Hop into Health – Taking the plunge
Today on Hop into Health Nathan (Nudge) Ford shared how he lost 35 kgs and how he keeps it off today.
Now a personal trainer, Nudge knows what it is like to be living a life that you are not happy with. His mates used to call him negative nudge and he was. His outlook on most things was very negative and it shadowed the way he held himself in every day life.
Today we discussed how you can overcome BIG issues such as weight loss, money, relationships, addictions etc. The podcast is here.
Q: Why take the plunge
A: It’s pretty simple, if you don’t like your life, your relationship (s), your work or your body, then you need to make a change. And if you haven’t worked it out by now, doing more of the same (i.e. keep doing what you do now) will give you more of the same.
Sometimes I have issues and go to bed and think miraculously it will fix itself in my sleep. Unless the problem is lack of sleep, then nothing changes when I wake up! Change requires conscious, concerted intent and actions to enable a something different and new to occur – which will bring a different result.
Q: Isn’t Change hard and painful?
A: Once again keeping this simple – can you afford not to change? Can you afford to live with today’s pain when really change won’t mean more pain?
Using the words “hard”, “painful” “effort” “can’t” all imply that you firstly don’t have belief in yourself, secondly that you are already assuming it will be tough even though you haven’t tried yet and essentially that you are not really willing to change.
Q: When do you know you have hit crunch hour?
A: There are a few signals/indicators that you are ready to change. These are:
1. Hearing yourself whinge and be negative ALL the time. Listen to your language around your friends, try to see others how they see you. Are you bright, upbeat and being true to yourself, or are you feeling like you are falling short of the mark. Are you living to your potential?
2. Sick of having the same results, feeling lousy, seeing no money in the bank, crying, depression and/or anxiety.
3. Experiencing physical symptoms with no real root cause eg: not sleeping, having poor energy levels, sore joints, aching body, irritable bowel, nausea, headaches
Q: What are common excuses/reasons that people find when they are trying to take the plunge or commit?
A: These are the common excuses and some ways to get around them:
– The usual one for losing weight is “time”and saying “Ï don’t have enough”.
Remedy – YOU need to make time, stop doing other things so that you have time, priorities your day better, start saying no to other people’s needs and wants and yes to yours!
– For money struggles, saying I don’t have enough, poor thoughts, I can’t afford this or that, not being prepared to save money
Remedy – stopping spending, stop using credit cards, stop purchasing on the spot, on a whim, stop buying on line. Unsubscribe from discount websites
– For relationship issues common ones are: Ï can’t do it on my own”I am scared” I can’t commit” trust and faithfulness are other issues.
Remedy – YOU deserve the BEST relationships! Find some friends, couples , pictures of people that appear to have warmth and trust in their relationships and watch how they interact, how they resolve conflict and how they succeed through the tough times
– For career challenges: I need the money, I need to do more study to change, We can’t afford for me not to work
Remedy – you spend a large percentage of your waking time at work, it needs to feel good and to be in alignment with your values. Working only for money will never lead to happiness.
Q: Once you commit how do you keep the momentum going?
A: Here are a few ideas:
1. Get a coach (PT, finance coach, naturopath, counsellor)
2. Become accountable to someone else so you feel you are a team and not doing your actions means you are letting the team down. Eg a PT, a friend, a support group
3. Goal setting is very powerful. Here is a Goal setting sample on how to goal set from my Happy Female Formula.
4. Vision boards, photos of your progress, support groups, have a song, winners bible, Face book support groups
Q: So what are the key things I need to do to take the plunge?
1. Identify what you don’t like about your life, self, relationship
2. Talk to people about what is achievable, look around at what others have achieved (market research)
3. Define what you want (how does this feel, what does it give you, what do you look like with it)
4. Make a commitment to change
5. Set small achievable bite sized goals.
6. Start with the finish in mind and make sure support strategies are in place
7. Reward yourself along the way, if you fall off the wagon, jump back on quickly
Thanks so much Nudge for coming along. The podcast is excellent!
If you would like to have Nudge as a personal trainer please contact him, or follow him on Face book for hot tips.
Next week, Dr Jay Miller (chiropractor) will be discussing back health and why looking after your spine is extremely important.
ADDIT:
Actually I think this is what happens in reality…
You reach a point of pain and confusion that feel so bad that you have this life saving urge to make a change. And some where deep from within, you know that if you don’t then nothing will change and you will feel even more trapped and like a victim.
I have been to this place and it is quite awful. You can find yourself crying huddled like a baby on your bed calling out for your mother, because truly it is a painful, overwhelming place that you pray no one will ever witness.
Then, just as you are truly broken, you reach a place of resolute.
A place of calm after the storm. You know this matter will never reach this low point again.
And it’s ironic around this time that you hear people saying things like “yeah, what self respecting person would allow that to happen to themselves”. And believe me, this applies to every painful state you can think of: physical ills, addictions, being over weight, being poor, being divorced, being this being that. At some point I believe we reach that point of; “ok this is my breaking point. If I drop any lower than this then I really do not respect life let alone mine”.
This place is a relief to reach. The pain suddenly stops or backs away and you can see that you can and need to change.
You need to act on the urges while the memory of the pain is still with you and is feared. ACT while you are motivated. Then as the pain subsidised and is replaced with joy you need to shift to be motivated by the love of what you have.
Remember to make this shift… from running from pain to running towards happiness. Unless you do, the old demons may re emerge.
Once you have what you want you cherish it. Whether it be good health, a lean body, a great partner, healthy children, good income – whatever it is – be grateful and cherish.
