I had a discussion with a friend last night who’s making some AWESOME healthy changes in her life. The one thing she told me is a struggle at this point in her journey (and I can totally relate because I absolutely remember saying the same things a few years ago) is that she feels like it will always be hard to resist unhealthy (yet delicious) food. My advice to her was just to be open to the possibility that she may someday wake up and feel differently about that.
I’m very all-or-nothing when it comes to food so I absolutely remember a time feeling like I had to try SO HARD to avoid temptation. I couldn’t make eye contact with the treats my coworkers would bring into the office. I couldn’t keep junk food in my house at all. If I went to a party, I would try to wait as long as possible before starting on the snacks because once I started, it was nearly impossible for me to stop.
The amazing part is that somewhere along the line in the last few years, that has completely neutralized. It’s not that I don’t still want to snack at parties or have some treats from time to time but my internal feelings about it now are just so…. indifferent.
Over the past 4 years, I have put a lot of systems into place to avoid junk (like not bringing it into the house). I’ve cut WAYYYY back on all processed foods. I eat a much cleaner diet. I drink my Shakeology every.single.day, which means my body is getting fully NOURISHED. I cut out gluten, which was originally due to a sensitivity but also helps me avoid a lot of the things I would tend to overeat.
My taste buds and my brain have literally CHANGED! I no longer crave the things I used to crave. It is much easier for me to have a small treat without it unfolding into a total overboard treat-stuffing session. When I’ve gone to the restaurants I used to go to all the time in college and chose to treat myself to some of my unhealthy favorites from back in the day, they just don’t taste that good to me anymore. During a snowy day last winter I ordered some delivery from a Thai restaurant and the brown sauce that I used to love so much tasted so sweet and artificial to me I couldn’t eat it.
For ANYTHING that I have struggled with in life, I always forget that there’s another side to it once you’re over the hump. It’s hard to endure the hard parts of making change and we always assume it’s never going to get easier, which makes it really tempting to quit trying. I’m here to tell you that just about ANYTHING gets easier.
I remember times in my life where I HATED push-ups. I remember Chalene saying during ChaLEAN Extreme that she used to hate push-ups because she never did them. Now she does them all the time and she loves them. I CHOSE to believe her. And you know what? I love them now too. There used to be things I would worry about constantly with my old job (the direction our company was going, if we’d have funding to continue, if I’d have a job, etc) and even worried about some similar things when I first started as a Beachbody coach. Somewhere along the line, I was shown enough times that things always have a way of working out that I just stopped worrying and learned to trust the process! There are things I do regularly as a coach that I thought I’d NEVER be good at or that it would always take a lot of discipline for me to keep at it- now those things are second nature! I remember many heart breaks and disappointments in relationships that I thought I’d never feel ok about. Each one of those has found a way to sort itself out in time and be replaced with peace about the situation.
During the hard parts, make sure you are giving yourself credit for how far you’ve already come. And more importantly, remember that IT WILL GET EASIER. I, of all people, know that it can be HARD to believe there will ever be a day where you feel differently or it feels easier. But promise me you’ll leave space for that possibility. Be open to the possibility that it MAY someday get easier, feel better, or be different. Because YOU will have changed and grown without even realizing it 🙂
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I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey 🙂 Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908
Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.