Get a New Attitude

Part of the problem with failing is that it’s harder for us to succeed when we feel defeated. At the same time, though, it’s hard not to feel defeated after enough failures.

You need a clean slate. A fresh start.

With a confident attitude, you will be more likely to stick to a healthy lifestyle.

How Do I Gain Confidence?

There’s no easy way to become confident, but there are things you can do to improve your outlook and gain a more positive perspective.

Confidence is crucial to total-body wellbeing.

The best way to grow in confidence is to take great care of yourself. If your body feels good, your mind will feel good too.

It’s okay not to think you’re perfect. That’s not what confidence means. Confidence is about having inner strength and a strong sense of yourself. A part of that is knowing your body and giving it exactly what it needs. When you do, you will start to grow stronger and fitter, in your mind and your body.

What Am I Doing Wrong?

Sometimes, it feels like we don’t know what we’re doing. Everyone feels it, even people who seem totally self-assured.

I’ve dedicated years of my life to learning about fitness and health, and I still sometimes suffer from “imposter syndrome.” I feel like there’s so much to learn that I can never truly master fitness.

It’s normal to be unsure of yourself when you’re deciding what’s best to eat and what exercises are best. Don’t let it stop you from making a change.

Fake Miracle Diets

Fad diets and workout plans act in different ways. They’re almost all harmful. They work by provoking your system into a reaction. When you make drastic changes to one part of your diet or lifestyle, you may see benefits. Rarely, though, will those benefits be healthy or permanent.

Fake miracle diets work by throwing your body out of balance. Rather than following diets, I am a big supporter of total-body wellness and healthy lifestyle change. That’s how you really lose weight, get in shape, and stay that way for good.

Elimination Diets Don’t Work

Elimination Diets have you remove an entire food group or nutrient group from your diet. Think about the Atkins Diet. One of the most popular fad diets of all time, this plan had its users eliminating all carbohydrates. The body responded by burning fat, and it worked for a lot of people. Many Atkins dieters (including me, admittedly—this was before my total-fitness rebirth!) shed large amounts of weight very quickly.

But, it wasn’t long before the pounds packed back on. Sometimes, people gained even more weight than ever before. Today, you see very few, if any, people who have experienced consistent, long-term success with the Atkins diet. Why? Because it’s unsustainable. Without balance, even with our best intentions, none of these diets can last.

Don’t Blame Yourself Anymore!

Stop blaming yourself for your diet failures. It’s not you, it’s them.

Our culture tells us that these diets are good—we are the ones who fail. In reality, it’s the opposite. The diets are doomed to failure. YOU’RE NOT.

Don’t Set an End Goal

One sure way to fail is to set an endpoint for your efforts. Whether it’s a pant size, a weight, or a workout goal, having benchmarks can be a great motivation. The problem comes when you begin to think of them as a task to be completed.

The point of my approach is to create a permanent and sustainable lifestyle. You don’t just “get healthy” and that’s that. It’s got to be a part of your life forever.

Enjoy Yourself!

Enjoy yourself? And lose weight? How is that possible?

I’m here to tell you that it is possible, and you can do it.

How? With a healthy, balanced approach to fitness and wellbeing, you don’t have to go without anything that you love. Yes, you can have chocolate. Yes, you can keep doing yoga. No, you don’t have to ditch alcohol.

When you’re living a life in balance, everything has its place. With a strong mind-body connection, you can learn to respond to your body’s needs without ever giving anything up.

The more you enjoy yourself, the more likely you are to STICK WITH IT. Since permanent change is the goal, enjoying yourself a crucial part of my approach.