The Best Shape of My Life: My Four-Step Weight-Loss Journey

 

The Do It Scared™ Podcast with Ruth Soukup provides weekly motivation, inspiration, and practical instruction for anyone tired of settling for “good enough.” Each week we tackle topics like goal-setting, overcoming procrastination, finding the time, energy & know-how for accomplishing our dreams, and overcoming the obstacles that stand in our way. Don’t miss an episode; subscribe here.

Let me make something clear: I LOVE Doritos. And beer. And not exercising. Put them all together, and it sounds like a perfect evening.

But that doesn’t make for a perfect life.

As I’ve been working to grow my business for the past 8 years, I’ve inadvertently put my health near the bottom of my list of priorities. I’ve been writing books, creating and launching products, building a team, and hustling like crazy to make it all work. Most of the time, the Doritos have been right there beside me.

Although my company was getting bigger, so was my waistline. And that was becoming a problem.

Your physical appearance isn’t just about how you look in a bikini. The way you see yourself has huge effects on your self-confidence, your energy, and your entire personal outlook.

I didn’t feel good about how I looked on the outside, so I didn’t feel good on the inside. More and more, I found myself wanting to hide. I didn’t want to be seen, so I avoided posting on social media, making videos for my sites, and doing television interviews. My weight was starting to affect my business.

That’s why I decided to make a big change. For the past six months, I’ve been determined to lose weight, get healthy, and regain the confidence that I didn’t even realize I’d been losing in other areas of my life.

But losing weight is hard. Diets are the worst. And I absolutely hate working out.

When it comes right down to it, the key to losing weight is to eat fewer calories than you’re burning. But that’s easier said than done.

I’ve been sharing a little about my journey in my weekly newsletter and a little bit on Instagram, but in Episode 11 of the Do It Scared™ podcast, I get real about my struggle to lose weight and reveal the four steps that have been helping me during this painful, wonderful adventure.

Of course, I’m not a nutritionist. While I do have some tips about specific methods that worked for me, I’m more focused on helping you to change your thinking so that you can create a real plan, stick with it, and become your best you.

If you’d like to listen to the whole episode, you can find it on iTunes HERE or on Google Play HERE. (Or just search for “Do It Scared” wherever you prefer to listen!) You can also visit doitscared.com for more notes from this episode. Never miss a new episode by subscribing on iTunes.

FIND YOUR WHY

I didn’t want to diet. I didn’t want to go to the gym. And I knew that losing weight was absolutely going to suck in so many ways. I also knew that if it was going to suck that bad, I was going to have a really, really hard time sticking with it. That’s why I needed a compelling WHY to keep me going.

For me, I realized that my weight was adversely affecting my business. As the face of my company, I can’t hide. I need confidence. And I can’t be afraid to put myself out there. But each one of us has a different reason for getting into shape. Maybe it really is as simple as looking good at the beach, but it could also be a way to be more active with your kids or to kick-start your love life or just live a longer, happier life. Every time you feel like you’d rather skip the gym, it’s important to remember you have a larger purpose at stake.

MAP OUT A PLAN

To make my plan, I used my Goal Crushing® worksheet that you can find in the Living Well Planner®. I like this worksheet because it forces me to not only identify the steps I will need to take, but to first claim my target and refine my objective, then to identify my why and think about how I’m actually going to implement my plan. Get the link in the show notes at doitscared.com/episode11.

For me, one of my biggest problems with diets is that they’re all so much WORK when it comes to planning. But this time around, I knew I needed to find something I could keep doing on my busy schedule. So I researched meal delivery programs and settled on one called Bistro MD. The meals are flash frozen and sent to me once each week, and that made it much easier for me to make a workable plan.

CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY

The second part of my plan was to join a gym and arrange to work with a trainer three times a week. Of course, lots of people (myself included) have a collection of old gym membership cards that only collected dust. So, to motivate myself, I created a lot of accountability: I pre-paid for the biggest gym package I could get so I knew I’d be forced to follow through. And even when I really don’t want to go, I know my trainer is there waiting for me.

But I also put accountability in place in another way. My husband and I made it our big family goal to get mom in shape this year, and knowing they’re all with me has made me all the more determined to succeed. Without accountability, it’s easy to make excuses, get off track, and rationalize our bad decisions.

TAKE ACTION DAILY

You have to choose every single day that you’re going to be in it to win it. For me, that choice starts with stepping on the scale to weigh myself because I know that when I start measuring where I’m at, I’m less likely to rationalize bad decisions later in the day and I’ll make a bigger effort. Then it’s making the choice to go to the gym or go for a run. Then it’s the choice to keep track of my food in the Lose It app and to follow my meal plan and get more steps.

There are so many daily decisions that have to happen, but the key is taking that action every single day. Do something, however small it might seem, to get you closer to the finish line.

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These are just some of the highlights from this episode, but there is SO much more to hear! You can listen to the entire episode on iTunes HERE or on Google Play HERE. Visit doitscared.com for show notes from this episode, and never miss a new episode by subscribing on iTunes.