Everyday we are either working toward our goals or moving farther away from them.

And while I don’t think we can always be focused on the future, and immediate gratification will at times “sabotage” our long-term goals and focus, I think recognizing that every day is building our future result…

That your situation today is a result of your past hustle…

Is super key.

Because so often we stress perfection when we start a new program. We get up in a 21 day or even 6 week SPRINT….only to burn ourselves out with the habits so we can’t keep moving forward.

Instead we need to focus on those small habit changes. The ways we can make 1% improvements.

The ways we can be BETTER THAN we would have been in the same situation before.

Because every day we are technically building and moving forward or taking that step back.

And step backs are GOING to happen.

But we have to recognize that, in life, there is no starting over.

So how fast we get results will also be impacted by those steps….in either direction.

That’s why that TODAY, right now, as you plan for tomorrow…as you choose between trying to be perfect and rely on willpower over making small changes to constantly learn and grow, you have to recognize that every day you are making the choice about which direction you will move in.

And if you fall down? If you slip up, while that one event may have moved you away from your goal, the power you give that situation can impact future days.

And those days again are either moving you forward or setting you back.

Results come from what we consistently do. From how we learn and move forward.

And again…There is NO STARTING OVER.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips I use to help myself find ways to always move forward even on those days that feel like you’ve taken that step back.

There is nothing better than going on vacation. But it is often where we feel like we sabotage our results and our diet and exercise routines go to die.

I wanted to share 7 tips to help you stay on track while you travel so you can keep moving forward toward your weight loss goals. However, I also want to mention that I believe vacations can, and should, be a time to relax and enjoy. Diets often fail because we force restriction at times when we do need to embrace a balance.

We end up not really being able to diet on vacation while also not really allowing ourselves to relax. And this ultimately backfires.

However, if you travel for work or just travel often and want to find the lifestyle balance right for you, these tips can help you stay consistent with your macros and your workouts while not at home!

Do not feel guilty about not using every time you travel as an excuse to splurge. I know sometimes our friends or family can make us feel awkward for caring, but we need to stay focused on what also makes us happy in our progress toward our goals!

Because we can’t just always make the excuse that this is a once in a lifetime experience if we’re traveling all the time!

So what are the 7 travel hacks to help you stay on track?

I’m horrible with internet slang, acronyms, phrases…whatever.

The first time someone posted TLDR I had to google it.

I thought of this the other day when my managers and I were talking about abbreviations and acronyms and lingo that may be helpful to make a list of.

I made the joke about how I’m so bad with knowing what those things are…

And I mentioned to Michelle, my lead Dietitian, the first time I saw TLDR.

She Googled it the second I mentioned it as she didn’t know either.

Anyway, why am I rambling on about this TLDR…and for those of you about to Google it, it is Too Long Didn’t Read….?

Because the first time I saw it, it was commented on one of my blog posts.

And seeing it oddly made me sadder and madder than any troll comment I could have gotten at the time.

I wasn’t mad because my articles are freaking fabulous and they were missing out but because they were holding themselves back.

I was honestly sad for them.

Because in their search for a quick answer, a fast fix, simply WHAT TO DO, they were missing out on the part that would actually allow them to find something that works for them…

Something that lead to lasting results…

The WHY behind the systems so they could implement them correctly.

They weren’t open to learning.

And their desire to just be told what to do quickly, was probably what kept them working really hard without seeing results….wasting far more time putting in pointless effort than it would have taken them to just embrace the learning and read the post.

I bring this up because I know I’ve even been guilty of this….

Skipping around an article, course or program to pull what I think I need.

You’ve reached your goal…Now what?

Now comes oddly the hardest part…MAINTAINING YOUR RESULTS!

And maintenance is hard because it’s a new process in and of itself.

You can’t keep doing what you did to get to your goal - you can’t stay in a deficit forever.

And you can’t go back to what you were doing prior.

Old habits will just lead to you losing everything you’ve worked hard for.

Soooo, what do you do?

Here are 4 tips to help…

As kids some of us loved asking WHY…like annoyingly so.

Ok…we were asking it often more JUST to be annoying, but still…as kids there is a curiosity there to understand more of our world.

But at a certain age, we stop….we stop assessing and being as curious.

However, as annoying as constantly being asked WHY is, we need to embrace our inner child more if we want to learn and grow.

If we want to overcome our own self limiting beliefs and doubts, if we want to break free of the self imposed limitations and negative mindsets, we need to start asking ourselves WHY.

Think about it, how often do you ask yourself WHY you have a specific belief?

How often do you ask yourself, WHY you believe something is a certain way?

How often have you asked yourself WHY you feel you’re good or bad at something?

Why you like or dislike things?

Why you’ve succeed or failed at certain activities or ventures?

Why you are willing or unwilling to do certain things?

Why you even expect certain results.

Think about all of the times we make statements, especially in opposition to making a change, yet never really question WHY.

I was one of these people…

So I always sympathize with this comment, “I’ll workout all day. It’s just so hard to change my diet.”

Or…

“I can train hard. I just can’t change my diet. I love food too much.”

The thing is…

We CAN change our diet.

And yes, we all know we just aren’t “willing” to or we don’t “want” to….

But what we don’t realize is that training is NOT easy.

We’ve just become comfortable being uncomfortable in that way.

Realizing that was oddly eye opening for me.

Because A. It made me truly recognize that many people do NOT like training. I’ve just developed a comfort zone that includes it.

And B. Even with training there are still things I’m not comfortable doing…often new skills I’m not good at. And when you start to assess moves or tools or such you won’t include and often scoff at even, you’ll start to see where your comfort zone ENDS.

Basically what we’ve got to recognize is that dietary adjustments are possible…they’re just outside our comfort zone.

So how do we learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable with dietary adjustments?

And I think that it starts with how we approach changes…

First…Realize that when you push too much, you rebel more. Assess the mindsets that make you resistant.

So often when we make a ton of changes and mentally can’t handle them, we then start to associate those habits with that negativity. They become one in the same.

Like tracking.

When we only track to seriously restrict, when we feel super hungry and miserable tracking, we believe tracking is restrictive.

Realizing we will associate the habit with our mindset and that can 100% color things, A. We want to assess why we don’t like habits. But B. We want to break those mindsets around them and find new ways to implement them.

I think something we too often like to gloss over is the sacrifices and challenges involved in achieving results.

Getting a new and better result, making a change is NOT easy.

Even something that eventually feels sustainable can be hard to start because it isn’t instinctual. It isn’t what we’ve always done.

So when I work with a client I like to discuss the options in how we move forward.

While I don’t believe in fad diets or quick fixes, I do believe we have a choice in the speed of our results…

And how fast we choose to move forward toward a goal is dependent on how much we are willing to go all in, embrace change and make sacrifices.

Often when we start a new program, we tell ourselves it's going to be THE THING. The lifestyle change we've been looking for.

We tell ourselves it's going to be easy and magical (ok maybe not the magical part).

Heck maybe we've even been convinced of this by friends who claim it was soooo easy to do and the BEST thing they've ever done.

We can even manage to convince ourselves there won't be struggles.

But this is exactly the OPPOSITE of what we should be doing.

It's honestly what often sets us up for failure.

Because if we think or believe that a change should be easy? We'll only end up super frustrated and overwhelmed when it isn't.

Which 98% of the time...IT ISN'T!

Something almost always comes up.

And when it does, if we've told ourselves things SHOULD be easy?

We'll feel like there is something wrong with us because it isn't, especially if we've been told it was easy for someone else.

We have to realize instead that there will ALWAYS be set backs and hiccups and mistakes.

And that often when someone is LOOKING BACK and saying it was easy, even they encountered struggles when first starting out.

So instead of trying to convince yourself that the process will be easy, OVERSELL THE NEGATIVE.

Honestly the more we want overnight results, the less likely we are to truly see the results we want and deserve.

Fad diet results often not only aren’t real results, but they aren’t lasting results because we haven’t truly created sustainable habit changes.

So as much as I know we all want results yesterday, we have to get ready to make some true lifestyle changes if we want to see the amazing results we deserve.

That’s why I wanted to share 6 things that often hold us back from truly reaching our goals…

Yup you heard that right. We make things impossible because we tell ourselves they aren’t possible.

And guess what?

Sure…everything isn’t possible…nor we will achieve that goal in the same way someone else has even if we get there.

Getting abs for you may be different than for me.

We of course all have genetic limitations and pre-dispositions.

But to just say you can’t get abs…well why not still strive for YOUR version of your leanest physique?

Why just say you can’t have that exact thing and give up?

Seriously then what is the option?!

So often if we believe we can’t have something we just don’t even try!

But we’ve got to stop telling ourselves we can’t if we want to move forward.

Life is about constantly growing and improving. That is the fun in it.

And I do truly believe that too often we write ourselves off.

I didn’t think I could get abs!

I didn’t think I could deadlift 310 pounds.

I didn’t think I could get a tennis scholarship to a Division I team and play.

I didn’t think I could start a business and go out on my own.

Heck I didn’t think I could be that person in front of the camera!

But I also didn’t not try.

There will always be a DOUBT that you can’t do something, but while I didn’t necessarily know it was possible until it was, I believed in the opportunity.

I believed that there was no point not to try.

And I think that’s the key, realizing the alternative.

Which the alternative is to just give up, never move forward, never improve.

Is that really what we want?

Any time I’m presented with these situations I like to reflect on what I do, what I’ve seen successful clients do, to share tips…and here are 3 mindset shifts I think are key to putting ourselves out there and seeing what is possible.