3 Tips for Women to Finally Start Exercising Consistently for Health
1. Shift your focus from trying to lose weight over to being healthy
Society has been brainwashing us since we were little girls that if our bodies get fatter, it means we’re getting less healthy. This is because the diet industry makes literally billions of dollars per year from us not liking our bodies and trying to change them. An industry this powerful very easily controls so much of what our eyes and brains consume that it becomes easy to make us think that our health is related to the way we look. They scarier the diet industry makes weight gain seem, the more money we pay to try and avoid it, and at this point, most of society believes that getting fat will kill them.
Here’s what is SO fascinating: it just simply isn’t the truth! The reality is that bodies come naturally in all different sizes and shapes with varying amounts of fat, and there are thin bodies that are unhealthy and fat bodies that are healthy. There have been multiple scientific studies done many times over the past decades that have proven that your health is not based on how much fat is on your body. Health is based on healthy habits, and that includes both mental and physical health. In fact, in the majority of studies done on “Blue Zones,” the places on earth that have the most people who live longest, healthiest, and happiest lives, the 2 factors they all have in common are relationships (meaning some sense of community or connection with another human or humans or a pet) and body movement (but not strenuous exercise, just consistent movement of the body of time). If you want to check out some of these studies and this info yourself, I highly recommend the book Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon (you can get it on Amazon).
These studies have also proven that when you start a diet with the goal of losing weight, and you follow that out to 2 years, you have a 95% chance of failing to maintain the weight loss.
Said another way, 95% of diets fail to result in weight loss when measured long term. You can find references to these studies in the Health at Every Size Book if you’re interested.
There are so many negative side effects from the diet industry brainwashing us to believe that we’ll die if we gain weight, but I think the worst of them all is that it has taught us as women that our value and our worth is tied to our body size. This is another thing that just simply is not true. Your people don’t like/love you because of the size of your body or the way you look. They love you just for being you.
How does all this relate to consistent exercise? Well, one of the most important tools for finally getting consistent with exercise is to stop doing it with the purpose of losing weight and to stop using the scale to measure your success. When you make weight loss your purpose, and you work hard for a few weeks, but you don’t lose weight or you only lose a couple pounds, you get discourage and quit, only to start an entire cycle over again (Sound familiar? I’ve literally done it hundreds of times in my past). What’s so backwards about this is that from those few weeks of exercise you’ve done, you’ve gained SO many health benefits that have nothing to do with what the scale says. You’ve built muscle, processed stress, increased brain and hearth health, boosted your confidence, improved your mood, reduced anxiety, and I could go on and on…
True health is feeling good with good energy most days.
It’s being able to physically do the things you want to do in life. If you are the type of person who needs some kind of numerical measurement, use blood stats, not the scale. Go to the doc and get your blood work done. When I shifted my focus away from weight loss and over to true health, I saw my cholesterol improve while my weight increased a little, but mostly stayed the same! This is because my health has nothing to do with my weight, and when I let go of all the stress, guilt, and shame related to dieting, my mental and physical health both improved! When I let go of all that negativity, and allowed myself to perform healthy habits with a goal of feeling good instead of weight loss, it became SO much easier to maintain consistent healthy habits! Plus, I have now coached many women who’ve seen these same results.
I understand this is a scary mindset shift to make because of deeply rooted into our brains the diet culture message is, but I promise that if you work on making this shift, it will change your life!
2. Start a morning workout routine
I know, I know, you’re not a morning person and your mornings are already so chaotic! I hear you, I promise I do, because I have lived through that. Here’s the thing though, you are WAY too busy to expect that you’ll do it later if you don’t knock it out first thing. The chances are way too high that something unexpected will pop up that keeps you from doing it, or something stressful will happen and zap your energy.
I am not a morning person either, but I have worked hard over time and set the right boundaries with myself when it comes to bedtime and getting enough sleep, that I have turned myself into a person who gets up earlier to do a morning workout 5-6 days a week, and I have done this consistently for literally years now. It’s important to note that I did this with a 50-60 hour/week stressful job and two kids as well. I promise you, the key is to get it done first thing, and if I can do it, you can do it too!
The first question I ask the women I’ve coached when they tell me they’re not a morning person, is what time are you going to bed, and are you consistent with your bedtime and wake up times?
Almost always the answer is too late, and no, I’m not consistent. Does this sound like you? If so, don’t worry, you are really normal, and I used to be this way too. It is literally life-changing to get yourself to where you keep your bedtime and wake up times consistent!
2. Find forms of exercise that you don’t hate
One of the most amazing things that happened for me when I stopped focusing on weight loss and started focusing on feeling good and true health was that I started allowing myself to move my body in ways that were less daunting.
For example, I NEVER used to let myself walk as a form of exercise because I thought it was a waste of time because it wasn’t hard enough or didn’t burn enough calories. Well, it turns out that not only is walking one of most healthy things we can do for our bodies as humans, but I actually enjoy it!! Who would have thought that I could create a healthy mental relationship with exercise by finding things I either enjoyed or didn’t hate?
And, big shocker, I do it more often because I enjoy it!
This also happened to me with yoga. I used to hate yoga because I thought it was way too hard. Well, that’s because I thought to make yoga “worth” it, I had to go to the advanced, power yoga classes. When I let go of weight loss as my goal and shifted it to health, I allowed myself to go to beginner yoga classes, and it turns out they are awesome!!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d still rather not get out of my bed literally every single morning when my alarm clock goes off, but finding these forms of body movement that I like or don’t hate, makes it SO much easier for me to get up and to stay consistent. I have also found 30 minute weight training classes and dance classes that I wouldn’t say I love, but that once I start doing them, they’re fun, and I’m glad I started!
If you were able to take the brave leap of letting go of weight loss, and you were to stop viewing exercise only as a calorie burning tool, or punishment or allowance for eating, what things would you try?
There you have it! Those are the top 3, most effective tips I’ve learned on my own journey and by coaching many others on their journeys! These are not easy mindset shifts to make, but I promise you can do hard things. Let me know your thoughts or questions in the comments…