Reworking the Framework: Fuel to Perform, Not to Take Up Less Space

When it comes to my fitness journey, I can definitively say to my 20 year old self: it’s about what your body can do, not how it looks.

I’ve written a longer version of this post on Medium (Life After the "After" Photo) if you’d like to check it out there. For LinkedIn, I’ve pared it down to the top takeaways.

My Playbook in 6 Shifts

No matter the transformational journey, we are summoned to make shifts in both our mindsets and in our methods if we are to make and sustain change.

My team and I do this in our work with large enterprises at Bionic.

And my health journey has been no exception.

Shift #1: From a What to a Why

Before: Superficial purpose

• The single most effective thing keeping me motivated hasn’t been a temporary “what” — like the quest to get a summer body, six pack, or back into those jeans from college. Those are fleeting.

Now: A purpose that resonates with my soul

• So what does keep me going? Being connected to a deeper “why”. A why that aligns with the woman I want to be not just in the gym, but in all aspects of my life. (Shout out to Simon Sinek for this fantastic framework that I use in life and business on the regular).
• Here’s my why:

I strive to make incremental daily progress,

no matter how small,

in order to unlock and unleash my body’s full potential.

Question: When it comes to health and fitness, you probably have a what, but have you thought about a why?

Shift #2: How I view exercise

Before: Exercise = necessary evil

• I loved exercise growing up so long as it came in the form of a sport. But exercise as a stand alone thing? Ugh. Somewhere in my 20s, exercise went from the thing I got excited to do to a thing I would force myself to do.

Now: Exercise is an opportunity to explore, express, and master what my body is capable of. It’s also a chance to team up with others to go after goals I could never achieve alone.

• If I do something each day for a lot of days, after a few weeks… I surprise myself with a breakthrough. I will do — and have been doing — things I convinced myself were out of my reach. Pull ups, double unders, rope climbs, headstands, handstands, long rows, short rows, [insert wacky combinations of cardio-heavy lifting-gymnastics], formidable lift PRs, pretty sweet yoga positions. Progress over perfection.

Outcome: While I thought I would never be fitter than when I was in high school playing varsity volleyball, year round softball, and lifting weights before school with my team—I think I could actually beat my 18 year old self at any fitness test.

Shift #3: How I approach each workout

Before: Brute force

• I am grateful for my body’s ability to find this intense third gear of energy to pull off physical — and professional — feats. But I also don’t want that to be my signature move, it’s more of a ‘only in emergencies, consider pushing this button’ sort of thing. 

Now: Virtuous movement

• I have added weekly Chiro, physical training, massage therapy, and custom orthotics to work on alignment, stability, and mobility. 
• I added a regular yoga practice back into my routine (thank you Y7). 
• I am working on going light to get it right when it comes to weightlifting and form (thank you coach Griff). 
• I know that the more efficient my movements are, the less energy I lose. When done well, the weight is at one point actually weightless. 

Outcome: Through all of the above, injuries from decades ago are finally getting worked through. Stories I told myself about not being able to do things turned out to be false and that, with the right coaches, professionals, form, and commitment, I get 1% better each day and can do more than I ever thought possible.

Shift #4: The way I treat food

Before: Reward / punishment

• From age 18 to 32, I put myself on so many diets, I lost track. To name a few: Atkins, Weight Watchers, 17 Day Diet, Volumetrics, The Plan, South Beach Diet, the Diet Coke Diet, and the Master Cleanse. And thanks to my tenacity (#brute) and discipline, I “won” at all of these. For a time. And then? At best I would drop the restrictions and settle back into eating whatever I wanted. At worst, I would rebel against the restrictions through some sort of multi-thousand calorie binge, followed by a purge of low calories (< 1,000) and exercise (> 3 hours per day).

Now: Fuel to perform

• It’s about eating to perform incredible physical feats, not to limit the space you take up. It’s also a lifestyle, not a diet. There’s nothing short sighted about it, it’s giving your amazing body what it needs to kick ass and take names.
• To get to this point, I have done a great deal of intentional work with my nutrition coach Kat Yiannakis of Macros, Muscles & Mindsets, in fact we just closed out week #109 of working together. Her content, attention to the demands of my life and the unique aspects of my body / metabolism has shown me just how critical the nuances are.

Outcome: When you eat to perform, and not to restrict, you unlock your full potential. You’ve got what you need to bring to your family, friends, work, exercise, hobbies, and whatever life / mother nature / others throw at you.

Shift #5: The role of recovery

Before: Infrequent tactics

• I would rely on the warm ups from coaches and instructors. Maybe stretch a bit on my own. And take lots of epsom salt baths. Maybe a massage here or there.

Now: Deliberate protocols

• I am setting a goal to get to the gym at least 15 minutes before class starts and do my activations.
• I try and do my PT at least 2–3x a week on my own. Sometimes I count yoga as my PT or add in more moves during the ‘third flow’ at Y7 yoga. I even sneak PT in at work and in between meetings.
• I also have ramped my vitamins, Pedialyte, electrolytes, magnesium, and other supplements that replenish my body when I ask a lot of it.

Outcome: I have more flexibility and mobility, I am sore less / for less time, better posture, and am setting myself up for many decades to come.

Shift #6: Added more strong role models

Before: Empty “ideals”

• I unfollowed most all fashion magazines on Instagram. I unfollowed a lot of actresses and women in the media that made me feel bad about my body’s shape, and stopped following and shopping with brands that, frankly, just don’t fit my body or what I stand for.

Now: Female masters of their sport / fitness domain

• I want to see strong women front and center, in my life and in my feed. Mental strength, physical strength, professional strength. Along side vulnerability, too. It’s not an either/or, it’s a “yes, and”.

Outcome: I want to be like these women who take up space and do amazing things. And as much as I can, I try to look at my muscles and say: go team Leslie, we worked hard for those… they represent discipline, hard work, failure, commitment, and new abilities!

“When you replace the aspiration for slimness with a body that can physically do a lot,

it makes you realise how absolutely useless everything you think you know about female body standards actually is.”

@thepooluk (via Susan McPherson)

Here’s to you and your amazing body. Let’s get after it together.

Read the full post on Medium from June 2019:

• Life After the "After" Photo

Read the original "After Photo" post on Medium from December 2014:

• How I Gained and Lost 60 Pounds as an Entrepreneur — and So Can You!

I am an Entrepreneur in Residence at Bionic, where I am focused on building exceptional teams and disruptive companies. I recently froze 22 eggs with the help from an all-female team at the female-founded Kindbody and will be covering this topic in my next blog post in July.

Let’s stay in touch! Follow my writing on Medium, connect with me here on LinkedIn, and check out my fitness'ing on Instagram.