IMPROVING your BODY during Covid

Have you been hanging in there?  Getting through this time as best as possible?  Doing anything you can to find the joy and feel good?  Including…. 

Eating more.  Baking more.  Drinking A LOT MORE.  Sleeping in.  Not exercising.  And stressing out your body in general because….duh…these are HARD times.  Maybe the hardest we’ve seen in our lifetime so far.  And lets face it….we find comfort in food and drinks.  Always. 

I know.  I’m there too.  Especially at the beginning of this pandemic.  Before this virus hit I had a BIG plan…. 

On March 1st, right before this pandemic got real in the US, I started a new eating and exercise regimen.  My goal was to gain 4 pounds of muscle and lose at least 2 pounds of fat.  Not an easy task at 49 years old.  But I was determined to get in the ‘best shape of my life’ by my 50th birthday in August.  So I signed up with a personal trainer and nutrition coach.  I got my marching orders and I hit the gym.  I had less than 2 weeks before things started shutting down and the stay at home order was in effect. Immediately my plan went out the window. 

I sank into a rut…. And hit a wall of excuses! 

The gym is closed.  

I don’t have weights at home. 

I can’t workout on my own. 

I need my classes. 

I need to eat more and comfort myself. 

I won’t get through this without wine. 

It’s so hard to eat healthy when I’m at home all day long. 

All I have is this food. 

I can’t do this during a pandemic.  

My excuses were all heavily justified by my friends and family and society.  I saw dozens of meme’s of people eating and drinking their way through quarantine.  I had 2 hard weeks.  I gained fat, the opposite of what I wanted to do, and I  felt worse than ever. Looking in the mirror depressed me even more.  I felt like I was spiraling out of control.  Then someone in my accountability group asked me how my new workout plan was going….. 

improving your body during covidThere it was.   Accountability.   That thing I teach and preach so much about.  Staring me dead in my face.  

I shared all my excuses and justified my lack of results blaming everything on this pandemic. This group of men and women have been following me on this journey for years.  They know my heart and soul.   They know my core values and my character traits.  They know my dreams and desires.  And they know that I walk the talk.  They know what I need because I have always told them what I need. One of the women got me back on track with these words…. 

“If anyone can get in the best shape of their lives during a pandemic it’s YOU.”  

Immediately it was back on.  Those words sent a “FUCK YEA” through my body, sent my excuses out the window and realigned me with my deeper purpose and my desired end result.  

It wasn’t easy.  I had to make A LOT of adjustments.  I bought weights.  Made my office into my workout room.  Found a new program and new workout apps.  I started tracking my food and followed a new diet.  I cut out alcohol.  Stopped snacking.  Had NO cheat days. I got up at 5:30 am to join a zoom workout at 6 am! I started working out MORE than EVER before.  Even during quarantine.  

And….most importantly…..I believed in ME.  Those few words brought me back to myself.  I believed I could do this.  I could defy the odds.  Not just the Covid odds but the age odds and the restriction odds.  I could feel better, love my body in a whole new way, and get in the best shape of my life!  

Fast forward 3 months later….. I have arrived.  I gained 5.5 pounds of lean muscle and lost 5 pounds of body fat.  I am stronger.   Faster.  Healthier.  And I feel better than ever before.  I weigh the same on the scale.  But that’s FINE.  I feel amazing when I look in the mirror.  It’s like a different person looking back at me – inside and out.  And I’ll tell you what…. 

improving your body during covidI didn’t need all these results to feel this way.  

The results came because the belief came first.  

The results came because I felt good first.  

The results came because I loved myself first.  

And the results came because I did what I said I was gonna do! 

I had a goal.  And I stuck to it not letting anything get in my way.  

Desire.  Plan.  Ruthless daily action.  And some accountability to remind me who the F I am.  

What do you need in order to improve your body during these stressful times?  To improve your health and fitness? Are your actions taking you closer to disease or wellness?   

Helping women get results is my passion.  If you want support I have a new beta round of a new course I just created starting SOON.  Come join the movement.  We’ll get there….together.  

How You Can ENHANCE Your Morning Routine and Avoid the Winter Blues

How You Can ENHANCE Your Morning Routine and Avoid the Winter Blues

I hope this winter season finds you happier than you had hoped for. Are you doing all you can to avoid the winter blues?

I wanted to share this FB live I did a few days ago in my 21 Day Badass Mindset Mini-Course. It’s a short video but has lots of goodies on how you can ENHANCE your morning routine and avoid the winter blues.

If there was one message I could shout from the rooftops it would be this. (Ok it would be hard to pick just one…but this would be one of the top 5):

You are responsible for your STATE every day. The way you prime yourself in the morning sets you up for success or failure.

So no matter where you’re at with a morning routine I am SURE it can still get even better. Check out this video and see if you’re using all the best morning routine happiness hacks possible.

One thing I know for sure…. you are in control. You have what it takes. You program your own hard drive. And you are powerful beyond measure.

What will you do to enhance your state every morning starting TOMORROW? Comment and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

 

The Key to Body Confidence

The Key to Body Confidence

I’ll just get right to it.

Don’t compare your 47 with other people’s 27. 
Don’t compare your 47 to your 27 either.

What I mean by that is, the key to having body confidence is loving and accepting your body AS IT IS, RIGHT NOW. In all its’ glory and imperfection. With all its’ lumps and bumps and wrinkles.

I think we get down on our bodies because we’re in constant comparison. With others AND ourselves.

What used to work for me 20 years ago doesn’t work for me anymore. What I could do 20 years ago I can’t do anymore.

And that’s OK. It sure should be ok, it’s been 20 years. And a 47-year-old body that’s had 2 kids should look different than a 27-year-old body. It’s just a fact.

Now I need to be careful with that. I don’t need to accept my body looking worse than I want it to. I don’t need to listen to the bullshit rules out there, like that we gain weight as we get older or that we get weaker or lose flexibility. I don’t need to buy into all that. I just need to fully accept the body that I have in this moment.

At OTF today we ran a PR 1 mile. When I heard we were doing that I got a little nervous. I had flashbacks to my days running races and working with a running coach. I’ve never been a ‘runner’ or very fast, but I used to work at it and now I don’t. It hurts. For me running a fast mile feels like a near-death experience.

But I ran one today. 20 years ago my fastest mile was a 6.40. And wow. I was so proud of that. Holy shit. That was REALLY fast for ME.

Today I thought I’d push myself and try and run as fast as possible. Could I run a 7.30? Maybe an 8:30? All I knew was that I would run as fast for 1 mile as my legs and heart could carry me.

I ran an 8.05. And wow. I was SO proud of that. Holy shit. That was really fast for 47 year old me.

No judgment. No comparison. Just radical acceptance. I have no idea what other people ran it in. I really don’t care. I never even think to look.

Because for me the key to body acceptance is not comparing myself to anyone else or to a younger version of myself.

This is what my body can do NOW. This is how hard I work to constantly improve it. This is why I’m so proud of THIS body.

Now here come the Big Questions/ Bold Answers ladies…..

Do you wish you had more body confidence?
What contributes to your body confidence?
And can you teach me how to take a better selfie? 😆