Testing your resiliency each day

Each day we are dealt different challenges which can derail our ability to reach our goals. Nobody is immune to having these obstacles and it's our ability to be bounce back which will ultimately decide how successful we are.

I've noticed that the clients who I see at the gym, who have made the most improvements in their life, are the ones who see me on a weekly basis. Even if they not able to follow the plan I give them very well, just being able to talk about their issues with me seems to help them. I focus much of my sessions on not just how they are eating, but other factors that may affect their ability to make healthy choices most of the time. These factors range from stress, lack of sleep to dealing with their spouses or children. Instead of focusing on what they are not doing, I praise them for the healthy choices they are making.

I believe that one of the keys to being resilient is learning from mistakes made in the past but also to "bookmarking" events where an obstacle was overcome. Because my plan is all about lifestyle changes and not diets, I correct my clients whenever they use words like "cheated or fell of the wagon." Instead, I call it "life" and remind them to just get back to making healthier choices as soon as possible.

Stress is one of the factors that many people don't fully understand but it can impact your ability to make healthy choices. Plenty of my clients have admitted to being "stress eaters" so finding better ways to deal with stress becomes a priority during our sessions.

I make no secret of the fact that running has allowed me to deal with much of my stress. At the same time, though, I also realized that my competitive nature with regards to running was giving me stress. Trying to achieve a certain time caused me anxiety and this affected my performance on race day. As I learn more about my abilities and relax more, I'm confident that this will result in achieving my personal running goals. I never want to forget, though, about why I started to run and how that very first run made me feel. As I start to train for my upcoming 50K trail race those are the memories I will cling to the most.