Cut The Noise | Wellness Simplified

046. 12 Transformative Themes I’ve Seen Drive Health Change

• Ben & Lindsay Hack • Season 1 • Episode 46

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Consistency, commitment, and conscious choices are the keys to lasting health transformation.

In this solo episode, Ben breaks down 12 transformative themes he’s seen lead to meaningful health changes. While Lindsay isn’t with him this week, he shares actionable insights on how small, regular efforts are more effective than sporadic intensity.

Ben explores why prioritizing your health now can prevent future struggles and how family health patterns offer valuable insights. Learn how small, intentional choices build lasting change, even when motivation fades. 

The everyday decisions, consistency, and mindset shifts make all the difference.

If you’re stuck in a cycle of starting strong but burning out fast, this episode will help you break free. It’s not about perfection—it’s about building momentum through manageable steps.

Ready for change? Tune in now to hear these 12 themes and start applying them to your wellness journey. 

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Ben:

Well, hello, welcome to episode 46,. Cut the Noise. Wellness Simplified. This is Ben, this is just Ben by himself.

Ben:

Lindsay and I could not, for the life of us, get our schedules together this week, unfortunately. So Lindsay had said to me the other day why don't you just do it yourself? So here I am, doing it myself. So I've come a long way from not being sure if I even wanted to do these podcasts to doing one by myself. This isn't going to be the norm. I'm going to say that, no matter how well things go, it's just so much fun bantering back and forward with Lindsay. We have a lot of fun doing it, but sometimes you just need to get it done, and this week that is one of those times. It's been a crazy schedule with work with the kids, just life in general. You all know what that looks like. So, rather than miss our streak, we felt that it would be a lot better to get on there. So I was like, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it.

Ben:

So we were talking a little bit about what we wanted to include in this episode, obviously with it being a different format, and you know, one of the questions Lindsay and I always ask ourselves is like what have we been talking about for the last little while, with clients Like what keeps coming up? What are the repeated conversations that we have regarding health, food, fitness, mindset, what are they? And what are the themes that we see that we talk about a lot Because, as you'll imagine, you know, a lot of the themes that we talk about are consistent and you know, even though everyone thinks they're unique unique, even though we think we're all unique what you find is the patterns are the same. People are trying to achieve certain goals and objectives. They're trying to get fit, they're trying to get healthy, they're trying to eat better, they're trying to lose weight right, just get stronger. Whatever that goal is, there's some themes that we all tend to struggle with. There's some things that we have to overcome and generally, there's some things that just they keep showing up.

Ben:

So, you know, I sat down and started to think about well, what am I going to do? What am I going to talk about? What's relevant, what's going to be helpful? What are people going to walk away from and be able to action? Right? That's always our goal here is to you, you know, what can we action from this?

Ben:

Is there something we can take away one thing that we can introduce into our life, and I came up with the idea of including them all and not necessarily all of them because I'm really wary when we see online things saying the five best exercises or the three secrets to success or the seven best foods that will change your life, like when we deal with absolutes. You know it's, it's not bs, there's truth in it, but, like, things aren't that simple, right, so there's no magic solution. As you know, we don't deal in you know quick fixes and we don't deal in silver bullets and magic pills. Right, there's work and there's lots of things that we need to be thinking about to actually try and improve, and I'm going to talk through 12 that we see as patterns. So, over our years of experience of coaching and working with clients going through transformations, there's 12 things that I've identified. There's definitely more. There's 12 things that we're going to talk about today that I see as reoccurring themes that once people start to first of all recognize and start to work on and start to improve on, they definitely see significant changes in their overall health and certainly significant changes in terms of working towards those goals. So let's go through them.

Ben:

First of all, the first one and they're in no particular order. But the first one is the hardest part isn't starting, it's deciding to start. And really what I mean by that is the decision to begin is where most people get stuck right in that procrastination, wrestling with fear, wrestling with self-doubt and just basically being comfortable in old habits. But once we see that commitment, that path becomes clear and every small step forward builds confidence. So you know, it's that decision to start that's critical, right? Don't worry about all of the things, just take that first step and honestly, when you take that first step, the second step becomes a bit clearer and obviously the third step and so on. So the hardest part isn't the starting, it's actually saying I'm going to do this, I am determined to start, I'm determined to start. That is the key part, Because if you don't get that part right, nothing happens right. You're just thinking about it and procrastinating. So the hardest part isn't starting, it's deciding to start and committing to that. You know something we see a lot of and you hear us talk about on these podcasts all the time, and I know you hear it and I know we all know this to be true, but sometimes we really struggle to put it into practice. And that is the idea of consistency beats intensity every time, right? So we want to sprint out the gates in January with our new eating, a new gym workout, and it just leads to burnout, right?

Ben:

Health isn't about a sprint. It's not about what you do in 60 days or 90 days. It's sustainable. Health and fitness comes from showing up regularly, right. Even on those days where you don't fancy it, show up in some capacity. Even if it's just small, consistent efforts that build over time. Right, it's not a sprint. It's not something you accomplish in a short period of time. Health is just about being consistent not perfect, but just consistent over time. So it's not about eating perfectly, it's about improving your eating, right. It's not about working out every single day with intensity. It's about being consistent with your workouts and showing up. If you have two days, two days, if you have three days, three days, show up as much as you can with the schedule that you have and just get good at that, get consistent at that, and over time you'll probably find that you can do more and will do more. So that's number three Consistency beats intensity every time. I get bored of saying that. I know Lindsay does as well, and it's not because people don't listen, it's just because it's so important, so important.

Ben:

Number three your body keeps score Right. Your body keeps score on how you treat it. So you know the bad news is every unhealthy meal, every skipped workout, every sleepless night, they add up Right. But so it doesn't. The good news is so does every positive choice. So you know, over time, your body reflects the care it also reflects the. You know, when you neglect your body, it reflects the, the neglect as well you give it. So you can change it as much as you can. Basically, make bad decisions that stack up, you can also make good decisions that stack up over time as well. So it's never too late. It's never too late to start reaping the rewards of doing the things that you know you need to starting to try and eat healthier, eat some more vegetables, eat some fruit, go for a walk right, work out. Those things you know can start whether you're 60, 30, 75. It really doesn't matter. So, number three your body keeps score on how you treat it right. That's definitely a reflection. Your body is a reflection of the decisions you make. All right.

Ben:

Number four if you don't make time for do this. Right, I don't have the energy, but it often leads to bigger, harder challenges later on. Right, when you're spending hours and hours and hours visiting doctors, having doctor's appointments, sitting in waiting rooms, taking time off work to go to these appointments because your health is failing. So prioritizing fitness and nutrition and recovery today is an investment in your future, so you don't have to do those things. Right, the cost of prevention is far less than the price of regret.

Ben:

Right, when you're sat in a office with problems down the line, you're gonna really want to wish that you took the decision now to start prioritizing your health in some way, right? So you, you, you know going back to what I was just saying is, your body keeps score in the prior run. Right, it's, it's the same here. You think about it. Right? You, you've got to make time for your health because you're going to be forced to later on. And you know, one of the good things that I always say, or one of the things I say is often you can look to older members of your family parents, you know grandparents, if you still have them aunts, uncles. That gives you a good sense of where you're heading. It gives you a good sense of the culture that's being passed down from generation to generation in your family, from generation to generation in your family, and if you ultimately need to do something different, to look different, that's what you have to start making time for now. So making time for your health might seem challenging, but in the long term it is going to be well well worth it.

Ben:

All right, number five, number five, the five right. So the results come after the work, not before. I'm just going to let that sit for a moment. It's quite interesting. So the results come after the work and not before.

Ben:

So I think it's coming back down to this observation that we have that just progress doesn't happen overnight. You know, you hear us talk about the fact there's no shortcuts that deliver lasting change. You know that transformation we're all after requires consistent effort. You hear us talk about the fact there's no shortcuts that deliver lasting change. That transformation we're all after requires consistent effort, even when we don't see immediate rewards and that's the hard part, right. We struggle at first, we do the things and we eat a certain way and we move the body, and you're not necessarily going to get that immediate gratification of you seeing the results of your labor immediately. It takes time and you know that's the big thing is we have to make the deposits lots and lots and lots of deposits in advance before we start seeing the changes to our body, our fitness, our eating and energy levels, whatever it might be right. So the struggle is worth it when you finally feel stronger, healthier and more energized. Right, you have to really focus on doing the things without expecting immediate gratification, because you're just not gonna get that. And if you are looking for immediate gratification straight away, you're gonna be disappointed. And as you are looking for immediate gratification straight away, you're going to be disappointed and, as you know only too well, when disappointment comes along, we tend to lose motivation and give up. What's the point? I'm not seeing any change, right? So you've got to put the work in and just not expect any return and I promise you you take the attitude of putting the work in, not expecting any return, the return will come. Putting the work in, not expecting any return, the return will come right, and you'll be motivated to continue and you'll be able to be consistent.

Ben:

Speaking back to one of the points that I've just discussed earlier, number six, this is a tough one. Change happens one choice at a time and again, this is one of those that basically goes both ways, right. When we make small bad decisions, they add up over time, right? So if small bad decisions add up over time and, let's say, lead to weight gain, then it stands to reason that small, healthy choices add up over time and lead to weight loss. But again, it comes into being patient with the process and accepting that you've just got to do those little things right. Significant transformations aren't made in a single moment. When we speak to clients that we've worked with, that have Lost 50 pounds, 100 pounds, and we say what was that one moment where you knew everything changed? There isn't one, and we always laugh about it. There isn't one. It's just all of this boring stuff, this small boring stuff repeated over time. So it's not one choice, it's that one choice made 100 times. That's where we start to see the progress. It's not flashy, it's boring, but it's powerful when you stay consistent.

Ben:

Number seven energy just doesn't just appear right. We create it, and I think that one is all about. You know, I don't feel like working out. I don't have the energy to work out. Right, you know, you're not going to have the energy until you start working out, I don't have the energy to work out, right? You know you're not going to have the energy until you start working out and creating the energy right, it doesn't just appear, you actually have to create it. You know.

Ben:

Whether it's movement or proper nutrition, quality of sleep, they all fuel the mind and body, right? So the people who seem energized aren't lucky. They've just built routines that recharge them daily, right, they take ownership of their energy. And you'll find, if you do the same right, if you start to look after your nutrition, if you start to move a little bit, if you start to prioritize sleep, all of a sudden you'll see a shift in your energy. That shift in your energy allows to you to focus more on your movement. You know even more on trying to improve your nutrition. You know the quality of sleep is regenerative and all of a sudden you've got more energy. And it's this cycle, right. If you don't look after your energy, you get less of it. If you look after your energy, you get more of it. So it's something that builds and, again, it takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. It's a process, all right.

Ben:

Number eight we see often focus on progress, not perfection. I think, like this is the mantra. I mean many of these, all of these are, you know, things that we talk about all the time. But this is the big one, right, focusing on progress, not perfection. But this is the big one, right, focusing on progress, not perfection. We say this in our sleep, I think, but perfection is the enemy of progress, right?

Ben:

So you're striving to just get everything right often leads to paralysis or just giving up, because the reality is you won't get everything right all of the time. You will not be perfect all of the time. You will not hit every workout all of the time. You will not hit every workout all of the time. You will not make good choices from a food perspective all of the time. And that is okay. Right, we've got to celebrate the wins. Right, if we're putting more wins on the board this week than we were last week, we're making progress. Right, if we were only able to show up and work out once last week for 10 minutes and we show up twice this week for 10 minutes, right, that's what's going to fuel long-term success. Right, we're going to build into it. We're going to progress. We're going to build into working out for a little bit longer. We're going to be building into working out for a little bit more frequently during the week. We're going to be lifting a slightly heavy weight. We're progressing.

Ben:

Right, it's all about progress, like we don't have to be perfect. In actual fact, right, you know the research supports the fact that if you're doing nothing now and you start doing small changes, we'll start to see the change as a result of those small changes. If you make more changes, you'll start to see the change that comes from that. So you know it's not about 100% all or nothing thinking. Just start to make small changes and you'll start to see the outcome of those changes will lead to the momentum that you will build and the confidence you will build to make more changes and you'll start to see the outcome of those changes will lead to the momentum that you will build and the confidence you will build to make more changes. All right, number nine I'm going to say this a couple of different ways, right, the way I've said it is you can't outwork a bad routine.

Ben:

But probably what you'll hear Lindsay or I say more often is you can't outwork a bad diet. I don't love the word bad or good, right, because it's not that black and white. But ultimately what I'm saying is, exercise will never overcome diet, and that's a hard one to swallow, in the sense of, you know, if we're eating poorly, it really doesn't matter how much we exercise. It's really difficult to overcome the food that you're eating by burning calories. You know, you do a hard workout for 30 minutes and, let's say, you burn 300 calories. Right, as you know, if you look at the package and the nutritional guidance on a lot of foods like, 300 calories could be gone in seconds. So if you can eat it in seconds and it takes 30, 40 minutes to burn off, and you're doing that over the course of the week, you just literally can't work out that intensely and that hard that often to outwork your bad diet. And that's why it's super important when we look at trying to improve our health. It's not just about movement, it's also about when we look at trying to improve our health, it's not just about movement, it's also about how we fuel ourselves and how we eat as well. We've seen this over the years. Right, I'm working out hard, um, my diet it's okay, but it's hit and miss and I just don't understand why I'm making not making progress, and the answer to that is simple right, like.

Ben:

Unfortunately, your great efforts on the exercise side aren't overcoming the decisions you're making on the food side. All right, moving on Number 10, right, your future self is watching what you do today, right? What do I mean by that? Every decision today shapes the person you'll be tomorrow. If you look at the body that you have today, if you look at the fitness that you have today, it's a reflection of all of those decisions that you've made in your past pride versus regret. That means we need to take actions now. We need to be the person now that's going to create the body, the fitness that we're looking for in the future. We can't wait for that and then become that. We have to become that now.

Ben:

So, whether it's choosing the gym over the couch or fueling your body healthy over takeout or fast food, or something that doesn't align with your goals, you have to make the decisions now for what you want in the future. Right, that's so critical. Like, be the person and do the things that the person that you wanna be is doing today and we've talked about that in past episodes. Right, we gotta be and do right now. Right, this is the person I want to be. This is what they're doing. That's what you've got to do. Forget about the have that'll come later but you've just got to start to walk the walk. And, like we often say, you know your future self is watching. Right, you're going to be looking back at the person you are today saying, wow, I did incredible things when I started to make the decision to change. Or you could be living with regret and that's a possibility as well why didn't I change in the past? I had the opportunity.

Ben:

All right, number 11. You don't need to feel like it, you just need to do it. Hear that all the time. I just didn't feel like working out or I just didn't feel like cooking. Right, you're not going to and that's just the way it is. You're not always going to show up feeling like doing it, but you just need to do it anyway. You need to forget your feelings. Right, it's a bit crass and Lindsay and I always joke about it and we speak about this with certain clients, but it's literally this simple fuck your feelings. Right, we've said it before, but ultimately, where did your feelings get you at this particular point?

Ben:

Right, and if you're looking to improve your health and fitness, because your health and fitness isn't in a good place, then there's a strong possibility that your feelings have led you to where you are today and that's not where you want to be right. Clearly, if you're looking to make change, if you're looking to improve your health, then your feelings haven't necessarily led you down the road that you're looking to get to. So you've got to just do the work, even when you don't feel like it. Just do the work, even when you don't feel like it, and over time, that strength and that discipline is eventually going to lead you to the results that you're looking for and ultimately, those outcomes, when you're looking at yourself in the mirror or when you're on the scale, or whether you're stronger or whatever measure of fitness you yourself are looking to accomplish, you're going to look back and say, yeah, I didn't feel like it a lot of the times, but I just did it and that's what got me to where I am today.

Ben:

It's not easy. You got to lean into the discomfort. It's hard, right. It's not by luck that you get fit. It's not by luck that you get healthy. It's through a lot of hard, boring, repetitive work. Lots of small changes, as we've already talked about, add up over time. We just need to embrace and accept the fact that this is a big one, but you're not going to feel like it. So stop being guided by your feelings and start being guided by what you know you need to do, even when you don't want to do it. I get out the door for runs 60% of the time and I just don't want to do it. I just don't want to do it because it's hard and it's uncomfortable, but I'll just do it anyway and I never regret that and you'll never regret the fact where you step up and actually follow through on the commitments that you've made for yourself.

Ben:

I think that's a really big one, which brings us on to 12, which is, quite simply, most results come down to doing the boring work every day. Like, health and fitness aren't built on Instagram worthy moments, you know. They're built on the quiet, repetitive, boring actions that nobody sees, that just don't seem like anything in the moment. Right, making sure you drink your water, prepping meals, getting sleep in Like none of this shit is is exciting. Like fitness isn't exciting in terms of the process that goes into it, but it's a necessity. Right, you've got to embrace the grind, right? We don't brush our teeth every day because it's fun. We brush our teeth every day because we want to look after our teeth, we want to keep them healthy, as for as long as we possibly can. So we accept the fact that we just do the work so we don't have the problems later on when it comes to our dental care and our body's. Much the same, right.

Ben:

So most of the results come down to the mundane you know I've said earlier on today, like we don't have these eureka moments where it was like that's when everything changed. It's far, far more insignificant than that, and that's the danger. The danger is there isn't a moment like that, so there's never a moment where you realize, if I do this, everything's going to change, because that's not how it works and because of that it's easy to be like, well, if I do this, nothing's going to change for the better because it's such a small thing. But that's the thing we talked about earlier on. It's those small things that add up over time. These are the 12 things that we see, and these are the 12 things that all seem like in their own right, like not that big a deal, right, but they are. They all add up, they're all cumulative. They add up to this momentum, this consistency, this patience, this improvement that happens over time, over time.

Ben:

You know, I was just talking to a client this morning and I had said that one of the things I hear myself saying the most and this is really a bonus in some respects is but I often say to people you want the results, but you need the journey. Right, everybody wants the results, but they need the journey. And really, what I'm saying when I say that is you are not able to get the results and outcomes you're looking for without first learning and getting better at the steps it takes, not only to achieve the outcomes you're looking for, but also to hold on to them and maintain them over time. Right, it's that learning curve with. I need the journey.

Ben:

I need to learn how to prepare some really healthy breakfasts, some alternatives, so I don't get bored. Right, I need to be able to become better in the kitchen, not spending hours in the kitchen, but I need to be able to say, okay, I'm going to put these two foods together. That would be good. Or I need to get better at, you know, writing down what I want to eat for the week and maybe buying groceries that align with that, so I can basically eat as planned. Right, I need to get better at getting out of bed. So I need the practice so I can get to the gym or I can get into my living room and do the workout or go for a walk or whatever it might be. So we actually need to practice the basics around health so that we can actually earn the outcome and hold on to that outcome.

Ben:

But if I gave you fitness today like if you were 100 percent fit and 100 percent healthy today and you hadn't learned the skills to maintain that, you would lose it right? It's a similar analogy to when somebody wins the lottery. If somebody wins the lottery and they've not earned that money, often what we see is that people lose that money because they haven't developed the skills and the mindset to be able to care for and nurture and grow and manage that money. And often their spending habits don't align and they ultimately give money away and donate money to family members and they end up spending all of this money and often they spend it all and it's because they didn't do the things to earn that money in the first place. And it's the same with your body. If you don't learn the fundamental skills as part of your journey, the basics how do you expect to be able to maintain it long term? It might be something that you get to briefly and then you fall back out of, and we want to make change long term.

Ben:

All right, they are the 12 observations that Linz and I have both seen.

Ben:

I mean there's many more, but ultimately, if you can action some of these, you know which one resonates most with you, which is the one that you struggle with the most and again, just pick that one and start working on it as you try and move forward in your journey. I hope you've enjoyed this. It's interesting not to do it with Linz. I certainly very much prefer the two of us bantering back and forth, but hopefully you'll get something from this. Still right, there's plenty of good stuff there that you can latch on to and help you in your own personal journey. So until then, next week we will be back as a duo doing our thing, but I hope you enjoy this lesson. I hope you enjoy the lessons in this that we've observed over the years. These are definitely common themes, the things we try and implement in our own life as well as with our clients, and ultimately move us in the right direction. So until next week, I hope you well, have a great week and speak to you soon.

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Ben Hack

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Lindsay Hack

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