Change your mindset, change your health

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “thoughts determine actions”, and it’s especially true with changing health habits.

But for some reason, we often want to dive straight into the habits themselves without addressing mindset first (and we expect that those habits will change overnight).

What do I mean by mindset?

I mean fears, self-doubt, lack of confidence or worthiness arount weight loss, dwelling on past failures, etc. Basically anything that is holding you back mentally (whether you are aware of it or not).

In reality, if you have a negative mindset or self-doubt related to your health (or feel you aren’t worthy of losing weight, or don’t believe you can achieve your goals), it will make changing very difficult...even if you have an amazing coach or trainer guiding you.

So how can you change your mindset first?

Your thought patterns are generally on automatic loops so it takes becoming aware of them to make a change. If you aren’t aware of a problem, it can’t be fixed!

Three steps to changing your mindset around your body:

Step One

First, make an active effort to think about your thoughts for a couple of days.  Anytime you think a negative thought about yourself or your body (for example, when looking in the mirror, doubting your ability to achieve a goal, etc.) make a note of it. Anything you wouldn’t say to your child or best friend is something to make a note of.

After a couple of days you’ll notice there are probably some general patterns that stick out to you. Once you have your general themes, write them down.

Step Two

Next, write an affirmation around your theme (something that is opposite of the negative statement). It’s important to write something that resonates with you (i.e. don’t create an affirmation that you love your body if you really don’t feel that way yet).

An effective way to write an affirmation that you aren’t 100% about yet  is “I am learning to….”

For example: “I am learning to love my postpartum body and I am grateful for the babies it brought me”.

“I am learning to love to move my body and know that I feel better, happier, and more energetic when I do exercise.”

Step Three

Once you have your affirmations written, USE THEM!

Put them up around your house or in your car, put them in your phone and repeat them throughout the day. At first it might feel weird, but think of it as a pep-talk. You wouldn’t hesitate to give your best friend or daughter a pep-talk if they were being hard on themself. Now do the same for YOU!

Then What?

Thoughts are often deeply rooted and so subconscious we don’t even realize how mean we are being to ourselves! But once you become aware and start to acknowledge negative patterns, it’s easy to pick up on them.

The trick is to STOP the thought before it continues.

You do not have to believe any thought you think. You are the master of your thoughts, and you can choose what thoughts go into your head.

By choosing to put positive thoughts into your mind, you are giving yourself a foundation for becoming more successful.

Want to learn more about changing your thought patterns??

Join me for a free masterclass February 24 at 4pm Pacific Time. I’ll be teaching 5 ways to improve your mindset so you can have better results with changing your health habits.

Want to dig even deeper?? Join Mind-Body-Momlife!! Registration now open. 

Getting honest about your health goals (what do YOU want?)

It’s January which means lots of us have health and fitness on the brain. We are told that we can easily “transform”.

We are told that we should be losing weight.

We are told we should be cutting food groups out of our diets.

We are told we should be doing intense workout routines.

Some of it might sound good. Some sounds appealing. Some sounds horrible (vegan diets and crossfit, I’m looking at you).

But I want to ask you… what do YOU want? What do you want for yourself? What do you expect from yourself? What does healthy look like to you?? What kind of healthy example do you want to be for your kids?

Do you even NEED to lose weight (and who is to say if you do)?? Do you WANT to exercise? Should you change your diet??

My goal this year is to help more women do what they want. I know for a fact everyone CAN improve their health in some way… but it’s up to YOU to decide what needs to be done. You are the expert on your own life.

[reminder: the author trying to sell diet books is NOT an expert on you]

I also know that when you are in survival mode, you shouldn’t be worrying about big health changes. You should be focusing on keeping your family life running and making sure you are eating and sleeping enough.

Sometimes you need to work on your mental health before you can focus on your physical health. Depression and anxiety can be debilitating. Don’t feel an ounce of guilt for putting your relationships, sleep, and mental health FIRST.

But sometimes you KNOW what you need to do (eat more veggies, drink more water, move your body) you just can’t figure out HOW to fit it into your life.

That’s where I come in. My goal as a coach is to help you fit healthier habits into your life without doing any major overhauls or transformations. Because I want you to be able to continue with your changes 3 months from now and 3 years from now. I want the changes to be so long lasting your kids grow up with a healthy mama who has a healthy relationship with food and shows them how to love her body.... so that THEY can grow up loving their bodies. 

To me, THAT is long lasting change.

Want to apply to work with me this year? Click here. 

Xo, Cassandra

Self- Care during the holidays: 8 sanity-savers for the busy mama

It’s Thanksgiving week! The next several weeks are bound to be a crazy blur of cooking, Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, traveling, wrapping gifts, and of course family time and holiday parties. Throw in some extra time with the inlaws and kids off of their bedtime/nap schedule and it’s the perfect recipe for a whole lot of chaos and stress.

As much fun as it is to help our kids have a magical holiday season and attempt to do ALL OF THE THINGS… it’s just not realistic or healthy for your mental health.

By prioritizing YOU, you will be able to be more present, enjoy the holiday season, and be a much nicer mama and wife ;)

If you are looking for specific ways to stay healthy during the holidays, click here to get a FREE healthy mama toolkit.

Here are 8 self-care ideas for the busy mama during this holiday season:

• Listen to a podcast while you’re in a busy (stressful/chaotic) store or sitting in holiday traffic. It will make shopping and waiting in long lines much more enjoyable (and even better if you're tuning out your whining kids! ...that's not just me, right???) ! I love atomic moms and sorta awesome for some positive messages and lighthearted chat about all things mama, relationship, and more. 

• Leave the house for 30 minutes and go for a starbucks run all alone! This is especially important if you are visiting family (or have a house full) and need some alone time. If you are an introvert, pay special attention to getting your alone time to recharge. And don't feel guilty! 

• Take a quiet walk or jog before the kiddos get up, and get those endorphins pumping early in the day. Your blood will be flowing and you'll have more energy to attack the to-do list. 

• Schedule a workout at your favorite studio or hit up your favorite class at the gym. You will get alone time AND check off your workout.

• Get YOURSELF a gift for once-- book a mani/pedi (or facial, or whatever) before you head out of town for the holidays and PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE! Close your eyes, read, a magazine, do anything but check your email or mindlessly scroll! Enjoy the moment :)

• Meal prep! Yes, I said it… prepping a couple simple things to have on hand will make your busy week less stressful. A few ideas: chop a veggie or two, cook and shred chicken to use throughout the week, make an oatmeal or an egg bake to have a healthy breakfast ready to go, boil a dozen eggs to have ready for breakfast all week, make a big batch of soup to have for lunch all week, etc. One hour of meal prep can save you a lot of time and stress!

• Prioritize what you and your family members actually care about. There are endless options for holiday activities... there are invites to holiday parties, lights to see, cookies to bake, gingerbread houses to decorate, ice skating, seeing Santa, performances, and plays, etc. If you prioritize what you actually care about and keep things manageable, your schedule won’t be as crazy.

• Make a list and check it twice. By keeping an ongoing list IN ONE SPOT (your phone, planner, google doc, Evernote, GoKeep, etc.) of everything you need to do and buy you will save yourself the hassle of last minute trips to the store and late night stress about forgetting something. Put it on the list and be done with it!

Now go enjoy the magic of the holiday season, mama. Focus on what truly matters and don't forget to make time for yourself. 

xoxo 

p.s. click below to get my healthy mama toolkit with a bunch of time saving recipes, meal prep ideas, home workouts, and more. 

The Healthy Mama Mindset: 5 ways to improve your self-talk (and self-love) this week

Our thought patterns are so powerful, and you may not even realize that you could be sabotaging your efforts to improve your health by engaging in negative self-talk.

No matter how bad you want to succeed, you must THINK like you are GOING to succeed. That means being kind to your body, following through with what you say you will do, not over-committing (i.e. do what is realistic at THIS time in your life), etc.

If negative thoughts aren't getting you anywhere (i.e. your desired health habits aren't sticking), then go back to basics and start with your mindset and thought patterns. 

My approach to coaching involves working on the mindset and self-love FIRST and then addressing nutrition and fitness. If we try to approach the physical habits alone, it’s an uphill battle (that you’ve likely already lost a few times). By focusing on your mindset, we address the reasons why you developed the bad habits in the first place.

To help you change your mindset, I put together 5 ways to help you work on your thought patterns this week. It takes much longer than a week to really dig in deep, but my hope is that you will begin to recognize any negative thought patterns you may have.

Just like with nutrition and fitness, trying to overhaul our mental or spiritual health all at once can lead to feeling like a failure because it can get overwhelming and discouraging (and it’s not realistic or practical at all).  That’s why I ALWAYS encourage working on one new habit at a time.

Don’t worry about doing each task this week! Choose one or two and then try another next week.

1. Look in the mirror and say three things you love about yourself OUT LOUD. Yes, it might feel awkward or funny, but that means you need to get comfortable with talking nicely to yourself. Look yourself in the eye and imagine you were talking to your best friend or daughter. You would be full of compliments… now talk to YOU. Do this everyday this week. Bonus points if you tape a piece of paper with your compliments to your mirror, or steering wheel or wherever you will see them.

2. Pencil it in. I don’t mean thinking to yourself before you drift off to sleep… I think I’ll workout tomorrow. I mean actually looking at your schedule, ask yourself what you have time for and what you DON’T hate. And pencil it in. I don’t care if it’s a 15-minute walk with your dog or a 90-minute hot yoga class or 30 minutes to meal prep. Just schedule AND follow through with ONE health-related task this week.

3. Daydream. I want you to spend 10 minutes thinking about how it would feel to be the healthy mama you are dying to be. What would your schedule look like? How would you feel? How would you dress? What kind of attitude would you have? What would your daily habits look like? What would your kids see you doing? What would you teach your kids about health?

Just really dive into thinking about where you want to go with your health and fitness. I don’t care if you want to lose weight, stay the same, or gain weight… I’m assuming you want to improve some aspect of your health-- mental health, physical, whatever. We can all improve. Think about EXACTLY what you want to improve and how amazing it would be to be there. Then write it down.

4. Positive Affirmations. This might seem a little “woo-woo”, but again how we talk to ourselves really affects the outcomes in our lives. I want you to think about your biggest weaknesses. Think about the thoughts you have that are unkind to yourself or your body. Then write 3 positive affirmations in response to the negatives.

Ex: I hate my thighs.

Affirmation: I love my body and especially my strong legs that carry me as I carry my babies, walk every day, and run up and down the stairs all day. My body is amazing.

Ex. 2: I am such a slacker with my workouts.

Affirmation: I am doing the best I can and I am always improving. Sometimes my expectations are too high considering the busy season of life I am in. I can and will learn to be better about taking care of my body.

etc. etc.

5. Meditate. If you’ve never meditated before download the Headspace app. Meditation is amazing for managing stress, anxiety, depression, and just hectic life in general. There are several ways to meditate (guided meditation vs. silence, walking meditation, deep breathing, etc.). Try out at least one or 2 ways and meditate a couple minutes. Don’t give up! Sitting in silence with your thoughts is very powerful.

Overall, I just want you to really be thinking about your thoughts this week. It sounds like a strange thing to do, but as you talk to yourself (in your head), ask yourself… would I say that to my son or daughter? My best friend? My husband?

Am I perpetuating thought patterns I’ve had since I was a child? Am I saying things to myself that my mother or father (or another relative) said to me or about me? Is what I’m telling myself even TRUE??

These are all things to think about. SO much of our mindset, for better or worse, is baggage we carry from childhood and adolescence.

Unless we realize what we are doing, we can’t change it! So step one is acknowledging current thought patterns.

Be sure to let me know what breakthroughs you have when looking at your thought patterns! Reach out to me on social media or email me at cassandra@vivfitness.com

my favorite podcasts for Moms

I wrote about my favorite podcasts in this blog post, but I wanted to do a little update! I seriously love listening to podcasts, and they are a great way to help me feel connected and productive during long days of mom-ing, while I'm driving, or even just on a walk while I'm pushing the stroller. 

Here are 11 podcasts I LOVE!

topic: #momlife / marriage

• Atomic moms. "A modern parenting podcast about the joys and complexities of caring for our little ones and ourselves." I love this podcast! Ellie has amazing guests and is just so positive and uplifting I could listen to her all day.

• the Mara & Megan show: amazing mamas sharing stories about motherhood. And I might be biased, but check out my episode on postpartum body love here!

• The mom hour. These mamas are full of practical tips to help with mom life at every stage.

• One Extraordinary Marriage: Hosts Tony and Alisa talk about all things sex, love, relationship, and marriage and they are so inspiring. Their honesty is refreshing and every time I listen to this podcast I learn something.

topic: productivity/happiness/health

• The Chalene Show. I am a huge fangirl for Chalene Johnson and her podcast is great. She tackles everything from productivity and motivation to health, fitness, and sleep.

• Sorta Awesome. This is one of the first podcasts I started listening to back in 2014 and I still love it. Host Meg Tietz chats with one of her three co-hosts each week and they talk about little (and big) ways to make life more awesome.

• The Lively Show with Jess Lively. I'm a recent fan of this show and it' all about various aspects of life including relationships, the law of attraction, mindset, and meditation.

• Smartest Person in the Room. Each season, host Laura Tremaine tackles a different topic. This season she is digging deep into the mind-body connection, and it is powerful stuff.

topic: business

If you have a business or side hustle, these are great podcasts to listen to! 

• The Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher. Jenna is a down to earth and full of wisdom. Shes amazingly successful and teaches from her own experiences and also has guest hosts from all different areas of business.

• School of Greatness with Lewis Howes: Lewis is an amazing force of positivity and this podcast is part short motivational speech, and partially digs deep into business, life, and tackling obstacles with his amazing guests.

• Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. Amy is incredibly smart and full of great tips that she has learned from building her 7 figure online business.

of course I love shows like RadioLab, Serial, etc, but these are what I'm playing in my earbuds these days! Please let me know what your faves are!