Is it possible to enjoy your vacation, enjoy your food and make progress towards your goals at the same time?
Yup, I do believe it is.
As I prepare for a bunch of vacations and family holiday celebrations, I thought I’d share with you some general holiday & vacation strategies that go beyond “eat less, move more and only eat what you love”.
In today’s episode we’re talking about finding the intersection between pleasure and happiness while you travel or celebrate as well as specific strategies for blending progress & celebration.
In October 2019, our relationship with Thrive Market changed. They decided to put their marketing dollars in avenues outside of podcasting but we still think they’re a good choice if you’re looking to save money on health & personal care products.
It has been an incredibly rushed couple of months. I’ve rushed through my actions. I’ve rushed in my communication. I’ve felt rushed & hurried in my thoughts. It’s been shitty at times, but it’s also been a phenomenal chance to practice slowing down. It’s been a great chance to practice being grateful & present instead of frustrated and distracted.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
It felt like it was never enough. There was never enough time. I was never productive enough. Never focused enough. Never eating clean enough. Never sleeping enough. Everything in my life was not enough.
Except that was just a perspective I chose.
When I’d catch myself in a frenzied moment of rushing through everything that needs to get done, I’d try to remind myself to slow down.
Sometimes, my boyfriend or my sister would say, “Hey. Stop rushing. Relax. There is no fire.”
I’d challenge myself to reframe my “not enough” thoughts.
Having a lot of work to do isn’t a burden. It’s a huge blessing. How fortunate I am to have a lot of work versus not having enough.
Preparing for ASCEND is a gift. The event will have a greater impact if I’m preparing for it calmly, patiently and with gratitude for every thought communicated than if I’m preparing for it by rushing & merely trying to get things done.
Can I eat cleaner? Always. But instead of getting all huffy-puffy about choices that could have been better, how about I focus on how I can take great care of myself for the rest of the day?
Having 15 priorities in a day isn’t a burden. And being irritated and rushed doesn’t help them get done well. It just makes me miserable. Alternatively, I can take a deep breath and fully enjoy what I need to do next.
Slow down. Stop rushing. Stop freaking out because you have a job, a family and things to take care of.
Your blessings aren’t burdens and you’re wishing away your life by rushing and creating days of checking off boxes.
When we rush, we are less happy & less effective.
We are often impatient and dissatisfied. What a terrible way to live.
Slow down. Smile. Be present and do the next thing.
…
Ah, today’s workout. Talk about a rushing kind of day! I’ve had to be so intentional about slowing down. I have several dozen things I want to get done before my Punta Cana trip but I also have a doctor appointment, dentist appointment, appointment to fix my iPhone X, two visits with my chiropractor and I need to return clothes I bought for ASCEND but didn’t end up wearing.
It was an easy day to justify not going to the gym but I don’t make choices based on what is easy. I make choices based on what is right.
I didn’t get there in the morning but I made it to the gym after my doctor appointment.
This format of workout is one of my faves. 4 minutes go by so quickly & then I’m ready to push again! A great workout!
On the food front:
My early morning is brought to you by Picnik Butter Coffee! I drink the cappuccino flavor because it has the least sugar. I bought a 6-pack from Thrive Market before ASCEND and still had a couple bottles left.
After my workout I stopped at Chipotle Mexican Grill and got a salad with steak & guacamole – no rice, no beans. It was so good!
Dinner was a repeat of yesterday – that sauce I made last night was so good I had to make it again! I started by roasting a bulb of garlic and then I added a few roasted cloves in the Vitamix with bone broth & cashews. Oh, and salt. Salt was needed. It was freakin’ yummy!
I poured the sauce over plain chicken thighs & broccoli. Super tasty!
When I weighed over 350 lbs, I thought for sure that losing weight would make me happier. In fact, I was certain that happiness & body weight went together. Cause & effect.
Lose weight, get happier. I was wrong.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
If you’re unhappy before losing weight, losing weight won’t make you happy.
I talked about this at length this past weekend at ASCEND and shared my primary takeaways in today’s podcast. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I strongly recommend it.
We pursue external goals less for the external goal itself (weight loss, debt reduction) but because of the internal target we’re trying to hit (happiness, confidence, peace of mind).
We think they go together. They do not.
I saw this picture on the AgentSteven Instagram page the other day and it beautifully depicts the truth about change.
External goals don’t hit internal targets.
If you want to be happier, you have to pursue happiness.
Losing weight means you weigh less. That’s all.
There are tons of lean & thin people who aren’t happy. Who aren’t confident. There are tons of wealthy people who aren’t peaceful.
These external goals do not come with internal improvements.
Another day, another workout! Once again, I wasn’t looking forward to going to the gym. However, I don’t make these choices based on what I want to do. I make these choices based on what is the right thing & the best thing for me to do.
FITNESS On the Minute x 10
4 Power Snatches
followed by…
“Run Down”
4 Rounds:
15 Power Snatches (75/55)
60 Single Unders
200 Meter Run
You guys know I don’t love the running workouts but I always feel proud & energized when they’re done!
On the food front:
I kicked off the day with a whole bunch of coffee & a packet of Artisana coconut butter from Thrive Market. Throughout the morning I had a couple handfuls of macadamia nuts (also from Thrive).
Around 3pm I whipped up some bacon & eggs – 3 slices of bacon & 2 eggs over easy.
Yesterday at Whole Foods I picked up some faux noodles and I had them for dinner tonight with broccoli, grilled chicken and some more of that garlic, bone broth and cashew cream sauce. What a freakin’ treat!!
ASCEND, the live Primal Potential transformation weekend, wrapped up on Saturday afternoon. It was amazing. In fact, “amazing” doesn’t do it justice. It exceeded my hopes and touched people in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. I feel so grateful.
One of the questions I asked on Saturday was, “What do you believe in more: your past or your potential?”
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
We talked about how so many of us are being led more by our fears & our wounds than by what we want for our lives.
We are reactive. Our lives control us instead of us controlling our lives.
We are running from what has hurt or disappointed us instead of running to what excites us about our future.
As we shared primary takeaways at the end of the weekend, one client shared her breakthrough:
She no longer wants to live a life that’s about running from her past. She wants to run to her future. To her potential. To her best life.
I feel the same way. One approach is fueled by pain. The other is fueled by hope & excitement.
I don’t want to run from anything.
I want my life to be about what I’m running towards.
Is your life about what you’re running from? Obesity, depression, exhaustion, debt….
Or is your life about what you’re running towards? Health, energy, connection, joy…
How can you make a shift?
How can you focus more on what you’re running to and less on what you’re running from?
I want to wrap with a quick question for you:
How or where did you find Primal Potential? Would you be willing to take a quick second to comment & let me know? Thanks so much!
…
Exhausted from such a powerful weekend, I went to bed at just before 9pm last night and woke up feeling rested around 3:30am. I was down on Cape Cod and hopped in the car to head back home.
I was home by 5am but didn’t stop for my normal morning workout. I stayed focused on work & hit the gym around noon for a great workout!
Dude. This was an IMPOSSIBLE workout. It kicked my ass completely! Holy moly!
On the food front:
There were more indulgences than normal over the weekend (tequila shots with one of my clients, some dark chocolate during the event, wine afterwards, etc) so I wasn’t too hungry today and wanted to keep it very clean.
I fasted until my workout and then headed to Whole Foods. I picked up some stuff for later in the week (stay tuned) but today I kept it really simple.
Grilled chicken & broccoli with a homemade “cream” sauce. There was no cream in the cream sauce, just bone broth, cashews & garlic in the blender. The cashews make it super creamy! I had some around 3pm and some more around 6pm. Yay for minimal cleanup!
Pleasure is not the same thing as happiness. I got them confused for a really long time.
I thought eating made me happy. Specifically, I thought sugar, ice cream, Mexican food and swedish fish made me happy. Yes, they brought me pleasure but they didn’t make me happy. In fact, they made me pretty unhappy.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
Pleasure is momentary. It’s fleeting. It doesn’t last.
Happiness reflects your outlook. Happiness is about your overall satisfaction with and enjoyment of your life.
Food can definitely bring you pleasure. Food can also contribute to or take away from your happiness.
Trouble starts when we confuse the two or think that we can only have one or the other.
In episode 409 of the Primal Potential podcast, I talk about the difference between these two and, more importantly, how we can work to get both pleasure & happiness from what we eat, how much we eat and the way we eat. I think this episode is a must-listen!
…
I had talked myself out of working out today because of my ASCEND schedule. But, after going through my schedule for the day (last night), I realized I can totally make time for a workout and it will absolutely make me feel better for the rest of the day. So, to the gym I went.
“Big Nasty”
3 Rounds:
7 Burpee Pull-ups
50 Air Squats
10 Hang Power Snatches
My butt was feeling sore from yesterday’s deadlifts so those air squats felt harder than normal, but I’m still glad I got the workout in! Here’s to finding a way instead of a way out!
On the food front:
ASCEND starts tonight! I’m crazy excited & also crazy busy! Today is one of those rare days where I chose to “eat” before my workout. Since I got up at 4am and I know today will be a long, frenzied day, I made modified bulletproof coffee around 5:30am.
I got a new-to-me “smoothie mix” from Thrive Market. It’s not intended for coffee but since I was adding coconut cream to the coffee, I thought I’d see how it turns out. The organic smoothie mix has chia seeds, flax seeds, turmeric & a bunch of other goodies. I think it would definitely be better in a smoothie, but since I’m not a fan of protein shakes, I don’t drink a lot of smoothies.
In October 2019, our relationship with Thrive Market changed. They decided to put their marketing dollars in avenues outside of podcasting but we still think they’re a good choice if you’re looking to save money on health & personal care products.
I went out to lunch in Boston and enjoyed a burger without the bun – no fries.
We’re having a meet-n-greet tonight for ASCEND and I’m sure I’ll munch on the veggies, cheese & chicken! I’m planning to stay away from the wine though because I want to be really fresh & clear headed for our kick off tomorrow!
