"The hardest thing about exercise is to start doing it. Once you are doing exercise regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it." ~Erin Gray TAKING ACTION: ✅ TAKE ACTION today, friends! Taking action is the only way to move the needle forward! ✅ Get ready to crush our FITMAS challenge that begins this week! See below for more details and comment READY below! Happy Monday, friends! Today’s a big day—it’s the day we begin our 2025 FITMAS challenge as we round out our year! This particular challenge is strategic, I can assure you. It’s created to help you finish out 2025 feeling strong, motivated, and confident. “I like going into the new year feeling like a failure—feeling like I have to start over.” Said no one ever! 💯 The good news is that you don’t have to; however, you’re the only one who can prevent it. I can give you all of the resources. I can give you meal plans, personalized macros, education, workouts, and even extra challenges—but you have to take action. You have the tools. Now, it’s time to use them as they’re meant to be used. So, let me be clear—this extra challenge isn’t in place to convince you to work out harder in an attempt to lose weight. It’s in place so you can become stronger, stay motivated, and walk into 2026 feeling confident that you don’t have to start over. Stay with me this week. We’re going to talk more about why the fitness piece is so important. (Hint: It isn’t just good for your body. It’s good for your brain, as well! 🧠) 🤩 DAY 1: Small steady movements during this season are sufficient. March in Place - do 5 reps • 30–60 seconds • Option: hold onto a chair or wall Gets blood flowing + warms up joints

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~Zig Ziglar TAKING ACTION: ✅ Share your weekly win—big or small—below! Let’s celebrate and push ourselves forward! 🎉 The small wins matter, friends. Celebrating them along the way is arguably the only way to stay motivated. When you celebrate, even the smallest of wins, you quite literally change your brain a little at a time. Why is this important? ⬇️ It’s important because changing your brain is the key to becoming who you want to be. As the quote says above, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”. He’s not saying achieving your goals isn’t important. He’s simply saying that who you’re becoming in the process is the most important. 💯 The key thing to note here is that you can’t become someone different if you don’t start to think differently. A good way to start thinking differently is by committing to celebrating all of your accomplishments—and that is why we’re going to celebrate our wins today! 🎉 Let’s hear ‘em all! 💥

“Understanding our relationship to eating cultivates a lot of insights and helps us start living our highest potential.” ~Natasha Pantovic TAKING ACTION: ✅ Do you understand the topic of mindful eating a little better after this week? Do you see how understanding your patterns is tremendously helpful? Share your thoughts below! This week was all about mindful eating, and the reason I chose this topic at this particular time is that during busier-than-normal seasons, mindfulness can be the one strategy that helps us stay on track. Not only that, but the reality is that we should ALL understand why we make the decisions we make. Understanding our thoughts and actions is the first step toward conquering our struggles. 💯 So how do you start eating mindfully? According to the website, 28 Mindful Eating Quotes to Honor Your Body , this is a good place to start. ⬇️ 🧘‍♀️Start with a couple of deep breaths. It slows your nervous system and brings your focus to the present moment. 🧘‍♀️Think about what you’re about to put in your mouth and why. 🧘‍♀️Consider if you’re genuinely hungry or just eating out of habit. 🧘‍♀️Do you enjoy what you’re about to eat, or are you shoving it down in an attempt to please other people’s expectations about your body? 🧘‍♀️The answers to those questions should impact your decision. I hope you continue to practice mindfulness as you move through your journey. It’s a deep strategy that can absolutely change the trajectory of your journey and your chances of success! 💥

TAKING ACTION: ✅ Can you now see how mindful eating is beneficial? Share your thoughts below after reading today’s post! We’ve been talking about mindful eating all week. The reason for doing so is that everyone needs to understand why they make the choices they make—not just with food, but in life. As I mentioned earlier in the week, mindful eating is one strategy that will help you with mindful living. 💯 It’s important to note two things about mindful eating: 👉It’s not the same as eating intuitively. The article below explains this in depth, but mindful eating is awareness of all of your emotions, etc., while eating, whereas intuitive eating is an approach to food that focuses on identifying and trusting your hunger cues. Intuitive eating is almost the opposite of tracking calories, macros, etc. I believe understanding your thoughts and urges around food and your emotions is important. The article below is lengthy, but if time permits, I encourage you to dive in. It’s a good one today! ⬇️OPTIONAL READING⬇️ Can Mindful Eating and Macro Tracking Co-Exist? - MacroFactor

TAKING ACTION: ✅ If you struggle with mindful eating, why do you think that is? Time? Lack of patience? Lack of understanding what’s really going on in your brain/body? This week, we are discussing mindful eating—specifically, when we are tempted to overeat. It’s important to know that while hunger and wanting to eat can be related, they aren’t inherently the same. If you’re hungry, you should honor your hunger cues; however, the issue arises when we want to eat for reasons outside of hunger—and that’s when awareness is critical. 💯 If you’re tempted to eat even when you aren’t hungry, here are some potential reasons why ⬇️ 🧠Genes. Research shows that a number of genes that affect eating behavior may be passed down through families. Fortunately, the brain is neuroplastic and can change. It starts with awareness. 🧠Emotional eating. Happiness, sadness, anxiety, and several other emotions can trigger eating when you’re not hungry. The next time you reach for something when you aren’t hungry, ask yourself what just happened that brought about the urge. 🧠Low self-esteem. You eat because you feel bad about yourself, and vice versa. It’s a vicious cycle. 🧠You’re addicted to processed foods; therefore, you crave them—even when you aren’t hungry. There are other reasons as to why you might feel the urge to eat when you’re not hungry, but these are some of the most common. The point I want to make is that practicing awareness around your habits can be highly effective. The article below discusses the topic of binge eating; however, the same mindfulness tips apply when you struggle with eating when you’re not hungry. It’s a great article to read if you struggle with mindfulness around your eating habits. ⬇️OPTIONAL READING⬇️ 12 Mindfulness Strategies to Manage Binge Eating - Awake Mindful