5 Unexpected Lessons I Learned Throughout My Fitness Journey
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As we come to the years end, I know some of you might be frustrated with where your fitness is at right now. Maybe you thought your fitness journey would be different, maybe you thought you would have seen better results right now or maybe you’ve developed an unhealthy relationship with fitness. Whatever it is you might be feeling, I wanted to put together an episode outlining a few things that I’ve learned throughout my fitness journey that might help you look at your fitness from a new perspective.
What I discussed:
Progress is NOT as linear as I thought it would be.
Your progress is going to be up and down. This is a normal aspect of the process. If you’re going about changing your body in a healthy way, you’re not going to see rapid results and you’re also not going to see constant results.
Your mind will take you further than your body can alone.
Everyone is capable of showing up for their workouts 3-5 days a week. Everyone is capable of consistently nourishing their bodies. The difference between the people who do and the people who don’t is their mindset.
Not everyone is going to support you or understand you and THAT’S OKAY!
In fact, that is MORE than okay, sister. You don’t anyone’s approval to stay committed to your goals, other’s opinions and feedback on your dedication to your goals also don’t matter.
Sometimes, showing up is all you can do.
What matters the most is you show up. All you have to do is show up and honor your body with movement…whatever that movement looks like today.
You can’t follow your fitness plan perfectly at all times…don’t judge yourself for it.
It’s all about being consistent with movement, not about perfectly executing your fitness plan. Focus on honoring your body daily, not executing on your fitness plan perfectly.
Link mentioned in this episode:
Episode 191 : 7 Reasons Why You Didn’t Build the Body You Wanted this Year + What to Do About it
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey. Hey, beautiful human. Can I steal 5 minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Role With Me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace a real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode. I am so excited for today's episode because as the year comes to an end, so many guys might be kind of reflecting back on your fitness journey and you're really frustrated with where your fitness is at right now. Like maybe you thought your fitness journey would be somewhere different, and maybe you would if you thought that you would have seen better results or different results, or maybe even you've developed an unhealthy relationship with fitness, whatever it is that you're feeling. I kind of wanted to put together an episode outlining some unexpected lessons that I learned throughout my fitness journey to maybe help you look at your fitness journey from a new perspective. So before we dove in, I wanted to share this review comes from Tori. She gave a five star review and said, I absolutely love this podcast as a nutrition and exercise science major. I learned so many things from Julie that I don't hear or learn in my classes. I absolutely love how empowering and positive she is, and I also love how she talks about God but doesn't overstep. I really feel like God is speaking through her, especially after the episode of What to Do When Things Don't Go Your Way. Thank you so much. Keep shining bright sister. Love at Tori. Tori, I love you back. Thank you so much for your view. If you haven't already read it and read the podcast, girl, what are you doing? You know, I'm going to ask you to do it. All you got to do is scootch over to Apple Podcasts, type in, embrace your will, and first make sure subscribed that you never miss an episode. But it really does help us out when you kind of let us know either a specific episode that is helping you or just overall how this podcast is impacting you. It helps me. It helps our team out to really continue to develop content that serves you. So thank you in advance for doing that.
Let's dive into the five unexpected lessons I've learned throughout my fitness journey. Number one, progress is not as linear as I thought it would be. We really do need to be patient with the results that we see right? One week of workouts doesn't equate to visible results. Even 2 to 3 might not even equate to visible results. And once we start having results, we might see a lot of change in our body. But then it will start to level out and maybe we start to see less or less. But I'm telling you that this is a normal aspect of the process, right? If you're going about changing your body in a healthy and sustainable way, you're not going to see rapid results and you're likely not even going to see like results every single week. It's so crazy how our bodies are, but if you just stay consistent and keep on trucking, keep one step forward, one step in front of the other. I'm telling you, you're going to look back and you're going to be amazed at how far you've come instead of just looking so micro. I want you to really kind of look from a bird's eye perspective and a macro view of things like, Yeah, maybe you didn't hit X, Y and Z this year, but look at all the things that you have overcome. Look at the times that you, you know, maybe previously you would never spend your night working out, but maybe now you're spending ten, 20, 30 minutes on your workouts 3 to 4 times a week. Like that is progress. And so just remember that and learn to celebrate that.
Number two, your mind will take you further than your body can alone. Everyone is capable of showing up for their workouts three or five times a week. Everyone is capable of consistently nourishing their bodies. But the difference between the people who do and don't is really in their mindset. If you let your brain's craving for comfort to be responsible for your fitness goals, you will only get so far, so far as likely sitting on the couch binge binge watching Netflix, right? Mindset and the work that you do intentionally that is going to help you stay aligned with your goals and push you to surpass what you ever thought you could do previously. All this to say When I really struggle to stay on track, I first address my mindset. I ask myself, okay, what am I doing differently in my mind? And oftentimes it's that I'm allowing myself to believe the lie that I need to stay comfortable. I'm allowing myself to say, Oh, well, I'm just going to rely on motivation because motivation will help me get my work out. And absolutely not, especially when it gets darker earlier, when it's colder, when it's cozy, like when you decorate your house for Christmas and everything is cozy. Like come sundown you do not want to do anything. But if you haven't gotten your movement in, you know, you've got to really rely on that discipline. And I feel like discipline really is a part of our mind. And it's disciplining the mind and disciplining ourselves in terms of creating habits that are fail proof habits. So when your comfort, the comfort of your mind wants to tell you, no, no, no, no, no, it's okay. You don't need to do it. The discipline part of your habits kick in. And that's when I always say always rely on discipline over motivation.
Number three, not everyone is going to support you or understand you, and that is okay. In fact, it is more than okay. You don't need anyone's approval to stay committed to your goals. You don't need any others opinions or. Feedback on your dedication. That doesn't matter. What matters is that you are doing things and you are creating habits that are making you feel better about yourself and are putting you in a position that you want to be in your life. And if those things are happening, it really doesn't matter what anybody else is saying. More times than not, if someone isn't supporting you, it's because they don't have the same dedication that you have and they're trying to make themselves feel better by making you feel bad. Another reason why someone might not support you is because they've never felt good in their body and they don't even know what that would even feel like. They can't relate to you whatsoever, and sometimes they're projecting their unknowing, a knowingness or unfamiliar charity in that situation in a negative way. So what I've learned is that really none of that has anything to do with me. I need to let it roll off my back, and I need to just keep doing me, because at the end of the day, no one is truly going to live in my skin. No one is going to experience life from my lens in my body. This is the body that God has given me. We have one earthly shell. We are on earth to honor and steward our body. And so that is what I need you to do, regardless of what other people are saying.
Number four, sometimes showing up is all you can do. What matters is that you show up, right? This is why I came up with the honor your body, with movement, mindset and mantra. Like, I believe that honoring your body with movement doesn't always mean crushing an hour long workout daily. It sometimes means simply honoring your body with whatever movement you can fit in that day. Yes, sometimes that's going to be a killer workout. Other times it might just be taking your dog for a walk, cleaning the house, dancing, doing some yoga or pilates or stretching. What I've learned is that there doesn't need to be a strict definition for what movement looks like. It can literally be anything. Anything I've learned don't discriminate movement. Movement is movement. No matter what kind of movement it is. All you have to do is show up, do what you can with what you have to give that day, honor your body with movement, whatever that movement looks like that day, and let that be enough.
Number five, you can't follow your fitness plan perfectly at all times, so don't judge yourself for it. It's not if but when life will get in the way. Sometimes that's just what it is. And I've personally learned how important it is to let go of the expectation that I'm going to follow every single workout perfectly, week in and week out, if I can execute my plan the way that I intended to that week. Amazing. But if I can't, that's okay too. And I've learned that if I can't, I need to do this second best thing, which is doing what I can with what I have. And I think really going into this with that mindset has just served me in so many different scenarios because you can plan all you want and you can have all these amazing things set up in place. Like you could put out your clothes at night, you could get everything set up for your breakfast in the morning, like all of those things. And that's great. And I don't think that you should stop doing that. But what I do want to say is when something doesn't go your way, don't beat yourself up. And also don't say screw it, I'm not going to do anything. I've just learned to kind of roll with the punches. And it's truly all about consistency over perfection. I know I talk about this all the time, but it's about being consistent with your movement. It's about being consistent with nourishing your body. It's not about perfectly executing every single thing. So focus on what you can that day. Focus on honor your body with movement. So maybe you had on the plan to do a workout, but something came up. Maybe, you know, someone needs a ride here or some emergency happened. That's okay. Ask yourself, okay. If I can't get my workout in today, what are the little pockets of five minute windows throughout my day that I can get up and just move? You know, whether that's like some jumping jacks in place or that's, you know, a 10 to 12 minute walk outside or on the tread, whatever it is, really just being mindful about the little pockets of time and stop trying to execute everything perfectly, because that will always, always, always set you up for failure, because it's just not realistic to execute everything 100% of the time. And I'm speaking to those type-A women like, trust me, I know you because I married one, not a woman. I married a type-A man, and he is a through and through type man. I'm honestly, I think I'm more of a type B, but I do have some type A tendencies. But so it's it's a little bit easier for me because I, I kind of have always rolled with the punches. But it's been amazing to see my husband kind of get on on board with this and say like, Dang, I don't need to judge myself so harshly. And I know how harshly you judge yourself because I see my husband doing it and I'm like, You are doing great. Like, I know it didn't turn out the exact way that you thought it would, but you're doing amazing. And so if there's one thing I can say to. You is just do what you can with what you have. Focus on consistency over perfection. And you're doing great. You are doing great.
Okay, so let me recap those five things that I've learned, unexpected things that I've learned throughout my fitness journey. Number one, progress is not as linear as I thought it would be. Remember, your progress is going to go up and down. This is a normal aspect of the process. If you're going about changing your body in a healthy way, you're likely not going to see rapid results. And that's okay. Just stay consistent. Number two, your mind will take you further than your body can alone. Remember that everyone is capable of showing up for their workouts 3 to 5 times a week or consistently nourishing their body. But the difference between the people who do and don't is really in their mindset. Number three, not everyone is going to support you and that is okay. In fact, I would argue it's more than okay. You don't need anybody's approval to stay committed to your goals. Others opinions and feedback on your dedication really doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it's about you versus you, and you're the only one living in outside of your earthly shell. Number four Sometimes showing up is all you can do. What matters most is that you show up. All you have to do is show up and honor your body with movement, whatever movement looks like that day. And number five, remember that you can't always follow your fitness plan perfectly at all times, so don't judge yourself for it. It's all about being consistent with your movement, not about perfectly executing the plan. And sometimes you it's going to go rogue. Sometimes it's going to be totally not what you envisioned. And that's okay. Focus on what you can do. Focus on the little pockets of time that you can do. If you love this episode, I know you will also love Episode 191 seven Reasons Why You Didn't Build the Body That You Want This Year and What To Do About It. I will link that in the show notes bullets that you can easily go listen to that. I hope that this gave you some perspective on your fitness journey. I know again, just kind of the end of the year really does make us reflect on all the things that, you know, maybe we are struggling with and there is so much good in your fitness journey. I can I know I know that there is. If you take just a few moments out of your day to try to seek and recognize the good and all the things that have been awesome that have come out of your fitness journey this year, I know you will be able to find some. I love you so dang much. Thank you so much for tuning in and I will talk to you in the next episode.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, @juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with an a in the middle for that Daily Post workout. Real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember, that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace the real because you're worth it.