I’m kicking off the soft launch of my first online group coaching program “Fat Loss Simplified” this week.
If you missed the intake, I’ll be firing it back up for the official launch in January 2024.
The first week of the 8-week program is centered around mindset and for good reason.
I believe that once you get clarity on where your mindset will be in the framework of fat loss, all of the other variables are “simple” by comparison.
Within the mindset module is one area I intend to kick everything off with: the words “good” and “bad” in the vocabulary.
Contrary to the title of this post, it doesn’t just affect women, it affects men too.
However, most of my clients are female, so I’m positioning this article with them in mind and it absolutely has a carryover to men.
If there is any perspective with regard to how we view our food choices, our food quantity and how we view ourselves in relation to those factors, it’s that the words “good” and “bad” need to be dismissed.
They are, arguably, the most counterproductive words we can use.
You are not “good” when you eat a salad.
You are not “bad” when you eat a cookie.
You are not “good” when you eat in a planned deficit.
You are not “bad” when you accidentally or purposefully overeat.
You are not “good” because you are leaner.
You are not “bad” because you are in a larg(er) body.
You are not “good” because the scale went down.
You are not “bad” because the scale went up.
You are simply a person who has to navigate food, work responsibilities, child rearing, marriage/long term relationships, caregiving, illness, stress, lack of sleep, lack of coping skills, work, genetics, and a social life.
You are allowed and expected to not be perfect.
You have permission to be imperfect.
Your success at fat loss can come as a direct result of that imperfection but that still gives you room for improvement.
And we are ALL trying to improve.
The words “good” and “bad” don’t just affect people in larg(er) bodies, they are also front of mind and tip of tongue for people who are at or near their ideal weight.
No matter how they’re used, they come with cinderblocks for shoes as dead weight, that we will only be “good” if we achieve an arbitrary ideal.
Instead, I’d like to posit a very simple spectrum.
You are HERE and where you want to be is THERE.
A straight line exists between each.
The choices you make with regard to your food, the quantity of your food, whether you work out (or not), and how you manage your self talk gets you closer to or further from where you want to be on that spectrum.
It’s not “good” or “bad”, it’s “closer to” or “further from”.
What I’m asking of you is a BIG ask. I’m asking you to change the verbiage that has been a part of your life for years upon years. I’m asking you to change verbiage that you will hear people around you say.
I’m putting the onus on you to change those words in your mind and your vocabulary.
If you want change, YOU are in charge of implementing it.
That doesn’t mean easy to do.
It means necessary.
Because what “good” is the body you want, if you’ve wrecked your mental health to get there?
(Photo courtesy of AllGo)
