Running Lean with Patrick McGilvray
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what coaching is and what it isn’t. Some people think coaching is just someone screaming at you like a drill sergeant in boot camp. Others think …
Continue Reading about 122. What Coaching Should Look Like →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 122 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners and today, what coaching should look like? I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what coaching is and what it isn’t.
Some people think coaching is just like having someone screaming at you like a drill sergeant and boot camp. Other people think coaching is having a cheerleader by your side always telling you great job. Both of these can be positive aspects of coaching. But there’s a lot more to consider if you’re seriously looking for someone to help you reach your weight loss and running goals.
So in this episode of the podcast, I break down what coaching is, what it isn’t, and explain what coaching should look like. And I’m hoping that by the end of this episode, you have a very clear understanding of how the right kind of coaching can actually help you achieve all of your health and fitness goals.
And I just want to get right into this topic today because this is something that I’ve been very passionate about, and something that I talk about just about every day. So I talk with runners every single day about their goals and whether or not they want to coach with me, whether they want to work with me or not.
And I always explain a little bit about what coaching looks like, when I get on a call with someone. And I thought you know, this would be a great idea to just jump on here and do a whole podcast about this topic about what good coaching should actually look like, you know, what coaching should look like versus what maybe we think it is?
Okay, so let me ask you this, like when you think of a coach, what image comes to mind for you, when I think of a coach, I get this image of somebody standing on the side of the track, like with a clipboard and a stopwatch, right?
Or maybe that coach in the locker room at halftime screaming at the players to get them all pumped up for the second half of the game. Or the personal trainer screaming at you there’s a lot of screaming in my envision of coaches for some reason. The personal trainer at the gym screaming like, you know, do one more rep. One more, one more.
So we all have some notion of what a coach looks like. And most of us have probably had some experience working with or having some sort of a coach in our lives, whether it was a coaching, you know, when you played high school sports, you maybe had a coach. But this idea of what a coach actually is, I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about that.
Okay, and so, today I want to talk about this, I want to talk about what coaching is and what it isn’t. And I want to bust some of the myths around coaching and what it means to work with a coach. I want to help you to understand what to look for if you want to work with a coach.
Okay, by the end of this episode, I want you to have a clear understanding of what this should look like. Okay, now I need to say this, I’m a coach, right? And of course, I would love it if you wanted coaching and you decided you want to work with me. That would be amazing. But that’s not what this is about. Okay, this isn’t about me.
This is about you understanding the power of coaching, and how it can help you and how, what I want for you is I want to give you the information to go out there and find a coach that works for you, whether it’s me or somebody else, it’s fine with me either way. I fiercely believe in the power of coaching. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever done for myself is getting a coach and I think everyone can benefit from having a coach.
I actually have several coaches, I have a strength coach, I have a nutrition coach and a business coach. And each of these coaches plays a huge role in helping me to become my most badass self. I would not have lost the weight and learned how to keep it off for good without my coach.
I wouldn’t have learned how to get stronger. I wouldn’t understand the importance of continually, you know, building strength as a runner, if it wasn’t for my functional strength coach, and I definitely wouldn’t make it as an entrepreneur without my business coach. You know, being an entrepreneur building a business from the ground up and doing it all by yourself. This is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It’s challenging.
And they say I love this little like analogy here, they say, “Being an entrepreneur is like jumping out of an airplane and building the parachute on the way down.” And I feel this deeply, every single day. Okay? Anyway, so I just wanted to make this very clear that this isn’t about me, this is not about me, like selling you on coaching with me or anything like that.
It’s about helping you understand what good coaching should look like, whether it’s with me or somebody else. But I want you to understand how powerful coaching can be for you, and how amazing it can be for you, and how it can absolutely transform your life, and help you achieve whatever goals you want for yourself in different areas of your life. Okay.
So one of the biggest misconceptions I want to talk about is that a coach is just there to tell you what to do. Right? I have talked to so many runners who have worked with a running coach, or maybe a nutrition coach in the past. And one of the common issues I see with most coaches with most of like what I’ll call like traditional coaching, okay?
That it’s just somebody, they’re telling you what to do. Like, here’s what you should eat, or here’s your running workout, just do what I say. All right, and this is fine. You know, there has to be a part of that with coaching, right. But when that’s all the coaches doing for you, they’re giving you some sort of standard formula, some standard meal plan or some standard workout. You know, everybody they’re coaching is kind of getting the same standard deal, right? That doesn’t really work. Okay.
This is a problem. And I see this with a lot of nutrition coaches, specifically who just prescribe meal plans for their clients. So they give them a menu of actually, like, here’s what you’re going to eat this week. And then next week, I’ll give you a new meal plan of what you should eat. Okay? And again, this is fine.
This might work sometimes, but what are you teaching the client? What are you teaching that person you’re working with? Are they learning how to make good decisions about food? Are they developing the habits they need to make their new food choices on their own and to make them last for the long haul?
Like, how sustainable is it to just tell somebody what to do? I’ve had several people come to me after working with other nutrition coaches, who gave them meal plans, who gave them a menu of what to do. And by the end of that coaching relationship, they had no clue what to do on their own.
So once the coaching relationship was over, they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t understand why they were being told to eat these certain foods. And to avoid these foods over here. They didn’t understand the philosophy behind making these menus, you know, they hadn’t developed any skills of their own.
They just didn’t know how to create their own food plan. Okay. That’s not sustainable. Right? They also hadn’t developed good eating habits, right. So they just ended up falling back into old behaviors, once that coaching relationship was over, and they ended up putting all the weight back on.
And I see this with most diet plans, right? They just tell you what to eat, and what not to eat. And then, you know, send you on your way. Good luck. Good luck with all that, right. And I see this with books. You know, I read a lot of books on diet and nutrition, sports, nutrition, athletic performance.
And a lot of these books have meal plans in them and recipes and things like that. I guess people say they want those kinds of things, right? This might be what people say they want, but it’s not what they need. Right? What people want is for somebody to just tell them what to do.
But what they need is they need to learn how to break old habits. People need to learn how to develop new habits from the ground up, and you can’t learn new habits just by somebody telling you what to do. And just a little side note here, I’m planning on writing a book, I’ve actually kind of started this is a long process to write a book, by the way, and I’m at the baby stages right now.
But my goal with this book that I’m creating is to not just offer meal plans and tell people what to do, but to teach you how to build your own meal plan to teach you how to make good choices and why you should make those choices. That right there is going to be a game changer, I promise you, but that’s down the road.
So I’m just giving you a little preview of what’s to come later. All this is just to say that instead of just telling you what to do, a good coach should empower you to make good decisions for yourself. And to help you to be there as your guide to help you build the habits that are required to make whatever changes you’re making last for good.
Like this isn’t about, you know, just a quick fix, like these short term plans might be fine. But what do you do when you stop working with the coach, if you haven’t learned how to do this for yourself, you’re just on your own. And most people just don’t know what to do when they stop working with their coach, okay. So you should be becoming empowered, your coach should be empowering you. Right?
When the coach just tells you what to do, they have all the power, they have all the power, you need to have the power, right, you should be able to make most of these decisions for yourself. Now, of course, having a coach, a good coach, is there to guide you, and to show you the way, but also to empower you to learn what works for you and what doesn’t work for you.
Now, there’s no possible way any coach could know what’s going to work for you ahead of time, I’m just going to tell you right now, when it comes to things like nutrition, there is just no way. Every human being is different. Every human being has different metabolism, different goals, different food preferences, different likes and dislikes.
There’s different lifestyle concerns to take into consideration. There’s different cultures, different genetics, different medical histories, oh my gosh, there’s no way that one meal plan from a book is going to work for every single person, right? There’s no way that just giving everybody the same standard meal plan every week is going to work for everybody.
This is not a one size fits all situation here. There’s way too many factors involved. So the power of coaching is helping you figure out what works for you, as an individual and what doesn’t work for you. And this is one of the reasons why most people, they try some kind of diet, it doesn’t work for them.
And so they just say you know what diet doesn’t work. But in reality, one diet is not going to work for everyone. I’m just telling you, it’s not anyone who tells you that one diet is going to work for everyone is wrong, I’m just gonna tell you right now they are wrong. People get super worked up about this.
People are like they get dug in with their particular diet. Think about like, plant-based people, for whatever reason, they seem to be very worked up about their diet and telling you if they want to tell everybody that you’re stupid if you eat meat and plant-based is the only way to go. And honestly, I just have to tell you, there’s a lot of ignorance in that kind of generalization, right? The reality is, there isn’t one diet that works for everyone, there just isn’t.
So when I work with someone, it’s you and me like we are engaged in a coaching relationship. Yes, of course, I have a lot of experience and a lot of expertise in the area of diet nutrition for runners, for runners who want to lose weight and be able to keep it off like, yeah, we kind of start with a framework.
But you know, we have some basics that we sort of, kind of start with, but then throughout our coaching relationship, we pretty quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t. And here’s the important part, we constantly analyze the results. We look at a bunch of different metrics. And we see, are we making progress here or not? Yes or no? Where can we improve things?
And then we course correct, we change something. If something isn’t working, we want to change it. So it’s not just about telling you what to do and then hoping you do it. It’s a feedback system, right? We’re always looking at your results. It’s a results oriented type of coaching. And that’s something you should definitely be looking for.
If you’re looking for a coach, somebody that’s going to help you to analyze the results that you’re getting, and then make the necessary changes so that you keep moving closer to your goals. And I’ll tell you right now, I’m going to be totally honest with you. I don’t know what’s going to work for you.
Yes, I have some good ideas based on working with hundreds of runners. But not every single person is the same. Every single person I work with is different. I’ve never done the exact same thing for two people, really I never have.
So when it comes to diet and nutrition, especially when we add in the complexity of doing all of this in a way that will also support your running goals. It’s always an experiment of one. This is a n equals one situation and the one that’s you so look for a coach who will win work with you, one who will help you to make good decisions for yourself, one who will empower you to make those kinds of choices and decisions and to create the good habits and teach you how to make all of this last.
Well, after the coaching relationship is over, I tell people who want to work with me all the time, I’m like, This is not a, I don’t want to like be stringing you along as a coach forever, I want to teach you what you need to learn so that you can go and go live your life. You know, you’ve got to find somebody who understands that you are an individual, and who will treat you like an individual. Okay.
So another sign you’re working with a good coach is someone who will ask you a lot of questions, a lot of powerful questions. Here’s why this is important. Most likely, you already have the answers within you. You just need help accessing them. So believe it or not, you are right now a powerhouse of information. And you know more than you think you do. And you definitely know more about you than anyone else on the planet. Okay.
This is one of those things that I couldn’t grasp at first. I thought I had no clue what to do. And that’s why I hired a coach in the first place, right? Just tell me what to do. But the more I got into this process, the more I worked with my coach, the more I learned that I pretty much had everything I needed to know already inside me.
And then I just needed somebody to help figure it out. That really changed everything for me. And I love this now, like, I see this every week, especially in working with my business coach, because she’s always asking me these powerful questions, right? Questions that force me to go inside, to go inside myself to go inside my own brain to find the answers.
The answers aren’t out there. The answers are in here. And I’m pointing to my head. And this used to be really frustrating for me at first, right? Because I just wanted her to tell me what to do, just tell me what to do. But she wouldn’t do that, she would ask me a lot of questions and help me come up with the right answers. And now I love this process.
Because I know that by asking me the right questions, she’s helping me to access those parts of my brain that I just that I need to access to be able to solve problems. And then I’m just I haven’t developed that, like skill of being able to access those things until I started doing this on a regular basis. And now, it’s extremely powerful. I know it sounds counterintuitive, right? To work with a coach and have them help you figure it out for yourself. But it’s an amazing way to coach someone.
Because when you do it this way, you’re actually teaching someone how to become a powerful problem solver on their own. Again, this isn’t about, like just, you know, telling somebody what to do in that situation, you would always have to have that coach there with you, right? Instead, what have you learned how to become that powerful problem solver on your own? That’s amazing, right there.
The point of coaching is not to just rely on your coach forever, right? But to teach you how to think for yourself to develop the cognitive skills to know what to do in every situation. Right, and to be able to solve every problem that comes your way. So for me, I ask a lot of powerful questions. Okay.
So I’ll ask clients, they’ll tell me they, you know, did something and I’ll say like, well, why did you make that choice? You know, why do you think you chose cake for dinner last night instead of chicken? Or, you know, okay, so you had a situation? How could you have handled that situation better when your coworker put that cupcake on your desk? You know, or what was the thought that immediately preceded the action that you took, you know, that behavior where, you know, you decided I’m not going to work out today? What was the thought right before that?
Or maybe you fail? Did you binge out on some pizza last night or ice cream? Like, what did you learn about yourself from this experience? These are examples of real questions that I ask clients all the time. And when I ask them these questions, they go inside themselves to find the answers. And they come up with solutions on their own with my help, right? But instead of me just telling them what to do in each of these situations, well, here’s what you do next time.
They are figuring it out for themselves. And I’m going to tell you something right now. When you figure it out for yourself, you are way more likely to remember that and to make better choices next time. There is a big difference between somebody telling you what to do, and you making a decision for yourself on what you should do.
When you come up with the solution for yourself, you learn from it, it just sticks, right? It’s the difference between, well, Patrick told me I shouldn’t eat cake for dinner and, and I don’t eat cake for dinner because that choice is not in alignment with who I want to be. See the difference there. It’s very powerful, very powerful.
Another thing you should look for in a good coach is someone who will point out your blind spots. So a good coach should help you see things that you cannot see about yourself. These are often called your blind spots, because like a blind spot in your car, you know, where you can’t see the car next to you, or whatever. There are things about yourself that you can’t see, because you’re inside yourself.
There’s a saying, and it goes something like “You can’t see the label from inside the bottle.” So you can’t see the outside, from inside. So sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to show you things about yourself that you wouldn’t be able to see on your own.
For example, I see a lot of self-sabotaging behavior happen when people set out to lose weight. So they might be going along fine for a while. And maybe their weight stalls a little bit, which is totally normal. It happens all the time, right? But then they’re just like, ethic, you know, and they binge out on french fries and donuts.
And they don’t understand why they do this. And they come to me and they’re like, Patrick, I don’t understand why, why do I do this all the time? So I started asking a lot of questions. And when we get to the root of the problem, it’s usually something like, well, you know, I was getting frustrated, the weight was stalled.
And I was having a tough day at work. And I thought, well, I might as well just eat whatever I want, since this isn’t working anyway, you know, some variation of a thought like that, okay. But they don’t see what’s happening in their brain, you know, because they’re, it’s their brain.
And they’re just like, they’re just operating on sort of autopilot. It’s just doing what they’ve always done, right. But having a coach, they’re having that person that’s outside of them, to show them what their brain is doing. To show you things about yourself that you cannot see, that’s some powerful stuff right there.
There are things about yourself that you can’t see, because they’ve just been like, things you’ve been doing your whole life, automatic behaviors and habits and they just seem like normal to you. But to an outsider, they might see like, oh, well, there’s your problem right there. You don’t see it, because it’s just part of who you are. And just something you’ve been doing forever, right.
But having this outsider’s perspective, like somebody’s pointing out these blind spots that you have, it’s crucial, it’s crucial. This is why it’s hard to have somebody that’s like really close to you, as your coach, you know, they need to be a bit more removed. So people who you’re too close with, like a spouse, or a good friend or family member, they don’t have that third party perspective, right, they’re also going to have trouble telling you things that you actually need to hear, they won’t be able to dole out the tough love the way they need to maybe.
And so somebody that’s like too close to you won’t be able to do that. Somebody that’s too close to you really just can’t be a good coach for you. Right, then it’s kind of damaging to the relationship if you’ve ever worked with somebody in that capacity, that’s a spouse or something like that, not usually a good situation. Okay.
The other thing about working with a coach versus a friend or family member is the coach has the training, the background, the professionalism, the experience necessary to help you get the results that you want. Friends and family members really don’t have that. They don’t have what it takes, unless they’re trained as a coach, but even then, again, they’re too close to you, right? So anyway, just make sure that you have somebody that can point out those blind spots. Okay.
And then there’s a few other qualities to look for in a coach that I think are very important. One is accountability. So this is one of the most important aspects of coaching in general, like you are way more likely to do what you said you’re going to do when you have somebody holding you accountable. You have to have somebody holding you accountable.
People tell me all the time, you know, I was going to eat this junk food, but I knew I was going to have to talk to you later. So I decided not to do it. They just know that they’d rather stay on their plan, then have to tell me, they went off their plan. Even though I don’t yell at anybody, like I don’t judge anybody. But having somebody that’s there to hold you accountable is key crucial insight, one of the most important aspects of coaching for sure, okay?
Another good quality to look for is encouragement. So, being a cheerleader, it’s not really the main job of a coach. A coach’s job is to help you get results. But having somebody there to encourage you, and support you, and believe in you, it’s so helpful, it really is so helpful. You want somebody who can encourage you to do hard things, to do those hard things that you know you need to do, in order to get the results that you want.
You need someone in your corner who believes in you fiercely, who can help you to start believing in yourself, right? In case that’s a problem. In case you don’t believe in yourself, you need somebody that’s there that believes in you. And that can help you build that belief that you need for yourself, right.
And then of course, another quality is look for his knowledge, like it goes without saying, but you need someone with the knowledge with the experience with the expertise to be able to help you achieve your specific goals. And a lot of coaches that I know are very general, they’re like generalists, right?
They have a little bit of knowledge over a wide variety of topics. You want a coach who specializes in helping someone like you to reach your specific goals, right? So for example, when I talk about me being the weight loss coach for runners, I say it like that for a reason. It’s because I specialize in being the weight loss coach for runners.
I don’t know of anybody else who really specializes in this particular area of coaching. As far as I know, I’m the only weight loss coach for runners. Now, there might be others. But no one does it quite like I do, I know that for sure. Okay.
But that’s just an example, like, find a coach who specializes in helping somebody like you reach your specific goals, right, because you want to find the expert in your area, you know, whatever it is that you’re looking for, okay.
And again, it doesn’t have to be me, I want you to understand how powerful coaching can be, I want you to understand that, you know, you just need to have this criteria for deciding if coaching is a good fit for you or not, it’s not for everyone. Some people don’t want that accountability. They want to just do it on their own. And that’s fine. And that used to be me, my mantra was always ‘I will figure it out myself’.
And when that strategy stopped working for me, and I decided to reach out and get help and get a coach, it really changed everything. For me, it’s absolutely been one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done for myself, okay. So listen, if you’re a runner, and you’d like to get the weight problem solved for good, and you want a coach to help get you there, I want to encourage you to find someone to help you, right?
And if you want to work with me, I would absolutely love that. And I will invite you to apply for coaching, right? Fill out an application, you and I will get on a short Zoom call. We’ll talk about your goals and we’ll see if coaching is a good fit for you. Okay, I would love to be your guide.
I would love to help you lose the weight and show you how to do it without all the struggle and frustration. So if you’re ready for some realistic lifestyle changes, mindset shifts, and sustainable results. Then just go to runningleancoaching.com/apply. And let’s get started. Love you all keep on Running Lean. Talk to you soon.
If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.
If you want to make big changes in your life, then a lot of things in your life are going to have to change. The problem is that most people do not like to change things! They want to lose …
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to Episode 117 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today, I’m talking about the power of total immersion. So if you want to make big changes in your life, and a lot of things in your life are going to have to change. The problem is that most people do not like to change things.
People want to lose weight, but they don’t want to give up the junk food. People want to get stronger, but they don’t want to lift any of those heavy weights. Most people have big lofty goals but are willing to change only as little as possible. And you know that this doesn’t really work. Right? Right. So today, I’m going to offer up an alternative way of doing things, something called total immersion, I think you’ll get a lot out of this episode, especially if there are big things that you want for yourself.
But first, I wanted to remind you that I’ve got another live workshop coming up. So it’s gonna be Thursday, the 31st of March. And we did this last week, and it was super fun had a ton of people on there and we had a lot of fun. It’s called five simple steps to becoming a leaner, stronger runner. And we’re going to be talking about why willpower doesn’t work when you’re trying to change, you know, eating habits, why fad diets don’t work, why counting calories doesn’t work, why running a million more miles doesn’t work. And I’m gonna talk about what does work.
So this is understanding how habits actually operate, right, and the science of making habit change permanent. We’re going to talk about a personalized approach that supports your weight loss and your running goals, and how to put together a comprehensive plan of action that actually works on the mental, emotional and physical changes that you have to do right it’s not just about what you’re doing. It’s about the mental-emotional pieces, too. And this is the part that a lot of people just miss.
So I’m going to be teaching about all this stuff in this free workshop, you’re going to learn how to become leaner and stronger and transform yourself into the healthiest and most badass version of yourself yet to sign up, go to runningleancoaching.com/workshop and the next one’s coming up on Thursday, March 31, I hope you’ll join us it’s going to be super fun.
And then I wanted to just give you guys a quick update on kind of where I am with my recovery from my rotator cuff surgery and how running is going because I haven’t talked about this too much lately. So I just want to give you a quick update. So I started running again, I don’t know about four or five weeks ago.
And to be honest with you taking three months off of all exercise, I wasn’t able to do a whole lot at all. And taking three months off really kind of got me sort of soft. And I lost some fitness, I really did, I lost some muscle mass, and I lost my endurance for running for sure. So I started running again, you know, four or five weeks ago. And I started out just very slow and started, you know, kind of doing some, you know, slow, easy runs one mile, two miles, three miles, that kind of thing.
And then I started working into some more speed work and some interval training and things like that, just to kind of push myself a little bit harder. Started doing some tempo runs on still low mileage, right. And in the last few weeks, I’ve started kind of increasing my mileage. But I have to tell you, this whole process has been very challenging. And I think what’s going on here is that my body needed to get fat adapted again.
So the fat-adaptation I had for so long, sort of went away to a certain extent, you know, I’m still, you know, sticking to a low carb diet, I’m still, you know, super efficient at burning fat. But as far as fat-adaptation for running, I think that kind of went away because I wasn’t running. So this is a big lesson that I’ve learned here.
And I’m going to talk more about this in a future episode. And kind of some of the things that I’ve learned about this whole process of taking this much time off and how to come back from it. But I think I lost a little bit of that fat adaptation of how to get it back.
So you know, if you’ve gone through the process of becoming fat-adapted, you know, it takes a few weeks and running is hard during that time. And I have to tell you the last few weeks running has been very hard. And I’ve just been like right, stupid, why am I doing this? I don’t ever want to run again, you know, I’m just gonna hang it up.
And then this past weekend, I did a 10 miler, and I have to tell you, I turned a corner, I felt good. And I finished that run feeling like man, I’m just so happy that I stuck with it. I’m so happy that I didn’t hang up my running shoes forever, that it didn’t just give up, that I kept going. And I kept, you know, sticking with the plan of continuing to run even though it was hard, even though it felt terrible. I stuck with it. And the results are starting to pay off.
And then I did a 5 mile run yesterday, which felt great. And my speed is not where I want it to be yet, but I’m going to work on that too. That’s going to come back too, but the endurance is definitely coming back. I’ve kind of gotten through that hump of that fat adaptation period. And I just want to encourage you guys, if you’re out there, and you’re going through this, and running is hard for you right now. Just stick with it. It gets better. It really does.
And like I said, I’ll do another episode soon. And kind of give you guys a little bit more insight as to what my experience has been taking this much time off three months is a lot of time off. You know, it’s a lot of time to take off from really not doing any exercise at all. Other than walking, I was able to walk some when I had my sling on and I could go for a walk. But I couldn’t do a whole lot of anything else.
And that was challenging for me and a lot of ways mentally, emotionally, and physically. And I’ve had to work through some things but I’m turning a corner. I’m feeling good. Plus, you know, the weather’s getting nicer. It’s like we’re starting to like its spring, we’re starting to get some nicer, warmer days out there. And you know, running in the 50s and 60s instead of the teens and 20s is delightful. It’s delightful. I don’t know about you, but I like it to be a little bit warmer out there running. How about you? Where do you like it to be? What’s your favorite temperature for running?
I’ve decided that like 50 degrees is about perfect for running. But I don’t mind even running in the heat when it’s super hot out at 90 degrees. Like I’m cool with that I can deal with that. It’s not bad, right? Am I crazy? This is a little crazy, right?
Okay, so here’s what I want to talk about. Today, we’re gonna be talking about the power of total immersion. And I want to talk a little bit about what most people do when it comes to changing habits. So if you’ve got you know, big goals, let’s say you want to lose 50 pounds or you know, really improve your running qualify for Boston, run your first marathon, whatever it is, we have big lofty goals, right.
But here’s the thing, most people, they’re like toe dippers are just, they want to just dip their toe into the process and the things they need to do for changing a habit. You know, they want to gain, they want to lose the 50 pounds, but they don’t want to do much of anything differently. Right. And this is kind of a problem. Because if you’re not willing to do much, you know, if you’re not willing to alter your behavior substantially, then you’re just going to get very, very little in the way of results from that, you know.
If you’re only willing to give up as, ditch the bare minimum, I’m going to tell you right now, that’s not going to be enough to get you to this big goal, you know, in order to to be the kind of person who finishes a marathon, you know, who trains for and finishes a marathon, you’ve got to change a lot about your life. And it’s an inside job, you got to start from the inside, you know, we’ll talk about that a little bit. But it really requires you to do a lot of things.
Now, nothing has to be big and major, but we got to change a lot of little things. But what most people do, they’re like, oh, I’m just gonna, you know, I want to lose 50 pounds. So I’m just gonna, I’m gonna get this book that talks about, you know, eating right or something. And now, they’ll read a book, and they’ll kind of do some things kind of sorta, and then that’s it. That’s all they’re willing to do.
Or they’ll, you know, listen to a podcast and there’ll be like, oh, yeah, I listened to that one podcast. And so I’m gonna just kind of do what that one person said on that one podcast, and it’s just not enough. You know, they try the fad diet for a minute. This is all very much like dipping your toes in the pool, right? It’s like a very timid approach to this kind of work.
If you want to change your life I’m telling you right now that you have to like be all in you have to do more than the bare minimum. Okay. So some examples that I’ve experienced are people who want to lose a significant amount of weight. But they will just do as little as possible because they want to try to maintain the same lifestyle that they have. They love their junk food. They have an exercise routine that whatever they’re comfortable with. And they just want to keep everything the same, they want to stay comfortable. And you know, you’ve heard me talk about this a million times, right? You’ve got to embrace the discomfort, you’ve got to embrace the suck if you want to make big changes, okay?
So, so maybe this person who is, you know, wants to change, you know, wants to lose 50 pounds, maybe they just commit to running a few extra miles each week, right? It’s you know, it’s a little bit of work, but it’s not much. They don’t, they’re not willing to change their diet at all, they don’t really want to change their lifestyle, they’ll just commit to a few extra miles, right. And that’s not going to get you there.
Big changes require big changes. But here’s the thing, big change doesn’t mean you have to just change one big giant thing. You can accomplish big changes in your life by making a lot of little tiny changes. Let me give you an example of what this looked like for me some years ago.
So a while back, I decided I was going to do an Ironman Triathlon. And if you’re not familiar with the Ironman, it’s a pretty grueling event. It’s a one-day event, I think you have something like 17 hours to complete it. And it’s a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike, followed by a full marathon on the same day, right. And when I did mine, this was back in 2013, in Louisville.
And it was, by the time I started my run, so the time I started my marathon was three o’clock in the afternoon, it was 90 degrees with you know, super humid conditions, and I thought I was gonna die. I literally thought I cannot do this, I think I’m gonna die. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done to this date. It’s still the hardest thing I’ve ever done is that Iron Man.
But here’s the thing – because it was such a big thing, it was so hard. It just seemed impossible for me. At the time, I decided that I was going to go all in on myself and I was going to do whatever it took to make this thing happen to cross that finish line feeling good. So I read books, and I listened to podcasts all about triathlon, and Ironman, in particular, you know, watched YouTube videos and documentaries.
The people that I spent my time with were my training partners. Other friends that I trained with who had done Iron Man’s in the past, you know, the people I worked out with, I surrounded myself with like-minded people with positive people with people who had already done what I wanted, so that I could learn as much as possible from them. I practiced with all these different gears you know, different water bottles setups on my bike.
I literally tried like five different bike saddles until I found one that actually worked for me all these different running shoes, do I wear socks? Do I not wear socks? You know, shoes that where I could just slip them on and off, you know where I didn’t have to tie them because that takes time in transition time. I practice with a bunch of different triathlon suits, you know, that I could wear while swimming, biking, and running. So I didn’t have to change I could just wear kind of the same clothes the whole time.
I studied the course you know I actually took several trips down to Louisville, and Louisville is about 100 miles away from Cincinnati. So it was about a two-hour drive. So drove down there I swam in the river, we did the swim a portion of the race in the Ohio River. And so there’s you start in this channel. And actually, the group of us went down there and we swam the channel upstream against the river against the current of the river, which is extremely challenging.
And just doing that right there was like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be a bit of a challenge to swim against the tide here against this course of the river for the first you know, third or so of the swim, but it helped a lot, you know, and then I rode the bike course I wrote the whole course and ran part of the marathon route.
So for the better part of a year, here’s what I did. I completely immersed myself in the world of Ironman Triathlon. I ate, slept, and dreamed about Ironman. This was a huge, huge goal of mine, and I wasn’t gonna leave anything on the table. I went all-in on myself and I did whatever it took to make sure that I could cross the finish line and I did I finished that event, hit a goal time, I felt amazing.
It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life. And the most rewarding and the most life-changing things I’ve ever done in my life, it changed me profoundly.
But I want you to see the difference between just like dipping your toe in and total immersion. What I did when I was training for this event was total immersion. You know, dipping your toe in is just like, if I had just said, you know, I’m just going to run a few extra miles each week, I’ll do a few extra, you know, biking workouts, I’ll swim a few times, like that would be the bare minimum, like you got to do some training, right.
But I decided I was going to do everything that I could possibly do to make sure that I was successful in this event. So I immersed myself in the world of triathlon. So total immersion, this idea of total immersion is changing a lot of little things, not one of these things like reading books, or taking a trip down to Louisville, or, you know, listening to podcasts, none of these things is a big deal on its own.
But when you add them all up, they combine and compound to create this massive effect on your life. Because then I just felt like I was surrounded with all the support and the knowledge and encouragement and inspiration that I needed to get this thing done.
It’s like learning a new language like you can install Duolingo on your phone. And you can learn a few phrases here or there. And after a few months, you might be able to, you know, rattle off a few phrases or have a minor conversation, a simple conversation. But if you were to be transplanted in Rome, for three months, I guarantee by the end of that three months of you just living in the middle of Rome, like you would be speaking Italian pretty fluently by the end of that.
Because you’re immersed in the language and the culture the society, there’s no way you’re going to make it really without learning the language. I could force you to learn and to grow and to adapt and to evolve and become more. So you can see the power of immersion, right? But why don’t we do this? Why don’t we choose this path with everything that we do in our lives with all the big things that we want for ourselves?
And really, it’s because it’s hard. You know, it requires you to change a lot of little things. None of them, like I said, is that big of a deal on its own. But there are a lot of little changes you need to make. And when you change things like what you do like your behaviors, your actions, the things you’re actually doing, this is great. This is the surface-level stuff, though, you also have to go a little bit deeper.
You have to change your thought processes. You have to change your whole belief system, you have to change the way you kind of think and feel about these things. I had to change the way I thought and felt about the Ironman and about myself, I had to change the things I believed about myself. Because up to the point of like, you know, I don’t remember when it exactly happened when I made that shift from like, believing that I was going to do it.
Because I know when I signed up for the thing, I was like scared to death. And I was like, I don’t know if this is going to happen. That’s one of the reasons why I immersed myself in this world because I was like, I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make it happen. But at some point along the way, maybe a month or two before the event, I was like, I’m gonna do this, like I changed. I had to change my beliefs about myself, and what I was capable of.
When I signed up for the Iron Man, that was an impossible goal. For me, it seemed impossible. And in order for me to complete that event, I had to become a different person in the process. It changed me profoundly, you know, from so many different levels of my being.
So immersion is like changing things at different levels. It’s your thought process, your belief systems, your whole attitude, your relationship with yourself and with others and with the sport. And with your nutrition, diet, and exercise. It’s all of that. You know, if you want to lose the 50 pounds, you have to change the whole way you think and feel about food, right? Just changing one tiny thing isn’t going to get you there.
And yeah, this is the harder path. But the path to big goals. It’s always the harder path. It always is. It’s not the comfortable, easy way. It never is. It’s always going to require you to get uncomfortable and to do the harder things because if it was easy, and if it was comfortable, you’d already have it. And this idea of total immersion is how I decided to structure my new coaching program.
So I’ve just opened up the doors to the Running Lean Coaching Project, I’m super excited about this, but I decided that it was going to be a program of total immersion. So just a few of the things that you get when you sign up for the coaching project, you get three full months of access to the program, you get one on one coaching with me, you get twice-weekly group coaching. There’s an online self-paced training library of materials so you can learn everything that you need to learn on your own. There’s support via email, and messaging with me, there’s a private podcast channel and a private members-only Facebook group so that you’re surrounded, and completely immersed in this world, right, this whole program has been designed to be one of total immersion so that you’re surrounded immersed with knowledge, with support with encouragement and with accountability, so that you can be successful in your goals.
And if you want to learn more about the program, you can go to runningleancoaching.com/join, and I have a page where you can just learn all about it, and it goes into great detail and tells you everything you need to know about it. But you can see that there’s a big difference here, you know, you can, you can dip your toe in the water of, you know, weight loss or trying to train for a marathon or something like that, like you can read a book, or, you know, try a fad diet for a couple of weeks, right.
Or you can immerse yourself into a program like this one, and make your success practically inevitable. So I want to encourage you, and it doesn’t have to be my program, like, I share this stuff with you guys. Because I think it’s amazingly transformative. And the people that I’ve worked with have had amazing experiences. But it’s not for everybody, and I totally get that.
But find something, find something, find a way that you can immerse yourself in the work in the world of whatever it is you’re going for here. So your work really is to see where in your life, you might just be dipping your toe in. So maybe you’re training for a marathon. But you don’t really even have a training plan, you’re just kind of winging it, right? Or maybe you want to build a stronger frame, you want to be you know, build muscle. And so you’re kind of doing some strength training, you know, but you really don’t have a plan.
You’re not tracking your progress. You don’t maybe don’t even really know what you’re doing. I hear this from people a lot, especially runners who are like, I don’t really know what I’m doing with strength training, Patrick, and I’m like, oh, we’ve got to work on that. Or maybe you’ve picked up on some ideas to help you lose weight. Like you’re cutting out snacking, but you’re not really doing it consistently. You’re just kind of like, you know, sorta this is all just like dipping your toe in right?
What would it look like to immerse yourself in the work of changing habits and changing behaviors? What resources can you add into your life to help you what books can you read, podcasts, audiobooks, can you listen to documentaries? What can you watch? What groups can you join like Facebook groups? Is there a local running group, I love local running groups, if you’ve got one, join a local running group or a gym if you need to join a gym so that you can learn how to you know do strength training properly.
What people could you start hanging around with? What people share your goals? You know, find like-minded people that you can surround yourself with that will help to support you and encourage you and support and inspire you know, what can you do today to start changing your mindset, your attitude, your thought patterns, your belief systems? Because this is the big part of the work that has to happen.
You’ve got to like, question a lot of the things that you might have believed for years about yourself, especially when it comes to your ability to lose weight, or you know, nutrition for running or becoming your most badass self? Is that what you want for yourself? Do you want to become a total badass I want you to? What is it going to take to get you there? What could be possible for you?
If you immerse yourself in the world of habit change, as opposed to just dipping a toe in? What things seem impossible for you right now, could become possible with the power of total immersion. Finishing an Ironman Triathlon seemed absolutely impossible for me until I immersed myself in the world of the Ironman Triathlon. And then it became inevitable for me And I did it.
So how can you immerse yourself? How can you go all-in on yourself? How can you immerse yourself in the world of changing habits, changing behaviors, what big goals do you want to become inevitable for you? Because it’s all available to you. If you’re willing to not just dip a toe and if you’re willing to immerse yourself if you’re willing to jump in feet first, just do it. Cool.
And remember that if you’re ready to immerse yourself in the world of healthy weight loss, specifically for runners and other endurance athletes, come check out my free live workshop five simple steps to becoming a leaner stronger runner, the next one’s coming up March 31. Just go to runningleancoaching.com/workshop, I would love to see you there. You’re going to learn a lot. We’re going to have some fun together. Love you all. Keep on Running Lean. We’ll talk to you.
If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.
I’ve received a lot of questions about the Running Lean Coaching Group’s January 8 Pounds Down Challenge so I decided to address all of your questions in this bonus podcast episode! Starting on …
Continue Reading about Bonus Episode: January 8 Pounds Down Challenge →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to this special bonus episode of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today I’m going to be talking about the coaching group’s January eight pounds down challenge.
I’ve received a lot of questions about this challenge and about what we’re going to be doing over in the coaching group. And I wanted to make sure that I addressed all of your questions. And I was going to do this in this week’s Facebook Live. But there are some mitigating circumstances where I cannot go live on Facebook right now. I’ll talk more about that in a minute.
But I just want you to know that starting on Tuesday, January 4, we’re going to be focusing on getting fat-adapted as a group, we’re going to be doing this in the coaching group, we’re going to be getting fat-adapted and dropping some weight.
And the goal is to try to lose eight pounds by January 31. So if you think about it, it’s roughly two pounds a week, maybe a little less than two pounds a week. Very doable. Can I guarantee everybody’s gonna drop at least exactly eight pounds? No, but you know what, we’re going to set ourselves up for success, okay.
Some people might might lose a bit more, some people might lose a bit less. It’s all good. So if you’re interested in stepping up your game and joining us for this fun and transformative challenge, be sure to listen to this episode, because I’m just gonna be talking about what we’re going to be doing over there. I’ll give you all the details, and then join us in the group, it’d be fun to have you in the group. Okay.
So normally, I would be talking about this on my Facebook Live that I do every week in the Facebook group. And because of some glitchy thing that I did a couple of years ago, apparently, the Facebook algorithm found some old posts that I shared some meme or something like that, that apparently went against the community guidelines for Facebook.
And I’m basically restricted from going live for 30 days. No big deal. Whatever I posted was innocent enough, there was something sarcastic, which I’ve been known to do every now and then. And looking back on it, I can see how it was maybe just in poor taste or whatever. Okay, so, lesson learned. I’m kind of restricted from going live on Facebook right now.
So for this month, I’m going to maybe do a couple of bonus episodes of the podcast, is that cool with you guys? Cool. So it’s all good. Lesson learned. You’ve got to be careful what you post on Facebook, I’m telling you right now they take stuff very seriously, you know, even if you’re joking around. So just be careful with that kind of stuff.
You guys, you know what? I always try to keep things positive, you’re probably listening to this going, like, I can’t believe you would post something like, what did you post I know, it was just something dumb that I shared that somebody else created, you know, some meme, you know.
But apparently, it went against their guidelines, so lesson learned.
Okay, so here’s what I’m gonna talk about today – I want to talk about this challenge that we’re doing over the Facebook group. So this is all about getting fat-adapted and doing our best to lose eight pounds by January 31.
Okay, so why are we doing this? Well, first of all, this is a great time of the year to do this not because it’s January 1, and we’re all like setting resolutions and all this stuff. No. It’s a good time to do it because we are just getting started with marathon training.
Or maybe your half marathon training hasn’t started yet. So this is the offseason and this is a good time to kind of get started with any kind of nutrition changes, any kind of dietary changes.
You don’t want to wait six weeks until your marathon to start something like this. Okay? So, most spring marathons are going to be in, you know, April, May June, kind of in that timeframe. So we’ve got plenty of time to get fat adapted, okay.
I want to help you create some momentum as well to start this new year. I want to help you develop some new eating habits and some new relationships with food really, and with exercise and I want you to understand what it takes to become a fat adapted runner.
I want you to see the benefits of becoming a fat-adapted runner, and I want to create some momentum. I want you to create the momentum to help you just project yourself into the rest of the year like really give you some momentum to just keep things going and really create some good positive habits.
You know, when we talk about losing weight, we talk about getting fat-adapted, we talk about getting healthier, we talk about getting more fit, improving our health, improving our fitness, whatever it is, it’s all about changing your habits. It’s all about what you do, every single day.
And most people, what they do is they, you know, they get to a day like January 1, and they’re like, I’m gonna lose weight, you know, and then they just kind of arbitrarily kind of half-ass a plan and sort of, you know, try to eat better, whatever that means.
And they don’t really succeed at that, right. I mean, this is why the gyms are full in January, and then by March, they’re empty again, right. So most people try to do this in a way that just doesn’t work. Okay.
And so, a couple of other things that kind of don’t work is trying to do it on your own. Right? It’s hard to do this on your own. Without guidance, it can be challenging, okay. Without accountability, it can be very challenging. Without direction, or somebody to help you get through the tough stuff, it’s going to be almost impossible for you.
So what we’re going to do as a group is we are going to learn together, exactly how to get fat adapted. So you’ll be able to do this with a group, you’re going to get expert guidance and direction from me and from other people in the group.
I’ve got people in my coaching group who have been in my membership program for many months. And some people, I would consider them to be experts at this as well, they’ve got a lot of experience doing this.
So you’re going to hear from me and from other people that have had a great experience doing this, okay, but I’m going to be your coach, I’m going to be coaching you through the tough stuff, okay. You’ll have a clear and proven plan, you’re going to have a plan that has worked for countless other runners.
And we are going to kind of figure out our plans together. And you’ll have a chance to ask questions. Every week, you’re going to get encouragement, you’re going to get that accountability, where you have to sort of check-in, you’ll get to talk about what’s going well, what’s not, you’re going to stay motivated, you’re going to stay on track when you do this as a group. Okay?
That whole accountability thing. Somebody asked me this recently, like, what does accountability look like? It looks like this. It looks like every week, we’re going to say hey, this is what your job is for this week. Here’s the work you need to do. Maybe you got some homework assignments you have to do this week. Here’s what we’re going to do as a group together, yeah, let’s do it.
So we all say, yes, we’re committed, we’re going to do this thing. And then every week, you’ve got to show up and say, did you do it or not? That’s what accountability looks like. Okay, because you don’t want to show up to the group and say, I didn’t do it. I didn’t stick to my plan. You know, I just gave up. You don’t want to do that. Right?
So you’re going to stay on track, you’re going to do what you said you’re going to do, because you got to check in with us and tell us you did, or you didn’t do it. That’s what accountability looks like. Okay.
And I also need to say this, I need to say that when we do this when we go through this process in this group together as a group, we are going to have fun doing it. Okay. It doesn’t have to stop at losing weight, getting healthy and becoming fitter can be fun. Is that crazy to say, does that totally blow your mind? Because it can be fun.
Most people think you have to suffer. Most people think it has to be super terrible. And you have to live in this world of like, dust deprivation and white-knuckling it. And, you know, just being hungry all the time. And feeling like crap. Like we’re gonna try to minimize that kind of stuff. Right? We’re gonna have some fun doing this.
Okay, um, I always say like losing weight doesn’t have to be a suffer-fest. Like we can do it in a way that feels good. That’s actually kind of fun. Okay. So how does all this work? So, what you’ll want to do is you’ll want to join the Running Lean coaching group and do this before Tuesday. Okay, Tuesday, the fourth.
So Tuesday, the fourth at 8:30 pm is our first group coaching call for January. And those are the only that’s the only time each week that we do this call. Okay, right now, I only have one call time each week.
As this group grows and we get more interest, you know, I could change that time or add more times, but for now, we just have the one call time and I try to accommodate, you know, as many people’s schedules that can there’s no way I could possibly pick a time that would work for everybody, but this time seems to work for a lot of people.
But don’t worry, if you can’t make the live calls, you can still get a lot out of the program by listening to the replays. So I post all the replays, all the video replays, from our group zoom meetings on a private website that you’ll have access to, I also have a private podcast feed that you can listen to.
So you can actually just listen to the coaching calls as you’re out running or whatever, which is a great way to kind of, you know, replay and get that information if you can’t make the lives but I do encourage you to make the live calls.
The people that make the live calls get a lot more out of the program, I’m just gonna tell you right now. Okay. So as soon as you sign up for the program, you’re going to get immediate access to all of my online training materials.
So my big flagship program is called the Weight Loss Training Course for Runners. And this is a big, multi-module program, it’s got, I don’t know, 40 videos, 45 videos, something like that, of training on a variety of topics about fat-adaptation, about the mindset required to lose weight and keep it off.
Strength training, explosive workouts for runners, there’s just so much information in there, okay, you get my course called Achieving the Impossible. This is all about setting big, huge impossible goals and then making them happen, you’ll get access to my course called Getting It All Done, which is a productivity course and helps you with planning.
A lot of what we do in the program is about planning, we plan our meals ahead of time, we plan our workouts, and then we stick to our plan. So I show you exactly how to plan your whole week, using different calendar tools and a very effective way of getting everything done.
And then you’ll have access to all the previous group coaching calls to all the recorded stuff, like I said in the private podcast, so in addition to all of that you get access to my private Facebook group where we kind of do a little bit of Q&A in there, sometimes you get to ask questions and get answers. So I would encourage you to get signed up before Tuesday. And we will all get started together on Tuesday, January 4. Cool.
So each week, you’re going to have you know, some different work to do, you’ll have some different sort of assignments, you’ll have different layers of like, what it looks like to get fat adapted, and how we change our diet, and how we, you know what you’re supposed to eat, what you shouldn’t eat, things to avoid, things you should definitely add in how to schedule your workouts around all this. How to make sure you’re getting the most out of the out of your running workouts, how to get through this tough fat-adaptation phase because the first few weeks is a little bit challenging.
And so you know, got some tips and tricks for getting through that quickly. You’ll get to ask questions and check in every week in the program. Cool. So that’s what the program looks like, I just want to encourage you, if you’re the kind of person who is like interested in doing this, you’re interested in starting your year off, by getting yourself fat-adapted, like this is something you’ve been thinking about for a long time, and you’re ready to take action, just I’m just gonna encourage you to take action. Okay?
Go over to runningleanpodcast.com/join and you can read all about it. And then you can just get yourself signed up. And as soon as you get yourself signed up, you’ll have access to all the online training materials, and then you can join in the live call on Tuesday.
You know, if you’re the kind of person who keeps gaining and losing the same 10 or 20 pounds over and over again, and you want a different way to do things, you want a different way that’s going to maybe work permanently for change, this is a good program for you.
If you’ve been running a ton of miles like trying to lose weight and it’s just not working for you anymore, this is definitely the program for you. Okay, if you want running to feel easier, you want to become virtually bonk-proof so you can run without hitting the wall and have this like steady energy for running also just for like getting through your day and not having these energy spikes and crashes all day long – definitely the program for you.
Okay, take control of your nutrition game. Let’s get you fat-adapted once and for all. We’re gonna do it together and experience all the fun and all the benefits and all the health benefits, especially of getting yourself fat adapted and losing some weight in January. Cool.
I know you guys are gonna have questions you can post questions in the Facebook group about this. I’m excited to be on this journey with you. I’m excited to take a group of people through this together. I think we’re gonna have a lot of fun doing this. If I haven’t mentioned that already, I’ll say alright, we’re gonna have fun.
And then together we’re going to have an awesome January and set you up for success for everything that you have scheduled for the rest of the year. All of your spring marathon and half marathon goals, and just all of your overall health and fitness goals. Cool. All right, you got this my friends love you all keep on Running Lean. Reach out if you have any questions and I’ll talk to you soon.
If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.
It’s that time of the year again when many people set big goals for themselves. They decide that starting January 1st, they are going to lose weight, get in shape, quit drinking, start that …
Continue Reading about 104. Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work →
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to Episode 104, of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners and today, why New Year’s resolutions just don’t work. It’s that time of the year again, when many people set out to change their lives for the better.
They set out to make these big goals and they set New Year’s resolutions. And they decide that starting on January 1, they’re going to lose weight or get in shape or quit drinking start that business or start working on whatever big goal they’ve been putting off for way too long.
The problem is that almost 90% of people who set new year’s resolutions will fail at keeping them by around mid-February. This is why the gyms are full in January and then empty again in March. Right.
So why is it that most people can only stick to a goal for around six weeks or so? Well, in this episode of the podcast, I’m going to go over exactly why New Year’s resolutions just don’t work and offer up some ideas for what to do instead.
But first, if you like this podcast, definitely come check out the Running Lean podcast community on Facebook. And we are still in the midst of our running through the holidays challenge. The challenge is to run a mile every day between Thanksgiving Day and New Year’s Day. And so far, it’s been super awesome. People are having a lot of fun, posting pictures and being accountable and getting inspired, and feeling encouraged and supported. So definitely come check us out. It’s not too late to join us. You can join us at any time just search for Running Lean community on Facebook and come have fun with us.
Nextly people ask how they can work with me. And I’ve got to tell you about two things. The first one is one on one coaching. So I’m a coach, this is what I do. I help people to dial in their nutrition to become the most badass, healthiest versions of themselves. I help with losing weight and becoming stronger becoming a more powerful runner.
And I do it all with one on one personalized approach. It’s a one on one approach. It’s the guidance, the support, encouragement, the accountability that you need to make it work for you. And if you’ve never had a coach before, I can tell you it’s a very, very powerful way of achieving results and reaching your goals.
So you know, this is kind of what we’re talking about in this podcast, these goals. And if you have a big goal for yourself, hiring a coach might be just the thing that you need. So just go to runningleanpodcast.com/apply. And you can learn more about my coaching and apply you and I can jump on a conversation and see if this is a good fit for you.
And then I wanted to mention that the Running Lean coaching group is doing something cool in January. So we’ve got this big challenge we’re going to be doing together as a group in January, which is to lose eight pounds by January 31. Okay, and don’t worry, I’ll show you exactly how to do it, you’re going to get the support of me and everybody else in the group and show you how to do this and help you and encourage you and give you the motivation that you need to help you reach that goal.
January is a good time to get started with this and I know that it’s that that New Year’s resolution season or whatever, but it’s just a good time to get started. Because this is when you’re just getting into marathon training, and becoming a fat-adapted runner takes a few weeks. So this is going to be perfect to help you crush those spring races.
Okay, I want to help you transform yourself into that lean fat-burning machine. And we will help you through that exact process and help you develop the mindset that you need to and the habits that you need to make this last it’s not just a temporary thing we’re looking for here.
What we’re trying to do together is develop the permanent changes to your mental state to your emotional state so that you can just do this easily and effortlessly for the rest of your life. We’re interested in lifestyle changes, not short-term gains here okay. So if you’re interested in joining the coaching group, just go to runningleanpodcast.com/join and I hope we see you in the coaching group in January.
Okay, so speaking of January and speaking of New Year’s resolutions, let’s talk about why these don’t work typically. So yeah, this is the time of the year where everybody’s like, Okay, starting in the new year, I’m going to make some big changes in my life.
And I’ve been talking to quite a few people recently, who have told me that they are ready, they’re ready to make some changes in their life. And they’re ready to get healthy, and they’re ready to lose the weight for good this time. And they’re ready to finally do something about how they feel about themselves. And they’re ready, they’re ready, they’re ready.
And then they end up just saying, like, well, I’m just going to wait until after the holidays, I’m just going to wait until after the new year. And I’m like if you’re ready, now, you need to take action. Now. If you’re ready to make some kind of change in your life today, then you need to do something about it today.
And this is like the first thing that I want to talk about why New Year’s resolutions don’t work is because you’re picking some arbitrary date to start. And most people are just not ready on January 1 to like, make a change. If you’re not ready today, why do you think you’re going to be all of a sudden be ready on January first?
What’s gonna happen between now and then, you know, so I just want to encourage you that, you know, if you’re ready to make a big change in your life, if you’re ready to lose weight, or become a stronger runner, get into some strength training, if you’re ready to, like, become the healthiest version of yourself, and you’re ready to do that like you’re ready to commit to that just start today.
You know, don’t just do it because you think you should on the first of January, for whatever reason. So many people do this. So many people wait. So they may not be ready today, and they think they’re gonna magically become ready on the first or maybe they are ready today.
But they don’t do anything about it. And so then the first comes and they’re like, and now I’m fine. You know, you sort of lose some of that momentum that you built up some of that motivation that you had. But thinking you’re just going to be ready on the first is what’s called a false first step.
You know, we were taking the step that isn’t it isn’t true. It isn’t solid, it isn’t grounded in anything. It’s like a false step. Right? It’s like, you’re just doing it because it’s this date. That’s all right, you’ve got to be ready to make that commitment to yourself.
And like I said, if you’re ready to make that change, I suggest you just start doing something about it today, the best time to start, the best time to start improving your health was yesterday or a year ago. Right? But the next best time to start is right now.
But listen to this. Imagine, imagine if you had started on your weight loss journey this time last year, where would you be today? Imagine if you stuck to it for the last 12 months? Where would you be today? I’m going to tell you right now you would be a different person today.
I don’t want you to get to this point in 2022. I don’t want you to get to this time of the year next year, and be asking yourself that same question. Well, what if I had started? What if I had done something about this, you know, a year ago, no. Do something today, now you’ve got to be ready, you’ve got to be ready to make that commitment to yourself, you’ve got to be ready to go all-in on yourself.
You’ve got to be ready and willing to do what it takes to make those changes for yourself. Okay. But I’m just going to tell you like do not use the date of you know, January 1, as any kind of excuse or, or any sort of an arbitrary start date for you if you’re ready to go. Start now.
So that’s the first reason why New Year’s resolutions really don’t work. The next thing here is that typically when people make New Year’s resolutions, they’re very vague. They’re very vague, they’re like, I want to lose weight, I want to get healthy, I want to get back in shape again, whatever that means.
They’re just very unspecific, right? They’re not measurable, you don’t know when you’re going to get there. You know, instead of saying like, Oh, I want to lose 40 pounds by you know, April 30, or whatever,
You’re just like, I just want to lose weight, like, get healthy get in shape. And I think the reason most people use these kinds of New Year’s resolutions is because they don’t want to have to commit to anything. Because if you say to yourself and say to the world or whatever, hey, I’m going to lose 30 pounds by you know, May 1 – if you say that and then you fail you’re gonna feel like a failure. You’re gonna feel like you know, what if I let people down or what If I let myself down, I’m gonna feel like a failure.
And like, who cares? Honestly, my thing is like, if you’re just saying something vague, like lose weight or get healthy or get in shape, that doesn’t mean anything. And so you really don’t have to commit to anything.
You don’t have to actually take any action around a goal like that. Because how do you know if you even get there. In other words, there’s no risk involved, because there’s no specific like endpoint, there’s no outcome you’re actually going for.
So people will say this all the time, and I go, I’m gonna finally get healthy, I’m gonna finally lose the weight, I’m gonna finally get in shape, but then they don’t have any sort of like, measurable goal that they’re looking for.
So what I’m going to encourage you to do instead is make us make a SMART goal, you know, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant time-bound. So instead of losing weight, you know, I’m going to lose 40 pounds by May 1, or instead of getting in shape, I want to be able to do 20 unassisted pull-ups by June or something like that, like these are very specific.
Or if you want to, you know, improve your running, or be able to run longer, you can say, I’m gonna run a half marathon on May 2, you know, these are specific, measurable goals, and they’re time-bound, and they’re achievable, right?
So instead of being vague, and not committing to anything, get super freakin specific with your goals. Just say what you really want. And you know what, in the process of going after this goal that you have for yourself, you will change. You will become the kind of person that can accomplish that goal. I’ll talk about that in just a second a little bit more too.
Okay. Yeah, so the other thing I want to encourage you to do is to make your goals bigger. So this is another reason why New Year’s resolutions don’t work as people make these really small goals. They’re too small, they’re like, I want to lose three pounds in six months or something like that.
And so you don’t have to get out of your comfort zone, you don’t have to, like, do anything that’s challenging, you don’t have to do anything that’s gonna push you to become more. So you know, kind of what I was talking about as making these specific goals, I want you to also make them big, set big, scary, uncomfortable, impossible goals.
Because in the process of going after a big impossible goal, you have to transform yourself into a new person, you become a different person than you are today. So if you’re somebody who has never run a marathon before in your life, and you have a goal to run a full marathon in 2022, you got some work to do, you’re going to have to put the training in that’s required to get you not just to the starting line, but to get you across the finish line of that race.
But the work involved, if you put in the time and you do the work, then by the time you get to the starting line of that race, you will have become a marathon runner. Now you just have to finish it up by completing the actual race itself, right.
But think about it, think about the transformation involved from where you are today, to where you need to be in order to run a marathon. There’s a lot of work involved there. Most people are just not willing to put in the work there. They don’t want to get uncomfortable. They don’t want to do what it takes to become that kind of person. It’s scary. It’s hard. What if you fail, blah, blah, blah, who cares?
Do the impossible, set out to do something big next year, I’ve got some big goals for next year. And I’m not talking about them right now. Because they’re kind of personal. And some things that I’ve just not really shared with only my coach, honestly. And I think I just want to keep it close to my chest for now. I’ll talk about them later.
But um, you know, my goals are big and scary. Maybe that’s why I don’t want to share. I’m like, I don’t know. But my goals are big and scary and they make me uncomfortable. They’re outside of my comfort zone.
Listen, everything you have already is in your comfort zone. If you don’t have it, it’s out of your comfort zone. That’s the stuff you want to be going after. Not the easy little stuff, right? We don’t want the low-hanging fruit, we want the high-hanging fruit. We want the opposite of low-hanging fruit.
So what we want is the fruit at the top of the tree. We want the good stuff. We want the stuff that is not easily accessible. We want the stuff that causes us to grow, that challenges us that causes us to become more, right?
So most resolutions are just way too small. And I think we need to be instead of playing small I think we need to be playing big. I think we need to be going out to the big stuff, okay?
The other reason why most resolutions fail is that there’s no real commitment. There’s no, I’m all in on this, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make this happen. This is more of ah, oh, it’s New Year’s all I guess I should pick something to do.
And then it’s kind of like, oh yeah, maybe get healthy, maybe run a half marathon. It’s kind of a half-assed commitment, right. And we know we don’t have this thing, we full ass things here, right.
So there’s no real commitment with these New Year’s resolutions, right. And they’re just like, you feel like you have to do something, or else you’re not part of it, you know, who cares? Like just when you’re ready, and you’re in, you’re going to make that commitment to yourself, go all in on that commitment to yourself, you’re going to do whatever it takes to succeed with that sort of an attitude, you cannot fail.
Because as long as you’re making progress, you’re going to succeed, eventually, the only time you really fail is when you just throw up your hands and quit, and say, screw it, I’m not doing this anymore. I give up, I quit.
And I want to encourage you to never ever do that. Never ever do that. Always be making progress, relentless, forward progress, not backward progress, forward progress. You need to learn how to make that commitment to yourself, and then honor that commitment to yourself.
You make your promises to yourself, and then you keep those promises to yourself, right? You commit to working on becoming a better person and you do it, you work, you know, you commit to losing weight, or you commit to running faster, you commit to getting stronger, and you do the work it takes to get there.
The progress might be slow, it may seem like it’s not working, it may seem like it’s taking too long. Like if you want to get stronger, and you want to build bigger muscles, you know, and you start working out at the gym. I’m going to tell you right now, it takes a while before you’re going to start to see changes, you know, there’s there, it’s slow, steady progress, is what we’re looking for here, okay.
But the only way you get there is you got to commit to the process, you’ve got to commit to going out and lifting those weights a few times a week. You’ve got to commit to doing the hard work to like, you know, work until exhaustion to like, you know, really lifting until your muscles hurt.
And there’s a period of time where they do hurt, you know, and then it gets better. But it takes a while. Okay, so you’ve got to do the hard work at the gym, if you want to get the bigger muscles. And without a real commitment, at some point, you’re probably just going to throw in the towel, because it’s going to be hard.
So I want to encourage you to not do what most people do, which is just be vague, not really commit, I want to encourage you to commit to whatever it is you want to do. And then honor that commitment to yourself every day by showing up for yourself and doing what it takes to move forward. Okay.
Another reason why New Year’s resolutions just don’t work as you’re not really focusing on that habits. So many people try to do something new in the new year so they have that new year new me, I’m going to go ahead and workout more.
I’m going to change my diet, okay. And they start doing something different, they start changing their behavior, but they’re not working on these habits and, you know, thought, feeling, action patterns that they’ve developed over the last 30 years or so. They’re just trying to change their behavior, which is the least effective way to change a habit is to just change the behavior, you’ve got to work on the mindset.
That has to be the foundation, your thoughts and feelings are driving your actions and you have to work on that mental and emotional part of your habit or you’re not going to see these changes actually happen, you’re not going to be creating the new habits.
It takes a while to build up to these new habits. You know, it takes a while it takes like you know, I’ve heard some experts say around 90 days to change habits to break old habits and to establish new ones. And that means 90 days of doing the same things over and over again.
And again this goes to that commitment level to like are you committed to changing your habits because if you are you’re gonna have to go through a period of discomfort. There’s discomfort involved with let’s say you want to like not snack during the day you just want to like eliminate snacking.
The way to do it is to just stop snacking, and be uncomfortable because it’s going to be uncomfortable, right? I tell people this all the time, and they just look at me, like, you know, with one eyebrow raised, like, are you serious, I’m like, yeah, you just got to stop snacking. And then and then sit there and be uncomfortable.
Embrace the discomfort of not eating the snack, even though you want it. That’s how you break a habit like that. It’s hard to do I get it, it’s really hard to do. But the important thing here is that you understand that it’s a simple process, stop doing this one thing, and, you know, sit with the discomfort of not doing it and then do something else instead.
You know, if you’re, if you’re used to, you know, if you want to get into the habit of running every morning, then you gotta set your alarm earlier and get up to go for your run. You know, if you don’t do that, if you just keep saying to yourself, like, you know what, I’m just gonna, today I’m just gonna stay in bed.
And then you do that every other day, it’s like, you’re not really building a new habit, you’re just kind of reinforcing that old habit that you have of sleeping in. And if what you want for yourself is to run every morning, then you got to set your alarm and you’ve got to, you know, that alarm goes off, those feet have to hit the ground, and you’ve got to get out there and, and run even when you don’t feel like it.
Even when it’s hard, even when it’s cold, even when it’s raining, even when you’re just like I just want five more minutes of sleep, you’ve got to just get up and do it if you want to change that habit. So most people don’t focus on the habit change, they just want to like they just focus on the behavior.
You know, they just focus on oh, I’ve just got to like, get up early every day. But you’ve got to work on the mindset behind that you got to work on the foundation, which is your thoughts and feelings about it.
You know, you got to do that thought work that’s involved with changing how you think and feel about getting up in the morning, how you think and feel about running how you think and feel about yourself. And what is this going to mean for you?
And when you work on that stuff, getting up in the morning is kind of a no-brainer, but you’ve got to work on the mental-emotional stuff first, okay. So most people there just don’t work on the habits, they’re just trying to change behaviors. And that just doesn’t work.
Another reason why New Year’s resolutions don’t work is too often we’re focused on perfection. You know, like say you want to lose some weight, you want to lose like 40 pounds. So you change your diet, and you’re sticking your plan for the most part, but then you blow it and you cheat here and there.
And then, you know, you’re just, you just feel like you keep falling short. And if you can’t do it perfectly, why do it at all? And so you just quit. And I want to encourage you to not do this. Perfection, doing things perfectly is just not possible. It’s not possible for any of us, right? I don’t do things perfectly. I know you don’t either. And it’s okay.
Instead of focusing on perfection, I want you to focus on progress. Are you making forward progress? Yes or no? It’s pretty easy to tell, is what you’re doing moving you closer to your goals or further away from your goals? Is you know, eating this donut on the plan for you or not?
Pretty simple, pretty simple to know. Is this going to help me to make progress or not? And if you’re not, then you got to switch your focus a little bit, you need to focus on the things that are gonna move you forward.
It doesn’t mean you’re going to do it perfectly, does not mean you’re going to do it perfectly. You know, think again about where you want to be at the end of next year. You know, this time next year? How did you get there? Did you do it perfectly? Probably not.
You probably missed a workout here or there. You probably snuck in a donut here. You probably drank more than you wanted to here or there. Right? It’s okay. You can do it. What I want to encourage you to do is not skip two workouts in a row not have two bad meals in a row.
In other words, if you have a cheat meal or whatever, get back on track with your next meal. If you miss a workout, don’t miss your next workout. Never miss two workouts in a row, never two cheat meals in a row. Slow and steady. Progress wins the race every single time.
That’s what we want to focus on not perfection, you will never do this perfectly. And if you’re striving for perfection then you’re going to fall short and you’re going to get disappointed and you’re going to feel discouraged. So I want you to focus on doing it to the best of your ability and making slow and steady progress instead. Okay.
And then the last thing I have the last reason why most New Year’s resolutions don’t work for people is that you’re not holding yourself accountable, there’s no accountability and there’s no support system in place.
Right what you’re doing, especially when we talk about changing habits, changing our health and fitness – becoming leaner, becoming stronger, becoming a faster, more powerful runner, whatever it is that you want for yourself – I’m going to tell you right now, it will get hard, it will become challenging at some point.
And if you don’t have a support system in place, and you don’t have somebody that’s there to hold you accountable, your chances of quitting, your chances of giving up are going to be much higher, right.
You’re going to get down, things aren’t going to work out, you’re going to get bummed out, you’re going to be hard on yourself. And you’re going to have no one there to help you get out of that. And most people just quit way too easily in these situations. Okay.
Accountability is huge, you know, get an accountability partner, if you have somebody. Let’s talk about running. Like if you want to run more regularly, you want to get up earlier to run, have somebody that you run with – get a running partner.
That way you guys have to, like show up for each other. You know, I encourage people to join a running group, I love my running group, they’ve helped me to stay accountable for running. I’m not going to get up on a cold Saturday morning to run by myself. I mean, I do.
But I’m much more likely and more excited and more motivated to do that when I know that my running group is out there, you know, all they’re all going to be running with me. Plus we have tons of fun. So that’s super fun.
But this is a big part of what I do as a coach, right? I show you things that you know, maybe you don’t see about yourself, I hold you accountable. I help you to overcome the things you struggle with, you know, the self-sabotage.
I encourage you to do things you don’t want to do I help you stay on track, always moving towards your goals. You know, I offer the support and encouragement, and motivation that you need to keep going.
But then there’s this accountability piece, which is so huge. People tell me all the time, they’re like, yeah, I was going to eat this like cake, but I knew I was going to have my call with you today. So I just decided not to do it. I didn’t want to have to tell you I did this.
Or I have people telling me they just love the fact that they get to check in with me every week. And they can be like, oh my gosh, I just love the accountability, because this is what’s helping me to stay on track. Okay.
So make sure that whatever you’re doing for yourself, that you have either an accountability partner, group, a coach, something like that, and remember that our coaching group starting in January, it can be your accountability partner, you know, we’re going to be creating a lot of momentum in January by learning exactly how to become fat-adapted, and how to lose those eight pounds by January 31. That’s our goal.
That’s our challenge – to help each other and hold each other accountable. And to offer the support and encouragement and motivation for each other to hit this goal by the end of January.
So if you’d like to join us, I’d love to have you in there. I think it would be super fun. And we can all do New Year’s resolutions the right way we can all do. Goal setting the right way. So if you’re interested in joining us for January, we’d love to have you just go to runningleanpodcast.com/join.
Alright, that’s all I got for you guys today. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season here. Love you all keep on Running Lean. I’ll talk to you soon.
If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.
I have a very special guest joining me here on the podcast today. A few months ago, Latisha Simmons was facing some pretty serious health issues and decided she needed to make some big changes in …
Continue Reading about 75. How Being Healthy Becomes a Lifestyle with Latisha Simmons →
Patrick McGilvray
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 75 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today, I’ve got a very special episode for you. I’ve got a special guest joining me here on the podcast today. Latisha Simmons.
So a few months ago, Latisha was facing some pretty serious health issues. And she decided that she needed to make some big changes in her life. So she changed her entire approach to diet to running to strength training. And most importantly, though, she changed her mindset around all of this.
And she’s worked really hard on making this whole idea of becoming healthy and being healthy. She’s worked hard on making this her new lifestyle. Like I said, she’s come a long way in just a few months. And I thought it’d be beneficial for all of us to hear her story of transformation. So that’s coming right up.
We had this conversation, Latisha and I, recently in the Running Lean Facebook group. And if you haven’t checked it out yet, please come check out the Running Lean podcast community on Facebook, I created this group so that you and I could have a conversation, that it was a place where you can ask questions and get answers and do it all in a way that’s like fun and encouraging and motivating. So just go on Facebook and search for Running Lean community and come join us. Come join in on the fun.
And then quickly, here’s another five star review of the Running Lean podcast. This one’s from Tammy. Tammy says, “I love everything you teach. I listened to your podcast when I run. And when I work out. Thank you for everything. I’m in love with my new lifestyle. I love to listen to your new podcasts and the old ones too. Thank you again, Tammy.”
Tammy, thank you so much for leaving this nice review, I really appreciate it. And if you enjoy the podcast, I would love it if you could tap the stars just leave a quick rating and review. It just helps other people to find the show. So you can do that on Apple podcasts and probably other places where you listen to podcasts.
And then hey, if you ever want a little help losing weight, or, or making all of this a lifestyle, I’ve got you covered. As a one on one coach, I work with runners every day who are working to become the healthiest and most badass versions of themselves.
So a coach doesn’t just show you what to do. A coach will hold you accountable. Coach will help you get through all of the challenging stuff. And there will be challenging stuff, I promise you. A good coach will encourage you to do the stuff you don’t want to do so that you can become the person you want to become. So not everyone needs coaching.
But for those who who want the expert guidance, who want the support, the encouragement, the accountability, then coaching might be perfect for you to learn more and apply. Just go torunningleanpodcast.com/apply.
And what happens is you’ll schedule a call with me and you and I’ll jump on a quick zoom call, we’ll have a short conversation. And we’ll see if coaching is a good fit for you. It might be it may not be either way. It’s cool. You have nothing to lose from just having a quick conversation. Okay, cool. So let’s get into this.
So like I said in the intro Latisha has come a long way in just a few months. She feels amazing. She’s lost a bunch of weight running is amazing for her. And she’s developed this awesome new mindset about what it really means to be healthy, how she’s sort of made this into a lifestyle.
Because listen, she’s tried other things before and they just never worked for her long term. But now she says things are different. She’s developed this new mindset about what it means to be healthy. And she’s just kind of made this how she lives her life. Now, this is just who she is and what she does. It’s really cool.
And no, it wasn’t a walk in the park for her. It was challenging. And she talks about this, she talks about especially at the beginning, it was very challenging for her but she had this determination that she was going to make it work and she was able to get through all of it. So I hope you enjoy this conversation that I had recently with Latisha Simmons. So let’s just get into this conversation if that’s cool with you, first of all, welcome, Latisha.
Latisha Simmons
Hi, Patrick. Thank you for having me.
Patrick McGilvray
This is my first time doing an interview in the group here like this. So…
Latisha Simmons
Guinea pig is what you tell me.
Patrick McGilvray
So you’re my guinea pig. Thank you for playing along with me, you are pretty awesome for doing that. I appreciate that you’re brave, you’re courageous. So just like introduce yourself and like, tell us like, where you tell us where you live. And like, tell us a little bit about your you know where you were a few months back and why you decided to make some changes and stuff. So just kind of give us a little bit of background and tell us like where you were coming from.
Latisha Simmons
Okay, so I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is a small town in Tennessee, couple hours from Nashville, and a couple hours from Atlanta, Georgia born and raised here. So when I first came to purchase a little bit of backstory, I started running back in 2015, just to lose some weight, and I’ve been a yo-yo dieter all my life building weight issues.
So I started in 2015, to lose some weight. The way I lost at that time was by running and doing some strength training in basically counting calories. So I was successful with that 10 months after that I had lost 80 pounds, kept it off for a couple of years.
But then 2019 it started to creep back. And I just started regaining some of the weight. So Patrick talks to us about that all the time. So because I started gaining the weight back, of course, I wasn’t happy about that. Honestly, I was ashamed of gaining it back again.
So as a result, I just, I was still running the whole time. But my you know what, my eating wasn’t good. So I didn’t even like want to go like to my doctor’s appointments, like my annual doctor’s appointments, because I knew my doctors were gonna be like blessing.
So anyway, I didn’t go to the doctor for a year or two. And so finally, I went to the doctor earlier this year. And it actually was my gynecologist who was running, you know, some tests and she was like, I think you might be insulin resistant. Of course, I had really no idea what that was.
But because I have a family history of diabetes, is what made her even look at that for me. And she knows I had gained a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. So she ran tests, and sure enough, I was insulin resistant.
So that’s basically where I was when I found Patrick, I was insulin resistant, I had high blood pressure, because I had regained you know, so much of the weight back that I had lost. And because of the genetic predispositions has started to show up, I’m in my mid 40s. And apparently, that’s when all that starts to show up. So anyway, that’s where I was when I found you, Patrick.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, and then, you know, talk a little bit more about that feeling of like gaining the weight back. And you mentioned like that feeling of just feeling like ashamed of like, you know, you you did something, you know, that was good for you, and you did something good for yourself, and you made a big positive change in your life and your health. And then you slipped, you know, when you went back to a, you know, gaining a bunch of the weight back, like talk a little bit about how that felt.
Latisha Simmons
Yeah, I mean, I really, I mean, honestly, I felt like a failure, like I failed myself again. So it wasn’t a good feeling at all, I really didn’t understand what was happening because like I said, I was still running the whole time. I was still strength training the whole time. And you know that you hear, you know, if you’re a runner, you can eat whatever you want. So and I know that’s not true, but kinda sorta I was still doing that. And it’s worth a try. Right?
Exactly. Well, I’m here to tell you that doesn’t, you know, doesn’t matter how much you run if you don’t have your diet under control. It’s just not going to work. So yeah, I wasn’t in a good place. I didn’t feel good. Didn’t have the energy I used to have.
My running was hard to think about, you know, the more weight you’re carrying around, of course, it’s just uncomfortable. So yeah, I wasn’t in a good place wasn’t feeling good at all. And like I said, I just, I was feeling just really down on myself for you again, you know, losing the way but only to regain it again. So yeah.
Patrick McGilvray
And so you went to the doctor and the doctor said you’re insulin resistant. And what that means is that your body will no longer respond to the effects of insulin so your body just starts producing more and more insulin.
And when that happens, so insulin is that hormone that that locks up your fat in your in your fat cells and it doesn’t allow you to burn the fat so you’re always storing fat when insulin is high. So that’s kind of what was happening in with you. And, and so your doctor recommended something for you, what did she recommend that you do?
Latisha Simmons
Yes, she, when I left her office that day, I left with a low carb diet, low carb, low sugar diet. And basically, it was a list of foods that I could eat and a list of foods that I couldn’t eat. So she was like this is what you have to do.
The good thing about it is, so basically, insulin resistance is pretty much pre diabetes. Which means, you know, if you catch it early, you you know, if you change your lifestyle, your eating habits and workout and all that stuff, you can, you know, pretty much reverse it. So that’s the good thing.
She was like, you know, we caught it early. If you do what I tell you, you can you can beat this. So of course, I’m like, okay, just tell me what I need to do. So yeah, she gave me that, that told me you know what I needed to do. Um, but you know, I left there with two prescriptions that I didn’t have, when I when I walked in the door.
I’ve never been on any medication, you know, regularly like that in my life, knock on wood, but I am now. So that was really my motivation to really like, basically get my life together. Because she’s like, if you don’t, you’re gonna be on this medication the rest of your life. But if you do what I tell you, you know, you can come off of it within a couple of months.
So that’s what she told me. And around that same time, I feel like it was meant to be because I somehow found the Running Lean community on Facebook, which you and I were talking before, I don’t know how it took me so long to find it. But timing is everything.
So anyway, I found I found the Running Lean community. And it was right around the time you were doing the February challenge. We were starting on February 1. So all of that aligned with my doctor telling me to do this same diet that you were challenging us to do. So worked out perfectly. So I’ve been doing it every since February 1.
Patrick McGilvray
Awesome. We’ll just call that divine intervention. Yes, I like that. The gods were smiling upon all of us. Okay, so she sends you home with like this list of foods to eat, and you start doing the low carb thing. And then, okay, so what was your diet like before that, like what was it that was? What was the diet like that kind of got you to putting on all that weight again?
Latisha Simmons
So it pretty much was a free for all, like, I was just eating, you know, whatever I wanted to eat as much as I wanted to eat course, you know, all the meat, the three meals, the snacking in between. So that’s pretty much what my diet was.
I mean, I was eating, I’m a huge sweet eater. So of course, I was eating, you know, cakes, and cookies and doughnuts, and just all the stuff that I like to eat. Just really not even being mindful of what I was eating, just eating and that started happening.
It’s happening like right around 2019 ish, then of course, when the pandemic hit, I mean, you know, just, you know, that didn’t help the situation either. So just a lot of sugar, a lot of carbs, and just basically, anything I wanted to eat whenever I wanted to eat. So it was basically eating all the time. It felt like even as I was eating, I’ll be thinking about what am I gonna eat next meal. That’s, that’s kind of the state I was in.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, so you mentioned sort of, like just eating on was almost like unconscious eating. That’d be a way of describing it. Yeah, just eating. Yes. Like you don’t even know you’re like, how did I just eat that whole bag of chips?
Latisha Simmons
Exactly. Exactly. I was only supposed to eat three cookies. And now the whole bag is gone. Yeah.
Patrick McGilvray
Hmm. Once you start once you start you can’t stop though, right? I know. What about alcohol? Did you drink alcohol before?
Latisha Simmons
I did. So so like I said, I didn’t realize that I guess I was addicted to sugar because it will start in the morning with my coffee creamer. And in at night with a glass of desert wine, and of course, sugar and carbs in between the day too.
So I was drinking like a glass of wine every night, you know, in sweet wine so you know full of sugar. So that’s where I was before I started the low carb, low sugar.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, so you were drinking dessert wine. You were drinking dessert coffee in the morning, basically right? And like dessert breakfast and lunch dessert snacks. Isn’t it funny like everything? Like you know will say like, well you can’t eat cake for breakfast but have this pile of pancakes with maple syrup all over it and that’s fine.
Latisha Simmons
That was a regular breakfast for me that I love pancakes and syrup. Yes. And cranberry juice. Of course we know that juices are full of sugar. Just yeah, just sugar all throughout the day in different formats. And of course, we know sugars and so many things that we don’t even realize have sugar in it. And everything more. So yeah, that was my life. Yes.
Patrick McGilvray
Okay. Okay, so what were some of the big changes that you made? Like what was what kind of stands out to you? Now? Obviously, you stopped eating sugar. But what were some of the things that you did that were? Well, let’s let me put it this way. What were the hardest changes for you to make?
Latisha Simmons
How long we got? No. I know the answer. But I was just, I mean, man, there were a lot of things that it was hard, but I think I mean, it was hard to stop drinking wine every night. You know, that was hard to do.
You know, my little coffee creamer. That was hard to do. I mean, just think I mean, everything I was eating, and drinking has some kind of sugar in it. So I mean, it was just hard not to eat. You know, every time I looked around, you know, it’s just, there was a lot of things that was hard about my running was hard.
Once I you know, started not eating so much sugar, and carbs and all of that stuff. So I don’t know, honestly, patching back and saving. One thing was hard. I do know. Most everything was hard.
Everything, just everything about it was hard. Everything about it was hard. It was not easy at all. It was just hard to stop eating, you know, all the carbs all the sugar eating all the time. I mean, it was it was hard. It really was, yeah.
Patrick McGilvray
But you’re able to stick with it. You did a really good job of sticking with it, like you made a decision early on, that this is you know, I’m going to make this work. Because I’m not going on this medication for the rest of my life. And like, I’m not going to become a diabetic. And you made a work and you stuck to it. Like you were really, really good about sticking to it. Talk a little bit about that, like, what was that like for you?
Latisha Simmons
Well, I mean, like most runners, we’re pretty competitive people in you know, with ourselves. So one way to get me to do something is to tell me, I can’t do it, or expect me not to do it. Because my doctor didn’t tell me, you know, I couldn’t do it. She knows me. So she knows, she knew that if she told me if you don’t do this, this is gonna happen.
And you know, this is what we need to tell she knows me. So she knew that. So that’s basically what it is. It’s like, no, I’m not gonna be on this medication forever. I’m not gonna end up a full blown diabetic. No, so let’s do what we need to do. So, yeah, I was all in. I mean, one.
And like you said, I do feel like it was divine intervention, because it all kind of happened at the same time. So I was like, Okay, it’s meant for me to get my diet together and make this really a lifestyle change this time, stick with it, and you know, get take back control of my health is what I need to do.
So, I mean, that’s, that’s pretty much the mindset that I’ve had, I mean, you talk to us and several other podcasts about how important mindset is, and honestly, that’s it is, it’s all about your mindset. And so once I, you know, made up my mind that this is what we’re gonna do, like you said, I was all in.
And, of course, you know, having you there for support and accountability, and just, you know, walk me through every step of the way, is really a big part of why I’ve been so successful. So I mean, yes, I had to do the work, but I couldn’t have done it without all the support and accountability that I’ve gotten from working with you.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, and you know, what that whole mindset of like, going all in is really the key, it really is. Because I can be like, the motivator over here and your cheerleader, and I can show you what to do and encourage you and, you know, support you and hold you accountable. I can do all that stuff.
But at the end of the day, you’ve got to like do the work yourself, you’ve got to stick to your plan, you’ve got to, you know, show up and do your runs, even though it sucks. We’ll talk about that in a second. But like, you have to have the attitude of like, I’m going to do this for me, because I’m worth it.
And it’s important to me, you know, and my health is the most important thing that I have, you know, and so you made that commitment. And so I want to say, you know, I’m proud of you for for sticking with it, but mostly I’m impressed, because you made that commitment early on, and you just you nailed it. You know what I mean?
Like you just were like, I’m not going off my plan. And you you really stuck with it like like crazy, which is awesome. And here’s the thing, and you kind of mentioned this at the beginning like runners are good about stuff like that, like we’re competitive. And we can stick to a training program, no problem, you know, marathon training in the snow, you know, no problem I’ll show for that.
But then it’s like, don’t eat waffles. And you’re like, why isn’t oh my god crazy talk, you know. And so that’s I’m glad you brought that up. Because runners already have that mentality of like being able to stick with stuff and do the hard things, you know, we can absolutely do that, we just need to take that same attitude we have about sticking to our training plan and apply it over here to our to our diet and our nutrition and stuff like that.
So let’s talk a little bit about running because I know you struggled for a while. So there’s this thing that happens with runners and I’ve talked about this a million times. But it’s this fat adaptation period where when you as a runner decide to stop eating a lot of sugar and a lot of carbs, then it takes a while for your body to switch over from burning all that sugar and carbs to burning fat.
And burning fat is where you want to be because that’s where you lose weight. And that makes running so much easier. And stuff. I’ve talked about this so many times. But it’s hard to do, because there’s that period where you where you’re running, and you don’t have the energy here because you haven’t made the switch yet.
And so that that fat adaptation period can take on average, most people two to six weeks. I talk about this all the time. Some people it’s like a week or two, and it’s like, boom, no big deal. It took me like eight weeks, it took me a long time. What did that feel like for you? Like, what was that transition period? Like for you?
Latisha Simmons
Oh, my goodness, oh, man, it was really bad. The first couple of weeks, I don’t, I couldn’t run more than two, maybe three miles at a time. That’s as far as I could go. And so you can imagine, you know, you used to, you know, run in, you know, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 miles, you know, depending on where you are in your training cycle. And you can’t even run two miles? You know, so it was hard.
And I think that was really one of the there was one of the times where you really came in handy for me because you were literally my cheerleader every week when I would meet with you because I’m like, they suck. And I don’t want to do it.
And you were like, you have to keep doing it. You know, so you really helped me through that period, because I really wanted to quit. I mean, that was the end now that you say what was the hardest part, there probably was the hardest part. Because I run really, I mean, it’s mainly mental health, I run for the mental benefits of running.
Sure, physically, it helps us to, but it really helps me mentally. So as much as I, I like how I feel when I run it wasn’t feeling good at all. And that went on for several weeks. And, and I think Patrick, I’m like you I think it took me probably six, seven weeks before my run started feeling good. So yeah, that was a long time.
But you know, I trusted you. And I really think too, that you have in your own personal journey, you know, your own struggles with you know, your lifestyle before you major change. I think, you know, knowing that this work for you, and you have no personal experience with this really helped me to trust you.
Even when you know you were saying, just keep going just keep going, I promise you on the other side is gonna be better. Knowing that you personally had that experience is what kept me going. I mean, cause I’m just gonna be honest, if it was somebody else that you know, is selling this whole thing and don’t have a personal experience with it. I probably wouldn’t have done and it would have just given up.
But knowing that you had had gone through the same thing. I was like, Okay, I’m trusting him. And I’m glad I did. Because now I mean, when I run, I look forward to running. I mean, I have rekindled my love for running again. When it’s you know, thanks to you telling me just don’t give up. Just keep going. It’ll get better to get better. I’m like, Okay, I’m trusting you, Patrick. So anyway, you know, it worked at it every week.
Patrick McGilvray
I was like, it’s just got to be getting better and you’re like no it took a while but but here’s the thing it’s like yeah, so you’re right that this is the the part where most people will just quit on this process because it does kind of suck and it’s hard.
And it just feels like you don’t have energy when you’re running and it’s not it’s not comfortable at all right? And so I just kept saying like you’re going to get through it I promise you it will happen it just takes what it takes for any everybody’s a little bit different. So and you did you eventually got to that point. So let’s think about a little bit now what is it like for you now running Like how is running for you today?
Latisha Simmons
Man running now it I mean, I am back to looking forward to it on my run days because I run four days a week and bike two days a week. So I run days I’m like, Oh yes, I get to run today it feels good. I have more energy to do it.
Even like on my speed days and my heal repeat days. I mean, I’m just killing those now. My recovery is better. Like, I feel like I recover quicker. There are times where I will go and do a 12 mile run on a Saturday. And that’s pretty much all I’m doing. I’m coming home, I’m eating, taking a shower, and I’m laying around all day.
Now I come home, eat, shower, and I go out and you know, enjoy my weekend because I just feel better. Even after the run, I feel like my recovery is better. So my running is I’m really enjoying it now. Because I look forward to my long runs even though it’s getting hot here in the south. Still just looking forward to my runs.
And honestly, and I never believed you when you would say this, but you like it’s come to feel amazing. And you’re gonna feel like you can just run all day. And yeah, I have to give it to you. That’s true.
There there are times where I’m like, oh, man, you know, if I’m only scheduled to do 8 or 10 I’m like, oh, I could have kept running. I mean, cause it felt that good today. So yeah, my running definitely is much better than it was when I first started the you know, the low carb low sugar. But yeah, I definitely have rekindled my love for running now. And it just feels great. And I look forward to doing it on my running days.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah. And runnings probably also a little bit easier for you, Latisha because you’ve lost some weight. Well, yeah, I mean, would you say that’s true?
Latisha Simmons
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Patrick McGilvray
So how much have you lost so far? Just in the last three months or so?
Latisha Simmons
I’m 32 pounds down. So yeah. 32 pounds since? Yeah, since I started.
Patrick McGilvray
Awesome work. Yeah, that’s a lot in a short amount of time. It is.
Latisha Simmons
And the good thing about it is, you know, once you get over, you know, I’d say the first probably two weeks. You don’t feel you know, deprived. You don’t you’re not hungry all the time, you’re not always thinking about what you need to eat next, you know, like, all those sugar cravings are gone.
So it’s just been just a whole 360 for me, like I and every week, of course, you know, this passion happy. Like, I can’t believe I’m not like thinking about food all the time. I’m not hungry all the time. Because I just couldn’t believe it because that, you know, that had been my life for so many years.
So yeah, that’s just been amazing not to, not to feel like a slave to food basically. This I felt before, like, you know, I was always thinking about him, it was just consuming, you know, my thoughts and my behavior and to not have that now.
I mean, there are times where, you know, it’s two, three o’clock in the afternoon. I’m like, oh, I need to eat. Like, I haven’t even had anything to eat, but I still have energy. I’m not crashing. And I’m not thinking about food all the time. So, man, it’s, it’s been a life changer. For me, it really has been.
Patrick McGilvray
That’s crazy right there. And that’s one of the things that I love about eating this way is that I’m not hungry all the time. Like, I didn’t eat until after 1:00 to 1:30. And I was just like, what what is this, you know? But there’s like this incredible amount of freedom in that because you’re not like, like you just said you’re not like obsessing about food 24 hours a day anymore.
You know, and when that goes away, you can start doing other things, you know, like, get on with your life, go for a run or whatever. And, and running, you know, drop, take 32 pounds and put it in a backpack and strap it to you and go run with that. And you know, runnings gonna be a lot easier without that 32 pounds on you for sure.
So what do you think about like, your ability to take this low carb sort of like lifestyle and like, go forward with it into the future? Is this something you feel like you can do forever? Is this something because you’ve tried other diets that didn’t work for you and you’ve tried to do other things? But do you feel like what you’ve learned here is something that you can perpetuate and that you can do pretty easily or does it seem like it’ll still be hard?
Latisha Simmons
Well, I mean, honestly, when when I walked out of my doctor’s office with this diet, I was like, there’s no way am I gonna be able to do this, first of all. Secondly, definitely not long term like, this is gonna be awful. Because you know, of course, we’ve all tried, like you said, the other low carb diets and stuff in the past.
But this, and again, you told me this, but I didn’t believe it. I mean, it definitely is easy. It’s a lifestyle. And I think that it’s not hard to do. Like, I still go to all my favorite restaurants. And there’s always something I can eat, that I can enjoy eating. So it’s not hard to do, like, it’s easy to fit into your lifestyle.
And, and that is what sets it apart from all the other diets I’ve ever done. The other ones were not sustainable. They just were not not long term. But this one to answer your question, I really do feel like I can do this for the rest of my life. And sure I have, you know, this threat of, you know, these health issues over my head, if I do go back to eating, you know, different types of diet.
But we all know, I mean, sometimes that’s not enough for people. But I do feel like for me, it’s I feel like I’m literally in a race against diabetes. I feel like that. And so it’s like, if you go back this way, then that’s what you’re looking at. But if you keep going this way, you know, you’ll be fine.
And you’ll be able to live a healthier life. And so, you know, I really don’t have a choice. I mean, I do, I mean, I could make that choice and end up on this, you know, medication, and you know, all of that, but I’m choosing not to do that. And I think this this low carb lifestyle definitely is the key to me being successful.
And I yeah, I don’t I really, I guess I still can’t believe that I don’t feel deprived. I mean, I keep waiting for that, you know, all the time like it. I mean, the fact that I don’t really I can’t eat pasta. I mean, I can I mean because of course you tell us, if there’s something you feel like you just really need to eat, eat it, then your very next meal, go back to your diet.
But I haven’t even had to do that like because I just don’t miss it. It’s like a life’s like this is what we’re doing. And so I’m just automatically, you know, making my choices based on my lifestyle. So I can’t believe it.
I never thought that I will find something that actually works for me. It’s good for my health in this sustainable. I just never thought that I will find that. But I really have and I just I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am about that.
Patrick McGilvray
So, so awesome. How about that dessert wine? Do you miss that?
Latisha Simmons
You know, I like to say after about two weeks. I didn’t because I don’t crave sugar like that anymore? Ah, interesting. No, I don’t crave sugar like that. And I’m just like, I mean, because I’ve been thinking I’m like, maybe I could just have a glass of wine. I’m like, I really don’t want because the the thought of how sweet is gonna be.
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, you were concerned about that at the beginning. You’re like, I don’t know about giving up this dessert wine. I mean, because this is part of like who I am, you know? And you were not too thrilled about that part.
Latisha Simmons
Yeah. But when I think about, you know, just the consequences of it. It’s just not worth it. I mean, you know, will I drink alcohol again, I’m sure I will. But I don’t think that I’m going to be drinking a glass of wine every night. And it definitely won’t even be dessert wine. It’s going to be you know, something with less sugar than that. Like I said, not every night. So I really yeah, I’m surprised that I’ve been able to just just keep doing it.
Patrick McGilvray
So you were drinking a glass of wine every night and you haven’t you haven’t had any alcohol?
Latisha Simmons
I have had one drink. Not a dessert one.
Patrick McGilvray
One drink in three months versus every night. That’s a big change.
Latisha Simmons
Oh yeah, I’m not going to be. And I wanted to do that just to see what would happen. Yeah. And I you know, to be honest, I was scared to do it. Because it was like, a trigger or something? But you know, and it wasn’t as a really sweet drink either.
So I definitely know that’s not going to be the case. But yeah, I didn’t. I was like, okay, one drink of coke. And now I’ve been fine. So yeah, it’s not something that I just have to have anymore. But you’re right. I was concerned about it in the beginning.
Patrick McGilvray
Awesome. Yeah. So any final thoughts? Anything that you want to share that we haven’t talked about yet? Or, you know, what do you see yourself in the future? What’s next for you?
Latisha Simmons
Well, I still have some weight that I want to lose. Some of course. Everybody just keep doing what you’re doing. Just keep doing what you’re doing. And that’s what my plan is, is to keep doing what I’ve been doing because it’s been working for me.
You know, my daughter is excited about the progress that I’ve made. And she’s, you know, she’s hopeful that I’ll be able to come off these medications soon. So that’s obviously a big motivator for me. And again, knowing that if I go back to my old lifestyle that, you know, I’ve got some major consequences, you know, that I’ll be facing.
And so that’s, you know, a huge motivator for me to keep going and not only logistics, set an example for, you know, other people that may be going through this same, you know, situation, or I have family members that have some some of these similar health issues.
And, you know, I really want people to know that if you change your diet and your lifestyle, that you really can’t overcome some of these health issues that you might be facing, you know, even though you know, it is, you know, a genetic, you know, issue.
Sometimes that doesn’t necessarily mean that, you know, you have to just give up, you know, you still can, you know, fight and see, you know, can you change it, do all you can basically I’m trying to control what I can control, you know, I can’t control my genetics, I know that, but I definitely control you know, how much I exercise what I eat, you know, that whole thing, I like what I drink, and that has a big impact on, you know, the outcome here.
So, that’s definitely a big motivator for me. So my goal is to keep running from diabetes. And also, you know, just get some back to my goal weight, cause running wise, you know, once I get back to my goal weight, I want to set some some PR’s. Once I get back to that, I got a couple of races coming up. So that’s basically where I am.
But I’m excited about it for the first time ever, I actually feel like I can, once I get back to my race late in my healthy weight, that I can sustain it. And I have never felt like that in my entire life. So that is really just a wonderful feeling to have. And again, being able to do that and not feel deprived.
I mean, because if you feel like you miss an out or you feel deprived, you’re not gonna stick with it. But this type of lifestyle, you just don’t feel that way. At least I don’t. And I’m just super excited about it. And coming into it. I was just like, there’s no way I’m going to be able to be…
Patrick McGilvray
You were skeptical, you were a little skeptical. You’re like I don’t know about this guy. But we made a believer out of you, Latisha. So I just want to say thank you for coming on here and sharing your story.
And I also want to say that I’m really proud of you for just like, being courageous and making these changes, because it was hard for you at the beginning, you know, just to make that decision to like, go all in on yourself and to like, make these big changes in your life. That requires a lot of courage.
And a lot of people don’t have that, you know, a lot of people it’s just too scary for them, you know, but you you are like, I’m I’m going to make this happen. I’m going to do this, I’m going to fix my health. And yeah, you mentioned like diabetes being you know, genetic, you there’s a genetic predisposition predisposition for diabetes and insulin resistance and stuff like that. But it’s a lifestyle disease, you know, and you can absolutely change it with your lifestyle.
Just because you have the genetic predisposition does not mean the genes will be turned on. So if you don’t, you know, if you don’t feed the bad lifestyle, then the genes don’t get expressed, you know, and so you can definitely affect even a genetic disease, like diabetes with the right kind of lifestyle.
Latisha Simmons
Exactly. And, and I’m glad you brought that up. Because, you know, my doctor told me so I’m like, What do you mean? Like, I’ve never had this problem before. And she’s, you know, she’s like, because you’ve been keeping your weight under control, you know, you’ve been running and exercise and, and all of that.
So, you know, it didn’t show up. She said, but once you start eating what you want it to and, you know, started gaining all this weight, you know, then it showed up, she says so this has been there, but you’ve been able to control it with your lifestyle.
And so now that you know your lifestyle, it’s out of control, basically, here it is. I’m like, oh, so yeah, you bring up a good point. I mean, it’s just because it’s there and you can still control the lifestyle. And I’m definitely a believer of that now, because I’m seeing it. I mean, you know, it’s working. So I’m like..
Patrick McGilvray
Yeah, the whatever you want diet, that one doesn’t work for that. Even if you run it don’t matter. Doesn’t matter how much you run that diet doesn’t work.
Latisha Simmons
Yeah, I mean, I trained and did a 50k during that time. And so like I said, I was being austere running marathons and ultra marathons, but I’ll still eat what I wanted to and yeah, that didn’t help.
Patrick McGilvray
I mean that’s such a such a common story. Well, thank you again, Latisha. I appreciate you so much. And I’m so proud of you. And we’re gonna keep following your story here. I want you to keep us posted on your progress and let us know how this how these PRs go for you.
Latisha Simmons
Absolutely, I will do that. Thank you for having me, Patrick.
Patrick McGilvray
If you’re a runner and you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you keep losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. Or you’re finally ready to get to your natural weight and stay there for good this time then I have something you will love. I’ve created a powerful new training just for you called running lean for life. You’ll learn exactly how to transform yourself into a lean fat-burning running machine. So you can run without bonking, lose weight without calorie counting and develop the habits required to make it last for life. To get this free training right now go to runningleanpodcast.com/leanforlife and start your transformation today.
This is part two of a two-part podcast series called “Becoming a Lean, Fat-Burning Machine and Making It Last For Life”. As a Sports Nutritionist, Weight Loss Coach for Runners, and Master Life …
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Sports Nutritionist, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you properly fuel your body and your mind. So you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster, and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there and welcome to episode 73 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And this is part two of a two part podcast series called Becoming a Lean Fat Burning Machine and Making It Last For Life. So as a sports nutritionist, a weight loss coach for runners and master life coach, I help runners transform themselves into lean efficient fat burning machines.
So they can end all that yo yo dieting, and finally get to their ideal weight and stay there for good. And I have a vested interest in this subject matter since I struggled with gaining weight, like over 40 pounds in just a few years. While I was training for marathons while I was running ultra marathons. Well, I figured I finally figured out how to change my diet so that I was burning fat instead of storing it.
And check out part one of this series if you want all the info on how I did that. So I lost the weight pretty easily really. And I’ve been able to keep it off almost effortlessly. And honestly the hardest thing about making any kind of big change like this in your life, especially when it comes to what you’re eating, your health, your fitness – the hardest part is making it last.
Anyone can stick to a plan for a few weeks. But the real transformation happens when you feel like you can stick to it for good when it just becomes part of who you are. So in this episode, I’m devoting the whole episode two, just outlining the most important mindset shifts that you have to adopt. If you want to make becoming a lean running machine, something that you can make last for life.
Okay, so if you haven’t already done so, come check out the Running Lean podcast community on Facebook. This is a group of like minded runners and fellow listeners of the podcast whose support encourage and help each other with whatever it is you’re going through. So maybe you’re nursing an injury and you can’t run and you just want some other runners to tell you that they’ve been where you are that everything’s gonna eventually be okay.
Maybe you have a question about fueling properly for those long runs or a race and you want to hear how other people are doing it. whatever’s on your mind, we got you covered. We have the best group on Facebook. Somebody told me that recently and I was like, I think you’re right.
It’s pretty awesome to have this community to lean into when you need the help when you need a little encouragement. Or when you just want to share something good like a win. We love wins, come and share a win. Just search for Running Lean community on Facebook and come join in on the fun.
Here’s another five star podcast review from Joe. Joe says, “This is an awesome podcast. I’ve been listening since I decided to start running again back in June of 2020. And I’ve lost over 20 pounds with Patrick’s guidance and healthy eating teachings. Not only is he a subject matter expert, but he continues to push us to reach our goals. I highly recommend this podcast if you’re looking to get back into running or not sure where to start. Along with his podcast, Patrick’s Facebook group is an added bonus and a phenomenal group of motivators that continue to support you along the way.”
See, I told you it wasn’t just me, Joe’s telling you the same thing here. And then Joe says, “Finally, you will not be disappointed.” Thank you, Joe. That was amazing. I love reading five star reviews.
Hey, share the love if you want to. If you enjoy this podcast and you want to take a moment to leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, wherever you wherever you can leave a review. I don’t even know where you can leave a review. I know you can’t on Apple.
Just I would love it if you would if you would do that. And I’ll be sure to read it here on the show. So leave a review. Tell me what you think and share the love. Thank you so much.
And you know I teach a lot about how to lose weight and the mindset required to make it last for life. I talk about this here on the podcast a lot and some people like Joe get results from just implementing the stuff that I teach here on the podcast, right?
But if you want more, if you want some expert guidance to help keep you on track. If you want someone there to show you exactly how to make all of this work for you individually, and you want somebody there to hold you accountable, to encourage you to do things you don’t want to do so that you can to become the person that you want to be, then one on one coaching might be the perfect thing for you.
I work with runners who are finally ready to stop making excuses for themselves and their start. And they’re ready to start making changes to their health and their fitness. I work with runners who are tired of losing and gaining the same 20 pounds over and over and over again, I work with people who might have these big weight loss goals, like they want to lose 100 pounds and develop the mindset skills they need to keep the weight off for the rest of their life.
Wherever you are on your weight loss journey, or your health or fitness journey, I’m here for you to help you become the most badass version of yourself yet. To learn more and apply for coaching, just go to runningleanpodcast.com/apply.
We’ll have a short conversation, we’ll see if this is a good fit for you. There’s no charge for this call. But you know, we can just talk about your goals and see if this is a good fit. And if so great, if not no big deal.runningleanpodcast.com/apply.
Okay, let’s, I want to recap really quickly. What I talked about in part one of this two part series. So in part one, I talked about how runners on average, you know, we carry around a little too much body fat, like we just were a little overweight in general, okay, and running alone, it’s just not a very effective weight loss strategy. Right, the key to losing weight. And being able to run all day without bonking is you’ve got to turn your body into a fat burning machine, you got to burn fat.
In order to turn yourself from a sugar burner into a fat burner, we have to get rid of the most problematic carbohydrates, right, especially the highly refined carbs like sugar and flour. So if you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend it. Because what I’m talking about today is how to take all that stuff that you learned in part one, and how to apply it and make it last for life to make it something that is sustainable.
There are several mindset shifts that you have to make. If you want to make this all something that you can just do going forward, it has to become part of who you are, has to become something automatic and sustainable for you.
Okay, this is the key to any kind of long term changes in any area of your life, really. But probably when it comes to losing weight, this is the hardest thing for most people to wrap their brains around, which is how do I make this last?
Okay, so I put together in this episode, a bunch of mindset shifts that I think are absolutely required, if you want to make Running Lean last for life, okay. The first one is this, you have to ditch the whole diet mentality. It has to go. The whole idea of I’m on a diet is a temporary thing. Right? It assumes that there is an end, eventually I am on a diet, or I’m off a diet.
Have you ever been on a diet? Yeah, you like you’re on a diet for a short period of time, right? You don’t stay on a diet, right? This is the whole temporary mentality about the word diet, okay, and this mentality about diets being temporary, it’s not going to work, this is not going to work for you. So the very first thing you have to do is ditch that whole idea of this is a temporary diet because it’s not.
It’s a way of life, okay? There is not an end to this, this is very, very important. There’s no destination you’re trying to get to. And then you’re just going to go back to doing whatever you were doing before. You’re not gonna like not eat sugar, and get to your goal weight and feel amazing.
And then all of a sudden go back to eating all the sugar. Again, it does not work that way. This is not a diet, this is a way of life. And the first thing you have to do is adopt this mentality of like, this is how I’m going to live my life from here on out.
So you either commit to being healthy for life, or you’re committing to something else, you’re committing to a lifetime of struggle, of frustration of yo yo dieting, of losing and gaining those same 20 pounds over and over and over and over again. Right? Why don’t you just be done with all of that nonsense once and for all. All right.
This is my suggestion for you. You’ve got to drop the diet mentality. You have to adopt this attitude of like I’m all in forever. This is how I live my life now. Or you can just keep riding the struggle bus forever. Like that’s up to you if you want to do that, right.
And it surprises me how many people actually choose to ride the struggle bus for the rest of their lives, they continue to choose the harder, more complicated, more struggling way to do things. We don’t have to do that. Okay.
So the first thing you really have to wrap your head around is like this is not temporary, this is not a diet, there’s no destination, we’re trying to get to being healthy is not a destination, it’s a way of life. Right. So everything I’m going to talk about going forward here is going to be like how we kind of do that, okay.
And I’ve talked about a lot of these topics here on the podcast, and various episodes, you can go back and listen to some of those. But I’ve put together some, I think, the most powerful mindset shifts that you have to make. If you want to make these changes last for good, okay.
So one of the things you have to do is you have to focus on changing your identity, you have to focus on changing who you are at your core. So it kind of goes back to this idea of like, I’m in this for good, this is a way of life for me. So you have to adopt that as part of your identity. It has to become part of who you are.
So what is your identity? Your identity is how you define yourself. It’s the words, and the phrases, and the concepts and the beliefs that you have about yourself that define who you are, at your core. Think about it like this, everything you say after the words, I am is part of your identity.
So I am a runner, I’m identifying myself, as someone who is at their core a runner. I am a coach, I am a brother, I am a father. I’m a sci-fi nerd. I love sci-fi movies. And that’s part of who I am. And I can’t deny that I just have to accept that. This is part of me, this is part of who I am at my very, very core. Okay.
Now, this is the part I think is so fascinating. One of the strongest forces in every human being is that you must act consistent with how you define yourself. I’m going to say that, again, because I think this is so important. One of the strongest forces in every human being is that you must act consistent with how you define yourself.
How you define yourself determines how you act, how you act determines the results you get in your life. So the thoughts that you think, the feelings that you feel, the words you say about yourself, how you dialogue with yourself, your brain has no choice but to take all of that information and make it real for you.
To make it who you are, you will act in accordance with what you believe you are who you believe you are. Okay? So all of these things, how you think about yourself, how you feel about yourself, the words you say about yourself, this is how you define yourself, right? And all of this becomes real for you, it becomes part of who you are.
And here’s the cool thing, you can redefine yourself, or just define yourself at any time in your life. It’s not like you picked who you were when you were 12. And then that’s just who you are from going forward. Right? You get to redefine yourself anytime you want.
Now, I think I identified as a sci-fi nerd when I was like 11 or 12 years old, whenever Star Wars came out. See, I would have been 11 or 10. Yeah, cause that came out in ‘77, I believe, right? And so yeah, I was 10 years old. So I defined myself as a sci-fi nerd, pretty early on, and that’s just been a part of who I am forever. And I continue to love those kinds of movies.
And, but that’s not, you know, just who I am, like, there’s so many other parts of me, right? I’m so complex. I’m such a complex person. I mean, and so are you. You know, we all are. We have so many different ways of defining ourselves. But it’s important. This is so important.
Because what you believe about yourself determines the kind of results that you get in your life. And so if I say, I’m a coach, then I’m going to act in accordance with that. I’m going to coach people, and I’m going to help people to make big changes in their life and make big transformations in their life, encourage them to do things they don’t feel like doing so that they can become that person that they want to become.
I act in accordance with how I define myself. I watch sci-fi movies, because I’m a sci-fi nerd. I am a father. And so I do things that are important for you know, I put my kids first. So all of these things are how we define ourselves. I’m a runner. So you know what I do, I run. I run, whether I feel like it or not.
I recently made this switch to doing yoga again, it’s been a long time since I’ve done yoga, they’ve gotten so stiff. I’m like, wound up as tight as steel cables. And I decided I’m going to be somebody who does yoga all the time. And so I committed to being this different person, like, I’m going to redefine myself as a yogi, you know, somebody that does yoga regularly.
And so far, I’ve got like, 15 days in, and I feel amazing. All because I made that little mental shift of this is who I am at my core. Okay, so you need to define yourself, you need to maybe change the core beliefs you have about yourself, you might even need to sort of become a different person, which is okay.
You know, think about this, like, I’m the kind of person who sticks to her training plan, no matter what. I’m the kind of person who sticks to their diet to their nutrition plan, no matter what. Right? These are the kinds of things that are gonna help determine what you do in your life, right. So who you are, determines what you do.
Okay, the next concept is that you have to have your own back through all of this, you have to love yourself through this whole process, right? If you have a negative self talk like dialogue going on in your brain, “I can never make anything work. I’m so slow as a runner, and I’ll never lose the weight. And I’m never going to be healthy. And running is always so hard for me”, like you got to stop the negative self talk. This is not, this is not doing you any good at all. Okay?
This is not having your own back. This is like tearing yourself down. So when we talk about mindset, mindset is all about how you dialogue with yourself, the words that you say to yourself, in your own brain. And listen, your mind really believes everything that you tell it, you keep saying the same things over about yourself, keep thinking the same things over and over about yourself. Your brain will believe it, whether it’s true or not.
So if you say like I’m a failure, and nothing ever works for me, I’m never going to lose weight, you’re going to believe that it’s just going to become true for you. That becomes your reality. The things you keep telling yourself over and over and over again become your reality. Most people, most people beat themselves up like crazy about everything they speak to themselves so harshly.
“I’m so weak, I’m on discipline, I’m such a failure. I’m not good enough. I’m not worthy.” Wow. What kind of results do you think you’re gonna get if you continue to tear yourself down like that? Bad results, you’re gonna get bad results. Your mind believes everything you tell it.
Okay, so you have to start changing that dialogue, the way you talk to yourself, the way you feel, think and feel about yourself has to change. Get rid of the negative self talk, you have to love yourself through this process. I did a podcast episode awhile back on loving yourself unconditionally.
And there’s this idea of that, like you can’t hate yourself thin, you can’t hate yourself and expect to, to make positive improvements on your life. You can’t hate yourself and expect to run a faster marathon. Because you’re just going to be tearing yourself down for four hours or whatever it is, however long it takes you to run that marathon.
Instead we have to have our own back, we have to talk to ourselves positively. You know, the funny thing is like you would never talk to a friend the way you talk to yourself. You would never speak so harshly to any other human being most likely as harshly as you talk about yourself and talk to yourself.
I don’t really know why we do this as humans but we need to stop this because it’s not doing us any good. It’s not helping us at all. Okay, have your own back. Support yourself if you make a decision that.
You want to run a faster marathon? Go all in on yourself, have your own back and start talking positively about yourself. Stop the negative self talk, start positive self talk. Right? Your mindset will change when you begin dialoguing with yourself in a positive manner.
Okay, the next concept, you guys, I love this one, is that you have to embrace discomfort. You know, change is hard, change is uncomfortable. And change can be painful. We have to be willing to embrace the discomfort of change.
There’s a story of a lady running through her neighborhood, and she’s running through a neighborhood. And she hears this dog crying, howling, right? And she gets closer, she’s running through her neighborhood. She comes around a corner. And sure enough, she sees a dog sitting on a front porch. And just howling like, like crying.
She gets closer and she wants to see what’s going on. She notices a guy sitting on the front porch, reading the newspaper, drinking his coffee and just hanging out. She’s like, hey, it sounds like your dog is like in some sort of pain. And the guy says, Yeah, he is. He’s sitting on a nail. And she’s like, Oh, my gosh, why doesn’t he get up off the nail? And he goes, Oh, because it would hurt too much.
And so this, the moral of the story is like sometimes the pain of change, we have this idea that it’s going to hurt too much to change. So we’d rather just sit in the pain that we’re in, instead of doing something about it. And the story of this dog sitting on nails seems, you know, a little harsh or whatever. But this is what we do to ourselves. We’re sitting in our own pain. And we’re just, we’re crying about it.
And we’re saying, Oh, this is terrible. I hate being this way. I hate being overweight. I hate feeling this way running. But we don’t want to do anything about it. Because to change means we’re going to get uncomfortable means we’re going to get out of our comfort zone. If you want things to be different than they are in your life right now.
I’ve got some news for you, it’s gonna be uncomfortable to get there. Because everything you already have is in your comfort zone. Everything that you want, but don’t already have is outside your comfort zone. Ah, there’s the problem right there, right? Oh, well, I want to lose weight.
Okay, guess what, you’re gonna have to get uncomfortable to do it. Oh, but I don’t want to get uncomfortable. But there’s no other way around it. You have to be willing to embrace the discomfort, or else you’re not going to get it.
I did a podcast episode called embracing the suck. And as ultra runners, this is a concept that we have is like, at some point during this race, you know, you’re running 30 or 50 miles or 100 miles at some point, it’s gonna suck. You can either complain about it, and you know, cry about it, or you can just embrace it. Right, choose to embrace the suck.
Doing things like this – running an ultramarathon, losing weight, you know, changing your whole mentality around how you think and feel about food, changing your diet. This is not easy, this is hard, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, it absolutely means you should do it. But just know it’s going to be uncomfortable.
Get up off that nail, stop crying, get up off that nail, and do the hard thing, do the thing that’s going to hurt for the short term. But eventually, it’ll stop. And eventually, you’re going to get stronger and you’re going to become more. And you’ll have those things that are outside your comfort zone. And your comfort zone grows.
It’s the hard things we do that make us stronger, that make us become more. You know, you build stronger muscles by continually overloading your muscles, tearing them down and it hurts, right? It’s painful to go to the gym and lift weights. It’s painful. But there’s this adaptive response to the stress. Your muscles get bigger.
And it’s the same with becoming stronger, mentally becoming stronger emotionally. You have to do the hard things. You have to challenge yourself, push yourself to do more to become more to get out of your comfort zone more often. Because then you produce this adaptive response mentally and emotionally. And you grow and you become more.
And it’s not the fact that we don’t have challenges in our life that we can’t grow and become more, it’s because of the challenges in our life. It’s not despite them. It’s because of the challenges that we go through that we become more. When I ran 100 miles, it wasn’t easy. There was a point where I was ready to give up. And I had run at four miles. And I gotta tell you, that was a dark moment for me because I was in so much pain.
And I decided that I was going to embrace the suck in that moment, and finish this thing. And I did, and it felt amazing to finish. But I could have quit, I could have just sat there on my nail and been like, well, this hurts. I don’t want to do this. No, I got up off that nail, and I did what I needed to do to finish. And it literally changed my life. So you have to embrace discomfort.
Alright, the next mindset shift you have to adopt is you have to honor the commitments that you make to yourself. A key component to making being healthy last for life is that you have to do the things you say you’re going to do. This is not a hard concept. You guys, listen.
If you say to yourself, you know, I’m not going to eat bread at dinner tonight. Then when dinner comes tonight, don’t eat the bread. Or maybe you make a promise to yourself that you’re not going to drink alcohol this weekend. And then when the weekend rolls around, you don’t drink alcohol. That’s it. It’s not a hard concept.
Every time you do this, every time you do what you say you’re going to do, every time you honor a commitment that you make to yourself, you build trust in yourself, you build resilience, you build confidence in yourself. Now, there’s an alternative way of doing things.
Every time you say you’re not gonna eat the bread, and you find yourself face first into the sourdough at dinner. I love sourdough, by the way, so good. But every time you say you’re not gonna eat the bread, and then you just shove your face full of sourdough bread, you break that trust in yourself, you diminish your resilience, you lower your self confidence.
So every time you say I’m not gonna drink tonight, and then you find yourself like three drinks in or whatever you’re like, ah, I didn’t want to do this, like you’re breaking this trust in yourself, okay? You’re always doing one or the other, you’re either building trust and confidence in yourself, or you’re breaking it down. You get better at whatever you practice, right.
So if you practice running fast, you’re going to become a faster runner. If you practice running farther and farther, you’re going to get better at running longer distances. If you practice breaking promises to yourself, you’re going to get really good at breaking promises to yourself, I promise you. Right.
So if you do not honor the commitments that you make to yourself, you break that trust and confidence in yourself. You don’t build that resilience that you need. You just get better at giving in to the urges and the cravings that you’re having. Right, you have to honor the commitments that you make to yourself. And listen, you’re a runner, like you’ve if you’ve trained for half marathon or a marathon, I know that you know how to do this.
You put together a training schedule, and you say I’m going to run five days a week from now until six months from now, when I have this race coming up, and you stick to that training plan. I see people do this all the time. It could be snowing outside, it’s like cold and dark and raining. And you’re like I’m just gonna put on my running shoes and go run because my schedule says I gotta run, I don’t want to, I don’t want to like, you know, break this commitment I made to myself.
And you’re so good at this. Well just take that same attitude and apply it to sticking to your meal plan. Right? You’re already doing it. But then when we talk about like what you’re eating, it’s like oh, but that’s so hard. But you’re already doing it right? Copy and paste that same attitude that you have about running into sticking with your meal plan.
And I get it you guys, this is not easy to do. I know it’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel good, right? This is why I’m talking about all these different mindset shifts that we have to make because it’s not just one thing. It’s not just one thing that’s going to do it for you.
Sorry, but there’s a lot to it. And it’s about changing your whole way of thinking and the way you feel about yourself and about nutrition and about diets and food and exercise and running and all of it like we have to change the story. Okay.
So another mindset shift you absolutely have to make is that you just have to stop procrastinating and just start taking action already. Right, you can’t think yourself thin. You can’t think your way to better health. This is a program of action. You know, I hear people tell me that, you know, they want to change.
And you know, they really want to like lose the weight, and they’re ready right now. But then they’re like, I just need to think about it. And I’m like, No, don’t think about it, just do something. I don’t care what you do. Do something right now, whenever we say like, I’ll get to it later. I’ll just do it later, maybe later. Because you’re hoping that like, all the stars are gonna align, and everything’s gonna like, feel perfect. It could, it just never comes.
There’s never a perfect time, the perfect time is like right now. The perfect time is when you feel inspired to take action, that’s when you need to just take some action, just do something. What can you do right now, that will move you one tiny step closer to your goal.
Maybe you just cut out sugar for a day, or maybe you just say no to bread, say no to this hour, go. Go to the gym for like five minutes or run around the block, do a set of burpees. Like these are teeny tiny steps that you can do. But when you do them, they start to build motivation.
Motivation is an inside job, all motivation it’s created by you internally by your brain. You don’t, you don’t have to, like you don’t have to have motivation in order to do something either, right? A lot of times the motivation comes after you start. That’s why I’m encouraging you to go do something teeny, tiny, some teeny, tiny step and just start building upon that.
Because that’ll create the motivation for you. You know, there’s a lot of days I don’t feel like running, I’ll tell you these last 15 days of doing yoga, probably 14 of them, maybe 15. I’ve not felt like doing it. But I’m doing it anyway. Because I said I was going to. I’m honoring this commitment that I made to myself, right. But I stopped thinking about it and procrastinating and it just started, I just started doing it. Right.
And I always find it surprising how much more motivated I feel after I start doing something. So thinking about making changes to your health or being healthy. It’s not the same thing as being healthy. Like thinking about it as not doing it. You can think about it all you want. Stop procrastinating and take action, even one teeny, tiny little step, those tiny steps add up.
The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. That’s a quote, right? But it’s not a journey of 1000 Miles. Begin with thinking about it for a while, thinking about the journey. No, that’s not the way it goes. It begins with a single step but you’ve got to take the action. So stop procrastinating and start doing something about it. Okay.
Next concept is you have to take radical responsibility. So there are basically two ways of approaching things in our life you can be at, you can be the cause of all the results that you get in your life, the good, the bad, the in between, you’re the cause of them. Or you can be at the effect of other people and outside circumstances. That’s the cause and effect.
People are living at the effect end of the spectrum. They are at the effect of outside circumstances. These people have excuses. They have stories, they have reasons why they can’t ever do anything. Why nothing ever works for them. They have lots of reasons. You know, they play the victim, nothing is ever their fault.
You know, my boss yelled at me at work today. So that’s why I ate cake for dinner. This is people living at effect. On the other end of the spectrum, as people who are living at cause, people who are taking radical responsibility. These people, they get results. They take action and they reach their goals no matter what. They’re always becoming more.
They take radical responsibility for everything they’re getting in their life. It would look like this. My boss yelled at me at work today because I didn’t handle that situation with the customer very well. I am absolutely going to do better next time. Now where’s that chicken that I’m having for dinner tonight? Boom, much different outcome when you take radical responsibility.
You know, taking radical responsibility can look like this. I’m going to lose the 40 pounds no matter what is happening in my life, no matter how long it takes. No matter how many times I quote unquote “fail” along the way. I’m gonna make this work no matter what. Wow, that is powerful.
That is a radical concept. Most people don’t think about things this way. Right? It’s just easier to blame everybody else for your lack of results. This diet didn’t work. Oh, my life is too stressful. This isn’t a good time for me. Yeah, that’s easier, right? That’s like the easier way to go. What are you going to get? What kind of results do you get from that? Crappy results? You don’t get any results. Is that how you want live your life? No, I don’t think so.
Take radical responsibility for everything that’s happening to you, the good, the bad, and all the in between. When you do that you just cannot fail, there’s no more failure. There’s just lessons you learn along the way. So you drank two bottles of wine over the weekend, your weight loss stalls out for the next week. Okay, well, that clearly didn’t work. What am I going to do next time?
Okay, next time, I’m not going to drink two bottles of wine. You know, next time, I’m going to make better decisions, boom, lesson learned, move on. Take radical responsibility for every thing happening in your life, every result that you’re getting, it’s no, it’s nobody else’s fault. It’s all your fault. This is the good thing, because you can do something about it.
I mean, it’s bad news and good news. It’s bad news, because there’s nobody to blame. There’s no, there’s no more blaming others. But that’s also the good news that everything is your fault. That means you can control it, which is amazing.
Next concept is like you have to start thinking about who it is you want to become. Setting goals and going after them is more about who you become in the process of working towards that goal than it is about actually achieving the goal. Like when I decided to run 100 miles, I didn’t know how I was going to do that. You know, I did only run 50 miles before. And so running 100 Miles seemed impossible for me.
In order to achieve that goal, I had to become a different person. I had to become the kind of person who could run 100 miles. And that required me to change my whole identity. Huh, see where I’m going with this. I had to change my identity. This is all related. Things all overlap.
So here’s the important part. I became a different person in the training process when I was training for that 100 miler. And becoming the person that I became in that process was actually more important and more powerful than actually finishing that event. So just showing up at the starting line of that race meant that I had become the kind of person who trained for and who could run 100 miles. And everything after that was just gravy.
So if I actually finished the thing, that would have been amazing. But your showing up meant that I had transformed myself into a 100 miler runner. Now, for me, I don’t like, like, when I set out to do something like that, I’m gonna finish it. Like this is my mentality is like this is done, you know, I’m going to make this happen no matter what. And I did.
So think about who you want to become. Whenever I set big goals for myself, it’s more about who I become in the process than actually achieving the goal. I’m always working on becoming more, more fit, more healthy, more powerful as a human being. That’s my mission in life is to always become more, you know, stronger, more in control of my thoughts and feelings, more of who I meant to be.
And then I want to be the example of what’s possible, I’m going to show you that you too, can become more of who you are meant to be. So think about who it is you want to become. Set big goals and become that person in the process.
Next mindset shift is, this isn’t so much a mindset shift to something you can actually do, you need to surround yourself with people who help you become more in order to achieve anything like long term health and fitness. In order to make all of this last for life. You need three things: you need knowledge, support and accountability. So you need to know what to do and how to do it. That’s the knowledge.
You need this supportive people around you. So this is your friends, your family, your community, and you need accountability. So this is someone who can, who you can check in with who can help you to stay on track. So, you know, for example, working with a coach like me will give you all three of those things.
And this is why I believe in coaching and I have three different coaches that helped me in different areas of my life. But you don’t even have to go that route. You don’t even have to, you know, work with a coach. Plenty of people get the knowledge and the support that they need from you know, listening to a podcast like this.
In our Facebook community, like Joe said in his review. At the top of this episode, he lost 20 pounds just by listening to the podcast and kind of following along in the Facebook group, that’s amazing. Surround yourself with people who will help you become more.
So you may have to change your circle of friends. And I say this to people, sometimes they’re like, Well, I’m like, if you’re with a bunch of people who eat crap food, don’t exercise, don’t know what it’s like to want to become a better person. You know, they drink all the time, they’re just partying like they’re in college still like, is this who you want for your circle of friends? You might have to change your group of friends.
But I promise you, surrounding yourself with people who have like minded goals, and who will help to support you and encourage you to become more. Oh my gosh, it’s, it’s life changing. It’s amazing. And of course, I’m always here for you if you want personalized guidance, support and accountability, and all that good stuff.
Okay, the last thing I want to talk about you guys, and this is like something that I believe so strongly that a lot of people just don’t, is this like, you cannot suffer your way to good health. If you want to lose weight, if you want to get healthy, if you want to become more of you who you’re meant to be. It doesn’t have to suck. It doesn’t have to be a terrible process. You don’t have to suffer your way through this whole process.
Eating healthy, losing weight, building new habits around food, this can actually be kind of easy, and it can feel almost effortless. And it can even be fun. What? I know it’s crazy, right? What a crazy radical concept. Losing weight can be fun. Suffering, turmoil, hunger, deprivation, feeling like always missing out on something. These are all just mindset things.
These are all mental constructs. This is just how you’re choosing to think and feel and what you’re choosing to believe about the process. You can choose that stuff all day long, and it will be terrible, you will feel deprivation, you will feel like you’re missing out, you will suffer your way through this, you do not have to suffer your way to good health.
So instead of asking yourself, like, why does this suck so bad? Why is this so hard? Once you start asking better questions like, How can I make this easier? How can I make this more enjoyable? How can I have fun with this? How can I enjoy going out to dinner with my friends and stay on my meal plan? What’s one thing I can do today to make this easier for myself?
These are really powerful questions to ask. But the thing is, most people don’t ask those questions. They ask those really terrible questions like why is it so hard? Well, you ask yourself that question, you will find answers to that. But you do not have to suffer through this process. The people that I work with, we make this fun, and we make it enjoyable. Is there some discomfort? Of course.
It’s like saying, you know, hey, let’s make this marathon training fun. Will there be moments where it’s just uncomfortable for you? And you experienced discomfort? Yes. But can we also have fun? Yes, yes, we can. Yes, we absolutely can.
Okay, so those are my big overarching mindset shifts that you absolutely have to make. If you want to make all this, you know, last for life. I hope you’ve enjoyed this two part series. And I hope you have a much clearer sense of how you can make being healthy and being fit and becoming a lean fat burning machine.
You can make all of this last for life. And if you got something out of this series, please consider sharing it with a friend, maybe somebody who you think might also get something out of it. Love you all. Keep on Running Lean, and I’ll talk to you soon.
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