FightSmith Training

Tracking your food:
Honestly what I think is one of THE top things to do when getting into your health, especially when it comes to weight management.

Cuz here’s the deal:
Weight comes down to a balance of energy. How much you consume vs how much you use.
We like to focus on the workouts and the movement aspect, but not the food.
Which is super imbalanced. Think about it: you might workout once a day, three or four times a week?
But how often are you eating? That’s going to have WAY more time around it.

Tracking your food also offers a lot psychologically too.
- Tracking offers an actual quantitative measure to food. Focusing less on “good” or “bad” and removing the guessing game.
- It offers a comparison. How much are you ACTUALLY eating vs how much do you THINK you are eating. It can be super demotivating when you are using your feelings and assumptions of “doing everything right” but still not seeing a change on the scale. It’s your food. It’s always the food. You’re eating too much and you’re not aware. Tracking will absolutely smack you with reality.
- Tracking is also a little measure of accountability. Especially when you have someone else looking at your log and weigh ins. It’s a time to be honest. Mostly with yourself. Log the things you ate and drank. Honestly. Accurately. It forces you to be more mindful about what and how much you’re eating. Ya know, mindfulness in life being important and all that 😉

If you’re not tracking your food, and you’re struggling to see a change in your weight despite feeling like you’re doing all the “right” things…it’s time to start tracking.

Remember, this is about being your own scientist. We’re looking for hard metrics, actual numbers, to quantify our health. And remove the guesswork, and emotions, and how we assume we are doing.

🤘👍

⚠️ warning- some real talk and acceptance from me ⚠️

We’ve all seen it. The amazing before and after pics from health and fitness products, programs and influencers.
Some are blatant and you can tell it’s not even the same person. Some are simple tricks like this.
Literally SECONDS apart. Just change the angle of the camera and better lighting and 💥 bam, whole different person.

I’ve apparently been on a theme this week. Honestly a lot of it is due to what I have heard from people when talking about their motivation and their own fitness journey. I think a lot of it comes from the industry selling magic beans and snake oil to people.

I also think a lot of it, is that people are too trusting. There is very little accountability in most places, especially the health world. So you, the customer have got to start looking at the products and programs through a critical eye.
-Is the message based on science and research or full of anecdotal “client testimonials”
-is it evidence based (and is it cited with studies) or just makes claims like “science proven”, “industry standard”, “client approved”
-does it seem too good to be true: ie, does it break basic rules of nature- an extreme amount of fat loss or muscle gain in a very short amount of time
——————
Don’t get me wrong. Im not saying before/after pics are inherently wrong. They can be a great tool to show physical changes.
I am saying however, be critical when their is a SALE as the intent of the message.

And honestly…stop using comparison of what someone looks like as your basis to determine what YOU should look like.

Work on nutrition. Teach yourself portions and calories.
Eat more protein and worry less about what you “can’t have”
Get more steps and daily activity
Maybe touch a few weights 2-5 times a week. Nothing intense. Just a little something.
Drink water.
Get sleep.
Intentionally work on your mental health. Go to therapy. Journal your emotions. Actively work on how you talk about yourself.

Worry less on how to change the before to the after, and worry about the NOW.

Happy new year!
Much like myself and many others, you may be finding yourself starting new goals…or in some ways, feeling like you’re starting over.

And I have what I hope are some helpful tips with goals and starting fresh

1- You gotta be honest
Sounds ridiculous but it’s true. What do you REALLY want? And even more so, what are you actually willing to sacrifice. Because to reach any goal, you’re gonna have to give up a lot.
You can’t reach something you haven’t had before by continuing to do the same things that have kept you where you are. Maybe that sounds ridiculous and philosophical but it’s true.
If you want to lose weight, get in “better shape”, etc- then TRULY, you can’t eat the same, move the same, sleep the same, or generally live the same. A lot needs to change, for a lot to change.
Part b of this being honest- remove the guilt, shame, and what you think others want of you. What do YOU really want for you? Now find the courage to do that.

2- Start small
My god this one hits me so hard. We want BIG changes and we want them NOW.

This is why magic pill supplements and fat burning 6 week challenges are so popular. I’ve done them. I’ve promoted them. And I genuinely don’t know a single person that has done one of those and made LASTING changes. And let’s be honest, that’s your real goal.
Your goal is NOT “I want to lose 15 lbs and get in better shape…and then gain it all back after I lose it…and redo this whole process next year and be pi**ed off about it not sticking”.
So ditch the crash diets and the soul crushing boot camp “challenges”.

Start small. Go for more walks in the week. Are you not walking at all right now? Then make a plan for this weekend to go walk at least once this week. Make that a habit for a few weeks. Then add another day in a month or so.
Not drinking enough water? Add an extra glass first thing in the morning.
Not stretching enough? (That’s all of you. If you’ve ever complained about back pain, good chance that’s you. Stretch dummy.)
Just move around. Try to reach your toes and hold that spot where it’s comfortable for 30 seconds. Can’t reach your toes? Try again tomorrow.

POINT IS- find an honest goal and then start small