Speaker: Josephine
Hi everyone, welcome to the Love to Live Healthy show. I’m Josephine Fitzpatrick. Happy April everyone.
For the month of April, we are focusing on the importance of appreciation. Today’s podcast is about working for what you want while appreciating the life you have and the body you live in. I don’t think we realize how important these things go together.
I want you to think about this question Can you appreciate yourself and your life if you do not feel good about yourself? Seriously, don’t just answer a quick yes or no. Really think about it. Can you really truly appreciate what is going on in your life if you are not in a good place with your mind and body, if you don’t feel good about yourself? Well, I can tell you after dealing with thousands of clients, the answer for most is no. You can never truly appreciate where you are in life, or appreciate all the big and little happy things that go on in your life, if you do not feel good in your body and mind.
You have to feel good about yourself to really appreciate what’s going on around you. Think about all the big things that are going on right now. So many people have so many things going on, planning Summer vacations, graduations, bar mitzvahs, communions, sweet 16. Whatever’s going on in your life or your world, will you really appreciate that day or that week when you don’t feel good in your body? How can you really appreciate any experience when you don’t feel good in the body you have?
Now listen, I’m not talking about being a size zero. I’m talking about feeling your best in your body, and whatever that means to you. For some it’s feeling fit, feeling strong, feeling thin, maybe it’s just feeling in control with your food, which always gives you control in your life. Whatever that feeling is, you need to have that in order to really appreciate all the things that are going on in your life, even the little daily things like going to the beach or barbecue with friends, waking up and appreciating having a day in front of you to enjoy with your husband, or with your significant other, or with your family or friends. You will only truly appreciate these things when you feel your best in your mind and body.
So I decided for April that, while we are working really hard for what we want, we are also going to stop and appreciate what we have, from big to little things. We are going to take notice of it and appreciate it. Listen, you know how I love to keep things positive. I mean, really, what else do we have to live on than our own positive thoughts and actions? And for some they are in real tough times and finding appreciation for anything can be a real challenge when times are really tough and things aren’t going well in your life. And listen, it’s inevitable that we all will face hardships and challenges throughout our life from health to family, money, career, kids.
Life can be really hard, and for some so much harder than others, and it is in these scenarios that you really have to learn how to appreciate everything you have and what’s around you, the big and little things you know. I tell my kids all the time it’s life challenges that not only make you stronger, it really also helps you appreciate all the good things you have in your life, the little things that you didn’t even notice before, that not everyone else has. For example, being able to go for a workout. It sounds so simple, but it takes time, it takes money and it takes a healthy body. Not everyone has all those things. We forget that. We sometimes take so much for granted that we forget to appreciate the smallest things that keep us going every day. It’s a fact that embracing, celebrating and appreciating your life can greatly enhance your well-being and your overall happiness.
Cultivating a healthy relationship with yourself is definitely not easy, trust me. I see clients every day and I know when they don’t feel good about themselves and it changes their mindset of what is in front of them, how they’re going to handle it when they don’t feel good about where they are at. You have to have your mindset positive. You know you’ll either go to a negative or a positive, and I’m telling you that you have to keep that mindset positive to get to where you want to be, because if you let it go to the negative, you will not only be able to not appreciate anything, but it will keep you stuck where you are or put you in an even worse place. So how do we keep the mindset positive so we can keep ourself in a good direction and appreciate what is going on in and around our life?
You need goals. Yes, you need some good April goals, because that will help you continue working for what you want. And when you’re working for what you want, feeling good about the future is one of the keys to success and happiness. We all need goals to motivate us. It should be challenging enough to excite you, but also achievable. But choosing an ambitious but realistic goal will give your life direction and bring a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. When you get close to it and finally achieve it, and when you feel good, you will be able to appreciate everything in your life and what’s ahead of it.
Think about it If you’re on program and you have goals that you’re working toward, you’re going to feel in control and when you feel in control, it gives you control in your whole life. Clients tell me all the time, even when they’re losing slow or weak, they didn’t see any weight loss. Being on program is so much better than being off program. That is because it’s a sense of control of your day, your food, your body and when you’re doing the right thing you feel better. You know the weight loss will follow, but you feel better eating on program and following your meals and snacks because you know it’s going to get you to where you want to be. Plus it just makes you feel overall lighter and healthier. And even when you are not at goal and just have that sense of control and feel good working towards your goal, that is going to help you appreciate everything you have going on and in and around your life.
So let’s talk about some April goals. A great short-term goal for April is where do you want to be by May 1st? You know, think about it. That is so doable. Where do you want to be by May 1st? It’s four weeks. Do you want to do one pound a week? Two pounds a week? Is it a certain number? Do you want to fit in a certain outfit?
So let’s start by setting a short-term goal. That’s the first thing you have to do, because that short-term goal is going to start you and you’re going to feel so good going in a direction that you feel you have control in.
Now, listen, if you have been on program, which so many of you are, it’s still a great time to set some monthly goals. Think about where you wanna be May 1st. It will not only continue to give you direction, but it will also help keep you motivated each month. You just continue on your path, continue doing the right things, and you know that every day, you are one day closer to your goals and the body you want. And in the meantime, you have the control over yourself and your life, and there’s no better feeling or way to appreciate what you have today and what is in front of you.
If you have not been doing the right thing and not been on program. You need to get back on. Regardless of where you are right now, one solid week sometimes is all it takes to get back on track, to feeling great. That should be your first goal is to commit to one solid week. When you have a week that is 110% clean and on program, it really doesn’t take much to start seeing the loss and feeling immediately better. It takes one solid week of commitment and you want to start it by setting your goal for April. Where do you want to be May 1st? More importantly, where do you want to be in a week from now? First, you want to have a solid week behind you that you were amazing, and then work toward your goals for the month.
Let’s go over some tips on how to stick with your goal for April.
First is promise and commitment to yourself. Don’t think about the actual goal. Instead, remember that your goal is a promise and commitment you made to yourself. It’s easy to say who cares? All right, who cares? I went off, or I ate that extra snack, no big deal, I didn’t run or I didn’t exercise this week. But, it’s not the actual goal that you gave up on, though. You made a promise to yourself, a promise and a commitment to yourself to do this. You know how happy it will make you and it will be a lot happier than any extra you’re going to feed yourself to take you out of your promise and commitment. Remember you want to keep the commitments and the promises you make to yourself because once you break those promises, once you break those commitments, you are giving yourself the excuse and lack of discipline to break other promises and commitments. Every time something gets challenging in your life, every time something gets hard, the most important promises and commitments in life are the ones you make to yourself. Those are the ones you need to keep, before any other promises and commitments.
Number two don’t give up. Remember, before you give up on your goal because you are stressed or because anything that is not going on right in your life, remind yourself giving up on your goal is going to make it worse, not better. The one thing you can control is completing your goal. If you don’t give up and you do one solid week, it’s going to make next week even easier. If you finish your goal for the month, it’s going to make the next month even easier. Every week and every month, you will feel more motivated and stronger to handle what’s in front of you, it gets easier. It doesn’t get harder. The longer you are on, the better you do. It gets easier, it doesn’t get harder.
Number three don’t allow setbacks to destroy your goals. Unfortunately, many things don’t go as expected, no matter how much planning we do. When you can be patient with yourself, that is key to approaching bumps in the road in a positive way. Accept the hiccup in your day or week and just get back on. Even if you had a moment of weakness, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to get right back on program. All the clients you see that look amazing, I promise you. They have had hiccups, they have had really bad cheat days, they have had setbacks, but they get right back on and that is why they look the way they do. That is why you never notice their hiccup, because it only affects their moment, not their week, or their month.
Number four plan, prepare and follow through. I will preach this forever because you don’t always overeat when you are hungry. In fact, it’s almost never about the food, it’s about everything else that’s going on in your life. So when you can plan and prepare, when something comes up, good or bad, you just follow what you planned and prepared and that will keep you moving forward. That will keep you where you need to be.
Number five push yourself. Without pushing yourself to your limits, you will never know how far you can go and what you can really achieve. I say it all the time it’s okay to be a little uncomfortable. That usually happens because you’re pushing yourself and if you’re not a little uncomfortable, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. This month, give yourself that extra push every day to complete your goal and don’t let yourself make any excuses why it’s not important. We don’t like to be uncomfortable, so a lot of times we’ll put an excuse in place, but you have to decide how important this is to you. How hard you push is going to determine how much you want it. That extra push and being a little uncomfortable can make all the difference. Remember, this is a journey and it’s your journey. You have to do what makes you happy.
I can tell you what I see. When clients feel their best, when clients are doing the right thing and they’re following their program and they have goals and they know they’re moving forward, they appreciate everything going on. I see it everyday. I see it in the way they text. I see it when they come in my office. You’re a different person when you’re doing the right thing and living in a healthy body, feeling good about yourself. That makes all the difference. Every month you have choices lose weight, maintain gain.
How you live, how much work you do, how much time you put into what you want it all determines your outcome. No one else can do this for you. No one else can make it happen except for you. It takes more than just saying you want it. You have to work hard for it every day. You have to remember. It’s easy to say the words I appreciate, but living in appreciation, it’s two different things. And in order to live in appreciation, you have to feel good about yourself.
I think life is way too short to not appreciate everything you have and everything that’s in it. It’s not comparing to what everyone else has. It’s about you and only you. What you have in your life, how important it is to you and how you feel about it is going to make all the difference in how you live. We know the very best way to appreciate the life you have and the body you live in is by taking care of yourself. When you take care of yourself from the inside out, you will create a positive mindset and feel good and excited about today, tomorrow and what is to come in your future.
So let’s set an April goal and get yourself in a good, positive mindset and keep moving forward to what you want. When you are in control in your body, it gives you control over your life and that is when you can truly appreciate everything that’s in it.
Okay, that’s all I have for you today. So remember, next week is a client story of her weight loss and I can’t wait for you to hear her journey. I’m wishing everyone a healthy, happy week full of love. Thanks for tuning in. Hugs from me to all of you.
~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick
|
