5 Reminders for When You "Can't See" Your Progress
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Feeling upset you’ve been working so hard on building the body you want and have nothing to show for it? Confused why all your hours in the gym aren’t paying off? If you answered yes, it’s time we’ve had a chat.
In this episode of Embrace Your Real, I share five extremely important reminders with you about that progress you "can't see." If you are dedicated to your transformation there is no way you aren’t changing, right?
Here's a bonus reminder:
Feeling good is so much more important than looking good. So don't compromise your relationship with your body just for the transformation of your body.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello and welcome back to the Embrace Your Real podcast. I am so excited that you are here, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. Wherever you are in the world, whether you're driving, you're at the gym, you're cleaning, you're cooking, you're walking, I love seeing where you're tuning in from and what you're doing. So be shared a screenshot this episode, post it up on your stories, tag me, Julia Ledbetter and I love connecting with you over on the gram. If you are not already subscribed to the podcast, be sure to hit that Subscribe button so that you never miss an episode. We release them every Monday and Thursday. And without further ado, I'm just going to dive right into today's episode. This topic, I am so excited to share with you because it's something that I wish I would have had years ago when I started my healthy lifestyle. And honestly, throughout the years I've struggled and I just wished that I had something to listen to, something to remind me to ground myself and remind me what's most important.
So the title of today's episode is Five Reminders for When You Can't "See" Your Transformation. I know what it's like to feel upset when you've been working so hard and you feel like there's nothing to show for it, or you're super confused with all the hours that you're putting in at the gym, or meal prepping and following your meals and you just feel like it's not paying off. I want you to save this episode so that the next time that you are feeling frustrated or you just need that reminder, that you can listen to this and just feel empowered, encouraged, or inspired. So just going to dive right in. Reminder number one, how you feel is more important than how you look. Let's set aside that transformation that you "can't see" for a moment. I want to ask you a few questions. Since you started working on your transformation ... so whatever it's been, you've been trying a new program, you have been more consistent with your meals and meal prepping, or you've just overall just felt like you've been more consistent pursuing this healthy lifestyle. I want to ask you, do you feel happier?
Do you feel more energized? Do you feel more productive? Do you feel more confident? Do you feel stronger? Do you feel more vibrant? Do you feel more like you? Because honoring your body with movement and nourishing your body with exactly what it needs is not about looking a certain way, it's about feeling a certain way. Sure, we all want to look a certain way, but what is the point of looking good if we don't feel good? I have to be honest with you, if I had to choose between looking good and feeling good, I would honestly choose feeling good any day of the week and I think it's just because I have been in a place where I had visible six pack abs. This was about a week out from my WBFF Bikini Pro competition back in July of 2014, the leanest I've ever been. Shredded, like shredded physique and yet it was just a physical shell. Mentally, I felt like I was in the pits. Mentally, I was not feeling myself. I was not productive.
I was definitely not more confident, which is crazy because we live in a world where if you see somebody that's physically fit, you're like, "Oh, they must feel so confident." Girl, be very, very careful with what you think because oftentimes, it's not how it appears on the inside. Someone could have a very, very physically fit shell and feel dead on the inside, or feel like just malnourished on the inside. I was just not feeling myself. And so now because I have gone through that, I try to remind every single woman who is in this place of really just fixating on how they look and totally discrediting how they feel, because I've been there and I know that it's so much more important to feel your best. And when you feel your best, eventually you will get to this incredible place physically with your body because you're just at peace with it, you're no longer fighting it. So the next time that you're feeling down about your transformation, go through that list of questions that I asked you. Happier, more energized, productive, confident, stronger, more vibrant, are you feeling more like you?
It will honestly be such a great reminder that you are in fact transforming. This is about retraining our brains that a transformation is not just a physical transformation, so whether you see it or not, you are in fact transforming. Reminder number two, you are healthier than you were before. Because I think oftentimes when you can't fit into that old pair of skinny jeans or that dress that you've been keeping that you desperately want to fit into, that doesn't mean that your body hasn't changed. It just simply means that you are transforming from the inside out, or your body composition is changing. Because honestly, if you're honoring your body with movement, you're nourishing your body with what it needs, of course, your body is actually changing. It's literally impossible for your body to do absolutely nothing if you are changing things, your body is getting healthier. And believe it or not, your health is not defined by fitting into those skinny jeans or fitting into that dress that you have in the back of your closet.
Let me tell you, if I were to fit in an old pair of my skinny jeans, that would definitely mean that I was not healthy. Genuinely, I say that because if you have seen any of my Instagram posts, I had this pair of jeans that I kept from about seven years ago and I tried to put them on. And I am the strongest I have ever been physically, but more importantly, as strong as I've ever been mentally and those jeans don't even get past my knees y'all. And it was such a beautiful thing because when I remembered that I care more how I feel than what I look like, when I tried those on ... I think this was last year or two years ago, I was going through my jeans and I totally forgot I had them. I put them on and because I have put so much emphasis on really making sure that I am transforming my mindset and focused on that, it didn't matter externally that they didn't fit.
It reminded me like, "Man, I'm in such a better place. I'm so much more healthier than I was before, even though I can't fit into these old jeans." So forget about the skinny jeans and celebrate being healthier than you ever have been. So reminder number three, you are getting stronger mentally. I want to ask you, how many times have you not wanted to work out, but you've forced yourself into it? I know for me, in those days that I'm just not feeling it, I'll be like, "Okay, five minutes. Just go five minutes." And then I'm done with four minutes and 55 seconds and I'm like, "Oh, you can do another five." And just keep pushing yourself. It's like you're your best friend to yourself and you're just like, "You've got this." Like, "Let's go. Let's go." How many times have you wanted to toss in the towel and quit, but you have continued to work hard anyways, whether it's in your workout or it's the overall healthy lifestyle?
For me, there's been many times just in my workouts where I'm like, "Oh, I can cheat a little bit. It says 12 reps, I'll do eight." And then I'm telling myself, "No. No. No. You are stronger. You are doing this every single rep, every single circuit, every single thing that you accomplish, you are getting stronger and stronger and stronger." And then it reminds me and affirms that I am getting so much more stronger mentally. How many times have you had zero energy but managed to crush one of your hardest workouts? I know that was me back on Monday of this past week. I was just feeling in the pits, I was not feeling it. And I went downstairs and I did the whole five minute trick. I was like, "Let's do five minutes." Then it got to five minutes. And then once I got past that five minutes, I had one of the best workouts and I always just feel an on top of the world. I know for me, it's been honestly too many times to count.
There are so many serious mental victories and those mental victories have led you to a tremendous mental transformation. It's the small things over time that compound that make the biggest transformation, and so it's all about those mental victories because that is so much more than just the physical thing. The disciplines that you are training your brain, that far surpasses any physical thing that you are chasing. Those mental victories are making you stronger in your life. I don't care how many times people have said, "Oh, it's just a workout." I'm like, "This workout is training me for my life. This workout is training me to be a stronger individual, a stronger wife, a stronger leader, a stronger daughter. The many various roles that I play in my life, you can tell me all day long it's just a workout, but this is me training for life." So I don't care if you can't see your physical transformation, you need to celebrate the crap out of those mental victories that you are having, girl, because they are literally changing and improving the overall quality of your life. So reminder number three, you are getting stronger mentally.
Reminder number four, your relationship with your body is more important than the transformation of your body. Can I say it again for the girls in the back? Your relationship with your body is more important than the transformation of your body. If you are upset about not seeing your transformation, any negative self talk will only hinder your progress. I love this quote from mother Theresa. She said, "Violence of the tongue is very real. In fact, it is sharper than any knife." I don't want ... So don't let your frustration cause you to speak negatively about yourself. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can never hate your way to the body that you want. And many people are like, "Okay, that's great. You can never hate your way into the body that you want. But what does that mean?" If you hate your body while trying to work towards the body that you want, you'll most likely won't love your body when you get there. Going back to my visible six pack abs, shreddest physical shell that I've ever had, I still didn't love my body.
I was still picking it apart and I was like, "What? This doesn't make any sense to me because this is what I have chased for so long and this is what I admired so much on Instagram was these physically fit shells, but why am I not feeling my best? Why am I not happy? Why am I not content?" I was chasing that physical transformation, but I wasn't actually even recognizing that my relationship with my body was so much more than the transformation that I was having. You most likely won't love your body when you get there and even more likely, you will never actually get "there" because you're too busy hating your body. So while your body is working on transforming, you need to work on your relationship with your body. It's almost like you need to take yourself out of the equation and let your body do the transforming that it's going to do. Your body's going to do the transforming when you are consistent, when you're eating enough, when you're honoring your body with movement.
And most importantly, when you are speaking to yourself more lovingly, your body will transform into what it needs to be in that moment. So I want you to look in the mirror through eyes of love, not hatred. I want you to applaud yourself for speaking to yourself lovingly rather than constantly talking negatively about yourself. It's almost like when you are around people and they start gossiping about other people. I don't know about you, but for me, I don't want that in my life. But the people that I'm around that speaks so highly of other people when they're not even there, I want to be around those people because they're like, "I love that person. I am so proud of that person." It is such a beautiful thing to me. I want to be that in my own body. I want you ladies to speak so highly of yourself constantly instead of living in this body, talking to yourself so negatively, because that's not going to do any good. I promise you that the second you begin loving your body is the second that you will see your body transform into what it needs to be.
So again, reminder number four, your relationship with your body is more important than the transformation of your body. Reminder number five, you are you regardless of the transformation that you "can't see". No matter how much your body does or does not change, you will always be you. You'll always be beautiful, you will always be worthy, you will always be unique, you will always be capable of love, you will always be amazing and you will always be you. Your life purpose is not to change your physical appearance. You did not get your job because of the number on the scale, you got it because of your passion and your knowledge. You did not make your friends because of your waistline, you made them because of your love, your care, your sense of humor. You did not get all the opportunities that have come your way this year because of your body fat percentage, you got them because someone saw something special in you. You are you regardless of your transformation.
Stop putting so much value in thinking that when you transform into X, you will be X, or you will gain more likes, or you will gain more approval. I am telling you, you can have all of the external approval in the world, but if you don't first have that internal approval, none of it matters. Truly, none of it matters. So never forget that you are you regardless of the transformation that you can't see. Girl, I need you to stop letting that transformation that you "can't see", get you down. You have so, so much to be thankful for. You are improving so much. It's that [inaudible 00:14:14] PR, it's constantly eating the food that your body needs to function as optimally, it's drinking that water, it is moving the body when you don't want to. Those are all things that I'd mentioned previously. Those are equipping you for life. For life, those are equipping you. This is so much more than just a healthy lifestyle. I think sometimes we compartmentalize and we're like, "This is my healthy lifestyle, and this is my career, and this is my family."
When you are taking care of yourself, it infiltrates into every other part of your life. Period. And I'm sorry, so when you are on this transformation journey, you've got to look at it as, "How can I transform internally so much so that externally it will take care of itself, but I'm transforming into the strongest version of myself so that I can serve the people that I love, I can do the things that I love with the most, with the strongest heart, with the strongest mind and the strongest body?" Again, the strongest body does not need to equate to the leanest body. All right? Oftentimes, I would say 99.999% of the time, the strongest body is not the leanest body. Just remember that. You've got this. I want to just recap those five reminders, so next time you are just feeling down or frustrated, you remember this. This somehow inspires you, it empowers you, it motivates you. Reminder, number one, how you feel is more important than how you look. Number two, you are healthier than you were before. And number three, you are getting stronger mentally.
Number four, your relationship with your body is more important than the transformation of your body. And number five, you are you, regardless of the transformation that you "can't see". I hope that this episode encouraged you, inspired you, sparked some things in you. The next time that you are looking at yourself and you're just feeling frustrated that you haven't "physically transformed", girl, you got to go within. And when you go within, the rest of the external will take care of itself. I know it sounds backwards, but anything in life that's worth pursuing often does sound backwards because this world lives in such an instant gratification. And honestly, there are so many facades in this world that on the outside something looks pretty, on the outside something looks, "Oh, I want that. If I only had that, then I will achieve X, Y, and Z." Girl, don't get fooled by it. Don't get fooled by the pretty external things.
Do the internal work, remember that you are transforming and that physical transformation will take care of itself. Focus within. I love you so much. Thank you so, so much for tuning in. I would love to hear your aha moment, so be share to direct message me on Instagram. Be sure to screenshot this, post up on your story. I love you and I'll see guys in the next episode.