Get the Journal Prompts

https://yourlevelfitness.com/email

Join the Live Streams

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Episode Description

In this episode of How to Make Your Fitness Journey a Lifestyle, I want to bring everything back to the foundation of the Your Level Fitness approach.

Trusting yourself to figure it out.

Not just when everything is going well.

Not just when you're consistently exercising, following your eating plan, or feeling confident about your progress.

I'm talking about trusting yourself in those moments when you feel like you're losing control.

Maybe you've had a difficult twenty minutes.

Maybe you've had a couple of days where things haven't gone the way you wanted.

Maybe you're frustrated because you're falling back into thoughts and behaviors you've been working to change.

Those are the moments when I want you to calmly remind yourself that you're capable of figuring things out.

You are still responsible for your choices, and you are still capable of moving forward.

You have an entire lifetime of experiences to draw from.

You've tried different approaches to fitness.

You've made decisions about eating and exercise.

You've succeeded at things.

You've struggled with things.

You've learned along the way.

And none of those experiences automatically determine what happens next.

Your past shows where you've been. It doesn't dictate where you're going.

But there's another important part of this that I want you to consider.

How do you feel about the person you used to be?

I think a lot of people approach their fitness journeys as if they're trying to escape an earlier version of themselves.

They want to leave behind the person who struggled with weight.

The person who couldn't stay consistent.

The person who felt uncomfortable in their body.

The person who made decisions they now wish they had handled differently.

And they hope that if they lose enough weight, develop enough discipline, or achieve enough goals, they'll finally create enough distance between who they are now and who they used to be.

But you're not becoming an entirely different person.

You're evolving.

The person you were five years ago was doing the best they could with what they understood, what they were willing to do, and what they were capable of doing at that point in life.

You wouldn't be who you are today without those experiences.

That person deserves appreciation too.

And so does the person you are right now.

You don't have to wait until you've reached another goal to recognize your value.

You don't have to look back on your past with guilt or shame.

And you don't have to treat your future self as someone who will finally be worthy of your respect.

You deserve appreciation, love, and understanding at every stage of your life.

That includes your past.

That includes your present.

And that includes the person you're continuing to become.

The Your Level Fitness Framework isn't about replacing the old you with a new you.

It's about learning to trust, appreciate, and work with yourself as you continue growing.

You're going to make mistakes.

You're going to have difficult moments.

You're going to change your mind, adjust your approach, and discover new things about yourself.

But through all of it, you're still you.

And I want you to remember that the next time you're frustrated with yourself or wishing you could erase something from your past.

You don't need to run away from who you've been.

You can appreciate where you've been, recognize how far you've come, and continue moving forward at your own pace.

It's always been you. It always will be you. And you're worth appreciating through every part of the journey.

Get the Journal Prompts

https://yourlevelfitness.com/email

Join the Live Streams

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Episode Description

In this episode of How to Make Your Fitness Journey a Lifestyle, I want to start getting into some of the practical things you can do every day to reinforce the decision you've made to trust yourself, appreciate yourself, and build an active lifestyle that works for you.

In the previous episodes, we've talked about making the declaration that you're going to trust yourself to figure things out.

We've also talked about how your thoughts and actions can reinforce the person you've already decided to be.

But what does that actually look like in your daily life?

And how much time do you really need to commit to practicing it?

You can begin reinforcing this new approach in less than ten minutes a day.

I'm not asking you to spend hours working on your mindset or completely reorganize your schedule.

I'm talking about a few small, intentional practices that help you build a different relationship with yourself.

The first is listening to reinforcement podcasts.

These short episodes are designed to remind you of the beliefs you're choosing to strengthen, help you challenge familiar thought patterns, and encourage you to keep moving forward.

I've built an extensive library of podcasts covering fitness, self-confidence, body image, mindset, and other areas of life. You can explore them at https://yourlevelfitness.com/podcasts.

The second practice is the mirror challenge.

Spend 15, 30, or 60 seconds standing in front of the mirror and intentionally building yourself up.

Instead of automatically criticizing what you see, practice appreciating it.

And as you continue doing this, I want you to begin recognizing that there's more to appreciate than your physical appearance.

There's the person looking back at you.

Your experiences.

Your resilience.

Your abilities.

Your personality.

Everything that makes you who you are.

If you've spent years criticizing yourself in the mirror, this may feel uncomfortable at first.

That's okay.

You're not trying to force yourself to believe something overnight. You're practicing a different way of responding to yourself and giving that belief time to develop.

The third practice is using journal prompts.

These usually take just a couple of minutes, but they give you an opportunity to reflect on how you're thinking, how you're feeling, and how you're approaching different parts of your life.

The prompts help you explore your relationship with eating, exercise, body image, and yourself.

And when you put these practices together, the time commitment is surprisingly small.

A five-minute podcast.

Two minutes of journaling.

One minute in front of the mirror.

That's approximately eight minutes.

And I want you to consider how much time you may already spend each day worrying about your eating habits, questioning your workouts, criticizing your appearance, or feeling overwhelmed by the choices you're trying to make.

There's a good chance you're already spending more than ten minutes thinking about these things.

We're simply becoming more intentional about how we use some of that time.

But these aren't the only ways we're going to reinforce the foundation.

As we continue through the Your Level Fitness Framework, we'll talk about minimum daily actions, weekly goals, and how consistently following through on manageable commitments can help you develop greater trust in yourself.

All of this supports another important part of my approach.

Operating from a calm headspace and moving at a deliberate pace.

Your workouts still take however long they take.

Your eating habits still require decisions and adjustments.

Your goals still require effort.

But mentally, you don't have to feel like you're constantly rushing, struggling, or trying to hold everything together.

You can learn to approach those things with more confidence, patience, and intention.

Get the Journal Prompts

https://yourlevelfitness.com/email

Join the Live Streams

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Episode Description

In this episode of How to Make Your Fitness Journey a Lifestyle, I want to talk about something you're already doing every single day, whether you realize it or not.

Reinforcing what you believe about yourself.

Throughout your life, you've developed certain beliefs about who you are, what you're capable of, and how you see yourself.

And whether those beliefs have been helpful or limiting, you've probably spent years reinforcing them through your thoughts, actions, and the stories you tell yourself.

Think about the experiences you've held on to.

The situations you replay in your head.

The mistakes you remember.

The moments that seem to confirm something you've believed about yourself for years.

Sometimes we hold on to those experiences because they fit the narrative we've already created.

But what if you became more intentional about the narrative you're reinforcing?

That's what we're working on through the Your Level Fitness Framework.

In the previous episodes, we talked about making the decision to trust yourself to figure things out before you have all the answers.

Now we're going to practice reinforcing that decision.

You're not waiting for your actions to eventually make you believe in yourself. You're choosing what you believe about yourself and using your actions to reinforce that choice.

You're choosing to trust yourself.

You're choosing to recognize that you're confident and capable.

You're choosing to appreciate both who and what you see in the mirror.

And you're building an active lifestyle around your preferences, your capabilities, and the life you want to live.

Your thoughts and actions become opportunities to reinforce those decisions.

But there's another important part of this.

You are not going to be perfect.

You're going to have moments when your old thoughts return.

You're going to make mistakes.

You're going to make decisions that don't necessarily support your goals.

You may even recognize moments when you're getting in your own way.

That's part of being human.

The goal isn't to eliminate every negative thought or never make another decision you regret.

The goal is to become more aware of how you're responding to yourself.

When you notice an old pattern, you don't have to immediately criticize yourself or force yourself into a different emotional state.

You can acknowledge what's happening.

You can give yourself time to process what you're thinking and feeling.

And when you're ready, you can redirect your thoughts and actions toward the person you've already decided to be.

That's where I think this approach becomes empowering.

You're no longer relying entirely on the next workout, the next weigh-in, or the next accomplishment to determine how you see yourself.

You're actively practicing that belief throughout your everyday life.

And over time, those repeated choices can help you develop a healthier relationship with fitness, consistency, and yourself.

This is also why I encourage you to participate in the journal prompts and live streams.

They're opportunities to explore how you see yourself, recognize patterns you may have been reinforcing for years, and consider different ways to approach familiar challenges.

You don't need to rewrite your entire life overnight.

You don't need to get everything right.

You've already made the decision. Now keep reinforcing it.

One thought, one action, and one day at a time.