When working with every one of my clients as a dedicated Holistic Health Practitioner & Personal Trainer, one of the most important steps we work through right from the start is really getting to understand their goals. This way we can work together and create a realistic and achievable step-by-step plan to get there. So naturally, a couple of the first questions I will ask are:
"What made you want to take this huge step in action towards your goals, by meeting with me today? What do you want to achieve while we work together?
and the response I get is usually connected to weight loss. Something along the lines of:
"I just want to lose ___ lbs. I know once that happens I'll feel more confident and be able to do more of the things I used to love to do"
Or
"I want to change _____ about my body. And I think once I get to ___ lbs, I'll feel good about how I look"
If you've ever felt like you've set similar goals for yourself - maybe you feel like this is something you've 'failed at' over & over again. I'll let you in on a key piece of information:
You didn't 'fail' at those goals. You've just been using the wrong approach for you and your lifestyle.
Focusing all your effort into just a fitness goal won't lead to the long-term transformation you want. To get long-term sustainable results and start becoming the most confident, strongest and healthiest version of you, the approach you've been using needs to change.
The Holistic Effect Wellness Pillars are the guiding principles of creating a lifestyle that takes into account all parts of wellbeing, including: physical, mental, emotional and environmental health.
A deeper look into the definition of the word "Holistic". What exactly does it mean anyway?...
By definition of the Oxford Dictionary:
"Holistic is characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole." (Oxford, 2023)
Here is the word use example: "The solution demands a holistic approach and a strategic vision of what can be achieved". It also defines: "Holistic medicine - treating the whole person rather than just the symptoms." (Oxford, 2023)
So as you can see from the definition & examples above, - holistic - is based on an approach of seeing individuals and the situations that may be affecting them, or relevant to them, as a whole being. Understanding that things are often much deeper & more connected than what we see on the surface level.
How does this connect to fitness and living healthier?
During my time on my own wellness journey and experiences with coaching women, I started to see there were some common patterns and obstacles that would get in the way of success in achieving wellness goals and sticking with a fitness plan... and after diving deeper into my own personal experiences and what I observed with my clients, I started to piece together an approach that works! One that shows you how to get in the best shape of your life, while building resilience and confidence in your wellness journey.
And achieving that, by-far outlasts and gets you further, than putting all your focus into an aesthetic goal you might think will make life better.
Let's Do A Quick Visualization:
When you really think about it, how many women in your own life, like close friends or family members - a sister, mom, aunt etc. set goals of having a thinner body, being more fit, dropping a few dress sizes or sliding back into those favorite pair of jeans?
And were the eating habits they adopted, for example, dieting or following strict food rules connected to, or mainly fueled by, the motivation of getting to that goal?
And lastly, how often have you seen it happen or maybe experienced it yourself where - getting to that goal becomes unsustainable over time, because it just doesn't fit your lifestyle. So then you self-sabotage and go back to the old habits you were trying so hard to change in the first place?
Enter in: The-Start-And-Restart-Again-Cycle. yeah, no thanks, right?.
For a long time after having my daughter in 2012, I would continuously set a goal of getting myself to 150 lbs. I constantly felt like I was failing myself every time I stepped on the scale and it would barely move. But something that took me so long to realize... was I was there, at that weight before.. and I still had similar thoughts of wanting to change my body even then. It felt like a never ending cycle.
It took me 6 long years to learn aesthetic goals does not = being your best, healthiest you. But I also want to be clear: there isn't anything wrong with having those goals.. they're completely valid - they just won't serve you when they're the main driving factor to improving your health. It's important to acknowledge there is deeper work involved to truly achieve long-term fitness and wellbeing.
Look at the aesthetic fitness goals you have as the lasting by-product of you making a commitment to the deeper work with yourself and taking the strategic daily actions steps to get you where you want to go.
Shifting your mindset around fitness goals this way helps you discover what areas are doing well and what areas you might need to focus more effort into, to truly start seeing the lasting results you want.
The Holistic Effect is taking small consistent daily actions to improve your lifestyle, by using a holistic -whole person- approach to fitness & wellness, leading to bigger, lasting and more impactful changes to your wellbeing.
Similar to the metaphor we all know as the "Butterfly Effect" - simply meant to demonstrate that little insignificant (or may seem like little and insignificant) events can lead to significant results over time.
What small holistic wellness actions can YOU commit to, right now with consistency, to start working towards sustainable fitness results AND improving your overall wellbeing?
Think small & achievable, take that first step and more steps will follow.
P.S I'm linking one of my best FREE resources to get your started. Get The Holistic Women's Wellness Planner below. You'll be guided to set realistic wellness goals that are achievable for you right now and craft your unique wellness plan to find the exact action steps you need to take to start living as your strongest, healthiest and most confident you:
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