Did you know that a large percentage of time that we're traveling on an airplane, the plane is actually flying off course? I was floored when I heard this, but actually, the more I thought about it, the more I got it. Weather patterns, emergencies...just as we drive a car, pilots must be alert and constantly making tiny micro-adjustments to keep the plane on course, until it reaches it's final destination.
I heard this recently in an Amy Porterfield interview with author, Michael Hyatt, of "How To Intentionally Design the Life You Want". A reader of Michael's, a pilot, had reached out to him to share this fact (above) and discuss Michael's belief that most people don't make these types of micro-adjustments in their lives because they don't have a clear destination. Thus, they are drifting off course.
Michael says, "But, if we know where we're going and we're willing to be honest with where we are, then we can be patient to take the steps we need to be in a different place".
Guys, I love this so much. So much so, that when I was listening to this Amy Porterfield Podcast while driving, I had to veer off the road (pun intended) to make notes about how I feel this applies to dieting. Because, I think there's a distinct connection between the way pilots operate their course and how I believe we should manage our nutrition.
But, I'll first start with what we are conditioned to do. Say we feel that we have weight to lose and we're home on the weekend flipping through TV channels and we see the latest diet system on an infomercial. We get sucked in, right? The marketing, the promises, the lab-tested results...we think, yes...THIS!...this is the plan I was waiting for!
The problem is, many of the diets we try that are one-sized fits all plans, fail to address that each of us is unique, they fail to address our former relationship with food, our unique hormonal make-up...our lifestyle. While a 21 day diet where you're told what, when, and how to eat may get quick results, most of the time, it's at the expense of the long term vision, the longterm destination.
So, to keep the travel analogy going, it's like the driver or pilot becoming aware of an obstacle, like a pocket of weather or patch of ice, and aggressively veering off course, rather than making logical, small micro-adjustments.
We panic, right? We want the results right now so we go ALL IN to crazy diets, but unfortunately, that sometimes results in crashes - in undoing everything we worked hard for - in staying stuck in the same reasons we were unhappy to begin with.
Mindfulness around our nutrition and goals means truly listening to ourselves, becoming a student and taking the longview. It's not the most attractive way in the eyes of modern society, but it is the sustainable way.
In my fat-loss lifestyle program (join the waitlist here) and my private coaching, I work with my clients from a tried and true framework that helps each individual to get off the "rules" bandwagon and start creating their own fat-loss lifestyle, making their own micro-adjustments, where they're meeting their goals in a sustainable way and, by the way, taking more ownership over the results.
I don't think that I have all the answers, not by a long shot. Nor does the scientist or doctor from the program you see on infomercials. YOU do, actually. With some research, a coach and some hard work, I do think that you can actually design a lifestyle you enjoy where you're happy with the way you're moving and eating, and getting the results you desire.
So, where do you start?
Become aware. Ask questions of yourself. Be an observer in your own life. Don't go on autopilot but begin to ask why... A LOT.
Take one week where you keep a food journal and note how your energy, hunger and cravings feel at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm each day. Start to identify times of the day when your energy crashes and has you reaching for treats or which foods cause you to become ravenously hungry just a short time after you consume them.
Make mental notes of times where you are eating mindlessly or feeling out of control with your nutrition. How do you feel? What triggers do you notice? Did you did you skip breakfast and lunch but eat a continuous meal from dinner to bedtime because you didn't eat all day long? Did you intend to order a salad at lunch but get caught up in peer pressure from co-workers to go in on a pizza? Did you have enough food on hand for simple, nutritious dinners at home or did you fall into the take-out trap?
One week. Start here. You will be impressed with what you notice when you stop implementing plan after plan and start turning inward to simply notice. See, we can't decide a destination until we know where we are.
Remember Michael Hyatt's wise words, "...if we know where we're going and we're willing to be honest with where we are, then we can be patient to take the steps we need to be in a different place".
If you can do this with self-compassion and a bit of a clinical view, removing judgement and shame but just noticing, you'll see the large picture and be able to identify the "big rocks" of your new micro-adjustment journey. Think; small changes, big benefits.
I heard this recently in an Amy Porterfield interview with author, Michael Hyatt, of "How To Intentionally Design the Life You Want". A reader of Michael's, a pilot, had reached out to him to share this fact (above) and discuss Michael's belief that most people don't make these types of micro-adjustments in their lives because they don't have a clear destination. Thus, they are drifting off course.
Michael says, "But, if we know where we're going and we're willing to be honest with where we are, then we can be patient to take the steps we need to be in a different place".
Guys, I love this so much. So much so, that when I was listening to this Amy Porterfield Podcast while driving, I had to veer off the road (pun intended) to make notes about how I feel this applies to dieting. Because, I think there's a distinct connection between the way pilots operate their course and how I believe we should manage our nutrition.
But, I'll first start with what we are conditioned to do. Say we feel that we have weight to lose and we're home on the weekend flipping through TV channels and we see the latest diet system on an infomercial. We get sucked in, right? The marketing, the promises, the lab-tested results...we think, yes...THIS!...this is the plan I was waiting for!
The problem is, many of the diets we try that are one-sized fits all plans, fail to address that each of us is unique, they fail to address our former relationship with food, our unique hormonal make-up...our lifestyle. While a 21 day diet where you're told what, when, and how to eat may get quick results, most of the time, it's at the expense of the long term vision, the longterm destination.
So, to keep the travel analogy going, it's like the driver or pilot becoming aware of an obstacle, like a pocket of weather or patch of ice, and aggressively veering off course, rather than making logical, small micro-adjustments.
We panic, right? We want the results right now so we go ALL IN to crazy diets, but unfortunately, that sometimes results in crashes - in undoing everything we worked hard for - in staying stuck in the same reasons we were unhappy to begin with.
Mindfulness around our nutrition and goals means truly listening to ourselves, becoming a student and taking the longview. It's not the most attractive way in the eyes of modern society, but it is the sustainable way.
In my fat-loss lifestyle program (join the waitlist here) and my private coaching, I work with my clients from a tried and true framework that helps each individual to get off the "rules" bandwagon and start creating their own fat-loss lifestyle, making their own micro-adjustments, where they're meeting their goals in a sustainable way and, by the way, taking more ownership over the results.
I don't think that I have all the answers, not by a long shot. Nor does the scientist or doctor from the program you see on infomercials. YOU do, actually. With some research, a coach and some hard work, I do think that you can actually design a lifestyle you enjoy where you're happy with the way you're moving and eating, and getting the results you desire.
So, where do you start?
Become aware. Ask questions of yourself. Be an observer in your own life. Don't go on autopilot but begin to ask why... A LOT.
Take one week where you keep a food journal and note how your energy, hunger and cravings feel at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm each day. Start to identify times of the day when your energy crashes and has you reaching for treats or which foods cause you to become ravenously hungry just a short time after you consume them.
Make mental notes of times where you are eating mindlessly or feeling out of control with your nutrition. How do you feel? What triggers do you notice? Did you did you skip breakfast and lunch but eat a continuous meal from dinner to bedtime because you didn't eat all day long? Did you intend to order a salad at lunch but get caught up in peer pressure from co-workers to go in on a pizza? Did you have enough food on hand for simple, nutritious dinners at home or did you fall into the take-out trap?
One week. Start here. You will be impressed with what you notice when you stop implementing plan after plan and start turning inward to simply notice. See, we can't decide a destination until we know where we are.
Remember Michael Hyatt's wise words, "...if we know where we're going and we're willing to be honest with where we are, then we can be patient to take the steps we need to be in a different place".
If you can do this with self-compassion and a bit of a clinical view, removing judgement and shame but just noticing, you'll see the large picture and be able to identify the "big rocks" of your new micro-adjustment journey. Think; small changes, big benefits.
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