I’m sure that, by the title of this blog, you, like most people, are overly concerned about your weight and that’s partially for good reason, since half of the population is either overweight or obese.
However, obsessing over your weight can also be a bad thing that can lead you on a never-ending yo-yo dieting cycle that further imbalances your body.
And while the focus of this blog is about my weight, before I move forward, I have to make one thing very clear.
Weight, or weight-loss, is NOT my primary focus or the focus of my practice.
With that being said, weight-loss is a positive by-product of successfully completing one of my programs.
Because as I always say and remind my clients, “if you take care of yourself from the inside, the outside will take care of itself.”
However, I feel that it’s important to highlight that after all these years, of me being a top performing athlete and a competitive bodybuilder, to now just walking, doing Yoga and Pilates, I’ve been able to maintain my high school weight and shape by implementing 4 pivotal practices into my everyday life.
So, let’s dive into how I’m able to do just that!
#1: I Practice Intentional & Intuitive Nutrition
If you’re not familiar with what that is, I talk about it in more detail in this video.
To briefly sum up, I listen to my body’s cues (intuitive) and practice mindful eating (intentional).
I’m conscious of what I’m consuming and why I’m consuming it instead of mindlessly consuming food. This helps keep my weight in check and I don’t have to worry about the pounds creeping up on me because I’m aware of what I’m eating on a daily basis.
#2 I Manage My Stress and Lifestyle
Stress doesn’t just cause an increase in your cravings and an imbalance in your hormones, it’s also a silent killer. Read how stress impacts your body or watch how stress is a silent killer.
Stress activates your Sympathetic Nervous System, also known as Fight or Flight.
This system keeps us safe in times of danger by flooding our body with the necessary stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
However, when you’re constantly emitting these stress hormones, your body breaks down and consistently craves more energy aka food. And as you know, you’re not craving healthy foods when your stressed. Your body craves high fat and high sugar foods.
So, with all that being said, I set up my lifestyle in a way that minimizes my stress levels. This is what I call Lifestyle Management.
This keeps my stress levels and weight in check, because I’m not indulging in stress eating, which adds on the unnecessary pounds.
#3 I Practice Self-Care & Self-Awareness
Self-care and self-awareness are both necessary when it comes to losing or maintaining one’s weight.
Self-care helps to increase self-awareness, which, in turn, helps you become more in tune with your body and its needs.
Now, when I speak of self-care, I’m not talking about mani’s and pedi’s or playing golf, I’m talking about the activities that get you more connected with your inner-yourself. Things to help you process your emotions and feelings instead of suppressing them, which causes sickness and dis-ease. Some of these activities include meditation, journaling, walking in nature. These activities activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System, also known as Rest and Digest, that helps naturally reduce stress and naturally heal the body.
#4 I Changed My Relationship with Working Out
In fact, I haven’t “worked out” in years and changed the term to movement instead and it has made all the difference in the world in maintaining my weight. Contrary to popular belief, you can actually work out too much and in doing so, you work against yourself. In essence, when you work out too much, you’re putting your body under too much stress (remember what I said about stress earlier?), causing it to break down; especially if you’re not refueling it properly afterwards.
So, instead of going beast mode like I used to, I intuitively listen to my body and give it what it needs in this department as well. For the past several years, this has only included low-impact movements like walking, Yoga and Pilates….that’s it. And I’ve still been able to maintain my high school weight!
In fact, I recently told a client to STOP working out and now she’s down 10lbs by following my program and philosophy.
Now, if you’ve been a past client of mine or happened to read through my website, you’re familiar with these four practices as they are my proprietary Signature Four Pillars of Holistic Health which I created over a decade ago and are the foundation of my programs.
They were created through my personal experience and after being in the industry for over a decade and seeing how people were/are being misled into just “eating right” and “working out”.
Because if those were the only two factors that played a role in achieving and maintaining your health, we’d have a lot more healthier and happier people walking around.
That’s because there’s more to it than that and that’s where my Signature Four Pillars of Holistic Health come in.
I wanted to share this because with it being summertime, more people turn to crash diets and detoxes to look their best for the summer, only to throw it all out the window come Fall.
By following these four pillars, you will never have to worry about going on another diet again.
Are you finally done with crash diets and detoxes or need a reboot to get you back on the right track?
Get started with the 7-Day Holistic Mind & Body Reboot Mini Program today!
Until next time,
Health & Happiness
💚 Jennifer
