How to overcome any excuse and hit your health and weight loss goals with one simple mindset shift
Mama, have you ever felt defeated by your weight loss goals? Does it feel like no matter how hard you try to lose weight, it just won’t work? Sometimes it feels like our bodies are betraying us - jerk hormones! Maybe you keep starting a healthy diet only to have work, an event or a celebration throw you off track. No matter what excuse it is, there is one simple mindset shift that can help you overcome it. It’s called the sugar cookie theory.
My son is a huge fan of the US military. He will read just about any book by military personnel and he loves the mindset books/podcasts/etc. One book we ended up reading as a family was “Make Your Bed” by Admiral William H. McRaven. In the book, Admiral McRaven talks about his time in the Navy Seals.
During his Basic Seals training there was a daily exercise where the instructor would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. He said, “It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform pressed, your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges.”
Without fail, one Seal wouldn’t pass the inspection, even though their uniforms looked perfect. Whoever failed, had to run fully clothed into the surf zone, until they were completely soaked. Then they had to roll around in the sand until every inch was covered in sand. They had to stay in the wet, sandy uniform for the rest of the day. This was known as a “sugar cookie”
Let me tell you how the Navy Seals “sugar cookie” applies to your health.
Life isn’t going to go the way you want, and that’s ok.
Admiral McRaven went on to say, “There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. . . Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.”
Mama, as much as I hate to say it, but eating healthy and losing weight is never going to be perfect. It’s going to have its ups and downs.
You’re going to battle with how your body reacts to food.
You’re going to struggle with circumstances beyond your control.
You’re going to do every single thing right and the scale isn’t going to do what you want it to do.
You are never going to have a perfect weight loss experience.
But that’s ok.
That’s how life goes. We try to do everything right, and we still have to go through hard times - we have to be a sugar cookie.
That doesn’t make you a failure, it just makes you human.
Those Navy Seals didn’t pack up and go home because they had to be a sugar cookie. They worked in those wet, sandy clothes all day. They pushed through. Then the next day they got back up and did it all again. And that’s exactly what you have to do if you want to live a healthy life.
Health is a lifelong commitment, not just a 12-week commitment
Healthy people think about their nutrition every day. Unhealthy people think about their nutrition every day. The difference is that healthy people get to reap the benefits of paying attention to their nutrition, while unhealthy people waste time worrying about it and end up paying a high price for their choices.
Ultimately, you get to choose which path you want to take. If you want to lose weight, keep it off, build muscle, and feel good internally, then you have to make healthy living a priority in your life.
My Macros Made Easy Program is 12 weeks long. If you commit to my program - or any nutrition or exercise program for that matter - and you come in with an attitude of “everything will be perfect 12 weeks from now” you’re going to be disappointed.
If you want to live a healthy life, if you’re not just looking for a quick fix, then you have to take the time to learn about your nutritional needs.
When you commit to a program, you’re not actually committing to hitting your ideal weight or ideal body in a few weeks. You’re committing to learning the skills and creating habits that will set you up for the rest of your life.
That’s how Macros Made Easy is set up. We work so hard on creating healthy habits and learning about our nutritional needs so that when you’re finished with the 12 weeks you have a solid foundation to accomplish your goals on your own.
Having healthy habits in place will be your saving grace when you have a sugar cookie day.
Get back on track when you have a sugar cookie day.
But what happens when you have a sugar cookie day? What if you get caught in work meetings and you don’t have time to eat for the whole day?
What happens if your kids have games all day Saturday and you don’t get to meal prep?
What happens when you go to the holiday party and you drink a little too much?
What happens when life just overwhelms you and you find yourself at the drive-thru ordering the biggest, greasiest hamburger you can find?
First, you don’t punish yourself! We already discussed that life isn’t going to be perfect - you aren’t expected to be perfect!
Sometimes, it’s going to be your turn to be a sugar cookie. But the next day (or the next meal) is an opportunity to get back on track.
One thing that I hear from so many mamas, is that they fail a diet because they let one bad meal roll into two bad meals, into a bad day, into a bad week, into a bad month. And then, they’re at the beginning again.
Mama, a bad meal, a bad day, a bad week does not make you a bad person. It doesn’t make you an unhealthy person!
When you get off track and need to come back, you can use your knowledge of macro tracking and food to get yourself back on track. You don’t have to give up on yourself because life got in the way.
Don’t allow your sugar cookies moments to take you away from what you deserve: a body that works for you. You deserve to be healthy. You deserve to feel amazing in your skin. You deserve to show up for yourself. You deserve the tools and the know-how!
Mama, you deserve to love yourself! And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.
If I could teach you how to overcome those sugar cookie moments and reach your health goals would you want it? Let’s chat.
