Liss is one of our Every Day Venus ladies who knows how to flow with the seasons.

What about goals and systems?

There has been a lot of talk recently in our community about the difference between goals and systems.  Many of us read an interesting article recently on the Summer Tomato which gave us some food for thought.

Most of us have learned over time in our weight loss journey that there is no one size fits all.  No method that works for everyone.  No single right way or wrong way.  It all varies from person to person.  It all varies for a single person as you go through all the different seasons of your life.

What works for diet changes over time with your seasons.  What fits for physical fitness varies over time with your seasons.  What works for your successful mindset varies over time with your seasons.

Mind, body, and your life circumstances; all have their seasons.  Sometimes goals are appropriate and other times systems are appropriate.  You can move in and out of these as you please.

Much of what works with the Venus Systems is that the goal metrics we shoot for are mostly a range.  The weight goal is a range, the hip circumference is a range, and although the shoulders and waist are specific, most of us learned in the end that it’s also kind of a range.

The range is learned once you lose the “excess fat” and get fairly close to the specific ideal.  You learn what works for your individual lifestyle.  You learn what your body is once you get down to a healthy level.

Each body is different, even for two people of the same height, you learn to work with what you got.  You have control over some things and not other things.  You learn acceptance.

Liss is a perfect example of someone who uses goals and systems, and flows with the seasons in her life; balancing her family life and fun summer vacation times. She writes about much of this on her blog and in our private online community.

Goals and systems for the calorie deficit.

The diet and ability to sustain a calorie deficit changes with time.  Many of us found we could do an aggressive calorie deficit once or twice, but then it takes it’s toll and we find it’s no longer a good idea.  The season changed on us.  It’s a new season for some of us and we can’t do that anymore.

That is why John and designed the Venus Factor fat loss protocol in our manual.

Much of the time the season that comes upon us is out of our control.  Women in mid life have hormone changes.  Heck we females have hormone changes all of our lives between normal cycles, having kids, nursing kids, mid life, various health issues, it seems endless.

We have learned to roll with it and it is the same with our diet and whether our not we can sustain a calorie deficit.

Many women with find that with monthly cycles a calorie deficit is just not going to happen for one week a month.  They realize that it’s actually a win to simply eat at maintenance that one week in addition to any other days they might eat at maintenance.  Trying to force the issue will result in disaster.  This is not to say that some women can’t do it.  Most will find it extremely difficult.  This is normal.

Your ability to eat at a calorie deficit changes with the seasons in your life; work stress, family stress, health stress, changing hormones, you name it.  It’s always okay to eat at maintenance.  Always always always.

Always look forward, take a deep breath and stay positive

If you still need to lose significant body fat to be healthy remember that eating at maintenance is always a win. The same goes for if you are already at a healthy body fat and you just want to get a little leaner; this is a slower process and in many ways harder.  Eating at maintenance is always a win.  I will type this again; Eating at maintenance is always a win.

The only losing game is a long string of over eating and this usually happens when you simply give up. Just because you over eat one day or so, or even a few days or a week, it does not mean you have ruined all.

You can’t go back and change it, just move forward.  Just keep moving forward.  Leigh Peele gives really good advice, she said the same thing in her forum and on her Facebook page recently.

Don’t live in regret or have those moments where you get down on what you have done, could have done, etc. It’s a waste of time and literally achieves nothing because you can’t time travel. You can’t change the past. Nothing can be done. What you can do is push yourself now, today and the days that follow to make smart moves towards the direction of being a person you are proud of. When you are prideful in yourself, you accomplish things.

When you have doubt, lack self trust, or judge yourself in such a harsh manner – what is there to do than cower in your own insults? After all, no one knows better low blows than the ones we can throw at ourselves.

Don’t throw those blows. Look forward instead.

-Leigh Peele

Never beat yourself for eating at maintenance or even over eating sometimes.  Again the only thing harmful is self loathing or beating yourself up and then giving up.  It does no good.  It has no value.  It’s more than a waste time, it’s toxic.

Think of eating at maintenance as something necessary for your health and periodically part of your over all long term weight loss goal (or system if you choose to focus more on the process than the goal).

If you need to shift your mental mindset to stay positive and healthy do it.  Learn to roll with it like you’ve learned to with many other things in your life already.

We are all different, we all have to find our own way in a sense, but what worked for me in most of my fat loss cycles was focusing on the system and not the end goal.  It gets me to my goal, which is a specific shape and feel that I like for my body.  It does me no good to look at the scale anymore.  It does me no good to look at the tape measure anymore.  It does me no good to get a DXA scan.

What does me good is meandering in the direction of a calorie deficit with a fierce mindset (because it’s hard) yet learning to take maintenance breaks as often and as long as needed.  I can tell by how I feel.  I can tell by how I sleep.  I can tell by how strong I am.  I can tell by my ability to take on stress.

The answer is in you

As you go through the Venus Factor systems, listen to the coaching calls, read what others do, listen to the success stories in the contest interviews, research and experiment, but learn to listen to your own body.  It has the answer even better than a calculator estimate or the protocol or theory in the manual.

Your own body; it is the end game.  It tells you when you ate too much.  It tells you when you ate too little.  It tells you when you pushed too hard.  It tells you when you took on too much stress.  It tells you when it’s time to adjust your priorities.  It tells you when it’s time to change your mindset.  It tells you when it’s time to switch from a goal to a system, or back to a goal, or any combination of the two.

Everything we do in the journey here at Venus is a lifestyle and it’s long term.  Take the time.  Make the time.  You are worth it.

Learn to roll with the seasons.

It is training for maintaining.

Have a fabulous weekend,

-Ro