What comes to mind when you think about your picture-perfect image of health?
Do you picture a specific person?
Maybe an authority in the health and wellness community comes to mind. When we start our fitness journeys, many of us look to others who already have what we want for direction. We think… “If I can just do exactly what she does, then I’ll look and feel like she does too.”
Like a recipe, we start cooking up that picture-perfect image of health. We add each ingredient and follow each step exactly as the “recipe” calls for.
But, after a few months of hard work, we find that our results are lacking. Our image of health still doesn’t compare to that of our idols. We wonder…
- Did I add too much of one ingredient by accident?
- Did I make a mistake?
- What am I forgetting?
Before we get into my 5 practical tips to achieving your health goals, we need to look at what the original diet looked like and why returning to the original diet can help you to reach those goals…
The Original Diet Was A Flexible One
Our ancestors likely got their food through hunting or foraging. They didn’t have grocery stores with a variety of food options year-round. With changing seasons, the types of food available to them changed. Our natural eating patterns are meant to change depending on our environment and our body’s needs.
Processed foods and foods sprayed with poisons and pesticides weren’t on the menu for our earliest relatives either. The original diet consisted of eating patterns that revolved around things found in nature.
Fad Diets
Today, all the latest fad diets promise tremendous results for anyone who can stick to a strict set of rules-all the time, no matter what season it is, or what our body truly needs at any given moment. This can easily set anyone up for failure.
We were created to eat intelligently. It is the imbalance in our bodies when these diets do not give us what we actually need that has brought about cravings and the desire to eat foods that were not originally even meant to be eaten. While some people may adjust to digesting the altered foods of our modern society, others might benefit from eliminating foods that cannot be naturally processed or cause inflammation.
Fad diets do not consider the individual. How can we expect keto, paleo, or low carb to be the answer for everyone if we are all built differently?
Keeping An Open Mind Towards “Fad Diets”
Instead of treating fad diets like a religion, I approach them with an open mind. I try to understand what goes on in someone’s body when they alter their nutrition in a certain way, and make adjustments that are in-line with their natural needs.
Instead of subscribing to a particular diet, opt for the customization and flexibility you need to maximize your results and keep doing so overtime.
5 Practical Tips to Achieving Your Health Goals
Now that you understand why focusing on your unique biology is important for getting the most out of your health and wellness plans, let’s talk about these 5 practical tips to achieving your health goals.
“Success is the maximum utilization of the ability you have”
-Zig Ziglar
1. Get Crystal Clear on Your Goals by Making Them SMART
If you are not sure exactly what you want then you will never get it. What do I mean by getting clear with your goals?
They must be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
More importantly, they must be SMART for you. Your goals may change overtime, but for now, start SMART where you are.
This time, when you think of your picture-perfect image of health, imagine the best possible version of yourself. How does this version of you feel? What do you look like? How far into the future will it be before you get there?
Remember to be realistic and specific to you.
2. Understand and State Your “Why”
If you were going shopping for a new outfit for an important business meeting, would you just buy the first thing you saw in the window displayed on the manikin? Even if the outfit looks great in the display, it might not look the same way once you try it on.
You need to have a goal in mind for what that new outfit is going to achieve. If the outfit on display is too flashy or too dull for the goal, it might hurt your chances for reaching that goal. So, you wouldn’t just go ahead and buy it anyway.
Think about your wellness plans the same way. Don’t just purchase a meal plan for the sake of purchasing a meal plan. Figure out what your BIG motivator is. Are you wanting to get healthy or to lose weight? Why is it important for you to get healthy or lose weight? Why is that meal plan so important for reaching those goals?
Once you figure out your “why,” you’ll be more prepared to customize a flexible plan that fits you and your specific needs. Without your “why”, you risk wasting your time on a plan that is miss-matched with your intentions.
3. Set Yourself Up To Take Action
Next, you need to set yourself up to take action. Are you a doer or a sayer? I have phone calls with sayers almost every single day. I want to talk to the doers.
The doers are the ones who are ready to take action toward weight loss, nutrition, fitness, and shifting their mindset so they can live their best life. If you dabble, you will only get mediocre results.
Stop and ask yourself, “are my words embodying my own truth, or someone else’s?”
Already set your SMART goals and identified your “why”, but you are stuck in taking action? Then it’s time to consider if you are using your unique strengths to their fullest capacity.
You can be a doer in many ways. You don’t have to do a workout at the same time as someone else. If you have more energy in the mornings, get your fitness in before work. If you have more energy after dinner, get in a bike ride with the family in the evenings.
Leverage your unique strengths and preferences to take action.
4. Take Clear Assessments of Your Results
Think back to item number one when I said you need SMART goals. My question for you here is… How are you measuring your progress? Are you measuring weight loss in inches or body fat percentage? Are you doing blood tests or other lab testing to see if you got rid of some of the pathogens that could be causing you pain, gas, bloating, or diarrhea?
When we set goals, we must clearly assess the results to know if we are on the path to success.
The way you measure your improvements may be very different from how someone else measures theirs. That is totally okay. But the most inaccurate form of measurement comes when we compare our progress to that of others. This will not give you a clear assessment of yourself. Your journey is your own.
5. Be Ready to Change Your Routine
If you are giving it everything you’ve got and you are still not getting the results you want, then it’s time to change up the routine until you find what works. Everyone’s body is unique, and we are designed to adapt and change with the seasons. You must find what works for you and continue to listen to your body as your environment and needs shift over time.
Changing routine isn’t always easy.
But it becomes easier once we realize that many of the routines we follow do not actually serve us. Once we break free of routines that don’t serve us, we can open up to a healthy life that serves our greatest wellness potential.
Making a Serious Commitment to Yourself
Shift happens when you make a serious commitment to yourself. We shift when the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the discomfort change initially brings.
So let me ask you… What is one thing in your life you can use right now as leverage to facilitate change?
Are you having pain in your legs and knees because of your weight? Are you feeling a lack of strength because of poor nutrition? Is your doctor warning you about diabetes or other disease processes that may arise if you don’t start eating right and exercising more?
Change starts with a decision. The outcome you receive follows the choice you make.
A one-size-fits-all fitness plan acts as a temporary Band-Aid for the things your body and soul actually need. There is irreplaceable value in working with someone like myself who understands the science behind creating a unique plan for a person, including nutrition, exercise, stress reduction techniques, supplements, toxin removal, and the ability to shift mindset.
That’s exactly why I do what I do!
I help people change their lives every day through this process.
You don’t have to idolize the lives of those you see online. You don’t even have to ask for their workouts and meal plans. Just get clear on what you want, find the leverage to change, take action, and tweak things along the way.
Start with the five steps I outlined and let me know how you do. If you’re ready to have a mentor who prioritizes you and your personal journey to wellness, fill out a discovery call form here. I’ve had years of experience identifying personalized approaches to wellness for others, and I’ll be so happy to do the same with you.