What to Do When You Feel Stuck

Have you ever felt stuck? 

Perhaps stuck with your health goals or in other areas of your life?

You know you’re not exactly where you should be, and you feel the discontentment creeping in.  

If you’re feeling stuck, you may find yourself in one of two camps:

1. You don’t know what you want, but you know it’s different than your current situation, OR
2. You do know what you want, but you’re unsure of the steps to get there

So, what should you do?

Say you’re unsatisfied with the current state of your health.  You’re lethargic, not enjoying how your clothes fit, and just feeling a sense of discomfort in your body.  You’re not sure how to move forward, you just know you want something to change.  

Here are three things you can do if you’re feeling stuck:

1. Pay attention to what the signs are telling you.

Sometimes feelings of discomfort and dissatisfaction are the first signs that you’re ready for a change.  But often we just sit in those feelings, which of course, can leave us feeling stuck.  Instead, it can be really helpful to ask, “Why am I feeling this way?” and continue asking yourself this until you get to the bottom of it.  This example from Precision Nutrition’s article¹ is a helpful way to see this process in action:  

2. Get really clear on what you want.  

Now that you know what those feelings are saying you DON’T want, what is it that you DO want instead?  Is it to feel strong and empowered in your body?  Is it to feel confident?  Is it to stop obsessing over how you look so you can focus on other things?  Make this as clear and detailed as possible so you can truly picture what you really want.

3. Take the next right step.

Author and podcaster, Emily P. Freeman, often uses this phrase: “Take the next right step”.²  Instead of thinking about ALL the things that need to change or making one big, massive life-shift (both of which can seem quite overwhelming!), you can instead determine what one minor shift or small step you can take in the direction of what you want and figure out a way to take that step.

Taking some time to really dive into what your discomfort is telling you can help you see what you’re truly longing for, which can then open up the path to take the next step.  So, the next time you’re feeling stuck, try these three steps and see if you can shift your momentum in the direction you want to go.

If you’ve felt this discontentment with your body or health, wellness coaching may be right for you!  We walk you through determining your wellness vision-what you’re truly longing for in regard to your health-and help you chart the steps to achieve that vision.  

If you’re ready to try it out, check out our free PDF: “5 Ways to Know If Wellness Coaching Is Right For You,” or schedule a free 30-minute coaching session today!

Sources:
¹Beers, E. (n.d.) Forget bikini bodies and big arms: Here’s the real secret for getting motivated to transform your body. Precision Nutrition. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/weight-loss-motivation
²Freeman, E.P. (n.d.) Emily P. Freeman. https://emilypfreeman.com

Photo Credits:
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Weight a Minute, Part II: A chat about obesity…

We hope your new year is off to a great start!  Last month, we began a discussion about some misconceptions of obesity in light of the fact that a reoccurring New Year’s resolution for Americans is to lose weight¹.  This month, we continue our discussion regarding the misguided actions to treat obesity that stem from our misconceptions, and how wellness coaching is an ideal and essential alternative to these actions.

Misguided Actions to Treat Obesity
When we work from the misconceptions we have of obesity, this leads us to take misguided actions to treat or “cure” it.  The Huffington Post article we’ve been referencing states these actions can come from a variety of sources.  Healthcare providers may find themselves addressing weight with a patient whether or not that patient came in to discuss weight loss, and this may be due to regulations that require this if someone has a certain BMI.  Additionally, doctors may be put in situations where they must discuss nutrition and exercise with patients, but lack the training and education to do so, or enough time to really figure out what would be helpful for their patients individually².

Though the intentions may be good, both parties can feel defeated in this scenario.  Patients may think their weight is always the most important thing to discuss, and yet feel as though they don’t have the right tools to do anything about it, while doctors may feel like they aren’t adequately assisting and equipping their patients².

At a more macro level, insurance and governmental policies can be counterproductive when it comes to obesity, as well.  Insurance companies don’t cover many sessions with dieticians or for behavioral therapy-things that can prove beneficial when someone aspires to lose weight². Health intervention programs usually want to see success in the form of weight loss, and this desire may be coming from governmental grant funding focused on driving down U.S. obesity rates.

On a personal level, friends and family may try to help a loved one lose weight thinking this will help them be happier and healthier, and yet instead the person feels ashamed, and may even pursue unhealthy behaviors in response to the actions of their family and friends².

So, all of this begs the question:  What if we are focusing on the wrong thing?

What if instead of focusing on weight, we focused on health?

By focusing on health, we can look at other numbers besides weight, such as blood glucose and cholesterol levels.  We can take a more holistic approach, by assessing mental, emotional, and spiritual health, in addition to physical health.  And we can focus more on building healthy habits and behaviors, rather than zeroing in on weight loss.

How would a focus on health change the above scenarios?

Would the doctors feel less pressure to always discuss weight with their patients, and perhaps be able to focus on getting them to their optimal level of health?  Would patients feel less apprehension when going to see the doctor, knowing that they won’t always have to discuss their weight? And what if doctors partnered with nutrition and exercise specialists, and could refer patients to these specialists for more individualized care?

What if insurance companies covered more benefits that increased our health status, whether or not we’re currently sick, so that our bodies were functioning at their highest capacity?  What if health interventions were focused on getting folks healthier, regardless of whether or not they lose weight?  What if these interventions could get funding simply for increasing the health of their participants?

These are certainly worthy goals we want to pursue, but as the Huffington Post article mentions, widespread change takes time².

In the meantime, there is hope for a better way.

Here at Smart Fit Chicks, we work with women of all backgrounds, sizes, colors, and shapes, and our goal is to help you pursue the healthiest version of you.

How do we do this?

We are trained as wellness coaches, which means we walk you through determining what living a healthy life means to YOU and what goals you want to pursue to achieve that.  We assist you in uncovering your strengths, recognizing the resources available to you that will help you be successful, and problem solving with you when you face challenges along the way.  AND…we focus less on outcomes, like weight loss, and more on creating and maintaining the habits and behaviors that will help you live a healthy life.

So, if you find yourself relating to one or more of the scenarios listed above and you’re ready to try something new, or if you feel like you’re already losing momentum on those New Year’s resolutions, wellness coaching may be perfect for you. You can sign up here and ask us any questions before getting started.

It’s not too late to make 2019 your healthiest year yet.  And wellness coaching can help you get there.

Written by:  Brittni Paris, SFC wellness coach & blogger

Sources:

¹K McGrath. (2018, December 13).  What will consumers buy in 2019? Retrieved from:  https://www.offers.com/blog/post/new-year-purchase-predictions/

²Hobbes, M. (2018, September 18).  Everything you know about obesity is wrong.  Huffington Post.  Retrieved from:  https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

Photo Credits:

https://www.apwuhp.com/how-to-start-exercising-when-you-are-overweight/

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Photo by henri meilhac on Unsplash

Weight a Minute, Part I: A chat about obesity…

It’s that time of year again:  New Year’s resolution time!  Perhaps you’ve decided to make one or more for yourself in 2019.  It’s perfectly natural to feel like we’re ready for a fresh start when we turn the calendar page.  (To read more about why this is a good time to start new habits, check out this post and this post).  Or perhaps you’ve sworn off making resolutions, as you’ve eventually discarded more resolutions than you’ve kept. 

Regardless of how you feel about resolution-making, odds are that you’ll hear a lot of talk about them in the next few weeks.  One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions will inevitably resurface: losing weight¹.  It seems that this is a reoccurring goal for us each year, which is why we thought it would be a good time to discuss a recent article from the Huffington Post entitled “Everything You Know about Obesity is Wrong”.  This article definitely gave us some food for thought regarding some misunderstandings about obesity and the consequential misguided attempts to treat it².

Misunderstandings about Obesity

When thinking about obesity and weight loss, we tend to simplify things a bit too much.  For instance, you may have heard about the equation consisting of calories in and calories out.  Calories in refers to the calories you consume through eating and drinking, while calories out refers to the energy you expend through exercise and generally moving throughout the day.  If one side of the equation is larger than the other, we’re either losing weight or gaining weight, and if both sides of the equation are equal, we’re maintaining our weight.  We can sum this up below:

Calories in > Calories out = Weight Gain

Calories in < Calories out = Weight Loss

Calories in = Calories out = Weight Maintenance

Pretty simple, right? Sort of.  Actually, calories in is much more complex, starting with the fact that our food labels aren’t 100% accurate.  So, we may not know exactly how many calories we’re consuming.  Even if we did know the exact amount, our bodies vary in how many calories we absorb once our food has been digested.

Calories out isn’t as straightforward as it sounds either.  Though it does consist of the calories we expend during exercise, it also includes the calories we expend just to keep ourselves alive (also known as our resting metabolic rate), calories we expend digesting our food, and calories we expend doing non-exercise activity (think fidgeting or doing dishes).

So, when someone decides they would like to lose (or gain) weight, it’s not necessarily a simple task of eating less (or more) or exercising more (or less).  Not to mention, we all vary in how our bodies process food and how high or low our resting metabolic rates are³.

Another misconception about obesity is that losing weight is something we can fully control.  If the equation really was so simple as eating less and exercising more, then this might be true.  However, to think this way means we forget that our lives aren’t just affected by our own personal decisions, beliefs, and behaviors, but also by things out of our control, like our genetic makeup, our socioeconomic status, our environments, our access to healthy food and safe places to exercise, our education level, our relationships with significant others, friends, family, our jobs, our free time (or lack thereof), and so on.  We also can’t forget that when we alter one side of the equation or the other, our bodies can respond by changing up our hormone levels.  Once again, we find the equation is not so simple.

A final misconception is that being thin does not necessarily equate to being healthy.  Much like judging a book by its cover (something we all teach our kids not to do), judging a body size for its level of health can lead us to incorrect assumptions.  For instance, one can have a high BMI (a measurement of weight to height) but have a low body fat percentage and excellent bloodwork.  Conversely, one can have a low BMI, but have a high body fat percentage and bloodwork indicative of disease.  Recognizing that weight is not necessarily synonymous with health is a helpful way to correct this misconception.

The problem with the above scenarios is that they can lead us to make harmful judgements about ourselves or others.

If we think we simply don’t have the willpower to make changes if we want to lose weight, or we look at others and assume they don’t have willpower or are unhealthy without actually knowing the status of their health, we reinforce the notion that we all must look a certain way to be healthy and thriving.

Next month, we’ll discuss the second part of our review of this article regarding the misguided actions to treat obesity that come from the above misconceptions.  We’ll also dive into how wellness coaching is an excellent alternative to these actions and highlight how 2019 could be the year you stick with your resolutions (if you’re making them!).

If you simply can’t wait until then, you can learn more about wellness coaching here and here, as well as a method to help new habits stick.  As always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have!

We wish you all a very healthy, happy, and thriving 2019!

Written by:  Brittni Paris, SFC Wellness Coach & Blogger

Sources:

¹K McGrath. (2018, December 13).  What will consumers buy in 2019? Retrieved from:  https://www.offers.com/blog/post/new-year-purchase-predictions/

²Hobbes, M. (2018, September 18).  Everything you know about obesity is wrong.  Huffington Post.  Retrieved from:  https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

³B St. Pierre. (No date).  Can eating too little actually damage your metabolism? Retrieved from:  https://www.precisionnutrition.com/metabolic-damage

Photo Credits:

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Photo by Form on Unsplash

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash

SFC Approved

We get it. There are A LOT of products out there; claiming to make you bigger, thinner, stronger, leaner, blah, blah blah. Here’s the good news: we’re here to provide you with a few products that we LOVE, BELIEVE IN, AND TRUST. The  things listed below are special because they’ve made the Smart Fit Chicks Approved List (which is not easy to do!).

Read more “SFC Approved” →

Yes You CAN Change…(and your habits can help!)

We’ve all been there.  Whether via New Year’s resolutions, weight loss or productivity goals, or the achievement of big dreams, we’ve all desired to change something about our lives or the way we do things so we can experience fulfillment, success, or happiness.

Read more “Yes You CAN Change…(and your habits can help!)” →

Get in the Groove

It is well into December now, which means it’s time to pause and check-in with yourself:  How are you doing?  Are you finding some peace and silence during this season?  Are you embracing moments of joy and wonder, no matter how small?  If you aren’t, no problem!  There’s still plenty of time to reroute and get aligned with what you want out of the holidays.

Read more “Get in the Groove” →

Leave Your Guilt at the Door

Ahhhh…the holidays.  They are upon us, and with them, come many, MANY opportunities to indulge.  To eat, drink, and be merry.  To enjoy Grandma’s pies and Santa’s cookies.

Read more “Leave Your Guilt at the Door” →

The Benefits of an Active Pregnancy

One of our very own Smart Fit Chicks, Kellie Walters, recently had the opportunity to write an excellent article for Parks and Recreation, the official journal of the National Recreation and Parks Association.

Check it out here!

Pregnancy seems A LOT like…Vegas.

So, I have no idea how far along I’ll actually be by the time I post this article, but that’s okay…hopefully I’ll be less nauseous and have figured this whole pregnancy thing out a bit better (completely unrealistic, I know) (UPDATE: I’m 26 weeks and have nothing figured out)

I’m about 9 weeks pregnant right now, so VERY few people actually know at this point, which is one of the first challenges of pregnancy. I’m sick all the time, slightly grumpy and eating weird things, but NO ONE actually knows why. I’m certain people are starting to wonder about me. 🙂

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: here’s my list of why I think the world of pregnancy has started out a lot like a weekend trip to Las Vegas.

Read more “Pregnancy seems A LOT like…Vegas.” →

Smart Fit Girls: Things Are Happening!

We have SO MUCH great news to share with you about our after school program, Smart Fit Girls! If you missed our year one in review article, check out this article describing the program and how it got started.

Read more “Smart Fit Girls: Things Are Happening!” →