We have many women who have sustained their fitness level but Kimberley was the very first to be labeled the “Every Day Venus”. We now have many in the community who have followed in her footsteps.
How do you sustain your new body once you achieve your fitness goal?
Why do people relapse?
It is a new way of living. It’s not the way you lived that got you to gain weight, and it’s also not the way you lived to lose the weight, it’s a new third way of living.
This third way is usually not thought of for maintenance. It is 90% mental. You are moving from a honeymoon phase back to dealing with real life in your new fit body.
Sustainability for maintenance is a new concept completely. There is a lot of mental change that needs to take place.
Expectations – Shift your expectations once you’re in a new phase of your diet and fitness life.
Change of your expectations; you aren’t going to have the same rush of excitement as when you were losing weight. You thought this was going to fix everything in your life, but now you are just dealing with the day to day stress of life. There are not really any exciting changes anymore with regard to fitness goals.
Flexibility – Must learn to be flexible with your thoughts, and actions.
Be Flexible; with the challenges of life, the messiness, and boredom, you can’t let the bad days define you. Don’t let yourself get into a negative cycle because your expectations about what maintenance were not what you thought it would be like.
You are worth the effort to stay fit. For the 12 weeks during a contest or challenge you may have been able to be more inflexible but that is not a sustainable way to live. Now as you move on in life you need to learn to live your normally life again.
Vulnerability – Must accept and manage your vulnerability.
Bad days will happen; you must get back on with life and it’s messy sometimes. If you don’t accept your vulnerability you will fall into a trap of having unrealistic expectations of yourself that leads to a feeling of failure.
Accepting your vulnerability; you are still going to have fears. You are still not going to be supported by everyone in your life. Life is still hard, messy, work stress is still there, fears still exist, relationship issues still happen, your insecurities and self-image are still there, you are still you.
We all stumble a little as we mature
When I first achieved my fitness goal, no actually even when I exceeded my fitness goal, I didn’t even realize I was there yet. It takes awhile for your mind to catch up with your body.
I’d spent so long losing weight that I didn’t know how to stop. I was afraid I’d gain it all back. I was afraid to eat more. I had a lot of fears. There was a lot of jealousy and shifting relationships in my life.
Yes I was fit and confident and that was fun, but all the problems that have always existed were still there. All my fears and insecurities were still there. I’d pushed a lot of things out of my mind to focus on my fitness goal, now it was done. Now what?
You learn to live a normal life again. You learn to socialize again as the new fit person. And you keep maturing and learning. You stumble and you make mistakes, and you learn and you keep going.
What will you do to make sure you succeed when you reach your new way of life? Make a plan. Start now.
There are many in the community who are willing to help.
-Ro
Dr. Nicola and John talk about many of the issues that are important to start working on right away, before you reach your fitness goals:
- Ask Nicola; What is Self Sabotage?
- Ask Nicola; How do you deal with social pressure after you achieve fitness?
- Ask Nicola; Trusting Your New Self
- Ask Nicola; Are You Your Own Worst Self Critic?
- Ask Nicola; Perfectionist Mindset
- Ask Nicola; What Can You Do About Distorted Body Image?
- Ask Nicola; Learn to Love Your Body
- Ask Nicola; Three Things That Can Hinder Your Success
Several veteran Venuses have written about their struggles and what they have learned:
- How to Sharpen your Sword and Win the Battle
- Your Goal, Your Choice
- Ten Thousand Ways that Won’t Work
- Have Venus, Will Travel
- Falling Forward: Turning Mistakes into Success
- Making the Mona Lisa Smile
- How Clear Is Your Purpose?
- Your Fitness Goals in the New Year, How Bad Do You Want It?
- The Creation of a Masterpiece: The Venus
- Married to Adonis
- Are You Running To Stay In The Same Place?
- Successful Weight Loss; There Are No Shortcuts
- En Route Train Stop; The Venus Transformation Contest
- How Liss’s Data Saves the Day
- Seeing Myself through Other People’s Eyes
- Yet Another Every-Day Venus; Meet Carla
- Growing into Venus: Age and Training Age
- Growing into Venus- Nutrition
- Weight Training: “Were You Born For This”?
- Venus Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
- A Day in the Life of a Venus; Roberta
- How Should You Eat to Lose Fat? You Have the Answer within You
- For Everything There Is a Season
Listen to John’s interview with Dr. Nicola Bird here, and please “like” it when you’re done:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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