3 Mistakes You MUST Avoid to Become The Healthiest Version of Yourself

There are 3 mistakes you MUST avoid in order to lose weight and keep it off and create a healthy lifestyle for your family.

The reason I say this is because I’ve seen it happen too many times to parents and it is completely avoidable every single time.

The reason these mistakes happen is typically because we are made to feel like results aren’t coming fast enough. Whether these expectations are coming from comparisons to other people, or you just aren’t aware of how long it actually takes – it’s still frustrating at times.

I got into fitness as a career because I wanted to help people avoid the same mistakes that I made before I got into shape.

 

I was overweight for the majority of my life and I had enough. I stopped making the mistakes I’m going to discuss below and I finally saw long term progress.

 

People typically assume I’ve been in shape my whole life, but that’s not the case at all. It took years to develop the current physique I have. Plenty of failure, trial and error, mistakes, and a hint of successes.

What most people don’t realize is that it takes more than what you see on social media to develop a strong, lean, healthy, and most confident version of yourself. It takes way more discipline, patience, and habits than anything else.

Nothing fancy.

No gimmicks.

Just relatively consistent efforts compounded over time.

Now, here are the top 3 mistakes you must avoid to lose weight and become the healthiest version of yourself.

NUMBER 1: Cutting out food groups you typically enjoy to try and speed up the process when it actually makes it harder to see results.

Cutting out foods or food groups (carbs usually) can lead to a faster weight loss, but it’s not fat weight.

It’s water and glycogen.

When carbs are reintroduced, the weight comes right back. This is because for every 1 gram of carbohydrate, there is 2-3 grams of water that gets retained with it. So when you reintroduce carbs back into your diet, you are essentially re-hydrating your glycogen stores with water again. This causes the scale to shoot back up.

I am not saying you won’t lose fat by cutting out carbs, but the number one component of a successful diet is adherence. So if you are not able to stick to a low/no carb diet for the long haul, it’s not going to help you keep the weight off.

It’s also not very fun to live a life full of restriction.

When you’re hosting your kid’s birthday party, you won’t be allowed to have cake or ice cream.

Want to have pizza night with the family? What will you eat if you’re cutting out carbs?

This diet strategy also leads to the restrict-binge cycle where food is so restricted for so long that when someone gets a taste of it – they go off the rails and eat way more than they need to. They then typically feel guilty, increase the restrictions, and it happens all over again.

 

Finding a diet strategy or nutrition plan with more balance, flexibility and less rigidity is the key to sustainable weight loss.

NUMBER 2: Not having a plan, structure, or routine in place which means there’s no rhyme or reason why you’re doing things.

One of my favourite quotes is “What gets measured, gets managed”. And the same holds true for your fitness and health goals.

If you are unaware or unsure as to how much food you are eating, how many hours you’re sleeping, how much weight you’re lifting, how much water you’re drinking…you see where I’m going with this.

Truth is, most people have no clue what a calorie is or how many calories are in their favourite drink from Starbucks (typically the equivalent to an order of fries from McDonald’s).

Without knowing how much food you are consuming each day, you are essentially driving to your destination without a roadmap.

You are leaving it all up to chance and approximation because you are not measuring/calculating/counting anything you’re eating.

Guessing is a terrible way to try and reach a goal. There’s nothing worse than when someone says “I hope I can lose 20lbs”. By “hoping” for something to happen, you are giving yourself an out.

By measuring, calculating, and counting your calories – even for a short while – you learn just how much you’re eating and if it’s helping or harming you from reaching that 20lb goal.

When you have structure and a plan, you are solidifying that you WILL reach your goal. There is no need for guesswork anymore because you’re doing the math and essentially following the equation every day.

The exact same thing goes for workouts. You need to have a plan.

Without a properly designed exercise program, you are setting yourself up for quick plateaus, shortcomings, and a ton of wasted time.

Without executing a training plan, you are just working out for the sake of it. Knowing how much volume you’re doing, if you’re making any sort of progress with your weights/sets/reps/rest times is the key to ACTUALLY making progressing. Rather than going to workout in hopes of obtaining the body of your dreams.

Which leads me to…

NUMBER 3: Trying to do it all alone and spinning your wheels because you don’t know what changes would actually get results.

I am going to come across as completely bias and that’s okay. Everyone needs a coach at some point in their fitness journey.

I have had 4 people coach me since I was 14 years old and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

They helped teach me things I didn’t know. They pushed me past what I thought were my limits. They set me up for success.

Let me give you a quick scenario: If you needed to rebuild your car, would you look it up on how to do it yourself or would you bring it to a professional?

I really hope you’re not out here trying to rebuild a car (unless that is your passion) because the truth is, there’s a whole lot that can go wrong trying to rebuild a car yourself. And that’s understandable. You are not a mechanic and don’t know much about cars.

Why is it that you are trying to rebuild your body on your own then? You’re not a health/fitness professional who specializes in it. Reading articles and blogs will only get you so far because you’re still guessing your way through things.

Why not hire someone to break down every process to you and teach you first hand how to do it yourself?

You’ve tried to lose weight over and over again. Maybe it was after your first kid. Or your second. Or maybe you’ve struggled with your weight your whole life.

Each time you try rebuild your body, you hit roadblocks. You are seeing a ton of information from all angles, you’re confused, and trying to tackle this on your own while taking care of a family is stressful beyond belief.

Hiring a coach takes the guesswork out of everything for you. It lets you focus on the things that matter most in life: your family.

Instead of stressing over what to buy at the grocery store, you get grocery lists and recipe ideas.

Instead of scrolling through Instagram for the latest and “greatest’ new workouts, you’re given a plan that’s made specifically for you and your lifestyle.

And when you do have questions, your coach is right at your fingertips ready to answer them for you whenever you need.

Don’t you just feel the weight being lifted off your shoulders already?

Becoming the healthiest version of yourself can be a daunting task, but when it’s done correctly, structured, and customized to your life with constant support – it will feel almost effortless.