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Running Lean with Patrick McGilvray

Future Thinking

42. Thrive in Your Body

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I used to treat my body like a garbage dump. I ate a terrible diet, I smoked cigarettes, I drank way too much alcohol, and I never exercised at all. Then one day something happened that changed …

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Podcast Transcript

My name is Patrick McGilvray. And I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve learned that running more and eating less does not work for weight loss, and that there’s a better way. Now I help runners like you to get leaner and get stronger, so you can run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.

Hey there, and welcome to episode number 42 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners. And today I’m talking about how to thrive in your body. I used to treat my body kind of like a garbage dump. I ate a terrible diet, I smoked cigarettes, I drank way too much alcohol. And I never exercised at all.

And then one day, something happened to me that changed my whole outlook on life. And I made a decision to change everything, I decided to become the healthiest person that I could be. And through the years, I’ve tried, I haven’t done it perfectly. I’ve certainly made plenty of mistakes along the way.

But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to settle for a miserable, unhealthy body, you can choose to thrive in that human body of yours. So in this episode of the podcast, I’m going to explain what it means to thrive in your body, and why it’s become one of my most important guiding principles.

But first, if you like this podcast, please come check us out on Facebook. Just search for the Running Lean community. It’s a positive, fun, energetic supportive group of like minded runners, it goes hand in hand with the podcast. We share our goals, we do weekly live coaching in the group.

And here’s a message from one of our amazing members, Nancy and she said, “I woke up this morning and got on the scale for the first time since I joined Patrick McGilvray on this journey a few months ago. And I’ve dropped 25 pounds. I’m not big about getting on the scales, but I could see some small changes, clothes fit a bit better. Necklaces laying nicer around my neck rings are falling off. And now I know why this is a big deal for me. I haven’t been this weight in over 10 years. And I’ve been running for five years. Thank you, Patrick for all you do. You’ve inspired me and taught me so much. And I can wholeheartedly say that I am a fat adapted runner. And I owe it all to you. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with you. And all the great runners in this group hashtag you are a life changer.”

Nancy, that is such an amazing accomplishment. I am so proud of you. I’m proud of you because you’ve taken this information, and you’re applying it to your life. So it’s one thing to learn all these things, it’s quite another to apply these principles to your life. Super, super proud of you, Nancy, for doing the hard work.

So join us on Facebook, we have a lot of fun over there. Just search for Running Lean community. Also becoming a fat adapted runner, applying these principles to your life can be challenging. You know, developing the mindset that you need to make all of these healthy changes last permanently, can be hard work, it can be difficult to do on your own.

That’s why I offer one-on-one coaching. As a coach, I help you navigate all the information that’s out there around sports, nutrition, and diet and exercise and weight loss and all those other things and we put together a personalized plan that works for you. I hold you accountable for doing the work. I keep you on track, always moving in the direction of your goals.

I encourage you to do things you don’t want to do so that you can ultimately be who you want to be. You’ll develop the mindset required to make these changes stick for life. So if you’re ready to stop screwing around with all of this stuff, you’re ready to get serious and just change things. If you’re ready to begin to thrive in your body.

Then apply for one-on-one coaching with me. Just do it just go to innerfiretribe.com/weightlosscoaching, I promise you it will change your life.

Okay, let’s talk about this guiding principle today which is to thrive in your body. So a few months back, I put together the Running Lean manifesto. This is a list of guiding principles that I stand for, a list of things that help guide me. It’s like my North Star. And I’m sharing it with you because I want it to be our North Star. If we apply all of these principles to our lives, we can live the amazing, healthy, happy, vibrant life.

So a manifesto is just a list of guiding principles or a set of values to live by. A manifesto helps you to stay on track. It helps you to know where you are. Again, it’s like your Northstar, always guiding you towards your goals. Okay? These principles always guide me forward. I believe everybody should have a manifesto to live by.

And here’s the Running Lean manifesto. Number one is eat real food. Number two is to live vibrantly. Number three, which we’re talking about today thrive in your body. Number four, embrace discomfort, number five, run because you love it. Number six, love yourself unconditionally. Number seven, think, feel and act with purpose. And then number eight, to be an example of what’s possible.

So I’m going to be discussing each of these over the next few episodes of the podcast, taking a deep dive into each one. These principles guide everything that I do, every topic that I teach, can be tied back to one of these principles. I’m sharing this with you because I want this to be our, our collective guiding principles so that we can all move forward together, it’s a blueprint that we can all use to become the best version of ourselves.

Okay, so the third principle, and the one I’m talking about today is to thrive in your body. So what does it mean to thrive? The definition of thrive is to grow or develop well or vigorously to prosper, or flourish. So to thrive in your body means to grow or develop well or vigorously in your body, to prosper or flourish in your body.

And I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is our goal here, right? I don’t believe our goal should be to just get by, or survive. I believe our goal should be to thrive physically, our goal should be to thrive as human beings here on this planet. So I don’t think anybody’s going to argue with me on this one. I think most people would say that they are trying to do just that. That they are trying to thrive to try to be as healthy as possible.

I think most people strive to do and be more. But the reality might be very different. A lot of people might say they want to be healthy, but their actions really don’t support that. And I think a lot of people are stuck in this cycle of like, self-sabotage where they do things that undermine these goals of theirs.

But I want you to think about this for a minute. Think about how far we’ve come as human beings here on planet Earth. Okay, think about all of the things that could have gone wrong and did go wrong during our evolutionary period. Think about the long, slow process of natural selection.

And how we came out of that, as these thinking intelligent, creative humans. You know, think about the 100,000 years of the last ice age that we survived that we lived through as humans, we evolved through that.

Think about all the natural disasters we’ve survived. Think about how much we’ve endured as humans. And then what we’re just going to stuff our faces with sugar and drink ourselves into oblivion. Today, is this how we’re going to choose to live our lives filled with like, pain and stress and suffering and illness and disease?

Is that really how you want to choose to treat your body because it is a choice you get to choose. Choosing to thrive in your body is a choice you make every single day. You wake up in the morning and you get to decide how you’re going to treat your body today.

And of course, you’re gonna say, oh, I want to be healthy. We all say that. I believe we all want that to I think we all want to be healthy. Nobody wants to be sick or obese. Right? Nobody wants type two diabetes. But do you make the decision daily to do what it takes to thrive in your body? Do you commit to it every single day?

Because I’m going to tell you right now that that is exactly what it takes. It takes a daily commitment and then a recommitment. You get up and you said you’re gonna run but you don’t feel like it so you stay in bed. Or you said you’re not eating sugar but then someone at work left doughnuts in the break room and it’s just a doughnut, right?

And hey, they’re free. So you eat one or two, especially if they have those long johns with a maple icing on them. Those are my favorites. You know, you say you’re not going to do that, but you do. You know what to do, you know, you should choose running over sleeping in, that’s what you wanted to do.

You know, you should walk away without eating the maple covered doughnuts, but you don’t. And it’s in those moments that you’re choosing, you’re making a decision that your health is just not that important to you. It may not seem like a big deal in the moment. But keep putting that together, keep repeating the same cycle over and over again. And where do you get? Where does that get you?

So you’re deciding that 30 minutes of extra sleep is more important than your health or then running that half marathon that you said you wanted to train for. You’re deciding that this pile of fried flour and sugar is more important to you than losing the 10 pounds that you said was so important for you to lose.

You may not want to hear this. But I think you need to hear what I’m saying here. Whether you thrive in your body or not, it’s always a choice. It’s always a decision that you’re making. It’s always a choice you get to make. Now, of course there are some minor exceptions. And I’m not talking about debilitating genetic diseases, cancer and things that like you can’t choose.

Okay, so please, there will be some exceptions to this. But you know exactly what I’m hitting on here. Okay, I’m talking about deciding to create a physically healthy, thriving body. Okay. So a good example of this was like me some years back. My choices were literally like killing me. I was very overweight, I weighed about 230 pounds, so 70 pounds more than I weigh now.

And I was drinking a lot of alcohol. I was basically getting drunk every night. I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. And I had a lot of health problems. I was sick all the time. I was treating my body like a garbage dump. Every day, I was poisoning myself with food and with alcohol.

And you know, at the time, it just felt good. If I knew what I was doing, I knew that I was being unhealthy. But I would sort of make jokes about it. You know, even my friends and family would joke with me and say, oh, look, it’s fatty Patty from Cincinnati as a joke.

And I would sort of go along with it like, oh, yeah, that’s hilarious. But inside, I was like, I was literally dying. I was very self conscious about that. And it was really, it was eating and drinking was how I dealt with life.

And I ended up with a cancer diagnosis. That scared the crap out of me, honestly, it was so scary for me. I had two little kids at the time, and it just scared me straight. Basically, it scared me back to like I had to make a decision to do something. I did not want to die.

And I decided and this was back in like 2003 that I was no longer going to trash my body. I was no longer going to treat my body like a garbage dump. And then I was going to start taking care of myself and that I was going to thrive in my body because the alternative was to deteriorate, to continue to decay, to dwindle away to nothing.

And to live that way, was just no longer acceptable for me. So I made a decision: I chose to thrive in my body. I started eating better. I started running. I stopped smoking, I stopped drinking. And life just like perfect and easy and carefree after that. No, it was hard. I made a lot of mistakes. I had setbacks, I had failures. I was disappointed with myself. I suffered injuries. You know, I gained a bunch of that weight back over time. I tried stuff that worked. I tried stuff that didn’t work. I had some success, I had failures.

And then recently at the beginning of 2020, I re-committed to thriving. I decided once again that I was no longer going to treat my body like a garbage dump. I decided to stop tearing myself down because I became very addicted to carbohydrates and sugar.

And I’d started gaining weight again and I got close to 200 pounds again. I decided that I was going to do whatever it takes to become that healthiest version of myself yet. I made a decision to thrive in my body. And now I’m just telling you, I never want to go back to that person that I was that diseased, inflamed, unhealthy person, I created that body for myself.

And looking back on it, I’m like, what was I thinking? Especially like, smoking cigarettes, oh, my God, it’s terrible. So today, I focus on my future, that future version of myself that’s healthy, happy and thriving. And I want that for you, too. I want that so badly for you. I want you to choose to thrive in that one amazing human body that you have.

So forget the past, forget whatever you’ve done in the past, you are not your past. Your past does not determine your future. I want you to decide today that you want to thrive. And I want you to do something about it starting today. You know, I talk a lot about making decisions. I believe everything we want in our lives is created by a series of decisions.

Tony Robbins says I love this quote, he says, “It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” That is such a powerful quote, I quote this all the time, who you are today, this person that you are, this body that you have today, was created by a long series of decisions that you’ve made over the years, right? Ultimately, who you want to become is determined the exact same way.

Here’s the thing, a lot of people think life is just happening to them. Like it’s out of their hands out of their control. There’s nothing they can do about it, play the cards you’re dealt, it’s all predetermined. I think this is so disempowering, it means that you’re just a puppet. And like there’s some grand, you know, puppeteer, controlling your destiny.

I do not like this concept at all. I think it’s stupid. And I think it will get you absolutely nowhere. I want you to take back your power. I want you to start making decisions that serve you. And this goes for every aspect of your life. You know, not just your physical body, but in everything that you do.

I want you to choose to thrive. I want you to decide that you are going to thrive in this body. And I want you to recommit to that every single day. So what does it look like to thrive in your body? Well, let’s talk about this. It means your body is free from inflammation and illness and disease. It means you physically feel good in your body, it means you are strong and you are fit. It means you’re doing something daily to improve your overall health.

So you might walk, you might run, you might eat real food, you might build strength and endurance, you might work on a positive mindset, you might be taking control of your thoughts and feelings, all of these things is what it looks like to thrive in your body.

And when you focus on thriving, physically, everything in your everything else in your life tends to kind of fall into place naturally. So when you feel good in your body, you know you feel good in your mind. When you have a positive self image of your physical self, you have this positive mental state of mind.

You show up in a more positive way for your partner, for your kids, for your work, for your career, you begin to see better results in everything that you do in your life. I believe 100% that you are capable of so much more than you even realize. I believe you can create the exact body that you want for yourself.

How do you do it? Well, that’s exactly what you’ve been learning here in this podcast in the Facebook group. This is what I do with my coaching clients. Look at who it is you want to be and then decide to start working toward that version of yourself. You know, it’s different for everyone but you can start by eating real food.

You know, stop eating the sugar and refined carbs. I know there’s a lot of different ways you can change your diet to be more healthy. But I just encourage people to eat whole food, eat food that’s close to nature, unprocessed, right? Eat foods our ancestors would have eaten. And for a recap on this, listen to the episode on, Eat Real Food.

And that was our first principle, from the manifesto. You might choose to take a break from alcohol, that might be some way that you choose to thrive. You know, you don’t have to declare yourself an alcoholic or start going to 12 step meetings or, or whatever. But if you feel like you’re drinking too much, you can take a break.

And I work with my clients and I suggest as we begin their new nutrition plan that they may take a break from alcohol for 30 days or so and see how it goes. And if you want help with this, please reach out to me directly, I would love to help you with that.

Another way you might choose to thrive and your body is to start building strength. Decide that you want to build a stronger body, everyone can benefit from strength training, honestly, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort to join a gym and like have a personal trainer on stuff, you can do it a couple times a week workout, lift some heavy things, do bodyweight exercises, use bands, whatever it takes.

But building lean muscle is one of the best things you can do for your overall health and fitness. You might choose to run more as a way of, you know committing to thriving in your body, you might want to run a half marathon or a full marathon or an ultra marathon, you might want to just start running three or four times a week, whatever that looks like for you make a decision, decide that this is important to you, and you’re going to do it.

I committed to running a marathon this month. So I’m running a marathon at the end of this month. And so I’ve been running more. And I’ve just committed to that process. And I have this vision of me crossing the quote unquote, finish line, virtual marathon, right? Whatever that finish line will look like. And I have this vision of myself crossing that virtual finish line. And I’m committed to making that happen. And I feel really good about that decision.

So what would it look like for you to thrive in your body? Think about how you can optimize your health and your fitness. There’s no right or wrong answer here. Do what feels good for you, do what feels right for you. But I want to encourage you, and I want to challenge you to do something to choose to thrive. You may want to just choose some kind of goal for yourself.

A good goal is something that you can measure. So you’ll know when you get there. Like I want to lose 20 pounds or I want to you know, maybe get off of this medication that I’ve been taking for whatever illness that you might have, you know, maybe you want to have more energy.

Maybe you want to be able to run three miles without stopping, you want to think more clearly, lift more weight, you want to be able to do like 10 pull dps. That’s a goal of mine, I want to be able to do 10 pull ups.

You might want to feel more at peace, have more calmness in your life, less stress. You may want to feel happier, like run an ultra marathon, whatever the goal is, make sure it’s tangible, so that you’ll know when you get there. So choose a goal. And then do something today to move toward that goal.

Challenge yourself, see what you’re capable of. Because you know what, you are an amazing, powerful, unique, capable human being you can do anything that you want. But first you have to decide that you want to thrive in that body. Decide that you are not going to settle, that you’re not going to just survive. You’re not going to just make do or subsist or just deal with it. You know or muddle through your life, miserably. Instead, decide that you are going to thrive in your body.

Focus on who you want to become that amazing, healthy future version of you. Focus on thriving and that amazing human body that you have. See what you’re physically capable of. Choose to thrive. Choose it every day. It’s a choice you have to make every day that when you do, you might just blow your own damn mind with who you become.

Okay, I’m going to be diving into all of the other principles from the Running Lean manifesto here in upcoming episodes, I’m really excited to share all this stuff with you. And we will be continuing this conversation over in the Running Lean community on Facebook, join us over there and you can start applying all of these guiding principles to your own life. That is all I have for you today. Lots and lots of love to each and every one of you, my friends, keep on Running Lean. I’ll talk to you soon.

If you’ve tried to lose weight by running miles and miles or starving yourself and you’ve had zero results, you are not alone. This model of weight loss is broken. It’s never worked, and it has to be replaced. That’s why I created a powerful new training just for you called How to Become a lien running machine. You’ll discover why running more and eating less does not work for weight loss and you’ll learn the three secrets to losing weight and keeping it off for good to get this free training right now just go to runningleanpodcast.com/lean and learn how you can become lean running machine.

33. The Power of Making a Real Commitment

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Today, I’m talking about what happens when you commit to achieving something, and I mean really committing to it. It’s like the difference between saying you’re going to run a marathon one day and …

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Podcast Transcript

My name is Patrick McGilvray. And I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, Master Life Coach, and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve learned that running more and eating less does not work for weight loss, and that there’s a better way. Now I help runners like you to get leaner and get stronger, so you can run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.

Hey there, and welcome to episode number 33 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray. I’m your host and weight loss coach for runners. And today I am talking about what happens when you commit to achieving something.

And I mean really committing to something, it’s like the difference between saying you’re going to run a marathon some day, and then actually signing up for a marathon. And then putting together a training plan and then actually training for it. There’s a big difference there.

There’s this subtle but very powerful shift that happens in your brain when you decide to go all in on a goal. Making a real commitment, especially early on in the process is often the one thing that differentiates those who succeed at reaching their goal and those who do not.

But first, I want to tell you a little bit about the Running Lean community on Facebook. If you like this podcast, then you have to come check out the Running Lean community. It’s a positive, energetic, informative group that goes hand in hand with the podcast. It’s a fun group of like minded runners who share common goals like losing weight, running easier, running farther and living a more vibrant life.

I do some weekly trainings in there on a host of topics like the running mindset, running nutrition, similar to the things that I talked about here on the podcast, weight loss, and so much more. So we can take a little bit of deeper dive into some of these issues, and topics.

Here’s a recent comment from a podcast listener and member of the Running Lean community Tammy, she said, “I’ve learned more from Patrick listening to and being part of the Running Lean community and podcasts for the past few months than I have in the past 30 years as an avid runner and workout junkie. His insight on running nutrition and life principles for optimal health are inspiring and encouraging. I’m enjoying running again, for the first time in years have lost weight and have incorporated the knowledge I’m learning into practice. It’s one thing to hear it, but another thing to have someone motivating you and encouraging you to make it happen. It’s made a huge difference. Highly recommend fellow runners to join in.”

Thank you, Tammy, you’re so sweet. Listen, I strive to be an example, to be an example of what is possible. I’ve accomplished a lot in my life for just an average guy. I’m not some elite athlete, I never went to the Olympics or anything like, you know, I’m an average guy. But I’ve done some pretty amazing things.

And I want to encourage you and maybe even push you a little bit to get you outside your comfort zone to help you to accomplish those things that you want in your life. So join us over in the Facebook group, it’s just go to Facebook and search for Running Lean community, you’ll find us it’s fun.

Also, if you’re interested in coaching with me, I’m always available for personal weight loss coaching for runners, you know, losing weight, becoming fat adapted learning how to run on your own body fat, it’s, it’s challenging, not gonna lie, and it’s kind of hard to do on your own. And everybody’s different.

We all have different goals, different needs,and different lifestyles. Working with me, you know, you and I working together, I’ll help you learn exactly how to become that lean, fat burning running machine and do it in a way that works for you and your specific needs and goals.

So you’ll get help and guidance you need to work through obstacles, I help point out your blind spots, things that you cannot see. You get a step by step action plan that will help get you to your goals you get accountability. That’s such a huge part of coaching is the accountability piece.

Motivation, encouragement, keeping moving forward, and tools and skills to help you improve every aspect of your life. Just imagine how much easier losing weight would be if you have someone right there showing you exactly what to do and holding you accountable. So if you want to ditch the sugar, if you want to get off the carbs, if you want to become fat-adapted, lose the weight, feel better, have more energy, you want running to be fun again, sign up with coaching with me. Just go to innerfiretribe.com/weightlosscoaching, one word. And let’s talk. Alright, cool.

So today I am talking about making a real commitment. And I want you to do something here, as I start talking about this, I want to encourage you to start thinking about a goal that you have. So what is that thing that you want to do that maybe you’re a little afraid to do? Or maybe it seems like it’s outside the realm of possibility, it might seem kind of impossible for you to accomplish it, whatever that goal is that you want.

And I want you to start thinking about that, while you’re listening to this episode. Keep that goal in mind, okay. So it might be like you want to lose 30 pounds, it might be you just want to become a fat adapted runner, you might, you may want to like sign up and run your first marathon, or maybe start trail running, or just be healthier overall, like learn how to eat healthier overall, whatever your goal is, doesn’t matter.

Just keep it in mind as we’re going through this material. And then at the end of this episode, I have a little challenge for you. And you’re probably already thinking you know what it is? So we’ll get there. Okay, so keep that goal in mind. You got it, you got it in your head. Awesome.

Okay, so here’s the thing, the difference between people who succeed at stuff and those who don’t, a lot of times just comes down to a commitment. Successful people decide that they are going to succeed, they make a commitment to reach their goal. No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how many challenges they face, they are committed to making that happen.

So they don’t necessarily have some superpower, they don’t have more drive than you, more determination, more willpower, or anything like that. They just early on in the process, they made a decision that they were going all in on this no matter what.

Okay, this is very important that you don’t have to have some gene that like, you know, is required for you to reach big goals, you just have to decide that you’re going to do it. Think about some of the things you’ve already done in your past.

So you’ve made some commitments in the past that were pretty epic. I know you have. And if you’re an avid runner, chances are you’ve signed up for marathons or a half marathon or a triathlon or a 5k or something like that. And at some point, you thought this was something you could never do, right?

And then at some point, you made a decision that you were going to do that no matter what. Early on in the process, you made a decision that you are going to do your first 5k. And I remember when I made the decision that I was going to run my first 10k. This was a big goal for me because I couldn’t run a mile without stopping. And so I made a decision to run a 10k.

And it was the Thanksgiving Day race here in Cincinnati, which is one of the oldest foot races in the country. And it’s been going on for over 100 years. And anyway, it’s a fun race. You know, 15-20,000 people show up on Thanksgiving morning, dress up like turkeys and run 10k. But 10k, you know, 6.2 miles seemed daunting to me, like, Whoa, that’s a big deal.

And so I started training for it. Well, I signed up for the thing, you know, and then I started, I put together a training plan. And when did we have the Internet back then? I don’t even know maybe I went online and picked a training plan. And then maybe I got a book. I don’t remember exactly. It would have been like 2003-2004 or something like that. So yeah, I guess we had the internet back then.

So anyway, I found a training plan. And then I like wrote it all into my calendar and I like stuck to it. Like I made the commitment that I was going to do this no matter what. And I trained hard and I ended up doing that. I made a decision early on in the process, no matter what I was going to cross that finish line.

And I’ve done this a bunch of other times too. When I trained for my first marathon, I made a decision at some point, I think I got kind of hooked after that 10k I was like, dang, if I could do that, I could do anything. I think the next race I signed up for was a marathon.

Actually, I just skipped the whole half marathon thing, and went straight for the marathon. And made a decision when I signed up for that marathon, I paid for it. I like signed up. And that was that was enough that was going to propel me forward. That’s what I needed to do. That was a decision that I had to make. That was the commitment that I had to make.

And then during my training for that first marathon, I ended up getting injured. I had stress fractures in my both of my tibias. And I had to take a bunch of time off of running like six to eight weeks or something like that, I probably didn’t take that much time off, but I had to take a bunch of time off. So it really messed up my training schedule.

My longest run, my longest training run for my first marathon was only 16 miles. So I’ve never run more than 16 miles. And so when I towed the line, at the start of my first marathon, the longest I’d ever run was 16 miles. So this was going to be 10 miles longer. But you know what? I did. I crossed that finish line.

And I’m convinced that making that real commitment early on, was like the rocket fuel that I needed to push me through all those trainings and to push me through injury. And to get me to that start line and get me to the finish line. A very powerful example of this is when I signed up for Ironman in 2013. At the beginning of the year, I decided I was going to do Ironman.

And I got online, and I signed up for Ironman Louisville. And I was like hovering over the submit button on that website form after putting all my information and my credit card information in and I was like, Oh my gosh, as soon as I click this button, I’m committed. That’s the power of making real commitment. And then, of course, I pushed the button.

And I was like, oh, my God, what did I just do? So it kind of like, freaked me out a little bit. And I was full of fear. And I just put together a training plan again. And I had to get through a lot of challenges. During that training, I was struggling with the bike, I couldn’t find the right kind of saddle, I was having all kinds of pain when I was riding, I crashed my bike, kind of like freaked me out when I did that.

You know, I put in like 20 hours a week of training for this thing. And there were so many challenges I had to face. And I’m convinced still, that it was that making that decision early on, that got me through all that training got me through all those obstacles. And that got me across the finish line in a successful completion of that Ironman. Still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

But really, like when I made the decision, when I committed to finishing an Ironman, I knew in my heart and my brain, I knew I was going to do it. And that’s the way I approach things. Not always, but I try. And the same goes for every time I’ve trained for a marathon.

You know, I’ve run like two marathons a year for a bunch of years there. I haven’t done that in a couple of years. But for a while there, it was two marathons a year. And so I was pretty much training all the time. And so I would choose a race, sign up for it. And then I would show up for every single training run for those races. And that’s a commitment. That’s a commitment that goes deep, you know, and it’s something you have to do early on.

So you’ve got to make that commitment early on in the process. But here’s what happens when you make that real commitment. It’ll dictate how you show up every day. It’s got to be something that’s bigger than you first of all, because it has to keep you motivated. It has to keep you energized. It has to get you out there. Even when the weather really sucks when it’s super cold, or it’s dark, snowing, it’s like miserable. Or boiling hot. You know, depending on what time of the year you’re training.

It’s that commitment you make has to be epic. It has to be bigger than you. It has to keep you going even when you don’t feel like it. But when you make a real commitment to reaching a goal, that goal is as good as done. Now let’s transfer this like, think about other types of goals you might have, like, maybe you want to lose weight, or like I mentioned becoming fat-adapted, changing your diet. These same principles apply.

You have to make that commitment early on, it has to be an epic commitment, you have to make the decision that you are going to go all in, that you are going to succeed, no matter what, no matter what challenges come up, no matter how uncomfortable you might get, no matter how hard it might seem, in the moment.

Most people don’t do this though. Most people, you know, dabble in these concepts and principles, when we talk about losing weight, and changing your diet and what you’re eating, and how much you’re eating, and when you’re eating the kinds of foods you’re eating, people do it kinda sorta they don’t make that commitment, they don’t go out there.

And because they’re afraid, they’re afraid of how they might feel, because they might feel sluggish, they might have cravings, they might get an urge to eat some pizza or ice cream. And guess what, those people that kind of dabble that kind of go, not all in it goes sort of a little bit in, they get some little results.

And when things get challenging for them, which they will, they always do, they don’t have anything to fall back on, they don’t have any internal support system, you know, from within themselves. So they might like, maybe they’ve stopped eating sugar, and carbohydrates, okay. And they’re like, you know, I’m kind of committed to stop eating carbs.

And then they’re like, at a friend’s house, and they’re, you know, hanging around and they see a cookie right there. And there’s nothing in them that’s stronger than this urge they’re having in this moment, eat this cookie. And so they just eat cookie right there. You know, think about that, though.

They’re taking this moment, this tiny moment in time. And you know, even though they want to lose weight, they want their health to be better. They want to change the way they eat, they want to change the way they think about food and the way they feel about food. It’s causing them all kinds of problems. But in this moment, that one cookie sitting there is more important than all of that to them.

And they cave and eat the cookie. So that cookie is more important than who they ultimately want to be. Now, I’m oversimplifying this, and I get it sugar is very addictive. That’s why making this commitment to yourself is critical. It really is.

If you want to succeed at losing weight, if you want to succeed at changing your diet, if you want to succeed at becoming fat adapted. You know, you have to go all in with your commitment. You have to have this attitude of like, I am going to make this work no matter what.

When you do, it’s going to work. I can guarantee it. It’s all in your head. It’s all in your thoughts. It really is. But when we make these half ass commitments, you know what you get half assed results every single time. Half assed commitments will get you half assed results if that every single time.

And I know what you’re thinking, Patrick, it’s hard. It’s hard to stop eating sugar. It’s hard to change the way we think about food. And then I want to challenge that thought. Really, is it really harder than say training for a marathon? Is, you know, eating or not eating carbohydrates harder than sticking to a training schedule where you run four to five days a week for months and months on end through the dead of winter to train for a goal. Is that harder than that?

Is it harder than getting up early every Saturday morning? You know, running in the cold and the snow and the rain? I mean, believe me, I have done this so many times. I’ve had some very miserable Saturday morning runs that me and my running friends we still talk about oh yeah, remember that one 22 miler that we did in the freezing rain? Yeah. Where people’s like hands were numb? Yeah, I remember that.

Here’s the thing. You already do hard things. You’ve accomplished some amazing things already. I know you have and you’ve accomplished those things because you committed to accomplishing those things, you have to do that same thing here, I’m not asking you to do anything you haven’t already done.

You know, you just have to go all in, you have to decide early on that this is what you’re going to do, this is who you’re going to be. And that is going to help drive all of your actions. But what happens is we have these thoughts in our brain that this is hard, or I can’t do it. Or, you know, who am I? I’m not good enough. I’m not like you, or whatever the thoughts are, that we have.

So whether you think something is easy, or you think something is hard, these are all just thoughts in your brain, it doesn’t actually mean it’s easy or hard. You know, if you have a thought, like, I can try this fat adaptation thing for a while. And then if it gets kind of hard, I can just go back to eating the way I was before.

What do you think is going to happen if that’s your thought? I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. It will get hard, because it always does. And then you’re gonna go back to doing things the way you’ve always done them, which don’t work, and you’re just going to be stuck where you are. And that’s fine if that’s what you want. Totally fine. And I’ve had clients who’ve done this, so they quit, because they get uncomfortable. They think it’s too hard, and they can’t do it.

But here’s the thing, I have other clients who are doing the exact same thing. And for them, it’s like, super easy. They have just a different thought about it. It’s kind of interesting. Those people are like all in. They’re like, man, yeah, I’m totally committed to making this work. And I’ve had clients who have been like, hey, Patrick, this is challenging, but I’m, I’m committed to making this work.

How do we get through this obstacle? Like I hit a plateau? How do we break through this weight loss plateau here? And I’m like, let’s figure it out. That’s a much better place to come from. It’s very powerful. It’s empowering. Okay, saying it’s too hard. I can’t do it all that you’re giving all your power away, you’re just, you know, basically saying you’re not powerful enough, you can’t, you have no control over all this.

These are just thoughts in your brain, though. But when you make that commitment early on, and that’s just a thought too, by the way, but it’s a super powerful thought. I will do this no matter what. I love this quote from Tony Robbins, he says, “It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

So think about those moments of decision that you have. What are you thinking in those moments? What are you deciding to think in those moments? What kind of a commitment are you making, in those moments of decision, because whatever it is, it will shape your destiny. Whether you think it will or not, it will. It is shaping your destiny.

It’s either moving you closer to your goal and ultimately will get you there, or it’s moving you further away. And you’ll just be stuck where you are. So honestly, the only thing that can stop you from reaching that goal is a thought in your brain. So think about like what thoughts are going through your brain right now around your goal? What thoughts are you having about it?

Some thoughts might be like let’s say your your goal is to you know, get off the sugar, become fat-adapted, lose some weight. Here’s some thoughts that people have. “I’m super addicted to sugar. I crave it all the time. There’s no way I can give it up. There’s just no way I can do it.” That’s just a thought.

Or, “I’ve tried to lose weight before. It’s never worked before. Why should it work now? I’m just gonna fail again. I know I will.” That’s just a thought. Or, “I’m gonna feel deprived. I’m gonna feel hungry all the time. I’m gonna have FOMO (fear of missing out) because other people get to eat pizza and I can’t.” That’s just a thought.

Or like, “This is just gonna be it’s just gonna be too hard. Or people will judge me. They’ll think I’m weird.” People think you’re weird anyway. So okay. People think I’m weird. People don’t like me. There’s a lot of people that don’t like me. I know. It’s crazy, right?

But anyway, there are people out there. And it’s okay. It’s just a thought. It’s just a thought that we all have. But these are like thoughts, all those thoughts that I just kind of ran through, these are actual thoughts from clients. They feel like they’re the truth, but they’re not. They’re just thoughts. They’re just like sentences in our brain. I’ve had clients who think that losing weight on like a low carb high fat diet is the easiest thing they’ve ever done. They say it’s simple, it’s fun.

There’s a lot of freedom in it, and they love doing it. These are just thoughts that people have. And those people that have those kinds of thoughts will tell you what? They reach their goals, and it’s fun, and they enjoy it. Just a thought.

So I want to encourage you to like, go all in whatever that goal is that we were talking about earlier that you are thinking about, let all this stuff come up all these thoughts that you might have, it’s okay, just allow those thoughts should be there, because they’ll come up. But keep going anyway.

You know, we don’t succeed, because we never have never negative thoughts, we succeed because we have negative thoughts. We allow them and we keep going anyway. You know, think about the marathon training, have you ever been out on a long training run in your thought, this sucks, I’m never gonna finish. It’s too hard. I’m never gonna be able to finish this thing. Maybe I should just quit.

Of course, we’ve all had that thought, right. Especially on that cold 20 miler where we had the freezing rain. I was like, this really blows, I hate running. But I kept going anyway, and I finished it. You know, so we could have those thoughts and still do the deal and still, you know, move towards our goal, we can still take the action we need to take to get us there.

Those thoughts can be with us, they can come along for the ride with us, but they’re not driving the bus. They’re like in the passenger seat over there. Okay, we want the thoughts, that’s those, those epic commitments that we have that like, I’m going to do this no matter what we want that driving the bus, okay.

So, something I want you to do here is to think about this, this is a cool kind of exercise you can do. And it’s important that you kind of do this and think about that commitment level that you want to reach that goal that you have, okay. Your six year success, like reaching that goal, achieving that goal, it’s as good as done, when your reason for sticking to it is more compelling than some, you know, physical craving, or some emotional desire or some thought like, I just don’t feel like doing this.

So here’s the kind of little exercise you can do in your mind, it’s a very easy thing to do. But I want you to like, go out into the future, like put yourself out into your future. And you have accomplished that goal. So it is done. So you’re at your goal weight, or you’ve crossed the finish line of that marathon, or you’re healthy and happy, you have a different relationship with food, whatever your goal was, you’ve achieved it, it is done and think about this.

How did you make that happen? How did you get here? What’s the main reason you were able to achieve this goal? What was the commitment that you made early on that kept you going? Obviously, it was something that was very compelling, because it got you through all the challenges, all the obstacles, or the all the hard stuff. It wasn’t some half assed commitment. Right? You went all in.

So what did that look like for you? How did that feel to have that commitment driving you all that time? That got you there? How did that feel? Now hold on to that feeling. And here’s the challenge that I have for you. So at the beginning of the episode, I talked about thinking about a goal, right? Here’s the challenge for you, I want you right now, holding on to that feeling, I want you to make the commitment that you are going to reach that goal no matter what.

No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it might seem to you right now, it might seem impossible for you right now. Still make the commitment. Doesn’t matter how challenging things you’re gonna get or you don’t, you don’t even have to know how you’re going to make it happen. You just have to commit to making it happen. Do that right now.

This is the challenge, make a real commitment right now. And then come over into the Running Lean community on Facebook and share that goal with us. What I bet that just made you feel uncomfortable, right? You’re like oh, I don’t know about sharing my goal. Because it makes it real when you do that. I know it’s scary. And some people don’t like to share their goals and that is totally fine.

Personally, I do share my goals with a few key people in my life like with my coach, with some very close friends, you know, I have some, some goals with my business and things like that, and some, you know, goals for my health and things. I don’t share it like, in a super overt way.

But sometimes I do, sometimes I post in groups, or share with, you know, groups of people, goals that I have. And it’s actually pretty powerful to do that. So if you’re the kind of person that wants to share something with a group of people that would encourage you, I want to encourage you to do that in the Facebook group, just post your goal in there and say, my goal is, or I’m committed to, let’s write it that way.

I’m committed to and then share your goal with us write a post, and then we’re all going to tell you that you can do it, and we’re going to help you achieve that goal. It’ll be fun, and scary, and awesome and amazing and powerful.

Okay. I know some of you are like cringing right now you’re like, dude, really, I don’t want to do that. You don’t have to do that. But I want you to make that commitment in your mind, regardless of whether you post it or not, whether you share it with the world, I want you to make that real commitment in your mind to reach that goal.

And then see what happens, see what amazing, powerful things you can do. Okay, so we’re gonna continue this conversation in the Running Lean community on Facebook. So just go to Facebook, search for Running Lean community, and join us it’s going to be super epic.

And if you enjoy this podcast and you get something out of it, if it helps you in some way, you can show your support by just leaving a quick review on iTunes, I would really appreciate that. Alright, that’s all I got for you today. As always, lots of love to each and every one of you. Keep on Running Lean, and I’ll talk to you soon.

If you’ve tried to lose weight by running miles and miles or starving yourself and you’ve had zero results, you are not alone. This model of weight loss is broken. It’s never worked, and it has to be replaced. That’s why I created a powerful new training just for you called How to Become a Lean Running Machine. You’ll discover why running more and eating less does not work for weight loss and you’ll learn the three secrets to losing weight and keeping it off for good to get this free training right now just go to runningleanpodcast.com/lean and learn how you can become a lean running machine.

17. Making Peace With Uncertainty

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There's a lot of uncertainty happening in our lives right now. Are we going to get sick? Will someone we know get sick? Do I still have a job? Will my 401k ever recover? How are we going to pay the …

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Podcast Transcript

My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, running coach and mindset expert. I believe mindset is the most powerful and most underrated tool you have as a runner. So I’ve devoted my life to helping runners like you develop the mindset you need to fuel your inner fire and become the badass runner you were meant to be. This is The Running Mind podcast.

Well, hey there, and welcome to The Running Mind podcast. My name is Patrick McGilvray. I’m your host and the life coach for runners. And I teach runners like you how to stop struggling and start getting the results that you want in your life. And that’s what I’m doing here on the podcast, I want to teach you how to manage your mind and take back control of your life. So you can stop overeating, or quit drinking, or stop feeling so unsure of yourself all the time.

I want to teach you how you can start achieving more and start becoming the badass runner that you were always meant to be. Listen, you get to choose, you decide who you want to be. So start making better decisions. Alright, today I’m talking about making peace with uncertainty. And this is kind of a follow up to a recent podcast that I did called how to manage your mind during uncertain times. And that’s episode number 11.

And to find that, you can just go to therunningmindpodcast.com/11. And you can actually find all the episodes that way, just go to the running mind podcast.com/ and then whatever number of the podcast. So for instance, this is podcast number 17. But anyway, in that episode, I talked about how your thoughts cause your feelings, and how you can take ownership of those thoughts so you can feel better and choose how you want to show up in your life, especially during this global pandemic during this global crisis that we are all involved in right now.

So today, I want to take a little deeper dive specifically into this issue of uncertainty because this has been coming up a lot. Lately, I hear a lot of people talking about how uncertain things are. You know, I hear people saying like, am I gonna get sick? Well, somebody I know gets sick. We don’t want our business, our business is going to have to reopen again. I gotta get my hair and my nails done, we’re gonna get back to running with my group. Will my 401k ever recover?

Well, all my races will be canceled this year. Well, I have a job. How am I gonna pay the rent? You know, what do we do about all this homeschool time? When are things gonna get back to normal? When are we gonna be able to buy toilet paper again? So there’s all this uncertainty, all these thoughts about uncertainty. And when we think all these thoughts, and think about all of this uncertainty, how is that affecting us?

Well, it’s creating a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, stress, worry, doubt. All of these thoughts, these thoughts about the future is uncertain, are causing all of these unwanted feelings inside of us. And we’re making ourselves miserable. Why do we do this? And then what happens when we think these thoughts and we feel all this fear and stress and anxiety like we feel all these unwanted feelings? What do we do? You know, how do we behave?

What actions are we taking when we feel this way? Well, for a lot of us, we go to the fridge, you know we eat over it, we drink a lot more. We veg out in front of the TV, we just want to numb out you know, maybe we get angry, we yell at the kids, we have a fight with our husband. Or maybe for some of us we just don’t do anything at all. We just sort of check out, we avoid and ignore and just check out completely, ignore everyone and ignore everything.

So how is all this working out for you? You know if this is you, if any of this resonates with you at all, how’s this working out for you result? What results are you getting from taking these actions or not taking any action? Probably terrible results.

You know, I know a lot of people are gaining weight. They feel hungover all the time. They’re not getting enough sleep. You know, they’re not getting any work done. Their kids are afraid of them. Their husband doesn’t want to talk to them. Work sucks. Running sucks. Life sucks. And then you can say see because of all this uncertainty, my life sucks.

All this uncertainty is making me eat too much. It’s making me drink too much and making me angry all the time. This damn coronavirus lock down is making my kids and my husband hate me. You get the exact results that you are focused on. When your thinking is terrible, you feel terrible. And you take terrible actions and you get terrible results. Your results are always directly related to your thoughts.

But here’s the truth that so many of us are not seeing right now. Life is always uncertain. Your life has always been 100% uncertain, your future is always uncertain. There’s no such thing as certainty, ever. It’s a myth. Actually, that’s not entirely true. There are two things that are certain number one, you are a human being alive on the planet Earth right now. And number two, you will die. These two things are certain. But only these two things.

Everything else is uncertain. It’s unknown, everything else is up for grabs. Now think about it this way. Think back to a few months ago. Were you certain about what you’d be doing right now? My guess is you probably felt pretty certain about where you’d be right now. You are probably you’d have, if somebody asked you three, four months ago, you’re probably you know, very certain that you’d be like running your spring marathon right now, maybe even this weekend, you’d be going to work every day, you’d be making the same amount of money, you’d be paying your mortgage just like normal.

You might have been going on that vacation, or at the very least going out to dinner with friends and hanging out at Starbucks, having a coffee. But guess what? You are wrong about all that. You thought you had all this certainty, but it’s just an illusion. The truth is, life is always uncertain.

And I’ve experienced this profoundly lately, if you’d asked me five or six months ago, where I’d be today, I would have told you with 100% certainty that I’d be married, I’d still be living with my wife. I’d be running with my friends, I’d be coaching the running group, I’d be getting ready for the Flying Pig this weekend.

I’d be working my day job, I’d be going out for coffee and dinner with friends, I’d be working out at the gym. And all of that would have been dead wrong. You know, today I’m separated from my wife, I’m living alone in my own place. I’m about to get divorced. I’m not running with friends. I’m not coaching the training group, there are no training groups, there is no spring marathon.

My job, my day job has been canceled. Two, the gyms are closed, the restaurants are closed. There’s a global pandemic and I have to wear a face mask every time I go to the grocery store. I never in a million years would have predicted any of this stuff. All of this is 100% different than what I thought my life was going to be like.

I was so certain about everything, so certain about what things were gonna look like today, and I was wrong. And here’s what you have to wrap your head around, your life is always uncertain. We have no idea what’s going to happen three months from now or three weeks from now or even three days from now. And all the worrying about the future, all the fear, the anxiety, the stress, it’s making us miserable.

We need to accept the fact that life is uncertain. We need to make peace with all of this uncertainty. And we need to acknowledge and accept that there is no such thing as certainty ever. There never was, and there never will be. So stop thinking and worrying about your future. It’s not serving you. It’s making you miserable and your life sucks because of it.

Start accepting that life is uncertain and then move on. It’s like start practicing radical acceptance of everything that’s happening around you. And then get on with living your life right here and right now. Now, I’m not suggesting that you don’t plan anything for the future ever. Just give up on your dreams and goals. Not at all. Make your plans, set your goals. Keep the dream alive.

Get your training plan together, visualize the future that you want and go after that. But just know that anything could happen between now and then. And you have to be able to roll with it. So by all means, prepare, plan, schedule, but then be ready to go with the flow. Life is always uncertain, you have to make peace with the uncertainty.

If you’re constantly thinking the thought like life is uncertain, and all these terrible things might happen to me and my family. Thinking this thought over and over and over again. It’s going to cause all kinds of internal misery, misery, the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the worry, the doubt, thinking these thoughts constantly is going to cause you so much internal suffering. Because what you’re doing is you’re trying to control your future. And it doesn’t work. It never works. It just creates a lot of inner turmoil.

So how about trying on a new thought like, life is always uncertain. And no matter what it brings, I can handle it, bring it on. Damn. How do you think you’d feel if you focused on this thought over and over again? You’d probably feel a lot more secure, confident and at peace with what is you wouldn’t have all this internal suffering and be a better human to be around, you know.

You’d get more done, you’d be able to show up for your work and be able to show up for your kids for your husband, be a lot happier. Listen, when you can manage your thoughts, you create so much inner peace. All this uncertainty just becomes a part of your life, it doesn’t matter anymore. You can be at peace with all of it. You can handle any curve balls that life throws at you, you can become a real mental badass.

Lose your job, no big deal. I’ll find another one. Maybe even a better one. Wife wants a divorce. No problem, I’ll find another one. Maybe even a better one. Unsure of how you’re going to pay the rent this month? I got it. I’ll figure it out. I always do. I’m super creative. I’m tenacious, I’m driven. I got this. This is such a powerful concept.

I hope you’re grasping this. And you can apply this to everything in your life. No matter what the circumstances out there, whatever’s going on outside of you around you always know that the future is always uncertain. And if you just accept this fact, and make peace with the uncertainty, there’s nothing that you can’t do.

You know, think about this, what could you accomplish, if you just stopped trying to predict and control the future and just accepted all of it. And then you did your best, you showed up, you suit it up and you did your best no matter what. My guess is that you’d be a lot happier, your life would be a lot less stressful, you’d probably be a lot more fun to be around, you’d get more done, you’d probably sleep better.

The choice is yours. You always get to choose. You can keep trying to predict, control everything in the future, live in a state of constant worry and anxiety and fear and suffering. Or you can make peace with all of it. Make peace with the uncertainty, practice radical acceptance of all of it. And then live your life fully, show up every day more confidently knowing that no matter what happens today, tomorrow, six months from now that you got this you can handle all of it.

There’s nothing you can’t do. There’s nothing that will phase you. There’s nothing you can’t handle. Bring it on. Okay. That’s all I got for you today. I wanted to make this short and sweet. I want to leave you with that. Okay, and I’d love to hear what you think about this. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Are you confused? You have questions? Reach out anytime. hello@innerfiretribe.com. And much love to you my friends. I’ll see you soon.

If you’ve tried to lose weight by running miles and miles, are starving yourself, and you’ve had zero results, you are not alone. This model of weight loss is broken. It’s never worked, and it has to be replaced. That’s why I created a powerful new training just for you called How to Become a Lean Running Machine. You’ll discover why running more and eating less does not work for weight loss, and you’ll learn the three secrets of losing weight and keeping it off for good to get this free training right now just go to therunningmindpodcast.com/lean and learn how you can become a lean running machine.