Hello love!
One of the things that used to really bother me when it came to changing my body was that there always seemed to be things holding me back, not enough time, family needs attention, career and work, housework, all the things we have to do as a modern-day woman are unquantifiable.
But when we focus on the simple basics, the foundations of health, we find out that we actually do have the time. What we prioritize IS important, even amongst the chaos.
We look after so many people in our lives, some of us have sick parents, kids, the house, the laundry, preparing healthy meals and cooking from scratch, on top of all the things, we also want to look great in a pair of jeans, feel sexy and actually feel energetic.
Today, we’re going to talk about how to create consistent habits that transform your body by doing the things that actually matter when it comes to making a big difference with our bodies, how we look and feel.
Our bodies are divine and intelligent. Contrary to what a lot of “gurus” will have us believe, your body is not trying to trick you; you don’t need to be at war with it, fight it, force it, or beat it.
It just has a few specific needs to be able to function properly and thrive. It’s not complicated, but marketing and media have confused us so much, it’s a bloody minefield out there, I get it.
Let’s create some simplicity and get back to the foundational basics that work, shall we?
Related reading:
- How To Build Muscle At Home For Women Over 40
- How To Lose Weight Naturally – 7 Steps (The Real Foundations)
- About the author
Consistency Is King
I’ve realised over the years that consistency is king.
Taking small actions on a daily basis is what delivers the most beautiful rewards over time.
The truth is, living in a beautiful body that you love DOES take consistency and patience.
We can’t exercise a few times a month and expect a firm, toned body. We can’t eat 1 or 2 nutritious meals a week and expect miracles.
One of the foundations of creating consistency is getting clear on who you want to be, what kind of woman do you dream of being?
The Identity Shift
In the beginning, when I struggled with consistency, whether it be drinking enough water, exercise, meditation practice, yoga, or cooking from scratch, what really transformed my ability to become consistent was embodying the identity of the woman who does these things as her basic standards for herself, and it’s easy for her to do them daily.
I’d sit in meditation every morning, visualising how I want to live, look and feel, really feeling in to my highest desires for myself and my body.
I’d then ask this powerful question:
“How does this version of me want to express herself through me today?”
The answers were always given to me by my higher self (call it what you like; God, source, universe)
Then I’d take action.
Over time, the woman whom I’d once dreamed of being ….. I was her. Doing it. Feeling it. It was no longer a dream but my reality.
It’s who you think you are, how you perceive yourself, that really changes habits effortlessly.
If you believe and hold the identity of someone who thinks being healthy is hard, that others can do it but you can’t, that losing weight is difficult, then your behaviours naturally reflect that identity.
What we experience in our reality is always a reflection of our internal beliefs about ourselves and our capabilities.
The Internal Beliefs That Hold Us Back
Some of the internal beliefs I used to have (some of them I wasn’t even consciously aware of at the time):
“I’m not strong enough
I don’t have the time
It’s easy for women who don’t have to work
I have too much to do
I’m too far behind
I should just be happy with how I am“
If you want to go deeper on the subject of Identity, I wrote a post about it here:
Why You Can’t Lose Weight No Matter What You Do (1 Powerful Shift That Changes Everything)
The 80/20 Rule
I swear by the 80/20 rule. This means, in a week, 80% of everything that goes into my body and everything I do is of high quality.
- Good quality food
- Proper rest
- Movement
Then 20% (the weekend) I have a little of what I fancy. We might go out for a nice meal, and I’ll eat things that I wouldn’t have in the house or eat on a regular basis. And I’ll enjoy it guilt-free.
I’ll take a break from weight training over the weekends, might stay up late on a Saturday night to watch a movie with Nick and Izzy.
See, I’ve realised for myself and with the women I work with, it’s what we do day in day out that makes the biggest difference.
When we have strong foundational health, what we do once in a while doesn’t have any real negative impact.
If someone, on a daily basis does these things:
- Skips exercise
- Doesn’t nourish their mind and spirit(meditation)
- Starts the day with sugar (toast/cereal)
- Drinks alcohol every night
- Drinks cheap coffee
- Drinks fizzy drinks
- Stays up scrolling or watching TV till late
- Eats quick, ready meals
If some or all of these things happen multiple times a week, these are then our habits, and the results are:
-Fatigue
-Brain fog
-Sleep problems
-Emotional dysregulation
-Accelerated aging of the skin
-Digestive problems (IBS, bloating, gas, constipation and/or Diorhea)
-Irritability
-Mood swings
-Depression
-Anxiety
However, if on a daily basis we:
🧘♀️ Start the day with meditation (even 5 minutes works wonders)
🫗 Drink clean filtered water (you can work out how much water you should be drinking at the end)
🍳 Break the fast (break-fast) with a protein-based nourishing meal
🏋️ Move the body with love and intention
🌜 Gets to bed early with a book/partner
Consistent Habits That Create Big Changes
These habits above cultivate:
🔋 Energy and vitality
♥️ Feeling heartfelt happiness
🧠 Clarity of thinking
🪷 Calmness of mind
💪 Feeling strong in the body
😉 Emotional resilience
🫦 Feeling sensual
I ran a 3-month program called ‘The Reset’, in one of the trainings, we went into this subject in depth.
Here is one of the slides showing the ‘Tree of Life’, I think it’s such a wonderful, easy way to see what happens with us and our bodies.
How To Create Consistency
Use your intuition. When you look at the bigger picture of your overall health, you will have an intuitive knowing of where you need to place your attention first.
We can’t do it all at once. It creates overwhelm.
Pick one thing, the most important thing for you right now, and work at creating the habit with that one thing.
Usually takes around 30 days of doing the same thing daily for it to become a habit.
For example, brushing your teeth is such a natural habit for you now. You don’t need to write post-it notes everywhere reminding you to brush your teeth, because you’ve done it millions of times, at roughly the same time every single day. Now you don’t even need to think about it. Habit.
This is the kind of habit-forming we are trying to create. Creating new pathways in the brain that are so ingrained that it’s just a part of who you are and what you do.
Pick one thing.
Is it drinking more water?
Starting an exercise routine?
Creating a meditation practice?
Eating a balanced breakfast daily?
What I found with most of us is that when we start creating one habit, it naturally spills over into other areas.
Most women find that when they start their day with a protein-based, nourishing breakfast, it stops sugar cravings for the rest of the day. They feel balanced and energised. There is no mid-morning pick me up needed.
When we start to feel more energised, it encourages us to integrate more nourishing things into our daily lives.
Start getting more quality sleep = more enthusiasm to get up earlier and move your body.
After moving the body, you feel more enthusiastic about nourishing it with good food and so on and so on.
This is what my morning looks like before I start work, Monday to Friday, at the same time, give or take 15 mins either side:
Wake up: 6am
Hydrate: Mug of warm water, pinch or Baja Gold Salt, squeeze of half lemon juice.
Meditation: 20 mins (the Insight Timer app is amazing)
Organic Coffee: I look over my diary, make notes for the day while I enjoy my coffee and relax.
Weight train: 30-minute weights session in my living room (I’m planning on doing a 4-week beginners weight training-at-home series soon!)
Breakfast: I’ll usually have a protein smoothie with Goat’s Kefir to nourish my gut flora, followed by eggs & avocado, or I might have some leftovers from last night’s dinner.
I’ll fill up a 2L bottle of filtered water for the day. I’ll pop a couple pinches of Baja Gold salt for maximum hydration and minerals.
You can work out how much water you should be drinking:
(35ml/1.18fl oz) per kilo of body weight.
Big Transformations Start With Small Habits
Imagine if you just changed one thing in your daily routine and it made a huge difference in the way you feel?
All of the things we talked about above, if done daily, will create a body, mind and over time, a life beyond your wildest dreams.
Just choose 1 thing and make a start.
What will it be for you?
These small but powerful daily habits are the foundations of longterm health, vitality and fat loss.
They are deeply rooted in our human physiology and will never change. It’s just science.
Sometimes I know it’s easy to get sidetracked by the newest fad thing that a celeb is promoting, a diet, pills, injections, hacks.
But the principles and foundations of how our precious bodies work will never ever change.
Master the basics. Everything flowers from there.
There is no supplement on the planet that can override a poor diet, lack of sleep and chronic dehydration.
Let’s get back to basics darling, with love, patience and a commitment to consistently loving our bodies by intentionally watering them, nourishing them with good food that Mother Nature intended for us. To have peace of mind and joy in our hearts.
I love you,
