3 Underrated Tips for Reaching Your Fitness Goals
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I have shared countless tips on how to build the body you want on my podcast. You have to do some resistance training, count your macros, keep yourself hydrated, get enough sleep, and stay consistent.
But sometimes we can know ALL the things we need to do, yet for some reason, we STILL can’t see the results we want.
And it’s frustrating!
That's why in this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I am going to give you some underrated tips for reaching your fitness goals and help you overcome this hurdle.
Are you ready?!
If you loved this episode, I know you'll also love...
Episode 181: A Step-By-Step Guide to Building the Body You Want
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real Podcast. Now, on this podcast, if you've been tuning in for a while, I have shared countless tips on how to build the body that you want, about resistance training and why you should try it, and why it's so important, and the benefits of it, how to count your macros, why I'm a huge advocate for educating yourself as to how to properly nourish your body, how to keep yourself hydrated, why and how to get enough sleep, and why it's important to stay consistent. Sometimes, we might know all the things that we need to do, and yet for some reason, we still can't get the results that we want. It can be super frustrating that we're educating ourselves all day long and yet we're still not seeing the results that we want to see.
So, if that sounds familiar, stay tuned. This bonus episode is going to help you overcome this hurdle. But first, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Caffeinated Cowgirl. First of all, love that username. She gave a five-star review and said, "Absolute Godsend. This show is a saving grace for me daily. Julie's passionate words of wisdom for nourishing your body and loving yourself unconditionally has really saved me. I had such a negative body image and negative mindset about myself it was disabling. I discovered this podcast during 2020 lockdown and really haven't looked back. Thank you, Julie and crew for this podcast. God bless." I love it so much. I love that username. That username is awesome.
If you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, you already know what I'm going to ask you to do. That is my one ask of you on this show is that you just rate and review or, and/or, or both would be amazing. Share this with a friend, share this with a coworker, a sister, or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from the show in general or maybe a specific episode. You can always copy the link and send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story. If you do that, please be sure to tag Julie Ledbetter as well as Embrace Your Real so that we can connect with you and we can personally thank you.
Okay, so let's dive into the three underrated tips for reaching your fitness goals. Number one, visualization. Visualization is way more powerful than you could ever imagine, no pun intended. There is a huge amount of research showing that our ability to vividly imagine details about the future we want dramatically increases our energy, our motivation, which in turn leads us to taking constructive action towards making the future that we want our reality. So basically, when our mind can picture exactly what we want to achieve extremely vividly, it can rewire itself so we take actions that lead us towards what we have envisioned. For example, if you can envision being the fitness version of yourself, there is a high likelihood that the fitness version of yourself or the healthy and balanced version of yourself will increase.
I think this is also because the more that we vividly picture something, the more attainable it feels, right? So, if we can't picture ourselves ever losing the weight or ever building the body that we want, does it really seem like we will actually ever lose the weight in real life or build the body that we want in real life? If we can't imagine it, then it probably and likely won't happen. But on the flip side, if we wake up every single morning and we're constantly visualizing ourselves with how we want the day to go, the habits that we want to make, building the body that we want, there is a much higher chance that it will actually become our reality.
In fact, research has shown that if you visualize making a shot in sports, your likelihood of making it slightly goes up. It then goes up even more if you visualize yourself waking up to practice, visualize working on your form, visualizing the feel of the ball in your hands right before it leaves for the basket. The more details and the more experience that you visualize, the greater likelihood you will have of actually achieving that in real life. So, let's say for example you have a specific body composition goal or something in mind when it comes to reaching your health and fitness goals. You don't just want to envision let's say, "I want to weigh 10 pounds less," you want to actually envision yourself doing all of the habits that lead you to the desired outcome.
So, visualize yourself waking up early to get your workouts done or get other tasks done so that you will have time to get your workout done. Visualize yourself honoring your body with movement outside of your workouts. Visualize yourself eating a healthy and nourished breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and nourishing your body with what it needs. Visualizing these things in every specific detail every single morning is going to greatly improve your chances of it actually happening in real life. So, why is visualization so important? Well, neuroscience has shown us that we actually have the ability to change our brain during our life. "This is just the way that I am" is actually something you've made up because you can actually change the way that you are quite easily.
Our brain constantly reforms and rewires itself based on how much or how little we use our neural pathways. This means that we can become consistent with new behaviors, or change, or mindset just by building new neural pathways. So, the more we do a certain behavior and the more we change our mindset, the more we can actually rewire our brain for that behavior or mindset to be a part of us. We can streamline this process by visualizing. So, our brains really can't decipher between what has vividly been imagined and what is real. So, the more you visualize yourself doing something or being something, the more efficient you will become at actually doing it or actually becoming it.
Number two, connect your identity with the behaviors you hope to accomplish. Now, here's the thing, your current behaviors are simply a reflection of the current identity you hold for yourself. So, this can either work for us or work against us based on the identity that you're holding for yourself. So, if the identity that you're holding for yourself is, "I'm a person who is so out of shape," then you believe you're out of shape and will continue to make decisions that align with you being out of shape. You will be more likely to skip workouts, skip nourishing your body, and not taking care of your body in the way that a healthy and fit person would.
If your identity is, "I'm a healthy and well-balanced, fit person, regardless of where your current physical health and strength stands or whether you are actually where you want to be fitness-wise, if you believe "I am a healthy, balanced, and fit person, you will continue to make decisions that align with you being a healthy, balanced, and fit person. You are more likely, thus, you are more likely to stay consistent with moving your body, nourishing your body, and honoring your body in the same exact way that a healthy, well-balanced, and fit person would be with their body. Remember that your habits, actions, and decisions are all a mere image of the type of person that you believe yourself to be. That's why it's first key to connect your identity with the behaviors that you hope to accomplish.
So, in order to change your habits and beliefs, you need to start believing new things about yourself and you need to build identity-based habits. So, for me, here's an example. "I am the strongest version of myself." I tell this to myself even if in the moment I am not the strongest version of myself. I will combine this identity with visualization. So, I sit and visualize myself embodying this new identity, like I am the strongest version of myself, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, all of those things. And then, I go through and I visualize how I feel, what I look like, how happy I am, where I'm at, the habits I need to do and going into detail with those habits. I go as deep as I can with the details to really make it extra real in my mind.
And the more that I visualize, the more I feel like this real identity, this real identity of becoming the strongest version of myself is, the more I align my actions with my goals throughout the day because I'm constantly seeing it in my subconscious brain, thus, it's a lot easier for me to actually follow through with my actions. Number three, you've got to relax. Like seriously, sister, you've got to relax. The more we focus on weight loss, the harder the weight loss will become. Or the more we focus on X, Y, and Z and that's all we're doing, it's less likely for it to happen in a shorter amount of time. The more we try to control what our body looks like or our life looks like, the harder it will become for us to actually attain what we want it to look like.
So, if stepping on the scale daily is a trigger, please step off of the scale. Do not get on the scale. Don't check yourself daily in the mirror if that's a trigger for you. Don't constantly be touching your body to see if anything has changed if that's a trigger for you. The more you do this, the less likely the results that are there you'll see. It's like watching paint dry. You need to do the basics like nourishing your body, moving your body consistently, and then visualize and connect your identity with the behaviors that you hope to accomplish. Then, you have to go, and relax, and trust the process. Seriously, hyperfocusing on weight loss isn't going to help you lose weight any faster, or build strength, or whatever your fitness schools are.
Do what you need to do and then carry on with your life. In fact, releasing weight loss happens more easily when your body feels relaxed. Let's be real. A relaxed body is typically a healthy body, right? And a healthy body digests food better, has an optimal metabolism, reaps the benefit of good health and fitness more than a stressed body does. If your body is stressed, then it's going to be hard to reach your goals. If your body's relaxed, it's going to be easier to reach your goals. So, let me recap those three underrated tips for building the body that you want. Number one, visualize yourself already having the body that you want and visualizing yourself doing all the habits that lead you to building the body that you want.
Number two, connect your identity with the behaviors you hope to accomplish. So, you are a healthy, and well-balanced, and fit person. That is connecting your identity with the behaviors and the outcome that you hope to accomplish. And number three, you've got to relax. Relax, relax, relax. Sound good? If you love this episode, I know you will also love this comprehensive episode. Episode 181, A Step-By-Step Guide to Building the Body That You Want. I have linked that in the show notes below so that you can easily go listen. But I hope this was helpful for you. I hope this has gave you some insight. I am a huge firm believer in visualization.
I have talked about it many times on the podcast. I have shared it many times on social media simply because not only is there immense amount of research backing visualization and how effective it can be, but also in sports psychology. I mean, it is one of the most researched things when it comes to sports psychology. And it can really help you out in so many different ways. So definitely, be sure to write these down. I would love to hear what comes from your visualizations. I would also love you to tune into that episode 181, A Step-By-Step Guide to Building the Body That You Want. Like I said, it's going to really give you kind of a comprehensive approach and just kind of give you everything that you need to know.
It's like sitting down and having a consultation with someone and just learning the things that I wish honestly I would've learned that would've saved me so much time and energy. And that's ultimately the goal of this podcast, is to help you save time and energy so that you can start being well on your way to building the body that you want. If you love this episode, again, I would love to know. Be sure to screenshot it and you can post it up on your Instagram story or send me a direct message. I love, love, love connecting with you guys. Thank you again for tuning into today's bonus episode. I love you so much and I'll talk to you in the next one.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, Julie A. Ledbetter, yes, it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So, go out there and embrace a real because you're worth it.