Do you have a green-eyed monster under your bed?

A friend was telling me about this children's book about a little girl who thought there was a monster under her bed. She was getting tired of being afraid of this monster and tired of running into her parents' room every night. So, she made a decision. One night, instead of her usual running into her parents' room, she got a flashlight, looked under the bed and looked for the monster. She found it, it was there, but instead of running away she looked at it straight in the eyes. Then something amazing happened, the monster got smaller, and smaller, and smaller until it disappeared altogether. And the monster never came back. 

Okay, this blog isn’t about a green-eyed monster; it’s about fear. Moreso, facing your fears. This little girl faced her fear, the green-eyed monster, and by facing her fear, it didn’t seem so big, and eventually it disappeared. 

So, what are you afraid of? It seems like a silly question, but seriously, is there something stopping you from getting you where you want to be in life? There are roadblocks everywhere, and we have two choices: to let them block us or we find another way. But how do we get through these fears? 

The first thing is to figure out what’s holding you back. What are you afraid of? Is it the hard work you will have to do to lose the weight you want to lose? The sacrifices you may have to make to do so? Changing your lifestyle to create a healthier version of yourself? Leaving the job that’s not serving you for something else? Change is scary, we know. Be honest with yourself, what is it that’s stopping you? To be honest, most of the time it’s not the goal that scares us or the path that it may take to get there … its failure. What if we don’t reach that goal. Then I failed.

Ehh, not so fast. FAIL is an acronym for First Attempt At Learning. IF something doesn’t work, you didn’t fail in a sense of not being good enough, you just figured out what doesn’t work. It’s what you do after that learning experience that is important. Do you give up? Or, do you keep trying and use a different approach. 

Some reasons we may not reach our goals:

Our goals are too big and we don’t have small steps set up to get there. (lose 50lbs with no plan other than the goal)

Our goal is not realistic (do you really have time to exercise everyday for an hour?)

The goal is for someone else (we actually love how we look but are pushed by social media to fit a mold)

So, are you willing to stare the green-eyed monster in the face and say, “I’m not scared”? 

If you’re not, then your “WHY” isn’t strong enough. You may not actually want this goal. That is a whole other discussion, and that’s also ok! However, if you are willing to make the change, then it’s time to create a game plan. Ahem - please call us we can help! This game plan will consist of small incremental steps towards your big goal. 

It can look something like this:

Big Goal: Alter body composition to reduce body fat and gain muscle.

Currently: Exercising once a week, walking 30 minutes.

Small goal: Find a regular exercise regimen that will work for my schedule - exercise 4x a week for 45 minutes.

This seems scary and hard we have no idea how to get there and what if we fail!!!? (hence the big green eyed monster)

BUT if we break this down into small steps, it won’t seem as scary and will increase our chances of success.

Examples of small steps to get there:

Pick another day to exercise for 30 minutes … once you get that consistently, keep adding days until you hit your 4 days a week at 45 minutes each.

Hire a personal trainer to help you with your workouts and to hold you accountable.

Meet yourself where you are and go into your workouts with an open mind. They’re going to be hard at first if it’s new. Don’t give up.

Focus on protein. Since you’re exercising more you need protein to help rebuild your muscles. Ensure you get protein at each meal. This can look like 2 eggs in the morning with fruit and avocado toast, a palm sized piece of chicken at lunch on top of a big salad loaded with veggies, and salmon for dinner with whole grain rice and veggies!  (these are examples not a meal plan!)

Drink half your body weight in ounces of water to stay hydrated. Add electrolytes!

Park far away from your car or get off the train one stop further to increase your step count and your NEAT (Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis - the calories you burn not exercising just in everyday life!)

These small steps don’t seem as scary right? These are small things you can do everyday to help you towards that goal. If you focus on the smaller steps rather than the huge one, you won’t feel like you have such a huge mountain to climb.

You got this!