24 Rules for the NEW Fit Woman… (How to be Fit for Life)

 

A few months ago I saw an article from a popular TV personal(ity) trainer titled “Skinny Rules” and I as I read through them, I was struck with a sense of disgust and frustration.

The majority of the rules promoted a quick-fix, weight loss focused (I’ll get to this in a minute) way of fitness. Cutting carbs, counting calories cardio, crazy diets, and creating unhealthy and unsustainable habits.

A conventional wisdom microwave mindset. In other words, what EVERYONE (almost everyone) is doing and the ultimate wake up call is either YOU or around you. What everyone is doing, ain’t working, girlfriend! I’ve always broken rules. I’ve even created rules JUST to break them. Rules generally repress creativity, cause stagnation, and zap the passion and zest for life!

The following 24 Rules for Being Healthy, Sexy, and Awesome are not made to broken, rather fine-tuned to YOUR lifestyle.   My rules aren’t rules, rather catalysts for change…behavior changes, mindset shifts, and paradigm flippers! Your body YOUR rules, don’t let society govern your ideas about YOURself.

The New Fit Woman…Rules for Healthy Fat Loss and Awesomeness:

1.)    Focus on health creation and fat loss NOT weight loss.

Weight loss SHOULD imply ONLY excess/unneeded/extra fat, NOT muscle. Rare is the occasion someone wants or should ever lose muscle. Muscle is technically what “burns” fat. Weight loss strategies tend to focus on one or a combination of the following: calorie restriction, excess exercise, supplements, short-term results, surgery, and/or metabolic stimulating “things” that don’t last long.

Health creation addresses WHY you have gained excess fat in the first place.

Do you need to eat more, eat less, exercise more, exercise less, control your emotional/psychological/physical stressors, aggressively address any underlying hormonal issues, etc… Weight loss does NOT equal health or sustainable fat loss.

Don’t lose weight, get healthy.

Learn How The 3-Week Metabolism Diet will make you healthy to lose weight

2.)    Surround yourself with awesome people. Around the time I realized that in order to grow myself I needed to be around others who had the same outlook on life: always be growing, I ALSO soon found out that in order to attract equally awesome people, YOU (I) needed to start being awesome, healthy, and growth seeking.

Begin to actively seek growth opportunities like reading, studying, joining like-minded groups, etc…and you will begin attracting people that want to be healthy. You will LOSE (fire?) friends and acquaintances, but always remember that it’s ok to be a little selfish in order to develop yourself personally and professionally.

Remember, you can’t GIVE what you don’t HAVE.

3.)    Lift weights (resistance training). If losing excess fat, toning your body, creating long-term health, and firming up are goals of yours, then it would be a GREAT idea for you incorporate resistance/strength training in your programs. Women come up with many different reasons why they don’t/won’t lift weights. I am going to bust  5 excuses/myths in one sentence:  You won’t get bulky, it doesn’t take too much time, you are strong/or you will get stronger, it IS more effective than cardio, and best of all it is the ultimate metabolic stimulant (so it can and does burn fat and build lean muscle like crazy)!

Click the link to below to download some of my best metabolic workout videos:

4.)    Don’t compare yourself to anyone (other than yourself). Comparison has no place in your quest for a healthy and happy body. Comparing yourself/your body to others is a needless distraction. Each individual is unique and incomparable. Be aware that our minds desire to compare is because of our conditioning and programming. DROP that ya’ll!

Someone is always prettier, smarter, fitter, more educated, stronger, etc…so what? Be a prettier, smarter, fitter, more educated, and stronger YOU! Your mission is to become better than you were last year, last month, yesterday….and you do that by focusing on LIVING, EATING, BEING awesome every moment!

Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.

5.)    Focus your workouts around the BIG 3 (squats, deadlifts, and lunges). I call these “bang for your booty” exercises, because all accomplish 3 things:

a.) Work BIG muscles, which helps burn a ton of energy and build lean muscle

b.) Work your booty very efficiently and effectively

c.) Produce a positive hormonal response that encourages a healthy physiology

If you space a workout week into 4 workouts about every other day, adding in compound movements using the “BIG THREE” you are on the right track to a great body and a lot of saved time and energy! BIG exercises for a small body!

6.)    Bodyweight Basics. Mastering workouts using ONLY your bodyweight is like crawling before you walk. You MUST develop a solid movement foundation before you attempt to add weights into your workout routines. 

The top FIVE bodyweight exercises to start your mastery: push-up, squat, mountain climber, reverse lunge, and glute/hip bridge. Arms, legs, and core. If you have been sedentary for over 6 months, try doing 5 reps of each of those for 2 or 3 sets every day for a week! If you feel confident, up the reps to 10.

A strong bodyweight foundation will help improve performance from balance to strength to power!

7.)    Address and Correct Muscle Imbalances. If your body can’t maintain proper stability in any given exercise, you might have a muscle imbalance or movement dysfunction. Musculoskeletal imbalances can not only cause injury, but they don’t allow the right muscles to perform a particular exercise. For example, if you have very tight hip flexors and you attempt to perform a squat, you might experience some forward movement at the knees and hips.

You are essentially fighting forces that should naturally flow. In order to get the most out of your metabolic resistance training workouts you MUST address and correct your specific muscle imbalances.

8.)    Eat Real Food.  One of my favorite mantras: Just Eat Real Food…for many women who are just “waking up” and choosing to take responsibility for their body and health, their biggest stressor is eating poor quality, processed, frozen, fast, fake foods.

If this is YOU, your first “goal” or step is to eliminate the fake foods and start eating real foods.

Fruit, vegetables, good quality meats, and water are GREAT places to start. From there you start developing healthier habits, balancing your macronutrient ratios, and become more aware of your food everyday more and more.

You are what you eat from your head to your feet!

9.)    Find YOUR Reason to Train, your WHY. I’ve heard over 1000 different reasons why a woman wants to start or has started a workout program and no matter WHAT the reasons, I always ask WHY? Why do you want to lose 25 pounds? Why do you want to get skinny?

You’ll find the more you dig into your true reason for working, you won’t really on motivation or willpower to help you workout, it will just be who you become, because you have imprinted the ultimate WHY in your brain. You will stop at nothing to achieve your goals and dream body.

Your WHY is the most important, deepest reason for wanting to get healthy and in shape.

Find and understand your WHY!

10.) Go EASY on long bouts of cardio. Although MOST exercise is helpful to your overall journey to health and happiness, sometimes it can have a negative effect. Cardio is one of the most stressful forms of exercise and if you understand that all stress is cumulative you can understand HOW and WHY cardio might not be the best exercise for your body.

Our body can’t tell the difference between an emotional stress (family member dies) or a physical stress (30 minutes of long distance running). Your physiology is affected the same; specific hormones are released, specific nutrients are needed in higher amounts, and the requirement for rest increases.

Cardio causes the extended release of cortisol, which in HIGH amounts can cause muscle catabolism (breakdown), which is counter-productive to a sexy toned physique so many of you are after.

Metabolic resistance training on the other hand causes little cortisol release and more of the anabolic (growth) hormone release. NOT like the anabolic get big muscles hormones (that’s for men), this is the  anabolic get lean and toned muscles.

Metabolic resistance training is 7X more effective than cardio for fat loss. Learn how the 3-Week Metabolism Fat Loss Challenge uses these routines to help you lose fat.

11.) Eliminate your Excuses, Justifications, and Rationalizations. Believe it or not, we often look for an excuses, justifications, and rationalizations before our commitment to get healthy and lose weight even starts. We sabotage our success by saying things like “well I could start eating real food and if it doesn’t work right away, I can blame my schedule or genetics or spouse…” Then when things get tough, you don’t know what to cook, what to eat, etc…or a company party is scheduled and you are supposed to bring donuts, what happens is that we continue to add to our excuse list. Years ago when I first started blogging about nutrition and recipes, I would make excuses as to why I wasn’t going to post a certain article.

I realized I was making these excuses as I was typing the article. Are you kidding me, I was sabotaging myself and my readers suffered. People who have a built-in universal excuse end up failing many of the times. It’s like they carry around a “get out of jail free” card and when the going gets rough, the weak have excuses. Boom, here’s my card, I’m out!

Every time you feel an excuse coming on, power forward, redirect it into an action step! Instead of seeking excuses, the successful fit woman relentlessly leads an excuse free life, avoiding them at all costs. And redirecting them whenever necessary.

12.) Set VALUES for eating. Value based eating is abundant, not restrictive and will keep you eating healthy, without stress or a moderation mindset. When setting values for eating/food consider setting a few ground rules, like this one: Always choose this, not that… There will be times of uncertainty, tension, conflict, and tough choices along the road of health achievement, refer to this rule when certain circumstances arise. For example… Always choose long-term lifestyle change over short-term un-sustainable results. Always choose real food over dead processed food. Always choose to not make excuses, instead of blaming others for my poor choices. Always choose to NOT stress out and feel guilty about times I eat something that is not ideal for my body and health.

Always, always, always commit to eating food that promotes health in me and those around me! Spread health, awesomeness, and happiness everywhere I go, no matter the encounter or situation. Set YOUR food values based on what you currently believe. The rest of this book will help you if you are unsure, but be dynamic and receptive to learning and growing.

13.) Ditch the scale, get in touch with your feelings . Bold statement alert: I believe the scale is one of the most destructive tools in your fat loss arsenal. The true measure of fat loss success is NOT scale weight, it is rather how you FEEL, how your clothes FEEL on your body, how you FEEL about yourself, how you intuitively FEEL about your current program or diet. Do you feel me?

Until you have gotten to the point where you can emotionally detach yourself from the number on the scale, avoid the scale. The scale does NOT define you, it knows nothing of how you FEEL.

14.) Take Complete Responsibility for your Goals. The moment we stop blaming outside circumstances, forces, things, etc…for our current state of health and/or happiness is the moment you START taking responsibility for your actions and what you create and the life you create and the health you create. It’s not McD’s fault, it’s not your gyms fault, it’s not our co-workers fault, it’s not our spouses fault, it’s YOUR fault and even if it isn’t, it’s still yours. Decide this week to OWN your decisions and actions.

Excuses turn into results and results turn into health/happiness. Taking responsibility for your health and body is the single most effective fat loss strategy all successfully healthy people implement.

I include a goal setting guide in all of my programs, because it doesn’t matter if you have the best, most effective program, if you aren’t consistent you won’t see results.

See amazing fat loss results inside like these women inside The 3-Week Metabolism Diet

15.) Prioritize and commit to your workouts and body. It should go without saying, prioritizing your workouts (and healthy eating) comes immediately after commitment to losing weight and creating a healthier lifestyle. The fact of the matter is, you literally only have ONE body and you HAVE to take complete responsibility for taking care of it.

Making your body, health, and mind a priority should come naturally, and it does. However, many of you have grown so disconnected from your body that it’s going to take serious work to make priority, a….priority. In the beginning of your fitness journey it takes serious planning, preparing, encouraging, and positive action to give energy to your priorities. After a while, it won’t be so much work. In other words, it becomes natural.

16.) Understand pre and post workout fuels and foods. Many women believe that if they don’t eat before their workout they will “burn extra calories” and therefore, lose more weight. This is FALSE. If you don’t supply your body with proper fuel you will end up having an overall metabolic lowering effect, which might cause weight loss, but it will be in the form of your lean muscle, instead of unwanted fat. Once you understand the concept that restricting calories WILL usually lead to weight gain and overall unhealthiness, you will be well on your way to life-long fitness (and a sexy physique).

Easily digestible carbs, like fruits and starches, are the best pre AND post-workout snacks. Including proteins for your post-workout snacks will complete the perfect after workout snack. Proper fuel will lead to more effective fat loss!

Learn How The 3-Week Metabolism Diet helps you eat perfectly balanced meals.

17.) ABFTE: Always Be Fine Tuning Everything. One of my favorite acronyms that I invented is ABFT: Always Be Fine-Tuning. I love it, because it’s so easy and true when you truly consider for a moment how dynamic and non-linear out lives are. In the span of one day, 24 hours, we go through many shifts, some seismic and life-altering, so we must always be fine-tuning our lifestyle, especially our diets.

So many of us want a one size fits all approach to our eating and even our lives that we often forget that we are constantly changing, the world is constantly turning and changing positions. Fine-tune your diets, eating, and approach. Be dynamic with your philosophy and receptive to new  ideas. Everyone likes a fine-tuner, because you adapt to your environment and live in a constant state of flow.

18.) Control, manage, and lower your stress. When we think of stress we generally think of stress at home or at work, but we rarely think about the physiological consequences of long bouts of stress, whether they be emotional, physical, or psychologically driven. It’s time our society got serious about stress and its implications. 1000 years ago, we didn’t have the amount of worries, frustrations, problems, and emotions that we are exposed and experience in today’s world.

Our biggest stressors were physical in nature. We would turn on our stress-response when faced with a survive or die situation and then DONE, we were either dead or alive, but the stress response was turned off. Learn to turn OFF your stress-response by accepting things you can’t change or change them.

Realize that all stress cumulative and is most often the cause of many of your problems all stress is dealt with by your nervous system and it literally stresses it out!

19.) Eliminate the bad food, add the good food. This is the simplest nutrition plan in the world! Stop eating fast food, pastries, donuts, processed foods, poor quality meats, and high fructose filled drinks and START eating real food (see above) like fruits, vegetables, organic meats, water, and natural drinks. I get it, most diets tend to focus on restriction, but the Fit Woman For Life nutrition philosophy is simple, eat good quality food, find a way to eat your favorite, not so healthy, foods by creating them yourself, and set some way of eating values that keep your stressing out and obsessed thinking at bay.  

Eat smart!

20.) Find YOUR method of accountability. We all understand how valuable having some form of accountability in life is, right? Well it’s even more vital when beginning an exercise  or nutrition program, that’s why we hire trainers, coaches, nutritionists, etc…so they can teach us and hold us accountable. But you need to find YOUR ideal method of accountability, because we each have our own.

There is no one perfect way to hold yourself accountable. Remember, give your current method a few weeks to see if it works and gage your results. If something isn’t working, then obviously your method needs fine-tuning.

Hold yourself accountable about your accountability.

21.) Drop the Microwave Mindset (and your microwave). Our expectations govern our results. The microwave mindset makes us believe that short-term results should not only be expected, but that the end result is good for us.

People use microwaves because they wish to instantaneously eat, fast, cheap, and without any consideration of quality implications. People want to lose weight the same way: instantaneously, fast, and cheap. Yet, just like a microwave alters the quality of your food, get-fit quick weight loss strategies alters the quality of your metabolism and mind.

By dieting, restricting calories, over-exercising, taking pills and powders you can slowly destroy your metabolism, making it harder to lose weight down the road.

DROP this mentality. Invest time, energy, and purpose into your quest for health and fat loss.

22.) Execute the Positive Power of Negative Preparation. Errbody wants to think positive. The problem with positive thinking is that sometimes it can lead to unrealistic thinking and expectations. You seriously can NOT think yourself thin unless you sandwich the thought and result with serious ACTION.

More often times than not, the action that is a requirement for lasting success requires thinking negatively. Let me explain…Brainstorming situations that you KNOW you could be in throughout would be considered negative by many people, however, because you have thought about the potential negative situation you are READY with a positive redirect.

You aren’t “being negative” if you are being positive about it. 

23.) Focus on your right NOW actions, Drop the past, create your future. I know, it’s easier said than done. I’m not going to sit here and admit that legging go of your past is going to be a cake walk or that living in the moment is going to come natural, because it’s not.

However, this rule is probably the most important “rule” of them all. Once you understand that YOU are in complete control of your future, you’ll be empowered to achieve anything. You are in control of things that you think you aren’t in control of. You can’t control the fact that you just ate 3 Krispy Kremes, BUT you can control how you respond to it. Choose to accept what you did and focus on your next action, instead of dwelling, feeling guilty, resenting, etc…

You MUST accept your past, drop your past, and focus on your present moment actions. The alternative is constant internal struggle that always has a loser, and that loser is always YOU.

Start right NOW, create your healthy and sexy future.

24.) LOVE, Accept, and Challenge Yourself. One of my favorite mantras is “In acceptance, transformation occurs.” The irony about change and transformation is that it comes MUCH faster when  we accept where we are, who we are, and what we’ve done to be here. It’s called awareness.

Be aware of yourself, your actions, your thoughts, moments of self-doubt, self-hate, etc…You HAVE to be aware of when you are doing things that don’t serve your purpose and passion, so that you can REDIRECT them to something that does.

Once you love yourself and your body, you can accept it for what it is, and THEN you challenge yourself to transform. NOT because you HAVE to look a certain way to truly love yourself, but because you LOVE yourself so much, ALL you want to do is be better, every moment.

So, remember, in acceptance transformation occurs.

There you have them, 24 “rules” for creating health, being awesome, and staying FIT for life.

Like what you read? You’ll absolutely LOVE my programs, especially my most popular program The Flat Belly System, which covers everything from having a strong mindset to the perfect metabolism-focused diet plan, and a complete metabolic workout video program.

Your healthy fat loss coach,

Nick

P.S. If you’re ready to take your health and metabolism to the next level, join our 3-Week METABOLISM focused fat loss challenge and lose fat like the thousands of women who have joined. Click HERE to read about the success stories and everything you’ll receive.