I can’t believe I’m wrapping up the #joyinthejourney series. Like I said in an earlier email, I almost chickened out and didn’t write this series. I’m glad I did and have no regrets sharing some super vulnerable things I’ve been struggling with.
In a recent presentation I spoke at for female entrepreneurs, I shared how none of us want to put the spotlight on our screw ups, insecurities and vulnerabilities. We want to always look like we’ve got it all together. And guess what? Nobody does. Speaking from the fitness side of things you will will rarely see a fitness professional\personal trainer show or talk about shitty workouts, body image personal struggles or imperfect meals. Again nobody is perfect.
I have found over the last few years of embracing being more transparent has improved so many aspects of my life and relationships, business and personal.
Ok, now for that crazy thing I did.
I started doing lots of reflecting while we were on vacation in the beginning of November about the events of the past few years.
2013-2017 was tough [AF} for me. And guess what? I survived them :)-
So I decided to get my first tattoo to represent the ‘STRENGTH’ that I’ve cultivated over the last several years. You can see a pic of my tattoo HERE! Forza means strength in Italian. I’ve always loved tattoos on other people but never felt that there was anything that meaningful that I wanted permanently on my body. There you have it 🙂
The biggest insight I’ve come to realize more than ever this past year is this.
Our MINDSET is the most powerful factor in whether we are successful or not. And when I say successful I’m talking about every single aspect of our life. Weight loss, muscle gain, overcoming emotional eating, consistency in habits, relationships, work, injury recovery. I could go on and on.
And a few more insights that I think will resonate with you:
Never say never.
You can miss a lot of workouts and your body will not fall apart and you won’t die.
Being consistent with nutrition will trump perfection every time.
The way we look at food has a bigger impact on our results more than what we are actually eating. I know that’s a hard one for us to wrap our head around but it’s so true.
Be kind to our body. Pushing ourselves is not the best way achieve results.
We’ve got to stop focusing on all the things that we can’t do, don’t like doing or all the things that stress us out and start focusing on all the things that make us feel good, and that have us thriving everyday. Again, this goes back to the mindset piece of it.
I’ve saved the best and maybe the most important one (behind mindset) for last. MUSCLE IS EVERYTHING!
I can’t stress this enough to you. Increasing and being able to maintain our lean muscle mass especially as we age is the best thing we can do for our body. Not only are muscles sexy and gives us the lean, toned, tight, sculpted look we desire for our body, it helps us have a healthy metabolism, a strong and highly functioning body and helps with injury prevention.
I can tell you first hand that after years of working hard to build muscle (and it’s not as easy as most think) and now losing much of it this past year from inactivity has had a huge impact on me and my body. Though my scale weight is basically the same my body composition is very different, my pants are tighter, I have more cellulite and softer all around even though the scale did not go up.
But the strange part of this is that I’ve learned to love and embrace my body even more, imperfections and all.
Working with women between the age of 38-55 all clients initially tell me that as the years go on they notice a change in their body composition. Feeling flabby, soft , weight gain, a wider midsection,and have an increase in cellulite. This occurs because of the decline in muscle mass as we age. And the saying goes true, if you don’t use it you lose it. One more random factoid. All of my clients that starting lifting weights prior or at the beginning on menopause have had less symptoms, weight gain and negative body changes than those that didn’t.
If you are not currently lifting weights go do it! Doesn’t matter if your goal is fat loss or not. Just do it!
If you are lifting weights a little bit, start lifting more!!
If you are lifting on the regular , keep going and keep challenging yourself!
This thing called a fitness journey is for life. It will ebb and flow. It will feel great and then it will suck. We will make progress and then we won’t for a while. If we’re going to be in to for the long haul we must:
- Take the right actions towards our goals every single day. Make moves, big or small.
- Stop allowing perfection to keep us from achieving the thing that we want the most.
Currently I’m still seeking more holistic approaches to help my back\hip pain and will not quit until I am 1000% back to my old self. I’ve started practicing hot yoga in early fall and have been loving it. Can’t believe I’m saying that. I take two hot yoga classes a week and try to lift weights two-three times per week. I just have to listen to my body. Far from my workout routine a few years ago but I will get there. Slow and steady 🙂
Before you go I’ve got some fun ideas swirling around in my head that I want to share with you 🙂
I’m considering hosting a quickie fitness and nutrition mastermind course before spring time hits. Would you be interested in something like that?
And I’m thinking about starting a new hashtag #fitfor40 and sharing my journey in my new closed Fitness Facebook group- Body By Design Fit Tribe. I would be documenting my mini transformation journey up until my 40th birthday at the end of October. YIKES! I can’t believe those words are coming out of my mouth.
I would love for you to be a part of it and could use the extra support and accountability along the way 🙂
Got questions, comments, or just want to share a struggle you’re currently going through? I would love to know and hash it out with you!
Thank you for allowing me to take up some space in your life. I’m super grateful for that!
XO, Jenn