Don’t let this hold you back from getting the body you want

Part of my role as coach is to share what you can do to achieve the changes in your body that you’re looking for.

Sure, there are certain exercises that’ll help. And cleaning up the diet’s a given.

But one of the biggest pieces that will determine your level of success is around you right now. And it has the power to either push you forward or hold you back.

Let me explain:

Misspent youth

I spent my late teens to early twenties with my head in the clouds. Literally. I spent all my time hanging out with people who mostly just smoked weed. That was the done thing. Morning, noon and night.

Being caught up in this kind of environment you can probably imagine how I spent my time. Yep, hanging out, smoking weed.

It was the norm. It’s what life was about. And my aspirations went no further than scoring a bag o’ weed and smoking the next joint.

But there came a point where I decided that I didn’t want my life to look like that anymore.

But sticking with the same old routines I couldn’t see a way forward. I struggled to kick the habit while still hanging out with the same crowd. So I routinely slipped back.

Even when I did manage to not smoke I felt like an outsider. Others felt uncomfortable around me. Got defensive. Like my decision to give up smoking was me judging them. That because I didn’t want my life to be like that then maybe I thought THEY should want to stop smoking too.

Time to find a new community

The tough reality was I needed to find a new community to be a part of. One that encouraged and embodied the kind of life I wanted.

So I spent more time hanging out with people who were into health and fitness. And by default, less time with the people that lived the lifestyle I didn’t want for myself.

Ultimately I made the cut. I stopped hanging out in the places and with the people that kept me stuck.

Now, what I’m talking about is breaking a drug addiction.

Your challenge maybe isn’t so severe. Sure, your goals are still important to you. But rather than breaking an addiction, you perhaps just need to break a few habits.

Who do you spend most of your time with?

One thing that’ll have a huge impact on how successful you are at changing your habits to ones that support your goal is whether you’re part of a community of people that are supportive of you and your goals.

When my community consisted of people who smoked pot as a way of life then I never stood much chance of breaking free and improving my health and wellbeing. It was too easy to get distracted and led astray. Too many opportunities to fall back into old habits.

Likewise, if you’re trying to get in better shape, but only spend time with people who couldn’t care less about their health and fitness then that’s going to have a huge impact on your mindset and what you see as ‘normal’.

Please, don’t get it twisted

Now, I’m not saying the people you spend time with are to blame. that’s not the point. I’m a strong believer in taking personal responsibility for your own situation.

But most likely your friends, family and colleagues are living life in their best interests. Based on what’s important to them. And that’s totally cool.

But you’ve stepped up. And if you’re reading this post you most likely want to improve how you look and feel.

This is really hard to do when you only spend time around people who either 1) don’t care about their health and fitness 2) care, but never do anything about it or 3) struggle with weight loss and yo-yo up and down.

If you want to change your body, look for opportunities to spend time around people who’ve achieved what you’re looking to achieve (and copy some of what they do).

When it comes to body change the power of your support network is unrivaled.

When you spend time around people who are losing fat, getting fitter and stronger you can’t help but get caught up in the momentum. It’ll become the norm to make progress, rather than stay stuck.

1. Your conversations will revolve less around what diet you’re trying this month and become more about swapping meal ideas that taste good while supporting your goals.
2. You’ll talk less about how you failed to get any exercise in and more about what progress you made with your weights in the gym.
3. There’ll be less talk about how you haven’t lost any weight and more talk about how you’re noticing how loose your jeans are and that you need to get shopping for a smaller size.
4. Your conversations switch from being about failure to focusing on success.

Your community, the people you associate with, can absolutely help you rise up and achieve changes in your body that you never dreamed were possible.

Your mindset could be what’s holding you back

What you believe is possible either keeps you stuck or drives you forward. And it’s not until you spend enough time around people who demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can achieve amazing things with your body that you’ll realise what you’re capable of.

The body… No… YOUR body is capable of amazing things. More than you give it credit for right now.

It could get you through a marathon. It could haul you up a rocky mountain. It could have a flat stomach, defined abs or firm, toned arms. And it could shrink to a size 10 or 12 or whatever you aspire to be.

But you need the right mindset to get you there. The right habits to guide your daily choices. And the right support network to help keep you focused and on track.

My challenge for you this week:

If you’re serious about changing how you look and feel go to work on spending more time with the kind of people who can support you in your journey.

Reach out and get in touch with someone who has achieved the kind of results you’re looking for. Take them out for coffee, or better still lunch. See what they eat. What they drink and, more importantly, what they don’t.

Summary

Who you spend your time with has a huge impact on your mindset and likelyhood of fat loss success.

Choosing to spend time with a community of people who consistently make progress towards their goals will help strengthen your belief in what’s possible for you.

You’ll also get some great insights into what it really takes to achieve the body you want.

If you haven’t already, take the first step in creating your support network. Book in for a free fitness consultation and discover how the Accelerated Results programme will help you lose between 10-40lbs of body fat and reach your fitness and fat loss goals.