Finally like what you see in the mirror.
Learn to embrace who you are, as you are while building your forever active lifestyle. Start here.
Learn to embrace who you are, as you are while building your forever active lifestyle. Start here.
The key to being successful with your goals AND maintaining the results is building your approach to achievement from the ground up. There’s a good chance you have never been taught how to do this. That’s okay, The the Your Level Framework can help. It was created for anyone working on living inside/out, on a fitness or weight loss journey but can also be adapted for anything else you’re working on.
The first decision to make is choosing the mindset you’re going to have. Choosing to genuinely believe in yourself and your capabilities from the beginning allows you to adopt a calm, deliberate approach to the actions your about to take. You then will use the actions you’re taking as reinforcement of the belief you’ve decided on.
Most people do the opposite. They hope that by taking action that eventually they will believe in themselves and their capabilities. This is how we fall into the impostor syndrome trap, where we never feel like we can do enough to be THAT person…we’ve ALL been there by the way.
Deciding you’re the type of person that is taking this type of action, right before you take the action lays the mental foundation that will take you further than you’ve been, down the path you truly want to go down. Now let’s talk about taking action and putting a system around it that gets results.
MDA's take what you think you're capable of doing now and scale it back to something that seems so embarrassingly easy, you'd feel sheepish telling someone you couldn't go beyond it. In practice, these daily actions would look something like this:
Exercise for at least 15 minutes, when you usually feel willing and able to do 30.
Journal for 5 minutes a day when you can normally fit in 10.
If these look too easy for you - that's the idea :) If not? scale them back further. Make your actions so specific you can look at them and answer how you're doing with them with a "yes" or "no". Remember: In order to get you on the path of becoming comfortable in your own skin and starting to live an inside/out life these MDA’s are the recommended starting point for anyone new to The YLF Philosophy.
Once you have the actions down, it's time to tie them to weekly goals.
Even though MDA's are setup to be easy to exceed, there's still going to be times where you can't hit them. That's why setting weekly goals with enough wiggle room is so important. Just commit to hitting each MDA goal at least a certain number of times per week.
Four is a great number, it gives plenty of slack and you'll start thinking of yourself as the fitness dynamo you are after exceeding your weekly goals every week for a couple months. What happens if you're not exceeding your goals? That's right! Scale them back a bit. Let’s talk about planning, executing and adjusting from week-to-week.
Weekly Look Ahead: Every Sunday you have a chance to look at how you’ve been executing, along with what you have coming up in the new week and set action focused goals for what you’re working on.
Midweek Adjustments: Wednesday is the perfect time to make any adjustments necessary to your follow through or goal setting based on how the week has gone so far, what’s coming up and what you know you’re willing to commit to to exceed each goal. Think of this as your halftime period that is giving you the opportunity to adjust and finish strong for the week. Ideally, you’ll get so in-tune with yourself, your goals and your execution that most weeks you won’t have to adjust anything.
Weekly Look Back: On Saturday it’s time to observe and note how your week as a whole went. It’s important to just observe your performance with as little emotion as possible. For anything you fall short on, these observations will show you where you can adjust the goal or your follow through plan tomorrow when you plan for the next week. For anything you exceeded, it’s equally important to celebrate in your head for at least five minutes what you were able to accomplish this week…nice job!!
It’s so easy to get caught up with concepts and content in the development space that you’re distracted from actually working on anything. That’s why I dedicate both daily podcasts “The Your Level Fitness Podcast & The Daryl Perry Podcast”, along with The Daily Email to this planning structure on the days mentioned above each week. Make sure you subscribe to both pods and sign up for the email.
It’s important to also have a systematic approach to regularly check-in with yourself and collect data points so that you can see the progress your making. Remember: the amount of change between one progress update to the next isn’t nearly as important as how things are trending over the course of months and years. Since the framework has fitness roots let’s talk about those updates first…
Every two or four weeks "you decide which" take a waist measurement, progress photos and get on the scale. Do all three so that one isn't being seen as more important than the others. Here's the "why" for each:
Waist Measurement: This is where most people carry their extra weight. If yours is elsewhere, measure that area instead.
Progress Photos: Take a front, side and back view picture, in your workout clothes.
Get on the Scale: I'd prefer you not use the scale to determine progress, but this would be the time to do it if you are. :)
Jot down and keep this info. After 3-4 progress sessions you should have enough information to tell how well you're doing on your program. Evaluate those results and adjust where necessary.
If you’re working on connecting with, appreciating and loving yourself from and at every stage of life “aka living an inside/out life”, you’re going to have to journal. How you record your thoughts is up to you. I personally use the Day One app. I’m not sponsored or affiliated with them, just love that I can voice memo, voice-to-text or write out entrees then easily organize them with hashtags.
A monthly check-in with how you’re feeling about yourself in all areas, then tagging it as #monthlycheckin in your journal is a great way to document your mindset in the moment, then see how things have been trending over the months and years. Anywhere between a couple of sentences and a couple paragraphs is plenty.
Personally, I check-in with myself often about a number of things when journaling but I find a monthly, overall check-in beneficial.
Most other self-development plans have their own progress updates structure. If the one you’re working on doesn’t, I’d journal about how things are going weekly, then writee a little longer update monthly.
Try this framework with any fitness goal, following any plan you wish. Keep trying your best and focusing on what's within your control. Your results will take care of themselves.
Hey there. I want to talk about something that goes much deeper than your workouts or meal plans. Everything you’re doing from an action standpoint, how you’re eating, how you’re exercising, it’s driven by something inside you. It’s tied to your relationship with yourself, because so many of us are carrying feelings and beliefs about who we are, and we use eating and exercise to cope with those feelings.
Hey there. I think one of the most slept on skills when it comes to living your forever active lifestyle is simply making your own food at home. And I’m not talking about elaborate meals that belong in a five-star restaurant or dishes worthy of viral Instagram posts. I’m talking about knowing what foods you like and figuring out how to prepare them in a way that makes you want to eat them regularly.
Hey there. Don’t believe everything that you think. Especially when it’s in the face of things you’re wanting to accomplish.
Your mind will fight you, especially at the beginning of things or if you’re restarting after a long break. I know this because I’ve been through it countless times myself. One of the biggest things that helps me is journaling. I write out the thoughts swirling around in my head, even when I feel like it won’t help much. But here’s the interesting part. Once you see those thoughts written down or typed out, you look at them differently.
Hey there. For a long time, I thought my past defined my future. Especially when it came to health and fitness. I spent decades bouncing from program to program, always chasing a goal weight, a certain body comp, or some idea of what would finally make me feel good enough. But the truth is, our past doesn’t have to dictate where we go from here.
Hey there. Food noise is one of those topics I know I’ll keep coming back to. It’s definitely become a buzzword in the weight loss world, especially since the rise of GLP-1 medications. People talk about how, for the first time, they don’t hear the food noise after starting these meds. And while I believe everything in the health and fitness space has its place, I also believe food noise is never something we can totally eliminate.
Hey there. I want you to know something really important today. You can’t mess this up. Once you understand how to build health and fitness from an inside/out approach, there’s no failing because it becomes part of who you are.
Hey there. Let’s talk about quieting the chatter…the food noise.
If you’ve ever been on a weight loss journey, or honestly even just tried to eat in a way that feels good for you, you’ve probably struggled with what’s often called food noise. It’s this constant chatter in your head about food. Thoughts bouncing around about what you should or shouldn’t eat, when to eat, how much to eat, how guilty you feel about what you just ate…it’s exhausting.
Hey there. If you’ve started and stopped your weight loss journey more times than you can count, I want you to know this time can be different. It’s not about forcing yourself to stick to a strict meal plan or punishing workouts you hate. It’s about taking an inside/out approach and designing a lifestyle around what you actually enjoy and what you’ve already learned along the way.
Hey there. I see fitness as a puzzle with unlimited pieces. Every food choice, training style, and mindset practice can slide into place when the timing is right. I picture a giant toolbox that is always expanding. Today I might reach for strength circuits and higher protein meals. Tomorrow I could lean on gentle walks and mindful eating. Nothing is off limits. The question is always How does this fit my life right now.
