Start building muscle with habit stacking

Are you having trouble starting to work out like I did?

Well listen to this episode to find out how exactly I started working out regularly and other cool things I did with this new habit stacking and I learned from James clear who wrote Atomic Habits check out his book here.

Jackie from Intermittent Fasting Foodie has inspired me to try OMAD or eating one meal a day and i am loving it so far!

Gin Stephens is the other awesome lady who inspired both of us, check out her book Delay, Don't Deny and her other book Jackie from Intermittent Fasting Foodie has inspired me to try OMAD or eating one meal a day and i am loving it so far!

Gin Stephens is the other awesome lady who inspired both of us, check out her book Delay, Don't Deny and her other book

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:06

Hey guys, how are you doing? It's Monday here and I am picking up my kids from school as usual, sitting in the car. This is where I love to record for you and today I want to talk to you about instilling new habits. So this is what I learned from reading The Atomic Habits. I'm sure you've heard of this book if you haven't. It's a great book. You can read it or I would just recommend it. Going on YouTube and listening to videos from the author or summaries. Either way, you will find it useful. And this is my takeaway from it. I'm sure there's lots of them, but this was one of them. But it did change my life a lot. And this is pairing habits. So he suggests that you pair something that you already know. Something you want to start doing with something you are already doing. So what I paired was right after I drop off the kids at school in the morning, right after that, I drive to the gym. And because I wanted to start, you know, building muscle, doing weightlifting. And that was my biggest obstacle. I just didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do it on my own. I didn't want to do it with a trainer. I didn't want to do it in a workout class. And I just realized after trying all of them that I don't want to do it at all. But I came to terms with the fact that I need to do it to keep strength. And so once I realized that, I thought, okay, well, if I need to do it and I don't want to do it in any other way, then it doesn't really matter which one I pick because I don't like any of them. So I'll just pick one. And I picked the working out with the class, which I actually now love and enjoy and love. I love that I go to it. I love being with people. I love that I feel strong after it. And I just, I'm happy that I go. And even if I don't feel like going, that habit of just simply driving to it is working. So I, and I acknowledge like some mornings, I just acknowledge to myself, I don't want to go and I still go. And I, Even one morning was that I decided I'm not going and I didn't pack any clothes in the beginning of the morning. And then by an hour later, right before leaving, I thought, you know what? If the choice is to feel shitty and go home versus to feel shitty and go work out, well, might as well go work out. And I'll feel stronger after and feel better after. And I went and got the change of clothes and I just went and worked out and I was so proud of myself because I did it that I was just really amazed at the power of the habit. So that's whenever I want to install, I don't know which word to use, instill or install, which whenever I want to start doing a new habit in my life, Actually, whenever I want to create, do something different in my life, I think, okay, how can I make it a habit? What would a habit look like? And for this one, I decided, okay, I'm going to, as soon as I drop them off, I go straight to the gym. Now, another one I paired up was yoga. unconsciously, I kind of did it a long time ago, was recording my podcast here in the car before I pick up the kids. Because I find that my priorities are, you know, with my kids, with my family, with my home, and working out, keeping strong, right, doing all the other things in my life. I get them done first, but I also want to do this as well. So I found I had this pocket of time that was unspoken for, that was quiet and I was on my own and I've already done everything I need to do and then I had time to think while I was driving to the school which is about 15 to 20 minutes which was perfect for me to prepare in my head about what I wanted to talk about, what's important, what was helpful to me, what Are the problems that I'm facing? What are the problems that are you facing? And it was perfect time for me to prepare, arrive, and then record in the quiet and really honor that desire in me. And again, that was paired with driving to pick up the kids. And usually I arrive early to pick up the kids. So I would have, you know, anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes in my car while I'm waiting. which is perfect. So it's paired up again, something I'm already going to do, which is pick up the kids and be early. Then I just record and I love it. And for the longest time, I really judged myself for it and fought myself. I thought, you know, this is not professional. I should be doing it at home, at my desk, at my huge microphone. And I'm, you know, I was just really judging it harshly as I'm not doing it good enough and I'm not prepared. And I did try doing that at home at the desk and it was okay. And it was fine. It just, I struggled with it more and it was not as consistent and I just didn't enjoy it as much as I do in the car. So now I've given myself permission to fully enjoy it. I got myself a tiny little mic that I keep in the car and I love it because it works and I enjoy it more. That means I do it a lot more. So, As you hear me talk about these things, what are some of the things that you can also add to your life to the habit that you already are doing? It's so easy. I did that as well with making my bed. Yes, it's terrible. See, I'm judging myself that I needed to start making my bed. I didn't grow up making my bed. I don't know why or how, and I... think that everyone should make their bed but I'm just admitting to this maybe I did I actually don't remember but and I had to teach my boys to make their bed they don't make their bed etc and I needed to make my own bed so now as soon as I'm done my makeup I get up and I make my bed so I should usually I should just get up and make it right away but I'm too sleepy and I don't want to do it. So again, I paired it up with something I'm already doing. I do my makeup, I get up and I look and it's right there, the bed, and then just make it. So that's another habit that I stacked on doing. I'll give you one more example before I let you go. And I just love that takeaway. Maybe I should read that book again because I'm sure there's like 10 other takeaways for me. So the other one I've done was with food and I just make it a rule, like not a rule, but best practice for myself that I never eat something sweet on an empty stomach. Like to me, that sounds gross. I don't want to do it. I love to do it after a full proper meal, like protein, vegetables, carbs, whatever. That way it feels so satisfactory to me. But if someone offers me a donut and an empty stomach or in between meals, I don't want that. I think that's gross. So that one, I... Got a suggestion from Glucose Goddess. She's on YouTube, on Insta. And that's what she suggests is that she says to minimize the impact of your blood sugar spiking, you just dress your carbs. So instead of eating your carbs, even just like potatoes or anything straight, first eat the veggies so you have the fiber in you. Then you eat the meat. Or you can eat the meat first. But mostly you do the protein and fiber before the carbs. And then if you put dessert right at the end of your meal, that's going to minimize the impact on your blood sugar the most. And so see, this is habit stacking. Is that what it's called? I think maybe he called it that, habit stacking. So the habit that I already have is... I eat vegetables and protein and carbs. And I love eating some sweet stuff. So I just stack that on top of the meal at the end. And that feels really good. So what habit do you want to install? What habit do you want to incorporate in your life that you haven't yet that you could kind of tag on to or before something else that you already are doing? Think about it. Try it. I would love to hear are there any other habit things that you've incorporated, installed in your life? Gosh, I don't know which word to use. Instill? Install? And I would love to hear what takeaways you had from that book. And so you can always text me or email me. My info is in the podcast and I'd love to hear from you. Otherwise, I will talk to you in the next episode. Love you. Bye.