Being SELF Directed on Your Fitness Journey
I’m pretty sure that most everyone I coach secretly wishes (and sometimes believes!) that I had a magic wand to lay upon their head and instill infinite motivation so they can finally reach their health and fitness goal. I wish I did. But, I don’t. What I DO have is invaluable information, tools, support AND insight that will help YOU realize the necessity of being SELF directed on your fitness journey.
Let’s look at the key ways you can help yourSELF lose weight (and maintain it), tone your body, get off those meds—whatever health and fitness goal you have for yourSELF.
You Can Learn Self Trust
“The person you need to trust first is yourself. No one can be as consistently supportive of you as you can learn to be. Being kind to yourself increases self-confidence and lessens your need for approval. Loving and caring for yourself not only increases self-trust, it also deepens your connection with others.” | CYNTHIA WALL
What is self-trust? It boils down to tuning out all the voices and noises and believing our inner voice. It’s using our own mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual resources to navigate our way through life.
According to the expert, Cynthia Wall, it’s a learnable skill and a choice that CAN be made. BUT, it’s a process. All of us have to reclaim the chunks of it that we have previously given to our families, teachers, friends, bosses, and society in general.
Here are some tips on cultivating self trust:
- Love and respect yourself unconditionally (no more beating yourself up)
- Be patient with yourself (as you are with others)
- Know your core beliefs (and review them regularly)
- Take inventory of your strengths (and celebrate your success at building new ones)
- Check in with yourself often (because you can’t trust a stranger)
- Make mistakes often (for they are your teachers)
- Manage your expectations (so you minimize disappointment)
- Stop saying “I hope…” or “If…” (YOU are in charge)
When you trust yourself, your sense of empowerment will increase and you won’t flounder quite so much when you encounter unknowns.
You can dig deeper into self trust here—3 Ways to Develop Self Trust
Self Discovery is KEY
Self discovery is one of the MOST important results of any successful weight loss journey—and definitely a 21 Day Fix journey. It is also a crucial step in the process of being self directed on your health and fitness journey.
While you’re doing the work of changing your lifestyle, you learn SO much about yourself—about what’s REALLY important to you, about what foods work best for you at each meal, about those irritating bad habits, about what you can and cannot control, about how strong you are when you put your mind to it, and so much more.
I’m passionate about personal development because good health starts on the INSIDE. Be sure and like my Facebook page—and click on change your settings to look like the picture so you see the posts!
One of the best aspects of the 21 Day Fix program is that it is designed to allow you to customize it to best fit YOU—the foods YOU like, the container allotment that works best for YOU, and a meal prep system that fits YOUR (and your family’s) life.
Self Leadership is a Must
While having a support system—including a coach—in your health and fitness journey is super important, what’s MOST important is that you are leading yourself. I have A LOT to offer you, but I cannot move into your house and make sure you do your workout for the day or eat the right foods! Only being self directed will help you reach your goal.
YOU have to want to live a healthy life bad enough to create a vision for yourself, set goals, and keep generating the motivation to push yourself through the challenges. You have to hold yourself more accountable than others do.
I adore John Maxwell. He captures the importance of self leadership perfectly:
God has given each of us things to do. I want to complete them during my brief time here on earth, don’t you? | JOHN MAXWELL
He offers these suggestions for learning how to lead oneself:
- Seek and accept advice and accountability from others who are more experienced.
- Develop self discipline.
- Be patient and don’t take shortcuts.
- Set a concrete goal, a deadline, and take action.
Do Self Assessment Regularly
Self assessment is an important component of your health and fitness journey AND in the process of being self directed. It allows you to gauge your progress and make any necessary adjustments to account for where you might be falling short and to maximize your results.
Some key areas to check on a regular basis:
- Are you doing your workouts consistently?
- Are you giving your all when you workout?
- Are you tracking your behavior and progress—with both fitness and nutrition?
- How are you handling the hurdles that come up?
- Are you taking care of yourself?
- Are you celebrating your successes?
Advice and Accountability
As John Maxwell advised, seeking advice and accountability is an important part of being self directed. This is exactly what I passionately provide to my customers as a Team Beachbody Coach. It was the Team Beachbody message boards back in the early 2000s that helped me go through my transformation—and today I am honored to get to help others do the same.
If you don’t already have a Beachbody Coach, click below to learn more about how you can get coached by me for free, which includes membership in my private Facebook accountability group:
