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Saying it outloud!
Saying it outloud!
EP 114: From Resolutions to Real Results: Why Starting Today Beats Waiting for the New Year
The calendar won’t save you—clarity will. We’re back and pulling the curtain on why “New Year, new me” keeps letting people down and how to break the loop before January arrives. If you’ve bounced between 6‑week challenges, peptides, Ozempic, or marathon cardio only to regain the same 10 pounds, this conversation gives you a practical, human way forward. We dig into the real reasons resolutions fail—outdated beliefs, perfection pressure, and the habit of waiting for life to calm down—and replace them with simple systems that work inside real schedules, holidays, kids’ sports, deployments, and job changes.
We share how to separate tools from transformation: resistance training to protect muscle, a calorie deficit to drive fat loss, and cardio as a lever—not a crutch. You’ll hear why the gym builds your body but isn’t therapy, how journaling and honest check‑ins reduce mental noise, and why a three‑point approach—mental, physical, spiritual—creates durable change. We talk customization with concrete examples: scaling rest times to shorten workouts, swapping exercises around injuries, and building meal plans from foods you actually like so adherence stops feeling like punishment. No more chicken‑broccoli‑rice forever, no more all‑or‑nothing weekends, no more waiting for a “perfect time.”
If you’re tired of starting over every January, choose momentum over perfection today. Subscribe for more honest coaching, share this with a friend who keeps waiting for Monday, and leave a 5‑star review to help others find the show. Ready to start now and stop resetting? Let’s go.
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What's going on everyone, and welcome to Saying Italy Live. A podcast created to help people who want to learn more about fitness and life. A podcast will help you build a foundation and turn fitness into a lifestyle and help you conquer your life. I will be your host, Leo, and my co-host Stephanie.
SPEAKER_00:And we're the owners of Hell Athletic.
SPEAKER_01:What's on everybody, and welcome back to Staying It Out Loud. It's been a minute, but we are back and better than ever. What do I mean by that? Well, in the background, I know we haven't been here, but we have been constantly, continuously improving uh everything. Our business, our mental health, and our well-being. And so we figured we would hop back into making some more episodes because we feel like with the state of the climate and the world right now, people can use uh good guidance. And with that being said, this episode be an important one, like uh all 118 episodes. Uh but before we get into that, before we get into the topic of the day, before we get into the question of the day, I want to talk about uh my new client that I just got just got got three months ago, and he literally binge watched, binge listened to every single episode of our podcast. His words, not mine, he said one of the best podcasts he's ever listened to, and it really helped him. So take that how you will, okay? I got the text message proof if you want to see it. Now, let's get into the question of the day. Okay. Question of the day Are you worried about January rolling around and you being a resolution there again? Give me some time to answer that. Hopefully the answer is no, because you're gonna start immediately after you hear this podcast episode. Probably not the case, okay? So topic of the day. Topic of the day.
SPEAKER_00:You're going great. Oh, I got this.
SPEAKER_01:Topic of the day is it's about to be a new year, and are you still the same? You or are you uh hoping to become a new you during the new year like you did last year?
SPEAKER_00:This year.
SPEAKER_01:This year.
SPEAKER_00:Last year, this year, and last year.
SPEAKER_01:The following years, all of the years of okay, because we're at this point again. We're about to be in October, then you got November, December, and then you got January the best month because it's my birthday. So what is that? October, November, December. Three months before a new year. And you've probably continuously this year's almost stuff. I know. You've probably continuously done 75 hard, fad diets, six weeks, 12-week challenges, ab challenges, tried every quick fix supplement, Ozimpic, uh Hyrocks now. High rocks now, Jesus, and all these other things to attempt to lose the same 10 pounds that you've made a resolution about for the last 10 years that you haven't been able to get off, or if you have gotten off, you haven't been able to keep off, and you always rebound harder and harder. Why? Well, we covered that in a previous episode about your metabolism down regulating, but that's not this episode, okay. So, why are we why are we talking about this? Because people tend to think that they know what's best for them. And when in reality, I talked about this with my client. I was like, you can't know what's best for you if you're drowning, okay? Because all you're fixated on is trying to get air, and that's all you're thinking about. You're not thinking about everything else going on in life. That's why it's very important to have an outside, unbiased source to help guide you through these hard times. That's why it doesn't matter when you start. Like we took like we she just talked about today. Uh, the perfect time is when you start. Because when you start and you start with the correct guidance, it doesn't matter when you start because they're there to help navigate through the hard times. So any time can be the perfect time, but the perfect time is the time you decide to finally start. Now, with that being said, uh I'm gonna talk about well, we're gonna talk about some of the things that hold people back their beliefs from not starting, and why resolutions tend to fail. And I'm gonna let her take over.
SPEAKER_00:My name sleeve department, so I'm gonna hope this makes sense. Um, because my brain is firing at like 0.1% right now. Okay, so talking about that, I have a lot of people throughout like the five years that I've been doing online coaching reach out to me wanting to start, and then they say no for whatever reason. They have to wait till knee job summer, you name it. And it sucks because I still follow these people and they're still the same as they were five years ago. Literally have done anything and everything, hired cheaper coaches, challenges, et cetera, and they're still exactly the same. And that to me is like heartbreaking. Because I just I just want to like keep telling them like we we can actually help you so that you're not like constantly like in this on and off cycle. But for some reason, they just hold themselves back. And again, it's it's one of these things, like the excuses we always hear not the right time. Husband says or partner says no, like life is crazy because it's vacation. They have, you know, like summer vacation kids. You had to wait until school starts. And then when school starts, school season is hectic because our kids are doing sports, you name it, or they're changing jobs and they're gonna wait until a new job, or because we have a lot of military clients or at least I'm gonna have um PCS, TDYs, schools, deployments. There is just so many excuses out there. You think we've heard them all. Yes. And the thing is that, you know, I keep seeing them. Like they they will destroy something, lose five pounds, gain 50. Like it's freaking insane, especially now with the Olympic, all the peptides out there, etc. People are just severely hurting themselves on top of gaining more weight. And it's just it's insane. It's sad to me to see. And that's why we want to make this podcast. Because even though we're almost out of the new year, it doesn't mean you have to wait until the new year. You can start now. Again, holidays are coming. It's what two, three, maybe four days of celebration out of three months. That's not gonna set you back. However, wanting to celebrate the whole three months in entirety, that's what's keeping you back. Because we can always find some sort of holiday, vacation, party, anything to keep holding you back from you, never reaching your goals, which is the reality for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, if you're looking for it, you're gonna find it. Now it's interesting because these holidays, since we're on the topic, uh, they're not going anywhere. And I I preach this a lot. I say, get to a place you are comfortable with yourself and your body and how you feel, and then you'll have time to enjoy the holidays. But if you choose to enjoy the holidays when you're still in a constant state of um shame, embarrassment, and guilt of how you look and how you feel, and then you pile on these holidays on top of that, you're just gonna continuously dig yourself deeper into that hole, and it's gonna be harder for you to get out of that hole mentally. Uh physically, it it could tend to be pretty easy for most people to physically change, but the mental aspects, because people want to pile on, like Ozzypic, for example, and all these supplements, all these peptides, they want to pile all that stuff on without any lifestyle, habit, foundation changes. So you're just throwing literally uh gasoline on the fire and expecting the fire to control itself, when in reality that's just not how that works. So having tools but no guidance on how to use those tools is just gonna lead to people getting injured. Like now, Ozimpics getting sued for paralyzing stomachs and causing all kinds of uh issues internally.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And when in reality, most people probably shouldn't have been on Ozpic to begin with, and they just got it because it's the fastest way to lose weight. And if you got on it because you wanted to lose weight, that tells me that you do want to change. You just don't want to go through all the necessary hard work that requires change. And if that is your mindset, then your life will continuously be miserable because you have the mindset of, oh, I'll just take the quickest route possible to help me now. Okay, but what about next time? You're just gonna keep doing that over and over and over again. And it's really gonna mess up your dopamine because you'll you'll be searching for a dopamine hit, you'll find it, stay with it for a little while, burn it out. Okay, I'll just jump to the next one. And you'll just keep doing that, and that that f you up mentally. And when you join the program, we do a three-point approach here, which is mentally, physically, and spiritually, because you need all three aspects in order to completely heal. And I saw a post about this today, and I talk about this a lot on a few of my reels. And it's people not understanding the difference between the gym, being the gym to build your body, and the gym and go to the gym for therapy, excuse me. And I want to talk about that too before we get more into why people wait to sign up. And you have to be able to differentiate between fixing and solving your problems and running and burying your problems. A lot of people go to the gym to relieve stress or to place where they feel like all the problems just dissolve. Okay, but when you're done there, the problems still persist. So eventually you're gonna have to address those problems. But people never address the problems, they just keep going to the gym, they stay at the gym longer, they do more gym activities like find run clubs, find high rocks, find these communities, and continuously run from their issues, no pun intended. So when it comes to understanding uh, I guess the traumas that you have, you need to like I just have my client now, he's journaling. And I used to never be a big advocate for journaling. I thought it was like for for girls, to be honest with you. And because I've always had an internal monologue, and I would just talk to myself, I talk through my issues, and that's how I overcame a lot of my issues. Um, but some people don't have the capacity to do that, or their head might be full of a lot of other things, so you need to put it out on paper to actually see what you're going through internally, and so I'm having him do that because if you can't get control of your mental, then it's gonna wreak havoc on your physical and it's gonna prevent you and hold you back. I'm leaning back into it now, hold you back from signing up because you're gonna talk yourself out of it. I've seen this a thousand billion times. And uh my current client, one of them, now he he even told me, he's like, Yeah, um, if this wasn't, if you weren't the way you were on social media, he's he said this to me, uh, how you live the same lifestyle you preach and how you follow what you say. He's like, I wouldn't have signed up because he didn't like the inconsistencies, yeah. The inconsistency of coaches saying one thing and not living it, or you're talking to one coach, but when you sign up, you're assigned another coach. He's like, I wanted you because I saw your content, I saw what you put out, I saw what you stood for. So that, and that's because I did the work internally to get to the point to where I don't have to be a fake person or have a fake persona on social media. I'm me 24/7. And so he's like, I want to become that type of person where I can be me 24-7 and not have to wear a mask. So I give him journaling prompts and uh I give out my male clients weekly forms to help, like I said, put their mentor on paper so they can see internally what they're going through. And that segues into, like I said earlier, how people hold themselves back from signing up because he thought that he wasn't good enough to sign up, or he needed to be at a certain place to sign up, or he needed to be this experience to sign up. And the whole point of having a coach to guide you is that you don't need to be anywhere. We meet you where you are at, and then we guide you to the best version of yourself. Now that that's how we do it. I don't know how other coaches do it, but that's an important aspect for people to understand is that their belief systems are holding them back. People believe that they need to be a certain level or be in a certain place mentally, physical, spiritually, to in order to go on a journey when in reality you don't need to be anywhere, you just need to start.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So one of my clients, perfect example. Um, she had a job she didn't like, she quit, right? She was doing home baking. And she's like, you know, what I'm doing with home baking, like I have all this time in the world, which is awesome. She can work out, she can meal prep, whatever. But she was struggling financially, right? So she was like, I need to like find a job. Cool. Found a job. And now she's struggling because she doesn't have enough time. And that's that's the thing that we kind of like meet you where you're at because it's easy for you to revert back to your old self. It's easy for you to just literally not care and meet whatever and go by your day, just not even drinking water, not doing all the things that was actually helping you getting to your goals. And just using time as an excuse. Like, for example, when I drill, it's a whole different schedule than I'm used to because it's all day, but I still make it a point to bring my meals, to bring my water, to bring my gym clothes so that I can change and go to the gym right after, come home, meal prep, do the same thing over again. And of course, we're not gonna expect perfection, which I feel like a lot of people are scared about because I've had people that have other coaches that are like, you need to work out X amount of days, but it's not feasible for a lifetime, or you need to do cardio X amount of days when it's not feasible for lifetime. But that's not the type of coaches that we're at. Like, we we're not just that type of people. Like we actually meet you where you're at. We try to adjust as much as possible. If you your schedule change, if your life changes, we will adjust accordingly. We're not like gonna expect perfection, but we expect you to at least put in the work because there's only so much we can do. Um, we can't do the work for you. But it's not something like, oh, we're just gonna blame the clients. And I feel like because of social media being the way that it is, and like so many fitness coaches saying, like, well, you know, this client is not coachable, this client is this, this client is that. Or they have had past experiences with coaches telling them you have to be like 100% perfect, or else it kind of like holds them back too. But you know, use this, listen to this, and users of experience who like not we're not the same. Also, I feel like a lot of people that have had this happen, they kind of like they're on and off. Like they start coaching, they stop coaching, they start coaching, they stop coaching because you know, whatever, whatever happens. And then next thing we know, it's been like two or three years, and we're like, I don't know what why I'm or I'm like where I want to go, and it's because of them. Because you can't just on and on, on and on off your journey whatsoever, especially when we have like deep healing issues, so like root causes of like hormones, gut, that kind of stuff, because I can almost guarantee that every time you stop, you undo everything because you go back to your old lifestyle, and that that hurts you back more than like you know, just continuously coaching with us and like us adjusting accordingly so we can meet you where you're at and you can still reach your goals.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, change has to come from within. You have to want to change. And a lot of times you'll see clients sign up that like the idea of changing, but they haven't come to the conclusion that they actually want to change because they're afraid that if they sacrifice their old life, they're gonna miss out on all those things. Like they they believe that they're not gonna ever be able to eat uh Reese's peanut butter cups or gummy bears ever again. Uh that's what one of my clients said that he's like, I didn't think I was gonna be able to eat this stuff ever again. And they don't think that they're gonna be able to go out and enjoy themselves at restaurants or with friends or family, and they think their life is they're gonna have to be a shut-in and be strict 24-7 and chicken broccoli and rice and fake and like she said, cardio seven days a week. And that's what they believe because there's so many coaches that aren't equipped enough and knowledgeable enough to understand the difference between a bodybuilding client, somebody prepping for a show, and a lifestyle client, somebody whose life is in disarray and needs guidance. And that's why our program at Val Athletics is literally bro, I don't I can't even explain how customized it is to your lifestyle. Like, literally to your lifestyle. And to give an example of that, uh my my current client down, when I was coming up this training program, he's like, Oh, this is it's the the workouts are lasting too long. That's okay, I'll just take a look at it and we'll make some adjustments. And I was able to go in there and manipulate the rest times, uh, the reps, the sets to get it down to a feasible time for him so he can get out of the gym, go home, do what he needs to do, sleep, and get up for work because he gets up early for work. And it's just things like that. Or if something happens where they get injured or something, we make the changes immediately to where now we're okay, say you injure your shoulder, okay, we'll customize it to where you know you're doing bands or light, light work, uh, mobility or whatever just to help with recovery. Or like we have all the protocols for you know, SIBO, Candida, uh hormonal. Everything's customized literally to your lifestyle. And when you sign up with us, one, you're getting us. It's nobody else, it's just us. And we do the the FaceTime or the Zoom check-in calls because we want to understand your life and where you are at. This is why we ask our clients to be forthcoming with information because the more information you give us, the more we can actually help you. If you hold things back from us, then we we don't know about it. Therefore, we can't foresee what affects that by cause uh on your programming. So when we have these calls, like I was talking to my client, you know, he's telling me about his life and the things that he's been through in his life. Uh and the reason why he didn't want to talk about it because he felt embarrassed about it. And I said, I understand where you're coming from because you know, when I was first going over my issues with like my porn and stuff, you know, it's embarrassing to be a grown adult and be like, you know, why am I doing this? Like, I got a beautiful wife at home, and I'm over here looking at freaking chicks online, like that's shameful and embarrassing. And I saw I knew where he's coming from, so I was able to relate to his story, and that's the power of finding somebody else who's been through traumas and overcome things because now you can share. And the more you share, the less power your trauma has over you, and the faster you can overcome it. And I understand that people don't want to talk about this stuff, but and I hate to be so blunt about it, but you're not special. We've all been through things and have had things happen to us that we are uh embarrassed about or shamed about or guilted about or angered about, whatever the issue may be. But the longer you hold on to that negative energy, the more damage is gonna do to you over time. And it's literally, I've seen it happen and it's happened to me, it's gonna seep into the rest of your life, and eventually you're gonna be one of those people where it becomes your identity. And once it gets to that point, it's so hard to overcome it because you feel like if you shed that, you have nothing because that's what you've been known for for so long is I don't know, the person with ADHD, for example. So understanding, and this is why the spiritual spirit spirituality part is a big component of overcoming mental barriers because you have to one have a value system, morality system, and you need principles, and then you need priorities. All that is based off your spirituality or your religion, whichever one you believe in, and that is gonna give you the direction and help you overcome your mental issues. That's why I say the gym is not therapy, okay? The gym is the place where you go to build your body, nutrition is to fuel your body, and religion and spirituality are what basically set you free and allow you to live happily uh ever after. So, yeah, basically what it what it what it boils down to, okay, is that you gotta understand that in order for your life to become better, you have to be willing to change. And change looks like signing up and listening to the coach. Even when you're not ready, even when you're not ready, listening to the guidance, trying something that you haven't done before. Why? Because your way is not working, you've been doing your way for so long, and it has literally gotten you nowhere or worse. That's why you are seeking help to begin with, and you have to remember that. So do not be combative just because your belief system is outdated when you sign up with your coach with us. Okay, you may believe certain things that you haven't researched or looked for updated belief systems on that we have done the research and we understand uh the difference in the like, for example, we spent thousands of dollars in education too. For example, people believe cardio is still the best way to lose weight. That is an old belief, that is not true. Everybody knows that the best way to lose weight is to be in a caloric deficit, and cardio is a tool just to help you burn more calories. That is it. That is it. So, beliefs like that, and one of my my my clients, like I told you earlier, he believed that he wasn't gonna be able to uh enjoy his food that he was eating on his meal plan. He loves his meal plan. He's like, I could eat this every day for the rest of my life. Why? Because I created a meal plan specifically with foods that he enjoyed eating every single day and put it into his meal plan, masked the macros, and made it sustainable so he could actually enjoy his food and it helps keep him accountable because now he's gonna be wanting to stay on the meal plan because it's not chicken, broccoli rice. Okay, so just because you believe something, just because you believe something doesn't make it true, and you have to remember that and understand that and keep an open mind when we sign up for our coaching program, this is something new to you. And just because it's new to you, it's gonna be maybe scary, you might be afraid, but that's why you have to be an adult and ask questions, okay?
SPEAKER_00:We're not just tell us how you feel, or just do that.
SPEAKER_01:We're not here to lead you astray or down uh the wrong path. We have your best interest in mind and we want to help you live a happy lifestyle, and I can't stress that enough, or we wouldn't work so hard with our clients to customize everything down to their lifestyle, okay? So at the end of the day, it's about to be January. You got two options. You start now, don't be a resolution there, or keep doing money. You wait till January, continue to be a resolution there, continue to struggle mentally, physically, and spiritually, and continuously do it your way and get nowhere and continuously be miserable. I think option A sounds a lot better. And with that, I'll leave it right there. And if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, comment, share. And we that five star review. And until next time.
SPEAKER_00:Hopefully, you enjoyed the episode and have already left your five star review. If you want more knowledge like this, make sure you join our free Facebook group.
SPEAKER_01:Where we give out freebies, go over more topics, and answer all your questions. Lastly, make sure you follow us on all social media platforms. Usernames will be in the show notes.