“MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE”. Isn’t that what you hear from health professionals? I know I have said it before.  But what does that even mean.

To be able to travel without stress about food and movement.

To be able to go away, enjoy yourself, then come home right where you left off in life.

To not feel anxious about not having a scale or access to the same foods or your gym equipment.

Lately- thats what this LIFESTYLE means.  And for a while, I didn’t have balance.  I stressed on getting workouts in. I stressed about eating out.  An oat milk latte? HA, I could never! “Do you know how many carbs I would waste” would be my thought”. I would even pack my food scale and opt for stopping at a grocery store over a restaurant- simply so I could weigh my food.

There are likely some disordered patterns in there somewhere, but I am going to go out on a limb and say this:

Some of those things I did then, while there was a healthier way to approach them- they made it so that now, NOW I do have a lifestyle that serves me.  I DO feel like I live in a way thats a seamless transition from travel to home and back.

Tracking your food allows this.

Eating at maintenance, or more- and giving yourself permission TO EAT THE FOOD, allows this.

Building a foundation of strength and muscle, allows this.

If you are new to health, fitness and nutrition, its not a lifestyle yet.  You didn’t EARN that. You need to earn it. You need to be educated on food and its impacts on your body. You need to fail a few times and have a few rough days to know what the good days look and feel like.  You need to earn the muscle memory you build after months and month of lifting heavy, the kind that allows you to travel and do a heck of a lot less without losing “the gains”

For me, I failed a lot.

I went to extreme in both directions.

I trained for years and years.

I fought through the hard to LEARN about my body, my mindset and food.

So when trainers and nutritionists say “earn that lifestyle” make sure you know what that looks like – and it looks a lot like learning and a little like failing along the way.