Yesterday, I shared a little bit about my journey into fitness. In case you missed it, you can check it out here.
I shared a small snippet of my life before I improved myself and got fit because essentially, I formed Achieve Wellness & Fitness around what “220 pound Candice needed at the beginning of her journey.”
I was someone who: “didn’t know much about the gym, felt like she tried ‘everything’ and nothing worked, wanted to change, but just didn’t know how.”
At 33, nearly 34, I started my turn-around.
First thing I did was join a gym that had community and coaches. I didn’t know it yet at the time that I was there for community, but over time and reflecting back on it now, I’m thankful for the community.
I had belonged to gyms prior, but never worked with a coach. I was finally in an environment where I could actually learn about lifting and what it meant to push myself and be pushed by others. Where I had previously quit in workouts because I felt like it got tough or hard, I was now pushing through and really finding out what I was capable of.
Where I was previously someone who’d use any reason to skip the gym, it now bothered me more when I had to miss it.
As for the community, I was now around a group of people who encouraged me. Whatever fitness goal I came to set for myself, there was no one there telling me I couldn’t do it or that it wasn’t possible. Quite the opposite.
I didn’t work on nutrition at first. It probably took me about 18 months of belonging at the gym to decide to work on my nutrition. Until then, I more or less may have been trying to out-train a poor diet. However, I can also note, there were times I was definitely eating well, but not seeing improvements. I shared with the one coach an example of how I was eating and although it kind of didn’t make sense to me at the time, he said, “you’re not eating enough.” That kind of blew my mind. Note: you can eat very well and very clean and still not be eating enough for the work you do in your workouts.
I eventually decided to work with a dietitian. I learned more about food and how to plan what I am eating and how to eat in a way that supported my goals. It took me many months to finally dial it in right. There were ups an there were downs for sure, but I always had her to help me pick myself back up and try again. 2016, when I was 35, I decided to fully commit to myself and learning how to eat well and that’s when everything really started to change.
I didn’t focus on how to eliminate my favorite foods and instead learned how to incorporate them into my nutritional routine.
One of the biggest adjustments came in my work with Coach Mike, my current coach. I was fretting about falling short of perfect each day with my nutrition. With his words of wisdom he said, “you wouldn’t want to be perfect.” At first, I was annoyed by him saying that. I had thought, “if I am not perfect, how will I ever make progress?” Over time, I came to realize that perfect never meant a spontaneous treat with friends, it meant not being able to fully enjoy a meal out, and a focus on perfect shouldn’t influence how I felt about myself. Changing that all-or-nothing mindset, in both fitness and nutrition, was the next major mindset shift for me that helped me continue to sustain the results I had worked hard for.
In summary, over the course of a few years, I learned some valuable lessons and took some valuable action steps.
I learned how to push myself.
I opened myself up to learn from others.
I gave myself adequate time to learn something new while I built other habits.
I changed some long-held beliefs that were no longer serving me.
Achieve Wellness & Fitness was formed to help other people who felt like “220 pound Candice” have a place where they could learn the same lessons.
Tomorrow, I’ll share with you a little bit more about our process and how we do that.
Just a heads up…
It won’t be how we recommend a supplement stack, because that isn’t the way.
It won’t be how we help you eat 1000-1200 calories a day, because that isn’t the way.
It won’t be how we help you exercise till you are laying on the floor everyday, because that isn’t the way.
It won’t be how we shame you for enjoying a cookie, because that isn’t the way.
In summary, it’s quite the opposite.
I look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow : )
Sincerely,
Your friend in wellness and fitness,
Coach Candice