The YLF Live Stream Podcast

In this episode, I want to explore something that many of us have been carrying around for years, sometimes even decades.

The number on the scale and the meaning we've attached to it.

If you've ever tried to lose weight, there's a good chance you've had a particular number in mind.

Maybe it's what you weighed in high school.

Maybe it's your weight from college.

Maybe it's a number someone told you that you should weigh.

But have you ever stopped to consider where that number came from and why it still matters so much to you?

I share an experience from third grade when our class was weighed publicly. I remember hearing the reactions when my weight was announced, and here I am, roughly 36 years later, still able to recall that experience.

I've lost weight, gained weight, pursued different body composition goals, and spent years learning about fitness and nutrition.

But that number from my past, along with other numbers I've associated with certain periods of my life, still has a way of showing up in my thoughts.

Even today, when I'm arguably in the best overall physical condition I've ever been in, I sometimes catch myself wondering whether I should weigh less.

And I think that's important to acknowledge.

You can be confident, physically active, and comfortable with yourself while still having old thoughts about your weight show up.

The difference is how you respond to those thoughts.

One of the things I've worked on is changing what happens immediately after I step on the scale.

Instead of seeing the number and allowing myself to fall into an old pattern of self-criticism, I move directly into the mirror challenge.

I look at myself and intentionally begin building myself up.

And what's interesting is how quickly those statements move beyond my physical appearance and into appreciating who I am as a person.

I'm not pretending the number doesn't exist.

I'm changing the experience around it.

We also talk about using multiple ways to track progress, including weight, waist measurements, and progress photos.

Rather than letting one number determine how we feel about ourselves, we can collect information, observe trends over time, and make adjustments with curiosity instead of judgment.

That doesn't mean you can't have a weight loss goal.

It means you can pursue that goal without making your appreciation for yourself dependent on achieving a particular number.

I also connect this conversation to body image and today's journal prompts.

When you look in the mirror, what part of your body do you notice first?

And what feelings come up when you focus on that area?

For me, my stomach has historically been one of those areas because of how much importance I placed on having visible abdominal muscles when I was younger.

I've experienced what it was like to reach that level of leanness, and I remember being constantly hungry, cold, and irritable.

Looking back, I can appreciate those experiences without feeling like I need to recreate them.

The goal isn't to erase the experiences that shaped your relationship with your body. It's to understand them and decide how you want to respond moving forward.

So I want you to consider a few things.

Where did your ideal scale number come from?

What does that number represent to you?

How does it influence the way you feel about yourself?

And how would you like to approach your weight, your body image, and your progress from here?

You don't have to abandon your goals.

You don't have to stop collecting data.

And you don't have to pretend that old insecurities never show up.

You can learn to recognize those thoughts, redirect them when you're ready, and continue building a healthier relationship with both what and who you see in the mirror.

Your weight is information. It doesn't have to determine how much you appreciate yourself.

In this episode of the Your Level Fitness Live Stream, I want to ask you a question that I think could completely change how you approach your goals, your fitness journey, and your life.

What if, starting right now, you committed to building the life that's best for you without putting a deadline on it?

Think about how much of your life you've spent trying to get somewhere.

Trying to lose weight by a certain date.

Trying to reach a career milestone.

Trying to accomplish something before you turn a certain age.

Trying to get your life together because you feel like you should already be further along.

And what if you gave yourself permission to stop racing toward all of those imaginary finish lines?

I talk a lot about trading years for decades when it comes to fitness, but I think that philosophy applies to so many other areas of life.

We're constantly told to enjoy the journey and trust the process.

And those are great ideas.

But actually putting them into practice requires something that can be incredibly challenging.

You have to trust yourself to figure things out without knowing exactly how long they're going to take.

That's especially difficult when you're working toward something you've already attempted several times.

You remember the previous struggles.

You remember the things that didn't work.

You remember the times you felt like you failed.

And suddenly, giving yourself more time feels like admitting you're falling behind.

But what if you're not behind at all?

What if you're simply figuring out your own life at your own pace?

As someone who has spent plenty of time struggling with perfectionism, I understand how difficult it can be to slow down.

There's always another checkpoint.

Another goal.

Another thing you're supposed to accomplish.

And sometimes we become so focused on reaching the next milestone that we forget to consider whether we actually enjoy what we're building.

That's something I want you to think about.

Are you pursuing your goals because they genuinely matter to you?

Are the routines you're developing something you want to continue?

Are you creating a life that works around your preferences, your responsibilities, and the person you are today?

Or are you trying to meet expectations that may not even be relevant to you anymore?

Giving yourself more time doesn't mean giving up on what you want.

It means allowing yourself to learn, experiment, make adjustments, and discover what actually works.

Sometimes that means making tremendous progress.

Sometimes it means taking two steps forward and seven steps back.

Sometimes it means recognizing that something you once wanted no longer fits the life you're trying to build.

And that's okay.

You're allowed to change your approach.

You're allowed to change your goals.

You're allowed to take longer than you originally expected.

One of the most important things I've learned is that while we can't control everything happening around us, we can continue working on how we respond to those experiences.

We can practice approaching challenges from a calmer headspace.

We can move at a more deliberate pace.

And we can stop treating every obstacle as proof that we're doing something wrong.

That's what I want you to consider after this conversation.

What would your life look like if you stopped measuring your progress against a deadline and started building something you genuinely wanted to live?

You still get to pursue ambitious goals.

You still get to challenge yourself.

You still get to work toward meaningful changes.

But you don't have to spend your entire life feeling like you're running out of time.

You're not behind.

You're running your own race.

And you can give yourself permission to figure it out along the way.

How are you talking to yourself right now?

Not just about health and fitness. About everything.

In this episode of the YLF Live Stream Podcast, I’m talking about the importance of checking in with your inner dialogue and noticing how critical, kind, patient, or demanding you are being with yourself in this season.

That conversation can shift quickly.

Some days you may be softer with yourself.

Other days you may be draining a lot of energy by spinning your wheels, overthinking, or holding yourself to expectations that do not really fit where you are.

That is why I keep coming back to observation.

Notice what is happening.

Name it.

Then decide whether there is anything you want to adjust.

You are not behind.

You are running your own race.

And sometimes changing direction does not require some massive goal or dramatic reset. It can be something very small that helps you reconnect with yourself and build a little momentum again.

I also talk about rest, relaxation, and finding activities that let your brain shift down a little bit.

For me, that recently looked like trying a dot coloring book.

At first, I tried following the color guide. Then I realized the more relaxing version for me was ignoring the structure and just choosing colors and patterns as I went.

That became the point.

What feels calming or restorative for one person may feel completely different for someone else.

Someone else might find the most relaxation in following the guide exactly.

Neither approach is wrong.

That same idea applies throughout Your Level Fitness.

There are structures and frameworks, but the specifics inside those frameworks are yours.

Your minimum daily actions are yours.

Your weekly goals are yours.

Your pace is yours.

And in a world that constantly pulls us into reacting to whatever comes next, I think it is important to deliberately create moments where you can slow down, reconnect, and let your brain operate a little differently.

As you head into the weekend, check in with yourself.

How are you talking to yourself?

What do you need?

And what would taking care of yourself at your level look like right now?

In this episode of the YLF Live Stream Podcast, I’m talking about something personal that came up because of a change in plans.

I pre-recorded this episode because of the possibility of severe weather, and thunderstorms have always made me anxious because sudden loud noises can be difficult for me with cerebral palsy.

There have been times in my life when people were understanding about that.

There have also been times when people mocked me for it.

That is part of what led me into this conversation about appreciating the things that make us uniquely ourselves, even when those same things can also be frustrating, painful, or inconvenient.

For those of us living with disabilities, there are often things we have to navigate every day that other people may never have to think about.

That does not mean we all experience those things the same way.

We do not.

But I think one thing we can practice is becoming more attentive, patient, and compassionate with ourselves.

I also talk about growing up with cerebral palsy, how support and accommodations can change as we get older, and what it has been like for me to understand that my brain works differently because of my own history and circumstances.

And I have learned to appreciate that.

I like the way my brain works.

I like who I am.

That does not mean I never get frustrated.

There are absolutely days when I think this sucks, I hurt, I am tired, or I do not want to deal with it.

I do not think appreciating yourself requires pretending those days do not exist.

It means giving yourself permission to acknowledge the hard parts without turning them into a reason to dislike who you are.

Your circumstances are part of your story.

They may shape you.

They may challenge you.

But they do not have to define your entire identity.

My hope is that when you are alone with your own thoughts, you can meet yourself with a little more kindness, patience, and understanding.

Because you are still you as a whole.

And that person deserves your appreciation.

On tonight's episode we talk about clearly identifying what calm means and looks like to you. Practicing sitting with this feeling for 1 to 5 minutes during your morning and/or evening routine is a great step for beginning to cultivate it within your day-to-day.

Be sure to email or message me your thoughts on how this fits into your life.

Planning matters, but so does being willing to change the plan.

In this episode of the Wildlife Livestream Podcast, I’m talking about the balance between having a clear direction and staying flexible when things do not go the way you expected.

A lot of us can handle the planning part. The harder part is what happens when reality starts moving in a different direction.

That is where the thoughts start showing up.

Maybe I failed.

Maybe I do not know what I am doing.

Maybe I got in over my head.

The goal is not to eliminate uncertainty. It is to get more comfortable navigating it.

I talk about why trusting yourself matters more than trying to account for every possible outcome ahead of time. You have already adapted to things before. You have already figured things out when plans changed. Those skills are there, even if you do not always enjoy having to use them.

I also get into the difference between flexibility and winging it.

Having no plan at all is not usually the answer.

Having a plan and understanding that you may need to adjust it is.

That same idea applies to how we move through the year.

As we get deeper into October and closer to the end of the year, this is a time where the YLF rhythm starts shifting into more of a coasting phase. That does not mean checking out or stopping. It means lowering the amount of mental energy required to keep doing the things that matter.

You can still exercise.

You can still follow your eating plan.

You can still stay connected to your goals.

But you do not have to operate at maximum intensity all year.

The goal is to learn how to upshift and downshift without turning everything completely on or completely off.

Keep steering the ship.

Keep adjusting when you need to.

And keep operating from a calm space while moving at a deliberate pace.

Today I’m wrapping up the week by talking about the benefit of starting small.

When you are trying to build a habit, develop a skill, do more of something, or do less of something, one of the most useful things you can do is figure out the smallest possible action you are willing and able to repeat.

That might mean writing one sentence in a journal. Recording three minutes of a podcast. Exercising for one or two minutes. Writing a few lines of something creative. The action itself does not need to be impressive. What matters is that you start putting in the reps.

I share how my own podcasting habit started with a promise to record one three minute segment a day after I had spent weeks getting in my own head about whether the next episode would be good enough. I did not even make it a perfect thirty days, but I did it long enough to build trust in myself and prove that I could keep showing up.

That is the bigger benefit of starting small.

You begin replacing the story of “I can’t do this” with evidence that says, “I am doing this.”

Over time, those minimum actions can naturally grow. You may go beyond the original goal. You may miss a day or even a week and realize that you have not lost the skill or the habit. You begin to feel more confident because you have actual receipts showing yourself what you are capable of doing.

The same idea applies to exercise, journaling, creative work, personal development, or almost anything else you want to build into your life.

You do not have to start big.

Scale the action down until it feels manageable. Start putting in the repetitions. Let the skill develop. Let the momentum build.

As you head into the weekend, ask yourself one question.

Where can you start smaller?

Where are you the harshest with yourself?

Most of us have areas where nothing we do ever seems good enough. We set standards that are almost impossible to meet, criticize ourselves when we fall short, and reinforce labels about who we think we are.

In this episode, I want you to start identifying where those patterns show up in your own life.

I talk about where self criticism can come from, how other people's voices and our own early experiences can turn into labels we continue carrying, and why those labels can become especially loud when something does not go according to plan.

This is also an opportunity to look beyond the logical explanations we give ourselves for why we need to be so hard on ourselves and start exploring the emotional side of the pattern.

Where are you your own worst critic? Where did that initially come from? What do you believe being hard on yourself is accomplishing?

The goal is not to eliminate every critical thought. It is to become aware enough to catch what is happening before one difficult moment turns into a cascade of self criticism.

Sometimes the first step is simply stopping for a moment and asking yourself what direction you are about to take this.

That pause gives you an opportunity to come back to a calmer headspace, choose a more deliberate response, and practice leading with the same kindness and compassion toward yourself that you would want to extend to someone else.

Identifying the pattern comes first. From there, you can begin working on changing it.

What happens when you keep pushing your emotions aside?

You might be able to distract yourself for a while. You might convince yourself that you have moved past something. But the thoughts and feelings we do not work through have a way of continuing to show up, sometimes when we least expect them.

In this episode, I talk about what can happen when we suppress our emotions, why sitting with what we feel can be so uncomfortable, and why learning to process those emotions is an important part of building a healthier relationship with ourselves.

I also talk about the value of working with a therapist who is the right fit for you, while recognizing that access to therapy is not always simple. Journaling, gratitude, meditation, prayer, supportive relationships, and other practices can help us better understand what we are experiencing, but even with those practices, difficult emotions can still catch us off guard.

The goal is not to never feel overwhelmed again. It is to become more capable of recognizing what is happening, giving yourself time to work through it, and eventually redirecting yourself without immediately trying to escape what you feel.

This connects directly to the way we approach eating, exercise, fitness, and our overall lifestyle. Sometimes the struggles we see on the surface are connected to something deeper.

Be patient with yourself. Lead with kindness toward yourself. Hold yourself accountable without turning your own thoughts into another place where you have to suffer.

Expectations can be useful.

They can give us structure. They can help us communicate what matters. They can help us follow through on the things that are important to us.

But expectations can also get away from us.

In this episode, I talk about the expectations we place on ourselves and the expectations we place on other people.

I also break down two common ideas that I do not think are as simple as they sound.

The first is that we should not have expectations of other people.

The second is that we should expect very little from others while holding ourselves to extremely high standards.

I think there is some truth in both ideas, but I also think there is a lot of nuance.

We are going to have expectations in relationships, especially with the people closest to us. There are going to be standards around trust, communication, access, effort, and how we want to be treated.

At the same time, we can also hold ourselves to standards that are so high that they start creating pressure, frustration, resentment, and that mental prison we talk about.

That is why I think it is important to ask why.

Why do I expect this from myself?

Why do I expect this from someone else?

Is this expectation actually helping anything?

Is it still important?

Does it need to be scaled up, scaled down, or adjusted?

Some expectations are big.

Some are small.

And sometimes the small things matter more than people realize.

In this episode, I also share a few examples of the standards I keep for myself in everyday life, from how I handle laundry and keeping the kitchen clean to the way I approach content, exercise, consistency, and keeping promises to myself.

The point is not to get rid of expectations.

It is to become more aware of them.

To notice where they are helping.

To notice where they are creating unnecessary pressure.

And to give yourself permission to adjust them when needed.