Latest / Fit for Hiking / Ep. 119 When You’re Overwhelmed by Fitness: How to Simplify and Still See Results
Transcript
- Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. In combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. What's up guys? Welcome back to the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host Brady. And today I want to simplify fitness and nutrition so that we can execute and see results without the overwhelm. I feel like in today's day and age, not only are our lives extremely overwhelming because we are juggling a million things, we are constantly being bombarded with phones, going off notifications, lots of different directions that were being pulled in wearing many different hats. A lot of women are not only working, but they're also full time moms. So we have a lot going on. And then on top of it, you add this desire to want to maybe make some changes with your health and fitness and feeling completely overwhelmed on top of that, because there is just so much information, so many options, and also just different solutions that are being presented all over the internet. And so it's easy to try to it's easy to get sucked into trying to just do it at all, trying to dabble with everything, but then not really ever seen tangible results because we're so overwhelmed. So today I want to talk about what to do when you're overwhelmed with fitness, how to simplify things and still see the results that you want to see. So let's dive into it. This is something that has been absolutely crucial for me in my current stage of life. I am in my 30s. I have two small children running a business. There's a lot of of hats that I'm wearing throughout the day, and I just don't really have the time and energy to go into my fitness routine and my nutrition regimen, as I did in my 20s when I was single and just working a standard job and, and kind of just had a lot of extra time on my hands to hit the gym every single day. Life looks so different for me. And, you know, so many people are like, oh, there's everybody has the same 24 hours in a day. Yes, but it looks quite different if you have kids versus not having kids, or you have extremely demanding job where you're commuting an hour each way versus if you work from home, there's different things that will make this easier or things that will make it a whole lot harder to achieve the same result and get into the same rhythms. So let's talk about really what's going to be the difference maker, how to make things a little bit less complicated so that we can do the right things consistently. Because really, that's what it comes down to. You don't need to do everything. You just need to do the right things consistently and kind of cut through the noise and cut through the overwhelm so that you can just dial in where it matters most. And that's something that I've really had to do over the last few years. In this current season of life. I don't have all the time in the world to be dedicating to this stuff, so I have to really pick the main things that are going to move the needle for my health and my fitness results. Being able to stay lean, stay strong without having tons of extra time and childcare and things like that. So what does that look like? Um, first of all, let's talk about why trying to do everything ends up failing people. Why is this approach and getting super overwhelmed not doing us any favors? So one is you lack the consistency. When we get overwhelmed, it's typically because we're trying to do too much and then we're never going to be consistent with it. So we tend to jump around between thing to thing because we're like, oh, I saw somebody doing this on social media and they are like super thin, super body goals. So I guess I should do that. And then the next week you're like, well, I tried that and so far I'm not seeing results. So I guess I'll try this other method, this Pilates thing or whatever, and this diet. And we just ended up jumping from thing to thing without really giving anything a chance to work long term. Also, paralysis by over analysis. You might have heard this phrase, but it is so common now in the world that we live in where we have an insane amount of information at our fingertips, all we have to do is ask ChatGPT, or hop on Instagram, or hop on, hop on TikTok, hop on Google and we can get a plethora of information, but what the heck do we do with it? Our issue is not having not enough information anymore. Oftentimes, we know at least the basics of what we should be doing. It's the implementation. And sometimes when we know too much and we have too much information in our ears, we become paralyzed. Or if we just are feeling overwhelmed by everything that we're trying to accomplish in the day, we can feel paralyzed. Um, typically, overwhelm leads to inaction, and inaction is going to stunt progress far more than if you were to just do less and take smaller action steps. I get this way all the time. Like whenever I finally have child care, for example, and it's like I have a million things on my to do list, I finally have a block of time where I can focus and do it, but my brain is so scattered and I'm so overwhelmed that I like, can't really buckle down and focus on anything. And it's super frustrating. You might have experienced that before, so that's kind of what is happening in our fitness and health journey sometimes when there's just. Paralysis by over analysis or just kind of seeping into that overwhelm. Um, the next thing is just majoring in the minors, meaning we're putting too much emphasis on the things that aren't really going to make a difference, instead of really hitting the main things that will move the needle for your progress. So instead of obsessing over those little things like fasted cardio, carb intake, lemon water in the morning, cleanses, supplements, trendy workouts, kind of fill in the blank cold therapy, sauna sessions, some of those things that like can get really hyped up. Um, you know, Whole30 has been a really big one, 75 hard, these things with names where it's like, oh, that sounds cool, that sounds trendy, and we obsess over following these types of things. Um, instead of actually just putting energy long term into what will actually make changes for you and where you want to see progress. So that is a big one. A lot of people are majoring in the minors because it's easier to be like, oh, I'll just do a cleanse versus actually showing up for yourself on a weekly basis, day in and day out, doing the things that matter most. And then finally, when we try to do everything, it promotes an all or nothing mindset. And when we can't have like the perfect morning routine or follow all these little tips we hear about, then we feel like we're failing and we tend to just give up until life gets quote unquote less busy. Which really, honestly, does that ever actually happen? But we always think, oh, in the future, once I've moved, once I've started this job, once I am done with this big event, or I'm done with that big work deadline, then I'll do it, then I'll really buckle down. Once I don't have all this travel, I'll really get into it. But life really never slows down. And so then we just kind of end up doing this all or nothing dance where it's like I'm either 100% in or I'm 0% in, and then we flip flop back and forth between those for the rest of our lives and really never see results, which is super frustrating. Or we see them and then we don't maintain them because it's all about these extremes. So I want to talk about tips for minimizing overwhelm in your fitness and nutrition habits, even if you're super busy. And hopefully by the end of this episode, you will feel like you can focus on your health. Without the overwhelm. And this will kind of just give you some encouragement, even if you are in like a crazy busy season and you do tend to get overwhelmed. So first one, first category we're going to focus on is finding a form of fitness that works with your life. This is crucial. You can follow the best workout program in the world. Like I'm talking like the ultimate trainer wrote it. Maybe they're like a celebrity trainer, best trainer in the world, and it's the perfect workout to get you lean or whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. But if it doesn't fit your life, if you can't find the time to do it, if it doesn't make sense with the barriers that you're up against or mentally, you can't get yourself to move forward with it, then it's not the perfect workout routine for you. Okay. That's why it's not black and white. It's not one size fits all. It's really important to find a form that will work with your life, and know that this could shift and change over time. What works for you in your mid-twenties may not work for you even two years later or ten years later, when you're in a totally different season of life. So first of all, you kind of need to pinpoint, am I working out at a gym? Am I working out at home? Am I doing like a class studio type of deal, or am I doing a combination of gym and at home depending on what's going on that week? What makes most sense for you where you can remove barriers? So, for instance, if we have clients who are starting Mountain Metabolic coaching and they're like, I get major gym anxiety, I just feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. And it's also really hard for me to get to the gym. I live 20 minutes from the gym. We're not going to be like, oh well, you need to do gym workouts. This is what the program is. No, that doesn't make any sense because this person is clearly saying, I have some mental and physical barriers to actually going to the gym. So what do we need to do? We need to work out okay. What what can you do. What's going to help you build confidence? Maybe we do at home workouts to start. And how do we get the equipment that we need? What all can we get that will actually make a difference? We really don't need that much to make some progress. So removing barriers that is the biggest thing. Remove the barriers that you know are going to show up for you. So if you know that you are just probably not going to be someone who gets up at 530 in the morning to go to the gym, then you need to find another time. Okay. So be honest with yourself about the things that have held you back in the past. Yes, you're going to have to make some sacrifices, but you do want to make this as easy on yourself as possible so that you can get into a rhythm until it becomes second nature. Also starting small. So many people bite off more than they can chew and like immediately think, oh, I'm going to do like 5 or 6 days a week. And then they crash and burn so fast because most people are going to be crazy sore. They're going to be like, this is way too intense. I can't keep up with this. I'm overwhelmed. And then what is overwhelm lead to inaction, right? So it's this vicious cycle. Instead, I really encourage you, if you're trying to jump into this, to start small, go with like two days a week for 30 minutes at a time, okay, that's just one hour of exercise per week. The amount of time that that is compared to the amount of time you have in the week is very, very minimal. This is doable. You can start with this. Okay. Focus on that and nail it every single week. No excuses for one whole month and then build on it from there. You really don't want to start off by going to aggressive and then getting overwhelmed. Next is following a plan to remove some of those mental barriers. Oftentimes our mental load is like such a struggle, and it is just one extra thing to not only get yourself to the gym, but then also once you're there, you're like, what the heck do I do? So then you're like piecemeal, laying these things together from the internet or from TikTok and is not going to really set you up for success because it's not a one, actually a plan built around your life where you're starting out, your goals, your limitations, any injuries that you have. But also there's not going to be that progression built in. That's going to be crucial for continuing to see results as you start to get stronger in your body. So it starts to adapt. So it's really important to have some sort of structure or plan so that you don't just show up and kind of waste your time by like wandering around, hopping on the elliptical and then going to some machines. And like, you really have no clue what is going to give you the progress. Like, what's the point of doing that? You know, if you're going to take the time to go to the gym, you need to make sure that you have a plan that will actually get you the results. So you're not just spinning your wheels because that's frustrating. Also, if you really just want to simplify it, you can pick five exercises, one of each of these types of movement patterns. So one being a squat type of movement, one being a hinge movement, one being an upper body push movement, one being an upper body pull movement and one being a core exercise. So so just pick one exercise from each of those categories. And then you're going to do 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps. And that's it. That right there will help get you on a really good path. And then as you start to get stronger, you're going to start to add some weights. You're going to start trying some different variations like a single leg variation versus a standard. And if that all is like a foreign language to you, then yes, probably start with a trainer so that you can get some context for this and understand how to put this together on your own. And you're not just kind of guessing. I always liken it to if I were to go to, um, like a mechanic and be like, no, I'll just do it myself when they tell me the rate, when I actually have no freaking clue how to do it, it's worth it to me to know that my car is running well when I'm driving my kids around and things like that. So to me, it's a worthy investment. You have to kind of think about your fitness the same way so many people are not willing to spend money on their fitness and their goals. But then like ten years later, they're still stuck right where they were. And it's like, man, if you would have just actually invested in something worthwhile ten years ago to get the education you need, build the foundation, learn how to do this on your own, get the results going, and then you could keep it going. How different would your life look in ten years? So don't be that person that's like, oh, I just can't spend the money. Make sure that you make it a priority and really try to unlock the funds before you just say, like the classic excuse of, oh, I just I can't afford it. Right? If it's worth it to you, you will make a way. Um, the next thing is, on days that you can't work out, get out for a walk, find an alternate form of movement. We don't want to just be sedentary any time we're not exercising. So that's where your meat comes in which is your non exercise activity thermogenesis. This is something simple that everybody can do even if you're not working out at all. Think about people in like European countries. They walk everywhere in the cities. They are just always moving, biking, walking. A lot of people there don't go to a formal gym and work out. That's not like a super big cultural thing. I think in some places it's starting to be, but for a really long time people just stayed lean and fit from walking and biking everywhere. Okay, so that can go a really long way. Just getting that non exercise movement up throughout every single day. Um, so one thing that you can do really easily is aim for 20 to 30 minutes of intentional movement every single day. Um, so whether that's your workout one day and then maybe the next day it's a bike ride, or it's a walk, or it's a hike, or you're going skiing or something like that. Even in the winter, you can do things like having a dance party with your kids, doing a YouTube walking workout. I do those all the time when I don't want to get out in the snow. Marching in place while watching TV. Like every time there's commercials or something, I'm getting a walking pad to walk on while you're working or listening to an audiobook or a podcast. Just be intentional in finding ways to incorporate movement into kind of those mundane, routine moments of your life. Because the reality is, most of us can't carve out like three hours a day to do this stuff. So you got to find little pockets of things that you're already doing, and then try to fit some extra movement in any time that you can avoid just being on the couch, do it. Try to just find some ways to sneak in some movement. Sometimes all it takes is just that extra intentionality of actually being mindful enough to think ahead and to to make it happen and execute. Okay. Moving on. Our next category is nailing these certain nutrition habits. Okay, so this is if you don't want to be overwhelmed and you still want to see progress, you are going to have to do some things for your nutrition. This is kind of a non-negotiable, right? We got to do some of the things. But these things are pretty simple to incorporate and hopefully won't leave you feeling crazy overwhelmed. So one is getting 1 to 2 servings of vegetables every single day. That alone makes such a big difference in how you're going to feel your fiber getting your calories in without it being like super cool or dense, highly inflammatory foods. So a lot of us are not getting even 1 to 2 servings veggies a day. So start there 1 to 2 servings of fruit every day. And yes, this will take some forethought with your grocery shopping, but you just gotta. You gotta do it. Let's be adults here. Next one is protein. At every single meal and snack. That's an easy one. You just got to start structuring your meals and snacks around protein. If you're not getting at least 15 to 20g of protein at your meals and snacks, that's something you can start shooting for. And you might just have to start checking labels really quick, like when you're about to have something. Or just do a quick search online, like how many grams of protein is in four ounces of chicken? If this is going to take a tiny bit of extra work. But if this is important to you, we got to do it right. And this is just a small step that you can take to being able to stay lean and stay full longer with extra protein. The next is making 70 to 80% of your meals a balance of protein, veggies, carb, and then either you're cooking in some sort of fat source, or you're topping it with like a fat source of cheese or avocado, or a oil based dressing, or nuts or things like that. Okay, so small amount of fat. Most of your plate you want to be made up of like one third protein, one third veggies, one third carb, and fruits are carbs. Okay, so that could be your carb source as well. If 70 to 80% of your meals look like that, you're going to see awesome progress. Next one is setting a drink limit every week. So maybe you do struggle with limiting your alcoholic drinks, and you just kind of might find yourself like having a drink every single night or five nights a week or whatever that looks like. And the calories do really start to add up. So that's something that you can be intentional with and just say, okay, if this is a problem for me, I'm going to limit myself to 2 to 3 per week. Um, same can be said for non-alcoholic drinks, but if you're someone who's always drinking like a soda or a flavored coffee drink, or just these liquids that are just straight sugar. Then that's something that you're going to want to limit to maybe 2 to 3 per week. Because if you're eating really, really healthy, balanced meals, awesome. But if you're getting like 600 plus calories a day of liquid calories, yeah, it's going to be really hard to get yourself either in like a calorie deficit if that's what you're shooting for, or even maintaining a healthy weight. Okay, so you got to look at the liquid calories too. So just setting a limit where you feel is appropriate to you. So even if alcohol is not an issue for you, maybe it's the coffees that you're buying out and about and you're always getting like kind of these sugary drinks. And so, you know, you need to limit those. And then the last one for nutrition is to have a glass of water first thing in the morning, and then a full glass of water before every single meal or snack. If you're someone who kind of forgets to drink water throughout the day, that's a really good kind of habit pattern that you can get into, because it's going to ensure that you're getting your water up quite a bit, and it will also help you be a bit more satiated in your meals. Oftentimes, we overeat simply because we are dehydrated, so that's a really nice kind of a bonus there. All right. Next let's talk about the lifestyle habits that will make a big difference without much adjustment on your end. One is incorporating walks or movement into your social interactions. So perhaps instead of a happy hour, you go for a hike. Instead of sitting at a coffee shop and having a catch up with a friend, you grab a coffee to go and you do a little walk and talk things like that. So even if you're not someone who's like, oh, I want to go skiing, I want to join a volleyball league. I want to do all these extreme things, just trying to find little ways to get out for walks, instead of just sitting and eating or drinking together. That will make a big difference. Um, establishing a wind down routine at night to promote healthy sleep patterns and healthy, healthy circadian rhythm. Setting screens aside starting at a certain time each evening. Not only will this help with your sleep quality, but it will also really help with your mental health. So if you're someone who like, brings your phone from room to room with you. You never really give yourself a break from the screens and the bombardment of like, constant notifications and stimuli. Then that is going to be really helpful for your brain and mental health. Um, eating without distractions when possible. This is going to promote better digestion, which impacts your gut health, which impacts your hormonal health is kind of like a chain reaction. Um, having 3 to 5 go to healthy breakfast, lunches, dinners, and snacks on rotation instead of trying to do like this constant reinvention of the wheel. Like, I'm always looking up new recipes. If you're someone who, like, has the time and energy for that, awesome. But if it's just creating more overwhelm than necessary when you're constantly trying to figure out what to prep and what to eat, that's healthy. Um, and then you just turn to like, fast food or convenience items, then this tip is going to help you so much. This is something I live by because I don't want to have to put mental energy into what I'm eating for lunch every single day, so I'm pretty boring with it. And I repeat a lot, and this is a phrase that I use all the time in my own head when I'm thinking about this, and this is what I tell myself regarding nutrition. More of the bore, more of the bore, meaning do more boring things on repeat because this is going to help you just solidify some healthy staple meals. It doesn't have to be the most exciting thing you've ever eaten and get comfortable with that, because that's going to really serve you long term if you're not trying to make every single meal the most exciting, exotic thing you've ever eaten. That's what celebrations. That's for eating out. That's for things like that. Okay, the day to day, just kind of get comfortable with some of these healthy staple meals that you know how much protein you're getting. You know that you're getting your servings of veggies and fruits that you need. You know, you're getting, um, you know, just kind of meeting all of your nutritional needs. And these are simple things because you've figured out how to make them quickly. You can prep on Sundays. You know what groceries to order. This will make it so much easier on yourself mentally. And then you can also like rotate in some fun seasonal recipes. When you have the brain space right, you don't have to eat the same exact things for the rest of your life. I rotate mine out like sometimes I'll be like, okay, I'm really sick of that one now. I've been eating that consistently for the last few months, and then I'll find something else that I really like. We provide 30 high protein healthy recipes within our program. 15 of them are plant based every single month. So it's really nice because it provides ideas of what you can rotate in when you start to get kind of bored with what you're currently having, or if you just have no clue where to start with. Like what is a healthy lunch even look like? These are great to provide some ideas. And then my final hack here is to order groceries online for either pickup or delivery. Um, delivery typically costs extra, but pickup is free. Um, for most grocery stores, every single one I've ever done with. So this is a really great tip to just minimize the time that you're going and spending. And you're also less likely to kind of wander the aisles and pick up things based on your emotions or like what looks good at the time, especially if you're grocery shopping while hungry. This one will really help you out because you just go in, you click. It kind of shows you like what you've ordered before, which makes it really easy. And then you just go grab it, pick it up, or have it delivered if you are super low on time. So this is something I've started doing in the last few years, and it has really, really helped me. Not just like end up in the ice cream aisle every single time I go grocery shopping and things like that. You also probably save some money. Um, let's talk about mindset shifts. For consistency. Consistency. Because again, you can do the best thing in the world, but if you're not consistent with it, you're not going to reap the benefits and the rewards. So here's a couple of things that I like to think about with this. One is done is better than perfect or consistency over perfection. Being a perfectionist is literally the enemy of progress when it comes to your fitness and health. The next is to focus on your identity. Really kind of like decide what kind of woman do I want to be? What kind of mom do I want to be? You know what is important to me? What are some of my values? And for me, I want to be a woman who takes care of my body every single day. I want to just make this a non-negotiable of my life. That I need to fill my own cup so I can properly pour into my kids cups and my husband's cup, and my friends and my family. Right? This is important to me, because if I don't do the things that help me be an energetic, um, you know, vibrant person, then that's going to seep into every other area of my life negatively. Um, the next is creating non-negotiables, um, that you're like, okay, I'm always going to try to get my protein in at every meal. I'm always going to try to get a veggie in every single day, even if I'm at a party, even if I'm eating out, whatever that is, instead of a rigid plan. So instead of following a meal plan where it's like every single day, here's exactly what I'm eating. I have to have four ounces of chicken and steamed broccoli for dinner. Like that is super not realistic. Most people cannot follow meal plans for any amount of time at all. So that's why we really don't do meal plans at all within metabolic coaching. It's not beneficial. It's not doable long term. It's not flexible enough. So you really need to have some general things that you focus on that are flexible to going out, to eat, to traveling, to social events. You can go to a social event and typically still find a protein that you can eat, um, some sort of like salad or veggie side, and you can minimize the amount of alcohol that you're having or have like a glass of water between you can do things that will still promote your health goals even in those settings. But if you're trying to follow a super rigid meal plan, then you're going to feel anxiety. It's going to be hard to go to those events, and you might kind of take that all or nothing approach. Um, the next one is to just drop the guilt. If you have an off day or you go to, let's say you go to like a all you can eat type of buffet lunch or something like that, and you eat way more than your normal and you're like, oh my gosh, I totally blew it. That's just one meal of your week, right? Look at all the other meals that you do have the potential to continue on a healthy path. So just make your next decision as healthy as possible. Just eat a moderate, healthy dinner and move on. Don't let it make you feel so crappy that you kind of turn into this like, oh, I guess I've just failed and I'll just start again on Monday or whatever that looks like. Right. It doesn't erase all of your progress, having an off day or an off meal and then stacking small wins. Consistency compounds. And I want to talk about really quickly what the compound effect looks like. And I've talked about this on the show before. I love thinking about the compound of our decisions over time. So what I mean by that is what if you made it a goal January 1st or whatever, you want to start to walk 20 minutes every single day for the entire year and you're like, this is non-negotiable. I'm doing this 20 minutes every single day. I'm going for a walk. So let's talk about what that looks like compounded over the entire year. So walking 20 minutes burns roughly 100 calories depending on your pace and your body size. So that is going to equal 36,000 extra calories burned in a year. That's roughly equivalent to £10 of fat without dieting. Okay, that's crazy right? That's one small example of just committing yourself to one small thing 20 minutes a day. It's really not that much. Most people could do that. So what's holding us back? Typically, it's the overwhelm of thinking, well, I need to be doing like intense cardio sessions, and I need to fit in like an hour every single time. And then you do it like for the month of January and then never again. And in reality, if you would have just committed to something doable like walking 20 minutes a day for the entire year, you'd see much more progress. Um, so all of that to say, let's focus on nailing the basics to eliminate overwhelm and focus on consistency more than anything else. This approach has helped me so much to maintain the weight that I've lost over the past five years, even through starting a business, having two kids, moving to the mountains where I don't live, close to a gym, I'm doing the bare minimum, if I'm being honest right now. Like just trying to hang on for dear life and maintain in a crazy time of life. But I am super freaking consistent with these things that I've talked about today. I'm not trying to be a superhero and do everything, but I am doing the basics consistently week in and week out and it's really, really helped me stay on track, feel healthy, stay strong, stay lean. Um, so I want to encourage you to really focus on minimizing the fitness and nutrition overwhelm. And hopefully this gives you a starting point and you feel like you can you can do this yourself. Um, so that's all I got for you today. I hope that this is helpful. If you like the show, give us a share, give us a shout out. We really appreciate it. Leave us a rating and review that is like just so helpful for little podcasts like this. You can also give us a follow at the fit Underscore for Hiking Instagram page. We'd love to see you there. Connect with us. You can send me a message. I'd love to hear from our listeners and just hear what you guys are liking. It's nice to know that someone out there is listening to this. So thanks for tuning in you guys. I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy trails.