New Month, New Goals: How to Start Creating Habits Ep. 194

I share my personal journey of adopting a healthier lifestyle post-menopause, emphasizing the importance of intentional movement, nutrition, and mental health. This episode is the kick start for creating new habits for the month of July. Join me on this journey and learn the practical strategies for creating lasting habits, planning for obstacles, and integrating wellness into daily life.

Transcript

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Welcome to Ella Go. My name is Lisa, and this is not just a podcast about running. This is a podcast to empower women through fitness and health and everything in between. Because let's be honest, ladies, this journey could suck if we don't get our shit together. Okay, so today is July 1st. I want to share with you that I went on this challenge for the month of June, that I was going to be very intentional with my movement and my nutrition and creating this new habit of eating better and moving better with intention and really working on my mental health as well. So, what did that look like? Doing micronutrient diet, because now here's the thing. I know a lot of people talk about macros and counting your macros, how you can't expect like you being 70 years old doing this. Absolutely not. Like I totally get that. But I think that there is a benefit to counting your macros. You are going to see and understand why you might be gaining weight or not losing weight because you think you know, but you don't. So I did it because I really wanted to see, am I eating more fats than I should be? And sure enough, I am really carp loading on a daily basis. That was the consensus of calculating my macros. So, with that being said, I wanted to keep myself accountable. And what better way to do that is by counting your macros. You get at a certain point where you know what you can eat and how your body feels. And I'm gonna say that this doesn't happen until a continuous, habitual, daily effort of counting your macros because you then understand your body better. You can get a better sense of wow, am I really hungry or am I just thirsty? Am I really hungry or am I just having some anxiety? You really get to learn a lot about your body through that process. And I gotta say, for me, I was definitely carploating more than I needed to. I was definitely eating when I wasn't really hungry, and I really wasn't drinking a lot of water. So a lot of ahas and a lot of insights that I took from this monthly challenge, as well as the physical. So I added more weight. One thing that I'm sure you all know, menopausal women, specifically women, we lose bone density, especially during our menopause, postmenopausal phase. And with that being said, I needed to lift heavier. I needed to have a lifting program in place. So I did this running and lifting with a rest um challenge for the month of June. Now, you would have thought, man, did you lose like a shitload of weight? No, I didn't. I didn't because my body is definitely different than it was 10 years ago. But I have to tell you that what I have noticed was less bloat, listening to my body more in regards to eating, like I mentioned before, not eating when I really shouldn't be eating because I wasn't really hungry or realizing that I was more thirsty than I was being hungry. So I learned a lot about my body through this process. I am starting to notice some strength in my arms and my legs. My running has been definitely improving. And I'm going to continue this challenge for July. And I really shouldn't even be calling it a challenge because I really want this to become my lifestyle. So if you've been following me since the early 2000s, can't believe I'm saying it like this. But if you've been following me, I'm gonna say mid-2000s, you knew I was on this fitness and health journey. So I stopped. You know, I got comfortable. Life started lifing, and I wasn't as intentional as I was before. So it has to be a lifestyle for me, for me to feel better, walk better, mobility, you know, I was as we get older, we need that. So here I am. I'm going to continue. I shouldn't even call it a challenge, but more of a lifestyle for the month of July and see if I see any physical changes. Because right now I'm not seeing any changes, and I'm reading more and more about women in menopause, that the changes for the losing of the fat and the gaining of the muscle is gonna happen a little slower. So excited. Um, so I am curious on what that's gonna look like for the month of July. But on top of that, besides the physical goals that we that I have in regards to losing fat um and gaining more muscle, I am feeling better about myself. And to be honest with you, it's more of a stress release. And even though I knew I had to have some sort of stress management in place of this lifestyle, the movement, the eating better is benefiting my stress, my stress levels, my mental health, feeling energized, feeling like I can conquer the world after running or doing a great lift. Uh, it's definitely benefiting. So let's talk about July and let's talk about what we're gonna be doing for this month with the ELIGO podcast. We are going to start talking about how do we create change and make it a habit. Okay, because it has to be, it has to become who we are. It can't just be I'm on a diet or I'm on this challenge. Saying the word challenge doesn't sound like it's long-lasting. This is a change in lifestyle. So for the month of July, we are going to talk about how do you create this change in lifestyle where you are right now at this moment. What does that look like? I know I won't be here every day with you on the Elligo podcast, but every week I'm gonna share with you some insights, some steps, some tips, and how to create this lifestyle because there is a way to do this. And it's just not saying, hey, I'm gonna change my lifestyle, but we have to plan. We have to plan for obstacles that come into our lives because life is gonna life. And do we know what we need to do or what we can fall back on when life starts lifing? And then all of a sudden, the one day of lifing becomes a week and then a month, and then before we know it's like, oh my gosh, six months in, I haven't moved or done anything to feed my body and my soul. So we're gonna get into the deep weeds of this. So imagine me being your virtual running and health and wellness coach. And along the way, we're going to talk about certain topics. One of the topics I would like to discuss is how do you select a running coach? What does that look like? What makes a running coach a good running coach? What makes a good health and wellness coach a good health and wellness coach? That's one of the topics I definitely want to talk about. Another topic is how can Chat GPT help us not enable us, not make us codependent on our chat GPTs, but more like helping us on this journey. And there's a way to set this up with Chat GPT so that you don't become codependent and you can't say a damn word without looking at your chat GPT. Another uh area of discussion is how do we plan for life? How do we plan when something starts not going the way we want it to go and we need to make some changes? How do we how do we prepare for obstacles? What does that look like? And of course, how do we celebrate our wins? Because I don't think we do that enough. So join me for the month of July every week. I'm gonna talk to you about my progress and share what are some of the things that I'm learning through this process, this different journey post-menopausal that is no fucking joke. And if you're a man listening to this, um, you know, you might not be going through your own menopause, but but yet again, I've heard that men do go through some sort of menopause. I mean, you do lose testosterone as you age, that level declines. So, in a sense, you kind of have your your own menopause situation going on that I don't think a lot of people talk about. And by the way, I did have an episode where I interviewed someone talking about that. Um, I'll have to share that later. But, anyways, even if you are a man, you will benefit from this segment for the podcast for the month of July because we're talking about changing and making habits that last longer and planning and what that looks like, and really understanding how much our brain tries to protect us and not doing something that we really want to do to reach our goals, but our brain is like, why you want to do that? It's so hard on you, and it kind of hurts. Don't do that. Your brain is always going to mind fuck you. We're also going to discuss the many, many ways that your brain mindfucks you. Um, so, anyways, going back, join me this segment, July. I've been dying to do this with you all and sharing some of my insights. As you know, I am going through my own um board certification to be a health and wellness coach, board certified. I am certified as a health and wellness coach. I am certified as a running coach, but the board certification puts it on a whole nother level because we are truly helping people transform their lives. And there is a science to this, and I gotta tell you, it blows my mind every time I am learning about coaching, it blows my mind. So, with that being said, next week we are going to talk about where do we begin? Okay, where does this start? How do we get this transformation going? And then every week we'll have another set of discussions and I'll share my progress. Okay. So I hope you're gonna enjoy July. We're gonna transform you. I'm gonna transform myself. You're gonna be on this journey with me on transforming our lifestyle, making this who we are, and not just a goal that we have as an end goal, but a lifestyle. All right, everyone, and until next time, bye.