I need to tell you something that might sting a little.
Brace yourself.
You ready?
Ok, here it is …
You CAN’T stay your leanest year round.
I know, it hurts.
Ready for another gut punch?
You also can’t PURSUE being your leanest year round.
There’s something fascinating about the human brain that makes this concept easy to understand but difficult to apply.
We, as humans, are allergic to gray.
What I mean is … we love things that are black and white.
It’s either this or that.
Keep that gray shit away from us.
If it’s in the middle … we don’t like it.
We’re either democrat or republican.
We’re either conservative or liberal.
We’re either macro counters or intuitive eaters.
We’re either religious or atheist.
We’re either rich or poor.
You get the point.
Do you like the middle? How about the gray area?
Even when new fads come around … it’s either the greatest thing in the history of ever or it’s the worst thing that’s ever been invented.
We hate the middle.
The gray area scares us.
Like wait … it’s not possible that I can be part macro counter and part intuitive eater, is it?
I’ve spoken to a lot of individuals who have gone through eating disorder recovery and they expressed how it felt like they were told to go from one extreme to the other.
I’ve had conversations with HAES advocates and they’ve expressed that anything that even remotely pursuits body composition changes is pro diet culture and damaging.
Why is there never a middle ground?
Well, there’s actually a logical explanation for why that is but I’ll save you the long winded detail.
Actually, screw that, let’s nerd out for a second.
From an evolutionary perspective, our ability to survive as a species was in large part due to forming tribes and working together.
If a group of humans formed a tribe which had clearly defined roles and objectives, that group could survive almost anything.
One human vs a woolly mammoth … advantage: woolly.
A tribe of humans vs a woolly mammoth … advantage: humans.
So, we evolved to want to be a part of something.
To feel like we’re contributing as part of a tribe.
That’s one reason for the “this vs that” mindset.
The other reason is our need for labels, certainty, and predictability.
The human brain seeks to understand and wants things to be certain and predictable.
Why? Because once again, we evolved in a world where uncertainty was a threat to our survival.
So, the brain tries to make sense of everything around it to ensure survival.
We love labels for that very reason.
It allows us to create a certain story about that individual based on that label.
Often times, it’s wildly inaccurate but that doesn’t matter.
The brain just wants to FEEL certain and “know what’s coming.”
So, if I can effectively label things around me, I can predict them and feel safer as a result.
Ok, so now it makes sense as to why we often live in this black or white thinking and how scary the gray area can be.
But, what does that have to do with getting leaner?
Literally everything.
Think about yourself for a second …
Are you often all in or all out on your nutrition?
Are you either tracking everything or nothing (because why bother)?
If you’re not your absolute leanest, are you calling yourself fat?
Have you ever actually been comfortable with just hanging out about 5-10 lbs. away from where you want to be and just chilled there for a while without constantly wishing you were at your exact goal?
If I had to venture a guess, I’d say you can probably relate to everything I just said.
As I mentioned, this is human nature!
But, it’s the opposite approach of what actually creates success.
The more you avoid the middle …
The more you stay away from the gray area …
The more you will struggle.
The all or nothing thinking, the either side of extremes, the labels, the black and white mindset …
None of it is helpful.
Not in life and certainly not in fitness and nutrition.
You have to retrain your brain to think differently.
You cannot be your leanest year round and you cannot even pursuit your leanest year round.
You need to find the middle ground because that is home.
That is where you’ll need to reside MOST of the time.
Sure, you can take periodic trips away from home and check some things off your list.
Like getting really lean for short periods of time.
However, you need to know what home feels like so you can get back there.
And by the way, home will look different for everyone so we don’t need to put a label on it ;).
I can tell you that the number 1 biggest struggle our clients face before coming to us is this concept right here …
Finding balance.
Embrace the gray area!
Once we work through that mindset with them, it’s astonishing what they can accomplish.
I shared a story not too long ago about one of our clients who recently hit a milestone of 30 lbs. of fat loss since joining our coaching program.
Pretty amazing.
Want to know what she said her biggest struggle was before signing up?
No balance.
Constantly being in the all or nothing mindset.
The gray area literally gave her 30 lbs. of fat loss and something she never imagined …
To be able to drink wine with her friends when she wants to.
We can help you find success in the gray area.
Yes, our process works from a physiological perspective but it’s the mindset shifts that make it so effective.
You want to know why we begin with a personality assessment and start implementing the Neurotyping principles from day 1?
This is exactly why. Because we need to know your behavioral tendencies and how your brain works.
Then, we can start to pursuit that middle ground and break the old way of thinking.
It also allows us to implement our metabolic priming phase more effectively so your body will respond the way that we want it to but more importantly, the results will be sustainable because we’ll know what home feels like.
We also ensure that you can enjoy yourself throughout the process, like having that glass of wine when you want one or going on date nights or vacations.
Lastly, we monitor what your body responds best to by looking at daily stressors and biofeedback markers so there’s no doubt as to whether we’re moving in the right direction or not.
This is the process we take in our signature 6-month, 1:1 coaching program.
It’s perfect for individuals who are struggling with balance and haven’t been able to execute in the gray area because they are constantly on either end of the extremes.
If that sounds like you and you’re interested in getting leaner in the most sustainable way possible, shoot me a private message on FB
I’ll ask a few questions to make sure it’s a fit and if we decide that it is, we can get you enrolled this week.
