10 Things that drastically improved my health and fitness
To me, creating a healthy lifestyle is something that should be enjoyed and provide a greater sense of joy and happiness in life. No, this isn’t how I’ve always viewed it. It used to be solely about the body and aesthetics. In doing that, it sent me down a road I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.
Now that I have found my ultimate healthy lifestyle, it is my passion and purpose to show others how to do the same. Not only does it bring more energy, pride, accomplishment, confidence in your own skin, and so much more, but it provides the foundation to create your absolute dream life. So. Let’s hop to it, the things that have helped me!
1. All around health
In focusing solely on aesthetics, I was severely under-nourishing my mind and heart. I didn’t realize that the health of my mind is just as important as my body, if not more so. Your body cannot be healthy if your mind isn’t first.
Things that helped me in nourishing the depletion in my mind are spending more time with God, finding alignment in what I want and the life I am going for, and creating a morning routine to do these things every day. For more about my morning routine and how I strengthen these, click here.
Every morning I begin the day by turning the alarm off, and putting my phone away. Before checking anything, I turn to my devotional, open my journal, go through affirmations, and set the tone for my day.
2. Food is fuel vs. food is comfort
I didn’t realize just how much I turned to food as a comfort throughout my whole life until just a few years ago. In our culture, food is often looked to as a bandaid for a breakup, a mind numb for a stressful day, or an emotional pick me up when things aren’t going our way. This is definitely what I did.
When I finally took the time to understand nutrition, what the different macro and micronutrients do in our lives then I started to correlate my nutrition with how well my days go. There are plenty of foods and food habits that made me feel tired, groggy, created acne, and just made me feel bad about myself.
Now, I LOVE eating nourishing foods because they taste delicious (I only eat what I like...I don’t feel the need to eat things that are healthy just because they’re healthy), and they make me feel my absolute best. Workouts are better, sleep is deeper, energy is more vibrant. This is a key point of correlation I always make with my private clients and their lives.
3. Flexibility in my workout schedule
I didn’t realize how far I’d gone into the mindset of “this workout will get me this result, I can’t do any other workout until I have that result.” Yes, certain workouts provide certain benefits, and I’m always sure to include a balance of all type so that my body is as fit and healthy as possible. But, feeling rigid in needing to workout a certain body part, or do HIIT, or go to a class when my heart really just wants to run, do a class, or do any other workout besides the one on my schedule is draining.
I am absolutely an advocate for creating a schedule and that’s what I do. But if Monday’s workout gets switched with Thursday’s, or Tuesday’s workout gets replaced with a class with a friend, then that’s 100% okay. Not to mention, I’ve cut my workout times down to less than an hour. More than that is not only not necessary, but allows for more life in every day!
4. Community
I’ve never really been surrounded by people who share my view and love for health and fitness. Finding @theanywhereoffice, my community that not only believes in these things, but whole-heartedly lives them out every day and inspires other people to do the same thing has been life changing for me.
Alone, you are powerful, together unstoppable. Maybe you’re not passionate about spreading it, you just want it for yourself, and that’s totally fine! But finding that group of people who not only supports your every move, but encourages it when you lose faith is a blessing to be had. If you know who your people are, find them and love them hard. If you don’t know who they are yet, my friends and I welcome everyone with open arms who is looking for this. Comment on post this and I can introduce you to the anywhere office! And while we're at it, join the Balanced & Beautiful private FaceBook community here. The more the merrier :)
5. Appreciating Every Day
This sounds so small, but it has made the biggest impact. We as humans are so quick to focus on what’s wrong, what’s not going right today, all of our complaints. I was 100% this person and still find myself defaulting to that. But finding appreciation in perspective, realizing the little things are not worth mulling over, and rather looking for the positive in everything brings more happiness to every day. It’s easy to find excitement in holidays, vacations, or special events. But what if we were able to find that same excitement every day? Doing the laundry, going to work, picking up the groceries? Focusing on the positive, realizing what a gift every single day is, appreciating the many gifts already in my life, and doing my best to live intentionally and make every day a good day is so important to me.
6. It’s more than what you eat and how you exercise.
When I started going down the path of making health and fitness my career, I was so worried that people wouldn’t listen to me. Honestly, this is still something I worry about. There are so many people with stronger bodies, more following, the list could go on.
But I know what an incredible impact creating your healthiest lifestyle can make on propelling you into an even greater life. It gives you the tenacity to dream and make those dreams come true. It makes you a better wife, daughter, friend, you name it. It brings confidence and happiness you’ve never felt before. It fuels you to find your passions and even your purpose.
I know in my heart that this is God’s purpose for me. For that reason, I will never give up showing people how to create a balanced healthy lifestyle and help them create their dream life.
7. Unfollowing
Social media is such a powerful thing when it comes to being able to reach more people and create an even larger impact. But there are also a lot of negatives. I was following people who had extremely restrictive eating habits, worked out hours a day, and had “perfect” bodies. I found I was constantly questioning myself, comparing myself, and feeling bad about myself.
Doing a social media detox, only following people who inspire me, lift me up, and live the sort of balanced lifestyle I do helped me so much in overcoming my issues with food and my body.
8. Drinking
I used to be afraid of alcohol. The calories scared me, the sugar scared me. To this day I’m just not a huge drinker. I don’t really like the feeling of being drunk, and I grew up in a family where my parents and extended family just didn’t drink much.
But, I do enjoy a glass of wine with Tyler, or a cocktail when we’re on a date, or a few drinks out with the girls. Drinking is just a part of life to me. When I go out on a date, it’s something fun to add to the night. Drinking and weight loss/finding your dream body is another post for another day (which I am working on!). But I want you to know that balance with drinking is just as important as balance with food.
If you like to drink, a few drinks here and there is fine. Binge drinking is another story. For those of you who were like me and feared the calories of alcohol, let it go. It’s okay. Have a drink or two, enjoy the heck out of it.
9. Focusing on what I can do
Similar to my mindset with workouts, I’ve learned that desiring perfection is just tiring. Expecting to eat perfectly and smash workouts every single day is just not realistic. From now on, I muster up all of the energy and excitement to workout hard every day, find delicious healthy recipes to keep my nutrition on point as much as I can. But those days where my schedule gets thrown off, or a friend asks to go out to eat, it’s just a part of life. I look for the positive in that day getting thrown off or plans changing. It’s not about finding the smallest excuse to not workout, I just mean when you put your best effort in and things still get tripped up. It’s okay!
Similarly, it’s so easy in online entrepreneurship to get discouraged, question what you’re doing, and question of people are reading your things. But I focus on what I can do, the value I can add, the people I am helping. Choosing to focus on these things actually helps reach more people, just as focusing on what you can do in health and fitness helps you reach your goals faster instead of expecting perfection.
10. Positive self talk
It’s so easy to pick our flaws, notice the things we don’t love, or find fault in ourselves every day. All this does is put the emphasis on the few things that are not going the way we want instead of putting the focus on the many things that are great. When I finally began to appreciate my body and myself in my own skin, being an all around happier person became so much easier.
When I notice myself picking out my flaws, I do my best to recognize it, stop it, and remind myself that God worked hard on me, and He wants me to love myself. Being your own biggest cheerleader is a requirement in becoming the healthiest version of you. How do you expect to be successful when you’re the leader of the enemy army in your own internal battle? Be proud of yourself, believe in yourself, show up for yourself.