028: How I lost 20 lbs Working 14 Hour Days

How I lost 20 lbs Working 14 Hour Days

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Transcript

Natalie Hayes: 0:00

Hello guys, today I'm going to tell you a little story, a little story during somewhat of a crazy time in my life, when I have like four jobs. And I was also on a weight loss journey at this time. And I'm sure some of you can relate to wanting to make time for your weight loss journey. But it just seems impossible because you have so much going on. Maybe you don't have four jobs, but you have one really demanding one that keeps you there, you know, at all hours of the day or night, or maybe you have a job, and a husband and kids and they all are their own separate projects and need different attention from you. But either way, I know everyone, we are more busy than ever with everything that we have going on. So it can be really challenging to find time or even imagined time, where you would have time to dedicate to a weight loss or health and fitness journey. So I want to tell you some things that I did, and some things that have helped my clients to make time for their health and fitness while just managing all the demands of the outside world. For me, it was all my jobs. So this was a season where I was working like nine hours a day for the army. So I was working a full time job. For Uncle Sam, it was like 730 to 1600 every day 730 to 4pm. Then after that job, I would go to my in person personal training job at the gym. So I would go train clients in person from like four to 8pm. Then after 8pm, I would go home and build my online fitness coaching business was in the early early days. So I would just work on client programs or you know, whatever my business needed at the time, from like eight to midnight, I would started all over again. So it can be really difficult to look at that schedule and find time for any type of fitness routine. Especially considering during that time, I was also in a bikini show prep, so which means I had like 20 pounds to lose. Now, you may not be in a bikini show prep or have any desire to do that. But it's it's just kind of to show that, you know, if I can lose 20 pounds while working, you know, long, super long days, you can certainly do it too. There's nothing special about me, I'm just like you in every way. I don't have great genetics, I don't have great motivation or discipline. I'm just an average person who was living an average life and found a way to do it. So these are some tips that I would like to give to you some little life hacks, if you will. That helps me during that season to keep everything locked in. So during that season, guys, I really could not miss a meal, I couldn't stray outside of my prescribed macros. I couldn't miss a workout it was I was very determined. And everything was very strict for me at that time. But even if you just have, you know, a portion of that, even if you just have a dose of that, that will get you much farther than just kind of throwing your hands in the air and saying, Well, I'm just too busy. I just can't do it. It's just not for me. I just don't have time right now. Because here's the thing. I get on the call, I get on the phone with some people and they are sometimes say things like, Oh, it's just not a good time for me right now. I'm just really busy. I'm just it's not a good time for for coaching for me to lose weight, because I have a lot going on. And my question to them is, well, do you think you're probably like, do you see life slowing down? Do you do you see? Like, don't you think that you're going to be busy again at some point in your life? And they'll say yes, I say so. Isn't this the time when you're the most busy when you would want the most support. If you can be healthy and live a great healthy lifestyle while you're busy and learn how to do that while you're busy with support, then it'll be a piece of cake while you are not so busy. But if you learn how to do it and get support while you're in an easy season, then when the busy season comes up, it's kind of hard to transition that way. But why not go all in when you're in a busy season? Then that way, you just established the habits early, established the gains early, and then you can coast when you're not as busy. So that is why even if you're in a busy season, I cannot recommend starting your fitness journey enough because it will pay off in dividends later on in life. So here are some things that I did and I have used my clients have used, I didn't do every single one of these things. But I know people that have that have helped them to create a healthy lifestyle to lose weight to increase muscle to lower their body fat percentage, while doing things like working 12 in a hospital or working 24 hours shifts with the military or firefighting or police officer, or just the really long days in the office no matter what your job is, or being an entrepreneur. It you know, everyone has different demands of them or being a mom, like I said, so. These are some things that we've used. Okay, so number one is you have to set your week up for success before it starts. So take a look at your week. And you have to pick a day or half a day to to set your food and your schedule up for success. If you wake up every day winging it, wondering what am I going to eat today? When am I going to work out today? What am I going to work out today. That is a recipe for overwhelm decision fatigue, and failure to be honest with your weight loss goal, it's just not going to happen if you're winging it. So what you need to do is create some time, you know, maybe Sunday's are a good day for this or whatever day works for you to plan out your week. As far as at least like some staple meals, do some bulk meal prep. Do some bulk meal prep and meal, do some bulk meal prep and meal planning. So you know what you're going to eat. Make sure that you are looking at your schedule and asking yourself, when can I work out during the day, when can I get a 30 minute movement break even if it's just walking, or maybe your you can get in a weight training session during the day. So for me what that looked like during that season is I would work out during lunch a lot. So just because it's called your lunch break, doesn't mean you need to spend that time at a restaurant out with coworkers, you can go work out during your lunch break and get your exercise in. You can do that either at a gym and a park or honestly like in a parking lot, honey, it doesn't matter. And then you can eat your lunch at your desk either before or after. So remember that to have an uncommon goal means you're going to have to do the uncommon thing. And I know the common thing is probably to go out for lunch and to bullshit and whatever. But you're if you're in a busy season and you have goals, you probably don't have time for that in your schedule. So I would recommend taking your lunch to do something productive. Honestly, it could be grocery shopping during your lunch, if that is what works better for you. But I like to work out during lunch. So again, take that Sunday to plan your meals, do some bulk food prep, and plan your workouts like you would meetings for yourself. Other ways to make the workout portion easier is to hit a gym near your office so or your home. So don't pick a gym that's out of the way. Just because it's fancy, it has all the bells and whistles. Proximity is significantly important to putting a habit into your daily life. So I'll say that again. Proximity is is significantly important to what word am I looking for, and placing a habit into your life. So if you're lucky enough to work near a gym, take advantage of that and just go to the one closest to your work or to your home. Honestly, any gym is better than nothing. So make it part of your daily routine that you maybe you do it every morning on the way to work are you do it every night, on the way home from the gym, but just anything that you can do to take the decision out of it. That is what causes overwhelm and just fatigue and people throwing up their hands in the air and saying I'm not doing this anymore. If they just make it a decision. Just leave leave nothing up to decision. You're going to the gym after work. That's it. That's the end of the conversation. And if you have a workout to do, which I recommend you do you plan these in advance. It'll be a lot more motivating to stick to that because you know you Have a plan and you have to complete the plan to move on to the next part of your day, which is hopefully, either either going to work or going to home or whatever it may be. Another thing you could do is if you live close enough to your work, you could make your commute or workout. So you could walk, jog, ride your bike to work. In America, that seems like a little crazy. Not a lot of people really do that. But again, I'm gonna say this, again, to have uncommon goals, man, you'll have to do the uncommon thing. So I recommend you get really used to looking out of place doing things that your friends aren't doing, because that's just part of having a fitness goal. So make your commute a workout if you can. When traveling. For work, this can be extra tricky as well. So I've traveled a lot for work in my career with the military. So here's a couple of things, here's a couple tips for you. If you can pick the hotel, or pick the living situation, try to pick one with a gym in it. Or if you're staying somewhere, try to just like locate the nearest gym, if you're saying somewhere where there's not a gym in the building, locate the nearest gym, and just plan to go check it out, maybe like, like the night that you get there. And then plan to work out either the next day in the morning or the afternoon. And just know, when you're traveling 80% is so much better than 0%, you're not going to be perfect, you're not going to hit your nutrition 100% You're not going to hit your workouts 100% You're not going to be as on point that you are at home. But that is okay. And just know that even if you hit 70 80%, that is so much better than zero and you're still making strides towards your goal, both physically and just behaviorally. That's a huge win. To stay, you know somewhat focused on your goal while you're traveling and to make the best choices that you can. So feel free to even just get a workout in like in your hotel room, doing a bodyweight workout doing a circuit anything is better than nothing. And additionally, when you're traveling, I don't recommend like tracking your food to the gram. If you're in a macro tracking season, if you're tracking your macros, I don't have my clients track while they travel, what we do instead is we use the conscious eating method, which is where you focus on protein fiber and just kind of like filling your plate with those two things. And then a fist sized portion of carbs as well. So it's kind of an easy way to just be able to look at your plate while traveling and ask yourself okay, am I getting protein Am I getting fiber, am I having a carb source as well. And that's kind of a way to kind of take those training wheels off of macro tracking as well. And again, it's not going to be perfect, just try to hit that 80% while you're traveling. If you want more information on the conscious eating method, just DM me on Instagram my handle is fit to lead dot inc. all spelled out and just DM a conscious eating method and I'll send that over to you but it's a really great way again, like it's just a great method to stay on track while you're traveling. Okay, and then another huge thing when you're in this busy season is you have to get enough sleep now I know this may seem counterproductive to all these things you have to do you are you are working a lot you have kids that need you you have workouts to do you have meal prep to do grocery shopping, all this stuff. But I need you to schedule your sleep just like you would a meeting or an appointment. Because if you're not getting enough sleep, you will be of little use to other people and the other the other people in your life that need you your your hormones won't be functioning optimally and neither will your metabolism because your body will be in a state a much like more elevated state of stress and your cortisol will be higher if you're not getting at least seven to nine hours of sleep per night. So please, please do not compromise this. So how to get into a better sleep routine. The number one thing is to not focus on your morning alarm but focus on your bedtime alarm. So yes, I want you to set a bedtime for yourself. And of course backwards plan thankful when you have to get up and figure out when would be at least seven hours from then. And make sure you're in bed and Um, you know, like winding down for the night by that time. And this will take discipline to this may take more more discipline than getting to the gym, I wouldn't be surprised if it does. Because we're so used to just being distracted and letting ourselves be distracted at night with our phone, TV, whatever it may be. But again, you cannot have average habits if you're going to do great things. So I challenge you to use discipline to get yourself to sleep at a respectable time, so you can get seven to nine hours of sleep per night, you'll not only feel better, you'll perform better in the gym and at work and for the people in your life. Speaking of sleep, I have a guide for you that I think would really help is something I give all my clients it's called How to sleep your way to weight loss, a guide to being a badass at sleep and it goes through the seven steps that they use to get themselves on a really healthy sleep routine. Without You know, I've had people be able to come off melatonin and other sleep aid that they've had to use for years and he's have their energy be up their Bloating is down their digestion is better their cortisol is in check their hormones are more in check all because they're able to get their sleep on track. So if you want this free guide, How to be a badass at sleep again just DM me the word sleep at fit to lead Inc. at my Instagram which is at fit to lead dot inc. At fit to lead dot inc two is spelled out T O not the number two. Okay guys, thank you so much. I hope you found this valuable and we'll see you in the next one.