Lifestyle Management - The Fifth Essential

A Healthy Lifestyle = A Healthy Life

To change your life, change your lifestyle.

Lifestyle management is the recognition that we are the products of our behaviors. Your current weight and level of wellness are the result of, and are supported by your lifestyle.

Changing the habits that have shaped your body will take time, energy, and a commitment to your MVP (Motivation, Vision and Plan).

You are a product of your weight loss and wellness behaviors.

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Act like someone who is fit, healthy and vibrant. Master the Essentials.

Fit, healthy, vibrant people behave differently than people who are unfit and unhealthy.

If you want to be fit, healthy and vibrant, change your behaviors.

It can be difficult and frustrating to change the way you behave. Go easy on yourself.

Change your mind, change your life.

Recognize that your behaviors are the products of your mindset. Your current behaviors around weight loss and wellness are the result of, and are supported by your mindset.

The Right Mindset

To be successful at being fit, healthy and vibrant, to be successful at changing long standing behaviors, your program needs to be based on:

1) Self love

2) Positive intention

We believe self love is the place to start because it provides the motivation to continue choosing healthy behaviors long term. When you love yourself, you naturally want to take care of yourself.

Contrast loving yourself with the popular idea of “busting your butt”, “killing yourself in the gym”, or dieting and exercising because you hate your body. Why would anyone want to focus and sustain such efforts for the long term?

Shifting to a self love perspective creates metaphors of change such as “nourishing my body”, “taking care of myself”, “creating health and vitality for myself because I want to be the most vibrant, energetic, best me possible.”

Thinking like this helps motivate and keep you on track for the long term. We all enjoy doing the things that make them feel good.

We want you to feel amazing.

Starting from a place of positive intention is also important. This is the notion of framing your intentions or goals in positive language, what you want as opposed to what you don’t want.

“I want to be strong, healthy and fit.” Vs. “I don’t want to be fat anymore.”

Framing your goals like this gives you direction. You know where you are headed vs. just knowing where you don't want to be. (We talk more about this in the section on creating your wellness vision.)

Use these ideas to change your life, to become the person you want to be. Know where you want to go and love yourself enough to do the behaviors you need to in order to get there.

Support for Your Lifestyle Change - The Sixth Essential