I’ve been on a roller coaster journey to lose weight and get healthy. I’ve found things that worked, but I never stuck with them. Two weeks ago I joined a keto challenge with the goal of losing 10 lbs. When I stepped on the scale the last morning I was excited to see what my final weight would be! The number posted reflected a loss of only 8.2 lbs. And just like that I was deflated. Disappointment, self-doubt and some anger were all swirling around. What had happened?! How did I lose 6.8 lbs the first week, but only 1.4 lbs during week two?
I spent that morning trying to figure it out. I questioned what I ate (followed the meal plan without deviation), what I drank (tons of water), the workouts I did (mostly modified challenge workouts with a few days walking and a few missed workouts). Had I tried hard enough? Had I really stuck to the meal plan EXACTLY AS WRITTEN? All of this ran through my mind as I was at work. That afternoon I received a call from John that made me stop the questioning and analyzing and negative talk that had been going on internally all morning. With 2 simple questions he was able to switch my mindset.
Instead of the negative “I only lost 8.2 lbs” and “I didn’t lose the 10+ lbs I was hoping for” he helped me reframe it into “wow, look what I did! I lost 8.2 lbs in 14 days”. He made me realize that I would never let a friend be down for not hitting their goal, and instead I would be encouraging them to celebrate what they DID accomplish, so why was I treating myself differently?
With a third question, John shed light on the “what went wrong” in week two vs week one. Had I been getting at least 6 hours of sleep each night? And the answer was no. During week two I was getting up at 4 am every day so I could drive to our plant 1.5 hours away. When I got home I was either working out or house hunting. Several nights I ate dinner (to plan) at 8 pm or later, which then led to being in bed at 11 pm or later. And there was maybe 1-2 days where I actually got 6 hours of sleep with the others being only 4-5. Week one was completely different. I had been in training all week which meant being in the office by 8 am (getting up 6-6:30) and being home by 5 pm. Workouts were mostly done by 6:30 pm with dinner complete by 7:15 at the latest. Most nights I was in bed by 10 pm. John made me see that I hadn’t done anything wrong, instead, life got in the way.
In the past I would have let the “failure to meet my goal” continue to weigh on me and subconsciously beat myself up. I would have questioned why I’m doing this if I’m not seeing the results I expect. And I would have let the disappointment feed into my fear that I’m never going to get where I want to be and I would “fall of the rails” and gain it all back until the next challenge.
So what’s different this time? In one word, John. You see, several weeks back I responded to an email from him about consistency. That first email led to several more followed by a long phone call that made me realize that I needed help to identify and deal with my shit so that I could make a permanent mindset change allowing me to put an end to negative self-talk, to falling off the rails and spiraling out of control, to fearing “what happens if I’m successful or if I’m not”, to fearing if “am I enough, or am I good enough”, to being afraid of letting other people down, and and relying heavily on others for accountability (for fear of disappointing them) and using challenges to stay on track.
In the last 3 weeks of working with John, I’ve made progress (baby steps) in changing my mindset. He has helped me realize that I not only need to identify and deal with my shit, but that in order to break the cycle of break the cycle, and end the ups and downs, I need to understand my real reasons for wanting to lose weight, get healthy and be fit. Because until I know my WHY, I will always struggle to make the right/tough choices that will get me to my goals. Why am I doing this? Why am I wanting to get healthy and fit (and how do I personally define fit)? Why? Such a small word, but such a powerful and difficult one to define. With John by my side guiding, challenging and supporting me, I can’t fail.
I can’t recommend John enough if you are struggling. He understands it’s not easy, but he will support you every step of the way. He will challenge you to get real and deal with the hard shit, but he also senses when to back off because you aren’t ready to go there yet. John is very passionate about helping you find and bring out the real you, so that you can live the life you want and deserve.
By Deb Kroll/ Lake Orion, MI, USA