Introduction: Learning to create a healthy lifestyle is simple…but simple does not mean easy.

As a young adult, I did not have healthy habits. I didn’t exercise, I ate a ton of processed foods, and I was a smoker.

If you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, please seek professional help. Those habits have complicated underlying problems and getting off substances should come before anything else. Those types of changes require a different way of going about improving your life. This process is not for you. Please seek help.

Fast forward to today, I exercise regularly, I eat a lot better, and I am no longer a smoker. 

Changing that lifestyle didn’t happen overnight, but I know I am far healthier now than I have been at any given point in my past. 

Like many things in life, once it became painful enough, I started to change. 

One of the most pivotal times in my life was when I began lifting weights. 

Most people assume that because I am a personal trainer, that I am athletic. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

I didn’t play sports in high school. 

I can’t catch a ball, I am not fast and I am kinda clumsy. 

I started exercising because I was too skinny. 

Now before you come for me, you should realize that people who are thin experience a ton of body shaming by other people. 

Here are a few things I heard on a regular basis, from strangers, friends and loved ones.

Eat a cheeseburger...
Are you on drugs?

Do you have an eating disorder?
How do you stay so thin?
Are you eating?
It must be nice that you can eat whatever you want.

Meanwhile, I was experiencing joint pain from muscle weakness, trouble finding clothes to fit me, and having a hard time sitting. It was actually painful to sit through a movie. 

I realized I needed to do something about it when a stranger said something to me about it when I was at work. 

I went to the doctor and told him what was going on. 

I was kind of dismissed. 

He told me I wouldn’t have that problem when I was 30. 

That didn’t help me at that moment, and I did not want to wait until I was 30, that was four years away.

Creating New Habits

I took the advice of a friend and I started going to the gym. 

It was hard and I was sore EVERYWHERE. 

That first week or two, I experienced a level of soreness that could not have imagined was possible. 

I kept going, because I knew the change was good. 

Before I knew it, I started to feel better. 
The pain in my knees started to go away. 

It no longer hurt to sit at my kitchen table. 

Before too long, I loved going to the gym. 

It took time to develop a consistent exercise routine. 

There were times I fell off for weeks and sometimes months at a time. 

Eventually, it got to a point where I really can’t go more than a few days without getting in a good workout. 

That didn’t happen overnight. 

I had to keep trying, keep starting over, keep going. 

Giving up the Bad Habits

The same was true for giving up cigarettes. 

I quit many times before it actually stuck. 

And every time that I broke down and smoked a cigarette, I had to quit all over again. 

Until I finally realized that I can’t have just one. 

Because if I smoke one, I will smoke a whole pack. 

And then I am back to smoking.

Giving up old habits is much harder than adding in new ones. 

Who wants to be the person walking out of the gym, just to light up a smoke? 

I could feel the hypocrisy of it, even while I did it. 

Creating the Lifestyle

I had motivation to change coming at me from all directions. 

My body was screaming at me, and my mental health was taking a beating from all of the comments I was getting about my body. 

I was fed up with how I was feeling both physically and mentally. 

I was ready to do something about it. 

It didn’t happen all at once. 

I didn’t go from a junk food eating, cigarette smoking waif, waitress to a gym going, water drinking, hormone loving personal trainer overnight.
All of these changes occurred gradually. 

First I started lifting weights. 

A year or so later, I stopped smoking. 

Then I switched my college major from math to exercise science.

Exercise comes very easily to me now. 

Nutrition is something that I have to continue to work on, but I can say that when I eat well, I feel well. 

The more I learn about nutrition and how it works in the body, the easier it is for me to reach for better choices. 

Simplifying the Process

Obviously, most people are not going to make a career change after creating a healthy lifestyle like I did. 

The thing is, if someone like me can make these changes, anyone can do it.

The trick is starting small and with the easiest changes. 

Many people get excited about the new life that they want to create and they try to do too much all at once. 

This is what crash dieting and yo-yo dieting looks like.

You may  decide you  are going to workout everyday, and completely change your diet, meal prep and basically become a different person overnight. 

It sounds easy, because they are simple things. 

Simple does not mean easy. 

Those changes may last weeks or even months, but more likely than not, something will happen in life and before you know it, you have become inconsistent, and possibly completely reverted back to your old way of doing things. 

Working in the gym for as long as I have, I have seen this over and over again.

Regardless if you need to just change a few things, or if your lifestyle needs a complete overhaul, the process to creating lasting changes is the same. 

1. Identify what you want to improve

2. Make a plan

3. Execute

Again here…

SIMPLE DOES NOT MEAN EASY

Identify what you want to improve

This is different for everyone: nutrition, more exercise, stress reduction, better sleep, etc. 

When working with my clients, I often find this means all of these things. Rather than getting overwhelmed and trying to start too many things at once, it is best to get organized about it. 

Make a plan

Start with lists. The first  one will be a list of habits you want to create. The second list will be one of the habits you want to quit. Put them in order from easiest to hardest. 

Pick one or two things from the new habit list- start with the easiest/simplest ones

Execute

Block off time in your week to dedicate to the new habit you want to create. This could look like time going to the gym to exercise, or time spent meal prepping healthy foods. 

Once you have your new habits mastered, it provides motivation to break the old bad habits. 

That is why I always encourage my clients to stay focused on adding in the new habits first.

Regardless of how you decide to go about it and what you want to tackle first, you need to get started. 

It has been my experience working with hundreds of people over the years that choosing 2 or 3 changes is best. More often than not, this means commiting to exercise 2 or 3 times per week, focusing on adequate hydration and introducing fasting.

Fasting is one of the more confusing subjects out there. There are many different methods and ways to do it. There has been a lot of hype around intermittent fasting following the 16:8 fasting window. This schedule works great for men, but it has been shown that women do better not fasting the same way everyday.

If you need help getting organized with this, I suggest you check out The Healthy Habits Workbook. This digital download will help get your organized with your cycle, symptoms and habits. As a bonus, a fasting schedule that has been developed for women is also included. Change your life for less than the cost of your favorite drink.

If you are having trouble sticking to it, consider hiring a coach or a personal trainer. A big part of the job is helping you break down your goals so that they are actually attainable. Having someone to check in on you and call you out can make a huge difference in your success.