Each one of us, in some capacity, has experienced the cycle of dieting:

• Set a body composition goal (i.e. lose weight!)
• Feel excited/motivated to tackle it for “X” amount of time (i.e. 4 weeks)
• Follow some rigid rules about what to eat/what not to eat
• Achieve temporary results (i.e. fitting into that dress for some occasion)
• Then revert right back to where you were before

We don’t even realize we’re doing it, because it’s so engrained in us to be preparing for the next period of dieting.

People are either on a diet or not on a diet. Most people don’t realize that there’s a middle ground that exists where we can be working to maintain our results.

Mindset is just as important as the food.

Setting yourself up for success in achieving your goals means going in with a realistic expectation of what it’s going to take and discovering your “why”.

This is why having a nutrition coach is so key to longterm success. It’s about having someone in your corner, supporting you through the obstacles, and giving you the tools you need to go on and maintain your results well into the future. 

Ultimately, our goal should be achieving permanent results. Instead of seeing the goal (weight loss, body composition changes, etc) as the destination, it should be seen as an on-going journey.

This can’t be achieved without the appropriate mindset.

• Appreciate the process for what it gives you, outside of the weight on the scale, and connect with your goal on a deeper level.
  
  Create non-scale measures of success and get in touch with WHY your goal is important to you (allowing you go for hikes with your partner, play with your kids, comfortably go for jogs and make it through a HIIT class.) Meaning and purpose should replace a temporary goal like weight loss. 

• Recognize and reflect on everything you’re learning through the process. This means acknowledging your unique obstacles in the journey and coming up with a plan for how you will move past them.
  
  It’s important not to be naive and assume that once you’ve achieved your results, then the work is done and you can go back to what you were doing prior. We all have obstacles specific to us that we’ll need to continue to work through.

• Understand that you have the power and the ability to find success, but you can only tap into that when you learn to trust yourself. 
  
  The honest truth: you will be working on this for the rest of your life. Once you learn to trust yourself and the skills you’ve gained, it won’t feel like such a struggle. The power is in leaving behind what was familiar, and moving forward to continue to practice and evolve your skills. 

Not once in this post did I talk about the food. Of course the knowledge is important, but if you ignore the importance of mindset then you’ll be stuck in this loop forever. 

It’s time to realize that the narrative you’ve been fed is false: happiness is not achieved once you have visible abs, once you’re a particular weight, fit into your jeans from high school, etc.

You can absolutely want to improve and to change something aesthetically, but you will never be truly happy until you can connect it to a deeper purpose.

✅ Find your why and set realistic expectations

✅ Honor your journey

✅ Recognize & celebrate your progress

✅ Keep evolving your skills and learning