2661: Why You’ll Never Get the “Body of Your Dreams” by Rachel Trotta on Self-Acceptance & Physical Fitness

[00:00:00] Delicious meets nutritious in the snack that packs a real protein punch, Wonderful Pistachios. Each 1-ounce serving of Wonderful Pistachios has 6 grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value and making Wonderful Pistachios one of the highest protein nuts. But perhaps more than

[00:00:17] that, I love all of the flavors they have. Their sea salt and vinegar ones are my favorite when I'm craving that flavor but want to keep it healthy. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Wonderful Pistachios come in a variety of flavors like chili roasted, honey roasted,

[00:00:32] smoky barbecue and jalapeno lime, perfect for enjoying with family and friends or taking them with you on the go. Whether you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut or you prefer the convenience of no-shells pistachios, Wonderful Pistachios has got

[00:00:49] you covered. Grab Wonderful Pistachios and elevate your snacking game today. So fill up with a healthy snack when hunger strikes. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more. That's wonderfulpistachios.com. This is Optimal Health Daily Episode 2661,

[00:01:09] Why You'll Never Get The Body Of Your Dreams by Rachel Trotta of racheltrotta.com and I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator. Hey there, happy Saturday. I hope your weekend is off to a great

[00:01:20] start and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily or OHD, where I act as your narrator of popular health and fitness blogs and always provide my commentary at the end. And don't forget, we have a bunch of shows covering different topics. Just search for Optimal Living Daily

[00:01:37] in your podcast app to find them. Alright, with that, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life. Why You'll Never Get The Body Of Your Dreams by Rachel Trotta of racheltrotta.com. The Evolution of Perception As a health professional, I have the privilege

[00:02:01] of seeing people transform throughout their individual fitness journeys. While some of these changes are external, many of the shifts happen in the realm of mentality, just as much as if not more than physique and appearance. In fact, my ultimate goal is that my clients

[00:02:18] begin thinking, talking, and feeling differently about food, exercise, and body image. Even though a client may begin training in pursuit of what they perceive to be the perfect body, there is often a deeper, seismic movement that takes place in mindset. I call this the evolution

[00:02:37] of perception when you take balanced and purposeful action and get closer to your goals. Your goals change and you begin to see yourself differently. Moving Targets Experiencing this shift in perception becomes a beautiful cycle of moving towards health goals,

[00:02:53] but also revising and restructuring those goals as you approach them. In other words, you do change, but your ideas about your goals change as well. You can't help it. As your body, mind, and spirit become healthier, you naturally reach out for better and better versions

[00:03:11] of your own story. I want to be clear that I am not anti-goal achievement. In fact, I think that action is essential for the shift to happen because self-acceptance often occurs in tandem with positive improvements to lifestyle, health, and physique. An important step in embracing a

[00:03:30] healthy lifestyle is to be open to a natural evolution of your ideas, beliefs, and practices around fitness and nutrition. You need room for your goals and needs to shift and change throughout your life cycle and building that flexibility allows you to act freely and effectively from

[00:03:48] a place of self-acceptance. How do I get Jennifer Aniston's body? I am in many closed groups on Facebook about fitness and nutrition in addition to the ones that I run and there is often a common theme to the lay posts that I see. How do I get Viola

[00:04:05] Davis' arms? How do I get Gwen Stefani's abs? How do I get Carrie Underwood's legs? How do I get Scarlett Johansson's curves? Having a role model is a great idea to motivate healthy weight loss,

[00:04:17] providing that the appearance of your role model is even close to what you already look like or have the genetic potential to look like. But here is the evolution of perception phenomenon that I experience with most of my clients. Improved body image often follows some kind

[00:04:33] of active attempt at weight loss or physique transformation. But it's not because of the physical changes, it's because of the habit changes that you employ which radically improve your lifestyle and well-being as well as increase your feelings of self-efficacy.

[00:04:50] If you develop a solid, balanced plan of training and nutrition, you can pursue the goal of looking like your role model and achieve amazing results both externally and internally. The best part is

[00:05:02] that even if you don't end up looking like that person, you will feel a lot better about yourself because of your new habits. You may not have the abs of Gwen Stefani but you may have muscle

[00:05:13] definition that you never had before plus stronger legs, a more stable core, improved movement, and better endurance capabilities. Plus, you may discover that you have your own features that are stellar and unique to you like great arms or calves. That's an incredible accomplishment and

[00:05:31] process of self-discovery and it feels really, really good. When it comes to the self-acceptance discussion, I don't think we should downplay how important action is. Taking the right steps to develop effective, healthy, realistic habits will catapult you into feeling much better about

[00:05:49] yourself and your body almost immediately. And while the physical results may take time, the mental, emotional, and spiritual effects of exercise begin to transform you almost overnight. We can't sit around and wait for self-acceptance to show up. The first step is action. We all

[00:06:08] become happier when we take the actions to achieve our goals and in the process, cultivate the habits that allow us to stay in the flow. Here's the fun part! We don't even have to get all the

[00:06:20] way to the physique goal. My experience is that getting even 50% closer often makes people very, very happy. Cellulite self-torture. My favorite example is cellulite. I have written about this

[00:06:35] before but when I start working with a new client, I know that, I just want to tone up and get healthier for most women is actually a secret code for, please help me get rid of my cellulite.

[00:06:47] Cellulite is a tough one. For most who have it, it's genetic and its appearance can be improved but its presence cannot be completely erased. I'm not a gigantic fan of the in-your-face love your cellulite model of body positivity. I have it myself and I have to be honest,

[00:07:04] it's not my best feature. I'm not planning to feature it prominently in my next photo shoot, for example. But it is part of me that while not my favorite feature is also not a big deal,

[00:07:15] just like my slightly crooked teeth that normally look fine but appear horrifyingly snaggled only in certain lighting. But some spend absurd amounts of money on creams, procedures and equipment to banish the appearance of cellulite from their legs. Some also research exercises that will help

[00:07:34] them get rid of their cellulite. By the way, I'm sorry to report that there is no specific move that will target your stubborn cellulite. The problem is that most feel bad about the experience

[00:07:45] of their thighs but never do anything that could actually make a difference. However, the real and free secret of dealing with your cellulite is that if you don't focus on it and simply focus on your overall fitness instead, you will experience the evolution of perception and

[00:08:00] your cellulite will look better but won't be a big deal to you. Once you have trained smart enough for a sufficiently long period of time and have shifted the way that you eat to improve the quality

[00:08:12] of your life and your performance, your cellulite does indeed look better. But more importantly, it also recedes in significance in your mind. In other words, if you are focusing on adding 10 more pounds to your deadlift or finishing a half marathon with a new personal record,

[00:08:29] you are not so concerned about your cellulite. You are concerned about doing stuff. I have never completely eradicated cellulite through diet and exercise and believe me, I have chased that goal. But when I am in peak physical condition, eating healthfully, exercising regularly, performing

[00:08:46] athletically, my cellulite bothers me 1%. Whereas when I'm inactive, my cellulite weighs heavily on my body image. But most never get to the actual step of really, really focusing on their overall health, fitness and nutrition. They over-focus on the parts of themselves that they hate,

[00:09:05] try to find direct solutions for those problems and never take the actions that would be effective. Self-love and action. Self-love and self-acceptance do not just spontaneously show up. Self-love is action. And when you take action, things do get better. Your body image will become

[00:09:24] healthier and healthier right along with your body. It's not mutually exclusive. Feeling better from the inside out. When my client experiences that important shift in perception, I feel truly successful as a personal trainer and nutrition specialist.

[00:09:40] Not when they get flat abs, not when they hit their weight loss goal, not when they achieve a new personal best in weight training, not when they run a half marathon. Yes, all of these are

[00:09:50] incredibly worthy goals and can help someone feel better about themselves and more comfortable in their bodies. I'm always proud of my clients and I am especially happy for them when they experience the joy and pride of accomplishing a new and ambitious goal. But I truly feel

[00:10:06] accomplished in my work when a client reaches the point of independently refining their relationship to health, wellness and body image. It's not just the aesthetics that are changing. They actually feel better about themselves from the inside out and is more grounded in both their

[00:10:23] inherent value and their ability to change. What you'll discover is that you're happier with your own body than you ever thought possible. You just listened to the post titled, Why you'll never get the body of your dreams by Rachel Trotta of racheltrotta.com and I'll be

[00:10:43] right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. Sometimes we just need to focus on the process and let go of the results for now. As Rachel said in today's post, results can seem like a moving target at times. Like what happens after we hit

[00:11:01] our goal weight? Do we now go back to our old habits? Or let's say we did finish that half marathon. Do we now stop all exercise completely because now we've done it? I hope not.

[00:11:14] Getting the body of our dreams? Same thing. Let's say we do achieve it. It doesn't mean the work stops. And what happens when it seems to take longer than expected to get that body of our

[00:11:25] dreams? That can lead us to maybe giving up. If we instead focus on the process and the improvements that we have made along the way, it can motivate us to keep going and to build healthy habits

[00:11:40] for a lifetime. All right, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.