How to Make Working Out a Lifestyle

Can I be honest with you? I haven't been working out as hardcore as I used to...

...and I like it.

But I still make exercise a priority in my life because instead of thinking that I HAVE to do it, I now WANT to do it. My journey to Intuitive movement (aka moving your body consistently and sustainably while knowing when to push and when to pull back), started off with me venturing from one extreme -hardcore workouts- to another -not working out at all.

If you've done the same, you have a leg up here and I'll tell you why.

Here's how I changed my perspective from forcing myself to work out to now thinking of workouts as an act of self-care, like brushing my teeth.

FROM ONE EXTREME...

After years of Bodybuilding training, working out 2 hours a day 6/7 days a week with no breaks except for one yearly vacation, I had a severe burnout...duh... oh and also crazy injuries that led me straight into the care of a physical therapist.

A fitness and health enthusiast's worst nightmare became my reality, forced time off from the gym.

Little did I know, this was actually a blessing in disguise for me.  Because as I was taking some much-needed time off, I slowly started getting back to a workout routine after my PT gave me the thumbs up with light weights.

I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I enjoyed stretching and working out for 20-40 minutes instead of 2 hours every day. It was a great break from the #gohard life I was trying to make a lifestyle. I felt like I had my life back and also had WAY more energy because I wasn't being underfed snd overworked. Although I wasn't as lean anymore, things somehow started to make sense as my family and social life finally started coming back into view. My body found a naturally healthy and happy place and even though I wasn't as lean as I used to be, I was actually stronger than I had ever been before.

I liked this, A LOT!

TO THE NEXT EXTREME...

After liking this time off, adding in more sleep, and finally giving my body the break it needed, I dove into the other ​side of this coin where I eventually wasn't working out or taking care of myself at all.

My new home gym gave me no accountability to drive to a gym and have that gym-rat camaraderie I was used to. I started shirking off my 20-minute stretches and walks for another season of the Office that I'd seen a thousand times before. Strength training started becoming a chore that I didn't look forward to anymore These workouts became forced because I felt like I had to get back into my "serious routine" sooner than later, but I really didn't want to on the inside. Even though I was happier, my inner-perfectionist told me that I had to do more! Besides, I was getting so many more compliments about my body when I was leaner! I had to get back to that place.

"Come on, Christi! This is who you are! Get your shit together and go hardcore again!"

But my forcefulness created an inner exercise rebel that didn't give a shit about anything. I had gotten complacent with my movement because my "all-or-nothing attitude" kept me from those small and meaningless workouts.

"If I can't get a 2-hour workout in, then I'm not gonna do it at all!"

Although I needed a break, I took advantage of this extreme situation and found myself with random pains because I wasn't moving much anymore and my general mood was pretty much dog shit most of the time. I was tired, unhappy, and ate the same way I felt. It was a vicious cycle.

"What happened to me? Where did you go, Christi? Can you even call yourself a lifter anymore when you had trouble walking up a flight of stairs yesterday? Could you even get back to training with the way you are right now? Ughhhhh!"

I suddenly became anxious as hell about my thoughts my body, and my health. Then, I fell hard into a tornadic cycle of depression for allowing myself to get like this.

This may be where you are right now.

HERE'S HOW I GOT OUT...

The truth? All humans, especially athletes, health enthusiasts, and weekend warriors, go through this dilemma when faced with opening the doors to compassionate possibilities. What I mean by compassionate possibilities is that I knew slowing down was the right thing for me to do. But in my former perfectionist world of overachieving and people-pleasing, the right thing felt like I wasn't doing enough hard work. In my eyes, compassion was the enemy of progress and if I couldn't feel a struggle, then the journey wasn't hard enough. My moderate workouts didn't seem like they were enough because I felt like I had to get my body back, fast! And the only way I knew how to motivate myself was through the scale, body image, and self-loathing. Compassion? That's for people who don't try hard enough, right?

I WAS F'N WROOOOOOOOONG...

I had to start relying on compassion, NOT force to make movement a lifestyle. And I had to start asking myself some hard-ass questions around that positive source of power because I wasn't happy in either extreme.

Was I just doing this for the body?

As my good friend Jessie Rard says, "It may have felt like losing a part of yourself, or wondering if you were going to. You are absolutely more than your fitness routine, and it is perfectly fine if you have grown out of it. Sometimes it just takes a while to find your footing again, and your favorite movements are still there waiting for you."

As my Intuitive Eating journey and Intuitive Fitness journey started to become cohesive, I began putting that into perspective for my overall journey to sustainable and consistent health. So, I began asking myself the questions I had previously avoided. And I encourage you to answer these as well. *My goals are written in red to give you an idea of the kind of deep answers I want you to get out of yourself. Remember, you've likely been to both extremes, so here's where you get the leg up! Use this to your advantage and knowledge!

• Why do you want to get back to exercise (without weight loss as the main factor?) Because I don't want to be winded walking up the stairs anymore but I also don't want to get burnt out again. I want to go back to that middle ground where I was sustainable and consistent. I don't want to keep living in this black or white world of health. I want my health to feel automatic and habitual like brushing my teeth. Working out makes me feel so damn good.
• How do you feel after you work out consistently and sustainably? I feel confident, happy, strong, nourished body and soul, mobile, and satisfied. I am neither over-tired nor over-worked when I do it intuitively. Plus, those endorphins are killer!
• How do you feel when you go days/weeks without working out? I feel tired and drained of energy. Funny how working out, breathing heavy, and movement in general can actually ADD to my energy instead of taking away from it when I nourish myself correctly. But when I don't eat enough and work out too much, I do feel tired and lethargic. So I have to make sure that I'm eating and training to sustain and maintain my health, not force it by a certain date or by a number on the scale. How old is that number I'm chasing on the scale anyway? And is that an outdated goal for the lifestyle I want to live now?
• What is a sign your body gives you when you need to work out? I start getting antsy in my pantsy, my body gets stiff, my brain is likely overworked, my mood is down, I feel lethargic, and I feel heavy on my feet.
• What is a sign your body gives you when you need a movement break? My mental exhaustion shows up as a need for rest. I start to get irritable or extremely tired. My body is usually sore (not in a good way) or I haven't taken that many days off for my body to recover properly. Rest is a damn good thing and I'm not going to get in the way of that anymore.
• What is a goal other than weight loss that you could shoot for? I would like to at least be able to keep up deadlifting and squatting my body weight and work on doing 5 pull-ups after my shoulder heals from injury. I want to be more mobile, agile, lighter on my feet, I want to be able to play with my kids without needing to take breaks because I'm underfed/overworked. I want to get stronger, feel good, and just make this a part of my routine without it feeling forced, I don't want this to be a violent threat to my subconscious and worthiness as a person anymore.
• What is the smallest thing you could do to move the dial forward today to add more movement into your routine? Go for a 15-minute walk around the block while listening to a podcast. I could also do 10 bodyweight squats before my showers to get my blood pumping or stretch while watching TV at night.
• What does a REALISTIC plan look like for you? Getting in 2-3 days of structured movement like strength training, yoga, running, or walking. Then I could work on adding in 1-2 days of active/fun rest like (dancing or golfing) per week. From there, I can adjust and tweak. But I will start with the movement I enjoy so I can look forward to the feeling I get after the workout.
• What do you enjoy doing? Dancing, golfing, going for walks, strength training, yoga (don't enjoy it as much but I like the way it makes my body and mind feel afterward).
• What is something new you could try? Or how can you introduce an old movement flame into your adult life? I used to be a dancer in grade school and I loved it! I just started Ballroom dancing and I am obsessed!!!!! 💃🏽 But I would also love to get back into tennis. I'm going to make a call tomorrow about joining some classes again and possibly leagues.
• What time of day do you like working out? What time works best for your schedule? I used to love working out in the morning because it would start my day and I would feel accomplished and like I got the hardest thing done first. But that is high mental real estate time that I like to use for my business and creating content (like this email) now! I found this out while going through my 'no working out extreme' and when I did start getting back to it, I found out that I like to start my workday earlier, then I stop at 4 pm to get my workout in. Plus, this gives me a chance to transition from 'work time" to family time because I go pick up my boys from daycare at 5:30. That seemingly "failed attempt" in my past actually opened the door for me to try something new that I never thought would work for me.
• What happens if you don't get a workout in? I can't beat myself up anymore. I have noticed that the downside to working out later in the day is that audibles get pulled, Meaning, surprise guests show up for cocktails, unexpected date nights get planned, and things just happen. I know that life is always going to throw curveballs, so I won't be surprised when they come. Instead, I'll weigh out my options and know that missing a day or two, or even a week, will not derail my progress. It will give me something other than working out to look forward to because I want to be well-rounded in life and not obsess and miss social events just to get a workout in anymore. Because there will always be parties, friends, family, and celebrations, and I don't want my life to stop just because it doesn't fit into my caloric/time budget. I will make sure to put my family and myself first above any workout because that is what's important to me. And whatever I choose will be the best thing for me at that time. No guilt, shame, bargaining, or making it up in a calorie deficit needed.
• What lifestyle do you want to live around sustainable health? I don't want health to run or control my life anymore, I want it to enhance my life. I want to be healthy, but not at the cost of my mental health, binge eating, or social isolation. I want to think about food less but make my nutrition automatic while still allowing all foods to fit in amounts that feel good to me. I want to work out because it makes me feel good, not because I need to burn a certain amount of calories per day and eventually burn myself out. Because when I feel good about myself, it means I'm taking care of myself, not burning myself out. I want to put my health on autopilot after years of micromanaging it.

So, if you're going through this dilemma, CONGRATULATIONS! It means you're growing as a human being and even though your interests may be changing, your growth is telling you to expand in a different direction. Follow your heart here, not the tag size in your pants. Your journey to self-realization and mastering your self-awareness will become far more valuable than​ being oogled on the street by complete strangers or by a social media comment that will leave you in a validation-compliment-deficit shortly after.

Stop chasing the outside validation and compliments from others on your body and start cheering for your one damn self.

Answer those questions above and start asking yourself what YOU need, not who you think everyone else wants you to be. You are powerful my friend and we need more people like you inspiring yourself so it empowers others. Find your intuitive center between these two extremes and watch your health soar.

Get to know your real reason behind wanting to lose weight. Is it because you want more energy and to feel stronger? Great! Then weight loss may be nothing but a reaction from you taking care of yourself sustainably and consistently from here on out.

What if you gain weight? Then you will have found out where your ideal physique setpoint sits comfortably without force and with your personal version of physical and mental health intact. Either way, aren't you curious to see where your Ideal Physique lies? Besides, after you heal your relationship with food and fitness, you can always adjust your structure from there.

Join Intuitive Strength Training Coach, Mark Breedon and Me for a FREE, Live Online Training​ on How to Eat & Train without the Scale. Learn how to ditch all the numbers and start Eating and Training Intuitively. The live training will be held on April 23rd at Noon EST and replays will be sent out to those on the list!

Save your seat HERE! Seats are limited to a first-come, first-serve basis!

Written with love, support, and smashing scales (Office Space Style) by, Christi Brown

Want to work One on One with me to stop binge eating for good while you learn how to honor your hunger and respect your fullness? Schedule a call with me HERE.