Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 376 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! Welcome. Im glad you’re here. I hope if you’re loving the episodes you will click on the 3 little dots wherever they are on the page and give me a 5 star rating. It means more than you know.
OK, One of my favorite things to read when Im on social media is a post about a list of things that if you do them, you’re going to change your life. Especially when that list is put out by someone I trust or admire. If someone has a system that’s working, why reinvent the wheel? So I put together a list that have undeniably changed my life and as long as I follow these systems, my life just keeps improving. I have a list of 8 that are important to me and close to my heart.
1.Nutrition is where your weight will be won or lost.
Want to lose weight? Tracking your calories checking your macros is the only way you’re going to know exactly how much you eat and it will shock you the amount of calories you’re eating even though you think you’ve “eaten healthy”. I’ll give you an example…one day when I started tracking again because I do it periodically…I had almond butter in the morning and avocado on my salad for lunch with olive oil and vinegar for my dressing. I hit my fat calories by lunch. I normally would have had an apple with a little bit of almond butter in the afternoon and then at the least more olive oil in the evening. It adds up faster than you think. Even when you’re eating heathy. And watermelon has a lot of carbs and I can sit and eat half of one without thinking about it. But when you’re tracking you realize quickly that’s a mistake. I’ve never forgotten all it takes to put on an extra 10 lbs a year is 100 calories too many per day and one cube of cheese is 100 calories. It’s devastating…I know but that’s why we need to track periodically to keep ourselves in check.
Keeping tempting food and drinks out of your line of sight makes you eat less preferably keeping it out of your house.
On that note, eating the same thing every day as long as you’re getting the nutrition you need is making your life much easier and it keeps you from having to track but don’t get carried away with your nut butters. That’s a quick way to put on weight.
2nd one is quick. Find a workout buddy or team.
Working out with other people holds you accountable, can be more fun and gives you healthy competition!.
I love going to the gym. It’s not only social but it’s good for my mental and my physical health. I go back and forth working out with a trainer and doing classes. It’s pricey working with a trainer so classes are an amazing way to get a good workout and stay accountable because people will eventually be looking for you in class once you become a regular. You also work a little harder when there’s competition. My trainer was out of town recently and I did a class with my friend and loved it! I found myself working even a little harder than I did with my trainer, so interesting. But mix it up, I do fitness classes as well. It helps you get to the gym when you know someone will be looking for you!
3rd. Don’t isolate yourself
It’s comfortable to isolate yourself in the house and there’s a time for that but the more active you are with your friends and your family the happier you’ll be overall. Making the majority of my time being social and active and a minority of my time by myself is my recipe for feeling happier. We are social animals. Technology is making it super easy to be isolated, the more we isolate the less comfortable we are in social settings, the less comfortable we are the less we do it….and that’s when isolation starts becoming a habit. it’s a downhill spiral from there, because something major has to change to break that habit, so if you see yourself heading that way…do something to shift your trajectory, your happiness could depend on it.
4th. We should be spending as much time taking care of our mental health as we are our physical health.
Meditation and journaling are now part of my every day life. I can tell if I skip a few days. Meditation may not seem like it’s doing anything while you’re doing it but the benefits are subtle and wind their way through your daily life. It’s more important than ever because of social media and the mind games behind that…Social media can make us feel lethargic, depressed, anxious, angry, you name it, it’s not adding to your happiness, I assure you but we still do it….me included.
but I’ve found…The more interesting and fulfilling my life is the less time I want to spend scrolling on social media. When I’m active and hanging with friends or family or really into a book or exercising I’m not one bit interested in social media but when I’m bored..look out. So if you’re spending too much time on social media you may want to reevaluate where you’re heading. And look “too much time on social media” will look different to each person. For me, I have found that spending more than 30 minutes total on social media a day and I feel like a different version of myself. Im grumpier, more judgmental of myself, and definitely more lethargic because you are probably not moving a lot if you’re scrolling. So balance your social media out with good habits. Think about it like you would your food. If you only eat sugar, you’re going to feel yucky, but if you eat a little sugar and balance it with some good healthy whole foods…you’re probably feeling pretty good. So add some spinach to your mental health plan with healthy podcasts, good books, and maybe even a 5 minute meditation per day.
- It doesn’t take that long to start craving healthy food and stop craving food that makes you feel like crap.
The less you eat processed unhealthy food, the less you’ll crave it and the better Whole Foods taste. Processed food is designed to taste good not give you nutrition. So it’s still probably going to taste good to you if you eat it, you’ll just be better at resisting it. Honestly from my experience I can actually taste the chemicals in it now that I eat so little of it. But you have to give your tastebuds a chance to recover from it which is the hard part. Whole Foods taste wonderful but not after eating a hamburger and milkshake. You’ll miss it at first a lot but once your tastebuds reset you’ll see the difference. I promise you that, because Ive done it.
- Let go of resentment
Holding onto resentment is like taking poison yourself to try to kill someone else. It’s so toxic. When I feel resentment or I hang onto anger over something someone did or said, the person Im hurting is me. Ive had to really work on this because if you listen at all to my podcast, you know I have a sister that doesn’t want me in her life because Im not her religion. I could easily poison myself with resentment but I don’t. I know that holding on to resentment is handing all my power over to her and she’s not that powerful. I hold the keys to my happiness, no-one else does.
- Never stop dating your significant other
Long term relationships are amazing. I love being married. But it can be easy to fall into a routine and forget that at one point you wouldn’t dare let them see you at your worst…. Do you still flirt with your partner? Do you still do the things you did when you were first attracted to them? We all evolve but the things they loved about you when they met you still plays a role in your relationship…So be flirtatious, be spontaneous, be a little unpredictable in a good way, What would you do differently tonight when they get home if you were newly dating?….how would you dress? How would you greet them? I hope it wouldn’t be too far off from what you’re doing now, but if it is, you both will be glad you did.
And finally.
- Be kind to yourself . Be aware of the thoughts you have about yourself. Notice the way you talk about yourself and to yourself. Notice what you think when you look in the mirror. You have to have your own back. If you’ve made mistakes, treat yourself with the same love you would treat your baby sister, or your best friend, or your son or daughter. Your wants and desires matter just as much as anyone else’s but no-one else is as responsible for your happiness as you are. And no-one else can give you happiness. You give that to yourself through your daily habits and thoughts.
I challenge you to think about this list and if any one of them resonates, don’t just let it be a feel good moment, use it to make a change, use it to do something different, something new that makes your life better today, tomorrow or forever. That’s the work. Share this with 3 people who love growth. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days!
