6 Things I Wish I Knew Sooner

Before I share with you some of the biggest things I wish knew a lot sooner in my fitness journey, I want you to know that’s ok if you are struggling and it’s ok if you’ve had to learn a lot of lessons along your journey. I honestly think that those obstacles and hardship is what makes the rewards in the end worth it.

But with that in mind, let me share with you some lessons that will surely help you stop getting in your own way.

For those who don’t know, my fitness journey began when I was transitioning from High School to University. While I grew up playing every sport under the sun, it was during this time period that things really started to change for me. 

I had just tried out for the University basketball team but I didn’t end up making the cut. Not because I wasn’t quick enough or had a weak jump shot. It was because I wasn’t big enough. This news really hit me hard. Ever since I was a kid, I was always told that I was too skinny and that I needed to “put some meat on them bones.” I ate as much as the next kid, but I just couldn’t gain weight. So, when my basketball career had to come to an end due to an insecurity I had entire life, it was in that moment that I knew I needed to make a drastic change. 

I stopped with the cardio and started lifting some weights. After seeing some results, I then started to prioritize my nutrition and did something that was, and still is, the scariest thing to do as a women – eat more than 1200 calories a day.

It’s been over 10 years of trial and error that has brought me to where I am today, where I went from 90lbs up to 145lbs. I completely transformed my physique and for the first time I am completely comfortable and confident in my own skin. 

Over 10 years of figuring things out and consistently putting in the work to get my body to a place of happiness and confidence.

But I can’t help but wonder

Maybe those 10 years could have been 7?

Here are the 6 things I wish I knew sooner that maybe could have made 10 years only 7

1.    Comparing yourself to someone else is not going to speed up your results

Too often we let the success of others discourage us. Where we allow it to make us feel like we aren’t doing enough, or we are doing something wrong. Instead, we should be focusing on letting the success of others be a sign that it is possible.

It’s so easy to get caught up in this comparison and judgement game, especially when all that is shared on social media is everyone’s highlight reel. But that’s not to say that those who have had a taste of success haven’t faced adversity to get to where they are. All that comparing and judging is doing is eating away at your precious time that you could be spending to get yourself to where you want to be.

So, don’t let others’ success discourage you because you think it was easier for them — you don’t know the whole story. Instead, let their success inspire and push you to achieve your goals. Because if anyone ever did it, then you can do.

2.    The scale is nothing more than a collection of data and has nothing to do with the person you decide to be each day

Too often we are letting the results of the scale effect our mood. And I want you to ask yourself why you are allowing that to happen? Listen, fat loss is not linear. It’s not going to steadily move in the direction we want to each day. And that’s ok.

I think it’s so important for everyone to understand and set this expectation for themselves right off the bat. It’s so easy to get frustrated and discouraged if you see a scale weight fluctuation and you don’t understand that that is completely and 110% normal.

The scale is actually a HORRIBLE measurement of short-term progress. The scale can fluctuate on a day-to-day basis for SEVERAL reasons:

⇢Inconsistencies with your meal timing

⇢Inconsistencies with your sodium and water intake

⇢That time of the month

⇢Increased stress

⇢Poor sleep

⇢When you are sick

⇢For NO reason at all

So please stop getting hung up on day-to-day fluctuations. Why are you getting so worked up over something that is completely normal? It’s abnormal to see that number perfectly going down day to day, week to week. It just doesn’t work like that.

The scale is NOT a good measurement of short-term progress. It is however a great measurement of long-term progress. So, if you lose 30lbs in 6 months, who gives a shit what the scale said day to day during that time period?

Stop letting the scale control your life.

3.    Food is your fuel but also how we socialize. Stop punishing yourself for simply enjoying your life

There are no such thing as BAD FOODS

Hear me out.

Did you know that our body does not have any indicators as to what our protein, carbs and fats are made up of? It's true, your body doesn't know when it's having a cookie versus a strawberry, a carrot versus a donut or a protein cookie versus a chicken breast.

The difference between these foods is how satiated you feel after. Some are more calorically dense, and others are more nutrient dense.

That’s it.

Of course, having whole nutritious foods every single day is important and necessary for the longevity of life. But it doesn't have to be 100% of your caloric intake. It's totally healthy and safe to incorporate treats into your diet every single diet - if you wish.

Rule of thumb that was a gamechanger for me is to focus on consuming 80% of your food each day from whole nutrient dense foods. That remaining 20% can come from treats.

So, track your macros! If you crave a pizza, have the damn pizza! Just ensure it fits your macronutrients targets and that you are getting a sufficient amount of fibre, fruit and veggies.

We have to stop with this all or nothing mindset, it's just crippling you from sustaining your results and making you a slave to the gym. Instead of trying to avoid the consumption of “bad foods”, why not focus on including foods with high micronutrient density, high fibre and high protein.

There are very few foods that are considered unhealthy for you. The reason these “bad” foods get a bad rap is because they are low in micronutrients, fiber, and protein. They are also typically very palatable, don’t leave you feeling overly full and, therefore, are very easy to over consume.

That doesn’t mean they should be feared or avoided. Life is too short to live in fear.

4.    Quick fixes lead to temporary results

Every month there seems to be this secret breakthrough to speeding up your fat loss results. “How to lose 30lbs in 10 days” is the most popular magazine cover we are all bombarded with not just at the grocery store line ups, but now on social media.

Before you consider one of these latest fads, let me ask you this. 

What’s your plan after your temporary plan?

If you don’t have a plan after your temporary plan, just remember this: temporary plans yield temporary results.

Instead of focusing on what everyone else is doing, why not pride yourself on not following fads? Instead make it a goal to find a sustainable plan you can stick to forever. Quit with these temporary plans that you feel like trying because it worked for someone else. Find a plan that’s realistic for you, your goals, and lifestyle and stick to it.

5.    Maintaining your weight for a few weeks is progress

I get that we all want to see the scale move down every single week, heck every single day would be nice, right? But what happens when the scale stays the same? We lose our shit! We get upset and think that there’s something wrong with us or we screwed up that week. But you did nothing wrong. 

Maintaining your results is a huge win! 

Yet we don’t see it that way because we are so impatient.

Understand that we have all been programmed to be impatient. We can send an instant message to our friends and get a response in seconds, we aren’t leaving voicemails anymore with the expectations of getting a response within 24 hours, we can receive emails to our inbox in minutes and aren’t waiting for mail to come in within weeks, we don’t even have to leave our houses anymore to get groceries.

Our entire world has evolved to be more efficient and convenient in all areas of our life.

The one thing that has evolved to be more convenient is fat loss.

There’s not an app for that, there’s not a magic pill you can take, here’s not a secret product out there.

Nothing has sped up the process for fat loss like everything else has in our entire world, despite what some people are trying to sell you on social media.

So of course, you are impatient.

But we have to stop and understand that this is the cards that we’ve been dealt with. Understand that it’s going to take time. You have to remind yourself to be patient with your fat loss results every single day, otherwise you are going to drive yourself crazy when the scale stays the same every once in a while, for a few weeks.

6.    The best diet doesn’t mean shit if you can’t sustain it

We all want the secret workout program or the secret meal plan that’s going to make all our problems go away. I hate to break it to you, but there’s much more to it than that.

There’s no real secret.

Having the most optimal program isn’t going to do shit if you can’t stick to it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yes 7 days, not 5... weekends still count.

We have to let go of this mentality there’s a secret way to make fat loss easy because as unpopular it is to say, there really isn’t. Yes, there are certain strategies you can implement to make it a little less difficult on you. But it’s never going to be effortless where it requires no additional work beyond that one hour in the gym. If anyone else is telling you otherwise, you are being tricked.

So, embrace the struggle that you are likely to face 24/7 when it comes to fighting for your goals and stop looking for the easy way out. Because if all you are looking for is a quick fix, I promise that all they are going to do is yield temporary results.

There has been a lot of trial and error these last 10 years and I am still learning each day. The first few years of my fitness journey were spent with me creating my own prison cell to my fitness goals.

Looking in the mirror and saying such awful things to myself. Starving myself when I had one cookie because I was taught to believe that unless you eat chicken & broccoli 7 times a day, all other food makes you fat. Being a slave to that damn treadmill for hours every single day.

Everything shifted when I decided to STOP treating myself like a prisoner who needed punishment for eating “bad” food and STARTED treating myself like an athlete.

I started to focus on strength gains in the gym, learning about flexible dieting and how to eat enough food to fuel my body to achieve my new strength goals. Over enough time, I’m a completely different person. You wouldn’t even recognize the girl I used to be.

But I can’t help but wonder where I would be now if I realized these things sooner. It took me so long to realize that I was focusing on all the wrong things, and it got me nowhere.

I’ll never really know.

All I know is that 10 years could have been 7. 

Please don’t make the same mistake I made. Take your goals into your own hands and remember that you control the outcome. Find something you enjoy and stick to it. In time, the results will follow.