How to stop wasting your money and look good forever.

The boring truth about weight loss and fitness.

It’s 9 am. The time sends a trigger off in my mind, as it has done for the past decade every Monday through Friday.

I go to the kitchen and drink my Legion Pulse serving. I can feel the steady energy rise as I put on my sexy, white Adidas.

I swing the garage door open. I yell at my kids that mom will be in the garage until 9:30, and then it begins.

I’m transported to my weight-lifting world.

The barbell is waiting. I pull out my cheap Yearly Challenge book. Looks like today is Deadlifts and Arm Rows. The first thing I remember to tell myself as I look in the mirror behind the squat rack is, “You won’t get this entire workout done today, but you will get get a couple heavy sets done.”

The all or nothing concept is now gone from my workouts.

Having children changed that for me forever. If I was still an “All or Nothing” girl, I can guarantee you that I would not be fit.

Let me rip off the band-aid and kill your short-term dreams.

I want to make this short and sweet for you.

If you think that you will lose weight or reach fitness goals quickly and then maintain your results, it is not going to happen.

If you think that South Beach diet (ahem, I mean Keto diet) is going to give you long-term results over a lifetime, you are wrong. If you want to lose 10 pounds and fit into a dress next weekend, then knock yourself out, but be prepared to gain the weight back. If you want sustainable weight loss over time, you need carbs.

If you think that Weight Watchers is going to last a lifetime, you are wrong. Stepping on a scale to see your “weight” is never going to make you feel good. I hope we all know by now that weight varies drastically from day to day.

If you think those 2 hour grueling workout sessions will give you a long-lasting healthy bod, you are wrong. Extreme forms of exercise too often and for too long will give you injuries and fatigue.

What actually works.

Here’s what actually works, and it’s not anything exciting. It is the most boring thing in the world, and I doubt most people will ever do it because you don’t have to pay for it, and no one will get rich off you doing it.

The secret is hard work, little by little, day after day after day, over a lifetime.

You can be fit and healthy over your lifetime by quitting extremes and adopting a slow-but-steady mental and physical pace.

You need more carbs, less jerking around on your joints, more enjoyable walks, less food restriction, more balanced meals (add in some dessert), less running, and more proper weight lifting.

More treating yourself kindly, and no more fad diets that only last a hot minute.

Weight loss and fitness take as much mental work as physical work.

If you can see this as a long-term thing, you can stop feeling so bad if you don’t see quick results while keep on keeping on.

Educate yourself. Get on YouTube, read free library books, or follow people who actually look good and have been doing steady, boring fitness stuff their entire lives. Follow these ladies if you’re a mom and need habit-building skills.

It will be sustainable if YOU learn it. If someone else is telling you what to eat and when to eat, you will never maintain it for yourself. No more yo-yo diets that make you feel bad about yourself and make your body feel like shit.

If you are following someone else’s workout plan but don’t have proper form during the exercises, you won’t see results.

Research now shows us that if you extremely restrict your calories on a diet, you will feel bad, be unhealthy, and undoubtedly gain all your weight back at the end of a dieting phase. I’ve been there and so have 100% of people who have tried a quick-fix diet.

What actually works is eating just a little bit less, like a few hundred calories less, than where you are eating right now and then slowly eating less and less over a long period of time until you reach your desired weight. After that, how should you eat? That’s where you have to do some work to find some answers for yourself.

If you see someone with a lot of rock-hard muscles, either that’s genetic, or they’ve been lifting weights for years, day in and day out. You can do a 3 month or 6 month lifting regimen, but if that’s all you are going to do, you are not going to change your body.

The people who are changing their bodies for good are the people who lifting 4, 5, or 7 days a week, day in a day out, for decades. I can attest to this because I will get my ass out into my garage to lift even if I can only get one set done for 10 minutes, because I know that getting toned and hard takes constant work. I am focused on the long-term game.

What is beneficial to spend money on IMHO.

Certified Personal Trainer. There is nothing wrong with professional accountability if you need help showing up and help educate you. You may need to have a trainer for a long, long time. Or, if you build up the habit to get moving and get fit, you may not need one long term.

Certified Dietician/Nutritionist. Hire someone who knows what they’re doing. They will teach you about your specific body type as well as metabolism and help nail down food that works for you, not against you. They’ll help educate you, and that’s priceless!

A Fitbit/Smartwatch. For a long time, I thought that a step-counter was not a sustainable fitness tool. Then one day, a friend showed me the fireworks display on her watch as soon as she reached her step goal every day. A free, daily reward like fireworks for steps? Mind=blown. You can do a happy dance as soon as you hit that step goal, and this can be a long-term habit builder! I absolutely love my FitBit I purchased from Costco last year.

Weights. Invest in dumbbells, and if you get strong enough after a while, I highly recommend getting a rack and barbell if you aren’t a gym member somewhere. You will feel like a badass as you see your weight progress over the years. I absolutely love working out alone with weights. I use Google a ton to see proper weight form and use my book to track progress.

Supportive shoes that are also sexy. I did invest in a pair of shoes for plantar fasciitis that are hideous yet wonderful to walk in, but I primarily wear my white Adidas with heel spur cushion inserts. They look good with my legging attire I wear every day. I feel sexy in them, which is key to getting me to wear supportive shoes.

Free stuff is awesome.

Water. It’s free. Drink more.

Walking. It’s free to move every day if you carve out the time.

Meal planning. It’s free and will change your life if you incorporate it into a daily thing.

You should already have pajamas, so if you work out at home in the morning there is no need to buy any new clothing. I love working out in my pj’s. It’s really fun and reminds me that I am making short workouts apart of my life when life gets busy.

Crossing off workouts and other healthy habits on a calendar is free. This is the one habit that has sustained my fitness, and it costs me a couple bucks each new year. Seeing that calendar fill up with crossed off days lights up my life.

You can succeed at your own habits and rewards that are cheap or free if you get a little creative. Talk about a self-esteem boost knowing you are creating your own life of health!

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No more guilt that you didn’t “complete the diet” or that you “skipped a workout.” Just slow and steady habits, with some normal ups and downs thrown in, over a lifetime.

I believe in you! If I can do it, you can do it. I never thought I would have come this far, but I look back on all the years of little changes I adhered to most days and can see that I have built something incredible.

Start today, do a little bit. Don’t stress and do “all the things”. Do I have to remind you that Rome wasn’t built in a day?