynman:
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Unhealthy people might be aware of their Kryptonite, but they just hope and pray they have enough willpower to overcome it every day.
They eat a single Oreo, and then spend an hour thinking about cookies until they go eat a whole sleeve of Oreo cookies and then berate themselves for not having more willpower to avoid the temptation.
Unhealthy people try to fix their flaws through sheer willpower and then feel deep shame when they can’t stop their behavior.
Permanently healthy people recognize their Kryptonite, and have a plan to avoid or protect against it:
If they know grains make them unhappy and bloated, they follow a Paleo diet and remove those foods completely so there’s no attempt to only eat half a serving of something.
If they know they struggle with portion control, then maybe they try skipping a meal with Intermittent Fasting.
They also ask the questions that get to the heart of their Kryptonite with regards to weight gain:
Maybe they eat when they’re bored.
Maybe they eat when they’re upset.
Maybe they eat when they’re nervous.
Maybe they eat when they’re watching TV.
They KNOW these things about themselves, and they know unhealthy food has been designed to be addictive.
So they plan for it!
Know thyself, my dear friend, and know what your triggers are.
We’re all flawed; plan for your flaws instead of trying to fight them. These triggers can be environmental or situational or emotional. Know it will happen, and build a Kryptonite-proof plan so you don’t have to worry about avoiding it.
Build your Batcave (your environment) so it’s tougher to make unhealthy decisions and easier to make healthy ones.
Don’t order out from unhealthy restaurants, and schedule early workouts on Saturdays so you won’t drink yourself silly on Friday.
You don’t need to be flawless. You don’t need a perfect plan. What you do need is to have an honest conversation with yourself about things you need to avoid while you’re trying to make healthier choices.
That might be certain restaurants, certain aisles of the supermarket, or even certain people….
10. Surround Yourself with Supporters, Not Anchors
You are the average of the 5 people you associate most with.
Are they banana peels?
Or are they Lakitus?
Banana peels need no introduction: drive over one in Mario Kart and they’ll ruin a perfectly good race by crushing all of your momentum.
Compare that to Lakitu. If you’re not familiar, he’s the little guy on the cloud in Mario Kart that picks you up when you fall off the track and puts you back on course.
Unhealthy people get spun out all the time by the banana peels in their lives:
“What do you mean you don’t want to eat my lasagna anymore? You love my cooking.”
“Everybody is coming over to play D&D and eat pizza, you can’t miss this.”
“You don’t need to lose weight. You look fine. Live a little. Come on.”
Questions and comments like these subtly influence our behavior every day. Which is how you end up looking like and acting like the 5 people you associate most with.
Compare this to Lakitus: the people who want you to succeed, who hold you accountable and make you want to be better.
I recently asked our private community from Nerd Fitness Prime what the group meant to them.
This response jumped out at me:
You need to be surrounded by people that pick you up, not slow you down.
Healthy people know this, and they make the hard decisions about who is worthy of their time and attention.
They often fire their unhealthy friends and family – even if only temporarily – because they can’t be around negative influence as they’re trying to build momentum.
I’ve heard of tons of stories where unhealthy relationships have ended because a newly healthy individual was dating an unhealthy person who didn’t want them to be healthy and was actively sabotaging them.
Why does this happen? Because it’s often easier to drag other people down than it is to look honestly in the mirror and address one’s shortcomings or unhealthy.
If you are trying to get healthy, minimize your time around banana peels and MAXIMIZE your time with Lakitus.
You are influenced dramatically by the people around you whether you realize it or not. How are these people influencing you?
Take exercise:
Banana Peel: You want to exercise, but your friends are mad at you for skipping Among US or a World of Warcraft raid… you’re going to skip the workout.
Lakitu: You want to exercise, and your friends are currently doing yoga in the park… you’re gonna find your mat!
Food:
Banana Peel: Your family orders take out and everyone wants pizza. You’ll likely order junk food to fit in, rather than order a salad and endure the scorn.
Lakitu: You decide on delivery and the 4 people in your house want salads – I’d bet $1000 you’re going to order something healthy too.
Mental health:
Banana Peel: You have 5 friends who never talk about anything serious: how are you supposed to tell them about your depression medication or that you’re thinking about going to see a therapist?
Lakitu: You have 5 friends who are not only accepting of your flaws, but share theirs too and have advice for you.
Decide who is worthy of your attention, and work on putting yourself in situations with people who make you want to be better.
This might mean a serious conversation with your significant other that “likes you more full-figured” if your goal is to be healthier and happier.
Join a running club at work, or start a running club if one doesn’t exist yet (when it’s safe to do so).
If you don’t have people in real life cheering you on, find an online group that pushes you to be better.
How is NEXT YEAR Going to Be Different?
Phew! Okay, let’s see how many of these you can actually check off:
I have a Groot Mindset
I know my Big Why
I don’t go on diets. I adjust my nutrition.
I know what my food is made of.
I have blueprints and blocks.
I don’t have to exercise; I GET to.
I invest in my health like a 401(k).
I go all-in on momentum.
I know my Kryptonite.
I seek out Lakitus, not banana peels.
Give yourself a score, and let me know which ones are the toughest for you to follow through on.
If you checked 6 or fewer boxes, pick ONE of the habits and work on it for the next month. Internalize it. Make it part of your new identity. And then move onto the next one.
You’re overcoming inertia and building momentum!
And NEVER underestimate momentum.Once you build it, it can be hard to stop!
We have three great ways to start the ball rolling, right here in our own community. Pick the path that best aligns with your goals:
#1) Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program:a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you.
#2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join The Rebellion!We have a free email newsletter that we send out twice per week, full of tips and tricks to help you get healthy, get strong, and have fun doing so.
I’ll also send you tons of free guides that you can use to start leveling up your life too:
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
Alright, now it’s your turn:
Agree with my 10 traits? Disagree?
Anything missing?
Leave that in the comments too!
-Steve
PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Sustainable Weight Loss Content:
Drink an extra glass of water today!
